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Chapter Fifty Two
She dialed and it rang several times then went to his voice mail. “Hey dad, just calling to say hello and I love you. Call me when you can.” She hung up and sighed.
Jenna and Jess were somewhere in France with their eccentric relations. She'd spoken to them several days ago and they seemed to be having a wonderful time. A visit from them would definitely help with the tedium, but for some reason neither of them had their phones on today.
She decided to call Josh and he answered on the first ring.
"Anna!"
"Hey, what're you doing?"
"Not much, just dragged myself out of bed. Still loving British life?"
She gritted her teeth. "Mmm, I don't think that I would go as far as love."
"Why, what's up?"
She briefly explained her rules and he chuckled.
"A house full of Jack McClaron's, huh?
"Yup, pretty much. Hey, have you ever heard about vampire weaponry?"
"Yeah, I know a little about it."
Anna launched into a thorough description of the fang powered tools and Josh had her explain it to Will as well.
"Shit, that would be seriously handy to have," Will's voice elevated in excitement, "Do you think they'll get a hold of any, because we could definitely use them over this way."
"I'm not sure what their plans are, I know they talked about it, but to be honest they are keeping me out of the loop. Like your brother said, I live with a house full of Jack McClaron's. They treat me like a little girl. But I will ask them for you."
"Awesome, keep us posted."
"I will."
Josh got back on, "Sorry to cut this short but we have to head out. Call me later?"
"Okay. Love you guys."
"We love you too."
She hung up and thought, Well that wasted a whole fifteen minutes. She looked towards the empty house and was struck again by how large it was. With ten bedrooms, four bathrooms and two large sitting rooms, it was the closest thing to a mansion she’d ever been in. The inner décor was both beautiful tasteful, in fact other than the bathrooms and the kitchen which were newly renovated, most of the house was filled with well maintained antiques making it look like a throwback from another time.
Outdoors there was a massive wraparound porch and the property was immense. The game of hide and seek that could commence there....
Her phone rang. Jenna, finally.
"Sorry Anna, we didn't have our phones with us this morning!"
"Not a problem."
"You called a gazillion times, what's going on, something wrong?"
"A gazillion might be a wee bit of an exaggeration," Anna joked.
"You're not one to call over and over."
"Ech, I know, I'm just bored to tears."
"Still under house arrest?"
"Yup."
"Okay, we're going to head out there tomorrow. We’ve got your address and Harri says to expect us in the afternoon."
"She's coming? I thought she was staying with...
"Are you kidding?" Jenna broke in, "Do you actually think she'd pass up a chance to meet a house full of handsome vampires, and a werewolf? Riigght."
Anna giggled, "Gotcha, so I'll see you girls tomorrow?"
"Yup, can't wait!"
"Me either, I'm going nuts!"
The following day the girls arrived at four in the afternoon. Anna skipped over to them wrapping them in a big group hug. Michael, Seth, Tyros and Coderin were in one of the sitting rooms and they stood to greet the women when they entered. Anna couldn't help but grin at the looks on her friends' faces as they took in the gorgeous group. Only Matthias was absent, having taken off on a mission to locate weaponry the day before.
After the formalities Anna gave them a tour around the large house and showed them to the rooms they'd be staying in. They settled onto the bed in the room Jess claimed and Jess immediately started gushing over her housemates, especially Tyros.
"They are some fine looking men," Jenna agreed.
"Are you currently interested in any one of them in particular, love?" Harriet asked.
Anna shook her head.
"Hmm, to be on the safe side I'll tumble the wolf, doubtful you'll end up with him."
"Aunt Harriet!" Jess exclaimed, eyes wide.
"What? Honey, I'm not too old for sex, I can assure you."
Jess continued staring wide eyed at her aunt as Anna and Jenna laughed.
"Go for it," Anna said, "I like Seth, but there's no chemistry."
Harriet waggled her eyebrows and the girls laughed harder.
"What about Tyros?" Jess asked.
Anna frowned. "I'm not sure that's a good idea, he's...no one really knows anything about him and they're all a little wary. Whenever he's around, Michael tends to hover like he doesn't trust him around me."
"Oh. Well, maybe I can get him to talk to me, tell me about himself."
Anna shook her head and smiled. "Just be careful." She didn't want to say too much since it was more than possible he was listening to them right now.
For the next hour the girls filled her in on their trip so far, how much they loved Dominique and how amazing Paris was when you had an aunt who knew where to shop and eat, and then Anna filled them in on everything she’d learned so far.
When she was finished Jenna eyed her. "So who do you drink from?"
"Well, initially they had me try out animal's blood which is what they drink exclusively, but the taste of it made me gag and they think it might lack something for me, some kind of nourishment I need. So now I alternate between them.”
"Even Seth?"
"Yup, his blood tastes different though."
At their raised brows, she elaborated.
"A human's blood tastes like....honey roasted peanuts would be the best comparison, with the salty and the sweet. Apparently to a normal vampire it only tastes sweet, but I'm different. A vampire's blood is like wine, fruity and flowery. And then there's Seth, his is like a mixture of different spices, hard to describe."
"That is so weird yet somehow cool," Jess commented.
After a few more minutes they decided to go and join the guys. Harriet wasted no time conveying her interest to Seth who assumed the look of a male who knew he was getting laid.
Anna and Jenna wandered outside and walked around the property discussing how much things had changed in the last several months.
"Anna!" Michael called from the doorway, "can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure." She started in his direction and Jenna told her she'd wait outside.
She walked inside and Michael shut the door behind her.
"What's up?"
"I'm not sure your friend should be alone with Tyros."
Anna frowned. "I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe Jess's conversation will be good for him. Not that I want them locked in a room or something...where are they?"
"They're taking a walk."
"I didn't see them come out."
"They went out the back."
Anna cocked her head to the side and zeroed in on Jess's voice.
"So what's it like to kill demons?" Jess was asking. Anna cringed waiting for the strange and creepy answer he'd given her at the bar.
"You don't want to hear about that, it's disturbing."
Huh, seemed he was getting better at people skills.
"Okay," Jess said, "then tell me something else about you, what's your life like when you're not slaying demons?"
"Hunting demons is pretty much it."
"Oh come on, there must be something."
"Well, I have sex occasionally, I drink occasionally, I play pool occasionally."
"So basically the same stuff as human guys do."
There was a pause. "I guess so."
Anna looked at Michael who was obviously listening too. "Sounds like they're just talking, nothing worrisome yet."
"All right, I'll just keep an eye on the situation," Michael told her.
He was looking at her in an odd way and she had the feeling he wanted to say something but was holding back. She started to ask him when she heard a scream from the front lawn.
She and Michael bolted out the door to find Matthias had tackled Jenna to the ground and now had a hand at her throat.
"HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Anna was yelling as Michael grabbed Matthias's shoulder.
Matthias's eyes were feral, lit with that inner light. He blinked several times as it registered that Anna and Michael were pulling him off the woman. He let go of her and backed away.
"What the hell Matthias?" Michael was gaping at him.
"I thought...I thought she was a vampiress." He looked back at Jenna. Anna had her cradled in her lap and was busy healing the bone in her wrist that he'd broken in the tackle, as well as her bruised neck.
Anna had to grit her teeth to keep from crying out. She could feel the injuries, the cracked bones and injured neck as if she were the one it had happened to. And she could feel them mending, not a particularly pleasant sensation either.
"That's Anna's friend Jenna," Michael spoke slowly, looking at him like he'd gone berserk.
Matthias stared at the girl. She had the hair and eye color of a vampiress, and when he'd seen her she had reminded him of someone from his past. Someone he despised.
Now that he was clear headed he wondered how he could have mistaken her, she didn't smell like a vampire. Although vampires who drank human blood on a regular basis did tend to smell a lot like humans, so it was actually an honest mistake.
"I'm okay," Jenna said, sounding a little dazed as she struggled to her feet. "Wow, broken bones freakin' hurt!"
Anna mentally nodded her agreement. Her wrist throbbed a bit and she absently rubbed her neck.
"But it's healed right?" Matthias asked.
"Well yeah, that's what Anna does after all." Jenna stared at him while she waited for an apology. He was different than the others with piercings on his lip and eyebrow, strange symbols tattooed on his neck and blonde spiky hair making a striking contrast to his tanned skin. He looked like a rock star. An extremely gorgeous one.
He ran a hand up the back of his head and shifted on his feet, then raised his brows in a brief "whoops" kind of way.
"Aren't you going to apologize?" Michael stared hard at Matthias.
"Right, yeah. Sorry about that." He glanced at her briefly before striding into the house.
Jenna watched him go and when the door closed her brows snapped together. "Right, yeah, sorry about that? That's all he has to say? He broke my wrist and practically crushed my throat! Not to mention he scared the hell out of me, I thought he was one of the condemned vampires! I mean look at him, he looks like a freak, with his piercings and tattoos! My life flashed before my eyes!"
Anna looked at her friend apologetically, she was at a loss to explain it. She glanced at Michael.
"I'm sorry Jenna, I don't know what's wrong with him, maybe something happened over the last couple of days," Michael looked puzzled and upset.
Jenna frowned. "Fine. But he's an asshole in my book." Inside she was truly shaken. His attack had brought back an old memory, and the fact that he didn't even feel bad? Totally unacceptable. She was definitely not getting to know that particular vampire.
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