Stakeout (Aurora Sky

Aurora Sky

Vampire Hunter

Vol. 2.5, Stakeout

By Nikki Jefford

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places
and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or the
author has used them fictitiously.

Copyright © 2014 Nikki Jefford

All rights reserved

www.NikkiJefford.com

Cover design by ©Phatpuppyart.com - Claudia
McKinney

Cover typography by Bookish Brunette Designs

Table of Contents

Taken

Three Out Of Five

Can’t Win Them All

Here Comes Trouble

Red
Rage

Out
of Town

Moose and Mouse

Into the Dark

Spy
Duty

Homeless

The Fane Fan Club

Unusual Symptoms

Forever

Acknowledgements

About the Author

1

A bare-chested young waiter in a black bow tie
handed me a Bloody Mary as I entered the palace on a Saturday
night.

No vampire threw a party like Marcus. Case in
point: the two topless waiters circulating the room.

Marcus’s vampire and human guests gathered in
the living room, mingling and mixing like a smooth cocktail. Many
of the faces were familiar—regulars like me scoping out the scene
until they found someone to sneak off with to the rooms above. It
was all about making a connection with a consensual blood
donor.

Everyone who entered the palace was a willing
participant. And if a vamp got out of hand, I—Noel Harper,
undercover agent for the United States Government’s secret vampire
division—was there to catch him in the act. As an informant, I knew
just about everything about every vampire within the city limits,
and the dazzling parties were just a perk. I had the best job
ever.

Finding a seat amid all the furniture and art
proved challenging, but I spotted a vacant brocade armchair not far
from the windows and Marcus’s ginormous telescope. Could probably
see every crater on the moon with that thing.

Once settled, I held the drink in front of my
face and stared at the ice cubes as they circled the glass with
each twist of my wrist. My lace gloves absorbed the condensation
that beaded like rain against a windowpane before streaking down
the clear surface.

Without removing my eyes from the glass, I
saw a young man in a striped polo and skinny chinos glance in my
direction.

I wasn’t here to make friends, so I continued
swirling the drink.

Of all the conversations in play, the blonde
beside me was the most annoying, which made it more difficult to
tune out. She squatted to take a look through Marcus’s telescope.
It was one of those crystal clear, cold-as-sin nights where the
stars nudge their way into the inky sky like a hundred thousand
fireflies suspended in space.

Not that fireflies existed in Alaska, let
alone space.

“Isn’t the universe amazing?” Miss Stargazer
asked. “Who knows how long it goes on? Maybe there’s no end. Maybe
it’s forever.”

Yeah, that was deep. The vamp standing
attentively by her side was more interested in the freckles on her
neck than the universe or its stars. He gazed longingly at her
exposed skin when the girl leaned down to take another glimpse
through the eyepiece.

I turned away from the blonde, resting my
back against the armchair, and twirled my drink while observing my
admirer from beneath my bangs. He watched me several more seconds
before heading over.

“You gonna drink that or keep swirling it all
night?” he asked.

I looked up coolly. Noel Harper never gushed
over vampires.

“I’ve been watching you.” He smirked, like he
had this one in the bag. The feeling was mutual. I could have him
upstairs in a heartbeat.

I didn’t recognize him, which meant he was an
out-of-towner or recently relocated. Meaning I better do my
homework and catalogue the vamp as a friendly, hostile, or a person
of interest. Always on the clock.

The vamp moistened his lips. “Looks like you
could use some company.”

My hand stilled on the glass. I set it on the
crackled glass tabletop adjacent to my chair and brushed my bangs
aside. I was preparing to introduce myself when a voice from behind
spoke abruptly. “She’s taken.”

My heart knocked against my ribcage. After
all the things I’d seen and heard as an informant, no boy—human or
vampire—had ever acted possessive of me. It set my nerves
buzzing.

I didn’t see the speaker until Abercrombie
& Fitch turned sideways to look at him.

It was Gavin. He stood, shoulders relaxed,
the barest hint of a smile on his face—in all appearances friendly.
But there’d been no mistaking the threat in his tone.

The other vamps shoulders sagged. “My bad.
Sorry, man, didn’t know.”

Gavin let out a puff of annoyance and looked
upwards. The vamp sidestepped his way between the couch and coffee
table.

“My bad,” Gavin repeated, not bothering to
lower his voice. “He’s obviously new. Probably still growing in his
baby fangs.”

I stifled a laugh.

Gavin smiled suddenly. I loved his shaggy
brown bangs. There was something so boyishly deviant about
them.

“You haven’t touched your drink,” Gavin
noted.

I gave it a brief glance. “Never liked these
things.”

“You want something else?”

I looked Gavin in the eyes. “No.”

“Good.”

If Gavin wanted me to go upstairs he would
have to ask. It didn’t take long.

“Would you like to join me?” He raised a hand
to the floor above.

“Why not?” I got up and followed Gavin across
the room.

He stopped at the base of the spiral
staircase and grinned. “Ladies first.”

I wound my way up the stairs, glad Gavin, not
Henry, had asked me to join him. Henry was polite and hot as hell,
but the sweet nothings he whispered before biting a girl were
annoying. Gavin always got right down to business. Bite. Suck. No
romanticizing. My kind of vampire.

I passed an open doorway. Gavin’s footsteps
stopped behind me. “This one’s available.”

I had my sights set on the October room down
the hall. I thought of it as my room and that door was open. “What
about the October room?”

“Fine by me,” Gavin said.

I walked in ahead of Gavin and plucked the
silver bat hanging on the inside doorknob. I handed it to Gavin and
he slipped it around the outside knob. It meant one thing. DO NOT
DISTURB. A well-known rule at the palace.

Pillar candles blazed from the top of a
dresser, casting shadows that jumped from one wall to the next. The
October room was named such for the varying shades of orange on the
ceiling, walls, and décor. I settled onto the bed, stretching my
hands behind me as Gavin watched. I felt sleepy in an out-of-body
dreamy sort of way.

Gavin walked over and took a seat beside
me.

I leaned my head to one side, giving him
better access to my neck. Gavin breathed steadily inside the quiet
of the October room. When he didn’t lean in like usual, an erratic
heartbeat ricocheted through my chest cavity.

Gavin was harmless as far as I could tell,
but even the friendly vamps could slip up.

A seemingly behaved vampire named Eric had
killed a girl in the heat of the moment four months ago. I reported
it to Agent Melcher, and he got one of his hunters on it. Now Eric
was dead. For good.

Maybe it was my imagination, but Gavin seemed
nervous. Nervous was never good.

I didn’t have poisoned blood like AB negative
vampire hunters Aurora and Dante, but mace worked just as well in a
pinch. All I had to do was reach under my skirt and retrieve the
small spray bottle from the pouch sewn inside. It made the perfect
hiding place and was great as a distraction tactic when running my
hand down my thigh to retrieve the bottle.

I slowly slid my hand down my skirt but was
stopped when Gavin put his hand on my wrist. His fingers were
surprisingly warm against my skin. He lifted my arm gently, making
it feel feather-light. More gently still, he turned my arm around,
wrist facing up.

Ever so slowly he peeled the glove off my
hand. The lace brushed against my fingers, inciting goose bumps
across my exposed wrist. I followed Gavin’s gaze to the blue veins
running beneath the surface of my pale skin.

A two-inch scar bisected the veins beneath my
palm. I tried to pull my hand away, but before I could, Gavin’s
head bent forward. His tongue left a wet trail along the inside of
my arm. He stopped at my wrist and swirled his tongue below the
edges of my palm. I sucked in a breath and leaned back.

Gavin held on tighter, kissing my wrist
before sucking on the skin. He ran his tongue down my arm to my
elbow crease. His wicked tongue was making me wet between my legs
without even venturing south. Would he dare?

Focus Noel!
Foreplay
with a vampire... not a good idea.

I cleared my throat. “I believe you’re
supposed to bite the skin before you suck it.”

Gavin stopped abruptly and pulled away from
my wrist. For a moment his face was expressionless in the shadows
of the room. “Very well, Noel, I can take a hint.”

I opened my mouth to speak but no words came
out. I hadn’t meant to offend him. I’d liked what he was doing even
if it wasn’t exactly kosher. Some informants were assigned specific
vampires to date and keep tabs on, but I’d never received such
orders. My task involved getting to know the crowd at the palace
and make myself available to anyone who drank blood. That’s it. No
dating. No screwing. And certainly no foreplay unless absolutely
necessary.

Gavin swept my hair over my shoulder and
leaned in.

“What’s it like?” I asked suddenly. “Living
forever?” I turned on the bed, swiped my lace fingerless glove, and
slipped it back over my wrist.

Gavin’s expression softened. He scooted
further up the bed. His eyes locked on mine. How could such a
beautiful being who breathed in and out as normally as me live
forever, I wondered.

I was the one not breathing. I didn’t realize
I’d been holding my breath until Gavin began talking.

“It’s like time is standing still,” Gavin
said. “But at the same time everything is always changing. Decades
come and go. I’ve seen incredible technological advances and social
changes, but at the same pace as any mortal, so I don’t notice the
changes until certain moments when it hits me how much has
changed.”