Wildflower [4]

Little Huntress

"Casey, I know you're upset with me." Dad started, and I give him a look.

"I am more than upset with you. The only reason I'm here is because we both know how crazy Grandpa is." I said as Dad opened the entrance up that was hidden within the tunnels. It's this bunker we have, and I never knew it even existed until today.

"There's my little huntress." In front of me was my grandfather, with no black blood dripping from his nose or his mouth, and looked to be in perfect health.

"Grandpa," I said, and he smiled at me, coming closer, and he held something out to me.

"Did you really think I would forget your birthday? A day early couldn't hurt." He said, shocking me.

"I thought you wouldn't care. Given I'm not even blood." I said to him, and he nodded.

"I have heard about that. But I'm not stupid. I knew the moment I saw that necklace on you. I knew Cordelia. Though she wasn't too fond of me." Grandpa said, and my dad clicked his tongue.

"I could only imagine why." He said, and Grandpa ignored him.

"But you were raised as an Argent. That's who you'll always be. Why keep the name then?" He asked me, and I knew he was right. I may not have been born one, but I was raised as one. I may not have killed, but I've hunted just like them. Just because I'm not related by blood doesn't mean I'm not one at all.

"Now open it." He told me, and I open the box to see a brand new pair of silver daggers. I take them out of the box and see the family crest on the hilt of it, reminding me that I'm one of them. "I had them made for you."

"Thank you," I said, accepting the gift from him, but I also didn't know what else to say exactly. This man murdered people right in front of me when I was a child, and now here I am still calling him grandpa and accepting gifts from him.

I don't know. I guess it's because even after everything, he's still my family. And I don't have much of that these days. He was always good to me ever since I was young. He never mistreated me. Maybe I'm going crazy?

"I'm assuming you know what we're dealing with." He said to me.

"La Bête du Gévaudan," I said, looking at him. "I remember. You told me the stories when I lived with you back in Paris for the year."

My dad then looked at us in confusion. "You never told me that Casey knew the stories." He said to his father.

"Of course, I told her. As my protégée, I expected her to know what I did. But I didn't tell her the true one. I fabricated it, leaving out one major detail. That this revolves even around her true family." Grandpa said, and I had no idea what he was talking about.

"Celestine Mercier."

-

"So my ancestor Celestine was alive when the beast was? I don't understand. Is that why they want me alive?" I asked him as he filled his gun with bullets.

"It's possible. Being what you are, you gave the Beast life. Well, helped it. Celestine was good friends with Marie-Jeanne and her brother. But she was much more than a friend to him." He said, and my eyes widen in realization.

"Wait, so I'm-"

"No. Celestine ended up marrying Elijah Argent, twin brother to Henri. Elijah changed his name for the sake of hers being as she was the only one left." He told me.

"Oh, so technically speaking, we are related, but as very distant cousins," I said to him, and he nodded.

"So we are. Celestine helped Marie-Jeanne create the pike, her own blood being used as well. Anything to kill the man who was no longer her once-beloved husband but a monster. A beast. But even then, she couldn't bring herself to hurt him."