Eternal (23 page)

There was a connection. One she'd assumed had just been Chan. But if Chan's mom was calling Natasha's mom, it had to be more. Della was going to have to figure out what that was. But how, without going to see her aunt? Without making her father furious at her?

“Did you hear me?” he asked.

“Yes and no.”

“What?” he asked, confused.

“Yes, I heard you, and no, I don't want to talk about … ‘it.'”

“You can't be pissed at me about that.”

“Sure I can,” she seethed in a low voice.

“You're not being fair.”

“Where did you get the idea I was fair?”

He chuckled. “Hey, you had your hand on my ass and I'm not mad at you.”

“Well, that just says which of us has a better handle on this. Because you should be pissed. Fondling strangers isn't—”

“We aren't strangers.” He glanced back at the road, but not before she saw the laughter in his eyes. A few seconds later, with his humor gone, he added, “We're bonded. Sooner or later, you're going to have to accept that.”

She started to tell him she'd never accept it, but she didn't even know if it was a lie. So she just kept her mouth shut. Oddly enough, that seemed to bother him more than anything. She tucked that info away for another day.

“Look,” he said. “It happened because of the vision. And instead of being worried about it, we should be trying to figure out if maybe we got anything from the vision to help us.”

“You're right,” she said.

“Wow, can I have that in writing?” he asked with sarcasm.

She frowned and closed the dairy. The entries were about a boy she liked and what her girlfriends did. And it sort of broke Della's heart because the relationship between Natasha and Amy and Jennifer seemed so special. Special like her relationship with Miranda and Kylie.

What had happened to these girls? Were they still missing Natasha?

“I don't remember much of the vision,” Della said.

“I could see better this time,” Chase said. “I don't know if that means there was more light in there, or if the ghost let us see.”

“I could see better, too. And I guess it could be either.” Della tried to remember details. “Liam had a cut over his brow.” She let her mind go back to the vision, trying to put the pieces back together. “He got it defending Natasha.”

“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
B
URGERS
. 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 and 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.”