Cold as Ice (9 page)

Chapter 14

Austin sat in Anna’s dorm room staring at the walls. He was waiting for her to finish getting ready in the bathroom. They were going to one of the school’s parties that was being held in the gymnasium (which he hadn’t even known existed until they saw the fliers). Even though Anna thought that they needed to start taking their classes more seriously, Austin had somehow managed to convince
her to go to the party tonight.

Partying was one of the things that he really missed about his human life. Actually, he missed having a social life in general. Anna was great and it was cool to get to know Lexi now that he had the opportunity to, but most of the other students at Huntington just seemed so closed off. He got the feeling that they didn’t really want to be around him. It made him feel strange
—
he wasn’t used to being the outcast.

When Anna stepped out of the bathroom, she was wearing a
navy blue
, sparkly strapless dress that fell just above her knees. She wore her pink highlighted hair up, and her eye makeup was more natural-looking than it was when she normally wore it.

Austin’s breath caught in the back of his throat. “You look beautiful,” he whispered.

“Thanks,” Anna replied quietly. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

He glanced down at his own jeans and polo shirt before shaking his head. “Nah, I got nothing on you.”

“I wish that you were on me,” Anna purred, meeting his gaze with her own chocolate brown eyes. Grabbing her clutch, she said, “Come on, let’s go. I hate being the last one to the party.”

Austin held out his arm for her, and they walked out of the dorm room together. They nearly collided with Rhonda and Gabe, who were both standing outside the room, waiting for them.

“You guys are going to the party too, right?” Gabe asked. His voice sounded hesitant, and Austin got the feeling that he didn’t actually want to go.

“Yes, we are,” Anna replied, eyeing Rhonda, who was wearing a short black skirt and a red halter top that was probably against school dress code because of how low cut it was.

Rhonda seemed to notice Anna’s stare because she said, “You look very nice tonight, Anna.”

“Thanks. So do you,” Anna muttered. Austin could just imagine the groan that Anna made inside her head in annoyance at Rhonda’s attempt to suck up to her. Even he had to admit that it was obnoxious enough to deserve a slap upside the head, and he wanted little to do
with girl drama or cat fights.

“Well, we should all go together then, shouldn’t we?” Rhonda suggested, smiling widely at them. “Come on, babe,” she told Gabe, taking his hand.

Austin watched as Anna gritted her teeth next to him. He knew that she was convinced that Rhonda used mind-control over Gabe, which was probably true. It really bothered Anna that Gabe was betraying Lexi without doing anything to put an end to it, though Austin wasn’t sure what Gabe really could do about it. From what he had read over the past few days, Austin understood that it was very difficult to escape mind-control. The person who was being controlled generally didn’t even realize that it was happening to them.

Gabe didn’t seem to notice that anything was going on right now, either. He took her hand and followed her down the hallway, letting her lead the way to the auditorium.

Austin and Anna followed them, keeping a safe distance of a few feet behind them the entire time.

When they reached the auditorium, the music was already blasting. People were on the dance floor and there bowls of punch that Austin had heard were going to be spiked, along with
other
refreshments, laid out on the tables.

“Do you want something?” Austin asked Anna.

“
I’ll have a cup of punch,” she replied with a small smile.

Austin headed off in the direction of the punch tables when two guys came up to him. He recognized them from class—one was named Henry, and the other was named Joe.

“Austin Graham,” Joe said, taking a step towards him. “We know your secret.”

“What secret is that?” Austin asked, raising his eyebrows. Was it possible that they had found his obituary and knew that he was supposed to be dead? But why would it matter to them if they hadn’t even known him before he was supposed to have died?

“You’re a vampire,” Henry replied, his voice a low growl.

Austin felt the anger rise to his cheeks. “Yeah, so what if I am?”

“We think you’re a traitor,” Joe informed him. “We think you let those vampires in Briar Creek know that we’re vampire hunters. It’s all part of your plan to destroy us.”

Austin scoffed. “Nah, seriously, you’re not that special.”

Joe took a step forward, and Austin was positive that he was going to have to block his punch when Anna ran over to him.

“Guys, stop! What’s going on?” Anna cried.

“He’s a vampire. How can you trust him?” Henry yelled at her over the loud boom of the music.

“Austin is a good guy,” she replied through gritted teeth. “He didn’t choose to become a vampire. He would never hurt a fly. I’ve told you guys this already. You need to start being nice to him.”

Henry’s face softened a little, but Joe didn’t seem convinced. He shouted, “How could you be with him like that, Anna? Have you forgotten the reason you’re here?”

Anna’s face fell, and her eyes glistened with tears. As Joe opened his mouth to say something else, she ran from the auditorium.

Austin followed her.

Once he caught up to her, they were nearly back at her dorm room. Anna glanced over her shoulder, noting that he was there, before slumping against the door.

The tears slid down her cheeks, and her eyes were
already
red and puffy. She released tiny sobs.

“Anna, what’s wrong?” Austin asked, kneeling on the ground next to her and taking her into his arms. In all the time he’d known her, he’d never seen her cry. It was surprising that some guy could provoke such strong emotions in her.

Burying her head in his shoulder, Anna didn’t respond right away. Finally, in between sniffles, she explained, “When I came to Huntington, I didn’t expect to fall in love with a vampire.” She sat back and, wiping her tears away on her arm, added, “I didn’t expect that I would want to
become
a vampire.”

“What’s so bad about that?” Austin asked, trying to get her open up to him more.

“A vampire killed my mom, Austin,” Anna replied. “I came here so that I could hunt him down and kill him. But it wasn’t just that. I wanted to kill all the vampires I could—without knowing if they were good or bad—in the hopes that I could prevent at least one person from going through what I went through. I didn’t want anyone else to know what it felt like to lose someone they love because of a vampire.”

“Oh, Anna,” Austin said, kissing her forehead. “I’m so sorry that I had to put you through this. If you don’t want to be with me, I understand the reason why. There will be no harsh feelings between us.”

Anna shook her head and pushed a piece of hair behind her ear. “It’s not that, Austin. I’m not unhappy about this. I want to be with you. To be honest, I’ve fallen in love with you. I’m just not sure how I can want to be a vampire and a vampire hunter at the same time.”

“Anna,” Austin replied. “Look at me. I’m just what you described—a vampire and a vampire
hunter. There’s a difference between good and bad vampires. We’re both good people.”

Anna hesitated. “What if I’m not?”

“What do you mean what if you’re not? Of course you are. I know you,” Austin insisted. “How could you even doubt yourself like that?”

“No, that’s not what I mean,” Anna replied, shaking her head. “I mean, your body accepted the change very well. You’re still the same as you were before you became a vampire. You’re still a nice guy. What if becoming a vampire changes me? What if it makes me bad?”

This time, Austin hesitated. He had known that it was possible for people to become “bad” once they became vampires, but he hadn’t thought about the possibility of this happening to Anna. He had just assumed that she would stay the same, just like he had. Austin wasn’t sure how common it was for vampires personalities
to change when they were turned.

“I don’t know,” Austin replied honestly. “I think this is something that you need to talk to Ben about if you’re worried. Ben has been a vampire for so much longer than me, so he’s probably seen this happen firsthand. I don’t have much experience with it myself.”

Anna nodded. “I think I’ll do that.”

“Are you having doubts about becoming a vampire?” Austin asked. He didn’t want to think about what would happen to him if she didn’t make the decision to become a vampire. Imagining the rest of his life without her made him feel sick to his stomach.

If
it turned out that she didn’t want to become a vampire,
he knew that he should separate himself from her right now so that it would hurt less for him in the long run. Except that wasn’t even possible at this point. Austin was
in
so deep at this point that being away from Anna would probably leave him with withdrawal symptoms. He needed her in his life; even if that meant that he could only have her until she
lived out the life of a mortal.

“Well, a little, but not for the reasons you’re thinking,” Anna admitted. Blushing, she added, “Once I’m a vampire, I’ll miss when you drink my blood.”

Austin smiled. “I will, too.” It was one of the truest things he had ever said; just thinking about the sweet taste of Anna’s blood drove him crazy. And he thought about it often—late at night when she was in her dorm room and he was in his, when he was in class, when he was taking a shower. He just couldn’t get enough of
the way she tasted.

“I wish everyone here would start being nicer to you,” Anna commented. “If they can’t accept you—one of the nicest people I know—how are they going to accept me once I’m a vampire, too?”

Austin shrugged. “I guess we’ll both just have to prove to them that we’re on their side. It should be a piece of cake.”

Anna smiled. “I love you, Graham Cracker.”

“I love you, too, Anna Banana.”

Chapter 15

“I think we might be late for your class,” Lexi told Craig, as they began walking into the park.

“Oh, I don’t really have a class,” he laughed. “I only said that to make the security guards believe that we would be back soon. Noah can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.”

“Noah?” Lexi asked with raised eyebrows, remembering the child who had bit her leg at Splish ‘N Splash when she worked there. There was no doubt that he was a bit of a pain in the ass, but what did he have to do with anything?

“The security guard,” Craig replied. “His cousin is Brandon. I’m pretty sure you used to hang out with him when you went to school in Briar Creek.”

“Oh.”
That
Noah. Lexi recalled when she had met him and he had told her that he was a werewolf, but that his cousin was Brandon, one of her old co-workers who Mary-Kate had happened to be cheating on Austin with. It had confused her, but it turned out that they
were cousins through marriage.

“Do you smell something?” Craig asked, interrupted her thoughts about Noah.

“No,” Lexi shook her head. “But I guess my sense of smell probably isn’t as good as yours,
anyway.” Vampires were supposed to have amazing noses from what she understood, which was why it was so necessary for her to wear the bat pendant. She touched it, just to make sure that it was still there. Depending on what types of dangers were lurking in the park today, she was going to need it.

Craig sniffed loudly. “I’m pretty sure I can smell Gabe.”

Lexi had thought that vampires couldn’t smell each other, only the scent of humans. But she wasn’t about to question him right now. If it meant they were one step closer to saving Gabe
and getting out of there
, it wasn’t worth arguing over.

Something chimed loudly, and Lexi jumped. She glanced around to see if there was anyone nearby, but there wasn’t.

When she glanced over at Craig, she breathed a sigh of relief. He was glancing down at the cell phone he held in his hands. The sound she had heard must have been a text message notification.

Craig handed her the phone. “Read this.”

Lexi took the phone from him and read the open text message. The top of the screen said it was from Gabe.

I’m not sure if I’m going to survive this.

“We need to hurry up and find him. He’s obviously in a lot of danger,” Craig told her when she met his eyes, which looked darker than usual under the night sky. “I think he’s up that hill over there,” he said, pointing in the direction of a steep slope that was surrounded by a covering of trees.

Lexi hesitated. It was really dark past the area where they were standing. She doubted that the hill had any lighting. There might be wild animals nearby—or whatever it was that was putting
Gabe in danger at that moment. Possibly Greg Lawrence or her aunt and uncle. Was she really ready to defend herself against them, without the help of anyone except for Craig, and in the dark, no less?

“Are you coming?” Craig, who was already ascending the path that led up the hill, called down to her.

Deciding that she would look like a chicken if she didn’t go with him, Lexi nodded. “Yes, I’m coming.” She crept up the path behind him, her shoes digging into the cold gravel.

The hill was even steeper than it looked from far away and by the time they reached the top, Lexi felt out of breath.

As she suspected, there was no lighting at the top of the hill. Aside from the light from the moon, the only thing that filled her field of vision was the dark silhouette of trees.

“Craig?” she whispered. “It doesn’t look like he’s up here.”

“I can smell him,” Craig insisted. “It’s just a little further, Lexi. You’re not backing out of this now, are you?”

“No,” Lexi replied quietly, following him further into the woods. Goose bumps shot up and down her arms, and a strange feeling began to develop in her stomach. This wasn’t right. She wasn’t sure what it was, but something about this just wasn’t right.

“Ouch!” Craig cried, and Lexi watched as he tripped over something.

Rushing over to him, she quickly realized that the “something” was a tree stump. “Are you okay?” Lexi asked, kneeling down on the ground.

Craig didn’t answer. Was he unconscious?

Glancing down at him, she noticed that there was a rock next to his head. It looked like he had
hit it really hard. Had it punctured his brain? What if she was all on her own now?

Lexi’s knee brushed against something cold and hard. Picking it up, she realized that Craig’s cell phone must have fallen out of his pocket when he fell.
She was glad that she had found it; now, she could call for help. She just wasn’t sure if she should call 911 or Austin and Anna, since Craig was a vampire.

Before she could make a decision, she noticed that there
was one new text message.

When she opened it, she found that it was from Gabe.

Hey Craig, let me know if you’ve gotten any of the messages I’ve been sending you. xoxo, Karla.

Karla? What the hell. Karla was the girl who Lexi used to work with at Splish ‘N Splash. She hadn’t even realized that Karla and Craig knew each other—or Karla and Gabe. What was Karla doing using Gabe’s phone number?

Going back through the other text messages on the phone, Lexi realized there were more messages from Gabe than Craig had told her about—except they had nothing to do with him being in danger or at Bear Cliff State Park.

Opening one of the text messages that Craig had sent Gabe, Lexi read what it said:

Hey Karla, can you send me these text messages from your phone? I’m trying to trick someone into thinking they’re from someone else.

Karla’s response had been:
Haha, sure. I want to hear all about it later, tho!

Lexi felt sick to her stomach. Now she understood why she had felt like something was wrong. Gabe had never actually sent Craig any text messages in the first place. He wasn’t actually at Bear Cliff State Park. Well, maybe he was, but not under the circumstances that Craig had led her to believe. But if that was the case, then why had he brought her here?

Just as Lexi was about to put the phone back in Craig’s pocket so that he wouldn’t know that she went through his text messages, she felt his arm come down on her elbow.

Craig whispered,
“You should have just given me your blood when I asked you nicely for it. I gave you the chance, but you didn’t take it. I’m going to drink from your blood, anyway. Not that it should be such a bad thing for you. After all, you said you love when vampires drink from you.”

His grip on her arm became tighter, just as his other arm closed around her neck.

Lexi cried out into the darkness of the night, knowing that no one would hear her screams. Dan’s face flashed through her mind before she closed her eyes, shutting out Craig’s angry face.