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“His fiancée,” Samantha muttered.

Jeff could hear the fading hope in her voice and he squeezed her arm reassuringly. Shaking hands with Sergio, he glanced toward the tiny woman obviously sizing him up.

“This is my grandmother,” Sergio said.

“Nice to meet you,” Jeff said politely, and reached out to shake her hand.

The old woman peered at it thoughtfully, but didn't take it. Instead, she turned to Samantha. “You're Cian's fiancée?”

“I think so,” Samantha said slowly with a definite edge in her voice. “At least I was before your slutty granddaughter showed up. ”

“Whoa,” Sergio said in a fearful voice.

“You don't speak badly of the dead,” the grandmother said sharply.

“Don't you mean undead?” Samantha snapped back.

“Whoa, whoa, let's calm it down!” Sergio quickly stepped in front of his grandmother.

“Why don't we all sit down and talk,” Jeff said in a soothing tone as he took hold of Samantha's arm.

“Yeah, Grandmama, let’s not get into a fight already,” Sergio pleaded.

The old lady narrowed her eyes and looked ready to unleash.

“C'mon, Grandmama. Let's go eat and calm down. ”

“Fine,” the old woman said resentfully and walked with her nephew after the waitress.

Jeff was relieved to have the other man helping him corral the two women. They were both obviously ready to throw down. Jeff took Samantha's arm. He pulled her toward the table the concerned waitress was laying menus on.

Samantha slid into the booth first and Jeff sat at her side as the grandmother sat on the other side with Sergio taking up most of the seat next to her. There was strained atmosphere as everyone was nice and polite to the waitress as they ordered their drinks. The moment the purple-haired girl stepped away, Samantha leaned across the table.

“You need to get your granddaughter out of Austin and away from my fiancé. She is messing everything up!”

“I'm here because your fiancé isn't doing what he promised. He said he would help her! And now they are missing,” Grandmama hissed right back.

“Okay, okay, let's not get mad at each other. Let's figure this out,” Sergio said firmly.

“I know what is going on. Your slutty cousin has my fiancé out in the middle of nowhere with a really bad vampire who could be killing Cian as we speak!”

“Hey, it's not her fault that her professor did what he did,” Sergio said in a low, but angry, voice. “He just dumped her to take care of herself!”

“So she has to come to Austin and mess up my life?” Samantha's hands were gripping her napkin tightly and twisting it hard.

“She didn't do it on purpose,” Amaliya's grandmother grumbled.

Jeff laid a hand on Samantha's arm. “Calm down. Calm down. ”

“You can't tell me to calm down when that Summoner guy is going to kill Cian and it's all because he was stupid enough to get involved with that girl!” Tears sprung to her eyes and began to pour down her face.

Jeff wiped her face gently. She sniffled and scrunched up her face as he did it, but she gained some control over herself. He folded the napkin calmly and handed it to her. She needed to blow her very red nose.

“Okay. Well, as the person that is not involved in this situation, mind if I guide this conversation. ” Jeff looked around the table.

The three angry-looking people reluctantly nodded and avoided looking at each other.

“Okay, so. I assume that what we all know is that The Summoner made both Cian and Amaliya and he's playing a twisted game with them. Right?”