I was going to kill him.
I was going to kill everyone in this room for just being here.
I was going to end myself if Abigail was gone.
The soft sound of her voice trembling as much as I was, made my eyes search between Bo and Vic’s leg for proof she was okay. “Khaos? Where’s Grimm? Why are you all here?”
Bo and Vic stood shoulder to shoulder, making sure there was no way for me to be seen.
Vic cut off anyone else from speaking when he pulled out a knife and I watched him scare Abigail with it as he moved to the side of her bed.
ABIGAIL
I didn't actually believe people when they said you can fall in love with the wrong person.
Not until I fell in love with one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
Grimm and I were playing a dangerous game of wits, distracting me from how much I was really getting to know him. The Clave didn't like that very much. They only liked things they could control, and I wasn't one of those women they could bribe, pay off, or both.
I had lived through nightmares, bad priests, and an ex that felt like violating me was his ticket into the elite circle. I let the monster inside me absorb it all up as fuel, and I did my part to control what I could.
I was just out of their reach... until I wasn't.
Grimm knew just as much as I did that he was bringing me too far in, letting me see his so-called monster, and letting me love him anyways. I was something that didn’t belong amongst their perfect bloodlines and thoroughbred behaviors.
It wasn’t that I knew too much. Well, that was half of it, but the other half? I occupied a part of him that was supposed to be dead—his heart.
That’s when things got messy.
And when things get messy, bad things happen, like missing my period for a lot longer than I was willing to admit to Grimm. I didn’t need a doctor’s appointment or to consult the pregnancy tests filling my bathroom trash can to tell me I was pregnant.
Now I had two things in my possession the fathers didn’t approve of: his heart and his heir.
He already had his whole life planned out, down to every controlling detail, when they chose his future wife: the Russian Barbie named Jessica.
Since the ball, I was looking around corners, questioning every watchful eye, and even calling out of work without a real reason. The Clave was my employer, and I was a thief. Having a roommate felt safer than being on my own, but Justice couldn’t really save me.
Grimm helped dig my own grave, and he didn’t even know it.
If wishing yourself dead was possible, I would have done it without thinking when I was shook awake by the three of them standing at the foot of my bed, and Khaos’s voice thick in the air like it might still be a dream.
They weren’t here to talk or hash out things when it came to this mess or even the feelings raging between Grimm and I, even here in the cooker pressure with them.
I could either go quietly or… probably end up dead, leaving Grimm to mourn me silently as my eyes scanned the room for him.
Each of them had a mask on in different ways, and all were dressed in black from head to toe.
Vic had the bandana covering his face and a backwards cap on, to the point just as much he was.
Khaos had a discreet gas mask on in all matte black, holding his phone in my face like the oddball he was.
Bowen had a thick black coat of paint across his eyes and a single teardrop painted on. It caught my attention most because Bowen was drained of emotions and replaced with a creepy vibe instead. I was sure he never cried.
I asked again when no one answered me after shooting a gun at me. I was pretty sure Vic was a clean shot, and it missed me completely, just putting a hole in the pillow next to me. I was still rattling, trying to decide if it was a death rattle or simply adrenaline.
If Grimm wasn’t here, it couldn’t be death… “Where is Grimm?”
Vic stepped forward with a knife slicing through the air. “This is only gonna hurt you a little… Gonna hurt us more to share our bloodlines with some Midwest, middle-class secretary, who ended up knocked up by the wrong guy.”
His hand closed around the knife and opened it to a flourishing line of red on his skin. I watched the knife get handed off to Bo as he took off the black latex glove only on one hand and followed Vic’s lead before he handed the knife to Khaos who finally put down the phone.
“All the pretty ones hurt this much, Grimm?” The chaos in the room was clearly from our Khaos.
Grimm. He could hide his face all he wanted, but my monster hidden inside me would spot him anywhere.
He stepped out of the shadows and took the knife from Khaos before sitting down on my bed next to me, scaring me with his silence.
“Grimm? What’s going on?” I sat up straighter, searching for any hints.
“Give me your hand, Abigail. This is the only solution, the only way to avoid my fate, and for the Clave to let us be together.”
I kept my hands to myself, not willing to give him my palm without more answers.
“What do you mean? Why did they cut their palms too?” Looking at Khaos he was squeezing his hand into a cup he stole off my nightstand. I still had to replace the water bottle that was tainted by Oscar, so all I had was a biodegradable cup from Justice’s personal stash.
Grimm didn’t answer. He was too busy cutting his palm. Instead, Vic answered for him, “Rothschild isn’t good enough to overthrow the rules. You need all four bloodlines.”
“You’ll be more powerful than all four of us. Hope you have a strong stomach. Want a Starburst first?”
Grimm took the cup from Khaos’s hand and squeezed his own palm above it, letting his blood drip into the cup the same way the other three did. Setting it on my nightstand, the warmth of his hand touched mine, turning it over in his palm. His other hand pushing the blade into my skin.
He mouthed the words I love you, knowing I would decipher it. As I mouthed the words back, he closed my palm softly bringing the cup under my hand and squeezing.
Tossing the blade behind him on my bed, Vic picked it up. “Can we finish this today? I have shit to do,” he grumbled, tucking his knife wherever it came from.
Holding the cup to my lips, I asked him, “Are you sure about this? Grimm…” My voice cracked at his name, when he licked the blood dripping from my palm still, even though he didn’t cut as deep as he cut himself, just enough to draw blood.
I wanted to tell him I was pregnant for sure; the seven pregnancies test in my bathroom trash proved it.
I wanted to tell him we would find a way for the Clave to accept me.
I wanted to say I love you out loud, even though I knew why he mouthed it: Those words were only for me, for us.
Khaos tossed a Starburst into my lap, landing it on the white duvet and saying, “Catch!” at the same time. It was too late. I already tipped the cup to my lips and tasted the pinch of the four bloodlines slide down my taste buds into my throat.
It was sour, but the sweet was knowing I was Grimm’s now and forever.
ABIGAIL
8 months later...
My pregnancy was confirmed when Grimm had to drive up to Seattle to handle more Clave business.
Zeus rode him even harder now, and I wasn’t convinced it was all at the hands of the headache we probably gave him.
I underestimated the Clave’s way to make life harder even if they accepted me.