Page 22 of V for Vilified
“A monster.”
Jo cut a furious look at him. “I’m nothing like her.”
I opened my mouth, but Cash spoke before I could say anything. “That’s not what I heard, but alas, I was never lucky—or is it unlucky?—enough to meet the Mother and Daughter of Shadows. Nor any of the Originals, really. Thank the gods for that. I’d seen them kill and maim indiscriminately enough to know better. Like you said, monsters knowing monsters and all that.”
The dark-haired woman let out a sound of frustration, absently going for one of her daggers. “You have some fucking nerve, asshole. The things I’ve heard about you would make my crimes look like child’s play. What is it the humans say? Ah, right. Pot, meet Kettle.”
Even I felt that burn. Any more heat and the room would catch fire. Which meant it was time to pour water on whatever this was and get back on track.
I slapped Cash’s hand away as it took another path down my throat and stood between them. “Look, we’ve all done stuff we’re not proud of. By that logic, we’re all monsters. Well, except Kate.”
My friend put a hand on her chest, acting shy and flattered, and I smiled before continuing.
“I’m not going to stand here and tally up the evil each one of us has committed. It doesn’t matter right now. We need to focus on how to deal with One and our enemy in common so we can go back to the human world.”
The tension eased a little, and Kate blew out a breath she’d apparently been holding. Guess she was worried they’d go all supernatural Mortal Kombat on us. To be fair, so had I.
“One?” Jo asked.
I nodded. “Lyra. The Organization was holding her prisoner. Lux made her One in his weirdo boyband.”
Jo seemed surprised to hear it, which was definitely not a comfort. “That’s impossible. I’d know if they had her. I never once sensed a Royal Siren in that realm. Chaos is different for mixed breeds, harder to detect, but Lyra I wouldn’t miss.”
Still felt weird to think I wasn’t far off what she and One were. A genetic monster weapon meant to cross realms. Fuck the Organization and everything they’d done to ruin my formative years. I’d barely lived before I was thrust into a world I hadn’t been aware I was part of, and now it was up to me to fix everything they’d broken.
“She said they had the key to keeping her a prisoner, but she finally got free. Maybe that was the reason you couldn’t sense her? What I do know is that she wants me to help her go after whoever sent her there in exchange for ending the Organization. She’s already killed Lux and the rest of the Seven as a good faith measure, or so she says. My guess is she planned to kill off the Organization either way. Vengeful weapons recognize each other,” I told Jo.
And it was true. Mistress Chaos was absolutely my enemy, but I also recognized the revenge plot. My only worry was how far she’d take it.
If she planned to decimate the Organization and all who worked for and with it, then that meant us. That meant Grams, Sloan, Phillip, Kris, and every Hunter we’d converted to our side. It meant no one was safe after I did what she wanted, and we’d need to end her after we took on the enemies here. It meant that I’d have another fight after this.
“You’re going after the Nether Royals?” she asked me.
Nether Royals? Was that the Nether royalty Cash mentioned?
Cash confirmed. “They would become a problem if we didn’t, no? Everything suggests they were the ones who sent that ancient slag off to the humans.”
Guess they’d figured out who Lyra was bent on killing.
I’d never seen Jo so confused, as if she couldn’t quite believe any of it, but eventually she nodded. “When’s Marius supposed to be here?”
As if she’d summoned him, Cash was at the door and opening it to a dark-skinned man with jarring green eyes. “So good of you to finally make an appearance, Marius.”
The man in question cast his curious stare into the corridor, first studying Jo before moving onto me. But it didn’t appear he knew what or who we were because his attention stayed with Cash after that. The two disappeared into a room, and I was suddenly alone with a world of information to unpack about Jo.
Chapter 9
Bad Guy Playbook
Jo flipped an egg and side-eyed Kate again, who was sitting at the weird stone bar, staring out the window at a fantasy-scape we both were lost to after coming into the room. It was our first real look at our prison.
The world here looked nothing like ours. I’d caught a glimpse before the light took me when I escaped Serine’s little cave of wonders with Tinkerbell dude, but I still hadn’t been prepared for the color and look of it. At risk of sounding lame, the only way I could describe it was…magical. Otherworldly glamor I couldn’t put into words without failing to do it justice.
Again, this prison was another case of beautiful and dangerous if I ever saw one. The Nether was where the most powerful Fae in the realm roamed and where the Nether Royals made their home. Honestly, I expected something dark and gloomy, so it was a real surprise that it looked like I’d walked right into a breathtaking dream.
“How much does she know?” Jo asked so quietly Kate wouldn’t hear her.
My eyes quickly went to my friend, checking if she was looking. She wasn’t. Not that I could blame her. The sparkle outside was off the charts, and there were things in the sky to keep her occupied, winged beasts and creatures I didn’t recognize from anything I’d studied. But for Kate, she hadn’t been aware this kind of world existed at all for long. Everything was new.
