1
Ryleigh
God, I’m so hungry. My stomach is burning, my hands are trembling, and my mouth is salivating. I swear, it feels like I haven’t eaten in weeks.
Well, okay, that’s probably because I haven’t eaten in weeks. You know, because I’ve been dead. And now I’m alive again. Sort of, anyway. The living dead. That’s what I am now. Also known as a zombie. A zombie who’s hungry. So damn hungry.
For brains.
God, a brain sounds so delicious. A really bloody, gooey, big one. I wonder how one attains a big brain. Do I look for a smart person? Or someone with an overly large head?
A bit of drool drips off my chin as I stumble through the Victorian three-story house my sister Evalee rents. Well, I guess she’s technically not my real sister, but I’ve always thought of her as my real one. And I’ve felt terrible for lying to her all this time. But I made a promise to the Mystic Willow Bay Society that I would pretend to be Evalee’s sister until they told me not to, and that I’d never tell her the truth.
There were times when I wanted to tell her so damn badly, but I feared what the society would do to me. I guess I was just being a big scaredy witch, since Hunter was brave enough to spill the beans to Evalee. I wish it would’ve been me who’d been brave, but wishing I’d done something isn’t going to change the past. And it isn’t about to help me with the horrible thing I’m about to do.
2
Evalee
“Shit, Evalee, stay behind me.” Hunter jumps to his feet from my bed, throwing his arms out as a shield.
“Hunter, stop,” I demand as I eyeball the zombie Ryleigh lingering in the doorway. Her skin is pale with a bluish, purple tint; her eyes are red and full of brain thirst; and drool drips from her blood red lips. Just because she looks hungry doesn’t mean she’s actually going to try to eat my brains, right? “It’s Ryleigh. She won’t hurt me.”
He gapes at me from over his shoulder. “Eva, I know you want to believe that’s Ryleigh, but that thing over there”—he points a finger at Ryleigh—“is just a zombie who looks like Ryleigh.”
“You’re wrong, and I’m going to prove it.” Standing tall on the bed, I hop off the other side and land on the floor.
Hunter grumbles out a string of curses as he hurriedly winds around the bed toward me. Before he can reach me, though, I make my way toward zombie Ryleigh.
“Ryleigh, it’s me. Evalee. Your sister … Or, well, your fake sister, anyway.” The floor is cold against my bare feet as I cautiously inch toward her. “We’re not going to hurt you.”
“Speak for yourself,” Hunter mutters, moving up behind me. “Because, when she tries to attack us to eat our brains—which she will—I’m not going to let her.”
Zombie Ryleigh’s blood red eyes wander toward Hunter, and her lips part to release a groan. I try to tell myself that the noise is just a groan, nothing more, though it sounds an awful lot like a hungry bear about to get some yummy grub.
Nervousness creeps up inside me, and I take a small step back. Hunter is standing closer than I anticipated, and I end up whacking my back into his chest and stomping on his toe. The impact throws me off balance.
“Sorry,” I sputter, tripping forward.
The hurried movement causes zombie Ryleigh’s eyes to flare. Blood drips from her pupils and trickles down her cheeks.
“What’s happening to her?” I whisper in horror. “Is she dying?”
“No, she can’t die, because she’s already dead.” Hunter envelopes his arms around me. “Her eyes are bleeding because she’s hungry. And guess what her number one food choice is?”
I’m pretty sure it’s a rhetorical question, but I still say, “Brains?”
He sighs heavily. “Yes, brains.”
My hand instinctively shoots toward my head.
Zombie Ryleigh eyeballs the movement, more blood trickling from her eyes. Her lips part, and she cries like a wild Banshee fighting with a werewolf. Then, she lunges for us.
3
Evalee
Hunter shoves me aside and immediately starts to shout an immobilizing spell with his wand out, aimed at Ryleigh. But apparently, zombie Ryleigh is actually a witch zombie Ryleigh.
She makes her wand appear out of thin air, crying out a disarming spell.
Hunter’s wand goes soaring through the air as she grins. Or, well, lopsidedly grins since one side of her mouth is a bit droopy from a chunk of flesh hanging off the corner.
I don’t know if the glob of flesh is hers or someone else’s, but my gut twists with nausea.
Did she eat someone already? Or is she decaying? If so, will she completely decay soon? Is that how zombies work? Oh yeah, and the best question of all: how the hell did she become a zombie!
“Run,” Hunter demands, tearing me out of my thoughts. He laces his fingers through mine and makes a mad dash toward the bed, hauling me with him. “We need to get out of here.”
I follow after him, stumbling as he leaps onto the bed and pulls me with him. The mattress bounces beneath my feet and the impact about sends me flat on my ass. Somehow, though, I manage to keep my balance. A tripping curse later, and I nearly fall again as Hunter bounces off the bed and onto the floor, still grasping my hand. Then he rushes toward the window, but I tighten my hold on his hand, stopping him.
“I thought I couldn’t go out of the house,” I say as he glances at me from over his shoulder. “Because the demons will get me.”
He yanks his free hand through his chin-length blond hair, making the strands go askew. “Fuck, I forgot about that.”
“How the hell did you forget about that”—I gape at him—“when that’s all you’ve been telling me over and over again.”
“Sorry, but the zombie got me a little distracted.” He gives me a tolerant look. Then his eyes promptly widen as his gaze strays over my shoulder. “Shit.” He glances left then right before rushing into the closet and dragging me with him.
Once we’re inside and the door is shut, he releases my hand and holds onto the doorknob. Darkness encases us, and I reach above our heads to pull the string.
The light clicks on.
“We need to find a way to seal you in here.” He clasps the doorknob tighter as the door gives a hard jerk.
“Why? What’re you going to do?”
“Take care of the problem.”
“You won’t hurt her.” I cross my arms and stare him down defiantly. “I won’t let you.”
“You think you can stop me?” he questions with a glimmer in his eyes. “Because, honestly, I’d love to see you try. I bet it would be really, really interesting having you try to pin me down.”
The heated look he gives me makes me blush. Then the door jostles again, reminding me that now isn’t the time to get all flustered.
“Who said I was going to pin you down?” I quip. “Maybe I’ll just …” That’s about as far as I get before my mind blanks out on me.
Hunter sighs, his eyes softening. “Eva, I know this is hard to deal with, but you have to understand that that’s a zombie out there, not Ryleigh. And the last thing we need to deal with right now is a crazy, brain-hungry zombie—”
Silvery sparks shoot from underneath the door and spritz across our feet.
I hop around like a klutzy wannabe ninja while cursing like a sailor. “Holy evil witch zombies, that burns.”
Hunter stomps on a spark with his sock covered feet. “I take back what I said. The last thing we need is to deal with a crazy, bloodthirsty, zombie who can apparently cast spells.”
I stare down at the lingering sparks of magic on the floor. “I didn’t even realize there was a thing as a zombie witch.”
Worry floods his eyes as his gaze collides with mine. “That’s because there’s never been one before.”