Born At Midnight

by C. C. Hunter

Chapter Sixteen

  Kylie felt like a trapped animal in the Black Suit's snare.

  Dad-blast it. Why was everyone picking on her?

  Better question, what in Hades could they want with her? She wasn't even a card-carrying supernatural person yet. And she hoped she got tossed out of the club before she got rubber-stamped.

  Lucky for her, at about twenty feet away, the big guy's phone rang. He paused and answered it. Then he turned to his partner and said something and they both shot off.

  She let out a held breath. "Thank God. "

  "What?" Miranda asked, and studied her in confusion.

  Remembering that Miranda wasn't a first-timer, she asked, "Who are they?" She nodded to the retreating black-suited men who were now getting into a black sedan.

  "Who?" Miranda asked, staring at another group of boys.

  "The Black Suits?" Kylie asked.

  "Gross, they are way too old for you. " Miranda pul ed a hair band from her pocket and put her multicolored hair up in a ponytail. Kylie shot her roommate a glance. Honestly, were boys the only things Miranda ever thought about?

  "I'm not interested in hooking up," Kylie said, and started walking again. "I'm just curious. "

  "Oh. They're from the FRU. " Miranda fel into step beside her.

  "And who are they?" Kylie asked.

  "It stands for the Fal en Research Unit. You know, like Fal en, Texas? The city we passed through to get here? The FRU is basical y a part of the FBI. The part that deals with supernaturals. "

  "What?" Kylie stopped and grabbed Miranda by the arm. "You mean, the government knows about vampires and such?"

  Miranda made a face. "Of course they do. Who do you think funds the camp?"

  "I thought our parents did. " Kylie started moving again when she noticed a couple of people staring at them.

  "Wel , they pay some, but it takes a lot more to keep this place up. "

  "But why is the government behind this?"

  "Wel , that depends on who you ask. The camp has caused a lot of controversy in the supernatural community. Mostly just a lot of bigots mouthing off, if you ask me. "

  "What do you mean?"

  "Some of the elders in each species, mostly old farts who don't believe in interracial relationships, claim the camp encourages it and they want the camp closed down. To their way of thinking, each species should stick to their own kind. To me, it's the same thing as race. They say we should maintain the purity of the species, but that's a bunch of bul . The species have been crossing since the beginning of time. "

  Kylie tried to digest it. "So the government has the camp because they want the species to get married?"

  Miranda laughed. "I don't think the government cares who we hook up with. They're doing it to try to promote peace between the species so we don't go bat-shit crazy one day and try to wipe each other off the face of the planet. Humans included. "

  "Are there problems between the species?"

  Miranda looked surprised. "You real y are ignorant to al this, aren't you?"

  "Yes," Kylie admitted, and didn't even feel bad about it. She hadn't even known other species existed when she'd climbed on board the bus. How could she be informed?

  "Okay, here's a quick history slash political lesson," Miranda said. "Vampires and werewolves have been waging war against each other for, like, forever. What do you think the Civil War was real y about?" She hesitated. "My own ancestors aren't much better. The Black Plague was set off because they wanted to annihilate fairies. "

  "You're kidding me, right?" Kylie asked. And to think she'd listened to her history teacher when he'd said it had been spread by infected rodents.

  "Serious as a heart attack. However, in defense of my own kind, witches are the species who are succeeding best at conforming into the human world. There're less covens that actual y live in groups. But of course, that's also because our lifestyles are easier to blend with the human lifestyle. We also aren't involved in near as many gangs, causing problems for the humans. "

  "Gangs? You mean like the vampire gang?"

  "So you've heard of the Blood Brothers?" Miranda asked.

  Not wanting to mention Del a's cousin, Kylie shrugged. "Del a just mentioned that gangs exist. "

  "Exist? Oh, yeah. Of al the gangs, the Blood Brothers are probably the worst. They're into everything, al kinds of crimes. A good mix of everything. Murder, robbery. "

  Stealing Big Macs. The concept rol ed around Kylie's brain. "But how come we don't hear about these gangs or crimes on the nightly news?"

  "You do. You just don't know they're not human. The crimes are always explained by serial kil ers, just murders, then there's the missing people. Haven't you heard how many people go missing every year?"

  "I guess so. " Kylie felt a chil straight through to her bones. She wrapped her arms around her chest and shivered.

  "To rogue vampires or werewolves, the rest of us are food," Miranda said.

  Kylie thought about Del a's cousin cal ing her a snack and wondered if he was rogue. Then she thought about Del a's blending issues and concerns about leaving her family. "This is so screwed up. "

  "Not any less screwed up than the human race," Miranda said.

  "I guess not," Kylie admitted, remembering she had her own human issues happening at home.

  Right then she remembered another and more immediate problem she had to contend with. "What's the Meet Your Campmates Hour real y about?"

  "Oh, it's kind of cool. " Miranda grew animated again. "Half of us write our names on a piece of paper and the other half draws. We are paired together and spend an hour getting to know each other. Of course, it's always better if you get a hot guy. "

  Great, with Kylie's luck, she'd get stuck with Perry. She felt her face grow red when she remembered she'd checked his genitals.

  * * *

  After breakfast, Kylie stepped out of the dining hal to talk to Sara who'd gone to the drugstore to buy a pregnancy test earlier that morning. Unfortunately, she'd bumped into her mom's best friend at the checkout counter. Sara had been able to ditch the test before the woman noticed it, but the whole encounter had brought her right back to where she started-with no idea if she was pregnant or not.

  "How's it going at the camp?" Sara asked.

  "Just peachy," Kylie answered. She would have loved to have talked to her best friend about everything that had happened but she knew better. No way would Sara understand when Kylie herself didn't.

  "That bad, huh?" Sara replied. "Aren't there any cute guys?"

  "A few," Kylie answered, and then she changed the subject back to Sara, and they talked for another ten minutes about Sara's dilemma. Kylie stil had her phone in her hand when her mom cal ed a second after she'd ended her conversation with Sara.

  "How was your first night?" her mom asked.

  "Okay," Kylie lied, stil undecided how to deal with her mom and her questions.

  "No night terrors?" her mom asked.

  "No," Kylie answered. No, as in I didn't wake up screaming bloody murder. I just passed out when a bloody ghost showed up for a visit. After a visit from a shape-shifting kitten and a perverted toad.

  "That's good," her mom said. "So what al are you doing today?" Her mom's voice had that fake cheeriness that Kylie always hated because she knew it wasn't real.

  "I have meetings with one of the camp leaders, a meet-and-greet hour where you meet one-on-one with another camper, and then I think there's some kind of art program and a hike this afternoon. "

  "Sounds like a ful day," her mom answered.

  "Sounds boring," Kylie retorted.

  Her mom ignored her remark. "Have you spoken with your dad?"

  Kylie hesitated. "He cal ed and left a message, but I haven't had a chance to cal him
back. " Another lie. She'd had a chance, she just didn't know if she could lie as wel to him as she did to her mom.

  "Wel , when you do, check and see if he plans to come up Sunday for parents day. If so, I'l wait until next week. "

  "You two can't even be in the same room together now?" Kylie asked, not trying to hide her feelings. Her throat tightened with emotion. "Couldn't you two have at least stayed together until I left for col ege?"

  "It's difficult, Kylie," her mom said.

  "Yeah, on everyone. " The emotion grew in her throat, but when she looked up she saw Del a walking toward her and she fought back the need to cry. "I've gotta go. "

  "Okay," her mom said. "Have a good day and cal me tonight, okay?"

  "Yeah. " Kylie closed the phone just as Del a stepped up beside her.

  "Hey," Kylie said. "I looked for you during breakfast. "

  "I ate earlier. " She rubbed her stomach and Kylie tried not to think about what Miranda said about the vampire rituals. But the thought was already there, making the half of the Danish she'd consumed feel heavy in the pit of her stomach.

  "You'l get used to it. " Del a grinned as if she knew what had caused Kylie's frown.

  "Maybe," Kylie said. Then, remembering to be honest with Del a, she added, "But I doubt it. "

  Del a chuckled, then her smile faded. "Sorry about your parents. How long have they been separated?"

  "Do you make it a habit of eavesdropping?" Kylie slid her phone in her pocket.

  "I wasn't trying to listen in. " Resentment rang in Del a's voice. "It just, you know, happened. "

  Kylie bit down on her lower lip and let go of her frustration when she remembered that Del a had confided in her about her own family issues. "I'm sorry. It's just hard. It happened last week. "

  "I can imagine. " Sincerity creased Del a's forehead. Then her expression changed. "Oh, I almost forgot what I came to tel you. Remember I told you Derek had a little thing for you? I was wrong. It's not little. It's a big thing. "

  "Why do you say that?"

  "Because Brian, the blond vampire, just drew your name for the Meet Your Campmates Hour and Derek asked him to swap. "

  Kylie compared spending an hour with a strange vampire to spending an hour with Derek, who made her miss Trey, and she didn't know which was worse. "What did Brian say?" she asked, unable to stop herself.

  "He said no . . . unless Derek was wil ing to pay for it. "

  "No way. Tel me he didn't give him cash to get my name. "

  "Okay. He didn't give cash to get your name. " Del a laughed and leaned in as if she had some juicy secret to tel . "He's paying in blood, Kylie. A pint, to be exact. "

  "Blood?" Kylie stood there shocked. The shock quickly turned into disgust. "He can't do that," she said.

  "He can and he did. They made a deal. And believe me, you never go back on a blood deal with a vampire. "

  Kylie shot off to the dining hal to find Derek.

  She could not, would not, let him do this.