Gypsy Rising

Still, all I can do is fucking watch.

“Ten!” Anna shouts.

“I said to salt that fucking ghost!” Idun shouts as she turns and points once again.

“I’m January. Violet. Carmine,” Violet says through a little strain, gathering everyone’s attention once again, as she slowly pushes up from the broken concrete, spitting out blood, while one of her eyes swells shut.

“Forty-eight Simpletons have endured a hundred times as much as you’re all cringing at today. Which is why I’m here. It’s my turn. Because I’m what stands between her petty, deranged tantrums and all of you,” she goes on, which has Nadine darting a glance at all of us.

It was once her telling us how bad it was for the Simpletons. Then it was the Simpletons swearing it wasn’t nothing they couldn’t handle. It was easier to just believe the Simpletons.

Again, Idun wastes no time, over and over again pounding Violet into the concrete like the second time will work better.

If anyone is moving, they’re not making a sound.

After ten, Violet raises her head again.

“I’m January Violet Carmine. I’m paying my dues to the Neopry community today by keeping my sanctuary safe, after opening it a mere week ago, even though I have the backing of five of the six families,” Violet goes on, fucking gutting me, as her eyes water a little in our direction. Her eyes go back to Idun’s quickly. “Because what I’m building is bigger than anything you can ever tear down.”

Idun smirks before the hardest hit yet sends Violet’s head whipping to the right so forcefully that I hear her neck snap. She spirals lifelessly through the air, before crashing into the cage. Her unmoving body tumbles to the ground and stays limp there.

There’s a weighted breath where I forget she can’t die, and a cold washes over me with a painful force.

Until I hear a crack, as Violet begins to move.

Idun makes it her mission to hit her as hard as she can, slinging her as far as the cage allows with each blow, in an effort to cheat the beating and make it worse.

Arion’s hands steeple in front of his face, as Anna shouts, “Ten!”

Idun’s hand starts coming down, but I’m down the bleachers and reaching through just in time to grab her wrist.

She stops and glares at me, as her hand is halted midair.

“You don’t get to interfere unless you want war,” she bites out in roughly translated Romanian.

“She gets to fucking talk,” I counter through clenched teeth. “It’s the law.”

Violet staggers to her feet, both eyes swelling now, along with her jaw, as blood trickles from various places.

She clears her throat as she says, “I’m January Violet Carmine, and like all the Simpletons you’ve mocked, ridiculed, found to be a nuisance, and loathed for simply being weak, I’m here because I’m giving you a fair chance to care, after having a thousand years of an Idun-free world to thaw your scarred, cold hearts.”

I’m forced back by my Van Helsing curse when Idun tears away to resume the process of beating the fucking hell out of Violet. Violet never even cries out in pain.

With each set of ten, Anna breaks it up, and Violet hurriedly stitches the wounds shut. Each time, she talks about how she’s built differently, just like all the Simpletons. Each time, she points out her resilience. Each time, she points out our inaction.

“Why the fucking hell is this thing not working anymore? All alphas are granted a Van Helsing flogger in this room,” Idun shouts as she throws down the rusty junk, the flogger no longer blessed as a gift.

“You’re only allowed two hundred blows with a Van Helsing weapon,” I say very coldly.

“Not even alphas are expected to endure more than that,” Zuela adds, as even he glares at Idun.

Violet slowly rises.

“I’m January Violet Carmine,” she says as she pops all five of her fingers back into place, one by one. “I’m twenty-six-years-old, newly single, have an excellent driving record, pay all my bills on time, and work my ass off to make a living, when I’m not building a sanctuary, dodging wolves who want me dead for no reason, vampire mercenaries paid for by one of my own kin, and crazy ex-girlfriends,” Violet chirps.

My gaze finds Edmond Portocale for the very first time, his eyes somber, as he sits opposite Marta. They never once even glance at each other. Marta is staring at the ground below her, unable to watch this.

Idun’s heartbeat drops just enough for me to notice, but she has a flogger in her hand before I can stop her. She kicks Violet so hard I hear bones shattering.

Ice sprays up the sides of the walls behind us, and everyone looks around as it covers the ceiling. Our breaths fog in front of us, because she pissed Arion off too much this time.

“You lose ten lashings for that,” Zuela, the referee for this evening’s motherfucking event, says in warning.

Idun just grins. “Worth it.”

Violet slowly pushes herself back up, but Idun pounds her down with the flogger.

“Ten!” Anna roars.

Idun curses, but no one is looking at her, as Violet uses the wall to push herself up, her right leg broken at the knee, as she balances on one leg.

“I’m January Violet Carmine, and I’m as resilient as a Neopry Simpleton and as stubborn as a Portocale. I’m just getting started. I’m young and na?ve, so I have plenty of fight left in me. I was born to be your fucking punching bag.”