Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter (29 page)

I nodded at Thomas. “Still out?”

Before Dante could answer a murmur came from under the black
hood.

Dante yanked it off. The fire wasn’t the only presence in
the cabin that had come to life. Far from appearing fearful, Thomas oozed with
pent-up rage.

“You two!” Thomas sputtered. “You killed Patrick and Ivo,
didn’t you?”

“I’ll ask the questions, son,” Dante said. “Now tell me who
offed Janine.”

Thomas looked away.

“Wendy, knife.”

I grabbed Dante’s hunting knife off the table and handed it
to him as though he was a surgeon asking for his scalpel, and I was the
assisting nurse.

“What are you going to do?” Thomas demanded.

Dante ignored him and turned to me. “Let’s drain him.”

That got Thomas’s attention. The boy wriggled in an attempt
to thrash out of his bindings.

I nodded, trying my best to seem like I thought it was a
good idea. “His friends won’t have any more use for him once he has no more
blood.”

“You can’t do that!” he shouted.

“It’s my job,” Dante said smoothly. “You’re a threat to the
nation, Thomas. Unless you tell me everything we’ll consider you in league with
the hostiles.”

Thomas’s jaw dropped. “Hostiles?”

“Hostiles, vampires, murderers…they’re all the same—a danger
to society. Now who killed Janine?”

Thomas pressed his lips together and shook his head.

Dante moved in on him. He showed teeth when he grinned. “I
was hoping you wouldn’t cooperate.”

Dante sliced his dagger across Thomas’s arm. The boy
screamed. I looked away.

“Let’s just get right to the other arm, shall we? Unless you
want to tell me who killed Janine.”

Dante pressed the tip of his knife into Thomas’s thigh.

“Stop! Renard—it was Renard! God, just stop!”

Dante got up abruptly and went to the kitchen. He wiped his
blade clean with a rag before setting it on the table. He stepped directly in
front of Thomas again.

“Now for the real question. How did Renard find out?” Dante
reached forward in an instant and wrapped his hands around Thomas’s neck.

Thomas began making a chocking sound.

Was it wrong that I felt attracted to Dante for one fleeting
second?

“This one’s a freebie,” Dante hissed into Thomas’s ear.
“I’ll answer for you.
You
ratted Janine out.
You
got her killed.”

Dante released his grip, and Thomas gasped as he sucked in
air.

Thomas started shaking. “I didn’t want her to die! She’s the
one who got herself involved in all this. Where do you think Renard came
looking once he heard the police suspected arson at Ivo’s place? He knows I’m
over there all the time.”

“You could have told him you didn’t know anything rather
than send a mass murderer after Janine.”

Thomas stiffened. He looked past Dante and glared at me.
“You’re the murderers.
Wendy
especially. She was the last one there that
night.”

“What did you tell Renard about us?”

“Everything I could!” Thomas seethed in his chair.

“Wendy,” Dante said calmly, turning to me. “Take Tommy and
wait in the Jeep.”

I hesitated at the door.

“Go!” Dante yelled.

I jumped in place.

“Tommy,” I called sofly. “Tommy, let’s go.”

Once we were outside, I hurried Tommy into the car. He
jumped in back. I climbed in after the retriever and wrapped my arms around
him, burying my face into his fur.

I heard the Jeep door open and close not long after. Dante
didn’t say a word as he shifted gears and drove away from the cabin. The turns
he took were gentle. He drove slow. I lost track of the time, but he eventually
pulled to the side of the road. When he didn’t get out or continue driving, I pulled
my head away from Tommy.

We were on the edge of town. Dante looked from me to the
passenger’s seat. I took the hint, scooted over to the door, climbed down, and
joined him up front. He continued driving only when I’d fastened my seatbelt.

“You killed him, didn’t you?” I asked once we were on the
highway.

“Renard’s not the only vampire Thomas could sic on us. He
was a threat, and he had to be eliminated.”

I looked out the front window. “Will I ever have to kill a
human?”

“No. We’re vampire hunters, Sky. They’ve got cleaners for
vermin like Thomas. I’ve got a call into them now—although they’ll be disposing
of a cold one this time. He killed Janine. It was for me to finish.”

I nodded slowly. “I can’t believe they got her.”

“There’s one thing left to do—find Renard and take him out.”

Right, take him out before he took us out.

“Do you think he’s looking for us?”

“Probably. The agents had someone check out his last known
address. It’s been cleared out.”

“Will he be able to find us?”

“Doubtful. All Renard has is a couple of fake names and a
city…should have said we’d come from Barrow now that I think about it. Send
that fucker right up to the Big Freeze. Well, live and learn.” Dante turned to
me and smiled. “At least this way, he’s coming to us. I’ve had it with
Fairbanks for the time being.”

“I’ve had it with Fairbanks forever,” I countered.

“Let’s talk about something else—like breakups.”

I grumbled. “You’re a load of laughs, you know.”

“You know it’s on your mind.”

“Doesn’t mean I want to talk about it.”

“Sure you do. You’re a girl.”

I turned in my seat. “Hey! Watch it, buddy.”

Dante chuckled. “So, what makes you think this guy is going
to let you go so easily?”

I’d had the same concern—and, to be honest, hope. But I
reminded myself what would happen to Fane if Valerie alerted the agents. I’d seen
what happened to Thomas…part of what happened, anyway, and I knew what hunters
did to vampires—I had personal experience in that department. Regardless of
Valerie, it was only a matter of time before Fane tried to bite me. I kept
coming to the same conclusion. One way or another, this had to end.

“I sort of told him I was seeing someone else.”

“Good call, Sky—surest way to inflict the deepest wound.”

“I didn’t want to inflict pain. I just needed him to believe
it was over. I told him I was seeing you.”

“Me?” Dante’s voice lifted. “Sky, I’m honored.”

“I didn’t think you’d mind being my pretend boyfriend.”

“
Au contraire
. We don’t even have to pretend.”

I laughed and glanced at Dante, but my smile fell. We were
on a straight stretch of highway and his palms were flat, barely touching the
steering wheel.

“You’re joking, right?” I asked.

“Why? I find you attractive. You think I’m funny. And we
have the blood link and whole saving the world from vampires thing in common.
It’s tricky dating normal girls. They’re not really up on the up, you know what
I mean?”

I sat back in my chair. “Thanks, but I don’t think so.”

“Don’t want to mix business with pleasure. I get it.”

“I don’t want to mix anything.”

“Maybe not now, Sky, but we’ll see. I’m irresistible, you
know?”

I laughed. “You’re irritating is what you are.”

“And yet you can’t keep away.”

“I don’t have a choice.” I was forced to stay away from one
boy and stick beside another. At least Dante wasn’t bad to look at, and he did
have a knack for pulling me out of funks.

We arrived in Anchorage at midnight. Dante rolled into the
driveway in front of the door and pulled up the emergency brake.

“You were amazing back there, Sky.”

I looked over at him and nearly laughed. I hadn’t done
anything but watch.

He grinned. “I’m really impressed. You’re new to this, and
yet you’ve managed to take out two nasties—on your own—and keep a cool head.
You’re doing great.”

I smiled slowly. “Thanks. I guess it’s nice to be good at
something, even if it is killing vampires.”

Dante smiled back at me. “Get some rest. You deserve it.”

“Nothing like aiding in a kidnapping and murder to get one
started on a good night’s sleep.” I looked back at Tommy, who was sprawled out
over the entire back bench snoozing. “Not a problem for Tommy, anyway.”

Dante chuckled. “Good night, Sky.”

“’Night.”

As soon as I stepped out of the Jeep, Dante pulled away and
barreled down the road. This was one girl he didn’t have to worry about seeing
to the door…though he could have waited to make sure I reached it. The air felt
balmy compared to Fairbanks, but an instant shiver ran down my spine. I glanced
at the forest at the top of the hill.

I didn’t see anyone, but I felt like I was being watched.
Not that I’d see Fane if he were lurking among the trees. It was pitch-black,
and he could blend into the night in his dark attire.

I stared straight into the black void for several beats to
show I wasn’t scared despite my hammering heart. I turned and forced myself to
walk—not run—to the front door. Once inside, I turned the bolt behind me and
shut off the front porch light. It was dark inside the house.

I made my way around the house, checking all the doors and
windows to make sure they were locked without turning on any lights as I made
the rounds. My eyes adjusted to the dark, and I could see the stairs outlined
in the gloom. I peeked inside my mother’s room and heard her snoring lightly.

I continued to my own room. In the dark, I closed my
curtains and spent the rest of the evening sitting on my bed, knife beside me.
It could be Fane out there. It could be Renard. Then again, it could be
nothing.

I slept through most of Sunday and stayed up all the next
night. Monday morning, I told my mom I must have caught a cold in Fairbanks and
needed to stay home. She left me alone for the most part to rest in my room.
Honestly, I didn’t know if I could get sick. The vampire blood in me probably
made me immune, but I couldn’t go to school. I couldn’t face Fane.

 23

The sudden ringing on my nightstand jolted me awake at
two forty-five in the afternoon.

I sat straight up in bed, heart running amuck. I hesitated,
but grabbed my cell phone. My breathing returned to normal when I saw it wasn’t
Fane calling.

I held the phone to my ear. “Hey Whitney.”

“What the heck is going on?” Whitney demanded. “Suddenly
Noel transfers to West and Valerie’s back together with Fane…has the world gone
mad?”

“Fane’s with Valerie again?” I know I broke up with him, but
how could he go back to the vamp tramp so quickly? I thought Fane liked me. I
had even believed he loved me. Fool. Love was a joke.

Whitney sounded confused. “Did you guys break up or
something?”

I swung my legs out of bed and stood. “When you say
together, did you just see them together or were they…”

“Making out.” Whitney didn’t say it with nearly enough
disgust.

“I’ll call you later,” I said abruptly and snapped my phone
shut.

When I slammed it down, I aimed for the bed so it wouldn’t
break. I threw open my closet doors and began rummaging around for something to
wear, selecting a pair of dressy jeans and black V-neck. I grabbed my phone and
dialed Noel.

“Hi, Noel. How was your first day at West?”

“Sucked.” She laughed a second later. “Sorry, bad word
choice.”

“Want to grab a coffee? Or herbal tea, if you prefer.”

That got another laugh out of Noel. “Yeah, I really do. I’ll
pick you up.”

“I’ll be here.”

Stranded. At least I had no shortage of new friends with
cars.

I brushed out my hair and worked it into a long braid before
going downstairs.

I found Mom in the kitchen.

“Noel’s picking me up,” I said.

Startled, she looked up from the page of a magazine she was
reading slouched over the kitchen counter with a soda at her side.

“What about your cold?”

“I feel better now.”

“I don’t think you should be going out when you haven’t been
feeling well.”