Destined to Die (The Briar Creek Vampires, #3) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (13 page)

“I might eventually,” Austin replied. “It
depends on how long we stay here. I need to learn as much as I can
while I’m here . . . and when I’m playing football, I usually lose
focus.”

Lexi turned to Gabe. “What about you? Do you
already know how to fight, or are you going to take classes with
us, too?”

“Well, I do already know how to fight, but I’ll
be here to help out in any way that I can,” Gabe said, looking Lexi
in the eyes. He touched her shoulder. “I’ll also be here for moral
support.”

Lexi breathed a sigh of relief. At least she
wasn’t going to be stuck at Huntington all by herself. She liked
Anna enough, but she didn’t want to be without either one of the
guys – Gabe, especially. It was bad enough that they weren’t going
to be living in the same dorm room. He was like her safety net;
even though she doubted that anything was going to happen to her
any time soon (considering Gabe would probably have already had a
vision about it if something was going to), but it was always nice
to have him there with her just in case.

Lexi knew that it would be bad for her to not
see Austin regularly either. If he were to stay away from the
school and she didn’t hear from him often, she would be constantly
wondering if someone had discovered that he really wasn’t dead.
Just worrying about it would probably only distract her from being
able to learn whatever the vampire hunters were planning on
teaching her.

Just thinking about what she was going to learn
about vampire hunting and killing made her shudder. Lexi didn’t
want to have to worry about coming face to face with a vampire
during a battle. There was no way she could possibly learn that
much at Huntington. It wouldn’t change anything; she was still a
human, and they were still vampires. Lexi didn’t stand a chance
against one of them, did she?

Actually, there was something that made Lexi
feel slightly better about her fate. One time, Mary-Kate had
dragged Lexi over to her best friend Julie’s house. While they were
there, Lexi had overheard some vampires talking in the kitchen,
including a guy named Nick from school, who had tried to kidnap her
with his friends once. They were talking about Lexi and how she was
so powerful.

At the time, Lexi didn’t really understand what
they were talking about, but she had later learned that her blood
was powerful. Could she be physically powerful as well? She was
going to have to remember to talk to Gabe about it sometime later
when they were alone. As comfortable as she felt around Austin and
Anna, it felt like something that they should talk about in private
for some reason.

“So, what’s next?” Lexi asked, realizing that
the room had grown really quiet.

“Next, you need to meet some of our
professors,” Anna replied. “And for the record, this isn’t routine
procedure here at Huntington. They’ve all asked to be personally
introduced to you.”

Lexi blushed. “I’d be happy to meet them, but
why a personal introduction? I know I’m important in the vampire
world, but they’re vampire hunters.”

Anna laughed. “You’re important in the vampire
hunting
world, too, Lexi. Our worlds intertwine because
without vampires, vampire hunters wouldn’t exist.”

“That’s interesting,” Lexi replied. She hadn’t
really thought about it that way before, but then again, she hadn’t
given much thought to vampire hunters in general until now –
considering she didn’t even know that they existed. “Okay, so where
do we find these professors?”

Anna glanced at her watch. “They should be in
the teacher’s lounge.” Lexi raised her eyebrows, and Anna laughed
again. “Huntington’s just like any other school, Lexi! We have
teacher’s lounges, and well, you’ve already seen the cafeteria when
you were here before.”
“Do the Briar Creek vampires know that Huntington is a school for
vampire hunters?” Lexi asked as they all exited the dorm
room.

Anna shook her head. “Nope, they have no clue.
They think we’re just a private school for rich kids. Huntington
only moved here over the past century, mostly because of the close
proximity to Briar Creek.”

“And they have no idea? That’s really
surprising,” Lexi replied.

Anna nodded. “Nope, they don’t know because a
lot of us give off a human scent. We actually have werewolves for
security guards because there have been times when they’ve tried to
attack students here.”

Lexi raised an eyebrow. “Werewolves? Are you
serious?” She wasn’t sure why it surprised her to find out that
werewolves existed. She already knew that vampires, witches, and
ghosts existed, so it would make sense that there were other types
of paranormal creatures out there. It was just crazy to think that
she had lived in a world for so many years where people told her
that all of these paranormal creatures were just myths; it got her
wondering how many paranormal creatures she had come across
throughout her lifetime. If only the whole world knew what was
really out there.

“Yeah, but don’t worry. Werewolves aren’t how
you’re probably imagining them. They’re really strong so they can
keep unwanted visitors out, but they’re actually pretty cool. Most
of them aren’t naturally mean . . . they’ll only give you a hard
time if you do something to piss them off.” Turning a corner and
leading them all down a long hallway, Anna stopped in front of an
open door. “Here we are.”

Lexi stuck her head in the doorway. The sound
of jazz music flowed out of the room, reminding her of the
teacher’s lounge at her old school back home in New Jersey. She
noticed a woman with black wire-rimmed glasses and shoulder length
curly black hair sitting at a long rectangular table. The woman,
who had somewhat of a boyish look, was staring into the cup of
coffee that she was holding. It was like she was staring into
space.

“Professor Males?” Anna asked warmly. The woman
looked up. “This is Lexi Hunter. Lexi, this is our Conflagration
Studies instructor, Joanne Males.”

Joanne pushed her glasses up her nose and took
a closer look at Lexi. “My, my, my. A Hunter! You don’t know how
long it has been since I have wanted to meet someone from your
bloodline.” She laughed. “It’s actually been one of my ambitions in
life . . . to meet a Hunter. Now I get to cross that off on my
bucket list! It’s such a pleasure to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Lexi forced
herself to say back, ignoring the goose bumps that had risen on her
arms. Something about the way Professor Males was staring at her
made her feel uncomfortable. It was like she was a specimen that
the woman wanted to use for some creepy science project. What
exactly was conflagration, anyway? It definitely sounded like some
weird type of science – or a stomach virus. Lexi seriously hoped
that another teacher also taught it or that, for some reason, Lexi
didn’t have to take it herself because she wasn’t sure if she could
stomach being around this woman on a day to day basis.

Lexi noticed a guy sitting in the corner
reading from a book. She did a double-take. She had never seen a
guy with such large muscles in real life before; he looked like he
belonged on the cover of a romance novel. The man glanced up at
them.

“Hey, Christian. This is Lexi Hunter,” Anna
introduced her.

Christian got down on one knee in front of
Lexi. “Jolie dame, it is a pleasure to meet you,” he said, taking
her hand in his and lifting it to his lips.

Lexi blushed. She was a sucker for men with
French accents. She hoped that Gabe didn’t notice how red her
cheeks were turning. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

“Christian Fleur teaches Stakeology,” Anna
explained.

Stakeology? As in, using stakes to kill
vampires?
Lexi wondered to herself. The expression on Anna’s
face told Lexi that she was right; that was exactly what Stakeology
meant. It was kind of creepy how all of the classes at Huntington
were made to sound like biology classes, as though some sort of
scientific method was needed to kill a vampire with a stake. And
really, how hard could it be?

Glancing around the room for more teachers,
Lexi realized that there were none. She looked over at Anna. “Are
there any other professors who teach here?”

Anna laughed. “Yeah, we have more than two
classes in this school, if that’s what you’re asking. I’m not sure
why they’re not in here, though. I guess they must be teaching
classes right now or getting ready to.” Anna glanced at her watch.
“Come on, we’ll interrupt them.”

“I don’t want to interrupt anyone. That’s
rude,” Lexi replied, shaking her head frantically. She was usually
pretty confident with herself, but the thought of disrupting an
ongoing class just to introduce herself felt really vain and she
would hate to have all eyes on her in a situation like
that.

“They won’t mind, Lexi. They want to meet you
more than anything. Let’s go.”
Hesitantly, Lexi followed Anna out of the room. As they neared the
end of the hallway, a guy turned the corner to the teacher’s lounge
. . . a guy who Lexi knew.

Her heart caught in her chest.

His light eyes glimmered in the dimly lit
hallway, and he was wearing the same shorts and polo t-shirt that
he had been wearing the first time they had met, even though that
had been in the middle of summer then and it was now the end of
autumn in Pennsylvania. It was way too cold for him to be wearing
shorts, but then again, he was a vampire. He was probably cold no
matter what he wore. Ruffling his brown hair back, he looked up at
her. “Lexi?”

“Mr., err . . . Professor Lindstrom,” Lexi
mumbled weakly. She looked over at Gabe, who was studying her for a
response. Lexi quickly, and awkwardly, darted her eyes away from
him, afraid that her facial expression would reveal too much about
what had happened between her and Craig, the cute guy who she had
met at the local college and then made out with
after
she
had found out that he was her teacher.

“I need to get ready for my class,” Craig
mumbled, holding up a pile of books as if to prove it. “So, I
really need to get going. But it’s nice to see you.” He quickly
ducked into the teacher’s lounge, and they continued to walk down
the hall.

Gabe squeezed her hand and nodded towards the
direction where Craig had just left, as if asking her why he had
acted so strangely. Lexi just shrugged, focusing her attention back
on Anna in hopes that it would be enough of an answer for
him.

“Professor Lindstrom is our Vampire Hunter
Literature teacher,” Anna explained. Lexi knew that Anna hadn’t
seen their silent exchange, but she was relieved that she had
changed the subject.

“They have Vampire Hunter Lit?” Lexi asked,
only pretending that she was interested. She wondered when her old
high school gym teacher had suddenly adopted a newfound love for
the arts. Weren’t guys who loved sports supposed to be uninterested
in anything intellectual? She hated stereotypes, but her now
deceased ex-boyfriend, Justin, had been a great hockey player – and
a bit lacking in the academics department.

Lexi shook the thought away. If there was one
thing she had learned since she had arrived in Briar Creek, it was
that she shouldn’t make assumptions about people (or vampires and
other species, for that matter). Craig seemed smart enough. And
cute enough . . . and charming enough. At one point, Lexi had even
began to think that Craig might have been able to replace Gabe, but
that all came to an abrupt halt when she caught him sucking
Mary-Kate’s neck in the hallway on the night of the
dance.

She hadn’t realized at the time that Craig was
actually a vampire and that he had only been drinking from
Mary-Kate. At the time, they were so hot and heavy that it really
seemed like they were romantically involved, but he was only doing
what he needed to do to survive. That changed everything that Lexi
had previously thought about him.

Or did it? Things had been great between Lexi
and Gabe since Halloween night, but there was still something about
Craig that attracted her to him. She wasn’t sure if it was the
authority that he had over her because he was her teacher and would
be again or if it was the way his light eyes popped in contrast to
his olive-colored skin. Come to think of it, why was his skin so
tan? Weren’t all vampires supposed to be pale? Craig wasn’t the
only vampire she had met who wasn’t as pale as could be. Dan also
had a sun-kissed glow.

Wait. If Craig was a vampire, what was he doing
at Huntington, where there were
vampire hunters
? Did anyone
here know that he was a teacher at Briar Creek High School? Or was
there another reason he was here? Lexi made a mental note to talk
to Anna about it later. She didn’t want to slip up and accidentally
mention in front of Gabe that Craig had been anything more than
just a teacher. Not that she really wanted Anna to know either, but
if she did find out she would hopefully be cool enough to keep it
from Gabe at least.

As if to reassure Gabe and possibly herself,
Lexi reached for Gabe’s hand and gave it a tight squeeze. He
squeezed back. One of the things that she loved about having a
vampire boyfriend was being able to hold his hand without having to
worry about the nervous sweaty palms that teenage human boys
sometimes got – and hers never got sweaty either, since Gabe’s
hands were always colder than Lexi’s own warm hands.