Stakeout (Aurora Sky (6 page)

Dante slipped his knife halfway down the
front of his pants and zipped up his jacket. “All right, let’s go
get this blood sucker.”

I glanced dubiously at the house across the
street. Well, whatever. No vampire I’d ever met would be caught
dead making a snowman, but Dante obviously thought we were onto
something.

I slammed my door shut and followed Dante up
to the house. He paused in front of the snowman to look back at me.
“You see that?”

“What?” I asked.

“They used blood to draw a mouth.”

“Or food coloring.”

Dante turned abruptly and stormed the front
steps of the porch. He looked at the door knocker and then at me,
raising a brow as though pointing out an obvious clue. I squinted
at the knocker. Nope, nothing demonic about it, just a typical
brass handle.

Dante curled his fingers around the knocker
and pounded the door twice. We waited.

And waited.

The jingle of a dog leash rattled behind us.
A woman passed the house with her German Shepard.

“I don’t think anyone’s home,” I said.

Dante had his fingers on his chin, stroking
his lower lip. “They’re home, all right. Hiding out is what they’re
doing.”

“You think so?”

Instead of answering, Dante turned abruptly
and took the stairs down to the yard. He started walking across the
snow-covered lawn to the tall wood fence surrounding the
backyard.

I followed the footsteps he’d made in the
snow and joined Dante in front of the gate.

As Dante lifted the latch, a dog snarled from
behind the fence. I took a step back.

“Nice touch,” Dante said. “They got
themselves a guard dog. What we need is a steak... and I don’t mean
the kind made out of wood.” Dante immediately laughed at his own
joke.

Now that the dog was aware of our presence,
he’d gone ballistic—lunging at the fence and snarling. My eardrums
protested with each piercing bark.

“Maybe we should check out the third address
then come back?” I suggested.

Dante shook his head. “No good. They know
we’re here now. If we leave they’re gonna flee.”

I glanced across the street. Lights were on
inside the surrounding houses, but not this one.

Dante’s phone rang inside his jacket. The dog
barked louder. Dante fished his phone out, looked at the screen,
and answered. “It’s Dante. What’s that? Really? Luck be a
lady.”

I don’t know how he could hear or have a
conversation with that animal going off like a broken car
alarm.

Dante slipped his phone inside his jacket
pocket. “That was Agent Crist. She said Aurora and Valerie got the
vamp house. They want us all to return immediately.” Dante
shrugged. “Can’t win ’em all.”

After Melcher’s debriefing, I returned home and
pulled into an empty spot along the curb, scanning the street for
Broncos of any color.

Before stepping out of the vehicle, my phone
rang. I pulled it out of my backpack and glanced at caller ID
before answering. “Hey, Whit.”

“Hey, you little hussy,” she answered
back.

“What’s up?”

“Besides the fact that I’m not speaking to
you for leaving in the middle of the year?”

I chuckled. “How’s that going for you?”

“It was going fine until I heard a bit of
gossip too juicy to keep to myself.”

“So spill.”

“Fine, you know I can’t stay mad at you
forever, but just so you know, you’re still on probation.”

“Fine. Now, what happened?”

“Word is Valerie Ward broke up with
Fane.”

“Oh, yeah?” I reached into my backpack for a
piece of gum.

“I figured Aurora would want to know. You
still hang out with her, right? Out there at your suck-ass new
school.”

“Yeah, we see each other in film class.”

“I’m sure this piece of information will make
her happy,” Whitney said.

I stopped chewing. “Aurora broke up with
Fane—not the other way around. She had her reasons.”

“Really?” Whitney’s voice lifted. “Does that
mean Fane’s up for grabs?”

I snorted. “Good luck with that.” Maybe I
should have been more encouraging, but this was Fane Donado we were
talking about. He didn’t date junkies... or any girl under five
seven.

Whit always did have a thing for Fane. We met
him at one of Marcus’ parties at the end of sophomore year. When
Fane actually said hello to us in the hallway the following week at
school, Whitney had nearly fainted with excitement. Vampires had
celebrity status in her eyes.

“Is it because I’m a lowerclassman?” Whitney
asked.

“Something like that,” I said between
chewing.

“Oh well, there’s always next year.”

“Hey,” I said suddenly. “You and Hope should
come by Marcus’s this Friday night.”

“Or you could wander over to the east
side.”

I missed my friends, but they definitely were
not worth hitting up the east scene. Besides, one of my first
instructions as an undercover informant had been to keep an eye on
Marcus.

“You should come downtown. Gavin misses you
guys,” I said. Not a big stretch. Gavin had asked about them, and
he did say Marcus needed more warm bodies. Might as well be Whitney
and Hope opposed to those crows Henry had rounded up at West
High.

“He does?” Whitney asked, her voice perking
up once more. “And Henry?”

“Him, too.”

“In that case, wouldn’t want to disappoint
them.”

“Nope,” I said, tossing my gum wrapper inside
my bag. “Never disappoint a vampire.”

“Or a good friend.”

“Aw,” I said. “You’re so sweet.”

“And you’re such a bitch for leaving us, but
we still love you.”

“Admit it. I’m irresistible.”

Whitney responded, but I only half-listened.
My thoughts unwittingly shifted to Gavin. If only I were
irresistible to him. It was pretty challenging to entice a guy, as
I was a shorty without hips, curves, height, or a chest to speak
of.

Maybe that’s why Melcher had never asked me
to seduce or date a vampire.

After getting off the phone with Whitney, I
stepped gingerly onto the icy street, holding my keys in my fist.
As I walked toward my building, I heard the rumble of a car come
from behind me. I stepped up to the sidewalk, quickening my pace.
The car slowed as it neared me, sending my heart into panic
mode.

Every instinct screamed at me to run for the
front entrance, but I turned my head, slowing my steps in the
process. The Bronco had returned. Clive drove alongside me. I
didn’t see his face until he rolled down the passenger’s window.
“Hello, Noel.”

I’d faced two rabid vampires and killed one.
Every time I stepped inside the palace I put my life at risk, but
none of that compared to the terror I felt at the sound of his
drawn out, nasally voice.

My stomach tightened instantly.

The street was deserted, but the entrance
wasn’t far. I ran as fast as I could while avoiding icy patches on
the pavement.

“I’m not done talking to you,” Clive called
after me.

Well, I was done listening to him. I didn’t
have to answer to the jerk anymore.

The car sped up and came to a stop in front
of the building. A door slammed. I ripped open the front door and
ran past the wall of metal mailboxes. When I reached the locked
door at the end of the entryway, I forced myself to slow down
enough to pluck the correct key from the ring in my palm and push
it steadily inside the lock.

The outside door flew open at the same time I
unlocked the second door and wrenched it toward me. I slipped
through like a mouse squeezing between a narrow gap and pulled the
door shut using my entire body. It clicked in place as Clive
advanced on me. Only a pane of glass separated us, but I’d gotten
through in time.

He didn’t reach for the handle. He’d never
make a fool of himself that way, knowing the door was locked.
Instead he smiled and ran a hand through his thick, wavy hair. I’d
forgotten how diabolical those lips looked no matter which way they
turned.

“So, this is where you ran off to,” he said
through the glass. He glanced around the entryway, his head turning
slowly to look at the scratches etched in the mailboxes. One had
stickers peeling on the outside. His eyes drifted to the stained
carpet. Clive looked up at me. “At least you’re not at a halfway
house or under a bridge.”

Walk away, Noel
. I
didn’t have to listen to this. Not anymore.

I took a step backward. Clive’s eyes
narrowed. “We’re not done here, Noel.”

“Yes, we are,” I said, finding my voice and
immediately regretting that I’d used it. It always ended up
sounding shaky when I spoke to Clive.

He heard it, too. I could tell from his smug
smile.

Clive moved up to the glass door. “You need
help, Noel. You need family. If you don’t come home you’re only
going to hurt yourself again.”

I lifted my fist, slow and deliberate, and
flipped Clive off.

I’d wanted to do that my whole life. Nothing
like a pane of glass separating me from the devil to provide a
false sense of courage. A smile sprang to my lips. Damn, that felt
good. Should have flipped the asshole off years ago.

Clive’s face turned red and began creasing
around his eyes and lips. I turned quickly and hurried down the
hallway before I could see the beast come out of hiding.

Trudy and Michelle were both working that
night, leaving me trapped in the apartment alone. I locked the door
as I’d done a hundred times before and tried turning the knob just
to be sure. I’d learned how to shoot a gun in training. Now I was
regretting not owning my own piece. Not that I could shoot
Clive.

I wanted him dead, but I’d rather his car
careen off a cliff or he get pneumonia or mad cow or whooping
cough. The scoundrel didn’t have AB positive or negative blood,
thank God, so he couldn’t come back as a vampire. Then again, that
would give me a reason to kill him.

I kept the apartment lights off, avoiding the
kitchen window even as my stomach grumbled for a snack. All I’d
eaten since lunch was a cookie and a piece of gum.

“Thanks a lot, Clive,” I said sarcastically.
Talking out loud helped, especially when using my snarky, don’t
give a shit, voice.

I took a seat on my bed and scrolled through
email to see if anyone had answered my rent inquiries.

What was Clive doing bothering me on a school
night? School night meant work night, which meant he should go live
his own fucked-up life and leave me the hell alone!

“Go away, Clive,” I said to the open
doorway.

I tossed my phone on my bed before crawling
on all fours from my room to Trudy and Michelle’s across the hall,
stopping momentarily to shake my head and laugh bitterly. “This is
sad, Noel. Look at you.”

I straightened out slowly and approached the
edge of the window.