The Awakening

Chapter 25: Origins

Malthus cautiously pressed the intercom on the gate. The speaker slowly crackled to life and a raspy voice spoke on the end.

"How can I help you?"

Malthus looked at Jason and Alice with a strained expression so Alice spoke up,

"We'd like to know about Gabriella Montague, we think she may have had a son."

There was a pause before the intercom was switched off and a buzz rang out causing the gate to be opened. The voice croaked out,

"Come up to the house, we'll discuss further."

The party of four walked cautiously on the pavement until they arrived at the house. A well-dressed woman stood at the steps staring at them with hard eyes. Her hair was placed in a bun and she wore a black pants suit with six-inch heels. Her lips were painted black and when her eyes met those of Malthus her gaze hardened even further. Her eyes changed to black along with black veins becoming prominent under them. Malthus immediately fell to his knees as his ears started bleeding and he screamed. He felt his blood start to boil and his face contorted in terror.

Before Jason could make a move Tyler screamed out stop. The woman, upon hearing the voice, immediately stopped and turned to him. Her eyes immediately teared up at the sight of him and she stood there with trembling hands never leaving his gaze. She took small steps from the veranda and walked towards him, when she reached him she slowly held her hand out and reached out to touch his face. Alice immediately stood in front of Tyler and stared at the woman with a hard gaze,

"I don't care who you are but touching him is off-limits."

The woman's face regained its hard gaze and stepped back.

"I apologize for my behavior, let's go inside."

**********

The interior of the house was exquisite; tinted glass walls made up the house causing Tyler to inwardly gasp. It had been built with soundproof glass that was clearly very sturdy but also tinted so the outside world would not be able to look inside. Large, rectangle windows added to the overall style of the house, clearly added in a way to enhance the beauty and luxury of the house. The interior was decorated with a Victorian feel, clearly boasting exquisite furniture making it very obvious that these people were far from poor. The woman gestured for them to sit in what appeared to be the living room.

"I'm sure you all have questions and I will try my best to answer them. Firstly, my name is Catherine and you," she pointed to Tyler, "are the spitting image of my daughter, Gabriella."

Tyler looked at her with a shocked expression then chuckled. His laughter was music to Alice's ears but she found it strange that he was laughing at this moment. Catherine stared at him puzzlingly before he spoke.

"So you mean to tell me my grandmother has been alive all this time and yet I spent nineteen years in a fucking orphanage. What an excellent first impression you're putting forward grandmother," Tyler spoke with venom.

Catherine's gaze softened, "I'm sorry Tyler, really I am. Tyler was the name of your grandfather. The reason you were not raised here was that your mother was sent into the orphanage to protect her when she was younger. We were helping witches and that put a target on our backs. It was no place to raise her so we sent her somewhere we thought she was to be safe. You cannot imagine how it felt for me to give up my only daughter. When her body came back years later, as all our dead bodies do, your grandfather was so distraught that he ended his life and I became a witch. We never meant for any of this to happen. I should never have let her go."

She looked down and tears fell from her eyes as she picked up a picture off the table and handed it to Tyler,

"We got pictures of her as the years went by but I never knew she was pregnant yet alone unwell. She was always smiling in pictures. When her body returned to us at sixteen it was very hard for us. If I had known about you, I would've raised you myself."