Forever and Beyond (15 page)

“Did you think I’d head for the nearest door at the outlook of a bit of blood on your skin?” His blue eyes sparkled with something. Danger, determination, defiance, I couldn’t tell. “You can try me all you want. I’m up for the challenge, Amber. I hope you can handle what you’ve unleashed.”

I barely got enough time to draw a sharp breath before his lips found me again in a earthshattering kiss. My body melt into his as my brain went foggy. And then the ground beneath my feet began to spin and I was lost in Aidan’s heated embrace and the sweet touch of his hands on my skin.

I spent the rest of the day rummaging through my wardrobe like a headless chicken, tossing clothes out, then back in, only to go through them one more time. For someone who had thought of packing for every opportunity, I found I completely forgot to pack for a night out in the cold, patrolling the streets like an invisible shadow, while most sane people were sleeping soundly in their beds.

“All black, babe. You need to blend in with the night. That’s about the first rule of the Night Guard,” Aidan said from the divan near the bed, his lips twitching as usual when he found me particularly strange or amusing, or both.

“What?” I feigned surprise. “You mean my red sparkly dress and stilettos won’t work?”

He laughed. “Definitely not. No heels.”

“Why not?” I shrugged. “I can run faster than you in a pair of heels. You see, I have impeccable balance.”

“I’ve seen your
impeccable balance
...without heels.”

“It’s a stupid rule if you ask me,” I muttered, frustrated. “This is the only black top I have.” I tossed a sleeveless, sheer piece of nothing toward him. He caught it in mid-air and spread it out in front of him.

“Uh, no.” He grimaced. “In fact, you’re not wearing this outside the house, or I might just have to fend off your countless admirers trying to break down the door to get a date with you.”

I smiled and leaned in to plant a quick kiss across his gorgeous lips. “Thank you. You’re too cute.”

He put the shirt aside, probably planning to burn it later so I wouldn’t wear it outside, and came to his feet, his gaze narrowing on me. “I’ll meet you downstairs at dusk. Please don’t be late.”

Waving him out, I assured him I wouldn’t be. Unfortunately, something else came in between: Julie.

Aidan was barely out for a minute and I breathed out, happy to be able to focus on choosing the right clothes when a voice squealed with delight, startling me. “You have so many clothes. Can I try them on? The white dress’s just gorgeous. You’d never find anything like that in
Morganefaire
.”

I didn’t even look up. “If you haven’t noticed already, I’m kind of facing a fashion disaster here.”

“Spill.” She hovered a few inches above my bed, the usual black fog gathering beneath her.

“I’m joining the Night Guard.” Only after catching her expression did I realize my blunder. “It’s for investigative purposes,” I hurried to add.

“Oh, okay.” Her stance relaxed a little, but not fully. “So, they offered you the position?”

I shook my head vehemently. “No, of course not. Aidan knows someone, who got him in. He’s checking out what’s going on, so he asked me to join him because he worries about leaving me behind.” It was half the truth. Aidan worried a lot about me, but I’m sure he would’ve felt better if I stayed behind, locked up in my room. Julie’s lips curled into a wide smile and her expression brightened again. The little white lie was definitely worth it.

“And you’re looking for something to wear? I think I can help.” Without waiting for an invitation she jumped up and glided over to flick through my wardrobe, muttering, “Nope.
Urgh
. Yeah, not so much. Maybe—if you were going on a hot date with your boyfriend.” By the time she finished her thoughts were written all over her face. “You know
Morganefaire
isn’t Hollywood, right?”

I snorted. “You sound like Aidan.”

“He might be a bit uptight, but I think in this case he has a point.” She tapped her fingers against her lips, and for the first time I realized she wasn’t wearing the same nightgown as before.

“When did you change?” I asked, surprised.

“Oh, this rag.” She pointed down her skinny jeans, silver tank top and black faux leather jacket. “I picked this up on my way here.”

I inched closer to get a better look at the fog enveloping her feet. It wasn’t as dense as before so I caught a glimpse of her open-toe, five-inch boots with tiny diamanté straps running across her ankles. “Are those designer shoes?”

“What?” Julie laughed. The squeal sounded so loud and fake, it made me want to press my hands against my ears to tune out the noise. “Do you think they are? I didn’t even notice.”

“But you’re a ghost. I don’t understand. How can you do that?”

She smiled. “I’ve been practicing, you see. I can touch physical stuff by concentrating really hard. It gives me a headache and I have to rest.” Which must’ve been the reason why she disappeared right before donning a new outfit. I nodded encouragingly so she continued. “With clothes, it’s a breeze. I can close my eyes and picture them on myself, and they just appear. I think I got it licked. Now giving Kieran a smooch, that’s a whole different story.” She pouted. “I have yet to figure out how to touch people and make them feel it.”

My curiosity piqued, hundreds of questions raced through my mind. I wanted to ask where she got her outfit from and whether she could change any time, but I had other things to worry about. Time was running out. If I was late, Aidan might not mind so much but I doubted the Night Guard would wait for me to make my grand entrance.

“You know what, tell me about it later.” I waved my hand. “Right now, I need something black. Anything, as long as I blend in.”

“I know this place that’s just perfect,” Julie said. My brain screamed this was a bad idea, that I should ask Aidan to teleport back home and get me something from my own closet, or go myself, and yet I kept quiet. For one, Aidan was busy and I didn’t want to burden him with my tiny and meaningless problems. And second, sneaking out of
Morganefaire
without telling him was out of the question. Besides, Julie seemed so enthusiastic about the whole idea, I just couldn’t break her heart. Okay, I admit those were just excuses because I missed going shopping with my girlfriends and I was very curious about what
Morganefaire
had to offer in terms of retail therapy.

“We’ll have to be quick,” I said, grabbing my purse and heading out the door.

Julie walked past and took charge, hurrying me through the narrow cobblestone streets. The evening sun hid behind thick rainclouds. A few people were hurrying home, probably eager to barricade themselves inside their houses before darkness fell. After a brief, hastened walk we reached a side door.

“Are you sure this is it?” I asked unconvinced. The gray building with closed shutters looked like it hid a felon or two. Being a vampire came with unnatural strength and what else not, but I had yet to learn the tricks. I didn’t want to go in there and risk being kidnapped and offered up for ransom.

“Loosen up,” Julie said. “I swear you’re slowly turning into Aidan. Now, come on in.” I didn’t want to point out she only knew Aidan and me for less than forty-eight hours. I tried the door and to my surprise found it unlocked. Julie breezed past me, so I had no choice than to follow her.

From outside, the building looked like it belonged to a gang but once inside I realized everything was clean and tidy. The back door led into a spacious hall with tiny windows that barely let any daylight through. Thick gray curtains parted the space into various partitions with racks full of clothes. Chairs, makeup tables and mirrors lined the walls to the left and right. My boots thumping across the naked floor, I walked from partition to partition, trying to figure out what this place reminded me of. And then the answer dawned on me: the backstage of a theater. My breath caught in my throat.

“Julie,” I hissed. “What the heck? You said you knew the perfect shop. You can’t have me enter a theater without permission.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Uh, no, I never said
shop.
I said I knew the perfect
place
. You’ve got to admit I was right.”
She smoothed out her outfit and smiled. “This is where I picked up my jacket. Isn’t it gorgeous? I used to get all my clothes from here before, you know—” she cleared her throat “—things happened.”

My jaw dropped. “You didn’t.”

She grinned, all white teeth flashing. “I did!”

I felt like slapping my forehead or, better yet, slap
her
. “It’s illegal.”

“Who’s going to catch me?” She smiled diabolically. “See, that’s one of the perks of being a spirit.”

“It’s still illegal,” I said. “I’m going home.”

She stepped in front of me, blocking my way. “Don’t be such a
wuss
. Like you’ve never done anything illegal in your life.”

That kind of shut me up. I did a few things. The worst one yet was sneaking into a hut in the woods and taking a bag of worthless jewels that belonged to the ruler of the Lore Court,
Layla
, just because my brother insisted he had been watching the hut for weeks and no one lived there. Not only did it grant me my necromancy gift, it also had half the paranormal world hunt me down.

“I’m still leaving,” I said, walking past her. “Last time I went down this road it only ended in complete and utter disaster. I learned my lesson the hard way.” Julie swooshed toward the door and slammed it in my face. The walls reverberated from the impact. I cocked a brow, unimpressed. “Nice trick. You’re learning a lot out here on your own. From trial and error or did someone give you tips?”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Julie hissed. I peered at her shiny eyes in horror, almost expecting her to turn into a demon. “If you don’t blend in, they’ll never let you join them and you’ll never solve my murder. I swear if you mess this up, I’ll haunt you for the rest of your life. And it won’t be pretty.” Something in her tone told me she meant every word of it. I hesitated. If I caved in, Julie might start thinking her threats worked on me. If I didn’t do as she demanded, she might just decide to haunt me indeed. I couldn’t live with a ghost breathing down my neck.

“Don’t go,” Julie begged. “I’m not always such a moody pants but I’m trying to hide the pain that I may never go to Heaven or Hell—or anywhere at all. I don’t want to just drift around here for eternity. No one can hear me. I have yet to meet another ghost. It gets lonely.”

Her lips quivered, her hands gathered in her lap, twisting the hem of her shirt nervously. Now this was worse than anger because I didn’t know how to deal with it or what to expect next. I regarded her intently as I tried to figure out whether she was putting on a show. Her expression remained earnest, the pain in her eyes real. Oh, for crying out loud! If she was lying, I was falling for it big time, and I couldn’t even help myself. I didn’t want her to be trapped forever. “I won’t let that happen to you, Julie,” I said softly as I inched closer.

She clapped her hands, her expression brightening instantly. “Then let’s get down to business because we’re on the clock. There’s tons of stuff to choose from. You’ll be spoiled for choice.”

I shook my head in disbelief at her sudden mood change, too sick of it to start an argument. “Fine,” I said. “But I’m paying for everything. And—” I raised a finger to stop her from interrupting me “—once we’re done I’m bringing everything back, cleaned and ironed, or so.” I might just skip the last part because ironing wasn’t really my thing. It wasn’t a matter of not enjoying it, but somehow, as my brief period of working for Aidan proved, irons didn’t particularly like me and managed to burn everything in their wake, including my fingers.

“Deal,” Julie said. “Follow me. I know my way around. Basically, this is my second home.” Why didn’t I doubt that? I didn’t even get a chance to ask what she meant because she continued her monologue. “I always wanted to be an actress, a dancer, and a singer, and used to perform here once a week.”

I watched her happy face and smiled. “A triple threat.”

“I can’t help that I was born with this much talent.” She grimaced, good-humored, and remained silent for a moment, giving me a chance to look at the racks filled with clothes of all shapes and sizes. As Julie skimmed through them, I walked a step behind her, growing more and more exasperated with myself for letting a ghost bully me into agreeing to do something as stupid as this. Of course a theater wouldn’t have the kind of clothes you’d need to blend in with the Night Guard, but Julie didn’t seem to agree.

“Anyway,” Julie resumed her chatter, a sadness permeating her voice, “wouldn’t it be awesome to travel around the world and perform in Broadway plays? I wanted to do it all, from musicals and comedies to Shakespeare, and maybe one day even see my name in lights and work in the Big Apple. I was just waiting for my big break.”

Her words sat in the pit of my stomach like a rock. I tried to ignore the sudden melancholy washing over me. “I’m sure you could do Broadway in Heaven. There’s all kinds of heavenly choirs to join. At least that’s what Cass told me. Her mother’s an angel.”

“She’s sweet?”