Dark Beauty

by C. M. Owens

  GAGE

  It’s quiet. Too quiet. They should have struck by now.

  Kimber takes my hand in hers, trying not to show her nervousness, but we’re all growing restless and silently dwelling on it.

  Pulling out my phone, I start texting.

  Me: Anything from the east?

  Thad: Notta damn thing

  Rolling my eyes, I move on to the next one.

  Me: Anything from the west?

  Chaz: Just forest creatures.

  The slightest stir of the wind has my head snapping up, but there’s nothing there. So I continue checking in.

  Me: Anything from the north?

  Dice: #Crickets

  Kimber frowns down at the phone before I put it away, and we go back to the waiting game.

  Finally, after what seems like an eternity, headlights flicker in the distance, and we all stand still, watching from the deep shadows.

  Kimber shifts silently, preparing for anything, and I send a text to everyone at once.

  Me: Coming in from the south.

  Then I type out another message.

  Me: How long can you last?

  Immediately, I get a message back.

  Chaz: Hopefully as long as we need.

  The headlights slow down just a mile down the road, and I tilt my head when they stop completely.

  “Oh, brother,” Gavin’s voice says from somewhere above, and I jerk around to look for him. “Did you really think I wouldn’t figure out your little setup?”

  His voice moves with every word, and I smirk. That was always his specialty. He would lure men out of their spots by sounding like he was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It’s a tactic to instill panic. But I can do the same thing.

  “You really think your tricks can work on me?” I ask him, letting my voice carry around. “We were trained by the same women, Gavin.”

  “Tricks? You’re one to talk, brother. That illusion of your girlfriend’s pretty little head being tossed aside like a discarded child’s toy was rather crafty. It’s been centuries since I was fooled, so I admit I was very impressed. That’s the last time I underestimate you.”

  So he thinks I’m capable of an illusion that powerful? No one is supposed to be able to do that. He’s overestimating me. That’s not good.

  Kimber kneels down to one knee, watching the road through the thick of the forest, and she takes aim with a crossbow.

  “Why come if you knew it was a setup?” I ask him.

  Silence envelops the forest for several long minutes. Until it’s shattered.

  “Because I knew you’d bring her.” My eyes dart to the middle of the road where Gavin is standing with his hand wrapped around Ella’s throat. Her eyes close as she winces against his grip.

  Her hands and feet are shackled by the enchanted cuffs meant for a creature goddess. He came prepared.

  “You see, your little plan to trap me involved bringing the most powerful creatures out that you knew. So… Well, you’ll learn your creatures can’t shift here,” he announces smugly.

  Kimber grips my hand tighter, squeezing it to the point of pain.

  “Now where the fuck are my weapons really?” Gavin snarls.

  Kimber starts to move, but I pull her back, not letting her jump the gun. Gavin will snap her neck before she has time to do anything.

  “Who wants to know, Gavin?” I ask, still transferring my voice around the forest.

  “Who do you think?” he taunts, holding Ella like a shield in front of him.

  It doesn’t matter that he’s surrounded. If one weapon is fired, the person pulling the trigger will die the second the sound ripples the air, and he won’t be touched. He’s too fast and too strong.

  I know I have to stall until his army tries to sneak in from behind us, flanking all our blind spots.

  “I’m not sure. I know a blonde who seems to think you’re the puppet instead of the puppeteer.”

  I expect an instant laugh or snarky remark, so I’m surprised when I see his smile falter instead. Tilting my head, I study the odd expression on his face, and for a brief moment, I see something that resembles… hope.

  No. Fuck no. He’s toying with me. And I know that’s the truth the second his sinister smile comes back with all the menace of a calculated killer.

  “You mean your girlfriend that I happily tortured? The one who cried and begged for mercy even though she knew I wasn’t capable of it? The sweet little piece of ass that I generously took?”

  Kimber jerks her head toward me and shakes it, telling me that never happened. But I don’t fucking believe her.

  “She must have really enjoyed it if she’s trying to convince you I’m good. It sure as hell wouldn’t be the first time a girl chose me over you.”

  The ground rumbles with my anger, and I ignore Kimber when she begs me to stop by tugging my arm, keeping her lips sealed so as not to give away our location. Fury courses my veins as the skies darken, but so many times of the past come back to me. My brother would never do what he just claimed, but why the hell would he lie about it.

  He’s tempting me to kill him. He wants to lure me out. And he’ll get his wish as soon as everything falls into place.

  Then I feel the power wash over me, and a smile spreads over my lips. It’s almost time.

  “Nothing to say, brother? Silently seething in your puddle of fury?” Gavin taunts.

  At exactly the wrong moment, Drackus Fucking Devall appears in front of Gavin, and I yell at him to stop without throwing my voice around.

  Arrows fly through the air, and I dive on top of Kimber, knocking her to the ground. Calypso comes out behind Drackus, and they both struggle to free Ella, but Gavin is too strong. He’ll fucking kill them.

  “Damn it! How did Drackus find out where we were?” I growl, throwing a hand up and deflecting hundreds of arrows before the meet us.

  Kimber grunts while scrambling out of the way of a heavy boot aimed at us, and I disappear and reappear in quick sequence, slamming my hand through the man’s chest before he can get any closer.

  Kimber turns away from the sight, and then leaps to her feet, firing arrows into the madness behind us.

  “We have to move the crystals!” she yells, running toward the line.

  I’m going to strangle her!

  “Kimber, don’t!”

  Of course she doesn’t listen. Instead, she hops in and out of portals, dodging people left and right, emerging long enough to slice through someone before disappearing again. Drackus roars in pain, and I remember that he’s facing my brother.

  Even with all his crazy, Mr. Hyde power being unleashed, he’s not strong enough to take down Gavin.

  “Ella!” Calypso yells, trying and failing to get her away from Gavin.

  She really should have called us so that we could have filled her in on the plan.

  Alyssa and Kane join Calypso and Drackus, and I get torn between which way to go. Especially when the damn crystals charge up, and Kane and Alyssa stupidly run right into Gavin’s trap, the shields caging them in.

  Alyssa doesn’t see it until it’s too late, and she slams against the shield that throws her back. Kane dives, catching her, but they’re trapped and they’re sitting ducks for anyone who takes a shot.

  Thad charges into the road, but I turn back to go find Kimber. The arrows flying at me keep snapping and breaking, never coming close to touching me, and I launch out a wave that takes down hundreds of men.

  The Somage are on my right, and I slide in through the fight, snapping necks and limbs in my search for the stubborn blonde. Suddenly, the blinding lights and roaring warnings go off in unison, and everyone stumbles around.

  Kimber is suddenly at my side, and I look around at the glowing lights of the forest as all of our carefully laid traps go to work, entrapping hundreds of my brother’s men. She did it.

  “You look a little pale,” she says, smirking at me.

  Rolling my eyes, I grab her hand, and we fight through t
he mess that escaped the traps. The Somage and the queen’s men can handle them.

  “Drackus!” Kimber yells just as she watches the man who raised her fall to the ground.

  He doesn’t get up, and my eyes go wide just as Calypso screams and meets the same fate.

  Gavin stands with his hand still around Ella’s throat, because he hasn’t had to move. He’s crushing everyone without so much as having to blink. He’s a hell of a lot stronger than I thought.

  Kimber dives to Calypso’s side while Kane and Alyssa remain trapped. Damn Drackus.

  “Where are my weapons?” Gavin demands.

  He squeezes his hand around Ella’s throat, and she whimpers. He forces her to stare at the trap where Kane and Alyssa are, making them see their daughter’s face as it contorts in pain.

  Drackus is still breathing, Calypso, too.

  “Looks like you’re outnumbered, Gavin.”

  Gavin’s eyes widen when he sees the numerous traps holding back his men, and he glares at me in disbelief. “That’s not possible. I spelled this place for trap crystals and there weren’t any!”

  Smirking, I look around and motion to all the traps in place as I kick over the crystal that breaks the trap holding Alyssa and Kane. His jaw tenses as he carries her unconscious body out to stand beside me.

  Then, the illusion of the forest drops, revealing that we’re truly in the middle of a vast, bare field that stretches for miles and miles. The paved road is revealed to be a dusty dirt road drives through the middle of the crops, and Gavin looks under his feet in disbelief as the fake asphalt fades from sight. On every side is another trap that is full of his men.

  “You’d have to be able to check the actual land to find crystals,” I say with a grin that tells him I’ve just made fucking checkmate.

  He looks around in disbelief. “Woodland spell? That’s impossible. Magic isn’t strong enough for illusions that massive anymore. It shouldn’t allow illusions at all.”

  No. No it’s not. “I’m stronger than you think,” I lie, taking credit for someone else’s wonder.

  Gavin’s smirk returns when a powerful surge of energy comes out of Kane, and then he laughs while we watch the power display visible ripples up the side of an invisible field around him.

  “Did you honestly think I would come out here and expose myself without any line of defense?” he chides. “And don’t forget I still have your princess.” For good measure, he grips her throat tighter, making her cry out in pain.

  I figured as much.

  “You always were a stickler for detail,” I tell him, grinning down at the shackles that are binding her. “You realize those are just for a creature god or goddess, right?”

  He rolls his eyes. “That’s all I need.”

  “It would be,” I drawl. “If you had a creature goddess.”

  Kane lowering Alyssa to the ground beside Drackus draws my attention. He’s about to kill Gavin before I can.

  The confusion spreads across Gavin’s face until the real Ella walks up from behind me. “Sorry it took so long. I was a little busy adjusting traps and taking out strays after Grandfather showed up and blew our plan all to hell.”

  Gavin looks down at the false Ella he has in his grasp just as she starts laughing and vaporizes out of his hold. Sadie appears at my side, joining us on looking in as she drops her Ella mask. Gavin grinds his jaw.

  “She shouldn’t be able to change her appearance like that,” he growls, then he looks around, confused.

  “We thought the same thing once upon a time.”

  He struggles as Kane’s hands begin to glow with powerful, deadly orbs.

  “What’s wrong, brother,” I mock. “Wondering why you can’t dematerialize? Oh, that’s because you’re on heavily spelled ground. It allows you to use magic, but it holds you to the breathing plane. You have about a mile where you can walk. I know you well, brother. The trap was designed to let Sadie out, but not you.”

  Gavin looks as though he could bite through an ogre right now. The upper hand feels damn good.

  “Go ahead and make your shot,” I taunt. “But I’ll deflect it, Kane will deflect it, Ella will deflect it… You get the idea.”

  He walks forward, as far as the spelled ground will allow, and in true Gavin fashion, smiles in the face of defeat while bowing toward us. As he straightens back up, he meets my eyes.

  “You did it brother. You outwitted me. Go ahead and kill me now. You know you want to.”

  I don’t want to, but he’s too dark and sadistic to let live.

  To push me forward, I think of Morgana and how he has forced her to endure his merciless quest for all these centuries. I think of the slave rings and the people he has stolen from their homes. I think of Karma and the torture she suffered at his hands. Then I think of Kimber… The thought of Kimber begging and crying for mercy he would never grant, and that’s all I need to find my resolve.

  “Gladly,” I growl.

  “Excellent decision,” Kane hisses at my side.

  Gavin lowers his shield that keeps himself safe, accepting his fate, and we both launch our orbs at him with all the energy we have in us. Gavin closes his eyes, but just before the orbs reach him, they deflect, splitting around him and crashing into the ground.

  Gavin’s eyes pop open in surprise, proving he didn’t just do that, and Ella walks up to shove him over with one hard gust of power that steals his breath.

  “Ella, what the hell?” Kane demands.

  Gavin grunts as he tries to stand, and Kimber walks up to step in front of my brother.

  “You’re too fucking close!” I yell at her, but she ignores me.

  “Actually, I’m right where I need to be. He can’t touch me because he’s in the devil’s eye.”

  “The devil’s eye is a myth,” Gavin finally says. “No witch or warlock can use it. You’re fucking up, pretty girl.”

  He smirks before lunging, only to find himself gasping for air and staggering backwards.

  “You’re right,” she says, grinning at him. “No witch or warlock can use it. But that’s because the devil’s eye is a gate.” Everyone exchanges looks of confusion, and Gavin’s features change to realization just as Kimber adds, “And I happen to be a damn good gatekeeper.”

  Then she looks over her shoulder at me as I curse.

  “Move,” I tell her, because she’s standing right in front of him, making it impossible for us to take a shot. She’d probably jump in front of a damn orb.

  “You’ve never had anyone choose you, Gage. No one has ever looked at what was best for you. That’s changing right now.”

  My brow furrows in confusion just as she kneels to the ground, and Gavin lets a small smile curl up as the devil’s trap becomes visible, glowing brightly from the ground as fire surrounds my brother. It burns whiter and whiter until it’s almost blinding to look at.

  “Clever girl,” my brother’s voice says just before he disappears.

  “Where’d he go, Kimber?” I demand.

  She looks around at all the men in traps, and then she meets my eyes again. “I’ll tell you when it’s safe.”

  I grab her by the arm and jerk her to me, putting my face level with hers. “Look around, Kimber. Look at this. Look at your family who are hurt and out here fighting because of him. Now tell me there’s good in him.”

  She moves her eyes over to Ella whose eyes are the creature goddess silver. “There’s good in him,” Ella says in place of Kimber, smirking. “Kimber was right.”

  Groaning, Kane steps back. His eyes never lit up, because like me, he didn’t have to search my brother to see the pure depth of depravity he possesses.

  “Then he knows how to trick a creature goddess,” I explain. “Considering he has had two to study for centuries, he probably knows every trick.”

  I turn my gaze back to Kimber, but she just stares back at me with her stubborn defiance. “I love you, and I’m not going to let you do something that will destroy you when I’m proven righ
t. Let’s get out of here.”

  She moves over, and Dray swoops in to heal the fallen.

  “Where the hell have you been?” Dice demands.

  Holy fucking hell. Dice is covered in blood, but it’s not his own. He really can use a sword.

  “Trying to heal as many as I could that suffered nearly fatal wounds,” Dray answers, letting his eyes run the length of the messy incubus. “Where the hell have you been?”

  Dice smiles proudly as Karma licks her lips. Twisted world.

  “Getting out years of repressed anger. I really like these anointed weapons,” he says, twirling his sword in his hand.

  I pull Kimber aside and lean down into her face. “You’re going to tell me where he is.”

  She jerks free and scowls at me. “Not unless you promise not to kill him.”

  My mouth opens to yell, but suddenly Drackus is there, pulling her into his arms and holding her against his chest as he fights back the urge to cry. He hasn’t seen her since she was kidnapped.

  If anyone can convince her Gavin has to die, it’ll be Drackus.

  Calypso is healed, and she goes to Alyssa’s side as Dray starts the healing process on her. I dematerialize and head down toward the hidden vehicles, rematerializing in front of Chaz’s car. He staggers out of the driver’s seat, barely able to stand, and he spits out blood.

  My eyes widen, and I go to catch him when he starts to fall.

  “Fuck,” I hiss in a breath. “What happened?”

  He laughs bitterly while coughing on his own blood, and I lower him to the ground to sit down and keep him off his feet while I help support him.

  “Keeping a forest illusion up for that long is pretty hard. Especially one that you can feel and smell as well. It drained me, but I’ll be fine in a few days. Did he buy the woodland spell thing?”

  I nod slowly, looking over him in disbelief. I didn’t realize the cost of such an illusion or I wouldn’t have asked him to do it.

  “He assumed it was the woodland spell without me even mentioning it. Chaz, man, I swear I didn’t know it would do this.”