by Jayme Morse
He went into the first bar that he found.
Sitting on a stool at the bar, he asked the bartender, “May I have a gin and tonic, please?”
The bartender raised his bushy eyebrows, but he didn’t ask to see Gabe’s ID. Gabe assumed that it was because he spoke a little bit more eloquently than most guys in the modern century. No one ever said ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ anymore.
When the bartender handed him his drink and a napkin, he scanned the crowd. He didn’t want to find someone who was gorgeous because, truth be told, he really wasn’t looking for a girl who he was attracted to. He already had that back in Pennsylvania.
And then he spotted her. Her shoulder length hair was a shade of reddish blonde, and she was wearing a baggy sweatshirt with a pair of mom jeans. It was obvious that she was trying to cover herself up because she lacked confidence. Normally, he wouldn’t be the type of person to prey on her weaknesses, but he needed to find someone who would be easy to manipulate tonight. He didn’t have time to waste right now, and his strength was dwindling.
Gabe walked over to her and sat down across from her at the bar. “Hello, beautiful.”
The girl glanced at him and forced an unconfident smile. “Hi.” She looked around the bar nervously, trying to avoid making eye contact with him.
“What are you doing at a bar all by yourself?” Gabe asked, partly because he was curious and mostly because he was trying to strike up a conversation with her. Not that he really cared what she had to say.
“I, um, got stood up by my friends,” she replied, looking down at her Malibu Bay Breeze. “It’s not really a big deal.”
Gabe suddenly felt sorry for her. He glanced around the bar to see if there were any other girls who he could choose instead, but there didn’t seem to be anyone else. He needed someone who appeared to be single and who he could be sure would fall for his act. This girl was perfect. “So, what’s your name, gorgeous?” he asked flirtatiously.
“Rhonda,” she replied, looking over at him. He recognized the look in her eyes; she thought he was too attractive for her. The sad thing was that she would be beautiful if she just got some confidence.
“I’m Gabe,” he said. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Rhonda hesitated. “It’s nice to meet you, too,” she replied in a small voice.
“So, tell me about yourself. What do you do?”
Rhonda just blinked at him. “I, um, I go to college here. I go to Springdale University.”
“Oh, yeah? What are you studying?” Gabe asked. He had to get a move on with this. He was beginning to feel weaker and more tired as the minutes went by.
“Biology. I want to be a biology teacher.”
“Cool,” Gabe replied. “I’m not very good at science myself. I’m actually majoring in art history.”
An expression that he didn’t recognize crossed over her face. “I love art! I especially love pottery and jewelry making.”
“Awesome. You know, I was actually thinking . . . I really could use a model right now. I have to paint a portrait by tomorrow. Do you think you could come back to the hotel that I’m staying at?” He hated lying to her, but the opportunity had presented itself and he had taken it. If she fell for his obvious act, then she deserved what was coming to her. He could be saving her from a much scarier fate that night if she had gone home with someone else. Then, she would learn her lesson and not be so trusting when the next guy tries to pick her up in a bar.
Rhonda hesitated. “I don’t know . . .”
“I understand that you don’t really know me. There are a lot of creeps out there, but I promise you . . . I’m not one of them.”
Rhonda stared at him, studying his face. Finally, she gave in. “Okay. As long as it won’t take too long. I need to study for a final exam tonight.”
“I promise, it won’t,” Gabe replied. “Come on.” He led her out of the bar. When they began walking down the street together, he reached for her hand. To his surprise, Rhonda didn’t pull away from him.
When they got back to the room, Gabe told Rhonda to sit down at the table and make herself at home. He went into the bathroom, trying to figure out what he was going to do about the portrait. He didn’t have any art supplies lying around the hotel room. Something about doing this made him really nervous. He had been drinking from Mary-Kate for so long, and then Lexi, that he had forgotten what it was like to convince a random girl who he had met at a bar or some other random place to let him drink from them.
Gabe was out of options, though. If he didn’t get blood soon, he was going to pass out. That was not to mention what would happen if he had another vision tonight or tomorrow. If he didn’t get blood soon, he would probably die.
When he came back into the room, he said, “I have a problem. My roommate seems to have taken my sketchbook. Would you mind waiting here for a while to see if he brings it back any time soon?”
Rhonda shrugged and smiled. “Umm, I guess it’s fine.”
“You know, you’re really pretty,” Gabe said, smiling at her. “I can’t help it. I haven’t seen someone quite as pretty as you in a while.” He reached for her hand.
Rhonda smiled back at him. “Thank you. You’re not too bad yourself,” she said quietly.
Gabe moved over to the bed. When Rhonda stared at him, he said, “You’re welcome to come sit by me.”
Rhonda reluctantly moved over to the bed. Gabe wrapped his arm around her waist, stroking her side.
“Your hands are really cold,” Rhonda noticed right away, shivering.
“Would you mind keeping them warm?” Gabe asked, unsure how much longer he could play this game. He was afraid to make a move too soon and scare her away, but he wasn’t sure if she was ever going to make a move on her own or if she would be too nervous.
Rhonda grabbed his hand.
“My face is cold, too,” Gabe said.
Rhonda pressed the warm palm of her hand against his cheek.
“And my lips,” Gabe said softly.
It took her a moment, but, sure enough, Rhonda leaned into him and kissed him.
Gabe kissed back, hoping that he was giving her the most passionate kiss that she had ever had.
He rolled over onto his side, and Rhonda crawled on top of him, planting kisses down his neck.
Gabe looked up into her eyes. “You’re so beautiful.” He kissed her neck gently. “And I’m sorry for this, but I promise it won’t hurt.”
Before she could say anything, he made his move. He nipped her neck gently at first before sinking his teeth deep into her throat. At first he was afraid that she would push him away, but he wasn’t sure why. No one had ever pushed him away before.
Rhonda moaned in pleasure, as the blood poured out of her vein and onto his tongue, filling his entire body with a warm sensation. It didn’t quench the unbearable thirst that he felt right away. Rhonda’s blood wasn’t nearly as powerful as the blood that he normally drank from Mary-Kate and Lexi. It wasn’t until Gabe had drained her body of all her blood that he had realized that he had gone too far.
****
Chapter 18
At the same time back in Pennsylvania, Lexi knocked on Craig’s bedroom door. She glanced around the narrow hallway nervously, afraid that someone would see that she was going to his room. Not only would that be really embarrassing, but she really didn’t want him to get into any sort of trouble. Luckily, Craig quickly swung the door open and she stepped inside before anyone had seen them together.
“Hi, Lexi,” Craig said, giving her a small peck on the lips.
Lexi felt the butterflies swirling around in her stomach. “So,” she said, sitting down on his bed, “what did you want to talk to me about?”
“Well, I just . . . it’s really awkward to ask,” Craig chuckled. “I wanted to know . . . would you mind if I drink your blood? It doesn’t have to be this moment, but . . . I would really love to.”
Lexi’s jaw dropped open. She couldn’t figure out what she thought
Craig was going to ask before she had come here, but she definitely didn’t think it would be this. She wasn’t even sure what to say. Letting someone drink from her was such an intimate experience that she didn’t want to waste on just anyone.
Then again, Craig really wasn’t just anyone. She really liked him. If Gabe was good enough to drink her blood, why wasn’t he? Over the past few days, he had proven that he was more interested in her than Gabe had been throughout their whole relationship . . . or whatever it was that they had with each other, since they had never actually been official.
When Lexi didn’t respond right away, Craig went on. “It’s just . . . you smell so sweet to me. I would love to taste you. I promise I’m not using you or anything like that, though. I wanted to be respectful enough to ask you instead of just drinking from you without permission on accident one day.”
Lexi gulped. “I’ll think about it. But thank you for being nice enough to ask.”
“That’s all that I can really ask for right now,” Craig replied, lying down on his bed. “So, do you want to watch a movie or something? I don’t really want you to go back to your dorm right away. I want to spend time with you.”
“I would love to,” Lexi replied before climbing into his arms and trying to fight the thoughts that she had of Gabe away.
*
When she got back to the dorm room, it was after midnight. Anna was waiting up for her, pacing back and forth on the linoleum floor. “Where have you been?”
“Just around,” Lexi shrugged, afraid to tell her the truth. “Is everything okay?”
“Austin called,” Anna replied. “Apparently, Gabe had a couple of visions. He saw that the vampires in Briar Creek are holding your dad hostage. In the second vision, he saw that they have him somewhere in New Jersey, but he couldn’t figure out where. He just saw the ‘Welcome to New Jersey’ sign.”
Lexi felt her stomach drop to her knees. She hadn’t actually admitted it to herself or thought about it, but she had feared that the Briar Creek vampires may have had her dad. “Now what do we do?”
“We just wait for Gabe to have another vision,” Anna replied. “He does want his mom to come to Huntington for now, though. He’s afraid that if he doesn’t get her soon, they’re going to take her hostage, too.”
“They probably will,” Lexi said softly. “How are you going to pull that off?”
“He’s calling her tomorrow and asking her to meet me on the sidewalk outside the school. I would go off campus to get her, but it doesn’t seem like a good idea after what happened to Melanie Jacobs.”
“I agree.” Lexi sighed. “That’s all they had to say?”
“Yeah, nothing else seemed to be new.”
Lexi wasn’t sure if she should be happy or relieved that she hadn’t found out any other bad news.
*
The next morning, the sound of Anna’s voice woke Lexi up. “All you need to do is come here. I promise everything is going to be okay.” She paused. “I’ve already taken care of everything. I don’t want you to worry.”
Lexi rolled over in bed and glanced at her. Anna was chatting softly on the phone. “Please don’t worry, Mrs. Marshall. We have very good security here.” She paused. “Okay, great. I’m so glad that you’ve decided to come. I’ll see you soon.”
“She’s coming?” Lexi asked when Anna had hung up the phone.
Anna nodded. “Yeah, she is. She’s meeting us out front in about an hour.”
“Gabe’s mom hates me,” Lexi muttered, pulling her comforter over her head. “This is going to be loads of fun. Where will she be staying? Is she even allowed?”
“I’ve already cleared it with administration. She’s going to be staying in Gabe and Austin’s dorm until they get back.”
“Well, I’m glad she’s not staying in our room. That would be a total nightmare.”
“Lexi! That’s really mean,” Anna said.
“No. You haven’t seen how much this woman hates me yet.”
*
An hour later, Mrs. Marshall climbed out of her car and stepped onto the sidewalk where Anna and Lexi were waiting for her. “Hello, Anna!” Mrs. Marshall said warmly. She glared at Lexi, but didn’t say anything to her.
Anna looked over at Lexi and shrugged with an I-guess-you’re-right look on her face.
“I’ll show you to your room so that you can get settled,” Anna told Mrs. Marshall.
“Have you heard from my son since last night?” Mrs. Marshall asked.
“No, Mrs. Marshall, I haven’t.”
“Please, call me Marie,” Gabe’s mom said, waving her hand in the air. “I don’t want to be too formal.”
“Marie, is anything going on in Briar Creek that we should know about?” Lexi asked.
“Did I say that you could call me Marie? It’s Mrs. Marshall to you,” Mrs. Marshall snapped at Lexi. “And, no, from what I know, nothing is new in Briar Creek. You’ve already destroyed any good that could come from that town by honoring us with your presence,” she spat.
Lexi closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. She was going to have to stay very far away from Gabe’s mom or she was going to lose her temper. Not that it really matter anymore. She and Gabe weren’t even together now, as far as she knew. And she wasn’t sure if she still wanted to be with him either.
*
In Long Island, Austin examined himself in the mirror. He hadn’t drunk any blood in a while, but he seemed to be doing okay so far. His skin hadn’t changed colors and he didn’t feel too thirsty yet.
Gabe flopped down on the bed behind him. “I have to tell you something. I was going to keep it a secret, but it’s eating me alive.”
Austin whirled around. “What?” It wasn’t like Gabe to talk to him about things, so this must be big.
“Last night when you went to the beach and to grab something to eat, I had a girl over here,” Gabe began. “It was right after I had my visions. I was feeling really tired and weak – and I just really needed to drink from someone. I didn’t have many options, obviously.”
“Okay,” Austin replied impatiently. “Go on.”
“I convinced this girl I met at a bar to come back here. Her name is Rhonda,” Gabe said. “It’s been so long since I’ve had human blood that didn’t come from the Hunter bloodline that… I accidentally drank more than I meant to. I drained her of all her blood.”
“What?” Austin shrieked. “Dude, what did you do with her? A dead girl with freakin’ holes in her neck is going to draw attention to the fact that we were here!”
“Calm down,” Gabe replied. “I felt bad, so I did the only thing I could think of. I changed her.”
Austin sat down, his head throbbing. “You’re joking, right? You didn’t really change a random girl you met in a bar into a vampire.”
Gabe shook his head. “No. I’m not joking. It’s true.” He sighed. “I didn’t mean to do it, it just happened. Can you do me a favor, though?”
“What?” Austin asked.
“Don’t tell Lexi about this. I don’t want her to be mad at me for something else.”
Austin groaned. “I guess, but you better tell her eventually.”
Gabe knew that Austin was right. He just wasn’t sure how to tell her that he had brought yet another obstacle into their relationship – if they even still had one anymore.
****
Chapter 19
In the dim fluorescent lighting, Rhonda Kerrigan stared at herself in the full length mirror that hung from the wall in her dorm room. Everything about her looked different today than it had yesterday. Her skin, which normally had a warm reddish tone, had suddenly taken on a ghostly appearance; her hair looked raggedy; and there were dark circles under her eyes that made it look like she hadn’t slept in days.
Even worse than how she looked was how she felt. A throbbing pain had taken over most of her body, while an empty feeling had filled the pit of her stomach. She didn't know what death felt like, but she imagined that it was prett
y close to this.
Rhonda tried to remember what had happened last night, but she was drawing a complete blank. The last thing that she remembered was going to the cute little bar, Brewer's, on South Main Street. She’d used her shiny new fake ID for the first time, all because she thought that Jeremy might be there.
Jeremy. Just thinking about him made her smile a little. Jeremy was her boss – the only guy out of the dozens of interviews that she had gone to since she’d arrived in Long Island who had been kind enough to give her a job. He said that he saw potential in her. Rhonda began going to the office where they worked together earlier than usual and bringing him coffee just to show him how much she appreciated the job. He seemed to be interested in more than just her work ethic.
Jeremy and Rhonda had begun having sex in his office every day for the past two weeks.
At first, Rhonda had been afraid that Jeremy would think that she was nothing more than just a cheap, tawdry slut. The truth was, he was the first guy who had ever shown interest in her. That made him special to her. She had been overwhelmed with joy when he’d asked her to go to Brewer’s with him last night. She’d even broken the law and purchased a fake ID for the occasion.
Except Rhonda had never seen him. Why hadn’t he shown up? It made her feel lame to even think about how he had just stood her up like that. She recalled telling the cute guy who she had met at the bar that she had been stood up by friends. Ha . . . like she even had any friends here! Still, telling him that she had been stood up by friends hadn't made her feel awkward. Admitting to both him and herself that she had been left hanging by the man of her dreams would have made her feel really pathetic.