Dark Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 1)

He looks around, and he slinks back to check the windows.

“Yeah,” he says, and Karma’s hands fist. “I’m only giving you her address because of these,” he says, pointing to the marks on her neck. “And because she really does look just like you, only she has longer hair.”

Tears start spilling from Karma’s eyes and a sob racks her body. “She’s alive,” she says while weeping.

The guy frowns while handing her a tissue. “Yeah. She’s staying just down the road. Most of them haven’t made it far yet. They’re all searching for others that they’ve been missing for a while—a lot of them were split up in the rings. She found a deserted cabin in the woods shortly after breaking free, and she gave me her address in case another needed a place to crash.”

Karma nods, and she grips my hand tightly for support. He hands her a piece of paper with the location on it, and she clutches it with an iron grip. “Thank you,” she whispers hoarsely.

I don’t say anything, but I nod toward him. He doesn’t acknowledge me, so we leave, and Karma holds my hand as tight as she can all the way outside.

Dice is laughing while talking to Chaz. He turns and sees us, and for the first time ever, I see true emotion on his face as he swiftly comes to tug Karma into his arms. “What the hell?” he asks softly, running his hand up and down her back in a soothing motion.

It hurts to see that, since even the incubus is capable of feeling love. Gage shut me out, and Dice is comforting a girl that he truly does love. This world really is fucked up.

“She’s alive,” I hear Karma whisper.

That reminds me that even though I’ve lost Gage, something good has come of all this. Now we just have to make sure it stays good.

“I need to go meet up with Kane and Alyssa while you go after Karma’s sister,” Chaz says, putting his phone away.

Karma looks over at him, then nods as though they’re sharing a silent conversation. Chaz looks around, making sure no one can see him, and then he vanishes, leaving behind a gold trail, and I move to the driver’s seat. It’s time to save Gage.

***

Karma’s hand trembles as she knocks on the door. We stand there and wait for several long minutes, but then I hear Thad curse before jerking Karma back and shoving me to the ground as five arrows pound into the door.

“Roll out the fucking welcome mat,” Dice says dryly, looking around for the archer.

“What the hell do you want?” a child’s voice says from behind us, and Dice yelps before cursing.

I turn to see it’s a doll instead of a child, and Karma moves to be in front of us. “We’re here to find my sister.”

The doll steps back, and her glassy eyes scroll up and down Karma with recognition, but then it sighs. “You shouldn’t have come here. It’s not safe. Not yet. You need to go.”

Karma starts crying again, and says, “Kya? Please tell me that’s you.”

The doll drops to the porch, lifeless, and then the door swings open as a girl steps out. There’s no doubt she’s Karma’s sister, but her hair is much longer, almost swiping her waist, and her eyes are far more jaded.

Dice is forced to support Karma when her knees weaken, and Kya’s eyes soften as she stares at her sister. “Come in,” she says, looking around.

Ella appears on the porch, and Kya gasps before launching a streak of red at her. Ella barely dodges it, but before Kya can strike again, Dice yells, “She’s with us!”

Kya studies her for a minute, and then it seems as though recognition hits. “You’re the queen’s daughter, aren’t you?”

“You know about her?” Thad asks curiously.

Kya turns to him and moves aside for us to enter. “Well, I’m not up to date on everything yet, but I’m a fast learner. We heard rumors in the prisons. Come in. I don’t like feeling exposed.”

We all filter in, but Ella grabs my wrist and tugs me backwards to whisper, “The cabin I woke up in… This is it.”

That strikes me as curious, but she shakes her head, telling me not to say anything. Did Kya save her? No. If she had, she would have recognized her instantly.

“I tried texting you back after you sent this address,” she whispers.

“I left my phone back at the hotel. We checked in after we left Gage’s house. You sure this is the same place?”

She looks around, studying the old cabin. “Positive.”