Pretty When She Destroys (Pretty When She Dies #3)(52)

“Jeff, Roberto knows me. He knows our situation. He’ll be on board.” Samantha tried to sound more confident than she felt.

“He tried to kill Cian and Amaliya. How do you think they’ll feel about this?” Jeff stared at Samantha with an incredulous look upon his face.

“They’ll deal. Because I need him. I know him. He knows how to fight. He knows what’s up. He’s a f*ckin’ jerk and a half, but he knows what’s up. The Summoner would have eaten him up like all the other ghosts and he knows that. He’ll want payback. Plus, Jeff, he did try to warn us something was up in the graveyard the night it all went to hell.” The thought of Innocente’s tiny broken body brought tears to Samantha’s eyes. Using a napkin, she dabbed at her eyes. “He tried to warn us.”

Jeff exhaled and flopped forward, his head in his hands. “Shit.”

“If this can help her...” Baptiste said, then fell silent.

“You need to do it.” Aimee’s voice was firm. “You need to be at full strength. If you need a ghost to help you channel your power, then go get him. Cian will understand.” A slight smirk appeared on the witch’s lips. “Maybe Amaliya won’t, but Cian will.”

“How can we chance this?” Jeff asked. “If she leaves the city, it’s a big risk.”

“I can go during the day,” Samantha suggested. “I thought Benchley and Alexia could take me.”

“You need another supernatural with you.” Jeff looked toward Baptiste. “Are you game?”

“I’ll go where needed.” Baptiste sat back in his chair, his usually placid face slightly tense. “This is the graveyard where Prosper died, isn’t it?” His long fingers played with the edge of a napkin.

“Yeah.” Samantha squirmed in her seat. She often thought of the graveyard as the place where Innocente had died, but Rachoń had lost Prosper and Amaliya had lost her childhood friend, Pete, that very same night.

“I’ll go,” Baptiste said. “I want to pay my respects.” The solemn pain dwelling in his eyes spoke of how much he had loved his fallen father-figure.

“Oh...kay.” Jeff tapped his fingers on the table. “Aimee, could you-”

“I can get them set up.” Aimee gave him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry.”

Samantha met the concerned gazed of her boyfriend with a wide grin. “It’s okay. Really.”

“Uh huh,” Jeff said, not sounding confident. “When should we do this?”

“Tomorrow. I need time to prep.” Aimee grabbed her empty bowl and spoon.

“And we need to talk to Cian,” Baptiste added. “Our fearless leader.”

A snort from the hallway gave away Benchley’s eavesdropping.

Samantha arched an eyebrow at Baptiste. He returned the gesture, then grinned.

“Ready to go ghost wrangling?” she asked.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Baptiste answered with a wink.

Jeff’s head hit the table with a clunk and he moaned. “Could this get any worse?”




“Bench, we need to talk.”

Jeff watched his friend shift his weight on the sofa as he paused the game he was playing on Jeff’s old Xbox console. Benchley set the controller on his lap, folded his arms over his hefty chest, and gazed at Jeff. “Okay, talk.”

Taking a seat opposite Benchley, Jeff rubbed his hands together nervously. He hated dealing with the interpersonal dynamics of the group and it was worse when he had to give a talk to his best friend. Maybe this was why Cian was the one to lead. Cian could be an *. “It’s about earlier.”

“Yeah. So? I already said I’ll go to Fenton. It will at least give me something to do,” Benchley said moodily.

“I meant about the situation with Cian being in charge.”

“Does it bother you that we’re trusting a bloodsucking vampire?” Benchley’s glower intensified. “I mean, I kinda like Cian, but he’s a vampire. So is Amaliya. I kinda like her, too. But they’re shifty as f*ck.”

Jeff narrowed his gaze, studying Benchley thoughtfully, then had an inkling that something was up that his friend had yet to tell him about. “What’s going on?”

“Are you my leader or not?” Benchley demanded.

“Uh, is this a research scenario?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I’m your leader.”

“Good!” Benchley hurled the controller aside and leaned forward. “Amaliya came to me a while back and asked me to research possession. She gave me notes about this freaky dream she had. She didn’t want me to tell Cian about it. Which is very shifty.”

“Okay, I’m lost.”

“It’s about Bianca. Amaliya thinks Bianca is still alive and trapped in her own body by The Summoner. Amaliya believes that Bianca is communicating with her and asking to be rescued.” Benchley widened his eyes. “And we all know what happened when Innocente tried to rescue Bianca.”

Jeff flopped back in the chair and stared at the ceiling. “Okay, so Amaliya came to you about possession, told you to keep it on the lowdown, and you’re in a bad mood because she told you not to tell Cian?”

“No, I’m in a bad mood because I discovered something.” Benchley covered his face with his hands. “She might be right.”