Pretty When She Kills (34 page)

In the aftermath of her grandmother and Pete's deaths, Amaliya had fallen into a deep funk. It was hard to fathom how two people who loved her so deeply could die when she remained alive. She still struggled with accepting that reality. Pete's final words through Samantha still haunted her. His sentiment had been lovely, but he spoke of a dream she could have never shared with him. He had died because he had believed that he could create a life with her. Pete had never known that she wanted to be a vampire and that she loved Cian.

That truth ate at her.

“Better,” she said, wondering if it was a lie or not.

“Pete did what I would have done.” Cian brushed his lips against her shoulder.

Amaliya wondered again if he could actually read her mind. “It doesn’t make it any easier to know he died trying to save me and make me mortal when that’s the last thing I want.”

“We choose to do incredibly brave and sometimes stupid things out of love.”

“The life he imagined for me never would have happened, even if I hadn't been changed into a vampire.”

“Sometimes, when a man loves a woman, he dreams foolishly.”

“Oh?” Amaliya lifted her eyebrows. “Do you dream foolishly?”

Cian turned her about in his arms and locked his hands behind her back. “I dream of a time when we are not facing death, but enjoying life. I have a little fantasy in my mind that I cling to when things are dire.”

“Oh? Tell me.”

Laughing, Cian kissed her lips lovingly. “Do you really want to know?”

“Uh huh.” Amaliya slid her fingers under his shirt to stroke his skin.

“Okay, here it is.” Cian fastened his intense hazel eyes on her face. “I dream of you. With me. Forever. No one ever comes between us and we experience the beauty of the eternal night side by side. We never part ways, but always find solace in one another.”

Amaliya touched his cheek lightly, his words sending a thrill of terror and pleasure through her. “You mean forever...”

“I have been in love many times, Amaliya. I have tried to hold onto those loves only to lose them because of the choices I made. But it is different with you. It has been from the beginning. The same way you choose not to run away, I choose not to push you away. I have always betrayed or hurt the ones I love out of the selfish need to ensure my own survival at all costs. But when I look at you, I know I would die for you.”

Covering his mouth, Amaliya whispered, “Don't say that.”

Cian pressed his lips to her palm, then drew her hand away. “I will say it, because should I die in defense of you, I want you to know it is because I love you and would do anything for you.”

“Like Pete,” Amaliya sighed, lowering her chin and staring at his chest.

Tucking his fingers under her jaw, he lifted her face. His hazel eyes gazed into hers. “What is your dream?”

The pain that flitted through her was brief, but she accepted its cause. She loved Cian with all her heart and knew what she chose could result in both of them dying. If she was wise, she would run away and spare him, but she knew she couldn't. To live her life without him was to not live at all. “My dream...” she said in a voice husky with emotion “...is forever.”

The smile on Cian's face warmed her heart even as her blood turned to ice.

“And I will destroy anyone or anything that comes between us and that dream coming true.”

Cian touched her cheek, his eyes clearly reflecting her own determination. “I understand.”

“No, you don’t, Cian.” Amaliya said, her voice rough with pain. “Because I will destroy the world if I have to…”

To be concluded in

Pretty When She Destroys

2013

Author’s Note

It’s been a long journey to this second novel in the PRETTY WHEN SHE DIES trilogy.  When I wrote the original novel back in 2007, it was for a writing challenge. The idea was to write a complete book in two weeks. The idea for PRETTY WHEN SHE DIES had been knocking around in my head since it was born in a terrifying nightmare a few years before. I had always wanted to create a novel based on that dream. I decided to take advantage of the challenge and finally write my modern day vampire novel.

Three weeks later, I had exceeded my target word count for the novel and had my complete vampire novel. It would take much longer to revise the novel and shape it into the story that was finally released in November of 2008. It wasn’t until just before the first book was published that I realized it was part of a much bigger story, a trilogy in fact.

Since I was just starting out in my Indie Author career, I thought it would be fairly simple for me to write the subsequent sequels the following year. I even announced the coming of PRETTY WHEN SHE KILLS in 2009

Then two factors prevented this from happening.

First, PRETTY WHEN SHE DIES barely sold in its first year of release. In fact, it wasn’t until 2010 that the book started to sell briskly and garner solid reviews. At the time of its release, people were just being gripped by TWILIGHT fever and vampires became the staple of YA and Paranormal Romance novels. PRETTY WHEN SHE DIES did not fit the desires of the reading public until True Blood appeared on HBO.

Second, my zombie trilogy, AS THE WORLD DIES, took off like a shot, gathering rave reviews, landing on “best of” lists, before being snatched up by genre publishing giant Tor. My life became consumed with the revision of the zombie trilogy and all other writing projects were set aside. 

It wasn’t until this year that I felt the outcry for PRETTY WHEN SHE KILLS and the sales of the first book indicated that it was time to finally write the sequel. With the AS THE WORLD DIES trilogy on bookstore shelves and my next deal with Tor pending, I sat down in the beginning of Summer 2012 at my desk and returned to the world of vampires, necromancers, and zombies.

It was wonderful writing about Amaliya, Cian, Samantha, Jeff, and all the rest of their crew. I’d missed them all so much. It was also a blast writing about the city I live in and sharing it with the readers. I promise that the third book will not take so long to be released.

I hope this story thrills, terrifies, and excites you as much as it did me.

Love forever,

Rhiannon Frater

August 2, 2012