“From who?” Chase asked, as if Della might hold a key to finding them.
And damn it, she wished she did. “I don’t know, I just … Natasha thought about the fight, and I saw him being hit, and her trying to stop it and her feeling guilty. What was Liam thinking about?” she asked.
He cut his eyes at her, looking almost guilty.
“Oh, hell! Why did I even ask? All you were thinking about was getting her naked, right?” She let out a low growl.
“Hey, it was him. Not me.” He looked back at the road. “And I don’t think he was the only one into it.”
Della couldn’t deny it. Natasha had wanted Liam, too. She just wished Natasha’s wanting hadn’t led to her groping Chase’s ass.
“She had a tattoo,” Chase said, shifting gears.
“She doesn’t seem the type to get a tattoo,” Della said.
“Well, she had one. On her shoulder.” Della suddenly remembered seeing one on Liam’s shoulder as well. Oddly, she recalled Natasha tracing it with her finger, knowing it was there, when Della could hardly see it.
“That’s strange,” Della said.
“What’s strange?”
A ring sounded in the car. She put their conversation on hold and pulled her cell out of her pocket. Her heart took a nosedive.
Don’t let it be Steve.
When she saw it wasn’t Steve, her heart rose back up. Then went right back down. He hadn’t called her. Probably wasn’t going to call her. Just like Perry. But damn, that hurt.
Staring at the phone, she forced herself to speak. “It’s Burnett.”
Chase readjusted in his seat, making the leather crinkle. “Making sure we haven’t done something stupid, no doubt.”
“We did do something stupid,” she said.
“That wasn’t stupid.” He looked at her with a sexy hooded-eye grin. “Hate me if you want, but I enjoyed it.”
She growled at him. “See, you are like every other guy. All you think about is sex. I was talking about going inside their house.”
“Oh, then that was definitely not stupid. We found out what we needed to know.”
She agreed with him, but couldn’t stop from making a point. “It would have been stupid if we’d gotten caught.”
“But we didn’t,” he said. He looked at the road and then back. “And that’s not all I think about. Not with you.”
“Right.” She looked back at the ringing phone.
“You’d better answer or he’ll have an aneurism.”
She cut him a disapproving look. “You need to get over your animosity toward Burnett.”
“He’s way overprotective.”
“Because he cares.” She answered the call. “Hey,” she said into the phone.
“Where are you at?” Burnett’s voice boomed out of her phone into the car.
Della picked up a shitload of tension, but decided to ignore it and hope it was just the vampire’s normal I’m-worried-therefore-I-roar voice.
“Just left the Owens’ house about fifteen minutes ago.”
“And?”
“It’s her,” Della said, feeling Chase looking at her. And unable to stop herself, she shifted her eye to him. He looked concerned and held out his hand as if saying he was willing to do the talking. She shook her head.
“And the parents? You didn’t rock the boat?” The question came off almost defensive.
Maybe a little. “We didn’t turn the boat over,” she answered, hoping to talk around a lie.
“Then friggin’ explain to me why the cops are on their way there now?”
Chapter Twenty-five
Della reluctantly explained everything to Burnett. Yeah, he’d been pissed that they’d gone into the house, but not as pissed as she thought he’d be. It seemed he had obviously done a little breaking and entering of his own in the past. Why else hadn’t he gone ballistic?
She wondered if the reason Burnett and Chase butted heads so much was because they were just too much alike. She recalled how Kylie had told her the reason she and Burnett were so confrontational was because they had similar traits. That had been Kylie’s way of saying they were both hardheaded punks who didn’t think before they spoke.
Was that the same reason she and Chase butted heads? No, they were not at all alike. He was a pain in the ass.
And that ass was really firm, too. Della gave that thought a good goal-winning kick from her mind. Leaving an empty spot in her brain. And wouldn’t you know what slipped in to fill it?
A certain shape-shifter, whose butt was equally cute. Whose butt had left her. Whose butt was now in Paris, probably flirting with all the French beauties. And in a culture where the television and books made it appear sex was as common a practice as brushing one’s teeth. There had been a time when that culture might have intrigued her, but not when the guy she cared about, a hot guy, was visiting said culture.
Damn! Damn! Damn!
Trying to move from that thought, she landed back on the phone call Natasha’s mom had received. As much as Della hated the idea, if they didn’t find another lead soon, she was going to have to go see her aunt.
And her aunt would probably tell her dad. And then her dad would probably pull her from Shadow Falls. Yeah, she remembered overhearing her dad telling her mom about taking Della over to see her aunt: We don’t hang out our dirty laundry.
Dirty laundry.
Della’s dad considered her to be his dirty laundry.
Her breath shuddered in her chest. Sorry, Dad!
The thought of her dad led her back to the vision, to seeing either him or her uncle standing over her aunt’s body with a bloody knife. Correction, seeing her uncle. She’d already mentally established that her dad wouldn’t do that. He couldn’t. She knew him better than that. She did!
“We going to get out, or just sit here?” Chase’s voice brought her out of her little pity party.
Looking up, she realized he’d parked and they were sitting at the fast-food restaurant where they were supposed to meet the other agent—a backup, in case they ran into trouble.
“Nah, I think I’ll just stay here,” she smarted off and got out of the car.
He met her as she rounded the back of the car and started walking into the restaurant. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
Just the question, or maybe his caring tone, brought a knot to her throat. She swallowed the damn thing down whole, too. She wasn’t about to start unraveling right now.
“Let’s just do our job,” she said, trying not to be so snappy. She looked up at the neon sign hanging over the small building. Buck’s Burgers, but the B was out, so it read: UCK’S BURGERS. Not a very appetizing name.
She opened the door to the restaurant and took a noseful of air to catch the scent of any supernatural. The smell of old ground beef and outdated French fry grease filled the air so thick, she couldn’t be sure.
Uck’s Burgers suddenly seemed like an appropriate name. At one time, she used to love the smell of cheap greasy food, but since she’d been turned, not so much.
A chorus of voices echoed around the space, along with the sound of meat sizzling on open grills. The place wasn’t what she would call first class. The floors looked like they needed a good mopping, and the booth tops looked sticky. This was for sure a hangout for the rough and tough.
Della took in another breath, trying to catch the scent of company. She could swear she picked out a vampire, but wasn’t 100 percent sure. Chase stopped beside her and spoke in a whisper. “Didn’t you say you knew this guy?”
“I met him once.” Della shifted her gaze from booth to booth.
“Where?” Chase asked.
“There he is.” Della walked toward Shawn Hanson, the warlock who’d been so kind as to fix Chan’s gravesite, and the one who had a thing for Miranda.
Chase had insisted to Burnett that they needed someone who looked young. Burnett had come through. Shawn couldn’t be more than twenty, maybe even nineteen, but he looked sixteen, wearing a hoody a
nd a pair of worn jeans. Add the earring, and he not only looked young, but kind of tough, and even cute.
His blond hair, curls and all, looked a little messy—not like those guys who got their hair styled. She had a feeling this was the Shawn who Miranda had crushed over, too. In a way, his non-fussy look, kind demeanor, and basic blue-eyed-boy good looks reminded Della of Perry.
“Hey,” she said.
“What took you guys so long? I’ve been waiting for almost half an hour.” His eyes tightened as if in warning.
Not that she needed it. Shawn’s immediate slip into undercover told Della something was up. She fought the need to stick her nose up and take another deep sniff.
“Sorry,” Chase said, slipping into the role as well. “Della’s dad had to show me his gun again. I guess I shouldn’t have kissed her in front of him.” He nudged her into the empty side of a booth and then climbed in beside her.
“He’s gonna use it on your ass if you don’t start respecting him,” Della said.
Shawn laughed. “Y’all wanna get something to drink, or go to the park and hang and sip on what I got?” He leaned in closer.
At first, Della thought he meant to tell them something real. “I got what you asked for.” Obviously, this was still part of the cover.
He picked up the backpack that sat beside him. “Two pints of O. And it’s fresh.”
That told Della that whoever Shawn was putting on this show for was probably vampire. Her next intake of air, she caught their scents. There were two, no, three.
Then Della got a whiff of something tangy and sweet. Damn, Shawn had actually brought blood, and it even smelled like O. Her mouth watered … it had been a while since she’d had any of the good stuff.
“Hell, I’m ready.” Chase stood up and offered her a hand.
Della eased out of the booth on her own. Lifting her butt up, she saw three guys sitting in the corner. Vamps. Young but rough looking. Possibly gang members. Chase put a hand on her waist as they walked to the door. She stepped out of his reach, and right then caught another scent. A were. One hung close by.
His scent filtered up her nose and tugged on her memory bank. She wished she could turn around and find him. The trace didn’t bring an out-and-out negative vibe, but with the exception of the Shadow Falls wolves, were memories were seldom good.
They got out the door and a good distance away before Shawn spoke again, and this time in a whisper. “I’m assuming they’ll follow us.”
“They aren’t yet,” Chase said.
“Did you see the were?” Della asked Shawn, who was to her right, while Chase walked at her left. “His trace is familiar.”
“I never saw a were,” Shawn said. “But about six guys in there were wearing hats and there were a couple of guys working in the back. It could have been one of them.”
“I smelled him, too.” Chase glanced at Della. “Do you know where you would have run into him before?”
“No, and it wasn’t completely a bad trace. Just made me leery.”
“From Shadow Falls?” Chase asked.
“No. I’m not leery of any of the weres at Shadow Falls.”
They continued down the sidewalk. Shawn’s light blue eyes cut to Chase. “I’m Shawn Hanson, by the way. It’s good to meet you.”
Chase nodded. “Same here.”
Shawn looked at Della and something about his expression changed. “You doing okay?”
She knew he meant about Chan’s death. “Yeah,” she said and almost felt guilty how little she’d let the grief consume her. “Thanks again for … fixing the gravesite.”
“It was nothing.”
Della felt Chase’s shoulder brush against hers and she looked at him. “Shawn was one of the agents who helped bury Chan.”
“I see.” Chase tilted his head slightly to the side. “They’re following now.”
Della focused and could hear the slightest sound of footsteps, but they were still some distance back. No doubt, they thought they were out of hearing range. But along with the additional strength, a Reborn also had extra-sensitive hearing.
“Should we turn around and face them?” she asked.
“No,” Shawn said, lowering his voice. “Let’s get to the park. There’s a spot in the back where hardly anyone hangs out. We’ll have more privacy to ask them some questions.”
They continued down the sidewalk, their footsteps echoing in the night. Shawn made it sound so simple—find a quiet spot and ask the guys a few questions.
Call her a pessimist, but she didn’t see it being that easy. Some feeling, a premonition of sorts, told Della this night wasn’t going to end without trouble.
That was okay, she told herself. She could handle three vampires. It was matters of the heart that were her downfall, and her thoughts went back to Chan.
* * *
They arrived at the park and continued down a path that led behind one of the ponds. Only the stars and the moon gave them light. Della listened to the distant footsteps blending with the night sounds, and even caught the shuffling sound of some unhappy wildlife going for cover.
After a few minutes, the footsteps following them changed course. Della got the feeling the three vamps thought they knew where they were going and wanted to take a different path to try to ambush them.
She cut her eyes to Chase, and he nodded at her as if he was aware of it as well. Della reached out and touched Shawn on his arm and sent a warning look. He nodded as if he understood exactly what she meant.
They arrived at the pond, the moon and stars reflected off the too-still water. They kept walking around to an area toward the back.
A few steps later, she caught the strong smell of skunk. Both Chase and Shawn groaned from the stench. Not that she minded. She was one of those weird people who actually liked the smell. She took a deep noseful. Mixed in the musky scent, she picked up another odor. Oh, hell, she smelled a rat. Three of them. No, a lot more than three.
She cut her gaze, already brightening from the sense of a threat, to Chase. He had a hand covering his nose, and didn’t seem to notice. Which was exactly what the rogue vamps had hoped. They’d obviously gotten skunked on purpose in hopes of going undetected. Not even a bad idea. “We’ve got company.”
She barely got the sentence out when eight vamps landed in a circle around them.
With the threat now visible, her fangs lowered.
“You don’t want to do this,” Shawn said.
“Looks like they do,” Chase seethed, his eyes now glowing and his own fangs clearly extended.
“Hey … that guy’s pretty smart,” said one smartass vamp pointing to Chase.
“Slow and easy,” Della whispered, warning Chase, hoping he understood that he should let Shawn, the agent Burnett put in charge, do his thing before attacking.
“But I like fast and hard,” said one of the dirty vamps, grinding his hips in a vulgar motion.
Chase growled.
“Calm down,” Della whispered.
“Hand over the backpack, Witchboy,” said the dark-haired vamp to Della’s right.
“I think we can work this out. I’ve got a plan,” Shawn said, sounding cool and collected. Della admired his calm approach. Not that she thought it was going to work, but she had to give him credit for trying.
“Here’s what we’ll do,” Shawn continued. “I’ll give it to you and tell you where another few pints are buried close by. All you guys have to do is answer a few questions.”
“You got more O?” asked the vamp who liked it fast and hard.
“That’s right. And all you need to do is answer a few questions.”
The dark-haired vamp, obviously the leader, and even more obviously a rogue, pulled a knife from a holder strapped to his calf. It was an impressive knife—four- or five-inch blade. Big enough to do some damage.
She remembered the knife she’d taken in the chest on her first mission, which was about that same size. Not that it could happen again. Being a Reborn, this guy d
idn’t stand a chance. Or at least, she hoped that to be true.
“Yeah,” the rogue said, “but you see, I don’t like questions. But I do like O blood. So why don’t you just tell me where the blood is, and that might convince me not to kill you. Or at least to kill you fast.”
The threat made the blood in Della’s veins fizz. The knife-wielding vamp smiled and it came off so evil, Della shivered. Not from fear, but from anticipation. Wiping that smile off his face was gonna be fun!
She glanced at Chase. “Okay, so maybe slow and easy wasn’t a good idea.”
“Not yet,” Shawn said, holding a hand toward them, then he spoke to the leader of the pack. “You don’t want to mess with us.” He raised his shirt and exposed his badge and a flash of his tight abdomen.
Yup, Della could see why Miranda had a thing for the guy.
Things went dead silent. Even the leaves didn’t move. No doubt, the rogue leader was weighing his options: cooperate, run like hell, or go forward with his threat.
“We ain’t scared of you,” said the mouthy, fast-and-hard vamp. “Are we, Marco?” he asked the leader.
Marco didn’t say anything at first. Apparently, he wasn’t quite as stupid as his friend.
“There’s just three of them,” said another of the vamps.
Marco, the caller of the shots, shifted his stance. His shoulders tensed in a defensive posture. Maybe she’d overestimated his intelligence.
His eyes glowed a bit brighter, telling her he wasn’t planning on backing down. She almost wanted to clap her hands.
Marco held out his knife. “I think we get extra points for taking out an FRU agent, don’t we, boys?”
Della saw all the vamps reach down for their own knives, and in a flash, they charged. All eight.
Chapter Twenty-six
Della went after Marco first. She snagged his knife and tossed the weapon at a tree trunk, where it sank all the way in, handle and all. Swinging up and around, she gave him a good kick in the stomach. That didn’t take him out. So she went for his balls. He landed on the ground moaning.