Pretty When She Kills (14 page)

Eyelashes fluttering, Innocente muttered, “Bianca...”

“Yes, she was here again. I saw her,” Sergio said.

“...she’s...” Innocente struggled to open her eyes. “...she’s what Amaliya is...” The old woman sank back into unconsciousness.

“What does she mean?” Cynthia asked, her dark eyes seeking solace in Sergio’s.

“I don’t know.” Fearful, Sergio shook the older woman with a little more vigor. “Grandmama, wake up!”

Innocente’s eyes gradually opened. “Stop shaking me...”

“Then wake up!”

Her tiny, veiny hand slapped his arm. “I’m awake...”

“Sit her up, Sergio,” Cynthia ordered. She grabbed some decorative pillows from the chair in front of the small vanity where Innocente set them before crawling into bed. In the morning she always made her bed and arranged the colorful pillows against the headboard.

Sergio helped Innocente sit up as Cynthia propped the embroidered pillows behind her. “Go get her something to drink, honey.”

Cynthia hurried out of the room.

“Grandmama, talk to me.” Sergio shook her again as her amber eyes closed.

Visibly forcing her eyes open, Innocente focused on her grandson’s face. “I saw Bianca in my dreams again.”

“I saw her standing at the end of your bed.”

“Her eyes were white like Amaliya’s when she calls the dead,” Innocente continued.

“I saw that.”

“She’s what Amaliya is.”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean by that?”

Cynthia returned with a glass of water and Innocente took it gratefully. After several small sips, Innocente nestled back on the pillows. She looked a little more lucid, but also very troubled. “Bianca is like Amaliya. She can call the dead.”

“Even though she’s dead?” Sergio asked, confused by her words.

“No, no. She’s not dead. I was wrong.” Innocente rubbed her brow. “She’s a vampire, too.”

Cynthia inhaled sharply as Sergio squinted in confusion.

“You’re not making sense. I saw her standing in this room. Vampires can’t get in the house, Grandmama. We had the house blessed by the priest.”

“She’s astral projecting,” Innocente explained.

“Spirit walking?” Cynthia asked.

Innocente nodded. “Yes. She’s somewhere else. Trapped. She’s seeking help because the woman who captured her is very evil and wants to kill Amaliya.”

“So this vampire girl can astral project to you? How does she even know about you?” Sergio didn’t like what he was hearing in the least. It sounded wrong to him.

“She heard her captor talking about Amaliya and about me. Bianca is stronger than her captor realizes. Since she can communicate with the dead, she was able to finally find her way to me.” Innocente smiled sadly. “The dead do talk to each other.”

“We have to call Amaliya and warn her, Sergio.” Sergio hated the way Cynthia’s lips were pale and slightly trembling. She was afraid, but trying to be strong. He was very proud of her.

Taking her hand, he gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’ll call her now.”

“Please, hurry,” Grandmama urged him.

Tenderly, Sergio laid the quilt around his wife’s shoulders. It was slowly warming up in the bedroom, but she was shivering. Sergio snatched his phone off the armrest of the chair he had been sitting in and tried to turn it on. To his relief, the loading screen flashed brightly as it booted back up.

“Should we have the priest come and bless the house again?” Cynthia wondered aloud.

“No, no. She can only come here in spirit. I need her to talk to me, to tell me what this evil woman with the red eyes is planning against my Amaliya,” Innocente answered.

“Why is she trying to help Amaliya?” Sergio watched the cellphone screen, waiting for it to finish the startup process.

“I think because they were in a class together when they were mortal. Bianca knows that
puto
killed Amaliya, too.” Innocente rubbed her head again. “I have such a bad headache now. I was trying too hard to hold on to what she told me.”

Cynthia dug around in the drawer of the bed stand until she came up with a bottle of aspirin. She carefully doled out a few pills and hurried to refresh Innocente’s glass of water. Sergio watched her depart to the kitchen clutching the glass, a sad pang in his heart. He hated seeing his wife stressed and afraid. None of them had asked to be a part of the world of the supernaturals, but they were not the type of people to turn their backs on family. Sergio knew that Innocente would not back down from trying to protect Amaliya.

Finally, the phone finished rebooting and Sergio dialed Amaliya’s number. She answered almost immediately.

“Bianca came again tonight,” Sergio said.

“And?” Amaliya sounded testy, but also anxious.

“I’ll let Grandmama tell you.” Sergio handed over the phone and settled on the bed next to his grandmother. In silence, he listened to her explain to Amaliya what she had told him and Cynthia. When she finished, she handed the phone back to Sergio.

“What are you going to do, Amal?” Sergio asked.

There was a beat of silence, then Amaliya said, “I don’t know. I have no fucking clue. I have to talk to Cian.”

“Keep us in the loop, okay?” Sergio tucked his arm around his grandmother’s shoulders and she leaned her head against him.

Amaliya sighed. “I will, but you guys keep safe.”

“We’ll do our best.” Sergio clicked off and snuggled his grandmother. “There, we warned her.”

“We should go to Austin,” Innocente decided.

Cynthia returned with a fresh glass of water. Her eyes were red and it was clear she had been crying. “You already helped kill one vampire. Don’t go picking fights with more.”

Innocente frowned as she took the glass and swallowed her pills.

“Listen to my wife, Grandmama. She’s right. We need to stay out of it. Let Cian and Amaliya deal with it.”

“They might need us,” Innocente protested.

“If they do, they’ll call,” Sergio assured her.

With an exhausted sigh, Innocente nodded, relenting. Maybe she was more afraid than she was letting on. In all truthfulness, Sergio hoped that they would never get a call from Amaliya asking for them to go to Austin. After what Sergio had seen the last time they had fought the powerful undead, he wasn’t sure he would survive another encounter.

* * *

Amaliya shoved her cellphone into her pocket before stalking through the apartment seeking Cian. Frustrated and unnerved by all her grandmother had told her, Amaliya was ready to resume her argument with Cian. She heard him moving about on the second floor of their apartment, so she started opening doors. She rarely ventured into the smaller guest bedrooms. They were tastefully decorated, but rarely used. Her grandmother and Sergio had stayed with them only a few times, but otherwise the rooms remained empty. The maid service that came twice a week changed the bedding, dusted, and swept, but Amaliya didn’t really see the need for even that.

Opening the fourth door, she found Cian standing in the center of the room. The mattress was off the platform bed and leaning against the far wall. Cian was leaning over the base of the bed, which was basically a big flat box made out of polished wood. A secret panel revealed an array of weapons, some appearing quite ancient, tucked into foam inside.

“You and your secret compartments,” Amaliya grumbled.

Cian glanced up at her, slightly smiling. “I’m always full of surprises.”

Leaning against the door jamb, Amaliya rested one hand on her hip and glowered at him.

“We’re still fighting?” Cian asked.

“Yes.”

Squatting next to his secret stash, Cian withdrew a sword and studied the blade. “All right. You go first.”

“Do we have to get physical? My sword-fighting skills aren’t all that great.” She quirked an eyebrow at him.

Cian rolled his eyes at her joke. “Amaliya...”

“I talked to Sergio and my grandmother. She had another visitation.”

“From Bianca?”

“Yeah. From Bianca. The other chick The Summoner killed.”

Cian set the sword down and withdrew a wicked-looking dagger that appeared to be made of black stone. “And?”

“She’s not a ghost.”

Flicking his gaze toward her, curiosity bloomed in his expression. “Go on.”

“She’s a vampire, and she’s astral projecting.”

Amaliya smiled triumphantly as Cian stood up abruptly. His slightly sarcastic demeanor was gone. He looked deadly. “Go on.”

“She’s like me. She’s a necromancer. She raises the dead.”

“How do you know that?” Cian crossed the room swiftly to stand at her side.

“Sergio saw her eyes glowing when her apparition appeared in my grandmother’s room. My grandmother saw it in her dream when she spoke to Bianca. Bianca begged her for help. She said that the woman with the red eyes is holding her and planning to use her to kill me.”

“Rachon...”

“Yeah. Probably. Bianca is terrified and begging for help. My grandmother said that the girl has been seeking her out for months and finally found her.” Amaliya poked Cian in the chest with one finger. “I can’t astral project, fucker, and she can. What the fuck, Cian? What is she?”

“I haven’t the slightest. Astral projecting is quite complicated. I’ve known a few witches who could do it, but I never heard of a vampire doing it.” Frowning, Cian glanced down at the blade in his hand. “This is disconcerting.”

“Oh, fucking yeah, it’s disconcerting! I told you that Rachon is coming for us to kill us. I don’t know why the hell you can’t accept that. She has her own gawddamn necromancer, Cian. She doesn’t need to make a pact with you. I’m not so rare now, am I?”

“It makes no sense. Why are there two of you?” Cian brushed past Amaliya and headed down the hall. “He never passed his power on before to anyone. At least not that I know of.”

“Well, The Summoner did and now there are two of us!’ Amaliya stalked after Cian. “Can Rachon make her try to kill me?”

Glancing over his shoulder, Cian gave a short nod.

“Uh, could you, like, give me some details?”

“If Bianca rose shortly after her burial, Rachon has had four months to feed her blood. Rachon’s own blood, therefore, binding Bianca to her. She can use that bond to force Bianca to do her bidding.”

“Wait. I drink your blood.” Amaliya stopped dead in her tracks just as they reached the staircase. She suddenly felt ill, not physically, but emotionally. “Fuck you. You bound me to you!”

Gripping the rail, Cian turned toward her. “I drink your blood. You bound me to you. Plus, we were made by the same Master, so that adds to our bond. You and I had no choice but to be drawn to one another, Amaliya. That is why we...” he hesitated.

“What?”

He ascended a few steps to stand below her, his hand reaching out to touch her. She pulled away from him, horrified that she might be under some terrible spell he had cast on her. If he had robbed her of free will, she was going to kill him.

“That is why we lusted for each other, why we were entangled so quickly. But that isn’t why I love you. Lust is lust. But I do love you and that is because of who you are.”

Gazing into his hazel eyes, so earnest and full of adoration, Amaliya felt her fear starting to fade. “And who am I?”

“An infuriatingly hard-headed woman who lives her life with an intensity that I find exhilarating and frightening. Who is kind even though she won’t admit it. Strong, despite her desire to sometimes run away. Intelligent. Talented. Beautiful.”

Amaliya went into his arms and clung to him. “Fuck you, Cian. You’re going to make me cry.”

“That’s my girl.”

He pressed a kiss to her cheek, then took her hand. “C’mon. We need to talk to Jeff and his vampire hunters. We’re supposed to be meeting them at midnight anyway, but we need to meet now. “

“So I was right and you were wrong.”

“Somewhat,” Cian said, flashing a smile at her.

The emotion that swelled inside of her at the sight of his smile didn’t feel like some magical bond. It felt like love. Maybe they were bonded to each other, but there was something more going on between them. Something real, and Amaliya clung to that truth as Cian drew her along behind him.

She just hoped they survived long enough to enjoy it.

Chapter 13

Exhausted, Jeff was not in the mood to deal with the gathering of people in the back room of his bookstore. It was a little past ten and the only thing making him feel alert was the caffeine and sugar he was pouring into his system. He had hoped for a nice nap before his midnight meeting with Cian, but that had not come to pass. Cian’s urgent phone call had come right after Jeff’s head had hit the pillow.

The hot steam from his black coffee tickled his nose as he took another sip, his eyes watching the people gathered around the long table over the rim of his Bela Lugosi mug.

Cian, Amaliya, and Samantha had been the first to arrive. Now the vampire master of Austin lurked in the back of the room, leaning against the wall, arms folded over his chest. Jeff often wondered how humans couldn’t tell when they were in the presence of a vampire. Cian was unnaturally alluring to both sexes with his keen hazel eyes and magnetic gaze. Jeff often felt himself wanting to give in to a need to make Cian happy. He saw Benchley react in the same manner. They wanted to be his buddy, to please him. It made Jeff very uncomfortable to recognize the power Cian had when he wasn’t even attempting to wield it.

Yawning, he glanced toward Amaliya and Samantha. They were seated next to each other at the opposite end of the table. They were being surprisingly civil to one another. That fact made Jeff extremely nervous. Samantha’s earlier rage was gone, replaced by a quiet surrender that he wasn’t sure he liked.

Benchley had arrived next with his sister Alexia, who resembled a teenage boy with her short brown hair and unisex way of dressing. She was slumped down next to her brother wearing a hoodie, skinny jeans, and Converse sneakers. She was the tech-girl of their outfit and wickedly smart.

Eduardo had arrived last. He was the only one of the hunters who looked remotely alert. Then again, he was nocturnal by nature. His specialty lay with his dual nature, part human, part coyote. Dark hair slicked back from his recent shower, his lean body was clad in a tight black T-shirt, jeans, and battered cowboy boots. He was short, but powerful. When he had entered the store, he had acknowledged Cian with a low bow of his head. Cian policed the vampires entering the city and Eduardo kept an eye out for weres.