Chapter Nine

Tom began explaining last night, and everyone had a stormy look in their eyes when they asked about how the vampires got me.

"How," George sounded a bit livid, "did they capture you?"

I felt myself blush with embarrassment. "I fell asleep at the park."

"What?" Hal raked his fingers through his hair.

I scowled. "The hangover was a bit intense you know. I've never been hung-over, well, once. That was at my cousin's baby shower."

Mitchell shook his head. "Annie, you need us to watch you."

"I'm not a child, Mitchell," I stood up, feeling my muscles protest sharply. I kept myself from wincing. "I've just been having a rough few days; it's not easy for me!" I realized that my voice was rising, but I almost didn't care. "Coming back from the dead, and having all of these feelings and emotions! At least you all have had time to realize what you are. I'm still in the dark! And don't get me started on all of these feelings and senses that popped out of nowhere and continue to mess with me." I stormed toward the kitchen, trying hard to keep my head, but the anger was so strong.

"Annie," Hal was right behind me. He grabbed my shoulder and turned me toward him and the others who were now watching us with grave eyes. Mitchell and George looked stricken, as if my words had been blows. "We didn't mean-" He started.

"I don't care!" I pushed his hand away. I saw the lights begin to flicker. "I just got back a few days ago, and I've been bitten enough for a dozen vampires! And before that I watched Mitchell, and George, and Nina die! And I couldn't do anything. I could only watch, because as a ghost, what the hell could I have done? And now I'm solid, but I feel just as helpless."

I forgot what I meant to do in the kitchen. I heard Eve begin to cry and I felt my body go cold with self-hate.

I roared as I dashed up the stairs. "I need a minute to think! It's like being in a hole sometimes."

Nothing could condone my behavior, but I was so overwhelmed with emotions that I could barely comprehend anything except the words screaming in my head, I have to think!

I grimaced when I ran into my barren room. I had no real history in here. I slammed the door closed and ran back down the stairs. I was snarling under my breath. I had never felt so enraged before, so angry at the world.

"Annie," Tom called to me. I whirled to him, feeling the rage evident on my face, twisting my features and making me look nightmarish.

Nina was rocking Eve and Nina peered at me with grave brown eyes. I shook my head at Tom and Nina turning away. Hal and Mitchell were suddenly by the front door. Mitchell blocked the way.

"Let me by, Mitchell." I said, not ready to snap again. I knew just where I needed to go: the park. I needed to talk to Dale so I could be sure that I wouldn't attack my friends.

Mitchell growled, "Annie, stay here.

And I growled back, "I need to get some air."

Hal snapped his fingers. "Enough, Mitchell, let Annie through."

I flashed him a grateful glance as they both stepped aside. I felt my emotions skyrocket and I opened the front door open. I heard it tremble when I slammed it shut, already outside.

I ran the park as fast as I could, not bothering to teleport. I was dialing the number in the pay phone before I sat down. "Dale?" I demanded when someone picked up.

"It's me." His voice sounded glum. It caught me off guard.

"What's happened? Is it Kate or Jonas?"

"No. It's me."

"What's wrong?" What had happened?

"I lost it, Annie." Dale sounded remorseful. "I killed someone last night."

I dropped my phone as I felt my head spin.

"Annie? Annie, are you still there?"

I bent down to pick up the phone by the cord. "I dropped the phone." I gasped.

"Are you all right?"

"No! I thought you were going clean!" I nearly yelled.

"Even the best have slip ups sometimes." Dale's voice was frowning. "How are you managing?"

"Is getting my fingers cut while trying to break out of a cage and licking them when I realize that they're bleeding count as being clean?" I asked innocently.

"Oh my God!" Dale groaned. "Annie, you need to be more careful, and what were you doing in a cage?"

I explained to him everything: going to sleep at the park and waking up in a cage surrounded by vampires, dodging a transforming Tom while still trapped inside, and dealing with the numerous bites. I even told him, shamefully, of my very recent outbursts at my friends.

Dale was quiet for a while. "Dale?" I finally asked.

"Hm?" He seemed lost in thought.

"I'm fine, I haven't bitten anyone. Even though blood is getting hard to avoid. People like to bite me nowadays."

"Ouch." He noted.

I realized what I had said and couldn't apologize fast enough. "I'm sorry! It wasn't supposed to come out of like that."

"No worries." Dale said. His voice had an edge to it. "I'm coming down now, however. Be prepared, you can't stop me."

"No!" I exclaimed. "You are not coming down! Like I said-"

"And like I said, Annie. I told you something else was going to happen.

I grimaced. "Dale, I called you to distract me."

"I could distract you better if I was down there," Jonas was suddenly on the phone. His voice was husky and low.

I had to sit down. "Jonas?"

"Dale gave me the phone."

"Without telling me? Tell him he's in trouble." I grumbled. Jonas laughed.

"But, still, Annie. I want to go down there too."

"But you're not like me."

"A vampire?" Jonas chuckled, "Of course I am. I'm one of Dale's recruits."

I nearly fainted. "Oh God." My voice went weak. Dale hadn't told me everything.

"Annie?" Jonas said urgently, hearing the way I started breathing. "Did I upset you?"

"I just didn't need to hear that." I wiped at my eyes, confused at the wetness that was suddenly there. "Tell me, did you want it?"

"At first, no. I hated myself." Jonas went quiet. "Then, I realized all the things I could do without dying. It was perfect! I had asked him for it, not knowing completely of what I was getting, but I was glad that I had gotten it."

I struggled to breathe. "Okay. Thanks for talking to me."

He told me no problem, and was about to hang but I stopped him. "So has it been you who's been flirting with me?"

"Mostly. I have to admit, I think Dale likes you."

"And you like to get me drunk." I pointed out, remembering Jonas's eagerness at giving me vodka ice cream.

Jonas laughed and was still laughing when he bid me goodbye.

I sat down with a sigh. I had to sit with my head on my knees on the ground next to the bench, and I stayed the way, sobbing, until Mitchell came.

"Annie!" He yanked me up to my feet. I looked at him with wide eyes.

"What?" I gasped. "I'm fine."

He shook his head. "You're not, Annie."

I protested. "I am! I mean, I was crying because I probably killed all of my relationships-"

Mitchell kissed me, and the sensation had me melting. I grabbed at his face with fierce hands and he breathed, "You're not fine, Annie. You're perfect to me. Every mistake you make balances us out." Scorn filled his voice. "You're so pure, and I'm such a mess."

"How am I pure?" I gasped madly around his lips. "I'm a monster for yelling at you guys like that."

Mitchell grabbed my hair to pull my closer to him. "I know what a monster is, trust me."

I grinned and pictured myself in his room. It was all I could do to not moan when his kisses became more frenzied. We fell onto the bed and me on bottom and I relished at the sensations Mitchell was causing me to feel. His lips never left mine and I could feel my body getting warm and tingly. It was hard not to unbutton his shirt-

"Mitchell?" Nina called. "Is she back?"

How did she know that we came back?

He had to pull away. I tried to smile but I felt my heart breaking when I recalled the very brief conversation. Mitchell was banking on my mistakes to make him feel better? I didn't know whether to feel angry.

I teleported downstairs, apologies already on my lips. "Guys, I'm sorry." I felt sobs begin to bubble in my stomach and fought against them.

Nina looked at me with sad eyes. "It's okay."

I shook my head. "I never meant to explode like that. It wasn't right, me taking my anger out on you." I frowned. Someone should stake me.

"So to make up for it," I grinned. "We're going to have a Hawaiian dance again."

George, Nina, and Mitchell, who had dashed down the stairs, grinned at me while Tom and Hal looked clueless.

I teleported in my room, getting ready to search for the lei again. Where was it? I never moved it.

"Looking for something?" Mitchell was suddenly behind me, his body pressed against mine. I stifled a gasp and turned to him. He wagged my lei in his hand while he watched me with a coy expression.

"Mitchell, did you take it?" I gasped and pulled from him.

He followed me downstairs. "It smelled like you." He grabbed my arm and turned me toward him. His face was inches from mine. "When you were gone, I laid it under my pillow because I missed you."

I smiled a little and looked at the others. They had been watching us with curious faces, but when we turned to them, they pretended to be busy. Little Eve was sleeping in her rocker. Mitchell went to the kitchen and then came out with a cup of tea.

Tom and Hal were wearing little hats. Tom wore a lei and George grinned when he looked at Tom and Hal's body posture. Hal was scowling while Tom looked bored. "I'd love to take a picture, you guys look absolutely stoned."

"Try it!" I smiled. "Take one of me too." Mitchell and George watched me. I pressed my body against the wall, imagining that it was Mitchell –the warmth from the small amount of time we were in Mitchell's room was very strong- and batted my eyelashes at Mitchell.

"Damn, Annie." George shielded his eyes, glancing at me and Mitchell, who started choking on his tea at my heated expression. "Your sexual frustration is blinding."

"Right." Nina said sarcastically. She did move to the kitchen. "I do have a camera around here somewhere though."

We all began looking and I found it in the cupboard under the TV. "Who hid it?" I stared around accusingly.

Hal raised his hand. "I confess."

I grinned and turned the camera on. I turned on the Hal and pressed the capture button. It flashed and Tom blinked. He looked at me. "My God, do you think he'd show up?"

I smiled at Tom and looked at the picture. I let out a strangled cry as my world started to darken.

Oh my God.

The camera slipped from my hand as I crashed to the floor, seeing darkness.

Hal was on the camera.

For a moment, I floated around in nothingness. I couldn't hear myself think. It felt like I was swimming around in deep water. I couldn't hear anything, not even my own heartbeat.

Voices began to reach my ears after several long moments. "Annie?"

I was being pulled into someone's lap. I opened my eyes, groggy. "What happened?"

"Annie, are you okay?" George was shaking me. "You fainted."

For real this time. I thought fuzzily.

"Look at the camera." I breathed out. Hal was crouching right in front of me and he grabbed the camera off the floor. Mitchell sat me up on his lap. I watched with wary eyes when they turned on the camera.

Nina gasped. "Hal is in the photo!"

I nodded vigorously. "You see?"

Tom looked at Hal. "This is bad."

"Bad?" I felt Mitchell wipe my sweaty hair from my forehead.

"Vampires can't show up on cameras. For that to happen, something must have changed."

Everyone went quiet then I realized it. "This is bad."

Tom held his hands up in exasperation. "What do we do?"

"Nothing." Mitchell was quiet. "Annie might be the only one who found this out."

"You made it sound like I brought a killer out of hiding!" I snapped teasingly as I stood up. I didn't feel angry, just slightly overwhelmed at the way things were going. I winced when I realized how much I was sweating.

"You guys talk it over. I'm going to make sure Annie's okay." I heard Nina murmur to Tom.

I walked to the kitchen with Nina and had to fan myself with a towel.

"You okay?" She asked me. She eyed the kitchen door. We had left the boys alone to discuss it.

I nodded. "After effects, I guess." I looked at her. "Did my eyes turn blue?"

"What?" Nina was staring down at the table with a worried expression.

"When I was mad earlier, did my eyes turn blue?"

"I couldn't see." Nina shook her head. "I'm bothered by the way everything's going."

I could understand that. "I can't see what's going to happen next." I folded my arms together and shivered. "It scares me."

It went quiet in the kitchen, and I couldn't hear the boys talking. But I was comfortable sitting in silence with Nina.

"Dance time!" George yelled, suddenly bursting through the kitchen with Hal after him.

I fell from the chair and shrieked in fright. "George!"

He and Hal pulled me from the floor. "Sorry, Annie." Hal grinned and ruffled my hair. I put a hand over my heart when I was standing.

"I need to restart my heart." I went to the kitchen and pulled out my pitcher of tea. It was getting low. I poured myself a cup and drank it.

I followed Hal into the living room. I was yanked toward a hard body. Mitchell's sweet cologne filled my nose as he grabbed me by one hand. I felt him turn me around in an intense movement. Mitchell didn't stop until I was dizzy. He jerked me to a standstill and pulled my lei over my head. I fluffed out my hair and felt him yank me toward the others.

Tom and Hal were grinning, George was shielding his eyes again, and Nina looked on the edge of tears. I smiled widely at them.

We all stood at the wall without moving. We were standing from left to right: Tom, me, Mitchell, Nina, George, and Hal. Tom started the motion, and then we all followed behind him.

The boys began hip thrusting in sync and Nina and I backed away. Nina looked mildly disgusted while I was trying hard not to laugh.

Tom started laughing hard, "Priceless." He grinned at Hal who slapped him a high five.

Hal looked at us, "I'm glad we decided to do that while we were in here."

Mitchell stopped hip thrusting and started waltzing. George looked at him. "Mitchell, you okay?"

Mitchell paused and looked at them. "When did we stop? I thought it was a five minute thing, that's why I started dancing."

"No." Tom shook his head. "Well, wait, maybe. Keep going."

They started again and I grimaced, with Nina now. It was a bit disgusting. Tom made a moaning sound causing Nina and I to shriek.

I grabbed Nina's hand and pictured myself into the attic. I could hardly breathe.

"Why are we surrounded by our room mates who are horny twenty four-seven?" Nina was laughing.

I wiped tears from my eyes as I shrugged. "They can't know that we thought it was funny."

"Why?" Nina started laughing harder. "It was hilarious!"

"It'll only fuel their ego." I gasped as I remembered Mitchell by himself. A thought struck me that made me slow down my laughing. Did Mitchell picture me? Did he want to be with me that much? And who had come up with that idea anyways? No way George or Hal could. It was only Tom or Mitchell on this one.

I lead the way out of the attic and down to the kitchen. The guys were sitting on the sofa, sipping tea from the pitcher. They looked at us.

"Are we going to dance now?" Nina asked. Mitchell nodded wordlessly, his cheeks red.

I was tucked tight between Nina and Mitchell. We started dancing, moving our hands from one side to the other. I pictured myself as a waterfall and moved my hands like they were made of water. Mitchell's body was close to mine, and the motion of dancing so close together reminded me of my drunken night with Collin.

It was quiet for a while as we enjoyed each other's company.

We were jolted out of it when Eve started crying. Nina looked at us, memories bright in her eyes. "Sorry." She apologized. "Annie, I need to heat up some milk, can you rock her?"

I felt my body freeze. "Can't George do it?"

George looked at me. "I'm sure you could do it, Annie. She's missed you."

"She missed me?" I sputtered. If she knew how I had struggled with the urge to kill her, then she wouldn't miss me so much!

I walked stiffly to Eve and took her in my arms. She calmed down at once, looking at me with bright blue eyes. She tried to lean to my face and I inhaled the rich scent that came from her skin. She was one of a kind.

I felt the need to feed wavered my resolve. I closed my eyes and cooed to her, hoping that she would squeak or do something that would distract me. For a moment, it felt like it was just Eve and me. Eve, me, and my need to feed-

I stopped rocking her, and just held her. I felt myself pull her to my face. My lips grazed her forehead, and I could hear her heartbeat. So fast. Were babies' hearts always beating so quickly? When did it slow down?

I was about to open my eyes but I realized that Mitchell was behind me. He stroked my shoulder gently and it jolted me away from my strange world that I had been flung into.