up to my feet.
“John,” I gasped. “That was John.”
“It’s okay,” Aubrey said softly. “We’re here.”
I gulped in air and looked around. It was still the same darkness, still the same place.
“Are you sure?” My voice came out as a squeak. I cleared my throat and tried again. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” His voice sounded distant. “You need to wait here.”
“What? No! You stay here. I’ll go.”
“You can’t, Mack.”
“You can’t fucking tell me what to do. You’re on my team, buster, not the other way around.” Clearly the stress was starting to get to me.
Aubrey reached out and touched my hair ever so gently. “You’re life. Everything about you is life. This place, where we are now, it’s all death. You won’t be able to enter.”
“Screw this place,” I snarled and pushed past him.
I smacked straight into some kind of invisible wall. A ward? Here? I growled. I picked at the scab on my index finger until it bled, then thrust it out towards the barrier and stepped forward again. My head crashed against it. I shoved my shoulder into it. Still, nothing. I turned at looked at Aubrey. He was just standing there, watching me.
“I was a vampire, Mack. I’ve been touched by death.” He smiled at me with a tinge of sadness. “And they’ll talk to me.”
“The dead? They’ve just been fucking talking to me! In fact, they wouldn’t bloody shut up!”
“That wasn’t a conversation,” he said gently. “I’ll find the right souls and find out what you need.”
And before I could say anything else, he was gone.
“Fuck!” I shouted out, slamming my hand against the wall.
I began to pace around.
“Come on then!” I shouted to the invisible voices. “Do your worst! What else are you going to say?”
Silence rebounded back at me.
“You think I’m afraid?” I shouted again. “Speak up!”
There was nothing. I couldn’t hear a goddamn thing. The place was so silent that if a single feather fell to the ground it would probably sound like a clash of thunder. And then someone spoke.
“You’re going to stay here for a while, Mackenzie. John will look after you. You’ll be safe here. Try not to get angry or lose your temper. You’re going to be on your best behavior all the time. No matter what though, don’t forget that I love you with all my heart.”
I slowly sank to the ground. My mother. She was dead then, after all. I buried my face in my hands.
*
I had no idea how long I was there for. It could have been five minutes and it could have been five hours. I didn’t hear any more voices; I was just alone in the darkness. When Aubrey finally did return, he was so silent that it wasn’t until he spoke that I realised he was there.
“Hey Mack.”
I scrambled to my feet, beyond relieved to see him. “Aubrey! You made it! Thank fuck.”
He smiled at me. “Endor’s hiding out in one of the dark planes. Dorchadas.”
“I’ve never heard of it. You’re sure?”
He nodded.
“That’s brilliant,” I said. “We should have come here from the very fucking start.”
I cursed myself and my own fallibility. I should have spoken to Aubrey earlier about the vamps. Idiot.
“Come on, then. Let’s go.” I turned and began walking. When I realised he wasn’t following me, I stopped and looked back. “What? Am I going the wrong way?”
“You’re going the right way, Mack. Just keep walking straight and don’t veer off the path. If you get lost, then call Solus to help.”
I stared at him. “You’re not coming.”
“No.”
“Why the fucking hell not?”
There was a kindness in his eyes that I’d not seen before. “I can’t.”
“What do you mean you bloody can’t?”
“Only the undead can walk with a foot in both worlds. I’m not undead. Not any more.”
I could feel the blood draining from my face. “I don’t understand, Aubrey. Get your arse over here now.”
He smiled again. “You do understand, Mack.”
No. I didn’t. He needed to stop dramatising everything so we could sodding go home. It was just like him to act this way.
“If anyone could just visit the dead whenever they wanted, don’t you think they’d always do it?” he said softly.
“But…”
“You can’t return to the world of living after you’ve been here. It’s not natural and it’s not right. Think about the creatures you’ve met in the past.” He smiled humourlessly. “The wraith, Tryyl. He should have just stayed dead. Think about how much better everything would have been if he had.”
“And vampires are fucking natural? Are they fucking