Anna stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself up in a towel. Rhys had given her some of his clothes to change into. She had to pull the strings on the waistband of the shorts as tight as she could so that they did not fall down. The T-shirt bagged around her thin frame. She searched through the drawers on the vanity until she found a comb. She brushed her wet hair and twisted her fingers around it as she braided it.

She exited the bathroom to see Rhys sitting at the foot of the bed. He had a journal in his hands, and he looked up when he heard the door open. He smiled, but she scowled.

"Feeling better?" he asked.

The shower had relieved the pain from her muscles and joints, but she was still upset. The reality of the situation had yet to sink in. She was still in shock. There was no way this was real. There was no way that any of this was real.

Anna stormed past Rhys and hurried into the hallway. She could not remember Rhys carrying her up to his room, so she did not know the layout of the house. She rushed down the hall with Rhys close behind her. Anna ran down the stairs and took a quick look around the house. She stopped before taking a turn.

Anna gasped as she crashed into another body. She would have tumbled to the floor, but two arms grabbed her. Normally, her reflexes would be strong, but her shock made her stumble. She put her hands against his chest and pushed the body away. She looked up to see that it was Drew.

"You're awake," he said.

"How do I get out of here?" I asked.

"You should probably have a seat."

"I'm not sitting down."

The stairs creaked as Rhys stepped down and walked toward them. Anna ripped Drew's arms off of her and took a step back. Drew looked between Anna and Rhys.

"I need to talk to you," Rhys told Anna. "Don't run away this time."

"I don't want to talk to any of you," she said.

"You need us," Rhys said. "Without us, you're going to be killed."

"Does that even matter? Thanks to you I'm already dead."

Drew put his hand on Anna's tense shoulder. Rhys narrowed his eyes at Drew.

"Anna, just listen to us," Drew said. "We don't want you getting hurt. You're one of us now."

Anna closed her eyes and shook her head. She wanted to run out of this house, but she knew that Drew was right. She was one of them. As much as she did not want to be a vampire, she was now one. There was no cure.

"Fine," she said. "But I want to go home."

"We'll let you go home," Drew said.

"Just to get your clothes," Rhys added. "You're coming back here after."

"Back here?" she asked. "I have a life. I am not staying here."

"Just have a seat," Drew said. "We are going to talk about that."

Drew held out his hand and gestured over to the couch. The room was large and had two couches facing each other. A fireplace sat against the wall and on either side were two bookshelves overfilled with books. She could see on the spines that some of them were the classics that she loved. A mirror hung over the fireplace, and she could not see any of their reflections. It appeared to be an empty room.

Anna saw Calvin and Huxley sitting on one of the couches. Calvin was leaning back with his feet on the coffee table and was focused on cleaning his fingernails with a pocket knife. Huxley was leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees and was listening to their conversation. Anna walked over to the opposite couch. Drew sat down next to her, and Rhys stood between the two sofas with his arms crossed over his chest.

"This is Calvin and Huxley," Drew introduced the other two vampires to Anna. "They've been with us for years."

"Decades," Calvin said as he flipped in the blade. "It's been well over a century since I met you."

"You two killed Jess," Anna said.

"Sorry, but we need to feed," Calvin said. "You will experience that soon."

Anna swallowed hard against the lump that was forming in her throat. Jess so carelessly made out with Calvin, not knowing that it would result in her gruesome death. Anna should have pulled Jess off of Calvin. Jess would be furious, but at least she'd still be alive.

"I'm not staying here," Anna said. "I have a midterm in a couple of weeks. If I miss it there's no way I will pass my class."

"You're dropping out of school," Rhys said.

"What?" Anna asked. Her eyes widened. "No, no, no. I am not dropping out of school. This is my last year before I get my masters. I've worked too hard to lose it now."

"You're not going to need it anymore," Rhys said.

"I have a scholarship," Anna said. "I have been doing nothing but studying for the past five years. I'm not throwing that away."

"We can't stay here," Drew told her. "We can't stay anywhere for too long. It becomes too suspicious."

"Then I'm not staying with you," she said. "I am staying in school."

"Didn't you hear me earlier?" Rhys said. "You are going to die if you don't stick with us. Vampire hunters are going to tear you apart. Do you know what happens to a vampire when they die, Anna? They don't go to heaven. Their souls are cast to the depths of hell. You may think this is bad, but there's a fate much worse waiting for you if you think you can go alone."

Anna opened her mouth to argue back, but she was unsure of what to say. Her grandmother had taught her about vampires all throughout her childhood, but she never mentioned what happened when vampires died. Anna never thought she would have cared, vampires were soulless bloodsuckers, but she also never thought that she would be in this situation.

"We're going to show you how to survive," Drew said.

"I'm going to teach her," Rhys said. "I already told you I'm taking responsibility for this."

"Wait a minute." Anna held up her hand. "You're taking responsibility for me?"

"Exactly," Rhys said.

"It's nothing bad," Huxley said. "It just stops you from going off on a murderous rampage. That's a sure-fire way to get a Nightingale hot on your heels."

"What?" Anna asked.

"There are groups of people who make it their mission to eliminate vampires. The Nightingales are a family of vampire hunters," Drew said. "We're always moving because they become suspicious of us."

Anna nodded as she tried to process all of this info. She thought she knew so much about vampires. She knew how to kill them, but never anticipated that she would be one. Was she now going to have to go against everything she knew? One thing was for certain, she did not want her soul to be sent to hell.

"We're going to go to your house," Rhys said. "You need to get some of your stuff."

Anna bit down on her lip, but for only a few seconds because of the pain that spread across her gums. She looked around at the others to see them all staring intently at her. She did want her clothes, books, and photographs. She needed her pictures of Jess so that she could hold onto Jess's memory.

"Fine," Anna said.

"Let's go," Rhys said.

He waved his hand to motion for her to stand. Anna got up onto her feet and Drew followed.

"I'm coming with you," Drew said.

"No," Rhys said. He turned and snapped his fingers. "Hux, you're coming along."

Huxley jumped up from the couch. He held two fingers to his forehead and saluted Rhys.

"Aye, aye, sir," Huxley said.

"You need to stop doing that," Rhys said.

Huxley nodded his head. Rhys walked out of the room, and Anna felt compelled to follow him. He went to the front door and handed Anna's purse to her. He picked up Anna's high heels from last night and handed them to her. She rolled her eyes and snatched the shoes away from Rhys. It was ridiculous to wear those heels when she had a dress to go clubbing on. It was even sillier to wear them with Rhys's basketball shorts and T-shirt.

"Shouldn't you put your shoes on?" Huxley asked Anna.

"I'll go without," she said. "Jess forced me into these things. I'll probably break an ankle if I wear them."

Huxley shrugged his shoulders before opening the door. Rhys stepped outside. Anna hesitated as she got closer to the door. Rhys turned to look at her and raised an eyebrow.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Isn't the sun going to hurt me?" Anna asked.

"Pure myth," he said. "We like vampire hunters to think that."

Anna struggled to not let her jaw drop. She was always told that vampires can only come out at night and they will burst into flames if they are in the sun. She was never on alert for vampires during the day. How many had she passed in broad daylight without realizing?

Anna tightened her grip on her shoes as she stepped outside. Rhys climbed into the driver's side of his car and Huxley got into the back. The rocks of the gravel driveway cut into the soles of Anna's feet. She hurried over to the passenger's side of the car and got in.

"That probably would have been less painful with your shoes on," Huxley said.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Just take me home."