Page 10 of Love Bites
Remy smiled. "Deal."
* * *
I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched.
It was absolutely ridiculous. I was getting paranoid.
The cemetery was far from busy that day. In fact, it felt like my siblings and I were the only people there. Luke stuck to my side as if he thought I needed the emotional support. To be honest, what I really needed was a cup of coffee, a few more hours of sleep and to forget that anything strange had ever happened to me.
Silently, we walked along the graves, Elena in the lead. It seemed she was the only one who actually remembered where exactly Dad had been buried, or where his ashes had been buried anyway. He'd insisted on cremation so no one could raise him from the dead—a request that had surprised none of us.
I looked around again.
The branches of the few trees that had been planted along the path swayed gently in the cool breeze blowing over the cemetery. A couple of dead leaves crunched under my feet.
There was nothing out of the ordinary here.
Snap out of it, Collin,I told myself as Elena's steps slowed in front of me. We'd reached our destination. Without speaking, my siblings and I formed a half-circle around the polished gravestone with our Dad's name written on it. I closed my eyes. Was there anything more unpleasant in life than visiting gravestones? Why had I agreed to this?
For a brief second, the name on the grave transformed in my mind's eye, changing into my biological parents' names andthatcertainly wasn't helping me feel more comfortable.
"Collin?" Luke grabbed my hand, making my attention snap to him—and back to the present.
"What?"
"Thought you might wanna put a flower down." He gestured at Jared who had brought a bouquet of white roses.
"You think the old man really wants flowers?"
Luke shrugged. "I think they're nice."
"They were on sale," Jared supplied.
"How nice," Elena commented in a cynical tone of voice.
"Okay, let's just do this." I took one of the flowers from Jared and stepped forward to lay it down on the square-shaped grave. Was this simple act really supposed to bring me closure? Nothing seemed to have changed inside of me when I stepped away again.
Elena muttered something as she approached the grave after me, but I didn't listen close enough to hear what she was saying. Maybe she was talking to Dad, as if the dead could hear us. It wasn't kind of me, but I scoffed at the thought. Even if the dead could hear, they certainly didn't respond. I'd spent enough time waiting for a response—any sort of response—often enough to know that. When someone was dead, that was it. It was over, and all the living could do was find some way to move on regardless.
So why wasn't I?
Leaving my siblings behind, I walked a few feet down the path we'd come and shook my head. This visit wasn't doing anything for me.
And for some reason, I still felt like I was being watched. I slipped one of my hands into my pocket where it closed around the stake I'd brought. Proof that I was getting way too damn paranoid.
It wasn't until I stepped around the small church building near the entrance of the cemetery that I realized it wasn't all simple paranoia. There was someone there, leaning against the wall of the church, his arms crossed in front of him and a small smile on his lips as he looked at me through his sunglasses. "Found you," was all the vampire said as he stood there, in the shade of the church, but nevertheless in broad daylight.
My throat closed up, but I refused to let my fear show. "I thought sunlight hurt you," I managed to say.
"It's kind of you to worry about me."
"I'm not worried about you!"
Talon pushed himself off the wall and took a step toward me while I took a step back, feeling sunlight brush my hair. There was a part of me that hoped Talon wouldn't be able to leave the shade, as ridiculous as that was. He must have had to cross through sunlight to make it here. I wanted to look up to check for clouds in the sky, but at the same time, I couldn't take my eyes off the man in front of me. I couldn't let him take me by surprise.
For now, though, Talon kept standing right where he was, a few feet in front of me. "You don't have to be scared. If anything, I should be the one who has to be careful. You seem to have some interesting tricks up your sleeve."
"Yeah, you should stay away," I said, hoping I sounded braver than I felt.
