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“Don’t move,” Chase seethed. “Or do, and it’ll make my day.” His fury rose now as he became even more certain this guy had been at the park. He recalled with clarity seeing one of the half were’s fists swing at Della, and Chase had to work not to let his eyes grow bright.
Grabbing the guy by the arm, he dragged him across the parking lot to his car.
Burnett met him halfway, with one of the other runaways. Shawn was placing another one in the back of a black sedan. Trisha stood outside apartment two, shaking her head, as if to say Stone wasn’t there.
Chase turned to look for Della. The parking lot was empty.
Where the hell was she?
* * *
Della moved fast, sniffing the air. The guy had disappeared between apartment buildings. She’d caught the were scent when she’d first leapt out of Chase’s car, but she’d left that behind as she pursued the new scent. What she now tried to follow was vampire and maybe a trace of warlock. Definitely a mixed breed.
She moved around several cars, thinking the guy might be hiding. He wasn’t there.
Then she heard a scream. A child’s scream. Coming from one building away. She took off, completely blowing Burnett’s no-excess-force rule.
The scream stopped. Della kept moving. She saw an apartment door open. And she heard a muffled cry from inside.
She debated for one second to enter or not. The moan came again. Della shot forward.
She stopped as soon as she spotted him. The vampire had his arm around a child, his hand clasped over her mouth. He held a knife in his other hand. The girl, dark skinned, with yellow ribbons in her hair, had tears running down her face. She looked terrified. As she should be.
“Let the child go,” Della said, and fought to keep her eyes from growing bright. Not because of Burnett’s rule but for fear of scaring the girl.
“Get away from the door,” he seethed, his eyes lime green and his fangs out. He moved his hand from the girl’s mouth and pulled her closer. Then he put the knife to her throat.
The girl let out a light cry. Della checked his pattern as she shifted away from the door. She’d been right. Vampire. Dominant vampire with some warlock.
“I’m moving,” Della said. “Just leave the kid and I’ll let you go.” Della’s heart raced. If he tried to run with the girl, she’d have to stop him. There was no doubt he’d kill the girl if he got away.
Della didn’t lack the strength to catch him, but did she have the courage to do it, knowing how fast that knife could slice the child’s throat?
The little girl’s gaze met hers. The rogue pressed the knife closer.
“Go,” Della said. “I won’t chase you. Just let her go. She’s a kid. She didn’t do anything.”
The vamp picked up the child and slung her across the room.
Della jumped up in the air and caught the girl right before she hit the wall, landing in the middle of the living room.
She pulled the little girl against her. “It’s okay,” Della said, but she had to look away from the child’s face because she felt her eyes grow hot with fury.
But it quickly didn’t become an issue, because the girl buried her face in Della shoulder and started sobbing.
Seconds later, Chase rushed in. His eyes were bright, his fangs half out.
She shook her head. He nodded and darted off.
Seconds later, Shawn came in. He nodded at Della and she knew what he meant. She should turn the child over to him and get the hell out.
Before she did, she gave the girl one last pat on her back. “It’s all over now.”
* * *
“You did the right thing,” Burnett told Della, thirty minutes later.
The van had shown up and taken the three half weres away. The little girl had been taken by ambulance just to make sure she was okay. Stone wasn’t there. The apartment manager, a human older woman who kept an unlit cigarette dangling from her lips, gave them the bad news. Douglas Stone had packed his shit and left a couple of weeks ago. And all but these four of his “friends” who had helped him out around the apartment had left with him.
