License Notes
DAY DREAMER (Undeadly Secrets, #2)
Copyright © Aaron L Speer 2016
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://aaronlspeer.com/
Amazon Edition
ISBN 978-1508895817
Cover Art by Deranged Doctor Design
Formatting by Deranged Doctor Design
All rights reserved
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a database and retrieval system or transmitted in any form or any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the owner of copyright and the above publishers.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Other Works By Aaron L Speer
NIGHT WALKER (Undeadly Secrets, #1)
‘You're never safe 'till you see the dawn
And if the clock strikes past midnight
The hope is gone
So move under the moonlight...’
Lyrics – “Carry On Dancing” Savage Garden
This work is dedicated with love to Sally May McCanna.
Your life was not measured by the tears after you’d gone
But by the smiles you created while you were here
Keep shredding, beautiful
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Epilogue
Author's Note
About the Author
Chapter 1
Werewolf
“Are you serious?” Alex pressed the cold compress to her head. The effect of Dante’s bite hadn’t worn off. She felt giddy, slightly feverish. Although her brain felt like concrete, she had heard him very clearly. Dante had uttered the word she had always associated with vampires but had never mentioned until now. Truthfully, she had always put the two together because of books and movies, but never had she imagined that vampires and werewolves actually existed in the same place. But then again, if one existed, why not the other?
“Very” Dante peered out through the wall of glass, looking over the glittering city skyline.
“Fuckety…How come you never mentioned anything before?” Alex asked.
“There was no need. There haven’t been any in Sydney, not that I know of. I’ve never faced one, only heard stories from other countries.”
“How do you know there haven’t been any here?”
“Vincent’s law forbids it. They were said to reside in the Canadian Rockies, Northern America, Alaska, Britain, Sweden, and Greenland from memory. Cold places. Places with forests and open, wintry landscapes.”
“So what are they doing here now? What do they want with Matt?”
“I have no idea.” Dante walked to her and placed his hands on her arms. “There are a few hours to go until sunrise. Stay here. With the security system activated, you’ll be safer here than anywhere else.”
“Where are you going?”
“Vincent must be told. As I said, he has strategies in place to keep Lycanthropes out of Australia. But I need to see the haematologist that compiled this report first. I need to know what more he can tell me.”
“I want to go with you.”
Dante smiled. “Stay here and sleep. I won’t be long.”
“I don’t want to sleep. I’m going with you. I want to know what happened to Matt too. I’ll always care about him.”
Dante paused and gave an impressed raise of his eyebrows. “Very well then.”
*
4 Months Earlier – Switzerland
Nick Slade sat on the hard brick stairs leading into Albert Hall, watching the other students laugh and chat before the day’s classes. Suddenly he heard a piercing wail and the doors that lead to the day spa behind him, smacked open. Two girls ran out, designer hand bags swinging with the effort of moving, stopping just in front of Nick.
“Oh my god, I’m going to kill that bitch!” the one in front screamed, through lips trembling with rage.
“Oh my god, you should! Take a selfie first,” the friend replied.
“What?!”
“Evidence for the Police! When they see what she did to your brows you’ll get off.”
“Oh yeah…”
The two walked off, leaving Nick alone, shaking his head. Yep, this is my school.
He twirled a rose in his fingers, resisting the urge to smell it yet again. He swept his hair back, yet strands still fell about his forehead, the two wailing wenches put out of his mind.
He spotted his intended recipient, Belinda Madden, approaching. The first reason he’d found to really appreciate being away from home.
He smiled, hopping to his feet and slinging his bag over his shoulder. He wanted to give her the rose as a short goodbye gift, seeing as though today was the last before the end of year break.
“Hey. Can we talk?” She spotted the rose in his hand just as she finished.
“Sure,” he said, expectant.
“No, not here. Alone.” She indicated the toilets to their right.
He walked with her in silence, trying to shake the feeling in his stomach that he was about to receive some very bad news. Put to rest once they reached their destination.
“Nick, you’re really great…” Belinda started.
Oh shit.
His father had once told him that anything someone said before the word ‘but’ should be ignored.
“But…it’s just not working out.”
Nick shifted uneasily. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No,” she replied quickly. “Look, don’t make this harder. I told you, you’re great. You’re sweet and everything but just not my type, that’s all.”
“You just figured that out now?” Nick replied. He wasn’t angry, at least not openly, but he could sense she was partially lying.
“Yeah. I gave you a shot, ok? I just don’t feel the same anymore.”
“You said you really liked me not two weeks ago.”
“Yeah…I did.”
“I know you’re not being straight with me. If I haven’t done anything wrong, what changed?”
“Nothing changed!” she r
eplied sharply. “That’s the point. You didn’t change! I thought you would roughen up a bit, but you didn’t. You are too nice, ok? Too sweet. I want a man, not a chick with a dick, no offence. You hold the door open for me…you hold my hand…you give me light kisses…you send me goofy text messages.”
“Amazing how you never mentioned any of this bothering you before…like when we’re in bed…”
“That’s because I thought you’d pick it up! Look,” she said, pointing to the flower in his hand. “Perfect example. The rose…is just too much. Why would you give me a flower? I haven’t done anything for it.”
Nick looked at the rose. “I just thought you might like it.”
The line did make Belinda pause before she continued. “It just feels like you’re pushing it. Forcing it down my throat.”
“What if I stop being sweet to you then?”
Belinda genuinely smiled at this. “Nick, you’re just a nice guy, and you’ll always be only…just a nice guy. I know you. You don’t have a mean or malicious bone in your body, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s just not who you are inside. And you’re just not what I want.” The bell sounded its gong. “Look, I gotta go. Don’t be sad, ok? Like I said, you’re a great guy. You have that whole blonde hair and blue eyes thing going for you. You’ll find someone really nice, someone you deserve and we’ll still be friends, yeah?”
She had started backing away by the time she finished ‘ok’. Being friends after a break up was like saying “honey, the dog died, but we can still keep it.” Nick had plenty of things he wanted to say—to yell in fact. But what was the point? He saw Belinda run up to Jericho Piers and nudge him, smiling as they walked side by side into the main entrance. Jericho gave her a once over before tossing his cigarette away as one of the teachers rounded the corner, just missing the act. Belinda giggled, as if admiring him. “Look at how macho and brave Jericho is,” Nick imagined her thinking.
What would Belinda have wanted, what would she have expected? Should he have smacked her around? Beat Jericho down? Get drunk and piss on something?
He could handle being told he wasn’t good looking enough, not sexy enough, but she had complimented him on his looks. Then called him a chick with a dick. Too nice? What a bunch of horse shit.
Nick leant against the toilet wall, taking one more look at the rose and dropped it to the floor. She was right, he liked being nice to people, though on days like this he wondered why. He straightened his bag strap again and headed to the main doors of Albert Hall, pushing them aside with renewed hatred. Fucking Switzerland. He just wanted to go home.
At least he wouldn’t have to deal with anything shitty for a while. He’d be finally home soon.
*
Nick woke from his nanna nap later that day aboard his father’s private gyrocopter, a retired Sikorsky X2. Expertly manufactured piece by piece in England by designers imported from America, Wilson Slade’s aircraft was a modern marvel. Two passengers only ensured a top speed of almost 290 mph. In truth, though he loved the feeling of roaring through the sky, Nick felt like the plane was a huge waste of money. He was slightly uncomfortable with the lavish lifestyle his father expected him to live. Most thought Nick was insane, constantly looking gift horses in the mouth, but they didn’t understand what secret his family harboured. Very few did. And those that did served his father as friends.
Well most of them anyway.
Nick shook his head and stretched, when his eyes locked on to the mother moon. Only half, yet lighting up the sky like a jewel. His mother called it the pearl of the sky. His father often referred to it as his beautiful lady, toasting to it almost every night.
Nick tried not to wonder what his father called it when it was full, when the family secret revealed itself.
Wilson had hidden nothing from his son since he was old enough to learn the Slade legacy. Just like Nick had not hidden the fact that he, much to his father’s disappointment, had been deprived of his birthright. Fate had seen to it that his father’s legacy had skipped a generation.
He was well into puberty and had still exhibited none of his ancestors’ abilities. Perfect hair to skin ratio, nails normal enough to be bitten every few weeks, no change in eye colour and the only howling and slobbering he did was when presented with one of his mother’s home made chocolate cakes.
The copter began a rapid descent towards the helipad on the grounds of the Slade estate.
“Welcome home, Master Slade,” Sam said pleasantly, powering down the vehicle.
“Thank you, Sam. But it’s Nick, ok?”
Sam chuckled as he got out. “Very good, sir. Uh, Nick.”
Sam rounded the craft and opened the door for him. “That’s all right,” Nick said hopping out. “We’ll work on it.”
He stared up at the huge house hoping it was exactly how he remembered it, without the weight of expectancy. At times, he felt like a pregnant woman, under constant watch to see when she was going to deliver.
He had been a little disappointed early on, when he learned that he wasn’t like his father. But really any regret was because Wilson had been so determined that his son succeed him, always saying it was just taking its time. Denial 101. Now Nick just rolled with it. There was no point in wishing and hoping. Facts were facts and Nick could live with them. If this what his life had in store, Nick didn’t think it was so bad. He just hoped in the time he had been away, that his father had begun to feel the same.
Chapter 2
Great Expectations
The dining hall of the Slade estate was crowded. Dozens of men had convened to hear what their Alpha had to say. The word was he would be naming his successor, but so far, nothing the men had heard made any of them happy. Everyone invited were Wilson Slade’s lieutenants or underbosses, and they had brought with them any sons whom they felt deserved the right to be considered.
They had been talking, arguing, debating, for hours. A decision was never going to be reached this night, and anger and frustration were clearly on show. In exasperation, Wilson turned and looked out the windows to the helipad. The copter was almost a mile away and closing, yet his hearing picked it up clearly. Wilson smiled. Finally, this pointless farce could end, temporarily at least.
“Gentlemen, thank you. That will be all,” Wilson stated, not turning away from the window.
“What?” Tobias Lee, his youngest lieutenant, shouted. “With all due respect, the situation isn’t nearly over.”
Wilson gave a sharp nod, eyeing Tobias. Wilson had noticed over the last year the gradual change in the young man. Tobias seemed disgruntled with an ever-more cynical view of the world—Wilson’s world. The world Wilson had built and provided for Tobias and everyone else in this room. Tobias had been made a lieutenant as a teenager by the former Alpha, Wilson’s father William. Wilson had never understood why. William had clearly seen something that Wilson missed. Tobias had been a meek, docile boy who barely uttered a peep and had grown into a man without much change. He only showed a fool’s courage when prompted by others. Such as now, Wilson thought. “The situation of succession is and has always been closed, but I must adjourn. My son is home.”
Many grumbles erupted behind him. “What are you talking about, closed?”
“You can’t be serious!”
“When will a decision be made?”
Wilson rose slowly and the shouts died down. In a voice that was nearly a growl, he said, “When I am good and well ready.”
“You are deliberately stalling. You’re the Alpha of Britain, and you know your son is not one of us.” Tobias had risen to his feet, a sneer of disdain on his face. “And you just can’t face that fact.”
“Show some respect.” This came from Damien Creed, Wilson’s oldest and most trusted advisor.
But Tobias was not ready to stop. “You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a faggot, too!”
A vicious snarl erupted and Wilson found himself surprised it hadn’t come from his own lips. The words had in fact stung
him into momentary paralysation.
Tobias fell to the floor revealing Wilson’s wife, Alicia Slade, standing over him, her fist still in the air. “I will remind you that you are in my house, and you speak of my only son.”
“So?” Tobias spat.
“So, watch your fucking mouth. I know gays that have bigger balls than you do.”
Wilson, recovered from the shock of Tobias’s accusation, began a slow clap. A few others joined in, though they looked uncertain as to what they were applauding. “My wife, lads. In all her Australian glory.” Wilson wrapped an arm around Alicia’s waist as she returned to his side, and brought her in for a short, passionate kiss. When they broke apart, Wilson turned around to address the room. “What are you waiting for? A peep show? Get out of here!” he bellowed. “Didn’t you hear what I said? My boy’s home!”
There was a sudden hustle towards the door, but Tobias lingered a moment. Keeping his eyes on Alicia, he backed out of the room slowly. “You’re lucky you’re the Alpha’s wife.”
“What’s that now?” Alicia whipped around, eyebrows raised.
“You heard me,” he replied bitterly, still backing toward the door. “You’re lucky it’s only halftime too,” he continued, flicking his eyes outside to the half-moon, just visible in the afternoon sky.
Alicia abruptly put her fingers together and slowly cracked her knuckles. “Don’t let halftime stop you, Tobias. You know what the English say.” She took a few steps forward, opening her arms and beckoning with the fingers on both hands. “Come on… IF YA THINK YOU’RE ‘ARD ENOUGH!”
Tobias lunged toward her.
A cracking sound cut the air and Tobias stopped short, clutching at his throat. Gagging and choking, he fell to the floor yet again, scrambling to pry away the end of the bullwhip that encircled his neck.
“Aw hell, Damien.” Alicia huffed. “Why did you have to ruin my fun?”
The bullwhip’s wielder walked forward to the struggling form of Tobias, still trying to get his fingers under the tight leather of the whip. Creed knelt by Tobias’s head and removed the whip with deliberate slowness.
Day Dreamer (Undeadly Secrets Book 2) Page 1
