Arion rolls his eyes. “The more people question me, the more I want to prove them all wrong, Marta. You’re doing little more than fueling my undying obsession with your daughter.”

His grin only grows, as the fool vampire starts toward her trap without even seeing it. I casually glance back, seeing Violet still in the soundproof box, while she calmly and collectively gathers her things, including the red coat Arion had waiting for her when the clown car finally caught up to us.

Marta simply smirks far too confidently, not even rattled in the moment.

“Here’s something for you all to think about while you’re gloating over this as a win in our very long score book,” she says as she glances into her purse, lifting a small handkerchief that is hideous, which means Violet made it.

She actually tries to wipe the smirk off her face, as though it’s a reaction she doesn’t wish to share, which makes this slightly more worrisome.

“You think you know Violet. Sweet, lovely, precious Violet. She’s shown you her bite, but her lack of bark confuses everyone,” Marta says in a taunting manner.

“We’ve seen her monster’s bark and bite,” I argue.

She lets out a small laugh before looking away, clearly unconvinced. “No. You haven’t. Because there is only bite. Even her warnings are bites. You’re all too numb to this world to realize it, and she’s resilient enough to survive you, so I simply just have to wait.”

We’ve certainly been too numb, because the growing concern in my chest is almost unfathomable. Just having Marta—the enemy mother—too close to Violet is driving me insane. What the hell happens when Idun—her Neopry alpha—steps too close? It’s as though the gravity of our situation has finally resonated and is truly settling onto my shoulders with its pressing weight. A prickle of hot awareness shoots up my spine.

“She’s very reasonable, and will allow you to step on her from time to time, not pushing unless it’s truly worth bothering with. Usually she doesn’t mind it, if I’m honest. People confuse that with assuming she’s a doormat, something she’s certainly not,” Marta prattles on, clearly a little more numb than she realizes, if she’s not also feeling the mounting dread.

It’s as though a timer has just been started, and we only have so long until it goes off.

Her sinister gaze and twisted lips remain in place.

“I’m quite accustomed to compromising with my daughter, since I raised her as human and she thinks very human,” Marta says with a shrug. “Tell me, Alphas, how easy is it for you to put aside your nature and see yourself as equal to an omega? Can you truly do it?” she asks. “Because that’s what I raised her to expect. It assured me you’d always be a non-issue,” she goes on.

“You foresaw us with Violet?” Emit asks her incredulously.

She laughs humorlessly once again, almost hysterically.

“No,” she says, wiping the tears from her eyes now. “No. No. No,” she says again, walking away as she only laughs harder. “It’s unbelievable that you even imagine a world where it’s possible,” she carries on through her fit of laughter, never turning back.

“That woman is more insane than ever,” I note as she cackles her way up the stairs.

“She wants in our heads,” Emit says just as Violet opens the door and walks out, having intentionally avoided our arguing, most likely.

The arguing hasn’t even started yet.

Everything always gets postponed when Idun’s in town. Our war with Marta is sure to come.

My eyes rake over Violet, as she sighs and runs a hand through her hair, eyes meeting mine. When Marta makes her move, Violet will be caught in the crosshairs.

The focus starts coming in very sharp, and I quickly walk out of the room, going to once again view that clip, as something new and determined stirs inside of me.

I don’t always hate the Van Helsing curse. Not when it works for me instead of against me.

CHAPTER 25

VIOLET

“Are you staying with one of us or her for now?” Damien asks, tucking an errant lock of hair behind my ear. “I’m sure you’d like to spend some time with your mother.”

I’m currently putting a very big pin in all my emotions and thoughts regarding my mother, because that’s what she asked me to do. And because I can’t deal with all this right now.

“Actually, I think I’m going to work on that really stout potion. We have all the materials, and—”

“For the rising?” Damien asks, confused, just before he exhales harshly like he’s just remembered they forgot to tell me they’re not doing it.

“I already explained,” Arion says to me with a tight expression, tugging my hand into his. “We can’t risk being weakened before the rules are in play. She’ll come out of hiding soon, love. Promise.”

A door upstairs slams really hard.

“I just want to have the potion ready. We have extra ingredients, right? Even the ones that are hard to come by? Mom said she had enough for a few batches just with her own supply,” I go on, deciding Mom’s stove and makeshift hidey-house will have to do.

The three of them exchange a glance. Emit’s lips tighten, as he leans against the wall. Vance makes a sound from upstairs that must be sort of loud if I can hear it, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Idun’s been to Shadow Hills, but she left over a month ago and hasn’t gone back,” he calls down on a pained breath before something thuds the ground.

Arion whirs by me, and Mom comes through the front door. Just as I reach the top of the stairs and spot the collapsed Van Helsing, Mom’s confused eyes land on Vance.

I immediately go to him, dropping to my knees, while he stays propped on all fours, swaying like he’s dizzy.

“You really managed to track her out of the hellacious loops she surely left behind? That quickly?” Mom asks almost disbelievingly.

“Does every-fucking-body know about the motherfucking loops?” Vance asks, almost sounding drunk, as he starts to lean too hard to the right.

A groan turns into a grunt, as he falls to his side, and I move next to him, grabbing his cheeks with both hands.

“We agreed there’d be no touching of any kind,” Mom snaps. “No more breaking the rules.”

“I and they agreed they wouldn’t touch me,” I remind her absently, as I keep my hands pressed to Vance’s cheeks, holding his head steady, while his eyes roll around in his head. “Is he okay?”

“He’s immortal, Violet,” Marta says like she’s frustrated. “He can’t die from being cursed or he’d be dead by now.”

“I bloody almost found her,” Vance groans, limply wiping his literal bloody nose.

I catch his sleeve and pull it back from his wrist before the blood gets on his one and only shirt he currently has, until he can find a store that sells high-end tailored suits around here.

I feel Mom’s eyes burning a hole in me like I’m the traitor she spent seven hours pushing out of her vagina that felt mortal, and all that other disgusting stuff she mentioned earlier.

I subtly flip her off, and she knows exactly why, as I tend to Vance’s nose.

“I smelled beta shifters, so she’s already found her den,” Vance goes on. “But I lost it after that.”

“Do you know if you were close to the den?” Arion asks him like it’s urgent.

Vance slowly shakes his head, eyes still rolling around in his head. He goes limp and passes out after that, and I stare down in so much confusion.

“It would have taken more focus than he’s capable of for him to break the loops Idun would have left him with,” Mom says like Vance is making it all up.

“Unless he really wants to find her,” Arion argues, even as I lamely try to ignore the content and context.

As they argue and plot against Idun, while also arguing about the best way to be more diabolical than the queen of all things sinister, I tend to Vance. My overwhelmed mind strays to a piece of my arguing-talk with Mom.

“What are you talking about?”

“The soul stone you used to come back. The stone that killed Anna. When did you put that on me?”

“Violet, that has been attached to you since you were small. I didn’t want spirits infecting your mind. You’re too trusting. People have to disappoint you before you raise your guards.”

I stopped talking about that immediately. Mom’s not telling me something, and it’s clear she’s still keeping secrets.

“I’m sorry, Violet. I’m sorry you lost what sounds like the only decent ghost that still shouldn’t have been able to interfere with the living.”

“Sounds like it.”

“I really am sorry you lost a friend. But it’s amazing she even lasted three months with as much exposure as you’re claiming. Even with me tapped into the power source, Anna should have had no more than a month, and she never should have had the power to possess you. Why did you let her possess you?”

“She wanted to drink bourbon and have sex.”

Mom was shady and fidgety during the entire thing, downplaying it too much. It’s what she does when she’s trying to hide something bigger with something smaller.

What’s bigger than attaching a soul-sucking stone to my body? What’s bigger than her keeping it a secret that her soul is immortal? What’s bigger than me falling for four of her worst enemies?

What’s bigger than Idun?

Now, more than ever, I’m paying a lot of attention to the things my mother doesn’t say.

Absently, my fingers twitch, while I idly wonder if any of my Anna-salt-balls survived the crash. The luggage is just lost or torn open, clothes ruined by the elements and minor explosions.

The put-a-pin-in-it emotional bulletin board is getting crowded already, and I just decluttered it before we went on this trip.

“Violet should come with us, because four fucking alphas is better than one, and Edmond Portocale can’t be trusted,” Emit says very calmly, eyes moving to my mother’s.

“Do you hear the prejudice, Violet?” Mom asks incredulously.

I give her a look, since she specifically told me to stay far away from her cousin-brother—she calls him both, and she gets upset when she says his name.

She already knows what they’re apparently implying, and she’s playing dumb. I don’t even know or care what else I don’t know right now. I can’t handle any more.

“We agreed,” I remind her.

She holds my gaze for a moment, deciding if this is really something I’m capable of asking her to do.

I make the motion of pinning something, and she cracks her neck to the side, visibly dropping the façade.

“Spare me your theatrical reveal of Edmond’s recent infractions. I’ll deal with him myself. For now, he does not learn of Violet. On that we can agree,” she bites out a little angrily.