She looked back at her own body and saw that Derek was fighting off two more vamps to keep them away from her. Del a swooped in to help. Remembering she could help them as Daniel's ghost, Kylie took a step toward them. But just like that, she realized she was back in her own body. She pushed herself off the ground, determined not to just lie there. Moving, however, caused her a ton of pain. Someone else suddenly appeared and fought beside Derek and Del a. Kylie squinted at their newest al y. Sky?
Floodlights flared to life. The night's darkness, along with several of their attackers, scurried away like rats. Burnett, along with a few other FRU-looking people, seemed to come at them from al sides. They grabbed a couple of the vamps and locked them in handcuffs at both their wrists and ankles.
Derek rushed over to Kylie. "Are you okay?"
She nodded, although her body was hurting in places she didn't know could hurt.
"What the hel happened?" Burnett demanded of Derek. He reached for Derek as if prepared to slap a pair of cuffs on him.
"It's my fault," Kylie insisted. "I made him do this."
"She did not," Derek insisted.
"No, it was my idea." Del a surged forward.
"No, they're al lying. It's not their fault." Sky moved in.
Everything seemed to go silent for a long moment, and then Derek spoke up. "Sky planted the blood that you guys found that led back to the camp. She helped those rogues take the animals. But she came to our defense in the end."
Kylie knew Derek had learned this from his mind meld with the lions. The lions had talked to him, just as she'd hoped they would. A tiny bit of happiness about being right swiveled through the chaos of the moment, and she let herself savor it.
"He's tel ing the truth." Sky held out her arms to be cuffed.
Burnett put the cuffs on her. "Why?" he asked, staring at her as if disgusted.
"They..." she said looking at the captives, "have my sister. Threatened to kil her if I didn't help them get the camp shut down." Sky glanced at Kylie. "I could do it when that was al they wanted, but this ... They promised no one would be hurt. I don't know how the lion got in your cabin, Kylie, I swear. I was told to take the witches out for a hike. I knew they were planning something, but hadn't thought ... They said no one would be hurt." She shook her head and looked back at Burnett. "I was only trying to save my sister."
"They? Who are 'they'?" Burnett growled, and looked at the two vamps cuffed on the ground. One of them growled at Burnett and fought against the handcuffs. Two of the other FRU men subdued him.
Kylie suddenly realized the red-haired vampire, the one who'd first grabbed her, had gotten away. And for some reason that thought sent chil s down her back.
"The Blood Brothers," Sky answered. "The vampire gang."
"And why did they want the camp shut down?" Burnett asked.
"They feel as if the camp is corrupting potential members," Sky answered. "And from what they said, they aren't the only ones thinking it. Most of al the rogue gangs are starting to rebel against the camp."
"Do you know where they're keeping your sister?" Burnett asked, and Kylie heard the slightest hint of sympathy in his voice for Sky's dilemma.
"No. But my father's hired someone to find her."
Holiday came rushing forward. Her gaze shot to Sky wearing cuffs. "What are you doing?" she asked Burnett.
"My job," he answered, and started walking Sky away.
Holiday shot forward. "You let her go-"
"He can't, Holiday," Sky said. "He's right. I screwed up. I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for?" Holiday asked.
Sky looked back at Derek. "Tel her," she said.
Burnett looked at Holiday almost as if to say something, and then he nudged Sky to start walking. Holiday looked back at Kylie, Del a, and Derek. "Someone better start talking. And fast."
* * *
Holiday had a doctor rush to the camp and go over everyone inch by inch. Other than a few scrapes and deep bruises, they were pronounced fine. It was after two in the morning at that point and Kylie's muscles ached like a bad devil and she wanted nothing more than to go to bed. But apparently Burnett had other plans.
Kylie and her partners in crime-for some reason, Helen, Perry, and Miranda had al confessed to being part of Kylie's plan-were told to wait in the dining hal . Holiday and Burnett walked in. Kylie saw the shadows of pain in the camp leader's eyes; no doubt Sky's betrayal had cut deep. Burnett started the dialogue, or you could cal it the chewing down. He referred to what they'd done as stupid and foolish. He told them they were lucky that none of them had been kil ed. Yada yada yada.
And he was right.
But Kylie would have done it again in a heartbeat.
She sat there and took her punishment like the rest of them. Yes, she knew sneaking into the park hadn't been without some risk, but she hadn't planned on going to war with a vampire gang. Al she'd wanted to do was get Derek to the animals so he could possibly get some answers. Which, by the way, had worked. Not that Burnett mentioned that in his ass-chewing.
"Did you even realize that they had outnumbered you by five? I can't believe..." He continued his rant, reminding them they were supernaturals and they were supposed to be smarter than that.
A question popped into Kylie's mind and before she could stop herself, it slipped out of her mouth. "Are you stil going to close down the camp?"
Burnett, not happy about being interrupted, frowned. "If this is the kind of behavior we can expect, we have no choice."
Enough. Enough. Enough.
When the word scraped across Kylie's mind the third time, she stood up. "We did the only thing we knew to help."
She hadn't a clue where her assertiveness came from, perhaps exhaustion, but she couldn't seem to stop herself.
"You seem to have forgotten that we didn't plan to get into an out-and-out brawl with a vampire gang. Al we wanted was to get Derek close enough to communicate with the animals and find out what the hel had been going on."
"You should have come to us," Holiday said.
While her heart went out to the camp leader, Kylie had a point to make. Since she'd already pissed Burnett off, she might as wel keep going.
"Why should we come to you?" Kylie asked. "You didn't trust us enough to tel us what was going on. Yes, we know you're the camp leader, but we're not in kindergarten here. You say we're here to learn how to cope in the outside world but then you try to shield us from anything that might be the least bit unpleasant. And let's say if we did come to you with this, I don't think you'd let us do it because you'd be worried it could be dangerous. And then there's you." Kylie pointed to Burnett.