The Runner {Editing}

Chapter 19

"Well, who else would I be?  My, you and Max have grown so much."

"You never saw us before now." I commented, only to be ignored as he continued.

"Juliet, I can see Jess in you in so many ways, at least physically.  You take after him with your determination and blah blah. You have her lips, and nose.  Almost a spitting image, if it weren't for the damn blue eyes.  My side always had brown or hazel."

I stayed silent and still as he continued on talking, almost as if this was a casual day.

"Max, he has Jess's eyes.  And he has more of her personality than you.  Either way, you both take after her in many ways."

"Xaiver -"

"I know you want to know why I asked you here, the point of the mind games. Let me enjoy seeing my grandkids face to face."

"You never tried, its been 20 years." I snapped, and a smile took over his face again.

"I wanted to come see you, honestly, but I'm pretty good at holding a grudge.  By the way, sorry to hear about the old man.  Shame, really." He said with a fake frown on his face.

"I bet you really feel terrible about doing it." I said through clenched teeth, biting back a growl.

He only shrugged and came closer to us, now leaning on the wall beside the bed, his eyes falling on the bed.

"The ballroom is really horrific, sorry I made you walk through it, but you had to see what your blood had done.  I can't stand going down there, the smell and memories are too much." He spoke with a bit of a pout, his eyes on the blanket.

"Its hard to be in here too, but I'm willing to make a couple sacrifices to reveal the truth behind a monster."

"Stop, please." I said, less forceful than I had hoped.  I didn't want to hear about the bad things he had done, I didn't want to remember my idol for this type of thing.

"Oh, I'm sorry.  I forgot that you're on edge because of the mark. I have to be careful." He takes himself.

My eyes snapped us to him as the words left his lips.

"You did this to me?" I seethed, anger starting to show itself.

"This is nothing against you personally.  I'm still tearing your father's legacy apart, and you two are his legacy.  Hope you don't take it too personally." He said, clearing the top of a trunk of dust before sitting on it, looking back at us.

"What did you do?  How did you do it?" I basically screamed, getting closer to him when Max grabbed my arm and pulled me back a little.

"Oh relax, you can't break a bond once its been made.  I simply found a way to make it weaker.  It was better that you guys completed it on the blood moon, it made it so much easier for the spell to take affect.  I do have to say, you and Stefan have very strong wolves, and they fought the spell the best they could." He sighed, leaning back as if trying to be comfortable.  He ran a hand through his grey streaked hair and setteled his lean 5'7 frame.

He then muttered something in another language.  "Minuere lupum vinculi debilitat cogitationum et intentionum cordis."

"Xaiver what are you- can you please explain why you wanted us here?" I asked as calmly as I could.

"To meet you guys.  Now, let me bring you to the best part of this meeting." He said standing up and walking out of the room.

"Juliet I don't like this." Max whispered as we started following Xaiver.

"I dont either.  Stay on alert." I whispered back.

We were soon at the door to the 'backyard' of the place and Xaiver was off to the side, encouraging us to walk out.

I stepped outside carefully, my knuckles probably white right now by the hold I had on my knife.

The grass surrounding the house was way past dead and dried out, with weeds in multiple places.  It wasn't anything special, and when we were a few feet out I looked back at Xaiver who was in the doorway.

"You obviously know that your father led a massacre for no good reason.  Many innocent people died, and those who lived ran.  Many of said survivors hold a grudge against him, and want revenge.  They can't kill him directly, but they can take out the anger and frustration on you." He said, his eyes looking behind us at the line of trees a half acre away. 

Our eyes followed his gaze and I watched as wolves of so many colors and sizes came out, their eyes red and fur matted.

"They all pretty much turned feral, and I managed to round them up and promise them revenge, although it wasn't easy.  Now, if you excuse me I should go talk to the people on the inside." He said turning and going inside, where I'm sure I heard a bolt was dropped so we wouldn't be able to escape.

My eyes were focused on the snarling feral beasts approaching us with a blood-thirsty hunger in their eyes.

"Juliet what do we do? We're outnumbered, we can't survive this." Max said shakily, making us back up until we were against the side of the house.

"I don't know, I've never been this outnumbered before." I said, somehow managing to hide the panic I felt from my voice.

I flipped my dagger so that I was holding it in a way that was easier for defense.

"I do know that I'm not dying without a fight." I said when the first wolf charged at me.

I was ready to kill the first wolf when a streak of black stopped the attack.

My eyes followed the tackle to see the black wolf had the browns throat, and was growling before dropping it and watch all 6 wolves retreat the way they came.

I was still in my defensive position when the black wolf turned to approach me.

My heart hammered roughly against my chest as I watched every move, trying to determine what it would do next.

It stopped in front of me and we had a little staring contest, almost a secret conversation.

Then, I was able to recognize those electric blue eyes that chased away the nightmares of my childhood.

"Dad?"