Page 15 of The Bloody Ruin Asylum & Taproom (Sam Quinn #7)

Ten

One Less Monster in the World

Viktoria followed at a distance, still pissed I wasn’t ratting out the vamps, no doubt.

I climbed Castle Hill and explored the Palace and Matthias Church.

Just outside the church was a courtyard called the Fisherman’s Bastion.

Since I no longer had my tour guide, I relied on the internet to tell me what I was looking at.

Apparently, this was a gathering place for fishmongers back in the day.

Now, though, it boasted incredible views, high above the river, looking out over all of Budapest.

Viktoria was still following me but seemed content to keep her distance. I ignored her and watched the sunset.

Good evening, darling? Where are you?

I’m at the Fisherman’s Bastion, leaning against a stone arch, watching the sun dip below the horizon.

I wish I were with you.

Me too. I’ve been taking pictures all afternoon to share with you, so it will almost be like we’re sightseeing together.

He was quiet for a moment. I’m sorry you had to experience the city for the first time all on your own.

I wasn’t. I’ve had a wolf following me—the woman translating on the phone. I went up to her and introduced myself. She started acting as my guide. She’s super pissed off at me now, though. And I have an update for you that you’re not going to like.

Are you all right?

I’m fine. It’s about the vamps attacking humans in town. I’ll explain it all when I see you. My current problem is how I get back into the Guild. The tunnel is one-way.

Yes, I asked about that. Sebastian wasn’t terribly helpful, saying we should do what we did last night.

Well, you said it was a super-secret lair, so they probably don’t want to advertise that people go in and out. It’s cool. I can find a bench and hang out, watching the sunset and the lights sparkle on the Danube until it’s dark enough for you to find me.

I don’t like you being out there on your own with a hostile wolf surveilling you.

You should ask Vlad how he gets in and out. He might have a secret passage we don’t know about. Oh. Speaking of which, Vlad can move around during the day. He was active while you guys were snoozing.

I have yet to see Vlad. He’s not terribly social. As for being a day-walking vampire, I know. It’s part of what makes him so threatening to others of our kind.

Hmm, creepy.

Indeed. I’ll be there shortly. Stay safe, please.

Will do.

Where I was standing was the edge of the upper courtyard.

There was a steep drop to another gathering spot below.

The stairs down were far to the side. I wanted to just sit on the edge and wait, but I didn’t like being in a compromised position where an annoyed Viktoria could shove me off.

I’d survive, but a twenty-foot plunge on a recently broken leg concerned me.

I decided to stroll instead. The rest of the tourists were heading back down the hill, but I stayed. I took a picture of the huge statue of St. Stephen, Hungary’s first king, on horseback. Taking the wide stairway down, I paused halfway and sat on the stone balustrade, enjoying the view.

I heard a whisper of steps behind me. “Viktoria?”

She stopped a few steps back. “Why are you just sitting here?”

“It’s beautiful,” I said quietly.

She came down, stopping a little past me before leaning against the thick wall I was sitting on. Her short reddish-brown hair blew in the breeze.

We shared the twilight in silence before she finally asked, “I don’t understand. How could you have married a leech?”

Her tone conveyed confusion rather than derision, so I answered her.

It was probably stupid on my part, but I thought if she understood, she might trust me to do what I promised: find the men who killed that poor girl.

“I married Clive, a man I love very much. The vampire part isn’t the important piece—well, I take that back.

If he weren’t a vampire, he never would have lived long enough to meet me. ”

“They’re evil, sick predators.” She shook her head. “I’ve been watching you all afternoon. You’re polite. You step to the side to let others go. You hold doors open. You offer to take pictures for families.” She stared at me. “You did it three times.”

This conversation was quite odd. “That’s the bare minimum of being a decent human being.”

“Are you aware of how many people smile after interacting with you? Even the ones who don’t speak English, who had no idea what you were saying to them, they smiled and watched you walk away.

But you’ve tied your life to a filthy bloodsucker.

” She turned her head to stare at me. Her blue eyes were familiar, but I couldn’t place why.

The look of disgust on her face was all too familiar.

“Vampires, like humans, come in a wide spectrum,” I said.

“Some are monsters, and some are like my husband. He’s kind, considerate, and there’s no one I’d trust more at my back in a fight.

He’d lay waste to legions to keep me from harm.

More than that, though, he’d step back if he knew it was something I had to face on my own.

“Warriors wade in, swords drawn, and that’s him. An ancient warrior who’s had to suppress that drive to give me the room to grow and learn.” Looking down at my wedding ring, I felt so lucky. “The fact that he survives on blood is the least interesting thing about him.”

Viktoria turned away, staring out over the hills and river, her brow furrowed. “Then he is a rarity. The rest should burn in hell.”

A silence grew between us, but it wasn’t uncomfortable or hostile, just sad.

“This isn’t only about that poor girl in the park, is it?” I asked.

She was quiet a little longer and then said, “My lover. Mira. She disappeared one evening. We were at that Bloody Ruin bar you were at last night. She went to the toilet and never came back. I went looking and smelled vampire near the toilet door.

“I panicked. Others had disappeared from an area that smelled like vampire. I called László and the pack helped me search. We scoured the town, went up into the hills, nothing.”

Hands shaking, she stuffed them into the pockets of her jeans. “We found her the next morning. In an alley. Her shirt was inside out, her bra missing, and she stank of vampires. Multiple vampires.

“I took her to the clinic. They said she was fine. Anemic but fine.” Viktoria turned her head to glare at me again.

“She wasn’t, though. She had nightmares.

Every night she woke up screaming and talking about black eyes surrounding her, grabbing her, groping her, and her inability to move, to fight them off and get away.

She was stuck in a body that wouldn’t move. ”

She angrily brushed away tears. “It was too much. She couldn’t live with the nightmares.”

I understood being plagued by nightmares, as well as the impulse to make it all stop. “I’m so sorry. For you and for Mira.”

She nodded slowly, staring out at the purpling sky. “They’re all monsters.”

I thought about it for a while. “Yeah. Some of them. But some of us are too. And some humans and some fae. There are all kinds of monsters in the world. Our job is to battle them when we find them.”

“But you won’t give us the information to do just that,” she threw back at me.

I started to pull up my sleeve and then remembered. “I used to be covered in scars, from my neck to my feet. Horrible, thick scars. A wolf did that to me. He raped and tortured me for hours. There are lots of monsters.”

Viktoria watched me. “And did your husband hunt him down?”

I shook my head. “I did. The wolf took me again. I was older, though, stronger. I wasn’t a seventeen-year-old grieving her mother anymore. I broke free of his restraints and tore him to pieces.” I took a deep breath. “One less monster in the world.”

“Good,” she said with a growl in her voice, happy I’d killed my rapist. After a moment, she asked, “What happened to all the scars?”

“I’ve had a very weird life and have met some very powerful people. One of them erased all my scars as a thank you for helping his son.”

I studied my bare legs. “This is the first time I’ve worn shorts in almost eight years. I know the scars aren’t there anymore, but I still feel them.” I studied her a moment. “Can I ask? I don’t meet many female wolves. How were you turned and how did you survive it?”

She let out a gust of air. “Wrong person. Wrong Place.” She rubbed her forehead.

“I was rebelling, I suppose. My parents were very strict.” She glanced back at me.

“I’m older than I look. Anyway, my parents adopted me from an orphanage in town.

You asked me before if I’d always lived in Budapest. I didn’t.

I grew up in a village about ten miles to the north.

My birth mother was from here.” She pointed back toward the Guild.

“From that big, condemned building on the hill. I was able to get that much information from the orphanage. They’d apparently told my parents the same.

By the time I was looking, the asylum had already been closed down and boarded up. ”

She shook her head. “My adoptive parents were good people. Kind, but they didn’t know what to make of me. I always knew how I felt about other girls, but I could never tell them. When I was a teenager, I was seen kissing another girl behind the barn.

“The uproar,” she continued, staring up at the twilight sky.

“My father tried to erase it by marrying me off right away. I refused. There was lots of anger and gossip in the village. They all knew I’d been adopted from the asylum and therefore assumed I’d inherited my birth mother’s insanity.

Our neighbors, who’d known me all my life, now thought I was sick or possessed.

“Budapest, even more than a century ago, was a big city. I could lose myself here. And I did. Eventually, I even found a nightclub and a community for others like me.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I wasn’t alone or broken. There were others like me, and they welcomed me in.” She took a deep breath and blinked her eyes rapidly. “I’d found an accepting home. Other than missing my parents, I was happy.

“When I was in my twenties, I met a woman. Beautiful. Long dark hair, golden brown eyes, and a dimple. Just here,” she said, pointing to her cheek.

“We hit it off immediately. Love at first sight and all that. One night, we were in bed, and she bit me. I honestly didn’t even realize it was that hard.

I hadn’t been thinking clearly. Anyway, after she left, I realized there was blood on my thigh, but all I could think was that I needed to tell her to be more gentle next time. ”

She blew out a breath. “I never saw her again. Heartbroken, I tried to understand what I’d done to drive her off.

At the next full moon, grief turned to betrayal.

She’d bitten me and run, leaving me to shift into a beast. Into this monster.

So, I was different and alone all over again.

Thankfully, László found me running in a panic in the hills.

He brought me into the pack. Strange as it was, I’d found a home again. Acceptance.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Shifting all on your own, with no idea of what’s going on, is terrifying. I’m glad he found you.”

She nodded, lost in thought. “But you, even though you have packs the world over that would honor you and your abilities, you have these powerful friends who feel indebted to you, you still choose a leech as your mate.” She couldn’t get past that.

I looked at my wedding ring again and a calm came over me.

“Clive is wily and patient. He watched over me for years, giving me little pushes, helping me to stand on my own two feet again, training me to defend myself. If I hadn’t wanted him, he would have accepted that, but he still would have looked out for me while helping me defend myself.

Regardless of how I felt about him, he needed to make sure I was never hurt again. ”

She studied my ring as I had. “And how long did he wait for you to heal?”

“Seven years,” I said.

“I would have waited centuries for you.” Clive descended the steps silently, stopping beside me and wrapping his arm around my waist. “That’s quite a drop,” he said, looking over the balustrade. “Fifty feet would do more than break your leg.”