He took one step closer.
She took one step back. “Why were you meeting with Burnett?”
“The council sent me back.”
“Sent you about what?” she asked.
He didn’t answer.
Tired of playing games, she darted around him in a dead run, her only goal to get away from him—away from the temptation to lean against him, to find out what this bonding really meant. Or if it meant nothing, she thought, wanting that to be true.
This time he didn’t follow. Good, she thought, ducking under tree limbs, moving fast. That’s what she wanted. So why didn’t she feel victorious? Why was she now hearing the falls louder? Was it the falls luring her? Or Chase?
They sent him about you. The words rang out.
She came to a sudden stop.
Where had the damn voice come from? She stood there, cutting her eyes east to west, then back again.
Did you hear me?
This time she knew the words hadn’t come from her left or her right. They had come from within her. She recalled hearing similar internal voices. Chan? But he’d crossed over, hadn’t he? She’d been sure of it. Or was he waiting until the FRU, Fallen Research Unit team—the FBI in charge of supernaturals—released his body and buried him.
You listening?
Yes, I am, Della answered, realizing the voice was female.
“Lorraine?” Della whispered the name of the murdered girl, the last spirit she’d heard in her head.
Yet hadn’t Holiday assured her that Lorraine had moved on, crossed over?
So who the hell was this?
Did Della have another ghost hanging around?
“Crap!” she muttered.
Did you hear me? the voice repeated, as if taunting her.
“I wish I didn’t.” Della’s heart thumped against her chest. She fought the panic swelling inside her. Inhaling, she tried to find a sense of calm. She’d done the ghost thing. First, communicating with Chan, then with Lorraine. It shouldn’t freak her out.
Who was she kidding? Communicating with spirits was a rare talent, one that freaked out most supernaturals. And she was no different. Adrenaline chased goose bumps up and down her spine and then all the way down to her toes, which she curled in her boots.
The Vampire Council sent him about you, the voice repeated. Aren’t you curious?
For the first time, she really heard what the voice said. “What does the Vampire Council want with me?” She posed her question aloud. And just like that, her fear was replaced with …
Hell yeah, I’m curious. It had to be about her uncle, damn it!
She swung around and started back—fast. Moving at a dead run … but hoping the dead didn’t come with her.
The sound of her boots hitting the wet earth filled her ears and played like background music to the rush of the falls. As she neared, she saw Chase’s figure disappear behind the wall of water.
Or, at least she thought it was him. In reality, it could have been anyone.
She didn’t care. Curiosity and something else … something she couldn’t explain, propelled her forward.
Bonded. The word echoed in her heart as an explanation, but she refused to believe it.
She kept running, her feet splashing through the stream. Her face hit the curtain of water—cool, but not cold. It spilled over her face, down her shoulders, soaking her clothes. The second she got on the other side, she saw nothing. A cave-like darkness swallowed her. She blinked and waited for her eyes to adjust.
One second.
Two.
No light. Nothing. Even the sound of the falls had been yanked away.
Something wasn’t right.
Chapter Three
Trapped. Claustrophobic. Hungry. She sat on the cold ground.
Emotions whooshed through Della like a fire chasing kerosene. Then she heard it. Breathing.
In.
Out.
Air being pulled into another set of lungs.
She remembered she wasn’t alone.
“Chase?” she whispered his name, but even as she said it, she knew it wasn’t him.
It was Liam.
But who the hell was Liam? She didn’t know any Liam, so how did she know his name? Her heart thumped a little faster and she tasted blood on her tongue.
Mo fo! What the hell was happening?
“You okay?” a voice asked, Liam’s voice.
“No,” Della said. I’m pretty sure I’m losing my mind.
“Here. Drink some more.”
She smelled another vamp. Liam was a vamp. But she’d already known that. How could she know and not know something at the same time? An arm, a strong limb of flesh and blood, came against her mouth.
“Go ahead, drink a little more.”
Knees pulled up to her chest, her empty stomach clenched as she realized what he was offering. Vampires didn’t drink another vamp’s blood. At least not the ones she knew.
“No.” Della pushed the arm away, but as she moved the limb, her fingertips touched tiny wounds … wounds that felt like teeth marks.
When she rested her arm on her bare knee, she felt the same tiny wounds on her wrist.
“Do it, Natasha. Come on, I’m fine.” His arm came against her mouth again, and she gently moved it away, holding on to him a second longer than necessary, needing the contact.
She started to tell him she wasn’t Natasha, but it would have been a lie. She was Natasha. Somehow, someway, she was inside Natasha. Then she remembered this happening before, with Lorraine. But Lorraine was dead. Were these two … She blinked and tried to make out her surroundings. Only darkness filled her vision.