Page 29 of Unspoken (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3)

Chapter Twenty-nine

She was ready to give him some shit, until she got close enough and saw his expression. Pain, grief, guilt. Emotions she’d just pushed away herself.

So she resisted making her snide remarks. Her footsteps sounded too loud. She leaned against the car beside him. Her arm almost touched his. The dark cold surrounded them, and the lukewarm temperature of his body reached her.

For several seconds neither of them spoke. But oddly enough, she could feel his pain.

“It reminded me of Chan,” she said, thinking that if she reached out, he might reach back.

He nodded, and she felt him shift his weight. “I was an ass,” he said, his voice still holding the remnants of anger.

“Yup.” She waited for him to explain.

He didn’t. He didn’t have to, she told herself. She wasn’t a big fan of spilling her guts either.

But she wanted him to. And just how much she wanted him to, scared her. Scared her because it reminded her of how imbalanced, how undefined this thing between them was. She cared, but didn’t want to. She trusted, but not completely.

He shifted again and she glanced at him, only to find him looking at her. But damn, it hurt to see it, the pain lingering in his eyes.

What was hurting him?

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Yeah, but you know when you’re an ass to someone, it helps if you explain it.”

Inhaling, he looked ready to spill when the sound of a door swishing open echoed into the night. Footsteps rang out.

“You two ready?” Burnett asked.

“Yeah,” Della answered.

She got in the front and let Chase take the backseat.

“What all did you get?” Della asked, hoping to hide the awkward silence.

“Bite marks, a few hairs, and a confirmation that it was weres. Nothing that will hand the killers over on a silver platter, but it’s a start. I forgot to ask, did you two discover anything when you compared notes on the vision?”

She saw Burnett glance up at the rearview mirror, as if checking on Chase. Did Burnett understand this more than her?

“Nothing new,” Della said and resisted turning to check on Chase herself.

***

Burnett drove back to the FRU office. As they got out, Burnett said, “Be safe and don’t stay out late,” looking at Chase. “You are still recovering.”

Chase nodded. As they moved around back before going into flight, she thought he might explain what had gone down at the morgue. He didn’t.

She didn’t say anything, but his silence hurt.

Five minutes later, Chase dropped down about a block short of his cabin, in a thick patch of trees. She landed with him, unsure why he’d chosen to walk the rest of the way.

The moment he landed, he started moving.

She set her pace even with his.

Their footsteps filtered through the night, accompanied by the scratchy sound of an occasional critter scurrying away. The cold air surrounded them, and the moon spilled down from dark sky, whispering through the trees like liquid lace.

Chase stopped walking. He took in a deep breath.

She stopped beside him, silently waiting.

“I don’t like morgues,” he said.

She looked up at him. She could see his eyes, and the pain still lingered in his pools of green. “I don’t think anyone does.”

He exhaled again. “I couldn’t go to their funeral. I was supposed to have been dead too.” He started walking.

And that’s all it took for Della to understand. Hurt filled her chest. The image of young Chase saying goodbye to his family in a cold white room that smelled of astringent filled her mind and she had to swallow to keep the hurt from filling her eyes with tears.

“Eddie asked me if I wanted to see them for the last time. I said yes. The thought of never, ever seeing them again was… too much.”

Della didn’t even realize she was doing it, but she reached for his hand and took it in hers.

“Seeing their bodies was…” He inhaled again. “Mom was… missing an arm. Dad’s body wasn’t even all there. I couldn’t even look at my sister. I remember wishing that Eddie hadn’t saved me. That the fourth body that carried my name on his toe tag had really been me. I didn’t want to live without them.”

Della tightened her hold on his hand. “He should never have let you see that.” Fury at her uncle filled her heart. Just what she needed, another reason to dislike him.

“No, I had to. I had to say goodbye. It wasn’t Eddie’s fault. He tried to prepare me.”

“You can’t prepare for that,” Della said.

“I just… I haven’t been to another morgue since then.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, and after several silent seconds passed she sensed he wasn’t going to say anything else. But she didn’t let go of his hand until they got to the cabin, and even then she hadn’t stopped hurting for him.

***

Natasha met them outside on the porch. The porch light cast a halo around her. Dressed in a sleeveless yellow sundress, she looked clothed for the wrong season. She wore a smile, and her eyes, portraying her Chinese heritage much more than Della’s, sparkled with happiness. No doubt the thought of going back home filled her cousin with joy.

Della hoped her cousin’s adoptive mom would welcome her daughter home with open arms and not notice the changes that came with being a vampire. Had her cousin really given this thought?

“I’m so glad you came,” Natasha said. “Liam and I decided to do some taste tests. And you two are going to be part of the experiment.”

“Experiment?” Della asked.

“Yeah,” her cousin said. “Since we’ve been turned, we haven’t eaten real food. And for the next few weeks we’re going to be living with our parents, so we decided to see which foods are still palatable. We’ve been cooking all day.”

Della made a face. “I don’t know…”

“She’ll do it.” Chase gave her a nudge up the steps.

“It’ll be fun,” Natasha said. “And you don’t have to eat, just taste.” She led the way inside.

The cabin smelled like a hodgepodge of different foods. Liam, dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, stood in the kitchen stirring something on the stove.

“Hey,” Liam smiled. “My woman has me slaving away in the kitchen.”

“Not true.” Natasha moved in to kiss Liam. “I just took the first shift of cooking.”

Her cousin appeared to be running on happy batteries. “We even have some adult beverages.” She glanced at Chase. “I noticed that you had some beer in his fridge. So that tells me you still drink it, right?”

“Yeah,” he said. “But it has to be really cold.”

“Okay, beer’s going in the freezer.” She stuck some bottles in the freezer. “And Liam brought a bottle of wine from his mom’s house.”

Della made a face. “I didn’t like the stuff before I was turned.”

“Well, maybe it’s changed.” Natasha darted to the cabinet and pulled down four glasses.

Liam laughed. “I swear, she’s been like this all day.” His gaze turned to Della. “Especially since she heard you were coming. Someone’s filled her tank up with happy juice.”

“Well, yeah,” Natasha said. “In a few days I’ll have my life back, and then…”—she ran over and kissed Liam again—“you and I can start our own lives.” She glanced back at Della. “Nothing’s wrong with happy.”

No, Della thought, except it made her realize she must have a hole in her own happy tank. Or maybe knowing she was responsible for having her dad arrested for murder just sucked the happy out of her.

Chase moved into the kitchen. “I don’t think this cabin has smelled this good in a while.”

“Yeah, but I’m told certain foods might smell good, but taste like shit,” Liam said.

“True,” Chase said.

Della watched Chase. This was his house, but he didn’t seem to feel awkward at all as Liam and Natasha played hosts.

Chase’s gaze met Della’s and he smiled. The pain in his eyes had gone. Obviously, he didn’t have a leak in his happy tank.

She glanced away.

Natasha looked at the food Liam placed on the table. “I’m curious if we will all like and hate the same things. Or if our tastes will vary.”

Della moved in. “I think they vary. Some vampires at the camp love pizza. Me, not so much.” She spotted a chocolate cake on a glass platter. “Once, Kylie was having a meltdown, she was eating the chocolate syrup with a spoon. I poured some into my blood and it went down smooth.”

Natasha pulled out the wine cork, then filled four wineglasses.

“I like French onion soup,” Della said. “It’s one of the few foods I still enjoy.”

Natasha handed Chase a glass of wine. “You first.”

Chase raised it to look at it as if he were a wine connoisseur. His mind seemed to wander, and she could swear she spotted a flash of the earlier pain in his eyes.

“Snickerdoodle cookies,” he said.

“What?” Della asked.

“My mom used to make them. She said they tasted like love. About six months ago, I saw them in a bakery. I ordered one. I thought it would taste bad. It didn’t. Maybe it was nostalgia. I bought a dozen.”

He sipped the wine.

“And? How is it?” Natasha asked Chase, and passed Della a glass.

“Well…” Chase smacked his lips. “It tastes like… sour crap.” He turned to the sink and spit.

They all laughed and all agreed. Wine was a no-go.

The conversation went to Natasha going home. “As soon as Mom’s over the shock, I’ll bring Liam over to meet her.”

“Yeah.” Liam frowned.

Natasha rolled her eyes. “He’s worried my family and friends won’t like him because he’s part African American. Duh, I’m half Chinese.”

“It’s not the same,” Liam said, but he curled his arms around her.

“Not everyone is racist,” Della said.

“But quite a few are,” Liam said. “Still, I’m not going anywhere.” Liam brushed Natasha’s hair to the side and kissed her neck. It was… somehow almost erotic. Just watching it sent tingles running down her spine.

“They are going to love you. Just like I do.” Natasha arched her neck back and they kissed. One of those soft kisses that lasted a little too long to be in public.

Della cut her eyes away, and accidentally met Chase’s gaze. The look he sent her was almost as disturbing at watching Natasha and Liam.

For the next few hours, they sat at Chase’s large French farm table, sampled food, and laughed. At one point, Della realized that while they were four vampires sitting at this table, this was the most normal—human-normal—evening she’d had in a long time. There seemed to be something comforting about sitting around a dinner table with food.

The thought hit her that she probably hadn’t tried hard enough to fit in with her parents. Instead of dreading dinners she should have found food she could stomach and cooked them for her family. She should have passed dinnertime encouraging conversation instead of feeling like a monster and hence coming off as one.

If only…

Her chest felt heavy when she wondered if she would get a second chance to make things smoother?

Della finally looked at her watch. It was after eight. “I’d better get back, or Burnett is gonna have a shit fit.”

“Yeah,” Chase said. “We’d better go. It’s been fun. Thanks.”

“No, thank you,” Natasha said. “For everything—saving our lives, letting us stay here. It’s been just what we needed.”

“Well, you’re welcome to come back anytime. Take the key with you,” he said to Natasha, but he reached over and held a chicken finger to Della’s lips.

Della was so surprised, she ate it. And it wasn’t half bad. Then Chase ran his finger over her lip.

Della felt the blush hit her cheeks, and she realized Liam and Natasha were watching and smiling. Didn’t Chase know she could feed herself?

“Aren’t you going to move back in?” Natasha asked.

“Not for a while. I think I’ll hang out at Shadow Falls.”

“What?” Della shook her head. She’d thought he’d been staying at the school because Liam and Natasha were here. “This place is ten times better.”

“Yeah, but Shadow Falls has something this place doesn’t.” Natasha grinned.

“No,” Della said. “You’ve seen the cabins there.”

“It has you,” Natasha answered.

Della glanced at Chase. He didn’t deny it. And he winked at her. Winked?

First he feeds her and then he winks at her?

“You’re crazy,” she said.

“Here’s to being crazy,” Liam said and picked up a glass of blood for a toast.

They walked out on the porch. Natasha pulled Della to the side. “Is my mom…? Do you still see my mom?”

Della nodded, and decided not to mention that Holiday wanted to perform an exorcism to send her packing. “Yeah.”

“Can you tell her that I’m happy? Really happy.”

“I’ll tell her.”

Her cousin hugged her. “Chase is a good guy,” she whispered in her ear. “Stop fighting it.”

Della didn’t answer that, but the thought hit her that if she was fighting it, she was doing a piss-poor job of it. Every damn day he got closer… not even just physically, but emotionally. And what was this feeding-her crap?

She glanced over at the guys.

Chase shook Liam’s hand. “Hey,” Chase said. “I just noticed your shoes. Are those the Nike foamposite shoes?”

“A knockoff, I’m sure,” Liam said. “My mom got them. She couldn’t afford the real thing.”

Della looked down at his bright blue shoes with weird soles and… bam. Just like that her world flipped. She wasn’t even standing. But lying flat on her back on a… cold, bloody, concrete floor.

“Della?” she heard Chase say her name. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” She blinked and things slowly came into focus. His face, and then the missing piece of puzzle just slipped into place. “We gotta go.”

She waved, jumped off the porch, and started jogging.

Chase kept up with her. “What is it?”

“I know what I forgot about the vision.”

“What?”

“Shoes.” Della continued to run.

“Shoes?” His footfalls fell even with hers in the darkness.

“One of the killers had on a pair of very strange shoes. Red, and they looked like snakeskin. I could be wrong, but for some reason I don’t think a badass were would wear a pair of knockoffs. He probably bought them. And if I’m right and they are as expensive as I think they are, then there may be only a few places that sell them. If we can find out who sells them, we might be able to find out who bought them. And we’ll have at least one of the killer’s names.”

She took off in flight, dodging the tree limbs and trying to hurry to get back to do her Internet search. While it wasn’t about her father’s case, it still felt good to think she was closer to catching Mr. and Mrs. Chi’s killers.