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“Spirit walking?” Cynthia asked.

Innocente nodded. “Yes. She’s somewhere else. Trapped. She’s seeking help because the woman who captured her is very evil and wants to kill Amaliya. ”

“So this vampire girl can astral project to you? How does she even know about you?” Sergio didn’t like what he was hearing in the least. It sounded wrong to him.

“She heard her captor talking about Amaliya and about me. Bianca is stronger than her captor realizes. Since she can communicate with the dead, she was able to finally find her way to me. ” Innocente smiled sadly. “The dead do talk to each other. ”

“We have to call Amaliya and warn her, Sergio. ” Sergio hated the way Cynthia’s lips were pale and slightly trembling. She was afraid, but trying to be strong. He was very proud of her.

Taking her hand, he gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’ll call her now. ”

“Please, hurry,” Grandmama urged him.

Tenderly, Sergio laid the quilt around his wife’s shoulders. It was slowly warming up in the bedroom, but she was shivering. Sergio snatched his phone off the armrest of the chair he had been sitting in and tried to turn it on. To his relief, the loading screen flashed brightly as it booted back up.

“Should we have the priest come and bless the house again?” Cynthia wondered aloud.

“No, no. She can only come here in spirit. I need her to talk to me, to tell me what this evil woman with the red eyes is planning against my Amaliya,” Innocente answered.

“Why is she trying to help Amaliya?” Sergio watched the cellphone screen, waiting for it to finish the startup process.

“I think because they were in a class together when they were mortal. Bianca knows that puto killed Amaliya, too. ” Innocente rubbed her head again. “I have such a bad headache now. I was trying too hard to hold on to what she told me. ”

Cynthia dug around in the drawer of the bed stand until she came up with a bottle of aspirin. She carefully doled out a few pills and hurried to refresh Innocente’s glass of water. Sergio watched her depart to the kitchen clutching the glass, a sad pang in his heart. He hated seeing his wife stressed and afraid. None of them had asked to be a part of the world of the supernaturals, but they were not the type of people to turn their backs on family. Sergio knew that Innocente would not back down from trying to protect Amaliya.

Finally, the phone finished rebooting and Sergio dialed Amaliya’s number. She answered almost immediately.

“Bianca came again tonight,” Sergio said.

“And?” Amaliya sounded testy, but also anxious.

“I’ll let Grandmama tell you. ” Sergio handed over the phone and settled on the bed next to his grandmother. In silence, he listened to her explain to Amaliya what she had told him and Cynthia. When she finished, she handed the phone back to Sergio.

“What are you going to do, Amal?” Sergio asked.

There was a beat of silence, then Amaliya said, “I don’t know. I have no fucking clue. I have to talk to Cian. ”

“Keep us in the loop, okay?” Sergio tucked his arm around his grandmother’s shoulders and she leaned her head against him.

Amaliya sighed. “I will, but you guys keep safe. ”

“We’ll do our best. ” Sergio clicked off and snuggled his grandmother. “There, we warned her. ”

“We should go to Austin,” Innocente decided.

Cynthia returned with a fresh glass of water. Her eyes were red and it was clear she had been crying. “You already helped kill one vampire. Don’t go picking fights with more. ”

Innocente frowned as she took the glass and swallowed her pills.

“Listen to my wife, Grandmama. She’s right. We need to stay out of it. Let Cian and Amaliya deal with it. ”

“They might need us,” Innocente protested.

“If they do, they’ll call,” Sergio assured her.

With an exhausted sigh, Innocente nodded, relenting. Maybe she was more afraid than she was letting on. In all truthfulne

ss, Sergio hoped that they would never get a call from Amaliya asking for them to go to Austin. After what Sergio had seen the last time they had fought the powerful undead, he wasn’t sure he would survive another encounter.