Disappointment pulled at Della’s mood. She wasn’t sure this being-nice encounter had helped Jenny. She might have even made it worse. Someone stopped at the side of her table, and the fact that she didn’t hear them walking up took her mood down another notch.
“I said be nice to her, not hurt her feelings,” Derek said. “What did you say?”
Della exhaled and stared up at the guy. Being fae, he could reach out with his emotional fairy wand to pick up on the feelings of others. Had Della hurt Jenny’s feelings? She hadn’t meant to. She honestly felt bad for Jenny. I don’t fit in here. But I didn’t fit in at home, either. She reheard Jenny’s words. “I didn’t … I mean, all I … Oh, hell, I told you I wasn’t good at being nice.”
Derek shot out as if to find Jenny, and Della tossed her last bite of bacon on her untouched tray, her heart aching for the chameleon. But damn if she couldn’t relate to how it felt to suddenly not fit in with your own family. To have the people you assumed would never turn their backs on you, turn away. But bloody hell, she had enough on her plate right now and didn’t need to start worrying about someone else’s problems.
See, that was the reason why she didn’t want to start being nice to someone!
“Make sure you come to the campmate-hour announcement.” The voice came out of nowhere. A voice belonging to another person standing beside her who she hadn’t heard step up. What the frack was wrong with her hearing?
Della looked over at Chris, the blond vamp who ran Meet Your Campmate hour. Campmate hour basically being a tactic to encourage campers of different species to spend an hour together. Names were randomly drawn and paired together. The only way to secure an hour with someone of your choosing was to donate a pint of blood.
The tall, blue-eyed California-surfer-looking dude stood there smirking like a cat who’d just swallowed a bird. A very big bird.
“Why?” she asked the semi-hot-looking, overconfident vamp.
“Why? It’s written in the rules that vampires have to attend campmate hour. It’s our blood drive. Check your rule book, Miss Sass.”
He said the words with honesty. Yes, it was a rule, but one that had never been enforced. Add the fact that his blue eyes twinkled mischievously, and she suspected he was leaving something out. Something that had to do with her.
Oh, bullcrappy! Had someone paid blood for her time?
Chapter Seven
“Curiosity killed the cat,” Della muttered under her breath, standing in the midst of the other students and trying to ignore the low-grade headache throbbing at the back of her head. She’d been going to skip out on campmate hour, had even started toward the woods to take a long walk and read the obituary still tucked in her pocket. She didn’t care about breaking the never-enforced rule, but at the last moment she turned around and came back to the dining hall.
Good thing she wasn’t a cat.
Chris’s little be-there request had to mean someone wanted to spend an hour with her, didn’t it? And if so, who? Steve wasn’t here. She considered it could possibly be Chase, but why? What would his objective be? Yes, she needed to have a powwow with him, but it wasn’t one he should be looking forward to, or know about. She recalled thinking it was strange that he took the picture of her uncle. Sure, he claimed it had simply fallen out of her backpack, but that story lacked credibility. Especially when she was dang certain she’d crossed his path before.
Della heard two people walking up behind her. So her hearing was back, huh? And she recognized the footfalls, too.
“Hey,” Kylie said, stopping on one side of her and Miranda on the other.
Della glanced at Kylie. “How was the picnic?”
“Good,” Kylie said, always keeping it vague when it came to her and Lucas’s relationship. “He’s supposed to meet me here,” she said, looking around.
“Have you seen Perry yet?” Miranda asked, tucking her loose blond hair with streaks of pink, green, and black behind her ear. Della never quite understood Miranda’s crazy hair, but it seemed to be her trademark, and perhaps her desire to stand out a bit.
“No,” Della said, thinking back on her morning. “I don’t think I saw him at breakfast either. Did you cast a few spells at your witch meeting?”
“No.” Miranda rolled her eyes. “We don’t go around casting spells all the time.”
“Why not?” Della asked. “If I could cast ’em, I’d be doing it all the time.”
Miranda shook her head. “Our motto is to cause no harm.”
“That doesn’t sound like a lot of fun.”
“Good thing you’re not a witch,” Miranda said. “Your attitude alone would bring you so much bad karma.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my attitude,” Della insisted.
“Be nice, both of you,” Kylie said, shooting them a stern look.
“Sorry, but I suck at being nice,” Della said, remembering Jenny. She glanced around to see if the girl was there. She wasn’t. But she did spot Chase, standing a few feet from the others looking out into the woods as if he wanted to disappear. As if he didn’t exactly fit in. Della recalled her first week here. If it hadn’t been for Miranda and Kylie, she would’ve been lost. All of a sudden, Chase looked back. His gaze locked with Della’s and held.
She frowned.
He smiled.
Miranda bumped shoulders with Della. “I think he likes you.”
“He shouldn’t,” Della snapped, and looked away.
“Why not?” Perry asked, moving in beside Miranda and slipping his hand around her waist. If the shape-shifter was within arm’s reach of the little witch, he had his arms around her. “He seems like an all-right guy to me. Of course, Steve will kill the vamp if he starts liking you as in ‘liking you.’”
“Steve and I aren’t—” Della stopped talking and groaned when Miranda reached up on her tiptoes and started sucking face with the shape-shifter.
“That’s sweet, isn’t it?” Kylie whispered in her ear.
Della glanced at Kylie and copied Miranda’s trademark overstated eye roll. Kylie snickered.
She had opened her mouth to tell Kylie she was leaving when Chris started talking. Inhaling, she looked up toward the front, and her curiosity returned.
“Welcome,” he said, making it sound like a show. The guy really liked being in the limelight. Since he was from California, she wondered if he’d dipped his toe into acting. He had the looks and personality for it.
“Let’s see what we have first?” His gaze shifted around the crowd.
Della held her breath, hoping she’d been wrong in her assumptions. Don’t let his gaze land on me. Don’t let his gaze land on me.
His gaze landed on her. Damn! Damn! Damn!
He pulled a piece of paper from his stupid hat. Unfolding the paper slowly, as if to add drama, he didn’t even look down before starting to talk. He didn’t have to; he obviously knew what it said. He smiled and paused, just to draw it out.
Good Lord, she wanted to go pinch his ears and make him spill it already.
He finally cleared his throat. “Della Tsang, I, Chris Whitmore, will have one pint of blood donated to our bank to spend an hour with you.”
Chris? Her mouth dropped open. Everyone’s eyes were on her. Oohs and aahs were spouted out of the crowd.
“Oh, shit,” Perry said.
“Shit what?” Lucas asked, walking up beside Kylie.
“Chris just offered a donated pint for Della’s time,” Miranda answered Lucas’s question.
Lucas looked at Della. “I’m not surprised. He’s had a thing for you for like forever. And now that Steve’s spending a lot of time helping the doctor, Chris’s trying to move in.”
“It’s a little underhanded, if you ask me,” Perry said.
“What do you expect?” Lucas added. “He’s vampire.”
Kylie elbowed Lucas in his ribs. He grumbled and met Della’s gaze. “Sorry.”
Normally, Della would have had a smartass comment, but she didn’t say a wor
d. She was … stunned. Sure, she recalled at one time there had been tension between Steve and Chris, and rumor had it that they both had a thing for her, but … Well, she didn’t completely buy it.
“I’ll donate two pints to spend an hour with her,” a voice in the crowd spoke up.
Della’s gaze shot to the owner of the voice. Chase.
Della’s breath caught and she tightened her hands at her sides.
Chris swerved around, finding Chase, and the blond vamp’s expression hardened. His light blue eyes shined iridescent. “Maybe where you come from vamps drink each other’s blood, but not here.”
Della’s mouth dropped open a bit more. This was not going to end well.
“I’m not offering my blood,” he said. “I’m offering some from my personal stash. When I came here, I’d been on my own. I don’t travel without rations. So I’ve got some extra.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Chris spouted. “That’s not how this works. This isn’t an auction.”
“I thought it was a blood drive. The more blood the better. Maybe you don’t really need the blood.”
Chris’s eyes grew brighter. “Fine.”
“Damn, Steve’s gonna have to kill two people,” Perry sputtered.
“You okay?” Kylie muttered close to Della’s ear.
“Hell, no,” she said. “This is ridiculous.”
“I’ll offer three,” Kylie instantly spoke up.
Everyone turned and stared at Kylie. Including Della. Leave it to Kylie to come to her rescue.
“I’ll up you one more,” Chase said.
“Five,” Kylie said, not backing down, and giving Chase a dirty look.
Chris grinned and shot Chase a smirk. But then Peter, Chris’s assistant in the campmate hour, spoke up. “You can’t donate five pints. It isn’t allowed.”
“I’m not going to donate all five,” Kylie answered, and seemed to hesitate in thought. “I’ll donate one, Miranda will donate one, and Lucas and … Perry and…”
“That’s only four,” said Chase.
Della saw Kylie look around as if searching for another person. One more person who would stand up for Della. “And Derek … he’ll donate one,” Kylie said with confidence.
Derek’s eyes widened. Della waited for him to tell Kylie he wasn’t in. He’d been pissed at her for upsetting Jenny, but a few pregnant seconds passed and he didn’t pull out. As a matter of fact, his gaze briefly found hers and he nodded. “Count me in.”
“And I’ll donate a pint, too,” a low feminine voice said behind them. Della swung around and her gaze met Jenny’s.
The chameleon looked nervous with all eyes on her, but she didn’t back down. And hadn’t Della just hurt the girl’s feelings? Not intentionally, but … Jenny didn’t know that for sure.
“My blood is just as good as anyone else’s here,” she said, her shoulders tightening, showing she had spunk.
Chris glanced back at Chase. “Are you out of the bidding?” Everyone’s gaze went to him to see if the new vamp would up his bid. The unasked question hung in the air: Just how much extra blood does this newbie have?
“I guess I lose. Or not. Looks like we’ll have plenty of food for a while.” He glanced at Chris and smiled as if that had been his plan all along. “By the way, that’s how a blood drive should be run.” Tucking his hands into his jeans pockets, he strolled away. Not as if he’d been beaten, but with confidence that bordered on cockiness.
Della watched him, still confused. Was that what he’d been doing? Just trying to secure food? Or…?
“Okay, let’s move on.” Chris started matching names to spend the hour together.
Kylie moved closer to Della. “I don’t know if we’ve been played, or not.”
Della gritted her teeth. “Me, either. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s for a good cause. And … I didn’t want you to have to do something you didn’t want to do.”
“Thanks,” Della said, her head still spinning with what had happened. And not just Chase, but the blood donors who’d come to her rescue.
Jenny walked up. “Where do I need to go to donate?”
Kylie smiled at her. “I’ll show you this afternoon.”
Della met Jenny’s hazel eyes. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” the girl said.
Della instantly felt bad, undeserving. She glanced around at the people standing in her circle. The people who’d all been willing to offer blood just to save her from having to spend time with someone she didn’t want to be with.
Friends. All of them. She’d told herself she only had Kylie and Miranda, but she’d been fooling herself. Each one of these guys stood up for her, and by golly, if they needed her she’d do the same for them.
Completely unexpectedly, her sinuses started stinging and tears threatened to appear. She glanced away, blinking the watery weakness from her eyes. Okay, that confirmed it. She had to be sick; why else would she be so weepy?
Since her hour was paid for in blood, and yet no one actually expected her to spend it with them, Della started back to her cabin. She’d read the obituary and maybe take a short nap before classes started.
The idea to skip classes and call it a sick day tempted her, especially with her slight headache still hanging in there. But not wanting to appear weak in any way to Burnett, she mentally yanked up her big-girl panties and told herself she could make it.
She got halfway to her cabin when something caused her to stop. Water. Like a shower running. No, not a shower, a waterfall. Was it the falls, the spooky and eerie place for which the school was named? The place rumored to be the hangout of the death angels, aka the supernatural spirits who stood in judgment of the supernatural.
She tilted her head and listened. It couldn’t be the falls. Even with her super hearing she couldn’t hear that from here.
Compelled to go check it out, she started toward the woods, following the tinkling sound, which for some reason sounded peaceful. Several footfalls later, she left the bright sunshine and entered the woodsy dusk. The smell of rich dirt filled the thick air. A few shadows from the sun above danced on the forest floor. It wasn’t actually cold, but under the umbrella of trees the chill of fall hung in the air. Looking up, she noted the fall colors: reds, oranges, and shades of murky browns painted on the leaves. The colors of death, she reminded herself.
She kept walking. Kept listening to the sound, feeling almost called, or lured, by the soft splashing noise. After several minutes, she realized it must be the falls she was hearing, because she was indeed heading toward it.
She’d only been there once. Kylie had begged her and Miranda to go with her. They’d refused to go, then felt bad and gone after her.
Della suddenly stopped walking. What the hell was she doing? Why was she going to the falls? The place scared the bejeebies out of her.
Or it had.
Now … she didn’t feel as afraid as she did … curious. She stood there digging the toe of her tennis shoe into the dirt and trying to figure out what compelled her to continue forward. Oh, hell, death angels hung out at the falls. It was said they danced on the walls behind the falls. And death angels stood in stern judgment of all supernaturals.
Della didn’t think she’d committed any crimes serious enough for them to burn her alive—and according to Miranda that could really happen—but no way was her soul lily white. Hell, just this morning she’d brought Jenny to tears by saying the wrong thing. And her failure seemed even worse when Jenny’d spoken up and offered her blood for her.
Chills ran down her back. She really should just turn around and go back to her cabin. But then the sound grew louder. Like music being played off in the distance. Maybe she could just get a little closer to it, not actually go all the way there.
She continued moving, more frightened by her lack of fear than fear itself.
Something didn’t feel right.
Suddenly anxious to get it over with, she started running—moving fast, so
fast the trees became only a blur to her left and right. So fast her breathing seemed a bit labored and her hair flipping to and fro actually stung when it swiped across her face. But she continued. She kept waiting for that cumbersome feeling, that sense that she shouldn’t draw any closer.
It didn’t come.
She didn’t even think about the direction to take, she simply followed the sound. The soft bubbly sound became hypnotic. She came to an abrupt stop at the water’s edge. A thin sheet of water fell from about sixty feet above off the edge of the embankment, tossing tiny pin drops of water onto the variety of plant life and rocks.
Oddly, while a lot of the forest had changed with the season, here the color green thrived. It even smelled green. Fresh, clean. A little bit like spring. It smelled like life, new life.
The sun sprayed golden light through the trees, making all the tiny water droplets twinkle like Christmas lights. The view was like something out of a fairytale. A magical wonderland that didn’t exist.
Della clearly remembered standing in almost the exact same spot months back and feeling nothing but terror. Where was her terror now?
Was this how Kylie saw this place? But wow, why did it feel so different now? What did this mean? Or did it mean anything at all?
She longed to move into the water, to step behind the sheet of water, to take it all in, but something held her back. Something inside her said, Not yet and maybe never.
Where the heck had that come from? she wondered, and then felt a bit insulted.
“Why not now? Why not ever?” The questions slipped from her lips, and as crazy as it sounded, she felt as if someone listened. But who? When no answer floated back, she tossed out another question. “Who are you?”
Still no answer. She felt it then, a feeling that she shouldn’t be here. That she wasn’t welcome. She took one step back, her whole being instantly filled with the terror that she’d felt the last time. The beauty of the place was suddenly lost to her, and only the creepiness remained. Poised to turn around and flee, she heard it. A subtle snap of a twig. Someone … or something … was behind her.