Page 49 of V for Vilified (Hunter V #4)

Motherfucking Time Monster

I ’d expected more of a fight from everyone, but no one argued after Aram disclosed the details of why we needed to leave.

Even Rayis was quieted with the information.

A greedy glint hit his eye and he demanded why we were all waiting around when there was a demon to kill.

Had I not been just as desperate, I’d give the tall asshole a good throat punch for all the hell he’d already given me.

The portal was exactly how Aram promised, a few seconds away from the devastation I nearly lost my dinner upon seeing.

We stepped into a place that had been something of a home for the last few weeks.

Furniture was broken and the place had been turned upside down in the fight that took place before we arrived.

My heart was in my throat as I peered around, terrified in ways I’d never been before. It was losing Grams, losing Nigel, losing a friendship I thought I had balled into one. It took every bit of my courage to walk around.

Kate kept close to me as we entered the front room where we all usually congregated for planning or arguments, depending on who was there. A room that, not long ago, I’d been sitting on Phillip’s lap and educating my human friend in the ways of polyamory against my will.

Rayis and Dagon kept close to Aram, prepared for Hera to attack at any moment, but after several rooms, it was evident she wasn’t there—and that no one was left alive.

Quivering, I glanced around. The power in my core throbbed as the bodies of everyone I cared about came into view, one after the other, the vision of each one a dagger to my heart. My nose burned. I tried not to cry, but seeing them like this wasn’t a reality I’d ever wanted to face.

Being a Hunter meant I’d lose, and often, but it never occurred to me I might lose everyone all at once. It never seemed real I’d lose them at all.

Phillip and Sloan were just barely visible where they fell.

Cash was slumped against the wall, his head dropped forward with something wrapped tightly in his hands.

It was a pouch I’d seen once before. Jo was on the ground, in a pool of blue blood, her favorite daggers still in hand.

I’d never seen the woman bleed. I hadn’t been aware she was just like the Nether Royals.

My throat and chest burned, faced with everyone I’d chosen to love now lying dead on the ground. So many people I couldn’t live without, gone. Words would never be enough. I’d never be able to express the loss in a million lifetimes.

“Fuck,” I croaked, breaking to pieces and barely staying upright. My knees buckled, but Kate was already there and so was Aram.

Kate wrapped an arm around my waist and put her head on my shoulder, and Aram caressed my arm as I broke down. Tears fled down my cheeks faster than they ever had before. I didn’t want to face it. I didn’t want to acknowledge what happened, but it was everywhere I looked.

I took a step, but Kate stopped me. Her hand was over my eyes before I understood what was happening, whispering in my ear. “Don’t look anymore, V. You don’t need to see them this way. You’re a motherfucking time monster. You’re not helpless. Only you can bring them back.”

My tears wet her hand as I nodded, for once the weaker of the two.

How was Kate always so damn strong? New world, new reality, and she just skipped along like none of it bothered her.

She hadn’t been the least surprised by my ability.

She didn’t once question it since we left, and now it was with her encouragement that a spark of hope was in my gut.

Aram leaned in and pressed a kiss to my cheek, keeping his mouth next to my ear. “Draw from our bond, little mate, and reverse what that Eishic did.”

Big was in front of me, his pixie men hovering nervously around him. They still weren’t sure about the Nether Royals. They’d agreed for me.

Big had been pissed off after he was released, but it changed when he saw me undone with my face covered in tears. Now, he was waiting like everyone else. Their quiet support was enough to get my head back in the game.

This wasn’t the end. Kate was right. I was a motherfucking time monster.

I wiped my tears and stepped out. The echo of my power radiated in my core.

Just like Jo taught me, I pushed it out and drew on my connection with Aram.

It wasn’t clear at first if the world had started to move backwards because nothing moved, but my vampire eyes detected the subtle movement of shadows that seemed to be going backwards.

Then she was there.

Rayis growled as Hera appeared out of shadows and moved in reverse. “Holy fucking hell. The hybrid did it. The hag isn’t immune to her power. Thank the bloody moon goddess.”

I released a sigh, my forehead beaded with sweat as I focused on pushing time backward. I’d been terrified she’d break through at any second, that it wouldn’t work on her the way frozen time hadn’t worked on Aram or Serine, but she moved in reverse the entire time.

I watched each one of my group get taken out in excruciating detail.

Phillip and Sloan were fierce fighters to the very end.

Same with Cash and Jo. I’d never seen them all fight together like they did when she attacked.

It didn’t matter how unevenly matched, how easily she knocked them down, they never gave up.

I moved time back as far as I could, but I started to shake from head to toe. My power was waning despite leaning into my bond with Aram. I couldn’t make him vulnerable with Hera still left to fight, so I pulled away from our connection.

Aram brushed my arm with his knuckles and stared at the group, now alive and arguing. Their movements were stilted and backward. “Can you bring them into it?” he asked gently.

I shuddered in place, dripping sweat. “I think, maybe, if I let it move forward, but I don’t know for how long.”

He dropped his mouth to my ear again. “I’m much stronger than you think, little mate. Lean on me. I’ll give you as much of my power as it takes.”

My voice shook as I stayed as focused as I could. “You need to fight Hera. I won’t be—”

For the first time, it was Rayis who chose to speak to me. “ We’ll fight her, hybrid. I was wrong about you, so I’ll make sure your pets—”

“They’re not pets,” I growled.

“Uh, right. Your mates don’t die this day as an apology,” he amended, watching the scene continue to unfold in reverse.

A snarky quip waited on my tongue, but I opted out of it for once. “Thank you.”

“Hera will die this day,” Dagon drawled in a voice octaves deeper than his brother.

“Glad these beasts are on our side for once,” Big mumbled behind me.

My anxiety was replaced with determination, more confident than ever that we’d save them. We had to.

Kate grabbed my hand, trying to offer her support, and the rest were dead silent, like they were afraid of saying anything that’d make me lose concentration.

My body shook, but I didn’t feel as weak as I did before.

I’d leaned back into the bond, hand locked inside Aram’s, and it was almost as if something finally slotted into place.

I heard a whisper of a thought, one that mirrored my observation. Our bond felt different. We’d both noticed.

Aram and Dagon exchanged glances, then Big was next to Kate.

The three circled her as time shuddered and stalled.

I’d gotten us to maybe ten or twelve minutes before Hera arrived, but my legs gave out before I could reverse any longer and time moved again.

I was scooped up into the Nether Royal’s arms as the world shuttered back to life.

Cash cried out in horror as we appeared around them. “What the bleeding hell?!” His panicked eyes found me first and black magic moved around him. “Get your filthy hands off her, you posh Nether bastard!”

Jo was already next to him, becoming translucent. Her daggers shot through the air, one after the other, aimed for Rayis and Dagon, who both dodged without effort. But I saw the shadows behind them that they’d walked into. It was her dangerous first move, and I couldn’t let it turn into a fight.

“Wait!” I screamed and time froze again.

Aram held me in his arms as I quivered and tried desperately to keep only parts of my attacking group frozen. “Little mate, you’ve used too much—”

“I’m…okay,” I gasped.

Phillip and Sloan were frozen mid-lunge. “V! What are—”

“Just listen,” I barked, barely keeping it together, voice wobbly.

“Hera is on her way. I could only reverse time by ten or so minutes, and I can’t hold this freeze forever, so you need to fucking trust me.

If you care about me, please, I need you to believe me.

She’s the real enemy, and she’s coming to kill you. ”

My voice quivered as salty tears raced down my face again, and Aram tightened his hold on me as if to protect me from my own memory.

“And she’ll succeed.”

I sensed Cash’s disbelief, but then his resounding echo of total faith in me.

It was a rush of relief to feel how strongly he believed in me.

He might not like the help I’d brought, but he never doubted what I said for a second.

Phillip and Sloan nodded their heads as I let go of them and glanced at Jo.

Her expression was twisted in a way it never had been before. “My mother?”

“Yes,” I whispered.

Her gaze blazed amber. “She’s alive?”

“I don’t have time to explain everything, but she’s the one who hunted and killed all the Royal Sirens, who sent Lyra to the Organization…who created me.”

Jo broke free of the group and was already in front of me after quickly ghosting across the floor. Her eyes went to Aram, but then they were back on me as her jaw clenched off and on. “Then let me do it.”

Rayis made a noise of protest, but Aram silenced him with a glare.

Jo touched my hand and stared at me with a desperation I’d never seen on her before. “Please, V. Let me be the one to kill her.”