A Vampire Tale

Chapter 8

Taylor
"Why me? Why did you come after me?" I asked Ann-Marie.

She circled me with one arm extended to touch me. "I already told you the story. You were chosen before you were even born. My parents refused to change you when they had the chance so I took the matter into my own hands," she said with a satisfied grin. She enjoys seeing me struggle.

I slapped her arm away from me. "My life was okay without you here. I had my adopted parents, two jobs, good grades, and a friend who cares about me," I growled at her. "You ruined my life! I wish you would die!"

She laughed maniacally and grabbed my neck. She squeezed it hard, stopping air from entering my lungs. "I gave you this life and I could damn well take it away! Your mine now so get used to it. You can never be normal. You will never have a family of your own nor will you be able to play with your stupid little girlfriend, Brenda," she said angrily.

That made me angry. I pushed her away from me and forced her head back by pulling her hair to look at me. "I will never be yours! You do not determine my future and if you try to hurt Brenda, I swear I'll kill you the moment I find you" I threatened. My voice go low and dark, the way it gets when I want someone to be scared.

"I like you. Your filled with many surprises," she said as she slapped my hand away from her hair. "Until I see you again, my little toy."

I walked out of the forbidden woods and pulled out my phone. I have three missed calls from Jason and a text message from Brenda. I ignored the calls and read the message. 'Hey Taylor, we need to talk. Can you come over?' I thought about it. I don't need anymore blood at the moment so she should be safe.

'I'll be right there,' I replied back. I made my way back to her house and carefully walked past her brother's window to jump the fence. If I wasn't careful, her dad could hear and turn this little unallowed visit into a big problem. I knock three times on Brenda's window, causing her to jump from where she was sitting. She turned to the window and with one look, opened it to let me in.

After I stepped in, I closed the window and turned to her. "Where's your dad?" I asked her.

"He took Trey in his car to look for you. He thinks your the reason I got hurt," she answered with one hand covering her mark. I took her hand in mine, revealing the fresh bite mark on the left side of her neck.

"I am the reason you got hurt. I'm not safe anymore, Brenda," I told her. She watched our hands for a few seconds before looking up into my dark brown eyes.

"I know. I just... I feel like I'm going to loose you and that makes me scared," she admitted. I could clearly see the fear in her eyes mix with a swirl of sadness. I don't want her to be scared. I never want to be the reason why she feels like this.

"I'm not going to disappear. You don't have to worry about that," I told her. "I promised your dad that I will stay by your side until I'm no longer needed. Right now, you need me more than ever to protect you from myself." She shook her head no.

"I'm not a little girl who needs to be protected from the world. I don't want that to be your reason for hanging out with me," she said back.

"It's not my only reason. I love you Brenda and I don't want anything to happen to you," I told her as I pulled her into a hug. We stayed like this for about a minute before hearing footsteps in the hall way. Brenda pulled away from me and pushed me into her closet. She shut the door just before her mother walked into the room.

"Honey, I brought you some thing," her mother said, holding a plate filled with cookies in one hand and a glass of cold milk in the other.

"Thanks mom, the cookies look great," Brenda said as she took the plate and glass from her mother.

"I want to talk to you about Taylor. I know he's a good kid, but why didn't he stay with you at Jason's house?" her mother asked. I became very uncomfortable with the feeling that I shouldn't be here. It's as if I'm spying on them.

"He was scared. He thinks that I got hurt because he wasn't able to stop someone from hurting me. He blames himself, mom." I sat down in the back of the small walk in closet and listened for her mother's response.

"I figured he might. Ever since you two were little, I always knew Taylor was that kind of person. His parents told us what happened to him as a young child, and I have to say that the boy could have been worse. Watching his parents murder than getting taken away before the police could show up to rescue him could have made him a troubled child growing up with only hate in his heart."

How does she know? After that day, something changed in me. I was scared at first with those vampires, especially after seeing them lure and kill their prey in front of me. I have seen the deaths of many at a young age and that's when I understood. There's only one way to live in this world and that is with out distractions, without emotions, and, especially on missions, without mercy. The last time I seen my birth parents alive was also the last time I shown any other emotion besides seriousness and anger. After spending three days in the association after I was rescued, I was adopted by the people who rescued me. They must have sensed what grew in my heart because they placed me in training as the youngest hunter in the vampire division.

"That would scare a lot of kids if it happened to them. If it never happened, Taylor wouldn't be the way he is today. He would probably be a jerk with popularity in his head," Brenda told her mom. It made me wonder how different my life would have been without my parents murders happening. The more I thought about it, the more I agreed with her.

I heard her mother chuckle before saying, "maybe so but that still wouldn't change how he feels about you. I can see it and so can your father. Taylor loves you, and as much as your father disapproves, you love him too. It is because of that reason why I don't understand why he just left you at Jason's. Would you like to explain or should we get Taylor out of your closet so he could explain?"

How did she know I was here?! I was silent and careful. I pushed the door open and stepped out of the closet. "How did you know I was here?" I asked her. I could tell Brenda was thinking the same thing.

"Let's just say it was mother's instinct and the fact that I heard you two from the living room," she said with a superior grin. I mentally face palm my face for not thinking this through. "Are you going to explain what happened? As you already know, my husband or son isn't here at the moment," her mom said impatiently.

Once again, I'm at a loss for words. I have trained for many situations over the years, including the U.S. Military and Army training. Basically, I have trained for every situation imaginable in twelve years with school and normal responsibilities in the association except dealing with normal, unaware people in a civilize society. I was unprepared for this world they, Brenda and her family, live in. I don't belong here. I have no place in her world of light. I belong in the shadows, secretly protecting her world without interference.

"It was my fault, Mrs. Hernandez. I lost control of what I was doing and accidentally hurt her. I got scared after and took her to a place I knew she would be safe," I explained.

She raised her eyebrows as she asked, "what were you two doing?" Uh-oh, I didn't come up with anything. Maybe I should continue acting like a high school kid. I don't need it but this is where they assigned me to report any vampires or other monsters.

"We were walking when we were ambushed and Taylor tried to fight them all himself. One of them managed to slip past them but as soon as Taylor noticed, he got the guy away from me. I just got hurt as he saved me," Brenda said. It wasn't realistic to me since no one gets past me. Her mom looked at me for conformation and I nodded.

"Alright then, well Taylor, I guess you should go home before my husband comes home. Do you need a ride?" Mrs. Hernandez asked me. I shook my head no, "no thank you, Mrs. H. I still need to figure things out because I believe you have a point. I could have been a horrible kid or I've could've shared the same fate as my birth parents."

Sometimes, I wish I did but I can't think like that. Fate was not kind to me when I was little nor is it kind now. The one thing I know for sure is that, even if we come from two different worlds, I have to stay on the sidelines protecting the world she belongs to. It's my place to fight the secret battle, even if it costs me my life