Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter (27 page)

“Noel?!”

Noel looked grim-faced sitting in front of Melcher’s desk.
To her left I saw Valerie, dressed in a turtleneck and a pair of tall boots
pulled over tight jeans. Her hair cascaded in red waves down her shoulders. She
leaned against the wall, arms folded. My heart dropped.

Busted
.

Melcher smiled when he saw me. “Come in, Aurora. Have a
seat.” He indicated the spot next to Noel.

If Valerie’s was standing so was I.

“Hi, Aurora,” Noel said, barely audible.

Agent Crist raised a brow. “You two know each other?”

“We’re friends,” I said.

Valerie scoffed at this. She looked right over me to address
Noel. “And you didn’t suspect her? Fine informant you are.”

“Ladies, ladies,” Dante said, laughing. “Let’s play nice.”
He crossed over to Crist’s desk and settled on the edge. “So, what’s with the
little powwow?”

“Team, we have two problems,” Agent Melcher said. “Usually
we don’t gather informants and agents in the same room. Withholding identities
within the organization is vital and not doing so could cost someone their
life, but we’re making an exception because Valerie identified you, Aurora.”

I looked quickly at Valerie and then back at Melcher.

“Valerie’s one of our top informants and an uncannily perceptive
one at that,” Melcher said, proudly.

Perceptive, my ass.

Valerie’s eyes narrowed. “Actually, I thought you were a
vampire.”

My jaw dropped. “So you tried to call in a hit on my life?”

Melcher chuckled. “Valerie does enjoy a prompt
assassination—makes her feel like part of the team.”

Valerie lifted her nose. “Who can blame me? Look how pale
she is. Even in Alaska, that’s pushing it. Then there was her accident on the
road. One moment the kids at school are whispering about how Aurora Sky was in
a fatal car crash, the next she’s in class without a dent on her.”

I glared at Valerie. This had nothing to do with the paleness
of my skin and everything to do with a certain vampire. Of course, I couldn’t
mention any of this, and she knew it. If she wanted to tell the agents about
Fane, she would have done so already.

And if I truly had been a vampire, she would have happily
seen me staked through the heart.

I could already see she was over whatever initial
disappointment she must have felt when Agent Melcher explained I was one of
their own. She still had me at her mercy. What was the punishment for dating a
vampire? Death? Mine was questionable. Fane’s was certain.

I wanted to rip Valerie’s throat out, but I needed her to
talk to me first.

“Let’s get to the first order of business.” Melcher said. “Valerie,
Noel, we have reports of the infected prowling the halls at West High. I want
one of you to transfer and identify every last one of them.”

Valerie lifted her nose in the air. “I’m not leaving Denali.”

Noel’s voice quivered. “But all my friends are there.”

“You can make new friends,” Valerie said.

Melcher spoke up. “That’s enough. Noel, you’re transferring
to West first thing Monday.”

Noel’s face dropped. “Yes, sir.”

“Once you track down the predators, I’ll meet with you and
Sky to talk strategy.”

Guess Noel and I would be partying together after all.

“Now that everything’s cleared up, you two can leave.”
Melcher looked from Noel to Valerie. “I need to have a word with my assassins.”

Noel hurried out of the room. Valerie pushed away from the
wall, locking eyes with me as she left. Crist stood up and closed the door behind
them. Melcher folded his hands over his desk.

I’d been holding my breath without releasing it. I pulled in
air slowly.

“I’ve got bad news,” Melcher said. “This is serious, gang.”

Dante folded his arms and leaned forward. “Psycho vampire on
the loose?” He thought a moment and snapped his fingers. “Renegade vampire
army?”

“Janine’s dead.”

After the initial shock wore off I looked at Dante. His face
was a blank mask.

“How?” he asked.

“She was found dead in her dorm room, both arms broken,
trauma to the head, blood drained.”

Janine bludgeoned to death. Great time for my imagination to
go graphic.

I sank into a chair.

Dante’s jaw was tight. “Who did this?”

“We don’t know,” Crist said.

“Obviously we know
what
did it,” Melcher said. “What
we don’t know is if Janine told it anything.”

Dante propelled himself off the desk. “Shit!”

Crist frowned and glanced at the cross on the wall.

“I want a name,” Dante said. “I’m going to personally send
this creature back to his grave.”

“We’re working on it,” Melcher said. “But in the meantime,
both you and Sky need to be on high alert.”

My pulse slowed. You’d think it would quicken right about
now, rather than retreat into hiding. I felt faint. “Does this vampire know who
we are?”

“We don’t know, but it’s a possibility we can’t rule out.”

I nodded slowly. “I think I need some air.”

“Go on, Sky,” Dante said. “I’ll meet you in the parking lot
in a moment.”

I hurried down the hallway, in a rush to get out of the
compound as quickly as possible. Just being there reminded me of the white room
and the vampire lunatic. Now I was sick with the thought of what happened to
Janine. It overshadowed my own fear of being targeted. And I thought I had
problems before. Not only had I been made aware of Fane’s condition, but now
Valerie was onto us.

She was waiting for me in the parking lot, a Capri Slim
between two fingers. Just what I needed right then.

I sidestepped her as she tried to blow smoke in my face.

I looked Valerie up and down. “The agents told me there were
vampires, but they didn’t mention anything about witches.”

Valerie glared at me. “Maybe the agents didn’t explain to
you that you’re supposed to take down vampires, not date them.” She dropped her
cigarette and crushed it under her boot.

“And shouldn’t you be turning them in?” I countered.

“Do you want me to turn Fane in?”

I saw straight through the sweetness of her tone.

“No,” I admitted.

“Then break it off,” Valerie said smoothly.

I should have been relieved that she was offering to keep
him secret from the agents, but relief was not what I felt inside my chest at
the moment. The despair was so intense I itched to grasp the area over my heart
and squeeze until it stopped hurting so much.

“You mean…”

“Break. Up. With. Him.”

I ground my teeth together so hard they ached when I
released. “So you can swoop back in?”

“Just remember, as long as Fane’s with me he’s safe.”
Valerie tossed her hair over her shoulder. She walked to her car, a shiny red
Honda Civic that zoomed out of the lot, leaving behind a cloud of exhaust.

I didn’t need to jump in place to keep warm as I waited for
Dante—I was fuming. I always knew Valerie was heinous bitch. And now she
thought she could blackmail me. Well, actually, she could. What was I going to
do about it? What could I do? And why the hell did she think she could be with
Fane if I couldn’t?

I sobered up when Dante walked out. I knew there were more
serious things to worry about than breaking up with Fane, though they didn’t
feel nearly as important.

Dante lifted his chin when he saw me. We got inside the
Rubicon and he stared through the window shield into the lot before starting
her up.

“Dante…I’m sorry.” It seemed we were both losing someone we
cared about.

“Don’t worry, Sky. Janine would never rat us out.”

“What about those two guys at the party?”

“I’m going to hunt them down this weekend. Wanna come?”

Not a bad idea. Break up with Fane then skip town. My life
just kept getting better and better.

 21

I waited till the eleventh hour to call Fane.

Chicken shit.

I dialed his number, heart in my throat. I’d rather do this
in person, but I remembered how well that went last time.

“Aurora.”

He sounded so happy to hear from me. It made what I had to say
that much worse.

“I’m headed out of town again.”

“Fairbanks?”

“Unfortunately.”

“When?”

“In a little bit.”

“When are you getting back?”

“Don’t know.”

Fane released a deep breath. “I’ve missed you.”

“Me, too.”

I knew what Valerie wanted—for this to be a messy breakup so
Fane would run right back into her arms for comfort. If only Valerie was a
vampire. I’d ram a stake right through her evil heart.

“Fane…”

“I know what I am, but I didn’t choose to be this way. In
the end, I’m just a boy—a boy who doesn’t get any older or die but still human—and
I want to be with you as long as possible.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

This was my cue to reveal Valerie’s evil plot. Did I take
it? No. Because there was no way to tell him without confessing my own dark
secret. If I told him we’d be history anyway. I was the real killer.

“I’m seeing someone else.”

“What? Who?”

I couldn’t speak for a moment, shocked I’d said the words.
It wasn’t part of the plan.

“Who is he?” Fane asked.

“I’m so sorry, Fane,” I said very softly. “You mean a great
deal to me.”

“Who is he?”

“Dante.”

Yep, that was spontaneous as well.

“Dante,” Fane spit out. “You mean the big
brother
type?”

I winced. “I guess I started seeing him as more than that. I
don’t want to hurt you, but Dante and I have a lot in common, and he won’t look
like he’s twenty when I’m eighty. How long do you think we’d last, anyway?”

“So that’s it then? And this Dante character’s going to
stick around until you’re eighty?”

“Probably not, but at least it’s a possibility.”

“I can’t believe this. We need to talk…in person.”

My body shuddered with a sensation that was more pleasure
than fear.

“Let me pick you up.”

“I can’t. I’m about to leave.”

The soft lilt of Fane’s voice hardened. “With Dante?”

“With Dante,” I repeated. “I’m sorry.”

“I’ve got to go.”

“Fane…”

It was good he hung up because I don’t know what I would
have said had he stayed on the line. That, and I felt the waterworks coming on.
Breaking things off probably wouldn’t sound so convincing if I started
blubbering over the phone.

I threw myself face down onto my bed and wailed into the
pillow.

“Aurora!” my mom called from downstairs. “Aurora, why don’t
you come down and have some lunch before you leave?”

I willed her to leave me alone, but eventually my mom made
her way to my room. “Aurora? What’s the matter?”

I sniffed several times to clear my nose. “It’s not like
you’d care.”

“What happened?”

I turned my head away from her. “I broke up with Fane.”

“Oh, honey.” Mom patted my back as she held me in a
half-hug. “I’m sorry to see you upset.”

That’s all she cared about.
Seeing
me upset.
Listening to her try to sympathize with me was torture, especially the part
where she said she thought it was for the best.

“Dante’s going to be here soon. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

Mom led me to the bathroom. My face did feel like a splotchy
horror. I’d rather not have Dante on my case the whole eight hours up to
Fairbanks, or five, depending how fast he drove. I splashed my face with cool
water in the sink and patted it dry with the hand towel Mom handed me.

I didn’t need a mirror to see I still looked like a mess. I
could see it in the way Mom looked at me.

“I have some concealer,” she said.

“No, no make-up.” I combed my hair forward with my fingers.
At least part of my face was covered.

I hung out in the kitchen for the remaining hour, just
waiting for the doorbell to ring. When it did, I flinched.