“Dante...” Michelle said, watching him head for the door. “I’m so sorry.”
Dante gave her and Alex a glance. “So am I.”
Dante left the room and headed out into the corridor, taking a few steps before needing to hold on to the wall to keep himself steady. He slid down the wall on his back, holding his head and sobs wracked him in a way he hadn’t experienced in years. It wasn’t the fact that he was again reminded of his curse. Two hundred years he had walked on the earth and he was dead inside. He hadn’t asked for any of this, only did the best he could with it. Was he truly cursed to never be happy? That despite all his work to help people, to be better than the vampire stories dictated; that no matter what he did, the one time he thought of himself, not only was he punished but so were the people he loved. Not for the first time, he questioned the universe. If everything was nothing but depression and darkness, year after year, what was the point of trying?
*
All at once, the ghouls dropped to the ground all around Lauren. And it wasn’t due to strikes of a chain or blows from a fist. As the seconds increased, Lauren dared to hope. Had it worked? Perhaps her best answer was Nightingale finally dropping the flaming chains and sinking to his knees. He held up his charred, bleeding hands. “Who’s idea was that” he whispered to himself. “Fuckin’ stupid.”
Lauren turned in a slow circle and saw that all of the ghouls were fallen. Melina shoved one off her and collapsed in exhaustion. Matt helped Koha to his feet and they both looked at each other for a few seconds, embracing like brothers in arms would.
Nathaniel landed beside Lauren, dusting glass shards off his shoulders. He walked over to Nightingale but kept his distance. “I think you are a very bad man. I hate you.”
Nightingale didn’t even look at him, but his tone was sad when he replied. “That makes two of us.”
Lauren was puzzled. Was that a rare moment of clarity? Self-reflection from Nightingale? He hated himself. Nathaniel didn’t seem to care, rushing away from Nightingale and over to Melina, wrapping his arms around her neck as she held him.
“We should get out of here,” Lauren muttered, but when she turned back to where Nightingale had been sitting, he had gone. Wherever he had disappeared to, she couldn’t believe how grateful she was for him being there. To all of them. But none more so than Dante. “Thank you,” she whispered into the night.
*
Solomon had watched the kid hack away at the bodies. A toddler. Hacking away. The bodies had all been fighting him, yet he’d used the walls as leverage to launch his attacks. Then the bodies had fallen. The boy had checked to make sure they wouldn’t rise again, and without a word or glance, he had leapt out of the window he had streaked through.
He turned to Judy. She had seen the same thing. They wordlessly agreed on what they saw but couldn’t understand. Would never understand. With a whir of power, the lights came on.
“Solomon? Sol, where are you?” It was Karen.
Solomon jogged back to his daughter’s room. His heart leapt. His daughter was awake. He looked at her exhausted but smiling face, and all other elements of the night disappeared. He had seen something tonight, felt something untouchable. A darkness few ever had to experience, thankfully. He would never know fully what the hell had happened. What he did know, as he embraced his family, and felt them hold him in return, was that a darkness had been lifted. With that, he knew what the immediate future held. Solomon would walk into his precinct tomorrow and hand in his badge.
And for the first time in almost ten years, Solomon did something he had once vowed he would never do again.
He prayed.
Chapter 54
Say Hello to My Little Friend
Nicole screamed through clamped lips. Anthony knelt in front of her, yelling over the continuous air raid siren.
“What can I do? Do you need, like, hot water?”
“I think he’s kicked a hole in something,” she replied through gritted teeth. Then another contraction pulled apart her insides, and she yelped and swore at the top of her lungs.
“Look, this is going to sound like a dick thing to say, but I wouldn’t be screaming, if I were you. They can hear you.”
The door burst open. A lanky man walked through with a satisfied grin. “Well, well. Tynan will be happy. Let’s see what’s under the hood, shall we?”
“No, we shall not. You shall stay the hell away from me,” Nicole screeched in desperate panic.
The man growled and spun around, slinging a fist behind him at something Nicole couldn’t see. Suddenly he fell back and a blonde woman, completely drenched, hurled herself on top of him, thrashing away with her fists. Her fangs were out, and she was seething with rage. She clenched her fingers around the man’s throat, stabbing her nails inwards and grasping the flesh, pulling it out and away. Nicole had to look away.
“Holy shit...” Anthony looked green, queasy.
The blonde woman rose and her fangs receded, and the silver that had been her eyes receded. They turned to a blue Nicole recognised. A blue she had fallen in love with. She would never forget that colour. Nick’s eyes. She said the name she had heard Nick mention; the name of the person she had never met.
“Alicia?”
The woman’s face had become one of kindness and compassion. She rushed to the bed, reaching for Nicole’s hands. “Yes, it’s me. Can you move at all? We really have to go.”
As a response, Nicole was knocked flat as a new contraction hit.
“I’m no expert, but I don’t think that kid is waiting,” Anthony said.
Alicia tried to move between Nicole’s legs as writhed in pain, whimpering and groaning.
“I’m sorry, hun. I know it hurts and it’s awful, but I have to look.” Alicia peered down and gave a sigh. “Well, we ain’t going nowhere, kiddo. Oi, you!” She directed Anthony. “Take the gun and wait outside. Shoot anything that approaches.”
“Me?” Anthony looked like he wished he could disappear.
“Do it. I need to concentrate.”
Anthony moved uncertainly to the dead man and picked up his weapon, before stepping outside.
Alicia tried to give Nicole a smile of reassurance as she removed her jacket. Nicole could see she was worried, though. And as Alicia’s hands came into view, Nicole saw blood. Blood that wasn’t from the dead guy on the floor. It was her own.
Chapter 55
Don’t Say Goodbye
It wasn’t until Alex had finally relaxed enough to sleep that Michelle felt brave enough to stand and stretch her legs. She hadn’t moved from her seat, lest any sound might wake Alex.
She crept into the room’s adjoining en suite and answered her buzzing phone in a whisper. It was her real estate broker. She had been looking for a place in Queensland. Now she wasn’t so sure about moving. “Yeah, Graeme?”
“Hey! Great news! The sale went through. Everything is set. Two months, you move in.”
“Oh...really?” Michelle had thought leaving was everything she wanted—a new life away from all this. Her business was all set up, and now here was Graeme saying she now had a place to live.
Michelle peeked through the door at the still-sleeping Alex and a lump grew in her throat. “I can’t.”
“What?”
Michelle closed her eyes. “The deal is off. I’m sorry. I just can’t leave.”
Graeme sounded pissed, confused. She let him carry on about never getting this chance again, losing thousands of dollars, and all the other claptrap. It was ok. He didn’t get it. He didn’t understand. He couldn’t. No one could. She hung up after a few more muttered apologies.
Michelle went back to the bed and leaned down, planting a gentle kiss on Alex’s forehead. “I will never leave you. You’ve got me forever. I don’t know how, but I will find a way. I will not let you forget him,” she whispered, glancing at the V necklace around her neck.
What a night. What a horrible, terrible few months. At least it was over. But now she wondere
d, when was the next thing? What could possibly be next?
The lamp on the bedside table flickered, snapping her out of her thoughts. It wasn’t only that lamp. All the lights in the room were blinking. On and off frantically.
A crash out in the hallway made her jump. “For fucks sake, what now?”
*
“I see the head!” Alicia shouted, but Nicole didn’t seem to hear over her own cries of pain.
“I can’t, Alicia. I can’t…” Nicole sobbed.
Alicia grabbed Nicole’s hand with her own bloodied one. They had gone beyond any type of normal connection, touching her with remnants of birth didn’t faze either of them.
“Yes you can. You’ve come so far. It’s almost over.”
“No, please…”
Alicia shook the tears away as more blood flowed from Nicole, and the room shook from an explosion from somewhere on the grounds. Getting closer. “Sweetheart, I can’t do it for you. Your baby needs you, and so do I. Please just one more push!”
Nicole choked back another sob and took several snapping breaths. She got up on her elbows and grit her teeth, screaming and clenching her eyes, and bearing down as much as she could with her last exertion.
In that moment, everything went quiet, save for a tiny wail from the newborn, finally out. Alicia wrapped the baby in her jacket, and once the umbilical cord stopped pulsating, she tore it apart in her fingers. She brought the infant to an exhausted Nicole. The poor girl was saturated in sweat but still with enough clarity to smile. It was amazing she was alive at all. She would need strength now. And encouragement. “So, my dear, what are you going to name my grandson?” she asked, and reached out to nestle the baby in the crook of Nicole’s arm.
*
At a new tremor, Solomon marched out into the corridor, and was met by a slim brunette woman who had also ventured into the hallway.
A nurse rounded the corner and spotted her. “Miss I’m going to have to ask you to go back into the room.”
“What the hell is going on?” Solomon asked.
“We’re not sure. We believe it might be a power surge. It appears to be only this section of the hospital. Probably nothing to worry about.”
Solomon looked around him at the lights powering down, one by one. “A power surge in only one section? That’s getting worse? Yeah, right.”
*
Nicole gazed with love and longing at her son in Nick’s mother’s arms. She never expected to have felt this much emotion. The room was starting to spin, though, and her head felt lighter than it should. She must be losing blood still.
“Let’s get you fixed up.” Alicia’s voice was steady, but there was some urgency. “Don’t you worry. You just concentrate on holding on tight to this little one.”
By fixed up, Nicole assumed she meant taking care of the bleeding. She had seen movies and birthing videos and had never seen as much blood as was on Alicia’s hands. She could feel herself losing consciousness, which was not a good thing. She knew that. But she just wanted her son. To look into his eyes. She held out her arms to take her boy.
Alicia reached down and many things happened at once. Nicole jerked upright, startled at the thunderclap of a gunshot. She looked questioningly at Alicia and saw that her face was set in a grim expression and blood was pouring from a gaping hole in her temple. She dropped to her knees and, as if blindly reacting, leant back to keep the baby off the ground.
Nicole could not move, could not speak save for muttered whisperings of Alicia’s name. Calling for Alicia, trying to rouse her. She couldn’t be dead. She just couldn’t. It was only then Nicole put it together that the gun must have had a shooter. And sure enough, out of the shadows he stepped, and over Alicia’s body, plucking the baby from the fallen woman’s arms.
“Anthony? What the hell are you doing?”
“She was going to take the baby. We haven’t got much time, the bullet wasn’t silver.”
“What? What are you talking about, she wasn’t taking it anywhere!”
Anthony didn’t look at her. He only kept staring at the child. Panic seeped into Nicole’s spine. This was wrong. So very wrong.
“Anthony, please. Give me my baby.”
He gave no indication of hearing her. His face was awash with awe, eyes still fixed on the newborn.
“Anthony, let me see my son. Let me hold him.” Nicole raised her voice, but had the presence of mind not to sound too harsh. She didn’t trust Anthony’s reactions right now. She did not want to give him any excuse to hurt her or the baby.
Anthony flicked his eyes over her and returned them once more to the child. “No. I don’t think that would do. You see, I don’t want to give you the wrong idea. I don’t want to give you hope of something that’s just not going to happen. Better to just say thanks but no thanks, and we can move forward from there.” He turned and moved away from her, carrying her son with him.
Nicole screamed, “You come back here! Don’t you walk away from me! What is this? Revenge because I wouldn’t sleep with you?”
He smiled at her, but it was mirthless and made her feel ill. “No, it’s the prize my Alpha wanted.”
“Your Alpha?”
“See, Tynan Ross always has a back-up plan. Pumping you months ago would’ve been a bonus, but let’s face it. Fucking a pregnant chick is like putting gas in a car you’ve already wrecked. Besides, you’re dying, and there’s no one left who cares. Only a bite from an Alpha will save you and you already gave up that opportunity. He’s now dealing with an uninvited guest.” He held up the baby in the jacket, gave another smile that sickened her, “You did real good,” and disappeared out the door.
Nicole screamed after him, but he was gone. She tried to move but her legs wouldn’t budge. She had lost too much blood. She could hear the cries of her child drifting up to her through the walls of the castle, but then there was silence. Her baby was gone. She never got to touch him, to hold him. All she could do was let the darkness come, even as Alicia stirred. There was nothing she could do now. All was lost. No one was left that could help.
*
Solomon fell into the brunette woman as the corridor thundered and quaked. It shook so much that she lost her footing and smacked the back of her head against the wall before becoming silent. He’d tried to catch her, to catch himself, but failed. Whatever the hell the quaking was, it was over. But that sure was no kind of power surge he’d ever experienced before.
Solomon checked on the woman. She seemed to be breathing still, but she seemed to have been knocked out. He’d ask the nurse to check for concussion. He lifted her into his arms and carried her into the room she had come out of. There was only one occupant in the room. Solomon almost dropped the woman when he spotted the person in the bed. “As I live and breathe.”
The nurse that had spoken to him peeked in. “Sir? What’s happening?”
“It’s ok. I’m a cop.”
“She ok?” The nurse looked less suspicious. She probably recognised him from visiting his daughter in the nearby room.
Solomon nodded. “I think so. She’s had a bump to the head that maybe you could check on?”
“I’ll do that. Let me just check on the other rooms quickly first.” She jetted off down the corridor.
Solomon sat the woman down in the chair beside Alex Hensley’s bed, when he heard the nurse outside, far down the hall. “Excuse me sir, you’ll have to go back to bed… Oh my god!”
A scream and a horrifying sound that followed chilled Solomon to the bone. A blur rushed past the doorway the nurse had just peeked through.
Solomon looked out into the hallway and turned his head to look in the direction the nurse had gone. She was there, on her back, twenty or so feet away. Solomon rushed over to check on her. She looked unharmed, just unconscious. As Solomon’s rushing heartbeat subsided, he began to think, to focus. That noise. I’ve heard it before, but where?
Solomon felt his arm pulled to the floor.
The nurse had woken. She
was frantic and panicking. “Where is he? Get me out of here!”
“What? Who? What happened? What are you talking about?” Solomon needed to get her to give him a clear idea of what was going on.
“The patient in the coma ward.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know his name. He was a John Doe, brought in months ago by fishermen and he’s been here in a coma ever since. We called him Beau. But I never thought… I never saw. Those teeth…those eyes!”
“What about his eyes?”
“They’ve always been blue when we’ve checked his pupil response. But now, they were… They were silver. They shone in the dark. He came at me and just blew past as if I wasn’t there.”
Solomon had stopped listening. He looked toward where that blur disappeared to. Suddenly his brain registered where he had heard the sound. Last year in Glebe, it was that sound that had rattled windows and then a body was found later. Minus a spine.
What sort of person could make a sound like that? Blue eyes…and then they changed to silver? Surely that had to be a mistake. But then again, it wasn’t the strangest thing he had heard and seen recently. Not even the strangest thing he’d experienced just today.
What the hell had been unleashed on the city? Who was out there and what did they want?
Epilogue
“C’mon, ya bastard…”
Gavin took a swig from his beer bottle and stared at the TV, pointedly ignoring the doorbell. His team was tanking. This would be their third straight loss of the season.
“Hunny, I’m on the phone to Amy. She’s having a bit of trouble at camp. Can you get the door please?”
Gavin grumbled, but the game was going south really quickly. He got to his feet reluctantly and opened the door to nothing. A cool crisp breeze was all. He stuck his head out, looking left. By the time he turned right, he only just felt the fingernails dig into his throat from above and a hand covered his mouth. Both of the foreign hands were twisting his neck around, and they weren’t stopping…
Shadow Chaser (Undeadly Secrets Book 3) Page 30
