"Just don't panic," Kylie told Sara thirty minutes into their conversation. "It'l probably be fine." Kylie couldn't say that with a huge amount of enthusiasm, but she gave it a shot. That's what friends did. Yet deep down, Kylie knew if Sara was pregnant, and there seemed to be a good chance she was, it wouldn't be fine.
"Thanks, Kylie," Sara said. "What am I going to do without you al summer?"
"Survive," Kylie said. "That's al I'm planning to do, too."
Kylie had spent the entire conversation hiding behind the office, sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree and trying to calm Sara down. Sara's mom had canceled her lunch and insisted her daughter spend the day with her, going to the art museum and then shopping. The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston was great and Sara actual y liked art. As for the shopping, who wouldn't love that? But not with your mom while you're afraid you were pregnant.
"I total y can't believe this is happening," Sara continued. She hadn't even picked up a pregnancy test yet. She was too freaked. Not that Kylie wasn't up to her eyebrows in her own issues, but talking to Sara about her problems helped Kylie not to focus on her own. Plus, focusing on Sara was pretty much the norm for them. Face it, when Sara was upset, and sometimes even when she wasn't, Sara tended to be a tad self-absorbed. Kylie never minded. She'd always preferred listening to other people's problems than blabbering about her own. Good thing, Kylie supposed, since right now she couldn't talk about what was going on. Wel , not to any normal person, anyway.
"Wel , I should go," Sara said.
One of the last sprays of the day's sun shot a golden glow around the green scenery. With dusk closing in, the heat index no longer felt so suffocating.
"Cal me when you get the test," Kylie said.
"I wil . And thanks."
Kylie closed the phone and her eyes. Leaning her head against the tree, she recal ed her newfound hope that maybe Holiday was wrong about Kylie being a supernatural. She also remembered the two black-suited guys saying the camp could be closed down if "it" didn't stop-not that Kylie had any idea what "it" was. But if both of those hopes came true, Kylie could almost see her life being tolerable. Or at least somewhat tolerable. The issues of her parents, Nana, and Trey almost felt manageable now. Amazing how one's perspective altered after learning you might not be human.
Holiday's voice played through Kylie's mind: The truth ... the truth is we don't know what you are. It could be fairy, it could be you are a descendent of one of the gods. It could be-
Kylie recal ed interrupting the camp leader, and now she wished she'd hadn't. Even though she hadn't given up on being normal, she couldn't help but wonder what else she might be.
Trying to stop the emotional jitters from making her stomach twitch, she concentrated on not thinking and just listening. A late-afternoon breeze stirred the leaves of the tree, crickets warmed up for their night song, a baby bird cal ed to its mama. Kylie remembered the hiking trips she'd taken with her dad. Should she cal her dad back now?
Later, she told herself. Maybe then she would know what to say to him about why he hadn't come to get her at the police station when she cal ed him. For now, she was just going to sit there and absorb nature and almost relax. She closed her eyes and slowly the tension faded. Kylie wasn't sure how long it had been, ten minutes or an hour, but something jarred her awake. Her eyes sprang open to darkness. She sat very stil , listening. Not even the crickets breathed. Fighting the fear of the unknown, she remembered real monsters existed. A deep, sinister roaring, like a lion, fil ed the dark silence, and then came the howling of dogs ... or were they wolves? She glanced up at the black sky. The moon, not a ful moon, looked blurry from the smear of clouds crawling past it. The sudden need to go somewhere where she felt safer shot through her. Before she moved, she heard a twig snap.
She wasn't alone.
Her heart raced and she considered her options-scream or run. Maybe both. Before she could do either someone spoke up.
"Stil afraid of me, huh?"
She recognized Del a's voice and her heart stopped most of the racing. Most of it. "Not as much as before." Kylie looked up. The vampire loomed over her.
Del a laughed. "I like the way you mostly tel the truth."
"You can real y tel when people are lying?" Kylie asked.
"Not everyone. Depends on how good of a liar they are. The good ones can control their pulse enough so I don't hear it. Then there's the people for who lying is so second nature it doesn't affect them."
Kylie stood and dusted the grass and twigs off the butt of her jeans. She'd have to be careful and not lie to Del a. Or either get better at it.
"Holiday sent me to sniff you out."
"Sniff me out?" In the dark, Kylie could barely make out Del a's expression, but she could tel the girl was smiling. Her white teeth seemed to almost glow in the night.
"You can smel me?" Kylie brought her arm up to her nose.
As if Kylie was a communal sniffing project, Del a leaned in and sniffed. An appreciative moan left the girl's lips. The tips of Del a's sharp canines appeared at the corners of her mouth and Kylie jerked her arm back. Del a's smile faded. Kylie got the odd impression that the vampire honestly didn't want Kylie to be afraid of her. So vampires had feelings, too. Somehow, realizing that made the girl more human and less scary.
"Everyone is at the campfire." Del a started walking.
Kylie moved in step with her, not an easy task since Del a's pace wasn't for wimps. "Do I real y smel good to you?"
Del a didn't look at her. "Do you want me to lie so you'l feel better? Or do you want the truth?"
"The truth ... I think."
Del a stopped and her tone came out huffy. "There's blood in your veins, I real y like blood, so yes, you smel yummy. But it doesn't mean ... Let me put it like this. Imagine you're hungry and you go into a hamburger joint. Every table is fil ed with people and their plates of big juicy hamburgers and greasy fries. The smel is ambrosia. So ... what do you do?"
"Hurry and order," Kylie answered, not getting the point.
"You mean you wouldn't go steal any food off anyone's plate?"
"No," Kylie said.
"Okay, so if stealing someone's lunch is bad, you can imagine stealing a few pints of blood might create a tad more of an issue than swiping a Big Mac. I'd have to be real y starving. Or real y angry before I'd do that."
The girl came off pretty dang angry. Kylie asked, "Do you get really angry a lot? Have you ever got that mad?"
Del a let out another exasperated huff. "I've never kil ed anyone that I can remember. Is that what you want to hear me say?"
"Yeah." Kylie smiled. "So vampires real y aren't a threat to humans?"
"I didn't say that," Del a said.
"Meaning?" Kylie asked.
"Meaning just like there's good and bad humans, there are good and bad vampires. And real y bad vampires who belong to gangs and purposely try to cause havoc everywhere they go."
"What kind of havoc?" Kylie asked.
"Let's just say they'd steal your Big Mac. Or worse."
"Okay," Kylie said, pretty sure she knew what "worse" meant, and she didn't like it one bit.
"Then there are the betweeners," Del a continued.
"Betweeners?"
"Like humans who have been known to get into some trouble, but aren't total y bad. Vampires can be like that, too."
Kylie nodded. They started walking again and her curiosity grew. "What are your gifts? If ... you don't mind me asking?"
"Heightened senses. Heightened strength. And-oh, shit! I just remembered your gifts." She came to an abrupt halt. "There aren't any ghosts around here, are they?"
Kylie did a quick check for coldness. "Nope. But seriously, I don't think I'm real y gifted."
"You don't want to be gifted, do you?" Del a asked.
"No," Kylie answered, coming close to lying. Then she remembered Del a was a human-make that a "nonhuman"-lie detector. Kylie realized they were heading into the woods; a spray of clouds passed over the moon and darkness cloaked the area. That's when Kylie heard it again, the deep roar of what sounded like a jungle cat.
"Did you hear that?" she asked.
"You mean the white tiger?"
"The what?" Kylie reached out and grasped Del a by the elbow. The coldness of her skin had Kylie letting her go even quicker than she grabbed her. The roaring stopped but the temperature of Del a's skin sent a chil up her arm. Were vampires real y dead? She didn't think she could ask that question.
Del a looked back at her as if she knew the coldness repulsed her. Kylie looked down and tried to pul free a twig that had clung to her jeans, hoping to keep Del a from seeing too much.
When Del a started moving again, Kylie remembered what they'd been talking about. "This is Texas. We don't have white tigers."
"You do at wildlife parks. There's one a few miles from here. It's both a refuge and a park. Like a zoo. Visitors can drive through and even feed the tamer animals."
"I went to one once," Kylie said. "I just didn't know there was one here."
"Yup." Del a raised her nose in the air and sniffed. "And most of the animals need their litter boxes cleaned. Stuff stinks. Especial y the elephants'
crap."
Kylie inhaled, fearing the stench, but only the scent of the woods, of moist earth and green vegetation fil ed her nose. She supposed having a heightened sense of smel wasn't always a good thing.
Each step took them deeper into the woods. Thorn bushes caught on her jeans. She had to speed walk to keep up.
"Where is the bonfire?" Kylie asked, feeling winded.
"About a fourth of mile. A little farther than our cabin."
"Why didn't we take the trail?"
"It's quicker this way."
Maybe for a vampire. They continued on for another three or four minutes without talking. Kylie thought of al the questions she'd like to ask Del a, but didn't know if she would be offended.
Concentrating on the ground to avoid the largest thorn bushes and stumps, Kylie plowed right into the back of Del a.
"Sorry-"
Del a swung around so fast, Kylie only saw a blur, but there was no mistaking the girl's cold hand pressing over Kylie's mouth. "Shh." Del a's fierce expression added a menacing touch to her warning. Then she swung back around, her head tilted as if listening. Kylie tuned her own ears to hear. But like earlier, when Kylie had just awakened, only silence fil ed the woods-no insects, no birds. Even the trees held their breath.
Why?
A blast of cold air shot past as if something had flown by. But nothing was there. Then Del a made a low guttural growl. Kylie looked up. The girl's eyes were glowing, and a lime green color beamed from her face, making her look anything but human. Fear took up residence in Kylie's chest, crowding out her heart and lungs.
The whisk of wind passed again. Kylie looked back over her shoulder, and when she looked back around, she saw him. He stood far too close-
taking up half of her personal space. Blinking, she took in his jet-black hair and Asian eyes. Eyes similar to Del a's, but his eyes glowed gold not green.
His surreal stare focused on Del a. "Hey, Cuz."
He cut his cold, gold gaze back to Kylie and leaned in. His nostrils flared. "I see you brought us a snack."