Chosen at Nightfall

The thing about sweet revenge was it was never as sweet in hindsight. Burnett was ... stunned. He turned around and started the car. He drove back to Shadow Falls without saying one word. Holiday sat there hiccuping and looking as if she might cry. Obviously, Burnett's reaction wasn't exactly what Holiday had been hoping for.

Or maybe, Kylie realized, it was exactly what the fae had feared. She recalled Holiday telling her that Burnett wasn't sure he wanted to be a father. Kylie suddenly wanted to apologize for her part in announcing the fact so ... hurtfully, but the moment didn't feel right.

After parking the car, Burnett saw Perry as they walked through the gate, and called him over and asked him to see Kylie to her cabin.

"What up?" Perry asked, studying Kylie and then looking back at Burnett walking away. "I've never seen him looking so ... stunned. It's as if the lights are on but nobody's home."

"Nothing," Kylie said, and she wanted to cry, to smack herself for being so thoughtless.

As soon as Kylie got back to her cabin, she headed straight to her bedroom.

But Della shot across the room and blocked the door. "What's wrong?" Della asked. "First you come to class crying, then Holiday shows up acting all weird, and now you come in looking like a kicked puppy. And don't tell me it's none of my business, I'm your friend, that gives me all the rights in the world to butt into your personal life."

Kylie gave Della a hug. "I love you."

"Okay ... I ... I wasn't trying to get all mushy?" Della said, and pulled back.

"I know, but you were," Kylie said. "Unfortunately, I can't ... talk about any of this right now. I need to make a few phone calls." She motioned for Della to step away from the door. She did, but begrudgingly.

Kylie's first phone call was to warn Hayden that Burnett might possibly arrive and be on the warpath.

"Why? What the hell did I do this time?" Hayden asked.

"My grandfather showed up at the drugstore. I'm assuming you told him where I was."

"Oh, damn it! I did mention it, but ... I never thought he'd go there. I guess I'll start packing my bags,"

he muttered.

"No," Kylie said. "Please. Just explain that you didn't know he was coming. Just ... placate Burnett.

Say anything. But ... don't leave. I need you here. And ... don't be too hard on him. He ... he's having a hard day."

"What happened?" Hayden asked.

"He had to put up with me," Kylie said.

"Oh, that would be rough," Hayden said teasingly, but Kylie wasn't in a humorous mood.

Off the phone with him, Kylie called her stepdad. She talked to him a good five minutes, assuring him she was okay, and that she'd lost her phone, but now she found it and was sorry she missed his calls.She could tell from his voice that he was upset to learn that her mom was in London. Or maybe it wasn't just his voice telling her this, but his words. "God damn, she should have told me she was leaving the country!"

"I'm sure she just forgot," Kylie lied, unsure of anything else she could say.

Hanging up with him, Kylie suddenly felt her left pocket vibrate. Oh, crap. She'd completely forgotten she still had Holiday's phone.

Pulling her phone out, she saw Burnett had sent Holiday a text. Her gut said that Holiday needed to read it. She ran out of the room and hollered at Della. "Let's go."

Knowing Della would catch up, Kylie lit out the door. In a matter of seconds, Della was moving beside her.

"Where are we going?"

"To the office. I need to see Holiday."

"And you're still not going to tell me what's going on."

"Sorry." Kylie picked up her pace.

She asked Della to wait outside. The vamp rolled her eyes, but did it. When Kylie walked into the office, Holiday's door was shut. She knocked.

"Who is it?" Holiday asked, and Kylie sensed the fae was hoping it was Burnett.

"It's me." Kylie opened the door.

Holiday stood behind her desk. She sighed. Her eyes were a watery mess. The fae didn't cry much prettier than Kylie. "I'm so sorry." Guilt caused a knot in Kylie's throat.

"It's not your fault."

"Yes, it is. He shouldn't have heard the news like that. I was just so..."

"Mad," Holiday finished for her. "And you had a right to be. He completely jumped to conclusions. He has a really bad habit of doing that." Her voice shook.

Kylie saw the pregnancy test boxes in the garbage. "Did you take them?"

She nodded.

"And?"

She nodded again. "All three say yes. What's the chance of them being wrong?"

"Does Burnett know?" Kylie asked.

She shook her head. "He didn't even come into the office. Didn't say one word to me. He got in his car and left."

"Wait. He did say something." Kylie pulled Holiday's phone out of her pocket. "You got a text from him. That's why I came here. I thought it might be important."

Holiday took the phone and hit a few buttons almost in a panic. Tears filled her eyes and she put a hand over her trembling lips.

"Is that a good or bad reaction?" Kylie asked.

Holiday looked up, tears in her eyes but with a smile. "He writes: 'I'm at the florist, trying to figure out which flower says I'm an idiot and please forgive me.'" She inhaled. "He is an idiot!" She hiccuped.

"But I'm your idiot!" Burnett said from the doorway.

Kylie looked back and saw Burnett walk in carrying the biggest, and the oddest-looking, bouquet of flowers she'd ever seen. Holiday dropped into her desk chair. A few tears rolled down her cheeks.He moved past Kylie and set the flowers on Holiday's desk, pretty much taking up the entire desk, too.

"You didn't get back to me with the kind of flower, so I got one of everything they had."

Burnett's eyes cut to the garbage, where he obviously spotted the pregnancy test packages. He looked up at Holiday. "Are we pregnant?"

She nodded and wiped her cheeks.

"Forgive me," he said with pure emotion in his voice. "I'm just scared. I didn't have a father and most of my foster parents weren't what you would call good examples. But then I realized that you are going to be such a great mom, that it won't matter if I suck at parenthood a little bit."

"You're not going to suck at it." Holiday hiccuped.

"But if I do, you'll straighten me out, right?"

She nodded. "You bet your cold feet I will."

Kylie grinned and started to back out. She almost got to the door when Burnett turned. "I owe you an apology, too."

Kylie nodded. "And I owe you one."

Burnett smiled. "Accepted."

"But no more secrets," Kylie said. "Even between you and Hayden. If it involves me, I want to know."

He sighed. "Deal. Now that we got most everything cleared up, can you leave so I can kiss the mother of my child and not worry about offending virgin eyes?"

"Make it a good one." Kylie smiled and started out.

"Kylie?" Holiday said.

Kylie turned back. "The Brightens called while we were away. They're still planning on coming tomorrow. I just wanted to remind you."

Kylie nodded and walked out, trying to figure out how she was going to approach the Brightens.

She hadn't gotten one step on the porch when Della ran up to her and squealed. "Holiday's pregnant?"

Kylie covered the vamp's mouth with her palm and frowned. "You weren't supposed to be listening in."

"I didn't mean to," Della huffed out behind Kylie's fingers. "Burnett's voice just carries."

"Right." Kylie cut her eyes at Della in disbelief.

Della squealed again. "This is so cool."

Kylie, pushing aside her worry about the Brightens, suddenly felt like squealing, too. "What's cool?"

Miranda asked, walking up.

Della looked at Kylie. "We have to tell Miranda. Just Miranda."

"Yeah, you have to!" Miranda squealed. "I don't know what it is, but I want to know."

Kylie gasped. "Okay, but you can't tell anyone."

"Won't tell a soul," Miranda said. "What is it?" She rubbed her hands together, excited to know a secret.

Della moved them away from the office, and under a patch of trees beside the trail. "Guess who's pregnant?" Della whispered.

Miranda gawked at Kylie. "But you said you'd never done it."

"Not me!" Kylie said. "Holiday."

Miranda's mouth dropped open. "Oh my! We're gonna have a baby Burnett running around? That iscool." She grinned ear to ear.

"I know." Kylie suddenly couldn't stop smiling.

Or she couldn't until someone dropped a severed head from the tree above her and it landed on her foot. Kylie screamed and kicked the head, which rolled a good six feet away. She screamed again when she saw the eyes wobbling and looking up at her.

* * *

The next morning, Kylie got up and went and sat in front of the computer to check her e-mail before heading off to breakfast with Della and Miranda. She sat there and stared at the black computer screen in a daze. There hadn't been any dreams, no more severed heads falling from trees, and no visiting swords.

She still hadn't slept worth a damn. What kept her up were all her other issues. Most of them matters of the heart.

She'd stayed awake a while thinking about meeting Daniel's adoptive parents today, wondering what she should say, or not say. She'd connected with her real grandfather, but he wasn't a parent who'd raised her father. He hadn't taught him to ride a bike, or play baseball. He didn't really know his own son, but these people did. What would they tell her about her father? Had they loved him, missed him since he'd been taken from this life too soon?

That made her start missing her dad. So she pulled out his pictures and spent a good hour just looking at them, talking to him. Yeah, she talked to him as if he were there listening to every word she said. She told him about her quests. How she wanted to find a way to help all the other chameleon teens. Now all she had to do was figure out how to do it. She told him about Mario, how she felt deep down that she was going to have to deal with him. Personally.

She confessed to her dad how much that truly scared her. Scared because of the evilness that emanated from the man, and how she didn't think she had what it would take to face him and win.

A couple of times during the conversation she could swear she felt her dad, a slight familiar type of chill-one that actually warmed her on the inside. One that whispered that she wouldn't be alone-not facing Mario, or the visit with his parents. Then she heard the words he'd told her not so long ago. But soon. Soon we will discover this together.

Was it fate that she face Mario and lose? Would she be joining her father on the other side?

She slipped the pictures back into their envelope, her heart beating a little faster, and again recalled Holiday telling her that she didn't think it was what he meant. Dear God, she hoped not. She wasn't ready to leave this world.

When she let go of worrying about Daniel's message-choosing to believe Holiday, or at least trying to believe her-and stopped fretting over the meeting of the grandparents, she started obsessing over what Fredericka had said. It was because of Kylie that Lucas probably wouldn't get on the werewolf Council.

She knew it wasn't her fault-he got himself in this mess-but guilt still pricked her conscience. It was hard to feel so angry and guilty at the same time at the same person. How did one deal with that? She didn't know.

She also had to deal with Derek. Nip things in the bud before things got out of control, if they weren't already out of control. She remembered lunch yesterday, which was why Kylie had Miranda bring them each back a couple slices of pizza for dinner last night. Ahh, her ol' avoidance trick was still in goodworking order. She should be proud. Not.

But honestly, she knew she shouldn't and couldn't continue to avoid it.

Derek deserved to know the truth. Now if she could just figure out exactly what that was, she'd tell him. Wait! She did know the truth, didn't she? Or at least part of it. Hadn't she admitted she loved Lucas?

Still loved him, in spite of what he'd done. Then why had she even allowed Derek to kiss her in the dreamscape?

Was it because down deep she still held a glimmer of romantic feelings for Derek? Was it because she feared losing Lucas and not having anyone? Was it because she was angry at Lucas, and somehow felt kissing Derek was his payback? Was it because she was over-the-top stupid?

Questions.

No answers.

"Are we going to breakfast?" Della asked.

"Yeah," Kylie mumbled, and looked at the black computer screen. "Just checking my e-mail."

Della let out a sarcastic chuckle. "I think you need to turn the computer on first. Or do your powers now allow you to read your e-mails with the computer off?"

Kylie clicked the computer on and glanced over her shoulder to frown at Della. "Don't you remember the rule? You can't be a smartass until after breakfast. I need energy to deal with that."

Miranda skipped into the living room from her bedroom. "I personally think she should wait and be a smartass after lunch. That gives us two meals of energy to put up with her crap."

"You two think you're so funny," Della bit out.

"We are funny," Miranda said.

"Just a couple of comedians." Kylie clicked open her e-mail to do a quick check. One from her stepdad.

To answer later.

One from ... Sara.

Damn, she hadn't thought about her old best friend in almost two weeks. Funny how someone could be so important in your life and then ... then you go a long period of time without them even entering your thoughts.

It wasn't anyone's fault. Life took people in different directions. She'd read in some teen magazine that it usually happened when you graduated from high school. She guessed her different-path part of life had just come a little earlier. It was still sad.

An empty spot seemed to open up in her chest. A spot Kylie knew used to be occupied by Sara.

She clicked open the e-mail from Sara, praying it wasn't bad news, as in: her cancer came back, or she thought she was pregnant again, or she'd decided to go into a convent and become a nun. With Sara, anything was possible.

Hey ... Got my hair cut. Thought you might want to see it. Don't laugh. I'm feeling spunky now that I survived cancer. I'll bet your friend Miranda will approve. Call me when you have a chance.

Knowing Della and Miranda were waiting, Kylie clicked open the picture for just a peek. When the image of Sara with short, spiked pink hair filled the screen, a smiled slipped across Kylie's lips.

She heard shuffling behind her. "I'm coming," she said, thinking any minute Della would complain.Kylie grabbed her phone and wallet, but right as she stood up, another e-mail came in. It was from her mom, who was supposed to have gotten back to the States on the red-eye flight. Obviously, she'd made it home.

"Really? I don't see you moving," Della said.

Okay, Mom's e-mail would have to wait, too.

Meeting the girls at the door, Kylie glanced at her two best friends and she felt a wave of sadness. Not for what was, but for what might be.

"Promise me something," Kylie said.

"What?" they asked in unison.

"When we graduate from here we won't lose track of each other. We should all go to the same college.

And I'm completely serious. Holiday was talking about getting some college forms and we should send them out to the same colleges. And we could get an apartment together."

"We could become lesbians and have threesomes," Della said, and chuckled.

"Sorry," Miranda said, and snickered. "I've already seen you naked and it did nothing for me."

"It was the little bitty tits, wasn't it?" Della asked, grinning.

They laughed all the way to breakfast.

* * *

Derek and Lucas didn't show up for breakfast and that was just fine with Kylie. Less drama must be good for the appetite, because she actually ate her runny eggs and burnt bacon in record time. Her phone rang just when she was about to push her tray back. When she saw her stepdad's number, she decided to call him back a little later. She didn't think she could take his heartbreak over her mom this early.

Her phone chimed with an incoming text. Couldn't be her dad, the man didn't text. Kylie waited a second before checking to see who it was from. Three words popped up.

Miss you. Lucas.

Miss you, too, she thought, but didn't type it in. Emotion whispered across her chest.

The sound of another tray being placed on the table brought Kylie's gaze up.

Steve, the hot shape-shifter who'd left a hickey right below Della's left collarbone, sat down beside the little vamp.

Della sat completely still, frozen, and stared daggers at her uneaten breakfast. If looks could kill, that breakfast would be pushing up daisies.

"Hey," Steve said.

"You have to leave," Della said without looking at him.

"Why?" he asked.

Della hesitated. "Because I'm shadowing Kylie and don't need any distractions."

That was the lamest excuse Kylie had ever heard and Steve's expression said he knew it, too.

"So I'm distracting to you, huh?" he said, leaned against her, and half smiled.

"Leave!" She looked up, her eyes glowing a pissed-off green.

The half smile faded from his eyes, and he popped up, took his tray, and went and sat at the shapeshifter table.

"That wasn't nice," Kylie said."I know," Della said. "I don't know why he did it."

"I was talking about you." Kylie leaned forward and shot her a frown.

"Yeah, and it was a lie, too," Perry added, sitting two seats down. "I'm the one on shadowing duty right now."

Della made a face and stood up. "Are you finished eating?"

A few minutes later they walked outside for the announcement of Campmate hour-Della on one side and Miranda and Perry on the other. Kylie found herself looking around for Derek or Lucas. Still both noshows. But then she felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck. Looking back, she saw Derek standing about eight feet behind her. His green gaze met hers and Kylie remembered the kiss from the dream again.

"Okay," Chris said, drawing Kylie's attention forward. "First up today we have..." He pulled a piece of paper from his top hat-which always looked silly to Kylie, but it was obviously his thing.

She couldn't help but wonder if Chris had wanted to be a magician when he was a kid. Reading the paper, the head vampire moved his eyes around the crowd. Kylie's heart thumped when his gaze came close to her and started slowing down. Not again! Who was it this time?

Then his eyes moved past Kylie, past Miranda, and stopped. For some crazy reason, Kylie got a bad feeling. The sneaky smile on Chris's lips told her she was right, too.

"Perry, my ol' friend," Chris said. "You get the pleasure of spending an hour with Nikki."