by Opal Carew
“They wish you luck in the coming battle.”
Simone looked up to see Aniyah standing in the doorway of her shop. She hadn’t heard the woman come outside.
“Will any of them help us tonight?” Simone asked.
Aniyah shook her head. “It isn’t their fight. But they will pray for your souls. That is enough.”
The words sent a shiver down Simon’s back. As soon as Aniyah went back inside, Simone rounded on Drake, determined to finally talk to him. But when she tried, he held up his hand.
“I know what you’re going to say, Simone. You’re going to say I don’t need to do this and that it’s too dangerous.”
“It is too dangerous,” she insisted. “Beck said—”
“That he’d do it for me,” Drake finished. “I know. But I can’t let him. If it wasn’t for Beck, I probably would have drunk myself to death years ago. Either that or taken a header off a bridge. If it wasn’t for him, I would never have had the courage to meet you for coffee that day. I owe him my life. And I’m not going to repay that by letting him risk his. Not when it’s something I should be doing.”
The tears that had been welling in her eyes while he spoke trickled down her cheeks. He wasn’t going to change his mind. And in her heart, she knew he wouldn’t be the man she loved if he did.
Tilting her face up to his, Drake bent his head to kiss her tenderly on the mouth, then took her in his arms and held her close.
“I’m going to make it through this, Simone. We’re going to make it. I promise.”
Simone hugged him back and prayed he was right.
* * * * *
After they’d put out the rock salt, Aniyah had them fill pails with salt water and soak the baseball bats Beck had picked up earlier. When Simone looked at her curiously, the other woman explained it would be easier to fight the zombies if the bats were covered in salt.
“If they hate salt so much, wouldn’t it be easier to load shotgun shells with rock salt and shoot the bastards?” Beck asked as he dumped a bag of rock salt into a bucket filled with water.
“It would be,” Aniyah agreed. “But the 67th precinct isn’t far from here. If the police hear shots, they’ll come check it out and we don’t want that. Not only would they end up getting killed, but their presence might chase off the bokor, which means we’d have to wait for her to attack us again.”
While the baseball bats soaked in the salt water, Aniyah went over the plan again, this time in more detail. At the first sign of zombies, Simone and Beck would take up defensive positions inside the shop while Drake ran down to the cellar and through the connecting passageway that linked the adjacent basements to each other. There were several exits along the passageway, so Drake would be able to use whichever one got him closest to the Voodoo priestess. As Aniyah mentioned earlier, the bokor would have to be relatively close to control her zombie army. Drake shouldn’t have to go very far to reach her.
When Aniyah came to the part where Drake confronted the Voodoo priestess, she disappeared into her bedroom, then returned a moment later with an object wrapped in a piece of soft, black material. Setting it on the kitchen table, she carefully unwrapped it. Inside was a knife with a wickedly curved blade.
Aniyah looked at Drake. “Long ago, one of my ancestors risked her life and immortal soul to recover this knife from the Other Side. This is the knife you must use to kill the bokor.”
Simone moved closer to the table. It was hard to say why, but the sharp, glinting piece of metal seemed to project some level of menace—more than one would expect from an inanimate object. The sides of the blade bore swirling designs that she realized were writing of some kind, but she didn’t recognize the words.
“You grandmother mentioned The Other Side to me before,” Drake said to Aniyah. “I thought it was a euphemism, but you make it sound like it’s a real place. And your ancestor went there to get this knife? Why?”
Aniyah shrugged. “Like now, she was facing a very great evil, and in order to do so, she needed a weapon of power. She went to the one place she was sure she could find it.”
“This Other Side,” Simone asked. “Is it like…Hell?”
Aniyah nodded. “Some call it that. But it is merely a realm of magic. Not all of it is evil, but most of it is. It exists all around our world, but doesn’t touch it. There are some places in our world that straddles the line between that world and ours. One of those places is where this knife came from.”
Drake reached out to touch the handle of the knife. “Since this knife came from there, is it evil?”
“In the wrong hands, it could be. But it has been in my family for generations, slowly being imbued with the spirit and goodness of every Voodoo priest and priestess who has used it. This blade has been turned to one purpose now—to fight dark magic.”
Regardless of her assurances, Simone wasn’t so sure she liked the looks of the thing. “Are you sure we need this?”
“If she’s as old as we think she is, she’s almost certainly cloaked herself in several generation’s worth of protection spells,” Aniyah said. “That is the only way she could have lived so long. A regular knife, or even a gun for that matter, likely wouldn’t have any effect on her. This knife is the only thing I’m sure will kill the bokor.”
Drake picked up the knife as if testing the feel of the weapon in his hand, but made no comment.
Across from Simone, Beck regarded Drake thoughtfully. “Drake, I know why you feel you have to do this, but I’m telling you that you don’t.”
Simone knew what Beck was trying to do, but she could have told him that it wasn’t going to change anything.
Drake looked at his friend. “Yes, I do.”
“Z-Man, you’ve got an awful lot to live for now,” Beck said, nodding toward Simone. “Why don’t you let me do it?”
“Because it’s my fight. And because I do have so much to live for now. I have to make sure the priestess never threatens Simone again.” Drake wrapped the knife up in the cloth. “I appreciate the offer, but I really need to be the one to do it.”
Even though she knew Drake had committed himself to doing this, it still upset her to hear him say it with such finality. She was afraid he was so determined to keep her safe from the Voodoo priestess that he’d end up sacrificing his life if it meant taking the old woman down with him. Simone prayed to God it didn’t come to that.
On the other side of the table, Aniyah pushed back her chair. “We should eat something before it gets dark. I’ll go check on the stew.”
Blinking back the tears that threatened, Simone murmured something about helping Aniyah in the kitchen and got up from the table to hurry after the other woman.
Aniyah was standing at the stove when Simone walked into the kitchen and she glanced at her as she took the lid off the cast-iron pot.
“Drake will be safe,” Aniyah said.
“How can you be so sure?” Simone asked.
The other woman smiled. “Because he has you to come back to.”
Simone said nothing. If only it were that simple.
Though her stomach rebelled at the thought of food, Simone forced herself to eat the Cajun chicken stew Aniyah had made when they sat down at the table a few minutes later. If the other woman was right about how many zombies would attack the shop later that night, she would need the energy.
To say the conversation was subdued during the meal was an understatement, but every once in a while, Drake would glance Simone’s way and give her hand a reassuring squeeze. That was enough.
The sun was just staring to go down as they finished dinner, so after quickly clearing the table of the dishes, they all went into the shop to wait. While Simone, Drake and Beck watched, Aniyah set out candles, then sprinkled what looked like cornmeal on the hardwood floor. At first, Simone thought she was just making a series of simple lines, but she realized Aniyah was making an intricate design.
“What are you doing?” Simone asked.
Aniyah glanced at her
as she sprinkled more cornmeal on the floor. “Making a Vever. It represents the Loa, the Voudoun deity, to be invoked during the ceremony I’m going to do. This one is for Ogu–Fer, the warrior Loa.”
Deciding what Aniyah was doing probably required concentration, Simone didn’t ask any more questions. Instead, she just watched along with the two men as the woman finished making the Vever. When she was done, Aniyah came over to where they stood and handed Drake the small bag Simone had seen her with earlier.
“Put this in your pocket,” Aniyah instructed.
“What is it?” Drake asked.
“A gris gris bag. It is filled with many powerful things. It will help keep you safe.”
As Drake put the bag in his pocket, Aniyah walked back over to the Vever and kneeled down at one end of the design. She placed a Voodoo doll on the floor in front of her along with a metal bowl filled with water, then closed her eyes and whispered softly in a language Simone didn’t understand.
Beside Simone, Drake reached out and took her hand in his. She tried to smile but couldn’t quite manage it, so she gave him a nod instead. That must have been good enough for him because he leaned close to brush her cheek with a kiss.
Even though she wanted Drake to be free of the curse, as the hours passed, Simone found herself hoping the Voodoo priestess had decided not to come after all. But when she looked out the window and saw the same fog that had preceded the zombies up at the cabin moving down the street outside the shop, her heart began to pound.
From her position on the floor, Aniyah stopped whispering and turned her head to look at them. “The bokor is close. Once she finds a suitable place to cast her spells, she’ll call her zombies. Get ready.”
Aniyah didn’t wait for a reply. Instead, she picked up the Voodoo doll she’d made and focused her attention on it as she murmured softly to herself again.
Remembering the purpose of the Voodoo doll, Simone glanced at Drake to see if she could see any change in his outward appearance, but he looked the same. Maybe the spell only confused the Voodoo priestess.
Simone turned her gaze to the front window of the shop again. The fog was so thick now she couldn’t even see across the street. She couldn’t see any zombies, either. She was just about to mention that to Aniyah when the woman looked at them.
“The zombies are on their way. A lot of them,” she said. “Drake, as soon as I have the bokor’s location, you need to go.”
Simone’s stomach clenched into a knot. Even though she knew this moment would come, she wasn’t sure she had the strength to let Drake go confront the Voodoo priestess by himself. When he picked up one of the baseball bats from the counter, she caught his arm.
“Promise me you’ll be careful, Drake,” she said softly. “If you can’t kill the Voodoo priestess, forget about it and come back. I don’t care that you’re a zombie or that she’s hunting us. I’ll go on the run with you forever if it means that I get to be with you.”
Drake gently cupped her face in his free hand. “I’ll come back, sweetheart. I promise. And when I do, I’m going to ask you to marry me, so while I’m out there, I want you to think about what your answer is going to be.”
Tears filled her eyes. Oh God, he was proposing. It wasn’t exactly the most romantic setting, but the place the words were coming from was what mattered. “I don’t have to think about it, Drake. My answer will be yes.”
The corner of his mouth edged up. “I’m going to hold you to that, you know.”
Simone let out a tearful little laugh. She couldn’t let him leave without telling him how she felt about him. Who the hell cared what the women’s magazine said? She opened her mouth to say the words when Aniyah interrupted her.
“I have the bokor. She’s on the second floor of a building on 28th Street, just two blocks east of here. There was a fire there a few months ago and no one has bothered to repair the place, so you should have no problem finding it.”
Drake nodded, then turned back to Simone. “I have to go.”
Her hand tightened on his arm. “Wait. I have to tell you something. I—”
“Drake, if you’re going, you need to go now,” Beck shouted from the front of the shop. “I can already see zombies coming down the street. Damn, there’s a shitload of them.”
Simone opened her mouth again, determined to get the words out before Drake left, but he didn’t give her the chance. Bending his head, he gave her a long, hard kiss, then took off for the basement at a run.
She watched him go through tear-filled eyes, begging God to keep him safe and praying she’d get the opportunity to tell him what she hadn’t gotten the chance to say.
Chapter Sixteen
Drake’s heart hammered in his chest as he raced through the narrow, underground passageway that connected one basement to the next. Simone’s words played over and over in his head. I don’t care that you’re a zombie. But he cared. Besides, it wasn’t simply about being a zombie anymore. As long as the Voodoo priestess was alive, then Simone was in danger. He’d do whatever he had to do to keep her safe. Which was one of the reasons he had insisted on confronting the bokor himself.
Although he appreciated Beck’s offer to take on the old bitch in his place, he couldn’t take his friend up on it. While Beck was obviously capable, Drake had one thing going for him the other man didn’t. Drake was in love with Simone and there was absolutely nothing he wouldn’t do to keep her safe. If it meant he had to die to do it, he was going to kill that Voodoo priestess.
Drake wasn’t exactly sure when he came to the startling conclusion he loved Simone. Maybe it had been up at the cabin when she’d told him she wasn’t going to give up on them just because he was cursed. Or maybe it had been this morning when he’d lain there in bed watching her sleep. She’d looked so beautiful it had made his chest hurt. He’d known right then there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do to protect her.
Cursed or not, if he made it out of this, he was going to marry her.
He slowed to a walk as he approached the last set of stairs at the end of the passageway. They led to a door that opened onto a street only a block away from where the Voodoo priestess was hiding. He climbed the steps quietly, his adrenaline working overtime.
Taking a deep breath, he slowly opened the door and cautiously looked out. It wouldn’t help Simone if he ran straight into a mob of hungry zombies and got killed before he could even get close to the Voodoo priestess.
The fog didn’t seem to extend this far, so he was able to see well enough into the darkened alley to know there weren’t any zombies in the immediate area. He doubted they were smart enough to hide from him, but just to be on the safe side, he carefully edged around the door a little more to get a better look. When he still didn’t see any zombies, he stepped onto the street and headed for the end of the alley at a run.
Once there, he stopped and looked down Flatbush Avenue. The fog was as thick in front of Aniyah’s shop as it had been up at the cabin. Despite how heavy it was, he could still make out at least twenty zombies shuffling down the street, maybe more. Dammit. Where the hell did the Voodoo priestess find so many dead bodies in the middle of New York City? Simone and Beck were going to have their hands full holding them off. Which meant he didn’t have time to waste.
Drake turned east and ran as fast as he could toward 28th Street. He’d never seen New York City streets so deserted before, but word of the zombie attack must have sent everyone into hiding.
Just then, a figure stumbled out of an alley up ahead. From the awkward way it moved, Drake immediately realized it was a zombie. He skidded to a stop and lifted the baseball bat, prepared to defend himself. As the zombie got closer, he swore under his breath. Holy crap, to say the bastard was fresh was putting it mildly. The creature still had blood pouring out of a series of jagged holes in its chest. Since Drake knew for a fact zombies didn’t have a heartbeat, that could only mean this one had died mere minutes ago. The Voodoo priestess must be raising whatever dead bodies she could get
her hands on. That included any murder victims who happened to be lying around the neighborhood.
Drake lifted the baseball bat higher, ready to take a swing at the walking corpse. But to his surprise, the damn thing didn’t even look at him. Instead, it walked past him, continuing down Flatbush Avenue as if it hadn’t seen him.
Drake stared at the zombie in confusion until he remembered the gris gris bag in the pocket of his jeans. Apparently the spell Aniyah had put on him was working.
Giving the zombie one more look over his shoulder, Drake took off at a run again. It wasn’t hard to find the building Aniyah had told him about. The result of a recent fire like she’d said, most of it was no more than a burned-out shell. The rest of it wasn’t much better. It looked exactly like the kind of place where an evil Voodoo priestess would hide out.
Taking a deep breath, he cautiously made his way over to it. As he got closer, he saw fog rolling out of what used to be the main entrance. Tightening his grip on the baseball bat, he stepped through what was left of the doorway and looked around. It wasn’t as bad on the inside as he thought it would be. Though burned here and there, most of the structure seemed to be intact. The whole place still smelled like smoke and charred wood, however.
He didn’t know what he expected to find, but he thought there’d be at least one or two zombies guarding the place. But it was empty. That made his heart beat even faster. Something didn’t feel right. He didn’t have time to puzzle it out, though. The longer he waited, the more zombies Simone and Beck would have to fight.
Remembering Aniyah said the Voodoo priestess was on the second floor, he headed for the stairs. They were littered with chunks of drywall and old carpet and he made his way up them slowly, not wanting to alert the old woman to his presence. It was hard to be stealthy when the steps were so dilapidated and he cringed every time one creaked.