by Jayme Morse
“Mom,” he called into the hallway, just as he felt a hand close around his mouth.
He turned around to see who it was, and found himself staring into the cold eyes of Kevin, his twin brother.
Chapter 36
Lexi waited in the hallway with Dan after they finished cleaning out the last of the dorm rooms. She was beginning to feel depressed after seeing the damage that had occurred within the school.
Lexi realized that she better get used to Dan’s parents, too, because she and Dan were probably going to be staying at their house for quite some time now. It seemed unlikely that classes were going to resume at Huntington any time in the near future with the current state of the school.
“Hey, guys?” Caroline called from behind them. “Has Gabe come down this way?”
“Nah, I haven’t seen him,” Dan replied.
“That’s weird,” Caroline replied, tucking a bleach-blonde wave behind her ear. “He told me he was going to be right back, but it’s been like ten minutes and he’s not back yet.”
“That’s because he’s a flake,” Austin muttered, as he came out of one of the dorm rooms with a trash bag of stuff to save in his hands.
“Austin, he’s not a flake,” Anna said with an eye roll.
“Actually,” Dan said, glancing over at Lexi, “there are some things about Gabe you should probably know.”
“Like what?” Caroline asked, raising her perfectly waxed eyebrows in question.
There was a long pause, as Dan continued to stare at Lexi, trying to make some sort of mental exchange to let her know that now was the time to have the discussion. Lexi didn’t want to have it right now, but she gave into his pressuring. She sighed “Caroline, the reason Gabe and I are no longer together is because he killed my ex-boyfriend, Justin. He kept it a secret from me the whole time we dated and even made me believe someone else killed him.”
Caroline glanced down at the ground. “I see. He told me you guys just weren’t right for each other.”
“Well, we’re not right for each other,” Lexi agreed.
“So, you broke up with him when you found out the news?” Caroline questioned, looking up at Lexi again.
Lexi hesitated. “Well, no . . . not exactly. I was already falling in love with Dan at that point.”
“So, technically, you did something wrong, too? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying what Gabe did isn’t bad, but what you just told me about yourself doesn’t make you sound too innocent, either,” Caroline explained. “You were supposed to be with Gabe, but you were already falling in love with Danny.”
“Well, yeah, technically, but—” Lexi started to say. She was about to tell Caroline about how she had caught Gabe fooling around with Veronica Hart, or so she had thought, but she didn’t get the chance to get a word in edgewise because Caroline interrupted her.
“But nothing, Lexi. People who aren’t perfect themselves shouldn’t judge what others have done.” Caroline gave her a small smile. “I know my brother made you tell me this, so I won’t hold it against you. I want us to be friends. But from now on, I would appreciate it if we don’t talk about Gabe’s flaws. I find it hard to believe that Gabe would actually kill someone just to be cruel. There had to be some other reason for it.” She met Lexi’s gaze. “Just like you killed Rhonda.”
Lexi nodded and looked away from Caroline. She wasn’t going to go into the one-hundred-and-one reasons why it had been different for her to kill Rhonda than it had been for Gabe to kill Justin right now. It didn’t seem like anything she could possibly say negative about Gabe was going to affect Caroline, anyway. Her mind seemed to be pretty made up about him.
At that moment, Lexi heard footsteps from around the corner. Noah poked his head into the hallway. “Hey, guys, if you’re all finished here, why don’t you head home for the night? Nothing seems to be happening right now. If there’s another attack or if we need your help for anything, we can always call you.”
Austin nodded his head. “Yeah, sounds good to me.”
“Me, too,” Anna agreed.
“Yeah. But Noah? Can you do me a favor?” Lexi asked.
“Sure.”
“If you see my dad, don’t tell him you saw me here, okay? I don’t want him to know I broke his promise and came here.”
“No problem. I’ll keep it to myself,” Noah agreed.
As they all began to walk towards the door, Caroline stood in the hallway with her arms crossed against her chest. “So, what? You guys are just going to leave Gabe here?”
“Well, we can always call him and let him know we left. In fact, I’ll do that right now,” Dan said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He waited for a few moments before hitting the ‘end’ button. “No answer.”
Caroline rolled her eyes. “Whatever, guys. You can all go home if you want to, but I think I’m going to wait here for Gabe. At least for a little bit longer.”
“Alright, I’ll see you back at the house,” Dan said. He continued to walk down the hallway. Austin and Anna followed after him.
Lexi shot Caroline a sympathetic look, trying to let her know that she wanted to stick around with her but that Dan, Anna, and Austin were leaving her no other choice.
As she went outside, Lexi turned around and took one last look at the building that had once been Huntington. It was scary to see how quick this new part of her life, the part that she was positive was the gateway to new beginnings for her, had already changed, and probably forever.
Chapter 37
When Austin and Anna got back to Dan’s house, settled inside their guest bedroom that they were sharing with one another, he glanced over at her and grinned. “It feels kind of awesome to know that they’ll let us know if they need our help to fight off anyone. It makes me feel important.”
“Yeah.” Anna glanced down at her hands. She twisted a white gold ring that she always wore around her finger nervously.
Austin stared at her for a moment. It was obvious that something was wrong. She wasn’t acting like herself. “Is everything okay, Anna?”
Anna shrugged her shoulders. “I just . . . I’m starting to wonder what the point of all of this is. I mean, why are we so happy to kill vampires? It’s sick to think that way.”
“They’re not good vampires, Anna,” Austin replied quietly. “Have you forgotten all of the things they planned to do to Lexi?”
“No, I haven’t forgotten,” Anna replied. “And if I were Lexi, I would probably want to get revenge on them, too. It makes sense for her to want to kill them. But, honestly, Austin, I can’t be happy about it. None of those vampires did anything to me personally. Only one vampire has hurt me, and we have no idea where he is.”
“Anna, we’re going to try to find Geoff,” Austin said softly. He knew that ever since Anna had talked to Darius, she had been sort of bummed out by the fact that no one knew where Geoff was. She had been expecting to find out more about her mother’s killer. It upset her that she hadn’t gotten the lead she had been expecting.
“I guess,” Anna muttered under her breath. She looked away from him.
“Anna,” Austin said, inching closer to her and grabbing one of her hands. “Is everything okay . . . with us?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” Anna asked without bothering to even turn to face him.
“Because you won’t even look at me. I feel like you’re pushing me away for some reason.”
Anna scoffed. “Why do you think I would be pushing you away?”
Austin hesitated. “Because I want you to become a vampire?”
Anna glanced over at him. “You do?”
Austin nodded. “Yeah, well, I mean, it’s not like we didn’t talk about it at one point,” he pointed out, remembering the one time when they had spoken about it in the past. Weeks had gone by since they’d discussed it since then, though. “I thought maybe you could do it soon.”
Anna’s eyes widened. “You want me to do it now?”
“Well, the sooner y
ou do it, the better, right?” Austin questioned.
“Why do you want me to become a vampire?”
Austin raised her eyebrows at her, surprised by the question. Shouldn’t the reasons have been obvious to her? “Because I want to keep you safe,” he told her. “There’s less of a risk of you dying if you’re a vampire. Do you know how terrified I was when Rhonda kidnapped you? I was scared to death that she and Gabe were going to kill you.” He paused. “And I want you to turn because I love you. I want to spend eternity with you.”
Anna shook her head, her eyes filling up with tears. “I . . . I’m not sure.”
“What aren’t you sure about . . . becoming a vampire or me?” Austin asked. It felt like someone had just tore his heart into two pieces—not that he actually had a beating, human heart for that to happen to.
Anna glanced away from him. “Becoming a vampire.” She hesitated. “No, being with you. Both? I don’t know,” she stammered. She met his gaze. “The only thing I know is that I’m really confused.”
“I thought you loved me,” Austin said. Even as he said the words, he knew how pathetic he sounded, but he didn’t really care. All he knew was that he loved Anna; he would do anything to be with her and to keep her alive. He had never felt so strongly about anyone—none of the cheerleaders he’d ever dated and definitely not Mary-Kate.
Anna was the only one who ever made him feel like he was alive, which was weird because he was technically already dead when he started to realize how he truly felt about her. She was the only one who made him want to live the rest of this eternal life . . . but there was no way he would be able to live a never-ending life without her in it.
“I thought I loved you,” Anna replied, darting her eyes away from him again. “I don’t know, Austin. All I know right now is I’m definitely not ready to become a vampire yet. I need to think about everything—you, me, us—before you can expect me to make that type of decision.”
“So, what now?” Austin questioned, glancing around him. They were supposed to be sharing this guest bedroom while they stayed at Dan’s house, but it seemed like Anna didn’t even want to be near him right now. “What about me? What am I supposed to do while you think?”
“I don’t care what you do, as long as you leave me the hell alone,” Anna shot back at him. “I need time to think, and I’m not going to be able to do that with you constantly hinting that you want me to become a vampire. It’s not going to happen right now. Just live with it.”
“I’m not sure if I can,” Austin replied. He stood up and gathered his bags.
“Where are you going?” Anna questioned, watching him.
“I can’t spend another night in here with you,” Austin replied. “I want to be with you. I love you. But until you figure everything out, I don’t know if I can even look at you. I’m going to go see if there’s another guest bedroom. If there’s not, I’ll be spending the night on the couch.”
From the corner of his eye, Austin was positive he saw her roll her eyes at him. “Fine, spend the night on the uncomfortable couch,” she said.
“I will. It couldn’t be any more uncomfortable than being around you right now,” he shot back, glancing over his shoulder at her before leaving the room.
Chapter 38
Resting her head against the bed, Anna let out a loud sigh. She hadn’t wanted to kick Austin out of the room. She knew she was going to be lonely tonight without him.
Anna felt bad about the way she had treated him, but she couldn’t help it. There was no way she could become a vampire right now. And there was no way she could look him in the eyes right now and honestly tell him that she was sure she was in love with him. As much as she wanted to be in love with him, she still had her doubts.
Anna’s cell phone buzzed in the palm of her hand. At first she thought it was going to be Austin sending her a text message apologizing or getting in a word that he hadn’t been able to say before he’d left the room, but it continued to vibrate in her hand.
Glancing down at the caller ID on the screen, Anna’s breath caught in the back of her throat.
It was Darius. She’d exchanged cell phone numbers with him at Westbrooke. They’d promised to catch up with one another in a few weeks so they could talk about her mother, so it surprised her to hear from him again so soon. Anna wasn’t disappointed, though. Even though there was a lot going on right now, she couldn’t help but feel curious about her mom’s other life. She was hungry for details, and it was nice to have someone who actually wanted to talk about her mom. When Anna had taken Austin home for Christmas, it was obvious that her father didn’t want to reminisce about her mom and relive the memories.
“Darius?” Anna asked into the phone.
“Hey, Anna.” Darius’s voice was filled with a little static, like he was in a poor reception area. “I know I’m calling you earlier than we talked about, but I have a lead on Geoff.”
“You do?” It felt like Anna’s heart was going to pound through her chest; it was beating so fast.
“Yes, I had a private investigator—who also happens to be a biological vampire hunter—do some digging,” Darius explained. “He’s closer than either of us ever would have imagined.” He paused. “Anna, do you remember how when you spoke to me in private, you asked if Geoff might have had connections to Briar Creek?”
“Yeah,” Anna nodded, remembering. She had asked him mostly because the letter she had received with the tip about Westbrooke had been postmarked from Briar Creek. Darius had explained that the reason the letter had come from Briar Creek was because he had sent the letter from his own home there. But he didn’t think that Geoff had any connections to Briar Creek; Geoff had clearly listed the Bronx, New York as his location on his application to the vampire training facility.
“I may have been wrong. The last credit card transaction that Geoff made was in Briar Creek, and we’re about ninety-nine percent positive that he’s still there right now.”
Anna felt her stomach drop to her knees. It felt like she had been at the tippy top of the world’s highest roller coaster, hanging on by a thread, and someone had pushed her over the edge. “How is that possible?” Even as she asked the question, though, she knew how moronic the words sounded. It actually made sense that her mom’s vampire killer would be in a town that was filled with a high population of evil, corrupted vampires.
“We don’t know exactly why he’s there, Anna, but we’re trying to figure it out. I want you to stay away from Briar Creek for now, okay? I’ve sent some of our toughest vampires there to look for him.” Darius took a long, hesitant pause before saying, “Anna, we don’t know if the reason Geoff is in Briar Creek is because he lives there or if it’s because he might be after you and knows you’re nearby. You’re still with Austin, right?”
“No,” Anna started to say, but she quickly realized that Darius wasn’t asking her what her relationship status with Austin was. Darius was asking if she was still physically near Austin. “I mean, yes. Yes, I’m still with him.”
“Good,” Darius replied. “I want you to stick close to Austin for now. If Geoff tries to come after you, he might be deterred by Austin’s scent on you.”
“Okay,” Anna muttered. She wasn’t sure if she felt happy about being near Austin after the blowout argument they’d just had, but it didn’t seem like she had much of a choice right now either; it was do or die.
And it’s not like Austin was that bad, anyway. Anna did think there was still a chance that she may love him; it was just that she wasn’t sure how much those feelings were driven by the fact that Austin was a vampire and she was a human.
At that moment, an idea dawned on her. “Actually, Darius . . . I have a question for you,” Anna said into the phone. She opened the door and glanced around the house to make sure no one was within earshot.
“Sure, what is it?” Darius questioned.
“I’m thinking about making a second trip to Ohio. I might come by myself this time, though. Do you think
it would be okay for me to be a blood donor at Westbrooke?”
Darius paused for a few moments. When he finally spoke again, the surprise was obvious in his voice. “I don’t see why it would be a problem. I have to admit . . . I’m a little shocked to hear you want to do it, though. I suppose it’s because you want to understand what your mom went through, huh?”
“Yeah,” Anna lied, relieved that Darius had thrown an excuse right into the palm of her hands. The truth was, she only wanted to be a blood donor so that she would know what it felt like for another vampire aside from Austin to drink from her. And another vampire aside from Gabe; she could barely remember what it had felt like for him to drink from her.
This would be an experiment . . . or perhaps it would be a test of her life for Austin. If the experience was different in a bad way, maybe it was because she and Austin truly were meant to be. But if letting another vampire drink from her felt the same, if she felt a sense of attachment to the vampires who she donated her blood to because of how pleasurable the experience was, then maybe she should take it as a sign that she and Austin would never be anything more than a blood-thirsty vampire and a more than willing human blood donor.
Chapter 39
Gabe screamed, but it didn’t matter. He was locked inside a closet that was so deep in the basement of the mostly-abandoned Huntington that no one would hear him, anyway. And since he was locked in, it wouldn’t even make a difference if he morphed into his bat form. He would still be stuck in there, in the closet, no matter what.
How could he have ignored the vision that he’d had of Kevin that night in the motel room? It obviously hadn’t been just a memory; it must have been his brother’s face as he planned this attack.
Under ordinary circumstances, Gabe would wonder how his own brother could do such a thing. But his brother had obviously learned from the best because this was exactly what Gabe had done when he’d tried to kill Kevin.
