I hate the fact that I still don’t hate him appropriately, and it makes that punch seem more inviting and stupid.

“Emit doesn’t think vampires did this,” I say quietly.

They all pause and look over at me.

“And I don’t have Arion. I’m a stupid little girl he wants to use as a temporary bandage to their group.”

Lemon lowers herself to the chair in front of me, a serious expression on her face.

“He wants the four of them to be an alpha unit again?”

“Again?” I ask. “What’s an alpha unit?”

“They were the only ones ever capable of truly being united. Those were…rough days,” Leiza answers. “I was the only one around for the early days of it. It wasn’t rough because they were a unit, though. It was because of Idun.”

“Idun?” I parrot, bristling a little for reasons unbeknownst to me.

“The skin walker they all loved,” Tiara answers in a hushed whisper.

“She could shapeshift into any form, was from the most lethal gypsy freak family to ever live, and she tricked them all into loving what they thought was four different women or something. Those parts are fuzzy on details, because that was the really early days and long before my time,” Leiza continues in the same conspiratorial whisper. “After immortality, they were all true monsters when she was at the helm of things. It wasn’t until things got truly out of hand that they started backing off, one by one, recognizing their power and capacity for damage. It was the first time they’d shown even a flicker of humanity in almost a century.”

“Vance went first,” Tiara says. “I was turned just after he’d detached himself from their unit and started waging war against them for the lines they crossed. He took over the Van Helsing family during that time, started training an elite group of mortals for his Van Helsing knights, and things began to change, somewhat, for the better.”

“Emit detached next,” Leiza adds. “She crossed a line on him when she touched his wolves—forcing him to carry out his law by consequence. But that’s another story I won’t go off on a tangent about. The thing is, he’d had to sacrifice his pack once, all because he loved her enough to kill something he loved just a little less…in the name of seeking vengeance on her behalf. He reminds himself of that very often, because that woman held so much power over all of them.”

“The Morpheous one…shit, I forget his name. Anyway, he was third. She’d constantly hurt him, cursed him, and continuously left him in ruins, and he clung to her because she’d made it to where she was all he could ever have again,” Tiara tells me, causing my stomach to twist in knots when she says that aloud.

I want to ask if that’s a euphemism of some kind, but I’m scared to draw too much attention to myself. My mother always pointed out not to be intrigued, because it told people what you were searching for.

I don’t want it to look like I’m searching for Idun, because none of this sounds good.

“Arion held onto her in spite of it all,” Lemon says as she looks down. “As I said, I’d just been turned during all that. It was a terrible time to be alive. After stewing on it for a while, Arion declared war on all of them for tearing her away from him, even though he’d stepped aside for them to proceed with her punishment. She had to carry out an underground sentence of no less than one thousand years for all the pain and suffering she’d caused. It took three Heads of Houses and the immortal Portocale council to bring the Neopry family down so they could weaken her enough to put her down as well.”

So many things I want to ask, but they keep talking like I should know all of these things and people, and I don’t want to lose the momentum, so I just nod, soaking in the pieces of information I plan to circle back to at the end.

“No one cared how hypocritical it was because it felt like a weight had been lifted and the dark sky finally had some sunlight,” Leiza adds stoically. “It’s the hardest I’ve ever rejoiced. We were free from the worst monster of them all. The one who lived her life hurting the ones she loved just to prove how much they loved her, while they continued to give all they had to give. Imagine what she did to the ones she cared nothing about.”

A small shudder passes up my spine.

“When does the thousand years end?” I ask, looking around with the sensations that typically accompany a dark cemetery instead of my kitchen.

“Five years ago, based on some weird calendar year system they used for the sentencing,” Lemon says with a smirk. “We worried Arion would force the issue of recovering her, since up until he went underground, he still loved her fiercely and hated them for burying her.”

“Then he comes out and wants you, and possibly their alpha unit back without her. This is good news,” Tiara points out.

We have strongly opposing definitions of the words “good news.”

“Go ahead and take whatever rooms you need,” I tell them, glancing around, deciding the circling will have to wait until later, because I’m overwhelmed and I need to do something. “Do whatever you need to do to be comfortable. I need to go talk to someone.”

“Well, that was easier than anticipated,” Tiara says as she dusts her hands off. “She’s going to talk to Arion, right?” she loudly whispers at Lemon as she makes a crude hand gesture that involves a circle on one hand and the index finger of her other.

Leiza is the only one who gives me a worried look as I turn and walk out the door.

My van barely cranks, since the temperature here keeps lowering. It’s almost in the negatives right now. I finally manage to get it moving at the appropriate speed, while I overthink everything.

My mind is going in a thousand different directions when I pull up to the House of Arion.

Shera’s car is out front, so obviously that means Arion is likely here too.

She’s the one to answer the door, blinking in surprise to see me.

“I want to see Arion. Now,” I tell her.

She laughs under her breath. “Intimidation isn’t for you. Leave that to the bad girls, Violet. You can’t see Arion. He’s busy.”

“My van is messed up. So either let him see me, or I’ll have to walk home in the cold and tell him all about it later when he eventually finds me on his own,” I tell her, feeling a prickle of something up my spine.

Something about her just rubs me all wrong. I feel like she’s constantly pushing me and laughing down at me. Honestly, everyone does that to me, so I’m not sure why I have a problem with her doing it.

Her smile falls, and she narrows her eyes at me. “Careful, Violet. Catty is a shade darker than you usually wear, and it doesn’t suit you.”

She steps into me, forcing me back as she shuts the door behind her. “I’ll just fix your van.”

She moves toward it, and since I’m not faster than a vampire, I go with plan b, as she pops the hood and glances over the battery.

“Just a dead battery? You really should get a garage for this thing in this cold. Just saying,” she muses.

I step out of my rubber boots, being quiet about it as she texts someone.

“I bet Roy has jumper cables and can get you nice and warmly on your way,” she goes on as I finish getting down to my socks in the really cold, wet snow.

Glancing around to ensure no one can see us, I ask, “Do vampires die with electrocution?”

“You are so random,” she mutters distractedly, smirking at her phone. “But no. It just hurts like a bitch and stops our heart for a few minutes.”

A few minutes should be enough of a head-start to find Arion.

This better not hurt me worse than it does her, or I will feel so stupid.

Reaching over while her back is still turned, I grab the battery with one hand, already feeling the pain shoot through me as every ounce of electrical power it has floods my body at once.

As if hearing my rapidly beating heart, Shera starts to turn, but I grab her arm before she can see what I’m doing…and hopefully will never figure out.

Her body goes rigid as I fight the pain and endure my chattering teeth, as my heart pounds heavily in my chest.

My fingertips that are touching her almost feel as though they’re about to explode with pulses of the energy that run through me like the conduit I’ve always been.

I feel a drop of blood slipping from my nose as her body tenses all the more, shivering a little under the currents that are coursing through her slower than I wish they would.

I should have used a stronger outlet before attempting this.

I can’t draw out as much energy as what can shoot out of a hotter source.

Fortunately, my inner ramble of worry stops when I feel her drop, and I let go of her arm as she collapses to the snow without ever being able to make a sound.

I quickly let go of the battery, swallowing my whimper of burning pain as I shake out my hot, singed hand. My hair slowly falls back down into place as the static and electric charge begin to wane.

Then I toss my boots in the van—just in case this needs to be done again—and pull Shera to the hidden side of it. I’ll call this payback for the kidnapping.

Hurriedly pushing through the front door, I walk with purpose in my socked feet through the house of vampires, pretending like I belong here. No one even bats an eye at me, which is a major relief, because I really didn’t expect this many to be in here.

Act like you belong and that you didn’t just electrocute one of them. Great plan, Violet. Really great. Glad you thought this through.

It really does make it too easy to be too stupid to live when you sort of can’t die.

Only a few vampires spare a glance in my direction, and then they quickly look away as I jog up the stairs, pretending I know exactly where I’m going.

Isiah walks out of a room and almost runs all over me. “Sorry,” I blurt out when he curses and trips in an effort to stop abruptly.

He manages to not touch me at all, and quickly puts several feet of distance between us before he gives me a tight smile.

“Arion sent for you?”

“Of course,” I say, knowing Shera will tell him I’m a big fat liar later, and the two of them will hate me together like it’s their couple goals.

I can’t picture them being any other type of couple.

“Down the hall and to the right. I can’t believe Shera just lets you wander around in here,” he says as he gestures for me to follow him.

He absently motions to a door before walking off, leaving me behind, and I only hesitate for a second before I push the door open.

Arion is weirdly holding a handful of pencils when I step in, and he grins at me as he tosses them to the desk beside him. They scatter and rattle around, some of them spilling off the sides of the desk.

“Violet, what a pleasant and very unexpected surprise,” he says just before he’s directly in front of me, turning me and pushing me against the desk.