Awake at Dawn (Shadow Falls #2)(8)

Chills ran up and down her legs. Derek sensed her fear because he reached for her hand and offered her palm a warm emotion-quieting squeeze. Her fear lessened.

"Come on. Let's get back." Derek took her by the elbow. The sound of his voice helped her brain connect to her limbs, and she started moving.

They walked at a fast pace and without talking. The sounds of an occasional owl and crickets sang out into the darkness. Not that she minded their music. Music was good. Music meant intruders weren't near. "Why didn't you tell me a vampire came at you?" Derek asked, frustration adding a new layer of intensity to his voice.

"I ... at first I thought it was Della and then..." Then she had thought it was Chan, but she couldn't tell Derek about Chan. She'd promised Della.

"Then I heard you calling. And I started running and I wasn't so afraid anymore." She looked at the frown etched on his face. "I told you about the wolf."

"I think the vampire was a bigger deal."

"Yeah and I would have ... told you, but you started kissing me."

"So that makes it my fault?" His tone came out harsher than before. "Sort of," she said, not liking it that he was annoyed with her when only a few minutes ago they'd been kissing. She started walking faster. They continued moving in tense silence for another five minutes. With each step, she realized how silly their argument was. "I probably should have told you right away. I wasn't thinking." She stared away from him, afraid he wouldn't accept her offer for a truce.

She heard him inhale. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been grumpy." He reached for her hand again. His palm felt good against hers. "It just scares me thinking that ... that you could have been hurt." He sounded older. His voice deepened and his need to protect gave his tone a new quality. In spite of still feeling a bit annoyed at his thinking that she couldn't protect herself, she liked the new quality. It made her feel safer.

Yes, with Derek she felt safe, but it didn't stop her from looking at the trees and praying the wind didn't stop blowing, that the night didn't go silent again.

Chapter Three

"What happened?" Miranda cornered her in the dining hall twenty minutes later.

As soon as Derek had told Holiday about the rogue vampire on the prowl, she called everyone and told them to gather here.

Deep down, Kylie still trembled. Be it from fear, or perhaps Della's icy mood, Kylie couldn't say for sure. Della's cold shoulder could be felt from clear across the room.

"Come on, spill it," Miranda said. "And then I've got something to tell you."

Kylie looked at Della again. "How mad is she at me?"

Miranda glanced across the room. "On a scale of one to ten, ten being totally vampire pissed off, I'd say she's about a fifteen ... and climbing."

"Great," Kylie muttered.

Miranda shrugged. "She'll get over it. You know how she is. Now tell me what happened."

Kylie shook her head. "I ran off and..."

"But why did you run off? Why did you ... drink the blood like it was a cold beer on a hot Friday night?"

Kylie looked down at her shoes. She didn't want to talk about this, not now. "I don't know."

"You liked how it tasted, didn't you?" Miranda sounded offended. The most Kylie could do was nod.

"Okay, then what happened?" A frown marred Miranda's expression. Kylie swallowed the tightness down her throat.

"Come on, give it up," Miranda snapped.

"I ran and then I felt someone there-a vampire someone. And then I heard Derek. I think he scared off whoever was there. I took off running and found Derek and then we just..."

"You what?" Miranda asked, hanging on to her every word. Started making out. "Nothing. Burnett showed up."

A whisk of air blasted them as Della came to a sudden stop beside Kylie. "And you told him you thought it was Chan, didn't you?" Della obviously had been listening the whole time.

Kylie looked at Della. "No. I didn't."

"Who's Chan?" Miranda asked.

"Nobody," Della snapped at Miranda. "Mind your own business."

Obviously, Della didn't want anyone to know her vampire and scoundrel cousin had broken one of the biggest Shadow Falls rules: no visitors without permission passes. That especially went for those who were against the FRU's attempts to govern the supernaturals.

Miranda, unhappy, glared right back at Della.

"Was it Chan?" Kylie asked, not caring if Miranda overheard. Kylie understood Della's loyalty to Chan. He'd been the one who'd helped Della get through the painful change. However, it made sense that if Chan had broken the rule once, he very well might break it again.

"I told you he wouldn't come back," Della snapped.

"But how can you be so sure?" Suddenly Kylie remembered how frightened she'd been in the woods when she'd met Della's smug cousin.

She folded her arms over her middle and took on a defensive posture.

Just because Della believed Chan wasn't a threat, didn't mean crap. He could be a part of the Blood Brothers gang as far as Kylie knew.

"Because I trust him, unlike other people. I thought you and Miranda were friends. All I asked was that you respect the fact that tonight was important to me. That-"