Awake at Dawn (Shadow Falls #2)(86)

Suddenly, Kylie felt the hair on the back of her neck start to stand up. Without even looking back, Kylie knew someone had her locked in a serious stare. Unable to resist, she glanced over her shoulder. She should have known.

Fredericka.

Turning back around, her gaze shot across the room and she found herself staring right at Derek. His eyes expressed concern, caring, but not so much that he'd come over. Could he not sense how much she needed him? She looked away, but only found herself caught in the snare of a pair of blue eyes. Beautiful blue eyes that took her back to her childhood and trying to find elephants hidden in the clouds.

Lucas glanced over at the door and nodded as if asking her to meet him outside.

Kylie had to reach deep to find the courage to do what came next.

She picked up her fork and started heaping food into her mouth as if she were too hungry to leave. Yup, she'd rather eat cold roadkill, runny scrambled eggs than talk with Lucas. Plain and simple, she wasn't ready to face him, or the dreams. Then came the fact that walking out of this dining hall to be with Lucas would no doubt hurt Derek. She didn't want to hurt Derek. It didn't even matter that he didn't seem to mind hurting her.

It was after art when Kylie arrived back to the cabin to make her two phone calls. Sitting at the computer desk, she reached for the mouse to pull up her grandparents' number again. She'd debated who to call first.

The PI or her grandparents. She opted for the grandparents. Though for the life of her, she didn't have a clue what she was going to say. How did you go about telling someone you were their long-lost grandchild-but not really theirs because you happened to know their dead son had been adopted?

Oh, yeah, this was going to be easy.

When the computer woke up, the screen brought up a list of car accidents for the Springville area, Della's home. Kylie chest grew heavy when she realized Della was still suspicious of what she might have done during her changing stage.

Kylie glanced at Della's shut bedroom door. She often came back to the cabin and napped after lunch.

Opening another screen, Kylie searched for the telephone number for Kent B. Brighten in Gladlock, Texas. Unsure what she would say, she punched in the number before she lost her nerve.

The phone rang once.

Twice.

Three times.

An answering machine picked up. "Hello, you have reached Kent and Becky Brighten. We aren't home right now, but if you'll leave..." The voice continued.

They were still alive.

Her heart quivered. The line beeped.

Decision time. Leave a message? Not leave a message? She hit the end button.

Ten breaths and thirty seconds later, she called the PI. Another message machine. But she left a voice message, letting him know she'd gotten a name and number of Daniel's adoptive parents.

Trying to let her mind wrap around the possibility of actually meeting the Brightens, Kylie realized she wanted to meet them for reasons other than just finding Daniel's birth parents. It would be nice to learn more about her dad. She closed the screen and another one popped up. It was a double screen of two newspaper articles about two different car accidents, each with casualties.

Kylie started to read. One was about a man in his late forties and the other was ... Kylie's heart tugged. A woman and her six-month-old little girl.

How could Della think she could have done something like that?

A knock filled the cabin and panic filled her chest. Was it Lucas? Or Fredericka again? She cut her eyes around the room, hoping Socks was hiding. The knock came louder.

"Kylie?" Burnett's deep voice boomed through the door. Knowing he could hear her, Kylie called, "Come in."

He opened the door and walked to the kitchen table. She grew instantly worried about the reason he was here. Surely he hadn't come back to try to pull more information out of her about Holiday. If so, he'd leave disappointed.

He nodded to a chair. "Mind if I sit down?"

"No." Then, unable to stop herself, she blurted out, "If this is about Holiday, I-"

He held up his hand. "It's not about ... Holiday." He frowned. "Though I have to admit she still puzzles the hell out of me."

"Maybe if Selynn wasn't hanging around, then..." Kylie shut her mouth, realizing she was doing it again.

"Selynn's on orders of the FRU, so I couldn't send her away. But as of today, she'll be leaving."

While Kylie hadn't seen the were since the lake incident, she'd heard she was still at Shadow Falls. Someone had said she was here due to the incident with the rogue vampire. And if she was leaving, did that mean they'd caught ...

"Has something happened? Did you catch him?" She envisioned the two girls who'd been killed, and the vision left painful footprints on her heart.

Burnett leaned back in his chair. "That's what I came to tell you. I just got word that the Vampire Council has the guy. They are going to ... handle the situation."

"What do you mean by ... handle?" she asked.

"Just that. They will handle it."

"Will there be a trial ... or something like that?" Would Kylie have to testify?

Burnett looked right at her, as if remembering his promise that the guy wouldn't go unpunished. "Not really a trial. The Vampire Council basically decide his fate, but ... they have assured me that they don't take lightly the killing of normals."