by Unknown
“That’s not possible,” Ben interjected. “Mary-Kate doesn’t know where my bed and breakfast is. I’m the one who gave Gabe and Austin the address.”
Austin kept his eyes on the road. “Actually, Mary-Kate does know the address. I don’t know how, but . . . she came to visit me at the hotel we were staying at.”
“She did?” Ben, Anna, and Gabe all asked at the same time. Only Craig, who was sitting in the passenger’s seat, didn’t seem surprised about it. That or he just didn’t care that Mary-Kate had visited Austin. Why would he? It’s not like it affected him in any way. He probably didn’t even know Mary-Kate any better than most of the guys who she let drink from her knew her.
Austin nodded. “Yep, she came to see me after I broke up with her. She wanted to know why.” He glanced at Anna, who was looking down at her hands. She looked up and, when their eyes met in the rearview mirror, Austin noticed the pained expression in her eyes. It looked like she had been punched in the face by someone she loved, and it made Austin feel like shit.
He knew that he should have told her about Mary-Kate’s visit before now. Austin didn’t even know why he had kept it a secret so far. Was it because he didn’t want Anna to know? No, that wasn’t it. Anna was the coolest girl Austin had ever met. She would have understood. In fact, she probably would have even felt some pity for Mary-Kate’s feelings and likely would have told Austin that he was a jerk for breaking up with her over a voicemail message again.
Austin realized that the reason he hadn’t told Anna was because he didn’t want to ruin their getaway from Huntington. He’d wanted this to be fun and romantic for them – which was probably a mistake in itself. He should have been focusing on Lexi and Dan this whole time instead of trying to start a relationship. Austin would apologize to Anna later for not telling her about Mary-Kate, but right now, he had to get his priorities straight.
“I guess we’ll head to Huntington since Long Island might be risky.” Austin said, turning his focus to Ben. So, how do we time travel like Dan and Lexi?” Austin asked, turning to Ben.
“There is a way, but I’m not sure offhand,” Ben said. “I’d need to see the book for a moment to remember what it is.”
“The book’s in the trunk,” Craig told him. “Do you think we should all time travel or should some of us stay here?”
“Why?” Gabe shot back at him. “Do you not want to time travel?”
Craig shrugged. “I dunno. It wasn’t on my to-do list before all this.”
Austin heard Gabe scoff, obviously annoyed at Craig. He didn’t know what was going on between Gabe and Craig, but it felt like they were really tense around each other. Of course, it probably had to do with Lexi. Gabe probably knew that Craig was only here because there was something going on between him and Lexi. Why else would Craig have been at the Lawrence’s house with her that day?
“Actually, it probably would be wise for some of us to stand guard of the book,” Ben said, considering the idea. “Is Mary-Kate mad at you, Austin?”
Austin paused. Was Mary-Kate mad at him? It hadn’t seemed like it, but then again, he knew that she wasn’t one to show her emotions too much when it came to relationships – which was really strange because she could definitely be a drama queen in other aspects of her life. “I don’t think so. Why?”
“If she was, I think we would have to worry,” Ben replied. “I’d be afraid that she would tell Violet and Tom or Greg Lawrence that you’re still alive.”
Austin didn’t say anything in response, considering the possibility. It didn’t seem like something Mary-Kate would do, but he also didn’t think she would drive all the way to Long Island – to an address she wasn’t supposed to know about – just because she was upset about the breakup. He hoped that Mary-Kate would just keep her mouth closed for now, but the odds of his parents finding out that he was still alive seemed to be increasing.
Glancing in the rearview mirror, he noticed that the same green Ford Focus that had been following them since they’d left the house at the Jersey shore. He noticed that the car was getting closer to them. “It looks like we’re being followed,” Austin told the others.
Chapter 19
****
Gabe stared out the window as the green Ford Focus approached their car. He was afraid that it was Mike and Larry, somehow coming to their senses and realizing that Austin wasn’t actually dead.
When the car pulled into the lane next to them and the driver stared into his window, Gabe froze. It was Rhonda. “What the hell,” he said aloud.
Anna, Austin, and Ben all turned to look at him, their faces full of questions. “What’s wrong?” Ben asked.
“It’s Rhonda,” Gabe replied.
“Who’s Rhonda?” Anna asked, her voice squeaking a little bit. Gabe could tell from the way her legs had tensed up that she was freaked out by the fact that someone had been following them.
“She’s the cutie who Gabe turned into a vampire,” Craig said matter-of-factly.
“You turned someone into a vampire?” Ben asked, turning to Gabe. “Why did you do that? It’s going to draw attention to us.”
“I had no choice,” Gabe replied in frustration. “My visions drain me. They make me weak. I need to drink, and Lexi wasn’t here. If I didn’t drink from Rhonda, I would have died.”
“I understand that,” Ben said slowly. “What I’m asking is why you turned her into a vampire.”
“I’ve been living on Hunter blood for the past few years,” Gabe replied. “Lexi and Mary-Kate weren’t there.” He paused. “Try switching from the highest quality human blood to blood that’s only mediocre. It doesn’t quench your thirst as well.”
Ben didn’t say anything in response. Gabe knew it was probably because Ben didn’t understand because he couldn’t drink Hunter blood since he was a Hunter. Drinking from one’s own bloodline was basically the same thing as incest. It was completely unethical, so Ben would never be able to experience how delicious – how satisfying – Hunter blood really was.
Gabe’s thoughts were interrupted by the loud sound of Rhonda’s car horn blaring. He leaned his head back and stared up at the ceiling of the car, even though he really wanted to bang his head against the window. How had Rhonda found him? It wasn’t that easy to find the vampire who created you. Were her abilities already so sharp that she would be able to find Gabe no matter where he was? The idea absolutely terrified him.
Rhonda continued honking at them until Austin said, “I’m pulling over. This is ridiculous.” Moving in front of Rhonda’s car, Austin took the next exit and parked in front of a McDonald’s. Austin turned and looked at Gabe. “Go figure out what her deal is.”
Reluctantly, Gabe climbed out of the car, just as Rhonda was swinging her own car door open. When she stepped out, Gabe felt his breath catch in the back of his throat.
Rhonda looked really different than she had the last time he’d seen her at the hotel room. In just a short time, her appearance had drastically changed. She wasn’t the same awkward Plain Jane who he had picked up at the bar that night. Rhonda was transforming into a beautiful vampire. Her hair, which had been a shade of strawberry blonde before, had taken on a lustrous shade of copper. Her fair skin no longer appeared to be ghostly white; it now looked like it should belong to a porcelain doll. And the curves of her body, which had either been nonexistent before or had been hidden behind the baggy clothing, was now hugged by the short red dress with the plunging neckline that she wore.
“Gabe,” Rhonda said, flashing him a wide smile with her red lipstick-covered lips. “I need to speak to you.”
“Then speak,” Gabe said, trying hard not to stare at her. Her looks were having a mesmerizing effect on him – an effect that he had never really experienced because he’d only ever been interested in humans, for the most part. There had been Veronica, but he hadn’t been attracted to her nearly as much as he was to Rhonda right now.
“Can we go inside?” Rhonda asked. “Let me buy you a milkshake
.”
Gabe hesitated. As a vampire, he didn’t need to eat – and he actually had to bring it back up or it would make him sick otherwise. But strawberry milkshakes were one of his weaknesses, and he hadn’t one in many years.
Glancing over at the car, he noticed that everyone seemed to be talking amongst themselves. They wouldn’t even notice if he went inside the McDonald’s with Rhonda for just a little bit. “Fine,” he told her and followed her into the restaurant.
The smell of greasy hamburgers, chicken nuggets, and French fries filled his nostrils as he and Rhonda ordered their milkshakes. Once they were seated at one of the booths, Gabe glanced around to make sure no one was listening before saying, “You know eating human food isn’t good for you, right?”
“I didn’t know that, but it explains why I haven’t been hungry lately,” Rhonda replied, tying a knot in the paper wrapper from her straw. When it ripped in half, she held up both pieces and squealed, “Oh, look! Someone’s thinking about me! I wonder who that might be.” She winked at Gabe flirtatiously.
Trying to ignore how cute she was, Gabe said, “So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?”
“I’ve come to a decision,” Rhonda said matter-of-factly. “And it involves you. Because of . . . this,” she began, and Gabe knew she was talking about becoming a vampire, “I can’t go back to college. I killed my roommate and left. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how bad that looks for me.”
Gabe nodded in agreement. “It doesn’t look too good.”
“I have nowhere to go. I guess I could find my lowlife father, but. . . . Well, let’s not go there right now,” Rhonda continued. “Since you’re the one who got me into this mess, I was thinking that I should live with you.”
“Live with me,” Gabe repeated, trying to take in what she was saying. Living with Rhonda would create a number of problems – and the biggest problem would be Lexi. How would she feel to know that Gabe was allowing another person to live with them when it had been implied – until she thought that he had cheated on her with Veronica, at least – that they would eventually live together?
“I just need somewhere to go for now to get my feet back on the ground,” Rhonda explained. “I’m thinking that I’m going to need to get a new identity and everything so that the police can’t track me down for what I did.” Pausing, she looked at him, penetrating him with her golden eyes. “And I was thinking that you and I could maybe get to know each other a little better.”
“I – uh,” Gabe stuttered. He didn’t know what to think about Rhonda’s proposition, but something about the idea of living with her – of letting her into his circle of people – intrigued him.
“Besides, you are the one who did this to me,” Rhonda insisted. Her red lips turned into a pout that made Gabe’s heart melt.
How could he say no to her? He was the one who was responsible for wrecking her life. He didn’t want this life for Lexi, someone he loved, and yet he’d forced it upon someone else. It made him feel so, so guilty. “Okay, you can come back to Huntington with us,” Gabe told her. “We’ll figure out what to do from there.”
Rhonda flashed him a smile and tossed her copper hair back. “Awesome! You’re the best.” She winked at him again, and it took everything in Gabe to not jump across the table and rip her clothes off. He had never been affected so much by a female vampire before, but most of the vampire girls and women he met did have Wilkins’ Syndrome. Was this type of reaction typical for normal vampire women?
“Just keep following our car,” Gabe told her, standing up. “We’re going back to Huntington now.”
“Great. Will do,” Rhonda said as she followed him out the door. As they were about to part, Rhonda stood on her tiptoes and planted a tiny kiss on his cheek. “See you soon.”
Gabe climbed back into the car, trying not to think about the kiss and the way it was making his insides twist and turn. Once he closed the door, everyone turned to look at him.
“Well?” Austin asked. “Did you find out why she was following us?”
“She wanted to talk,” Gabe said, shrugging.
“Cause that’s not creepy at all,” Anna said sarcastically.
“She has no place to go,” Gabe snapped at her. “So, I told her she could come back to Huntington with us.”
“You did what?!” Austin asked. “Dude, Lexi is not gonna be happy with you.”
“I’ll deal with Lexi once she gets back,” Gabe said, turning to Ben. “I hope that’s soon . . . really soon.”
“If you get the book out of the trunk, I can take a look at it right now,” Ben suggested.
Gabe climbed out of the car and pulled open the trunk. The book was lying on the floor of the trunk. He grabbed it and, getting back in the car, handed it to Ben.
As Austin backed out of his parking space, Gabe watched as Rhonda followed. Austin was right. Lexi definitely wasn’t going to like this. If she had thought that Gabe had cheated on her before, she was definitely going to think he was now because something in his gut told him that Rhonda was going to be all over him for as long as she stayed at Huntington.
The bigger question was: would he be able to resist her?
Chapter 20
****
As Rhonda followed the car that Gabe was in to Huntington, she smiled to herself. Things were working out even better than she had planned. She’d had a feeling that Gabe was going to resist her, but he’d actually given into her fairly quickly. Much quicker than she’d thought he would.
Was it by choice or was it because she was now able to convince him since she had turned into a vampire? Rhonda didn’t know, but she wasn’t about to complain either way. At least she was getting her way.
Her cell phone vibrated from its place in the cup holder. Glancing down at the caller ID, Rhonda found that it was her mom calling. What could she want now? Probably to know why her daughter had practically ran away from her and hadn’t returned any of her calls since. Or maybe the police had gotten in touch with her by now.
Realizing that her cell phone was the only thing that connected Rhonda to her old life, the only thing that the police could probably somehow use to track her down, she lowered her window and tossed the phone onto the highway. She listened to the sound of the pieces of it shattering apart on the hard black pavement.
Perfect, Rhonda thought to herself. Now, no one would be able to find her no matter where she went. She would be able to begin a new life of her own without having to worry about being found. A new life where Rhonda made her own choices – and right now, her first choice was Gabe.
Two hours later, she spotted the sign that said Huntington High as they pulled into the parking lot alongside a large brick building. The way the picnic tables were set up outside reminded her of a college campus. Was that where they were going? Maybe Rhonda’s life wouldn’t be completely ruined; perhaps she would still be able to go to school the same way she would have if she had never changed into a vampire. The idea made Rhonda excited.
After she had climbed out of her car, she walked over to the car that Gabe was in, her high heels clacking against the black pavement. Rhonda never wore heels, but she was finding that she now had the confidence to do things that she had never done before.
“So, do you want to tell me what this place is?” Rhonda asked Gabe as he got out of the car.
“It’s a school for vampire hunters,” Gabe replied. “It’s sort of like a boarding school.”
Rhonda felt her forehead scrunch up. “I don’t understand. You’re a vampire. I’m a vampire. But we’re going to live at a school for vampire hunters? Isn’t that, like, asking for a death sentence or something?”
“It doesn’t work that way,” a tiny girl with dark hair and pink highlights chimed in. “We don’t kill all vampires – just the ones who have ill intentions. I’m Anna, by the way.”
Rhonda smiled at her. “I’m Rhonda. And that makes sense, I guess. But why are Gabe and I here if we’re vampires?”<
br />
“Gabe’s a good vampire,” a guy with strawberry blonde hair said. “And so am I. My name’s Austin.” He motioned towards a blonde guy. “And this is Ben. And you’ve already met Craig. We’re all here because we’re good vampires. You have a choice, Rhonda. You can be a good vampire and stay here with us, or you can be a bad vampire.”
Rhonda nodded understandingly. “Okay.” As she was about to ask them where she was going to sleep, a dark-haired guy with dark skin approached them. “It looks like we’ve got some new residents,” he said in a gruff voice, eyeing the guy who Austin had called Ben. The guy’s eyes then fell on Rhonda, where they hovered for a few moments. She could feel him looking her body up and down, checking her out.
“Yeah, Noah,” Anna said. “This is Ben, Lexi’s father, and Rhonda. They’ll be staying here for a while.”
“Alright,” Noah said. “Oh, by the way, Gabe . . . your mom left.”
“What?!” Gabe looked shocked as he yelled at the guy. “I gave you specific instructions to not let her leave.”
“Hey, I’m sorry, man,” Noah said. “I couldn’t keep her here against her will, though.”
“Well, did she say where she was going?” Gabe pressed.
Noah shook his head. “No, she was very secretive about it. I asked Brandon to let me know if he sees her around Briar Creek. He hasn’t seen her yet.” He shrugged. “I’ll see you all later.”
Rhonda turned to Gabe. “Who is that?”
“He’s one of Huntington’s security guards. He’s a werewolf, actually.”
“Who’s Brandon?” Rhonda asked. “Another werewolf?”
“No, Brandon’s a vampire. He’s Noah’s cousin.” When Rhonda stared back at him questioningly, he answered her question before she could even ask it. “Brandon’s mom was born a werewolf, so she has werewolf ancestors. Being a werewolf runs in your bloodline, but not every person with a werewolf gene changes into a werewolf. Being a vampire can run in your bloodline, but it doesn’t always. Brandon was turned into a vampire by one of his ex-girlfriends,” Gabe explained.