Free Spellbinder by C. C. Hunter

remembering Kylie’s ability to turn vampire, she looked at her with the question in her eyes.
    Kylie nodded, telling her that Sienna was telling the truth.
    Sienna’s gaze shot to Miranda. “Why aren’t you asking her questions? Is it because she goes to your school, and you don’t want one of your precious students to be guilty?”
    “I’m precious?” Miranda said, sending the girl a fake smile. “Thank you for that compliment.”
    Burnett let out a low growl. “It’s true. My relationship with Miranda Kane prevents me from being suspicious of her. However, evidence guides me in the same direction.”
    “What evidence?” Sienna asked.
    Burnett didn’t appreciate being questioned, and his expression said so. “Why would she have saved Tabitha if she was the one attempting to kill her? Any more questions?” he asked in a clipped tone that demanded respect.
    Sienna didn’t have a comeback.
    Neither did Miranda. But probably for different reasons. It felt good—heart gooey, need-a-hug kind of good—knowing that Burnett believed in her. The temptation to jump up and embrace him hit hard. Embrace him like she would her dad. Her dad, whom she’d barely seen these last few months.
    It hit her then. Hit her harder than it had earlier. She missed her dad. His work had always kept him on the road, but since she’d signed on full-time to Shadow Falls, it felt as if she barely saw him at all.
    Kylie, with her chameleon shifting abilities, must have turned Fae, because she seemed to read Miranda’s mood and she leaned over and whispered, “It’s gonna be okay.” Her shoulder lightly pressed against Miranda’s and a sweet calm flowed from her touch. Yup, she was Fae, all right. Only a Fae’s touch could ease a heartache.
    Burnett turned back to Shawn. “Play the last video.”
    They all watched another video taken by a tourist who never knew his vacation images would be used in an investigation. This one, however, had a different angle, and showed something the others hadn’t.
    The poop attack.
    Miranda fell back into the leather cushions wishing she could disappear.
    “What the hell was that?” Burnett said and replayed it again.
    The camera caught the vamp being hit with four or five piles of excrement.
    “I never saw that,” Shawn said. “I was too busy fighting.”
    “Me neither,” Kylie added, and then she must have picked up on Miranda’s emotion because she looked at her.
    Miranda nodded ever so slightly.
    Burnett looked at Miranda. She wanted so badly to lie—admitting she goobered a spell in front of Shawn, not to mention Tabitha and Sienna, sucked—but her conscience wouldn’t let her.
    “I saw Shawn had his hands full, and I wanted to help.”
    “By slinging shit at the vampire?” Sienna asked.
    “It worked,” Shawn added before Miranda started to explain her screwup. His blue eyes shifted from Sienna to Miranda, and he smiled. Tenderly. Sweetly. “Thank you.”
    Oh, hell! As nuts as it sounded, it almost felt as if he knew she’d screwed up and was trying to save her from the embarrassment.
    Burnett ran a hand through his hair as if worried. “Did you cancel the spell?”
    “No, he was trying to kill us.”
    Burnett chuckled. “Hell, I guess he deserves it.” He looked back down at the computer and projector. “Let’s go through all of this again and look for anything else unusual. Remember, chances are, the person who sent the fireball is somewhere on one of these cameras.”
    Watching them all again brought on some flashes of memory for Miranda. When the show ended, she closed her eyes and let her own mental video play on the backs of her eyelids. And it brought on an insight. “You know who I saw there, and I haven’t seen in any of the video or photos?”
    “Who?” Burnett and Shawn asked at the same time.
    “The twins, Candy and Sandy. I saw them in the mix of the crowd.”
    Burnett turned to Shawn. “I thought you said they were at the hotel?”
    “I spoke with