Change of Fate (The Briar Creek Vampires, #4) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (11 page)

The sun was setting as Austin pulled up in front of
the white house on Sandy Shore Lane. The beach house was definitely
the same house from Gabe’s vision. He glanced over at Anna, who was
nervously twirling her costume rings around her fingers. “Ready to
kick some vampire ass?” Gabe asked.

Anna glanced over at him. “I’m a little nervous. I’m
the only one in this car, and probably in that house, who isn’t a
vampire. I’d be the easiest one for them to kill.”

Austin glanced over his shoulder at her. “Do you
want to stay in the car and wait for us, then?”

“No, that would be even worse than going in with
you,” Anna replied, shaking her head. Her short hair shook with it.
“I’d be sitting here the whole time worrying about what’s going on
in there. I’m coming with you.” Grabbing one of the stakes from her
pile, Anna climbed out of the car.

Gabe reached over and grabbed another one of the
stakes. He handed a third stake to Crag and threw a pack of matches
at Austin. “Let’s go.”

Once they were outside, Gabe led Austin, Craig, and
Anna to the backyard. If they were going to break into the house,
it would be best if the neighbors didn’t see them do it. The last
thing they needed was for the cops to come and arrest them before
they had the chance to rescue Ben.

Gabe climbed up the stairs to the back porch and
glanced into a dark window. Through the darkness, he could make out
the round kitchen table and chairs from his vision. There were
dirty dishes piled high in the sink. He couldn’t see anything
beyond that, though.

Putting his ear up to the door, he tried to listen
to see if he could hear anything. All he heard was complete
silence. Gabe didn’t know if that meant anything, though. Someone
else besides Ben could be in the house. For all Gabe knew, that
someone could be trying to stay silent because they were waiting
for them to arrive.

*

“Well, let’s do we have to do,” Austin whispered. He
grabbed a broom that was leaning against the porch rail and ran
towards the door, breaking the glass. Reaching inside, Austin
turned the doorknob and pulled it open. Luckily, no alarm sounded.
He breathed a sigh of relief.

Austin took a step back, letting Gabe in the house
first. Craig followed close behind him. Austin let Anna walk in
front of him. There was no way he was letting her follow behind
them; he wanted Anna to walk between him and someone else at all
times. Even though Anna had been practicing to become a vampire
hunter for a longer period of time than Austin had, he knew that he
would have to protect her if necessary.

The whole entire house was dark, putting him on
edge. As Austin glanced around every corner, he was afraid that he
would find someone lurking in the shadows, just waiting to
attack.

Austin followed Gabe, who led them all upstairs.
Once they reached the landing, Austin heard heavy breathing coming
from one of the bedrooms. Glancing inside, he noticed Ben’s
chin-length blonde hair right away; he was lying on the hardwood
floor inside of a mesh net in fetal position, his hands cuffed
behind his back and a scarf wrapped around his face, to prevent him
from speaking or screaming.

Gabe was the first to reach Ben. He tore through the
net with his pocketknife, untied the scarf and pulled it out of his
mouth. Ben immediately began coughing; from the sound of his
coughing, it was obvious that the scarf had been in his mouth for a
long time – probably days.

“Why did you have a net on you?” Austin furrowed his
brow.

“I tried to fly away.”

“Who’s keeping you here?” Austin asked, deciding
that it was okay to skip a proper greeting right now. It was more
important to know who they were dealing with first.

“I don’t know,” Ben replied. “I – I think they’re
someone who’s after Lexi. Whoever it is, I’ve never met them
before. There’s a big guy named Mike and a smaller guy named Larry.
They’re usually gone during the daylight hours.”

“Larry Brayer and Mike Davis probably,” Austin
muttered. When everyone stared back at him, he explained, “They’re
two of Greg Lawrence’s best friends.”

“Well, let’s get you out of here before they get
back,” Gabe said. “Do you know where the key to the handcuffs
is?”

Ben shook his head. “No, it’s somewhere downstairs,
but I don’t know where.”

“We should go look for it,” Anna told Austin. “It
will make things a lot easier if we can get those things off of him
before we leave.”

Austin nodded. “Okay, let’s go look.” He
protectively wrapped his arm around Anna’s soft body as they
descended the stairs.

“If I were a key, where would I be?” Anna said,
tapping her chin. “Maybe in one of the kitchen drawers?”

“Yeah, maybe.” Austin followed Anna into the
kitchen. She opened the three drawers beneath the cabinets. When
she looked up at him, Anna was frowning. “It’s not in here.” She
began opening up the kitchen cabinets, moving the plates and
glasses around hurriedly.

“I wonder whose house this is,” Austin muttered as
he began scanning the walls. Of course, there was no key rack.
Larry and Mike were obviously smart enough to not leave their keys
just hanging for anyone to take. “I have a feeling this is a waste
of time. They probably took the keys with them.”

“So, do you think we should just leave now then?”
Anna asked, glancing over Austin. It looked like she was about to
say something more, but at that moment, they both froze. The front
door was being pushed open, and the sounds of two men talking
filled their ears.

Austin put a finger to his lips and crouched behind
the reclining chair in the living room. Anna sunk down to the floor
next to him, a worried look on her face. She reached over and
grabbed Austin’s hand. He gave her hand a little squeeze as they
watched in silence as the two men climbed the stairs.

“What should we do?” Anna asked in barely a
whisper.

Austin reached in his pocket for the box of matches
that Gabe had given him. A year ago, he never would have guessed
that he might have to light someone on fire. Now, this box of
matches could be his lifeline. Glancing at Anna to make sure that
her stake was still tucked under her arm, Austin helped her off the
floor and led her to the staircase.

Chapter 15

****

There was a ruffling sound in the trees behind her,
and Lexi opened her eyes. She hadn’t even known that she had fallen
asleep. The last thing she could remember was curling up next to
Dan, his arm around her waist.

Where
was
Dan? Lexi glanced around. She
didn’t see him anywhere. “Dan?” she called softly, afraid of
whatever was moving in the trees. Deciding that it was probably
just a deer, she tried to remain calm. Lying back down on the hay,
she shut her eyes and tried to fall back to sleep.

Lexi heard the sound of crunching leaves from behind
her and froze.

“I told you we would find Hunter blood here, did I
not?” a male voice said. His voice was deep and frog-like.

“Aye, and she’s pretty, too,” a second male voice
said. This voice was slightly higher-pitched. The suggestive tone
in his voice raised goose bumps on Lexi’s arms.

Should she run? Even though she was pretending that
her eyes were closed, she could see the vampires approaching. They
were both pretty tall and much paler than Dan. One of them had long
light brown hair, and the other had dark hair which he wore slicked
back. The evil looks in their eyes told her that she needed to
think quick.

“She’s not that pretty,” a third voice, this time
belonging to a female, said from behind them. A dark-haired woman –
who appeared to be in her early twenties – approached them. Her
hair was twisted into a long braid and she wore a dark dress which
revealed much more leg than most women during this time period
showed. The scoop cut of the woman’s dress hugged her cleavage, and
her facial features seemed far too fragile for a vampire. Lexi
recalled that Austin had once told her that female vampires were
very beautiful, and this was the first time she had met one who she
had found this to be true about.

The woman took a step closer and kicked Lexi in the
shins. Shocked by the blow of the kick, Lexi felt her eyes flutter
open. “Are you going to allow us to drink from you or do we need to
knock you out first?” the female vampire asked.

“I – umm – I,” Lexi tumbled over her own words.
Where was Dan? Why would he go off on his own without telling her?
Surely, he knew that there was a risk of this happening to her
again. If he wanted to protect her, why wasn’t he really standing
guard?

Before Lexi could manage to answer the vampire, she
felt something hitting her head, and everything went black.

Lexi was hoping that she’d see her mom again, but
all she could see were the three vampires who had attacked her. The
problem was that she couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t;
everything had gone hazy in her mind.

First, Lexi saw the girl vampire drinking from her.
Once she was done, she turned to one of the guys and gave him a
kiss with her blood-covered lips. The guy kissed her back, hungrily
cleaning the blood off her lips before taking his turn to drink
from Lexi.

At some point, everything went dark again, and she
felt herself falling into the blackness, tumbling like Alice
tumbled down the rabbit hole – except Lexi knew that she wasn’t on
her way to Wonderland.

*

When Lexi woke up, the sunlight shone in her face.
She guessed, from the warm temperature, that it was sometime in the
afternoon. She must have slept the whole entire night away . . . or
maybe even longer.

Lexi tried to sit up, but there was something on her
chest, weighing her down like a pile of bricks. That’s when she saw
it: the mess of blonde hair and the bare chest. It was Dan.

Was he sleeping? Or . . . no. Lexi quickly shook the
idea away. Dan couldn’t be dead, could he? Vampires couldn’t die
unless someone put a stake through their hearts or they caught on
fire. Lexi didn’t see any flames . . . and it didn’t look like Dan
had a stake poking out of him.

Lexi shook him. “Dan? Wake up.” When he didn’t do
anything, she shook him harder.

His eyelashes fluttered, and he looked back at her.
Smiling sheepishly, he said, “Lexi. You’re alive.”

“Of course I’m alive,” Lexi replied. “Why wouldn’t I
be?”

“Those vampires,” Dan said quietly, looking up at
the sky. “They took so much blood from you.”

Lexi remembered what she had seen during her
dream-like blackout. If all three of the vampires had fed from her,
they had undoubtedly taken a lot of blood. Surprisingly, she felt
okay, though. Sure, she felt a little weak, but nothing remotely
close to the last time she had been ganged up on by vampires. Maybe
it was because she’d slept it off. “What about you? Are you okay?
And where
were
you?”

Dan was quiet for a long time. Finally, he said, “I
went to see if I could find you something to drink. I know you
haven’t had anything to drink since early yesterday. When I came
back, they were here and . . . and I got rid of them. Well, two of
them, at least.”

“Got rid of them? Do you mean you killed them?” Lexi
asked.

Dan nodded. “I killed the girl, and the guy with
dark hair. The other one ran off. He threatened to come. He wants
revenge.”

“Then, we better get the hell out of here,” Lexi
said, pushing Dan off of her. “Let’s go.”

“Maybe we should stay here and kill him,” Dan said.
“I don’t know. I’m in no shape to leave or fight.”

Lexi glanced at him. His skin, which naturally
glowed, had taken on a paler shade than usual. He also had welts on
his skin. “Are you hurt? Why does your skin look like that?”

Dan glanced down at his skin. “I’ve been out in the
sun for too long.” He sighed. “The strength of the sunscreen back
home was always enough to protect us but when you don’t have any .
. . this is what happens.”

“Let’s move you to the shade then,” Lexi said. She
knew that while sunscreen offered vampires some protection from the
sun, it wasn’t always enough. The sun was powerful, and its rays
could be deadly for vampires.

She let Dan lean against her as she carefully helped
him walk over to the big boulder next to the river. He flinched
when she touched his chest, which was covered in the swollen red
welts.

Doing the only thing she could think of to relieve
his pain, Lexi grabbed the dress she had been using as a blanket
from the ground. She soaked it in the river’s water. Climbing back
on the rock next to Dan, she wrapped the dress around his skin. “I
hope this helps the pain.”

Dan glanced over at her and gave her a weak smile.
“Thank you.”

Running a hand through his scruffy hair, Lexi asked,
“So, what do you think we should do?”

“I think you need to ask the witch for the bat
pendant as soon as you can,” Dan replied. “It will give us some
protection at the very least. If the vampire comes back, we’ll kill
him if we have to.”

Lexi sighed. “You know what confuses me? The witch
said that we can’t change the past. But . . . aren’t we changing it
right now? By killing these vampires? It makes no sense to me.”

“I think she means that if a person’s meant to die,
they’re going to die, no matter what we try to do to stop it,” Dan
explained. “She might be right . . . but she might be wrong, too. I
don’t care what she said, we have to try to stop Zachary Wilkinson
from turning Albert into a vampire if we can. That’s why we should
stay here by the river.”

Lexi nodded. “Okay, it’s settled then. We’ll stay.”
As she finished her statement, she glanced down at Dan. He was
shivering uncontrollably. His lips were turning a shade of blue,
and his eyes looked sunken in.