Burn Like Fire

by Jayme Morse

  A few moments later, Dan came walking out of the living room and leaned over to plant a kiss on her cheek.

  Lexi smiled at him. “Are you ready to go?”

  “Yeah, I’m good. Unfortunately, though, my sister is coming with us,” Dan replied, sighing.

  “Caroline’s coming?” Lexi asked with raised eyebrows. “Why?”

  “Because I’m not letting you guys go alone,” Caroline said from behind her. Rolling her eyes, she added, “I can’t just sit here at home and wait for you guys to come back. I’d be worrying the whole time that you might die. Danny’s afraid I’ll get hurt, but I’m pretty sure I can take care of myself. I mean, you’re human, too, right? And he’s letting you go.”

  Lexi glanced over at Dan, hoping that he would give her a sign that would let her know that she should just tell Caroline the truth about her immortality. When he didn’t, Lexi just laughed nervously. “Yeah, you should be able to hold your own.” There, she thought. I didn’t exactly lie to Caroline. I just didn’t correct her when I probably should have.

  “Thank you!” Caroline beamed at her. “So, see, Danny? Lexi thinks I can come, too. So, I’m coming. You’ll just have to get over it.”

  Dan’s face remained stony, but he nodded. “Okay, whatever,” he mumbled.

  “I’m going to go get ready. I’ll be back in, like, two minutes.” Caroline bounded out of the room happily.

  Dan turned to Lexi. “Why did you say that to her?”

  Lexi frowned. “I didn’t know I said something wrong. I’m sorry.”

  Dan’s jaw hardened and he stared at the ceiling for a moment. Finally, he let out a loud sigh. “You made it seem like it was a good idea for her to come along. I know it’s not your fault, but . . . I just think she wants to go with us because she has a crush on Gabe.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “Because she’s never tried to include herself in my life before. And now she has this crush on Gabe and, suddenly, she wants to tag along?” Dan shook his head in disgust. “It’s obvious that’s why.” He glanced over at Lexi. “Do you think you can give her that talk about Gabe now?”

  Lexi hesitated. “I . . . I guess. But, look, it seems like Caroline’s mind is already made up. She’s coming with us, whether you like it or not. Instead of putting everyone on edge and having this talk right now, I’ll do it once we get back here, okay?”

  Dan shrugged. “Yeah, I guess that’s fine.”

  “Good,” Lexi replied. “Now, come on. We need to get going.” Once they reached the front door, they found that Anna, Austin, Gabe, and Caroline were already waiting for them.

  Caroline cleared her throat. “Um, so, I tend to get car sick unless I’m the one who’s driving. So, I think I’m going to take to my own car to Huntington. I don’t know how to get there, though.” She turned to Gabe. “Will you come along so you can show me?”

  Gabe smiled. “Sure.” He turned to Lexi and Dan. “We’ll meet you guys there.”

  Lexi nodded. “Okay, be careful.” She watched as they slipped out the front door and climbed into Caroline’s Lancer before turning to Dan. “Are we ready to get this show on the road?”

  “As ready as we can ever be, I guess,” Dan mumbled.

  *

  On the way to Huntington, Lexi reached over and grabbed Dan’s hand. His tense grip around her hand worried her.

  “I’m sorry Caroline wanted to come. I shouldn’t have encouraged her.”

  Dan shrugged. “I’m more worried about you. Caroline will probably be okay. None of them know who she is. You’re their main target.”

  “Hey, it’s going to be okay,” Lexi told him quietly. “Like Anna pointed out, we don’t even know if I can die. I feel like I need to worry more about you than me.”

  Dan gave her a small smile. “Don’t worry about me. I’m not going to die.”

  “None of us are going to die,” Austin chimed in from the front seat. “And if one of us does, let’s hope it’s Gabe.”

  “Austin, that’s a horrible thing to say!” Anna scolded him. Lexi could hear from the displeased tone of Anna’s voice that she was really annoyed by Austin’s comment. It had sort of annoyed Lexi, too, but she didn’t want to start some sort of argument with her cousin right before they got to Huntington. It would only make things worse for everyone.

  They drove in silence the rest of the way to Huntington. When they finally arrived, Austin parked the car across the street from the school.

  As they climbed out of the car, Lexi glanced over at the building. Apparently, they had gotten the fire under control; Lexi was surprised to see that there wasn’t a blaze actively burning. But what she did see was the ashy remains where some of the trees in the schoolyard had once been, as well as the boarded up windows.

  The school already looked so different on the outside. Lexi was almost afraid to see what it looked like on the inside.

  “Come on, let’s go inside,” Dan said, tugging her hand.

  Lexi glanced over at him, hoping he didn’t see the tears that were beginning to form behind her eyes. She followed him, Austin, and Anna towards the building.

  “Should we wait for Gabe and Caroline?” Lexi asked.

  “Nah, they’ll figure out where we are,” Austin replied, waving his hand in the air at the suggestion.

  Lexi didn’t argue. She followed him to the brick building. When they made it to one of the entrances without being approached by any security guards, she wondered why. Shouldn’t the security guards be taking extra steps to make sure that no one was getting into the school after the attack?

  It crossed her mind that maybe something had happened to the guards during the attack.

  Once they stepped inside the building, Lexi’s suspicions were quickly disproved when she saw Noah standing in the hallway. He glanced up when he saw them.

  “Hey, guys. I know you weren’t around, but you heard what happened, right?” Noah asked.

  “Yeah, my dad called me.” Lexi glanced around the hallways of the school. It looked like everything was charred. It made her sick to think that Greg Lawrence had caused so much damage to the school, the place that she thought of as her home. She glanced back at Noah. “I’m so, so sorry this happened. This whole thing . . . It’s all my fault.”

  “Don’t blame yourself, Lexi. This is no one’s fault except for Greg Lawrence’s. Well, and the ones who helped him.” Noah sighed. “My cousin was involved, too.”

  “Brandon?” Dan asked.

  Noah nodded sadly. “Yeah, he was one of the first people who came here and tried breaking in through the windows after the place was already on fire.” His face twisted in disgust. “I can’t believe that my own cousin would do something like this.”

  “I’m sorry. That’s gotta suck,” Austin said. “Brandon always seemed like such a cool kid.”

  “Yeah, I’m sorry, too,” Lexi offered lamely. She wasn’t about to tell Noah that it didn’t surprise her that Brandon could be involved in something like this, though. Lexi knew that Mary-Kate had been cheating on Austin with Brandon. If Brandon could be involved with Mary-Kate, who had been her biggest enemy, there was no doubt in Lexi’s mind that he was a part of Greg Lawrence’s posse.

  “Did anyone get hurt?” Lexi asked Noah.

  Noah nodded sadly. “Yes, unfortunately, there were a few casualties.”

  “Who?” Lexi wasn’t even sure why she wanted to know; it wasn’t like she knew anyone else who went to Huntington. She’d been too wrapped up in all of her own personal drama to take the time to actually get to know anyone’s names. It made her feel like shit now.

  “Melissa Bernstein, Andrew Lansky, and Roberta Stine,” Noah replied. “All of them were first year students. There were also a few injured, including Professor Fleur.”

  Professor Fleur. Lexi felt a knot form in the pit of her stomach. It hadn’t even crossed her mind that someone she might care about—like her favorite teacher—could have been injured during this. “Is he goi
ng to be okay?”

  Noah met her eyes. Choosing his words carefully, he explained, “They’re not sure. He’s had a lot of damage to his lungs. His tissues seem to be re-growing at a slower rate than they normally should and no one’s sure why. Since he’s a vampire, his tissue should have been mending itself on its own by now. And it is mending, just slower than it should. It seems hopeful, but it’s hard to say right now.”

  “Well, where is he?” Lexi questioned. “I want to visit him.”

  “They’re being kept at Doc Knapp’s practice. He’s one of the best doctors with a focus in vampire medicine in the country,” Noah explained. “Unfortunately, though, you can’t visit Professor Fleur. As of right now, they’re not allowing any of the injured victims to have any visitors aside from immediate family members.”

  “Oh.” Lexi’s face fell. Somehow, that knowledge made her feel even sadder. From what she understood, Professor Fleur didn’t have any living family. He’d been changed into a vampire later in life by his boyfriend, Ricardo. Ricardo had passed away a few years ago, though.

  Noah handed Lexi his cell phone. “Here, give me your phone number. If anything changes—if they have any updates on Professor Fleur’s condition or if they start to allow visitors—I’ll let you know.”

  Lexi nodded and entered her cell phone number in Noah’s address book. When she handed the phone back to him, she asked, “So, is the attack over, then?”

  Running a hand over his dark hair, Noah shrugged. “It’s really hard to say at this point. Everything has stabilized for the time being, but . . . we’re expecting them to come back eventually. Whether it’s going to be right now or later on, we don’t know yet.” He glanced over at Lexi. “It’s also going to depend on if they get word that you’re here.”

  Lexi crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, I hope they find out. If they’re going to come back, I want it to be when I’m here.”

  Noah frowned. “You need to be careful. They’re going to come at you hard next time. You need to be prepared.”

  Lexi nodded. “I’m more than prepared. Is there anything we can do to help?”

  Noah nodded. “Yeah, you guys can help us clean up. We have a lot we need to do if this place is ever going to be used again. As it is, the school’s on an indefinite hiatus so we can rebuild everything that’s been lost.”

  At that moment, the door behind them was pushed open and Gabe and Caroline walked inside. Gabe’s hair, which was starting to get pretty long, looked ruffled. He was laughing at something Caroline had said. Their arms hung next to them, their hands almost touching.

  Lexi smiled. Maybe she didn’t feel so bad about the fact that Gabe had moved on from her already, after all. It sort of made her life easier, in a way. She felt better about her decision to be with Dan now that Gabe had someone, too.

  As if reading her mind, Dan reached over and grabbed her hand. Lexi felt her skin tingle at his touch.

  “So, if you want to start with those rooms over there,” Noah said, pointing his chin down the hallway. “Decide if there’s anything that looks salvageable and put it in the bags to save. Sound good?”

  Lexi nodded. “Yeah, we’ll do that.” She led her friends down the hall and stopped at the first room. Everything inside seemed to be burnt to a crisp except for a picture frame that hung on one of the walls above the bed. It had a picture of a girl and a guy. His arm was draped over her shoulders, and they were smiling into the camera.

  “That’s Roberta Stine,” Anna murmured. “She was in one of my classes. It’s so sad that she’s gone.”

  As Lexi placed the framed photo inside the garbage bag of stuff to save, she felt herself seethe. Roberta wasn’t just a stranger who happened to be another casualty. She hadn’t just died in any old fire.

  Roberta was another person to add to the long, growing list of people who had died because of Greg Lawrence.

  One thing was for sure. Lexi was going to avenge Roberta’s death if it was the last thing she did.

  Chapter 35

  As Gabe and Caroline went through each of the classrooms and began to gather the things that had survived the fire—globes, maps, chalkboards, and other miscellaneous things—he tried to focus on what they were doing instead of just on her.

  Even though he was positive now that Caroline was his Caroline after he’d heard her play the same song on the piano, he still found himself looking for signs that they were truly one in the same. So far, he had found out that this Caroline had the same birthday and she loved horses just as much as his Caroline had.

  Gabe didn’t know that much about reincarnation, yet he’d always believed it was possible. How else would people have memories of past lives? The thing that confused him most, though, was the way Caroline Nichols looked. Gabe had always assumed that if a human soul was reincarnated, it would be reincarnated into a body that, at the very least, looked different. But Caroline Nichols looked nearly identical to his Caroline.

  Sure, there were differences. Her skin was slightly more tan, and she wore more makeup. She highlighted her hair, so it appeared lighter. Overall, though, this Caroline looked the same.

  “Gabe?” Caroline asked, interrupting his thoughts. “Did Danny tell me the truth? You used to be involved with Lexi?”

  Gabe met her gaze. There was no sense in lying to her; he had a feeling that she would already be able to tell if he did. “Yeah, I was.”

  Caroline’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. “Well, why didn’t it work out? I mean, Lexi seems like a really great girl. Danny seems to be smitten by her.”

  “It’s a long story,” Gabe replied. “In the end, I just don’t think we were right for each other. I think, in the beginning, I overestimated my feelings for her. It was the first time in . . . a really long time that I felt anything for someone, but now I realize that it wasn’t love like I originally thought it was.”

  “So, you’ve been in love before,” Caroline said, darting her eyes away from him. Gabe was positive that he heard a note of jealousy in her voice.

  “Yeah, but . . . like I said, it was a really long time ago.” Gabe bent down and picked something up off the floor. When he held it in his hand, he realized it was a compass—the type that biological vampire hunters could use to track down vampires.

  “What was it like?” Caroline asked. “You know, being in love.”

  “It’s . . . amazing,” Gabe replied. Amazing was an understatement. The time that he had spent with Caroline—his Caroline—had been some of the best times of his life. Even though he was beginning to forget a lot of things about his life when he was younger, all of the memories that he’d shared with her stuck out in his mind as some of his happiest days.

  Caroline studied his face for a moment. “Why didn’t it last?”

  “Her parents didn’t want her to be with me. They knew I was a vampire.” Gabe faced the opposite direction so that Caroline wouldn’t be able to see his face. She didn’t want him to see how much it still hurt, even after all these years.

  “That must be hard for you.” She paused. “Has the whole vampire thing complicated all of your relationships?”

  “Well, I haven’t been in many,” Gabe replied quietly. “I mostly avoid them because of the ‘vampire thing’.” That was the first time he had ever actually admitted that to anyone, including himself.

  “Aren’t there other vampire women? I’m sure you could have a relationship with one of them if you wanted to.”

  Gabe laughed. “Yeah, maybe, but when it comes to vampire women, I’ve found that they’re usually power hungry. That’s not what I usually look for in a girlfriend.”

  Caroline knelt in front of him to pick something up. Meeting his eyes, she asked, “What do you usually look for in a girlfriend?”

  “I-I don’t know. Someone like—” Gabe stammered, staring into her eyes. Their sky blue color pored through him; it made him feel like he was staring up into the perfect, cloudless sky.

  “Someone like . . .?” Caroli
ne asked in a soft voice as she inched closer to him. When her chin was inches away from his face, he could feel her hot breath against his cold skin. The feeling made his skin tingle.

  “You,” Gabe whispered. “Someone like you.”

  Just as their lips brushed, Gabe happened to glance over at the open door as a flash of dark hair and pale skin walked past. The woman stopped and froze, glancing into the room.

  It was Gabe’s mom. Her hair was a mess and her clothes seemed to be wrinkled, but there was no mistaking the look in her eyes. They were full of hatred. She knew what he had done.

  Gabe pulled away from Caroline. “I-I’m sorry, Caroline. I have to go. I’ll be right back, I promise.”

  Caroline stared back at him, the confusion written all over her face. “Gabe? Look, if you’re upset because I kissed you . . . I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have done it.”

  “No. No, it’s not that.” Gabe leaned in closer to her and gave her another tiny peck on the lips, just to reassure her. “It’s just that I’m having . . . a family emergency. I’ll be right back, I swear.”

  Caroline nodded and, even though she didn’t have a happy look on her face, she seemed satisfied enough with his answer to not question him further.

  As Gabe fled from the room and began to run down the hallway, he called, “Mom! Where are you?”

  He noticed a shadow flit across the hallway and down the open stairwell. Gabe quickened his pace to follow the shadow, who he was positive was his mom.

  As he began to descend the stairs, he heard the sound of the person’s footsteps as they hit against the stairs below him. Just as he reached the second flight of stairs, he heard their feet as they reached the cement floor below them.

  Gabe had never been to the basement before, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he caught up with his mother, that he explained to her the reason behind what he had done. He had to get the secret that no one else knew off his chest, but more importantly, he needed for his mother to be able to understand.

  Gabe knew that if his mom didn’t understand, there was no way she’d ever be able to forgive him.