Anna shifted her weight in the seat for what felt like the thousandth time. They had been on the road for almost fourteen hours. Huxley spent most of that time either singing along to the radio or commenting on what he saw out of the window. She rested her elbow on the car door and held her head in her hand. Her eyes were heavy. She had fallen into pockets of sleep, but listening to Rhys and Huxley bicker kept her awake.

"Did you see that tree?" Huxley asked. "Its branches were much more whispy than the other trees we've seen. It's almost whimsical. It's like mother nature is trying to send us a message. It's like she's trying to say-"

"For fucks sake!" Rhys cut him off. "Hux, it's dark outside. We're in Northern British Columbia. All there are is mountains and trees."

"Forgive me for trying to share something beautiful."

Anna bit down on her lip to stop herself from giggling. Rhys was gripping the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles were turning white. Every time Huxley spoke more than two words, Rhys would snap at him. Anna turned in her seat so that she could see Huxley. He was sprawled across the backseat.

"I saw it," Anna said. "It was pretty."

"Don't humour him," Rhys said.

"She's not humouring me," Huxley said. "Anna is a writer. She understands what I am talking about."

Rhys rolled his eyes and shook his head. There was a high-pitched ring, and Huxley pulled a cellphone out of his pocket, placing it up to his ear. Anna listened to one side of the conversation. It mostly consisted of Huxley nodding his head and saying "okay". He pulled the phone away from his ear, tapped the screen, and then held it in between the front seats.

"You're on speaker," Huxley said.

"Rhys, can we finally stop?" Calvin's voice said through the phone. "We're exhausted."

"It's not even midnight yet," Rhys said. "We can't stop yet."

"We're almost halfway there," Calvin said. "Drew looked online. There's a little motel in the next town."

Rhys let go of the steering wheel with one hand and ran his fingers through his dark hair.

"Fine," he said. "What's the town?"

"Hudson's Hope," Calvin said. "There's a motel on their main street called Tranquil Tavern."

"Alright."

Rhys reached back and hung up the phone. Huxley sunk back into his seat. Rhys took the next exit off of the highway and followed the road. Anna looked around the quaint town in the dark. It was full of tiny homes that were spaced out from each other. It seemed so quiet. She looked into the rearview window to see the other car driving close behind them.

The small lit-up sign indicated that they made it to the motel. Anna chuckled when she noticed that they advertised that they had coloured television. When was the last time they updated the sign?

Rhys pulled into the parking lot and Calvin pulled in beside them. Anna was quick to get out of the car and stretch out her sore muscles. She rubbed her back and looked around to see a small gas station and a fast-food restaurant across the street.

Huxley got out of the car. He stretched his lanky arms up over his head. He yawned as he looked around.

"I'll get us a few rooms," Rhys said. "Drew, come with me."

"Two guys getting a room together," Drew said. "That doesn't look weird at all."

"We're getting three rooms," Rhys said. "We're not going to look like lovers."

"Three rooms?" Huxley asked. "I dibs on having a room to myself."

"Fine," Rhys, Drew, and Calvin said in unison.

Rhys and Drew walked into the lobby. The cold breeze caused Anna to shiver. She walked around the car to the trunk. She zipped open her bag and pulled out the leather jacket that Alice had given her, slipping it on.

Rhys came out and handed Huxley a key. He threw his bag and Anna's over his shoulder before slamming the trunk shut. The rest of the boys grabbed their bags.

"Let's go," Rhys said. "Anna you're staying with me."

"Of course," she said sarcastically. "We don't want me going on a murderous rampage, do we?"

Rhys's back was to her, so she rolled her eyes. She followed him as he climbed the rusty metal staircase. He went down to the end of the building. He unlocked the door and stepped in.

A musty smell filled the room and Anna crinkled her nose. Rhys dropped their bags down on the foot of one of the two beds. Anna was relieved to see that she did not have to spend the night in the same bed as Rhys.

There was a huge clunky television and faded red wallpaper. Paintings of a lake surrounded by a forest hung over each of the beds. Anna sat down at the foot of the bed that did not have the bags.

"I'm glad to finally be away from Huxley," Rhys said.

"I find him amusing," Anna said.

"Spend 105 years with him," he said. "His charm wears down real fast."

He pulled a sweater out of his bag and slipped it over his head. He turned and peeked past the floral curtain that was hanging in front of the window. He sighed as he stared out into the darkness.

"I'm going to get us something to eat," he said. "Don't leave this room."

"I don't need you to boss me around," Anna said.

"I'm making sure you don't die. If you leave you'll either be killed or will kill someone. You should be thanking me."

Anna scoffed. "Why, thank you."

"You can drop the attitude," he said.

Rhys opened the door and slammed it behind him. Anna shook her head as she went over to her duffel bag. She pulled out a pair of pajamas and changed her clothes. She reached under her stack of sweaters and pulled out her grandmother's notebook. She settled down on the bed and opened the book on her lap.

A wave of nostalgia came over Anna as she looked at her grandmother's loopy handwriting. The pages were covered in a mixture of blue and black writing beside pictures she had drawn. She flipped the page over and squinted as she read her words.

Vampires enslave the human race through compulsion, she read. They feed humans their blood. Their blood overtakes their mind and they are compelled to do whatever the vampire wants. No one shall drink anything from someone outside of the group that is not in a sealed container.

Anna gasped as she reread what her grandmother wrote. Rhys told her to drink his blood. Did it have the same effect on vampires as it does on humans? She did feel obligated to do what Rhys asked her to do. She was never one to follow a man's commands before.

Anna flipped through the pages to see if she had written anything else, but she could not find anything. She looked for any information about werewolves, but it was all about vampires. It was information she had learned as a child. Most kids read fairy tales. Anna and Jonathan read vampire-slaying strategies.

She when someone knocked on the door. She looked over at the clock to see half an hour had passed since Rhys left. It was probably Rhys with food from the fast-food restaurant across the street. Why he didn't unlock the door himself?

She stuffed the notebook underneath her pillow. She stood from the bed and dragged her feet over to the door. She opened it to see Drew standing there. He had a brown paper bag in his hands. This was the first time she had seen his hair out of a bun, and it was long and running down to his shoulders. He had it tucked behind his ears.

"I thought you may be hungry," he said.

"I thought Rhys went out to get food," Anna said.

Drew shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't see him. Who knows where he went."

Anna opened the door wider and stepped to the side. Drew walked into the room. He handed Anna the paper bag. She could see grease stains forming on the bag. She sat back down on the bed and Drew sat across from her. She pulled a burger out of the bag.

"Thanks for the food," Anna said.

"Anytime," he said. "I brought it kind of as an apology."

"An apology?" Anna asked. She opened up the bun and picked off the tomatoes. "What are you apologizing for?"

"For what I did to you. Rhys takes all the responsibility for you because he changed you, but I should take most of the blame."

"I am no one's responsibility."

Anna took a bite of her burger. She did not realize how hungry she was. All she had been snacking on today was a bag of potato chips she shared with Huxley.

"We've all been somebody's responsibility at one point," Drew said.

"You're not saying that because I'm a woman, are you?" Anna asked.

"No, I'm saying that because you are a vampire."

Anna took another bite as she nodded. She thought back to what her grandmother wrote. She had to know if it was true or not.

"Can I ask you something?" she said.

Drew's lips twitched into a smile.

"Of course," he said.

"What happens to a vampire if they drink the blood of another vampire?" she asked.

Drew closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Do you know how much Rhys has been feeding you?" he asked.

"What?" Her eyes grew wide. "How did you know he let me drink his blood?"

"I saw it on your lips when you were unconscious," he said. "I told him it was a bad idea."

Anna's stomach twisted into a knot. She set the burger down. Her appetite had disappeared.

"What's going to happen to me?" she asked.

"I'm not sure how much you drank," he said. "But, you'll probably feel this sort of devotion to him. It will be like you're compelled to do what he wants."

It was exactly what her grandmother wrote. There was a sort of submissiveness she felt toward Rhys, and she hated it. She knew she'd have to actively work against this compulsion.

"Why would he do that?" Anna asked.

"I'm not sure," Drew said. "You would have to ask him."

"Have you ever drank vampire blood before?"

"Only when I was turned."

"When was that?"

Anna did not know if that was an appropriate question to ask. She did not know vampire etiquette. All she knew is that you were not supposed to ask people about their crimes in prison.

"1785," he said. "I was turned a few years after my family became Loyalists."

"Loyalists?" she asked.

The term seemed familiar to Anna from a previous history class, but she could not recall why.

"Yes," he said. "My family came from England and lived in the colonies. After the American Revolutionary War, my parents were still loyal to the Crown. We moved North into what is now Canada."

"Who turned you?" Anna asked.

"Edwin Valin," he said. "He helped our family once we moved. He gave us a place to stay at first, and then he even helped my father build our home."

"Why would he turn you?"

"Revenge."

Anna raised an eyebrow. Drew chuckled and shook his head.

"If I knew how much money my father owed Edwin, I would have found a way to pay him myself," he said. "It would have been better than this."

"I can't believe this is my eternity," Anna said.

"I would have never brought you and your friend into that alley if I knew that Rhys was going to do this to you."

"Bringing me there to kill me was acceptable though?"

"You were just a meal to me at that point. If I knew who you really were I would have never done it. I'm mad at Rhys for making him kill your friend as your first kill. Knowing the person makes it so much harder."

The sight of Carson screaming for his life on the ground filled her mind. Nausea crept into her stomach, and she swallowed to stop herself from being sick. She passed her burger over to Drew.

"I'm not hungry anymore," she said.

Drew took the burger from her hands and took a bite. Anna crossed her arms over her chest and rubbed her bare arms with her hands.

"Do you know why Rhys turned me?" she asked.

"No." He shook his head. "Rhys does what he wants. I told him to just let you die."

Anna could barely remember that night, but she recalled crawling across the cold ground. Rhys brought his wrist up to her mouth and Drew told him not to. She wished that she never drank his blood. She brushed her fingers along the bandage on her neck.

"I think I am going to go to bed," she said. "Thank you for the food."

"Not a problem," Drew said. "If you ever need to talk, I'm here, Anna."

"Thank you."

They said their goodbyes and Drew left her room. Anna pulled the notebook out from underneath her pillow. She flipped to a blank page and grabbed a pen off of the nightstand. She scribbled down Drew's name, underlined it, and then wrote down his story.

Once she was finished, she hid the notebook in her suitcase again. She slid into her bed and pulled the thin sheets up over her body. She closed her eyes and the exhaustion from the traveling caused her to fall asleep within minutes.