Rhiannon Frater - Pretty When She Destroys

Though Cian was jealous of her ability to awaken in the early afternoon, Amaliya disliked slipping back into consciousness only to be trapped inside the darkened room with Cian’s unmoving form. She was not like other vampires, and she often resented that fact. The Summoner had made a new type of vampire when he had created her. Her early awareness was just another part of the curse he had inflicted upon her. She wondered if Bianca would have suffered the same way if she had survived the transformation and risen as a vampire. How much would she have been like Amaliya?

Bothered by her thoughts, Amaliya rolled onto her side in the large bed, putting her back to Cian and staring at the wall. She wished she could return to the deep vampire slumber, but she rarely ever did. Oftentimes she just lay in bed reading, or listening to music. Her Kindle and iPod sat on the bed stand fully charged and waiting. Yet she didn’t feel like doing anything another than staring into the dark.

Sergio’s awkward departure weighed on her. His hug had been tight, but it had also been angry. Though Amaliya was certain that Sergio shouldn’t be a part of their battle and needed to hide his family just in case they failed, it had hurt to send him away. Sergio and her grandmother were the only two people in her family she felt she could trust and rely on. Now they were both gone and she felt adrift and alone. Cian loved her for who she was now, but Sergio and Innocente loved her because of who she had once been: a lost child who just wanted to be loved. Though she was now a powerful vampire necromancer who was absolutely loved by Cian, the girl she had once been was still inside her. That girl wanted to run away, hide, and avoid what was coming.

“I wanted to run away,” Bianca’s voice said with a sigh.

Amaliya sat up, twisted around, and found herself in the coffee shop where she had spent her last few hours of her human life. “I fell back to sleep,” she said in awe to the slim blonde girl seated across from her.

“Only for a little bit,” Bianca said, shrugging. “The sun will go down soon.”

Bianca was just as Amaliya remembered her. Fair hair, big blue eyes, small pink cupid bow mouth, a fashion style that was perfect for the old Nineties grunge scene, and a desperate look on her face for love and approval that reminded Amaliya far too much of herself at eighteen.

“I can’t trust you,” Amaliya said, sadness filling her. “You might be him .”

Fingers playing with her coffee mug, Bianca nodded. “That’s true. He’ll try to fool you. It’s what he does.”

“I wanted to save you. I had hoped that I wasn’t the only one, you know?” It felt foolish to pour out her feelings to a dream phantom, yet Amaliya wanted to say what she’d been keeping hidden away since the night at the graveyard. “I really needed you. I have Cian. I love him. I had my human family, too. I didn’t realize how alone I felt until I realized The Summoner had stolen you from me.”

Bianca let out a long sigh. “We could’ve helped each other.”

“I’m remembering things now. From when I was a kid and I thought I was making things up. That I had an over-active imagination. But now I know what I saw were ghosts. I just learned to turn it off. Maybe that’s why I always felt so removed from everyone and everything. I had to make myself that way to survive, but it robbed me of something important.” Amaliya rolled her eyes and laughed. “Gawd, I sound like I’m on Oprah or something.”

Bianca gave her a wistful smile. “Yeah, you do.”

“I’m so sorry you’re dead. I’m so sorry that he took your body from you. I’m so sorry that I’m going to have to destroy your body to kill him.”

“Amaliya, I’m not dead.” Sliding her hands across the table, Bianca’s fingers stopped scant centimeters from Amaliya’s. With her chin on the table, Bianca stared up at Amaliya. “I need you to find me. I’m still alive.”

The atmosphere of the dream instantly darkened as the air grew cold and stale.

“This isn’t real.” Amaliya hesitated. “Right?”

Bianca closed her eyes, tears sparkling along the edge of her eyelashes. “I’m still here.”

“Bianca?” Amaliya lashed out, trying to grab her hands, but darkness flooded over Bianca, consuming her. “Bianca!”

Amaliya awoke again.

Sitting up, she pressed her hands to her face to discover she’d been crying in her sleep.

The second Amaliya stepped into the gaming store, every eye in the place turned toward her and all conversations instantly ceased. Benchley rocketed out from behind a long counter toward her while his sister yawned dramatically and continued tapping away on a laptop.

“Hey, Amaliya!”

Benchley’s voice filled the store. The noticeable lack of talking was starting to annoy Amaliya, as were the pointed stares in her direction. Wearing black jeans, a Black Sabbath tank top, and high heels, Amaliya knew she looked hot, but the attention she was getting was ridiculous.

“Haven’t y’all ever seen a woman before?” Amaliya muttered.

One half of the store was filled with books, collectible dolls, boxes filled with miniature armies, and things Amaliya would label as nerdy. The other half of the store was crammed with long tables covered in small buildings, foliage, and figurines surrounded by human males and only one or two females. The boys and men were of all ages, from a kid who looked around ten to an old wizened man in a wheelchair. Half of them needed a shower desperately.

“Neck beards, return to your games!” Alexia shouted from behind the counter.

The rumble of voices started back up just as Benchley reached her. “I didn’t know you were coming to the store tonight.”

“Neither did I,” Amaliya confessed. Sweeping her hair back from her face, she glowered at a guy who was breathing heavily while staring at her. “But I need to talk to you. It’s important.”

“Yeah, totally. Let’s talk in my office.” Taking her arm, Benchley rushed her toward a door that opened to a small office. “Ignore the weird looks. Most of these guys have never seen a girl that looks like you in real life.”

Amaliya narrowed her eyes. “So that gives them permission to be totally weird?”

“No, no. It’s just...” Benchley shook his head, then ushered her inside the small cramped office.

The walls were covered in posters for a variety of games sporting scary looking men with huge weapons. A few movie posters were thrown into the mix, most of them sporting sexy women in leather. The desk was covered in books, notebooks, paper clutter, a laptop, and then a much bigger desktop computer with a wide screen monitor. On the screen a spaceship was floating in space. Like the rest of the store, the room smelled like a guy who needed to take a shower and put on fresh clothes. It was the smell that inhabited most of the dorm rooms of the college guys she’d dated.

Sitting down on a folding chair and crossing her legs, Amaliya stared at Benchley. “Well? Why the freakout?”

“Some of the guys out there are totally cool. Good paying jobs, steady relationships, the works. But some of those guys, this is their life. Sitting in this store and playing games. Maybe they lost a job and can’t find another. Maybe they had a bad life and gaming is the thing that makes it better. And some of them...some of them have no clue how to interact with another human being because they were never treated like a human being. By anyone. I will talk to them about the staring though. That was totally uncool and creepy.” Benchley sat in his battered office chair and scratched at his beard nervously. “Honestly, Amaliya, I’m somewhere down the middle of all those guys. I have a rotten track record with broads.”