Born at Midnight (Shadow Falls #1)(59)

"Blood?" Del a finished, sounding annoyed that Kylie couldn't say it.

"Yeah. Blood." She pushed the word out of her mouth and tried not to turn green.

"No, I can have other stuff. It doesn't supply my body nourishment and nothing tastes as good as it used to taste. Oh, and some things have real y bad effects on me. Like broccoli."

"What happens if you eat broccoli?" Kylie asked.

"Explosive, real y bad gas."

Kylie made a face. "I think that happens to everyone."

"Nope." Miranda looked over her shoulder. "She's right. Nothing is worse than a vampire fart. Except..." She looked at the screen and started typing. "Except a witch's fart after she eats a bean burrito."

They al laughed. When the moment passed, silence rained down on them again. Del a turned her soda can in her hands. "I did it."

"Gross, you farted?" Miranda covered her nose.

"No," Del a said. "I had sex."

There was like this reverent pause.

"And?" Miranda final y asked, and turned in the chair.

"It was nice. Real y nice. Lee and I had been dating for a year. I loved him. It felt right." Tears fil ed Del a's eyes, but even without them, the pain rang in her voice. "But then I turned into a vampire."

"He couldn't accept you?" Kylie's chest ached for Del a, and she remembered how hurt she'd been when Trey dumped her. Del a wiped her eyes. "I didn't actual y tel him. I was going to, but..." She bit down on her lip. "I went to see him after I was turned, and when he kissed me, he pul ed away. He said I was cold and that I must stil be sick and he ... didn't want to kiss me until ... until I felt warm again."

"What a jerk," Miranda said.

Del a inhaled. "How do you tel the guy you love that you'l never be warm again?" Del a's chin trembled. Kylie rested her hand on Del a's. "Maybe you should have tried to tel him. Maybe he could have understood if he knew-"

"No." Del a shook her head and her sleek black hair moved in a wave around her face. "I don't think so. He's a wonderful guy, but he's so straightand-narrow second-generation Chinese-like his family and my dad's family. He almost broke up with me when he realized my mom was EuroAmerican."

"He doesn't sound so wonderful," Kylie said.

Del a shook her head again. "It's not al his fault. It's his upbringing. We're raised to believe we're supposed to be perfect. Make the best grades, go to the best schools, get the best jobs. We're not..." She bit down on her lip. "We're not supposed to be monsters."

"You're not a monster," Kylie snapped, appal ed that Del a would say that. And yet deep down, hadn't Kylie considered Del a that in the beginning? And even worse, wasn't Kylie afraid she might learn she was a freak of nature herself?

"She's right," Miranda said.

Kylie gave Del a's cold hand a gentle squeeze. "If he doesn't love you, then you'l find someone else who wil . You're young. You're beautiful. You've got the rest of your life ahead of you." The question formed in Kylie's head and before she could stop it, it spil ed out. "Are you immortal? Or are you already..."

"Dead?" Del a finished for her.

Kylie flushed with embarrassment. "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry. That was so rude. I'm trying to make you feel better and I ... It just slipped out."

"It's fine," Del a assured her. "I'm not dead. Vampires' bodies function differently, that's al . Don't believe everything you read in those teen novels. We're not immortal; we only live to about 150."

"That's a pretty good deal." Kylie looked over at Miranda. "How about witches?"

"Life expectancy is about the same," Miranda said, never looking away from the computer.

"And other supernaturals?" Kylie wondered if she discovered she too was a supernatural, if she'd have an expanded life expectancy.

"Fairies live the longest." Miranda talked while she typed something into the computer. "I think there's one old dude that's like five hundred or so."

"Are you hoping you're fairy, now?" Del a asked.

Kylie put her right elbow on the table and dropped her chin in it. "No. Oh, hel , I don't know," she muttered, letting go of a pent-up sigh. "This just sucks. Why can't my mom just answer me for once in her life? I hate not knowing anything."

Kylie looked back at Miranda. "Can't you help me out?"

"How?" Miranda asked, her concentration stil on her e-mail.

"You are brave," Del a giggled, understanding what Kylie meant. "Don't you remember she screws up her spel s?"

"A gift for you." Miranda shot Del a a one-finger salute over her shoulder.

Del a laughed harder. "At least it's not your pinky."

Kylie ignored Del a and their gestures. "Can't you do a spel that makes my mom find the birth certificates and e-mail me the info? Seriously, if you can make a peanut butter and jel y sandwich appear from nowhere, why can't you do this?"

"Wel ..." Miranda continued to stare at the computer. "I tel you what. Touch your nose three times and say Miranda is a goddess."