Anna fished through her purse for her key as she walked up to the apartment building. She unlocked the door, and Rhys and Huxley followed her in. Anna had spent most of the car ride trying to convince them to let her go in by herself, but Rhys refused.

They stepped into the elevator and Anna hit the button for her floor. The faint hum of music filled the elevator. Huxley rocked his head from side to side as he snapped his fingers. Rhys glared.

"Do you have to do that?" Rhys asked.

"What?" Huxley asked as he continued to snap. "It's been a while since I have heard elevator music."

"Don't worry," Anna said. "We're already on my floor."

The elevator dinged as the doors opened. They went down the hallway to the apartment at the end. Anna unlocked the door and then pushed it open.

The sweet smell of Jess's perfume filled her nose. She always sprayed the scent of vanilla all over the apartment. Anna's heart ached as she thought about her friend. Jess was always so full of life and smiling.

"It smells like a girl's apartment," Huxley said. "I kind of like it."

"Get your stuff before he gets any ideas," Rhys said. "We don't need the house smelling like cinnamon."

"It's vanilla," Anna said.

"I don't care," Rhys said. "Go get your clothes."

Anna went down the short hallway to her room. She opened the door to see it looked exactly as she had left it that night. Multiple dresses Jess had picked out for her were thrown over the foot of the bed and her books were piled on top of the desk. She was a new person and had a new life, but all of her stuff was the same.

She pulled a duffel bag out of her closet and tossed it on the bed. She slowly opened her drawers and put the clothes in the bag. She knew this was the last time she was going to be in this apartment and she wanted to spend as much time as she could inside.

Rhys was leaning against the hallway wall outside the door. He watched her as she packed. Anna glanced over at him every few minutes.

She closed the door and changed out of Rhys's clothes and into her own. She opened the door to see that Rhys had not moved.

"You almost finished?" Rhys asked.

"Almost," she said.

Anna opened up her nightstand beside her bed. She always kept her favourite books and her grandmother's notebook inside. She grabbed one of the books and placed it in the bag.

"Are you actually bringing books?" he asked.

"Let me keep one aspect of my life," she said. "Books are important to me."

Anna dropped the duffel bag off the side of the bed so that Rhys could not see it. She crouched down next to the bed. She grabbed her grandmother's notebook and shoved it in the bag. She tucked it under all of her clothes.

She stood and saw that Rhys had stepped into her room. His hands were behind his back as he looked at the photos Anna had taped to her mirror. He pulled one off and held it closer to his face.

"Who is this?" he asked.

Anna pulled the picture out of his hands. It was a photo of Anna and her brother from the last time they saw each other. It was at their grandmother's cottage at the end of the summer. She went out West for school and he went up North to hunt. She knew that he would kill her the next time they see each other. No one hated vampires more than anyone else.

"That's my brother Jonathan," she said.

"Your brother?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. "We did not get to see each other often."

"You won't see him anymore."

"I assumed that."

Anna ripped the photos off of her mirror. The majority were of her and Jess. They were pictures of them smiling and laughing. Anna never wanted to lose the image of Jess's face.

"You're probably not going to want those," Rhys said.

"You already killed her," Anna said. "I'm not losing her completely."

Rhys picked Anna's bag up off of the floor and threw the strap over his shoulder. Anna grabbed her jacket off the back of her desk chair.

"Let's get going," he said.

"Alright," she said before taking one last look around her room.

She followed him into the living room. Huxley was sitting on her faded couch. She gasped when she saw that he had one of her notebooks in his hands. She could see that he was reading a snippet of the novel she was working on.

"Seriously?" She snatched the notebook. "That's an invasion of privacy."

"You write about vampires?" Huxley asked. "You have an interesting take on us. Where's the rest of the book?"

"You're not reading it."

"Please?"

Huxley stuck out his bottom lip as he pouted. Anna shook her head. She tucked the photographs inside the notebook before clutching them to her chest.

"No one is reading anything," she said. "At least not until it is done."

"I want to be the first one to get a copy," Huxley said.

Anna's lips lifted into a smile. Huxley smiled back and stood from the couch. He shoved his hands in the pocket of his sweater and followed Rhys out of the apartment. Rhys made them take the stairs down the five flights of stairs because he did not want to hear Huxley humming along to the elevator music.

Rhys threw Anna's bag into the trunk. They all got into the car. Anna took one last look at her home as Rhys pulled out of the parking lot. Huxley undid his seatbelt and slid across the backseat so that he was between the two front seats.

"What's next?" Huxley asked. "Training time?"

"Training?" Anna asked. "What kind of training?"

Rhys's grip tightened on the steering wheel and Anna could see that his knuckles were turning white.

"I already told you all that I am responsible for her training," Rhys said.

"You're always so stubborn," Huxley said.

Anna shifted in her seat so she could see Huxley. He was bracing himself on the seats as Rhys raced down the streets.

"What is this training?" Anna asked.

"We are going to teach you how to take on a vampire hunter," Huxley said. "Rhys, which one of us is she going to be fighting?"

"She's not fighting any of us," Rhys said. "Alice is coming down."

Huxley scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Why would you bring Alice into this?" he asked.

"Because none of us are hitting Anna," Rhys said.

"Wait a minute." Anna's eyes grew wide. "Someone is going to be hitting me?"

Anna had spent countless hours practicing with Jonathan. Their parents made them each other's punching bags. She had not been in a physical fight since she started university. She did not miss the cuts and bruises she had to hide throughout her childhood. She knew that she could not tell them that she knew how to fight. It would raise too many questions.

"How else are you going to learn?" Rhys said. "I promise you won't get hurt."

"You sure about that, Rhys?" Huxley asked. "Last time I saw Alice she had broken some girl's nose at a bar."

Anna's hands instinctively went up to her nose and she covered her face.

"I like my nose," she said. "Can we not break it?"

"I've already told Alice to go easy on Anna," Rhys said.

Anna lowered her hands from her face.

Her gums ached and her mouth went dry. Pain spread across her stomach. She grabbed her belly and bent over. She gritted her teeth, but that just caused her mouth to be in more pain.

"Anna, you okay?" Huxley asked.

He reached forward and put a hand on her back. Rhys nudged him with his elbow and Huxley recoiled.

"She's hungry," Rhys said.

"I'm not eating anyone," she said.

Rhys reached out and put his hand on her back. She shook her shoulders to try and get his hand off of her. He pulled up the gravel driveway to the large house. Huxley jumped out of the backseat and opened the passenger side door.

"Hux, get her bag from the trunk," Rhys said. "I got her."

Anna did not want his help. She squeezed her eyes shut as she stood up. The pain raced up from her stomach and into her throat. Her hands moved up to her neck. Her fingers grazed across the soft fabric of the bandage. Rhys put his hand on the small of her back.

"You don't have to feed until tomorrow," he whispered into her ear.

"Am I going to be in pain until tomorrow?" she asked.

"No, I'm going to help you."

Anna opened her eyes as Rhys guided her into the house. Huxley was behind them with Anna's bag over his shoulder. Rhys took the bag once they stepped inside. It was if a thousand needles were stabbing Anna in the throat. She kept her hands around her neck as they walked up the stairs. He opened his bedroom door and set the bag down on the foot of the bed.

"Why are we in your room?" she asked.

"You're staying with me," he said. "I'm responsible for you, so I have to keep my eye on you."

"We're under the same roof, isn't that enough?" she asked. "This house is huge. Isn't there like a guest room somewhere?"

Rhys shook his head. The pain traveled up from Anna's neck and into her head. She held her temple and curled her fingers into her scalp. She gasped as the pain intensified. Rhys grabbed her wrists and pulled them away from her face.

"Anna, sit down," he said.

He put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her down so that she was sitting on the edge of the bed. He got down on his knees in front of her. He held her wrists in his hands. She tried to raise her arms to clutch her throbbing head.

"You're in pain because you're hungry," he said. "You have to feed often so that this doesn't happen to you."

"I don't want to kill anyone," she said.

Anna blinked and a tear rolled down her cheek. Rhys let go of one of her wrists. Anna wiped the tear away with the back of her hand. Rhys weaved his fingers into her hair and pulled her close.

The picture of Jess being killed by Huxley and Calvin filled her mind. They feasted from her throat as she screamed. She did not want to be killing innocent people. Her parents and now her best friend had both been the victim of vampires.

"You don't have to today," he said. "A new vampire can survive about a week on vampire blood because their body has not fully transformed yet."

"Really?" Anna asked.

Her grandmother had never told her that.

"Yes," he said. "You can drink mine."

"That sounds disgusting. I can't do that."

"Anna, you drank it last night."

Rhys pulled his sleeve up. She could see the bloody crescent-shaped wounds on his wrist. She scrunched her nose in disgust.

"No," she said.

"It's either this or I am going to take you out to kill someone," he said.

Anna shook her head, and the pain shot like lightning bolts across her temple. She cried out before burying her face in her hands.

"It'll be quick," Rhys said.

Tears were pricking at the back of her eyes. She needed the pain to go away.

"Okay," she said quietly.

Rhys got up off of his knees and sat down beside her on the bed. She watched as his eyes darkened and the veins protruded from his pale skin. His fangs extended out of his gums. He bit down into his wrist. He held his bloody wrist out to Anna.

"Drink it," he said.

Her hands shook as she grabbed his arm. She closed her eyes as she brought his wrist to her mouth. A sweet and tantalizing smell filled her nose. Her gums felt like they were being ripped apart as her fangs protruded out. She sank her teeth deep into Rhys' wrist.

Rhys bit down on his lip as Anna drank from his wounds. The heavenly taste of his blood filled her mouth. The pain had soon disappeared. Anna felt like her normal self, but she could not get her fangs out of his skin. She was gulping back his blood.

"Okay, Anna," Rhys said. "You need to let go."

She continued to drink his blood. Her thirst was too strong for her to let go. Rhys grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her head back at an awkward angle. Anna's eyes had grown dark and she licked the remaining blood off of her lips.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Wait until you taste human blood," he said.

A shiver ran up Anna's spine. Rhys let go of her hair. She wiped the blood off of her mouth with the back of her hand. She ran her tongue along with her teeth to no longer feel her fangs.

"Get changed into something comfortable and meet me downstairs," Rhys said. Anna nodded her head. Rhys got off the bed and walked over to the door. He stopped and turned before opening it. "Don't let the others know that you drank my blood."

He stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind him. Anna flopped back onto the bed. Her head was spinning with what just happened.