Unchained Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 5)
Suddenly, a blast of power hits the barrier so hard it rocks the ground. I look over just in time to see the portal rocking, Kya grabs me, throwing me back to the ground just as the portal explodes.
“That’s one reason you should hav
e allowed yourself to remember the fucking portal explodes,” she snaps in my ear as I force myself to my feet.
“Someone could have pointed that out when I wasn’t holding the fucking journal open to stop the memories from attaching!” I growl, turning around to see Hannah lifting herself up, her Morgana bodysuit—I did not just quote the incubus!—cut to pieces.
My eyes search for Alton, panic hitting me when he’s not here right when I finally fucking need him.
Her eyes flit toward Ella, and I see it when she considers it. Then Ella turns and sprays down a line of monsters with liquid hot power like I’ve never seen her use, practically incinerating them as her eyes stay solid black.
It’s only briefly distracting, and I scramble to open my journal, now needing to know Hannah’s next move. Because I can’t remember right this second, so I need both sets of memories.
Everything’s all wrong. Ella’s not supposed to be here!
Morgana’s body drops to the ground, dead from the portal’s eruption.
“That’s new,” Kya hisses. “She’s not supposed to die until someone kills her, but she was too close to the portal. Where the fuck is Alton?” she barks.
Alton lands at my side, and his hand lands on mine.
“Tell Ella I did my part to help hold back the line, and thank her for her forgiveness,” he says, confusing the hell out of me.
Gavin suddenly appears in front of Morgana’s body, magic spraying furiously from his hands as Karma and her motherfucking baby appear behind him. He doesn’t let anything close to them, but who the hell brings a baby to a motherfucking battle zone?
The incubus gawks, paling, then faints after he shouts in a high, shrill tone, “My baby Spangel!”
My gaze darts back, searching for the demonic shadow I know is after Ella, and I do all I can to draw her power-hungry attention to me as I close my eyes and feel the power burning through me. It’s like tapping a live wire, and I feel Alton’s hand on mine tighten as he cries out in a surprise yelp of pain.
“It only hurts for a second,” I assure him, glancing over as I see the shadow moving toward me, able to exist outside of a body far longer than a normal demon. “Come get me,” I whisper to Hannah, seeing the shadow streamlining toward me as hope enters me with the convulsing power that is pummeling through—
“Thank you,” I hear Alton whisper as his hand falls from mine, and the power washes over me like a harsh jolt, already burning inside me with the need to explode.
With great strain, I hold it steady as Alton’s lifeless body drops, and I swallow harshly, refusing to look as I keep my eyes on the shadow that is so close.
At the last possible second, something happens.
I’m hit hard from the side, knocking my breath out of me as the world tilts unexpectedly. As I’m falling I see Drackus appear with a demon I’ve only seen on occasion—Shaylan. He turns into a shadow, his physical form dropping, and the two shadows collide, all of it happening so fast that I barely glimpse the individual elements of the frame.
The shadows plow into Leah, and she stumbles back, as I choke back a roar of pain from the excess power rolling around inside me. Kimber appears at my side, her hand on me, shaking me.
“Hit Leah with everything you have! Right now!” she shouts.
“Have you lost your fucking mind?! This power is to kill Hannah inside me! It’ll blow us all to hell if I release it!”
“If anyone can channel that power into a soul, you can.”
“It’ll kill that damn Aquarius.”
“She’s a perfect conduit. Just do it!”
Furious, I push to my feet and release all the power I have, just as the other demon ejects itself from Leah like it’s been released, and reanimates the body on the ground.
“It’s not Hannah. It’s the right demon! Leah’s still in charge for the second,” Kya shouts, as if it’s something they were worried about.
“What the fucking hell is going on?” I growl as the power collides with Leah, her eyes changing into her possessor’s.
The storm in the sky forms over our heads as an echo of all the power being released, and I struggle to stand on my feet.