Pretty When She Destroys (Pretty When She Dies #3)(92)

A tender touch on her shoulder drew her out of her dark reverie. Rolling over, she saw Bianca was already awake, one hand tucked beneath her cheek. She wasn’t staring at Amaliya, but past the end of the bed. Moving her fingertips away from Amaliya’s skin, she pointed toward the far side of the dimly lit room. Still nude, the necromancer was on his knees before the glowing rings, his hands held aloft over the illusion of a sword. Eyes closed in rapture, he was chanting in a language Amaliya had never heard before.

“He does this every day,” Bianca whispered. “It’s what helps him gain a corporeal form when he’s in this room, and only in the room.”

“Is that why he possesses you outside of it?” Amaliya inched closer to Bianca, the silky sheets brushing over her naked flesh.

Pressing her lips together, Bianca nodded sadly.

The Summoner appeared lost in his meditation.

“Is he aware of us right now?”

“No. Not right now.” Bianca sighed and curled into a little ball. The room was incredibly cold and the silk comforter was not very warm.

Pulling another blanket that had been shoved to the end of the bed over them, Amaliya tucked it in around their bodies. It was strange that they were actually feeling the low temperature in the room. Usually cold didn’t affect vampires. With dread, Amaliya realized that the icy air was supernatural.

Snuggling under the covers, Bianca said, “Thank you.”

“Have you tried to escape while he’s doing that?”

“Yes.” Bianca’s gaze slid away from The Summoner to Amaliya’s face. “I can only make it a few steps before it stops me.”

“What does?”

“The sword.”

Propping a few pillows under her throbbing head, Amaliya wished she could get away from the hellish sword. The energy flowing in waves from Lucifer’s weapon made her feel oddly disconnected from herself and the world. The sensation was not entirely unpleasant, which worried her.

“How does it stop you?” Amaliya concentrated her attention on Bianca and ignored The Summoner’s chanting and the pull of the horrible rings.

“I get confused. Muddled. I can’t remember what I’m doing. Or why I’m trying to leave. Once, I stood in the same spot in front of the doors for hours until The Summoner came out of his trance. He was very upset.” Bianca returned to watching the man that had brutally killed her, but was now her captor and lover.

“I’m so sorry,” Amaliya said, and meant it. Despite all she had been through, Bianca gave off an aura of innocence. It made Amaliya want to protect her. “I wanted to save you once I knew you were still alive in your body. I just didn’t know how.”

“I know. I shouldn’t have tried to reach you. I was just so scared and desperate.” Bianca nervously bit her bottom lip. “I should have known he would find a way to bring you here. He always wanted you so much more than he wanted me.”

Bits of memory sifted through Amaliya’s mind. “You were there the night I died, weren’t you?”

A slight shudder slipped through Bianca’s body. “I tried to save you. I failed. You died. He killed me.”

“I think I remember,” Amaliya frowned as she tried to recall the night The Summoner had murdered her. Their date had been so wonderful until the moment he had torn out her throat. Maybe it was a false memory, but she had a recollection of Bianca trying to touch her hand as she died. “You whispered something to me.”

“I told you to find me,” Bianca said. “I thought we’d rise together and that we could find a way to defeat him together.”

“But I rose before you.”

“And he possessed me as soon as I awakened.”

“I’m so sorry.” She laid her hand on Bianca’s cheek. “I failed you.”

Edging closer, Bianca rested her fingers over Amaliya’s. “Don’t say that. You didn’t know. It took me a long time to fight through the possession. It was like I was in a very deep sleep and caught in a nightmare I couldn’t escape. Once I managed to slip past his power, it took a long time to find your grandmother. I’m so sorry about her dying. I never dreamed he would kill her.”

“So you did try to reach my grandmama?”

“I thought she would be like my mother and be able to fight him.”

Amaliya tried to banish the image in her mind of her grandmother’s tiny broken form. “Your mother fought The Summoner?”

“He tried to claim her. She fought him and won. I was very little when it happened. When he couldn’t reach her inside the house, he burned it to the ground. She died saving me. I didn’t see him again until he arrived at the college. I recognized him, but thought he didn’t know who I was. I was wrong.”

“Fuck me. He’s been watching us for a very long time then?”

“We are his grand experiment.” Bianca peered at Amaliya over the edge of the blanket. “We’re his chosen.”

Flopping onto her back, Amaliya slid her hands through her messy black hair and tried to wrap her mind around what Bianca had said. “So, you reached out to my grandmama...”

“Yeah, but he caught on. I should have learned then, but I wanted to escape...” Bianca faltered.

Amaliya understood very well the desperation that must have been ripping through Bianca. How many times had Amaliya tried to escape from the troubles of her life? Now, instead of running, she was facing the evil that haunted her existence. “I get it. Trust me. I would have been doing the same thing.”