Servicing the Undead (4 page)

He touched her face, pulling it back toward him. He kissed
her again, lightly, just a whisper of lips, then gently turned her toward the
window.

She let go of him, took one step back then another toward
the window. “I’m leaving because I want to,” she said, raking over his naked
body with her careful gaze.

He nodded as he gradually slid off the sink. “I know,” he
replied, rubbing the pain out of the backs of his legs.

“Hayden?”

It was Rachelle, the soft pad of her feet getting louder as
she approached the closed bathroom door.

Mattie slide silently to the window, moving without taking
her gaze from his bare skin.

Hayden turned on the faucet and spoke loudly over the rush
of the water. “I’ll be right there.”

“You okay?” Rachelle called from the hallway. “Everything’s
okay?” She was right on the other side of the door.

“I said I’ll be right there. Go back to bed where you
belong.”

He heard her laugh, a husky warm sound. “Okay, all right, I
get it,” she called, her voice growing distant as she headed to the bedroom.
“But you don’t have to be so bossy about it.”

“You like me bossy,” he yelled, forcing lightness into his
voice.

Mattie was pushing the sash of the window all the way up,
looking out into the endless storm. Once the opening was wide enough for her to
climb through, she sat on the ledge and swung her legs over. She turned and
looked at him from over her shoulder. “You’ll see me again soon. You know that,
right?”

He nodded and looked away, staring into at the swirling
steam rising up from the sink. When he finally lifted his head, she was gone,
and the window had been pulled shut. Silently. Except for the evil electricity
coursing through his body, it was as though she had never been there.

Hayden grabbed a towel from the rack and set it in the sink.
Hot water splashed into, soaking it quickly. Once it was completely wet, he
turned off the water and wrung it out. Once he was sure the towel wasn’t
dripping wet, he wrapped it into another towel and carried them both to the
bedroom. Rachelle was under the covers, only her face visible above the quilt.
The sexual haze was gone from her eyes, and she was smiling.

Weighed down by the guilt over what he’d gotten her in to,
Hayden climbed onto the bed and pulled the covers from her body. She was still
naked, and the firm outline of her muscular body was outlined by the shadowy
light coming in through the now-vacant window.

“See something you like?” she asked.

Hayden took the hot, wet towel from inside the dry one. “I
like it so much I want to take good care of it.”

“I thought you already did.”

Hayden turned his face away and pressed the corner of the
steaming, damp towel of the top of the arch of her foot. “Is it too warm?”

She stretched her legs and placed her feet side by side.
“You may proceed.”

Hayden was thankful for something to do and he took his
time, working his way gradually up the insides of her thighs, then circling
around her pelvis. By the time he wiped the moisture off with the dry towel,
she’d fallen asleep. He tossed both towels across his laundry basket and
climbed in beside her. Outside, the wind-filled snow continued to howl. The
whisper of it brushed the windowpane.

Hayden rolled over and tried to concentrate on the curves of
Rachelle’s shoulders and the sexy slope of her neck. How much of that sex would
she remember? He himself didn’t remember all of it, but he did know that he’d
lost control. Thank God he hadn’t hurt her. But what about next time? He set
his hand on Rachelle’s throat and felt the light, steady beat of her pulse, and
considered the question again.

What about next time?

He couldn’t do that again. He had to get rid of Mattie. He
rolled over, trying not to think about what she’d done to him in the
bathroom—lifting him up and setting him on the edge of the sink. Owning him
with her emotionless caress. His cock responding to her touch—even when he didn’t
want it to. A shiver worked up from the soles of his feet, the electric tremor,
a mixture of fear and sexual need. It wasn’t right to feel this way. It wasn’t
human, and there wasn’t anyone alive who could help him.

Unless someone else had been where he’d been and knew what
he needed to know.

He wasn’t Mattie’s first. He did his best to quell the roll
in his stomach as he accepted what he’d become. A toy. A necessary pet. A
sexual servant.

What had become of the others who filled the role before
him?

Killed? Or worse, did they become like her, a creature that
preyed on others?

If she hadn’t come in through the library window when she
had, interrupting the research he’d been doing for the newspaper, maybe he’d
have the answers. He’d know what to do to protect himself or at least how to
keep Rachelle safe. Hayden tossed again, turning away from the storm and the
thing that lurked in it.

No, not thing.

Things.

“You’ve had enough when I say you’ve had enough.”

“It’s fantastic stuff. We have to use it. We’re going to use
it. And you’re going to get more of it, kid.”

Hayden cringed. He hatred it when Bob Keeler called him
kid
.
Holding the phone to his ear, he hopped off the curb and leapt over a snowbank.
He offered his reply as he stomped across the nearly empty street. “This whole
zombie thing is going to blow over in a day or two. The snow will melt, the
comic convention will end, and everyone will get back to their life and forget
about zombie tribes and life-or-death sex.”

“Life-or-death sex. I love it! Write that down, use it for
the next headline.”

Hayden reached the corner and jumped over another pile of
snow. “There doesn’t have to be another headline.”

“What’s your problem, college boy? You too good for
zombies?”

Hayden did plan to do more research, but not for Bob. For
himself, and without Mattie knowing. Knowing she could be listening in on the
conversation, he replied, “That’s not it and you know it.”

“What’s the problem then? This is the best angle we’ve had
in months and you know it. Get your ass back over to the library right now, or
wherever you dug that stuff up, and write me something hot about that
life-or-death sex. And more pictures. I want more of those.”

Hayden wasn’t about to say anything about the pictures.

Bob, his usual determined self, wasn’t about to give up.
“Hayden, you do this for me, and I’ll do something for you.”

Hayden stopped walking and held the phone close to his ear.
He’d never heard that sort of thing come out of Keeler’s mouth. The guy never
offered to do anything for anyone. There was more to this zombie thing than
selling papers. “It’s getting late. How about I look into it tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow! Tomorrow?”

Even though the man was barking into the phone, Hayden could
tell he was backing off because he thought he was going to get what he wanted,
so he spoke up with a lie. “Yeah, I’m all the way over in Cambridge. I spent
six hours with that widow you set me up with. I got some scandalous stuff. Some
papers that prove she’s the long-lost daughter of Punchy McLaughlin. You’ll
love it.”

“All right. Fine. That does sound choice. But I want you
back on the zombie sex stuff first thing in the morning. Don’t even come in to
the office. Just get your ass out of bed and then go get me something hot. And
fresh. You know I want it fresh.”

“Yeah. I know.” After Bob grunted a goodbye, Hayden ended
the call but didn’t slide his phone into his pocket. One more call.

Hayden started walking again, making a mental list of the
things he wanted from Keeler. Money. A better desk. And access to the man’s
connections. Even though he ran a tabloid, Keeler knew all the top editors at
the
Globe
and a few at the
New York Times
. An introduction to a
couple of them, now that was something Hayden was willing to take risks for.

The streets were amazingly clear and the snow had stopped
that morning, but the going was slow because the plows had left uneven heaps
capped with chunks of ice at odd intervals. Once he was a block from his
apartment, he stopped and leaned on a low wall sheltering some steps. He hit
Rachelle’s number.

She answered on the first ring.

He mumbled through a greeting and asked her how her day was.
Her reply was the usual, but her voice was off. Wrong. Maybe he was being
paranoid.

“Are you okay? Is something going on?”

“Going on?” She laughed, and then added, “What would be
going on?”

Standing there on Commonwealth, with the sun slicing through
the clouds and shining across the snowbanks, it was hard to believe that
anything could be wrong. But it could. He tried again. “You just sound…different.”

Her laugh lowered, the husky sound nearly made his phone
vibrate. “I have you to thank for that.”

“So everything’s okay?”

“Stop with that already. When will you be home?”

“Pretty soon actually.” He watched a delivery van from
Cindy’s Market drive past, another lie forming in his mind as he started to
speak. “I’m expecting a package. You didn’t happen to see anyone hanging around
out front or knocking on the door or anything like that, did you?”

Her reply came quickly. “No. Hurry up and get home.”

Hayden kicked a clump of snow. It rolled a few inches then
hit another. There was so much snow. It was everywhere, piled high and stacked
in corners. There was no escaping it. “Okay, I will, but I have to write up an
interview and do some other stuff.”

“Other stuff, huh?” she said, laughing. “That sounds really
important.”

He couldn’t tell her the truth.

Rachelle ignored his silence. “Come over to my place as soon
as you get home.”

Hayden clicked off and slipped his phone into his pocket.
Overheard, the sun slid behind a cloud and the street dimmed. Off to the west,
a new bank of clouds hung in the sky, the edges an ashy gray, the centers dark.
More snow. A lot more snow. A blue pickup passed, its tires making a hushed
rumble as it turned away and headed toward the river. A yellow Brookline Cab
Company van sat at the corner, its light on, a stream of exhaust chugging out
from the back. The thin trail of the cabbie’s cigarette dangling out the open
driver’s side window spiraled up toward the darkening sky. The cabbie turned,
catching Hayden’s gaze as he took a long draw on the cigarette. The man didn’t
look away as he flicked the butt out onto the street. The window went up and
the van rumbled off.

Hayden pushed away from the wall and started walking. He
reached his place, jogged up the steps, and swung open the door. Still no sign
of Mattie. But Hayden wasn’t dumb enough to think she wasn’t around. He could
sense her, feel her deep inside his body, thrumming through his veins. She
would show up, and there was nothing he could do to avoid it. The best he could
hope for was to be ready, brace himself for her effect on him and keep Rachelle
away from her.

The hallway was quiet and empty.

Once he reached the top landing, he paused to slide his feet
out of his snow-covered boots and set them by the wall. He dug out his keys and
reached forward to put the key in the lock, but Rachelle pulled the door open
just enough for him to see the outline of her body. No fur coat this time,
instead she was wearing a ratty Boston College sweatshirt, jeans and red wool
socks.

“Surprise! I couldn’t stand waiting for you, so I came
over!”

That look in her eyes. Glittering. Excited. Curious. It was
so much like last night, he shivered.

She swung the door open and then grabbed his arm and pulled
him in. He stumbled in, his stocking feet sliding on the wood floors.

“Hey there, Hayden.” Mattie. Sitting on his couch and acting
as if being there in the middle of his life was the most normal thing in the
world. “Wipe that look off your face. I didn’t break in or anything like that.
Your girlfriend found me sitting on the steps, waiting for you. She’s a
sweetie, so she let me in.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were still working on the zombie
stuff?” Rachelle swept around the room to stand next to the couch, two feet
away from Mattie. “It sounds awesome.”

“I—I—” He didn’t what to stay next.

Mattie leaned back, arching her back as she crossed her long
legs. Her red-wrapped breasts were visible beneath a smooth black leather
jacket. “Did Bob tell you to keep it a secret?” she asked.

Hayden turned away from them both, using the time it took to
set down his book bag and take off his coat to get his face together.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell Rachelle about our
research,” Mattie said, her voice sounding strangely normal.

“
Our
research?” he said, words coming before he had a
chance to consider the safest way to respond.

Rachelle came around to Hayden’s side. “Mattie told me a bit
about it, it’s, it’s—”

“Sexy,” Mattie cut in, stretching out the word with a low
husky growl.

Rachelle laughed, but it was a nervous laugh, unsure. “That
too. I was going to say, kind of creepy.” She glanced at Mattie. “But in a fun
way.”

Hayden dropped into the chair across from the couch. “Creepy
but fun?”

Rachelle pulled on the hem of her sweatshirt.

Rachelle and Mattie exchanged smiles. Hayden’s stomach
clenched.

Hayden’s patience snapped. Or maybe it was his fear fighting
its way to the surface. “Mattie, what are you doing here anyway?”

She pointed at Hayden. “I came to tell you something you
really want to know and show you something you really want to see.”

“What?”

“I was just about to tell Rachelle, so now I can tell you
both at the same time.” Mattie grabbed one of the belt loops of Rachelle’s
jeans and tugged her down onto the couch. Rachelle landed right next to Mattie.
That same nervous laugh drifted up from her throat and the tension in Hayden’s
gut reached a new level. And the guilt. It was so heavy on him now there was no
avoiding it. He’d done this to Rachelle.

Mattie turned so only he could see the green glimmer in her
eyes. “Don’t ruin this, Hayden. Rachelle is going to love it. I just met her
and already I know she’s just going to love it.” Mattie snuggled into Rachelle.
“I found one of those zombie tribes you were telling me about. Well, actually I
didn’t find it, so I haven’t seen it yet, but someone I know—and trust—told me
about it. He saw it.”

Hayden lifted an eyebrow.

Mattie dug into her coat pocket and pulled out a wadded-up
sheet of brown paper that looked like a piece of a brown grocery bag. She
flattened it with her palm. “This is a map a guy named Matthew gave me.”

Hayden looked over at the scribbled lines. The thing could
have been drawn by a middle-school kid.

“Let me guess. You actually believe there’s something there
and you think we should go look at it.”

Mattie ignored Hayden and turned to Rachelle instead. “I
know there’s something there.” She put the map in Rachelle’s hands. “Could it
actually be a tribe? Who knows? But how could we not go take a look?”

Rachelle lifted the map, her eyebrows twisting as she looked
it over.

“Rachelle? Do you actually think there’s a tribe of zombies
camped out around here?” Hayden tried to inflect as much disbelief into his
voice as he could. “That’s ridiculous.”

“It sounds fun, Hayden. Let’s go check it out.” She ran her
fingertips along the paper’s edge.

“You want to go look for zombies? Seriously?”

“I know there’s no such thing as zombies, but the map looks
cool, let’s go see where it takes us.” She handed the map to Mattie. “Maybe
it’s a bunch of people pretending to be zombies, that’d be great for you. You
could take more pictures. Bob would love that, right?”

Yes, he would.

Hayden scrambled for a reason not to go. “What about the
roads?”

Mattie waved her hands. “They’re fine. I got here, didn’t
I?”

“We’ll take your car, Hayden. That’s why you have four-wheel
drive, to do this sort of important investigative journalism. Right?”
Rachelle’s phone chirped and she took it from her purse as she added, “It’ll be
part of the adventure.”

Hayden stood up. “I need something to drink.”

“Put a kettle on,” Mattie called after him. “We can take
some tea on the drive.”

Hayden didn’t respond. Instead he kept walking to the small
kitchen and headed straight for his bourbon. He didn’t bother with a glass.
Three swallows later, Mattie came up beside him and whispered into his ear.

“You know we’re going.” She slipped over to the stove,
picked up the kettle, shook it, and then moved to the sink.

Hayden took another swig and then put the bottle away.

She was leaning on the counter and staring at him. Hayden
stared back, trying to remember how he’d gotten her to leave the bathroom. She
pushed her coat open, and Hayden’s gaze went straight to her breasts, partially
exposed by the strips of red wool. When he looked up, her gaze was on his
crotch. Rachelle’s voice carried from the other room.

“Like I said before,” she said softly, “we’re done when I
say we’re done.”

“What happens when we’re done? To me?”

“If I were you, I guess I’d want to know that too.”

“So tell me.”

She leaned forward and whispered, “Well, you see, it kind of
depends.”

“On what?”

A flash of green glimmered in her eyes. Hayden winced.

“You know I’m not wearing any panties, right?” She smirked,
then leaned back and crossed her arms right underneath her breasts and shoved
them up.

Of course she wasn’t going to answer his question.
Bitch.

Hayden did his best to ignore her comment, but the image of
her bare pussy wouldn’t leave his mind. “Fine. Let’s go.” Hayden pulled his gaze
away from Mattie’s body and turned to call out to Rachelle. “You sure you want
to do this?” he asked, even though he already knew her answer.

The thud of her stocking feet was immediate. She held her
hand over her phone. “What, are you kidding? Of course.”

Mattie had dropped her arms and was standing casually with
her coat pulled closed. “Do you have some boots? A heavy coat? It’s going to be
really cold and I think we have to walk through some woods.”

Rachelle nodded as she spun, the sound of her feet her
response.

As soon as the door slammed shut, Mattie’s coat was on the
floor, and she was on him, grabbing at his belt. Hayden tried to push her away,
but even as he did, his dick was getting hard and his blood was starting to
burn through his veins. She shoved his pants and briefs down. Once her hand
curved around his shaft, she leaned against him and murmured, “If you hurry,
she won’t have to walk in on us.”

Hayden took the kettle off. “Turn around.”