10 10
Selene swept into the pool room with two drinks. Her movements were graceful as she handed a pink drink to Valerie.
“I got a Shirley Temple for Valerie.”
“Ha, ha,” Valerie said, taking the cherry-topped drink from Selene.
Selene moved over to me and held out the second drink.
“And a sparkling apple cider for Aurora.”
“Thanks. What about you?”
“I’m fine for now.” Selene’s teeth glinted when she smiled. “Unless you want to share.”
“Sure.” I wasn’t really that thirsty, and it wasn’t not like I could catch anything from Selene. Nope, I had all the diseases covered. I might not live forever, but there was a certain sense of invincibility knowing I couldn’t get sick.
I took a sip of cider and handed the glass to Selene. I felt a lot more comfortable around the female vamp after she stepped in with Henry. Something about her presence gave me a sense of safety. So much of my time had been spent with male vampires that Selene was something of a novelty.
“Are you here with anyone?” I asked after she passed the cider back to me.
Selene looked away as though my question embarrassed her. “Kind of.”
“And you know Henry?” I didn’t recognize Selene from any of Marcus’ parties. Then again, I’d only been to four. And I’d been a bit preoccupied when those visits ended in abduction, stalking, and suspension from a ceiling. I didn’t exactly take time out to stop and stare at the guests closely during my forays into the palace. The only remotely normal experience I had at Marcus’ house was when I had a few too many and asked Fane to drive me home.
Selene touched my arm. I blinked the fog of thoughts away.
“Are you okay?” Selene asked.
No, not really. I thought boot camp had prepared me for jumping back into the field. I also thought six months would be enough distance between me and what happened at Marcus’ party. Standing in a room full of vampires again only brought it all back. I didn’t want to be here. I needed more time. I felt trapped.
I shook my head.
“What is it?” Valerie demanded.
Selene frowned at her.
I took a deep breath. “Nothing.”
Valerie set her drink beside the empty glasses on a tall square table. “This game is getting old,” she announced. “Maybe Selene can introduce us to some of her friends.”
Selene looked at me, one smooth eyebrow raised. “Is that what you’d like to do, Aurora?”
I glanced toward the rec room. I didn’t like it in there. The space felt way too walled in. But Valerie had a job to do. She couldn’t compile much of a guest list spending the evening with me and Selene at the pool table.
Good thing it was up to Valerie to remember names as Selene made introductions because I was in Aurora land for the rest of the party. The harpist wasn’t helping. I swore the music put me into a trance.
I listened in when a well groomed man in his early twenties kissed Selene on the cheeks and asked, “How was California?”
Selene didn’t answer immediately. She looked at the guy like he’d just asked how she was holding up after losing her favorite dog. Selene’s lips formed a grim line.
“It was lovely, as usual,” she replied.
“And your family is well?”
Selene did the stare thing again before turning to me. “Paul, allow me to present my new friends Aurora and Valerie.”
“Charmed,” Paul said. “Are you human or vampire?”
“Human,” Valerie answered, shooting Paul a sultry smile.
Paul looked her up and down and said, “In that case, will you permit me to fetch you a drink?”
“I’ll come with you,” Valerie said.
She took Paul’s arm when he offered it and they headed to the bar. That drink better be virgin, or Valerie better sip it slowly. I wondered if cab companies would come all the way up the mountain.
Selene’s mouth drooped with concern when she looked at me.
“Would you like to sit in the living room upstairs?”
“Are we allowed?”
“You can go wherever you want except for the third floor. Follow me.”
Relief washed over me with each step I took away from the party. I’d never considered myself claustrophobic, but tonight all the walls felt like they were squeezing me in. The stairway seemed as though it had narrowed since I walked down. It wasn’t until we entered the wide open living space with the high ceiling that I felt like I could breathe normally again.
“Is this better?” Selene asked.
“Yes, thank you,” I said.
She sat on a forest-green couch. I took the armchair in front of her.
“These gatherings can be overwhelming, especially when it’s your first time,” Selene said. “Male vamps forget that sometimes.”
“How many women are up there?”
“A dozen.”
I leaned forward. “There are twelve bedrooms upstairs?”
“Eight,” Selene said. “Some women have to share a room.”
My fists clenched.
“Does it bother you that your boyfriend is up there?” Selene asked.
“Yes,” I answered truthfully.
Why did Dante have to get this assignment? How could I not think about him sucking blood hickeys off twelve different women in one night? The whole thing made me nauseous.
Dating him was a bad idea, especially with missions like this.
“Don’t be too hard on him,” Selene said softly.
I looked at her in surprise.
“It’s one of the few rushes we get.”
“Blood,” I said, stating the obvious.
Selene nodded. She looked off into a dark corner of the living room, not meeting my eye as she spoke.
“There’s not much sense living forever if you don’t feel alive.”
I took it she spoke from experience.
“How long have you been around?” I asked.
“Sixty years, give or take.”
“You’re… young.” I didn’t know why the words came out sounding so stunned. Sixty in human years was getting up there, but in vamp years it didn’t sound long at all. Selene hadn’t even been around for a century.
“Thank you,” she said, her thick lashes fluttering.
“You’re from California?”
“That’s correct,” Selene said.
“So you decided to take a break from the sun?”
“I decided to give my family space.”
I tilted my head. “Your real family?”
Wouldn’t they notice Selene wasn’t aging? Maybe she meant a vamp family like the Morrel’s.
Before Selene could answer, a slightly overweight thirty-something man with thinning brown hair and metal rimmed glasses stepped into the living room. Rough lines appeared over his face when he frowned. He barely glanced at me, choosing instead to focus on Selene.
“There you are, Selene. Hitting on a human again?”
Selene straightened. “Making polite conversation, Randal. Perhaps you should try it sometime.” Her tone lost its musical quality.
“I don’t come to these things to make conversation.”
Randal walked directly behind Selene. His hands shot forward. He began massaging her shoulders, but from the way her neck hunched, his grip looked too rough. She leaned forward out of his grasp and rose regally.
“Aurora, it was very lovely to meet you.”
“You, too,” I said, looking from Selene to Randal.
“Come along, Selene. You’ve had enough for tonight.”
Selene was a good four inches taller than Randall, not to mention a hundred times more attractive. What was she doing with the control geek? Looks didn’t matter, but in that short exchange it was clear Randal lacked in personality as much as physical attributes.
She followed Randal out of the living room without another word. Long after they’d left, I stared in the direction I’d last seen the odd pair.
I was confused. Had Selene been hitting on me because I was a woman or because I was human? Or both?
What was she doing with a guy like Randal?
I looked around the empty living room.
I felt starved for friendship. I wondered what Donna, Michelle, Amber, and the other girls from boot camp were doing right now. Did any of them have a weekend mission to complete or were they at the movies with a bag of popcorn in their laps?
Boot camp had given me a taste of community. We were like a family. We bonded. We fought. We embraced certain members and tolerated others. Sleep was the only break we got from each other. There was the emotional exhaustion of being around women all the time on top of the physical fatigue. Sometimes I swore the emotional kind was worse.
Now here I sat, all alone. It felt unnatural. Loneliness was like a stomachache, eating away at my insides, causing me physical pain.
Is that why Selene was with Randal?
Is that why I was with Dante?
Why shouldn’t I be with Dante? He was a good guy. Handsome. Funny. Caring. Committed. That should spell out winner in all caps.
Maybe I wasn’t physically repressed so much as emotionally repressed… like a vampire. How had I gotten this way? To become detached was to let Jared win. I ought to look to Dante as a prime example of living a life filled with purpose and pleasure.
I was a living, breathing, aging soul; and it was about time I got my head on straight and started enjoying my finite youth.
Hopefully Dante would rub off on me.
Voices drifted up from the stairs and became louder as a group emerged and walked past the living room to depart via the entryway.
Melcher wouldn’t be happy if he could see me lounging inside an empty room with the party and Diederick downstairs. That was Valerie’s area of expertise. I didn’t know what I was good at besides being bait. I could kill, which meant something in this line of work, but I didn’t like it.
Hmm, which college major went well with murder? Philosophy? Theatre? Justice?
I didn’t see the point in any of it unless Melcher expected us to work day jobs on the side.
“Hey, there’s my girl.”
I gave a start when I heard Dante’s voice. I hadn’t seen or heard him enter the living room.
His cheeks were flushed and dimpled when he grinned.
“Are you finished?” I asked.
He nodded energetically.
“Did you miss me?” he asked. “I missed you.”
During the upstairs blood orgy? I doubted that.
“I’m ready to go,” I said.
“Me, too. Where’s Red?”
“Downstairs mingling.”
“Want me to get her?”
I nodded. “If you don’t mind.”
“Be right back.”
I leaned back into the chair, relieved I didn’t have to return to the room below. I didn’t even care that it took Dante a good fifteen minutes to reappear with Valerie.
We left the way we’d come. The valet who had greeted us when we first arrived brought the Jeep around.
“I’m okay to drive,” Dante said to me, climbing into the driver’s seat.
“Good because I’m not,” Valerie said.
I glared at her, but she missed it as she hopped in behind Dante. Once we had our seat belts on, Dante drove off the property and into the night. The headlights lit up the dirt road spiraling down the mountain.
“I’m more than okay,” Dante announced. “I feel like I could race in the Grand Prix.”
“Great,” I said. “So long as you don’t do it down the mountain side.”
Valerie giggled. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw her cover her mouth. So much for staying sober.
“Did you get the lowdown on Diederick?” Dante asked.
“Aurora was too preoccupied with the vamp hitting on her,” Valerie announced.
I glared into the rearview mirror. Valerie swayed to the right even though the next turn wasn’t for another fifteen feet.
“Some blood sucker went after my woman while I was upstairs?” Dante said angrily. “That’s it. I’m turning the car around and calling this guy out.”
Valerie sniggered. “It wasn’t a guy. It was a woman.”
Dante slouched back. “A lady vamp? In that case tell me everything. Was she attractive?”
“Long legs, lean, limber body, silky brown hair… What do you think Aurora? Did you find Selene attractive?”
There wasn’t much use glowering at Valerie in the mirror when she could barely hold herself upright.
I lifted my chin. “Selene was very nice.” A lot nicer than Valerie.
“Did you two kiss?”
“No.”
Dante’s chin dropped. “No?” he repeated, sounding disappointed.
“Did you kiss anyone?” I returned.
“Of course not.”
“What took you so long?”
Valerie quit the giggling and huffed. “It’s not a timed exercise, Aurora.”
Dante drove, head turned to me. “I wanted to give you two enough time to gather information below. Are you upset?”
“No. Please watch the road.”
Dante kept looking at me.
I sat up. “There’s a turn!”
Dante glanced forward, cranking the wheel into a hairpin turn, and skirting the edge of the mountain. The tires slid over the gravel.
“Yahoo!” Valerie called out, throwing her arms up. “Where to next? Koots?”
She was talking about Chilkoot Charlie’s, Anchorage’s most popular nightclub. I’d never gone, not even to test out my fake ID. Getting shoved around and hit on by drunk guys didn’t sound like my idea of a good time.
“I’m game,” Dante said.
“I don’t know,” I said. “It’s been a long week.”
“Two against one!” Valerie called triumphantly.
“Ah-hem,” Dante said. “You’re forgetting that I’ve got the wheel. Driver decides. Aurora wants to call it a night. We call it a night.”
I shot Dante an appreciative smile.
“No fair,” Valerie said. “You two just want to get home and get down to business.”
Rather than respond, I reached forward and turned on the radio. Bruno Mars’ “Treasure” came on, and Dante started singing on cue. The scowl I saw on Valerie’s lips in the mirror brought a smile to mine. She sulked the remainder of the ride.
We zoomed by the familiar grounds of Denali High, driving under street lamps through Valerie’s neighborhood. Dante passed her Honda, parked in the street, and pulled into the driveway. Her guardian had left the outside porch light on.
Once we were stopped, Dante lowered the volume on the radio.
Valerie jumped out and said, “You two suck!” before slamming the door.
As she walked in front of the Jeep, Dante blasted the horn. I jumped in my seat. Valerie jumped, too. She turned on her heel and flipped Dante off.
Dante looked over his shoulder, laughing as he backed into the street. I didn’t like being in this part of town. It reminded me too much of my high school days and Fane. Soon enough, we were back on the main road.
“Now that we’ve ditched the third wheel, what say we go to Koots?” Dante asked mischievously. “Kidding,” he added a second later.
“She’d kill us both,” I said.
“I think you could take her.”
That made me smile. “Really?”
“Totally. Chicks who act tough are usually trying to hide the fact that deep down they’re insecure and afraid.”
“Thanks, but I’ve seen Valerie in action, and I don’t think she’s either of those things.”
Dante shrugged. “I still think you could take her.”
I gave his shoulder a light shove. “You’re just trying to butter me up.”
“I don’t know. It sounds like I’ve got competition now—lady vamp on the loose. Did she hit on Red, too?”
“Not really.”
“She prefers sweet over sassy. Can’t blame her there.”
“You and Valerie are turning this into something it’s not. Selene and I were just talking, plus she was there with a guy. Do you consider it flirting any time another man talks to you?”
Dante nodded. “Point taken.”
“Good. Now tell me what happened upstairs?”
Dante drummed his fingers over the steering wheel. “Let’s not talk about work anymore.”
Oh, so it was okay to kid around about me and Selene, but suddenly time to change the subject when it came to the wine flight. I tried a different approach.
“The taste of blood can be overwhelming. How are you feeling?”
“Better than ever,” Dante said. “But only because we got our foot in the door. I don’t care about the blood. I’m not a real vampire.”
I wasn’t a vampire, either, but I did enjoy the blood. I thought Dante would have too. I thought I wouldn’t be alone in my cravings.
Selene understood. She said it was one of the few rushes she got.
I really shouldn’t be relating to a vampire.
As we got closer to campus Dante, asked if I wanted to come over for a cup of coffee.
He lifted both hands off the wheel. “Just coffee, I swear. Oh! And kissing. And touching.” He stroked the back of his neck with two fingers, grinning. “And more if you want.”
“I think I just want to call it a night,” I said.
“It’s your call.”
“Thank you.”
Dante had to park in the street because a beat-up MGB Roadster was parked behind Noel’s car. Good. If Noel had company, that made it easier not to talk to her.
“Looks like the after-hours party is at your place,” Dante said.
I huffed.
Dante leaned into the wheel. “I still don’t get it. I wish you and Harper would make up.”
“Why do you care?”
“Because you’re my teammates. You’re both good at what you do, and you’re both great gals.” Dante grinned and added in a goofy voice, “Can’t we all just get along?”
“That’s not how the world works.” I reached for the door handle.
“Did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight?” Dante asked.
“Thanks.”
“Spend the night with me,” he said softly.
My heart raced more out of panic than excitement. “Not tonight.”
“What about next weekend? Will you stay over? My roommate will be working on the slope—out of town for two weeks.”
I focused on the houses beyond the windshield, gathering my thoughts.
When I didn’t answer right away, Dante frowned. “Does this have something to do with your ex?”
I shook my head slowly. “This isn’t about him.”
“Then what is it?”
“I can’t help thinking we’d be better off as friends.”
I couldn’t bring myself to look at Dante when I spoke. He’d helped my family while I was away, cheered me up by text, waited for me. I owed him. If only my heart could connect to my head and the logic it presented.
“Is this because of what Melcher said?” Dante asked.
“I don’t know.”
Dante put his hand on my leg gently. As soon as my eyes met his he said, “Don’t worry about tonight or next weekend. Forget your ex and forget Melcher. Give us a chance.”
Such sweet words. Why couldn’t they make me feel something other than guilt?
Finally I nodded.
At the very least, Dante deserved a chance.
He gave me a quick kiss on the lips before removing his hand from my leg.
I hopped out of the Jeep, my dress sliding down to my ankles. Dante followed the fabrics downward motion with his eyes.
“Sure you don’t want me to come in and patch things up between you and Harper?” he asked, voice returning to normal.
“I’m sure.”
Dante’s grin widened. “Sure you don’t want me to come in and distract you from her?”
I smiled back. “Good night, Dante.”
He pulled away and was gone before I reached the front door. As I passed the Roadster, I took a quick look inside at a set of black seat covers with white skulls and satanic wings stretching across the fabric. Did Noel have Whitney and Hope over? I would have loved to say “hello” under normal circumstances.
I reached the door and jammed my key into the deadbolt.
The plan was simple: beeline it for my bedroom. I walked in with my head bent, watching where I stepped in the dim foyer. When I looked up the staircase, a short guy with an eyebrow piercing dressed all in black moved down a step. I nearly screamed. I hadn’t expected to see anyone in the hallway or on the stairs.
Once my heart dislodged itself from my throat, anger ripped through me.
“Who the hell are you?” I demanded.
The guy stopped. “I’m Daren. Don’t you remember me?”
I squinted a moment, eyes adjusting to the dim lighting. He didn’t look like anyone I’d ever met.
“No, I don’t,” I said.
“Denali High,” the guy prompted. “I’m one of Fane’s friends.”
I looked at him again. This time I noticed the bite mark on his neck. I folded my arms over my chest.
“You’re bleeding, Daren from Denali.”
Daren’s eyes widened. His nose practically touched his shoulder when he turned to look.
“Oh, um… um…”
“Um, um, what?” I asked impatiently. “What are you doing here?”
“Noel invited us over.”
Us?
It hit me. Noel had a vampire in the house.