Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter (23 page)

Fane was dressed in his usual head to toe black.

I led him into the kitchen. “Mom, I’d like you to meet
Fane.”

Mom’s mouth hung open. She looked at the dyed hair on his
temples rather than his eyes. Then her head twisted abruptly when she saw the
flowers in my hand.

Her alarm was quickly covered by a forced smile. “Nice to
meet you, Fane.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Sky. Thank you for having
me over.” Fane walked into the kitchen and set the bottle of wine on the
counter. “I brought this for you. I hope you drink red.”

Actually, mom drank brown—as in soda. She’d never been much
for wine. And what was a teenager doing bringing over a bottle of wine? It’s
not like Fane lived at home and could raid his parents’ wine cabinet.

“Thanks,” Mom said slowly.

I opened one of the bottom cabinets and rooted around for an
empty vase for the flowers. When I found it, I filled it with a bit of water
and set them in the center of the dinner table.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Fane asked my mom.

“No, I’ve got everything under control. …Thanks.”

“Come on,” I said, taking his hand. “We can hang out in my
room until dinner’s ready.”

“Actually, Aurora, I need you to make a salad.”

When my mom wasn’t looking Fane winked at me. His smile made
me want to drag him to my room and kiss him senseless.

“Sure, Mom,” I said in an upbeat voice.

After fifteen minutes of Mom never leaving me alone with
Fane, we sat down to dinner.

Fane dished up salad and passed on pot roast. “Smells
wonderful, Mrs. Sky, but I don’t eat meat.”

Fane was losing big points with my mom. The way she looked
at him, you’d think he’d just confessed to being a meth head. Mom helped
herself to the roast and ate in silence. It wasn’t like her to forgo conversation
with a dinner guest. After a few minutes, she asked how Fane and I knew one
another.

“Gym class,” I said and scrunched up my nose. “I suppose it
was our mutual loathing for physical education that drew us together.”

Fane smiled. “Gym isn’t so tough. I just sit back and watch
the game.”

I leaned back in my chair and smiled at my mom. “Fane’s more
of a spectator.”

Mom’s lips tightened.

I grinned wider when I glanced back at Fane. “But I suspect
he’s a closet athlete. You should have seen the way he pummeled his opponents
the time he participated in badminton.”

Fane shrugged. “I’ve played a game or two of badminton in my
day.”

He pushed the salad around on his plate. Watching him eat,
or rather not eat, was like staring into a mirror of what I was like at the
table. I felt so connected to this boy. I was glad he was there. I wished he
could stay the night, and I didn’t even mean that in a sexual way. I just felt
better when he was nearby.

At the end of the meal, Fane helped clear the table and
began washing the dishes.

Mom snatched a plate from him. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll
take care of those.”

I didn’t like the way Mom looked at Fane, like he was trying
to rifle through her china cabinet.

“Mom, we’ve got it,” I said. “You cooked.”

Okay, so usually I let her do both, but seeing Fane up to
his elbows in soapy water looked so adorably domestic that I wanted to shoo my
mom out and join him at the sink. She hesitated before retreating into the
living room. The TV came on, turned at a low ‘I can still hear you’ volume. I
grabbed a green terry kitchen towel and sat on the counter beside Fane.

The warm white frothy water slid down Fane’s arm as he
handed me plates. I didn’t worry that I was grinning like an idiot because Fane
was doing the same.

“You’re cute,” he said.

I grinned. “I was just thinking the same about you.”

Fane released the pan he’d been scrubbing and let it slip
back into the sink. I dropped the kitchen towel. His arms circled my waist. He
pulled me to his lips. I felt the wet grip of his arms soaking through my top.
Fane backed me against the counter and bruised my lips with his hungry kiss. I
gripped him around his neck and crushed my lips against his.

I wanted to wrap my legs around him. I wanted to grind
against him and ease that invisible ache, but Mom had her ears open. Not that I
cared at the moment. My needs overruled caution.

A gentle tug on my scarf caught my attention. Fane pulled
the first layer around my neck.

I broke off our kiss. “Don’t.”

I glanced in the direction of the living room.

He nodded. “This isn’t the place.”

Fane returned to scrubbing dishes. Humor returned to his
voice.

“I haven’t done dishes in ages. It’s rather therapeutic
actually.”

“Great, you’re hired.”

Fane nodded toward the living room. “So where’s your dad?”

“I scared him off. We don’t know when or if he’s coming
back.”

“
You
scared him?”

I batted my eyelashes and spoke in a girlish voice, “Little
ol’ me, I can be quite a fright.”

Fane laughed. “Whatever you say, Snow White.”

After I’d dried and put away the last dish, Mom appeared in
the dining room.

“Thanks for doing the dishes,” she said evenly.

“No problem,” I answered.

“Well, it’s getting late,” she prodded.

“Mom, it’s not even nine.”

“You were already up late last night…with Dante.” Mom lifted
her nose. I swear it was the first snub to ever leave her lips.

My jaw clenched. Before I could say another word, Fane
glided from the kitchen to the adjoining dining room.

He smiled. “Thank you for having me over to dinner, Mrs.
Sky. It was a pleasure meeting you.” He turned. “Aurora, I’ll see you at school
tomorrow.”

I tossed the kitchen towel on the counter. “I’ll walk you
out.”

I didn’t bother with my jacket. I had to stop myself from
slamming the front door once we were outside.

“Sorry about my mom.”

Fane just smiled. “She’s looking out for you. I get it. I’ll
see you tomorrow.”

He opened his car door, but I shut it before he could get
in. His eyes dropped to my lips as he grinned.

“I don’t want to wait till tomorrow,” I said.

I moved in for the kiss. Fane managed to steer me to the
back door of the car, open it, and toss me in the back seat. He shut us inside
the indestructible tank and hovered above me on his hands and knees. I did what
I’d been longing to do—wrap my legs around his torso and pull him to me. He
groaned. The sound was indescribable—like a soul in torment. I suspected it
might kill him if he didn’t have me right then.

It would serve my mother right if I had sex with Fane in our
driveway after the way she chased him out. She never would have acted that way
with Dante. She would have waited on Dante hand and foot and signed our marriage
certificate all because he was the golden boy with the charming smile.

 If she thought it was safer sending Fane away, she had no
idea who I was anymore. I rocked against him. The springs dug into my back from
under the old upholstery.

Fane pulled my top up just below my breasts and began
trailing kisses down my stomach. I shivered and gasped. He reached for the
scarf once more. He seemed more intent on getting it off than my pants.

I rolled my head side to side on the car bench. “No,” I
moaned. “No.”

“Why not?” Fane asked huskily.

Because he couldn’t see. He couldn’t know. What would he
think of me if he knew?

I sat up. “I should go back inside. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I thought he’d protest, but Fane grinned and said, “I never
thought I’d count down the hours until school started.”

I kissed him quickly on the lips and crawled to the opposite
door. When I turned around on the porch, Fane waved as he pulled out of the
driveway. I waved back then ran inside and up the stairs before Mom could ruin
my good mood.

 18

Fane was waiting outside my English class when first
period ended.

“Want to get out of here?”

No, Aurora. Just say no.

I smiled. “Yeah.”

As we headed for the double doors, I caught a quick glimpse
of Noel. Her eyes widened. She shouldn’t look so surprised. Wasn’t she the one
who told me Scott Stevens was herbal tea? I would think Fane Donada was the
type of guy who merited the Mouseketeer stamp of approval.

“Are you ready to try out the tank?” Fane asked when we
reached his car.

He opened the passenger door for me. And they said chivalry
was dead. Turns out it came in the most unexpected places.

I raised a brow before climbing in. “Where are we going?”

“Anywhere you want.”

“How about Portage Glacier?”

“Hop in.”

Oh, I was bad skipping class…again. This time I wasn’t even
staying on school property. It’s not like I could concentrate on a word my
teachers said, anyway. Not with Fane on the brain 24/7.

Math and science just didn’t mean as much when I’d faced
death three times. Four, counting Dante’s driving.

Unlike Dante, Fane handled his car with care. I nearly
giggled. Fane drove a piece of shit. He probably had to be gentle or she’d fall
apart over the first speed bump.

Fane hadn’t lied, the tank moved at a steady, slow speed,
even after Fane got onto the highway going south.

I stared out the window as Fane wound his way along the base
of the Chugach Mountains. The Seward Highway skirted the shores of the
Turnagain Arm. Admittedly, I lived in one of the most beautiful places in the
world. Still didn’t mean I wanted to freeze my ass off half the year.

“I love this drive,” I said.

“I’m impressed.”

I raised a questioning brow.

“You seem completely at ease while I’m driving,” Fane
continued.

“I don’t think it’s you so much as the tank.”

He smiled. “Are you hungry? I could pull off in Girdwood.”

“No, keep driving.”

I faced the ocean on the right. It was gray and full of
silt-crusted icebergs floating in and out on the tide. I only looked away when
Fane pointed out mountain goats on the left. He had an uncanny ability to spot
them, even with his eyes on the road.

The parking lot at Portage Glacier was empty when we pulled
in.

My memories of the place were of the summer time and great
glossy icebergs floating by in Portage Lake as Mom and I watched from the edge
of the parking lot. The glacier itself had receded over three miles in the last
century. I’d never walked across the frozen lake to the edge of the glacier in
the winter, but now it sounded like a good idea.

I tightened my scarf before stepping onto the ice. I
couldn’t actually see it with all the snow coverage.

Fane drifted silently by my side. I felt like we were
walking on the moon. There wasn’t another human in sight. The lake was covered
in snow that crunched beneath our shoes. Fane and I blazed a trail across the
expanse of white.

We rounded a corner carved into the lake by a mountain and
saw the glacier in the distance. I wondered if Fane was as drawn to that great
river of ice as I was.

We walked up to the jagged edge of the glacier. Chunks of
white ice glowed unnaturally blue. The pieces looked as though they were lit
from within.

“This really is an amazing place,” I said.

“It’s the last frontier,” Fane said.

“Too bad it’s so cold and dark.”

“Are you kidding? That’s my favorite part.”

“We should turn back,” I said. “My bus is going to be
leaving soon.”

He laughed. “I can drive you home now, remember?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true. We should still turn back. I
really need to do my homework. Oh, and start going to class. I don’t want to
spend my summer in school or worse…next school year at Denali.”

The way to the glacier felt like a journey of many miles,
but the way back was quick.

“What about you?” I asked. “Do you plan on going to
college?” I sort of doubted it.