Born at Midnight (Shadow Falls #1)(50)

Can't breathe.

"You kicking her ass," Miranda shot back.

Hey. I can't breathe here. Kylie reached for her throat, the universal sign of choking.

"I mean, with al the help Kylie would have stopping you and al ."

Seriously, I can't breathe. Oh, friggin' great, she was at a camp ful of bloodsucking, meat-eating creatures, and she was about to die of asphyxiation from a peanut butter and jel y sandwich.

Fredericka leaned forward, getting closer to Miranda. "You think I'm scared of your scrawny little butt?"

Still can't breathe here, guys.

Final y, Del a-you gotta love an attentive vampire-reached around Miranda's shoulders and gave Kylie one extra hard thump between her shoulder blades. The clump of food dislodged from her windpipe. While it hurt going down, at least oxygen started passing.

"Me?" Miranda's voice came out squeaky. "You thought ... I meant ... No, no. I didn't mean help from me." Miranda pointed a finger at Del a. "She might take you on. She's got this whole vampire combative attitude going, but I didn't mean her, either."

"But she's right," Del a said, half her attention on Kylie and the other half on Fredericka. "I'd help Kylie kick your ass in a heartbeat." She curled her lips at the werewolf, showing off her canines.

Fredericka didn't appear concerned. Not that Kylie was certain of anything; she was stil working on getting the needed oxygen to her brain, while giving the drama playing out in front of her a wee bit of attention. Hey, if she was about to get ripped apart by a werewolf, she wanted to know the reasons why.

"Then who are you talking about?" Fredericka leaned across the table and a low growl escaped her throat.

"I mean Kylie's ghosts." Miranda said. "She's got like a dozen or so hanging around, or hadn't you heard?"

What? Kylie coughed-good thing the lump of bread had gone down and not up because she would have choked on it again.

"I don't know about you, but I'm not messing with the dead. Don't you remember last year when Holiday talked about the death angels?"

Death angels? Kylie recal ed Miranda talking about the legend of dancing death angels at the fal s on the bus ride to the camp. She gave up one more cough and then held up her hand. But right before she started talking, she noticed the fear in Fredericka's expression. Not wanting to come off like a scared rabbit confronting a hungry wolf-even though that pretty much described exactly how Kylie felt-she looked Fredericka directly in the eyes. "Stop." Cough. "I don't want to fight you." Cough. "I don't even know why you'd want to fight me. Or my ghosts."

Hey, Kylie was no fool. She ful y intended to take advantage of the fear she spotted in the girl's eyes.

"Just stay away from Lucas," Fredericka warned, but her voice lacked its earlier confidence.

"Me?" Al the crappiness of the day, of the last few weeks, zeroed in on this high and mighty B with an itch, and the scared-rabbit feeling faded.

"You know what?" Kylie snapped. "Maybe you should go tighten the leash you have around your so-cal ed boyfriend's neck, because every time I've spoken to him was because he came up to me. Not the other way around."

"You'd better watch your back," Fredericka said.

"She doesn't have to," Del a said. "Her ghosts do that for her. Didn't you hear about the little incident that happened at our cabin last night?"

Fredericka shot up and took off.

Kylie pressed a hand to the table and stared after her. "What a bitch."

"Yeah, she was like that last year, too. But we did good," Miranda said, and placed her hand on top of Kylie's.

"We rocked," Del a said, and put hers on top of Miranda's.

"Thank you," Kylie said, and looked from one roommate to the other. "Y'al didn't have to stick up for me, and I appreciate it."

"Hey, we're friends," Miranda said. "And that's what friends do."

Smiling at her two new friends, Kylie realized that coming to camp wasn't going to be all bad. Then, letting go of a heartfelt sigh and feeling her bravado kick down a notch, she met Miranda's gaze. "Do death angels real y exist?"

Chapter Twenty-four

"And oh, do death angels real y exist?"

It was probably the seventh or eighth question Kylie had pitched at Holiday during their meeting thirty minutes later. The moment Kylie's foot had stepped inside the office, the questions just started flowing.

"That's ... a lot of questions." Holiday smiled and motioned for Kylie to sit down.

Kylie set her phone down on Holiday's desk and took a chair. When she'd left the dining hal , she spent the last five minutes talking to Sara, celebrating the fact that her pregnancy test was negative, but now Kylie was back to focusing on her own mission of finding answers.

"Yeah, and I'm only getting started," she said. "I also want to know what else I could be. The other day you said-"

"Real y?" Holiday's brow arched. "So you've accepted that you're one of us?"

The question bounced around Kylie's head. "No. I just want to be prepared if ... that's what I discover."

The camp leader brushed her long ponytail of red hair behind her shoulder. "I heard you had Helen check you for a tumor."