Gypsy Truths (All The Pretty Monsters #6)- Kristy Cunning Page 0,151

as I dart between buildings, moving faster on the pavement.

I almost trip over my own feet when we finally get eyes on Sanctuary, because what I see makes no sense at all.

Through the ash and debris that is serenated with the sounds of alarms wailing, stands Demetria…

Demetria is standing in front of Sanctuary, repelling the onslaught of shifters. She’s bloodied, determined, and fierce, as she slices through one neck after another.

Emit is stopped and staring with the same bewilderment, while Shera stands behind Sanctuary bars, eyes wide.

“Fuck’s sake. She even turned Idun’s beta,” Marta murmurs with genuine surprise, clearly not in on the secret the rest of us are all missing.

My eyes lift, and across the way, I spot Clyde Neopry, along with the full clan of Neopry skin-walkers. Each of them is just as powerful as any Head alpha—the family of misfits and unmatched power.

“Their skin-walker halves feed on fear, and empathic Simpleton alpha fear is one of the strongest fuel sources there is. He was never going to let them go. Neither was Idun,” Marta states quietly.

She twirls her Van Helsing silver sword, and I touch the dagger at her hip, turning it into Van Helsing silver as well.

“Watch my back,” I tell them.

Then I charge into the fray.

Chapter 44

ARION

I scale the side of Sanctuary, elevating myself all the way to the top, and peer out, spotting the droves of shifters quickly racing this way in fur and in skin.

They’ve sounded the alarms, warning the ones inside of an impending attack. Violet’s security measures will certainly be tested tonight.

Just as I’m about to drop down, I hear the bars of Sanctuary open, and watch as Shera races out, her guns drawn and her swords resting in their sheathes on her hips.

She fully quakes, prepared to defend Sanctuary at the cost of her own life.

I should have locked her up at my House. My beta’s self-serving lust for survival has been diminished by recent selfless heroics.

She’s a liability at this point—

My brow furrows when I spot Ivannah walking out behind her, and she grabs Shera by her long ponytail. Shera makes a startled, pained sound, as Ivannah yanks her by the ponytail, throwing her backwards.

“Stay inside, little vampire. Lock it down. No one else in or out,” Ivannah says over her shoulder…

But it’s not her voice…

It’s a very familiar, unforgettable voice belonging to the most notorious beta of all time. Also known as…Demetria.

There’s a long moment of complete shock, as I watch her morph. My jaw grinds when I realize we’ve been fools all along. I knew Demetria didn’t seem like herself on TV. That’s because she was never there.

Someone was playing the part of Demetria to keep us from realizing the mind-reading freak was right under our noses the entire time. Fucking skin-walkers.

But how does Idun not know about Jasper?

Just as I’m about to drop and slice the bitch’s head off once and for all, Demetria lifts a barrel over her head, and she launches it toward the first wave of rushing shifters.

Heat wafts over me, and some unseen force nearly kicks me back. It takes two seconds for the sound of an explosion to catch up.

Just as the entire world around us rattles in response, I spot the fire spraying, hear the screams, and smell the scent of burning flesh, all happening at rapid speeds.

The front line of shifters is eviscerated, and the scent of Violet’s volatile potions singe my nose, even from here. Demetria turns and collects another of the barrels that I now regret pillaging.

She launches it at the ones still racing in by the hundreds, and it ripples through the air with an almost visible pulse. Everything in its path is eviscerated, up to what seems to be some sort of magical barrier that stops it from crashing into the buildings.

The center of town is a terrible place for a battleground.

Alarms sound, pandemonium sets in, and Demetria grins, as she draws her curved swords from her hips.

“Good luck getting by me,” she says, and then she twirls that signature twirl. The dance-like twirl that comes before heads roll.

Demetria in a battle is almost ethereal, even as she radiates pure malice.

It’s slowly sinking in that…Jasper is Demetria’s son.

We’ve spent all this time focusing on his father as the source of power, never questioning much about the mother’s origins.

Son. Of. A. Bitch.

Literally.

My gaze moves just as I’m about to drop and lend her a hand, when I spot two Van Helsings, a Portocale, and a wolf