The Vampire's Consort (Undead in Brown County)
Page 14
She vaulted onto its back and felt the odd sliding sensation of being skin-to-skin with it. Hate in her rose suddenly. She grabbed its rotting shirt and stiffened her fingers to thrust them into the zombie’s chest. Inside, it was all gore. The stench nearly made her retch. Finally, she found the crusty thing inside that seemed to be its heart.
It fell when she yanked the heart out of it. Kate fell with it, landing on her side. She shoved the horrible body away from her and threw the heart of it as far as she could towards the edge of the plateau.
Before she could turn to Alex, the other zombie had crept up on them. Alex cut the thing in half with a flash of energy from his fingertips. It was down, but still moving. Kate stepped forward boldly and reached down to the thing’s chest. The torso was leaking black fluid that sizzled on the rock surface like an egg in a skillet.
She ripped out its heart and threw it in the same direction as the first. Then she rose and looked at Alex with resolute black eyes.
“Are we done?”
He wasn’t sure what to make of this new Kate. There was a hard edge in her expression and a forlorn curve to her moist full lips. When he didn’t answer her question, she sighed and wiped her hands on her shorts.
“Taking out the heart seems to stop these freaks. I don’t know why the heads stay alive though.”
Finally, Alex spoke.
“Are you okay?”
She hesitated when she saw the look on his face. This guy really cared about her. But he didn’t know everything that went on in her head. Victoria had seen something in her that was changing, but it was only a fraction of what was to come. She knew there would be more zombie battles for her.
And she wanted it.
Maybe I’m not okay.
Chapter 21
Vampires didn’t follow the custom of humans when it came to funerals. When one of their undead friends passed away, they generally burned the remains and then went into a solitary mourning period that could last from a few days to several decades.
The loss of Victoria was hard for each of them. They tried to support Jones but he seemed unreachable in his grief. Only Michael was permitted to be near him at all. Jones wanted no other companion and he made that choice very clear to all of them. Even with Michael, he was closed off. Two days after Victoria’s death, Jones disappeared completely.
“You think he’ll come back?” Sarah asked Michael as they were getting ready to leave the cabin.
“Not here. But he’ll eventually seek me out,” Michael said quietly. “He needs to be alone for a while.”
Sam was bouncing up and down in front of their rental car, eager to be leaving this strange sad place. Sarah smiled at her exuberance.
“I like the idea of staying at a lake house. I’m sure we’ll find something great that will work for us all.”
“Where’s your sister?”
Sarah sighed and nodded towards the spot where Alex’s rental car had been parked.
“They left soon after you went to seal up the caves. Alex said to tell you he’d be in touch. They’re taking Jackson to that rehab place in San Diego.”
“Did Kate seem okay to you?” Michael said.
“I don’t know.”
The look on her sister’s face when she and Alex got back from the containment zone defied description. There was no sadness. It almost seemed as if Victoria’s death didn’t mean much to Kate.
“What’s going to happen to us, Michael?”
He could see the fear in her blue eyes shining like a signal flare. Between the zombie problem, the threat of Marrok’s children and the politics of the council, Michael knew he had a lot on his plate.
He was a king. He slid one arm around Sarah’s waist. But he would not be alone. And with that knowledge, he had hope enough that he could make Sarah happy and that they might all be a family again.
Somehow, it would work out.
THE END