Destined to Die (The Briar Creek Vampires, #3) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (15 page)

“I see,” Lexi replied, looking down at her
nails. The pink nail polish that she had applied was beginning to
chip away. She began scratching the rest of it off. “So, that’s why
you hate being a vampire then? Because you didn’t choose this for
yourself?”

Gabe sighed. “It’s not that. I’ve been a
vampire long enough where I’ve accepted the fact that I didn’t get
to make this choice for myself. Things happen in your life that
aren’t always in your control but that doesn’t mean that you have
to walk around with a chip on your shoulder. I hate being a vampire
because I’m going to live forever, even after everyone who I love
has already passed away.” He glanced over at Lexi and reached for
her hand. “There’s one thing I’m grateful for, though. If Veronica
hadn’t turned me into a vampire, I never would have met
you.”

Lexi smiled. He was right. She might hate
Veronica already, but if it weren’t for her, Lexi’s life would be a
whole lot different right now. She wondered if she would even be
alive right now if Gabe hadn’t been there to help her over the past
few months or to distract her aunt and uncle on the night of the
Halloween festival.

“So, is that what Veronica meant when she said
she thinks she’s responsible for your strength or whatever?” Lexi
asked. “Because she was the one who changed you?”

“I think so, but I can’t explain to you most
things about what she says or thinks.”

Lexi thought about bringing up the supposed
strength that she had, but now didn’t feel like the right time to
talk about it. The conversation was flowing with all of the answers
that she wanted to hear about Gabe’s previous relationships (or at
least some of them). Lexi didn’t want to start talking about
herself and mess things up. “When is the last time you saw Veronica
before now?”

Gabe shrugged. “I don’t know offhand. Fifty,
sixty years? We used to see each other all the time, but that
eventually changed when we reached what would have been our human
adulthood years. It’s probably because she came here to
teach.”

Lexi hesitated. “Why does she teach here? Is
she anti-vampire or something, even though she is one?”

“I don’t know why she teaches here. Her parents
were some of the most powerful and vicious vampires I’ve ever
met.”

Lexi looked around to make sure that no one was
watching them. It would really suck if Veronica, for example, was
hiding in one of the bushes and listening to their entire
conversation. Luckily, she didn’t see anyone else outside with
them.

“So, tell me about
Professor
Lindstrom,”
Gabe said, his voice suggesting that he had picked up on the
attraction between Lexi and Craig . . . or that he at least knew
that something had gone on between them.

Lexi shrugged her shoulders and looked away to
hide her cheeks, which were reddening. “He was just my gym
teacher.”

“Who you had a crush on,” Gabe
pressed.

“No, I didn’t,” Lexi insisted, trying to force
herself to sound believable. She wasn’t sure how convincing it was,
though, because she felt like she was about to burst out into a fit
of giggles. She knew that she still had a semi-crush on Craig, but
she assumed it was just because she could never keep a straight
face when she was trying to lie to a person.

“Oh, come on, Lexi, I’m not a total moron. I
know that’s why Mr. Gym Teacher was switching you out of his class
that day when I came to see you at school. Something obviously
happened between the two of you.”

Lexi’s mind flashed back to the day that Craig
had switched her to another gym class because he had told her that
it was too weird for him to be her teacher anymore (like it was
normal
for him to want to be her teacher when he thought
that he still had a thing for her). That was the day Gabe had come
back after he had intentionally crashed his car. He had said
something along the lines of, “Really, Lexi? A teacher?” At the
time, she had been annoyed because she didn’t think he had any
right to criticize her; after all, he had tried to kill her and had
disappeared.

“I don’t care that you liked him,” Gabe said,
bringing her mind back to the present. “I mean, it’s kind of weird
that he’s here now. It could get awkward for me. But don’t feel
guilty about crushing on him, Lexi. I was gone. You didn’t even
know I was coming back.”

Lexi nodded. If she and Gabe were going to have
any sort of relationship with each other, she was going to have to
be honest with him about the past. “Okay, you’re right. I
did
have a crush on him.” She paused before looking away
again so that he wouldn’t notice that she was semi-lying. “I don’t
have a crush on him anymore, though.”

Gabe squeezed her hand. “I think he still has a
crush on you.”

“Really?” Lexi asked, trying to mask the
hopefulness in her voice.

“Yup,” Gabe replied knowingly. “It was like you
were the only person in that hallway with him earlier. It was like
the rest of us didn’t even exist.”

“Well, you have nothing to worry about,” Lexi
replied. “I have you now. I don’t need Craig Lindstrom.” She hoped
that this time, she was telling the truth.

*

The next morning, Lexi woke up with the blaring
sound of the alarm clock. Glancing at Anna’s empty bed, she changed
into her favorite pair of skinny jeans and her favorite white
cashmere sweater. She wanted to look her best for Vampire Geography
and Tracking class with Veronica. Lexi had to force herself not to
groan just thinking about it. The last thing she wanted was to have
Veronica as a teacher. If she had to be in her classroom, she might
as well try to look her best, though – not that there was any
competition. Veronica was really beautiful, and Lexi was just
average, at best. Still, it didn’t hurt to try.

Hopefully, Veronica would realize that Lexi
wasn’t about to back down simply because she saw her as a threat to
their relationship. She wasn’t going to play the role of the weak
girlfriend who would let an ex walk all over her.

As she slid her Ugg boots on and headed into
the hallway that led to the cafeteria, Lexi passed Professor
Shields, the tall lanky Defense teacher, and Mrs. Wiseman, the
adorable little woman who Lexi thought reminded her of Mrs. Claus
and who taught Blood and Poison. Anna had introduced them to these
professors last night. Afterwards, Lexi had crawled into her bed
and fallen asleep. She hadn’t even stirred throughout the night;
she had been so exhausted from everything that had happened in the
past few days.

After she got to the cafeteria and got a cup of
French vanilla cappuccino, she found Austin and Anna huddled at a
table all by themselves. Anna whispered something in Austin’s ear,
and he laughed loudly. Lexi smiled. It was good to see her cousin
happy with someone, and even though she wasn’t sure yet, it really
seemed like he was into Anna. Although that made her feel a little
awkward because she wasn’t sure what would happen between him and
Mary-Kate, she was glad that he didn’t seem depressed or lonely.
Afraid of interrupting whatever it was that was going on between
the two of them, Lexi sat down quietly in one of the chairs across
from them.

“Good morning, Lexi!” Anna said cheerfully, a
big smile on her face. Today, she wore her purple-streaked hair pin
straight against her shoulders. For the first time since Lexi had
met her, she was wearing a tank top, revealing her tattoo of a
heart with angel wings.

“Morning,” Lexi replied, pointing at her
tattoo. “I didn’t know you had a tattoo.”

“Oh,” Anna said quietly, glancing down at her
shoulder. “Umm, yeah. Let’s talk about it some other
time.”

“Sorry,” Lexi replied sympathetically,
realizing that she had obviously brought up a touchy subject. It
probably had something to do with Anna’s mom.

She pulled the crumpled schedule that Austin
had given her out of her pocket. After Veronica’s class, she had
Conflagration Studies, which Gabe had explained to her was fire
science. Just the idea of having to take a class about fire freaked
her out a little. When she was ten, her mom had made one of her
very few flawed attempts to cook them a home style meal. It had
resulted in a kitchen fire that had left Lexi feeling panicky about
even lighting a birthday candle through her teen years.

“Aren’t you going to eat something?” Gabe asked
Lexi as he sat down next to her. “Breakfast is the most important
meal of the day.”

Lexi shook her head. “Nope. Only coffee for me.
I hate eating breakfast too early in the morning. It makes me
nauseous.”

“That’s too bad,” Austin replied. “I love
breakfast. I’m gonna go get something.”
Anna laughed. “The way he eats, you would think he’d be a fatty.
He’s such a typical high school quarterback.” Getting up, she
followed Austin to the cafeteria line, leaving Lexi and Gabe alone
at the cafeteria table.

Lexi noticed that he had a strange look on his
face and he appeared to be shaky. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just . . . I had a vision,” Gabe
replied. “That’s why I’m later to the cafeteria than Austin. I
think I might be a little bit closer to figuring out who stole the
book.”

“Really?” Lexi felt hopeful. If Gabe could
crack who had stolen the book, she would feel a lot better. “What
exactly was your vision?”

Gabe shut his eyes, as though he were trying to
remember. “I saw two arms carrying the book. The thing is, I
couldn’t see the person’s hands and they were wearing a navy blue
fleece sweatshirt. So it didn’t really help me figure out if it was
a man or a woman.” Gabe opened his eyes and looked at her. “I don’t
know who it was. Not yet. But usually when I have a vision like
this, I start to see other things soon after.”

“Thank goodness.” Lexi breathed a long sigh of
relief.

Shortly after Anna and Austin came back to the
table, the first bell rang. Lexi felt a nervous feeling fill the
pit of her stomach, like water that was about to flow over the rim
of a bucket. Normally, school didn’t make her nervous. In fact,
being at Huntington with vampires and vampire hunters didn’t even
make her nervous. Veronica, though? She definitely made Lexi just
want to skip class for the rest of the semester.

Gabe seemed to sense Lexi’s unease. He grabbed
her hand as they walked towards Veronica, err,
Professor
Hart’s
classroom together. The only thing that made her feel a
little bit better was just knowing that she didn’t have to do this
alone. Gabe and Austin and Anna were going to be there every step
of the way. She could only imagine how much it would suck if they
had different schedules from her and she was forced to endure this
by herself.

When they got to Veronica’s classroom, all of
the students were lined up whispering amongst themselves. Lexi
heard one girl whisper, “Why is she giving us assigned seats
now?”
A guy whispered back, “I don’t know. It’s so weird. She never did
before, and it’s the middle of the semester.”

Lexi gulped. She hated classrooms where she had
to get an assigned seat. It had always been her luck to sit next to
the girl who got stares from everyone because she blew her nose
like an elephant or in front of the guy who threw paper airplanes
at the back of her head and did everything he could to annoy
her.

Veronica walked into the room and tossed the
pile of books that she had been carrying in her arms loudly on her
desk. One fell to the ground, but she didn’t bother to pick it up.
“Okay, I got the seating chart that we will be using for the rest
of the semester. In case you’re wondering, the reason we’re doing
this is because of certain new students who have decided to join
us.”
Lexi scowled. She should have known that they were the whole entire
reason for this new seating arrangement.

Veronica was wearing a short red dress that
hugged her curvy hips, accentuated her cleavage (which even Lexi
had to admit was pretty stunning), and revealed her long,
silky-smooth legs.

She watched as Veronica turned in her red porn
star heels, tossed her hair over her shoulder, and winked at
Gabe.

Lexi gaped at her. She felt her cheeks growing
red as the anger rose in her chest. She felt even angrier as she
watched Gabe simply stare back at Veronica. Didn’t he realize that
Veronica still had a thing for him? If he knew, did it just not
bother him or did he not mind her actions because he felt the same
way? Here, Lexi had felt guilty about still being attracted to
Craig, when Gabe might still be interested in Veronica for all she
knew.

“Okay, I’ll point to the desk I want you to sit
at,” Veronica said, looking down at the list. “Austin
Graham.”

Austin walked over to the corner that Veronica
was pointing at and sat in one of the chairs. Lexi hadn’t realized
until now how big and tough her cousin looked; it took a puny high
school-sized desk to realize that he was the size of a
quarterback.

“Anna Delaney,” Veronica said, smiling warmly
at Anna. After the way Veronica had snapped at Anna yesterday, Lexi
had assumed that she didn’t like her, but it didn’t seem that way
today. Anna took her seat in the back of the class next to
Austin.

“Gabriel Marshall,” Veronica read from the
list, looking up at him. Lexi huffed at the starry-eyed look that
Veronica got when she stared at him. Could she make it any more
obvious that she wanted him? Feeling the anger rise once more to
her face, Lexi watched Gabe sit down in front of Austin.