by Rae, Alexa
The monster lunged for him again, his mouth open, ready to bite. Eli dodged the attempt. His movements were precise like he'd practiced it a million times. His feet worked in particular patterns, back and forth until he managed to make a clean swipe across the Undead's throat with his knife. Detached from its body, the head toppled to the concrete.
My eyes moved back to Ben after I heard the snap of two bones being broken. He snapped the leader's neck and the body was limp underneath him. Ben was on feet again and in one swift motion he was in front of me. His eyes were dark and murderous as they settled on the monster holding me.
"There's more where we came from," the monster said. "You can't win this war."
"Watch me," Ben smirked.
A third voice from the crosswalk echoed down the small side street. "Brandon, is that you?"
Everyone turned to see Cam standing in the middle of the road, a few feet away from us, with his hands crossed over his chest.
The monster snarled, "I thought I killed you."
"I'm a legend. We never die." He shot back, his eyebrows raised, and a mocking smile hung on his lips.
A frown was on Ben's face, which told me he wasn't expecting Cam to show up. They exchanged a brief glance of communication and together they lunged for Michael. Cam was at his side, his hands snapping his arms back so that I was instantly freed. I collapsed into Ben's arms as they formed around me securely.
Eli dashed in front of the Cam with his sword above his head. "I got this."
Cam, twisting the monster's arms behind his back and holding them together, threw a glance at him. Eli didn't wait for a response. He swung and the machete made a clean sweep through the monster's neck. Cam let out a shout when he ducked just in time to avoid getting cut as well. Angry, he threw the limp body to the side and stared incredulously at Eli.
"What the fuck?"
Eli gave a simple shrug to the close call while he wiped the blood off the sword with his two fingers. "You moved."
Cam looked at Ben. "You hungry?" Eli's eyes snapped to Cam.
I realized what he was referring to and gasped. "No!"
"Face it, no one is going to miss this loser." Cam said. His eyes moved from Ben down to me. "Oh, Ella. I'm sorry about the," he motioned to his neck, his eyes filled with measured sympathy.
"You're forgiven if you promise not to touch him," I nodded to Eli.
"Come at me." A hint of excitement gleamed in Eli's eyes. "I dare you." Cam grinned and stepped forward.
I pushed myself out of Ben's grasp and moved in between the two. "Okay, both of you stop."
"Why are you defending that creature? Especially after he apparently took a snap at you." Eli stared down at me as if I were some foreign species he had yet to understand.
"Yeah, well you need a haircut." Cam spat behind me.
This time Ben spoke. "What were you doing here, Cam?"
"More like who was I doing here?" He shot him a pointed look with one eyebrow raised. I stared at him thinking of how well he would get along with Hayley. Feeling my gaze he turned to me and flashed me an award-winning smile.
Ben rolled his eyes and turned to me. One of his hands touched the side of my face. "Are you okay?"
I let out a shaky breath. "I'm fine."
From the corner of my eye I saw Eli flinch at Ben's gesture. "How can you stand there and let him touch you? It's his fault those zombie brats are coming after you."
Ben shot him a black stare. "That's none of your business."
"I wasn't talking to you," Eli snapped before he turned his eyes back to me.
"He's right, Eli. It isn't any of your business." I told him.
"If it weren't for me, your zombie boyfriend wouldn't be here right now. You wouldn't be here right now." His eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me it isn't my business. Anything that concerns those Undead freaks, is my business."
I moved around Ben so that I could face Eli. My eyes searched his cold and detached face for any semblance of the boy I once knew. When his eyes found mine we were no longer strangers. The horror that I had experienced within the past week had permanently scarred my perception of the world I thought I knew. Eli's eyes lacked the ignorance that most humans carried. He'd saw the world for what it was.
"How do you know about the Undead?" I asked, my voice softer than before.
"Everything I know, I learned from Neil. He created the group that I run with now. Killing zombies is what we do, Ella baby." He touched my arm, his hard, calloused fingers brushed along my skin. "It's become my job and I intend to follow through with it if your boyfriend so much as looks at you with that disgusting hunger in his eyes."
Ben's hand shot out, grasped Eli's wrist, and tossed it to the side. "And if you touch her again I'll bite your fingers off."
"If we're playing that game, then I touched her first," Eli countered, a taunting smile growing on his lips.
Ben's posture straightened. The perilous look that struck his expression made me move directly in front of him so that Eli was out of reach. I couldn't have Ben doing anything drastic that would be hard to clean up. Eli was asking for it, but tonight wasn't the night to rip any more limbs off.
Ben allowed me to move in front of him, but his eyes were no longer for me. They were stone cold and on Eli, daring him to say one more thing to push him over the edge. I tensed in anticipation of my Ex and my boyfriend facing off.
"Could someone pass the popcorn?"
We all turned. Cam looked to his side, waiting for a response, as though someone stood next to him. He looked back at us and shrugged. "I need snacks, this shit is getting dicey."
"Get out of here, Cam." Ben snapped.
He rolled his eyes, but put up his hands in surrender. "I'm gone." He looked at me. "We cool?"
I nodded, "Ice cold."
"Nice," he said before he disappeared before my eyes. I blinked a couple times, still unable to adapt to their quick mode of transportation.
The tension still hung in the air as Ben and Eli continued to glare, silently murdering the other with their eyes. "You should go, Eli," I suggested, "Please."
Eli let out a sharp breath. "I let you go because I knew you deserved better." Eli frowned at Ben. "You're not what I had in mind." I could detect the bitter tone of resentment in his voice that I ignored.
I was desperate to have Ben to myself. I didn't want him getting any ridiculous ideas that I deserved better. Parents, friends, and even the media all tell girls they deserve better than what they have. I didn't find any difference with Ben's case. He was a monster, but who wasn't.
"Stop being an ass, Eli. Just go."
His eyes moved to mine. "I may be an asshole, but at least I'm not a cannibal." He stepped towards me. "Tell me something. Does your boyfriend kiss you after he takes a chomp at you? How is the taste of your own flesh?"
Before I could grimace, Ben was in front of him. His hands were around Eli's throat when he shoved him up against the side of the building. I heard the sound of Eli's head smacking against the bricks. I stared in shock at the scene at the two men in my life. Ben's eyes told me he was ready to kill him while Eli hardly looked phased. He continued to stare Ben down, despite the fact that his hands were cutting off his airways.
"Ben!" I shouted.
"I'm not going to kill you, but I'm going to make your life miserable if you say another word," he spat, ignoring me. "You're a trained, badass hunter. I get it. But I'm not a bratty little Undead that you're used to fighting. I'm older. I can rip you to shreds so don't cross me." He dropped his hands abruptly and stepped back.
Eli threw his head against the wall, his eyes on Ben. "She's not like you. She's human. If you love her at all in the way that I do then you'll let her go."
I could feel my throat closing at his words. My hands clenched into fists at my sides as I fought back the urge to scream. I hated that overplayed movie line. If you love her then let her go, bullshit. If you love someone, you fight for them.
"You let her go be
cause you're an idiot." Ben stated coldly before turning back to face me. "Do you want to get out of here?"
My eyes moved between the two of them. Eli's eyes darkened when they bore into mine. I didn't care about what was right or wrong with humanity in consideration. Ben was the right choice for me. I turned to him with a soft smile that I only wanted to save for him.
"Yes, please."
Ben threw Eli one final glance. "I'll let you take care of the bodies."
I managed to catch Eli's eye roll before Ben led me out of the side street to his motorcycle that was parked beside the curb. My eyes scanned the empty town in search of more uninvited visitors. They knew where I was now, but they didn't seem as scary as I had imagined. Ben and even Eli took them out pretty quickly. While riding on the back of his motorcycle I allowed my thoughts to get lost in the feel of my arms wrapped around his torso. In our small moments on his bike I felt like I could do anything, be anyone. With the wind in my hair and the biting cold rush against my skin I felt alive.
Twenty-Five
Ben killed the engine when we arrived in front of my house. I hopped off his bike, noting how each time became a little less arduous than the last. Before I could smile at myself for not losing my balance when my feet hit the concrete, he pulled me into his arms and locked me in a secure embrace where an unspoken thoughts were shared between the two of us, promising I could stay forever.
"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked, running one of his hands through my hair.
His arms that enveloped me around my shoulders hid my smile. "I am now." I leaned my head back to gaze up at him. "I do have some questions though."
He laughed and motioned to my house. "Can I come in?"
"Does my house seem more inviting because I'm in it or because my mom isn't home for the week?
"Both," he winked and walked alongside me up the driveway.
In our small silence I took a plunge with my first question. "Why did it seem like those Undeads were so easy to kill?"
"They were new zombies. Most of them are not much older than a decade. We refer to them as newbies or zombie brats because they're inexperienced, overconfident, and sloppy." While he spoke his fingers brushed against mine until they were close enough so that he could grasp my hand and intertwine our fingers. His movements with me were natural in a way that was becoming absentminded. He didn't question himself anymore than I did. We were possessed in such a way that claimed me to him.
"The Undead send their newest zombies to do their dirty work as part of their scheme. It lets our guard down for older zombies like me because we feel we can take on the Undead. That's when the ancients show up and slaughter us all."
"Oh," I said, feeling my other questions sink into the pit of my stomach. "How long do we have before the ancient ones show up?"
Ben shrugged. "It depends. We won't have much longer until they bombard us. Their reason for existence is searching for people like you. They don't have patience. When they realize I haven't kept my word they'll come for me too."
After unlocking the door I stopped without opening it. "How can you be so calm about this?"
He smirked. "I have a plan."
I trusted his confidence, but it didn't make me feel any better. "Care to share?"
He shook his head. "When it's finalized you'll know. I promise." He looked down at our joined hands. His thumb brushed over the back of my hand. I noticed the word endless tattooed along the line of his thumb.
"What about Eli and his friends? You called him a hunter."
He shrugged. "We run into those from time to time. Hunters are just a group of humans who know about what we are from a personal encounter or folklore. They're dumb enough to think they can handle us, but smart enough to learn how to fight us. Any hunter you hear of has only come in contact with new zombies because they're easy kills. The ones who have dealt with the real deal don't live to tell the story." I nodded as the information sank in. My ex-boyfriend is a zombie hunter and my boyfriend is an actual zombie. Figures.
Ben was watching me closely. When I looked up to meet his gaze the compassion in his piercing blue eyes made the rest of the world dissolve around us. He understood how difficult this was for me, but he didn't realize how much easier it was to accept when he was with me.
"I know it's a lot," he began.
I quickly shook my head and put a finger to his lips. "I don't want to talk about it anymore."
One of his dark eyebrows arched. "What do you want to do?"
I gave a coy smile. "I don't want to talk."
"Done." In the next second he scooped me into his arms and consumed my lips with his own. I tightened my legs around his waist while my hands traveled up his back and locked around his neck. I sucked on his bottom lip until my teeth occupied it with a slight tug. He made a low growl in his throat and kicked the door open with his foot. He kissed me fiercely, his hands grasping my ass to support my weight, while he carried me through the threshold. His lips owned mine, refusing to let me have the slightest break for air even when he moved down the hallway and into the kitchen.
"Ben," I gasped into his mouth when his lips left mine for a brief moment to suck on the skin on my neck just below my jaw. Warmth rushed from the tips of my toes to my stomach and in seconds I was on fire. I needed more of him and I was going to loose it if I didn't get my way. I nearly collapsed as his lips moved up my neck. My forehead leaned against his shoulder as I gasped allowing his lips to control me.
When we entered the kitchen, he pulled me back so that his lips could collide with mine again. Our mouths ravish the other, each break in the kiss outdoing the last. I had no say anymore and I wasn't complaining. He could do whatever he wanted as long as he didn't stop.
But he did stop.
He snapped his head back abruptly at the sound of a gasp that I caught the end of. Together we turned our heads to the kitchen where Hayley, Shiloh, and Adam stood speechless, wide-eyed and open mouthed. My heart skipped a beat. My legs lost their hold around Ben's waist and I almost fell to the ground before Ben realized I was slipping and hoisted me up before I could hit the ground.
Their eyes followed the motion simultaneously until they locked on his hands underneath my butt. Their awestruck silence was shocking. Even Hayley stood, by the fridge, her eyes moving between Ben and I with her mouth ajar.
My eyes searched the countertops for an explanation of their unexpected appearance and found it covered in my favorite deserts. Shiloh must have thought something was wrong and they decided to cheer me up. My heart lurched when I realized that my best friends were more than I could ever ask for and I'd been lying to them about the biggest part of my life.
"You slut," Hayley finally breathed.
I looked at Ben, nodded, and unwrapped my arms from around his neck. He allowed me to slide down until my feet hit the ground. I stayed by his side, but we kept our hands to ourselves. I turned back to face my friends.
Adam shut his eyes for a moment and opened them again. The shock contorted his features as though he didn't expect Ben to be standing in the doorway when he opened them again. Shiloh was beside Adam, staring at the two of us like we were strangers.
"I can explain," I began when I finally found my voice.
"Sloane," Hayley stated before she threw her head back and laughed. "You failed to mention Ben freaking Sloane." Her eyes snapped to Ben. "I know that's not your middle name."
"Ben, that's Hayley." I motioned to her and she shot him her cutest mocking smile. He nodded to her with one eyebrow raised.
Shiloh cleared her throat, "I, um, I'm Shiloh."
Ben nodded, "Nice to meet you."
"Adam," my neighbor stated with a head nod, which Ben returned.
"Ella," Shiloh shook her head as though she was trying to sort her thoughts. "I don't get it. Why didn't you...how have you...are you two," she looked to Ben for an explanation.
He looked down at me with a barely there smile. "Ella's my girlfriend. I'm trying to keep our relatio
nship under the radar so she doesn't get shit from anyone."
"Holy crap," Adam muttered. "My best friend is dating a famous rock star."
"Thank you for the clarification, moron," Hayley snapped.
"Slut," Adam shot back.
"Bitch."
Shiloh groaned. "We just found out our very own Ella Moore is dating Ben Sloane and you two are picking a fight."
I looked up at Ben. "Hayley and Adam don't get along, but they still love each other." Ben smirked in response.
"I can't formulate affectionate emotions towards peasants," Hayley disagreed, feigning the dismay in her voice as though his social status was a tragedy.
"Fuck you," Adam glared at her.
She shrugged. "You're all talk, but you never bring your cards to the table. You know what to do if you want some."
Shiloh's hand tightened on Adam's arm. We knew Hayley was kidding, but at moments it was like she forgot he was dating her best friend. Her best friend, someone she could never hurt, but the continuous jabs would make a wound eventually.
Ben's eyes moved between my three friends with measured amusement. Listening to them was tiring and I found myself leaning my head against his arm. He adjusted his arm, wrapped it around my waist, and pulled me to him so I could lean onto his side. Their attention turned back to us.
"How long has this been going on?"
"How did you two even meet?"
"You're in serious trouble for lying to us, Ella Grace."
I looked up at Ben. "Maybe I should call you later."
"We know what that means," Hayley muttered suggestively.
I bit down on my lip, not looking at them. The hunger ignited in Ben's eyes. He nodded once and I saw the unfinished business we had yet to pursue flash in his eyes. He blinked and gave another nod to my friends exchanging closing remarks to the conversation before he turned and pressed his lips to my forehead as a lingering goodbye.
"Lock your doors," he murmured against my skin before he pulled away. He waved once more to my friends and disappeared down the hallway. When I heard the front door shut I turned to face the wrath of my friends.