Gypsy Rising (All The Pretty Monsters Book 5)

by Kristy Cunning

  “If they want to eradicate you, they’ll have to go through me first. Then they’ll have to get through my mother, who also happens to be a really badass alpha just like them.”

  Marta smirks, casting a subtle, smug look in our direction. Fucking cunt.

  “Marta Portocale sitting at the bedside of an unregistered shifter and offering her protection,” the shifter says, laughing humorlessly.

  “You lost a lot of blood, shifter. Rest now. You’re not thinking like a proper omega,” Marta says dismissively.

  “This is Omega U. She can say whatever she wants,” Violet tells Marta like it’s a reminder.

  “Omega U?” I mouth to myself, wrinkling my nose at the terrible, groan-worthy name.

  May as well put up a sign that reads, EASY TARGETS GALORE or IDUN’S FIRST STRIKE ZONE.

  Marta just casts a bland look at Violet, but the shifter is so loopy she gives a dopey grin, dropping back.

  “It’s all a dream, of course, but it’s the first time I’ve slept without nightmares,” she murmurs before drifting back off into a snore on the stretcher.

  I finally look around and realize we’re in Violet’s new shop, given all the supplies on the shelves in the much larger space.

  “She got blood all over your pretty new floors,” Marta says on a sigh.

  “That’s why I got these. Blood cleans up easily,” Violet says, only confusing me, actually.

  Why would there be a lot of blood?

  Marta snorts as Violet stands with the babe, lifting a little bottle.

  I’m not sure why Marta hasn’t outed us yet, but I notice how she watches Violet with the baby. I also notice that Arion has moved closer to her, studying the entire scene just a little too intensely.

  “Their blood turns slimy and green when they die,” Marta states like she’s filling the need for conversation. “Hers still runs red, so she’ll be fine.”

  “Obviously,” Violet mutters distractedly as the baby’s face crumples like he’s about to cry.

  She quickly sets about soothing him, and Arion lowers himself to the ground like he’s prepared to hide in my illusion all night.

  “You should get some rest. I’ll care for the child while—”

  “She’s scared of alphas, vampires, Van Helsing knights, and essentially everyone else but Simpletons,” Violet says in interruption to her. “Until she’s not, no one else touches her baby. Not even my wolves. Make her trust you if you want me to get some sleep, because it’s clearly not happening for me tonight.”

  The baby finally cries, and Violet kisses his head, staying calm like she’s a natural at this, as he quickly calms back down, soothed by just her patience.

  I take a seat on the floor opposite Arion, content to just watch. She really is a fool if she thinks we’re letting her go that easily.

  CHAPTER 9

  VIOLET

  “What are you supposed to do?” Ivannah asks me on a choked whisper, as I place her sleeping son next to her.

  “Starting tomorrow, I begin the very impossible road of making people care.”

  “What about—”

  “Say her name and I’ll lose all respect for you. She’s not going to be a problem for me.”

  She snorts derisively, and Jasper kicks in his bassinet.

  “You only talk so brave because you’re so young,” she says like she’s warning me. “What you’re doing here will only last until she decides to tear it all down”

  “Let her try,” I murmur distractedly, glancing at my phone.

  She just looks at me like she’s too exhausted to argue, but her face falls when Jasper makes a whimpering sound in the bassinet. I walk out, hearing her getting up just as he starts to fuss, and I sigh as I lean against the door.

  Anna pops out, giving me a thumb’s up.

  “Keep an eye on her,” I tell her as I take a moment to rest my legs.

  I hear Ivannah singing to Jasper. His fussiness quietens, and a small smile lights my lips. Feeling better once I hear her tending him, I watch as Anna hops back inside to keep an eye on them.

  “Violet!” Shera calls from downstairs, and I make my own whimper, wishing my mother would sing me to freaking sleep.

  “What?” I ask without moving, closing my eyes for just a few seconds.

  Two arms lift me suddenly, and my head falls against a chest. I know exactly whose chest it is too.

  “Put me down, Emit,” I mumble against his shirt.

  “I’ll put you in bed so you can sleep, little monster. But you can’t be on your feet any longer,” he murmurs against my forehead, before brushing a kiss there. “And you can’t break up with friends the same as boyfriends.”

  “You’ve been a shitty friend,” I point out, eyes still closed.

  “Believe it or not, Violet, we’re just trying to keep you safe.”

  “Believe it or not, that’s the last thing I want you to do,” I mumble, causing him to make a frustrated sound.

  “Usually, a House of this size has thirty or more omegas doing all that you’ve been doing on your own,” he says as something soft hits my back.

  I end up tucked against him, as he covers us up.

  “No less than fifteen betas tackling the more sensitive items you want kept close to the vest,” he goes on, as I fight to force my body to move off the bed.

  Mentally, I fight, that is. Physically, I can’t really move. I’m too tired.

  “You’re trying to essentially be an alpha without an alpha mentality to pull it off, Violet. It’s too much for you to do, and you need alphas around to make things—”

  “I’m certainly not trying to be an alpha, and I do have alphas. Lots of them. Forty-eight Neopry Simpleton alphas and one Portocale alpha. Please stop talking for five minutes. Just five minutes. Wake me up after that,” I murmur as it all starts to dim.

  He goes quiet, just drawing small circles on my back.

  Then I jar awake when I hear Emit snapping, “For fuck’s sake, Shera, give her just a little while to sleep.”

  “I would, but there’s a big development on Idun TV that she needs to be aware of,” Shera says in a bit of a panic.

  “Why the hell would I care about Idun TV?” I groan.

  “Because she’s reading the blue book at the park across the fucking street.”

  My eyes open, and I glance at the TV near the end of the bed, just as Shera cuts it on. I heave out a breath as I swing my legs off the bed and stand.

  “What the hell is the blue book?” Emit asks very insistently.

  I see Damien on the screen, along with Arion and Vance, as they all stand in front of her.

  “Relax, boys. I’m only here to talk to her about the newly registered shifter who didn’t bother registering until she could claim sanctuary. That’s it,” Idun says convincingly.

  “You’ll bleed before you make it any farther than this,” Vance assures her.

  She gestures to the book in her lap. “It’s in my legal right to address such things when I feel there’s foul play and smell someone gaming the system. This shifter started as your prisoner until she claimed sanctuary. It sets a bad precedent for all of us, including your girlfriend, if this isn’t handled.”

  “You barely know her, Violet,” Shera says, as I start toward the door. “It’s not going to be the statement you want. She’s choosing the wrong victim. No one will want some pointless shifter to have sanctuary. I told you this from the beginning, and warned you to be prepared to compromise this once.”

  “What the bloody hell are you two even talking about?” Emit asks as I pull on the shoes he must have taken off me.

  How much sleep did I get?

  “You’d know if you’d read the book, friend,” Anna says as she pops inside.

  “You have a job. Stick to it,” I remind her very pointedly.

  “Bobo came and got her and took her and Jasper into the walls with the others,” Anna says like she’s bored with me. “My job is done for now.”

  “Vio
let, you’re not going anywhere,” Emit growls as I finger-comb my hair on the way down the stairs.

  I hear Idun TV blasting everywhere, and not a soul is in sight, aside from Avery and his men, who are all waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. The walls are probably really crowded right now.

  “You can’t really stop this, Emit. You signed it. You made it law. I only need five of the six Houses. After all, it’s the rule: Five gypsies families for one sacrifice.”

  “What the actual fuck are you talking about right now?” he goes on, as Idun continues explaining mostly the same thing to the other three.

  “You all keep calling me naïve, simply because you won’t open your eyes or listen or do anything besides sit and wait. You let Idun call the shots.”

  “You’ve said Idun’s not your problem, Violet,” Emit says as he leaps over me and lands at the bottom of the stairs to block my path.

  I pause as he just glares at me.

  “Let us handle this. All she wants is one shifter,” he’s saying, as TV Idun says, “Step aside, lovers. I just want the shifter.”

  “Do you hear yourself agreeing with her just because it’s easier to do?” I ask Emit, and then glance back at Shera, whose lips thin, as she holds her iPad to her chest.

  “Idun’s not your problem, Violet,” Emit says again, as if he even knows what I’ve been trying to tell him.

  “You’re right. She’s not,” I agree with him, leaning up to cup his cheek.

  Then I duck under him before he realizes what’s going on. He reaches for me too late, because I hit the alert button that shoots up the security system bars, sealing off the entire area past the lobby.

  Emit curses when he realizes just how strong those bars are.

  “I thought you had a problem with bars,” he grinds out as the bars cover every single window as well.

  “Those were fun to lie about/explain to my architect, but he’s recently worked on some very important bank vaults, and had a unique idea to weave them in. Glad you’re just now noticing,” I add before I turn and walk out the door. “Those are to keep everyone in here safe, so don’t fuck with them.”

  “Vance, she’s coming out, and I’m currently unable to stop her,” Emit says very loudly.

  I catch a glimpse of Idun’s subtle smile on the screen, before I step outside the doors.

  Vance is there to block me next, eyes narrowed like he’s about to throw me over his shoulder and carry me back inside.

  “I heard a rumor she broke up with all of you over a week ago,” Idun muses from somewhere behind Vance.

  “Go inside, Violet,” Vance tells me with a humorless, tight smile, keeping his voice calm and gentle.

  “She’s here to talk about my shifter, and—”

  “Your shifter?” Idun asks on a small, condescending laugh. “How adorable. You’ve honestly coaxed the poor girl into thinking she has the brass to pull this out.”

  “It’s law, Vance. You can’t stop me,” I say as I step around him.

  “Never thought you’d be one to use that against me,” he says next to my ear, pushing against me from behind, as he leans down.

  I pause, turning my head so that his nose and mine brush, as I make too-close eye contact.

  “Really? What else can I do?” I ask seriously.

  “Relax,” Idun says as though anyone is frazzled, though Damien does look ready to rip her head off.

  Arion is just standing between us, not showing any expression.

  “Violet, just give her the shifter. She’s registered to Idun, and she’s right about setting the precedent not to allow runners to abuse your sanctuary,” Arion states like he’s being the diplomatic voice of reason, never even glancing at me, as he gives Idun a placating smile.

  “No.”

  His smile falls, and the vampire narrows his eyes over at me.

  “You can’t answer no, love,” he says like he’s cautioning me. “It’s just one shifter, Violet. One who started as a prisoner.”

  “One who did absolutely nothing wrong, has never harmed anyone, and is claiming sanctuary in my home.”

  “I have laws, Violet,” Idun says with an amused expression. “I’m not here to cause any problems with you,” she carries on while the cameras following her pan out wider, likely to add drama to the moment.

  “You’re not a problem for me,” I inform her, causing Vance to pinch the bridge of his nose as I just stare Idun in her cold blue eyes.

  I see it in the way she fights to hold that amused expression in place that she can only handle so much pretending.

  “Good,” she lies, smiling bigger.

  “By law, you can’t pull her out of here without my direct consent, and I don’t give it,” I add.

  Damien glares over at me. “What are you doing, Violet?”

  I shrug a shoulder. “Taking a stand. Making you care.”

  Arion’s eyes stay narrowed on me, as Idun gives a tight smile. “I see the game here. Well, dear, surely someone’s informed you, that by law, I have the right to punish any delayed registries.”

  “You have a right to a public flogging attended by all alphas who wish to view it and nothing else,” I tell her.

  Her lips twitch. “It just so happens that a large portion of alphas have flown in for a meeting that will happen tomorrow to discuss reinstating—”

  “I know,” I interrupt. “I was waiting on you to show up. It’s all been arranged, and it turns out that Vance has the necessary viewing arena for public floggings, per Van Helsing law, of course.”

  Her jaw grinds like she’s annoyed I find her entirely too predictable.

  “Well, then, why are we still here? Bring the shifter out so we can get on with it then,” she says, smiling darkly.

  “Actually, you don’t get to have any interaction with my people outside of the flogging grounds when one has claimed sanctuary. It’s in the rules they all signed,” I point out, gesturing around at the four angry alphas surrounding me.

  “What are you doing, Violet?” Arion asks me as he takes a step my way.

  Idun steps forward quickly, drawing his attention back to her the second she moves.

  He quickly puts his body between us again, eyes back on her.

  “You see, while you’ve pretended to have transparency and worked to drive everyone mad with the Idun TV charade, you forgot one very important thing. They’ve all forgotten it as well, it seems,” I say as I take another step closer, leaving only Arion separating us, as I use the height advantage the stairs give me to stare down at her.

  Mostly to piss her off.

  “I felt their pain, Idun. I’m empathic like that,” I remind her, tilting my head, as the smile starts slipping from her lips, her pupils dilating marginally. “But you were never in pain. You went to sleep and woke up a thousand years later, because somehow you’re not even afflicted by the Portocale curse. If I hadn’t come to town, you’d still be sleeping underground.” I glance at the cameras, smiling a little. “Now they all know it too, so they can stop guessing.”

  When my eyes come back to hers, I decide it’s good she can’t shoot death rays from them. It’s nothing more than an educated guess and a risky bluff, but everything about Idun differs from everyone else.

  I’ve learned that Pandora was her bestie.

  What happened to Pandora? No one seems to know or care, apparently.

  Idun’s not the first-born, but she’s the most powerful.

  She’s not the first-born, but she’s the head of her House.

  She’s truly immortal, not someone who just reincarnates after a head is removed.

  “You’re saying you can feel what everyone is feeling?” she asks me like she’s probing.

  Leveling her with a look, I give her a crooked smile. “Surely someone’s informed you by now what empathic means,” I say, hearing Anna make a dramatic sizzling sound that sounds eerily like skin burning.

  Idun bristles, as Arion’s eyes narrow just a little more, like he know
s I’m full of shit, since I can’t actually feel anything unless it’s from the Simpleton—

  I don’t need to think about secrets. Idun has a mind-reading beta watching us right now, most likely.

  She glances at the camera, her jaw ticking, before she forces her eyes to meet mine again. “The shifter better be there within the next thirty minutes, or you’ll be in breach of your sanctuary contract. Five families won’t be enough to keep me from tearing it down very fucking legally.”

  She leans forward, and the cameras intentionally move back as if she’s silently requested as much.

  “I was content to let you pretend to be important for a little longer just to appease my mother and her useless spawn, Violet Carmine,” she says, as she gives me a grin I’m sure should scare the living shit out of me.

  It would have. Five months ago. Probably. Hell, it may still. I usually have delayed reactions, due to my mother’s put-a-pin-in-it conditioning that has been getting really loaded down with an excess of pins lately.

  Wreak Havoc starts playing over the outdoor speakers, and Anna shoots me a wink.

  “Very well,” Idun says when I just continue to stare at her, unfazed, not giving her the fear she craves so much. “Tell your shifter her pain could have just been over with a quick death, but you fought really hard for what comes next. Tell your entire House that, Violet Carmine. Or let them watch it later,” she adds, gesturing to the camera.

  I was supposed to get to enjoy this day. I was supposed to get some quality sleep that was actually supposed to have already come. Seems like there’s always something holding me back from my shiny, barely-used bed.

  “Don’t worry about my House, Idun. It’s not your problem. You’re only here because they quit watching Idun TV one week ago when I broke up with them over this particular prisoner, and I’m sure you’re very aware of that.”

  Her eyes deaden, mostly because I’m calling her out, and all the visiting alphas who know her will have that ‘ahhh, gotcha’ moment they’ve been waiting on to find out why she’s really here to begin with.