“When are we leaving?” Cassandra asked, coming down the stairs from the second level of the apartment. Her girlfriend was right behind her. Both were dressed in black clothing and carried messenger bags. Cassandra’s chin length chestnut hair was pulled up into a fake Mohawk with rubber bands while Aimee’s was in a long braid wrapped around her head several times.
“You told them?” Amaliya asked Cian, narrowing her eyes.
Cian shook his head. “No, of course not.”
“It wasn’t too hard to figure out that you’d want to kill The Summoner as soon as possible,” Aimee said as she reached the main floor.
“And since he’s most likely with Etzli’s brother, it made sense to attack tonight before they can move,” Cassandra finished.
“We can use the help, Liya,” Cian said, lifting one shoulder.
“Fine, but let’s get going.” Amaliya had to admit she felt a little relief at the thought of the witch and dhamphir coming along.
The doorbell rang a few seconds later. Cian checked the security feed on his computer monitors. “It’s Jeff and Samantha with the others.”
“Was there a memo?” Sarcasm dripped from her words as Amaliya lifted her eyes to the heavens.
When the front door opened, Jeff, the leader of the local supernatural hunter group entered first. He was closely followed by the perky blonde phasmagus that was his girlfriend. Samantha grinned when she saw Amaliya’s glower and gave her a little wave. Eduardo, the hunky were-coyote, filed in before the rotund Benchley and his boyishly cute younger sister, Alexia.
“I’ve been trying to call you,” Jeff informed Cian.
“I have my phone off.” Cian folded his arms over his chest and surveyed the people dressed in dark clothes and carrying bulky bags most likely crammed with weapons.
“You weren’t going to go without us, were you?” Samantha narrowed her eyes and poked Cian in the chest with one finger.
“The thought did occur to me,” Cian confessed.
“Okay, the gang is all here. Let’s go!” Amaliya headed toward the door.
Benchley moved to cut her off, his round face grimacing. “Not so fast.”
“Out of my way, Bench.”
The man flinched under her glare, but the sexy coyote stepped in front of Benchley and put his hands on Amaliya’s shoulders. “Listen to the man.”
Amaliya shrugged off Eduardo’s hands. “Fine. What’s up? Time is a’ wasting.”
“I was checking the local emergency channels in both Austin and San Antonio to make sure we don’t run into any issues,” Benchley said, holding up his phone.
“Then we heard something you’re not going to like.” Jeff joined the cluster of people in the front hall. “There’s no point going to San Antonio.”
“I’m still going. You’re not going to stop me,” Amaliya declared, pushing past Benchley and Eduardo.
“Santos’ mansion burned to the ground today. It also burned a lot of the surrounding woods and one neighboring house. It’s smoldering right now. The San Antonio fire departments were fighting it all day.”
Jeff’s words cut through her and sent her mind spinning. Slamming her hand against the heavy metal door, she growled with frustration. “What?”
In the main room she could hear Cian tapping away at his computer.
“It’s all burned up,” Alexia said, wincing.
“Cian has it on the computer!” Samantha called out.
Amaliya stalked down the entry hall and into living room. Cian was at his computer watching a video from the local TV station. Lightly stroking his chin with his fingers, his hazel eyes flicked toward Amaliya when she leaned over him.
“No!” Amaliya hissed. “No!”
“They probably left last night,” Cian said.