Day Dreamer (Undeadly Secrets Book 2)

by Aaron L Speer

  “No, they are not. This one,” he said holding up the one Miller had presented to him, “is fake. Absolutely worthless. Dante wrote it himself. And yet it was good enough to fool my father. At least it would’ve distracted him long enough that Dante could do whatever he’d had planned.”

  Julian thought he had the gist of it now. The wolf had been brought here and escaped. Melina and Dante had killed Vincent. Oh, Father, if only you had accepted me. I would have protected you. It made him sick to his stomach to think it, but he had more important things than avenging his father to worry about.

  Without a moment’s further dwelling, Julian marched with Miller to the elevators and took it down.

  “You have been…helpful. Calm under fire,” Julian addressed Miller, gaze held firmly on the mirrored doors.

  “Man, I have no idea what the fuck is goin’ on. But you are all I’ve got. You saved my life. Whatever you need, I’ll do it.”

  “Very good. I will make you no promises save for that I will be a better father to you than mine was.”

  “So,” Miller looked sidelong at Julian. “Why are we using the elevator instead of you just beaming or zapping or whatever it is that you do?”

  “My father used the Waratah plant in the cement when these lower rooms were being built. It counters my ability to teleport.”

  And repel vampires much the way garlic was supposed to. Julian was briefly taken back to early Sydney when the fucking things were everywhere. Hung on door ways and some even around their necks. There was an unspoken myth that when the Waratah was not in bloom, people wound up missing or dead. It was with a sense of disgust, Julian realized that the Waratah protected the people of NSW and vampires were partially the reason for it being the state’s emblem.

  The doors opened and they both stepped out into the Information Centre. Shelves full of computers and components lined the walls and there were screens everywhere. Many of them showed the various rooms covered by the mansion’s security cameras. A glass door showed an inner room with even more computers that Clive kept at a cooler temperature. Julian rarely bothered going in there, but now he strode over and slid the door open.

  “Clive,” Julian snarled, looking around. “You had better be here, you snivelling coward. If I find out you had anything to do with helping Dante, I will feed your cock to a rabid dog while it’s still on your body.”

  “Doesn’t seem like anybody’s here. Who the hell is Clive anyway?”

  Julian let the server room door close again. “A hacker my father uses…used, for years. I need him to send an email immediately.”

  “Email? That’s all you need? I can do that. It’s piss easy.”

  “How is it you know this?”

  “Everyone does these days.” Miller shrugged. “I guess you really are older than you look.”

  Julian grunted and indicated the desk chair. Miller sat and tapped at the keyboard, starting up some program. “What’s his user name and password?”

  “Vincent and flayed.” Julian recalled.

  “Sick,” Miller smiled. “Ok,” he said, scanning the screen. “Here we go. Who do you want to send it to?”

  “Look for anything that has been recently sent. There is bound to be something from Damien Creed.”

  “Yep, here it is.” Miller clicked and a reply box opened.

  “Very well, write this: Creed, It’s Julian. Situation critical. Mansion compromised. Vincent dead. Alpha still alive.”

  “Ok, sent. Now what?”

  “We wait.”

  “Didn’t you say this is going to England? It’ll take ages before we get a reply.”

  “If I know Creed, he’ll have this email chain patrolled twenty-four hours a day until he gets news the Alpha has been killed. Now he knows the truth, we likely won’t have to wait long at all.”

  *

  “North! Hostile incoming!” a guard screamed. The car headed straight for the opening of the apartments and fast. Dante took the opportunity to sprint around the back as the guards patrolling the area scrambled to the front. He leapt high and grabbed a window ledge, steadied himself, then crawled upwards as fast as he could, listening to the alerted guards and judging their positions.

  The men that manoeuvred in front of the building stood their ground, pumping every round they could at the oncoming vehicle’s windshield. The bullets destroyed the glass it was plane to see there was no driver.

  “Take cover!”

  Dante heard the car smash into the stairs leading up to the opening and flip forward, crashing into glass and steel before exploding, sending bodies and more glass flying.

  As his fingers gripped the edge of the roof, the three men guarding it ran for the opposite end, peering over to see the billowing flames of the car wave furiously up at them. Dante inhaled a second time, these were vampires, not men. Just what Dante wanted.

  The leader put his hand to his ear.

  “Street team! Does anyone copy? Does anyone copy, over? Level team, we have a situation here. Stay where you are! That’s an order. If they get past us you’re the only protection for the cargo.”

  He cocked his gun and placed one foot on the ledge, peering through his scope, then Dante struck. “Right, fellas, this is what we trained for…” Dante snaked behind them, gripped the chins of the men on either side of the leader and twisted quickly. “Look sharp…fellas?”

  The leader turned and Dante snatched the gun out of his hand before he had moved his body the entire way.

  “I’m so glad this is what you’ve trained for,” Dante said, snapping the gun in two hands.

  The vampire stared at Dante and then reached for his pistol, before Dante launched a kick to his chest. A second later his body was hurtling to the ground, screaming as he dropped.

  *

  “And that’s our signal,” Melina said to the Elements of Night and the pack behind her.

  “A frontal attack, are you serious?” Calibos paused while loading his pistol. “Just because we’re alongside you, don’t think we’ll fall for a trap. You aren’t trusted.”

  “Oh my god, let me get you some cheese to go with that whine. I thought you were all bad-arse killers?” Melina scoffed. She stood and faced the opening, spotting the guards form a defensive layout, cocking their weapons one by one. “You wanna see a real killer, I’ll show you a real killer,” she said as her fangs extended slowly. “Besides,” looked up at Dante. “He’s at least one up. There ain’t no way he is beating me at this game.”

  *

  “Ahh, lookie here.” Miller rubbed his hands excitedly and clicked on the reply.

  “What does it say?”

  “He’s pissed. The first bit is all in capitals… Wow, so intimidating.”

  “WHAT DOES IT SAY?” Julian may have to start this kid’s lessons sooner rather than later, just to keep Miller from getting on his last nerve.

  “Okay, and I quote: You dead shits are absolutely fucking useless. Forget telling you about a plan. I will deal with this myself. I am coming to Sydney with my best men. As the mansion has been compromised, it is not safe to divulge anything further. Find a safe computer to contact me and delete this. If it’s not too difficult.”

  Julian growled. Smug bastard. “Let us leave.”

  They walked into the elevator together, but Miller turned and faced him as the doors closed. “Wait! So what about your dad? Those fuckers killed him.”

  “That fact does not escape me.” Julian countered as the elevator shot upwards. “And they will pay. But the best revenge is the one they don’t know is coming.”

  Julian gripped Miller’s shoulder and disappeared with a pop as soon as he was out of reach of the Waratah.

  *

  Lauren materialised as soon as she heard the pop and released her hand from over Clive’s mouth.

  “Is there any way to stop them sending another email? From contacting him?” Lauren asked.

  “No, I’m sorry. They could go anywhere and use any computer, any email. And w
hat good would it do now? This Creed guy is already on his way, he said.”

  “Fuck. Can you find out when these beasts are arriving? Isn’t there any goddamn thing you can do?”

  “Look. I, uh, I can’t stop them, but I might be able to slow them down. They wouldn’t use commercial airliners, not with the money they have. So it would be a private jet. From London.” Clive pulled up the desk chair and began a search. “I can monitor air traffic from here. When I see a special clearance request, I can pin them down, but not for long. It will at least give us some indication of how long we have. I can mark their plane for a special check or something when they get here, but they will get in eventually.”

  “Do it. Do all of it.”

  “Ok…” Lauren looked down at Clive’s trembling fingers. He clenched his fists to still them and started typing again. Beads of sweat were forming on his brow and trickles of blood were running down his neck from under a gauze on his neck. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “I’m feeling a bit hot. I think the love bite you gave me is infected.” He gave a half-hearted chuckle.

  My bite? I did that? “Oh shit, lackey. I’m so sorry.” Lauren licked a fang, cutting her tongue as she peeled the gauze off with her fingernails. “Come here.”

  “No, it’s ok…” Clive leaned away, but without much conviction.

  “Oh, shut up.” Lauren held the side of his face with one hand and licked his neck, mopping up the blood and using her own to heal the wound. “Better?”

  Clive’s heart pumped faster, bringing a delicious smell to the surface of his skin. Better, she knew.

  “Yes…thank you.”

  Lauren certainly felt better. “This might freak you out a bit, but boy do you taste good. I haven’t eaten in hours but I feel, refreshed.”

  “Uh… That’s nice.” Clive peered at her for a moment, but went back to typing.

  Lauren planted a kiss on his cheek. “I never thanked you for coming to get me that night. Thank you, lackey.”

  Clive blushed, making him look even tastier, and was also somehow very endearing. The corners of his mouth twitched and he leaned over his computer with renewed vigour.

  After a few moments, he asked, “Do you really think Dante can win? Against Julian and an entire pack?”

  “I don’t know, but he is willing to try. And I’m going to help him. Dante was the only one to believe in me. He could’ve killed me last year in the car park but he didn’t. Even after everything I’ve done, everyone else would’ve dropped me. He gave me a second chance. I owe him.”

  *

  Melina took the lead, several steps in front of Calibos and the Elements of Night. On the other side of the flaming wreckage, she estimated twenty guards lay in wait. She heard them, inside what was left of the lobby of Raven Apartments, raise their weapons, expecting the attack, holding steady. They whispered their cute little code words, as if that meant anything. Death had come for them. Melina led the Elements of Night through the flames and into their line of sight, heading straight for them.

  “Fire!”

  The guards had barely squeezed their triggers when Melina and the Elements took off in all directions. Bullets from the guards flew everywhere, but the only thing they hit was furniture, stone or glass. They were just too fast. The shots from the Elements however found their mark again and again. Guards dropped from bullets to the head left and right. They were the lucky ones.

  Melina gleefully laughed, cutting, tearing and biting her way through body after body, too fast for any human guard to see. As the last man fell, Melina was soaked in crimson and not a drop of it was her own.

  “Best…shower…ever.” She raised her index finger and licked it.

  She swore as a piercing pain jolted through her shoulder. A bullet. She turned and faced the shooters direction, finding an attractive middle-aged woman quivering in the elevator, pointing a small six shooter at her.

  Melina smiled and placed her hands on her knees, addressing her the way you would a puppy.

  “Oh, that’s so adorable! Do you sleep with that under your pillow?”

  Without another word, Melina had snatched the gun and held it under the woman’s chin, forcing her to lay down half way in the elevator. “I won’t kill you for shooting me, ok?” Melina said, looking down to face her and smiling. “Tell me your name.”

  “S…Samantha.”

  “Wait a minute. You’re the one that only fucks vampires right?”

  “What…no…no…yes.”

  Melina now recognized her. She had seen her at the mansion once or twice. Samantha. The vampire whore. Now a 9-to-5 switch bitch for Vincent. Well, not anymore.

  Melina smiled warmly. “Isn’t it true you got Dante to feed off you? Vincent told me you humped him for fun when he didn’t really want it.”

  “Yes…once,” she replied. “Does that really matter?”

  “Of course!” Melina exclaimed happily, placing her hand on the door of the elevator. Suddenly she turned her expression cold, her true feelings towards this piece of shit. “It matters to me, bitch.”

  “NO!”

  Melina slammed the elevator door closed, crushing Samantha’s body so hard the two ends folded inwards. Her face and mouth smacking against the cold metal, as did her knees and feet on the other side, breaking several places.

  *

  Dante crashed through the window of Hershel’s penthouse.

  “What on earth is going on here?” he demanded.

  “I’ve come for a cure and the wolf prisoners,” Dante said, rising slowly, flaring his fangs as he took in the seven vats of Dream State lining the wall, all with tubes containing blood travelling through a hole leading to a back room.

  “Have you gone insane? There is no cure. What prisoners? There is no one else here.”

  “Don’t lie to me,” Dante roared, lifting Herschel in the air. “I want the cure for Dream State?”

  “There is none. It isn’t a disease. It was designed for vampires, and we are immune to its ill effects. If humans are stupid enough to take it, they deserve to die.”

  Dante turned his head, smelling something. He dropped Hershel to the floor and moved towards his desk. Now he could hear it, whimpering, sniffling. He pulled the desk from its bolts with one hand and revealed a small boy in the foetal position, scared out of his mind and sobbing. He was holding his arm, bleeding from two puncture marks near his wrist.

  “You feed off children?” Dante asked, still looking at the young boy.

  Dante did not wait for an answer, leaping on top of Hershel and beating his head against the floor. Dante heard a pop and blood poured out of a wound he created. He lifted and slammed him into the dentist chair.

  Dante walked towards a vat of Dream State and unhooked a delivery hose, bringing it over to Herschel. “Your project is over.”

  Herschel laughed, coughing and spitting out blood. “You think you’re so smart. Do you have any idea how much money I bring in for Vincent? How many projects I have in the pipeline? How many experiments I oversee? How many sinister things I keep under wraps? What will happen to them when I’m gone? Have you even thought about that?”

  “Not really,” Dante said. “I’ve really only thought about this.”

  He plunged the hose as far as it could go into a screaming Hershel’s cranium, and kicked the chair towards the window. The brute force ripped the holds off the other vats. They and the table they were on, followed Hershel sailing out the window and plummeted down onto the flaming car, obliterating him and the vats in seconds.

  Dante sensed that Herschel was lying about the prisoners, not about the cure. There was no cure. No hope for Michelle. For any of them.

  Dante retreated his fangs as he closed in on the small boy, who still scurried backwards to the wall.

  “I swear I’m not going to hurt you, and neither will he anymore.”

  “Stay away from me,” the terrified boy screamed.

  Dante lowered himself to one knee. “Can you te
ll me your name?” he said gently.

  The boy shook his head fiercely. “Go away!”

  “You heard him,” said Melina. She had come up the elevator, and shifted Dante out of the way. “Move, you big ugly thing you!”

  Melina knelt in Dante’s place as Dante backed far away. He knew what she was trying and hoped it worked on the poor boy, although the fact she was covered in blood didn’t seem like it would help the situation much.

  Melina made her voice go soft, and velvety smooth. When she spoke, she didn’t sound like a vampire, but a teenager, as pure as New York snow. “Oh honey, please don’t cry. I know how terrible it must’ve been for you all this time, but that man was a monster and we’re…” she paused. “We’re not like that. We’d never hurt you sweetie. We just want to get you home. We need to get that bite fixed. You’ve been so brave through all this. Will you let me help you?”

  “Can you find my dad?” the boy asked meekly.

  “Of course. Is he here in the building?”

  The boy nodded.

  “Then we’ll go right after I fix that bite for you.”

  Melina held out her hand, and smiled at him, one that spoke to the boy of trust and love. Slowly, the boy eased his way over to her and took her hand with his injured one. No matter how young, Melina’s voice unconsciously drew in all males. A siren song none could resist.

  She bit her finger and rubbed his wrist before he could even stop her. She let him go so he could see the instant effect for himself.

  “Now that wasn’t so hard, was it…?”

  “Zachary,” he said.

  “Oh.” She smiled. “I love that name. “Look, see? All gone.”

  Zachary seemed to brighten up just a little and found the energy to hug Melina. “Thank you.”

  She lifted him into her arms and rubbed his back. “You’re more than welcome, brave boy.”

  Chapter 41

  Rise of the Alpha

  Dante watched Melina take Zachary down the lift to find the boy’s father. Dante needed to find something else. He knew the wolves must be in here somewhere. He scanned the room, somewhat chagrined at the destruction he’d caused. He had not really been acting like himself lately. What’s wrong with me? he wondered. What’s different now? As he tried to play the last weeks over in his head, he spotted a portion of the wall that looked…odd. Dante approached the spot, tilting his head this way and that, and tried to determine what was so strange. Perhaps my temper tantrum served a good purpose this time.