When Angel woke up, she heard a male voice accompanied by Gen’s coming from the living room. She rubbed her eyes and got out of bed. When she entered the living room, she saw Gen cuddled up on the couch with who she assumed to be Joey.

Gen looked up. “Good morning, sunshine!” she greeted. “This is Joey.”

Joey stood up and extended his hand. Angel shook it. “It’s nice to meet you,” he said. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Angel said. She wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t have a good feeling about him. Maybe it was just her imagination.

Luckily, it was their day off so she made some tea and went back into her room to add the finishing touches to her painting.

Moments passed before she was finally finished. She set it up to dry and sat on her bed, putting on a horror movie she hadn’t seen yet. But, before she could hit play, she heard Gen scream and came running out.

Joey had Gen in a tight embrace and when he removed his mouth from her neck, there was a small amount of blood dripping from it. He hissed, showing his fangs and Angel screamed out “Louis!”

In a matter of seconds, Louis and Harry were in the living room. Almost in a flash, Harry’s fist collided with Joey’s jaw, knocking him into the wall. Louis’ arms wrapped around Angel and they were moving so fast she couldn’t see a thing.

Her feet touched the ground and she was in a very unfamiliar place. She saw Zayn and two other guys and one of Louis’ arms was still around her.

“Where’s Gen? And Harry?” she asked.

“Are you okay?” Louis asked, concern and worry in his eyes. He finally let go of her.

“I’m fine, but-“

She saw Harry, covered from head to toe in blood, holding Gen, limp in his arms, and quickly ran to them.

“She’ll be fine,” Louis said, grabbing her arm and setting her on a chair. “We need to take care of her, so sit tight.”

Louis and Harry rushed into another room to help Gen. Zayn sat on the arm of Angel’s chair. He rubbed her back. “She’s going to be fine.”

Angel was shaking. She still wasn’t entirely certain what happened, only that her best friend had been attacked for the second time this week.

A blonde boy and a boy with a shaved head came over to her and knelt in front of her. The boy with a shaved head placed a hand gently on her knee and spoke. “It’s alright. You’re in safe hands now. My name is Liam, and this is Niall,” he said, pointing to the blonde haired boy.

Angel burst into tears and held her face in her hands.

Niall hugged her and spoke with an Irish accent. “Don’t cry. Everything’s gonna be okay.”

“How do you know?” she asked. “I don’t have a single clue as to what’s going on. I don’t know who any of you are. He-,” she could barely get the words out. “He bit her.”

She looked at the guys and suddenly realized. “Are you all…,” she started, but didn’t want to get the word that was playing in her mind out.

They all looked down, knowing what she was about to say.

“We didn’t choose this life,” said Zayn.

“But, we, as a group, don’t harm humans,” Liam said.

“How can I know that?” Angel asked. “How can I trust any of you? If you’re what you say you are…”

“Have we harmed you yet?” asked Zayn.

Angel shook her head. She felt dizzy again, her head spinning out of control. If vampires were real, then what else?

Harry came out with a change of clothes and Louis stood in the doorway with his arms crossed.
“We hoped you wouldn’t have to find out this way,” said Harry.

She turned to Louis but he walked away.

“I-“

“You didn’t think there was such a thing,” Harry said. “Neither did we, until we found out the hard way.”

Harry and Zayn exchanged looks and Harry looked away.

“I need to lie down…” Angel said.

“Come on,” Harry said, holding out his hand.

She took it and he lead her into a separate room with a bed. She lied down and covered herself up. He sat next to her and stared at the ground.

“How did you get into this life, Harry?” she asked softly.

He sighed. “I was nineteen, having the time of my life and I trusted the wrong people. I didn’t know that any of this was real, like you. When I was turned, I tried to deny it. I wasn’t able to resist the desire for human blood at first but Louis found me and helped me.”

“How are you guys able to help Gen?”

“We removed the poison from her blood. It hadn’t settled in, yet.”

“Joey was one of you?”

“Sort of. He was the one tracking you. But, he’s taken care of. Unfortunately, he was part of a much bigger group. A dangerous group that we’ve been fighting for a while. The fight’s about to get much bigger. We’re afraid they’re building an army.”

Angel’s eyes widened. “Does that mean you need more people on your side?”

“Yes, but we don’t know how.” Harry sighed. “Louis knows a couple groups like us in France. He’s going tomorrow.”

“When will he be back?”

Harry stared at her as if he knew why she asked that question. “Angel, don’t,” he said softly. “It’s not safe.”

“Wh-“

“I know that look. I’ve seen it happen thousands of times. It goes against nature for our kind to be with humans.”

Angel stayed silent. How did he know? Did that mean Louis knew? Hell, she barely even knew. She looked down. “I didn’t-“

“But you’ve thought about it,” Harry said. “I don’t want you to get hurt. It never ends well.”

“It sounds like you know from experience.”

Harry looked away and slowly stood up. “Get some rest,” he said before vanishing.