Reborn (Shadow Falls: After Dark #1)(28)

Burnett nodded as if he understood. Della wished she could buy it. Something was going on with her.

“But if it was the same guy who killed the couple, why would he stop at hitting me in the head? We’ve seen what he’s capable of doing.” She emotionally flinched as she recalled the bloody image of the couple.

“Maybe the death angels saved you,” Holiday said, and being a ghost whisperer, Holiday was one of the few who had a connection to the death angels. “Maybe they scared him off.” She set her hand on Della’s arm. The fae’s touch felt warm and chased away the emerging panic building in Della’s chest. Panic that Holiday probably picked up on with her fae abilities.

Embarrassed that she was having difficulty, she brushed Holiday’s touch off. “I’m fine.”

“It had to be upsetting,” Holiday said.

Upsetting? More like infuriating. “I’m fine,” she muttered again. And she would be fine as soon as she caught the creep who hit her.

Burnett glanced at Holiday. “If the death angels protected her, do you think you could get them to tell us anything?”

The idea of actually trying to communicate with the death angels sent another shiver down Della’s spine. “I wouldn’t bother them,” Della said. “They might have been the ones who did this and decide to come back and finish the job.”

Holiday shook her head. “I don’t think the death angels did this, Della.” Then she looked at Burnett. “It’s not as if I can just pick up the phone and ask them a question.”

Burnett didn’t look happy. “But you’ve gotten messages and visions from them.”

“When they feel it’s needed,” Holiday said, and then paused. “Frankly, my level of communication isn’t nearly as strong as someone else.”

“Kylie,” Burnett said, and nodded. “I’ll talk to her about it as soon as I get back.”

Steve walked back into the room, and this time Dr. Whitman was with him.

“Hello.” The doctor wore a white coat and came with the scent of anesthetic and a trace of dog. No doubt he really tended to the animals in his practice as well. Of course, she should have guessed that by the jar of dog biscuits on the counter. Della snuck a peek at the man’s pattern, half fae and half human.

The doctor’s gaze fell on Holiday. “How are you feeling? You remember we have an appointment next week.”

“We’ll be there,” Burnett said. For some reason it seemed out of his badass character to be a doting husband. Then again, she’d already come to the conclusion that he wasn’t nearly the badass he pretended to be.

Holiday motioned to Della. “Is she going to be okay?”

“Ahh, this one.” The doctor moved closer to Della. “I think she’ll be fine,” he said, but he looked puzzled as he tilted Della’s chin up to look at her eyes. “You have a concussion. But … concussions are practically unheard of in vampires. The virus…”

“I have a virus?” Della asked, thinking that could be what was messing with her hearing.

“The vampire virus,” Steve said.

“Oh,” Della said, thinking the doctor had found something else.

The doctor continued, “The V-one virus actually strengthens all the blood vessels and they heal before any real swelling occurs and can cause concussions”

“So why do I have a concussion?”

The doctor shined a light in her eyes. “Well, there is an exception.” His brows puckered as if puzzled again. “But I wouldn’t have been aware of it if I hadn’t…”

“Hadn’t what?” Della asked, not liking that the man didn’t finish his sentences.

Ignoring Della’s question, he walked around the table and started parting Della’s hair, touching a sore spot. She forced herself not to flinch at the pain.

“Does that hurt?” the doctor asked her.

“Not really,” she lied.

“Yes, it did,” Burnett, the walking, breathing lie detector, spit out, and frowned.

Della rolled her eyes at him.

The doctor continued to look at her bump. “You got a nice-size goose egg. And…”

“And what?” Della muttered, feeling like an idiot for being here.

“And I was right,” the doctor said.

Della turned and looked at the man’s hazel eyes. “Right about what?”

“Yesterday, there was an article written up in Supernatural Medical about how a blow delivered in an exact spot, a half an inch behind the right ear, can cause a slight cerebral hemorrhaging in the one weak spot of a V-one-affected brain. While the odds of it causing any real damage are slight, it can render a vampire unconscious.”

“Which could be considered damaging,” Burnett snapped.

“I don’t like it,” Steve added, looking at her, concern still pulling at his lips.

The doctor scratched his jaw. “It almost feels too coincidental.”

“What’s coincidental?” Della asked.

“That I read about it one day and see it the next. It’s almost as if…”

“Are you suggesting someone read that article and did this on purpose?” Burnett asked, sounding annoyed at the man’s unfinished dialogue with Della. “Why the hell would anyone publish it? Why tell the world of our weak