Thicker Than Water (The Briar Creek Vampires Book #2) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (23 page)

“Oh, fun. I love dusting,” Lexi replied
sarcastically. She had known that getting the Halloween costume was
only going to be half of the challenge of going to the festival.
The rest of the challenge was going to be finding a way to sneak
out of the house, which she still hadn’t figured out yet. What she
also hadn’t considered was what would happen if Violet and Tommy
did volunteer to host a Halloween (or more like a ‘let’s drink from
Lexi until she dies’) party at their house tonight. It was going to
make her escape plan even more difficult.

“That’s great because dusting is on the list,”
Violet enthusiastically replied, handing Lexi her list of chores.
It read:
1. Vacuum the entire house, 2. Wash sheets for all five
bedrooms, 3. Dust the living room furniture, 4. Do all four loads
of laundry, 5. Clean out the hallway closet, 6. Pack away
everyone’s summer clothes and organize the closets for winter
attire, 7. Mop the kitchen and bathroom floors, 8. Rake the leaves,
9. Alphabetize the DVD and CD collections, 10. Remove all of the
cobwebs in the basement.
The list went on and on with Violet’s
chores that Lexi couldn’t possibly do all in one day.

Lexi gritted her teeth. Who did her aunt think
she was, Cinderella? Well, just like Cinderella, she
was
going to make it to the ball, whether her aunt liked it or not.
What Violet didn’t realize was that her list of chores had given
Lexi the perfect way to escape.

As she was taking the garbage out, which was
another chore that Violet had asked her to do in between all of the
other chores, Lexi noticed a lime green Bug pulled into the
driveway. The car had a fake giant bouquet of daisies on top of it,
and the side door said “1-800-DAISIES.” A brunette woman carrying a
vase of black roses walked up the driveway. “Are you Lexi Hunter?”
she asked.

Lexi nodded. The woman handed her the vase and
said, “Enjoy.” She walked back to the car and pulled out of the
driveway.

She wasn’t an expert on rose colors and their
meanings because horticulture was never one of her interests, but
Lexi assumed that black roses signified something dark and
depressing, like death. Since Austin, her mom, and Justin had all
died one after the other, there was a chance that the person had
chosen black to represent their deaths…right?

Lexi opened the tiny envelope that came with
the flowers and read the note. It said:

Lexi, Roses are black, violets are
blue, you’ll taste so sweet when they kill you, too! Happy Death
Day!

Putting a hand over her mouth, Lexi allowed the
note to fall to the ground. Who would be sick enough to send her
this note? It obviously was the person who was planning to kill
her, but why would they give her a warning? It didn’t seem like
something that a potential murderer would do.

Picking up her cell phone, Lexi dialed the
number that she had seen on the car, 1-800-DAISIES.

When a woman answered, Lexi said, “Yes, hi, I
just received a bouquet of flowers, and I need to know who sent
them. I would like to thank them, but the card didn’t include a
name.”

“Who was the order for?” the woman
asked.

“Lexi Hunter.”

She heard the sound of the woman typing, and a
few moments later she said, “Ma’am, this order was made
anonymously. They also paid in cash, so I can’t see the name of a
debit or credit card. I’m terribly sorry about that.”

Without saying another word, Lexi hung up the
phone.

*

Around six o’clock, Lexi slipped into the
Halloween costume. The skirt was short in the front with a tiered,
trailing tail that reached her ankles, but she was surprised to
find that it was actually really flattering on her. The corset made
her boobs pop up like no push-up bra she had ever tried had done
before.

She pulled a pair of Victoria’s Secret Pink
sweatpants over the costume and threw a baggy hoodie over her head.
Lexi glanced in the mirror and smiled. Her costume was completely
hidden by her outfit, which meant that her aunt would have no idea
that she was wearing it when she left the house.

Lexi tried to figure out what she was going to
do about the masquerade mask and the wig. Finally, she picked up
her duffle bag and stuffed them both inside, along with her makeup
bag. Lexi opened the window and tossed the duffel bag outside. She
watched as it swiftly hit the ground and hoped that the mask hadn’t
been damaged during the fall to the ground.

She quietly tiptoed down the stairs, taking
longer than usual to avoid the squeaky sections. Once she was on
the bottom floor, she glanced around. Violet and Tommy were sitting
on the couch, with their backs turned, facing the TV. She saw
Violet’s head tilt to the side, as if she were listening for
her.

Not wanting her chance to escape to be ruined,
Lexi called from the front door, “I’m almost done with my chores. I
just have to rake the leaves.” She wasn’t even close to being done
with her chores, but she had no intention of cleaning the house all
day when she should be doing more important things instead – like
saving her own life.

Lexi went outside and scanned the yard, looking
for a rake. She found one leaning up against a tree in the
backyard. She looked up at her and Austin’s old tree house and
wished she could climb up into it and hideout until the next day.
She thought back to years ago, to the day when Austin had jumped
out of the tree house window, trying to learn how to fly. Tommy had
scolded them and after taking Austin to the hospital to be treated
for a broken arm, had come home and nailed both the windows and the
door shut to prevent them from injuring themselves again. The tree
house was still nailed shut, but she knew that it wouldn’t have
been able to help her anyway.

She began raking the leaves, moving them all to
one big pile in the center of the yard. It reminded her of when she
and her mom used to rake leaves together and stuffed them all into
an orange plastic bag with a pumpkin face for yard decorations.
Autumn used to be one of Lexi’s favorite times of year, but now she
was starting to dread it. If she didn’t find a way to escape before
tonight, her life could be in grave danger. It already
was
in grave danger, Lexi reminded herself.

Lexi glanced up at all of the windows that
would give her aunt and uncle a direct view of where she was
standing, and when she was positive that Violet and Tommy weren’t
looking, she ran.

*

The Briar Creek Halloween festival was being
held at the town square. Lexi had never been to a block party
before, but this one was exactly what she had always pictured it
would be like: there were little kids bobbing for apples in large
buckets, little boys and girls getting their faces painted to look
like tigers and butterflies, and tons of people walking to and from
the rows upon rows of stands; everyone of them was dressed in a
costume. Lexi breathed a sigh of relief. She was going to blend in
perfectly with all of the other girls her age that appeared to be
dressed in similar Halloween costumes. She was thankful that her
clown costume had gotten taken away from her. If she had worn it,
she definitely would have ended up sticking out like the sore thumb
in the crowd.

From her spot crouched down in the bushes, she
watched as more people walked past her, seemingly unaware that she
was there. Lexi turned around and scanned the area, looking for
somewhere that she could put on her complete costume without being
noticed. Spotting a van parked on the sidewalk, Lexi stayed low and
raced over to it.

She double checked to make sure no one was
around before quickly tearing off her hoodie and sweatpants. Lexi
pulled the mask and wig out of her duffel bag. Making sure to stay
out of view, she used the van’s side mirror to put them on. Next,
she followed up with some Barbie pink colored lipstick.

Lexi exchanged her sneakers for the pair of
heels that she had tucked into the bottom of her duffel bag. She
had chosen them to wear because it was too cold for flip flops and
her aunt had already seen her wear her ballet flats before. The
heels seemed to match perfectly with her costume and her aunt had
never seen them before.

After shoving her sweats into the duffel bag,
Lexi realized that she couldn’t carry her duffel bag around with
her because it could give away who she was if her aunt and uncle
realized she was gone and decided to come looking for her. Glancing
around, she decided that it was best to leave it at person’s house
that she stood in front of. She could only assume that they were at
the festival with everyone else.

Once she hid her duffel bag underneath the
window behind a few untrimmed bushes, Lexi darted back towards the
festival.

Glancing around as she walked in the direction
of the crowd, Lexi couldn’t help but feel slightly awkward. Even
though she had been told to go to the festival, she still hadn’t
figured out why. She had no idea what she was supposed to do here.
The person who had sent her the anonymous letters had been
extremely cryptic; they hadn’t given her any indication as to why
she had to come to the Briar Creek Halloween festival, only that it
was essential for her to do so.

Lexi thought of something that hadn’t even
crossed her mind until now. What if the person who had gotten her
tombstone made was the same person who had been leaving the letters
for her to find? She suddenly wished she had told Gabe exactly what
the anonymous letters had said. What if the person who had told her
to come to the festival was just trying to trick her? Maybe the
anonymous person had really been try to lure her here so that the
whole town could carry out their plan to sacrifice her.

She quickly shook the idea out of her head. No,
that couldn’t be. The person who had sent her those letters seemed
to genuinely care. The letters almost seemed…urgent. There was also
the two thousand dollars that they had snuck into her wallet. Lexi
had tucked the money inside her bra, just in case. If Lexi hadn’t
known any better, she would still be thinking that Gabe had some
involvement in sending her the letters, but she had believed him
when he said it wasn’t him. She wasn’t sure who else really cared
about her enough to go through all of the effort to warn her,
though.

Lexi breathed in the aroma of hot apple cider
and glanced at a table that had flickering jack-o-lanterns set upon
it waiting to be judged. Realizing that standing in the middle of
the sidewalk and just staring at people was only going to draw
attention to herself, Lexi continued walking forward and tried to
blend in with the crowd that surrounded her. She wasn’t sure where
she was supposed to be going, but she felt like she had to keep
moving. The letters had made it very obvious that it was important
that no one see Lexi at the festival. Even though she didn’t know
what her purpose of being at the festival was, she knew better than
to hang around in one place for too long.

“Thriller” by Michael Jackson was blaring from
a vender’s stand, and some adults were dancing to the music. A few
had beer bottles in their hands and Lexi wondered if they were
actually drinking beer or if it was blood. Shuddering at the
thought, she decided that she didn’t really want to
know.

“Ahem, excuse me, ma’am,” an older male voice
said from behind her. She felt a tap on the back of her
shoulder.

Thinking she had been caught already, Lexi
turned around slowly. “Yes?”

“We would like for you to enter the 50th annual
Briar Creek Halloween Festival Costume Contest!” the guy, who was
short and dressed up like an elf, told her cheerfully. “Here’s a
sticker with your number that you will need to put on your
costume.” He excitedly held up a clipboard with a list of names and
numbers and continued, “And just jot your name down right here for
me.”

Lexi hesitated. As much as she wanted to tell
him no, she knew that she would draw more attention to herself than
if she just entered the contest, so she said, “Sure.”

What were the chances of her winning the
contest anyway? Her costume wasn’t
that
great. It was
actually pretty plain compared to some of the other costumes she
had seen. If she stayed well-hidden or disappeared from the
festival until the winners were announced, the judges wouldn’t even
be able to give her a score so, by default, there was no way she
could even win.

Lexi stuck the sticker with her number over her
left breast. The man handed her the clipboard for her to write her
name. After she had formed the letter L, Lexi stopped herself,
realizing that it wasn’t a good idea to write her real name. No one
would probably ever see it, but there was that chance that her real
name would help someone to find out that she was at the carnival,
so instead she wrote “Lacey MacDonald,” and hoped that no one in
Briar Creek actually had that name.

Lexi decided that if, on the off chance she did
end up winning the Halloween costume contest, she just wouldn’t go
up to accept her award. Not that she actually knew what the award
for the contest was, but she assumed that it probably wasn’t that
good.

The man in the leprechaun costume took the
clipboard back from her and lifted his top hat, then headed off to
look for the next person to enter into the contest.