Northern Bites (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter, Vol. 2) (28 page)

S
o he thought I was joking, did he? “I wasn’t kidding.”

“Really?” Dante didn’t sound alarmed in the least.

“Yeah, really. Jared tried to kill Valerie and me, and now she’s taken off.”

The line was silent a moment before Dante said, “I bet she tries for France. She’s got that French chic thing going
on.”

Not to mention the attitude.
“Hopefully when the agents catch up to her they’ll be as lenient as they were with you.”

Dante had once split for Amsterdam. Lucky for him, the agents gave him a second chance to prove himself
, otherwise he might be stuck working in some underground lab. I couldn’t picture Valerie confined like that any more than Dante.

“So cool, Jared’s a bloodsucker
. Must be Melcher’s secret weapon. Did he show you his fangs?”

I’d almost forgotten how nearly impossible it was to have a serious conversation with Dante.

“What made him go after you and Red? Did he skip a meal? Get hungry?”

“
I don’t know. He’s denying it, of course.” I sighed. “Things just sorta spiraled out of control.”

“That’s field work for you.” Dante chuckled. “Well, I’m glad you made it back in one piece.”

I rested my cheek against my shoulder and suppressed a yawn. “Me too. I’m glad you made it back, too. So you struck gold?” I didn’t want to talk about Jared anymore. Not right before bed and not over the phone. This was a conversation Dante and I need to have face-to-face.

The excitement returned to
his voice.

“I
f only you’d been there, Sky! We started out taking tabs on this dude, Buck, who was at that party you went to. Melcher’s like ‘This is a stakeout, no engaging with the enemy.’” Dante stopped to chuckle. “Anyway, we
accidently
bumped into Buck. He and Noel had their “Oh wow, what a coincidence running into you here” moment and next thing you know we’re drinking brewskis together, chilling.”

So while Valerie and I were being terrorized in Sitka, Noel and Dante were sitting back drinking beers in Fairbanks? Damn, why did I always have to draw the short end of the stick?

“That’s only the beginning,” Dante said, voice dropping. “So Buck’s this good looking dude with an even better looking girlfriend—human. They start telling us how Nicole, the girlfriend, makes the big bucks working these ritzy vamp parties. Tastings, they call them.”

I scooted up in my bed. “Tastings?”

“Tastings,” he repeated. “Upscale shindigs for fancy pants vampires who like their blood laced with fine wine.”

I shivered and pulled the covers
up to my neck. “That sounds fucked up.”

Dante laughed. “And I didn’t even have on my lucky bear claw. You still have it, right?”

“Right here in my nightstand.”

“
You should keep it.”

“What?” I sat up straighter. It wasn’t exactly a sapphire necklace, but it still felt a little too much like a boyfriend gift.

“I want you to have the claw. I don’t need luck charms. I attract luck all on my own.”

“Oh boy,” I said
, and laughed. “It’s a nice gesture, Dante, but you earned it, not me.” I cleared my throat. “So you were telling me about tastings.”

“Right, tastings.
There’s this master organizer who sets these things up all around the state. It’s more of a winter and fall thing. Buck said we lucked out because it was the last one of the season.”

“Lucky you,” I said, rolling my eyes even though Dante couldn’t see.

“What did I tell you?”

“Let me guess? You attended the party.”

“We did.” His voice was filled with smug satisfaction.

“Just like that? You show up in town and they roll out the red carpet for a couple of curious humans who just happen to be passing through?”

“I didn’t go as a human,” Dante said.

“What does that mean?”

“I went as a vampire.”

“
Say what?”

“It was Harper’
s idea from the very beginning when we first approached Buck. I posed as her vampire boyfriend.”

A big burst of air rose in my chest. It came out of my mouth as one big gasp of a laugh. Better to laugh myself to sleep tonight than cry. “You’re kidding?”

“Nope. Harper ain’t squeamish. I’ll tell you that much.”

Harper? Dante’s use of Noel’s family name meant she’d earned his respect.

“And they bought it?” I asked.

“Well, I mean, I had to do some biting
.”

“Dante!” I gasped.

“Hey, I was undercover. My hands were tied.”

I rolled my eyes. “And I’m sure you didn’t enjoy it in the least.”

“Don’t be jealous, Sky. You know I only have eyes and teeth for you.”

A chill went through me. “That’s not funny.”

“Come on, what did I tell you about humor being a key ingredient to this job?”

Right, humor and blood. Funny how Dante had brushed off my question of blood cravings and here he was biting people.

“Anyway, we attended the party, and I got on the list.”

“The list?”

“I’ll be receiving invites starting this fall to tastings around the state.” Dante pumped his fist in the air. “Can you believe that, Sky? You should have seen Melcher’s eyes light up. Damn! I should have asked for a promotion.”

“Congratulations,” I said sarcastically. “I’m glad you’ll have something to keep you busy. I plan on starting college this fall.”

“This won’t get in the way of school,” Dante replied.

“Of course not.”

“Melcher wants us working together again. They already think I’m a vampire. We just need to get the organizers to hire you as one of their wine girls.”

“And how exactly does that work?”

“The way Nicole explained it to us is that each girl is assigned a vintage. You drink several bottles, enough to knock you out, but not make you sick, lie on top of a bed in your designated room, relax, and let the vamps filter through one at a time sucking the wine from your blood. Bam! You poison them, I pop them.”

I gathered my blanket in my free hand while Dante spoke, squeezing the edge inside my tightening fist. “Why me?” Noel’s the one who made the discovery with Dante. She didn’t have the poisoned blood, though. Still, there had to be other vampire hunters Melcher could put on a
ssignment. I wasn’t even twenty-one yet. I shouldn’t be drinking. Scratch that, I was done with drinking.

“Because Melcher wants the A
-team on this one,” Dante said proudly.

“I don’t want to drink
myself into a coma,” I said. “More importantly, I don’t want a bunch of vampires drinking from me. How many are we talking about anyway?”

“I don’t know. Maybe f
ifty total?”

“Fifty!”

“Don’t worry. There are strict rules about not overly puncturing the bodies. The vamps have to drink from the same watering hole, so to speak.”

I let go of my blanket. A
n instant visual of a group of sexy male vampires licking and sucking my naked body flashed through my head. For some reason one of them looked like Jake Gyllenhaal. I shuddered, and it wasn’t purely out of disgust. “And how much did you partake in these
tastings
?” I scrunched up my nose on the last word. That was something I couldn’t and didn’t want to visualize.

“
I wasn’t on the list at that point. I got to attend the party but wasn’t allowed to sample any of the offerings. I mean, there is a limit. Can’t have too many vamps sucking all the juice out of the women. Then there’s the price to taste…fifteen hundred dollars.”

“Fifteen hundred dollars!” If Dante wasn’t exaggerating about the fifty tasters, that t
hing brought in seventy-five grand in one night.

“I told you
we struck gold,” he said smugly.

“Y
ou said you had to do some biting.”

“Oh, that,” Dante said and laughed. “Buck bit his girlfriend in front of us
, so I bit Noel. I just sorta got caught up in the moment and went with it.” He started laughing again. “We told him I was a newbie vampire. We all had a good laugh when Noel had to point out a vein. Buck insisted I give Nicole a bite. That was a couple nights before she got juiced up for the party. I wonder what wine-laced blood tastes like.”

“Dante!”

“Buck says they should do a beer spinoff. October Blood Fest. What do you think?”

I groaned and rubbed my forehead with the palm of my hand. “I think I should go to bed and try and process
all this in the morning.”

“Good idea,” Dante said. “Let it soak inside your brain a bit.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Sooo,
” he said, changing his tone. “Are we going to talk about the sexting?” I groaned again. Dante chuckled. “Where are you right now anyway? Did I catch you in bed?”

“I’m not having this conversation with you.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed your dirty little messages, but you know what’s even better than texts? Phone sex. And know what’s better than phone sex?”

“I’m hanging up!” I hit “end” on the call but not before hearing the rumble of Dante’s laughter.

Right. Time for bed. I turned my phone off in case Dante had the bad idea to call me back. I pulled my pillow down and moved around, trying to get comfortable under the covers. Problem was, the moment I closed my eyes I saw myself lying naked, wearing only a black lace thong, atop a king-sized bed with crimson sheets. Candles blazed from dozens of pillars surrounding the room, casting dark, sensual shadows against the walls.

My hair spilled over the cover
s as though it, too, was a shadow in the room. The cool, dry air touched every part of my body. I felt as though I’d slipped into a blissed-out state of relaxation.

A
vampire stepped inside the bedchamber, moving slowly around the bed. He bared a striking resemblance to Tom, and he was on the bed with me before I knew it, crawling toward the center where I lay sprawled across the sheets. My nipples hardened before he reached me.

“Have you come to suck my blood?” I asked breathlessly.

“Blood is overrated.” The Tom lookalike smiled seductively. He made his way to my legs. I felt his breath and then his tongue as he ran the tip from my thigh to my knee then back up.

The sheets rubbed against me when I squirmed.

Tom lifted his head and grinned before dipping back down. All I could see was the thick waves of brown hair at the top of his crown. His fingers brushed the thong’s narrow strip of lace aside and then his tongue was on my clit, flicking and biting gently.

I nearly levitated fr
om the bed, moaning as I did.

Tom looked up with a wicked grin before returning to his prize. I balled the covers inside my fists, thrashing from side to side. Tom gripped my thighs firmly and pushed his tongue inside me.
I gasped and clutched at the sheets.

I
turned my head and saw Henry watching us from the side of the bed.

“Henry,” I rasped in surprise.

He leaned forward. “I have a confession to make, Aurora. I’ve been waiting for this moment since the night we met.”

I swallowed. “You have?”

Henry nodded slow and sensually. He lifted his knee onto the bed, followed by the other. I felt the mattress dip down. “I’ve been waiting a long time to bite you.”

“But you can’t.” I ga
sped when I felt Tom’s tongue extend deeper. My eyes closed briefly. When I reopened them, Henry was on all fours at my side.

“Can’t I?” he asked. He lowered his lips to my breast and bit down gently on my nipple.

Waves of heat shot through me. I cried out. My body stretched over the covers as though reaching for more.

Henry wet my other nipple with his tongue then blew gently on the tip. It tightened in response. Not to be outdone by Henry, Tom’s tongue flicked inside me faster and faster. A blissful cry rose from my lips.

I lifted my head. The sight of Henry at my breast and Tom between my legs nearly drove me over the edge.

Then I noticed Fane. He stood leaning against the back wall, arms crossed over his chest, watching me.
The moment our eyes met he smirked and shook his head. “You’re not ready to cross that line.”

“Don’t listen to him.” Dante stepped in front of Fane and walked to the foot of the bed.

Henry and Tom lifted and turned their heads simultaneously. “Hunter,” they said in low, hostile voices.

Dante
’s grin widened. “Scram.”

They moved aside, disappearing into the shadows of the room. Dante lifted a brow, flashing me one of his cocky grins.

My heart rate quickened when he climbed onto the bed and walked toward me on his knees. I could no longer see Fane. Dante suddenly filled the entire room. He straddled my legs, not stopping until he’d positioned himself at my hips.