Page 25 of Monsters (Vengeance #3)

Gray

“ G ood morning!”

I let out a curse as Vegas met my gaze with a frustrated look.

That was the voice of pure irritation and neither of us were in the mood to deal with it.

Victor’s footsteps were loud on the stairs.

Even after four weeks of coming down here, he had yet to figure out the third step from the bottom was wobbly.

Dumb shit.

I circled my ankle but the cuff around it held tight.

I was soaked head to toe in cold water and my hair was matted.

I had yet to sleep or eat in forever and my wounds still throbbed in pain.

I think my body had no idea what to do with itself.

Honestly, I was impressed that they had been able to create a cuff to hold me and then annoyed because why couldn’t they just have used iron?

The minute I got home I was taking a long ass bath.

If I got home. If there was anything left of my home. Fuck. This sucked.

“Little flame,” Victor sang in his gross whiny voice, “won’t you come out and play with me? ”

The man had a split personality and we’d seen two elements of it.

One was sadistic and rude on some days and one overly sweet and pathetic.

It looked like option number two was our lucky draw!

I watched as Vegas narrowed her eyes at him but I could tell it was hard for her to look at him.

She said he looked just like one of her boys. Bandit? I think. He was the scary one.

I honestly couldn’t focus enough to see the similarities. I was hungry.

Hungry Gray was not a good version of me.

“Victor, honey, if you get these chains off me we can have all the fun you want.”

I laughed at her tone as I shifted in the pooled rainwater.

My breathing felt rough and I wondered if the sword that stabbed my ribs had gone too deep and punctured something.

Honestly, I felt more awful than I’d ever felt in my life.

That was saying something. Part of it was because I wasn’t healing and instead just sitting in pain and hunger.

I could not overemphasize the hunger part.

“Really?” He asked her with big eyes.

“Absolutely,” Vegas snarled.

“Victor!” Mario snapped. “Back away.”

My lips peeled back at the bastard’s voice and I attempted to summon my magic. It failed, as usual. It was worth the effort at least. “Fuck off.”

“Don’t be so distraught,” Mario sang amused.

“Hard to be in a good mood right now, asshole,” I growled as my magic sizzled under my skin. It was so fucking frustrating to have magic and be unable to use it.

“Well,” he stopped and met my gaze, “we have good news then. Both of you will be attending a wedding tonight.”

No. Absolutely fucking not.

“Whose wedding?” I barely managed .

“Little Gray.” Mario chided. “Do you remember when you watched me murder your bastard of a father and rape your mother?”

Bastard. Who the fuck says that shit? My chest tightened and pulse pounded.

“Of course you do!” he chuckled. “Anyway, you see, that day I was attempting to arrange for your marriage to Victor. I found that you were betrothed to the Light Fae prince. Of course, I was furious, so I killed them. Now, frankly, you are far too strong to keep around so once I have taken the Horde, I plan on killing you. So, my son will be marrying your little sorceress and hope that is enough of a help to control your band of misfits.”

“Why?”

Her question was a solid one.

“When she dies, the power from her will either fill you or her death will drain both of you. Either way, it seems like a good compromise because either way you are in our control. My control.” I really didn’t think that was how that worked, but far be it from me to correct King Mario.

“Father,” Victor whispered.

“Shut up!” He roared as his son flinched. “I am giving you what you fucking want.”

“Well, if you’re asking for my opinion, I’m not really a marriage type of girl,” Vegas goaded quietly.

Victor’s eyes widened. “I’ll be a good husband.”

“How about you and I talk about this alone.” She flashed a smile.

“Not now,” Mario growled before fixing us both with a look, “I will send someone down to aid you in getting ready. After all, I’m sure your wedding day is important.”

Well, shit.

“This is our moment to escape,” I murmured .

Vegas nodded. “I know. Do you think we can do this?”

“I think that if anyone can do this, it’s us.” I smiled at that concept.

When the door opened the asshole guards brought forward two women, one with a smooth dark complexion and one with pale light hair like Vegas. Both were crying.

“Let’s go, ladies.” The guards shoved them into each cage with a bundle of whatever they had with them.

“My Queen.” The woman in front of me whispered, causing me to still. I allowed her to help me undress from most of my clothes as I tried to recognize this woman. I didn’t know her though.

“You have to trust me,” the woman whispered so quietly it was nearly inaudible, “this won’t actually work.”

What wouldn’t work? The woman held a bottle of dark liquid and I heard Vegas’s helper explain. “You have to take it. You will be drugged out for about six hours and your magic won’t work.”

I felt Vegas’s panic and knew she may freak out. It wasn’t time yet. The woman in front of me kept an honest and truthful gaze on me. I made a warning sound at Vegas and she met my gaze. The look we shared had her calming down and really looking at the woman in front of her.

My nose scrunched up as I swallowed down the grape-flavored bullshit.

“Chambers. Now!” The guards hissed as we were led out.

My magic felt good now that they had taken the cuffs off of us, assuming the potion had stopped our magic. I had to hold back from using it as one of the guards grabbed Vegas’s arm. I prayed she wouldn’t go nuclear because there were far too many people at stake for us to make a singular escape.

We had all heard the cries of prisoners down here .

“So much friendlier now.” He grunted. “You didn’t think we wouldn’t want to play with you, did you?”

Pig.

I hissed as he knocked her knees and a strangled sound came from her throat. He only grinned and brought a knife up to where he held her hair in a tight twist.

Oh, hell no.

“We wouldn’t want this getting in the way, now would we?” he chuckled.

The door flew open but it was too late. The knife sliced her silver hair as it cascaded in a waterfall around her to the floor. Oh, shit.

“Vegas?” I whispered. “Are you okay?”

“Feel lighter already.” She murmured with a fury in her eyes I’d never seen before. Honestly, it was pretty fucking cool.

We were ushered upstairs and I didn’t have to hear the warning from my woman to know we couldn’t run yet. “Don’t run yet. We have people stationed everywhere but we want to affect the most damage so we have to do it at the ceremony. That is if we want to be free of these bastards.”

As we entered into a suite, Vegas was rushed to the bathroom and my woman turned towards me. She spoke softly. “My name is Brenda, Your Majesty.”

I smiled softly at her. “Thank you, Brenda. For all of this.”

“I need one favor,” she begged, “when we are successful, we need you to free everyone in these dungeons. All real criminals are executed or in power. These are women who refused to do what they were ‘expected to.’”

Now, that made me furious.

“Of course,” I nodded. She offered me a damp rag and small water bowl.

I was a hot fucking mess. There was no way around it.

Apparently, since I wasn’t the bride, I didn’t get a full bath.

Brenda helped wash off most of my wounds and since I was just in a lace slip undergarment, she gave me a change of clothes as well as a god awful brown dress.

Horrid.

“I’m not going to try to brush through this.” She admitted, looking at my hair.

I barked out a laugh and we tied it on top of my head in a knot. My cheeks were gaunt and I still had streaks of dirt on me, as well as ash. Small blessing, though? I was able to use the real toilet and then also brush my teeth.

Vegas, dressed in a white gown, with her choppy hair offered me a look that was filled with dark humor and something far more insidious. Oh, why did I not see this wedding going well? My magic whispered against my skin with a coy grin as if thrilled she would be destructive with us.

A knock on the door had all of us jumping.

I hated being jumpy.

“Little flame?” Victor, personality number two, demanded. “Come out.”

Vegas’s eyes went wide as tears pricked with emotions far too complicated for my state of exhaustion. He tried to comfort her but she pulled away.

Only a moment later, we headed down to the first wedding I’d ever been to.

I grabbed Vegas’s hand for comfort as we entered the massive overcrowded hall. My vision blurred as Mario began speaking. The minute his voice crossed my ears I felt myself grow furious and sharper, like the real predator had come out to play.

“So glad that you could join us!” Mario leered. “Everyone please welcome Queen Gray of the Horde and Vegas the Sorceress. ”

“My son,” Mario motioned to where Vegas went to stand with him up front. I hissed as Mario grasped me. I was tempted to just kill his ass right here and now. Honestly, though, I knew my magic was limited from pure exhaustion right now so I couldn’t mess up the timing.

The creepy music selection made me groan. Mario gripped me tighter as he started to buzz with excitement. I watched Vegas’s eyes grow wide as if something was wrong.

Shit.

I knew what this felt like. Come on! Focus, Gray!

Oh, no.

“Mario!” I growled, “You cannot bond them!”

Mario laughed and grasped my shoulders, shaking me, before letting my body fall as I collapsed into a pile. I chuckled a soft pained laugh. Oh I was going to kill this fucker. I snarled and stood up approaching Mario in his distracted state. I moved fast.

My hand was a millimeter from his neck before he turned, grasping my neck in a tight grip while hitting me in the ribs. I cried out and I could no longer hold back.

The magic, restrained inside of me for four weeks, exploded. A massive explosion of dark smoke and ash collided with brilliant fire from Vegas, glass shattering. A volcano-like energy swirled and attacked the Dark Fae that wished us harm.

Victor’s screams matched others and I needed to hear this one.

“You motherfucker.” I finally lost it and punched Mario right in the chest, his chest cracked as he lost all momentum of power. His head snapped back as he fell to the floor crying out.

Always punch first, am I right ?

I grasped his throat and bore down on him as those dark eyes flashed with fear. I squeezed before I changed my mind.

“You are too weak, little girl!” He let out a wild strangled laugh.

I’d show him weak.

Fuck you, Mario.

“You deserve this,” I snarled and snapped his neck with ease. My hand buried down into his chest as my nails pried out his heart. I had promised I would.

I hadn’t even realized I was crying until I was slamming the organ into the marble steps and staring down at his very dead body. The blood just poured around me and relief filled me. I had killed him.

Visions of my mom’s suffering and my father’s death flashed before my eyes. He’d killed them.

He had killed them and I had sought vengeance.

There may be people who think I should have let him live and to that I say “Fuck you.”

No. He was an evil motherfucker.

The doors opened, and as my back began to burn I knew, my men were here.