Lost Beauty (Deadly Beauties Live On)

by C. M. Owens

  “I just want her to know one thing,” he tells the master before returning his sadistic, cold gaze to Amy. “Ella will be mine. I’ll drink her blood as she struggles in vain, fuck her as she screams for me to stop, and kill her as she pleads for her life, knowing I took every bit of dignity she had left,” Adam tells Amy.

  She glares daggers at him. “Ella will shred you to pieces, and I’ll laugh from beyond the spirit planes. You’re too weak.” She spits the words out, the taste of bitterness there and strong.

  “That’s why I made a blood oath deal. I deliver you if you’re ever needed, along with any information on the queen’s circle that I can provide, and I’m given the power to avenge my sire. They know how to do it, just like Gavin did to Zee.”

  Amy hates him even more now, and fear etches up her throat. The others will trust him because she brought him into the group. He knows all their locations because she gave him too much information. It’s of little reprieve that she kept Alyssa’s pregnancy quiet from him.

  Why had she? She didn’t know. It felt like a betrayal to include him in on that after being specifically asked not to. She’d held her silence.

  But now she wished she’d never told him anything. If he got the power of Zee, he might have a chance of blindsiding Ella.

  Tears fall harder, but Amy swallows back her pain, refusing to let them see the way the words have struck her soul with damnation and guilt. Adam smirks, delighting in her pain. She’d loved him, and all the while he’d hated her.

  She’d unintentionally betrayed the ones she loved, all for a man who used her.

  “Lycan, just so you know, this is really going to hurt,” the master says with wicked delight and a sadistic smile, as the cowardly night stalker holds his silence.

  The master bends, and Amy tries to turn away when the bottle touches her lips. The master grabs Amy’s chin, gripping it tightly with more strength than Amy can fight. With a hard tug, the master jerks Amy’s face back to the position needed.

  Spitting and sputtering, Amy fights, but the master forces the liquid into Amy’s mouth. Glowing eyes have Amy’s fight stolen for a few brief moments, long enough for the acidic, burning liquid to burn its way down her throat.

  As soon as the glowing eyes cease, Amy’s fight returns, but it’s too late. A loud, bloodcurdling scream erupts from her throat as the burning liquid slides into her veins, glowing under her skin as it takes over like a blue plague.

  It feels like wildfire spreading through her body. It burns so bad that she wants to claw her skin off, but the chains hold as her body thrashes wildly. The screams continue to tear from her throat as tears rush down her cheeks. Even the tears burn her flesh.

  Someone is saying something, but she can’t hear anything over the sound of her heart and her screams. Her heart is beating so fast that even it hurts. It feels like a rapid hammer against her chest, pounding so violently that it’s on the verge of exploding.

  Her eyes grow dim, and her mind numbs. All she can feel is pain. So much pain. Even worse than when she was changed.

  Her life was stolen once. Now it feels as though it’s being stolen again.

  The more the pain continues, the less her humanity lingers. Her mind turns feral, and that hunger surges to the forefront. She knows she’s dying. There’s something else taking over, something else killing her as it claims her blood as its own. It’s a fight with nothing tangible to hit, and she’s losing to the parasite.

  Taunting laughter bleeds into the feral beast’s ears as it starts to shift, gray skin tearing through flesh, shredding the host’s body that will never again return to human form.

  A roar fills the air as the beast struggles in vain. Blood. It needs blood. So much blood so close. Strong blood.

  “Once again we have our lycan first-blood,” the master says while laughing, staring at the monstrous, hairless beast as the cuffs cut into the ashy gray flesh. “The time has come. We need to form the circle,” the master adds.

  “And what about the princess,” the traitorous night stalker asks, making his lingering known.

  “If my visionary says the Gemini will do, then we’ll get one. The weak one. The one who doesn’t have an army.”

  The visionary bows.

  “I’ll find him, Master.”

  “Find him fast. In the meantime, Adam can thoroughly vet us on what our little princess’s weaknesses are. Then he’ll receive his award as we prepare for the rest. We open the portal in five days. It’s time to reshape the world.”

  Chapter 14

  CHAZ

  “So you’re a dragon shifter?” Dice asks, his voice flat as he stares at me.

  “And a Lokie?” Kimber asks, frowning as she studies me.

  “And a red jinn,” Karma adds, not making it a question.

  Alyssa and Kane have been silent, as well as Ella. After coming back, we called everyone in so I only had to explain it once.

  Calypso sits with my mother, not giving anything away. Drackus pushes away from the wall, running a hand through his hair.

  “You’re not a fairy?” Dice asks, his lips turning down.

  “No. No duster blood.”

  “A combination of three deadly, aggressive bloodlines makes you severely lethal,” Sierra points out, checking her watch.

  Amy still isn’t here and she isn’t answering her phone. Neither is her night stalker. She sulks when she’s pissed, so it’s not unusual for her to disappear like this. But I wanted everyone here when I told the story.

  “I remember a day when I was the thing everyone feared. Now I’m merely a blip on a radar by comparison,” Drackus says, sounding annoyed with that.

  “You lied to us,” are the words that come from Ella’s mouth, the hurt shining in her eyes. “You could have told me anything.”

  “I could have,” I say on a quiet breath. “And I’m truly sorry that I didn’t.”

  Alyssa stands, her eyes not seeming hurt. If anything, she seems like she understands something.

  “Once upon a time, you gave me a speech that made me accept myself. Told me I could control my own fate if I decided who I wanted to be.”

  “Something to that effect,” I say with a small smile.

  Her lips form a ghost of a smile, but she sighs heavily. “You don’t seem as surprised as I expected,” I tell her honestly.

  Alyssa is my oldest and dearest friend from this group. Ella is the one who seems the most hurt. Alyssa just seems... accepting. Too accepting.

  “I think I knew.”

  “How?” Mom blurts out, then grimaces.

  “I didn’t know what he was, but assumed it was more than met the eye. He’s always been too strong to be a duster. And then there was that speech and the distinct lack of fear back when I first changed into the creature goddess,” Alyssa says, studying me. “Even my parents were afraid of what I’d become once they learned of my fate,” she goes on.

  “We weren’t,” Calypso lies.

  “We were,” Drackus agrees, causing Alyssa’s lips to twitch.

  “They tried to protect me by hiding my secret from everyone, including me. Everyone seemed afraid except Kane and you.”

  Kane slides his fingers through hers as though that reminds him of a different time—a harder time.

  Her eyes stay on mine as she continues. “You preached acceptance, the way only someone who’d struggled to accept themselves could. I gave that same speech to my own daughter, in my own words, because I didn’t fear what she’d become. I’d already survived the monster. Just as you had.”

  “So he gets a free pass?” Ella asks bitterly, wiping away a tear. “You tear into Zee for lying about his family, but Chaz has kept himself locked up from us all this time, and it’s okay?”

  I expected her to be hurt, so I try not to take it to heart. It still slips in there, because I hate seeing her tears.

  “It’s not a free pass,” Alyssa says to her daughter. “But I understand not trusting the world to trust what’s inside you. Y
ou have to accept yourself first before anyone else can accept you.”

  Ella gets up and stalks out, and Kimber follows her. She wasn’t upset with Zee, but she’s pissed at me. I’ll fix it somehow. If I can.

  Speaking of Zee... He walks up and claps me on the shoulder.

  “You had my back. Now I’ve got yours. Just... don’t grow a spiky dragon tail while I’m at your back.”

  He grins, and I laugh under my breath.

  “So you aren’t really a weak little duster that I’ve been taunting?” Dice asks meekly, but gets ignored.

  “This changes a lot,” Gage says, leaning up on his elbows. “And you’re just now unleashing your powers?”

  I nod slowly, still waiting on some people to blow up as Ella did.

  “Yet you managed to thwart off a major attack with the best fucking illusion I’ve ever seen,” he goes on. “Just the small illusion took a lot out of you when you helped me save Kimber and Karma.”

  “You knew he wasn’t a glitter farter and didn’t warn me?” Dice harps. Then gets ignored again.

  “I hadn’t unlocked the other parts of me. I was using red jinn only at that time, and since I didn’t feed like I needed to as often as I needed to, I wasn’t as strong.”

  “But now you don’t need to feed?” Gage muses.

  “I don’t know. I haven’t felt too weak since...” I let the words trail off. It was the day I had my hands on Kya... The time I almost took her against the side of the dilapidating old cabin.

  That memory is still seared into my brain, and I still love and hate them for stopping me by showing up.

  “Since when?” Thad prompts, listening intently but not saying much about what I’ve told them.

  “Since the day I used the dragonite powers,” I say, giving them the vaguer version.

  “How did you feed all those years?” Roslyn asks, apparently curious but not really alarmed at what I’ve said.

  “Mostly from the hunts I was sent on as an enforcer when I was part of the council.”

  “I helped him take magic in small doses when he was younger to keep anyone from noticing they were missing it,” Mom adds, as though she’s letting them know I’ve never killed to feed. “As a child, he didn’t need to feed off much.”

  “And I took from Dice since being brought into the circle,” I add, knowing they will be curious.

  “Me?!” Dice shrieks.

  “Smart,” Thad says, smirking. “Lots of sexual energy in this place for him to feed on and replenish. He’d never notice his energy missing.”

  “You fucking fed from me?” Dice harps.

  “I stayed strong enough to be of assistance. But we need all of me. Whatever is coming... I can feel it. It’s big,” I tell them while finally taking a seat.

  No one is blowing up, but Sierra and Deke seem more distracted than concerned with my confession.

  “No word from Amy?” I ask.

  Sierra looks up from her phone and shakes her head. “Surely she can’t be that upset. She lost her head and knows it. She might have killed Simone or Kya if you and your freaky new eyes hadn’t stepped in.”

  It’s painful to stifle the growl in my throat, but I do. I would have torn Amy apart for hurting Kya, which is insane. I’ve known Amy for ages, even cared intimately for her in some capacity at one point.

  “Is no one concerned with the fact he just admitted to feeding off my magic?” Dice snaps. He points up and down his body, then slaps his own ass. “This sweet ass is off the fucking menu. Do you hear me? Hashtag, no secret eating allowed.”

  Karma pats his leg.

  “Does my sister see all of you?” Karma asks quietly.

  I’m not sure of how to speak about Kya without feeling the urge to go after her. The man and beast both want her for very different reasons. I just need to figure out half of the equation before I risk anything.

  “Wait! You knew too?” Dice demands, glaring at his girlfriend.

  “Kya sees all of me,” I say on a sigh, running a hand through my hair.

  I’ve spent a long time without feeling anything a tenth as strong as my desire for Kya. It’s as scary as it is invigorating.

  Gotta stop thinking about her.

  Clearing my throat, I train my eyes on Kane as Alyssa excuses herself to go speak to Ella.

  “Kya sent this.” I hold the papers up. “The master is trying to open a portal, and the first bloods are necessary to recreate the circle and do just that.”

  A hushed silence falls over the room as the tension ratchets up.

  “A portal to what?” Thad finally asks.

  “They don’t know. But we have times. The location is in Pine Shore, but there’s no exact spot listed.”

  “So we’re just swapping topics instead of talking about the fact he’s a three-headed source of evil who has been feeding off me?” Dice snarks. “Hashtag—brilliance at its finest. Hashtag—priorities, people. Hashtag—my pretty ass feels violated.”

  “A portal could unleash any number of things. Any lead on who the master is?” Gage asks.

  “No. They did confirm our theory that a new power took over the rings. It’s noted that almost a hundred years ago there was a shift in power. All the ring dwellers felt it when it happened. They said—”

  My words die when Dice screams and leaps into Zee’s arms, almost knocking him down in the process. My eyebrows hit my hairline as he darts a gaze to Karma, who is staring wide-eyed at the doorway.

  In fact, everyone is starting to look at the doorway.

  Slowly, I turn my head to find a doll there, standing thigh-high with red hair and animated eyes. Her gaze flicks to me, and a growl rumbles in my throat.

  Really fucking hate the way I respond to her.

  “Why the hell are you in doll form?” I ask, knowing it’s Kya.

  “Your lycan has been taken by the master,” the doll says in the creepiest damn voice I’ve ever heard, ignoring my question.

  “What?” Sierra demands as she shoots up to her feet.

  It takes that reaction for me to process what Kya just said. Amy? The master took Amy? The fuck?!

  “We think the master is trying to locate you,” the doll adds.

  “It wouldn’t be hard to find us. We’re not hiding,” Thad says, cocking his head.

  “We have reason to believe the master wants the princess, though the true reasons are uncertain and inconclusive at this time.”

  “We’ve already assumed as much. Why are you in doll form?” I ask again.

  She cuts those creepy glass eyes toward me. “I brought a gift for you. You should read up on who you are and see if you can locate your lycan before any information is tortured out of her that you don’t want shared.”

  A red book appears at my feet, and the doll drops to the floor, lifeless, as Kya vacates it. Her body has to be close by, which is a distraction. Karma said their bodies can’t be too far from the person or thing they possess, otherwise they could get sucked into the spirit planes or hell. Seems to have happened to another demon human hybrid.

  “We have to find Amy now!” Sierra roars, her body trembling as she fights to stay in her skin and not shift out of anger.

  “I’ll find her,” I promise them, then disappear, heading to the woods where she was last seen.

  As my vision shifts, looking only for Amy’s trail becomes simpler. I start moving, chasing the trail as quickly as my feet will carry me.

  A dark howl echoes through the woods behind me, and I know Roslyn is following, already chasing after me. Thad is probably with her.

  Miles and miles of woods hammer against my feet as I forge on, pushing myself to move faster and faster. My movements are so fast and light that I don’t make a sound. I’d be nothing more than a streak of motion to the human eye.

  The stench of decay and death is strong around me from where the blood-starved raced through here. It makes Amy’s scent fainter and fainter, leaving the burden of tracking to my eyes only.

  A roar
filling the silence around me lets me know Sierra has also joined the hunt. Silence descends after that, and I run harder. I’m sure they’re all trying to keep up as I follow the trail of—

  My body jolts forward, and I have to stop breathing through my nose when the scent of a heavy, putrid rotting smell slams into me. I cough back the urge to vomit, but I taste the death as heavily as I smelled it.

  Dizzy, I stagger around, finding it hard to stay upright as dark colors and wild scents wreak havoc on my senses. The forest around me seems to be moving, as though I’m on an acid trip from the eighties.

  Bright colors replace the dark ones, and the ground looks as distorted as the bending trees and dancing flowers. I try to shake out of it, but the madness only gets worse as I stagger forward.

  Something metal lands at my feet, and I look up to see a familiar set of scars on a partially covered face... A face wearing the same metal nose and mouth mask as the one at my feet.

  “Put it on and turn off your senses. Now. Before you pass out.”

  Cursing, I grab the damn mask and release my hold on my tracking abilities. Some of the nausea ebbs, but not enough. The second the mask is on, I can’t smell or taste anything, and the dizziness dissipates.

  Slade taps the front of his mask. “Warded against our oversensitive senses. The others will be passed out before they make it this far. Please tell me you weren’t stupid enough to bring the princess on this quest.”

  Silence is still behind me, proving he’s probably right.

  “She’s currently pissed at me and possibly unaware of the situation at hand. An emotional Ella is a dangerous one,” I answer, shaking my head as the last of the disorientation fades.

  He looks away, his features mostly hidden as he walks toward a hillside.

  “I was wrong,” he says as I follow his lead.

  When I reach his side, my eyes go down, and my lungs freeze. The land in the small valley is completely dead—ashes to be more exact. Several blood-starved night stalkers seem to have been caught in the decaying trap, all of them bleeding through their eyes and noses as they lie dead or dying next to an ashy gray beast that looks to have been mutated. It also looks like it has exploded in the center.