Pretty When They Collide (11 page)

Chapter 11
:

Ruminations and Revelations

Cassandra let herself into her mother
’
s home after stopping by the restaurant to take care of her schedule. Buzzing from the blood she had sipped from the throat of a co-worker, her body felt like it was vibrating with the power. So much for being on the blood wagon. She had fed out of necessity. In order to head out to West Texas to rescue Aimee, she needed more time off for work. The only way to persuade the restaurant manager to alter the schedule and not fire her ass was to thrall her. Cassandra didn
’
t like forcing others to do her will, but she had no choice.

Galina was in her small sewing room, bent over the machine Cassandra had bought her for Christmas. Much to Galina
’
s delight it was a
high end
model that could do a lot of fancy stitching.

“
Hey, Mom,” Cassandra said, leaning her hip against the sewing table.

“
I made you a blouse!” Galina exclaimed, holding up some pink fabric. It looked like a little girl
’
s top. Almost instantly, her mother
’
s face fell. “Oh, I made it too small.”

A pattern for a child
’
s blouse and skirt was carefully laid out on the big table Galina used to cut the fabric.

“
It
’
s okay, Mom. We
’
ll donate it to Goodwill or the church. It
’
s really pretty. I would have loved it when I was a kid,” Cassandra lied. She was very happy her mother hadn
’
t taken up sewing until after she was eighteen and out of the house. She shuddered to think of the outfits her mother would have made her wear.

“
I keep forgetting that you
’
re all grown up.” Galina bit her bottom lip, snatched up her notebook, and scoured through the pages.

“
Ah, that
’
s your problem,” Cassandra said, leaning over and carefully extracting a photograph from the worn pages. “This goes in the front of the book.”

It was a cute photo of Galina clutching a gangly-limbed little girl who was missing a few teeth and sporting a horrible Mary Lou Retton haircut. Cassandra took the notebook from her mother
’
s hand and placed the picture at the front of the notebook on a page that described the photo and the date it was taken on.

“
Oh,” Galina said, frowning.

Cassandra flipped through the notebook and found the most recent photo of them. It had been taken at Christmas. Though Galina looked exactly like she had in the first photo, Cassandra was glad to see her old haircut and missing teeth were a thing of the past. “See, this is me now. I
’
ll put this in the back of the notebook.” Cassandra clipped it to the latest entries and handed the notebook back.

Instantly, Galina
’
s face lit up. “That
’
s right! You
’
re all grown up!” Pressing the notebook to her chest, Galina smiled. “You
’
re so pretty. You look like your father.”

“
I look like
you
,” Cassandra answered, gently tucking a stray strand of her mother
’
s hair behind one ear. “Everyone says so.”

“
Is Felicity here?” Galina looked over her shoulder. “Oh, wait.” The notebook had several colorful tabs sticking out of the pages and Galina turned to a specific one labeled with a Sharpie pen. She read it, then said with excitement. “I remember! I don
’
t like Felicity because she cheated on you!”

“
That
’
s right, Mom.” The pain that would have stung at such a comment before was surprisingly missing. Cassandra rubbed her hands together nervously, not really sure if she was ready to accept why that was the case. She was still reeling from the dream and Scott
’
s phone call. The beauty of the witch
’
s eyes and her plea haunted her.

“
Are you staying for dinner? I have a chicken roasting. Well, not me. Teresa is roasting it, but when the timer goes off I have to get it out because she already went home for the night.”

“
Actually, I think I
’
ll crash here for tonight if that
’
s okay. I need to do a little research and I miss my mom.”

“
I miss you, too! All the time!” Her mother clasped her hands together joyfully. “I
’
m going to make us a wonderful dinner!”

The beauty of her mother
’
s smile never failed to touch Cassandra
’
s heart. The simplicity of her mother
’
s mind was heartbreaking, but lovely. Galina
’
s motherly love was the power that had kept Cassandra from falling into despair and following a dark path.

After dinner, Cassandra escaped into her mother
’
s second bedroom that was set up
as
a small office with a desk, bookshelves, and a futon. Powering up the big desktop computer, Cassandra collapsed into the swivel chair and rubbed her face. She had to be crazy to do what she was planning all because of a pretty girl and a weird dream. With a weary sigh, she logged in, pulled up Skype, then entered her password. Tugging on her lip as she waited for the program to fully load, she sat with her feet tucked on the edge of the chair. Being long, lean and a dhamphir, it was easy to fit onto the very small office chair. The way she was perched probably made her look inhuman. The vampire powers singing in her blood agreed.

Scrolling down, she found the name she was looking for and initiated the call.
Dr. Summerfield
always kept Skype open behind his other windows while he worked and if he didn
’
t answer right away, he would call back within a matter of minutes either from his computer or phone.

When Jeff Summerfield
’
s face popped onto the screen, Cassandra was a little surprised. “Hey, Boy Wonder. What
’
s up?”

Shoveling cereal into his mouth, Jeff chewed vigorously. “Starving. Just got home from the book store.” His thick eyelashes hid his pretty eyes as he averted them. Unruly brown hair fell over his brow, badly needing a trim, and he wore a faded t-shirt emblazoned with the Batman symbol. He vividly reminded her of the little boy she used to run around with playing games and getting into mischief with at summer camp.

“
Still playing Giles?” She loved to tease him and giggled despite the seriousness of her situation. Jeff and Cassandra shared a secret that made him a bumbling nervous wreck around her, which amused her to no end. She supposed they should one day talk out what had happened, but she rather enjoyed his awkwardness. Maybe it was mean of her, but she couldn
’
t help it.

“
Uh, so sick of that joke. I think I hate Buffy now.” Jeff rolled his eyes and wiped a drop of milk from his lips.

“
Ha, I don
’
t believe that for a second. You have a soft spot for blond
e
s. I
’
ve seen how you get all googly-eyed around them.”

“
Notice my eyes rolling sarcastically,” Jeff said, then dramatically did so.

“
So is your dad around? I need to talk to him. It
’
s urgent.”

“
Gonna join the gang finally?” Jeff asked, arching an eyebrow.

“
I
’
ll let your dad and his cronies hunt the monsters.”

Jeff shrugged
nonchalantly
. “We could use you.”

“
Ah, he dragged you in, huh?”

“
It
’
s kind of my legacy. Getting your leg torn off by a vampire when you
’
re a kid kinda makes you want to get rid of the baddies.”

Cassandra felt a little disappointed that Jeff was entering his father
’
s dangerous world, but at the same time couldn
’
t blame him. She had beat up more than one kid for making fun of his prosthetic leg when they had been at camp or on vacation. The vampire who had ripped it off was now dead, but she could understand how Jeff would want
to
make sure no one else suffered his fate.

“
I
’
m just not on board with the whole killing the monsters thing. You know, since I
’
m a monster.”

“
You
’
re a good monster though,” Jeff insisted.

She shrugged in response. With the blood of an innocent human singing through her veins it was hard not to feel a little like a bad guy. “So, can I talk to your dad?”

“
Sure, sure.” Jeff swiveled around in the chair and yelled for his dad.

Cassandra could see one of the professor
’
s many cats walking across the bookcases in the background. The Summerfields
’
Victorian was a little on the shabby side, but she always liked the library that the professor used as a study.

Twisting back around, Jeff
said, “So what are you up to then? If you
’
re not joining up?”

“
I
’
m going to go save a damsel in distress,” Cassandra responded truthfully.

“
Seriously?”

“
Yep.”

Jeff shook his head, amused. “You and the women.”

“
You
’
re just all mopey because I get all the girls,” Cassandra teased.

Chewing more cereal, Jeff shrugged, blushing. “Well, yeah. You have that whole bad girl vibe going on and I
’
m the dweeb, you girlfriend stealer.”

“
Oh my gawd, will you ever let me live that down? I did not mean to steal your girlfriend at camp that year! When will you drop it?”

Leaning toward the webcam, Jeff glowered playfully and said, “Never!”

Cassandra stuck out her tongue.

“
Jeff, scoot on out of my chair,” a deep voice with a very thick Texan accent ordered.

“
See you later, Wonder Woman,” Jeff said, then moved off-screen.

Dr. Summerfield
’
s bulging tummy hidden by his wrinkled white shirt came into view, then he settled into the chair his son had abandoned. He looked
the same as she remembered him; n
ice open face, a receding hairline of snow white hair, and large-rimmed glasses tucked over his piercing blue eyes. “Cassandra,” he drawled. “
To w
hat do I owe the pleasure of seeing your pretty face?”

“
Hey,
Doc
. I need your help on something,” she answered. Seeing the professor made her miss him all the more. His role in her life
had been
that of a kindly, supportive uncle. Throughout her childhood he had made certain that she and her mother were well-provided for and safe from the dangerous world of Cassandra
’
s father.

“
Is this for one of your jobs?” The professor frowned. He did not approve of her side profession.

“
Actually, it is.” She quickly gave him the lowdown, explaining everything she had encountered since the night in Vegas.

“
A full-blooded witch is what you
’
re talking about,”
Dr. Summerfield
said, his brow slightly furrowing. “Those are rare.”

“
She told me it
’
s a trap, but she
’
s bonded to the vampire. So if she
’
s enslaved to him, is she luring me in? Lying? For him?” Cassandra chewed on her bottom lip worriedly. Her gut told her that Aimee was being truthful, but Cassandra knew she was a sucker for a beautiful face. Felicity was a prime example of that.

“
Give me one moment.” The professor vacated his chair and the sounds of him puttering around his library sizzled through the computer speakers.

Gnawing on her thumbnail, Cassandra waited anxiously. Her emotions were a tangled mix. Obviously, if she went to West Texas she would be going into a trap, but she couldn
’
t ignore Aimee
’
s plea if it was sincere.