The Fawx Bite

XXIV.

We had been guided out of the auditorium down the never-ending hall again. Professor Di walked through another completely anonymous wood panel to reveal a minimalist office that held the warmth of hundreds of books. As I entered, I looked over my shoulder to see Jin pause and bow his head before he turned and walked the other way. I frowned slightly, why wasn't he coming in with?

Instead of voicing my confusion, I followed Viola over to the small group of chairs and settled down beside her. Professor Di ran his hands over the spines of the books before he paused, grabbing one. It was a smaller book, and there was no lettering on it. But from the softness of the cover and pages, it looked to be very old. And well worn.

Echo walked around to stand my chair. Her hands resting on either side of my shoulders. Once more she was keeping her distance from Viola. I had a sinking feeling that that was how it would always be. I pushed the thought out of my mind and instead focused on Professor Di. He walked towards us, holding the book he had chosen carefully in his hands. As he grew closer, he shifted the book so that it was facing us. On the right page was the portrait of a man. He wore military clothes; his hair was cropped close to his skull. He was average looking, middle aged. But despite this, I recognized him. He was the younger version of our grandfather. On the left page next to the picture was writing in another language. Some of it was in Spanish, other parts in what looked to be French. Maybe some Latin? English as well. What mattered though was the man in the book was our grandfather. How that had come to me, I hoped we would find out.

"How come I was never informed of this?" Echo demanded, her tone cold. I could feel her shift her weight behind me.

Professor Di straightened, staring over my head at her, "Because there was no reason to."

"How was there no reason to?" Echo snapped.

"You didn't grow up alongside your sisters. You didn't spend summers in New York; neither did you spend winter break there. Scarlet here, who isn't related to Wayne, has more right to know who he is than you. "

I shifted uncomfortably as Echo continued on, "Did you ever think that I could perhaps learn from him? An ancient druid as my teacher? Whether he was related to me or not?"

"If you were supposed to learn from him or any ancient druid for that matter, Lugh would've guided you to them. In the end, he did not. Therefore there was nothing for you to learn from them," Professor Di's voice was flat and final.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Echo's hands curl into the cushion of the chair, her knuckles turning white. I nibbled on my bottom lip before voicing, "Does this mean that we are going to him?"

"Depends," now Professor Di focused his attention on Viola. She squirmed under his gaze. "Do you want to cut the bond between you and your sire?"

I nearly blurted out "of course" but Marek somehow slipped into my mind and halted me from saying anything. When I shot him a puzzled look, he simply responded with, Wait. Puzzled, I looked at Viola, not understanding what was taking her so long to answer. And as I watched her mull over the question, I began to realize as to why he had told me to wait. She didn't know if she wanted to cut things off with Stoker. I opened my mouth to say something but instead it was Echo who halted me. She grabbed my shoulder and squeezed painfully. I winced, falling silent. I didn't understand, why would Viola want to be with him?

A few more moments passed before Viola nodded slowly. "Yes."

"Are you sure? Once you break the bond, you can never reforge it. And you being connected to him may be the only thing giving you any sort of mercy. Once you break the bond, you will be under the full force of his rage." Professor Di watched Viola carefully.