Pretty When They Collide (Pretty When She Dies 0.5)

Pretty When They Collide (Pretty When She Dies 0.5)

Rhiannon Frater




Dedicated to all the fans who demanded more Aimee and Cass after reading Pretty When She Kills. This is for you.





Part One:

Las Vegas





Chapter 1: Masks, Lies, and Games

Cassandra wished the vampire would just shut up and take her to his suite already. The Vegas casino was noisy, smoky, and crammed with tourists pouring change into the penny slot machines. She needed to get the vampire away from the crowds and into a more secluded place so she could snatch the relic she had been hired to steal and kill him.

Besides, her feet were aching in her stiletto heels and the sleek red dress covering her lean, athletic body was starting to creep upward. Though she was dying to yank the sparkly material down over her muscular thighs, the vapid party girl she was portraying would do no such thing. To add to her discomfort, the vampire was a leg man. The cool, almost papery feel of his hand on her leg indicated that he needed to feed soon, and she hoped he would consider her the perfect meal. She squirmed a bit, hoping her mark would interpret her movement as arousal and not discomfort.

“You’re a good luck charm! Look! I just won again!” The vampire grinned, his hand sliding higher to just under the hem of her dress.

Faking an enthusiastic smile, she clapped her hands with glee. “Wow! You’re going to be rich, Asher!”

Laughing, the vampire caressed her thigh. The sensation made her skin crawl, but Cassandra kept a flirty smile on her face while she watched him shove more quarters into the slot machine. Her mark resembled a certain fictional vampire on a popular television show, but she could see his true face hidden beneath the vampire glamour. As the daughter of a vampire and a mortal, she had many of the powers of the vampire and not as many limitations. Because she was a dhamphir, Cassandra possessed the ability to see through vampire illusions. It was disconcerting being able to see the ruddy, pockmarked face of the vampire beneath the handsome visage he projected. The lush blond hair shimmered over his own colorless thin fringe that ringed a huge bald spot, and his eyes were not a piercing blue, but instead a muddy brown. Cassandra had to concentrate on not allowing the double image to throw her off her game. Anyone passing by them would see a beautiful young couple with gleaming blond hair and perfect bodies that were obviously in lust with each other.

The image was a complete lie.

It amused Cassandra.

Twirling a lock of her fake hair, she snuggled against the vampire as he watched the spinning numbers and images of the slot machine while she furtively observed the vampire’s human guards keeping watch on not only the casino, but also her ass. Which, of course, is what she had planned. A distracted guard was exactly what she wanted.

“See! I won again! You are a good luck charm, Britney!” The vampire pressed a kiss to her cheek. His lips were so cold. “My sweet blond goddess.”

She giggled vapidly.

Whereas she could see through the vampire’s glamour, he could not see through hers. Cassandra’s broker had secured a high quality witch spell for her. In the last two years not one vampire had been able to see through the false countenance until it was too late. The glamour spell Cassandra was wearing gave her the appearance of a young woman with long blond hair and the type of carefully sculpted and plumped up face favored by Hollywood D-listers and porn stars. To support the illusion of long hair, she wore clip-on extensions in her chin-length chestnut brown hair. The glamour hid her unusual eyes that altered color depending on her mood, a gift from her supernatural origins. A push-up bra managed to make her small breasts look voluminous. Of course, she also had a few extra items she would need later tucked into the lining of the lingerie.

Everything about her appearance was tailored to draw the attention of Leonard Klein, a former pharmacist who now went by the name Asher. Leonard served a powerful vampire out of Los Angeles who sold occult relics. Cassandra’s broker had dispatched her to grab the latest relic that Leonard was transporting to a client. His death was an added bonus as far as Cassandra was concerned. Leonard loved to leave pretty blond bodies in his wake. He had been a serial killer in his mortal life, but had never been caught. Whenever she was dealing with the criminal denizens of the supernatural world, she liked to know exactly who she was dealing with, for she had no compunctions about eliminating some of the more deadly monsters.

Leonard’s hand inched ever higher on her leg, but she had to refrain from her instinct to punch him in the face. Instead, she leaned closer to him, her arms draped around his neck. “Asher, I’m bored now. You won all that money. Let’s go upstairs and celebrate.”

It wasn’t the smile on his fake handsome face, but the sneer on his real face that made it difficult for Cassandra to maintain her playful, pouty expression.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea, Britney.” His hand slid under the hem of the dress.

Cassandra playfully twirled away from him, extending her hand in invitation. “Let’s go!”

He immediately took her hand and kissed it. “I have a feeling you’re insatiable,” Leonard said, his true face flushing with dark desire.

Flashing a wide grin, Cassandra said truthfully, “You have no idea.” She had deliberately not fed so that she would not only appear human to vampires, but also not register in their preternatural instincts as anything other than mortal. Being a dhamphir meant being able to subsist both on food and blood, but without it, just like a vampire, she was greatly weakened.