Chapter 330
VOLUME 6: VAMPIRES BITE AND OTHER LIFE LESSONS
Nothing can ruin an otherwise lovely early-spring/late-winter day like a funeral. Don’t get me wrong, funerals stink any time of the year. I should know. I’ve been to a lot of them recently. But this one was even worse because it was so lovely outside. The flowers were budding, birds were singing, and the grass was green and freshly cut, giving off that pleasant scent that makes you think of baseball and bike rides. Not standing by, helplessly watching one of your best friends in the world cry her eyes out because they’re lowering her daddy six feet into the ground.
I sort of tuned out all of the wonderful things friends and family members had to say about Dave Burk. I knew him pretty much my whole life, and I totally agree. He was an amazing man. He was funny and let us get away with way more than my parents did. Not to mention he had a law practice that made great money and provided a mansion-esque home for his family. (Not that Lucy’s mom didn’t contribute; she’s an accountant.) I remember one time when we were about twelve, Lucy, Emma Sullivan—our other best friend—and I were upset because some stupid girl at school was giving Em a hard time. Mr. Burk demanded we drop everything, including a very important science project, and follow him to the car. A few minutes later, we were all laughing over ice cream cones. He was just a fun guy, a great dad, and someone who didn’t deserve to lose his life.
Lucy’s spirit was broken; I could tell by the dullness in her eyes, and I couldn’t blame her. A slight breeze stirred her hair as she stared through her tears off into the distance, past the head of the current speaker, and I was thankful that Brandon Keen, my boyfriend, had my hand. Since Mr. Burk had passed away three days ago, I’d thought about losing my own dad enough times that I’d gotten sick to my stomach over it. As much as Eli and Liz Findley, my parents, drive me nuts, particularly now that we are sharing a cramped apartment together, I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose them. I’m so glad they decided to move to Kansas City to live on the LIGHTS (Lincoln Institute for Guardian and Hunter Training Station) complex grounds where they’d be safe. I mean—relatively safe. I knew there was always a possibility that something weird would happen again—like when toddler Vampire, Bonnie, ripped the throats out of dozens of Guardians a few weeks ago. But things like that didn’t happen much, and it had sort of been my fault. I’d decided after that not to be an idiot anymore. So far, it was working.
The preacher said a few final words, and then we all bowed our heads in prayer. His voice cracked a little as he asked God for peace for Mr. Burk’s family. He, like the other citizens of Shenandoah who didn’t know about the Ternion—that Hunters, Guardians, and Vampires exist—thought that a gang of marauders had come through town and killed several people. We knew that this was actually a last ditch effort by Holland to distract our team, and it definitely worked to a degree. I mean, my sister Cadence, the Hunter Leader, and her fiancé Aaron McReynolds, the Guardian Leader, did have to do some shoring up after this. There were Guardians positioned in Shenandoah who were supposed to see this sort of thing coming, but for whatever reason, they didn’t know Holland was about to strike until it was too late, and then they were outnumbered. This was personal. This was Holland getting my sister where she knew it would hurt. And me, too, apparently. The house we grew up in had been busted into, but the Vampires had left without doing much damage. Still, it was a sign. We’d taken out Carter, Holland’s boyfriend, and she had intended to hit us where we were most susceptible. She hadn’t gotten our parents, but she’d done a lot of damage to our hometown.
When the final words of prayer were over, Lucy, her mom, Annie, and brother Daniel stepped forward and each dropped a flower onto her dad’s casket. I hadn’t cried much yet, but tears streaked my cheeks as I watched her. I wished there was something I could do to make her feel better, but all I could do was stand back helplessly and watch—and vow that this wasn’t over.
“Are you okay?” Brandon whispered into my ear once Lucy and her family were finished and turned to accept hugs and condolences from the dozens of people who’d come. The funeral home had been even more packed, but since this was the fifth funeral in the last few days in Shenandoah, a lot of people hadn’t made the trek out to the cemetery.
“I’m okay,” I said, swiping at my tears. I saw Emma standing with her parents over by a tree, and I thought it was awful that we couldn’t even have Mr. Burk’s luncheon in his own house because of what he’d gone through, so it was being held at the Sullivan residence instead. My sister had said that the Sullivans would have been the next victims, but Holland’s minions had been foiled right before they broke into the house we’d all be congregating in shortly. The family didn’t know that, of course.
Brandon led me back toward the SUV we’d come in. Because technically all Hunters were still only supposed to leave headquarters on hunts, thanks to the restrictions put on us after the situation with Bonnie and the escape of the Vampires from the tracking center, my sister and I were the only Hunters who had come, though Aurora Howe and Ashley Stone had wanted to because they knew how upset the entire situation had made me. And Tara McCall, my new best friend at LIGHTS, had pleaded with my sister to let her attend, but Cadence said no and reminded Tara what had happened the last time she did something that wasn’t a good idea. She’d gotten attacked by Bonnie and almost died. Tara backed off after that.
