Page 90 of Beauty At Stake
“In between John Wayne and Liberace.”
“Ah.”
“Now, he's closer to Liberace. He went from gay to ga-a-ay!” Killian snapped his finger with some sass.
“That's so racist!” Murdock said.
Killian squished up his face and turned to look at her. “I don't think that word means what you think that word means.” Then he saw Murdock smirking. “Oh, you got jokes now?”
“Seriously though,” Murdock said. “I think that might be offensive to the LGBTQ community.”
“You forgot the plus,” Kill said. “You'reoffensive!”
“No shit, Murdock,” Sullivan said. “When did you become the morality police?”
“I'm just saying,” she muttered.
“Don't!” everyone said in unison.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“What exactly can sorcerers do?” Extinguisher Sloane asked.
We were still in the sorceress's house, drinking her coffee at her dining table, while Karmen sketched a logo that would hopefully help us find her. I was seriously considering going home. Although it was nine at night in Thailand, it would be eight in the morning in Twilight. I could spend an entire day with my children and Sever. I wouldn't have time for sleep, but I often went two to three days without sleep while on a mission. It sounds awful but with my immortality healing me, it wasn't bad. Then I remembered Daxon was on his way. I had called him—yes, on a cell phone since I didn't need to see his face—and he was on his way. We were going to have dinner together as hoped.
As I thought about what I wanted for dinner, Killian answered Sloane. “They take the bits of magic that linger in items and physical remains and use it to power spells.”
“So, they don't need a specific magic for specific spells?”
“What do you mean?”
I sat up, my attention caught. Something about the question was making my spidey senses go off.
“Say they want to cast a spell to fly,” Sloane said. “They don't have to get a feather from a winged fey?”
“No. The magic is neutral at that point. They use it more as fuel than a spell in and of itself.”
“But is it neutral?” I leaned forward and tapped the table. “I mean, yes, it is. We know they can take magic from any item and use it generally. But what if they do take a feather and use it to levitate?”
“Like Dumbo?” Killian smirked.
“Yes, Kill, like Dumbo.” I smacked the table in revelation. “Holy spumoni! I'll bet it increases the power! And that's why she's after Biters.”
Killian scowled. “Whyis she after Biters?”
“Witches of the Bite Clan,” Leo, the Bite Vex, corrected me.
“Sorry. Yes.” I waved my hand. Then I returned to speaking with my husband. “The creams. They must hold Biter—I mean, magic that's particular to Witches of the Bite Clan.”
“What magic?” Vanessa, the other Bite Vex, asked. “What do we have that they'd want to rub on their bodies?”
I gaped at her. At her beauty. Images of the sorceress and her team of vampire hunters popped into my mind. Every single one of them had been attractive. Notably good-looking. Gathering that many gorgeous people was a feat in itself, but gorgeous, gullible, and gung-ho enough to go after vampires? That was virtually impossible.
I started to laugh.
“I don't get it,” she said.
“You!” I pointed at her. “Look at you. You're stunning. That's not just good genes. That's magic.”
