Reborn (Shadow Falls: After Dark #1)(64)

She glanced back at Miranda, expecting to see complete terror in the girl’s eyes. Instead, the little witch was looking down at her hands. Della followed Miranda’s gaze and saw her wiggle her right pinkie.

The realization of what the witch was doing hadn’t completely set in when it happened. The five supersized vampires in the room all turned into kangaroos. Very pissed off and huge, but befuddled kangaroos.

And befuddled was good. It gave Della and Kylie the upper hand.

The kangaroo goon who’d had Miranda by the throat started flapping his short arms as if trying to reach Miranda’s neck. Della did a flying leap into the air and planted both of her feet right in the animal’s face. He wavered on his big kangaroo feet, then fell to the ground, knocked out cold.

Wasting no time, she turned to help Kylie. Much to her disappointment, the chameleon stood above four unconscious kangaroos.

“Everyone okay?” Kylie asked, her voice deepened by her protective mode.

“Yep.” Della glanced at Miranda, who stood with her arms wrapped around her middle, looking panicked.

“You okay?” Della asked Miranda.

The girl nodded.

Della grinned at the witch. “I never thought I’d say this, but you saved our butts.”

Miranda glanced up, and her panicked expression faded. Her shoulders came up and a slight smile appeared in her eyes. “I did, didn’t I?”

The kangaroo still sporting a pen buried in his arm woke up and bolted to his feet as if ready to go another round. Della, not missing a beat, coldcocked him right in his ugly pink nose. Then she looked back at Kylie and motioned to the top of the file cabinets. “The duct tape. Let’s wrap up this problem.”

Della hauled one reddish-furred kangaroo over to Kylie’s four, and tossed him into the pile. Yeah, it was a little embarrassing that Kylie had taken down four to her one, but then again, Kylie was a protector. Della could still hold up her head.

Kylie tossed Della two rolls of tape. They stuck the end pieces of the tape to the pile of marsupials, and then they both zipped around, circling the animals and taping all five of them in one big, eight-by-eight-foot duct-tape ball. When those four rolls ended, Miranda handed them four more she’d found in the corner of the room.

“It was nice of them to leave us the tape, wasn’t it?” Miranda grinned.

Della glanced back at the chair with duct tape still hanging from one arm. She couldn’t help but wonder about the fate of the fresh turn who’d last sat there.

“Yeah, very nice.”

They finished all eight rolls. As a matter of fact, other than one twitching snout sticking out, you could barely see any kangaroo fur through the crisscrossed tape.

When the huge ball started jiggling, Miranda grinned. “They’re probably trying to scratch their balls. I gave them jock itch, too.”

Della cracked up laughing. When the moment of humor ended, she pulled out her phone. “I have to call Burnett.”

Kylie nodded. “I was just about to say that. But what are you going to tell him? Are you going to tell him about your uncle and aunt?”

Della hesitated. Would she have to tell Burnett everything? “You’re right. First, I should check the files.” As fast as she could, she started thumbing through files. She found Chan’s file first. The duct-tape ball jiggled even more, and she hurried to the T file for Tsang.

Her finger stopped on the file with the name Feng Tsang. “Found my uncle’s,” Della said, and continued thumbing through folders. “But not my aunt.” She picked up her uncle’s file and read just enough to know it was true. Her uncle hadn’t died. He’d been turned and faked his own death.

Unexpected emotion filled her chest. Tears filled her eyes. She had a vampire uncle. Well, she did if he wasn’t the ghost.

“This ball is moving quite a bit,” Kylie said. “I think—”

“I know,” Della said. “Here’s my plan. I’m going to tell Burnett part of the truth. I came here to see if I could find Chan. He won’t know I’m lying if I tell that truth.” She grabbed the phone to call him.

But before she punched in the first number, she heard a loud crash from the front, and then came footsteps, as if someone, or more than someone, was heading right toward them.

“Shit.” Della dropped the files on the desk, her skin prickling with a sense of danger. She took a flying leap forward to the door. Kylie beat her there.

Della inhaled, prepared to fight as the sound of footfalls moved closer. Then three figures came hauling ass down the hallway. She met the lead guy’s gaze and her fear subsided. The stubborn shape-shifter with beautiful brown eyes stopped running. Relief flashed across Steve’s face. Then the relief turned to anger.

Behind Steve, Perry and Lucas came to a sudden stop. Then all of them moved into the room, looking angry.

“What are y’all doing here?” Della demanded.

“What the hell is that?” Perry asked, motioning to the large duct-tape ball moving on the floor.

“Just a few marsupials,” Miranda said, and ran up to Perry and put her hands on his chest. “I saved Della and Kylie by turning those creeps into kangaroos.”

“I told you this could be dangerous,” Steve growled.

Della frowned at him. “And I told you I’d be fine. And I am, we all are.”