Serenity

Chapter 81: The Grandfather

Jo's POV
Present, a week later...

So we kissed.

We did a lot of kissing.

  Nothing more than kissing, just a lot of kissing. What the fuck am I rambling about anymore. As much as I love him, and as much as I know that we're not together or whatever, I feel like I'm back where I was three years ago. When he kidnapped me. When I was the same person but because of a different reason.

"I don't understand where we're going," I say to Hero as he pulls me down one of the long hallways of the house. I wanna know where he gets all these big houses. Like where do they come from?

"You'll see, I think you may like this surprise," he says to me and I sigh, stopping. I don't really believe him, but that's okay, right? I don't know, I'm so confused. It's the worst feeling, not knowing anything. Not even just not knowing, more so being confused about what you do know. Because the more confused you are, the more you have no idea what to do about it.

"May seems like the key word in that sentence," I point out but he just seems to chuckle at that. This is worrying me, a lot. I don't know why but my insides feel scrambled. Like the unknown is scary or something. The unknown isn't scary, I haven't been scared of it my entire life. So why, why in this one single moment am I scared? It just doesn't make sense.

  We walk into another room and the air shifts. It's cold, compared to how warm the house usually is. It's slightly unsettling, but everything is slightly unsettling so I shouldn't be surprised in the long run. No matter what happens I shouldn't be surprised. Yet somehow I know I will be.

"Don't worry about it, I think you'll enjoy this little surprise," he said and I roll my eyes. He thinks, which means he took at long shot. He goes over to to the door on the other side of the room, and then he holds his hand out for me. "Come on, it won't bite."

"Really hoping it's a puppy," I say with a smile on my face and then I take his hand. He leads me into the dark room and flicks on the light. That's no puppy. "Grandfather?" I say and let go of Hero's hand and look between them. "What the fuck is going on?" I ask, something coming over me.

  "You've gotten so old Josephine," my grandfather says and starts to get up. I know better and reach behind Hero and grab his gun from his waist band, pointing it at him.

  "I wouldn't come any closer if I were you," I say and Hero comes closer to me from behind. I feel cornered, like someone is gonna try to kill me. I wouldn't be surprised if it were my grandfather.

  "He's here to help Jo, it's okay," he says and kisses my cheek, but I don't let my guard down. The gun is still very much pointed at my grandfather. This isn't good, depending on the context it can be extremely bad. I still have my own operation, or whatever you want to call it, to worry about.

"Help? You want this..." I don't even know what to call him. Or maybe I don't know what to call him that wouldn't apply to me. "You want this serial killer to help you," I say and it's probably a poor choice of words. Hero looks at him like he's sorry for my actions. Kiss ass.

"Don't worry Hero, my granddaughters words don't affect anything," he says and I keep the gun up. "Honey, put the gun down, your arms must be exhausted." He says and tries to come closer to me.

"Come closer to me and I'll kill you, right here right now," I say and he puts hands up in a dramatic surrender. I want to murder him, I've wanted to murder him for awhile but the urge was resisted and then I got kidnapped.

  "You call me a serial killer yet you stand here free," he says to me and I laugh. It's a deep laugh, coming from deep within me.

  "I'm barely free grandfather, if I were free you would be dead," I say with a smirk but he just rolls his eyes at me. I'm dead fixed on him, my eyes not moving away. I don't know why but part of me is scared he'll move too quickly and I'll miss him taking my gun. He's an old man, I shouldn't be afraid of him, but I am.

  "You've been free for a few years, from what I understand. You've done a lot, and have screwed up a lot. I'm sure you're the one who put that bullet to poor Hero's knee," he says and I tighten my grip on the gun. "You've done a lot, and I'm impressed."

  "You almost made an empire fall," I say softly and he shakes his head. Hero puts his hand on the edge of the gun and tries to push it down, eventually succeeding. I shoot him a glare and he looks at me disappointed. Why is he disappointed? I don't know but fuck him then or something.

  "Your father almost killed me, my son almost killed me," he says and I stare at him. There's no remorse in me, just anger.

  "There's a reason why we're a line of pure blooded killers," I say with a smile and he shakes his head. There's a lot of that going on.

  "A line that started with your father," he says and I look at Hero, then the gun, then my grandfather, and then the gun again.

  "The urge to finally end you..." I say and trail off, thinking about Julien. Julien Jacobs. I look down at my thigh where I know the scar is from the knife being pushed into my leg. Julien loved someone. He just wanted his loved one to be safe. "It's not fleeting."

  "I'm sure it's always there, especially after everything you've been through. You only know how to kill people, it's how you deal with your pain and anger." He says to me and I go to grab the gun from Hero.

  "Give me the gun," I mumble and keep trying to win the tug-of-war with this gun. Hero is fighting this, and I don't seem to understand why. "Give me the god damn gun," I say and he shakes his head.

  "See, it's what you're doing now, why would you change?" He asks and I stop fighting for the gun and I stare at him. My mind racing and I just want to murder the son of a bitch.

  "You've murdered everyone you've ever loved. There's a reason you were casted out. There's a reason Salvatore took over and did what he did." I say and he laughs.

  "And now I hear you're aiding and abetting your father. Hiding him in one of your many places." He says and everything clicks now. This is what he's here for. Son of a bitch; I can't believe this is what I'm allowing to happen right now.

  "Son of a bitch," I say, voicing my thoughts on this situation. "You too, you son of a bitch," I say as I'm looking at Hero. "It's all you care about isn't it? Finding him... it's been your mission since day one," I say and he looks down. He's been quiet, too quiet.

Maybe I am back where I was three years ago, and there's nothing I can do about it.