Northern Bites (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter, Vol. 2) (22 page)

“You know we can’
t do that,” I said.

“Speak for yourself.”

“Without the antidote you’ll turn into a vampire.”

Valerie’s
lips pursed. “I’m already dead as far as my friends and family are aware, so why not? Why the fuck not?”

I couldn’t think of a response as I stared at her. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Valerie’s mind was made up. She grinned when I didn’t answer. “You know I’m right.” She began walking again.

I fell into step beside her. My thoughts were running a million miles a second. It’s not that I was considering anything, it’s just that I couldn’t believe she was really making a run for it. “Melcher will find you.”

“No he won’t.”

“Of course he will. He has unlimited resources.”

Valerie smirked. “I have resources, too. One of the perks of being an informant. I have contacts. Lots of them.”

“Is there a big network of vampires or something?”

“That’s for me to know and you not to.”
Her smile widened.

“You’re serious about this?”

Valerie began walking. I’d never seen her look so happy. “I think I’d make a great vampire—gorgeous for all eternity.”

Sure thing, Evil Red.

I didn’t know if I liked the idea of Valerie becoming a vampire. Working with her had been hard enough. Facing off?

I pictured her holding her dagger and gun in front of the window.
Her love of brutal crime stories. The way she stabbed the vampires who killed the pizza boy in Anchorage. Her general attitude. No, I didn’t like it one bit.

“Don’t do this, Val.”

She gave me a pitying look. “I’ve played by their rules long enough. It’s time to take back my life.”

“What am I supposed to tell Melcher?”

“Hell if I care.”

“You’re putting me in a really difficult position.”

“Then come with me. I can hook you up. Wherever you want to go there’s always someone who knows somebody.” She snickered. “Don’t tell me Alaska’s your dream destination.”

“It’s my home.” More importantly, it’s where my mom was. If I left I could never see her aga
in. I didn’t think my mom could handle losing both me and my dad. She’d already come close to losing me once. That’s the whole reason I was in this mess. She’d made a deal with the devil, and like it or not, I was in on that deal.

Suddenly Valerie frowned. “Don’t tell me this is about Fane because you can kiss that fantasy goodbye for
good.”

I gnashed my teeth together. “This isn’t about Fane. My mom’s in Anchorage.”

She raised a brow. “The woman in the bathrobe?” she asked coldly.

I don’t know why I expected to
receive an ounce of compassion or understanding. I always knew this wouldn’t be a bonding mission, but after everything we’d been through, you’d think Valerie would be slightly less hostile toward me. And what did she care about Fane? Not only was she taking off, she had Gavin now.

I followed
her up to the check-in counter where she immediately launched into a story about having just received an emergency call from her mother in the states. Her sister had been in an accident and Valerie needed to get home at once. I wondered if she even had a sister. She struck me as more of an only child.

The clerk was very polite and didn’t have much trouble finding a flight departing
for Seattle in three hours. Lucky.

While the clerk
leaned her head into her computer, Valerie turned to me. “Last chance.”

16

I met Valerie’s eye. Surprisingly, I had no interest in taking off. I wanted to be free, sure, but not like this. “I can’t,” I said.

“
Figures.” After that, Valerie turned her complete attention to the clerk while they made arrangements to have her luggage pulled from the baggage bound for Anchorage.

Yep, couldn’t flee the state without her handy
-dandy dagger and gun.

I stuck by Valerie, even after she’d received her new boarding pass. I wasn’t sure what else to do. Were we enemies now? I mean, officially? What would Melcher want me to do
in a situation like this?

For now I supposed the only thing to kill
was time. “Want to get a coffee?” I asked.

“Why not?”
she said. 

We ordered the largest coffee they had from a stand and settled into the nearest seats with our tall paper cups.
I took the lid off mine so it would cool faster.

I checked my phone, feeling my forehead crease when I saw there were no new texts or messages. “I’m surprised Dante hasn’t called me.”

Valerie shrugged. “Maybe their vampire is Crist’s real killer.”

“Jared killed her. I’m sure of it.”

Valerie shrugged again. “Doesn’t matter to me.”

“Maybe I should try Noel.”

Valerie let out a heavy sigh. “Can you just leave it alone? Let them do their job. Or whatever it is they’re doing.” She grinned wickedly. “Maybe those two hooked up. Noel usually prefers vampires, but as you pointed out, Dante is only one injection away from becoming a full-fledged member of the undead. Noel might make an exception for him, and Dante might make an exception for her. You did get him all worked up last night, and guess who happened to be nearby and handy?” Valerie sneered. “Little ‘ol Noel Harper.”

I glared at V
alerie.

“Don’t tell me it hasn’t gone through your mind
.”

No, actually, it hadn’t. Noel and Dante were the last two people I could visualize hooking up.
Still couldn’t.

Maybe Valerie’s departure was for the best. No more snide comments or bitchy retorts. I wouldn’t mind living a Valerie-free life. There was only one problem.
“What will you tell your contacts about our operation?”

“Nothing.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“I’m already on the run. Do you think I have any desire to make myself even more of a target than I already am once I step foot on that plane? All I want is to live my own life and answer to no one but myself.”

“What will you tell Gavin?” I demanded.

“That I’m a vampire. That’s all he needs to know.”

I snorted. “You’re just going to spring it on him. Hey, not only am I your suck buddy, I’m a vampire. Why would you have kept it from him before?”

Valerie’s bold red lips came closer to mine when she leaned forward. “Because I didn’t know I was a vampire until someone tried to hunt me down.
That’s why I’m on the run.” She leaned back, satisfied.

“How did you become a vampire?”

“I died a year ago,” she answered coldly. Her jaw tensed. “I was murdered.”

“What?” I nearly spilled my coffee. “Who tried to kill you?”

“If I knew that, he’d be dead.”

“What happened?” This was crazy. I couldn’t believe she’d finally shared.

Valerie’s fists tightened. “Mother fucker came at me from behind when I was having a smoke outside a club one night. Didn’t ask for a thing. Didn’t try to rape me, either. He stuck his knife in here,” Valerie said, touching a spot behind her shoulder. “And here.” She touched behind the other shoulder. “And back here.” She reached her arm around her lower back. “What really fucks me off is I had a gun in my purse, and I couldn’t even get to it.”

My eyes widened
. “What were you doing with a gun?”

“I’
m from L.A. You don’t stand alone outside at night without some kind of weapon or at least pepper spray. I’m not stupid.” Valerie’s fingers curled back into fists. “I never saw him coming. Never even heard him until he had me by the neck. I couldn’t even scream. After he stabbed me three times, he tightened his fingers around my throat and choked every last breath out of me. Next thing I knew, I was in fucking Alaska. Mother fucking asshole of the world.”

“How did you get
here?”

“I was flown up
, obviously.” She shot me her trademark glare.

“But how did the government find you?”

“Fuck if I know.”

I thought of Jared, master of recruiting. Sounded more like he did the killing than the recruiting to me. Right place at the right time
, my lily ass.

He could tell Melcher he found Valerie after she’d been strangled and mugged. He could tell Melcher anything he wanted.

A sick feeling twisted in my gut. The image of him grabbing Valerie from behind in the hotel room raced across my mind. Sharing any hunches with Valerie didn’t seem wise. She’d want to turn back around and kill Jared if she had any suspicions. But first she’d want to murder me for stopping her from killing him in the first place.

This whole Jared thing was getting creepier by the hour.

He’d claimed to be at my accident scene as well. Had he done something to my brakes? No, my car had been fine. It was the oncoming vehicle that had slid into my lane.

I pictured Jared
polishing the ice on the corner where I’d bitten the dust.

Ridiculous notion.

Maybe he messed with the oncoming vehicle’s brakes?

Again, ludicrous. Even a vampire couldn’t plan the exact moment two cars would pass in
side an icy curve.

Still, something wasn’t right. Melcher owed me answers and this time he b
etter be more forthcoming.

“Anyway, the experience taught me that humans are sick fucks,
not vampires,” Valerie said. “Melcher tried brainwashing me into thinking otherwise. I played along. Did the summer boot camp. Combat training. Learned everything I could about fighting and vampires. I became an informant. Met my first vampire. Met more vampires. And bided my time for a day like today.” 

“What about going to college? I thought you wanted to sign up for classes at UAA.”

“You think the University of Alaska Anchorage is an incentive to stick around? Fuck that! Fuck you! And fuck this state!”

“Well, whatever,” I said.

“Yeah, whatever.”

We sipped our coffee in silence.

“Want to see me off?” she asked at a quarter after nine.

“Why not?”

We walked slowly to her gate. It felt like a dream. It’s not like I’d gotten any sleep that night, and I was starting to feel it now that things had calmed down. I kept expecting government agents to rush in and grab us, but the airport was eerily quiet. Even our conversation came to an end.

Valerie and I stood watching the gate together. We watched passengers milling around; watched the agent take her place behind the counter; watched the plane land, taxi in, and unload; watched two stewardesses roll their luggage to the gate and disappear behind the door leading from the
jetway to the plane.

Valerie turned to me. “Melcher knows about Fane.”

A shockwave went through my brain. “What?” Oh, I’d heard her all right, but I couldn’t process the information. The last twenty-four hours had been filled with too many surprises. This one nearly knocked me off my feet.

“Francesco Donado,” Valerie said wistfully.