Born at Midnight (19 page)

Kylie wondered if being turned into a werewolf explained the girl being such a bitch, or if she had always been this mean.

“If I was, at least I did it in a bed and not in the woods like some people I could mention.”

Fredericka’s eyes went from black to a deep burgundy in a nanosecond. Kylie wasn’t up on werewolf color trivia, but she could guess that meant anger. That’s when she realized that pissing the werewolf off probably hadn’t been the best thing to do. Then again, Kylie also knew people like Fredericka preyed on the weak. She couldn’t let the girl know how much she really frightened her.

The she-wolf growled. “Do Holiday and Sky know you’ve been entertaining guests? Maybe I should I fill them in?” Her voice seemed to vibrate from her solar plexus.

Right then, Kylie saw Holiday step outside the dining hall. As badly as she hated the idea of Holiday knowing Trey had been here, Kylie refused to let this B with an itch have something to hang over her head.

Kylie hot-footed it past the she-wolf and stopped in front of Holiday. “Hi. I just had a friend stop by uninvited. I realize it’s against camp policy. I wasn’t aware he was coming, so I escorted him out and it won’t happen again.”

Holiday frowned and it looked as if she was about to read Kylie the riot act. Then her gaze shifted over Kylie’s shoulder. When her focus returned to Kylie, the look of anger faded. “Thank you for telling me. Make sure it doesn’t happen again. We only allow visitors on parents day. We can’t have normals poking their noses around here uninvited.”

Kylie nodded. “I understand.” And then she took off to her cabin, praying Fredericka didn’t follow.

*   *   *

By nine o’clock that night, Kylie had kept her promise to her mom and called her dad. It had been short, to the point, and hurt like a toothache. She didn’t mention he hadn’t come to see her before she’d been shipped off to the camp. She didn’t mention that he hadn’t come to get her at the police station, either.

And neither did he.

Basically, he told Kylie he loved her, he missed her, and he would see her Sunday on parents day at ten o’clock sharp. Oh, and he had to go, because he was out with a client.

Hanging up from the sixty-second call, Kylie remembered her mom always accusing her dad of putting his job before family. Kylie thought hell would be announcing a snow day before she agreed with anything her mom said. But right now, Kylie wondered how many inches they were predicting. Going into her bedroom, she dropped on the bed and hugged her musty-smelling pillow, but she didn’t cry this time.

Maybe she was cried out, or just too angry at Fredericka. Maybe she was still in some kind of aftershock from her little make-out session with Trey—who she’d accidentally called Derek. Dang it, here she was afraid to like Derek, in case she only liked him because he looked like Trey. Now she was with Trey, and Derek came popping in her head. And don’t forget the attraction/fear she held for a certain blue-eyed werewolf. Just how messed up could she possibly get?

Kylie heard the door to the cabin open and slam shut. She had her feet on the floor to go greet Della and Miranda when she heard the tone of the words being slung back and forth between her roommates.

“I called the computer first,” Miranda yelled.

“I beat your little witch butt fair and square,” Della responded.

“Listen here, you good-for-nothing vamp!”

Kylie stormed into the room. Della sat at the computer, her canines showing and growling. Miranda stood, chin held high, with her pinky finger held out in the air wiggling while her voice spewed something about zits.

“Stop it! I’m sick of this,” Kylie yelled. “Can’t you two fight like normal people?”

Miranda shot her gaze to Kylie. “Why would we fight like normals?”

“We’re not normals,” Della retorted. “Neither are you, and the sooner you accept that, the better off you’ll be.”

“You don’t know that,” Kylie snapped. “Fine, you two go ahead and kill each other. Just don’t leave a mess, because I don’t want to get stuck cleaning up any body parts.” She swung around to go back to the bedroom when she recalled the reason she’d come out in the first place. She did another about-face. “By the way, if you hear me screaming bloody murder in the middle of the night, don’t worry, I’m just having a night terror.” She started back to her room.

Della called out. “Stop right there, Miss Smarty Pants! Don’t you think for one minute that you’re going to go into that bedroom without explaining first?”

Kylie swung back around. “I did explain it. They are just bad dreams.”

“Not that. I mean the hot guy sneaking into the camp looking for you. Or did you forget about the little present I delivered earlier?”

Kylie wished she could forget. Seeing the questions in both her roommates’ eyes, and knowing that Della could have gotten in a lot of trouble for delivering Trey, Kylie figured they both deserved something. She went to the kitchen table and dropped in a chair. “His name is Trey and he’s old news.”

“How hot was he?” Miranda asked, and sat beside Kylie.

“On a scale of one to ten, he was an eight,” Della answered Miranda, and then looked back at Kylie. “Why is he old news?” She moved away from the computer and dropped in a chair across from them.

“Because he left me for some slut who would put out, that’s why.”

“Jerk,” Miranda said.

“That piece of human shit,” Della piped in. “You should have told me, I’d have roughed him up a bit.”

Silence fell and the three of them sat there looking at each other. Miranda stretched her hands out on the table. “So if he left you for someone who would … put out, does that mean that you’ve never … you know?”

“
You know
what?” Della snapped. “What are you asking her?”

“I want to know if she’s done it,” Miranda said. “Are you a virgin, Kylie?”

Chapter Twenty-seven

Kylie looked at her new friends and wondered if she should share something so personal. While still a little perturbed at their “normal” remark, she felt a bond with these two. A bond she’d shared only with Sara.

“Yes, I mean, no. I haven’t ever done … you know. Guess that means I’m not only a freak, but a virgin freak.” Kylie stared at her hands a minute and then added, “It just never felt right, okay?”

Miranda leaned forward. “Don’t be hard on yourself. I haven’t gotten there, either. Hey, don’t get me wrong. I came close, but as my uncle would say, this isn’t horseshoes, right?”

Both Kylie and Miranda turned to Della, who looked paler than usual.

Miranda slapped her palm on the table. “Spill it, Vamp. We did.”

Kylie gave Miranda a light nudge with her elbow. “Della doesn’t have to spill anything if she doesn’t want to.” Kylie leaned back in her chair and decided a change of subject was needed. “Fredericka caught me saying good-bye to Trey.”

“Oh, crap,” Della said, some of her color returning. “What did she do?”

“She basically threatened to tattle on me, and then Holiday stepped out of the dining hall right then.”

“Did she tell her?” Della asked.

“No, I decided to do it myself and not give that bitch the pleasure.”

“What?” Miranda asked. “You told Holiday you brought a normal into camp without permission? Did Holiday come unglued?”

“No. She told me not to do it again,” Kylie said.

Della cleared her throat. “Did you tell her I was the one who brought him to your cabin?”

Kylie rolled her eyes in grand Sara fashion. “I wouldn’t do that, Della.” She stood to go check her e-mail on some off chance that her mom had answered her.

“You know what I heard?” Miranda leaned in as if she had a piece of juicy gossip to share. “I heard Fredericka’s parents were rogue. Someone had to do some serious arm pulling to get her in here.”

“What do you mean by rogue?” Kylie asked, remembering Burnett of the FRU suggesting her parents could be rogue, as well.

“People who refused to adhere to the rules. For werewolves, it mostly means they hunted food that wasn’t on the approved list.”

“By … not on the approved list, do you mean like … humans?” Kylie asked, getting a chill.

“Or other supernaturals and livestock. Even pets.”

Kylie’s mind shot straight to Lucas Parker and his parents. Was that why Lucas and Fredericka were buddies? Because their parents were rogue werewolves?

Della stood and went to the fridge. “Want something to drink?” She glanced back.

“A Diet Coke, please,” Kylie said.

“Miranda?” Della asked.

“Diet Coke sounds good.”

Kylie stared at the “No new mail” message. “I asked my mom what time she and my dad were born.”

“And?” Della set a soda beside the computer.

Kylie picked up her Diet Coke and went back to the table. “Mom couldn’t remember, so she said she’d check the birth certificates. She’s supposed to e-mail me. When she gets around to it.” Kylie dropped back into a chair. “Knowing her, that could be next year sometime.”

“Yeah, that’s like when they say ‘maybe’ and they really mean ‘no.’” Miranda moved to the desk to check her own e-mail.

Della dropped back in her chair, popped the top of the soda, and took a long sip.

“You can have soda?” Kylie asked.

“Yeah.” She frowned. “Why?”

Kylie shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, I saw you eating pepperoni, but I thought vampires could only drink … you know.”

“Blood?” Della finished, sounding annoyed that Kylie couldn’t say it.

“Yeah. Blood.” She pushed the word out of her mouth and tried not to turn green.

“No, I can have other stuff. It doesn’t supply my body nourishment and nothing tastes as good as it used to taste. Oh, and some things have really bad effects on me. Like broccoli.”

“What happens if you eat broccoli?” Kylie asked.

“Explosive, really bad gas.”

Kylie made a face. “I think that happens to everyone.”

“Nope.” Miranda looked over her shoulder. “She’s right. Nothing is worse than a vampire fart. Except…” She looked at the screen and started typing. “Except a witch’s fart after she eats a bean burrito.”

They all laughed. When the moment passed, silence rained down on them again. Della turned her soda can in her hands. “I did it.”

“Gross, you farted?” Miranda covered her nose.

“No,” Della said. “I had sex.”

There was like this reverent pause.

“And?” Miranda finally asked, and turned in the chair.

“It was nice. Really nice. Lee and I had been dating for a year. I loved him. It felt right.” Tears filled Della’s eyes, but even without them, the pain rang in her voice. “But then I turned into a vampire.”

“He couldn’t accept you?” Kylie’s chest ached for Della, and she remembered how hurt she’d been when Trey dumped her.

Della wiped her eyes. “I didn’t actually tell him. I was going to, but…” She bit down on her lip. “I went to see him after I was turned, and when he kissed me, he pulled away. He said I was cold and that I must still be sick and he … didn’t want to kiss me until … until I felt warm again.”

“What a jerk,” Miranda said.

Della inhaled. “How do you tell the guy you love that you’ll never be warm again?” Della’s chin trembled.

Kylie rested her hand on Della’s. “Maybe you should have tried to tell him. Maybe he could have understood if he knew—”

“No.” Della shook her head and her sleek black hair moved in a wave around her face. “I don’t think so. He’s a wonderful guy, but he’s so straight-and-narrow second-generation Chinese—like his family and my dad’s family. He almost broke up with me when he realized my mom was Euro-American.”

“He doesn’t sound so wonderful,” Kylie said.

Della shook her head again. “It’s not all his fault. It’s his upbringing. We’re raised to believe we’re supposed to be perfect. Make the best grades, go to the best schools, get the best jobs. We’re not…” She bit down on her lip. “We’re not supposed to be monsters.”

“You’re not a monster,” Kylie snapped, appalled that Della would say that. And yet deep down, hadn’t Kylie considered Della that in the beginning? And even worse, wasn’t Kylie afraid she might learn she was a freak of nature herself?

“She’s right,” Miranda said.

Kylie gave Della’s cold hand a gentle squeeze. “If he doesn’t love you, then you’ll find someone else who will. You’re young. You’re beautiful. You’ve got the rest of your life ahead of you.” The question formed in Kylie’s head and before she could stop it, it spilled out. “Are you immortal? Or are you already…”

“Dead?” Della finished for her.

Kylie flushed with embarrassment. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry. That was so rude. I’m trying to make you feel better and I … It just slipped out.”

“It’s fine,” Della assured her. “I’m not dead. Vampires’ bodies function differently, that’s all. Don’t believe everything you read in those teen novels. We’re not immortal; we only live to about 150.”

“That’s a pretty good deal.” Kylie looked over at Miranda. “How about witches?”

“Life expectancy is about the same,” Miranda said, never looking away from the computer.

“And other supernaturals?” Kylie wondered if she discovered she too was a supernatural, if she’d have an expanded life expectancy.

“Fairies live the longest.” Miranda talked while she typed something into the computer. “I think there’s one old dude that’s like five hundred or so.”

“Are you hoping you’re fairy, now?” Della asked.

Kylie put her right elbow on the table and dropped her chin in it. “No. Oh, hell, I don’t know,” she muttered, letting go of a pent-up sigh. “This just sucks. Why can’t my mom just answer me for once in her life? I hate not knowing anything.”

Kylie looked back at Miranda. “Can’t you help me out?”

“How?” Miranda asked, her concentration still on her e-mail.

“You are brave,” Della giggled, understanding what Kylie meant. “Don’t you remember she screws up her spells?”

“A gift for you.” Miranda shot Della a one-finger salute over her shoulder.

Della laughed harder. “At least it’s not your pinky.”

Kylie ignored Della and their gestures. “Can’t you do a spell that makes my mom find the birth certificates and e-mail me the info? Seriously, if you can make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich appear from nowhere, why can’t you do this?”

“Well…” Miranda continued to stare at the computer. “I tell you what. Touch your nose three times and say Miranda is a goddess.”

Kylie stared at the back of Miranda’s head. “Are you serious?”

“Serious.” Miranda turned around and she didn’t appear to be joking. “Come on, touch your nose three times and say Miranda is a goddess.”

“And you won’t turn my mom into a toad?” Kylie held her left index finger in front of her nose.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Della warned.

Miranda scowled at Della. “I pinky promise not to mess up.” She held out her pinky.

“And if I do this, I’ll get my mom’s e-mail?” Kylie couldn’t believe she was considering this, but …

“Yup.” Miranda grinned. “Or you could just come check the computer. Because you just got an e-mail from her.”

Kylie jumped up and literally pushed Miranda out of the chair. Holding her breath, Kylie reached for the mouse. She could be one click away from knowing for sure that she was a supernatural.

One click. God, she was so scared.