Unchained Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 5)

I spin, narrowly dodging a claw to the face, and slice through the back of some mutated being, sending blood splattering as my eyes find Zee’s.

“She’s just one part of the equation. But she’s safe, Zee. We should have seen it sooner.”

“What are the other parts?” he shouts.

“Slade!” I shout, then under my breath I add, “along with a morbid miracle and pure instinct.”

Chapter 37

SLADE

My chest is trying to explode and sink to my toes at the same time when I force myself to leave Ella in the cage, and I land topside, already feeling the spray of something in the air.

“Zombies are always the first sign of the apocalypse, and the outbreak is strong tonight!” the pointless incubus yelps, stumbling backwards when a loud roar of mutants batter an invisible barrier of power.

“I told you not to surround the spot.”

“I didn’t. They surrounded us and forced us here without us even realizing it,” Kane snaps back.

“More and more are going to start deserting if it looks like a pointless battle,” Zee says as he lands at Kane’s side. “We’ve already lost the south line of defense.”

“If they surround that middle where Hannah needs to set up the portal, we’ll be battling our way to her the entire time,” I state calmly, even as my right eye starts to twitch. “I’ll drain myself trying to fucking get to her.”

“Some dragons would be really fucking great right about now. Hashtag, fire-breathers are AWOL.”

“Hannah’s army just started showing up everywhere,” Kane growls, just as my eyes land on the ungodly amount of mindless, blood starved night stalkers, harbingers of death, and the new monsters breaking through one side of the barrier.

They pour into the center, and the lines of people start dematerializing, leaving the shifters to fend for themselves.

“I have to help them,” Kane shouts, dematerializing to them as I follow.

A monster charges me, catching me off guard, and I land hard on the ground, dirt flying up as I leap back to my feet. Just as claws come out, his head slides off his shoulders.

His body drops, and Alton stands behind him, bloody claws at his fingertips. “I thought I’d come early,” is all he says before darting off into the fray.

“Don’t fucking die before I need you to!” I shout at his back, cursing as I push to my feet.

The incubus is miraculously working his way out of a circle of harbingers, and his hybrid demon lands at his side, zapping a path to him, saving him from a near death.

It’s like the cockroach theory humans have.

I slice my way through the backs of two monsters, straining my muscles to the very last extent as I roar with the effort.

“Hashtag, Hulk smash,” the incubus says, racing past me with something hot on his heels. “Plans always fuck up!” he shouts.

I fight, conserving as much energy as possible, saving every last ounce of strength I can preserve so I can pull off siphoning that prison when I finally spot Hannah.

Then my heart crashes in my chest when I see Ella a hundred yards out, slamming into the back of the Aquarius who’s been turned into a monster First.

Ella grabs the man from behind, just as Hannah comes into view, not far from her with her portal and circle of Firsts already arranged, all the components she thinks she needs with a Lokie strapped to the front.

Feeling the urge, I grab my journal, lifting it to feel the pages. The memories trickle to me as a thousand and one heart beats explode in my chest. Morgana can’t be saved. It’s the reminder I needed from the pages, the reason I felt the urge.

I needed Gavin’s compliance to find this location. It’s never the same location, because just enough details change to reset the pieces of the puzzle. We found it soon enough, and still, this scene looks all too familiar, with only a few details changed up.

The portal stirs, a streak of power crackling through the air, and I stalk through the throngs of the bloodthirsty horde whose bite we have to avoid. Then I fight through bloodthirsty harbingers whose claws we avoid. Finally, I dematerialize past the monsters, facing Hannah less than ten feet away.

She smirks at me as I slam my fist into the invisible barrier surrounding her.