Lost Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 4)

If he dies, so does Slade. If Slade dies, our strongest link here becomes extinguished, along with our best chances of survival.

My eyes move through the throngs of armored soldiers fighting outside the barrier, and I spot Slade.

A murderous glare is in his eyes as he stares at his twin. With one hand, he forces out enough power to blow back at least fifty of their eyeless monsters.

One by one, gray-skinned beasts start appearing in a circle around Hannah as she moves toward the center. She jerks Alton’s head back by his hair, but he doesn’t so much as make a sound. His eyes open though, and he looks around emotionlessly at all the chaos.

All the fight in Slade’s eyes is absent from this broken man with nothing but hopelessness in his vacant gaze.

I spin, slamming my hand into the barrier, trying to absorb any and all energy I can from it. The firsts are appearing, and I refuse to look at the lycan that stole Amy’s blood, life, and energy.

Sierra screams for Amy, still in denial that our friend is lost. Lost to Hannah. Lost for no fucking reason.

The barrier burns against my hand, and I press harder, pushing all I have into it to try and take it down.

Slade slams into it with launch after launch of power, barely acknowledging the armored goons whose numbers are starting to dwindle to a more manageable amount.

Dice slams a sword through the throat of one he’s wrangled to the ground, the mask gone to expose the charred skin and mangled face. It’s almost disgusting to look at.

It even bleeds acid, the black ooze dripping and burning the grass beneath it. Gage joins my side, punching the barrier in time with Slade.

“Drain it!” Kya yells at me, flipping backwards over one of the charging harbingers. She slams her dagger through the weak spot in the back, where there’s no armor between the shoulders and neck.

She rips the dagger out and spins, tripping up another one. Any other time she’d be one hell of a distraction, but the circle of firsts has formed, Alton is up there to play ground wire, and something is starting to happen.

The wind rushes and whines, whipping through the trees and whistling ominously. The sky grows darker, and thunder crackles as lightning starts to streak across the sky, warning us something unnatural is coming.

Hannah is chanting loudly, her hand out as her hood gets blown back. Wind can penetrate the barrier, which means all natural things probably can.

Desperate, I whirl by Kya, taking out two of the half-armored beasts behind her on my way, burning them enough to bring them to the ground. Then I turn and slam my fist into a giant oak tree, hearing the satisfying sound of it crunch. The crack, crack, crack sound, has me yelling at everyone.

“Incoming!”

Gage doesn’t move, and it lands on him, shattering around him as he stumbles away. Kimber grabs him and tugs him back, just as a black sword swings at his head.

The tree lands right on the middle of the circle Hannah has created, knocking down three of her firsts so that they’re viciously snarling and snapping at each other, no longer lost in the trance they were moments ago.

“You think you can stop me? With a bloody tree?!” She laughs just as a hole appears in the air beside her, and my stomach sinks.

“No!” Hannah shouts, trying to shove the tree out of the way as Slade continues to hammer his fist into the barrier.

A glass-splitting sound rides up the dome-like barrier in a branching pattern. Hannah struggles to do something, magic flowing from her body to the ever-growing hole that is swirling black.

It shifts to suddenly being glaringly bright, and she screams again, panicking like something is wrong. At the last minute, she cuts her eyes at me, and she mouths something that probably isn’t too favorable.

A loud, piercing scream of fury rattles the air, ripping from her throat as she glares at the sky. Then she disappears, taking all the firsts with her, but leaving her attackers as the barrier falls free. Alton is missing, though I don’t know where he went.

Did he get free? She didn’t have him when she left.

Slade stumbles forward, rushing toward the portal that is still growing larger and larger. I have no idea what she was pissed about if the fucking thing is open... Unless it’s the wrong one.

Just as Slade reaches it, his eyes widen, he curses, and he vanishes out of the way as dark shadows race from the portal. They move like ominous dark clouds caught up in a windy sky, racing away with an audible hum that grows louder and louder.

“How do we shut it off?!” I yell to Slade.

“What the fuck is coming out of there?!” Gage calls out over the roaring wind and steady hum, all of us staggering against the beat of the harsh wind.

Ella suddenly appears, and she slams her fist into the ground. A loud shock radiates through the air, and she does it again and again.