Wake Up Dead - an Undead Anthology by Adam Millard, Guy James, Suzanne Robb, Chantal Boudreau, Mia Darien, Douglas Vance Castagna, Rebecca Snow, Caitlin Gunn, R.d Teun Read Free Book Online

for the loss of Mrs. Fuller by a significant stretch. Skye realized that she would have to repeat this process for many a night if there would be any hope of making ends meet, not to mention coming up with novel ideas for fundraisers on the weekends. She would be suffering for Dr. Taurian’s meddling, as would be her somewhat neglected pets if she were to put in the additional time that would be required.
    It was early evening, just after sunset when Skye finally dragged her tired body back out to her hybrid again. She was so fatigued that she almost forgot to pick up the sunscreen that she had been nagging herself to get. She was already part of the way home when she finally remembered and she had to double back to the pharmacy on Green Street, the last one en route to her house. As she reached for her usual brand and SPF, she heard a voice that made her blood turn to ice in her veins.
    Despite only having met him once, Skye would know that velvety tone and enchanting chuckle anywhere. Dr. Taurian – Odin, was making a pre-shift purchase, and chatting up the store clerk while he was there. Skye turned to look and saw him leaning casually up against the counter, sucking the girl in with his winning smile and flirtatious banter. It was shameful, really. The clerk was giggly, and her cheeks were flushed, responding positively to his charms. She was much too young for him, likely jail bait. Skye guessed the girl was seventeen at most.
    Skye tried to control her temper as she watched the man wrap the clerk around his little finger and tease her mercilessly, but Skye’s rage boiled and surfaced and she was red-faced and breathing heavily by the time he departed for the clinic. He had probably used similar tactics and flattery to win Hannah over and steal her away. He had exercised his suave charms to take advantage of a lonely old woman, perhaps making her feel a little younger again in the process.
    Skye wanted to give him a serious piece of her mind. Better yet, beyond just confronting him, she wanted to spy on him and maybe get some idea why he felt compelled to encourage support for the city shelter in the first place. Most veterinarians despised euthanasia, using it only when an animal was terminally ill or in severe pain. Why was Odin so willing to volunteer his services?
    Her exhaustion fell away to adrenaline when she advanced upon the counter to pay for her sunscreen. The clerk’s cheeks were still rosier than normal and the girl still seemed a little flustered as she rang Skye’s purchase through. Tucking the plastic tube away in her purse, Skye headed out onto the sidewalk.
    She knew that she should have made her way back to her car, and continued on home to tend to her animals and then fall into bed, but the notion of finding out exactly what Dr. Taurian was up to niggled at her brain and would not let her leave well enough alone. She found herself walking away from her car instead, and towards the clinic.
    The place where they incinerated the bodies of the animals lay behind the clinic, carefully constructed to code for medical wastes and located on Green Street specifically for zoning purposes. Skye was suddenly possessed by the idea that if something unusual were going on, evidence would be found waiting for incineration. She approached their crematorium with the intention of playing investigator, but as she reached the rear of the building, she heard the back exit begin to open and she was forced to hide, taking cover next to the incinerator behind a dumpster there.
    The door opened, and in the dim glow illuminating the space by the crematorium, Skye could just barely make out the form of Dr. Taurian as he stepped out. He walked a couple of paces forward so then she could see his face from her hiding place and he paused, looking a little perplexed, with his brow creasing and his eyes narrowing as if sensing something in the air. With the slightest of shrugs, he continued, striding over to what appeared to be a