All Hallows Night (Night Series)

by Hall, Marie

  Thoroughly confused, I fluttered my hands. “What does that have to do with the zombies?”

  Reaching over, Asher turned off the water and handed me a towel. “The Triad used your blood to create a sort of super zombie venom that would only affect you—not only affect you, but eventually it should have killed you.”

  Luc growled, fingers clenching the sink with white-knuckled intensity.

  Finished drying, I dropped the towel at my feet and yanked my clothes on. “So this really is all about me?” Not like we didn’t already suspect it, even know it on some level, especially after all the talk of prophecy and being the key and whatnot. But on some level I’d hoped it wasn’t true, that maybe everyone was barking up the wrong tree about this. But when the incontrovertible truth was spelled out in black and white in front of you, it was impossible to deny it any longer.

  It made my stomach sink to the region of my knees.

  He nodded.

  “Sonofabitch,” I snarled.

  Hard fingers dug into my shoulders. “But you healed yourself. I don’t think they expected that.” Asher’s look was angry and glinted with a hint of fear. I rubbed his cheek, needing that contact, even if only briefly to settle my own raw nerves.

  “I’m going to kill those bastards, rip their heads from their necks and let Bubba feast on their bones.” Luc turned his back on us and I knew it wasn’t out of any gentlemanly sense of trying to preserve my modesty. He was angry and didn’t want me to see it.

  Grabbing a hairbrush, I hurriedly swiped the tangles out and had a sudden, almost violent epiphany. I laughed. “It should have killed me. They were brilliant. Lust was no match from that venom. Every time I tried to coax her out recently I’ve noticed she’s sluggish, depressed. She’s been like that since my return from Hell. They did something to her down there, because she’s definitely not the same. Pestilence saved my ass.”

  “Disease neutralizes disease.” Asher rubbed his chin with strong, blunt fingers. “If it hadn’t been for that...” He couldn’t finish the words as he swallowed thickly.

  Wrapping my arms around his waist, I kissed his chest, right over his heart. “Whoever created that serum didn’t count on that.”

  In the ensuing silence I realized something else, something just as big, if not bigger.

  “My mark was torn from me.” I held out my ankle, looking at the newly formed one. “In the last zombie attack.”

  Luc punched his fist through the mirror, shattering it and bloodying himself.

  Great, now how was I going to get ready in the mornings? If I left him in here too much longer I might not have a bathroom left.

  “Seven years bad luck, Luc, ugh.” I rolled my eyes but didn’t give him a chance to respond. “What do you think they’re planning to do with it?” Because it was now obvious to me that if they’d taken my blood to kill me, they planned to use my mark similarly. I wish I had a crystal ball about now.

  Dropping to the bed, Luc grabbed his head and rested his elbows on his knees. Asher nudged my shoulder, lifting his chin in Luc’s direction. “I’ll meet you guys at the tent,” he said.

  I took his fingers and gave them a gentle squeeze of appreciation. “I’ll be there in a second.”

  Brushing his knuckles across my cheek, he nodded. “Don’t take long, little demon. The sooner we leave, the better.”

  Calling his shadows, Asher disappeared from sight.

  Sighing, I walked toward Luc and took a seat, then grabbed his face. “Hey, you.”

  The blue of his eyes was liquid with pain, with self-loathing. For all the shit I always gave Luc, the one thing he was best at was his ability to care for his family. A threat against one was a threat against all.

  “Dora, those generators aren’t just sonic bombs, they’re also mind-control devices. Vyxen was able to figure out the undulating waves of the pitch were what whipped the zombies up into those homicidal frenzies. It’s how the Triad took control of them. How can we fight them?” His whisper was so low I wasn’t sure I’d been meant to hear it.

  “One at a time. Just like everything else. But, Luc...” I squeezed his hand. “Maybe it would be best if I just left.”

  His grip became painful, almost bone crunching. “Don’t even consider it. I’ll kill you myself first.”

  I clenched my jaw, ignoring the throbbing in my fingers. “But you would all be safer that way. I don’t think—”

  “Don’t think. That’s right, don’t think. We’re only safer until we’re not. What’s to stop them from finding some new scroll about Bubba, or Lilith, Vyxen, Kane, Corrine, huh?”

  I bit my lip.

  Opening his body to mine, he twisted on the bed so that his knee bumped mine. “We’re family—that’s the most important thing. They took Kemen, you know they did, they took Lynx, they don’t care who they have to kill to get to you. If you left, they’d come after us, all of us, to try to find out where you’d gone off to.”

  “But if I kept it secret and told no one—”

  “Stop!” He shook my shoulders. “Do you hear yourself? That way lies madness.”

  My lips twitched as I wondered if he realized he was quoting King Lear. Luc had never been a reader; maybe I’d rubbed off on him after all.

  “It doesn’t matter if we don’t know, they won’t care and they’d think we’re lying anyway. Demons lie, everyone knows that.”

  His blue eyes pierced mine; I swallowed hard as my stomach fluttered.

  I didn’t have a second to grasp what he was about before his lips were on mine. Hard, but not punishing. His fingers threaded through the ends of my still-wet hair and a moan of longing and need purred from his throat.

  His lips were as soft as velvet, moving against mine as if in prayer and worship, and I settled into his touch, pulled to him like a magnet. He tasted of licorice and mint and in his kiss I tasted his hunger, his need, but there was more. Something heavy and terribly sad. I tasted good-bye.

  “I love you, Luc.” I said it with a strong voice, resting my forehead on his, knowing he’d never say it back, but this time I’d felt it. “I always will.”

  Crushing me to his chest, he held me tight and I clutched his back for the last time.

  “We’re family and family always stays together,” he whispered, and it was a promise I sealed in my heart.

  The faces staring back at the three of us weren’t just pissed. Oh no, that was too nice a word to describe the animosity rolling off them in waves.

  Never show a demon fear, because if they sense it for even a second, they’ll pounce and tear you to shreds. Regardless of the fact that this was family I’d known for eons, they weren’t happy that Luc and I had kept so much from them.

  Bubba narrowed his eyes at Asher. “So the Order’s betrayed us—you’re no human.” He scoffed and turned back to me and Luc. “So who the hell is that?”

  Everyone let Bubba be their mouthpiece, content to hang back and digest this sudden turn of events. Fine, I felt more comfortable talking with the big man over any of the others at this point anyway.

  Notching my chin higher, I said, “I’m beginning to suspect that what’s going down doesn’t have as much to do with the Order as it does with upper management. Grace has gone into hiding and suggested we immediately do the same. To be honest, I know very little of this Triad. In fact, I’ve never heard of them before now. All I do know is that the prophecy is leading them to believe that they have no choice but to silence me.”

  “Then let them have you. We’ve lost Kemen, now Lynx—I’m tired of burying my friends.” A normally quiet Envy Neph—Greta—had no problem piping up.

  The very last person in the world I’d ever expect to come to my defense hissed. “Shut your trap, Greta. We ditch Pandora now, what’s to say down the road you’re not next. You want us to bail on you too?” Vyxen narrowed glittering jade-green eyes.

  Greta fluttered her fingers across her white-blond hair but didn’t utter another word. My lips twitched when Vyxen ref
used to look back at me.

  “You’ve only answered half my question.” Bubba tapped his foot.

  Asher spared me having to make the declaration. Rather than shield my body with his as was his usual wont, he took a full step to the side. Asher understood that to show me any kind of physical support now would weaken me in the eyes of my brethren.

  “Understand that I am here for none of you other than Pandora herself.” His deep voice cast a spell over the throng. All eyes were glued to him as his large black wings unfolded from his shirt. Standing slightly behind him, I finally understood how he’d kept them hidden. A netting of magic, like a heat wave, shimmered down his back, exposing the vertical slits for a split second—the wings grew from within the slits. He flapped them once, startling everyone but Luc and me.

  I wasn’t aware Luc had ever seen his wings, but at some point he must have because he didn’t look the least bit surprised.

  Some gasped, others jumped to their feet. Claws came out and fangs were revealed. I jumped in front of Bubba to stop his attack.

  “Angel!” Furious voices spat.

  Shoving Bubba back so that he stumbled over his feet, I snarled at him. I might be smaller, I might look weaker, but I had three centuries worth more power than he did.

  My voice was guttural as I said, “He’s no angel—he’s a death priest. And I’ll kill anyone who makes an attempt on his life.”

  I scowled at all of them, letting the power of my demons spark through me. I leaked it in a tidal wave of fury.

  The weaker ones immediately curled in on themselves, knowing they were no match for me. Bubba and Kane alone stood like towers bearing down on me. I never broke eye contact.

  Luc snapped, “The Priest is a powerful ally. He’s been working with Grace for months now. We. Can. Trust. Him.” The way he enunciated each word, I knew it wasn’t easy for him to say.

  “You keep the fuck away from me,” Bubba hissed, red eyes gleaming like unholy fire at my priest.

  There wasn’t much more to say after that. Luc dispersed the crowd with orders to begin the takedown of the carnival. For the unforeseeable future, Carnival Diabolique was officially on hiatus.

  Bubba was the last to leave, tossing me an evil glare before marching off. Releasing the shaky breath I’d been holding the entire time, I dropped my head, finally free to let the adrenaline buildup have its way with me. My fingers shook so hard I had to grab a bench top to keep them still.

  Asher’s warm hand traced my lower back. I leaned into his touch, feeling immediately more at ease.

  “That went well,” he murmured with a chuckle in his voice.

  “You think?” I glanced sidelong at him. “Because I’m pretty sure Bubba’s gonna want you and me for his late-night snack.”

  He laughed. “Pandora, you demons are a violent, nasty bunch, but deep down”—he touched my chest, right over my heart, with his finger—“you all love one another fiercely. He’ll come around so long as I prove to him I’m worthy of you, never doubt it.”

  I scoffed. “I wish I was so sure.”

  Luc walked up to us, hands in his pockets. His blond hair was pulled back in his miniature ponytail, his face impassive. He wasn’t looking at me. Ever since the kiss in the room, things had been cordial but aloof. “We roll in an hour. Anything you can’t pack, we leave.”

  Then he too was gone.

  I had not one but two trailers to pack up. I wasn’t really packing anything up so much as securing it so that when we moved, the entire contents of our house didn’t crash down on me.

  Asher worked silently beside me. At one point, he indicated the hole in my bathroom wall.

  I snorted. “Hopefully the next place has an Ace Hardware. No time now.”

  Neither one of us talked much after that. So much had happened in just a matter of days that I needed a moment to process it all.

  I felt a lot like Luc did. Whoever this Triad was, I wasn’t sure we were any match for them. And leaving as we were was a start, but the demon in me was galled by the thought that we were tucking tail and running.

  That wasn’t what was actually happening, but to my demons it felt no different.

  Good on his word, Luc rolled us out of there an hour later. Fast as we worked, we still had to leave a few things behind. Like the tents and rides.

  Bubba glamoured everything so that no humans could come and mess with it, also so that the weather couldn’t rust or damage things. But that was the very best we could do in such a short amount of time.

  Asher drove ahead of me in my actual home, I pulled Kemen’s, and behind me were Luc and Vyx.

  I drove silently, at first intending to have nothing but silence and the tapping of my fingers on the wheel. But after a while the thoughts in my head began to get to me. Popping in a cassette tape, I listened to the sounds of Mozart for a while. But that was only making me feel more anxious and paranoid. So I swapped it out for Ride the Lightning by Metallica and felt a little better.

  The hard, crunchy riffs helped to take my mind off the depressing fact that because of some supposed prophecy written by an unheard-of quack, I was now on the run and forcing the rest of my family into hiding too.

  Along the way, we stopped at our many plots of land, depositing things at each one. Lightening our load with each stop, Luc’s thinking was that by not placing all our eggs in one basket, if one place got compromised, not everything would be lost.

  We drove all day and all night, and though sleep would have been nice, it wasn’t necessary for us. We stopped only for gas and to make the occasional drop-off. By the time we reached the Arizona border two days later, all we had left were our homes.

  Asher was concealing us in his shadow as best he could, but as strong as he was, even I recognized that he was stretching himself thin between thirty trucks and trailers. At the next stop, I got out.

  “Luc.” I gestured to him as we took turns refilling our tanks.

  Jogging over to me, he nodded his head. The skin under his eyes was dark and I knew he was tired. It made me wonder how long he’d gone without sex. In fact, all of us looked haggard and worse for wear.

  In ten minutes, I’d single-handedly managed to turn my family’s lives upside down. Didn’t exactly make me feel good about myself.

  “What’s the matter?” Blue eyes roamed my face.

  “Maybe we should trace to Florida from here. Ditch the trailers for now.” Years ago, Luc had acquired swampland. It was infested with mosquitos and gators and snakes, but that also meant that not many people, humans or otherwise, traipsed through there. It would be a good place to stay for a while. At least until we could decide where to go from there.

  He shook his head. “No. Asher and I talked, and we’ve decided that there’s a good chance the Triad’s got trackers with them. They know how we like to move. Best way to keep them off our scent is to travel like humans and not use our powers.”

  Luc wasn’t referring to hounds, but magic tracers—witches who could latch on to the energy field left behind whenever magic was used. “But Asher’s cloaking us in shadow.”

  Gazing up at the dawn sky, he nodded. “I know. But now that the sun’s coming up, we can’t keep traveling that like that anyway.”

  Rubbing at his eyes, he sighed.

  “We need to lighten our load even more then.”

  “I’m all ears.”

  Vyxen walked up to us. Glancing at me for a second, she shoved a yellow bag of M&M’s at Luc before getting back in their truck. Not only wasn’t she wearing her crazy wig today, but she was also wearing gray sweatpants and a gray work-out shirt. The green of her eyes had been muted and was normal-looking, and her brown hair was slicked down and tucked behind her ears in an elfin bob.

  If I hadn’t known her for who she was already, I would never have pegged her as Envy. Seeing her gave me an idea.

  “How many of us are paired off?”

  Narrowing his eyes, he nodded. “Buddy up. Good idea. That’ll kill half the load ri
ght there.”

  “’Bout a mile back there’s a range of mountains that would serve as a truck graveyard. When we can, if we can, we’ll come back for them.”

  Waving his finger in the air, he lifted his voice. “Listen up, everyone!”

  Those outside their trucks turned to him.

  “From here on out, we’re buddying up. I don’t care who with, but choose a partner. We’re going to drop our final load off. Now, if everyone’s gassed up, let’s get the hell out of Dodge.”

  The partnering-up commenced. I sensed Asher behind me.

  Smiling, I turned just as his arms wrapped around me. I rubbed his back as he leaned into me.

  “Admit it, you just missed me,” he whispered and there was a definite chuckle in his words.

  Kissing his cheek, I felt the press of several sets of eyes, but I didn’t care enough to hide my affection for him. “Absolutely, Priest.”

  “So which one are we keeping?”

  I loved how proprietary he was sometimes. Tugging at the tips of his hair brushing his neckline, I jerked my chin toward Kemen’s trailer. “That one.”

  “That one’s falling apart, Pandora. Wouldn’t you rather be with your books and music? I know how much you love that stuff.”

  My heart melted that he knew me that way. Getting gifts was great, but when your partner took the time to actually know you, to recognize what made you tick, those were the real gifts and something that could never be bought.

  “I’ll transfer over a few things. And I can fix Kemen’s trailer.” I fluttered my fingers over his plain black T-shirt.

  His knuckles brushed my cheek. “He really meant a lot to you, didn’t he?”

  “He was the only one who never demanded I be anything other than me. Kemen accepted me for who I was. He was my only real friend.”

  Kissing me tenderly, he whispered, “You’re not alone anymore, little demon.”

  The heat of those words rolled through me like molten silver, filling me from my head to my toes.

  “Moving out!” Luc cried, then got into his truck and started it up.