Pretty When She Destroys

by Rhiannon Frater

  A tender touch on her shoulder drew her out of her dark reverie. Rolling over, she saw Bianca was already awake, one hand tucked beneath her cheek. She wasn’t staring at Amaliya, but past the end of the bed. Moving her fingertips away from Amaliya’s skin, she pointed toward the far side of the dimly lit room. Still nude, the necromancer was on his knees before the glowing rings, his hands held aloft over the illusion of a sword. Eyes closed in rapture, he was chanting in a language Amaliya had never heard before.

  “He does this every day,” Bianca whispered. “It’s what helps him gain a corporeal form when he’s in this room, and only in the room.”

  “Is that why he possesses you outside of it?” Amaliya inched closer to Bianca, the silky sheets brushing over her naked flesh.

  Pressing her lips together, Bianca nodded sadly.

  The Summoner appeared lost in his meditation.

  “Is he aware of us right now?”

  “No. Not right now.” Bianca sighed and curled into a little ball. The room was incredibly cold and the silk comforter was not very warm.

  Pulling another blanket that had been shoved to the end of the bed over them, Amaliya tucked it in around their bodies. It was strange that they were actually feeling the low temperature in the room. Usually cold didn’t affect vampires. With dread, Amaliya realized that the icy air was supernatural.

  Snuggling under the covers, Bianca said, “Thank you.”

  “Have you tried to escape while he’s doing that?”

  “Yes.” Bianca’s gaze slid away from The Summoner to Amaliya’s face. “I can only make it a few steps before it stops me.”

  “What does?”

  “The sword.”

  Propping a few pillows under her throbbing head, Amaliya wished she could get away from the hellish sword. The energy flowing in waves from Lucifer’s weapon made her feel oddly disconnected from herself and the world. The sensation was not entirely unpleasant, which worried her.

  “How does it stop you?” Amaliya concentrated her attention on Bianca and ignored The Summoner’s chanting and the pull of the horrible rings.

  “I get confused. Muddled. I can’t remember what I’m doing. Or why I’m trying to leave. Once, I stood in the same spot in front of the doors for hours until The Summoner came out of his trance. He was very upset.” Bianca returned to watching the man that had brutally killed her, but was now her captor and lover.

  “I’m so sorry,” Amaliya said, and meant it. Despite all she had been through, Bianca gave off an aura of innocence. It made Amaliya want to protect her. “I wanted to save you once I knew you were still alive in your body. I just didn’t know how.”

  “I know. I shouldn’t have tried to reach you. I was just so scared and desperate.” Bianca nervously bit her bottom lip. “I should have known he would find a way to bring you here. He always wanted you so much more than he wanted me.”

  Bits of memory sifted through Amaliya’s mind. “You were there the night I died, weren’t you?”

  A slight shudder slipped through Bianca’s body. “I tried to save you. I failed. You died. He killed me.”

  “I think I remember,” Amaliya frowned as she tried to recall the night The Summoner had murdered her. Their date had been so wonderful until the moment he had torn out her throat. Maybe it was a false memory, but she had a recollection of Bianca trying to touch her hand as she died. “You whispered something to me.”

  “I told you to find me,” Bianca said. “I thought we’d rise together and that we could find a way to defeat him together.”

  “But I rose before you.”

  “And he possessed me as soon as I awakened.”

  “I’m so sorry.” She laid her hand on Bianca’s cheek. “I failed you.”

  Edging closer, Bianca rested her fingers over Amaliya’s. “Don’t say that. You didn’t know. It took me a long time to fight through the possession. It was like I was in a very deep sleep and caught in a nightmare I couldn’t escape. Once I managed to slip past his power, it took a long time to find your grandmother. I’m so sorry about her dying. I never dreamed he would kill her.”

  “So you did try to reach my grandmama?”

  “I thought she would be like my mother and be able to fight him.”

  Amaliya tried to banish the image in her mind of her grandmother’s tiny broken form. “Your mother fought The Summoner?”

  “He tried to claim her. She fought him and won. I was very little when it happened. When he couldn’t reach her inside the house, he burned it to the ground. She died saving me. I didn’t see him again until he arrived at the college. I recognized him, but thought he didn’t know who I was. I was wrong.”

  “Fuck me. He’s been watching us for a very long time then?”

  “We are his grand experiment.” Bianca peered at Amaliya over the edge of the blanket. “We’re his chosen.”

  Flopping onto her back, Amaliya slid her hands through her messy black hair and tried to wrap her mind around what Bianca had said. “So, you reached out to my grandmama...”

  “Yeah, but he caught on. I should have learned then, but I wanted to escape...” Bianca faltered.

  Amaliya understood very well the desperation that must have been ripping through Bianca. How many times had Amaliya tried to escape from the troubles of her life? Now, instead of running, she was facing the evil that haunted her existence. “I get it. Trust me. I would have been doing the same thing.”

  “Then he started to astral project, leaving me alone in my body. It was the first bit of real freedom I’d had in so long that I didn’t really think about the consequences of reaching out to you. It was so freeing to see glimpses of your life.” A slight smile touched Bianca’s lips.

  Amaliya couldn’t help but to return it. “I can imagine.”

  “It was so wonderful. Those little peeks. I thought maybe I could find a way to escape, but then...” Bianca’s gaze briefly shifted to view The Summoner. “Once the twelve rings were here, he harnessed the power to shape himself into a tangible being and our relationship changed.”

  It had been clear the night before that Bianca had become well-versed in the art of sex, but Amaliya suspected that had not been the case before her transformation. The Summoner had made her his lover, his slave, and his vessel. “Did he force you?”

  Bianca sadly shook her head. “I wish I could say he did, but I gave into his seduction almost immediately. You felt it. Didn’t you? That power...” The rapture of the memory caught her for a moment altering her innocent beauty into something more seductive. “He terrifies me, and I know he’s evil, but...”

  “It’s like we belong with him.”

  “Yeah. It’s so delicious and terrifying because if I were to totally let go...completely give in...”

  It disturbed Amaliya that she did understand. It was as if she were standing on a precipice and if she were just let go of her humanity and attachment to the mortal world she would become untethered and fly through the abyss as a risen death goddess.

  Gathering Bianca close, Amaliya rested her cheek against her fair tresses. Bianca snuggled into her, seeking solace, and maybe strength. Sadly, Amaliya knew it was a mistake to try to comfort each other because instantly their magicks mingled and grew in magnitude. It fed into the energy in the room, making the atmosphere thick with magic.

  “He couldn’t wait until you were here. I’m a poor substitution for you, Amaliya.”

  Amaliya felt a flash of sadness, realizing that Bianca felt like the lesser of them. The Summoner had paid more attention to Amaliya during their night of sex, but she thought it was because it had been so long since he had touched her.

  “You’re a powerful necromancer, too, Bianca. I think you’re more powerful than I am. There’s a reason he created both of us.”

  “Because of what we were as humans,” Bianca agreed. “But you’re the one he wants at his side. He killed me out of malice. He admitted he thought I was too far gone, driven crazy by my powers, to bring over saf
ely. I’ve been his unexpected consolation prize in all of this. It’s you he really wants. It’s you he may even love. You’re everything I’m not. Everything I can’t be.”

  “A fucked up metalhead with attitude?”

  Bianca giggled. “Actually, yeah. It’s your rebelliousness that sucked him in. I’m sure of it. It always fascinated the hell out of me.”

  “Yeah? Cian says it’s part of my charm.” Wincing, Amaliya wished she hadn’t uttered her love’s name. It hurt to be without him, to not have him at her side.

  “You love Cian, don’t you?”

  “Completely.”

  “He’s very handsome,” Bianca said. There was a hint of jealousy in her voice.

  “He’s amazing,” Amaliya admitted, trying to be truthful, but careful. “When we get out of here, you’ll get to know him and see for yourself.”

  Bianca’s eyes lit up. “You still want to escape?”

  “Of course.” Amaliya gave her an incredulous look.

  “I was wondering because…” Bianca faltered. “The way you were with him.”

  Amaliya snorted. “Sex is just sex.” Thousands of years of practice made The Summoner one intense lay, but her feelings for him were decidedly not romantic.

  Bianca’s eyes widened. “But it was so…so…”

  “You had sex with him. Do you love him?” Amaliya pointed to the still form of The Summoner.

  Shaking her head adamantly, Bianca said, “No, but it feels like something important.”

  “Only if you have feelings for the other person and you want it to be important.”

  “So with Cian it’s different?”

  “With Cian everything is perfect,” Amaliya said, the pang in her heart almost too poignant to endure for a moment.

  The thought of Cian brought some clarity to her mind and she clung to it. Slipping away from Bianca, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed. The air was a fine cold mist on her skin and when she stood, it weighed upon her like a blanket of snow. Amaliya didn’t know how to kill The Summoner, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t try. Taking a step toward his kneeling figure, she felt the rushing frigid waves of Lucifer’s sword buffeting her. Maybe if she scattered the rings it would make The Summoner dissipate.

  “Don’t,” Bianca called out to her. “Don’t step closer. You’ll get caught in its power and then you’ll be lost until he snaps out of the trance. He’ll be angry. He’ll see it as betrayal.”

  Amaliya wanted to ignore Bianca, but already she felt as though her feet were turning into lead. A steady weight was pressing on her mind, forcing her to lose focus. Bianca’s hand gripped hers and dragged her back onto the bed. Immediately, she was released from the power of the rings.

  “I fuckin’ hate those things,” she grunted, annoyed.

  “When the thirteenth gets here, I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like.” Bianca shivered beneath the covers. “When he tears apart the veil and the abyss swallows the world he won’t need to possess me or anyone else.”

  “He won’t get the thirteenth. It’s hidden,” Amaliya assured Bianca.

  “No, it’s already on its way.”

  “What do you mean?” Amaliya twisted about to face the other woman.

  “They already cast the spell this morning to compel it to return. With the arrival of the twelfth ring, they were able to finally call it here. It’ll possess the closest person to it and have them come here.”

  Dread filling her, Amaliya stared at Bianca. “Are you sure?”

  Bianca nodded.

  “But we have until December 21st, right? The end of the Mayan calendar?”

  Bianca sadly shook her head. “No, no. Once the sword is whole, he can slice the veil apart. To allow the abyss to consume the world, he’ll have to perform a ritual. For the ritual to work, he’ll need to feed off the fear of thousands. The hysteria over 2012 is helping him.”

  “So it has nothing to do with the end of the Mayan calendar?” Amaliya stared at Bianca in disbelief.

  “Other than he’s going to use the fear over the possible end of the world to actually end the world? No. Not really.” Bianca’s hand gingerly touched Amaliya’s. “He loves his games though. He’s going to make the end of our world and the beginning of his spectacular.” Leaning toward Amaliya, she cast a wary look at The Summoner. Satisfied that he was still in a trance, she whispered, “He doesn’t know that I saw some of what he was doing while he possessed me. I know the location of where he is going to rip the veil.”

  Amaliya angled face closer to Bianca. “Tell me.”

  When Bianca did, Amaliya just stared at her for a second, then said, “Fuck me.”

  Chapter 25

  Cassandra stared at her cellphone with trepidation. Seated at Jeff’s kitchen table, she was trying to call her mother and check in with her as she did every day. They had spoken the day before and everything had seemed fine. Today there was no answer.

  The muted winter sunlight filtered through the curtains and cast a reflection over the display, mirroring her face in the dark glass. Cassandra glanced toward the stove where Aimee was putting the finishing touches on a spell.

  “Mom’s not answering,” she said at last.

  “Maybe she’s taking a nap,” Aimee answered, casting a reassuring look at her girlfriend.

  Setting the phone down, Cassandra stared at it. “Maybe. But it feels weird.”

  “It’s because we got hardly any sleep and everything that happened last night was...” Aimee hesitated, searching for the right word.

  “Insane.”

  “Exactly.”

  Cassandra gestured toward the concoction on the stove that was tossing flecks of magic into the air. “Is that going to work?”

  “We’ll see. It’s hard working around the dark magic, but I believe I figured something out.”

  Aimee shoved her long hair back from her face and peered into the cauldron. The true witch had faced some difficult challenges when it came to magic in the last few months, but had adapted. Cassandra was immensely proud of her girlfriend. She loved Aimee with all her heart and soul for a myriad of reasons. Her feelings crawled out of her heart and choked her with emotion. Sliding out of the chair, Cassandra drifted to Aimee’s side.

  As always, the magic smelled like all the delicious things in life and it permeated Aimee’s skin and hair. Sidling up behind the witch, she wrapped an arm about Aimee’s waist and rested her chin against her girlfriend’s shoulder.

  “It’s all going to be okay, Cass,” Aimee assured her, leaning back into the embrace.

  “My father looked so sad.” Cassandra sighed wistfully. “I wanted to make him feel better, but I didn’t know what to do.”

  “You showed him that you love him. It meant a lot to him. I could tell.” Aimee’s lips were soft against Cassandra’s cheek.

  “You’re so much more perceptive than I am. I always feel so weird around him. Like I don’t know how to act.” Cassandra hadn’t been raised to hate Cian, but his absence in her life was felt throughout her childhood. Finally having a father in her life was odd and sometimes a little overwhelming.

  “Cian adores you. I don’t think you could do anything to make him not like you.” Aimee dipped a heavy pewter cup into the magical potion and set it on the counter to cool.

  “Oh, I’m sure I could think of something,” Cassandra joked with a playful grin. Immediately, the notion that if she ever wanted him to hate her all she’d have to do was stake Amaliya shot through her mind. It was a cruel and bothered her that she’d even think of such a thing. At times like this, she wondered if she was more like her vampire parent than she’d like to admit.

  “You’re not evil,” Aimee said, poking Cassandra’s stomach. “Stop that.”

  “Stop being insightful,” Cassandra said with a pout.

  Aimee lovingly kissed the frown away. “None of that.”

  Cassandra seductively slid her hands around Aimee’s hips. “How long before you have to do the magic s
tuff? Because...I was thinking maybe we could do a little magic of our own.”

  Lightly tracing her fingers across Cassandra’s collarbone, Aimee sighed. “In like five minutes.”

  The pout returned to Cassandra’s lips. “I need longer than five minutes.”

  With a sultry smile, Aimee said, “That’s why you’re a good girlfriend.”

  “Fuck my life. Where’s the caffeine?” Samantha grunted, stumbling into the kitchen.

  With great reluctance, Cassandra let go of Aimee and returned to her seat at the table while Samantha fumbled around with the coffee cups, coffeemaker, and sugar. Aimee helpfully got out the creamer while Samantha let out an epic yawn.

  Cassandra once again called her mother’s number and listened to the rings on the other end. Baptiste shuffled into the kitchen and headed toward the coffeemaker. It was evident the cabal was up and moving about except for the vampire in the attic. Raising her eyes, Cassandra left yet another message for her mother.

  “C’mon, Mom. Call me back.”

  ***

  Samantha nervously stepped into the circle of salt that Aimee had carefully poured out on the floor of the library in Jeff’s Victorian. The witch already sat inside the circle, the skirt of her green velvet dress splayed out around her. Sitting across from the witch, Samantha nervously wiped her hands on her jeans and took a deep breath.

  Baptiste was seated in a chair outside the circle, concern etched on his handsome face. He would be observing and at the first sign of trouble would intervene following the directions Aimee had given him. He was the only other person Aimee had allowed into the room.

  Aimee picked up a small bowl of salt, poured out the white grains, and carefully closed the circle. A dome of iridescent magic formed over them, shimmering and humming. It was a reassuring sign. Samantha had come to depend on the wards for protection. She tried not to think about the fact that The Summoner had found a way through the one over Cian’s house.