Change of Fate (The Briar Creek Vampires, #4) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (15 page)

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?”

“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.

Before Rhonda could ask any other questions,
Anna was tugging at her wrist. “Come on. I’ll show you your
room.”

Reluctantly, Rhonda turned from Gabe and
followed Anna into the building. They walked down a long hallway
until Anna motioned to one of the doors. “You’ll be staying in
here. I don’t think you have a roommate yet.”

“Thanks,” Rhonda said, shooting Anna a small
smile. There was something about Anna that she genuinely liked. She
seemed . . . genuine. It had been a long time since Rhonda had been
friends with someone so down to earth. She imagined that, even in a
human life, she and Anna would have been friends.

As Rhonda was about to open the door, a
redheaded woman walked down the hall, eyeing her. It made her feel
really uncomfortable. The woman came to a halt in front of them.
“Hello, Anna. Who’s your friend here? She doesn’t look
familiar.”

Anna turned to Rhonda. “This is Veronica
Hart. She’s our Vampire Geography and Tracking professor. You’ll be
starting her class soon. And, Veronica, this is Rhonda. She’s one
of Gabe’s offspring.”

Rhonda noticed that Veronica was glaring at
her. “It’s nice to meet you,” Rhonda offered, unsure of why the
woman was staring at her like she was a bug.

“Likewise,” Veronica said curtly before
walking away. As she walked down the hall, her black heels clacked
against the tiled floor.

Rhonda turned to Anna. “Do I have to take her
class? She doesn’t seem too nice.”

Anna shook her head. “I don’t know what’s
gotten into her lately, but . . .” She trailed off, opening the
door to Rhonda’s room and pulling her inside so that no one would
hear them. In a lowered voice, Anna said, “I think it’s because
she’s in love with Gabe. She’s the vampire who created him, you
know.”

“Oh,” Rhonda said quietly, looking down at
the floor. She hadn’t actually considered who had turned Gabe into
a vampire. For some reason, Rhonda had assumed that he had been
born this way. She wondered if Gabe felt the same type of
connection with Veronica as she felt with him. “What makes you
think that Veronica’s in love with him?”

“You mean, besides the way she just acted
towards you?” Anna said, laughing. “She didn’t like Lexi either. It
was obvious that she wanted to take Gabe away from Lexi. I think it
might have even worked.”

“Who’s Lexi?” Rhonda asked curiously.

Anna stared at her with wide eyes. “You mean,
Gabe hasn’t told you about Lexi?”

Rhonda shook her head. “No, I’ve never heard
him mention her. Not that I’ve had that many conversations with him
yet.” It was actually kind of strange how Rhonda felt such a strong
connection with Gabe, but when it came down to it, they actually
didn’t know each other that well. All she knew about him was that
he liked strawberry milkshakes. Was that enough for them to build a
relationship on? What if they didn’t agree about a lot of
things?

“Lexi is the girl who Gabe is in love with,”
Anna replied.

Rhonda tried not to let Anna see the
surprised – and angry – expression that crossed her face. How could
Gabe do this to her if he was in love with someone else? This was
definitely going to complicate Rhonda and Gabe spending the rest of
their lives together. Unless. . . .

If Rhonda could find a way to get rid of this
Lexi girl and make sure that she would leave Gabe alone for good –
poor heartbroken Gabe would have no choice but to spend the rest of
his life with the girl who would help him put the pieces of his
life back together. That would have to be Rhonda, obviously. Once
Gabe saw how much Rhonda cared about him – how much she was going
to sacrifice to make him happy – he would want to be with her
forever.

And Rhonda loved the sound of that.

Chapter 21

****

Gabe listened to the sound of the phone ringing as
he called his mom for the fifth time since he’d returned to
Huntington. Deciding not to leave her yet another voicemail, he hit
the ‘end’ button on his cell phone.

Where could his mom be, and why wasn’t she
answering him? It made no sense why she would just up and leave
without telling him beforehand. Gabe was sure that he had made it
very clear that his mom was to stay at Huntington until he got back
from Long Island. So, why wasn’t she here?

Gabe didn’t even hear the sound of the door
to his dorm room open. When his eyes were covered with a pair of
cold hands, he jumped.

The hands were quickly removed, and there was
a loud giggle. “Guess who?”

Gabe felt someone run their lips over his
skin and give his neck a kiss. He knew that kiss all too well.
Veronica.