It’s been a fun few decades with that pistol around. I like him.

His gaze cuts to me and narrows, and I pop into the chair in front of him.

“Why’re you watching Shera? Has momma’s little boy grown up into a big, strong, creeper?” I ask him, smiling sweetly.

His glare gets tenser. “Tell Mom about this, and we won’t be friends anymore,” he assures me.

“What about your dads?”

He thinks about it for a moment, and then he shrugs. “They’ll get it.”

“Get what?” I ask, not understanding his meaning. “Why are you spying on Shera?”

He gives me a suspicious look, and then his lips curve in a grin. He’s such a cute little baby.

“Because I’m worried about her. I figured Mom would be too, so I’m checking her out. Looks like she’s seen better days, so I’m going to stick around to ensure she’s not caught off guard,” he tells me, gesturing to the sloppy drunk vampire.

“Hit me,” she shouts to the bartender, holding her shot glass up.

His expression gets more serious, as he watches a guy approaching her. He says something to her, but Shera stands and punches the guy right in the throat.

She staggers over him, kicks him once, and then spits on him.

“Drunk or sober, I can kick your ass. Just because I can’t hang with the big boys, that doesn’t mean you’re not still inferior to me in every way,” she assures the fella on the floor, who is still choking for air.

She wiggles her skirt into place, tosses her hair over her shoulder, and stumbles her way out of the bar with her head held high.

When I look back, Jasper is gone, and I can’t sense where he went.

He’s getting better at hiding from me.

I’ve killed enough time to meet Violet at the store, so I pop in at Gypsy Magic, located in the middle of Sanctuary, where mostly monsters shop. Humans are a little confused by the hotel giftshop in a place where there are never any hotel rooms available. Especially when they see a bunch of condom balloons.

Ighan likes the shape…

And people think I’m shameless.

My eyes land on Violet, and hers narrow on me, as she comes through the front doors. I grin.

“Now, before you get all salty—” I pause, waiting for her to laugh, which…she of course doesn’t do, since she has no sense of humor. “—you should know I had to test her a little bit. It’s important not to let her get too complacent.”

“Go sit in the corner with Hansel and Gretel, and don’t move until I tell you to,” she orders.

She’s been like this since she had a kid.

As I join the other two troublemakers, I look at them. “What’re you in for?”

I stretch out, getting comfortable.

“We stole one of Idun’s toes,” Gretel confesses. “Violet made us give it back.”

I knew that; I just wanted to know if they’d admit it.

“She’s strict,” Hansel grouses.

Gretel starts patting her foot on the ground, nodding with the beat.

“Yeah. No love,” I tell them in agreement, as Hansel slowly starts adding to Gretel’s beat.

Nadine’s no fun either. She’s actually a warm ray of sunshine, by comparison to the rest of the Neopry non-Simpleton stock.

Violet’s made them all too simple.

I watch the vampire spin Violet on the floor, his arms around her, as he kisses her smiling lips. She’s blissfully happy all the time. Not even a little bit of anger slips out, unless that anger is directed at me.

It’s uncanny.

The others join them, taking their chance to kiss her and even twirl her to the music, before heading up to the soundproof room to get their alpha work done.

Violet heads to the store, still smiling like a girl who just fell in love, as Gretel starts singing.

“It’s a hardknock life…for us. It’s a hard—”

One sharp look from Violet, and we all go silent. She can be scary when she wants to be.

She cuts her gaze to the door as it opens, and a vampire staggers in, looking haggard and dazed.

“Please tell me this is Sanctuary,” he says, fully trembling.

“It is. Vampires go down the hall and to the right,” Violet tells him, as he drops to his knees.

He starts sobbing in the floor, and she squirms uncomfortably.

“I made it,” he chokes out, sounding relieved.

His teary eyes peer up, the darling little omega seeming too happy for words.

“Y-you’re that girl who is dating the Heads, right? This is your place?”

She gives him a soft smile.

“I just make shampoo.”

“But you’re her, right?”

She gives him a soft nod.

“I’m January Violet Carmine,” she says, doing that thing where she gives all three of her names. “Welcome to Sanctuary.”

THE END