Bad Blood (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter, Vol. 3) (12 page)

Remind me why I had invited the vixen over? Oh, right. The matter of Jared—Melcher’s unorthodox recruiter. Vampire. Murderer. The man responsible for bringing Valerie and me to the brink of death and turning us into government slaves.

Time to cut to the chase.

“Where’s Jared?”

Valerie leaned back against the kitchen counter, grinning. “I offed him while you were at your extended sleepover. Kidding. The leech has gone into hiding.”

“You haven’t seen him at all?”

“Not since I shot him in Sitka. This is your fault by the way. You should have finished him off when you had the chance or let me do it.”

“I had no idea who he really was.”

Valerie sniffed. “Doesn’t matter. He tried to kill us… a second time.”

He wasn’t much of a recruiter if his habit was to take down team members less than a year after forcing them into service. Something told me Jared had little regard for life. People were his playthings, and when they didn’t do what he wanted, he either forced their hand or wiped them out completely. He killed his own family for deserting him in Paris.

Like it was their fault he murdered people, got caught, and thrown in prison.

If only he’d stayed behind bars, or better yet, gone the way of the guillotine. Off with his head! I wouldn’t have any blood on my hands and would be blissfully in the dark about vampires.

Blaming me for anything to do with Jared wasn’t very cool, either.

“Sorry,” I said, not masking the aggravation in my voice. “I’m still new to the whole killing thing.”

Hey, I was human. Hesitating to murder a person, even an undead one, counted as a strength in my opinion.

Valerie drummed her nails on the counter before responding. “Now that you’ve been through boot camp, I can only hope you’re ready to take action.”

“I’m ready. I just don’t know how we find Jared.”

“All in good time,” Valerie said.

All in good time? Who was this redhead standing beside me? Valerie was not the patient type. It worried me just a little.

“And in the meantime?”

“Stick to the routine,” Valerie said. “Play the part. Don’t give Melcher any reason to be suspicious.”

“I haven’t seen Melcher yet.” And I had to say, I didn’t miss him. That was one perk of boot camp. No spur-of-the-moment missions and no Melcher.

“You will. He wants me, you, and Dante in on these Tastings.”

And there it was. Right back into the field. Active duty. Welcome home, Agent Sky!

I suppressed a sigh.

“How’d your interview with Diederick go?”

“It didn’t. Melcher called it off.”  Valerie pulled at a loose string fraying from her cutoff jeans.

“Why?” I asked.

“Before the interview, I found out that Diederick required a blood sample. He tests for AB positive and negative blood—vampire blood. The guy doesn’t want any vampires or potential vampires working as wine girls.”

“Why not?”

Valerie shrugged. “I don’t know. They don’t like the aftertaste of our blood or something. I never knew there was such a thing as a picky blood sucker until now.”

I thought briefly of what Noel and Fane had said about testing her blood. Maybe there was something to that after all.

“What’s the plan?” I asked

“Melcher will go over it this weekend with us. Dante got himself signed up as a vampire client.” Valerie snorted. “Dante a vampire… and I’m the Virgin Mary.”

I frowned. “Melcher hasn’t mentioned a meeting to me. How come he told you?”

“Because we’ve been in contact. You were gone for six months. Or have you forgotten?” Valerie’s phone chimed. She glanced at the screen, let out an exasperated breath, and pushed away from the counter.

“Gotta run.”

I followed her to the door.

Valerie paused in the entryway, staring at her phone before dropping it inside her purse.

“Stage three clinger,” she said with an eye roll.

“Who? Gavin?”

“Big time.” Valerie tossed her hair back. “He enrolled at UAA just to be near me. Speaking of… you should make two keys. One for me and one for Gavin.”

“Gavin can’t come over here.”

I wasn’t cold-hearted enough to do that to Noel.

“Why not?” Valerie demanded, her face changing from smug to scowl instantly.

“Noel lives here, too.”

That ought to be explanation enough. Noel would hate seeing Valerie around even more than Gavin. Too bad. Valerie and I might not have been friends, but we were teammates, and there were times when people simply had to rise above personality disorders.

Valerie’s lips formed a pout. “Melcher let Noel Harper live here?”

“Yeah, she was here first. I didn’t know until I moved in.” Much as I didn’t enjoy hearing from Melcher, a little heads up from time to time would be nice.

“Well, isn’t that just peachy? One never-ending slumber party. How do you spend your Friday nights? Taking quizzes and painting your nails, rocking out to Justin Bieber?” Valerie huffed.

Was it my imagination, or did Valerie sound jealous?

“I just moved in,” I said. “This is only my second Friday night.”

That earned me a full on glare right before Valerie turned on her heel and yanked open the door. “Well, don’t expect me to come by with my slippers. I have a life.” With that, she strutted down the driveway, flip flops slapping the pavement in her wake.

Valerie hadn’t been kidding about Melcher calling us in.

Dante picked me up Saturday afternoon, fifteen minutes before the appointed meeting.

“Did Melcher find a replacement for Agent Crist?” I asked as Dante zoomed towards the base.

As the light at the intersection ahead turned yellow, Dante punched the gas. My body jolted backward. I reached for the side of the door, fingers searching for something to grip. Now this was more like old times. Far less frightening on dry pavement.

“Not yet, but hopefully soon. He needs someone to counterbalance him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Now he has to play both good cop and bad cop. You’ll see.”

Valerie arrived at the meeting first. She always seemed to be there first, which surprised me. The vixen didn’t strike me as a kiss up. She could probably use the extra brownie points after wigging out in Sitka and jumping the first plane to the lower forty-eight. Then again, maybe it would help if she didn’t argue with Melcher.

The two of them were bickering over his desk when Dante and I walked in. Valerie jammed a finger in my direction.

“Aurora and Noel get their own place even though I have seniority.”

“We’ve already been over this,” Melcher said through clenched teeth. “For now you’re staying with Kennick.”

His cheeks flushed as his voice rose. Maybe Dante had a point.

“But I have to drive clear across town to get on campus,” Valerie whined.

“Enough!” Melcher bellowed.

Valerie plopped into the chair in front of his desk, arms folded, frowning. While Melcher’s attention was elsewhere, Dante shot me a quick “told you so” smirk.

“Hello, Dante. Aurora,” Melcher said, barely looking at us as he sat at his desk.

Though I’d been expecting more of a welcome, I didn’t mind the brush off. I didn’t need Melcher’s congratulations or mumbo jumbo about my value to the team. And maybe I’d hold off on complaining about my current roommate, at least until Crist’s replacement started. I never thought I’d miss the sour-faced woman.

I took the seat beside Valerie. Dante leaned against the wall.

Melcher placed his hands on his desk. “Let’s get down to business, shall we?” He narrowed his eyes at Valerie. “Although we had a big win last February with the death of Crist’s killer, Andre Morrel, we’re now dealing with something far worse. Tastings.” Melcher’s nose wrinkled as though swallowing stale milk.

I was more disgusted by Melcher and Jared’s conspiracy. So they were still pinning Crist’s death on Jared’s scapegoat, Andre.

Melcher cleared his throat. “Thanks to Dante and Noel, we are now aware of these exclusive tasting parties for vampires willing to pay top dollar to drink from girls who imbibe on wine.”

“Bottoms up,” Dante said.

“The way you like them,” Valerie said with a smirk.

That only made Dante’s grin widen.

Melcher took a moment to glare at both of them. Silence settled over the office. He cleared his throat and continued.

“Originally I hoped to instate Miss Ward as an undercover wine girl to report on what’s happening behind closed doors and who is going behind them. But Diederick’s screening process includes a blood sample, and he doesn’t allow anyone with AB negative or positive blood to work the private rooms.”

“Could we switch the samples?” Dante asked.

“He takes a direct sample,” Melcher said.

Valerie turned in her chair to look at Dante. “You do remember this is a vampire we’re dealing with, right? What do you think he’s going to do, allow applicants to bring in their own vial of personally labeled blood?”

“What’s wrong with AB blood?” I cut in.

Melcher clasped his hands together. “The infected aren’t fond of the aftertaste.”

I could still hear Marcus’ words after he bit me.

You taste like death.

Yet another important tidbit Melcher kept from us.

“How can you ask informants to get within biting distance of vampires if their blood is going to turn their subjects off?” I asked, waving a hand at Valerie.

She arched a brow at Melcher. “Yeah, what’s the deal, Melcher?”

How’s that for turning the tables? I kind of liked this gang up on Melcher scenario. His jaw tightened and lids lowered. Melcher leaned forward.

“Not all vampires are as particular as others, especially not the newer ones. They might not notice for several decades.”

“Fane wasn’t a new vampire!” Valerie cried. “You told me yourself, he’s been around almost as long as the Mona Lisa. Plenty of time to taste a difference in my blood.”

I forced myself to sit still and look neutral at the mention of Fane’s name. I whispered a silent prayer that Dante wouldn’t connect the name Fane with Francesco.