The Masqueraded

18

'You're crazy if you think we'll do whatever you want us to do', Mavis scoffed, glaring at Javier. He didn't seem the least bit affected by the glares and the looks of disgust and anger. In fact, he seemed to be amused.

'We are not going to be some bait for you to satisfy your personal vendetta against your stepdad', Ru said emphatically, her voice still shaking a little from the initial shock of finding out that the potential psycho-assailant they've all been looking for was her friend.

He held up his hands animatedly. 'I totally get it okay. You guys think I'm crazy. You guys don't want to help me out...' his voice trailed off as he grinned wickedly. Mel looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

What was he cooking up?

'Mavis, you sister is with me. I suggest that you guys give this some thought'. Mel stared at him. She couldn't believe the nerve of this guy.

'Are you blackmailing us?' Kira piped up. She found it impossible to not say anything. This whole situation was just ridiculous. He looked up and smiled at Kira.

'Maybe I am', he said. Mel caught Kira by the wrist. She looked at Mel, her eyes two shining blue orbs. Mel slightly shook her head warning her to calm down.

Wes couldn't help noticing how his eyes were almost narrowed into two horizontal slits. His mouth was now curved up into a leer. From that angle, he looked the perfect image of a villain.

She might be paranoid but it looked so real.

'Dude listen', Stefan suddenly piped up, 'you want to hurt him the same way he hurt you guys. We get that...' Javier flashed a look of pure venom at Stefan when he said it. Unfazed, Stefan went on, 'your mom's a nice person. She needs you bro. Don't do this'. Everyone stared at Stefan confused.

Shut the hell up', Javier snapped at him, cocking one eyebrow up.

'I'm just telling you bro. If you really care about your family, you wouldn't do this', Stefan stressed one last time before Wes intervened.

'Okay that's it', Wes finally cut in, 'what are you getting at? We know you have no plans in softening up or whatever. So that speech is not going to work on you', she gave Stefan a look that said 'there's no point'. Stefan put his hands in his pockets and stood to a side, silently. He wished he hadn't said anything.

'Wesley!' Javier exclaimed loudly, 'now we are talking!'

Wes narrowed her eyes at him. He sure seemed to have gone through a lot but how on earth was someone broken enough to look at people with such venom?

Ru was lost in her thoughts thinking of the exact same thing. She couldn't help wondering how he had her fooled the whole time. He'd been so shy and adorable. She'd even had a small, momentary crush on him for sometime . She had trusted him and found him interesting.

'So here's the plan kids', Javier began, his green eyes scanning the faces of the others. 'One of you should call my step-father and you have to ask him to come here. Say you've got some important thing he needs to know about, make sure he comes by himself. No backup'.

'You can say that yourself', Ru said, both confused and angry.

'Ruera, trust me I thought it through. If I call him and say I have you guys held hostage in here he's going to come with the whole Scooby gang. You know what I mean', he threw a look at Kira. 'We all know just how close that detective and my shitty step-dad is' he added, insinuatingly. Kira felt her blood rush up as she threw him a look of disgust. She had balled up her fists to her sides, trying not to squash him to a pulp.