Reborn (Shadow Falls: After Dark #1)(16)

She’d fled from the scene under the bridge and hid behind some trees. Obviously, she hadn’t hidden well enough.

“I’m okay.” She jerked away from his touch. “I just ate too much human food when I was at my parents’.”

He arched an eyebrow, leaving little doubt he’d heard her heart lie, but when she glanced up into his eyes, it wasn’t condemnation she saw, but empathy. That pissed her off even more. “I’m fine,” she snapped.

He leaned in and spoke quietly. “I puked every time my first year working cases like this.” Honesty rang from his voice in the silent night. “Actually, if you hadn’t gotten sick, I would have worried about you.”

His words of comfort had her nose and throat stinging with tears that she’d be damned before she let fall. Unbidden, the image of what she’d just seen sprang to mind. Two victims right outside their car. Their throats torn. Their eyes open wide in horror. And all that blood—like they’d been bathed in it. What they must have felt as their lives were wrenched from them. “How could … how could anyone do that?”

He exhaled. “Sometimes it’s hunger, a recently turned vampire not having someone to help them through the change. Other times it’s a lack of respect for humankind.”

Della inhaled deeply and fought the need to throw up again. “We’re monsters,” she said, not meaning to say the thought aloud.

“No, we’re vampires. And we’re no more monstrous than any other species. Humans included. Good, bad, and evil isn’t species-specific. Don’t you ever question that.”

She blinked, hating that she’d expressed her insecurity to the one person she longed to impress more than the others.

He reached out and squeezed her shoulder. She nodded and looked away.

“Did you get a trace of his scent?” Burnett asked as if he sensed her need to change the subject. “Or was it too contaminated?”

Della looked back toward the bridge before facing the camp leader. The glow from the crescent moon reflected off his black hair. His dark eyes still held a touch of empathy, but he was back to being a tough FRU agent.

“I can’t be a hundred percent sure, with all the scents of the others, but I think it was the same vampire who passed over Shadow Falls. There’re traces of what seems like the same scent.”

He shrugged. “Which means you coming here was futile. I’m sorry I allowed you—”

“I’m not,” she said. “I want this, Burnett. I want to be a part of the FRU. It’s what I’m meant to do. I can handle it. I can. Even you said you got sick at first.”

He nodded. “Yes, but … there are easier ways to make a living, Della.”

“I don’t want easy. I want to catch the bad guys. I want to make a difference.” The words rolled off her tongue with honesty and sincerity.

He arched one brow. “You sure you just don’t want to kick someone’s ass?”

“Well, there’s that, too,” she admitted, and almost smiled, hoping that would ease the tension.

“That’s what worries me,” he said with a tone so dead serious that it wiped the half-assed smile from her face. “You’re tough, Della, I know that. But you’re going to run into bad guys who are tougher than you, and with your attitude you’ll end up like our Jane Doe back there. Being willing and eager to fight doesn’t make you a good agent. Knowing how to avoid a fight that you’ll lose, and being able to set your pride aside are better qualities. Qualities you haven’t developed yet.”

She tilted her chin upward and bit back her urge to argue with his opinion of both her toughness and her character. “I’ll learn.”

“I hope so.” He turned.

She reached out and touched his arm. “I want to help work this case. I want to get justice for … them.” She motioned back to the crime scene.

He sighed. “We’ll see.”

“Please,” she said.

“I said, we’ll see. The case won’t start until we get full reports back from the autopsies.”

He left her and went back to join the other FRU agents. But the sting of his words Qualities you haven’t developed yet stayed behind and cut her to the core. Burnett didn’t think she had what it would take to make it into the FRU.

Somehow, someway, she’d prove him wrong.

And to start, she forced herself to go and face the gruesome murder scene again. With each step she took, she vowed to not throw up again. It didn’t matter if Burnett had done it for a year, she wasn’t going to do it again.

She’d prove to him that she had what it took. Then she’d catch the bastard who did it.

It was almost four in the morning when Della got back to her cabin. Kylie was sitting at the table, looking kind of eerie in the dark wearing a white gown. Her blond hair hung down around her shoulders and her expression told a story that was a cross between The Exorcist and Friday the 13th. Or maybe Della was just overreacting after seeing … real death.

“Hey, you okay?” Della asked.

Kylie blinked. “Yeah, just couldn’t sleep.”

Bullcrappy! Chances were, Kylie had company. The kind of company Della couldn’t stand. “Are we alone?”

Kylie shrugged. Della moaned. The chameleon was a full-fledged, over-the-top ghost whisperer, and while Della hated to admit it, that scared the living shit out of her. If Kylie wasn’t one of her best friends, Della would’ve kicked the spirit magnet out the door. But being mean to Kylie was like being mean to a hungry puppy with a hurt paw. And frankly, if anyone was mean to her, Della would kick their butt so fast they wouldn’t know what hit ’em. But they sure as heck would know they’d been hit.