Destined to Die (The Briar Creek Vampires, #3) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (25 page)

It had been a while since Lexi had seen her
mom. It was kind of weird because it seemed like her mom had been
visiting her in ghost form pretty frequently before Austin and Gabe
had whisked her away to her dad’s house. Lexi wondered if her mom
just didn’t know where she was, even though she had always assumed
that ghosts were always watching you (even if you couldn’t see
them) and would be able to find you no matter where you were. Lexi
hoped that she would be able to see her again really
soon.

From across the room, Anna’s cell phone buzzed.
Anna put down the magazine that she was flipping through and
answered it. “Austin?”

Lexi looked up at her, studying her face for a
reaction. She hoped that it wasn’t the news that she was afraid was
coming – that her dad was dead. Lexi was trying to be optimistic
about it, but it was getting harder and harder. It would be just
her luck to have both of her parents die in the same year, even if
her dad hadn’t been around for most of her life.

“Okay, I’ll let you talk to her,” Anna said
into the phone. Lexi crossed the room and grabbed the phone from
her, anxious about whatever knew it was that her cousin had for
her. “Austin? What’s going on? Is my dad okay?” It still felt
strange to call Ben her dad, but she didn’t care. Right now it
didn’t matter. All she cared about was whether or not he was okay.
“Yes . . . err, no. I don’t know,” Austin stuttered. “That’s not
the reason why I’m calling. Lexi . . . Gabe had a
vision.”

“Okay? What did he see?” Lexi asked becoming
impatient.

“He knows where the book is,” Austin replied.
“It’s on a mahogany table in the Lawrence’s attic.”

Lexi groaned. She should have known that Greg
Lawrence was the one who had stolen the book. “Are you guys going
to come back to Huntington so we can get it?”

Austin hesitated. “We’re going to come back. We
should be home in a few hours. But we’re going to try to get the
book out of the attic before then.”

“What do you mean? Is Mary-Kate going to get it
out for you?” Lexi asked. That seemed like the easiest, most
logical way to get the book out of the Lawrence’s house.

“No, I tried calling her, but she didn’t pick
up. She texted me and told me that her mom had a doctor’s
appointment in Philadelphia this morning,” Austin replied. “I don’t
know if anyone told you, but that’s why Greg himself didn’t go to
Las Vegas looking for you. He was supposed to be sending someone
else. Anyway, right now is the best time to get the book out of the
attic. It couldn’t be a more perfect time, so we need to act
accordingly. Dan’s going to get the book out of the attic for us. I
sent him over there right now.”

“You did what?” Lexi yelled into the phone.
“Are you out of your damn mind?”

“No, I’m trying to be rational. Dan is the
closest one to the Lawrence’s house right now. He could walk there
on foot and get there way quicker than any of us can, even though
Gabe and me are really quick when we fly.” Austin paused. “It’s the
easiest way . . . the best way.

“Right, but I’m not totally convinced that Dan
is on our side,” Lexi replied hesitantly. “I still think he might
be working with them. For all you know, he might be agreeing to get
the book just so that he can make sure that we don’t get our hands
on it. He might be planning to steal the book and hide it somewhere
he knows we’ll never find it.”

“He won’t do that, Lexi,” Austin replied.
“Don’t worry. I promise this is going to be okay. I trust
Dan.”

“Well, I don’t. Listen, Austin, I really have
to go.” She hung up the cell phone before Austin had a chance to
respond. If Austin and Gabe didn’t believe her, then she was going
to have to take matters into her own hands. Dan couldn’t get his
hands on that book – her life depended on it.

When Lexi gave the cell phone back, Anna had a
funny look on her face. “Is everything okay? Are you two
arguing?”

Lexi shook her head, grabbing her coat from the
closet. “No. We’re fine. Austin just made a really, really dumb
mistake.” Before Anna could ask another question, Lexi was already
out the door.

When Lexi got to Craig’s room and knocked, he
didn’t answer the door right away. Just as she was about to give
up, he pulled it open. His brown hair was dripping water down his
neck and bare chest. Lexi found herself having a difficult time not
drooling over his six pack. “Craig, I need you to drive me
somewhere . . . right now.”

“Absolutely. Where are we going?” Craig asked,
pulling a shirt over his head and grabbing his car keys from the
nightstand.

“I’ll explain everything to you on the way.
Now, come on,” Lexi replied, pulling him out of the
room.

Craig followed her out the door and into the
parking lot. Lexi glanced over her shoulder, realizing that she
didn’t know what type of car he drove. “Umm, which one’s
yours?”

Craig led her to a navy blue Jeep Wrangler that
was parked in the very back of the lot. He unlocked the doors, and
she climbed into the seat. As he turned his keys into the ignition,
he asked, “So, where to?”

“Briar Creek,” Lexi replied quietly. Craig
glanced over at her with a strange expression on his face, and she
worried that he was going to refuse to drive her. “I have to get
something. It’s really important.”

“What do you have to get?” he
persisted.

That was all she needed. Lexi told him
everything that she knew about the book, starting at the point
where she had first gotten it from Anna and leading up to when she
had realized that it had been stolen out of her tote bag. She told
him about Gabe’s visions and how he was positive that whatever was
on page 190 of the book would save her life. When she was finally
done, Craig went quiet. Lexi glanced over at him. “Say something.
You’re making me nervous.”

“I’m just speechless,” Craig said, keeping his
eyes on the road. “Is there anything I can do to help make sure
that everything goes okay?”

Lexi shook her head. “Well, you can help by
driving a little quicker, if you don’t mind. I need to get to that
book before Dan does.”

“Dan?”

“Dan Nichols, Austin’s best friend,” Lexi
replied frustrated. “Gabe and Austin sent him to the Lawrence’s
house to get the book, but I don’t trust him. I think he’s on their
side. I have this bad feeling that if he gets to the book first, we
won’t get it at all.”

“I’m not gonna just drop you off at the
Lawrence household,” Craig replied. “I hope you know that.” Lexi
raised her eyebrows, and he went on. “It’s not safe. If they see
you . . . it would end very badly.”

Lexi knew that she couldn’t argue with his
logic. “Truthfully, I haven’t thought about what could happen. I
just know that I have to do something. If I don’t get that book, I
could die.”

“You could also die on your way to get the book
if you’re not careful,” Craig said, frowning. He glanced over at
her. “I’m going to come in the house with you.”

“No,” Lexi replied. “I refuse to put you in
that type of danger. I need to go into that house because I don’t
really have a choice right now, but you don’t have to
go.”

“I want to. I want to be there for you just in
case something bad does happen. I’m a vampire, remember. I’d be
able to fight off the vampires easier than you would.”

Lexi sighed. “There is one thing you can do for
me, if you want to. Even though they’re not home right now, it
wouldn’t hurt to have someone stand guard. If they do come home,
you can let me know.”

“What’s your phone number?” Craig asked,
pulling out his Blackberry.

“Shit. I don’t have a phone.” Why hadn’t Austin
thought of this when he came up with this great plan? Having a cell
phone would really come in handy right now. If she made it out of
this alive, she was going to have to make sure that they got her a
cell phone to prevent situations like these from happening. “If
they come home, I guess you’ll either have to come up with some way
to distract them or come into the house and let me
know.”

Craig pulled alongside the sidewalk across the
street from the Lawrence’s house and turned to her. He reached for
her hand. “Lexi, just relax and breathe. It’s all going to be okay.
With any luck, they won’t even get home until after you’re
out.”

Lexi smiled at him. “I hope they don’t.” Just
as she was about to reach for the door handle, Craig leaned in
towards her. He cupped her chin in his hands and, pushing a lock of
hair behind her ear, brushed his lips against hers. Lexi felt her
breath catch in the back of her throat as fireworks exploded
throughout her entire body. She forgot, for the smallest moment in
time, about the dangerous risk that she was about to
take.

When their lips parted, Lexi gave him a small
unconfident smile and climbed out of the car.

The Lawrence’s house looked dark and empty, but
the house next door was all lit up. Lexi crept alongside the house
and into the backyard, hoping that no one would see her.

When she approached the back porch, she was
surprised to find that the back sliding door was already open.
Hoping that Dan wasn’t wrong and that the Lawrence’s really were at
the doctor’s office, Lexi held her breath and slipped
in.

As she walked through the first floor of the
house, she heard the loud chiming of a grandfather clock. Glancing
around corners to make sure that there was no one in the rooms that
she was entering, Lexi held her breath. It didn’t seem like anybody
was home.

Lexi stopped suddenly, realizing that she
wasn’t all that familiar with the layout of the Lawrence’s home.
She had no idea how to find the attic. Mary-Kate’s bedroom was on
the right hand side and Mrs. Lawrence’s bedroom was on the left
hand side. In between the two rooms, there was a bathroom. Glancing
around at the rest of the rooms and up towards the ceiling to see
if there were any hidden trap doors, Lexi looked for another set of
stairs that might lead to the attic.

She opened up a door, which she figured was a
linen closet and found instead that it was just what she was
looking for. There was a set of narrow wooden stairs that led into
the darkness above her. Relieved that she had thought to open the
door, Lexi stepped inside. She hoped that there was nothing creepy
in the Lawrence’s attic. In normal attics, she would be worried
about a wandering bat; in this attic, any bat that did see could be
a vampire . . . which only made her feel even more
paranoid.

After Lexi had climbed up the flight of stairs
and was standing on the hardwood floor that belonged to the attic,
she glanced around. There were no windows, so she couldn’t check to
see what Craig was doing. If the Lawrence’s car happened to pull
into the driveway, she wouldn’t be able to see it; she would only
be able to hear it.

As she walked to the far end of the attic, she
noticed a mess of blonde hair in the corner. Dan.

“Ahem,” Lexi said, clearing her throat. “I’ll
take it from here, thank you very much.”

Dan jumped. “Lexi,” he said quietly. “I wasn’t
expecting you to be up here. Actually, why
are
you up
here?”

“Life is full of surprises,” Lexi muttered.
“You can leave now. I got this one,” she said, glaring at him. She
took a step forward and reached for the book, which was lying on
top of the mahogany table in front of Dan, just like Austin had
described.

Dan grabbed the book before she could. “Austin
told me to get the book for him. He wanted me to do this, not
you.”
Lexi reached for it. “Maybe he did, but things have changed. I’m
here now, so I’ll take the book with me. It does have to do with
my
family’s ancestors, after all.

Very reluctantly, and much to Lexi’s surprise,
Dan handed the book to her. She flipped through the pages. Page
187, 188 . . . 192.

“Damnit! Why is the page missing?” Lexi
muttered, tracing a finger along the words on the top of the page
that came between 188 and 192. The top of page 190 was there, but
the bottom portion of the page and the number were both missing.
She wondered why Gabe hadn’t seen this in his vision – unless Greg
Lawrence had ripped a portion of the page out when he had stolen
the book in an attempt to keep them from ever finding it. If
whatever was on the page really would save her life, it would make
sense that he would tear it out so that she could never find it.
Lexi felt her hatred for Greg Lawrence growing as she tried to
figure out what to do.

“The page is gone?” Dan asked, sounding
worried. “The one that you need?”

Lexi nodded. “Yeah, it is.” The page was old
and worn out, but she read what was left of it.
The one who is
Destined to Die must . . .
She turned to Dan. “It talks about
the person who is destined to die, but then it completely cuts
off.”

A swishing sound filled Lexi’s ears, and a
sparkly green explosion of light filled the space in front of her
eyes. It was thick like a smoky cloud, and it completely blocked
her vision.

“Dan?” Lexi asked nervously, trying to see his
through the foggy cloud of smoke that seemed to be expanding
throughout the room and filling it up. “What’s
happening?”