Pretty When She Kills (15 page)

Despite Austin being a hotbed for pagans, Wiccans, and other alternative religions, there were no actual magical witches in the city. Jeff had been on the lookout for years. He could really use one on his team, but the supernatural world was very good at hiding itself. There was always the possibility of other supernatural creatures in Austin riding under the radar.

It was Benchley who broke the uneasy silence that followed Cian, Amaliya, and Samantha’s rundown of all the recent developments.

“How does this even make sense? She’s supposed to be the oddity. The freak!” He pointed at Amaliya with an accusing finger.

“Gee, thanks,” Amaliya grumbled.

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Benchley combed his hands through his already-messy hair. “I mean, how can there be two of them? Two necromancer vampires? What the fuck is going on? Why are all the rules changing?”

“Rules are made to be broken,” Eduardo said with the flash of a smile. “So now there are two of them. Who cares?” He gave a dismissive shrug of his impressive shoulders.

“But there was one necromancer vampire for how long? Thousands of years and then suddenly, we have two?” Benchley stared at Amaliya with a mixture of awe and fear. This was only his second time meeting her and his nerves were showing.

Jeff wished Benchley hadn’t drunk most of the pot of coffee on his own. The guy was jittery as hell.

“I blame The Summoner,” Sam declared. “It’s his fault! He did something to Amaliya and this girl, Bianca.”

“The question is why and how?” Alexia’s voice, like her appearance, was very boyish.

Amaliya shrugged and hooked her legs over the armrest of her chair. She was wearing very sexy leopard print high heels with red soles. “He’s dead. Not like we can ask him.”

“Can’t say I’m not glad to see that bastard dead.” Benchley tapped his fingers on the table. “But he did change things. Somehow.”

Jeff nodded as he flipped through one of the books his father had kept on The Summoner. “Cian, there is no other record of this happening. Are you sure you haven’t heard of him making necromantic vampires before?”

“Positive. I would have heard about it. Hell, he would have boasted about it.” Cian unfolded his arms and sighed. “This is very unexpected.”

“I got the impression he was surprised by my powers.” Amaliya tugged on the ends of her long hair, studying them for split ends. “But then again, he never said he was surprised that I was a necromancer like him. Maybe he was surprised that my powers manifested the way they did. He could call the dead without shedding blood like I have to.”

The frown on her face deepening, Samantha asked, “But why did he leave Bianca behind?”

“She didn’t rise when expected.” Cian finally joined them. He snagged a chair and dragged it to the end of the table, sitting near Jeff. “He may have thought that she wasn’t going to change. Sometimes the blood transfer doesn’t work. The person never transforms, or only partially transforms.”

“Which is where ghouls come from, right?” Benchley asked.

“Ghouls are gross,” Alexia grumbled.

“Yes, that’s where ghouls come from.” Cian leaned forward to look at the book Jeff was flipping through. “Ghouls are the bastard children of vampires.”

“What’s this ghoul thing?” Amaliya asked, arching her eyebrows.

Benchley raised his hand as though he were in school, realized what he was doing, then awkwardly put it down. “Uh, they’re really nasty looking. Kinda like zombies meet the Gollum. They eat dead bodies.”

“And sometimes live bodies,” Alexia interjected.

“We saw one once. In a graveyard in Fredericksburg,” Benchley continued. “Really nasty.”

“They have a taste for vampire blood. I had to fight a pack once. They nearly took me down.” Cian frowned and stopped Jeff from flipping pages.

Jeff looked at him curiously, but Cian had bent his head to read something.

“So, maybe he thought she was a ghoul?” Benchley looked dubious. “So he leaves her behind and goes after Amaliya because he thinks she’s the experiment that worked?”

Samantha eyeballed Amaliya thoughtfully.

Amaliya returned the look with her eyebrows raised. “What?”

“Maybe he’s been trying to do this kinda thing for a long time but it didn’t work until you because of your grandmother,” Samantha said breathlessly.

“Huh?” Amaliya glanced toward Jeff curiously. “Is she making sense?”

“I think she might be,” Alexia said, sounding impressed. “Isn’t she, Jeff?”

Samantha looked pleased with herself.

Jeff suddenly felt a lot more alert. Cian was studying a news article on Bianca Leduc that Jeff had added to the back of the book when her body had been discovered during the Satanic Murders coverage. Jeff scooted his chair closer to Cian and craned his head to read the article.

“Well? Is she onto something?” Benchley asked, sounding cross.

“They’re looking at something. Calm down.” Eduardo slid to his feet and prowled around the table to the coffee and muffins set up nearby.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” Samantha excitedly jumped to her feet and scurried around the table. She nearly crawled onto Jeff’s lap trying to see what they were looking at.

Jeff gave up and slid over on his seat, giving her a corner to perch on.

“I’m so right!” Samantha stabbed at the article excitedly.

Cian’s gaze met Jeff’s. “This is disconcerting to say the least.”

“Disconcerting is his favorite word tonight,” Amaliya informed Samantha.

“Spill it! Suspense! Killing us!” Benchley cried out.

“Two words: Josephine Leduc.” Jeff glanced up at the two primary ghost hunters.

“Oh, wow!” Alexia exclaimed. “That chick was hardcore! A freakin' legend!”

“Wasn't she the one who solved actual murders? They could never prove her to be a fake. We’ve got a whole book on her!” Benchley loudly scooted his chair back and rushed into Jeff's office.

Amaliya glanced over at Eduardo. “You have any idea what the geek squad is talking about?”

“Nah.” Eduardo slid into the chair that Samantha had abandoned next to Amaliya and smirked. “They all talk in riddles. I’m just the muscle.”

Poking one of his impressive arms with her finger, Amaliya said, “I can see that!”

Eduardo flexed for her benefit while Cian loudly cleared his throat.

“Bianca Leduc has a similar bloodline to you, Liya,” he said. “Which means that The Summoner may have been experimenting on both of you.”

“Still in the dark here.” Amaliya shrugged.

“Bianca Leduc is the granddaughter of a very famous medium from the Shreveport area,” Jeff explained. Rubbing his chin, he looked at Samantha and Cian. “This is what we missed all those months ago. The connection between Amaliya and Bianca.”

“We didn’t know Bianca was important until now. She was just another body, another victim,” Cian pointed out.

Samantha slid onto Jeff’s lap to better read the article. He happily wrapped an arm around her waist, enjoying the feel of her so close to him. Her hair smelled of shampoo and her skin of flowers. He must have been obviously staring at her because she blushed as she stole a look at him. He returned it with a shy smile.

“Okay, found the file!” Benchley dropped a leather book onto the table. Alexia immediately bent over it with him.

Cian sat in the chair next to Amaliya, giving Eduardo a warning look.

Eduardo just smirked.

Amaliya settled her legs onto Cian’s lap and grinned at him teasingly. “So someone explain this to me. What the hell are you talking about?”

“If both of you are descended from mediums, he may have been trying to see if your power would connect with his.” Cian gently swept Amaliya’s hair back from her face. “He made you with a purpose in mind.”

“Well, I don’t know if that makes me feel better or not. Knowing there was a purpose to what he did to me kinda freaks me out.”

Samantha slid into the chair Cian had vacated and Jeff instantly missed her in his arms. She leaned her elbows on the table and stared at the article. “So I’m right, right?”

“It does make sense. His necromantic power has to do with the dead. If the affinity to see and talk to the dead is in your bloodlines, then he could have been hoping that you would inherit his power. So Samantha is probably right.”

“Ha! Score! See, I can figure this shit out!” She smiled triumphantly at those gathered around the table.

“Color me impressed,” Alexia muttered.

Benchley leaned over the table to high-five Samantha. “Way to go, Sam!”

Jeff returned Samantha’s smile when she glanced at him. She looked a lot more peaceful than she had earlier in the evening. He hadn’t been too happy to hear she had gone to confront Amaliya, but it seemed to be just what she needed to do to get a grip on the situation.

“Josephine Leduc’s daughter would have been a primo target for him,” Alexia decided. “He got lucky finding two descendants of famous mediums in the same place.”

“It would have been irresistible to him,” Cian noted.

“But Grandmama isn’t famous,” Amaliya protested. “She kept all that on the lowdown on purpose.”

“Not true,” Alexia said, looking up. “After your grandmother killed The Summoner, I did a little digging. She was in the newspapers when she was a teenager. There was a devastating tornado in her town and she helped find the survivors buried in the rubble. When they asked her how she knew where the living were located, she said the dead told her. She was thirteen at the time, so she probably didn’t realize the reporter would actually put that into his article.”

“Are you serious?” Amaliya sat back in shock. “She did that?”

“Yeah. There was just one more follow up article where there was a backlash from the local churches against her. Her dad, your great-grandfather, said that the reporter hadn’t told her who he was and that she had misspoken,” Alexia explained. “I told Jeff all about it.”

“Oh, really?” Amaliya tilted her head toward the end of the table. “Really, Jeff?”

Jeff could feel Amaliya’s eyes boring into him. “Hey, it was just two articles. I didn’t think it was important enough to bring it up to you. I mean you know what she is, right?”

Amaliya shook her head, annoyed. “So sick of people not telling me shit.”

“It wasn’t on purpose,” Jeff said defensively.

“So he could have found out about Amaliya’s grandmother pretty easily?” Samantha asked, obviously trying to move the conversation on.

“It wasn’t hard to find actually,” Alexia confessed.

“It was on a website about the supernatural. It was filed under unexplained paranormal events with mediums.” Benchley shrugged. “Of course, Josephine was a much bigger story. She was so good at what she did cops from all over the country would come to her.”

“So why didn’t he just turn her. Josephine Leduc?” Amaliya looked cross and her eyes flashed slightly red.

“Maybe because she died in a horrible fire,” Alexia answered Amaliya’s question. “They could never prove it was arson, but it was strongly suspected that someone deliberately killed her. There was a lot of hostility aimed at her. People accused her of being in league with the devil.”

“Give me a freakin’ break,” Amaliya muttered.

“Humans fear what they don’t understand.” Cian folded his arms across his chest. “That’s why the supernaturals remain hidden.”

“Yeah, my people were nearly hunted to extinction,” Eduardo agreed. “There aren’t a lot of us left. I admit that a few of my ancestors did some shady things. Personally, I don’t think dragging off a few babies is really a good excuse to wipe out all of my people.”

“They ate babies?” Samantha looked aghast. “Gross!”

Eduardo shrugged. “They were hungry.”

Jeff gave Eduardo a warning look. Eduardo loved to instigate arguments. It was part of his shifter nature to like a good fight, but it wouldn’t be helpful in the moment. Eduardo just shrugged and flashed his teeth. Jeff knew better than to interpret it as a smile.

“So back to the subject at hand,” Jeff said, trying to redirect everyone’s focus. “Rachon, The Summoner’s favorite child, is coming to Austin tomorrow night supposedly to create a pact with Cian. She’s bringing Bianca, who apparently is a necro-vamp like Amaliya.”

“Necro-vamp?” Amaliya raised her eyebrows even higher.

“I just made that up. Don’t like it?”

Amaliya gave a dismissive shrug. “Whatever.”

“Okay, so we need to be prepared for trouble,” Jeff continued.

“Don’t
they
need to be ready for trouble?” Eduardo said. He pointed to Cian and Amaliya. “We’re not their minions.”

Jeff saw the flash of red in Cian’s eyes. “No, but we’re their allies.”

Benchley and his sister exchanged looks, then looked toward Jeff. “Uh, Jeff. What are you saying?” Benchley’s voice quavered.

“Uh, what I’m saying is that we need to figure out how to deal with this situation. Remember, if Cian falls as master of Austin we’re fucked. Because whoever takes over is going to come looking for us.” Jeff folded his arms across his chest. This was the conversation he had been dreading.

“But how can we help?” Alexia asked. “We’re humans...except for Eduardo.”

Jeff sat forward, resting his elbows on the table. He tried not to look as scared as he felt, but to project confidence like his father would have. “We need to prep like we would for a vampire hunt. We also need to study everything we can about necromancers. We didn’t have a chance to do that when The Summoner was in town-”

“You actually never called us in on that,” Benchley reminded him.

“Yeah, you stiffed us on that one,” Alexia said, her voice shaded with hurt feelings.

“Oh, yeah.” Jeff winced.

The glares from his team said it all. Jeff admitted they had a right to be mad at him, but he was still adapting to being a leader. It was hard following in his father’s footsteps.

“You could have used us. Especially me.” Eduardo glanced briefly at Amaliya. “I could have helped rescue this beautiful lady.”

Amaliya smiled at Eduardo as she laid a restraining hand on Cian’s arm. The vampire was looking tense enough without Eduardo needling him.

“So we have two major vamps gunning for Austin out of San Antonio and Cian's--” Benchley made quotations with his fingers “‘sister’ coming to Austin with a necro-vamp minion to kill Cian and Amaliya. And we're stuck in the middle because if either one of those groups takes out our friendly vamps, we're next on the menu.”