Bitten Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 3)

She looks over her shoulder then back at me. “They won’t be here. Victor would have them at the secondary warehouse uptown. My great grandmother bought numerous properties in Pine Shore a long time ago.”

“Why?” I ask, leaning up closer as I curl my fingers around the bars separating us. She’s chained against the other bars, so she can’t come any closer.

“Pine Shore has always been a hot spot for paranormal activity, even though most of the paranormals aren’t even aware of it.”

Paranaormals… What will she think of me…?

“I’m not sure exactly how long ago, but at least twenty years ago or a little more, we all felt it. The day our bloodline was restored. So many generations had handed down stories that sounded like nothing more than grim fairytales and horror stories. But many of our kind believed in those stories, including my grandmother. I wasn’t a believer until the day one revealed himself to me…”

Her words break off and she clears her throat as I lean in even closer to the bars.

“When his eyes changed, something inside me started burning bright, and the light spilled over, consuming me. Somehow, I killed him before he could hurt me, but I don’t even know how I did it. After that, I moved back home just as your mother started having nightmares. Nightmares about our kind… Our world.”

“You lied. You and Mom both said you were sisters, yet Victor…”

I can’t even say what all Victor told me, because the taste of the words are too foul.

Her eyes sadden, and she nods. “I know,” she says weakly. “Your mother and I didn’t know your father was dead. We just knew he’d left. Saying we were sisters was easier than telling you the truth.”

“Mom wasn’t crazy,” I quickly point out. “And you let her rot in that asylum until she died.”

Her lips tighten, and she breathes in through her nose. “She couldn’t handle the truth, Leah. I never would have thought she was one of us, but she was. I pushed your mother into seeing the truth about who she was when she told me of her nightmares. She knew things only we could know. Her fragile mind couldn’t handle it, and she broke. She tried killing herself so many times. It drove her mad, made her too paranoid, and she eventually couldn’t separate her hallucinations from reality. One day, she swore you had glowing blue eyes, and she tried to kill you. She couldn’t see as I can, so I knew it was in her head and not real.”

I don’t remember any of that…

Her eyes narrow on mine. “Maybe she was just seeing the future.”

I swallow hard, picking up on what she’s insinuating.

“Be glad they can’t see it,” she goes on, not looking the least bit threatened by me, even though she apparently knows the truth.

“Victor said he killed my father.”

She nods slowly. “Victor is insane, but he couldn’t have killed your father. He just takes credit when he can. However, I know your father is dead. He never would have left me with Victor otherwise.

“I never knew how insane Victor is until it was too late. He taunts me with how naïve I was to trust him, and the only reason I’m alive is because of all the properties in my name. I refuse to sign them over, no matter what he does to me. You’d be surprised how valuable ownership is in this life. It’s the anchor to survival.”

“Why did he lock you up?”

“Because I turned on him when I figured out who he really is. Most of them are terrified of him, but no one will turn on him. This is what happens when you do.”

My chains rattle, and I curse when they refuse to break. I thought this part would be easier. Damn it!

“Why are they terrified? Because he’s crazy? They outnumber him,” I growl.

Freaking cowards.

“Victor’s family have been archivists for centuries,” she says on a sigh. “He never went to school, just like all of his family before him. He knows every trick and truth about this world. He’s also the only one who knows how to forge anointed weapons. That alone makes him indispensable. Which is why he hoards the coveted information and refuses to share. It’s his power chip, and it keeps him in charge. Leah, he knows more about the paranormals than they know about themselves.”

That’s sure as hell not comforting.

A door in the distance slams, and a few more lights flick on. Heavy footfalls taunt the silence, echoing and resounding like an executioner’s foreboding warning. As more lights come on, I take in the fact there are several cells around us. What the hell is this place?

As a silhouette slowly comes into view, my heart hammers in my chest. Victor leads five men into our little prison, and his lips twist into a scary grin when he sees me.

“Glad to see you two have reunited,” he says coldly. “You’ll have a little while longer to speak.”

He turns and heads into a cell in the corner, and my heart sinks to my toes when he picks up a bucket of water and throws it on a limp body that is shackled to the floor. I hadn’t even noticed her when I came in.