Dark Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 1)

“That’s why you’re so fascinated with birds—the trust. The way they go with the shift seamlessly.”

He smirks before nodding. Leaning down, I kiss him softly.

“I have meaning behind everything,” he says, slipping his hands into my hair. “Even if you don’t know what it is. Trust.”

I start to say something else, when his phone rings beside us. I notice it on the nightstand right before it shoots over to his hand. That really is cool. Ella rarely uses her powers for personal use.

“What?” he asks, slipping his hand under my towel.

“Get down here,” Chaz says over the phone. “We have a problem.”

Gage’s head thuds against the bed, and he screws his eyes shut. “Always a problem,” he mumbles before hanging up.

I start to get up, when he blurs us out of the bed. It takes less than a second before we’re heading out the door. I start to protest because I need clothes, but when we reach the top step, my clothes suddenly appear on my body and the towel is missing.

“Okay,” I say to myself. “A little impressed.”

He looks over his shoulder and winks at me, and I clutch his hand as we jog down the stairs. Everyone is assembled downstairs in the kitchen when we arrive, and Kane groans when he sees our wet hair and joined hands. Ella laughs at him, but smothers it with her hand when he glares over at her.

Alyssa elbows him in the ribs, and he pouts lightly before putting his arms around her and pulling her back to his front. Deke and Sierra are next to them, wrapped up in each other as always. Amy and her night stalker elected to go into town to gather supplies.

“What’s going on?” Gage asks them.

“No clue,” Alyssa says, hopping up to sit on the bar. Kane moves in closer, wrapping his arms back around her waist, just as Chaz and Zee walk through the door.

Karma walks in with Dice, her eyes warily raking over everyone, and Drackus comes in with Calypso at about the same time.

“You’re worrying me,” Thad says from the corner, going over to drop his arm around Ella’s shoulders.

“You should be worried,” Chaz says while tossing a knife down in front of us.

“About a knife?” Dice asks, half laughing. “Mortal weapons are useless on us.”

I stare down at the unremarkable blade. It’s silver, nothing special. A small symbol rests on the otherwise plain handle, but it’s too small for me to see what it is.

“It’s an anointed weapon,” Chaz says, his lips thinning.

I’m not naïve. I’m actually very well versed on our world, but I have no idea what the hell they’re talking about.

“Anointed weapon?” Ella asks, clearly confused.

“That’s what I said,” Zee says.

“Yeah… I’m old as fuck, and I’m lost on this one, too,” Dice adds.

Drackus, however, looks pale. So does Calypso. And Gage looks like he isn’t too happy either. What the hell is an anointed weapon, and why is a room full of immortals discussing a knife?

Chapter 16

GAGE

As if there isn’t enough to fucking worry about. But it’s true. Staring at the symbol on the knife in front of me, I know it’s true. I can feel the power the blade holds from here.

“Where’d you get this?” I ask Chaz, turning the handle on the blade to see if I can learn what clan this one belongs to. Surely they haven’t all crossed through.

“Found it when we went to scout the ring closest to us. It’s just two planes over, and in the same sort of town, only it’s an Arctic plane and there aren’t exactly locals running around.”

“Freaky plane,” Zee grumbles. “And it’s weird to let a duster disassemble your body and drag you through the planes. Just thought I’d throw that out there.”