Shadow Chaser (Undeadly Secrets Book 3)

by Aaron L Speer

  When there were no more, he spun around and looked directly at her chest.

  “How ya goin’, baby?” he said with a smirk, deliberately adjusting himself in front of her. “That’s right. Don’t adjust your sets. Keep turning those pages.” Nightingale stretched his arms out. “Number one in ya heart and twelve between ya legs...”

  *

  Solomon approached the old cafeteria in complete darkness. He wasn’t sure what had happened to the power. There was no warning announcement from the hospital, and no alarm of any kind. Nor was there any response when he called out for the relief nurse. It didn’t take his police skills to know something was wrong. Yet when he heard the tremendous crash outside, that confirmed it. He reached for his gun and held it ready out of instinct, but had no time to respond to the sound when out of the shadows he was bowled over. His pistol went flying and a stethoscope struck him in the face. Ow, shit! The nurse?

  Whoever it was, clenched his throat with their hands. Solomon reached blindly around, his fingers alighting on an old-style coffee pot. He swung it around with all his might toward what he imagined was the head. He struck something, and the coffee pot smashed. Whoever it was tumbled off him. Solomon crawled to his feet and sprinted out. He needed to find light. Something. He couldn’t fight something he couldn’t see. He reached blindly for his phone, using the torch app to shine the light around, and brought it back towards to door through which he had just escaped. It swung to and fro gently, and Solomon hoped it was from his exit, and no one else’s. He had heard nothing in the last few seconds, but he had been fooled before. Where’s my gun? Gotta find it. Being defenceless in this situation was not a good thing. He needed to get outside too, to find out what the hell was going on. But one thing at a time.

  He pushed the door open, edging himself inside once again, scanning the room slowly. No sign of anyone—not the person who attacked him anyway. Solomon did find his gun, only a few feet away. He held it aloft, still looking around for his assailant. What he did find was stretchers. Two of them. Both empty. Two body bags on the floor beside them. One of the bags contained a tag, visible in between the zip. Solomon looked at it. Samantha Dean. She’s a Shadow Killer victim. What the hell is she doing here? And then he remembered, some bodies had been moved to outer areas to let forensics investigate further. He hadn’t thought they’d resorted to places outside of morgues and mortuaries, though.

  Regardless, if the bodies weren’t here, where were they?

  Solomon gave the room a sweeping glance. It looked like the room was empty, his attacker had gone. …And is now loose in the hospital. Goddammit! Solomon jogged out and headed towards the elevator. Something made him hurry. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he imagined he felt something behind him, closing in. Solomon directed the light of his phone down the hall, at the cafeteria. It wasn’t his imagination after all. Three people approaching him—three women. If he could call these…things…women. They didn’t look human. The lead was the nurse that had attacked him. Her eyes looked white, as were the others’. They moved slowly, stalking forward, shoulders twitching, mouths sneering.

  “Police! Freeze!”

  They didn’t stop. Yeah, I didn’t think that’d work. The nurse lowered herself to a crawl, moving faster, giving off a guttural cry as blood flowed from her mouth. Solomon fired two shots directly into her face, but she still didn’t stop. Now the others joined her in crawling. The elevator chimed as the trio raced forward.

  Solomon kept firing, but they kept coming. He fell back into the open elevator and emptied his clip just as the door closed, cutting them off.

  Chapter 52

  The Big Dog Returns

  “What the hell are you doing here? Since when do you care about anybody but yourself?”

  “All Big Dog wanted was a peaceful night in. But OH NO! Can’t have that. Friday night, and the footy is on, but all I hear is fuckin’ screamin’ everywhere. Piece o’ shit!” Nightingale jabbed a punch into a ghoul’s head and his fist came through its skull. It was killed instantly.

  Lauren, baffled, screwed up her face in confusion and annoyance. “Who the hell are you talking to?”

  Nightingale shoved his hand, two fingers held up, in front of her face. “Two things you don’t fuck with, Floaties! Big Dog’s footy, and Big Dog’s pussy. I finally found a bird that could take my whole cock down her throat. Big Dog was gonna do what he does best. Rootin’ like a rabid dog. But I’m ’ere with you. Seriously, I leave you incompetent pricks alone for two seconds and look where you are. One way ticket to Fuckedville.”

  Lauren grimaced as a clawed hand sunk its nails into her ankle, gripped by a ghoul crawling along the pavement. Nightingale proceeded to stomp a mud hole in the ghoul’s head, disintegrating it into a bony paste. “Big Dog is trying to have a conversation here, you rude. Sliver. Of. Canary spoof!” he cried, kicks punctuating his words.

  “You really are one of those lunatics who talks about himself in the third person, aren’t you?” Lauren shouted.

  “Personified! And you’re about as entertaining as one fuckin’ tennis player. Don’t gimme shit. I don’t need to save your life. I can go home.”

  Two ghouls rushed at him and with an effortless gesture, he crushed them together, bathing his hands in black tar. Melina roared his name and having defeated the ghouls attacking her, rushed at him. “I swear, whether or not I die tonight, I will get one good shot in!”

  Melina swung with everything she had and clocked Nightingale on the end of the chin. “That’s one! Plenty more where that came from, you ’roided-up Barbie doll!”

  Nightingale slapped his hand on her full face and held it there. “Greetings, sea hag! Very impressive. Big Dog bored now. Bitch be gone.”

  With a shove, Nightingale sent Melina onto her back. He moved to the back of the minivan and popped the boot, muttering to himself, throwing various objects over his shoulder. A tennis ball. A handbag. A teddy bear. A vibrator. “Where is that thing!”

  “What are you doing?” Lauren asked as both Koha and Matt fired off round after round. More ghouls were converging.

  “I did what every self-respecting Aussie would do in a crisis. A-ha!” He held up a bottle of Jack Daniels. “I turned to God...by raidin’ the bottle-o.” He handed Lauren the bottle. “Hold this, Floaties.”

  Floaties? And then it hit her. The ass was talking about her breasts. Floatation devices.

  “Learn my name, you fucking jerkface.”

  “I could if I gave a shit. But I don’t. So I won’t.”

  He planted the bottle in Lauren’s hand without waiting for a reply and reached far into the boot, dragging something out very heavy. Lauren barely had time to prepare herself when she heard more rushing feet. Whipping her head around, she saw lines of ghouls stretched across the road. It seemed like hundreds of them. Rushing forward.

  Nightingale emerged with a heap of chain in his hands. He dropped it with a dull thunk to the ground. “Cheers,” he said, snatching the bottle back, twisting the top off and pouring it down on top of the chains.

  As the bottle emptied, Nightingale took an unsteady step forward, Nathaniel had latched onto his back, pulling on his hair in a raging frenzy.

  “Nathaniel, no!” Lauren said.

  Nightingale swiped and gripped Nathaniel, pulling him off and holding him at bay. “Hey! Not the hair. Never the hair! What’s your problem, ya’ cheeky lil’ leprechaun?”

  “I know you!” Nathaniel swiped at Nightingale but missed. “You hit Melina! You hit girls!”

  “That’s actually pretty cute. And fucking annoying...”

  *

  Solomon burst out of the elevator and bolted to the nurse’s station. He found the on-duty nurse crouched behind the corner of the desk. He looked at her name badge. “Judy, can you get a line out?”

  “No, all the lines are dead. Do you know what’s happening? It sounds like a warzone out there.”

  “Besides the elevator, is there any other w
ay to get in and out of the lower ground floor?”

  “The maintenance stairs?”

  “Shit! Tell everyone on this floor to find a room and stay there. Lock the doors. If you need to keep guard over critical patients, go to those rooms. No other patrols, no rounds. Not until I get back.”

  Solomon reloaded his pistol even though he knew it wouldn’t do him any good. He marched forward to check on his family and they were both still asleep. Whirling around, he pointed his gun towards the opposite end of the hallway toward the elevator. The three monsters had emerged. The nurse was the only one walking, the other two were crawling on the wall on either side of her.

  Judy covered her mouth in shock.

  “Stay back,” Solomon ordered. “They’re all infected with something.”

  Just then a window directly between Solomon and the women imploded, sending what looked like a human child through it. The boy got up and looked like her was about to head back out the window. But then he saw the three creatures coming and stood his ground.

  “Son, come here to me, quick!”

  The boy looked at him with utter contempt and before turning back said. “You’re not Dante. I don’t take orders from you.”

  Instead, he picked up a piece of glass and headed straight for them.

  *

  “Hey, Jesus! What the hell was that?” Lauren didn’t really care for Nathaniel all that much, but he didn’t deserve to be thrown through a window.

  “He’ll bounce back. Ha! Bounce.” Nightingale chuckled at his own joke. He flicked his lighter and dropped it onto the bourbon-covered chains, which instantly burst into flames.

  Nightingale cracked his neck, staring off at the closing ghouls and yet turned to the rest of the protectors of the hospital. “Watch this, Floaties. I’m gonna be a superhero.”

  He then turned his attention to the mass of danger closing in. “What are you lookin’ at, ya dead-eyed, people-eatin’ fucks?” With a slight sizzle, Nightingale picked up the chain and ran head first into the undead army, his red coat flapping behind him. Spinning and whirling the flaming chain and his body. He was maniacal and relentless. Striking anything that moved with the ferocious swings of the steel. Limbs, torsos and finally the heads snapped or exploded off.

  Dante, please tell me you’re hurrying the fuck up, Lauren thought to herself before throwing herself into the fray in the same way, leaping high and coming down to pummel anything that stood in her way.

  Chapter 53

  To Save a Life

  Dante and Michelle walked through the emptied school in complete silence. He had a fair idea of where Alexandra was, but he allowed his senses to direct him anyway. The scent of her was gone, replaced by something foul, strangely akin to jet fuel. Even if he didn’t know her class number or the floor she was on, he would have no trouble narrowing in on that smell.

  As they crept up the stairs and rounded the corner to her classroom, a hollow, gleeful laughter drifted toward them.

  “Oh, this should be grand.” The same voice continued. It was not Alex; it was unlike anything he had heard before. Dante carefully went first, easing himself around the corner of the doorframe. Floating vertically in midair, hovering really, with each flap of her smoky black wings, was the thing that once was Alexandra.

  “Have you come to say your last goodbyes?” It was to them the thing was speaking.

  “We’re here to get our girl back, you son of a bitch!” Michelle moved to rush the thing in anger, but Dante held her back.

  “Your girl? Yours? My dear, petulant wretch, I have penetrated her and she has bled for me. She is most definitely mine. Now and forever. I feel it. Her energy flows through me, more with each passing moment. Her pure unstoppable power is blackened by my will alone. But you did not come to hear my monologue. Let us play out this ridiculous fantasy that you can stop me. Let this be our final, pointless battle.”

  “Alexandra, can you hear me?” Dante said.

  “So this is what you are going with then?”

  “Alex, listen to me” Michelle called. “You have to fight him. Please. We’re here. You’ve got...people who love you, here. We’re not giving up on you.”

  “She can’t hear you, you ridiculous fools.”

  “Then why haven’t you struck yet?” Dante sneered, circling around him.

  “Is that what’s bothering you? I’m happy to oblige.”

  The thing kicked Dante hard in the chest, and the movement sent Alexandra’s possessed body sailing through the air. The thing flew backwards and flipped over a table. With a cry of strength, Alexandra summoned a bolt of lightning that tore through the ceiling and flashed around the room, surrounding Alexandra in sizzling arcs of electricity. She remained unaffected. Dante scurried to avoid a thin white-hot branch of it.

  “And you. What do you have to say for yourself human?” Alexandra swooped to Michelle and grabbed her by the neck, lifting her up into the air, choking her. Dante got to one knee and reached into his pocket, fingering the medallion. “Why are you here? What makes you think you can even walk alongside the Titans of this world? What can you possibly contribute to a war?”

  “A distraction...” Michelle choked her words out, gasping for breath.

  Dante leapt and wrapped the chain around Alexandra’s neck. When the metal hit her skin, Alexandra bellowed in agony and Michelle was tossed like a doll to the other side of the room.

  “I know your name, beast.” Dante remembered the Night Mother’s words. “To defeat this creature is simple. That is the ironic riddle, the solution in all the old tales. Call it by its name. That will bring the demon out to be vanquished. Naming a demon does not give it power, it gives it life. Wrap the chain around her neck so that the medallion touches her skin.

  “I name thee Dominus.”

  Alexandra sunk lower, gravity catching up with her as Dante fell too. The smoke of her wings was being sucked toward a single source: the medallion.

  “You fuck,” screeched the demon. “You have no idea what you’re doing!”

  “That’s it?” Dante had asked the Night Mother..

  “That is all. Defeat may be simple, the cost is not.”

  Alexandra’s struggles became less and less. The demon was howling in pain, yet the sound, Dante noticed, was not from her lips. Colour began to return to her face.

  “Dante...” she said. “I got so lost. I couldn’t stop myself. I’m so sorry.”

  Her voice was weakened and cracked but it was her. Dante kissed her, and then held her close, grateful beyond all measure that she was back and she held him just as tight as the black continued to flow into the medallion.

  “What is the cost?”

  “You are removing all traces of Dominus from her. All traces...”

  “Dante what is this,” she looked down at the medallion and then to his face. “What’s wrong?”

  “The demon, he’s leaving you. The medallion enabled it. You’ve been saved. But...”

  “But what?”

  “Including the memory of the one who rids her of it. That is the price for her life.”

  “When it’s completely gone, you won’t remember me.”

  “What?” Alex said, looking up at him. “No, stop it!”

  “I can’t. It’s almost done.”

  “What are you talking about? Why would you do this?” Alexandra’s tears flowed and Dante struggled to answer through his own. “This is my fault. I had to save you. Your life is more important.”

  “It’s not my life without you in it. Dante please...what about what we shared? All the things you said to me?”

  Dante shook his head, hating what he had to say. “You won’t remember them. It will be like they never happened.”

  “Don’t say that!” Alex cried, sobbing. “I love you.”

  Alex gripped him tightly, crying into his chest. Dante cringed, trying to remind himself this was for the best. It was the only way to save her from the demon. But her heartbroken sobs tore at his very soul.
“I love you. That’s why. I had to save you.”

  “Remind me. Please. Tell me you love me again.”

  “I can’t.” He stroked her tear-stained cheek, and rested his chin on top of her head. “If you get reminded, the demon will take you over again. And then there will be no defence to help you.”

  “No. I can’t be without you. Not like this. Please don’t let me forget, don’t let me forget, don’t let...”

  And then she slumped back, unconscious. The black smoke had gone, broken apart by a flash of gold that puffed from her body. The medallion’s V pulsed a bright, luminous red. All was silent, save for Michelle crouching in the corner. Dante held Alexandra in his arms for a few more moments, stroking her face with his hand, remembering what it was like to touch her, to feel her warmth. For that was all she would be now. A beautiful, bittersweet memory.

  Michelle leant down and hugged him from behind, shaking with tears. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you let me use that thing?”

  “I had to fix my mistake.”

  “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “She was raped, Michelle. Violated. I saw it. All because of my selfishness.”

  Michelle held the side of his face tenderly, turning his face to her. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t know this was gonna happen.”

  Dante thought back to all the warnings he’d received. The vow he’d made to Margaret, broken. Even Vincent had known it was a bad idea. But one warning in particular stood out. “Dougie knew. He knew something. I just didn’t listen.”

  Dante held her hand and touched his chin to it. “I must leave. She may wake up, she may not. But I can’t be here in case. I will call an ambulance just in case she has injuries.”

  Michelle nodded. “I’ll stay with her.”

  “I appreciate that.”