She glanced back at him in his wet clothes. The idea of working with him, being with him, had panic swelling inside her again. “I’ll have to think about it.”
“Don’t waste your time. Burnett already denied the council’s request.”
He denied it? “I’m sure he wants to talk it over with me,” Della said, hoping she was right, but accepting she probably wasn’t. First, she knew Burnett didn’t trust the Vampire Council. Second, even with her new powers, knowing him, he’d still probably hesitate to let her work any case he considered dangerous. But shouldn’t the decision be hers?
Hell yes, it should, the ghostly voice inside her shouted. Find Natasha!
And just like that, she knew the two things were connected. Natasha and Liam were victims of Craig Anthony. He may have been caught, but those he had imprisoned and enslaved were still out there.
“Burnett denied my request right out,” Chase said with sarcasm. “He keeps you all on a short leash.”
Pushing her latest thought aside to deal with Chase, she cupped her hands and considered his accusation about the camp leader. She knew what Chase said was true. She’d spent most of the last few months yanking on her leash, but her loyalty to Burnett demanded she defend him. “Not that short. We caught Craig Anthony, didn’t we?”
“There is that,” he said. “But I’ll bet anything you did it while breaking some of his rules.”
Right again. But she wouldn’t admit it. She met Chase’s gaze, noting the bruise under his eye. “Some rules are there for a reason. Like we’re not supposed to reveal our Reborn powers. Is that how you got that black eye? Inviting trouble by showing off?”
“I don’t invite trouble, but I take care of it if it shows up.”
“Well, stop it. Stop showing off what you can do. Burnett’s right. It’ll invite all kinds to try to outdo you. Next time, instead of a black eye, you could have a broken neck.”
A slow smile came across his face. “Careful, you almost sound like you care.”
Damn it! She did care. Bonded. What the hell did that really mean? She almost asked him to explain it more, but why the hell would she trust someone who was full of nothing but secrets?
She turned to leave, but before she walked through the falls, he appeared in front of her.
“Don’t go,” he said.
She shook her head. “The only conversation I want to have with you is when you tell me who sent you to check on Chan and me.”
“I told you already,” he growled, frustration sounding in his tone. “The Vampire Council.”
Della studied his face, realizing that this time he didn’t flinch. Was he telling the truth? Did he not know who else was behind it? Oh, hell, she didn’t know what to believe anymore.
“Then how did they know about me?” she asked.
“Della, I work for them, just like you work for the FRU. Do they tell you everything? Hell, no. Burnett didn’t even tell us they sent other agents in when we were looking for that Billy kid.”
The truth of his words had more doubt flopping around her head and her heart. She hated uncertainty.
And he seemed to sense it. “We belong together now.” He moved closer, put his hand on her shoulder. “Why are you fighting it?” He studied her and a frown suddenly pulled at his lips. “Is it Steve? You still have feelings for him?”
She tilted her head back. “Yes, I care about Steve.”
She wasn’t going to lie. She and Steve were practically together now. This last weekend when he’d been here, she’d stopped pretending in front of everyone. Steve had even put his arm around her when they’d been walking to lunch Friday. And because she’d sensed it had been a test, she’d let him. Damn it, she hadn’t wanted to fail that test.
She hadn’t wanted to fail Steve. Yet there was a small part of her that worried she was destined to fail him. And all because of some stupid bonding with the guy standing in front of her.
“And this,” she waved a hand between them, “this isn’t the same thing.” She reached deep inside to find something to explain it.
She saw emotions flash in his eyes. Disappointment, anger, maybe even jealousy.
“You even told me. This bond thing can be compared to the relationship shared by identical twins.”
His eyebrow arched in complete disbelief. “So, you love me like a brother? That kiss last week—”
“Not exactly like a brother, but … but…” His words echoed in her head. Or, at least one word did. Love. “I don’t love you, period.” She gripped her hands. “I go back and forth on even liking you.” Being attracted to him, caring if he got hurt, that was something different. Something she didn’t want to think about.
Something she was working on denying.
He exhaled. “That’s bullshit.”
Suddenly feeling the urgency to deal with other issues—that didn’t have to do with him—she glanced up at another rainbow of color dancing on the walls. “I gotta go.” Turning on the heels of her boots, she stepped out of the cavern. The cold of the waterfall almost felt surreal. It washed down her head, seeping beneath her shirt. Immediately, she felt a sense of loss at leaving. I’ll be back.
“Go to do what?” Chase was right behind her, but she kept walking. She refused to look back, and refused to acknowledge that the sense of loss had anything to do with him and not everything to do with the falls. Please let it be just the falls.
“What is it that you have to do?” He repeated the question when she didn’t answer.
“Talk to Burnett,” she answered, thinking about him denying her the case—without even talking to her about it—and then she recalled the whole ghost issue and the crazy vision. “And Kylie and Holiday,” she said aloud as she formed her own plan. If anyone could explain what had happened there, it would be them.
“Talk about what?” His question came at her ear. His closeness felt both wrong and right at the same time.
“About me working with the Vampire Council.” Her mind raced back to Holiday and Kylie. “About finding Natasha and Liam,” she muttered aloud, but more to herself than to him.
Remembering how desperate she felt when she’d been in that vision, she started running. The sun had crawled higher in the east. Yet the sky still grasped the golden hue of pre-morning. The warmth of the light felt good on her damp skin and she couldn’t help but recall the darkness smothering Natasha and Liam.
As her footfalls sounded on the ground, she realized Chase no longer followed. She was halfway to the office when she suddenly became aware that Chase hadn’t asked her who Natasha and Liam were. A crazy thought hit. Had he somehow had the same vision?
She was tempted to turn around, find him, and ask. But, no, that was crazy. First, because getting any answers from him was like pulling teeth out of an angry lion, and second, because … surely a dual vision like that couldn’t happen. But she recalled how upset he’d been when she’d first awoken from that dark, damp place. Was his reaction from his distress for her, or had he shared the same experience that she had?
Slowing down to a jog, she snatched out her phone and dialed Kylie’s number. The chameleon answered sounding a little sleepy, but concerned.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing … really. I’m fine. I just have questions. Meet me at Holiday’s office, please.” She hung up, confident Kylie would be there. Kylie would never let her down.
As she continued to the office, another thought hit. She’d come to the falls to get answers, but left with more questions. How was that fair? Why did the death angels answer Kylie’s questions and not hers?
* * *
“That couldn’t happen, could it?” Della sat on Holiday’s office sofa, telling them about the voice, about the vision, and asking if they thought Chase could have actually been in the vision with her.
The fae camp leader sat at her desk, looking perplexed. Kylie, appearing almost as befuddled, sat beside Della.
“Wow,” Holiday said. “You’ve had a heck of a day, and it’s not even seven o’clock.”
“Tell me about it,” Della said, plopping back on the sofa, her heart heavy. “So what am I dealing with here?” Her thoughts shot back to Natasha and Liam. If Holiday or Kylie couldn’t help, how in the hell was Della going to save them? She didn’t have a clue how to understand any of this.
“Do you know a Natasha or Liam?” Holiday asked.
“No,” Della said. “But … I think it might have something to do with the Craig Anthony case. Chase told me that there are still a lot of fresh turns that haven’t been accounted for. What if Anthony is the one who imprisoned them?”
Holiday nodded. “That could be it, but … normally there’s more of a connection.”
“Maybe this one isn’t normal.” She tightened her hands.
“First, don’t be frightened,” Holiday said.
“I’m not,” Della insisted, and then realized Holiday was reading her emotions. But the fae had it wrong. “I mean, yeah, I didn’t like it, and when I first heard the ghost, I freaked out a little.” Her heart rushed to the sound of a lie. “Okay, a lot, but I’ve sort of moved past that. What’s scaring the shit out of me right now is that I won’t get Natasha and Liam out in time. They can’t live like that for long.”
Della saw the way Kylie and Holiday looked at each other, as if they knew something she didn’t.
“What?” Della asked.
Holiday stood up and sat next to Della on the other side of the sofa. The look on her face expressed pure empathy. The fact that she’d moved closer told Della that whatever she was about to tell her wasn’t good. In fact, it was so bad that she knew Della needed some of her calm-inducing touch to hear the news.
When Holiday’s hand came closer, Della shot up off the sofa. “No, don’t touch me. Just tell me. What is it you think I don’t want to hear?”
Chapter Five
Della heard Kylie sigh. The chameleon sighed when worried or stressed.
Della glanced at her friend’s light blue eyes shimmering with concern and asked, “What is it? Just tell me already.”
Kylie looked at Holiday and the camp leader nodded.
“Normally,” Kylie began, “when you have visions, ones where you’re actually the person, it’s because … because they’re already dead.”
“I know, but this time they weren’t dead.”
“They might feel alive, but it’s them showing you…”
“No.” Tears welled up in Della’s eyes. “Then why the hell would she show me that? If they’re dead, what the hell can I do? That’s wrong. It’s sick. Why put me through that?”
Kylie nodded. “I felt the same way when it first happened to me, but—”
Holiday spoke up. “They do it because they want to be found. Because they want the person who hurt them to be stopped.”
Della tried to get her head around that. But it hurt. It hurt too damn much.
Then she remembered the other vision she’d had—the one where she’d been the murdered girl, Lorraine, looking down at her bloody hands. Somehow in the vision, Della had sensed the girl was dead. But not this time.
“No, this was different,” Della insisted. “They’re alive,” she said. “I felt it.”
A tear slipped from Della’s lashes, and it felt hot rolling down her cold skin. She wiped it away. Then she remembered the ghost’s voice. Find Natasha.
“No,” Della said again. “The ghost told me to find Natasha. The ghost wasn’t Natasha.”
Holiday stood up and took a few steps toward Della. “But, if you were in Natasha’s body, it normally means…”
“Normally. You both keep throwing that word out there. But what’s normal about any of this? I’m vampire, I’m not even supposed to deal with ghosts. Maybe I’m doing this whole ghost thing abnormally!”
Holiday pulled her long red hair over her shoulder and twisted it as if in thought. “I’m not going to say it’s impossible, Della. You and Burnett are the first vampires I’ve known to be mediums. But I’m just telling you what I believe.”
“But you know,” Kylie added, and looked at Della as if she wanted to help, “Sara’s grandma came to me to heal Sara when she had the cancer. So maybe this is a ghost coming to you to help someone.”
“True,” Holiday said. “But you were never in Sara’s body, were you?”
“No.” Kylie leaned back against the sofa and met Della’s gaze.
Della looked away from the sympathy in Kylie’s eyes. She understood they were trying to help and were just telling her what they thought to be the truth. Della just didn’t believe it.
Or was it that she didn’t want to believe it? Her heart gripped, and pain—real pain—filled her chest. She felt their empathy, and she tried to push the grief to the side with all her other issues to deal with later.
Later. She’d gotten really good at postponing her meltdowns.
Taking a sobering breath, she asked her next question. “What about the whole Chase thing? Him seeing the same vision I did?”
“That’s possible,” Holiday said. “Especially since you were at the falls. It’s a magical place.”
Della almost agreed with her, but remembering they thought Natasha and Liam were dead, she wondered how the place could be magical and deliver such devastating news.