by PJ Schnyder
“Don’t do it, Helen.” She shouldn’t think of it as Helen. Her ward, her magic, was guided by clear intent. If she believed the zombie was her sister, even for a moment, her power would waver and she would be vulnerable because she’d never shut her sister out of anything in her life, ever. But looking at the face before her, she couldn’t ignore who it had been. The ward wouldn’t protect her. Fumbling in her shirt, she pulled the auto-injector from her bra. It hadn’t been tested yet, not on a human. She stared at the walking corpse and horror crept up in her throat. Oh god, she was looking at exactly what she would become. Exactly.
“Oh Helen, what did you do?” She whispered the words.
The sounds of snarling and growling came to her. It couldn’t be happening too far away. But Danny would have his hands full with the vampire and his brood. She couldn’t rely on him to save her this time. She needed to stay alive and find a way to kill her sister...permanently.
First, the vaccine.
It wouldn’t do her any good if the zombie bit her before she could take it.
Her hands shook as she flipped open the cap to the carrier tube and let the injector slide free. Looking up, she sucked in a breath and hissed it out. The zombie had started moving toward her, along the edge where there was less debris. Hampered by the shackles, Deanna retreated along the curve of the wall. If she could get the thing to circle with her, she could come around to the side of the pit where the wall was intact. She might be able to climb up and jump for one of the railings.
Another groan and the thing shuffled closer.
Deanna swallowed hard and pulled off the safety release on one end. She had to hope the vaccine didn’t have any serious side effects. Nothing that would slow her down and let her own sister eat her.
No. Focus. She didn’t dare close her eyes. She’d always been the twin with the better concentration. She could do this. A clear mind, a definitive intent. That was what the magic needed to act. Otherwise, it had a will of its own.
The zombies. No.
She summoned her magic and gave it her will to be done.
Protect. Do not become.
Stay human.
She gripped the auto-injector in her fist and slammed it into the side of her thigh, watching as the zombie approached in those precious seconds.
One.
The pinch of the needle piercing through her jeans and into her flesh barely registered, not with her right arm burning and throbbing.
Two.
She stepped back, trying to keep the zombie in her peripheral vision as she looked where she was stepping.
Three.
She couldn’t fall, couldn’t risk dislodging the needle until it had delivered the full dosage.
Four.
“Deanna!” Danny was coming. He was. The vampires hadn’t killed him.
Five. Six. Seven.
Around and around they go.
The inane thought made her huff out a laugh. If anyone had been there to call her crazy, she’d have told them to go to hell. She was playing tag with her dead sister, trying to not become a zombie, for fuck’s sake.
Eight. Nine.
“Seems like the vaccine makes me curse like a trucker.” One of the odder side effects she’d ever noted about a drug. Then again, maybe mice had their own little curses when they squeaked.
Ten.
She pulled the auto-injector out of her thigh and rubbed the injection site hurriedly but didn’t drop it. The needle might be small but it was the closest thing to a weapon she had.
Gotta knock the zombie down or something. She glanced around for a decent-sized stone, something she could throw. If she didn’t lay it out somehow, it’d be on her before she could try climbing up the shorter wall. It’d definitely manage to sink its teeth into her.
Vaccine or no, she didn’t want to test the efficacy if she didn’t have to.
Why were all the damned rocks too damned small or too damned big to throw?
* * *
Danny shook with relief, and no small amount of exhaustion, when he reached the pit. Changing to phase-form had healed his head injury but taken longer than he’d wanted.
“I’ve found you.”
Deanna looked up and then stumbled backward, retreating from the shambling bugger in there with her. Only seemed to be one. Easily taken care of.
“Don’t want to state the obvious here, but I need to get out.” She kept her gaze on the zombie, good woman, and had something clutched in her grip. Puny weapon, that, but if it was what she had available he wasn’t going to fault her.
Motion swept into his peripheral vision. Seth and the rest of the wolves had Kenneth’s brood well in hand. Negotiations were reopened and not going the way the vampire intended, especially not the way Danny had left him. Still, the Master must have left a lesser vampire or two behind, but why? To guard Deanna?
“Any time would be good,” she called up. Rocks in hand, she’d begun lobbing them at the zombie as it made its way slowly toward her. She had plenty of room to dodge.
In any case, he needed to take care of these before he could get her safely out. “Bit of a complication up here.”
He kept his tone deliberately light. Keep her calm. No need to worry her.
“And these aren’t a complication?” She held out her hands and shook them, making the shackles rattle. “These need to come off, now!”
Anger burned through Danny’s chest and his lip lifted in a snarl. It wouldn’t help her. He tucked it away, channeled it and prepared to slam through the obstacles standing between him and Deanna. He called down to her instead, “If they were fuzzy, would ye be in such a rush to take them off?”
“Danny!”
“In a moment, I’ve a bit of rage and destruction to carry out. Hang on.”
He was done with patience. If he’d acted sooner, she’d not have been taken in the first place. He charged the first vampire, catching it midair as it leapt to one side. Slamming it down to the ground, he snarled as the second landed on his back.
He stepped on the first one’s neck and reached back to tear the second off him and throw it into the wall. It hit with a screech and scrambled on the ground. While it was disoriented, he reached down and ripped the first vampire’s head off.
Deanna cursed and then cried out in pain.
Red hazed his vision and he met the remaining vampire head on. Its claws tore at him and its fangs bit deep into his forearms but he didn’t let it inside his guard. Instead he lifted it clear off its feet and pinned it up against the wall. Freeing his right hand, he landed a solid blow to its head, crushing its skull. He let it fall to the ground, then bent and yanked off its head to be sure. No wood around to stake either of them but beheading worked just as well.
He turned then and leapt directly into the pit. Deanna must have gotten her shackles caught on a cropping of rock hidden in the deepening shadows.
He let out a rumbling growl and yanked the zombie off her, throwing it into the air. It impacted the pit wall with a sickening crunch.
Too late, too late. Again. He’d not been fast enough.
“You’re here.”
“I’m sorry, love.” He ran his hands over her first, assessing her injuries. The gash on her right arm needed stitching. He ripped up her shirt and quickly made it into a makeshift field dressing. The bite...he couldn’t do anything about the bite.
“They’d have...killed us both...if you hadn’t taken them out first.” Her words came in between faint gasps.
Nothing for it. He gathered her into his arms. “I’m so very sorry. I didn’t protect you. Hang on, love. Hang on.”
He’d do what was necessary. And he’d rip his own heart out after.
“Danny, the vaccine. I had to use it. I’m sorry.”
Hope fl
ared. To hell with the witchcraft, so long as it saved her he’d take it up with Seth later. “How will we know it worked?”
She drew a shuddering breath, then another. “As long as I don’t die. Should be in the clear. Figure, I need to...”
She looked up and beyond him, to the night sky.
“Dawn. If I don’t survive to dawn, you’re going to have to take care of me.” She fisted the fabric of his sleeve tight. “Promise me, Danny. Don’t let me turn into her.”
He looked over to the other zombie. Saw.
“I promise.” And this time he’d see it done properly. “I won’t fail you again.”
Her lips curved in the sweetest smile. “Never failed me, Danny. Not once. You’re always here to spot me when I take a fall. I can get back up on my own... You’ll see.”
Her eyes fluttered closed.
Chapter Ten
“Well, is the little witch awake?”
The voice wasn’t Danny’s. Deanna sat straight up in the...bed?
“Now you’ve gone and done it, Seth.” Danny’s voice. It had become everything to her, right from the very beginning. She relaxed and looked around. The walls were old stone, once painted white perhaps, but faded over the passage of centuries. Ghosts of red lines and green vines were all that remained of what must have once been intricate wall designs. The furnishings were sturdy but old, medieval-looking. It was all very familiar and though she wasn’t a history buff, she recognized the layout from somewhere... Pictures maybe? Had to be someplace famous. And then it came to her. She was in a bedroom of the Medieval Palace at the Tower of London.
“Oy, I didn’t intend to scare her. Jumpy, she is. Does she do that a lot?” Seth stood in the doorway again.
Recently, yes.
“Do you ever actually come inside?” Should she offer him a cup of tea?
The perpetually serious expression cracked as he grinned. “Good to see you feeling better, little witch.”
She swallowed hard as the blood drained out of her head. “I...”
“Easy now, don’t go having vapors when you’ve only just come back to us.” Seth’s voice was gruff, gentle even. “Danny here explained after we found you both. And he gave me what for.”
Huh?
“It’s what I do.” Danny sat on the bed beside her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
“I’m sorry.” She put a hand up to ward off the steaming mug Danny offered her. Seth needed to understand. “It was my decision to use witchcraft inside the city. Danny had my promise I wouldn’t.”
“Except to save yourself.” His growl rumbled next to her ear and his arm tightened around her.
There was a moment of silence. Then Seth sighed. “I’ll not lie. I was well and truly ready to throw the both of you out, right on the retreating tails of those vampires. I couldn’t believe he’d go against me, not even for love. But it’s been Danny telling me I’ve been rushing forward with blinders on all this time. Too focused, I was, on the problem at hand and not what caused it or how to prevent it getting worse. And hearing how the virus was created, seeing what Kenneth had done, keeping your sister the way he did. Hard to hide from the truth of it much longer.”
He snorted. “Especially with Danny clutching you in his arms refusing to let me kill you.”
She was really glad not to be dead.
“I wouldn’t have, mind you. Banishment was all I intended, but Danny was under duress. He’d been assuming the worst.”
“It was me.” She could barely manage a whisper for the guilt weighing on her chest, making it hard to breathe. “He didn’t disobey any of the pack rules, wasn’t disloyal. It was me.”
“Nah, girl, that’s what I’m trying to tell you.” Seth stepped into the room but it was Danny who growled low. Seth held up his hands and stepped back.
“My loyalty never wavered,” Danny told her quietly. “True loyalty is telling your alpha when he’s wrong, trusting he’ll eventually listen. I’d always figured my alpha would see someday, find the answer. I’ve become too patient, too ready to let things play out. It was you who showed me what I could lose if I didn’t take action.”
“Let’s not get too impulsive, okay? Can you wait a few days to take any further action?” Watching him growl at his own alpha unsettled her. It couldn’t be something Seth would allow for long. She craned her neck to gaze up at him. “I need to recover from this latest round.”
“You do.” Seth spoke up. “And you’ll be having more here, once we’ve got you set up to manage it.”
“I don’t understand.” And maybe she hadn’t woken up yet. Maybe this was a fever dream. What did zombies think once they’d died and reanimated?
“Your vaccine works and you’re the only one who can administer it.” Seth leaned against the door frame. “I’ve decided to make the grounds here around the Tower of London a clinic for vaccinations. Preventative, as I understand it. Then if people are involved in an attack, they can be brought here for quarantine of sorts so they have a chance to survive. We can’t keep bringing strays to Brian’s little animal hospital. Danny, here, can provide support. And the boys can run errands, though I’ll not have them exposed to possible infection. Perhaps we’ll be able to attract a few more willing doctors from outside, or paramedics, medical professionals who work well in dangerous circumstances. Once people test clean for a safe amount of time, say a week or two, they can go back home.”
The room started to spin. He was offering to let her continue her work? To establish a real clinic for inoculations and post-attack treatment?
She shook her head, trying to clear it and take in what he was saying.
“Is that a no?”
“No! I mean...no, it’s a yes.”
“Well, and that was clear as mud.”
Danny chuckled and kissed her forehead. “She’ll stay. She’s got an issue with yes and no, but the gist of it is she’ll stay.”
“What he said.” She let him tuck her against his side and sighed, exhausted.
Seth looked from one of them to the other. “I was not this bad with Maisie.”
“Yes, you were,” Danny shot back.
“There’s only your opinion on that.” Seth waved off. “Rest up for now, little witch, and we’ll take care of details once you’ve recovered. There’s also one of those blighters in a cage you’ll need to see to. I’ll not have you going in there to take samples from the thing over and over without a proper idea of how long you plan to be going on about it. As soon as you have the data you need, you’ll let Danny put it out of its misery. Understood?”
“Thank you.”
His expression gentled and his smile reached his eyes, gave him a mischievous sparkle. “Don’t thank me yet. Maisie’s insisted you learn to use guns properly once you’re up and walking about again.”
With that cryptic remark, he left.
* * *
“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.” Danny’s voice was quiet as he offered her the mug again.
“What happened to Kenneth, the vampires?” Would they come after her again?
Another growl from Danny. “They’ve gone. They broke the ward with your blood and Seth made it clear they weren’t welcome back. Kenneth wanted to keep his hold on the hotels his people owned, be able to return to London. We had to fight it out, but when the dust settled, it was clear we’re the dominant predators in the city. He and his are gone for good.”
Relief flowed through her. But... “They were there all this time.”
Danny nodded. “They were here before the pack. But we grew to power while they stayed hidden and he underestimated us. It would’ve happened eventually. The zombie epidemic only delayed the inevitable by distracting both sides. And before he left, I took payment for what he did to you out of his hide.”
“Are you going to take this or shall I hold it until it gets cold?” The gentle teasing note to his words tugged at her.
She took it carefully in both hands and wrapped her hands around it, savoring the warmth. It was nice to be alive. “Do you want me to stay?”
His arm squeezed gently around her shoulders. “Yes. And there’s a life we can make here, with your research and the new clinic, if you’ll agree to it. Would save a lot of people. But you have choices. We’ll not keep you here against your will. We could find another witch to make the vaccine work—should find more than one to share the burden regardless. If you decide not to stay, I’ll hope you let me go along wherever you do decide to travel.”
Her heart skipped. He wanted to be with her. Really? “For how long?”
“Well, my forever is likely to be a lot longer than yours. I’ll not lie to you about that.” They both sat in silence for a moment. “To be clear, I want to spend the rest of your days with you, or as many as you’ll have me for.”
And she loved that about him too, the way he didn’t hold back on the truth. She shouldn’t hold back either. “Are you sure you want me? I mean, I’m not strong. I’m not a werewolf and I’m not a fae. I’m only human and I’m a witch.”
The hatred Seth had for witchcraft might be broken, but it was an old wound recently lanced. It’d linger for a while longer, color her interactions with him and strain Danny’s relation with the pack.
“Stop thinking so hard, you. It’ll sort itself out given the chance. You’re perfect, so long as you hold off on turning me into a newt.”
“Wha—”
He pressed his finger to her lips. “Nevermind that. Only know you are strong, so very much so. And you are the woman I want to be with, if you’ll have me and for as long as you’ll have me.”
She didn’t have any words. Instead, she wrapped her arms around him and peppered kisses over his face.
He laughed. “Oy. We’ll need to work on your aim. My mouth’s right here.”
And he captured her mouth with his, sending them both drowning in a deep kiss.
