Forever and Beyond

by Jayde Scott

  I groaned and pushed my hair out of my eyes. At least he believed me now. Until a week ago I could barely get him to acknowledge the existence of ghosts. That’s what denial does to you. “In the morgue. You said you didn’t believe she died of a natural cause so, obviously, I went to investigate.”

  “Obviously,” Aidan muttered.

  I decided to ignore him as I continued. “She was alone and looked so scared, so I decided to talk to her.”

  “Alone and scared?” Julie huffed. “Well, you’d be, too, if you suddenly woke up in a morgue, talking to a demon that I thought wanted to tear through my flesh and gauge out my eyes.”

  I hushed her. She turned her back on me, annoyed.

  Aidan opened his mouth to speak. I raised my hand to stop him. “Don’t tell me. I know it was a stupid mistake. She must’ve taken my concern for an open invitation to haunt me.”

  “You gave me no choice,” Julie muttered. “You help me, and after this is over you won’t see me again. That’s the deal. Take it or leave it.” I sighed exasperated. It was a great deal…for her because, the way I saw it, I was drawing the shorter straw either way.

  “At least you’re not being possessed again,” Kieran said, inching closer until he stood inches away from my face, his eyes scrutinizing me. “Or are you?” He turned to address Aidan. “Are you sure it’s even her? Don’t you think she looks a bit grumpier than usual?”

  I rolled my eyes. “How people could stand living with you for five hundred years is beyond me.”

  “Whoa!” Julie gasped. “Five hundred years? Hot dude is a walking—What the hell is he?” Her forehead creased in concentration. She almost choked on her breath as she put two and two together. “He’s an angel, isn’t he?”

  Kieran an angel? Seriously? I wanted to slap my forehead. Or hers. “He’s a vampire, Julie.”

  “Oh.” I could tell from her incredulous expression she didn’t want to believe me. “But how can he walk around in daylight?”

  I decided to ignore her because that’s what people in the paranormal forums instruct one to do upon meeting a ghost. So far that advice proved useless, but I figured I could give it another try. I turned my attention back to Kieran and Aidan. “Let’s talk about more important matters, like getting rid of Julie.”

  “Yeah, well, I want to hurry this deal up too,” Julie said.

  “You’re freaking me out whenever you stare into thin air like there’s someone there.” Shuddering, Kieran put some space between us, as though I wasn’t right in the head…and paced straight through Julie’s ghost.

  I regarded him intently, waiting for a reaction from him that he at least felt something. He slumped into the plush sofa and placed his booted feet on the side table, unaware of Julie’s adoring stare.

  “He’s so cute, Amber,” she said. “Did you notice how he tried to touch me?”

  I shook my head. “He didn’t.”

  “Oh, he so did.” She peered at me triumphantly. “You’re just jealous I got the hotter guy.”

  There, she said it again. I couldn’t let this one slip by. “Julie, he doesn’t even hear you.”

  “He’s so pretty, he’s so fine, I just wanna make him mine,” she began to sing, over and over again. I wanted to press my palms against my ears to tune out the high-pitched noise. Not only did I manage to pick up an irritating ghost, but also one who was bordering on the cuckoo side.

  “What’s she doing?” Kieran asked.

  “See? He senses me,” she exclaimed in joy. The girl was definitely living in a fantasy world.

  “You don’t want to know,” I mumbled.

  “She’s that bad, huh?” Aidan’s gorgeous lips curved into the most stunning smile. I rose on my toes to kiss him but only managed to reach his chin. Good enough for me. “What happened to her?” he continued.

  I shook my head. “Don’t know. She can’t remember, which is strange because it’s about the only thing she can’t recall. The reaper turned up but never cut the life cord. Apparently she’s supposed to fulfill a purpose. She thinks it has something to do with her death, which is why she wants me to help.” I clicked my tongue, remembering I completely forgot to address the incident in the hall, think Aidan drawing his dagger at Blake. Aidan probably thought his behavior was justified, meaning a discussion would turn into a confrontation. I wasn’t up for it so I moved on to a more relevant matter. “Don’t you think it’s strange that something happened to Julie on the day of our arrival?”

  “She died the evening before we arrived.” Aidan inspected the corridor, then closed the backdoor leading to the garden and sat down on the sofa opposite from Kieran, drawing me close. It was his way to signal we were about to have a private conversation. A dark shadow crossed his features. He moistened his lips and shook his head slightly. “The girl was murdered, there’s no doubt about it, and yet Blake insisted she died of a natural cause.”

  “It seems like he’s trying to cover it up,” I said.

  “Are you sure you’re not being paranoid again?” Kieran said with a smile, but his voice betrayed an edge that told me he trusted his brother’s judgment. He set his feet down from the table and leaned forward, listening intently.

  “I smelled blood on her,” Aidan said.

  I nodded. “Me too. It was the reason why I went to investigate her body in the first place. And that’s when I met the ghost. People don’t usually go around smelling of blood.”

  “Unless a girl has that time of the month.” Kieran’s voice trailed off, embarrassed.

  I shook my head. “She must’ve bit her tongue during the attack, which brings me to the question why there were no marks or any sign of a struggle on her body.”

  Aidan took a deep breath and let it out slowly. A frown creased his forehead as he began to go through possible explanations. The moment he turned to face me I knew he had come up with a good one. “When you were possessed by Rebecca’s ghost you did things she wanted you to do.” I nodded, so he continued, “You said you had no choice. Do you think Julie was possessed and killed herself?”

  I pondered his question for a few seconds. It was possible but not likely. Suicide usually leaves a trail behind, a last attempt to save oneself at the last minute, which I told him adding, “Unless it was odorless poison, in which case she could’ve died in her sleep and never noticed.”

  “She could’ve suffocated after taking it,” Kieran chimed in.

  “Suffocation’s not likely. You would’ve seen small red or purple blotches in her eyes or on her face,” Aidan said.

  “Look who watched Law And Order!” Kieran winked at me.

  I stifled a snort. “Nah, he wouldn’t be caught dead switching on the television set. Being born in the middle ages, he probably thinks a talking box is the devil’s invention straight from the pits of Hell.”

  “Thanks for making me feel old.” Aidan grimaced and shot us an irritated look, his eyes sparkling. He looked so cute when he was wound up. I squeezed his hand.

  “I say we get some swabs, skin cells, fingerprints, DNA, the whole shebang,” Kieran said.

  “If this place had forensics, we’d be golden.” I heaved a sigh. “Until then you’ll have to make do with my immortal eyes. Unfortunately, they saw nothing.”

  “An autopsy could pinpoint the exact cause of death,” Kieran persisted.

  “Cut me up?” Julie hissed in my ear. “I think not!”

  “Do you know any medical examiners? I asked Kieran.

  A pause, then, “Well, no.”

  I smiled. “Then shut up.”

  We fell silent again. A grandfather clock struck a full hour, and then silence enveloped us once more. I realized even Julie had become quiet, meaning she was still listening to our conversation. As uncomfortable as that made me feel, I figured it might just kick-start her memory, so I didn’t try to send her away. I removed imaginary lint from my jeans, avoiding her wide-eyed, questioning gaze.

  Kieran spoke first. “Maybe it wasn’t so much pois
on as something else that made her pliant.”

  “I didn’t eat or drink anything out of the ordinary,” Julie said quietly, her thin voice startling me. My gaze swept over her stubborn expression. “Every night, we have bread, butter and water, which is served in the community room. It would’ve been hard to poison me and not everyone else in the room.”

  I relayed her words to Aidan and Kieran.

  Kieran cocked a brow. “Bread and butter? Where was she? Prison?”

  “Focus,” Aidan said sharply.

  Kieran cleared his throat and tapped a hand against his thigh, thinking. ““So, it wasn’t poison. Mind control, then. I really think she killed herself.”

  Julie gasped. Hearing other people talking about her death couldn’t be easy, so I shot her a sympathetic look. “There’s something I need to do. See you later,” she said. Keeping her head high, she smiled weakly and floated past me through the closed door.

  “Sure. Take your time,” I whispered after her.

  “Is she gone?” Aidan asked. I nodded. “Poor girl.”

  “I think the suicide part was a bit too much,” I said, “and I couldn’t agree more. We’re not in Star Trek.”

  Aidan’s jaw set. And that’s when I remembered my first date with him. He was an immortal bounty hunter; I was a mortal unaware of the existence of his world so, naturally, I had been nervous, even scared because I somehow felt the danger around him. And although I was both physically and spiritually drawn to him, I had no intention to hook up with the boss. So what exactly happened to my resolution? I tried my best to resist his good looks, but then he did something to me. I’m pretty sure he invaded my mind to soothe me, sending me into a deep sleep, from which I only awoke when his lips pressed against mine in the most tender kiss I ever had. I shuddered at the thought, and it wasn’t just with pleasure.

  “Can a vampire influence your mind?” I asked, staring at Aidan directly in the hope he’d get the hint. He didn’t and I made a mental note to ask him when we were alone in our bedroom. That is, if Julie had a sense of privacy.

  “Not any vampire. Only the first or second generation after a master,” Aidan said.

  I did the math inside my head. “You’re a second generation. Rebecca was a first since she turned you. And she was turned by—”

  “Her master, Flavius,” Aidan said.

  “He’s dead,” Kieran whispered. “And Rebecca’s a ghost.”

  Aidan hesitated, considering his words. “But they will rise. Once all four shards merge, the mirror can turn anyone into flesh and blood. That’s what the prophecy’s all about. Three races fighting for supremacy, of which the vampires could be the winners. And by vampires I mean Flavius, Rebecca, and their army. They’re about the last people you want to win a war.” Aidan shut his eyes as he spoke, his memory traveling back. Because of our bond, pictures flooded my mind: pictures of pain and tears, of death and destruction washing over the world. I shook my head to get rid of the disturbing images but only managed to intensify them, until Aidan opened his eyes again. There was urgency in them. Whatever Rebecca’s plans were, recent events had shown that she had come a lot closer to her goals when she found fragments of the mirror that could entrap souls and release those trapped. Aidan had one shard of the mirror, Rebecca the other three. I had no doubt she’d attack us to get her hands on the last fragment. And then her master would return to claim the world.

  “That reminds me, did you get a meeting with the Council?” I asked Aidan.

  He shook his head. “Blake’s trying but it’s as though they’re avoiding us.” He spat his former friend’s name like it was poison.

  I sighed. “I know you’re still mad at him, but can you please try to put it all aside, at least until this war’s won?”

  He squirmed in his seat, hesitating, which made me groan. Aidan was as stubborn as a mule. Cass claimed it was a trait Scottish men are known for but, usually, he was also known for being the sensible one. That he wouldn’t budge in this particular case made no sense.

  “What’s wrong?” I brushed his hair out of his eyes, ignoring Kieran’s warning look.

  Aidan turned to face me but didn’t answer. His grim expression reflected the way he felt inside: torn, unsure what to do. I tuned into our bond and let my mind reach out to his, fighting layer of layer of emotional fog and secrecy, when the telltale barrier hit me with full force. He wasn’t ready to share whatever bothered him.

  “You’re keeping secrets again,” I said, pushing him away angrily.

  “He’s not the one keeping secrets,” Kieran whispered. “It’s Blake. So don’t be angry at him.”

  I narrowed my gaze. “What secrets?”

  “Secrets that can cost him his life,” Kieran said.

  “I don’t understand. Whose life?” I asked, confused.

  “Blake’s,” Kieran elucidated.

  My thoughts began to race, putting two and two together. In my twisted reasoning, all I understood was that my boyfriend wanted to kill Blake for keeping secrets. I shot Aidan a glare. “And you’re considering telling on him, maybe even killing him.” I shook my head vehemently and yanked at his arm to get his attention. “No, Aidan, you can’t do that. He was your best friend. If I can forgive and forget, then so can you.”

  He frowned, his expression brooding, intense. A shadow crossed his features a moment before he realized the meaning of my words. “What? No. Of course I’d never betray my brethren. An oath stays an oath. Kieran wasn’t talking about me. We think someone found out Blake’s secret, but they don’t know how to prove their claims. So they might be trying to blame him for Julie’s death to get rid of him.”

  My mind wandered back to everything I knew about Blake. I didn’t get it. What secret could he possibly have that someone would want to frame him for a murder he didn’t commit?

  Aidan inched closer and whispered in my ear, “He’s different.” I raised my brows, signaling I still had no clue. “Do you remember when I told you I saved his life?” I nodded so Aidan continued, “Without me he’d be dead.”

  “Like in cold as a stone,” Kieran chimed in.

  I waved my hand about. “Yeah, I know Blake’s a vampire.”

  Aidan cocked a brow meaningfully. “Yes, but his people don’t know it.”

  Did he say his people? And that’s when it dawned on me. Blake wasn’t just a vampire, he was also a male witch: a warlock—and the people of Morganefaire had absolutely no idea about it. I shrugged. “So what’s the deal? They’ve welcomed your kind for hundreds of years.”

  Aidan sighed. I couldn’t tell whether from frustration or from the realization that I really had no idea about anything. He pulled me closer and wrapped his arms around me, whispering, “Remember our gates back home? They’re infused with magic to keep out the Shadows.” I nodded, unsure where this conversation was heading. He continued, “They contain witch’s blood. But the witches and warlocks of Morganefaire stopped selling their blood hundreds of years ago. Blake let me use his own blood without their knowing, which makes him a traitor.”

  “Add the fact that he’s one of us now when he’s actually mentioned in the prophecy as Morganefaire’s future leader, and that’s a sure death sentence,” Kieran said. “The Council will never allow a vampire warlock to lead them, and particularly not when it looks like the vampires planned the whole thing by turning Blake.”

  The gravity of his words sat in the pit of my stomach like a rock. “But no one can prove anything, right? It’d be his word against the other person’s.” The room fell silent for a moment as I tried to make sense of the chunk of information. One question remained unanswered though. “How come Blake’s not sensitive to light, like Clare? The Shadow ritual wasn’t performed on him.” I thought back to our talk about silkworms. Silk was more light filtering than satin. Maybe he used it as a protective shield. It sounded far-fetched, but I couldn’t dismiss the idea.

  “That’s right,” Aidan said. “Since witch’s blood courses through his ve
ins, he only had to perform—”

  “His own magic to get rid of it,” I finished, finally understanding.

  “There’s still some sensibility, which is why he wears thick clothing,” Aidan said. “Witches and warlocks are mortal; Blake isn’t. But, unlike us, his wounds take longer to heal, and if they’re vicious enough he could even die.”

  And that’s when it dawned on me. “Is that why you pulled out your dagger and went all cuckoo for all people to see?” I whispered in disbelief.

  Aidan nodded gravely. “The plan was to hurt him so everyone would see his wounds didn’t heal instantly, which would’ve proved he wasn’t a vampire.” My jaw dropped.

  Kieran laughed. “Did you really believe we’d kill him?”

  I lowered my gaze, ashamed that I really thought Aidan was about to turn into a raging psycho. “So it was all show?” I asked, incredulous.

  “Pretty much.” Aidan’s smile disappeared and his expression darkened again. “But that doesn’t mean Blake and I are friends again. That period of our lives is over.”

  Chapter 9

  I was so absorbed in our conversation that I didn’t even notice when Julie returned. Daylight had just given way to darkness when we finally stood from our seats on the sofa and went about closing the shutters for the night. According to Aidan, that wasn’t so much a choice as expected of us in Morganefaire.

  “You don’t leave your curtains undrawn or shutters open, not if you don’t want the Council talking sense into you,” Kieran said. “And by talking I don’t actually mean the use of words. More like ending up at the bottom of a cold, freezing lake tied to a giant slab of concrete.”

  “It’s not so much their unwanted attention you should be worried about, but the fact that the night has countless ears,” Aidan said dryly. “It’d rather not have them tune in to our conversation.”

  I nodded and finished up barricading the house, then returned to my place on the sofa. Aidan was already there, waiting for me. His arms wrapped around me like I always belonged in them. As his bonded mate, it was my rightful place by his side, and he wasn’t afraid to show it at any given opportunity.