Vampires, Eh?

Chapter 4

Rhys stood under the warm stream of water for a long time. His head spinning with thoughts. He waited until Anna fell back asleep before he got into the shower. The water was swirling pink under his feet from his bleeding wrist.

He knew Anna was going to be furious with him when she was conscious. He was surprised that the boys were not more angry with him. They had all promised that they were not going to turn another human since the disaster that happened last time.

Rhys stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around himself. He slipped on the T-shirt and sweatpants he had brought into the washroom. He tossed the towel on the floor before stepping into the bedroom.

Rhys only took one step into the room before halting. Drew was sitting on the side of the bed. His back was to Rhys and he was staring at Anna. He looked over his shoulder when he heard the bathroom door open.

"What are you doing here?" Rhys asked.

"I just wanted an update," Drew said.

"On what?"

"On how well your rock garden is doing. What do you think I want an update on?"

Rhys ran his hand down his face. Drew reached out and ran his fingers through Anna's tangled blonde hair. Rhys curled his fingers into a fist as he watched Drew touch her.

Drew grabbed her chin. She winced as he turned her head forward. He ran his thumb against the dried up blood in the corner of her mouth. Rhys silently cursed himself out. He thought that he had washed all of the blood off of her face.

"Feeding her your blood?" Drew asked. "You know that is just going to make her more dependent on you."

"She would have died if I didn't," Rhys said.

"How do you know that?"

"I'm the oldest. Did you forget that?"

"I'm aware. You remind us every chance you get."

"Then you shouldn't forget."

Drew shook his head. Anna let out a groan and her eyes barely opened. Drew pushed himself up higher on the bed. He cupped Anna's face with his hands. Her hands shook as she reached up to hold onto his wrists. Rhys scowled as jealousy washed over him.

"Sweetheart, can you hear me?" he asked.

Rhys bit down on his lip when he heard Drew use that pet name.

"It hurts," Anna said in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

"It'll go away soon," Drew said. "Just hold on."

Rhys stepped forward and put his hand on Drew's shoulder. Drew kept his hands on Anna's face and looked over his shoulder at Rhys. Drew raised an eyebrow.

"You should go," Rhys said.

"You know you've made a mistake, right?" Drew asked. "You know she's not Hannah."

Rhys tightened his fingers into Drew's shoulder. Drew let go of Anna and she rolled onto her side. Drew grabbed the blanket and fixed it so that it was properly covering her body. Rhys kept his fingers curled into his shoulder and towered over him.

"What happened with Hannah is not going to happen again," Rhys said.

"It better not," Drew said. "We don't need another Nightingale disaster."

"Anna is different," he said. "She's not a Nightingale."

Drew rolled his eyes as he stood. Rhys crossed his arms over his chest.

"You should leave," Rhys said. "And don't come in to check on her again."

Drew opened his mouth to talk back, but Rhys glared at him. Drew turned and stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut. Anna stirred and Rhys sat down beside her. He ran his fingers through her hair until she settled down.

--

Anna opened her eyes to see the sun shining through the window. The pain in her head had dulled down to a slight throb. She sat up and her eyes scanned the room. Her heart pounded in her chest when her eyes landed on the other side of the bed.

Rhys was lying on his back. His hand was on his chest, and his eyes were shut. She watched him to see that his chest was not rising and falling with breath.

Anna's hand went up to the bandage on her neck. The last thing she could remember was being bitten. The images of the two vampires over Jess's body filled her mind. She wanted to save Jess, but was overpowered by the four vampires.

Her grandmother had warned her about how vampires liked to enslave people. They would feed off of a human until the vampire could no longer control themselves and drain the human of all their blood. She knew that she had to get out of this house before he killed her. She was going to lose her mind, her life, or both.

She lifted the corner of the blankets and slipped out of bed. The floor creaked under her feet. She let out a yawn, and a sharp pain shot across the front of her gums. Her tongue ran across her top teeth. She could feel something sharp protruding from her aching gums.

She saw a door that was open ajar and hurried over to it. She pushed it open to see that it was a bathroom. She rushed over to the sink and gasped when she looked into the mirror.

She could not see her reflection staring back at her. She reached out and touched the mirror. She pulled away her hand to see her fingerprints lingering on the glass.

"No, no, no, no," she said as she shook her head.

This was much worse than being enslaved.

She opened her mouth and pushed on her fangs. She did not remember seeing them on any of the men. Only when the one was about to bite Jess did she see fangs.

"You okay?"

Anna spun around to see Rhys standing in the doorway. He was leaning against the doorframe.

"What did you do to me?" she asked.

"I saved you," he said. "Drew bit you and you were bleeding everywhere."

Anna's hand went back up over the bandage. Her neck throbbed and when she touched it the pain laced its way down her chest and back.

"What about Jess?" she asked. "Where is she?"

"She's dead," Rhys said.

"What?" Anna's stomach twisted and her eyes burned with tears. Her best friend was now murdered because she couldn't protect her. She should have pulled her out of that club instead of going into the alley. "Why would you save me, but kill her?"

Rhys uncrossed his arms and stood up straight. Anna blinked and a few tears rolled down her cheeks. She hastily wiped them off of her face. Rhys held his hand out toward Anna, and she glared at him.

"Come with me," he said.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," she said.

"Don't be difficult."

"Me being difficult? You're the one who murdered me!"

"Technically Drew murdered you."

"This is not a time to be talking about technicalities."

Rhys closed his eyes and let out a deep breath to calm himself. Anna glanced back over at the mirror hoping to see either of them in the reflection. Her heart sunk in her chest when she saw neither of them. She looked back at Rhys, and he raised an eyebrow.

"How do you fix this?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"How do I go back to being human?"

Rhys scoffed and Anna knew it was a stupid question. Her grandmother told her everything about vampires, and she never once mentioned a cure.

"You can't reverse this," Rhys said. "Anna, you're a vampire."