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  This is a work of fiction. All characters, places, businesses, and incidents are from the author’s imagination, or they are used fictitiously and are definitely fictionalized. Any trademarks or pictures herein are not authorized by the trademark owners and do not in any way mean the work is sponsored by or associated with the trademark owners. Any trademarks or pictures used are specifically in a descriptive capacity.

  Ghosts From The Past, Satan’s Spawn MC Series

  Copyright © 2017 K.J. Dahlen © Butterfly Publishing

  Editor: Leanore Elliott

  Book Design & Formatting: Wicked Muse

  Cover Art Provided By: Emcat Designs

  Published by Butterfly Publishings

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  D eke Tory watched the sun come up from the back porch of the clubhouse. The air was cool as his eyes sought out echoes of the past. Things around him had changed so much in the last few years, yet some things remained the same. The clubhouse itself had mostly remained the same, although some improvements had been made. The grounds had expanded and they beefed up security around it. Yet, his mind tripped back and he was remembering that day a dozen years ago when he first came here.

  He was seventeen when he left Bangor, Maine and he’d hoped to leave his bad memories far behind. He would never forget the look of rage in his father’s eyes as he rode away. The way his fists were clenched at his sides and the glare on his face told everyone around him Sam Tory was not happy. But for Deke, it’d been the only thing he could do. He had to get away from his father and the club he hated and even now, he hadn’t regretted that decision.

  Deke didn’t need to turn when he heard footsteps behind him. He knew who it was without looking. In fact, he’d been expecting the other man for some time now. Both men knew exactly what day it was. This was the day of independence and death. It also marked the day Deke took over the Satan’s Spawn MC.

  The day Deke left Maine, Gator and his wife Reva left with him. Although it had been fifteen years since they left Maine they had only been here in Troy, New York for the last dozen years. After three years on the road, they all decided to settle here and rebuild their shattered lives.

  Although he had been young, he still had ideals and his own code he lived by. His earlier life had been hard but he watched everyone around him then he’d taken little pieces of what he could believe in and made it his own code. As he grew up, he realized something Gator told him a long time ago, had been true. He’d met his father Sam for the first time when he was twelve years old. Half-grown already he’d been well on his way to coming a man. He had his own thoughts about the way he wanted to live his life. Sam never understood that and Deke had fought to keep his own ideals.

  His mother never told him or Sam the truth until the day Sam came back to the town they lived in. Sam had been stunned to find out about having a son he never knew about and when he left a few days later, Deke went with him, whether he really wanted to or not. He hadn’t but that didn’t make any difference to Sam.

  Unfortunately, Deke proved just as stubborn as his old man and for the next five years, it was one battle after another until Deke had finally had enough and just left. Gator told him they were too much alike to live together but Deke never believed it. He always thought Sam tried to make him a mini Sam and Deke wasn’t having any of that. He often carried bruises to show the world he was his own man.

  Twelve years ago, they rolled into Troy and stayed. They found the Satan’s Spawn MC and watched carefully to see if they wanted to join. It only took a few days to see the pattern and the more time they spent with the club, the more they discovered what they didn’t like about it. There was too much discontent among the men. Only a few of them seemed to agree with their leader and that attitude was never a good thing in an MC like this. Bear, the leader of this group, either didn’t see it or didn’t care but most of his men weren’t happy with his leadership. They just seemed to lack the will to end their discontent.

  Bear was a big man. Older than Gator, the man held tight to the leadership over his men. He claimed his word was law and he often used his position for his own gain. He beat down his men, verbally and by using his fists until they had no thoughts of standing up to him. Not only that but he allowed booze and drugs to steal more of his men’s will away from them. He gave them very little and expected a lot more back. To Deke this wasn’t the way to run an MC.

  Deke didn’t agree with this philosophy and began pulling away until a girl named Gillian came under Bear’s questionable protection. Bear had pulled Gillian out of a parking lot of a 7-11 after a nasty fight with an old boyfriend. The boyfriend just left her there and Gillian looked lost as she watched him drive away. He’d been there when Bear rolled over to her and offered her a ride. Gillian thought he would take her home, instead he took her back to the clubhouse and kept her there. Gillian didn’t want to be at the club but once she was there, Bear wouldn’t let her go. He wanted her and she wasn’t going to deny him. He’d made that very clear, not only to her but to everyone in the club.

  It all came to a head the few nights later when Gillian tried to leave the compound. The club was partying which wasn’t uncommon but Bear’s demands on Gillian were getting worse. He’d had enough to drink that night when he grabbed her and began dragging her to his bedroom. Gillian refused and tried to break his hold but couldn’t get away from him. No one was paying any attention to her. Deke tried to stand up to assist her but Breaker, Bear’s second in command held him down and shook his head.

  He whispered, “You don’t want to do that.”

  Deke couldn’t believe he’d said this. “Why not?” he demanded.

  Breaker just shook his head. Then he looked away and picked up his drink, not saying a word.

  “You mean to tell me you’re going to let him rape that girl and do nothing to stop him?” Deke fumed.

  Breaker shrugged but couldn’t meet Deke’s eyes. “It will hurt her less if she cooperates.”

  Deke pursed his lips together in his rage. “She doesn’t want him. I think she’s made that clear enough.”

  Breaker shrugged again. “But he wants her and right now, that’s all that matters to him. He’ll lose interest quick enough.”

  Deke pushed back his chair and got to his feet. Looking around the room, he glared at every man sitting there. No one could meet his eyes. They could all see what was happening, they could all hear her screams and not one of them had come to her aid.

  He looked over at Gator and saw the other man’s rage, then he swung his eyes to Breaker. “That’s bullshit and you know it. Not one of you here deserves the rank of being called a man. I always thought an MC meant something to the members. That being part of an MC meant being part of a brotherhood but this is not what a brotherhood means to me. You are letting a bastard of a man bully you into submission and that’s worse than being a snake. He’s got each and every one of you by the short hairs of your balls and you allowed that to happen. You people make me sick.”

  Growling, he walked toward the bedroom Bear and Gillian had went to and moments later, they all heard the sounds of a fight. Moments later, they saw Bear flying through the doorway as Deke threw him back into the main room. Bear got up off the floor and charged back into the bedroom then they heard more thuds against the wall. Bear flew out of the bedroom again, followed by Deke as they fought their way in the open space of the main r
oom. Both men were bleeding and for a moment, it seemed as if Bear would win the fight as he had Deke down on the ground but Deke managed to throw a fist that stunned the other man. He nailed him in the groin with the first blow, then in the head with the second hit.

  Bear dropped to the ground and didn’t move for a moment or so. Deke got up slowly bending at his waist and took several deep breathes. Blood dripped on the floor from his broken nose as Gillian slowly emerged from the bedroom. Blood ran down her chin and her clothing was torn. Tears rolled down her face and she could barely walk. She hugged the wall as she passed the spot where Bear laid. Before she could take more than a step past him, he got to his feet and grabbed the knife at his hip. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her backward. She screamed and struggled to break free. Growling, he shook his head as if to clear it and stabbed her in the back.

  Her screams were cut short as she fell to the floor and no sound was heard from anyone as they witnessed what Bear had done.

  Bear just stood there glaring at the girl breathing deeply. His eyes were glazed over and he didn’t seem to care that he’d just killed someone.

  Deke growled and pulled his fist back in order to drop the other man when suddenly a gunshot barked out.

  Everyone watched as a wound burst open and blood sprayed from out of Bear’s forehead. His eyes crossed and he dropped to his knees falling forward to lay on the floor next to Gillian. For a brief second, he had a stunned look on his face then there was nothing.

  Deke slowly raised his shocked eyes to look over at the group of men sitting at the tables not far from where he stood.

  There he saw Breaker still holding his weapon pointed in his direction. Shock was on everyone’s face for a moment then Breaker carefully laid his weapon on the table. He got to his feet and stared at the body of his fallen leader.

  Deke slowly lowered his body down to check on Gillian. When he turned her over and saw her eyes were closed, he checked for a pulse but didn’t find one. He brushed a strand of hair away from her face and just stared at her for a moment. The bruises on her face stood out and he hated the fact they were there. The blood on her chin was drying and he could see the cut where Bear had split her lip with his fist. He pulled the blade from her back and threw it off to the side then gathered her up in his arms and carried her out of the club. No one tried to stop him and as he passed Gator, the other man fell in behind them.

  When they were going, Deke didn’t know. He carried her into the woods behind the club and after a while, he stopped and sat down on a stump. Still holding her in his arms, he glanced over at Gator with pain in his eyes. “I got her killed,” he whispered brokenly.

  “No you didn’t,” Gator insisted. “You tried to save her.”

  Deke shook his head.

  “Yes you did,” Gator argued. “You were the only one of all of them that cared enough to stand up for her. Those losers would have let him rape her.”

  “It doesn’t matter anymore does it?” Deke glared at him. “She’s still dead.”

  “So is he.”

  “No matter what her life was before she came here, she didn’t deserve this.” Deke shook his head. He and Gator had been the only ones who asked about her life before they met. Over the last few days, she’d told them how she was just another child to slip through the cracks. Only seventeen years old, she’d been on her own for the last two years since she left her mother behind her. Her mother had pimped her out at the age of fourteen for enough money to support her own crack habit. It had been a less than ideal life and she had gone with Bear that day because she needed a place to live and thought the MC would take care of her until she got back on her feet. It hadn’t taken her long to figure out the truth. She didn’t seem like she was crying about her life, she’d just stated the facts.

  “What are you going to do with her now?” Gator asked. “You can’t take her to the police without bringing heat down on the MC.”

  Deke scoffed. “And why should I give a rat’s ass about them? They didn’t give a shit about their own leader and what he was doing.”

  “Not all of them were like him.” He pointed out. “Most of them were decent guys, they just lacked proper leadership.”

  Deke glanced down at the girl in his arms. “Then I guess we’ll give her in death what she couldn’t find in life. A decent place to rest.” Laying her down on the grass, he bid Gator, “Wait here with her, so she isn’t alone. I’m going back to get a shovel.”

  A few minutes later, he walked back into the clubhouse. Glancing to where Bear’s body was he noted no one had moved it. Breaker and the others were still sitting at the tables drinking. There were no other sounds in the room.

  Breaker looked up at him. “What do you want us to do now?”

  “I don’t want you to do anything.” Deke growled. “I’m not your leader.”

  “You could be,” someone called out.

  Breaker nodded. “We were at one time, proud to carry these colors. Bear wasn’t a bad man at one point but he let the power of being the leader corrupt him. He lost his way and after a while, we couldn’t do anything but allow it. Most of us were going to walk away from him before this happened, we just lacked a valid reason, this I guess was just the turning point we needed.” He got to his feet.

  “You were right when you said we weren’t men anymore. But you wouldn’t have said that a year ago. The real brotherhood of this MC broke down slowly and over that time, Bear just smothered any resistance we had. The more power he got the less resistance we had. We forgot what that brotherhood meant until you pointed it out to us.” He looked over his shoulder at the fallen man behind him. Then he looked at Deke. “Bear has been wearing us down for a long time and we let him do it. We don’t want that anymore and if we had a strong man to lead us, we could take pride in ourselves again.”

  Deke glared at them for a moment. “I don’t want to be your leader. No one else should be in a position to have to tell you what to do and how to live. That’s something each of you has to do for yourselves.” He glanced around at the two dozen men sitting there.

  Most of them had a dazed look in their eyes.

  Breaker shook his head. “You don’t understand.” He ran his fingers threw his long hair. “Most of us have nowhere else to go. As bad a leader as he was, Bear held us together for a long time. He used fear and intimidation to keep his position. Over time, he made us weak and took away our pride, but it wasn’t always like that. When we started out, this MC was something we could say was a good thing. How we lost that and let him take over, no one knows but with the right leadership, we could be great again.”

  Deke shook his head. “But I’m no leader, hell I’m about the youngest one of you here. It would never work, most of you wouldn’t take orders from me on that fact alone.” He glanced around him again, then looked Breaker in the eye. “Me and Gator are looking for a place of our own too. We left Maine a few years ago under similar circumstances. I couldn’t stay with the MC there because I didn’t believe in what they stood for. We thought this place was a good place until it wasn’t anymore. We were on our way out the door when this happened.”

  “You and Gator haven’t been here more than a few days,” Breaker admitted.

  “It didn’t take us long to find out what we needed to know.” Deke shook his head.

  “Yeah, I know,” Breaker agreed. “It took you guys’ days to see what it took Bear years to accomplish. That’s not something we can be proud of. Most of us have been disgusted about this for a long time now.”

  “Like I said, that’s something you guys need to do as a club.” Deke looked around. “Now that you know what went wrong with Bear, it’s up to you not to let it happen again.”

  “We could do it quicker with a good leader,” Breaker urged. “Someone strong and young enough to mold us into better men.”

  Deke shook his head. “I’m looking for a club with values I can live with. I want to work every day towards a common goal, ones I don’t have
to look over my shoulder to watch out for the cops or backstabbing members looking to gain power every day.”

  “You could have that here with us,” another man told him as he came to stand behind Breaker. “That was our dream at one time as well, then Bear got us into the drug trade and we lost our way quickly after that.” He looked around. “Some of us have wives and kids and this place isn’t safe for them. I know I’d never bring my girl out here.”

  Deke glanced around the room.

  Most of the guys were willing to meet his eyes and those that didn’t just glared at him. Those were the ones who had something to lose.

  “ If I do this, things are gonna change and not everyone is gonna like it. For those who stay, there will be rules to follow. For those who chose to leave, you have to move out of town altogether. If this were my club, I’d want it to be clean and legit. I don’t care about the booze but it will be watched. No more drinking yourselves under the tables. There won’t be any drugs anymore. No dealing or using allowed. If you want to do that shit, you don’t do it here. From now on, we all pull our own weight by means of a job with the club getting ten percent right off the top. This town has a lot of potential for all of us to make a good living.”

  Breaker showed a moment of surprise then glanced around at his men. “Only ten percent?”

  Deke gave him a single nod.

  Breaker looked at his men. Most of them were nodding. “Bear took forty percent.”

  Deke shrugged. “I’m not Bear. I have a different plan for the club I lead. In fact, I was getting ready to move out. This club had nothing I wanted at this point.” He shifted his stance and stared at them. “I’ll be honest with all of you. When I got here, I saw a lot of potential in this town. I grew up in the MC life, it’s all I know, but this MC wasn’t what I was looking for. I wanted something I could be proud of and I wasn’t proud of this place at all.” Crossing his arms around his chest, he told them, “Gator said that most of you were decent men and while I agree with him until you demonstrate what you can do to make this a better MC, you’re all on notice. I will not tolerate disrespect at all. Not to me and not to each other.”