Bad Blood (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter, Vol. 3) (26 page)

Valerie stopped chewing. “Are you for real? That chick was unconscious. Never saw us. No one knew us in Sitka, and we didn’t use our real names. There’s no way she could have tracked us down unless Jared tipped her off.”

My jaw tightened. I hadn’t considered that. “You think Jared would tell her who we are?”

Valerie shrugged. “He failed to take us down, so maybe he put his darling daughter on our tail.”

“But he was trying to kill her.”

“And then he tried to kill us,” Valerie said. “He probably wants us all dead. If Giselle takes us out, he only has to go after one vampire rather than two hunters.”

I clutched my chest. “Oh my god, what am I going to do?”

Valerie got up and went to her purse. “Take my gun.” She pulled out the pistol from the bottom of her purse and handed it to me.

I felt oddly touched. I guess I wasn’t the only one committed to my teammates.

“Thank you, Valerie.”

“Just make sure to return it to me. If you don’t get killed first, that is.”

“As always, I appreciate your vote of confidence,” I said sarcastically.

Valerie lifted her chin. “One can never be too prepared.”

My thoughts exactly.

I ended up confiding in my mom, as well. It would be safer, and less distracting, if Grandma stayed home. Mom told Gran that class had been canceled and that she and I were going to have some mother-daughter time on the town, instead.

“I’ve always worried about you,” Mom said after she picked me up at my place. “I never thought my life or your grandma’s would be in jeopardy.”

“This is most likely nothing,” I answered. “I just want to make sure.”

“You said you saved this girl in Sitka?” Mom asked as she drove.

“That’s right.”

“So maybe she wants to thank you.”

I snorted. “Fat chance.”

“I don’t understand why she’d have any desire to hurt you.”

“Because she was a target. Her entire family was, and our team leader took them all out. Everyone except for her. She’s not going to want to thank me. She’s going to want to avenge her family.”

Mom’s forehead wrinkled. “If she was a target why did you disobey orders?”

“Because she had nothing to do with the murder we were investigating.” I ground my teeth together. This was way too hard to explain. If I told my mom about Jared, she’d worry more than she already did and go to Melcher for sure. “And I had no reason to believe she’d ever track me down. She never saw me. Plus I was undercover.”

“You wore a disguise?”

“No, but the point is, she never set eyes on me. She was unconscious.”

We weren’t at the learning center yet, and stress had already set in. I should probably work on my breathing so I would walk in with a clear head.

“But why would you disobey orders?” Mom asked.

“Because I hate to kill! Okay? Is that reason good enough for you?” My brain felt like it had exploded. Why couldn’t anyone understand my moral dilemma? It was as if I was screaming so loud no one could hear what I was saying. We were all living inside the scream. Along the way, everyone had gone deaf and stopped covering their ears.

The car went completely silent. I felt bad for yelling, but I hadn’t been able to keep it in any longer. Mom would say something in a moment. Some mumbo jumbo about regret and having no choice, words that would both annoy me and trigger guilt.

Mom inhaled sharply. “This is never what I wanted for you, Aurora.”

So predictable. I folded my arms.

“I had two choices: watch you die or give you a chance to live. I made the right decision, the only decision. Any mother would do the same.”

Mom sounded less guilty and more defiant this time. She really had changed.

“One day, when you have children of your own, you’ll understand.”

Her words cut me. My arms dropped. A stab of pain ached inside my chest. I had no desire for children now, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t someday. It was yet another decision stolen from me. I felt as if I didn’t have ownership over my own body.

Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes. Mom was angry and watching the road, so she didn’t see.

I wanted to tell her I’d never have children, to say it out loud, to hear it for myself. I wanted to make her feel bad for the terrible thing she’d just said. I tried to, but every time I did, the words wouldn’t form, like they’d choke me if I said them.

Mom sighed. “Honey, I don’t want to fight. You are such an amazing young woman. So strong and brave. I don’t want you to spend your whole life regretting the past.”

A mother’s words of wisdom. Maybe she should become a motivational speaker.

I blinked back my tears, focusing instead on a passing car full of kids. Oh how the universe mocked me. I looked away from them.

“I don’t regret the past, I just don’t like to kill.”

“Maybe you should try thinking of it as saving lives. Isn’t that what Agent Melcher says?”

“Melcher’s full of shit.”

“Aurora…” Mom looked over her shoulder before changing lanes.

“It’s the truth.”

“And what about me?” she asked, an angry quiver in her voice. “Do you think I’m full of shit, too?”

“Of course not. You’re my mother. You care about me, unlike Melcher, who only sees me as government property.”

Mom put on the blinker and entered the turn lane at the next intersection. Once we’d stopped, she looked at me. “I’m sure he cares about you, honey. He wants you to be strong and healthy.”

Strong so I could kill vampires. It all came back to killing. I didn’t mention this again. I’d brought it up too many times to count. Sometimes the best answer was no answer.

The light took forever to change. When I looked over, Mom rubbed her lips together, expression somber. “What’s your plan?”

“I’m gonna go in and check it out. It’s probably not her, but just to be sure.”

“I’ll go in with you.”

“No way,” I said. “You’re staying in the car with the doors locked.”

“But how will you know who she is?”

“If it’s Giselle, I’ll recognize her. I might not have ever looked into her eyes, but I hauled her skinny carcass down three flights of stairs. And if I don’t see her, I’ll ask for Madame Vasser and meet a woman I’ve never seen before, which is what I expect to happen tonight.”

“Better safe than sorry,” Mom said.

I nodded. “Exactly.”

“What will you do if it’s Giselle?”

“I’ll do what I’ve been trained to—kill.”

Mom chewed on her lower lip.

“No one threatens my family,” I added.

“Madame Vasser never threatened me or your grandma.”

“If it’s Giselle, her very presence is a threat.”

The arrow turned green. Mom drove.

“You’d think I would have noticed if she was a vampire,” Mom said, “especially since I’m one of the few people aware they exist.”

Mom: Vamp Detector. Just what I didn’t need to be worrying about, but I might as well get as much information from her as I could in case the teacher turned out to be a vindictive bloodsucker.

“Tell me everything you can about your teacher. Did she have a temper? Did you ever see her with anyone else? Any noticeable defects? Right handed? Left handed?”

“Oh, okay, let me think,” Mom said, sitting forward in her seat. She moved her hands to the top of the steering wheel. “She never lost her temper, but she did get this angry look in her eye whenever one of us pronounced a word wrong, or if someone walked in even a minute late.”

Stric
t
an
d
punctual? Sounded like a killer vampire to me.

“She always struck me as a bit cold,” Mom continued. “It didn’t occur to me that she could be a vampire. I thought it was because she’s French. I wish I could tell you more, but that’s about it. I’ve never seen her interacting with anyone before or after class.”

“Has she ever asked you any personal questions, like if you have a daughter?”

Mom shook her head. “No. She sticks to the lesson plans.”

I didn’t want to believe Giselle had tracked me down. It seemed impossible unless, as Valerie suggested, Jared tipped her off. I still had a hard time believing that one, but when my mom talked about the teacher, a clear image formed in my head of Giselle.

You’re being paranoid, I told myself. No doubt about it.

I wondered if Giselle knew about vampire hunters, or if I could get her to somehow bite me first if she turned out to be the teacher.

“Here we are,” Mom said, flicking on her blinker. She turned into the career center’s parking lot. It was only about a fourth full. “Where should I park?”

“Just drop me off up front, and I’ll find you.”

“You have your phone, right?” Mom asked.

“Yeah, I have my phone.” And a gun. No problem.

Mom drove up to the curb. I turned to her. “Remember, lock the doors and don’t open up for anyone, but me.”

Mom frowned. “What if you don’t come back out?”

“If I’m not out in the next half hour, call Dante.”

Mom’s forehead wrinkled. “Shouldn’t we call him now?”

“No. Not until I check it out.”

“Okay, well, be careful,” she called after me as I exited the vehicle.

“Lock the doors,” I said over my shoulder.

Once outside, I headed for the building’s entrance. There were multiple sets of glass doors leading inside. On the phone earlier, Mom had explained which room their French lessons took place in. I took a right after entering the building, followed by a left. I walked halfway down the hall and took a final left into room 138. The door was propped open.

“
Bonjour
,” a stocky forty-something brunette sang out when I called in.

“
Bonjour
,” I replied flatly.

“
Je m’appelle Susan. Et vous?
”

“Aurora.”

Her smile extended like an animated clown. “
C’est jolie.
”

“Thanks,” I said, in no mood to banter around in French. “I need to speak with Madame Vasser. Is she here?”