Dante smiled and lifted his brows. He so did not look like a vampire.
From the frown on Valerie’s face, I’d say she was thinking the same thing.
“Wait a minute,” she said. “If Dante’s going in as a vampire, will he be tasting these wine bimbos?”
“Dante will do what’s necessary to maintain his cover,” Melcher said.
Dante’s grin widened. “The things I do for my country.”
Shouldn’t I be jealous that Dante would be sucking blood from an unspecified number of women? My anger at seeing Fane bite one woman had been enough to supercharge a rocket into space.
I hated to admit my first reaction to Dante’s assignment was more around the lines of:No fair, how come he gets to drink blood?
“Oh, wow,” Valerie said, smirking at Dante. “You just landed yourself the dream mission, Don Juan.”
Dante’s chest puffed up. “I’m not complaining.”
Valerie lifted her chin. “What are Aurora and I supposed to do while Casanova samples the merchandise?”
“Valerie will gather names and start profiles of all the guests,” Melcher said. “I want to know who goes inside the private rooms and who stays in the central area. Find out who works for Diederick—vampires and human. I want to know everything that happens at these events.”
“What’s my cover?” Valerie asked.
“You will be attending as Dante’s girlfriend.”
My jaw clenched. The green eyed monster reared her head on that one. Sucking off random working girls was one thing, but pretending to be a couple with Valerie Ward made me see red, and I didn’t mean the vixen’s hair. If they kissed… so help me.
“Why can’t I bring my real girlfriend?” Dante asked, walking behind my chair. He leaned forward, arms stretching over my shoulders, his hands on my armrests.
I’d seen a lot of frowns from Melcher this morning, but the one on his face now took the prize. I swore I saw pure malice in his eyes.
“Dante, Aurora,” he said slowly. “Is there something I should be aware of?”
Valerie shot up in her seat, smiling deviously. “Yeah, is there something we should all be aware of?”
“Miss Ward,” Melcher said in a warning tone.
Valerie pressed her lips together.
Melcher zoomed his questioning glare over to me. Why was this so awkward? Why did Dante have to go open his big mouth? Number one, I wasn’t Dante’s girlfriend. Number two, Melcher didn’t need to know about our personal lives.
“As a matter of fact…” Dante began.
When I heard Dante’s voice I suddenly found my own. “No,” I said firmly. “Dante was just joking around.”
I whipped my head around and glared at Dante. If he said otherwise I was going to smack him upside the head first chance I got.
Our eyes met. Dante’s smile slowly neutralized. He retracted his arms and stepped aside. My expression must have conveyed my wishes loud and clear.
Melcher cleared his throat. “While I encourage teamwork in my department, I don’t advise fraternizing outside of assignments. You can’t let emotion cloud your judgment in the field. It could end up getting you or your partner killed.” Melcher looked pointedly at Dante. “I don’t need to remind you of what happened to Janine.”
Dante resumed his position against the wall and folded his arms over his chest.
“As I was saying, Dante will attend the tasting part of the event and provide me with a full report on everything that happens in the private rooms. Meanwhile, Miss Ward, undercover as your female companion, will gather intel on every guest that goes in and out of the party.”
That just left me. What part would Melcher make me play in Mission Tastings? I stared at him until he looked back. Out with it already.
“Agent Sky, I’ve saved the most important assignment for you.”
Why didn’t that reassure me?
Melcher’s fingers formed a steeple. He smiled, which was more unnerving than his frown.
“I want you to get close to Diederick.”
Of course Melcher wanted me to get close to Diederick. I’d taken down Marcus and now Melcher had me pigeon holed as the hunter who went after the king of the castle. Extra credit for doing so well the last time. Freakin’ great.
Valerie lifted her brows and smirked at me. Not a good sign. None of this was good. Valerie undercover as Dante’s girlfriend, me getting cozy with Mr. Head Honcho—vamp in charge. Was it possible to call in sick? That one wouldn’t work on Melcher. He knew illness, like pregnancy, was impossible. I ought to sue his organization for malpractice. Oh right, couldn’t do that either.
“What do you mean by ‘get close’ to him?” I asked Melcher. That sounded like a job for an informant not a hunter.
He looked up as though reaching for the right wording. From the corner of my eye, Valerie made a fist and moved it back and forth in front of her mouth. Melcher missed it, looking skywards and all. So did Dante, who looked as intent as I felt, waiting for Melcher’s answer.
“I mean keep an eye on him.” All that thinking to say “Keep an eye on him”? Come on, Melcher, you can do better than that.
“I’m not asking you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with, Aurora. I simply want you to befriend the man.”
Not asking me to do anything I wasn’t comfortable with? That was a laugh. Everything I did for Melcher made me uncomfortable. Even talking to Melcher made me uncomfortable.
“What if he wants to suck my blood?”
Seriously? He was putting the wrong person on this task. This job had Valerie’s name written all over it in red ink.
Melcher looked me in the eyes.
“Tell him you’re a vampire.”
“What?” Valerie cried. “How come Aurora and Dante get to be vampires? The only thing those two know about vampires is how to kill them. I’ve made a career out of getting to know our subjects… intimately. Who better to pull off a she-vamp?”
Melcher cocked a brow. “Are you saying you’re not up to your assignment, Miss Ward? Perhaps I should reassign the job to Miss Harper.”
No! I sat straight up, gripping the chair’s armrests. There’s no way Noel Harper was playing boyfriend/girlfriend with Dante. Not again. Never again.
Valerie scowled. “You think that little ninny could do better than me? Fine, I’ll go in as Dante’s girlfriend and work the room. Strawberry cake walk.”
“Excellent,” Melcher said. “Now that that’s settled I’d like to speak more with Aurora and Valerie. Dante, you’re free to go.”
“I’m Aurora’s ride.”
“I’m sure Miss Ward wouldn’t mind taking Aurora home, would you, Miss Ward?” Melcher asked.
Valerie shrugged. “Not a problem.”
Dante glanced from Melcher to me.
“It’s fine,” I said. “I’ll see you later.”
Dante frowned and lingered a moment longer before nodding stiffly and leaving Melcher’s office.
“I’ll call you,” he said as he left.
Once Dante had gone, Melcher looked me in the eye. “It’s easy to get close to the people we work with, but we have to keep our distance.”
Is that why he acted so detached all the time? Melcher spoke from personal experience. He’d lost his partner, Agent Crist. Why would he put up with Jared if the vampire killed his partner? Did he really believe employing a vampire was for the greater good? How many recruits had he lost? What were my odds? Rather than asking, I simply nodded.
“Now that I have the two of you alone, I want to give you something.”
Melcher pulled open a drawer behind his desk and lifted a metal cash box out, setting it on his desktop. Valerie stilled in her seat, eyes lighting up.
Now what?
Melcher unlocked the box with a key, making what felt like a slow show of pulling the lid back. With deliberate care, he counted out a stack of hundred dollar bills into two piles, five hundred dollars in each. He closed, locked, and set the cash box
back in his desk drawer before giving it a slight slam shut.
It was almost comical the way Valerie’s eyes latched onto the bills. Melcher pushed the stacks across his desk until they reached the edge.
“Here’s five hundred dollars for each of you to buy several dresses. This isn’t your typical house party. You’ll need to dress up to blend in.”
Valerie snatched the money, did a quick recount, picked her purse off the floor and dropped the bills inside.
“Unless you have something nice you can wear tonight, I suggest you two go shopping the moment we finish here. No more Goth wear, Miss Ward. I need you looking glamorous.”
Valerie tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Now we’re talking. Glamor is my middle name.”
Someone looked a lot peppier. Nothing like a stack of Ben Franklins to motivate a woman. I took the money reluctantly, folded the bills in half, and stuffed the wad inside my jean pocket. Personally, I didn’t like it.Get close to Diederick, take this cash, buy a dress… it all made me feel more like a hooker than an assassin.
“For now I want you to blend in and have Diederick get used to your presence,” Melcher said. “As the intel comes in, I will instruct you on how to proceed. This is a nasty business we’ve stumbled upon, and I intend to shut down Diederick’s operation before the year is out.”
“What about the guests?” I asked. Sure, we could pull the plug on Tastings, but that wouldn’t stop the vamps from seeking out alternative amusements.
Melcher placed his hands on his desk. “They will all have to die.”
My stomach did a summersault.
“How do you propose we do that? They’re going to notice if guests start dropping one by one.”
“Don’t worry about that for now. As I said, we need to gather information first. I want to know how many infected we’re dealing with. Any more questions?”
“Nope,” Valerie said, clutching her purse.
“Then you two are dismissed.”
Valerie hopped out of her seat and headed for the door.
Melcher tapped the desk as I got up. “Aurora, before you go, I have one more thing I want to say to you. I don’t want you drinking any blood at the party.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I said. Didn’t mean I wouldn’t think about it.
“Only if it’s a last resort,” Melcher said. “To maintain your cover.”
Yeah, got it boss. I’d tried desperately to overcome my cravings during boot camp. Now all this talk about blood made my throat dry. It was Melcher’s fault for injecting me with his virus cocktail and awakening all those dormant undead instincts floating around inside my DNA. Obviously, the antidote wasn’t a suppressor. If I slipped up and drank blood, I blamed Melcher.
7
Dressed for Suck-cess
After our meeting, Valerie bee-lined it to the Fifth Avenue Mall. She gunned it into town, leap frogging through traffic. At least she kept her eyes on the road and everyone else when she drove. Either she had the need for speed or was really excited to blow her wad of cash.
“We’ve got money to spend!” she squealed, cranking the wheel.
Once she’d circled her way up the mall’s parking garage and nabbed a spot, she slipped her arm around mine, pulling me toward the sky bridge. This was a side of Valerie I’d never seen before. I followed her in and out of shops. We tried on dresses and modeled for one another. Valerie picked out most of my dresses. Every time I thought I’d found one I liked, she made me put it back, saying we needed to explore all our options first.
“Seriously, Val? I loved the last one. I don’t see why I couldn’t just buy it. Melcher said we’d need several.”
Valerie was in such high spirits she either didn’t notice, or didn’t care, that I’d called her Val. Last time I did that, she’d practically bitten my head off.
Valerie wrinkled her nose. “The blue dress? You do not want to go to this thing in a blue dress. Go with red. It will compliment your hair. Red and black are classic, which is why I have my eye out for a little black dress.”
I looked at the clock on my phone. “You do realize we have to find something before tonight?”
“Plenty of time. Now let’s go check out Nordstrom.”
It was in the Nordstrom dress department that Valerie finally gave her nod of approval on a long skirted, backless red dress. We stood outside the dressing room staring into the double mirrors, me in red, Valerie in black. She’d found a simple low cut black dress that didn’t look so simple off the hanger, hugging her hourglass curves and bosom. I couldn’t help wishing I was a little shapelier and less stick figure when I stood next to Valerie.
As though reading my thoughts, she lifted her chin and said, “Turn around.”
I turned, back to the mirror.
“You should definitely go with the backless dress. Show off your slim shoulders and flawless skin.”
Her compliment gave me the shivers—the good kind that made me lightheaded and tingly.
“Watch out vamps, the ginger queen is coming in,” Valerie said to the mirror. She winked at her reflection.
I faced forward and gave a slight shake of my head. Before I could return to the dressing room, Valerie called out, “Hold it. You still haven’t mentioned anything about a certain vampire hunter.”
“What?”
Valerie placed a hand on her hip. “Don’t play dumb with me. Obviously you hooked up with Dante, so how was he?”
Was this the equivalent of locker room talk?
“First of all, it’s none of your business. Secondly, it’s not like that. We’re friends.”
Valerie rolled her eyes. “I assume by your tone that means you haven’t screwed him yet.”
I glared.
Valerie smirked. “Scowl all you want, Aurora. You’re not in kindergarten anymore. You’re in college. So fuck him already.”
“God, you’re vulgar,” I said, before turning and storming into the dressing room.
I snapped the lock in place behind me. As I shimmied out of the dress, Valerie spoke through the wall of the room beside me.
“Let’s face it. You need all the help you can get. Think of me as the little red devil on your left shoulder whispering all the encouragement little Miss Boring Aurora Angel is too repressed to act on.”
I took a long look at myself in my undergarments in the mirror.
“I don’t need encouragement,” I said to the wall. “I need to do things at my own pace.”
“Snail’s pace,” Valerie said. “It’s time to make a decision. Do you want to crawl through life or do you want to soar? Take the leap. Trust me, Aurora, you’ll never look back.”
Life rules by Valerie Ward. No, thanks.
I’d just gotten home. I wasn’t like some sex starved inmate ready to jump the first available person after being released from prison. That was probably what Valerie did after boot camp.
I thought my feelings for Fane had died a thousand deaths until he showed up at my door and breathed life back into them. I definitely couldn’t discuss that with Valerie.
I wanted to believe Dante was the better choice, but in truth, neither of them were good for me. If I really wanted to reinvent myself, I should have a life outside of vampires and assassins. I should find a nice college boy.
Right, said a sarcastic voice inside my head.Because that worked out so well with Scott Stevens and Michael Peterson. Normal is not your thing. So who’s it going to be? The hunter or the hunted?
Or neither,I answered back.I’ve got a busy semester ahead of me. Boys are an unnecessary distraction.
Rather than respond, the voice simply laughed.
Once Valerie and I were dressed, we waited in line by the cash register with our new gowns. She leaned against me.
“Don’t let Melcher know you and Dante are going out. He’ll split you apart like kindling.” She made a chopping motion with her arm. “He doesn’t want us having relationships of any kind unless he orders it.”
My gri
p tightened on the dress hanger. “Melcher has no business sticking his nose into my private life.”
Valerie chuckled. “Yeah, good luck with that. The man thinks he has full ownership over us. Just play along and keep quiet. What Melcher doesn’t know won’t kill him. Too bad Andre Morrel isn’t around any longer. If he really did kill Crist, maybe he could have taken care of Melcher next.”
I glanced around the department store, but we were the only ones around and the cashier had the phone cradled between her ear and as she wrote on a piece of scratch paper.
“Except that it was Jared who killed Crist,” I reminded Valerie.
“Andre had her cross.”
“No, Jared had her cross.”
“Whatever,” Valerie said, rolling her eyes. “The point is neither of us wants to be under Melcher’s thumb. The bastard hired Jared to attack and recruit candidates like us. No way Melcher’s not in on that. Probably gave the orders himself. I always knew that guy was fucked in the head. If I find out he sent Jared after me, he’s dead. Jared first. Then Melcher. Once those two bite the dust, I’m out of here for good.”
Valerie stepped in front of me and set the black dress on the cashier’s counter, tapping her foot until the woman hung up the phone.
I’d spent many sleepless nights at boot camp pondering the same thoughts. Just how involved was Melcher in the unit’s unsavory recruitment methods? Like Valerie, I had a hard time believing Jared operated independent of Melcher’s instructions.
It only led to more questions.
Why would Melcher do something so malicious? I thought his entire purpose was eradicating evil. He certainly preached his intentions to rid the world of vampires with conviction. Were his beliefs fanatical enough to justify attacking and enslaving his own personal army?
Who was really in charge, and why in God’s name had they given Melcher command of his own unit?
What made Melcher so neurotic? Why did he hate vampires so much? Had one killed his family? Something had to have happened. How could I find out?
Bad Blood (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter, Vol. 3) Page 8