My lips curve in a grin, as she finally manages to once again get Idun’s legs encased. She then locks both cases.

“Is there some sort of magical barrier to hold that in place? Are you that powerful?” Arion muses, going to examine the display cases with too much fearless abandon.

Idun’s eyes only seem to plead with him for help. She couldn’t even mock that emotion to that degree if she tried. It’s…something she hasn’t faced.

“No,” Violet says, shaking her head. “I don’t know all those fancy barrier spells. I don’t even really know how to use much gypsy magic, if I’m honest. I’m a potion brewer, just like all the Jackals were. Just like most of the Portocales too. My monster started hijacking my family’s line a long time ago, according to what I could dig up.”

She inspects the blood smears on the glass and lifts her dress to wipe it away.

Casually, she carries on speaking, while continuing to wipe away the smears, “The earliest one I found, was a story of one Jackal, who drank a potion ‘strong enough to give his subconscious its own voice.’ He called it the voice inside his head. He journaled that the voice demanded the worst deeds be done in his honor,” Violet tells us somewhat sadly. “He thought he’d given the devil his soul, having no idea what had been done to him. I’ve only recently started learning more and more. I was planning to tell you soon enough, but…”

She lets the words trail off, as she looks over at me very directly. Then she flits her gaze to the others, one by one, giving all of us a rather exasperated/sardonic look.

“How many of you would have ever believed me, even if I’d tried my best to explain it to you?” she asks, arching an eyebrow at us.

“Fair enough,” Emit immediately concedes.

“My grandmother, the one my parents always said I’d look like, and the one who unknowingly left me a lot of great monster-bartering antiques, was a Jackal-Neopry. She had records of our family history, but Mom hid it from me. I stopped trusting her, so that means I searched all her things and found a lot of answers. Also, I know why she kept it from me. It’s…hard to find a way to explain all this to a girl who is already confused about the fact there’s a monster living inside her.”

Arion’s attention is still trained on the lock, and it looks as though he’s lost interest in what she’s saying.

“Violet, tell me there’s some sort of curse or something else on here. Locks aren’t quite up to par with what Idun’s capable of,” Arion tells her, glancing over.

Violet rolls her eyes.

“Do you really think I know the first thing about curses? Even my mother seems to have only been able to pull off a few. In fact, I’m starting to think she failed hundreds of thousands of times, otherwise, you guys would have a lot more curses on you,” she dutifully informs him.

“But—”

“It’s just wood, glass, and a little metal, Arion,” Violet tells him, as she pats the side of the case. “She’s not going anywhere. If she gets out, I’ll lose control of my monster. See, Idun and Clyde are the only two monsters absolutely no one defends. Their people fight out of fear and brainwashed mentalities. There’s no individualism. There’s only complete surrender. Otherwise, suffer the penalty of death. I’ve been flipping my middle finger to conformity for the vast majority of my life. My type of person never likes her type of person, and vice versa.”

She glances over to Clyde.

“I put real thought into this. I listened close, and I suffered through all of Caroline’s agonizing mental attacks. I decided I’m sick of Caroline taking her anger out on me. The Simpletons will know Idun is down here, but no one else will have a clue. No one knows about this section of the house. I’m glad I never thought about it. I really do have to deal with this whole Demetria thing.”

She smooths her hand over the dried, tar-like substance on the wall.

“This was a badly botched barrel of shampoo. I got ambitious and tried to up my ingredients to make more product quicker and better. It backfired. On the flipside, it’s impossible to hear through this. It also eliminates all odors even more effectively than apples. I’m cheap. I usually try to figure out a way to repurpose botched batches,” she carries on, as though she has to defend herself.

Emit’s grin is far too relaxed, but I feel myself relaxing right along with him. I go to prop at a lean against the wall next to where the wolf is sitting.

Arion and Damien are now both studying the cases, though Damien keeps the vampire’s body between him and Idun.

“It’s simple pine and basic construction. It’s just a display case. No bells. No whistles. Nothing all that special,” Violet says, giving the cases a curt smile. “If either of them leaves their spot, Anna will handle it.”

Two fresh ghosts pop up, replacing the old ones.

Of the new ones, one happens to be the very disturbing, long-haired, crazy-mouthed ghost. Honestly, that one freaks me out a bit.

Given the gulp I hear Emit take, he’s once again thinking like me.

The other is the Jester, who starts setting up a game of solitaire…

“Need a drink?” Emit asks me, elbowing my leg from his spot on the ground.

“Yep,” I announce, letting the word pop.

Violet continues explaining her nonchalant plan. “These two ghosts—yes, I’m still calling them ghosts—have one job. That’s to keep an eye on Idun and alert me if she even so much as wiggles a finger without my permission.”

A camera floats to her, and Violet snatches it out of the air. The creepiest ghost goes to take a seat in the corner, her hair in her face. Only a tiny hint of one eye peeks through, and it’s trained on Emit.

Emit deliberately keeps his attention on Violet.

There’s a tripod in the room that I haven’t noticed, at least not until Violet takes it and starts setting it up.

“Caroline will be visiting, I’m sure. She has a lot of issues to work out, understandably. Idun will suffer through whatever painful memory Caroline wishes to share, any time she wishes to share it. Caroline, in return, will leave me the hell alone, so that I don’t accidentally hurt her,” Violet carries on.

“Which will happen. We’re protective of Violet,” the jester states from the ground, grinning like she’s ready to do more than twiddle her thumbs.

There’s a rustling in the walls, and we hear someone moving away quickly. Given the look on Violet’s face, and what she was saying very deliberately, I’m assuming she somehow knew Caroline was spying on us.

Which is great. Since I missed it.

But Violet has ghosts…who can tell her what’s going on from every angle at every moment.

She really is a beautifully designed predator. I can’t wait to test her limits or start gauging her abilities. I wonder how hard she’d be to hunt if we played a small game.

I’m going to end up being just as aroused as the fucking vampire if I keep thinking like that.

“And the best news is that everyone’s favorite new show isn’t getting cancelled. It’s just getting a new look,” Violet goes on.

“What?” Arion and Damien ask in unison, attention turning from the cases to the camera.