Shadow Chaser (Undeadly Secrets Book 3)

by Aaron L Speer

  “I thought I had you that time. You told me to practice.”

  Dante let go of her. “You’re getting better.”

  “Really? Well let me come with you when you finish these creeps that escaped. That’s where you were tonight, right? Whaddya say?”

  “No.” Dante stood and held his hand out to help her rise. “Getting better is not the same as being ready. Your time will come.”

  Lauren rose by herself. “Oh come on, D. I’m bored as shit. You were great to find a place for me and lackey after the mansion went to hell, but seriously. All he does is play video games all the fucking time. Computers, computers. I want to fight. You know, hit something. Fuck something. Anything… Shit.”

  Dante placed his hand to her face, pressing the skin under her eyes down, studying her dilated pupils. “When did you feed last?”

  The response was like lightning. “Just before I got here.”

  “You’re feeding off of Clive, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah…so?”

  Dante thought his response over carefully.

  “Just…be careful,” he said, turning towards the door. “And go home.”

  “Oh, come on.”

  Dante opened the door and shouted over his shoulder, “Go home, Lauren.” He took a few steps inside and paused, closing his eyes. He pressed his pulsing temples with his forefinger and thumb. He removed his hand and studied his fingers as the door closed behind him. The veins under the skin had turned a dark red.

  “We need to talk.” Melina came up behind him.

  “No we don’t.” Dante walked down the corridor, just wanting to be alone.

  “Don’t you dare walk away from me, Alejandro. I want to see your hand.”

  “It’s nothing.”

  In a flash, Melina was in front of him, holding his wrist in front of her. She was so quick, but truthfully, he hadn’t even heard her move. “Just like I thought. How long has this been going on?”

  “First time.”

  “I’ve never seen The Veins get this bad. You need blood. Where’s that blonde chick? Your donor?”

  “Hopefully at home, safe and sound.”

  “And she should be feeding you, doing her job.”

  “I am not her job.”

  “Don’t give me that. She agreed, and it’s what she’s supposed to do. Why haven’t you gone to her?”

  “She’s grieving… Leave it alone.”

  “What are you going to do, make me? You can barely stand. Look at you.” She gave a quick shove and Dante almost keeled over.

  “Enough!” Dante bellowed. “I will not just show up on her doorstep expecting her to give more for me than she already has. For Chrissake, haven’t I done enough to her over the years? Ever since I have been a part of her life, she has suffered. I am the reason she has no father. Drakeman wanted to leave me a message, and had him killed. I have watched over her for twenty years, and for what? To what end? She’s lost her best friend, her boyfriend and she no longer speaks to her mother. Then she lost her cousin, a boy she had grown to love, who died saving her life when I couldn’t. I failed her. Again. I will not ask anymore of her. I can’t.”

  Melina stood still, perhaps absorbing his words. “The truth at last,” she nodded, flicking her eyes to the ground. “So that’s why you’ve been so obsessed with tracking the escapees down. You’ve barely slept and you haven’t eaten.”

  “It’s what I need to do. There is only one left unaccounted for. It’s my responsibility.”

  Dante thought back to the night after the explosion, Nick’s death and the last time he saw Alex. The letter from the Messengers of Osiris had arrived then. They had charged him to bring calm to the tensions of Sydney and to do it all with no help from them, be it money or council. In short, they were testing his worthiness. Then the weather had changed, confirming his suspicion. They either knew or were the cause of this as-yet-unknown threat. Regardless, it was his issue.

  “I’m glad you see that, but your logic is fucked,” Melina took a step forward. “Let me tell you something, Alejandro. Sydney does not need a hero, it needs a king. It needs you. I…” Melina cleared her throat before continuing at a quick pace. “There are only two ways I will accept your demise: by my side or between my legs, is that clear? Now I am telling you this as a courtesy before you rest. I am taking the blonde with big tits hunting. Tonight. We still haven’t had any luck finding new Elements of Night, so I will be with her. She needs the practice and her whining is getting on my nerves.”

  Dante tried hard to make her understand. “I will find out more about this killer. We need to find the last prisoner, and learn more about him before we engage.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re going to sleep. Now.”

  Dante gasped as a stinging sensation erupted in his leg. He latched on to Melina for support, but when he looked down, he saw that it was she that had caused it. She withdrew a now empty syringe from his thigh and shook it in front of him with a smile. “Dream State. Still got a little more lying around.”

  Dante sat back onto the bed as a wave of disorientation hit him. “What the hell have you done?”

  Melina shrugged. “You left me no choice, you dolt. You will kill yourself staying awake and going day after day with no blood. A single use won’t hurt you and it will let you have nice dreams. About me, no doubt.”

  Dante fought to rise. Melina knelt before him and placed her hands on his legs. Her voice was gentler now. “Alejandro, stop. Stop. Listen to me. You cannot protect anyone if you can barely stay awake, can’t you see? Just take this night. Just rest. We’ll be back before sunrise. And one last thing: I don’t give a shit what you say. I will not let you die for this cute bimbo.” Melina tenderly brushed his cheek with her fingers. “Feed. If not from her, from someone else. Or I will make you.”

  “You can always try. I will not hurt her anymore.”

  “I made you. I’m older and stronger.” She removed her hand and straightened her shoulders, but something in her face changed. She again raised her hand, this time resting on his chest. “I will not suffer the indignity of begging you. But I will, this one time, implore. Drink from her and save yourself. Please.”

  Dante’s eyes felt heavier and heavier. “Why? Why do you care?”

  “Because I remember when the idea of me brought that look to your face. I remember how it was when I was all you wanted. And I remember our love and how important it was, even if you don’t.”

  Dante gritted his teeth. He wanted to curse her. He wanted to forgive her. The drug left him unable to do any of it.

  Melina rose and left, turning once to whisper, “Sweet dreams, Alejandro,” before closing the door.

  Then the room was quiet. Dante lay down and put an arm across his forehead trying to block out the spinning. As shocked and angry as he was upon feeling the syringe go in, he understood Melina was only doing what she thought was right. For him. And he had been guilty of doing exactly that to other people, much to their chagrin. Like the way he had led his friends into unwittingly helping him trap Vincent. He didn’t enjoy deceiving people like that. But he felt it was for the best, and would ultimately save their lives. No matter what—in much the same way he would do anything necessary to protect Alexandra—Melina would do the same for him. That was why he’d been staying away from Alexandra. So he could avoid causing her pain. But if he was honest with himself, he had to admit that her absence did cause him a problem. He had been unable to stop thinking about her over the last few days. The distance between them proved to be more than a distraction. It was a weight he could not shake.

  “You awake?”

  Dante removed his hand from his head and looked towards the door. He couldn’t believe it. She was here.

  “Alexandra? Are you all right? Is something wrong?”

  “Yes, actually,” she said, unbuttoning her shirt and walking towards the bed. “I need you.”

  Dante sat up slowly, watching her walk on her knees along the bed, until she
stopped just in front of him, radiant and completely at ease. “What do you need?” he asked.

  “I need you to feed,” she whispered, pulling her shirt open, showing him her neck. “You’re hungry.” She took his hand and brought it to her mouth, before running his fingers down her chest and then to her breast. As he touched her nipple, she drew in a quick breath and rocked her head back. “I love the way you touch me.”

  Dante caressed her gently. His hunger still raged, but feeling her skin under his was too tempting. Her warmth called to him. The sight of her arching back, presenting her breasts to him, wanting him to continue, made him feel more human than he thought possible.

  “I thought you wouldn’t want me, but I wanted to be there for you. I thought by staying away I was helping you,” Dante tried to explain, even through the fire that burned for her.

  Alex moved forward and straddled his waist, wrapping her arms around his neck and lightly kissing his lips and jaw. “Baby, I’m not a delicate flower. I see the way you look at me. I’m right here. I know you want me. And I want you. Alejandro. Dante. The vampire. The man. Everything that is you.” She pulled him into her kiss and softly rounded her tongue across his lips. “Aren’t you tired of waiting? Of holding your feelings in? Why does it have to be you looking after me? Why can’t you let us look after each other? No more responsibility, no more weight on your shoulders. Just being with each other forever? Isn’t that what you really want?”

  Dante brought her closer into him and gripped her arse, kissing her more deeply. “Yes. More than anything.” His breath caught then, as she sucked his tongue and tore his shirt from his shoulders.

  “Make love to me.” Alex murmured the words into his ear and Dante lowered her to her back. He crushed her mouth with his own and drowned out her audible sigh as the weight of him held her down. She ran her hands over his back and leaned her neck to the side. He didn’t wait for her encouragement, biting down into the soft flesh of her neck. She gave a sharp yelp of pain, then hissed out a “Yes…harder,” to which he obliged. She yelled even louder, the pain and her pleasure clearly intensifying. As he drank, she moaned continuously, like the sucks from his mouth were thrusts of his groin. He could smell her wetness from here. It was more than he could bear.

  Dante saw her take some fingers from her mouth covered in her saliva and with her other hand reached and unzipped his trousers. She twirled her slippery fingers around the head of his cock, pulsing with her blood. Within seconds she rolled her wrist and stroked him as he drank. Dante let her go and sat up, watching her. Now he was half off her, she rose too and used her other hand to gently squeeze and tug his balls. Dante felt tension in his stomach, his orgasm about to erupt.

  He wanted her mouth on him. He wanted to be inside her. She just wouldn’t stop, and he didn’t want her to.

  “Please don’t make me wait anymore,” she said, pumping harder.

  “With…with what?” His balls tingled, seconds away from unloading.

  “To tell me you love me. I deserve to hear it, Dante.”

  He knew she was right.

  Dante opened his eyes and she was gone. Dante was lying prone, his arm still draped across his forehead. She had never been there. It was a dream. Dante looked around to make absolutely sure, but it hit him again. She wasn’t there and never had been. The Dream State had worked too well. Well, the dreaming part, at least. Certainly not the sleeping. He felt far more tired than he had been before.

  Dante sat on the edge of his bed. The exhaustion was wearying. He was considering ways to numb the pain when he heard another set of footsteps enter the room, tiny ones.

  “Hello, little man.”

  “Hi, Dante. Can I come in?”

  “Yes, you may.”

  Nathaniel took a jogging leap and landed on the bed before walking over next to Dante and plonking himself down. “You’re hurt.”

  “It’s just a scratch.”

  “Wanna nibble?” Nathaniel held up his wrist, presenting it to Dante.

  He chuckled and gave the vampire child a tender pat. “No thank you. I’ll be fine.”

  “Why don’t you go talk to Girl-with-a-boy’s-name?”

  Dante closed his eyes and smiled. “You too, huh?”

  “I wasn’t listen’ or nothin’!”

  “Sure you weren’t.” Dante smiled. “Alexandra is very upset right now. I think I need to give her space and time. When she’s ready I’ll go and see her.”

  “Why don’t you go now and tell her you love her? That would make her feel better.”

  Dante swallowed, trying to decide how best to answer that. “You think so? Unfortunately, it’s rather complicated.”

  “What’s comp-uh-lated?” Nathaniel tried to repeat the unfamiliar word.

  “Difficult. Hard. Not easy.”

  “Mum always said that loving someone was the easiest thing in the world.”

  “And right she was, my friend. She loved you more than anything. You’re very special.”

  “Don’t you think Girl-with-a-boy’s-name is special?”

  Again with a direct, complicated question. Dante pictured her now, smiling. Laughing with him. The way her eyes twinkled. How he wished he could look into them now. Have her in his arms. How tenderly she touched him. The way her lips felt…the way she tasted. He had tried to subdue the feelings that had surfaced for some time, for many reasons. Not least of which was the last exchange to Margaret before she put herself in the mental hospital. Because he made a promise to never go there. To not cross that line. In fairness, he had not promised to not care for her deeply, very deeply. That was a promise he had made to himself many years ago. Never fall in love with a human again. A vampire’s life was endless, theirs weren’t. It was too hard, too messy. Dante would never turn Alexandra. He wouldn’t do that to her.

  “Yes, she’s very special to me.”

  Nathaniel held up a finger. “You only get one shot to show someone you reallllly care.”

  “Your mother told you that?”

  “No. You did.”

  Dante looked down at the round rosy cheeks of the boy, and brought him in for a hug, planting a swift kiss on top of his head. Nathaniel wrapped his arms around what he could of Dante’s waist. “You’re too smart for your own good, little man.”

  Chapter 10

  T-Zone

  “Alex, it’s good to see you. It’s been a while.” Bison stretched his brawny arms out and embraced her in a quick hug. Tyson, always the quieter of the two of Club T’s bouncers, nodded his greeting, but the twinkle in his eye was unmistakeable. “Go on in, darlin’.”

  Alex kissed the boys’ cheeks, and walked inside. It felt like it had been years since she’d been there. The club wasn’t pumping like usual. The vibe wasn’t the same even though the ever-darkening weather meant that a club that operates during the dark stayed open longer than usual.

  Alex found Tiffany on the dance floor. Tiffany grabbed Alex’s hand and danced with her to the tail end of the song.

  “Come on. I want to introduce you,” Tiffany told her when the song had ended. She dragged Alex back to the table set up for the group and thrust a shot glass with a clear liquid into her hand.

  “Alex, I’d like you to meet my friends Lisa, she’s an ER nurse, and Racheal, Sydney’s newest, just-qualified beauty therapist!”

  The girls roared and chugged the shots, which Alex took a sip of. Vodka with something citrusy. A kamikaze maybe?

  “Hi, guys.” Alex smiled and turned to Lisa first. “An ER nurse? Wow, I have so much respect and gratitude for what you guys do. I know I couldn’t do it.”

  “It’s tough, I will admit. But very rewarding personally.”

  “And not without its perks, eh?” Racheal cut in with a grin.

  “Oh, shut up.” Lisa grabbed another shot, yet sucked in her lips, as if trying not to laugh.

  It was clearly some inside joke that Alex wasn’t privy to. “Perks?”

  “Uh huh,” Racheal said. “Huge per
ks. Massive.”

  Alex then glanced towards Lisa, hiding her smile with her empty shot glass. Maybe she would answer the bizarre scenario. “Inside joke?”

  “Sorry, she’s talking about this guy who came in on my shift a couple of weeks ago. Male model type with abs that went on forever. Oh my god, that V! I’m hoping I’ll get to give him another very private sponge bath tomorrow, if you get my drift.”

  Alex snorted and downed the rest of her drink. “I see.”

  “Oh geez, you two are so drunk already.” Tiffany scolded, and Lisa and Racheal clinked another two emptied shot glasses.

  “I have named our kids and where we’ll live, you know,” Lisa winked.

  Alex didn’t know what to say to that, so just lifted another glass in approval and shot it down her throat. She sputtered as someone bumped her from behind. Turning she saw the dance floor had become very crowded just next to their table. A group of people crammed together blocked her from what seemed like a sudden brutal brawl, and from the sounds of it, it was getting bigger.

  “Ugh.” Tiffany grimaced. “Seriously this weather is just churning out more and more fuckwits lately.”

  “I know.” Racheal leaned forward and poked her index finger onto the table as if making an important point. “You know, I heard on the news Sydney has broken some kind of record. This cloud thing is unlike anything people have seen. I think it’s cool.”

  “Cool? It freaks me out,” Tiffany replied. “Seriously, if it gets any worse it’ll be like eternal night. That and the Shadow Killer are really doing my head in.”

  “Shadow Killer?” Alex turned away from the mayhem of the floor. Surrounding girls were getting involved. Bison had entered into the ruckus, pulling people away.

  “That’s what the news is calling him. The serial killer. I heard forty-four women so far have been found dead.” Tiffany gave an involuntary shiver. “Apparently, he beats them, tortures them and rapes them. The news doesn’t give the real details. There were leaked photos of a body on the net, but they’ve been taken down again. Her skin was almost blue, and really shiny. Her eyes were sunken and white, broken teeth embedded in the gums. Every finger was, like, dislocated or broken. Bites and deep cuts all over her. It looked like she had died screaming.”