Page 41 of Love Bites
Talon had never heard of anyone doingthat. He scoffed at the text. What a waste of blood that would be. Talon turned the page and found that the rest of the journal described all the animal forms that vampires could change into. Whoever Collin's dad had been, he must have been a paranoid man because on one line it read,Ants, and maybe those little bugs that keep showing up behind our fridge—will have to look into that.
Ants, really? Talon supposed it was possible, but he'd never met anyone who turned into an ant.
At the very least, though, Collin's dad hadn't fallen into the trap of believing that all vampires forged a connection with bats as their spirit animals.
That he even knew about spirit animals to begin with came as a surprise. The man had uncovered a few things he should have been completely unaware of, Talon had to give him that. He only hoped that the man's knowledge extended to whatever was ailing Collin.
Speaking of, he needed to get a move on looking through these notebooks and folders and journals rather than getting caught up in the very first book he had grabbed.
Talon skimmed the pages of the next journal. There was nothing useful there. He discarded it in favor of a folder, which turned out to be full of pictures of various runes. Talon paused when his eyes fell on one that closely resembled the mark on Collin's arm, which looked a bit like a sideways M with an X drawn through the middle.
The gift of life, the description said.
He couldn't really glean any helpful information from that, but it was interesting nonetheless.
"Find anything?" Luke asked.
"Not yet. Keep looking." Talon put the folder aside to pick up a notebook. More information about vampires. Talon cursed on the inside. Hadn't the man gathered any knowledge on whatever kind of paranormal Collin was? He must have, but where did he keep those notes?
"There's a lock on this drawer," Luke said, making him look up.
Bingo.
"Bust it open. Or try to find a key." Talon watched as Luke let up from the drawer and rummaged around in the office some more, searching for a key. How frustrating. Talon could have pulled the drawer open without a problem, key or no. Why did mortals have to be so weak?
He made himself focus on the journal in his hands again, if only to distract himself. Part of him wanted to call Collin again, just to make sure that he was still fine, but that would have been ridiculous. He'd told Collin to use the phone for emergencies only, and he should stick to his own rules. What was it about the kid with the glitter in his hair that made his thought process turn so irrational?
Most vampires cannot recall their past lives as human, he read a line in small handwriting on the first page of the journal.It is therefore futile to appeal to their humanity. They have none. This makes them monsters.
Talon snapped the journal shut. It wasn't wrong. Hewasa monster, but he didn't need a dead man's notebook to tell him that. Especially not while he was trying to save that dead man's son. "Any progress?" he asked Luke.
"Can't find it." The boy shot him a helpless look. "Maybe in his bedroom. Or I could call Remy. He knows how to pick locks."
"We're not waiting that long," Talon decided. With his gaze, he scanned the room once more, especially the area around the door. There was a rug in front of it. "Turn that over," Talon said, pointing at it.
"Why?" Luke asked, but flipped the rug like a good boy. "Oh."
"Oldest trick in the book," Talon said, looking at the anti-vampire sigils that revealed themselves on the hardwood floor in front of the door. Talon knelt and put his finger on the outlines of the one closest to him. "Chalk. Help me break these."
"All right." Luke got on his knees opposite him and together, they cleared the sigils within minutes. "What were they for?" Luke asked when they were nearly done.
"To stop me from doing this." Talon destroyed the lines of the last sigil and then he strode into the room, toward the desk. He spotted the locked drawer and pulled at it, and it opened with a clinking sound as the lock broke. "There we go."
Talon's neck tingled as if he was being watched. He'd learned not to dismiss feelings like that—he'd made a mistake. There was more magic at work in this room than the simple sigils he'd just destroyed, but there was no time to worry about that. He finally had what he'd come here for. Five folders lay neatly stacked up in the drawer, each one labeled with a name. Jared, Elena, Remington, Collin, Lucas.
Jackpot.
Underneath the folders, Talon found another notebook. Taking both it and the folders, he left the room.
"What is all this?" Luke asked, following Talon down the stairs. "Why does that have my name on it?" He pointed at one of the folders. They each had different colors. Luke's was blue. Talon handed it to him.
"See for yourself."
Luke grabbed the folder and stopped following. Talon didn't pay him any mind. He made his way into the kitchen and spread the folders on the counter before opening the green one labeledCollin.
Time to find out what made Sparkles so special.
Chapter Fourteen
