Northern Bites (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter, Vol. 2) (26 page)

18

“I see you’re back in self-destruct mode,” Fane said, staring at my throat when I threw back my first shot of whiskey.

“I’m just having fun. Don’t I deserve to have fun?” I s
macked the glass onto the granite countertop.

Gloria Gaynor began singing “I Will Survive” from the living room. Lately I felt like
every song on the planet had been written specifically to mock my life. Aurora Sky: The Musical. One big bloody harmonic extravaganza.

Fane’s gaze moved to my eyes. He stared. Okay, that wasn’t unnerving. “Kill any vampires while you were away?”
he finally asked.

“Actually
, I saved one.” Never mind that I’d probably live to regret it. If Giselle Morrel sniffed out any clue as to my involvement in her family’s death I could have another Renard on my hands. Angry vampire hunting me down in Anchorage. My favorite kind. At least she didn’t look that intimidating. I’d like to think I could take on a skinny blonde who collected stuffed animals and fairy figurines. Then again there’d been swords on her wall. Hmm.

“So now you’ve been transferred to vampire search and rescue?” Fane asked in a mocking tone.

I narrowed my eyes.

“Didn’t think so,” Fane said.

I poured myself another whiskey. “Want one?”

“Whiskey isn’t
my liquid of choice.”

“Right,” I said, rolling my eyes. “You prefer blood.”

“Wine, actually.” He backed against the counter and folded his arms low over his chest. I could feel Fane watching my eyes as I stared at the outline of his abs. He might have questionable hair and mismatched lips, but Fane’s abs were rock solid and utterly dreamy in the dark. Not that I’d gotten a good feel recently.

“I owned a vineyard in France
for many years,” he continued. “Another life.”

My hand stilled as I reached for the whiskey bottle. I re
called what Valerie had said about Fane having contacts all around the world. Had he known the Morrels back then? I had to force myself not to dig for more.
Not an informant. Not my problem
. Instead I asked, “If you enjoyed it so much, why did you leave?”

Fane
stared at me a moment before answering. “It is one thing to spend a lifetime in the same place, another to spend an eternity.”

“So you won’t stay in Alaska?”
My chest suddenly ached.

“Forever?” Fane chuckled. “I never stay in the same place for more than fifty years. Sometimes less than five.”

“So you’re just going to keep going from city to city, country to country?”

Fane’s eyes met mine. “It’s
worked out so far.”

I reached for the whiskey bottle, but Fane grabbed it first.
He moved away from the counter faster than I could’ve anticipated. “Hey.”

He
opened a cupboard and shoved the bottle inside. Then he pulled out a large glass and filled it with water from the tap. “Drink this,” he said, handing it to me.

Something about the way he said it made me drink. Halfway through the water, I set the glass down. “I feel sick.” My organs
had started coiling in on themselves, or maybe the dancing, drinking, and water had all mixed together and reacted violently. I placed a hand on my abdomen.

“You should drink the rest of the water,” Fane said calmly.

I made a face. “If I drink any more water I’m going to hurl.”

“Good. You’ll feel
better.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Do you enjoy watching me suffer?”

“Not at all.” He sounded sincere. If I hadn’t felt so sick all of a sudden, I would have wanted to kiss him. How humiliating. This wasn’t part of the plan. The plan was to loosen up and feel sexy.

It hadn’t worked with Scott
, and it was failing dismally with Fane. I should have known better.

I eyed the glass of water. Even the thought of another sip caused my stomach to protest. I brought this on myself.

I grabbed the glass suddenly and chugged down the remaining water. My stomach rolled as though riding the waves of a storm. One nasty ass shit storm.

I set the empty glass down shakily. “I’ll be right back.” I started toward the living room.

“There’s one to the left of the front door,” Fane said.

“Thank you,” I said.

I hurried to the front entrance and shut myself inside the bathroom. I lifted the toilet seat, chanting in my head,
never again, never again, never again
. My stomach held on stubbornly. At this point, I felt so miserable I just wanted to get it over with. Saliva gathered in my throat. I spit into the toilet. It foamed on the surface of the water.

“How romantic,” I said
, and nearly burst into laughter.

There is no worse feeling than throwing up, except maybe the agony your stomach puts you through before you
do it. At some point you’re begging for it to be over, no matter what you have to go through to get to the other side.

Finally
, my stomach let go. Luckily I found a bottle of mouthwash in the cabinet below the sink. I rinsed my mouth, splashed water on my face, and dabbed my cheeks and forehead dry.

The face in the mirror only looked half-human
, but I felt as though I’d returned to the land of the living.

Fane had his jacket on when I returned to the kitchen. If it had been any other guy I might have been humiliated, but this was Fane. We’d been together. We’d made out. Not for very long
, but long enough to create something of a familiar bond between us—no matter how much he pulled back.

“Want to get out of here?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

We didn’t bother saying goodbye. I’m sure Marcus and the crew would survive without us. Ha, ha.

“How did you get here?” Fane asked when we stepped outside.

“Cab.”

“Where’s Noel?”

“I’m not at liberty to say.” Right, so I totally lifted that line from Melcher.

“Noel trusts me, unlike you,” Fane said, his words hard.

Ah, yes. Noel had spilled our little secret in a moment of panic
, not that I wasn’t grateful. If Noel hadn’t shown up with Fane I would have bled to death after being gutted by Renard’s evil crony.

But I had to admit, i
t was interesting how Noel’s role of informant went both ways. Had she told Henry or Gavin? If Gavin didn’t know already, I’m sure Valerie would fill him in. I didn’t like the thought of that. Pretty soon every bloodsucker in the state would be onto us, and I wouldn’t be able to cross the street without looking over my shoulder. Fine, so long as they all knew I hadn’t signed up for this!

I followed Fane to his car,
The Tank. After grabbing the handle on the passenger’s side, I stopped and looked over the hood at Fane. “Noel panicked.”

Fane shot me a lazy smile. “Noel knew exactly what she was doing.”

I frowned and lowered myself inside the car. A feeling of nostalgia settled into the pit of my stomach as I buckled myself into the worn seat. “I see The Tank’s still running.”

Fane patted the dashboard and grinned. “She’s managed to keep up with me so far.”

It tugged at my heartstrings to see Fane flash one of his real smiles. His full upper lip looked so sexy when he did. When he smiled like that he came to life. He didn’t sparkle (are you kidding me?), but he had this glow about him.

I star
ed at his slim, white fingers as he turned the keys in the ignition. Even now, the sound of a car starting caused a jolt of panic, but it no longer made me reach for the vehicle’s handlebar.

Fane stared out the windshield as he asked, “Where to?”

“Surprise me.”

He grin
ned and put the car in drive. Fane headed towards home but passed my exit. He kept going south on the highway. His house then? That’s what it looked like from the exit he took, but he passed his neighborhood. Denali High loomed in the distance. That feeling of nostalgia crept back inside me.

We approached the empty parking lot,
lit from above by all the high-powered lights. The lot had been plowed, the snow pushed to the sides in hill-shaped mounds, forming walls on all four sides of the parking lot. It reminded me of a hockey rink.

Fane pulled in and put the car in park. We idled in the parking lot, facing the school.

“Do you miss it?” Fane asked softly.

“Why would I?”

“Someday you might.” He held the steering wheel, even though we were parked. He kept staring straight ahead. Did he want a picture or something? It was a high school, not a castle.

Finally, he let go of the wheel and leaned back. “Going to school, hanging out with people, it helps me hold onto my humanity. I’
ve seen a lot of my kind lose that. I had my life stolen from me, but I won’t give up my humanity.”

I tried to think of a response worthy of what he’d just said
, but none of my thoughts seemed up to the task, so I remained quiet until the silence got the better of me. “Why did you bring me here?”

Fane turned to me and smiled. “Auto rehabilitation. We covered step one and step two, but we never made it to step three.”

Speaking of genuine smiles, it had been so long since I’d truly smiled it made my jaw ache. I covered my mouth with my hand. “Oh my gosh.”

“You didn’t think I’d forget, did you?” Fane
asked. “You’ve had plenty of time to practice step one.”

Step one: Get inside the car.

Fane smiled when he saw my eyes on his lips. I was already thinking of step two: kissing.
“The surest way to get over a car phobia is by creating positive associations,”
Fane had told me.

My heart began thumping against my chest. It took all
of my willpower not to wet my lips.

We’d had some epic makeout sessions in this car. I’d wanted more than kisses. Fane wasn’t the only one who felt like he’d lost his chance.

“What’s step three?” I asked, hoping my breath was steady.

Fane shot me a sly grin as though he’d known what I was thinking all along.

“Step three: drive the car.”

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