Kiss of Death (The Briar Creek Vampires, #1) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (7 page)

Lexi’s heart ached. She and her mom never
fought. This was the biggest fight they had had in years. Lexi
reminded herself that for now, Mary-Kate should be the most
important thing in her mind. Austin deserved justice, but she
couldn’t get that for him unless her emotions were in check. He
might have really been attacked by a wild animal, though Lexi had a
gut feeling that there was a lot more to the story than the police
were letting on, and she was going to get to the bottom of it.

*

Grabbing her Coach bag, Lexi decided that it
would probably be better if she didn’t tell her mom where she was
going. She didn’t want to spark another argument or have her mom
tell her that she wasn’t allowed to go.

Stepping outside, she breathed in the fresh
Pennsylvania summer air, a mix of freshly cut grass and outdoor
barbeques. She glanced across the street. As if on cue, a curtain
was pulled closed.

Had Gabe been looking out his window before
she went outside, or was he spying on her? Lexi sighed, shaking the
thought from her head. Why would he spy on her? He had made it
crystal clear the other night that he wasn’t interested in her.

Lexi began walking to the mall. The trip to
the Briar Creek mall had seemed like a journey to another world
when she was a kid, but when she and her mom had passed it on the
way to Aunt Violet’s, she realized that it was only about a mile
from Aunt Violet’s. Still, the walk would probably take her about
an hour. Lexi wished she had her Dodge Neon in Briar Creek.

The mall had seemed like a castle to her when
she was little, but when her mom drove past it earlier, it looked
dark and depressing, just like every other building in this town.
Thinking about it, Lexi felt a chill go up her spine. At least it
had clothes.

Turning a corner, she nearly bumped into a
large, dark figure that was hovering in the shadows. Looking
closer, she realized that she knew who it was: Dan.

“Hi, Lexi,” he smiled at her, his blue eyes
shining in the sunlight. They looked slightly greener today, with
yellow flecks from the reflection of the light. She suddenly
realized how cute he was – something that she had overlooked when
she was busy obsessing over Gabe.

“Dan. Look, I’m sorry about last night.
Things have just been weird ever since Austin died.”

“Don’t even worry about it,” Dan said,
lightly touching her shoulder. “What are you doing today?”

“Well, I’m walking to the mall. I need to buy
some clothes. And I was supposed to go to the carnival later, but
now I have no one to go with.”

“I’m planning to go to the carnival tonight
with my brother, Dave, and his girlfriend, Julie. Why don’t you tag
along? It’ll be fun.”

Wasn’t Julie the name of that girl who had
been talking about Mary-Kate and Austin at the funeral? Lexi
wondered. The carnival could be the perfect opportunity for her to
find out more about what she had overheard. “Sure,” she smiled at
Dan.

“Cool. They have this really fun scavenger
hunt every year. Now we have enough people for it.”

“I love scavenger hunts!”

“This one is probably the best one you’ll
ever go to, I promise.”

“I hope you’re right. My mom never let me do
scavenger hunts when I was little.”

“She sounds over protective,” Dan
sympathized.

“She became a pushover when we were living in
New Jersey. With the way she’s treating me this weekend, I feel
like I’m a little kid again. It’s like she has something against
Briar Creek.”

Dan’s face stiffened. “I don’t know why she
would have something against it. Maybe it’s just because she and
Tom don’t get along too well.”

“They don’t? How do you know?” Lexi was
surprised that she hadn’t noticed that herself. Some detective she
was, she thought.

“The whole town knows. I guess years ago,
they made a big chaotic scene at Giant. Rumor had it that she hit
him in the face with a shovel, but I’m not sure what it was over.
I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have mentioned it...I really thought you
already knew.”

“No, I didn’t,” Lexi replied. “It’s not your
fault, though. You’re not the one who hit him with the shovel…or
the one who started the rumor, I’m assuming.”

Dan laughed. “No, I didn’t start it. Hey, do
you want me to give you a ride to the mall?”

“That would be great.” Lexi hoped that her
excitement about spending time with Dan didn’t show too much.

*

After a long day of shopping, Lexi finally
made it back into Aunt Violet’s house to get dressed for the
carnival. She was surprised that Dan had stayed with her the whole
day. She even made him go into Claire’s for her own entertainment
purposes (not that he knew that was why).

She put the shopping bags on her bed and
pulled out the pink flowery sundress that she had picked out at
Forever 21. It would be perfect for the carnival. Reaching in her
drawer, she grabbed her best Victoria’s Secret push-up bra.
Suddenly, Lexi cared what Dan thought about her appearance.

Once the dress was on, Lexi twirled in front
of the mirror on the closet door. The dress hugged her breasts and
waist perfectly, fluttering out at her hips and stopping just above
her knees. She felt confident. Lexi reminded herself that Violet
had already told her that Dan thought she was cute. Unlike Gabe,
Dan was sure to find her attractive tonight.

Lexi sighed. She had been trying her hardest
not to think about Gabe, but something always seemed to bring him
back into her head.

As she headed for the door, Lexi found her
mom at the foot of the stairs. She gulped. The last thing she
wanted to do right now was get into yet another argument and have
it ruin her entire night with Dan before it even started.

“You look very pretty,” her mom said quietly.
“Where are you going?”

“Out with Dan. I’ll be home later
tonight.”

Her mom nodded. “Have fun. Don’t get into any
trouble.”

Lexi huffed. “Do I ever get into trouble?
Seriously, it’s like you’re suddenly super mom. You don’t have to
put on a front for Aunt Violet and Uncle Tommy, Mom.”

“It has nothing to do with Violet or Tom,
Lexi. I just want you to be careful. You’re too trusting. You’re in
a place that you don’t know very well and that makes you vulnerable
to strangers.”

“I do know it well. I grew up here!” How
could her mom think she was a stranger to Briar Creek? It was her
fault that Lexi hadn’t been able to spend much time here.

“Yes, you grew up here. You were an innocent
child. You don’t know everything about this town...it has secrets.
Secrets that I wanted to shelter you from then and secrets that I
want to keep you away from now.”

“We used to tell each other everything. Now
you’re keeping secrets from me? Whatever, Mom. I’m old enough to
make my own decisions anyway. I know you don’t like Uncle Tommy,
but that’s no reason to try to shelter me from this town or my
family.”

Lexi turned, stomping away from her mom. Dan
was probably outside and she wasn’t going to make him wait for her
just because her mom was being an uber-bitch.

****

Chapter 6

Climbing off the Tilt-A-Whirl, Lexi found
herself thinking about Gabe, once again. She remembered that his
lame excuse for not going to the carnival was that he hated
Tilt-A-Whirl. At least she had come with someone who found it just
as fun as she did. Plus, Dan was actually turning out to be a
really sweet guy.

So far, they had shared a cotton candy and he
had played a water gun game three times to win her a cute pink
stuffed bear. It reminded Lexi of Austin. She wondered if Dan had
subconsciously chosen a bear for her because he, too, was thinking
about the bear attack.

Dan seemed to sense that something was wrong.
He pulled her in his arms, kissing her on the forehead. “What’s
wrong, babe?”

“I was just thinking about Austin,” she said,
looking down at the stuffed animal that she was holding. “You know,
the bear...”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t think about that.
I’m a jerk.”

“It’s okay. You’re not a jerk. I’m just being
stupid.”

Dan hugged her tightly. “I knew Austin pretty
well and, if it makes you feel any better, I honestly think that he
wouldn’t want us to dwell on it. He’d want us to be happy. Even if
that meant that I would be kissing his cousin in a second,” he
said. She looked up into his blue green eyes.

Dan pulled her chin up and their lips
touched. Lexi grabbed his neck, pressing her tongue deeper into his
mouth.

When they finally released each other, she
realized that the kiss didn’t feel right. She liked Dan enough but
he wasn’t Gabe. Lexi knew that if she had been kissing Gabe instead
of Dan, it would have felt like no one else was around but them.
Instead, she seemed to focus more on the muffled cries of children
and the people working at the game booths than Dan.

Dan grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the
House of Mirrors. Glancing in the first mirror, Lexi noticed that
she looked like a freakishly tall cartoon character. In the next,
she looked like a hippo. Oh no, she thought, Dan is going to think
I’m ugly after this.

Lexi glanced at Dan in the mirror he was
standing in front of, surprised to find that his reflection didn’t
show up. She figured that that mirror must make you invisible. As
she walked past it, her own reflection stared back at her.

When they reached the end of the tunnel, Lexi
was feeling too strange to ask Dan if he had noticed that his
reflection hadn’t showed up in that one mirror. She did have a
headache before she left, so her eyes may have been playing tricks
on her.

“Dan!” A girl’s voice shrieked from behind
them. Lexi turned to look and saw Julie, the brunette girl from
Violet’s house, standing next to a guy who looked like a taller,
paler skinned, Dan with sideburns. She figured that he must be
Dave.

“Hey, guys.” A tight smile formed on Dan’s
face. He didn’t seem too happy to see them.

“Is this Lexi?” Dave asked, staring her up
and down, like she was a piece of meat or a circus freak. It made
Lexi uncomfortable, but she nodded anyway. “It’s about time we were
honored by her presence,” Dave said, with a wink. Lexi felt even
more uncomfortable than before. Who talks like that? What a
creeper.

“Hi, Lexi. I’m Julie,” the girl said,
extending her hand, “and this is Dave. He can be so rude to the new
humans he meets.” Dave nudged her, and she laughed. “That’s what he
calls people...humans.”

Lexi giggled. Dave seemed like the type of
guy who would call people humans. It just added to his creepiness.
He probably watched the Syfy channel too. It was funny how
different he was, compared to Dan. It was hard for Lexi to even
believe that they could be brothers.

*

“So, you’re Austin’s cousin? Dan’s told us a
lot about you,” Julie said, as they stood in line for corndogs.
Lexi nodded. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“Thanks, but I didn’t know him too well. I’m
sorry for your loss too,” Lexi answered, unsure of what else to
say.

“Thanks. We weren’t really close, but he was
dating my friend Mary-Kate.” Lexi felt Dan’s body stiffen next to
her. She remembered that he had said that Austin didn’t like
Mary-Kate. Why hadn’t he mentioned that they were dating? Was Julie
telling the truth or was Dan?

“Oh, that’s a shame. Poor girl. How long were
they dating before...you know?”

“About a year. It was really on and off.
Austin played hard to get, and it drove Mary-Kate crazy. I think it
was more of a game than anything for both of them.”

“I heard that her father got Austin out of a
lot of trouble. Do you know what that was about?” Lexi subtly
glanced at Dan, unsure how he would feel about her questioning his
friends, especially when he was the one who had told her about
Mary-Kate’s dad getting Austin out of trouble. She just figured she
wouldn’t mention his name, and, hopefully, he wouldn’t get pissed
off at her.

“Austin got into a really bad car accident a
few months ago. It was, like, really bad. Someone got hurt. Mayor
Lawrence made sure that he didn’t get a DUI because otherwise he
couldn’t play for the Briar Creek Cougars. He was an amazing
quarterback and without him, the team would have sucked last
season.”

Austin really was an alcoholic, like Lexi had
assumed. She realized that she was probably right about his
computer password. Bloody Mary had to be referring to his favorite
drink.

“Come one, come all. It’s time for the most
frightening scavenger hunt of all!” A clown on stilts roared at the
crowd. Something about the clown’s tone made Lexi feel uneasy. She
was pretty sure he looked like the Mayor with makeup on. Lexi felt
the hairs on her arms stick up on end. She had never heard a
scavenger hunt referred to as frightening.

Dan grabbed Lexi’s hand and roughly pulled
her towards the direction of the crowd. “Come on. This is going to
be a lot of fun.”

Lexi had no choice but to follow, trying not
to trip over Dan’s feet. It seemed as though everyone at the
carnival was also going to be participating in the scavenger
hunt.

Julie and Dave followed close behind, holding
hands.

“Everyone will be broken into a team of four
people. Once you have your group, get your list of clues from one
of the people standing up here with orange shirts. You may begin as
soon as you get the list.” Dan stepped forward and grabbed a piece
of paper for the two of them, along with Julie and Dave.

Bringing the list back to the group, Dan read
the first clue out loud. “I am bright and cheerful, if you’re next
to me, you’ll hear an earful. Don’t hide; just come along for the
ride.”

“Oh, that’s easy!” Julie exclaimed. “I know
where the first clue is.” She grabbed Lexi’s hand and started
running. Once they turned the corner, Lexi spotted the large
carousel a few yards ahead of them. She realized that it was what
the clue was talking about.