Authors: C. C. Hunter
Holiday was still browsing, so Kylie stepped outside and took in the small town’s main street. It was quaint. Antique stores, specialty shops, and even a candy store—the kind of place her parents used to drag her to when she was a kid.
A couple walked past holding hands and Kylie tried to remember if, on any of those trips, her mom and dad had ever acted like they were in love. She couldn’t recall ever seeing them holding hands. They always did their own things when they were out. Her dad played golf. Her mom shopped.
Kylie had just moved over to Holiday’s van when she spotted another couple step out of the bed-and-breakfast. They were kissing. Not the quick, touch of lips kind of kissing, but tongues moving in and out of each other’s mouth like they were in heat or something. The kissing quickly progressed to the butt-grabbing stage.
Find a room,
Kylie thought, wondering if they knew they had an audience or if they even cared. Ahh, but wrong or right, Kylie couldn’t look away.
Mostly because alarm bells were sounding in her brain.
There was something familiar about them.
She watched the woman’s hands slip into the front of the man’s jeans. Kylie’s mouth dropped open. Gross. That was so lewd, yet Kylie, now hiding behind the van, still couldn’t turn away. When the couple finally parted mouths and the guy turned forward, recognition hit.
Kylie gripped the side of the van, her knees suddenly feeling like jelly.
“Oh, my God.”
Chapter Thirty-six
Dad?
Kylie grabbed the door handle to keep herself from falling face-first onto the street. What was her dad doing … doing with … Kylie’s gaze shot to the woman, or she should say, shot to the “girl.” Kylie recognized her dad’s new assistant whom she’d met last month at a company picnic. The girl was in her third year of college.
Still leaning against the van, Kylie did the math. While math wasn’t her best subject, she figured the girl to be about four years older than Kylie herself.
And just like that, Kylie figured out a bunch of things. Like how her father’s six pairs of underwear ended up being grilled—how her mom’s countless cold-shoulder moments toward her dad suddenly added up to be fair justice.
Realizing the couple had walked to where they might spot her, Kylie moved to the other side of the van. And the cold that followed her around the van told Kylie she wasn’t alone. Yet, too emotionally distraught to think about the ghost, Kylie concentrated on not barfing up the triple scoop of ice cream she’d just consumed.
Holiday arrived shortly. “You okay?”
“Great,” Kylie lied, too embarrassed, too horrified to give details. Bad enough her father had flirted with Holiday, but to see him with someone who probably still treated her skin for acne, well, it was just too much.
On the way back to the camp, Kylie looked at Holiday. “Do you know what qualifies as justifiable homicide?”
“No.” The camp leader laughed. “But if I have to put up with Burnett much longer, I might become an expert. Who are you thinking of offing?”
“My parents.” The vision of Kylie’s dad groping his assistant filled her head and her chest ached. “Or maybe just my dad.”
Kylie waited a few more minutes before she dropped the bomb. “Do you think … you could hold off a few more weeks before you talk to my mom about my going home?”
Holiday didn’t look at her, but Kylie saw the smile of victory in her profile as she continued to watch the road. “You betcha.”
* * *
Monday night, almost everyone hung out at the dining hall to watch movies. Kylie, Miranda, and Della had stayed up way too late Sunday night nursing the wounds inflicted by their respective parents. Then Kylie and Miranda went over the books Kylie had bought on dyslexia.
“This won’t work,” Miranda said, frustrated at just trying to read the first chapter.
“What if I read it to you?” Kylie said.
Miranda looked up at Kylie and her eyes went misty. “You’d do that?”
“You’d do it for me, wouldn’t you?” Kylie asked.
“In a snap,” Miranda said.
Hence, the two of them had stayed up way too late. So instead of hanging out to watch a movie, Kylie headed back to her cabin.
When she opened her cabin door, the smell hit her and she wrinkled her nose. She obviously needed to clean the litter box. Then Socks, the little ball of fur Lucas had given her as a farewell gift, stuck its head out from under the sofa and hissed.
“Come here, sweetie,” she cooed, but dang it if the kitten didn’t go deeper under the sofa. Her phone buzzed. Kylie pulled it out of her pocket, saw that it was her mom, and placed the phone on the coffee table and tried to coax the kitten out.
After several failed attempts, Kylie gave up. “Fine, sleep under the sofa.” Frustrated and tired, Kylie started pulling her shirt off over her head and went to get her PJs on.
When she reached her dresser, she heel-kicked off her tennis shoes and pulled out her favorite nightshirt. Slipping off her bra, she dropped it on a chair. Then and only then did she raise her eyes to the mirror.
Her breath hitched. It took her mind a second to compute what she was looking at in the reflection. And another second to get friggin’ mad.
“Get out of here, you twerp!” She hurried and slipped on her night shirt before turning her full fury on Perry, who had transformed himself into a lion and was stretched out and taking up her whole bed.
“Out!” Kylie seethed.
The lion roared.
Kylie grabbed her boobs beneath the nightshirt and raged, “You finally got a peek at your first set of boobs, didn’t you? You are so … so pathetic. And don’t you think for one minute that I won’t tell Miranda about this, either.”
She reached down and picked up her shoe and threw it at the beast. “Out!” The animal roared again. “I swear to God, Perry, if you don’t sparkle your ass out of here, I’ll pin both your ears behind your head and break your neck.”
The room’s temperature suddenly dropped a good fifty degrees.
“Don’t scream,” a male voice said. “And don’t make any sudden moves.”
Kylie’s heart slammed against her ribs when she saw the soldier standing beside her night table. It wasn’t so much that he was there that had her mentally stammering, it was that he’d spoken to her.
She took in a deep breath. A wisp of steam escaped her lips as she exhaled.
Goose bumps rose on her flesh. She crossed her arms to fight the chill. “The lion isn’t real,” she managed to say. “It’s Perry. He’s a shape-shifter.”
The soldier wasn’t bleeding this time. But the memory of the dream, of seeing him dying on that dirty floor came hurtling back. Her heart ached for him. Now that he was finally talking to her, would he tell her his name? Oddly enough, even mentally referring him as Soldier Dude didn’t feel right. He deserved more respect.
“It is real, Kylie,” he said as the lion roared again.
She reached for her other shoe and hurled it at Perry.
“Kylie, listen to me.” The ghost’s voice grew louder, firmer. “That isn’t Perry. It’s real. And it’s dangerous. Don’t provoke it. Move to the door. Get out, now.”
His words sank in and she stared harder at the lion.
The lion who was not sparkling back into human form.
The lion who stood up and leapt from the bed.
The lion who moved in front of the door and prevented her from escaping.
The lion, who paced back and forth while sizing her up as if trying to decide what kind of sauce he wanted her served with.
Kylie didn’t, couldn’t, look away from the lion, but she spoke to the ghost. “Okay, the door thing didn’t work. Got any other ideas?”
“Stay calm.” His words rang the same time the animal roared, sounding angry. Hungry.
“That’s kind of hard to do.” She shivered, both from the cold and the thought of the lion’s teeth ripping open her rib cage.
“He’s waiting for you to run. If you stay calm, it will give us some time.”
“Time to do what?” she asked. The lion dropped down on the floor and started cleaning his paws. Was he washing up before dinner?
“Time to think of something else,” he answered.
Hearing her own teeth chatter, she glanced over at the ghost. “Can’t you … make him leave?”
“If I could, he would already be gone.” Sincerity added deepness to his voice. In spite of her panic, something about the ghost struck that chord of familiarity again. As if she knew him, or maybe as if she should know him.
“What’s your name?” She tried to stop shaking, but couldn’t.
“Daniel Brighten,” he said.
She let the name bounce around her head, trying to find a connection. Nothing clicked. Blinking, she met his blue eyes again, watching as a strand of his blond hair fell across his brow. “Why?” she asked. “Why are you following me around? Is it about how you died?”
“No,” he said. “I needed you to know that I didn’t have a choice.”
Why did he need me to know that?
Kylie flipped her gaze from him to the lion every other second. “Do I need to tell someone? Did you get accused of hurting that woman?”
“No.”
The lion stood back up and Kylie’s breath caught. She looked around for something to defend herself with.
“Don’t do that,” the ghost said.
“Don’t do what?”
“Don’t grab the chair.”
She gazed back to him. “Can you read my mind?”
“No, you were looking at it.”
“I’m scared,” she admitted.
“I know, but if you grab it, the lion might feel threatened.”
“Yeah, well, I’m kind of feeling threatened, too. The beast is supposed to be next door at the refuge, not in my bedroom.” Kylie suddenly remembered Della telling her that the animals sounded angry. Was the lion angry at her now? “How did it even get here?”
“I don’t know, but let’s worry about that later.”
A deep rumble sounded from the lion’s chest. Kylie wasn’t sure if that was his angry noise, but from where she stood it sure as hell was his scary noise.
“Don’t panic, Kylie. He can smell it.”
Daniel was right, Kylie decided. Animals, like supernaturals, could smell things like fear. She inhaled slowly.
Think about something else. Think about something else.
Her mind found a topic and she looked at Daniel again.
“Is Nana, my grandmother, in heaven?”
“Of course she is.”
“If you can visit me, why hasn’t she?” The steam from her lips snaked up to the ceiling.
“I was here first.”
“Where were you first?” Her teeth chattered again.
“Waiting until you were old enough to understand. They only allow one spirit to come to you at a time, until you are able to cope.”
“Well, they were wrong.” She looked back at the lion.
“Wrong about what?”
“I’m not ready to cope yet.”
He smiled.
Kylie hadn’t meant it to be funny. “So you’ve actually seen Nana?” New goose bumps started forming on top of the old goose bumps. Kylie knew she would feel warmer if the ghost left, but the idea of being alone with the lion didn’t thrill her.
“She is not a woman who can be missed,” he said. “Not even in spirit form.”
Curiosity struck. “Did you meet her before … before she died?”
“A long time ago.” His light blue eyes, combined with his blond hair, pulled her in for a second. She studied him. And then it happened.
She saw inside his head. She was doing what all the other supernaturals could do. Seeing his pattern. A tiny thrill ran through her.
Blinking, she continued to look at his pattern. He had vertical lines and then some odd kind of writing, like Chinese, or prehistoric symbols. “You are … were supernatural, weren’t you?”
The lion let go of another roar. Kylie flinched as the beast stood. “I think he’s hungry,” she said. “I think I should get the chair now, don’t you?”
The ghost didn’t answer. Kylie noticed the temperature rising. Oh, shit. Even the ghost feared being eaten alive. Only he couldn’t be since he was already dead.
Just as she might be soon if she didn’t think of something quick.
Tears filled her eyes. She was alone. All alone. And then the lion tossed his head back and forth and lunged at her.
Chapter Thirty-seven
Kylie shot behind the chair, thinking about using it as a weapon, but when she looked up, the lion had backed up. He poked his face out the bedroom door as if something out there had caught his attention.
Then Kylie heard it, the kitten. The lion took a step out of the bedroom. She could go slam the door, push the bed against the wall.
And listen as the animal ate her kitten alive.
“No!” She rocked the chair back and forth to get the lion’s attention. “Come here, you ugly foul-smelling monster.”
The lion backed up, growled, exposing his teeth, and shook his mane at her.
For some reason, she thought about the soldier and his choice to die as he went back to save the woman.
I’m not going to die. I’m not going to die.
“Daniel, please come back,” she called out, not wanting to be alone.
The cold brushed over her skin again. “Holiday is getting help.”
The lion came closer to the chair. New tears filled her eyes. “Don’t leave me again, okay?” she begged.
“I won’t,” he said. “I never wanted to.”
“Kylie?” Holiday yelled out from the living room.
The lion charged at the door. “Don’t come in,” Kylie screamed, and shook the chair to keep the beast’s attention in case Holiday didn’t hear her.
Kylie heard retreating footsteps. “Burnett is on his way to get a sedative gun,” Holiday called. “He’s just a few minutes away. Are you safe?”
Safe? She had a lion in her bedroom. But if Burnett was on the way, maybe … Kylie started to answer when she heard more voices.
“No,” Holiday said.
“No what?” Kylie asked.
“It’s too dangerous,” Holiday said as if talking to someone else.
Footsteps sounded from the cabin’s living room. The lion growled. Derek appeared in the doorway. His soft green eyes met hers, and then shifted to the lion. Fear flickered in his eyes, and she felt the same fear as he did.
The thought she might have to watch the lion attack Derek sent her heart bouncing against her ribcage. “Leave, Derek,” Kylie said, trying to sound calm even though she was a breath from screaming. “Listen to Holiday.”
“I can do this,” he said in a confident voice. “I have the gift, remember?”
Derek took a step into the room. The lion shook his mane and growled.
Derek didn’t move. He stared at the beast. Then he started unbuttoning his shirt.
“What are you doing?” she asked, and while the idea of seeing him without his shirt tempted her, this was so not the time.
“He doesn’t like how I smell.”
“Then for God’s sake keep it on so he doesn’t eat you.”
“It’s okay.” Derek tossed his shirt back into the living room. He looked even better than she imagined. Then, holding his palms out, he took another step forward. The lion roared, but didn’t charge.
Derek took another step. This time, the lion lunged for him, almost taking Derek’s arm in his mouth.
“No.” Kylie started rocking the chair to get the animal’s attention.
“Stop that,” Derek ordered.
“It stops him from getting you.”
“Kylie, you’re making him mad. Trust me, okay? Stop!”
The firmness in his voice got her attention. Soldier Dude stood silent in the corner, so she couldn’t stop shivering.
“I’m going to come over to you,” Derek said. “I want you stand behind me. Then we’re moving out the door. You go through first and I’ll shut it. You understand?”
Almost as if the lion knew Derek’s plan, he growled and faced Derek, but backed up closer to Kylie. Each step Derek took, the lion took another closer to Kylie.
A urine smell filled Kylie’s nose. The big cat’s backside hit the chair and knocked Kylie against the wall.
When she refocused, she saw Derek now stood inches from the lion. So close that the beast’s mane brushed up against his bare abdomen. Derek’s muscles tightened and his upper body appeared hard, almost chiseled.
“Now ease out from behind the chair, Kylie,” Derek said.
“Do as he says,” Daniel said, speaking up.
Kylie moved her foot and the lion slammed his head into Derek, and almost knocked him down.
Derek rebounded. “Slowly, Kylie,” he said, as if he didn’t realize the lion could open his mouth and use him for a chew toy. “Slow and easy.”
She inched out, afraid to even breathe, and then Derek caught her arm and eased her behind him. She placed her hands on his bare sides. The palms of her hands pressed against his warm skin.
“That’s good. Now we’re going to do baby steps back until we’re out the door. You’re doing good. Keep going.”
Kylie felt the door’s threshold against her heel. Derek reached around to the left for the doorknob, and the lion lunged and swatted his claws at Derek.
Derek’s hiss filled Kylie’s ears, and she knew the beast’s claws had ripped into his skin. “You okay?” she asked.
He didn’t answer, just reached again for the knob. The lion roared, but didn’t charge this time. Kylie continued to move backward into the living room as Derek slowly followed. As he closed the door, Kylie saw Daniel smile.
“You did it.” Holiday rushed inside the cabin. Kylie stood there, hugging herself, her insides trembling, and feeling sick to her stomach.
“Help me move the sofa to the door in case he decides to charge it,” Derek said.
As Derek and Holiday moved the sofa against the door, Kylie noticed blood dripping down his hard abdomen.
“You’re … hurt.” Her teeth chattered so hard she could barely talk. She pointed at him and felt a cold sweat drip from her forehead.
“Just scratched,” he assured her.
She took the steps separating them and fell against him. She didn’t care that she was getting blood all over her favorite nightshirt, either. She dropped her face against the warm wall of skin and muscle and continued to shake.
He wrapped his arms around her. Holiday moved in and placed a hand on her back.
Kylie didn’t know which one of the fairies were doing it, or if it was both—she honestly didn’t care—but the thousands of tiny pinpricks of panic started to fade. She felt safe and that was all that mattered.
She buried her face deeper into Derek’s naked shoulder, loving how he smelled, how it felt to be this close to him.
“Put Kylie down in one of the other bedrooms,” Holiday said.
“No. I’m fine.” Kylie raised her head, but didn’t want to leave the comfort of Derek’s arms. She needed this for just a little longer. He was so warm and she was so … cold.
Kylie saw Daniel standing behind Holiday. He smiled at her and then faded. “Thank you,” Kylie said, hoping he heard her.
“You’re welcome,” Derek answered.
Kylie looked back to offer Derek his own verbal gratitude, but a loud
whack
stopped her. The cabin door slammed open so hard it sounded like it had cracked. Burnett came barging into the cabin, his eyes glowed red, and he held a big rifle in his hands.
“You promised me that you wouldn’t come up here,” he seethed at Holiday.
“I changed my mind,” she said, not sounding at all remorseful.
The lion roared on the other side of the door and Burnett roared with him. “I’ll take care of that first, and then I’ll deal with you.”
“Yeah, well, good luck with that.” Holiday smirked.
Burnett started toward the door. “Wait.” Derek set Kylie back. “Let me calm him down so he won’t think you are killing him.”
At first Burnett appeared doubtful, but then Holiday nodded. “Fine,” Burnett said.
Kylie couldn’t say she’d offer the beast that much courtesy, but deep down, she admired Derek for doing it.
The two men eased the sofa away from the door. Burnett pressed his ear to the door and then said, “He’s on the other side of the room.” Then he reached for the knob.
“Be careful,” Kylie said.
Derek looked back at her and smiled. “Piece of cake.”
* * *
“You don’t have to stay here,” Kylie told Holiday, who pulled a chair beside Kylie’s bed about an hour later. The camp leader had personally cleaned Kylie’s room to remove the stench of the animal.
Holiday leaned in and whispered, “It’s this or I’ll get my ass chewed out by Mr. Big Bad and Handsome. So just pretend like you need me until he leaves. Now that they’ve taken the lion, I don’t think he’ll hang around longer than a few more minutes.” Sitting back in her chair, she bit down on her lip. “Boy, am I glad Derek was around.”
Something occurred to Kylie. “Couldn’t one of the witches have stopped this?”
“If I could have found them,” she said. “They were all out on a hike with Sky. I knew Burnett had just left here to go back to the wildlife park, so I called him.”
“What was he doing at the wildlife park?” Kylie asked. Then she said, “What’s going on, Holiday? How did the lion get here? Who put it in my room? And don’t tell me that it’s your job to worry, either.”
It didn’t appear as if Holiday was going to answer. Her expression turned grim, and she dropped her hands into her lap. “You’re going to find out tomorrow, anyway.”
“Find what out?”
“Someone is raiding the wildlife park. Killing the very animals the park is trying to save. Most of the animals killed have been on the endangered species list. Of course, the government didn’t waste any time blaming us, either. Any strange crime happens anywhere and someone is pointing to the supernaturals.”
“They think one of us is doing it?” Kylie asked.
Holiday bit down on her lip. “Not only do they believe it, but as of this afternoon they have proof. At least they think they do.”
“So someone here is doing this?” Kylie asked.
“They found a blood trail leading back to our camp.”
“But the lion wasn’t killed,” Kylie said.
“No, but the fact that it was here just makes things worse. Someone had to help that animal escape.”
“And someone put it in my room,” Kylie said.
“That or it could just be a coincidence,” Holiday said. “He could have wandered into any cabin.”
“But the cabin door was closed,” Kylie said.
“Maybe one of you left it opened. Then he might have hit it and shut himself in.”
“Or someone put him here,” Kylie said.
Holiday reached out to touch her again, to calm her, and Kylie held up her hand. “I’m okay.”
Falling deeper into her pillow, Kylie stared up at the ceiling. “Do they blame Lucas for this?”
Holiday was quiet for a moment. “He’s being looked at as a possible suspect.”
“I don’t believe it,” Kylie said. “He’s not like that.”
“I know, but … I can’t convince them of that. Especially since Fredericka took off this afternoon.”
“She did?” Kylie watched Holiday nod, and she felt the tiniest bit of jealousy. “Do you think she’s with Lucas?”
“Knowing her, yes.”
Kylie clutched her hands together, accepting she had to get past Lucas, but still refusing to believe he was guilty. “Are they going to try to shut down the camp?”
Holiday’s frown deepened. “If they can’t get to the bottom of this, they’ll try. I’ll fight it with every ounce of fairy dust I have in me, but … it may take more than me.”
Silence filled the room and then Holiday said, “Burnett’s going to hold a meeting tomorrow and probably interrogate everyone. I wish I could stop him, but damn it, with all the evidence, I can’t even argue with him that it’s not one of us. But throwing accusations around in a group of adolescent supernaturals is sure to backfire.”
“Do you really believe someone here is doing it?”
“Yeah. Either that or someone is trying awfully hard to make it look like we’re doing it.”
The door to Kylie’s bedroom opened and Burnett stuck his head in. “Are you going back up to the office?”
Holiday’s expression changed to fake concern. She rested a hand on Kylie’s shoulder. “I’m afraid she needs me. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
Burnett wasn’t fooled, that was apparent by his expression, but he didn’t argue, either. Well, as long as one didn’t call slamming the door an argument.
“Jerk,” Holiday muttered.
“I can hear you,” he retorted from the other side of the wall.
Holiday frowned. “I swear, he’s this close to me siccing a death angel on his ass.” And she didn’t try to say that quietly, either.
“I thought you didn’t know if they really existed,” Kylie whispered after a few minutes. If she’d thought they existed, she would have asked Daniel Brighten, the soldier, to go find one. Then she recalled what Holiday had said about all ghosts being angels. For sure, Daniel had been a big part of what saved Kylie.
She leaned close. “All I have to do is threaten and even big bad vampires usually piss in their pants.”
They both laughed and then Kylie said, “He saved me, didn’t he?”
“Derek?” Holiday asked. “Yeah, I would say he did.”