“That’s Roberta Stine,” Anna murmured. “She was in one of my classes. It’s so sad that she’s gone.”
As Lexi placed the framed photo inside the garbage bag of stuff to save, she felt herself seethe. Roberta wasn’t just a stranger who happened to be another casualty. She hadn’t just died in any old fire.
Roberta was another person to add to the long, growing list of people who had died because of Greg Lawrence.
One thing was for sure. Lexi was going to avenge Roberta’s death if it was the last thing she did.
Chapter 35
As Gabe and Caroline went through each of the classrooms and began to gather the things that had survived the fire—globes, maps, chalkboards, and other miscellaneous things—he tried to focus on what they were doing instead of just on her.
Even though he was positive now that Caroline was his Caroline after he’d heard her play the same song on the piano, he still found himself looking for signs that they were truly one in the same. So far, he had found out that this Caroline had the same birthday and she loved horses just as much as his Caroline had.
Gabe didn’t know that much about reincarnation, yet he’d always believed it was possible. How else would people have memories of past lives? The thing that confused him most, though, was the way Caroline Nichols looked. Gabe had always assumed that if a human soul was reincarnated, it would be reincarnated into a body that, at the very least, looked different. But Caroline Nichols looked nearly identical to his Caroline.
Sure, there were differences. Her skin was slightly more tan, and she wore more makeup. She highlighted her hair, so it appeared lighter. Overall, though, this Caroline looked the same.
“Gabe?” Caroline asked, interrupting his thoughts. “Did Danny tell me the truth? You used to be involved with Lexi?”
Gabe met her gaze. There was no sense in lying to her; he had a feeling that she would already be able to tell if he did. “Yeah, I was.”
Caroline’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. “Well, why didn’t it work out? I mean, Lexi seems like a really great girl. Danny seems to be smitten by her.”
“It’s a long story,” Gabe replied. “In the end, I just don’t think we were right for each other. I think, in the beginning, I overestimated my feelings for her. It was the first time in . . . a really long time that I felt anything for someone, but now I realize that it wasn’t love like I originally thought it was.”
“So, you’ve been in love before,” Caroline said, darting her eyes away from him. Gabe was positive that he heard a note of jealousy in her voice.
“Yeah, but . . . like I said, it was a really long time ago.” Gabe bent down and picked something up off the floor. When he held it in his hand, he realized it was a compass—the type that biological vampire hunters could use to track down vampires.
“What was it like?” Caroline asked. “You know, being in love.”
“It’s . . . amazing,” Gabe replied. Amazing was an understatement. The time that he had spent with Caroline—his Caroline—had been some of the best times of his life. Even though he was beginning to forget a lot of things about his life when he was younger, all of the memories that he’d shared with her stuck out in his mind as some of his happiest days.
Caroline studied his face for a moment. “Why didn’t it last?”
“Her parents didn’t want her to be with me. They knew I was a vampire.” Gabe faced the opposite direction so that Caroline wouldn’t be able to see his face. She didn’t want him to see how much it still hurt, even after all these years.
“That must be hard for you.” She paused. “Has the whole vampire thing complicated all of your relationships?”
“Well, I haven’t been in many,” Gabe replied quietly. “I mostly avoid them because of the ‘vampire thing’.” That was the first time he had ever actually admitted that to anyone, including himself.
“Aren’t there other vampire women? I’m sure you could have a relationship with one of them if you wanted to.”
Gabe laughed. “Yeah, maybe, but when it comes to vampire women, I’ve found that they’re usually power hungry. That’s not what I usually look for in a girlfriend.”
Caroline knelt in front of him to pick something up. Meeting his eyes, she asked, “What
do
you usually look for in a girlfriend?”
“I-I don’t know. Someone like—” Gabe stammered, staring into her eyes. Their sky blue color pored through him; it made him feel like he was staring up into the perfect, cloudless sky.
“Someone like . . .?” Caroline asked in a soft voice as she inched closer to him. When her chin was inches away from his face, he could feel her hot breath against his cold skin. The feeling made his skin tingle.
“You,” Gabe whispered. “Someone like you.”
Just as their lips brushed, Gabe happened to glance over at the open door as a flash of dark hair and pale skin walked past. The woman stopped and froze, glancing into the room.
It was Gabe’s mom. Her hair was a mess and her clothes seemed to be wrinkled, but there was no mistaking the look in her eyes. They were full of hatred. She knew what he had done.
Gabe pulled away from Caroline. “I-I’m sorry, Caroline. I have to go. I’ll be right back, I promise.”
Caroline stared back at him, the confusion written all over her face. “Gabe? Look, if you’re upset because I kissed you . . . I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have done it.”
“No. No, it’s not that.” Gabe leaned in closer to her and gave her another tiny peck on the lips, just to reassure her. “It’s just that I’m having . . . a family emergency. I’ll be right back, I swear.”
Caroline nodded and, even though she didn’t have a happy look on her face, she seemed satisfied enough with his answer to not question him further.
As Gabe fled from the room and began to run down the hallway, he called, “Mom! Where are you?”
He noticed a shadow flit across the hallway and down the open stairwell. Gabe quickened his pace to follow the shadow, who he was positive was his mom.
As he began to descend the stairs, he heard the sound of the person’s footsteps as they hit against the stairs below him. Just as he reached the second flight of stairs, he heard their feet as they reached the cement floor below them.
Gabe had never been to the basement before, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he caught up with his mother, that he explained to her the reason behind what he had done. He had to get the secret that no one else knew off his chest, but more importantly, he needed for his mother to be able to understand.
Gabe knew that if his mom didn’t understand, there was no way she’d ever be able to forgive him.
“Mom,” he called into the hallway, just as he felt a hand close around his mouth.
He turned around to see who it was, and found himself staring into
the cold eyes of Kevin, his twin brother.
Chapter 36
Lexi waited in the hallway with Dan after they finished cleaning out the last of the dorm rooms. She was beginning to feel depressed after seeing the damage that had occurred within the school.
Lexi realized that she better get used to Dan’s parents, too, because she and Dan were probably going to be staying at their house for quite some time now. It seemed unlikely that classes were going to resume at Huntington any time in the near future with the current state of the school.
“Hey, guys?” Caroline called from behind them. “Has Gabe come down this way?”
“Nah, I haven’t seen him,” Dan replied.
“That’s weird,” Caroline replied, tucking a bleach-blonde wave behind her ear. “He told me he was going to be right back, but it’s been like ten minutes and he’s not back yet.”
“That’s because he’s a flake,” Austin muttered, as he came out of one of the dorm rooms with a trash bag of stuff to save in his hands.
“Austin, he’s not a flake,” Anna said with an eye roll.
“Actually,” Dan said, glancing over at Lexi, “there are some things about Gabe you should probably know.”
“Like what?” Caroline asked, raising her perfectly waxed eyebrows in question.
There was a long pause, as Dan continued to stare at Lexi, trying to make some sort of mental exchange to let her know that now was the time to have the discussion. Lexi didn’t want to have it right now, but she gave into his pressuring. She sighed “Caroline, the reason Gabe and I are no longer together is because he killed my ex-boyfriend, Justin. He kept it a secret from me the whole time we dated and even made me believe someone else killed him.”
Caroline glanced down at the ground. “I see. He told me you guys just weren’t right for each other.”
“Well, we’re not right for each other,” Lexi agreed.
“So, you broke up with him when you found out the news?” Caroline questioned, looking up at Lexi again.
Lexi hesitated. “Well, no . . . not exactly. I was already falling in love with Dan at that point.”
“So, technically, you did something wrong, too? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying what Gabe did isn’t bad, but what you just told me about yourself doesn’t make you sound too innocent, either,” Caroline explained. “You were supposed to be with Gabe, but you were already falling in love with Danny.”
“Well, yeah, technically, but—” Lexi started to say. She was about to tell Caroline about how she had caught Gabe fooling around with Veronica Hart, or so she had thought, but she didn’t get the chance to get a word in edgewise because Caroline interrupted her.
“But nothing, Lexi. People who aren’t perfect themselves shouldn’t judge what others have done.” Caroline gave her a small smile. “I know my brother made you tell me this, so I won’t hold it against you. I want us to be friends. But from now on, I would appreciate it if we don’t talk about Gabe’s flaws. I find it hard to believe that Gabe would actually kill someone just to be cruel. There had to be some other reason for it.” She met Lexi’s gaze. “Just like you killed Rhonda.”
Lexi nodded and looked away from Caroline. She wasn’t going to go into the one-hundred-and-one reasons why it had been different for her to kill Rhonda than it had been for Gabe to kill Justin right now. It didn’t seem like anything she could possibly say negative about Gabe was going to affect Caroline, anyway. Her mind seemed to be pretty made up about him.
At that moment, Lexi heard footsteps from around the corner. Noah poked his head into the hallway. “Hey, guys, if you’re all finished here, why don’t you head home for the night? Nothing seems to be happening right now. If there’s another attack or if we need your help for anything, we can always call you.”
A
ustin nodded his head. “Yeah, sounds good to me.”
“Me, too,” Anna agreed.
“Yeah. But Noah? Can you do me a favor?” Lexi asked.
“Sure.”
“If you see my dad, don’t tell him you saw me here, okay? I don’t want him to know I broke his promise and came here.”
“No problem. I’ll keep it to myself,” Noah agreed.
As they all began to walk towards the door, Caroline stood in the hallway with her arms crossed against her chest. “So, what? You guys are just going to leave Gabe here?”
“Well, we can always call him and let him know we left. In fact, I’ll do that right now,” Dan said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He waited for a few moments before hitting the ‘end’ button. “No answer.”
Caroline rolled her eyes. “Whatever, guys. You can all go home if you want to, but I think I’m going to wait here for Gabe. At least for a little bit longer.”
“Alright, I’ll see you back at the house,” Dan said. He continued to walk down the hallway. Austin and Anna followed after him.
Lexi shot Caroline a sympathetic look, trying to let her know that she wanted to stick around with her but that Dan, Anna, and Austin were leaving her no other choice.
As she went outside, Lexi turned around and took one last look at the building that had once been
Huntington. It was scary to see how quick this new part of her life, the part that she was positive was the gateway to new beginnings for her, had already changed, and probably forever.
Chapter 37
When Austin and Anna got back to Dan’s house, settled inside their guest bedroom that they were sharing with one another, he glanced over at her and grinned. “It feels kind of awesome to know that they’ll let us know if they need our help to fight off anyone. It makes me feel important.”
“Yeah.” Anna glanced down at her hands. She twisted a white gold ring that she always wore around her finger nervously.
Austin stared at her for a moment. It was obvious that something was wrong. She wasn’t acting like herself. “Is everything okay, Anna?”
Anna shrugged her shoulders. “I just . . . I’m starting to wonder what the point of all of this is. I
mean, why are we so happy to kill vampires? It’s sick to think that way.”
“They’re not good vampires, Anna,” Austin replied quietly. “Have you forgotten all of the things they planned to do to Lexi?”
“No, I haven’t forgotten,” Anna replied. “And if I were Lexi, I would probably want to get revenge on them, too. It makes sense for her to want to kill them. But, honestly, Austin, I can’t be happy about it. None of those vampires did anything to me personally. Only one vampire has hurt me, and we have no idea where he is.”
“Anna, we’re going to try to find Geoff,” Austin said softly. He knew that ever since Anna had talked to Darius, she had been sort of bummed out by the fact that no one knew where Geoff was. She had been expecting to find out more about her mother’s killer. It upset her that she hadn’t gotten the lead she had been expecting.
“I guess,” Anna muttered under her breath. She looked away from him.
“Anna,” Austin said, inching closer to her and grabbing one of her hands. “Is everything okay . . . with
us
?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” Anna asked without bothering to even turn to face him.
“Because you won’t even look at me. I feel like you’re pushing me away for some reason.”
Anna scoffed. “Why do you think I would be pushing you away?”
Austin hesitated. “Because I want you to become a vampire?”
Anna glanced over at him. “You do?”
Austin nodded. “Yeah, well, I mean, it’s not like we didn’t talk about it at one point,” he pointed out, remembering the one time when they had spoken about it in the past. Weeks had gone by since they’d discussed it since then, though. “I thought maybe you could do it soon.”
Anna’s eyes widened. “You want me to do it
now
?”
“Well, the sooner you do it, the better, right?” Austin questioned.
“Why do you want me to become a vampire?”
Austin raised her eyebrows at her, surprised by the question. Shouldn’t the reasons have been obvious to her? “Because I want to keep you safe,” he told her. “There’s less of a risk of you dying if you’re a vampire. Do you know how terrified I was when Rhonda kidnapped you? I was scared to death that she and Gabe were going to kill you.” He paused. “And I want you to turn because I love you. I want to spend eternity with you.”
Anna shook her head, her eyes filling up with tears. “I . . . I’m not sure.”
“What aren’t you sure about . . . becoming a vampire or
me
?” Austin asked. It felt like someone had just tore his heart into two pieces—not that he actually had a beating, human heart for that to happen to.
Anna glanced away from him. “Becoming a vampire.” She hesitated. “No, being with you. Both? I don’t know,” she stammered. She met his gaze. “The only thing I know is that I’m really confused.”
“I thought you loved me,” Austin said. Even as he said the words, he knew how pathetic he sounded, but he didn’t really care. All he knew was that he loved Anna; he would do anything to be with her and to keep her alive. He had never felt so strongly about anyone—none of the cheerleaders he’d ever dated and definitely not Mary-Kate.
Anna was the only one who ever made him feel like he was alive, which was weird because he was technically already dead when he started to realize how he truly felt about her. She was the only one who made him want to live the rest of this eternal life . . . but there was no way he would be able to live a never-ending life without her in it.
“I thought I loved you,” Anna replied, darting her eyes away from him again. “I don’t know, Austin. All I know right now is I’m definitely not ready to become a vampire yet. I need to think about everything—you, me, us—before you can expect me to make that type of decision.”
“So, what now?” Austin questioned, glancing around him. They were supposed to be sharing this guest bedroom while they stayed at Dan’s house, but it seemed like Anna didn’t even want to be near him right now. “What about me? What am I supposed to do while you think?”
“I don’t care what you do, as long as you leave me the hell alone,” Anna shot back at him. “I need time to think, and I’m not going to be able to do that with you constantly hinting that you want me to become a vampire. It’s not going to happen right now. Just live with it.”
“I’m not sure if I can,” Austin replied. He stood up and gathered his bags.
“Where are you going?” Anna questioned, watching him.
“I can’t spend another night in here with you,” Austin replied. “I want to be with you. I love you. But until you figure everything out, I don’t know if I can even look at you. I’m going to go see if there’s another guest bedroom. If there’s not, I’ll be spending the night on the couch.”
From the corner of his eye, Austin was positive he saw her roll her eyes at him. “Fine, spend the night on the uncomfortable couch,” she said.
“I will. It couldn’t be any more uncomfortable than being around you right now,” he shot back, glancing over his shoulder at her before leaving the room.