I waited till the eleventh hour to call Fane.
Chicken shit.
I dialed his number, heart in my throat. I'd rather do this in person, but I remembered how well that went last time.
"Aurora."
He sounded so happy to hear from me. It made what I had to say that much worse.
"I'm headed out of town again."
"Fairbanks?"
"Unfortunately."
"When?"
"In a little bit."
"When are you getting back?"
"Don't know."
Fane released a deep breath. "I've missed you."
"Me, too."
I knew what Valerie wanted - for this to be a messy breakup so Fane would run right back into her arms for comfort. If only Valerie was a vampire. I'd ram a stake right through her evil heart.
"Fane..."
"I know what I am, but I didn't choose to be this way. In the end, I'm just a boy - a boy who doesn't get any older or die but still human - and I want to be with you as long as possible."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
This was my cue to reveal Valerie's evil plot. Did I take it? No. Because there was no way to tell him without confessing my own dark secret. If I told him we'd be history anyway. I was the real killer.
"I'm seeing someone else."
"What? Who?"
I couldn't speak for a moment, shocked I'd said the words. It wasn't part of the plan.
"Who is he?" Fane asked.
"I'm so sorry, Fane," I said very softly. "You mean a great deal to me."
"Who is he?"
"Dante."
Yep, that was spontaneous as well.
"Dante," Fane spit out. "You mean the big brother type?"
I winced. "I guess I started seeing him as more than that. I don't want to hurt you, but Dante and I have a lot in common, and he won't look like he's twenty when I'm eighty. How long do you think we'd last, anyway?"
"So that's it then? And this Dante character's going to stick around until you're eighty?"
"Probably not, but at least it's a possibility."
"I can't believe this. We need to talk...in person."
My body shuddered with a sensation that was more pleasure than fear.
"Let me pick you up."
"I can't. I'm about to leave."
The soft lilt of Fane's voice hardened. "With Dante?"
"With Dante," I repeated. "I'm sorry."
"I've got to go."
"Fane..."
It was good he hung up because I don't know what I would have said had he stayed on the line. That, and I felt the waterworks coming on. Breaking things off probably wouldn't sound so convincing if I started blubbering over the phone.
I threw myself face down onto my bed and wailed into the pillow.
"Aurora!" my mom called from downstairs. "Aurora, why don't you come down and have some lunch before you leave?"
I willed her to leave me alone, but eventually my mom made her way to my room. "Aurora? What's the matter?"
I sniffed several times to clear my nose. "It's not like you'd care."
"What happened?"
I turned my head away from her. "I broke up with Fane."
"Oh, honey." Mom patted my back as she held me in a half-hug. "I'm sorry to see you upset."
That's all she cared about. Seeing me upset. Listening to her try to sympathize with me was torture, especially the part where she said she thought it was for the best.
"Dante's going to be here soon. Let's get you cleaned up."
Mom led me to the bathroom. My face did feel like a splotchy horror. I'd rather not have Dante on my case the whole eight hours up to Fairbanks, or five, depending how fast he drove. I splashed my face with cool water in the sink and patted it dry with the hand towel Mom handed me.
I didn't need a mirror to see I still looked like a mess. I could see it in the way Mom looked at me.
"I have some concealer," she said.
"No, no make-up." I combed my hair forward with my fingers. At least part of my face was covered.
I hung out in the kitchen for the remaining hour, just waiting for the doorbell to ring. When it did, I flinched.
"Ah, here's Dante," Mom said cheerfully.
She rushed past me to let him in. He stayed on the porch and nodded to her in hello.
She smiled. "Dante, it's so good to see you again."
"And you, Mrs. Sky. Always a pleasure."
Mom giggled and blushed.
I brushed past her. "Let's get out of here."
"Do you have your phone?" Mom asked.
"Yes."
"Be safe."
"What's with the boo-hoo face?" Dante asked the moment we were shut inside his Rubicon.
I twisted in my seat to give Tommy Moe pets.
I grumbled. "I can't believe I have to nurse a broken heart with you for company."
"Broken heart? Did some guy mistreat you, Sky? I'll kick his ass to kingdom come."
"It was my doing. I broke up with him."
"Then he must have deserved it."
"Not really."
"So what's the deal?"
"Nothing good could have come from being with him. Whether it was now or later, it had to be done."
"You're one tough cookie, Sky. That's one of the things I admire about you. You're able to make tough choices - no matter what the price."
"That seems like all we do - make sacrifices."
"Naw."
As we were cruising down Fifth Avenue, Dante suddenly threw on his blinker and pulled into a Wendy's. He zoomed into the drive-through.
"What are you doing?"
"It's a long drive and I'm hungry. You want anything?"
"God, no," I said, scrunching my nose. "And if I did it wouldn't be this junk."
"Suit yourself." Dante rolled down his window when he pulled up to the order speaker. "I'll take a double bacon cheeseburger, large fries, and a chocolate Frosty." Dante looked over the menu and turned to me. "Want some apple slices? They've got apple slices."
I shook my head.
"No milkshake? What happened to binge eating when you're feeling down?"
I rolled my eyes. "I don't need to puke on top of everything else."
Dante pulled up to the pickup window to collect his bag of fast food. He unwrapped the cheeseburger before getting back onto Fifth and tossed the bacon slices back to Tommy. Only Dante could manage to steer, shift gears, and stuff a burger in his face. When the burger was finished, Dante jammed fingers full of fries into his mouth and chewed loudly.
He noticed me watching and held the fries toward me. "Want some?"
I wrinkled my nose. "No, I'm good."
Soon, we were on the Glenn Highway. This time, I could actually see the landscape waltzing by. We careened past the miles of fenced forest along the base, skirted mountains and woods, and crossed over rivers.
"I won't be able to go back," I said.
"Where?"
"To Denali."
"This guy really got to you, didn't he?"
"Yeah."
I looked out the window.
"I could enroll at West with Noel." I paused. "You probably think I'm a real coward."
"Not at all. From Dante's Guide to Life: If you no longer like the scenery, change it. Keep moving is what I say." Dante tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. "So you're friends with Noel, but not Valerie?"
"She's more like my arch nemesis."
"Too bad, she's really cute."
I ground my teeth together. "Let's be clear, if you ever hooked up with Valerie I'd never speak to you again."
"Whoa," Dante said and laughed. "What did this chick do to you?"
"She's about to steal my boyfriend...or ex-boyfriend anyway." I guess there was no harm in telling Dante part of the truth. I'd just leave out the bit about Fane being a vampire.
"She's a badass," Dante said in admiration.
"I stole him first."
"Then you're the badass." Dante sounded even more impressed. "Nothing like a bit of juicy assassin/informant rivalry to entertain the mind on the long drive ahead."
I leaned back in my chair and folded my arms. "I'm done talking about Valerie."
"Come on. How did you steal her man out from under her?"
I shrugged. "He came to me."
Dante chuckled. "I don't doubt it."
I changed the subject. "It's all fine and good to say I'll just transfer, but I'm going to spend my last semester of senior year utterly friendless."
"Two words for you, Sky: track team."
"Track team?"
"Join the track team, win at the meets, and you're golden. Take it from your officially appointed mentor. I know what I'm talking about."
"You're forgetting one thing. I suck at sports."
"Ah, maybe the Aurora of yore sucked at sports, but new superhuman Sky is a champion. Vampire blood, remember? It's in us, it enhances us - can't let that extra boost go to waste, can we?"
"Doesn't track start in the spring?"
"So even better - start with cross country. I remember being on the cross country team," Dante said wistfully. "Meets, competitions, parties, girls...well, boys for you. You'll have it made."
I stared out the window. "Maybe I'll look into it."
I cleared my throat. "So you located these two guys from the party?"
Dante produced a grunt of disgust. "Apparently one of them overdosed right after we left. I did get an address on the second guy, Thomas Parks - lives at home."
"So we're just going to barge in on his family."
He smiled. "Single mom. Works all the time. I checked."
Dante made several pit stops, including his favorite pullout where, even in the daylight, we couldn't see Denali through the clouds.
"One of these times, Sky," he said.
Once we reached Fairbanks, Dante drove straight for a rundown ranch house and parked in front on the street. He kept the engine running. It was either that or risk it dying in the subzero conditions without a plug in.
"Stay in the car," Dante said. "I'll be back in a sec."
Fine by me. If I could take out two vicious vampires on my own, Dante could handle a half-dazed suck junkie.
Outside my window, Dante walked smoothly across the snow-covered yard on a path blazed by footsteps. The rest of the driveway hadn't been shoveled. There was a concrete rectangle where a car had been parked. Dante walked onto the porch and bent over the door handle. I started to shiver even though the heat was blasting through the vents.
Dante opened the door and pushed into the house. Just as quickly, he shut it behind him.
Tommy's tongue slid back and forth between his teeth. I turned the radio on and off. I started humming.
When Dante came out the front door dragging a black-hooded body with him, I grasped the handle of the Jeep and jumped out.
"Hurry up! Open the back."
I nearly slipped on the ice, rushing to the rear of the Jeep. I don't know how Dante expected to stuff a body in his shoebox sized trunk, but he did.
Surprisingly, Thomas didn't struggle.
"Sedative for the ride," Dante said as if reading my mind.
We hopped into the front seats, and I couldn't stop shaking.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Moving him to another location to interrogate him."
"The cabin?"
"Yep."
I looked over my shoulder. Tommy breathed heavily then stopped when I stared at him.
"Is there a reason Tommy doesn't find any of this alarming?" I asked.
Dante's face softened. "Tommy's just a big teddy bear."
I guess that made Dante the grizzly.