Pretty When She Dies (Pretty When She Dies #1)(26)

Licking the blood off her fingers, she stood over him, her gaze cold and cruel.

“Don't f*ck with me,” she repeated.

Reaching down, she heaved the dying man up and bared long, terrible teeth, and drove them into his fatty neck.





Chapter Eight


“Sergio, I'm coming home,” her voice sounded shaky, even to her.

“You okay?” her cousin's rich voice asked, his West Texas accent thick and strong.

“Yeah, I'm just having a rough time right now,” she answered. She tried not to look at the mauled man on the floor of the hotel room.

“Yeah, I saw what went down at your college. Scary shit. Satanists doing stuff like that. Are you okay? Did you know anyone who died?”

Combing her fingers through the edges of her hair, she said, “Yeah, I knew someone.”

“Were they close to you?” Sergio's voice asked.

Tears in her eyes, she looked over at the ravaged body. “Yeah. She was. I'm coming to see Grandmama. The bus leaves Dallas at 9:45.

Can you pick me up around 11:30 in Eastland?”

“In the morning?”

“No, at night. I'm still...on my way.”

“Yeah, sure. I could get you then. Grandmama will still be up watching the late night talk shows. You know how she is about them,”

he said with a laugh. “But she said she missed you on Easter. More drama, huh?”

“You know how it is with our family.”

“You mean how our Aunt drove to East Texas with her floozy eighteen year old daughter to help take care of her dying sister and how said floozy cousin then slept with your Dad? The way that is?”

“Yep.” She wiped more tears away.

“Gotcha. I can't stand Kelly Ann either and she's family. Don't get me started on Aunt Mae.”

Despite herself, Amaliya laughed and held the phone closer. The voice of her cousin made her feel safer somehow. Safe from what though? The bogeyman wasn't outside the door. The monster was in the room and already living inside of her.

“I think she has less teeth now than before.”

“Maybe Kelly Ann is punching them out,” Sergio suggested. “You know, she's a lot like our dead Uncle.”

“Violent and stupid?”

“And ugly.”

“True dat,” Amaliya agreed.

She looked over at the body. It was amazing how little blood there was, but then again, she had drained him dry. She couldn't stay here any longer though. If Rob's truck stayed idling out in the parking lot, it would get hairy for her real quick. Especially if the sun was out.

“Okay, so I'll get you tomorrow night,” Sergio said, realizing the conversation was at an end.

“Thanks again,” she whispered.

“Hey, it's what family is for.”

“You always were my favorite,” she confessed.

“You say that to all the cousins,” he teased, then said in a more serious tone, “take care of yourself. Get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow.”

The loud buzzing that followed the click of the phone being set down made her sigh. She hung up the phone. It was probably stupid to call her cousin, but she had used what little remained of a phone card she had at the bottom of her bag. Hopefully, by the time the police traced it, she would have said goodbye to her grandmother and sworn her cousin to secrecy.

Sliding off the bed, she looked down at Rob's body. The rage she had felt earlier still burned in her. She felt shame that she could kill without remorse.

Rubbing the side of her nose with one finger, she cocked her hip, and stood over Rob, looking down at him with intense hatred. She now fully understood what she was capable doing. Somehow, the slaughter of the people in the fraternity did not seem like her actions. It was as if she was another person doing unspeakable things. Even draining the crazy woman earlier in the night had not made her feel inhuman. In her mind, she had rationalized that she had saved the woman's children from having their crazy mom barge into their home and murder their father.

But this...

She subconsciously licked her teeth.

“I enjoyed this,” she said softly.

It shamed her how much she had enjoyed killing Rob, but she could not deny it. The last two nights were a blur of bad luck and terrible actions. This one incident had taught her one thing for certain. She liked what she was now. For the first time in her life she knew exactly what she wanted.

She needed to find another of her kind. Someone to teach her how to control her powers and guide her as to what she should or should not do. Fuck Professor Sumner. She would find her own damn way and show him a thing or two about survival.

Tugging on her black jeans, she formulated a plan in her mind. It would take some time, but she was sure she could find one of her own kind. Hell, she'd go to freaking New Orleans if she had to. Fishing around on the floor, she found her socks and glared at the dead man as she pulled them on.



Maybe she was f*cked up, but she had been f*cked up ever since she walked in on her Dad doing her slutty cousin. Stomping her feet to get her boots on all the way, she glanced at the covered mirror. Flipping it off she walked over Rob's body and quickly packed up her bag.

Hot anger filled her once more as she thought of Rob grabbing her and trying to rape her. It was far too reminiscent of what had happened between her and Professor Sumner. She would not let herself ever be in that situation again.