Pretty When She Dies (23 page)

He was naked and grotesque. The thing tossed its head back and forth in frustration, its broken hands clawing at its head. It staggered forward again, but Amaliya hissed, “Back off” and it fell back.

A low cry issued forth from its mouth, then it charged toward her.

“Leave me alone! Get the hell out of here!” Amaliya screamed.

The dead thing appeared to trip and it fell onto the hard packed earth beside the sidewalk. Cian backed away from the irate creature as it hit the ground and convulsed as if in pain. As it struggled, it sank slowly into the earth, and then was gone.

Falling to her knees, blood pouring over her hands, Amaliya whimpered in agony.

Cian leaned down and wrapped his arms around her. Her eyes were blue-gray again, but they were looking hazy. He had never seen any creature's eyes glow as white as hers had, save The Summoner.

Confused and afraid, he pulled her firmly against him, stepped into the shadows, and vanished.

*

Cian stepped out of the shadows of his own apartment and heaved Amaliya's weakening body over one shoulder. The power he had used to transport them left him feeling weak, but he could not think of himself in this moment. He rushed to the sleeping chamber.

Voices from the living room informed him that Roberto and Samantha were still about, but he had no time to deal with them.

Sliding to a stop before the metallic wall, he leaned down, popped the panel, and hit the code to open only one side.

“Cian?” Samantha appeared behind him looking confused. She saw Amaliya's pale and bleeding form and gasped. “Oh, God!”

The wall slid up and Cian laid Amaliya down on the bed. She was bleeding out and he could see she was swiftly weakening. She was too new to lose so much blood. Madness was a danger.

Without a word, he hit the interior controls for the wall and it descended with a soft whoosh. The last thing he saw before he was engulfed in darkness was Samantha's confused and stricken expression as she whispered, “Cian?”

In the blackness, he found the light switch and a soft glow filled the compartment. Heaving Amaliya into his arms, he found that his fingers were trembling. Terror gripped him tightly as he feared that she would succumb to the extreme blood loss and go mad. And if she went mad, they were all in danger and he would have to destroy her.

Leaning down, he licked her wounds. His saliva would stop the bleeding and began the healing until her own body could take over.

Despite popular modern vampire mythology, vampire saliva was not an anti-coagulant. It actually healed. That was why the vampire bite was always such a powerful, brutal event. They had to pull hard to draw out what they needed.

The fresh blood filled his mouth and he gasped with the pleasure of it.

But she needed to feed. She lay limply in his arms, staring blankly at the ceiling.

“Amaliya, feed,” he whispered.

“Rob,” she answered in a muted voice. “He's dead. I killed him.”

“Drink,” Cian said, and tore his own wrist. He held it over her, watching the rich blood drizzle into her mouth.

“Rob is dead.” Her bloodied lips and tongue seeming oblivious to the vitae that would heal her and give her life.

“It was The Summoner who did it. Do you hear me? He sent the dead to attack you because he knew it would do this to you. Either kill you or terrify you. Amaliya, do you hear me?”

Her gaze finally flicked toward him. “I sent him away.”

“Yes, you did.” And he had no idea how she had done it. “He's gone.

You won.”

Slowly, her tongue ran over her lips and teeth. She slowly rolled toward him to take his wrist in her mouth. Weakly, she began to drink from him and he leaned over her with relief. He licked the blood from his bloodied hand, then leaned down to her to run his tongue over her bloodied shoulder. To his relief, the blood was sinking back into her flesh and he could feel her power growing again.

She released his wrist and looked up at him. “I can't do this. I can't win against The Summoner. He sent Rob.”

Cian brushed her hair back from her face and whispered, “Yes, you can. I promise. You can do this.”

Exhausted, she lay down on his bed and stared up at him. “Maybe he should just kill me. Or maybe you should. I can't do that....deal with dead victims ripping my head off my shoulders.” She covered her face with trembling hands. “I can't.”

Cian leaned over her and kissed her hands, then drew them away.

“Yes, you can deal. I want you to.”

“Why?”

Cian stared down at her. “Because you make me feel less alone.” And the answer changed everything and nothing in that moment.

Samantha still stood on the other side of the wall with her hands on it, scared out of her mind and he knew it. And Amaliya lay in his bed, a reminder of everything he was and that brought a terrifying sense of completion to him.

“I need to go then,” she said after a long moment.

“I know,” he answered. He lay down beside her and drew her close.

Her arms slid around him and they held each other as her body healed. His fingers slid through her hair and he sighed heavily. They lay there until she fell asleep.

Kissing her cheek, he felt a heavy pang of regret. But he had fought too long and too hard to have a normal life. A human life. His future lay on the other side of the wall.

*

“Let me open it,” Samantha hissed, and tried to get away from Roberto.

The lean Hispanic man had grabbed her just before she was able to enter the code to open up Cian's sleeping chamber.

“That would be an immensely bad idea,” Roberto said firmly.

“He needs me. There was so much blood!”

“It's not his. It's hers.”

Samantha hesitated in her struggles, contemplating this, then tried to wiggle away anyway. “I don't care. He needs me. Did you see his face? Something bad happened!”

“And because something bad happened, we need to let him take care of it,” Roberto said firmly.

“No, we need to help him!” Samantha squirmed even more and almost succeeded in twisting out of his grasp.

“She's lost blood and if she goes crazy she'll kill us if Cian can't stop her,” Roberto hissed in her ear.

Samantha frowned deeply, but stopped struggling. “What do you mean?”

“She's a new vampire. If she doesn't drink enough blood or gets badly wounded and loses too much blood, she'll go insane and kill everything in sight. That includes you.”

Roberto released her abruptly. She stumbled forward than whirled around. She felt helpless and frustrated. Clenching her hands at her side, she stomped her foot then said, “I don't like her! She's mucking things up.”

For once, Roberto didn't make a snarky comment and just sighed.

Looking a bit nervous himself, he sat down in a chair and crossed his legs. “Just wait for Cian to handle it. He is an old and wise vampire.”

Tugging on her hair a little, Samantha stomped over to a chair near Roberto and sat down. “I know, but he looked so scared.”

“He's going through a difficult time.”

“I don't like her,” Samantha said again firmly.

“I noticed.”

“We were perfectly fine before she showed up. Yeah, I have to deal with you being a snarky bastard but she...she...” Samantha couldn't even put into words how Amaliya made her feel. And it wasn't just her tattoos, unique looks, or strange piercings. She lived in Austin. She was used to that. It was how Cian was acting since the new vampire had arrived.

The chamber opened and Cian slipped out before shutting it again.

Samantha caught a glimpse of Amaliya curled up on her side, apparently asleep. Samantha slid to her feet and rushed over to Cian and threw her arms around him. He pushed her away before she could crush him close.

“I need to feed,” he rasped.

She drew back and realized he looked very pale and a bit gaunt.

“Cian, ohmygawd!”

“I had to give her a lot of blood.”

Roberto grabbed her arm and drew her away from Cian. “Let him be.”

Cian nodded to his servant, then turned and disappeared into the shadows.

“I've never seen him look like that!”

“That is because he never allows himself to go that far into the hunger.” Roberto let go of her. “Perhaps you should go home now. It is very late.”

“You're trying to get rid of me,” Samantha said in an accusing tone.

Roberto whirled on her, and said in a fierce voice, “This is not about you!”

Samantha drew back, startled. “Yes. Yes, it is! I'm his fiancée, asshole!”

Roberto drew slowly near her, his manner more menacing than she had ever seen. “Do you not understand that he is truly a vampire? Not your romance novel vampire, but a real vampire who feeds on blood and is truly, terribly dangerous.”

Tears, hot and angry, sprang to her eyes and she leaned toward Roberto, and said, “He's a good man no matter what he is. And I'm not leaving.”

Flinging up his hands, Roberto stormed away, leaving her alone outside the chamber.

Feeling extremely grumpy, she walked over and sat down again.

Unable to help herself, she glared at the closed off chamber. That girl had to leave and soon. That was all there was to it.

It was nearly an hour later when Cian came down the stairs from the second floor of his apartment. He looked yummy in a clean white t-shirt and black jeans. His hair was longer than usual and his face had the beginnings of a beard, but he looked much more like himself than he had.

“You're still here,” Cian said with surprise when he saw her.

“I couldn't just leave,” she answered and stood up. For once she wasn't sure if she should run and fling her arms around him.

Cian looked touched by this comment, but his hazel eyes seemed darker than normal. He walked past her to collapse into his leather chair at his computer desk. “It'll be all right. You should go home.”

“Is she going to go apeshit and kill everyone in the building?”

“No. No. She's fine now,” Cian said softly.

He wasn't looking at her and Samantha shifted awkwardly on her feet.

“I want her gone.”

Looking up, he was clearly startled by her vehemence.

“I don't like what she's doing to you. To us.”

“She'll leave soon,” Cian assured her, but his gaze seemed distracted.

“What happened?” Roberto asked as he reappeared from the library.

“Why was she in that condition?”

“The Summoner attacked us on our way back.”

“The guy who made you?” Samantha heard the shrill sound in her voice and made a face.

“Yeah. Him. He sent one of his minions. It was evidently the man she killed in Dallas,” Cian answered.

“She killed someone?”

“In self defense,” Cian assured her.

“Yeah, right. She's a vampire,” Samantha said sullenly and she crossed her arms and tapped her foot.

Cian slightly smiled at her, then continued, “Anyway, it was an animated corpse. It nearly wrenched Amaliya's head off and she somehow...” Cian rubbed his bottom lip looking confused and a little disturbed.

“And then,” Roberto prompted.

“She banished it.” Cian stood up and folded his arms over his chest.

“She actually banished it back into the earth. And her eyes...they turned white like The Summoner's when he controls the dead.”

“Can you do that? Cause that's kinda icky,” Samantha said.

“No, I can't. Which is why I'm confused.” Cian shrugged.

“If she can do what this bad guy can do, then maybe she's on his side.

Did you think of that?” Samantha could not believe how stupid men could be around a good pair of tits.

“I'm sure she's not. She's a fledgling. I believe her when she says she's a pawn in his game,” Cian said firmly.

“You have to consider that maybe he can control her from afar. She is very new. Closer to real death than you,” Roberto pointed out. “And he can control the true dead.”

Cian bristled at this suggestion and Samantha felt her fear elevate to a new level. She had never seen him this agitated before. If anything, she would have described Cian as sensible, easy going and calm by nature. But now he looked dark, a bit angry, and defensive.

“She's afraid of him. She nearly died tonight,” Cian retorted.

“It could have been a ruse to gain your sympathy,” Roberto suggested, calmly.

“Yeah, what he said,” Samantha cut in.

“I was there. I saw what happened. I know that what she is saying is the truth. I will help her again tomorrow night and maybe the night after. I don't know. I just need to make sure that when she leaves here she doesn't walk straight into his trap.”

“What if you are in his trap already?” Samantha asked in a low voice.

Cian shoved his chair out of his way and stalked past them, toward the sleeping chamber.

“Cian, she has a point,” Roberto called after him.

“I've made my decision,” Cian answered sharply, and opened the chamber and disappeared inside.

“Do you see what I mean?” Samantha stomped her foot at Roberto.

“What are you going to do about it?” Roberto asked, and arched an eyebrow. “You and I are his human servants and we do as he says.”

“I'm his fiancée! Not his servant.”

Roberto just shook his head wearily at her and walked away.

Realizing Cian hadn't even kissed her goodnight, she felt tears brimming in her eyes. Frustration eating at her, she grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

What was she going to do about it? Well, she wasn't sure. But she was going to do something.

***

Curled up on Cian's bed, Amaliya fell into a deep, yet restless sleep.

Traumatized by the night's events, her dreams slowly turned to blood and violence.

Cian was just settling in beside her when she sat up gasping with fear.

Her hands clutched the bedclothes as she looked around the chamber in terror. His hand gently touched her arm and she looked at him with fright in her eyes.

Her sluggish heart was beating harder than it had in days. She pressed her hands between her breasts, feeling its harsh thumping. Leaning over, she rested her forehead on her drawn up knees.