Dead and Beyond (11 page)

“Neither’s Layla,” I said dryly.

“Exactly. Layla thinks her half-brother has been planning her demise for ages with the difference that he kept a close eye on her for years and knows her every weakness.”

“She wants you to find him so she can kill him. I don’t like that, Aidan.”

Something sparkled in his blue eyes. “You’re way off track. And good thing too. Do you know how hard it is to kill a demi-deity? She wants him to sign a pact because she fears for her safety and throne. You see, Seth’s father was a Shadow.”

“Sounds like a pact with the devil. I’d run as far away from her as possible.” I raised my brows, not really understanding where he was heading with this.

“So what does all of this mean?”

Aidan inched closer to whisper in my ear, “The supernatural world is split into three courts: the vampires, the Shadows and the Lore court, which is ruled by a deity. A Shadow is granted his power rather than be born with it. Seth is already a deity, and now he’s looking for a way to trigger his Shadow powers. The moment that happens, he’ll tip the scales and one court will rule the world.”

Didn’t sound that bad to me. “Call me ignorant, but since you guys have been at war with each other for centuries, wouldn’t that mean peace?”

Didn’t sound that bad to me. “Call me ignorant, but since you guys have been at war with each other for centuries, wouldn’t that mean peace?”

“Yeah, but at what cost?” His gaze bore into mine and pictures began to flood my mind.

Limp bodies drained of blood; cut off heads with gaping mouths that revealed holes where there once used to be fangs; gaunt creatures clad in rags, with eyes as dead as a corpse’s; and then lots of fire burning down everything in its wake.

I shook my head to get rid of the disturbing images. “I don’t understand.” My mouth felt dry, my tongue stuck to the back of my throat.

Aidan moistened his lips, hesitating. “Legend is, a famous Lore Court Seer once predicted the war between the Shadows, the vampires and the Lore court would escalate into the most brutal bloodbath the world has ever witnessed. This war will see many innocent victims. Two courts from three will perish. I don’t know who will win, but I know it won’t be the vampires, at least not us.”

“And Layla wants to save the supernatural world?” I asked, not quite buying it. The woman loved blood and suffering. I couldn’t see her as the savior she pretended to be.

“No, she’s trying to save her ass,” Aidan said. “Just as much as I’m trying to save ours. If it takes working with that vicious snake, then so be it.”

In other words, we’d stuck with a power driven demi-goddess, who’d never warm up to the idea of me being Aidan’s girlfriend. Sooner or later she’d try to get rid off me. “What’s the plan?”

“I don’t know.” Aidan moistened his lips. I wrapped my arms around him, drawing him close, not really seeing the magnitude of what he was saying. I mean, it was just a legend, and legends are nothing but the figment of one’s imagination. Okay, more often than not, there’s a tiny grain of truth to them, but everyone knows that grain is completely blown out of proportion. So what if that guy, Seth, carried the ancestry of two courts? It didn’t mean anything. He had no powers, and even if he did, he had no idea how to use them. Someone would have to teach him. He had no connection to the Shadows and Layla’s mother had left the Lore court, so there would be no one to show him the ways of a deity.

Seriously, both Aidan and Layla were being paranoid, and I harbored no interest in letting their unfounded paranoia grab hold of me as well.

“Maybe the Seer was wrong. Just look at Nostradamus. The guy couldn’t predict a thing if his life depended on it,” I said. Aidan shook his head. I slapped his arm playfully. “Look, I don’t get why you’re so worried. The legend’s been around for centuries, and chances are it won’t happen any time soon, maybe never.

For your peace of mind, I suggest consulting Kieran’s new love interest.”

“Patricia?” Aidan’s brows shot up.

“She’s a Seer, right?”

An amused glint appeared in his blue gaze. “Yeah, but she’s also Cass’s aunt and a fallen angel. That’s not a trustworthy combination.”

I shrugged. “I was just trying to give you an option. I’ll help you find Seth, and then you’ll see all those worry lines you got were for nothing.” My finger trailed over his smooth forehead, lingering at this temple. His lips searched mine; his tongue explored my mouth as his hand wandered to my neck, sending shivers down my spine. We fell into a chair and I climbed on top of him, giving into his embrace, ready to help him forget his sorrows for a while. But as much as I knew we had nothing to worry about, a speck of doubt settled at the back of my mind, and no matter how hard I tried to push it away, I just couldn’t stop thinking about it.

It was late afternoon when Aidan announced he had to leave again, which suited me just fine. As much as I liked spending the day with him making out on the sofa, relationships don’t usually work that way. One has to keep it mysterious, you know, be available for a time, and then pull back so the chase can start all over again. If Aidan wanted to hang out at the Lore Court without me, I wouldn’t play the clingy girlfriend because it just wasn’t my style. I was perfectly capable of entertaining myself in his absence. In fact so much that I planned to completely forget about him and really get into my new project, Paranormal Initiation.

Finding Angel would be my first assignment.

I programmed Brendan’s phone number into my cell and tossed the paper away. Then I slipped into my favorite pair of jeans and a tight shirt, pulled my hair up in a messy ponytail, and took my place at Aidan’s shiny mahogany desk that smelled a tad too much of wood polish. Brendan needed my help or, better said, we both needed each other’s help because I harbored no false hope of never seeking blood again. I sat there for a long time, recalling the few conversations I ever had with Angel and jotting everything down. By the time I finished, I thought I’d have a few scribbled pages and plenty of hints. And then I looked down and groaned inwardly because I had just wasted an hour on three bullet points.

First, Angel told me the Shadows took her in when she was just a little girl with no family and no hope of a future. Basically, she had spent seventeen years trapped in a mountain, watched by a bunch of creepy-eyed weirdos, like Kieran called them. As much as I would’ve wanted to disagree, they were kinda weird and I didn’t fail to point that out when I first met Angel, probably helping her realize that her circumstances weren’t exactly common among teens.

Second, she missed seeing the outside world, but she wasn’t unhappy, or so she claimed. And, last but not least, right before Aidan freed me from Shadowland, I gave Angel the option to leave with me, but she wouldn’t. Her exact words were that she’d die if she ever tried to escape. She never talked about Brendan, but she was curious about the bond I shared with Aidan, as though she was trying to find out more about it. I figured, at her age there’s always a guy involved. She might’ve even been in love with him. Whether it was indeed Brendan, I couldn’t tell.

I tapped my pen against my lips, putting two and two together. I doubted Angel was kidnapped because Shadowland was better fortified than Buckingham Palace or the White House. Thrain, Clare and Aidan’s ex-BFF Blake managed to get in, but only because Thrain was a shape shifter and impersonated Devon so the guards would open the gates. Angel’s disappearance had to be her own choice, meaning she knew what she was doing and she certainly knew how to get out of that place since she practically grew up there. However, if her fears of breaking out of the joint were founded, her actions could only mean one thing: sure death.

Had Angel become so desperate to get away that she decided to risk her life? The thought sat in the pit of my stomach like a rock. I swallowed hard, forcing myself to remain calm rather than let my emotions overwhelm me. Wanting to get away wasn’t a strong enough motive. She could’ve easily left when I offered to help her escape. Something else must’ve triggered her sudden departure. Someone came after her with such a vengeance, making—maybe even threatening—her to leave, that Angel had no choice but to risk her life and leave her bonded mate behind. It was a farfetched explanation based on nothing but my own reasoning.

However, it was my only trail right now.

I was no Sherlock Holmes, but I was sure Scotland Yard would be proud of my brilliant detective skills and determination to seek out every clue and leave no stone unturned. I scribbled ‘foul play’ and ‘possible suspect might be someone she trusted’ on my notepad. In the event someone was hiding or even helping her, I also jotted down ‘possible hiding places’. Then I pulled out a map of the Scottish Highlands and a compass to mark a thirty mile radius because that’s how far I thought she’d get on foot before she had to stop, exhausted and hungry, maybe even doubting the sanity of her idea. I peered at the map with vast patches of green and brown indicating woods and mountains. Thirty square miles was a huge distance to cross but not impossible, and certainly not for a vampire who could move as fast as I could. Trouble was Aidan instructed me to stay within the safety of his fortress. Leaning against the chair, I considered my options: defy Aidan’s wishes and leave the house, which might put both of us at risk because I knew if something happened to me he’d come running. Or call Brendan and share my meager findings with him, and let him take it from here.

With an exasperated sigh, I flicked my cell phone open and speed-dialed the first number saved as a shortcut.

“Brendan? It’s Amber,” I whispered even though I didn’t need to lower my voice because there was no one around. For a moment, my heartbeat drowned out the silence on the other end of the line, and then someone’s sharp tone made my heart skip a beat.

“How do you know Brendan?”

I flinched at Devon’s voice. For a moment I considered faking a Chinese accent while claiming I had dialed the wrong number. Then I realized that might not work out so well after revealing my name. Damn, I had to stop doing that when I called people. But luckily for me, I had been friends with the whacky Cass long enough to adopt her ways of playing dumb, so my brain came up with a second plan. “Hey you.” I smiled even though he couldn’t see me. “What’s up?”

“You tell me.”

“How would I know when you called me?”

“How could I have when my phone rang?” Devon said, dryly.

That was Devon’s number? Why would Brendan pretend to give me a number with the invitation to call him when it belonged to his blood brother or whatever sort of relatives they were? I tapped my fingers on the table, a bit irritated with both Devon for picking up and Brendan for giving me the wrong phone number in the first place. And then I realized I speed-dialed one instead of two; one was Devon’s number, two belonged to Brendan. Due to my own stupidity I rang the wrong Shadow. “Right. Listen, I’d love to help but I’m kinda busy. Would you mind passing your phone over to Brendan?”

“He’s not around.” A pause on the other end of the line, then, “Where did you say you know him from?”

As far as I remembered I didn’t, and that’s exactly how I wanted it to stay. I was about to tell Devon to mind his own affairs—well, not in those words, think more along the lines of, piss off, mate—when I heard something across the room. I pushed the phone away from my ear and inclined my head as I strained to listen. There it was again, the softest scratching on wood coming from the window, slow and deliberate, reminding me of a rodent digging something up. And then it stopped.

“Amber? Are you still there?” Devon said. I couldn’t deal with him right now. Not with a voice at the back of my mind, warning me to run as fast as I could. Running’s always a good option, but first I had to find out what I was running from.

“Listen, I’d love to chat but I think I have a mouse problem,” I whispered, my gaze still focused on the window.

“Mice?”

“Yeah, you know, they’re furry animals with big eyes and long whiskers.”

“Want me to call an exterminator?”

“What? And kill the little guy? I’d never hurt an animal...not even a spider!” Memories of me sucking a poor squirrel dry rushed through my mind. I shook my head. Basically, I was a huge hypocrite.

The scratching sound snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Gotta go,” I whispered. Hanging up before Devon could resume his chatter, I tiptoed around the desk and toward the window. I knew I was being silly, and yet I couldn’t control my racing heart, which I wasn’t even sure was normal for a vampire.

I reached the window in a few short strides and peered out onto the beautiful backyard with its meticulously trimmed lawn and wilted rosebushes. Pressing a I reached the window in a few short strides and peered out onto the beautiful backyard with its meticulously trimmed lawn and wilted rosebushes. Pressing a hand against my chest, I scanned the area. Nothing there. The sun was setting over the horizon in an array of colors, casting a soft, orange glow across the sky and over the hills. Smiling weakly at my own paranoia, I took a deep breath and turned away when the scratching began again, but this time it didn’t stop.

I swear I could hear the pitter-patter of tiny feet scampering up and down the wall, gnawing and more clawing. Great. Now we had mice living inside the walls, which freaked me out big time. Maybe Aidan could buy some catch and release traps because, despite my past indiscretion and my phobia of anything with sharp teeth, I really didn’t want to see an animal hurt or killed.

The clawing became more frantic. The temperature dropped a few degrees. It was so cold, my breath fogged up the glass. I wrapped my arms around my waist to keep from shivering as my supernatural senses went into full alert. Alarm sirens went off at the back of my head, warning me of something that was about to take place. But I had never been the brightest star at interpreting big, flashing neon lights, and particularly not the ones that indicate signs and omens.

Frozen to the spot, my gaze fell upon the wooden floor right under my feet and the three fifteen inch scratches embedded deep into the cherry wood that I swear weren’t there half an hour ago. It had to be some sort of prank, one part of my mind argued, just like the incident with the different eye colors at Cass’s birthday party. But who would play a prank on me? There was no one around to do it…unless they were invisible. Like a—Ghost.