Midnight Hour (Shadow Falls: After Dark #4)(123)

their problems right now. Fear of what that problem was had Perry forcing his wings harder, faster.

After a long and hard flight, Perry spotted Dr. Whitman’s office below and saw Burnett going down. His heart knotted in fear. Miranda was

supposed to get her cast off today. Descending, Perry saw the school’s car parked in the front.

He morphed right before he hit the ground behind the office and ran to catch up with Burnett, who’d went right for the door.

“Dr. Whitman is checking Chase and Kylie now,” Della said, her eyes neon bright, her canines partially out. “But they looked fine.”

Perry’s gaze shot around the room. Three males lay on the tile floor. Perry didn’t recognize them. But he recognized death. They weren’t

breathing.

“Where’s Miranda?” Perry asked, his tone tight.

Della looked at him, her face bruised, and the look of failure in her eyes sent pain shooting through him.

“Is she hurt? Is she with Dr. Whitman?”

Della still didn’t answer. The now deeper emotion flashing in her eyes sent raw panic into Perry’s bloodstream. He felt himself losing it.

Felt his blood on fire, felt his soul start to shift. Felt his future—the little bit of future he’d allowed himself to believe in—crumble.

Burnett put his hand on Perry’s shoulder and squeezed. “Miranda left. As far as we know she’s okay. Let me hear the rest of this.”

The cells in his body stopped fizzing. His skin stopped crawling, but he couldn’t remain silent. “Left? Left for where?”

“I don’t know.” Della looked defeated and the same feeling raged inside him.

“They took her?” His blood started fizzing again.

“I don’t think so,” Della said.

Burnett’s hand, still clasped on his shoulder, squeezed harder. “Let her talk. We need to hear what happened so we can look for Miranda. Pull

yourself together.”

Perry nodded, fighting with every beast inside him wanting to come out, as Della told the story. When she finished by saying Miranda had

apologized to Dr. Whitman and ran out the door, Perry snapped.

“Miranda wouldn’t leave on her own.” He clenched his fists, digging his nails into his palms to keep from shifting.

“What happened here?” Burnett waved at the three dead men.

Guilt filled Della’s eyes. “The gun was set on stun, I shot them so they wouldn’t give me trouble. They were coming to, when I was cuffing

them.”

“It appears that their hearts just stopped.” Dr. Whitman, his face swollen, walked out. “I can’t swear it yet, but I don’t think it was

the stun gun.”

“One of them started chanting while I was putting on his cuffs,” Della said as if she just remembered it. “Like a prayer or something.”

“It could have been a suicide pact,” Shawn said walking in with Agent Tobler. “Some of the rogue gangs believe failure equals death. There’

s a curse that could do it.”

Shawn met Perry’s gaze. Worry filled the warlock’s eyes. He’d given Miranda up, but he still cared.

Then Shawn met Burnett’s gaze. “The roadblocks are set up.”

“Why roadblocks?” Perry asked.

“Dr. Whitman heard someone call Miranda’s name and a car take off as soon as Miranda ran out.”

The pressure in Perry’s chest threatened to crack his ribs. “She wouldn’t have left on her own. They took her.”

“They may have blackmailed her into going,” Dr. Whitman said, “but no one forced her to walk out that door.”

Kylie and Chase stepped out then. Dark rings circled both their eyes, but they were alive, and they were here. Miranda wasn’t. And he didn’t

even know if she was alive. “I don’t understand,” Perry demanded.

“She had a premonition,” Kylie said, looking teary-eyed. “I think it was when she went to the falls.”

“What kind of premonition?” Burnett snapped. “And why the hell am I just hearing about all this now!”

“We just found out right before we came here,” Chase answered.

“All she said was that her sister was going to be okay,” Della added. “We tried to get her to tell us about it. She wouldn’t talk.”

Burnett looked at Kylie.

Kylie must have understood his question, because she spoke up. “I’ve asked the death angels. They haven’t answered so far.”

“Damn!” Burnett looked at Agent Tobler, who seemed to know what he wanted to hear.

“I have the shifters and the other vampires checking outside the roadblocks in case they already passed them,” Agent Tobler said. “Everyone

is on this.”

*

The old witch from the drug house, Zander, was covered in dirt, driving the light green Volkswagen Bug like a bat out of hell. Every question

Miranda spat out from the backseat received the same one-word answer. “Later.”

Miranda finally quit asking.

“Damn!” Zander snapped. “There are vamps flying around. In broad daylight.”

“They’re looking for me.” Miranda’s heart fell to the pit of her stomach. She couldn’t imagine what Della and Kylie thought. And Burnett.