* * *
"So you actually spoke to the spirits?" Jonathon asked. The vamp had taken over shadow duty for Della right after they'd arrived back at the cabin. Of course, first Della had given him the blow-by-blow account of what had happened at the cemetery. Kylie looked back at Jonathon, reclining on her sofa.
"Can I do this computer stuff right now, instead of chatting about the ghosts?" She'd been proud of herself. Instead of giving in to the desire to go straight to bed, pull the covers over her head, and have a good long cry, she'd booted up her computer.
Her screen brought up Google, and she typed in the name "Berta Littlemon." As the computer chewed on that information, Kylie looked back at Jonathon again. "I just need to get this done."
"Whatever." His tone told her he thought she was rude.
And maybe she was, but with a possible child-murdering ghost on her hands and a blue jay stalking her, she didn't have time to be polite. "Sorry," she still muttered.
Kylie read the list of Web sites that Google spilled onto her screen: Famous female murderers in Texas, Mamas who murder, Mean women in the past. Kylie's heart started to ache. She clicked on the first Web site and prepared herself to be disgusted.
She wasn't disappointed. The only thing she didn't find was a decent picture of Berta Littlemon that was clear enough to identify her.
"Some shadow you are, vampire."
Kylie swung around and found Lucas standing in the doorway, staring at Jonathon sleeping on the sofa.
Jonathon didn't move. He didn't even open his eyes when he spoke. "I heard you a block away. Smelled your wolf ass two blocks away."
Lucas growled.
Kylie rolled her eyes. Ah, the love between vamps and weres was never lost. For a crazy moment, she recalled Lucas's desire that she turn out to be a were. And she wondered what would happen if and when he discovered he was wrong. What would happen if she discovered she was vampire? Would Lucas still care about her? She so wanted to believe that it wouldn't matter to him, that he was above that type of prejudice.
But the truth was, she knew it probably would matter.
And that scared her more than stalking blue jays and amnesiac ghosts who possibly killed their own babies.
Lucas shifted his focus from Jonathon to her. "Are you okay?"
Kylie took a deep breath. She'd felt that hiding her weakness from Burnett had been a necessity. Nor had she felt comfortable sharing anything with Della or Jonathon, but one look at Lucas's caring blue eyes and she felt her throat tighten with the need for a little TLC.
He must have sensed her stress, or maybe it was the tears prickling her eyes, because he moved to her, grabbed her hand, and started walking her into her bedroom.
"I'm supposed to keep an eye on her," Jonathon called out from his still reclined position on the sofa.
"Why don't you just check out the back of your eyelids like you were doing when I came in," Lucas countered, and slammed her bedroom door shut. The cabin shook from the force.
Once they were alone, Lucas's gaze went back to her. "What happened?" He moved in, cupped his hand around her neck, and pulled her against him.
She rested her forehead on his warm chest and fought the need to cry. The need for TLC was one thing, but tears were too much.
"It was awful," she said, and swallowed hard.
"What was awful?" he asked.
"They were everywhere. And then-"
"Who were everywhere?" His hand moved to her back, consoling and offering just the comforting touch she needed.
Her heart hurt with the need to have someone help her understand the experience. She lifted her head and looked at him, but she didn't pull away. "The spirits. But that wasn't the worst part. I-"
He let go of another frustrated growl, cutting her off. Then he studied her for a second as if weighing his words with care. "Didn't you expect them to be everywhere at a cemetery, Kylie? After what happened in that vision, why you would even go there is beyond me."
Okay, so Lucas was like the others; he didn't understand what she did. She couldn't really blame him, though. Just as Della had pointed out this morning, ghost whispering pretty much made her a freak. Still, it hurt.
She wanted him to understand, to be able to sense how important this was to her. But he couldn't. He wasn't ... fae. He wasn't Derek. Not wanting to go there, she pushed that thought away, far away.
"I had to," she said, though she didn't think it would make a difference to Lucas. "That's what I'm supposed to do. That's why they come to me for help."
He frowned. "But at what cost? I don't like seeing you upset like this. I sure as hell don't like thinking you're putting yourself in danger to help someone who's already dead. For all we know, they're dead because they did something stupid and now they're gonna try to make you do something stupid and you could end up getting hurt as a result."
His tone, his expression, and even his body posture told Kylie that telling him that her ghost very well may be a murderer of small children might not be a brilliant idea. So she resigned herself to her current reality. She'd just have to bundle up the rest of the story until Holiday arrived. Which Kylie hoped would be soon.
"Damn, I hate seeing you upset," he muttered through gritted teeth, and then tugged her closer.
She bit down on her lip, remembering how it had felt when it had been coated with ice. "It was a little scary, but nothing happened."
He lifted her chin and gazed into her eyes. "You sure?"
Not wanting to lie to him, she rose up on tiptoes and kissed him. He tasted so good-a little like toothpaste and a bit like chocolate. She'd always been fond of chocolate mint, so she opened her mouth wider and he accepted the invitation and the kiss went from sweet to passionate in a heartbeat.
When his tongue slipped inside her mouth, she melted against him even closer, and any remnants of worry in her heart faded. All Kylie could think about was the wonder of this moment. The wonder of passion.
She loved having him this close to her. The silky feel of his mouth against hers was so perfect. The slight stubble on his cheeks tickled her, and his hard chest pressed against hers as though it were made to fit. She savored the tight feel of his strong hands on her waist. A voice deep within said she could deal with anything, stalking blue jays, a barrage of ghosts, even the amnesiac spirit of a child murderer. She could take it all on as long as she had Lucas's arms and kisses waiting for her when it was over. She could survive as long as she had the wonderment of his closeness to help her cope.