Page 3

“Kill her and be done with it!” Prosper shouted.

Casting a dark look over her shoulder, she saw that her cousin had ripped the zombies to pieces. His fine Italian suit was flecked with shreds of flesh and drenched in blood. Grumbling, he furiously tossed the bodies into the grave.

Rachon stepped closer to the girl, who thrust both of her hands out at Rachon, fingers flexing as her lips trembled.

“You can't touch me, little girl. I know how to deal with your kind,” Rachon whispered. The fledgling was crazed. She needed more blood and soon, she was also powerful.

Rachon loved power.

With one quick stroke, Rachon sliced open her own wrist.

“Come on, little one. Time to eat,” she said, holding out her arm.

The girl's eyes faded to blue as they latched onto the blood welling out of the wound. With a hungry cry, the girl gripped Rachon’s wrist and clamped her lips over it. Sucking hard, the girl's eyes closed with pleasure.

Rachon slammed the dagger through the girl's back, piercing her heart. Instantly, her body tumbled over, blood still drizzling from her lips.

“She's not dead. Finish her. ” Prosper grunted as he disposed of the dismembered bodies.

“No. I want her,” Rachon answered, a smile unfurling on her dark lips. “She's a necromancer just like him. Her power will be my power. ”

“How will you control her?” Prosper frowned, his wide brow crinkled with concern.

Rachon lightly touched the gris-gris hanging around her neck. “Entombment and a steady diet of my blood. He may have made her, but she will belong to me. In a few months, she will do everything I ask of her. ” Rachon crouched and rolled the girl onto her back. Pulling off the remains of the girl's dress, she saw the ugly cuts from the autopsy were already healed. The thick thread used to sew her up had been ejected from her flesh and clung to her damp skin. She was fully transformed now.

“Fill in the grave and we'll head back to Shreveport,” Rachon said in a soft voice as she gently stroked the girl's fine white-blond hair that was stained pink by blood.

“Fine. Anything to be out of Texas and out of this mess your Master made. ” Prosper picked up a shovel that the boys had brought to dig up the grave. “Hope you're happy with your new toy. ”

“Oh, I am,” Rachon said with a bright smile.

“What is her name again? They haven't put in her headstone yet. ” Prosper started shoveling dirt back into the grave, covering the bodies he had stacked inside.

“Bianca Leduc,” Rachon responded, her fingers resting on the girl's soft cheek. “And she is mine. ”

Four Months Later. . .

Part One

Friday Night

Chapter 1

“Fuck you!” Amaliya scowled, feet set apart, hands on her hips.

“Nice language,” Cian chided her, smirking as he perched like a bird on a leaning tombstone in the center of the cemetery.

“You call this a nice evening out?” Amaliya narrowed her eyes at him.

She had been lured out of their comfortable spacious apartment to the east side of Austin, Texas under false pretenses. Cian had promised her a nice night away from the hubbub of the downtown area. She had assumed they would be hanging out at one of the dive clubs, or maybe one of the small venues run by theater groups that were located east of I-35. Instead, they were standing in the middle of a very old cemetery at a little past midnight.

“We’re away from the hustle and bustle of downtown just like you wanted,” Cian said, grinning. His chestnut brown hair was ruffled by the wind. It was not as long as it had been for a while. He had chopped it off to a more manageable and stylish length, but it looked good on him. His keen hazel eyes, heavily fringed with dark lashes, clearly projected his amusement.

“I even dressed up!”

Well, technically, she really hadn’t. The jeans were clean, the black platform heels with lots of straps were not too scuffed up, and her black corset-top had actually been hanging in her closet and not strewn on the floor with the rest of her laundry.

“You look beautiful,” he said, flexing his hands. He held a dagger in each one.