I know Vance doesn’t care about things like that, but still…
Not that it matters. All the romance went down the drain when the theme flipped from wholesome monster fun into more of a “Carrie’s Prom” sort of night.
After a host of jarring confessions, bloodshed en masse, and some inventive torture techniques my monster used on an ancient alpha, it’s weird that I can even feel romantic now.
Keeping all my secrets from Jerome was miserable.
Keeping all my secrets from them was worse than miserable. Miserable feels depressed when it thinks of how hard this has been for me to keep this to myself.
They know so much.
They judge so harshly.
They make fickle promises and tend to be casually cruel.
They’re monsters, but I love them so much I just want them to accept me the way I am—along with my endless baggage. It’s…really…pipe-dreamish, but I’m stupid enough to shamelessly hope.
“It really will help Vance trust me? I know my monster duped him the worst,” I confess, my heart hurting a little, since I know he’s alone and dealing with this.
“It will,” Damien assures me, kissing my neck, subtly turning the heat on. “Especially since your monster is still lurking dangerously near the surface. That’s something that always happens after an alpha fight, and that was certainly the most intense one I’ve seen in ages. If you break these chains, we learn something. If you keep control, we learn something. If you lose control…you get the idea. Regardless, it’ll show you’re truly willing to play ball.”
Delayed gratification and some mild sexual torture to understand more about my limits? I can deal with that. Especially if it’ll help Vance start trusting me again.
“Fine. Get on with my punishment,” I say with true resolve.
Emit stands, yanks Arion out from between my legs, and then wolf takes over the torture for that spot of my body. Roughly, he grips both of my thighs, and then he’s on me, mercilessly driving me to that edge I know I won’t be reaching any time soon.
A whimper comes out of me, now that I know the game, as Damien aides Emit in teasing the hell out of me. I can feel my deviant’s touch ghosting here and there, eliciting tiny pulses of torturous, unsatisfying pleasure.
The music cranks up, as the vampire puts on the hand-clapping song. As he starts dancing, reveling in my punishment, the wolf ravages me, and the Morpheous plays all my senses like the masterful wizard of sex he is.
“Let me play, Violet. Put me in, coach! I won’t fail you,” Anna goads from somewhere in the room.
After the fourth almost-orgasm escapes me, I feel a small bit of pressure in my temple. The pressure I now recognize as Anna trying to force her way to the front.
I hear salt spray the air as I force her out, and I feel Damien’s smile against my neck through the spray.
“You really are tougher than you seem,” Damien tells me in a clear tone of approval.
This is miserable.
It’s going to be harder than I thought. I think I’d rather be struck by lightning some more.
Chapter 55
VANCE
“She hasn’t moved or batted an eye,” Avery tells me, his eyes still glued to his phone, the same as the last few hours. “I mean, I trusted you when you say she wasn’t going anywhere, during your broadcast, sir. But—”
“But it’s surreal to see it and impossible to fully trust what you see, based on all you know,” I cut in, assuring him that I completely understand.
“Yes, sir,” he says as though he’s relieved that I get it.
I do fucking get it, but Idun made no move the entire time I read the lie I scripted. She allowed me to belittle her, talk as though I had some right to find her inferior, and take credit for something I didn’t do.
Idun doesn’t have that sort of personal restraint. She can’t handle embarrassing degradation on that level. If she could have stopped me, she would have.
More than anything, I hate taking credit for something I didn’t do—especially something of this magnitude. But it bothers me less in this instance, because of how important it seemed to Violet.
I smile to myself, taking my time to sign the last few documents.
“I’m sorry to keep you working so long, especially after all the fighting you had to do,” I tell Avery, electing to shift the subject, as I hand him over the last of the paperwork.
Avery smiles tightly.
“I forget how breezy this all is to you, Sir Van Helsing. I wish I had that fortitude. Last night, I was reminded why I was ready to retire, because I couldn’t endure the hardship of eternal war. I feared very deeply for a lot of my men, who refused Sanctuary. I couldn’t sit and hide, so I joined the battle alongside Demetria, and they stubbornly followed. By the way, sir…I fought alongside Demetria tonight.”
He stares at me as though he needs my help sorting through that fact, since it makes no sense to him at all.
Jasper makes a cooing sound, as if he hears us speaking his mother’s true name. Avery’s eyes move to the humming swing that is gently rocking Jasper right now.
I was so distracted by the Neoprys during that battle, that I can’t even remember seeing Avery.
In fact, most of the night is already a blur, given the magnitude of all the more severe elements going on all at once. Just thinking about it is exhausting.
“Yes…I can’t seem to locate her,” I confess, my eyes darting a look to the drawer that conceals the letter I found. “I’m not even sure I can explain her appearance tonight,” I add, both lying and telling the truth.
Arion said he’d ensure Shera kept quiet about what she saw, in regards to Jasper’s mother turning into Demetria. For one, that’s an embarrassing oversight. For two, I don’t want anyone knowing Jasper’s heritage.
It’d make him a target.
While Avery’s earned more than enough of my trust, I still find myself protecting Jasper’s secret.
The letter Demetria left is addressed to Violet, but considering Demetria is missing, and Jasper was left with Leiza, I can guess what it’s going to say.
Jasper starts fussing, no longer content by the swing’s embrace, so I go lift him from the contraption. With no warning, his mouth latches onto my thumb, and I glare at him, as he bites into me and starts sucking.
He’s tasted Violet’s blood. It’s not all that surprising that he’s able to handle my own alpha blood, since hers has to be even stronger than mine.
It’s going to take a moment to think about that without wanting to laugh, since it still seems ludicrous.
“No casualties,” Avery says as I keep my back to him, concealing the sight of Jasper’s secret. When I say nothing, Avery keeps speaking, “There was a lot of ghost interference, I presume, to make that a possibility. I say that, because one moment I’d see a one of my men almost stabbed, and in the next, the sword would break, the adversary would slip, or they’d be blown back. Honestly, there were a number of bizarrely fortunate anomalies I can’t explain that led to no casualties,” he carries on. “And I also seem to have forgotten certain pieces of the night. I have some suspicions, sir. Please don’t take offense, Sir Van Helsing.”
“I’ll try not to,” I state dryly, prompting him to hurry this along.
“After playing beta for Ms. Carmine for a while, I find her entirely too suspicious, and I also find it incredibly convenient the four of you could finally tear down Idun Neopry and lock her away so confidently, after so many prior centuries of failures. And that’s with all the other Neoprys still above ground.”
I internally groan, wondering why I thought it wise to try and fool Avery. Jasper finishes snacking on my thumb, and I cradle him to me, as I turn to face Avery.
“Trust me, you don’t want to remember,” I assure him, since I sincerely don’t think he’s ready to know the details. “As for the Neoprys, they can’t die. They’ll instead serve a burial sentence for their crimes of last night, and then we’ll have no choice
but to accept them back. Shifters won’t accept Idun’s downing so easily. They could end up infecting the whole world with an outbreak if they feel their alpha is eternally bested.”
We both pause for a moment, digesting the weight of that concern.
“Tell me the truth, Sir. For all my years of servitude, please tell me if she’s truly strong enough to keep Idun in this box. Because it doesn’t look as strong as that gravesite you designed to be a tomb for all eternity. It was far more secure than this seems,” he says to me, questioning me for the first time ever, as his eyes move back to the screen to watch Idun.
I slowly nod, even though he can’t see it. “Violet’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” I say, deciding to be honest but vague.
Jasper makes a sigh of content, drawing my attention. Even as I stare down at the very intriguing lad, who has gotten entirely too comfortable in my arms, I continue speaking to Avery.
“But she’d rather no one know that, because she’d prefer to make shampoo and save all the misfits who need a safe place,” I add, battling my own smile, because it all sounds…utterly absurd.
It should be impossible to do everything she did to Idun right before our very eyes, not to mention all we still don’t know about during the times we lost sight of her, yet…she still managed to come across as ridiculous by the end.
All that power, and her biggest concern is turning into Idun, because she doesn’t like the feeling that accompanies being alpha—the satisfaction one derives from a good fight.
She’s literally scared of becoming Idun at this point.
It’s her worst fucking nightmare.
We’re really fortunate that monster landed in Violet.
“It’s not a fair fight, in her opinion, so she’s going to stick to a role she’s chosen for herself, and she can’t do that if people fear her,” I continue, watching as Avery struggles to hold back his own smile, even as his eyes mist like he’s gone and gotten sentimental. “She’s downright worried we’re all going to be afraid of her, and genuinely concerned about such.”
“Want the next plane named after her?” he asks, causing me to snort and release a huff of laughter.
“May as well name the next plane, train, and ship after her. If I have any submarines, name them after her as well,” I say, causing him to muffle his own small, accidental bout of laughter.
There’s a moment of silence that falls after that. There’s been a pressing weight lifting little by little, as I allow myself to believe it more and more.
“Idun’s been dethroned,” he says as though he’s warily coming to grips with the possibility.
“It’ll take a while to trust it, Avery. But from what I witnessed, I’m believing it more by the passing second. It’s just…taken some time to really sink in. I mean…I’m still not entirely sure exactly what I saw,” I confess.
He nods like he’s attempting to be understanding. “Then I’m glad I don’t remember,” he confesses.
The male ghost pops up in the corner. He’s faded in and out for the last several hours, as though he’s only mildly curious what I’m up to.
Avery runs a hand over his jaw, drawing my attention back to him, as he remains oblivious to the apparition he’s unable to see.
It occurs to me that we educated Violet a lot on ghosts…for no reason at all.
None.
It was completely irrelevant.
I feel a fool for that too. I never considered they could be anything else at all.
“I want to know all the things, because I was blindsided today,” I tell Avery, to which he nods as though he understands me completely.
“The world changed in a single night. I thought there was nothing left to see and that I’d lived long enough. Eternity seemed greedy,” he tells me.
“But now you’re considering turning wolf,” I state, deciding I may as well have this conversation now, since it sounds like that’s what he’s leading up to.
Arion’s bedding Violet and taking her as his bride, so it’s not as though I can speak with her right now, even though I’d love to.
I’ll wait until he’s had his moment. Besides, there’s a mess to clean up. Someone’s got to do it.
Violet handled the hardest part. Clean-up detail is the least I can do.
“I’m going to submit to Emit Morrigan, unless you recommend otherwise, or take offense, Sir Van Helsing,” Avery says, bowing at the waist.
“You’re submitting to Emit, instead of turning wolf and staying a knight, because of Leiza…correct?” I ask.
I need to know it has nothing at all to do with the wolf being a better eternal option than me. This is extremely important.
Avery’s lips curve, and he straightens, before standing at ease again—feet spread shoulder’s-width apart with his hands locked behind his back.
“Indeed, sir. She’s a woman I never thought I’d have much in common with, but over the years, I’ve grown fonder and fonder of her. If I turn wolf and join the pack for her, she’ll turn monogamous and be my mate. She wants to stay with her pack. I want a woman who’s only sleeping in my bed. Given our individual natures, our sacrifices are about equal. Now that peace feels like a true possibility, I’m willing to leave the knights.”
“You’re sure that’s what you’re going to want even a hundred years from now? Because there’s no coming back from submitting to another—”
His look stays steeled, and I cut myself off, while he holds his pose in front of me.
Of course he’s given this a lot of thought. It’s Avery. It’d be disrespectful to even suggest otherwise.
My lips tug in a damn near sad grin, and I glance down at Jasper, who has drifted off to sleep.
“Very well. I’ll speak to Emit,” I tell him, as I gently put Jasper in the bassinet I stole from Sanctuary when I took him with me.
That letter’s going to say Demetria can’t keep him.
That letter’s going to ask Violet to be his mother.
That letter’s going to hopefully convince Violet that this is best, because he’s already under my bloody skin. He’s going to need protection, rules, and a lot of training to face the world as a monster with a secret.
After finally getting him settled, I check my phone to see if Damien or Emit, either one, has returned a single one of my many texts.
They haven’t.
Which is typical.
Real fucking typical.
They both disappear when there’s a shitload of work to do, leaving all the responsibility on me, while they selfishly tend to no one else’s problems but half of their own.
The more things change, the more they stay the bloody same.
“I’m sure you’ll be with Leiza tonight, inside Sanctuary. Let me know when the vampire’s honeymoon ends, so that I can speak with Violet as soon as possible,” I tell Avery, who is patiently waiting to be dismissed.
I give him a small smile, as I reach out to shake his hand.
“It’ll be my last order as your alpha. After that, you’re released to Emit Morrigan in good faith, good standing, and full honor,” I tell him. “He’s going to be fucking thrilled, because you’re a damn good beta, Avery. Not that you need me telling you that.”
His eyes glisten, and he clears his throat, while avoiding my gaze. Very promptly, firmly, and briefly, he shakes my hand. He hurriedly releases me, gives me a nod, and then turns and leaves the room without another word.
Avery doesn’t do emotion.
Feels good knowing it’s hard for him to leave.
My gaze drops back down to a picture of Violet on the corner of my desk. It’s one I found tossed haphazardly in a drawer, left forgotten by her. I pocketed it, and somehow it’s ended up getting framed.
My gaze is drawn to the very thing my gaze was drawn to that first day I stumbled into the middle of her argument with Anna—her unique eyes rimmed with that violet shade.
This is a bloody mess.
Her eyes do a variety of things, or they may
not change at all. From what I collected during that battle, her monster can wear any eye or pupil it chooses, including Violet’s. It’s been toying with us since day one.
We’ve bloody handled her with kid-gloves, and she’s truly more powerful than anything I’ve witnessed. And her monster enjoys showing off. It’s also a little bit delusional, while also more lucid, than all of the other monsters. It’s like an entire entity of its own, rather than mindless, basic, bloodthirsty instinct as the driving force.
Violet and her monster played Idun.
In fact, Idun was played like a fucking cheap guitar. And then set up in a cheap display case and told to stay put.
Which she’s done for hours now.
I lean back in my chair, wondering how in the hell we all save face in front of Violet. To her, that shit was easy, while we’ve all made it very clear that Idun’s far more powerful than us.
We’ve also treated her like a fragile doll this entire time. I still don’t know if I can treat her differently.
Anyone who knows us knows we’ve been so damn in love with her that we’d give her almost anything she asks for.
Actually, so far, we have given her everything she’s asked for. In no time, she’s flipped our world upside down, and we’ve let her.
Meanwhile, she’s a fucking alpha, and she could have shredded us all. Then she’d be sitting on the throne, with us licking her heels.
Yet…Damien still has power over her, which…means the wheel of power is more stable than it’s been in centuries. Ever since the day we made the mistake of feeding Idun all the fear she could handle.
“We’re bloody fucking fools,” I tell my male stalker ghost, who has stuck around, likely without Violet’s knowledge. “We sat around telling you all our weaknesses, we built Idun up to a level of invincibility that was irrelevant all along, and even helped you along. We’ve been making all the same mistakes again, only this time, we didn’t realize we were doing it.”
He resists the urge to smile, remaining stoically silent and still in the corner where he’s lurked, off and on, for the last several hours.
Gypsy Truths (All The Pretty Monsters Book 6) Page 51