He gestures toward me. “You’re giving me that look that suggests you think I’m being deliberately obtuse.”
“Not deliberately, but stupidly,” I state in correction.
He gives me an annoyed look.
“I’m Arion Vampyre,” he says again. “Not even Idun fucked with my reputation.”
“Says the vampire gushing over an infant he’s basically lay claim to,” I snort, arching an eyebrow at him.
He stabs a finger at me. “That has nothing at all to do with this argument.”
“I’m pointing out you lose scare factor when you find spit-up something worthy of boasting on the lad.”
His eyes turn to angry slits.
“Take a swing. Let’s do this.”
“No,” I say, rolling my eyes. “I’ve lost my ire. You ruined it. Tell me what the triplets were asking.”
“They wanted to know ridiculous random things. Such as why I haven’t bothered learning to drive a car. As if it’s any business of a ghost.”
“Couldn’t confess how hard it is for you to learn new things?” I ask, smirking in his direction.
His eyes turn red, and I take a step back. Seriously? He’s this easy to provoke right now?
“And they asked if I fed from any women,” he carries on, bristling. “They wanted to know just how faithful I’d been with Idun. They even wanted to know if I ever found Shera to be a temptation. Clearly, I didn’t acknowledge them. They forced their way into her body, royally fucked my head right the hell up for a bit, and…died. They died. Then she lied, and no one is bothering to explain to us why we suddenly can’t ask any questions.”
He taps his foot and puts both his hands on his waist as he gives me a pointed look.
“You’re the Van Helsing. Do something about our very unreasonable girlfriend’s resistance to answer the many important questions surrounding her.”
“You just don’t want to piss her off,” I say in an accusatory tone.
“You’re Vancetto Van Helsing. I’m Arion Vampyre. Out of the two of us, who is better when it comes to talking to a woman?” he asks very…reasonably. “I clearly pushed all the wrong buttons the last time I tried to rein her in a bit. She was flogged by Idun moments after.”
Fair point.
He pissed her right the hell off, and she’s still likely holding it against him. I’ve yet to discover a way to gain her attention for more than a few stolen glances and placating touches.
“I take it back,” I say, jaw grinding as I dread pissing off Violet. “I do want to hit something.”
In the next instant, my fist collides with his jaw so hard and so quick that he can’t do anything but take the hit and stumble back. His eyes move from red to black, and he grins at me.
He doesn’t give any warning before my feet are knocked out from under me, and a grunt passes through my lips when I collapse to the ground.
It’s sweet reward when I manage to land another solid punch to his side, on my feet and charging before he finishes his moment of gloating.
He stumbles back, I sway on my feet, and we both grin.
Then, we lunge for each other, ready to beat the living shit out of one of another until we feel better about our challenging lives, at the moment.
Chapter 10
ARION
My body and face a bit sore from the Van Helsing walloping I took, I slink through the hallways of Violet’s beloved Sanctuary.
Vance has apparently been working harder than he let on, because he was damn fast with quicker reflexes, and far fewer tics to give himself away.
But that was just what I needed. I’ve been working my ass off on this very thoughtful gift for Violet. Meanwhile, Damien Morpheous has gone and laid claim in the past few days.
Surely, he’s done by now…
My thoughts trail off when I catch a faint, familiar, edible scent, and turn to find Violet walking a little wonky up the stairs.
I tilt my head, watching as she hisses out a pained breath, presumably when her thighs touch.
“I bet you wish you had thigh gap right about now,” Anna says in a mocking tone, as she trails her. “You should have held off on that last pack of cookies before you lost your head.”
“I hate you,” Violet grinds out, wincing again as she struggles to hold her sheet up high enough to not trip over it.
She’s barefoot and in a sheet again. It’s becoming entirely too normal for such an abnormal thing.
“You rode a sexual deviant for days, and then let a werewolf join in. They defiled your body in ways that would make good girls blush and cringe. I’m so proud of you,” Anna says with a prideful sigh of content.
“Could you not be you right now?” Violet snaps, whirling around and jabbing a finger at her.
My eyes are drawn to her wrists. Vance wasn’t kidding. Damien marked her very thoroughly on both wrists. It’s as though she has Flame bracelets instead of one simple mark.
I guess we really are making the bloody rules up as we go. I need to find Morpheous and get some answers about this new development.
An inspired idea strikes, and I commit to revert back to my Ace days. The days when I watched and listened. I found out a great deal of secrets during those days.
Violet didn’t seem to have secrets then. Now she’s riddled with them.
For such a young monster, she certainly has a great deal of audacity with her demands, and a growing cloud of intrigue surrounding her.
She never spots me, nor does Anna, as she heads into her room. The door slams in front of Anna’s face, but she simply ghosts right through it, laughing as though she finds Violet’s theatrics amusing.
I’d also like to finally grill Marta Portocale and find out who the fucking hell she told my secrets to. There’s no other way Idun could have known about the fact I projected from the grave and spied on my old chaps.
Violet couldn’t tell her. Nor would she tell a soul, aside from Vance, Emit, or Damien. So who did Marta tell and why? What is that devious Portocale up to?
With two new targets on my mind, I peer inside Violet’s room, curious to see what she’s up to.
Anna’s eyes meet mine, and the devilish ghost grins at me, while Violet softly snores on the bed she’s haphazardly crashed to.
“They wore her out. Again. Interesting how Damien’s monster recognized Emit as her mate, huh?”
I have no bloody idea what she’s talking about.
Shutting the door on my exhausted, soon-to-be bride, I blur from room to room, searching for Marta’s scent.
Violet’s damning, scent-masking apples. That’s why I couldn’t smell her that time she sat in the room next to us, while I happily defiled her daughter’s body. Not the ludicrous bullshit she spewed when confronted for an answer.
Violet trusts her mother with blind loyalty.
I can’t forget who Marta Portocale really is.
I hear her voice, which guides me in the absence of her scent. I’ll be collecting my own set of apple-infused body washes before leaving here today.
“She just ended her relationship with the four of you, and the wolf claimed her. As if that’s not bad enough, now you’ve gone and done the same thing! We’re speaking of all eternity, Damien Morpheous,” she bites out, hissing his name.
Right then. I’ve found both my targets at once. That should save me some time.
I glance around, finding the hallways eerily empty and silent. There’s not a single scent around, and I don’t like it. I know people are here. I’m growing more and more suspicious of my girlfriend’s shampoos.
But Idun can mask her scent anytime she wants to take the form of another, acquiring the scent of their blood—weak or strong. I suppose scents aren’t all that relevant with her running amuck again.
Turning to head through the doorway and announce my spying, I hear Damien’s voice and come to an abrupt halt.
“After Idun became immortal, her skin-walking abilities expanded,” Damien randomly says, confusing me wit
h the abrupt change in conversation.
“I’m well aware,” Marta bites out. “We’re discussing you and that rotten wolf binding my daughter to you with marks so much more substantially larger than the norm. I will find a way to reverse—”
“As those abilities expanded, she grew almost unstoppably powerful,” he continues, interrupting her, his voice remaining icy.
Barely peering around the corner, I take in the very stern, almost angry look on Damien’s face.
“Don’t lose your head, Violet,” he says in a nearly mocking tone, causing Marta to narrow her eyes.
He scratches his head, taking a step back, laughing bitterly under his breath.
“It implies you knew she was going to turn immortal. But how could you possibly suspect any such thing?” he asks her, slamming his hand on the wall beside her face.
“You dare to—”
She cries out in pain suddenly, her hand reaching to her head as blood trickles from her nose.
Just what the hell do we have here?
How the hell is Damien penetrating Marta Portocale’s mind?
“Why haven’t you given Edmond an old-fashioned ass-stomping? Why haven’t you been more riled by us being with Violet? Why are you playing things this emotionlessly, when you’re the most passionate out of all of us? How is it your Portocale blood isn’t boiling with me this close?”
He snarls at her, and she straightens, the pain clearly gone from her, as her jaw grinds. When her eyes narrow, he backs up a few respectful feet, never removing his gaze from her.
“How did you do that?” she practically demands.
“For the moment, I’m high off the rush turning Violet into my Flame gave me.”
Marta cuts her gaze away, the muscle along her jaw jumping.
“It does kill you for her to be ours. Considering our lengthy, dark history, it’s rather unsurprising, and even warranted. Start answering my questions, because there are too many more questions piling up. I’m not standing still right now, Marta. I’m not turning a blind eye anymore. She’s my Flame now.”
“And my mate,” comes Emit’s voice, while he enters from the other side of the room.
Damien doesn’t seem overly concerned with the intrusion, as Emit stands on Damien’s side like the two of them are a team.
What’s this new development?
See?
Watching and listening does do some good. I wish I could turn invisible. Damn Damien Morpheous for having that edge.
With these scent-masking apple products of Violet’s, he’ll have ample opportunity to spy on anyone, unseen and without scent.
“I’m about to go after Idun while I’m this charged,” Damien abruptly confesses, causing Marta’s breath to stutter. “It’s the strongest a Morpheous will ever temporarily be, and I left two hellacious marks on her that prove I’m supercharged. I have the only alpha bloodline that gets a temporary power boost from such a claiming. It’s possible I can lock her away in her mind, since I easily penetrated your own.”
“He did the same to me,” Emit tells Marta.
Why are they telling her and not Vance and I?
Attacking Idun’s mind? He’s too arrogant. She’ll break him if he goes inside there.
“You’re a fool,” Marta tells him, echoing my thoughts. “Why would you even make me aware of something this stupid?”
“The need to protect Violet has intensified ten-fold. I’d forgotten about that part,” Emit says, eyes on Marta. “I believe he can do it. But first you’re going to answer his questions.”
Emit looks as ready to rip Marta apart as Damien.
I’d of course love to rip Marta apart, but the two of them seem especially adamant.
Marta’s eyes go cold and dead in the next instant.
“The four of you, along with Idun, wanted nothing more than a world where we were living, instead of just barely surviving,” Marta bites out. “Arion, humbly, only longed for a home. The rest of you salivated at a chance for riches and eternal life with a woman, who you believed set the standard, even though you sometimes hated her for how good she was at living life without regret.”
She shoves at Damien’s chest, and he allows it, eyes never leaving her and expression remaining unchanged, as he drops back a casual step to maintain his balance with ease.
“Immortality wasn’t enough. You had to create more monsters, and painted the picture that you were saving these strapping young people from their deathbeds before their time. Offering them a watered-down version of immortality, but still, it was better than death. All because you needed more.”
Her voice rises on that last word, her eyes wide as tears brim her eyelids. “Trapped for all eternity with all of you, watching as you continue to play with a universe that doesn’t appreciate being toyed with.”
She wildly gestures around her.
“Now here we are. All because of you.”
She runs a hand through her hair, shaking her head.
“What’s done is done. I found the true woman of my very unsatisfied dreams, and I’m never letting her go,” Damien assures her.
“It’s rumored Dorian is truly not as immortal as the rest of us. Is there any merit to that?” Marta pries. “Will you be able to kill him for all eternity the next time he goes after Violet? And he will go after her again. He’s promised to hate you for all eternity.”
Damien narrows his eyes. “Dorian won’t be a problem again. He’ll learn his lesson. Onto the more pressing matters of you giving me answers.”
I rather like lurking in the shadows like this. It’s a vampire sort of thing to do.
I take a seat, deciding to learn what I can.
Smiling to myself, I prop at a lean against the wall. This is just getting good.
Chapter 11
VIOLET
“This is so awful! So awful! Like I can’t even look at you the same, Violet Carmine. I had so much more respect for you until this very moment,” Anna gripes, as I angrily stir the potion.
“I told you the first creepy thing they did, they’re gone,” I argue, glaring at the creepy triplets, who are feigning contrition with daring menace in their eyes.
“You’re a monster,” Anna sniffles.
“They tried to take over my body, while I was getting some quality sleep. They’re trying to go after Arion,” I remind her.
“To be fair, he was their first…you know. Whatever it is they did,” Anna says in their defense, her tone almost laughably apologetic. “It’s only logical they’d want another taste, and you’re very stingy with your body. Even I have complaints with that, since we’re doing so much work for you.”
“Really? I’ve gotten a few random quiz questionnaire answers about the guys, and Dorian Gray surprised me with an attack provoked by Idun. What work have you been doing that earns anyone dibs on possessing my body?” I demand, glaring down at the bubbling brew of destruction.
Bye, bye, creepy triplets! I will be haunted by your creepy asses no more.
“I can’t keep letting this world push me around. Otherwise, I’m going to go insane. I just wanted to make shampoo and fall in love. I’ve been mated and flamed very recently, even though I still have no idea what exactly that means. I’m also running a sanctuary I have no idea how to run, and ghosts are trying to possess my body to fuck the vampire of their choice. Nope! Not today, satan. Not today.”
I’m admittedly damn near hysterical.
That pin is trying to unplug from the nearly spring-loaded amount of put-a-pin-in-it details I’ve yet to fully process.
They say I move fast?
My last relationship took a while to escalate to sleepovers. Sex was on the third date, but sleeping over? I’m wound too tight around boys, for Pete’s sake. It’s hard to relax. Now they’re always around, and suddenly they’re marking me as theirs, and it feels incredible. And scary. Incredible and scary.
I dump the last ingredient in and duck, listening to see if I’ve done it all perfectly.
There’s no loud explosion or warnings of worse, so I warily stand back up.
“They barely made you tickle your nose before you had them ejected. You woke up and they were banished from your body immediately,” Anna says, smiling over at me and blinking innocently.
I narrow my eyes on her, as I bottle up some of the liquid.
“That’s not an argument! They’re dark and evil!”
I turn, having only a brief moment of hesitation when I see their genuinely sad little eyes staring at me with such disappointment, as though I’ve somehow devastated them by being this ready to murder them.
The vial flies from my hand and shatters against the wall, and the room immediately plumes with the red fog.
Anna stares from her safe distance in dismay, as…oh no.
As the fog lifts, I see more ghosts coming through the walls, all of them smiling at me as my eyes continue to meet each set upon arrival.
The universe has no mercy on me.
“What have you gone and done now?” Anna asks in a mildly amused tone.
The triplets grin wickedly.
“You manipulative little bitches. I fell for that puppy-dog face and had a brief moment of hesitation. The emotion changed the entire contents of the vial that required that anger!”
“How very explanatory of you,” Anna quips, while I pant for air and stare in horror at all the new faces.
“Now we can gather you more answers. And you can loan us your body from time to time. Without letting it kill us, of course,” the triplets state in unison.
“Go. Away!” I say to all the ghosts, who are staring at me with far too much interest.
No one listens to me. Ever. I don’t know why I bother making demands.
All the ghosts move in closer, and I whimper to myself.
“We have an army now,” the creepy triplets say in their world-domination tone.
These are the same creepers who want me to fuck all the deviants to break the Portocale curse and feed all the vampire alphas for the same reason.
Gypsy Truths (All The Pretty Monsters Book 6) Page 10