Chapter Thirty-three
The intense cold faded with the spirit. Kylie stood, feet apart, body tense, her sword poised to fight. She looked from Della, all fangs and fury, to the front entrance.
Confusion had Kylie holding her stance. Burnett stood atop the downed door, his eyes brighter than Della's. Behind him was an army of Shadow Falls campers: Lucas, Derek, Chris, and Jonathon. All of them stood mesmerized by the glowing weapon.
"Holy shit." The words came from Chris and Jonathon. While Jonathon had seen the sword, he hadn't seen it glowing.
"You don't repeat what you've seen here!" Burnett snapped.
Kylie lowered her sword and breathed, hoping air would lessen her adrenaline.
What the hell was happening now?
She met Burnett's gaze. "What's wrong?"
He looked around. "Who's here?"
"Just the spirit," she said.
Chris and Jonathon stepped back.
Derek, accustomed to the whole ghost issue, stayed where he was. So did Lucas. She noticed the were's bright orange eyes, as if he was prepared to fight. His gaze stayed trained on her.
Burnett's posture lost some of its fierceness. But not nearly enough to put Kylie at ease.
Another set of footsteps sounded from the porch. Hayden entered, giving the door a quick glance.
"What's going on?" Kylie asked.
"Can I second that question?" Della bit out, and brushed a curtain of straight black hair from her face.
Her eyes no longer glowed, but their green hue remained, made even more noticeable by the solid black nightshirt that hung just above her knees.
"Someone jumped the fence. Broke into the camp." Burnett took another step inside.
"Who?" Miranda walked out of her bedroom, holding on to her teddy bear, wearing Smurf pajamas, and yawning.
Kylie's grasp on the sword tightened as only one person came to mind. Was she ready to stand up to Mario?
Probably not, the answer came back. But nothing would stop her from trying. Not when so many people she loved were standing around as possible victims for the rogue.
Burnett said, "I heard the alarm. Then I heard you fighting and assumed you were being attacked."
"Told you practicing in the middle of the night wasn't good," Della muttered.
"Where's Perry?" Miranda asked as if she suspected he would be involved in this.
"Circling the property to see if he sees anyone." Burnett turned to Hayden and nodded as if giving him a silent order. The chameleon moved back out on the porch. At first Kylie was confused, then sheunderstood. Burnett had instructed Hayden to turn invisible to see if he heard any other chameleons. She considered checking herself, but with everyone's eyes on her, she didn't want to freak everyone out.
In a few minutes, Hayden reappeared behind the others. "It seems clear," he said.
But Kylie knew that if an invisible intruder remained completely still, he might not be detected.
Burnett shifted his gaze to Della. "Stay and guard Kylie. We'll go look around."
"If you don't mind, I'd like to stay here as well," Lucas spoke up.
His words caused an emotional flinch in Kylie's gut. Letting go was hard. Letting go, with him always around, felt impossible.
Burnett nodded. Then footsteps thundered down the porch steps as everyone left.
Kylie looked from Lucas to Della, and then Miranda.
The witch still clung to her teddy bear. "Who do they think is here?" Miranda asked.
No one answered. Then Miranda's gaze shot to Kylie. "Oh, him."
Della sighed. "Looks like it's gonna be a long, bat-shit crazy night."
Lucas planted himself in the living room chair. Kylie, trying to ignore him, placed her sword down on the coffee table. She watched it lose its glow and then she glanced at Miranda. "Do you feel anything?"
The witch closed her eyes. After a long second, she opened them and looked at Kylie. "Yeah."
Kylie's heart tightened. Oh, shit. Was Mario here? She almost reached for her sword.
"But it's not evil this time." Miranda glanced at the weapon on the coffee table. "Maybe that's what I'm feeling."
"You didn't feel it the other night, did you?"
"No. But it has an aura, so it makes sense I might feel it."
Kylie let out a deep breath. She hoped Miranda was right-that whoever was here wasn't evil.
The sudden sound of footsteps on the front porch had everyone on alert again. Lucas shot up from the chair. Della shot across the room. Kylie however, moved fastest and was closer to the door. If it was Mario, no way in hell was he going to hurt them before getting through her.
Steve walked inside. His gaze shot past Kylie, to Della.
Della frowned. "What are you doing here?"
"Making sure you're okay."
Della frowned. "I don't need you to protect me."
He stomped out at the same time Kylie heard a roar. Not a human roar. She'd bet anything that the shape-shifter had just turned himself into a big pissed-off feline. Kylie considered going after him to help soothe his ego, but since she'd nearly become supper for one angry lion when she first got here at Shadow Falls, she decided to let Steve handle his own ego.
Miranda made a disapproving noise. "That's no way to treat the guy who gave you a hickey."
Della growled. "What? You saw how quickly he left. If he'd really been concerned, he'd have stayed."
Kylie rolled her eyes at Della's logic.
Lucas raised his brows-probably at the hickey comment. Then his gaze shifted to Kylie with a look of protection. But in less than a second, something softer flashed in his eyes, something tender. Love you, those blue eyes seemed to say.
The lion somewhere out front roared again and then a huge prehistoric bird came down with a loud thud in the open threshold.Miranda squealed, lost her teddy, and went to hug the bird.
Kylie plopped down on the arm of the sofa. The vamp had hit the nail on the head when she said it was going to be a very long and bat-shit crazy night.
* * *
"What's the tape for?" Kylie asked Lucas the next day as he unloaded his bag again and prepared for practice. Kylie had slept in and missed classes, and Lucas had called a little after eleven and asked if she wanted to cancel practice since they'd been up most of the night. She'd wanted to say hell yes, but heeding her heart, as well as the ghost's warning that she needed to learn to fight, she agreed to practice.
"For protection. We wrap the ends of the blade." He looked up the line of trees as if he'd heard something. Or someone.
Kylie's thoughts went from fighting with real swords to Lucas's cautious surveillance. "Who's out there?"