Alone in the dark living room, Daniel was still trying to wrap his head around the conversation he heard minutes ago.

Someone was gonna come after them. Were they some sort of outlaws in the vampire world?

Thinking about not only that, but also about everything that happened to him in the last few days, was just too exhausting. He felt the onset of another headache.

Damn stress, he thought and covered his face with his hands. He exhaled and then inhaled the warm air trapped underneath the palms. It didn't help. He could still feel the tapping around his temples. He moved his fingers towards them and started massaging them in slow, circular motions. Sometimes it helped.

He stopped when he heard muffled voices. Ana and Teresa weren't resting. Judging by the sounds coming from the room they retreated to, they were both infuriated.

"Leave!" Teresa yelled. "We have to leave so abruptly!"

"We both knew this day would come." Ana's voice was calmer, but still loud enough for him to hear. "We knew we wouldn't be able to stay here indefinitely; people would get suspicious. But I always hoped we would leave on our terms."

"Well, Mr. Eber deprived us of that option." Teresa sounded like someone who wouldn't mind using the Mayor's head as a bowling ball. "We need a plan. Right away! Where is the phone book?" she added angrily. "I know we stored it somewhere. A book that thick couldn't have just disappeared. Where could it be?"

The cabinet doors behind the closed door were being opened, and then slammed shut. Muffled cursing followed. Not having anything better to do, Daniel decided to join the search. He pulled out the drawers on the dresser that stood by the wall, one by one. Inside the last of them, under some old issues of magazines he wasn't familiar with, he found what Ana and Teresa were looking for – a thick book with numerous thin, off white pages filled with small printed names, addresses and numbers.

He knocked at their door.

"What!?" Teresa opened it so suddenly that he forgot what he wanted to say. "Where did you find it?" she asked when she spotted the phone book in his hands.

"It was...it was in the drawer," Daniel stuttered.

"Give it here," Teresa said, took the book from his hands and shut the door right in front of his nose.

"You're welcome," Daniel mumbled quietly, only to be told not to be a wise ass.

The door opened again. This time Ana was on the other side. "Thank you," she said.

Teresa couldn't stay quiet at such a shameless display of gratitude. "Don't pamper him," she said. "He's nothing but a nuisance. He has been all along. And you know how I take care of nuisances." She cast a toxic glare Daniel's way, making his intestines cramp.

"Do not doubt my instincts," Ana said to her. "I'm only seldom mistaken, so trust me on this one. There's something different about him."

Teresa sized him up once more, head to toe. Her eyes then intersected his, allowing him to catch a glimpse of amber. When she turned away from him, he felt throbbing in his temples again. Still, he dared to look inside the room. It looked completely ordinary. There were no coffins, no demonic artefacts, no shrines for worshiping the Devil.

Those movies are so wrong, he thought to himself.

Teresa sat on the edge of the bed covered by colorful quilt, embroidered in golden threads, and began skimming through the phone book.

"Go, get some rest," Ana said to him. "Try to get some sleep. They say that the morning is wiser than the evening."

Regardless to the saying, Daniel didn't feel stroke of wisdom in the morning. The questions that swarmed in his mind last night were still there, answers still missing.

Just when he was thinking about the reasons for the departure of the two women for lord knows which time, the door opened, and Ana and Teresa joined him. Teresa grabbed the phone handset and started to press the digits on the base.

"It's still too early," Ana remarked.

Teresa cast her a sideways glance, like the one she used to use on Daniel. She held the handset pressed to her ear for a while. Silent sound signaled that the line was open, but there was no answer on the other side. Teresa hung up the phone using more force than necessary. "We don't have much time," she said to Ana who nodded in response.

"Why?" The question escaped Daniel. He didn't want to ask it out loud, not when Teresa was in this mood. On the other hand, he wasn't sure if any other mood was characteristic for her.

"Stay out of it," Teresa quashed him. He wasn't even hoping the answer might be different.

"I was just asking," Daniel found the courage to say. "Maybe I can help."

"No, you can't!"

"Teresa, bickering is the last thing I'm willing to listen right now." Ana stepped between them, looking at one of them first, and then the other.

"Then command him to be quiet," Teresa suggested.

"She doesn't have to command me. If it's such a secret, I won't ask anything else." He leaned against the backrest of the couch and crossed his hands in front of him.

"It is all very complicated," Ana said in a calm tone. "What you need to know is that you will have to leave too. Not because the ones that will come looking for us will come after you, but because in this town, you are unwanted."

Daniel chose to ignore the part about him being unwanted and asked, "And who exactly will come looking for you?"

"Didn't you just say that you won't ask any further questions?" Teresa cut in.

He did. That much he had to admit, but the curiosity got the better of him. Still, the ice in Teresa's stare made him bow his head. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I just can't imagine what kind of creatures could force you to just pack up and leave. I mean, I saw what you're capable of. Whoever can freak you out like this must be one hell of a dude. Or dudes." His eyes widened when a new thought popped into his mind. "Maybe they're some sort of a monster slayers."

"They're not," Ana retorted. "They're vampires. Male ones."

"Ex husbands then..." Daniel tried to suggest, but Teresa appeared right in front of him. He could feel a whiff of wind on his face brought on by her quick movements. She just stared at him with her cold grey eyes. She didn't utter a single word, but the force of her stare was enough to silence him straight away.

In the meanwhile, Ana picked up the phone and dialed the same number as Teresa earlier. After several rings, she said, "Good morning. I'm looking to rent a holiday home." She paused and a couple of seconds later she added, "No, not the beach. I would prefer a place somewhere in the forest. The clean air will be beneficial to my medical condition."

The person on the other side of the line said something further after which Ana recited the phone number and instructed the person to phone when the appropriate real estate is found, preferably in the evening.

"Now we wait," Ana said after she hung up and looked at Teresa.

Teresa moved away from Daniel, giving him a chance to relax, but only for a moment because the words that came out of her mouth next, sent his heart rate into overdrive.

"I need to feed," she said. She threw another glance his way before heading to the kitchen and opening the refrigerator.

Daniel sighed. Just the sight of all the doses of blood stored in there was enough to make him nauseous. When Teresa took one of them with her to the bedroom, Daniel silently thanked her for sparing him the sight of watching her feed.

"We didn't forget you," Ana said to him as she reached into a black bag and pulled out a white plastic bag. She handed it over to Daniel. "You must be hungry by now," she stated.

He was. He didn't even realize it, but mentioning the food caused growling in his stomach. Inside the bag, he found three packets of salted peanuts and several chocolate bars. He waited until Ana too retreated to her room before he dug in.

As he unwrapped a chocolate bar wrapped in brown paper with blue letters on it, he couldn't help but wonder whether this would be his last meal.

Thank you for reading on. I know so many books don't get the privilege to be read past the first few chapters, so thank you again.

Preparations for the departure are on the way. Will they make it in time?

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Until next chapter...