Whiteout (Aurora Sky (38 page)

With careful steps, we en
tered the hallway. It was empty, but blood splatters st
ained the floor.

We made our way down silently,
following the blood trail to a bedroom
on the left. I made my way there as quickly and quietly as I could, gun raised.

When I reached the doorframe, I saw a man with his back to me. He wore a bulky black coat and
skullcap
over his head.
His body leaned to the left. Blood pooled by his right foot.

He was staring at something on the floor. My eyes followed the direction
,
dow
n to Dante.
He lay on his back, arm across his abdomen, eyes closed.

My heart jammed in my throat and I nearly gagged.

Dante was dead.

No. He couldn't be.

Guilt knifed me in the gut. No. No. No. Please don't let Dante die believing I'd abandoned him.

It wa
s a relief when the vampire standing over him spoke. “You're going to wish you were dead after we get done with you.”

My relief quickly turned to fury. Hot boiled rage
rose up my body, into my jaw, nostrils, and eyes. They burned with indignation.

“Hey!” I
snapped.

The vampire jerked and turned around
, nearly losing his footing
. Before he had a chance to point his gun, I aimed
mine and pulled the trigger
. He froze when the bullet hit him. Then his eyes narr
owed and he staggere
d toward me with clumsy
footste
ps that creaked over the floorboards.

Good, I wanted him to come my way. I didn't want his body to fall on top of Dante when I blasted him for good.

The vampire didn't take aim. From the way his fist clenched, I got the sense he wanted to use physical forc
e on me.

I pointed my gun between his eyes. My hand gave a slight jerk as I fired another bullet at him.

He
fell face
-
first and
hit the floor with a heavy
thunk
.
After that, the vampire lay still.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Fane look around the room
before backing out into the hall.

Good thinking; he could keep watch while I checked on Dante. I felt a tight pain inside my chest. Or maybe Fane needed a moment to gather his thoughts. He'd never seen me in action. Maybe he didn't like what he'd seen. May
be he was having second thoughts about
his earlier proclamation of love and
spending
the rest of
our
extended
lives together. My stomach clenched. That wasn't something I could think about right now.

I raced over to Dante and dropped to my knees. His eyes
were half
shut, and blood soaked through the front of his shirt. Oh God, he was bleeding.

“You're hit,” I cried out in anguish.

His lips twitched, and a faint smile flickered over his lips. “You came back.”

“A hunter doesn't leave her partner behind.”

I re
ached for his hand and squeezed. He gripped mine as though grabbing a lifeline. Another body caught my eye across the room.
The vampire I'd seen Ashley with at the club
was lying face up by a chair near the wall.
Looked like
A
gent Scott
really would need a
new assignment.

A quick burst of relief filled me. Four down, one more to go. I needed to take care of the last one quickly. Dante
looked as though he
required immediate medical attention. I didn't ev
en want to think about the snow
machine ride back to the
roadside. At least I'd have Fane's help getting him inside the sled.

Dante's grip on my hand loosened as though he'd used the last of his strength to squeeze my fingers.

“Sky,” he rasped, his voice cracking. “It was Giselle. She called them in.” Dante cou
ghed, sending him into a fit that ended in heavy, str
angled
breaths.

I leaned in closer. “I know. Take it easy. We're getting out of here, but first I need to
stop the bleeding.” As I reached for the hem of his shirt, Dante's hand shot out and grabbed my w
rist with renewed strength.

“
I can put pressure on it. We can bandage it once you secure the building.”

I pulled my hand away. “
Where is the fifth vampire?”

Dante shook his head slowly. “I don't know. I heard shots come from the lobby. After a while they s
topped. Maybe Giselle got him.”

“Or he got her,” I said. There was only one way to find out.

I slipped my hand out of Dante's and touched his cheek. “Just hang tight. I'll be right back.”

I leaned back and straightened my legs, rising
inch by inch
.

“Sky.”
My eyes met Dante's. “Be careful,” he said.

Gun in hand
, I walked past the body I'd put down. Some John Doe vampire. His undead days were over.

At the doorway, I held my breath and stepped out.

Fane stood alert, keeping his eyes down the hall. Maybe he rea
lly had left the room to keep watch. He eased by my side, keeping an ever
-
watchful eye.

“Everything's quiet out here,” Fane said softly. “How is he?”

“Not good,” I whispered. “He's been shot. He needs a doctor.”

“He needs blood,” Fane said. “I have about h
alf a liter of blood on me. It will hold him until we get him back to Anchorage.”

Fane unbuttoned his coat, holding the wool flap open. From an interior pocket,
opposite the one that had held his gun,
he pulled out a sporty
-
looking red hydration bag with
a drinking spout. He was nothing if not pragmatic. The pliant bag would be much lighter than a flask like the one Zack had carried inside his coat to bring booze into Chillers.

“You've been holding out on me,” I said, half
joking.

Fane smirked. “We were a
little preoccupied or I would have offered.”

The sigh from my lips was barely audible. “He won't drink it. He's too stubborn.”

Fane's eyes narrowed. “If he wants to live
,
he will.”

My heart
backflipped
at the thought of Dante not making it through this when we were so close to safety and
the
change
we'd hoped for
within the agency. In the end, it was Fane who had come through for us.

“We have to make him drink it,” I whispered urgently.

“Don't worry,”
Fane said, rocking back on the heels of his combat boots. “When he sees me, he's not going to just roll over, die, and let me run off with you.”

Fane had a point. Nothing like a bit of incentive. I hurried
back inside the room
. Alar
m went through me when I
saw Dante's
eyes closed. They should have flown open at the sound of footsteps. I crouched beside him.

“Dante,” I whispered, gripping his arm. “I don't have much time to explain, but everything's going to be okay. Fane managed to infiltrate the agency. He
's here now. We're going to get you out of here, but you need to drink some blood before it's safe to move you.”

Dante's eyes
inched
opened. He didn't look at me hovering at his side. He looked at Fane
,
who had stationed himself at Dante's feet.

“This day
keeps getting better and better,” Dante muttered.

Fane leaned forward and handed me the blood sack. My stomach gurgled. I gave it a quick reprimand to keep quiet. There was more where that had come from. Fane probably had a stash at the suite back in Ancho
rage. Blood and a bath. We couldn't get out of here soon enough.

As I uncapped the spout, Dante
groaned as he
struggled to sit up. He had yet to take a sip and already the proximity to blood seemed to be reviving him.

“I'm not drinking that.”

Nope. My stom
ach dropped.

Fane got to his knees beside me. “You will drink this blood,” he said in a low
,
no-nonsense voice. “Unless, of course, you prefer to lay back and die without a fight.”

Dante's jaw clenched. He glared daggers at Fane.

“I'm still breathing, aren
't I?” he said peevishly.

“
For the moment,” Fane returned. “But you're not looking so good. The blood will help.
Did you ever see the movie
Alive
?”

Dante gave a begrudging nod of acknowledgement.

“Was that the one with Sylvester Stallone?” I asked, not cer
tain where Fane was going with this.

“No. Ethan Hawke,” he said. “It's based on a true story about a Uruguayan rugby team on a plane that crashes in the Andes. The passengers had to eat the flesh of their dead companions in order to survive.”

My lip curled
.

“They made it out alive,” Fane said, a slight glimmer in his eyes when he saw my distaste. Fane turned back to Dante. “Would you have done the same thing if it meant the difference between living or dying?”

Dante's eyes narrowed.
“I would do whatever it
takes to survive,”
he
said between clenched teeth.

Fane took the bag of blood from me and held it in front of Dante. “Prove it,” he said.

Dante didn't reach out or look at the blood. His nostrils fl
ared as he glared at Fane. Fane's teeth flashed when he sm
iled. A
silent dare.

Dante sat up suddenly with a cocky
grin
of his own.
“See? I don't need to ingest blood to—”
His words and smile
disappeared as he groaned in agony. Dante's eyelids drooped. He clutched his stomach and swayed.

As I reached for Dante
,
he
cut me off with a sharp look. “I'm fine.” He thrust one hand toward Fane. “Give me the bag.”

“Please?” Fane suggested.

“Fane!” I snapped, my fingers clenched.

Now that Dante had all but agreed to do what he wanted, Fane needed to drop the cock show and ha
nd him the bag of blood.
If he didn't do it soon, I'd rip it from his fingers and give it to Dante myself.