Shadow Chaser (Undeadly Secrets Book 3)

by Aaron L Speer

  “I thought you said he was just feeding off her?”

  “And screwing. Don’t you see, Nightingale is the one killing those women. All these murders happened right after the dungeon exploded. He’s the last of the prisoners. Once he’s taken down, I’m convinced the murders will stop.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Use the vampire birth registry. I want to know all the newborns in Sydney within the last two weeks.”

  Clive carefully reached over Lauren and pulled his laptop closer to him. As he began accessing the registry, the pieces of Melina’s plan began to fit together for him. There was nothing stronger in the vampire world than a newborn in its first month. “There’s four.”

  “Good, contact them all. Put the word out. Do whatever it is you need to do to let all of them know there is a new seek and destroy bounty. The Shadow Killer. No mercy, no hesitation. I want Lee Nightingale obliterated.”

  *

  Michelle turned into Dante’s street. “Have you heard from your mum?”

  “Yeah, actually. She called me today, would you believe? First time since I told her to get out.”

  “How did that go?”

  “As well as could be expected. Awkward. She’s been staying with Alicia’s mum, my Aunt Maureen. I spoke to her too, and that was just as weird.”

  “Did you tell them about the service for Nick?”

  “No. My mum loved Nick, I know that. But she threatened to come after him when she found out what he was and that he’d been keeping it from us. I get that she was trying to protect me, but it was the absolute wrong thing to do. I still don’t think she realises that. And Maureen told Alicia not to bother coming back when she found out she was pregnant. It’s just a mess. I’m glad Mum has somewhere to stay, but it’ll be a while before all of us can be in the same room again.”

  “I’m really sorry about all of this, Alex.” Michelle pulled up outside Dante’s apartment.

  “Don’t be. It’s not your fault. I just needed to make a stand. And no matter what, I won’t back down just because he isn’t here anymore.”

  “It doesn’t look like anyone’s home,” Michelle said, looking up at the darkened windows.

  “Still, I have to try.”

  “I’ll wait here, just in case. I’ll leave the engine running for a quick getaway.” She winked at Alex.

  Alex half-grinned. She got out of the car, trying not to jog towards the entrance, desire to see him fuelling her every step. She knocked quickly, calling his name. It was on the third knock that the notion Michelle was right and no one was there, started to weigh on her mind. She placed a hand on the door and let it slide an inch or so. “I miss you…”

  She returned to Michelle’s car and got in without a word until she buckled the seat belt. “Can I stay at yours tonight, please?”

  “Of course you can, hun.” Michelle patted her leg and pulled out of the driveway.

  *

  He knocked on Alex’s door, having driven himself, limped towards the entryway and keyed in the combination. The stairs were a pain, but all would be worth it if he could simply embrace her, see her. It didn’t take more than one knock at the door. He knew there was no one behind it. As the realization he had wasted his time came over him, he pressed his forehead against the door. He didn’t know where she was. He had kept his eye on her for the better part of twenty years, and now he found himself losing his grip on the vow he’d made to Margaret. He was King now, responsible for the entire city. Yet all he wanted was to see that beautiful smile again, to smell that intoxicating lavender scent. Just to hold her. What the hell was wrong with him?

  Where are you? I hope you’re all right…

  Chapter 13

  The Monster We Face

  Koha dipped the rag in the bucket of water, and dabbed his aunt’s face wherever her eye bandages left the skin bare. “Is there anything else I can get you?”

  His aunt began to respond but was stopped as the fire plate behind Koha ignited from nothing. She clenched her teeth in a tight smile. “No. And you better not keep her waiting.”

  Koha nodded once and placed a kiss on her forehead. He moved towards the flames and placed his right hand into them. He felt no pain, no heat. He closed his eyes and let his mind drift, until he found himself taken to what looked like an underground cave. There were no smells here. No sounds. It was as if his senses had been numbed.

  He had been here before—this mind warp sensation—but it still took him a few seconds to adjust. He wasn’t really there, not his body anyway. This was merely the most effective way to meet with others of the Forgotten. But tonight it was different. This meeting was for him and the person sitting before him, staring into a fire larger than the one he had just put his hand into. The figure sat tall on a high-backed armchair; more like a makeshift throne. The Night Mother rarely changed her position from meeting to meeting. Her mystique had never been lost on Koha. He approached her, looking over the apparent frailness of her shoulders, covered with a thick black cloak, the hem pooling at her feet. The only skin on show were her hands, and long bony fingers like the winter birch branches he’d seen in pictures, their claws scratching at the sky. Her face remained hidden in her tattered cloak.

  “Koha…” came the dry, raspy, wheezing drawl. Her voice grated as if her throat had been scraped raw with glass, and each whistling breath into her body made him think of a long-ago schoolmate’s uncle who’d had emphysema. Her words might have come slowly, but her mind was ever sharp. “My greatest champion. You honour me with your presence.”

  Koha lowered himself to a knee and bowed his head. “Night Mother, why’ve you called?”

  The Night Mother wheezed even when she spoke. “We have a new enemy. You have seen it.”

  “Aye.” Koha rose to his feet, holding the loops of his pants with both thumbs. “People on the street are sayin’ it’s a vampire.”

  “The people on the street are wrong.”

  “I didn’t think it was a vamp I saw. Do you know what it is?”

  “A creature once thought to exist only in myth and legend. But as you can attest, it is very much real.”

  “I’d say so. So what is it?”

  “It has no name and yet it has many. It is both truth and lie. Though there are some, that would call it…demon.”

  A demon. Something Koha had only heard about in stories. A western monster. Though even then he corrected himself. Vampires and wolves were universal. Dangerous to any race. So must this be too. But he switched to attack mode in his mind. It was killing people. It needed to be destroyed.

  “How do I kill it?”

  “You are a gifted hunter, but you need to evolve your thinking. We have based many victories on the strength of your arm. But that, my child, will not be enough here.”

  “Then what can I do?”

  “You must train our guest.”

  Koha could not help himself. Looking up with an expression even he knew must be incredulous. “What? Him? Night Mother, I…” Koha collected himself and steadied his voice. “I don’t understand. Why him? Why’d you wish him collected from that fire? He’s just—he’s…”

  “He has suffered. Broken by vampire filth, drugged and treated as an experiment by the wolves. Now he has nothing. No one. But throughout it all, he has been trained and survived. I see great potential for you both.”

  Koha’s instinct was to scoff, but he would never insult her. He bowed his head in affirmation. “As you request. But…this will help us—someone—kill this thing?”

  “Only that which lives can be killed, Koha. The demon merely exists. It does not live and cannot therefore be killed. It is both shadow and body, yet neither. Its only purpose is to destroy life. It comes during the night, appearing in vision and dream.”

  “The papers and cop reports I’ve seen say that only women are getting killed. Is that true?”

  “It is so. Women are the vessels in which humanity is birthed. Eliminating them ensures that
life itself will end. It kills through abuse.”

  “I saw that. I don’t get it. Why must this sick fuck rape all of them?”

  “Rape is not an act of sex. It is an act of violence. Killing women in such a way makes a mockery of birth and a mockery of women themselves. The demon appears as a fog, a mist. Yet if its victim is seduced into allowing it entry into their home, it can become corporeal and then all of us are doomed. Do not mistake this force for any we have previously encountered. This demon has a power that, once unleashed, will destroy utterly everything we know. We need all avenues available to us.”

  “So if we can’t kill it, how do we fight it? What do we do? We can’t just do nothing.”

  “What did your training teach you, child? Tell me. You haven’t faced an obstacle like this before. This one cannot be solved with a strike.”

  “We can’t just…wait for it to enter a room. We need to figure out what it wants. Why it’s here. It had to have come here for something. When we find that out, we have leverage. A weakness.”

  “Well done. Though it does not make our task any easier. The human authorities are misguided. To them, the victims seem random. But the actions of the demon are not. It is searching. It is said this demon seeks a powerful force of light and goodness and will strike it down. The darkness in the sky is its power. It thrives on fear and despair. The stronger it grows, the darker the sky will become. Then, Koha, our battle will truly begin.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If it kills the target it seeks, the concept of day will disappear. Sydney will become a place where sunlight cannot penetrate. A land of eternal night.”

  Koha did not scare easily, but these words filled him with dread. “The vampires would roam free. There would be no rest. We would be over run in days.”

  The Night Mother said nothing. There was no need.

  “And you say that training this…him,” Koha indicated with a jerk of his head. “…will help somehow? Night Mother, there must be something else we can do.”

  “The training is most important. Do not trivialise it. Yet, there are also other means of preparing. Put the messages through the appropriate channels: we must procure the colour red. Paints, pens, anything that would leave a residue. Mark any mirror you encounter. Any door you know a woman enters.”

  “Mark them?”

  “With this symbol.” The Night Mother withdrew a medallion, a red V on an almost white shield. “Arm yourselves well. Train him. Let him learn from you. A battle is coming. The greatest the city has ever endured. Watch the women of the tribes. Watch for abnormal behaviour. The demon brings cold. We must be vigilant. In the meantime, I will attempt to narrow down the potential targets. Unfortunately, I fear the beast will get through many before it makes its selection.”

  “So this thing doesn’t even know who it’s after? How will it find her then?”

  “Either by process of elimination, or the dark forces lurking in the city will aid it. I do not believe it wants or desires help. It has no sense of connection, no feeling. But there are those who would relish in the chaos and misery and will do what they can do to ensure the demon’s victory. This will be our greatest test. You must lead us through this, Koha.”

  “First we prepare. We train. Then…”

  “War,” she finished for him.

  “War,” he repeated, bowing once more before the room shimmered into nothing and Koha travelled back.

  Cowley House, Cronulla, 1947

  Rain and wind lashed the outside window pane. At the top floor of Cowley House, Skye huddled in her bed, cringing at the crashing thunder outside. Even though no one admitted it, most knew that if you were sent up to the top floor you were “too old” to be adopted. Even if you were lucky enough to still be on the bottom level, the chances were remote.

  Cowley House had more Aboriginal kids than a lot of other orphanages around, and this put a stigma on it and everyone inside. Skye knew that about the house, but not much about herself. She didn’t even know her last name, or who had left her here. But there were other kids to play with, and the people here were mostly friendly. Especially Crackers, the cleaner. Sure enough, when the storm began, he had stopped his mopping of the floors and came over to tuck her in, nice and snug. But even that wasn’t enough when the lightning began.

  “Don’t go yet, please. Can you read me a story?”

  Wrinkled fingertips touched the light switch, just about to turn it off. “Aw, now. Y’know it’s late. Past yer bedtime. Y’really ought to get t’sleep, as ye well know.”

  Skye shook her head harder, crawling to her knees, pleading with the janitor, needing his company on a terrible night like this.

  “All right with ye then,” said Crackers, chuckling. “Well then, little miss, why don’t yeh take a minute an’ tell me what ye want to be hearin’?”

  Skye squealed happily and hopped back into her covers. “Tell me again the one about the Draco Knights.”

  “With this weather? Why on earth would ye be wantin’ them?”

  “They’re my favourite. You didn’t finish.”

  “Well now, jus’ don’t go tellin’ Miss Cowley. She an’ the others think it’s all a bit too much for youngins. All that violence and whatnot, y’know. The war for the Kalij ’as claimed many a life, an’ it’s broke many a heart, and I don’t doubt there’ll be more.”

  “I won’t tell. And you said you leave out all the really nasty bits. I don’t mind anyway. I don’t have nightmares. I dream of the twins sometimes, Koras and Kreeven. It’s terrible they died. But I think Jun-Don is my favourite.”

  “Oh-ho? Now, why is it jus’ Jun-Don that ye like?”

  “Because he doesn’t act like you’d expect.” Skye pondered. “He is sad because his son died, but he tries to make other people laugh. Plus…he’s been cursed to live forever. He’d have to watch everyone die. But they’re all good. Do you have any more stories about him?”

  Crackers leant back in his chair, stroking his chin, pondering. “Well… maybe I have.”

  “Ooooh please tell me? What’s it got in it?”

  “Oh, y’know. It’s got a bit o’ this, and a bit o’ that, and a bit o’ the other thing.” Crackers swayed his head as he answered, reaching to the floor beside his chair. When he came up again, he held a book in his hand.

  Skye squirmed in her bedcovers. “How does it start?”

  “Shoosh, now, let me find it.” Crackers flicked over to roughly halfway through the book and scanned the selected page. “Ah…here ‘tis.”

  Skye jumped and put the covers over her face as a tremendous thunderclap was heard outside. The sky flashed and the booming crash rumbled over their heads as the rain continued to pound the building.

  Crackers chuckled again. “Now why should ye be scared o’ the thunder? There ain’t’nt nuthin’ to be afeard of out there. Maybe I should let ye get some rest.”

  Skye sunk lower into her sheets, trying to cover herself up more so that just her eyes could be seen. “No, please stay. You make me less afraid.”

  The old man smiled, picked up the book again, and gave rather a large breath as if the effort was almost too much. Skye was not certain which of them got more enjoyment out of the other’s company. The staff at the house, were very nice, but quite strict. They did not tolerate any silliness. They had forgotten what it was like to have fun. When Crackers worked here, once a week, usually on a Saturday night, most of the staff had all gone home, so Skye and the other children were free to be silly.

  “Now ’aven’t I told ye why ye needn’t be afeard o’ the storm?”

  Skye shook her head. Crackers sighed deeply as he lowered himself to a chair beside her bed. “Well, now. Let’s see. I’m certain I’ve told ye ’bout the Lord of Lightnin’ an’ Thunder, Masonian?”

  Skye thought for a minute, but shook her head. “I thought that was Thor?”

  “Well, some believe in Thor, tha’s true. But when I were a boy, I was told of Masonian. A master o’
magic an’ the leader o’ the Draco Knights, ’e were. ’e lived many many years ago. Some believe ‘e died, or were cursed somehow; some say ’e disappeared. Some say, that like Thor, ’e never existed ’cept in stories. But there are some, like me, who say that no’ only did ’e live, but in some ways, ’e’s still ’ere.”

  “Still here? How?”

  Crackers gestured outside. “When the lightning flashes and the thunder trembles terrible-like, it’s only the dark things o’ the world that should fear ’em. For Masonian watches o’er the kind and peaceful.”

  “Are there dark things in the world?”

  “Many. Too many, I’ll warrant. An’ too many people go about their day no’ knowin’ or carin’. It’s these who’ll be sufferin’ first. It’s up to the likes o’ you an’ me t’ make sure people always believe in each other, an’ in themselves. An’ this,”

  Crackers undid the top button of his shirt and reached behind his neck, unclasping his necklace, which he dropped in her hand. The red v medallion shone even in the dim light. “It’s the Draco Knights’ symbol,” Skye whispered in awe. “But how did you get it?”

  “That don’t matter now. I want ye to ’ave it.”

  “Me? Why?”

  “Well, I ’aven’t children o’ me own…” Crackers trailed off, looking out to the window and then down, as if lost in thought. “An’ I’m gettin’ on a bit. I want to see that it goes to a good person who’ll use it when others need it.”

  “What can I do with it?”

  “One day, if’n you need it, you’ll know what to do.”

  “Is it magic?” Skye could not hide the excitement in her voice.