Almost Midnight (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3.5)(61)

Damn it! This was just going to get worse.

*

Burnett told her the whole story about the two girls who’d been murdered. Miranda’s mom, her face lacking color, dropped down into a chair. Miranda went and stood beside her.

Her mom looked up at her and then reached over and took Miranda’s hand.

“Do you know who … who is doing this?”

“Not yet,” Burnett said. “The problem is that it doesn’t necessarily have to be the finalists here in the U.S. I’m told there will be twenty finalists from all over the world. I’ll be contacting them or their families to confirm nothing has happened to them.”

“The thing is, Miranda has a reason to recuse herself,” Shawn spoke up. “Right now it appears the killer is taking out contestants. Right?” He focused on Burnett.

“It appears—”

Shawn didn’t let him finish before starting up again. “So if she drops out now, the chances are she won’t be in danger. She won’t have to go to Paris,” he continued, driving home his point.

A point she didn’t appreciate. “No,” Miranda snapped. “I’m going to Paris.”

Her mom looked up. “Not if your life is in danger, you aren’t.”

Miranda heard the words, but couldn’t believe them. Winning, or rather, Miranda making high priestess, meant everything to her mom. Miranda’s chest squeezed and she felt a knot rise in her throat. For the first time in years, Miranda felt loved. And for some crazy reason, the emotion tightening her throat and making her chest ache made the thought of disappointing her mom almost unbearable.

“I’ll be okay.” She pushed the words out. “Burnett will protect me.”

“But, baby, if something happened to you, I … I wouldn’t know what to do.”

“Nothing is going to happen. He won’t let it,” Miranda insisted and waved a hand toward Burnett.

Everyone turned and looked at Burnett as if for confirmation.

He sighed. “If I thought by dropping out you would be out of danger, I would have already gotten your name off the list. You see, we just found out that one of the girls who was murdered had dropped out of the competition three days ago. And since I’m going to be going to France, I would rather you be near me than here.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m going, too,” Kylie spoke up, looking directly at Miranda’s mom. “I won’t let anything happen to her.” Kylie’s blue gaze shifted from her mother to Miranda. Warmth filled Miranda’s lungs. Nothing like best friends.

“She’s a protector,” Miranda spoke up. “More powerful than anyone when someone she loves is in danger. So you see, it’s going to be fine.” She glanced at Della. “You’re going, too, right? Mom’s paying for it.” Miranda looked at her mom for confirmation. Her mom nodded, then Miranda refocused on Della.

“I…” Della’s frown gave Miranda her answer and she didn’t like it.

“I just really want—”

“Yes, she will be going.” Burnett took a step forward.

Della turned her confused gaze on the big bad vampire and shook her head. “With what’s going on here with my dad, I don’t think…”

“You need to—”

Della shook her head and spoke again. “I’m sure between you and Kylie, you can—”

“Hear me out,” Burnett said with a growl. “A lead in the case you’re working just popped up in DeVille, France. You’re going to want to go.”

“What lead?” Della snapped. Her eyes widened with interest. “Chase?”

Miranda knew the case that Della was working was about her father’s murder conviction—the eighteen-year-old murder of his own sister. And the person who might have info on it was Chase, another super vampire, who had saved Della’s life by blending his blood with hers when she went through the second turn. Supposedly, the blending of blood had bonded the two together. But then Della found out he’d been lying to her and had connections to her father’s brother who was a possible rogue vamp, who the FRU, and Della, believed to be the real murderer.

“Is it Chase?” Della insisted when Burnett didn’t answer immediately.

He nodded. “I got word about an hour ago. He was traveling with a guy of Asian descent.”

“Wait,” Kylie spoke up. “You don’t think these two cases are connected, do you?”

“Not that we can see right now,” Burnett said. “But I agree, it’s almost too much of a coincidence.”

Della’s chest expanded and her eyes brightened with emotion, though what emotion, Miranda couldn’t say.

Della glanced back at Miranda. “Looks like I’ll be going.”

*

Two days later, the cool afternoon wind whipped Miranda’s hair around her face. She stood on a small patch of grass and stared up at the Eiffel Tower. Kylie and Della stood beside her. Her two best friends in the world, but even their presence wasn’t offering the comfort she longed for.

And hanging back about a hundred feet was the blond warlock. Miranda could feel his gaze on her. She hadn’t spoken to him since the competition. It still pissed her off that he’d gone against her wishes and threatened to get her thrown out.