Destined to Die (The Briar Creek Vampires, #3) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (12 page)

An old beaten up car drove down the road
towards them, kicking up dust and sputtering noisily.

Lexi froze and quickly began walking towards
the woods again. She ran her fingers over her bat pendant,
reassuring herself that it was still there, that whoever was in the
car couldn’t smell her.

Gabe grabbed her arms. “Lex? Where are you
going? It’s Austin.”

Shielding her eyes from the sun, Lexi glanced
over at the car. The windshield was covered in dust and paw prints
that looked like they belonged to a cat, so it was hard to see into
the car. When it got closer, Lexi realized that Gabe was right. The
person who was sitting behind the wheel had a mess of strawberry
blonde hair and fair skin. It was Austin. Lexi’s heartbeat slowed
down just a little.

As Austin pulled the car closer to them, he
rolled his window down and yelled, “Get in! We have to get the hell
out of here!”

****

Chapter 9

“Where are we going now?” Lexi asked once she
was settled into the front seat next to her cousin.

“Huntington,” Austin replied, nervously biting
his thumb nail.

“What?” Lexi asked, shocked. “Isn’t that a bad
idea? Don’t you think that going to Huntington to meet up with
Mary-Kate was what made Greg find us here in the first place?” She
hadn’t really thought about the vampire bat that followed Austin
home a few weeks ago. It hadn’t occurred to her at the time that it
had been Greg Lawrence, but the pieces were all beginning to fit
together now. She just wasn’t sure why Greg had waited so long to
come – or why he was looking for Ben instead of Lexi and
Gabe.

Austin glanced over at Gabe in the rearview
mirror. “When we’re bats, we have exceptional hearing, which I
think I may have already told you. From where I flew in the forest,
I could hear everything that Greg was saying. He said that Mrs.
Lawrence knew of this address, which is kind of strange because Ben
insisted that she had no idea where this place was.”

Lexi sighed. “Well, where are we going now that
we can’t go back there ever again?” She wasn’t sure why she
suddenly felt so disappointed about not being able to go back to
the house. Sure, it was boring and it felt like they were in a
prison far away from everything else – but it was kind of cozy and
a great place for her to get to know both Austin and Gabe a little
better. She hoped that the next place they stayed would allow them
to do the same.

“We can go back,” Austin replied. “Just not
right away . . . definitely not tonight. We need to give it some
time for things to cool off, but I honestly don’t think they know
we were there. They really think it was just Ben.”

“It didn’t help that you had to blast that
radio,” Gabe chimed in from the back seat. “Why would Ben do
that?”

“Ben wouldn’t want to see them,” Austin
replied, shaking his head. “He hasn’t seen them in years. Even Greg
knows how Ben feels about him. It wouldn’t have been that out of
character for him to just turn up the radio and ignore them. I just
hope that they didn’t break into the house and realize that he
wasn’t actually there.” Turning onto the highway, Austin added,
“Besides, it was the only way I could figure out to distract them
long enough to not notice Lexi. And it worked, so don’t
complain.”

Lexi glanced over at Gabe. The look on his face
told her that he wasn’t convinced that Austin had done the right
thing. “Well, where are we going to stay tonight?” she asked. “I
doubt we’re going to find a vacant hotel room on Thanksgiving
Day.”

“We’re going to Huntington High,” Austin said.
When Lexi looked at him questioningly, he went on, “I’ve had it
planned out for months. I was going to wait for us to go tomorrow
because I figured it would be a hassle to leave on Thanksgiving,
but it won’t kill us to go a day earlier than expected. I’ll
explain it all once we’re there.”

Lexi groaned. She really hated being out of the
loop, and she couldn’t help but wonder why they were going to be
staying at a private boarding school.

When Austin pulled into the parking lot at
Huntington High, Anna was there waiting for them. “Hi, Lexi!” she
said, extending her arms for a hug.

Lexi hugged her back and smiled. Besides
Mary-Kate, Anna was one of the only friends she had made since she
been in Briar Creek. When Lexi was trying to run away from her
aunt’s house, Anna had tried to help her run away to New Jersey,
where she planned to live with Justin’s mom. That had all come to
an abrupt stop when Greg Lawrence had found her going to the bus
stop and had dragged her back to his house for a sleepover with
Mary-Kate. It was the same night Lexi had learned that Mary-Kate
was her half-sister. So much had happened since then, and Lexi
hadn’t kept in touch with Anna, but she would never forget the
kindness that she had showed her.

“Hey, Austin,” Anna said. Lexi wasn’t sure, but
she thought she noticed a tone of admiration in Anna’s voice. Did
Anna have a crush on Austin?

Taking a step back, Lexi took a closer look at
the two of them. Austin was wearing the Briar Creek High School’s
letterman’s jacket that he always wore. Lexi knew that underneath
it, he was wearing a polo shirt. Anna’s dark hair, which had purple
streaks, was pulled into a ponytail on top of her head. She wore a
dark purple camisole with a black fishnet long-sleeved shirt with
thumb holes on top of it, along with a medium length black skirt
and purple sequined ballet flats.

Lexi quickly shook the idea away that there was
anything going on between Austin and Anna. They were polar
opposites.

“I thought that Anna didn’t know you were
alive,” Lexi said to Austin.

“Well, she thought that I died. I called her
this week to let her know that we were coming.”

“You can imagine my surprise,” Anna said. “I
was really confused. I thought I was a getting a call from a ghost
because, as far as I knew, he was already dead. Not that I’m not
happy about it,” she said, glancing at Austin.

Lexi laughed. “Well, as someone who has seen a
ghost, that doesn’t even sound too far-fetched, to be
honest.”

“So,” Anna said, linking her arm through
Lexi’s. “We have a lot to talk about. Let me show Gabe and Austin
their room first, though.”

“Do I get my own room?” Lexi asked.

“Sorry, lady, but you’re stuck with me,” Anna
replied, smiling at her. Lexi forced herself to give a small smile
back. She had been sleeping in the same bed as Gabe for nearly a
month. It was comforting to know that he was always right there if
she needed someone to talk to after a nightmare. She didn’t even
want to think about being in a different room from him – especially
when she was so worried that someone was going to find her. Now
that they were closer to Briar Creek, it seemed even more possible
than it had before.

Once Anna showed Austin and Gabe where they
would be sleeping, they all went back to Anna’s dorm room. Lexi
glanced around. The suite, which Anna had told her that her parents
had splurged for, now had a second bed in the room. Lexi didn’t
know how much the boarding school cost, but the comfy pillow top
mattress and the burgundy down comforter on the bed that she would
be sleeping in were very luxurious and probably quite
pricey.

“So, there’s no easy way to say this,” Anna
said. “I’m a vampire hunter.”

“What?” Lexi asked, laughing out of shock. She
had seen
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
before, but she had no
idea that vampire hunters actually existed. Then again, she hadn’t
known that vampires existed a year ago, and there were two in the
same room as her at that very moment.

Anna nodded. “I’m not the only one either.
Everyone else who goes to Huntington High is vampire hunters,
too.”

“I thought this was just a boarding school,”
Lexi replied.

“It is a boarding school,” Austin said,
nodding. “It’s a boarding school where vampire hunters come to
train.”

“I don’t understand.” Actually, she did
understand what they meant; it was just too difficult to wrap her
head around the idea at the moment.

“Huntington High has been around for hundreds
of years,” Gabe said. “Its original location was actually in San
Francisco. It always seemed like a funny location to me because
it’s always sunny there, so you wouldn’t be likely to find many
vampires. The location of Huntington changes every once in a while
. . . generally so that it can be closer to areas with a high
vampire population. Those places are always changing over time as
vampires migrate to different areas.”

“Kind of like you,” Lexi said, remembering that
Gabe had also lived in California at one point. “Is that why they
move around a lot? So that no one discovers who they
are?”

“Pretty much,” Gabe replied. “A lot of vampires
change their identities fairly regularly so that no one catches up
with them. Certain vampires, the bad ones, also flee the area if
they know that they’re in dangerous. And vampires are always trying
to move away from areas where they know there are a lot of vampire
hunters.”

“Interesting. I didn’t know any of that,” Lexi
said, “So, all of the vampire hunters who go to Huntington were
born this way then?”

“Some of us,” Anna replied. “All of the
instructors who teach here are biological vampire hunters and many
of the students here come from vampire hunter bloodlines. If
vampire hunting runs in your blood, you’re genetically predisposed
to seek out vampires. There really is no other choice . . . it’s
what you need to do with your life. There aren’t many other options
for you when it’s in your blood. It’s easier for a biological
vampire hunter to pick a vampire out of a crowd than someone who
chooses to become a vampire hunter. I’ve never actually been able
to track down a vampire, so I can’t really tell you how it works.”
She took a deep breath before continuing. “Most of us ... even a
lot of us … don’t come from vampire hunting bloodlines, though. I
came to Huntington because a vampire killed my mother. My father
didn’t want me to come here, but I had to. I have to seek revenge
on the vampire who killed my mother.”

Lexi noticed that Anna’s eyes were filling up
with tears. “I’m so sorry for your loss. How long ago did it
happen?”

“Two years ago,” Anna replied. She darted her
eyes away, but Lexi caught the sad look in them.

Lexi realized that even though she and Anna
seemed really different from each other on the outside, they
actually had one really important thing in common; they had both
lost a mother because of vampires. Mary-Kate might be Lexi’s
half-sister, but even she and Lexi didn’t have this in common.
“Does losing one of your parents this way ever get any easier?”
Lexi knew that she didn’t have to explain why she was asking; Anna
already knew what had happened to her mom.

Anna shook her head. “They tell you that as
time goes on, the pain goes away or gets easier to deal with. It’s
all a lie. It still hurts . . . it really, really hurts. I think
about what happened to my mom every single day, usually several
times a day. I feel like, as time goes by, I just get angrier and
angrier at the vampires who did this to her.”

Lexi gulped. So this was what she had to look
forward to in a year or two from now: anger. In her case, her anger
would likely be towards Greg Lawrence since he was the vampire who
she was sure was responsible for her mother’s death. Lexi wondered
how long it would take her to get to that stage of coping. She
wasn’t sure that she was dealing with her mother’s death like other
humans would. Although Lexi had cried since her mom had died, it
felt like she had never really let it out. It was almost like she
didn’t even have time to grieve. Everything had happened so quickly
and ever since then, things had only gotten crazier.

Realizing that Austin and Gabe were still in
the room, Lexi turned to them. “So, why exactly are we at
Huntington then?”

For a moment, neither Gabe nor Austin said a
word. Finally, Gabe replied, “You need to learn how to defend
yourself, Lexi. There’s a town of vampires who are out to get you –
and eventually, there’s going to be a huge battle that you’re going
to be a part of.” He paused. “I don’t want you to be there . . .
but we might not be able to stop it unless we can figure out when
it’s going to happen. Either way, you need to be prepared for it.
The vampire hunters here at Huntington are going to teach you how
to fight against vampires.”

“What about you guys?” Lexi asked Gabe
pointedly. “Austin’s a new vampire. He doesn’t know how to fight
yet either, does he?”

“We’ll be taking the classes with you,” Austin
replied. “Because you’re right . . . I do need to learn how to
fight. My football hero strength isn’t enough to kick vampire
ass.”

Anna laughed. “Must you always point out that
you were a football star?”

Austin shrugged. “Hey, if the shoe fits, wear
it. Might as well be proud about something from my past life. I
seriously wish I could join the Huntington football
team.”

“Why don’t you?” Lexi asked. If there was one
thing that she had learned about Austin before reuniting with him
again, it was that football played a huge role in his life. She
couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be to give up something
like that – and the rest of your human life, for that matter –
because you found out that your parents were plotting to kill you.
It didn’t seem fair that his life had taken a drastic turn for the
worse. Then again, nothing in Briar Creek seemed fair.