“Hit the deck!” Lee growled.
Behind me I heard Declan move, but I did as I was ordered and hit the floor just before I felt a mighty whoosh fly past my body. There was a loud squawking as the bird was frustrated in its attempt to take off my head. I flipped over and tried to get a sight line on the sucker. I laid on my back as close to the floor as I could and held the Ruger, ready to take my shot.
Lee prowled over to me, keeping low.
“Are you all right?” he asked quietly, but the words were garbled. I was startled to see that his face looked like it was caught mid-change. I had seen many strong wolves who could change parts of their bodies. It was one of the ways to determine an alpha but by no means a sure thing. Zack and Neil had both mastered the power but only had it because of Daniel’s blood, and they could change an arm or a hand when they needed it. Lee’s snout was out and his teeth were long. His hands were indeed ugly claws, but the rest of his body maintained its shape.
He shoved my head down, taking care with his claws as the bird made a second pass. After it swooped past, Declan was on his feet, an arrow notched and tracking the bird as it flew. He cursed as it disappeared from view.
Lee shoved me under one of the tables, and I had to stop myself from shrinking back. There was another corpse under this table, but the aswang had gotten to this one before the undertaker had done his damage. This corpse was chewed on thoroughly but had enough flesh left hanging to make me really not want to be up against it.
“Protect her,” Lee ordered.
Declan kneeled in front of me, weapon in his hands. He smiled down, and I noticed he’d dropped the glamour. He wasn’t concentrating on anything so silly as maintaining his Dev illusion now that we were fighting for our lives. His hair hit the floor as he crouched. He seemed calm and unruffled by the experience. “I will protect her. You kill the bird, and I will save the girl.”
Lee rolled his wolf eyes and then moved to the center of the room where he knelt down, that long snout scenting the air. He quickly found the bird’s perch but made no move to get it. He was waiting and it was a strangely active thing. Lee was patient and still, but I knew there was nothing complacent in him. The bird watched him with black, dead eyes. I held my breath for the longest moment, waiting to see who would break the stalemate first.
The bird gave a great cry, and a rush of wings filled the room. As the bird soared Lee leapt, his great mouth open, and caught the bird midair in his teeth. A loud crunch and the sickening sound of bones breaking cracked through the space. The wolf and the bird hit the ground again, and I knew the fight was over when Lee growled and got that meal he’d been hoping for.
He was back to normal and spitting feathers out when he looked down at me and Declan. The faery got up, helping me to my feet.
I gave my bodyguard a questioning look because I wasn’t sure he should have handled things the way he had. “Do you have any idea where that thing’s been? It’s dirty and what do you do? You eat it. Don’t you come to me later when you get a tummy ache.”
Lee grinned, and it made him look younger than his thirty-five years. “Tastes like chicken.”
I laughed, but my relief didn’t last long as I tripped and hit the floor face first. My gun shot out of my hands and tumbled away as I groaned with pain. I was about to look back and see what I had tripped on when something closed around my ankle and started pulling me under the table. My stomach was rolling again as I realized the freaking Internet hadn’t mentioned a damn thing about the aswang having control over corpses. Sure enough, a bony hand was pulling me inexorably toward fleshless teeth.
The people who had seen this particular power were probably all freaking dead.
Scrambling to get away, I tried to kick at my assailant. I glanced back and saw the corpse trying to get on its bony knees. Though its eyes were long dead, they seemed to look my way more out of habit than anything…unless the freaking thing could see through the corpse’s eyes.
This is why I don’t hunt. I steal. In all my years as a thief, I’ve seen some freaky things, but not once was I assaulted by rotting corpses, and it was a credit to my profession, if you ask me.
Declan hauled me up, and I heard the satisfying pop of those undead joints coming off. “I believe the creature has awakened the dead.”
“Ya think?” I was only slightly hysterical as I realized there was still a hand attached to my ankle. I reached down and forcibly removed the offensive, still twitching, limb. I tossed it across the room and wasn’t thrilled to see it start to move my way again.
Lee walked up to the hand and crushed it under his boots. “Zoey, behind you.”
I swiveled around quickly just as the corpse began to crawl out from under the table. It was missing an arm but it managed to slither along. I kicked out, catching it on the jaw which cracked under the force of my supercute J. Reneé jeweled ladybug sandals. I was really going to have to think about proper footwear the next time I went hunting. Living with Dev had made me soft.
Declan stepped on the corpse’s spine and the weight of his big body stopped all forward motion. The bones still twitched and pulsed with the need to follow orders, but it no longer was capable.
Shuddering, I reached down to pick up my lost gun. I had it in my hand when I heard that horribly now-familiar zombie groan and brought my eyes up just as three more corpses entered the room. They moved slowly, as though every motion was deliberate and required great thought, but these corpses were more flesh than bone. They also had stopped to get weapons. Two held long butcher knives and the third held an axe.
Lee sprang away from the zombies and across the room to join Declan and me. Even Lee shuddered a little when he stared at the creatures facing us. Declan notched an arrow and shot the one closest to him in the eye. It didn’t actually stop the zombie. It just gave the zombie a nice place for birds to perch.
“See, Dec,” I said with a frown at his cute little bow and arrow, “this is why we bring guns.”
Lee smiled and we both took aim. “Take off the head.”
The world was suddenly filled with the sounds of bullets cracking through the air. It took more than a couple of tries because we weren’t carrying the right kind of weapons, but then we hadn’t known we were going to be dealing with freaking zombies in the middle of Dallas. When killing zombies, the movies really do have it right. A shotgun is the only way to go. You have to take off the head, not just leave a neat little hole in it.
Usually.
I say usually because this time was the exception. I suspect it was because these weren’t true zombies. These were reanimated dead being controlled directly by another creature. For whatever reason, even after I had successfully blown my opponent’s head to smithereens, it just kept coming. Lee was having the same trouble and finally cursed and tossed his semi aside. His hands became long claws and despite the knife about to come down on his head, he leapt into the fray and began tearing the body apart.
Declan sent me a regal frown even as the other two zombies shuffled our way. “Yes, Zoey, your guns have been entirely effective at splattering brain tissue across the room. Now, if you will allow me?” He snapped a finger and Padric showed up as though twisting reality around him. He emerged from wherever he hid and handed Declan a long silver sword. The prince nodded and Padric was gone again.
“Hey, we could use some backup here.” He had a whole army hidden in some weird pocket world.
Declan hefted the sword easily. “We don’t need Padric for this. I can handle a few undead.”
I pulled the knives out of their sheaths and sighed because I hate wet work. I would way rather shoot something from a distance than have to get up close and personal. It usually gets gory and my clothes get crap on them. Not to mention the fact that I almost always get hurt.
One knife in each hand, I followed Declan into the fray. He wielded the sword with the grace of a master and blocked the knife the zombie held.
I kicked out, trying to get my guy off balance. He went down with a satisfying thud, and I put my weight into breaking his spine.
The truth is zombies, while creepy and nasty, aren’t really all that hard to deal with. They tend to be slow and spend an enormous amount of time groaning. They really will eat your brains but then they’ll pretty much eat whatever part of you they can get their mouths on. As I had blown this bad boy’s mouth off, I just needed to avoid that freaking axe and cut off enough pieces to make it stop moving.
Lee was busy tearing his zombie apart with his bare hands. Declan had split his in half with a single sword stroke, and I brought my knife straight down on the corpse’s shoulder. I chose the one that moved the arm holding the axe because I didn’t want to get anything chopped off. I was pretty sure if I survived this that Danny and Dev would be taking a piece of my hide, so I wanted to keep it intact.
I kicked the arm along with the axe to the other side of the room. The body was convulsing as though whoever was animating it was in definite distress. I let one of the knives drop and held the longer one directly over my head. I leapt over the body, straddling it, and brought the knife down onto the sternum with every bit of strength I had in an attempt to split the body in two. The bones cracked and finally an eerie silence came over the room.