"As you can see, she's perfectly fine and happy," Aidan said. It was nice to see him stick up for me. Wrapping my coat tighter around me, I peered at the dense woods surrounding us. The path didn't seem to be the one we'd taken only a few nights ago; for one, it was narrower and obstructed by bushes and low-hanging branches. Then again, I'd been focusing on my feet, minding the loose stones and fal en twigs, and definitely not paying much attention to the scenery.
"Want me to carry you?" Kieran whispered in my ear, his hot breath brushing my skin.
He sounded so much like Aidan that, for a moment, I stopped breathing, my brain completely fooled, until Aidan cal ed out, "She'l walk."
Who the heck did he think he was, tel ing me what to do? I considered taking Kieran up on the offer, just to piss Aidan off, but then I let it pass.
He was right, better get the book without any more delays and drama.
"Another time," Kieran whispered.
"Bro, I swear next time Cass tries her abilities on you, I'l be the first one to help her," Aidan hissed, annoyed.
Was he jealous? I beamed at the realisation that he didn't want to see me with someone else. In spite of his cold demeanour, he cared about me. I quickened my pace and, in a bold and brainless moment, placed an affectionate hand on his lower back, remembering an article on how guys were like children who wanted to be loved and cuddled. I felt stupid, but if it helped him open up more, I could cough up a few subtle displays of affection. A moment later my boot connected with a stone and I bumped into him, cussing under my breath.
The air smel ed of damp wood and earth. Twigs snapped under our feet as we moved forward at a fast speed. My legs were starting to ache; my breath came in laboured heaps. I was on the verge of asking whether we were there yet, when Kieran turned to Angel, signal ing trouble ahead.
"The leader of the pack—" Kieran pointed at Aidan "—won't let me anywhere near Amber because he's the alpha, territorial and al . So I extend the offer to you."
"Over my dead body," Devon said.
Kieran laughed. "Two alpha males. Is there room for a third?"
"My feet are kil ing me," Angel whined. "If I weren't so darn scared of vampires I'd take you up on your offer."
"Better not," Clare said. "He's bad news."
In spite of the cold, my jeans stuck to my damp skin and my thighs were on fire. The path continued to incline. Although Aidan freed the way for me, the biting wind made it hard to avoid the whipping branches. With no one speaking, my panting echoed in my ears. The more I focused to silence my breathing, the more it turned into a whistling sound trapped somewhere in my chest. Annoyed, I wondered whether Aidan could hear me with his supernatural powers. Probably. If he asked, I'd just pretend to be suffering from asthma.
Somehow, I managed to reach what looked like our destination with no more embarrassing tripping over my feet. A bird cried as it circled on the horizon, lowering over our heads, then rising into the depth of the night. For some undefined reason, it sent chil s down my spine.
"That's not a normal bird, is it?" I whispered to Aidan. He shook his head and gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. I spun slowly as I gazed into the pitch black at yet more trees to each side. Why had we stopped in the middle of nowhere? Maybe the immortals needed a break, too? The ground—damp and cold, but stil inviting—beckoned to me. Surely no one would mind me sitting down for a while until the others figured out what they were doing here.
A light flashed to my right, flooding the clearing in glaring brightness. I shielded my eyes, ready to complain, when I noticed the tal barbwire fence inches away. A few steps and I'd have run right into it. Devon fidgeted with what looked like a control panel until I heard a crack and a gate opened.
"Hurry up! We only have five seconds," Devon said. "Then the mechanism's blocked for a few hours."
"You're kidding." Yet more walking. With a sigh, I lifted my sluggish legs and trudged forward before the gate shut.
"Fol ow me," Devon said.
Cass looked down at her oversized jeans covered in mud and snorted. "I'm going to send you the cleaning bil , mate."
"If you burn that—" Kieran pointed at her clothes, grinning "—I'l buy you something that isn't made out of sackcloth."
Fashion was Cass's pride and joy. He'd definitely crossed the line with that one. I watched in awe as Cass's face turned bright red. But instead of the unnatural glint in her eyes, she just smiled and said, "At least I don't need to wear tight pants to distract from a lack of brains."
"Come on," Aidan muttered as he grabbed my hand and pul ed me after him. "If they don't kil each other soon, I wil ."
The bickering continued behind me, but I tuned out. Aidan was stil holding my hand, his thumb drawing circles on my skin as we crossed an open field, passing several floodlights, and reached an incline. Aidan stopped and muttered under his breath, "Holy cow."
"What?" I fol owed his line of vision up the hil where the light didn't reach, but al I saw were strange shapes towering against the canvass of the night.
He intertwined his fingers with mine and hurried forward, dragging me after him, forgetting my short legs couldn't take the same long strides. I quickened my pace so he wouldn't think me completely out of shape. And then I reached the top, seeing what he'd known was there al along, and my stomach twisted into nervous knots.
Chapter 26
Aidan
The cemetery of the dead—I couldn't believe I was final y standing in front of it. Rebecca had tried to locate it to perform the ritual, but even after stepping on Shadow territory and searching around for hours, kil ing several Shadows along the way, she hadn't been able to find it. She'd claimed the woods were some sort of labyrinth in which passages changed with the moon. I never doubted her words because Rebecca would never admit failure wil ingly. Our journey so far had seemed straightforward, but I had no doubt Devon had some trick up his sleeve that would ensure we'd never find the way back should we decide to return later.
Row after row of tal statues and gravestones stretched in the distance as far as my heightened vampire sight let me see. Soft moonlight shone down on us. A large cloud of mist gathered around our feet, hovering inches above the ground. The wind howled, scattering the leaves.
"Now, that's a nice touch," Cass said. "Gives spooky a whole new meaning. Who brought the fog machine?"
"Huh?" Kieran said.
"Not talking to you, mate. You're always in a fog."
"I don't think there's anything creepier than this place," Angel whispered.
Devon nudged her and pointed at Kieran and me. "Just look behind you."
The Shadow irritated the hel out of me, but without him, we'd never get in. So I swal owed down my anger, for the time being. The war between our races was far from over, but a fight would have to wait.
"Show some respect," Amber said. "If you're going to crack on my guy, I'l turn around and leave. Got it?"
Devon set his jaw, but kept quiet. Defying my better judgement, I wrapped my arm around Amber's waist and drew her close. The rhythm of her heart echoed in my ears, racing like she'd just run with the bul s through the streets in Pamplona. I shot her a sideway glance and smiled reassuringly, as if that'd make a cemetery a less grotesque place to visit in the middle of the night. If the legends were true, we would never even catch a glimpse of the actual horrors the Shadows kept from the Lore court.
"Stay with Kieran while I check things out," I whispered.
Kieran wrapped his arms around Amber and Clare. "You go, bro. I'l keep the womenfolk safe from the clutches of Shadow Man."
"What about me?" Cass said, piqued.
Kieran laughed. "I'd invite you over but you know the saying, four's a crowd."
"Hey, idiot, the saying is three's a crowd." Cass pul ed Amber and Clare away. "You stay with me. Not only is he mental y chal enged, al he has is a couple of scary fangs and absolutely no idea what kind of fire is in this furnace."
"I'l defuse you real quick," Kieran said.
She took a menacing step forward. "You could never put out this flame."
"Did anybody ever tel you that you suck at public relations? Since you're an ambassador, you're supposed to like me. A lot. You know that, right? But maybe you're an ambassa-snore because you're sleeping on the job. I'm going to personal y talk to Layla about your inability to do your job."
Cass snorted. "Yeah, if you live to tel the tale."
"She likes me," Kieran chanted.
"She loves Aidan and look what happened when he visited to complain," Cass said. "I've had enough of you. I'm never coming back to your house. Clare wil have to meet me somewhere else from now on."
I opened my mouth to speak when Kieran cut me off. "Funny, every time I turn around you're parked on my sofa. You're definitely crossing the line to Stalker Vil e."
Cass gasped. "You think I'm stalking you?" The fireflies flickered over our heads, a shril , indefinable sound, like that of thousands of wasps, fil ed the air. I peered up, waiting for the fireflies to turn into a dragon or something. If Kieran kept winding her up, it was only a matter of time until Cass snapped.
"Think? I know it. You like me. You want me," Kieran said. I threw him a warning look, but he just shrugged, grinning.
"Like a bul et in my head," Cass said. Clare chuckled somewhere in the shadows.
"Enough, you two." I turned my attention to Devon. "I'm going in."
Devon shook his head. "Not without me."
My lips twitched. "Don't trust me to take a quick look?" I was his enemy. Of course he wouldn't trust me.
Devon snorted. "About as far as I can throw you."
"You know I wouldn't get far without your help. I just want to make sure you have no tricks up your sleeve."
"Fine then. We'l al go together because I don't trust your insane brother around my Angel," Devon said.
Kieran turned and looked at her. "So that's your name. I knew there was a reason you had that beautiful hair and gorgeous eyes." He kissed her hand. "Somebody cal heaven because an angel just fel from the sky."
"That's beyond lame." Cass groaned. "Every guy uses that line. Find something original, wil you?"
"When you get a shrink," Kieran said.
I leaned into Amber to whisper in her ear. "So, you're waiting here?"
"What?" She peeled her eyes off the bronze statue—the hideous shape of a woman and bear caught in an embrace—and turned to face me.
"Oh, no. No way. I'm not staying here." She lowered her voice. "What's this supposed to be?"
"Part shamanism, part—" I shrugged "—Voodoo? Who knows?"
"Magic," Devon said, matter-of-factly. "We don't practice Voodoo. A long time ago, the souls of sacred animals entered the bodies of our ancestors to grant them eternal life. As payment, our people sent their shadows to the otherworld to watch over the animals' cubs."
It was the longest explanation I'd ever received about this holy ground I'd been investigating for years. According to the rumours circulating the Lore court, a Shadow could die by finding his statue in the cemetery of the dead and piercing a dagger through the animal's heart. I waited for Devon to reveal more, but he turned away, heading down the narrow path to a low entrance in the hil .
"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked Amber. "This is your last chance to back out."
She puffed. "No way. We're in this together, Aidan. I want you to have a life without the need for blood. Besides, even if I changed my mind I wouldn't let you go in there by yourself to tel them I'm chickening out. They'd kil you on the spot."
Shadows had tried to kil me for centuries, and didn't succeed. I took a deep breath to suppress my sudden joy. Amber's fear lingered on her like she wore it as a perfume. For the first time she seemed to worry about me. In the heat of last night's words, I figured the bond wasn't working after al and al she wanted was her old life back. Rage had driven me insane, made me curse Fate for giving me a mortal. But I could sense something about Amber's attitude had changed. Her gaze was softer and in the past few hours she'd raised her hand several times as if to touch me. And now her need to protect me had flared up. I was final y starting to see progress. Hopeful y, it wasn't too late for us.
Somewhere behind me, Kieran's said, "How much does Daddy pay you to screw over other souls?"
I shook my head and pul ed Amber along. I had no idea why Kieran kept winding Cass up. The girl was beyond normal, but it couldn't just be mutual dislike that drove my brother to be mean. As far as I knew, Cass had done nothing to earn our ridicule. I made a mental note to talk to Kieran about it once my problems with Amber were solved.
The heavy mahogany door stood wide open. As I walked through, I felt the invisible barrier across the threshold vibrate, holding me back for a second, and then give in. Magic. Without Devon opening the path, I doubted I'd have been able to pass through. It was a similar magic to the one protecting my house against immortal intruders. That Cass got in without my explicit invitation showed me she was something else, or stronger than anything the paranormal world could conjure up.
The space reeked of Shadows, dressed in black robes, watching from the countless dark corners. A huge altar, surrounded by countless white candles, was set up in the middle of the dimly lit, cave-like room.
"Look at that," Cass said. "Now that's how you woo a girl." She winked at me. "Are you taking notes?"
"Candles are overrated," Kieran said. "Just like romance."
"You just haven't found the right girl," Clare said. "She'l come along."
"And then she'l make a run for the hil s." Cass laughed at her own joke.
I squeezed Amber's hand. The Shadows' glare brushed over us, their distaste for what I was palpable in the humid air. Slowly, I turned my head to my right, ready to face another abomination Rebecca created a long time ago: sitting on a high throne was Deidre, Queen of the Shadows, an ancient soul living in the pain-ridden body of a dying girl, trapped forever between life and death. The Shadows wanted the book badly so they could search for a ritual to free Deidre from her need to feed on the life force of her own people. Deidre was one of the reasons why I had found it so easy to kil Rebecca when she attacked Blake. I had enough of her love for torture.
"You—" Deidre pointed a finger at Clare, Cass and Kieran "—move over there to the wal ." Kieran and Clare did as instructed, but Cass stood her ground.
My jaw set as I met Deidre's black gaze. I bowed to hide my horrified expression. A glimpse at that dying body was enough to send shivers down my spine. Deidre wouldn't harm Amber because she wanted the book more than I did. But I could be wrong. After underestimating Layla, I wouldn't trust anyone but myself. I waited for Deidre to speak, but instead it was Cass who took charge of the situation.
"I'm the new Lore ambassador, here to save the mortal from supernatural harm. Don't you dare play a trick on me, Dee Dee. I'm much stronger than the whole bunch of you together." Her eyes glinted red as she glanced at Deidre, then walked to the altar and picked up a burning candle. It melted under her fingers, wax dripping onto the stony floor. With an exaggerated sigh, she placed what was left of it back and peered from one face to the other. "Just a word of advice, guys, living in a cemetery's beyond macabre. You should look into proper housing."
Cass obviously enjoyed drama a bit too much, but as long as it helped get Amber out of here alive, I'd do anything to assist her. I tightened my grip around my mate's waist. Her heart quickened as her body—plump in al the right places—leaned into me. From the corner of my eye, I watched Deidre rise from her seat and walk to the altar, motioning Amber to step forward. I let go of her waist, but fol owed right behind.
"And you should look into proper manners because your demon hands have left a scent on that candle you've touched. Every single one of them has been blessed by our priests," Deidre said.
"Hey, I'm half fal en angel and half Seraph. There's a difference, meaning I'm actual y holy." Cass crossed her arms over her chest, grinning.
"Pitch the candle you've defiled,
" Deidre said.
"I'l look for a trashcan then." Cass shrugged, but didn't budge.
"Angel, dispose of this candle immediately. And then leave." Deidre waited until Angel scurried out, then grabbed Amber's hand, addressing her. "I see you're back. You truly want to retrieve the book for us?" Amber shot me an insecure look and nodded.
"Good." Deidre pointed at the high cavernous wal s where the soft light of the candles didn't reach the shadows. "This hal 's special. Once the
—" she hesitated and scowled as if she had to force herself to speak out the word "—vampire leads you to the threshold of death, where your physical and astral body meet, this place wil help you enter the otherworld. You, then, shal be brought by hel 's demons to where the book supposedly is. When your deed's done, our incantations wil help you return to the physical plane. You understand you could die in the process?"
I noticed Amber flinch and put a reassuring hand on the smal on her back as rage rose inside me. She wouldn't die. I'd rather break the Lore rules and turn her into what I was than have Fate take her away from me.
"I do," Amber said. I smiled proudly at how brave she sounded.
"Whoa, let's not get dramatic here. No one's dying," Cass said. "Now, without further ado, let's get this party cracking. You had enough time for chatting when you kidnapped her. Besides, I'm not paid by the hour." She turned to me, frowning. "Aidan, how am I actual y being paid?"
"There's something else," Amber said. "I want something in return. You can have the book, but you have to perform Aidan's spel . Promise me."
Deidre tilted her head. "Very wel . I give you my word."
Amber beamed up at me, then took a deep breath. Grabbing her hand, I helped her onto the altar, kneeling next do her. Somewhere behind us countless voices, obscured by the darkness, started to chant. Amber looked smal and fragile among the countless candles that barely flickered.
She shuddered, wide-eyed with fear. I remembered I stil didn't have her agreement.