Reborn (Shadow Falls: After Dark #1)(37)

“She told me you went back to the falls again,” Miranda said. “And you were supposed to be sleeping. Why would you go to the falls to start with? That place is over-the-top eerie. You might have run into a death angel.”

When Della didn’t answer, Miranda’s eyes went wide. “Did you see a death angel?”

“I … not really,” Della huffed. “I saw some shadows, that’s all. And it happened like the second I was hit on the head, so I probably just … imagined it.” And that was what Della kept telling herself.

“What kind of shadows?” Miranda asked. “Did they look like monsters or … what?”

Della saw Kylie’s eyes light up with interest. Kylie being another ghost whisperer, she shared Holiday’s connection with the death angels.

“No,” Della said. “Just shadows.” When the witch didn’t look happy with Della’s answer, she added, “Hell, ask Kylie about them. She’s like their best buddy.”

With all eyes now on Kylie, she spoke up, “They aren’t monsters. Imagine a spiritual being.”

Miranda shook her head. “They still scare the crap out of me.” Her gaze went back to Della. “I still don’t get why you’d go there.”

Della growled. “I wanted to find out who hit me the second time. The first … I … I don’t know why I went the first time, I was running and I sort of just ended up there.”

“Then you turn your butt around and run the other away,” Miranda said.

“I was going to, but I was hit before I could.” Then Della remembered. “Did Burnett ask you to see if the death angels saw who hit me?”

Kylie nodded. “I put the question out there, but haven’t gotten an answer. Maybe they weren’t there.”

“It felt like they were there,” Della said. “I … I felt like I was trespassing. Like someone there was making me feel that way.” She shivered ever so slightly. “I still halfway think they’re the ones who hit me.”

“And yet you went back the second time?” Miranda snagged one of Della’s pillows to rest on. “And here I thought you were smart.”

Della scowled at the annoying witch. “I told you, I was hoping to find a trace of the piece of shit who hit me.”

“Did you get anything?” Kylie asked.

Della nodded. “Chase.”

Kylie’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

Miranda’s popped up from her reclined position. “Chase is the one who knocked you out?” Her eyes got wide. “And I thought he liked you. Oh, hell, Burnett’s going to kick his ass out of here for messing with his favorite vamp.”

Della shook her head. “First, I’m not Burnett’s favorite vamp.”

“Yeah, you are,” Miranda said.

Della looked at Kylie, who nodded her head as if agreeing with the witch. If she was his favorite anything, why would he want to stop her from going into the FRU? Della pushed that thought away to ponder later. “Second, I said I found Chase’s scent there, but then I found him. He told me Burnett sent him there to see if he could find a trace after I was hit.”

Kylie pulled one knee up to her chest. “Did you ask Burnett?”

“No, but I don’t think he would lie about something that I could so easily check on.”

Miranda crossed her legs. “Maybe he figured you’d think that and not ask.”

“Maybe,” Della said, and tried to think how she could pose the question to Burnett.

Kylie leaned back against the headboard. “Is that the obituary?” She nodded to the folded paper now resting beside her on the bed.

“Yeah,” Della answered.

“Whose obituary?” Miranda asked.

“My uncle’s.” Della pushed the covers off, noting that the cold had left. “Derek found it in some old newspaper files.”

Miranda put on a pout. “Why is it that Kylie always knows stuff before I do?”

Della cut her gaze at Miranda and made a face. “Because you’re always away with Perry getting your earlobes sucked.”

Miranda snatched a pillow and threw it at Della.

Frustrated, Della caught it with two hands and accidentally pulled it apart. Duck feathers exploded in the air like snow and then rained down from the ceiling.

Miranda started giggling. Kylie joined in. Eventually, Della couldn’t help herself. The giggles were contagious.

They laughed for a good five minutes, tossing handfuls of feathers at each other until they had them in each other’s hair, stuck to each other’s faces. Miranda even pulled a couple out of her bra. When the giggles stopped, Kylie found the folded-up obituary under a thick pile of feathers.

The chameleon looked at Della with empathy. “Do you want me to read it to you?”

Della almost said no, not wanting them to think she was too chicken to read it on her own. Part of her even felt guilty. Wasn’t wanting her uncle to be alive so badly saying her family at Shadow Falls wasn’t enough? But if anyone could understand and make this easier, it was Kylie and Miranda.

“Yeah. But I think I might need a Diet Coke.”

They went to get up, but they all froze when the bedroom door slammed. The air in the room became instantly frigid. The feathers, mostly on the bed, rose up and started swirling.