Page 17

“So she’s fucked?” Cassandra liked the idea of her blood staying in her own veins, but at the same time she felt terribly for any person bound by a vampire.

“I could try to figure out if there is a way, but...” Aimee averted her eyes, her fingertips lightly thrumming against her bottom lip.

A chill flowed down Cassandra’s spine and she shivered. “You’re thinking she’d have to drain me totally to get free, aren’t you?”

Aimee flinched. “That’s a distinct possibility.”

“I vote we find another way. I have no desire to die.” Cassandra folded her arms across her small breasts and stuck out her chin defiantly.

“Babe, no one is going to ask that of you. Especially your own father.” It was Aimee’s turn to roll her eyes.

Cassandra’s heels thumped against the desk as she swung her legs. “Yeah, yeah, but still. This is why my kind keeps under the radar. The big bad scary vampires are total dicks when it comes to dhamphirs.”

Aimee set her hands on Cassandra’s thighs and leaned toward her. “Babe, listen to me. You’re freaking out because of the shit that went down with Frank. I get it. But we made it through all of that. We will make it through this, too. I’m a badass witch and you’re a hot sexy ass kicker. We can do anything we put our minds to. I know that.”

Staring into the face of the woman she loved with all her heart, Cassandra’s heart skipped a beat and she found it a little hard to breathe. Aimee was not only beautiful, she was pure power. Her inner strength was undeniable and sometimes a little scary.

“We’re ahead in the game, right? The ring is safe.”

“The ring is safe, Cass. The Summoner has no idea where it is. We’re going to do everything in our power to keep him from succeeding. We’re going to win.”

Cassandra rested her hands on Aimee’s, caressing the slim fingers adorned with layers of rings. She could feel the power pulsing inside the stone amulets. “We just can’t lose. I think of what my mom went through when she lived with the vampires and what it did to her. I don’t want that to happen to everyone in the world.”

Galina, Cassandra’s mother, struggled to retain memories, often slipping into the past when not grounded in the present. She kept a notebook full of tidbits she needed to remember, which included information about her own daughter. Cassandra had to place updated photos of herself alongside the recent entries so her mother would remember her daughter was now an adult. There was only one thing that Galina seemed to be able to remember without her notebook: Aimee. From the moment Galina had met Cassandra’s true love, her mother had full recall on her interactions with Aimee. At first it had hurt Cassandra’s feelings, but then she realized it was Aimee’s inner light that anchored Galina’s mind. Maybe it would slowly heal her until Cassandra’s mother wouldn’t need a notebook to remember that she no longer lived in Austin with a vampire cabal that used her for sex and blood. Maybe at last Galina would stop pining for Cian and waiting for him to come for her.

“A world ruled by The Summoner, vampires, and demons is not one I want to live in either,” Aimee said.

“Cian’s going to ask about the blood bond. What are you going to say?”

“I’m going to ask for Amaliya’s blood. Then I’ll see what I can figure out.”

“But he can find out about the myth about my blood. You found out.”

“There are a lot of myths about dhamphirs, including that you’re boneless.”

“Well, I can do that creepy compression trick,” Cassandra reminded her. It unnerved her, but Cassandra could fit through very small openings. Her body just folded up at her will, allowing her to squeeze through the tightest of spots.

“My point is that there are a lot of rumors about your kind, but not much is absolute fact. Cian’s aware of that. Hell, you aren’t consumed with the unyielding desire to kill him, are you?”

“Well...”

Aimee’s eyes narrowed.

“I’m joking! No. No. And I don’t have th

e unhealthy desire to drink my mother’s blood.” Cassandra made a face. “I see what you’re saying though. He doesn’t know any more than the rest of them when it comes to what I can and can’t do.”

Her girlfriend gave her a brief nod. “We control the information when it comes to what you can or can’t do.”

“I feel like I’m lying.”

“Well, you sorta are,” Aimee said. “We have to take care of ourselves. They don’t know everything that I’m capable of. Heck, I don’t know everything that I’m capable of. And, if you want to be perfectly honest, most of the people in this makeshift cabal don’t either. Amaliya is still growing into her power. So is Samantha. Out of all of us Cian is probably the only one who has a handle on his nature.”

“And then we have the mortals.” Cassandra sighed.

“It’s good that Sergio is going home.”

“Maybe Benchley and Alexia should stay out of this, too.”