Vampires, Eh?

Chapter 36

Rhys pushed Anna against the wall. He put his hands against the wall and trapped Anna in. He glared as he looked at her. The tightness returned to Anna's chest.

"What was that?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"This is why I can never leave you alone."

Anna raised an eyebrow, encouraging him to explain himself.

"You almost ate a guy in a club full of people," he said. "We just got here."

"I could restrain myself," she said.

"I doubt that."

Anna scowled. He put his hand under her chin. She gritted her teeth as she struggled to raise her hand and push him away.

"You are staying by my side for the rest of the night," he said.

"You would love that, wouldn't you?" she said.

Rhys cocked his head to the side.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"You are in my head," Anna said. "And, every day it is getting worse. Why would you ever do this to me?"

"You needed my blood to survive," he said. "I told you that you would have never survived the transformation."

"What about the other time?"

Rhys chewed on his lip and closed his eyes as he tried to think of an excuse. He did not open his eyes until he heard Anna sob. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. She wiped them away while her eyes were cast down.

"You should have let me bleed out on the ground that night," she said. "I wanted to die with Jess. She was the only one who understood me and now she is gone. I'm just a lifeless bloodsucker now. You are right. I am hungry and I wanted to eat that guy. We should just go."

"No," Rhys said. He tried to ignore the feelings of guilt that were burrowing deep into his mind as he watched Anna cry. "We are all going to feed tonight."

Anna raised her head to look at him. Her eyes were rimmed with red.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"All of us are going to feed tonight," he said.

"Isn't that going to gain attention?"

"That is the point. We want the Nightingales to come."

Anna wiped away the remaining tears. She had tried her best to prepare herself to see Jonathan, but she was not ready to see her brother yet.

Rhys brushed the back of his knuckles along Anna's cheek. It brought Anna back to her conversation with Drew last night. She was soon going to be completely enslaved to Rhys. If they were to kiss, Anna was going to lose her free will. She wanted this fight to be over so that she could leave with Drew.

"Do you want to get a drink?" Rhys asked.

"No." Anna shook her head. She did not want anything that would make it harder to stay away from Rhys. She could already feel herself breaking.

She was physically tired of this internal fight. Part of her wanted to cave into it. Rhys being so close to her made the temptation even worse. Without thinking, she put her hands on Rhys's shoulders.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I want my mind back," she said. "I want my life back. I need to stay away from you."

"Stay away from me?"

"Yes." She did not want to confess, but the words came off her tongue without any control. "Drew and I are going to leave once this battle is over."