Awake at Dawn (Shadow Falls #2)(53)

"Saw who?" Both Selynn and Burnett swung around.

"It was the rogue vampire," Kylie said. "The one who attacked me at the wildlife park."

"Damn it!" After almost running off the road, Burnett pulled over and rammed the car into park. He twisted in his seat again and met Kylie's eyes. "You aren't hurt, are you?" His eyes shot to her neck as if ... "No. I'm not hurt." A big wave of I-wanna-cry, I-wanna-cry-right-now filled her chest.

"Did he say anything?" Burnett asked.

I like the black one best. "No," she said.

Burnett's stare deepened. "Now isn't the time to be lying."

Kylie swallowed. "He didn't say anything that would be helpful."

"Let us be the judge of that?" Ms. Badass Werewolf sitting in the front seat said.

Kylie frowned. "He said he liked the black bra best. I was in the dressing room." The feeling of being violated hit strong again and the anger accompanying it welled up in her chest.

Burnett's expression changed from demanding to empathetic in a split second. "Are you sure you're okay? He didn't..."

"I'm fine," she managed to say, but she felt the tears fill her eyes and looked away from Burnett's concerned expression.

"He came and left so fast that by the time I sensed he was there he was gone," Della said.

The memory of his reflection in the mirror filled Kylie's head. "He had blood ... all over him. His shirt. His hair."

Miranda slipped her hand into Kylie's and gave it a squeeze as if offering moral support.

Burnett's frown deepened and he turned back around and started the car. He looked over at Selynn sitting in the seat beside him. "Make the call. Tell them it's a Code Red."

"You sure you want to attempt that?" Selynn asked.

"What's a Code Red?" Della asked right before Kylie posed the question.

Burnett answered hesitantly. "Right now, the only ones who know about this are the FRU. Code Red means we'll fix it so it looks like a car accident."

"You're going to let him get away with it?" Kylie asked.

"No," Burnett said. "But neither can we let something like this leak out. Any rumors start floating around, making higher-ups nervous, and they'll close down the school."

Selynn held up her hand as if to silence everyone. Then she spoke into the phone. "It's a Code Red." She paused. "I know." She cut her eyes to Burnett. "He gave the order, I'm just the messenger."

Burnett frowned and Kylie got the impression that whatever Burnett was doing, he was doing it for the school and maybe even Holiday. But she couldn't help but wonder about the good of the townspeople-the human people who would never know that a murderer had come and taken two of their own.

When they walked into Holiday's office thirty minutes later, Holiday practically leapt out of her chair and ran over to them. "Thank you, God," she yelped, and wrapped her arms around all of them in a group hug. Della was the first to pull away.

"We're fine," Della said.

Speak for yourself, Kylie thought. She could have used a few more seconds of a hug. It was the closest she'd felt to Holiday since the whole Burnett issue.

"Look." Della pointed to the television screen mounted on the wall. Kylie glanced up and her breath caught. The screen showed a wrecked car and then two pictures of girls. It couldn't be. She felt suddenly nauseous. Holiday grabbed the remote and turned up the volume.

"Two girls were killed today in an automobile accident. It appeared..." the reporter continued.

"We met them in town," Kylie blurted out, her chest filled with heaviness.

"We talked to them." For some crazy reason, that short encounter made their deaths even more personal. "The redhead is named Amber. I don't know the blonde's name."

"They weren't very nice." Della voice sounded tight. "But they didn't deserve to die."

"No, they didn't." Miranda put her hand over her lips and just stared at the screen.

Kylie would have verbally agreed, but she couldn't. She recalled with clarity the blood on the rogue vampire's shirt and emotion closed her voice box. It had been their blood she'd seen. When the tears prickled Kylie eyes, she felt like a crybaby, but then she noticed both Della and Miranda had a wet sheen to their eyes, too.

"I feel..." Kylie forced the words out. "I feel as if it's somehow my fault."

Holiday stabbed at the remote and turned it off. "It's a terrible thing. But the only person responsible for this is the rogue who did it." Then she just stared at each of them as if needing to visually memorize them. "When I heard two girls were found ... I thought..." Holiday's eyes pooled with tears. And that pretty much made it a cry fest. Even Della joined in the tear party.

Right then, Burnett walked into the office. His gaze went from one female to the other. Kylie could almost hear him groaning inwardly.

"I ... I'll be ... right out here." Obviously even a hard-bodied vampire trained by the FRU wasn't capable of dealing with four crying women. Fifteen minutes later, Burnett poked his head back in the room, and when he saw they were no longer in tears, he walked in. On his heels came Selynn, the werewolf who'd been with him in the car. She stood so close to Burnett's side that her shoulders brushed up against his forearm.