Awake at Dawn

An hour later and she hadn't hit a lick of sleep yet. Well, not more than a few seconds. Every time she'd almost be there, she'd get this strange kind of sensation as if she was floating, or maybe flying, and the odd feeling would yank her from the light slumber. Once, right before she'd awoken, she'd spotted Lucas, as if she was about to dream of him.

He'd been surrounded with what looked like clouds, and a cool breeze stirred the foggy atmosphere. Just when she'd get a good look at him another cloud would float by, hiding him from her. He'd been wearing a button-down shirt, left unbuttoned, and that breeze would pick up the ends of the shirt, showing off his chest and flat stomach. That's when the cloudy atmosphere started moving faster and the sensation of flying grew stronger and yanked her awake.

Catching her breath, she sat up and pushed her hair from her face.

Disappointment started to build, but she chased it away. She couldn't even think about the other "Lucas" dream-them in the water, only partially clothed-without blushing. She certainly didn't need to add a second dream to her couldn't-think-about list.

Rolling over, she punched her pillow as if the bag of foam could be the blame. Then sitting all the way up, she turned on her light and without even knowing what she planned to do, she pulled out the letter. The letter from Lucas. The one Holiday had given her weeks ago but she hadn't read.

Hi Kylie, I've started writing this letter a dozen times and crumpled it up and tossed it away. Maybe it's because I don't know what to say, when there is so little I can say at this point and time. Maybe it's because I just shouldn't write you, because ... it's wrong. There are so many reasons why I shouldn't think about you all the time, reasons that have nothing to do with you and everything to do with me. I know I'm not making sense and if I could, I would explain it to you. Hell, maybe if things turn out the way I hope, I can explain it to you. Not sure that would change anything, but damn if I don't hope.

Do you see why I keep tearing this letter up? It doesn't make sense, does it?

What should make sense is this. You are so special, Kylie. And I'm sorry I didn't say this to your face. I'm sorry I didn't tell you right away that I remembered you. But I was so shocked to see you that first day at camp. Shocked and thrilled. You knew things about me that I'd tried to keep hidden-hidden from everyone including myself. My parents did some very bad things, and while I was young and didn't know better, I participated in much of it. You have no idea how hard I've tried to forget about that time of my life.

Actually, you were the only thing I didn't want to forget about. The little blond neighbor girl who looked like an angel, and who was a mystery.

What were you? Who were you? You both scared and intrigued me even back then. I didn't understand how you made me feel inside. I wanted to kill the boys who threw those rocks at you, I wanted to touch your hair to see if it was as soft as it looked. On full moons, I would watch you, hoping that you would turn. That you would end up being a were.

I think I just figured out why I have to write this letter. To tell you what you meant to me, just in case I never get to tell you that in person.

Now if I can just put this in an envelope before I decide this is stupid and toss it in the trash.

Thinking of you.

Lucas P.S. Dream of me.

His last line seemed to echo in her head. Dream of me. If only he knew ...

Then all her other emotions were chased away by the residual anger. Just exactly what did he mean, dream of him? Dream of him doing what?

Playing leap frog with Fredericka?

Kylie stuffed the letter back into its envelope and dropped it back in the drawer. Did he think his letter was supposed to make her feel better?

If she was so special, why had he run off with Fredericka? Why hadn't he even tried to explain that to Kylie in the letter? Why was he being so secretive?

Did he think she wouldn't know that Fredericka was with him? Did he think it wouldn't matter? Duh, he'd admitted having had sex with the girl.

He admitted that she thought they were a couple. And now he took off with her. How could he think Kylie wouldn't be upset about that? Were all men just dogs? No, wait ... make that wolves?

No, she really needed to completely get over Lucas. Move on. And that was exactly what she intended to do. Cutting off her light, she dropped back on the pillow. Then she got a vision of Lucas and the she-wolf making out and she gave the pillow one last punch.

The next morning Kylie had to drag herself out of bed to get dressed and comb her hair. She'd tried to go back to sleep after waking up at dawn with the icy chill of a spirit's visit. It hadn't worked. Now, with only an hour or two of sleep, she really would have loved to have buried her head under the pillow and ignored the daily grind. Who needed a thing like breakfast or nutrition? She dropped her butt back down on the bed.

She'd almost fallen back asleep when a thought jarred her fully awake again. Was she not hungry because she'd drunk the blood last night? Was she already losing her appetite for human food?

"You coming?" Miranda called out.

"Yeah, I'm coming." She fell back on her pillow, stared at the ceiling, and tried to decipher how she felt about all this in the morning light. So okay, the idea of becoming a vampire didn't feel like the end of the world anymore, but it still felt like a major calamity. Plus, she needed to know. Had a right to know what she was.

"You coming in the next century?" Della yelled out about three minutes later.

Calling Della a name under her breath, she started to sit up.

"Right back at you," Della yelled in return.

Yelled. Della yelled it back. Kylie tilted her head and tuned into the noises around her to see if her hearing had become supercharged overnight. But nope, she couldn't hear any better than she had last night.

Which could mean Holiday was right. Her liking blood didn't mean Kylie was vampire.

Or at least not yet.

Forcing herself to get up, she ran a hand through her hair and went to face her roommates and the day.

"Good morning to you, too," Miranda said when Kylie stepped out of her room and didn't say a word.

Kylie shot her a mock smile. Then she did what she did every morning. She studied Miranda, twitched her eyebrows, and stared really hard at her campmate's forehead in hopes of seeing her pattern. But nothing. Just a tiny pimple near her hairline. Not that Kylie would inform Miranda of it. The girl would likely freak.

"You sure are perky this morning," Della said, joining them from her room.

"Didn't sleep well," Kylie said.

"Me, either," Miranda chimed in, and sighed pathetically. "What am I going to do if Perry finds out that Kevin kissed me?"

Della chuckled. "Run and hide before he turns into a fire-breathing dragon and scorches your ass."

"I'm serious," Miranda snapped back.

"And you think I'm not?"

Miranda glared at her.

Della shrugged as if conceding and started for the door. "First, you need to decide what you want to do."

"What do you mean?" Miranda asked as they walked out of the cabin. Then while waiting to hear Della answer, Miranda turned around and waved her hand up and then down at the door, putting a protective charm in place.

Miranda had started doing it last week, saying she felt an uninvited presence trying to come in. Part of Kylie wondered if it were the ghosts that Miranda wanted to keep out. Not that it was working. Every morning at the first sign of dawn, Kylie was awakened by the cold.

"I mean," Della answered, "are you going to start liking Kevin, or are you planning to hang in there with the shape-shifter in hopes that Perry will..."

"Don't say it. Leave his testicles out of your dialogue." Miranda pointed a finger at Della.

Della jumped the rest of the way off the steps then looked back up at Miranda with mock innocence. "I wasn't going to mention his testicles."

From the grin on Della's face, Kylie knew the vampire was lying. Nevertheless, she had a good point.

"She's right." Kylie put in her two cents' worth. "You need to make a decision."

Miranda frowned and pulled back her hair. They walked a few minutes without talking. Miranda seemed to be contemplating something.

"But I don't have to make it like ... right now," Miranda said. "Do I? I mean, there's a chance that Kevin will just forget it happened. It wasn't really even that good of a kiss."

"Hey, Miranda." The voice came from about fifty feet behind them. All three girls turned around and confronted the mediocre kisser moving down the walking path.

"Fat chance that he forgot," Della said and sniffed the air. "You don't even want to know about his hormones right now. The guy's got it bad for you."

"Really?" Miranda asked. "I thought you said you couldn't read the hormones and pheromones of a shape-shifter? When Perry was a bird, you said-"

"I said I didn't know what horny birds smelled like. But in their natural states, shape-shifters pollute the air with their lust just like everyone else does." She waved a hand in front of her face.

Miranda looked from Della to Kevin, who was closing in on them.

"Hi." He stopped right in front of the three of them. Kylie had never really noticed Kevin before, but she supposed he was kind of hot in his own way. Not anywhere near Derek's status, but he had some boy charm.

And if you asked Kylie, he was even cuter than Perry, not that Kylie disliked Perry. The shape-shifter had sort of grown on Kylie these last few weeks.

"Did you sleep well?" Kevin asked Miranda, and dropped his hands inside the pocket of his khaki shorts. Kylie noted the navy T-shirt he wore hung a bit loose on his medium-size frame. His hair, a brownish blond, hung a little on the long side. He grinned, his blue-eyed gaze zeroing in on Miranda with obvious romantic interest.

"Yeah," Miranda answered, which was a lie, and Kylie noted Della rolling her eyes.

"I thought maybe we could walk together to breakfast," Kevin said. "Okay. I guess."

Miranda looked to Kylie as if to ask if she thought her answer had been a mistake.

Kylie didn't know what to think, so she just smiled nonchalantly. No doubt, if Perry found out Miranda and Kevin were hooking up, he would be hurt. While Kylie wasn't afraid of Perry, a lot of other campers feared his powers. So hurting Perry could be a bad thing. But then Kylie saw the blush rise in Miranda cheeks and she also noticed how the girl stood a little straighter. Right or wrong, Kevin's interest in her was doing wonders for her friend's confidence.

When Miranda and Kevin took off ahead, Kylie and Della hung back. They stood there without talking until Miranda and Kevin took the turn in the trail that offered them some privacy.

"Whatcha think?" Kylie asked Della as they both started walking at a slow pace so as not to catch up with the two ahead of them.

Della rolled her eyes. "I think sooner or later some serious shit is going to hit the fan."

"Yeah, but did you see how her eyes lit up?" Kylie asked. "Everyone wants to think a guy likes her. Maybe Perry will see it and realize he needs to make a move."

"That's when the shit will hit the fan. You do not play with a shapeshifter's emotions, especially not one as powerful as he is. I'm telling you, the fact that Perry didn't turn himself into a wild boar and gore your ass the night you bobbed his ear is a miracle. It was the first thing Chan explained about the supernatural world to me. Beware of shape-shifters, they are one badass species."

Della tilted her head to the side as if listening. "Oh, shit. Make that sooner."

"What?" Kylie asked, not that Della answered.

Della had disappeared. Kylie didn't understand until she heard Miranda scream and some serious animal roaring punctuated the morning air.

Running with everything she had, which was amazingly fast compared to the speed she could run a month ago, Kylie got to the V in the trail just in time to see two huge black bears swinging claws at one another.

Della was holding Miranda, who fought to get away, as if she wanted to break up the fighting animals. It took Kylie about half a second to realize that these weren't your average giant bears. Nope. They had to be Perry and Kevin.

When the larger bear raked its claw across the other bear's shoulder and blood squirted onto the dirt path, Kylie screamed out, "Stop it!"

She would have gotten more attention from a brick wall. The two angry animals continued to swing at each other. Suddenly, a few sparkles filled the air, and one bear transformed into a lion, a lion about the size of a minivan. Its roar rang so loud, it hurt Kylie's ears. Within a few more seconds, the other bear transformed into a lion-only larger. The sound of clashing teeth could be heard between the piercing roars, and more blood moistened the dry earth beneath their paws.

Kylie didn't know if the damage the two shape-shifters did to each other was permanent or if when they transformed they came back in one piece. When one lion grabbed the other by the throat, Kylie realized she couldn't just stand by and watch these two possibly kill each other. Not thinking about the consequences, she flung herself into the mix, grabbed the larger lion by its mane, and yanked as hard as she could.

"Don't do that," Della yelled out, and while Kylie couldn't see her, she suspected Della was talking to her. And just when Kylie actually considered listening to Della's advice, the huge cat stood up on his back paws, bringing Kylie up with him. With her two fists knotted in the orange hair of the lion's mane, Kylie's feet swung in the air. The beast opened its mouth, blood dripped from his teeth, and it roared with fury unlike anything Kylie had ever heard. The feline's angry eyes cut back at Kylie. She saw the eyes turn from a deep gold to purple. And somehow she knew this was Perry.

"Put me down and stop fighting!" she yelled.

Right then the other lion rammed Perry in the side. The hit jolted Perry back and Kylie almost lost her hold on the mane. She looked to the ground a good six feet below. The fall would no doubt hurt, might break a bone, but she would survive. However, the fall would also put her right in the path of Kevin's angry swipes and snapping jaws. Surviving that might be a little harder, so she tightened her hold on the mane and hung on for dear life.

Perry started shaking his head as if to rid himself of her presence. She swung from the right to the left like a not-so-loved stuffed animal in the hands of an angry child. Kylie's fingers started to slip. She glanced back down, trying to figure out an escape route, but her thoughts shifted when she saw Kevin's jaws sink into Perry's soft lion underbelly. Tightening her hold on the thick mane, she raised her foot and kicked the attacking lion right in the eye to stop him from killing Perry. Kevin let go, but when he retreated, Kylie saw blood dripping from his mouth.

Perry roared, from pain or fury Kylie wasn't sure. Maybe both.

Kylie heard Della yelling something. Next, Kylie felt her friend flying past as if in an attempt to rescue her, but each time she passed, Perry would shift direction, moving Kylie out of Della's reach.

"Enough!" Kylie screamed at the lions. "Both of you, stop it! Stop it or I'll get the death angels here."

The words no more than left her mouth when Kylie felt the temperature drop around her. The air in her throat felt icy. Her idle threat rang in her ears. But then she couldn't help but wonder ... Did she have the power to call forth the death angels or was this just Daniel or another ghost making their presence known at an inopportune time?

Or maybe an appropriate time.

Hadn't Daniel helped her in the past? Suddenly it didn't matter, because she saw bright orange sparkles appearing around Kevin. Perry drew back his right paw as if to attack Kevin during his morphing stage.

"Don't do it, Perry," Kylie demanded.

Perry roared as if complaining, but he came back down on his four paws. Kylie let go of his mane and dropped. Still a couple feet off the ground, she landed off balance on her feet and then fell flat on her butt.

When she looked up, there were sparkles appearing around Perry and she saw his human form take shape. With clothes, thank goodness.

He looked down at her, his eyes glowing bright yellow, and fury still filled his expression. But he wasn't bleeding. "That was stupid of you. Never, never ever get in the middle of a fight with shape-shifters. You could die."

"You're scolding me?" Kylie asked, flabbergasted that he had the nerve to reprimand her. "I wasn't the one trying to maul a fellow campmate. And I was trying to protect you." She leaned on one hip and rubbed her bruised backside.

"I didn't need protecting." His voice boomed and his gaze shot to Miranda.

Glancing back at Kevin, Kylie realized his changing process took longer than Perry's. As soon as Kevin appeared, he stepped away from Perry.

"This isn't over. We'll finish this later," Perry said to Kevin, his voice sounding more like a roar.

"Fine." Kevin stared Perry right in the eyes, and Kylie almost thought they were going to start again, but Kevin turned and walked off.

Kylie realized it took nerve to turn your back on Perry when you'd just taken a chunk out of his belly. But somehow the fact that Kevin was the one to walk away, that he never once looked at Miranda, left Kylie with little doubt which of the two held more power.

When Kevin disappeared into the woods, Kylie waited for Perry to say something to Miranda. But no one spoke. The birds in the distance started back on their song.

"Are you okay?" Miranda asked.

Kylie looked up to assure Miranda that she was fine, but then she realized that Miranda wasn't talking to her, but to Perry. Kylie shifted her gaze to him. He looked fine. Not a scratch on him. Which meant that when shape-shifters changed back into human form they healed from any injuries they'd received. And that meant Kylie had thrown herself in the middle of the fight and gotten a bruised ass for no good reason at all. She could have let them rip each other to shreds. She should have.

Just friggin' great. Still sitting on the ground, propped up on one side of her hip, she gave her backside another rub and watched as Miranda moved closer to Perry.

"Why did you do that?" Miranda sounded half honored he'd fought for her and half pissed because, well, he'd fought for her. "Tell me." She took another step toward the source of her anger.

"I felt like it," Perry growled back. Indeed, his anger became apparent in the way his body changed the moment she stepped closer. His posture hardened as if he was unable to bend. His blond hair hung scattered over his sweaty brow. His eyes were blue for a second, then changed to bright green.

He still personified the fierce appearance of an angry lion-gone was the jokester, the guy who always had something funny or sarcastic to say.

And for the first time, Kylie understood why everyone was a little frightened of him.

"You didn't do it because of me?" Miranda asked, obviously not picking up on the fury he wore like an outer skin. "Because you were jealous?"

Perry didn't answer Miranda. He just stared at her and asked his own question. "So it's true?"

"What's true?" Miranda said.

"You kissed him," Perry said. "I didn't believe him when he told me. I thought he was just trying to piss me off, but he wasn't making it up, was he? You really did it. You kissed him."

Miranda's eyes grew a tad larger. "Yes."

Silence hung in the hot morning air.

"No," she blurted out, and shook her head, sending the streaks of pink, black, and green in her hair intermingling with each movement. "I didn't kiss him. He kissed me."

"But you kissed him back," he accused.

Kylie held her breath. Della came to stand beside Kylie and extended her hand. Kylie accepted Della's help and, once upright, she reached back and gave her rear end another rub.

"Answer me," Perry demanded.

Kylie's gaze shot back to Miranda and Perry. The tension radiating from the couple seemed to suck all the oxygen from the air and made it hard to look away.

"This could get nasty," Della said.