Whiteout (Aurora Sky (42 page)

Dante huffed, clutching his stomach with both hands. “Anyon
e can fly a plane. You and I could fly a plane if we had lessons.”

“True,” Fane said with a smirk. “Want me to teach you? Aurora can vouch for my teaching skills. I already taught her how to handle a stick.”

Dante clamped his teeth together, face turning r
ed.

“He taught me how to drive a stick shift,” I clarified, stepping between the two vamps. “How about we discuss flying lessons another day? Right now I just want to get home in one piece.”

Fane winked at me as he lifted his phone and began speaking in I
talian.

“Show-off,” Dante grumbled beside my ear.

We headed outside in front of Fane. The wind whipped over our legs. It seemed too gusty for flying.

Dante groaned as he lowered himself inside the sled attached to the machine we'd brought in. I leaned besi
de him, frowning when I saw how pale he'd suddenly turned.

“I'll be fine,” Dante said before I could ask. He clutched his stomach and his eyes shut slightly. “All I need is a doctor to pull this bullet out of me and stitch me back up.”

“Just hang on a litt
le longer.” I gave Dante's shoulder a squeeze.

With swift steps, I retrieved the gun I'd tried to take off the dead vampire when Jared had chased me down and knocked it out of my hand. As I straightened, gun in hand, I caught Fane's eyes. He had pocketed h
is phone and was walking toward me.

“Ready to go?” he asked.

“Yeah, but I'm taking this just in case we run into trouble along the way.”

“Let's hope not. I think we've had enough trouble for today.”

“I've had enough trouble for the month.” I sighed, fallin
g into step beside Fane.

With three of us on the snowmachine, our progress down the road was slow but steady. I appreciated Fane's consideration for our wounded passenger, despite his earlier taunts. I held on to Fane with one hand and the gun with the oth
er, keeping watch all the while. My body ached from the tension.

As we neared the highway, the wind let up a bit and slightly more by the time we reached Fane's vehicle.

After Fane shut off the engine, we dismounted and helped Dante out of the sled. It co
ncerned me that he let us help him. He looked unnaturally pale and his body shivered. I opened the car's passenger door before guiding him inside. Dante hoisted himself into the chair with a grunt then slumped forward. I slapped his thigh and he looked up.

“Hang in there,” I said.

Even though his smile
was
forced, it gave me some comfort. I closed the door and hopped in back as Fane started the vehicle.

“What about the proprietor's missing snowmachine?” I asked.

Fane backed up the car, meeting my eye when
he looked over his shoulder.

“I'll make arrangements once we're back in town.”

Dante groaned. “That one belongs to a friend,” he said, nodding toward the window and the machine with the sled.

“We'll get it all sorted out later,” Fane said.

We were silent
until we hit the highway and accelerated, heading north.
The
drive felt different. For
the first time since being recruited
, I felt like things would work out. Despite everything we'd been through, my lips
curved into a
smile as I sat back. Fane met my eye
s in the rearview mirror. When he saw my slight smile, his curved up in response. It warmed my insides more than the vents blasting semi-warm air from the dashboard.

“We've been given permission to use a plane and take off at Clear Air Force Station just o
utside of Anderson,” Fane said.

“And you're flying?”

Fane's smile widened in response. “Alfonso requested a Cessna 172. It's what I learned to fly in. Like riding a bike.”

“A bicycle with wings, huh?” I teased. I took a deep breath and sat up to get a bett
er lock on Fane in the rearview mirror. Looking at his reflection I said, “I trust you.”

I trusted Fane with my life. My soul. My heart.

I said all this with my eyes and from the way he stared back, I
swore
he understood everything I meant by those words.

 

    
     

 

A thick layer of frost covered the runway at Clear Air Force Station. Although the length of the strip was plowed, it still looked intimidating.

But I'd gotten over my fear of driving. Now wasn't the time to develop a fear of flying.

The C
essna had four seats. Dante was buckled into the one behind me. The three of us had on headsets, which helped block the roar of the engine and made it so we could communicate inside the plane.

The nose of the Cessna pointed down the runway where Fane had t
axied from one of the base
'
s
hangars
. Too bad
the
base didn't have specialized doctors on standby. Fane said they'd be waiting for us at Elmendorf. The doctor was prepped and ready to start on Dante as soon as we landed.

“North tower, Cessna 172, Number 92
7 ready for departure,” Fane said into his headset.

Seeing him in front of the controls, sitting upright, looking so efficient and capable of anything gave me
goose bumps
.

“Cessna 172, Number 927
:
you are clear for departure,” came the response over our he
adphones.

Fane gripped the throttle, which looked like something that belonged on a game controller, and pushed.

The plane picked up speed quickly. Soon we were rushing down the runway, wind shaking the small plane as though it was as flimsy as a kite.

I g
round my teeth together and sucked in breaths through my nose.

Although we raced forward, the wheels seemed to stick to the ground as the end of the runway came into sight. Maybe I shouldn't
have
watch
ed
. Maybe I should
have
close
d
my eyes and open
ed
them
when we were safely in the air. But I couldn't have pried them shut if I wanted to.

Fane pulled back
all of a sudden
and the nose of the plane tilted up. The wheels left the ground and we began to climb, lifting above the frozen land. The plane shuddered on the way up and dipped when
we got caught in a
wind gust before evening out.

I released a long, calming breath.

Dante was the first to speak into the headset once we reached our cruising altitude.

“Now that we're
airborne
, I'm going to pass out for a bit,” he said.
“Wake me when we get there.”

“Copy that,” I said.

Dante chuckled, the sound soon fading. I turned in m
y seat and looked back to make sure he was
only
passed out. His eyes were closed, chest rising and falling. Good. So long as he was breathing
,
I'd leave him
in peace
to rest.

Thank goodness Fane had found me when he did. I didn't want to think about what w
ould have happened if I'd been at the lodge during the attack and Dante had been shot. Assuming I'd still managed to take out the vampires, including Jared, where would I have taken Dante for medical care?

Our days of running and hiding were over
,
thanks t
o Fane.

Now the real bad guy was on the run.

The plane dipped
a little
, taking my heart along with it.

Fane smiled reassuringly when I looked at him and said, “Turbulence.”

I expected Dante to be jolted from sleep, but he was out for the count. A glance ba
ck confirmed he was unconscious but still breathing.

I returned my gaze to the window. It was an odd sensation being above the tundra, the forest, and the mountains we'd taken shelter in for one very long, cold month. All that was behind us. Below us and b
ehind us.

The engine roared outside the plane and the cabin vibrated. If I was going to go down, this was as good a way as any. I'd gotten away from Jared. We'd escaped a horde of vengeful vampires. Fane and I were reunited.

For a few brief moments, nothin
g mattered besides being alive, being with Fane. We were on top of the world. Free as birds.

“What's that smile for?” Fane asked,
his voice
coming
through the headphones.

I looked over. “Vampires really can fly. Imagine that.”