The Queen of Zombie Hearts

by Gena Showalter

  "I've suddenly lost my appetite." Juliana tossed her hair over her shoulder and flounced out of the room.

  Brat.

  "I'm in total breakfast mode," Camilla said. "Why don't I just make you a slice?"

  A peace offering? "Thank you."

  "Strawberry or grape jelly?"

  BC--before Cole--I would have said grape. Now? "Strawberry." He'd addicted me.

  As she worked, she said, "I've been trying to decode the rest of the papers, but even when I read while in spirit form, I can only make out a few words. So I was thinking," she added before I could reply, "maybe you could use your fire on me and share the ability."

  "How do you know about the fire-share?"

  "There's been talk."

  Already?

  She was still an unknown entity, and I wasn't comfortable sharing my abilities...or my secrets. "I'll think about it," I said, accepting the piece of toast she offered.

  A flash of irritation she couldn't hide. "You do that. Meanwhile, I'm going to give myself a tour of the grounds."

  She headed for the back door. I ate my toast and took off in the opposite direction. Destination: Reeve's room. That's where Kat would be. But I made it only halfway before I spotted Helen. She waited at the top of the steps.

  Startled, I tripped. Good one, Ali-gator.

  Great. Now even I was using that ridiculous nickname. Mind had to be misfiring. Which was understandable. This was the first time I'd seen Helen since I'd learned who she was to me--who I was to her.

  Cole would insist I get rid of her. But I couldn't. I just...couldn't.

  "You know who I am," she said, hesitant.

  "Yes," I whispered, not wanting to draw attention to myself. I looked left, right. No sign of a slayer. Still. Better safe than sorry.

  I motioned for her to follow me to my room. What should I call her? Helen? Or Momma, like before?

  I closed my eyes against a rush of pain. Would calling her Mom be a betrayal to the woman who'd raised me? Who'd loved me as her own?

  Get it together.

  "I'd hoped you would remember," she said after I closed the door.

  Her words reminded me of the last dream I'd had. "Did you wipe my memories when I was a little girl?"

  Anyone else might have blanched when faced with my anger, but not her. She held my gaze. "Yes and no. Like you, I was born with several abnormal skills. One allows me to reach my spirit inside a person's head and cover their memories. Like I'm placing a blanket over their mind. It's a defense mechanism, I guess, in case civilians ever see something they shouldn't."

  "You covered mine." That look in my eyes... I'd gone to my dad as a blank slate.

  She nodded, seeming shamed but resolved.

  "Uncover them. Now." They were mine. I wanted every single one. I'd earned them.

  "Ali--"

  "You had no right," I growled. "No right." Those memories would have helped me. Then and now.

  "I'm sorry, but it only works one way. I can cover, but not uncover."

  I ignored the rising tide of bile. "How am I remembering, then? Are the memories uncovering on their own?"

  "Again, yes and no. I've been sitting at your bedside, telling you stories. Sharing my memories. It seems to be thinning the blanket, for lack of a better description."

  It was better than nothing, I supposed. She was trying.

  There I went, seeing the best in her again.

  I eased onto the edge of the bed. "What do you want from me? Why are you here?"

  "I've been watching over you. Am watching over you."

  "I've never seen you, but I've always seen Emma."

  "Do you remember how Zombie Ali was able to cloak herself from prying eyes? Well, she inherited the skill from me."

  Why hadn't I? "Just how many of these skills do you have?"

  "A handful of others. And no, I wasn't born with all of them. I used to...steal from slayers."

  In other words, she'd tormented and killed to get what she wanted.

  "Stealing is teachable." She reached out her hand. "I would allow you to practice on me, but time isn't on your side. Let me give you the ability to cover memories. That way, you can rest assured I'll never use it again."

  You can't trust her, Cole had said.

  After everything Helen had just told me, I shouldn't trust her.

  And yet, I stretched out my hand, letting it hover under hers. I wished I could tell myself it was because we were at war with Anima and we needed all the weapons we could get, but that would have been a lie. Bottom line, I was overcome by a desire to connect with this woman on any level.

  "I'd give you everything all at once, but I fear it would be overwhelming." She closed her eyes. A stream of warmth hit my palms, seeped past my skin and zinged through the rest of me.

  The transfer was easy, no burning pain, no urge to scream the roof down, and in seconds we were done, our arms returning to our sides.

  "There," she said. "Just swipe the hand of your spirit through a person's mind. The only drawback is you will cover all of their memories. There isn't any selecting or picking and choosing this one but not that one. Everything is hidden."

  I couldn't imagine needing the ability. Or allowing myself to use it.

  "I didn't want to screw up your life all over again," she said, "and I would have continued to remain in the shadows, but Anima killed your friends, and I realized they were going to come after you hard. I knew I had to act. For you. I will do anything for you, Sami."

  I was quick to snap, "That's not my name."

  "Ali," she corrected softly.

  Deep breath in...out. "Why did you help Anima kill Cole's mom? By that time, you knew how corrupt they were and planned to leave."

  She whipped around, giving me her back. "I had a choice. I made it."

  When she said no more, I asked, "What choice?"

  "After I gave you to your dad, I went a little crazy. Anima assumed I was in mourning over your death and gave me time. I could have left. I should have left. But I opted to stay for two reasons. I thought I could destroy them, and if that proved futile, I wanted to know if any suspicions about you arose. Because I stayed, I had to obey orders or come under suspicion myself. It was as simple as that."

  Something Veronica said niggled at the back of my mind. "What about Veronica's mom? Did you wipe her memory?"

  "Yes."

  No remorse. Only cold, hard facts.

  Was it bad that I thought, At least she didn't kill the woman?

  The door swung open, and Cole strode inside. Panic instantly chilled me. He would see her; he would know what I'd been doing.

  But he stopped and casually said, "Just heard from my dad. He did a little digging into the life of the mysterious Ms. Smith and discovered that outside the boardroom, she is most well-known for her interrogation techniques. Anyone who ends up strapped to her table dies. If they tell her what she wants to know, they die quickly. If not, slowly."

  I looked to Helen--gone. The panic eased, leaving room for frustration. I wanted so badly to tell Cole what I'd learned, what I'd been given.

  I couldn't.

  "Tell me about the safe houses," I said.

  "We now have one right by River's place."

  "That's good." But my frustration wasn't going away. "You and I haven't gone head-to-head in a while," I said and punched him in the shoulder. The one that had taken the bullet. When we sparred, we sparred. There were no rules. No holding back or going easy.

  "In need of practice, Ali-gator?" He liked to be on the receiving end of our scuffles and didn't flinch, didn't miss a beat...just grabbed my arm when I made to punch him again, twisted me around and pushed me to my knees.

  Actually, I needed an outlet.

  I kicked back and out, knocking his feet together. His hold loosened and I swung around, punching with my other arm. But he knew me and expected the sucker move; he managed to block.

  "You can do better than this, love," he said with a grin.

&
nbsp; Yeah. I could. I latched on to his arm to spin him away from me, but he held on tight, taking me with him. We ended up turning in circles before he purposely tripped me. Down we fell. On impact, we rolled. When we stopped, he was on top of me.

  I wrapped my arms around his neck and lifted my hips, rubbing against him. Instantly improving my mood.

  He hissed in a breath. "You're fighting dirty now."

  "That's the only way to fight, Coleslaw."

  He positioned his knees outside my hips, straddling me. Meaning to take control and turn the wrestling into a make-out session? I cupped the side of his neck and shoved, sending him to his back. Then I straddled him.

  "I must say, I adore seeing you like this," I said. "Totally at my mercy."

  His eyes softened. "I'm at your mercy no matter what position I'm in."

  My sense of triumph vanished, replaced by guilt and need...always need. How could I keep a secret from him?

  I jumped off him.

  "Where are you going?" he asked, grabbing my ankle and sending me crashing face-first. Rat! He moved on top of me. "We're not done. There are things I want to tell you...do to you."

  "Uh, am I interrupting something?" Jaclyn stood at the open door, blinking at us.

  I thought, Yes. No. Gah! Calm, steady.

  Cole climbed off me, helped me to my feet and scowled at the girl with murderous intent.

  "Your parents let you come back?" I asked.

  She shook her head, saying, "Nope. They think I'm resting in my room."

  "Your timing is... Yeah. We're headed out to search for Justin." Cole drew in a heavy breath, met my gaze. What was going on inside that gorgeous head of his? "By the way, Kat's coming."

  "What!" No way Frosty would allow it.

  "Apparently she's got some live-life-to-the-fullest list and Frosty can either go along with it or lose her. He's decided to go along, and it's making him crazy, so try not to even make eye contact with him. You'll regret it. Trust me."

  Well, okay, then.

  As our big group was about to pile inside two different SUVs, Juliana came marching outside, draped in more weapons than Cole and I combined.

  Veronica jerked her finger to the front door. "Back inside."

  "Kidney girl is a freaking civilian and she gets to go," the younger teen snapped. "I can actually help."

  One donkey-punch, coming up.

  Cole held me back. "I'll talk to her." He closed the distance, whispered something in her ear.

  She softened, muttering, "Fine," and trudged back into the mansion.

  "What'd you say to her?" I asked as I settled into the backseat of our SUV.

  He took the seat next to me, clasped my hand in his. "She'll get to spend a few hours every day training with Mackenzie."

  Mackenzie wasn't one to care about age, and she would utterly annihilate the girl.

  "As soon as Mackenzie deems her a good enough fighter," he added, "she can start coming with us."

  "Mackenzie won't deem her good enough for, what? Two years?"

  "At least."

  River claimed the driver's seat, Camilla shotgun and Jaclyn the middle. Gavin moved behind her, practically shoving Bronx out of the way to get there. Oh, no. That could mean only one thing...

  I rolled down my window, stuck out my head and said, "Kat, change places with Gavin. Stat."

  "Already planned on it." She trotted over, only to be grabbed by Frosty midway and carted back to the other car--but not before he flipped me off.

  *

  The fifteen-minute ride was both awesome and pure, unadulterated torture. Cole kept his arm wrapped around me, his fingers toying with the ends of my hair, but Gavin and Jaclyn snipped at each other the entire way.

  "You gonna try to kill me again, sweetness?" Gavin began.

  "Why don't you save your breath?" she snapped. "You'll need it to inflate your date later."

  "True. I will. Do you want to know what the sad thing is?" He didn't give her a chance to respond. "She'll still be better company than you."

  Jaclyn shook her fist at him. "If you don't shut up, I'll help you swallow your own teeth."

  "Even then, you'd still want me. Because that's what all this animosity is about, isn't it?" He wiggled his brows at her. "Why don't you do us all a favor and admit it? After all, everyone already knows you're going to end up throwing yourself at me. That's the only way I'll take you to bed."

  Her snort of derision echoed. "Me? Throw myself at you? Sugar, you couldn't get laid in a whorehouse with a fistful of twenties."

  "I totally could. And when I sneak into your mom's room later tonight, I'll prove it."

  No. No mom insults. "Enough," I said.

  "Do you dream about all the ways I'll satisfy you?" Gavin asked Jaclyn conversationally, ignoring me.

  She bared her teeth at him in a fierce scowl. "The only way you would ever satisfy me in bed is if you left me in mine--alone!"

  "Seriously. Enough!" River said with a lot more volume than I'd used. "I'm usually a big fan of sexual tension, but this is like an X-rated kindergarten class, with two little jerks crushing on each other, both too stupid to admit it out loud."

  Blessed silence.

  Until Jaclyn said, "I do not have a crush on him. He refers to girls as candy. And guess what? This candy store is closed. Forever."

  Gavin yawned, then peered out the window, as if bored. "I've decided girls are like diseases. You happen to be Ebola. That causes vomiting, right?"

  "And massive internal bleeding." Jaclyn huffed and puffed, waiting for him to say something else, and despite everything, I was glad to see a little life to her.

  "Silence is easy," River said. "Try it."

  "If it were easy," Camilla said, "it'd be your mom."

  "My mom is your mom."

  "So? I never liked her."

  "When we get back," Cole whispered to me, "I want to take you on our second date."

  "How romantic of you," I replied with a grin.

  "Romantic...desperate to get you alone. Same thing."

  "And what are we going to do on this second date? It'll be hard to top the near-death experience."

  He glowered at me. "You love premature joke-ulation, don't you?"

  "What can I say? It's one of my many charms."

  "Well, tonight you'll see one of mine."

  He'd basically just thrown a match inside me. Suddenly I burned and ached in the most delicious way. Had he just assured me that he would--that we would finally go all the way?

  Concentrate! "You keep hinting about your plans for me. Tell me--"

  "Nope. Too late," he interjected a little evilly. "You'll have to wait to find out what I meant. We've reached our destination."

  Dang it! He was right.

  River parked in the east lot, out of view of the warehouse. We planned to start at the bottom of the apartment building and work our way to the top, knocking on every door we came across.

  "We'll take floors one and two," Cole said to Gavin and me. To Jaclyn and River he said, "You'll take floors three and four."

  "What about the rest of the gang?" I asked.

  "They'll be patrolling outside to make sure we aren't ambushed."

  Or, in other words, keeping Kat out of the building and Frosty from going cray-cray on some poor, unsuspecting witness.

  The building was a bit run-down, with paint peeling and threadbare carpet. There was also a musty smell in the air. Old dust, as if cleaning wasn't always a priority.

  The first floor proved unfruitful. On the second floor, however, we knocked on a door at the end of the hall, with a window overlooking the warehouse. An angry-looking man answered. He was a little shorter than me, his sandy-colored hair shaggy and unkempt. His eyes were bloodshot and his lips chapped. He wore a stained, wrinkled T-shirt that read Always Give 100% Unless You're Giving Blood and pants way too tight for his bulky frame.

  We hadn't asked the man about the night of the murders, yet still he thrust a phone in my direction. "
Here," he snapped, "it's for you." And then he shut the door in our stunned faces.

  A jolt of confusion. I tried to make sense of what had just happened.

  Cole tensed.

  Gavin palmed a gun, as if he expected the phone to explode at any second.

  Tentative, I held it to my ear. "Hello?"

  "Ali Bell. It's nice to chat with you again."

  Shock blasted through me. "Ethan?"

  "The one and only."

  Cole didn't need to hear any more. He slammed into the apartment door, wood shards raining to the floor as the thing ripped from its hinges. He and Gavin marched inside.

  I leaned against the wall to maintain my balance. "What do you want?" And how had he known I'd show up?

  "My sister."

  Isabelle, a fifteen-year-old girl dying of cancer. "We don't have her."

  He laughed bitterly. "I know. But Anima says they will bring her back--if I bring you in."

  Wait. "Bring her back. As in..."

  "She died, Ali," he said, his pain crackling over the line. "It was horrible. Painful."

  My shoulders drooped. Another loss. "I'm sorry, I really am."

  He continued as if he hadn't heard me. "But not from the cancer. Killing her was the only way to save her," he rushed to add. "We injected her with the zombie toxin. Her spirit rose, as we knew it would. But we controlled the environment and captured it. Now we're keeping it locked away and her body preserved."

  We, he kept saying. As if he and Anima were one. How was I supposed to respond to that? To any of this?

  "So..." Ethan cleared his throat. "This is the part where I admit that I have Justin and some slayer we caught trying to rescue him."

  Knew the first. Hadn't known the second. My heart sank all the way to my feet.

  Cole and Gavin stomped out of the apartment, their expressions equally dark. Cole shook his head, and I knew what he was telling me. The guy had somehow escaped.

  "I'm willing to do an even trade," Ethan said. "You for the boys."

  Please. He'd double-cross me in a heartbeat. "There's no way--"

  "Think about it. Keep the phone, and I'll send you proof of life. We'll talk again tomorrow."

  Click.

  Chapter 22

  FOLLOW THE

  BLOOD-SOAKED ROAD

  As we ransacked the Anima guy's apartment, I told the boys about Ethan's trade suggestion. Their responses?

  Cole: "Sure, we'll trade you. In never."

  Gavin: "Going to kill that boy so dead."

  Now that I'd had a little time to think about it, my answer waffled. I valued my friends' lives above my own, and if it was within my power to save one, I would.