Forever and Beyond (18 page)

“Julie!” I hissed. “Stop it.”

Returning from that sense of nonexistence, I blinked and shook my head slightly to make sure it was still there. The thought of floating around in that abyss had me paralyzed with fear. It was even enough to make me forget the wobbling hands beneath my feet.

“Sorry. Didn’t work,” Julie said. “One more time, okay?” The stupid ghost was about to possess me and didn’t even notice.

“No!” I yelled. “You almost possessed me!”

Her face dropped and her eyes widened. “Oh.” A glimmer appeared in her gaze, followed by…pride? I groaned. She couldn’t be serious. “I really did?” she asked.

“Hey, focus on getting me back up there,” I snapped.
Countless ideas as to what I’d do with her once I got my hands on her entered my head.

“Take it down a notch because it’s not like you’re human or anything. I mean if you were you’d be splattered across the rocks like a smashed watermelon...that is, if you even survived the ‘hands’.” She glanced down into my eyes. “You’re an immortal being, Amber. Use your immortal tricks.”

I was still a newbie, for crying out loud. Why didn’t people get that part? “I might have immortal strength to hang on but
Morganefaire
magic’s making the wall slick like ice.”
As though the wall heard me, it turned a tiny bit smoother. Filled with horror, I watched my fingers slowly starting to lose their grip. Sweat poured down my back. For one minute, I considered shouting for help but what would the others think? I couldn’t tamper with Aidan’s reputation.

She hovered a few inches above the edge and tapped her fingers against the thigh. “Why don’t you just do that disappearing act Kieran keeps doing?”

“What disappearing act?”

“I’ve been watching him. He dissolves into thin air at night,” Julie said. “He returns in the morning before your boyfriend wakes up.”

My mind put two and two together. Kieran was teleporting somewhere, but I had no time to ponder his whereabouts because Julie was spot-on. I could just imagine myself standing on top of the wall and, thanks to my
vampiric
abilities, I’d be transported through time and space to the desired spot. Why didn’t I think of trying that before?

I focused on the few images etched into my mind: the old worn out stone weathered by snow and rain and Julie’s open-toe, five-inch boots with tiny diamanté straps running across her ankles in a black cloud swirling underneath her. Trying to remember every single detail I could so I wouldn’t end up a frozen iceberg in Alaska, I added tiny flecks of limestone granite to the wall. That would be my focal point so I could tune into my immortal power locked away deep inside. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as I forced my mind to conjure the image. The air began to shift around me, making my stomach coil. My grip around the stone loosened. The next thing I knew I felt solid ground beneath my feet.

“It worked,” Julie squealed, almost sending me back over the edge again.

“It did.” I laughed with her. “Thank you. I thought I was going to break a few bones down there.”

“Or worse.” She pointed in the distance at a shadow, darker than the night, moving toward us at a fast speed. The sky above it looked like a giant hole; air seemed to whirl like a tornado that bathed everything in its wake in pitch black.

“It’s just a bit of wind, right?” In spite of my words, I moved a step back.

“Not quite.” A pause. Then, “You know, maybe we should get down from here.” She didn’t even wait for my reply. With a last glance over her shoulder, she floated down the wall and onto the paved street below.

My gaze drifted to the sea of hands that almost gobbled me up. They were there, scratching away at the wall in their fruitless attempt to get inside the city. I couldn’t believe I didn’t see them before.

“Are you coming or what?” Julie whispered. Jumping, I landed on my feet right next to her. I opened my mouth to speak when she raised her finger to her lips to shush me. “Listen.”

I followed her command. For a minute I heard nothing, and then the wailing began, growing louder and louder as it inched closer. I say ‘wailing’ because it faintly reminded me of hundreds of voices calling and bawling their eyes out, but in truth I had never heard anything like it before. Cold shudders ran up and down my spine and the hairs on my neck prickled.

“What is that?” I whispered.

“The
real
reason why people barricade themselves inside their homes at night,” Julie explained. “We’re not safe here and no one will open their door to let us in.”

“Like this thing couldn’t get inside if it wanted!” I said.

“We need to seek shelter now,” she said, starting down the street. “Every building...house, shop, church...whatever...is protected by magic. The thing is forbidden to enter, but if it manages to catch you outside then it’s a completely different story and all bets are off. Either you kill yourself or it kills you. Usually, it prefers the latter, slow and painful. It doesn’t come out every night, but when it does, then it’s every guard for himself.”

My boots clanked on the stone as I hurried to keep up with her. “I don’t get why you’re so scared. You’re a ghost.”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. It can suck me up, too, trap me in there for eternity. As long as I’m inside a building the magic protects me whether I’m dead or not.” She pointed at a wooden structure that looked like an oversized container, about a foot tall, with a latch. “Let’s take cover in there.”

I nodded and hurried over, then pried the latch open and jumped inside, closing it behind us.

The confined space was bathed in darkness and reeked of rotten apples and what else not but, according to Julie, it would do.

“Now, zip it,” she commanded. “It will be here soon.”

I tried to take shallow, silent breaths as I peered through a tiny split in the wall. The night torch on the other side of the road barely broke the darkness. Nothing stirred on the narrow street. And then I felt the first shudder in the air, a slow wave of despair and hunger that washed over me and left a strong feeling of hopelessness behind. A creepy urge to start crying ran through me and moisture gathered in my eyes.

“Don’t listen to it. If you do, you’ll die,” Julie whispered. I wasn’t going to and yet—

The black column of air appeared in my line of vision, twisting and twirling like a tornado as it made its way through the narrow street, reaching almost as high as the buildings. A violent wind tilted the trees, ready to pull them out by their roots. The buildings around us began to shake from the debris and rocks flying against the walls and the hailstones pelting against the windows. For a minute, I covered my ears to tune out the noise reminding me of hundreds of freight trains rumbling on top of me. It was the most interesting yet frightening thing I’d ever seen in my life. The wailing intensified and grew into a crescendo. Even our container started to vibrate and shake. I could only hope we were safe.

Peeking out, I stared at the black column moving closer. Leading it was a naked man sitting on a stallion with bloody gashes covering his entire body. His long brown hair tied in a ponytail barely swayed in the strong breeze, as though the wind didn’t have any effect on him. Sensing I was watching him, his head snapped in my direction and his hollow skeleton eyes turned on me. Blood began to drip from his mouth in tiny rivulets. Ever so slowly, his jaw opened to reveal shark-like teeth. My heart lurched when I realized that was no man. It was evil personified. I scooted up against the wall, my body trembling, and yet I couldn’t stop staring.

More faces popped up in the dark spiral. Their ashen faces shimmered in the darkness as they marched along the paved street, the wind barely covering their naked bodies. They multiplied before my eyes, until the whole street was lined up with the undead army, mouths agape with despair, crying, calling, searching for something the hollow pits that once were their eyes couldn’t see.

When the first skeleton face appeared only inches away from our hiding place, I thought I’d jump out of my skin. I pressed my palm against my mouth to keep me from yelping and bit hard on my tongue to stay focused.

I don’t know how long Julie and I hid inside the wooden box, too petrified to move or even breathe but, after what felt like an eternity, the creepy wind passed and silence ensued. Eventually, Julie signaled that we could leave. I opened the lid and climbed out, too shaken to utter a word. Hundreds of questions raced through my mind, but none made it past my trembling lips.

“It won’t come back,” Julie whispered. “Not tonight.” I nodded when movement on the other side of the road caught my eye. Turning my head sharply, I dived back down behind the wooden box and scanned the area.

A tall figure with a black cape disappeared around the corner, leaving a bundle behind. Realizing it was a human shape I jumped to my feet and hurried over to help. But I could tell from the darkening aura around the body that the person was already dead.

“Her name’s Samantha,” Julie said, her voice barely louder than a whisper. “She’s a witch. You can tell by the star and moon tattoo on her left wrist.”

Another body in
Morganefaire
. Only this time, I had the luck to find it. My breath came in ragged heaps as I turned the bundle on the ground around to search for a pulse…and found none. The last time I held a body in my arms, it was my brother’s, right after Rebecca attacked him in Hell because he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. His soul was reunited with his body eventually, but the experience left me marked for life because I had never felt so powerless. Seeing the motionless girl at my feet, I felt similar—only this time I knew no voodoo priestess would be here to raise her from the dead.

My hands trembled; my heart beat so fast I thought my chest might explode. I had to call the others but my legs wouldn’t budge from the spot. Where was the soul? Had the reaper arrived to get her and I never saw him?

“Is she dead?” Julie’s eyes grew wide.

I nodded slowly.

“But—” Her lips quivered.

My gaze remained glued to the bundle on the ground. For a moment I thought I saw something shimmer beneath the thin material of her white nightgown. With shaking fingers I bared her right shoulder to reveal a raw, red spot, about the size of an almond. My finger moved across it gently, probing the indentation.

“What is that?” Julie asked, inching closer.

“I think someone removed a bit of skin,” I whispered.

“I’m going to be sick.” Julie suppressed a genuine gag.

“Come on.” I tried to grab her arm, for a moment forgetting Julie was just a ghost, then pulled back when I realized my mistake.

“Amber?” Aidan’s deep voice echoed through the night. I started off down the street to meet him halfway and jumped into his arms. A sob escaped my throat. “Are you okay?” he whispered.

I shook my head and let his presence envelop me, only now noticing the few men of the Night Guard standing behind him.

“What happened?” Aidan asked, his hands rubbing my arms gently.

“There’s a body. I saw someone move it.” My voice came low and hoarse. I cleared my throat to get rid of the quiver in it. The magnitude of my words sank onto me. I hadn’t just discovered the body but also saw the murderer. Granted, it was only his cape, but at least I could tell it was someone tall and sturdy.

“Where?” Logan asked.

I pointed around the corner to where I had left the bundle behind. Aidan’s fingers wrapped around my hand and pulled me with him as he followed the Night Guard.

***

Aidan was standing behind me, his fingers caressing my hips as I leaned into him. His muscular body, dressed in loose-fit jeans and a shirt, shielded me from the cold night wind that had started to blow. Kieran stood to my right. His black hair swayed slightly. His blue eyes shimmered like the dark ocean.

“I request a Council meeting, right here, right now,” a man said. Aidan’s heartbeat accelerated against my back but he remained quiet.

“Agreed,” Logan said, then silence ensued as several guards disappeared to get whoever was supposed to be the Council. At least ten to fifteen minutes passed before more people arrived, among them a woman. I craned my neck to get a look at her face.
Elyssa
—for a moment I was fooled to believe it was her, until I noticed that her hair was shorter and her face slightly haggard, as though she didn’t eat enough.
She seemed older than
Elyssa
, too. Maybe it was her mother or an elder sister.

“Who’s that?” I whispered to Aidan.

“That’s
Corinna
. She’s a member of the Council.” His voice trailed off. I didn’t need him to elaborate to know she wasn’t on our side. Her furious expression said more than a thousand words.

One of the men spoke to her. She nodded, her gaze still focused on me. Was she blaming me for the girl’s death? It sure looked like it. The guards began to chatter animatedly, then made room for the Council to gather: Iain, Logan,
Corinna
, Riley, an older guy called
Morres
and what looked like a younger version of him, Rowan.

Somewhere at the periphery of my mind, I knew what they were saying was of great importance, and yet all I could think of was the witch at our feet: so small, so frail, so…dead. It was a bit like, wherever I went, death followed. I couldn’t help the sudden dread and suspicion washing over me. And who could blame me? Hadn’t Aidan claimed
Morganefaire
was the safest place on earth? And what about all my new friends, who seemed to encounter this or that tiny inconvenience, like my brother dying and his soul having to be reunited with his body? Or voodoo priestess, Sofia, a close friend of mine, almost being sacrificed at the hands of a demi-god Seth slash her ex-boyfriend Gael. The coincidences were slowly beginning to pile up that I sort of stopped believing in accidents. I might not be a connoisseur of the paranormal world, and certainly not of
Morganefaire
, but my gut feeling told me this was no coincidence. And when my gut feeling jumped in, it had a better success rate than
Google Maps
.