Dark Beauty

by C. M. Owens

  Untouched. Shit. I hadn’t thought about that.

  “Here,” she says, putting my phone out toward me. “I’m done.”

  “You said we were going somewhere,” I say, shifting the subject.

  As I take my phone from her, she nods. “Yeah. I have a friend who is going to meet us at—”

  Her words end on a hiss, and suddenly she’s vanishing, a cloud of smoke lingering in her wake. Confused, I look behind me just as Thad walks in. He doesn’t need an invitation since he has had one already.

  “Who the hell just went poof in your living room,” the changer asks, his eyes warily inspecting the room as he moves to Kimber’s side.

  Too familiarly, he pulls her up and into a hug, still scanning the room for the absent Karma. I forgot how much I hate this asshole when it comes to having blondes around.

  Christ.

  “Karma, it’s safe,” Kimber tells the absent half demon.

  “So you say,” a doll says, forcing Thad to suck in a sharp, surprised breath.

  He tugs Kimber closer, glaring at the doll like it’s going to strike at any minute.

  I wouldn’t mind seeing Karma be a bitch right about now. Maybe then he’d get his damn hands off Kimber.

  “We’re working with more demons now? Isn’t Drackus’s friend—Shaylan—not bad enough?” Thad growls, glaring at me. “They’re nothing like us. They don’t have a conscience, and they lost the shackles of morality the day they died. All they want is sex, violence, and death.”

  The doll shrugs while crossing her arms over her chest. “Sounds right. Just out of context,” she says, sounding satisfied with her announcement.

  “This one has a conscience and can differentiate right and wrong,” Kimber tells him, patting his chest.

  I really fucking hate this changer.

  A rhythm occurs with my fists clenching and unclenching as I watch Thad seem too affectionate and too familiar with the girl I want out of my head. He cocks an eyebrow when he sees my set jaw and hard glare.

  “Someone going to start explaining?”

  Shit. I really have to get my head on right. “About what?” I ask casually, trying not to act like I wasn’t just staring a hole through him.

  “About what you just said. A demon with a conscience.”

  I really need to get my head out of my ass.

  Quickly, I avert my eyes from him and Kimber, and I start running through everything we’ve just learned, skipping over the details of Kimber’s portal magic. I have a feeling he already knows, and that’s definitely something I’ll be discussing with him later.

  Thad’s eyes are wide in his head, proving he finds this all as shocking and disturbing as I do. Not to mention scary as hell.

  “Son of a bitch,” he groans. “I’ve tracked down spirits and managed to wrangle them back into purgatory, but not… How the hell am I supposed to lock up things I can’t summon or touch?”

  Old magic is dead. There’s no way to repeat the bindings that were once in place.

  “Can’t. We just need to get ready to live in a new world. Right now, we need to focus on finding some sort of list that could give us a clue as to what all is out there—or could be out there, rather. The ancient ones were meticulous scroll keepers. The answers are somewhere, but considering all the ancient magic wielders are gone… We’re on our own,” I say while frowning.

  His eyes fall down to the doll who is still sizing him up. As his grip tightens on Kimber, my jaw ticks.

  “You have my word no harm will come to you from me as long as you don’t try to harm any of us,” he tells the stringy-haired doll with pale features.

  Her glassy eyes move toward Kimber, then toward me, and she mutters a curse under her breath.

  “I need to know when people are coming,” she scolds. “I don’t like to be surprised.”

  “Duly noted,” I mumble dispassionately, deciding now is the perfect time for a much needed drink.

  As I walk around and grab a bottle of bourbon, I work hard to not look over at Thad and the blonde I shouldn’t be enticed by.

  “We need to go. I have someone waiting on us. It’s far, so we’ll have to drive,” the doll says, apparently not feeling the need to find her body just yet.

  “You trust this person?” Thad asks her.

  “As much as you trust these people. The one we’re going to see is a survivor like me and the girl you seem to be rather attached to.”

  I look up just as Thad brushes his lips over the top of Kimber’s head, and he grins over at the doll. Before he can speak, the bottle of bourbon crushes and breaks in my iron grip, and I curse as alcohol splashes to the ground and all over me.

  Dice props up as he comes around the corner, his smirk telling me he knows too much. He’s probably feeding off what I’m putting out right now.

  “Then let’s go,” I grumble, waving my hand over the mess and my damp clothes, and watching as the glass reassembles and the liquid goes to the sink. My clothes are dry before I even take the first step.

  The doll runs with stiff knees toward my room, where her body is apparently discarded, and I walk out of the house, desperate to catch a breath that might bring rational thoughts.

  Thad joins me at my side, and I debate punching him. I really fucking want to.

  “Care to tell me why I get the feeling you’re plotting my murder?” he asks flippantly.

  Because I am.

  “You fucking Kimber?” I ask, trying not to sound pissed, but it still sounds harsh enough to be telling.

  His laughter booms out like thunder, and I glance over my shoulder while we move farther away from my house. When I don’t see anyone close enough to hear us, I continue with a quieter voice.

  “What the hell is so funny?”

  “That question is what’s so funny, dumbass,” he says, his laughter still lingering in the air. “You think I’m that stupid? No way in hell am I pissing off Drackus and Kane for that piece of ass. I don’t think anyone is dumb enough to attempt that.”

  Swallowing hard, I glance back again, and my eyes meet her crystal clear blue ones—the eyes of a visionary.

  He’s right. I’m one stupid son of a bitch.

  Chapter 6

  KIMBER

  I hate the woods. Always have. I draw my power from the air, and it’s not as free inside the thick of the trees. It makes me vulnerable, and I despise feeling that way. Witches and warlocks derive their power from the earth, so nature is their friend here, putting me at a greater disadvantage. And it’s dark, which makes it hella creepy, and it cripples me even more because of the amount of beings that garner more power under the moonlight.

  “The dark user keeps looking at you,” Karma says, leaning against a tree beside me and snapping me out of my reverie.

  Reflexively, my eyes dart to meet Gage’s gaze, and he looks away quickly, seeming to mutter a curse to himself.

  “It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other. Today was the first day since I was a kid,” I mumble, trying to downplay it.

  “And yet you trust him?” she asks incredulously. “People change in that—”

  “Not Gage,” I sigh. “He risked his life for me before. For everyone. Just as Thad did. Just as my family did. Hell, even Dice.”

  “The incubus?” she asks, clearly shocked by that. “They’re naturally selfish.”

  And arrogant. And annoying. And very mischievous. That list could go on and on.

  “Dice is loyal to my family. Which is why I trust all of them. There are more, but for now, this is what we have. Rebellions are forming, so the others are needed with the queen.”

  And Ella needs to stay as far away from all of it as possible. I don’t know Karma well enough to let her around Ella.

  “What are you? I know you’re a visionary—not that I can feel it since you’re the first I’ve met—but your other power is so strong and—”

  Before she can finish asking the question I have no intentions of answering, the sound of a
twig snapping puts us all on alert. Karma’s body becomes surrounded in her red glow, and it starts to burn to be close to her. Forced to distance myself from her, I warily inspect the heavily shrouded woods.

  “Avery?” Karma prompts, her voice steady but quiet.

  A shadowy figure suddenly appears beside her, and I jump a little from the unexpectedness of it. A voice fills the air before the body fully forms at her side.

  “This had better be good,” the unknown guy says, finally forming fully.

  Gage is suddenly right beside me, his body crowding my space as he looms protectively. It’s comforting instead of annoying right now, because these woods are stifling huge quantities of the air I need to feel strong.

  “We’re going after the slave rings,” Karma tells him, which means this dark user must be Avery. But why was he captured? Dark users aren’t rare, so what why would the rings be interested.

  His runs a hand through his jet-black hair, glancing around as though he’s wary of this meeting place—that he chose. In his long leather duster, he reminds me a lot of Drackus.

  “That’s some dangerous shit. Why do you want me here?”

  He looks around again, his eyes trained on the dark woods we’re surrounded by. Only the moonlight illuminates us now, and each rustle of the wind carries another ominous sound with it.

  “Because we need your help. You escaped like me, so you’ll know which planes to travel. I only know the one prison, and I want to find Kya. If we do this, we have to hit hard and quick. It’s the only way we can do this, because the other rings will start moving once word spreads.”

  He’s making me paranoid every time he looks around, as though he’s expecting something to attack at any moment. I understand that fear, but I don’t appreciate him awakening my own paranoia.

  “You’ve stayed in hiding since you escaped. Why now?” he asks, his eyes still searching the darkness.

  Hating the fact that my own fear is rising, especially since the stale air trapped in this pocket of the forest doesn’t offer me much strength, I step into Gage, pushing my back flush with his front. I’m forced to ignore the breath he takes, especially since it echoes the same unwanted feelings in my held breath.

  His hand slides down to my side, burning me with the touch, and he grips me almost too tightly. But I feel safe, so I don’t bother moving away from his hold.

  “Because I didn’t have help. Kya is still in there, and I have to get her out.”

  He groans, but he still avoids her gaze and ours.

  “Kya is warped by now, Karma. There’s no telling what you’ll find even if you do rescue her. This is a suicide mission. What are you thinking?”

  She takes a step closer to him, her red power burning hotter as her temper flares.

  “I’m thinking that my sister is still in the rings, and who knows what they’re doing to her now that her powers have surfaced. You have a brother in there. Don’t you want to save Marcus?”

  For the first time, he meets her eyes, but I don’t like the vibes that seem to taint the air.

  “I’d do anything to save him, Karma. Anything.” He turns his back, moving away as we watch him. Something is wrong.

  After a minute, he turns back around. “You should have stayed hidden. I’m sorry.”

  The sickening feeling of betrayal stabs us too late, and Karma’s eyes go wide seconds before she attempts to vanish. But the force field appears as quickly as the stones circled around us on the ground, dark magic radiating through the core, grounding everyone to this spot, including the half demon girl.

  “Motherfucker,” Gage growls.

  “You bastard!” Karma yells, rushing the visible blue lines of the force field that is trapping us.

  I yell for her to stop too late, and she collides with the powerful field before getting launched backwards. Thad leaps over, catching her limp, unconscious body before she hits the other side, and Dice curses while stepping away from the side he’s too close to.

  Gage forces me behind him before whispering, “Whatever happens, do not try to use your power from inside here. The less they know about you, the better.”

  I glare at him. “It’s not like my power can escape this shit,” I whisper back.

  Faces emerge from the darkness, glowing eyes of all shades. Shit. And some of them are night stalkers.

  “Good job, dark user,” one of the men with telling tattoos says. I know those markings. Only jinn use them. Which is another big problem.

  “You promised the return of my brother,” Avery says, even as he shakes as though he’s afraid of the men he has handed us over to.

  “And you’ll have your brother. In fact, you can share a cell with him.”

  The guy’s smile crawls up just as Avery’s eyes widen. He vaporizes, but the night stalkers are too quick, and they pull him out of his shadowed state, forcing him back into the breathing plane as their twisted laughter fills the air.

  He fights back, but against their night stalker abilities to subdue a warlock with just a touch, he’s helpless. And all we can do is watch when their fangs sink in, one attacker on either side of him. Blood drizzles down his neck, but most of it is drank by the hungry bloodsuckers.

  “Or you can simply meet him in the afterlife,” the jinn says.

  The night stalkers feast as Avery gargles for help, but he has trapped the only people who could save him. My stomach roils as the life drains from his body and the sadistic laughs ring out from the other side of the trap.

  The dark laughter only booms out louder as they revel in the labored breaths Avery is releasing. Panic seizes me as my mind scrambles for a way out of this. I can’t believe I walked right into a trap. I didn’t know this source. It was on me to find out more information. And I should have spread out. We never should have gotten so close in a cluster.

  The hoots and howls of the evil bastards outside the trap grow louder with every fading breath the drained dark user expels, twisting my stomach with churning emotions of what’s to come. I’ll die before I let them lock me away again.

  “Be ready,” Gage whispers to Thad, forcing me to whip my head around just as he steps closer to the edge of the trap, unnoticed by the celebrating assholes on the other side.

  “Just waiting on you,” Thad says with a smirk, stepping closer as well.

  Dice curses under his breath, and I glance over as he goes to stand near the unconscious body of Karma—his body almost acting protective over her.

  “Get her out of here,” Gage tells Dice. “Kimber, too.”

  It takes me a second to process those words, and before I can become rightfully enraged, Gage suddenly forms a deep, burning red orb like I’ve never seen before. It all happens so fast. The orb forms in his hand, he jumps and slams his fist hard into the side of the trap, and the impenetrable walls surrounding us vanish as the impossible happens.

  Movement catches my eyes just as the sound of fabric shredding rings out, and I glance over just in time to see Thad shifting, roaring as his mouth turns to a snout and his golden skin changes into a white tiger.

  He leaps out, and realization settles in. That’s when all hell breaks loose.

  Chapter 7

  KIMBER

  “Go!” Dice demands, his usual humor absent as he shoves me toward Karma. “Take her through a portal with you.”

  I hear bones crunching, and I look over just in time to see Thad attacking one of the night stalkers who was draining Avery. His sharp canines sink into the flesh of the man, and he growls as he tries to shred him.

  “Kimber, fucking go!” Dice yells.

  “Like hell! I’m stronger than you. You go!”

  With Karma unconscious, I can’t send Dice through the portal. He doesn’t have the ability to shift between planes, and that would leave them vulnerable to attacks.

  “Just carry her, Dice. You know damn well I can help them.”

  He curses, and just as a night stalker blurs toward Dice and Karma, I sling my arms out, creating a
portal that starts sucking him in. His eyes go wide in surprised horror and he fights the pull, but he’s not strong enough. No one ever is.

  It’d be nice if I had the power to suck them all in, but it would take too much energy, possibly even kill me. And it’d be real damn stupid to let them see my very rare powers.

  “Kimber!” Dice scolds.

  Shrugging unapologetically, I rush toward the fight. More have joined, which surprises and frustrates me. I’ve never been a big fan of being severely outnumbered. Gage is slashing through the multitudes, but now I know he’s holding back. Or I think he is.

  His orbs are a lighter red and streaked with blue, nothing like that powerful ball of red he held to crack the shield. I could feel the energy radiating off of it, and it almost felt as though it was stealing my breath while it crashed effortlessly through a shield that shouldn’t have been able to be broken.

  Flipping through the air, I scissor one of the night stalker’s head with my legs, feeling the crunch as I take him down. One advantage to being a gatekeeper is our unnatural strength. Something I wish I’d had as a child.

  But more and more are falling in, and Gage is still fucking holding back. Thad can only handle so many at one time, and there’s only one option for us to get out alive.

  Summoning the energy up from my core, my body starts to vibrate, rattling the ground beneath me as I prepare to do something I swore I never would.

  My hands tingle, my fingers burn, and my heart pounds uncontrollably as the power courses through my veins. The weight of the planes crush down on me, causing my ears to ring as the first trickle of blood falls from my nose. And I prepare to unleash a power that will paint me a target.

  ***

  GAGE

  They keep breaking under me, and I keep fighting, looking over at Thad on occasion to make sure the tough bastard is still breathing. The night stalkers keep trying their damnedest to get their hands on me, but unless they’re hella old and powerful, they can’t subdue me with their touch.

  We’re gravely outnumbered, but we’re just killing time until Kimber, Dice, and Karma have time to get away. Surely by now they’re safe.