“So you’re saying that the only reason Elliot went out with me is because of it?”
“Exactly, and that’s why I should get the cure you’re hiding from us. Not that idiot. I loved you before the spell’s effects. Elliot’s long since dumped you. For some reason, you still hang around him, and I have no clue why. What are you waiting for?”
“He doesn’t try to eat me,” I said flatly. It was all I could say. How could I get Henry to realize that the day he made that attempt, starving or not, he had betrayed my trust? Somehow Elliot was able to stay in control of his urges and that automatically made him safer to be around. Okay, maybe that sounded selfish considering I took his life away from him, but it’s not like I wanted to do it.
“Are you ever going to let that go?” Henry snapped.
“I know you’re upset,” I said. “But I have to think about my safety. I’m sorry for what I did to you, but it was to survive. If there was another way around it, I would do it, but I can’t.”
“So what am I supposed to do? Just be like, ‘hey, I understand,’ and then just live my life consuming others? Just roll over and pretend nothing’s wrong? I’m trying to eat this stuff,” he said, thrusting his hand toward his pasta, “but it’s like a snack. Real food doesn’t fill me up anymore.”
“I know it’s not that simple, Henry.”
“Um,” the waitress said, finally returning. From the smell on her uniform, I could tell she had taken a cigarette break. “Are you ready to order?”
“I’ll take the kid’s spaghetti and meatballs,” I said, handing her the stained, laminated menu.
“It’s only for children eight and under.”
“The only reason I’m ordering it is because I’m trying to be nice. I actually don’t want to eat anything here. I’m a little afraid of catching some ancient disease like the black plague.”
“Okay,” she said, half-ignoring me. “Oh! And the count is fifteen. Fifteen on staff.”
“Thank you.”
“And you, sir?” she said, turning to Henry. “You said you wanted to order more once your friend arrived.”
“Yes,” he said, spinning the menu over and surveying the items. I figured it was now or never. If I told him the truth when we were alone, there was a chance I could be in danger. If someone was around us, he might hold back.
“Henry?” I replied as he looked up at me suddenly from the menu.
“Yes?”
“I have the cure…but it’s in my blood.”
His eyes ignited with energy…but it was a different kind of fire than I was used to seeing in the boy I knew since childhood. And I was so terrified, I couldn’t move.
I didn’t expect him to lunge up at the waitress, or grab her, or slam her head on the table, or start clutching the back of her head. He opened his mouth wide toward her and I screamed—my body beginning to run away on its own—but Henry caught my wrist, and pulled me back to him with alarming strength. I turned to hit him, but he dodged the laughable attempt and kicked at my knees, causing me to fall down to the dirty floor. Leaving the unconscious waitress slumped over the table, he stood behind me, towering over me like a predator as I heard him smack his lips.
“I’m sorry for the violence,” he said, almost sounding sincere. “But it was either her or you.”
“Henry, you need help.”
“Please stop talking,” he pleaded, placing a rotting hand on the top of my head.
“What are you planning on doing to me?”
“Nothing I want to, Alex. So…it’s in your blood?”
“I’ve tried extracting it through a syringe,” I said, my voice beginning to waver as I thought of the odds of me breaking through his powerful grip. “But even that doesn’t work. And I’m just going off of what my mother told me before she left. She could have been lying about the cure. I—”
“—maybe we just need more than a syringe’s worth.” He interrupted me. “If we draw your blood over time…”
“Henry…” I said, looking around frantically for help. “It won’t work. My blood is different…once it’s out of my body, it immediately starts coagulating. It dries up. I—”
“—you smell so good,” he whispered to me, picking up his knife and cup from the table with one hand. “Maybe I’ll just take a little at a time. I’ll stop once the cure kicks in.”
“And what if I die?”
He stopped as he considered my words.
“I don’t want you to die, Alex, but you have no idea what it’s like. I can’t live like this.”
“YOU’RE NOT LIVING AT ALL!” a voice boomed throughout the restaurant. I could hear several pairs of feet sprinting out the exits, slamming open doors while dropping frying pans and unused glass plates onto the tile.
“Who said that?” Henry asked, looking around. I opened my eyes, and saw my savior immediately.
He had no legs, but he was definitely in the possession of a gun.
“Get your beggar hands off of her,” Elliot said through clenched teeth as he steadied the pistol. Henry glanced down and finally noticed the source of the voice lying on the floor like a sniper.
“Elliot, what are you doing here?”
“Shut your mouth and let her go, or I put a bullet through your skull.”
“That’s a bit graphic,” Henry said, tightening his grip on my hair. “And foolish. I’m already dead.”
“True, but if I hit you in the brain, your body, and more importantly, your mouth, will stop moving.”
“I wasn’t going to hurt her.”
“Why are we still conversing? Let her go.”
Henry released me and I crawled in a hurry over to Elliot. He nodded and took his attention back to Henry as I climbed to my feet.
“Thank you, El,” I whispered to him. “What made you come here?”
“As soon as I sent you on your way, I realized my folly. I promptly crawled here for back-up.”
“So glad Angelo’s wasn’t far.”
“Says you,” Elliot laughed. “I think I lost some muscle back there.”
“You know there’s a cure?” Henry blurted out. Based on the raise of Elliot’s brow, I could tell the subject piqued his interest. No matter what they thought of each other, Henry suddenly had my savior’s undivided attention.
“It’s in her,” Henry said, pointing at me. “Her blood.”
“So basically there is no cure,” Elliot said immediately. Henry was taken aback.
“I just told you—”
“—yes, that there’s no cure. If it is part of Alexandra’s blood, and the only way we can access it is to cause her bodily harm, then the cure is null and void. I’m surprised you would even consider the alternative. Hmph. And you call yourself a man.”
Henry stared at him while his face softened. Even I could tell that the danger was over. Elliot’s words had gotten through.
“I let my hunger get the better of me…” Henry replied as he wiped his mouth with his ragged shirt sleeve.
“Of course you did,” Elliot replied. “You obviously have an eating disorder. Bulimia, I think it’s called. Now where are my legs?”
“I don’t have them.”
Elliot fired the gun off and the bullet whizzed through Henry’s tufts of hair.
“Whoa, you almost took my head off!” he yelled, taking a step backwards.
“I was trying to,” Elliot said slowly. “I missed because my center of gravity is off. But don’t worry. I’m compensating.”
“Wait! Wait!” Henry said, throwing up his hands. “I’m serious. I gave them to a boy named Noah. He was willing to give me a hundred bucks for them. How was I going to pay for the date without money?”
“Nitwit! I would have given you ten times the amount!”
“Noah?” I asked, finally gaining my voice. “What did he look like?”
“Couldn’t get a good look. He kind of just came out of the shadows. Tall. Long, dark hair. Suave, seductive voice.”
“Oh, God,” I
whispered as Elliot turned his head slightly to look up at me. Henry raised an eyebrow that promptly fell off.
“What is it?” he asked, reaching down to retrieve it.
“Anyone but Noah,” I muttered. Was my whole past going to haunt me in one night? I could see that Elliot and Henry were both waiting for an answer. And considering I was in the presence of two zombies that I had shaky history with, I decided to err on the side of caution and give them the truth.
“Um,” I said carefully, unsure of how they would react. “Noah’s kind of my ex-boyfriend too.”
“Okay,” Elliot replied. “What is he, a biker? A hooligan? Is that why you sound afraid?”
“You never mentioned him,” Henry said. I shook my head.
“No, it was before we met. He was…one of the first people I messed up.”
“Great! Another zombie!” Henry shouted out and plopped down onto a bench. He glanced over at the unconscious waitress with hungry eyes. “How many of us are out there?”
“Just the two of you. Noah’s something else entirely.”
“Oh yeah, and what’s that? What makes him so dangerous that he would make a zombie pale in comparison?”
“Well…he’s a vampire.”
Henry’s eyes widened and Elliot’s jaw dropped.
Literally.
THE STORY CONTINUES IN:
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THE SAGE SAGA
{A slacker tries to become a warrior for his kingdom while finding love and adventure}
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End of the Fantasy (Book 6)
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{A young girl with a troubling past tries to survive the apocalypse on a fantasy world}
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{An angel wakes up in Heaven as the War between God and Lucifer begins}
End of Angels (Book 1)
Angels of Eden (Book 2)
Angels and the Ark (Book 3)
The Obsidian Saga
{A vengeful teen navigates a world where everyone has been granted up to three wishes}
Obsidian Sky (Book 1)
Fall of the OmegaSlayers (Book 2)
Witchfall
{A conflicted human girl tries to destroy a world of witches while living among them}
Witchfall (Book 1)
The Guardians Saga
{The continuance of James and Catherine’s story after the Sage Saga}
The Last of the Guardians (Book 1)
Legend of the Sages (Book 2)
Standalone Novels:
My Immortal Romance – A siren is haunted by her ex-boyfriends in high school
Upgrade – Androids become obsolete in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi world
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The Rest Die Tomorrow (Part 1)
{A narcissistic CEO learns he has eight days to live, long enough to destroy his enemies}
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Face Punch
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Static Rain
Girl of My Dreams
World War Baby
World War Baby: Day Two
Sanctuary
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