Forever and Beyond (3 page)

With the Shadows currently out of the picture, two courts were left to battle it out: the vampires and the Lore Court.
Layla
, a demi-goddess and the current ruler of the Lore Court, had begun to train more
succubi
, whose touch could be more fatal than a thousand swords. But she had her own problems to face:
Layla’s
succubus mother had borne several children.
Layla
had done her best to hunt down and kill her half-siblings to ensure she kept her reign, but one escaped. Seth—half deity, half Shadow, and probably the biggest sociopath I had ever met—had been snubbed by the Shadows and was now ready to get rid of his sister and the Shadow queen to claim both the Lore and the Shadow throne for himself. But without an army, he had to rely on our cooperation. As much as I didn’t trust the guy, we were too few in number to decline his ‘help’. Besides,
Layla
still wanted my head after I won the Gift of Sight in her paranormal race. Aidan always thought if the chance presented itself, she’d kill us all. I had no doubt he was right.

Everyone was suiting up for war—everyone but us, which brings me to my kind: the vampires.

Ever since the Lore Court imprisoned the bloodthirsty and cruel vampire ruler, Flavius, the vampires were divided into factions that fought each other with a vengeance, meaning we were the weakest race out of the bunch. But Flavius’s chances were increasing by the day. Aidan’s maker, Rebecca, had found a way that might just help her free Flavius from his imprisonment. Legend told the story of an ancient mirror that was once broken into four shards. The one who combined the four fragments could open any portal and release whoever was trapped inside.

Yes, the paranormal world was changing, which was why we sought out Aidan’s brethren in
Morganefaire
. We needed
Morganefaire’s
magic if we wanted to stand a chance. I doubted the prophecy could be halted forever, but at least we could find out more about the ancient legends surrounding it and try to prevent Flavius’s return.

“Are you still here?” Aidan whispered in my ear, jolting me out of my thoughts.

I nodded and smiled. “Yeah, I was just thinking about everything.”

“That certainly explains the worry lines on your pretty forehead.” He leaned in to place a soft kiss between my eyebrows, his breath lingering on my skin a tad too long. “Everything will be okay.” His tone was strong, determined, but the edge in it didn’t escape me.

The air smelled crisp and clean. A strong wind crept beneath my jeans and shirt, making me shiver, but not from the cold. It took me all of two seconds to realize what was wrong with this setting. It wasn’t just the moon that was weird.

It was eerily quiet.
No crickets sang in the grass, no owls hooted, and there was no noise from the city behind the walls.

“I think everyone’s asleep,” I said, rubbing my hands together nervously.

Aidan just frowned in response. I didn’t like that. Usually, he at least
tried
to comfort me and make any strange occurrence seem like it wasn’t a big deal.

“Either that, or they’re dead,” Kieran said. I let out a tiny gasp. Aidan elbowed him in the ribs. “What?” Kieran’s eyebrows shot up. “She knows I’m kidding.”

I tried to play it off. “Yeah, I knew.”

“Balloons. Confetti. Champagne glasses,” Kieran said sarcastically. “I guess they’re pulling out all the stops to come out and greet their guests of honor.”

Aidan shot him a warning look, silencing him instantly. “Follow me.” With one arm he lifted my suitcase like it weighed nothing while the other moved around my waist to draw me close to him. It wasn’t a gesture of affection. Aidan always did that when he thought he might need to protect me but didn’t want to make it too obvious. I slapped his hand away playfully and stomped off in front of him. Kieran was right. Aidan was supposed to be some sort of guest of honor, and you don’t greet your guests by snoring in your fluffy sheets.

Kieran hammered against the gate. I cringed at the noise, almost expecting half the city to wake up and start throwing buckets of water over our heads. But nothing moved.

“Hello?” I called out while pushing the gate hard. It didn’t budge, even though it didn’t even look as massive as I thought. “What the heck?”

“Magic,” Aidan replied. “We have to wait like everyone else.”

“I’ve never been a fan of sitting around and waiting for the Boogieman to come and get us,” Kieran said, his nervous gaze darting to the left and right. His paranoia made me roll my eyes.

“What are you, like, five? There is no Boogieman.”

He pointed at the almost full moon. “I’m talking about werewolves.”

I shuddered but tried to play it off, as though it didn’t bother me one tiny bit, not even after having a very close and intimate encounter with one of those. Claiming to be a Shadow, Brendan asked for my help when his girlfriend, Angel, disappeared and no one could find her. Eventually, the guy tried to eat me and almost succeeded. Up until the moment he attacked me I had no idea werewolves even existed, which made me wonder what else was out there.

When nothing stirred, I sat down under an oak tree and crossed my legs, prepared for a long wait. My hand reached out to touch the leaves dancing in the cool breeze. A change in subject was in order before the thought of werewolves and what else not gave me a few sleepless nights. “You were gone a while,” I said to Kieran. “What happened with your baker girlfriend?”

“A gentleman doesn’t talk.” He slumped down next to me. The tiniest hint of a smile tugged at his lips and I knew he didn’t even need encouragement to start talking about Patricia. “You want all the juicy details, don’t you?” he asked.

“Yep!” I nodded as my gaze followed Aidan who was checking out the gate. He passed me a fleeting glance, followed by the cute frown he always sported when concentrating. He was thinking of ways to reach his brethren on the other side of the wall.

“So you can spill everything to your BFF Cass?” Kieran snorted. I turned to regard him. The soft skin around his eyes crinkled with laughter. His cheeks almost glowed—not in a sparkly way but with a radiant shimmer that could only mean one thing: he was in love. “No way,” he said. “The next thing I know I’m hanging by my toe nails in one of her dad’s dungeons in the deepest level of Hell.” I laughed as I painted the picture before my eyes. Cass was Lucifer’s daughter. Patricia was Lucifer’s sister and thus Cass’s aunt. She was also a Seer and bound to a haunted bakery, meaning her curse prevented her from ever leaving the place. Basically, if she so much as set one foot outside the door everyone around her would feel the sudden urge to kill her...until she married
the one
. As far as I knew, Kieran was her bonded mate, but he was also the worst player I had ever met. Then there was also the problem of Cass happening to hate Kieran with a vengeance. This was one affair that couldn’t possibly last.

“My lips are sealed, I promise,” I said. “So, did she tame the wild beast?”

He laughed. Aidan raised his brows, suddenly interested. Before Kieran could answer, I heard footsteps approaching.

“Saved by the bell,” Kieran said.

Scrambling up, I peered into the darkness, but could make out nothing. A bolt slid and the gate opened slowly with a loud creak, just a tiny bit but enough to let me glimpse the face of a young woman, pale as a ghost with eyes as dark as rivers that seemed to swallow up the light. Her eyes shifted to and fro, focusing on nothing in particular.

“I’m Aidan McAllister. This is my girlfriend, Amber Reed, and my brother, Kieran McAllister.” Though he spoke quietly, Aidan’s smooth, dark voice oozed charm and confidence.

The woman’s nervous gaze swept past Aidan and settled on me, examining me as though she’d never seen another female before. Her stare seemed unnatural, wooden, like that of a dead doll creeping you out because it looked like it might just get up and start talking any minute. I shivered again and averted my gaze, but I could feel her watching me closely for long seconds as the silence deepened around us.

“Maybe you don’t know who we are,” Aidan said eventually. His tone softened, trying to instill a sense of trust the way you do when talking with a fearful child. “In which case, get Blake.” He spoke the name sharply, leaving no doubt that he had yet to forgive his former best friend’s betrayal.

The woman’s gaze eventually shifted away from me and focused on Aidan, ignoring Kieran completely. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware it was you. Please come in.” She spoke quietly, but something in her tone caught my attention. Her voice had a layer of fear to it, as though she was scared of us. I didn’t have time to contemplate my thoughts because she pushed the gate open and stepped to the side to let us in.

I walked in after Aidan, followed by Kieran. The woman closed the gate quickly, then turned to face us. “My name’s Maya. I’m responsible for your wellbeing and shall show you to your quarters. If you need anything during the length of your visit, I’m the one to contact.”

The night bathed her face in complete darkness but my heightened vision picked up the unnatural glint in her eyes. I squinted to get a better look but she turned her back on me and took off down the cobblestone path through narrow streets, past dark buildings with closed shutters. She moved so swiftly I barely had enough time to shoot Aidan a questioning look. If he caught it, he didn’t respond.

The silence felt awkward, making me feel more like an intruder than a guest. We walked briskly for a few minutes, then stopped in front of an inconspicuous building that blended in with the others around it. As soon as we entered the hall, a jolt of electricity rushed through me. For a second, I thought I heard whispers coming from the hall behind us and I knew at once there was nothing normal about this place.

“Do you hear that?” I whispered.

Kieran arched a brow in enquiry. “Hear what?”

Aidan wrapped an arm around me and whispered, “Spirits might be trying to communicate with you. Just tune them out like we practiced.”

I nodded and focused on telling them to come back another time. Soon the voices disappeared and I let out a sigh of relief.

“You speak to the dead?” Maya said. Her tone was sharp; her gaze was cold. There was something else. Hostility. Detest. I came to the conclusion she didn’t like me very much. Maybe she believed all the rumors about vampires, that we were cruel, blood thirsty, callous barbarians. I couldn’t blame her. More than half of us certainly fit the description, but I harbored no intention to become one of them.

“Unfortunately, yes.” I curled my lips into a friendly smile in the hope she got the hint that I wanted to be her friend.

“Interesting.” She turned her head to Aidan, ignoring me and Kieran. “These are the guest quarters. I hope everything’s to your liking. If you need anything, you’ll find me next door.” She pointed to her right. I followed her line of vision and noticed the door obscured by a thin curtain—probably separate quarters reserved for members of staff. For some reason the way she talked to Aidan, emphasizing the word ‘you’ bothered me a little. Or maybe it was the way she regarded him too intently. Even though Aidan was my bonded mate, I couldn’t help the pang of jealousy creeping up on me. I guess being a vampire didn’t protect me from having the usual human feelings and insecurities.

“Thank you,” Aidan said, oblivious to her behavior. “We can handle everything from here.”

“I’ll be back at eight
a.m.
unless—” She hesitated.

“That’s perfect,” Aidan said.

Maya nodded and disappeared into the darkness.

“She’s creepy,” Kieran whispered.

“What makes you say that? The weird voice? Or the way she kept staring at me?” I peered around me at the beautiful low-relief embossments and the expensive Turkish rugs covering the marble floor. The crystal candelabra above our heads held countless lit candles that threw a soft glow on the cherry wood furniture. A broad marble staircase led to a balustrade with a few doors I suspected were bedrooms. What impressed me the most, however, were the beautiful sculptural relief carved out of marble, from the railing to the ceiling and the borders adorning the furniture and doors. I inched closer and trailed a finger over what looked like tiny intricate flowers made of rose quartz adorning an incense holder carved from dark wood. They looked so fragile and yet so rich in detail, I wondered how any human being could possibly create something like this with their bare hands.

“It’s Oriental,” Aidan explained. “The Witches of
Morganefaire
are known for their craftsmanship in creating the most exquisite embellishments. They sell their brands for thousands of dollars. You wouldn’t believe the waiting list for this stuff.”

“It’s not just merchandise they sell,” Kieran whispered behind me.

I spun around and met his gaze. I had to admit I was very interested in what he had to say, but he clammed up when Aidan shot him his usual ‘shut up’ look.

“Let’s get some rest. We’ll have a long day ahead of us.” Aidan touched my arm softly and kissed my neck. Even though I didn’t appreciate his decisive tone, I let him guide me to the first bedroom, vowing to ask Kieran what he meant later. I didn’t feel tired but I dropped on the thick brocade covers nonetheless, inhaling the softest whiff of crushed lavender as I figured I might as well close my eyes for a minute or two. When I woke up again, the sun was spilling through the high bay windows. I rubbed my temple to get rid of the heavy sensation inside my temples and brushed my hand over the covers to the empty spot next to me. Aidan’s imprint was still there, but the space had cooled down, signaling he must’ve woken hours ago.