Change of Fate (The Briar Creek Vampires, #4) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (9 page)

“By whom?”

Lexi glanced over at Dan out of the corner of her
eye. He was looking down at the ground, an almost guilty look on
his face. Lexi wasn’t sure if she could trust Dan, but did it
really even matter right now? As it stood, there was a chance that
they might never get back to the 21st century. They could end up
stuck here forever for all she knew – the last thing she needed was
Dan as an enemy.

Taking a deep breath, Lexi said, “I think the mayor
of our town killed my mother for my blood. You see, the mayor of
our town wanted Hunter blood because a witch from the 1800s cast a
curse that would eventually cause the whole town, which is made up
of vampires, to die. That witch cursed the town when her lover,
Albert Hunter, was changed into a vampire.”

Lexi watched as Belinda’s cup of tea clattered from
her hands. As the tea seeped over the hardwood table, the witch
shakily whispered, “You’re telling the truth.”

Chapter 12

****

As Lexi helped Belinda clean up the spilled
tea and the pieces of broken teacup, the witch explained that she’d
had a vision in which she’d seen Albert being turned into a
vampire. “I made him a pendant . . . I put a charm on it so that it
would keep him protected from those wretched creatures of the
night.”

Lexi looked over at Dan, whose body had
stiffened. He was probably upset to hear her talk about vampires so
negatively. Even Lexi knew that not all vampires were bad. She
wondered if Belinda had any idea that Dan could be a vampire.
Luckily, his appearance couldn’t give him away. Unlike all of the
other vampires who Lexi had met, Dan wasn’t overly pale; his skin
was on the tanner side with a golden tone.

“Since we know what’s going to happen, can’t
we prevent it?” Dan asked.

Belinda shook her head. Sitting back down at
the table, she put her head in her hands. “No, magic doesn’t work
like that. Whatever curse sent you back here, back in time . . . it
can’t undo the past.”

“There has to be something we can do to stop
it from happening,” Lexi insisted. “What if we can stop the vampire
who’s going to turn him? Maybe we can kill him first.”

“I doubt it will work,” Belinda replied. “You
can’t change destiny. What’s meant to happen is what will be. Do
you know anything about the vampire who is going to change
him?”

“Zachary Wilkins?” Lexi asked, glancing over
at Dan.

He shook his head. “No, Zachary
Wilkin
son
. Wilkins’ Syndrome was only a root of his surname.
It’s kind of complicated.”

“Wilkins’ Syndrome?” Belinda asked, a
confused expression crossing her scarred face.

“It’s the name of the disease that the
vampires will get,” Lexi explained. “The curse that you put on them
makes it so that they’ll become sick if they drink each other’s
blood. You had all the vampires from this town, wherever we are,
exiled to Briar Creek.”

“A deserted town so that they would have no
other choice but to drink each other’s blood,” Belinda whispered,
fitting the pieces together on her own. “It sounds like something I
would contrive.”

Dan raised his eyebrows. “Contrive?”

“It means to plan,” Lexi told him. She turned
to the witch. “Since you know now, maybe you can do something to
change it. Maybe you don’t have to go through with this curse.”

“As I have already explained, it doesn’t work
that way,” Belinda replied exasperatedly. “And why is it that you
care so much if this curse is made? Vampires are wretched heathens.
They deserve to die slow painful deaths.”

Dan’s body stiffened again, but he maintained
his stony expression.

“Because my life is in danger,” Lexi replied.
“The only cure for those who develop Wilkins’ Syndrome is Hunter
blood, which is extremely rare now. The whole town is planning to
sacrifice me . . . all because of your curse.”

Lexi was sure that she saw a glistening in
Belinda’s eyes, but the woman quickly blinked away the tears. “I’m
so terribly sorry,” Belinda said. “I don’t know how to fix this.
Even witches don’t have the power to change the past, so I can’t do
anything to help you. I can do my best to change your future,
though. Just tell me what you want to change.”

“I – I don’t know offhand,” Lexi said slowly,
feeling defeated. If the witch couldn’t change her past – if she
couldn’t bring her mom back – did the future really even
matter?

“Well, why don’t you think about that? Once
you know what it is that you want, you come back here and I’m sure
I can conjure some type of spell to change your fate.” Belinda
stood up and led them to the doorway. “You must go now. Albert will
be home from work very soon, and I don’t want him to ever know that
we had this discussion.”

As the door was practically slammed in their
faces, Lexi led out a loud sigh. She didn’t know what she had been
expecting out of her visit with the witch, but it definitely hadn’t
been that. If only she could figure out what the question was that
she and Dan were supposed to ask.

Chapter 13

****

As the sun went down that night, Lexi laid
the dress that she had stolen from the clothes line on a pile of
hay that she’d grabbed from Belinda’s backyard before she and Dan
had returned to their place on the river bank. Her body didn’t feel
so weak anymore, but she did feel tired so she’d decided that it
would be best to turn in early tonight. Lexi was running out of
ideas about what they could do right now, anyway. With any luck,
she’d have some sort of prophetic dream. If only Gabe were
here.

Dan sat with his arms wrapped around his
knees on a large boulder, staring at the moon’s reflection in the
river. He had been really quiet since they had left the witch’s
house. Lexi wanted, more than anything, to ask him questions. She
wanted to know if Dan was on her side or if all of this – him
saving her and seeming to want to protect her – was all just part
of a scheme to take her back to Briar Creek.

Lexi listened to the plunking sound of
pebbles that he threw into the depths of the river and sighed. She
just wanted to wake up from a dream and find out that this had all
been some horrible nightmare and that they were still in
Mary-Kate’s attic.

The sound of an owl hooting in a tree nearby
filled her ears and, finally, Lexi broke the silence between them.
“Dan? Why did you grab my feet when the book pulled me in?”

Dan glanced over at her. She watched as a
piece of his sandy blonde hair fell in front of one of his eyes,
and she couldn’t help but think that he looked really attractive
right now. “I didn’t know what was happening, but . . . I wanted to
help you.”

“When you realized the book was sucking me
in, why didn’t you just let me go then, though?” Lexi pressed. She
had never really thought to ask him about it until now, but she was
genuinely curious. If their roles had been reversed and Dan had
been the one who was being pulled in, Lexi wasn’t sure if she would
have tried to save him. She probably would have just let him go,
and as much as it made her guilty to think about it, she might have
even been happy that he was gone.

“I just couldn’t,” Dan replied, shrugging. He
paused for a long moment before adding, “I could never willingly
let you go.”

Before Lexi had the chance to ask what he
meant, Dan said, “There’s something I need to tell you . . .
something that you’re not going to want to hear.”

“What?” Lexi asked. She was afraid that he
was going to tell her that the only reason he couldn’t willingly
let her go and that the reason he’d allowed the book to reel him in
with her was because Violet, Tommy, and Greg had told him he had
to. He might even tell her that the only reason he’d agreed to go
to the Lawrence’s house to retrieve the book in the first place was
so that he could bring it back to Violet and Tommy, rather than
give it to Austin.

Before Lexi and Dan had time traveled, she
would have been the first to believe that was the truth. Now, the
only thing that she was clinging to was the hope that it
wasn’t
true, that Dan was here because he had chosen to be
and not because he had to bring her back to the people who wanted
her dead.

“I know what happened to your mom,” Dan said
quietly, looking down at the ground. He grabbed a few sticks that
were lying on the grassy hill that sloped down to his rock and,
standing up, began building a fire.

“You do?” Lexi asked. She tried to ignore the
fact that her stomach felt like it was at the highest peak of a
roller coaster, just waiting to be dropped.

Dan nodded, staring up at the night sky.
“Yes, and you’re right. It was Greg Lawrence who killed her. He
strangled her to death.”

Lexi thought about all of the lies that she
had been told about her mom’s death – that her mom had died of food
poisoning from beef, when her mom had been a vegetarian. At least
she knew that she was smarter than the mayor – food poisoning
wouldn’t even kill a person that quickly, even if it had taken her
this long to realize it. “I – I don’t understand. You were with me
the night of the carnival. Well, most of it, at least. That’s the
night she died. How do you know for sure?”

“I didn’t witness it, but I’ve heard Greg
talk about it to Violet and Tom,” Dan replied softly. “He killed
her because your mom wouldn’t let him have your blood to save the
whole town. Her reason was because it would probably kill you to
save that many people . . . so he killed her.”

Lexi felt a wave of rage wash over her body.
She had known all along that Greg Lawrence had been responsible for
her mom’s death. He had been the last one to see her mom, after
all. Even though she knew it deep down and even Austin had agreed
with her about it, this was the first time she had any sort of
proof – even if it was just hearsay – that Greg had played a role
in her mom’s death. If she hated Greg before, she wanted him dead
now.

Turning to Dan, who was piling more sticks on
the fire that he was building, Lexi asked, “Why didn’t you tell me
– or someone – before now?”

“Greg threatened me,” Dan replied. “He told
me that he’d have me killed if I told anyone. He was playing close
attention to us after that. Most of the time I talked to you, he
tried to be within earshot. Why do you think he was outside the
restaurant the night of our ‘date’?” Dan asked, using finger quotes
to emphasize the word ‘date’. “The night me and Gabe got into a
fight. He was there because he wanted to make sure that I wasn’t
going to tell you anything.”

“That makes sense,” Lexi murmured.

“I’ve had to pretend, this whole time, that
I’ve been on their side,” Dan admitted. “Some of it was an act,
like me trying so hard to date you.” He looked over at her, his
blue eyes twinkling in the moonlight. “Don’t get me wrong. I wanted
to . . . but I know that you didn’t want me, you wanted Gabe. Not
all of it was an act, though. When I saw those guys trying to
kidnap you that night, I didn’t save you just because I wanted to
look like I was on their side. I saved you because I knew I
couldn’t live with myself if I let you die. Just like I knew I
would worry if I let you get sucked into that book alone.”

Lexi was glad that it was dark out so that
Dan wouldn’t see how red her cheeks had probably turned. She
watched him as he lit one of the sticks with his lighter then
placed it onto the pile. “What made you tell me now, though? I
mean, once we get back . . . at least I’m assuming we’ll get back
eventually . . . I’ll still know the truth. Greg could have you
killed if he wanted to.”

Dan looked over at her. “None of that matters
anymore, Lexi. I couldn’t keep holding this secret inside. It was
eating me alive. I wanted you to know . . . especially now that
we’re closer, and you’re not being a total bitch to me.”

Lexi gave him a sympathetic smile. For the
first time, she actually felt bad about how she had treated him,
especially now that she knew he had sort of been watching out for
her in his own way. “I’m sorry about that.”

“No need to apologize. I probably would have
acted the same way towards you . . . especially after the night of
the car accident.”

“Yeah, um, what was up with that?” Lexi
asked. She had pushed the thoughts of Dan attacking her to the back
of her mind, but she couldn’t stop wondering why he had done it if
he hadn’t been out to get her.

“I was still a young vampire,” Dan explained.
“I was only changed about four months earlier. I wasn’t in control
of my thirst yet, and being close to you. . . . ” He paused. “You
smell so good to me. Combine that with Violet and Tom trying to
convince me that I had to kidnap you when you were most vulnerable,
and it just turned out that way. I’m sorry.”

Since holding grudges wasn’t going to do
anything at this point, Lexi decided that it was time for her to
forgive him for the attack. At least he was starting to be honest
with her, even if what he was telling her wasn’t something that she
wanted to hear. “It’s okay.”

Lexi put a hand to her forehead. “God, I’m
burning up. I think I must have a fever or something.”

Dan sat down next to her and wrapped his arms
around her. Remembering Gabe, Lexi opened her mouth to object, but
Dan said, “There. Better?”

Allowing his arms to encircle her, she
realized what he was doing. His cold vampire skin felt like ice
against her feverish skin. “Much better,” Lexi whispered. She tried
to ignore the goose bumps that rose on her arms and legs, knowing
that they weren’t there because Dan’s skin was a cold contrast next
to her own. They were there for the same reason she was feeling
butterflies circling through her stomach.

This wasn’t right. It couldn’t be right,
could it? Lexi was in love with Gabe. At least, she thought she
was. And then there had been Craig, but . . . she didn’t think that
was going to work out now after all. Her professor at Huntington
was really cute and there was no doubt that she was attracted to
him, but . . . she didn’t love him. And she doubted that she ever
would.