Born at Midnight (14 page)

She heard the hurt in his voice. Instant embarrassment shot through her and she realized what a cold bitch she was being. God, maybe she was just like her mom after all.

He started walking. She followed. They walked in silence. “Hey,” she finally said, unable to hold it back any longer.

“What?” He didn’t look at her and kept on moving down the trail.

“I didn’t mean to imply that you were some kind of rapist.”

“Then what were you trying to imply?” He still didn’t look at her.

She tried to think how to put what she needed to say. She hated reaching for the old cliché but it was all she could come up with on short notice. “I like you, Derek, I do. But I’m thinking we should just be friends.”

He laughed but the sound had no humor. “So you’re going to deny that you feel anything.” His pace picked up. “You’re going to deny that you almost kissed me back there. That you wanted to kiss me.”

Increasing the pace of her own footsteps, she wanted to deny it, and almost did, but caught herself before she lied. “No, I’m not denying it, but I can’t trust how I feel right now.”

He swung around. “Because you think I’m messing with your emotions?”

“No. Yes. Okay, maybe that’s a part of it, but it’s also because you remind me so much of Trey. Look, I have all this other stuff happening to me right now.” Emotion tightened her voice. “Things at home are crazy. I’m seeing ghosts. I have people telling me I’m not all human, and I’m halfway hoping I find out that I’m just crazy or that I have a brain tumor.” She blinked and refused to cry again. “I don’t need
this
, too.” She waved a hand between them. “But I really need a friend.”

He sent her a look of resignation. “Okay. If friendship is all you’re offering, then I’ll take it. Don’t like it, but I’ll take it.”

“Thank you,” she said, meaning it.

He nodded and studied her as if reading her emotions again. Heck, maybe he could read them and then tell her what it all meant, because right now she felt like a scrambled mess.

“It’s going to be okay,” he said.

“Is it?” She paused. “I just don’t know where to start to find the answers.”

Derek drew a deep breath and then looked around as though he was afraid they might be overheard although there wasn’t anyone else in sight. He leaned in closer.

“I don’t have all the answers,” he said, dropping his voice to just above a whisper. “And I don’t even think this is an issue, but … there’s one thing you might try.”

Chapter Twenty

“Tell me,” Kylie said, eager for any help she could get. “I’m willing to try anything at this point.”

Well, almost anything.

“There’s a girl here,” Derek said. “She’s Fae, too. Her name’s Helen.”

“I met her,” Kylie said. “She was in the group with me when Holiday explained why we were here.”

“Yeah. Her gift is healing. But when she was telling us about herself she said that even before her sister’s tumor was found, she could see it. Personally, I don’t think you have a tumor, but if you’re concerned about it, maybe Helen can check you out. At least you’d stop worrying about it.”

“That’s an excellent idea.” Kylie almost hugged him, but decided at the last moment it wasn’t wise. She really didn’t want to encourage Derek that they could be more than friends. At least not now, a little voice inside her whispered—the little voice that really liked how it felt to be close to him, the same little voice that had wanted her to kiss him earlier. “Thank you,” she said.

“You’re welcome.” He brushed the back of his hand down her cheek and you can bet her little voice liked that, too. “By the way…”

“By the way what?” she asked.

He smiled and the gold in his eyes seemed to glow hotter. “Back there. You weren’t the only one who … I mean, I wanted you to kiss me, too.”

“But we’re just friends,” she said, wishing she could say it with more conviction.

“Yeah.” And he didn’t say it with a heck of a lot of conviction either.

*   *   *

When they got back to the camp, it was almost time to meet Holiday. Kylie wanted to call Sara, so she decided to go behind the office to the little hiding spot she’d discovered yesterday.

She made it around the building when she realized she wasn’t the only one who’d discovered the hiding spot. Kylie shifted herself in reverse, but not quickly enough. Lucas and his attached to-the-hip girlfriend swung around. Lucas grimaced and Goth Girl smiled. Then she reached up and made a show of buttoning her blouse.

“Sorry,” Kylie muttered, and shot off. But she felt a pair of light blue eyes burning into her back as she went.

She made it around the front, only to find Miranda and Della standing near the office yelling at each other.

Kylie’s first thought was to leave them be, but when she spotted Sky, the other camp leader stepping out of the dining hall, Kylie marched over to break the two up before they got in trouble.

“I swear, if you wave that little pinky finger at me one more time, I’m gonna break it.” Della leaned in. “And you know I can do it.”

“Stop it,” Kylie said, stepping between them. Miranda shuffled back in front of Kylie and bumped noses with Della.

“You lay one bloodsucking finger on me and I’ll hex you with the worse case of pimples you’ve ever seen.”

“You can’t hex me,” Della spouted out. “Your hexes are retarded.”

“Stop it.” Kylie spotted Sky looking over at them. “We’ve got company.”

“Giving pimples is one hex I got down.” Miranda stepped back, but Della moved in.

She obviously didn’t like pimples. “Look, if I get one zit, I’ll drain your blood while you’re asleep and sell it on eBay.”

“Would you guys put a sock in it,” Kylie snapped, but it was too late. Sky was on the move.

“Is everything okay?” the tall, goth-dressed camp leader asked.

Sky was also a werewolf, or so Kylie had heard. She still couldn’t identify the supernaturals just by looking at them.

Miranda pasted a smile on her face. Della attempted to do the same, although Della’s smile looked more like a snarl.

“It’s fine,” they said in unison. “We’re just—”

“Arguing?” Sky’s eyebrows tightened in accusation.

“Having a little disagreement,” Miranda said.

“Over?” Sky asked.

Della spoke up. “She purposely spilled my blood that was in the fridge.”

“I didn’t purposely spill it. It fell out when I opened the door.”

“There’s blood in our fridge?” Kylie frowned.

Sky rolled her eyes. “You have to learn to get along.” Sky’s dark eyes shot to Miranda. “You are a returnee, Miranda, we expect better from you.”

“Yeah, well, get in line with the be-disappointed-by-Miranda crowd.” Miranda shot off in a huff.

Sky watched her leave and then looked back at Kylie and Della. “Solve your own problems at your cabins, not in public, or Holiday and I will have to get involved. And trust me, you don’t want us involved.” She turned and left.

Kylie glanced back at a smiling Della who appeared unaffected by Sky’s warning.

“So what happened with you and fairy guy?” Della asked.

“Forget that. You and Miranda gotta stop this.”

“Stop what?” Della shrugged.

“Stop threatening to do bodily harm to each other.” Right then, Kylie spotted Lucas’s girlfriend walking toward them. The girl’s eyes narrowed in fury and her lips tightened as she zeroed in on Kylie. If looks could kill, Kylie would be a hair away from decomposing. Then the pissed-off werewolf stormed on past.

With the thought of death hanging on, Kylie noticed a slight headache, a consistent throbbing in her left temple. The idea that she actually might have a brain tumor had her catching her breath.

“Threatening isn’t doing,” Della said. “So spill it. What did you and Derek do? Did you at least get to first base?”

“We didn’t do anything.” Kylie pressed a hand against her temple. “Look, I like you and Miranda, so both of you need to pull your big girl panties up and stop fighting before they separate us and I get stuck with a different roommate.” Someone like Lucas’s girlfriend.

“That wasn’t a fight. We were just having a tiff.”

“You threatened to sell her blood on eBay,” Kylie said. “Where I come from, that qualifies as a fight.”

“Yeah, but you’re not in your world anymore.”

Della’s statement hit hard like only the truth could. Nothing was the same anymore. A boy had just given a pint of his blood to get to spend an hour with her. She’d seen toads who were really perverts hopping on her kitchen table, and she’d checked a kitten’s privates only to have him end up not being a kitten. And don’t forget, she was being haunted by Soldier Dude. Her head throbbed harder.

“Besides, I’d never sell her blood. I’d savor every drop of it. Witches’ blood is sweet.”

Sweet.
Kylie held up her hand. “Stop right there. I can’t handle this.” She looked at her watch. Crap. No time to call Sara. “I have to go meet Holiday,” she said.
And figure out my life, because like Dorothy, I’m simply not in Kansas anymore.
Kylie turned to leave.

Della caught her by the arm. “Oh, I meant to tell you—”

“Wait.” Kylie held up her hand. “Does it have anything to do with blood?” She couldn’t deal with blood talk, period.

Della’s eyes tightened. “No,” she said, sarcasm in her tone.

“Then you can tell me.”

“Or not.” Della crossed her arms. “Maybe I should let you be waylaid for being a smarty pants.” Della walked off.

Waylaid?
That didn’t sound good. “Della, wait,” Kylie said.

Della turned back around. “If I tell you, will you put a stop to all the ‘blood is gross’ remarks?”

It was gross.
“I’ll try.”

“Trying is for sissies,” Della shot off. Kylie glanced at her watch again. She needed to meet Holiday, but Della’s warning about being waylaid …

“Della.” Kylie caught up with her. “Okay, no more remarks. Now tell me. How am I going to be waylaid?”

Della let go with a huff. “You know those men in the black suits? I’m told they are FBI.”

“What about them?”

Della cocked her head. “They’re planning on interrogating you.”

“Me?” Kylie asked. “Why?”

“Don’t know.”

The only thing Kylie could think this could be about was … “Wait. Is this about your cousin? Are you sure he doesn’t belong to one of those gangs?”

“No.” Della frowned. “They’d be talking to me if it was. Besides, they didn’t say anything about visitors. They said they thought you could be hiding something because you don’t let anyone read you.”

Kylie tried to wrap her hurting head around the facts, but she just couldn’t do it. “Are you sure they said me?”

“Yup. Holiday wasn’t happy about it. Yet supposedly they are like the head honchos around here. What they say goes. But I can tell you that Holiday stood up for you. She told them that you were innocent, but they just said they’d find out for themselves.”

And exactly how did they plan to do that?
Was it the CIA or FBI who were accused of torturing? Oh damn, she already had a headache—she didn’t want to add “get tortured” to today’s to-do list.

Della’s gaze shifted up over Kylie’s shoulder. “Uh, don’t look now, but I think Holiday’s looking for you. And … I think she’s found you.”

A second later, Kylie felt someone beside her. Only it wasn’t Holiday. The cold slammed against her side and Kylie knew “he” was back.

She drew in a deep breath, determined not to pass out, but barely managed to get the cold air down her throat. Forcing herself to move, she shifted her eyes ever so slowly, praying she wouldn’t see him this time.

Someone wasn’t listening to prayers today. But at the least there was no blood this time. Soldier Dude just stood there staring at her with his big blue eyes. Eyes that seemed to want to tell her something. But what? What could he want? She recalled the word
help
splattered in blood the last time she’d seen him. Just what kind of help could he need from her?

The idea of asking him crossed her mind, but somehow she sensed that if she spoke to him, it would bring him closer. She closed her eyes and mentally pleaded for him to go away.

“And here she is.” Della’s voice registered ever so slightly in Kylie’s awareness. Opening her eyes, she saw Holiday move in between her and Soldier Dude.

“You ready?” the camp leader asked.

The cold faded and the goose bumps on Kylie’s arms melted back into normal skin. Even the frigid air in her lungs warmed. A wave of relief washed over her.

“Oh,” Holiday said, and took a step back. “Did I interrupt something?”

Kylie knew the camp leader didn’t mean her and Della. Blinking, Kylie gazed at Holiday and tried to focus. “Can’t you tell him to leave me alone?”

“Doesn’t work like that,” Holiday said.

“What doesn’t work like that?” Della asked.

“Ready?” Holiday said again to Kylie.

“For what?” Kylie asked. Why did the FRU want to talk to her?

“Our meeting,” Holiday said.

“Can I come?” Della asked.

Kylie looked at her roommate and saw in her gaze that she was trying to help. An effort that Kylie appreciated more than her roomie could know.

“Can she?” Kylie asked.

“Afraid not.” Holiday eyed Della. “I think the vampires are holding a group session. You should be there.” The camp leader’s gaze shifted back to Kylie. “Come on.” Holiday put her hand on Kylie’s back and led her away.

But just what the hell Holiday was leading Kylie to was yet to be seen.