Rhiannon Frater - Pretty When She Destroys

“Yeah.” Jeff winced.

“Then we’ll be ready for him.” Cian’s hand tightened around Amaliya’s.

Rachoń gave a curt nod of her head. “We create a coalition then, and we stop him.”

Cian also nodded. “We have no other choice.”

Cassandra leaned forward in her chair. “We fight.”

Eduardo grinned fiendishly. “Until we die.”

The witch gave him a dire look. “Or win.”

“Like Buffy and the Scoobies,” Samantha said, sounding almost jovial.

“Nothing will take you from me.” Cian stared into Amaliya’s eyes, a vow in his words.

“I won’t let him take me,” Amaliya said, pressing her lips to his hand.

“So let’s get to planning...” Jeff said.

“Any ideas on where we can find the asshole?” Benchley questioned.

“Too bad he burned down Santos’s mansion,” Alexia groused.

“He knew we would come for him there,” Cian said.

They learned that the blaze had devoured the mansion and part of the surrounding greenbelt. The amount of burned bodies in the mansion had caused quite a stir in the media. Santos had created a fake persona for all his human dealings, so the police were after a serial killer phantom that didn’t actually exist. Meanwhile, Santos had vanished, along with his sister, cabal, and The Summoner.

Benchley stared into his cup of cold coffee, looking grim and a little afraid. “I wonder where the psycho pixie is now.”

“Poor Bianca,” Alexia said in a sad voice.

“Poor Grandmama.” Sergio’s green eyes darkened with emotion. “She was trying to save someone who doesn’t exist.

Amaliya shifted in her chair, uncomfortable with the subject of Bianca. Her memories of the girl were now mixed with those of The Summoner. It made it difficult for her to sympathize with the girl she had barely spoken to in college. Guilt ate at Amaliya. Why had she risen, but not Bianca? Why had Bianca truly died while Amaliya had turned into a vampire?

“Vampires don’t rise after three days. When Bianca came out of the grave, we should have known it was him.” The regret in Rachoń’s voice and manner surprised Amaliya until she remembered that Prosper had died at the hands of the risen girl. “Though I cannot set the past right, I can send you help. A member of my family will be coming to Austin to assist you. His name is Baptiste. He’s an elemagus.”

“What’s that?” Samantha asked.

“He can manipulate the elements,” Alexia answered.

“Like an elementalist in Guild Wars,” Benchley added, trying to be helpful.

“I don’t know what that is.” Samantha squinted her eyes at Benchley, then understanding crept into her gaze. “Oh! Is that a game?”

Benchley opened his mouth to answer, but Alexia clamped her hand over it. “It’s a game, but that’s not important. Elemagus are very rare, so this kinda puts us ahead of the game.”

“We’re becoming a team of supernatural rarities.” Jeff’s tone didn’t reveal whether he found this to be a positive or negative trait. He frowned at his cup of coffee, then got up to pour more.

“Phasmagus in the house!” Samantha said, holding up her hands.

“But we could use more help,” Cian said pointedly to Rachoń.

Instantly the tension in the room increased. Amaliya set her hand over Cian’s, hoping he’d keep his temper in check. Jeff hesitated where he stood with the pot of hot coffee in his hand.

“I have Louisiana to take care of.” Crossing her legs, Rachoń rested her hands on her lap, her maroon eyes never wavering from Cian’s gaze. “Baptiste is powerful. He’s already asked to come to Austin to join the fight. Prosper was his great-grandfather. He wants revenge against The Summoner.”

“And we appreciate you sending him,” Samantha said swiftly, shooting Cian a look that basically told him to shut up.

Cian frowned, but didn’t speak.

“Cian, why don’t you just make vampires?” Sergio asked. “Seriously. I’m sure there are a whole lot of Twilight fans who’d love to be a vampire.”

“I would be creating cannon fodder,” Cian answered. “They’d be low-powered and easily killed.”

“And we’re not?” Benchley scowled as he pointed to his sister, Sergio, and himself. “We’re human. We’re not super-peeps.”

“But you’re well-trained vampire hunters who work for The Assembly.” Cassandra shifted in her chair, the wood creaking in protest. She looked a little uncomfortable with the topic. Amaliya had been observing Cian’s daughter for the last two weeks and it was obvious that she tried to live as a mortal as much as possible. Amaliya was starting to suspect Cassandra wasn’t always comfortable with the vampire side of her nature.

Rachoń filled the awkward silence by speaking up. “New vampires are unpredictable, weak, and have to be under constant watch by their creators. If Cian made a bunch of vampires, he’d have to exert his control over them constantly.”

“Which would draining,” Cian said, agreeing.

“Which would make you weaker instead of being at full strength.” Amaliya felt the need to defend Cian. He was dealing with enough without being reminded that he had screwed up by not building his cabal. But then again, he couldn’t have anticipated all that was happening. Cian had wanted a low stress life without vampire politics. Obviously, that had not been in the cards for his life.

Cian squeezed her hand lightly. “Exactly.”

Amaliya loved the feel of his skin under her hand and the way his gaze made her feel. They were united in this battle.

“What if Amaliya makes a vampire?” Sergio dared to ask.

“I wouldn’t,” Amaliya said swiftly. The mere thought terrified her. “I can barely control what’s happening to me. And look at what my blood did to Sam…”

Samantha winced, but had to bob her head in agreement. “She totally fucked me up.”

Amaliya stuck her tongue out at her former rival. Samantha returned the gesture.

“What if she makes another one just like The Summoner?” Rachoń interjected. “There’s no assurance that the fledgling would side with us. The Summoner made all of the vampires in this room. His blood is within us.” She pointed at Cian. “You and I know that the only reason we can stand against him is because of our age.”

“But Amaliya can stand against him.” Samantha cast a big smile at Amaliya. “She can totally kick his ass.”

A shiver ran through Amaliya at the thought of how hard it was to defy The Summoner when her creator’s power mingled with her own. It was very difficult to admit how much sway he still had over her whenever she was near him.

Cian looked at their combined hands while Rachoń lifted her eyebrows slightly.

Jeff abandoned his seat at the end of the table to pull another chair close to Samantha. Sitting down, he gazed at Amaliya pensively while nursing his hot cup of coffee.

Benchley and Alexia stared at Amaliya with open curiosity. They had not been in the graveyard to see the last battle between Amaliya and The Summoner.

“Well, she can!” Samantha looked defensive. “We all saw her do it!”

Settling back in her chair, Rachoń regarded Amaliya thoughtfully. “How hard was it?”

Amaliya shrugged, not enjoying the feeling of being put on the spot.

“You missed the make out session,” Cassandra said to Samantha under her breath. “Amaliya totally lip locked with The Summoner.”

Cian gave his daughter a sharp look, his hazel eyes cold.

“Well, she did,” Cassandra said.

Amaliya met Samantha’s stare with a defiant tilt of her chin. She didn’t feel she should be judged for something she had no control over. Whenever she was around The Summoner his magic called to her in a way that was difficult to fight.