Bitten Beauty (Book 3 Of the Deadly Beauties Live On)

by C. M. Owens

  “It wasn’t fucking her,” I growl, glaring at the stupid bastard I wish I could kill.

  “Her blood is their blood. Nature will have her after us eventually,” Slade states dismissively.

  Kimber’s eyes narrow. “And Ella? What the hell did she do to deserve this?”

  Slade’s smile falters, and his shoulders tense just barely, but just as quickly he schools his features again.

  “I guess the princess shouldn’t have been playing hostess to the Aquarius. Collateral damage happens when people side with the enemy. Remember that.”

  He disappears before we can argue, and Kane curses before slamming his fist into the wall again. Kane may be stronger, but I’m a freak. I busted through Gage’s spell once. Maybe…

  My fist slams into the wall, but nothing happens. Chaz is pounding away, and hell, I think he might come closer to making a dent before anyone else.

  Just as I’m about to hit the wall another time, panic rises and strangles me. Again, it’s not mine. It’s hers.

  She’s alive.

  My fist slams into the wall so hard it shatters like glass, and I ignore the gasps as I follow the suffocating pain and terror she’s projecting.

  Someone is going to fucking die.

  Chapter 14

  LEAH

  “We were wrong about her,” Victor growls at Aunt Masie. “She would have already shown herself by now. Eighteen. All the rest did at eighteen.”

  I don’t know what they’re talking about, and I don’t care. I’ve learned over the past eight years that Victor Montgomery is certifiably crazy. Aunt Masie should have cut ties with him years ago.

  “Just tell her. If nothing else, she can help us.”

  “No!” Aunt Masie barks. “She’s my niece. I decide. You saw what it did to… You saw. I won’t let it do that to her.”

  By now, I’ve gotten so used to their random, cryptic conversations that I can’t even find curiosity for it anymore. They don’t notice me sitting in the barn’s loft as they look toward my window in the house, thinking I’m asleep. I couldn’t sleep.

  I start college tomorrow, and I’m worried everyone there will hate me as much as this place has hated me.

  “Fine!” Victor barks. “Call me if anything changes. I mean anything, Masie. We need more.”

  He walks away, and Aunt Masie grips the side of the barn, blowing out a breath like the air in her lungs is just too heavy and she needs the extra energy to stand.

  Tomorrow, she’ll be free of me, which means no more arguing with Victor, since they always seem to argue in vague about me. Tomorrow I’ll be free from this small, cruel town.

  Tomorrow, my life changes.

  Tomorrow, life will be better. It has to be. It sure as hell can’t be worse.

  The chains on my wrists rattle as I try to stand up, and a small cry of pain escapes me when I realize both of my ankles are broken. There’s no way I can stand. What did they do to me?

  Too much pain almost makes me sick. Blood is in my mouth, and I feel it dripping from the top of my head. Before I passed out, I remember suffocating. However, I don’t remember getting broken.

  Right now, I almost feel drunk and numb, as though someone has drugged me.

  “You have to go slower or she’ll die too soon,” I hear a voice hiss.

  “Shut up, Xavier. It’s not the first time I’ve fed, you stupid fuck.”

  “You almost killed the other one. Her bones broke. We have to drain every last drop of magic from them, or it won’t be enough.”

  My vision is still blurry, but I finally manage to make out the images across the room. Ella is on a table, and she’s unconscious. Her body is bound and strung out. Her clothes are ripped and tattered, most likely from the wreck. And they’re sucking something from her mouth… A white energy-type thing.

  It’s similar to what I saw Kya do, but different at the same time.

  “It’s my turn, Duncan,” the one called Xavier hisses.

  Duncan snarls and growls, acting like a dog protecting a prime piece of meat. Ella looks pale and weak. Her arm looks broken, and I watch in horror as he starts draining her again. Something snaps, and I watch as her hand curls back, bones crunching and breaking.

  “You’re doing it too fast!” Xavier barks again.

  Something loud crashes, and my head whips over just as a door flies off its hinges. My heart jumps with hope, only to crash back down to my toes when I see who steps in.

  “Slade,” they both hiss in unison, stepping in front of Ella like they’re trying to hide her.

  Slade’s face is an impassive mask, but I can see the anger in his silver eyes. His scars tell the tale of a lot of agony, but he’s as cold as a killer instead of timid like a victim.

  “I believe I specifically told you to only take the Aquarius,” he says mildly, acting disinterested in the scene in front of him.

  They glance over their shoulders then look back at him. Their dark hair is buzzed to be almost bald, and they look sickly instead of alluring like the rest of the immortals I’ve seen.

  “We needed more power. They took too much from us, starved us for too long, Slade. The one just wasn’t enough. But this one…” Duncan’s voice trails off as he turns to face Ella, and his eyes look on her with awe. “She’s enough. The two of them will restore us completely.”

  Slade’s jaw ticks when his eyes finally get to see Ella’s bruised and broken appearance. A flicker of fury is pronounced when his eyes narrow to slits.

  “So you disobeyed me?” he asks calmly, but there’s a volatile eruption on the brink.

  “She was with the Aquarius,” Duncan seethes. “She’s too strong to ignore. I can taste her power. Feel it. Need it. What do you fucking care about one pampered immortal? We spent centuries next to each other until they moved the demon girl beside you. You know how they starved us. We need this.”

  Slade relaxes his features again, as though he’s doing all he can not to show any emotion whatsoever. “You can’t have her.”

  They both tense, and their eyes glow a dangerously weird black and red color mixed with something else.

  “You don’t want to make us use our power on you. You know the two of us combined are too much. They taught us a lot of things.”

  Slade smirks then he throws his hand out. A bloodcurdling scream erupts into the air as Duncan drops to the floor, and his scream slowly fades into a garble as blood rushes from his eyes, nose, and mouth.

  “That’s why I’ll only deal with one,” Slade says coldly, letting his eyes turn toward Xavier, who swallows hard while paling.

  “You killed him. He was your friend,” Xavier whispers, taking a shaky step back.

  “He pissed me off. If I wanted the princess dead, I’d have killed her myself. Understood?”

  Xavier nods his head emphatically, and Slade kicks the dead body of his friend out of the way as he breaks open the chains on Ella’s hands.

  “How did you break them?” Xavier gasps. “They’re warded against creature gods.”

  “You learned things inside the cages.” Slade says, moving to the chains on her ankles. “I’ve learned things since then. I won’t be bound again.”

  His eyes flick to Ella’s face, and his look hardens again.

  “If I didn’t need you in the future, I’d fucking kill you right now,” he growls, looking over his shoulder at Xavier.

  Xavier swallows hard again, and he takes another step back.

  “Red jinn. Red jinn,” Ella hoarsely murmurs, coughing on her own blood, but then she passes back out.

  Slade breaks the final chain that’s around her waist, and he lifts her with care meant for someone special. He cradles her against his chest, holding her to him as his eyes narrow to slits on me.

  “This is your fault.”

  “I didn’t do anything. This is your fault!” The words fly out of me, and the tears I wish I could find refuse to fall. I’m about to die and I can’t even cry about it.

  He cracks
his neck to the side, and he looks back at Xavier. “This never happened. Do you understand? No one will ever find out I came for her.”

  “Why did you?” the red jinn asks, but the he ducks as though he’s afraid of the backlash from that question.

  “It’s not what you’re thinking. I don’t give a fuck about her. Understand?”

  They just stare at each other, because everything he’s doing contradicts his words. Even the way he holds her betrays what he says.

  “Do you fucking understand?” he barks again.

  Xavier nods quickly, seeming more like a bobble-head doll than a scary killer now.

  “Finish draining the other one and get lost. I’ll find you when I need you. Next time I tell you not to fucking touch someone, you do as I say. Or you’ll end up like him.”

  He uses his head to motion toward Duncan’s lifeless body, and Xavier tightens his lips. It looks like he’s on the verge of tears, meaning Duncan was someone precious to him, and Slade just murdered him in front of his eyes.

  For Ella.

  To save her.

  Bitterness and envy rises before hopelessness settles on my chest. No one is coming to save me. Marilyn is the only person who cares about me, and she thinks I’m taking a long vacation.

  Ella’s non-broken hand runs up his chest, weakly clutching his shirt, but it’s a subconscious move because she’s still out of it. Her broken hand dangles loosely, and her blood continues to pour.

  He holds her tighter and disappears from sight, and I watch in horror as Xavier loses it.

  Curses spew from his mouth and he rips the table up and tosses it across the room. The metal bows and whines before crashing to the ground, taking several random things with it.

  I can’t tell where we are. It looks like a cellar or dungeon or something. There’s only one doorway, and the chains on my wrists and legs are holding me to a wall.

  Sobs wrack his body as he drops to Duncan’s side, stroking his cheek with affection. They spent centuries trapped together, and he just watched him die. At the hands of a friend.

  As twisted as this all is, I actually feel some sympathy for him.

  Until those teary eyes meet mine and a cold killer emerges within their depths again.

  Shit.

  “You,” he snarls.

  I don’t even know why he’s freaking pissed at me. I’m chained to a damn wall after being kidnapped. By him.

  He stalks toward me, and I prepare myself for the worst. Something explodes suddenly, and I scream as stone dust rains down on the room and creates a hazy fog.

  What now?

  Xavier whirls around, but he’s slammed into the wall beside me before I can see whatever is crashing the party this time. My heart hits my throat when I see the familiar blue eyes attached to a dangerously pissed face as Zee stares down Xavier.

  A rush of red power fills the room, and Zee staggers, but he throws his arm out and red streaks with blue streaks sail toward the red jinn. Xavier hits the ground hard, and Zee stalks over, seeming unaffected by the red power that knocked Ella, Kimber, and me out earlier.

  “Who the fuck do you think you are?” Xavier snaps, rushing toward Zee to tackle him, but Zee spins and slams the guy’s head into the wall. Rubble falls, and Zee tosses him to the other side of the room.

  Xavier crashes into that wall, tearing up more of the stone foundation. The ceiling cracks in warning, letting them know the fight will destroy everything soon.

  A red puff of power slams against Zee, and he’s launched backwards, but he digs up the concrete floor with his feet, planting himself firmly in place and pushing back against the force. With a roar, he pushes out more power, and electric streaks slam into Xavier with enough force to drive him up the wall.

  Zee holds on, pushing more and more volts of power out like he’s a limitless force of nature. Xavier cries out before gargling on his own blood, and his eyes dim to black pits before Zee releases his hold.

  Xavier’s body crashes to the ground with a thud, and Zee turns all of his attention on me. As lethal and dangerous as he looks, I’ve never felt so relieved and safe in all my life.

  When his eyes drop to my broken ankles, more fury clouds his eyes. He curses before he comes over and rips the chains out of the walls that are securing me in place.

  His hand brushes my cheek, and he looks me in the eyes, as though he’s searching for something. This would be a really great moment to cry.

  “Thank you,” I whisper hoarsely.

  His eyes soften, and he bends low to tear off the chain that is on my right ankle. Pain shoots up my leg from the jarring motion, and I cry out without meaning to.

  “Sorry,” he soothes, kissing my cheek. “I’m so, so sorry.”

  I lean into him, holding onto his shoulders with my still-chained hands. “Don’t be. Just get them off. I’m okay.”

  “Damn it,” I hear someone hiss, looking around the room. “You were supposed to fucking wait on my order.”

  “Not now, Kane,” Zee growls. “Just find Ella.”

  Zee rips off the next chain on my ankle, and I bite back the scream that wants to escape me. My eyes water, but still no tears fall.

  The ones on my wrists don’t hurt as bad when he rips them free, and he snaps off the one on my middle like it’s a twig instead of four inches of metal.

  “She’s not here!” Kimber shouts, then suddenly Chaz is in my face, pushing Zee aside.

  “Where is Ella?” he demands, glaring at me like this is my fault.

  Zee slams his fist into Chaz’s face, and Chaz staggers back, looking ready for a fight.

  “Get the fuck away from her,” Zee warns, then bends to pick me up.

  “I’m just looking for Ella, you dick. Where is she?”

  His eyes fall on me again, waiting impatiently, but I’m too busy trying not to scream in agony when my ankles clank together from the force of being scooped up.

  Zee holds me to him, kissing my forehead, and I weakly wrap my arms around him, seeking more safety in his touch, since Chaz looks like he wants me dead now.

  “Slade,” I whisper, tensing as I prepare for an outburst. They’ll blame me. Just like Slade did. Just like that other one did.

  They’re monsters and I’m a monster killer. Yet they’re the ones hunting me… hurting me… trying to destroy me for who I am.

  Zee kisses my head again, and I relax somewhat, but Kane and Chaz both start shouting, saying things too fast and too loud for me to even understand.

  “It’s not your fault. It’s mine,” Zee whispers softly. “I sent you away and sent her with you. I didn’t think Slade would have the balls to do something like this.”

  “He was… rescuing her,” I manage to say, even though it’s barely a hoarse whisper.

  Silence descends, and all eyes turn toward me. Zee’s grip tightens, and he takes a step back, as though he’s ready to get us both out of the lion’s den if necessary.

  “We’re not going to fucking hurt her, Zee. You know I wouldn’t do that to you,” Kane snaps, looking wounded as he glares at Zee. “I’m just looking for my daughter.”

  I swallow a little easier, but Zee still clings to me like he’s not in any hurry to loosen his grip.

  Kane turns his gaze on me, looking a little less scary and a lot more like a terrified father, even though he barely looks like he’s in his twenties.

  “Where did he take her?”

  I shake my head. “I don’t know. He just disappeared. He… He killed that one, and they were friends.” Weakly, I point to Duncan’s dead body, and they all study it.

  “Slade killed him when they were paired together?” Chaz asks randomly.

  I just nod.

  “He’s a lot fucking stronger than I thought,” he groans.

  “Why?” Kimber asks, investigating the body as though she’s looking for clues.

  “Because two red jinn strong enough to knock out three powerful creatures? They shouldn’t have been stopped so easily. Especiall
y since it looks like they were already feeding off them. A pairing makes them stronger, almost invincible. Killing a solo red jinn is already hard as fuck to do. Pair them? Things change.”

  All eyes turn to Zee. He killed a solo red jinn and barely broke a sweat.

  “Where would Slade take Ella?” Kane asks aloud, running his hand through his hair. “What the hell does he want with her?”

  I’m not sure if it’s smart to talk or not, but I can’t help myself. “He was really protective of her. He didn’t want anyone knowing he’d saved her. I honestly think he won’t hurt her.”

  Yeah… Should have kept my mouth shut.

  Several pairs of different colored eyes meet mine, and Zee’s hold tightens again.

  “Protective? You call this protective?” Kane asks in disbelief.

  “He killed a man he called a friend because they didn’t want to let her go,” I explain. “They were apparently enslaved together. Yet he killed him so he could save her. It’s twisted, but it’s still protective.”

  No one says anything, but everyone looks at Kane. “Over my dead fucking body,” he growls.

  I’m not sure what that means, but he disappears from the room, and everyone follows suit.

  Zee stays with me, walking slowly toward the door instead of vanishing from sight.

  “What’re we doing?” I ask, confused.

  “I’m not risking dematerializing with you. You’re very mortal and weak right now. We can walk back.”

  “But what about Ella? Don’t they need your help?”

  His lips brush my forehead again as we emerge from the dusty room and into the night air.

  “Ella has everyone else. I’ll be there when they need me. Right now, I’m all you have, and I’ll be damned if I just let you suffer alone. I’ll call a friend to come heal you.”

  I don’t know what that means, but I really do wish those tears would come right now. I want to hide inside of him and absorb all he has to offer.