“It wasn’t hard to find actually,” Alexia confessed.
“It was on a website about the supernatural. It was filed under unexplained paranormal events with mediums.” Benchley shrugged. “Of course, Josephine was a much bigger story. She was so good at what she did cops from all over the country would come to her.”
“So why didn’t he just turn her. Josephine Leduc?” Amaliya looked cross and her eyes flashed slightly red.
“Maybe because she died in a horrible fire,” Alexia answered Amaliya’s question. “They could never prove it was arson, but it was strongly suspected that someone deliberately killed her. There was a lot of hostility aimed at her. People accused her of being in league with the devil.”
“Give me a freakin’ break,” Amaliya muttered.
“Humans fear what they don’t understand.” Cian folded his arms across his chest. “That’s why the supernaturals remain hidden.”
“Yeah, my people were nearly hunted to extinction,” Eduardo agreed. “There aren’t a lot of us left. I admit that a few of my ancestors did some shady things. Personally, I don’t think dragging off a few babies is really a good excuse to wipe out all of my people.”
“They ate babies?” Samantha looked aghast. “Gross!”
Eduardo shrugged. “They were hungry.”
Jeff gave Eduardo a warning look. Eduardo loved to instigate arguments. It was part of his shifter nature to like a good fight, but it wouldn’t be helpful in the moment. Eduardo just shrugged and flashed his teeth. Jeff knew better than to interpret it as a smile.
“So back to the subject at hand,” Jeff said, trying to redirect everyone’s focus. “Rachon, The Summoner’s favorite child, is coming to Austin tomorrow night supposedly to create a pact with Cian. She’s bringing Bianca, who apparently is a necro-vamp like Amaliya.”
“Necro-vamp?” Amaliya raised her eyebrows even higher.
“I just made that up. Don’t like it?”
Amaliya gave a dismissive shrug. “Whatever.”
“Okay, so we need to be prepared for trouble,” Jeff continued.
“Don’t they need to be ready for trouble?” Eduardo said. He pointed to Cian and Amaliya. “We’re not their minions.”
Jeff saw the flash of red in Cian’s eyes. “No, but we’re their allies.”
Benchley and his sister exchanged looks, then looked toward Jeff. “Uh, Jeff. What are you saying?” Benchley’s voice quavered.
“Uh, what I’m saying is that we need to figure out how to deal with this situation. Remember, if Cian falls as master of Austin we’re fucked. Because whoever takes over is going to come looking for us.” Jeff folded his arms across his chest. This was the conversation he had been dreading.
“But how can we help?” Alexia asked. “We’re humans...except for Eduardo.”
Jeff sat forward, resting his elbows on the table. He tried not to look as scared as he felt, but to project confidence like his father would have. “We need to prep like we would for a vampire hunt. We also need to study everything we can about necromancers. We didn’t have a chance to do that when The Summoner was in town-”
“You actually never called us in on that,” Benchley reminded him.
“Yeah, you stiffed us on that one,” Alexia said, her voice shaded with hurt feelings.
“Oh, yeah.” Jeff winced.
The glares from his team said it all. Jeff admitted they had a right to be mad at him, but he was still adapting to being a leader. It was hard following in his father’s footsteps.
“You could have used us. Especially me.” Eduardo glanced briefly at Amaliya. “I could have helped rescue this beautiful lady.”
Amaliya smiled at Eduardo as she laid a restraining hand on Cian’s arm. The vampire was looking tense enough without Eduardo needling him.
“So we have two major vamps gunning for Austin out of San Antonio and Cian's--” Benchley made quotations with his fingers “‘sister’ coming to Austin with a necro-vamp minion to kill Cian and Amaliya. And we're stuck in the middle because if either one of those groups takes out our friendly vamps, we're next on the menu.”
“It’s worse than that,” Cian said.
“What can be worse than everyone trying to kill us, me going all Sixth Sense and Amaliya being a bitch?” Samantha asked.
Amaliya gave Samantha a sly wink.
Samantha giggled.
Jeff sat back in his chair, his gaze darting back and forth between the two women. This newfound truce between them was a little eerie. He saw from Cian’s facial expression he felt the same way.
“Um, what’s worse is that Bianca has powers that Amaliya doesn’t have. She can astral project,” Cian pointed out. “Or did all of you hunters miss that point?”
Benchley squirmed on his chair as Alexia opened her mouth to protest, then resorted to just glaring at Cian. Eduardo chuckled.
“Uh, that was missed,” Jeff admitted. “Amaliya can’t do that, I take it?”
Amaliya shook her head.
“So, we have a necro-vamp who is the daughter of one of the most powerful documented mediums of all time,” Alexia said, twisting the corner of her mouth, “and she’s coming here.”
“We’re boned, huh?” Benchley rested his forehead on the table with a small thump.
“Grandmama is pretty sure that Rachon is coming to kill me,” Amaliya said, shrugging. “The Summoner and I did have the same power, but his worked differently. I have to shed blood to make the dead rise. He didn’t.”
“But that worked to your advantage,” Benchley remarked, his head still resting on the table. “You took the zombies from him when you sprinkled them with blood.”
Samantha made a face. “Ugh. Blood. Why is it always blood with you guys?”
“Because we’re vampires?” Cian gave her an amused look.
Samantha wrinkled her nose at him.
Jeff rubbed his chin. “So if Bianca can astral project, maybe the way she summons the dead will be different, too.”
“Aren’t we all ignoring one important fact?” Alexia scowled at everyone, tugging at the strings of her hoodie.
“What is that?” Cian asked curiously.
“She’s asking for help,” Alexia said. “Duh.”
“But the blood bond with Rachon will force her to obey, right?” Amaliya tilted her head to look at Cian. “Right?”
Nodding, but looking a little unsure, Cian answered, “There is a distinct possibility the answer is yes.”
“But she’s defiant enough to astral project to Innocente and beg for help,” Alexia said, her finger tapping the table. “She wants our help. So if that’s true, we have to just deal with Rachon and whoever else she brings.”
“You’re assuming that Rachon will not be able to rein her in,” Cian responded, slightly shaking his head. “We have to assume the worst. That Rachon will be able to control Bianca. We may have to kill them both.”
There was a long silence.
“I think I have a problem killing someone that is asking for our help,” Alexia said at last.
“Me, too. It seems kind of shitty,” Samantha agreed.
Amaliya raked her fingers through her long hair and sighed. “I don’t want to kill her, Cian. She’s asking for help. He fucked Bianca up just like he did me.”
“You’re making this a lot more complicated.” Cian sighed.
Jeff tapped his fingers on the table. “Benchley, Eduardo, what do you think?”
“I’m with my sister. It seems like a dick move.”
Eduardo shrugged. “I say kill her. She’s a danger to our pack.”
Cian exchanged glances with Eduardo that indicated very clearly they were on the same page.
“You’re such an ass,” Alexia grunted.
“I’m a fine piece of ass,” Eduardo corrected her.
Jeff stared at the newspaper article in the book before him, his hand lightly stroking the page. “Fine. We try to save Bianca. It makes things harder, but…”
Cian’s snort indicated his contempt for the idea.
“If we’re allies, Cian, then we have a say in this, too. We’re not your minions,” Jeff said boldly, and was relieved when his voice didn’t crack.
Cian gave Jeff a terse nod.
“So we have to determine ahead of time what her powers might be. Benchley, you need to dive deep into our information on Bianca’s mother. Compile a list of her known abilities and then we’ll try to ascertain what we should be ready for.”
Benchley inclined his head. “Okay.”
“Alexia, please get all our gear in order. We’ll need the surveillance equipment and the van ready. Also, pull all the weapons and stock the van.”
Alexia gave him a thumbs up.
“Eduardo, you might be the muscle, as you like to put it, but I need you to work with Amaliya.” Jeff glanced at the shape shifter to see him grinning. “And, what I mean by that is please make sure you pour her blood in all the cemeteries in Austin every night. That’s how she can call the dead to her. Right?”