Shadow Chaser (Undeadly Secrets Book 3)

by Aaron L Speer

*

  Nicole sat before the toilet, head in hands, quaking with tears as she glanced at the toilet seat and the blood drops that spackled the plastic. Her stomach still ached, but that could not be her focus. She needed a hospital, but fear had frozen her to the spot. Something was wrong, very wrong. What sort of a mother was she? Her baby was in trouble, and she couldn’t even move. She had no idea how long she’d sat there, but when PJ and Alan came in and heard her sobs from outside, she needed their help to even rise to her feet.

  Chapter 25

  Fallout

  Dante awoke. Everything was a daze. He glanced around the room and realised he was in his own bedroom. He raised a hand gingerly, and the veins that had been so clear before were no longer noticeable. He moved the hand to his chest to check his wound. There was no damage, but there was something else. A hand resting on his chest. It belonged to Alex, who was lying next to him, sound asleep.

  His breath caught. Finally. He stiffened so as not to wake her, just touching her hand with his fingers. She had saved him. He licked his lips, still tasting her. He lifted his head, burying his nose in her hair and inhaling the honey scent. She gave an unconscious smile, happy in her sleep, not yet aware he was awake.

  The softest of moans escaped her as she snuggled in closer, her face turning up as she pressed into his bare chest. Dante leaned down and pressed his lips over hers, planting a soft kiss. It took a second perhaps, but her mouth opened and she accepted and half-returned another. She then awoke fully and sat upright.

  “Oh my god, Dante!” Dante tried to lower her voice. There were other people in the house. He could hear them. He just wanted these precious few minutes alone with her. “Are you ok?”

  “Yes. Thanks to you.”

  Alex gripped him in a tight hug, her arms crossing over his neck. “I was so worried,” she cried. “I thought I’d lost you!”

  “Where is he? The vampire.”

  Alex shook her head. “I don’t know. Melina came and got me. She said you were in trouble. When I got here, I found you in bed with Dougie hovering over you. He was singing softly to you. I think it was a healing song, maybe? Anyway, I was frantic and Dougie calmed me down. He knew you needed to eat, and so he bit my wrist and just eased it into your mouth. He said if you took too much in too soon you’d go into a coma. So since last night, with his help, I’ve been feeding you tiny amounts in shifts.”

  “You must be exhausted.”

  “It’s not that.” Alex took his hand and held it against her chest. “I couldn’t leave you. Not again. You needed blood way before this. I feel so terrible. I swear I tried to get here on Monday night, but you weren’t here.”

  Dante gave her a small smile. “That’s because I went to see you.”

  Alex’s face fell. “Oh God, you poor thing. You were starving and I wasn’t there.”

  Dante gripped Alex’s hand tighter. “No. That’s not what it is. I didn’t come for your blood. I just wanted to see you.”

  “You did?”

  “Yes. What happened there?” Dante interrupted himself, noticing the bandage across the palm of Alex’s right hand.

  “Oh, nothing really. At a parent-teacher meeting, I was doing the usual, shaking hands, and one of the girl’s mother, Mrs Batty… Her ring must have had a jagged bit of metal, and it cut my hand. I think it’s infected. I haven’t had time to go to the doctor for antibiotics yet.”

  “It smells awful. Did you have Dougie try to heal it?”

  Alex shook her head emphatically. “No, I told him not to worry. I wanted to fix you first. I just wanted to see you open your eyes.”

  She finished speaking and traced a finger over his chin. Dante peeled the dressing away, revealing a deep, weeping cut, the flesh around it swollen, hot and red. She had rubbed some kind of salve containing eucalyptus on the wound. “We’ll have to wait for tomorrow night for me to help you. The eucalyptus has to be thoroughly washed off and out of your system.”

  “Really, why?”

  “It has a poisoning effect on us. The first Aborigines we encountered discovered its effects and now The Forgotten have been using it for years. We don’t die from it, but it does make vampires very sick. It slows us down, hampers our gifts. Makes us less effective in a fight.”

  “Wow. Just when I think I know everything.”

  “I’ve been thinking about you. A lot. I wanted to make sure you’re all right. And I suppose I…I wanted to see you. I don’t want you to think you owe me anything.”

  “But honey, I’m you donor.”

  “You are much more than that.”

  “Am I?”

  Dante brought her hand back and made sure his grip was fastened. He didn’t know where this was coming from, but decided to go with it. To express things he had kept inside for himself for far too long.

  “Would you consent to having dinner with me?”

  Alex half-smiled. “Since when do you need my—” Suddenly it chimed in. “Wait a sec. Are you…asking me out?”

  Dante lingered over her eyes, seeing the shock and dare he say it, the hope in them. “Absolutely.”

  Alex looked down at their intertwined hands and then back at him. She gave a small scrunch of her eyebrows in the way that usually meant she couldn’t believe how easy the next words were.

  “I would love to.”

  Dante returned her smile as the door to his bedroom opened and Melina and Dougie walked in. Melina glanced at their still-interlaced fingers but said nothing as she closed in on the bed. “Well, glad you’re feeling better.”

  “Where is he?”

  “He bolted,” Dougie replied. “He won’t bother anyone for a while. I don’t care how fast he heals, that hand will take a while to get fixed.”

  Dante closed his eyes, letting his mind relax. It was over. Nightingale was gone and the city was safe from him. At least for now. “Thank you. At least we can all start to get on with things and find the real killer”

  “Actually, that reminds me,” Alex started, shifting her position to face him. “A Senior Constable came to see me the other day.”

  “What did he want?”

  “To find out what I knew about—” Alex waved her free hand with a flurry. “—all this. He mentioned Matt’s disappearance, Lauren and Ryan. All of it can be traced back to me in some way.”

  “He was threatening you?” Dante asked.

  “Not exactly. He seemed like a decent cop who was confused as to why all the cases he’s been following keep getting taken away from him. You have to admit, I’m linked to all of them, so it does look a bit suspicious.”

  Dante nodded. “Be that as it may, for your sake and his, it’s imperative he leave you alone. I’ll talk to Clive and see what he can do with their records.”

  “I don’t think that will work this time. He has been shuffled around from case to case. Ryan, Matt, Dream State and now this. My name appears everywhere. He already knows he’s on to something.”

  “There are other ways to deal with him,” Melina said.

  “You are not going to kill him. We’ll bribe them the way Vincent used to.”

  “No we won’t,” Melina said. “That fund was controlled by the Messengers. You haven’t got access to it, remember?”

  Dammit. That was a problem. “Well we have to do something.”

  “Alright, alright. I’m not going to kill him. But I am going to get something to eat,” Melina rose and headed out. “I’ll leave you two lovebirds to it.”

  Alex and Dante snuck a glance at each other, but it was Alex who spoke. “I should get going. I’ve got work tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow night, meet at T?”

  Alex smiled and nodded, squeezing his hand as her reply. Dante noticed a sparkle in her eye and slight reddening of her cheeks. She took a few steps before turning back to Dante, leaning down and pressing her lips to his. She rose again, waving to Dougie as she headed for the door. “I can’t wait.”

  *

  “What are your plans?” Dan
te asked.

  “Funny thing,” Dougie snorted. “I was going to ask you the same. What is this? Where is this going?”

  “Dougie, if you’re only going to stick around to question me, don’t bother. Thank you for saving me, but I need to do what I feel is right.”

  “Oh yeah? And what’s that? Drag that poor girl down?”

  “What?”

  “Let me tell you something, my friend.” Dougie leaned in. “You are starting to lose yourself. You care for her. It’s not fair on either of you to keep that bottled up. But what then? A human and us never works. You gonna turn her one day? What of the vow you made? I’d have never thought you’d break something like that.”

  “How long must I be held to that? How long must I go without what I want? Must I always think of others at every given opportunity? I have pushed her away, kept her at arm’s length, yet still she is by my side. I cannot deny the effect she’s had on me. I missed her. More than her blood. The time between the wolf invasion and now has given me perspective. I don’t know what will happen in the future, only now. You taught me that. For the first time in over twenty years I lost track of her. And it terrified me. I cannot hope to be a good king if my focus is not on the city.”

  “There ya have it. Right there. Your focus isn’t on the city. It’s on her.”

  “Dougie, I have to do this. I never wanted the throne. I did what I felt needed to be done. I would vacate it for anyone that was worthy. Does that sound like someone who has lost their way? Why must everything be a battle? What if we can make each other happy? Why isn’t that possible?”

  “The city is on the brink of disaster. The dark sky? The hunters are out in force and growing stronger. And you’re worried about one human. Did I not teach you about priorities?”

  “And after this there will be something else. Then another. And another. Always pushing her away until it’s the right time. Just let us get over this latest threat. And on and on it goes. Always putting myself and her last. When can I finally make her a priority? When the fighting stops? When will that be? And what has become clear to me in this time, is that part of the reason my focus has been on her is because she has not been at my side. I can keep her safe better knowing where she is, and it will let me focus better on the city.”

  Dougie nodded, though he did not look fully convinced as he rose and moved to the foot of the bed. “Before I go, I simply want to warn you about putting passion before principal. What if the only way to keep her was to lose everything else? The throne, Margaret’s trust, your place in Sydney, your livelihood. All of it. Would you?”

  Dante thought about it, but the answer came into his head instantly. “Yes.”

  Dougie let out a breath and remained silent. A deep sadness seemed to weigh down his features for a moment before he nodded again and took his leave.

  “You off again?” Dante asked.

  Dougie took a look around the room. “No point in staying, really”

  “Dougie, the city does need help. You were right in that. Will you stay to help us face this killer?”

  At the door, he turned and said one last thing.

  “No. This is wrong. You do this kid, you’re on your own.”

  Chapter 26

  Takeover

  Startled, Alex looked up from her marking the tests at her desk. It was recess and the room had been empty. Until now.

  “Hey, Tiff. Haven’t seen you for ages…”

  Tiffany was leaning against the doorframe, the lights above her head giving her skin an almost waxy hue.

  “Are you feeling all right, sweetie?” Alex felt something was off.

  Tiffany groaned and walked inside. She leant her elbows on Alex’s desk, holding her face.

  “What happened?”

  “I seriously cannot remember anything about my birthday. And last night is fuzzy too. Same feeling. I came to ask if you think there is any chance my drink was spiked that night?”

  “Oh my god, Tiff. Do you really think so?”

  “I don’t know. Seriously, though, I know this is TMI, but I feel like I’ve been rogered senseless by a rhino and I’m still feeling it. I was at T last night with the girls. Now I’m aching all over. But I don’t remember any of it. I’m trying not to freak out. I feel so weird. Partly tingly, almost in a good way, but everything hurts and I’m walking around like a crippled fowl. You sure you don’t think I got spiked? It couldn’t happen twice on separate occasions and me not know, right?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t put it past some guys, sweetie, but when I was with you before, the only thing I saw that was weird was the way you left.”

  “You saw me leave, and I was ok?”

  “Yeah. You left on your own and headed straight out. Just like that, without the girls. Not even with any guys. I feel so shitty that I didn’t follow you or make sure you got in a cab. Something. But you looked fine.”

  “All I remember from my birthday is waking up in a cab outside my flat, with the driver screaming at me to get out. But from sitting at the club to then? Blank. Just like last night. Except I remember coming home. Next thing I know I’m waking up naked as the day I was born, my head all over the place.”

  “Hang on.” Alex leaned forward. “Let me check something.” She lowered Tiffany’s collar as the bell rang signalling the children to return to class. Just as Alex feared. She’d been bitten. Two punctures. The edges of them frayed and bruised. Like they had been reopened again. Even some lower teeth marks were visible. Now it all made sense. She’d been bitten on her birthday and again last night. The vampire had been rough as all hell, too. No wonder she didn’t remember.

  Tiffany sunk to her knees and collapsed, but not so fast for Alex not to catch her. She was expecting it. “Ok, sweetie! You need to get to the hospital. Or home.”

  Tiffany mumbled something about her students.

  “Don’t worry about that. Your class is only in the next room. It’s the young kids. I can watch them for the rest of the day. Head to the staffroom, have a lie down and I’ll drive you home or anywhere when lunch comes, ok?”

  Tiffany nodded and Alex helped her into the staff room. When she returned, her class had taken their seats, and there were another two people in the room. A man and woman, holding clipboards. Oh, right. The board of education. Great start. No warning? No introduction? Guess that’s the point.

  She instructed her class to open their textbooks and read the next section silently, and she’d be back. Though she did mention she’d just be next door, for the benefit of those observing in the back.

  Alex headed to Tiff’s classroom, explained that Tiffany wasn’t feeling well and she would just be next door. Alex looked at the desk and saw the notes Tiffany was working from. Practising cursive writing. Cool. Easy.

  Alex wrote three words on the board and asked the class to copy them down in cursive as best they could. There were murmurings behind her as she began. This was clearly not their favourite exercise, or the words she had chosen were deemed difficult.

  “Uh, Miss?”

  She paused and turned. “Yes?”

  The asker pointed at a young girl with her head on the table, looking like she was asleep. Alex walked across to her, leaning down. “Hey, sweetie, you ok?”

  There was barely any movement. Alex gently ran her hand across the back of her head. Even that caused her to feel the icy coldness under her hand. She was freezing. Alex got to her knees. “What’s her name?” she asked the other students.

  “Abbey. She’s been sick.”

  Alex nodded. “Abbey? Abbey, can you hear me, hun?”

  Abbey moaned a little louder, slowly sitting up. Her breathing rasped in her throat. Asthma attack maybe? “I want my daddy…” she sobbed.

  Alex picked her up and carried her to the front office, her breathing growing more difficult. Her temperature seemed to drop even further. Alex normally couldn’t think about leaving one, let alone two classes, but this was an emergency.

  She rushed into the
office. “Carol! Ambulance!”

  Alex laid the girl on the main lounge and took some spare blankets and wrapped her up as tight and warm as she could.

  “Please…I want my daddy.”

  “We’ll call him for you, sweetheart. Don’t worry.”

  Carol didn’t waste any time calling the ambulance first.

  “Yes, St. Therese’s Mascot. That’s right. Well she has been brought in by a teacher looking pale, cold. Maybe an asthma attack. She’s having trouble breathing. Ok, thank you. Yes, I’ll stay on the phone. Oh, hang on… Alex what’s her full name? They’re asking.”

  Alex shook her head. “I don’t know. She’s not my student. Abbey something.” She grasped the girl by the shoulder. “Hun, can you tell me your name, please? So we can call your dad for you?”

  “Abigail…” The girl wheezed. “Crane.”

  *

  “Chief of Police Andrew Scallione has today outraged the more than ninety families of the Shadow Killer victims by announcing the bodies will not be released for funeral rites as the investigation is still ongoing. With the hunt for the culprit no closer to concluding, he says that the coroner’s office requires extra time to conduct further examinations in a bid to solve the case. ‘I feel for the families. I do. I have a wife and two daughters. But I need people to please try for patience and understanding in this horrible time. We are dealing with a depraved individual who has proved very cunning so far. But I say this, we will find him. We will bring him to justice. But to do that, we need to call upon the good people of Sydney to help us.’”

  - 6am News Bulletin

  Chapter 27

  Last Line of Defence

  Solomon gripped the handles on one side of the body bag, the coroner took hold of those opposite. “Okay, Charlie, on my count. One, two three!”

  They heaved the body from the gurney onto the surgical table.

  “You know, most people invite their mates for beer and strippers,” Charlie said, fixing himself a pair of rubber gloves. “You’re getting obsessed, Sol. You’re gonna get an ulcer. I don’t even work in your precinct. Aren’t you gonna get into trouble?”