Bitten Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 3)

“I’ll keep that in mind when she’s trying to kill you,” Karma drawls, grabbing something from the cabinet while cocking an eyebrow.

Dice swallows hard, and Chaz clears his throat, covering his smile with his hand.

“My anaconda don’t want none,” Dice says robotically. “Hashtag, promise.”

Karma rolls her eyes, and Dice runs after her, flipping us both off as his girlfriend contemplates letting him become an anointed pin cushion.

Chaz starts laughing, and I glance around again to see Leah is gone. I start to go look for her, but I see a picture that draws my attention.

“Hey,” I say, grabbing it and handing it to Chaz. “This guy was hanging out in my club a lot. He liked being bitten.”

“He’s among the dead, so he’s not a suspect.”

My brow furrows. “Think they started killing anyone who they thought welcomed us?”

“Possibly. Even if they did so unwittingly. Those people in my club never had a clue they were playing a real game. They just thought it was fake fangs and real blood.”

He sorts through some more shots, tossing most away. It’s easy to rule some out because we’ve been here long enough to recognize the old-school locals who own shops, have families, permanent roots, and things like that.

Just as he starts to toss one into the “maybe” pile, I snatch it out of his hand, feeling the color drain from my face. “What?” he prompts.

“Leah!” I bark, twisting around to look for her.

She doesn’t come or answer, but I race up the stairs with Chaz on my heels. The door crashes down when I go through it instead of opening it, and I stumble into my bedroom, grabbing and opening the drawer of the nightstand on Leah’s side of the bed.

Chaz keeps talking, but I’m too busy ripping the drawer out and scattering everything in it onto the bed. The second I see what I’m looking for, I grab it, seeing the picture of Leah with her aunt, then I run back down the stairs.

Dice is downstairs when I go to get under the brighter lights to get a better look, and sure enough, I’m right.

“What?” Dice prompts, at the same time Chaz says, “The hell, Zee?”

“This. This is one of them,” I say, handing it to Chaz.

Dice looks over his shoulder, and a smug smirk spreads. “Always a fucking crazy bitch.”

“Not her,” I say, pointing to the man in the background while handing them the surveillance photo from a bakery down the street from the club. “Him.”

“Hashtag, creepy photobomber,” Dice says, shuddering for effect.

Chaz’s eyes lock with mine, and I nod slowly. “This group… They know Leah.”

“Then why the bloody hell didn’t they just get her when they knew where she was?” Dice asks, getting a little more serious.

“Because Leah didn’t change until under duress. Not until she touched the blade of an Aquarius when she needed to fight,” I tell them. “It’s impossible she never touched one before that day if she was living with hunters. She probably just didn’t realize what she was touching. I think she was activated by the survival need and the blade combined.”

I look in the living room again, still finding it empty, and squint, looking through the glass to see if she went outside for some air. She likes the lake beach when her head is hurting.

“Has she been fucking lying to us this entire time?” Dice asks, confused.

I growl at him, and he holds his hands up. “Down, Spike. Not trying to piss you off. Just looking for answers.”

“Her mother was institutionalized?” Chaz asks.

I nod. “For seeing monsters.”

His eyebrows go up, but then he looks confused again. “Aquarius blood… That makes their minds stronger. Not weaker. She wouldn’t have been so fragile as to reject the truth. She also wouldn’t have been weak enough to have been held captive.”

“Unless she wasn’t Aquarius,” Dice points out.