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Chapter Twenty Nine
Anna gathered her courage, then launched into it. "I told you about my trip to Europe, that my girlfriends and I went to the Goddess meeting and Jenna started seeing the shadow men. What I didn't tell you is that I saw vampires, and witnessed them biting people in the middle of a dance floor though no one else seemed to notice." She stopped and chewed on her lip, trying to decide how to proceed.
"That's not unusual," Josh offered, "we see past their dimming abilities too. You must have opened yourself up to the rest of your power."
Will spoke up. "Speaking of dimming, you can dim yourself, and I gotta say I've never come across another seer with that ability. Or even heard of one that has it."
She nodded slightly. "I am about to tell you how that came to be, it's just a little hard for me."
They wore Go On expressions and she obliged.
Like with Austin she left nothing out, though this time she managed to get through it without crying. When she got to the part where she was getting on the plane, she stopped and gauged their reactions. They looked utterly astounded and she had a feeling it took a lot to surprise these two.
"You survived the transition," Will murmured. It was a statement, not a question. They seemed to be finding it difficult to comprehend and Josh voiced the sentiment.
"How is that possible?"
She lifted a shoulder slightly. "I honestly don't know," she said quietly, "I don't know anything. Other than I am a vampire, or at least half, not sure how that works obviously since I don't know anything. But I have fangs and I crave blood. And I can dim myself and run like the wind, and leap onto my house, and throw my friends over my shoulder, and then there's my super enhanced vision and hearing...." she let that hang in the air and waited for them.
"Holy shit!" Will exclaimed with a grin. "That's just...it's definitely a new one for me. Jesus, you must be one hell of a chic to make it through that shit!"
Josh was still staring at her wide eyed.
"Damn," Will continued, "I'm nearly speechless and that's rare as hell! So you got on the plane and went home...you lost your mom, so what about your dad, is he around?"
"He's a photojournalist who travels all over the world, he was in Haiti at the time...still is."
"But those friends we met, they know right?"
She felt her eyes water a little as she thought about Austin, how amazing he had been, how understanding. She nodded as her chest squeezed. "They were incredibly accepting. Not just Jenna and..."she swallowed thickly, "but also three of my other girlfriends. I don’t know what I would’ve done without them."
Josh lost his wide-eyed stare, his expression changing to sympathy. "You must have been terrified on the flight back."
"You have no idea." She smiled a little as she remembered Austin's grand speech in front of the girls. "Austin made it...well he helped me look at it like I was a superhero." She laughed, "We argued about what to call me, I wanted to go with Bat Girl but he kept insisting on something pertaining to fairies, the Indestructible Fairy was one."
Will smirked,"I'm with him."
She snorted, but her smile faded as she realized it was time for her pitch. She took a deep breath. "So here's the thing. I want to throw in with you, and before you say anything I need you to understand that I can't go home and I have no place else to go."
"Why can't you go home?" Will raised a brow.
She felt tears welling. "Austin and I were a couple and I had to stop pretending it would work. I just can't be there, I don't fit anymore, I have no purpose. I don't fit anywhere, but at least with you two I might have a purpose. I could help you."
Josh smiled at her. "Well, I don't have a problem with it.”
She looked at him gratefully, but Will jumped in, "Whoa, whoa, we need to talk about this before making hasty, life altering decisions." He turned his sharp gaze to Anna and her defeated expression made him chuckle. "You are way too damned cute, do you know that? You remind me of that cat with the boots on Shrek, with the eyes...I'm not saying no, we just need to be sure it's the right thing."
He raised his eyes heavenward then looked back at her, "What about the whole fangs needing blood thing, how have you been doing it?"
"Austin."
"Austin? Are you serious?"
"It doesn't hurt, I didn't hurt him, I wouldn't hurt someone, not ever." The way he was looking at her made her feel guilty and defensive, "The first time I did it I was so sick and weak and the hunger physically hurt, it felt like my blood was burning, a lot like when I was changing except not as intense, but I still didn't hurt anyone..."
"You're not supposed to drink from humans," Will stated.
She furrowed her brows in confusion.
"Actually, how do you know that?" Josh asked his brother then turned to her, "does it affect your abilities, do they decrease during the day?"
She shook her head.
"What about after, do you feel like you're high from it?"
She shook her head again, confused by the questions.
He turned to Will, "Since she was human to begin with, it might be different for her. After all, vampires drink from one another."
Will made a "that's plausible" face and shrugged. "You are an anomaly all the way around Anna Preston."
"So they drink from each other then?"
"Animals and each other."
"Oh." It hadn't even occurred to her to try animals. How would that work, would she have to hunt them, take them down? She shuddered a little picturing it.
"Hey, don't sweat it. If it didn't affect you negatively, than it must be different for you." Will's expression changed to a sly smile. "What did your boyfriend say about how it felt?"
She blushed, warmth climbing up her neck into her cheeks.
"That good huh? Feelin' hungry now?"
She blushed harder and looked away. She'd known she would have to drink from them, but the idea made her uncomfortable, the whole association was too sexual.
"Well?" he persisted.
"Leave her alone Will, you're embarrassing her."
She looked at Josh gratefully thinking she wouldn't mind so much with him.
But Will wasn't letting her off the hook, the persistent pain in the ass.
"I need to see if it's something we can deal with on a regular basis. I know you're preferring Josh for the task right now, but little girl I'm afraid it's me you have to convince. So let's do this."
She knew she wasn't getting out of it, but since she wasn't feeling hungry at the moment her fangs seemed to be suffering from cold feet. "I can wait until tomorrow, or maybe the next day," she attempted hopefully.
"Nice try."
"But I'm not sure I can do it right now since I'm not feeling the need."
"You can."
"Hey Will, give her a break, how do you know she can?"
"I just know." He stared at her unrelentingly.
She sighed. "Fine." She stood and crossed the room to the bed, sitting on the edge. He came over and sat beside her, and she bit her lip nervously. "Austin and I were somewhat intimate, and we made it a part of that. You know like we started kissing first and then I moved over to his neck."
He leaned in and she reared back. "No! I didn't mean I wanted you too, I was just explaining how this could be awkward for me."
"So do what makes you comfortable."
She darted a look at Josh and he nodded in understanding-she didn't want an audience.
"I'll just go down the street and order us some pizza."
Once he was gone she relaxed a little, the whole thing was definitely a one on one experience, at least for her. Will arched his neck to the side for her and she brushed her lips lightly on his pulse. She listened to the rhythmic beat and opened her senses to the smell of him. She felt her teeth elongate then he startled her by leaning back.
He stared at her fangs in fascination. "You sure this isn't gonna hurt? I'd like to be prepared."
"No, I think there might be a numbing agent involved, or maybe they’re just so sharp...."
He nodded and arched his neck once more. She put her lips on him where his pulse was strongest and then sunk her teeth in and sucked. She could hear him making sounds of enjoyment, but she was not going there. The last thing she needed was any weird sexual tension if they were going to work together. When she was finished she backed off gently. His eyes were closed and he opened them slowly, like he was waking up from a nap.
"You're right, it felt good. Really good."
She saw him shift and knew what that meant. Not gonna happen, she thought firmly.
"So you said you and Austin were somewhat intimate? What does that mean exactly?"
She blushed, again. "I told you he was my boyfriend."
"Uh huh." He raised a brow waiting for more.
"I'm a....I haven't you know....with anyone, so we were," she stumbled over the words, "We didn't have sex, okay?" She blurted. "But we did some other stuff, and that's all I'm going to say since it really isn't your business." She stood up and crossed the room, turning to face him with her arms folded protectively around herself.
All signs of smartass had disappeared from his face. "I'm sorry Anna, I didn't mean.....Jesus you're so young and innocent, it makes me wonder what God is up to with this whole thing." He shook his head looking slightly bewildered. "A sweet little virgin vampire, unbelievable, I thought I'd heard it all, but apparently not."
Josh walked in, his expression amused. "Interesting conversation," he put the pizza down. "So I hope this means you're gonna ease up on her."
"Are you kidding? I feel like I'm about to adopt a kid sister." He shook his head again and crossed the room to grab a slice.
Anna stared at them. "Does this mean I can stay with you?"
Will chewed, staring back at her. He swallowed and smiled, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "Yeah, yeah, but if you're joining our team I've got some rules."
She felt giddy, not realizing until that moment how important this was. She grinned, "Go ahead."
"You do what I say, when I say it. First we're gonna go somewhere and you can show us what you can do, you know pull some weight up, do some sprinting, that kind of stuff, then we can test out your hearing, do some eavesdropping, which reminds me," he looked pointedly at Josh, "gonna have to keep in mind she can hear everything we say, so talking about her when she's not in the room ain't gonna work." He looked back at her and folded his arms. "You heard us in the hotel that night."
She nodded.
"Shit." He grinned. "All right, so you're gonna need a crash course in the things we do. For now I don't want you trying to vamp out on the shadows since we don't know enough about it. Just tag along and observe until I think you're ready for other things. It might be damn hard to kill you but it's not impossible, so you know, let's not push the limits right away." He stopped to shove some more pizza in his mouth so she jumped in smiling widely.
"Thank you so much, you have no idea what this means to me!"
Josh came over and sat beside her draping an arm around her shoulder. "I have a good feeling about this," he said, and with that they began making plans.
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