Born at Midnight (24 page)

She moved off him, as unsure of these new emotions as she was of her ability to stand up on her own two feet. “We should … I heard…” She stood.

“They’re not coming this way,” he said. He sat up and glanced up at her through his dark lashes. Exhaling, he scrubbed his palm over his face. “Damn,” he muttered, then looked back up at her. “I probably shouldn’t have done that, should I?”

“Probably not,” she agreed, even thought she wouldn’t give the moment back for anything.

He slung back his wet hair, sending the drops of water reflecting off the sunlight spinning out. “Then forget it happened, okay? Just forget it ever happened.”

“I don’t think I can forget.” She’d be remembering this kiss and this moment years from now. Because as much as she liked kissing Trey, it was as if this was her very first grown-up kiss. Her first real taste of passion. This kiss, the thing she’d felt was somehow more. And God help her, because while she wasn’t ready for “more,” she still wanted it. And that, she supposed, was the true meaning of passion.

Aware of the awkward silence building between them, she looked around. “Where are the tracks?”

“There.” He pointed her to the edge of the creek.

She moved over there, slowly. Staring down at the prints, she pretended an interest in them. He suddenly stood beside her, casting a long shadow. When she looked up, she caught him staring at her chest.

She glanced down and saw that the water had made both her satin bra and white tank top practically invisible. Her nipples, still tight and tingling, pushed against the fabric.

She crossed her arms.

“You should wear my shirt.” He tugged his wet blue T-shirt up. Kylie watched as his shirttail shifted upward, exposing a very hard abdomen. The hem of his shirt inched higher, and she took in the cutest inny belly button she’d ever seen. And then his chest. Solid. Hard. A few drops of water glistened against his skin. Her heart beat to the sound of passion again.

Realizing she stared, she turned away. “Maybe you should just promise not to look and keep your shirt on.”

“I
might
be able to do that. But the six guys that are about to arrive in less than thirty seconds might not be so cooperative. Then I’ll have to teach each of them a lesson.”

“I thought they weren’t coming this way?”

“They turned around.” He started putting the shirt over her head. She raised her hands and helped him. With the shirt in place, he offered her half a smile. His gaze lowered to her chest.

“Much better.” He reached out and brushed a wet strand of hair off her cheek. “You have no idea how beautiful you are, do you?”

The voices were at the bank of the creek now. Not that Kylie cared. Every instinct she had was zeroed in on the man standing in front of her and the compliment he’d just given her.

He made her feel beautiful. He made her feel sexy.

“You ready to head back?” Lucas asked.

She nodded, but right before she turned, she heard her name.

“Kylie?”

Damn if she didn’t recognize the voice, too.

She looked back to the bank and found herself staring at a very puzzled-looking Trey.

Chapter Thirty-two

“Do you know him?” Lucas asked, his bare arm brushing against hers in a protective manner.

Too stunned to speak, Kylie managed to nod. And then Trey started over, splashing through the water.

“Everything okay?” Trey asked.

He didn’t look at her. Instead, he kept his gaze riveted on Lucas. Or rather, on Lucas’s bare chest.

“Yes,” she said, finally finding her voice. “We … we were just looking at the dinosaur fossils.”

“Is this Derek?” Trey’s tone was full of accusation. Not that he had a right to accuse her of anything, considering everything that had happened between them. But the hurt in his eyes was genuine and it tugged at her heart.

“Trey, this is my friend, Lucas. Lucas, this is Trey.”

Both boys stared at each other. Instead of exchanging handshakes, they offered each other cold, unfriendly nods.

“We should go,” Kylie said to Lucas, and nodded a good-bye to Trey.

She started walking across the stream. Lucas fell in step beside her. She almost slipped again, but Lucas caught her, bringing her fully against his chest as Trey watched from the other side of the stream.

“Boyfriend?” he asked, releasing his clasp on her waist.

“Ex.” She got to the other side and sat down to put on her shoes, but she could still feel Trey watching her. She knew all too well how he felt. The same way she’d felt seeing him and that girl at the party. Poetic justice, just dues, turnabout was fair play—a bunch of emotional qualifiers skipped around her head, but truth was, she felt none of them.

“Why did he ask if I was Derek?” Lucas asked.

“It’s a long story.” And one she didn’t want to share right now. As she tied her shoes, guilt tied knots in her chest. She shouldn’t feel guilty.

But she did.

Shoes on, she stood up and started walking, never looking back. Her emotions ran like wild horses in her mind.

Lucas held out the fence again and she slipped through—without brushing up against him this time.

As soon as she knew Trey couldn’t see her anymore, she stopping thinking about him and started thinking about the kiss. Needing to feel grounded, she started putting it into perspective. Yes, it had been a good kiss, but it hadn’t been more than a kiss.

Right?

They hardly spoke on the walk back. And she hardly looked at him, because seeing him without his shirt was … making it hard to think. When they had almost gotten to the camp trail, Kylie realized she hadn’t gotten the one answer she wanted from him. Did Lucas remember her?

She tried to find a way to ask without it sounding as if she wanted him to remember her. As if she thought what they’d shared as children had connected them. It didn’t.

How could it, when he’d even suggested she forget the kiss? Her chest began to tighten just a little. God, why did his saying that have to hurt so much?

She took a deep breath. Just add that question to the growing list she’d started since coming to Shadow Falls.

While the rest could probably wait, this one couldn’t.

She wanted to know—needed to know—if he remembered her.

Just blurt it out. Just blurt it out.
She saw the clearing in the woods ahead and knew her time with him was short. She might not talk to him again before she left.

“You know, you kind of remind me of someone,” she said.

“Do I?” He didn’t look at her.

“Yeah.” She waited for him to ask who.

He didn’t ask. Instead he said, “I get that a lot.”

They came to the clearing and stepped out on the trail. His gaze met hers. “I have to go. I’m leading another hike.” He turned to leave.

“Lucas?” she called after him, and he swung around. She pulled off his shirt and handed it to him. He took it.

She pulled her damp shirt away from her bra. It wasn’t completely dry, but no longer as transparent.

She saw his gaze lower to her chest briefly, then he met her eyes.

Do you remember me?
“Thanks for … showing me the dinosaur tracks.”

He nodded. “You’re welcome.” He hesitated, and then said, “I’m sorry, Kylie.”

She knew he was apologizing for the kiss. First, he tells her to forget it ever happened and now he apologizes for it. Her chest clutched.

Then he took off again and Kylie stood there with one thought running through her head.
She wasn’t sorry. She wasn’t thrilled Trey had stumbled upon them. But neither was she sorry.

*   *   *

Kylie had just put on some dry clothes when she heard someone come into the cabin. Stepping out of her room, she spotted Della standing by the open fridge drinking … something.

Blood. Kylie forced herself to accept it. Her friend was a vampire and vampires drank blood, had to have it to live. It was time for Kylie to face things. “Hey.”

“I’m not talking to you.” Della screwed the top on the bottle and placed it in the vegetable bin as if to hide it.

“I don’t blame you. I haven’t been a very good friend.”

Della turned around. “Is this your way of saying you’re not going to leave?”

Kylie tried to think how to answer that. “I don’t know yet. I told Holiday I’d give it two weeks. So I guess I shouldn’t say one way or another until then.”

Then, before she lost her nerve, Kylie moved in and stretched out her arm, rubbing a finger over her vein in the crease of her elbow. “Do you have the stuff to do it?”

Della’s brow wrinkled. “To do what?”

“To draw blood. Derek said that you guys were trained.”

“I didn’t…” Her eyes widened. “I never asked…”

“I know, but you didn’t ask because you knew I’d say no. Right?”

“That’s part of it.” Della continued to study her.

“And the other part?” Kylie asked.

“Because you just stopped being afraid of me. I didn’t want you to look at me like a monster.”

“You’re not a monster,” Kylie said. “You’re just a vampire.”

“And you don’t see that as a monster?” Della asked.

“Not when I realize it’s you.”

Della hesitated. “My parents would think I was a monster. Lee would think I’m a monster.”

“Screw what they would think,” Kylie said. “You’re not a monster.” She held out her arm. “You need blood to live.”

“I can survive just drinking animal blood for the summer,” Della said.

“Why should you when I’ve got extra?”

“You’d really do it?” There was a catch in Della’s voice.

“Well, I heard that once you agree to it, you can’t take it back,” she teased.

“I wouldn’t hold you to it.”

“I was joking. I want to do it.”

“Do what?” Miranda asked, stepping into the cabin.

Kylie looked back. “I’m giving her some blood.”

Miranda’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”

Kylie nodded. “She offered to fight Fredericka for me. I owe her that much.”

Miranda made a face. “Oh, hell, if you’re gonna do it, then I’ve got to do it.”

“No, you don’t,” Della said.

“Yes I do. Because we’re a team. All of us.”

Della’s eyes grew moist. “I don’t allow witches on my team.”

“Tough titty, vamp,” Miranda said. “Because you got one.” Miranda held out her arm. “Let’s do it. But it better not hurt. I hate needles.”

“I can’t do it until we get it cleared with Holiday or Sky.”

“Then let’s go get it cleared,” Miranda and Kylie said at the same time.

Right then, a toad, aka Miranda’s piano teacher, plopped down at her feet. “Not again,” she seethed, and eyed the toad. “Won’t you ever learn?” Miranda pointed her finger at the amphibian. “Keep this up and I swear, I’m reporting your butt to the police.”

“Maybe you should,” Kylie said.

Miranda looked at Kylie. “Yeah, but he never … All his offenses could be explained by accidents—trying to show me the right keys on the piano, that kind of thing. The only way I know he was really doing it was because of the spell.”

“I’m telling you,” Della said, “we should cook his horny ass. Or give him to the werewolves. I heard they love toads.”

The toad jumped across the room and then faded into thin air. Kylie got curious. “When he pops in here, is he disappearing from wherever he is?”

“Yup,” Miranda said. “But except for the first time, it’s happened when he’s alone. Or at least that’s what I think when I peek into where he ends up when he goes back. I think he gave up teaching piano lessons.”

“Well, at least that’s good,” Kylie said.

Miranda’s eyes grew round as if she just remembered something. “Is it true that Lucas got your name this morning?”

“Yeah,” Kylie admitted.

“Oh, shit.” Della pushed Kylie into a kitchen chair. “Start talking. What happened?”

Miranda dropped into a chair. “Yeah, spill it.”

Kylie did spill it. It all rolled off her tongue so fast she couldn’t stop it. And not just about the kiss. She told them about Lucas living next to her, about her cat. She told them about the amazing kiss and about the whole mess with Derek and Trey—including her mixed-up feelings for Derek after he’d moved on without giving her so much as a second glance. When Kylie finally shut up, Della and Miranda sat there, their eyes wide and their mouths hung open in disbelief.

“Damn,” Della said.

Miranda leaned back in her chair and sighed. “I wanna be kissed like that. I’m so ready to be swept off my feet.”

“That’s easy,” Della said. “Why don’t you go find Perry and lay one on him?”

Miranda shook her head. “Please, if the guy doesn’t have the balls to even tell me he likes me, he’s not going to have the balls to kiss me.”

“Then put a spell on him to make him grow a pair,” Della said.

They all laughed. And then Kylie’s phone began to ring. She glanced at the caller ID and saw her dad’s number on the screen. Her laughter faded into a frown. And then, just because she didn’t want to let anything ruin the mood, she reached down and turned off the ringer and then slipped the phone back in her pocket.

*   *   *

The next day and a half flew by. It helped that there were no more bouts of drama—no surprise visits from Trey, no confrontations with Fredericka, not even any arguments between Miranda and Della. They had donated blood and it felt right.

And then night fell.

Kylie woke up in a cold sweat. She sat up in her bed, knowing the ghost was here. Then Kylie realized she wasn’t in her bed. She wasn’t even at camp.

Her heart raced as she tried to make sense of her surroundings. She knew she wasn’t in Texas anymore. Not even in the United States, for that matter. It felt … foreign and yet somehow familiar, like images she’d seen in the Gulf War movies her mom loved.

Kylie stood outside of a small house on a plot of land devoid of trees and grass. It was hot. Not Texas hot, more dry desert heat. The sun had set and the time seemed caught between light and dark. The smell of burning rubber and wood, of devastation, filled her nose. Plus there was noise. So much noise. It was as if someone suddenly turned up the volume because the noise around her was deafening—there were screams and loud pops—bombs echoing off in the distance. Gunshots. Someone was yelling for her to follow them. “It’s not our problem,” the male voice screamed.

What’s not my …
She heard the wailing—a woman, Kylie realized. A woman screaming for help, screaming in pain.

Fear climbed up Kylie’s spine and she knew whatever was happening to the woman was terrible. And unjust. Kylie didn’t want to be a part of it. Didn’t want to see it, didn’t want to know about it. Too ugly.
Not my problem.

What was not her problem? Confusion filled her mind.

It’s a dream. Just a dream. Wake up. Wake up.
She tried to remember how Dr. Day had taught her to stop the dreams, but she couldn’t. She closed her eyes really tight and opened them, hoping she’d be back at her cabin.

She wasn’t. Somehow she’d moved closer to the house and to the screams. The woman was in the house. Someone hurt her. Who? Why? What did it all mean? Why was Kylie here? Why was she stuck in a war movie? Or was it a movie? No, a dream.

Her mind tried to compute the questions.
No time,
a voice deep inside her demanded,
only time to feel, to understand.

Why did she need to understand?

Her questions faded and she felt completely present in the dream again, in the havoc, in the ugliness of war. She felt an enormous guilt for not wanting to be involved with the woman. If she ran, if she ran right now, she knew she could catch up with the others and get away.

Choices ran through her head. She could live if she left now. But could she live knowing she’d allowed this to happen to the woman?

No. She couldn’t. She glanced down at an assault rifle in her hand. Just like the ones from the war movies. She had to stop whoever was hurting that poor woman.