Gypsy Rising (All The Pretty Monsters Book 5) Read online

  Clearly he knows he’s dead by this point. We’re discussing far too much in front of him. Not to mention he essentially broke all the human laws Vance has.

  That little lip-quiver proves he’s self-aware.

  “Unlike you, I already detached long, long ago. Tell me why you’re so confident,” Vance says as his hands go to his hips. “I swear to take it to my grave if you just tell me why you truly believe you can control Idun.”

  “Take care of that shifter while I go ensure there aren’t any lingering ears,” I grind out, gesturing toward the doorways. “I no longer trust our noses, since Marta Portocale shot arrows through us from the very next room.”

  “To be fair, her scent is unnaturally wrong and weak right now. It makes me worry we’re being played,” he answers like he’s read my mind a few times.

  “We need Emit and Damien to find Demetria, who just so happens to be in the same area as Violet is now,” I carry on, trying really damn hard to remain calm…because now would be a terrible time to lose my temper. “Tell me Demetria isn’t playing us and pretending to be Marta Portocale, because I’m certain that woman is most definitely not Idun. As for the confidence, I have something valuable…that I can’t discuss until I search this place.”

  Vance’s eyes flick to mine. “I believe Marta Portocale is who she says she is. No one is here, besides him, and he’s about to die,” he tells me, gesturing to the sniveling man on the ground. “Speak freely, Arion.”

  The guy chokes on his sobs. “P-please don’t kill me. I serve Idun faithfully,” he cries.

  “You fed from children. Even I find that abhorrent. The more whimpering you do, the longer your death will take,” I point out, hoping Vance lets me take out all my frustration on this one.

  Violet will overlook me brutally torturing one who fed from kids. With any luck, it may even turn her on to know how ruthless I was with this one, considering his offenses.

  My lips curve up, and the shifter bloody pisses himself, forcing me to stop breathing so I don’t have to soil my lungs with the foul stench.

  Just for that, I’m going to stretch him out by his limbs and then run some of my biochemically engineered pencils through him, while sawing off pieces he’s most attached to. Should be a splendid evening for me.

  “Stop thinking of all the ways you’re going to torture him and speak freely,” Vance says, cutting through all my fun fantasies. “Otherwise, I’m going to kill him quickly and deny you the reward for your assistance.”

  Looking away from the shifter I can’t fully decide how I want to kill, I pull my small, time-consuming painting from my jacket pocket and hand it over to him.

  He glances down, frowning. “Why does a portrait of Idun’s face answer my question?”

  “It’s actually Idun’s neck that will answer your question,” I state flatly.

  “A purple necklace?”

  “I couldn’t quite capture the beauty of it, because it looked very easy to replicate, yet turned out to prove impossible to achieve. It annoys me still,” I prattle on in my tangent. “But yes, a purple necklace. That necklace was gifted to Caroline by Pandora. Idun liked it so much she took it for herself. Blessed by Pandora, this necklace was actually a way to channel the power of her hope.”

  He cants his head, almost like he’s now recognizing the necklace Idun never wanted painted on her, never wishing to call attention to it.

  “What?” he asks coldly. “What do you mean? This fucking thing allowed her to channel her hope’s power?!”

  “You’re getting angry. I’ll stop talking and you won’t hear the best part, if you continue to get angry. This is why we can’t have honesty,” I point out.

  His eyes narrow.

  “It would have been nice to know she was extorting a powerful fucking necklace that Pandora herself had gifted Caroline, Arion.”

  “Pandora was a fool for believing Caroline could keep it a secret,” I say with a careless shrug. “Caroline was a fool for constantly trying to make Idun like her.”

  “Caroline was mentally destroyed and physically disfigured by Idun. I know you’re insane, but understand that Caroline will likely be a very heated topic with Violet. Try to remember how to seem more sympathetic, because I don’t think Violet will understand how genuinely impossible it is for you to conjure an absent emotion,” he cautions.

  I make a mental note of that. I’m almost positive I can mock sympathy.

  “Anyway, I’m telling you now, as a true gesture of my intentions,” I go on, watching his offensive stance ease just slightly. “I can’t tell you things if we’re going to fight about them all individually, and I can’t remain neutral if I tell you too much. Just know I’m a wealth of information, and it’s best if I remain an equal member.”

  “Stop negotiating, Arion, and please fucking tell me that you have this necklace in a vaulted, secure location that bitch can’t find.”

  “I’m the only one who knows its location, since I’m paranoid enough to be worried that freak Demetria would pry into any beta’s mind and find it too easily,” I say on a tired sigh. “It would have been nice to find a way to kill off Idun’s favorite, before she dug her way up. You had a thousand years to track her down, Van Helsing.”

  He glares at me.

  “If Demetria harms Violet—”

  “Quit being dramatic and tell me you know for certain that necklace is untraceable. Stick to the important things like that,” he cuts in.

  “It’s untraceable. I hid it from her once just to test the theory.”

  “Who paid for that crime?” he asks me, eyes narrowing to slits. “Certainly not you, I assume.”

  “Why does it matter? You said to stick to the important things.”

  “You don’t understand that it will be important to Violet if ever it becomes relevant to her. Violet is like a new beacon for omegas from all groupings, and even your favorite beta, who we both know is only as good as she is because you helped her cheat her way into her spot. Does Violet know why you did that, Mr. Loyal and Faithful?”

  I glare over at him.

  “I’m being generous by sharing this information, and you’re threatening me with private information, Van Helsing.”

  He blows out a frustrated breath.

  “I’ve only ever seen Shera as a sister, regardless of the nostalgia her appearance recreated. It just left me with a soft spot for her, but everything else stayed very soft as well, if you must know. And though I wasn’t tempted by Shera, I’m still a sliver of man, prick. I’ve found women attractive and even alluring. But mild temptation is different from surrender,” I tell him, bristling when he continues staring directly at me.

  His bloody lips twitch like he’s just won.

  Son of a bitch.

  The amusement in his eyes is so immediate that it catches me off guard, and I end up battling a stupid smile.

  “You baited me into that confession, even though it’s completely off topic, for a reason, didn’t you?” I guess.

  His own lips struggle to stay pressed in a thin line. He gives one shrug of his shoulder.

  “What was the bet? Who desperately wanted to know if I’d ever fucked Shera?” I ask, lifting an eyebrow. “And how very immature of you to use this moment to cash in on whatever that sad bet was.”

  “It was just a small wager, Arion. One placed out of boredom between Emit and I, after I had to bloody his face up a bit for slacking on a border issue. Shera caught our attention, since she was the only beta you’d ever personally trained, especially since she looked far too similar to you know who. Don’t worry. You’ll thank me when I cash in.”

  I don’t like it when Vance smiles like that. I hope it’s pointed toward Emit and not me.

  “Back to the important matter, since life may hang in the balance and all,” I carry on, finding it unnerving to be the one forcing the serious topic. “The necklace wasn’t the only reason she was so strong, but it did play a significant role. Without it, she may be able to lift
a curse, but she won’t be able to inflict one. She’ll lose some of her heaviest threats.”

  He leans forward, brow furrowing. “Even without you aligned with us, we’d likely be able to handle her, if she doesn’t have curses in her back pocket.”

  “Precisely,” I say with my own dark smile. “Not to mention all her weaknesses I can extort, if she crosses any lines regarding Violet. Violet is safe, and so is my favorite beta. Emily will have to fend for Isiah.”

  He stares, not saying a word or making an expression for several long minutes, likely processing the severity of such well-kept secrets.

  “When it comes to war, how significant will the loss of that necklace be? How much will that turn the tide?” he murmurs almost absently.

  I can see the wheels of war already brewing in his Van Helsing mind.

  “It won’t come to war, Van Helsing. And I’ll keep all the other details to myself, if you plan on using me against her like she used me against you.”

  “You act as though she’ll give us a choice. We forced her underground, Arion. She didn’t go down willingly. Nadine nor the other skin walkers went down willingly. This is going to get ugly the second they begin rehydrating. It’s all Idun’s waiting for. And the very first weakness she’ll attack is the one we set ourselves up for—Violet. She’ll ruin her if we don’t stand together. For fuck’s sake, wake up, Vampyre!”

  He pants for air in the otherwise silent room. In a span of moments, he went from believing the three of them could handle her, to trying to bully me into taking a side.

  “This is why I turned on Idun enough to chase after the first woman to tempt my curiosity. I was a man of iron faith, who never strayed from his values or beliefs, in spite of the many times you three tried to tempt me with the darker pieces of the world,” I tell him, perching up next to the still-sobbing shifter on the ground. “As a soulless immortal, I have a different moral compass and view of the world, but still, I could never be tempted from my path. Violet tempted me like nothing and no one, aside from Idun, has ever tempted me before.”

  I leave out the bits about being forced to watch them agonize over my punishment for a full century. Even as Emit hated me with all his might, he also hated himself for putting me under.

  “Idun tempted me into the darkness. I was a man who chose my own fate. I may have voted against the altar, but I chose not to be left behind. In the end, I chose all of you and Idun. Violet is a much more satisfying center, and I love the ways she tempts me. I love it far too much.”

  He scrubs a hand over his face when I smirk.

  I gently take the portrait back from him, feeling the fine threads of the canvas brush over my fingers.

  “You all played Idun’s game every time you went on the attack,” I tell him, as I take the rusty sword and find the sharpest edge. “I learned from your many mistakes what I’d do differently if ever I stopped caring for her. Do you honestly think I’d leave room for error?”

  He simply stares at me for a moment, hesitance shining in his eyes. After a beat, he finally answers me.

  “I think Idun has played you the worst, and you’ve still been unable to see it, even as you claim you’re ready to let her go,” he says somberly. “And I think I dread the day you realize just how unpredictable she can be, when it’s you she crosses with not one single ounce of compassion.”

  I say nothing. He keeps using what I say against me, and if I punch him right now, we’re going to really fight. The tension’s in the air. Idun’s too close to risk that right now. Not when I still need to set the new rules.

  My phone chimes with a message, and I click open the short clip of our very drunk little monster climbing atop a table, dressed like a man. I’ve never found men’s clothing lewd until this moment.

  “We can have this debate at another time, Van Helsing. Damien and Emit are getting a drunk, partying, fun Violet all to themselves, while we do all the work. I’d like to get this wrapped up as soon as possible.”

  The head of our private, one-person audience drops to the ground, as a few drops of blood fly from Vance’s quick-swinging sword. I pretend I saw that coming, mostly because I didn’t realize how low my guard had gotten.

  “As you wish, Vampyre. Do me a favor and start the fire,” he says with mock casualness, as he strolls out.

  “You’re a complete asshole,” I call to his back, glaring at the dead body. “Torture is only fun when they’re still alive.”

  The bastard laughs under his breath.

  I glance back down at the newest video Emit has sent of Violet. This one is different. This one is just her smiling, as some of the Simpleton women gather around her, while she turns on a movie.

  Dracula scrolls across the screen, and I groan aloud, pocketing my phone, as I roll my bloody eyes and head toward the exit.

  I pause on my way out, smelling something so muted I almost miss it. A small, ticking, barely recognizable heartbeat hits my ears, followed by another, slightly more subtle one. The now dead shifter’s heart was racing and pounding so loudly it must have masked these two.

  With stealth and quickness, I move to the wall, hearing one heart beating faster, as the other stays a steady, quiet pace.

  The stone wall bleeds into a wooden paneled one off to the side, and I finger the edges of it, before ripping it back. A woman’s scream dies when the tip of the rusty blade touches her throat.

  Her eyes are wide, as her heartbeat only drives up, not slowing down. “I knew better than to trust my nose. Too much shifter blood on the ground to spot one so close by,” I tell her, checking the little hidden cubby, but only seeing her.

  “P-p-p-p-please don’t. I s-s-wear I didn’t hear anything.”

  “Of course you heard something, or you wouldn’t say that,” I tell her dismissively. “If you’d wanted to live, you’d have come out when we were sifting through victims and offenders. Only offenders hide. How quickly you die depends on how fast you tell me who the other heartbeat belongs to and where I might find them. Save me some time, and I’ll save you some pain—”

  My words get lost in my throat when my eyes drop to where her hands are cradling a barely-there bump that is bare to see, since her top is merely a scrap of dirty fabric that stretches across her breasts.

  “They were g-going to take my baby. I just want to keep my baby safe, and shifters are hated by vampires and Van Helsings alike—so I hid out of natural instinct. P-please. I swear I won’t say anything. I have no reason to. I’m not a loyalist to the cause, and until I was stolen from my house, I’ve never once interacted with any other shifters.”

  My eyes stay on her belly, as the small heartbeat ticks again.

  “Bloody hell,” I groan in frustration, as I run a hand through my hair.

  “Arion, are you fucking coming or—”

  Vance stops, eyes widening when he comes back in. Her heartbeat is louder now, and so is the child’s.

  “You’re quite the thorn in our sides now, aren’t you?” I ask her as she stays tucked in the cubby, while I back my blade up a few healthy inches.

  “She’s of no consequence. Only offenders hide when a Van Helsing sifts through victims and offenders,” Vance states dismissively.

  “Told ya,” I quip, staring at the trembling woman, who reeks of fear.

  “Kill her and the other, and be done with this,” Vance states, already distracted by his phone.

  “And he thinks he’s less of a monster than I am,” I tell her with a broad grin, even as the pit of my stomach sours.

  We really don’t need this fucking problem on our hands right now, of all times.

  The woman whimpers, but tries to hold it back, since she likely remembers the threat I made to the last person who whimpered in the room.

  “Quit drawing it out, Arion. We have shit to do.”

  “If Violet would be upset with me for some tedious oversights in the past, she’s going to hate you for that call,” I decide to inform him.

  I drop the blade and
drag the woman out, as she cries out in surprise—not pain. Vance’s eyes immediately widen on her stomach.

  “The other heartbeat is coming from inside her, Van Helsing.”

  I don’t kill babies. He knows I have rules against that.

  “If you’ll just let me live long enough to have the baby…that’s all I ask,” she goes on, eyes filling up with tears.

  “Completely new paradigm we find ourselves in, eh?” I ask Vance tightly.

  “Fuck my night,” Vance says as he scrubs a hand over his face.

  “Demetria would crack her skull like an egg,” I remind him. “We’ve said an awful lot that beta could easily pry out of this one’s mind.”

  He starts to say something, but his phone rings.

  “It can’t be more important than this, Van Helsing, so don’t—”

  “Yes?” he says into the phone, turning his back on me.

  I glance over at the shifter, who is avoiding my eyes as she trembles.

  “He never listens to a thing I say and wonders why I make his life harder than it has to be,” I tell her with a tired sigh.

  “Are you busy right now, or in a life-and-death situation?” comes Violet’s voice over the line.

  “Ah,” I say to the shifter, nodding in understanding now. “I would have answered too.”

  Vance darts an annoyed look in my direction, and heaves out a breath, as he glances over at the pregnant shifter we can’t kill.

  “Do you need something?” he asks Violet in a non-answering sort of way.

  “I actually need to know about that really old hotel in the middle of town. It’s the rundown building you bought a long time ago and never did anything with. Leiza was telling me about it.”

  We both blink.

  “She does this on purpose just to confuse us. She has the most random things come out of her mouth during really critical moments like this,” I inform the terrified shifter. “We’re not going to kill you. Relax your heartbeat before you somehow hurt the child.”