Change of Fate (The Briar Creek Vampires, #4) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (3 page)

Dennis mumbled something in his sleep, and
Rhonda pulled away for a moment. When he didn’t wake up, she began
sucking the wound again, drinking the sweet crimson blood until she
was satisfied.

“What are you doing?” he whispered, in a
daze.

“Nothing, just . . . kissing you,” Rhonda
lied, straddling him. “You’re just so hot.”

Dennis pushed her away sleepily. “Look,
you’re just not my type. I don’t think this is going to work out.
You should probably go,” he said, motioning to her clothes on the
floor.

Even
he
wasn’t interested in her? A
wave of anger rushed through Rhonda’s body; she wanted to drain
this guy of all his sweet, delicious blood, the same way she had
drained her roommate’s blood. Rhonda was afraid to draw any more
attention to herself, though. So, with one last gulp from the
wound, Rhonda climbed out of bed and gathered her clothes to take
into the bathroom.

Locking the door, she glanced at herself in
the mirror. Her strawberry blonde hair was a disheveled mess, and
her eyes were sunken in. Rhonda’s skin, which was naturally fair,
was probably about five shades paler now.

Rhonda knew she was a vampire now. It didn’t
take a rocket scientist to figure that out. What she didn’t know
was what was going to happen to her. When she drank a person’s
blood, she felt normal. When she didn’t, it was all she could think
about. What was she supposed to do? Pick up a random guy every
night to feed off of? Eventually, rumors would start; someone would
catch on. Rhonda knew that there was only one person who could help
her – and she really didn’t want his help. She hated him for what
he had done to her. She hated herself more, for going home with
some random guy who had paid attention to her that night.

Sighing, Rhonda realized that there wasn't
much that she could do about it now. It was already done; it's not
like she could go back to that night and change the past. She just
wished she could.

Chapter 4

****

An hour later, Lexi found herself walking
down a dirt road, with no idea of where it could possibly lead to.
That didn’t matter, though. She had a plan – a plan that would help
her remain inconspicuous in this time period where, right now, she
looked like a foreigner.

There had to be a clothing store here
somewhere, didn’t there? People had to get their clothes somewhere.
This was the 19th century; surely there were clothing stores.

Lexi wondered what Dan was going to do about
clothes. As soon as she thought of him, she reminded herself that
she couldn’t think about Dan or she was only going to get angry
again. When she had left him at the general store, he had stood
there with a look of disappointment on his face, like he was hurt
that Lexi was going to just leave him there. She didn’t care,
though. He was the one who had been a jerk, as usual.

It’s not like there was a rule book that they
had to follow while they were stranded in this town, but even if
there had been, Lexi was confident that it wouldn’t say that she
had to stay with Dan the whole entire time. As it was, Dan was
probably trying to figure out a way to kill her before they got
back to Briar Creek so that he could serve her blood up to the
whole town. It would make him the shining star of Briar Creek; he
would be the one who saved everyone . . . except for Lexi.

As Lexi approached a cul-de-sac in the dirt
road, she spotted it. A clothes line hung from two trees in the
back of a small cottage. Long, flowing dresses were gently tossed
around in the air by the spring breeze.

Crouching in the bushes, Lexi glanced in the
backyard. There was no one outside. The house appeared to be
completely dark, but it was only mid-afternoon in the 1800s . .
.

It didn’t matter. Lexi knew that if she was
going to do this, she was going to need to act now. It was now or
never.

Standing up, she darted into the backyard and
ran over to the first dress she could find. It was a long, flowing
beige dress which appeared to be about her size. As she unclipped
it from the clothes line, Lexi heard the sound of footsteps.
Shit.

Ducking behind a bush next to the house, she
held her breath. It was going to be really bad if she got caught
right now. They’d probably put her in jail for the rest of her
life, and then she would never figure out how to get back to Gabe.
And would her mom even be able to visit her in ghost form in this
time period? Lexi didn’t know, but she didn’t want to find out.

A woman stood in front of the clothes line
and huffed loudly, obviously noticing that the dress was missing.
Lexi braced herself for what was about to come next.

The woman glanced around the yard. After a
few moments, the woman walked away. Lexi heard the sound of the
door being closed and breathed a sigh of relief. This had been a
close call.

As she tried to decide whether she should
change into the dress right now or if she should wait until she was
out of sight so that the woman wouldn’t spot her wearing it, Lexi
heard a voice coming from the front yard. “Albert! Albert
Hunter!”

Lexi froze. Albert
Hunter
. Was it the
same Albert Hunter who she was thinking of?

Staying crouched behind the bush, Lexi
scanned the dirt walkway that led up to the house. A tall man with
a muscular build was walking up it. “Matthias! Fancy seeing you
today! It’s such a lovely day, isn’t it?”

Fancy seeing you today?
Stifling a
giggle, Lexi reminded herself that people talked somewhat
differently in the 1800s. Thankfully, she hadn’t landed in the
1600s, which was, Lexi recalled from Literature class, when people
used Old English expressions like “where art thou?”

“Aye, it is quite lovely,” the man, who must
be Matthias, replied. Taking a step closer to Albert and lowering
his voice, Matthias continued. “How is Belinda after Sunday’s
incident?”

“A little shaken up if I do say so myself.
I’m confident that she will get past this. Belinda’s a strong
woman. She just wishes that the church folk wouldn’t judge her so
harshly.”

“It’s a shame. Elizabeth and I were planning
to pay her a visit soon. We wanted to offer her our
condolences.”

“That won’t be necessary for a few more
moons. She’s ashamed by the way her face looks presently,” Albert
replied. A few more moons? That must mean a few more months. What
had happened to this Belinda woman’s face that was so bad that she
didn’t want to see anyone for a few months? Lexi couldn’t even
begin to imagine.

“Quite understandable. It’s a damn shame,”
Matthias said, shaking his head. “Be sure to send her our warmest
wishes . . . and please let her know that we know she’s not a
witch.”

Witch! Lexi was right. This
was
Albert
Hunter – the same Albert Hunter who the witch who had cursed the
town of Briar Creek had been in love with. This must have meant
that Belinda was the witch.

“Of course,” Albert replied, nodding. “She’ll
be glad to hear that. I should really be on my way now. I had to
fetch her some garlic from the market for supper. I wouldn’t want
to keep her waiting.”

“I understand,” Matthias replied, knowingly.
“Good day, Albert.”

“Good day,” Albert replied, turning on his
heel and walking back towards the dirt road.

Once Matthias had gone back in the house and
closed the door behind him loudly, Lexi did what she knew she had
to do. Standing up, she ran from her place behind the bush to the
pine trees that lined the lawn. Ducking in the hopes that no one
from the house would see her, Lexi crept along the property line,
careful not to crunch the leaves under her feet too noisily.

When she was out of the yard, she followed
Albert, making sure to stay about one hundred feet behind him. Lexi
knew from what Gabe had told her that Albert had become a vampire
after a man named Zachary Wilkinson had accidentally turned him.
From what Lexi could tell right now, though, Albert didn’t seem to
be a vampire. At least, he wasn’t acting like an evil one. And what
had happened to Belinda? Matthias had said that he and Elizabeth,
who Lexi had assumed was his wife, didn’t believe that she was a
witch.

If only they knew that Belinda really
was
a witch. Would that make them think differently of her?
Lexi knew that the Salem witch trials had ended in the late 16th
century, but she doubted that people had ever warmed up to the idea
of a person practicing witchcraft. Did Albert know that Belinda,
his lover, was a witch?

As Lexi continued to follow Albert, it began
to grow dark out. Lexi wondered where Dan might be. Where was he
planning to sleep? Where would
she
sleep? Lexi hadn’t even
thought of that. She supposed that she could try to find someone
who would invite her in, but she would probably be better off
trying to risk it outside. Talking to anyone seemed too risky.

What if Dan figured out how to get back to
the 21st century before she did? Would he try to find her so that
he could bring her along with him . . . or would he just leave her
here to fend for herself? She probably deserved it after the way
she had just left him at the general store without even looking
back.

Whatever
, Lexi thought to herself. Dan
deserved it. He was potentially dangerous, and she knew that there
was no way she could trust him. She shouldn’t. It was too risky.
Maybe if she was the one to figure out how to get out of here
first, she would leave him stuck here forever so that he couldn’t
hurt her in present time again.

Once they had walked about a mile, Albert
began walking up a dirt path. From the left side of the house, Lexi
heard the sound of running water. She could see the moon’s
reflection in the water, and she recalled that Gabe had said that
Albert and the witch lived in a shack alongside a river. The
two-story house that loomed ahead of them didn’t look like a shack,
though; it looked very large in comparison to the other houses that
she had noticed in the area.

When she heard the sound of the door closing,
Lexi snuck into the yard. It was easier to do this time; the
darkness of the night and the shadows that loomed from the tall
trees provided enough coverage for her to sneak alongside the
house.

Lexi didn’t know what hanging around outside
Albert’s house was going to do for her. She was hoping that maybe
she would see something – anything – that would help lead her in
the right direction. Lexi was convinced that the reason she had
ended up in this time period, in the
same
town as the witch
and Albert, was because there was some sort of clue here. Maybe, if
nothing else, she could figure out what was on the missing page of
the book that she had read just before it had sucked her and Dan in
and dropped her off in this time period.

“I’ve retrieved the garlic, Belinda.” Lexi
glanced above her head. The window was open, which allowed her to
hear everything that was being said inside the house.

“Wonderful! Simply wonderful!” The woman’s
harmonic voice, which must have belonged to Belinda, was dripping
with excitement. “This should keep those pesky vampires away.”

Lexi felt her jaw drop. The witch was using
garlic to keep away vampires? Did that method even work? She wished
that Gabe was here so she could ask him.

“Did you finish the pendant?” Albert asked.
His voice sounded distant, like he was in another room now.

“I created the mold with clay I pulled from
the river, but I couldn’t complete the pendants without the
garlic,” Belinda explained. “Now that you’ve gotten that for me, I
should be able to finish the spell by tomorrow afternoon. I will
need some of your blood for the brew.”

“Of course,” Albert replied, closer now. “You
may prick my finger whenever you are ready for my blood. What shape
is the pendant?”

Belinda laughed; the cackling sound that
escaped her throat made every fairytale about witches that Lexi had
ever heard about seem true. “I chose to mold the pendant into the
shape of a bat. I thought, how humorous would it be for the shape
of the pendant that would protect you to be in the shape of your
predators in their night form? I made two pendants, just to be on
the cautious side.”

Lexi reached for her neck. She had noticed
for the first time that the bat pendant that her father had given
her, which prevented vampires from being able to detect her scent,
was gone.

Chapter 5

****

“I don’t know how good your idea is,” Gabe
said. “We already know that he’s in New Jersey. It seems pointless
to go back to Long Island.”

“We just need somewhere to stay,” Austin
replied, his eyes still glued to the road as he drove. “It’s not
like Long Island is that far from New Jersey. We’ll just hang out
at Ben’s bed and breakfast for a few more days . . . or until you
have a vision that lets us see where Ben is.”

Gabe gritted his teeth. He had a feeling that
Austin didn’t just want to stay at the bed and breakfast because
they needed a place to stay. He probably just wanted a weekend (or
however long) getaway with Anna in a locale that was more romantic
than a sleazy, 2-star hotel in New Jersey.

When they arrived at the bed and breakfast,
Manny, who worked the front desk, greeted them. His warm expression
quickly turned worrisome. “Have you figured out where he is
yet?”

“No, but I think we’re getting closer,” Gabe
replied, hoping that was the truth. He had been anxious enough to
see Lexi and work through their problems as it was; it made it even
worse not knowing if she was okay – especially since wherever Lexi
was, she was with Dan, who had already proven in the past that he
couldn’t be trusted. Gabe just hoped that she would be okay.

“Well, then, what is it that you’re here
for?” Manny asked, a confused look crossing his face.