The Vampire's Consort (Undead in Brown County) (15 page)

There was no time to check on his condition.
One of the monsters had Victoria in its grip and was dragging her backwards, away from the rest of them. She screamed and the sound echoed through them all. The sound was cut off suddenly like a switch.

“We have to get to her,” Sarah hissed urgently.
The group had fanned themselves out in a defensive arrangement with their backs to each other.

None of them could have stopped what happened next.
A roar came rushing up from the bottom of the crevice then Jones came flying up. He landed in a low crouch and immediately dashed towards the shadows where Victoria had been taken. They heard his cry of mourning.

“
NO
!”

No one moved for a few seconds.
It seemed clear that they had lost Victoria, just based on the Captain’s reaction. Michael darted towards the sound. In a moment, the rest of the group knew they had lost one of their own.

Michael’s battle cry was deafening and thick with sorrow.

Jones came out of the shadows carrying Victoria’s body.
In her chest, there was a large hole where her heart had been ripped out. Her eyes were closed, her mouth slightly open. Michael strode out towards the group.

“We’re taking her out.
Sarah, come with me, please.”

At any other time, she might have protested.
But ,with Victoria dead, Sarah was very much aware of the agony Michael was suffering. She wasn’t about to make things worse. She hugged her sister.

“I love you.
Be careful.”

Alex nodded towards Michael.

“We’ll take care of them and be out as soon as we can.”

Kate watched them go and then looked at Alex. There was a fierce spark in her dark eyes. She felt something rise inside her that was dark and powerful. Her elegant long fingers curled into fists.

“It’s time to clean the fucking house.”

There wasn’t much room to hide. Alex found one of them near the cave exit and called to Kate.

“Over here.”

She moved stealthily, like a feline predator, across the rocky surface of the darkened plateau. She didn’t care if she had to use her bare hands to destroy the thing, but
it would die
.

They watched its furtive movements for a few moments.
It appeared to be nervous. It was moaning in a high, inhuman tone and tripping over rocks on the ground. It seemed unaware of their presence.

“Hey!”

Kate’s voice rang out with confident volume.
The thing stopped and looked over at her. It took one uncertain step forward and then another.

Alex glanced at Kate.

“You sure you got this?”

She didn’t take her eyes off the zombie.

“I was born for this.”

Hot, pulsating energy radiated from her skin. She felt a burning inside her gut and knew somehow that once she killed this thing, that burning sensation would be quenched. It would be filled.

The zombie
seemed to jerk towards her at first. She didn’t fall for its act. She’d already seen how fast and accurate these things could be. When it came within twenty feet of them, Kate leapt. It didn’t anticipate this move and Kate landed behind it. When it turned to confront her, she twisted her torso to the side and landed a ferocious kick to the creature’s head, which sent it reeling backwards towards Alex.

Alex saw and smelled Victoria’s blood on the
creature’s right hand.

“This is the one that took out Victoria,” he
said.

“You piece of shit!”

She vaulted onto its back and felt the odd sliding sensation of being skin
-to-skin with it. Hate in her rose suddenly. She grabbed its rotting shirt and stiffened her fingers to thrust them into the zombie’s chest. Inside, it was all gore. The stench nearly made her retch. Finally, she found the crusty thing inside that seemed to be its heart.

It fell when she yanked the heart out of it.
Kate fell with it, landing on her side. She shoved the horrible body away from her and threw the heart of it as far as she could towards the edge of the plateau.

Before she could turn to Alex, the other zombie had crept up on them.
Alex cut the thing in half with a flash of energy from his fingertips. It was down, but still moving. Kate stepped forward boldly and reached down to the thing’s chest. The torso was leaking black fluid that sizzled on the rock surface like an egg in a skillet.

She ripped out its heart and threw it in the same direction as the first.
Then she rose and looked at Alex with resolute black eyes.

“Are we done?”

He wasn’t sure what to make of this new Kate. There was a hard edge in her expression and a forlorn curve to her moist full lips. When he didn’t answer her question, she sighed and wiped her hands on her shorts.

“Taking out the heart seems to stop these freaks.
I don’t know why the heads stay alive though.”

Finally, Alex spoke.

“Are you okay?”

She hesitated when she saw the look on his face. This guy really cared about her. But he didn’t know everything that went on in her head. Victoria had seen something in her that was changing, but it was only a fraction of what was to come. She knew there would be more zombie battles for her.

And she wanted it.

Maybe I’m not okay
.

Vampires didn’t follow the custom of humans when it came to funerals. When one of their undead friends passed away, they generally burned the remains and then went into a solitary mourning period that could last from a few days to several decades.

The loss of Victoria was hard for each of them.
They tried to support Jones but he seemed unreachable in his grief. Only Michael was permitted to be near him at all. Jones wanted no other companion and he made that choice very clear to all of them. Even with Michael, he was closed off. Two days after Victoria’s death, Jones disappeared completely.

“You think he’ll come back?” Sarah asked
Michael as they were getting ready to leave the cabin.

“Not here.
But he’ll eventually seek me out,” Michael said quietly. “He needs to be alone for a while.”

Sam was bouncing up and down in front of their rental car, eager to be leaving this strange sad place.
Sarah smiled at her exuberance.

“I like the idea of staying at a lake house.
I’m sure we’ll find something great that will work for us all.”

“Where’s your sister?”

Sarah sighed and nodded towards the spot where Alex’s rental car had been parked.

“They left soon after you went to seal up the caves.
Alex said to tell you he’d be in touch. They’re taking Jackson to that rehab place in San Diego.”

“Did Kate seem okay to you?”
Michael said.

“I don’t know.”

The look on her sister’s face when she and Alex got back from the containment zone defied description.
There was no sadness. It almost seemed as if Victoria’s death didn’t mean much to Kate.

“What’s going to happen to us, Michael?”

He could see the fear in her blue eyes shining like a signal flare. Between the zombie problem, the threat of Marrok’s children and the politics of the council, Michael knew he had a lot on his plate.

He was a king.
He slid one arm around Sarah’s waist. But he would not be alone. And with that knowledge, he had hope enough that he could make Sarah happy and that they might all be a family again.

Somehow, it would work out.

THE END