A Wolf's Nightmare

Chapter 5

Taylor
The smell in the air gave them away before they even stepped into the school. The awful stench of a dog mixed with the scent of humans makes me sick to my stomach. It's kind of like the time I spent imprisoned for Brenda's kidnapping. I had to stay in the same room as werewolves, vampires, witches, and other creatures, forced to breathe in such foul air.

As soon as their eyes landed on me, they stopped walking and exchanged their friendly faces for angry ones. I glared back at them, silently hoping they would make my job much easier.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

I continued to glare as I said "wouldn't you like to know! Instead of trying to ambush me, maybe you should actually listen."

The wolf shook his head in disgust. "I didn't think hunters would allow vampires in a human school. I mean, how many deaths have to happen for them to actually get off their lazy a-"

Irritated enough, I stopped him before he could finish. "I don't know what you're talking about, but you should really watch what you say. You might find unwanted attention heading your way."

Beside me, Brenda tried to calm me down before I could expose myself as a hunter to the school. "Don't waste your energy talking to them, Taylor. You might need it later," she said, almost silently.

"How pathetic are you? Does she know what you are?" the wolf asked. "Or is she in the market for a living man?"

Before I could reply, Shawn stepped out of the corner and walked over to them. "Hey man, be cool. Just tell us what the problem is here." He looked over from me to him, expecting one of us to answer. "Who are you anyways?"

"My name is Austin Blackwood, and this is none of your concern, human." Austin gave all his attention to Shawn then, which would have been the stupidest thing he'd ever done if he were a hunter.

"Get out of here, Shawn. You don't know what you're getting yourself into," I warned.

He shook his head no. "No way, little brother."

I glared at him before pulling him away from wolf boy.

"What seems to be the problem here? You students should be heading off to class," Parker Guterriez said as he walked over to us. Parker and I have been best friends ever since I had joined and lived in the association. I would always look up to him when I was younger, but along the way, he became a brother to me.

"There's no problem here," was all Austin said before he and his friends walked off.

"You alright, Taylor?" Parker asked as he turned to me. "Hope I didn't scare your... Friend?"

I shook my head no. "Doesn't matter. Shawn isn't a friend. He's my brother," I didn't bother to introduce him, knowing Parker likes to do it himself.

"So this is the brother. Hello, I'm Mr. Parker Gutierrez. Taylor's teacher, friend, and mentor."

Shawn smiled and shook his hand. "Mentor? What did you teach him?" Shawn asked.

With a shrug, Parker answered "lots of things. He's like a brother to me, but he will get detention if he's late for my class."

I rolled my eyes at him and took Brenda's hand again. "Yeah, yeah. We're going to class now."

As we walked, Hailey followed close behind us. "Your brother's pretty hot, Taylor. Why not give him a chance to get to know you a bit. You don't have to tell him about what happened to you and Ann-Marie."

Ann-Marie Nelson was the one who turned me into a vampire. For weeks, we had irritated each other until she gave her life for my freedom.

"You should know why. If he finds out what I am, he could get caught up in something bad." I looked over to her before saying, "besides, there's no reason to talk about Ann-Marie with him. He doesn't know who she is or what she gave up for me."

She rolled her eye at me. "Are you still jealous about him? Get over it now, because you have a job to focus on."

"You're jealous of your brother? Why?" Brenda asked.

"I'm not jealous of him," I said, frustrated already. "Let's just get to class and forget about this crazy morning." I didn't wait for the girls to answer. I started walking once again and didn't stop until I was in the class room.

Jason seemed to be talking to some of the other baseball players until he noticed us walk in. With that annoying smile on his face, he walked over to us.

"Hey guys, did you find them?" he asked quietly.

"If you decided to actually meet them instead of chat with your friends about a meaningless sport, you wouldn't ask something like that and waste my time." I took my seat and took in a deep breath.

I could hear Jason whisper "what's wrong with him today?"

Brenda whispered back "rough morning."

Truth is, I haven't been sleeping well since that day. Every night, I lay on my bed thinking about how different my life was supposed to be if I was never in hiding. When I close my eyes, I see those who have died in the hands of Samuel Marcus blaming me for their deaths. All of them trying to tear me apart, limb from limb, as if they could come back once I'm gone. Even my parents demanded I give them my life back so they could continue living.

Once Parker entered the classroom, everyone went back to their seats and quieted down. I suddenly became very drowsy due to the lack of sleep and rested my head on my desk.

Corpses were walking toward me, most of them with very familiar faces. "Taylor. It wasn't our time to go," they all cried out in pained voices. Blood stained each other of their clothes, luring me to them. "Why should you live on! A monster living in a human body can hardly be considered human!"

All of a sudden, everyone I know, everyone I love, demanded my death. I looked over to Brenda who was holding my gun in her hands, aiming at my heart.

"We'll make this quick for you."

Before she could fire, Parker shook me awake. "Taylor, are you alright? Is it happening again?" he asked silently.

I nodded, "I can't sleep well. Sorry for interrupting the class."

Everyone's eyes were watching me as I tried my best to calm myself down. I couldn't look over to Brenda without picturing her aiming a gun at me.

"Do you need to see the nurse?" Translation: "do you think you can handle this mission like this?"

I shook my head no. "I'm fine. It's only lack of sleep," I answered. "It's not time to rest anyways."