Change of Fate (The Briar Creek Vampires Series #4)

  Change of Fate

  © 2012 by Jayme Morse and Jody Morse

  Change of Fate is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents in this book are products of the writers’ imaginations or have been used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, events, or locations, is coincidental and not intended by the authors.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this ebook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy.

  Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from Jayme Morse and Jody Morse.

  Connect with the authors at:

  http://www.jaymemorse.com/

  http://www.jodymorse.com/

  Chapter 1

  ****

  The back door of the Lawrence’s house was wide open when Gabe and Austin arrived. “You would think that Dan would have been a little more discreet,” Gabe said, glancing over at Austin. “The last thing we need is for Greg Lawrence, the mayor of Briar Creek, no less, to catch him breaking and entering in his house.”

  Austin nodded before following Gabe into the house, which he had been in many times before. Together, they searched the place for Dan Nichols, Austin’s best friend. When they reached the door that led to the attic, Gabe and Austin looked at each other knowingly; like the back door, it had been left open.

  Once Gabe had tiptoed up to the top of the creaky staircase and scanned the room, he froze.

  Craig Lindstrom stared back at him. Like many vampires, Craig was naturally pale. Right now, though, his face was a shade of ghostly white.

  “What are you doing here?” Gabe asked, trying to keep Craig from seeing how much his guard was up. Where was Dan? More importantly, why was Craig here at all? An unsettling feeling washed over Gabe, as he debated the idea that Craig might be one of Greg Lawrence’s allies, that he might have been place here to protect the book and ensure that it stayed in Greg’s hands.

  “I drove Lexi here,” Craig replied nervously.

  “What?!” Gabe yelled. “Lexi was here?”

  He should have known that Lexi was planning to come here, since she had hung up on Austin after he told her that Dan was heading over to the Lawrence house to retrieve the book. Gabe wasn’t sure if he could really blame her, either; he didn’t trust Dan one bit, but Austin had insisted that it was safer to send Dan to get the book instead of Lexi, since all of the vampires in Briar Creek still wanted to sacrifice her to cure the fatal disease called Wilkins’ Syndrome that had been placed on them by a revengeful witch in the 1800’s. Lexi’s blood, which was extremely powerful to vampires, was the only thing that could cure the disease, but time was running out. The vampires only had until Lexi turned eighteen to be cured; the vampires had discovered the age limit when Lexi’s half-sister, Mary-Kate Lawrence, who was the adopted daughter of Greg Lawrence, turned eighteen and her blood was no longer a cure. Desperate to cure themselves of the disease, Lexi’s Aunt Violet and Uncle Tommy came up with a plan to get her to come back to Briar Creek, the town she had left behind years ago, by murdering their son, Austin. Only Gabe and Austin had outsmarted them; before Violet and Tommy had the chance to set their plans into motion, Austin became a vampire and faked his own death so that he would be able to help Lexi make it out of this town alive. The plan had worked so far, except . . .

  “Where is Lexi now then?” Gabe asked, not attempting to mask the accusing tone in his voice. He glanced around the attic. Stacks of junk had been piled up high throughout the dust-coated room. There was a wooden table in the middle of the room, which a large, old book was resting on.

  That was it; it was the same book that someone had stolen from Lexi’s duffel bag the night the vampires of Briar Creek had tried to kill her. It was the same book that Gabe had seen in his vision; he had seen that the book was in the Lawrence’s house, which left him to assume that Greg Lawrence had been the one to steal the book for his own selfish reasons. Greg had probably figured that the book, which was a part of the Hunter family history, would help him figure out a way to break the deadly curse. He was running out of options because his wife, Mary-Kate’s real mother, only had been given a short time to live.

  “I – I’m confused about what I just saw,” Craig replied, looking over at Gabe. “I don’t know what happened.”

  “Well, what do you think happened?” Austin pressed. “We’re on a time limit here. The Lawrence’s are going to be home any minute now.”

  “I dropped Lexi off and parked on the street,” Craig began shakily. “When she didn’t come back soon, I had a bad feeling, so I came into the house. The back door was already open. I found my way up here . . . and I heard Lexi screaming at someone . . . a guy who I didn’t recognize.” He paused, as though he were trying to make sense of what he had just seen. “When I came up here, the room was empty and that book,” he pointed to the table, “was floating in the air on its own. It was like it was magic. It snapped shut, and it . . . it fell on the table.”

  “So, what are you trying to say?” Gabe asked, narrowing his eyes. “You heard Lexi, and you came here . . . and she was gone? Where could she have gone? Out the window?”

  Craig shook his head. “This is going to sound crazy, but . . . I’m pretty sure that the book sucked them in.”

  “Oh, okay. The book sucked them in. That makes perfect sense. If you even think for a second that–”

  “Gabe, the time capsule,” Austin murmured, interrupting him.

  “What?” Craig and Gabe asked simultaneously, turning to look in his direction.

  “Ben told me that the book could allow you to time travel,” Austin replied, looking from Craig to Gabe. “I don’t know how it happens or why. I just know that it can.”

  “Who’s Ben?” Craig asked.

  “Lexi’s dad,” Gabe replied offhandedly. He turned to Austin. “Does he know how this time portal works?”

  “I think so,” Austin replied.

  “We need to find him then,” Gabe said. “We need to hurry. I don’t know what this book can do. For all we know, it might be dangerous.”

  Austin grabbed the book from the table and tucked it under his hoodie. “You’re right. We have to find him. Let’s get the hell out of here before the Lawrence’s come back. From what Mary-Kate told me, they weren’t supposed to be gone long.”

  Gabe turned to Craig. “We’ll see you back to Huntington High before we go looking for Lexi’s dad.” Huntington High was the vampire hunter’s school that Gabe, Austin, and Lexi had been staying at. Craig Lindstrom had been one of their professors there, but Lexi had also known him beforehand because he was her gym teacher at Briar Creek High School. It had never really crossed Gabe’s mind that it was strange that Craig had taught at both schools. For all they knew, he had been against Huntington this whole time and was feeding information to the people of Briar Creek.

  “No way,” Craig said, putting his hand up. “I promised Lexi that I would stand guard . . . that I would keep her safe. She’s gone now. I failed to do my job. I’m going to stick with you guys until you find her dad and figure out where she might be.”

  “I don’t think that’s necessary,” Gabe started to protest.

  Austin interrupted him, telling Craig, “We think that the people who are out to get L
exi kidnapped her dad. The more of us there are, the better off we’ll be if we need to fight them off. I think you should come along. We could use your help.”

  Gabe wanted to argue and object, to tell Austin that he thought that Craig might not really be on their side; that he couldn’t be trusted. From the look on Craig’s face, though, Gabe knew that there was something more going on than what he was saying. Craig was in love with Lexi. If Gabe spoke out against him, he would look insanely jealous – and, once they found her, Lexi might even be mad at him for being unwelcoming to her friend, regardless of how Craig feels about her.

  No, now wasn’t the right time for him to protest. If he was going to win Lexi back, he would need to be the bigger man throughout all of this.

  “I do want to stop off at Huntington before we leave, though,” Austin said as they all climbed down the attic steps.

  “I want Anna to come with us,” Austin replied. “I know that wherever we’re going might be dangerous, but . . . I don’t want to leave her here alone. Not in the midst of all this.”

  Gabe nodded. If it were up to him, he’d have Lexi with him right now, too.

  *

  By the time they arrived at Huntington High in the black sedan with tinted windows that Austin had retrieved from Ben’s house, Anna was waiting outside patiently. She was wearing a pair of tall black boots over dark gray leggings with what looked like a black and lime green striped sweater dress and a hot pink pea coat that matched the pink highlights in her hair. Anna was carrying a large pink duffel bag, which she stuffed on the floor as she climbed into the car.

  “What’s going on?” Anna asked Austin. “You didn’t tell me much over the phone.”

  Austin explained where they were going, and Anna glanced over at Craig. He knew that she was wondering why Craig was there. He wanted to explain, but now didn’t seem like the right time – especially because Gabe was in the car.

  Austin had sensed that there had been something going on between Craig and Lexi from the way she froze in the hallways when she saw him. Still, he hadn’t been able to figure out how serious it had been. After all, he had been under the impression that Lexi was madly in love with Gabe. From how weird Gabe had been acting when he and Austin had gone to Long Island together, though, Austin had a feeling that something had happened between them before they left.

  At that moment, Austin’s cell phone rang. He glanced down at the caller ID. It was Mary-Kate Lawrence. Even though he and Mary-Kate were still technically together, Austin didn’t want to be with her anymore. He was quickly falling for Anna, but he still hadn’t figured out a way to break the news to Mary-Kate that they were over.

  When Austin didn’t answer his cell phone after it went to voicemail, it began ringing again. Austin groaned.

  “Will you just answer it, please?” Anna asked. Austin had never known her to get annoyed easily, but she probably didn’t like that Mary-Kate was calling him anymore than he did – or at least, he was hoping that she didn’t.

  Keeping one hand glued to the wheel, Austin put the phone to his ear. “What’s up?”

  “Austin?” Mary-Kate asked shrilly. “What are you doing?”

  “We’re trying to find out where Ben is. Why?”

  Mary-Kate paused for a long moment. “I – I have to ask you a question. Did you come into my house today?”

  Austin hesitated. He hadn’t been planning to tell Mary-Kate that they had just broken into her house. If Greg Lawrence was within listening distance or had somehow figured out a way to tap Mary-Kate’s phone, there was a chance that he might figure out that they had the book. Up until now, he hadn’t thought about the possibility that the mayor might know that he was still alive. Austin didn’t want to risk the chance of Greg Lawrence getting the book back in his own hands before they figured out how to save Lexi. “No, I wasn’t at your house today,” he lied. “Why would you think that?”

  Mary-Kate breathed into the phone nervously. “I told you about my mom’s doctor’s appointment in Philadelphia today. You’re one of the only people who knew that we were gone. When we got back, the door was open, and someone had stolen something – something really important – from my father.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Austin said, trying to sound sympathetic. “Me and Gabe are still in Long Island right now, though. I hope that you guys figure out who broke in.”

  “Right,” Mary-Kate muttered unconvincingly. Austin understood why she didn’t believe that he was being sincere; after all, he had hated her father for months now. The hatred had grown even more intense when Austin had found out that Greg Lawrence had been physically abusing Mary-Kate. Austin had even convinced her to come to live with him, Gabe, and Lexi when they were staying at Ben’s summer house, but Mary-Kate hadn’t wanted to leave her mom, who was becoming sicker by the day with Wilkins’ syndrome.

  In a way, Austin was almost relieved now that Mary-Kate hadn’t taken him up on his offer. If she had, there’s a good chance that she would be in the backseat right now instead of Anna.

  Austin glanced at Anna through the rearview mirror. She was innocently gazing out the window. Austin smiled. He had known Anna for a while, but he had only recently begun to realize that she was the right one for him. Austin hated that it had taken him this long to see it, even though he knew that he should be grateful to have figured it out at all. If things had gone according to his parents’ plan, he wouldn’t even be alive to take a chance with her.

  “So, where exactly are we going?” Craig asked from the backseat.

  Austin stared ahead at the highway; it felt like it was a backdrop that was moving past him, and not the other way around. He glanced in the rearview mirror. “I don’t know.”

  Chapter 2

  ****

  “Ouch,” Lexi grunted as she fell, head first, onto the thick, wet grass. Dan, who had been tightly gripping her ankle, was tossed onto her back as he fell.

  “Are you okay?” Dan asked.

  “I’ll be a lot better if you get off of me,” Lexi snapped.

  Sitting up, she could feel the wet grass soaking through her jeans. Bright colored daisies and pink flowers that Lexi couldn’t identify covered the ground, telling her that wherever they were, it wasn’t winter. The hot sun on her back made Lexi strip off the hooded sweatshirt she had worn into the Lawrence’s house. It appeared to be spring. That or they were in another state with a much warmer climate – possibly somewhere out West or in the South.

  “What just happened?” Lexi asked Dan.

  Dan shook his head. “I – I don’t know.” He held up his arm. “Pinch me.”

  Lexi reached over and pinched the inside of his arm. Part of her was tempted to pinch so hard that it would draw blood, but she knew that now wasn’t the time to take out her anger on Dan. Wherever they were, they had ended up here together . . . and they needed to stick together until they figured out what was going on.

  “Wow, this isn’t a dream,” Dan whispered. He was so close to her face that when he spoke, Lexi could smell his breath; it was an odd, sweet mixture of peppermint and cocoa.

  “Nope, it’s real.” And that was unfortunate. Ever since Lexi had found out that her Aunt Violet, Uncle Tommy, and even her own father were vampires, her life had felt like an out of this world, dream-like roller coaster that she just couldn’t get off of.

  Lexi stood up and glanced around. “We have to figure out where we are. Maybe we can hitchhike our way back to Huntington.”

  Dan raised an eyebrow. “How are you so sure that we’re just in another city? The way we were sucked into that book, it felt like we were being pulled into another realm or something.”

  “Well, maybe we can find something that will tell us where we are,” Lexi replied, shrugging. “A road sign or something. Come on.” Lexi never thought that she would be telling Dan, of all people, to come anywhere with her. Dan was Austin’s best friend, and up until now, she had considered him to be one of her worst enemies. Dan had formed an allianc
e with her Aunt Violet and Uncle Tommy, even though Austin was convinced that Dan had good intentions. Still, Lexi was never able to get over the fact that Dan had attacked her. There wasn’t much that she could do about it right now, though. Dan was here with her whether she liked it or not – and having someone who she didn’t like along for the ride was better than having no one at all, she supposed.

  Lexi and Dan crept through the woods that they had landed in. Everything seemed quiet . . . even quieter than Briar Creek. When they reached a dirt road, they began walking up it.

  “Do you recognize this place?” Lexi whispered to Dan. She wasn’t sure why she was whispering. Lexi just assumed that, wherever they were, they could still be in danger. The book had just reeled them in, but why? There had to be a reason – and Lexi had a feeling that it wasn’t so they could be showered by rays of sunshine and butterflies. Something darker had to be happening here.

  Dan shook his head, his scruffy blonde hair moving with it. “No. I’ve never been here before. Do you?”

  “No. That’s why I asked you.” Lexi scanned the area for a road sign or even a street sign, but there was nothing that would give them any clues as to where they were. She turned to Dan. “Can you call Austin? Tell him that something happened.”

  Dan reached into his pocket and pulled out his BlackBerry. He put the phone to his ear, and a few minutes later, he started laughing. “We have no service. There’s not even an operator to tell me that there’s an error.”

  Lexi scowled. “Why is that funny, you moron? That phone call might have been the only way for us to let Austin know where we are! We have to find service.”

  Dan continued to laugh. “Because isn’t it obvious, Lexi? There are only dirt roads, there’s no cell phone reception and no operators. Wherever we are, it’s obviously not Briar Creek or any time in the present and unless if we somehow ended up in Lancaster . . . we’re in the past.”