Love in the Time of Zombies (20 page)

“No! 
What, you don’t believe in God?”

“Given
the past few days, let’s just say I’m having a crisis of faith.”

Zeke
frowned.  “You shouldn’t.  Not about this.”  She needed to understand that the
marking was holy.  Without meaning to, he said too much in his effort to
convince her.  “God controls the ritual and He put that mark on you to…”

“
Ritual? 
What ritual?”

Zeke’s
eyes widened, realizing he’d just screwed-up. 
Shit
.  “Uh… ritual?”  He shrugged
expansively like he had no idea who had brought up this whole “ritual” thing.”

He’d
mated with Scotlyn, but, for her, it wasn’t a real bond.  She didn’t understand
the significance of the ritual, because humans got
married
.  That was
their ritual… And Zeke wasn’t the kind of man nice girls chose for a husband.  No
way was he telling Scottie anything more than he had to.  What if she tried to
leave him?

He
needed her.

Green
eyes narrowed.  “Zeke…”

“Let’s
talk about it later, okay, baby?”  He headed towards the door.  “Right now we
have to get to the roof.  Joseff’s got a helicopter up there, which is good
because I think the building might be on fire.”  The smell of smoke was growing
stronger.

That
news got her refocused.  “Wait, what about Darcy and Caleb?”

“We’re
getting Darce.  Joseff’s getting Cale.”

“The
vampire who kidnapped us?  Is that a good idea?”

“Nope.” 
Zeke said grimly.  “But it’s the only one we’ve got.”

Scotlyn
gave up arguing.  “Alright.”  She hurried over to scoop up her cat.  “Just let
me pack up Pucci.  She really doesn’t like her pet carrier.”

That
was an understatement.

The
hell beast let out a yowl of rage and terror as Scotlyn tried to lower it into
the padded box.  It slashed out its talons, unwilling to return to its pink
prison.  Scotlyn gave a cry of panic as Pucci struggled free and made a crazed
dash for the open door.  It darted between Zeke’s legs and out into the hall,
vanishing into the maze of hallways and rooms and monsters.

“
NO!
” 
Scotlyn chased after it.  “Pucci, come back!”

Zeke
squeezed his eyes shut.  “Aw… fuck.”

***

Joseff
stalked into the buffet and grabbed Caleb’s arm.  “We’re leaving.”  The shifter
was still cuffed, mostly because Joseff didn’t like him.  More than the others,
Cale was apt to cause him trouble.  Joseff
knew
the kid helped Darcy
hide from him and it pissed him off.  “Move.”  He hustled the younger man
towards the door.

Christ,
the lengths Joseff would go to for his mate grew more and more absurd.  Annoying
or not, though, he
had
to protect Caleb.  If he didn’t, Joseff would
lose even his tentative hold on Darcy.  She’d never forgive him if either of
her brothers died.  In his mind, he could so easily imagine perfect topaz eyes
looking up at him in disgust and betrayal.  He’d sooner face the zombies.

“Where
the fuck are you going?”  Brewer complained.  He was the only other pack member
in the room and appeared to be working his way through a vat of snow crab
legs.  “
Outside
where shit it exploding?”

Caleb
shook off Joseff’s hold.  The iron handcuffs had about six inches of slack in
the chain.  “Fuck you.  I’m not going
anyplace
, vampire.”  Lavender eyes
narrowed wrathfully.  “Where’s the rest of my pack?”

Joseff
had no idea.

The
casino was huge and he hadn’t exactly been keeping a close eye on them.  Mostly
they’d been bait and, once he had Darcy, they ceased to matter.  “They
escaped.”  He said without missing a beat.  For all he knew, it was true.  The
pack did have that noble “save yourself” rule, after all.  They might have
hightailed it to Reno, by now.

…Or
they might have been eaten.

“All
of them escaped?”  Caleb looked suspicious.

Joseff
shrugged.  “They’re a very crafty group.”

Brewer
squinted doubtfully, adjusting the brim of his trucker hat.  “They are?”

“For
shifters.”  It pained Joseff to give them even
that
much fake-credit,
but he tried to look sincere.

“Well,
at least they’re working together for once.”  Caleb decided.  He didn’t seem
surprised that they’d leave him behind.  The pack really was useless.  Still,
he hesitated before he asked, “Zeke get away, too?”

“Sadly,
no.  Ezekiel is upstairs.  He’s not going anywhere with you.”

Caleb
almost smiled at the news that Zeke hadn’t abandoned him.  “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” 
Joseff seized hold of him, again.  “Apparently, he’s forgotten that pack rule
about dumping anyone who slows you down.  He’s very insistent on you joining
him immediately.”

Now,
Caleb
was
surprised.  “He is?”  He frowned like couldn’t imagine Zeke caring. 
“Why?”

“Well,
we’re in a very tall building that’s possibly on fire and is probably being
infiltrated by zombies.”  Joseff pointed out with exaggerated patience.  “We
think it
might
be a good idea to evacuate.”

Caleb
was still distrustful as Joseff dragged him along.  “How did your men let the
pack escape?”  He asked, not giving up.

“My
men are idiots.  That’s how.”

“I
know they’re idiots, but so’s the pack.”  He deliberately dug his feet in,
slowing the process.  “How do I know they really got away?”

Joseff
played the odds.  This was a casino, after all.  Besides, he’d devoted far too
much of his life learning the idiosyncrasies of the shifters to not understand
Caleb’s thought process.  “Look, I don’t know where your pack is.  That’s the
truth.  But, I
do
know that Zeke and Darcy are upstairs waiting for us.”

Caleb’s
eyes narrowed.

“
They’re
the ones you just risked your life to find during the zombie attack.”  Joseff
continued relentlessly.  “
They’re
the ones you love most. 
They’re
the ones who need you.  And
they’re
the ones who aren’t going to leave
here unless you come, too.”

“They
will
leave if…”

“They
won’t.
”  Joseff interrupted.  “Believe me, I’ve tried to convince them.  Now,
even someone with your single digit IQ should see the upside in getting Zeke
and Darcy to safety and
then
worry about the others.  They’re your
younger siblings.  We both know it.”

Caleb’s
lips pressed together in frustration.

“It’s
a simple yes or no,” Joseff persisted, “do you want to come with me and protect
our family… or not?”

Caleb
closed his eyes.  “Son-of-a-
bitch
.”

Taking
that as a yes, Joseff shoved him forward.  “A wise choice.  Now, stop whining
and let’s get out of here, alright?”

Not
even Caleb could argue with that.

Brewer
could, though.

“Sun’s
still out.”  To Joseff’s extreme annoyance, Brew followed them out of the
restaurant and down the hall.  “Whatcha planning to do, vampire?  Run real fast
until night falls?”

God,
how he hated the shifters.

“Do
you really think I’d be in this building without a contingency plan?”  Joseff
didn’t get out of bed in the morning without a contingency plan.  He
automatically headed for the elevator.  His thumb pressed the “up” button a
second before he remembered that no more lifts would be in service for a very,
very long time.

Damn.

He
could already tell it would be decades before he stopped missing electricity.

Caleb
sent him a bland look.  “Wanna wait for the next one?”

Joseff’s
jaw ticked.  “Move.”  He turned and propelled the boy towards the stairs.

“Darcy’s
gonna be pissed if you deep fry yourself in the daylight.”  Brew said casually
following along.  “Girl owns your ugly ass.”

Joseff
glanced at him from the corner of his eye.  Such a
shame
there wasn’t
room for that bastard on the helicopter.  It would just be heartbreaking when
he had to pitch Brew off the roof.  “You know
nothing
about…”

“Know
you bit her.”  Brew interrupted.  “That makes you
hers
, doesn’t it? 
It’s basically a vampire handing a chick his balls.”

“She
told you I bit her?”  Had she been mocking him?  Joseff’s stomach sank.

“She
didn’t have to
tell
us.”  Caleb snorted.  “Her scent is all over you.”

It
was?  Oh.  Joseff found he liked that idea.  A lot.

The
stairwells were crowded with people from the upper floors rushing down and
people from the lower floors rushing up.  Joseff shoved through the panicked
members of every species imaginable, heading upward.

“Just
so you know, you hurt Darce, and Z and I will turn you into zombie-chow.” 
Caleb told him, raising his voice over the din.

“I
already heard that speech.”  Joseff assured him.  “Luckily, what’s between
Darcy and me is between
Darcy and me
.”

“Every
ball-less guy in the world has got a story,” Brew jeered, “but yours just might
be the saddest.  When you drank from Darcy, you became
her
mate without
ever stopping to make sure she would bite you
back
.  Pretty damn stupid
if you ask me.”

“
Did
I ask you?”  Joseff didn’t have time for their snarking.

Liberty
Hall Casino had been an ark in the middle of the zombie flood and they’d
definitely sprung a leak.  Anarchy reigned.  Joseff nearly snapped a warlock’s
neck and slammed a rock monster into the wall as he struggled to get Caleb to
safety.  Luckily, most people knew to stay out of his way, more afraid of Joseff
than the zombies.

Brew
tripped a passing gargoyle for no reason that Joseff could possible fathom. 
“Whatever’s happening, it sure has spooked the herd.”

Joseff
was thinking the same thing.  Wanting more information, he grabbed hold of a
semi-intelligent looking blue reptile from a genus he didn’t recognize.  “What exploded
outside?”

“It
was some kind of truck bomb.  It took out half the Golden Nugget.”  The guy’s
opalescent eyes were frantic.  “They must have set it off so they could get
in.”

“The
zombies set a bomb?”  Joseff highly doubted that.  He’d had his men capture one
at the beginning of the outbreak, just to experiment with what they were up
against.  The creatures weren’t strategic thinkers.  They just wanted to devour
and kill.

“No,
not the zombies!  The things in white!”  The blue guy dashed away, clawing his
way up the steps.  “Don’t go out there!”

Joseff’s
mind did a quick database search of white creatures.

Ghosts? 
The yeti?  That damn thing wasn’t real, was it?  A few days before he hadn’t
thought zombies were real either, so Joseff wasn’t a hundred percent on
anything.

“Only
humans do shit like truck bombs.”  Caleb said flatly.  “Maybe Scotlyn’s not the
last of her kind, after all.”  He met Joseff’s eyes.  “Get me out of these
cuffs and let’s go see what the hell is happening down there.”

That
wasn’t a bad idea, especially if humans
were
roaming around.  Joseff weighed
the value of new blood sources against Caleb’s safety.  Sadly, starvation
barely registered on the scale compared to protecting Darcy’s brother.  “We’re
going
up
.”

“To
the roof?”  Brewer guessed.  “You planning to jump?”

“I’m
planning to use my helicopter.”  Automatic gunfire sounded from the floors
below and Joseff sighed.  “That’s definitely humans.”

“I
thought we finally got rid of those fuckers.”  Brewer complained.

Caleb
was already focused on fighting back.  “Undo the cuffs.”

“I
don’t have the key.”  One of Joseff’s men did and God only knew if whoever-it-was
was even alive, anymore.  Swearing in three dead languages, he looked down the
stairwell.

Twenty
floors below, he could see things in white climbing the steps.  Every being
they encountered was mowed down in a hail of bullets.  It was a slaughterhouse
within the tight confines.  No one was going to leave the stairwell alive.

“God
damn
it.”  Caleb seethed.  “Get me
out
of these cuffs.”

“I
can’t.”  Joseff shoved the boy ahead of him and then grabbed for Brewer, too.  For
better or worse, that bearded idiot belonged to Darcy.  “Move.”

“
Joseff!
”

He
looked up and saw Darcy leaning over the balcony a dozen floors up.  “Get to
the roof!”  He bellowed.  Jesus, was it really that difficult to understand the
plan?  “Where’s Zeke?  He’s supposed to be with you.”

“He
is.  Kinda.  We split up to look for Pucci.”

The
word held no meaning for him.  “What?”