Flesh and Blood

by Willow Rose

  As a cloud fled the moon, the light hit my brother in the clearing and I could now see the wound in his chest. My heart dropped.

  "It's bad," I said. "Is he…?"

  I leaned forward and put two fingers on his throat. Then I whimpered.

  "I can't…I can't feel it; he's so cold, Jayden…why is he…what have they done to him? What have they…?"

  Jayden rushed to me, grabbed me in his arms, and held me tight while I cried out my brother's name into the darkness.

  "They killed my brother? The bastards killed my brother!"

  "I'm so sorry," he said, holding me close while I cried. "I am so, so sorry."

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  "I…I can't…I don't…what are we going to do?" I said as soon as I had stopped screaming. I was speaking between heavy sobs.

  My heart had never felt so broken, so crushed. Here was my brother, my beloved brother, dead on the ground, a gunshot straight through his chest. What was I supposed to do? How was I supposed to cope with this? What was I going to tell my mother? This was not how things were supposed to go. This was not supposed to happen.

  "We should probably call for an ambulance," Jayden said. "And my dad."

  I nodded with a loud sniffle. Jayden let go of me, then looked down at his phone.

  I stared at my lifeless brother on the ground. Thoughts of guilt started to enter. What if I had stopped him from going out? What if I had told him not to go, ordered him? What if I had told our parents that he had gone out? Could this have been avoided? And what if I had gotten there faster? He was alive when he called me. I had heard him groaning and moaning at the other end. He still had the phone in his back pocket, I realized, and pulled it out. It must have dialed my number somehow while he was fighting for his life on the dirty ground. I hung up and wiped my nose with my sleeve. I put the phone next to him, thinking the forensics or whoever would have to come out needed things to stay the way they were. So, I decided to put it back in his pocket, when I heard Jayden talking to the dispatcher at the alarm central. He was stuttering something that I wasn't sure would make sense to the person on the other end, but I didn't really have the energy to be bothered about it, not in this moment when my…brother…my beloved big brother was lying there…dead.

  I slid the phone back into his back pocket and, as I moved him, I suddenly saw something, something that just about made me drop my jaw completely.

  Adrian was moving his finger? His pointer finger—dirty from the soil—was moving, vibrating back and forth.

  Am I seeing this right?

  I blinked my eyes, then reached up, my hand shaking, and put two fingers on his throat to feel for a pulse. His skin was still as cold as touching ice and I found nothing. No small thud touching the tips of my fingers. There was no pulse.

  Could it be some sort of after-death body spasms or something? Is that even a thing?

  I pulled back and stared at my brother's finger. It was still moving up and down. Up and down. Jayden was trying to explain where they were to the dispatcher when his eyes fell on me and saw what I was looking at. He removed the phone from his ear.

  "W-w-what…what is that?"

  I looked up, then shook my head, terrified. "I don't know."

  What happened in the next moments would haunt me for years to come. Not only was Adrian moving his pointer finger, but soon his entire hand was moving. Jayden stood still, phone in his hand, mouth open, and watched as Adrian's arm started to move as well.

  "L-look," I said and pulled back even further from his body. I pointed at his chest. "The…th-th-the…the wound…it's…how is this possible?"

  I looked to Jayden for answers, but he had the same baffled look on his face as I had. Meanwhile, the massive bullet hole in Adrian's chest was closing up while we were still watching it, soon closing completely till it had vanished and the only trace of it was a visible burnt hole in his black hoodie.

  Adrian's upper body shot straight up and he looked at me with a puzzled grin.

  "Man. That was intense!"

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  I almost fell backward, trying to get away from the strange creature who used to be my brother sitting in the soil, staring at me, grinning from ear to ear. His bangs were tousled, his shirt had a hole in it and was burned around the bullet hole, but other than that, he looked like nothing had happened.

  He rose to his feet, then shook and brushed the dirt off his black skinny jeans.

  "Adrian?" I asked.

  "Oh, hi, sis. What the heck are you doing out here?"

  "You…you…" I swallowed hard to be able to talk properly. "W-what are you?"

  Adrian laughed. "What do you mean?"

  I pointed to where he had been on the ground. "You were…you were…"

  "Shot," Jayden said and stepped forward. "You were dead. There was no pulse."

  Adrian laughed again. "Oh, really?"

  "Yes, really," I said, feeling how anger was now replacing the initial shock. A deep, growling anger. Had this just been some stupid joke? Was my brother really that cruel? Was anyone capable of being so nasty?

  "We saw you…" Jayden continued. "You had been shot. There’s still a hole in your shirt…there."

  "You were dead, Adrian," I said.

  He shrugged with a sniffle. "And now, I’m not…anymore."

  "What are you?" I asked, flustered and scared.

  Adrian turned serious, then hissed at me. "What's it to you?"

  I stepped backward, startled. Jayden came up behind me, baseball bat in his hand. Adrian lifted his hand and pointed at me. I had never noticed how long his nails were before.

  "Stay out of my affairs, okay?" he said, his voice fizzing. "It's none of your business."

  Scared, I recoiled again till I was so close to Jayden I could smell him. Adrian hissed at me again and walked closer, holding out his claw-like nails, the way a cat would, showing off his pointy fang-like teeth, threatening me. Jayden raised his bat.

  "If you touch her, I will knock you out of this park," he said.

  Adrian sizzled, then looked up at Jayden, who was sizably taller than him and a lot bigger, especially since Adrian had quit football and lost all his muscles.

  He showed his teeth once again, then looked at me, malice in his eyes. There was nothing in them that reminded me of my brother. I realized in that second that it was all gone. He wasn't the same and was never going to be.

  He grinned, then turned around on his heel and ran away so fast it looked like he didn't even touch the ground. I stared after him, then turned and threw myself into Jayden's arms and cried. He enveloped me in his warm embrace and held me tight till I was done crying, then looked at my face, holding it between his big hands.

  "I don't know what’s going on, but I swear I will always protect you from him. He won't touch a hair on your head. None of them will." He paused before he continued, "I think we need to get you out of that house, immediately."

  I wrinkled my forehead. I stared at him, startled, then pulled my head away forcefully.

  "What do you mean?"

  We started to walk back. Jayden exhaled and ran a hand through his hair. "I’m just not sure I trust your family. Something is off. It's like they…well, for starters, they're nothing like you. I can't believe someone like you could come out of that."

  I knew he was right; I had thought it myself many a time, especially lately, but hearing it from him somehow made me angry. Not just a little bit, but a whole lot. I couldn’t stop it.

  "I don't know what you're talking about," I said and started to walk faster through the park toward the lake.

  "Robyn. Did you see the way Adrian looked at you? That's not a way to look at your sister. But it's also more than that. I think they're dangerous people, Robyn. If you can even call them people."

  "What on earth are you talking about?" I snorted.

  "He was dead, Robyn. We both felt it. There was no pulse. He was shot and then he just…sat up and laughed. I only know one cre
ature that can do that and…that is…"

  "I am going to stop you right there because I don't want to hear it. I don't believe in those sorts of fairy tales."

  "Fair enough. But you must listen to me on this, Robyn. You can't stay there. Whatever is going on, whatever they are, it's not a place where you're safe. I fear that you are in danger in that house, Robyn. That mom of…"

  "Don't you start on my mom," I said, not fully understanding the need to defend her since I was angry with her myself—no, make that furious at her—but she was, after all, still my mother, and this was my family he was talking about.

  "You sound like your mother," I said and turned my head away. I sped up, my steps steady and angry.

  He sighed. "I fear they might hurt you or even worse…they'll turn you into them."

  I stopped, turned, and looked at him. "Hey, that's my family. They might not be perfect, but they're still my family."

  I turned around again and continued to walk. We reached the end of the lake and entered the trail leading to Shadow Hills.

  "I know…it's just that…"

  "Maybe you're the one turning into your parents. You're beginning to sound just like them," I said angrily.

  Who was he to come here and begin…Argh, he suddenly made me so, so angry. Why did he have to be this way?

  As we reached our street, I stopped and turned to face him.

  "You know what? Maybe you’re right. Maybe we are turning into our parents, so why don’t we spare each other a lot of hurt and just do what they’re doing and stay far away from one another?"

  Jayden looked furious. His big nostrils were flaring, his eyes ablaze.

  "Fine by me!"

  And just like that, we turned our backs on one another and on sixteen years of friendship, and rushed back to our own houses, each of us regretting every word we had said, but neither of us being big enough to admit it.

  Chapter Forty

  Jazmine woke to the sound of a pebble hitting her window. She pulled the curtains aside and peeked out.

  "Jayden?"

  She hurried downstairs, worrying something bad had happened, and let him inside.

  "What's going on?" she asked as he approached her, his face torn in what she interpreted as despair.

  She could see his intentions in his eyes right away. And you might say she let it happen, even though everything inside of her screamed not to. As he placed his warm lips on hers, she closed her eyes and kissed him back. She didn't exactly know why. He wasn't her type—not at all—but they had been spending an awful lot of time together lately, mostly talking about Robyn and how much he missed her, so much it had begun to annoy Jazmine. But through their talks, they had grown closer, and she had to admit, she was starting to like him. A lot.

  He held her face between his hands as their lips parted.

  "Wow," she said.

  He smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile.

  "What was that for?" she asked.

  "I’ve just been wanting to do this for some time," he said.

  "So, you woke up in the middle of the night and rushed over here…just to kiss me?"

  He looked sheepish. "Well, not exactly. It's a long story. See, Robyn and I were…"

  "Ah, so you were out with Robyn, huh? And then you had a fight and you rushed over here because here you knew you could get what you wanted, is that it?" she asked.

  He shook his head. "No. No. That's not it at all…well, part of it was kind of spot on, but no…I came here because tonight I realized I’ve finally been able to let Robyn go. I’m not in love with her. I’m in love with you."

  Jazmine blinked. Was she hearing him correctly? Was he in love with her? Jayden? The same Jayden who had been whining about Robyn every afternoon they had spent together? Who had come to her house just to talk about how he could win her back? How much he loved her? How he could somehow get her without their parents knowing? Who had tried so many times to tell Robyn how he really felt. That Jayden?

  "I’m finally over her, Jazmine. I really am. There are no feelings left. As a matter of fact, I’m completely done with her and that crazy family of hers. I am all yours."

  Jazmine had to blink again to make sure she wasn't dreaming. This, she had never expected from him. But she wasn't inclined to let him down. She had thought a lot about him lately but never dared to say anything since he seemed so deeply into Robyn.

  Jayden leaned forward and kissed her again, reaching his long strong arms around her waist and pulling her very close, holding her so tightly it made her forget to breathe. She let him kiss her but suddenly pulled away.

  "We can't do this," she said.

  "Why not?" he moaned, putting his face close to hers, breathing on her skin.

  "Because of Robyn. She's our friend."

  Jayden shook his head. Jazmine thought she saw a tear in the corner of his eye but wasn't sure.

  "Forget her."

  Chapter Forty-One

  Melanie Peterson wasn't feeling well. She was sweating heavily in her bed under the bandages. She had come home, finally. The hospital had let her come home and sleep in her own bed and for that, she was very grateful. Her mother had even come to pick her up and she was sent away with balloons and flowers with the hospital staff clapping for her. She was quite the hero around town, ever since she managed to fight off the wolf attacking her. And she had to admit, she felt darn good about herself and what she had done.

  Ain't nothing that can scare someone like me anymore. Nuh-uh.

  But now, as she was lying in her bed at night, there was something that was scaring her a little. It wasn't her mother's new boyfriend, even though he did seem pretty frightening, at least he believed himself to be, nor was it the wolf that was probably still out there, ready to attack her again if she dared to go out into the park. It wasn't because she had nightmares about the attack either; no, this was something completely different that was scaring her.

  And it was nothing like anything she had ever felt.

  Melanie groaned in pain and kicked off the covers of her bed. She felt like she was burning up, like the very blood in her body was on fire.

  What is wrong with me? What is happening? Is it a fever? Is my wound getting infected?

  It couldn't be an infection. The nurses had cleaned it over and over and been so careful with it, and she was on the strongest type of antibiotics they could find, they said.

  It's something else. Something inside of me. Something that wants out. What is it? What's going on?

  Melanie tossed and turned on the bed, moaning and groaning, burning up. The full moon was staring in at her from outside the window and it lit up the room.

  Melanie felt a strong prickling sensation in her fingers and lifted her hands to look at them, turning them in the moonlight, when she saw—gaping and eyes wide—what looked like claws beneath the skin of each finger, pressing their way through. Melanie cried in pain as the claws pierced the skin and emerged, then stared in awe at them as they continued to grow till they were as long as her hand.

  Pain shot through her body and she fell forward, her torso shaking in spasms. She felt froth appear in her mouth as she tried to lift her face up from the bed. She crawled onto the carpet, drooling and frothing, crying in pain as her body burned and swelled and felt like it was about to explode.

  "Mo-om?" she cried, half-choked in the darkness of her room, but her mother never heard anything since she was still in the living room, drunk out of her mind, sleeping on the couch next to her new boyfriend, Max.

  Mom? I’m in pain. Please, help me. I’m burning up. Mom?

  Melanie managed to push herself up to her knees, then lifted her head and looked at herself in the mirror.

  What looked back at her terrified her so greatly it made her scream.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Vampires.

  That was what he meant, wasn't it? That was what Jayden thought when he talked about my family. Who did he think he was? Judging my family like that? Like his
family was any better. That's what he believed, right? That his family was better than mine. Besides, it was ridiculous. Vampires didn't even exist.

  I was lying on my bed, three days later. I had avoided all the other kids in school and not told anyone I wasn't coming back after the weekend. I didn't feel like I owed any of them anything.

  The only person I had spoken to a little was Amy, who I had run into in the hallway the day before.

  "I never see you anymore," she had said. "Not that I can blame you. I can't believe they would do this to you."

  "Sorry, what?" I asked. "Who would do what?"

  "Jazmine and Jayden? They're dating now," Amy said.

  I had nearly dropped my books. I had seen them in the hallway and in the classes we had together and had thought that it seemed like they were even closer than before. But somehow, I hadn't fully believed that they were actually an item until now.

  "I mean, everyone knew that you and Jayden were meant to be," Amy continued. She shook her head. "New girl should have known better if you ask me."

  Now, I was lying on my bed in the middle of the afternoon, staring at the ceiling, imagining Jazmine and Jayden engaged in a long, wet kiss. I couldn't help myself; the images simply wouldn't leave me alone.

  I did this, didn't I? I threw him into her arms. It is all my own darn stupid fault.

  But what could I have done? It wasn't like I could start dating him myself because of my parents. Maybe it was for the best that I pushed him away. This way, at least one of us could have a fun teenage life. At least this way, Jayden could move on.

  "You're welcome," I said to nobody. I rolled around on my stomach while thinking about my brother. He had avoided me at all costs since the night in the park and, even though I didn't think it was possible, he had gotten even meaner toward me, constantly pushing me when our mom wasn't looking or telling on me for the smallest thing. It was like he was determined to make my life even more unbearable than it already was.