Night of the Living Dante (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter, Vol. 4.5) by Nikki Jefford Page A

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