PACK MASTER
PACK MASTER (Undeadly Secrets, #4)
Copyright © Aaron L Speer
First published 2018
Published by Create Space in association with Amazon Digital
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://aaronlspeer.com/
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a database and retrieval system or transmitted in any form or any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the owner of copyright and the above publishers.
Original Cover by Deranged Doctor Designs
ISBN
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Other Works By Aaron L Speer
NIGHT WALKER (Undeadly Secrets, #1)
DAY DREAMER (Undeadly Secrets, #2)
SHADOW CHASER (Undeadly Secrets, #3)
THE INDEPENDENTS
THE INDEPENDENTS II
“In touch with the ground
I'm on the hunt, I'm after you.
A scent and a sound, I'm lost and I'm found
And I'm hungry like the wolf.”
Lyrics – “Hungry Like the Wolf”
Duran Duran
“Let those who do not understand me, fear me.
Let those who understand me, fear themselves.”
-Thorin
“What we find in a soulmate is not something wild to tame.
It is something wild to run with.”
-Robert Brault
“Death cannot stop true love. Only delay it for a while.”
Wesley
Dedication
For my fans, who always carried Nick in their hearts and who trusted I would bring him back to you.
And for my wife and son, the two I would crawl back from the brink for.
Chapter One
That Same Night
“Doctor, what can you tell us about this cloud? Do people have a right to be worried?”
“Worried might be a strong term. Concerned, yes. It is a phenomenon unlike anything I personally have seen.”
“Is it true it’s getting bigger?”
“The data we have collected indicates a growth of about one to two percent per day. So, yes. What is causing the expansion? We do not yet know, but again, all reports look like this is merely an extremely dense storm cloud. You can see here on this aerial shot taken by a passenger on their way to Perth, the cloud, which is dark grey at the top, reaches several thousand feet in the air. Normal grey clouds, that we would see any rainy day. The sun isn’t penetrating the darker element underneath, so of course we wont be able to see it. There is a distinct lack of lightning and thunder which is puzzling.”
“Have Zeus and Thor abandoned us, Doctor?”
(Laughing) “Maybe they have.”
“But seriously, Doctor some hundreds of people apparently haven’t seen daylight for a few days. What is your advice to them?”
“Look, at the moment it is both a phenomenon and an inconvenience. I would say to these people please try and be patient. Emergency services are there should you need them but I can’t imagine why you would. I do find it fascinating, but ladies and gentlemen, it’s just a cloud-”
“Sorry to cut you off there Doctor, but we are getting breaking news out of Randwick where what looks like a riot has taken place outside the Women’s Hospital...”
- Evening News Interview
*
“Yes sir, I saw the news.”
“Are you ready?”
“Already mobilised.”
“You’ve been trusted with a great task, Gavin. The city will remember this day for a long time. The true work begins now.”
“Has it been confirmed sir, this is the time? The time of the great darkness? The walking dead, but the rise of a supreme being?”
“Our sources tell me the prophecy is in effect. We have cut the power to the exits and mobile reception to the entire block in time for your arrival. Post guards at all emergency doors and stairwells. No one leaves until those bodies are gone. Minimise direct witnesses and attention.”
“Understood sir. I won’t fail. For Sovereign.”
“For Sovereign.”
*
“Hands up, who didn’t think we would survive that shit?” Lauren asked. The ghouls had been defeated, thankfully the city was safe for the time being. But when that last body fell, Lauren saw the amount of regular people, humans, staring at the scene. Almost a hundred bodies littered the front of the Women’s Hospital. Before she knew it, Koha and Matt had disappeared and Melina had taken Nathaniel by the hand and bolted away.
Lauren had caught up with Melina and Nathaniel and all three ventured through the back streets, keeping to the darkness as much as possible.
“I hope no one saw us,” Melina replied.
“It’s still pitch black!”
Melina turned to Lauren. “What’s the one thing we have to do, as vampires. Custodians of the real underworld? The Undeadly Secrets?”
Lauren took a second, having to think about that. “Keep the secret.”
“Exactly. What do you think a whole mass of bodies that look like that says?” Melina replied, flinging her arm out behind her. “The media will be all over that place. Hell, the humans will post videos soon. They are probably up now.”
“We can’t be seen on cameras though?”
“Look at us!”
Lauren looked down at her top. She shared an accessory with her other companions. Black, tar-like blood soaked into their clothes, splattered across their arms and faces. It stunk like a blocked-up sewer pipe. “So, making out is out of the question?”
Melina rolled her eyes. “How long do you think we can last out in the open before someone catches us, realises we were there, and tries to film us. Which won’t be possible. Keep the secret, remember? This has already gone beyond that. The underworld has never been on show like this.” Melina started to pace, muttering almost to herself. “There was nothing we could do. We couldn’t hide so many bodies. We were out in the open. We did what we had to do. We saved the hospital. But…”
“But what?”
“Being so open…it has to have consequences. There was nothing we could do, but I feel there will be a backlash somehow.”
“I don’t get it.”
“We stopped it. The zombie apocalypse.”
“Ghoul…and actually if it wasn’t for Nightingale-”
“Whatever! It’s done. They’re defeated. That must mean the demon is dead. But look at the sky. It’s still as black as the ace of spades and it’s supposed to be afternoon. It just feels like…”
Melina struggled for the words, but Lauren found them. “Something’s still missing?”
“Or something’s still coming. Either way, we get to Dante’s house, you go to Clive. We lay low and regroup. Whatever happens, we have to be prepared.”
Lauren reacted instantly. Pulling Melina and Nathaniel into her embrace. Melina was saved from asking what was going on when she was able to see straight ahead. Headlights. Not belonging to a car, but a jet-black van. And it wasn’t alone. A line of them followed the first, zooming past them, racing towards the city, towards where the three had just come from.
Lauren counted eleven of them. “What the hell was that?”
“I don’t know. But did you smell that?”
�
��I did,” Nathaniel replied, scrunching up his face.
It was the overwhelming stench that attracted Lauren. She recognised it from the battles she had been in. Perhaps it was the reason she had felt so uneasy at the sight of the procession of vehicles. They were only vans with tinted windows, but something in the ferocity of their speed and the smell, made Lauren wary.
“Gunpowder,” she answered. Different amounts, belonging to different shells. Meaning assault rifles, pistols and perhaps something more akin to armour piercing bullets. So, eleven vehicles with the armoury of a tank were racing towards the city. “You know that thing you thought was coming, the consequences?”
Melina nodded, knowing where this was going. “I think it just passed us.”
*
Koha helped Matt into the abandoned car service repair place. Matt wheezed with the effort of sitting down, even as Koha eased him lower. Koha made a quick scan of his surroundings. Hollowed out and filthy, rank with dampness. The air was stale with dust and an almost overbearing hint of WD40, yet pitch black, perfect for what he needed. This place was commonly used by members of the Forgotten for flame portals. Transporting their consciousness to the realm of the Night Mother for advice and guidance.
“Keep the pressure on,” Koha reminded Matt as he prepared a flame portal. Matt hissed and wheezed as he pulled the tattered remnants of his own shirt from the wound in his side to check the damage. The bleeding had stopped, but several gouges and almost chunks of flesh had been torn from his body. The result of the fight with the ghouls.
“Will I turn into one of them?”
“I don’t think so. If you were going to, you would’ve.”
“I have to get to Alex…I have to check on her…”
“You’re not going anywhere until…shh-”
Koha and Matt looked at the same spot at the same time. The roar of an engine, several of them in fact, exploded into the otherwise silent night and rushed past them. One though, the very last, slowed considerably. It stopped just outside where they sat. A figure emerged and shone a high beam LED torch inside. Koha quickly lifted and pressed Matt against the side brick wall, their bodies obscured at an angle behind an iron girder.
Koha closed his eyes, trusting his senses to see for him. The footsteps were heavy and the figure was weighed down by his clothing. Perhaps Kevlar or riot gear. Koha heard the clinking of a weapon knocking a brace on his lower leg. A semi-automatic perhaps. Serious firepower, Koha thought, gripping his boomerang tighter. Just as it occurred to him to unleash it, the figure turned and jogged back to the van with a barely audible mutter into a radio device of some kind, before the van motored away. “All clear. Catch up to the others.”
Koha eased himself off Matt, when he was sure the coast was clear, and helped Matt back to his sitting position. “What the fuck was that?”
“No idea. But it didn’t sound friendly. Whatever. She’ll know.”
Koha finished his work and blew a steady short breath into his makeshift kindling, and a blue flame erupted in front of him. “Stay here and keep watch. I won’t be long.”
Koha pressed his face forward and when he opened his eyes he was once again in the cavernous dwelling of the Night Mother, surrounded by fellow Forgotten members. They whooped and cheered for him upon his approach. Calen ran forth and gave him a brief, yet relieved, embrace. With a simple raise of her bony hand, the Night Mother silenced the entire cave.
“You left us a champion. You return a hero.”
More cheering and yet another raise of the hand. More forceful this time, and the silence gripped again, only faster. “You also return troubled. What has happened?”
“The white fulla. He’s been bit. It looks bad. I did what I could, but we need help.”
The Night Mother gave a small turn of her shrouded head. “Calen. Danara. Go.”
“We are at the old chop shop in Randwick.”
Calen nodded. “See you soon, bruv!” And with a pop, disappeared.
“Night Mother, there’s more. There was a fleet of vans that rushed past us. One stayed behind outside the chop shop. We hid as someone exited the van and searched the place. He didn’t see us, and I couldn’t get a look at him from where we were, but I sensed heavy body armour and weaponry. I don’t know if he was after us but we fight vamps and vamps wouldn’t have any use for that shit.”
“You are correct,” the Night Mother replied. “Vampires rely on their powers. They have little need for a man-made arsenal.”
“The army?” a member called.
“The army would not travel in such a manner,” the Night Mother replied softly, thinking. “Koha, wait for the reinforcements and focus on returning safely to the Hollow. Do not engage these people.”
“Do you know who they are?” he asked.
“No. And that fact does not disturb me nearly as much as that, whoever they are, they knew to stop in the middle of a journey and search an obviously abandoned shack. One which happens to be known only to us as a refuge for this type of communication.”
Koha heard her message clearly. “You think we’ve been betrayed?”
“I think there is a new player to the game. One which we must not underestimate. Return home my boy. There is much to be done.”
Koha bowed and allowed himself to travel back to the repair shop, where he would fill Matt in on what he had found out and where he hoped Calen and Co. would hurry.
*
The Night Mother waited until all had removed themselves from her chambers before speaking, “Approach, my child.”
The footsteps that followed were cautious, but nonetheless determined. “Thank you for seeing me,” Margaret Hensley said.
“My last words to you have not changed. Although you spurned my offer of help once before, my hand is always open to victims of the night walkers. What is it you want?”
“I haven’t heard from my daughter in a number of days. I was wondering if you could help me in finding out if she is alright? Please.”
“I see. If I recall correctly, the reason you turned my offer down was because you had entrusted the safety of your daughter to Dante Delavega. Why do you not go to him with the question?”
“Because I can’t contact him either.”
“And this vexes you? Surely as the king of Sydney he would have taken on more challenges? The safety of one woman wouldn’t be his top priority…there is more to your concern. What is it?”
“Nothing, it’s just…it’s a mother’s concern.”
“And a powerful force it is. But I can tell from your mannerism that there is something about your worry. Something specific. The sky for example? This situation calls for much more than a mother’s worry. Speak plainly child. I’m listening.”
Margaret had a puzzled look on her face when the Night Mother mentioned the sky, as if that’s exactly what she was worried about. “I heard stories as a girl. About a time when darkness would hang overhead, more dreadful than anything anyone had ever known. And it would be at that time that a girl in our family would be chosen. A demon would rise and infect the people of the land, poisoning their hearts and minds, and he would use this girl to do it, for she was the only one who could defeat him. I just thought they were stories, a fairy tale or myth, but then I thought vampires were, too. And now the sky is black, and I can’t contact my girl.”
The Night Mother leaned forward…and with a melancholy tone. “It is Alex the stories refer to. It’s true. It’s all true.”
“Oh my God…” Margaret breathed as she covered her mouth. “The sky…does that mean…is she…?”
“Dominus took control of her.”
“No! She was immune. She had to be. That was part of the tale. She was to be protected from him unless she accepted death. And she would never accept darkness into her heart.”
“But when you fall in love with a vampire, what is right and wrong, what should and shouldn’t be done, become very shaky. Her walls came down and Dominus’ way was clear.”
&nbs
p; “Dante…” she whispered, “he promised me. I made him. Years ago, he swore to me he would never…” she trailed off, and the Night Mother could see the hurt in her face. A once trusted friend had slept with her daughter, breaking a vow.
“He was the one that saved her, Margaret. She lives because of him.”
“She almost died because of him…” she seethed.
“Enough. What’s done is done. You have the answers you seek. Now I ask my questions. What is she? I have heard the same stories as you, though not which family line. The powers were said to be limitless yet nothing specific. I find parts of information here and there, but I need more. The armour, does it exist?”
“I don’t know what she is. I was never told because, I guess, it wasn’t meant for me. Powerful. A light to shine the way. An inspiration to millions. She would wear the red V into battle. The Draco Knights would rise to protect the innocent again through her.”
“Well then, your way forward is clear. As is mine.”
“How can I possibly do anything? I didn’t really believe any of this until recently.”
“You are one of the few alive that knows the truth. Help your daughter become who she was born to be. The sky is not the only danger we face. Enemies are vast and will keep coming. Stay hidden, do not tell her of what you know unless she asks, but be there when she needs you.”
“She and I aren’t speaking. She doesn’t want to see me.”
“Perhaps. But she will need you and all others that care for her well-being. Her fate walks hand in hand with all of us. Unless she finds a way to embrace her powers, the city is doomed. It cannot be forced; it must be organic. There is no easy way. The stars will align on their own, but she must be the one to choose. Any interference could put a damper on that. Go now. Keep in contact but trust no one else.”
*
“Get back to the hospital.”
“Sir?”
“There has been an unexplained escape. A traffic camera spotted a figure leaping from a window only to land effortlessly on the ground below. You know what is expected. The power and mobile reception are still out. Make sure the wolf is the escapee. Above all else, find him.”
Pack Master (Undeadly Secrets Book 4) Page 1