"What's wrong?" the vampire whispered. "Do I need to bite some she-wolf's ass after class?"

"No."

"Your face is all splotchy. And that means you've been crying. What's up?"

"Allergies," Kylie muttered, and wished she'd skipped class. Was it too late? Too late to just get up and walk out?

"You'd think you'd know better than to try to lie to me," Della whispered.

Kylie clenched her jaw and whispered back, "And you'd think you'd stop asking questions that would put me in a position to have to lie!"

"Okay," Della said. "We'll just chalk this conversation up to Miss Galen being in a pissy mood."

Chapter Nineteen

Kylie's day hadn't gotten much better. But it hadn't gotten much worse either. She found herself finding things to be thankful for. Nana used to say whenever you start feeling like the world is taking a bite out of you, bite back by counting your blessings.

And number one on Kylie's blessing list was being back at Shadow Falls. Even with all the issues, she belonged here. Every hour or so, she'd recall how it had felt to be at her grandfather's place. And while she missed the man, and even her great-aunt, she didn't miss the cumbersome feeling that being there brought-the feeling of being in the wrong place.

Number two on that list was that the sword hadn't decided to magically appear again. Of course, it could be waiting for her back at her cabin right now, but she was thankful she didn't have to explain it to anyone for the moment. And last, but not least, on her list was that Mario seemed to have crept back under some dirty, slimy rock again.

At least Kylie didn't feel him, and Miranda agreed that she didn't sense any strangers lingering around.

A part of Kylie wanted to believe he'd just stay there, but part of her still wanted to believe in Santa Claus, too.

Mario would be back. The question was, would she be ready? For the life of her, she didn't have a clue how one prepared to take on someone that powerful, that evil.

Waiting for the last bell to ring and school to be over so she could leave history, she looked up at Mr.

Cary Cannon. He pointed to the written assignment on the board. His starched, white shirt stretched across his broad chest.

Giving Fredericka credit, the teacher wasn't hard on the eyes. If he would lose the tie and dress pants, and put on a T-shirt and pair of jeans, he could look like a student instead of a teacher. Tall, dark, with black eyes, he carried himself well. And taught even better. He obviously had a passion for history, because it came across in his lessons. For a werewolf, he was amazingly friendly. Probably something he'd learned in school.

Kylie had even seen the guy cut his eyes to Fredericka at least a dozen times. That told Kylie that the infatuation wasn't one-sided. She hoped so, for Fredericka's sake at least.

Three minutes later, school over, Kylie stepped out of class. Della, her official shadow, walked beside her. Kylie hadn't gotten a foot out the door when someone grabbed her around the forearm. She almost yelped, but the warmth of the touch told her it was Holiday before she looked back.

"Hey..." Holiday glanced at Della. "I need to borrow Kylie."

"Okay. Are you going to deliver her back to the cabin later? Or do I need to meet you somewhere?"

"I'll walk her back to the cabin."

Della looked a little concerned at having her shadowing duties yanked away.

And she wasn't the only one. "What's wrong?" Kylie asked as soon as Della was out of hearing range."Nothing's, hiccup ... wrong. Except that-" She pointed to her mouth. "Actually, I have a few things to discuss with you, but first things first." She let go of a deep sigh, as if to impart bad news. "I kind of told a roundabout untruth to Burnett. And I kind of need you to back me up."

"You want me to lie to a vampire?" Kylie asked. "Wow, you don't ask very much, do you?"

"No, not lie." Holiday reached back for her hair and twisted it in a knot. "He's not going to ask you anything. I just need you to follow through with something."

"I don't understand."

"Okay, here's what happened. I told Burnett I needed to run to the drugstore and he told me he'd just pick up whatever I needed.

"So I went into this song and dance about how I'd told you that you weren't a prisoner here and I thought you might like to get out. I said you hadn't actually told me this, but I had a feeling you needed something from the drugstore, some tampons or something."

Kylie gasped. "You told Burnett I needed tampons?"

"No, I told him that you hadn't said it, but I had a feeling you might need them. And thankfully it wasn't a lie because Miranda told me while you were away that she had to borrow some of yours."

"Okay...," Kylie said, still not understanding what was really going on. "So..."

"So I need you to come with Burnett and me, and when you go to buy the tampons, I need you to also ...

hiccup ... buy me a pregnancy test."

"Oh, I get it. But what if he asks ... Wait. He won't ask what I bought because he thinks I bought tampons, and guys can't stand any talk of tampons."

"See, I knew you'd get it," Holiday said.

"That's clever," Kylie said.

"You have to be smart to deal with a vampire."

They started walking. "But wait." Kylie stopped. "What kind of test do I buy?"