A Job From Hell (Ancient Legends #1)

darkness, mentally preparing my words.
    He spoke first. “You still don’t trust me,
Amber. What have I done that you don’t seem able to give me a chance?”
    “My mother always advised me not to trust a
dead person.” I hesitated, considering whether it was wise to have this
conversation about us, or just ask him to reveal my purpose in his game. “You
have strange manners and habits, and I—” my voice broke “—I don’t
know what you want with me.”
    He rubbed a hand over my tummy, gently
squeezing as if to ease my nerves. There was nothing comforting about his touch
though. “I know it’s hard for you to believe what I am, but you figured right
from the beginning there was something wrong about me. If you didn’t walk into
the woods that night to, uh—” he cleared his throat “—star gaze,
things would be different. We could just get to know each other without—”
    “There’s no us , Aidan.” I turned to face him, surprised to find I could see him
clearly in spite of the darkness around us. His eyes burned with something I
could not define. Anger. Frustration. My heart started to race. He seemed to
buy my bluff. Maybe he cared after all. I groaned inwardly. Drop it. Let it go. Don’t even go there. I
forced myself to look away as I whispered, “What do you want with me?”
    “Don’t be afraid of me because I—”
    Want
to use your body for my beautiful zombie bride Rebecca. “Because what?” My heart hammered faster. He’d say it; I’d finally
know.
    He pulled something out of his pocket and
squeezed it into my palm. I turned the object in my hand. In the darkness, it
felt like a coin dangling from a chain. “What is it?” Whatever it was, I had no
use for it. He was the enemy. All of them were.
    “It’s a lucky charm. I got it from my
mother right before my—” he hesitated “—before I was turned into
this. It saved me from sure death. I want you to have it now.” I stared at him
suspiciously. What was he trying to say? Why would he give me something this
valuable?
    “Please just accept it. It means a lot to
me,” Aidan said. With a soft moan, he kissed the skin on my nape, his fingers tracing
slow circles on my skin. I couldn’t help but close my eyes and enjoy the
tingling sensation. Cameron had never been so loving, but my ex had also never
needed to fool me into trusting him. “We can’t return what’s inside you, but we
can make the best of it.”
    “What’s that?” The feeling of warmth turned
into ice. I waited for his answer, suddenly oblivious to his kissing.
    He sighed and stopped, his tone turned
serious. “There’s something you need to retrieve for me. For us. Trust me, if I
could do it myself I would. But you carry the gift now. And if we don’t do this
soon, others will continue to come after you. I can’t protect you during the
day.”
    “Just say what you want, Aidan.” I held my
breath, my heart racing again. Once I knew, maybe I could bargain with him to
get my old life back.
    “There’s a book, a dark manuscript that
once belonged to the Shadows. The one who turned me—Rebecca—stole
it a long time ago. Before she disappeared she hid it, and no immortal has been
able to find it.” His fingers resumed tracing circles on my neck.
    “So, Rebecca turned you. What happened?
After a roll in the hay she bit you? Or was it all a big misunderstanding, a
love bite gone wrong?” I snorted, unable to hold back my jealousy. “What’s that
book good for anyway?”
    “Rebecca turned me, Kieran and Clare,”
Aidan said. “I turned Blake when she sucked him dry, ready to dispose of his
dead carcass. I couldn’t let her kill one of my friends. That’s why he thinks
he needs to protect me. The book’s one of enchantments and incantations, the
most powerful in the paranormal world.”
    That was a touching story. Turning your
friend into a vampire because the girlfriend was about to kill him. I fidgeted
on his lap, unsure what to say. Eventually I decided to return onto safer
terrain. “You said Rebecca stole it. I gather she didn’t spend one minute in
the slammer since that might be hard to do with a ripped out throat.”
    “How did you know about the wound? I never
said that.”
    I shrugged. “Kind of saw her in her room,
sprawled out on the bed. Trust me, she wasn’t a pretty sight.”
    “What else did you see?” Something in Aidan’s
voice made me look up.
    “Is there something I should’ve seen?”
    He shook his head.