by Lexi C. Foss
I remained there with my head bowed, glaring at the ground. A loud pounding started in my ears, growing until it became deafening. She lifted her hand to slap me again, and I sent a right hook sailing toward her face. Magic rushed through me, forcing my hair to rise as if a strong wind had caught it. I hit her again and again, sending her backward with each hit.
Winchester shouted for everyone to back away, her eyes filling with worry as she watched me. My skin turned bright red and continued until my entire body was glowing and pulsing with power. I slammed my mother down, stepping back, using magic to lift her, crushing her body onto a car which flattened beneath her with the force I’d used. Someone moved behind me, and I turned, grabbing Sauer by his throat.
“Enough, you stupid little bitch! She’s my wife!” Sauer shouted, and I laughed coldly. He sent silver rushing toward me from the palm of his hand. One by one, his bullets hit me. My body absorbed them, melting them as he watched in horrified silence.
Sauer not being my brother, but instead, my mother’s husband, was probably the only thing that made sense right now. He’d always been beside her, the only male from her line allowed into the armory with her. Sauer raised his fist to hit me, and my heated hand pushed through his chest. I wrapped my fingers around his heart, and a sickening sound filled the air when I pulled it from his chest. I watched without emotion as his eyes widened, and he began to turn to ash.
“My mommy seems to be missing one, so I have taken yours for her. I do hope you don’t mind, brother,” I whispered barely above the howl of the wind. “I’m also part Silversmith, which means that I am immune to your silver.” I grinned at the other Silversmiths, who quickly removed their hands from their pockets, holding them in the air.
Turning, I shot into the air, landing on the car above my mother, watching her cry as the wind picked up her lover’s ashes. Her mouth opened to scream, and I thrust his heart into her mouth, pushing my entire fist into it, forcing it deep into her throat. I laughed hysterically, watching her choke on her lover’s heart while trying to gain air past my fist. Withdrawing my arm, I peered into her horrified eyes.
“Stop being so weak, Mother! What’s the matter, Mommy? You don’t like my monster? It’s okay; it doesn’t like you, either,” I chuckled, slamming my fist into her face until her head smashed into bloody bits, and her body turned to ash, just like her lover’s.
I dropped my head back, smiling while the powdery remains of her body filtered into the air. I could hear the Silversmiths, the alphas, and their people gasping while trying to figure out what had just happened.
I’d finally let my monster out to play, and she was not going into the box anytime soon. Done were the days of being abused or held hostage. I wasn’t some weakling that could be held down by my mother—or Rhys Van Helsing.
33
I turned slowly, staring at the Silversmiths who watched me wordlessly. Standing, I dropped from the car as it started to compact under the heat of the fire burning through it. Smiling, I walked toward the crowd that had come to save me.
“The House of Silversmith will rise,” I stated, turning glowing eyes on the alphas. “Under a few conditions, of course,” I corrected, bowing my head to hide the smile.
“Remington,” Winchester whispered, and when I leveled a cold, unemotional gaze in her direction, she closed her eyes. “We kneel,” she agreed, dropping to her knees before me.
I watched the Silversmith bloodline dropping before me. I didn’t want submission. I wanted to live without being told I was nothing. My father did not create me to become an alpha, of that I was certain. I was the enforcer, designed to protect the bloodline from the alphas. What my mother hadn’t realized, was that my father wasn’t a shifter, or a shape changer. He was the phoenix. An undiscovered breed that had remained in the shadows forged in the fires and grew stronger from them. I’d never known they existed, and yet all signs had pointed to it. It wasn’t until Rhys had forced me to remember my father leaving, and Cole’s words outside the forgery had played in my head.
My father had called me his little bird, and he’d taken me to play within the fires without the others knowing. Winchester had removed him from my memories, locking away my childhood to protect me from the pain of my mother and her endless hatred toward me. Rhys had opened the doors to those memories, as I had rested in the forge last week, I’d remembered them all.
I couldn’t be an alpha, not with the other issue I’d discovered today. I wasn’t going to rise because it wasn’t my house anymore. I was House of Phoenix, which, as far as I knew, was just me. Soon, there would be another, though.
“Who here challenges me for alpha?” I asked, turning to stare at the men who hadn’t fully bowed. One rose, stepping forward. “Do you plan to raise the house without prejudice or malice of the past?”
“I will crush them all for what they did to us,” he smiled coldly.
Slowly, I stepped toward him, striking before he could say more, watching his head bounce across the ground until it came to a rest at Rhys’s feet.
“Anyone else?” I asked softly. “No? Rise, Winchester, Head of Silversmith House.”
“Remington?” she whispered.
“I cannot be an alpha. I am not a full-blooded Silversmith. My father created me to ensure that history never repeated itself. My father is the last phoenix. Therefore, I will become his heir. His house needs me, and yours has you, sister. You have always done the right thing. I expect that to continue. If any Silversmith wishes to fight my sister, they will fight me as her second before reaching her. That goes for you as well.” I turned, staring at Cole and Rhys, who watched me with narrowed stares of condemnation. “Now go, because you’re not welcome here.”
I stepped back, watching my family pile into the cars, leaving as quickly as they’d shown up. I started toward Rhys, but he stepped back, glaring at me with loathing in his eyes. I stalled before him, frowning.
“Don’t be mad. You’re the one who opened the gate to those memories,” I stated, watching the tick hammering in his jaw. “I’m leaving. Nyx secured a house for us in town. I thought I’d give you the courtesy of the truth.” I watched as he turned, and Ian dropped his gaze to my stomach before his eyes rounded.
Rhys swung back, his eyes filled with hatred that was deeply embedded from years of guilt. “The truth? Roslyn was your mother, and you expect me to believe that you had no idea? You came here out of the blue, fell into my fucking lap, and yeah, I questioned it. I never for one second thought you’d be the daughter to the murderous whore who ruined the lives of everyone she touched. So, what the fuck do you have to say to me that could fucking matter now?”
“I’m pregnant,” I swallowed, watching his eyes narrowing on me as he laughed coldly.
“Fuck you, Remington. I’m not buying that you’re pregnant. I want nothing to do with you, do you understand me?” he snarled.
“She’s very much pregnant, Rhys. She has two heartbeats,” Ian announced, and Cole exhaled, staring at me.
“Fuck you too, Ian,” Rhys growled, gazing at me with cold malice that soaked into my bones.
“You think I knew who she was? I thought my mother was Elizabeth Silversmith. That’s who I knew her to be since as long as I can remember. Honestly, I probably would have kept it from you had I known. You questioned me being here, but I never wanted to be here, Rhys. You forced me to stay with you. You took my silver, and while I didn’t understand the gravity of it, I know you did. My father found my mother and pretended to be something he wasn’t so that I could be born to police the Silversmiths. I don’t know why, or what his actual intentions were for creating me with Roslyn. I didn’t come here to hurt you. I came because my mother wasn’t answering her phone, and all of my memories said she was a gentle, loving mother who cared if I lived or died. Winchester shouldn’t have changed or altered my memories. I assume she never thought I would wind up in the hands of the one creature strong enough to destroy the wall inside my head that held the horribl
e truth locked away.”
“I don’t care what fucked up shit your mommy did to you. I don’t care about you or your whore of a mother. I get it now. My deep attraction to you wasn’t for you at all. I just needed it spelled out for me. You’re the daughter of the one woman I ever loved, and she’s a part of you. I wanted her so I could save her. I ended up with her lying, conniving daughter instead. No wonder it was so easy to let my guard down around you. I’m sure that was why I wanted your tight pussy so bad as well.”
I laughed silently, fighting against the tears his words created within me. I sucked my lip between my teeth, slowly balling my hands into tight fists at my sides. He hated me, and I was very much pregnant with his child. I’d discovered it right before heading into the hall where I’d gotten distracted by Thurston. I nodded, wiping my eyes, inhaling a fortified breath. He watched me expectantly, like he assumed I’d argue with him pushing me away. Instead, I turned toward the Audi, where Nyx sat, having sensed my need to escape.
“You’re going to let her walk away with the heir to the Van Helsing House in her womb?” Nyota snapped, her eyes sliding to me and back to Rhys.
“It’s not my heir, at least not one I will claim openly.”
“Rhys, she didn’t even know! She killed the evil bitch! Remington isn’t Roslyn. She’s danced with dimwits and charmed the entire alpha population without fucking them. Who has ever been able to do that before?” Nyota hissed.
“Roslyn, her mother,” he answered, turning to walk into the house while I slid into the car silently.
“Drive,” I whispered, closing the door before the car started down the cobblestone driveway.
“He is wrong to do this to you.”
“He feels betrayed, Nyx. I don’t blame him. I don’t even know what to think right now. My mother was the horrid monster, one who enjoyed hurting him. I feel dirty. I slept with a man who loved my mother.”
“Yeah, that one is a bit awkward, no matter how you argue it, or I would.”
“I mean, it was like three hundred years ago, so that shouldn’t make it as weird, right?” I asked, and she turned to look at me laughing, slowly shaking her head.
“What are we going to do now, Remington?”
“I’m a Silversmith and a silversmith by trade. You’re a nymph, one who has guys eating out of your vagina if you ask them to. We’ll be okay. We’re going to be okay.”
“You’re going to have a baby which means you need to be careful. It’s going to need a name.”
My hand touched my flat stomach, and I smiled through the tears blinding me. “Bullet,” I laughed, hating the sick feeling that ruined the moment. Tears slipped free as a sob exploded from my lips. Nyx pulled the car off to the side of the road, sliding out of her seat to come around, opening my door to hold my hand; she knelt, staring up at me.
“It’s going to be okay. We’re not alone.”
“Literally,” I said, watching a speeding car swerve to the side Nyx had pulled off on, stopping in front of ours.
We watched in silence as Nyota opened the door with Cole exiting the other side of the car. Both slowly walked up to the open car door while I wiped away the tears.
“I’m coming with you,” Nyota announced.
“Excuse me?” I asked, staring up at her.
“I’m moving in with you,” she said awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. “If it is okay with you, I’d like to move in. You’re going to need protection. You’re also going to need money since Rhys just froze both of your bank accounts. I won’t allow him to make rash decisions that leave you and his child on the streets until he screws his head back on correctly.”
“Like our own private ninja?” Nyx asked, and I closed my eyes.
“Thank you for offering, Nyota. You don’t even like me, though. Bullet will be fine; we’ve never used the bank account set up by E.V.I.E. Everyone needs a backup plan, and ours was to escape and build a Silversmith company, with a strip club above it.”
“Who the hell is Bullet?” she asked with a frown marring her face.
“The baby,” I answered, and her eyes rounded with shock.
“You cannot name it Bullet. You know that, right? Bullet Van Helsing? It’s actually not as bad once you add the last name.”
“Bullet Silversmith,” I frowned, and she frowned too. “And no, that’s what I’m naming the baby for now because that’s currently its size.”
“Scoot up,” she said, climbing in the backseat. “Get my shit out of the car, Cole,” Nyota ordered as I sat up closer to the dash, allowing her into the backseat.
The moment she slid in, the seat slammed forward, and I groaned, rubbing my forehead. The seat made a cracking noise, and her hand touched against my side, slowly moving toward my belly as if she would feel the baby move. I groaned louder and glared back at Nyota before righting myself in the seat.
“I didn’t say yes,” I muttered, staring at Cole’s stiff spine as he moved to do what Nyota had asked of him.
“You’re pregnant, and you just used magic. You don’t have a Van Helsing handy to protect you from the curse,” she stated, tapping her hand on my shoulder. “Now, you do.”
My gaze slid to Cole’s, finding him studying me carefully. He had avoided me for days, and he didn’t look happy to be here right now. I exhaled and swallowed.
“I didn’t know she was my mother, Cole. I murdered her today for things she said, but also for things she did in the past to you and your family. She wasn’t kind to me, not as I thought she was. My sister protected me from the truth, which Rhys unlocked when he entered my dreams and took control of them. The same one I pushed you out of.” Cole snorted, searching my face briefly. Dismissing me, he stared up the road silently. “Everyone hates me now, and I can’t change my parentage.”
“It’s a big bomb that got dropped today, Remi. Think about it; Rhys let his guard down, and you and he were happy. He had never slept with the same woman twice since Roslyn, yet he did with you. He grew attached to you, allowing himself to be happy finally, and then, he comes face-to-face with the woman who destroyed him. Then, he finds out that the one woman he’s allowed himself to be happy with, well, she’s her daughter. You also made a fallen house rise, and you technically don’t have the power to do that. It has to be voted on in the sanctuary with the other alphas all present.”
“How do I go about doing it legally?” I asked, and Nyota’s hand tightened on my shoulder.
“You don’t because you have me. I’ll set it up and make Rhys give you sanctuary for it, or I’ll drive him insane until he agrees. See, you’ll like having me around. You have no idea of the gravity of what a child will do for us.”
“No, I don’t. Here’s the thing, though, I’m done with everyone keeping secrets from me, Nyota. People have lied to me and taken advantage of me because I was naïve. That’s not something I can change, but I can take control of my life from this point on. I can no longer think of only me anymore. Bullet is going to need me to make decisions that will shape the future he or she inherits. I have to do better. The only way I can do that is by surrounding myself with people who care about me, and those who will also love my child. Nyx has my back without question, but where do your loyalties land?”
“With my family,” she stated honestly, her hand tightening on my shoulder. “And my family is in your womb, growing. That means you’re my family now, too. You’re Rhys’s silver, whether he wants it or not. He chose to accept you, and he offered you his protection. I vow to you that I will always tell you the truth unless it endangers my brothers. If it becomes an issue, I will live in a tent outside your house.”
“Like a stalker?” Nyx asked, popping the button for the trunk. Cole dropped the bag in, and I watched him walk off without a backward glance.
“Exactly like a stalker. Rhys has many enemies, and they’ll see his child as a weakness. They don’t know that he has disowned it, and they will not stop to ask questions. The entire Beltane guest list was outside for the a
nnouncement of his child’s existence.” Cole peeled out, heading in the opposite direction of the Van Helsing Estate. “My family just broke again, Remi. That pain just became fresh for them, and even though you killed Roslyn for good, it’s going to take a few minutes for them to see you had no part of this mess. I can see it because I watched you instead of that murderous bitch during the fight. You had no idea your mother was Roslyn, and actually thought she was Elizabeth. It’s both sad and pathetic.”
“Uh, thanks,” I snorted, chewing over what she said while my chest tightened with pain from the betrayal and Rhys’s outright rejection of our child.
“I did just say I wouldn’t lie to you. I thought you wanted honesty?”
“Some white lies aren’t bad,” I admitted while counting to ten inside my head, holding on for dear life as Nyx sped us down the road. “I feel like the most unwanted, blind fool in the world.”
“You pretty much are,” Nyota stated.
“White lies, Nyota!” I snapped.
“You’re brilliant,” she corrected.
“Asshole,” I muttered.
“Bitch,” she huffed.
“I need dick,” Nyx announced, and I rolled my eyes while Nyota made a crude noise from where she sat pressed against my seat.
“This is going to be insane. A nymph, a Van Helsing, and a pregnant Silversmith,” I frowned. “What could possibly go wrong?”
“Is that the house?” Nyota asked as Nyx pulled into a driveway.
The house looked abandoned with windows covered in plywood, as if preparing for a hurricane to hit, or worse. The grass was yellow and dead, and the porch ceiling was hanging down, as if something had sat on it, crushing it beneath the weight.
“Please tell me this is a joke?” I asked, turning worried eyes on Nyx, who smirked, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel.
“It just needs some elbow grease, right? I mean, you said anything would work.”
