“Stop, Della!” a deep voice commanded behind her.
She recognized the voice instantly.
“What took you so long? I found this rogue trespassing,” she said, cutting Burnett a quick glance back, glad he’d gotten the chance to see her in action.
“Did you bother asking him if he was trespassing?” Burnett spat out the question.
“Sort of.” Bullcrappy! Della flinched with the knowledge that it sounded like she’d screwed up.
Burnett’s stern gaze shot to the other vamp. “Did you tell her you weren’t trespassing?”
So was the guy like a new student? She didn’t ask, because that would be the only thing that made sense.
“Did you?” Burnett repeated his question.
The nontrespassing piece of crap shrugged. “Sort of.”
Burnett held out his hands as if exasperated. “Then I guess it’s sort of both of your faults for starting this shit,” he fumed. “Can I trust you enough to go back to what I was doing, or do I need to babysit you two?” His gaze flipped from the brown-haired boy to her.
Della frowned, only willing to accept part of the blame for this. She stared right at the camp leader. “You should have told me you had someone new on the premises.”
“I would have told you if you hadn’t run off.” And with that, Burnett flew away.
She turned and faced the newcomer. A half-assed apology sat on the tip of her tongue, but then she remembered that sensation, the feeling she’d come across him before. Inhaling, she knew now that his trace was definitely in her sensory bank. But from where? And why did his scent stir up negative feelings in her?
She almost asked him if they’d met, but she suddenly didn’t feel like talking to the guy whose butt she’d wanted to kick a minute ago. Without a word, she turned and started back to her cabin.
“Nice to have met you,” he called out in his smartass tone.
She didn’t turn around, or say a word, but she shot her hand back and gave him the third-finger salute.
His laughter only managed to piss her off more.
Della went right to bed, her heart still hurting from the visit with her family. In spite of thinking she wouldn’t, she managed to sleep. She’d still be asleep if Kylie and Miranda hadn’t come in and started pounding on her door. What part about vampires sleeping better during the day didn’t they get? Then again, she was eager to see them, too. As long as she had her friends, who cared what her parents thought about her. Right?
“Coming,” she said when their pounding started up again.
She swung open the door and Kylie and Miranda rushed in for a hug. Not a hugger, she wanted to insist. Instead, she rolled her eyes and let them get it out of their systems. And damn it if she didn’t draw some pleasure from it, too.
“Why didn’t you call us?” Kylie asked, concern filling her eyes and voice. The blonde, a chameleon, was a rare supernatural who could transform into different species. On top of that, Kylie was a protector—meaning she couldn’t protect herself, but if anyone tried to hurt someone she cared about, her powers were phenomenal. Majorly phenomenal.
“Because my phone died and I forgot to bring my charger,” Della explained.
“You never forget anything,” Miranda, the witch, said.
Miranda was right. Della didn’t forget stuff. What was wrong with her? She’d felt off for the last week. She reached back and touched the pimple that had brought on the weird nightmares. It was almost gone. Good.
Realizing they were both staring at her, she made a face. “So shoot me for forgetting something just this once.”
Kylie sighed. “We were just worried. How bad was it?”
“Did they make you take some more pregnancy tests?” Miranda asked.
“No.” Della sighed. “But I’ll need a Diet Coke if I’m going to spill my guts.” She started toward the fridge. “How was y’all’s weekend?”
“I’ll need a Diet Coke, too,” Miranda said. “I swear my mom’s the biggest B with an itch in the world. All she talked about was her friend’s daughter winning all the Wicca competitions. Please, I don’t want to win those stupid contests. So what if Little Miss Suzie can turn a grasshopper into a firefly. I’m glad I’m dyslexic.”
Della had just grabbed three sodas from the fridge when she heard the little witch’s heart race to the untruth. Gritting her back teeth, Della fought the urge to squeeze one can until it exploded. It totally pissed her off that Miranda wanted to please her mom so badly. She wished Miranda would tell her mom to go climb up a broom’s ass.
Heck, Della wouldn’t even mind doing it for her. It was one thing having parents who were disappointed in you because they didn’t know you were vampire, but another to have a mom who just thought you sucked for real. Della had listened in to the conversations between Miranda and her mom at almost every parent meeting, and sometimes Della wanted nothing more than to go vamp on the witch’s ass and teach her a few lessons.
Couldn’t Miranda’s mom see how much her daughter wanted her approval? And considering Miranda was dyslexic, she was learning to manage her witch powers pretty well. Heck, she hadn’t accidentally turned anyone into a kangaroo or a skunk in almost a month. And for Miranda, that was good.
Della passed Kylie a soda. “How was your weekend?”
“Not terrible.” Kylie popped her can open.
The soft fizzing sound filled the room. Oddly enough, Della had started to equate that sound with their round-table discussions, which always eased any negative crap weighing on her shoulders. The bubbly popping sound meant stress relief. It meant friends who, though they might not know her sleeping or hugging habits, still cared.
“Have you told her you can turn invisible yet?” Della asked Kylie. The chameleon had actually told her mom she was only part human, she just hadn’t told all the neat things she could do yet.
“No, I’m afraid she’d freak out,” Kylie said. “It’s sort of like telling a kid about where babies come from, you have to ease them into it.”
Della laughed. “You know, I’ve actually seen a show on childbirth. It was like an accident where you didn’t want to see it, but you couldn’t look away.” Della handed Miranda her can of soda, then popped the top on her own. Letting the sparkling sound fill her senses, she dropped into a chair as her two best friends did the same. The diet-soda round-table discussions were a normal part of their lives. A part Della needed more than she wished she did. She’d become attached to her roommates, big time. Which was dangerous, because face it, if your parents could turn their backs on you, your friends could do the same.