A Monster's Heart

Part 1: Homecoming

My family put me through the system because they didn't want me. At least that's the story I've always assumed because that's usually how it is for most kids who end up in the system. Of course, a lot of gaps were missing. Was Mom single and couldn't support her little girl? Was Dad a druggie and I had to be spirited away to avoid growing up in a bad home? Was I left in the street to fend for myself or did my parents take me to the hospital? Well after 17 years of wondering, my birth family found me and won me back in a court of law. Turns out, that I was actually stolen out of the hospital when I was born. I have the proof. Now I have to find out if it's a scam or not.

My name is Elizabeth Rose Morris. The Morris family called me Libby. The Lande family calls me Rainy Day. All the evidence has been in my hands since I boarded the plane to Hammilsberg, Maryland. I had thumbed through it more times than I could remember. There were the DNA tests proving I was a Lande, the certificate of adoption, the birth certificate, and profiles of the Lande family. No pictures of the family though. I was left to wonder what they looked like. Now the taxi was taking me to 666 13th Street to meet my family for the first time. I would be attending the community college here so I could get my degree in accounting and minor in dance while living with some strange family that I just so happened to be related to. The weird thing was that if I admitted it to myself, I was a little bit excited about this whole ordeal. I had always felt a little lonely and out-of-place growing up. Part of that could be from being the only girl out of five boys. Maybe it was also because I had a strange fascination for monster mythos and antiques that Mom and Dad Morris did not share. Maybe now, with my birth family, that loneliness and out-of-place feeling would go away.

"Are you sure this is where you wanted to go, miss?" The taxi driver asked me. I looked up to see a haunted house. I looked down the street and back up the street. 666 was the fixer-upper of the block.

"Yeah, this is good. Thanks for your trouble." I said paying the driver. Grabbing my duffel bag and backpack, I got out of the taxi, which drove away too quickly. The front gate looked kind of rusty but I managed to creak it open. As I stepped into the overgrown front yard, I began to wonder if anybody even actually lived here. I looked at the file in my hand again. I am starting to think that this all really was a scam! It's been done before! I was about to make a dash for it when I heard a screech above me. My heart jumped into my throat and I screamed! Next thing I knew, something red and scaley was rubbing itself against me like it was a huge cat that was happy to see me. The thing was so big that it almost knocked me over. Then came a howl- a wolf's howl. The scaly thing sat bolt-upright and I could clearly see that it was a small dragon. I wasn't so much scared as much as I was intrigued. I didn't think that dragons and stuff actually existed.

"Max, come here! Rainy!" A voice called gleefully on the front porch. There was a guy who looked like he was in his mid-twenties. His ears were incredibly pointy and his hair was ridiculously curly and thick. He had longer yellow nails and his teeth kind of resembled fangs. With something between a happy bark and a low growl. He jumped off the front porch and embraced me. I couldn't help thinking he smelled suspiciously like a dog.

"Yeah, I guess that's me. I'm thinking you're my brother, Daniel?" I asked not entirely sure how to respond. I was a little shocked at being called by my birth name instead of the name I had gone by for the last 17 years, not to mention I wasn't expecting my brother to look like, well, that.

"Sure as Halloween am! AH-OO It's great to have you back! Makes the night with a full-moon even better!"

Wait, he said what?! I looked down at my file again and then back at my older brother. My mind was making connections that should not have been possible. "The file said nothing about being related to werewolves."

"Oh, we're not all werewolves. Just Mom and Me! Boppa is a full-fledged warlock and Chaney is vampire."

And the scary thing was that he was completely serious as he said that.