She glares at him before flatly stating, “They killed her because they felt she was too much of a threat to keep.”
Chaz leans over the counter, propping his elbows on it, and meets her icy glower.
“And what would they have done to you? Let you go free?”
Her face falters, and a flicker of pain settles in her features. “No.”
“Why is that? Because you’re harmless? Because you’re so valuable?” he taunts. “Or is it because you’re too much of a threat to their operation because of what you can see or do?”
She swallows hard and backs away from the counter. Chaz continues, “That’s what I thought. Believe it or not, I’m not the bad guy here. You and I have something in common.”
Karma says nothing, but she’s not warming up to the harmless duster any time soon.
“Am I missing something?” Dice asks, looking between the blonde duster and the brunette demon hybrid. “Because dusters are the least threatening within our realm. They’re only light, and Chaz is squeaky clean.”
Karma says nothing while averting everyone’s eyes, and Chaz leans back up, ignoring Dice while turning back to the problem at hand.
“We loaded down my trunk with as much as we could get out of there without drawing attention,” Chaz says, redirecting the focus of the strayed group.
Just as I’m about to speak, Kimber steps up. “Good. Then we’ll use their own weapons against them. Maybe this will give us an edge instead of a disadvantage.”
“Who the hell knows how to work a sword?” Dice asks incredulously. “What immortal has ever needed to know such a thing?”
“I know how,” Ella says shrugging. “So does Kimber. Drackus has a torture chamber, and we learned to fight with the sharp objects like pros.”
That almost makes me smile and forget the dire situation at hand.
Calypso and Alyssa whip their heads around to Drackus who groans and gives Ella an are-you-fucking-kidding-me look. She shrugs innocently, working her granddaughter charm on him until he looks away.
“What?” he asks, holding his hands up. “Sometimes I have to deal with stubborn humans. The room is just for show, considering I don’t need weapons. It’s not like I actually use them.”
Calypso glares disbelievingly until Drackus turns into a sullen child and adds in a grumble, “Well, not anymore.”
My lips finally twitch, and I turn to see Thad covering his mouth with his hand. Chaz bites back a grin while winking over at Kimber, and I pull her a little closer. As bad as these weapons are for us, they’ll give her an advantage.
“I’ve been around a while,” I say, my lips still in her hair. “I’ve joined mortal wars out of boredom. I know how to slice and dice, so I’ll take them out there and work with them.”
“Ella won’t need it,” Kimber says, looking over at her sister.
“Never know,” she chirps, walking outside, and I tilt my head to look at Kimber. “See you guys in the morning for our crash course,” Ella adds over her shoulder.
Kimber shrugs a shoulder, and I tug her hand in mine, pulling her back upstairs. Dice’s voice carries as he calls after us. “I’ll be in on that too, dark boy. See you in the morning.”
Great.
Kimber doesn’t say anything all the way up the stairs, and that strikes me as curious. The second we’re inside my soundproof room with the door shut, I decide to address it, because I have a feeling I know what’s going on.
“Why don’t you want Ella working with us?”
She shrugs a shoulder again, not meeting my eyes.
“I just don’t. Drop it.”
Groaning, I stand and watch her move over to her bag.
“Is this because she looks like Alyssa? Because if you’re worried that I’m going to—”
She bursts out laughing, interrupting all I was about to say, and I tilt my head. “Get over yourself,” she says through her snickers. “I’m not jealous of you and her. And I just finished telling you I trust you. I also trust her. I don’t want her training with us because she’s stronger than me. It takes very little effort for her to kick my ass.”