Change of Fate (The Briar Creek Vampires, #4) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (5 page)

“How do I know the spell worked, you ask?”
Belinda said, as though the cat had actually responded to her. “I
can feel it in my bones . . . I can feel it in my veins. There’s a
positive energy in this room!” The woman’s voice was filled with
excitement. “The pendant is going to keep Albert safe, Winston.
Those wretched vampires won’t hurt your father.”

Lexi felt a pang of sympathy. If only the
witch knew that her spell wasn’t going to work.

*

As it grew dark out, Lexi curled up against the bale
of hay, trying to come up with a plan. It wasn’t like she could
just stay here hiding out on Albert and Belinda’s property.
Eventually, they were going to find her, and what would they do
with her then? Call the police probably.

Plus, there was also the issue of clothing, bathing,
and eating. Tonight, she had been fortunate enough to sneak into
the garden and grab a tomato and a cucumber to eat, but she had no
idea what she was going to do tomorrow. She didn’t even have money
or know what currencies were and weren’t used in the 1800s. Did
they have pennies or nickels? Twenty dollar bills? Lexi had no
idea.

She had to figure out a way to get back to the 21st
century, but she was running out of ideas. . . .

Lexi realized that she was going to have to find Dan
at some point. Even though she didn’t want to be stuck here with
him, she was. And as much as she didn’t trust him – and probably
never would after the night he had attacked her – he was the only
person she had in this strange place. Lexi also knew that if she
figured out how to get out of this time trap before he did, Austin
would be really disappointed in her if she left his best friend
behind.

Find Dan. That was what she was going to have to do
first thing tomorrow. She would do it for Austin – and because,
hopefully, two minds would work better than one and they’d be able
to find a way out of here.

Lexi wondered where Dan even was. Had he found
someone who would pity him enough to let him stay the night in
their guest room or was he outside somewhere himself? He, at least,
had one benefit for survival over her; vampires were natural
hunters; he was already used to finding his own food. If Dan did
get stuck here, he could manage on his own.

Once Lexi was finally able to clear her mind, she
closed her eyes and wrapped the dress she used as a blanket around
her more tightly. As she drifted off to sleep, she didn’t even hear
the sound of feet crunching on the leaves or the rustling in the
woods.

Chapter 7

****

It was eight o’clock in the morning, and
Rhonda had just filled up on a bagel with cream cheese, a classic
New York-style breakfast. A nauseous feeling was beginning to form
in her stomach. This was the first time she had eaten since the
night Gabe had done what he had did to her, and she wasn’t sure if
she could hold the food down. Could she still eat human food or
would it never agree with her again?

She had been wondering why
Gabe had approached her that night in the first place, though now,
it didn’t seem too surprising. Why else would Gabe, an attractive
guy, pick
her
out
of a bar that was crowded with other, more attractive, women? He
must have just needed to drink someone’s blood, and he’d preyed on
her because she seemed so innocent and vulnerable.

It was really no different than what Rhonda
had done to Dennis two nights prior. She had preyed on the weakest
link. Why had Gabe turned her into a vampire, though? It didn’t
make any sense.

When Rhonda found Gabe, she was going to
show him that she wasn’t weak at all; she was going to make him pay
for what he had done to her. What made him think that he had the
right to ruin her life like this?

How was she going to find Gabe? He had told
her that he was a student, too, hadn’t he? That was the whole
reason he had wanted to draw her.

Not that it really mattered what he had said
now. Rhonda knew that she couldn’t trust a single word that had
come out of his mouth. It had probably all been a ploy to get her
back to where he was staying and drink her blood.

The best way to find something that you’ve
lost is to go back to the place where you last saw it. The only
chance she had of finding Gabe was to start off at the place he had
been staying.

When she got to the cute little bed and
breakfast with the dollhouse-like exterior that she had always
admired, Rhonda marched into the reservation office. A guy, whose
nametag said Manny, looked up at her. “May I help you?”

“I hope so,” Rhonda said, flashing him a
smile and tossing her strawberry blonde hair back. “I’m looking for
this guy named Gabe. I know he was staying here a few days ago. Can
you do me a big favor and see if he’s checked out already?”

“Mr. Gabe has checked out already,” Manny
replied. “I can tell you where he’s gone, though.”

“Where?” Rhonda asked, trying to hide the
surprise in her voice. She was dumbfounded that Manny was willing
to tell her where Gabe had gone. It must have been her lucky
day.

“He’s staying at the hotel across the street
. . . the Starlight Inn. I noticed that the car he arrived in was
still parked there this morning, so I don’t think he’s checked out
yet.”

Rhonda smiled. “Would you mind doing me
another favor?”

Ten minutes later, Rhonda was walking to Room
103, the room that the reservation office had told Manny that Gabe
was staying in when he’d told them that Gabe had forgotten a piece
of luggage. Rhonda was kind of surprised that Manny had agreed to
call for her. She’d never been that convincing; could it be like
the movies portrayed? Could vampires convince humans to do anything
that they wanted?

Rhonda extended her wrist to knock on the
hotel room door when it swung open. A tall guy with dark brown hair
and a darker skin tone than Gabe stepped out of the room. His eyes
met Rhonda’s and he flashed a wide smile at her. “Oh, hello.”

“Umm, hi,” Rhonda began, trying to ignore how
attractive this other guy was. She found her mind drifting to his
blood; what did it taste like? “I’m looking for Gabe. Is this the
room he’s staying in?”

The other guy nodded. “Yeah, go on in.”

Rhonda flashed him a flirty smile before
going into the room. She glanced in the bathroom; it was empty. The
little eat-in area was also empty.

Gabe was sprawled out on one of the double
beds, his head elevated by a few fluffy pillows.

Rhonda walked over to the bed and noticed
that his eyes were closed. She sat down on the bed across from him
and slapped her hand down on the wooden nightstand, causing the
corded telephone to bounce against egg-colored wall.

“Craig, what did I tell you? Don’t disturb
me. This is really important.”

“I’m not Craig,” Rhonda answered. “It’s me .
. . Rhonda.” Gabe’s blue eyes popped open, and Rhonda grinned as
the look of shock crossed his face. “Bet you didn’t think I’d find
you,” she said.

Chapter 8

****

When Gabe opened his eyes, he found Rhonda
smiling at him. Gabe felt a nauseous feeling build up in his chest.
If he had a heart that pumped blood through his body like a human,
it would have skipped a beat or two. He never thought he was going
to see Rhonda again.

After the night Gabe had changed Rhonda into
a vampire, he hadn’t been expecting to hear from her again. When
he’d kicked her out of the room at the bed and breakfast a few
hours later, Rhonda had seemed completely out of it.

Of course, Gabe knew that a vampire could
always find the vampire who had created them. But it took a vampire
a few years usually to realize this, and even when they did know
how, they couldn’t do it without a lot of focus and concentration.
It wasn’t something that just came easily, which was why Gabe had
never bothered to find Veronica. He hadn’t even known that she
would be at Huntington High when he’d arrived with Lexi and
Austin.

After a few minutes, Gabe finally managed to
say, “How did you find me here?”

“Oh, you know. A few birdies helped me out,”
Rhonda said cheerfully, waving her hand in the air. Her happy
expression was immediately clouded over by a look of darkness. “I
need you to tell me why you did this to me.”

Gabe gulped. He remembered what it was like
to be a newborn vampire. When Veronica had changed him, he’d gone
on a killing spree, without even realizing what he was doing. There
was just a constant thirst that he constantly needed to satisfy.
Even worse, there were tons of questions about what he was and what
would become of him. The answers didn’t make him happy, but the
feeling of not knowing had been worse.

“You’re a vampire,” Gabe told her. When
Rhonda stared back at him for further explanation, he went on. “The
night we were together, I – I really needed to drink from someone.
I’m sure that you know what it’s like to crave blood by now. I
hadn’t drunk from anyone in a while, and I was thirstier than
usual.” He looked up at Rhonda apologetically. “I drank more from
you than I should have. My two options were to either let you die
or turn you into a vampire, too.”

Rhonda stared at him for a long moment,
nervously twirling a piece of strawberry blonde hair around her
finger. Finally, she said, “You made the wrong choice. You should
have just let me die.”

*

Austin was lying in bed watching a movie with Anna
when he heard his cell phone jangling on the nightstand that night.
Glancing at the caller ID, he saw that it was Mary-Kate.

Anna seemed to know that Mary-Kate was the one who
was calling before Austin even told her. She said, “Maybe you
should just answer it. What if it’s something important? Something
might be happening back in Briar Creek.”

“I guess you’re right,” Austin replied before
reluctantly picking up the phone. When he hit the ‘talk’ button,
Mary-Kate whispered, “Austin?”

“What?” Austin asked. He hoped that he didn’t sound
as rude as he felt. He didn’t really have a problem with Mary-Kate.
He just didn’t want Anna to think that he was still interested in
her – and he didn’t want to lead Mary-Kate on either – so he
figured that his best option was to be short with her right
now.

“My father’s gone insane,” Mary-Kate said, sniffling
into the phone. “He thinks Lexi was here . . . and he wants a
warrant put out for her arrest.”

“For what?” Austin asked incredulously. “She didn’t
do anything.”

“For breaking and entering,” Mary-Kate replied. “I
said she didn’t do it, but he didn’t believe me.”

Austin felt the heat rising to his cheeks. It was
just like Greg Lawrence to blame Lexi for this. He had already had
a warrant put out for her arrest, claiming that she had murdered
someone. A second warrant was only going to stir up the pot and
make it even more difficult for Lexi to go out in public without
getting caught.

“Anyway,” Mary-Kate went on, interrupting his
thoughts, “I just wanted to let you know about that. I figured you
could pass the information on to her, since I can’t seem to get
ahold of her myself.”

“Yeah, I’ll let Lexi know,” Austin muttered. He
wanted to tell Mary-Kate about what had happened; she was Lexi’s
half-sister, after all. Austin knew that he couldn’t do that,
though. If he told her what had happened, Greg Lawrence might
somehow find out that they had all been inside his house.

“Be careful, okay?” Mary-Kate said, more of a
statement than a question.

“I will be,” Austin replied quietly. He couldn’t
help but notice the seriousness in her voice. She was genuinely
worried about him, and here he was, not caring about how she felt.
It made him feel guilty – but it didn’t change the way he felt
about her.

“Austin?” Mary-Kate asked.

“Yeah?” Austin said into the phone.

“I miss you,” Mary-Kate whispered.

Austin glanced over at Anna. She was watching the
movie that they had ordered on pay-per-view on the hotel TV. Austin
had a feeling that she was listening to his conversation carefully,
though. At least, he would be if the situation was reversed and she
was on the phone with her boyfriend who she still hadn’t broken up
with yet. Austin didn’t want to hurt Mary-Kate’s feelings, but he
didn’t have much of a choice right now. If he kept Mary-Kate happy,
he would be hurting Anna, and he didn’t want that.

“Me too,” Austin said into the phone before hitting
the ‘end’ button.

*

When Craig got back to the hotel room, Gabe was
sitting across from the strawberry blonde haired girl who had come
looking for him. Craig wasn’t going to ask questions; Gabe had made
it quite clear that they were going to stay out of each other’s
business during this awkward trip. Craig couldn’t help but feel
confused, though. He was pretty sure that Gabe and Lexi had been
involved with each other . . . before Gabe had left and she’d
gotten involved with him, that is.

Had Gabe really moved on from Lexi that easily?

Craig doubted it. If there was one thing that he
knew about vampires, it was that they didn’t take romance that
lightly. Sure, there were sometimes one night stands, just like
there were with humans, but it normally only happened when a
vampire was, to put it bluntly, hungry. When a vampire got
romantically involved with a human, it was usually for the long
haul . . . unless that vampire had an ulterior motive, of
course.

Once Craig saw Gabe and the girl sitting together,
he started to turn around and walk back out the door. Before he
left the room, Gabe called his name. “Craig? Can you come
here?”

Craig turned back around and walked over to
them.

“So, Craig? That’s your name, cutie?” the girl
asked, batting her eyelashes like butterfly wings at him.