Page 16 of Beautiful Venom
The fake fan who claims she wanted to be offered a chance to be on the inside. A chance I’m granting not because I sympathize, but because I want to see her on her knees.
Literally.
Figuratively.
I hit the gas. Time to get to the highlight of my evening.
Here’s to hoping she doesn’t disappoint me. If she does, I might have to drive her to one of our warehouses.
And it’d be a shame to turn those bright hazel eyes red.
5
DAHLIA
Months.
It’s been months of constant, careful plotting, thorough calculating, and painstaking patience.
Months.
And today’s finally the day.
I wipe my clammy hands on my jeans as I park my bike in a parking space and power walk through the dimly lit streets. I actually followed Kane’s advice and came in my most relaxed outfit—a plain gray T-shirt and my comfiest sneakers that are slightly beat up.
If I said I wasn’t scared, it’d be a flat-out lie.
I’ve only heard rumors about Vencor’s initiations, and they all mention a grueling interrogation process, having to endure physical and mental tests, and being stripped bare of one’s humanity.
But they all remain rumors.
No one but Vencor members know the truth.
Despite the slight tremor that invades my limbs and the heaviness in my steps, no amount of fear will deter me from bringing Violet justice.
Violet and I aren’t blood-related, but we met in a foster home—one of the most abusive ones I lived in—and we bonded. She protected me when the man who was supposed to take care of us got too drunk on liquor and hit us or when his wife tried to get me addicted to meth.
Then one night, Violet took my hand and suggested we escape. We were homeless for a while, and she refused to take us to a shelter or anywhere else in the care system. Neither of us trusted it. I was maybe twelve at the time and she was thirteen.
For some reason, our previous foster parents, Martha and Gerald, didn’t report us as runaways or missing right away, and Violet said she ‘took care of it.’ I’m not sure how she convinced them, but something told me it was because of the black eye she was sporting, and I wanted to go back and kill them.
But the last thing we wanted was to be found and shoved into another abusive foster home.
Thankfully, Violet looked older than her age, so she got a job at some shady restaurant and begged the owner lady to let me study in the storage room while she worked the evening shift.
She fed me, made sure I was keeping my grades up, and took me for late-night walks. She’s my mom, my dad, my sister, and my savior.
She shielded me when she was in the cold. She fed me and stayed hungry herself.
She was the warm shelter kids like me don’t get.
Until she was snatched away from me.
Because of Vencor.
They cut off my lifeline, and now, I have nothing left except the need for cold-blooded revenge.
The light dims further until only a few lit bulbs remain. They’re so far apart and barely there that I have to rely on my phone’s flashlight to see the path ahead.
