“Everyone thinks she’s unpredictable,” Anna drawls as she measures Idun with a cold, assessing eye. “Really, she’s just a basic, hostile bitch.”
Idun actually slants a gaze toward Anna, almost acknowledging a ghost, but stops just short of looking directly at her.
“Anyone carrying salt?” Idun asks with an angry, forced smile. “Ghosts really shouldn’t have any influence over the dead. Your dead brother is the one who started this downward spiral of family feuds, after all. He wanted his mummy in the grave with him, sold my family false information, and then ran and gave her family much worse information. Or didn’t your mother mention that?”
Ah, lovely. I knew there’d be a lot of these punch-her-with-the-past-revelation jabs. All of which are irrelevant to me, since I no longer give two shits about their complicated, never-ending history.
It’s become clear there are too many details to their story, because everyone is conniving, competitive, and far too messy.
“You should probably go if I have to be there so soon,” is all I say. “Everyone who hates a Portocale will be tuned in to your show to see how you put me in my place with a nameless shifter as a proxy.”
She just rolls her eyes, pretending to still be above it all.
“Very well, Violet. I wanted to show mercy. Everyone, including the four of them, will remember that. Ask Arion what he’d do to a vampire who lived for centuries unregistered, was taken prisoner for being unregistered as a mercy, and then cried sanctuary inside his girl toy’s home after registering to escape imprisonment. We’re not humans. We don’t game the system when it benefits us, or the world erupts into disease and ends.”
I almost react. Almost.
Idun doesn’t even know that Ivannah was pregnant…
That means Arion has zero leaks inside his home, and I have zero leaks inside this one. For now.
His eyes are on me, like he’s silently willing me not to be an idiot right now. Oh, shit. Now I want to piss myself. I’ve been walking Jasper around, thinking she already knew Ivannah was pregnant.
“Arion doesn’t have a vampire to discuss at current. I personally find all this counterproductive, since you get your pound of flesh. Why are we arguing? The law isn’t being broken, and we’re not circumventing punishment. Run along, Idun. Quit trying to stall and make me late, when it’s being recorded for all to see,” I deflect like a fucking boss—sort of…in a way…I think.
Arion makes a tense sound, as he glares at me, and I hear the bars slowly raising in the house before she’s even gone. Emit has likely forced someone to break the safety protocol just so he can come watch as well.
It’s like unbuckling your seatbelt when you’re a mile from the house.
Idun’s eyes move there like she’s trying to provoke my fear at last, but I sense Emit walking out, hearing the bars quickly lowering again. It’s fingerprint activated, and he’s not cleared to use it.
She doesn’t say anything else as she turns and walks away, and I continue holding my breath, worried my knees will collapse out from under me before I’m in a safe place.
I lock those weak knees in place, using Shera’s notes on faking it for just a little longer. I know the bars are probably pointless against her supposed power, but I guess that’s to be determined, given all the changes I’ve made in her once uninterrupted line of power.
“Oh,” Idun says, smiling brightly as she turns around and opens the book she’s marked with her finger, like she’s been waiting for this part. “Ask your girl toy what article-one, section-two, addendum fifteen is. She’s not very bright, but most Simpletons aren’t. Just remember I did try.”
Vance takes the book, eyes quickly scanning the section she has highlighted, but Damien jerks it away and starts reading aloud.
“January Violet Carmine, representative speaking on behalf of all sanctuary dwellers, has the right to challenge any alpha in combat, should she disagree with any ruling that directly affects Sanctuary. The combat will take place in the Van Helsing flogging rings, same as all public floggings—”
“St. Mary and Joseph,” Vance says as he interrupts, running a hand over his face. “We fucking signed off on this?”
Damien continues as though he hasn’t been interrupted. “—and combat will be judged as an alpha fight, despite the Carmine representative’s undetermined omega status.”
Four very angry gazes swing to me, as Idun steps into the back of a car that begins to immediately move.
“What’s wrong with you?” Damien asks me like I’ve lost my damn mind.
“Shera, don’t open those bars again. Keep everyone safe, and hit the panic button if anything happens,” I say very loudly over my shoulder, as I start walking.
Vance explodes, metaphorically, shouting about how fucking badly I just fucked things up for Ivannah. Arion punches the air, snapping about how I can’t possibly be thinking of challenging Idun.
“She will tear you apart. Literally,” Emit says like he’s pleading with me to understand. “She’s not some caught-off-guard beta wolves who have no idea what you are or are capable of, Violet. She knows Simpletons far more than you even know yourselves.”
I nod as I step around the monstar quad.
“Shera, let the fucking shifter out right now, or I will tear you apart myself the second I get in there,” Arion threatens, his eyes turning red.
The bars don’t raise as I keep walking.
“Almost there,” Anna whispers. “Just keep walking, Violet.”
Mom moves toward me, coming from across the street, eyes narrowing.
“Violet, this is not at all what you were supposed to do! This wasn’t our agreement at all,” she says louder, moving faster, but gets tangled in a remaining camera cord.
I idly notice Idun TV is split between us and Idun, as she smiles on her way to Vance’s home.
“Vance, don’t you dare get in our way,” Arion cautions him.
“What the hell am I supposed to do, Arion? What the fuck about you? Still neutral?” Vance shouts.
Emit shoves between them just before they come to blows, while Damien is distracted with frantically reading on.
“Pssst!”
I glance over, seeing Anna behind the wheel of a sedan with the motor already running. While everyone is distracted, I hop into the back seat, and then remember…Anna’s a fucking ghost.
The car lurches forward, before quickly speeding up faster and faster, and I squeal while clinging to the door. My entire body tries to get airborne around a curve.
Anna screams just as loud as I do, as a random stack of nachos come out of nowhere and slap me in the face. For Pete’s sake! This is a tense situation, and she’s ruining that!
“Why are you driving?!” I shout at her. “How are you driving?!”
“Because you can’t have a fast getaway if you’re doing the speed limit!” she snaps. “And I have ghost powers, eejit!”
Another scream comes out of us both when she takes another curve.
Her scream turns into diabolical laughter, as she lifts her hands so high they pass through the roof. “Look ma! No hands!”
That, of course, only makes me scream louder, even though she’s clearly copy-catting Shera right now.
“Oh! He’s waving at me! And he’s so pretty that I just have to pick him up!”
I barely manage to push up from the floor. How did I land on the floor? I get up just in time to see a shock of dark hair, as an unknown guy slides into the back seat with me.
“Violet Carmine?” he asks with a broad grin.
“Anna, you really shouldn’t pick up creepy hitch hikers right now,” I hiss, wondering why in the world I thought letting Anna drive was a good idea.
He glances around the car.
“Damien Morpheous isn’t driving?” he asks like he’s confused, seconds before the car takes off, slinging us both into each other.
When our foreheads crash together, Anna snorts.
“That’s what you get
for stealing my man, bitch. Did you not hear me call dibs?”
“He can’t see you,” I remind the mostly transparent lunatic, as I hurriedly strap into my seatbelt on the straightaway she’s zooming down. I cut my eyes to the guy still clutching his head like it aches. “Who are you? Why are you hijacking the car we already hijacked?” I demand.
The music cuts up, making it hard to hear him when he tries answering.
Anna grins at me in the rearview mirror. “Sorry not sorry. You already have four stalkers. I just want one.”
“He can’t see you!” I shout again.
Why do I bother?
As the taxi from hell wreaks havoc on my stomach that’s already dreading what comes next with every fiber in my body, the unknown guy just scrambles to also get in his seatbelt.
“I’m actually here to talk to you about a possible beta position, after I talk you out of this really bad idea,” he tells me, as Anna sighs. “You’re not able to challenge her, but you may be able to circumvent her plan today by asking for mercy from the alpha ring. You have enough Heads to back you, and they’ll—”
“What’s your name?” I ask him again, as Anna starts weaving in and out of traffic, taking the scenic route like the deranged sociopath she is.
“Talbot Lane. I’m an incubus, and since you have no one representing our people inside your sanctuary, aside from an alpha none of us can ever remember without a refresher, it’d be an excellent idea to consider me. I brought my portfolio,” he says, passing me a folder, as he brings his phone up.
He notably checks in on his Idun TV app to reveal that the alphas have already started pouring in, ready for a silly fight put up by an embarrassing Simpleton.
“Bloodthirsty, aren’t they?” I muse, smiling tightly.
“Idun’s been unofficially challenged, Ms. Carmine. It’s not happened with someone of Neopry blood since she put Nadine down so hard the woman lost all face in the immortal alpha ring,” he says to me. “And you’re just a wee immortal, Ms. Carmine. This is what I do—I predict outcomes and consequences. And if you ask for mercy, they’ll grant it and make a formal request for Idun to spare this shifter for the sake of continued unity and peace.”
Anna laughs so hard the car jerks to the right…just like her head. I scream and clutch the guy’s leg with the hand that isn’t trying to break the door handle.
“Whoopsy,” Anna says flatly, and then laughs a little again.
“For you, they would,” he says.
I look at someone like they’re naïve for a change.
He leans over. “I’ll level with you. I’ve looked into you since your stirrings in Ireland. I’m a man who lives on predictions, and an entire race of Simpletons was raised by another Simpleton. Yet all eyes swing back to the few skin walkers, while you go on to build an entire sanctuary, get laws added to surround the sanctuary with zero protest from any alphas as it was done, while we all watched Idun TV. And you did this all in five months, Ms. Carmine. I predicted you’d disappear into Idun’s clutches, punished for raising them before she was ready. Don’t make that prediction right this day.”
I sit a little still, and Anna fans herself.
“I like him. Tell him it was all my idea. I mean, I did come up with the part where you break up with them and kidnap the baby. And the part where you run away with a handsome stranger and ride off into the sunset like true monsters.”
“You do know you’re not delusional anymore, right? You have no excuse for this. At all,” I tell her very seriously, as she horrifies me with even worse driving over a bridge.
Why are we on a bridge?
“Anna, now we only have fifteen minutes to get there, and I don’t know a bridge! Do you even know where we’re going?” I shout.
“I swear I do!” she yells, just as the car spins in a one-eighty and takes off into oncoming traffic.
I scream. She screams. Talbot curses and he screws his eyes shut, as we somehow get airborne for a brief, really terrifying second.
“Anna! How am I supposed to be a pretend badass in thirteen minutes?!” I shout at her as I silently pray we land on four wheels very soon.
We hit hard, and I’m yanked forward with the impact.
“Anna, if I lose my head, I’m really dead,” Talbot informs her.
“He said my name,” Anna swoons, and then mocks a really embarrassing orgasm charade that goes on…and on…and on…
“Ooohhh, baby, yesssss,” she groans as Talbot obliviously carries on speaking to me.
It’s hard to concentrate on a complete stranger with Anna orgasming, while using her ghost powers to drive a vehicle in no particular direction, while my entire House is dependent on me dealing with this, so I miss all of what he’s trying to predict to me.
Relief fills me when I see Vance’s house come into view, and I pat the dude’s arm. “Yeah. I’m sure you’re great and all, but I’m sort of busy right now,” I tell him distractedly, as I spot the guys scanning the area out front.
“Anna, stop here,” I tell her, and my entire body is shoved forward just before we plow into the back end of a stationary vehicle.
Anna screams as she catapults from the front seat, landing on the car’s hood in front of us.
Talbot groans as he grips his head like it aches.
“Did not predict a ghost,” he groans to himself. “I should have. Idun wanted salt for a reason.”
I shove the door open, and I turn to face him, since he did endure that ride. “If you can beta for Damien, then I’ll consider you, in the future, for beta at the sanctuary.”
I shut the door, and he scrambles out of it right behind me.
“He hasn’t taken a single beta in over five centuries. Why would he start now?” he asks as he chases after me, while I head straight toward the quad, who are blocking the doors.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Talbot. Everyone else does the work before joining the madhouse. You got to really want it to put up with what’s coming, and if you can’t get Damien to take you on, then you clearly have no work ethic.”
He exhales a frustrated breath. I have no idea why people do that to me so much. I’m the one having to rush toward the woman everyone else is hiding from, because my life sucks so hard sometimes.
“Do this and there won’t be a sanctuary. You can’t help them if you get lost in the Neopry House. She’ll have no mercy once you commit to an alpha fight, and she won’t stop until she breaks you. Every single omega is watching Idun TV with false hope right now, Ms. Carmine. The sanctuary has so much potential and a strong foundation. But despite your best intentions, you’re not an alpha.”
I ignore him as I hear a phantom ticking clock. Emit moves toward me, but I jump back and hold up my hand. “If I don’t go in there right now, she really will tear down my House. I just spent every waking second working on it, and none of you have any right to step in.”
Vance nods curtly, so angry his jaw can’t stop ticking.
“I’ve negotiated with Idun on air,” Arion tells me quietly, his eyes dangerously close to the ‘red zone.’ With a slight growl, he adds, “She’s going to put you down and show you your place. You’re the first of your kind, and a small example needs to be set to remind the world she’s the Neopry alpha for a reason.”
I won’t lie. I want to cry and knee him in the balls at the same time. Instead, I make a small sound of surprise—disappointment and disgust at once.
“We can’t make you understand how dangerous it is to overstep, and Marta wants to treat you like an equal, while you manipulate us all into doing whatever delusional new achievement—”
“Let’s get on with the humbling show then, shall we?” I interrupt as I shove past Emit.
I wipe the stray tear away as I head inside. I don’t even have time to catch my breath or reinforce my pretend badass. My knees just barely wobble, but I keep it together, thinking of everything…except what’s about to happen.
CHAPTER 10
VANCE
“I tried to salt the bloody ghost, but she disappeared before I could,” Damien says as we all stand idly on the front steps, staring at the man who got out of the vehicle with Violet as he climbs into a window of the coliseum with a distinct lack of subtlety.
I’m not even sure why they came in from that direction.
“She’s taken on too much, and she’s going down the same path as the pureblood wolves did with Emit. She’s doing the exact same thing to Idun, and she doesn’t even see it. She’s the one intentionally riling Idun the second Idun enforces her authority,” Arion bites out.
I scrub a hand over my face.
“What’d you have to give her in trade?” I ask him.
“What did her mercy cost? I promised her a seat at the table instead of seating Nadine in her place. It’s one punishment I knew she’d not be able to pass up having lifted,” he says, as I nod vacantly.
It’s a large concession, but it’s the only option Violet’s left us with.
We head inside, ignoring the probing looks of everyone. Dorian smirks at Damien, and Damien pointedly avoids glancing in his direction.
The Neopry skin walkers all sit in an isolated grouping, leisurely chatting amongst themselves, as though all is fucking well with the world now that someone we care for is about to suffer.
Idun left them underground while she created her own website and livestreaming service. Violet raised them, and this is her reward. We have to trade for mercy for a soft-hearted, naïve omega.
Nadine is the only one looking on with some sympathy, as Violet steps into the arena, cracking her neck to the side.
The suspicious fellow from earlier is lurking off to the side, though I’m not sure whose beta he is. He actually looks disgusted with all this, and disappointed in Violet.
“Be glad you have friends in high places, Violet. You won’t get your way, and the shifter will still get her flogging—a lick for every year she didn’t have it done—but at least you’ll feel better about yourself for trying. Winning spirits all around, and the little guy gets his shot at the big one for a fleeting moment, without too much damage done,” Idun says as we take a seat.
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