Grandfather (47 page)

“Edgar’s right,” Marley
whispered, looking absolutely terrified. “He’s trying to get to
you. He knows he’s finished. It doesn’t matter right
now.”

“Oh, Marley,” Cornelius
said. “I believe it does matter to Carsyn.” He didn’t take his eyes
off me.

I wanted to wipe the smirk
off his face.

“
You see,
Carsyn
. . .
I do
know the truth. I had to lie about your parents before because the
truth would’ve revealed Grandfather to the people. I can tell you
the truth. Why don’t you come join me?” Casually, he waved me
over.

“Carsyn,” Edgar
whispered.

Of course it was tempting
to believe him. I was desperate. But one thing I had learned was
that Cornelius was a great liar. I just couldn’t believe a liar.
And even if he wasn’t, I certainly wasn’t even going to consider
joining him. He could only hope. What he was thinking was that
having me on his side would stop Belladonna and Edgar from
attacking. Well, it probably would have stopped them, but I wasn’t
joining him.

“He doesn’t need you,”
Belladonna told Cornelius. Her next sentence ran chills down my
spine. My heart seemed to stop. Maybe it did, I don’t know. I
played the words over and over after Belladonna said, “Because I
know the truth about his parents.”

“What?” Edgar whispered,
just as shocked.

I was surrounded by
secrets.

I watched Belladonna,
hoping she was just lying to Cornelius. But it didn’t look like it
at all. She watched him closely with a smirk on her face. Perhaps
she was just a great liar like Cornelius.

“No you don’t,” Cornelius
said. “You thi –”

“You’re so ignorant,”
Belladonna snapped at him. “Not knowing what’s been going on right
underneath you. You don’t even know what’s going on in this room
right
now
.”

Cornelius’s nostrils
flared up. His eye began twitching. He looked at his council
members. They had frightening looks on their face. I saw the seven
soldiers standing behind him. They didn’t look scared at all. They
stared straight ahead, looks of determination on their face. They
were ready to defend Cornelius at any moment.

“Don’t call me ignorant,”
Cornelius demanded, slapping a hand against the table. “You’ll
learn in a minute.” Cornelius turned to his soldiers. “Take out
your weapons,” he told them.

They each instantly pulled
out a handgun. Edgar took out his weapon and pointed at them. The
others didn’t budge, including Belladonna and Robert. I kept a hand
on the handgun at my waist, just in case.

“Weapons,” Edgar whispered
to Belladonna.

She ignored
him.

Mae grabbed Marley’s
hand.

Marley didn’t resist. Her
eyes flashed repeatedly from Cornelius to Edgar to
Belladonna.

“You don’t even know,”
Belladonna said slowly. “You thought it was over when Olyver LaFon
died.”

I had no idea what she was
talking about, but it seemed to shock Cornelius. He was silent, his
eyes beaming at her. Finally, after taking a deep breath, he
whispered, “I eliminated Olyver. He got in the way.”

“Because you guys went
down different paths,” Belladonna confirmed.

I was still clueless as to
what they were talking about and stunned having learned that
Cornelius
was
lying about my parents.

“You murdered him because
you were scared,” Belladonna said in an unfamiliar tone. I mean, it
was actually horrifying. Her normal soothing tone was completely
gone. Her beautiful peaceful eyes had darkened.

“Olyver was getting in the
way,” Cornelius said, raising his voice, trying to maintain control
of the conversation. “We had the same starting points. His
grandfather worked with mine. But Olyver had different outcomes
than Grandfather. He would have prevented wonderful progression. I
knew he was the only one who would stand in the way, so I had no
choice.”

“You made the mistake in
believing he was the only one who could stop you,” Belladonna
said.

Cornelius burst out
laughing once again. “You people?” He glanced at his council whose
faces were frozen, their bodies stiff.

That’s when I remembered
something. I shot a look at Marley. She’d been watching me, waiting
for me to figure it out. Cornelius had told us about an old
colleague being the only one who could stop Grandfather. Was it
this Olyver guy? I was certain Edgar knew nothing about it. You
could see it all over his face.

“Me,” Belladonna simply
said. “I’m avenging my husband’s death by turning his vision to
life.”

Things just kept
escalating. Just as I thought I couldn’t be more shocked, somebody
proved me wrong.

Edgar looked just as
speechless.

I even heard Marley
gasp.

Cornelius’s eyes were
huge. He didn’t give his usual chuckle or crooked sneer, and he
didn’t say anything. Speechless. I would’ve loved the moment if I
weren’t so confused.

“My husband and I were
very close. I believed what he believed. He believed what I
believed. Our relationship was perfect. As soon as you strangled
him, I knew why. He had warned me. Now . . .” Belladonna spread out
her arms. “Here I am.”

It took a few seconds
before Cornelius finally spoke. He couldn’t take his eyes off
Belladonna. “I . . . I must applaud you for truly surprising me.
That isn’t too easy. You and your husband had me over for dinner.
You remember?” He paused, waiting for Belladonna to
speak.

She didn’t.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t
matter,” he continued. “Grandfather has been rebuilding these past
twenty years. We’re already too strong. You say I don’t even know
what’s going on in this room. The problem is that
you
think you
know
everything
going on.

He glanced at the soldiers
protecting him and raised a hand, pointing in Edgar’s and
Belladonna’s direction.

I took my handgun out
immediately, ready to fire once the guns were fired. It didn’t
come.

Cornelius turned around to
look at the soldiers. “Now,” he said again, turning back around to
give us a smile of victory.

The soldiers didn’t
fire.

Belladonna laughed. “Like
I said. You’ve been ignorant this whole time. But don’t worry. You
couldn’t help it.”

I don’t think there was a
person in that room who could take their eyes off Belladonna if
they wanted to.

“
Take out your weapons,”
Edgar told her desperately. “We can’t just let them shoot us
here.”

Belladonna ignored him
again. Normally, this would’ve made Edgar angry. But not this time.
He was scared. And I mean absolutely terrified.

“
Hurry,” he
pleaded.

Belladonna spread out her
arms like wings, her smile never falling, her eyes glued to
Cornelius.

“
I’ll carry out Olyver’s
dream.”

Cornelius just looked at
his soldiers. “I said shoot! Now!”

Again, nobody
fired.

Belladonna spat out one
word.

“
Now.”

And everything turned into
chaos.

The seven soldiers behind
Cornelius walked up behind each of the council members. The
soldiers pointed their guns at the back of their heads, except for
the soldier who stood behind Cornelius. He had dropped his gun and
held a knife against Cornelius’s throat.

Sweat rolled down
Cornelius’s bare head forehead, his eyes so wide they looked as if
they were ready to pop out.

“
What are you doing?” he
asked the soldier, his voice quivering.

He didn’t get an
answer.

The guns went
off.

Blood and brain matter
from the other Grandfather leaders exploded like a grenade,
splattering onto the round table and map. Each of their eyes went
blank as their bodies fumbled out of their chairs to the ground.
One woman’s body stayed seated as her head banged loudly against
the table. Blood seeped out of her head and streamed onto the city
map.

Cornelius closed his eyes,
his body trembling.

Nobody said a word, still
trying to figure out why Cornelius’s men had turned against
him.

Belladonna kept smiling at
him.

“
Please,” Cornelius
pleaded.

“
Did you give my husband
mercy?” Belladonna asked.

“
I wanted –”

“
You tainted the
Grandfather name,” Belladonna interrupted. “It was Olyver’s
grandfather who came up with the name!”

“
He didn’t –.”

“
And you killed him,
polluting the name!”

“
What’s this all a
–”

He didn’t get the chance
to finish his thought.

The soldier behind him
held the knife firmly and sliced it across Cornelius’s throat.
Blood gushed down Cornelius’s neck and body, streaming to the
floor, creating a puddle. Cornelius gripped his neck tightly,
gasping for air, desperately. The sound of him choking on his own
body fluid echoed off the walls as he fell out of his chair to his
knees. His gloomy eyes watched Belladonna whose grin never faded.
The sound of gurgling blood grew quieter and quieter until the life
left Cornelius’s eyes completely. His body fell to the floor,
motionless.

I kept my eyes on the
Grandfather leaders, laying there dead. I never expected to see
somebody die like that. Yeah, I had seen all the dead bodies during
the disaster in the city, but I only saw the aftermath. That was
the first time somebody died right there in front of me. Even
though I hated Cornelius and he definitely deserved it, the site
was so gruesome and disturbing that I . . . I don’t
know.

“
What the hell,” Edgar said
in confusion, ready for answers. “They –”

Belladonna’s hands moved
swiftly above her head, pulling the red pin that was holding her
hair in place. Her hair fell to her back as she revealed a dagger.
Giving Edgar no time to react, she swung it, slashing Edgar’s
throat. He held his throat as Cornelius had and fell to the ground,
gasping for air. Blood seeped down onto the floor as his body
twitched.

I couldn’t breathe. I
literally couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t even think straight. I felt
absolutely brain dead, ready to pass out.

Robert, Cain, and the
others did nothing but watch this happen. How could they? Then
there were the soldiers guarding Cornelius. Except they were the
ones to kill him.

Mae seemed to be the only
one to register what was going on. And she wasn’t happy. She let go
of Marley, letting out a terrifying high-pitched scream. “You
bitch!” she cried, charging after Belladonna, fists in the air as
if one punch would end it all.

I remembered the gun in my
hand and pointed it at Belladonna, not fearing to take her down. I
had said before that I would never know if I could actually kill a
person until the moment came. Well, it seemed as if I could. I
wasn’t thinking straight, but Belladonna had just taken a dagger to
Edgar’s throat. I knew I couldn’t have imagined that. I don’t know
why she did it, but she did. And Mae was probably in trouble
too.

I pulled the
trigger.

Nothing
happened.

I did it again.

Still nothing.

No ammo. I’d never felt so
useless in my life.

Marley and I watched in
horror as Mae reached Belladonna. She was no match for Belladonna.
She was just furious.

With no emotion, holding
the dagger with both hands, Belladonna thrust it into Mae’s
chest.

Mae’s horrific screams
echoed off the walls, piercing my eardrum.

“
Momma!” Marley screamed,
jumping up to run after Belladonna.

I was not going to let the
same thing happen to her. I threw the gun onto the floor, grabbed
Marley’s arm before she could get far, and jerked her back so hard
that she fell onto the floor beside me.

“
No!” I
screamed.

She kept struggling to get
away. She didn’t care.

I held tighter.

“
Momma!” Marley screamed
again. “No, Momma!”

Mae turned to look at her
daughter. She cried while clutching the wound on her chest with
red, wet hands. Her white shirt slowly turned red.

“
Momma,” Marley said again
in tears, looking into Mae’s eyes. “Don’t go.”

Mae tried speaking to
Marley, but she only mumbled, gurgling up blood with every
syllable.

Belladonna lifted a foot
into the air and kicked Mae, sending her crashing to the floor next
to Edgar.

Edgar, still gasping for
air, reached a hand out toward Mae’s. She looked him deep in the
eyes. Slowly, using the last bit of strength, she extended her arm
until her hand grasped his.

“
How could you!” Marley
screamed at Belladonna in tears. “You betrayed us!”