Kiss of Death (The Briar Creek Vampires, #1) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (5 page)

Climbing up the stairs to her room and still
baffled by what she had just learned, Lexi decided that she had to
do some detective work. Maybe there would be something else on
Austin’s laptop or Facebook account that she had missed the first
time.

Peeking down the hall to make sure that no
one was around, Lexi snuck into Austin’s room. She glanced at his
computer desk, which was now empty. Lexi’s heart skipped a beat.
She had put it back last night. Why wasn’t it there today?

Aunt Violet or Uncle Tommy must have started
going through the rest of Austin’s stuff and moved it, Lexi
decided. Glancing around the room, she noticed that the photographs
were still hanging on the walls and Austin’s movie collection was
still in the same place. If her aunt and uncle had removed more of
Austin’s personal belongings, they sure had missed a lot.

Sighing, Lexi looked around Austin’s room.
She wasn’t sure what she was searching for, but she knew that there
had to be something in the room that would tell her more about her
cousin than she already knew (which wasn’t very much). Opening his
desk drawers, she realized that Austin was a total neat freak –
there was a calculator, a few pens, a notepad, Extra gum, and a
pair of sunglasses. She looked under his bed and in his nightstand.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Lexi listened as someone clomped their way
upstairs. Instinctively, she turned off the light in Austin’s room
and jumped into his closet, swiftly closing the door behind her –
and was glad she did when she heard the bedroom door swing
open.

The light was turned on and the person
hovered in the doorway, breathing heavily, leading Lexi to believe
that it was Uncle Tommy. She imagined that he must have come to
Austin’s room to remember him and try to deal with his pain. Lexi
felt uncomfortable, like she was intruding on a special moment
between Uncle Tommy and Austin’s spirit. A chill went down her
spine. She had never thought of Austin as a ghost until now. She
wasn’t sure if she believed in ghosts, but what if Austin was here
somehow, watching her every move? In a way, she was glad that his
laptop had been missing this time. If she had pissed him off at all
by going through his belongings, she didn’t want him haunting her
for stealing his laptop again.

She heard the floorboards creak as Uncle
Tommy walked closer to the closet door and turned the knob. Holding
her breath, she closed her eyes and leaned her head against the
wall, keeping her fingers crossed that something would stop him
from opening the closet door. She had never known Tom to be mean
(well, not abusively mean anyway), but how would it look for her to
be hiding in the closet? She couldn’t quiet her racing heart during
what felt like ages that Tommy stood, unmoving, outside of her
refuge.

Finally, the knob was released. The bedroom
light switched off shortly after, as Uncle Tommy trudged back
downstairs. Lexi waited a few seconds before she came out of her
hiding place, taking the time to look through his closet. She was
surprised to notice for the first time that it was mostly empty,
except for a sleeping bag on the floor, and his Letterman jacket on
a hanger in the corner. The rest of Austin’s clothes must have been
in the boxes she saw when she first got to Briar Creek. They really
didn’t take long to start getting rid of his stuff. Shouldn’t there
be a mourning period after a person dies?

Closing the door as quietly as she could, she
looked over to see a box marked “Private” sitting on Austin’s bed.
She wanted to see what was inside of it, but one close call was
enough for the night. Peeking out of his bedroom, she glanced down
the hallway. Once she was sure there was no one around, she ducked
back into her own room. Pressing her back against her door, Lexi
released a sigh, thinking of what a close call it had been.

She let her thoughts wander back to the box
when she heard her old Motorola phone buzzing. Realizing that she
hadn’t touched it the whole entire time she was in Briar Creek, she
dove for it in her brown Coach bag.

When she pulled the phone out, she did a
double take. She didn’t recognize the area code of the number
calling her. “Hello?” she asked cautiously.

“Hey, Lexi. It’s Dan. Violet told me that I
should give you a call because you wanted to talk to me.”

“Oh,” Lexi said, trying not to sound as
shocked as she felt. His call caught her off-guard; she hadn’t even
planned what she was going to say to him yet. After a few moments
she finally managed to say, “Yeah, I did. Um, do you think you’d
want to get together? Maybe sometime tomorrow?”

“Well, if you want to wait until tomorrow,
that’s fine. I’m not doing anything right now though. I can come
over if you want and we can talk outside.”

Lexi looked at the time on her cell phone. It
was only 8:30 and she really didn’t feel like sitting in her room
all night, without a computer or TV to entertain her. “Okay,
sure.”

“See you in ten.”

Hitting the end button on her cell phone,
Lexi pondered over why Violet had given her phone number to Dan
instead of giving his number to her. Not only that, but why Violet
had given him her number so quickly. She had only asked for it an
hour or so earlier. Shrugging it off, she decided that, whatever
her aunt’s intentions were, it had worked out to her benefit. She
was going to find out what Austin and Mary-Kate had been doing the
night that he died – and any other information she could squeeze
out of Dan.

****

Chapter 4

Ten minutes later, Lexi found herself waiting
on the front porch for Dan to arrive. She was still surprised that
he was attracted to her. Dan was pretty cute for a jock, but he
didn’t give her the same feelings that Gabe gave her. Gabe. Just
the thought of his name stirred up the butterflies that had been
resting peacefully in the pit of her stomach.

Glancing across the street, Lexi wondered
what Gabe was doing at that moment. When Dan pulled his blue
mustang into the driveway, she decided to avoid thinking about Gabe
for the sake of the conversation she was about to have. He could be
a huge distraction, and she knew that she owed Austin more than
that.

Turning the headlights off, Dan slid out of
his car and quietly closed the door behind him. He strode over to
the porch and whispered, “Let’s go to the back of the house. We can
talk there without disturbing anyone.”

Lexi shrugged and followed him to the hammock
in the backyard. He plopped down, patting the spot next to him.
Hesitantly, she sat down with him.

“So, what is it that you wanted to talk to me
about?” Dan asked, his blue eyes sparkling in the moonlight.

“I was wondering if you knew anything about
Austin and Mary-Kate.”

Dan looked over at her, clearly put off by
her question. “Well, I know that she had a crush on him for a long
time. He never returned her interest, and it upset her. That’s
about all I know. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, you know…like you told me, this is a
small town. People talk. So Austin and Mary-Kate never hung
out?”

“Not to my knowledge.” Dan leaned back in the
hammock and looked at the sky. “Don’t you think the stars look
pretty tonight?”

Irritated, Lexi said, without looking up,
“Yeah, they do.” Continuing on with her interrogation, she asked,
“He didn’t mention her at all?”

“No. Why are you so concerned about Austin
and Mary-Kate, Lexi? Whatever happened between them doesn’t matter
much now, does it?”

Lexi agonized over what she was going to say
next. She was half tempted to break down and tell him about the
message that she had found on Austin’s Facebook. The other half –
the wiser half – was too afraid that he would tell Violet and Tommy
that she had been snooping where she knew she had no right to.

“Why don’t we just focus on you and me right
now?” Dan asked, snaking his arm around her shoulder. Lexi got the
skeevies when he started leaning in closer to her, so close that
the faded scent of his strawberry flavored gum tickled her nose.
She knew she was the one who wanted to talk to him in the first
place, but he was coming on too strong.

“Now is a really difficult time for me,” she
seethed. Shrugging out from under his arm, she said, “And, not to
be rude, but I don’t really know you. I might want to get to know
you, but I’m not sure yet.” Then, to soften the blow, she
continued, “My mom and I are leaving in a few days.”

“I see. Violet gave me the impression that
you were really into me,” he said before he slid off the hammock
and planted his feet into the ground. “I’ll see you later.”

Lexi felt somewhat guilty. He looked like a
puppy that had just been scolded and was running away with his tail
between his legs. She knew she was too nice of a person, even to
creeps like Dan.

Halting his stride, he turned around to look
at her. “Mary-Kate’s dad is the mayor. He got Austin out of a lot
of trouble once. After that, Austin told me that Mary-Kate held it
over him, like he owed her something in return. But he never told
me what she wanted from him. I just assumed that it was for him to
be with her.”

Before she could ask him what type of trouble
Austin had got into, Dan had already disappeared into the shadows
that fell from the trees that lined the yard.

This new piece of information left Lexi
completely bewildered. What type of trouble could a star quarter
back possibly get into, especially in Briar Creek? Everything was
so slow paced and peaceful here. And why would Mayor Lawrence want
to get Austin out of trouble? Putting two and two together, she
realized that it was probably because Austin
was
the star
quarterback. Mary-Kate’s father may be a mayor, but he’s also a
coach. Maybe he’s the type of coach that will do whatever it takes
to see his team win. Austin was clearly a winner.

Lexi heard the ground crunching and panicked.
Was it an animal? No one had ever specified where Austin had been
killed. Had it happened in the backyard?

The crunching came closer and just as Lexi
was about to run, she saw a tall figure approaching her. Before she
could scream, she realized who it was.

“Gabe! What are you doing here!?” she cried
out, clutching her chest in reaction. “You scared me.”

“I’m sorry. I saw Dan leaving, so I thought
you might be out here. Do you mind if I sit down?”

“Not at all.” Lexi gestured to the empty
space where Dan had been sitting only moments before. She felt
slightly relieved that she would be sitting next to Gabe this time.
She couldn’t put her finger on exactly what it was, but something
about Dan unnerved her. She brushed the feeling away, accepting her
conclusion that she was just being paranoid, probably because he
had gotten too close to her too soon. Lexi didn’t let people in
easily, which she had always attributed to her father abandoning
her.

“Is everything okay? Dan seemed a little
upset when he left.”

“Yeah, everything’s fine. I just wanted to
talk to him about Austin. What are you doing outside so late,
anyway?”

“I guess I’m a night owl,” Gabe chuckled.
“The moon looked beautiful tonight and I needed the fresh air.”

“Me too! I can never sleep at night. We have
something in common.”

Gabe grabbed her hand, intertwining his
fingers in hers. “We have more in common than you realize.”

She furrowed her brow, trying to think of
something else they had in common, but came up empty handed. She
shrugged it off, deciding to ask him what had been on her mind all
night. “Did you know Austin well?” She was surprised that she
didn’t already know what his answer would be. Lexi half-expected it
to be “yes,” because he had been at the funeral, but Gabe seemed
like the polar opposite of Austin.

“Not really,” Gabe responded, staring at the
sky. “We didn’t have much in common. He was pretty popular around
here. I keep more to myself, I guess. We always got along, we were
just different.”

Lexi nodded. “I understand. I’m sort
of…different…at my school too. I have friends, but I’m sort of
different.”

Gabe reached over and grabbed her hand. His
icy cold skin against her warm flesh sent a shocked shiver down her
spine and made her heart pound in her chest. Gabe smiled.
“Different can be good sometimes, Lex.”

She smiled at his new nickname for her. It
had been a long time since someone, other than her mother, had
called her “Lex.” Shrugging, she said, “I guess. I just always
wished I had fit in more.”

“I know what you mean,” Gabe said quietly. He
poked her in her ribs. “See, that’s another one of the things we
have in common.”

Lexi giggled. She hated to be tickled, but if
it was an excuse to have Gabe’s hands on her, she’d deal with it.
His tickling suppressed and Lexi stared into his deep blue eyes
before leaning into him, pressing herself firmly against his toned
chest.

She tilted her chin up, and caressed his lips
softly with her own. Gabriel stared back at her, and she allowed
him to fill her mouth with his tongue. The icy feel of him against
the warmth of her mouth caused her breath to catch in the back of
her throat. He slowed their kiss with a few pecks, nibbling gently
on her bottom lip. Gabe pulled away from her, turning her in his
arms so that she could lay between his legs.

Lexi leaned against him. “I must have a
fever,” she breathed. “You feel really cold.”

Pressing the back of his hand against her
forehead, he said, “You don’t feel warm to me.” Nibbling on her
neck, he whispered, “Maybe I just make you hot.”

Lexi giggled. “Maybe you do. I should
probably go inside now, though. If I don’t soon, everyone will come
out here looking for me.”

“Or you could just spend the night outside
with me.”

“With the wild animal attacks that happen in
this town? No, thank you.”