A Vampire Tale

Chapter 11

Brenda

After Jason left, I turned to Trey. "What should I do? They are really good friends but I don't want to loose them. How am I supposed to explain that to Taylor. I really care about him, Trey."

He shrugged, "I'm a guy and guys hardly ever have to make this decision. Since you want my opinion, I'll give it to you. You have two guys fighting over you but there's only one guy you love more. You and Jason were only meant to be friends, nothing more and nothing less. You and Taylor are different but you are so much happier when your by his side. I say choose who you think will make you happy."

The helpful words of my brother. "So I should pick Taylor?" I asked him to be sure.

He only shrugged again, "go with whoever your heart takes you to." I like them both but is it really something different with Taylor? If so, when did I start loving him? Was it after the kiss? I must have hurt him badly today. I know he cares about me a lot and not pulling away or pushing Jason away with shock must be like a punch to the face for him. Taylor, what's going on inside your head right now? Why don't you show us what's inside your heart?

"Thanks for the advice, oh and can you tell me what he told you?" I asked him.

He shook his head, "sorry, it will go against the bro's code, rule #1. If a bro tells you something while a girl is talking, don't tell her anything."

I rolled my eyes, "whatever. I'll be back later. I'm going for a walk." He nodded so I began my long walk. Who was that girl and what did she mean by "what died before is now reborn"? Is she apart of the association along side Taylor? I don't even know most of his friends. He always prefers to be alone than hang around with the jocks or the other social classes of high school.

I found myself in front of Taylor's house, unaware that I was subconciously planning to come here. His parents cars are in parked in the drive way so is it possible that he's here too? Only one way to find out. I walk up to the door bell and knocked three times. His father answered the door after a few seconds and invited me in. "I suppose your looking for our son?" he asked me as Mrs. Harrison walked into the room.

I shook my head no. "Actually, I was hoping you could tell me more about him. How bad really was his childhood before his parents were killed? How did he become this way?" I asked knowing for a fact that they won't hold any information from me.

"Didn't he already tell you this? His parents moved around a lot to protect him, but every time they moved to a new location, he earned a new identity. Since he was still very young at the time, he almost completely forgot his birth name in order to remember who he was supposed to be," Mrs Harrison said as she placed a folder down on the coffee table in front of me. On the side, there was a name. Taylor Garcia.

The cover had a red "Top Secret" stamped on it so I looked up at Mr and Mrs Harrison and asked, "Is it okay if I see this? I don't want to get you guys in trouble with your association thing."

They exchanged a look before turning back to me, "he told you?"

I shook my head no, ''well sorta but he wouldn't say much. He just said that it trained him to be able to do a bunch of cool stuff and dangerous missions." I opened the file, already feeling guilty. There was so much information in here that it's impossible for it to fit in one folder. I didn't want to read much about his past though. It feels like an invasion of his privacy.

I held the picture of a small boy in my hands, smiling with a basket ball in his hands. "This is Taylor?" I asked them, already knowing the answer.

They nodded. "Back then, I believe he was going by the name Mark Baker. He really is lucky that he was rescued or we would be dealing with a different sort of problem," his father said.

Under a report of the incident, there were more photographs of Taylor and a long list of names he went by. Andrew Maloney, Derek Chance, Max Collins. With there names stuck in your head, it must have been a miracle that he remembered his real name. I held up a small photo and tears came to my eyes.

"Are these?" I asked, unable to finish my sentence.

They nodded. "That is Nicholas and Patricia Garcia standing there with Taylor when he was two," Mr Harrison told me. "He was so happy back then. So... Normal."

I didn't bother to look up when Mrs Harrison crossed the room to sit by me. "He was happy. Believe me, he was very happy. Unfortunately, the day of the incident was also the day he lost his innocence of a child. Death is something no child his age should ever witness. Something awful grew in his heart that day and continued to grow when he was taken," she said sadly.

Her husband agreed with her and added, "he was no longer the normal child he was when we found him. His eyes no longer held the sweet, ignorant kid, but in it's place was an angrily, merciless man. He was immune to the fear of death and that's what worried me the most. That sweet boy in the picture is gone forever. He grew up into a killer."

I looked up at him as the last word echoed in my head. "Killer? He hasn't killed any humans though, he's protecting them, isn't he?" I asked them. "We assume he has told you about the Hunters Association of vampires and other monsters?"

When I shook my head no, they said, "he has mentioned it to you before. Anyways, the hunters association trained him to do hunt monsters, like vampires or werewolves, but that training could be easily used on an innocent human. That's why he" - Taylor - "never looses in a fight," his father said.

I stared back at the picture. How could he hold so much anger inside him for so long? "I don't think I'll ever understand what he's going through but I just hope he keeps me in his life to help him feel...Happy," I placed the picture back in the file just as Taylor walked through the door.

He took one look at me then at the file before turning back to his parents. "Why are you two showing her that? She doesn't need to know who I used to be!" he said with anger clearly written on his face.

"I asked them. I came over here for...," I couldn't say it. How can you tell a guy you've known forever that you were researching his past.

"For what! Information? I already told you what happened to me. What else do you want to know?" he said as he lowered his voice.

"I'm sorry Taylor. I just wanted to know what happened that got you from this," -held up the picture of him with his family- "to this," I gestured to him.

He put one hand on the door knob before saying, "my parents were killed in front of me. That's what happened." He walked out the door before anyone could stop him.

"Taylor wait! Uh, I'm sorry for the trouble, Mr and Mrs Harrison," I ran after him, glad he wasn't so far away. "Taylor please, let me explain!" I called to him.

He stopped in place and turned to me. "I don't care what your reason is, alright. You could've just asked me. Every single piece of information in that file is my life. I'm literally an open book," he said seriously.

"I'm so sorry. Your right, I should have just asked you," I said as I stared into his dark eyes.

He sighed and looked away."How much did you read?" he asked so quietly I wasn't even sure he even spoke.

"Nothing, I only seen your pictures, I swear," I promised him. I saw a hint of vulnerability in his eyes. He never wanted to be in a situation like this.

"Don't read it anymore. I have done so many things that it might frighten you away," he reached out for my hand and took it.

"We're in this together, now and forever," I promised him. I dropped his hand and wrapped my arms around his neck. He seemed to hesitate before wrapping his arms around me.

"Forever is along time. Don't make promises you can't keep," He whispered in my ear.

"Don't worry about me. I'll keep my promise until the day I die." He smirked a bit before looking up to the sky.

"It's getting late, don't you have to get ready for your cousin's birthday party?" he asked when we pulled away. Dang it, that's right! We were talking about that before Jason showed up.

"Yeah, I guess I should go," I said disappointingly. "Kimberly only turns eleven once."

He nodded and took my hand again. "I'll walk you back home.''