Taken at Dusk

Three minutes later, Kylie stood in the parking lot and watched the Brightens' silver Cadillac drive away. She turned to glare at Della and Lucas, who'd stormed into the office and interrupted her meeting with her grandparents. Perry had been with them, too, but he'd wisely disappeared. Holiday, who had followed them outside, was on the phone again.

"Would someone please tell me what's going on?" Kylie asked, feeling as if her chance to discover more about her father were disappearing along with the Cadillac. She suddenly realized she still held the brown envelope of images of Daniel, and she clutched them tighter.

"Don't get your panties in a wad. We're just watching your back." The tips of Della's canines peeked through the corners of her lips. Her dark eyes, with a slight slant, and her straight black hair hinted at her part Asian heritage.

"Watching my back for what?"

"Derek called." Holiday closed her phone and stepped into the circle. "He was worried." Her phone rang again, and after looking at the call log, she held up a finger. "Sorry. One minute."

Patience wearing thin, Kylie looked back at Della and Lucas. "What's up?"

Lucas moved in. "Burnett phoned us and asked us to make our presence known to the visitors." His gaze met hers and, as earlier, concern flickered in his blue eyes.

Burnett, a thirty-something vampire, worked for the FRU-Fallen Research Unit-a branch of the FBI whose job it was to govern the supernaturals. He was also part owner of Shadow Falls. When Burnett gave an order, he expected people to obey. And they usually did.

"Why?" Kylie asked. "I needed to ask them questions." Unexpectedly, the memory of how Mrs. Brighten's hand felt on hers flashed in her mind-gentle, fragile. Emotions came at Kylie from every direction.

"Burnett never gives his reasons," Della said. "He gives orders."

Kylie glanced at Holiday, who was still on the phone. She looked worried, and Kylie felt Holiday's emotions join the others already dancing along her spine.

"I don't understand." She fought the tightness in her throat.

Lucas stepped closer. So close that she could smell his scent-a scent that reminded her of how the dew-kissed woods smelled first thing in the morning.

His hand came up and she thought he was going to reach for her, but he lowered his hand just as quickly. She fought against disappointment.

Holiday hung up the phone. "That was Burnett." She stepped forward and rested a hand on Kylie's shoulder.

She didn't want to be calmed; she wanted answers. So she removed the camp leader's hand. "Just tell me what happened. Please."

"Derek called," Holiday said. "He went to see the P.I. who helped you find your grandparents and found him unconscious in his office. Then Derek discovered the man's phone on the floor outside of his office with blood on it. Bottom line, Derek doesn't think the P.I. sent that text to you about your grandparents. He called Burnett, who's there now."

Kylie tried to understand what Holiday was saying. "But if the P.I. didn't send the text, who did?"

Holiday shrugged. "We don't know."

"Derek could be wrong," Lucas said, his lack of affection for the half-fae deepening the vibration in his voice.

Kylie ignored Lucas and his vibrations and tried to digest what Holiday was implying. "So ... Derek and Burnett think that Mr. and Mrs. Brighten were impostors?"

Holiday nodded. "If Derek's right and the text was sent by the person who hurt the P.I., then it makes sense that these two could have been sent here for other reasons."

"But they're human," Kylie said. "I checked."

"Definitely human," Della said.

"I know," Holiday explained. "That's the reason I didn't detain or question them. The last thing I need is to bring more suspicion on Shadow Falls. We already have the locals breathing down our necks. But being human doesn't mean they aren't working for someone else. Someone supernatural."

Kylie knew by "someone," Holiday meant Mario Esparza, grandfather to the murdering rogue who'd taken a liking to her.

For a split second, Kylie got a vision of the two teenage girls she'd met in town, the two who'd died at the hands of Red, Mario Esparza's grandson. More frustration and anger wound its way into her emotional bank.

"But they brought me pictures." She held up the envelope.

Holiday took the envelope and quickly glanced through the stack of pictures. For some odd reason, Kylie wanted to jerk them back, as if Holiday's action were somehow irreverent. "There aren't any family pictures in here. You would think there would be one or two of them with their son."

Kylie took the pictures back and slipped them into the envelope, trying to wrap her head around what they were insinuating. Then her thoughts went elsewhere. "But what if they really are my grandparents and whoever went to the P.I. is going to try to get to them?" She remembered the frailness of the elderly woman's palm on top of hers. What little life the woman had left could easily be yanked away from her.

Kylie's chest ached. Had she put Daniel's parents in danger by finding them? Had that been what Daniel had wanted to tell her? She felt Lucas's gaze on her, as if offering some small amount of comfort.

Holiday spoke up again. "I don't see any reason for someone to involve them. However, Perry is following them. If anyone tries to harm them, he'll take care of things."

"Yeah, Perry could seriously kick ass if he has to," Della said.

"And I'm sure the P.I. is working a hundred different cases," Lucas said. "The P.I. being attacked doesn't mean it's linked to Kylie. It could be one of his other cases. Private investigators piss people off all the time."

"True," Holiday said. "But Burnett was concerned enough to want the Brightens away from the camp. We need to be cautious."

Kylie's mind took a U-turn and parked on the fact that it was Perry, one of the resident shape-shifters, following the Brightens. "What was Perry when he took off after them?"

The last time she'd seen Perry in an alternate form, he'd been some kind of pterodactyl creature that looked as if it had stepped out of the Jurassic age. Of course, Kylie supposed that was better than the SUV-sized lion or the unicorn he'd turned into before that. Oh hell! If he wasn't careful, Perry could end up giving the elderly couple heart attacks.

"Don't worry," Holiday said. "Perry won't do anything ridiculous."

Miranda chose that moment to join the group. "Please, Perry and all things ridiculous go together like toads and warts," she said, and pushed her tricolored dyed hair over her shoulder as if to punctuate her attitude.

Miranda was one of seven witches at Shadow Falls, and she was also Kylie's other roommate. From Miranda's tone, it was clear she wasn't ready to forgive Perry for being cruel to her when he'd found out another shape-shifter had kissed her ... especially when she'd apologized. The witch's gaze shot around the group.

"What?" Miranda asked. "Is something wrong?" Concern tightened her eyes, proving that while she might not be over being mad, neither was she over caring for the shape-shifter. "Is Perry okay? Is he?" She reached up and caught a strand of pink hair and twirled it around her finger.

"Perry's fine," Holiday and Kylie said at the same time. Then Kylie's mind returned to her concern for the Brightens-if they really were the Brightens.

She looked at Holiday. "What would anyone gain by pretending to be my grandparents?"

"Access to you," Holiday answered.

"But they seemed so genuine." And then Kylie remembered. "No. They couldn't have been impostors. I ... saw the death angels. They sent me a message."

"Oh, crappers," Della said, and she and Miranda took a step back. While Lucas didn't flinch, his eyes widened. According to legend, death angels were supposed to be the ones who doled out punishment to keep the nonhuman species in line. Almost every supernatural knew of a friend of a friend who'd misbehaved and then gotten fried to a crisp by a vengeful death angel.

While Kylie sensed the power of these angels, she wasn't so sure their harmful reputation wasn't exaggerated. Not that she was eager to test the theory. However, considering she made her share of mistakes and hadn't been burned or turned to ash, she questioned the rumors of those who had.

"What message?" Holiday asked, her tone free of any misgiving. The camp leader, another ghost whisperer, was one of the few who didn't fear the death angels.

"Shadows ... on the dining hall wall, then..."

"When we were in there?" Della asked. "And you didn't tell us?"

Kylie ignored Della. "I heard a voice in my head say to go find my destiny. Why would I get that message if they weren't my grandparents?"

"Good question," Holiday said. "But maybe they just meant this situation is what will lead you to the truth."

"She should have told us," Della muttered to Miranda.

Kylie recalled Daniel showing up, the urgency she'd heard in his tone in what little he'd communicated. Had she totally misunderstood what he'd wanted to tell her? Had he come to warn her that the couple weren't his adoptive parents? Doubt built, and she didn't know what she believed anymore.

Kylie breathed in, and another concern dove right into her worry bank. "Is the P.I. going to be okay?"

"I don't know." Holiday frowned. "Burnett said Derek was at the hospital with him now. Burnett is still investigating the crime scene."

Worry for Derek tightened Kylie's chest. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed his number.

When he didn't answer, she didn't know if it was because he couldn't or if he was back to not talking to her. Back to pushing her out of his life.

Men!

Why was it that boys said girls were so hard to understand, when she hadn't known a single guy who hadn't confused her to the point of screaming?

* * *

As everyone hung out talking, Kylie snuck away and went around back to sit beside her favorite tree. She opened the envelope and slowly went through the pictures, noting all the little things about Daniel. They way his blue eyes lit up when he smiled, the way his hair flipped up just a bit on the ends when he wore it long. She saw so much of herself in him, and her heart doubled over with grief at missing him.

When she came across the picture of her mom and him, Kylie found herself smiling at the way Daniel was looking at her mom, and the way her mom was looking at him. Love. Part of Kylie wanted to call her mom right then and tell her about the photo, but considering what Holiday and the others thought, she supposed it was best to keep quiet. But hopefully not for long.

"Hey."

Lucas's voice pulled her attention up, and she smiled. "Hi."

"Mind some company?" he asked.

"I'll share my tree with you." She scooted over.

He dropped down beside her and studied her face. His shoulder, so warm, came against hers, and she savored his closeness. "You look happy and sad, and confused." He brushed a few strands of her hair from her face.

"I feel confused," she said. "They were so nice and ... I don't know what to believe now. How could they have these pictures if they aren't really the Brightens?"

"They could have stolen them," he said.

His words hurt, but she knew he could be right. But why would anyone go that far to convince her they were Daniel's parents? What could they possibly gain by doing that?

He looked down at the pictures she held in her hand. "Can I see?"

Nodding, she passed him the stack of photos.

He slowly flipped through them. "It must be weird looking at someone's face who you look so much like and not knowing him."

She gazed up at Lucas. "But I do know him."

His brows arched up. "I mean ... in person."

She nodded, understanding his inability to grasp the whole ghost thing, but wishing it weren't so hard for him.

"Burnett will get to the bottom of this." His gaze lowered to her mouth. For a second, she thought he was going to kiss her, but he stiffened and looked up toward the woods.

Fredericka, scowling at the two of them, walked out from behind the bushes. "The pack is looking for you."

Lucas frowned. "I'll be right there."

She didn't move. She just continued to stare. "They shouldn't have to wait on their leader."

Lucas growled, "I said I'd be right there."

Fredericka walked away, and Lucas looked down at her. "Sorry. I should go."

"Is something wrong?" Kylie asked, noting the concern filling his eyes.

"Nothing I can't handle." He pressed a quick kiss on her lips and slid the photos back into her hands.

* * *

"Are you going to be okay?" Holiday asked when Kylie walked back onto the office porch.

Kylie plopped down in one of the large white rocking chairs. The sticky heat seemed to cling to her skin. "I'll live." She set the envelope on the small patio table between the chairs and pulled her hair back and held it off the back of her neck. "Do you really think they were impostors?"

Holiday sat in the other rocker. Her red hair hung loose around her shoulders. "I don't know. But Burnett won't let it rest until he gets to the bottom of this. He feels guilty that he wasn't more on top of things and let Mario get to you. I imagine after this, he's not going to want to let you out of his sight."

"He had no way of knowing what the creep was up to," Kylie said.

"I know that. You know that. But Burnett has a tendency to be a bit harder on himself."

"Aren't all vampires?" Kylie considered Della and the emotional baggage she carted around.

"Not really," Holiday said. "You'd be amazed how many vamps refuse to take any responsibility for their actions. It's always someone else's fault."

Kylie almost asked if Holiday was referring to a certain vampire who'd broken her heart in the past. But her thoughts went back to the Brightens. "You were there. Didn't you read their emotions? Weren't they sincere? I felt somehow ... connected to them."

Holiday tilted her head as if thinking. "They were very guarded, almost too much so, but ... yeah, they read sincere. Especially Mrs. Brighten."

"Then how could they-"

"Reading emotions is never a hundred percent certain," Holiday said. "Emotions can be disguised, hidden, even faked."

"By humans?" Kylie asked.

"Humans are masters at it. Better than supernaturals. I've often thought that since their species lack any superpower to control their worlds, they have worked harder at controlling their emotions."

Kylie listened, while her heart chewed on concern for the Brightens.

"Narcissism, detachment, schizoid personality, sociopath-these things run rampant in the human race in varying degrees. Then you have the actors who can create an emotion within themselves by simply borrowing it from a past experience. I've attended plays and shows where the emotions flowing from the actors were as real as I've ever felt."

Kylie leaned back in her chair. "I'm part human and I can't seem to control anything."

Holiday glanced at her with empathy. "I'm sorry I had to send them away. I know you were hoping to learn something. But I couldn't risk that Derek might be right."

"I understand." And she did. She just didn't like it. "Mrs. Brighten-if she really was Mrs. Brighten-reminded me of my grandmother."

"Nana," Holiday said, and Kylie remembered that Nana's spirit had paid Holiday a visit.

"Yeah."

Holiday sighed. "I know this is difficult for you."

The camp leader's phone rang and Kylie held her breath, hoping it was news on the Brightens, Derek, or the P.I.

The camp leader glanced at the call log. "It's just my mom. I'll call her later."

Kylie pulled one knee up to her chest and wrapped her hand around her leg. The silence that followed called for the truth. "I feel as if nothing in my life makes sense anymore. Everything is changing."

Holiday wrapped her hair into a rope. "Change isn't the worst thing, Kylie. It's when things aren't changing that you have to worry."

"I disagree." Kylie dropped her chin down on her kneecap. "I mean, I know change is necessary for growth and all that stuff. But I'd like one thing in my life to feel ... grounded. I need a touchstone. Something that feels real."

Holiday raised her brows. "Shadow Falls is real, Kylie. It's your touchstone."

"I know. I know I belong here, it's just that I still don't know how I belong. And please don't tell me that I should make this my quest. Because that's been my quest since I've been here and I'm not any closer to figuring it now than I was then."

"That's not true." Holiday pulled her knees up, and in the oversize rocking chair, her petite form looked even smaller. "Look how far you've come. Like you said, you know you belong here. That's a big step. And your gifts are coming in left and right."

"Gifts that I mostly don't know how to control or when they might or might not pop in again. Not that I'm complaining." Kylie dropped her forehead on her kneecap and let go of an exaggerated sigh.

Holiday chuckled.

Kylie glanced up. "I sound pathetic, don't I."

Holiday frowned. "No. You sound frustrated. And to be honest, after what happened to you this weekend, you deserve to be frustrated. You might even deserve to be a little pathetic."

"Nobody has the right to be pathetic," Kylie said.

"I don't know about that. I think I've earned the right a few times in my life." Holiday set her rocking chair into a slow swaying motion.

Kylie stared at the camp leader, and she had a distinct feeling that there were a lot of things Holiday still hadn't told Kylie about herself.

"Did I sense a new spirit earlier?" Holiday asked.

"Yeah." Kylie leaned back in the chair. "She's still not making sense. Says she's confused." Kylie recalled the angry-looking stitches she'd seen on the woman's head. "I think she died of a brain tumor or something. She had a shaved head and scars."

"Hmm," Holiday said.

"And I think she's buried at Fallen Cemetery."

"Really? Did she tell you that?"

"No, but that's where I felt like I picked her up. Driving here this morning, my mom had just passed the cemetery when the spirit popped into the backseat."

"I guess that could be it."

"But you don't think so?" Kylie asked, unsure of Holiday's logic.

"I'm not saying it can't be that simple, but I've found the majority of spirits that come to us have ... connections more than just our driving by a cemetery. Now, I'm not saying we don't get random ghosts sometimes, because we do. The other day, I got a dripping wet, elderly man, naked as the day he was born. He died in the shower at his nursing home. Wanted me to tell the nurse to please come get him out." Holiday shook her head.

"What did you do?" Kylie asked.

"I called the nursing home and said I was a friend of the family and had tried to call Mr. Banes in his room and he wasn't answering."

"And he went away?"

"Crossed right over."

"I hope this spirit is that easy. I could use a break." Then Kylie remembered what the spirit had said. "You know ... the spirit said that there were people who wanted her to tell me something."

"Tell you what?"

"I asked, but ... she said something like, some people live and some people die. It didn't make sense."

"They seldom do at first."

Kylie bit down on her lip. "Could it be my dad trying to tell me something? He tried to appear right before I saw the Brightens-or whoever they were."

Holiday stopped rocking. "What did he say?"

"He couldn't completely manifest. All I got were a few words." Kylie frowned. "Why does he have to stop coming to see me?"

Holiday's expression filled with sympathy. "Death is a new beginning, Kylie. One can't begin the new until they let go of the old. He has held on to the past for a long time. He needs to move forward. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Kylie stopped her chair's swaying. "Understand it? Maybe. Like it? No." Sighing, she stood up. "I told Miranda and Della I'd meet them back at the cabin."

"Sure." Holiday hesitated a moment. "I thought now might be a good time to chat about your new gifts."

"What's to talk about? Just because I ran through a concrete wall?" Kylie used sarcasm to cover up her unresolved feeling.

Holiday grinned. "And you healed Sara. And Lucas."

Kylie sat back down. "We hope I healed Sara."

"From what you said, I'd be surprised if you hadn't." Holiday continued to stare. "If one of your gifts is that you're a protector, Kylie, this could only be the beginning of your talents. I'm surprised you aren't peppering me with questions."

"Maybe I'd like a few answers before I start asking more questions. And I don't even mean about what I am, but about who the Brightens are. And what my dad wanted to tell me."

Holiday's eyes filled with understanding. "It's all happening very fast, isn't it?"

"Yes, and talking about it's not going to change anything." Her chest swelled with emotion.

"It could. Sometimes things don't feel real until we talk about them."

Kylie released a breath. "I'm not sure I want it to feel any more real right now."

"Perhaps we should take a walk up to the falls?"

"No," Kylie said, unsure she could go there and not get upset if all she got from those magical waters was a voice telling her to be patient. Hadn't she been patient long enough? "Can we just talk later?"

"Fine." Holiday started to touch her and then pulled back. "But only a temporary postponement. We really need to talk."

"Yeah, I know." Kylie popped back up and reached for the envelope.

"Can I keep these for a while?" Holiday asked.

Kylie's heart clutched. "I..."

"Just for a few days. I'm sure Burnett is going to want to check and see if they are originals or copies."

Kylie nodded. "They're important to me."

Holiday smiled with honest understanding. "I know."

Kylie took one step off the porch and turned back around. "You will let me know the instant you hear something from Burnett or Derek, right?"

"The instant," Holiday assured her.

Kylie started to leave and then turned back, walked over to Holiday, and hugged her. Hugged her really tight.

"Thank you," Kylie said.

"For what?" Holiday sounded confused, but it didn't stop her from hugging Kylie back.

"For being here. For being you. For putting up with me."

Holiday snickered. "You're beginning to sound melodramatic, and that's just a hair away from pathetic."

Kylie broke the embrace, smiled back at Holiday, and took off down the trail to her cabin.

* * *

She hadn't gotten halfway there when the hair on the back of her neck seemed to dance and she felt the unmistakable sense of being watched. She glanced to the woods on her left but saw nothing but trees and underbrush. She fixed her stare to the right and found the overgrown terrain to be equally empty. But she still felt it-even stronger.

Glancing up at the cloudless blue sky, she blinked. A bird soared high overhead. The broad wingspan, the hooked beak, and the white splash of coloring on his chest identified him as an eagle. She studied the creature, slowly gliding as if taking his sweet time, as if he were transfixed by ... the view?

What view?

Did he watch her? Was the feeling she got from the bird? Was it just your average eagle? Or was it like Perry, who could change his form into anything he desired? She continued to watch him, feeling uneasy.

Without warning, the eagle changed course. His movements quickened as he charged. Close. Closer. She met his eyes. The fierceness made her shudder. Or was it his thick talons held out as if prepared to attack?

The whoosh of air from his wings hit her face, and she slammed her eyes shut.