Northern Bites (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter, Vol. 2)

by Jefford, Nikki

  I fell into step beside her. My thoughts were running a million miles a second. It’s not that I was considering anything, it’s just that I couldn’t believe she was really making a run for it. “Melcher will find you.”

  “No he won’t.”

  “Of course he will. He has unlimited resources.”

  Valerie smirked. “I have resources, too. One of the perks of being an informant. I have contacts. Lots of them.”

  “Is there a big network of vampires or something?”

  “That’s for me to know and you not to.” Her smile widened.

  “You’re serious about this?”

  Valerie began walking. I’d never seen her look so happy. “I think I’d make a great vampire—gorgeous for all eternity.”

  Sure thing, Evil Red.

  I didn’t know if I liked the idea of Valerie becoming a vampire. Working with her had been hard enough. Facing off?

  I pictured her holding her dagger and gun in front of the window. Her love of brutal crime stories. The way she stabbed the vampires who killed the pizza boy in Anchorage. Her general attitude. No, I didn’t like it one bit.

  “Don’t do this, Val.”

  She gave me a pitying look. “I’ve played by their rules long enough. It’s time to take back my life.”

  “What am I supposed to tell Melcher?”

  “Hell if I care.”

  “You’re putting me in a really difficult position.”

  “Then come with me. I can hook you up. Wherever you want to go there’s always someone who knows somebody.” She snickered. “Don’t tell me Alaska’s your dream destination.”

  “It’s my home.” More importantly, it’s where my mom was. If I left I could never see her again. I didn’t think my mom could handle losing both me and my dad. She’d already come close to losing me once. That’s the whole reason I was in this mess. She’d made a deal with the devil, and like it or not, I was in on that deal.

  Suddenly Valerie frowned. “Don’t tell me this is about Fane because you can kiss that fantasy goodbye for good.”

  I gnashed my teeth together. “This isn’t about Fane. My mom’s in Anchorage.”

  She raised a brow. “The woman in the bathrobe?” she asked coldly.

  I don’t know why I expected to receive an ounce of compassion or understanding. I always knew this wouldn’t be a bonding mission, but after everything we’d been through, you’d think Valerie would be slightly less hostile toward me. And what did she care about Fane? Not only was she taking off, she had Gavin now.

  I followed her up to the check-in counter where she immediately launched into a story about having just received an emergency call from her mother in the states. Her sister had been in an accident and Valerie needed to get home at once. I wondered if she even had a sister. She struck me as more of an only child.

  The clerk was very polite and didn’t have much trouble finding a flight departing for Seattle in three hours. Lucky.

  While the clerk leaned her head into her computer, Valerie turned to me. “Last chance.”

  16

  Payback

  I met Valerie’s eye. Surprisingly, I had no interest in taking off. I wanted to be free, sure, but not like this. “I can’t,” I said.

  “Figures.” After that, Valerie turned her complete attention to the clerk while they made arrangements to have her luggage pulled from the baggage bound for Anchorage.

  Yep, couldn’t flee the state without her handy-dandy dagger and gun.

  I stuck by Valerie, even after she’d received her new boarding pass. I wasn’t sure what else to do. Were we enemies now? I mean, officially? What would Melcher want me to do in a situation like this?

  For now I supposed the only thing to kill was time. “Want to get a coffee?” I asked.

  “Why not?” she said.

  We ordered the largest coffee they had from a stand and settled into the nearest seats with our tall paper cups. I took the lid off mine so it would cool faster.

  I checked my phone, feeling my forehead crease when I saw there were no new texts or messages. “I’m surprised Dante hasn’t called me.”

  Valerie shrugged. “Maybe their vampire is Crist’s real killer.”

  “Jared killed her. I’m sure of it.”

  Valerie shrugged again. “Doesn’t matter to me.”

  “Maybe I should try Noel.”

  Valerie let out a heavy sigh. “Can you just leave it alone? Let them do their job. Or whatever it is they’re doing.” She grinned wickedly. “Maybe those two hooked up. Noel usually prefers vampires, but as you pointed out, Dante is only one injection away from becoming a full-fledged member of the undead. Noel might make an exception for him, and Dante might make an exception for her. You did get him all worked up last night, and guess who happened to be nearby and handy?” Valerie sneered. “Little ‘ol Noel Harper.”

  I glared at Valerie.

  “Don’t tell me it hasn’t gone through your mind.”

  No, actually, it hadn’t. Noel and Dante were the last two people I could visualize hooking up. Still couldn’t.

  Maybe Valerie’s departure was for the best. No more snide comments or bitchy retorts. I wouldn’t mind living a Valerie-free life. There was only one problem. “What will you tell your contacts about our operation?”

  “Nothing.”

  “You expect me to believe that?”

  “I’m already on the run. Do you think I have any desire to make myself even more of a target than I already am once I step foot on that plane? All I want is to live my own life and answer to no one but myself.”

  “What will you tell Gavin?” I demanded.

  “That I’m a vampire. That’s all he needs to know.”

  I snorted. “You’re just going to spring it on him. Hey, not only am I your suck buddy, I’m a vampire. Why would you have kept it from him before?”

  Valerie’s bold red lips came closer to mine when she leaned forward. “Because I didn’t know I was a vampire until someone tried to hunt me down. That’s why I’m on the run.” She leaned back, satisfied.

  “How did you become a vampire?”

  “I died a year ago,” she answered coldly. Her jaw tensed. “I was murdered.”

  “What?” I nearly spilled my coffee. “Who tried to kill you?”

  “If I knew that, he’d be dead.”

  “What happened?” This was crazy. I couldn’t believe she’d finally shared.

  Valerie’s fists tightened. “Mother fucker came at me from behind when I was having a smoke outside a club one night. Didn’t ask for a thing. Didn’t try to rape me, either. He stuck his knife in here,” Valerie said, touching a spot behind her shoulder. “And here.” She touched behind the other shoulder. “And back here.” She reached her arm around her lower back. “What really fucks me off is I had a gun in my purse, and I couldn’t even get to it.”

  My eyes widened. “What were you doing with a gun?”

  “I’m from L.A. You don’t stand alone outside at night without some kind of weapon or at least pepper spray. I’m not stupid.” Valerie’s fingers curled back into fists. “I never saw him coming. Never even heard him until he had me by the neck. I couldn’t even scream. After he stabbed me three times, he tightened his fingers around my throat and choked every last breath out of me. Next thing I knew, I was in fucking Alaska. Mother fucking asshole of the world.”

  “How did you get here?”

  “I was flown up, obviously.” She shot me her trademark glare.

  “But how did the government find you?”

  “Fuck if I know.”

  I thought of Jared, master of recruiting. Sounded more like he did the killing than the recruiting to me. Right place at the right time, my lily ass.

  He could tell Melcher he found Valerie after she’d been strangled and mugged. He could tell Melcher anything he wanted.

  A sick feeling twisted in my gut. The image of him grabbing Valerie from behind in the hotel room raced across my mi
nd. Sharing any hunches with Valerie didn’t seem wise. She’d want to turn back around and kill Jared if she had any suspicions. But first she’d want to murder me for stopping her from killing him in the first place.

  This whole Jared thing was getting creepier by the hour.

  He’d claimed to be at my accident scene as well. Had he done something to my brakes? No, my car had been fine. It was the oncoming vehicle that had slid into my lane.

  I pictured Jared polishing the ice on the corner where I’d bitten the dust.

  Ridiculous notion.

  Maybe he messed with the oncoming vehicle’s brakes?

  Again, ludicrous. Even a vampire couldn’t plan the exact moment two cars would pass inside an icy curve.

  Still, something wasn’t right. Melcher owed me answers and this time he better be more forthcoming.

  “Anyway, the experience taught me that humans are sick fucks, not vampires,” Valerie said. “Melcher tried brainwashing me into thinking otherwise. I played along. Did the summer boot camp. Combat training. Learned everything I could about fighting and vampires. I became an informant. Met my first vampire. Met more vampires. And bided my time for a day like today.”

  “What about going to college? I thought you wanted to sign up for classes at UAA.”

  “You think the University of Alaska Anchorage is an incentive to stick around? Fuck that! Fuck you! And fuck this state!”

  “Well, whatever,” I said.

  “Yeah, whatever.”

  We sipped our coffee in silence.

  “Want to see me off?” she asked at a quarter after nine.

  “Why not?”

  We walked slowly to her gate. It felt like a dream. It’s not like I’d gotten any sleep that night, and I was starting to feel it now that things had calmed down. I kept expecting government agents to rush in and grab us, but the airport was eerily quiet. Even our conversation came to an end.

  Valerie and I stood watching the gate together. We watched passengers milling around; watched the agent take her place behind the counter; watched the plane land, taxi in, and unload; watched two stewardesses roll their luggage to the gate and disappear behind the door leading from the jetway to the plane.

  Valerie turned to me. “Melcher knows about Fane.”

  A shockwave went through my brain. “What?” Oh, I’d heard her all right, but I couldn’t process the information. The last twenty-four hours had been filled with too many surprises. This one nearly knocked me off my feet.

  “Francesco Donado,” Valerie said wistfully.

  My chin dropped. I gaped at her, but Valerie gazed into the distance like her memories were hovering at the far end of the terminal.

  “He was my first assignment. God was he ugly.” She chuckled softly to herself. “I wouldn’t have given the time of day to a guy like that in California.” Valerie puffed up suddenly and looked at me. “I could have any guy back home.” She snapped her fingers. “Like that.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “When my blood transfusion didn’t have the desired effect, Melcher ordered me to become a vampire whore.”

  My jaw dropped. “But…” I couldn’t finish. I didn’t know what to say. Guess I shouldn’t complain about being a hunter. Obviously there were worse things. Maybe Noel wasn’t as into Henry and Gavin as I thought. Maybe she’d been ordered to do whatever it took to get close to the enemy. The whole thing made me sicker than sick.

  “What did Melcher want from Fane?”

  Valerie flicked a strand of hair out of her face. “Names.”

  “Did you get any?”

  “Some.”

  My heart knocked against my chest wall. “Is he in danger?”

  Valerie snorted. “Fane’s too valuable to kill. He’s been around a long time, and he’s traveled extensively. He knows a lot of vampires. I’m not the first informant Melcher tried to set on him.” She gave her hair another toss, smiling wickedly. “The girl before couldn’t get him to bite. They transferred her to Fairbanks.”

  “Janine?” I asked, mouth dropping.

  “Who? Anyway, I completed boot camp, enrolled at Denali High, and snap, hooked the elusive Fane Donado. He wasn’t much to look at, but the things he could do with his tongue…” Her grin widened.

  She was trying to upset me with the tongue thing. From the way my jaw ached I supposed it was working.

  The flight agent announced they would be boarding soon. Valerie hoisted her purse over her shoulder and moved toward the line forming outside the jetway.

  A sudden thought occurred to me. “So that’s why you needed me to break up with Fane? You had orders to be with him.”

  Valerie smirked. “That was payback. No one breaks up with me. Not even a vampire.”

  The flight agent opened the door to the jetway. Passengers encroached in our space. At this point I couldn’t see the point in responding to Valerie’s jibe. She was who she was—a backstabbing vixen to the end.

  “Well, good luck to you.” I didn’t know what else to say.

  “Yeah,” Valerie said. “Watch your back.”

  I couldn’t be sure if she meant in general or because of her. It didn’t matter. The moment she headed down the jetway, she aligned herself with vampires.

  I didn’t stick around to watch Valerie’s plane take off from the window. I didn’t envy her. She wasn’t headed for freedom but a life on the lam. A life of eternity. I couldn’t understand the appeal of it. Live forever? What was the purpose? What was so special about life that made someone want to hold on to it indefinitely?

  I wasn’t going for dark or moody at the moment. It’s just that life had ceased to bring me joy. Why prolong that?

  I heaved a sigh and headed out of the terminal. I could use a breath of fresh air, even if it was drizzling. The mist turned to rain when I stepped outside, followed by falling slush. The overcast sky tinged the outdoors in a damp gray.

  I walked across the parking lot, which was small like the airport.

  It was thirteen miles to town. Too far to walk. I didn’t want to get too far from the airport, anyway. My flight would board in a little over an hour. I stopped when I reached the sidewalk. I tried calling Dante, but it went to his voicemail. Where the hell was he?

  I tried Noel next. Not like Valerie could stop me now. But Noel’s phone went to voicemail, too.

  My heart sped up. What if something had happened to them? Even if their vampire wasn’t the right suspect, he was still a vampire, ergo dangerous.

  I called my mom next and let her know when I was landing.

  “Good. You’re done then,” she said.

  Done? As though I’d ever be done.

  It felt weird flying back home alone. I had an entire row to myself. This time I took the aisle seat. Didn’t want to feel trapped or have someone from a full row nab the empty seat after takeoff. I don’t think so!

  I tried to look at UAA’s class schedule again, but it was useless. I couldn’t concentrate one iota. Then my iPod battery died halfway through the flight. It’s not like I’d had time to recharge it in the middle of all the chaos.

  I lay across the seats thinking, “I won’t be able to sleep but at least I can rest.” Somehow I managed to drift off. I was having one of those dreams where you feel yourself freefalling. I woke up with a jerk. The plane was descending.

  I sat up and rubbed my eyes, then leaned over the seats and looked out the window. I saw mountains covered from top to bottom in snow. Back in familiar territory.

  My mom wasn’t waiting in the terminal or baggage claim. No surprise. Hopefully I wouldn’t have to call her for a pick-up.

  I yanked my duffle bag off the baggage carousel when it came around. The arctic wind blasted me the moment I stepped through the sliding doors to the sidewalk lining the arrivals lane. Mom’s car was nowhere to be seen, but a black sedan waited out front.

  The tinted window on the back door moved down and Melcher leaned forward. “Get in, Aurora.”

  I shot him a
tight frown in response, hoisted my duffel bag further up my shoulder, and walked around to the passenger’s side door.

  Gee, thanks, Mom. Could have warned me.

  “Are you taking me on base?” I asked after clicking my seatbelt shut.

  “I’m taking you home, but first we’re going to drive around a bit and talk.” Melcher smiled. Since he always smiled, I had no way of telling if I should take it as a sign of reassurance or one of displeasure—as in I was in big fucking trouble.

  I hated how the stress crept into my consciousness. Melcher’s the one who sent me off with a psychotic vampire and defective informant.

  The driver put on his blinker and rolled slowly forward. From behind, all I could make out was the collar on his blazer and dark cropped hair.

  I watched a man greet a woman as she emerged from baggage claim. She dropped her suitcase and threw her arms around him. Behind the reunited couple, a man helped take a teenage girl’s bags off her hands, giving her a warm welcoming smile. Why couldn’t I be any of these other people?

  The driver eased out of the arrivals pick-up lane. He turned left at the first major intersection—the opposite direction of home. At least it wasn’t the route to the base, either. I had no desire to discuss things in Melcher’s office, even if it did seem slightly sadistic to meet with me in a moving vehicle given the nature of my accident.

  Melcher folded his hands in his lap. I saw his jaw move as he readied himself to speak.

  “Jared’s a vampire,” I said.

  Melcher showed no emotion except to lower his head as if in silent prayer. “That is correct, Aurora. Jared is one of the damned, but he is atoning for his sins.”

  Melcher knew. Why wasn’t I surprised? “By killing humans and vampires at will?” I cried out.

  “Humans?” Melcher lifted his head. He studied me with green eyes.

  I squeezed my three middle fingers so hard the tips turned red. “I think he attacked Valerie in California and who knows how many other recruits.”

  “Did you and Miss Ward discuss this?” Melcher asked.