Hunting Season (Aurora Sky

by Nikki Jefford

  A soft crackle eventually turned to ringing and a voice answered, “Sal’s dry cleaning.”

  “This is Agent Sky, and we’re going to need your whole crew.”

  I ended the call and met Jared’s eye.

  He spun his key ring around his finger. “Raven, you’re with me.”

  Jared barreled down the stone stairs without waiting for a response and headed for his vehicle.

  Valerie descended and stopped in front of me. She snatched her phone from me. “I’ll take that.”

  “You’re really going to let him walk away?” I asked, more curious than anything else.

  “He can get me what I want. He better get me what I want. He owes me for life.” Valerie looked into the distance, a smile spreading across her cheeks.

  “That makes you happy?”

  It wasn’t the reaction I’d had.

  “Of course it makes me happy! I’m a vampire. I’ll never get old and wrinkly. I get to live forever.”

  “For that you’re willing to forgive Jared?”

  Valerie’s eyes narrowed. “If I were you, I’d worry more about earning my forgiveness for what you did with Fane. You better hope he’s not at the palace tonight.”

  The clutch tightened in my fist.

  “For the last time, nothing happened between Fane and me. He’s helping us get Dante and Gavin back—your boyfriend.”

  Valerie rolled her eyes. “Gavin can rot for all I care.”

  “If you care so little for ex-boyfriends, why worry about Fane?”

  “Fane needs to be taught a lesson,” Valerie said with a manic gleam in her eyes. “I warned him not to hurt me. No one dumps Valerie Ward, especially not some bleached blond, ugly ass vampire. Not without consequences.”

  Yeah, she was insane, all right.

  An insane stalker. As long as she lived, Fane wasn’t safe.

  Jared honked his horn, and I gave a startled jump. My heart sped off in all directions. The abrupt sound didn’t jolt me the way the gunshots had earlier, but it had come close.

  Fane and Noel were right, there was no reasoning with Valerie. She was beyond hope and even more now that she knew she was a vampire.

  Valerie glanced at Jared’s car. “If Fane is at the palace and he gets in my way… no guarantees.” She tossed her hair over one shoulder, teeth gleaming in the dark.

  Once Valerie turned, and started walking away, I snapped open my clutch and reached inside for the switchblade. If I truly wanted to stop her from harming Fane, I’d have to do more than puncture her tire.

  Valerie Ward had to die.

  She was a vampire and she knew it. That made her more dangerous than before. As long as she breathed, she was a threat.

  The horn blasted a second time. I dropped my clutch, and with it the switchblade. By the time I’d scooped the items back up, I was too late. Too much distance stood between Valerie and me. A surprise attack was all I’d had. Jared had ruined my chance—like everything else.

  Without another moment’s hesitation, I walked up to Jared’s car and let myself in.

  There was no way I could let Valerie accompany Jared and me to the swap. It would all go wrong and further jeopardize Dante. I couldn’t risk his life or Fane’s.

  For that matter, I couldn’t allow Jared to go to the exchange armed. He was too erratic and would only end up getting us all killed.

  Giselle was the most rational out of the three—the best of the worst. I believed that if I handed over Jared, she’d let Dante walk. She wanted revenge, and she needed Dante and me if she had any hope of getting to Melcher.

  Jared was taking me home. This was my window of opportunity, and I had to take it. As much as I wanted him out of my sight, this was my chance to drug him. I just needed to figure out a way to get him inside my house and a drink in his hand.

  Valerie appeared in the review mirror, holstering her gun and checking her phone. The vixen probably still thought I'd called Fane.

  Good thing I’d gotten to her tire. All I needed was to slow her down enough to neutralize Jared and call Fane over immediately to help with the exchange. Even if the tire held—or Valerie was able to exchange vehicles quickly—she still had an extra fifteen to twenty minutes to drive across town to Bootlegger’s Cove.

  Once Jared pulled up to my house, I’d have to be lightening quick and strike hard.

  The car roared to life all around me, and Jared zipped out of the driveway well ahead of Valerie.

  He peeled out onto the pitch-black dirt road, gravel spraying, rat-a-tat-tat like gunfire behind us. There wasn’t a single streetlight on the mountain road, nothing but infinite darkness similar to a black hole sucking us in as Jared barreled down the mountain.

  I thought I’d overcome my fear of driving, but terror rushed back at me faster than the trees that flashed past the car’s headlights.

  My arms shot out for something to hold onto.

  “Are you trying to kill us?” I screamed.

  “We’re already dead,” Jared answered as he careened around the next bend.

  The tires slid over the rocks, unstoppable even with the weight of Jared’s foot on the brake. He cranked the steering wheel toward me, held firm, then cranked it back and straightened the car out, narrowly avoiding the ledge.

  That had been a close call. I couldn’t believe we hadn’t flown off the side of the mountain. Not that it slowed Jared down any. The car shot forward as he gunned it toward the next curve.

  “Slow down!” I yelled.

  “What was that?” Jared said, cupping a hand over his ear—a hand that would have been better left on the steering wheel. “Did you say speed up?” He jammed his foot against the gas pedal harder.

  “Please slow down!”

  Jared grinned and let up on the gas, not entirely, but enough to make it down the mountain alive. Once we hit pavement, my breath began to stabilize.

  “Can’t wait to do that again,” Jared said smugly.

  Icy hostility filled me, like a damp chill penetrating through flesh and bone. Boy was I looking forward to knocking him out.

  “I hate you,” I confessed.

  Jared leaned back, one hand on the wheel. “Relax. You’re riding with a pro. The car goes where I want it to go. Take our collision. I planned that down to the millimeter.”

  I whipped my head around to scowl at Jared so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash.

  He kept his eyes on the road. “You should have seen yourself. Crash test dummy.” He jerked forward against the wheel, laughed, and leaned back.

  My fingers curled. He was baiting me, I knew it. I could be stupid and react, or play it smart and try to get more information out of Jared while he was in confession mode.

  I took a deep breath. “Did Melcher help plan my accident?”

  Jared didn’t answer. Silence filled the car for so long I began counting in my head. Either this was one hell of a dramatic pause, or Jared was keeping tight-lipped.

  “Melcher’s not that creative,” Jared finally said.

  “But he did know you were going to harm me?”

  “Raven,” Jared said, followed by yet another dramatic pause. “I may have to start calling you Feather Brain. In case you haven’t gathered, Melcher is running the show. He has a quota to fill. He had his doctors prepped and ready for you before your head ever hit the dashboard.”

  Bile rose to my throat.

  “And you do his bidding.”

  “I get what I want out of it,” Jared said. “Melcher wants to rid the world of vampires even if that means creating more in the process. I, on the other hand, believe in the continuation of our race. I cannot father more of our kind, but I can turn people. I can bring them to the brink of death and gift them with everlasting life.”

  “What happens when Melcher has no more use for you?” I asked. Or the rest of us for that matter.

  Jared gave an exasperated sigh as though I’d asked the dumbest of questions. “He will always have a use for me. Civilizations crumble
and fall, but no one can stop vampirism. Consider it job security. Not all of us get to create and kill. That’s my job. I can’t turn just anyone, but I can help candidates with the right blood type.” Jared looked at me. “Real vampires don’t have masters like they do in the movies, but if they did, I’d be yours. Just remember I made you what you are.”

  I took a deep breath. Might as well ask the million dollar question.

  “Is Melcher a vampire?”

  Jared tapped the steering wheel and began humming to himself.

  “Is he?” I asked louder.

  “Why don’t you ask him yourself?” Jared glanced from the road to me, holding my stare for longer than I would have liked given his position behind the wheel.

  Fine, he didn’t want to tell me. Next question.

  “If you didn’t kill Agent Crist, then who did?”

  “Who do you think?”

  I bit down gently on the inside of my lip. “It couldn’t have been Melcher,” I said, looking at Jared for a reaction.

  His face remained neutral. At the next curve in the road, he cranked the wheel with one hand.

  “Not possible,” I said, as though he’d answered in the affirmative.

  I had no trouble imagining Melcher pulling all the strings—he’d always been a sneaky son of a bitch—but I couldn’t picture him killing Crist. Melcher was the mastermind, not the brute force. A fanatic obsessed with his cause, but one who sent out his minions to do his dirty work.

  I shook my head. “Agent Crist was Melcher’s partner. What motivation would he have to end her life?”

  Jared snorted. “Her blood.”

  Thanks to Giselle, I had my suspicions about Melcher, Mr. High and Mighty, being one of the undead. Now it was confirmed. “Melcher hates vampires,” I said.

  “This is true.” Jared lowered his chin. “According to Gabriel—that’s Melcher to you—God never intended for man to live forever.”

  “What? So the Almighty made a mistake?” I asked in bitter disbelief.

  Jared shook his head from side-to-side slowly. “God doesn’t make mistakes. The lifecycle of a human is a delicate progression. Age completes that cycle. Disease controls population. We are finishing what nature could not. Any human who cannot age and craves blood is damned.”

  “If Melcher truly believes he’s fighting evil with evil, why would he kill a human—or was Crist a vampire, too?”

  “She was human,” Jared answered simply.

  “But he wants to protect humans,” I said. I wanted something to make sense. “How could he do it?”

  Jared shrugged. “He was thirsty.”

  With each new revelation, my heart jumped up as though someone was hitting it as hard as they could with a mallet like the ones used on high strikers at old carnivals. Next it dropped… more like plunged. Down, down, down.

  “No,” I said. “There has to be another explanation. Crist was on to him. She knew what he was, so he silenced her.”

  And here I’d thought Melcher had been covering for Jared. What if it was the other way around?

  Jared chuckled. “You think that was the first time Melcher offed an associate? Who do you think always cleans up his mess? I even suggested he hire another vampire as his partner to avoid temptation, but he insisted the person be 'pure of soul.'”

  No. This was getting too crazy.

  “I don’t believe you. Even if Melcher’s a vampire, he wouldn’t kill anyone—especially not Crist.”

  Jared straightened. “Frankly, I don’t care what you believe.”

  Goosebumps rose over my bare arms. I had to be the first vampire in history who dreamed of retiring in Hawaii. I shivered and wrapped my arms around my chest—not that Jared would notice or care that I had no coat, and he had the heat turned off in his car.

  I leaned forward in my seat. “What’s Melcher going to say when he discovers you spilled the beans to me and Valerie?”

  “Nothing because no one’s going to tell him a thing about tonight. Not unless you want it known that you’ve been sleeping with the enemy.”

  I scowled, but held my tongue. Let Jared think what he wanted, especially if it made him believe he had something to hold over me—something to keep me in line. The less he suspected me of plotting against him, the bigger edge I’d have once we reached home.

  Jared issued a sharp whistle. “Francesco Donado. He’s been around in more ways than one.”

  Jared shot me a sly glance. I kept my mouth clamped tight.

  When he saw I wasn’t going to take the bait, Jared continued. “We’ve had our eyes on him for some time. He hasn’t slipped up… yet. Sociable guy. Melcher’s going to want to put another agent on him, and it’s not going to be you.”

  “What? Melcher has no plans to recruit him? He’s not agency material?” I asked half-pissed and half-digging for as much information as possible.

  Jared rubbed his chin against his shoulder, keeping one eye on the road. “Some animals are better kept out in the wild.”

  We were back on 36th Avenue. In another few minutes, we’d turn onto my road. I needed to figure out a way to drug Jared. First, I had to get him inside my house. It was hard to think when his loose lips were telling me things I wanted to know. This might be my last opportunity to glean information off him.

  Any attempt at seduction would fail miserably. Even if I thought that sort of thing might work on Jared, there was no way I could pull it off. My face would give it away instantly. Plus, he was convinced Fane and I were doing the dirty.

  I leaned back in my chair. “Is Melcher really going to allow Valerie to have her own house?”

  “If she can follow orders and behave, then the agency will provide her with housing of her choice.”

  I clicked my tongue. “I have something at home I think you should see.”

  “And what’s that?” Jared didn’t sound nearly as interest as I wanted him to be.

  “Some security footage recorded at my house.”

  “Of?” Jared asked, still sounding disinterested.

  “Valerie. Before you consider bringing her along to the exchange I think you ought to see how unpredictable she is.”

  Jared lifted his chin. “She’ll step in line now that she knows what a bright future she has ahead of her.”

  “You’re still going to want to see it.”

  “I’ll be the judge of that,” Jared said. “I’ll look at it and decide if it’s anything to worry about.”

  “Fine.”

  Jared wouldn’t be deciding anything. Soon, he’d be asleep. Soon, I’d get Dante back.

  13

  Ambush

  While Jared sat in front of my laptop at the kitchen table, I rummaged around the kitchen cupboards, setting the tea tin with the sleeping powder onto the counter. I couldn’t offer Jared blood—supposedly I hadn’t known that I was a vampire until tonight and would have no reason to stock it.

  Tommy lay curled up asleep on the carpet in the living room. When Jared first walked in, he’d run to the door and barked. Some quick soothing words and several pats had stopped that. Under normal circumstances, I would have loved nothing more than for Tommy to take a bite out of Jared, but right then I needed Jared inside the house.

  Jared huffed. “All I see is a whole lot of nothing.”

  “It should be coming up any time. Can I offer you a wine cooler or something?”

  Jared’s head shot up. “Do I look like someone who drinks wine coolers?”

  I shrugged. “The only other alcohol we have is rum.”

  Rum that Gavin had brought over for Valerie and left at our place despite Valerie’s attempts to get me to help her finish the bottle.

  “Rum? That’s it? What kind of party headquarters are you running?”

  “We aren’t,” I said. “We follow orders and stay out of trouble.”

  Jared snorted. “Yeah, I believe that one. Make me a rum and Coke—two parts soda and one part rum.”

  “Two parts soda and one part rum.
Got it,” I said, turning so Jared wouldn’t catch my smile.

  My heart sped up with excitement and nerves as I pulled first the bottle of rum from the cupboard followed by a two liter bottle of Coke from the fridge. Once I’d selected a clear glass, I poured the rum in first to a little over a fourth of the glass.

  The cap on the Coke bottle made a phish sound when I loosened it. With a steady hand, I filled the glass with two parts soda. That done, I positioned my body so I was blocking the tea tin from Jared’s line of view should he turn around. I removed the lid gently and reached for the bag of powder. It was the first time my hand shook.

  I should have asked Noel how much of this stuff went into one drink. I never thought I’d have an actual use for the drug and here I was attempting to take down one of the baddest mother suckers on the face of the planet.

  One part rum. Two parts soda. Three parts sleeping powder?

  Maybe a tablespoon would do the trick.

  I dumped the powder in quickly and stirred the drink.

  “I still don’t see anything,” Jared said.

  The time on the stove clock showed that it was 12:05 a.m. I’d made it to Saturday. More than anything, I wanted to run up to my room and call Fane. There was no going anywhere until Jared took the drink.

  I walked over and set it beside Jared. “Don’t spill any on my laptop.”

  Jared looked from the glass to me. “What are you drinking?”

  I shrugged. “It’s been a long night.”

  He nodded to his drink. “Exactly. Have a sip.”

  My eyes dropped to the glass on the table. A shiver of unease ran through me. Was Jared suspicious? No. There’s no way he’d know or even suspect I’d try anything that rash. He was just being a jackass.

  I breathed out. Once I was sure that my voice would come out neutral, I said, “I’ll grab a wine cooler. Rum tastes gross.”

  “It’s a lot better than Kool-Aid wine,” Jared said to my back.

  Speaking of Kool-Aid, I wished he’d hurry up and drink his Aurora Surprise… and I hoped to hell it worked.

  The cool air from the fridge felt nice against my flushed skin. Adrenaline pumped through me like heat in a furnace. When I turned around with a wine cooler, Jared was drinking down the rum and Coke. Not sipping—drinking.