Reminiscence {Book Two of the Vengeance Trilogy}

Chapter Two: Confrontation

"I didn't know you had something like this in you Danny. I have to say I am impressed," I heard a familiar voice say from behind. I looked over my shoulder and saw Declan standing there. I scoffed lightly and got up from where I stood and turned to face him.

"Do I even want to know how you found me here?" I asked.

"Well, pack telepathy has its ups and downs, but I personally prefer the real deal." Mind reading.

"Oh right, I forgot about that you nosy bastard," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Come on, what are you doing here, mate? What business do you have in a graveyard?" Declan asked. I knew there was no such thing as secrets when it came to him and as much as I wanted to keep this little plot of land to myself, he would find out in a matter of seconds whether I told him or not. I folded my arms across my chest and looked away, avoiding eye contact at all costs as if that would change anything. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Declan's shocked expression after the few seconds of stale silence that hung around in the air between us.

"You probably know better than I do," I muttered.

"How long have you known this was here?"

"Since I was eight and my parents told me my aunt was dead," I snapped back at him, now locking eyes with him from across the graveyard. Declan stopped and looked like he was going to say something, but when the time came for the words, there was nothing but that same, stale silence. I had no words for him either. There was nothing left for me to say. At this point, I just wanted him gone. I wanted to just be alone.

"You know I can't just leave you here, Danny," he said.

"Would you get out of my head?!" I shouted, turning away from him and sitting down in front of my aunt's grave once again. My back was turned on him, but I could still feel him there, just staring at me. He probably pitied me at this point, which I hated. I never liked being pitied by anyone. Him feeling bad for me didn't solve anything. It wouldn't resurrect my aunt and uncle, it wouldn't make Tom go away. If anything it made me angry.

Still, there was nothing that I could do about that. Not only were we in the same pack and supposed to be working together, but he had a higher ranking than me. Every member of a pack is ranked by how useful their gift is by the alpha. Since mind reading was a bit more useful than controlling people's dreams, it was no wonder why he was ranked higher than me. If I were to start any kind of physical fight with anyone higher than me, then I would have to face the repercussions. Elliot would force me not to drink for a period of time, or I would be in charge of harvesting blood for the rest of the pack. So as badly as I wanted to fight Declan, I knew that I couldn't. Elliot already had enough on his plate as is, and I didn't want to pile on me acting up to the plate. It might break, and no one likes dealing with broken plates.

"Does Elliot know about this?" Declan finally asked.

"Why do you ask questions when you know you can get the answer yourself?"

"I'm trying to be polite."

"Oh yeah, asking the question before you go into my mind and get the answer anyway makes you quite the gentleman," I sarcastically said.

"I learned that it's better to ask rather than invading people's minds without consent."

"Oh, well aren't you so noble?" I groaned, leaving Declan speechless. "Look, if you're done here you can leave. I spend enough time with you assholes as is, so I would like some time with my aunt."

"You never answered my question," he told me. I let out a deep sigh and shut my eyes as tightly as I could, as if that could hide the guilt that was pulling at my heart.

"No, Elliot doesn't know about the grave. He doesn't need to," I admitted through gritted teeth. I knew that this was sparking an argument I didn't want to get into, but I knew Declan well enough to know that he wouldn't let this go.

"What do you mean he doesn't need to know? Danny, this is the kids mother we're talking about here. He has a right to know," Declan scolded, his voice gradually getting more intense with every word.

"Yeah? Well, she was my aunt too you know. I loved her more than I did my own mother. When they told me she had died, I didn't know what to do with myself."

"But this is his actual mother. You don't understand—"

"Don't you dare give me that bullshit!" I shouted, once again standing up and facing him. He gave me this look like he had just seen me get shot. The venom coursing through my veins boiled as I stared at him. This was why I had never told anyone about her grave. There wasn't one person in this fucking pack, or the entire world, who could understand. Even Elliot would be pissed if he found out. Most of the time he was the only person I could rely on, but this would ruin all of that. I couldn't risk losing the only person who would trust me. Not again.

"Come on Danny, don't do this," Declan pleaded. I felt my jaw clench before I could respond.

"You should leave now," I growled at him. Before he finally turned around to leave, Declan let out a deep sigh. As he exited through the iron gate, I blinked back hot tears. I tried my best to repress the memory of my mother and father telling me that my aunt died. It's times like this where I hated being the only vampire that could still remember things from their past, but some memories just stuck with you until the day you died.