“What?”
“I hadn’t planned to,” he said quickly. “I drove to school to meet my buddies at the dance and then I saw you outside. Before I had a chance to park and ask what you were doing, I saw you get into a car with some chick.”
“So you followed me?”
“I remembered you saying you had a party to go to, and it didn’t look like you had a date. I thought if I showed up we might get a chance to hang out.”
Oh, Mike. This was so not the place to hang out. I had to get him out of here immediately.
Mike stared down at the guests mingling in the living room. “This is quite the shindig. Glad I dressed up for the dance.”
“Speaking of the dance, you should get back before your friends worry about you.”
“Nah, I texted them before I came inside.”
If I’d had any color left in my pale skin it would have drained. “Did you text them the address?” I demanded.
“No, I just told them I decided to go to a party instead.”
My shoulders relaxed. “Good, now let’s get you out of here.” I looked back in annoyance when Mike didn’t follow me to the top of the stairs.
“What’s the rush?”
I tightened my fingers around the iron railing. My patience had just about run out.
“The rush is that this party is by invitation only, and you weren’t invited. Now come with me before the host notices you’ve snuck in.”
I scanned the living room for Marcus as I spoke. He couldn’t be hard to locate in his red shirt. As luck would have it, he wasn’t around. Hopefully he’d snuck off in one of the upstairs rooms with their dangling bats.
Mike looked ready to protest until I took his hand and pulled him toward the stairs. He smiled and gave my hand a squeeze.
I led Mike down the spiral staircase. The moment we reached the living room I let go of his hand. Before I could steer Mike out of the living room, he said, “Hey, I know you.”
I tried not to grimace as Henry turned slowly. He looked from Mike to me then back at Mike, saying nothing.
“You go to West,” Mike added.
Oh God, Henry did not look happy, and I couldn’t blame him. I would have clamped my hand over Mike’s mouth if it wouldn’t draw more attention.
“Come on, Mike. The door’s this way.” I gave his arm another pull.
“Aurora’s throwing me out,” Mike said with a laugh. “See you around.”
I felt a surge of relief when I finally managed to get Mike past the kitchen. The front door was in sight.
“Did you bring a coat?” I asked.
Before Mike could answer, we were stopped by a mass of muscle, staring sensually at Mike. Marcus. Perfect timing.
“And who is this delicious treat?”
“No one. He’s leaving.”
Mike reached his hand out. “Hey, man. I’m Mike.”
Marcus’s eyes shined under the track lighting above his head. “Handsome and well mannered—I insist you stay. My name is Marcus.”
“Is this your place?” Mike asked. “I didn’t mean to crash your party.”
“Crash? Don’t be silly,” Marcus said, still holding on to Mike’s hand. “You can crash here anytime. Aurora knows I never turn down objects of beauty.”
Mike’s smile faded. He moved closer to me.
I squared my shoulders. “Too bad Mike has another engagement he’s late for.”
“I’m sure he can cancel,” Marcus said, winking at Mike.
Before Mike could answer, I said, “Unfortunately not. He’s kept his friends waiting long enough already and like you said, he’s too well-mannered to keep them waiting any longer. Mike?” I said sharply. “I’ll walk you to your car.”
“Maybe another time,” Mike said, following close behind me.
“Anytime.” Marcus brows jumped, and he turned back toward the living room.
Mike walked out the front door as though in a trance until the cold air hit him.
“Wait, what about my jacket?”
“Forget the jacket. I’ll bring it to school on Monday.”
“Are you mad at me?” Mike asked.
Now that we were outside, I felt free to talk as loud as I liked.
“Yes, I’m mad at you! You can’t just follow me to a party and show up uninvited.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I wasn’t stalking you or anything. I’d just rather hang out at a party than a school dance. And it would have been cool to hang out. Marcus didn’t seem to mind.”
I stopped on the sidewalk and leaned into Mike. “You have to promise me you will never come back here.” I really needed to find a way to hammer that point home. It’s not as though I could warn Mike about vampires. “It’s Marcus, you see. He once had a thing for me, and he still gets jealous of other guys. I know he acts friendly, but you can’t trust him to have the best intentions.”
“Marcus?” Mike asked dubiously.
I nodded, hoping he’d buy it.
Mike watched me carefully. “But you’re not into him?”
My expression was proof enough—my entire face wrinkled. “I’ve never been into him that way.”
Mike stopped beside an SUV and kicked at a clump of frozen snow on the sidewalk. He kept at it, making no move to the driver’s side.
The cold made my gums feel numb. I cleared my throat. “Drive safe, Mike.”
Mike stopped kicking at the snow. “So, you’re going back inside?”
“Only to get your coat and find my ride. I’m ready to go.”
“I’ll drive you home,” he said.
“I promised my friend we’d hang out afterwards,” I said.
“Okay, well, I guess I’ll see you Monday.”
Unless I found another high school to transfer to. Yeah, right.
“Drive safe.”
“See you later, Aurora,” Mike said.
I lifted my hand in the air and turned my back to him before he could say anything more, hurrying back to the warmth of the palace.
Henry was waiting for me in the kitchen with a tight frown forming wrinkles on his chin. I eyed the blood shots on the counter beside him. I could really use one. Blood made me feel strong, in control.
“What was Michael Peterson doing here?” Henry demanded.
My brain had a whiteout moment before registering that Henry was referring to Mike.
“I didn’t invite him,” I said defensively.
“That wasn’t my question.”
I reached for a bottle of red wine on the counter. If I couldn’t drink blood in public then I was going for the next best thing. Red wine had its own warming quality, especially in winter.
“Allow me,” Henry said, ever the gentleman even though displeasure filled every crevice of his face.
“He followed me here,” I said as Henry poured.
“You seem to have a knack for drawing unwelcome attention,” Henry said, eyes never leaving the flow of wine. He lifted the bottle when the glass was half full and handed it to me.
I didn’t feel like drinking anymore. It’s not as though I could argue with him—as much as I wanted to. It had been nice of him and Gavin to help dispose of my captors two weeks ago. Now here I was leading a clueless classmate straight into the bat cave. If I didn’t watch myself I’d be banned from the palace.
“What does he know about us?” Henry asked, watching me with a stony expression.
“Nothing.”
“But he knows where to find us.”
“This isn’t his scene,” I said quickly. “He came looking for me.”
“What’s to stop him from looking again?”
“I told him not to.” Sheesh, what was with the third degree?
Henry narrowed his eyes. “Where’s Fane?”
“Upstairs.”
“He left you unchaperoned?”
A gagging noise gurgled in the back of my throat before I could speak. “This is the twenty-first century, Henry. I don’t require a chaperone.”
&nbs
p; Henry looked me up and down. “That’s debatable.”
“Well, he wanted me to fetch him another drink. How does that sound?” Henry probably had no problem seeing me as a serving wench. Who knew how old, or more importantly, old-fashioned, he was. I nearly knocked over my wine glass reaching for a shot of blood. Having a vampire watch my every move was unnerving. Wine in one hand, shot in the other, I marched out of the kitchen without a second glance.
Marcus shot me a wicked grin as I made my way through the living room to the spiral staircase. Upstairs, the door to the October room remained open, but there wasn’t any sign of Fane. I didn’t know what I’d been expecting, and I didn’t know where he’d gone. I hadn’t seen him in the living room, and he couldn’t have left without running into me. Not through the front door, anyway.
I glanced at the window. Doubtful.
I tried to convince myself that the only reason I felt disappointed was he’d gotten away with only the finger for that Trojan remark. What did Fane think? Because I’d fucked up once I’d do it again?
I took a quick glance around then downed the shot of blood. One gulp. I felt shaken, and I needed something to calm me.
Calm wasn’t exactly the right word. The blood excited me. I felt like I’d taken a hit of adrenaline. I wanted to dance. Why didn’t Marcus have dancing at his parties? Everyone stood around yapping and sipping cocktails. What a bunch of old fogies. Literally.
I took a large sip of wine to wash down any trace of blood on my teeth.
I felt like walking home but I wasn’t dressed for it and I wasn’t about to disappear on Noel again.
Where was Noel, anyway? Probably shut off in a room with Gavin. I hadn’t seen him in the living room when I passed through.
Guess there wasn’t much else to do besides sip my wine in a corner downstairs and not talk to strangers. As I retreated down the hall, I found a tray with empty glasses and stashed the shot glass there before descending into the living room. Noel sat in a corner by the window staring out at the dark inlet. Her frown reflected in the glass.
“Noel?” I said, taking a seat on a cushy chair beside her. Marcus and his partner, Richard Stanton of Stanton’s Fine Art Gallery, kept the rooms filled with so many antiques and art objects that there wasn’t much legroom. My knees bumped into Noel’s legs.
“Oh, hi.” She sighed.
“What’s the matter?”
“I don’t know what’s going on. Gavin is being so cold to me tonight.”
I raised a brow. “He’s a vampire.”
“Ha, ha,” Noel replied. “What about Fane? Is it true he broke up with Valerie?”
“He says they were only together a day.” I slumped forward. “He was rather cold, too.”
Noel sighed. “Why can’t we like normal guys?”
“Because we’re not normal girls.” I followed Noel’s gaze to the window. From that vantage there were no city lights, no buildings, no land. Just ocean.
During the day, Cook Inlet looked about as gray as the overcast sky. At night it was as black as oil. Anchorage didn’t have beaches. We had mudflats. The fine glacial silt turned to quicksand any time an unwary victim ventured too far and became stuck in the mud. Last summer, the Anchorage Fire Department had to rescue two teenagers who got stuck before the tide swallowed them whole.
“Ready to get out of here?” I asked Noel.
“Sure.”
All I wanted to do was collapse into bed, but as Noel’s Volvo chugged up the hill, I saw my entire house lit up from within as though it were radioactive.
“That’s odd,” I said, when we pulled up.
“Is everything okay?” Noel asked.
“I don’t know. Guess I’ll find out.”
The moment I walked in I heard the kind of sobbing that could only mean one thing. Someone had died. And that someone could only be my dad.
“Mom?”
My heart constricted, and I fought for breath. My vision swam. I tried to think back to my last memory of Dad—his last words. What I remembered was Mom begging him not to leave. Great last memory to take with me the rest of my life.
I found Mom in the kitchen, plates broken at her feet. She’d stopped sobbing as soon as I called out her name, but her face was a red blotchy horror.
“Aurora, I wasn’t expecting you home this early,” she said in a voice that was freakishly normal.
She’d lost it all right.
“It’s Dad, isn’t it?”
Mom’s eyes confirmed that it was.
“Oh, God.” Without warning, I collapsed against the counter and made a choking sound. “I was such a snot the last time I saw him. And now…” I started sobbing uncontrollably.
Dad hadn’t been especially nice after my accident, but in his defense, he’d been out of the country and had no idea how close I’d come to dying or of the deal Mom had made with the agents.
It came back to me then, his last words. “I’m not sure I like this new attitude of yours.” I sobbed harder. If only he’d known what really happened. I couldn’t imagine him sitting idly by, allowing a secret government agency to dictate the rest of my life. He would have fought for me.
“My poor girl,” Mom said, taking me into her arms. She stroked my back as I cried into her bathrobe.
I leaned back and looked her in the eyes. “How did it happen?”
Her hand stilled on my back and her lips pinched the way they did whenever she didn’t want to talk about something. “I don’t want to worry you with it,” she said.
“That bad?” I asked, barely above a whisper.
I took her hand in mine and squeezed gently. “Mom, I have to know.”
Please don’t let it be a vampire or a car accident. The truth couldn’t be as gruesome as what my brain was throwing at me.
Mom sighed. She pulled her hand out of mine and went to the far side of the dining room, coming to a rest in front of a stack of papers. She took a deep breath. Her eyes didn’t seem capable of meeting mine.
“He’s been having an affair for two years,” she started.
“Affair?!” My jaw went slack.
She met my eyes now and squinted as though trying to read the expression on my face. “I didn’t want to shock you with this. We don’t have to talk about it.”
“Mom, I thought Dad was dead!”
“Dead?” she repeated. “No, your father wants a divorce.” She visibly shuddered as though divorce was worse than death. “He had the papers delivered earlier this evening.” She looked down.
I stormed to the table, raking my eyes over the stack.
“That dick!”
I could say that now that I knew he was alive and dicking around with another woman. His long absences suddenly made sense.
“I’ll clean up the kitchen,” I said, wanting to distract myself with something.
“Don’t worry about that,” she said.
I got out the dustpan and broom anyway, and began sweeping up the broken bits of plate.
“What does this mean?” I asked, crouched on the floor. “Do we have to move out of the house?”
“We’re not going anywhere,” Mom said in a voice that brokered no argument.
She was understandably angry. I should have left it at that, but I didn’t.
“Maybe this would be a good time to sell the house. I plan on moving into an apartment after I graduate. This is an awfully big house for one person. You could spend time with Grandma.” Like many retired Alaskans, Gran divided her time between Alaska and Florida. I swept the last of the pieces of broken plate into the dustpan and stood up.
Mom had been deathly silent as I spoke. When I ventured a glance her way she looked ready to snarl. “I am not running off to hide in Florida. If Bill thinks he can run me out of the state and out of my home, he has another thing coming!”
“Okay, Mom. Calm down. What do you want to do?”
She took the kind of breath that lifted her shoulders halfway to her ears and released. “I want Bill to
come home. We could work this out if only he’d try.”
“You…want him…back?” I couldn’t believe my ears.
“Spare me your judgment, Aurora.”
Now I really didn’t believe my ears. Mom never said stuff like that to me.
“I’m not judging,” I said defensively. “But he cheated on you—for two years!”
“And we’ve been together for twenty. You don’t just walk away from something like that. He’s going through a phase is all. How much do you want to bet that woman put him up to this? Of course she did. Bill has a wife, a daughter, a home. He wouldn’t just walk away from that.”
I doubt Mom was in the right frame of mind to be reminded that he had walked away from all that. He wasn’t coming back. She might not be able to see that, but I did.
7
Mystery Man
I didn’t take my usual seat up front in history on Monday. I chose a desk with seats occupied on either side. I wasn’t in the mood for Mike’s antics. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever.
I really needed to put on my big girl panties and lay down the law. If I could fight vampires, I could let a boy down gently.
First I had to return his jacket.
I gave silent thanks when the final bell rang with no sign of Mike.
Homework was the furthest thing from my mind when lunch rolled around. Maybe I could convince Noel to leave the love nest and go out for a bite. I needed to tell someone about my dad.
I took my wallet out of my backpack before stuffing the bag inside my locker. Hopefully Noel would let me steal her away.
I made tracks for the cafeteria. If we left within the next five minutes we might still have time to order our food at one of the nearby fast food chains and eat it.
A giggling freshman collided into me while joking around with a friend. I nearly pushed him aside.
“Sorry,” he said quickly.
I took a breath. Be nice, Aurora. “That’s okay.”
Four girls sat around Henry and Gavin today—none of whom were Noel. Henry watched me wearily. Probably still bent out of shape after being IDed at the palace by Mike.
“Where’s Noel?” I asked.
Henry lifted his chin. “Library.”
Northern Bites (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter, Vol. 2) Page 6
