Z Day +44

  JAMES

  I carried the woman into our room and placed her on the couch. Strangely, Miria said nothing about me bringing a nearly naked woman into the house.

  Shae turned on a lantern. As the light came up, it struck the woman's face, and Shae gasped, “Oh no.”

  “What?” I turned to look at her.

  “I know her. She's from Pagoda's compound. She's an assassin,” Shae said.

  “An assassin? A vampire assassin?” I shuddered at the thought. Our ‘vampire assassin’ had pale skin with a light smattering of freckles. Her face was thin with sharp lines, including her eyes. She was easily taller than me and built like she played professional sports.

  “We have to kill her before she wakes up,” Shae said, her eyes wide in uncharacteristic fear.

  “Now, hold on. We can't just—” I started.

  “Yes, we can. If she wakes up, she'll kill us all. You haven’t heard the stories; she’s Pagoda’s attack dog. She’s known as a cold-hearted monster. I can’t imagine her letting any of us live if she knew what we were up to.” Shae started chewing on a fingernail.

  “Who knows how long she’s been watching us? I probably just didn’t see her at Drakes,” Shae said. “Wait, Natalie said, ‘I’m sitting with one now.’ Natalie must have been buying us time to get away. We’d been safe in the club; it was neutral, but once outside, we were fair game.”

  “Let’s take the paranoia down just a peg for now. I doubt anyone has been spying on us, let alone Pagoda. Besides, I think we can handle one vampire between the seven of us. Let's think this through,” I said.

  Shae seemed to ignore me and started to step forward. “You don’t understand the danger, James—”

  The woman’s kicks came from nowhere. She caught both of us simultaneously and sent us staggering, all while her eyes were still closed. Her eyes popped open as she leaped up, kicking us again while we were off balance. Her strikes hit like a truck and sent us flying.

  Shae flailed and managed to grab a handful of the woman’s long hair. The hair ties that normally kept it up had come apart, letting it flow out behind the woman like a cape. Shae yanked hard on the hair to keep herself upright and prevent the woman’s escape.

  The woman tilted her head back and helicoptered around, her left arm wrapping around her hair to protect her head. At the same time, she yanked on her hair, surprising Shae and brought her stumbling forward, right into the woman’s elbow. The elbow struck Shae in the throat, and she dropped like a stone.

  Meanwhile, I was trying to get around behind her, thinking I was about to surprise her. She surprised me as her leg lashed back and hit me right in the babymaker. I discovered getting hit in the groin as a vampire still hurt just as badly as when I was human.

  I folded like a cheap suit as she effortlessly leaped over me, heading for the door. I managed to lash out an arm and connect with her just before she touched down.

  The woman crashed into the far wall, breaking sheet rock and wood studs. This also effectively woke the whole house as people started vaulting out of bed, thinking World War 3 had begun.

  Shae, having already recovered, helped me stand up. I risked a quick glance at her and saw her throat was already turning black and blue. Whatever the woman had done probably would have killed a human.

  We looked down at the woman who had landed in a heap on the floor, partially in the wall. Her left arm was bent at an unnatural angle. Glancing at it, the woman shook her head and muttered, “Great.”

  “Hey, what's—” was all Richard got out as the woman used the distraction to lash out at us, trying to knock us off our feet.

  Shae and I leaped clear of her legs as the woman continued to swing her leg around and knocked out several more studs, giving her enough room to burst her way into the next room.

  My enhanced hearing heard the woman’s arm popping back into the socket as she went through the wall.

  “After her!” Shae croaked. “She can't get away!”

  I dove through the hole after the woman as Shae sprinted for the door.

  “Move!” Shae yelled at Richard, who was frozen with shock.

  The woman had just managed to scramble to her feet when I tackled her, grabbing both her legs and driving her to the ground.

  She spun as we hit the ground, but I had both of her legs locked in a death grip. It was like wrestling with a greased-up electric eel. She slithered and moved, evading or escaping every attempt I made to pin her down. I swore she smiled at me for a split second, and then I saw stars. The woman’s knee, how she'd gotten it up there I'll never know, caught me under the chin and sent me reeling backward, arms flailing.

  Shae got to the door just in time to see me flying backward and the woman getting to her feet. Shae didn’t wait, coming in fast to try and punch, but the woman read her like a book.

  The woman spun just in time to catch Shae's punch and yank, flipping Shae over her hip.

  At the same time, I recovered and leaped at the woman, not realizing my newfound strength, as I slammed into her again. I never played football, but I was pretty sure if a coach had seen this tackle, they would have put me on varsity.

  We went crashing back into a nightstand that collapsed beneath us.

  Shae leaped onto the woman’s legs as I straddled her mid-section, each knee on one of her arms, pinning them. The woman flexed, nearly lifting both of us off the ground.

  *God, she’s strong!* Shae and I thought simultaneously.

  The woman’s head snapped forward as if she were trying to head-butt me, but I was just barely out of range. She tried to roll, but by now, Shae had pinned her hips and legs, laying across them to keep her down.

  “Stop!” I yelled as the woman continued to thrash beneath us, not showing any sign of giving up.

  “Just kill her!” Shae strained through gritted teeth.

  “I won't if she stops and listens for a minute,” I yelled into the woman’s face.

  The woman showed no sign of listening, as with a demonic growl, her body arched and nearly threw us both again. I had to shift at the last second and use all my weight to slam into her midsection. The woman’s backside slammed into the ground, splintering the wood flooring.

  Three things happened at once: Shae yelled she was losing her grip on the woman, there was the sound of a shotgun chambering a shell from the doorway, and through gritted teeth, I said, “Careful of the splinters.”

  The woman stopped as if someone had flipped a switch. She was frozen in place, body still in the act of trying to squirm out from under us, but she didn't move.

  “What?” her voice was a strained hiss through clenched teeth as she stared at me in amazement.

  Taken aback, I almost let go. “Be careful of the splinters?” I repeated, realizing as I said it how stupid it sounded.

  In my military police training, I’d been both commended and chastised for how I’d spoke to suspects. I was always ‘sir’ or ‘ma’am’ and ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ even to the bad guys.

  The woman relaxed, letting every muscle in her body go limp before she started laughing. Not a normal laugh or a “hey, that was a good joke” kind of laugh. But a full-on toddler belly laugh. The infectious kind you couldn't help but smile at even though you had no clue what the joke was.

  She continued to laugh as tears started rolling down her face. She kept laughing, still not trying to escape as Shae readjusted her grip to get a better hold.

  Mark approached with the shotgun, but I shook my head.

  Finally, the woman caught her breath, “Do you know how stupid you sound?” She continued to chuckle, beginning to wind down. “We're rolling around in a life and death struggle, and of all things, you're worried I might get a splinter in my butt?” And she was off again.

  This time, her laughing did manage to pull a chuckle from me. I saw in her brilliantly hazel eyes that she wasn’t capitulating, just bidding her time. What came out of my mouth next wasn’t planned.

  “Yeah, splinters are the worst,” I had no clue where this stuff was coming from. The whole situation was just a little too surreal.

  “Fiberglass splinters are the worst,” the words also seemed to come out of the woman’s mouth unbidden.

  “Yeah, those little invisible slivers you can't get out. Never buy a hammer with a fiberglass handle,” I kept yammering. I saw it when the fight left her eyes.

  A moment later, the woman shook her head twice and seemed to collapse, her eyes closing.

  “How did I get here?” she whispered to herself before she slammed the back of her head into the floor twice, both times hard enough to make everyone cringe. “Stupid! Stupid!” she growled at herself. “I can't do it. This is too fucked up.”

  No one in the room spoke. The only sound was everyone's heavy breathing.

  “I was going to try and con you into dropping your guard, then making a big show of being cooperative before trying to make a break for it,” the woman said in disgust. “But I can't; none of my plans ever work out right when it comes to—” She banged her head against the ground again. “Stupid!”

  “Stop that!” I said sharply.

  “See,” the woman opened her eyes and looked into mine.

  *His eyes are green today. I'd forgotten how pretty they were,* the woman’s voice in my head caused me to pause. But it didn’t feel like she had been talking to me.

  “There you go again,” the woman continued aloud. “I'm the bad guy here. Stop looking out for me; I can take care of myself.”

  “Obviously,” Shae muttered.

  *Not helping!* I mentally hollered at Shae.

  The woman ignored Shae’s comment and shook her head slowly.

  “So, what now?” I looked down at her.

  The image of Natalie's hand sliding off the woman’s face appeared in my mind; it seemed to trigger the woman, setting her anger off again.

  “What now? I’ll tell you what now,” the woman started. “If I get out of here and get my hands on that blood witch, that's right, I said it! Blood witch, blood witch! I'm going to punch her right in her smug, smiling face! There’s your prediction bitch!”

  As I watched her working herself into a rage, I saw her raise her head as if to slam it into the floor again. My hand lashed out on its own, slapping her hard enough to make my hand sting, which was saying something. I felt her freeze beneath me and I sat back, freeing her arms.

  Slowly, the woman raised one hand to her face, where the faintest outline of my hand started to appear.

  “Let her up,” I said to Shae and stood up. As I stepped away from the woman, my groin reminded me it was still unhappy. I wondered how long that was going to last.

  Shae looked up at me questioningly, and I nodded. *Trust me.*

  Slowly, Shae got to her feet and stepped back out of kicking range.

  I looked at Mark in the doorway; he still had the shotgun at the ready, with his finger on the trigger. I’d have to do some remedial training with him later. “Give her room. If she wants to leave, let her leave.”

  “But James,” Shae started to protest.

  “But nothing.” I turned back to the woman who had smoothly gotten to her feet. “If you want to go, go. If you want to stay, stay. But make up your mind because we're done fighting.” I was blindly following my gut on this one.

  Something was going on here, and it wasn’t the assassination job Shae thought, that much I knew. Besides, if this woman really wanted to, I’m pretty sure she could have wiped the floor with us.

  The woman was watching me now, confusion and mistrust apparent in her eyes. Her hand was still on her face, gingerly touching where I’d struck her.

  The room was silent, not even breathing this time. No one moved as the moment drug on.

  “And just look at what you did to the wall!” I burst out melodramatically. “Do you know how hard it will be to find a carpenter in the middle of a zombie apocalypse?” I motioned to all the damage around us. “It's going to cost us a fortune to fix it!”

  I knew, without looking, all eyes were on the crazy man now, not the newcomer.

  I glanced at the woman out of the corner of my eye. After a moment, she tilted her head slightly. I hoped she understood what I was doing because I wasn’t so sure I did. We had been at a stalemate earlier. My only option was killing her, something I didn't want to do. So, I was taking a risk to see if we could come up with another option.

  “I can pay?” the woman said after a moment. Her voice sounded young now, not the furious one from earlier. “I've got a credit card,” her voice became more confident as she pulled the plastic from somewhere in the remaining scraps of fabric that clung to her.

  “Well now, that's different,” I smiled at the woman. A genuine smile, one she seemed to return. As if on cue, the tension seemed to drain from the room.

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  “Richard, since you're up, can you go stand guard with Miria and tell her what's happening?” I said, spotting him standing behind Mark in the doorway.

  “Sure, but you have to tell me what's going on first,” Richard said.

  “It's OK. We're good,” turning to the woman, “aren't we?” I asked.

  She nodded, confusion still on her face.

  Richard shrugged and headed towards the roof.

  “Everybody else, shows over. Try to get some sleep,” I said.

  “Yeah right, stupid vampires,” Mark grumbled and headed for the kitchen, shotgun swinging at his side.

  I glanced at Shae and motioned for her to follow.

  *Why didn't you just say something?* Shae asked.

  That stopped me as a sheepish expression crossed my face, *Sorry, old habits?*

  Shae rolled her eyes.

  I turned to the woman, “Want something to eat?”

  “I have no idea,” the strength in her voice began to return.

  “Suit yourself.” I turned to Shae and examined her throat, leaving my back to the woman. *You OK?*

  *Oh, just peachy. What is going on?* Shae demanded.

  *Hang with me a little longer, please. Trust me,* I tried to imbue her with confidence I didn’t have.

  Shae eyed me wearily but nodded.

  “You do know that's really rude, right?” the woman said irritably.

  “So's coming busting through someone's wall like the Kool-Aid Man, but no one’s perfect,” I shrugged and headed towards the kitchen. Mark was leaving, avoiding eye contact with us but watching the woman, his hand tightening on the shotgun briefly.

  I pulled a glass from the cupboard, filled it with well water and handed it to Shae.

  “Thanks,” she croaked, making me cringe.

  “Water?” I turned to the newcomer.

  “No thanks,” the woman put her back to a wall, her eyes darting about the room, noting the exits. “I've had enough of people drugging what I drink for one night.” She flexed her hands before shaking them out.

  “Oh, my hair,” the woman cried, noticing the tangled mess for the first time. Immediately, she started trying to get it in some sort of order.

  It was quiet for a moment as I poured a second cup of water. The woman and I examined each other through our reflection in the boarded-up window I was facing.

  I’d seen the tremor in her hands before she started messing with her hair. I also noticed her leg tapping, the constant shifting of posture, her roving eyes, and a few other things. They were all PTSD symptoms I’d seen in troops downrange and in myself. I turned and sat at the table with my glass of water.

  The woman was obviously uncomfortable against the wall but refused to sit out of apparent spite.

  Shae and I exchanged a look.

  A moment passed with nobody talking. Shae held the cool glass to her throat, and I rubbed her arm.

  *Wish we had ice,* Shae said.

  *Sorry,* I said.

  *I'll survive. James, what—* Shae started.

  *Just a little longer,* I promised.

  “You're doing it again,” the woman growled, giving up on straightening her hair.

  “Sorry,” I said.

  “Fine, but next time, I'm taking out this wall,” she pointed her thumb at the wall behind her.

  “What's the limit on that credit card?” I tried a smile.

  “Enough,” the woman frowned, crossing her arms across her chest. *Why can’t I think straight around him?*

  For the third time, I heard the woman’s thoughts. Shae had told me I shouldn’t be able to do that. Whatever it was between us wasn’t constant; I only caught stray thoughts. I wondered if she picked up mine as well.

  “Army PSYOPs, right?” I asked.

  “How'd you figure that one?” the woman asked.

  I pointed at her exposed chest, “You've got the insignia right there, plain as day.”

  She uncrossed her arms and looked down, realizing for the first time her dress had completely ripped to pieces and was hanging by a few threads. Her half-bare chest and bra made it easy for me to see her Army tattoo. She ripped the few remaining threads and threw what was left of the blue dress into a nearby trashcan, sighing *I really liked that dress.*

  I picked that one up as well. “There's a coat in the closet if you want it,” I pointed at the door near her as she now only wore a bra and panty set. It was very elegant and high-end, definitely not something you'd find at Walmart.

  *And when did you become a connoisseur of women's undergarments?* Shae’s voice tingled in my head before adding, *I didn’t know you liked freckles.* Indicating the light smattering across the woman’s chest.

  *Shhh,* I shook my head, trying to gather my thoughts.

  The woman smiled at my apparent discomfort before flipping a chair around backward and straddling it for maximum effect.

  “Well played, you're very distracting. But like I said, you can leave anytime you want; we won't stop you.” I motioned to the door and paused, “Actually, that door is boarded up, you’ll have to use the courtyard.”

  “Don’t get too excited James; she’s not allowed to be touched, Pagoda’s orders,” Shae said, eyeing the woman.

  “I’m pretty sure the same order applies to you, princess,” the woman said cooly. She eyed Shae a moment and then turned back to me.

  I looked from Shae to the woman and back. I didn’t understand the hostility between the two and didn’t have the time to figure it out right now.

  “When were you in?” I asked.

  “In-between,” the woman answered. Her leg was vibrating so badly I could feel it through the table. I took a drink from my glass and then pushed it towards her.

  “In-between the wars?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” It was the woman’s turn to look uncomfortable.

  “Sniper or IED?”

  Most of the mainstream public knew little of what really happened in the war zones of the desert. They only ingested what they saw on TV every night or the online news sites. But the second you mentioned IED, everyone knew something terrible had happened.

  The woman sighed, “IED, alright? Are we done playing micro-shrink 101 now? I've had my fill.”

  “Just trying to establish some—” I started, but she cut me off.

  “Yeah, common ground. I know. But I've got enough common ground as it is alright? So, skip it,” she spat. “I could ask you the same,” she said, glancing at the slight tremor in my own hand.

  I had dealt with many soldiers who'd had bad things happen to them and still returned to keep fighting. They had taught me the basics of what to look out for to avoid guys cracking up and fragging friendlies in the field. All my training told me this woman was a ticking time bomb...or a string of them daisy chained together.

  “Fine,” I leaned back from the table. “Why'd you follow us home? Drakes doesn't have a closing time.”

  The woman just stared at me in silence.

  “Can I talk now?” Shae turned and looked at me.

  “You let him shut you up, too? First Pagoda, now this guy?” the woman said.

  Shae turned to the woman ignoring the barb, “When James is being an eejit, I humor him. It makes him feel important. You know how fragile male egos can be.”

  I frowned as Shae patted my hand like a child. The woman laughed.

  “It’s good to know you at least know how to handle this one,” the woman said.

  Shae ignored the jab. “We're both from Pagoda's court, but I'm sure you know that. You know who I am, and I know what you are, but I don't know what to call you.”

  “Establishing rapport with the subject...yeah, yeah. Call me Rhiannon,” she said. *Why am I still here?*

  I picked up that thought.

  “Actually, I was being polite,” Shae said. “I don't have all these fancy mind tricks or negotiator training that you two seem to have.”

  “Oh, you’ve had training,” Rhiannon said. “I’d call being a trusted courier plenty of training in how to manipulate people.”

  “I haven’t been a courier in a long time,” Shae said. “Regardless, you two can measure each other later.”

  That brought a slight grin to Rhiannon's face.

  “But in the meantime, since you’re not here to kill us—” Shae probed.

  “Why would I be here to kill you?” Rhiannon asked.

  “Regardless,” Shae said, shaking her head, “I'd kind of like to know what is happening. I haven't felt him, so I'm thinking Pagoda's still out of state,” Shae said.

  “Yeah,” Rhiannon said. “That's common knowledge.”

  “So, he didn't send you...” Shae let the sentence hang there

  Rhiannon reached forward and took a drink of water; her hazel eyes flashed as she glanced at me before turning back to Shae. The silence stretched on until, “Well shit. I don't know what I was expecting. I've got no plan. I've got no ulterior motive. I don't even know why I'm here. All I know is that when the two of you left, I had to follow. It's probably that blood witch; yeah, I’m still saying it in case you're still listening,” Rhiannon seemed to talk to the air above the table. “She's the one who drugged me, making me pass out like that. That's just demeaning,” Rhiannon muttered. “Probably made me lose the fight too.”

  “Are you talking about Natalie?” I asked.

  Rhiannon nodded. “Yeah, the blood witch,” she spoke into the air again. Looking back down at us with a crooked grin, she said, “she hates it when I say that. She comes down right before you do, slides into my booth, big as brass, and starts babbling nonsense at me. Next thing I know, I'm following you into the parking lot, and suddenly, I can hear your thoughts.” She shook her head. “Should have known she was just playing with me. No way anyone's taking out Pagoda.”

  At the mention of that, Shae and I looked at each other as if we'd been caught in the act. *What?* we thought in unison.

  “HEY!” Rhiannon knocked on the wall, “Kool-Aid Man, remember. Aloud, please.”

  “Uh,” I cleared my throat and started to reach for the glass of water but thought better of it. “What exactly did she say to you?”

  “I dunno. She's sorta scrambled up upstairs, you know?” Rhiannon said.

  We both nodded.

  “Please try,” Shae said.

  “She came down asking what I would do now that Pagoda was dead. I told her he wasn't dead, and she acted like it was a done deal, only it hadn't happened yet,” Rhiannon said.

  “She give you the spiced blood too?” I asked.

  “No, Drake did,” Rhiannon said cautiously.

  “Did she touch you at any time?” Shae asked.

  “Yeah, but I only remembered her pulling her hand away, not putting it on my face,” Rhiannon said.

  “Be glad you didn't get stuck there for two days,” I mumbled.

  “First time I've heard you complain about it,” Shae snapped.

  I held my hands up in defeat. “But wait, she told us our rapport would end when we left her room.”

  “And it did,” Shae confirmed. “She didn't mention anyone else, so it's not like she lied to us.”

  “Anyone else get the feeling we're being used here?” I asked.

  *Oh, she used you alright,* Shae patted my cheek. *We both did. Multiple times.*

  “Now, what was that? Why's he blushing?” Rhiannon complained.

  “That was my fault, sorry. But some things are private.” Shae was still grinning at me.

  Rhiannon looked miffed. Apparently, she wasn't used to being excluded.

  “OK, I'll say it. We want to kill Pagoda and take his compound.” I threw it out there, causing Shae to hiss through her teeth. “No more games, I'm sick of them. Too much is at stake for games at this point.”

  “I'll be honest, there's no love lost between Pagoda and me, but I'm bloodbound to him, and so is she,” Rhiannon motioned to Shae. “He could pick this out of either of our brains at any time. Trying to move against him would be rough with that kinda tactical disadvantage.”

  “That's why I'm keeping Shae out of the planning sessions. Even if she does get her brain picked, he'll just know there’s a threat, not when it's coming or how,” I said.

  Rhiannon frowned, “Still not smart.”

  “Not much of a choice. This place is a box trap; we could hold it for a while, but not indefinitely. We need somewhere better,” I said.

  “Why Pagoda’s compound? I'm sure there are plenty of other buildings that aren't armed to the teeth with homicidal vampires. Why not one of those?” Rhiannon asked.

  “It's a known commodity,” I began. “It's self-sufficient with water, power and facilities.”

  “Yeah, hot water is nice,” Rhiannon agreed. “I just don't see how you're going to coordinate something like this without proper planning.”

  “Ehh, plans are overrated anyway. They never survive first contact,” I said flippantly.

  Rhiannon scowled at me, “Plans are essential.”

  “But Natalie did say it had already happened, right?” Shae asked.

  “That's what she told me. Why not take the compound now while he's not there? You'd have the tactical advantage of me on the inside,” Rhiannon said.

  “We would?” Shae interrupted.

  From the look on Rhiannon’s face, she was just as surprised by her words as we were.

  *Why’d I say that?* Rhiannon thought to herself.

  *Because it's your best bet for getting out from underneath Pagoda’s thumb,* a second voice in Rhiannon’s head replied.

  *Shut up, head,* Rhiannon said to the voice.

  I heard all three of those thoughts and was even more confused by the second voice I’d heard in Rhiannon’s head.

  Finally, Rhiannon nodded.

  “Sure,” I started, “but then what? Pagoda would find out what we'd done and come for us in force. The compound is too large to defend from a large-scale force like that by ourselves,” I explained. “He’d also be able to bring in additional support with him. Not to mention, he could just order the two of you against us.”

  “What about getting help from other clans?” Shae asked. “There are other smaller clans in the region that weren’t happy with how Pagoda had been running the area before Z Day.”

  “If these were normal times, sure. But, many of the others have gone to ground, only worried about taking care of themselves,” Rhiannon said. “Those not hiding are out of state with the same big conference Pagoda’s at. We’re on our own.”

  “If these were normal times, I'd make a phone call, and the military would take the place out,” I grumbled.

  “Oh?” Rhiannon said.

  “Long story,” Shae said.

  “Our best bet is going to be crushing the head of the snake,” I said.

  “OK there, Rambo, let's reign it in,” Shae patted my hand.

  I shrugged, “Doesn't make it untrue.”

  The three of us eyed one another.

  I could sense Shae’s unease with the woman and how open I was being. At the same time I got a sense from Rhiannon she wasn’t exactly being honest with us. There’s no way we could join forces if we didn’t have some sort of trust to build on. That’s when the stupid idea hit me.

  “Shae, let me have your earring,” I said, holding my hand out.

  *What are you—” She started.

  *Something stupid,* I said.

  Shae only hesitated a moment before removing one of her earrings and placing it in my hand.

  I slowly removed the sheath before nicking my finger, allowing a spot of blood to well up.

  “What are you doing?” Rhiannon asked as I placed the earing down on Rhiannon’s side of the table.

  “From what I understand, we can’t lie to one another when in direct blood contact. You don’t trust us because you don’t know us. That goes both ways. There’s no way in hell we can pull something like this off if we don’t have some level of trust.”

  *James, you don’t know how to do this,* Shae said, a sense of alarm in her voice.

  *Yup, that’s why you’re going to tag along in my head,* I said.

  “Why would I want to do this?” Rhiannon asked.

  “Because you don’t want to be a slave anymore than Shae does,” I said. “We’re your best…we’re your only chance of getting out from beneath Pagoda’s thumb.” Glancing down at my thumb, “You do this, you know if we’re worth the risk.”

  Rhiannon looked at the earring, then my slowly bleeding finger, and finally to my eyes.

  “Just Pagoda. You don’t need more than a moment to see the truth of my intentions.” Rhiannon said. “You go digging anywhere else and you’ll be losing a lot more than a few drops of blood. Understand?”

  I couldn’t help but be intimidated, her voice promised ruin if I broke her trust.

  “I understand. The whole point of this exercise is trust,” I said.

  Rhiannon reached for the earring and picked it up.

  “Full disclosure,” I said causing her to pause and narrow her eyes at me. “This is the first time I’ve ever initiated this, so I don’t really know what I’m doing. Shae will be riding shotgun in my head to help make sure I don’t screw it up.”

  Rhiannon looked at me a moment then at Shae. “That’s dumb,” she said as she carefully pricked both of her index fingers. After laying the earring before Shae, Rhiannon laid one finger in front of me and one in front of Shae.

  “You can’t do it that way…” Shae started, a confused expression on her face.

  “Watch me,” Rhiannon said, staring in defiance at Shae.

  “We’re not exactly doing trust falls here,” I said.

  Shae gave me an annoyed expression before picking up her earring and slicing her finger.

  I exhaled loudly, “OK, so how do we—”

  Without a word, Rhiannon joined everyone’s hands together.

  It took me a moment to recover from the sudden blast of emotion that came with touching Rhiannon’s blood. Her mind was filled with anger and rage that seemed to be held just below the surface of her control. I steered away from it, afraid it might burst forth at any moment.

  I wasn’t sure what I was looking for and Shae’s presence was absent from my mind. I reached out, trying to find something that would tell me if she was lying to us or had plans to betray us, but found nothing.

  I was abruptly ripped from her mind as I saw Rhiannon jerk her hand away from me. When the room stopped spinning I looked up to find Rhiannon and Shae locked in a staring contest. Looking down, I saw they were still in bloodtouch.

  *Wait,* Shae said as I went to check on her. I felt her push against me, keeping me out of her mind. *Your turn to trust me.*

  Keeping my mouth shut, I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my head. I’d developed a headache from touching Rhiannon’s mind. It was so different from Shae’s.

  Where Shae’s mind was warm, inviting, and comforting, Rhiannon practically had a riot line formed in her mind with tear gas already in the air. It was so hostile I was glad she’d pushed me out when she did.

  I watched and waited. I knew mental communication was faster than talking in the real world. So, when five minutes passed and neither women had moved, I started to worry.

  Without a word both women blinked and brought their hands apart. They looked at one another a moment longer before nodding simultaneously.

  “Yeah, well it doesn't look like we're going to get a lot accomplished right now,” Shae said, glancing at me before turning back to Rhiannon. “Would you like to stay the day?”

  “Uh,” was all Rhiannon could manage for a moment. Her hand reached up and rubbed her temple. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

  “As long as you don't attack anyone, it'll be fine,” Shae soothed. “Besides, we could loan you some clothes—”

  “What's wrong with my clothes?” Rhiannon said defensively.

  “Well, if he,” Shae pointed a thumb at me, “is any indication of how the rest will act, nobody will get anything done today.”

  “What's wrong with the girls?” Rhiannon looked down at her chest.

  “Nothing,” I coughed, not able to stop myself.

  “Case in point,” Shae held out her hands.

  “Yeah, I guess,” Rhiannon grumbled.

  “The other thing is, we don't know if whatever Natalie gave you is out of your system or not. It wouldn't do for you to pass out somewhere between here and there.” Shae continued with a grin, “You might wake up being violated by a zombie.”

  “Are you saying I could get a rise out of the dead?” Rhiannon leaned into the banter.

  I got the feeling people didn’t normally talk to Rhiannon like this…like a normal person. She was enjoying it. I was still worried she’d change her mind and come across the table at me though.

  “I'm saying your girls may be able to raise the dead,” Shae said as the two women shared a brief chuckle.

  Shae and Rhiannon seemed much more comfortable with each other now. Whatever they had said to each other during the bloodtouch obviously called some sort of truce. The way they were joking with one another hinted at something more than just a truce.

  I could feel Shae’s relief with Rhiannon’s humor. I just hoped it was genuine and not the prelude to more homicidal rage.

  “There’s also the fact it's almost morning. You'd never get back in time,” Shae said.

  Rhiannon looked at Shae and frowned, “So?”

  “So? You'd get burnt up by the sun,” Shae said.

  “No, I wouldn't,” Rhiannon looked at Shae incredulously. “I had my treatment just a couple of days ago. I'd be fine.”

  “Wait!” Shae reached out and grabbed Rhiannon’s hand. It took a moment for her to realize what she'd done and brought her hand back, Rhiannon eyeing her the entire time. “The treatment center at the compound still works?”

  “Of course. Do you think we wouldn't have backups for something so important?” Rhiannon said.

  Shae looked at me, her eyes glittering. *We're so taking that place.*

  “What did I miss?” Rhiannon asked cautiously.