“That consists of you, your sister, Eduardo and Jeff.”
“And Samantha!” Benchley thrust a finger in her direction and Samantha batted it away. “Right, Samantha?”
“Why can’t we all be one big group?” Samantha asked.
Her boyfriend was slowly ruffling his hair, his expression tense. Jeff and Cian did work together, but Jeff was bullheaded about acknowledging Cian as their official leader.
“We are one big group consisting of two factions,” Baptiste said calmly. “And we answer to Cian. Even Jeff. Because in the end Cian has hundreds of years of experience and knows The Summoner better than we do. He also knows all our strengths, our weaknesses, and how to utilize us. Jeff, you lead our research, but you’re not the military leader of this outfit.”
“True,” Jeff admitted, though his expression was sour.
Under the table, Samantha propped her bare feet on his leg and caressed his knee with her toes. She smiled when his hand settled over her ankle and squeezed it lightly.
“This is bullshit,” Benchley growled and stormed out of the kitchen.
Silence fell over the remaining group. After a few seconds, Jeff started to get up to follow.
“I need to discuss something with you, Jeff,” Samantha said, her tone quite serious. “I came up with an idea on how I can gain more control over the ghosts.”
“Oh?” Jeff sat back down. “What did you come up with?
While Amaliya continued to grow in power, Samantha was feeling stuck of late. Though she constantly saw ghosts, she found it difficult to control them the way she was supposed to be able to. Only when Amaliya was with her was she able to get the ghosts to do her bidding. Alexia and Benchley had provided a lot of information for her to read and she was sure she had finally found a way to get her abilities firmly under her dominion.
“I want to go find Roberto in Fenton.”
“Roberto?” Baptiste cocked his head. “Who’s Roberto?”
Samantha saw Jeff flinch. Taking a deep breath, Samantha said in a rush of words, “He was Cian’s bitchy human right-hand dude that drove me fuckin’ crazy until he betrayed Cian and Amaliya to The Summoner. He became a vampire and betrayed them again, then got himself staked by a zombie under Amaliya’s control. Then he survived this epic ghost apocalypse when The Summoner basically used all the ghosts in the graveyard in Fenton to infuse himself into Bianca all the way over in Louisiana. So he’s still out there and cranky.”
“And you want to go talk to him and then what?” Baptiste looked skeptical.
“Get him to come with me,” Samantha said, avoiding Jeff’s look of disbelief.
“You hate Roberto,” Jeff said.
“Well, yeah. He’s a snarky bitch,” Samantha said, “but he’s the only ghost I know really well. We kinda have a connection. He’ll totally want out of that town and I can offer him a way out. Aimee is going to make me a foci.”
“It’ll tether him to Samantha,” Aimee explained.
“Can you do that with another ghost?” Jeff leaned toward Aimee to emphasize his next words. “Because any other ghost may be a much better option.”
“Well, yeah,” Aimee said, “but then she’d be stuck with a ghost who may not be sentient or cooperative.”
“Jeff, Roberto knows me. He knows our situation. He’ll be on board.” Samantha tried to sound more confident than she felt.
“He tried to kill Cian and Amaliya. How do you think they’ll feel about this?” Jeff stared at Samantha with an incredulous look upon his face.
“They’ll deal. Because I need him. I know him. He knows how to fight. He knows what’s up. He’s a fuckin’ jerk and a half, but he knows what’s up. The Summoner would have eaten him up like all the other ghosts and he knows that. He’ll want payback. Plus, Jeff, he did try to warn us something was up in the graveyard the night it all went to hell.” The thought of Innocente’s tiny broken body brought tears to Samantha’s eyes. Using a napkin, she dabbed at her eyes. “He tried to warn us.”
Jeff exhaled and flopped forward, his head in his hands. “Shit.”
“If this can help her...” Baptiste said, then fell silent.
“You need to do it.” Aimee’s voice was firm. “You need to be at full strength. If you need a ghost to help you channel your power, then go get him. Cian will understand.” A slight smirk appeared on the witch’s lips. “Maybe Amaliya won’t, but Cian will.”
“How can we chance this?” Jeff asked. “If she leaves the city, it’s a big risk.”
“I can go during the day,” Samantha suggested. “I thought Benchley and Alexia could take me.”
“You need another supernatural with you.” Jeff looked toward Baptiste. “Are you game?”
“I’ll go where needed.” Baptiste sat back in his chair, his usually placid face slightly tense. “This is the graveyard where Prosper died, isn’t it?” His long fingers played with the edge of a napkin.
“Yeah.” Samantha squirmed in her seat. She often thought of the graveyard as the place where Innocente had died, but Rachoń had lost Prosper and Amaliya had lost her childhood friend, Pete, that very same night.
“I’ll go,” Baptiste said. “I want to pay my respects.” The solemn pain dwelling in his eyes spoke of how much he had loved his fallen father-figure.
“Oh...kay.” Jeff tapped his fingers on the table. “Aimee, could you-”
“I can get them set up.” Aimee gave him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry.”
Samantha met the concerned gazed of her boyfriend with a wide grin. “It’s okay. Really.”
“Uh huh,” Jeff said, not sounding confident. “When should we do this?”
“Tomorrow. I need time to prep.” Aimee grabbed her empty bowl and spoon.
“And we need to talk to Cian,” Baptiste added. “Our fearless leader.”
A snort from the hallway gave away Benchley’s eavesdropping.
Samantha arched an eyebrow at Baptiste. He returned the gesture, then grinned.
“Ready to go ghost wrangling?” she asked.
“I thought you’d never ask,” Baptiste answered with a wink.
Jeff’s head hit the table with a clunk and he moaned. “Could this get any worse?”
“Bench, we need to talk.”
Jeff watched his friend shift his weight on the sofa as he paused the game he was playing on Jeff’s old Xbox console. Benchley set the controller on his lap, folded his arms over his hefty chest, and gazed at Jeff. “Okay, talk.”
Taking a seat opposite Benchley, Jeff rubbed his hands together nervously. He hated dealing with the interpersonal dynamics of the group and it was worse when he had to give a talk to his best friend. Maybe this was why Cian was the one to lead. Cian could be an asshole. “It’s about earlier.”
“Yeah. So? I already said I’ll go to Fenton. It will at least give me something to do,” Benchley said moodily.
“I meant about the situation with Cian being in charge.”
“Does it bother you that we’re trusting a bloodsucking vampire?” Benchley’s glower intensified. “I mean, I kinda like Cian, but he’s a vampire. So is Amaliya. I kinda like her, too. But they’re shifty as fuck.”
Jeff narrowed his gaze, studying Benchley thoughtfully, then had an inkling that something was up that his friend had yet to tell him about. “What’s going on?”
“Are you my leader or not?” Benchley demanded.
“Uh, is this a research scenario?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I’m your leader.”
“Good!” Benchley hurled the controller aside and leaned forward. “Amaliya came to me a while back and asked me to research possession. She gave me notes about this freaky dream she had. She didn’t want me to tell Cian about it. Which is very shifty.”