Time Will Tell (3 page)

Chapter 8

“Why are you doing this to me?” Gabe asked, blinking back the tears that had built up behind his eyes—a combination of built up physical and emotional pain. When Gabe had thought that Kevin was the one torturing him, he’d at least understood the reasoning. But this . . . this shocked him. Mary-Kate had already explained that she’d found him at Huntington and had dragged him here, but he still cou
ldn’t believe that it was her.

How could she be so cruel to him? He had drank from her regularly for years. Gabe had always thought she was a good person, maybe even a friend.
Now he knew that wasn’t true.

Friends didn’t torture each other like this.

“Because, Gabe, I needed you to have a clear head when I proposed my offer to you. You’re about to make the most important decision of your life, so don’t answer hastily,” Mary-Kate told him.

Gabe stared at her. “What do you want from me?”

“I need you to kill Lexi,” Mary-Kate said. She studied his face for a reaction.

Gabe was too exhausted to react the way he normally would have. What Mary-Kate was asking him to do made him feel disgusted; even if he wasn’t in love with Lexi anymore, there was no way he could just kill her. “Why?” he asked calmly, his eyes locked on her neck. He wished he could drink from her. If she came close enough to him, he would try.

“Because Lexi deserves to die a slow, painful death, Gabe,” Mary-Kate replied with an eye roll, as though the answer should have been obvious. “She let people die! She refused to save them! My mother is on her deathbed right now, all because Lexi was too selfish to save her.”

Gabe darted his eyes away from Mary-Kate, trying to make sense of everything. “I . . . I don’t understand why you did this to me. You’ve kept me in this room, smelling blood and not feeding me, so I could . . . what? Be hungry enough to kill Lexi if I drink from her?”

Mary-Kate laughed a sinister laugh and tossed her chestnut brown hair over her shoulder. “No, Gabe. I don’t want you to drink from Lexi to kill her. That would be too enjoyable of a death for her.” Locking her eyes on his, she explained, “I put you in here so I could give you a taste of what’s going to happen to you if you don’t agree to my terms.”

Gabe stared back at her blankly. He didn’t understand what she meant, but his mind wasn’t really focused on the conversation that much, anyway. He felt like he was going to pass out if he didn’t get some blood in him soon.

“Let me put it in clearer terms for you, Gabe. Either you kill Lexi . . . or I will you.” Mary-Kate pulled a stake out from behind her back. “It wouldn’t be that fun to have this stake shoved through your heart, now would it? But I won’t be that nice. I’ll let you starve to death. You’ll change your mind . . . sooner or later.”

Gabe considered the possibility. Normally, he wouldn’t be too afraid of someone as small—and as mortal—as Mary-Kate killing him, but with his hands cuffed behind his back, it wasn’t too impossible. That wasn’t even to mention that Mary-Kate had already done so much to hurt him; he was vulnerable and growing weaker by the minute, so death probably wasn’t too far off for him.

“So, what do you say Gabe?” Mary-Kate pressed. “Are you going to be a good boy and do as you’re told? Or are you going to die?”

Gabe wanted to snap at her for talking to him like he was a dog, but he didn’t have enough energy to argue with her at that point. Instead, he asked, “What’s in it for me?”

Mary-Kate smiled. “Well, you get to live. Isn’t that enough?”

Gabe didn’t respond. He wanted to live. He wanted to get back to Caroline, especially when he knew his brother was out there. For all he knew, Kevin might even be with Caroline right now. If that was the case, Gabe knew that he had to get out of this room as soon as possible. He had to be there to rescue Caroline from Kevin. Gabe didn’t know what his brother would try to pull, but if his past behavior was any indicator, it would definitely be
something
.

“Okay, I guess that isn’t enough,” Mary-Kate said quietly. Batting her eyelashes at him, she pulled a razor blade out of her pocket and ran it over her wrist, staring at him seductively.

Gabe licked his lips. Even though he hadn’t wanted to have to drink from Mary-Kate again, he would have drunk from
anyone
at that moment.

“If you agree to kill Lexi,” Mary-Kate said, meeting his eyes, “I’ll put an end to your hunger. Right now. I’ll let you drink from me. All you have to do is say ‘yes’.”

Gabe felt his stomach gurgle, and his head pain intensified, reminding him that he didn’t just want to drink. He
had
to drink soon, or he was going to die. “Okay,” Gabe agreed.

“Okay?” Mary-Kate raised her eyebrows at him pointedly. “Say it, Gabe. Say you’ll kill Lexi.”

“I’ll kill Lexi,” Gabe said, hoping that he sounded convincing enough for her to believe him.

“Perfect.” Mary-Kate came closer to him and pressed her lips against his for a quick second before moving her neck in front of his face and tilting her head back. “Drink.”

As Gabe sank his teeth into Mary-Kate’s skin and felt her blood flow onto his tongue, he wondered how he was going to get out of this one. As determined as he was to get out of the room Mary-Kate had been keeping him captive in, there was no way he was going to kill Lexi.

Chapter 9

The next morning, Lexi sat across the breakfast table from Dan, munching on her Cocoa Krispies. She turned to Dan, who was sitting across from her, not eating anything. “I was thinking that maybe we could go to my dad’s house today. We haven’t seen Garth in a while, and it would be nice to visit with Connor and Erica.”

Dan nodded. “I have to say . . . I really do want to see Garth. I never thought I’d miss that cat, but I do. In fact, I was thinking . . . what do you think about going back to the cat shelter today, too? I’m not sure if we should actually adopt another cat until everything blows over and we know where we’ll be staying for the long-term, but it wouldn’t hurt to look.”

Lexi smiled. “I would really like that. Plus, we said we would probably go back there some point to volunteer. I don’t want Mary to think we forgot about helping her out.”

“Good point,” Dan agreed. It looked like he wanted to say something else, but before he had a chance, Caroline came into the room, beaming.

“You look happy,” Lexi commented, as Caroline stuffed a few pieces of bread in the toaster.

“I
am
happy,” Caroline replied, grinning even wider.

“Do you want to come with us to the cat shelter today?” Dan asked.

Caroline glanced over at him and rolled her eyes exasperatedly. “I can’t come with you to the cat shelter. I’m leaving for Juilliard today, Danny, remember?”

“That’s today?” Dan asked, a look of surprise crossing his face.

Caroline rolled her eyes. “Why is it that no one around here ever remembers what I have to say? I told Gabe I was going to Juilliard soon, too, and it seemed like he forgot about it. Anyway, I want to get there early so we can start unpacking before my classes start tomorrow.”

“
We
? What do you mean by
we
?” Dan questioned, narrowing his eyes at her almost accusingly.

Lexi held her breath. She had a feeling that she knew what was coming next—and it wasn’t good.

“I mean that Gabe and I need to get back to the city so we can unpack our things before my classes start,” Caroline replied. “
We
are going to be living together.”

“What?! You two barely even know each other!” Dan pointed out angrily. “You’
re already moving in with him?”

“Yes, I am,” Caroline replied. “I know it’s early in our relationship—well, we haven’t made it official yet—but I like him
so
much already. It just feels right.”

Dan shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe you want to live with that psycho. He’s killed someone, Caroline! Do you understand that? He could just as easily do something to hurt you,
without even caring about it!”

Caroline rolled her eyes. “Gabe isn’t going to hurt me. I know it’s so early, but . . . I think we might be in love with each other.” She smiled wistfully. “You never thought any of my boyfriends were good for me, and you know what? Maybe none of them were. Maybe I chose the wrong guys, but Danny . . . Gabe is the
right
guy for me. I can feel it.”

“Caroline, you barely know him.” Dan sighed. “You know what? I’m going to call Mom. She and Dad are paying for your rent until you find a job. If they know you’re planning to live with someone—a vampire, no less—ther
e’s no way they’ll pay for it.”

Caroline glared at him. “You wouldn’t do that.”

“Just watch me,” Dan said, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket.

Caroline darted over to him and grabbed his cell phone from his hands. “If you call Mom and Dad about this, I’ll never speak to you again, Danny. I won’t . . . I swear. This is the first time I’ve ever truly believed I have a shot at happiness. If you ruin this for me, I will hate you forever.” She handed his phone back to him and crossed his arms over her chest, waiting to see what he was going to do.

After a moment, Dan sighed and stuffed his phone back inside his pocket before standing up and storming off to the guest bedroom he and Lexi shared with one another.

Caroline glanced over at Lexi. “Do you think I’m wrong? For moving in with Gabe so early?”

Lexi hesitated. She knew that if she gave Caroline the advice that she wanted to give, Dan was going to be angry at her. But she also didn’t want Caroline to be angry with her, either, because she actually liked Dan’s sister. Sighing, she said, in a lowered voice, “I think you should do whatever will make you happy. Dan will come around eventually. He might not trust Gabe right now, but . . . you’re his sister. He cares about you. He
does
want you to be happy.”

Caroline smiled. “I know he does.” Hesitantly, she asked, “What about you, Lexi?”

“What about me?” Lexi asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Do you trust Gabe?” Caroline questioned. She studied Lexi’s face for a reaction.

Lexi darted her eyes away from Caroline, fixating her gaze on the granite countertop. This was one of the most difficult questions that she’d ever had to answer. A part of her really hated Gabe for what he had done to Justin. It hadn’t been fair for Gabe to kill him out of pure jealousy, but . . . at the same time, Lexi knew that Gabe never would have hurt her when they were together. Well, except for that one time when he had tried to kill her, but in his own strange way, he had really been trying to help.

Lexi turned to Caroline. “Don’t tell Dan, okay?” she whispered. When Caroline nodded, Lexi said, “If I were you, I would trust Gabe. I don’t think he would ever do anything to hurt you.”

Beaming, Caroline ran over to Lexi and wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug. “Thank you so much, Lexi! It means so much to me that you’re being so supportive of us when nobody else is. I better get the car loaded up, though. I want us to head out of here sometime in the next two hours. I’ll come say goodbye to you and Danny before we leave.”

“Okay,” Lexi said with a nod and a small smile. As she watched Caroline bounce away from her and up the stairs, Lexi only hoped that she had given Dan’s sister the right advice.

Chapter 10

Anna sat at the round cafeteria table the next afternoon, munching on her spinach salad. The cafeteria had been slim pickings, especially for someone who didn’t like red meat. That morning, Anna had eaten a bowl of oatmeal—well,
sort of.
She’d been too nervous to really eat anything, so she had just swirled the cinnamon and blueberries around in the plastic bowl.

Today was the day that would determine the rest of her life. She would find out today if she was going to become a vampire, or if she
was going to remain a mortal.

To say that she was nervous to find out would be an understatement. Anna wasn’t just nervous; part of her wanted to walk out the front door and leave Westbrooke behind, to never find out if she was goi
ng to become a vampire or not.

But she couldn’t do that. She had already promised Darius that she was going to be a blood donor, and the truth was, Anna really
did
need to know if she was going to be with Austin or not. Not knowing drove her insane, and she knew that Austin was probably going nuts, too.

Sighing, Anna glanced around the cafeteria, which was mostly empty except for a few other donors who were eating their lunches at a table next to hers. They all talked the same way people might talk in a high school cafeteria, as though there was nothing unusual about the fact t
hat they were at the facility.

Anna noticed that most of the other donors were middle-aged women, with the exception of a few younger women. Anna couldn’t help but wonder
what had made them all come to Westbrooke. What made them want to donate to these vampires regularly?

Anna supposed that it was really no different than her own mother donating. She sighed. As hard as she tried to imagine her mother at Westbrooke, walking the halls and eating in the cafeteria, she stil
l couldn’t seem to picture it.

At that moment, someone put their tray down on the table next to her. Anna glanced up to find a girl, who appeared to be about a few year
s older than her, standing over her.

“Hi,” the girl said with a warm smile. “My name’s Br
andy. What’s yours?”

“Anna.”

“Do you mind if I sit here, Anna?” Brandy asked.

“No, I don’t mind,” Anna said politely. Even though she had wanted time to herself to think while she was here, she had to admit that it was nice to talk to someone besides Darius.

Brandy plopped down onto the chair next to Anna and glanced over at her. “What brings you here?”

“What do you mean?” Ann
a asked, raising her eyebrows.

“I mean, why are you here at Westbrooke? You are a volunteer, aren’t you?” Brandy questioned, dipping a plastic spoon in her lentil and spinach soup and taking a bite
.

Anna nodded. “Yeah, I am.”

“So, my question is why? What would make you
want
to be a volunteer at Westbrooke?” Brandy glanced over at her, waiting expectantly for an answer.

Anna stared at Brandy. Was she a mind reader? Anna had only just been wondering the same thing about the other donors. Even though a part of Anna wanted to spill her guts to Brandy, she didn’t want to admit the real reason
she was there, so she decided to stick with the reason she’d made Darius believe. “My mother was a donor here. I wanted to see what it was like for her.”

Brandy raised her eyebrows. “Yeah? How long
ago did your mom donate here?”

“She died about two years ago,” Anna rep
lied quietly. “Up until then.”

“What was her name?” Brandy questioned, tearing open a packet of saltine crackers and crumbling them on top of her soup. “I’ve been donating here since around that time. We might hav
e crossed paths at one point.”

“Annema
rie Lancefield,” Anna replied.

Brandy’s eyes lit up with recognitio
n. “No way! I knew Annemarie.”

“You did?” Anna questioned, a sense of excitement washing over her. She’d been hoping that she would meet someone besides Darius who had known her mother here, but now that she finally had,
she wasn’t sure what to say.

Brandy nodded. “Yeah, she was my mentor when I first started here.” When Anna gave her a confused look, Brandy explained, “If we commit to being donors on a long-term basis, we’re assigned a mentor to help show us the ropes. They teach us about things we should and shouldn’t do as a donor, and how to make sure that we keep this whole thing as healthy—and as safe—as possible for b
oth the vampire and the human.”

Anna nodded understandingly. “This is going to sound weird, but . . . what was my mom like?” When Brandy gave her a raised eyebrow look of confusion, Anna explained, “I mean, what was she like when she was here? She kept this whole thing a secret from me an
d my dad. Was she happy here?”

Swirling the crackers around her soup, Brandy hesitated. “Annemarie always had a smile on her face. You never saw her without that smile, but . . . there was always a certain sadness behind her eyes.” Brandy met Anna’s eyes. “I don’t know what it was, but I could always sense that she wasn’t one hundred percent happy, you know? It might have
been because she missed you.”

Anna felt an empty feeling fill her stomach. She’d been clinging to the idea that her mom had been happy at Westbrooke, but what if she really hadn’t been? Anna had a feeling that she would never know the truth either way, but the idea that her mom might have b
een unhappy made her feel sad.

“So, what about you?” Anna asked Brand
y. “Why are you a donor here?”

Brandy tossed her dark hair over her shoulder. “Well, unlike you, I’m definitely not here by choice. I’m here because my fiancé is a vampire. He killed his last girlfriend. It was on accident, of course. He drained her of too much blood, and well . . . you know. Anyway, he wanted to make sure he doesn’t kill me, too, so he insisted that we go through this program at Westbrooke before our wedding this summer. So, we signed for three years. We’ll actually be done
with the program this month.”

“Congratulations. You must be so excited that y
ou’re almost done,” Anna said.

Brandy grinned. “You wouldn’t believe how excited I am. It’s been so hard keeping this whole thing a secret from my family and friends. I would never tell them the truth about him being a vampire, so they think we’re living abroad because Jansen, my fiancé, had to move there for work. It will just be a big relief
to go back home. And I can’t wait to get married. I’ve been working out the details with a wedding planner, and our wedding is going to be
gorgeous
.”

Anna speared a slice of tomato with her plastic fork before asking hesitantly, “Can I
ask you a personal question?”

Brandy raised an eyebr
ow at her. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Are you going to become a vampi
re yourself?” Anna questioned.

Brandy shrugged. “I don’t know if I am. There are time
s when I think I want to be one, just so I’ll always be here with Jansen. I’d hate to think about what would happen to him when I die. I mean, he doesn’t even do his own laundry, you know? He’s so dependent on me.” She spooned some soup in her mouth before shaking her head and explaining, “But then there are times when the idea of becoming a vampire scares me. I don’t want to have to drink blood. I can’t even stand the sight of it.” Brandy wrapped her arms around her chest and shuddered.

Anna smiled. “The sight of blood has never bothered me
, actually.”

“Yeah? Well, maybe
you
should become a vampire then,” Brandy said with a chuckle.

“Maybe,” Anna murmured. She would know if sh
e should become a vampire soon.

*

“Are you ready for your blood donation session?” Darius asked, as Anna tossed her empty salad bowl in the trash once she had finished eating.

Anna felt a knot tighten in her stomach. Even though she didn’t feel ready, she knew that she was just
as ready as she would ever be.

Glancing up at Darius, Anna nodded. “Yes,” she said qu
ietly. “I’m ready.”

“Marvelous!” Darius grinned with excitement. “Now, the vampire who I’ve lined you up with today is named Peter. As I explained to you before, we try to choose our donors for our vampires based on their blood type. Peter thrives on O- blood, so I think this will be a wonderful match.” He led her out of the cafeteria and down the hallway. “There are several things that you should know before you
enter the live donation room.”

“What are they?” Anna asked, as a worried feeling filled the pit of her stomach. She wondered why Darius had waited until the last minute
to fill her in on everything.

“The first thing you should know is that there’s no reason to be afraid. It’s not likely that this could ever be an unsafe donation. Our vampires in training have already mastered blood quantity. They’re not allowed to feed from our live donors until they are able to fully comprehend how much blood is too much. Even so, there are several things you can do to make sure this continues to be as safe as possible
for both of you and that things don’t get out of hand,” Darius explained.

He glanced over at her, his dark eyes filled with concern. “As you may already know, vampires are very sexual creatures. The practice of drinking blood is very erotic. For that reason, you won’t want to do anything that could possibly
arouse
them.” Darius opened the door that led to the stairwell before adding, “Try to contain yourself at all times. I’m not going to say you can’t make noise when a vampire drinks from you. In fact, I encourage you to make
some
noise, because this prepares our vampires for feeding from humans in the real world. Just don’t go crazy. And, more importantly, we ask that you keep your clothes on at all times. When our donors remain fully clothed, our vampires are less likely to lose control of themselves.”

Anna nodded understandingly. “No problem. I wasn’t planning to take off my clothes.” Somehow, just talking about taking her clothes off left a bitter taste in her mouth.
The idea itself made her feel like she was cheating on Austin, even though she wasn’t sure if they were technically still together at the moment after the fight they’d had before she had left.

Actually, scratch that. It
would
be cheating, Anna decided. If Austin had been the one who was taking his clothes off to drink from another person, Anna would feel like he had cheated on her. Even considering the idea that, back in Pennsylvania, Austin could be thirsty and drinking from someone made her feel a slight twinge of jealousy.

“Very good,” Darius said, glancing over at her with a smile, as they stopped in front of the blood donor station. “Well, here we are. You’re go
ing to be behind Curtain 1 for this donation, which is right over there.” He pointed his chin at the curtains that were divided into numbered stations, which Anna knew the vampires drank behind.

“Alright,” Anna said. As she was about to turn away from him, Da
rius gently caught her elbow.

“Anna? Make sure you at least try to enjoy yourself, okay? I truly believe that after you’ve made your first donation, you’ll be able to understand why your mother
believed so much in our facilities,” Darius said softly.

“Okay, thanks,” Anna said, forcing a small smile before turning away from him and heading through the door that led to the feeding stations. Even though she had thought that she might enjoy this experience, there was a part of her that was beginning to have her doubts. Letting Austin drink from her suddenly seemed so much different
, so much safer, than allowing a random, blood thirsty stranger to drink from her.