Change of Fate (The Briar Creek Vampires, #4) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse by Jayme Morse Page B

angry.
    Letting out a loud sigh as he walked down the
street, Gabe realized that none of that mattered right now. He
could worry about Lexi and Veronica all he wanted, but it wouldn’t
make a difference at the moment. All that mattered was that he
drank from someone so that he wouldn’t deteriorate. If he became
any weaker than he felt right now, he wouldn’t be able to have
another vision, which would only prevent him from finding Lexi
sooner.
    Gabe wasn’t sure where to find someone to
drink. It was getting dark out, which meant that everyone would be
going out to get drinks at the bars soon. Did he want to try to
find another vulnerable girl to drink from again?
    No. Gabe immediately shook that thought away.
Things had gone bad last time. Finding someone that way again just
felt like it was destined for failure – almost like finding another
girl at a bar would jinx him or something. Gabe had to think of
some way to find blood that would give him better vibes than
picking someone up at a bar.
    Gabe crossed the wide street and started
walking along the beach. He slid off his shoes and planted his feet
into the sand, which was cold from the December weather. Not that
coldness really bothered him since he himself had cold vampire
skin.
    Breathing in the fresh ocean air and
listening to the sound of the waves breaking against the shoreline,
Gabe decided that maybe this was just what he needed: a serene
place to figure out what he should do.
    It had been so long since Gabe had needed to
choose a female, at random, to drink from (aside from Rhonda, that
is). Before Lexi came to Briar Creek, he had been drinking from
Mary-Kate for the past few years. Before that, Gabe had always been
in a relationship. Not necessarily a relationship with someone who
he was madly deeply in love with the way he was with Lexi, but a
relationship that would help him pass the time, allow him to get
through his lonely nights, and enable him to drink plenty of
blood.
    All of the blood that he had drank before
Lexi – including Mary-Kate’s blood – had only just been mediocre.
There was something special about Lexi’s blood; he was drawn to it,
the same way she was drawn to him.
    Gabe had noticed, ever since Lexi had moved
to Briar Creek, that she had been drawn to almost every vampire who
she’d met. It was normal for women to be attracted to male
vampires, but he got the sense that Lexi was even more attracted to
them. Gabe knew why Lexi was so drawn to them, and that’s what
bothered him the most. When a vampire really wanted to drink from a
human, they could put them under a sort of trance. Not every
vampire knew how to do it with as much strength as he could,
though. Gabe was against using method, but that didn’t mean that
other vampires didn’t use it to get what they wanted.
    Thinking about all the guys that he knew Lexi
had been attracted to made Gabe feel sick to his stomach. He wanted
to believe that he was Lexi’s one and only, but he wasn’t so sure
if that was the case. He’d seen the way she’d acted around Craig
Lindstrom, and even though they might not work out for one reason
or another, there had definitely been a spark between them.
    There was also Dan. As much as Lexi might
claim that she wanted no part of Dan because of his assault on her
the night of the car accident, Gabe knew that somewhere, deep down,
she was really attracted to Austin’s best friend. He’d seen the way
they’d acted around each other at the Briar Creek Carnival, and
he’d even walked in on one of their dates once; both times, he had
noticed an undeniable chemistry that made him extremely
jealous.
    Gabe always told Lexi that he didn’t trust
Dan after that night, and that had never been a lie. Even though he
knew that Dan had been out of control that night, he’d understood
why. Lexi’s scent was so alluring that it would be difficult for
any vampire to control himself when he was around her. The real
reason he didn’t trust Dan was