Pretty When She Destroys (Pretty When She Dies #3)(70)

“In his old form?” Aimee’s fingers were trembling in Cassandra’s grip.

“Yes, but then Amaliya saw Bianca. Inside the house.” The ghost flickered. “Samantha is calling me back.”

“This just keeps getting more and more fun,” Eduardo decided.

“Put some clothes on, Eduardo, and stop showing off” Cian said, then motioned to the bodies. “Baptiste?”

“On it.” The elemagus set the last of the vampire bodies on fire, burning them embers in seconds. A strong wind followed, scattering the remains along the road.

Aimee flicked one hand and the suppression spells fell.

“Let’s head back.” Cian slid his arm around Cassandra’s shoulders and guided her toward his car.

“Dad,” she said in a lowered voice, “I’m really sorry.”

To her surprise, he kissed her temple. “Never say you’re sorry for something that isn’t your fault. You were immediately a target once you joined my cabal. Now you’re just a little more interesting to him.”

Suppressing a shiver, Cassandra glanced toward her girlfriend. The witch gave her a worried look along with a faint smile. Tightening her grip on Aimee’s hand, Cassandra wondered just how much worse things could get.

She was afraid they were going to find out.





“It was a flicker,” Amaliya explained. “I saw Bianca for just an instant. She looked like she was in distress.”

Cian rubbed the whiskers of his goatee between his fingers as he listened to Amaliya speaking. They were in Jeff’s kitchen, the crew scattered across the room. Some were eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, while others were sipping hot chocolate. His daughter kept giving him apologetic looks that didn’t help his mood. He wished adamantly that she hadn’t slipped and revealed who she was to The Summoner, but he also knew it was only a matter of time before their enemy would have sorted it out. He was hungry and tired. The attack had come early enough in the evening that he hadn’t been able to feed yet. It had been a deliberate ploy and a smart one to catch him when he was weak.

“Did she look tied up?” Eduardo asked, then shoved an entire sandwich in his mouth.

Amaliya gave the coyote a disgusted look.

“Eduardo thought maybe The Summoner had Bianca tied up while he astral projected so she couldn’t escape,” Jeff explained.

“Oh. No, she didn’t. But would she? If she was out of her body, too?” Amaliya gave Benchley a quizzical look.

“Well, probably not. It would have been a projection of her body, but not her actual state,” Benchley decided. He was busy helping his sister make an obscene amount of sandwiches. The battle had exhausted everyone and they were cramming calories to recover the energy they had burned.

Cian wished he could eat a sandwich and replenish himself. He craved blood and his veins were starting to burn.

“Anyway, she appeared just for a second. Right there.” Amaliya pointed to a spot near the back door. “Then I heard Samantha screaming outside.”

“That’s when they were assaulting the ward.” Samantha was peeling the crust off her sandwich like one long ribbon. “Alexia and I were going over all the emails from the stupid Assembly when they started hitting the ward. It was really loud. We rushed outside to make sure it was holding and that’s when we both saw him down in the street. I’d recognize that * anywhere.”

“He was scary and creepy in a handsome way,” Alexia added. She licked the peanut butter off the butter knife before tossing it in the sink. It clattered loudly.

Benchley did a little hop, startled.

“Shark Boy, you okay?” Samantha asked.

“A little rattled about the big bad showing himself,” Benchley admitted.

“Why do you call him Shark Boy?” Baptiste leaned one elbow on the kitchen table and slanted toward Samantha. “I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

“Peter Benchley wrote Jaws.” Samantha shrugged her shoulders. “I’m random like that.”

“Ah,” Baptiste said, though he sounded a little mystified.

Cian listened to the people around him prattling on, but his thoughts were concentrated on the trouble at hand. The incursions into his city were growing more numerous. Cian was certain that The Summoner was trying to ascertain exactly how much firepower Cian had on his side.

“There were a lot of vampires tonight,” Benchley continued, his attention on Samantha. “They were really young, hungry, and out of their heads.”

“It explains all the missing people, doesn’t it?” Alexia took a seat at the table and tapped on the map she had laid out. Red dots showed the locations of all the people who had gone missing in the last few weeks. There was no real pattern to discern.

Cian knew that the human girl had been working on trying to locate The Summoner’s haven in San Antonio using police reports and news articles. Aimee couldn’t penetrate the massive black magic spells coating the city. San Antonio was in chaos. The crime rate was escalating while earth tremors made the authorities and inhabitants nervous. Though the media joked about the ground shaking was a sign of the coming 2012 apocalypse, Alexia took it very seriously. Earthquakes were not common in the region.

The cabal chattered on, but Cian didn’t pay them any heed. The night’s events had revealed something very important and he wanted to use it to his advantage. Raising his eyes, he saw Amaliya staring at him with curiosity. They were more connected than ever, intertwined in a way that was thrilling and comforting. She settled back in her seat, flashed a grin, and played with her pack of cigarettes on the table. Apparently, she had overheard his thoughts.