“Is Emily going to be there when we get there?” I ask, trying a new tactic.
“Probably. She’s been sulking all day,” she adds on a mumble.
“Is Isiah going or staying?”
“He’s going. It turns out he loves her more the few minutes she gives him, than all the hours I give him when she’s not around. I’m quite fine with it,” she says with a firm nod. “She’s been missing for the entire century Arion’s been under, but Isiah still chooses her. Again, totally fine. It’s for the best, really. Emily would be furious if he chose a lowly beta like me over her.”
I think she needs...girl talk…vampire style. It takes me a second to shift gears, because I wasn’t expecting this.
“She’ll eventually get him killed, but that’s fine too,” she says like she’s baiting me to continue asking questions.
I look at her, waiting on her to elaborate, as I fold and put away my apron.
“Arion shows a lot of patience with him, because he blames Emily for all his small, disrespectful traits,” she carries on with a sigh. “I blame her too, because she doesn’t remind him how to act around other alphas. Arion is the Head of his entire family, Emily included. Isiah talks too much, and Arion is generous by letting him live.”
“Sounds like it,” I state dryly.
“It’s not easy to keep a bunch of vampires in line,” she says with a shrug. “It took Isiah and I both to do what Arion barely has to lift a finger to do. Arion’s established himself as the vampire alpha no one wants to fuck with, which makes my job much easier. Emily doesn’t have that same sense of authority, and she’s going to get Isiah killed when the mutinies begin.”
She gives me a pointed look.
“Remember they let you talk to them differently than you’re allowed to talk to other alphas. Arion’s family is vast, but Emily is special to him. Careful how you behave in front of her, should your paths cross. Emily’s the only friend Idun ever made, because not even Idun crossed that line against Arion.”
It feels like an actual heartfelt warning, and I don’t like the chill that goes up my spine, as the dread of meeting Emily slowly starts to mount.
She sniffs the air, looking around.
“It smells like a giant orange in this shop. Where are your wolves?” she asks idly.
“I think they went shopping…with my credit card, since I got an unusual activity alert. They’ve been missing for a few hours. I should ask Emit what ‘keeping them’ entails, because it seems like they’ve been spending more and more of my money while I’ve been busy.”
She starts to say something, but the door chimes, as someone else walks in.
“We’re closed for the day,” I say, distracted by one of the boxes sticking out.
When I glance up, my eyes widen. Shera turns to see what has my attention, as a familiar woman holds up a tube of Gypsy Magic toothpaste.
“Pity,” she says, glancing at the tube and back at me. “I’ve searched this town high and low for this place. Heard this was the only place I could get more of this.”
A sick feeling twists in my gut as Abby, the pureblood wolf who shot an arrow through Damien’s heart while he was invisible, stares at me, holding onto that damning bottle of toothpaste I watched her quite literally pummel a girl for.
Turns out…that girl was dead. Not just unconscious.
“It’s not that special. Certainly not worth killing over,” I tell her very calmly, even though I don’t feel calm at all, and those are the first words that come out of my mouth.
She grins. “That night was a rough one. Omegas train to fight and it fucks with our heads a little.”
“What is she talking about?” Shera asks, pointing at her. “Did you pick up a new stray?”
Abby gives her a dismissive look, something far different from what Lemon or the others do when Shera is around. Abby’s not scared, despite being an omega.
At least not of Shera.
“Shera, this is Abby. Can you wait for me outside?” I ask her.
“I think it’s best if she waits in here. I know exactly who Shera is and who she betas for. Just my lucky day that I get two instead of one.”
Shera moves fast, like that’s all the prompting she needed.
Abby narrowly dodges her fist, but doesn’t dodge the knee that Shera solidly slams into Abby’s middle.
The pureblood wolf grunts, but then fangs elongate, her eyes dim, and she launches herself at Shera. The tackle happens so fast that I don’t even get a full visual of it, and they’re a blur of motion as they sail through the air and crash to the floor.
When Shera’s head bounces off the floor, I ease my knife out of the holster on my ankle—the one Vance made a point of returning early this morning, right as I was tubing the toothpaste.
Shera doesn’t move after Abby hits her hard across the cheek. The vampire lies motionlessly on the floor, completely out cold.
Hopefully not dead.
“Betas forget they’re not always stronger,” Abby says as she wipes blood away from her split lip.
Looks like Shera got in another hit or two before getting knocked out.
Abby’s eyes flick to mine as she grins, and I slowly ease the knife back into the holster.
“You’re kidnapping us? To draw Emit out to you?” I surmise.
“No, Violet Carmine. I’m not kidnapping you to draw Emit out. After spending some time actually preparing for the whole lot, I’m getting all the alphas there, and they seem very protective and possessive of you. Guess Dad should have thought of that before he had your throat slit.”
I’m confused…
She flips Shera to her stomach and pulls out cuffs that sizzle against Shera’s skin, restraining her limp body.
“See, it’s funny how Dad mentioned he was going to kill this new girl Emit was into to hurt him like our people were hurt. It’s rare Emit gets attached to…anyone,” she says, giving me a cruel smile, before returning her attention to binding Shera.
“Our people were slaughtered by the same vampire who showed up and fought at Emit’s side. A werewolf killed other werewolves at the vampire alpha’s side. The very vampire who started all this, Violet,” Abby goes on like she’s educating me, while she starts tying Shera’s legs together. “You attack the strong through the weak. Emit’s supposed to be the weak link, given his eternally tortured soul and all.”
I say nothing as I wait, letting her talk while she will, getting more information from her than people who just want to kill me and be done with it. In this moment, I decide I prefer villains who are proud enough of their diabolical, ‘genius’ plans to do the evil monologue.
“Arion will be crazed without his favorite beta. The one he denied his very own sister just yesterday. On top of that, he also loses his favorite new toy? He’ll make all sorts of mistakes,” she tells me in a nearly mocking tone.
Her gaze levels me in the next instant, and her lips tilt ever so sinisterly, as though she’s about to divulge the part she’s most proud of.
“My guess is that he’ll show up first, since he now has the most to lose. No hard feelings, Violet. I’m not even sure who or what you are, nor do I care. I do know that it doesn’t matter, because it’s rare they have something to care about that matters enough to get all four in one place. I can’t believe I simply overlooked such a key piece. I could have saved half my army had I known.”
She ran when Arion showed up, and now she’s back to try and trap all four at once? She has to be insane—even by monster standards.
“Omegas aren’t meant to be led into battle, and certainly not by other omegas. You’re going to get them all killed because you’re batshit crazy and don’t realize it,” I inform her, just to be sure I’ve tried the most feasibly diplomatic approach first.
She grins as if I’ve gone and amused her somehow.
“A world where wolves are ruled by alphas who hold us back, kill us off, and reel us in…is no world for a wolf. Maybe the turned ones signed over their lives, but we didn’t. It’s a new dawn, Violet. Dad just got careless and didn’t listen to me. Then again, he was a beta. Betas think they know it all.”
I can only deduce the fact that Ian was her father, and apparently they were close.
Awesome.
Just awesome.
I remember when a normal day seemed boring. I really miss normal days, and I hate that I took them for granted for so long.
“Kill them, and they come back. Bury them, and they dig out,” I remind her, still trying to talk her off that ledge. “It’s what Ian forgot. Don’t be as stupid as him.”
“Unless you happen to have four Van Helsing caskets lying around, that happen to be individually designed for all four types of alphas,” she chirps, reaching what is hopefully the proudest confession of the evening.
Since she doesn’t correct the name I used, I’m now convinced Ian was most definitely her father.
“I guess Vance should check his inventory more often,” she adds, smirking again. “His house is a little lax on security, and he’s too arrogant to really think someone is brave enough to fuck with his things.”