Vampires, Eh?

Chapter 24

 The men took turns driving for the rest of the trip. Rhys refused to allow Anna behind the wheel again. No one spoke to each other, and they listened to the sound of the radio for countless hours. Rhys did not let them stop. Anna wanted to either talk to Huxley again or search through her grandmother's notebook.

Hannah Nightingale was a new name. Was her grandmother trying to hide her from Anna? Drew said she was a vampire. Maybe the family was too embarrassed about her to mention her name. What would Jonathan and her family think about her becoming a vampire? Would they pretend like she never existed?

Anna was relieved when she saw the sign for Ottawa on the side of the highway. She sunk into her seat. Her joints were aching from sitting for so long. It was going to feel good to get out of the car.

It was dark and almost in the middle of the night. She was excited to crawl into a bed and sleep. She knew Rhys would make her sleep next to him despite the fact that she did not want to be anywhere near him.

They pulled off the highway and drove through a suburban neighbourhood. They were the only car driving on the street. Rhys pulled into the driveway of a blue and white house with an SUV. There was a perfectly manicured lawn and flower bed.

Drew was the first to get out of the car. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and texted Sybil. Her instructions were to not knock on the door.

They grabbed their bags out of the trunk and walked up to the front door. They waited on the porch for Sybil.

A few minutes passed before Sybil opened the front door. She had dark hair that was messily tied up on the top of her head. She was wearing flannel pajama bottoms and a robe. A pair of glasses sat on top of her head. Her face lit up when she saw Drew. A wide smile grew across his face too.

"Long time, no see," Sybil said. "I'm fine with having you stay here, but you need to be quiet. My family is all sleeping right now."

"Thank you," Drew said. "We owe you big time."

"I'll think of a way you can repay me."

Sybil winked before opening the door wider. They all stepped in and followed Sybil as she walked through her house. She opened a door in the kitchen and there was a steep concrete staircase. Sybil had set up two air mattresses and folded out two futons. They were covered with blankets and pillows.

"I hope this is okay," Sybil said.

"It's perfect," Drew said.

"Yeah." Calvin rolled his eyes. "A thin piece of padding over heavy metal bars is how I usually like to sleep."

Drew swung his hand out and his Calvin in the shoulder. Sybil let out a deep breath and put her hands on her hips.

"You can sleep in the car if you keep that up," she said.

"Cal is going to keep his mouth shut," Drew said. "We're not going to complain."

"Thank you," Sybil said. "Now, get some sleep and do me a favour and not eat my children."

"We promise we won't," Drew said.

Sybil nodded before heading up the stairs. The door on the top of the stairs slowly clicked shut. Huxley ran over to the futon with more blankets and placed his bag down to claim it. Calvin rolled his eyes before collapsing on one of the air mattresses. Rhys put his bag down on the other air mattress and Anna set her bag down next to his.

"Let's get some sleep," Rhys said.

"I'm glad to finally lie down," Huxley mumbled into a pillow.

Anna giggled as she went through her bag to find her pajamas. Her fingers grazed along with the cover of her grandmother's notebook. She had to resist the urge to pull it out and start searching for Hannah's name. She pulled out her clothes and zipped up the duffel bag. She walked over to the bathroom to change her clothes.

–

Huxley was asleep before changing his clothes. Calvin barely made it into pajamas before passing out on the air mattress. Drew looked over at Rhys who had his usually stern face on.

"You have to go easier on Anna," Drew said. "She's just curious."

"No one needs to talk about Hannah," Rhys said.

"She has to know eventually. Besides, it's all in the past."

"We don't need to relive the past."

–

Anna walked out of the bathroom with her clothes balled up in her hands and her hair braided. Rhys and Drew stopped talking and watched Anna walk to her bag. She stuffed her clothes into the duffel bag and raised an eyebrow.

"What are you guys looking at?" she asked.

"I think Rhys has something he would like to say," Drew said.

Rhys shook his head and rolled his eyes. Drew cleared his throat and Rhys stopped moving his head.

"Fine," he said. "I'm sorry for being mad at you in the car."

The corner of Anna's lips twitched into a smile. Was she really getting an apology?

"Thank you," she said. "Do I get to ask questions now?"

"Don't push your luck," Rhys said. "Get to bed."

Anna was compelled to follow his orders and crawled into bed without saying anything. Drew glared at Rhys who was smirking. Rhys stayed quiet as he got into the other side of the air mattress. Anna curled into a ball on the edge of the bed and Rhys rolled onto his side. He watched her as she fell asleep.

–

Drew turned off the lights to the basement and dragged his feet over to the futon. He lied down and pulled the blankets over him.

He hated how Rhys treated Anna. He was glad that he told Anna about what drinking Rhys's blood has done to her. He hoped that she held onto the realization that she did not want to follow Rhys's orders and become a mindless slave. He knew by telling her that she would not be drinking his blood again.

A pang of guilt was deep in his stomach as he thought about feeding off of her. Drew knew that if he was not the one to bite her, another one of the guys would have killed her. He wished she was not carrying that stake on her. Not only did he get stabbed, but it stopped him from completely killing her. He was responsible for giving her a fate worse than death.