Pretty When She Kills (19 page)

Samantha nodded vehemently. “Oh, yeah. I’m not wasting any more of my life being afraid of stupid shit.”

With a slight smile, Jeff said, “Okay.”

Lifting her chin, Samantha gripped his hand with both of hers. “Time to move on and then kick some monster ass.”

Laughing, Jeff walked with her out from beneath the shadows of the bridge and into the bright Texas sunlight.

Chapter 16

Innocente was exhausted. Every cell in her body seemed to be complaining as she scooted out of bed. Joints protesting, she slid her feet into her slippers and reached for her pale blue housecoat with daisies decorating it. After the ghostly visitation and her call to Amaliya she had fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep. It had been a relief not to have any nightmares, but now her brain felt muddled. Shrugging on her housecoat over her pajamas and snapping the top four buttons together, she peered into the mirror above her vanity. She winced at the sign of her pale pallor and the bags under her hazel eyes. Running her hands through her wavy salt and pepper hair, she sighed. The image in the mirror never matched the internal one she had of herself at a much younger age, but she was usually pleased with the lack of wrinkles or lines in her face. Today she looked every minute of her age and she hated it.

Opening up her container of face cream, she rubbed it gently into her cheeks, forehead, and chin hoping it would help perk up her complexion. She did not want Sergio worrying about her. The smell of chorizo and coffee wafted under the door into her room making her stomach rumble. She screwed the lid back onto the pink jar and glanced one more time into the mirror. Her cheeks were a little rosier from her rubbing them and her eyes were now more alert and looking more gold than hazel.

Innocente opened the door and trudged down the dimly-lit hallway. From the quiet coming from the other rooms in the house it was clear that the kids were already outside playing. Innocente hated that they all had missed church, but it had been a rough night; she was sure God would understand.

She wished she could call Amaliya and check on her, but knew that her granddaughter was already asleep. It bothered her greatly that Amaliya was a vampire. It broke her heart into a million pieces, yet she never allowed her granddaughter to see her inner turmoil. Amaliya may now live in darkness, but Innocente fervently believed in her inherent goodness. It had hurt to see her granddaughter growing up in a broken home and poisonous environment. Life had been cruel to Amaliya, yet now she appeared to be happy with Cian. Innocente wondered, however, what life would have been like for Amaliya if Samuel Vezorak had been a better man. She hoped Cian never hurt Amaliya like so many of the men in her life had in the past.

Entering the kitchen, it took Innocente a few moments to take in the scene. Two men sat at the table eating breakfast tacos as Cynthia and Sergio were serving themselves. The sight of one of the men made Innocente’s blood boil with anger. Uttering “
Dios mio,
” Innocente took a step forward.

“You!”

Both men started in their chairs, looking at her in surprise.

“How dare you come into my house after what you did!” Innocente shouted. Losing her temper, she descended on the table and started smacking the man who had hurt her granddaughter.

“Hey! Stop!” Pete cried out as she slapped at him.

“Grandmama!” Sergio immediately tried to stop her, pushing his big body between her and Pete.

Innocente would have none of it and slapped him, too.

“Innocente, please, stop!” Cynthia cried out, grabbing at her hand. “The kids might come in. Calm down!”

“What did I do?” Pete said, trying to shield himself as Innocente managed to get a few whacks past Sergio.

His words made her stop as she realized she couldn’t reveal why she was angry at him. Everyone in the kitchen was staring at her in shock and she couldn’t explain herself. The stranger looked amused by the whole episode while Pete looked more than a little hurt.

“I can’t talk about it,” Innocente finally said.

“Well, something pissed you off.” Sergio kept between her and Pete.

Innocente sniffed and walked over to the stove to serve herself breakfast. She wanted to go hit Pete again, but it wouldn’t do any good. She really couldn’t explain why she was angry at Pete in front of the gathered company.

“Whatever I did, I’m sorry,” Pete said, sounding properly meek.

“Grandmama, Pete and his friend here, Ethan, dropped by to say hello and you beating on Pete really isn’t the way to go about greeting a friend.”

Innocente turned and pinned Sergio with her fiercest look. He looked away, cowed, but Cynthia was immune to her scathing look.

“Do you want them to leave?” Cynthia asked pointedly. “Because you’re obviously not in a good way right now.”

“We can’t leave,” Pete protested. “We have something really important to discuss with y’all.”

Ethan nodded solemnly, his gaze unwavering as he regarded Innocente. She met his gaze curiously. He didn’t flinch, but slightly smiled.

Her anger was still smoldering, but Innocente was at a loss as to how to explain her outburst or deal with the unexpected company. She was tempted to grab a taco and retreat to her bedroom until they left. The feeling of surliness was not leaving her system and her restless night wasn’t helping. If only she could pick up the phone and talk to Amaliya, but that wasn’t even an option anymore.

“If my grandmother isn’t up for company, maybe you could come by some other time, or call,” Sergio suggested.

“No, this is really important,” Pete insisted.

Ethan finished eating his taco as Innocente set a serving on a plate and stared at it.

“What is it about?” Innocente asked.

Pete hesitated, then said, “Amaliya.”

“She’s dead,” Sergio said quickly and nervously.

Innocente caught the exchange of looks between Pete and Ethan. Curiosity gripped her and she said, “What about Amaliya?”

Pete cleared his throat and again looked to Ethan for guidance.

“We know she’s not dead and buried,” Ethan said at last. “That why we’re here.”

“No, you got that wrong. She is dead. She was murdered,” Sergio said in a tumble of words.

“She was dead. And buried. But she got out, didn’t she?” Ethan asked. He pushed back his plate and settled back in his chair.

Cynthia swept Anna Belle into her arms before looking out the window to check on her kids, all the while backing up to where Sergio kept the revolver tucked into a cranny behind the refrigerator. Innocente could see the fear in her daughter-in-law’s eyes. Innocente wasn’t afraid, but she was very curious.

“Why would you say that?” Innocente asked, a challenge in her voice.

Pete shifted in his chair, clearly uncomfortable. “I saw her Easter night. After she was supposed to be dead.”

“You
puto
! You do remember!” Innocente exclaimed.

The recollection of Amaliya whispering to her all that she had endured after rising was vivid in Innocente’s mind. It was during one of her visits to Austin to see her granddaughter that Amaliya had laid with her head on Innocente’s lap and told her all the terrible things that happened before she had finally made her way to her grandmother’s house. Pete’s terrible rejection of Amaliya in the hotel room had infuriated Innocente. Though Amaliya had not gone into great details about what had occurred, she had cried bloody tears when recounting how Pete had panicked and tried to flee from her presence. Maybe she was being unreasonable, but the thought of anyone hurting her granddaughter infuriated her.

Pete visibly paled. “Not right away. Just recently!”

“You hurt her! You made her cry! You abandoned her when she needed you most!” Innocente shouted at him, snatching up a frying pan and heading in his direction.

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” Sergio dove across the kitchen and wrestled it from her grip. “Grandmama, calm down!”

“He abandoned your cousin when she needed him most! How can you forgive him?”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about!” Sergio protested.

The man called Ethan stood up and the action drew all eyes to him. “The fact of the matter is that Amaliya is a vampire. We all know it. Let’s just cut to the chase. I am trying to find her because I can turn her back to human. Pete’s helping me.”

Silence filled the room as shock registered across the faces of Sergio and Cynthia. Anna Belle gnawed on her fingers thoughtfully as she stared at the adults. Innocente felt the room tipping as her vision narrowed. It was Sergio’s big arms that slid around her and lifted her up. The world dimmed while worried voices echoed around her. Innocente faded into a strange waking dream where her long dead husband kept whispering everything was going to be all right.

When the world came clearly back into focus again and the words spoken to her once more made sense, Innocente found herself sitting in her living room clutching a glass of cold water. Sergio and Cynthia sat on either side of her, the baby cooing on Cynthia’s lap. Ethan and Pete sat across from them in the two recliners. Everyone wore a look of concern, but Innocente felt the pulse of urgency just under the surface.

“You can make her mortal again?” she asked, her voice slightly cracking.

Ethan nodded. “I need to know where her master is. The one who made her. Once I kill him, I will use his ashes to bring her back.”

“He’s dead,” Innocente answered. She set the glass on a coaster on her coffee table. Her hand was trembling.

“We killed him,” Sergio added.

Pete glanced worriedly at Ethan. “What does that mean?”

“What did you do with the body?” Ethan asked, ignoring Pete.

“He was torn apart...by...zombies,” Sergio said, obviously not sure what he should, or shouldn’t say.

“He’s in tiny pieces. When they went back to the grave, they took him with them.” Innocente hesitated, then said, “Why should I tell you any more?”

“I’m a vampire hunter, ma’am. I track down the old ones and kill them. I find the young ones and turn them back to mortals. My family has done this for centuries. I have a ritual from the Catholic Church that allows me to return young vampires to their human selves by using the ashes of their makers. If you can take me to where this vampire died, maybe I can dig up his remains and get what I need.”

“He was in really small pieces,” Sergio said, wincing.

“Very small pieces,” Innocente agreed.

Ethan shrugged. “I just need a small piece for the ritual to work.”

Innocente was surprised at how desperately she wanted to believe the stranger. The thought of Amaliya regaining her life was almost too precious to grab onto in fear of it being an illusion. “Are you sure you can do this?”

“Oh, I’m more than certain,” Ethan responded with confidence.

As the man launched into a detailed explanation of his investigation into Amaliya’s death and her body’s disappearance, Innocente gripped Sergio’s hand tightly. Even though she was still angry at Pete, she could see that the young man was desperate to believe Ethan, too. His expression was almost heartbreaking. Maybe he was an idiot, but Innocente realized he was an idiot who loved her granddaughter.

“So if we can go to where this vampire died and I can find a piece of him, even a fragment of bone, I can perform a ritual that will make her human again,” Ethan finished.

“We need to tell Amaliya,” Cynthia said in an awestruck, but elated voice. “We have to tell her!”

“She’s asleep right now,” Sergio reminded his wife.

“Where is Amaliya?” Pete asked.

Innocente gave both Sergio and Cynthia a warning look, but they had both already clamped their mouths shut.

“Well?” Ethan asked.

“Somewhere safe,” Innocente finally said. “We will help you get what you need for the ritual, but I’m not going to tell you where Amaliya is yet.”

Ethan raised his eyebrows, then nodded. “Fair enough. You don’t know me. I get that. But I am your best shot at getting your granddaughter back.”

“If there is any chance she can come back to us, you have to help him,” Pete urged.

“I agree,” Innocente said shortly. “But she’s my granddaughter and I won’t do anything until I can talk to her. And that won’t be until tonight.”

“But we can go out to the graveyard now,” Sergio suggested. “We can drive down there during the day and get this rolling, right?”

“That we can,” Ethan agreed.

Cynthia nodded her head. “I’ll watch the kids. You can go with them Sergio.”

“It will take us a few hours to get there,” Innocente said thoughtfully.

“You should stay here, Grandmama,” Sergio suggested.

“No,” Innocente snapped, “I shouldn’t.”

“Okay, okay.” Sergio surrendered immediately, knowing better than to rile her up again.

“I know I hurt Amaliya, Innocente, but I promise I just want to save her and make it up to her now,” Pete promised.

The sweetness on his face almost made her feel bad for him, but Innocente shoved the thought away. There was much to think about and the long drive would give her time to do so. With Bianca calling for help, she wasn’t too sure now was the best time to restore Amaliya. But then again, maybe if she was just human again the forces conspiring against her would leave her be.

“I’m going to eat, then get ready,” Innocente announced.

“We should leave soon,” Ethan suggested.

“We’ll leave when I’m ready,” Innocente informed him. She wasn’t about to let anyone tell her what to do when it came to her granddaughter.

If only she could call Amaliya...

Chapter 17

Jeff awoke to see Beatrice staring at him from her perch on the headboard of Samantha’s bed. The tabby narrowed her green eyes at him.

“Uh, hi?” he whispered, reaching up slowly, offering to scratch her behind the ears.

The cat deftly avoided his hand, leaped past it, and landed heavily on Jeff’s stomach. He was positive the cat had increased her mass somehow. When she landed she felt like she weighed a ton, not a few pounds. Flicking her tail, Beatrice settled into the curve of Samantha’s back and began to delicately lick one paw.