Night of the Living Dante (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter, Vol. 4.5) Read online

  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 © 2015 Nikki Jefford

  All rights reserved

  www.NikkiJefford.com

  Cover by Najla Qamber Designs

  About:

  Dante has just been assigned Aurora Sky’s mentor. Before they meet, he goes on a mission up north in the Alaska interior with his old partner and informant, Janine. Full of thrills, chills, and … Dante!

  Night Of The Living Dante

  An Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter Story

  By Nikki Jefford

  They waited until dark to leave Fairbanks.

  As Dante drove south on the interstate, the last traces of city lights vanished in the rearview mirror. There were no streetlights along this part of the Parks Highway—only the eerie glow of trees darting past the headlights like creatures in the night.

  Dante’s partner, Janine, had the location on a small gang of vampires holed up in the Alaska Interior. Fortunately for the agency, one of the suckers had a drug addiction. That addiction brought him into Fairbanks from time to time, and no vampire flew under Janine’s radar in Fairbanks.

  She stretched her long, lean legs in the seat beside him. Tonight, she wore black lace up boots over sleek vinyl pants. With legs like those on full display, Dante had trouble keeping an eye on the dark road. It was further distracting when Janine began massaging her neck while staring out the window.

  This wasn’t the first time Dante had seen her in a corset, but tonight her midnight blue bodice was attached to black fishnet sleeves that stretched from her shoulders to her thumbs.

  Before Dante’s snowboarding accident and recruitment with the agency, he wouldn’t have gone for a Goth chick. Side by side, he and Janine looked like a complete mismatch with Dante in his clean-cut blue jeans and fitted tee.

  But they were both committed to fighting evil and Dante didn’t care how she came packaged.

  Then again, maybe Janine wasn’t really Goth. She was undercover. Dante wondered what she looked like beneath all the makeup and black hair dye. He’d only ever seen her with layers of paint.

  Dante punched the gas pedal. Chances of a moose wandering onto the road were low, since Alaska was experiencing uncommonly little snowfall for January. That meant the big animals kept to the woods where they could walk and munch. These light dustings made for easy meandering.

  Meanwhile, the East Coast kept getting hammered in snow. Mother Nature. Fickle creature. Just look at what she could do to a person with AB negative blood. Make them undead or, in his case, a hunter capable of poisoning the undead with his blood.

  Once they neared the town of Healy, Dante slowed the Jeep.

  “Where’s the turn?” he asked.

  Janine lowered her arms and peered out the window.

  “About a mile up.”

  A mile further, Dante slowed the Jeep and scanned the dirt roads leading into the woods.

  “This one?”

  Janine squinted out the window. “Drive further.”

  Dante slowed at the next road. “This?”

  “Nope.”

  At the next, “this?”

  “Nope.” Janine sat up. “Wait. This one. Here.”

  Dante didn’t bother with a blinker. They were the only ones on the road. How many people got a whole highway to themselves at any point in their lives? Only in Alaska.

  Two minutes in, Janine inclined her head. “Take the dirt road on the left.”

  Dante grinned. “Your ability to retrace a vamp trail in the dark is uncanny.”

  Janine’s thickly coated lashes fluttered. “My dad always said I was born with an internal compass.”

  “Nice."

  Janine shrugged. “You could do the same if you paid more attention to your surroundings.”

  What was it with women never being able to take a compliment? Janine waved his flattery off like a swarm of pesky mosquitoes.

  Dante cranked the wheel with both hands. The Jeep’s headlights cut across a wooded road.

  Howling winds the day before had scattered branches across the narrow pathway and blown the snow clean off the trees. This time of year, the trees were nothing but bare limbs—mere skeletons without their leaves.

  The dark landscape looked sinister at night, but that was nothing compared to what awaited them at the end of the road.

  They bounced in their seats as they started in over the dirt path.

  “How long is this road?” Dante asked.

  “I don’t know. I didn’t follow him all the way.”

  Dante’s heart pounded in anticipation. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. His fingers itched to grasp the hilt of his hunting knife.

  Instead, he reached forward and turned on the radio.

  Static.

  He surfed through channels.

  Static. Static. Static.

  He switched it off and glanced sideways at Janine, who picked at her cuticles. The longer he stared, the more she kept at her nails.

  A smile spread across Dante’s lips. He began humming and snapping his fingers. He kept it up for a good seven seconds before starting into the lyrics of “Thriller.”

  Janine lowered her hands and looked over. “Lord help me."

  Dante stopped singing. He leaned against the steering wheel and stared at his partner. “What? It’s Michael J.”

  “No, it’s not. It’s you and, no offense, you’re no Michael Jackson.”

  “You sure about that? I’ll stop the car right now and bust a move in the middle of the road. Moonwalk, you know what I’m saying?”

  Janine rolled her eyes. “Please, don’t.”

  Dante jut his chin front and back, humming a few more bars. Janine went back to picking her cuticles. Dante stopped. “All right, let’s talk cinema, instead. What’s the scariest movie you’ve ever seen?”

  Janine shook her head. “Why would I watch scary movies? We’re already living in a horror show.”

  “You mean starring?” Dante winked. “I love scary movies. They’re so fake, they’re funny.”

  “Not for me,” Janine said.

  “Come on, no Frankenstein?” Dante gave Janine’s shoulder a gentle shove. Her fishnet sleeve rubbed against his palm. He let his fingers linger a moment longer before returning them to the steering wheel. “Poltergeist?”

  “No.”

  “Night of the Living Dead?”

  “Ugg, no. Zombies freak me out.”

  Dante chuckled. “Zombies, but not vampires. Good thing you’re not working for a zombie hunting agency. Think maybe they really exist?”

  Janine’s grimace turned into a wide grin. “Don’t even joke.”

  Dante’s eyebrows jumped. “I wouldn’t have thought so, but, then again, until recently, I didn’t think vampires existed, either.”

  “Just stop now.” Maybe Janine would be more convincing if she didn’t smile.

  She clearly liked it when he joked.

  “You sure this road leads anywhere?” Dante asked.

  “Guess we’ll find out,” Janine answered.

  “Anyway, it’s nice to get out of the city.”

  The Jeep rattled as it followed a dip in the road.

  Janine snorted. “Anchorage not doing it for you?”

  Dante tapped the steering wheel. “The university is great, but you and I both know Anchorage isn’t the real Alaska.”

  Janine flashed him a smile. “Plus all the action is up north.”

  In more ways than one. Dante shot
Janine an appreciative look. Four months ago, they’d hooked up after completing a particularly bloody mission in North Pole. He’d never forget how Janine wiped the gore off her palms onto her jeans as though it was nothing but sweat. Damn sexy, a woman not afraid to get messy.

  Since then they’d fallen into a routine of kill, screw. Kill. Screw. Killing suckers was a reward in itself. A roll in the hay afterwards was the scoop of vanilla on the cherry pie.

  Pie. Yum. Even better. Any night where Dante could do all three—kill vamps, get laid, and eat pie—was an epic win.

  From what he’d seen passing through town, there weren’t any cafes serving pie. He’d probably be lucky to get a twenty-year-old Twinkie from a mini-mart in these parts.

  Speaking of Twinkies, his tackle was thinking about activities other than eating. Several times during the drive it had pulsed against his fly like a damn heartbeat. Hang tight, little buddy.

  There hadn’t been any assignments up north in five weeks.

  Five very long weeks.

  He and Janine weren’t exclusive or anything. She’d been clear on that from the start. But after a while, he lost interest in regular human girls. Or maybe Dante needed more than dinner dates and movies to get in the mood. Nothing like blood, death, and sex. Nothing in the world.

  Janine wasn’t a vampire hunter like him, but she was part of his secret life. She was a damn good informant with almost a sixth sense for stumbling onto vampire activity.

  It was more than that. Janine was a pro. She knew how to blend in with drug addicts, devil worshippers, and Goths who hung around vampires like anemic groupies.

  Besides, with Janine Dante didn’t have to feign the whole safe sex, protect against STDs, and wear a condom bull crap. He could neither transmit nor contract an STD. Nor could he impregnate a woman. This might have upset him if he didn’t love his job so much. Children had no place in his life. Humanity needed him and fatherhood was a sacrifice he was happy to make.

  “Keep sniffing out vampires and we can spend more time together,” Dante said.

  “Yeah, well, I’ve sniffed out a particularly foul rodent.”

  “Yeah?” Dante asked, sitting up in his seat.

  “Name’s Renard. Nasty piece of work.”

  “So, let’s wrap things up here, head back to Fairbanks, and kill him,” Dante said. “That’s what I call a doubleheader.”

  Janine shook her head slightly. “Trouble is he doesn’t stick around town for more than a weekend here and there.” She gave a soft sigh. “What’s the vamp activity like in Anchorage?”

  Dante shrugged. “Don’t know. Melcher said he’d rather send me up here for now. He keeps promising some local work. But I do have an exciting piece of news. I’m going to be a mentor.” Dante puffed out his chest.

  When Janine didn’t say anything, he looked over. “New recruit needs my guidance.”

  Janine smirked. “Poor guy.”

  “Young woman, actually. Senior in high school.”

  Janine stiffened. After a long pause she said a begrudging, “Lucky you. You get a sweet little high school girl to follow her hot trainer around like a puppy.”

  Hot.

  Dante grinned wide.

  “Nah, I’ve already got Tommy.” He glanced at Janine from the corner of his eyes. Her shoulders relaxed the slightest bit.

  Suddenly, the Jeep’s headlights reflected off something and beamed back into Dante’s eyes. He slowed the vehicle and squinted. A small truck appeared in the headlights. Beyond the truck, a small cabin loomed along the faint edges of light.

  Dante stopped the Jeep, left it in first gear, and turned off the headlights and ignition. Darkness engulfed the vehicle and with it, Dante and Janine inside. He could barely make out the cabin twenty feet in front of them.

  "This would make a great set for a scary movie,” Dante said.

  Janine looked over. Dante couldn’t read her expression, but he did hear a soft grumble.

  “Come on,” Dante said. “You can be my leading lady.”

  “So long as I’m not the damsel in distress.”

  “Never. You know I don’t go for that type.” Dante reached over and squeezed Janine’s knee.

  She became quiet and still. Dante’s hand traveled slowly up her thigh. He slid his fingers into the warm space between her legs. Janine tensed. Any second, she’d bat his hand away. She was one dedicated informant—always thinking of the mission first. It was yet another turn on in Dante’s book. Once a vampire bit her, she’d get in the mood.

  A faint light appeared inside the cabin’s small square window.

  There’d be time to mess around later. He pulled his hand away. “Don’t look now. The natives are restless.”

  Janine’s hand shot forward. The glove box sprung open, and a light popped on inside. She pulled out a pistol and clip. She rammed the clip into the chamber with the palm of her hand and holstered it against her hip.

  Damn, she was hot right before a kill.

  “Who am I going in as?” she asked.

  “How about Janet?” Dante grinned. “As in Janet Jackson.”

  Janine sighed. “Let’s just do this.”

  “I’m ready to do it.”

  Finally, Janine laughed… and smacked him against the chest.

  As they stepped out of the car, two vampires emerged from the cabin holding flashlights. From where Dante stood, they looked like featureless silhouettes behind the beams of light.

  “Who are you?” one of the silhouettes demanded.

  Dante shielded his eyes from the penetrating light with his hand. “Peter and Janet,” he called out. “Did we come to the right place?”

  “Who are you looking for?”

  “Not who, but what,” Dante said with a grin. “Blow.”

  “What makes you think we have cocaine?”

  “Friend in Fairbanks said there were some dudes down this road who could hook us up.”

  “Dudes?” the other shadow figure asked.

  “Yeah, so are we at the right place or not?” Dante asked.

  “Why don’t you come inside where we can see you better?”

  Dante looked from Janine back to the silhouettes and shrugged. “Sure.”

  The light beams swung around and pointed at the cabin. Dante lowered his hand away from his face and followed the vamps to the door. Once they stepped inside, he could make out their faces and features. They looked to be in their mid-twenties. One guy had an inch long scar on his cheek. He held a riffle against his leg.

  “Leave the piece outside,” he said to Janine staring at her waist. His eyes narrowed when he looked at Dante. “You got any weapons on you?”

  Dante held up his hands. “I’m the money man and this here is my bodyguard.”

  “Pat him down,” Scar Face said to his companion.

  Dante widened his stance and raised his eyebrows. A vampire in red flannel went straight for Dante’s pant legs. He crouched beside Dante’s right leg, squeezed, and abruptly looked up.

  “What’s that?”

  “What’s what?” Dante returned.

  The flannel wearing vamp lifted Dante’s pant leg, exposing a hunting knife holstered around his ankle.

  “Can’t be too careful,” Dante said.

  “No weapons inside,” Scar Face said. “You can pick them up on your way out.”

  “No problem,” Dante said. He reached for his knife. The vamp who’d patted him down jumped back as though anticipating an attack. Scar Face lifted the riffle. Dante set the knife on the ground and straightened out. “You sure are jumpy.”

  Scar Face lowered the riffle. “Like you said, can’t be too careful. Come inside.”

  Dante followed the vamps into the cabin. Janine stepped in behind him and closed the door. Inside, the room was cold and dim, as was so often the case at vamp dwellings. Other than a single room in the back corner, the place was open.

  There was a small stove, black as soot, against the far wall—not that the vamps appeared t
o be using it.

  Two more vampires looked up from a table when they entered. One had a dark beard. The other was clean shaven. A kerosene lamp cast a filmy light over their faces. These two appeared to be in their thirties, or rather, were in their thirties when they became vampires.

  They stared back, but didn’t say anything.

  Scar Face walked over to the table. “These two were told they could buy powder from us. Know anything about that, Nelson?”

  All three vamps stared at the clean shaven guy.

  His lips puckered in thought. “I don’t know anything about that.”

  “You sure, Nelson?” the vamp in flannel prodded.

  “Yep. I do have coke, though.”

  “Excellent,” Dante said, rubbing his hands together.

  The guy stared over the table at Dante. “I’m not selling, but I might be persuaded to share a couple hits if you give us something in return.”

  Dante folded his arms across his broad chest. “And what’s that?”

  The vamp looked at Dante’s neck. “Blood.”

  Dante whistled. He glanced at Janine.

  She nodded and took a step forward. “No big deal. You want blood and we want blow. It’s a simple exchange.”

  The clean shaven vamp stood up from his place at the table. “Obviously, you’ll have to go first.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Janine said. She headed straight for the clean shaven vamp’s chair. “So, Nelson, you’re the one with the coke?”

  Before he could answer, she pulled back his chair, circled around, and swung a leg over his lap.

  All four vamps went still. All five males held a collective breath.

  Janine pushed her bodice against Nelson’s chest. “Go on, have a taste.”

  Dante’s groin throbbed. Blood rushed to his brain and pounded inside his ears.

  Nelson leaned toward Janine. His eyes zeroed in on her neck right before his teeth followed. He held her head in his hands as he bit into her skin.

  Janine gave a soft whimper.

  Nelson’s cheeks hollowed as he sucked. Janine’s lashes fluttered and closed.

  Dante’s fingers curled into his palms, anticipating his turn. The bite. The blood. The kill. The rush.