After a while Ike, Tay, and Zac convinced Annie to go up to the boys room and at least try to sleep and clear her head.

"Jennifer?" Annie whispered. She was lying on Zac’s bed which pulled out from under Taylor’s bed where Jennifer was sleeping. "You awake?"

"Yeah, Annie, I am," Jennifer replied softly.

"In every vampire book I’ve read, there have been different rules," Annie told her. "Like, in the Vampire Diaries the two vampire boys, Stefan and Damon, could go out in the sun if they had their rings on. The rings protected them from the sun. And Damon was evil, well, he wasn’t quite evil but he was bad, so he fed on humans without a guilty conscious. Stefan on the other hand, he never drank human blood. He knew it was wrong to kill. He drank animal blood instead, and only when he was really hungry, which wasn’t very often. And he was in love with a human girl…Elena. And he wouldn’t make her a vampire either, but Damon would. They both wanted her."

"Annie? I think you’re getting a little off topic," Jennifer told her.

"Oh, sorry," Annie said. "Anyway, then there’s the Night World series. In those books there are two types of vampires, the Lamia are vampires who were born vampires and will always be vampires. Then there are the vampires that are made vampires. The Lamia can age, but the other one’s can’t. And the Lamia can have kids, but the other ones can’t. And they don’t have to kill to feed! They can just take as much as they need and let them live! See? We don’t know the rules! We don’t know!"

"Annie. That’s why you can’t go off and make yourself a vampire," Jennifer told her. "You don’t know the rules."

"I don’t care," Annie whispered, staring up at the ceiling. "I just wanna be with Zac."

"I know Annie. I know."

They didn’t talk after that. Annie just lay there until she was sure Jennifer was asleep. When she was sure, she quietly got up and wrote them all a note. She set it on the pillow of Zac’s bed and climbed out the window and down the tree out the window.

"Zac! Taylor! Isaac!" Jennifer yelled. She was standing beside Zac’s bed, the note in her hand. The boys rushed into the room.

"What is it?" Isaac asked.

"What’s wrong?" Taylor asked.

"Where’s Annie?" Zac demanded.

"Here," Jennifer said, handing Zac the note.

"Dear guys," he read. "I’m sorry I had to do this, but I had to leave. When I return you’ll know why. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before I left. And Jennifer, it’s not your fault I left, it was my choice. See you soon. Love always, Annie."

"No," Zac whispered, staring at the note in his hand. "No."

"Where’d she go?" Isaac asked.

"Out looking for Keller," Zac said.

They all turned to him.

"Where can we find Keller?" Taylor asked.

"She comes to me," he said. "She said she’s always watching me."

"Then she should be somewhere nearby," Jennifer said.

"Let’s go," Taylor said.

"Keller!" Annie screamed. She was standing in the middle of the park near where Keller had taken Zac the other night. "Keller! Get the hell over here!"

"You called?" Keller asked, casually leaning against a tree.

"You," Annie started.

"Here about your boyfriend?" Keller asked.

"Yes, what did you do to him?"

"I made him a vampire…like me."

"Why?" Annie whispered. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

"Because I wanted to test him…and you."

"Test us?"

"You both agreed that if the other was a vampire, you’d become one too. Hmm…you’re not a vampire now, are you?"

"No, he wouldn’t let me…they stopped us."

"Hmm…interesting," Keller said.

"That’s why I’m here," Annie said firmly. "I want to be with him, and they obviously don’t want us to be together, so I want you to make me a vampire."

"Oh, really?" Keller said with interest.

"Yes."

"Well…I think that can be arranged, if…"

"If what?" Annie asked, not liking the way this sounded.

"If you can win."

"Win at what?"

"Just a little game."

Annie closed her eyes and sighed. "Tell me the rules, and we’ll see."