Love in the Time of Zombies (16 page)

Sharp
white fangs grazed her tender flesh.

“Oh
God.”  He did it on purpose.  He had to.  Biting between vampires only happened
between mates.  Joseff knew that and he did it anyway.  The man truly had no
limits when it came to getting what he wanted.

The
nip of his teeth drew a bead of blood, redder than the polish on her toes.  Darcy
whimpered helplessly as Joseff lifted his head to watch it trail down her skin. 
It was so intimate and so erotic.  So very much like the usurper of an entire
kingdom to try and take more than was offered.

“It’s
a risk.”  Darcy met his eyes, needing him.  “If you do it, you’ll bind yourself
to me.  There could never be another mate for you.”

He
wouldn’t be able to drink from another vampire.  Just human blood and her for the
rest of forever.  Until she bit him back, Darcy would be able to have any male
she wanted, but Joseff would be exclusively bound to her.

Why
was that so incredibly,
unbelievably
hot?

“Do
you think I would
ever
settle for another woman?”  He lowered
his mouth.  “Resign yourself to be conquered, Darcia.”  He lapped up the blood
in one greedy lick and groaned at the taste of her.  “Mine.”  The word was a
vow.

Darcy
went up in flames. 
“Yes.”
  Her whole body bowed.  “Now, Joseff! 
Now, now,
now!
”

His
fangs sank into her leg, drinking deep, and Darcy exploded.  No one had ever
bitten her before, and the mark from the first bite lasted forever.  His teeth
spread wide, making the brand so big that no other man who saw her like this
could possibly miss it.  For the rest of Darcy’s very long life, the smooth,
pale skin of her inner thigh would testify to the fact that she’d allowed Joseff
to have her in the vampires’ most sacred way.  That they were bound.

That
he belonged to her.

Darcy’s
body spasmed against his beautiful, wicked lips as she chanted his name.

A
pair of black eyes gleamed with dark possession, watching her passion, taking
everything she had.

And
Darcy knew she was looking at her mate.

She’d
always known…

Darcy’s
eyes snapped open.  She was lying in a bed, her whole body screaming for
release, her mind filled with the memories of seducing Joseff in that day spa,
and wondering why in the hell he’d spent the past year fucking around instead
of seducing her back.

All
of that was pretty par for the course.

Three
things instantly told her that this wasn’t just another normal day, though. 
First, she was covered in a comforter with a pattern of repeating American
flags and bald eagles.  Two, her skin burned like it had been too near the
sun.  And three… Joseff was sitting on the side of the mattress, watching her.

“You
said my name in your sleep.”  He reported calmly

“Son-of-a-bitch.” 
Darcy’s sat up, her palm going to her throbbing temple.

She
must have passed out from deadly rays even through the solar blanket they’d
wrapped her in.  The closer they were to their human DNA, the easier it was for
a vampire to go out in the day.  Darcy’s vampire blood was so strong not even
her great, great grandparents could recall how long along the first Laurent had
been turned, though.  They were an old vampire line who only bred with
other
old vampire lines.

Consequently,
just looking at a postcard of sunset affected her.

As
long as her skin was shielded, she survived trips outside, but they still left
her with crippling headaches and third degree sunburn.  Prolonged exposure to
even the indirect rays left her unconscious.  Joseff
knew
that.  She
would’ve come to him that night, without all the drama.  This was totally
unnecessary.

Darcy
flashed him a glare.  “Really?  Arresting me?”

“You
left me no choice.”

She
would’ve rolled her eyes, but they hurt too much.  “Where are my brothers?”

“Caleb
and Zeke are fine.”

“Great. 
Except, I asked
where
they are.”

“I’ve
had Caleb locked in the Founding Fathers restaurant downstairs.”

“The
buffet?
”

“I
thought he might be hungry.”  Joseff deadpanned.  “Beside, all that shrimp
cocktail won’t last forever.  We might as well use it.”  He arched a brow.  “I
doubt we’ll be getting any more.”

“Is
Zeke there, too?”

“No,
that Scotlyn woman apparently refused to be separated from him and I thought
she should rest.  Humans are fragile.  I had them put in a room down the hall. 
I was very accommodating.  No sense in alienating the only blood donor we have left.”

“I
think she’s already feeling alienated, idiot.  Your ham-fisted minions
handcuffed her and her mate.”  The iron restraints Joseff’s men used kept
supernatural beings trapped no matter how strong the person was.  Using iron
was just a dirty trick.

“My
ham-fisted minions also saved all of you from an army of the undead.”  He
retorted.  “Really, you should be saying thank you.”

She
glowered at him.  “
Thank
you?”

“You’re
welcome.”  Joseff drawled, deliberately misinterpreting her incredulous words.

“Oh,
shut-up.”  Darcy rubbed at her temples.  “I want to see the rest of my pack. 
What the hell are you doing locking them up, anyway?  Was it just to piss me
off?”

His
jaw ticked.  “They aren’t
your
anything.  They’re shifters.  You’re a
vampire.  Vampires don’t
have
packs.”

“This
one does.”

Joseff
stared at her with an impassive expression.  “They may have started all this,
you know.  That pink fog came from somewhere.”

“Brewer
can’t even work those self-checkout barcode scanners at the grocery store.  You
really
think he somehow chemically engineered a zombie virus? 
Really?
”

“Maybe
he paid someone to do it.”

“Maybe
you’re an idiot.”

“This
is a waste of time.”  Joseff decided.  “No matter how it happened, the city is
unsafe.  You’re smart enough to realize that we need to get out of here, before
we’re overrun.  We have to leave as soon as it’s dark
.
”

“So,
we’ll leave, then.”  She met his eyes squarely.  “
All
of us.”

“All
of us.”  He repeated without inflection.  “You think I’ll travel with shape shifters?”

“If
you want to travel with me you will.”

“I
wouldn’t say I
wanted
to travel with you, precisely.”

She
scowled.  “Well, then why did you bring me here?”

“The
very question I’m asking myself.”  He got to his feet.  “The advantages of your
company elude me at the moment.”

Darcy
couldn’t help but be hurt by his snarking.  Even
without
the zombies, it
would’ve been a lousy day.  Her skin burned, her brain throbbed in her skull
and she’d been imprisoned by the king of the vampires.  The least he could do
was not be an asshole.

“I
have much to do before we depart.”  Joseff headed for the door.  “Have you
eaten?  I can have something sent up to you.”

“I’m
fine.”  She muttered.  “If I need blood, Zeke’s human is right downstairs.”  The
subtext of that comment was, obviously, that she wouldn’t be drinking from
him
.

Joseff
slanted her a glower.  “Even at the end of the world, you think you can do
better than me?”

“Yeah,
because even at the end of the world, you’re still being a dickhead
.
”

“I
could just leave you here in Vegas, you know.”

“Bye.”

He
let out a hissing sound of frustration.  “You are such a goddamn child.”

“Oh,
go
away
.”  She lay back down and turned away from him so he wouldn’t see
the tears threatening.  “I’ll be perfectly fine out there on my own.  Just like
I
always
am.”

He
didn’t go away.  It fact, he seemed to get even more annoyed.  “I didn’t
abandon you when the zombies came, if that’s what you think.  I looked
everywhere I could think of.  I waited for you to contact me.”  His voice got
even more irritated.  “I was going out of my mind, Darcy.  I couldn’t
find
you.”

“I’m
surprised you didn’t just pack up and leave me for dead, then.  Since you’re
sooo
busy.”

She
heard him move back towards the bed.  “You
know
that I wouldn’t go
anywhere with you.”  He snapped.  “Why do you think I’m still in Nevada?  Why
do you think I
moved
to Nevada?  It’s the stupidest place in the world
for a vampire to live and yet here I am.”

“No,
it’s not.  Everything in Vegas happens at night.  It’s perfect for us.”

“It’s
in the
desert
.”  He shot back.  “It’s the most imperfect place for
vampires I can imagine.  But, you chose it, so I came here.  Now, it’s time to
leave this godforsaken swath of sand and, this time,
I
get to pick our
destination.”

“Does
it really
matter
where we go?  At this point, isn’t it all just more
Zombieland?
”

“Not
all of it.”

“You
think?”

“I
know.”  He sounded absolutely certain.

Darcy
turned to look at him, suddenly hopeful.  “You can find us someplace safe?”  If
anyone could do the impossible it was her mate.  Nothing could conquer Joseff. 
Not even zombies.  “All of us?”

She
saw his face soften at the question.  “No.”  He said quietly.  “But, I’ll save
as much of your family as I can.  You have my word.”

Darcy
studied him for a beat and finally nodded.  There was nothing else she could
do.  Joseff wouldn’t break his promise to her.

“And
I have
your
word that you’ll come with me?”  He pressed.  “Otherwise,
I’m going to lock you in here, so you don’t run.  I don’t want to spend the
rest of Armageddon hunting you down.”

She
made a face at him.  “Of
course
, I’m staying here.  Where would I go? 
I’ve been trying to get to you this whole time, Joseff.”

“I’m
touched.”

“I’m
serious.  I was stuck in a Ferrari for ages.  I was fixing the damn thing, I took
it for a test drive, and I never left the strip.”  Darcy liked repairing cars
and humans paid her a lot of money to do it.  When she wasn’t selling
information at Prowl, she was usually at her auto shop.  “That’s why I wasn’t
here sooner, Joseff.  I tried to call you a thousand times, but the phones were
down.  I would’ve been here tonight, though.  As soon as the sun went down.”

“I
believe you.”  He didn’t believe her.

“Joseff,”
she held his eyes steadily, “
I would’ve been here
tonight.
”

His
gaze dropped, still unsure that she’d care enough to look for him during a
disaster.  “Sleep and heal.”  He turned back to the door.  “I’ll come for you
when it’s time to leave.”

The
man was impossible.  “Where are we going?”  She called, annoyed that he was
such a blockhead.

“Anywhere
but here.”

Bright
side to the zombie apocalypse:

You
finally have a use for your three months of Girl Scouts training.

Or you
would
,
if only you’d earned a badge beyond the one for making friendship bracelets.

Zombageddon
was beginning to weigh on Scotlyn.

She’d
silently washed-up and changed clothes when they’d been shown to the hotel
room.  Now she was curled up under the patriotic comforter, staring at
nothing.  Zeke didn’t like seeing her so dejected.  Scotlyn was always so full
of ideas and lectures and
life
.  Now she looked like she was going to
cry.

He
tucked her in and touched her hair.  “You okay, baby?”

“How
could this really be happening to me?”  She whispered.  “I don’t have any
survivalists training.  I don’t even pay attention those TV emergency alert
things.  And I sure don’t believe in zombies or shape shifters or vampires.  My
life is
normal
.  I still have some stupid reality show about
hairdressers on my DVR. 
That’s
what I’m supposed to be doing, right
now.  Watching backstabbing barbers and eating ice cream and thinking about how
I should quit my lousy job.”

Zeke
arched a brow.  “
Last Cut?
”

“What?”

“The
TV show. 
Last Cut?
”

“Yeah.”

Zeke
moved to sit on the other side of the mattress.  “That show sucks.”

“I
know.  But I keep recording it.”

“That’s
because it was awesome two seasons ago.”  Zeke leaned back against the liberty
bell shaped headboard.  “When what’s-her-name went after that other guy with
the scissors?  Awesome.”