Midnight Hour (Shadow Falls: After Dark #4)(8)

Tabitha’s whole body seemed useless.

With her good hand, she pulled her phone from her jean pocket. She took her first gulp of clean air. But her lungs didn’t appear to be ready.

Coughing, staring at her phone, the dizziness returned full force. She barely managed to hit the first name on her contact list.

But it was a good one.

A person who could handle any crisis.

A person who would be there for her in a pinch.

She heard Burnett’s deep, serious voice answer. As reassuring as his voice was, those damn black spots started encroaching again.

Closer.

Faster.

A sense of numbness descended upon her again. Struggling to stay conscious, only two words slipped from her lips. “Need help.”





Chapter Three

Something stirred Miranda. Sirens, voices, people prodding her. She felt herself being pulled out of the web of darkness, but in the obscure

place there was no pain. She liked it better there. More voices rang out and continued to pull her back.

“I said back up!” The commanding voice stilled the air, demanded respect.

“And I said if you don’t want your face rearranged you should get out of my friggin’ way!”

Miranda knew only one person who had that way with words and was willing to butt heads with authority. She forced her eyelids open. As

expected, she spotted the sassy dark-haired vampire.

“Hey?” Della must have noticed the flutter of Miranda’s eyes opening for the girl dropped to her knees, her expression of sheer

determination fading to something softer. To the expression of a best friend who cared.

“Oh, God. Are you okay?” Della’s voice almost sounded unfamiliar, because it was seldom laced with such emotion.

“Officer,” the voice from earlier called out. “Can you please remove this girl?”

Della flinched and Miranda’s heart did the same. Not from the scene before her, but from her memory of what had happened. She remembered her

sister’s bloody and unconscious body.

“No! Where’s Tabitha?” Her sister’s name burned her throat. Miranda tried to turn her head where her sister had been, but her head wouldn’

t move that far. She reached up with her good hand and felt a brace around her neck.

“Is Tabitha okay?” Her words shook as she voiced the question to Della.

“They’re putting her in an ambulance now,” Della said.

“Is she okay?” Miranda pushed out the question.

Della took one second too long to answer. “I … I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

Miranda’s soul went straight to aching. For seventeen years, she hadn’t known she had a sister, but right now Miranda couldn’t imagine her

life without her. They talked every day, they shared everything. Embarrassment, laughter, pain. They were … sisters.

She struggled to feed air to her lungs, and when she did it hurt, not that the physical pain compared to what she felt for her sister.

“How bad is she?” Miranda tried to get up.

“No, you can’t move. They’re taking her to the hospital.” Della gently pushed Miranda back down. “And Kylie’s headed there now.”

Thabump, thaaabump, tha … bump. Miranda’s heart throbbed and echoed in her ears. “Oh, God! You think Tabitha’s dying? That’s why you sent

Kylie, isn’t it? To heal her, because you think…” She tried to get up again.

Della pushed her down. “No, no, no.” She said it three times as if hoping it would sound more believable. It sounded anything but.

Her sister was dying! Her heart, now swollen with grief, clamored against her sore rib cage.

From Miranda’s prone position, she saw Della flinch and then a cop appeared, standing over her.

“You are going to have to leave!” he growled.

Della didn’t look up, didn’t speak. Her only acknowledgment of him was the cold angry scowl pulling at her lips. The cop went to reach down.

“Don’t do it,” Della hissed, the sharp warning in her tone was louder than her words.

A flicker of a second before his fingers latched on to the angry vampire, something, or someone, yanked the cop out of Miranda’s line of

vision.

“Give us a few minutes,” another deep voice said. A familiar voice, not loud in pitch, but in a tone few dared to disobey.

Miranda cut her eyes to the right to see Burnett holding out his Federal Research Unit (FRU) badge. The agency was like the FBI, but oversaw

the supernaturals. Humans just considered them an offshoot of the FBI.

Della glanced up at Burnett. “She’s conscious now.”

The tall dark vampire knelt down. His caring gaze found Miranda’s and just knowing he was there had her chest tightening with emotion.

“You okay?” he asked.

Miranda tried to shake her head, but the brace made it hard to move her neck. “No,” she spit out. “Did you see Tabitha? How bad is she?”

Miranda knew Burnett well enough to know he wouldn’t sugarcoat it. Della usually didn’t, either. But for Miranda, she’d tried.

“They’re worried.” Honesty laced his voice. His eyes were bright, probably due to the smell of blood, but his words came out soft and