Dark Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 1)

Dice: We’re done playing house with a glitter farter. Where the hell are you? By the way, I won’t need to feed off lust for at least a month. Kimber’s aura reeks of it. Fuck her before I pop. #getlaidbeforeIdieofovereating

Rolling my eyes, I put my phone back in my pocket as Thad comes out of the gas station with several bags of junk food. We’re going to be living in random places until the party. Maybe then we’ll be able to start attacking these different prisons and freeing the ones who have been stuck in the slave rings.

“You know this isn’t going to be easy, don’t you?” he asks me as he unloads his bags into my back seat.

“What? Taking down a bunch of blood thirsty slave ring owners?”

He snorts while shaking his head.

“I mean keeping it secret from the armies what we’re doing. We’ll have to collect phones the second we start leading. We’ll also have to do bug sweeps and inspect for any witches or warlocks who have the ability

to send messages without a phone. Alyssa and Kane are already working on assembling our teams. You and I are going to storm the big bitch. It’s the one this night stalker says is the biggest of the ring so far. But it’s a little odd he was so eager to help us out with information.”

My lips twitch before I can stop them, and the damn changer notices.

“You used some of your juice on him, didn’t you?”

I laugh while leaning back. “He wasn’t a victim. He was one of the guards. I don’t have any qualms over it. And don’t worry about him talking. Right now he thinks he lied to us, because he heard something very different from what he was saying. And by the time the spell wears off, he’ll be dead. Zee and Deke are hitting him at nightfall. His coven of friends won’t be there, and he’ll think he’s tired and needs to rest. Which leaves him all alone.”

Thad shakes his head, grinning as he pops open one of the bags of chips. “It’d be nice if you shared that spell. A lot of people could benefit from it in interrogations.”

“Alyssa, Drackus, and Calypso.”

He tilts his head as I drive us toward the new safe house.

“What about them?”

“I’ve shared it with them. They’re the only ones I know that are strong enough to pull it off. If it’s used wrong, it could kill the witch/warlock or the intended target. But the promise of death wouldn’t be enough to deter the weaker ones from trying it anyway. Their deaths would be in vain, and I have more than enough blood on my hands to last a life time.”

He nods knowingly. That’s one reason I can tolerate him. Thad’s past is just as shady and dark as mine. We know both sides of the line, and in some fucked up way, it gives us a better understanding of each other. Even though neither of us know the details about each other’s dark periods.

We ride in a comfortable silence until we get closer to the safe house, and his phone chirps. He tilts his head as he reads his text, but I barely pay him any attention.

“Why is Dice telling me he’s going to be sick if you don’t hurry up and fuck Kimber?”

There’s a genuine bite of confusion in his tone laced with humor.

“It’s Dice. He stirs shit up. You know this by now,” I lie.

I saw her aura just as clearly as he probably did. Fortunately I can mask mine from the nosy incubus, because mine was glowing just as harshly as hers. She’s driving me fucking crazy, and it doesn’t make any sense. I barely know her. Intoxicating? No. She’s just toxic. And she won’t get out of my head.

He bursts out laughing, and I turn my head to face him. “What?”

He covers his mouth to smother his snickers, then finally holds his phone up, gesturing to it as he says, “Hashtag—Gage is a pussy.”

I’m going to kill that incubus.

Thad continues laughing as we drive up to the safe house. Kimber is outside on her phone, Dice is walking out of the house, and Karma is walking in.

“Looks like they just got here,” Thad says, grinning at me like he’s in on the dirty little secret.

I don’t speak as I park behind Kimber’s car. Thad follows me as I get out, and I try—really, really try—to not look at her. But I fail miserably.

Her eyes come up to meet mine the second my gaze strays, and a smile spreads over her lips before she can banish it. She turns away from me, and I groan internally.

“Yeah. Nothing obvious going on at all,” Thad whispers, prompting me to jerk my head away from the forbidden blonde. “I swear you have a death wish.”

I just flip him off as we start into the house, but suddenly a half-demon is charging out. “There are only two bedrooms here,” she announces.