Alice picked out a red dress for Anna. As soon as she got home, she dragged Anna into her room and made her try it on.

Anna was relieved that the dress was not too short, but she was not impressed that it was skin tight. A slit ran up her one thigh. Her chest was bursting out of the low-cut neckline. It reminded her of a dress Jess would try to shove her in.

Alice was leaning back on the bed. Her fingers were interlocked and resting on top of her head. Anna was running her hand along with the soft material of the dress. She turned from side to side as she inspected the dress. Her blonde hair was tied up in a bun on the top of her head.

"This isn't really my style," Anna said.

"You can't wear a turtle neck to the club," Alice said. "This dress will get you a guy quickly. Which is good because you'll probably only last a few minutes."

"What are you talking about?" Anna asked.

"New vampires struggle to control their cravings," she said. "The club will seem like the most delicious buffet you have ever been to."

There was a knock on the door before it opened. Rhys was leaning against the doorframe. He smiled as his eyes scanned Anna's body from head to toe. Anna crossed her arms over her chest as she shivered under his gaze.

"You look nice," he said.

"I work miracles, don't I?" Alice said. "Who knew she could be that hot?"

"I'm not wearing this tomorrow," Anna said. "You better take it back."

"The other night you were wearing a tight little dress," Rhys said. "How is this any different?"

"Because that was Jess who made me wear it," Anna said. "I would have probably done anything she asked me to do."

"That's how you ended up here with us," Rhys said.

He stepped into the room. He sat down at the foot of the bed. Alice rolled her eyes. She tried to kick her leg out to hit Rhys, but she was too short.

"I knew it was wrong to leave that club," Anna said.

"Did you know we were vampires?" Rhys asked.

Anna shook her head. "No."

"Why did you have a stake on you then?" Rhys asked.

Alice pushed herself up so that she was sitting higher on the bed.

"Woah, wait a minute," she said. "You had a stake on you?"

"That's what she stabbed Drew with," Rhys said. "A stake in the shape of a cross."

Anna felt her mouth grow dry. She could not tell them the truth. They'd kill her if they knew what she has done.

"I told you I'm a fantasy writer," Anna said. "You can't spend as much time researching vampires as I do without growing a little superstitious."

"What's your last name, Anna?" Alice asked.

They know, a voice was screaming in her head. They knew that she was a Nightingale and they were going to kill her. They were going to torture her until she told them where the rest of her family was.

"Hollingsworth," Anna said, giving them her mother's maiden name.

"Phew," Alice said before flopping back on the bed. "I thought for a minute that she could be a Nightingale. We don't need that disaster again."

"Again?" Anna asked.

"We're not talking about it," Rhys said.

"Woah, Anna."

Anna's heart pounded as she turned to the side. Drew was standing at the door. Strands of hair were hanging down on his face. His jaw was hanging open as he looked at her. Anna bit down on her lip as the heat rushed up to her face.

"You look good," he said.

"Anna, go to my room and get changed," Rhys said.

"Don't order the girl around, Rhys," Alice said. "This is the twenty-first century. She doesn't need to do what you say."

"Thank you," Anna said.

Rhys rolled his eyes and stood up from the end of the bed.

"I thought you wanted to get out of that dress," Rhys said.

"I do," Anna said quietly.

Rhys extended his arm to gesture over to the door. Anna felt a pull to walk toward the door and listen to Rhys. Drew stepped out of the way as she walked by. She went down the hall and into Rhys's room. She went over to her duffel bag in the corner and pulled out a hoodie and a pair of shorts. She brought them into Rhys's bathroom and got changed. When she came out Rhys was sitting on the edge of the bed.

Anna crawled into the one side of the bed and pulled the blankets up over her body. She clutched them to her chest as she rolled onto her side. Rhys turned to look at Anna. She squeezed her eyes shut. She did not know how well she was going to sleep next to Rhys.

He did not say anything as he laid down on the bed next to her.

---

It was hard for Anna to believe that she was at the same club as a human only a couple of days ago. Rhys had them enter through the backdoor so that they did not need to wait in line. Anna's hands kept adjusting the top of her dress to prevent her chest from spilling out.

The music was pounding in Anna's ears. It was a remix version of a familiar song her parents used to play in the house.

"Ugh, it's 80s night," Calvin said.

"It's 80s night!" Huxley said, throwing his hands up in the air.

Rhys shook his head as Huxley broke off from the group and ran out onto the dance floor. Calvin stepped away from them and walked over to the bar. Rhys slipped his arm around Anna's waist, and she tried to push him off of her.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Making sure you don't go on some kind of rampage," he said.

She rolled her eyes. Alice, wearing a short black dress and her leather jacket, put her hand on Drew's arm.

"Buy me a drink," she said.

"Can't you get one of these guys to do that?" Drew asked, raising an eyebrow. "I should probably stay with Anna."

"I told you I am responsible for her," Rhys said. "I've got this."

Rhy's fingers curl into Anna's waist. She sighed but kept her mouth shut. She hated how Rhys talked about her like she was a new puppy. She was no one's responsibility.

"Great!" Alice said before winking at Anna. "Go get 'em, Tiger."

Anna swallowed past the lump forming in her throat. She could already feel the pain seeping its way into her gums and stomach. She knew if she did not feed soon her body would soon be consumed by pain. She knew that Drew was not going to let her drink his blood anymore.

Alice grabbed Drew's hand and dragged him over to the bar. Anna could see Calvin was already leaning against the bar with a beer in his hand. A girl was standing next to him and she kept flipping her hair over her shoulder. The girl would be dead soon.

"So I've never killed anyone before," Anna said. Despite murdering three vampires in her lifetime, she had never killed a human. "How do I do this?"

"You have to single a person out and get them outside," Rhys said.

"How do I do that?"

"Start a conversation. It's pretty simple."

"How am I supposed to do that when you won't let go of me?"

Rhys squeezed her side before letting go of her. Anna took a step to the side to cause more distance between them. Anna's eyes scanned across the bar. She could see many people crammed together on the dance floor. Huxley was in the middle of the crowd. His long lanky limbs were flailing as he danced to the retro beats. A girl was dancing in front of him with equally ridiculous dance moves. She was throwing her head back in laughter. Anna bit down on her lip to stop herself from giggling.

She moved her gaze to the tables of people sitting off to the side. They were mostly people in deep conversation with one another. Anna did not know how they could hear each other over the rhythmic beats.

Someone waving caught her attention. She squinted so that she could see the person better. She recognized him by his thick black eyeglass frames. It was Carson. He was someone she shared most of her creative writing classes with.

Rhys nudged Anna with his elbow.

"Who is that?" he asked. "Why is he waving at you?"

"We go to school together," she said.

"Go talk to him," he said. "When I come over I'll give you a cue to come outside."

"Excuse me?" Anna's eyes went wide as she realized what Rhys was saying. "No! That's Carson. I can't kill him."

"You're going to. This should be no different than killing any other human."

Rhys put his hand on Anna's back and pushed her forward. She stumbled in the heels Alice had bought her. She looked over her shoulder at Rhys. He nodded. She sighed before walking toward the table. Her heart sank as Carson's smile grew bigger as she walked over. She noticed that he was sitting at a table with another guy who she did not recognize.

"Hey, Anna," he said as she came closer. "I didn't see you in class yesterday."

Anna leaned against the table. Her gums were aching and she fought to hold in her fangs. She could smell the sweet blood that was pumping through his veins. Rhys would be furious if she bit him in a bar full of people.

"I had some kind of flu," she said. "A twenty-four-hour kind of thing. I feel better now."

"You look great," he said before he scanned his eyes down on Anna's outfit. "That's some dress. Did Jess force you into it?"

"No, this new friend I have," she said.

"Did Jess have the flu too? No one has heard from either of you."

"Yes, we've been pretty much unconscious in bed all day."

"Well, you're a trooper for coming out tonight."

Anna smiled but kept her lips sealed in case her fangs had come out. She ran her tongue along with her teeth and was relieved to feel that they were smooth.

"This is my buddy Noah," Carson said.

He tipped his beer bottle toward the other man sitting at the table. He smiled and held out his hand. Anna shook it.

"Nice to meet you," Noah said.

"This is Anna Nightingale," Carson said. Anna's heart pounded and she looked over to see Rhys standing at the back of the bar. He could not hear them, but she worried. "Remember that name. This girl is going to write the greatest series ever."

"Yeah, right," Anna said with a nervous giggle. "He's exaggerating."

"She told me the whole plot one night," Carson said. "I can't wait until she gets it down on paper."

Anna felt the heat rush up to her cheeks. A year ago, on one drunken night, Anna explained her entire novel idea to Carson. It was the first person she told her ideas to, except Jess. She instantly regretted it when she sobered up.

"You're being too nice to me," Anna said.

She looked back behind her to see Rhys was gone. Her eyes darted around the club, but she could not see him. She looked over to the bar to see Calvin, but she could not see Alice and Drew anymore.

"What's your books about?" Noah asked.

"Vampires," Carson said. "I thought that genre was beaten to death, but she has a unique twist on it."

Anna jumped when she felt an arm slip around her waist. She expected to see Rhys, but instead, Alice was standing next to her. She had a paper cup in her hands and Anna could smell the strong burn of liquor.

"Who do you got here, Anna?" Alice asked.

She tucked a curl behind her ear before sipping at the drink through a straw.

"This is my friend Carson and his buddy Noah," Anna said.

Alice reached her hand out to Noah and flashed him a smile. Noah's face lit up and he shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you," she said. "I'm Alice."

"My pleasure," Noah said.

Alice winked at him. She put her hand on Anna's shoulder. Anna noticed that Alice's eyes jumped over to the back door before landing back on Noah and Carson.

"I was thinking about going back to the house," she said. "Are you going to come with, Anna?"

This was it, she thought. This was how they were going to get the boys out of the club so that they could kill them.

"Yeah," she said. "It's getting kind of boring here."

"You two should join us," Slice said. "We can have a couple of drinks and get to know each other better."

"Sounds good to me," Noah said.

"You're cool with that, Anna?" Carson asked.

No, no I am not, she thought.

"Yes." She forced the word off of her tongue.

"Okay," Carson said with a smile. "Let's go."

Carson drank the remaining bit of his beer before standing up off of the stool. Alice grabbed Noah's hand and pulled him up onto his feet. She set her drink down on the table.

Anna's heart pounded in her chest as she and Carson followed Alice and Noah to the back door of the club.

In minutes, she knew that both of them would be dead.