Inked

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Staring blankly at my grandfather I realized that everything everyone had told me was completely wrong. He was standing not that far from me, a smile on his face and his eyes twinkling with a glimmer I couldn't describe. With each step he took toward me I could feel power exuding off of him. As he got closer to me, he also began to speak, his voice rumbling across my skin. My soul felt like it was shaking within me.

"I'm sure your grandmother told you many things about me. However, I wish for you to see who I am and not go by what other have said." His smile was blinding, almost like the sun. "You grandmother was always afraid to let me meet your father." A sad smile crept onto his face, and he glanced away, as if shielding his emotions before he turned back to me. "She was afraid because from the moment a child is born, it becomes a close rival to its parent. They love each other the most but they are also fearful of each other. She ingrained this into your father, and I wish it wasn't so."

I breathed in deeply, and asked, "Why did you never meet him even after all of these years?"

He seemed to deflate, his presence even becoming smaller. "There are some things that should be left alone until the right time appears. And that right time begins with you."

"Me? Why?"

"You are my grandson, and that alone will bridge the gap between your father and I. I cannot help what has been done in the past, but I can try to mend things within our futures. That first step will be by helping my blood within you calm that which you received from your mother."

I stared at him wide eyed. He even knew about the blood bomb within me? With only one glance?

"I was told it may take years." I whispered. By this time my grandfather finally reached me. He was still smiling and with him before my, he seemed like a giant mountain and could engulf me, but I felt no killing intent from him, only a wave of utmost warmth.

"Your problem lies not within your mother's witch blood as you may believe. That may have been the precursor, but the problem lies in the way you have used the powers you inherited from myself. Have you visited any of the four rivers within Tartarus?" Confused by this question, I shook my head. "That may be a good thing, there are certain properties within all of the rivers that could have made your powers become even more unstable. This would have exploded all of your powers from the inside out." I shuddered thinking of this, that was seriously internal combustion and it terrified me.

"How to I fix the problem from my powers?" I asked with the resolution to get this fixed. If it could be fixed easily, that would mean I would have as many years as I wanted with Zane. I would, of course, never tell him he was the reason I sacrificed everything to meet my grandfather. Somewhere deep within my soul I had had a feeling that my grandfather would be able to help me solve all of my problems. The idea of a god had that effect I guess.

My grandfather looked me over with his fathomless eyes and said in a commanding tone, "Release."

Without even my say so, as if his voice had the power to control me, every single ink slithered it's way to the top of my skin and my wings burst from my back. They were still slightly more black than blue, but the blue was becoming more prominent. My grandfather stared at every single tattoo that etched into my skin, casting a cursory gaze at the wings that had unfurled.

"Pure blue," he muttered under his breath. HIs eyes narrowed slightly and then he reached out a hand, tapping the tree tattoo on my hand. I felt the tattoo writhe and I was shocked to find pain lancing through my veins.