“I'd rather see you dead,” she said against his lips and drew back sharply from his touch.

His anger overwhelmed him and he roared at her. She felt the rush of his power flow over her like cold water and into the dead all around her. They instantly turned toward her and rushed forward. She ran her hands over her wounded throat and flung them out at the crowd. Drops of her blood fell over the dead and instantly, they were tangled in her power. She leaped up onto a gravestone and ripped her wrists open with her teeth. With gleeful triumph, she rained her blood over the crowd of the dead.

Those closest to her staggered toward The Summoner. As they surged forward, he shrank back from them. She could feel him weakening. The last bit of his power had been spent to turn the crowd of the dead against her. He backed away from them and she charged him.

She slashed him hard across the face with her nails and his blood splattered her. With a rage like no other, she pummeled his body as he tried to escape her and the dead that crowded around them. Knocking him down onto his back, she straddled him and drove her fist into his face over and over again. She was beyond words and so was he. His fading power and her growing power fought against each other as the dead minions reached down to grab hold of them.

The majority of the crowd was now hers.

The Summoner's hands gripped her throat and with one last burst of power, he tried to rip her head from her shoulders. Earlier he would have succeeded. But now she was the greater power. She gripped his wrists and crushed them.

“You're done,” she whispered, and unleashed her minions on him.

Slowly, she drew back as she listened to him scream as the dead moved over him in a wave. They tore him apart, bit by bit, as he tried in vain to wrestle control from her. But the dead were hers. They obeyed her and her blood. Her blood was their life and their redemption from his power. They knew she would release them back to their slumber and they obeyed her.

She stood and watched as they ripped him apart with their gnarled, dry hands and clutched the bits of flesh against their chests like treasure. One by one, she sent the triumphant dead back to their grave. She felt them sink down into the welcome silence of the earth and soon there was nothing left of the dead or The Summoner to gaze upon.

He was gone.

A hundred little pieces of flesh and bone clutched in the hands of the dead he had abused.

Closing her eyes, she let her power slither back into her. It curled up and slumbered sated fully.

When she reopened her eyes, they were once more blue-gray.

***

Victorious, Amaliya walked back to the farmhouse, the wind tossing her hair back from her bloodied neck. She felt powerful and different. And it was good.

A cry of pain erupted from the house and she heard her cousin shout out in fear.

“Shit,” she whispered, and ran back as fast as she could.

When she burst into the house, she found Cian backed into a corner with her grandmother standing in front of Samantha, Jeff and Sergio, holding out rosaries, holy medals, and a Bible. The heat of the holy items' power hit her hard and she staggered back.

“I'll take care of him,” Amaliya cried out.

She slunk into the shadows of the hall and cowered as the power emanating from the crosses pushed at her. Whimpering, she listened to the four mortals backing slowly out of the room. She looked up warily and saw her grandmother still holding the holy relics.

There was a terrible, agonized growl from the room and she felt Cian lunge forward in a desperate attempt to grab a mortal to feed upon. Amaliya caught Cian's arm as he burst out of the room. He spun around and attacked her. She let him.

“Go! Go,” she shouted at the mortals.

She saw them flee just as he pinned her to the wall. His fangs sank into her throat. Her hands settled into his hair and she held him tight against her. He drank hard and deeply from her, but she could give it to him. Blood and death gave her life and she had drank deeply from The Summoner's death.

He was savage for the first few minutes of his attack and she trembled as he crushed her close. Then, as he was renewed, his hunger turned to something else. When his mouth closed over hers in a bloodied, passionate kiss, she shoved her hands down into his jeans to stroke him.

Pressed up against the wall of the old farmhouse, they struggled with each other's clothes, their bodies trembling with their great need for one another. She snagged his bottom lip with her teeth as he managed to bare one of her breasts and twisted her nipple.

“Need you,” he whispered.

“Do it,” she answered, and he slid down her body.

He bit her inner thigh hard. Her blood splattered her sex and his face. His tongue swirled over the wound then swirled around her aroused clit. She knew her family was nearby, but she couldn't care. He sucked hard on her inner lips, then licked away the blood. Her fingers tugged on his hair and he rose up to kiss her hungrily.

Their creator was dead. They were free. And they needed to reaffirm that fact in an act of passion. When he shoved himself into her, hard and brutal, she welcomed him into her body. It was rough and passionate. The house shook around them as they met each other's thrusts with ferocity.

After a few minutes, he collapsed against her and she held him close. He buried his face in her neck and she stroked his back gently.

“He's dead,” he whispered.

“Yes.”

“Your grandmother...”

“Yeah, he made the mistake of pissing her off.”

They both laughed and Cian drew away. He looked scruffy and tired, but he was no longer mad with the hunger. They both adjusted their clothes and Amaliya wondered briefly what the mortals thought they had been doing as the house had rocked.

Amaliya gave him a soft, awkward smile as she felt suddenly quite emotional. He tilted his head to gaze into her face. She wondered if he could read how much she loved him and see how much it terrified her. Slowly, he reached out and took her hand.

“You saved us,” he said after a beat.

“I managed not to fuck it up,” she said with a shrug, but she felt a wave of pride.

He kissed her cheek gently and led her out of the broken house and into the fresh air of the night.

The mortals were in her cousin's truck and it was idling. They were obviously waiting for them. Jeff was driving and Sergio was in the passenger seat.

“Need a ride?” Sergio asked in a tone that was so normal, it almost made Amaliya laugh.

It isn't as if I just vanquished a dangerous ancient vampire or anything like that, she thought.

“We got our car back over by the hotel,” Cian answered looking a little sheepish. He had attacked their rescuers, then sexed Amaliya up while they waited. It was definitely an awkward moment.

“You sure you're okay? The house almost fell over and you're both all bloody?” Innocente asked, eyeing them both suspiciously.

Amaliya could see Samantha's pained expression and she felt terrible, but she was not about to admit to anything. “The Summoner is dead. Cian is fine. I had the dead tear apart The Summoner. He's in pieces. We're a little beat up, but it’s fine.” She smiled at her grandmother who was leaning out the back window. She reached out and touched the old woman's hand lightly.

“You're one hell of a something,” Jeff the vampire hunter said in an awed voice from the driver's seat.

“I'm just a girl,” Amaliya said with a shrug, but she knew that wasn't really true.

Samantha leaned over Innocente to peer out at Cian intently. “Hey, Cian, I'm glad you're alive and sane and stuff, but the engagement is off.”

Cian blinked slowly, then nodded. “I understand.”

Samantha nodded solemnly, then sat, her hand resting on the back of Jeff's seat. It did not escape Amaliya's notice when Jeff took the blond's hand and squeezed it.

“We need to get Sergio to the hospital,” Jeff said from out of the darkness in the truck's cab. “We'll see you tomorrow.”

“We meet up at your place then?” Sergio asked as Jeff shifted gears.

“Yeah,” Cian answered. “Sounds good...err...uh...”

“My cousin Sergio and my Grandmama, Innocente,” Amaliya said quickly.

“Nice to meet you,” Cian said a little awkwardly.

“We'll talk later,” Innocente said in a firm tone. “We need to talk about your plans with my granddaughter.”

Amaliya couldn't help, but roll her eyes.

“Do you realize the amazing reputation you're going to have in the vampire hunter circles,” Jeff said to Innocente as he began to roll up his window. “You took down The Summoner.”

“It was nothing,” Innocente said with a big smile.

Amaliya touched Sergio's cheek lightly as he began to roll up the window. “Thank you.”

He grinned at her and blew her a kiss. “It was nothing.”

Amaliya and Cian watched the truck drive off slowly.

“Your grandmother took down The Summoner with a statue of the Virgin,” Cian said after a long, thoughtful pause.

“And I had the dead tear him apart,” Amaliya added.

Cian shook his head in disbelief. “I can't believe it's over.”