Requiem Run

I had thought Killian was going to be the worst Runner. I definitely thought that his perverted nature and whole “being a sexy vampire” thing was going to be the worst part of meeting all of these men.

“Hey girl, listen up!”

I was wrong.

“Hey, meat, I’m talking to you!” the man with wolf ears yelled as loudly as he could, as though we weren’t two feet away from each other. Normally, I had respect for people that were loud and proud, but this jackass was just getting on my nerves.

“HEY, MEAT!”

He poked me when he said that as well,

“Use my damn name,” I said, “I don’t know if you’re talking to me or have a ham in your pants or something.”

“Huh?” Xelsa seemed confused by what I was saying, “What’s that… eh, never mind.You know what I am, right?”

“Not in the slightest,” I said. Watching the bluster come right out of the man was always a pleasure, especially when I managed to pull it off twice. This time it was only for a second before Xelsa managed to shake it off and kept yelling at the top of his lungs.

“Well, I’m a wolfman!” said Xelsa, “You know what that is?!”

“A - “

“I’ll tell ya, anyway!” Xelsa yelled, cutting me off and causing me to flinch back, “I’m a wolfman! That’s what happens when a werewolf and a human have a baby!”

“Oh, really?” I said, checking my nails and not looking at him at all, “Interesting.”

In truth, it was a little fascinating that there was a difference between the two, and I wondered what they were. Of course, there was no chance I was gonna bother asking this guy about it. As it turned out, I didn’t have to.

“Yeah, so I don’t have a wolf form,” said Xelsa, “But that means I have all the strength and power of a normal werewolf! I could rip you in half with my bare hands!”

“I’d like to see you try, bitch…” I said that as quietly as I could so he wouldn’t hear, but his sudden snapping to attention like I had slapped him was clear indication that I had failed in that regard.

“What did you just call me?!” Xelsa said, getting in my face, “Do I look like a girl to you?!”

“Do you really want me to answer that?” I said as I rolled my eyes. Xelsa’s face slowly getting redder was going to be my happy place for the rest of the day.

“I oughta slash your throat right now for the disrespect alone, maiden!” said Xelsa, “I’m gonna look forward to ripping you to pieces during the Requiem Run! I’m usually the winner!”

“Usually? Who else wins?” I asked, “Killian?”

Xelsa’s face scrunched up and I immediately realized that I had struck a nerve. Still though, Xelsa started shouting again, which was still hurting my ears, which was bad.

“Screw that vampire!” said Xelsa, “He always likes stealing my kills, but I’m not gonna let him get you! You’re all mine, you hear me?!”

“I think people in my universe can hear you from how loud you’re being!” I said, “Can you please take it down a notch?!”

Xelsa seemed to be shocked that I was talking to him like that. I had a pretty good feeling he hadn’t talked to Katie yet, and since the other girls couldn’t speak English, he could yell at them to his heart’s content.

“Whatever,” said Xelsa, “So, according to the rules, I need to take you somewhere, so… you hungry?”

My stomach rumbled in response, despite my attempt to quiet it down and play it off. Xelsa smirked when he heard it - not as smug as Killian’s, but only slightly more tolerable.

“Well, I know exactly where we’re gonna go, then!” said Xelsa. In a flash, he lifted me up and started running out of the room, carrying me bridal style.

“Hey!” I yelled as Xelsa kicked the door open and rushed down the hall, clutching me so tightly I could barely move, “Let me go!”

“Nope!” Xelsa, smiling like he was having the time of his life, “I’m stuck with you for the whole day, so that means I can let you go when I feel like it!”

I struggled a little harder when he said that, but Xelsa’s grip was too strong for me. I ended up just giving up and blanking out a little as Xelsa carried me from hallway to hallway, past bewildered guards and maids, until the man kicked open another door and abruptly dropped me.

I had been in my own thoughts when Xelsa dropped me so it came without warning. One moment, I was in his arms, next thing I knew I hit the floor hard and exhaled all the air in my lungs.

“Hey, what the hell was-“ I yelled as I stumbled back to my feet, but I stopped dead in my tracks when I realized where we were, and who else was in the room.

The room we were in was a huge dining room with a long table sitting in the middle of the room, going from one end of the wall to the other, with chairs lining the sides of the table. On the table, there was a bunch of plates and leftover food, some partially eaten and some were not.

My concern, however, was more focused on the two people on the other side of the room. One of them was Killian Renwick, and the other was…

“Katie!” I said as I took a step towards her and Killian. Katie did the same, but Xelsa grabbed my arm at the same time Killian grabbed hers.

“Don’t talk to them.” Xelsa growled at me. I ripped my arm free while Katie did the same, and we caught each other in the middle of the room in a hug.

“You doing okay, Riley?” Katie asked.

“Could be better, could do with not having my life threatened.” I said.

“Same,” said Katie, “You already dealt with the vamp?”

“Yup.” I said. Katie leaned in close to whisper, since both men were starting to close in on us.

“He’s such a perv, isn’t he?” Katie whispered.

“Don’t you dare tell him anything about the internet!” I whispered back. Before Katie could ask what the hell I was talking about, Xelsa grabbed me and pulled me away, while Killian grabbed Katie and started pulling her for the door.

“Keep your chin up, Riley!” Katie yelled, “We’re gonna get back home!”

Before I could call something back, Killian dragged Katie out of the room and the door closed behind them. Xelsa looked furious with me.

“I told you not to talk to them!” Xelsa said.

“Wow, bold of you to assume I give a damn what you want.” I said, glaring right back at him, “Afraid she’s going to steal you away from me?”

“It’s not the other maiden that could be a problem,” said Xelsa, “Killian’s more sadistic than I am! One time, when he caught a maiden that tried to fight back, he pinned her down to the ground, ripped her dress off, then-“

“Stop.” I really didn’t want to hear the end of that story.

“… Well, anyway,” said Xelsa, “We got some leftover food, so go ahead and help yourself. I got a place in mind for us to go when we’re done here.”

“Alright then.” I said. At this point, I knew there was no arguing with the guy, so the two of us just sat down at the table. Xelsa started, literally, wolfing down the food that was left, while I started looking around for something that actually looked good. Honestly, I was expecting to see unrecognizable foods and meats, but I was pleasantly surprised to see what appeared to be normal meats and vegetable, like deer and beef. I grabbed some stew from a pot and put it in a bowl. Breakfast had been served to us earlier that day, like it had been the last two days, but that oatmeal sludge looked like crap, and I wanted nothing to do with it, which meant this was the first time I had eaten in three days, and I was absolutely starving.

Minutes later, I was devouring everything on the table I could get my hands on, almost like Xelsa and I were competing for who could be the biggest slob in the room. Eventually, I put my hand on a piece of meat on a big plate, at the same time as Xelsa, and we started glaring at each other.

“I WILL fight you for that.” said Xelsa.

“And since I haven’t eaten in about three days, I’ll WIN.” I said. Xelsa’s eyes narrowed, but he let go of the plate and allowed me to have the meat, which I happily scarfed down as fast as I could while savoring not only it, but also Xelsa’s angry eyes watching me eat.

By the time I had finished, Xelsa was up and standing over me, tapping his foot impatiently. I tried to make it a point to eat as slowly as I could, but I was just so hungry that I couldn’t resist stuffing my face as fast as possible.

“And I thought I was a slob…” I chose to ignore Xelsa’s comment as I finished off what I could and stood up, to which he gave a very exaggerated sigh and took my arm, dragging me back out into the hallways.

“So now where are we going?” I asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” said Xelsa. I rolled my eyes at his unnecessary comment, but continued to allow him to drag me through the hallway until we were outside.

“Walking there is gonna take forever,” said Xelsa, “So you better hang on tight!”

Before I could protest, or find a big enough rock to slam into the man’s head, Xelsa picked me up bridal style again and started running through the woods, forcibly tucking my head into his armpit so that I wouldn’t slam it against anything, but now I couldn’t see either. The only saving grace was the fact that he didn’t smell in there.

Xelsa ran for some time until he finally put me back down, and I was allowed to see some daylight again. When I did, it took me a moment to realize where exactly Xelsa had taken me.

Xelsa and I were standing on the edge of a cliff, overseeing a huge ocean that went off into the horizon.

“Cool…” I said, honestly impressed by the sight, all of these sights. I had never been out of Connecticut back home, hell it had only been when I went to college that I left my hometown, New Milford.

“This is impressive to you?” Xelsa said, ruining my brief moment of serenity, “You need to get out more.”

“Screw off, let me have this!” I snapped back, then I looked down so I could see the waves crash into the side of the cliff. It was shockingly serene, watching the water move, feeling the breeze on my face and in my hair. I had half a mind to swan dive into the water below, just for fun.

“Damn, you’re easy to wow.” said Xelsa, who started walking away, “Let me know when you’re back here with us.”

I waited for his back to be fully turned before I flipped him off and started looking around. I kicked a pebble off the edge, looked to my left, then something in the distance caught my eye, a small structure a bit of a ways away.

I started wandering towards that structure, not really sure why but doing it anyway. A strong gust of wind blew the cyan teardrop out of the top of my dress, but I managed to tuck it back in before it could fly around and choke me.

When I got to whatever it was that I was drawn to, it turned out to be a small white bench, chipped and dusted with age. I gently ran my hand along the top of the bench, careful not to get any splinters caught in my hand. Something about the bench seemed oddly comforting, like looking at your bed after a long day of running around.

I went to sit down on the bench, and that was when I noticed something carved into the seat. I leaned down to read what it was.

Z + F, Forever.

A circle was carved around it. I had no idea what it meant, but it looked like something a teenage couple would do while they were dating. I gently ran my finger along the circle as something welled up, like I was about to cry.

“HEY!”

I was brought back down to reality when I heard Xelsa’s incredibly loud voice getting closer and closer to me. I turned to watch as he caught up with me, panting like a dog, tongue out and all.

“What the hell did you think you were doing, running off like that?” Xelsa said, “I was about to call the guards to find you if I hadn’t seen you over here. What…”

Xelsa trailed off, and it took me a moment to realize that he wasn’t looking at me anymore, but at the bench that my hand was still on. I glanced over to it myself, then back to the wolfman.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, “Is this bench familiar to you?”

“What?!” Xelsa seemed to snap back to reality when I started talking, “No, no of course not! Why are we even still here?! I got more to show you, come on!”

Xelsa grabbed my arm and started dragging me away from the bench. Xelsa seemed to want to get me away from that bench as fast as possible, which made me want to find out what the story behind it was.