Forever and Beyond (14 page)

I only realized it was already early afternoon when Aidan’s voice echoed from the house a moment before he appeared around the corner.

“Hey,” he said softly. The smile on his face disappeared quickly when he noticed my expression. Frowning, he gently grabbed my shoulders and forced me to look at him. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I—”

He arched a brow. I took a deep breath as I decided to be honest. No more secrets between us. “Okay, there was something. Maya was in the living room when I came back from my trip with Julie. She was strange, and then I thought I saw her eye color change, which made me wonder whether she’s some supernatural creature I don’t yet know about.” The moment I finished, I realized how foolish I sounded. I almost expected Aidan to burst out in laughter and tell me I was behaving like a scared, little child, but he just continued to frown and remained silent.

“I’m pretty sure Maya’s just a witch, like everyone else in
Morganefaire
,” he finally said, hesitating, “but if she makes you feel uncomfortable I can get Blake to send a replacement.”

“That’s not what I meant. I told you it’s nothing, so just forget about it.” I took off toward the house. Aidan followed a step behind. I could feel his presence as though he was glued to me. “I wish someone could give me a giant handbook so I’m not constantly walking around in the dark,” I muttered. He shot me an apologetic look. Before he could say a word, I held up my hand and continued. “Yeah, I know that doesn’t exist.”

He smiled. “But it should.”

“Damn straight.” I nodded. “I’m going to write one.”

“Whatever you do I trust your instincts,” he whispered. “Maya doesn’t look dangerous, but you might be sensing her animosity toward strangers wafting from her. I don’t want you to be upset because of it so it might be better to talk to Blake.”

I turned to regard him. “No, let her stay. She might not like me very much, but that’s not a reason to sack someone.”

“Are you sure you want her around?” He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer. I nodded as I buried my head against his chest, breathing in his scent. A soft breeze ruffled our hair and caressed our skin, making me shiver.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to give you.” My hand moved inside my back pocket to retrieve his present. I smiled as I watched him eye it carefully before tearing through the paper to reveal the black box beneath.

“What is it?” he asked.

I shrugged, amused. “Don’t know. You tell me.”

“Even though I’ve no idea what could possibly be inside, thank you.” Aidan’s words filled me with pride. My heart almost burst with love at the prospect of having removed one of his worries.

His fingers gingerly moved across the velvet cover and pried it open. The emerald stone shimmered in the daylight, catching my breath. A smile spread across my lips. I felt like jumping up and down, and hugging him at the same time. But when I raised my gaze to catch his expression, I realized he didn’t share my enthusiasm.

“Thank you,” he said again. “It’s beautiful.” His words were genuine but it wasn’t the reaction I had expected.

I frowned, suddenly irritated with him. “It’s the same ring you have. Don’t you recognize it?”

“Babe—” a pause, then “—it’s a replica.”

“How can you tell? It looks exactly the same.” I fought the urge to shake some sense into him because, the way I saw it, the ring couldn’t possibly be a fake. Or could it?

His expression softened even more, as though he felt sorry for my blunder. Deep inside I cringed at my own naivety and stupidity. Of course the ring couldn’t possibly be real. According to Aidan, it was one of the most sought-after objects in the paranormal world. So, why would it gather dust in a makeshift display in a witch’s meaningless shop with no security to guard it?
Because, obviously, it was indeed worthless. I felt my face drop the way Julie’s had when I told her I couldn’t try the apple because I was a vampire.

“It’s a beautiful gift I’ll treasure forever because it came from you,” Aidan said. That about did it. I grabbed the box out of his hands and tossed it across the garden into the nearby bushes. A bird swooped over our heads and flew away, so I knew the darn ring landed somewhere. But where, I didn’t care. I just wanted it gone forever.

“I’m such a moron,” I muttered. “I can’t believe I really thought I had solved that problem of yours after you spent hundreds of years trying to locate its whereabouts.”

Laughing, Aidan took off through the bushes to search for the ring. I could only hope he wasn’t going to tell his friends about his gift, or I might end up the laughing stock yet again. Slowly, I was getting used to my reputation—
scaredy
cat necromancer and newly turned vampire messes up big time...
again
.

“I forgot to tell you Kieran and I have joined the Night Guard,” Aidan called from under the bushes. I rolled my eyes and slumped onto the lawn to pout for a minute. A bit later he joined me, holding the box in his hand and still laughing. “You
wanna
come?”

“You guys want me around?” I sat up instantly, the box in his hands forgotten or, better said, ignored. “No begging, no arguing?”

He shook his head and brushed a stray strand of hair out of my face. “No begging, no arguing. In fact, we hope you’ll join us. You’ll make a hell of a private investigator.” His eyes sparkled and for a moment, I couldn’t tell whether he meant it or was making fun of me. I decided it was probably the latter, but I didn’t care. I had been dying to find out more about the Night Guard, and this was my chance.

“So the Council meeting went well?” I asked.

He cringed. “Not quite. There was a lot of talk about the coming war. Logan’s on our side, but Riley wants to keep
Morganefaire’s
allegiances open, meaning he thinks it might be wise to wait and see, and then kiss the winner—”

“Where the sun don’t shine,” I finished.

“I meant to say ‘the winner’s hand’ but I guess your interpretation is spot on,” Aidan muttered.

“That’s bad.”

He took a deep breath as his gaze swept over the blossoming rosebushes. “I talked to Blake.” I reached out to brush my hand through his hair, signaling I was there for him, no matter what. “He agrees that Julie was murdered, but he has no idea why.”

I nodded. “Thought that much.”

“There’s something else.” His voice lowered to a mere whisper. “Another body was found this morning.”

“What?” I inched closer, too shocked to form a coherent thought.

“She was only twenty and died in her sleep. Or so it seems. Blake’s found out that she was about to start an apprenticeship outside of
Morganefaire
in a few days. The Council has decided to keep her death a secret, but it’s only a matter of time until it leaks to the public.” He closed his eyes and began to massage his temples the way he always did when he expected things to take a turn for the worse. “One death they might accept as a coincidence, two and they might think it could have something to do with us.”

“A furious crowd demanding answers,” I whispered. “Answers we don’t have.” He nodded. “Do you want me to visit her body and question her ghost?”

Aidan’s lips pressed into a grim line. “It’s probably too late. The reaper must’ve been here already.”

“You don’t know that for sure. Just look at Julie. There’s no sign of a reaper and she’s following me around like there’s no tomorrow,” I said, wondering why I hadn’t seen her in a while. “It’s worth a shot,” I continued quieter in case anyone heard us. The idea of having a second ghost following me around scared the crap out of me, but I offered nonetheless in case it might do any good.

“I appreciate it,” Aidan said. “But your hands are full with her, and one ghost is enough.”

I tried not to show my relief. Julie was manageable…so far, but I definitely couldn’t tune in to two ghosts at the same time. It’d drive me bonkers, not to mention the fact that they might just decide to possess me or something.

“Any clues as to what could’ve happened to them?” I asked.

“None. The Night Guard is our only chance.” He inched closer until our lips almost touched. I could feel his hot breath on my skin and it sent shivers down my spine. “At this point we cannot trust anyone.”

“Yeah, like they trust us.” I snorted.

“Not true. They’ll be wary of Kieran and me, because they think we have underlying motives. We’re ancient vampires with a bad reputation. But you’re a completely different story and could hide under the radar.”

“Because I’m super sweet, friendly, and never have shed innocent blood.” Well, except for one poor squirrel—may it rest in peace!

“My thoughts exactly. Everybody likes you—” he cringed “—except the help.” I slapped his arm playfully. “But, seriously, you could mingle with the guards, play the loyal girlfriend supporting her man by being there, completely bored by the politics.”

I wasn’t even sure that wasn’t the truth. “Got it. I’ll pretend I’m bored out of my mind while I try to peer behind their armor, discover their secrets, and find the culprit.”

He kissed me. “You’re the smartest girl I know. I couldn’t ask for a better equal. While I keep the guards busy you search for clues.” He trailed his fingers down my neck as his blue gaze interlocked with mine. I stared at him, mesmerized. “Just don’t stray too far and be careful. I couldn’t bear if anything happened to you.”

“When are we starting?” I managed to say, heart pounding and all.

“Tonight,” he whispered. “When darkness descends you’ll see the scariest thing of your life.”

After my last possession and Rebecca’s poltergeist activity, which almost made me want to lock myself up in a pretty, white cell, I highly doubted anything could scare me more. But I nodded nonetheless. As our lips connected in our first heated kiss of the day, it completely slipped my mind that I hadn’t told him about my meeting with
Elyssa
.

“I wanted to give you a normal life, but at this point I doubt it’s even possible,” Aidan said, breaking away from me for a second.

“I’m in this relationship for the long haul and that’s all that matters.” Supernatural was my middle name now. I appreciated the fact that Aidan wanted to give me the perfect life with the white picket fence and all, but that was never going to happen. Not in his world. Not until we won the war.

“You’re a cute addition to the paranormal community.” His lips nuzzled my neck. I drew him closer and leaned back to enjoy his soft kisses, ready to forget the world around us. His hands trailed down my back and settled on my hips. I reached up his chest to loop my arms around his neck as his lips finally settled on mine in a long kiss. My legs wobbled beneath me, but Aidan held me tight as his lips brushed over mine in one eclectic kiss after another, making my head so dizzy I thought I might be standing in the center of a tornado.

Eventually he broke our embrace and walked over to what looked like a briefcase to retrieve a red plastic bag. “What’s that?” My voice came low and hoarse as my head still floated in ecstasy.

“You need to drink…just in case,” Aidan said. To my delight I realized his self-control didn’t fare any better. His eyes burned with passion, though I couldn’t tell whether for me or because of what was inside the bag.

I needed to feed. He was right about that. As much as I hated doing this, it’d buy me a few days of peace. I grabbed the bag from his outstretched hand and headed upstairs to lock myself inside the bathroom so no one would see me ravish my disgusting meal.

A few minutes later, I peeled off my bloodstained clothes, took a hot shower and wrapped a soft bathrobe around my energized body before returning to the bedroom, surprised to find Aidan was still here. Upon seeing me, he jumped up from the canapé and reached me in three long strides. His arms went around my waist as he pulled me closer.

“I know this is hard for you,” he whispered in my ear. His voice was low and soothing, a sweet caress like his fingers against my skin.

I nodded and inhaled his scent, muttering, “You’ve no idea.”

“Trust me, it’ll get easier with time.” If his words were meant to comfort me then they failed big time. But I nodded nonetheless, letting him think it was working. “I’ll stay with you no matter what, Amber.”

“Then prove it.” I had never let him kiss me after feeding because I was ashamed of my body’s need for blood when he could go without it now. Even though he had fed for centuries before the ritual freed him from his unnatural longing, I somehow felt beneath him now.

“How? You know I’d do anything to make you believe me,” he whispered so low his words were almost lost in the muffled noise of
Morganefaire’s
daily business carrying over through the open window.

“The worst thing about blood is that you can never wash away its scent, no matter how hard you try.” I smiled bitterly. “But you know that since you lived like I do.” He nodded. His gaze betrayed his uncertainty as to where this was heading. I grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the bed, then forced him down next to me. “I want you to see the dark side of me.”

My mouth found his and our lips touched. He flinched slightly at the metallic scent on my tongue. My hand moved to the back of his nape and pressed gently. Aidan pulled back and his gaze locked on me. His fingers touched my lips and a tiny spark flew between us. He smiled lazily.