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

though. Someone
else besides Ben could be in the house. For all Gabe knew, that
someone could be trying to stay silent because they were waiting
for them to arrive.
     
    *
     
    “Well, let’s do we have to do,” Austin whispered. He
grabbed a broom that was leaning against the porch rail and ran
towards the door, breaking the glass. Reaching inside, Austin
turned the doorknob and pulled it open. Luckily, no alarm sounded.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
    Austin took a step back, letting Gabe in the house
first. Craig followed close behind him. Austin let Anna walk in
front of him. There was no way he was letting her follow behind
them; he wanted Anna to walk between him and someone else at all
times. Even though Anna had been practicing to become a vampire
hunter for a longer period of time than Austin had, he knew that he
would have to protect her if necessary.
    The whole entire house was dark, putting him on
edge. As Austin glanced around every corner, he was afraid that he
would find someone lurking in the shadows, just waiting to
attack.
    Austin followed Gabe, who led them all upstairs.
Once they reached the landing, Austin heard heavy breathing coming
from one of the bedrooms. Glancing inside, he noticed Ben’s
chin-length blonde hair right away; he was lying on the hardwood
floor inside of a mesh net in fetal position, his hands cuffed
behind his back and a scarf wrapped around his face, to prevent him
from speaking or screaming.
    Gabe was the first to reach Ben. He tore through the
net with his pocketknife, untied the scarf and pulled it out of his
mouth. Ben immediately began coughing; from the sound of his
coughing, it was obvious that the scarf had been in his mouth for a
long time – probably days.
    “Why did you have a net on you?” Austin furrowed his
brow.
    “I tried to fly away.”
    “Who’s keeping you here?” Austin asked, deciding
that it was okay to skip a proper greeting right now. It was more
important to know who they were dealing with first.
    “I don’t know,” Ben replied. “I – I think they’re
someone who’s after Lexi. Whoever it is, I’ve never met them
before. There’s a big guy named Mike and a smaller guy named Larry.
They’re usually gone during the daylight hours.”
    “Larry Brayer and Mike Davis probably,” Austin
muttered. When everyone stared back at him, he explained, “They’re
two of Greg Lawrence’s best friends.”
    “Well, let’s get you out of here before they get
back,” Gabe said. “Do you know where the key to the handcuffs
is?”
    Ben shook his head. “No, it’s somewhere downstairs,
but I don’t know where.”
    “We should go look for it,” Anna told Austin. “It
will make things a lot easier if we can get those things off of him
before we leave.”
    Austin nodded. “Okay, let’s go look.” He
protectively wrapped his arm around Anna’s soft body as they
descended the stairs.
    “If I were a key, where would I be?” Anna said,
tapping her chin. “Maybe in one of the kitchen drawers?”
    “Yeah, maybe.” Austin followed Anna into the
kitchen. She opened the three drawers beneath the cabinets. When
she looked up at him, Anna was frowning. “It’s not in here.” She
began opening up the kitchen cabinets, moving the plates and
glasses around hurriedly.
    “I wonder whose house this is,” Austin muttered as
he began scanning the walls. Of course, there was no key rack.
Larry and Mike were obviously smart enough to not leave their keys
just hanging for anyone to take. “I have a feeling this is a waste
of time. They probably took the keys with them.”
    “So, do you think we should just leave now then?”
Anna asked, glancing over Austin. It looked like she was about to
say something more, but at that moment, they both froze. The front
door was being pushed open, and the sounds of two men talking
filled their ears.
    Austin put a finger to his lips and crouched behind
the reclining chair in the living room. Anna sunk down to the