Stakeout (Aurora Sky (20 page)

The rest of the weekend flew by in a flurry.

On the night of the tasting, Nicole had
gotten all glammed up: dress, makeup, jewelry, hair—the whole nine
yards. We hadn’t seen much of her because once we arrived Nicole
was escorted to her own private chamber.

She was right about Diederick. He wasn’t the
friendliest vamp on the block, but he’d been hospitable. The guy
was all man. He looked about thirty-two and managed to pull off the
clean-cut rugged look better than Josh Holloway. His thick brown
hair almost touched his shoulders, and he had a trim scruff of
facial hair under his nose and chin.

When he wasn’t mingling, he sat on an
armchair, glass of red wine in hand. Even slouching Diederick
looked like he meant business, as his cool gaze watched everyone in
the room. He wore a fitted suit that probably cost as much as
Nicole made in a month.

Dante behaved himself admirably considering
he was in a room filled with vampires. He kept up the ruse of being
a visiting vampire from Anchorage and got his name on Diederick’s
client list. His foot was officially inside the door.

10

With the exception of one lamp in the living room,
the apartment was dim when I got back to town Sunday evening. The
phish
of the shower entered my eardrums as
I walked past the bathroom. A crack of light lined the bottom of
the door.

I passed, heading straight for my room. When
I switched the light on I had to blink several times before I could
process the empty room. All my things were gone: junk furniture,
clothes and all. My duffel bag slipped through my fingers and fell
to the floor.

I stomped into the hallway and pounded on the
bathroom door. “Trudy, where the hell are my things?”

The shower stopped. Silence followed until I
pounded again.

“Trudy, I said where the hell are my
things?”

“Noel?” Her voice wavered at first. “Is that
you?”

“No, it’s your stalker.” Okay, that was mean
and not something I liked to joke about, but I was seriously pissed
off. Clearing out my room behind my back was one of the most
heinous things any chick had ever done to me.

Trudy yanked the door open a foot. She had a
cream-colored towel wrapped around her body. Her hair hung dripping
and tangled over her bare shoulders.

“You scared the hell out of me!” she
snapped.

“Where are my things?” I demanded.

“Your things?” Trudy opened the door wider
and glared at me. “Your dad came by and got all your stuff. He said
you asked him to. I figured you didn’t want to face us after taking
off without notice.”

“I didn’t take off,” I cried at the same time
my mind screamed, “That asshole!” In my agitation, my arms and
hands began gesturing through the misty air entering the hallway.
“I was out of town for a couple days.”

“You were gone a week.”

“Five days. Anyway, the point is I was of
town and now I’m back and my stuff is gone.”

Trudy’s fist tightened around her towel.
“Your dad said you were moving back home. Why would he lie?”

“Because he’s a pathological liar!” I yelled.
That’s it, my temper had reached boiling point two seconds ago, and
now I was overflowing with emotion.

Trudy’s eyes narrowed on me. “Don’t yell at
me, Noel.”

I glared back. “What am I supposed to wear
now? Where am I supposed to sleep?”

“So go get your things back.”

Words failed me as I stared into Trudy’s
face. Would she retrieve her things if it meant going through the
gates of hell to get them back? Why not shove me directly into the
fire pit? Maybe douse me with kerosene while she was at it.

Conniving Clive. Hadn’t lost his touch. He
couldn’t force me to leave, so he’d hijacked the few possessions
I’d amassed since leaving home. That left me with the dirty clothes
in my duffel and what I had on right now.

I turned on my heel and retrieved my duffel
bag.

“Thanks to you, I’m now homeless!” I yelled
at Trudy as I passed her on my way to the door.

Her lips formed a tight frown.

I took my key to the apartment off my key
ring and threw it on the kitchen counter then stormed out the door.
The outer hallway echoed with the sound of my angry footsteps. The
walls felt like they were closing in on me. I wanted so bad to get
out, but at the same time, I had nowhere to go.

The touch of the cold air calmed me as I took
shallow breaths outside. I dumped my duffel bag in the trunk of my
car and pulled out my phone, dialing my go-to girl first thing.

“Hey, Whit. I need a place to crash.”

“Oh my God, Noel, I’m so sorry. I’m grounded.
Like seriously grounded.”

My heart dropped. “What about Hope?” I asked,
knowing the answer wouldn’t be good.

Whitney sighed. “Her mom kicked her out...
again. She’s staying with her cousin. Aren’t you close with Aurora?
Why don’t you ask her?”

Mrs. Sky hadn’t looked too happy the time I
came over to talk to Aurora. Asking felt awkward. I’d rather not
share all my personal shit with her. Suddenly I wouldn’t be Noel
Harper, the tough, poetic undercover vampire hunter. I’d be Noel
Harper, the pathetic girl who tried to take her own life because
she was too weak to deal with reality. Noel Harper, whose own
father tormented her, stalked her, and stole her stuff.

I doubted Aurora would be able to understand
what I was going through. She’d grown up with nice, normal parents.
She’d mentioned her dad taking off, but it wasn’t like she was five
anymore. In several months, she’d graduate from high school. Before
her car accident, she’d lived a sheltered life. She’d never skipped
class, gotten wasted, or had sex. Even that stuff seemed like minor
detours on her path down the straight and narrow. Now she was
working her ass off to graduate and keep things as normal as
possible.

Aurora was a stubborn one. Nothing could ever
be normal for us again. We were linked by blood to vampires, and it
was our duty to keep innocent people safe from rogue vamps.
Somebody had to do it. We had that in common. I supposed it was a
sort of lifelong bond. Like sisterhood.

I took a deep breath and dialed Aurora’s
number. It went straight to her answering service.

Now what?

If I called Melcher he’d place me with one of
his staff members until he found something more permanent. Been
there, done that. The last thing I wanted right now was a parental
figure watching over me.

Even a cheap motel was out of my budget for
more than three days. I needed a temporary place to crash, and I
needed it now.

My brain wasn’t processing. Perhaps my phone
had the answer. Making my way down my list of contacts, I paused on
Fane Donado. He’d helped in a heartbeat when Aurora’s life was at
stake. Would he help me?

I pressed “dial” before I could wimp out.

“Yes, Noel?” he said with a hint of
irritation.

Well, no going back now.

“I need your help.”

“Is Aurora okay?” Fane asked, his voice
suddenly changing to one of concern.

Maybe I should have been flattered that guys
didn’t perceive me as a damsel in distress. Then again, maybe I
should’ve felt annoyed.

“Aurora’s fine,” I said. “It’s me. I’m in
trouble, and I’ve got no one to help me. I wouldn’t have called if
I had someone else.”

Fane’s voice softened. “Where are you?”

“In my car, outside my former apartment,
which was emptied by my father this weekend. He didn’t leave me
anything, Fane.” My voice cracked. Oh, no. God, no. Once it started
cracking, there was no holding it together. The world crumbled and
fell apart once that first tiny fissure entered my voice. “All I’ve
got is the clothes on my back and nowhere to go.” I began sobbing.
There was no holding back.

“Hey,” Fane said, sounding firmer now. “You
do have somewhere to go. You remember where I’m at?”

“Yes,” I said, sniffing.

“So come over now, and we’ll figure this
out.”

I started crying harder.

“It’s going to be okay,” Fane said. “I’m home
so you can head over now.”

“Okay,” I choked out.

“See you real soon, Noel.”

I ended the call and began wailing. No way
was I showing up in such a mess. I had to get it out of my system
first. Clive had done it again, torn me to shreds without even
placing a finger on me.

He’d come into what was supposed to be my
safe place, invaded my sanctuary, taken away all my things—crappy
things, but they were mine. Then he had the mad idea to use those
scraps of my life like cheese in a mousetrap.

After I’d gotten all the angry tears out of
my system, I dug out a black T-shirt from my duffel and mopped up
my face.

I’d sworn to myself I’d never let Clive make
me cry again. This time, I meant it.

Straightening my shoulders, I drove across
town to Fane’s duplex. I’d been there once before, when I brought
bandages to patch Aurora up after she’d been stabbed multiple times
by her vampire captives. It wasn’t as though they could drink her
blood. Aurora had been in critical condition. Guess I wasn’t the
only one having a bad year.

I took the closest spot on the street, not
wanting to take up space in the driveway. My heart skipped a beat
as I walked up to the front porch. I’d left my duffel bag in the
car, as I didn’t want to go making presumptions that Fane would
really take me in. Maybe he’d simply talk to me, tell me to suck it
up, and send me on my way.

A sob threatened to work its way up my
throat. I swallowed it down. No more fissures. No more cracks.

Before I got to the door, it swung open. Fane
ushered me inside. I stomped the snow off my combat boots on the
mat in front of the door then unlaced and removed them from my
feet.

Fane’s roommate had stopped reading his book
on the couch to watch my every move. I’d nearly forgotten about
him. At least he wasn’t putting up a fuss like he had the last time
I was here.

“Come in,” Fane said. “Make yourself
comfortable. You remember my roommate, Joss?”

I inclined my head slightly. Joss made no
movement or comment, just kept staring at me like I was some kind
of circus freak. Guess it didn’t help that he knew I was an
undercover vampire informant. I was as good as a rat in his
eyes.

Fully aware of the two vampires watching me,
I stepped across the room to a big leather armchair, sat and curled
my legs in. It spoke volumes that I felt safer with vampires than
my own father.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Fane
asked.

“A cup of tea?” Joss asked suddenly, leaning
forward on the couch.

I was surprised by the warmth in his voice,
which didn’t match his expression. Unlike Fane, he had a strong
accent, which was obviously European—British sounding.

“Uh...” I looked between Joss and Fane.

Fane grunted. “She doesn’t want tea. Noel
wants a drink, am I right? Something strong?”

“Sounds good.” Sure. Why not? Something to
numb the pain.

While Fane was in the kitchen, I avoided
Joss’s stare by looking around the living room. There was a lot of
antique furniture. Everything was tidy, but not sterile. It all
looked cozy in a bookish sort of way. It fit Fane’s roommate,
sitting with a hardback book in one hand and a mug of what I could
only assume was tea in the other. I’d always pictured Fane with
something more retro, black lights and glow-in-the-dark skulls, for
instance.

Fane returned with a glass of red wine and
something tinted pink with a slice of lime on top. He handed me the
pinkish drink.

“Thank you,” I said, taking it from his pale
fingers. The cold liquid felt good going down my throat, which had
burned with tears not that long ago.

Fane sat beside Joss on the couch and crossed
one leg over the other. “What happened?”