Bad Blood (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter, Vol. 3) (15 page)

The clerk raised her eyebrows at me.

I grabbed the display bottle off the counter and spritzed my wrists.

“There,” I said. “Now we’ll both smell like Euphoria tonight.”

Valerie rolled her eyes before handing over a one hundred dollar bill to the sale clerk.

Just when I thought we’d finally be free of the department store, a pair of chandelier earrings caught Valerie’s eye.

Valerie stopped in place. “Oh my gosh, I have to have those earrings.”

“Do those go with your dress?” I asked.

“Who cares? I want them.”

She rushed to the nearest cash register as if I was going to chase her down and make her put them back. Someone had a shopping problem. I’m not sure this was what Melcher intended when he forked over a grand. Evidently, it was burning a hole in Valerie’s pocket.

Suppressing a sigh, I turned a spinning rack with silver pendants.

“Aurora!” Valerie called from the register. “I need to borrow twelve dollars.”

Had she already blown through half a grand? Big surprise. I handed Valerie one of my twenties.

“Thanks,” she said, snatching it from my fingers.

At least with her money spent, we could get going. I was shopped out and in the mood for a quiet evening on the couch watching a movie—not batting my lashes at Diederick.

I returned to the jewelry counter and began trying on stretch bracelets.

“Aurora?”

A young woman’s voice broke through the retail fog that had settled over my brain. Not Valerie’s voice. Someone familiar, yet hazy.

I looked up to find Denise—my former best friend from Denali High—staring at me in equal surprise.

“Wow, it is you,” she said.

Who did she think it was? My evil vampire hunting twin?

Denise and I hadn’t parted on good terms, so I wasn’t in the mood for all the phony baloney, “we-used-to-be-friends” bit.

Our friendship had started slipping even before my car accident. The first indication came after I got accepted into Notre Dame, and Denise reacted like a jealous banshee. A real friend would have been happy for me. To top it off, after I nearly died, she turned a cold shoulder on me when I returned to school withdrawn. I didn’t have any friends until Noel, Whitney, and Hope took
me in. Thinking about it made me sad. Sadder than I’d ever felt with Denise. With Noel, I’d lost a true friend. A friend I would have loved to room with if she hadn’t invited Fane to join her in the October room at the palace.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” I asked.

I wouldn’t have expected to see Denise in Anchorage the second week of September. Most universities started at the end of August.

Her nose lifted in a very “I’m important and superior” gesture.

“I got into UCLA. The quarter doesn’t begin for another two weeks. Just doing some school shopping with my mom before I make my way down to California.”

Guess it was my turn to be jealous. Denise didn’t know how lucky she was to attend school in the golden state. It wasn’t just about the on-campus college experience, but something far more important. Freedom. The freedom to make her own choices and go wherever she wanted. I envied that.

This was the experience we’d been looking forward to since sophomore year. At least one of us got to follow her dreams.

“That’s great,” I said. “I’ve heard UCLA is really good.”

Denise shot me a flippant smile.

“It’s not Yale, but at least it’s not in-state. So what about you, Aurora? Shouldn’t you be at Notre Dame?”

“I’m going to UAA.”

Denise’s eyes widened by a couple centimeters. “But… why?”

I shrugged. “I’ve had a lot to deal with, and I decided to stick around.”

“Sorry,” Denise said, the superior look returning at warp speed. “That sucks.”

This was never my dream scenario, but she didn’t have to say sticking around sucked. Before I could respond, Valerie pushed against me. Her shoulder leaned into mine so hard I nearly stumbled sideways.

“You know what sucks? Living on campus sucks,” Valerie said, glaring her signature death ray at Denise. “Aurora and I have our own house. Tonight we’ve been invited to party with the city’s wealthiest bachelors. So have fun hanging out in your jammies in your sucky dorm room.” With that, Valerie tossed her hair over her shoulder and grabbed my arm. “Come on, Aurora. We have more shopping to do.”

Couldn’t have worded it better myself.

Once we were out of earshot I said, “That was awesome.”

With a smug smile Valerie said, “Did you see the look on her face? Didn’t see the red fury coming. I can’t stand bitches who think they’re above everyone else.”

Something like compassion pulled on my heartstrings at that moment as the most unlikely thought entered my head. Valerie Ward wasn’t half bad.

Having a friend stick by me felt good. I could get used to this side of Valerie.

She gave my arm a tug. “Let’s get free makeovers at Sephora. Then all we have to do is get dressed and do our hair.”

“Why not?” I said, matching her step into the mall.

By the time we were finished with our makeovers, we only had an hour to get ready. Suddenly, Valerie went into freak-out mode.

“An hour!” she cried behind the wheel, zooming towards mid-town. “There’s no way I can drop you off, do my hair and makeup, and get back to your place in time.”

“Makeup?” I asked, frowning. “We just had makeovers.”

“Yeah, but she smudged the liner on my right eye.” Valerie sat up, practically touching her face to the review mirror.

I kept my eyes on the road ahead.

“It looks fine to me.”

“You should come over while I get dressed,” Valerie said. “It will save me ten minutes if I don’t have to drop you off first.”

“No way! Then I won’t have any time to get ready.”

Valerie waved a hand at me. “Your makeup looks fine and you have your dress and shoes with you. I’m making an executive decision.” She abruptly pulled out of a turn only lane, cutting off a car on the right.

They honked. Valerie flipped them off.

Valerie sped down Minnesota Boulevard toward Denali High—my old stomping grounds. Driving around that area gave me a weird sense of déjà vu. High school felt like ages ago, especially after boot camp, which had seemed unending.

As we passed Denali High, Valerie looked over, smirk on her face, and said, “Losers.”

About four minutes later, she pulled up to a brown, single-story house in a middle class neighborhood. So this was where Valerie Ward nested.

There were lights on inside. I followed Valerie inside. A middle-aged woman with brown, shoulder-length hair sat on a couch with cushions that looked like they were upholstered in burlap sacks. She ate a frozen dinner from a TV tray while watching what sounded like a British melodrama on TV.

The living room opened up to a small kitchen with mustard-yellow appliances.

“Aurora, Kennick. Kennick, Aurora,” Valerie said, walking in front of the TV toward a darkened hallway. “Kennick’s a staffer.” Valerie rolled her eyes while her back was to the woman.

“Aurora,” the woman repeated, looking me over. “You’re a VH.”

Vampire hunter.

“That’s correct,” I said. I wasn’t sure what else to say
.
Nice to meet you
?
I could see why Valerie was excited to hang out at my place. I wanted as little to do with Melcher and his staff as possible, and Valerie had to live with one of them.

“Why are you here?” the woman asked.

“Because she’s my lesbian lover,” Valerie said. “Chill, Kennick. We’re on assignment. Big chief’s orders.”

Kennick frowned. “You know I don’t appreciate that attitude.”

Valerie waved a hand in the air. “Whatever. Come on, Aurora. Time to get pretty.”

I hurried after her down the hall. It wasn’t as if I wanted to hang out with Kennick any longer than necessary. The hallway appeared extra dark with the floor to ceiling wood paneling.

Valerie pulled me into her room and shut the door. I must have been giving her a look.

“What?” she demanded.

I shook my head. “This is dreary.”

Valerie rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it. See why I fled? I have to remind myself why I came back every day just to keep from blowing my brains out over her shag carpet.” She fished a pack of cigarettes out of her purse, pulled one out, and lit up.

“Kennick lets you smoke inside?”

“Yeah, right.” Valerie moved across the room to the window and slid it open.

I never pictured Valerie under house arrest. How could I not be sympathetic?

“This here builds character,” Valerie said, waving her cigarette around the room. “Not everyone’s born with a silver spoon. One day, when I’m rich, biographers will look back on my life and write about the way Valerie Ward rose up out of nothing and made something of herself.”

“Inspiring,” I said, half-joking.

“Damn right it’s inspiring,” Valerie said. She took a drag on her cigarette and blew a cloud of smoke toward the open window. “My life is blockbuster material. Beautiful young woman attacked in L.A. alleyway. Kidnapped and forced to kill vampires in Alaska. Trained as an assassin. Sent into the underworld undercover. Almost killed a second time by the same psycho who stabbed her in L.A.” Ash fell to the carpet as Valerie moved her cigarette around. “And like every great story, mine includes romance—a tale of seduction, heartbreak, and betrayal.”

“This is fiction we’re talking about, right?”

The faraway look on Valerie’s face was replaced by a wretched scowl.

“You don’t know a god damn thing, Aurora Sky.”

“Oh really? What about blackmail? Does your biography include that chapter of your life?”

I’d been willing to move past that. Not many people would. If Valerie kept milking the sob story about her love affair with Fane, she’d have to own up to her dirty side. Fane didn’t betray her, he broke up with her—though I was sure they were one and the same in Valerie’s mind.

My Fane story was much more tragic than hers. Vampire hunter falls in love with vampire, is blackmailed into breaking up with him, and later finds him with best friend. Top that, Valerie Ward! She acted like she was the only agent to have ever been wronged. Just because I didn’t want to sell the rights to my life story didn’t mean I hadn’t suffered, too.