Bad Blood (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter, Vol. 3) (27 page)

“
Non. Elle n’est pas arrivée.
”

Wasn’t going to drop the French, was she?

“I guess I’ll wait,” I said, taking a seat near the back.

“Rachael,
mon amie! Comment ça va?
” Susan called out enthusiastically to the next woman who entered the room.

I kept my backpack, with the gun inside, in my lap and my eye on the door. The lesson was supposed to begin at eight p.m. It was three minutes to eight. Where was this anal teacher? I suppressed a sigh. I just wanted to get a quick look at her and be on my way. I had my own studying to do. Waking up to Valerie had wrecked my day’s schedule.

At exactly eight o’clock, the room got quiet all of the sudden. Students began exchanging looks.

“
Où est Madame Vasser?
” Susan asked.

The man beside her shrugged.

I drummed my nails over the desk I’d selected. A guy looked over at me, and I stopped.

Five minutes later, we all turned in our seats when a grey-haired woman entered the room. Her clogs tapped the floor heavily as she made her way to the front of the room. She stopped when she’d reached the center front.

“
Bonjour
,” she said.

“
Bonjour
,” the room echoed. Everyone, but me. Where was Blondie?

“My name is Madame Ellis. I am taking over for Madame Vasser.”

“Will Madame Vasser be back?” a guy in the front row asked.

“No. From now on, I will be your French instructor.”

“Third one in two months,” someone muttered beside me.

“What happened to Madame Vasser?” Susan asked, dropping the French.

I shoved aside my dismay at the teacher’s failure to appear. At least her students were asking the questions for me.

“I don’t know,” the replacement instructor said. “But if you don’t mind, I’d like to get started.”

That was my cue to leave. The teacher wasn’t here. There wasn’t any reason to keep my mom waiting in the car, worrying. I slid my butt to the edge of the seat, prepared to lift up and leave as inconspicuously as I could.

“Aurora Sky,” the instructor called out suddenly.

I froze in place. She’d caught me trying to sneak out. I felt momentarily disorientated.

Wait a minute. This wasn’t one of my classes, and I’d never seen this teacher before in my life. How did she know my name?

“Is there an Aurora Sky here?” she asked.

The room filled with blank stares. Students began looking around. I joined them. Was this a trick? If I raised my hand would a sniper take me out?

“Hey, didn’t you say your name was Aurora?” a woman asked.

Good old wants-to-speak-French Susan. And she asked loud enough for everyone, including Madame Ellis, to hear.

“Yeah,” I said. “That’s me.”

The instructor walked toward me. I tensed. What if she was working with Giselle? Should I pull the gun out? Before I could decide, Madame Ellis produced a white envelope and held it out to me.

“Madame Vasser wanted you to have this.”

Students turned in their seats to stare at me.

“Who is she?” someone whispered.

I stood up, took the envelope from the woman’s outstretched hand, and left the room. Once I’d entered the hallway, I quickly looked in either direction in case Giselle had waited for me to come out, but other than two adults conversing in front of a classroom, the hall was empty. I hustled along the corridor.

The envelope shook slightly in my hand. AURORA SKY was spelled out in clean handwriting.

After rounding a corner and checking that the coast was clear, I stopped and leaned my back against a locker. My heart beat a little harder against my chest. Part of me actually felt relieved. I’d made a mistake saving Giselle. I realized that later. As long as she was out there, I’d always have to worry about whether she’d find me and what she’d do if she did. Now the wait was over. This one was on me to clean up.

I tore open the envelope, expecting a handwritten note, a threat, an “I found you” or “Better watch your back.” But there was no correspondence waiting inside, only news clippings—three obituaries.

Andre, Henriette, and Etienne Morrel.

Each of their supposed ages were listed. Their date of deaths were all the same, as was the cause of death: a robbery gone bad. They were all three survived by their daughter/sister, Giselle.

I slipped the obituaries back inside the envelope and put it into my backpack before continuing down the hall to the parking lot.

Mom was parked in a front row spot, wearing sunglasses despite the fact that the sun had set during my absence. She took them off when she saw me. I walked around to the passenger’s door, and the locks sprung up. Good, she’s listened.

Once I sat down and shut the door, she hit lock again.

“I didn’t hear any gunshots,” she said.

“She wasn’t there.”

“She wasn’t?”

“Nope, but it’s her all right. Giselle tracked me down.”

13

Dante opened his front door shortly after I knocked.

“Hello, Mrs. Sky,” he said as my mom followed me inside.

We’d barely entered when Tommy came bounding forward from the living room in a mass of golden fur.

“Tommy!” I cried out.

He panted happily as I patted his head.

“How have you been, buddy?”

Tommy’s tail wagged in response.

Our group moved into the living room—a space with a couch, a La-Z-Boy recliner, and a ginormous flat screen TV. A stack of pizza boxes covered an end table, probably because the coffee table was already too full of magazines.

Dante had tried multiple times to get me over, and now here I was… with my mom under duress. Not quite the romantic rendezvous he’d anticipated. But if there was one thing that could be said for Dante, he was game for anything.

Once I had proof that Giselle had managed to pinpoint my identity and whereabouts, I’d called Dante and brought him quickly up to speed. I could have tried Valerie, but I wanted help from someone who actually cared about me and my family. There wasn’t anyone better for the job than Dante.

“Please excuse the mess,” Dante said, sweeping an arm into the living room. “I would have picked up, but I did a little research after you called. Mrs. Sky, can I get you anything?”

Mom shook her head. “No thank you, Dante.”

“What kind of research?” I asked.

Dante nodded at the couch. “Make yourselves comfortable.”

Tommy followed me over to the end of the couch, settling onto his hind legs. I stroked the soft fur on his head. Mom took the spot beside me and folded her hands in her lap. We looked at Dante, who’d walked around the coffee table and taken a stand in front of us.

“I popped online and did a bit of reading on the Daily Sitka Sentinel. I found the obituaries you were given. I also found an article about the murder investigation.”

I stopped petting Tommy and leaned forward.

“The paper stated that two women were suspected of breaking and entering the Morrel household and killing the entire family except for a teenage girl who got away. It also said that a detective had followed them to Sitka into the Morrel’s household, where he tried to apprehend the women before one of them shot him.”

“What detective?” I demanded, already knowing the answer.

“Detective Jared James.”

“You mean Just Jared?”

Dante nodded. “The one and only.”

“That’s outrageous! So he’s framing Valerie and me.”

That rat! That slime! That spawn of Satan and all that was unholy in the world.

My heart raced inside my chest. I felt like hurling a pizza box across the room. Better yet, I felt like traveling back in time and aiming Valerie’s gun directly at Jared’s cold, black heart.

Dante slipped around the coffee table and sat on the couch’s armrest. He put his hand on my shoulder gently. “Don’t worry, we’ll straighten this out. This is what Melcher gets for employing a vampire.”

Mom’s head snapped up. “You work with a vampire?”

“Only on one mission,” I said.

“But why would Agent Melcher hire a vampire?”

Dante leaned forward, addressing my mom. “I intend to find out tomorrow afternoon.”

“Dante…” I started.

“I have to go in, anyway,” he said. “Time for my monthly injection.” He tapped the inside of his arm with two fingers.

I shook my head. “Melcher’s just going to give you some bull crap answer. When I confronted him after the mission, he told me that Jared was atoning for past sins and that his position within the agency was classified. He referred to the man as a loyal member of the team and top recruiter.” And oh how that praise boiled my blood.

“No doubt Melcher believes that,” Dante said. “The man’s too trusting.”

“Trusting? He’s a liar!” I exclaimed. “I asked him how he got Jared released from police custody in Sitka. He told me the police were informed that Jared was an undercover agent who’d been tracking down a family with terrorist ties, and that when he showed up to question them, they began shooting, and he had no choice but to return fire.” I growled in disgust. “Now we have proof that’s not what he told the police at all. Maybe I should be checking the FBI’s Most Wanted list for my picture.”

“Already checked,” Dante said with perfect ease. “You’re not on their website.”

This was shaping up to be a fantastic homecoming. Henry suspected me for Marcus’ murder, Giselle had tracked me down, and now, possibly, the police were after me for the murder of the Morrel family.

Just when I thought the worst was behind me.

I straightened my back. “First things first. How do we find Giselle?”

Dante grinned. “I like the way you think—eliminate the biggest threat.”

I would have thought Jared was the biggest threat, but as far as I knew, he had no intention of harming my family. Giselle, however, had posed as their French teacher. Maybe I should convince Valerie to get involved. Evil Red vs. Baddie Blonde. All bets on Red!

At the very least, I needed to warn Valerie. If Giselle had figured out who I was, it was safe to conclude she knew about Valerie as well. I should probably tell Noel, too, in case the She-Vamp came looking for me at the house.

“I need to warn our whole team,” I said. “Valerie, Noel, and Melcher, even though he’s going to say this is my fault for letting her go.”

“I’ll tell Melcher when I go in tomorrow,” Dante said. “And I’ll talk to Harper and Red. You just worry about your family.”

Dante looked so solid and stoic sitting beside me. There were times, like now, when I felt my heart expanding with love for him.

“I’ll call Valerie,” I said. “And I’m spending the night at Gran’s.”

I wouldn’t actually be sleeping. I’d be on night watch. I still had the gun Valerie lent me. I didn’t like guns, but I was beginning to think it would be a good idea to get my own. Giselle could have easily followed Mom and Gran home after class.