“If they find out it was you, they won’t work with you or the council, or let you work with me on this.”
He frowned. “They won’t find out. I covered my tracks. And don’t think Burnett didn’t already chew my ass out for it.” He took a step closer.
In the golden hue of morning sunlight, his eyes looked crystal green. He kept his one hand in his pocket, making one shoulder lift slightly higher than the other.
Something about his posture looked less certain than before, slightly vulnerable. And the way he studied her made her wonder if it was because of her, perhaps because of what she’d said to him earlier.
I don’t love you, period. I go back and forth on even liking you. It wasn’t altogether a lie. Yet realizing how hard and hurtful her words had sounded, she regretted saying them.
Her shoulders tightened, feeling a crazy tension at his presence, and yet at the same time, his being here brought on some kind of inner peace. She recalled she’d felt it at the falls as well. Thoughts of the falls turned her mind to another subject.
“The vision … You saw it, or experienced it. Didn’t you?”
He exhaled as if he didn’t like admitting it. “Yeah, but I’ve never had anything like that happen. I wasn’t sure what it meant. It wasn’t until you said their names that I knew you’d been a part of it.”
“You were Liam?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, whoever he is. I couldn’t find anything on him at all. And I went through all the files.” There was a touch of desperation in his tone that mirrored what she felt.
She recalled knowing certain things about Natasha during the vision. “When it was happening, did you learn anything about him, or know things?”
“Just his first name and that he was scared. And … that he … he would give Natasha all his blood to save her. He’s more concerned about her dying than worried about his own life. He’s in love with her.”
Hearing that sent an ache fluttering around Della’s chest like a trapped bird. Tears stung her sinuses and she looked down, away from his scrutiny. She recalled Liam insisting Natasha drink more of his blood. Della had sensed he’d cared about Natasha. But what did Natasha feel for Liam? Della couldn’t say for sure, but she had refused his blood.
Della’s vision grew wet at the thought of two people, possibly in love, trapped, and feeling so damn desperate. Remembering what Holiday and Kylie believed about them. That option hurt more.
She blinked back her water weakness and looked at Chase. For one second, she debated not telling him, but then realized he had a right to know.
“Holiday, she’s a ghost expert, and … she’s afraid that Natasha and Liam are already dead.”
“No,” Chase said adamantly, his light green eyes brightening with emotion. “If we don’t find them, they will be. I kept hearing this voice telling me to find Natasha.”
“Me, too,” Della said, finding it odd he’d heard the same voice, and for some reason it gave her more hope. But since Holiday was sort of the knowledgeable one in all things ghost, it didn’t take all her concern away. “It still scares me because she thinks—”
“I don’t care what she thinks. She’s wrong,” he insisted.
“I guess we have to believe that.” And standing there—only a few feet from him, agreeing with him, she had some kind of a weird epiphany. They, her and Chase, were supposed to do this. They were supposed to work this case together. But who decided that? Fate? The death angels? The ghost? And who the hell was she? How was all this connected?
“Have you done this before?” Chase asked.
“Done what?” she questioned, having gone inside her head and lost track of the conversation.
“Visions? Voices?”
Like his earlier admission, hers came with a touch of hesitancy. “Yeah. Chan, and then … Lorraine. But the vision with Lorraine was different.”
His brows tightened as if he was assessing what she said. “Lorraine? The female victim who was murdered in the case we worked?” His brow creased. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”
Maybe because you don’t tell me shit, either. She breathed in a mouthful of early morning air and it came with his scent: mint, some kind of herbs, and sunshine. “I … I kept hearing a voice, but I wasn’t sure and…” The wind stirred her hair in front of her face and she pushed it away. “Hell, if I’d told you I was hearing ghosts, you would’ve thought I was crazy.”
He dropped his hand from his pocket. “Probably. I didn’t think we vampires did the ghost whispering thing.” His gaze shifted and he glanced around at the tombstones.
Did he feel the same haunted feelings she did? As if something longed for her to walk the grounds and search for something—but what could be found here but the dead? Lost souls.
“Holiday thinks we have the ability because we’re Reborns.” Questions about when Chase had been Reborn started to percolate. Was he one of the few who survived on his own, or had someone helped him? Was he bonded to someone else? Now didn’t seem the time to start littering him with questions. Besides, he wasn’t known for handing over answers.
He ran a hand down his face as if fighting the edginess she felt. “Does Burnett deal with this shit, too?”
Oh, he was getting good at asking questions, wasn’t he?
Was divulging information about Burnett wrong? Chase’s eyes met hers and she decided he needed the truth. She didn’t think Burnett would disagree. “He hasn’t had visions, but he experiences a connection of some kind. Supposedly, anyone who can visit the falls without being repulsed has a little of the … gift. ‘Gift’ is Holiday’s word, not mine.”
He stood there as if considering something and then asked, “Can we communicate with anyone who’s dead?”
She had the feeling he was thinking of his family who Della remembered had all been killed in a plane crash. Unexpectedly, her heartstrings tugged at all that he’d lost. “I don’t know how it works. Holiday could tell you.”
His gaze went back to Chan’s tombstone. “I know this is tough.” He paused and the silence of the graveyard seemed almost loud. Then his voice came again and it felt as if the wind pulled it away. “You actually spoke with Chan?” He looked back at her.
More questions. All she could do was nod.
His eyes tightened with some emotion she couldn’t read. “Does he blame me, too? For his dying?”
She suddenly recognized that look. Guilt. She hadn’t thought he cared. Had she been wrong?
“He didn’t blame anyone,” she answered around a tightness in her throat. “That wasn’t Chan’s style.” Her heartstrings pulled again, this time for all she’d lost.
Another few beats of silence filled the haunted place. Her phone rang, the noise seeming to bounce against tombstone after tombstone. She looked at it, and saw Burnett’s number.
“Did Burnett know you were coming here?”
“He forbid me to come here,” he said matter-of-factly. “But he seems pretty smart, so he probably knew I’d come anyway.”
“You seem to have a thing about breaking rules.”
“I don’t set out to break them. I just make my own.”
She pretty much did the same, so she sure as hell couldn’t judge him for it. She looked back at the phone and made a decision. Changing her phone to vibrate, she slipped it back into her pocket.
Chase’s voice, deep and soulful, sounded again. “Do you want to go see the files?”
She’d told Burnett where she was going, and he would probably be pissed at her, both for not answering his call and for deviating from the plan. Emotions tied to the vision—desperation, hunger, fear—walked across her heart, leaving heavy footprints. Burnett would just have to be pissed.
“I’m ready when you are.” But she looked back at Chan’s grave one more time.
* * *
Chase took off, and much to his credit, he flew amongst the trees. They’d had to land twice to jog over urban areas where the early morning traffic moved and they could have been spotted. Della followed close behind him, vaguely recalling being unable to keep up with him earlier. Not that he was flying at full speed; he seemed to abide by Burnett’s rules of not showing his true powers. But before, even at this speed, longer than ten minutes would have been pushing her stamina.
His route was a little different from Burnett’s, but she recognized the terrain below. They were heading back toward Fallen, Texas … toward Shadow Falls. A couple of miles from camp, he followed a curvy dirt road and went down into a semi-clearing in the woods.
Her feet hit the ground with only a slight jolt. She looked behind her at a cabin. Not like the cabins at Shadow Falls, but like a fancy-schmancy cabin rented out to rich people to do yoga retreats or to get in touch with their inner spirit.
Whoever designed it did a good job. The logs formed an A-frame residence, constructed in such a way that it grew up and out of the natural landscape. Attached to the building was a large wraparound porch complete with wicker gliders and rockers. Only a few feet from the front porch seating were five bird feeders spaced out amongst the trees. The front part of the cabin held more glass than wood, so even those inside wouldn’t feel closed up.
Chase walked to the front porch. She followed. As she made the steps, she spotted a car parked to the side of the house. A fancy, bright blue convertible. She was far from a car expert, but it looked fast—and expensive.
Was someone else here? She took in a big breath and didn’t pick up anyone’s scent. Except … a dog.
As she passed one of the wicker chairs, she noted a pair of binoculars on top of one cushion. She glanced back at the bird feeders and recalled Miranda’s claims that birding was good for a person’s soul and aura. Refocusing on Chase with disbelief, she asked, “You’re a birder?”
“No,” he denied it, a little too fast. She glanced inside through the large glass windows to the lodge-style decorations. Big leather furniture, wood floors, and colorful rugs.
“Who lives here?” she asked.
“I do,” he said. “Well, me and Baxter.”
“Baxter?” she asked.
He shifted a little and opened the door. “Meet Baxter.”
A big black Lab with a gray muzzle came barreling out. Even though he ran right toward Chase, Della took a step back.
She wasn’t afraid of dogs, just cautious.
Chase gave the dog a good scratch behind his ear and the animal’s entire backside wagged with excitement. Della recalled Chase telling her that the only “someone” he hadn’t lost in the plane accident had been his dog. Was this the same dog? She suspected it was.
“He won’t bite,” Chase said when she still stood a step back. “Will you, Baxter?” he asked the dog.
Baxter seemed to take that as an invitation and moved closer. While his gray snout put him in his older years, his toned body and movements didn’t show signs of age. She held out her hand for him to sniff then she slowly turned her hand over and ran her palm over the top of his head.
The canine accepted her touch, but stared up at her with caution. Della pulled her hand back.
“Not a dog person?” Chase asked.
“No, I like dogs. My dad wasn’t too big on them though, so we never had one. But my neighbor had several through the years, and I sort of got attached to a couple of them. My neighbor was a divorced man who was always late with the dog’s supper; some nights he wouldn’t even come home. I had my mom buy dog food, and I’d feed him when I saw he wasn’t home after dark.”
A slow smile appeared in Chase’s eyes. “So Della Tsang actually has a soft spot?”
“It’s not a very big spot.” She shot him a frown. The truth was that soft spot was larger than she’d like.
She shifted and a bird swooped right past the porch. She glanced at the feathered creature as it landed on one of the feeders. It piped out part of a song, almost saying thank you, dug its beak into the wire mesh to snag a piece of food, and then flew off.
“I knew I heard a…” Chase said.
She looked back at him. He had the binoculars plastered to his eyes, and when he lowered them, his expression looked victorious. “That bird’s not supposed to be here now,” he said.
She almost grinned at his enthusiasm. “Not a birder, huh?”
He didn’t really appear embarrassed, just caught. “Maybe a little. But it was forced on me. My mom was an avid birder. She dragged me to bird-watching events four or five times a year.”
Della heard devotion in his voice when he talked about the woman who’d raised him the first fourteen years of his life, and it made her realize how little she knew about this guy. Not exactly her fault. He’d been secretive from the beginning.
And still was. Her gut said he knew more about who had sent him to check on her and Chan. And that someone could be the one person Della was searching for: her uncle. She’d recently learned her dad’s brother was a vampire who’d faked his own death years ago, and she wondered if he’d made contact with Chase.
She wasn’t going to forget that she didn’t completely trust Chase. Hopefully, if they collaborated with the Vampire Council, she might get answers there. Hell, her uncle could even be one of the council members. That thought sent a wave of urgency to get this case started—to find Natasha and to find her own answers.
Chapter Twelve
Another bird swooped past, and awkwardness slipped into the moment. Della and Chase stood there on the huge front porch, gazes locked, each lost in their own thoughts.