He nodded. "You're welcome." He hesitated, and then said, "I'm sorry, Kylie."
She knew he was apologizing for the kiss. First, he tel s 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 Del a 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." Del a 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."
Del a 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?"
Del a'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." Del a 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?" Del a asked.
"Not when I realize it's you."
Del a 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," Del a said.
"Why should you when I've got extra?"
"You'd real y do it?" There was a catch in Del a's voice.
"Wel , 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, hel , if you're gonna do it, then I've got to do it."
"No, you don't," Del a said.
"Yes I do. Because we're a team. Al of us."
Del a's eyes grew moist. "I don't al ow 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 ... Al 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 real y doing it was because of the spel ."
"I'm tel ing you," Del a 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."
"Wel , 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." Del a pushed Kylie into a kitchen chair. "Start talking. What happened?"
Miranda dropped into a chair. "Yeah, spil it."
Kylie did spil it. It al rol ed 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 final y shut up, Del a and Miranda sat there, their eyes wide and their mouths hung open in disbelief.
"Damn," Del a 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," Del a 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 bal s to even tel me he likes me, he's not going to have the bal s to kiss me."
"Then put a spel on him to make him grow a pair," Del a said.
They al laughed. And then Kylie's phone began to ring. She glanced at the cal er 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 Del a. They had donated blood and it felt right. And then night fel .
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 smal 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 smel of burning rubber and wood, of devastation, fil ed 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 yel ing for her to fol ow 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.