Burn Like Fire (12 page)

Chapter 24

Anna could feel her body weakening as Gabe drank from her. She wanted to pull away, to tell him that he needed to stop, but she couldn’t. She was drawn to him, but she didn’t know why; her feelings weren’t sexual and it’s not like she had any sort of feelings for him anyway.

It was almost like there was some sort of magnetic pull between them and as hard she tried to stop it, she couldn’t.

Anna, are you ready to die today?
Rhonda’s voice filled her mind, taunting her. Somehow, her body seemed to weaken even more at Rhonda’s words, as though she were physically giving into what Rhonda
wanted—and
even worse, she began to feel as though it was what she wanted, too.

No. I can’t let this happen
, Anna thought to herself.
I have to fight this. I need to live.

But as Gabe’s teeth sunk into another area of her skin, Anna wondered how she was going to be able to pull this one off.

*

Back in the car, Lexi pointed at some trees on the other side of the road. “That’s it! Those are the trees I saw in the mirror. That’s where they are!”

Austin didn’t even question how Lexi was sure it was
those
trees and not the thousands of other trees they had passed. He made a quick cut across the road, just missing the oncoming truck, which swerved, blaring its horn loudly at him.

As he parked the car along the narrow dirt road, Austin noticed that there was another car parked ahead of them. He realized, right away, that it was the car that he’d seen Rhonda in when they were in the Huntington parking lot.

Austin leapt out of the car and ran past Rhonda’s car. He didn’t check to see if Dan and Lexi were following him; he already knew they were. All that mattered to him was that he got to Anna in time.

He scanned the trees that lined the dirt road, but he didn’t see anyone. There had to be someone nearby, he realized, or else Rhonda’s car wouldn’t be parked there.

Austin was about to turn to Lexi and Dan to see if they had seen anyone, but then he heard it; a muffled cry that he was positive belonged to Anna sounded out from somewhere to the left of him. It didn’t sound that close, but not that far away, either.

Darting in between the trees and running until he reached a clearing, Austin felt sick to his stomach from what he saw; Gabe was drinking from Anna, who was slumped against him, barely moving.

“What are you doing?” Austin shouted at Gabe. “You’re going to kill her!”

When Gabe glanced over at him, he had a dazed look in his eyes. It was like he saw him, even though he wasn’t fully sure of what was going on. After a few moments, Gabe refocused his attention on Anna.

Austin took a step closer to him, prepared to tear him away from his girlfriend, even if it meant he had to kill Gabe, when he heard his voice being called.

“Austin? What do you think you’re doing?”

Austin turned to see Rhonda staring back at him, her face as hard as stone. “You’re not going anywhere near them.”

Austin tried to protest; tried to fight what Rhonda was telling him, but it was no use. He felt his body giving in to what Rhonda wanted, even though it wasn’t what he wanted.

Chapter 25

It didn’t take Lexi long to figure out where Rhonda was. She heard Austin run through the woods, crunching over the decayed leaves on the ground, and then the sound of a girl’s voice—a voice that sounded all too familiar.

Once Lexi had figured out where Rhonda was, she wasn’t sure what to do. Should she approach her?
No, that would be a bad idea
, Lexi decided. Rhonda could control minds. If Lexi approached her, Rhonda would probably find a way to control her mind. Unless . . .

Lexi closed her eyes and recited the words that came to her mind. “Shadows of the forest, rhythms of the wind, protect my mind; keep Rhonda from making her way in.” As soon as she said the words, Lexi instantly felt different. It was as though a curtain had gone down around her; a curtain that would act as a protective shield that wouldn’t let Rhonda inside her mind.

Once she knew that her mind was free from Rhonda’s control, Lexi glanced around for a weapon. At first, she couldn’t find anything that would work, but then she spotted a thick tree branch that had fallen to the ground. It was still jagged from where it had broken off.

Lexi grabbed the branch and, carrying it behind her back, she stepped into the clearing.

When Rhonda spotted her, her eyes widened with surprise. The surprise quickly passed and was replaced with anger. “Lexi,” Rhonda murmured under her breath.

“Rhonda, what are you doing?” Lexi blurted, pointing her chin in the direction of Gabe and Anna, taking the sight of them in for the first time. Gabe was standing there, balancing Anna in his arms as he drank from her. Austin stood a few feet away from them, his head lowered to the ground, and Lexi realized right away that Rhonda had taken control of his mind. There was no way he would stand back and allow Gabe to drink from his girlfriend otherwise.

A mischievous look passed through Rhonda’s eyes. “
I’m
not doing anything.”

“Yes, you are,” Lexi insisted. “You’re making Gabe drink from Anna. Make him stop!”

Rhonda smiled at her. “You overestimate my abilities, Lexi. I couldn’t make Gabe do that.” She shrugged her shoulders and glanced over at him. “He’s probably just really thirsty.”

Lexi shook her head. “No, you’re lying. You’re responsible for this! I know you are.”

Rhonda glanced over at Lexi and stared at her, an icy look in her eyes. Lexi didn’t see her lips move, but she heard her voice.
No, I’m not responsible for it. Gabe is drinking from Anna all on his own. And from now on, you won’t ask me anymore questions. You will obey everything I say, when I say it.

Lexi wanted Rhonda out of her thoughts. She
had to act soon or Anna was going to die. She lunged forward, the tree branch now in front of her and out in plain sight. She tackled Rhonda to the ground, holding it high above Rhonda’s heart. Just as she was about to stab her with it, the branch was knocked out of her hand.

Rhonda’s voice filled her mind again.
You will use this stick to kill Austin. He’s a witness to Anna’s death. We can’t have that.

Even though Lexi was aware that Rhonda was trying to take control of her mind, it didn’t matter. Rhonda’s words didn’t mean anything to her. She didn’t feel any desire to obey them. It scared her that Anna had been right all along and that Rhonda really
was
controlling minds. Why had Lexi ever doubted her?

Thinking fast, Lexi took the stick back from Rhonda and nodded. “Okay, I’ll do that. I’ll use this to kill Austin. I will kill my cousin.” She hadn’t been chosen for the high school drama club, but even Lexi had to admit that her own voice sounded pretty damn convincing.

Rhonda must have been fooled, too, because she reached over and ran a finger down Lexi’s cheek, caressing her skin almost lovingly. “I think I’ve underestimated you, Lexi. I think you and I could get to be very good friends.”

“I think so, too.” Lexi hesitated. A question popped into her mind and she knew that if she didn’t ask now, she would never know the answer. “Why do you want Anna to die?”

“She knew too much,” Rhonda replied softly, glancing down at the ground. “She tried to get me in trouble at Huntington. People who try to hurt others need to die.”

“Yes,” Lexi agreed, leaning in to give Rhonda a hug. In her ear, she whispered ever so quietly, “And that’s exactly why you need to die.”

With one of her arms wrapped around Rhonda’s waist, Lexi used her other arm to shove the stick through Rhonda’s chest, pushing it with all her might.

Rhonda shrieked in pain, as her body fell, lifeless, to the ground.

Chapter 26

Gabe was so involved in drinking Anna’s blood that he almost didn’t even realize Rhonda had died. At first, it felt like he was still thirsty, like the void inside of him was just an unquenchable hunger that Anna’s blood couldn’t seem to satisfy.

But then he felt it; the feeling began in the spot where his human heart used to beat and dropped down to his stomach. Just like the day Veronica Hart had died, he knew another part of him had died—another extension of himself that
he
had created.

The first thing that Gabe did was pull away from Anna; he heard her body slump to the ground as he let her go and Austin rushed over to her. As drawn as Gabe had been to her blood for the past ten minutes, he was no longer interested. It was as though whatever had made him want to drink her blood in the first place no longer had a hold on him.

Gabe glanced around to see where Rhonda was. It didn’t take him long to find her; her body lay on the ground, her hair splayed around her head. There was blood seeping out of her chest and onto her hooded sweatshirt, confirming Gabe’s suspicions. Rhonda was dead.

He glanced up to see that Lexi was standing behind her, a panicked expression on her face. Gabe had never seen Lexi look more fragile and afraid than she looked at that moment, but he couldn’t stop himself from yelling at her, “Did you do this?!”

Lexi glanced over at him and then over at Anna. A look of relief crossed her face, and Gabe realized it was because he was no longer drinking from Anna. “I . . . I had to.”

“No, you didn’t. You could have let her live.” Even as the words came out, Gabe knew they didn’t sound right. They didn’t
feel
right, either. It was like he was saying them, even though he didn’t really mean them.

“No, Gabe.” Lexi shook her head sadly. “Don’t you see what Rhonda was doing? She was forcing you to drain Anna’s blood. She wanted you to kill her. And if I didn’t kill Rhonda, you probably would have killed Anna.”

“No, that’s not what I was doing,” Gabe insisted, even though he wasn’t actually sure if it was the truth. He was pretty sure he remembered Rhonda commanding him to drink from Anna, but his mind was sort of fuzzy. Even though he had gone through the motions, he couldn’t seem to remember everything for some reason. In fact, everything about the past couple weeks was a complete blur now.

Lexi stared at him for a moment before shaking her head in disgust. “Whatever. I don’t really have time to argue with you right now. I need to make sure Anna’s okay”

“Well, I’ll come with you,” Gabe said. “I care about Anna, too, ya know.”

Lexi glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, as though she were trying to decide if Gabe was telling the truth, as she strode over to Anna. She crouched down on the ground beside Austin, who was holding Anna’s wrist in his hands.

“Is she going to be okay?” Lexi questioned.

Austin looked up at her and nodded “Yeah, I think she’s going to be okay. She has a pulse. I think Gabe stopped drinking from her just in time. Any more blood lost, and she probably would have needed a blood transfusion. She still might.”

As if on cue, Anna sat up. Groggily, she glanced at Austin. “Am I dead?”

Austin chuckled. “No, Anna, you’re alive. Luckily.”

Anna opened her eyes a little more and glanced over at Lexi. “Lexi, you’re here!” She looked over Lexi’s shoulder at Dan. “And Dan!”

Gabe watched as Anna’s eyes fell on him. They lit up with a look of happiness, and she beamed at him. “And Gabe! You’re here, too.”

“Yeah.” Realizing that Anna didn’t remember what he had done, Gabe lowered his eyes to the ground. He couldn’t help but feel guilty, knowing that he was the one who had done this to Anna. What if Lexi was right and Rhonda
was
trying to make him kill her? What if Lexi hadn’t been there to kill Rhonda and stop it all from happening? The idea made him feel sick.

“What happened?” Austin asked, pushing a lock of Anna’s hair behind her ear. “How did you get here?”

Tapping her finger against her chin, Anna hesitated for a long while. “Rhonda . . . she came to the motel. I don’t know why she was there, but she forced me. She controlled my mind, just like she does to Gabe sometimes.”

Gabe glanced up at Anna. Even
she
thought Rhonda was able to control his mind? Actually, come to think of it, he remembered Anna mentioning that to him once, a long time ago . . . Why hadn’t he taken her more seriously at the time?

“She made me come here with her,” Anna went on. “She told me we were going to a party, and I was the guest of honor.”

Dan scoffed. “Guest of honor, my ass . . . unless she was planning for this to be your death party or something.”

“Death party?” Anna questioned. “What do you mean?”

Lexi sighed. “Anna, Rhonda was planning to kill you. Well, not herself. She forced Gabe to drink from you. Her plan was for him to drain all the blood from your body.”

Anna’s eyes filled with a look of fear. “But . . . why?”

Gabe noticed that there was a note of hurt in her voice; she couldn’t understand why Rhonda would kill her. He couldn’t understand why, either, though. He hadn’t known Anna for all that long, but she had never been anything but sweet to him.

Gabe hoped that wasn’t why Rhonda had wanted her dead. He would feel guilty as hell if the reason was because he had somehow led Rhonda to believe that he was into Anna and she was jealous.

Lexi shrugged. “I tried to find out why . . . before I killed her. All she told me was that you knew too much, and you had to die because of it.”

“Wait, hold up.
You
killed
Rhonda
?” There was a look of amusement in Anna’s eyes.

Lexi nodded. “I . . . I had to. It was the only thing I could think of to get Gabe to stop drinking
from you. He might have killed you otherwise.”

Anna sat up and stretched her arms out. “Thanks for doing something to stop it.”

Gabe felt Anna’s eyes fall on him. “I just want you to know I’m not mad at you, Gabe. I know it wasn’t your fault that psycho bitch forced you to do this.”

For some reason, it stung for Gabe to hear Anna call Rhonda psycho. Even though he was pretty sure that was, in fact, an accurate description of her, it almost made him feel guilty. He was the one who had turned her into a vampire, after all. Was it his fault she had turned nuts? It almost made him wonder if, in the event that he turned another human to a vampire, he was capable of creating another psychotic creature.

Not that Gabe ever planned to find out. He hoped that the horrible mistake that had happened with Rhonda would never happen again.

“I’m sorry, Anna,” he mumbled. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” Anna replied. “Do you want to come back to the motel with us? I’m sure you could use a ride so you can gather all your stuff.”

Gabe hesitated. Even though he wasn’t sure if Austin was really okay with the idea of being in the same car with him, the thought of leaving the four of them alone together to talk about what had happened made him nervous. He didn’t want them to team up against him.

“Sure,” he agreed after a moment of deliberation.

“Awesomesauce.” Anna grinned. “Oh, and Gabe? We’re really not in Boston. We’re definitely in Ohio.”

Gabe lowered his head to the ground again, feeling stupid that he had allowed Rhonda to fool him over so many things.

“Wait, guys,” Lexi said, as they started to walk away from the clearing. “What are we going to do with the body?”

“Should we dump it somewhere?” Dan questioned, glancing down at Rhonda’s pale, limp body.

“I say we just leave it.” Austin shrugged. He held Anna in his arms, carrying her to the car.. “The less we touch it, the less it can be connected to us.”

“What if someone finds it, though?” Lexi questioned. “I don’t want it to be all over the news.”

“Let’s bury it,” Anna suggested, from Austin’s arms. “That way, it might stay hidden for a while. Hopefully until after we leave Ohio at least.”

“Yeah, let’s bury it,” Lexi agreed. She glanced around at them. “Does anyone have a shovel?”

Gabe shook his head. “No. Why don’t we come back with one?”

“Okay,” Anna agreed. “We’ll go buy a shovel and come back. No one’s going to find her here, anyway. We’re out in the middle of nowhere.”

“Yeah, we’ll come back.” Gabe glanced over his shoulder at Rhonda’s lifeless body one last time before taking off for the car. Even though he felt bad about the fact that he had nearly killed
Anna today, there was one good thing about this day.

Rhonda was officially gone, and she was never coming back.