Page 91 of Beauty At Stake
“Hey now,” Vanessa huffed.
“No, she's right,” Leo said. “We have Allurement Magic. It makes us beautiful. It's taken me many years to appreciate the fact that beauty can be as powerful as making the earth tremble. But humans have always known that. They put beautiful people on pedestals. Beauty gets humans far in this world. They get given all the best things in life on a silver platter, just because of their appearance. Now, imagine if someone could bottle beauty?”
“The beauty industry is worth billions,” I said. “Billions. And we're talking about products that tackle specific issues—creams to soften wrinkles or serums to thicken lashes. What if there was one product—a single cream—that could do it all? A cream that simply made you more beautiful. What would people pay for that?”
“Thousands,” Daxon said as he strode into the room. “Depending on how long the effects lasted, maybe more.”
“Dax.” I got up to hug and kiss my husband. “Your timing is impeccable, as always.”
Daxon smirked, kissed me, then nuzzled close. “Hello, gorgeous. It sounds as if you've figured everything out.”
“I think we might have.”
“Then our dinner will be a celebration.”
“Hold on,” Killian said. “And hi, Dax. Welcome to the rodeo. But sit down, dude. We need to talk about this. If that sorceress has developed a cream to make people beautiful—a cream enchanted with Allurement Magic—how many Bite Witches is she going to need to fill the demand for such a product?”
The room went silent.
“Done!” Karmen bounced over to us, waving a paper about. Then he noticed the somber mood. “What happened now? For fuck's sake. I was just over there.” He waved at the living room. “I couldn't possibly have missed—oh! I did miss something amazing. The arrival of King Daxon. Hello, my beautiful blue boy.” Karmen blew Dax a kiss.
Dax didn't even glance at him.
“Okay, what is it?” Karmen smacked the paper down. “Because I at least deserve a thank you for this piece of art.”
“Thank you,” I said. “This is great.” I slid the paper toward Sullivan. “Can you check this against all the subsidiaries that work with cosmetics?”
“Fuck, yeah,” Sullivan said.
To Karmen, I added, “We've just realized that the sorceress is going to need a lot of Bite Witches to fuel her magic. A lot.”
“Can she get a lot?” Karmen asked.
“Not if we have anything to do with it,” Killian growled. “That bitch is done taking prisoners! She's going to be the prisoner soon.”
“You've got that right, Ambassador,” Leo said. “That bitch is toast.”
“We can toast anything you want,” Sal drawled. “Isn't that right, Your Majesty?”
“Yes,” Star said. “We can burn. But we don't know what else the sorceress can do. And she keeps surprising us. I don't like surprises.”
Another pall of silence fell over the room.
“No.” Daxon slashed his hand down. “None of that. Being afraid of whatmighthappen will only drive you mad. Believe me, I know all about fear.” He slid his magnetic stare around the table. “You need to focus on catching her. Period. If pondering her summoning Demons helped with that, I'd encourage it. But it does not. So, what will?”
“How about this?” Sullivan turned his laptop so we could see the screen. “I found her company.” He tapped the logo of a wreath with the letters FB inside. Below it were the words “Forever Beauty.”
“Forever Beauty?” I snorted. “It's as if she knew what she'd develop.”
“Maybe she did,” Killian said. “She's a sorceress. She knew she could enchant a beauty cream. She just didn't know she could enchant with Allurement Magic.”
“Where's the headquarters?” I asked Sullivan.
“The company is based out of New York. But they manufacture their products here. In Thailand.”
“Of course they do.” I looked at Killian.
“Babe, we need to fuel up before we go after her again. Let's go get some chow and by the time we're done, it will be the perfect hour to break into a warehouse.”
