Change of Fate (The Briar Creek Vampires Series #4) Page 2

  Lexi felt her forehead scrunch up as she replied, “That’s not even possible. People don’t just go back in time.”

  Dan shrugged. “Normally, they don’t get sucked into a book either. Besides, we’re not people.” He paused. “Well, I’m not at least.”

  Lexi sighed, getting his point. And he was right. If vampires could exist, there was really no reason why time travel couldn’t exist either. Even though Dan was right, the whole concept just seemed so far-fetched. “Well, I have an idea,” Lexi said.

  An hour later, Lexi and Dan were standing outside of the town’s small general store. Wherever they were, a general store and a small diner appeared to be the only things that this town had.

  Lexi found what they were looking for stacked in a large pile in front of the door. The newspaper displayed a large headline: “Estimated 200 mysterious deaths” – an alarming news story for such a small town. Lexi glanced to the top of the newspaper. The date read: May 12th, 1822.

  “Oh my God,” Lexi whispered, cupping her hands over her mouth. A few people glanced over at her. The date explained the long black skirts and the hats the women were wearing; the neutral colors were appropriate for the time period. It made Lexi’s own denim jeans and skin-revealing lacy tank top stick out like a sore thumb. If Lexi and Dan were going to be stuck in this town for any length of time, they were going to need to find some new clothing so that they would blend in better.

  1822. How in the world had they traveled back to 1822? “I don’t understand what happened,” Lexi told Dan as they walked down the dirt road, in the direction opposite of the way they had come from. “All I did was open that book and read what was on the page.”

  “It must have had some sort of magic,” Dan replied, following closely behind Lexi.

  “How do you think we can get back?” Lexi asked quietly as they passed by an old man dressed in a suit. He eyed Dan’s polo shirt. At first Lexi thought he was looking at it like it was inappropriate, but then she realized that there was a look of curiosity on his face. He’d obvious never seen a polo shirt before. Polo shirts hadn’t been around in 1822.

  “I don’t know,” Dan replied. “First, we’re going to have to figure out what you did to get us here in the first place. Then, hopefully, we can reverse it.”

  Lexi stopped dead in her tracks and whirled around to look at him. “What do you mean what I did? Are you blaming me for this?”

  Dan shrugged. “You are the one who opened the book and read what the page said. Not me. You should be thanking me. I tried to save you and instead I got sucked in with you.”

  Lexi glared at him for a few minutes before turning on her heel and stomping way. That was it. She had tried to be nice to Dan so far, but this obviously wasn’t going to work if he seriously blamed her for this. He made it seem like she had planned to get stuck in the early nineteenth century . . . with him, of all people.

  Lexi didn’t need Dan to help her figure a way to get out of here. She was going to be fine on her own, just the way she had been before Gabe had come back to her after she thought he had died after the car accident that he had tried to kill her in.

  Gabe. As much as Lexi was trying to stay strong, she couldn’t help but feel pain when she realized that she couldn’t just call him the same way she would have been able to do if she was back in present time. And to think that Lexi had refused to say goodbye to him the last time she had seen him because he had cheated on her with Veronica. No, actually, she hadn’t. All she saw was Veronica taking her clothes off in front of Gabe. That didn’t mean that anything actually happened between the two of them. Maybe Gabe was just as upset with Lexi for jumping to conclusions.

  Lexi loved Gabe, and she was going to find a way to get back into his arms as soon as she could – without the help of Dan.

  *

  Lexi turned the corner and saw a small rectangular building which featured a bell on its roof. Since she had read all of the Little House on the Prairie books for her fourth grade book reports, she immediately recognized it as a one room schoolhouse.

  Just then, the door opened and a few girls came down the front steps. All of them were tall and slender, and they all wore dark dresses that hit just above their ankles.

  Lexi was about to cross the street and leave, not wanting to draw attention to herself, when she realized that the girls had already spotted her from across the road. Actually, they hadn’t just spotted her; they were all staring at her and whispering to each other.

  Their whispering reminded Lexi of what her first day of school at Briar Creek High had been like. Everyone had seemed so interested in her – so intrigued by her – that it had been uncomfortable. She’d been asked tons of questions about the car accident and Gabe, which she hadn’t wanted to talk about. Of course she hadn’t known at the time that all of the questions were because everyone knew that she was a Hunter and that the townspeople were in dire need of her blood.

  “Hey, you,” one of the girls called. When Lexi looked up, the dark-haired girl in the center of the group nodded. “Yeah, you. Come here.”

  Lexi felt the heat rise to her cheeks. Why would this girl possibly want to talk to her? Reluctantly, she crossed the dirt road. She searched for the right words to sound polite. “Can I help you?”

  “Do you attend school here?” the girl asked.

  Lexi shook her head. “No, I don’t.”

  The girl folded her hands in front of her skirt and stared at Lexi curiously. “Your outfit. There’s something funny about it. It’s very . . . different. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

  Lexi didn’t have to look down at her denim jeans and hoodie to understand what the girl was talking about. “It’s a new style from Paris,” Lexi lied. “My father got it for me when he was stationed overseas.”

  The girl stared back at her quizzically for a few minutes before she seemed to accept her answer as the truth.

  “We also haven’t ever seen you around,” one of the girls next to her, this time a blonde, spoke up. “Are you new here?”

  “We’re just passing through town,” Lexi replied. “I should really go see if I can find my mother and father now. They’re probably looking for me. It was a pleasure meeting you girls,” she said, adding a sarcastic emphasis. She forced a tight smile before turning in the other direction.

  If Lexi was going to be sticking around this town for any period of time, she knew one thing was for sure: she was going to have to find some new clothes to change into so that she wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb any longer. She really didn’t need – and didn’t want – any unnecessary attention drawn on herself while she was here.

  Chapter 3

  ****

  Rhonda sat up in bed, wrapping the white hotel room sheet around her body, as more of a protective barrier than anything else from the college frat who she had met at the bar the night before. His name was Dennis, and he was going to be a dentist. What a joke.

  After she’d killed her roommate, Michelle, Rhonda hadn’t gone back to her dorm room. In fact, she knew that she could never go back there. People would begin to suspect what she had done, if they didn’t already. It probably didn’t help that Rhonda had taken off immediately after she had finished devouring every last drop of Michelle’s blood.

  Now, she wanted more. Actually, scratch that. Rhonda didn’t want more; she needed more.

  Rhonda glanced over at Dennis, who was snoring softly beside her. Normally, Rhonda wasn’t the type of girl who just went home with a guy after meeting him for the first time, though it seemed as though she were beginning to make a habit out of it. First the cute guy, Gabe, and now Dennis. Tonight though, it had been necessary, so she had chosen the least attractive guy she could find in the bar in hopes that he wouldn’t turn her down.

  Luckily for her, he hadn’t.

  Rhonda leaned over and whispered, “I promise this won’t hurt.” She knew that she was lying, though. When Gabe had drunk from her, it had been one of the most pai
nful experiences in her life; at the same time, it had been a pleasurable sort of pain. With any luck, Dennis wouldn’t even wake up.

  Rhonda sank her teeth into Dennis’s neck, puncturing his skin. The blood immediately began pouring out of the wound and she lapped it up with her tongue.

  Dennis mumbled something in his sleep, and Rhonda pulled away for a moment. When he didn’t wake up, she began sucking the wound again, drinking the sweet crimson blood until she was satisfied.

  “What are you doing?” he whispered, in a daze.

  “Nothing, just . . . kissing you,” Rhonda lied, straddling him. “You’re just so hot.”

  Dennis pushed her away sleepily. “Look, you’re just not my type. I don’t think this is going to work out. You should probably go,” he said, motioning to her clothes on the floor.

  Even he wasn’t interested in her? A wave of anger rushed through Rhonda’s body; she wanted to drain this guy of all his sweet, delicious blood, the same way she had drained her roommate’s blood. Rhonda was afraid to draw any more attention to herself, though. So, with one last gulp from the wound, Rhonda climbed out of bed and gathered her clothes to take into the bathroom.

  Locking the door, she glanced at herself in the mirror. Her strawberry blonde hair was a disheveled mess, and her eyes were sunken in. Rhonda’s skin, which was naturally fair, was probably about five shades paler now.

  Rhonda knew she was a vampire now. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. What she didn’t know was what was going to happen to her. When she drank a person’s blood, she felt normal. When she didn’t, it was all she could think about. What was she supposed to do? Pick up a random guy every night to feed off of? Eventually, rumors would start; someone would catch on. Rhonda knew that there was only one person who could help her – and she really didn’t want his help. She hated him for what he had done to her. She hated herself more, for going home with some random guy who had paid attention to her that night.

  Sighing, Rhonda realized that there wasn't much that she could do about it now. It was already done; it's not like she could go back to that night and change the past. She just wished she could.

  Chapter 4

  ****

  An hour later, Lexi found herself walking down a dirt road, with no idea of where it could possibly lead to. That didn’t matter, though. She had a plan – a plan that would help her remain inconspicuous in this time period where, right now, she looked like a foreigner.

  There had to be a clothing store here somewhere, didn’t there? People had to get their clothes somewhere. This was the 19th century; surely there were clothing stores.

  Lexi wondered what Dan was going to do about clothes. As soon as she thought of him, she reminded herself that she couldn’t think about Dan or she was only going to get angry again. When she had left him at the general store, he had stood there with a look of disappointment on his face, like he was hurt that Lexi was going to just leave him there. She didn’t care, though. He was the one who had been a jerk, as usual.

  It’s not like there was a rule book that they had to follow while they were stranded in this town, but even if there had been, Lexi was confident that it wouldn’t say that she had to stay with Dan the whole entire time. As it was, Dan was probably trying to figure out a way to kill her before they got back to Briar Creek so that he could serve her blood up to the whole town. It would make him the shining star of Briar Creek; he would be the one who saved everyone . . . except for Lexi.

  As Lexi approached a cul-de-sac in the dirt road, she spotted it. A clothes line hung from two trees in the back of a small cottage. Long, flowing dresses were gently tossed around in the air by the spring breeze.

  Crouching in the bushes, Lexi glanced in the backyard. There was no one outside. The house appeared to be completely dark, but it was only mid-afternoon in the 1800s . . .

  It didn’t matter. Lexi knew that if she was going to do this, she was going to need to act now. It was now or never.

  Standing up, she darted into the backyard and ran over to the first dress she could find. It was a long, flowing beige dress which appeared to be about her size. As she unclipped it from the clothes line, Lexi heard the sound of footsteps. Shit.

  Ducking behind a bush next to the house, she held her breath. It was going to be really bad if she got caught right now. They’d probably put her in jail for the rest of her life, and then she would never figure out how to get back to Gabe. And would her mom even be able to visit her in ghost form in this time period? Lexi didn’t know, but she didn’t want to find out.

  A woman stood in front of the clothes line and huffed loudly, obviously noticing that the dress was missing. Lexi braced herself for what was about to come next.

  The woman glanced around the yard. After a few moments, the woman walked away. Lexi heard the sound of the door being closed and breathed a sigh of relief. This had been a close call.

  As she tried to decide whether she should change into the dress right now or if she should wait until she was out of sight so that the woman wouldn’t spot her wearing it, Lexi heard a voice coming from the front yard. “Albert! Albert Hunter!”

  Lexi froze. Albert Hunter. Was it the same Albert Hunter who she was thinking of?

  Staying crouched behind the bush, Lexi scanned the dirt walkway that led up to the house. A tall man with a muscular build was walking up it. “Matthias! Fancy seeing you today! It’s such a lovely day, isn’t it?”

  Fancy seeing you today? Stifling a giggle, Lexi reminded herself that people talked somewhat differently in the 1800s. Thankfully, she hadn’t landed in the 1600s, which was, Lexi recalled from Literature class, when people used Old English expressions like “where art thou?”

  “Aye, it is quite lovely,” the man, who must be Matthias, replied. Taking a step closer to Albert and lowering his voice, Matthias continued. “How is Belinda after Sunday’s incident?”

  “A little shaken up if I do say so myself. I’m confident that she will get past this. Belinda’s a strong woman. She just wishes that the church folk wouldn’t judge her so harshly.”

  “It’s a shame. Elizabeth and I were planning to pay her a visit soon. We wanted to offer her our condolences.”

  “That won’t be necessary for a few more moons. She’s ashamed by the way her face looks presently,” Albert replied. A few more moons? That must mean a few more months. What had happened to this Belinda woman’s face that was so bad that she didn’t want to see anyone for a few months? Lexi couldn’t even begin to imagine.

  “Quite understandable. It’s a damn shame,” Matthias said, shaking his head. “Be sure to send her our warmest wishes . . . and please let her know that we know she’s not a witch.”

  Witch! Lexi was right. This was Albert Hunter – the same Albert Hunter who the witch who had cursed the town of Briar Creek had been in love with. This must have meant that Belinda was the witch.

  “Of course,” Albert replied, nodding. “She’ll be glad to hear that. I should really be on my way now. I had to fetch her some garlic from the market for supper. I wouldn’t want to keep her waiting.”

  “I understand,” Matthias replied, knowingly. “Good day, Albert.”

  “Good day,” Albert replied, turning on his heel and walking back towards the dirt road.

  Once Matthias had gone back in the house and closed the door behind him loudly, Lexi did what she knew she had to do. Standing up, she ran from her place behind the bush to the pine trees that lined the lawn. Ducking in the hopes that no one from the house would see her, Lexi crept along the property line, careful not to crunch the leaves under her feet too noisily.

  When she was out of the yard, she followed Albert, making sure to stay about one hundred feet behind him. Lexi knew from what Gabe had told her that Albert had become a vampire after a man named Zachary Wilkinson had accidentally turned him. From what Lexi could tell right now, though, Albert didn’t seem to be a vampire. At least, he wasn’t acting like an evil one. And what had h
appened to Belinda? Matthias had said that he and Elizabeth, who Lexi had assumed was his wife, didn’t believe that she was a witch.

  If only they knew that Belinda really was a witch. Would that make them think differently of her? Lexi knew that the Salem witch trials had ended in the late 16th century, but she doubted that people had ever warmed up to the idea of a person practicing witchcraft. Did Albert know that Belinda, his lover, was a witch?

  As Lexi continued to follow Albert, it began to grow dark out. Lexi wondered where Dan might be. Where was he planning to sleep? Where would she sleep? Lexi hadn’t even thought of that. She supposed that she could try to find someone who would invite her in, but she would probably be better off trying to risk it outside. Talking to anyone seemed too risky.

  What if Dan figured out how to get back to the 21st century before she did? Would he try to find her so that he could bring her along with him . . . or would he just leave her here to fend for herself? She probably deserved it after the way she had just left him at the general store without even looking back.

  Whatever, Lexi thought to herself. Dan deserved it. He was potentially dangerous, and she knew that there was no way she could trust him. She shouldn’t. It was too risky. Maybe if she was the one to figure out how to get out of here first, she would leave him stuck here forever so that he couldn’t hurt her in present time again.

  Once they had walked about a mile, Albert began walking up a dirt path. From the left side of the house, Lexi heard the sound of running water. She could see the moon’s reflection in the water, and she recalled that Gabe had said that Albert and the witch lived in a shack alongside a river. The two-story house that loomed ahead of them didn’t look like a shack, though; it looked very large in comparison to the other houses that she had noticed in the area.

  When she heard the sound of the door closing, Lexi snuck into the yard. It was easier to do this time; the darkness of the night and the shadows that loomed from the tall trees provided enough coverage for her to sneak alongside the house.