Taken at Dusk (Shadow Falls #3)(18)

Kylie's heart jolted when she saw Derek lip-locked with a dark-haired girl. And it wasn't just their lips that were locked. The girl's legs were wrapped around his waist, while Derek's hands-obviously holding the brunette up and close-were placed on her cute little jeans-covered butt.

An ache settled in Kylie's chest. "Who ... how ... what?"

"I asked the who question," Della said. "Her name is Ellie Mason and she was new to their vampire commune. Chan said someone mentioned Derek was from Shadow Falls and he just wanted to see if his source was telling the truth."

Ellie? Kylie recalled Derek telling her he'd dated a vampire named Ellie. She also recalled he'd told her that he'd given Ellie blood. Odd how she hadn't even known she'd remembered it, but now it seemed carved into her memory bank. "Ellie." The word leaving her lips caused a sharp and painful yank on her heartstrings. The heartstrings must be connected to her emotions, because about a dozen different ones started flapping around her chest like wild birds going after a swarm of moths. Anger, jealousy, betrayal, distrust ... the list went on.

"I need this." She took Della's phone and tried to push Della out of the way. Not that her effort got her anywhere. Della stood cemented in place.

"Sorry. I still can't let you go alone," Della said. "Seriously, I'm your shadow."

"Fine, come. Just don't get in my way! And stay back. Way back. I need to talk to him alone." Tears prickled Kylie's eyes.

Tears of jealousy, betrayal, and frustration.

Tears of knowing that she had no right to feel any of those emotions. She wouldn't let herself cry. But she still felt those tears. Felt them as she swallowed them down her throat and they burned her chest.

* * *

Phone gripped tight, Kylie took off through the woods toward Derek's cabin, hoping that he was there. She didn't have a clue what she'd say when she saw him. She didn't want to think; she just wanted to get there. She leapt over thornbushes, ducked under low-hanging branches, and made darn good speed. Della's footfalls sounded behind her, staying close-her friend took her job as shadow seriously.

Too seriously.

The thud of Kylie's feet hitting the earth echoed, and the smell of rain hung in the air. A summer storm brewed somewhere in the distance. But not too far, because thunder rumbled overhead.

Silence followed one particularly big boom. A flash of lightning sent sprays of sizzling silver light dancing through the leaves to the moist earth. Kylie kept running, kept hurting. She could feel the storm, the energy, the power of it, in the air. More thunder followed.

Suddenly, a loud rustle sounded off to her right, and a large deer-a buck with antlers big enough to decorate a hunter's wall-darted out and jolted to a stop in the middle of her path. Shocked, she came to an abrupt stop, too. A few more inches and she might have impaled herself on the beast's antlers. She hadn't caught her breath when a bolt of lightning shot down and struck the trunk of an old tree buried only a foot past the buck. The light still sizzled when Kylie felt Della slam into her.

"What the hell?" Della said.

The buck reared his head back, the heavy antlers dropped forward almost in a threat, and then he shot off. But not before Kylie felt the beast's cold and somehow evil gaze.

The hair on the back of her neck rose. That calculating gaze meant something. Like the look the eagle gave her earlier. She pulled oxygen into her lungs and hoped it would clear her mind and she might realize she was wrong.

She didn't want to add something else to her list of things to figure out. But the air in her lungs didn't help.

The ground still sizzled and popped as tiny sparks danced around the trunk that had taken the direct hit. The smell of burnt wood and oncoming rain flavored the air. Kylie wasn't sure if she imagined it or not, but she felt a few currents of energy sting the heels of her feet.

"That was creepy," Della said.

"Yeah."

"Damn, it almost hit you!"

"But it didn't." Kylie stared at the phone in her hand and remembered Derek.

"Damn," Della repeated. "If the deer hadn't shown up..."

"Doesn't matter." And Kylie wanted it to be so. She heard the sound of driving rain pelting down on the leaves above her before she felt it sting her skin. The day had almost turned to night. The storm had arrived, and it matched her mood. She curled her hand around Della's phone, protecting it from the rain, and took off again at a dead run.

In a few minutes, barely winded but wet, Kylie jogged up onto Derek's porch while Della hung back. Kylie's second step brought back a memory. She'd come here looking for Derek once before and had seen blood on his porch. She'd thought he'd been attacked and had barged in only to find him ... in the shower.

She'd gotten an eyeful that day, and after he'd gotten dressed, they'd sat here, leaning against the cabin, and talked.

Shared.

Laughed.

She couldn't ever remember feeling closer to anyone. How could things have changed between them so quickly?

She moved to the door and knocked. The door swung open, and Chris-Derek's vampire cabin mate-stood there. "Hey." His eyes widened and lowered. "Wet T-shirt contest?" he teased.

Kylie looked down, sending heavy strands of wet hair dancing around her shoulders. Her white tank and thin bra were almost invisible. She frowned and pulled her hair in front of her breasts.