Free Destined to Die (The Briar Creek Vampires, #3) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse by Jayme Morse Page A

felt bad for Mary-Kate. He knew that in
the past, she and her mom had an awesome relationship with each
other, which had quickly deteriorated when Mrs. Lawrence was
diagnosed with Wilkins’ Syndrome. Something had snapped within Mrs.
Lawrence since then. When she found out that she had the disease,
she rarely agreed to come out of the house and spent most of her
days wallowing in her bedroom. Austin knew that Mrs. Lawrence had
it out for Lexi and Ben because she blamed them for her disease,
which was pretty insane. It’s not like they were even alive when
the witch had cast the spell on the people of Briar
Creek.
    Austin shook away the thoughts that he had
about Mrs. Lawrence. He might feel bad for Mary-Kate, but she
definitely didn’t feel bad for her parents. “Is there anything else
new that I should know about? Did you tell them what I told you to
tell them?”
    Mary-Kate nodded. “Yeah, I told them that Lexi
told me a few days before Halloween that she was thinking about
going to California. I said she had a friend from back home who
moved out there last year that she was planning to move in
with.”
    “Did they buy it?” Austin asked.
    “Oh, yeah, they bought it alright. My dad’s
really pissed off at me right now. He says that I should have told
him as soon as Lexi told me.” Mary-Kate lowered her sunglasses,
revealing the dark bruises underneath her eyes. “He hit me,
Austin.”
    Austin felt the anger rush through his body
like a wave of water. “That’s it. You’re not going back home where
he can do this to you again. You’re coming back to the house with
us.”
    Mary-Kate pulled her sunglasses back on. “I
can’t. I would be putting the three of you in even more danger. My
dad wouldn’t rest until he found me. And I can’t just leave my mom
with him, Austin. He hasn’t exactly been a perfect husband to her,
and it will probably only get worse if I’m gone. I’m starting to
think her sickness pisses him off.”
    “Why would it piss him off?”
    “He said that he ‘didn’t sign up for this.’ You
know… a dying wife. He’s afraid that it wouldn’t look good for him,
as the town mayor, to be a widower.”
    Austin shook his head in disgust. It didn’t
surprise him that Greg Lawrence would feel that way. He was always
more concerned about his image and what the voters would think than
what really mattered. “I guess I can’t – and shouldn’t – try to
convince you to leave your mom there alone. But now I’m going to
worry about you all of the time. Will you come live with us when .
. . I mean, if . . . your mom dies.
    “Of course,” Mary-Kate replied. She smiled at
him. “I’d rather be with you than at home with Greg.”
    “What about Dan?” Austin asked. “Has he been
doing everything that he’s supposed to be doing?”
    “Honestly, Austin, I don’t know.” Mary-Kate
paused, taking the time to carefully choose her words. “It feels
like he’s really close with your mom and dad . . . too close,
really. I don’t know if we can really trust him.”
    Austin looked out the window. He was getting
sick of everyone telling him that he couldn’t trust Dan. They’d
been best friends for years. Dan wouldn’t betray him . . . would
he? Austin quickly shook the thought away. Dan didn’t even have a
reason to betray him. As far as Austin knew, Dan had no one close
to him who had Wilkins’ Syndrome, and if he didn’t know anyone with
the illness, how could he even relate to what Austin’s parents were
doing? The only reason they wanted Lexi’s blood was to cure their
disease. Surely Dan understood that Lexi shouldn’t be forced to be
a blood donor. “Fine, we’ll start being a little more cautious
about what we tell Dan from now on. I still trust him, though,”
Austin told Mary-Kate. “I should probably get going now. I don’t
want anyone to find out that either of us is here.”
    Mary-Kate leaned over and pressed her lips
gently against his. When she pulled away,