Gabriel's Charge

chapter 11

The next morning turned out to be rainy and wet.

A lovely summer morning.

By the time he’d woken up he knew right away that Katherine had already gone to school. It was nearly noon.

He rubbed his eyes and looked out into the pouring rain out the window.

The trees were letting droplets go one at a time; the sky was full of gray clouds that loomed ominously overhead. It looked as if Hell were about to break loose in the sky. And frankly, with the state was usually in these days that wouldn’t have surprised him one bit.

“What to do today?” He said softly with a smile. Of course his first thought was go to the school and find that Tom boy so he could kick his ass. But that could wait.

Tom wasn’t that worth the effort.

What was important right now was to find out what secrets this Tom boy was speaking of. Those were what he wanted to know right now.

He cursed himself on not taking a closer look on who Tom was when he’d first saw him. Maybe then he would have been able to read him better. But now he was stuck with finding out his history the hard way. Going through the family records and how many roots his family had in this town.

What could this boy possibly have to hide?

Well, why don’t you go find out?

The place to start he figured would be the library.

He left the house and then went into town looking for the public library. He found it on the second street he looked on. The library was a giant stone building with marble lions at the front of it. The sign on the front of the building said “Carter Public Library”.

Walking up toward it he walked over to the main desk and gave his most charming smile to the receptionist on the other side of the counter.

She looked up at him and blushed a little “Hi, what can I do for you?”

“I was wondering if I could get some access to the archives... Do you have family records here?”

The receptionist looked confused and said “We do, but why do you want to see this?”

“It’s a little assignment I am working on. Is it possible for me to see them?”

The receptionist gave a small shy smile “I suppose so. Yes I can do that. It will have to be secret though.” She paused running a hand through her hair “I am not really supposed to let people just see the archives.”

Gabriel gave a smile “It will be our little secret then.”

The girl grinned, her light hair glinting in the oncoming sunlight.  “Okay, well then please follow me.”

He did. They walked through the rows and rows of books until they came to a locked door. The girl unlocked it and then swept her arm into the room, “Take all the time you need. Tell me when you are done and I will come lock it back up.”

“Thank you very much.” And he walked into the room, leaving her behind.

The room was full of filing cabinets that were labelled and organized alphabetically. He sighed; this was going to take awhile. He walked over to the family section and started with the letter A.  He thought back to all the times Katherine had mentioned her boyfriend. Had there ever been a last name there?

He moved away from the past and to the present. There were censuses there, naming the people in the town.

He scanned through them quickly, looking through for anyone with the names, Tom or Thomas.

There happened to be only three Thomas’s in the town, lucky for him. Scanning through those three he found that two of them were over thirty and one was the right age.

Pulling out his file he read up more on Thomas Sullen.

He was going on a full ride scholarship for foot ball, got decent grades in school and hardly ever stirred up trouble in town. His friends seemed to be the trouble ones. They were always getting in trouble with the law, he read, bringing Tom down with them. Somehow though, Tommy was always set free.

The reasons were never given, just that he was found not guilty of any of the crimes that his friends were committed for. He basically had a free ride and a spotless record, kind of.

Closing those files he went to the family files and looked up the last name Sullen.

There was a file for it. Inside there were documents dating all the way back to when the town had first begun in 1541. There had been settlers brought here to take over the area from the First Nations. What people did for land always confused him; but he let that go and continued on reading. The Sullens had been one of the first families here, not surprisingly, and they had a long and dark past.

In Europe, many of their families were convicted of murder and torture. The family had left here to start a new life where no one knew who they were.  They planned to start over and take a new path. Reading on deeper he found discovered something that the humans wouldn’t know, a dark secret that the Sullens had probably been running from their whole lives. One that only someone like him, would know.

He’d been wrong, this town had a lot more history to it than he’d thought!

The Sullen family, including the newest Sullen Tom were werewolves.

He left the library in a rush, he had to find Katherine. The fact that she’d been dating a werewolf was almost too cliché for him to handle.

It was like a really bad love story gone wrong. As he hurried to the school he thought about how he probably would’ve taken the angel blade in her best and ended it if he’d read they were vampires.

The damn human writers were getting the creatures all wrong and turning them into lovesick dead people who only wanted to be good.  Newsflash people! They are monsters!

Sighing he rushed onto the school grounds and found Tom first. He was walking innocently down the hallway with a small smirk on his face and a petite blonde on his arm.

White hot rage rushed over Gabriel, was this guy actually already dating some other girl? Maybe that was the reason he had left Katherine in the first place. Maybe this was the secret he’d been so desperate to keep?

Marching up to the son of a bitch he grabbed Tom by the shirt collar and said in a hushed angry whisper “If you’re smart you’ll come with me.”

The little blonde was staring with wide eyes that made Gabriel sick. Why were some girls so pathetic looking? Seriously, did society not teach them to be strong individuals who can kick some ass with their strength?

“Sure okay.” Tom said, trying to brush Gabriel off lightly. Gabriel didn’t budge, he stared at him angrily not moving a muscle.

“Go on Kay, I will see you later.”

The blonde nodded and walked away.

Tom patted Gabriel’s hand awkwardly and said “Okay buddy, what can I do for you.”

Gabriel gave a grin, “Oh so many things. But first, let’s get a few things clear. I am not your buddy, I will kick your ass and I know what you are.”

Tom’s eyes darkened “I think we should go outside.”

“Puppies choice.” Gabriel replied letting him go and making sure the boy stayed in front of him the whole time until they were out on the lawn.

Tom looked at him darkly and said “Are you going to kill me? You’re a hunter aren’t you?”

Gabriel chuckled “Oh you poor pup, you wish I was a hunter.”

“What?” He asked with a confused expression.

“Aw look at the poor confused puppy!”

“ENOUGH WITH THE PUPPY JOKES!” Tom cried out in rage.

It didn’t even faze Gabriel, he stood there laughing internally. “Fine, don’t need to bark at me. I am just trying to be nice. Didn’t mean to rub your fur the wrong way.”

Tom let out an annoyed breath and said in a menacing voice “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m the one who is here protecting your now ex-girlfriend.”

“Katherine?” He asked, a look of fear crossing over his face “Are you the family member staying with her?”
 
“More or less. The fact is that you hurt her and if I were you Tommy, I’d watch yourself. Don’t give me a reason to hurt you. I will do anything to keep Katherine safe. And that includes taking out the occasional jerk here and there.” Gabriel said, his face emotionless except for intimidation.

Tom looked away and nodded “I understand.”

“Good. Have a good day. Don’t bite anyone.” And he left the boy with a sense of accomplishment. 

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I know my chapters aren't super long but I try to make them interesting. Hope you are enjoying. Please vote and comment what you think! :)