Kiss of Death: The Briar Creek Vampires, Book 1
Sixteen year-old Lexi Hunter is just an ordinary teenager wishing that her life could be as exciting as a reality tv show when her mom receives a phone call with the news that Lexi’s cousin, Austin, has been killed. She and her mom return to Briar Creek, the town that they left ten years ago, never looking back.
During their stay, Lexi falls head-over-heels for Gabe, the dark and mysterious guy who lives across the street and goes to the same high school that Austin went to. Lexi’s Aunt Violet and Uncle Tommy insist on her staying away from him due to his violet behavior and instead urge her to pursue a relationship with Dan, Austin’s best friend.
In an effort to learn more about the cousin she barely knew, Lexi snoops through Austin’s belongings. Soon, she begins to uncover puzzling details that make her believe that Austin wasn’t really attacked by an animal the night he was killed – details that may already be putting her own life in danger.
Kiss of Death
by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse
Copyright © 2011 by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse
Kiss of Death is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents in this book are products of the writer’s imaginations or have been used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons or locations is coincidental and not intended by the authors.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from Jayme Morse & Jody Morse.
Connect with the authors at:
http://www.jaymemorse.com
http://www.jodymorse.com
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Prologue
When the ninth bell blared at the end of the day, Austin Graham fled from his sophomore history class.
Once he stepped outside into the rain, he breathed a sigh of relief. School was finally over for the summer.
As he began walking home, he contemplated what he would do over the break. Austin was looking forward to going to the beach with his friends and throwing a few beer pong parties for the guys on the football team and the cheerleading squad. He was already getting hyped.
The sounds of heavy footsteps on crunching leaves interrupted his thoughts. Cars belonging to the senior class zoomed past him, putting him on edge and a senior jock hooted out his car window at him. Something hard hit against his back and he spun around quickly with clenched fists.
Looking up, he realized who had snuck up on him and suddenly felt embarrassed for getting so worked up.
Dan Nichols, his longtime best friend, ran up to him and gave him a playful shove. “Wow, tense, huh?” he said, grinning and laughing hysterically as he scooped up his football from the slick pavement. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s okay, man. Hey, do you want to play some ball? I don’t really feel like going home right now.”
“Nah. I would, but I gotta go help my brother with his car.” Dan sniffed the air, and then said, “You should go home soon, or your mom will be wondering where you are. I’ll see you later.”
“Okay. See you tomorrow,” Austin said and started walking again.
Austin thought of himself as an ordinary teenager. He had tons of friends and was invited to all the cool parties. He got good grades, but most of them were out of selfishness from the teachers who didn’t want to see the Briar Creek Cougars lose another season of football.
In his pocket, his cell phone vibrated. Pulling it out, he glanced at the number that had just text messaged him. It was from his girlfriend, Mary-Kate.
Groaning, he ignored the text message and shoved his phone back into his pocket. He loved Mary-Kate, but lately she was really getting on his nerves. She had been trying to pressure him into too many things that he didn’t want to do lately. Austin knew that she was keeping his own best interests in mind, but he was a big boy. If he wanted someone to make his decisions for him, he’d ask his mom. And his mom did plenty of that on her own, without him asking.
As Austin turned the corner onto Crestwood Ave, he stopped dead in his tracks and turned around. He could have sworn that he’d heard footsteps following a few steps behind him.
Finding that there was no one there, he went back to his thoughts. He didn’t want to breakup with Mary-Kate, but he had a feeling that it was going to come to that soon. She just made him feel too damn uncomfortable lately.
Austin crossed through Mr. Abraham’s back yard everyday on his way home. Mr. Abraham didn’t mind or, if he did, he never said anything. Today, the brown two-story house looked dark and empty; the forest surrounding it looked even darker and emptier.
Looking ahead, Austin noticed a dark shadow looming over him. Before he could turn to look at the figure that was perched in the tree, it leaped on top of Austin’s back, crashing them both down on to the hard ground.
The wind went silent, and all that could be heard was a sickening crack.
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Chapter 1
Lexi Hunter watched from across the living room as her mom, Eileen, stared down in awe at the pink Blackberry Curve that was vibrating forcefully in her hand.
Her mom managed to pull her jaw back up from the floor and stammered, “It’s from Briar Creek.” Briar Creek, a small town in Pennsylvania, was the place Lexi and her mom had left behind ten years ago, never looking back.
“Well, answer it.” Lexi snapped at her. She was slightly annoyed that her mom was interrupting her favorite show, Jersey Shore.
As her mom hesitantly picked up the phone, Lexi went back to writing a journal entry for her 10th grade creative writing class and watching the argument ensue on television. It was the episode where Ronnie threw all of Sammi’s stuff outside during one of their many breakups. She wished she could witness something that exciting in her own boring life.
Okay, her life really wasn’t that bad. It just wasn’t as exciting as she wanted it to be. She got along with almost everyone at school and she had friends, but she didn’t really belong to a specific clique, though she wished she did. You know, the type that coordinated their outfits, always had sleepovers, and threw parties together every weekend. Lexi had belonged to a group of friends like that once, but that was back before she quit her school’s swim team last year. After she quit, the swim team disassociated themselves from her and she went back to the measly group of friends (after begging them to take her back, of course) she had before she joined the team, but things were never the same between them after that.
Her love life wasn’t much better. She had dated a guy named Justin, but he had been too busy with hockey practice to spend time with her. To his dismay, they lasted one short season before Lexi broke up with him. He apparently wasn’t over it yet because he still called her from time to time – which sadly, was the most exciting element of her love life.
Lexi hadn’t told Justin that she was no longer interested in him as anything more than a friend because that meant that the calls would stop coming, and even more of her monthly allowance of cell phone minutes would go unused. Her mom probably thought she was pathetic enough as it was.
As Jersey Shore ended and Teen Mom came on, Lexi’s mom emerged from her bedroom. Curious, Lexi mouthed to her, “What’s going on?”
“I’ll come out there. When is the funeral?” Lexi’s mom asked into the phone and crossed the living room to go into the kitchen.
Her mom grabbed a Pepto-Bismol pink Post-it note and scribbled something down. “I’m not sure,” she said slowly. “Lexi has school.” Pushing away a lock of her curly chocolate brown hair that fell in front of her Peridot-green eyes, she glanced over at Lexi in the living room. Lexi had always admired her mom’s appearance; her curvy body and naturally sun-kissed skin could land her a role on Jersey Shore faster than Lexi’s own shapeless body, surfer blonde hair, and fair skin. When Lexi was little, she believed that she was adopted because she couldn’t see the resemblance between them.
“Okay, I’ll see you then.” Her mom hit the end button on her cell phone and sat down on the edge of the coffee table across from Lexi’s spot on the sofa. Lexi peered at her, wondering what was going on. She wasn’t sure if she should ask or wait for her mom to say something first.
A long, uncomfortable silence passed before either of them spoke.
“Austin died, Lexi.”
Lexi released her bottom lip that she had been nervously chewing on. “My cousin Austin?” Eileen nodded. Lexi stared at her mom in shock – partly because he was dead and partly because she hadn’t heard his name spoken out loud in years.
“How did he die?”
Her mom wiped at a tear. “I’m not sure. The police think it was an animal attack…Probably a black bear.”
Lexi shuddered. She hadn’t seen Austin in years. In fact, she still pictured him as the strawberry blonde-haired, freckle-faced six-year-old from her memory. She imagined the kid version of him being ripped apart by a black bear, and it gave her the heebie jeebies.
*
“Isn’t it good to be back?” Lexi asked excitedly, sliding into a booth and looking around Annie’s Diner, her favorite place to eat when she was a kid. Even though they were back in Briar Creek for a bad reason, Lexi was still excited.
“It is,” her mom hesitantly admitted, looking at Lexi over the menu she was holding. Picking up her Blackberry, she said, “So, we have about an hour before we can check in.”
“Mom, why can’t we just stay at Aunt Violet’s?”
Her mom stared at the glass of water that had just been placed in front of her by the hostess and circled her finger around its rim, as though she were more interested in it than she was in Lexi’s question. She replied hesitantly, “Your aunt offered to let us stay there, but I didn’t think we should intrude.” She jumped as a little boy went whizzing past their table screaming, interrupting her thoughts. Shaking her head, she said “It would be a little awkward for us too, Lexi. We’ve been gone for so long, I’m not even sure what I should say to Violet about this whole situation,” she sniffed, throwing her hands up in exasperation.
Lexi knew where her mom was coming from. Her own stomach had been in knots during the entire car ride to Briar Creek for that same reason. She hadn’t seen Aunt Violet and Uncle Tommy since she was six. What could she possibly say to comfort them? That she was sorry about Austin’s death, even though she barely knew him? She felt somewhat guilty; she wasn’t even that sad that Austin was gone…just a little freaked out.
When Lexi was a kid, she lived with her dad and her mom at Grandma Jean’s house. Violet, Tommy, and Austin lived there, too. That was back when everyone actually got along with each other, Lexi thought bitterly. Lexi wasn’t sure why her mom and aunt’s relationship had fallen apart, but it was sometime after Grandma Jean passed away and Lexi’s dad disappeared, never to be heard from again. Her mom had packed up and moved her and Lexi to New Jersey shortly after.
Lexi’s thoughts were interrupted when an elderly waitress with silver-blue hair came to their table and, eyes filled with recognition, cupped her hands over her mouth in surprise. “Well, suga honey iced tea! I heard y’all would be comin’ back to Briar Creek, but I said I didn’t believe it ‘till I saw it with my own eyes!”
“Well, here we are. How have you been, Gerti?” Lexi’s mom asked, smiling tightly.
“I’m doing good. Now, if my memory here is servin’ me correctly, Lexi will be gettin’ her trademark dish, and Eileen will have herself some coffee, a roast beef sandwich, n’some fries. Am I right?”
Lexi smiled and nodded.
“Actually, I’ll just take the coffee,” her mom answered.
“Where’s my head gone? I almost forgot Austin ain’t with us anymore. Y’all must be too distraught to eat. There’s too many youngin’s dyin’ these days n’ here I am just waitin’ for my time to come. It just don’t seem right. I’m sorry for both y’all’s loss.”
“Thank you,” Eileen said, pursing her lips.
Lexi broke in and blurted, “Don’t feel too bad, mom’s just a vegetarian now.” Gerti’s lips formed into a shocked “O.”
“A vegetarian in Briar Creek? Why, that is just unheard of!” she exclaimed, the disproval obvious in her voice. A few nearby heads in the diner turned to look at them. “Honey, how’re ya gonna keep meat on them bones if ya don’t eat nothin’ healthy for ya?” Gerti said, in a mother hen voice, before turning on her heel.
“Some things never change,” her mom said through gritted teeth as she watched Gerti stride with her nose in the air back towards the kitchen. She huffed, “I’m surprised Ned still lets her work here.”
“Why wouldn’t he let her work here?” Lexi asked, confused. It had been years since she and her mom had been to the diner, but from what she remembered, Gerti had always been nice to them.
Gerti had always thought it was hilarious when Lexi ordered her scrambled eggs topped with salsa. After Lexi ordered it every day for a week, Gerti had suggested that Ned add it to the menu. Lexi had been surprised to see that it was still labeled as “Lexi’s Spicy Scrambled Eggs” on the menu.
“Gerti has just always had a habit of butting into other peoples’ business,” Eileen answered bluntly. “That’s why we stopped coming here after your father disappeared. The woman wouldn’t stop asking me questions about what happened.” Eileen refolded her napkin with her long, manicured nails. “There are always lots of busybodies in small towns like this.”
“Do you think that dad’s still in Briar Creek?” Lexi asked her mom, as casually as she could.
“I don’t know, Lexi. Don’t get your hopes up. We check out of the hotel around three on Sunday. Even if your father is around, I don’t think you’ll be able to track him down too quickly. He has a habit of staying well hidden.” Noting Lexi’s disappointment, she added, with a hopeful smile on her face, “I thought maybe we could do some shopping before we go home, after dinner at your aunt’s. I know how much you used to love the Briar Creek Mall when you were little.”
Lexi sighed. Having a mom who was a pediatrician in one of New Jersey’s most prestigious hospitals had its drawbacks; it meant that Lexi had to learn a long time ago how to fend for herself. She knew her mom cared about her, but she tried to comfort her with material objects too often – so much so that Lexi had grown tired of it.
Her mom glanced up as Gerti placed a plate of salsa scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast in front of Lexi. Gerti placed a cup of coffee in front of her mom, before hurriedly placing a plate of food in front of her as well. Lexi nearly burst into laughter when she realized that Gerti had brought the roast beef sandwich and French fries that she would have ordered if she had not been a vegetarian.
“I just thought ya might be hungry,” Gerti said, shrugging at the food. “Y’all need to keep your bellies full durin’ times of stress. And don’t you worry, Neddy told me to tell y’all that this here food’s on the house!”
“Thanks,” Lexi’s mom muttered, the anger rising in her cheeks. Once Gerti strode back into the kitchen, Lexi’s mom harshly whispered, “I never would have come here if I knew that woman was still working!”
Not letting her mom change the subject just because Ger
ti had interrupted them, Lexi went on, “Well, maybe you’d know that she still worked here if we didn’t move.” She took a huge bite of her salsa scrambled eggs. It tasted just as good as she remembered it tasting when she was a kid.
Lexi asked, “Is Dad the reason why we moved?” and braced herself for the lecture that was bound to follow.
“Lexi, we’ve talked about this before,” her mom warned from across the table.
“No, we haven’t. I’ve been asking you why we moved my entire life, and you’ve always managed to change the subject.”
Sighing loudly, her mom said, “No. He’s not the reason why we moved.”
“Then did it have to do with Aunt Violet or Uncle Tommy?” Although the house that Lexi and her mom had moved to was only about two hours from Briar Creek, they had never returned to their old town. Lexi’s mom and her Aunt Violet had been super close as kids and throughout their early twenties. But these days, her mom and aunt didn’t even call each other. Despite their lack of communication and Eileen’s refusal to talk about it, Lexi knew that her mom missed Violet; she still kept a photograph of them together as teens on her nightstand. Lexi had always wondered what had happened, but knew better than to ask about it.
“It’s complicated, Lexi” Her mom sniffed and went back to playing with her glass. Lexi knew that look. The last time her mom had had it, she had scolded Lexi before walking around the house like a teary-eyed zombie for the next week and a half. Deciding that she didn’t want a repeat of that week, Lexi abruptly dropped the subject.
While Lexi crunched on a strip of bacon, her mom drank her coffee. She had claimed she was too nervous to eat her fries, and, if that were true, Lexi wouldn’t have blamed her. But she knew her mom well enough to know that she was just being spiteful to Gerti’s insisting that she should still eat her roast beef sandwich.
The Briar Creek Vampires 01 - Kiss of Death Page 1