What could anyone in the pack possibly tell him that Joseff didn’t already know? The pink fog had been released by the vampires’ enemies to eliminate the humans. Without the humans, the vampires would die, and the shifters would be at the top of the supernatural food chain. Logic said it was all an incredibly complicated plot to destroy Joseff’s realm.
Still… since when did the shifters concoct “complicated plots?”
Those imbeciles were hardly anyone’s idea of thinkers. They’d always been far more likely to attack with fists and guns than with a zombie mist. How would those idiots even create such a thing?
So, Joseff would keep his captives alive until he deduced what was really going on. Even Darcy would see that he’d acted rightly. If the shifters had done this, maybe there was a way to reverse it. And if they hadn’t done it, maybe they had information on who did.
As an added bonus, having members of the pack who’d raised Darcy guaranteed that she’d show up to retrieve them. Sooner or later --if she survived out there-- she’d try and rescue Brewer and the others. It was in her nature to do ridiculous, reckless, emotionally driven things.
Pleasure me, Joseff.
His eyes squeezed shut, his body hardening. He should be used to it by now. It had been a year since that day and still she haunted him. The taste of her was emblazed on his tongue; her soft sounds of pleasure screaming his brain.
For better or worse, he was bound to that woman.
Mostly for worse.
Darcy had manipulated the whole thing so he’d give himself to her. He knew that and he’d still never regretted piercing her flesh and drinking deep. Gods, she’d been sweet. All other blood tasted like ash compared to hers. All other women were boring and pale. The exiled princess was the only one he wanted. Meanwhile, her entire life was dedicated to fucking with his head.
She tormented him.
Joseff had overthrown the vampire kingdom and seized control with heartless efficiency. But, that woman was forever slipping through his fingers. Deep down, Joseff knew he’d never really catch her. Not in any way that truly mattered. It was why he hadn’t just laid a trap and captured her long ago. What he wanted from Darcy she had to give willingly.
It would never happen.
All in all, everything would be so much easier if he just let the girl die. He’d certainly considered it. Unfortunately, Joseff wasn’t a man who surrendered what belonged to him. Ever. The image of Darcy being devoured by zombies was lovely, but he couldn’t allow it.
The woman was his.
So, Joseff was going to find his spiteful, beautiful, shape shifter groupie before she died out there in the anarchy. He’d save Darcy’s wasted life and then he’d chain her pretty little ass to his bed and finish what she’d started. Her teeth sinking into his neck, marking him as he had her. His body pounding into hers. Darcy panting his name, as he touched the place where he’d bitten her and…
The door to his office opened, interrupting his hourly daydream about the troublesome brat he’d tied himself to for all eternity.
However much longer eternity lasted.
Edgar and another minion, whose name Joseff couldn’t be bothered to remember, dragged in the shifter.
Brewer was huge, with a bush gray bread and lavender eyes. Dressed in an obscene t-shirt of a woman copulating with a donkey and a camouflaged trucker cap, he looked like a refugee from a trailer park with low standards.
“You got nothin’ better to do today, ya ugly son-of-a-bitch?” Brew demanded, shaking off Edgar’s hold. “Like maybe fighting some fucking zombies?”
Joseff didn’t bother to rise to the bait. He knew what he looked like. Sadly, vampires did indeed have reflections. Unlike most of his kind, Joseff wasn’t attractive. At all. He saw that every day. His face was too rough, his features too harsh. He kept his dark hair long, trying to obscure the cruel angles of his jaw, but it didn’t do much good. Brewer was right. He was ugly. A woman who looked like Darcy could never really be attracted to him.
The thought did nothing to improve his mood.
“I’d rather discuss how the zombies got here.” He snarled.
“How they got here?” Brew repeated with a typical show of intelligence. “Fuckers came from outer space, is my bet.” He gave a wise nod. “All the freaky shit comes from the aliens.”
Joseff stared at him… and realized that this was going to take a while.
Chapter Six
Bright side to the zombie apocalypse:
Twinkies last forever,
untoasted Pop Tarts aren’t so bad,
and Cheetos suddenly count as the base of your food pyramid.
“Shouldn’t there be more zombies wandering around?” Scotlyn looked up at Zeke. “Vegas is a big city and we’ve seen –What?-- twenty or thirty of them, today? It seems odd.”
“Well, whatever the hell is going on, it’s working in our favor.” Zeke touched Scotlyn’s lower back, edging her forward so she was standing with Caleb on one side and Zeke on the other. He kept doing that, constantly ensuring that she was safely ensconced between the two shape shifters. “Are you sure you can find this place, Cale? Because, I’m not seeing it.”
“It looks different when it’s not the dystopia.” Caleb scanned the run down strip clubs and bars, trying to find the Prowl Lounge. “And I usually have a GPS.”
“Do you also usually have a tetanus shot?” Scotlyn adjusted her grip on Pucci’s pet carrier and frowned at the dismal neighborhood. No matter what Cale said, even before the end of the world, it had been a warzone. “I hate zombies.” She reported. “I even hated them back when they were fake. I think Walking Dead is completely overrated.”
“Well, the graphic novel’s better than the show.” Zeke allowed. “Except for Darryl. Darryl’s a badass.”
“You’re such a geek.” Caleb lamented. “How can a shape shifter grow up to be a nerdy, dungeons-and-dragon-y, bookworm? I don’t understand it.”
“You think Zeke’s a bookworm?” Scotlyn asked, momentarily distracted by that idea.
“He is a bookworm. He has a doctorate in folklore and mythology. It’s embarrassing.”
Scotlyn turned to look at Zeke. “You have a doctorate?”
He winced. “Only from UCLA. Most people don’t even count that as a real college.”
She stared at him in amazement.
“He’s a dreamer.” Caleb continued. “Always has been. He once dug up the whole basement of our house looking for buried treasure.”
“I found twenty bucks and a gold ring.” Zeke retorted.
Caleb nodded. “And broke the sewer line.”
Scotlyn shook her head and tried to refocus. She couldn’t afford to be distracted by anymore mind-blowing revelations. “My point is, even with my aversion to zombie movies and TV shows, I know there should be more of them around. I’m telling you, something weird is happening. I think we should get out of here.”
“We’re almost to Prowl.” Caleb assured her.
“Darcy might not even be there.” Zeke said, looking eager not to discuss his academic success or archeological digs. “She’s not an idiot. She could’ve cleared out of town at the first sign of zombies.”
“She wouldn’t leave without us. She knows we’ll be trying to find her, so she’ll go to where we’re likely to look.”
“If she’s not here, we should just get out of Vegas.” Scotlyn recommended for the tenth time.
“Once we find the rest of the pack, we’re clearing out.” Zeke assured her. He helped her over debris from a looted sex shop. “Of course, the highways are gridlocked, so we might have to hike it.”
“Through the desert?” A flattened inflatable doll got caught on her shoe and Scotlyn kicked it off.
He arched an “I’m open to suggestions” kind of brow at her. “Wanna try motorcycles?”
She slowly shook her head. “I think we need to steal a plane.”
“Can you fly a plane?”
“Of course.”
<
br /> He and Caleb both turned to look at her.
“One of my foster fathers was a pilot. He taught me.”
“That’s way more useful than a Ph.D.” Caleb decided.
“Researching folklore has its uses.” Zeke’s eyes went back to scanning around for danger, never resting. Her lackadaisical boss was so… focused in this environment. Or maybe he’d always been this focused and he was just no longer bothering to hide it from her.
“Before we fly, we need to figure out a place to go.” Scotlyn continued.
“I told you we’re going to head to Peru.” Zeke arched a brow. “You still have that metal box I gave you?”
“Ummm….”
“Damn it, Scottie, I told you not to lose that thing!”
“Well, I’m sorry! I dropped it when I was selfishly trying not to die.”
He blew out a long breath. “Alright. Sorry. Do you know where you dropped it?”
“TGW.”
“Well, we’ll have to go back and get it.”
“We’ll do no such thing.” She retorted. “Whatever’s in it it’s gone. Right now all I care about it getting out of Vegas. I’m thinking we should find an island. Someplace that’s easier to secure.”
Zeke perked up, although she doubted he was giving up on his stupid idea so easily. He never did. “An island’s a good Plan B. You could wear a bikini all day.”
“I’m not wearing a bikini all day, Ezekiel, I don’t care where we are.”
“Alright, don’t wear one.” His eyebrows waggled. “That will be even better.”
“Pervert.”
He flashed her a typically perfect Zeke grin. She should’ve known he wasn’t exactly human. No one could be that attractive without some kind of supernatural powers.
Scotlyn felt like she was doing really well at dealing with the madness of the past two days. She was postponing her freak out like a champ. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have a lot of questions. “So… What does it mean to be a werewolf exactly?” She asked, crunching through broken glass from countless smashed windows. “You’re the professor. Explain it to me.”
Zeke’s smile dimmed. “I’m a shape shifter, not werewolf. And it means nothing really. Basically, I’m the same as a human.”
“No, he’s not.” Caleb interjected.
“Yes, I am.” Zeke slanted his brother a venomous glare. “During the full moon there is the thing, but…”
“The thing where you can magically turn into an animal.” Caleb nodded over at Scotlyn. “He’s talking about that thing.”
“I don’t hurt anyone.” Zeke stipulated quickly.
Caleb arched a brow at him. “You don’t?”
“Not anyone human. Or cat. That’s what she would care about.” He looked back at Scotlyn. “And I would never hurt you. Even after I Changed, I wouldn’t ever harm you.”
“I know.”
The wolf had protected her. It had known her.
And she’d known Zeke.
Zeke seemed encouraged by that response. “You know, it’s almost like a disease. Like I have a –ya know-- strange and tragic illness. I have some increased senses and maybe a little more strength than the average guy, but it’s not like I asked for that. Would you blame me if I’d been born three eyes or something?”
“Three eyes?” Caleb repeated. “I’d blame you for that. Fucking freak.”
Lord, she never thought she’d see the day when Zeke was the likable one in a group. “So you have to be born a shape shifter?”
Zeke hesitated. “Mostly.”
That sounded vague. She looked over at Caleb for the newest installment of his DVD commentary on their conversation. “Mostly?” She prompted, expecting a list of caveats and snarky remarks.
Zeke glanced over at Caleb and Scotlyn sensed some silent communication between the brothers. For two guys who’d spent the last hour bickering over everything they saw, they seemed to do most of their actual talking without talking, at all.
“Yeah.” Caleb cautiously agreed. “Mostly.”
Scotlyn didn’t believe him. She didn’t want to push too hard or they might stop telling her anything, though. “So can you guys turn into any animal or just wolves?”
“We can become any animal, but, for the Macreadys, the wolf is usually dominant. It’s what we favor.”
“But you’re not werewolves?”
“No.” Zeke sounded almost insulted. “Werewolves are a whole different species. They’re sort of in between an animal and… I guess you’d say ‘human.’ They’re big and mean and drool a lot. It’s like they’re always partially Changed. And most of all, they hate shifters.”
“They’re bad guys.” Caleb put in, in case she still didn’t get it. “Don’t go near any werewolves.”
“That’s what you said about the vampires.”
“Right. Don’t go near them either.”
Scotlyn made a face at him and turned back to Zeke. “What about the salt thing that woke you up? How did that work?”
“We’re not supposed to Change outside the full moon.” Caleb explained. “When we do, it saps a lot of power and we pass out for a long time. The only way to snap us out of it is salt. It works like --I don’t know-- adrenalin. It gets us on our feet.”
“But Zeke’s still weakened?”
Another glance between the brothers.
It was getting annoying.
“Zeke.” Scotlyn stopped walking and turned to confront him. “Are you alright or not?”
“I’m fine.” He quickly backtracked, shifting his body to protect her against possible attacks from behind. “Just a little tired. It’s not as big a deal as it seems.”
Scotlyn turned to look at Caleb. “He’s lying. What’s wrong with him?”
“Cale, I swear to Christ…”
Caleb disregarded Zeke’s warning. “Changing outside the full moon depleted his strength. That’s why we don’t do. There’s always a chance we won’t have the energy to wake up and, if we do, we’re exhausted for days. Zeke is barely staying on his feet, right now.”
Scotlyn whirled back around to Zeke who was leveling his brother a death glare. “Not a big deal, huh?” She whacked him with her fuzzy pink backpack. “Asshole.”
“Scottie, baby, come on…”
“I’m not speaking to you!” She hit him again. “All you’ll do is tell me more lies. Lying shape shifting, Ph.D. having liar!”
“I’m not lying.”
“Just saying that is a lie!” She shrieked. “Did you even think about me, huh? You almost killed yourself and I would’ve been the one left behind!”
“Well, I didn’t plan it! The zombie grabbed you and it just happened.”
“We have to choose the Change.” Caleb told Scotlyn. He crossed his arms over his chest and smirked like a fourth grade tattletale. “It never just happens, even during the full moon.”
“You son of a bitch.” Zeke stabbed a finger at him. “I’m telling you, it just happened! I didn’t think, didn’t raise the gun, didn’t do anything. She was threatened and I just Changed.”
Caleb rolled his eyes. “Tell yourself whatever you want, but you know that you chose, Z.”
Zeke started to respond to that, but Scotlyn didn’t feel like listening to more sniping and insults. “Is that the club?” She pointed across the street.
Caleb and Zeke both turned to look at a boarded-up building. It looked exactly like an abandoned building, down to a “Keep Out!” sign posted on the plywood door. But “Prowl” had been spray painted on the sidewalk in front of the entrance in extraterrestrial green. As they watched, a brown lizard skittered through a crack in the club’s cinderblock wall.
Zeke glanced over at his brother. “You’re kidding, right?”
“It looks better at night.” Caleb muttered, stalking across the street.
Zeke heaved a sigh. “Trix, when we go in there, do not look at anyone, talk to anyone, or touch anyone, okay?”
“I’ll try and restrain myself f
rom fondling the monsters.” Scotlyn assured him sarcastically. God, nobody could be suppressing their freak out better than she was. She just kept telling herself that. “You know, I never got to see all those Harry Potter movies.”
Zeke flashed her a baffled look. “Huh?”
“I’m making a list of all the things that I’m not going to be able to do now that the world ended.” She arched a brow at him. “You think Netflix is gonna ship out the next disc in my queue anytime soon? I don’t. So, the last movie I’ll ever see was some subtitled thing with no dialogue and lots of close-ups of trees.”
It helped Scotlyn to focus on all the stupid little things that were suddenly gone. It was much easier than thinking zombies were real, and countless people were dead, and she worked for Professor Shape Shifter.
“And forget about ever having sushi, again.” She continued. “No way is anyone going to be making that in the state of Nevada. That’s on my list, too.”
“You’re always such a pessimist.” Zeke made a “tsk” sound. “You should focus on the bright side to the zombie apocalypse.”
“The bright side?”
“Sure. Like no more waiting in line at the ATM.” He nodded. “That’s a real plus. And, you know, you don’t have to remember fifty different computer passwords anymore. Or waste an afternoon waiting for the cable guy to show up. Tell me you aren’t just a little pleased about that.”
Scotlyn refused to be amused by his attempts to cheer her up.
“The list of positives just goes on and on.” Zeke continued undaunted. “No more saccharine-y Christmas commercials before it’s even Halloween. No more phone calls interrupting you in the shower. No more asshole customers bothering us at the golf course.”
“Victoria Secret is suddenly having one hell of a sale.” Scotlyn added despite herself. “I can have the whole spring collection for free.”
“Exactly. There are hundreds of…” He stopped short. “Wait what?”
“I’m helping you make your stupid list of upsides to the total collapse of civilization. You know that I spent most of my money on lingerie. Now, I can have it all for free, so…”
Love in the Time of Zombies Page 8