A frown marred Axel's face when he saw her countenance dampen at his question.
"Don't tell me he is dead too." His frown deepened, but she shook her head.
"He disappeared three years ago. I think the vampires captured him. I was at school when he sent the SOS and asked me to leave Lava Town immediately." She answered.
"I'm sorry about that. Your house is not safe at least for now. Would you consider spending the night here?" His face looked grave as he asked, but Alita was quick to decline the offer.
"I'm sorry, I will have to refuse your offer. I can't sleep here." She shook her head as she spoke.
"Why? I will vacate the room so you will feel more comfortable." He urged her, however, she shook her head again. She couldn't bring herself to stay in his house or any man's house for that matter. Only the thought of it mortified her.
"If I can't stay at my place, then I'll stay at my friend's place. She lives close to the university."
"Fine. But it's pretty late. I'm sure she would be sleeping alread –"
"That's fine. I'll just... Call... her..." She trailed off and bit her lower lip in worry.
"What's wrong?"
"I just realized that my phone is back at my apartment. I'll need to call Kayla before going to her place." She explained. Kayla wouldn't mind, she knows. But she isn't one to just barge in on someone like that. What if she wasn't home, or she has a guest?
"You can use my phone." Axel offered and pulled out his phone from his pocket.
"Thank you." She muttered after collecting the phone from him. She punched in Kayla's number and waited while praying internally that she picked and that she was at home. She couldn't imagine spending a night here.
Unfortunately, Kayla did not pick the first time, causing her to redial the number. Thankfully, Kayla picked the second time, after four rings.
"Who is this? And don't you know the difference between night and day?" Kayla's sleepy and annoyed voice rang out. Alita smiled, thanking her stars.
"It's Alita. Are you home? I wanna come over."
"Lita? Why are you calling me with a strange number? Where the hell are you?" Kayla's voice screeched over the phone.
"Somewhere in the city. Can I come over?"
"Now you are making me doubt if it's really you talking. Why are you asking me that when you know you can waltz in here whenever you please?"
Alita smiled and at the same time, let out a breath of relief. "Alright. I'll be on my way." Alita said before she ended the call. She mouthed another 'thank you' as she handed the phone back to him.
In less than twenty minutes, Axel's car stopped in front of Kayla's place.
"Will you be free tomorrow for the trip to Havilla?" Axel asked when he parked the car.
"Yes. Tomorrow is Saturday so I should be free. How long will it take?"
"The whole day." He answered and she nodded.
"That's okay. Goodnight." She said and climbed down from the car.
When she disappeared into the building, Axel drove away from there. His heart was not settled, but he couldn't point out why. There were many things bothering him at the moment and he needed to tackle them one after another.
Alita knocked on Kayla's door and it didn't take long before Kayla opened the door. Kayla looked at her with worry on her face and Alita flashed her a smile. She knew that Kayla would bombard her with questions about why she was out at this time. Since she was not ready to explain anything yet – she didn't even know how to explain what happened to her – she decided to dodge the soon-coming questions by talking first.
"Please don't ask anything. I want to sleep. I will tell you everything in the morning." Alita said before Kayla could even say a word.
Kayla narrowed her eyes in suspicion but nodded her head anyway.
"Alright." She agreed and pulled Alita to the bedroom.
Thirty minutes later, Alita was still awake while Kayla was snoring softly. The thought of everything that had happened kept revolving around her head. She didn't know what to make of all these. What did her family do to offend the vampires that they wouldn't let her be? And another confusing thing was why Axel was helping her. It was strange to her that somewhere in her heart, she felt his intentions were genuine, but she didn't want to believe it yet.
She finally drifted off to sleep a few minutes later. However, the sleep was short-lived as she snapped her eyes open when she felt a strange presence around her. Abruptly, she sat up and her grey eyes met with a pair of bright red ones. Before she could process what was happening, three more ferocious-looking vampires entered the room.
Alita's eyes widened in shock. How did they enter the apartment without any noise? She was sure Kayla had locked the door so how was this possible? Alita's heart raced as she dodged the first vampire who came at her. She could see the flash of surprise that crossed their features possibly because they didn't expect her to be as fast as that.
She moved her eyes quickly to Kayla's side of the bed to see her still sleeping soundly, unaware of what was happening right inside her room at that moment. Alita boiled in anger and activated her powers. She knew that staying in the room would endanger Kayla so she zoomed out of the room. She halted at the living room when she came face to face with three more vampires, and her ears picked up sounds of fighting from outside the house.
The vampires inside the bedroom followed her immediately and she let out a breath of relief knowing that Kayla was out of harm's way to an extent. What the heck was going on? If she had known, she would have insisted on going back to her place instead of involving Kayla in all of these.