Pretty When She Dies (Pretty When She Dies 1)

“Wait, wait, Cian was a slave?”

“You didn't know that?”

Samantha shook her head, her eyes growing larger.

“When Cromwell came into Ireland in the late 1600's, he decimated the Irish population. He sent a large portion as slaves to the West Indies. Cian and his family were sent to Barbados. He lived as

a slave most of his life until he was around twenty-four. He actually gained favor with his master and was set up as a foreman of the sugar cane fields. He had a wife and two children when The Summoner arrived in Barbados. We think we found the actual ship he arrived on. It suffered a plague in transit and most of the crew and passengers died. Soon after, The Summoner killed Cian. Though we cannot prove it, we believe the Bridgetown fire was caused when some of the slaves tried to burn Cian or The Summoner out. It killed thousands of people, which, of course, would have been very satisfying to The Summoner. My father asked Cian about it and he doesn't remember why the fire happened. At the time, Cian was mad with the hunger that struck him after his rebirth as a vampire. But he said he remembered the flames. Cian fled and hid in caves for weeks in the aftermath. When he regained his senses, he knew was undead and was terrified because of it. He tried to go home, but the plantation had burned and his family was dead. People were speaking about red-eyed devils and he knew he had to get away from Barbados. ”

“How did he escape?” Samantha felt oddly overwhelmed. It was suddenly quite clear she knew nothing about Cian at all.

“A pirate ship, believe it or not. He hid away on board the ship and slowly drank most of the crew to death. They didn't know he was there and never found him. When they finally reached land, he disembarked and began his journey across South and Central America. He has never returned to Europe. ” Jeff hesitated, obviously seeing she was trying hard to absorb all the information he was giving her.

“So, he. . . he. . . well, he's over three hundred years old for one thing. I knew he was old, but okay-” Samantha clutched her hands together and processed all of this. “So, he was in Mexico for a long time?”

“Yes, until he sent a request to the former Master of Austin. He asked to relocate here. He stayed in Mexico City far longer than he ever planned because it was safe. But he grew increasingly bored and had to move on. That is his story. My father actually believed that The Summoner was after him once more. Anyway, the Master of Austin agreed to have Cian join the cabal. As soon as Cian got here, there was trouble. The Master's companion took a liking to Cian and it caused inner turmoil. Beyond that, the cabal was extremely dangerous in their size and daring. A lot of vampires are hard to track nowadays because they do not kill. Like Cian, they take just enough from each victim to satisfy. But the cabal in the Seventies began to kill. Of course, there was the whole craze over the Zodiac killer and Charles Manson at the time, so the Austin police were looking for a group of Satanists. My father knew the truth and was looking for the vampires, but they were very elusive. Then, Cian came to him one night. And they made a deal. Cian gave him the cabal's location. My father swore he would not interfere with Cian's life as long as he did not kill or make any other vampires. It was also agreed that no other vampires would be allowed into the city. ”

Samantha pressed a cold, sweaty palm to her forehead. “Oh, my. ”

“Later, my father found out that The Summoner and Cian had made a pact. The Summoner would release him if Cian became the Master of his own city. ”

“And with the cabal dead. . . ”

“Exactly. ” Jeff was flipping through pages, showing her time lines, drawings, and newspaper clippings. There were even several small sketches of Cian from different time periods. They all had Roberto's signature.

“Did Cian. . . set up the cabal?”

Jeff shrugged. “I don't know. My father didn't think he did. But then again, my father was fascinated by Cian. His history enthralled him and they had many meetings. They would sip tea and speak of the history of the vampires in America. But there have not been any other vampire related deaths in the area since the Seventies, so who is to say one way or the other. ”

“You think Cian set up the Austin cabal, don't you?”

Jeff looked very solemn. “I do wonder. But if The Summoner was after me, I don't know what I would do. ”

“He's after the new vampire. Amaliya. The Summoner made her and he's after her. ”

“Then he's probably in the city by now. I've spent today studying up on her. She's not even a week old,” Jeff said, pulling a new leather book off the pile. He had already started collecting newspaper clippings, online articles and had several photos from different sources cut out and pasted to the pages. “I tracked her from where she was killed in East Texas across to Dallas. She disappears for a day, then arrives in Austin. I did check on her family history and found that her grandmother and some cousins live in Eastland County near the Abilene area. My guess is she went there. ” Jeff showed her a map.

“So, did she kill a lot of people?”

“Yeah. The first night she woke up, it was close to a dozen. Vampires usually awaken mad with the hunger. This woman in East Texas is my guess for a second victim. A third was in Dallas. A truck driver. One of her childhood friends was hospitalized, so that could have been her, too. ”

“So she's evil,” Samantha decided.

“Not necessarily,” Jeff sighed a weary sigh. “Vampires are scary creatures. They don't think like we do after awhile. They are above us on the food chain and when they are hungry, that is all that matters. ” He paused, then looked at her worriedly. “Has Cian drank from you? Or you from him?”

“Ew. No. ” She shook her head. “No. No. Hell, we don't even do. . . um. . . sex. . . much. ” She shrugged a little. “I thought maybe vampires aren't super into it or something. ”

“It's probably because vampires mix blood with sex and he was trying to spare you. ” His tone was very gentle and his expression embarrassed.

“Oh. ” She absorbed this, then said in a soft voice, “So that points to him being good, right?”

Jeff gave her a reassuring smile. “Yeah. I'm sure it does. ”

She ran her fingers over the picture of Amaliya with blond hair from her high school yearbook. Amaliya looked a little sad and bored in the picture.

“What do you want to do?”

Jeff's voice startled her and she looked up. “What?”