Take Courage, My Heart

Chapter Thirteen

Seventy hours later Keisuke told me I could roam around the penthouse again. The extreme hypersensitivity had calmed down almost a full day prior to this. Still, the change of the year would entail fireworks and every single vampire had ended up piling in the tiny bathroom with me and spending it there. Ezra and Keisuke had taken up the shower floor, Ezra sitting with his back against the tiled wall and Keisuke resting between his legs. I was on one side of the sink counter, Annerose was on the other side, and Leander had made himself comfortable on the closed toilet seat.

It still was too loud and every single one of us winced and covered our ears but eventually, everyone had filtered out sometime after the fireworks show was over. Kei and Ezra were the first to leave, Keisuke pulling Ezra on his feet and smiling at us before dragging him out. Leander was next and Annerose stayed with me until we were informed the sun was rising. We played thumb war and rock, paper, scissors over and over again until that point.

I came to realize that I adored her laugh. It was throaty and adorable and it shook her entire body, making her lean back and clap her hands almost every time. It wasn't as contagious as her smile, but it sure made you feel happy.

Not to my surprise the penthouse hadn't changed one bit when I left the bathroom. It remained neat and bright, just like how I remembered it. The afternoon sun was shining through the windows, painting the entire room in a warm golden hue. Keisuke got me a glass of blood when I exited the bathroom and I drank it without giving it much thought. Part of my brain was still signaling to me that drinking blood was icky, but the rest of me was getting over it fast. Whatever the venom had done to me made blood taste heavenly so I wasn't about to pass it up.

"Ezra and Leander went out for a job. They'll probably be back later tonight. Or tomorrow," Keisuke said as I finished drinking and set the glass in the sink.

"A job? What kind of job?" I asked as Annerose strolled into the room. She was wearing only a sports bra and leggings that reached just under her knees. Her skin was shimmering with sweat and both of her hands were wrapped in bandages.

"When nests go dormant we go after rogue vampires," she said and leaned under the faucet, opening it and drinking water straight from the tap.

"Like the one that killed me," Kei went on. "Getting them pays well."

"People pay you to kill vampires?"

"People pay for all sorts of things," Kei replied. I raised an eyebrow.

"We mostly just take head-hunting gigs," Annerose said, wiping her mouth with her bare forearm. "But some humans pay vampires to bite them, to accompany them to events or even to go after other humans."

"The dark web sure sounds fun."

"More like Craigslist," Keisuke corrected me with a laugh.

"Why would someone pay a vampire to accompany them to an event?" I decided to ask.

"It's either to intimidate someone or to show off," Annerose scoffed. "I am going to train again, want to join me?"

I thought about it for a second. It wasn't like I had a packed schedule. And Leander did say that I would need to bulk up if I intended to go after Vincent.

"Sure," I answered at last, and let her guide me to the makeshift training room. It was one of the rooms in the hallway by the front door that I hadn't seen yet. "Isn't Kei going to join us?"

"Oh no, he doesn't train," Annerose said.

"How come?" I asked and then frowned. "I mean, I figured as he is also young, Leander would make him train too."