The group of agents started talking about if they wanted the criminals turned back into vamps before unrolling them. The agent who drew Della’s attention the most was the woman. She seemed savvy, but tough as nails. No makeup, not a piece of jewelry. Nothing about her said feminine. Even her hair was cut short.
Was that what it took to be a female and work for the FRU? You had to let go of anything feminine and put on a don’t-mess-with-me attitude? Were all the male agents like Burnett, and a female agent had to constantly be on guard, afraid she might be viewed as weak?
Burnett and the warlock agent walked over to the sofa. “Please tell me you can change them back.” Burnett spoke directly to Miranda.
She nodded.
“What kind of spell is this? Blood or herb?” the warlock asked.
Miranda looked worried. “Mind to pinkie. It wasn’t preplanned or ordained.”
The agent’s brow puckered and he looked back at Burnett. “She’s lying. It would take a high priestess to pull off a five-part transformation curse off the cuff.”
“She is a high priestess,” Della said, refraining from calling the man an ass**le. How dare he question Miranda when the evidence was wrapped in duct tape.
“I’m not a high priestess,” Miranda said, sounding embarrassed. She touched Della’s arm as if to say it was okay. “My mother is, or was. She’s since stepped down.”
Burnett stared at Miranda. “Are you lying about the spell?” he asked, listening to her heart. Della tuned in as well. Not because she doubted Miranda but to check her hearing.
“No,” she said. The little witch’s heart didn’t flutter.
Burnett refocused on the agent.
“But she couldn’t—“
“You heard her,” Burnett snapped.
The warlock didn’t look convinced. “But to do a curse like that would take one of the highest degrees of power.”
“Then I wouldn’t recommend you piss her off by calling her a liar,” Della spouted out. “Sometimes she has trouble controlling herself. Ask Burnett.”
Burnett let out a low growl and motioned for the agent to leave. Then he glanced back at Miranda. “How were you able to pull this off?”
Miranda shrugged. “I don’t know.” The girl’s green eyes grew a sheen of tears. “They were going to hurt Della and Kylie. I panicked and just did it.”
Della found her chest filling up with warmth. Kylie reached over and held Miranda’s hand.
“And you did a great job,” Kylie said. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Me, too,” Della added.
“Group hug,” Miranda said, holding out her arms.
“No damn hugs!” Burnett snapped. “You can undo it, right?” he asked.
“I’m pretty sure I can.”
“Oh, hell!” He raked a hand over his face. “Try to do it. Try really hard. I don’t think our jail is set up to house kangaroos.”
Ten minutes later, the six agents—seven counting Burnett—had the five vampires handcuffed and at the door, waiting for the bus to transport them to the FRU jail. They’d get their day in court, but the evidence they’d found in Mr. Anthony’s phone pretty much condemned them.
Miranda had managed to change them back, no issues. And Della, Miranda, and Kylie stayed on the sofa that Burnett had assigned them to, watching it all go down.
The warlock kept eyeing Miranda. Della wasn’t sure if he was impressed or scared of the witch. Either way, it did Miranda’s ego good.
The bus must have arrived, because the five thugs were being led out.
“Oh, crap.” Miranda giggled.
“Crap what?” Della and Kylie asked at the same time.
“I just noticed they’re walking funny. I didn’t remove the jock-itch spell.”
“Oh, darn,” said Della. And they all laughed.
The humor was sucked right out of the air when Burnett came to a quick halt in front of them. “Now to deal with you three.”
“No, to deal with me,” Della said. “I practically forced them to help me. They didn’t want to do it.” It was an out-and-out lie, but she had to try.
“She did not!” Kylie looked up from her phone, where she seemed to be checking e-mails.
“Nope,” Miranda said. “You punish one of us, you have to punish all of us.”
Della shot the little witch a cold look. Why the heck was she encouraging Burnett to punish them?
“Who the hell do you girls think you are? Charlie’s Angels? Why would—?”
“We do kind of look like Charlie’s Angels, don’t we?” Miranda grinned.
“Charlie’s what?” Kylie asked.
“The movie.” Miranda looked at Della. “You’re Lucy Liu and I’m Drew Barrymore and you’re,” she glanced at Kylie, “that Cameron chick … what’s her last name again?”
“Stop!” Burnett growled. “Do you three have any idea how badly this could have turned out?”
“Yes, we do,” Kylie said. “But we didn’t know going into it. So it isn’t our fault.”
“How the hell can you think it was okay to come here—?”
“Look!” Kylie held up her phone. “Here’s a picture of the funeral-home owner. Tomas Ayala is at least ninety. We had no idea he’d died and his evil stepson had taken over.”
Burnett glanced at the phone’s screen, but didn’t look convinced. “You came to an unregistered vampire-run business—”
“And that’s wrong, how?” Della asked. “In a year, we’ll all be leaving Shadow Falls and we’re going to live in the normal world. In a world where other supernaturals live. And surprise, not everyone is registered. What do you expect us to do? Never leave our homes? The whole point of Shadow Falls is to teach us to survive in the normal world. And what’s really nuts is that not only did we survive, we caught some bad guys.”
“You should have come to me with your concerns about your cousin,” Burnett said.
Della shook her head. “The last time I even mentioned him, you asked me how old he was. And I know why you did it, too. Because if he was eighteen, you’d have had to turn his name in as a possible rogue.”
Burnett’s mouth tightened before he spoke. “If he’s an adult, he needs to be registered.”
“In a perfect world, yes, but this world isn’t perfect.”