Chapter 19

The last one in let loose a whistle so piercing, it echoed. As she turned toward him, Nick recognized Tabitha decked out in pants so tight he was sure they were illegal in some states.

Probably this one.

She looked up at Bubba. "We need supplies, B. Lots and lots of supplies."

Bubba scowled. "Why? What's going on?"

"Who let loose the zombies?" one of the guys asked.

"Yeah, and they don't move slow," another inserted. "They're like super zombie mutants on speed."

The tallest of the guys pointed to his swollen and red eye.

"They look like a rival football team that I swear we played a couple of weeks back. Which is how I got the black eye. I was trying to keep Tabitha from committing murder."

Madaug moved past Nick, his mouth hanging open. "Eric? Is that you?"

The one holding his eye turned with a stern frown. His black hair was teased to stand out all over his head like Rob Smith from the Cure. He wore even more makeup than Tabitha, which included black lipstick, guyliner, and black blush. Even his fingernails were painted black. A color that swathed him from head to toe. "What's my kid brother doing here?"

"Mazel tov, Eric!" Bubba slapped him on the back so hard he staggered. "Your brother is the one who gave us the zombies."

Eric's face was a mask of disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me. Madaug?" Eric turned on his brother then. "What the he—you doing? Mom and Dad are going to ground you for life."

"I know," Madaug said wistfully. "I'm trying to undo it. But..." He shook his head as if he'd had a thought and was banishing it. "Never mind. You're worthless. You haven't passed a science test since fourth grade."

Eric shoved him.

Madaug pushed back. "Don't start with me, you cross-dressing freak. I can't believe I share a common gene with you. I swear Mom and Dad found you at a rest stop."

"They found you in a toilet drain, jerk weed."

Tabitha separated them. "Quit, you two. Save your energy for killing what's important. The undead."

Bubba rested the top of the ax against the floor. "Hang on a minute, and I can't believe I'm about to say this ... but since what we're dealing with is innocent kids Madaug messed with and a handful of really stupid adults who should have had a life other than playing video games, and you should consider that's coming from a gaming addict, we can't kill them." He passed a stern look to Tabitha. "These ain't the undead, Tabby. They're living, breathing morons and we have to save them."

Tabitha sighed in disgust. "I'd rather stake them all and let God sort them out."

"And I'd rather not go to jail for the rest of my life," Eric said sternly. "No offense, but I know what they do to good-looking guys in prison and I'm way too cute to be resisted."

Mark snorted. "Pah-lease. Your worse problem what with that black lipstick and long hair is that they'll mistake you for a woman. I highly doubt they'd lock you up with the men dressed in thatgetup. More like you'd go in with the prostitutes. Hey... you know, lockup might not be so bad for you."

"ADD applicants," Bubba snapped, "can I have your attention for a minute. We need to get out there and find these people before they eat anyone else. Bring them here so we can try to undo what Madaug did."

Eric pursed his lips. "Where we going to put them? The tub?"

Bubba glowered at Eric before he went to the wall, pulled down a gun, and showed a hidden ...

Cell—one that was completely padded and with steel reinforcements and restraints hanging from the ceiling. Nick had never seen anything like that in his life.

Tabitha laughed. "Oh my God, Bubba has a sex dungeon!"

Bubba narrowed his glare on her. "You're too young to know about such things."

"Are you kidding? My aunt owns Pandora's Box on Bourbon Street. From the looks of those restraints, I think you went shopping there."

Bubba made a sound of deep aggravation as he glanced at Eric. "Can you muzzle her?"

"How you think I got the black eye? And for your information, she don't hit like a girl. She might be from an all-estrogen family, but some dude trained her well."

Mark arched one brow. "Looks like bad eyeliner to me. You sure you got hit by a girl?"

Bubba whistled. "And we've lost focus again, people. I swear it's like herding cats. For the next five minutes I want all of you to banish the sarcasm and focus. I know I'm asking for a miracle, but this is life and death. Okay?"

"Aight," they said in unison.

Bubba nodded at all of them. "We have got to protect the city. I want all of you out there patrolling for zombies. When you find them—"

"Stake them!" Tabitha pulled out one of her steel spikes to illustrate her words.

Bubba snatched it from her. "No. Get them to chase you back here, where Mark and I will be waiting to tranq them. Is everyone clear? No murder. No bloodshed."

Tabitha rolled her eyes. "What a waste of a good night."

Madaug was aghast as he looked at his older brother. "Do Mom and Dad know you're dating a homicidal lunatic?"

"No, and if you tell them, I'll superglue your fingertips to your keyboard."

A tic started in Madaug's jaw as his cheeks turned bright red. "Mom said if you ever do that again, she's going to shave your head while you sleep."

"Children!" Bubba shouted. "There are dangerous creatures out there. Let's go get them."

Madaug took a step for the door.

Bubba pulled him to a stop and forced him back toward the storeroom. "Not you. We need you to stay here and keep working on a cure."

Caleb looked at Nick. "You ready for this?"

Nick checked his watch. "Only for the next forty-five minutes. After that I get grounded."

"C'mon, Cinderella. Let's get started before you turn into a pumpkin." Caleb led him out of the store and down the street, toward their high school, which made sense since it was where all of this started.

And my worst fear this morning was being late. ...

Who knew he'd end up having to be afraid of having his brains ripped out and devoured?

Wonder if I should start carrying a chainsawto school? That wasn't listed on their anti-weapons list....

As they walked, his thoughts went to Madaug and his family. "Don't you think it's odd that Madaug's brother doesn't go to school with us?"

Caleb put his hands in his back pockets. "Probably too dumb to get in."

"You think?"

"Genetics doesn't always rule intellect. Believe me. I come from a long line of really stupid people. Scares me that I swim in their gene pool. Yet here I am, a hell of a lot smarter than they are."

Nick didn't even want to think about his gene pool for fear of the infection it might contain. He lived in constant terror that one day a switch would turn on in his head and make him the monster his father was. Every time he tried to talk to his mom about it, she told him he was ridiculous. And yet he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something inside him dying to get out. Something sinister, cold, and unfeeling.

"You have anysibs?" he asked Caleb, trying to distract himself from that line of thought.

"Not full-blooded. I really don't count the others. What about you?"

"No."

Caleb nodded. "So what does your dad do, Nick?"

"I don't talk about my dad." To anyone. Bubba and Mark were the only two who knew his dad was a felon. To the rest of the world, he never said anything. "He's not part of our lives and I want to keep it that way."

"I understand. Don't have much to do with mine either."

"Why not?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. But that's okay. That which doesn't kill us just requires a few centuries of therapy."

"Yeah, and usually a lot of Tylenol."

Caleb laughed. "Hey, I tell you what, if we spread out, we can cover more ground. Want to meet back up at the cathedral?"

"Sure."

"All right. I'll see you there."

Nick headed down the side street that would connect him to Bourbon, which was thronging with people who could be the next victims. Like you could tell the difference between a zombie and a drunk tourist?

That would be challenging. But if he were a zombie looking for business, that's where he'd head. And as he'd noted, they would blend in seamlessly there.

As he walked down the street, he noticed that the buzzing in the street lamps was getting louder. He slowed as he came even to the Lalaurie mansion—the most haunted and evilest place in all of New Orleans. If there was such a thing as a hell-mouth, this place stood on it. Ever since he was a kid, it'd given him the creeps. Tonight more so than normal.

A sudden wind whipped down the street, stirring his hair and raising a chill on his neck as a huge raven flew over his head to land on the upper wrought-iron balcony where it seemed to stare down at him.

/ knowl sound crazy, but I swear that bird is watching me.

It cocked its head. Yeah, that's eerie as all get out. Just like the building itself.

In that house, dozens of people had been brutally tortured and murdered in ways his mom wouldn't even talk about. Everyfamily who'd owned it since the Lalauries had reported seeing and hearing the ghosts of those who'd lost their lives to Delphine Lalaurie's psychotic cruelty. Something that had been so atrocious her own cook had set fire to the kitchen, trying to kill herself to escape the madwoman.

Even the seasoned firemen who were used to dealing with death and gore had vomited when they'd uncovered the mutilated victims Delphine had left behind.

Help me____

Nick turned around, trying to see who had spoken. It sounded like a child's voice.

I'm so scared. Why cant I see? Is anyone there?

"I'm here," Nick called. "Where are you?"

Disembodied laughter rang out. The light above him shattered.

Cursing, Nick jumped back as glass rained down on him.

He saw the shadow of a little girl by the side of the house. "Help me find my mommy. Please." She walked through a door that was ajar, into the small alcove that led to the interior garden.

"Wait!" Nick closed the distance between them, wanting to help her. He reached out to pull her to a stop. His hand passed right through her body. What the?

All of a sudden, she turned around and his gut shrank. Her face was scarred, her large eyes were nothing more than an eerie shadow.

Baring a set of fangs, she attacked.

Nick staggered back as the "little" girl grew to over six feet tall. Towering over him, she grabbed him by the shirt with hands made of talons and laughed in his face. "You should have done what your friends wanted you to, Gautier, and helped them rob and kill that couple. You made a big mistake by being nice. So long as you let your goodness weaken you, we can feed on you." She moved to bite his neck.

He kicked her back and sprinted for the street.

Just as he reached it, three more creatures appeared to block his way. They looked like men, but cold lightning danced in the sockets where their eyes should be. The courtyard's temperature instantly dropped twenty degrees to leave him shivering. Worse, these newcomers smelled like something that came out of the back end of the mules that pulled the carriages through the Quarter.

Dang, didn't they ever bathe?

The lead one tsked at him, flashing a set of sharp, jagged fangs. "Did you really think you could get away from us?" Yeah, he did....

Nick stepped back and looked for a way to get past them. They completely shielded him from the street. There was no way to reach it without coming into contact with them. And behind him was the closed-off courtyard.

Crap ...

"What do you want?" Nick asked, trying to think of a third option.

The girl grabbed him from behind. "We want to kill you." She sank her teeth into his neck.

Hissing, Nick slammed his good arm into her midsection. She released him enough that he was able to twist out of her arms and scramble away from her.

The other three came at him.

Where's an ax wien I need one?

Better yet, a rocket launcher.

The raven swooped down to land on his injured shoulder. The moment its talons touched him, something like electricity went through his body. It was so intense and painful that it sucked his breath out. For thirty seconds, everything seemed to stop. The wind, his attackers, the bird.

His heart.

When the world returned to normal, it came back with a rush that slammed into him so hard, he gasped. His senses sharper than they'd ever been before, he realized his arm was no longer injured.

Fight. The voice in his head sounded demonic.

From somewhere deep inside him, Nick felt a power rise up and radiate through his entire body. The bird launched itself back to the balcony to watch as the things attacked him.

Even though he knew they were moving at an inhumanly fast speed, he saw them as if they were in slow motion. It was like he was possessed by something else.

The first one struck.

Nick dodged the blow and returned it with one of his own. The creature staggered back. He spun to catch the next one with a head butt.

The third one screamed out in rage as he ran for Nick's back. Nick flipped him over and slung him to the street before he slammed his fist into his chest.

The female kicked him into the wall.

Nick turned around and blocked the punch she sent to his throat. Like something out of a movie, she punched him repeatedly and he countered every blow.