Cold as Ice (17 page)

Chapter 26

Dan reached over and grabbed her hand for moral support. Smiling at him, Lexi explained, “I’m interested in your son because I love him. It doesn’t matter that he’s a vampire to me. He’s just Dan.”

Caroline smiled a little, and Lexi got the feeling that Dan’s sister was pleased with her answer. Mrs. Nichols, on the other hand, didn’t seem too convinced.

“Is it because of our family? Our wealth?” she questioned. “Because if you’re just after money, I’d be willing to write you a check.”

“Mom, what are you saying?” Dan asked. “You want to pay Lexi to not see me anymore?”

His mother shrugged. “I’m just trying to understand the situation that’s going on here. I can’t figure out why such a pretty girl like her would have any interest in
you
.” The emphasis that she put on
you
made it sound like Dan w
as nothing more than a monster.

Glancing over at Dan, Lexi noticed that he blinked. His face was unreadable otherwise, though.

“He’s one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. Quite honestly, I think he’s the one for me,” Lexi replied, meeting his mom’s eyes.

“Well, I think you should reconsider the choices you’re making. I guarantee that there’s a nice human boy out there for you,” Mrs. Nichols replied, breaking their gaze.

“Mom, what’s your problem?” Dan asked, his cheeks flushing a shade of red. The hurt and anger were obvious in his voice. “You don’t like Lexi so you’re trying to make her break up with me?”

“Oh, Dan, don’t be silly. How could I have formed an opinion about Lexi in the ten minutes I’ve sat across the room from her. The girl’s hardly said a word. She seems nice enough,” Mrs. Nichols replied. “I’m more worried about her. I don’t want you w
recking this poor girl’s life.”

“There’s no way he could possibly wreck my life,” Lexi protested, shaking her head. “Not with all of the times he’s saved my life.”

“Well, that’s lucky for you, I suppose,” his mother replied. “Because Dan has completely destroyed ours.”

Mrs. Nichols stood up and flounced out of the room, the sound of her heels clicking all the way down the hallway until she slammed a door loudly.

Mr. Nichols gave them all an apologetic look before standing up and following after his wife.

Caroline looked down at the ground. “You better go, Danny. I don’t think this is going to turn out so great. I was hoping that Mom wouldn’t pull this today. I even made her promise that she wouldn’t, but she didn’t listen.” She shook her head in disgust.

Dan shook his head. “No, I’m not just going to leave because you want me out of here before things get worse. I deserve an explanation. Why is Mom acting like this all of a sudden out of nowhere?”

Caroline hesitated before saying, “She hates that you made us uproot our lives and live here. She’s embarrassed that her son’s a vampire. She says it affects our image. I guess she’s embarrassed by all of her elite friends who think she’s a bad mom because her son doesn’t live at home.” His sister rolled her eyes. “I don’t think it’s only that, though. I think she’s afraid of you. It’s silly and crazy, Danny. I know you would never hurt a fly, but Mom’s not so sure.” Shrugging, she pointed at the door with her chin. “Now, you better leave before things start to get ugly.”

Dan stood up and rushed to the door. Lexi followed at his heel, giving Caroline a small wave over her sh
oulder, as they walked outside.

Once they were in the car, Dan turned to Lexi. “I’m sorry about that in there. I didn’t know my Mom was going to pull that shit.”

“It’s okay,” Lexi replied. “It’s not your fault. Trust me, I know all about crazy families.”

“I never had a crazy family until right now,” Dan explained. “We always got along. My parents are great parents—well, they were. They were always supportive of what I wanted, and they were just good people. I never knew they felt this way about me. Not until today.” Lexi could tell from the tone of his voice that he wasn’t just angry by his mom’s outburst; he was more hurt a
nd betrayed than anything else.

“If only I wasn’t a vampire,” Dan muttered, as he pulled out of the driveway.

Lexi reached over and grabbed his hand. His skin felt cold against her own touch. “It’s not because of you,” she told him. “It’s because of their own insecurities. Besides, I’m not sure if I would like you as much if you were just a lame human guy. I’m happy you’re a vampire.”

He locked his fingers with hers and kissed her knuckles. “I’m so glad that I have you.”

“I’m glad I have you, too,” Lexi replied. And boy, was she ever.

*

When they got back to Huntington, Lexi and Dan were shocked to find that the school was under a security alert again.

“What’s going on?” Dan asked, rolling down the window to the car he was driving. It was a rental that he was using until he found a car that he wanted to buy. His own car was in Briar Creek, and he was afraid to go back to get it out of fear of Violet and Tom figuring out where he was staying.

“There’s been a murder on campus,” Beck said into the open car window. “Can you prove you’re students?”

“We have to take Stakeology class with Professor Fleur,” Lexi spoke up from the passenger’s seat. She hoped that her answer would be good enough for getting the both of them back into Huntington because Dan hadn’t actually started his classes yet because they had all been cancelled for Christmas break since he’d gotten back, so technically, he probably wasn’t considered a student.

Luckily, it was good enough for the guards. They let them through with no other questions.

“I wonder who was murdered,” Lexi muttered under her breath. She felt relieved that Austin and Anna weren’t getting back until the following day, so she didn’t have to worry about it being either of them. As far as Lexi knew, her dad was supposed to be spending the day with Darlene and the kids, so it was doubtful that it was him, either.

Luckily, she didn’t know many other people who lived on campus . . . and the ones she did know, she didn’t care about.

A thought crossed Lexi’s mind. Was it just Craig Lindstrom who had been murdered? Even though the security guards had been okay with it when it had happened, maybe they were going back on their word. Maybe they were bringing it to everyone’s attention now.

Lexi quickly shook the thought away. Beck had said that the teacher had been murdered
on
campus, not off campus. Craig Lindstrom hadn’t died on campus. It definitely wasn’t him. It was someone else, which meant that two people who lived at Huntington
had died within the past week.

“I can’t believe she’s gone,” one student whimpered as they approached the steps that led into the school.
“She was my favorite teacher.”

“Mine, too,” another student sobbed. “Her classes were so interesting!”

Okay, so it was a teacher who had been killed on campus,
not
a student. For some reason, that surprised Lexi. She had been expecting it to be another student, but who would actually have the galls to kill a teacher? What was even more surprising was that whoever had killed the teacher was actually able to. From what Lexi understood, some of the teachers at Hunti
ngton were extremely powerful.

Still, knowing that it was a teacher who had been murdered and not a student made Lexi feel a little bit better, at least. She didn’t have to worry about it being her father or any of her friends.

“They don’t even know who killed her!” another student cried. “This shit better go on Unsolved Mysteries or something if they don’t find out who the murderer is. I don’t know if I feel safe here anymore.”

Once they were inside the school, Lexi’s eyes fell on the banner that had already been hung from the ceiling. It
read: Rest Easy, Veronica Hart.

Chapter 27

A wave of shivers trailed down Lexi’s spine. Veronica was dead. Not just dead . . . murdered by someone who hadn’t been identified yet.

Part of her wanted to believe that it was just a random murder, but knowing that the death had happened on campus made it seem so much less likely. They were at a school with vampire hunters, which meant that they were surrounded by peaceful people who wanted to prevent murders from happening . . . not cause them.

If Veronica had been killed, there was a chance that someone at Huntington was there under false pretenses. Maybe it was similar to the way Craig had wanted to kill Lexi; someone at Huntington had been here, pretending to be a good student or teacher, when re
ally they had ulterior motives.

Or maybe one of the students had killed Veronica just because they knew she was a vampire. If they were really there to be vampire hunters, they might not care if someone was good or bad. She prayed that she wouldn’t have to worry about Dan, Ben, or Austin now if a lot of vampires who lived at the school started turning up dead.

“Are you okay?” Dan whispered to her, his sky blue eyes flitting over at her. “You look a little pale.”

“Yeah, I’m okay. I’m just really surprised about Veronica,” Lexi said quietly, nodding up at the sign that hung above them.

Dan stared back at her kind of blankly, and she realized it was because she hadn’t told him very much about Veronica yet. She hadn’t gotten under Lexi’s skin lately, so she’d had no reason to bring her up in conversation.

“She’s the vampire who created my father . . . and Gabe,” Lexi explained. Just saying Gabe’s name out loud now made her feel kind of weird. All she wanted to do was forget about him, but that was difficult when they lived under the same roof and would be sure to bump
into each other all the time.

She half wanted to report him for Justin’s death, but she wasn’t sure who to tell or what good it would even do. Gabe was a vampire. A normal jail wouldn’t be able to hold him inside—he could just turn into a bat and fly away.

“I wonder how they’re both doing right now,” Dan said, snapping her back to reality and confirming that part of what Craig had told her about Rose dying was, in fact, true. Vampires really did feel broken when the vampire who created them or who they had created died. Lexi had a feeling that both her father and Gabe were probably in a lot of physical pain right now, especially since they both s
aw Veronica on a regular basis.

She felt sorry that her father had to go through this, but it didn’t bother her that Gabe might be in pain. After what he’d done to Justin, he deserved all the pain that could be inflicted upon him, in her opinion.

“Come on, let’s go back to our room,” D
an said, tugging on her elbow.

Glancing around at the students who were beginning to pile up to see the banner that had been hung in memory of Veronica, Lexi nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”

*

Rhonda lay in bed, waiting for Gabe to sit up. He had needed a midafternoon nap. Well, technically, it wasn’t actually a nap since he wasn’t really asleep. But Gabe had a tendency to relax more than other vampires did. He had explained to her that the reason was because he had visions, so he needed to be in a relaxed state. Rhonda understood because even she had to admit that she felt more relaxed than when she slept as a human, and her energy lasted her all day now—as long as she fed regularly.

Thinking about her hunger, she sighed. Rhonda hated the whole Hunter’s curse thing that Gabe had told her about when Craig Lindstrom had nearly drunk her blood at the hotel in Long Island. It didn’t seem fair that vampires couldn’t drink from other vamps—especially when they were in love. There was a part of Rhonda that so wanted to sink her teeth into Gabe’s flesh and taste the yummy crimson fluid as it poured out of his veins. She wondered if he would have stronger feelings for her if they could drink from each other. That was the only thing that Lexi had over her: the ability to give Gabe blood whenever he needed it.

As much as she was tempted to do it, Rhonda knew that it was a bad idea. She didn’t want to die. Instead, she would just have to settle with staring at Gabe all day long. That, in itself, gave her butterflies, especially when he was awake and was able to stare back at her. He had the sexie
st blue eyes she had ever seen.

Next to her, Gabe shot straight up in bed, clutching his chest. His eyes were filled with worry, and it was obvious that he was panicking about something.

“Gabe? What’s wrong?” Rhonda asked. She had never seen him act like this before.

“Veronica,” Gabe muttered under his breath. “S-she’s dead.”

“What?” Rhonda laughed. “Gabe, you’re not making any sense. What do you mean Veronica’s dead?”

Gabe turned and glared at her. “This isn’t funny. I don’t appreciate you laughing.”

“Sorry,” Rhonda replied, pouting her lips.
Please forgive me
, she commanded. “What do you mean, though? How do you know she’s dead?”

Gabe’s face immediately softened. “I mean she’s dead. Vampires can always feel when the vampire who created them has died. It’s like part of us is missing, sort of. I feel an empty spot, sort of where my heart used to be.” He began to shiver. “I need to go—I need to go to her to see what happened.”

Before Rhonda said another word, he had already leaped out of his bed and was
outside of their room already.

She knew that she could do something to stop him if she really wanted to, but the truth was that she was having a really hard time controlling her excitement. Every inch of her body hated Veronica. Not only had Veronica threatened to kill her, but she also felt a little threatened by her. She hadn’t met anyone else who she thought might
know how
to use mind-control the way she did, but Veronica seemed like one vampire who might have been able to if she had tried. She was certainly beautiful enough to get her way, and it was obvious that she and Gabe had a past.

If she were to be around Gabe right now, Rhonda knew that he would pick up on the fact that she was really happy about Veronica’s death. She was all smiles and inside she felt like jumping for joy, which she knew would proba
bly make her seem insensitive.

In fact, Rhonda thought, getting up and dancing around the room, it was one of the happiest days of her life . . . or at least since she’d became a vampire. The other happiest day that she could remember was when Gabe had approached her in the bar the first night they’d met.

The only thing that could have made her happier was if Lexi was the one who had died instead of Veronica.

Speaking of Lexi . . . Rhonda wanted to make sure that Gabe wouldn’t go to her for comfort today. Going out of the dorm room, she walked next door to the room that Lexi and Anna shared. She was about to knock when the door was opened, and Dan stepped outside.

Rhonda’s heart skipped a beat.

There was something about Dan that was really appealing to her. He had this California surfer boy look to him; his skin glowed more than any other vampire’s she’d seen, and his sandy blonde hair and blu
e eyes were simply scrumptious.

It also had something to do with the way she had seen him act when he was around Lexi. Lexi was nothing more than just a weak human being; she obviously did not possess the power of mind-control like Rhonda did. And yet, Dan seemed so into her. Their relationship seemed so different from the
one that Rhonda had with Gabe.

She had no doubts that Gabe would naturally give into her if she just let him decide for himself, but a part of her was afraid to risk it. She was too afraid to stop controlling him that she barely knew how he really felt. It was like he was her puppet, and she was too afraid to let go of the string.

Rh
onda loved Gabe—in fact, she didn’t just love him, she needed him. There was no doubt about that. But if she was going to live forever, it wouldn’t hurt Gabe’s feelings that much if she cheated on him with Dan
just once
to see what it would be like to be with another guy . . . would it?

Dan’s eyes fell on her and his lips turned into a warm smile. “Hello.”

“Hi there, hot stuff,” Rhonda said in a low breathy voice.
Invite yourself to my dorm room,
she commanded him.

She waited for him to ask to come inside, and when he didn’t, she found herself feeling genuinely surprised.

“Have you heard about the murder?” Dan asked, making polite conversation with her.

Rhonda nodded. “Veronica Hart, right?”
Touch me
, she commanded him.

Dan nodded. “It’s such a shame. Lexi thought that Gabe would be upset about it,” he said casually. He kept both of his hands at his sides and stayed a safe few feet away from her.

“Oh, um, yeah, he is,” Rhonda replied, trying to focus on the conversation that they were having instead of the bigger issue at hand—the fact that Dan wasn’t doing anyt
hing she was telling him to do.

Flashing him a flirty smile, she decided that she was going to try one last time.
Forget about Lexi, and just kiss me
, she thought, staring deep into his friendly sky blue eyes.

“Well, I should go do what I was gonna do,” Dan explained. “We need some water bottles for our room. By the time I get back, Lexi should be out of the shower.” Smiling at her, he continued his way down the hall.

Rhonda stood there, gaping at him. Why hadn’t her mind-control worked on him? He was the first vampire who had been subjected to her mental commands and had simply walked on by, not doing what she had told him and not being affected by her at all. How could this happen?

She could feel the anger rising to her cheeks; she was really mad about this. She hadn’t realized, until now, how much she really wanted Dan. She wanted him more than she wanted anyone in her life. She had to get him.

Rhonda decided that she wasn’t about to give up. She was going to try again until she was successful in her commands. The next time she saw Dan, she was going to make him do exactly
what she wanted.