Chapter Sixteen

Kylie felt like a trapped animal in the Black Suit's snare.

Dad-blast it. Why was everyone picking on her?

Better question, what in Hades could they want with her? She wasn't even a card-carrying supernatural person yet. And she hoped she got tossed out of the club before she got rubber-stamped.

Lucky for her, at about twenty feet away, the big guy's phone rang. He paused and answered it. Then he turned to his partner and said something and they both shot off.

She let out a held breath. "Thank God."

"What?" Miranda asked, and studied her in confusion.

Remembering that Miranda wasn't a first-timer, she asked, "Who are they?" She nodded to the retreating black-suited men who were now getting into a black sedan.

"Who?" Miranda asked, staring at another group of boys.

"The Black Suits?" Kylie asked.

"Gross, they are way too old for you." Miranda pul ed a hair band from her pocket and put her multicolored hair up in a ponytail. Kylie shot her roommate a glance. Honestly, were boys the only things Miranda ever thought about?

"I'm not interested in hooking up," Kylie said, and started walking again. "I'm just curious."

"Oh. They're from the FRU." Miranda fel into step beside her.

"And who are they?" Kylie asked.

"It stands for the Fal en Research Unit. You know, like Fal en, Texas? The city we passed through to get here? The FRU is basical y a part of the FBI. The part that deals with supernaturals."

"What?" Kylie stopped and grabbed Miranda by the arm. "You mean, the government knows about vampires and such?"

Miranda made a face. "Of course they do. Who do you think funds the camp?"

"I thought our parents did." Kylie started moving again when she noticed a couple of people staring at them.

"Wel , they pay some, but it takes a lot more to keep this place up."

"But why is the government behind this?"

"Wel , that depends on who you ask. The camp has caused a lot of controversy in the supernatural community. Mostly just a lot of bigots mouthing off, if you ask me."

"What do you mean?"

"Some of the elders in each species, mostly old farts who don't believe in interracial relationships, claim the camp encourages it and they want the camp closed down. To their way of thinking, each species should stick to their own kind. To me, it's the same thing as race. They say we should maintain the purity of the species, but that's a bunch of bul . The species have been crossing since the beginning of time."

Kylie tried to digest it. "So the government has the camp because they want the species to get married?"

Miranda laughed. "I don't think the government cares who we hook up with. They're doing it to try to promote peace between the species so we don't go bat-shit crazy one day and try to wipe each other off the face of the planet. Humans included."

"Are there problems between the species?"

Miranda looked surprised. "You real y are ignorant to al this, aren't you?"

"Yes," Kylie admitted, and didn't even feel bad about it. She hadn't even known other species existed when she'd climbed on board the bus. How could she be informed?

"Okay, here's a quick history slash political lesson," Miranda said. "Vampires and werewolves have been waging war against each other for, like, forever. What do you think the Civil War was real y about?" She hesitated. "My own ancestors aren't much better. The Black Plague was set off because they wanted to annihilate fairies."

"You're kidding me, right?" Kylie asked. And to think she'd listened to her history teacher when he'd said it had been spread by infected rodents.

"Serious as a heart attack. However, in defense of my own kind, witches are the species who are succeeding best at conforming into the human world. There're less covens that actual y live in groups. But of course, that's also because our lifestyles are easier to blend with the human lifestyle. We also aren't involved in near as many gangs, causing problems for the humans."

"Gangs? You mean like the vampire gang?"

"So you've heard of the Blood Brothers?" Miranda asked.

Not wanting to mention Del a's cousin, Kylie shrugged. "Del a just mentioned that gangs exist."

"Exist? Oh, yeah. Of al the gangs, the Blood Brothers are probably the worst. They're into everything, al kinds of crimes. A good mix of everything. Murder, robbery."

Stealing Big Macs. The concept rol ed around Kylie's brain. "But how come we don't hear about these gangs or crimes on the nightly news?"

"You do. You just don't know they're not human. The crimes are always explained by serial kil ers, just murders, then there's the missing people. Haven't you heard how many people go missing every year?"

"I guess so." Kylie felt a chil straight through to her bones. She wrapped her arms around her chest and shivered.

"To rogue vampires or werewolves, the rest of us are food," Miranda said.

Kylie thought about Del a's cousin cal ing her a snack and wondered if he was rogue. Then she thought about Del a's blending issues and concerns about leaving her family. "This is so screwed up."

"Not any less screwed up than the human race," Miranda said.

"I guess not," Kylie admitted, remembering she had her own human issues happening at home.