Change of Fate (The Briar Creek Vampires, #4) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (23 page)

Chapter 33

****

Staring up at the stars that shone brightly
in the night sky, Lexi gnawed on a cucumber that Dan had picked her
from Belinda’s garden. She had already eaten a handful of cherry
tomatoes and a bell pepper. Once she got back to Huntington, Lexi
was going to pig out on the most fattening foods she could image –
macaroni and cheese, pizza, and doughnuts. If they ever got back. .
. .

Lexi was a little worried about Belinda.
Albert had drunk her blood three times since he had woken up in his
state of blood thirst. Things had been quiet in the house for the
past few hours, but Lexi was pretty sure that Belinda had to have
been drained of a lot of blood. Hopefully, she would know that she
needed to replenish her nutrients if Albert was going to continue
drinking from her so often.

Once she was finished with the cucumber, Dan
said, “Come on. We need to go to the river.”

“Why?” Lexi asked. Was Dan trying to tell her
that she needed to wash off again? Did she smell or something?

“I need you to do that thing you did with my
sunburn again,” Dan explained. He rolled up his sleeves to show her
his arms. Lexi couldn’t see what it looked like through the
darkness. She reached out to touch it, and as her fingers brushed
against the puffy, inflamed skin, Dan flinched.

Lexi met Dan’s eyes, which glimmered in the
moonlight. “It looks painful,” she murmured. “Do you think
Mary-Kate will think we might go back to the river at some point?
Could she be waiting for us there?”

“Nah, I don’t think so,” Dan replied, shaking
his head. “Besides, Mary-Kate’s afraid of the dark. She’s not going
to come out tonight.”

“She’s afraid of the dark?” Lexi asked,
laughing aloud. “Wow, there is so much I don’t know about my
sister.”

“Well, she has good reason to be afraid of
the dark,” Dan explained. “She used to have to worry about vampires
chasing after her when they were in bat form. For her blood,
obviously.” He paused. “Are
you
afraid of the dark?”

Lexi burst out laughing. “You remind me of
that Nickelodeon show. No, I’m not afraid of the dark itself. What
I’m afraid of is what could be lurking in the dark. Like, right
now, for instance, Mary-Kate.”

“Don’t worry. Even if something does happen,
I won’t let her hurt you,” Dan said before standing up and pulling
her to her feet. “Come on.”

Making sure that she still had her bottle of
potion, Lexi followed Dan down the tiny mound in the back of
Belinda’s house that led to the river bank. She heard the sound of
something rustling behind them and whirled around. A raccoon stared
back at them with wide eyes, and Lexi breathed a sigh of relief.
She was definitely being paranoid right now. If Mary-Kate was as
afraid of the dark as Dan said, she had probably found some sort of
shelter.

“So, what else don’t I know about my sister?”
Lexi asked Dan as he sat down on his rock. In the moonlight, she
could see him shrug his shoulders. “Did you know she shoplifted
once?” Dan asked.

“No. Why would she do that? I thought Greg
had money.”

“He does. I think she did it for attention,
mostly,” Dan replied. “We were in the eighth grade. Here’s the
worst part, though. She let this other girl, Shay, take the fall
for her.”

“You mean, she blamed someone else?” Lexi
asked.

“Yup. She wanted the thrill of shoplifting,
but she didn’t want the consequences that came with it.”

Lexi shook her head as she soaked the dress
in the water. The more she learned about Mary-Kate, the more she
couldn’t believe she had ever trusted her in the first place. Her
sister sounded like a real bitch – like the type of person you
definitely didn’t want to cross. “Did she ever let girls drink from
her?” Lexi asked. She had never really thought about it, but if
there were male vampires in Briar Creek, there had to be at least
some female vampires, too, didn’t there?

“Yeah,” Dan said, pausing. “Don’t even get me
started on what she used to make them do in exchange for her
blood.”

“Oh, no,” Lexi said, laughing. “You can’t say
that and not tell me! I’m dying to know.”

“Well, for starters, she would force them to
let her go out with their boyfriends if she liked them enough,” Dan
said. “I remember this one guy, Jake, who she had her eyes on for
years. When his girlfriend, Leslie, came to Mary-Kate desperate for
blood . . . a date with Jake was her compromise.”

Lexi scoffed. “That’s horrible. And what if
they didn’t have boyfriends?”

“Then she would make them do whatever she
wanted. Say she wanted her history paper done by tomorrow morning.
If you asked her for blood that day, guess what you had to do?”

“Her history paper,” Lexi muttered. She
climbed on top of the rock and covered Dan’s arms with the dress.
“I can’t believe I fell for her act. I thought she was so nice. She
seemed like she really cared about me. It was all a lie.”

“Don’t feel bad. That’s how Mary-Kate works,”
Dan said, shrugging. “Hey, did I ever tell you about that day at
the corn maze?”

“You never showed up,” Lexi said, remembering
that Dan told her he was supposed to go with some girl whose name
she couldn’t recall. She hadn’t seen him there at all, though.

“Yes, I was,” Dan said. “You just didn’t know
who I was because I was in costume.”

“Costume?” Lexi asked. “You mean, you were
one of the people who was working there?”

“Oh, come on, Lexi. You saw me. I was wearing
a skeleton costume.”

“That was
you
?” Lexi asked. The person
in the corn maze had been wearing the same costume that Gabe and
Austin had both worn to the Briar Creek Halloween Festival on the
night she was supposed to die. After they’d escaped, she found out
that it hadn’t been one of them who had worn the costume, though.
She’d totally forgotten about it until now.

Dan nodded. “See, I knew you were going to
the maze with Mary-Kate and her friends. I just . . . I didn’t
trust her to be around you.” He flinched as Lexi wrung some of the
cool water onto one of his welts. “I wasn’t sure, but I had a
feeling she had some sort of ulterior motive. I know I sorta
freaked you out that day, but . . . I wanted to keep an eye on
you.”

Lexi let go of the dress and looked into his
eyes. They were honest and true. Dan really had been trying to keep
her safe that day, even though she didn’t trust him at all during
that time. It made her feel foolish now to think that she had been
so busy loathing someone who was actually trying to help her.
“Thank you for that,” she whispered, looking away.

“I sometimes wonder,” Dan began, “if you
would have felt differently about me back then if Violet and Tom
hadn’t tried to force me on you.”

“I think I would have,” Lexi said. Even
though she had wondered the same thing and had even talked to Dan
about it before, this was the first time that she had ever admitted
that there might have been something between them if her aunt and
uncle hadn’t tried so hard to force them to be together. “Why did
they want me to be with you so bad, anyway?”

“They didn’t trust Gabe,” Dan replied. “They
thought he was going to help you run away from them. Not that they
were wrong about him. They just didn’t know that, if given the
opportunity, I would have done the same exact thing.”

“I wouldn’t have wanted you to,” Lexi said.
“You had too much going on for you . . . football and everything. I
wouldn’t have wanted you to risk it for me.”

Dan pressed his hand against the small of her
back. “I would have wanted to. You’re worth it.”

Lexi felt the butterflies in her stomach
again, and she looked down at his chest. She seemed to be getting
them a lot lately. Changing the subject, she asked, “Umm, are your
arms starting to feel better?”

Dan nodded. “Much better. Why do you do
that?”

“Why do I do what?” Lexi asked.

“You won’t make eye contact with me when I
say something that makes you uncomfortable,” Dan said.

“It’s not that. You didn’t make me
uncomfortable.” Lexi sighed. “I hate how much I misjudged everyone.
I guess it just goes to show that people aren’t always who they
seem to be.”

“Except for you,” Dan said quietly.

Lexi glanced down at him. He was smiling up
at her. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“When I first met you, I thought you seemed
nice. Kind and caring. Maybe a little stubborn at times, but gentle
enough to make up for it at other times.” He glanced up at her, his
blue eyes twinkling. “You’re exactly who I thought you were. Maybe
even more.”

Lexi felt her heart thumping against her
chest and her palms grew sweaty, even though they were wet from
pressing the wet fabric of the dress against Dan’s chest. Her
thoughts were interrupted when she heard the splash in the water
behind her.

Chapter 34

****

Mary-Kate waded, thigh-deep, through the
river water. “Well, well, well. I guess you were just looking for
me to catch you.”

Lexi felt Dan’s body tense up. Glancing down
at her own hands, she noticed that she was trembling. She was just
being ridiculous, wasn’t she? It’s not like her sister could
actually do anything to hurt her.

“Cat got your tongue?” Mary-Kate asked when
Lexi didn’t answer her.

“I have nothing to say,” Lexi shot back. “I
don’t want to fight with you, Mary-Kate. Let’s just stop this,
okay? When we get back to Briar Creek, I’ll give your mom my blood
so she can be cured. I just don’t want to fight with you.”

Mary-Kate shook her head fiercely, her
chestnut brown hair falling into her face. “No. It’s too late for
that. You didn’t offer it on your own, and I will not be known as
the girl who had to beg precious little Lexi Hunter for her blood
because mine couldn’t save my own mother.”

“Why couldn’t yours save your mom, anyway?”
Dan asked. “I thought she was diagnosed before you turned
eighteen.”

Mary-Kate glanced over at Dan. Her face
twisted into an expression that Lexi had never seen her wear
before, and at first, she was positive that she was about to lash
out at Dan. Instead, she noticed a tear slide down her sister’s
face. “I tried to convince her – I tried to tell her that it is
what I wanted. But she wouldn’t. No matter how hard I tried, she
wouldn’t drink from me. It got to the point where she would only
drink water because she was so afraid that I would sneak my blood
into a glass of iced tea or soda or something. She didn’t want to
use me.” Mary-Kate laughed and wiped away the tears. “The only
person in Briar Creek who doesn’t want to use me is the only person
I really want to save. Go freaking figure.”

Lexi felt a pang of sympathy for Mary-Kate.
She couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for her to go
through that. It also really surprised her that Mrs. Lawrence had
refused Mary-Kate’s blood. The woman had seemed awfully greedy –
and bloodthirsty – the few times Lexi had met her. In fact, the
first time she had met Mrs. Lawrence, the woman had attacked her,
which she was sure was because she wanted her blood.

“My mom said she would rather drink from
you
,” Mary-Kate said, putting an emphasis on ‘you’ that made
it sound like a dirty word. Her sister scoffed, wading through the
water so that she was a little closer to them. Dan pressed his hand
against Lexi’s leg, as though he were trying to remind her that he
was still there. Mary-Kate continued, scoffing. “As though
your
blood is any better than my blood. It doesn’t matter
now, though.” Her sister paused, glaring at her. “I decided that I
don’t want my mom to stay a vampire. I don’t want to worry about
her having to find human blood to drink. I want her to be an
immortal now.”

Lexi could feel her sister’s eyes on the
bottle of potion, which she had laid down on the ground next to her
when she began taking care of Dan’s sunburn. She reached over and
grabbed it, tucking it inside her shirt again. “Well, maybe we
could ask Belinda to make a second batch of potion,” Lexi
suggested. “I’m sure she would be willing to do it for you. She’s
very nice. She’ll probably feel bad to hear that your mom is
dying.”

Mary-Kate shook her head. “No!” she screamed
at her. “I want that bottle of potion that you have right there
under your tank top. You don’t deserve to become an immortal!”

Dan sat up. “Mary-Kate, why don’t we all just
sit down and talk and maybe we can figure something out.”

“No, don’t either of you get it? I’m through
with talking. I’ve
tried
talking. Do you know how many
counselors I’ve had to see since my mom started dying? Like fifty.
Guess what? My mom’s still dying.” Mary-Kate shook her head
vigorously. “I’m through with talking. It’s time to start taking
action instead.”

“Mary-Kate, you can’t have this potion. It
won’t even work for your mom. Belinda told me it was designed
specifically for me – not any other person,” Lexi lied. Well, it
was sort of a lie. Belinda hadn’t actually said that the potion
would only work for her, but she had said that she wanted her own
powers to be transferred to Lexi when she drank the potion. That
sort of meant it was meant for her and her alone.

“Liar!” Mary-Kate screamed, climbing out of
the river. Her clothes were sopping wet as she walked barefooted on
the grass towards them. “Does it look like I have ‘stupid’ written
all over my face? I know you’re full of shit. I was outside the
witch’s house when she made the potion and gave it to you. She said
no such thing. You just don’t want me to have it. You’re being
selfish.”

Lexi laughed out loud. “
I’m
the
selfish one? If you want to believe that, then fine. But I told you
that I would help you out . . . and you refused my offer.”

“You act like I can’t see through your little
act,” Mary-Kate said, ignoring Lexi’s statement. “Everyone thinks
you’re so kind and caring, stubborn and gentle,” she said,
repeating the adjectives that Dan had used to describe Lexi. “I
think you’re selfish and a bitch and just plain mean.”