Taken at Dusk (40 page)

Miranda let out a sob.

“How? What happened?” Della’s eyes widened with emotion.

Kylie didn’t have time to explain. Ellie bolted out the door, and Kylie went after her. Della’s footsteps thudded against the earth as she came behind her.

*   *   *

Kylie never slowed down. Neither did Ellie or Della. When they got to the dinosaur tracks, they crossed the creek and jumped a fence into the park grounds. The path went uphill quickly, but Kylie kept up with no problem. Her blood fizzed with the strange kind of energy she got when she was protecting someone she loved. She just prayed it wasn’t too late.

“It’s just around the bend,”
Ellie said. She’d been quiet during the run. Then she suddenly stopped. Panic filled her gaze.
“Oh, my God. I remember.”

“What?” Kylie stopped beside Ellie.

“What? What?” When Della met Kylie’s gaze, she must have realized she hadn’t been talking to her, and she simply nodded.

“I followed someone here,”
Ellie said.
“I spotted him running from the camp. I was almost here when I heard someone behind me. It was Derek. That’s when the person I’d followed attacked.”

“Who was it?” Kylie’s mind went to Red. “Was it a young guy, red or brownish hair?”

“No, it was an old dude. Vampire.”

Mario. They never had a chance!

Kylie’s chest filled with pain. And guilt. This was all her fault. “Where’s Derek? Where’s your body?” She had to save them.

Ellie pointed to the side of the mountain. It looked as if it had recently been disturbed. Loose rock lay around the ledge.
“Derek came around the bend and a bolt of lightning struck. He was slammed against the rocks. His head was bleeding, but he was breathing. But then more lightning struck. I picked him up and put him in the small cave and moved the rocks in front of him. I was doing that when … everything went blank.”

Kylie ran to the edge of the cliff and started moving the loose boulders.

Della moved in. “What are we doing?” Worry filled her expression.

“He’s behind here,” Kylie said. They moved the rocks to the side. Rocks that weighted well over four and five hundred pounds. Her strength didn’t even surprise her; she thought only of Derek and Ellie.

“Oh God!” Della took a step back.

Kylie saw Ellie’s mangled body lying between the rocks. Kylie’s breath caught, and her tears started falling faster. She picked up Ellie and moved her to the side and rested her body on the rocky path.

“She’s dead,” Della said.

“Keep moving the rocks,” Kylie ordered Della, and with everything Kylie had she prayed Derek was still alive. Prayed she could bring Ellie back.

She laid her hands on Ellie’s battered body and sent up prayers that this worked. She closed her eyes, concentrated, and moved her palms over the injuries, as she had with Lucas and with Sara. Blood, Ellie’s blood, coated Kylie’s hands. She cried harder and tried harder, but no matter how hard she concentrated, her hands didn’t heat up.

Suddenly, Ellie was sitting beside her body.
“It’s too late. Look.”
Ellie pointed up at the sky. The sun was a big ball of orange.
“I see my mother up there. She’s waiting for me.”

“No,” Kylie said. “Don’t go. I’m trying to bring you back.”

“But I want to go with her. I’ve missed her.”

“No!” Kylie screamed again.

Ellie’s spirit stood.
“Derek’s okay.”
She pointed back to Della as she moved the rocks.
“But I have to go. Thank you, Kylie Galen. Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for teaching me to think beyond myself. Thank you for everything.”

“Please don’t,” Kylie begged. But it was too late. Ellie’s spirit started floating up toward the setting sun and Kylie knew it was hopeless.

“I got him,” Della yelled. “I got Derek.”

Kylie bolted to him. He was unconscious but breathing. She found the wounds on his head and pressed her hand against them. More blood oozed between her fingers, but she didn’t care. Her hands grew hot and she felt the heat of her palms sink into Derek’s scalp.

“Did you save Ellie?” Della asked.

“No, I’m sorry,” Kylie said, and stared at Derek.

“Holiday and the others are coming,” Della said, and when Kylie looked up, Della had tears running down her face.

“I tried to save her,” Kylie said. “I really tried.”

Derek suddenly jolted up. “What happened?”

Kylie stood. Derek looked at her and then pain filled his eyes. “Ellie?”

Kylie put a hand over her mouth and more tears flowed.

Derek ran out and found Ellie’s body. He knelt beside her and Kylie saw his eyes fill with tears of rage. “Who did this?”

Guilt swelled in Kylie. “It was the old vampire, the one after me.”

Holiday and about a dozen of the others came moving around the bend of the ledge. Kylie looked for Lucas, wishing he were here to hold her, but then she remembered he’d gone to see his grandmother.

She turned and faced the cave, her emotions too raw. She heard several of the campers gasp and some cry. No doubt they were seeing Ellie’s body.

Holiday moved in and placed a hand on Kylie’s shoulder.

Tears streamed down her face; she held out her bloody hands and gazed at Holiday. “What good is this gift, if I can’t save those I want to save?”

Holiday didn’t try to answer; she just wrapped Kylie in her arms and held her close.

“We need to go before it gets dark,” Holiday finally said.

Derek picked up Ellie’s body as though she were a rag doll, then Kylie saw him reach back down for her
LITTLE VAMP
cap. He tucked the cap under his arm and carried Ellie down the steep path.

They walked for about five minutes; no one spoke. Derek dropped Ellie’s cap, and the wind blew it past Kylie. Kylie heard him ask someone to pick it up. At the very back of the single-file line, and feeling numb, Kylie turned to go grab the cap. She saw it only about twenty feet away. She moved in, almost ready to reach for it, when a big gust of wind moved it closer to the edge.

Kylie moved another couple of feet. The wind took the cap to the very edge. It hovered there, half on and half off the ledge.

Only then did Kylie sense the unnaturalness of the breeze.

She wasn’t alone.

The sound of a dry branch snapping had never sounded scarier. Someone stood behind her. And less than two feet in front stood … death. She had no idea how deep the cavern went, but she suspected the fall would be fatal.

Breath held, thinking any second she would feel someone give her that fatal push, she turned. The old vampire Mario and two other elderly supernaturals stood there staring at her with cold, calculating gazes. All three were dressed like monks, their dark robes stirring in the wind.

“Kylie Galen,” Mario said. His voice sounded as aged as he looked, but the sense of power could not be overlooked. Was this really what she was? She studied Mario; closer, his eyes were black, coal black. She saw only evil, and the idea that she shared anything in common with these people disgusted her. “So we meet again.”

She took a small step back, closer to the ledge. “Much to my misfortune,” Kylie said, and she felt the heel of her tennis shoe find the edge of the embankment.

“’Tis true, my dear,” he said. “Although, if you are so inclined as to save yourself, join us now. Pledge to us your allegiance and you will live. My grandson will make you a good husband.”

“What are you?” She tightened her brows and saw into their patterns. Mario was vampire, the bearded one was warlock, and the other carried the pattern of a werewolf. But all three patterns were dark and ominous.

“Join us and you will have your answers.”

Kylie swallowed and sent up a little prayer. She prayed for help. Then she prayed for forgiveness for anything and everything she’d ever done wrong. Then she prayed for courage. She took another step back until her feet hit nothing.

Chapter Thirty-six

Gravity grabbed Kylie from below. Her breath caught at the same time a hand caught her arm. Her heart throbbing in her chest, she looked up into the face of her rescuer. Red.

He jerked her back to safety.

She found her footing, beside him. But her mind raced as she realized he’d saved her. “Hello, Kylie,” the rogue said.

She just stared at him, not sure what to say.

“She made her choice,” said the bearded man standing beside Mario. His dark brown robe fluttered in the wind as he raised his hand and pointed those long, aged fingers at her. She stared in something akin to horror as flames came from the tips of his fingers.

Red jumped in front of her, and the old man’s flames stopped. “I told you I would change her mind. Give her time. She’s too good to kill.”

“She has made her choice,” Mario said. “Her time is up. Move out of the way. Let her plummet to her death.”

“No,” Red said.

Kylie stared at Red, confused by his willingness to protect her. And yet hadn’t he been doing it all along?

“You dare to disobey me in front of my peers?” Mario growled.

“I dare,” Red said. “I’ve spent my entire life living by your rules. You murdered my mother. You forced my father to run away. I’ve accepted that all my life, and I have asked nothing of you but this. Spare her. For me.”

“She cannot be spared,” said the other old man. “She will bring us down.”

“She won’t. I’ll take care of her,” Red said. “I’ll change her mind, I’ll convince her.” There was pleading in his voice.

“The decision is made,” the bearded man said.

The second old man raised his hand, and a surge of wind picked her up from the ground and knocked her back toward the edge.

She felt herself falling. Felt the air part as her body descended. Fear made her tense; grief for everyone she loved chased off the fear. She saw faces in her mind’s eye that she would miss. Things she would never do. She saw Lucas’s face and then Derek’s. She saw her friends—new and old. Then she blinked, unable to breathe. She saw the sun setting and found an odd sort of calm settle within her. The colors in the dusk sky filled her mind with a surge of calm. She’d be able to be with Daniel and Nana.

Something or someone caught her again. Her memory shot back to being caught by Perry. The grips around her wrist were not human. The jolt brought air into her lungs. Had Perry come to save her?

“I have you. Hold on!”

But the voice didn’t belong to Perry. It was Red.

A bolt of lightning shot past them, so close that Kylie felt the sting of it.

In seconds, the huge bird landed back on the ledge and set her gently on her feet. There were no sparkles as he changed back to human form. He was more than just a shape-shifter.

“You okay?” he asked.

Kylie looked at him through the tears in her eyes and nodded. She remembered him saving her from the snake. From the lightning strike in the woods and then trying to save her from the sinkhole. She’d never said thank you, never considered needing to, because all she saw in him was evil. But then he’d saved Miranda, too.

“I don’t even know your real name,” she managed to say.

“Roberto.” He smiled. “I managed to snag this.” He handed her Ellie’s cap.

Right then Kylie knew. Red … Roberto wasn’t all evil.

“Thank you,” she said.

He stared at her as if he didn’t know how to respond. Then he reached out and brushed a tear from her cheek. “You are even pretty when you cry.”

“No, I’m not. I get all red and—” A bolt of lightning shot down from above. Roberto pushed her away. Her back hit the rock wall behind her. He looked prepared to run, but before he did, the lightning struck again. It hit him. The ground beneath her shook at the impact. The smell of burned flesh filled her nose.

Kylie dropped to her knees. Panic clawed at her throat. She didn’t want to see it, but she couldn’t look away. Roberto’s eyes turned blood red, and his body contorted backward; something that looked like smoke billowed out of his mouth, and Kylie knew it was his soul. And then he fell. The sound of his soulless body hitting the hard earth was pure sadness.

She moved to try to save him.

“Don’t.”
The sound of his voice startled her. She looked at him. His spirit stood several feet from his body, gazing toward the dusk-filled sky.
“I don’t want to stay.”
Purples, shades of bright pinks, golds, and shades of gray now laced the sky.

“Do you see them?” he asked.

For a second, she thought he meant his grandfather and the two other men, but then she did see, and she understood. Angels were dancing in the painted sky; like birds, they moved gracefully in the wind.

Kylie nodded. “I do.” But she still had to try. She laid her hands on his body. And concentrated. Nothing happened. Her hands would not heat up. Giving up, she finally gazed up at his spirit.

“Why would you want to save me?”
his spirit asked.

“Because you saved me,” she said, and looked up.

He gazed back at her, and all hints of evil were gone from his eyes. What she saw was a person who never had a chance. A boy raised into evil, taught evil, and never loved.
“I understand now,”
he said.
“I was wrong, Kylie Galen. You are not my soul mate. But because of you, I have saved my soul.”
Then slowly his spirit was taken, pulled up by the sky. He became part of the colors in the dusky sky. Part of the beauty, part of something that was eternal. The death angels took him at the last second of dusk.

Kylie wasn’t sure how much time passed, but the colors of the sky had turned black when another
whoosh
of wind hit. What was a flash in the night suddenly became a body, crouched down only a few feet from her. Kylie scooted back and then recognized Burnett.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Kylie nodded.

“I need to get you out of here, now.” He pulled her up.

She looked down at the body near her feet. And realized his eyes, empty, dead, were open. She lowered herself and closed his lids.

When she stood up, she told Burnett, “He died saving me.”