"Who? How soon?" Kylie muttered under her breath. The spirit materialized only a foot from Kylie's face. She still wore the blood-soaked gown, only this time the blood dripped from the hem of her gown and pooled around her feet. Kylie's breath caught, and while it was the last thing Kylie wanted to think, her mind took her there. To the sweet, addictive flavor of blood.
"Soon what?" Della asked. Kylie looked from the ever-growing puddle of blood to Della's slightly slanted eyes that hinted at her Asian heritage.
Then she watched those eyes widen with fear. Della shivered and took a step back. "You've got company again, don't you?"
Della ran off. At the same time several other campers standing close by started backing away as if they had figured out what was happening as well. Feeling ostracized, Kylie's throat tightened and her sinuses stung. She fought to keep the tears from filling her eyes. When she looked back to the spirit, it had faded and the air had lost its chill.
Kylie's lungs swelled with frustration. Frustration, no doubt, brought on by all her unanswered questions. Her whole freaking life was one big unanswered question.
"Excuse me." Burnett's deep authoritative voice filled the room. "Can everyone give me your attention? I know you're all curious as to what happened tonight. And since Kylie reminded Holiday and me that we said we'd be more forthcoming with situations, I figure I'd best explain."
Chapter Four
Hearing Burnett speak lessened the emotional lump in Kylie's throat. Everyone looked toward the front.
"We had an uninvited visitor to the camp this evening," Burnett explained.
"A vampire."
"Was it from that gang? The ones who attacked you guys at the wildlife park?" Helen asked, and glanced over at Kylie.
Kylie moved a little closer to the front, not wanting to miss Burnett's answer.
"I don't know for sure." He looked around the room as if searching for someone. A second later, his gaze settled on Holiday and his expression softened.
"But," Burnett continued, "I don't think they were here to hunt. If he or she were here to kill, he had a chance at easy prey and didn't take it."
His gaze shifted to Kylie, making it clear, at least to Kylie, that she was the "easy prey."
Easy prey. Prey maybe, but easy? That annoyed Kylie more than she wanted to admit. Okay, sure, she wasn't exactly Superwoman, but she'd held her own fighting the Blood Brothers that night at the wildlife park.
Granted, she'd had some help from Daniel, but nevertheless, she'd kicked ass right alongside everyone else. Didn't she get any credit for that? Burnett cleared his throat. "Chances are it was just someone curious about the camp."
Kylie recalled how threatened she'd felt those few minutes back in the woods when she'd felt the vampire's presence. It had felt like more than just curiosity. It felt menacing. If Derek hadn't shown up, Kylie didn't know what would have happened, but she suspected it wouldn't have been good.
"Or it could be the gang just wanting to let us know they haven't run scared. It could have also have been just a friend or relative looking for someone, and they didn't want to go through our visitor check. And if any of you have a vampire friend who might try this, please let it be known loud and clear that entering this camp without getting a visitor's pass is considered a serious offense. If I find them, I'll treat them like a hostile. And that goes for all species, even humans."
Kylie hoped Della was listening. Personally, Kylie didn't care too much for Chan, but she knew Della did, and for her sake, Kylie would hate for something to happen to him.
Burnett's gaze grew cold with his warning before he continued. "While I don't see this as an out-and-out threat, neither do I think we should totally let our guards down. The Blood Brothers gang was stupid enough to try something once. They might be stupid enough to try again."
"I still don't understand what it is they have against us," one of Miranda's witch buddies said.
"I'll take that question," Holiday said, and made her way up front. "If you'll notice, we have more vampires here than any other species. The reason is clear. The virus can be passed down so many generations and therefore parents of a newly turned vampire may not even be aware that supernaturals exist. This makes living at home extremely difficult, which leads many of them to joining the gangs. But since the camp opened, we've saved more than four hundred newly turned vampires from following that dark path. We've obviously cut into their membership immensely. They see Shadow Falls as standing between them and their gangs' growth potential."
She paused. "Any other questions?" When no one spoke up, Holiday added, "Now, it's almost two in the morning, so why don't you all go back to your cabins and try to get some rest? But remember what Burnett said. Don't let your guard down."
As the crowd started to leave, Kylie went to join Miranda, who stood by herself in a corner and played a video game on her phone. When she saw Kylie, she cocked her head to the side and smirked. Which reminded Kylie of a cute but pissed-off puppy.
"Oh, so when everyone else abandons you, now you want to be around me," Miranda said.
Kylie frowned. "I hurt Della's feelings and I just needed to apologize."
And I couldn't do it with you two verbally scratching each other's eyes out.
"But you don't care if you hurt my feelings," Miranda said. "It's good to know where I rate."
"You don't believe that," Kylie said.
"I don't?" She shook her head, her multicolored hair-pink, black, and green-shimmering around her shoulders. "Is this the way it's going to be from here on out? Because you're both vampire, you don't want me around."
"No. It's not like that. And ... we don't know if I'm vampire."
"You liked the taste of blood."
"That doesn't make me a vampire." Frustration built in Kylie's chest. But when she met Miranda's eyes and saw the insecurity lingering in her friend's eyes, Kylie stopped thinking about her own fears. "And for the record, I'm sorry I hurt your feelings. I didn't mean to do that."
"And for the record, neither did I," Della added, joining them in the corner.
"Wow," Miranda looked at Della. "That's almost an apology. And to a dyslexic witch."