Pretty When She Destroys

by Rhiannon Frater

  After they had returned the previous night from Fenton, Texas, Amaliya had waited until their friends left for their own homes and their house guests - Cassandra, Cian’s dhamphir daughter and her girlfriend, Aimee, a witch - had gone upstairs, before informing Cian that she was going to kill The Summoner. The death of Innocente ate at her viciously, but the demise of Pete, her childhood friend who had died trying to save her, inspired a rage so powerful it made her tremble. The Summoner had murdered people who loved her and she was going to kill him. She had found a way to kill him once, and she would again.

  Cian placed the bags in the front hall, then checked his jean pockets for his car keys. “We’ll take the back route into San Antonio. It’s longer, but there is less of a chance of one of Santos’ people spotting us before we hit the mansion.”

  Amaliya nodded tersely. “Sounds good.”

  A wisp of fear threaded through her raw fury, but she ignored it. Maybe it was a suicide run going after The Summoner, but she didn’t want to acknowledge that possibility. She hadn’t even discussed her plan with Cian when she had awakened. Cian had simply anticipated her desires and started preparations immediately.

  “When are we leaving?” Cassandra asked, coming down the stairs from the second level of the apartment. Her girlfriend was right behind her. Both were dressed in black clothing and carried messenger bags. Cassandra’s chin length chestnut hair was pulled up into a fake Mohawk with rubber bands while Aimee’s was in a long braid wrapped around her head several times.

  “You told them?” Amaliya asked Cian, narrowing her eyes.

  Cian shook his head. “No, of course not.”

  “It wasn’t too hard to figure out that you’d want to kill The Summoner as soon as possible,” Aimee said as she reached the main floor.

  “And since he’s most likely with Etzli’s brother, it made sense to attack tonight before they can move,” Cassandra finished.

  “We can use the help, Liya,” Cian said, lifting one shoulder.

  “Fine, but let’s get going.” Amaliya had to admit she felt a little relief at the thought of the witch and dhamphir coming along.

  The doorbell rang a few seconds later. Cian checked the security feed on his computer monitors. “It’s Jeff and Samantha with the others.”

  “Was there a memo?” Sarcasm dripped from her words as Amaliya lifted her eyes to the heavens.

  When the front door opened, Jeff, the leader of the local supernatural hunter group entered first. He was closely followed by the perky blonde phasmagus that was his girlfriend. Samantha grinned when she saw Amaliya’s glower and gave her a little wave. Eduardo, the hunky were-coyote, filed in before the rotund Benchley and his boyishly cute younger sister, Alexia.

  “I’ve been trying to call you,” Jeff informed Cian.

  “I have my phone off.” Cian folded his arms over his chest and surveyed the people dressed in dark clothes and carrying bulky bags most likely crammed with weapons.

  “You weren’t going to go without us, were you?” Samantha narrowed her eyes and poked Cian in the chest with one finger.

  “The thought did occur to me,” Cian confessed.

  “Okay, the gang is all here. Let’s go!” Amaliya headed toward the door.

  Benchley moved to cut her off, his round face grimacing. “Not so fast.”

  “Out of my way, Bench.”

  The man flinched under her glare, but the sexy coyote stepped in front of Benchley and put his hands on Amaliya’s shoulders. “Listen to the man.”

  Amaliya shrugged off Eduardo’s hands. “Fine. What’s up? Time is a’ wasting.”

  “I was checking the local emergency channels in both Austin and San Antonio to make sure we don’t run into any issues,” Benchley said, holding up his phone.

  “Then we heard something you’re not going to like.” Jeff joined the cluster of people in the front hall. “There’s no point going to San Antonio.”

  “I’m still going. You’re not going to stop me,” Amaliya declared, pushing past Benchley and Eduardo.

  “Santos’ mansion burned to the ground today. It also burned a lot of the surrounding woods and one neighboring house. It’s smoldering right now. The San Antonio fire departments were fighting it all day.”

  Jeff’s words cut through her and sent her mind spinning. Slamming her hand against the heavy metal door, she growled with frustration. “What?”

  In the main room she could hear Cian tapping away at his computer.

  “It’s all burned up,” Alexia said, wincing.

  “Cian has it on the computer!” Samantha called out.

  Amaliya stalked down the entry hall and into living room. Cian was at his computer watching a video from the local TV station. Lightly stroking his chin with his fingers, his hazel eyes flicked toward Amaliya when she leaned over him.

  “No!” Amaliya hissed. “No!”

  “They probably left last night,” Cian said.

  “Fuck! No!”

  “Maybe they’re dead in the fire,” Benchley said hopefully.

  Aimee and Cassandra joined the group of people crowding around to watch the news report on the fire.

  “It’s not unusual for vampires to burn their abandoned havens,” Cassandra remarked. “It makes it harder to find out where they’ve gone.”

  “Nothing left for a tracking spell,” Aimee muttered.

  “Maybe they’re dead. In the fire.” Benchley tapped Cian on the shoulder. “Right? Maybe it was an accident and they all burned? Right?”

  Cian shook his head. “No. No. This is what Cassandra surmised. The Summoner and his people abandoned it last night and had someone burn it down during the daylight hours.”

  “I’m sorry, Amaliya,” Samantha said, patting her on the shoulder.

  “Fuck this shit!” Amaliya shouted, storming away from the looks of sympathy and pity. She launched herself out onto the balcony, her fingers closing around the rail. The scream that erupted out of her was torn away by the hot night wind. Grabbing fistfuls of her hair, she buckled over, weeping. When Cian took her in his arms, she sank against him.

  “I’m sorry, Liya.”

  “I want him dead,” she sobbed. “I want that fucker dead!”

  “I know. I know.” Cian kissed her brow and held her firmly against his body.

  “It’s not fuckin’ fair that he killed her. It’s not fuckin’ fair! She was trying to save Bianca!”

  “Innocente was a very good person,” Cian agreed.

  “I want to fuckin’ rip his fuckin’ head off!”

  “And you will.”

  Clinging to Cian as her rage dissolved into despair, Amaliya shuddered. It was as if her body couldn’t fully contain the strong emotions roaring through her.

  “Liya, Jeff is going to research the rings that The Summoner wanted so desperately. Once we find out what The Summoner is planning, we’ll find him and stop him. You’ll take his head. You will avenge Innocente and Pete. I know it.”

  Lifting her head, she stared out over the Austin skyline toward the south. “Do you think he’s still in San Antonio?”

  “I have a feeling he picked that city for a reason. So, yes, I do think he’s still there.” Cian pressed his lips against her forehead, his hands rubbing her back to soothe her.

  In all her life, only Cian could calm her when she felt like this. Only he felt like a safe harbor from her dark emotions. When she was at her weakest, he always made her feel strong.

  “You are strong,” Cian whispered against her cheek. “You’re amazing. You will get your revenge. I swear it.”

  Nodding, she wiped her tears away with irritation. “I will.”

  “But we need to go now. Not to San Antonio, but my secondary haven. The Summoner is in hiding and we should be, too.”

  “It’s all falling apart,” Amaliya moaned. She had tried so hard to adapt to her new life and just when she was finally settling into it The Summoner had once again wrecked it.

  “No, no. Not falling ap
art, Liya. Just changing.”

  Amaliya knew he was right, but all the recent changes were filled with blood, pain and death. The only way to stop it would be through blood, pain, and the death of The Summoner.

  Chapter 2

  Two Weeks Later

  “Lucifer’s sword was found by the Mayans. They believed it was the weapon of a fallen god and built a temple to house it. The Spanish conquered the Mayans, took the sword and the myth around it and delivered it as a gift to the Catholic Church.”

  Amaliya sat in the big back room of Jeff Summerfield’s occult book shop listening to the information gleaned over the last few weeks by the young man with the soulful eyes and messy brown hair. Outside, the summer wind pummeled the side of the old house that was transformed into the bookstore. The tall pecan trees that bordered the building pelted the metal roof with nuts. The sound was a little distracting as Amaliya tried to pay attention to Jeff. The long oak table was surrounded by a strange assortment of people. Cans of soda and cups of coffee sat before the humans, while the spaces before the supernatural beings remained bare. Though Jeff and his group of friends called themselves vampire hunters, they were actually more along the lines of paranormal investigators. Amaliya liked all of them, but wasn’t too sure how effective they would be in the coming battle with the ancient vampire who had created her and infused her with his necromantic powers. Looking around the table, she wondered again if maybe she should just try to find The Summoner on her own. The people were definitely a motley crew of mortals and supernaturals.

  Benchley and his sister, Alexia, were regular humans that had started off as paranormal investigators before becoming hunters. Samantha had been Cian’s mortal girlfriend before Amaliya had landed in their lives and disrupted it. Now the perky blonde was a phasmagus – someone who could control the spirits of the dead – thanks to ingesting Amaliya’s blood when the vampire had tried to save her life. Rachoń, the strikingly beautiful black woman next to Jeff, was Cian’s vampire sister who ruled all of Louisiana and up until a few weeks before had been considered an arch enemy. Cassandra, Cian’s dhamphir daughter, and her witch girlfriend, Aimee, sat snuggled at the end of the table. Amaliya liked both the women and was glad that they had decided to stay in Austin and join the fight against The Summoner. The man sitting near them was not so welcomed in her eyes. She wanted her cousin, Sergio, to go home and be with his wife and kids.

  “They gave the Catholic Church Lucifer’s sword?” Eduardo, the were-coyote and the last of their crew, let out a snort of contempt. “That’s pretty stupid.”

  The geekily cute Alexia shook her head at Eduardo. “Actually, it makes sense. It would’ve been made in heaven. It may have been his sword, but it could’ve been considered a holy relic.”

  Amaliya rolled her eyes. The whole story sounded outlandish to her, but there was something up with the ring The Summoner had worn. It had to be important for him to recall an entire cemetery searching for it. She shivered, remembering how cruel the possessed Bianca had appeared. Though she hadn’t really interacted with the girl when they were both attending college, Amaliya had always thought of Bianca as pretty, sweet, and very shy. She’d even suspected Bianca had a crush on her after often catching the younger woman stealing looks in her direction.

  Jeff was talking again, so Amaliya attempted to pay attention. She felt restless. Sitting and discussing all of the information Jeff had discovered was not the action she craved. She wanted to find a way to kill The Summoner and be done with him once and for all. It still stung that she had not been able to kill him before he had slipped away into hiding.

  “...someone in the Vatican decided that it would be a great idea to melt down the sword and create rings out of it. Well, originally, they wanted to make a crown, too, but when the blacksmith melted the sword it lost mass. In the end, he only had enough gold for the rings. The jeweler made thirteen rings: one for the Pope, and twelve for select archbishops.”

  “Does this sound like a horror movie in the making or what?” Eduardo winked at Amaliya. He was flirting with her to piss off Cian. She had to admit the coyote was very attractive with his sleek black hair and chiseled physique. There was also an aura of danger about him that Amaliya found enticing.

  “Totally Exorcist material,” Benchley mumbled from across the table.

  “So what happened to the rings, Jeff?” Amaliya wanted to hurry up the meeting so she could get the hell out of the building and back to their new home. She and Samantha were going to practice using their powers together in preparation to fight The Summoner. Sitting around and plotting was not Amaliya’s forte.

  “Well, they made the wearer go crazy. And realizing what was happening, the Jesuits collected the rings, dividing them up among thirteen devout priests and sent them out all over the world to hide the rings.”

  Cian raised his eyes toward the ceiling, but said nothing. Amaliya could tell he wasn’t liking what he was hearing.

  “And somehow the vampires found out about them,” Rachoń stated from where she sat near Jeff. Her maroon colored eyes narrowed in thought.

  Amaliya wondered if Cian and Rachoń had noticed anything odd about the ring The Summoner wore. Probably not, she decided.

  “Yeah. About a hundred years ago they became a hot commodity among the vampires,” Jeff continued.

  “About the time that The Summoner was holed up in some Mayan temples in the Yucatán Peninsula,” Cian muttered to Amaliya significantly.

  “That was when he kidnapped Etzli.” Rachoń gave a slight shake of her head. Amaliya knew that Rachoń and The Summoner had been lovers for a very long time. Cian had said she was The Summoner’s favorite. The Summoner, however, had mocked Rachoń’s devotion to her human family and taken Etzli to be his cohort. If that hadn’t happened, Amaliya couldn’t help but wonder if Rachoń would still be on his side or theirs.

  “She’s been in on it all along,” Cian said, his hazel eyes gazing into Amaliya’s.

  Amaliya nodded in agreement. She’d never liked Etzli. The tiny woman had taken way too much pleasure out of her brother Santos torturing Amaliya when she’d been dumped in their territory by Cian’s duplicitous ex-mortal servant, Roberto.

  Jeff straightened up the files on the table and cleared his throat. Amaliya wanted to shout at him to get on with it.

  At last, Jeff concluded, “So, uh, well, lots of different hunter groups have been tracking down the individual rings over the years, but no one knew they were all connected. Not until now. The rings all ended up with different names and different legends, but when Cass and Aimee stole the ring from the Master of Dallas and then connected it to The Summoner, it all became clear.”

  “He wants the rings. All of them!” Amaliya said, trying to urge Jeff to hurry the hell up.

  Cian’s hand rubbed her knee affectionately and he leaned toward her to whisper, “Let Jeff have his moment.”

  Lowering her own voice, Amaliya answered, “I’m about to lose it here.”

  The gentle squeeze of Cian’s cool hand only made her more impatient. Now she wanted to go home, fuck Cian, and then practice her powers with Samantha.

  Returning her attention to the conversation, Amaliya heard Benchley exclaim, “What if that date is significant for another reason? What if it has to do with these rings that used to be a sword? Think about it. What if the Mayans figured out that on that date if the sword is used properly, it could bring destruction down on us?”

  Amaliya was so sick and tired of all the end of the world talk about 2012. People were so paranoid. “But why destroy the world? What does The Summoner get out of that? He seems real intent on living.”

  Cian’s grip tightened a bit on her leg, and she felt the tension within him ratcheting up. “He has always been thwarted by the sun. Always. From the beginning of his existence as a vampire, he has always been confined to the night. Maybe he wants to eliminate his ultimate enemy – the sun.”

  Rachoń lifted her eyes, fear filling them. “Rip open
the veil to the abyss and darkness consumes the earth.”

  “But he’ll let out all the demons, the monsters of the pit...” Alexia sunk lower in her chair, looking overwhelmed by the idea. “Of course, he’d love that.”

  Cassandra finally spoke up. “So he wants to destroy the world. Great.”

  “So we stop him,” the witch beside her said in a calm, determined tone.

  “But how?” Sergio asked. “We’re just a bunch of...uh...”

  “Fuck ups? Rejects?” Amaliya grinned, lifting her eyebrows.

  Eduardo frowned. “Speak for yourself. I’m pretty awesome.”

  Rachoń dismissed Eduardo’s comment with the flick of her hand. “Some vampires will help him, you know.”

  “And you?” Cian’s question was sharp. Amaliya knew Cian didn’t trust her.

  “I love my family, he was right about that. And some members of my family aren’t vampires. I don’t want them to die.” Rachoń met Cian’s gaze evenly and defiantly.

  Sergio leaned his big body over the table to confront Cian. “What about you? Do you want an eternal night?”

  “No.” Cian gave Amaliya a furtive look. It was unreadable, but somehow she got the gist of it. The idea of an eternal night was alluring, but Cian would not sacrifice those he loved to obtain it.

  Cassandra pounded the table with a clenched hand. “I say we send out what we know to the hunters and get a coalition going. We need to track down these rings and keep them from him.”

  Amaliya raked her fingers through her long hair, leaning back in her chair with exasperation and nervousness. “If we do that he’ll know that we figured out what he’s up to. He’ll come for us.”

  Beside her, Samantha reached out to touch Amaliya’s shoulder. “He’s going to come for you anyway. At some point, he’ll come for you, because it’s obvious he tried to make you and Bianca for a reason. Now that he’s in her body, he’s going to try to claim you.”

  “What do you mean?” Amaliya narrowed her eyes at the blonde, nervous that she was right.