Destined to Die (The Briar Creek Vampires, #3) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (23 page)

“That’s incorrect. The most
dangerous thing a vampire hunter can do is get romantically
involved with a vampire,” Veronica Hart said, flashing Lexi the
fakest smile she had ever seen.

*

“Okay, that was so not common sense,” Anna said
when the class had ended. “I don’t know how she expected you to
know that. I’ve been here all semester, and she has never taught us
anything like that.”

“That’s because she was trying to give me some
sort of warning,” Lexi replied. “It had nothing to do with the
class. She’s trying to tell me not to get involved with Gabe or it
will be dangerous for me.” She paused. “It sounds really bad, but
it almost makes me want to forgive him – or at least pretend to –
so I can prove her wrong.”

Anna laughed. “I don’t blame you. I’d probably
do the same exact thing.”

They walked into the classroom that they had to
go to next. Lexi felt a little nervous. This was the first class
that she had with Craig since she had arrived at Huntington. It was
weird to think of him, yet again, as being her teacher.

As soon as class started, she felt instantly
relieved. Craig didn’t give her any sort of special treatment or
act like she was the only one who was taking his class. Every once
in a while, she did notice him meet her eyes and smile when no one
was looking, but it was subtle and kind of cute. It definitely
didn’t make her feel weird or embarrassed.

Lexi actually found the story that Craig had
them read today really interesting. There was a vampire hunter
named Leonardo Shermino who spent his entire life tracking
vampires. He spent many years living in communities that had high
concentrations of vampires to get to know his enemy. In his words,
it was the easiest way he could figure out how to ‘squash them’. It
actually reminded Lexi of what Craig had been doing in Briar
Creek.

When class was over, Craig said, “Lexi? Can you
please stay after class?”

Glancing around, she noticed that no one was
giving her funny looks. They didn’t suspect that anything was
happening between her and Craig, who, to them, was really just
Professor Lindstrom. She really needed to stop being so paranoid.
The world didn’t revolve around her and her
relationships.

Lexi waited until all of the students had filed
out of the classroom before walking up to Craig’s desk.

“Can you come over tonight? I want to ask you
something in private.”

Lexi hesitated. “Yeah, I can be there. I’ll see
you around nine.”

“Perfect.” Craig smiled at her.

****

Chapter
17

Back in Long Island that evening, Gabe walked
out of the room they were staying in at Ben’s bed and breakfast. He
had a vision that morning, and he was feeling really weak. He’d
looked at himself in the mirror just before leaving. His eyes had
looked sunken in and hollow and his skin looked paler than it ever
had before. He looked like death . . . which was kind of ironic
since he was already technically dead.

Gabe wished that Lexi was here. Even though she
was mad at him and he wasn’t so sure about things with her, he knew
that she would help him if she knew that he needed it. He really
didn’t want to do what he was going to have to do, but he could
feel himself growing weaker and weaker as the night went
on.

He went into the first bar that he
found.

Sitting on a stool at the bar, he asked the
bartender, “May I have a gin and tonic, please?”
The bartender raised his bushy eyebrows, but he didn’t ask to see
Gabe’s ID. Gabe assumed that it was because he spoke a little bit
more eloquently than most guys in the modern century. No one ever
said ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ anymore.

When the bartender handed him his drink and a
napkin, he scanned the crowd. He didn’t want to find someone who
was gorgeous because, truth be told, he really wasn’t looking for a
girl who he was attracted to. He already had that back in
Pennsylvania.

And then he spotted her. Her shoulder length
hair was a shade of reddish blonde, and she was wearing a baggy
sweatshirt with a pair of mom jeans. It was obvious that she was
trying to cover herself up because she lacked confidence. Normally,
he wouldn’t be the type of person to prey on her weaknesses, but he
needed to find someone who would be easy to manipulate tonight. He
didn’t have time to waste right now, and his strength was
dwindling.

Gabe walked over to her and sat down across
from her at the bar. “Hello, beautiful.”

The girl glanced at him and forced an
unconfident smile. “Hi.” She looked around the bar nervously,
trying to avoid making eye contact with him.

“What are you doing at a bar all by yourself?”
Gabe asked, partly because he was curious and mostly because he was
trying to strike up a conversation with her. Not that he really
cared what she had to say.

“I, um, got stood up by my friends,” she
replied, looking down at her Malibu Bay Breeze. “It’s not really a
big deal.”

Gabe suddenly felt sorry for her. He glanced
around the bar to see if there were any other girls who he could
choose instead, but there didn’t seem to be anyone else. He needed
someone who appeared to be single and who he could be sure would
fall for his act. This girl was perfect. “So, what’s your name,
gorgeous?” he asked flirtatiously.

“Rhonda,” she replied, looking over at him. He
recognized the look in her eyes; she thought he was too attractive
for her. The sad thing was that she would be beautiful if she just
got some confidence.

“I’m Gabe,” he said. “It’s nice to meet
you.”

Rhonda hesitated. “It’s nice to meet you, too,”
she replied in a small voice.

“So, tell me about yourself. What do you
do?”

Rhonda just blinked at him. “I, um, I go to
college here. I go to Springdale University.”

“Oh, yeah? What are you studying?” Gabe asked.
He had to get a move on with this. He was beginning to feel weaker
and more tired as the minutes went by.

“Biology. I want to be a biology
teacher.”

“Cool,” Gabe replied. “I’m not very good at
science myself. I’m actually majoring in art history.”

An expression that he didn’t recognize crossed
over her face. “I love art! I especially love pottery and jewelry
making.”

“Awesome. You know, I was actually thinking . .
. I really could use a model right now. I have to paint a portrait
by tomorrow. Do you think you could come back to the hotel that I’m
staying at?” He hated lying to her, but the opportunity had
presented itself and he had taken it. If she fell for his obvious
act, then she deserved what was coming to her. He could be saving
her from a much scarier fate that night if she had gone home with
someone else. Then, she would learn her lesson and not be so
trusting when the next guy tries to pick her up in a
bar.

Rhonda hesitated. “I don’t know . .
.”

“I understand that you don’t really know me.
There are a lot of creeps out there, but I promise you . . . I’m
not one of them.”

Rhonda stared at him, studying his face.
Finally, she gave in. “Okay. As long as it won’t take too long. I
need to study for a final exam tonight.”

“I promise, it won’t,” Gabe replied. “Come on.”
He led her out of the bar. When they began walking down the street
together, he reached for her hand. To his surprise, Rhonda didn’t
pull away from him.

When they got back to the room, Gabe told
Rhonda to sit down at the table and make herself at home. He went
into the bathroom, trying to figure out what he was going to do
about the portrait. He didn’t have any art supplies lying around
the hotel room. Something about doing this made him really nervous.
He had been drinking from Mary-Kate for so long, and then Lexi,
that he had forgotten what it was like to convince a random girl
who he had met at a bar or some other random place to let him drink
from them.

Gabe was out of options, though. If he didn’t
get blood soon, he was going to pass out. That was not to mention
what would happen if he had another vision tonight or tomorrow. If
he didn’t get blood soon, he would probably die.

When he came back into the room, he said, “I
have a problem. My roommate seems to have taken my sketchbook.
Would you mind waiting here for a while to see if he brings it back
any time soon?”

Rhonda shrugged and smiled. “Umm, I guess it’s
fine.”

“You know, you’re really pretty,” Gabe said,
smiling at her. “I can’t help it. I haven’t seen someone quite as
pretty as you in a while.” He reached for her hand.

Rhonda smiled back at him. “Thank you. You’re
not too bad yourself,” she said quietly.

Gabe moved over to the bed. When Rhonda stared
at him, he said, “You’re welcome to come sit by me.”

Rhonda reluctantly moved over to the bed. Gabe
wrapped his arm around her waist, stroking her side.

“Your hands are really cold,” Rhonda noticed
right away, shivering.

“Would you mind keeping them warm?” Gabe asked,
unsure how much longer he could play this game. He was afraid to
make a move too soon and scare her away, but he wasn’t sure if she
was ever going to make a move on her own or if she would be too
nervous.

Rhonda grabbed his hand.

“My face is cold, too,” Gabe said.

Rhonda pressed the warm palm of her hand
against his cheek.

“And my lips,” Gabe said softly.

It took her a moment, but, sure enough, Rhonda
leaned into him and kissed him.

Gabe kissed back, hoping that he was giving her
the most passionate kiss that she had ever had.

He rolled over onto his side, and Rhonda
crawled on top of him, planting kisses down his neck.

Gabe looked up into her eyes. “You’re so
beautiful.” He kissed her neck gently. “And I’m sorry for this, but
I promise it won’t hurt.”

Before she could say anything, he made his
move. He nipped her neck gently at first before sinking his teeth
deep into her throat. At first he was afraid that she would push
him away, but he wasn’t sure why. No one had ever pushed him away
before.

Rhonda moaned in pleasure, as the blood poured
out of her vein and onto his tongue, filling his entire body with a
warm sensation. It didn’t quench the unbearable thirst that he felt
right away. Rhonda’s blood wasn’t nearly as powerful as the blood
that he normally drank from Mary-Kate and Lexi. It wasn’t until
Gabe had drained her body of all her blood that he had realized
that he had gone too far.

****

Chapter 18

At the same time back in Pennsylvania, Lexi
knocked on Craig’s bedroom door. She glanced around the narrow
hallway nervously, afraid that someone would see that she was going
to his room. Not only would that be really embarrassing, but she
really didn’t want him to get into any sort of trouble. Luckily,
Craig quickly swung the door open and she stepped inside before
anyone had seen them together.

“Hi, Lexi,” Craig said, giving her a small peck
on the lips.

Lexi felt the butterflies swirling around in
her stomach. “So,” she said, sitting down on his bed, “what did you
want to talk to me about?”

“Well, I just . . . it’s really awkward to
ask,” Craig chuckled. “I wanted to know . . . would you mind if I
drink your blood? It doesn’t have to be this moment, but . . . I
would really love to.”

Lexi’s jaw dropped open. She couldn’t figure
out what she thought Craig was going to ask before she had come
here, but she definitely didn’t think it would be this. She wasn’t
even sure what to say. Letting someone drink from her was such an
intimate experience that she didn’t want to waste on just
anyone.

Then again, Craig really wasn’t just anyone.
She really liked him. If Gabe was good enough to drink her blood,
why wasn’t he? Over the past few days, he had proven that he was
more interested in her than Gabe had been throughout their whole
relationship . . . or whatever it was that they had with each
other, since they had never actually been official.

When Lexi didn’t respond right away, Craig went
on. “It’s just . . . you smell so sweet to me. I would love to
taste you. I promise I’m not using you or anything like that,
though. I wanted to be respectful enough to ask you instead of just
drinking from you without permission on accident one
day.”

Lexi gulped. “I’ll think about it. But thank
you for being nice enough to ask.”

“That’s all that I can really ask for right
now,” Craig replied, lying down on his bed. “So, do you want to
watch a movie or something? I don’t really want you to go back to
your dorm right away. I want to spend time with you.”

“I would love to,” Lexi replied before climbing
into his arms and trying to fight the thoughts that she had of Gabe
away.

*

When she got back to the dorm room, it was
after midnight. Anna was waiting up for her, pacing back and forth
on the linoleum floor. “Where have you been?”