Gypsy Truths (All The Pretty Monsters Book 6)

by Kristy Cunning

  I’m not sure how Violet puts a pin in shit, but I wish I knew. Right now, everything feels like disjointed puzzle pieces, and my mind is in overdrive.

  I spot Zuela and take a seat across from him. He doesn’t even seem bothered by my presence, and even passes me the bottle of Scotch.

  Marta says nothing as she takes a seat at the table, allowing Zuela to pour her a glass of Scotch as well.

  We’re forced to be allies, only because we’re on the same side. Certainly not because we can get along.

  There’s a moment of silence where we all take in just how much has changed since Violet came to town. At least that’s what I’m doing. I don’t really care what anyone else is thinking about.

  “Are we underestimating her?” I ask Marta.

  She deliberately ignores my question, rolling her eyes like it’s a fool thing to ask.

  “You’re too suspicious of everything, wolf,” she grumbles.

  “This is why we’ve all gone mad and numb. Every time we pay too much attention, everything and everyone becomes entirely too suspicious,” Zuela murmurs in a flat, bored tone.

  “So we drink and quit talking. Maybe we talk too much and act too little,” I cut in, smiling curtly.

  I frown over my glass at him.

  “What’re you talking about, old man?” Damien drawls.

  “We’ve got a new player on the board. Whether or not her presence carries more than a fleeting impact remains to be seen, but as of right now, she’s very motivating,” Zuela states with a shrug, not meeting our gazes.

  “You couldn’t just leave her be instead of dragging her into your lives,” Marta mumbles, cutting her gaze away.

  “She stands out no matter if she’s with humans or monsters. How could we not take notice?”

  “Since when have you noticed more than your own dick, you savage mongrel?” she fires back. Giving me no time to retort, she adds, “I never should have come here.”

  “Before this devolves into pointless bickering, let’s have a toast. At long last, your vindictive, vicious, monstrous curse could possibly be lifted. I’ll toast just to the hope it has inspired in my old, cold, dead heart, even if it turns out to be a heartbreaking fallacy,” Zuela says, lifting his glass toward Marta’s direction and arching an eyebrow.

  Zuela Van Helsing toasting Marta Portocale.

  Rolling my eyes, I mutter, “Maybe the chill in the air is from hell finally freezing over.”

  Chapter 20

  ARION

  “You need to be farther back. This is actually freaking me out a little, because I’ve never attempted it around people I don’t want dead,” Violet says, shoving at my chest.

  I can’t help the grin that spreads across my lips, as she puffs out her cheeks, struggling to budge me an inch. When she glares up at me, I smile broader, mocking her naïve innocence, and allow her to walk me backwards.

  “You remember that I scaled a mountainside, plucked you from mid-air, and landed rather perfectly, with you safely in my arms. That’s just one of my many heroic feats you’ve witnessed, and you worry for my safety?” I muse.

  “Absolutely,” she says after she finishes putting me at a terrible distance.

  “Even I can barely see the marker from here,” I inform her in a dry tone.

  “If I accidentally kill you, I’ll be too devastated to recover any time soon. So, please keep your bloodsucking ass back here, and for once, don’t make something more difficult than it has to be,” she says, pointing a finger at me like I’ve been naughty.

  I don’t know why I find her so delightful today. Perhaps it’s because she truly does fear she’s the biggest, baddest monster there’s ever been. I was more convinced it was possible yesterday than today.

  I’ve had sleep, and…

  “I really can’t wait to see it. Get on with the show, love,” I tell her, hearing the other three approaching from behind me.

  Violet points her finger at them. “Stay here,” she commands. “And seriously, stay back. No one gets hurt, or I’ll never forgive you for talking me into this. You better believe there will be some major trust issues after that,” she calls over her shoulder, not sounding one bit happy about this.

  “It feels like she’s not used to losing an argument. Who talked her into it?” I ask, still smiling.

  “I convinced her it was necessary this morning, while she was in a relaxed and agreeable mood. It was just before I called you to come pick her up,” Vance tells me, as Violet hikes the field to head to her spot. “I wanted to hurry it along before she talked herself out of it. She genuinely thinks she can menace the four of us.”

  He battles a grin.

  “It seemed more conceivable yesterday,” Damien murmurs under his breath. “Still, I’m too curious not to see it with my own eyes and put any doubts to bed, one way or the other.”

  “Why are you naked?” Vance asks Emit, as we all mildly groan at the nude barbarian.

  “Went for a run,” Emit answers very unapologetically.

  “She agreed far easier than anticipated,” I note aloud.

  “Something’s changed since the day of Dorian’s attack,” Damien says quietly, his eyes on her. “She’s changed since then. More so from the moment I delivered his punishment.”

  We don’t have a chance to respond to that.

  “Okay! Here it goes! Lie on your bellies and stay hidden in the tall grass. Don’t make any sudden movements,” Violet calls from across the field.

  “She’s not serious,” Vance states in a slightly horrified tone.

  When Violet taps her foot as though she’s waiting impatiently for us to comply, I roll my eyes and move to the ground.

  “Even in the event she could be a struggle one-on-one, it’s insulting that she thinks her monster is capable of harming all four of us at once,” I point out, narrowing my eyes through the tall blades of grass toward Violet. “Her arrogance is astounding.”

  Vance mutters a curse and joins me, along with Damien at my other side. Emit is the last to comply.

  “She told me to stay out of sight the night she tore open the casket. Silver doesn’t affect her, as demonstrated the night she shredded a Van Helsing box. Maybe—”

  A very awkward, somewhat embarrassing little roar shoots out of Violet, and we all gawk, as she…grows a little extra muscle.

  There’re a few ominous pops, as some clear definition abruptly outlines her biceps. Her thighs expand, rippling with more muscle. Little by little, she starts to look like a light-weight body-builder, with a few harsher features…

  It’s incredibly underwhelming, and it happens so fast that it’s not even all that exciting.

  She stalks firmly…toward a tree, and she snaps it with one hand. With another embarrassing roar, she slings the tree into another so hard they both crack.

  Then she pounds the ground like a gorilla, as though the flowers there have offended her.

  “This is anticlimactic,” I state with utter disappointment, as I stand and put my hands on my hips. “Let’s liven this party up a bit,” I add as I race away from them.

  I cringe for her.

  This is too hard to watch.

  I hear Damien hiss my name, but I’m willing to risk Violet’s pathetic wrath.

  She’s a Simpleton Neopry.

  I knew this.

  Not only that, she’s a Simpleton Neopry freak accident, who was born to be immortal. It makes her unique. It…doesn’t make her powerful.

  For whatever reason, I still expected more.

  “You look disappointed, vampire,” Anna says, as she cringes, while Violet bites down on some bark, chewing it with clear abandon.

  Suddenly, her fully violet eyes turn to meet mine, and I…easily dodge her obvious, lumbering charge. Too easily, in fact.

  She roars in rage, and I effortlessly sidestep her next attack.

  “Now you’re just making her look pathetic. She’s so certain her monster is dangerous to you guys. I’m not sure anyone should tel
l her differently, and let’s hope she doesn’t remember this,” Anna says, cringing when Violet trips and crashes to the ground, before rolling into another tree…that snaps in half.

  “I mean, to a human, she really would be terrifying,” Vance says as though he’s attempting to spare her some dignity.

  He barely puts forth any effort to dodge her crazed arm swings once she sets her ‘vicious’ sights on him. He catches her wrist when he tires of the cat-and-mouse fixation she has on him, and spins her around. With a slight shove, he sends her in Damien’s direction.

  Damien sighs, as she charges him with full-on rage…that is much less fueled than any of the other Simpletons. She’s a watered-down version of them, even after all her feeding.

  Her biggest strength truly does lie solely in her resilience.

  What a terrible superpower to have.

  “This is almost tragic. I think I secretly hoped she’d be some epic freak alpha that would bring Idun down once and for all,” Damien confesses in a way that suggests he’s ashamed of himself.

  I think I was starting to hope for that myself, even as it filled me with dread at the possibility of facing it all over again, should Violet get too sidetracked from our true goal.

  Family.

  Our family.

  The five of us.

  Damien dances around Violet, teasing her, even as her monster rages at full speed.

  We built this world to live forever with the woman we all once loved, and…our new, much gentler woman is a target. Now I know she’ll need us protecting her all the fucking time.

  We’ve been too careless.

  “I really think you should never tell her how stupid she looks for being so scared of…this side of her,” Anna carries on, even as we pointedly ignore her.

  “This little monster killed your wolves, even when she was mostly starving herself?” I ask Emit, wrinkling my nose at him. “I’d be offended if I had betas so weak and slow. Surely more than three could have made retreat, if they’d been smart enough to get out of her path.”

  His mouth opens and closes, his eyes blinking as though he’s been standing over here in a stupor. Come to think of it, he’s had no commentary.

  “Wolf?” Vance prompts, brow furrowed.

  Emit scratches his head, eyes never leaving Violet.

  “I-I-I have no idea,” Emit stammers. “To be fair, I’d taken a blow to the head so hard that it knocked me cold, and my skin was burning with silver. Maybe I suffocated and mildly hallucinated? Fuck if I know,” he says, exhaling harshly, clearly the most disappointed of all of us.

  “We were damning her if we were hoping she could singlehandedly dispatch Idun,” Vance states as he easily trips her up.

  He reaches out to right her before she falls on her face. He grimaces when she still manages to crash into a tree, face first, of course.

  The tree crashes to the ground, and her along with it.

  “At least she’s strong. And she’s still pretty,” Anna inserts.

  Damien chokes on laughter and then scowls like he found the humor inconvenient.

  I find Anna conveniently inconvenient.

  “You’re entirely too suspicious, ghost. I suggest staying out of my sight, because I may break Violet’s heart and eternally salt you just for the suspicion you provoke,” I state, finally glaring over at Anna. “I doubt you’d come back again.”

  She grins in a way that suggests I’ve spoken magical words. In the next instant, she vanishes from sight.

  Violet carries on with her slow, sad, terribly tragic rampage for a few moments longer, and finally drops to the ground like a limp doll, abruptly burning out.

  Just like all the Simpletons.

  Except much faster.

  She collapses haphazardly, her body completely vulnerable, as her chest rises and falls with even strokes.

  “She didn’t crash like this the night of the massacre,” Emit says, suspicion in his tone…for a brief second.

  We all startle, when very suddenly, and without any warning, she jack-knifes to the seated position, eyeing us as though she’s confused about what’s going on. At least, for a brief second. Then her eyes widen, and her face goes white.

  “Wh-why are you so close?!” she shouts.

  “Or maybe she did pass out. It was quiet for a few seconds before the sobbing sat in. I remember that,” Emit relents on a near groan. “My wolves just weren’t prepared for her strength. She’s still stronger than the betas, so there’s that,” he adds, being Mr. Positive.

  I’m not scared of betas.

  I’m embarrassed for Violet.

  She needs to stop posturing on Idun. Now that I know how misguided she is, it’s certainly alarming.

  I was damning Violet by wishing she’d be that much more impossibly perfect.

  “If she could’ve handled Idun in a fight, the world would’ve changed. It may have been what finally turned the wheel of power once again,” I pointlessly tell them, feeling stupidly deflated.

  It was a pipedream I dared to hope for. And confessed to.

  I’m smarter than this.

  “Why are you all so close?! I had one rule! Do you know how lucky you are? I could have killed you!” she snaps, swaying on her knees.

  “No. No, you couldn’t have,” I immediately inform her, since it’s important she understands that.

  Vance gives me a shut-up-and-let-him-handle-this look.

  “Don’t coddle her, Van Helsing. I’ll have her do it again and this time I’ll video it, if she doesn’t remember it soon. She needs to know the truth. If anyone else sees that, they’ll never take her seriously,” I very reasonably interject, as I go to kneel next to our fragile little girlfriend.

  “One thing. I asked you guys to do one thing, and you couldn’t do it,” she says as she pushes away from me and stands to stalk off.

  “She said Caroline apologized after their monsters both broke free,” Vance states, feeling as gob-smacked and underwhelmed as all of us, presumably, given his expression and desire to explain away Violet’s other victory.

  “I guess Caroline held back and got control of her monster before she tore Violet completely apart,” Emit says on a tired sigh.

  “One thing!” Violet shouts from across the field.

  Anna pops up at her side, patting her on the back, despite the fact Violet can’t see it. Her phone vibrates loud enough for us to hear it.

  “Trust me. It wasn’t necessary, bestie,” Anna tells her quietly, but still loud enough for us to hear.

  “Should we go after her?” I ask, since I’m certainly at a loss for words.

  “Give her a minute to calm down. I think it’s best we not rile her. She may get angry and turn into her vicious monster,” Damien says, lips twitching with too much amusement. “Besides, she’s upset about the email Idun sent, warning she’d be claiming the Simpletons to do the upgrades on her home very soon.”

  “I’m dreading that future conflict. Violet’s going to have a problem with Idun’s work environment. It’ll be a nightmare,” I state on a groan, already getting a headache.

  “I have no idea why I feel so disappointed. It’s a good thing that she’s not too powerful. But it’s really terrible that she thinks she is, while provoking Idun too often,” Emit says on a tired breath.

  “She’s young, naïve, and completely ignorant to Idun’s ruthlessness. Even though she managed to fend off Dorian, he scared her more than Idun does. I think we’ve desensitized her to the threat, since Idun is being more passive than aggressive at the moment. The escalation is coming. That’ll be what opens Violet’s eyes to the truth,” Vance says, while we all stare into the thick forest she’s disappeared into.

  After ten minutes, I start worrying she’s never coming out of the woods.

  “Violet?” I call, just to ensure she’s coming back at some point.

  “I’m still mad!”

  Of course she’s mad. Any girl who thinks that wee monster is a match for the four of us…is cl
early mad.

  Damien answers his buzzing phone.

  “Now’s not the time for a social call,” I point out.

  I barely hear Shera’s nearly muted voice, before Damien quickly strides away.

  “I genuinely believe you’ve all forgotten that Shera is my beta. I’ll loan her to Violet, but the rest of you should get your own,” I say, glaring at Vance and Emit.

  “I have my own, but I’ve heard rumors he was turning wolf and not staying with the knights,” Vance grinds out, casting an accusatory glare toward Emit.

  Emit struggles not to smile.

  Why does this fucking wolf get Avery? I wanted Avery. I need more persuasive omegas. Clearly. Emit may be hard up for good betas, but he’s got all the good omegas, and I’m starting to realize I’ve gravely underestimated their value. Leiza is the sole reason Avery would be turning wolf.

  Even I’m in on that bloody gossip, because…it’s Avery. He’s been as celibate as me.

  “Vampyre, you’re with me!” Damien shouts, running toward the direction we left the vehicles.

  I don’t want to leave. I want to explain to Violet how she should certainly not be provoking Idun.

  “Where the hell are we?” Violet shouts from the other direction, in which she heatedly stormed off in.

  “My back yard,” Vance says in a dry tone. “Mostly,” he adds, since this is the deep countryside portion of his expansive property.

  Violet shrieks, and I almost go to her, when I hear Anna speaking.

  “It’s just a cat! You’re embarrassing me too much right now to call you my best friend, you sad, pathetic waste of potential badassery,” Anna chimes in.

  “You handle whatever Damien has. I’ll stay with Violet,” Vance says, smirking as he claps me on the shoulder and heads toward the woods.

  Emit trails him, and I glare at the two of them. “You too, wolf? Clearly Damien needs help—”

  “He only called for one of us. My curse was broken too. I’d like to fucking celebrate at some point. Thanks for not giving two shits, you fucking tossers,” Emit states in a flippant, bored tone. “Fucking ruined the highlight of my century, but no one cares. Typical.”

  Cursing Damien for picking me, I chase after the deviant, landing in the passenger side of his car before he can even get behind the wheel. They’ll dick around, circle around the truth, and never tell her she’s not capable of fucking with Idun, all because they don’t want to hurt her damn feelings.