Love in the Time of Zombies (19 page)

Zeke
shifted to block his view and stepped into the hall.  He eyed Joseff flatly.  “Mine.” 
It was the clearest warning he could give.

“I
have no interest in your human, Ezekiel.”  Joseff assured him.  “But you and I
need to discuss something.”

“Bail?”

Joseff
exhaled a frustrated breath.  “Stop being difficult.  You aren’t prisoners here
and you know it.  I don’t even have the authority to arrest shifters.  Believe
me, I’ve looked into it.”

“Funny,
I remember Cale saying the same thing when your goons were
arresting us
.”

“I
was just trying to find Darcy.”  Joseff retorted.  “You weren’t meant to be
harmed, just brought along because she’d want you with her.  You and Caleb are
the only shifters I can tolerate.  I was trying to
protect
you, really.”

“I’ll
probably be more inclined to believe that after the bruises fade.”

“I
apologize.  I perhaps should have issued clearer instructions to my men on what
to do when they found all of you.  But, at the time, I didn’t care about
collateral damage.  All I wanted was Darcy here with me.”  He arched a brow.  “What
would you do if your woman was missing out there?”

Zeke’s
jaw ticked.  Joseff had a point, but he didn’t really care.  “Darcy is,” he
hesitated and then went with Scotlyn’s words, because they were true, “my
sister.  You hurt her, and Cale and I will make you
pray
for death by
zombie.”

“It’s
just impossible to underestimate the stupidity of your kind.”  Joseff shook his
head in disgust.  “Does it seem like I’m going to harm that impossible brat? 
If that was the plan, I would’ve done it long ago and freed myself from her
clutches.”  He arched a brow.  “In fact, I’m talking to you because I wish to
see her happy.  You and I need to reach an understanding.”

“Oh,
this should be good.”  Zeke crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against
the doorframe.  “Let me guess.  Darcy’s insisting that we all stick together.”

“Something
like that.”  Joseff admitted.  “We need to get out of Vegas.”

“No
shit.”  Zeke scoffed.

“I
think our best options are an island or an oil platform.”

“Iasia.” 
Zeke said simply.

Joseff
squinted at him.  “What?  There’s no such place.”

Legend
had it that Iasia was a non-human Shangri-La somewhere in Peru.  All the
different species were welcomed and protected there.  Supernatural creatures
spoke of it like it was mixture of Tombstone and Eden.  It was
their
place,
no humans allowed.

Only
problem was no one had ever met somebody had actually
seen
it.

“It’s
real.”  Zeke assured him.  “Trust me.”

“Why
would I be stupid enough to do that?  Even your own kind thinks you’re a dreamer. 
And that’s one of the
nicer
things I’ve heard you called.”

“Because,
I’ve researched Iasia since I was fourteen years old.”  Zeke was the world’s
foremost expert on the place, in fact.  He’d written his dissertation on it.  “And
because you don’t really have much of a choice.  If I’m right, it’s the only
safe place on the planet.  There aren’t any humans in the city, so there won’t
be any
zombies
there.  See how nicely that works out for us?”

Joseff
considered that.  “Even if it’s real, can you
find
it?”

“I
have a map.  Kind of.”  He’d gotten his hands on it right before that fateful
poker game.  Zeke had planned to follow it and see Iasia for himself, but he’d
been gotten distracted by a certain strawberry blonde.  Running TGW took
precedent over a trek to South America.  Treasure for treasure, Scotlyn was
worth so much more than a lost city.  “It’s in a metal box back at the golf
course.”

“Didn’t
occur to you to pack that, huh?”

“It’s
a long story.”  He
had
packed it, but then Scotlyn had dropped that damn
box.  He should’ve stressed how important it was.  “And, by the way, Caleb is
going to hate this idea.”  His pack-mate detested Zeke’s folklore research and
everything that went with it.  Getting Cale to Peru was going to take superior debate
skills and maybe some tranquiller.  “He doesn’t believe in Iasia.  Even
mentioning it gets him all pissy.”

“Don’t
oversell it.  I’m already convinced it’s a good plan.”

“You
sure you want to come along?  ‘Cause it wouldn’t break my heart if you stayed
here.  There’s no guarantee they’ll even let us in once we get there.  Not so
long as Scottie’s a human.”

“They’ll
let us in or we’ll kill them all.”  Joseff said with the proactive leadership
skills that had won him a throne.  “With or without Iasia, going to South
America beats staying here.”  He made a face.  “I never thought I’d see the day
I was desperate enough to listen to a shifter, though.”

“You’re
welcome.”

“Anyway,
first things first, I have a helicopter.  It seats five, plus the pilot.”  Joseff
met Zeke’s gaze.  “We need to figure out who gets left behind.”

Zeke
stared at him.

“I
won’t ask Darcy to make the call.”  Joseff continued.  “I’m not sure Caleb
can.  But, most of your pack will have to stay here, because there’s no other
option.”

Zeke
closed his eyes.

“Here’s
how I see it.”  Joseff continued.  “We save our family.”

“
Our
family?”

“I
protect what belongs to my mate.”  Joseff shrugged.  “Now, Darcy and I will be
on that helicopter.  She loves you and Caleb the most, so that’s four.  Your
human is too valuable to leave behind and I doubt you would allow us to abandon
her, even if we wanted to.  So that’s five.  Everyone else stays.”  He arched a
brow.  “Agreed?”

“No
other vampires making the trip with us?”  Zeke asked, mainly just to stall.

“Darcy
wants her pack.”  Joseff said simply.  “I want Darcy.”

Zeke
weighed his options.

“There
isn’t another way.”  Joseff told him.  “We have to go
now
and the
helicopter is our best chance.  It’s not about leaving people to die.  It’s
about saving who we can.  It’s triage.  That’s the basis of your pack’s rule
about saving yourselves, isn’t it?”

“Cale
won’t see it that way.”  Zeke did, though.  He was a selfish guy.  If life and
death were being reduced to a numbers game, he knew which people
had
to
live.  “Caleb won’t get on a chopper if he knows we’re leaving the others
behind.  Even if you convince him it’s the only way, he’ll just give up his
seat.”

“Which
is why I’m talking to
you
.  They think you’re the illogical one, but you’ve
always seen things clearer than Caleb.”

“I
know.  He’s a White Hat.”

Joseff
lifted a shoulder.  “Exactly.  My vote:  We don’t tell Cale about our plan until
it’s too late.  Darcy wants him along and he’ll be a pain-in-the-ass to hogtie. 
So, we’ll need to trick him into coming.”

“Caleb
will never forgive that.”

“I
don’t care.”  Joseff scoffed.  “I doubt you do either.  Truly, is there anyone in
the pack that you and Darcy would save over Caleb?”

Zeke
looked up towards the ceiling.  “No.”

All
together, the others weren’t even worth a fraction of Cale.  None of them had
his loyalty or heart or capacity for good.  But, Caleb would
never
choose his own life over one of theirs.  Zeke knew that beyond a shadow of a
doubt.  Part of what
made
Cale such a White Hat was his inability to
follow pack law and leave people behind.  Doing this would piss Caleb off
forever and directly contradict everything he’d want.

So
how far was Zeke willing to go to keep Caleb alive?

It
turned out, pretty damn far.

Zeke
was the Black Hat of the family and he was okay with that.  “We save Caleb.” 
He decided.  “No matter what it takes.”

Joseff
nodded as if he’d expected nothing less.  The guy was a prick, but there were
worse vampires to have on your side during an apocalypse.  Especially, given
the whole “unconquered” thing.  “Good.  We’re agreed, then?”

“Agreed.”

“I
thought you’d see it my way.  Dreamer or not, you always were the smartest of
your kind.  Though, admittedly, it isn’t a high bar.”  He handed Zeke a
walkie-talkie.  “Phones are down, but these still work.  Now, we need to get
everyone up on the roof and…”

An
explosion rocked the building.

Joseff
staggered, trying to keep his balance as decorative maps of the Thirteen
Colonies fell from the walls.  Zeke reached out to grab the doorframe, even as
he instinctively turned to look through the hotel room and out the window. 
Smoke rose passed the glass.

“Aw,
fuck.”  He had no idea what had just blown-up, but it had been big.  That meant
the barriers might be breeched.  And that meant the zombies could get in.  And
that meant the casino was no longer safe.

They
had to get the hell out of Dodge.

“Fuck.” 
Joseff agreed.

Below
they could see Fremont Street descending into panic.  People were running in
every direction; screaming and pushing and trying to escape this newest
calamity.

Whatever
it was.

“The
key to being unconquered is knowing when a situation is untenable.”  Joseff
lifted a hand to the side of his head like his ears were ringing even louder
than Zeke’s.  “Darcy’s in the suite down the hall.  Get her and the human to
the roof.  I’ll find Caleb.  We’re leaving.”

Zeke
frowned, not trusting him to follow through on his part.  “
I’ll
go get
Cale.”  Joseff would die to protect Darcy and he needed Scotlyn, but Caleb…

“I
can’t risk that.”  Joseff said flatly.  “You’re too important to Darcy.”

“I
don’t think
anyone
is as important to her as you are.”  Having found a
mate himself, Zeke knew the intensity of the feelings all too well.  “If you
die, I will never hear the end of it.”

Joseff
gave an unconvinced snort.  “Wait ten minutes.  If I don’t show up with Caleb,
leave without us.”  He headed down the hall, before Zeke could stop him.  “And
if anything happens to Darcy while I’m gone, you’d better pray I
don’t
come back.”

Zeke
rolled his eyes, hating this plan.

“Zeke?” 
Scotlyn sat up in bed, brushing her hair back from her face.  “What’s
happening?”

“Shit’s
blowing up.”  He glanced over at her and was hit full force with her tousled
beauty.  Good to know that even in the midst of disaster he could get a hard-on
just from looking at her.  “We gotta go, Trix.  Now.”

Scotlyn
didn’t need to be told twice.

While
she grabbed for her shoes, Zeke headed over to collect Pucci from a star
spangled ottoman.  As far as he could tell, Scotlyn’s “baby” existed simply to
sleep, eat, and hate everyone.  It hissed at him as he drew near, swatting him
away.  Glowing yellow eyes narrowed with feline malevolence, gray fur puffing
up in preparation for a cat attack.

Zeke
hesitated.  “Are you sure we can’t leave this thing here?”

Pucci
was thousand times more evil than any zombie.

“Don’t
say that!”  Scotlyn chided.  “She might think you’re serious.”

“I
am serious.  That cat’s a menace. 
You
put in its cage, because it’s gonna
take off my arm if I try.”

“Maybe
she senses your wolf side.  Pucci is very sensitive to…”  She trailed off, all her
attention suddenly riveted on the dark tribal design encircling the skin of her
wrist.

Uh-oh.

Zeke
had hoped she wouldn’t notice that for a while.  It was identical to Zeke and
Caleb’s markings.  A twisting band of angles and swirls that only meant
something if you
knew
it meant something.  To humans, it just looked
like a tattoo.  About three inches wide, the edges of the design reached the
back of her palm.  Scotlyn automatically tried to rub at it, but it stayed in
place.

Yeah…
she wasn’t going to like this part.  That mark wasn’t going anywhere.

Ever.

Zeke
braced himself.

Scotlyn’s
eyes slowly rose to his.  “What is this?”

“What’s
what?”  He asked innocently, but he started edging towards the hall.

“
This.
” 
Scotlyn held up her hand and pointed to the marking.  “Did you put this on me?”

“Technically,
no.”

“Then
who did?”

His
gaze hunted around on the floor, hoping the Betsy Ross striped carpet might
hold the answer.  “God?”  He finally guessed.

“God?” 
She repeated skeptically.

“Yeah.” 
Now that he’d said it, Zeke realized it was true.  Of
course
God brought
mates together.  What other explanation was there?

“Have
you been hitting the minibar?”  Scotlyn demanded.