A Wolf's Nightmare

Chapter 1

  Brenda

I held onto Taylor's hand, squeezing it reassuringly as we walked into the cemetery of a small town from my own. This is going to be the first time in years he was going to visit his parents graves. The last time he was here, he was four years old and watched his parents charred bodies lower into the ground.

"Brenda, I don't think I can do this. This town doesn't exactly bring back great memories..." Taylor said, stopping in place to look at me. Discomfort swirled in his eyes, but disappeared almost immediately.

"You can do this, Taylor. You haven't seen them in a long time, so don't you want to see them now that you're here," I asked. It wasn't very common that he showed discomfort, or any other emotion, on his face. Sure, he had smiled a lot after we saved him a month ago. few days, he fell back into his old habits. He became serious again, even though he didn't have to fight anymore. I have noticed how much he looks at the picture he received of his parents, and the regret his eyes can't hide.

"I don't think I should do this. They spent their lives trying to avoid vampires, but I'm not human anymore."

I shivered a bit as the cold January breeze hit me. "Just because you're a vampire, doesn't mean they don't love you. You were their son after all."

I began walking again, dragging him behind me until we found the graves with his parents, Patricia and Nicholas Garcia, names on it. We stared at them for about a minute before we heard footsteps coming closer

"What are you guys doing in front of my mom and dad's graves? Strangers aren't exactly welcome in our family," a boy about the same age as us said as he came to a stop a few feet beside us. We turned to him, confused about his claim.

"Patricia and Nicholas Garcia are your parents?" I asked.

He only nodded.

"But their Taylor's-"

"Who are you?" Taylor asked with a calm voice. His face didn't betray his curiosity one bit.

"The name is Shawn Garcia. Who are you?" he asked.

That's when I noticed some similarities between the boys. They shared a similar face structure and eye color. Shawn's black hair was a few shades lighter than Taylor's and his skin showed no signs of any recent injuries or scars.

"Taylor. Taylor Garcia, and they were my parents too."

Shawn shook his head no. "My parents would have told me if I had a brother. They left me at my grandma's house when I was five and never came back."

In order to feel a part of their conversation, I decided to speak.

"How did your parents die?"

Shawn turned his dark brown eyes on me and said, "they were murdered before being burned in a fire. The firemen put out the fire before their bodies could turn to ash." His eyes went back to Taylor now, a bit suspicious. "What about you?"

"They were murdered and burned in a fire. Same as you," Taylor answered. "The only difference is that I actually witnessed their death and was kidnapped that same night."

I noticed right away that Taylor didn't mention anything about the association or about the monsters they hunt. Taylor was raised into a hunter's family after he was rescued at four years old. He had trained hard alongside other hunters in order to protect humans from the creatures that lurk in the dark.

"Your name sounds... Familiar. But it's impossible that we're related, unless..." Shawn looked away from us before turning around. "Follow me."

I looked up at Taylor, who only shrugged, before following the boy claiming to be his brother. We followed him as he led us about ten blocks from the cemetery, passing rows of small houses as we went. Shawn didn't stop until we came up to another small house with white and yellow paint. The lawn was green and neatly cut as flowers grew by the windows.

"Wait here," Shawn said as he opened the front door. "I'll be right back." As he stepped in, he left the door open so we could hear. "Grandma, I need to ask you something. Where are you?" he called out.

An elderly voice called back, "in the kitchen. What is it?"

He walked over to a door as an elderly woman reached him. She took one look at us before looking back at Shawn. "Who are they? Are they friends of yours?"

Taylor noticed the sound of her voice change. It was like she was trying to avoid something.

"Grandma, is it true that I have a brother?" Shawn asked her.

The woman looked back at Taylor before saying "why don't you two come in and I'll explain everything."

We nodded and stepped inside, closing the front door behind us. She gestured for us to sit down as she went to bring some tea. When she came back, she set down four cups of hot tea in front of us before taking a seat on her couch.

"Are you Taylor?" she asked.

He nodded.

"I thought I would never see the day where I will finally meet my youngest grandchild. I'm Abigail Campbell, your mother's mother."

Both Taylor and Shawn looked surprised, but Taylor recovered first.

"If you're my grandmother, then why haven't we met before?"

She took a sip of her tea before saying, "your parents had gotten into some trouble before you were born. Shawn was only one when Patricia and Nicholas decided to leave him here. They didn't want to get him involved in the danger they knew you were in."

Shawn held his grandmother's hand, and asked "why were we never told? Did they ever plan to introduce us to each other?"

She nodded. "They wanted to make sure it was safe for Taylor before telling you two. Until that man was arrested, Taylor wouldn't be able to meet anyone. I was there for only your first cry, but soon after, they took you away." Her eyes stayed on Taylor for a while before saying "how have you been without your parents?"

He shrugged. "I have no problems. I was adopted into a good family, doing good in school, and even have a part time job working at a cafe."

I could tell she wanted a bit more information from him, but knew not to push.

"The girls in our school all really like him. He's like a celebrity," I told her.

She smiled. "He has his father's looks. Shawn, why don't you tell your younger brother and his friend something about yourself."

He smiled at the thought of being the older brother before nodding. "I'm good at school, very popular with the ladies, and have a job at a pizza place nearby. So baby brother, how long are you staying in this town?"

We shook our heads no. The truth is we came to this town to investigate a recent vampire attack, but we had taken care of that before heading to the cemetery.

"We were sent here to gather information for a project we were assigned. In fact, we have to get going now if we want to make it back to her house before her curfew." That's when Taylor realized what Shawn had said and glared at him. "Don't call me baby brother again. Not to be rude, but I have to get back to my family before they send a search party."

Taylor stood up and walked out the door, in a hurry to leave.

"Wait, can you tell us what school you two go to? These boys have been separated long enough," she asked.

I looked back at the door before saying "Golden State high school."