8 | The Glimpse

Seaside, California September 1, 2012

Scott

SEVEN years flew by like nothing, I have lost count of how many times I've tried, and failed, to finding that murderous psychopath. Seana had led an attack that wiped out Markus' pack. Seana killed his wife right in front of their son and Samuel's daughter. Then, I did something indescribably idiotic.

All I had to do was hesitate for the slightest second till my arm was snapped in a direction that would make someone hurl. The only thing that stopped me from going after her was the sound of screams. That night turned into utter hell.

I stayed around to keep an eye on Zach to make sure he was safe. I knew one day Seana would return. She was hell-bent on wiping out his family line. But ever since that night, there has not been a trace of her. She could have been dead for all I knew, the last lead Markus and I had on her was five years ago, which turned into a dead end.

Markus had seeped into depression for years, coming in and out of it, he had become more hardened and distanced himself from his son. In return, I took it upon myself to raise Zach when his father was off and about trying to rebuild their pack.

Zach is a great kid but when he was going through puberty and having a bad aggression problem flair up, he liked to get cocky.

Though he outgrew that; slightly.

He never had any childhood friends except for Samuel's daughter. But after that night seven years ago, Samuel and Laura took their daughter and never came back. Markus had told me that Samuel decided to step away from their coven and all things supernatural. That included even speaking to his friend.

I understood their reasoning to protect their child, but Zach had also lost his mother that night. You would think after years of friendship Samuel would've been there to help Markus and console him. Hell, even Laura had been close to Aria.

They came to Aria's funeral at least.

But despite all the trauma that Zach endured, he had grown up with a good head on his shoulders. Yet now at 17, he decided that he wanted to go to an actual school and graduate. Homeschooled his entire life, and the kid decides now, that he wants to go to public school.

There was a reason he was homeschooled. Younger werewolves sometimes have issues with shifting. They can't control it sometimes, especially in their outbursts of anger. An occasional flicker of glowing eyes, or accidentally turning into a wolf in public would raise some eyebrows.

Perhaps if I slid off my daylight ring and became a human torch, that would raise some eyebrows as well.

Or burn them off.

The part he left out, was that I had to go too. I've told him repeatedly, I'm too old, I already went and graduated high school, 40 years ago. When I was turned, I was 21, not far from being 22. I didn't even look like a teenager. But if I kept my face shaved, I might be able to pass as one.

Markus had already forged fake documents to enroll me, even saying that he was my adoptive father on my papers.  But it would probably be for the best anyway, I needed to make sure Zach didn't decide to wolf out in the middle of a classroom.

I suppose this was what Adelaide meant that I'd find family if I stuck around Seaside. Not only had a found a family, but a pack that accepted me as one of them. Most would find it odd having a vampire in a pack full of wolves.

Almost every weekend, Zach and I would come to this park, it was over on the beachside, and the view of the ocean was always a sight to see. It was busy as usual; Zach and I were running laps around the park. I never broke a sweat, but Zach was nearly about to have a heat stroke. He always had to push himself to his limit.

"Do you want to take a break?" I asked. We stopped running, "And you know, drink some damn water?"

"No dude, I got this—" Zach paused, looking right past me with shock.

I turned to see what he was looking at. It was two girls who were talking several meters away. Two girls that looked oddly familiar.

Too familiar. There they were, Claire and Adelaide.

Alive.

But how could they still be alive if they died eighteen years ago? Besides, I could hear the heartbeats of both girls, they were human. My heart sunk in my chest.

"Is that Lily?" Zach said, bewildered.

We both glanced at the girl he was looking at and then I realized who she was. Samuel and Laura's daughter. The girl beside her, who looked similar to Claire, tapped her on the shoulder and motioned toward us. Zach was of course just standing there gawking. As was I, though I felt like I was in shock.

The universe just loved to fuck everything up, didn't it?

The more I looked at her, the more I noticed the differences between her and Adelaide. She was slightly taller than Adelaide was, her hair a lighter brown. But the resemblance was regardless, staggering. She looked so full of life, younger, and not weighed down by the hardships Adelaide had gone through when she was alive.

Lily looked over, her eyes widening in surprise, "Zach?" she exclaimed excitedly then began walking towards us, her friend following.

Zach had already made his way over there meeting her in the middle and pulling her into a hug.

"How have you been? It's been forever!" she exclaimed, then craned her head upwards. "You've gotten a lot taller!"

Zach chuckled; he was nearly a foot taller than her.

"Yeah it has been a while," he replied, his expression becoming pained for a moment. The last time they had seen each other was at his mother's funeral. To the world, she had died of some accident. Not brutally murdered in front of two children.

Lily seemed to pick up on what he was feeling, "I know things probably haven't been great these last few years but I am really glad to see you." Turning to her friend Lily added, "This is my cousin, Celesta."

"It's nice to finally meet you!" she replied cheerfully. "I've heard a lot about you over the years."

"I hope all good things!" Zach laughed nervously.

Was this kid seriously already getting mesmerized by her? Just looking at her reminded me of Claire so much that I wanted to punch something. I knew it wasn't her, but the woman tried to kill me a few times alright?

They started talking back and forth and mentioned a place I was dreading.

School.

I stood there awkwardly and watched them talk for what felt like an eternity.

Zach finally turned his head to me and shouted. "Hey man, get over here!"

Lily and Celesta glanced over at me, I reluctantly walked over to them. If I was alive my heart would've been beating out of my chest. Though the slow sluggish tempo that it usually was, I could tell it beat a little faster from the waves of nervousness that hit me. Zach gave me a big grin, then started patting me on the back once I was beside him.

Now I want to punch him.

"This is my best bud right here," Zach chirped. "Scott, this is Lily and Celesta."

I cringed internally.

Celesta glanced at me; I saw the faintest hint of repulsion flash across her face before it was replaced by a smile. Perhaps she was Claire after all.

"Hello," she murmured.

Lily however gave no notion of knowing me.

"It's nice to meet you," Lily greeted, her pale green eyes gazing at me intently. Unease settled through me; I had only known one person with those haunting eyes. None of this made any sense! What was I supposed to say to the girl who looked so much like Adelaide that I wanted to scream?

Everyone had turned their heads to me, waiting for a response.

"It's nice to meet you too," I replied, articulating my words carefully. Trying to ease the tension I created, I asked Zach awkwardly, "So uh, how do you two know one another?"

He shot a confused look at me, probably thinking that I already knew. I did, but I couldn't think straight right now.

Lily began to chuckle, "Since we were like what, toddlers?" she mused. "But I'm glad you are coming to school with us this year!"

"I heard homeschooling could be quite isolating," Celesta piped in.

"Well, it wasn't too bad, I-I uh—" Zach stammered, his heart rate spiking. "Had Scott with me, he is basically my brother! In fact, my father adopted him—"

"Yep, long story," I interjected, trying to shut him up. "But we both decided that homeschooling was not what we wanted for our senior year, right?"

I grinned at him. He grinned right back.

Lily and Celesta glanced at one another, no doubt thinking we were complete rejects. Celesta smiled sheepishly at Zach.

Oh, dear God.

"I didn't know you had a brother," Lily chuckled. "When did this happen?"

"Uh," Zach paused. "Last year?"

"That is recent," Lily replied.

"I would be more than happy to help you around school tomorrow," Celesta interjected, her face blushing slightly as she looked at Zach.

All I wanted to do right now was excuse myself and go somewhere where I could just fucking think. Think about what in the hell was going on and why I was looking at lookalikes of sisters who had been dead for the last eighteen years.

"Really? That would be great!" Zach replied.

Celesta stepped closer to him and pulled out her phone and they exchanged numbers quickly. Lily just looked at the two of them with a funny expression.

Perhaps she thought the same as I did, the two of them were instantly smitten. Of course, I full heartily believed my dear brother was an idiot.

I looked away from them and saw two blonde girls coming over to us rather quickly; their eyes locked on our group.

"Lily!" one of them squealed, Lily turned her head towards her.

"Hey Elle!" she replied. "It's about time you guys got here!"

"I know, but Amberly took forever to get ready," Elle sighed, eyeing the shorter blonde beside her. Amberly stuck her tongue out at Elle.

"Says the one who took an hour in the bathroom," Amberly remarked.

"Guys!" Celesta exclaimed, "I want you to meet Zach!"

Why the hell was I even here still?

"Pleasure to meet you," Elle replied then glanced at me. "Um—"

"This is Scott," Lily put in, then smiled at me. At least she did not forget I was still standing here like a statue. A weird feeling shot through me, but I ignored it.

"It's nice to meet all of you," I muttered darkly. The six of us just stood there, perhaps I was the one making everything awkward.

"Well, it's been great meeting you guys, but I am going to the beach!" Elle chirped.

"Yeah, we should probably head down, Eddie's already been out there waiting for me," Amberly sighed.

"Let's go then!" Elle squealed, grabbing Lily by her arm. Amberly came around and grabbed Lily's other arm and they started to pull her away. Celesta wasn't even fazed that her cousin was being dragged away.

"Guys!" she shrilled, "I'll see you later!" she shouted to us, and then they disappeared down the stairs that led to the beach.

"Do you all want to come?" Celesta asked Zach and me.

Zach of course lit up; a huge grin plastered across his face. I, however, was not inclined to be here anymore.

"I was actually about to head back to the house," I clarified. "Zach?"

"I'd love to go," Zach beamed. "But I need to talk to Scott for a minute, I'll catch up."

"Alright!" she replied, then left to follow her friends.

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Zach asked, confusion spreading across his face. "Should I not go? I mean I want to, but I don't want to leave—"

"It's fine," I interrupted. "Just go. You haven't ever had—"

"A life?" Zach quipped. I grimaced.

"No Zach," I chuckled. "Just go be a kid while you can. You need to go have some fun."

Also, so I could figure out just what the hell was going on today. To do that, I just needed to be alone. And Zach needed to spend time with people his age, to socialize. Maybe going to high school will be a good thing after all.

Or it could be a very, very bad thing.