Chosen at Nightfall (Shadow Falls #5)(51)

"I swear I'll never tell a soul," Miranda said.

"Me, too." Kylie leaned forward, letting her own issues slide away to concentrate on Della's.

Della backed up in her chair. "It was Steve."

"Yes," Kylie said.

"I knew you liked him." Miranda rubbed her hands together. "Details, we want details."

Della placed both hands on the table and leaned down low, looking up at them with an angry glare and showing a bit of her canines. "I don't give details, remember?"

"Okay, no details," Kylie said. "But explain why it was a mistake. And why it won't happen again.

Because I mean, it was obviously good."

"Because ... I didn't say it was good."

"Oh, please," Miranda said. "You got a hickey, so you must have been into it for it to have gotten that far." Miranda glanced at Kylie for backup. "Right, Kylie?"

Kylie leaned her elbows on the table. "Not being a hickey expert, I wouldn't know for sure, but it would seem that way." She looked at Della. "So you weren't ever into it?"

Della let go of a low growl. "Okay, I might have been into it for a few seconds."

"It takes longer than a few seconds to get a hickey." Miranda wiggled in her chair, obviously loving that Della was finally talking.

"You are so dang pushy!" Della said.

"How long does it take to get a hickey?" Kylie asked.

Miranda picked up her diet soda. "A minute, give or take a few seconds, depending how hard the guy is sucking."

"Doesn't it hurt?" Kylie asked, trying to imagine someone sucking on her for that long.

"No," both Miranda and Della said at the same time.

"It kind of feels good." Miranda smiled at Della. "Doesn't it?"

"I guess." Della rolled her eyes as if hating to admit she enjoyed anything, but then the vamp grinned.

"Do you want me to introduce you to my vacuum cleaner?"

"Oh, screw the vacuum cleaner," Miranda said. "Kylie should go after Steve. I mean, she's pissed at both Derek and Lucas, and Steve's available because you aren't into him anymore, and he obviously knows how to do hickeys."Della scowled at Miranda. "I don't think so."

Miranda wiggled her butt in her chair again. "Because you still like him. Because you want him to give you another hickey. Admit it. Just admit it."

"You're obnoxious," Della said.

"Yeah, she is." Kylie arched a brow at Della. "But the witch has a point."

"Well, she can keep her points to herself!" Della picked up her can and crushed it in her hand. And then Della's eyes went wide. "Shit!"

"What?" Kylie asked.

"It's back," Della said in a singsong spooky voice.

"What's back?" Kylie asked, but she was afraid she knew. She turned around and sure as hell, the sword was on the sofa.

* * *

Kylie hadn't wanted to call Burnett and Holiday again, but Della refused to sleep with a possessed sword in the cabin. Miranda, who told Della again it wasn't possessed, wouldn't have minded either way.

Respecting Della's feelings, and completely understanding them, Kylie borrowed Della's phone and called Burnett and Holiday.

Before Holiday and Burnett left with the sword again, he issued an order. "This doesn't go any further.

None of you tell a soul, you got that?"

"Why?" Kylie asked, confused why he saw this as some sort of a secret.

"I'm already explaining too much to the FRU. And this just makes them more eager to get you in for testing. This is best kept hushed until we figure it out."

If we figure it out, Kylie thought, but didn't say it.

As Burnett and Holiday started out, Kylie followed them out on the porch. Holiday leaned in and whispered, "We're taking it, but if it's done this twice, I'm not sure it won't just do it again."

"I know." Which was Kylie's reason for not really wanting to call them this time. Hopefully if the sword found its way back, it would follow Kylie into her bedroom and not disturb Della. Even with the chill climbing up her backbone at the thought of sleeping in the same room with an aura-carrying sword, it was better than having Della in a frenzy and making Burnett and Holiday come back again.

Kylie just hoped that Miranda was right and that the sword wasn't a weapon intent on evil.

Chapter Eighteen

"Okay, first on the agenda..." Chris, the lead vampire, said the next morning as he prepared to announce partners at Meet Your Campmate hour-which was an hour that students were paired with someone else from the camp just to encourage interspecies harmony. Chris held his top hat in front of him as if to add drama to the moment.

Kylie stood centered between Della and Miranda, and arm-locked to Miranda's side was Perry.

Miranda had spotted Nikki, the shape-shifter who was crushing on Perry, waving at him earlier, and the witch hadn't let go of Perry since.

Kylie had also spotted Miranda's pinky twitching. If Nikki knew what was good for her, she'd give up on Perry. Kylie didn't believe Miranda would do something really terrible, other than pimples of course, but considering that Socks spent months as a skunk, any spell from Miranda could wind up accidentally terrible.