Santos came upon Gabriel's disfigured body and stuck his tongue out in disgust.

“Who the fuck did this,” he asked aloud as if someone in the forest was there to answer.

He shuddered and closed his eyes. Santos could hear a faint heartbeat, and sighed. He didn’t want to save Gabriel’s life in the only way he knew how but reasoned that Gabriel would forgive him for doing it without asking.

Santos’ large black wings jutted out. He had no shirt or shoes on, only black, tight pants. Days of fighting were not kind to his clothes. He carefully picked up Gabriel and quickly flew above, landing next to a storage shed near the empty football field.

He broke the lock with his fist and shut the door. It was dark inside, and all Santos could hear was Gabriel’s faint heartbeat.

Santos took his nail, and cut it against the palm of his hand. He worked quickly, the wound would easily close up. He squeezed his hand over Gabriel’s mouth, keeping it open with his other hand. Gabriel laid there, in the dirty shed, and Santos heard his heart stop.

“Poor kid,” he sighed. “I was too late.”

Santos got out his phone and checked the time.

Time of death, 2:28 PM.

The glow of his phone illuminated the dark shed, and he was upset, not knowing what to do.

“Do I bury him,” he asked himself. “Should I just leave him here? This is so fucked.”

He decided a burial was probably what he wanted since he was religious. When he picked Gabriel up, a small grin grew on his face. The muscles on Gabriel’s body were growing rapidly, and the skin was as well.

Santos laid him down, trying to keep him comfortable. He sat down on the filthy floor and put Gabriel’s head in his lap.

“You’re my youngest son now,” Santos whispered. “I’ll take care of you.”

He waited patiently as Gabriel’s abdomen healed, his arm snapped back into place, and soon his fingers started to twitch. He awoke, staring right up at Santos.

“You found me,” he rasped.

He got up and held his stomach, the pain gone, everything sharp, and the sounds of the world all louder.

“I did,” Santos grinned. “I thought I was too late, but I came just in time!”

“I.. she cut me...Was that a nightmare?”

“Nah, that all happened. I turned you.”

“Again with this vampire stuff,” Gabriel screamed. “Stop.”

“You can’t speak to your dad like that! Respect your elders.”

Gabriel glared at him and kept his mouth shut, grateful for whatever he had done to save his life. Gabriel groaned, and his stomach burned hot.

“I’m so hungry. I don’t think I’ve eaten since the middle of last night.”

“Don’t worry, I got take-out,” Santos giggled.

With a quick swipe of his nail, blood seeped out his wrist. Gabriel stared at him in confusion.

“That’s not funny,” he said, drool dribbling down his mouth. He crawled over next to Santos and held his arm.

“This isn’t food. I need a salad or some fish….”

The wound closed and Gabriel was disappointed.

“Don’t argue and eat your vegetables,” Santos said.

Gabriel rolled his eyes as Santos made another, much larger cut into his arm.

This time Gabriel had no restraint. He took great big gulps, as the most wonderful thing he had tasted in his life graced his lips.

“This is so good,” he said between gulps. “Why is it so good?”

He licked Santos’ arm after the wound had closed, and Santos became irritated. He snatched his arm away and Gabriel began to grovel.

“I need it,” he whispered. “It’s better than drugs.”

“So, that’s worrying and we’re going to just ignore that for now. Just take a bite, I’m hungry too,” Santos said.

He held out his wrist, but instead, Gabriel gripped it. His eyes glowed a deep yellow and he knew that it would not be enough. He crawled on top of Santos, and Santos gave him a look of confusion.

“All you church people are in the closet, aren’t you,” he sneered.

Gabriel grabbed his head and bit into his neck. Santos grimaced as Gabriel continued his meal.

“What the fuck,” Santos groaned. “You can’t-”

Suddenly the venom kicked in and he became weak. Santos’ entire body relaxed against his will, and Gabriel continued. Every time his wound closed up, he would simply bite down again. Santos felt intense disgust as he heard moans from Gabriel.

He let go of Santos, blood down his mouth, his neck, and chest, erect and in a daze.

“That's so good,” he whispered.

“Fuck you,” Santos screamed.

Gabriel didn’t register what he was saying. He was high, higher than he had ever been in his life.

“Why didn’t you tell me this felt this good before,” he asked.

Santos pushed him off and Gabriel grunted.

“I’m full, but I think I could-”

“No more,” Santos seethed. “I have to eat now, thanks to you. I only eat like twice a fucking year, and now I gotta find some dumb bitch that isn’t dead or has a venereal disease!”

With their new bond, Gabriel now felt the things he did and started to cry from shame.

“I’m so sorry,” he sobbed. “I don’t wanna disappoint you.”

“I think I liked you better when you hated me,” Santos said.

This just made Gabriel cry harder and Santos became agitated. He remembered why he decided to recently stop having more kids. Gabriel’s tears were disgusting. Instead of regular tears, it was blood streaming out his face, and Santos felt a pang of guilt.

“Stay in here until night,” he told Gabriel. “You’ll die until you get older.”

“What? You’re fine!”

“Yeah, because I’m not a newborn like you!”

“How long does it take me to grow,” Gabriel asked.

“Forty years,” Santos grunted.

Gabriel did not like that the downside to his new life had come so quickly. Santos was about to leave, but Gabriel begged him to stay.

“I need food! You took all my blood! You need food too!”

“I’m sorry...I’m just scared.”

“Fine,” Santos grunted. “You got questions? I'll give you five minutes.”

He set the timer on his phone, and literally gave him five minutes.

“Do I have to ask to go inside,” Gabriel asked.

“No, dumb fuck, that's just a rumor we spread to you, idiots! Ask something important!”

Gabriel thought about it, and the first thing that came to his mind was death.

“How do we, can we, die,” Gabriel asked.

“Yeah you can,” Santos sighed. “Even I can, and I’m probably one of the oldest ones.”

“How?”

“Get your head cut off, if you’re newly born it's the sun, and if you don’t drink or lose enough blood you can die. Well, the last one is more like a long nap.”

“Where do we go when we die,” Gabriel asked. “Can we still go to H-”

Santos laughed at him, loudly, mocking him.

“Oh shit, you’re still a total simp! You doubt me, I give you eternal life, and you’re still worried about God?”

“Of course I am,” Gabriel shouted. “I’m a good Christian man!”

“Dude, I don’t know where we go when we die, because I’ve never died,” he lied.

“That’s impossible? Don’t you have to die to become this?”

“No. Doesn’t work if you’re dead. You turn, and then you die. But I never had. I’m an original.”

“This, this can’t be,” Gabriel whispered. “I’m supposed to go to Heaven.”

“Pretty sure if we die we’re going to hell, you know, eating people and all that.”

“That can’t be,” Gabriel insisted. “I’ve never hurt anyone! I’ve repented!”

“The same guy who made bears kill forty-two children because they made fun of one of his favorite kids, is going to let us in? That’s a joke.”

Gabriel sat down on the ground and started to hyperventilate.

“Damn you’re good at that,” Santos said in surprise. “Sometimes I forget to pretend to breathe around the meatsuits.”

Gabriel thought that he should have died in the forest, and Santos interrupted his thoughts. He could hear everything he thought, feel everything he felt.

“Don’t say that now. That hurts my feelings,” Santos said.

The alarm on his phone went off, and he clicked the stop button.

“You can hear my thoughts?”

“Yes, and they’re super dumb. Stay here and I’ll come back with dinner. Maybe I can find some asshole that no one will miss.”

Santos left Gabriel, and he sat in the shed and started to cry.

“Let me die,” he sobbed. “Please.”

Gabriel knew he couldn’t kill himself, because that was a mortal sin. He had no choice but to live until someone killed him, and even then there was no guarantee that he would make it out.

The door opened slightly and Gabriel turned to see who it was. It was Father Alvarez and Mimi.

“Oh no,” Father Alvarez whispered. “I knew there was another one nearby, but I never thought it would be you.”

“What happened to you,” Mimi exclaimed. “There’s stuff all over you!”

Gabriel looked down and saw the blood all over his body.

“It’s okay,” he smiled. “Most of it isn’t mine!”

Mimi grimaced and closed the door behind them. Father Alvarez sat down on the ground next to Gabriel and looked into his eyes.

“What are you doing,” Gabriel asked. “That’s weird.”

“Wait,” Father Alvarez mumbled. “Just wait.”

Gabriel felt it hit him like a truck.

Suddenly he felt Father Alvarez was much closer to him. A best friend he had always never known he had. They grinned at each other and Mimi looked very uncomfortable.

“What, what’s going on? Tell me what’s happening,” Mimi said.

“We’re best friends now,” Gabriel replied. His eyes never left Father Alvarez's eyes. “He’s my brother.”

Mimi didn’t want to see anymore. Father Alvarez and Gabriel were having a deep interpersonal connection, but to her it looked like they were about to make out. She quickly left and shut the door, standing outside the shed, afraid to leave on her own.

“Santos made you, didn’t he,” Father Alvarez whispered.

“Yes, he did, and now… everything is different! I'll never be a good person."

“That’s not true. You got to live a better life, didn’t you? You and many others worked so hard to come to this school.”

Gabriel nodded and Father Alvarez rubbed his arm, trying to coax him.

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “After a while, you aren’t that hungry anymore. I only eat twice a month.”

Father Alvarez didn't know what more he could do to make him feel at ease. He sat for a moment, deep in thought, and spoke from the heart.

 “I will help you,” Father Alvarez promised. “I could not protect you before, but I will as your blood brother.”

Gabriel nodded quickly, and his cheeks turned red from the fact that he had cried so much in a short span of time.

“You need to eat a lot since you’re just a baby. Stay here,” Father Alvarez instructed him. “I’ll get some food.”

Gabriel scooted to the back of the shed, careful to avoid any sunlight that would come into the shed, and Father Alvarez left.

“ What did you guys do in there? All I heard was crying... did you hit him,” Mimi asked.

“No, Mimi,” Father Alvarez snarled. “He is like me now! We are brothers. More than that.”

Mimi heard the intensity and seriousness in his voice, and once again she was uncomfortable.

“If, I become like that, will we be the same,” she asked.

“Yes. I’m not doing it though. You need to stay as you are.”

“I don’t wanna change. I was just curious.”

“Come with me. I’d let you stay with him but I don’t think he’s old enough to resist the temptation of fresh food.”

Mimi didn’t argue and quickly left the football field with him. They walked through the forest, towards the training center. They had long left the group of parishioners once they knew about Father Alvarez's secret. None of them except Mimi trusted him, and she was still unsure if she made the right choice.

“Where are we going,” she asked.

“The training center,” Father Alvarez answered. “They have a hospital, and hospitals have blood. I need some and so does Gabriel.”

“Will you eat me?"

“ No, Mimi,” he sneered. “I’ve been with you this entire time! I didn’t!”

“Sorry! It’s just, everything is so weird and-” Father Alvarez suddenly stopped in his tracks and felt strange.

“My father is hurt,” he whispered. “I have to go to him.”

“Your dad? He’s here!?!”

“Yes. He made me what I am.”

Mimi understood what he was saying, and started to wonder how many people she went to school with that were like Gabriel and Father Alvarez.

Gabriel himself felt something was wrong. He started to shake inside the shed, as if he had some sudden place he needed to be. He knew where it was, how to get there, but the fear of the sun kept him trapped inside.

“Mimi, I need you to find a place to hide. If something is strong enough to hurt my Father, it will definitely kill you.”

“Where can I hide?"

“I might die where we’re going,” Father Alvarez admitted. “If I leave you alone you could die as well. What do you want?”

“I want to go with you.”

She hugged Father Alvarez tight and he grinned.

“You’re really growing on me,” he said.

They ran off, past the football field, and back towards the campus.