Otherworlds: Chapter Four
Pairing(s): George/ Nina, possible Mitchell/ Annie later.
Rating: R for swearing and violence. If you can watch the show, you can read this.
Disclaimer: All I own is the story. The characters belong to BBC Three and Toby Whithouse.
Summary: Mitchell, George and Nina know that getting Annie won't be easy, but when confronted by their own feelings, their own secrets and the strange wonders of the world, they aren't so sure if Annie should come back.
Author's notes: This is still a work in progress. More chapters to come.
Chapter Four: Nina II.
If patience was a virtue, it was a virtue that Nina lacked.
She'd been pleased when George had told them of Sarah's offer for Sunday lunch, but she wanted to know what Sarah had found out about Annie's situation.
And she wanted to know now.
She'd told George that she wanted to go to the library so he'd willingly dropped her off, saying he'd be back in two hours. She was glad he didn't know that the Library wasn't opened past twelve on a Saturday. Once he was out of sight, she briskly walked to the Otherworld.
George had told them all about Sarah's telekinetic ability and how she had supernatural friends, including a water spirit, whatever that was. Nina hoped that meant that Sarah would now have some information to share.
Sarah was sitting in the middle of the store, reading a book, her bare feet up on the table. She had a mermaid tattooed on her left foot. Her shirt today said 'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself... and spiders'. She looked up from her book, saw it was Nina, and smiled warmly.
"Hello Nina."
"Hi." Nina didn't waste time. "Do you have anything yet?"
If Sarah was offended by Nina's forthright question, she didn't show it. "As a matter of fact, I have."
She looked over to the counter and several sheets of paper lifted up into the air, floating over to the table. Astounded, Nina watched as they settled neatly in the middle of the table.
"Wow." An incredible understatement, but it was all Nina could think of to say to such a display. Sarah grinned and waggled her fingers in front of her. "Welcome... to the Otherworld," she said dramatically and giggled.
Nina rushed over, excited at the thought that these papers might hold some clues. Unfortunately, the papers were a messy scrawl of notes. They might have been Egyptian hieroglyphics for all Nina could read. She looked up at Sarah.
Sarah pulled a sheet out of the pile. It seemed to be a chart of some sort. Nina could barely make out the words. She thought she could make out 'reincarnation', 'doors', and possibly the word 'wanker'.
"Your Annie is in her limbo state. She'll eventually let go and move on." Sarah shrugged. "Everyone creates their own limbo state when they die. Your Annie might think she's trapped, but she's not. When she lets go of this life, she'll move on."
Nina was surprised by the simplicity of the explanation, but very confused. "But she was so scared," Nina protested, thinking of Annie's last distraught words to them.
Sarah nodded sympathetically. "Death is traumatic for humans. They need time to adjust. Eventually she'll calm down and let go." She frowned thoughtfully. "If she was a ghost before she went through her door, then she'll be deeply attached to this world. That's probably why she's so upset. She doesn't want to let go."
That sort of made sense to Nina. "So what about the rooms and forms?"
Sarah shrugged. "That's something she's created herself, even if she doesn't realise it."
"So what, her idea of limbo is Jobcentre?" Nina said dubiously. She knew Annie was a bit of a nutter, but to make that up...
"Or maybe a hospital," suggested Sarah. She shrugged again. "Forms and rooms there too."
"So how did she talk to us through the television?"
Sarah pulled out another sheet. Again it was mostly scrawled notes. Though what the erect penis in the top left hand corner had to do with anything, Nina couldn't figure out.
Sarah saw what Nina was peering at and she blushed. The corner of the paged crumpled and Nina blinked in surprise.
"I get bored when talking on the phone," Sarah muttered, her cheeks still red. Nina snickered.
"Lots of dead people in limbo can communicate through EVP," Sarah said, recovering her knowledgeable tone. Seeing Nina's blank look, she quickly explained. "Electronic voice phenomenon. It's fairly common, even if it tends to be dismissed."
"Oh." Nina flipped through the papers. "So how did Annie just appear to take Kemp through a door?"
Sarah paused. "She did what?"
"Kemp was about to kill me and Annie just appeared, grabbed him and dragged him through a door. Then she spoke to us through the TV."
Now Sarah looked bewildered. "That, I cannot explain."
"Damn," Nina muttered to herself, disappointed. The rest of Sarah's explanation more or less made sense. Since Annie had come back once, she'd hoped that they might have been able to get her back the same way.
Sarah drummed her fingers on the table, deep in thought. Nina shuffled through the papers, but they didn't make much sense to her. Messy scrawl, strange pictures, none of it particularly helpful in her quest to get Annie back.
After a few minutes, Sarah sighed. "Maybe Llyr will know."
"Who?"
"Llyr is a water spirit. I've known her since I was eight," Sarah explained. "If I can't get answers from my other paranormal contacts, then I ask Llyr."
"You do this witch stuff often?"
"I'm not a witch," Sarah said firmly. "I don't have that type of power."
That surprised Nina. "So... what are you then?"
"A Conduit. I can speak with spirits."
"And you got your telekinesis from them?" As far as superpowers went, Nina thought telekinesis was a pretty good one. It'd be really handy if you wanted to change the channel and couldn't find the remote.
"I've had that since I was born. It runs in my family. It's why I caught Llyr's interest." She glanced around the shop. "Look, why don't we go upstairs to my flat and have a cup of tea?"
Nina liked the hominess of Sarah's flat. The blandness of the cottage they were living in was depressing, not that the occupants were faring any better.
A small, but modern kitchen, a dining table, and at the far end between the doors leading to what Nina assumed were the bathroom and bedroom respectively, was a three person sofa in front of a large TV. Sarah clearly had a passion for water themes in her decorating.
There were dozens of pictures on the walls, sunny beach scenes, white water rivers, tranquil lakes, and mysterious underwater scenes. A fish bowl in the middle of the table, two goldfish swimming in lazy circles, and there was a row of bowls on the windowsill, each one holding a brightly coloured Siamese fighting fish.
Sarah put the kettle on and Nina sat at the table, still holding the papers. Now that she looked at them properly, she could vaguely make out the messy handwriting. One was a list of stages of death, though it sort of trailed off after the word 'limbo'. Another was a rough explanation of EVP.
"So, Llyr is like a naiad or something?" she asked.
"Pretty much. Everything in nature has a connecting spirit. Llyr is connected to water."
Nina raised an eyebrow and tried not to laugh at the whole idea. "Really?"
Sarah smiled at her scepticism. "Think of spirits as energy. Many scientists believe that the universe has a constantly moving energy. Electrophysiology. Bioenergetics. Things like that."
The kettle whistled. Nina shook her head. "Sorry. It just sounds like Star Wars stuff to me." She smirked. "May the Force be with you."
"You're a werewolf. You have a connection to moon spirits, night spirits, earth spirits, animal spirits. Probably lots of others too." Sarah motioned around the room. "I have an affinity with the water. But I can converse with many different types of spirits."
Nina wasn't quite sure what to think about the idea of being connected to these spirit things. Were they dangerous?
"So can we contact Annie in her limbo place?" Nina asked hopefully.
As Sarah set the cups and biscuits on the table, and looked a Nina thoughtfully. "If you keep trying to speak with her, it'll make it harder for her to let go."
Nina looked down into her cup of tea.
I have to go, but... Please, don't forget me, will you?
Perhaps Annie had already taken the first step on her own. Nina couldn't help but wonder at their motives.
Were they just being selfish? Annie was dead after all; she should be allowed her peace.
George and Mitchell wanted her back, wanted things to be just the way they were. Nina wanted Annie back too. She wanted to say "I'm sorry, it's my fault, I brought Kemp to your house. It was my fault."
Nina drew a breath to calm herself. "We just want to know that she's alright. She said that 'they' were angry with her for taking Kemp through a door. There wasn't a form for it. Something like that."
Sarah took a cautious sip of tea. "Getting information about what happens on the other side of the doors is tricky. Once you go through the door, you don't come back."
"Annie did."
"Yeah, that's got me beat. I've no idea how she could have done that on her own." Sarah frowned. "Assuming it was, in fact, her."
That thought hadn't occurred to her. "Well, seeing as the fucker wanted to kill me, I'm rather grateful to whoever it was," Nina declared. Sarah laughed, conceding to that point.
"Who could it have been, if it wasn't actually Annie?" Nina said quietly, all humour gone from her voice.
"Lots of... things," Sarah said reluctantly.
"So how do we find out if it was Annie?" Nina pressed, not wanting to think about what 'things' might mean. "I really do want to check to make sure she's alright." And ideally get her back.
"An air spirit would be able to locate her," Sarah said slowly.
"An air spirit could find her?" Nina repeated, wondering how one of those could be summoned. God. What insanity. Summoning spirits like she was something out of Supernatural or Buffy.
Sarah shrugged in reply, and sipped her tea. Nina sipped too, desperate to know the answer, but also knowing that if she alienated Sarah, she'd have an even harder time finding out more information.
After a few minutes Sarah reached over and squeezed Nina's hand.
"Death is meant to be unknown to mortals, Nina. Finding out what happens on the other side... it changes nothing. Your Annie will still be dead and she'll still be in limbo and that won't change until she accepts it."
She was gentle, but firm. "There's nothing you can do to help her. It's something she has to face on her own," she said. "One day you'll have to do it as well, just like the rest of us."
Nina nodded. It made sense. It was horrible, but it made sense. Annie was dead. She'd been dead for as long as Nina had known her. She was just so full of life, being able to touch her, see her, talk with her... it had been so easy to forget that at the end of the day, Annie didn't have a body. Annie's physical body was six feet under, decaying in a box. Nina closed her eyes against the image.
"George and Mitchell are going to be so upset when I tell them this," Nina whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Mitchell is a vampire," Sarah said, getting up to get Nina a tissue. "He's already seen this. He knows."
Nina thought Sarah's voice sounded a bit colder when she spoke about Mitchell being a vampire.
While Nina wiped her eyes, Sarah looked out the window, gazing at the river.
"I drowned when I was eight," she said suddenly. Nina looked up. "It was Llyr that held me down. My telekinesis intrigued her and she wanted me. I died and went through my door. But she pulled me back."
"She pulled you out of limbo?" Nina wondered if a spirit could bring Annie out of her limbo. If a spirit could find her, then surely it could bring her back.
"Yes. Now I'm bound her." Sarah looked back over at Nina. "Being torn out of limbo, out of your next stage of existence, it's excruciating, Nina. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."
She went to take their cups back to the sink, but froze. "George said that Annie stayed because of Mitchell," she whispered to herself.
Nina glanced up. "What?"
Sarah spun around. "You boyfriend said that Annie didn't go through her door because Mitchell got stabbed. Is that true?"
"Um, I don't know. I wasn't there," Nina said, startled by Sarah's sudden buzz of energy. "George could tell you more."
Sarah looked at the phone. "Shit, I wonder if Lawrence knows," she said. Nina frowned, not sure where Sarah was heading with this.
"Who's Lawrence?" Nina asked as the buttons on the phone dialled themselves.
Sarah had the phone set on loudspeaker and it began to ring loudly. She drummed her fingers impatiently as it rang.
"Lawrence is a paranormal expert. He works for the London vampires. He sort of oversees things and takes care of little projects. He doesn't have any powers, other than the ability to annoy the shit out of anyone he meets." She nodded in the direction of the papers. "He would be the wanker. He's a right royal asshole."
Nina didn't think that anyone was going to pick up when she heard a click and a very irritated male voice.
"What?" Actually, the man sounded a little out of breath. It was the same voice that had rung Sarah the other day in the shop.
In the background, a female voice moaned. "Who is it?"
"Shut up Halle. Who is this?"
Sarah rolled her eyes. "Lawrence, it's Sarah."
"Christ, I spoke to you last night. What the hell do you want now?"
Nina admired Sarah's restraint as Sarah kept her voice calm. "Could vampires and ghosts bond? Like humans and spirits can?"
There was a pause. Nina watched the phone, nervous and hopeful at the same time, though she wasn't quite sure what she was hoping for. There was feminine whine of protest as Lawrence apparently got rid of his female companion.
"I guess so. Vampires and ghosts are humans, sort of, and they have a few similar spirits connected to them. It's possible. Ask your little spirit friend."
"Do you think a ghost could come back from limbo if it was bonded to a vampire?" Sarah pressed and Nina saw an excited gleam in her eyes.
Lawrence now sounded doubtful. "Maybe. For the ghost's sake, I hope not."
Sarah leaned back, smiling slightly. "Would we be able to contact the ghost in limbo then?"
"Any idiot can contact a ghost in limbo, you know that." Another pause. "Sarah, what's with all these questions?"
Now looking very excited, Sarah managed to keep her casual tone. "Just something I'm working on."
"Bullshit. What gives? Who's the vampire and who's the ghost?"
Nina shook her head in alarm and quickly mouthed 'don't tell him'.
Sarah nodded. "I don't have names. It's from an email."
"Uh-huh." He didn't sound convinced. "Look, I don't know what you're trying to do, but fuck, don't go pulling a ghost out of fucking limbo. You know what happens."
He groaned. "God, I'm trying to handle a vampire that just got yanked out of limbo, he's fucking nuts. Lester is going mental trying to control him."
Sarah snorted. "He's a vampire. They're meant to get pulled out of limbo," she said scathingly. Now that she had her information, she wasn't as polite.
"No, these two stupid bitches resurrected Herrick after he got ripped to bits by a werewolf. How does someone stupid enough to be locked in the same room as a werewolf get to be the head of the Bristol vampires, anyway?"
Herrick? No, he's dead. George killed him.
"Seriously?" Sarah's tone became a little gossipy. "He must be pissed they were all killed."
"I doubt he's even aware of it. The two bitches that resurrected him brought him to London, killed a ton of people, got grabbed by the cleaners and taken to Lester." Lawrence laughed. "And the icing on the cake is that the two chicks that brought him back, one of them is claiming that she helped kill those poor fucks on the train last month. Her and some guy named John Mitchell."
Nina went very still. Oh no. No, no, no, no, no.
"So now Lester's team is trying to figure that one out. Not to mention the shit that's happening with CenSSA. It's one fucking thing after another."
"He's got his hands full then," Sarah replied, no sympathy in her voice.
"Well, the dicks at CenSSA have it coming."
"Well, keep me posted on that one," Sarah said, bored with the topic.
"I might have to get you to come down here. This Herrick guy is pretty strong, I might need to get a spirit to hold him."
Sarah crinkled her nose. "Okay. Call me if you need me," she said grudgingly. "Of course, it'll be my usual fee."
"Yeah, yeah. And Sarah?" The abrupt voice softened. "Seriously, don't go fucking with a ghost in limbo, even if it is bonded with a vampire. You know better than that."
Click.
Sarah waved her hand and the phone set itself back in place. She sat across from Nina, looking none too pleased with the news she'd received.
"When you come over tomorrow," Sarah said, thinking it over, "we'll find out if we can speak to Annie and see how she is." She looked up. "Will that be okay?"
"Fine," Nina whispered, shocked at what she'd heard.
"Cool," Sarah said. "I'll see you at one then?"
"See you then," Nina squeaked and she fled down the stairs.
***
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Chapter Five: Mitchell II will be posted soon.
