Anna woke and felt a weight on her stomach. She opened her eyes to see that she was curled on her side and Rhys's arm was around her waist. He had her tight against his chest. She curled her fingers around his wrist and lifted his arm up off of her at a slow pace. She sat and set his arm down on the mattress between the two of them. Rhys's eyes were closed, and he did not stir as she moved him.

She sat on the edge of the bed and looked out the large window, which had a view of the backyard. There was a large yard of grass that ended into a thick forest. A group of men was standing in a circle and talking to each other. Anna stood and walked over to the window to get a better look.

The men talked for a few minutes. One of them started pulling his shirt up over his head, and the others followed. They kicked off their shoes and pulled their pants down. Anna was entranced as she watched one turn into a wolf. His bones shifted and his muscles grew as fur sprouted from his skin. Within seconds he was a beast. The others transformed into wolves, and they took off running into the forest.

Anna was standing at the window with her jaw hanging open. She had never seen anything like it before.

"You know it's rude to spy, right?" Rhys asked.

Anna turned to look behind her. Rhys was sitting up on the bed. He was digging the heel of his palm into his eyes as he tried to wake up.

"I'm learning," Anna said. "There's so much about this world that I apparently don't know."

Rhys chuckled to himself. He tossed the blankets off of him as he stood. He stretched his arms up over his head.

"What do you have questions about?" he asked.

"Aren't vampires and werewolves supposed to hate each other?" she asked.

"Read that in your fantasy novels?" he asked. "We don't hate each other, but we aren't the best of friends. We co-exist."

"So there's never been some great war between you two?"

"No."

"Never?"

"I've been a vampire since 1759. If there was a war I would know about it."

Anna's eyes grew wide. Rhys was that old? She did not think much about his past. She knew that Drew was a Loyalist, but she realized that she knew nothing about this group of men she was traveling with.

"Who were you?" she asked. "Who were you before you became a vampire?"

"We'll talk about that another day," he said.

He turned and walked to his bag on the other side of the room. Anna followed him. Her curiosity was always one of her most challenging traits.

"How did you die?" she asked.

"On a battlefield," he said.

"Which one?"

Rhys turned around and scowled. The heat rushed up to Anna's cheeks. She was prying into his life.

"We'll talk about this on another day," he said. "Understand?"

Anna nodded. Rhys grabbed some clothes and walked out of the room. Anna quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a thick sweater. She was sitting on the foot of the bed putting on her socks when Rhys walked back in.

There was a knock and Anna looked over at the open door. Huxley was poking his head into the room. Accalia was on his back. Her legs around his waist and his arms around his neck. She had a big smile on her face and was giggling.

"Cassie is making pancakes downstairs," Huxley said.

"Mom says we can't have any until everyone is up," Accalia said.

"We're coming down," Rhys said.

Anna and Rhys followed Huxley and Accalia down the stairs and into the kitchen. Cassie and Elena were at the stove. People were lined up and piling their plates full of pancakes before going back into the living room. There was the sound of a movie playing on the television.

Accalia crawled off of Huxley's back and ran over to Cassie. She slid a pancake onto a plate and handed it to Accalia, who brought it over to the wooden table. She poured a mountain of maple syrup on top of it.

Rhys handed Anna a plate and she sat down at the table. Rhys sat next to her, and Huxley and Calvin sat across from them. Gwen was at the head of the table and she had a toddler in a high chair next to her. She was spooning baby food into his mouth. Cassie and Elena sat down at the long table.

No one said anything as they ate. Anna took small bites of her food. She glanced at Elena to see her glaring.

"You look familiar, Anna," Elena said.

Anna faked a laugh. Huxley's hand paused as it was halfway to his mouth. His eyes were wide.

"I think I have one of those faces, you know?" Anna said.

She shrugged her shoulders before shoving her fork into her mouth. Elena shook her head.

"Where are you from?" Elena asked.

"British Columbia" Anna lied. "A small town near Vancouver."

"Do you know that you look a bit like Laurie Nightingale?" Elena asked.

Anna swallowed past the lump forming in her throat at her mother's name.

"How would she know?" Huxley said with a mouthful of food. "She didn't know vampires were real until a few days ago. Let alone know anything about the Nightingales."

"Well, she was writing those books," Calvin said.

Huxley swung his hand back and hit Calvin in the shoulder.

"What books?" Elena asked.

"Anna is a writer," Calvin said. "She was writing a book on vampires."

Huxley balled up his fist and punched Calvin in the arm. Calvin flinched and rubbed his arm.

"Why would you do that?" Elena asked Anna.

"I'm an Anne Rice fan," Anna said with a fake laugh.

Elena raised an eyebrow. Anna forced herself to smile so that she did not look suspicious. She glanced over at Rhys to see him looking at her with a raised brow. The threads of her lie were untangling.

"What's your last name?" Elena asked.

"Hollingsworth," Anna said.

"Why are we interrogating our guests, Elena?" Cassie asked. "This isn't some episode of C.S.I."

"I'm just trying to learn more about Anna," Elena said.

"Leave her alone," Rhys said.

"Why?" Elena asked. "Because you want to fuck her?"

Rhys banged his fist against the table. The plates rattled. He stood and his chair tipped back. Anna felt compelled to stand and put her hand on his arm. He was scowling at Elena, but she was smirking. Cassie's hands were over her mouth in horror. Calvin was biting down on his lip to suppress his laughter.

"Elena!" Cassie exclaimed. "What is wrong with you?"

"What?" she asked. "I'm just saying what we're all thinking."

"Why don't you go to hell, Elena?" Rhys said.

"You mean where you are all destined to go?" she asked wryly.

Huxley stood and held his hands out between Rhys and Elena.

"Alrighty," Huxley said, over annunciating the word. "Let's keep things civil."

Drew walked into the kitchen with Oz. They were talking but stopped when they saw half of the table standing. The tension was thick in the room.

"What's going on?" Oz asked.

"Elena is stirring trouble as usual," Cassie said.

"Classic," Oz said. He lifted his chin to gesture over to Rhys. "I need to talk to you."

Rhys's shoulders dropped as stress left his body. He stretched his arms and glared at Elena as he walked around the table. Anna and Huxley looked across at the table at each other before sitting down. Rhys, Oz, and Drew walked out of the room.

They finished their breakfast in silence. Anna did not have much of an appetite after the scene between Rhys and Elena. She was helping wash the dishes when Accalia and Oclan ran into the kitchen.

"Huxley!" Accalia said. "Come play with us. Anna, come too."

Anna smiled when she looked down at the girl's beaming face. Oclan opened her mouth to show a smile full of missing teeth.

"Okay," Anna said.

Accalia took her hand and pulled her up the stairs and into her room. It was painted a light pink and had gauzy curtains hanging from the windows. She had pictures drawn with crayons collaging the walls. Anna and Huxley sat down on the edge of her bed. Accalia and Oclan climbed on the bed behind them.

"You guys have yellow hair," Accalia said as she ran her fingers through Anna's long hair. "I like it."

"I like your dark hair," Anna said. "It's beautiful."

Accalia giggled as she ran over to her little vanity. She grabbed her brush and a box of hair ties and clips. She set it down on the bed and got on her knees behind Anna.

Accalia and Oclan were laughing as they messily braided Anna's hair and put a collection of clips into Huxley's mop of hair. Anna laughed when she saw how it was sticking out in a hundred different directions by small pink clips.

"You're looking good," she said.

"Think this should be my new look?" he asked.

"I'd run it by the guys first."

Accalia and Oclan jumped off of the bed. Accalia whispered something in Oclan's ear. Accalia threw her hands over her mouth as she laughed and Oclan nodded.

"We're going to get Mommy's make-up," Accalia said before running out of the room.

Anna shook her head as she stretched her long legs out in front of her. Huxley touched a few of the clips in his hair before rubbing his hands on his jeans.

"You have to tell Rhys," he said.

"You really want him to know about this hairstyle?" Anna asked.

"As fabulous as it is, no," he said. "Breakfast was a close call. You need to tell him that you are a Nightingale."

"He'll kill me."

"How long do you think that you can keep this hidden?"

Anna shrugged her shoulders.

"I was hoping for however long I stay with you guys," she said.

"You know that's forever, right?" he said. "Rhys hates it when I saw this, but we are a family now."

Anna looked over at Huxley. He smiled and put his hand on her knee. She leaned in and put her head on his shoulder for a second. She tried to not think about her future too much. She assumed that they would part ways, but she was glad to have someone like Huxley in her life forever.

"Rhys wants to kill my brother," Anna said, "He hates Jonathan more than anything. I don't know what he'll do if he finds out."

"I have a feeling that he won't kick you to the curb," Huxley said. "He hasn't shown interest in a girl in over a hundred years."

Anna raised her eyebrow.

"Do you think what Elena said was true?" she asked. "You think Rhys is just trying to sleep with me?"

"He wouldn't risk it for a one-night stand," he said. "I'm not sure why he turned you - we all agreed never to do it again - but I'm sure he had a reason."

"Who is Hannah?"

The name was mentioned whenever they talked about turning a human. Who was this girl? Huxley's eyes grew wide, and Anna knew that he would not tell her anything.

"Let's get out of here before they come back with the make-up," Huxley said.

He stood up and ripped the clips out of his hair. Anna tried to catch up with him as he hurried out of the room.