Pretty When She Destroys (Pretty When She Dies #3)(35)

“Could we focus?” Benchley pointed at the dark figures moving along the hurricane fence line. “You know, bad guys!”

Still holding Amaliya’s hands, Samantha tugged the vampire to her feet. When she released the other woman, Samantha sensed their combined powers unraveling rapidly and drifting apart. In a panic, the blonde immediately clutched Amaliya’s fingers, afraid to lose their connection. Their power again surged between them, bitingly cold and full of death. In her haste, Samantha had unleashed the full force of their magic. Amaliya thrust their clasped hands forward, loosening the excess in a massive wave that swept over the ground and swelled up along the edges of the ward in a torrent of black and white energy.

Samantha gasped.

“Wow!” Amaliya grinned.

Benchley grabbed both of them. “Get inside!”

Samantha stumbled a little, still disoriented, and managed to get a sticker embedded in her big toe, but the three of them made it safely into Samantha’s bungalow.

“Did you see that?” Samantha gasped.

“That was crazy!” Amaliya shoved her hair from her face, bits of leaves and grass falling to the clean floor. “I’m buzzing hardcore.”

Samantha’s hair was standing on end and her fingers were tingling. “Me too.”

“What are you talking about?” Benchley demanded. Frustration reddened his face and made his voice surly.

“Our magic went haywire and did this whole tsunami thing,” Samantha explained.

“Did it hit the bad guys?” Benchley’s brows knitted into a hard line above his eyes.

Furrowing her brow, mimicking his look, Samantha answered, “I don’t think so.”

“It bounced off the ward! Dammit!” Amaliya’s sour expression matched the one that immediately fastened onto Benchley’s face.

“Not a good thing!” Benchley waved the spell bags around. “If we try to use these, we’ll have to go outside the ward. Which means we could die.”

Amaliya wiped her still dirty hands off on her dress, her dark red lips turned downward. “Fuckin’ great.”

“Can you astral project yet?” Benchley asked, his brow puckering.

Amaliya shook her head. “No. Not yet. That wasn’t your big plan was it? Me astral projecting and kicking ass?”

“No, no.” Samantha grabbed a roll of paper towels off the counter and thrust it at the brunette. “We’re kinda stuck. Which is why I summoned you. I can’t shoot the bad guys, or the cops are going to show up. And how do I explain the bodies? Unless, of course, they get through the ward and into the house. Then I will shoot the *s in self-defense. Which will totally be messy, too. Do not want blood all over my house! Plus, what if they end up being demon bodies or something? How do I explain that to the police?”

Pacing, Benchley grumbled to himself. His old leather sandals creaked almost as much as the wood floor.

“I can call the dead,” Amaliya offered.

“Zombies invading Hyde Park. So not a good idea. All Night of the Living Dead there, bitch-face.” Samantha stared at the bits of dirt, grass and twigs falling onto the floor as Amaliya attempted to clean herself off. “I actually wanted you here because I think maybe your power can help me reach out to the ghosts.”

“Eh?” Amaliya squinted at her. “What?”

“You were in a graveyard. You’re covered in graveyard stuff. And pieces of Mr. Kibbles. So, you’re my focus to contact ghosts.” Samantha smiled at her sweetly. “Ta da.”

“Foci,” Benchley corrected.

“Whatever.”

Amaliya studied Samantha for a second, then said, “So you don’t want me to go beat the hell out of the bad guys?”

“Well, you could try. But there are probably at least two black witches and maybe a demon or two out there along with a few vampires,” Samantha said. “Can you take them out?”

“Vampires. Yes. Witches, not too sure. Demons...” Amaliya shuddered. “Cian always told me to stay away from them.”

“Right. So I can use invisible ghosts if we can figure out how to reach them.”

“What if the ward keeps you from reaching the dead?” Benchley grumbled.

Samantha shushed him so she could listen to the continuing attack on the ward. She was getting used to the heinous sound it was making, but something about it caught her attention. Amaliya had her head tilted, obviously paying attention to the magical assault as well.

“It sounds different,” Samantha realized. “It might be weakening.”

“Then you two need to figure it out now.” Benchley’s irritable mood was on Samantha’s last nerve.

“We are, Shark Boy! Calm down!”

“Okay, the way my magic usually works is that as long as I’m connected by blood to a graveyard, I can call the dead.” Amaliya stopped brushing the dirt off her dress. “So, if you can use graveyard dirt, you’re now connected to the graveyard I was just at.”

“Oh!” Samantha hurried to get a broom and dustpan. “That makes sense. We wouldn’t have to worry about the ward because I pulled you through the earth. So there’s a...uh...Shark Boy, what’s that stupid gaming thingy?”

Benchley stopped pacing. “Portal?”