“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?”