War of the Griffins

Chapter 11

"You aren't the man I married."

Vivian shook her head as she pulled her daughter from the door, and felt nausea swirl unrestrained in her empty stomach. All she could do was take a deep breath as she felt her head swim with half-formed regrets. What happened?

Her heart felt as if the blood inside had become tar as it struggled to keep a steady beat. What changed you, Matt?

She ignored what came next out of her husband's mouth, and pulled her daughter farther from the basement. Only once they were up in the foyer of the house, did she look down as she heard her daughter speak, "Mom? What was all that with father?"

"I..." She had no clue what to tell her daughter. I mean how can I just up and tell her, the man who raised her has a girl who doesn't look that much older than his own daughter as a prisoner, and that he is slowly unraveling?

"Is something wrong Vivian? you don't look so well?"

Vivian turned swiftly on her heels as she struggled to keep her feet from the fast movement. This only became harder as her daughter rushed out of her grip and pushed past her to the man she adored. "Damien you're back!"

"Elizabeth, go wait in the gardens, I wish to speak to Damien alone." She said briskly as she gave her daughter a look that dared her to talk back.

"B-but he just got here mom! I don't get to spend nearly enough t-"

Vivian's gaze hardened as she interrupted her daughter, her lips twitched down in a frown,"Enough! He will join you in the garden when I have spoken to him. You know I've never denied your time with him. I have to speak to him privately about what exactly he does with your father."

Elizabeth wanted to speak up again but the look on her mother's face made her think otherwise and with a sigh, she left the room. Vivian watched her daughter go, her knuckles white as she exhaled deeply before stepping forward.

"Alright, I am only going to ask this once. Why the fuck does Matthew have his supposed great-niece locked in our basement?!" Vivian grabbed his collar and made sure all he could see was her face. "What the hell is happening to my husband!"

"You knew how Matthew was about the prophecy of Queen Maeve the moment you met him. He has been obsessed with it since he was a boy on his father's lap." Damien simply stated, his face stoic as he watched her face with a pang of regret. Vivian had been more a mother to him than his own and to see the storms of agony in her eyes hurt him deeply.

"That doesn't excuse holding a poor girl hostage! She's bloody and he had a knife to her face! A knife Damien!"

She took a moment to process their position and pulled away, disgusted with the side of her that was shown on a clear display. She took a deep breath as she gazed at the floor, and took several steps backward. Even as Damien tried to reach for her to pull her back into him, she just kept her swift movements backwards. "I'm sorry, I know you only do as he says to continue seeing my daughter."

"Believe me I never wanted to grab her. I'm hurting Natasha all over again, and what's worse is I'm also hurting Jinx." Damien sighed and he ran his fingers through his hair. His shoulders sank as he frowned. "I never thought I'd hurt her again, let alone see my Ex. Yet there she was, telling me to let her and Natasha's Anam Cara go. How can I be so selfish, to have my own Anam Cara close yet refuse the girl I had claimed to love once upon a time hers."

A frustrated growl escaped his lips as he looked from the door Elizabeth had left, over to her mother. "What should I do Vivian? No matter the situation, the thought of each outcome has this dreaded feeling that someone could get hurt in the end."

"What does your heart tell you to do?"

"That's the issue half of my heart is yelling at me for letting her get into this situation, yet the other half tells me to mind my own business." Damien sank into the closest chair, his eyes closed as he exhaled his frustrations.

"I say it's high time you and I pay a visit to Matthew's niece." Vivian whispered as she eyed the door to the basement, "Can you make a portal in my garden, Matthew never goes there anymore, and I can go through first. join me later after you make sure he doesn't kill her."

What is this strange feeling? He stared at the picture of his family and rubbed his chin as he sighed exasperatedly and scanned each of their faces. Why do I keep getting these headaches? And why do they get worse and worse, ever since my father's funeral?

"Jacob, are you alright sweetheart?"

Jacob turned to look at his wife as he sighed again and studied her. Her eyes showed the kind of gentle concern when dealing with trauma. She laid her hand lightly on his shoulder, and instead of flinching like he usually did when anyone else touched him, he was soothed by it. She ran her fingers up his neck until they caressed his cheek and spoke with such a soft voice, that he felt her words calming him more by the way they were said than the actual words. It's as if this fog is lifting and now I'm finally seeing now just how profoundly my actions in the past had affected her.

He placed a hand against his head as flashes of a past that felt familiar yet strange at the same time passed by his eyes like streetlights on a midnight drive. His eyes opened wide not a moment later and spoke out, "Everything I believed was a lie, Rose. You remember when I told you the night of my father's funeral, and you thought it was the stress of dealing with his estate. It wasn't... my father has been keeping my true views on this whole time bound up and I'm just realizing his hold had started to fade the moment he died."

Jacob paused for a moment and ran his hand through his messy black hair, conflict clearly present in his green eyes. Everything became much clearer in his mind. The reasons behind why his heart felt heavy, as if all it contained was lead, were right in his face. He took a moment to breathe before he continued, "but now, I remember everything."

"I never liked your father..." Rose shook her head, as she continued to stroke his cheek.

Jacob's face turned grim as he thought of their children, and his voice wavered as he spoke, "I alienated my own daughter for loving two people. Not even just that, for having a child outside of marriage... I disowned my own granddaughter because of my father's twisted hold on me..."

"The gods have given you a chance to make peace with her though... To make peace with all of our children I think," Rose whispered as she kissed his forehead before she pulled away from him, "I'll go make a call to Evelyn as she'll be the hardest to convince, can you call the rest of the kids?"

Jacob nodded, he just hoped he wasn't too late.