Zombies Sold Separately

by Cheyenne McCray

  “But why was he going after the homeless people first? That was where the attacks began.” I explained how reports said that people claimed they were attacked by homeless individuals.

  “I don’t think he would go after the homeless at all,” Desmond said. “My guess is that perhaps the portal is near a homeless shelter. The high numbers being reported of homeless people are actually Sentients who have crossed over and have not yet found their Hosts. That, and it could be their Shells, or Zombies, left behind that were not well programmed by Amory.

  “As far as Zombies go,” Desmond went on, “the desire to destroy is difficult to contain in a Zombie, even for Amory. They have an instinct to feed. That instinct actually originates in the Sentient who now lives in the new Host. There is some connection there.”

  Desmond frowned. “The Sentient in the new Host draws power and energy from those beings which the Zombies kills. Eventually when all of the Sentients have found Hosts, Amory will release the Zombies on those he does not want spared in order to strengthen his people with the power and energy of others.”

  I sat there overwhelmed. It all had a surreal feel to it.

  “Once they have control, those beings who Amory does want spared from the Zombies will be enslaved.” Desmond stared a long time at the keystone. “The Sentients would have lists,” he said. “Lists of norms and paranorms who they want as Hosts and those they will enslave. Likely all paranorms and then those norms who are in positions of power as I mentioned.”

  Unreal. All of it. “How are these lists prepared,” I asked.

  “Amory likely had his trusted people visit this world. They would have carried stones. Those stones would draw in the profiles of every person. They would categorize and prioritize who he wants to take as Hosts, who he wants as slaves, and who’s left would be for his Zombies to devour. The stones do the work for him and gather all the information he needs.”

  Desmond explained more about how Amory and his people took over Doran and its people, and how Desmond no longer had magic in that world.

  “What he hasn’t known,” Desmond said, “is that I’ve been here and that I have power in this Otherworld. He may now know I am here, but he couldn’t possibly know I have my powers. He will not view me as a threat. If he sent your friend’s Host and the Sentients after me it could be that he does know or they could have been after you. Whatever the case in the end, he will view me as a mere inconvenience.”

  “Why is the Sorcerer bent on infiltrating and ruling this Earth Otherworld?” I said.

  “Like we spoke about earlier, my world must have turned on him and his people, too.” Desmond started tapping his fingers on the edge of the couch. Green sparks of light trickled from his fingertips and bounced on the floor until they rolled away and disappeared.

  “There is only one way we’ll be able to defeat the Sorcerer.” Desmond was staring in the direction of a painting of a forest in moonlight and he seemed to be speaking to himself. “What must be done, must be done. We have a lot of work to do.”

  I was grateful that he’d said we.

  I wasn’t so grateful when he said, “You will need to switch bodies with a Sentient so that you can find the portal and infiltrate the Sorcerer’s world.”

  My jaw dropped. “You want me to go into a stone?”

  “No.” The Sorcerer stopped tapping his fingers on the couch and scooted down the length so that he was closer to me. “The Sentient will go into the stone, and you will take over the Sentient’s body.”

  “I don’t think so.” I drew back from him. “If I understand everything correctly, my body would become a Zombie. No way. No way.”

  “I will make sure your body is safe,” he said. “I will keep it under control here.”

  “That’s nuts.” I got up from the chair and folded my arms across my chest. “Crazy.”

  “It’s the only way, Nyx.” It was the first time he’d said my name. Like the Magi saying it in her Irish accent, Desmond made it sound unique. I would have loved to hear him say it again if I wasn’t so worried about leaving my body and it becoming a Zombie.

  A Zombie.

  “You, along with a team of your Trackers, must to go to Doran.” Desmond’s gray eyes looked like dark clouds heavy with snow. “Only one of you needs to take over a Sentient’s body.”

  So I could either shove that responsibility onto someone else, or I could do it myself. Then I remembered the Magi’s words, too, when she said to do whatever the Sorcerer Desmond asked of me.

  Looked like I was going to be a Zombie.

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  I leaned back against the cushioned chair in the Sorcerer’s apartment and rubbed my temples with my thumb and forefinger.

  It was unbelievable … allowing my body to become the one thing I hated more than anything else … a Zombie. A Zombie.

  I blew out my breath and drew it back in again and imagined breathing through someone else’s lungs. Would things look the same? Feel the same? Taste the same? Smell the same?

  “My magic—will it work when I’m in the norm’s Host body?” I asked.

  “No.” Desmond shook his head. “You’ll have whatever powers the Host body has and if she’s a norm that means you’ll have none.”

  My magic was such an integral part of me that I couldn’t imagine not having it. Not being able to command the elements or use what other magic I knew. Not even the few powerful Elvin words I used on occasion.

  “Where do we start?” I asked Desmond even as thick blackness twisted in my belly.

  “The better question is who do we start with?” Desmond sat on the couch, close to the chair I was seated in. “The female in the stone. Candace, did you say?”

  I nodded, feeling wary as I watched him. He’d gone from a wild, freaked-out look in his eyes to what appeared to be a gleam of wild enthusiasm.

  “You’re scaring me,” I said with narrowed eyes. “You’re a little too excited about this.”

  He brushed the comment aside with a wave of his hand. “The female never made it back to the Sorcerer to give him the stone and to be sealed. That means she is still open to the transfer of another essence much more easily than if she had been sealed. We could do it regardless, though.”

  “She was in a coma last I saw her.” I rubbed my palms on my thighs, a restless, jittery feeling beneath my skin. “Is it smart to be inside the head of someone with possible brain damage—providing she actually wakes up?”

  “The female is fine.” Desmond nodded toward my purse. “In the stone she looked healthy. If she was seriously ill we would have seen a fainter image of her in the stone. As it was, the image of her was strong.”

  I lightly ran my fingers over the runes on my collar. “If it’s successful, if somehow my ‘essence’ transfers into Candace’s body … what happens to the Sentient in there now?”

  “The Sentient’s essence will join Candace’s in the stone.” Desmond looked positively lively now with interest, like a scientist on the trail of a new discovery. “I believe that not only will the imprint of Candace’s essence remain in the stone, but an imprint of the Sentient’s will as well.”

  I pictured three of me in one body. “In other words I’ll be a schizophrenic.”

  “First the infirmary.” Desmond bounced up from the couch and started pacing the moment he was on his feet. “I’ll need to go with you to help wake ‘Candace’ if needed and to interview her.”

  I raised my brows. “Aren’t you worried about the Sorcerer’s people finding you?”

  “Yes.” Desmond didn’t seem upset like he’d been when I met him, even as he continued talking. “But we will find ways to avoid being found in case the information did get to him.”

  Desmond picked up my jacket from the back of the chair where I’d left it, then handed it to me. “We need to get to Candace before the Sorcerer’s people do. It’s likely they infiltrated the paranorm world enough to know where the infirmary is.”

  “It’s almost time for me
to meet with the other Trackers.” I glanced toward the window where a faint green neon glow could be seen from the huge restaurant sign across the street. “Looks like as of tonight we’ll have a big change of plans.”

  “The sooner we get to the infirmary, the better,” Desmond said. “We need to make sure we get to the Host before Amory’s people do.”

  I stood, took my jacket from Desmond, and slipped it on. Just as I was about to zip it up, my phone rang from inside my purse. I abandoned the zipper in favor of the phone.

  “Angel” came up on the identification screen.

  She started talking as soon as I said “hello.”

  “I’m positive something’s about to happen at Town Hall, the theater.” Angel sounded beyond concerned as she spoke in a rush. “I tried to reach Rodán but there’s something wrong with my phone. I’m surprised I got through to you.”

  I held my own phone tight to my ear, my senses going on full alert. “What’s going on?”

  “I got here late for a concert,” she said. “They’re about to pass out stones, Nyx, during intermission.”

  I glanced at Desmond. “Stones?” Immediately I pictured the one Candace Moreno’s essence was in. “They’re going to give away stones at Town Hall?”

  “Similar to the one you took to the Magi,” Angel said. “Probably anywhere from three to four hundred stones in boxes in the lobby. Several males are starting to take the stones into the theater.”

  I headed for the door. “I’ll be there in a few minutes,” I said before I disconnected the call.

  Desmond had slipped into his jacket. “This is not a good sign.” He met me at door. “If Amory is attempting to do a mass exchange of essences that could not only bring hundreds of his people here—it might leave hundreds of Zombies to ravage the streets of New York if Amory chooses to release them.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of.” I slipped past Desmond as he opened the door. I glanced back at him. “For a guy so freaked out about being found, I’m surprised you want in on this.”

  “I have to admit that all of this took me by surprise.” Desmond’s expression became grim. “I didn’t know then what he was doing to this world. I cannot let Amory succeed here as he did in Doran. I must make an attempt to stop him.”

  “Unless you can keep up, you’d better call a cab,” I said as he closed the door behind us.

  “What—” he started.

  I was gone before he could finish his sentence.

  The run to the Theater District took me two minutes and that was because I had to run down four flights of stairs on my way. It would have been seven minutes by cab.

  I rushed through the double doors and into the lobby.

  The moment I stepped inside, everything went black. Completely dark within the theater and outside as well.

  Blackout.

  I caught my breath. Only the exit signs glowed in the darkness.

  Screams came from the theater.

  I sensed waves of panic coming from the people inside.

  The doors rattled like someone was trying to get out. Pounding on the door, but then the pounding stopped.

  I ran for the doors and opened them

  Being Drow, I had no problem seeing the mass of people jumping out of their chairs and scrambling to get out.

  Brilliant colored lights flashed, traveling between people.

  Then everything began to calm despite the darkness, despite the strange things going on in the theater.

  The stones? Did the lights have to do with the stones?

  A male I didn’t recognize approached me. A Sentient—the same creeped-out feeling I’d experienced before flooded me and I stepped away, back into the main lobby. I glanced over my shoulder. Another male was coming up from behind me. I looked from one to the other and dove out of the way before they could touch me.

  I rolled to a stand keeping the males in sight while looking around me.

  Other Trackers came in through the theater’s main doors.

  “Trackers!” I shouted. “Don’t let anyone touch you, not even each other. If you can’t see in the dark then get out.”

  Light flooded the lobby, flaring from the front doors. Brilliant and green-tinged. It took no time for my eyes to adjust and see that it was Desmond holding a large ball of light.

  The Sorcerer released the ball and it floated to the ceiling, remaining bright enough to light the entire lobby.

  Three Sentient males rushed Desmond.

  Green sparks sizzled and snapped all around us, bouncing from one object to the next. Like it had in his loft—when he’d taken down the Sentients and Olivia’s Host body.

  “Don’t,” I shouted as a rush of static made hair rise on my arms. “You might knock out Trackers.”

  “Only if they are Sentients or Hosts,” he shouted back before electricity zigzagged through the lobby.

  A sound like the crack of thunder deafened my ears and the floor bucked and trembled. Males and females in the lobby dropped like the eight ball on the final shot of a billiard match.

  The only ones in the lobby still standing were several Trackers, a couple dozen norms, and Desmond.

  “Nadia, Hades,” I shouted. “Get the norms out of here.” I motioned with my arm toward the closed doors of the theater. “The rest of you, let’s go.”

  I turned my attention on the theater. Silence. No more screams.

  Desmond was on one side of me, Colin the other. I didn’t bother to get close enough to open the doors by hand. I gathered my air element, let it whip through the air, and blasted the theater doors open.

  We came to a stop at the threshold.

  The theater was empty.

  A gaping hole, a dark archway, was cut—or burned—into the wall beside the stage. Sparks sizzled along the inside edges of the archway. Even the glow of the exit signs didn’t permeate the darkness within the hole.

  I looked at Desmond. “What is that?”

  “A portal.” Desmond looked stunned. “Only Amory has the power to make a portal wherever he chooses,” he said. “It’s a power that I never had.” Desmond’s eyes met mine. “He was here. Amory was here.”

  “A portal?” I glanced around the empty theater. “Did he take everyone here with him? I saw them. There were hundreds of people.”

  “I am not certain any being in Otherworld has that power,” Desmond said. “Except the Great Guardian. A rare ‘talent,’ if you will.” Desmond said the words as if he tasted something bitter and nasty on his tongue.

  The darkness was deep inside the theater. Desmond’s light from the lobby didn’t penetrate the darkness through the doorway. Most Trackers could see well in the dark, although not as keenly as I could. None of them grew up underground.

  Desmond released several large balls of light that floated and lit up the theater in an eerie greenness.

  It occurred to me I hadn’t seen Angel and I started looking around me. “Angel!” My voice carried throughout the theater with an answering echo. “Angel, are you here?”

  No response.

  “It is most likely your friend was taken.” Desmond touched my arm. “I am sorry.”

  I heard the Magi’s voice in my head.

  “I am sorry,” the Magi had said to Angel. “So very sorry.”

  Was this it? Was this the reason the Magi had looked so sad when she’d said those words to Angel?

  “Damn.” I clenched and unclenched my fists. “Damn.”

  I’d lost another friend.

  I would get them back.

  I would get them back.

  Not only was I worried about my friend and fellow Tracker, but the knowledge Angel had would not be good in the Sorcerer’s hands.

  “Angel went with me to the Magi,” I said in a low voice to Desmond and Colin who had remained at my side. “She knows everything I do from that visit.”

  I met Desmond’s gaze as I continued. “The Magi told us to find you and gave clues on how. She gave us your name. Why wouldn’t the Magi
have given us more information on Angel? Instead she detailed much, knowing she would be taken with that information.”

  Desmond shook his head. “Magi are not given to interpret the facts. Their information can be almost a puzzle. The Magi might have only understood harm was going to come to your Tracker friend.” He looked around the theater as if searching for something. “The fact that Amory can obtain that knowledge from the Tracker gives us even less time to find the Sorcerer.”

  “Angel was also a lead Tracker on our team.” I looked up and saw the other Trackers gathering around us.

  I heard sirens coming in the direction of the theater—PTF sirens. A cleanup detail was on its way.

  “Let’s divide our team and search for any being who might still be here.” I directed Trackers to various sections then each headed for his or her assigned area.

  I kept Colin and Desmond with me. “Is the portal still open?” I started jogging toward the huge archway. “Is it possible to go through it?”

  At ten feet away, Colin grabbed my arm and held me back.

  I swung my gaze to his. “What are you doing?”

  “Wait.” His expression was tight, grim. “Listen to the Sorcerer before you get any closer.”

  “It is probably benign.” Desmond stepped past me and moved toward the hole. “But as your friend says, safer to stay away until I check it out.”

  “Okay,” I said and Colin released my arm.

  When Desmond was a few feet away from the hole, he raised his hands. The area around the archway flared green. By the light his magic gave off, all I could see was a solid wall where blackness had once been.

  “Closed.” Desmond’s jaw tightened, then relaxed. “Probably better for now. We’re not ready to follow him.”

  “Even though hundreds of people are missing?” I said.

  “We don’t know what would have been on the other side of that portal.” Desmond gestured toward it. “Ultimately salvation for your people, or a trap. It could have been either one.”

  “Of course.” I rubbed my hand over my head. “It is hard to give up on that many people.”