Bad Blood (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter, Vol. 3) (34 page)

His tone brokered no argument. I lifted my eyes to his and nodded. When I tried to take a step forward, the floor seemed to move out from under me. Fane caught me.

“What did he give me?” I asked.

“Something to loosen you up.”

I felt loose all right.

“Put your arm around my neck,” Fane said as he maneuvered me out of the bedroom.

I did as he asked. Fane slipped an arm around my waist and we proceeded down the hall. Good thing we were on the main level and didn’t have to deal with stairs.

Foster stood at attention near the entrance.

Fane halted our progress. “Did you have a jacket or a purse?” he asked me.

“Phone,” I said.

Foster turned and pulled down one of the wicker baskets from the shelf. I didn’t know how he remembered which was which. They all looked the same. Foster presented a basket with two phones inside.

“Which one’s yours?” Fane asked.

I pointed to mine.

Fane grabbed it and stuffed it inside his pants pocket.

“Mind getting the door?” he asked Foster.

The butler returned the basket to the shelf before holding the door open. Cold air prickled my arms. The bald valet disappeared as soon as he saw Fane and returned promptly with the old beat up Pontiac Catalina. Bet they didn’t see many guests driving shit cars like that on the hillside.

Fane stepped in front of the valet when he came around to open my door.

“I’ve got it,” he said.

The valet crouched down. “Miss, I have to ask, do you know this man?”

I glanced at Fane. “He’s an old friend. I’m not feeling well, so he offered to give me a ride home while my boyfriend finishes his tasting.”

“Thank you. Very good.”

Fane buckled me in.

Hello, old girl, I thought, looking around the interior of the car. It was so ancient, it was hard to tell it was clean, but Fane never had any crap lying around. This car was more like a memory-mobile. We’d made out in this car, skipped school, and worked on car rehabilitation, as Fane liked to call it. He’d come to my aid in this car. It wasn’t exactly the batmobile, but it was reliable.

Once we’d pulled away from the lodge, I turned to Fane and said, “I’m guessing Henry wouldn’t have had much luck getting me off the grounds.”

“Marcus didn’t like incidents,” Fane said. “Diederick ensures there are none. If you think that makes you safe, think again. If Diederick has even a flicker of a suspicion about you, he’ll ban you and your friends or worse.”

I frowned. “I need to text Dante and Valerie.”

Fane pulled my phone from his pocket and handed it to me. I texted Dante first—or tried to. My thumb kept sliding over the keys, pressing the wrong letters. I ended up using the delete key more than the letters.

Finally, I got everything spelled out properly.

Me: Ran into a problem. Got a ride home. Stop by tomorrow.

I hit “send” and opened up a new text to Valerie saying the same thing, minus the invitation to come over.

I set the phone in my lap and looked over the mountain’s edge as Fane drove down. Anchorage was lit up from below—a city in the distance, twinkling like earth-bound stars across the landscape. They began to blur. I rubbed my eyes.

“You can never go back there,” Fane said.

I leaned my head into the seat. “I might not have a choice.”

Fane hit the steering wheel with his fist.

“Tell me what needs to happen to free you from this life.”

I nestled against the seat. Now that I was safe, the drug’s calming effects washed over me.

“Agent Melcher needs to die,” I said, my lids growing heavy. “But if he does, so do I. Without the antidote, I’ll turn. I’ll be trapped forever.”

Silence filled the car. I stopped fighting the dark static in my mind and let the drug pull me under

I woke up slowly to the sound of voices. It was pitch black, so it took a moment to realize I was under the covers of my own bed. The voices outside my room gradually increased in volume as though my ears were adjusting.

“We need to tell her,” Fane said.

“Isn’t that what I said from the start?” Noel answered, sounding annoyed.

I listened for more, but their voices stopped. I felt so tired I didn’t care. I shut my eyes and drifted back off.

16

Morning woke me with her insistent light. I hadn’t dreamed. I’d like to think I had. I’d like to believe the incident at the lodge with Henry and Fane had all been a figment of my imagination.

I pulled the blankets back and found I was still fully dressed, minus the heels. I stretched my arm across the bed and grabbed my phone off the nightstand. It was nine forty-eight. Dante hadn’t texted back. Valerie had.

Valerie: You better have a damn good reason for bailing.

As soon as my feet hit the floor, I headed over to Noel’s room, not bothering to change.

Her door was open.

“Noel?” I whispered before entering.

Noel’s bed was neatly made as though she’d never slept there. Okay, that was weird. I peeked inside the office just in case, but all was in order and unoccupied.

I descended the stairs, the hem of my long dress catching and dragging on the step behind me. From the hallway, I smelled coffee and toast. I walked into the kitchen and came face-to-face with Fane. He had his back to the counter, sipping a cup of coffee, facing me as though he’d been waiting all along.

“Good morning, Aurora,” he said pleasantly.

I gaped at him. “What are you doing here, and where’s Noel?”

Fane set his mug down and walked over to the coffee pot. “Cup of coffee?”

“I don’t drink coffee.”

“I’m not much of a chef, but I warmed some toast,” he said.

“Thanks.” I grabbed two plates out of the cupboard and held one out to Fane.

“I’m good with coffee,” he said.

Fine. I put one plate back, dished up the toast, and set it on the counter.

“Did you spend the night here?”

“On the couch,” Fane said, nodding towards the living room.

I tapped my foot against the linoleum floor. “And Noel?”

“She left for a party. Said she wouldn’t be back until later this afternoon.”

“Why did you stay?” I asked.

“I couldn’t leave you here passed out alone, especially not when Giselle Morrel is stalking you.”

I huffed. “Does Noel inform you of everything?”

Fane shrugged.

“Do you know Giselle?” I asked. If Fane was going to get all nosy, he might as well make himself useful. I could use all the information I could get on her: strengths, weaknesses, and history. I also wanted to discuss anything other than what happened last night.

Fane took a sip of coffee before answering, “I met her briefly in Paris decades ago.”

“What? Didn’t hit it off?”

Fane studied my face a moment. “She was too cold for my taste.”

Great. A vampire that was too cold for another vamp’s taste.

“In other words, I’m screwed.”

“Noel told me Giselle is the vampire you saved in Sitka.”

“Yeah.”

Fane stared at me. I couldn’t read his expression. Suddenly, he broke out into a wide grin.

“Of all the vampires in the world, you chose to save Giselle?”

“Why’s that so amusing?” I asked. “Is she the world’s worst vampire or something?” Doubtful. That honor belonged to Jared.

Fane took another sip of coffee. “I didn’t find her particularly alarming, but I didn’t mess with her life companions. As I recall, Giselle was a loner except when it came to her adopted family. Now they’re gone.” He took another sip.

“Did you meet all of the Morrels?” I asked.

“There was a woman, Henriette, and a man, Andre, whom I saw again at one of Marcus’ gatherings. There was a young man, too, if I recall.”

I leaned forward. “What about Jared?”

Fane stared at me and shook his head.

“Or Xavier? His name was Xavier in France.”

“Xavier Morrel,” Fane said, slowly. “I heard about him. The police arrested him on murder charges—wouldn’t be the first vampire arrested for his crimes. They hung the fellow.” Fane lifted his chin. “Our necks are as fragile as a human’s.”