Gypsy Truths (All The Pretty Monsters Book 6)

by Kristy Cunning

  The chain doesn’t budge.

  Pressing as hard as I can, with as little leverage as my position allows, I strain, desperately waiting to hear the telling snap of the metal.

  But this metal is stronger than my silver, because there’s no give. She found a way to fully confine me. When I come back from the death I’ll likely suffer this day, I’ll know everything there is to fucking know about this metal.

  But today…I’m defeated.

  It’s rare I step into a trap.

  It’s rarer that I die after someone’s been foolish enough to capture me alive.

  It’s rarest to have an adversary who knows more about my strengths and weaknesses than even I do.

  She looks my way, giving me a cold smile.

  “I know things because I pay attention,” she says, smiling tightly. “Just like I knew your girl was no ordinary Portocale. She killed my witches and the shifters I borrowed, during the times they tried to siphon her life. Terribly rude young lady, that girl.”

  She tugs at a strand of her hair, eyes getting colder.

  “She’s been quite the enigma until recently. Now she’s rather anticlimactic,” Pandora carries on.

  “Why would you raise Idun when you hate everything she’s done with the eternity you helped her gain? Give me a real answer this time, Pandora.”

  She looks back at the screen, and I look too, just as Violet is slammed into once more. This time, her bones break so badly she looks unnatural and dead when she lands.

  When it pans to Damien and Arion, they’re both unconscious, and father is holding a bag of salt. He whirls around, as though he’s searching for ghosts.

  Where the fucking hell is that useless wolf?

  Anger stirs in my body, as the defeat sinks in.

  A tickle at my hand only mildly distracts me, until it starts spreading upward. When the tickle continues all the way to my wrist, I start noticing a wet sensation as well.

  Looking down, I barely catch a glimpse of silver through the chains, as the tickle spreads to my elbow.

  “What the hell is going on?” I ask as calmly as I can.

  She cuts her gaze back toward me, spots the silver working its way up, and shakes her head.

  “Vancetto Van Helsing was a naughty boy. You tried to cut me, didn’t you?” she asks in a tone that suggests she thinks I’m a young lad.

  She wags her finger in front of my face.

  “I merely tried to cut free,” I say in my defense.

  Her jaw tics with genuine anger. “So you could do what? Try to kill me? None of us can die, and we still keep trying to kill each other. I never could understand Idun’s logic.”

  “Says the madwoman who raised her,” I remind her very angrily.

  “A promise was set in stone. I didn’t want the promise broken to Idun. The universe has an active hand in righting our wrongs in some confounding and terrifying ways, at times. You failed to raise them, so something unique and different was born into the world. Then you found that unique treasure, and…you stuck your dick in it, painted it a target for Idun, and now you’ll lose it. Just as all of us have lost something. It keeps us humble, at least.”

  She gestures to my chains.

  “You should be more concerned about yourself than Idun or your soon-to-be-broken toy. You’ve set off the spell. It’s a spell that has a terribly negative reaction to your silver, but only if your silver is manipulated. Maybe your father should have warned you about this spell.”

  She beams as though she’s boasting, and I finally understand what’s craziest about her. Besides her very creepy eyes.

  “You’re sucked into the game. You like one-upping the alphas. You think you’re one of us,” I bite out.

  That’s not the Pandora I know. She was never an advocate of the game. She saw more than we could fathom back then.

  “If you can’t beat em’, join em’,” she says, eyes getting creepier by the moment, as the silver continues all the way up to my abdomen.

  “What’s my silver doing?” I ask her, trying to get any sort of tip as to how to stop it.

  “I’m afraid that was the kill switch, Van Helsing,” she says more seriously, somehow making it sound regretful.

  “What?” I bite out.

  “Only, you won’t die. When it happened to Zuela, I had to save the fool. I left him entombed in his silver for three long months, watching and waiting to see. It was an accident, of course. However, I knew I could use it against you because that old fool would be far too prideful to ever confess such a thing happened to him. He’s died less and lost fewer true-fought battles than any alpha among you.”

  She tugs at a chain that doesn’t budge, and she smiles up at me.

  “I’m sorry,” she says, sounding both genuine and insincere at the same time. “She’s only been topside for twenty-six years. Almost twenty-seven now. You put her underground for a thousand years, Van Helsing. It took me a thousand years to raise her all on my own. The vampire unknowingly aided me so minorly it doesn’t even count as help. For nearly twenty-seven years she’s watched you, studied you, learned all she needed to know, and formed a plan that she set into motion long before you discovered she’d been unearthed.”

  She gives me an eerie grin, as the silver closes over my thighs and starts climbing my torso.

  “The only way to stop this spell is for me to undo it one tricky thread at a time. It’ll hold you, Van Helsing. It’ll hold you for a thousand years if that’s how long it takes to break your pride once and for all. You’ll bow at her feet and treat her like your queen,” Pandora continues, as a familiar feeling I scarcely feel starts to emanate deep inside me.

  That gnawing, gut-clenching, damn near consuming emotion I’ve buried in a shallower grave than I realized before this moment.

  It’s fear.

  This isn’t some omega on a power trip. This is bloody Pandora, who has siphoned nature’s magic from a long-dead dragon, and then bound me with chains not even my silver can break.

  Now my silver is attacking me, entombing me, and I’ll be left in this web.

  Conscious.

  “Tit for tat with Idun, Van Helsing. And then she goes the extra mile to really one-up you,” Pandora carries on.

  “This has nothing to do with Arion planning to make Violet his bride,” I state in a quiet breath.

  “No. Sorry. It is the obvious conclusion to draw, but again, you fail to take in account how very well Idun knows you. She lost the vampire and she knows it. Arion has proven one thing: He’s loyal and there’s nothing you can do to change it once his mind is made up. It’s more effort than it’s worth.”

  My gaze stays on her, as Pandora takes a seat, as though she’s content to watch me be entombed alive, while she fills me in on what’s to come.

  “You expected a little push and pull, but you fail to see the biggest picture. Always. All of you, really. You probably feared it at first, but Violet was such a fresh breath of air you allowed yourself to forget the reality of your lives.”

  “I certainly didn’t forget,” I bite out. “You fail to see that I’m done with Idun. Even if you leave me in here for two thousand years, I’ll still say the same.”

  Pandora shrugs a careless shoulder. “I’m not particularly concerned one way or the other. I’m just delivering the message and doing my assignment. You’ll bow to her, be faithful, be loyal, and submit to your true queen. Or you’ll rot for the rest of eternity, while Violet becomes Idun’s favorite new toy.”

  I strain to move, but the only thing I can move is my head.

  “We’re officially enemies, Pandora. Of that you can be certain,” I assure her through gritted teeth.

  “I’ll worry about that when hell freezes over. Your pride will never dip low enough to bow to her,” she says on a puff of laughter. “Honestly, this is why I stayed single. All your relationship drama ruined the world. It’s enough to put anyone off.”

  Bones crunch in the background, and my jaw grinds.

&n
bsp; “She believes she’s buying me extra time, doesn’t she?” I guess, my chest physically hurting when I realize at last what Violet’s doing.

  “I believe so, yes. She really does love you, Van Helsing. Shamelessly and truly. It’s sad how dumb she is compared to the rest of the Simpletons, isn’t it?” she muses with no emotion in her tone.

  “So my last few minutes alive will be spent with you insulting the woman I intend to marry, while I can’t do anything about it,” I tell her very bitterly. “You’re only making yourself that much more of an enemy. I will get out of this, Pandora.”

  She grins. “By the time you get out of this, your ire over my insults to your temporary girlfriend will be the least of your concerns. That pride always rears its ugly head with you, Vancetto Van Helsing. You’ll be humbled and finally recognize your queen by the end of your sentence. I don’t think you know what isolation in Van Helsing silver feels like.”

  My silver crawls up my neck, and I choke in a stubborn breath that turns out to be even harder to do with the next breath.

  Pandora pokes my cheek, grinning the entire time.

  “Idun will keep kicking your girl around on that field for however long she can endure it, because she truly believes she can buy your family enough time to find you.”

  I’d make another threat if my vocal cords weren’t frozen stiff by the silver that is making breathing a more and more difficult challenge the higher it climbs.

  “And it’s all for nothing,” Pandora gloats.

  Just as the silver quickly begins climbing my face, taking my nose and mouth so abruptly that the labored breathing turns into immediate suffocation, I spot a brief glimpse of a familiar ghost behind Pandora.

  It’s gone so quickly that I’m positive I imagined it.

  Seconds before the silver takes my eyes and seals me into darkness, I catch one last clip of Violet being pummeled. Between my useless, last attempt to struggle free and the darkness surrounding me, my breaths slowly return.

  It’s as if breathing becomes only a mild nuisance instead of an impossibility. It takes me a long moment to realize how stiffly I’ve been cast—as unyieldingly rigid as a proper sword.

  The silver has dried.

  It’s solid.

  And I really am going to live inside here with only myself.

  Swallowing thickly, I shut my eyes, feeling the weight of so many crushing hunts call to me.

  I can’t twitch.

  At this rate, I’ll suffer multiple aneurisms a day and go mad within a year.

  My eyes burn, and the suffocating need to straighten my tie has my body straining and straining and straining…

  In this moment, I remember why I stopped hoping for anything better so long ago.

  We still don’t stand a chance against her. Especially with Pandora running point.

  Now Violet’s left to suffer a fate we dragged her into.

  Chapter 33

  EMIT

  “Idun striking at Vance first makes more sense than her getting this riled over Arion’s inevitable proposal. The vampire is lost to her and by she now, she knows it. It’s hard to believe such a thing at first, but now that I’ve seen him with Violet, I agree his unquestionable loyalty is only to her,” Talbot prattles on, his voice ringing right in my ear over the sound of the heavily whirling blades.

  “I only brought you because you can fly a helicopter. I don’t trust you, and I certainly don’t like how much you seem to know about all of us,” I state into the headset.

  “Shera knows more about the four of you than I do,” he’s quick to say. “I don’t see your suspicion hefting onto her. I’ve been an underappreciated, yet extremely diligent rogue beta, who has certainly helped my people and paid my dues. Of course I know all about the four of you.”

  “Why don’t you seem to forget Damien?” I finally ask, unable to help myself, as I cut my gaze toward him.

  “I’ve developed a process of remembering him. However, there was a time I forgot Damien Morpheous even existed. I decided that was a bad survival instinct, considering the obvious.”

  He’s too forthcoming with a rehearsed and perfect answer always at the ready, yet wonders why we all find him increasingly suspicious.

  “Any other questions, Mr. Morrigan?” he asks with too much smugness. “Because I have a few. Such as, how does Violet’s ghost stalk Van Helsing, when no trained professional was able to do so. A ghost can’t even step foot on the dragon’s cemetery.”

  “You know about the dragon?” I ask, suspicion mounting as I study him.

  “Of course I do. I make it a point to know important things. I’ve lived a long time and had a lot of questions I couldn’t ask an alpha. The dragon is an irrelevant point, aside from the fact its grounds repel ghosts. A natural phenomenon such as that always rejects the dead.”

  “Gypsies didn’t reject the dead, and our magic was indeed a natural phenomenon,” I argue.

  “Look at where that got you,” he’s quick to retort.

  “You’re rather mouthy for a beta. Regardless, the point remains the same,” I remind him.

  He’s brazen for a beta. Shera’s been one of the most brazen betas among them all, in regards to casual confidence in our presence. Talbot’s got her beat by a landslide.

  “A dragon isn’t a human. It rejected the dead because instinct told it to. As a man who is also part animal, surely you can understand that logic.”

  He’s as fucking condescending as Vance. That quickly fills in some blanks for me.

  “Damien already hates you and is only allowing you to beta for him because Violet wants it. Using Violet to help you climb the rungs on the high ladder to have a voice among us will only end your very long legacy, incubus,” I caution him.

  “I deduced as much,” he says with a shrug. “I still have valid insight you lack, because I’ve been on the grind for the last one thousand years. I’ve paid my dues. I’m owed my voice among you, even without Ms. Carmine’s support. However, as I’ve stated multiple times, I’m here for her. She’s forcing me to beta for Damien Morpheous.”

  “You enjoy having an alpha,” I fire back.

  He starts to speak, but then doesn’t. Then he finally exhales harshly, as we grow closer to the very confusing address.

  “Of course I enjoy having an alpha. I’m a beta. I’m a fucking legendary beta who enjoys being a beta. It’s instinct to wish to serve an alpha who can appreciate my offerings. Much as all of you appreciate Arion’s beta.”

  “She really is a damn good beta. I don’t even care that she hates wolves,” I state in agreement, completely understanding him having an inferiority complex around a beta like Shera. “She’s paid her dues with us because she found it a priority to do so. You worked for your people without an alpha and built a title among your kind that simply doesn’t exist.”

  “Because no alpha, aside from Dorian Gray, would request me. And I deserve a request,” he says, clearly exposing a nerve.

  He’s less suspicious now that I realize he’s simply a beta overdue some severe appreciation. The Morpheous alphas have a different approach to leadership.

  As in, there isn’t much of any.

  Other than Dorian, sadly enough.

  “Why wouldn’t you beta for Dorian?” I decide to ask.

  “Because he’s the sort of alpha who wouldn’t care about my own personal morals. He’d expect blind loyalty and uncontested, soldier-like obedience—the same for most alphas. I don’t trust him well enough for that. I don’t trust Dorian at all, because he’s not damaged; he’s broken. I want an alpha I can rely on, and those don’t take betas, because they don’t want anyone relying on them. Damien takes no betas because he doesn’t want to give Idun a vessel to get close to him. Violet is the only reason I have the alpha I want, but I didn’t come for him.”

  I mull that over in my head, as I sit back and idly think how brilliant it would be for Violet to create a loyal alliance with Talbot by forcing him to lead the House he’s alwa
ys wanted to beta for.

  My hand moves down my beard, as I really consider that. Is she that thoughtful in planning? No. Not possible. Not Violet.

  “I don’t know if Violet is a brilliant mastermind, or if she’s conveniently unlucky enough to have stumbled her way into the royal court,” he confesses after a long beat of pause. “But I have noticed a shocking amount of times she gets her way, and in really big ways, such as erecting a House and making you apologize for not helping. And this being after she had a trusted and honorable Van Helsing knight craft a whole legal system to support her new House—all without contest. Please realize the severity of the compounding circumstances, Mr. Morrigan. You’ve been on top for too long if you’re overlooking it so easily. She either genuinely confuses the boundaries between political and domestic, or she’s cleverly whipped you all into obedience without threats or violence. You can tell you’re all mated, even without all the rituals.”

  That garners a roll of my eyes.

  “She’s young and has more heart than you or I. She’s not sensitive, but she’s compassionate to those who are. She’s headstrong and stubborn, and she’s been raised in a country where that’s particularly normal. She’s so young, sheltered, and gentle-hearted that she’s truly under the impression she can change things in spite of Idun. We’ve accepted the fact we can’t do anything about it, aside from keeping her safe.”

  “Which is not normal behavior from an alpha,” he’s quick to argue.

  “Violet’s monster is as helpless as a beta in an alpha match,” I tell him very seriously, since there’s no reason to keep that a secret.

  His shoulders sink as though that’s disappointing.

  “I’m sure she seems weak now, at her age, but her confidence is—”

  “A manufactured byproduct of her human raising and her indifference toward death, due to the fact she can’t die. It doesn’t matter if her arrogance and stubbornness get us killed or worse, Talbot Lane. Our only goal at the moment is to protect her from all the ways Idun can destroy her, because Violet’s too soft for what comes next. She simply keeps thinking too human.”