Time Will Tell (9 page)

Chapter 19

Austin looked around the room that he’d been left in. It was dark and the room was empty, but he could tell that the building was old. He wasn’t sure what had happened, or how he had even gotten there. All he knew was that he didn’t like it.

The last thing he could remember was going for a jog to clear his head after they had gotten back to the Nichols’ house from trying to help Benjamin Hunter find Darlene, Erica, and Connor. He had been running along the sidewalk when he’d heard someone call his name. Austin remembered turning around and then everything went black. The next thing he could rememb
er was waking up in this room.

Austin brushed off his knees and rose to his feet. He heard someone mumble from the c
orner, “Oh, shit. He’s already awake.”

Austin turned and glanced over at a dark-haired man who stared back at him. “Who are y
ou? And what am I doing here?”

“You’re here because Greg Lawrence wants you here. And that’s all you need to
know,” the man barked at him.

“Why would Greg Lawrence want me here?” Austin questioned, knowing that he probably wouldn’t even get an
answer out of the man.

“Something to do with your girlfriend,” the man replied with a shrug. “An
nie, or whatever her name is.”

“Anna? Something happened to Anna?” Austin asked, running a hand over his strawberry blonde hair nervously. He hadn’t considered the possibility that, wherever Anna had been, she might not be safe. From what he knew, she was supposed to be coming back to the Nichols’ house that afternoon, but when he’d left for his jog around four o’clock, she
still hadn’t gotten there yet.

“I don’t really know, kid. All I know is that we’re supposed to kill you if your girlfriend doesn’t do the right thing.” The man’s lips tilted into a tight smile, and an evil look filled his eyes. “Guess you bett
er hope she really loves you.”

Austin felt a knot twist inside his stomach. The truth was, he wasn’t sure if Anna did love him or not. He was still
waiting to find out for sure.

*

“Call her,” Greg Lawrence growled, handing Anna her cell phone.

Anna glanced down at the phone in her hands. “
How did you even get that?”

“I
went through your purse. You might be interested to know that Lexi called you already,” Greg replied. Almost accusingly, he added, “Guess she wasn’t that busy, after all, huh?”

Anna sighed and found Lexi’s number in her cell phone. “Fine. You want me to call her? Then I’ll call her.” Even though Anna hadn’t thought about what to do to help make sure that Lexi stayed safe—since she couldn’t exactly give her a warning without Greg overhearing her—she knew that she had to do
something
. The longer she waited to contact Lexi, the greater the risk of Austin getting killed.

She pressed her ear to the phone and listened to the annoying sound of the ringing on the other end of the line. It rang five times before going to the automated voice message. “Hey, Lexi. It’s Anna. I need you to get in touch with me as soon as you can, okay? I need your help with something.” She hoped that the urgency was obvious in her voice, as she hit the ‘
end’ button on her cell phone.

“Perfect. Smart of you to leave a message like that. It seemed innocent enough. Gullible little Lexi will believe that her dear friend Anna needs her help. I love it.” Greg rubbed his hands together excitedly. He glanced down at his watch. “I wonder how long it will take her to call you back, but in the meantime, we nee
d to make a visit to see someone.”

“Austin?” Anna asked, feeling hopeful. If Greg could just let her see Austin, she felt confident that the two of them might be able to come up with some sort of plan to get o
ut of this situation.

Greg laughed at her. “No, I’m not going to let you see Austin. If Lexi doesn’t get back to you soon, you’re never going to see Austin again.” His face took on a more serious look. “I’m going to see my wife. I’ve moved her to a new nursing home. No one knows she’s here yet. I mostly want to visit her, but it can’t hurt for you to see why it’s so importa
nt for her to drink from your friend.”

“But Lexi’s blood won’t save your wife,” Anna protested. “Her blood isn’t the same as it used to be.
It’s . . . different now.”

“How is i
t different?” Greg questioned.

“She’s an imm—” Anna started to say ‘immortal’ before it dawned on her. She had been worried that Greg Lawrence and the rest of the vampires of Briar Creek could do something to hurt Lexi, and while there might be some small element of risk, Lexi wasn’
t a human anymore. She wasn’t human anymore, so it didn’t seem likely she could die. If she could, no one knew
how
she could die.

Greg eyed
Anna curiously. “She’s what?”

“Nothing,” Anna replied. With a smile, she added, “I guess you’re right. Maybe it still is possible that her blood could cure your wife. Hopefully she’ll call us back soo
n so we can find out for sure.”

Greg smiled. “I knew you would eventually come around to this idea, Anna,” he said. “And don’t worry. I won’t let you regret your decision. You’ll know this is the right thing.” He elbowed her in the ribs playfully. “This is a good
deed you’re doing, you know.”

Anna tried to force a small smile. She just hoped that Lexi wouldn’t be too mad at her over this—and that Lexi would be able to come up with some sort of plan to save Austin and kill Greg.

Chapter 20

Kevin stared out the windshield as Caroline drove them back to her family’s house. She’d claimed that she had forgotten something important there, and even though Kevin didn’t understand why she couldn’t just have someone mail
it to her, he wasn’t about to complain.

The whole car ride back to Pennsylvania, the only thing he could think about was Lexi Hunter and how he was going to drink her blood
if he could get her alone. In fact, Kevin wasn’t even sure if he would try to restrain himself in front of Caroline anymore. At this point, he was positive that he didn’t want to continue living with her annoying, piano-playing self anymore. Kevin wasn’t going to go with her when she went back to Juilliard, and what better reason than to make her think he wanted to cheat on her?

“You’ve been quiet,” Kevin said, glancing over at Caroline, who was twirling a blonde lock of hair around her finger nervousl
y.

Caroline kept her eyes on the road, as she answered, “I don’t know what to say.”

Kevin had a feeling that little Miss Caroline Nichols was tiring of him already—which was perfect, really, since all he could think about was Lexi. “What’s on your mind?” he asked.

Caroline shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know, Gabe. I’m not sure if we’
re meant to be, after all.”

Kevin stared ahead of him, feeling a knot tightening in his stomach. Even though it made him sort of happy that Caroline didn’t want to be with him anymore, Kevin didn’t like to be broken up with. He wanted to be the one to call the punches. He would have broken up with her when he was ready to do so, but why was she breaking up with him—or trying
to break up with him—before he had the chance to break her heart?

“What do you mean?” Kevin asked aloud, feeling the anger rising to his cheeks, as he watched the rain begin to start hitting against the windshield. The noise of the drops as they hit against the glass irritated him, the same way the sound of hands moving on a grandfath
er clock grated on his nerves.

“I’m just not sure if I can do this anymore,” Caroline said. She sniffled, and Kevin
realized that she was crying.

“Of course you can still do this,” Kevin said firmly. “Because I’m Gabe
and you’re Caroline, and we’re in love with each other.”

“I thought I was falling in love with you, but now I’m not so sure,” Caroline said quiet
ly.

Kevin reached over and grabbed Caroline’s chin, turning her he
ad so that she was facing him.

“What are you doing, Gabe?” Caroline shrieked, as she lost control of the wheel. She
slammed her foot on the brakes as the car swerved into the middle of the road, nearly hitting an oncoming vehicle, which loudly blared its horn at them.

Teary-eyed,
Caroline struggled to turn her face back to the road, but Kevin kept a firm grip on her chin. “Are you letting someone else drink from you, Caroline? Are you cheating on me?” 

“No, I’m not,” Caroline whispered. “Please let me go so we d
on’t get into a car accident.”

Kevin stared at her for a moment. He studied her face and tried to decide if she was telling the truth before reluctantly letting her go. Even though he wasn’t sure if he believed her—and even though a car accident wouldn’t kill him anyway—he didn’t feel like dealing with the hassle of having to file a police report if
they did get into an accident.

Caroline pulled the car forward and moved into the right lane. She slowly mov
ed forward, her hands shaking.

“So, tell me why you don’t want to be with me anymore,” Kevin said, glancing over at her impatiently. He wanted her to confess that she was cheating on him, s
o he would have a reason to kill her.

“I was falling for you in the beginning, Gabe. It’s just that I feel like we’re two different people lately,” Caroline said, shaking her head. “When we first met, you seemed so interested in me and my m
usic. I just, I thought . . .”

“You thought what?” Kevin asked, fully expecting her to say that she thought she
was falling for someone else.

Caroline glanced over at him and gave him a sad smile. “I thought yo
u were different. That’s all.”

Kevin let out a slow, easy breath. He wasn’t sure if he believed anything that Caroline was saying, but he was going to hav
e to try to trust that she was—at least until they made it back to the Nichols’ house. As tempted as Kevin was to drink her blood until he drained her entire body of it, he knew that there was no way he would be able to face Dan without getting questioned over the whereabouts of his sister. And if Dan didn’t trust him anymore, there was no way he was going to be able to drink Lexi’s blood.

Both of them remained quiet the rest of the way back to the Nichols’ house. When Caroline climbed out of the car, she didn’t say a word to Kevin or even look
at him, which made him angry.

He reluctantly got out of the car and followed her to the front porch. Caroline was already inside the house by the time he got to the front step, but she left the door open for him so h
e followed her into the house.

“Danny! Lexi! I’m home!” Caroline called a
s she entered the dining room.

Kevin heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs, and Dan came into the dining room. His normally tan face had paled wi
th a look of horror.

“Lexi’s gone,” Dan said quietly.

Chapter 21

“How did you get back here?” Lexi questioned Mary-Kate. “I thought you got trapped in the 1800s.”

Mary-Kate shrugged. “I don’t know how I got back, but I did.” She peered at Lexi through the rearview mirror. “No thanks to you, of course.”

“You tried to kill me!” Lexi protested. “If you had been nice to me, I would have helped you get back.”

“Well, guess what, Lexi? I wasn’t nice to you. And I might not have succeeded in killing you the first time, but I
will
succeed in killing you this time. At least, one of us will.” Mary-Kate glanced over at Gabe with a sly smile, and Lexi realized that killing her was supposed to be Gabe’s job.

The feeling made Lexi feel even sicker to her stomach. She knew that Mary-Kate was deranged enough to kill her, but was Gabe? He had been crazy enough to kill Justin and Rosie—and who knew who else—but would he try to do the same thing to Lexi? Gabe had once loved her. He had to still care about her enough to let her live.

Lexi quickly shook the thought away. Obviously Gabe didn’t care about her that much. If he did, he wouldn’t have kidnapped her this way.

Deep down, she knew that it didn’t really matter if Gabe tried to kill her. Well, it sort of didn’t matter. She was an immortal now. Nothing could kill her. At least, nothing that she knew of could.

“So, where are we going?” Lexi questioned, as she stared out the windshield, even though she was pretty sure that she already knew the answer. Mary-Kate was taking Lexi to Briar Creek.

Mary-Kate laughed mercilessly. “That’s for us to know and for you to find out.”

Lexi slumped back in the seat and glanced to the right of her. Erica was buckled into her seat, and there were tears streaming down her face.

“It’s going to be okay,” Lexi whispered to her and reached over to grab her hand.

Erica locked her fingers through Lexi’s and squeezed her hand tightly. She reached over to the other side of her and held Connor’s hand, too.

“Okay, fine, Lexi. I’ll tell you where you’re going, if you really want to know,” Mary-Kate told her. “It’s hard for me to keep it to myself, because I’m just so excited!”

Lexi braced herself for whatever Mary-Kate was about to say next. “Okay.”

“I’m taking you back to Briar Creek, where I will let my lovely mother drink your blood,” Mary-Kate said.

“But my blood won’t save her, Mary-Kate,” Lexi said sadly. “I wish I could help you, but it’s too late. I already drank the immortality potion that Belinda gave to me.”

Mary-Kate shook her head. “No, Lexi. That’s not necessarily true. We
don’t know that you can’t save my mom. There’s still a chance,” she insisted. “You haven’t tried to let anyone drink from you since you drank the potion, now have you?”

“Well, no,” Lexi replied hesitantly. “I haven’t.”

“Then there’s still hope,” Mary-Kate said firmly. “There’s still a chance you could save my mom. We have to
try
.”

At that moment, Lexi suddenly felt different about Mary-Kate. H
er sister was crazy and had some serious issues she needed to work through, there was no doubt about that—but it was beginning to make sense. Mary-Kate was desperate to do everything she could to cure her mother of Wilkins’ Syndrome. Lexi would have done the same thing if there had been a chance, even a small one, that she could have prevented her own mother from dying.

“Okay, Mary-Kate,” Lexi said. “I’ll try to save your mom. I will.”

Mary-Kate glanced at her in the rearview mirror, a genuine-looking smile on her face. “I knew you’d make the right decision. Now stop talking until we get there, or you’re going to upset the kids. And I don’t think our daddy would be too happy about that, now would he?”

Lexi felt the heat rise to her cheeks. Maybe she didn’t feel that bad for Mary-Kate, after all.

*

Austin was surprised when the door to the room he was being guarded in opened and Anna walked inside, followed by Greg Lawrence.

“Anna? What are you doing here?” Austin asked, feeling both surprised and hopeful knowing that they had been reunited. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen—or why it was even happening—but he knew that it didn’t really matter, as long as he was with Anna while it happened.

Anna kept her head lowered to the floor, though, and she didn’t meet his eyes. She looked different than the last time he had seen her for some reason—and it wasn’t just because her pink highlights were growing out and her hair was almost shoulder-length now. Her skin looked paler than usual, and there were bags under her dark brown eyes.

“Anna is here to watch you die, Austin,” Greg said with a wicked laugh. “Of course, your time hasn’t run out just yet. There’s a chance that you could still be able to live. We’re waiting for Lexi to get here. The sooner she gets here, the sooner we’ll find out if your life is going to come to an end today or not.”

A lump formed in the back of his throat, and Austin looked over at Anna. “And you’re behind him in this? Is that where you went during that time? To plot with the mayor about how the two of you were going to kill me—how you were going to watch me die?” The words left a bitter taste in his mouth. As much as he wanted to believe it wasn’t the truth, he didn’t know what
else could be going on.

“Austin, I—” Anna started to say, finally looking at him for the first time since she had entered the room, but Greg interrupted her. “There’s no need for you to explain this to Austin, Anna. Let him wonder what’s going on.”

Anna gave Austin an apologetic look, but she didn’t say anything after that. She simply stood in the corner and stared down impatiently at her cell phone, as though she were waiting for someone to call her.

“Why is Lexi coming?” Austin questioned. Eyeing Greg curiously, he asked, “You’re not planning to do something to her . . . are you?”

Greg laughed. “Now, do I look like the type of person who would do something to your precious little Lexi? Of course I’m not going to do anything to hurt her. What I
am
going to do is tell you this. If Lexi doesn’t come here today, if Anna can’t get her here, your life is over.” He met Austin’s gaze. “I might not hate you myself, Austin, but Lexi needs to learn a lesson. If she can’t donate her blood to save someone I care about, then it only seems fair that something bad should happen to someone she cares about, too.”

So, that’s what this was all about. Greg wanted to get back at Lexi, and he was going to use Austin as a pawn in his little game.

Well, Greg was going to need to come up with a new plan. Austin didn’t know what was going to happen tonight, but he did know that he wasn’t about to let the mayor get away with this.

“Has Lexi called you back yet?” Greg asked, eyeing Anna curiously.

“Not yet,” Anna said, shaking her head and nervously running a hand through her pink highlighted hair.

When she met Austin’s eyes, he could see everything that she was feeling: worry, panic and fear.

He felt the same way.