Unchained Beauty (Deadly Beauties Live On Book 5)

by C. M. Owens

  “I can’t,” he says simply, causing my heart to sink.

  He starts to push back, and I shove at his chest, angrily batting away my tears. “Even with the prison, you still won’t be strong enough to kill her—”

  “I will be strong enough, Ella. I’ve ensured that,” he tells me, causing more of my angry tears to drip from my eyes as I glare at him, a heavy weight pressing down on my chest.

  “I love you too, damn it. You don’t get to just die without even listening to me! You don’t get to do all this and then leave me—”

  His lips are on mine again, hungrily kissing me as he pulls me to his body. It ends as abruptly as it started.

  “I loved you harder in this life than all the others, and it was when I worked the hardest not to,” he adds, clearing his throat as I grab at the front of his shirt.

  But it’s too late, because he dematerializes from my grip, despite the fact I’m hanging on, and I can’t dematerialize behind him.

  “No. No. No,” I say, panicking as I slam my shoulder into the bar, rattling it hard and giving me hope.

  Tears start streaking down my face as I slam into it again.

  Power crackles somewhere in the distance, I can feel it vibrate in my chest. It’s already started.

  “No!” I shout, slamming into the bars again then blasting them twice.

  The shots are sucked in like the bars absorb them.

  Just as the panic claws toward the surface, and I ready myself to shoot a direct stream of power that might really make phase one of tonight’s plan incredibly difficult to do, and make all that time I spent memorizing the camp soldier’s heartbeats pointless, Zee and Chaz appear.

  I almost cry with relief, but force myself to be stoic.

  Chaz sees the cage and starts searching the tables for a key. Zee yanks on the bars, as I work hard to keep my composure, remembering the plan. Our plan. “Fucking hurry!” Zee snaps. “We need to be up there!”

  “Kya sent you?” I ask, feeling more crackles of power from above.

  “She said part of her plan was thinking of any way Slade would remove you from the fight,” Chaz says before grabbing the keys.

  “I’m not going to need tissues if Slade dies, but if I have to trust someone to literally save the world, it’s going to be you,” Zee tells me.

  As soon as the cage door opens, I grimace. “I’m just going to be the assist tonight. Leah’s saving the world.”

  “What?” he snaps at my back, grabbing my arm and turning me as his eyes try to flicker black.

  “She’s been the most obvious solution since the day she became a new variable, but we didn’t know what war we were really fighting. We missed it in this life, because Slade changed every detail about her when she became a target of his rage in the absence of his memories, and she got dangerously too close to me. She’s been the answer all along. We just didn’t know what we were looking for. Dice is the one who pointed it out. Now I have to go help her kill her father so she can save the world.”

  “Ella!” he snaps, but I dematerialize.

  He’s right behind me, and I slash through a beast as he plows toward me in full steam. I’m not even sure what it is I slice through next, or after that. My vision palpates but doesn’t falter.

  “How the fuck is Leah the solution?” Zee snaps as I spin, cutting through something else.

  “Why is this fight so frenzied?” I snap. “It’s more controlled in the other visions.”

  “Ella!”

  I spin, narrowly dodging a claw to the face, and slice through the back of some mutated being, sending blood splattering as my eyes find Zee’s.

  “She’s just one part of the equation. But she’s safe, Zee. We should have seen it sooner.”

  “What are the other parts?” he shouts.

  “Slade!” I shout, then under my breath I add, “along with a morbid miracle and pure instinct.”

  Chapter 37

  SLADE

  My chest is trying to explode and sink to my toes at the same time when I force myself to leave Ella in the cage, and I land topside, already feeling the spray of something in the air.

  “Zombies are always the first sign of the apocalypse, and the outbreak is strong tonight!” the pointless incubus yelps, stumbling backwards when a loud roar of mutants batter an invisible barrier of power.

  “I told you not to surround the spot.”

  “I didn’t. They surrounded us and forced us here without us even realizing it,” Kane snaps back.

  “More and more are going to start deserting if it looks like a pointless battle,” Zee says as he lands at Kane’s side. “We’ve already lost the south line of defense.”

  “If they surround that middle where Hannah needs to set up the portal, we’ll be battling our way to her the entire time,” I state calmly, even as my right eye starts to twitch. “I’ll drain myself trying to fucking get to her.”

  “Some dragons would be really fucking great right about now. Hashtag, fire-breathers are AWOL.”

  “Hannah’s army just started showing up everywhere,” Kane growls, just as my eyes land on the ungodly amount of mindless, blood starved night stalkers, harbingers of death, and the new monsters breaking through one side of the barrier.

  They pour into the center, and the lines of people start dematerializing, leaving the shifters to fend for themselves.

  “I have to help them,” Kane shouts, dematerializing to them as I follow.

  A monster charges me, catching me off guard, and I land hard on the ground, dirt flying up as I leap back to my feet. Just as claws come out, his head slides off his shoulders.

  His body drops, and Alton stands behind him, bloody claws at his fingertips. “I thought I’d come early,” is all he says before darting off into the fray.

  “Don’t fucking die before I need you to!” I shout at his back, cursing as I push to my feet.

  The incubus is miraculously working his way out of a circle of harbingers, and his hybrid demon lands at his side, zapping a path to him, saving him from a near death.

  It’s like the cockroach theory humans have.

  I slice my way through the backs of two monsters, straining my muscles to the very last extent as I roar with the effort.

  “Hashtag, Hulk smash,” the incubus says, racing past me with something hot on his heels. “Plans always fuck up!” he shouts.

  I fight, conserving as much energy as possible, saving every last ounce of strength I can preserve so I can pull off siphoning that prison when I finally spot Hannah.

  Then my heart crashes in my chest when I see Ella a hundred yards out, slamming into the back of the Aquarius who’s been turned into a monster First.

  Ella grabs the man from behind, just as Hannah comes into view, not far from her with her portal and circle of Firsts already arranged, all the components she thinks she needs with a Lokie strapped to the front.

  Feeling the urge, I grab my journal, lifting it to feel the pages. The memories trickle to me as a thousand and one heart beats explode in my chest. Morgana can’t be saved. It’s the reminder I needed from the pages, the reason I felt the urge.

  I needed Gavin’s compliance to find this location. It’s never the same location, because just enough details change to reset the pieces of the puzzle. We found it soon enough, and still, this scene looks all too familiar, with only a few details changed up.

  The portal stirs, a streak of power crackling through the air, and I stalk through the throngs of the bloodthirsty horde whose bite we have to avoid. Then I fight through bloodthirsty harbingers whose claws we avoid. Finally, I dematerialize past the monsters, facing Hannah less than ten feet away.

  She smirks at me as I slam my fist into the invisible barrier surrounding her.

  Suddenly, a blast of power hits the barrier so hard it rocks the ground. I look over just in time to see the portal rocking, Kya grabs me, throwing me back to the ground just as the portal explodes.

  “That’s one reason you should hav
e allowed yourself to remember the fucking portal explodes,” she snaps in my ear as I force myself to my feet.

  “Someone could have pointed that out when I wasn’t holding the fucking journal open to stop the memories from attaching!” I growl, turning around to see Hannah lifting herself up, her Morgana bodysuit—I did not just quote the incubus!—cut to pieces.

  My eyes search for Alton, panic hitting me when he’s not here right when I finally fucking need him.

  Her eyes flit toward Ella, and I see it when she considers it. Then Ella turns and sprays down a line of monsters with liquid hot power like I’ve never seen her use, practically incinerating them as her eyes stay solid black.

  It’s only briefly distracting, and I scramble to open my journal, now needing to know Hannah’s next move. Because I can’t remember right this second, so I need both sets of memories.

  Everything’s all wrong. Ella’s not supposed to be here!

  Morgana’s body drops to the ground, dead from the portal’s eruption.

  “That’s new,” Kya hisses. “She’s not supposed to die until someone kills her, but she was too close to the portal. Where the fuck is Alton?” she barks.

  Alton lands at my side, and his hand lands on mine.

  “Tell Ella I did my part to help hold back the line, and thank her for her forgiveness,” he says, confusing the hell out of me.

  Gavin suddenly appears in front of Morgana’s body, magic spraying furiously from his hands as Karma and her motherfucking baby appear behind him. He doesn’t let anything close to them, but who the hell brings a baby to a motherfucking battle zone?

  The incubus gawks, paling, then faints after he shouts in a high, shrill tone, “My baby Spangel!”

  My gaze darts back, searching for the demonic shadow I know is after Ella, and I do all I can to draw her power-hungry attention to me as I close my eyes and feel the power burning through me. It’s like tapping a live wire, and I feel Alton’s hand on mine tighten as he cries out in a surprise yelp of pain.

  “It only hurts for a second,” I assure him, glancing over as I see the shadow moving toward me, able to exist outside of a body far longer than a normal demon. “Come get me,” I whisper to Hannah, seeing the shadow streamlining toward me as hope enters me with the convulsing power that is pummeling through—

  “Thank you,” I hear Alton whisper as his hand falls from mine, and the power washes over me like a harsh jolt, already burning inside me with the need to explode.

  With great strain, I hold it steady as Alton’s lifeless body drops, and I swallow harshly, refusing to look as I keep my eyes on the shadow that is so close.

  At the last possible second, something happens.

  I’m hit hard from the side, knocking my breath out of me as the world tilts unexpectedly. As I’m falling I see Drackus appear with a demon I’ve only seen on occasion—Shaylan. He turns into a shadow, his physical form dropping, and the two shadows collide, all of it happening so fast that I barely glimpse the individual elements of the frame.

  The shadows plow into Leah, and she stumbles back, as I choke back a roar of pain from the excess power rolling around inside me. Kimber appears at my side, her hand on me, shaking me.

  “Hit Leah with everything you have! Right now!” she shouts.

  “Have you lost your fucking mind?! This power is to kill Hannah inside me! It’ll blow us all to hell if I release it!”

  “If anyone can channel that power into a soul, you can.”

  “It’ll kill that damn Aquarius.”

  “She’s a perfect conduit. Just do it!”

  Furious, I push to my feet and release all the power I have, just as the other demon ejects itself from Leah like it’s been released, and reanimates the body on the ground.

  “It’s not Hannah. It’s the right demon! Leah’s still in charge for the second,” Kya shouts, as if it’s something they were worried about.

  “What the fucking hell is going on?” I growl as the power collides with Leah, her eyes changing into her possessor’s.

  The storm in the sky forms over our heads as an echo of all the power being released, and I struggle to stand on my feet.

  “It’s not going to be enough!” Kimber shouts. “We were right!”

  “Don’t say that like it’s a good thing right now, because Karma and I still can’t figure out how to fuse and Ella is psychotically blazing a trail through the—”

  Fire sprays from overhead, shadows wafting over us with such power that I struggle harder to remain on my feet as Leah’s body lifts from the ground. The dragonites are late.

  I can feel my energy waning, and I grit my teeth, forcing out every ounce I have on reserve.

  Leah screams—but I have no idea if it’s her or the fucking demon inside her.

  “Zee, don’t! She can take it!” I hear Kimber shouting from somewhere.

  More fire blazes from overhead, just as two new streaks of power blast into Leah.

  Kane and Alyssa walk up, eyes blazing as they hit her with all they have, but it’s not enough. I can feel Hannah inside her as she fights against it, her power pulsing back, weakening but not dying.

  “We have to hurry! I don’t know how long Leah can wrestle for control!” someone is shouting near me.

  I feel like I’m the only fucking one who doesn’t know what’s going on.

  That’s when the beast takes over, and power rumbles through me, something inside me pouring out like I’ve never felt.

  Chapter 38

  LEAH

  One step at a time, I listen to my breaths as I look out at the disaster that is happening differently from what we planned.

  I twirl, letting my sword slash through one mindless drone after another, my heartbeat thudding in my ears as I recount every step of my life.

  There’s a point in someone’s existence where they question everything they thought they knew. A point where they realize destiny isn’t written in the stars.

  Now I realize destiny is just a chain of unavoidable circumstances we’re forced to face, regardless of the variables that may or may not change. It’s the decisions we make in those circumstances that decide our paths.

  One thousand and one times, I chose the wrong path.

  I became my ancestors.

  But in the only time that matters, my eyes are colliding with a set I find vaguely familiar as I stare at the monster who was once my father. His soul is gone. All that remains in him is the blood of the First Aquarius.

  It’s what I keep reminding myself as I charge him, sliding under his swinging sword that narrowly miss my throat.

  With a quick spin, I turn, kicking out my foot, catching him in the back and sending him toppling forward. Pain shoots up my leg from the impact, but I block it out, concentrating only on him.

  “Got your attention, you soulless freak,” I say under my breath, then wink at him. “That’s right. Eyes on me.”

  He charges again, but before I can dodge him this time, something pulses out of him, momentarily paralyzing me, and in the next instant I’m airborne as agony rages through my body from the hit he delivers to my face.

  Stars line the feathered edges of my dimming vision, and I heave for air as I slowly lift myself off the ground.

  “Way stronger than calculated,” I wheeze, then roll away from him before he can stomp my head.

  His grayish, bare foot lands next to me, and even though my body is aching all over from just one hit, I dematerialize and land behind him, sword in hand. But he hits me again before I can stab him, and I’m launched back, hitting the ground hard again.

  Cursing as I bounce back to my feet, I try to shake it off, barely dodging his next attack.

  “Where the fuck is Ella?” I shout to anyone close enough to answer me. But no one does.

  A blur of motion distracts me for just a second, then suddenly I see a flash of blonde hair before the beast in front of me stops mid-swing, his eyes widening, and a choked sound escapes his lips.

  �
��Hurry up! I can’t hold him as long! He’s hella fucking strong!” Ella shouts from behind him.

  Snapping out of my surprise, I swing the sword as hard as I can, the blade slicing through the gray neck.

  One second can feel like an eternity when you’re staring into eyes you don’t remember, yet look so similar to yours. I’ve spent my life searching for answers from the man who abandoned me, yet now I only have more questions that will never be answered.

  I look away before the next second starts, because I can’t watch. I hear the sounds of his body dropping. Hear the sounds of the epic battle we’ve dreaded as it rages on. And I spend that second trying to remember I have a much more important part to play.

  I can’t afford to be irrationally emotional right now.

  “Leah!” Ella shouts, and I glance over in time to see Slade and Alton joining hands.

  When I glance back to shout at Ella, her eyes turn black, and power like I’ve never felt explodes from her as she walks into the fray where our shifters have been abandoned to fight alone, unable to escape the monsters who are trying to rip them apart.

  Singlehandedly, she levels beasts we’ve had to team up on just to take out one. She’s gone to the next level, pushing past all her previous limits, and doesn’t hit a single one of our people.

  She’s doing her part.

  Turning, I spot the shadow and find Drackus as he arrives with Shaylan right on time, even though he has no clue why we told him to bring his leashed demon with him.

  A full-blooded demon who is old enough and strong enough to wrestle with Hannah for at least a few seconds.

  Everything happens within a blink in the very next instant. With every ounce of strength I have, I crash into Slade’s side, knocking him away from the shadows just as they collide.

  I lose sight of everything but the two shadows as they rush into me.

  Pain seizes my lungs as the pressure in my chest boulders through me. I hear Shaylan’s voice shout in my mind for me to release him, even though I had no idea I was holding him.

  I hear a hissing mad, venomous woman snapping in my mind, even as I remain rigid, unable to move my body.