Cold as Ice

by Jayme Morse;Jody Morse

  “Lexi,” he said gently. He waited for a few moments for her to respond and when she didn’t, he stood up and walked across the room. “We’ll talk sometime later, Princess.”

  Lexi felt her cheeks redden. It was so selfish of him to use that nickname on her now. Aside from him calling her the name back in the 1800s, it was also the nickname he had used for her when she was a child—before he had abandoned her and her mother.

  If only she knew back then where the nickname had originated from, that it was the name he had been calling her for hundreds of years before she was even born. She’d always just assumed that her father simply wanted to call his daughter a princess, but everything made so much more sense now—the name held a special meaning between the two of them.

  The door clicked behind him as he made his way out, and she sighed. Lying in bed all day long and doing nothing but staring at the unchanging walls was getting to be boring, but there weren’t many other places she could go at Huntington where she wouldn’t have to face people.

  The door clicked open again, and Lexi groaned. “I don’t want to talk to you about this right now, Dad. I thought I made that clear already.”

  “Lexi, it’s me,” a soft voice said.

  When Lexi looked up, she breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t her father who was barging into her room this time. It was someone who she hadn’t thought of since she’d gotten back to Huntington—someone whose visit she had been expecting . . . and dreading, in a way, ever since she had make it back.

  Chapter 3

  “Hi, Craig,” Lexi said warmly, as her teacher and former love interest came to sit down in the chair that her father had sat in only minutes before. She felt a little nervous knowing that she looked like a bum in her lounge clothes and her hair a mess, but it didn’t matter. It’s not like she was trying to impress him.

  “How are you doing?” Craig asked, his hazel eyes gazing into hers. It made her breath catch in her throat; even though she knew that she didn’t want to be with him, he was just so damn attractive. His brown hair was slicked back, and he was dressed in a tailored suit—a change from his usual polo t-shirts which made him look more like a student than a teacher.

  Lexi let out a loud sigh. “I’m okay, I think, but Dan isn’t. Well, I don’t know if he is. He’s not back.”

  Craig hesitated. “Maybe you could go back for him.”

  “I’ve already tried,” Lexi replied, shaking her head. “No such luck.”

  “Well, if there’s anything I can do, just let me know,” Craig said.

  Lexi forced a tight smile. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  Even though she knew that Craig wasn’t the right guy for her, the one thing she had to give him credit for was that he did always seem willing to help her. He’d driven her to the Lawrence’s house the day she’d gotten sucked into the book with Dan—except at that point, she thought that she had feelings for Craig and that Dan was her enemy. It turned out that neither was true. Well, maybe she had feelings for Craig at that point, but she definitely didn’t anymore.

  “Anytime,” Craig replied, continuing to stare at her. She got the feeling that he wanted to move closer to her, to kiss her, but he stayed put. She was glad that he did; breaking the news that she didn’t have feelings for him was only going to ruin their friendship, which she was really beginning to appreciate.

  “So, umm, did anything new happen since I was gone?” Lexi asked. She already knew the answer; the only thing that had happened since she was gone was that he and Austin, Anna, and Gabe had gone to New Jersey to rescue Ben from Greg Lawrence’s friends. But she needed to fill in the awkward silence that was taking over the room.

  Craig shook his head. “Not much, really. I just missed you a whole lot.”

  “I missed you, too,” Lexi replied. She wasn’t about to mention that she probably didn’t miss him in the same way that he missed her, as more than just a friend. Searching her head for a way to get him out of the room, she said, “I’m feeling really tired, so I think I’m going to take a nap right now. I’ll see you later?”

  Craig nodded. “Of course. If you don’t feel like coming to the cafeteria again for dinner, just let me know. I can always bring you a tray up and we can eat together.”

  “Thanks. I’d appreciate that.” Lexi watched as Craig stood up and glanced over at her desk, his eyes falling on the jar that sat on top of it.

  Craig turned back to her. “What is that?” he asked, motioning to the jar.

  Lexi hesitated. She hadn’t told anyone besides Austin and Anna about what was inside. She hadn’t even told Gabe. Yet she didn’t know why she was keeping it a secret, so she decided to tell Craig the truth. “A witch from the 1800s gave me this potion. It will make an immortal, so I won’t be able to cure Wilkins’ anymore.” Wilkins’ Syndrome was the name of the disease that the vampires who were after her blood were dying from.

  She opened her mouth again, but quickly closed it, deciding not to mention the part about Belinda’s powers transferring to her. The truth was, she didn’t care about being a witch . . . and part of her worried that telling anyone about it right now would jinx it. She decided that she was going to keep it to herself until it happened—and possibly even afterwards, since she might not want everyone to know what type of powers she possessed.

  A look that Lexi couldn’t identify flashed through Craig’s eyes, but it quickly passed. “I see. Are you planning to drink it?”

  “I’m not really sure,” Lexi replied. “I haven’t given a lot of thought to it yet.” Actually, that was a lie. She had given a lot of thought to it, but it mostly depended on whether or not Dan came home. If Mary-Kate had killed him, she didn’t want to live with the eternal guilt that she had left him there to die.

  Craig cocked his head at her. “Well, would you like my advice?”

  “Sure,” Lexi shrugged. It’s not like anything he had to say was going to change her mind, but she was open to a second opinion, just for the sake of their conversation.

  “The potion will be permanent. Make sure you’re making the right decision before you drink it,” Craig told her, that same look flashing through his eyes again. “I’ll see you later, Lexi.” And with that, he swiftly breezed out of the room.

  *

  For the first time in the past three days, Lexi left her dorm room that night. She still felt like a zombie, but she followed Austin and Anna into the cafeteria, filling her tray up with cheese drenched nachos, crispy chicken fingers, and golden French fries. If she had to eat, she might as well eat all of her comfort foods.

  When they sat down at their usual cafeteria table, Lexi noticed that the seat next to her was empty. “Where’s Gabe?” she asked, looking down at her tray and biting into one of her French fries.

  Anna jabbed Austin in the ribs with her elbow.

  “Ouch!” he yelled.

  “You didn’t tell her yet?” Anna asked, raising a thin, perfectly shaped eyebrow at him. “Gabe told you to let her know yesterday before he left.”

  Lexi’s head jerked up. “He left?”

  “He went to find his mom,” Austin replied.

  Lexi recalled that Gabe’s mother had left Huntington without letting anyone know where she was going. They had been hiding her at Huntington so that she would be away from the other vampires who were planning to harm her just to get Gabe to show his face in Briar Creek. Lexi’s aunt and uncle knew that she was head over heels for him, so they had automatically assumed that Gabe and Lexi were together, wherever they were.

  “Did he say when he’s coming back?” Lexi asked.

  “Whenever he finds his mom,” Austin shrugged. “Who knows when that will be.”

  “Well, I personally doubt she’s gone that far,” Anna chimed in. “She probably went back to her house.”

  Lexi felt her own forehead scrunch up in confusion. “Why would she go back to her house across the street from my aunt and uncle? That’s, like, a death sentence.”

  “Becaus
e it’s her home, Lexi,” Anna replied, glancing over at her with her chocolate brown eyes. “It’s not easy to just leave your home behind.”

  “Home is a place where you’re surrounded by people who love you and care about you,” Lexi replied, remembering what Dan had told her while they were in the 1800s, the words playing through her mind like he had just said them a moment before. “Her old house—her home, as you call it—is cold and empty and lonely. Gabe is here. He’s her family. She should be here, too.”

  Austin shrugged. “She probably should be, but she’s not. Anyway, I have something more important to talk to you about right now. Why were you so mean to Ben?”

  Lexi opened her mouth to try to explain, but she knew if she told him the truth, it would bring tears to her eyes. It killed her to think that her father blamed her mother for everything that was happening—and that he thought she just needed to look towards the future. Her mom would never be a part of the future.

  Instead of saying anything at all, she only shrugged in response.

  “He’s crushed that you called him an asshole,” Austin went on. “He was hoping you would open up to him and try to forgive him for the past.”

  “Do you even understand the past?” Lexi shot back at him. When Austin didn’t say anything, she continued, “He cut me out of his life, Austin. I was a little girl, and I needed a father. I didn’t have one. Benjamin Hunter chose to not be a part of my life.”

  “Lexi,” Austin started to say, a defensive tone in his voice, but Anna elbowed him again.

  “We’ll see you back at the dorm room, Lexi. Austin and I need to go study for our exam tonight,” Anna told her, picking up both of their trays and leading Austin out of the cafeteria. It was obviously an attempt to make sure their conversation didn’t escalate, but it still made Lexi feel crappy that they were leaving her alone. Sure, she may have been the one who had pushed them away, but it still hurt her feelings.

  Sighing, Lexi glanced around the cafeteria. There were people laughing and talking all around her. It was the first time since she had gotten back to the 21st century that she realized how terribly alone she felt.

  She had no friends at this school. Gabe was gone. Austin and Anna didn’t even want to be around her.

  Even though she used to want to stay as far away from him as she could, Lexi felt like she needed Dan right then, at that very moment, as she sat alone in the cafeteria.

  She had to get him back.

  Chapter 4

  Early the next morning, Lexi knocked on the door of the room that Austin had told her that Benjamin—she was becoming accustomed to thinking of him by his name, rather than as her father—was staying in.

  She heard a movement from the other side of the door, and it was slowly opened. A look of surprise registered on Ben’s face when he saw Lexi standing there, staring back at him.

  “I need to talk to you,” she told him.

  “Come in.” Benjamin opened the door wide enough for her to step inside, and she took a seat on the beige chaise lounge that sat in one corner of the room.

  She eyed his room. The large living room--which had a window seat—that they were in led to a small kitchen and dining area, as well as a large bedroom. It surprised her to find that his room didn’t have the same layout as the room she shared with Anna; she’d been assuming that all of the dorm rooms at Huntington were exactly the same.

  “They gave me one of the professor’s quarters,” Ben explained, as though he were reading her mind. With a chuckle, he added, “I guess they wanted to give me some sort of special treatment because of who I am.”

  “Oh.” Lexi didn’t even bother to question why her father had been given a nicer room than the one Craig was staying in. If she didn’t know who her father was, it would have made no sense, considering Craig actually was a professor at Huntington, while her father wasn’t. But, even though Craig worked for the school, her father was more respected in the vampire community because of his family history. It just didn’t seem fair that he could be treated better than Craig, or any other professor at this school who worked hard, just because of his blood and his family name.

  “Would you like some tea?” Ben asked. “I don’t actually cook in here, but I’m pretty sure I saw a box of teabags lying around somewhere.”

  “No, thank you,” Lexi declined, shaking her head. “I-I just need to talk to you. I need to ask you something.”

  “You can ask me anything, Alexandria,” Ben said quietly.

  Lexi felt a knot twist inside her stomach at the mention of her full name. No one ever used it . . . except for her father. Deciding not to object because she simply didn’t have the energy at that moment, she continued. “When I was in the 1800s, I was offered a potion that would grant me immortality.”

  Benjamin nodded knowingly. “Yes, Austin mentioned something about that to me. Have you decided whether or not you’re going to take it?”

  “Well, here’s the thing,” Lexi hesitated, realizing that she was telling her concerns to her father—who she should be able to trust, but who she technically knew nothing about. She hadn’t even known for most of her life that he was a vampire . . . and yet, she was afraid to share what she was about to tell him with anyone else in fear of how they might react. “I’m worried that if I become an immortal, I might not be able to save anyone.”

  Ben narrowed his brows at her. “How do you suppose that drinking the potion would lead to that? I am sure that you would still be a capable young woman.”

  “Well, once I drink the potion, I can no longer save someone with Wilkins’ Syndrome,” Lexi explained. She glanced up at him, almost feeling guilty about what she was about to ask. “What if I want to, though?”

  “If you believe that you might want to save someone with the disease, you should probably allow them to drink your blood before you become an immortal,” Ben told her, running a hand over his longish blonde hair. “Otherwise, you may regret the choices that you might make in the future.”

  Lexi hesitated. “I’m most worried that I might want to save someone in years from now—someone who has the disease—that I don’t already know about. I mean, the witch—Belinda—she told me that my soul mate is a vampire. But what if it’s someone who already has Wilkins’ Syndrome? I wouldn’t be able to save him, so I would lose him.”

  As Benjamin tapped his fingers against his chin, Lexi noticed that he was wearing a gold band around his ring finger. It made her wonder which marriage it was from—or if he was still married to anyone. Given how little she knew about him, she really had no idea.

  “It seems to me that it would be in your best interest to think long and hard before making the decision to drink this potion,” Benjamin told her matter-of-factly.

  She refrained from rolling her eyes. First Craig had given her the same advice and now him? They both acted as though she didn’t already know that she should give a lot of thought as to whether or not she wanted to live forever. It was probably the most important decision she would have to make in her lifetime.

  “There is an option that you might consider,” Ben continued. “Have you thought about saving your blood?”

  Lexi could feel her eyes widen at the idea. “No?”

  “Should you decide that you would like to become an immortal, we can refrigerate your blood,” her father suggested.

  “How long does refrigerated blood last?” Lexi asked, intrigued.

  “For humans, it doesn’t last that long. Something like a month, I’m not exactly sure,” Benjamin recalled. “For vampires, though, refrigerated blood is usable forever, so to speak.” He paused before adding, “There is one thing that I’m not sure about, however. We already know that your blood will not save someone with the disease if they consume it after you have turned eighteen years old. What we don’t know is if it will save someone after it’s been refrigerated for days, months, or years. Will it still save someone? I do not know. But it could be worth a try if this is something you’re concerned abo
ut.”

  Lexi sighed. It wasn’t surprising that no one knew what would happen if she did save her blood—that would have only made her life somewhat easier, which is something that it never seemed to be lately. Meeting her father’s gaze, she asked, “If you were me, what would you do?”

  Ben looked down at the floor, cracking his knuckles. After a long moment of silence passed between them, he replied, “I think you should listen to your heart. If it tells you that there’s something on this earth worth sticking around for, then you should drink the potion. But if there’s not—if there’s any chance that an everlasting life could leave you feeling miserable for the rest of eternity—then you shouldn’t touch the potion.”

  Lexi stood up, knowing that she had a lot to think about. If Dan did make it back, did she want to become an immortal? Was there something on this earth worth sticking around for, as her father had put it? Or was she supposed to go on with her life as a mortal, knowing that she could have lived forever and regretting that she hadn’t taken advantage of the opportunity that most people would kill for?

  As she turned to go out of the room, Ben stopped her. “Lexi?”

  She glanced over her shoulder at her father, who stared back at her intently.

  “Make sure that you keep your eyes on that potion at all times. You never know who might try to get their hands on it if they find out what it can do.”

  *

  When Lexi got back to her dorm room, she ended up walking in on Anna and Austin in a make out session. She had no idea what had happened to them since she and Dan left, but they were basically inseparable now. “Don’t mind me,” she muttered, rolling her eyes as they untangled themselves from one another, and she climbed back into her own bed, burying her head in the pillow.