Born at Midnight (Shadow Falls #1)(94)

Burnett looked at Holiday almost as if to say something, and then he nudged Sky to start walking. Holiday looked back at Kylie, Del a, and Derek. "Someone better start talking. And fast."

* * *

Holiday had a doctor rush to the camp and go over everyone inch by inch. Other than a few scrapes and deep bruises, they were pronounced fine. It was after two in the morning at that point and Kylie's muscles ached like a bad devil and she wanted nothing more than to go to bed. But apparently Burnett had other plans.

Kylie and her partners in crime-for some reason, Helen, Perry, and Miranda had al confessed to being part of Kylie's plan-were told to wait in the dining hal . Holiday and Burnett walked in. Kylie saw the shadows of pain in the camp leader's eyes; no doubt Sky's betrayal had cut deep. Burnett started the dialogue, or you could cal it the chewing down. He referred to what they'd done as stupid and foolish. He told them they were lucky that none of them had been kil ed. Yada yada yada.

And he was right.

But Kylie would have done it again in a heartbeat.

She sat there and took her punishment like the rest of them. Yes, she knew sneaking into the park hadn't been without some risk, but she hadn't planned on going to war with a vampire gang. Al she'd wanted to do was get Derek to the animals so he could possibly get some answers. Which, by the way, had worked. Not that Burnett mentioned that in his ass-chewing.

"Did you even realize that they had outnumbered you by five? I can't believe..." He continued his rant, reminding them they were supernaturals and they were supposed to be smarter than that.

A question popped into Kylie's mind and before she could stop herself, it slipped out of her mouth. "Are you stil going to close down the camp?"

Burnett, not happy about being interrupted, frowned. "If this is the kind of behavior we can expect, we have no choice."

Enough. Enough. Enough.

When the word scraped across Kylie's mind the third time, she stood up. "We did the only thing we knew to help."

She hadn't a clue where her assertiveness came from, perhaps exhaustion, but she couldn't seem to stop herself.

"You seem to have forgotten that we didn't plan to get into an out-and-out brawl with a vampire gang. Al we wanted was to get Derek close enough to communicate with the animals and find out what the hel had been going on."

"You should have come to us," Holiday said.

While her heart went out to the camp leader, Kylie had a point to make. Since she'd already pissed Burnett off, she might as wel keep going.

"Why should we come to you?" Kylie asked. "You didn't trust us enough to tel us what was going on. Yes, we know you're the camp leader, but we're not in kindergarten here. You say we're here to learn how to cope in the outside world but then you try to shield us from anything that might be the least bit unpleasant. And let's say if we did come to you with this, I don't think you'd let us do it because you'd be worried it could be dangerous. And then there's you." Kylie pointed to Burnett.

"That'l be enough," Burnett snapped.

Not hardly. "Even if Holiday had agreed to let us do it, there's no way you would have let Derek in the park because you thought we were al suspects."

"Ditto," Derek said.

"Amen," Del a said.

"You go, Kylie," Miranda snapped.

Everyone else in the room nodded their heads in agreement.

"That's not important," Burnett charged.

"Yes, it is." Holiday held up a hand to silence the tal , dark, and menacing vampire. "Kylie's right. I don't like it, but she's right."

Holiday took a deep breath. "I have the tendency to be a tad overprotective." She looked at Burnett. "And you have a tendency to be ... wel , a jerk."

Burnett's expression was a cross between shock and anger.

"I'm just being honest." Holiday glanced back at Kylie and the rest of them. "And to answer your question, Kylie, Burnett has already informed me that thankful y the camp wil not be closed down."

Everyone in the room let out a yelp of victory.

"As a matter of fact..." Holiday glanced at Burnett as if almost asking permission to continue. He frowned but nodded. "As a matter of fact, Burnett has also just informed me that my request to turn Shadow Fal s Camp into Shadow Fal s Camp Academy has been granted."

"Like a ful -time school?" Kylie asked.

Holiday nodded and Kylie saw her gaze seek out Del a. "We're hoping this wil help al eviate some of the strain of the newly turned supernaturals who find living with normal parents impossible. It wil al ow them to maintain contact and hopeful y prevent these families from completely severing relationships."

Kylie grinned and glanced back at Del a, who appeared as if she might start crying.

"And," Holiday continued, "while it's true, I did just cal Mr. James here a jerk, and true, he is one, I'd also like to point out that tonight his boss informed me that ... contrary to what I thought, he's been a supporter of the school. His boss said he's been our advocate al along. So like it or not

-and for the record, I don't like it-he is deserving of our respect."

Burnett had his arms crossed over his chest, staring holes at Holiday. Kylie suspected the camp leader didn't glance at him just to piss him off.