Outside of Jeremy's house were several police cars and a crowd of people.
"They must have been organising a search party," Jeremy moaned to Anna.
Anna laughed. "Human's always over react." Jeremy gave Anna a meaningful look. "Okay, maybe I did over react a bit last night," Anna admitted.
"So, what's our story? What are we going to say?"
Luckily Anna's quick vampire mind had already come up with a suggestion. She had already began to think about that as they left the cabin.
"I think, maybe we should say that I was with you when you found out about Vicky's death and you said that you needed to get out of town for a while, so we just camped out in the car over night. That way, it doesn't suggest that I was in town last night and I," she sighed, "murdered someone,"
She looked at Jeremy with worried eyes, uncertain that at the mention of the events last night, Jeremy would realise what kind of a creature she really was, but he didn't. To her amazement, he agreed.
"That's probably the best we could come up with. What are you going to say to your mother?"
"Well, with that plan, she won't realise I'm stupid enough to go hunting in town after we know that a lot of people have been supplied with vervain, but" Anna said regrettably, " she will probably go mad because I was with you. But I don't think we need to tell anyone about the details."
Jeremy laughed. "No, I think we will keep that to ourselves."
Then they had to break up the conversation because Jeremy's Aunt was striding across the front lawn with a very threatening look on her face.
He pulled up on the drive and quickly got out the car before his Aunt could open the door herself and pull him out.
"Jeremy, how could you?" His Aunt said as he closed the car door.
"I'm sorry, okay. I'm here now, can we just forget about it?"
"Jeremy, you're grounded. Go to your room."
Jeremy sighed. Did he really expect anything else?
He waved a goodbye to Anna who was standing timidly by the car, not sure what to do in this situation.
The next moment, Anna was gone. She decided on the spot to get out before they could start questioning her and she couldn't stand the awkwardness of the situation.
She knew her mother would be mad after she had told her specifically to not see Jeremy Gilbert, but she couldn't help who she fell in love with.
Last night was the most magical night of her existence and all of the days' drama was like a bathos to last night's events. She could feel the elatedness wearing off as she approached her house.
The house, from a distance, seemed dark and eerie. There was something unusual about it, something strange, different from when she left it yesterday. She couldn't see any moving figures in it, from the crowd of vampires who were using it as a refuge from the sun. There seemed to be a disturbance surrounding it, the garden seemed dishevelled, as if there had been a fight outside.
She picked up speed, running faster towards the house. Her surrounding became a green blur. She arrived at the house in seconds but found the door was locked, just like they had left it yesterday. She took the key from her pocket and opened it. Inside, she saw complete and utter devastation, but she wasn't devastated, she was relieved.
The site of bodies everywhere, each one punctured with a wooden steak or with a metal needle, was shocking and a mess. There was blood splattered on the walls and floors, the furniture and paintings, whatever it was, it had been a blood bath.
Anna called out to her mother, although she said earlier that she wished that her mother wasn't there, she would never wish death upon her.
There was no answer.
Anna called out again, knowing that her mother would have heard her the first time if she was in the area.
She walked silently through the house, in a trance-like state, careful not to make a noise, stepping lightly on the floor boards, she felt like she would wake the dead if she did. Anna's breathing rate increased as she took in all the bodies slumped in unnatural positions until she entered the kitchen. On the table, there was a white envelope.
She strode over quickly to read it. She found her fingers were shaking as she tried to slit the envelope.
Inside, there was a small folded piece of paper. It was addressed from her mother.
Anna,
I've left town for a while. There is no use us reclaiming our town back for the moment. We can't do it with just the two of us. I trust you know who did this, so I would think again about getting in too far with the Gilberts, you know who they are associated with.
Pearl
Anna noticed that she had stopped breathing throughout the time that she was reading the letter, and now took a deep breath. Her mother honestly thought that she would be sorry that all the others had been killed. She wasn't. They were evil, and so time consuming. They were like what she had been once and she shivered with the memory. She was more thankful than ever that she had met Jeremy.
The thought of Jeremy made her eager to be with him, but before she could visit him, she had to deal with the mess that had been left here. With the house keeper dead, and people who knew who was living here, she couldn't risk people getting suspicious and coming to the house and finding the bodies. If she didn't do anything, it would be her or her mother who got the blame.
Anna went out of the kitchen to the basement where she knew the house keeper kept flammable liquid. There she took the bottles and went round each room of the house pouring liquid onto everything. Then she went to the store cupboard and took out any alcohol and poured that on the bodies. With the preparation done, she went through each room with a match, and balls of flames ignited. In seconds each room was like a giant inferno and she exited the house. As fast as she could, she ran back to Jeremy's house.
Everything will be destroyed, she thought as she ran.
"I just hope I can make it out as an accident," Anna said out loud to herself.
She kept to the trees so people didn't see the inhuman speed with which she travelled, until she could see the Gilbert's house in the distance. Then she slowed, so she could walk on the road. She heard that Jeremy was grounded, but what his Aunt didn't know, was that she could quite easily jump in through his window.
Anna was relieved to see that there were no police cars by the house now, so she knew that in the short time that she had been away, everything had calmed down.
She had to sneak round the edge of the house, and at the sight of Jeremy's window, the memories and thoughts of the house which had her mind occupied left her mind like mist clearing on a foggy day. She smiled as she saw the light on in his bedroom, and bent down to pick up a stone. She threw it and it bounced off his window.
Anna waited impatiently for Jeremy to open his window. Within ten seconds, he was opening it with a confused expression on his face, but the expression suddenly changed once he saw Anna looking up at him.
"Mind out," she shouted up, and Jeremy suddenly disappeared.
Anna braced her legs, and with the accurate amount of force, jumped straight up to Jeremy's window. He was there waiting for her, and then she was in his arms.
Home, she thought.