Zombies Ahead (Club Zombie, Book One) (3 page)

“But my mate wouldn’t have sperm.” Kai pointed out since he would be mated to a female. It didn’t bother him to think about getting married to a woman in the abstract, but when he put a time limit on it and got into the specific details of being a husband it felt rather unpleasant. But he would deal with that at a later date. He had quite enough to deal with at this point in time.

The doctor raised his hands in a calming motion to him, but it also stopped Beau from saying something else. “That’s why I will do further research, and we’ll come up with a plan of action.”

Wonderful, he would lose one of the few things that gave him pleasure, and the doctor was going to come up with a plan of action for when he lost the ability to get off. He almost wished he was feeling exhausted so he could sleep for a week blocking out all of this craziness. But the ‘
medicine
’ certainly did have a positive impact on his system.

“So what’s my job?”

The doctor cleared his throat and folded his arms.

Beau answered with a grin. “Finding your mate is your job.”

“Wonderful,” Kai said, shaking his head. “Then?”

Shrugging, Beau said, “Well, then as a mated couple you can go out and retrieve other newbies before they can get into a bad situation.”

Speaking to the doctor, Beau said, “I think he and Jasper would have a lot in common.”

The doctor’s eyebrows shot up at the idea. “That might be. Their families are both from Germany.” He searched Kai’s face before adding. “You might give it a try.”

Kai didn’t ask who Jasper was because he had a feeling he was certainly going to find out.

Chapter Three: Take Thee to a Priest

Lafayette had caught up with them on the long walk across the beautifully manicured gardens to where Kai would be staying. He grabbed Kai’s duffel bag off his shoulder and said, “Jasper’s a good guy.” The big man swung all of Kai’s worldly belongings over a wide shoulder as if it weighed nothing as they kept walking.

“Most of the unmated transitioned zombies live in that wing.” Beau pointed out a large section of the estate. “The unmated, not-fully-transitioned zombies live in that part.” He gestured to the section that jutted out twice as far. “But because Jasper, like you, doesn’t want to partake in the usual way of receiving the—” Beau hesitated, looking for the right word before finishing his thought. “—
medicine,
he decided to live on this side of the estate.” They were walking to several beautifully designed stone buildings.

Lafayette snorted, “Medicine?” He squinted over at his lover for an explanation.

Beau grinned and nodded. “Yes, medicine. You see, Kai isn’t
gay
.”

Kai didn’t like the doubt in the man’s tone. It didn’t matter that he had stray thoughts or the occasional dream about a guy or two. He never acted on any of those thoughts or fantasies, so that meant he was straight.
He wasn’t what his uncle said.

They knocked on the large wooden door.

“I didn’t call for delivery.” The man who answered the door said as he looked over Lafayette’s shoulder.

“You sure?” Lafayette laughed as he slapped the man on the shoulder as he pushed into the guy’s living space. “You just might change your mind.”

“Stop.” Beau hushed Lafayette before he explained, “We have a new recruit. He can’t really take the club…” Beau kissed Jasper on both cheeks.

“‘Cause I’m not gay,” Kai stated once again. Maybe if he said it a few hundred more times they would get it.

Lafayette’s deep voice seemed to command his full attention. “Hey, kid. No worries. Father Jasper isn’t either.”

Sighing the handsome man rolled his eyes and shook Kai’s hand “Just Jasper.” The man leaned in to inhale in Kai’s direction and his eyes shut briefly before continuing in a huskier voice. “I haven’t been a priest since World War II.”

“Is that when you were… um, became… you know?” Kai was even having trouble putting it into words.
Zombie? What the hell did that even mean? Zombie
? His question drew Jasper’s attention. The guy’s eyes seemed to see and appreciate Kai in a way that tightened his belly with a disturbing, unexplainable need that was hard to ignore.

“No, I was turned before then.” His face changed from what might have been described as desire to a blanket of serenity in the span of seconds.

Beau stepped in between them. “So, Daddy Jasper—excuse me. I know you hate that nickname.” The blond turned to Kai to explain. “The other boys like to tease him.”

“It doesn’t mean you need to follow suit,” Lafayette said sternly which seemed to make Beau practically melt.

“Sorry.” He batted his long eyelashes at Lafayette before he grinned at Jasper. “Sorry, Jasper.”

The man accepted the apology with a simple head bow.

Beau looked away from Kai to his mate for help. “Jasper doesn’t… how shall I put this?”

Lafayette sighed and crossed his arms. “Jaz doesn’t take his
medicine
straight from the source either. So we will just send two doses over daily.” Smiling warmly Lafayette added, “You have free run of the grounds. Nothing happens in the club until after five. Feel free to get to know the other guys.”

“But I can’t leave the grounds?” Kai clarified.
Was he a prisoner?

“Well, you can but you need your daily doses and for right now you have enough to deal with, don’t you?”

Kai nodded his head reluctantly.

Lafayette added as if he were softening the blow of being a virtual prisoner, “But if you want to go, we can arrange for a companion.”

“A babysitter?” Kai scoffed. He didn’t mean to have an attitude, but this was a lot to adjust to in a short amount of time.

Beau smiled and touched Kai’s cheek. “You are so young and innocent. Just a companion. One who has an American driver’s license.” The touch seemed like a weird thing to do, but it felt nice, like someone actually cared about him. He missed his cousin already.

“Is there a way to contact Ulrich?” He asked. Funny he was starting to think in English. However, crazy this entire situation was, it was helping him become fluent.

Kai noticed the guy who lived here hadn’t taken his eyes off of him. Jasper kept staring at him. The focused attention was making Kai feel things he didn’t want to feel.

“Of course. We’ll send up a laptop and your phone.” Beau slapped Jasper on the back. “Jaz will show you everything you need to know. Won’t you, Jasper?”

Jasper groaned a little. He walked the two grinning loons to the door. “Are you trying to break my resolve?”

“No, never.” Beau smirked, trying to act totally innocent. “Why would we do that?”

“Besides, he’s not gay!” Lafayette said it like that was funny.

Jasper glanced back over to where Kai was standing and groaned. He rubbed a hand over his face before saying, “You two are trying to kill me?”

“Come, come now, Jasper.”

“He would if he could.” Beau giggled then sobered when he saw the disappointed expression on Lafayette’s face. “Sorry, Jasper. I was only… Sorry.”

“You don’t bring a diabetic chocolate.” Jasper groaned as he turned his head quickly to stare at Kai.

Kai didn’t understand why they were talking about a disorder of glucose when theirs was an issue of protein. He felt like he was missing the meaning of the conversation.

“Yearning for just a little taste of a sweet treat?” Beau’s blue eyes sparkled with mirth.

Jasper muttered what Kai was sure was a curse word and ran his fingers through his hair. Kai knew it was rude to try to eavesdrop, but they knew he was still standing right in the same room.

Lafayette looked nothing short of a stern disciplinarian when he spoke to his lover. “It looks like you and I need to have a
discussion
.”

By the way the word “discussion” was said Kai knew there was another meaning to his words. But the implications were lost on Kai. Jasper chuckled and said, “Go easy on him. He was just teasing.”

“Indeed.” Lafayette’s eyes seemed to sparkle with fire as he looked at Beau, whose head dropped forward as if he were interested in the floor. “If there’s an emergency… deal with it.” Taking Beau firmly by the upper arm, he led him out.

“Bye,” Kai said, but he received no response from the two that hurried out of the room. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he took in the large room that included an open kitchen with stainless appliances and a well-appointed sitting area. A breeze blew the white curtains, allowing Kai a view of the grounds.

Jasper gestured for him to follow him into another room. “I turned the second bedroom into a study, so you’ll bunk on the Murphy bed.” Jasper reached out and slid the bookcase to the side. Pulling the rope made a bed come down.

“Wow.” Kai had never seen anything like that back home.

“Saves space and clean up is easy.” Jasper demonstrated by pushing the bed up and sliding the bookcase across the rails. “That closet is basically empty so you can stash your stuff there.” Kai set his duffel bag down and followed Jasper back out into the rest of the cottage. “There’s a bathroom through there. I will be right across the hall so if you need
anything
…” The word ‘anything’ chased around Kai’s mind and seemed to linger until Jasper added, “Any time. I will be in there.”

Kai didn’t know why the ‘any time’ gave him a weird nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach. The guy was just trying to be a good host. “Um, I appreciate this. I know—” A soft knock on the door interrupted his sentence.

“That will be your electronics. Let me get that.” The delivery man didn’t come in; he just handed over a laptop, phone, iPod and a nest of folded cords. The handsome man kicked the door shut after he thanked the guy for bringing it over. “Your connection with the outside world.”

Kai carefully took the items that were being held out for him. “This is very generous of them.”

“They are good men who literally saved my life.” Kai’s new companion changed the subject abruptly. “Shall we set this stuff up?”

“Yeah, definitely.” Kai was able to ignore the shiver of something like excitement when Jasper brushed passed him with all the equipment. Kai needed to get a grip.

* * * *

An hour had passed since Jasper had gone into his room, but Kai didn’t think the man was asleep. Kai tapped lightly on the man’s open bedroom door.

“Um... a… sorry. I just wanted to um…” Kai stood there blushing as the door opened further.

Jasper’s wide smile twisted something up tight in his gut, and for the life of him, Kai didn’t know why. “Not to worry.” Jaz got off the bed and pulled on a T-shirt as he brushed pass Kai. “Can I get you something to eat?”

“No, thank you.” Kai trailed behind him towards the kitchen and sat on the stool. He searched the room for something to ground him. Talking to Ulrich had helped. He didn’t tell him everything, but his cousin was smart enough to fill in some of the blanks. He was relieved the kid was okay, and that his uncle was leaving him alone.

He smiled gratefully at Jasper. “Thank you for letting me stay here. I just couldn’t…”

“Suck cock?” Jasper asked pointedly. The words hit Kai in the gut.

He felt his mouth drop open in stunned shock. His face felt hot, like he had a fever. The tension in him seemed to mount until Jasper laughed. Not just a chuckle, but a big deep roaring outburst. Kai’s surprise turned into chuckles as he joined in the contagious noise of happiness.

He realized for the first time in years, he was happy. He felt free with possibilities he never contemplated. Pushing down the fact that one of those possibilities was him turning into turn a peckerless zombie in four short years, and he focused on the fact he could study. He wondered what his responsibilities would be and if Beau and Lafayette would be supportive of that studies.

The sounds of the laughter were dying down. “It is a bit overwhelming. I remember when Lafayette and Beau found me.” Jasper sat across from Kai.

“Found you?” Kai asked. He couldn’t contain his curiosity. He wanted to find out more about Jasper.

“I was more than half dead, and the part of me that was alive was praying for death.” Jasper shook his head as if to detach himself from the memory. “You don’t want to hear my sad tale.”

“I do.” Kai said it without thinking, but he really did want to hear it. He told himself it wasn’t just because he liked hearing Jasper’s voice. He wanted to know more about the guy.

“Okay, I’ll give you the quick version. I, unlike you, was quite gay at your age. Keep in mind, in America it wasn’t until two-thousand-three that the U.S Supreme Court invalidated all the sodomy laws. Until that time they were enforced as the community saw fit. Back in the early nineteen hundreds you can’t imagine the difficulties.” Jasper stopped and took a deep breath. “When I was fifteen my father caught me touching our stable boy. He beat me and sent me to the seminary. I found peace there. I had time to study, reflect and pray. It was like I belonged. I could ignore all my feelings of confusion, and get lost in all that was holy. And I did.” He stood up to move towards the fridge. “Soda? Water? Coffee?”

Kai watched as he moved about the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. “A water would be good. Thanks.” He accepted the cold bottle and watched as Jasper’s arm muscles flexed lightly while opening it. Kai averted his eyes to stare down at the counter top. He wondered what the matter was with him, staring at another guy’s arm like that.

Jasper didn’t seem to notice and continued to tell his tale. “When I turned nineteen, the transition occurred, destroying everything.” He closed his eyes briefly allowing Kai to see how long his lashes were as they brushed his cheeks. “The craving was overwhelming. I nearly attacked another priest trying to…” His eyes opened to stare into Kai’s long enough to confuse his body into reacting. “I was trying to get what I now know I biologically need in order to function.”

Swallowing hard, Kai remained silent as he fought his body’s response to Jasper.

“A group of the grounds keepers were called. The monsieur wanted me to be punished as well as to be made an example of, so I was whipped, then exiled from the only place I had ever found any peace. Bloodied and bruised, I walked until I dropped. I thought I was going to die. I welcomed the relief death would offer me with open arms.” Clearing his throat, Jasper stared at the condensation on his water bottle. “Lafayette and Beau found me. Nursed me back to health.”