theHeart

Chapter 5

Fresh air hit my face as we exited the underground world of vampires. When we reached full surface, Wren helped me up out of a hole in the ground. I realized we were exiting a grave. My eyes widened… we were in a graveyard.

“Why did you bring me here?” I asked.

He gestured to the headstone. “Look at the name.”

I felt my stomach drop. It was my own name, engraved in stone for all to see. “My grave is the entrance to Pennihook?” I asked, bewildered.

“Actually, the entrance to Pennihook is your grave,” he corrected. “The entrance was always here in the graveyard, and your father didn’t want to pay extra to have a new hole dug up. The entrance was always supposed to be an empty grave, but… the human law overrode us.” I looked at him, and his face was serious. “I thought you might like to know that.”

I looked back at the grave. It said nothing more than my name and the year of my birth and death.

“What happened to the coffin?” I asked.

Wren shrugged. “We got rid of it. Can’t be blocking our entrance, now can we? Although, we have quite a few on other parts of this area. The full city stretches on for miles, slightly going out of state.” He spoke so indifferently that it bugged me, but I didn’t have time to retort before he said, “Would you like something to eat?”

I didn’t feel hungry, but the way he said it didn’t sound like an invitation. So I just nodded and he began to walk away. “Where are you going?” I asked.

“You don’t really think I came unprepared, now do you?” he answered with a mocking question.

The urge to slap him was large, but I followed without any real complaint. Might as well finish up with this asshole so that I could go home and get some sleep. The worst part of our little walk was when he had me walking up a hill. I groaned outwardly and heard him chuckle.

When we reached the top of the hill, I let out a short breath. A small picnic was spread out on the ground underneath a willow. He smiled in the moon light and, oddly enough, I could almost see every feature of him perfectly. I began to wonder what he saw since he was a full blooded vampire.

“Have a seat,” he said, gesturing to the ground. I sat obediently, not taking my eyes off of him. He sat down across from me and opened a stereotypical picnic basket. “Do you like brie?” he asked and I nodded in reply. Wren removed what looked like a wheel of brie cheese and some slices of bread. Using a small knife, he spread the cheese evenly onto the bread and placed it on a plate. He then produced a container of fruit from the basket. “Go ahead and dig in.”

Timidly, I picked up a piece of bread and popped it into my mouth. It was tasty and the cheese was so creamy. I grabbed for another, my attention totally turned to the food. After a minute or two, I felt eyes on me and looked up to see Wren staring at me intently.

I swallowed. “What?” He just shrugged. “Oh come on. Just… tell me what’s on your mind?” His eyes were glowing in a way that I found mocking. “Fine,” I said, wiping my hands on my jeans. “Don’t talk. I’m out of here.” I started to stand when a hand caught around my wrist.

“No, wait,” he said finally. “I was just thinking. Sorry… please sit back down?” I did as he asked, not having that same feeling of needing to obey as I had the first time. Maybe it was some sort of weird vampire trick he used when people looked at him. This time, I kept my eyes down cast. “Let’s just try to enjoy each other’s company.” I nodded in agreement, my hand reaching for more cheese.

He stopped me there. “What?” I asked again, exasperated now.

“Your arm,” he commented.