Chris

I didn't even bother chasing after Izzy. If she didn't want my protection, I sure as hell wasn't going to go out of my way to force it on her.

I plopped into an empty seat and groaned as I placed my head in my hands. It hadn't even been a full day and I was already beginning to regret bringing the humans here. Nothing but trouble occurred from their presence but in hindsight, I probably wouldn't have done anything differently either way.

A little stress was far better than allowing them to get murdered for doing nothing more than protecting the other werewolves and me. I wasn't that ungrateful, after all.

I still had so many questions about everything, but the ones eating at me the most could only be answered by Charlie. I had my suspicions all along that he knew there was something other than the vampires causing the other werewolves to disappear. Liam helped prove to me that Charlie was well aware of the human Hunters and what they were doing to us, yet he never said anything to anyone.

What was he trying to get at? Did he have something to gain by not telling anyone of this new threat? Did he underestimate them? Or did he just not trust me?

Whatever his reasoning was, the only thing clear to me was that he had more secrets aside from this one and I wanted to know what they were. He's always lecturing me about how he needs to know that I can trust him, but not once has he ever put his trust in me. I'm not some stupid kid anymore - I wanted to be able to help The Grove no matter what the threat may be.

Standing up, I stormed out of the infirmary without a word to anyone there. At this time, Charlie was probably still teaching at the school and I would be there waiting for him when he got out. I refused to allow him to worm his way out of this conversation like he usually did. I needed to know all of his secrets for my sake and for the sake of everyone else in this town, humans included.

I rushed to get there even though I knew there was still a good twenty minutes before he would be leaving to go somewhere else unbeknownst to me. A small, irrational part of me feared that somehow, he would know I was coming to find out the rest of his secrets and leave before I could get there. Silly, I know, but Charlie was the best at evading, especially when it came to the secrets he carried. I wasn't going to let him get the best of me this time, though.

With plenty of time to spare, I waited outside of the small school building for his night class with the younger kids to be over with. It was only a single room school so not everyone could be taught at once, hence the classes throughout the entirety of the day.

It always surprised me how easily children take a liking to Charlie while they always seemed to avoid me. I guess he really was a natural born leader, something I could never be.

I peeked inside the window as he taught and was surprised to see just how different he appeared around the kids. I couldn't remember the last time I saw a smile on his face but there he was, smiling away as he spoke to them. I was so in awe of it that I hardly even noticed when the kids started leaving the building one by one until only Charlie remained.

Struggling to find my nerve to confront him, I hesitantly entered the classroom. There were a lot of good things about him and his senses were one of them. He immediately turned around the second I stepped foot in the room, the smile he once bore on his face no longer visible. His usual solemn expression now replaced it.

"What brings you here, Chris?" Charlie asked as he cleaned the leftover papers the kids left. "Care to attend classes again?"

I scoffed. "Don't make me laugh. I'm here to ask you a few things."

Even with his back turned to me, I could tell his body stiffened. He never replied which gave me the hint just to keep talking.

"You knew about the humans all along."

With the last of the papers now in his hands, he slowly turned to look at me with a brow raised. "That doesn't sound like a question."

"Because it's not," I said as I crossed my arms. We hadn't even been talking for a full minute and my anger was already starting to boil over. "Before he died, Liam told me he met a werewolf similar to you. My suspicions were only proven true after you greeted Izzy and Austin."

Charlie blankly stared at me a few seconds before chuckling softly, acting as if everything was just a joke. "I really underestimated you, didn't I? I must remember that you're much smarter than I give you credit for."

"Stop evading, Charlie."

He laughed a bit more this time, but held his hands up in defeat. "Yes, I did know about the humans."

"Before or after you met Izzy a year ago?"

He hesitated, and the amused look on his face slowly vanished. This must've been hard for him; revealing all the secrets he so carefully hid from me for years.

"I... I had my suspicions for quite some time before running into them, but that was all they were: suspicions. It wasn't until meeting them that I realized I was right all along."

"And then what? You thought that keeping it to yourself was the way to go? How many werewolves lost their lives because you had to keep your precious secret-"

Charlie slammed his fist down on the table, cutting me off short. "That's enough, Christopher. I was not the only one aware of this. Many of the werewolves serving as hunters were aware of the humans as well and I swore them to secrecy. If the wrong person learned of this malevolent group of humans, like our father, there would be a war on our hands with not only those humans, but innocent ones as well."

I opened my mouth but quickly shut it before I could say anything. As much as I hated him for keeping this from me, I knew his logic was right. If our father did find out about this, he would've waged war on not just the Hunters, but every single human within the vicinity of them. Even so, that still doesn't mean I liked what he did and that doesn't excuse him of the other secrets I'm sure he was keeping.

"Fine. With that out of the way, I want you to tell me whatever other secrets you've been keeping from me."

Charlie's lip twitched before he spoke, making it clear he was about to lie once again. "I'm sorry, my dear brother, but if you think that I have any other secrets, then you are gravely mistaken."

"Save it," I growled. "You've always been a horrible liar."

He let out an exasperated sigh, knowing that I wasn't about to drop this. He knew I wouldn't ever stop pestering him about this no matter the time until I was happy with the answer. Slowly, he pulled out a chair and sat down before motioning to me to do the same. I continued to stand there with my arms crossed.

"Sit," he ordered.

I rolled my eyes at his persistence but did as I was told. It wasn't until I was sitting down that he nodded slowly as if he was coming to terms with what he was about to tell me. My heart started beating rapidly for some reason. All I ever wanted was for him to trust me enough to divulge his biggest secrets and now that it was actually happening, I was worried and a little nauseated.

I never bothered to put much thought into it, but what happens if the secrets he harbors are of something I can't stand to hear? Would it be better being left in the dark or being forced to carry the burden as well? Nonetheless, it was too late to back out now. I needed to know.

"You must promise me that you will listen to the entirety of my story and not storm out until you've heard me through," Charlie said, his eyes never meeting mine.

I gulped. That was far from reassuring, yet I nodded anyway. I've been waiting for this day for so long - I just couldn't back out now. I could never forgive myself.

"As you may remember, seven years ago the vampires were sneaking into the town in small groups in order to kill a werewolf each night until we gave into their demands."

It was a long time ago, but I remembered it clearly. It all started just after mother died and before Caroline got taken. It was a horrible year for everyone in The Grove, especially me...

"Since they believed dad was at his weakest point, they randomly killed in hopes he would eventually surrender to them, right?"

Charlie lowered his head, his complexion paling. "The killings weren't random. That was just the story father fed to everyone to hide the real truth."

"What... What was the real truth?" I asked hesitantly, suddenly not knowing if I wanted to find out.

"Every werewolf that died during that time were ones protecting the three of us; you, myself and... Caroline. She was the one they wanted most."

My body tensed up and tears sprung to my eyes. I had a dreadful feeling that I already knew where this story was going, but I didn't want to believe it no matter how obvious it was.

"Why did they want her the most?"

"Christopher, do you remember how our rings protect the town, by any chance?"

I nodded. "Yeah. The blood of the rightful leadership heirs has magical properties which prevent large groups of vampires from entering at once and repels humans away from it."

"Yes, and it's our rings alone which summon that barrier to appear."

"I still don't understand how that would make them want Caroline the most."

Charlie pursed his lips together so tightly that all that was visible was a thin, white line. "Let's assume that I am an only child, shall we?"

"Boy, would dad love that," I muttered softly, earning an irritated cough from Charlie.

"If I was still an only child, my ring would be the sole maintainer of the barrier and therefore, the most powerful. But now, let's assume that is just you and I who are the heirs. Both of our rings maintain the barrier, yet they are not equal in power. While mine still contributes to it, yours is still slightly more powerful than mine. Do you understand where I'm going with this?"

I froze, my mind trying to keep up with everything he was telling me. Deep down, I think I knew what he meant by it, I just didn't want to accept it. I wanted to continue believing that Caroline's kidnapping was a random act of spite towards us; not just a small part of some evil scheme.

"When the vampires continuously attacked us so many years ago, it was our sister who they were going after," Charlie said solemnly.

My heart skipped a beat. She was only six years old at the time, yet they still mercilessly took her just as an attempt to bring forth our downfall? It all made sense but didn't at the same time. They haven't snuck inside the town since the day they took her and the barrier has been completely fine. How could that be?

"Why hasn't the barrier been damaged after all this time, then?" I asked him, my eyes boring into his.

I have no doubt what he told me was the truth, yet it still didn't all add up. There had to be parts he was leaving out and I was determined to figure it out. Not just for my sake, but for Caroline's sake too.

"It's... a very delicate process," he said hesitantly, his head turned away from me. "I doubt they want to risk performing the wrong thing and ruining their chances of-"

"You're lying."

His head shot up, his eyes significantly darker than usual. "I told you I would not lie."

"Then you're hiding something!" I screamed, shooting up from my seat. "It still doesn't add up! If there really were werewolves guarding the three of us back then, how did Caroline and I manage to sneak off to the park in the night right before she got taken?"

Charlie lowered his head again, but not because he was hiding something. I managed to get a brief glance at what looked like a pained look on his face. Not once in my life did I ever see him look so hurt than I did right then.

"Please, Chris. Just sit down for one more minute," he whispered softly.

Taken aback, I slowly sat back down without argument and waited for him to continue the story. He seemed against doing so, but he knew I wasn't going to leave until I heard it. It's been seven painful years - I needed to know.

"After the tenth killing, father and I agreed we needed to put a stop to it. Handing over the ring the vampires wanted so badly would be the only way, but there was no way we could do that so we settled for the next best thing: we were going to try tricking them into believing it.

"We knew we couldn't just hand them over a false ring for they would have suspicions of its legitimacy for good reasons. The only way we could trick them into believing they stole the right ring was by setting up a situation where they would take it from the owner-"

"You didn't...," I said slowly, so surprised that I couldn't even finish my sentence.

"Please, just allow me to finish before you do or say anything rash. I am willing to take full responsibility for my actions once you've heard me out."

My whole body felt numb, but I managed to muster the strength to nod anyway.

"Good. Father and I didn't know how to set up a situation like that without revealing it to you or Caroline but in the end, we didn't need to. I overheard one of Caroline's pleas to allow her to go to the park that night. I knew you would eventually give in to her and that was all that was needed to set the plan into motion. When Caroline was sleeping, I replaced her ring with my own-"

"That's impossible," I said. "Caroline turned transformed into a wolf that night, she couldn't possibly have done that unless..."

Charlie forced a grim smile on his face. "You're right, brother. It truly does work, at least with our family blood."

I shook my head in disbelief despite knowing everything he was telling me was the painful truth. The old myth that werewolves can use the ring of one of their family members to transform due to the familial bonds which blood contains. It's been talked about for ages, but never proven until now.

Charlie raised his hand to his face and examined the ring on his finger with a scowl. "Caroline's ring serves as a painful reminder to me every day of my cruel deed."

"You... You used our little sister as nothing more than bait!" I screamed, hardly able to believe it despite all the facts in front of me.

I jumped up and threw my chair towards him which he easily evaded. I could hardly think let alone talk. Never in my life have I felt this much rage, this much sorrow. Caroline's kidnapping wasn't merely an act of cruel fate. No, it was something arranged by her own brother.

Charlie merely stood there allowing me to get out my anger as I knocked over every chair and desk in sight. It wasn't until I was finished with that and went to throw a punch at him that he reacted. He maneuvered around my punches, never allowing me to so much as touch him. When I started to run out of steam, he grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back before shoving me against the wall.

"You must calm down, Christopher," he warned through gritted teeth as he struggled to keep my bucking body from freeing itself from his hold. "You must understand that the vampires were not going to cease their killing until they got the ring. It wasn't my intent to involve her like that. I had no idea that they-"

"Just shut up!" I roared. "I don't care about this fucking town! That's our sister who you sacrificed - it wasn't your life to give up! You're- you're worse than the vampires!"

With that last line, Charlie's grip on me immediately slackened and I managed to push him away. He was always a master at concealing his emotions; never revealing whether he was in pain or not. At that moment, I could clearly see just how much he was suffering. If he hadn't done what he did, I might've even tried comforting him.

"Just," I shakily breathed, "just answer me one thing. If you could go back to that day right now and change what you did, would you?"

Just like that, his readable emotions vanished. The only sign that he still showed the slightest bit of humanity was his quivering lip which he hadn't yet managed to get control over.

"You won't like my answer," he said curtly.

"Just. Say. It."

"If it means the guaranteed safety of this town, then no. I would not change what took place that night."

My hands curled into fists and itched to land just one good punch on him, but I resisted the urge. I gulped down all the profanities I wanted to throw his way and left the room. My mind was flooded with so many violent thoughts that I tried my damnedest drown out.

Everything felt so surreal. I always had my suspicions that Charlie knew more than he let on and after learning everything, I almost wished I never asked to begin with. In the end, ignorance had to be better than the immense pain I felt.

I didn't even know where I was walking to, but my body subconsciously brought me back to my home. I was the one who insisted on keeping photographs of Caroline all throughout the house and now that decision was biting me in the ass.

With a shaky hand, I picked up the family portrait on the mantle of the fireplace and stared at it. It was one of the few pictures where mom managed to convince dad to be a part of. It was way back when everyone was alive and happy. Dad had his arms wrapped around mom and even though he wasn't smiling, it was obvious he was happy. Mom, Caroline, and I had the biggest smiles on our faces while Charlie was just... there. He never smiled in any of the photos nor did he frown. He always just seemed out of place.

I didn't even notice I was crying until my tears dripped onto the photo, blurring Caroline's face. I placed the photo back down and cried for the first time in years; for the first time since Caroline was taken from me. It felt as if the band-aid covering the old wound was just ripped open and Charlie poured a whole pitcher of lemon juice on it.

I thought things would get easier after seven years, but they never did.

Determined to make the pain go away, for however brief it may be, I marched into the kitchen and grabbed the booze made in town and chugged it, forcing myself to swallow the horrible tasting substance. I didn't care how sickly it made me feel, I just wanted everything to go away. I wanted to forget everything. Forget that on that night, I didn't just lose my sister.

I lost my brother too.