The Dark Wind

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

He met me faithfully by the riverside, wearing a loose hoodie. For a moment, he looked slightly different from the straight-spined, scary-looking Hunter that I had not a first impression of. However, I noted the stiffness in his posture as he leaned against the railing. Water gushed below, creating an air of perfect icy coldness. Water droplets hung from the tip of the Hunter’s dark hair, and he looked every part the brooding man he already was.

Dragging Vin was no easy job, but silent rage and ferocity burning within me forced on foot in front of the other, my hand gripping tight on Vin’s leash. He was stumbling behind me, limping, but I didn’t care. He’d killed my parents. He’d killed Christy.

Xavier’s eyes were the expressions of shock when he turned to the sound of my heels clicking sharply on the ground, accompanied by the loud shuffling as Vin struggled to keep pace with me with his tired legs. I stopped with ample distance between us, and kept my quiet while Xavier looked between my bashed-up hostage and me.

“You did that?” was his first question addressed to me, gesturing towards Vin’s injuries, black eye and swollen bruises.

I shook my head, keeping strangely numb. The fire of hatred was consuming me slowly from the inside.

“What happened, Dru? Why do you look so angry?” pointed out Mr. Obvious.

“I’m not handing him over to you.” I said blandly. Even though there hadn’t been a real need for me to tell him that I was turning my back on the deal, my conscience proved better. It felt kind of bad that I, the one who brought him so close to getting Vin in his hands, was the one back-stabbing him. But it couldn’t compare a single shit to what Wind had done to me.

He drew back one step in shock, disbelief coloring his face while he looked at me, as if waiting for me to reveal that it was a joke. “What?”

“I can’t hand him over to you. I need him for something else. I’m sorry.” I said with as much sincerity as I could manage, but it sounded bland, for I was doing my best to push away anger in my voice at the same time.

“You’re sorry? Just that? You’re sorry? What do you take me for? An idiot?” The shock slowly bled away from the Hunter’s face as it was turned to open hostility. He drew his power to him, and though my hand clenched reflexively over the leash on Vin, I did not call my power to me.

I understood that he would fight me for Vin. I understood that he would do everything to get Vin in his hands, because he wanted –needed –that revenge. The plan was murky in my mind. If Xavier killed me getting Vin, then I wouldn’t need to suffer under Wind’s command. If Xavier stopped short of killing me for Vin, then I would tell him what was happening, and what I needed him to do.

“Yes, just that. I’m sorry. I’m not taking you for an idiot, but I cannot hand him over to you.” I spoke evenly, just watching his reactions, gauging him. I could see that Xavier was just holding back, trying his best not to attack me. Slowly, he drew out a sheathed short dagger from his pocket. I saw the insignia on its sheath; the diamonds encrusted its hilt. It didn’t take a second glance at the insignia to realize what the dagger meant.

It was the dagger that was passed down generations to generations in the Valentino family. Very much like the dagger of the Reyzon family, except a different insignia upon the sheath. The dagger of the Reyzon family didn’t even have a sheath anymore; it had been long lost by our forefathers.

He unsheathed the dagger, branding it out slowly before me.

“If you don’t take me for an idiot, then I shall assume you know what it means. I shall assume you know what it means to fight with the dagger belonging to a family of sorcery.” There was almost guilt in that voice, but I nodded blandly.