“Call me when you know,” she says.
She turns back around and sprints into the darkness.
For now, Idun seems to be the only target.
Idun’s a target…
The world is brand new all over again.
Music starts blaring, and I turn and sprint in the direction it’s coming from.
Chapter 48
DAMIEN
God help us all.
That’s the only thing I can think of when I see the chorus-singing kick-line of ghosts, who are definitely jamming out—in choregraphed, synchronized fashion—to Mad Hatter.
Another ballerina-zombie-girl ghost is half flesh and half bone, doing her own dance.
The field is fully lit by the spotlights, that I saw a few ghosts floating through the town on their way here. The lights are powered by the electricity surging from Hyde, I think.
The power to the ungodly amount of speakers seems to be generated by the same source.
Electricity visibly skitters across the ground.
Idun is mid-scream, as the song changes to Sweet but Psycho.
A sucker-sucking, Princess-Leia-styled monster is the one in flesh.
She squats over Idun’s torso, and grins around the sucker in her mouth.
“How many licks to get to the center, I wonder?” the sucker-girl asks Idun, pulling the sucker out to show it to Idun.
Idun’s eyes widen in horror, when the skin morphs on the girl, and threads whir through the air. Hyde morphs into the jester girl, who is all kinds of fucking crazy. I’ve witnessed the ghost version of her a few times in the past hours.
“Let’s play a game!” Jester girl shouts, as Little Monster starts playing.
All the apparitions shout in cheerful unison.
“To commemorate the first-annual Monster Olympics, we’ve come up with the perfect game too.” The jester takes a deep breath, before shouting, “Kick ball!”
In the next instant, she grabs Idun by the head and…rips it off.
As though it’s a simple, common task.
I startle, mostly because for a brief moment, I expect Idun’s monster to immediately retaliate.
“You don’t pass out unless your heart is removed and devoured, right?” the jester girl asks a wide-eyed, Idun…
Well, she asks Idun’s severed head, rather.
The jester simply nods when Idun doesn’t respond.
“I guess the ribbon girl story was exaggerated in the versions where it said you chatted up the fellas while your head rolled around on the ground. In real life, your vocal chords have to be intact for speech,” the jester adds with a malicious, twisted grin.
Blood oozes from Idun’s neck, splashing onto the ground, even as the rain cleanses it almost immediately.
“Pick me, coach! I wanna go first!” Anna shouts, as she stands on the makeshift plate.
“What the bloody hell?” Emit asks as he turns up at my side on two naked legs.
I barely notice him, because…I’m still staring at what has to be the day after the apocalypse or some shit.
The jester blurs across the field, as Idun’s head begins to roll across the ground. Before it can reach the base where Anna is standing, threads whir through the air once more, and Anna turns to flesh, as the Jester becomes the projection.
The transition is effortless, and Anna uses Violet’s threading skills with far more ease and precision.
Anna suddenly kicks Idun’s head so hard it comes sailing at me.
A hand darts out, catching the head by the hair, seconds before it collides with my face, while I remain as rigid as a petrified stone.
Vance lowers his hand, Idun’s head in his grip, as tears squeeze free from Idun’s eyes that have been frozen open. Her lips open in a silent plea for help…
Anna is suddenly standing before us, swiping Idun’s head from Vance’s hand.
“Interference! Penalty kick!” she shouts, before turning and punting Idun’s head in the other direction.
We all watch, since there’s not really much else to be done…
This is undoubtedly the most fucked up night I’ve ever been party to. Which is saying a lot. A whole lot.
“I’ve truly never been so speechless,” Arion says, as he joins the three of us.
Anna turns and bats her lashes at him, as Havana starts playing over the speakers.
“Let’s dance,” Anna says suddenly, grabbing Arion’s arm.
His eyes widen in surprise, as she pulls him out onto the middle of the field.
Idly, I notice the apparitions ‘kicking’ Idun’s head to each other, all while laughing.
“One wrong move, and I’ll start all over!” Anna calls out, when Idun’s lower half starts inching toward her torso.
Immediately, the lower half of her body drops to the ground, lifeless once more.
Arion fucking cha-chas with Anna, as though he’s warming up to the idea that there’s an all-powerful sociopath inhabiting Violet’s body.
The fucking lunatic even grins, as his red eyes emerge.
“This isn’t good. Arion seems to be enjoying the monster,” Emit notes with some obvious distress.
Anna’s eyes cut toward the wolf, and her smile chills. Arion turns to grin at the three of us, as his head dips and he presses his forehead to hers.
“It’s her. I can feel Violet,” the fucking stupid vampire says, ever the faithfully blind romantic.
Should have known he’d cave all too easily.
Anna’s arms twine around his neck, as she shoots us a devious smirk.
“They’re plotting against me,” she says with too much certainty and cheer. “But they don’t stand a chance, unless Damien feeds and comes after me full force.”
Vance and Emit both swing a look to me, as though I have the bloody answers to back up that suggestion.
“Isn’t that right, maker?” Anna adds, causing us all to follow her gaze behind us to where Talbot Lane is standing, his eyes hooded, as he stares back at her.
“My maker is plotting against us too,” Anna says. “Violet and me. I’ve been spying tonight.”
“Not Violet and you,” he tells her very seriously, as Idun’s head rolls to be next to Arion.
Arion glances down at it, but immediately returns his very interested attention to Anna.
“The vampire loves me. He loves Violet, that is. All of her, and I’m simply an extension of our girl,” Anna tells him, batting her lashes with innocence. “I knew he’d come around first.”
She turns to punt Idun’s head back toward the huddle of ghosts, who all immediately set back in with their game of kick-the-alpha-head.
“If you want to convince us, give us back Violet right now,” I decide to say, taking a step toward her.
She flashes me a devious grin. “I’m not done playing yet. Stay tuned, Morpheous. Reality is more fun than illusions when I’m in charge. I’m a much more exciting main character. I’ve been telling Violet that since the beginning.”
Her body has long since healed—the earlier stitches having vanished into smooth, flawless skin. I know Violet heals rapidly, but this is beyond unnatural.
She becomes a streak of movement in the next moment. Idun’s head is no longer being kicked around. In fact, I don’t know where it is.
All the remaining apparitions give us a grin, before they spray into the air as salt, effectively vanishing from sight with some dramatic flair.
It takes another moment before I realize…the vampire is gone as well.
“Where the hell did Arion fucking go?” I ask, unable to absorb the madness of the night at a quick enough rate to keep up.
“Also, what’s the deal with all the damn salt?” I ask, because my brain short-circuited much earlier in the night.
This is too much.
Way too much.
I’ve been numb and complacently miserable for far too long to even begin to process something so…jarringly different.
“The salt is the least of our
worries,” Talbot grinds out.
“Violet can’t see ghosts, or so you said,” I remind him. “These salt projections of hers are constructed in the ghost plane, because not just everyone can see them.”
“She can’t see ghosts. But she can see astral projections who roam the ghost plane as well,” he’s quick to point out. “Such as Arion Vampyre, who none of you could see as a simple projection. The salt amplifies visibility, using the ghost plane’s reflective properties to construct the image in Violet’s mind and create a form of reality. Hyde tricked her into trusting it by posing as a ghost.”
I scrub a hand over my face.
“And Arion Vampyre is a soulless vampire who cares nothing at all about anything other than Violet. He’s loved a far worse monster, in his opinion. Hyde can easily charm him. Violet will be lost to all of you if I don’t strip Hyde free,” Talbot continues. “The vampire is going to be more trouble than help.”
“Arion’s not that simple,” Emit is fast to argue. “He must have really felt something that made him believe Violet was still somewhat present.”
Talbot narrows his eyes.
“Sure, all seems fine. There’s no threat. A monster like you’ve never before witnessed just tore Idun Neopry down in an effortless fashion and it was fun. I’m sure Violet will be exactly the same…while she’s trapped somewhere in her own mind for the rest of eternity,” Talbot says, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
I hate doubting Violet.
Every time I doubt her, she makes a fool of us, and she gets angry.
But Talbot’s dread only doubles my own.
“What would you suggest?” Emit asks him, clearly suspicious.
But hell, at this point, I find everyone and everything bloody suspicious.
“Since I learned of Hyde’s presence in Violet, I’ve hoped for the best side of the proverbial coin to land every time she tosses it,” Talbot says, speaking in squirrely metaphors.
“Shoot it straight. We don’t have time for this,” Emit chimes in, verbalizing the gist of my thoughts.
Talbot stares for a moment, lips tensing, as he seemingly tries to figure out how to explain whatever grand plan he’s hesitating to share.
“Hyde’s a complex monster, but this is the first time it has found immortality. However, I’ve had a great deal of time to study every single thing about it. Since it landed in Violet, I’ve been preparing a spell I think will work—”
“Cut out the details. Give us the gist of what you want to do,” Vance cuts in, his patience gone.
Talbot exhales harshly. “I have created a spell, that if executed perfectly, will draw Hyde out of Violet and insert it into myself,” he says. “But I’ll need five of the six family Heads to help me.”
No one’s expression changes.
So this is why the prick has been weaving his way into our group.
After another beat of silence, Vance bursts out laughing. Emit and I immediately laugh along with him, because this prat truly takes us for bloody morons.
Through his laughter, Vance says, “You want to steal a monster, whose unfathomable power has been revealed to us tonight, and you want us to help you do it?”
Talbot bristles, as though he wasn’t expecting to be laughed at.
“We just watched that monster break Idun’s untouchable dignity in under a few hours,” I very seriously point out. “Because it’s really that powerful.”
“I’ve been dealing with that powerful monster for ages, and none of you were the wiser. I’m not suddenly going power mad and craving world domination, I assure you. For over a thousand fucking years, I’ve loyally and honorably served—”
“Save your breath, beta,” I cut in, some of my laughter still lingering.
Talbot’s face turns a very alarming shade of angry.
“He’s right. There’s no fucking way we’re trusting your magic and helping you use it against Violet,” Vance says, while staring at Talbot like he’s a foolish wanker for thinking we’d ever find this to be a plausible solution.
“Let me dumb this down for you, since you’re struggling to grasp the severity of this situation,” Talbot argues, pointing a finger at each of us, not noticing Diva appearing behind him with a grin. “January Violet Carmine is a soft, compassionate, gentle girl who was born a Simpleton.”
I start to warn him we’re being eavesdropped on, but he continues talking, and I let the wanker run his mouth, because at this point, I’m not sure I trust him more than the monster kicking Idun’s head around.
I do know that I most definitely, without a doubt, undeniably do not trust anyone with a monster that powerful, aside from Violet.
“Idun Neopry, the fiercest monster to ever live, looks like a fucking joke right now. She’ll be degraded, humiliated, and toyed with for possibly all eternity. But Hyde is just getting started. Cross the monster, and it will do the same to you. Make no mistake, gentlemen,” Talbot carries on, passionate about this, it seems. “No gentle soul has ever managed to overcome Hyde’s overwhelming dominance. It always drives the host mad, and always takes over. It’s never been powerful enough to be a great threat, but now? Now it’s proven it is the greatest threat in the world.”
Diva nods in complete agreement.
We…make no movement and say no words, because we’re all staring at the eavesdropper. It slowly sinks in just how much we’ve shared around these ghosts…
That’s uncanny and clever on a level I almost respect. Violet has been bloody openly spying on us. Her ghosts are nothing more than informants.
“Technically,” Diva says, startling Talbot so much that he stumbles forward and falls to the ground, damn near jumping out of his skin.
He pales when he sees her, and she grins down at him. It’s slowly becoming apparent just how much fear he truly has for this monster.
“Technically,” she starts again, still grinning, “Violet’s head is so warped it’s taken a while for us to understand one another. Even longer for us to figure out what I am. We’re never breaking up. You can’t make us. I love Violet. We all do.”
She gets down on her hands and knees, and she crawls toward him, her eyes bright with excitement.
He shivers and cuts his gaze away when she puts her face inches from his.
“I’m Diva, bitch!” she shouts, and then a spray of salt fills the air, as she vanishes.
“The salt sprays are more dramatic now that she knows we know. Also, Violet clearly has a multiple personality disorder,” I decide to point out. “She has ‘mimicked’ a lot.”
“Just like Leiza said,” Emit murmurs, more to himself than us, as he cuts his gaze toward the bells that are ringing.
“Sanctuary,” Vance says under his breath in a damn near worried tone.
“She surely wouldn’t harm anyone in Sanctuary,” I say, feeling uncertainty and dread creeping up my spine.
Vance takes off in a dead sprint, with me right on his heels.
The wolf, on four legs, races by us with a desperate speed, as Talbot drags behind us on shaky legs.
I can see hints of the sun rising, as the storm begins to ebb, the blood-magic incubus losing steam at last, it seems.
It’s been a full night.
The longest night I’ve ever lived through.
“Even if we all have to die, we stop it before it harms a single person in Sanctuary!” Vance commands.
“No need for orders, Van Helsing! For once, I think we’re all on the same fucking page with who doesn’t need to die,” I call out, barely managing to keep up with him, which isn’t the usual.
Fuck’s sake, I need to feed.
It’s a terrible time to be without energy.
When Sanctuary comes into view, I spot Marta Portocale sitting on the front steps with Zuela Van Helsing, as though this is a casual night for a front-stoop sitting.
Vance stumbles over his own feet, as Marta sits with a blank expression on her face.
“Where is she? What happened?” Vance demands.
Edmond Portocale staggers out of the Sanctuary doors, face paler than I’ve ever seen it.
“Marta,” he says on a dry, slightly trembling breath.
“I suppose you won’t ever cross her again,” she says without looking back at him.
“That’s…nothing that should even exist,” he says with no emotion, dropping to his knees.
“Where is she?” I grind out. “Why were the bells ringing?”
“She asked me to ring them at sunrise,” Marta states, as Arion slides to a halt beside us, slinging up dirt in his haste.
“I smell Idun’s blood all over town, and I can’t find either one of them,” Arion says, eyes on the verge of being red.
Damn vampire has already come, gone, and searched for Violet, before returning, in the amount of time it took my starved self to make it this far.
“I bloody hate you,” I say aloud, because at this point, my mind can’t even begin to start the process of understanding. “Where did you disappear to?”
“I was chasing Violet’s trail, at least until she ditched me. The trail went cold real fast,” he says as though this is the most frustrating part of all this.
“Was Idun defeated? Is it over?” Emit asks, shifting back to two legs, and looming over Talbot.
Talbot grinds his jaw, his next words coming out harsh. “It’ll never be over. Neither one can fucking die. Both are too strong for you to take down on your own. Idun and Violet will war for all eternity, unless I do something. Violet’s lost to the monster. She’s too fucking young to have faced Idun so soon. That much power has consequences,” Talbot goes on.
I remember the first alpha fight I had with Idun. My monster stayed in place for over a decade, and that was after learning to harness it.
Violet has all the power, but lacks all the experience. Only, she doesn’t bloody understand that, because we never explained all the hardest parts. She’s too fucking soft to hear that much.
“I’m getting really tired of everyone underestimating me,” Violet says, startling us all into a bounced-turn-about.
Her hair is drenched, leaving it plastered to her head under the torn, semi-bloodstained/semi-white veil, and a bloodstained, silk…wedding gown, is clinging to her body, visibly outlining the very slinky underwear underneath.
Gypsy Truths (All The Pretty Monsters Book 6) Page 42