Pretty When She Destroys (Pretty When She Dies #3)(26)

The lights went out, plunging the room into darkness. Dragging in a deep breath of cold air, Samantha waited for the inevitable touch of the ghost.

There was a rap on the door. “Sam? Are you okay? The lights just went out.”

“Uh, there’s a ghost in here with me,” Samantha answered, edging along the sink and toward the door. “She’s kinda upset.”

There was a long beat, then Jeff said, “Shit.”

“He let me die,” the ghost said, her mouth so close to Samantha’s ear it chilled her flesh.

Samantha’s hand found the doorknob, unlocked it, and jerked on it. The door swung open to reveal a gloomy hallway with a dark shape barely illuminated by the street light filtering through the windows. Samantha hoped was Jeff.

To her relief, the figure said, “Is she still here?” Jeff’s warm hand closed on her arm and drew her out of the bathroom.

“I don’t know.” Samantha shivered, her teeth clacking together. “Maybe. It’s so cold.”

“Yeah, I feel it. It’s isolated to the bathroom.” Jeff tugged her from doorway and further up the hall.

“She’s just like Cassidy. All torn up.” Samantha automatically lowered her voice and wasn’t sure if she was doing it because it was dark, or because of the ghost.

“You let him do this to me!”

A gush of cold, dank air roared out of the bathroom.

“Okay, I heard that,” Jeff gasped.

Placing herself between Jeff and the ghost, Samantha strained to see into the murk. “Hey, ghost girl, no one let anyone hurt you. I promise. We want to help.”

Jeff tried to change places with her, but Samantha shoved him back with her elbow.

“Don’t let her touch you or we’ll have trouble,” Jeff muttered, obviously hoping the ghost wouldn’t hear.

“Please, we want to help you,” Samantha said into the murk filling her vision. Maybe it was her eyes trying to adjust, but she kept catching glimpses of other shapes in the blackness.

There was a low rasp, then the bathroom door violently slammed shut.

“Are you guys naked in here?” Eduardo called out from the front of the store. “What’s with the lights?”

As if to answer his question, the lights flicked on. The brightness hurt Samantha’s eyes and she covered her face with her hands.

“We had an outage,” Jeff answered. Cautiously, he opened the door to the bathroom and peered in.

Samantha leaned past him, then shook her head. “She’s gone.”

Eduardo strolled down the hallway, a thermos in one hand. Every night Eduardo poured Amaliya’s blood onto a grave in each cemetery in Austin. It allowed her to call the dead. Tossing it to Jeff, he said, “Did my duty, now I’m off to have some fun.”

“What do you do for fun?” Samantha asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

The grin Eduardo gave her was a little disconcerting. “Stuff.”

Jeff unscrewed the top of the thermos and looked inside. “Would it kill you to clean it?”

Eduardo turned to go, then hesitated. “Oh, yeah. I don’t usually hang with the weres, but I ran into another coyote that does. She had something interesting to say about San Antonio.”

Samantha saw the sudden interest bloom in Jeff’s gaze.

“Which was?”

“The wolf pack that was on the south side has disappeared. No sign of them. Just gone. But – and this is interesting – some jaguars were spotted lurking around the River Walk. If you want my opinion on what this means, here it is: The Summoner cleaned house across the board and is bringing in his own people.”

Samantha frowned at the thought, but they had all known that The Summoner wouldn’t just sit by idly. He had definite, terrifying plans for the world. And probably for them.

“Did you tell Cian?” Jeff sounded only a little annoyed at deferring to the vampire.

“Nah. I ran into his woman when she was visiting Benchley’s place. I was going to tell her, but she came onto me pretty strong. I got distracted.”

“Liar,” Samantha said, the word just slipping out. Again it surprised her how easily she defended the woman she had once hated.

“What?” Eduardo held out his arms. “I’m a hot piece of ass. She wants me. You all know it. She’s just playing it coy because of her * boyfriend.”

“She would never leave Cian for you,” Samantha declared, setting her hands on her hips and lifting her chin.

“Who said anything about her leaving Cian? Fucking is f*cking, and nothing more.” Eduardo patted Samantha’s head. “You’re so innocent.”

“Oh, f*ck off.” Samantha irritably pushed his hand away.

“Eduardo, stop provoking Sam,” Jeff said, his annoyance clear.

“But it’s so much fun,” Eduardo said mockingly, winking.

Samantha narrowed her eyes. Something about Eduardo always had her on edge. It wasn’t just the fact he was obscenely good looking and incredibly overconfident, but something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Jeff said it was because he was a coyote, a trickster.

“Anyway, I’m out. Tell the * vampire what I told you. Let him mull that over.” Eduardo strutted toward the front of the store.

“Lock the door,” Jeff called out.