Her aunt looked suspicious of Della’s proposal, but she nodded.
“Tell me what happened?”
“No, I can’t. I have told you too much already.” She held up her hands. “No more talk about the past. No!”
Della felt the heat spewing out of the vent above. She glanced over Miao’s shoulder and the ghost’s image had evaporated, as did her chill.
“Let me get that tea,” her aunt said, swatting at the tears still on her face. “We can still visit.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t have the time, I … I should probably go.”
Her aunt looked at the photograph in her hands. “Can I keep this?”
Della almost said no, but she got the distinct feeling that Chan would have wanted her to have it.
“Sure.” Della started walking to the door, and her aunt moved with her. Certain her aunt would try to hug her again, Della quickly reached for the knob and almost got out when a hand caught her arm.
“I miss you, Della.”
A lump appeared in her throat. “I miss you, too.”
“Then fix whatever is wrong with your life and hurry back home to your parents. You belong with them, not at that school. You are a good girl. I know this in my heart. So fix it.”
It can’t be fixed. Della stiffened her backbone and told one more lie. “I’m working on it.”
* * *
“What did you get?” Chase asked as Della jumped in the car.
“Let’s go,” she said, her heart racing, and looking back to make sure her aunt hadn’t followed her out. Which she would have heard, but she still had to check. Then she felt sweat pop up on her forehead. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d sweated.
He started the car and pulled down the street. Then he glanced at her again as he revved the engine and put it in second gear. “What happened?”
The gears in her mind spun with what to tell him. Or how much to tell him. Didn’t she trust him? “I know how Natasha is connected to me now.”
“How?” He cut his green gaze toward her.
“She’s my cousin.”
His brow creased and he looked puzzled. “That’s impossible. There’s only four of you. You and Marla and Chan and Meiling.”
There was something about how he named them off so easily. No, it wasn’t how he named them, it was that he knew the names. How did he know Chan’s sister’s name?
It occurred to her that Chan could have told him. But had she told him her sister’s name? She didn’t think so.
She just stared at him. “How do you know that?”
“Know what?” he asked.
“Their names?”
His eyes widened as if the question put him in the hot seat. He looked back at the road. “It was in the file,” he said. “So your aunt had another child?”
She ignored his inquiry to ask her own. “What file?”
He changed gears again. The car’s engine purred. “The file I got on you and Chan. Just like the file I showed you on Natasha and Liam.”
“That was the FRU’s file,” she said.
“Yeah, but the Vampire Council’s files are practically the same.”
There it was again, the feeling that he knew more than he’d told her. “Do you still have that file?”
“No,” he said without looking at her. “Once a case is over, you turn it back in.”
“What else did it say?”
“Just normal stuff. Where you lived, your parents’ names.”
Something wasn’t adding up, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. “So, if you knew their names, why didn’t you get that it was my aunt that called when we were in the closet?”
He lifted up one eyebrow and half smiled. “When we were in the closet, I had my mind on something else.”
She frowned at him. Then bam, her brain found that thing that bothered her. “So, in this file you had, it listed that I was at Shadow Falls?”
“Yes.”
She tightened her eyes. “Then why did you join the Blades? You told me you’d joined them looking for me and that’s where we met.”
He stared straight ahead and his hands tightened on the steering wheel.
“Answer me, damn it! And look at me when you do it!”
He turned and met her gaze. “The Vampire Council knew you were being sent on that mission. They didn’t want me going into Shadow Falls at first because they were afraid Burnett would be on to me.”
“How?” she asked.
“How what?” he came back.
“How did you know I was going on that mission?”
His jaw muscles tightened. “Why are we talking about this instead of talking about how this visit is going to help us find Natasha and Liam?”
“Because I need to trust you to work with you.”
He jerked the car over into a parking lot, cut off the engine, and then slammed his hand on the steering wheel. “You don’t trust me? I gave you my blood, went through the turn with you—which was damn painful, in case you don’t remember—and I gave you some of my power. And you still think I’m out to hurt you?”
Fueled by his anger, she squared off. “I didn’t say you would hurt me. I think you’re hiding things. Or not telling me things. And just for the record, I didn’t ask you to bond with me. I seem to remember telling you I didn’t want you to do it!”
He growled, tightened his grip on the steering wheel, pressed his head back, and closed his eyes. “You are the most stubborn—”
“Not any more than you!” she seethed. “Just answer my questions. How did you know I was going on that mission?”
He turned his head, loosening his grip on the wheel. “And you’ll report it right back to Burnett, correct?”
She didn’t see any reason to lie. “Probably.”
He exhaled loudly. “So, to win your trust, I have to betray the council?”
“Yes,” she said.
He looked appalled that she’d made it that clear.
He stared at her for a second as if debating, and then answered. “There’s a leak in the FRU. And before you ask, I don’t know who it is. And from what I hear, they don’t even give away anything that would really be detrimental to the organization.”
She believed him, not so much about the detrimental part, but about him not knowing who it was. But since he was finally answering questions, she had a few more. “What was the mission with me and Chan?”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“What exactly was your mission?” she repeated, her patience thinning.
“I was to check on you, attempt to help you both through the rebirth.”
“So, you were sent to bond with one of us?”
“No, that was totally at my discretion. I was there to try to make sure you kept up your strength. I told you that it’s been proven that those who are in better physical condition have a higher survival rate. Remember me making you run?”
She nodded. “Now all I need to know is why and who?”
“Why and who what?”
“Why were you sent and who initiated it?”
“I just told you that I was sent to help you through the rebirth.”
“So they have a list of every possible Reborn?”
His expression tightened with more frustration. “I don’t know what all they have … but I do know they know that there are only a few bloodlines that lead to rebirths, so maybe they do.” He passed a hand over his face and then glared at her. “Do you know what all the FRU has?”
No, she didn’t. But she wasn’t satisfied. “There has to be a reason they sent you, Chase. In a perfect world, maybe they just care about people. But this isn’t a perfect world. And I don’t think the Vampire Council gives a shit about a few people dying unless it’s in their benefit to make sure they don’t.”
“They aren’t the monsters you make them out to be. The problems between the council and the FRU are political. Not because one of them is evil and the other isn’t.”
She
heard what he said, but she was too busy trying to answer her own questions. All of a sudden, an answer came to her. “Did they send you so that I would come to work for them? Or maybe that I would be one of their spies in the FRU? Is that what they really wanted? What they want?”
“I already told you they want you to come and work for them.”
“But was that their plan all along? Save me, then use you to try to convince me to become a traitor?”
Chapter Thirty-five
“A traitor?” Chase asked. “So the Vampire Council is terrible to ask you to work for them? What the hell do you think Burnett has been doing since he discovered that I’m a Reborn? Is the man you hold the utmost respect for evil for trying to get me to work for the FRU? For that matter, why the hell do you think he’s working with Shadow Falls? Or haven’t you noticed how many of the students are working for the FRU? He’s handpicking the cream of the crop.”
His point gave Della pause, but only for a second. “Burnett cares. He’d die for any of the students at Shadow Falls. And he didn’t get involved with the camp just so he would have access to the students.”
“Oh, I’m sure that never crossed his mind,” Chase said with sarcasm.
She leaned closer to him. “I happen to know that he’s gone against the FRU and their rules to protect someone. He’s put his job on the line for the school. And even you made the point that he coddles his agents. Why do you think that is?” She poked him in the chest with her finger. “Could it be because he cares?”
“Could it be that he’s not the only one?” Chase snapped back.
“The Vampire Council doesn’t care.”
She went to poke him again and he caught her finger, his eyes bright. He leaned in, she thought to give her more hell, but she was wrong.
“I wasn’t talking about the council. I’m talking about me.”
His lips met hers in a kiss that tasted like anger, passion … he tasted good.
So good.
He let go of her finger and one hand came to the back of her neck, the other cradled the back of her head. Della’s hand dropped to press against his chest.
The kiss deepened and so did Della’s confusion.
His tongue slipped between her lips. She allowed it. Welcomed it.
Finally, seeing reason, she pulled back. “You can’t just kiss me to avoid answering.”
“Really?” He drew her closer and kissed her again.
And damn it, she let him.
She finally pushed back. “Answer me,” she said, but without a lot of conviction.
He smiled at her. “I forgot the question.”
She wanted to smack that smile off his face, especially when she realized she’d forgotten the question, too.
He passed a finger over her lips, and the sexy way he looked at her told her he was about to kiss her again. She caught his finger this time. “Why haven’t you arranged a meeting with me and the Vampire Council?”
“I have. We’re going there before we go to the airport to pick up Damian Bond.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was going to, but ever since you showed up at my place earlier, all I’ve focused on was coming to see your aunt.” He pulled his finger free and touched her chin. “Now, will you answer my questions?”
“What questions?”
“Natasha is Chan’s sister?”
“No,” Della said and decided to tell him the truth. “The ghost is Natasha’s mom. She gave Natasha up for adoption.”
“So you had another aunt?”
“I guess the council missed that in their report, huh?”
“I guess so,” he said and looked concerned. She almost asked if he knew about her uncle. The question sat on the tip of her tongue.
“How did Natasha’s mom die?”
“She was murdered,” Della said, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell him more.
Questions and concerns quickly started forming in Della’s head. “Because Chan and I were both Reborns, does that mean Natasha will be, too?”
“It’s not a given, but her odds are fifty/fifty.”
Della started thinking about other odds. “I’ve heard that in families that carry the virus, the odds of them actually getting turned are like one in a hundred. And only then when they’re young.” This was why Della hadn’t really worried about her sister. “Do those odds of being turned go up if you belong to one of the bloodlines that are more likely to be Reborn?” When he didn’t answer immediately, she asked, “Are my sister and Meiling at a higher risk of being turned?”
He nodded. “The statistics are that one in ten of the stronger bloodlines are actually susceptible to being turned.”
“So, me being around my sister or my cousin can expose them?”
“It’s exposed only through blood. Like the HIV virus. So just being with them isn’t going to get them turned.”
Della sat back in her seat and tried to digest what she knew.
“Hey,” he said and touched her shoulder. “Don’t worry about things that haven’t happened. Let’s worry about saving Natasha and Liam right now.”
She looked at him, and knowing he was right, she nodded.
He spoke again. “You said you felt as if the ghost wanted you to come here. Did you learn anything that would help?”
She tried to consider everything she’d learned. “I don’t think so.” She looked at Chase and offered him more of the truth. “I think this is about something else.”
“Like what?”
“She wants me to find out who killed her.”
“Okay,” he said, sounding leery. “Do you think you know who did it?”
She looked at Chase and debated telling him everything again. She almost did, then stopped. Oddly, it wasn’t because she didn’t trust him, but because he already held a prejudice against her father. She didn’t need him assuming the worst right now.
“Can we just try to find Natasha and Liam?”
“Okay,” he said, but his expression said he didn’t like it. “What do you want to do? Where do you want to go?”
“Back to Uck’s,” she said.
“You still think the were you got a trace of at the restaurant has something to do with Natasha?”
“I do,” she said. “And so does the ghost. She’s the reason I knew it was werewolves that the rogue was scared of last night.”
“Then to Uck’s we go.” He reached over again and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “We are going to work this out.”
“Work what out?”
“Everything,” he said. “Natasha and Liam. You and me.”
Her heart gave a big tug, and all she could do was nod.
He started the car, and for some crazy reason, she heard Steve’s voice in her head.
Promise me that before you fall in love with Chase, you’ll remember that I loved you first.
Then she heard Holiday’s voice. Just be careful.
Oh, hell. Was she really falling in love with Chase?
* * *
She called Burnett and told him she’d be home in a couple of hours to give him a full report. He started to interrogate her over the phone and she insisted they’d talk later. He wasn’t happy, but he accepted it after she told him exactly where they were heading. He obviously felt there was nothing to worry about at Uck’s, and didn’t mind them going.
What pissed Della off was that he was right.
They got nothing at Uck’s. But because there were a few vampires there, they ordered Cokes and talked about mundane stuff. Stories about his parents and his sister. But for some reason, it didn’t feel mundane. She wanted to know all those things.
Then he asked her about her past. Wanting him to know the good side of her father, she told him about how they played chess and even entered a few competitions. She told him about her father taking her fishing. About Scrabble night, and how the family would get together and play.
It was sometime during that conversation that she und
erstood why the ghost wanted her to read the diary. When you cared about someone, you wanted to know the little things. Details of their life. Her aunt, Bao Yu, wanted to know the little things of her daughter’s life.
* * *
At almost nine o’clock, Chase pulled up at Shadow Falls. “Do you want me to come with you to talk to Burnett?” he asked.
“No,” she said. “I got it.”
He stared at her. “Are you going to tell him about the leak in the FRU?”
“I have to,” she said. “Are you going to tell the council that I know about it and for him to get the hell out of there?”
“I already have—when you went to the bathroom right after we got to the restaurant.”
She inhaled. “At least we’re being honest.”
“Working for adversaries doesn’t change what’s between us, Della.”
It would, Della sensed it. It just hadn’t risen to a head. And when it did, she didn’t have a clue how she was going to handle it.
But that was only part of her problem. “I’m not a hundred percent sure what is happening between us,” she said.
He leaned over and kissed her again. She only let it happen for a second. She put her hand on his chest and pushed him back an inch.
“I can clear that up for you,” he said. “It’s called being bonded. And it’s a powerful thing. We belong together now.”
“I have to go.” She walked away from him sitting in his car. And she listened to him drive away, feeling the emptiness she felt each and every time.
She went in and gave Burnett a full report. And when she told him about the leak in the FRU, a part of her almost felt disloyal to Chase. Working for adversaries doesn’t change what’s between us, Della. She reheard Chase’s words, and again, she knew he was wrong.
No sooner had Della told Burnett about the leak, he picked up the phone to call someone at the FRU.
He was promptly informed that one of their agents had already cleaned out his office and left a letter of resignation.
“Do you see, I told you the Vampire Council was up to no good?”
Della leaned back in her chair. “Do you not have agents trying to get their information?”
“Whose side are you on?” Burnett asked.
“The FRU’s,” she told him, “but I’m not sure there should be sides.”