Vampires, Eh?

Chapter 8

Anna nodded. Her grandmother always told her that vampires survived off of blood and nothing else. Part of her wanted to tell Jonathan about what she just learned, but she could never see him again.

Rhys stood and extended his hand. Anna ignored it and held her hands behind her back. She stepped around Rhys and headed for the door.

"Do you know where the kitchen is?" Rhys asked.

Anna halted in front of the door and looked over her shoulder.

"No," she said. "I guess you better lead the way."

Rhys rolled his eyes before opening the door. Anna walked beside him as he went down the stairs and through the house.

The kitchen had white marble counters with black tiles along the wall. Lights were dangling from the ceiling and over the kitchen island. Drew was at the stove and spooning spaghetti onto plates. Alice was standing at the island tossing a salad. Huxley was sitting on one of the stools at the island. Calvin was sitting at the long wooden dining room table. He had a sketchbook flipped open in front of him and was running his pencil along with the page. Anna took a seat on the other stool.

"I never thought that I would be eating pasta with a bunch of vampires," Anna said.

"You mean this isn't a scene in your book?" Huxley said with a smile and a chuckle.

"What book?" Drew asked.

"It's nothing," Anna said.

She balled up her fist and lightly punched Huxley on the arm. Drew set a plate full of food down in front of her.

"Don't be expecting any garlic bread," Drew said. "The important part of cooking is to not add any garlic to your food."

"Or salt," Huxley said before shoving his mouth full of spaghetti. "That'll cause you to burn from the inside out."

Anna twirled her fork in the pasta. Rhys and Alice sat down at the table with Calvin. Drew ate while standing across from Anna. She took a bite of her food and noticed that it had no flavor without the salt.

"So are you going to fight Blondie again?" Calvin asked Alice.

She picked at the salad that was on her plate. Anna pretended to not see her glare.

"She better be prepared," Alice said. "Next time I'm not holding back."

"Don't want to get your ass kicked again, Alice?" Huxley asked.

Alice scoffed. Anna's lips twitched into a smile. She could sense that Huxley was probably going to be the only person in this house that she could trust.

"Hardly," Alice said. "You know, the only thing that stopped me from killing her is that Rhys would behead me if she died."

"We all got our asses kicked when we first started," Rhys said. "It's not going to be any different for Anna because she is a girl."

"Am I the first girl you have turned?" Anna asked. "What about Alice?"

Alice laughed.

"Rhys wishes he turned me," she said. "The last time I was human was three days before the Battle of Queenston Heights. Luckily my husband was at the battle and didn't notice me turning."

"You were at Queenston Heights?" Anna asked.

Anna had taken many courses in Canadian History. She always had dreams of writing a novel about the war of 1812. It was her next project in her mind for once she had completed her vampire novels. She would love to talk to Alice about it, but she did not want to seem suspicious.

"I wasn't at the actual battle," Alice said. "I was living in Niagara at the time with my husband and baby."

"You have a baby?" Anna asked.

Anna would have never assumed that Alice was a mother. She came off as so cold, and not someone loving and caring.

"Had a baby," Alice said. "I hope he died. I would hate for him to be roaming this world somewhere."

Anna took another bite of her food and nodded. She was surprised to hear that a mother wished her child was dead, but she understood that death was a better fate than their own.

"These boys don't turn anyone anymore," Alice said. "You should consider yourself lucky."

"I don't know if I would use the word 'lucky'," Anna said.

"I could have left you bleeding out on the ground," Rhys said. "Just remember that."

Anna's hand went to the bandage on her neck. The dull throb had eased and she almost forgot that she had been attacked. She wished that she did not try to run. If she was able to fight the boys like she fought Alice she may have won. She had to remind herself that she would have been outnumbered four-to-one.

"Did you turn each other?" Anna asked.

"No," Drew said. "We all met each other over the years."

"Have you all turned anyone?" Anna asked.

"Well, there was Hannah," Calvin said.

Anna could not see it, but Rhys kicked Calvin under the table. The plates rattled on top of the table. Calvin rolled his eyes and rubbed his shin.

"Who's Hannah?" Anna asked.

The name sounded vaguely familiar to her.

"No one that concerns you," Rhys said.

"Best not to ask about her," Huxley said. "Rhys gets really pissy when someone mentions her name."

Rhys slammed his fist down on the table.

"Stop talking about her," he said. "We're not living in the past. We have too much of that to dwell there."

"Alright, let's change the topic before Rhys explodes," Alice said. "Anna, I'm going to buy you a dress for tomorrow night."

"What's tomorrow night?" she asked.

"Your first feed," Alice said. Anna's stomach twisted and a wave of nausea washed over her. She knew this was inevitable. "It's your choice: red or blue?"

"Nothing slutty," Anna said.

"You have got to learn how to lure men," Alice said. "A revealing dress can play a critical role in that."

Alice picked up her plate and dumped it into the sink. She went back to the table and picked her leather jacket up off of the back of the chair. She slipped it on and grabbed her purse.

"No one wait up for me," she said. "I may take a trip down near the shelters."

"Why would you do that?" Anna asked.

"I feel like a little snack."

Alice winked at her before turning around and heading for the door. Anna knew that she should stop asking questions.