Venom & Vampires: A Limited Edition Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Collection

by Casey Lane

  The bizarreness of what I believed was happening in the Twin Cities, and what I was asking of these people to do in preparation, struck me hard again. I was putting everything on the line here -my money, my reputation, and my future- that I was right. Salty’s frustrating question rang in my mind. How sure was I?

  Once out of danger, it was human nature to want to minimize and rationalize a dangerous threat until it was small, safe, and not overwhelming. Nobody liked feeling out of control of their own lives and at the mercy of monsters. I had to laugh grimly because I understood that rationale all too well. Perhaps I could believe in zombies so effortlessly, since I’d already been fighting tooth and nail against the biggest monster of them all these past two years -Death.

  I envisioned those shuddering, clenching dead bodies in the bar. That cleared my head of any doubts that time and distance had a way of clouding up in a person’s memory. The monsters tonight were real and dangerous, but they could be beaten, shot, and killed.

  Of course I wanted the brothers’ help, they’d be an asset. The real question was would I be selfishly keeping them in harm’s way by allowing them to stay?

  Quinn smiled at Kevin. She pushed back her long brown hair coquettishly in the manner her mother had used successfully on boys all of our lives. “I’m sure Acadia will let you all stay here at King Farm.”

  Jane spluttered, “Geesh, Quinn, you can’t say that!”

  Like any eighteen-year-old female responding to their mother’s public criticism in front of cute boys, Quinn groaned dramatically, “Muth-er.”

  “Qui-inn,” Jane mocked in return. “You’re putting Acadia on the spot.”

  I held up a hand to Quinn to stave off her retort because those two could really get going once they got started. I couldn’t say if it was safer to allow the brothers to stay at King Farm or not, but with their parents far away, I knew for sure that nobody would care about their safety more than me.

  “It’s no problem. Hugh, Ian, Kevin -if you guys want to stay, you’re more than welcome. We could use the help here.”

  Salty had been waiting for my response and reached over to shake each of the grinning boys’ hands, welcoming them formally to servitude. Sean and Bobby were next while the girls clapped and Liz said, “Well done, lads, well done.”

  I smiled at the brothers while ignoring Robert’s belligerent mutterings that we were all lunatics.

  “I can’t think of three guys I’d trust more to help in a time like this.” I pointed to the kitchen door. “Now beat it! Think ammunition, crossbows, swords, machetes, axes, chain mail, Kevlar, motion cameras, zip lines, tree stands, 2-way radios, motion detector lights, night vision goggles -I want it all!”

  The brothers jumped up and we did a quick group hug. I may not have children of my own, but I’ve always been surrounded by men of all ages. I spoke in a low, serious voice, “The minute you leave this kitchen, call your family to warn them and tell them you’re staying here.”

  They fervently promised to do that first thing.

  I then glanced at the kitchen wall clock and turned to the sneering Robert. “Just forget about the issue of the zombies for now, okay? Work with me on this for a couple of days, and if I’m wrong,” I shrugged, “all the better. Of course, I’ll pay for any expenses incurred.”

  “Tell that to the people counting on the Fall Festival.” Robert’s pale green reptilian eyes stared me down. I looked back calmly and didn’t respond to his jibe. After glancing at our interested audience, including Uncle Coop and Salty, he nodded reluctantly and said ungraciously, “What do you want me to do?”

  “Thanks,” I managed to get out. “For starters, I want you to get drivers and two empty big trucks over here right away from the quarry. Schedule two more trucks to get here by 8:30 sharp in the morning.”

  Robert sighed as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. “It won’t be easy. I can probably arrange the morning trucks, but tonight?” His eyes glittered with spite. “Tonight is bad because all my drivers are at a bachelor party.”

  Bobby had his phone out and was scrolling through his contacts while saying, “No, Dad, some of the older guys didn’t go to that party. They’ll be happy for the OT.”

  Robert scowled at his son. I smiled in gratitude at Bobby, marveling as I often had that genetics caused the father and son to look so much alike, yet they were such fundamentally different human beings. Both men were big and heavily muscled, dark haired and green eyed, but the differences in temperament and lifestyles couldn’t be more obvious in how it affected those looks. Robert’s muscles were running to fat. He had a paunch and the fleshy, bulbous nose of a heavy drinker.

  Bobby, in his early thirties, worked out regularly and ate well. He was in his prime and a heck of a good guy. I’d like to give the credit to Bobby’s mother’s influence, except she took off and was never heard from again when Bobby was just a little guy. I’d never understood how a woman could leave her baby behind, but I also wasn’t married to Robert.

  “Thanks, Bobby.” I gave Robert a perfunctory nod, not caring if I was riding roughshod over his territory or his ego. “I’m pulling rank here, Robert and Bobby, so this isn’t up for discussion.” I turned back to Bobby without waiting for a response from his father. “Will you please inform all the employees that we’re shutting down the quarry immediately? Let them know we’re canceling the festival and stopping operations for a minimum of two weeks due to the situation on the news, and that they’ll be paid for this time off as a bonus.” Pausing to be sure I’d covered everything, I then added, “Pay the drivers of the trucks for our supply runs double time.”

  Bobby’s serious face lit up with a rare smile. He cared about the employees at the quarry in a way Robert never would or could understand. “Yes, I’ll get right on it and get their paychecks deposited tonight.”

  I could trust that Bobby would warn the quarry employees to look out for themselves and their families, not blow it off as Robert was doing. “Perfect.”

  Uncle Coop, Sean, and Salty murmured their approval, but Robert said nothing. His hands clenched in fists on the table and I seriously think he would have struck me if we were alone. Of course, he’d have to reach me before I shot him. Maybe there was a tiny upside to this whole mess we were facing.

  I laughed then and felt my cheeks redden. Shaking my head at all the expectant faces looking at me in question, I said, “Before I begin rapping out more orders like a little Napoleon, maybe I should be confirming first that all of you want to stay here on the farm and are willing to work your butts off tonight?”

  Liz closed one eye and held her thumb and finger an inch apart. “I think you’re taller than Boney by about this much. Maybe more like a little Hitler? Anyway, I’m calling some of my friends in The Cities to warn them, but I’m staying on the farm. Just try and make me leave, my Fuhrer!”

  Jane stood up, smacking Liz lightly on the head. “Acadia’s no Hitler. You’re such a brat.”

  “Me!” Liz exclaimed, as Jane hugged me tightly. “I’m part Jewish, I know my Hitler.”

  Jane pushed back and held me by the shoulders. “We’re all so glad you weren’t hurt tonight.” Her warm smile stretched to include the four from the hotel, “That you’re all unhurt. Honey, I know you inside and out. I believe every word you said and I’m scared to death. You betcha I want to stay here. I’ll work my butt off, too.”

  I inspected Jane’s brown eyes carefully while she gushed, relieved she appeared sober since she’d be carrying a gun.

  Salty walked up and put an arm over Jane’s shoulders. “Janie, we all know if Acadia told you little green Martians were flying out of her rear end, you’d swear to it.”

  Jane let me go and pulled on his gray braid affectionately. “Yeah, and you’d second me, old man.”

  Salty smiled, years of laugh lines fanning the tanned skin around his bright blue eyes. “This old man is definitely wise enough to know that when a woman says anything about her butt, only younger
, braver, and much stupider men answer.” Jane giggled while Salty saluted me again with the clicker. “Put me to work, woman.”

  “I will, wise-ass man, I will.”

  Quinn rushed over. “Count me in, Acadia, but I need to stick by my mom at all times.” Jane exclaimed how sweet a daughter she had and gave her a loud smooch on the cheek. Quinn smirked and said to me, “If we’re being chased by zombies, I need to have someone slower to trip as a diversion.”

  “What!” Jane yelled, and pushed away her laughing daughter.

  Liz pointed a long fingernail at Quinn. “Aha! Now that was very bratty -very good, but definitely bratty.”

  Deb joined us and nervously cleared her throat. Her hands were tucked under her armpits like she was freezing. “This has me so shook up, but King House is my home, too. Of course I will do everything I can to help protect the farm.”

  “Good. I’m going to be counting on you, all of you,” I waved a hand over the room, feeling a little punchy with relief at this united show of support, “over the next couple of days.”

  Deb glanced up, a smile hovering on her lips. Her hands reached out as if to hug me, but she moved quickly out of the way when Rod came over to stand beside me at the table.

  I frowned at her skittish behavior, but Deb could be reserved around strange men. I think Lawson and Salty were the only men Deb completely relaxed around. Maybe Sean, too, since he was gay, but his raunchy sense of humor often embarrassed her. Sometimes, in her own way, I think Deb missed Law almost as much as I did.

  Rod said, “Ray Dean and T-bone were going to help me find a place to buy over this weekend.” That statement had me raising my brows while I tried to keep a straight face. All sad thoughts of missing Law disappeared as I tried, and failed, to imagine what those two men’s tastes in homes might be. “They offered to drive me around since they know the area.” Eyes dancing, Rod stressed the word drive, obviously reading my mind. I bit my lip not to laugh, only nodding in return. “The team isn’t flying back from Atlanta until late Friday, so I have nowhere else to be for a couple of days.” Lifting a broad shoulder and moving his head, Rod’s long hair fell obediently back. Hands on hips, he grinned down at me. “The Advil’s kicked in. Put me to work, too, woman.”

  Liz and Jane gave identical little moans at Rod’s hair fling, and then smiled flirtatiously up at his surprised face. It made me wonder that maybe his head tossing move wasn’t as practiced as Jane and Quinn’s; it could be a tic of some kind.

  Quinn covered her eyes. “Oh, God help me, I didn’t just see that. My mother’s a cougar!”

  Rod laughed, as Jane blushed prettily while she shushed her daughter and dragged Quinn off to clean up the breakfast dishes.

  At first, I was dismayed by Rod’s extended offer of help. It was harder than I thought to ignore him. Just now, I had been a deer in the headlights, frozen in place by his dazzling teeth, so white against his beautiful, golden skin. Another full day or two of him grinning happily and flirting would be a temptation and a headache I did not need. But then I thought of the advantages of those three strong oxen hanging around for longer. It was easier to return his smile once I resolved to keep Rod out of my sight and busy doing the mindless tasks that required brute strength.

  Ray Dean loudly cleared his throat and held his hands out in a “What about me?” gesture.

  Shelving my plans for Rod, I leaned down between the two football players and said quietly, “I’ll tell you in a minute, but I saved the toughest jobs for you and T-bone tonight.”

  Ray Dean shared a satisfied nod with T-bone.

  Barbara smiled at me warmly. “I’ll definitely help.” To everyone standing around in the kitchen, she said, “I was telling the truth about Acadia saving my life. She could have left me in that bar because I was like totally spazzing out, but she didn’t.” Her words cheered me up. They reminded me that I’d managed to help one person stay alive tonight. She frowned a little. “I do have a question, though. I don’t know much about infections or anything, but I saw that movie “World War Z.”

  Will it be safe to stay on a farm? Wouldn’t it be safer to find like a building with no windows?”

  Quinn said excitedly, “We saw that movie. Pretty awesome, but,” she rolled her eyes, “the zombies were so CGI. They climbed up every building so fast. Remember how we said that would never happen, Acadia?”

  I almost threw up in my mouth at the thought of the crazies piling up and moving that fast. “We’re off the main road here a few miles. We’ll go around the farm early tomorrow, Barbara, and you’ll see why I want to stay here, even with the zombie threat.”

  I didn’t acknowledge the weasel prick’s loud scoff.

  Quinn impulsively hugged Barbara. “Don’t be afraid, Barbara. The walls in this house have to be three feet thick and the first floor windows are like twenty feet off the ground.”

  Quinn was exaggerating a little, but with some modifications, King Farm and King House were defensible.

  Time was marching inexorably on, and I called for attention. “Once you’re on the road in a few minutes on the supply run, call your immediate families and invite them to the farm. Ask them to get here tomorrow by 6:00 PM, at the very latest.”

  I hoped that would get everyone here by eight at the latest, which was still before dark.

  The group in my kitchen did not have large, extended families nearby, so I already had an approximate head count in mind. Earlier tonight, I’d thought of Jane’s parents poised to drive to Arizona in their luxury RV for the winter and that had given me an idea that I shared with the group now. Everybody agreed to ask their families to beg, borrow, or steal a motor home to drive to the farm tomorrow.

  “Obviously, call anybody else you want tonight and warn them to watch the news and be careful, but do not invite anybody to King Farm that isn’t immediate family.” I saw Jane and Liz exchange frowns. They were very social with many friends in the Twin Cities that could need a safe place to go. “We definitely need more people here to help us prepare and defend ourselves, but we can only safely house and feed about one hundred. After our families, every other person that comes to King Farm will first be vetted by me, Coop, and Sean. If we’re not careful, we could be overrun by refugees. To be bluntly ruthless, I don’t plan on letting that happen because it would be a death sentence for us all.”

  After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Salty said. “Unfortunately, she’s right. Once people start panicking things will get terrible. Unless you’ve been in a war and seen action, I don’t think anybody can imagine how terrible.”

  Coop affirmed that with a short nod, but didn’t speak.

  Bobby in his quiet, authoritative way said, “I absolutely agree that beyond those of us already here and our families, nobody is to be allowed on King Farm property unless approved.” He turned to me. “Is your plan to get more people for security?”

  “Yes.” I nodded towards Coop because most of us knew he volunteered at the Veteran’s Hospital. “We’ll be asking some ex-soldiers with families to protect, as well as people with other skills to help keep us all alive.”

  Jane sighed. “Okay, it sounds so cold-blooded, but I guess it makes sense. Quinn, be careful what you tell your friends, alright, honey?”

  Quinn rolled her eyes. “I get it, Mom, don’t stress.”

  “Your mother is wrong, Quinn.” At her surprised glance, I said seriously, “You don’t need to worry about being careful what you tell your friends. Do you know why?”

  Quinn shook her head no, a wary expression on her face. She was a fairly smart girl and had a quick wit. She sensed there was a trap in my question somewhere. It was hard not to smile.

  “You can give me your short list of people to invite to the farm, but until they’re accepted, you will tell them nothing. In fact, from this moment on, none of us will tell our old friends anything--not one, single thing--about where we are or what we’re doing. From this moment on, our best friends are the people on King’s Farm. A
nything told to an outsider could get us all killed.” I would give the same speech to the brothers. The three of them combined probably knew every girl under the age of twenty-five in Dakota County. “Are we all completely on board?”

  Ray Dean’s eyes were comically wide and he nodded vigorously.

  “Okay, Acadia.” Quinn’s voice was small.

  Jane’s voice was nervously annoyed. “Aren’t you being a little harsh?”

  Liz said slowly, “You know what, Jane? Acadia’s probably not being harsh enough. We both know how much of that survivor stuff she has read and studied over the years, so I imagine there is a whole lot she isn’t telling us yet.” Liz shot me a look of reproof, as if sparing them the gory details pissed her off. “I, for one, don’t want to die because Quinn’s high school friends posted King Farm’s address on Facebook.”

  Quinn exclaimed, “No fair! Why are you picking on me? I haven’t told anybody anything. I’ve been sitting right here for the last half hour.”

  Liz sniffed while I teased, “Don’t go all innocent on us, like we don’t know how quick those little thumbs are under the table.”

  Quinn laughed and admitted, “Well, some friends know I’m here playing cards tonight, but nothing else.” The little imp met my eyes. “I swear it on my slow mother’s grave.”

  Jane groaned. “Did I actually worry you were too harsh? Feel free to kick her butt, Acadia.”

  “Nobody needs to kick Quinn’s butt,” Uncle Coop stated, as he set the holstered Glock at my place on the table and cocked a black brow towards Quinn. “You won’t do anything stupid to get us all killed, will you?”

  Quinn sat up straighter. “No, sir, I will not.”

  Coop shrugged. “There you go, case closed. We’re going to need some way of figuring out if anybody is infected before letting them on the farm.”

  Ray Dean nodded wisely. “Strip searches, Boss. I’ll do the women. T-bone here will do the dudes.”