Pretty When They Collide (Pretty When She Dies 0.50)

Finally, she let the orb dissipate. Slipping her arms behind her back, she fingered the spells tucked into her waistband. “I’ll come willingly. Please, don’t shoot.” Her head lowered, Aimee slowly walked past the fallen bodies toward Frank and his two men.

“I want this fucking mess cleaned up. I want a bullet in Michael’s head and I want my fucking dhamphir chained up in so much silver she won’t be able to fucking move!” Frank’s face was flushed red with rage.

“The backup team is sweeping through the downstairs. We’ll have it under control shortly,” Ivan said briskly.

“I should have listened to you about Michael,” Frank huffed. “This was all a gawdamn fucking setup to snatch my dhamphir and witch.”

Aimee drew closer to Frank, her fingers inching toward an incineration spell. She gingerly stepped over another body.

Rolling to his feet, Arnost grabbed Aimee about the waist, jerked her back against his body, and held her as a shield before him.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Frank exclaimed. “You left him alive, idiot!”

Ivan scrambled to draw a bead on Arnost. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Yes, you will, moron!” Frank huffed with disgust.

Aimee groaned with irritation. Her hands were pinned against Arnost’s stomach. She had almost been close enough to Frank to set the bastard on fire when he had snagged her.

“Frank, I’ll be leaving now with my witch,” Arnost said firmly. Stumbling backward toward the broken sliding glass door, the Serbian vampire dragged Aimee with him. Ivan tracked them, the pistol never wavering. Outside, Aimee could hear Cassandra and Michael still battling.

“Kill Arnost, and get me Aimee!” Furious, Frank kicked one of the dead men. Frank’s eyes blazed red. “Shoot him, Ivan!”

Arnost tugged Aimee closer. He reeked of the coppery smell of blood and she realized he was wounded.

Though she should’ve been afraid, she wasn’t. The power inside her was waiting for her command and if she could get her hands free, she had plenty of spells. The gun didn’t frighten her and neither did any of the men in the room. Gaze fastened on Frank, she realized that she only feared him.

Using the last of her power, she narrowed her eyes and sent Frank crashing into Ivan. They both tumbled to the ground, Ivan’s weapon discharging. The bullet slammed harmlessly through the ceiling above Aimee’s head. Startled, Arnost relinquished his hold on her enough for her to get one hand free. Glenn was already drawing his gun when Aimee sent a bolt of energy at him. With a shout, he dodged through the doorway and out of view.

Arnost grabbed Aimee’s arm, twisting it behind her before she could grab a spell. Shoving her forward, his lips were cold against her ear. “Don’t try that with me, witch. I’ll rip out your fucking throat.”

A wry smile flitted across Aimee’s lips, but she hid it with her long hair by dropping her head. Arnost was an irritation, but she needed him for just a few more seconds. Pretending to be afraid, she cowered.

They were almost to the door when Ivan rolled over, trying to take aim again, but Arnost struck the pistol from his hand, then viciously kicked him in the head, crushing his skull.

Frank, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen.

Glenn dared to fill the doorway again with his hulking body. Instantly, Arnost whipped Aimee around, placing her between him and the guard.

“Aimee, I don’t want to hurt you,” Glenn said in an urgent voice. “I’m after Arnost.”

“It’s okay, Glenn. I’m going to kill him for you.”

Arnost jerked Aimee’s arm upward, causing her to cry out in pain. To Aimee’s surprise, he flung her at Glenn. The guard ducked, darted around her, and tried to fire at the vampire, but Arnost was already on the move. Recovered from his wounds, Arnost was a blur. Glenn was blood infused, but the vampire easily snatched him off the ground and drove him head first into the wall. The sickening crunch of his neck breaking echoed in the cavernous room.

Grinning, blood flecked on his lips, Arnost regarded Aimee with a predatory zeal. “You can’t stop me. I’m too fast for you.”

Aimee blinked and he was on her. Grabbing her long hair, he twirled her about, shoving her out of the room. Gruffly manhandling her down the hallway, Arnost swore in Serbian as he fished his cellphone out of his pocket and made a call. “Where the fuck are you? What kind of fucking backup are you?” he shouted into the phone.

Since he was foolish enough to drag her by her hair, Aimee plucked a spell off her waistband and pivoted into him. Pressing the small bag against his heart, she sent a spark of her power into it to activate it. Instantly, it burrowed through his shirt and into his chest.

Startled, Arnost’s eyes widened.

“I said I’d kill you,” she said with a smile.

Arnost took a swipe at her, but it was too late. The spell burst alive inside him, fire exploding out of his mouth as the inferno consumed him from within. Aimee ripped her hair out of his hand as it turned to ashes and ran past his disintegrating body into the game room, tugging more spells out of her waist band.

“Frank, you asshole, where are you?” she shouted angrily. “Come out!” She cursed herself for not noticing when he had slipped away.