by Unknown
Then again, maybe Gabe didn’t even want to be with her anymore. She had caught him with Veronica, after all. Maybe he was the one who she couldn’t trust.
“Remember the rules, Lexi,” her mom said, shaking her head. “I can’t tell you much about your fate or I won’t be able to visit you again. What I will say is that I do like Gabe, though.”
Breathing a sigh of relief, Lexi wondered if her mom knew that Gabe had cheated on her with Veronica?
“Things aren’t always as they seem,” her mom said. It was as though her mom had read her mind, but Lexi didn’t question her further. She still felt so weak. “When you wake up, Dan will be waiting for you.”
“Dan?” Lexi asked, confused. Why did her mom think that Dan was going to be waiting for her when she hadn’t even seen him since she’d left him at the general store?
Her mom’s muffled voice filled her ears. “Lexi, forget about how you feel about Dan. You and he have to go to see the witch to ask her an important question and –”
Before her mom could finish her sentence, a cloud of smoke fogged Lexi’s vision and, once again, everything went black.
*
When Lexi opened her eyes and looked around, she heard the sound of flowing water. Her skin was pressed against something rough.
“You’re awake,” a familiar voice said from behind her.
Glancing over her shoulder, Lexi realized that she had been lying in Dan’s lap. The rough feeling against her skin was denim jeans. “What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice merely a whisper.
Dan looked at her with a confused expression on his face. “You don’t remember what happened? You said my name before.”
“That was just a dream . . . or something,” Lexi replied, shaking her head. Had it been a dream? Seeing her mother had felt so real. This was the first time she had really seen her mom while she was asleep – except for the time in the hospital when she had imagined being at the beach with her, but Lexi was pretty sure that was a side effect of one of the medications that she had been given. Normally, her mom visited her when she was very much awake, leaving no doubt in her mind that she was in ghost form during her visits.
Maybe this time had been different because Lexi had been on the brink of death . . . or had she? “So, what happened?” Lexi asked Dan. She tried to sit up, but her pounding headache forced her to remain in Dan’s lap. “Two guys came to drink from me . . . I think.”
“Yeah, there were two of them,” Dan said. Lexi thought that she noticed a nervous tone in his voice. “There was also a girl standing guard on the other side of the house, but I killed her right away.”
“You killed her?” Lexi shrieked, twisting her head back to look at Dan. Realizing how loud she had been, she covered her mouth with her hands.
“I killed all of them, Lexi,” Dan said, looking down at the ground. Lexi could tell that he wasn’t proud of what he had done. Still, she couldn’t believe that he had done it for her at all.
“Why would you kill someone to save me? I mean, I’ve been such a bitch to you.”
Dan shrugged, meeting her eyes with his own blue eyes, which sparkled in the moonlight. “I couldn’t just let them kill you. I have to bring you home . . . and not just for the reasons you think.”
“Then why?” Lexi asked. “If it’s not just so I can be the town blood donor, why do you need to bring me home?” She decided that she shouldn’t mention right now that she didn’t consider Briar Creek to be her home.
“Because,” Dan replied, tucking a piece of hair behind Lexi’s ear. “If something were to happen to you here, I’d never forgive myself.”
Lexi stared into his eyes, studying them to see if he was telling the truth. Dan stared back at her without blinking. As much as she wanted to believe that he was a creep, it seemed like he was being honest with her right now. Her mom had told her to trust her instincts – and her instincts told her that she should believe him.
Glancing around at her surroundings for the first time since she had woken up, Lexi realized that they weren’t behind the bushes next to Albert and Belinda’s house anymore. Instead, they were lying next to the river bank. Lexi could see the house through the trees, but it seemed like they would be well-hidden from Albert and Belinda if either of them should look out the window. “How did I get here?” Lexi asked.
“I carried you over here after I killed them,” Dan explained, running a hand through his sandy blonde hair. “I washed your wounds with water from the river. You’ve lost a lot of blood, so I don’t expect you to be feeling a hundred percent for a few days – or at least not until we get some nutrients in your body.”
Lexi gave him a weak smile. It really seemed like he was trying to keep her alive. If he really was against her, he wouldn’t have gone through the effort of killing three vampires and bringing her here to clean her up . . . would he have? Unless he was trying to keep her alive so that he could take her back to Briar Creek and become the town hero, Lexi seriously doubted that he would have bothered with her. In fact, at one point, she would have thought that Dan would have been the one to kill her, but something had definitely changed since then. He seemed to genuinely care. “How did you even find me?” Lexi asked.
“Well, at first I was going to follow you from the general store when you left me there. But then I knew that I didn’t have to follow you because I’d be able to find you anyway. Without your necklace, your scent is really strong,” Dan explained, standing up and taking a step closer to the water. “So, earlier this evening, I followed it to the woods near where you were staying. I saw the other vampires when they came. They must have been lured by your scent, too. Sorry I took so long. I couldn’t do anything right away. I had to wait until the timing was perfect or they probably would have ganged up on me.”
Lexi stood up, balancing herself. She felt really dizzy and weak, but she knew that she was going to be okay. “Thank you for saving me,” she said quietly. “I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to repay you, but . . . if you think of something, just let me know.”
Dan glanced over in her direction and smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind. Are you hungry?”
Lexi nodded. She was hungry – really hungry, in fact. Dan must have been right. All of that blood loss must have really depleted her nutrients.
“I picked you some blueberries and a watermelon from that garden,” Dan said, motioning towards Albert and Belinda’s house. He pulled a wicker basket out from behind him. Lexi raised an eyebrow, and he explained, “I kind of stole it from the garden.” Shrugging, he pushed the basket in front of her.
Lexi bit into one of the blueberries. Its sweet, ripe juice seeped into her mouth. Hungrily, she began eating all of the blueberries, one by one, until they were all gone.
“Dang, you were hungry,” Dan said, laughing at her.
“Hush,” Lexi said, giggling. “Become a human and go get ambushed by a bunch of vampires who are drawn to your super powerful blood, and see what happens to your appetite.”
Dan looked down at the ground, his expression turning to stone. “Do you want the watermelon now?”
Lexi shook her head. “No, I’ll save it for the morning. Dan, what’s wrong?”
Dan looked away from her. “I’ve never killed someone before. Sure, I’ve been in situations where I probably could have . . . and should have . . . killed. But, I never did it until tonight.”
“Oh,” Lexi replied quietly. It made her feel guilty that Dan was going to have to live with this weighing on his shoulders. If she had have thought about it before, she might have been able to steal the bat pendant from the witch’s house. Maybe then this wouldn’t have happened. If I hadn’t opened that book in the first place, maybe this wouldn’t have happened, Lexi thought.
“I never killed because I was never this angry before, Lexi. When I saw what those guys were doing to you – when I realized that they could kill you – I just… I had no other options. I don’t know how to explain it,” Dan explained, st
aring into her eyes.
Lexi knew what he was trying to tell her. The reason he’d killed those other vampires – the reason he hadn’t just let her die tonight – was because he actually had feelings for her.
And it was the first time she’d ever really believed him.
Chapter 10
****
Gabe knew that he had to be more careful than he had been the last time he’d needed blood. He couldn’t just go around turning a bunch of women into vampires. As it was, he had no idea how Lexi wasn’t going to react when she found out that he had turned Rhonda. Would she understand that he would probably die of thirst because his visions weakened him, or would she be jealous and angry at him for drinking another woman’s blood? Would she consider it cheating?
Gabe didn’t know. He also didn’t know how long it would be before he would see Lexi again . . . or if she still had feelings for him at all. As much as Gabe didn’t want to believe it, he knew that there was a chance that Lexi might have moved on completely. If only she knew that he hadn’t really cheated on her, that what she had seen between him and Veronica wasn’t what it looked like at all – that there had been nothing romantic or sexual between them for more than one hundred years.
The night he and Austin were supposed to leave for Long Island, Veronica had come to his dorm room. She’d been wearing some type of skimpy lingerie that he hadn’t even gotten a good look at, attempting to seduce him, just as Lexi had walked in on them. Gabe knew right away that what Lexi had seen made him look guilty, but the truth was, he wanted nothing to do with Veronica. After Lexi had run away from the room, presumably crying, Gabe had told Veronica to back off if she knew what was best for her.
Not that telling Veronica to back off had deterred her. If anything, it probably just made things worse. The woman seemed to think that she and Gabe were meant to be, and she promised him that once he was back to the area, she was going to find a way to convince him of this herself. Just thinking about the fact that he was going to need to deal with Veronica once he went back to Pennsylvania made him feel annoyed and angry.
Letting out a loud sigh as he walked down the street, Gabe realized that none of that mattered right now. He could worry about Lexi and Veronica all he wanted, but it wouldn’t make a difference at the moment. All that mattered was that he drank from someone so that he wouldn’t deteriorate. If he became any weaker than he felt right now, he wouldn’t be able to have another vision, which would only prevent him from finding Lexi sooner.
Gabe wasn’t sure where to find someone to drink. It was getting dark out, which meant that everyone would be going out to get drinks at the bars soon. Did he want to try to find another vulnerable girl to drink from again?
No. Gabe immediately shook that thought away. Things had gone bad last time. Finding someone that way again just felt like it was destined for failure – almost like finding another girl at a bar would jinx him or something. Gabe had to think of some way to find blood that would give him better vibes than picking someone up at a bar.
Gabe crossed the wide street and started walking along the beach. He slid off his shoes and planted his feet into the sand, which was cold from the December weather. Not that coldness really bothered him since he himself had cold vampire skin.
Breathing in the fresh ocean air and listening to the sound of the waves breaking against the shoreline, Gabe decided that maybe this was just what he needed: a serene place to figure out what he should do.
It had been so long since Gabe had needed to choose a female, at random, to drink from (aside from Rhonda, that is). Before Lexi came to Briar Creek, he had been drinking from Mary-Kate for the past few years. Before that, Gabe had always been in a relationship. Not necessarily a relationship with someone who he was madly deeply in love with the way he was with Lexi, but a relationship that would help him pass the time, allow him to get through his lonely nights, and enable him to drink plenty of blood.
All of the blood that he had drank before Lexi – including Mary-Kate’s blood – had only just been mediocre. There was something special about Lexi’s blood; he was drawn to it, the same way she was drawn to him.
Gabe had noticed, ever since Lexi had moved to Briar Creek, that she had been drawn to almost every vampire who she’d met. It was normal for women to be attracted to male vampires, but he got the sense that Lexi was even more attracted to them. Gabe knew why Lexi was so drawn to them, and that’s what bothered him the most. When a vampire really wanted to drink from a human, they could put them under a sort of trance. Not every vampire knew how to do it with as much strength as he could, though. Gabe was against using method, but that didn’t mean that other vampires didn’t use it to get what they wanted.
Thinking about all the guys that he knew Lexi had been attracted to made Gabe feel sick to his stomach. He wanted to believe that he was Lexi’s one and only, but he wasn’t so sure if that was the case. He’d seen the way she’d acted around Craig Lindstrom, and even though they might not work out for one reason or another, there had definitely been a spark between them.
There was also Dan. As much as Lexi might claim that she wanted no part of Dan because of his assault on her the night of the car accident, Gabe knew that somewhere, deep down, she was really attracted to Austin’s best friend. He’d seen the way they’d acted around each other at the Briar Creek Carnival, and he’d even walked in on one of their dates once; both times, he had noticed an undeniable chemistry that made him extremely jealous.
Gabe always told Lexi that he didn’t trust Dan after that night, and that had never been a lie. Even though he knew that Dan had been out of control that night, he’d understood why. Lexi’s scent was so alluring that it would be difficult for any vampire to control himself when he was around her. The real reason he didn’t trust Dan was because he knew that there could be something between him and Lexi, especially if he chose not to be on Violet and Tommy’s side in all of this and allied himself with Lexi instead.
Gabe hoped that wherever Lexi and Dan were right now, they weren’t together. Somehow, he doubted that was the case, though.
As Gabe continued walking along the beach, he could smell someone coming towards him – someone who smelled pleasantly good. He knew that he shouldn’t drink from someone without their permission, but what other choice did he really have right now? If he didn’t seize this opportunity, he was going to have to meet someone and hope that they would agree to letting him suck their blood – a request that was usually only granted by the freaks and misfits because most sane women would automatically assume that he was a psychopath.
No, Gabe wasn’t going to go through all that tonight. He was going to just have to take things into his own hands and just hope for the best. With any luck, this would at least go smoother than it had last time, and he wouldn’t kill anyone or turn them into vampires.
Crouching behind a garbage can, Gabe kept his eyes on the dark silhouette of the female who loomed towards him, her shoes slapping against the sand. He couldn’t seem to get a sense of what her age was, but it didn’t really matter. Blood was blood. Gabe tried to ignore the thought of Lexi, whose smiling face flashed through his mind, as he darted out from behind the garbage can and flung himself on top of the girl, who fell to the ground.
“Please let me live,” the girl whimpered in a high-pitched voice. “I’ll give you all my money . . . you can have everything. Just don’t kill me.”
“I don’t want your money. Don’t scream,” Gabe whispered, cupping a hand over the girl’s mouth. She bit his hand at first, but after a few moments, she stopped struggling. “I’ll make this as painless for you as possible.” Even in the moonlight, he could see the terror in the girl’s dark eyes. She was clearly terrified of him – probably expecting him to do the worst imaginable things to her. It made him feel like shit.
Trying to ignore the panic in the girl’s breathing, which had turned deep, Gabe sunk his fangs into her throat. The blood droplets dripped out of the wound slowly at f
irst, but quickly began rushing onto his tongue and sliding down his throat. He knew that the girl was moaning, but it sounded like she was miles away; the only thing that he cared about right now was her sweet crimson juices. Gabe sucked up all of the blood that he could, reminding himself that he had to stop after a few moments.
When he was finished, he released the girl from his grip and whispered, “You may go now.” The girl stared at him for a moment, as though she were trying to piece together what had just happened, while trying to decide if he was really allowing her to go, before getting up and darting across the sand, not turning back.
Gabe felt completely energized. The girl’s blood was nothing compared to the Hunter blood that he was used to drinking, but it was enough to hold him over until he had another vision, at the very least.
Even though he knew that his visions were necessary, there were times – like right now – when they were so draining that Gabe wished he could make them stop. He didn’t really have control over his visions, though. His visions came when they wanted to. Gabe sometimes tried to concentrate on having one and while it worked sometimes, it didn’t always . . . which frustrated him and, sometimes, made it even harder to have one.
The first time Gabe had ever had a vision was when Joshua died. Joshua was his brother and, even though their mother was a vampire, they weren’t born vampires because their father hadn’t been. Gabe was later changed into a vampire by Veronica, but Joshua had always remained a human.
When Joshua was in his early thirties, he was living in Massachusetts with his wife, Julie, who was pregnant with their first child. Gabe had ended up crashing his Chevrolet into a tree when his mind had flashed to an image of his brother falling off a roof and cracking his head open. He hadn’t believed that it could be true at first, but the phone call had come the next day that Josh was gone.