Thicker Than Water (The Briar Creek Vampires Book #2) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (21 page)

“Pretty much. Sometimes it’s worse if one of my
bones get stuck.”

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

“It did the first couple hundred times, but I’m
used to it now.”

Lexi tried her best to keep a blank expression
on her face, but really, she felt like she needed to puke. Gabe
opened her car door for her and walked around to the other side.
When he slid in next to her, she tried to bring up a happier topic.
“So, where are we going?”

“I haven’t figured that out yet,” Gabe replied.
“I just knew that I wanted to be with you. I hate not spending time
with you, Lexi. It’s worse now that I don’t live across the street
anymore. It was always comforting knowing that you were right
across the street.”

“Yeah,” Lexi said softly. “I still wish I knew
where you lived. I know I keep saying that, but I promise that I
won’t tell my aunt and uncle. They can try as hard as they want to
get it out of me, but I’ll never tell them.”

Gabe shook his head and looked over at her.
“I’m sorry, Lex. It’s just too big of a risk right now. I wish that
I could tell you, believe me.”

Lexi sighed. She hated secrets. When her mom
was alive, they always had a rule that they wouldn’t keep secrets
from one another. Now, her whole entire life seemed to be consumed
by secret after secret, whether she was keeping her own or someone
else’s.

Gabe pulled away from her street, and turned
the car down onto another road. “I was thinking…Halloween is soon.
We need to come up with a plan. Nothing that we have been talking
about lately is going to work. I think we both know that,” he said,
glancing at her. “We need a good plan that will help keep you
alive.”

“You’re telling me,” Lexi replied. “I need to
figure out a way to get me out of here this time. Every time I try
to leave, I get caught or something happens to ruin it.”

Gabe reached over and took her hand in his.
Bringing it up to his lips, he said, “Don’t worry. I promise we’ll
find a way to get you out of here. We’re in this
together.”

As much as Lexi wanted to tell him about the
Halloween festival, she knew that she had to keep it to herself, at
least until the person sending the notes said that it was okay for
her to tell him. That was
if
the person ever told her that
it was okay.

Gabe pulled into an empty parking lot and
stopped the car abruptly. “Let’s go for a walk.”

Lexi glanced around questioningly. They were in
a woodsy area that she had never been to before. People from school
would probably tell her that she’s crazy for trusting Gabe to take
her into a secluded area so late at night. If it were any other
guy, she would suspect that he either wanted to have sex or might
be plotting to kill her in this situation. Lexi didn’t feel
threatened, though. She trusted Gabe now.

Gabe slammed his car door closed as he got out.
Lexi followed close behind him, unsure what he was planning. If
this was his idea of a date, it was…well, it was actually better
than the lame dates that she had gone on with Dan. Even though
she’d had fun with him and at one point she was starting to like
him, there was never anything romantic about them. It was as though
she had been on a date with a good friend. It wasn’t the type of
date that you would remember for the rest of your life.

With Gabe, Lexi always either felt like her
heart was racing or as though it had stopped beating
altogether.

Lexi reached for Gabe’s hand. He entwined his
fingers in hers. “Do you see a future with me, Lexi?” Gabe
asked.

Caught off guard, Lexi tried to find the right
words to say. “I don’t know if I will even have a future in general
after Halloween. I’m so scared that I might die. If I don’t die…I
want to spend the rest of my life with you. I know I’m really young
and I’ve learned this year, especially, that you never know what
the future might have in store for you, but I do know that I want
to be with you.”

“The rest of your life, huh?” Gabe asked,
smiling.

‘Yep,” Lexi replied, giving his hand a gentle
squeeze.

“Unfortunately, the rest of your life is going
to be a lot shorter than the rest of my life,” Gabe said
sadly.

Lexi sighed. “I know, but see, that works to my
advantage. I don’t have to worry about living a day without you by
my side.” She laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

“It doesn’t work to my advantage,” Gabe
replied, a sad tone in his voice. “It would break my heart to live
hundreds of years after you have passed on.”

“I don’t want to think about that right now,”
Lexi said.

“Me either. I do know one thing, though. I
don’t ever want to be with anyone but you,” Gabe told her. “Even if
something did happen this Halloween, I don’t think I could ever let
myself fall in love again. I’ve been thinking about it, and I made
a decision. I’m not going to drink from Mary-Kate anymore if it
bothers you that much. You’re the only human I want to drink from,
for the rest of my life.”

“You can drink my blood right now if you want,”
Lexi said, trying to change the subject from death. After losing
Justin and her mom, she didn’t even want to think about the
prospect of dying.

Gabe led her over to a picnic table and sat
down on top of it. She followed him, using the bench seat to climb
up to sit down next to him. She opened to her mouth to ask him a
question, but before she could get a word out, Gabe tilted her chin
and caressed her lips with his. Lexi felt a wave of emotions pass
over her. Ignoring all of the hurt and anger that had built up
inside over the past few months, she kissed him back lightly,
running her fingers along his rock-hard chest.

Pulling away from him, heart pounding, Lexi
said, “Gabe, I want you to drink from me. Now.”

Gabe grinned at her and pulled her closer to
him, kissing her forcefully. This time his kiss was hard and
passionate. Lexi braced herself for the pleasure that she knew
would come when he drank from her.

He pulled away from her and tilted her head
back, trailing kisses down her neck. He nibbled the back of her
neck, sending goose bumps down her spine and making her heart beat
harder than it ever had before. Lexi prepared for his
bite.

Gabe pulled away and groaned. “Lexi…I can’t.
We’re not ready for this. Not yet.” He leaned in to kiss her again,
but Lexi pushed him away.

“If I’m not good enough for you to drink from,
I’m also not good enough for you to kiss,” Lexi replied, standing
up and walking back towards his car. “I want to go home.
Now.”

Gabe stood up and walked over to her. He
wrapped his arms around her waist. “Lex, I’m sorry. I just want you
to be one hundred percent ready for me to drink from you. I will
soon…I promise. I just want it to be special when it does
happen.”

“Whatever,” Lexi rolled her eyes. “I’m mad at
you right now…and I still want to go home.”

“As you wish, my dear,” Gabe replied,
chuckling. “You’re really cute when you’re angry.” He unlocked the
car doors. Lexi got in and buckled her seat belt.

When Gabe turned the key in the ignition, Lexi
reached forward and turned up the radio. The latest Lil Wayne song
was playing and even though Lexi hated rap, she pretended to nod
her head to the beat and tried to ignore Gabe the rest of the way
home. It was hard, though. Lexi tried to hold back her laughter as
he mocked the next singer, his singing sounded like a screeching
cat.

When Gabe turned his headlights off and slowed
the car to a stop in the street in front of Violet’s house, he
said, “I’m just glad I got to kiss you again. I’ve really missed
that. I know I hurt you in the past, and I’m terribly sorry for
that. I’ll never hurt you again.” He leaned over and kissed her on
the cheek.

Lexi nodded and smiled, pecking him on his lips
before she got out of the car. As he pulled away, she gave him a
little wave and smiled. As much as she wanted Gabe to drink her
blood, she knew that he was doing what was best for her.

****

Chapter 21

“
So, are you going to the Halloween
festival?” Dan asked Lexi as he pulled his blue mustang out of the
driveway the next morning.

“
No,” Lexi replied, looking out the
window. Gabe’s house looked dark and abandoned, even though she was
pretty sure that he had said his mom still lived there. Then again,
it never looked warm and welcoming with its barely mowed grass,
shingles that were pulling up off the roof and boarded up
windows.

“
Why not?” Dan pressed.

“
I’m not allowed,” Lexi
shrugged.

“
That’s too bad,” Dan replied. “I
was going to ask you to be my date.”

“
Oh, I’m sorry,” Lexi shrugged,
trying to make herself sound sympathetic, but she knew that she
didn’t. It was hard to pretend that she was happy spending time
with someone who had attacked her because of his own selfish
reasons. Lexi wondered if he actually had Wilkins’ Syndrome himself
or if he was just, um, hungry that night. “What happened to you and
the girl you were supposed to go to the corn maze with?”

“That didn’t work out,” Dan replied. He didn’t
explain what had happened between them, so Lexi didn’t push him for
answers.

When Dan pulled into the school parking lot,
Lexi quickly grabbed her backpack and darted from the car. She ran
into the school and headed for her locker. Lexi was planning on
leaving her backpack at school and going for a walk around town
until she could figure out where she could run away to, but
Mary-Kate was waiting at her locker for her.

“
Lexi! Are you okay? I’ve been so
worried about you. Your phone hasn’t been receiving my messages,”
Mary-Kate studied her face anxiously.

Lexi reached for her phone. There was a “no
service” icon at the top of the screen. “Great. It looks like my
aunt had my cell phone service turned off. She didn’t even tell
me.”

“
What a bummer! Why would she do
that?”

“
I couldn’t tell you why she does
half the things she does,” Lexi rolled her eyes dramatically.
“Anyway, did you want anything important when you texted
me?”

“
Yeah. One of my friends saw you at
the party store with Karla Martin,” Mary-Kate said slowly. “I was
just wondering if that’s true?”

Lexi nodded, wondering who had seen
her.

Mary-Kate wrinkled her nose to show her
disapproval. “Karla’s really bad news, Lexi. I’m not trying to be a
bitch or anything, but I think you need to reconsider if you’re
planning on going out with her on Halloween. She usually just
chooses to go to the party that has the most drugs. I wouldn’t want
to see you get involved with that type of thing.”

“
Thanks for your concern, sis,”
Lexi replied. “But I’m not going to be hanging out with Karla on
Halloween. If you absolutely must know, Violet and Tommy aren’t
letting me go out that night.”

Mary-Kate frowned. “They’re being really
weird. First they tell you they won’t let you go out on Halloween,
and then they turn your cell phone off? No offense, but it’s kind
of creepy how overprotective they are being of you.”

“Violet says it’s because Halloween is the day
of the devil or something,” Lexi replied.

Mary-Kate raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, right!
Austin was not brought up religiously at all. That was one of my
dad’s biggest beefs with him. Violet never made him go to church or
anything like that. Besides, Austin went out on Halloween every
year. I don’t see how it’s any different for you.

“She told me that Austin wasn’t allowed out
since we were kids,” Lexi shrugged. “Either way, I’m stuck at home,
it seems.”

She wanted to blurt out that it was because
they were trying to keep her safe until the night of Halloween.
Lexi wanted to let Mary-Kate know that she knew, mostly so that she
wouldn’t have to keep everything bottled up inside anymore. She was
sure that Mary-Kate would probably want to talk about it, too; they
were the only humans in town who knew.

She knew that she wasn’t allowed to tell her,
though. If Lexi told Mary-Kate that she knew what the people of
Briar Creek were planning, it would somehow get back to Violet and
Tommy that she remembered what had happened on the night of the
accident and then her life would be in even graver danger. Since
Mayor Lawrence was probably the ringleader of the whole entire
event, it didn’t seem like a wise idea to tell his
daughter.

As much as Lexi liked Mary-Kate, she knew that
she still couldn’t trust her. She sometimes wondered if Violet and
Tommy were using Mary-Kate to find out information about Lexi. For
all Lexi knew, Mary-Kate might be carrying around voice recorders
or have a little video camera sewed inside her bra like they did in
the movies so that she could report everything that she found out
back to them.

Instead of telling Mary-Kate that she knew,
Lexi said, “I think they’re being overprotective because they don’t
want to have to worry about me dying the same way that Austin
did.”

From the expression on Mary-Kate’s face, Lexi
could tell that her statement had been too defensive of her aunt
and uncle and, apparently, not very believable either.“Yeah, right.
Violet and Tom couldn’t have cared less about Austin.”