Pretty When She Dies (Pretty When She Dies #1)(52)

Flinging up her hands, Samantha felt more agitated than before.

Cian slipped outside and shut the door firmly behind him.

Roberto came into view dressed in khaki pants and a red button down shirt. With a slight smirk, he stopped to watch the two vampires out on the balcony.

Samantha did not want to deal with him and made herself busy smoothing out the comforter. When her hand came away with one long black hair, her brow furrowed even more. Holding her hand up she saw the raven hair had a golden tip and she looked sharply toward the balcony.

“She's blond,” she hissed.

“So are you,” Roberto reminded her.

“She dyes her hair. She's fake!” Samantha knew she sounded like a shrew.

Roberto smiled even wider. “Feeling threatened?”

“You shut up.”

She shook her hand until the hair fell off her fingers and she wiped her hand on her too cutesy skirt and stomped over to the secret panel and popped it. Typing in the code, she heard the gears shift and the huge walls descended with a soft boom.

Crossing her fingers over her breasts, she stared out onto the balcony where Cian was kneeling before Amaliya. The female vampire was seated on one of the wrought iron chairs with her feet slung up on the railing.

“I picked out those chairs for me and Cian. Not for her to sit out there and smoke!”

“This,” Roberto said with glee “is going to be fun.”

“Asshole.”

***

Cian quietly stepped onto the balcony and found Amaliya puffing on a cigarette and talking on the phone.



“Yeah, Grandmama, he's like the king of the city or something like that. He's going to show me the ropes, teach me and stuff,” Amaliya said in response to an older woman's voice that sounded small and muffled through the cellphone.

Realizing she wasn't alone, she looked up at him and exhaled a long plume of smoke. The action seemed incredibly sexy and he shifted on his feet feeling uncomfortable. By the widening of her eyes, he could see that she realized she had revealed that her grandmother knew more than she had let on the night before.

Cian slowly sank down to a crouch in front of her. He folded his arms over his chest and stared at her thoughtfully. She had hidden valuable information from him. She wasn't that stupid and he felt a surge of respect for her. He could hear the old woman's voice clearly on the other end and he tilted his head, obviously listening.

“Is he handsome? Does he look like Dracula?” her grandmother's voice queried.

“He looks nothing like Dracula. Kinda like a normal cute Austin guy.

Kinda scruffy.” Amaliya shrugged at him. She obviously did not realize how many vampire codes she was breaking, but knew she was in trouble.

“Can he fix you, nieta?”

“No, Grandmama, there is no cure.” Tilting her head, she mouthed to Cian “Right,” then puffed on her cigarette.

He slowly nodded. “Right.”

He should rip the phone from her and crush it and kill her for violating his security, but he couldn't bring himself to even move. She was very different from him. She had living family nearby that still cared for her. He had realized last night how unorthodox she was.

This shouldn't even be surprising him, but it did. A vampire with a living family was rare. Usually, in the madness, a fledgling vampire killed their family.

“Well, you learn from him what you can and I'll keep praying for your soul. You call me and let me know how you are doing, okay?”

“Yes, Grandmama. I promise. Te amo.”

“Te amo, Amal,” her grandmother said, then hung up.

Amaliya clicked the button on the cellphone. “How many ways am I f*cked?”

He laughed slightly and shook his head. “I'm not sure yet. I should kill you.”

“Didn't we already do this last night?” She rolled her eyes and slung her bare feet up onto the railing.

“True.” He rubbed the top of his head with one hand as if he could shake his brain into functioning. He needed to feed. “You're not supposed to let people know what you are.”

“Sam knows what you are,” she immediately pointed out. “So does the creepy Renfield guy.”

“Point,” Cian said with a little bit of a frown. “True.”

“Look, no one gave me a freaking instruction manual, as I keep telling you. Grandmama figured out I was dead and tested me by trying to feed me. When I couldn't even swallow a bean, she figured it out pretty damn quick. She wanted me to go into the light!” Amaliya stubbed out the rest of the cigarette and folded her arms under her breasts. She looked upset. “So, yeah. My grandmother knows.”

Cian gripped the cold metal of the armrest of the chair she was lounging in and said, “You're going to effectively f*ck up my life, aren't you?”

“Look, you kidnapped me. You got me to drink your blood. You're screwing up your own life. If you don't want to teach me, then give me one of your books that tells me what to do and I'm outta here.”

Amaliya looked at him angrily. “I have no issue bailing from a bad situation.”

“No,” Cian said in a terse voice. “No. I'll teach you so that you have a shot of surviving.”

Amaliya settled back into her chair, her body relaxing, and he realized she had been fully ready to jump up and walk out. He was not ready for her to do that yet.