Kiss of Death (The Briar Creek Vampires, #1) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (22 page)

“The park?” Justin asked, raising a large
eyebrow. “Uh, okay. If that’s where you want to go, it’s where I’ll
take you,” he said, shrugging and turning his key in the ignition
and speeding away from Briar Creek College.

*

“Aunt Violet and my mom always used to bring
me and Austin here when we were kids,” Lexi said, as she led Justin
to the swing set. “It was one of Austin’s favorite places to
go.”

“Do you miss them?” Justin asked. The tone in
his voice told Lexi that he didn’t really know what to say.

“I miss my mom, of course. I know she
wouldn’t want me to be too sad, though, so I’m trying to be
strong,” Lexi began. “I don’t miss Austin, though. I can’t, really.
I didn’t even know him. All I know is that all of this weird stuff
has been happening, and I think that somehow, it’s because of
him.”

“Like your mom not really dyin’ from beef
juice? And the thing you told me about Austin’s laptop?” Justin
asked.

Sitting on a swing, Lexi nodded. “There’s
that, and there’s all this weird stuff that seems to imply that
Austin’s girlfriend might know something more about how he
died.”

“What do you mean?” Justin asked, sitting
down on a swing next to her.

“Well, she was supposed to be the last one to
see him the night he died, even though she claims he never showed
up,” Lexi answered. She looked at the ants that were crawling
around in the sand beneath her feet before adding, guiltily, “I
also snooped on his Facebook. I found this message from his
girlfriend, Mary-Kate. It was sent the day he died. She said they
were going to do something Austin didn’t want to do.”

“Huh. I wonder what it could have been,”
Justin pondered.

“Me too,” Lexi said, sighing. “I just have a
bad feeling about whatever happened.”

“At least you won’t have to worry about it
too much anymore, since you’ll be coming home soon.”

“I guess.” Lexi decided that she wouldn’t
kill the mood by telling him that home wasn’t going to be the same.
Sure, it would be better than living in Briar Creek. She’d do
anything to get away from Violet. It wouldn’t feel like home
without her mom there, though. Pulling herself to her feet, Lexi
tugged at Justin’s arm. “Let’s take a walk.”

Walking past the kids who were playing in the
sandbox, Lexi and Justin climbed the grassy hill that lead to the
river behind the park. She could feel the hot sun as it hit against
her skin.

“It’s a good day to get a tan,” Justin said,
taking off his shirt. “I don’t want no farmer’s tan lines.”

“Oh, geez,” Lexi laughed at him. “Since when
do you care about getting a tan? You sound like one of the guys
from Jersey Shore.”

Justin shrugged. “Is it a crime to care about
my appearance?”

“Not at all,” she answered, stumbling on a
large rock. Glancing down, she noticed that the rock was
inscribed.

Picking the rock up, Lexi gasped. The rock
had a large “A.G.” etched into it. It may have been about ten years
since Lexi had seen Austin, but she would recognize his carved
initials anywhere.

 “What is it?” Justin asked, studying
her face.

“This rock has Austin’s initials on it,” Lexi
answered. “Austin used to put his initials on everything, so I know
it’s him.”

“Weird,” Justin said, taking the rock from
her hands and examining it. He flipped the rock over. “What’s this
key to?” he asked, pointing at the back of the rock.

Lexi took the rock back from him, and looked
at the tiny brass key that was taped to the back of the rock. “It’s
too small to be a car key or a house key. I think it goes to some
type of box or something.”

“Do you think it was his?” Justin asked.

“It had to have been,” Lexi answered, peeling
the tape away from the metal.

“You’re gonna take it?”

Lexi nodded. “Yeah, I don’t want someone else
to figure out what it belongs to. I don’t know what it’s for, but
it’s like he didn’t want anyone to find it. Why else would he have
hidden it here?”

“Do what you gotta do,” Justin said,
shrugging. “I’d probably take it, too.”

Lexi slid the key into her pocket, making a
mental note to keep it hidden from Violet and Tommy.

*

After they went to see a movie and got ice
cream, Justin said that he’d better leave so that he would get home
before 7 o’clock. He had hockey practice the next day, and he
wanted to get a good night’s sleep. Lexi was disappointed to see
him go and even more disappointed to go back to Violet’s house.

When Justin pulled his Eclipse into Violet’s
driveway, Lexi found that her aunt and uncle were in the front
yard, waiting for her, just as she suspected them to be.

Before she even got out of the car, she heard
Violet scream, “Lexi! You’re in trouble!”

“Ugh, great,” Lexi muttered under her breath.
She turned to Justin. “Thanks for coming to see me.”

“Remember, Lexi, I’ll be back for you soon,”
Justin said, releasing Lexi from the tight hug that he had grasped
her in. “Just please be careful, ‘kay?”

Lexi nodded. The more time she spent with
Justin, the more she couldn’t wait to go out of Violet’s house for
good.

****

Chapter 23

Lexi laid, curled up in bed, with her purple
satin comforted wrapped around her. She wanted to cry, but it felt
like her eyes had no more tears left in them. Lexi hoped that
Justin’s mom would say that she could live with them because she
wasn’t sure how much longer she could live in Briar Creek without
going completely insane.

With the blinds closed, Lexi was almost able
to convince herself that it was nighttime, instead of
mid-afternoon. Silencing her thoughts, Lexi began to drift off to
sleep.

After minutes or hours had passed (Lexi
wasn’t sure how long it had been), a cold breeze filled the room.
Shivering, she pulled the comforter snugly around her.

“Lexi,” her mom whispered, “you have to
listen to me.”

Lexi felt her heart freeze inside her chest.
She struggled to speak, before she somehow managed to ask,
“Mom?”

Eileen Hunter, who was dressed in a beautiful
one-shoulder dress, nodded. The wind, which was whirling around
them, blew the white fabric in place. “Don’t trust them, Lexi.
They’re not what you think,” her mom said in a velvety voice.

“Don’t trust who?” Lexi asked, confusion
sweeping over her.

Her mom shook her head, bouncing her
chocolate brown curls against her shoulders. “I’m not allowed to
tell you who. It’s forbidden. I know you know who I’m talking about
Lexi, or you’ll find out soon if you don’t.”

“I don’t know who you mean,” Lexi stuttered,
unable to take her eyes off her mom, who was floating above her.
“Are you a ghost?”

Her mom’s lips curled into a sad smile.
“Something like that,” she answered.

“What happened to you, mom? I know you didn’t
get food poisoning,” Lexi said.

Once again, her mom shook her head. “I’m not
allowed to tell you that either. If I do, I won’t be able to visit
you again. All I can say is that nothing is what seems.”

“About your death?” Lexi asked, realizing
that she was right.

Her mom nodded. “About more than just my
death. Nothing about Briar Creek is what it seems.”

“I don’t understand,” Lexi replied, tears of
frustration building up in her crystal blue eyes. She felt a gust
of cold wind sail across her skin as her mom reached out and
stroked her hair.

“You’ll find out soon, Lexi. I have to go
now, but you have to believe me. Don’t trust them,” her mom said,
her body disappearing almost as quickly as she had arrived, leaving
behind a glittery residue. Lexi dipped one of her fingers in the
substance. When it remained on her fingers, she realized that it
had been real. Her mom’s ghost (or whatever she was) had actually
been in her room. Lexi felt a pang of sadness and a feeling of hope
– hope that her mom would come back to visit her soon.

Her thoughts were disrupted when she heard
her aunt and uncle yelling downstairs. Slipping out of her room,
she sunk down on the top step and tried to make out what they were
saying.

“What do you want me to do about it, Violet?”
Tommy asked quietly.

“I want you to take care of it!” Violet
screamed at him. “Don’t you get what this could mean for us?”

Tommy snorted. “Why don’t you enlighten
me?”

“Don’t get sarcastic with me, Tommy! He was
putting ideas in her head. She’s getting smarter.”

“She’s been smart all along. I keep saying
this, but no one believes me – not you, not Dan, not even Greg
Lawrence. We’re not going to be able to keep this from her much
longer.”

“I think we need to do something or she’s
going to start putting two and two together,” Violet went on,
ignoring his comment. “We need to take care of it now while we
still can.”

Lexi wondered if Violet was onto her knowing
that her mom hadn’t been food poisoned. Is that what she thought
Lexi would figure out? What didn’t make sense was why her aunt
wouldn’t tell her if she knew…or how she knew.

“Fine,” Tommy said, raising his voice. “If
that’s what you want, fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you though, Vi.
I think it’s going to attract a lot of unnecessary attention.”

“Or she’ll attract a lot of attention if we
don’t put a stop to this right now,” Violet shot back. “We need to
settle it.”

“I don’t care either way. You know that I
only want one thing, but it’s getting too late, Violet. Dan needs
to hurry up and do his job…and soon.”

“He will, Tommy. We can count on Dan, I know
it. Plus, he’ll get something out of it, too.”

“Not if he doesn’t hurry the hell up,” Tommy
grunted. “Otherwise, I’ll have to do it on my own, without his
help, and I’m not sure if I’m feeling up to that,” he added,
coughing loudly.

“Dan will pull through. There’s a lot at
stake for him here, too.”

“Well, he better come through with it,” Tommy
grunted. “I’m not sure how I’ll feel about including him in
anything anymore if he doesn’t do what he promised us.”

Lexi listened as a door slammed. She assumed
that Violet and Tommy’s conversation was over. Sneaking back into
her bedroom, Lexi climbed back into her twin bed, the only place
where she had felt any comfort since living in Briar Creek – except
for when she was with Gabe, of course. She tried to force herself
to not think about him.

Sighing, Lexi wondered how it was possible
for her to not think about Gabe. He didn’t want to see her – that
much had been made crystal clear to her by his mom. Lexi realized
what was bothering her. She wanted to hear it from Gabe. If he
didn’t want to see her, that was fine, but he should at least be
the one to let her know instead of letting his mom do his dirty
work. An explanation might also help her to understand. As it was,
all Lexi could think about was the moments they had spent together.
Had she really done something so horrible that he wanted to give up
all of that…even after he promised her that he would wait for
her?

“Ahem,” a voice sounded from behind her back.
Lexi turned around to find her aunt scowling at her. Hoping that
her aunt didn’t know she had eavesdropped, Lexi felt a knot tighten
in her stomach as she looked at Violet questioningly.

“We’re having Chinese food for dinner. I have
to go pick it up right now,” her aunt said, “And you’re coming with
me.”

“I’d rather just stay here,” Lexi
replied.

“Too bad. You’ve broken too many rules
lately. You’re grounded, and there’s no one here to watch you,”
Violet answered, yanking on Lexi’s arm.

Lexi brushed her off. “Isn’t Tommy here? He
can babysit me,” she said sarcastically.

Violet shook her head. “Tommy had to run
something over to Greg Lawrence’s. Come on, Lexi,” she said,
pulling on her sleeve.

“Stop touching me,” Lexi snapped at her,
reluctantly getting off the bed and slipping into a pair of flip
flops. She glanced in the mirror and realized she was a mess, but
decided she didn’t care. It wasn’t like Lexi would be getting out
of the car – although Violet probably didn’t even trust her with
sitting in the car quietly while she ran in to get the food.

When Violet turned her keys into the
ignition, an annoying jazz song came onto the radio. Lexi reached
over and quickly turned it to the next station that was programmed
on the radio. A news reporter read, “There’s been a car accident on
Marion Boulevard. I repeat, there’s been a report of an accident on
Marion Boulevard. The driver of the car was killed on contact.
We’ll announce more details after we return from the next
commercial break.”

Lexi thought about what Justin had told her
earlier. A lot of mysterious deaths happened in Briar Creek. The
knots returned to her stomach again. She hoped it wasn’t Gabe…

Violet turned the volume down so that nothing
but awkward silence filled the space between them. “It’s a bit rude
to change a person’s radio station when it’s not your own car,
Lexi.”

Lexi stared at her aunt. Did she really want
to go there right now? Choosing her words carefully, she said,
“It’s not as rude as being forced to go somewhere against your
will. Now, that is what I call rude.”

Stopping at a traffic light, Violet glanced
over at her. “Oh, stop being dramatic. We don’t want to have to
worry about you. It’s for your own good.”

“Yeah, you keep telling me that,” Lexi said.
“The thing is, since I’ve been here, nothing has turned out to be
good for me. Things just keep getting worse.”

“It’ll all work out for the best. You’ll
see,” Violet answered, pulling into the Shan Hu Chinese Restaurant.
She gave Lexi a long, hard stare. Without saying a word, she pulled
the keys from the ignition and got out of the car, leaving Lexi to
think about how much worse her life was now that she was stuck in
Briar Creek until Justin could come back to get her.