She frowned at him. “Now you’re just showing off.”
“You’re actually projecting your thoughts quite loudly.”
Staring out at downtown Austin as they made their way to the Travis Heights area where Jeff lived, Amaliya felt unexpected tears in her eyes. “I saw Bianca.”
“The Summoner? At Sam’s?”
“No. I saw Bianca. Not The Summoner. I think she was astral projecting. Something I totally need to learn to do, by the way.” Amaliya peered up a side road toward her old home. The road was clogged with emergency vehicles. “Anyway, Bianca appeared to me in Sam’s kitchen. I know it was Bianca, not The Summoner.”
The silence from the vampire beside her lasted much longer than she anticipated. Glancing over at Cian, she saw his eyebrows were drawn downward over his hazel eyes. At last he said, “All right, but what does that mean?”
“I think she’s trapped inside her own body. The Summoner may be controlling it, but she’s in there. I...uh...have talked to her in my dreams. Each time she begs me to find her. I talked to Benchley about it. About possession. He’s doing some research for me. So I can rescue her.”
Another long stretch of quiet filled the air between them as Cian switched lanes to follow Jeff’s vehicle across the bridge out of the downtown area.
“Cian?”
“Your grandmother saw Bianca and ended up dead. It was a trap, remember?”
The memory of her grandmother’s death at the hands of The Summoner hit her like a bullet. It was too fresh, too new, to fully accept as truth. She kept forgetting Innocente was gone. “Right.”
/> “Don’t sound pissed, Liya. Your grandmother saw Bianca’s spirit several times before she died. She was trying to save Bianca, too. Remember? What’s to say that The Summoner isn’t once again trying the same ploy as a trap? You know I’m right.”
“But what would be the point?” Amaliya asked. “We know it’s a ploy, a possible trap, so why try it again?”
“Because you wouldn’t believe he would do the same thing twice?” Cian glanced at her briefly, then slowed the car to stop for a red light.
Cian had a point and Amaliya resented that fact. It hurt deep within her to realize that she had so much in common with the tiny blonde, yet had never connected with her, never truly spoken to her. All her life Amaliya had been adrift, looking for an anchor, trying to understand who she was. As a child she had told her mother she heard voices and sometimes saw people who weren’t really there, but she had been told it was just her imagination. Now, in retrospect, Amaliya knew better. Those old memories were surfacing more and more now that she felt strong enough to actually look into her past for the truth about her existence. The Summoner had killed and transformed Bianca and Amaliya because they were the descendants of powerful mediums. He had managed to make two more of his kind, but Amaliya hadn’t known that when she had first risen. By the time it had been revealed, it was too late. Bianca was possessed by The Summoner and Innocente and Pete were dead.
“Pete isn’t your fault,” Cian assured her, his fingers tracing over her ear lightly.
“He loved me. He wanted me to be human so we could have a life together. He never realized that isn’t what I would have chosen for myself. He died for nothing.”
The sedan was now making its way up a heavily lined street toward the big Victorian hidden at the top of a hill surrounded by trees. The road wasn’t very wide and cars parked along the road made the passage very narrow. It made Amaliya nervous, wondering if The Summoner would dare attack here. The ward shimmered along the property line, extending far into the sky above. It was huge and beautiful. The sedan slipped through the magic and started up the long drive to the Victorian. The outside motion lights flicked on at the approach of the vehicles illuminating the dark green house edged in light yellow and red paint. The big house was in quite good condition considering its age.
As Cian parked the car, he finally said the words he’d been holding back, but no longer could. “Pete died because he believed that the love he felt for you was worth fighting for, Amaliya. It was his choice.”
“Don’t say anything more,” Amaliya said in a harsh, tight voice. She didn’t want to hear the truth coming from Cian’s lips.
“But it is true,” Cian persisted. “If I die, it’s because I believe that the love I feel for you is worth fighting and dying for. That’s why I’m in this fight against The Summoner.”
“Not to save the world?” Amaliya said, trying to sound flippant as she cast a dark look in his direction.
“If I had to choose between you and the world...”
“You’d let it burn,” Amaliya finished. “That’s really romantic, Cian. Really sick, fucked up, and romantic in a weird way.”
“And you?” Cian already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it.
“I’ll do anything to save you. Protect you,” she answered truthfully.
“Then humanity may be fucked,” Cian decided.
Chapter 11
Samantha waited impatiently for Jeff to unlock the door to the massive Victorian, shifting from one foot to the other. She wished she had put on something other than her flip flips. The daisies on the straps kept tickling her toes. Beatrice was surly inside her carrier, letting out annoyed meows every few seconds. Behind her, Benchley and Alexia were arguing as the mysterious Baptiste stood quietly to one side with a heavy leather suitcase in one hand. Amaliya and Cian were still in their car, probably making out.
Every moment she had to stand outside, Samantha felt vulnerable to a possible attack. She hated being in the sights of The Summoner.