When Villains Rise (Market of Monsters #3) - Rebecca Schaeffer Page 0,6

scrolling through black market forums, searching up what people were saying about her. Her mother had told her she’d started to plant seeds that the video was doctored and fake, and Nita saw a few comments about that, but not enough, not nearly enough.

Her mother’s idea was solid—make the video seem like a fake. Some people would always believe it, and it was already so talked about that it might not do much now, but it couldn’t hurt to try. She couldn’t rely on her mother for that sort of thing, though, and she made a mental note to think of ways to discredit the video.

She scrolled through other forums, picking up information nuggets like a gamer on a quest, except the consequences for this were very, very real.

Sighing, she moved her attention to the general forums and paused, eyes catching on something unusual. It was a request for information on the location of a black market dealer who went by the name Monica. Nita clicked it.

Someone was trying to buy information on her mother.

Nita frowned as she read down the list of semivague descriptions that would only make sense to someone who knew her mother. It was a list Nita recognized, because it was almost word for word what she’d been asked by a customer when she was imprisoned in Mercado de la Muerte.

Her fingers tightened on her phone, the only physical manifestation of the anger burning tight and hot within. Zebra-stripes the vampire was still hunting her mother. He’d murdered her father, and he was after her mother. She didn’t know who he was, or why he was after her family. Despite the fact that INHUP had identified him to her, he wasn’t listed online on INHUP’s wanted list for dangerous unnaturals. Probably more evidence of corruption in INHUP. As if she’d needed more.

No matter what, Nita promised herself she would get vengeance on Zebra-stripes.

Grief trickled in when she thought about her father, soft and delicate, opening the door and tiptoeing into her heart. It felt like a wound that had bled copious amounts and just recently scabbed over. Thinking about him was like picking at the scab, little bits of blood bubbling up and trickling through her soul.

She wiped her eyes quickly, as though by removing the tears she could make the pain go away. Of course, it didn’t work, and the pain lingered, a constant throbbing in her heart. It was better than before. After she’d first found out, when the pain had been almost all-encompassing and the tears had come fast and free.

She took a long, shuddering breath, banishing his image from her mind. She couldn’t afford to let herself crack right now. Once she’d exacted her vengeance, once the black market was ashes at her feet, she’d allow herself the time and space to grieve.

She looked down at the ad again, and her face hardened. It was time she dealt with Zebra-stripes, once and for all.

She sent a message responding to the ad.

Four

KOVIT RETURNED FAIRLY QUICKLY, carrying a bag with burner phones and two boxes of ready-to-go-pizza from the Little Caesars down the street. Nita hadn’t realized just how hungry she was until she smelled the gooey cheese, and she snatched one box from him and ripped it open.

“Hungry, are we?” Kovit laughed.

Nita’s only answer was to shove a slice in her mouth.

Within a few minutes, both of them had devoured a whole box, and all that remained was the oil on their hands and a few crumbs. Nita wiped her greasy fingers on her jeans, put half the second pizza in the empty box, and handed it to Kovit.

“Do you want to go give that to Gold while I handle Fabricio?” she asked.

Kovit made a face. “Must I?”

Nita made sure her voice was gentle, not judging, even though she was judging just a little. “You can’t avoid Gold forever. And you need to talk to her. We need to figure out to do about her. We can’t keep her here, but until we know what she’s going to do, we can’t just let her go either.”

“I know.” He rubbed his temples and sighed heavily. “I know.”

Nita put a hand on his shoulder. “Go talk to her. You were friends, once upon a time.”

Until Gold realized that the anonymous boy she’d befriended in the chatroom was Kovit and betrayed him. Nita could understand if Gold hadn’t known the person she’d been interacting with online was a bad person and then discovered he tortured people