The relentless rubbing made me want to lose the clothes already and take it all the way.
I grabbed Fane by the shirt collar—breaking away only to gasp for breath between kisses.
“I’ve missed you,” Fane rasped, following his words with a blaze of kisses all up and down my neck.
I shuddered and squirmed between his abs and the rough wall. My body throbbed—begging for immediate gratification. I grabbed Fane by the butt cheeks and shoved his pelvis into mine. Fane inhaled sharply.
A deafening crash shattered the space around us. At first I thought we’d knocked over a vase, but there wasn’t anything against the wall to break.
Fane’s head snapped back—eyes wide and alert. I lowered my legs to the floor. They were still shaky. Fane, meanwhile, sprang to action. The muscles in his arms tightened, his nose lifted as though catching a scent right before he stormed down the hallway toward the front door.
5
Red October
Once my legs were stable, I hurried after Fane. He stopped in the entryway and stared down. There was a baseball-sized rock on the linoleum floor surrounded by shards of glass. Cold air streamed in through the splintered gash in the front windowpane.
Fane ripped the front door open by the handle. I had to peer around him to see into the street. All appeared quiet in the front yard.
Fane stepped outside and tramped across the lawn to his car. He stopped in front of the hood and just stared. With my heart lodged inside my throat, I made my way to the Pontiac. It took me a second before I noticed the front windshield had been cracked all across the front.
Web-like fractures splintered the entire window. The worst damage appeared over the driver’s side with hairline cracks so dense they’d turned the glass white and all but obscured the steering wheel from sight.
It would have taken a solid object to cause that kind of damage. I looked on the ground, but didn’t see anything. Maybe it had been a baseball bat or the same rock pitched through my windowpane.
My stomach dropped. A tingly sensation came over me like a sixth sense.
Valerie. It had to be her.
She’d threatened Fane Saturday morning. How would she feel if she saw him parked outside my house two days later?
Two days later.
I shook my head. She’d been stabbed. Surely she wasn’t already out roaming the streets of Anchorage. Giselle had left her in critical condition Saturday morning. Then again, she’d been rushed to base, where Melcher’s white coats had a lightning-speed knack for bringing agents back from the almost-dead.
Fane’s jaw clenched as he appraised the damage.
My stomach double-knotted.
Valerie—if it was her—couldn’t have known we were kissing. But she would know Fane was inside.
As Fane moved away from the car, so did I.
Once we reached the porch, he waited for me to go inside first then looked up at the security cam as he followed me inside. “I need to borrow your laptop,” he said.
I nodded. “It’s upstairs.”
As I skirted the broken glass, Fane said, “Be careful.”
Good thing neither of us had removed our shoes. I hopscotched my way over and around the jagged shards then hurried up the stairs to my room. My laptop was on top of my desk in sleep mode. I unplugged the power cord, closed the lid and clutched the machine against my side.
When I came back down the stairs, Fane had already begun picking up fragments of glass, which he tossed inside the trash bin we kept beneath our kitchen sink.
Cold air prickled my skin. Shutting the front door did little good blocking the chilly stream flowing through the gaping hole in the window. A shiver ran down my spine.
It’s all in your head, I chanted. The cold is all in your head.
“Watch your step,” Fane said. “There’s still glass everywhere.” He straightened up as I moved carefully around the glass to the other side of the hall. “I was just about to phone the window repairman.”
“I’ll call the agency,” I said. “They’ll cover the cost.”
Fane shook his head. “The less they’re involved, the better.”
“What about your window?”
“I’ll take it in for a replacement.”
I made my way through the land mine of shattered glass a second time to retrieve a hoodie from upstairs. When I returned, Fane made swift work of cleaning up the last of the glass with a broom and dustpan. He’d duct taped a black trash bag over the opening in the window.
I knew he was eager to look at the footage and appreciated the time he’d taken to patch up the entryway. I wanted to see it, too, though I wasn’t in any rush. At the moment, a nameless hooligan had thrown a rock through my window. Once we watched the video feed, we’d have a face and, likely, a name.
There wasn’t anything left with which to distract ourselves.
Fane had cleaned up and called the repairman. I’d turned down the thermostat and set up my laptop at the dining room table—pushing a second chair in front of the screen.
Fane and I took a seat side by side. His fingers reached forward and zipped over the keyboard. A security website appeared on the screen asking for a password, which Fane typed in rapidly. I liked watching his hands in motion. They looked very skilled. I suspected they’d be gentle but firm in taking off my clothes.
My face flushed. Fane leaned closer to the laptop and didn’t seem to notice.
His fingers hovered over the keyboard. “What time would that have been?” he asked himself. “Ten, twelve minutes ago?” He peered at the time on the lower right corner of the screen, leaned back and entered a number on the screen.
“Here goes,” he said.
We both leaned forward.
The video feed showed the porch in front of the door vacant. It didn’t capture the window. I held my breath waiting for someone to walk up and chuck a rock toward the house. A timer with seconds raced by beneath the video display. No one was there. Suddenly there was.
Valerie, dressed in skinny jeans and a beige sweater, walked up to the camera. She looked directly into the camera, at us, and flipped it off. Just as quickly, she pivoted and stormed away, disappearing from the screen.
I gripped my arm while waiting for the inevitable. It wasn’t instantaneous like I’d expected. Maybe she’d gone off to smash up Fane’s windshield first. Over a minute went by before the camera picked up the rock sailing past. If I hadn’t seen the rock in the entryway, I might have mistaken it for a bullet, despite its size, as it blurred past in a flash of silver-gray.
Caught, red handed, or in this case, red haired.
“That stab wound certainly didn’t slow her down,” I said.
Fane’s fingers tightened into a fist.
He soon appeared on the footage bursting through the front door with a fierce scowl that matched the one on his face now.
Fane stopped the video feed and closed the screen of the security site.
“Do you think it’s out of her system now?” I asked.
“Doubtful,” Fane replied.
Fane’s hip suddenly rang. He stood up, pulled the phone out of his pocket, glanced at the screen and answered.
“What’s going on?” He sounded serious. It wasn’t a breezy, “Hey, what’s happening” kind of what’s going on.
I watched Fane curiously, but his gaze looked a million miles away.
“I’ll be right there,” he said abruptly.
He jerked the phone from his ear and squeezed it so hard it looked like it would crack inside his fist.
“I have to go,” he said.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Fane shook his head, lips pushed out.
“Who was that?” I asked.
“Joss.”
“Is he okay?”
Joss was gloomy, but he was the closest thing Fane had to family.
“He’s fine.”
Okay. I waited for Fane to elaborate.
“The window repairman wi
ll be here in an hour or two. He has my credit card information. We’ll talk later,” he said, heading toward the door. He stopped, spun around, and hurried back to me. Fane put his hands on my cheeks and kissed me hard. My heart fluttered. A second later, it was over. Fane turned his back and practically sprinted out the door.
I stared down the hallway after he’d gone, wondering what the heck had just happened—not just with the vandalism and phone call, but with us.
I suddenly felt weak and shaky in the hungry sense. I remembered the blood on the kitchen counter. Getting it back into the bag without staining the counter would be nearly impossible. I could stick the mug in the fridge. Or I could stop kidding myself and drink the damn thing.
Why fight nature?
Once the front window had been replaced, I retreated to my bedroom and sat at my desk, the start of an English paper open on my laptop and my hoodie zipped to my chin. Try as I might, it was a little hard to concentrate on homework after Valerie’s surprise attack.
Who was I kidding?
My concentration had blown out the window long before she threw the rock. It had shattered the moment my lips touched Fane’s.
Then there was the other issue. I had trouble seeing myself sticking around long enough to complete a college degree.
There was still the question of what I would do once free of Melcher. How would I support myself? I had no skills, no experience that mattered in the real world. How many companies were looking to hire ex-vampire hunters? None that I’d be interested in.
Maybe I could get a fresh start in another country or state—another do-over to add to my list.
I wasn’t really in the mood to be alone. I tried streaming music online, but it only made the house seem emptier.
Shortly after eight o’clock, I heard the front door open and close, which gave me a brief start. I’d been so caught up in my own thoughts, combined with online radio, I hadn’t heard anyone pull up.
“Noel?” I yelled from the stairs. I was pretty sure it was her, but these days I could never be sure.
“Yeah,” she called back. “I picked up a pizza if you’re interested.”
“I’ll be right down.”
I paused the music and headed downstairs.
Noel had plates and napkins set out on the kitchen beside a pizza box. Her back was to me as she rummaged through the fridge.
“Wine cooler?” she asked.
“No, thanks.”
The blood had satiated me quite nicely. I wasn’t even hungry, but the pizza smelled good, and I could use some normalcy to end the day. Noel had missed all the action.
I grabbed a plate and slice of pie. “How’d it go with Henry and Zeke?”
Noel put two pieces of pizza on her plate. She took it to the table and rested her elbows on the surface.
“I’m exhausted,” she said.
“That bad?” I bit off a piece.
Noel lifted one of her slices, took a bite, chewed and swallowed. “It was like trying to convince a three-year-old to bathe.”
I wrinkled my nose. Henry bathing was not the visual I wanted to have while eating.
“But he ran it by Richard and got the green light. Henry refused to invite anyone until we came up with an appropriate theme. Friday night is going to be a tribute to Marcus. Everyone is to dress in black.”
I snorted. “Won’t be a problem for Fane.”
Noel put her pizza down and frowned. “Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend.”
Not that I’d been thrilled about Noel and Fane teaming up together at the palace, but what the hell? Noel had as much motivation as me to get Dante and Gavin back. She knew what Jared looked like. This was our mess, and I didn’t like leaving it all on Fane, especially with Valerie on the loose.
“Why not?”
“I phoned Melcher after school to tell him about the party at the palace and let him know I heard Giselle had been invited.”
I sat up straighter. “Did he buy it?”
Noel shrugged. “It’s a tribute party. The palace was the last fête Marcus and Andre ever attended. It’s possible Giselle might want to speak with some of the last vampires to spend time with her father.” Noel shrugged again.
“Okay,” I said. “That’s great, but why can’t you go?”
“Melcher said he wants me back on the eastside Friday night.”
I groaned. “Melcher and his missions. Well, I guess you’ll have an alibi, too. I just don’t like this. Does Fane know?”
“I tried to call him, but he didn’t pick up.”
My fingers curled into my palms. “He was here earlier. He taught me to drive the Jeep, then came in to talk. Shortly after, Valerie came by, smashed Fane’s windshield, and threw a rock through our front window.”
“Holy shit,” Noel said, craning her neck around to the hall as though she’d missed the broken window.
“It was replaced a couple hours ago,” I said.
Noel’s head snapped back around. “I thought she was still in the hospital.”
“Apparently not.”
“You actually saw her?”
“On the security cam.” I tapped my fingers against the table. “Fane got a call from Joss after that and left.”
“Shit,” Noel said. “What’s the deal? She’s with Gavin now.”
“Before Giselle stabbed her Saturday morning, she came by and found me here with Fane. She made threats.”
Noel’s eyes expanded. “Oh, crap. Are you going to report her to Melcher?”
“And tell him what exactly? That I was entertaining a vampire at the time?” I shook my head. “That would put me in even deeper shit.”
Noel sighed. “I suppose you’re right.” She lifted the wine cooler to her lips and drank down a third in one go before returning to her pizza. Between chews she said, “I take it you won’t be inviting her over for any more sleepovers?”
I screwed up my face. “Never again.”
“Good.” Noel reached under the table, leaning to one side as she dug into her pocket. She set a small baggie filled with white powder on the table. “Or you could invite her over for happy hour and slip this into her drink.” Noel’s teeth flashed white when she grinned.
I leaned forward. “What is that?”
“Ground up sleeping pills,” Noel said.
“Where did you get that?”
“From Henry. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have some on hand with all the unwanted company we’ve had coming through.”
Noel stood and snatched the bag from the table, retreating into the kitchen. I turned and watched her open the cupboard by the sink. She pulled out a tea tin and popped open the lid.
“I’ll stash it in here,” Noel said. “In front of the bottle of chloroform Daren and Reece scrounged up for us.”
Noel closed the cupboard and helped herself to a third slice of pizza. She rejoined me at the table. “Now that we’ve established that the no vampires allowed rule doesn’t apply in our house, I think we should instate a no psychotic vampires allowed rule.”
I snorted. “Deal.”
“I can’t believe she actually threw a rock through our window. Who does that? Oh, right, Valerie.” Noel pulled her hair over one shoulder and pushed it back a second later. “Fane and Joss might want to find some place to hole up until this blows over.”
I snorted. “Maybe Zeke has an extra room.”
Noel didn’t break into even a small smile at my joke. She held one slim hand over her neck. “They should check into a motel or something, at least for a while—until Valerie has a chance to cool off.”
“I don’t think Valerie is the kind of person who ever cools off,” I said.
And Fane wasn’t the type to be intimidated. Somehow, that worried me more.
Once Noel cleared out of the dining room to start on homework upstairs, I tried calling Fane, expecting to hear my name on his lips at any second. But he didn’t answer.
This was the first time I’d heard his voice message
—he’d always picked up before.
“Hello, this is Death,” Fane said in greeting. “I’m not in right now, but if you leave your name and number, I’ll get right with you.”
Beep!
If I weren’t so anxious, I would have laughed.
I hesitated before saying, “Hi, it’s me. Is everything okay?”
I hung up and stared at my phone for two minutes, sure it would ring. But it didn’t.
Now what the hell had happened? Could we not get through one damn day without a new catastrophe knocking us over?
I walked upstairs. Noel sat with her back to me at the desk inside the office. Even after clearing the air, I wasn’t sure I wanted to move my desk back in. I liked having my own private domain to study and sleep.
I knocked on the open door.
Noel’s head remained bent over the desk. I picked up the faint sound of music playing from her ear buds.
I knocked louder. Nothing.
“Noel!” I shouted.
She gave a start and whipped around. Only when she saw it was me did her shoulders relax. She took out the ear buds.
“Fane’s not answering my call, either,” I said.
Noel frowned. “Want me to drive you to his place? Make sure everything’s all right?”
I considered it a moment. “If he wanted me to know what was going on, he would have called.”
“Are you sure?” Noel asked.
“Yeah, thanks. I’ll try him again in the morning.”
I kinda did want to go check on him, but he didn’t seem like he wanted me around when he left. I was touched that Noel had offered to drive me without a moment’s hesitation. Technically I should be able to drive myself, but I wasn’t keen to do my first solo drive in the dark.
He was fine. This was Fane Donado we were talking about. Joss was probably having an existential crisis or something that required Fane talking him off the ledge. That was all. Nothing to worry about. Maybe it was something as silly as Joss spilling tea on a book that would have paid a month’s rent. Who knew? I didn’t. If it had been something I needed to worry about, Fane would have said something.
Hunting Season (Aurora Sky Page 6