Pretty When She Destroys (Pretty When She Dies 3)

“Lucifer’s sword was found by the Mayans. They believed it was the weapon of a fallen god and built a temple to house it. The Spanish conquered the Mayans, took the sword and the myth around it and delivered it as a gift to the Catholic Church.”

Amaliya sat in the big back room of Jeff Summerfield’s occult book shop listening to the information gleaned over the last few weeks by the young man with the soulful eyes and messy brown hair. Outside, the summer wind pummeled the side of the old house that was transformed into the bookstore. The tall pecan trees that bordered the building pelted the metal roof with nuts. The sound was a little distracting as Amaliya tried to pay attention to Jeff. The long oak table was surrounded by a strange assortment of people. Cans of soda and cups of coffee sat before the humans, while the spaces before the supernatural beings remained bare. Though Jeff and his group of friends called themselves vampire hunters, they were actually more along the lines of paranormal investigators. Amaliya liked all of them, but wasn’t too sure how effective they would be in the coming battle with the ancient vampire who had created her and infused her with his necromantic powers. Looking around the table, she wondered again if maybe she should just try to find The Summoner on her own. The people were definitely a motley crew of mortals and supernaturals.

Benchley and his sister, Alexia, were regular humans that had started off as paranormal investigators before becoming hunters. Samantha had been Cian’s mortal girlfriend before Amaliya had landed in their lives and disrupted it. Now the perky blonde was a phasmagus – someone who could control the spirits of the dead – thanks to ingesting Amaliya’s blood when the vampire had tried to save her life. Rachon, the strikingly beautiful black woman next to Jeff, was Cian’s vampire sister who ruled all of Louisiana and up until a few weeks before had been considered an arch enemy. Cassandra, Cian’s dhamphir daughter, and her witch girlfriend, Aimee, sat snuggled at the end of the table. Amaliya liked both the women and was glad that they had decided to stay in Austin and join the fight against The Summoner. The man sitting near them was not so welcomed in her eyes. She wanted her cousin, Sergio, to go home and be with his wife and kids.

“They gave the Catholic Church Lucifer’s sword?” Eduardo, the were-coyote and the last of their crew, let out a snort of contempt. “That’s pretty stupid.”

The geekily cute Alexia shook her head at Eduardo. “Actually, it makes sense. It would’ve been made in heaven. It may have been his sword, but it could’ve been considered a holy relic.”

Amaliya rolled her eyes. The whole story sounded outlandish to her, but there was something up with the ring The Summoner had worn. It had to be important for him to recall an entire cemetery searching for it. She shivered, remembering how cruel the possessed Bianca had appeared. Though she hadn’t really interacted with the girl when they were both attending college, Amaliya had always thought of Bianca as pretty, sweet, and very shy. She’d even suspected Bianca had a crush on her after often catching the younger woman stealing looks in her direction.

Jeff was talking again, so Amaliya attempted to pay attention. She felt restless. Sitting and discussing all of the information Jeff had discovered was not the action she craved. She wanted to find a way to kill The Summoner and be done with him once and for all. It still stung that she had not been able to kill him before he had slipped away into hiding.

“...someone in the Vatican decided that it would be a great idea to melt down the sword and create rings out of it. Well, originally, they wanted to make a crown, too, but when the blacksmith melted the sword it lost mass. In the end, he only had enough gold for the rings. The jeweler made thirteen rings: one for the Pope, and twelve for select archbishops.”

“Does this sound like a horror movie in the making or what?” Eduardo winked at Amaliya. He was flirting with her to piss off Cian. She had to admit the coyote was very attractive with his sleek black hair and chiseled physique. There was also an aura of danger about him that Amaliya found enticing.

“Totally Exorcist material,” Benchley mumbled from across the table.

“So what happened to the rings, Jeff?” Amaliya wanted to hurry up the meeting so she could get the hell out of the building and back to their new home. She and Samantha were going to practice using their powers together in preparation to fight The Summoner. Sitting around and plotting was not Amaliya’s forte.

“Well, they made the wearer go crazy. And realizing what was happening, the Jesuits collected the rings, dividing them up among thirteen devout priests and sent them out all over the world to hide the rings.”

Cian raised his eyes toward the ceiling, but said nothing. Amaliya could tell he wasn’t liking what he was hearing.

“And somehow the vampires found out about them,” Rachon stated from where she sat near Jeff. Her maroon colored eyes narrowed in thought.

Amaliya wondered if Cian and Rachon had noticed anything odd about the ring The Summoner wore. Probably not, she decided.

“Yeah. About a hundred years ago they became a hot commodity among the vampires,” Jeff continued.

“About the time that The Summoner was holed up in some Mayan temples in the Yucatán Peninsula,” Cian muttered to Amaliya significantly.

“That was when he kidnapped Etzli.” Rachon gave a slight shake of her head. Amaliya knew that Rachon and The Summoner had been lovers for a very long time. Cian had said she was The Summoner’s favorite. The Summoner, however, had mocked Rachon’s devotion to her human family and taken Etzli to be his cohort. If that hadn’t happened, Amaliya couldn’t help but wonder if Rachon would still be on his side or theirs.

“She’s been in on it all along,” Cian said, his hazel eyes gazing into Amaliya’s.

Amaliya nodded in agreement. She’d never liked Etzli. The tiny woman had taken way too much pleasure out of her brother Santos torturing Amaliya when she’d been dumped in their territory by Cian’s duplicitous ex-mortal servant, Roberto.

Jeff straightened up the files on the table and cleared his throat. Amaliya wanted to shout at him to get on with it.

At last, Jeff concluded, “So, uh, well, lots of different hunter groups have been tracking down the individual rings over the years, but no one knew they were all connected. Not until now. The rings all ended up with different names and different legends, but when Cass and Aimee stole the ring from the Master of Dallas and then connected it to The Summoner, it all became clear.”

“He wants the rings. All of them!” Amaliya said, trying to urge Jeff to hurry the hell up.

Cian’s hand rubbed her knee affectionately and he leaned toward her to whisper, “Let Jeff have his moment.”

Lowering her own voice, Amaliya answered, “I’m about to lose it here.”

The gentle squeeze of Cian’s cool hand only made her more impatient. Now she wanted to go home, fuck Cian, and then practice her powers with Samantha.

Returning her attention to the conversation, Amaliya heard Benchley exclaim, “What if that date is significant for another reason? What if it has to do with these rings that used to be a sword? Think about it. What if the Mayans figured out that on that date if the sword is used properly, it could bring destruction down on us?”

Amaliya was so sick and tired of all the end of the world talk about 2012. People were so paranoid. “But why destroy the world? What does The Summoner get out of that? He seems real intent on living.”

Cian’s grip tightened a bit on her leg, and she felt the tension within him ratcheting up. “He has always been thwarted by the sun. Always. From the beginning of his existence as a vampire, he has always been confined to the night. Maybe he wants to eliminate his ultimate enemy – the sun.”

Rachon lifted her eyes, fear filling them. “Rip open