Northern Bites (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter, Vol. 2) (23 page)

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 rol
led 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 ton
gue 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. “S
o 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 mom
ent 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 t
ook 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 la
y 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.

“No, but someone attacked her and then suddenly she’s in Alaska undergoing training.”

“A
nd you assume Jared did this?”

“Did Jared recruit Valerie?”
I asked back.

Melcher turned away
. He cleared his throat softly. “That is a heavy accusation, Aurora.”

“Yeah, well, I just witnessed him on a murderous rampage.”

The driver took a sharp turn. I grabbed the door handle to keep from leaning toward Melcher.
I looked out the window after the car straightened out. I knew this road. My mom, dad, and I once biked it to get to the Coastal Trail. Eventually we’d hit Point Woronzof Road. The last time I’d been out this way was with Fane.

This is where it had all ended.

It’s where I’d gotten a glimpse of Fane the Vampire. Fane, the predator who chased girls through the woods. Fane, who would have bitten me if he hadn’t been shocked to see bite marks across my skin after he ripped my scarf off.

But then he’d been so sweet afterwards. He’d answered my questions and given me space. He said he’d never killed anyone and I believed him. Even though he couldn’t bite me, he still wanted to be with me.

I’d asked for time to think. He asked how much, and I’d countered with, “What do you mean how much time? You have all the time in the world.”

That doesn’t make the seconds away from you go by any faster.

What happened to that guy? The nice one? Vampires seemed to have a bit of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in them. Except in Jared’s case. He was all Hyde.

“Jared was doing his job,”
Melcher answered evenly. “Something he told me you and Miss Ward failed to do.”

That jerk!

“We were a little too busy defending ourselves to carry out Jared’s command to execute an innocent girl.”

Melcher started talking the moment I finished. “I assure you that Giselle Morrel is no innocent girl. Her killing spree has spanned
the better part of two centuries, and now she remains on the loose.”

Lovely. At least she hadn’t seen our faces.

I straightened in my chair. “Maybe if you’d briefed us, we would have known what to expect. Better yet, maybe we wouldn’t have freaked out if you’d told us Jared was a vampire and you were okay with that.”

Melcher frowned. “Jared’s status is classified. It appears he could have gone about things a little better, but if you had stuck to his plan
, Giselle would have been put to rest and Miss Ward wouldn’t have panicked and taken off.”

Again, I suppose
d it should come as no surprise that Melcher didn’t need to wait for me to arrive to have the full bloody scoop on what had gone down. Still, he’d better give me a chance to tell my version. Not that it looked like he cared much.

“So you’ve spoken to Jared?” I asked.

Melcher nodded once. “As soon as he woke up.”

“I suppose you had him released.”

“He’s on his way back tonight.”

I wrapped my arms around my chest tightly and stared out my window. The snow
-covered trees and mountains across the inlet looked like a scene from a postcard.

Wish I
weren’t here.

“How did you pull that one off?” We’d left Jared in a house full of bodies practically holding a smoking gun.

Melcher glanced at me briefly. “I told the police what they needed to hear. Jared is an undercover agent who spent the last year tracking down a family with terrorist ties. He showed up to investigate and they opened fire. He had no choice. The girl got away.”

How convenient
—for Jared. “I’m afraid of him,” I admitted.

Melcher did the head bob again. “You should be. He’s one of the infected but a necessary evil all the same. Jared
started out as my top informant. He knows vampires from centuries back—all around the world. Even with the resources I have at my fingertips, I could never come close to identifying and tracking the vampires Jared has led me to. After he proved his loyalty to this unit, I promoted him to top recruiter.”

My head snapped in Melcher’s direction. “And it’s never struck you as odd that
accidents
just happen to occur the moment he’s around?”

“Accidents happen all the time,” Melcher said calmly. “The world works in mysterious ways.”

In other words, Melcher had granted Jared carte blanche. I glared.

“I’ll look into it,”
he said. “I’ll even put Jared on suspension while I do. I hold him responsible for last night’s failures. As team leader, it was his duty to get the job done and return with every member of his team.”

“What about Valerie?” I asked.

“I know that she took flight sixty-two to Sea-Tac International, which landed…” Melcher checked his wristwatch. “Twenty minutes ago. This isn’t the first time a member of this unit panicked. She’ll come back on her own or I’ll send an escort. Miss Ward knows the rules.”

That’s just the thing. I was pretty sure
Valerie was playing by her own rules now.

I leaned forward in my seat, feeling anxious for the driver to turn the car around and take me home. A shower would be nice. So would sleep. If I
actually could sleep knowing Jared was on his way back.