by Jayme Morse
“It’s okay.”
Lexi waited. She heard Dan close the front door to their motel room. A few moments passed, and the door was opened again.
“Lexi?” Dan called to her. “You gotta get dressed. There’s something you need to see.”
Groaning because she hated putting dirty clothes back on and because she didn’t want to change into clean clothes until she was able to take a shower, Lexi shrugged back into her clothes. Once she was dressed again, she stepped out of the bathroom. “What do I need to see?”
“Come on,” Dan said, motioning for her to follow him out the front door.
Lexi closed the motel room behind them, not bothering to lock it. There was hardly anyone staying at this motel, anyway, so she wasn’t worried about anyone stealing anything.
Once they were at the vending machines, Dan bent down to the ground and picked something up. “Look, this is our ice bucket.”
Lexi raised her eyebrows at him. “How do you know?”
“It has the number two on it,” Dan said, pointing at the silver-trimmed number on the ice bucket. “See?”
Lexi nodded. “Yeah, I see. Okay, so, what’s the big deal? Do you think someone stole it from our room or something?”
“No, no.” Dan shook his head and explained, “When I asked Anna to get you ice, I sent her out with our bucket. And then when I came out here, I found the bucket lying on the ground. Something’s not right.”
A sinking feeling filled Lexi’s stomach as she realized that Dan was right. Something wasn’t right with this situation. Something had happened to Anna . . .
At that moment, Austin pulled Anna’s Ford Escalade into the motel parking lot. He swung the car door open and climbed out, grumpily, without even realizing they were there.
“Austin!” Lexi called over to him. “Come here!”
“What is it?” Austin called back.
Lexi rushed over to him and said, breathlessly, “We think something happened to Anna.”
A look of worry filled Austin’s eyes. “What do you mean you think something happened to Anna? What do you think happened to her?”
“We’re not sure,” Lexi replied, “but she was getting ice and now the ice bucket is here, but . . . she’s not.”
Austin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Come on, let’s go check our room.”
Austin led the way to the room he was sharing with Anna. He unlocked the door and pushed it open.
Holding her breath and hoping Anna was inside, Lexi followed Austin inside. All of the lights in the room were turned off, and there was no noise coming from the TV or anything else inside the room.
Austin went inside the bathroom and turned the light on. When he turned back to Lexi, he had a worried look on his face. “She’s not here.”
“Well, we have to do something to find her,” Dan insisted. “That Geoff guy might have gotten ahold of her. Or maybe even that creep, Darius.”
“Yes, it could be them,” Lexi agreed, feeling a wave of nausea wash over her. She hadn’t even considered the possibility that Anna’s mother’s killer or Darius could be the ones responsible with whatever had happened to Anna. “We have to find her . . . and we need to hurry!”
“How are we going to find her?” Dan asked, sighing. “Should we check Westbrooke?”
Austin shook his head. “No, even if Darius has something to do with this, I don’t think he would have taken her back to Westbrooke. It would be too obvious. He would have taken her to his house or something.” He hesitated. “I don’t know, but I don’t think we’re going to find out the answer here. Let’s go.” He headed out of the room and started for the car.
Lexi followed him, wishing her mom had mentioned that something like this was going to happen. She knew it would have meant that her mom had to break the rules, but it was still frustrating to not know what was going on with one of her best friends.
She climbed into the passenger’s seat next to Austin, and Dan sat in the back. Austin pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road, frantically glancing around to see if he could see Anna anywhere.
“Dammit! What do we do?” Austin wondered aloud. “I wish Anna had let me change her into a vampire, dammit! If she was a vampire and something happened to her, I would know exactly where she was. Right now, I have no freaking clue where to look for her.”
Lexi glanced out the window as they passed by a farm. She watched the cows grazing on the grass and tried to come up with an idea of where Anna could be. It’s not like this place was familiar to them, and she doubted that Anna would go off somewhere without at least asking one of them to come along with her.
As she glanced out the window, she noticed a billboard featuring a magnifying glass. It read: Do you see what I see?
“I need something to see out of!” Lexi exclaimed, realizing that there was something she could possibly do.
“Something you can see out of?” Dan questioned. “You mean like glasses?”
Lexi shook her head, trying to think of what she should use. And then it dawned on her. She pulled down her sun visor and glanced into the mirror.
“Dark as night, light as day, let me see where Anna is and if she’s okay,” Lexi said, the words flowing off the tip of her tongue with ease.
At first, as she stared at her own reflection, Lexi didn’t think that anything was happening, but then she noticed that the mirror started to cloud up and tiny green dots began to form in the glass. Except, they weren’t really dots at all—they were leaves, and the brown lines that formed beneath them were tree trunks.
Lexi gasped, feeling pleased that her charm had worked. When Austin glanced over at her questioningly, she explained, “Wherever she is, she’s in the woods.”
Lexi watched as the image in the mirror changed. She saw a girl with copper waves of hair staring straight ahead. “Oh, my God,” Lexi whispered. “It’s Rhonda. Rhonda has her.” She stared at Rhonda for a few minutes; she was staring ahead of her with a look of intrigue in her eyes, as though she were watching something.
The mirror changed again. This time, though, it didn’t change to scenery or a face. The mirror began to fog up, but not with the cloudy, steam-like fog that formed when it was too cold. It turned a solid shade of red. Lexi began to feel sick to her stomach.
Red could only mean one thing . . . Blood.
Chapter 24
Anna could feel her body weakening as Gabe drank from her. She wanted to pull away, to tell him that he needed to stop, but she couldn’t. She was drawn to him, but she didn’t know why; her feelings weren’t sexual and it’s not like she had any sort of feelings for him anyway.
It was almost like there was some sort of magnetic pull between them and as hard she tried to stop it, she couldn’t.
Anna, are you ready to die today? Rhonda’s voice filled her mind, taunting her. Somehow, her body seemed to weaken even more at Rhonda’s words, as though she were physically giving into what Rhonda wanted—and even worse, she began to feel as though it was what she wanted, too.
No. I can’t let this happen, Anna thought to herself. I have to fight this. I need to live.
But as Gabe’s teeth sunk into another area of her skin, Anna wondered how she was going to be able to pull this one off.
*
Back in the car, Lexi pointed at some trees on the other side of the road. “That’s it! Those are the trees I saw in the mirror. That’s where they are!”
Austin didn’t even question how Lexi was sure it was those trees and not the thousands of other trees they had passed. He made a quick cut across the road, just missing the oncoming truck, which swerved, blaring its horn loudly at him.
As he parked the car along the narrow dirt road, Austin noticed that there was another car parked ahead of them. He realized, right away, that it was the car that he’d seen Rhonda in when they were in the Huntington parking lot.
Austin leapt out of the car and ran past Rhonda’s car. He didn’t check to see if Dan and Lexi we
re following him; he already knew they were. All that mattered to him was that he got to Anna in time.
He scanned the trees that lined the dirt road, but he didn’t see anyone. There had to be someone nearby, he realized, or else Rhonda’s car wouldn’t be parked there.
Austin was about to turn to Lexi and Dan to see if they had seen anyone, but then he heard it; a muffled cry that he was positive belonged to Anna sounded out from somewhere to the left of him. It didn’t sound that close, but not that far away, either.
Darting in between the trees and running until he reached a clearing, Austin felt sick to his stomach from what he saw; Gabe was drinking from Anna, who was slumped against him, barely moving.
“What are you doing?” Austin shouted at Gabe. “You’re going to kill her!”
When Gabe glanced over at him, he had a dazed look in his eyes. It was like he saw him, even though he wasn’t fully sure of what was going on. After a few moments, Gabe refocused his attention on Anna.
Austin took a step closer to him, prepared to tear him away from his girlfriend, even if it meant he had to kill Gabe, when he heard his voice being called.
“Austin? What do you think you’re doing?”
Austin turned to see Rhonda staring back at him, her face as hard as stone. “You’re not going anywhere near them.”
Austin tried to protest; tried to fight what Rhonda was telling him, but it was no use. He felt his body giving in to what Rhonda wanted, even though it wasn’t what he wanted.
Chapter 25
It didn’t take Lexi long to figure out where Rhonda was. She heard Austin run through the woods, crunching over the decayed leaves on the ground, and then the sound of a girl’s voice—a voice that sounded all too familiar.
Once Lexi had figured out where Rhonda was, she wasn’t sure what to do. Should she approach her? No, that would be a bad idea, Lexi decided. Rhonda could control minds. If Lexi approached her, Rhonda would probably find a way to control her mind. Unless . . .
Lexi closed her eyes and recited the words that came to her mind. “Shadows of the forest, rhythms of the wind, protect my mind; keep Rhonda from making her way in.” As soon as she said the words, Lexi instantly felt different. It was as though a curtain had gone down around her; a curtain that would act as a protective shield that wouldn’t let Rhonda inside her mind.
Once she knew that her mind was free from Rhonda’s control, Lexi glanced around for a weapon. At first, she couldn’t find anything that would work, but then she spotted a thick tree branch that had fallen to the ground. It was still jagged from where it had broken off.
Lexi grabbed the branch and, carrying it behind her back, she stepped into the clearing.
When Rhonda spotted her, her eyes widened with surprise. The surprise quickly passed and was replaced with anger. “Lexi,” Rhonda murmured under her breath.
“Rhonda, what are you doing?” Lexi blurted, pointing her chin in the direction of Gabe and Anna, taking the sight of them in for the first time. Gabe was standing there, balancing Anna in his arms as he drank from her. Austin stood a few feet away from them, his head lowered to the ground, and Lexi realized right away that Rhonda had taken control of his mind. There was no way he would stand back and allow Gabe to drink from his girlfriend otherwise.
A mischievous look passed through Rhonda’s eyes. “I’m not doing anything.”
“Yes, you are,” Lexi insisted. “You’re making Gabe drink from Anna. Make him stop!”
Rhonda smiled at her. “You overestimate my abilities, Lexi. I couldn’t make Gabe do that.” She shrugged her shoulders and glanced over at him. “He’s probably just really thirsty.”
Lexi shook her head. “No, you’re lying. You’re responsible for this! I know you are.”
Rhonda glanced over at Lexi and stared at her, an icy look in her eyes. Lexi didn’t see her lips move, but she heard her voice. No, I’m not responsible for it. Gabe is drinking from Anna all on his own. And from now on, you won’t ask me anymore questions. You will obey everything I say, when I say it.
Lexi wanted Rhonda out of her thoughts. She had to act soon or Anna was going to die. She lunged forward, the tree branch now in front of her and out in plain sight. She tackled Rhonda to the ground, holding it high above Rhonda’s heart. Just as she was about to stab her with it, the branch was knocked out of her hand.
Rhonda’s voice filled her mind again. You will use this stick to kill Austin. He’s a witness to Anna’s death. We can’t have that.
Even though Lexi was aware that Rhonda was trying to take control of her mind, it didn’t matter. Rhonda’s words didn’t mean anything to her. She didn’t feel any desire to obey them. It scared her that Anna had been right all along and that Rhonda really was controlling minds. Why had Lexi ever doubted her?
Thinking fast, Lexi took the stick back from Rhonda and nodded. “Okay, I’ll do that. I’ll use this to kill Austin. I will kill my cousin.” She hadn’t been chosen for the high school drama club, but even Lexi had to admit that her own voice sounded pretty damn convincing.
Rhonda must have been fooled, too, because she reached over and ran a finger down Lexi’s cheek, caressing her skin almost lovingly. “I think I’ve underestimated you, Lexi. I think you and I could get to be very good friends.”
“I think so, too.” Lexi hesitated. A question popped into her mind and she knew that if she didn’t ask now, she would never know the answer. “Why do you want Anna to die?”
“She knew too much,” Rhonda replied softly, glancing down at the ground. “She tried to get me in trouble at Huntington. People who try to hurt others need to die.”
“Yes,” Lexi agreed, leaning in to give Rhonda a hug. In her ear, she whispered ever so quietly, “And that’s exactly why you need to die.”
With one of her arms wrapped around Rhonda’s waist, Lexi used her other arm to shove the stick through Rhonda’s chest, pushing it with all her might.
Rhonda shrieked in pain, as her body fell, lifeless, to the ground.
Chapter 26
Gabe was so involved in drinking Anna’s blood that he almost didn’t even realize Rhonda had died. At first, it felt like he was still thirsty, like the void inside of him was just an unquenchable hunger that Anna’s blood couldn’t seem to satisfy.
But then he felt it; the feeling began in the spot where his human heart used to beat and dropped down to his stomach. Just like the day Veronica Hart had died, he knew another part of him had died—another extension of himself that he had created.
The first thing that Gabe did was pull away from Anna; he heard her body slump to the ground as he let her go and Austin rushed over to her. As drawn as Gabe had been to her blood for the past ten minutes, he was no longer interested. It was as though whatever had made him want to drink her blood in the first place no longer had a hold on him.
Gabe glanced around to see where Rhonda was. It didn’t take him long to find her; her body lay on the ground, her hair splayed around her head. There was blood seeping out of her chest and onto her hooded sweatshirt, confirming Gabe’s suspicions. Rhonda was dead.
He glanced up to see that Lexi was standing behind her, a panicked expression on her face. Gabe had never seen Lexi look more fragile and afraid than she looked at that moment, but he couldn’t stop himself from yelling at her, “Did you do this?!”
Lexi glanced over at him and then over at Anna. A look of relief crossed her face, and Gabe realized it was because he was no longer drinking from Anna. “I . . . I had to.”
“No, you didn’t. You could have let her live.” Even as the words came out, Gabe knew they didn’t sound right. They didn’t feel right, either. It was like he was saying them, even though he didn’t really mean them.
“No, Gabe.” Lexi shook her head sadly. “Don’t you see what Rhonda was doing? She was forcing you to drain Anna’s blood. She wanted you to kill her. And if I didn’t kill Rhonda, you probably would have killed Anna.”
“No, that’s not what
I was doing,” Gabe insisted, even though he wasn’t actually sure if it was the truth. He was pretty sure he remembered Rhonda commanding him to drink from Anna, but his mind was sort of fuzzy. Even though he had gone through the motions, he couldn’t seem to remember everything for some reason. In fact, everything about the past couple weeks was a complete blur now.
Lexi stared at him for a moment before shaking her head in disgust. “Whatever. I don’t really have time to argue with you right now. I need to make sure Anna’s okay”
“Well, I’ll come with you,” Gabe said. “I care about Anna, too, ya know.”
Lexi glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, as though she were trying to decide if Gabe was telling the truth, as she strode over to Anna. She crouched down on the ground beside Austin, who was holding Anna’s wrist in his hands.
“Is she going to be okay?” Lexi questioned.
Austin looked up at her and nodded “Yeah, I think she’s going to be okay. She has a pulse. I think Gabe stopped drinking from her just in time. Any more blood lost, and she probably would have needed a blood transfusion. She still might.”
As if on cue, Anna sat up. Groggily, she glanced at Austin. “Am I dead?”
Austin chuckled. “No, Anna, you’re alive. Luckily.”
Anna opened her eyes a little more and glanced over at Lexi. “Lexi, you’re here!” She looked over Lexi’s shoulder at Dan. “And Dan!”
Gabe watched as Anna’s eyes fell on him. They lit up with a look of happiness, and she beamed at him. “And Gabe! You’re here, too.”
“Yeah.” Realizing that Anna didn’t remember what he had done, Gabe lowered his eyes to the ground. He couldn’t help but feel guilty, knowing that he was the one who had done this to Anna. What if Lexi was right and Rhonda was trying to make him kill her? What if Lexi hadn’t been there to kill Rhonda and stop it all from happening? The idea made him feel sick.
“What happened?” Austin asked, pushing a lock of Anna’s hair behind her ear. “How did you get here?”