Close #Wattys2015

Twenty One

His eyes were bloodshot, and his suit was the same maroon as the others, but with black threading only around the edges with sharp, pressed curves.

Everyone looked up at him, surprise and fear evident on their faces, except for Matt who spoke up in the heavy silence.

"And why not? You have Stratson, now let his family go." Matt said, arching his chest up a bit, as if trying to make himself look bigger. Honestly, he was bigger than all of us, including Keller, who was much smaller than I pegged him to be. He was lean and my height, not very intimidating. But what he could do with the power he had, was.

Keller shook his head and looked at us sympathetically as if we were small naive children who had just burned ourselves on a kitchen stove. 

"You honestly expect me to let this chance to kill some seekers and tie up some loose ends pass? You all must think just because I'm dieing I've gone off the deep end."

If he wasn't planning to kill us, I would have laughed. His features looked soft enough to where he could be anyone's 45 year old grandfather. His black hair was speckled with white and he had a pair of tired, bloodshot, yet mesmerizing emerald eyes with specks of grey. They were slightly familiar...

"Kiara." He turned to me and outstreched his hand. My mother stepped in front of me protectively at his gesture. He looked at as and smiled slightly. "If I was going to kill her, I would've done it already." He showed us the silver of a gun he had in a holster under his jacket.

"I don't care what your plans are. You won't lay a hand on my daughter." She hissed.

"Liana my dear, no need to get fiesty. I was only trying to make her aquaintance, after all I am her god father." Keller explained calmly.

My jaw dropped. I looked at my mom and she didn't even flinch. So she knew, I thought, so I guess they're still hidding things from me. 

I pulled away from her and looked at everyone else's reactions to what he said. Sarah looked surprised and gave me a weary look, Morghan looked like she wanted this to continue so she could stay alive longer and Matt....Matt wore an impassive mask.

"What?" I stuttered.

TC looked at me. "Ah, so they didn't tell you? Aren't you getting tired of having things hidden from you my dear?"

My blood boiled at this and my hands clinched into fists. How dare he say that to me? It was his fault! All of this was! He deserved to die. 
I stormed up to him, close enough that I could see every detail on his face. From his long, thin eyelashes to the slight wrinkles he had in his aging face.

"How dare you." I hissed. "All of this is your fault. You are the reason my family is broken. You are the reason I had to put up with being beaten senseless by my fake father. You are the reason why my fucking life is turned upside down and I can never fix it. You are the reason why I am broken, why I can never have a normal life, why my father is willing to die for us and why he was beaten to a bloody pulp. How dare you pass judgement on my family? How dare you even call yourself a father in anyway?! You are not my godfather, you are not even capable of love you bastard. So either let my family and my friends go, and live their lives, or I swear to god I will kill you myself." I was boiling over and shaking with rage. My voice had risen into yelling and I was all but ready to put my gun to his head and pull the trigger, but I didn't, not yet.

TC examined me for what seemed like forever before he replied. He nodded and yawned as if he were bored. "Fine then. I will release your family and friends....on one condition."  

I nodded for him to continue. 

"Take my place in LMS. Technically, since you are your father's daughter, you can take my spot of authority. I already see the strong qualities of your father in you. You and your father are the only two  people I find...interesting and strong enough to rule LMS properly. So what do you say?"