Anna and Alice went outside to the back of the club with the two boys. Rhys and Drew were standing there. Anna could see their tall frames behind the large green dumpster. Anna's heart was pounding in her chest. She looked over at Alice and Noah to see that they were deep in conversation. They walked around to behind the dumpster. Carson and Noah stopped when they saw Rhys and Drew.
"Where are we going, Anna?" Carson asked.
She opened her mouth, but she did not know what to say. She looked over at Rhys. He stormed over to Carson and grabbed his shirt and pushed him to the ground.
"What are you doing?" Noah asked.
He shook Alice off of his arm. Alice let out a growl and her eyes went dark. Veins protruded from her eye sockets. She jumped up onto Noah and sank her teeth deep into his neck. He fell to the ground. Alice stayed attached to his neck and was sucking out his blood. There was blood that was splattered across the bricks of the building and the dumpster.
Rhys was on top of Carson and pinning him down to the ground. Noah's screams were gurgling as he tried to push Alice off him.
"Get off me!" Carson screamed.
He was thrashing around underneath Rhys. He was kicking out his legs. Rhys had his wrists and pinned them down above his head. Rhys was looking over his shoulder at Anna.
"Anna, get over here," Rhys said.
Anna's mouth was hanging open as she watched her friend fight for his life. It was going to be her that killed him. Was the pain in her stomach from hunger or guilt?
"Anna, what are you waiting for?" Rhys asked. She could hear the anger seeping into his voice. "You need to bite him."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Carson yelled.
Rhys turned to look back at Carson. Rhys's eyes went black. He opened his mouth to reveal that his fangs.
"What the fuck?" Carson screamed.
"Bite him, Anna," Rhys said. "Do it now."
"Anna, no! Please, Anna. You can't do this!"
Drew stepped around Rhys and Carson. He put his hands on Anna's shoulders. Anna's eyes kept jumping between Rhys and Drew. Carson was screaming and pleading for his life.
"Anna, I know this is hard, but you have to do it," Drew said. "You have to do it now. If he keeps screaming more people are going to come back here. I know you don't want more people to die than necessary, correct?"
Anna nodded. He was right. She wanted as few people to die as possible. She shook her hands at her side before closing her eyes. She took a shaky step forward before getting down next to Rhys. The small stones on the ground tore into her knees.
Carson's face was bright red. Tears were streaming down his face. His glasses had fallen off his face. He rolled his head to the side to stare at Anna.
Pain shot across her gums and she felt her fangs sticking out. Her eyes went black and Carson gasped. Anna curled her fingers into a fist to try and push down the craving to bite him and drain him of his blood.
"Go ahead," Rhys said.
"I can't do it," Anna said.
"You have to and you're going to," he said.
Anna shook her head. Rhys rolled his eyes before reaching into his pocket. He flicked the blade out on his knife and held it up against Carson's neck. Seeing the fear in Carson's eyes made Anna freeze. Rhys pushed the blade into Carson's neck and blood bubbled to the surface. He flipped the blade back in and shoved the knife back into his pocket.
A sweet smell filled Anna's nose and her mouth watered. Her stomach churned and she leaned in closer to Carson. Blood was running down his neck. Anna's gums ached as she stared at the blood. She could not help herself as she leaned further in until her lips were against his skin. She sunk her teeth deep into his neck.
Anna thought that Rhys's blood was delicious, but Carson's blood was even more savoury. Carson's cries sounded like he was underwater as the blood rushed into his throat. Anna gulped back the blood as it flooded into her mouth. She drank from him until the blood stopped rushing into her mouth.
Anna wiped her mouth with the back of her hand as she pulled away from Carson's body. Blood was streaked across the pale skin of her hand. She shook her head. Her knees wobbled as she got back up onto her feet. She ran her fingers through her blonde hair. Rhys got off Carson's lifeless body.
The tears pricked at the back of Anna's eyes and she was afraid to blink. She knew that if she blinked, tears would be rolling down her cheeks.
Carson was her friend. She sat next to him in class. They bounced story ideas off each other. He was someone that she thought had a bright future, and because of her, he was never going to have that.
"Are you okay?" Drew asked Anna.
She opened her mouth to speak, but it was too much for her. The tears escaped her eyes and she was sobbing. She covered her mouth to try and hide it, but she could not stop. Drew put his arm around Anna's shoulders.
"Anna, it's okay," Drew told her.
"Are you seriously crying?" Rhys asked.
"Stretch may be an ass-kicker, but she's apparently not some vicious killer," Alice said.
Great, Anna thought, I just murdered a friend and they're mocking me for it.
Drew lowered his hand down and rubbed Anna's back. Anna wiped the tears off of her cheeks, but she continued to cry.
"Come on," Rhys said. "Pull yourself together. We need to go."
She tried to control the tears. She grabbed a fistful of hair and pulled at her roots. She could not stop herself from crying.
"Seriously, Anna," Rhys said. "We need to go."
"You'll feel better once we get back to the house," Drew said. "We all struggled the first time."
Drew wrapped his arms around Anna. She slipped her arms around his waist. She buried her face in his chest. He rubbed her back.
Rhys's jaw hardened as he watched him comfort her. Drew smirked when he saw him scowling at them.
Anna managed to stop crying and pulled away from Drew. She took a step back and kept her chin lifted high so that she did not have to look down at Carson's body. Alice pushed Drew out of the way. Anna noticed that her face was clean from all the blood. She held out a wipe.
"Pro-tip," she said. "Carry baby wipes with you everywhere you go."
Anna took the wipe from her and scrubbed her mouth. She cringed when she looked at the red crimson covering the white wipe.
"We need to go," Rhys said.
"Let's go," Drew said.
Drew put his hand on Anna's back and guided her forward. She had to step over Carson's body as they went out of the alleyway and into the parking lot. Huxley and Calvin would pick up Noah and Carson's lifeless bodies. Rhys was storming toward the car. He was ahead of all of them and Molly struggled to keep up with her short legs. She seemed to be trying to tell Rhys something.
Rhys opened up the passenger side door when he got to the car. He motioned for Anna to get into the car. Anna nodded and followed what Rhys wanted. He slammed the car door once she was in. Drew and Alice got into the backseat. Rhys pulled out of the parking lot as fast as he could. Anna grabbed the seatbelt across her chest to brace herself as Rhys raced home.
No one said a word the entire ride. Rhys had not even turned on the radio so they sat in silence. Anna looked down and noticed that she had not cleaned the blood off the back of her hand.
They stayed silent as they went into the house. Anna kicked off her heels and ran up the stairs as fast as the tight dress allowed her to. She did not look back to see if anyone was following her.
She went into Rhys's room and grabbed a hoodie and a pair of pajama pants out of her duffel bag. She went into the bathroom and took a hot shower. Images of Carson's body filled her mind. She tried her best to scrub all of his blood off of her skin.
When she got out of the shower, she braided her wet strands back. She stepped into the hallway. Her bare feet were cold against the hardwood floor.
There was the sound of a girl giggling, and Anna raised an eyebrow. It did not sound like Alice and she has not met any other female in this house.
Huxley came stumbling up the stairs. His one hand was holding the hand of a girl. Anna recognized her as the girl that Huxley was dancing with at the club. She furrowed her brows as she looked at the girl. She had a dragon tattoo scrawled up her arm which looked familiar.
They were both laughing, but the girl's face grew into a bigger smile when she saw Anna. She let go of Huxley's hand and ran over to Anna. She wrapped her arms around Anna's neck and rocked them from side to side. She could smell the vodka on her breath.
"Anna!" she squealed. "It's so great to see you."
"Good to see you too," Anna said as she tried to remember who this girl was.
"Anna, you know Naomi?" Huxley asked.
The name triggered a memory in Anna's mind. She recalled the girl to be Naomi Fadler. She was one of the new recruits Jonathan brought to the cottage during summer. Anna spent most of her days reading by the lake, so she did not spend much time with Naomi. She wondered if she had any idea that she was in a house full of vampires.
"I'm friends with her brother," Naomi said. "I haven't seen Anna since the summer."
Anna was relieved that Naomi did not tell him the truth.
"What a small world," Huxley said. The girl let go of Anna and hurried over to Huxley. He put his arm around Naomi's shoulders. "Anna, have you eaten yet?"
Anna bit down on her lip to stop her jaw from hanging open, but her eyes grew wide. She found it hard to believe that Huxley could be so blunt, yet only the two of them knew what he truly meant.
"I did," she said. "Thanks for asking."
"Just looking out for you." Huxley put two fingers to his forehead in a salute.
Huxley pulled Naomi down the hall and into his room. He closed the door behind them. Anna crept down the hall and placed her ear against the door. She listened as Naomi continued to giggle. She could not quite understand what their mumbled voices were saying.
Naomi let out a scream, and Anna stumbled back. Her ears were ringing as she listened to Naomi continue to scream. Anna wondered what kind of fight she was putting up. Jonathan trained her, so she was a bit worried for Huxley.
She put her hand on the doorknob in the bedroom. She jumped when she felt something touch her waist. She turned to see Rhys standing next to her. She was shocked that she did not hear him coming down the hall. The creaking floorboards must have been disguised by Naomi's screaming.
"You know, it's not nice to eavesdrop," he said. He cocked his head to the side to motion to his room. "It's been a long night. Let's get some sleep."
Anna nodded her head as she felt compelled to follow Rhys to his room.