Dark Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 1)

She laughs while shaking her head. “Don’t be ridiculous. I can just feel when people are staring at me, and I can usually figure out why they’re staring. After spending years with eyes on you for various reasons, you grow adept at deciphering stares in order to stay alive. And untouched.”

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.