Chapter 19
Thank Fuck You’re So Small
Griffin
Seven Years Ago - Violencia
Griffin’s eyes watered as he opened a door and thick smoke billowed out. Eight years in Violencia.
Eight.
He could no longer move in the shadows. He was infamous, and it wasn’t long before the people of the Sacred Trinity guessed who was behind the murders.
He left a fucking wooden griffin behind, after all.
The griffin started as a representation of hope and quickly shifted into a warning.
To all the people who were not from Violencia, he wanted them to know who was after them. Consequences be damned.
He was angry. And that anger fueled him now.
“There you are, boy!” Harold’s voice was rock against metal as he emerged from the smoke. “Don’t go in there, it’s strong. Unless you want to.” He waggled his eyebrows.
Griffin took in the man, his bare chest, his hard cock poking a tent in his briefs, a stain already forming. His unfocused eyes, the dilated pupils.
It took everything for Griffin not to kill him here and now, his rage blinding him. But he recognized that he still needed the Rogers. They were on the outs just as he was, and in that they had a mutual enemy…for now. Griffin shook his head, stepping back away from him.
He had heard of the Rogers proclivities. Of the drugs they enjoyed using to make their victims willing. The ones that came from the Sacred Trinity.
It was despicable.
“Ana! Sweetheart, come here. Bring that boy with you.”
Griffin attempted to see through the smoke, but he couldn’t until a young woman appeared out of it.
She was tall, but had to be no more than twenty, her charcoal hair plastered to her sweat-soaked skin, her crisp blue gaze eerily unreachable.
She held up a man about the same age as her.
His eyes were shut, and it appeared she was supporting all of his weight.
“Look at my wife’s new favorite toy.” Harold pinched the man’s cheek, but he didn’t move. “I must say he is making me jealous, though.” Harold stepped out of the room, tugging the others with him so that they all stood in the hallway.
But no one would be bothering them, this was one of Ivan’s many buildings that were used for the worst evils imaginable.
“Ana, make him feel good like you do me, will you, girl?” Harold cracked, slapping Ana on the ass. She wore a single slip of clothing and his fingers burrowed under it.
She let out a soft yelp but followed it with a sickly sweet smile.
“No, I’m on business,” Griffin rejected, eyeing the woman warily. But then she let out a startled grunt and the man she held began to fall. Griffin caught him, taking his dead weight into his arm, managing to keep one free.
It inched towards his pocket. To the carving knife there.
No one would care if Harold died. It would all be better. He could save so many if he ended his life now.
Harold turned towards the door to shut it.
He wants to die.
Griffin reached for his pocket, his hand found the blade, but then cool skin landed on his.
He froze, his eyes flashing up.
Ana shook her head. “Not yet,” she mouthed.
Harold turned, an oversized smile on his face. “Ah, Ana! You are too sweet to our guests.”
“Sir, I think he might be more fond of Oleks. But I know Shar—”
The slap was fast and quick as Harold whipped it out across Ana’s face, but the impact was substantial as she fell back on the ground.
“I told you not to speak her name. Be lucky it was me who heard you. She wouldn’t take it as easy on you.”
It took every single ounce of self-control for Griffin not to retaliate. For him not to swipe across Harold’s neck and end his life. But apparently it wasn’t what Ana wanted, and he also still held an unconscious man.
“Oleks, wake up boy!” Harold went to strike the man in Griffin’s arms.
But Griffin spun a bit. “Actually, she’s right. I would rather have him. Is that okay? I can send money over.”
“I see.” Harold offered a knowing smile.
“You sure? He’s been such a pain. And he can’t handle his own at all.
He’s always passing out and coughing up blood.
Sharon claims he infected her once too, but still, she won’t keep away from him.
Actually, yes you need to take him. No charge, let Oleks be your problem.
” Harold bent over, offering Ana a hand and tugging her aggressively off the ground.
“You always have the best ideas.” He kissed her on the cheek.
“Remind me why you came here again?” Harold’s words slurred as he directed them to Griffin.
The drug is kicking in for him.
Griffin breathed out heavily through his nose. He had come here to gain information about the Creators of the Redemption Games. The two who had been placed in charge of putting on a show every year now. One that Griffin refused to watch.
About why they were beginning to visit Violencia. If his suspicions were correct, it was only a matter of time before they started their own version here.
Anything to distract the masses from what is actually happening. Put on a bloodthirsty show.
But he decided this wasn’t the time. Not with a literal unconscious man in his arms. “This is more than I needed. I’ll be around again soon though.” The last words were directed to Ana, and he held her eyes as he spoke them.
She inclined her head the tiniest amount.
“Yes, of course. Just remember to be careful leaving here, Ivan likes to set traps across his estates so don’t go off the paths.” Harold waved him away, stumbling back to the door and ripping it open, tugging the woman inside with him.
Griffin’s heart went out to her, but it was clear while she was a victim, there was more to it than that.
Griffin looked down at the man in his arms.
Thank fuck you’re so small.
He threw him over his shoulder and marched out of there. He wanted to get as far away from the disgusting smoke, and Harold, as he possibly could.
Soon he would find Ana again, but first he needed to get Oleks to safety.
Present Day - Grypheem
Griffin held the banister with a tight grip as he waited for Raven to appear. She had been gone most of the day and then whipped away again to be readied for tonight.
His mind flipped through his memories. That had been the first time he had met Ana.
When he had gained his most trusted ally in Oleks.
In a lot of ways, he had become his family, the only person he trusted.
Even still, he never told him of his origin.
And by the time Oleks found out that he was the enemy, it was too late to explain.
The trust shattered into a thousand unfixable pieces.
It was one of many regrets he had.
“I guess my job is to stay silent,” Julian snarked across from him, his griffin mask already in place as he leaned back against a bricked wall.
They would all be wearing griffin masks.
“Yes. And alive,” Griffin bit out, before the door opened and Raven was revealed.
Her dark hair was piled high on her head, the gown she wore extending out from her frame and billowing all the way to the floor.
The oranges and yellows mixing together in the reminiscence of a griffin’s wings. Of its feathers.
She was objectively beautiful. But it was not that which caused Griffin’s heart to gallop in his chest. It was her aura, her confidence, the way she jutted her chin out and hardened her shoulders. She was strong.
This is the Raven I remember.
“Here.” He released the balcony, turning fully to her as she approached and pulling the last mask from inside his suit.
She stopped right in front of him, cocking a hand on her hip and narrowing her eyes. “You know I hate the thought of putting a mask on again.”
Griffin flipped it over in his hands. “It’s just tied on with strings. And it is for your protection.”
“How?” she grumbled, but didn’t fight him as he bent over securing it in place, his fingers lingering for a moment too long.
He inhaled her scent, her essence. Allowed it to settle his nerves. He wasn’t sure how this would go.
“We are a united front.”
“Then why aren’t the others with us?” Raven muttered.
Griffin released her, straightening back up.
He was saved from answering by a loud bell ringing out around them.
“Let’s go. Whatever you do, we need to be synchronized. We must be a singular power.” Griffin’s nerves were raw, but he kept them at bay. He would be strong.
He had to be.
Because he knew without a doubt, he had made enemies in his time in Violencia.
Countless.
Men’s faces flashed behind his eyes. The ones he had murdered. The ones he had a direct hand in their deaths. The ones he wished he could have killed.
Most were still in Violencia, but after the bomb went off over five years back, some had slunk back here with their tail between their legs. Terrified that they would be next.
He grabbed hold of Raven’s hand, leading her to the staircase. “Take her other hand. Once we make it to the bottom, all eyes will be on us even before we enter the great hall. We are going to be enacting change. Essentially breaking a law by using a loophole.”
“Why? Why are you dragging Julian into this?”
Griffin cut his eyes to the man. “Because.” How did he explain he was the only of her men that wasn’t actively being searched for?
That if the others were found, the High Priestess would whisk them away.
That he needed Julian by her side in case he was killed.
That if any other man attempted to stake claim on her, there would be a possibility of an escape from the Isles.
“Raven, we can ask more questions later. I don’t trust him either, but from what I know of these countries, this is the best option,” Julian placated.
Griffin’s annoyance spiked.
You’re just happy to be by her side.