The High School Reunion From Hell - Saranna DeWylde Page 0,58

harder he tried, the smaller he got until he’d been stuffed back into his skin like an extra-large ravioli. The light had started to return, and the other shadows who were with him, they were stuffed back into their human shapes as well, which unfortunately turned out to be Dallas Dunderman and Lindsey Schiller.

“Hands in the air!” Defective Shithead called from behind me.

For fuck’s sake, not her again. “Like you just don’t care?”

“This is not the time, Majors.”

That’s when I noticed we’d been surrounded by FBVI agents who were loaded for bear, or in this case, they were all wearing tactical gear and vampire-repellent clothing. They proceeded to cuff Lindsey, Dallas, and Gabe, and fitted them each with a collar that zapped them every time it seemed they were trying to shed their skins.

“When is the time?” I asked her.

“Maybe now? Can I get a statement?”

“Can I have my dog?” I countered as I squared up to her.

“Yes, Margie. Your dog is fine. So is Brooke. Wanna take a walk?”

“Depends. You’re not going to put a hood on me and shove me in the back of a van are you?” Because I’d still have to kick her ass.

She laughed. “No. I’m sorry I couldn’t loop you in, but I couldn’t get you alone and then the brass decided it was best to keep you in the dark. We didn’t know how deep your ties to Gabe Dunavent ran.”

“I should kick your ass for letting me think you were going to hurt my dog. And my Brooke.” I was torn between being pissed off and grateful. Maybe it was a strange brew of the two.

She shrugged. “Peril of the job, I guess.” She nodded to her team. “Get these fuckos out of here.”

They dragged Dallas, Lindsey, and Gabe kicking and screaming down the access tunnel and outside.

“You should know, we almost staged a jailbreak.”

“There wasn’t an almost. It happened. My guys were instructed to let them go with you. Although, I’m sorry to tell you that your dog might have another day. He ate the tracking chip as planned. So…” She shrugged.

“Wait, how did it happen? It was only moments ago I got Ryder and Marc free.”

“No, it’s been hours,” she said. “Dunavent created some kind of shadow vortex in a place outside of time. We’re not sure how he did it, but our scientists are going to figure it out.” Tasha grinned. “Your daughter called me and told me I better get my ass down here and do my fucking job. I believe that’s verbatim. We just had to wait for you to break the vortex before we could interfere. How’d you do it?”

“This going to sound hokey as shit,” I began.

“Hit me with it anyway.”

“I believed in myself. In my own power. I reminded myself I didn’t need his goddamn validation. It broke his hold.”

“That is spectacular.”

“So where’s my little family?”

“They’re waiting for you upstairs. Indulge me with just a few more questions, okay? Then you can have the rest of the week at the hotel on us. A sort of thank you, I’m sorry, whatever, yeah?”

“There’s something else I’d rather have.”

“Are we negotiating?” She sounded almost pleased.

I smiled then. “No, I’m asking you for a favor.”

“I can’t make any promises until I hear what it is,” Tasha said.

Funny how she’d gone from Defective Shithead to Tasha so quickly. I smirked to myself, remembering how that ring hit her right in the middle of her forehead, and her eyes had crossed, and she’d fallen the fuck over. That was funny no matter who you were, unless of course, you were Tasha…

Although, I’d been in my fair and unfair share of scrapes, and if I’d gotten clocked with a shit-covered missile from a vampire pit bull’s ass, I’d have laughed. If I could laugh at myself about that time I shit myself in Yellowstone, surely I’d be able to laugh about this? If it were me, that is. I was definitely laughing about it now.

“Dallas is dead, right? For all intents and purposes, there’s no one home.”

“Yeah. He didn’t maintain any of his former personality, he’s literally a shadow.”

“Do you think the FBVI could give Presley the option of having him declared dead so she can collect on his life insurance policy?”

Tasha raised her brows.

“Listen, she’s got two kids to raise and put through school. She’s… she’s not like us. She’s delicate. Dallas was the breadwinner.”

“I think I need to show you something.” She pulled out her phone and pulled