by Jayme Morse
Lexi heard the sound of the doorknob being turned. The door swung open, and Anna stepped inside. When she saw Mary-Kate sitting on the bed next to Lexi her face fell. “Oh, uh, hi. You must be Mary-Kate.”
Mary-Kate nodded and smiled at her. “Yes. And you’re Anna, right?”
Anna nodded. “Yeah.” She took a step back towards the door. “I guess I’ll go hang out in Jill’s dorm room or something.”
“No, that’s okay,” Mary-Kate said, throwing her hands up in the air. “I should actually be getting back to Briar Creek or everyone’s going to start wondering where I went.” She turned to Lexi. “I’ll see you soon. Tell Austin to give me a call when he gets back, okay?”
Lexi nodded. She glanced over at Anna, who was staring solemnly at the floor. “I will.”
When Mary-Kate shut the dorm room door behind her, Lexi turned to Anna. “What is up with you?” she whispered. “You acted really strange around her.”
“Nothing. I’m going to get a cup of coffee. Want to come with?”
Lexi shook her head. “No. I’m kind of sleepy. I’m gonna take a nap.”
Anna shrugged her shoulders. “Suit yourself.”
When the door closed, Lexi flopped down on her bed and wrapped the comforter around herself. Why had Mary-Kate come to visit, only to leave shortly after? And why was Anna acting so weird? For some reason, when she got to Huntington, she figured that she wouldn’t have to deal with any drama, but it felt like it was finding her here quicker than it had anywhere else.
Just as she was getting ready to doze off, Lexi heard the sound of a cell phone chirping. She realized that it was close to her . . . really close.
Picking up the cell phone, she noticed that it was in a light purple cover. Lexi remembered that Anna’s cell phone cover was hot pink zebra print. This cell phone must belong to Mary-Kate. It must have fallen out of her bag before she left.
Glancing at the caller ID, Lexi noticed that the call was from Brandon. Lexi accidentally hit the “talk” button. Just as she put her ear to the receiver to apologize, she realized that she couldn’t actually say anything or Brandon might recognize her voice and figure out that Mary-Kate knew where she was. It didn’t seem like it was worth risking.
“Hey, Mary-Kate,” Brandon said. “What time do you want me to pick you up for our date tonight? And have you broken up with Austin yet?”
Unsure of what else to do, Lexi quickly hit the “end” button on the cell phone.
There was a knock at the door. “Lexi?” Mary-Kate called. “I think I left my cell phone on your bed or something.”
Lexi opened the door and handed the phone to her. “I was just about to come find you.” She smiled at Mary-Kate, trying not to make it seem obvious that she had just answered her cell phone.
When she closed the door behind her, she sunk to her knees. Had Lexi just heard what she thought she had heard? Could Mary-Kate be cheating on Austin with Brandon?
No. There was no way. Mary-Kate wouldn’t have been so concerned about Austin if she really didn’t care about him. All of the things that Lexi had thought about her sister when she first met her just weren’t true; she helped other people by letting them feed from her, but she was in love with Austin. Wasn’t she?
****
Chapter 14
That night, Lexi sat in the Huntington cafeteria eating dinner with Anna and her friends. She had met them all the night she had first stayed at Huntington when she had tried to run away from Briar Creek a few months back, but she couldn’t recall their names (and, frankly, she didn’t really care to right now).
Thinking about the call from Brandon made Lexi’s mind drift back to Gabe and Veronica. Somehow, this felt even worse than when Gabe had crashed the car and disappeared from Briar Creek. This time, he had chosen someone else instead of her. When he crashed the car, she knew it was because he loved her. Now, she had her doubts . . . and she wasn’t sure how much more she could take. What was worse was the fact that Gabe was one of the only people who, up until now, Lexi thought she could trust. He was one of the only people who knew her whereabouts for however long it had been since she’d escaped Briar Creek, which made her feel like they had a special bond with each other.
It made Lexi even angrier because Gabe had refused to have sex with her. He said that he wanted it to be the right time. And yet, he obviously must have felt that it was the right time for him to fool around with Veronica. Thinking about the way she had seen them together made Lexi feel like she wanted to vomit.
She was so lost in thought that she hadn’t even noticed when Craig came up from behind her and started talking to her until he said, “Lexi? Are you okay?”
“Huh?” Lexi asked, turning around to look at him.
“I asked if I could have a word with you in private.”
Glancing around at Anna and her friends, who were staring at her suspiciously, Lexi followed Craig outside into the courtyard. She wasn’t sure what she could tell Anna and her friends when they asked what Craig had wanted to talk to her about to make it seem less weird. She didn’t even start his class until the end of next week because it was a bi-weekly class.
When they were outside, Craig said, “Last night was really amazing.”
Lexi stared back at him. She thought that when she had first met him, his eyes had been hazel, but they looked greener every time she saw him. Today, they had taken on a pretty shade of emerald.
“Yeah, it was . . . nice,” she replied.
“Meet me tonight in my room at nine o’clock?” Craig asked.
“Umm, why? What do you have in mind?”
“I have a few surprises up my sleeve,” Craig said flirtatiously.
Lexi hesitated. Even though Gabe had cheated on her with Veronica, it made her feel guilty to know that she was sort of doing the same thing. Did two wrongs really make a right? Lexi wasn’t sure, but she knew that one thing was for sure. Right now, what she needed the most was to get her mind off of the Gabe and Veronica situation because it was driving her nuts. “Okay, I’ll be there at nine.”
“Great.” Craig smiled. “I promise that you won’t be disappointed.”
When Lexi got back to the cafeteria table, Anna leaned over to her and whispered, “What did Professor Lindstrom want?”
“Oh, um, he told me that he’s compiling a list of books for me to read so that I can catch up on Vampire Lit,” Lexi lied, thinking of the first thing that came to mind.
“Oh, that’s probably a really good idea. There’s a lot of good information in some of those books. I can help you find more if you want,” Anna offered.
“That would be great. Thanks.” Lexi breathed a sigh of relief, feeling proud of herself for coming up with such a believable lie.
“And, see, I told you there’s nothing to worry about. He wouldn’t be trying to help you catch up if he was really against you,” Anna pointed out.
“I guess you’re right,” Lexi said, smiling. It felt relieving to know that she could actually trust Craig. “Have you heard from Austin yet?”
Anna shook her head. “No, he promised that he would call me sometime later tonight to give me an update. I’ll let you know as soon as I find out anything. Let’s cross our fingers that they found Ben already.”
“Fingers crossed,” Lexi agreed.
*
She knocked on Craig’s door a little earlier than nine o’clock that night. When he opened up his door, she nearly gasped. He was dressed all fancy, in a black suit and silver tie. “You didn’t tell me that I needed to dress nice,” Lexi said. “I’ll go back to my room and change.”
“Non-sense. I didn’t tell you because you didn’t need to dress nice,” Craig replied. “I wanted to impress you.”
“Well, consider me impressed.” Lexi blushed. After all the months she had spent with Gabe, he had done very little to impress her. Maybe Craig was right. Maybe she really did deserve someone who would treat her better.
“Are you ready to go?” Craig asked, motioning toward
s the door.
“Go?” Lexi panicked. She hadn’t thought about what would happen if Craig wanted to leave the Huntington campus. Austin and Gabe hadn’t left her specific instructions on what she could and couldn’t do while they were gone, but she assumed that she was just supposed to stay here. As boring as it would be, not leaving Huntington was probably the safest thing for her.
“Yeah, come on.” Craig told her. Grabbing her hand, he led her out the door next to his room.
She followed him into the school parking lot. “Where are we going?” she asked, glancing around at the cars, wondering which one was his.
“You’ll see.” Craig walked past all of the cars in the parking lot and continued until they were walking on a dirt path. When Craig finally stopped, he pointed at a tent that sat next to a pond. “That’s where we’re going.”
Lexi followed him into the tent. Inside, there was a picnic table with a picnic basket on it, along with a bottle of wine and two wine glasses. “So, tell me, Mr. Lindstrom, is this our first date?”
Craig nodded and smiled at her. “You can call it that.”
Lexi sat down on one side of the table and he sat at the other side. He lit a few candles and pulled the food out of the picnic basket. Handing her a sandwich, he said, “It’s peanut butter and jelly. I wasn’t sure if you ate meat or anything, so I figured it would be the safest bet.”
“It’s fine.” Lexi smiled. She hadn’t eaten peanut butter and jelly in years, but it had been one of her favorites when she was a kid. Her mom had always packed her PB&J sandwiches that she cut in animal shapes for lunch at school.
“So tell me about yourself, Lexi. I feel like I’ve known you for so long, but I still don’t really know you. You’re a bit of a mystery to me.” Craig poured them each a glass of wine.
Lexi looked down at her hands, unsure of what to say. She didn’t know if she was supposed to be keeping anything about her life a secret, and she also didn’t want to sound pathetic. “I’m not really good at talking about myself. What do you want to know?”
“Well, what do you want to do with your life?” Craig asked.
Stay alive, Lexi thought to herself. “I think I might want to go into medicine.” She surprised herself by saying that. It was the first time she had even admitted it to herself.
“Really?” Craig asked. “I wouldn’t have pegged you as someone who would want to study medicine. You seem like more of a creative type . . . a free spirit.”
“Well, I used to want to be an English teacher or maybe an architect. But my mom always wanted me to go into medicine. She was a doctor,” Lexi explained, taking a sip of wine. She puckered her lips, realizing that it was her first real drink ever. The first time she had thought she was getting drunk, she had actually been drinking blood. Lexi shuddered and then continued, “And now that she’s gone, I feel like I need to honor her wishes.”
“That’s understandable,” Craig replied. “You just need to make sure that you really want to do it, though. You can’t force yourself to be passionate about something that you don’t really love.”
Lexi thought about Gabe. Was that why he was more passionate towards Veronica . . . because he didn’t really love Lexi? “I know. So, tell me something. Are you a vampire hunter?”
“I had a feeling that was coming.” Craig paused, putting his sandwich down. “I want to be one. I’m not a biological vampire hunter, though. I’m not all that talented at it yet.”
Lexi was having a hard time getting used to everyone referring to vampire hunting as a talent. “What made you decide to become a vampire hunter?” she asked. She knew that everyone at Huntington had a story – and usually a more interesting story if they weren’t biological vampire hunters. It was interesting to see why someone would choose this life as opposed to the alternatives.
“Well, I am a vampire. I’m not sure if you knew that already,” Craig said, studying her face.
Lexi nodded. “I kind of figured it out after I learned about Mary-Kate. I know that she’s kind of a blood donor, and I saw you together that time . . .” Lexi drifted off.
Craig nodded. “Yeah, that’s what that was all about the night of the dance. It wasn’t because I was interested in her.” There was a moment of awkward silence. “Well, I chose to become a vampire hunter after someone who was very dear to me . . . someone who I loved . . . was killed by another vampire. I vowed to get revenge. That’s when I came to Briar Creek in the first place.”
“Oh. I’m sorry for your loss,” Lexi said quietly. She knew that if she and Craig ever became anything more than this, she was going to want to know who had been killed. Now wasn’t the right time for her to ask, though. She didn’t want to seem too nosy. “Why were you teaching at Briar Creek High School, though? Why didn’t you come straight to Huntington if all you wanted to do was get revenge?”
“I believe that the best way to figure out how to conquer your enemies is to learn more about them first,” Craig replied. “I wanted to be close to the vampires in Briar Creek so I could learn more about their inner circle. What I learned disturbed me.”
“What are you talking about?”
Craig gazed into her eyes. “They talk about you a lot in Briar Creek, Lexi. More than you probably realize. It’s almost like all of them have been brainwashed to believe that they need to get your blood and then kill you.”
Lexi looked down at her hands. It was no news to her that the people in Briar Creek had it out for her, but she still hated thinking about it. “So, you know then.”
Craig stared back at her questioningly.
“About my bloodline . . . and the curse,” Lexi went on.
Craig nodded. “I’ve known all about you ever since I was a child. I’m a biological vampire, so I’ve grown up knowing about the curse. I was always told that there were no Hunter’s left, so imagine my shock when I met you.”
“How did you know I was a Hunter when you met me?” Lexi asked. “I don’t remember telling you my last name the first day we met.”
“You have a very sweet scent . . . sweeter than any human I have ever tasted. It took everything in me to not kidnap you and drink from you.” Craig chuckled. “You even smell sweeter than Mary-Kate.”
“I guess because I’m younger,” Lexi muttered. She felt a little jealous that Craig had drunk from Mary-Kate, too. Hearing him compare them made her feel even worse about it. Would there ever be a guy who Lexi liked who hadn’t somehow been involved with her half-sister first? She knew that they needed to do it for survival purposes, but really?
“Don’t be jealous,” Craig said.
Lexi looked up at him. “I . . . I’m not,” she stuttered.
Craig laughed. “You can’t lie about how you feel to me, Missy. Remember that I can read emotions. If I could see auras, I would see yours as green right now. Green with envy.”
Lexi gulped. She felt embarrassed that Craig was able to tell that she was jealous of Mary-Kate. If she was going to pursue anything with Craig long-term, she was going to need to get a grip on her emotions.
“I guess we should be heading back,” Craig said, glancing down at the empty sandwich bags.
“I’m not ready to head back yet,” Lexi replied. “I like spending time with you.”
“I like spending time with you, too,” Craig said softly. He leaned over the table and kissed her gently. Closing her eyes, Lexi kissed back.
When she opened her eyes and pulled away from him, she was out of breath.
“That was . . . amazing,” Craig said. “I didn’t think it could get more amazing than last night, but . . . tonight was even better.”
“It was,” Lexi agreed. Admitting that kissing another guy felt amazing made her feel a twinge of guilt again, even though she knew that she had no reason to feel bad after what Gabe had done to her.
“It’s getting kind of chilly out here, though,” Craig said. “Let’s go back to my room.”
Lexi followed Craig out of the woods. When they reached
the parking lot, she stopped dead in her tracks.
Students were swarming in all directions, and a few teachers ran through the parking lot to the front of the school. All of the chaos let her know that something was wrong. Very wrong.
“What’s going on?” Lexi whispered to Craig.
Craig looked over at her, a look of worry on his face. “I don’t know,” he murmured. He squeezed Lexi’s hand. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.
Pulling away from him so that no one would notice that they had been together, Lexi scanned the crowd for Anna. When she found her, she ran over to her. “What happened?”
Anna turned to Lexi, a horrified look on her face. “They killed someone.”
“Who’s they?” Lexi asked. “And who did they kill?”
“One of the vampires from Briar Creek. They killed Melanie Jacobs.” A tear ran down her cheek.
“Well, how did it happen?” Lexi asked. “I thought the werewolves were great security guards.”
“Melanie went off campus for a bit,” Anna replied, her voice shaky. “She went to the diner to meet up with her boyfriend from back home. On her way back, they attacked her.” She turned to Lexi. “This isn’t good. Vampires from Briar Creek have tried to attack our students before, but they were never successful. They never killed anyone before this.”
“What’s going to happen?” Lexi asked.
“Administration hasn’t announced anything yet. It’s still too early,” Anna said, shaking her head. “There are some rumors that we’re going to declare war on Briar Creek, though. I guess they need to notify Melanie’s family about her death first before they take any serious action.”
Lexi gulped. This wasn’t going to make it any easier for her to hide here. If anything, it was only going to draw attention to the fact that Huntington was a vampire hunting school.
“It would be the first mass attack Huntington has ever done in Pennsylvania,” Craig said from behind her. “It would be risky. We need to be prepared if that’s the route we’re going to go.”