Shadow Falls After Dark: Eternal Part 3

Della heard Kylie sigh. The chameleon sighed when worried or stressed.

Della glanced at her friend's light blue eyes s.h.i.+mmering 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 h.e.l.l would she show me that? If they're dead, what the h.e.l.l 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 d.a.m.n much.

Then she remembered the other vision she'd had-the one where she'd been the murdered girl, Lorraine, looking down at her b.l.o.o.d.y 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.

Magical would have been if they were alive. Her having a chance at saving them. No, real magic would have been them never being put in that position.

Later, she told herself again, pus.h.i.+ng back the emotion that tried to crowd her lungs.

Holiday gave her hair another twirl. "The fact that Chase was at the falls tells me he very well might have some of the same ghost whispering abilities that you and Burnett do. And that could be because..." The fae glanced at Kylie and stopped talking.

"Because of what?" Kylie asked.

"I don't know," Holiday said, shrugging it off.

Della knew what she was going to say. Because of them all being Reborns. Were all Reborns p.r.o.ne to being ghost whisperers? Della saw the puzzled look on Kylie's face. So far, Della hadn't told Kylie or Miranda about this. They still thought she'd simply caught a strange virus. She knew she couldn't keep it from them forever, but she was kind of hoping to get a handle on it before trying to explain it.

Della t.i.tled her head to the side. She heard someone walking up the steps of the cabin. She raised her nose. Correction. Two someones. Though only one set of footsteps moved in.

One of those someones was innocent and sweet, doused in baby powder. The other ... the other was someone with whom Della had a bone to pick. And with all the angst stirring inside her, she had never felt more ready for an argument than right now.

Burnett walked into Holiday's office without knocking, his daughter, Hannah, on his hip. He looked from Holiday to Kylie and then Della. "What's wrong?" His gaze locked on Della, no doubt reading her p.i.s.sed-off expression.

She didn't even have to answer the question-he did it for her.

Burnett growled out, "d.a.m.n that sneaky bloodsucker. I forbid him from-"

Hannah started to cry.

"See, even our daughter doesn't approve of your language." Holiday moved in. "I swear, if the first word out of my daughter's mouth is a curse word, I'm was.h.i.+ng your mouth out with soap twice a day for the rest of your life." Her maternal tone rang loud.

Burnett, obviously not a soap lover, made a face. "Sorry," he said, pressing a kiss to Hannah's dark hair with a gentleness that looked almost impossible for the tall, dark vampire. "Don't talk like your daddy," he said to the child. After turning over the little package to her mother, his gaze went back to Della, and all of that tender, gooey expression vanished.

"In my office," he ordered, motioning for her to follow.

Della didn't hesitate. She started behind him, mentally preparing herself for another head-banging, knock-down-drag-out fight with the stubborn, chauvinistic vampire. If he thought he was going to stop her from trying to find Natasha and Liam-even if they were dead-along with the other fresh turns who'd been forced into slavery, the next few minutes weren't going to be pretty.

Burnett silently positioned himself behind his large oak desk that took up most of the s.p.a.ce in the small office. Unlike Holiday's office, which felt feminine and a bit magical, Burnett's office felt spa.r.s.e. The only personal items in the room were the photos on his desk of Holiday and Hannah.

Della, arms crossed over her chest, dropped down into the chair across from the vamp, staring daggers at him. He stared right back at her as if to prove a point.

She'd decided to let him start the conversation ... let him put his size-twelve feet in his mouth and try to talk around them. Unfortunately, he had more patience than she, and she finally blurted out, "Were you even going to tell me?"

"Of course I was going to tell you," he said in a voice much calmer than hers.

"But you didn't think you should tell me before telling them I wouldn't do it? Since when do I not get a say in what I do?"

He leaned in, met her eye in a calculated stare. "Calm down."

"I will not calm down. You denied-"

He thumped his hand on the desk. "Yes, I said no to you working for them. But I've already made a call, and am trying to contact someone to make a counteroffer. But, to answer your question, you don't get a say in the matter when I feel you're putting your life at risk." He hissed out air through his clenched teeth. "And before you start, it's not because you're a girl! I wouldn't have allowed anyone here at Shadow Falls to do that."

She unfolded her arms, hearing the honesty in both his tone and his steady heart. "What kind of counteroffer?"

"I'm suggesting they allow Chase to come work with us, and you two work the case." He held up a hand. "I might ... might be willing to compromise and let him report to both of us, but only if they agree to my conditions."

"What conditions?"

"All a.s.signments have to be cleared through me, and I have the right to have other agents shadowing you two if I feel it's needed."

"And if they don't agree to it?" she asked, thinking of Natasha and Liam.

"Then there isn't any reason why the FRU can't start our own investigation. We've already done the basic legwork."

"And you'll put me on the case?" she asked, needing a.s.surance.

"It will have to be cleared by the FRU, but I don't see any reason why they wouldn't. You've already built a reputation with them."

Della relaxed back in the chair, liking the sound of that, but it brought little reprieve from the real problems. "Thank you."

He nodded, then frowned. "All this could have been avoided if Chase hadn't set out to stir s.h.i.+t up."

"You mean 'cause trouble,' or perhaps 'stir c.r.a.p up,'" Della corrected. When he looked confused, she explained, "You can't cuss, remember?" A slight smile brushed across her lips remembering Holiday's soap-was.h.i.+ng threat.

"Trouble," he said, correcting himself.

"And..." she continued, "honestly, Chase didn't set out to cause trouble. He just happened to be at the falls when I went there." Her heart did a little dance, because she didn't actually believe it was a coincidence. They'd been called there. But was it about her and Chase or about Natasha and Liam?

"But he still told you about the case," Burnett said, his tone deepened with anger.

"Not really. I mean, someone else told me and I just had him confirm it."

Burnett studied her, probably listening to see if her heart marked her words as a lie. "No one else knows," he said.

"Someone knows," Della said.

"Who?" His brow tightened and he leaned forward.

"A ghost," Della said, and felt the frown rise up inside her.

"What ... ghost?" he asked, glancing around as if he expected it to be there.

She repeated what had happened at the falls to Burnett, told him about the voice, about the vision of two people feeding off each other. He picked up a pencil and rolled it in his hands while he listened. "Did you tell Holiday all this?"

Della nodded, her chest tightening as she grasped ahold of what little hope she had. "She thinks Natasha and Liam are dead."

"And you don't?" Burnett's pencil rolling stopped while he waited for her to answer.

"No. I think the ghost is someone wanting them rescued. She referred to Natasha by name. She didn't say 'find me.'"

Burnett leaned back in his chair, making it squeak. "She?"

Della nodded. "And oddly, she didn't mention Liam. It's as if she's more concerned about the girl."

Burnett gave the pencil another roll between his palms. "But most of the time when Holiday has visions like ... like the one you had-"

"I know," Della said. "Most of the time it's the person who's dead. But I'm not Holiday. Maybe being a Reborn makes it different for me." She looked up at him. "For us. Have you had any visions where they weren't dead?"

He looked appalled at the idea of communicating with spirits, as if she'd asked him for a recommendation on which tampon to use. "I've ... I've never had a vision. I just sense them when they're hanging around Holiday and can hear them sometimes. But I've actually only seen one ghost-Hannah, Holiday's sister."

"Lucky you."

"Yeah," he agreed, almost too wholeheartedly, but then added, "But it is because of you seeing and hearing ghosts that we caught the last killer and didn't arrest the wrong guy. Holiday insists it's a gift. And sometimes I can't argue with her."

"I know, and if dead people weren't involved, I might agree." A tickle of dread ran down her spine thinking about it. Was she doomed to be like Kylie now? Ghosts popping in all the time? But d.a.m.n, she didn't want that.

Burnett shrugged and nodded at the same time as if he wished he could disagree, but couldn't. He leaned forward again. "Holiday also says when you get those kinds of visions it's normally someone you know or someone who is connected to you somehow."

Della nodded. "She told me that, too, but I don't know a Natasha or a Liam. And the ghost is the one who told me to find them. So maybe she knows Natasha, because I don't."

"Okay, let's say you're right and the ghost isn't Natasha. Do you think you might know the ghost?"

"I don't think so. I think she just chose me because I'm connected to the Craig Anthony case."

The room grew silent for a minute and Della's thoughts went back to the other issue. "Have you actually spoken to anyone on the Vampire Council yet?"

"I've called and they said someone will be in touch."

"In touch today, or this week?" Della asked, concern tightening her voice. If Della was right, and Natasha and Liam were alive, they needed help, and needed it fast. Or was Holiday-who knew her ghost stuff-correct, and they'd already met their fate?

Burnett adjusted his weight in the chair again. "The ball's in their court. If I try to push, it could have a negative effect. But I will go ahead and put in to start the investigation on our part. And I'll get someone to go through all the files we confiscated from Craig Anthony. Maybe we can find some info on a ... Natasha and Liam. You wouldn't happen to have last names, would you?"

"No."

"Did you get anything else that might help us locate them?"

She let her mind return to the vision. "Nothing other than it was a dark place that smelled like dirt. Like an underground room." Buried alive. The thought sent chills down her spine. "But..."

"But what?" Burnett asked.

"I don't know for sure, but Chase might know something about it, too."

"How would he know?"

"It's just ... I could be wrong, but I think he might have been connected with that vision, too. We were both lured to the falls for a reason, and I think that was it."

"You mean, he saw it, too?"