Whiteout (Aurora Sky (8 page)

“I
didn't
see any blankets.”

“We'll find some. They have to keep them stashed away somepl
ace. If not, we have our sleeping bags.”

“We'll probably need them,” I said. “It's freezing in here.” I glanced inside each room as we backtracked to the lobby. “What a shame. Look at all these rooms with private bathrooms, yet none of them work.”

Far ahe
ad, a beam of light moved down the opposite hall. We reached the lobby about the same time as Giselle.

“What's down there?” I asked.

Her eyes seemed to search the dark for mine. “Twelve bedchambers and a door leading outside.”

“It's the same on this side,”
I said.

Giselle walked to the front doors and stopped. “If we remove boards from a few of the front windows, we have a clear view of the road and anyone coming up. This would make a suitable location for an ambush.”

Dante walked over and opened one of the
double doors. Sunlight spilled into the lobby. I stepped out and squinted. It was like coming out of a dark movie theater after two hours—one extreme to another.

Dante, Giselle, and Tommy joined me on the porch.

“We could take cover in the outlying cabins
,” Giselle said, staring into the distance. “Make them think we're inside the lodge.”

I turned off my flashlight and pocketed it. “And by ‘they' you mean
…
?”

“Jared and Melcher,” she said, looking over the expanse between the lodge, cabins, mountains, and r
oad.

“I don't think Melcher pays house calls,” I said.

“But Jared would,” she said eagerly.

I folded my arms. “You're not actually proposing we invite him over?”

“If you have a better idea, I will hear it now.”

My eyes narrowed on Giselle's. The Vulcan was
incapable of any look other than hostility, annoyance, or cold calculation. Her current expression was a mixture of all three.

“Negative,” Dante said. “We're not prepared for an ambush, and Jared wouldn't come alone. We all want Jared and Melcher to pay f
or their crimes, but, more importantly, we need to stop them from abusing their powers without risking agency operations.”

Giselle peeled her cold gaze from me to stare at Dante. “You would protect this agency after everything they've done to you?” She gla
nced at me. “Both of you
?”

Dante straightened his spine. “I'd be dead if the agency hadn't stepped in after my snowboarding accident. They've provided me with training
,
an education
,
an opportunity to make a difference in the world and serve justice to tho
se who prey on the innocent.”

Right. Speak for yourself, Dante
.
He should really
wean
himself off the agency Kool-Aid and start drinking blood.

“And you?” Giselle demanded, returning her gaze to me. “Do you feel this same loyalty to your agency?”

I felt no
loyalty to the agency
,
and I wanted Melcher and Jared gone as much as Giselle, but most of all, I wanted freedom—real freedom to go wherever I pleased without having to look over my shoulder.

“My loyalty is with my family and friends,” I said. “Until the
agency is held accountable, they will never be safe.”

“I see,” Giselle said. It wasn't her low tone that gave me pause, but the words left unsaid. Whatever she was thinking, I'd bet it wasn't for the good of anyone other than herself.

“Tomorrow we will go
into town for snowmachines and supplies,” Dante said.

“Someone could recognize you,” Giselle said. “I will go.”

Dante folded his arms over his chest. “The directions are too complicated
,
and I know where my friend's father keeps th
e spare key.”

Giselle's s
houlders straightened. “That's fine for picking up the machines, but I'll need to get the supplies.”

“Sure,” Dante said, waving her off. “
Now let's unload.”

It didn't take long to empty the truck. Once our supplies
were inside, Dante built a fire.

“Have yo
u picked a room?” Dante tossed another log onto the fire before looking over his shoulder at me.

“Right here. In front of the fire,” I said, pointing to the ground.

Dante chucked an armful of kindling over the logs. “This ought to keep us warm,” he said.

“
I'm more worried a
bout keeping us alive,” I said.

Giselle walked over to one of the windows on the far wall near the breakfast nook and pulled a loose board off with her bare hands.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

Giselle set the plywood on the floor. “Let
ting in some natural light. It's like a cave in here.”

“I thought vampires liked caves,” I said.

Giselle frowned. “In Sitka we had a view of the ocean from our windows.”

Rags to riches. Meet the Morrels
. Now there was only one left—not counting Xavier. A
.k
.a.
Jared.

“Henriette always appreciated a room with a view,” Giselle said, staring absently out the window she'd uncovered.

I wished she wouldn't mention Henriette. It conjured up a disturbing image of the woman getting her neck snapped by Jared.

I turne
d away from the fire and pulled a sheet off the nearest couch, tossed it aside, and sat down. Tommy came over to check it out, tail wagging.

I patted the cushion beside me. “Come on up, Tommy.”

The golden retriever didn't need any more coaxing. He leapt o
nto the couch and sprawled out over the remaining space.

“Get comfy while you can,” I said.

Tommy flopped onto his side and I rubbed his belly.

Dante rubbed his hands together. “What's for dinner?”

“For you?” I asked. “The Spam special.” When Dante's nose wrinkled, I shot him a smug smile. “Is the ham can not doing it for you anymore?”

Rather than answer my question, Dante asked, “Was there anything left behind in the cupboards or fridge?”

“The frid
ge is unplugged,” Giselle reminded him.

“We don't need a fridge. It's like a fridge in here,” I commented.

Dante turned to me. “Give the fire a chance to get going.” He moved to the couch and hovered by Tommy's head. “Move over, buddy.”

T
ommy closed his ey
es.

“Too stubborn for his own good,” Dante muttered. He pulled a sheet off a chair and moved it in front of the fire.

Once Dante sat down, Tommy opened his eyes and repositioned himself, resting his head in my lap. I ran my fingers over his soft fur and s
tared into the fire.

Giselle grabbed a flashlight. “I'm going to see if there's anything useful in the storage shed outside.”

“Good thinking,” Dante said.

Tommy lifted his ears briefly as Giselle walked away, but the comfort of the couch won over curiosity
. He sighed
,
content.

I followed the fire's progress as it began digesting the dry logs Dante had fed into the hearth in ripples of yellow and orange
flames
. A log fell off the pile toward the edge of the fireplace and sparks shot out briefly. My body tens
ed. Tommy lifted his head then lowered it back to my lap.

Dante and I kept our eyes trained on the hearth as though watching a movie. As awkward as it was having Giselle around, it was just as awkward when Dante and I were left alone together.

“So we're la
ying low,” I said absently.

“
Yup
,” Dante responded, dragging his reply out remarkably slow
,
considering it was a three
-
letter word.

Silence followed, accentuated with a crackle and pop inside the hearth.

“We're settling in for the long haul,” Dante said
after a minute. “No more action. Not like last night.” He sounded wistful as he said the last part. Dante reached under his ass and pulled out the phone he'd taken from the dead vampire, thumbing over the screen.

“No texts. Guess he doesn't want to leave b
ehind any incriminating messages.” Dante held the phone closer to his face. “Not many contacts in his address book. Arlo, Jab, P
ie
rce… What kind of names are these?”

“Vampire names,” I said.

Dante huffed. “The names of killers right at our fingertips
,
yet
we're supposed to hide out like escaped convicts. We should be going after these vamps, not curling up in front of the fire.”

“Dante,” I said, my voice dropping in warning. “Don't even think about it.”

He lowered the phone. “Why not? The agency thinks they
can send our enemies after us. Well, what if we killed them all first?” Dante's eyes gleamed in the firelight. His lips lifted, revealing his teeth in an excited smile.

My hand stilled over Tommy's head. “I don't think they'd care either way. They want us
all dead. Doesn't matter which of us goes first.”

I could practically hear Melcher's melodramatic voice inside my head.
Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust.

I wasn't going anywhere until I saw the pompous man
-
vamp fall from grace. He was a murderer, a hypocrite—
the worst kind of evil. I might be more afraid of Jared, but I hated Melcher more.

Dante shoved the phone back inside his pocket. “That's true,” he said. “But taking out renegade vampires would be a whole lot easier than the head of the agency. There's no
getting to Melcher, not without help from up high. Honestly, I don't even know if Sergeant Holmes could get to him.”

The enormity of Dante's words pressed on me. How were two young runaway vampire hunters supposed to take on the great and powerful Oz?

“May
be we should take out more vampires,” Dante said thoughtfully. “Prove our worth to the agency so they'll take us back.”

I looked at him quickly. I'd heard his voice, but I hadn't seen his lips move. They were pressed together firmly now. He sat, stiff as a
statue, staring into the flames.

“Take us back,” I sputtered, finding my voice. “How can you say such a thing? These are the people who arranged my accident. Melcher killed Agent Crist. Jared killed the Morrels
and who knows how many others? They turned us into vampires!”

Tommy's head lifted, followed by his body. He jumped off the couch and slunk into the shadows. Guess the big guy was sensitive to arguments. The
furball
wasn't the only one riled up by my tone.

Angry creases splintered across Dante's face. “Which is why I think we should come at them from the inside. What good can we do from way out here?” Dante swept his arm in a wide arc over his head.