"Annie, there wouldn’t have been anything we could do!" Jen said.

"I don’t care! It’s my fault! It’s all my fault!" she cried. She was getting hysterical now. Jen, Taylor, and Isaac all tried to calm her down and prevent her from waking Zac.

"Listen hun, maybe you should go home and get some sleep," Jen suggested. "This has been a hard night and__"

"No!" Annie said, getting temperamental. "This is all my fault, I am not leaving him! Never again!"

"Annie," Isaac started.

"No!" she cried again. "I’m not going home! He needs me now! I’m going to be here for him! I’ll just sleep here in the chair."

"Annie," Jen said, a tone of defeat in her voice. "Fine." She gave in. She knew she couldn’t win this one.

"I’ll go get you a blanket," Taylor said.

"Jen, will you sneak into my house and write my parents a note? Tell them I got up early and went over to your house?" Annie asked.

"Sure hun," Jen replied.

Annie sniffled. Then she went over and sat in the chair next to the couch Zac was sleeping on. Taylor got her a blanket and she curled up in a ball in the chair and just watched Zac sleep.

Zac woke up the next morning with a terrible headache and a deep hunger.

"Annie?" Zac whispered to himself, wondering why she was asleep in her living room. "Oh my God! Keller!" His hand flew up to his neck. He could feel two holes from where her teeth had sunk in.

"I’m a vampire…" he whispered.

"You’re up!" Taylor said, coming into the living room from the kitchen.

"How do you feel?" Isaac asked.

"Not good," Zac said. He glanced over at Annie.

"We’ll let her explain when she wakes up," Taylor said.

"But she didn’t get much sleep last night, let her rest a little more," Isaac added.

"No can do," Annie said, yawning. "I’m already awake."

"Annie," Zac said.

"How do you feel?" Annie asked, her big brown eyes filled with sadness and her hair all in tangles. "What happened?"

"I_I was sitting here in the living room when I heard someone call my name," he said. He paused to think. "I looked around…and I saw eyes in the window. They were Kellers. I knew that because only she has eyes like that. Uh…I_I asked her what she was, she told me she was a vampire…"

"Did you invite her in?" Taylor asked.

"She said it didn’t matter," Zac answered. "She can go wherever she pleases. And crosses have no effect. Neither does garlic. Only wooden stakes. But she said I wouldn’t be able to kill her because she was making me a vampire too. And then she attacked me…"

"I had a dream," Annie whispered. "I heard you call my name…I knew something was wrong so I called Jennifer and she walked me over here…but it was too late…" She was crying again.

"Don’t cry," Zac told her. He moved over to the edge of the chair she was in and put his arm around her shoulder.

"I can’t help it," she replied between her sobs. "This can’t be happening…it just can’t."

"Where’s Jen?" Zac asked.

"She went to go get Annie some clothes," Taylor replied.

"What are we going to do?" Isaac asked.

"Hey," Jen said, coming through the back door. "You’re awake."

"Hey Jen," Zac said.

"Once a vampire, always a vampire," Zac whispered. "That’s what she told me. There’s no going back."

Annie started crying again.

"Isn’t this ironic?" Taylor asked. "We were just talking about what we would do if we were vampires."

"She’s always watching me," Zac stated absentmindedly. "That’s what she said."

"I hate her!" Annie whispered angrily. "I just wish she would die! Just drop dead!"

"We’ll get through this," Zac told her.

"How?" she whispered. "Once a vampire, always a vampire."

"We’ll find some way through that," he told her.

"I knew I would lose you," she whispered, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

"You haven’t lost me!" Zac said firmly. "I will love you forever! Nothing will stop that! We will always be together! No matter what!"

"You think so?"

"I know so."

"Zac," Annie whispered later that day when she and Zac were all alone.

"Yeah?" Zac replied.

"I know a way for us to be together."

"What? How?" he asked. "I’ll probably just end up hurting you."

"I know a way for us to be together forever," she told him.

"Wait…" he trailed off. "You’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking…"

"Make me a vampire," she whispered calmly.

"No."

"Yes!" she said desperately. "I love you! I will always love you! If I’m not with you, I’m not whole! You’re my other half! I don’t know what I’d do without you! It’s the only way! You have to."

"But, I can’t," he told her. "I can’t put you through that."

"You will," she told him. "My life is not worth living without you! What would be the purpose of me going on? There would be none! Remember my promise to you last week while we were watching that vampire movie? I told you if you were to ever become a vampire, I’d willingly become one just to be with you. Make me a vampire!"