“Miss Bell, I’m not sure I believe you about being both human and zombie, with the zombie part of you able to manifest outside your body. But I do know I can no longer allow you to live in my home, with my daughter. I want you out within the hour.”
Chapter 15
You Had Me at Goodbye
I went into the bathroom and dressed, then packed up what few belongings I had. A couple of shirts, a couple of pairs of jeans, my daggers and the journal. That was it. Didn’t take me long. Ten minutes, maybe. Tears burned at the backs of my eyes, but I blinked them away. No way I’d cry over this. I’d lost a home before, and one I’d loved with all my heart.
This? This was nothing.
Then why does it hurt so much?
I think a part of me had always known this day would come. I anchored the bag’s strap over my shoulder and strode out of the room, bypassing the cold-blooded Mr. Ankh and the stone-hearted Mr. Holland.
Nana paced at the front entrance, her bag resting on the floor. Her anxious gaze landed on me as I pounded down the stairs, and she looked as if she’d aged ten years overnight. Her hair was a mess. Her blouse and slacks were wrinkled. She wore no makeup.
Someone had woken her up and forced her to hurry.
I gnashed my teeth, noticed the second heart pounding ferociously in my chest and forced myself to breathe, to calm before the hunger had time to hit.
“Are you all right?” she asked me.
What had she been told? I forced a small smile. “I’m...stable. You?”
“Oh, I’m fine.” Her gaze shifted to Mr. Ankh and narrowed. “What’s going on? Why are you doing this to us?”
“I’ll allow your granddaughter to explain. But there’s no reason for you to fret. I’m not leaving you homeless. I’ve rented you a place in your old neighborhood. The address has already been programmed into your car’s GPS.”
I hated that he was paying our way and wanted to refuse. I didn’t. Not yet. I’d let him spend his money only as long as it took me to find a new place—our place, one we could afford on our own. One he couldn’t ever take away from us.
I picked up Nana’s bag. As she struggled to understand what Mr. Ankh hadn’t said, I ushered her outside. Her sedan was waiting in the driveway, the keys already in the ignition, the engine purring.
I threw the bags in the back of the car and buckled into the passenger seat. Nana claimed the driver’s seat, and a few minutes later, we were soaring down the highway.
“Tell me what’s going on,” she said with a tremor. “Please. Lately I feel a lot like Reeve, desperate for answers but getting none. You’re gone all the time, and I’m used to that, but when you’re home, you’re moody and distant, even violent. And now the men who were supposed to help you with your cause want nothing to do with you.”
“Nana, I’ll talk to you about this, I promise. Just not in the car.” What I had to say would upset her, more than she already was. Cars and emotional drivers were not a good combination.
“Ali.”
“Please.”
“All right. But the moment we’re inside...”
Ten minutes later, we reached the house. She parked in the driveway. It was a two-story in the shape of a C, with redbrick and white shuttered windows. A step up from Nana’s home, definitely newer, but colder—and a dump compared to Ankh’s. Keep it together.
I carted the bags into the living room, surprised to see the place was empty, and surprised by my surprise. What? I’d expected the guy to keep us in style? The walls had been painted in bold, bright colors. Red. Blue. Green. I figured there was a Blood Line around the property, but I wouldn’t be relying on a supposition. I’d talk to Nana, then get to work.
“Ali,” Nana said, her voice breaking at the edges.
Calm. “I was bitten,” I explained. “I was given the antidote, and that helped, but it didn’t destroy the zombie toxin. I’m doing terrible things. Dangerous things. Becoming what I hate most. Mr. Ankh feared for Reeve. And Nana... I fear for you. I think it would be better if I—”
“No!” she said with a violet shake of her head. She closed the distance between us and grabbed me by the forearms. “You’re not staying somewhere else, or whatever you were going to say. You’re my granddaughter and I love you. We will stay together and I will help you.”
My chin trembled. I so did not deserve this woman.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“At first, I wasn’t sure what was happening to me. Then...” Man, this was difficult to admit. “I was just too scared of what would happen.”
“Oh, Ali.”
I placed my hands over hers. “If ever I do something to frighten you, or my eyes turn red, or I stare at you too long, run. Run and don’t look back.”
She gave me a small shake. “You’re not going to become a zombie, young lady. I won’t let you.”
A small laugh escaped me. I wish I had her confidence.
I leaned forward and enfolded her in a hug. “Thank you for loving me. And I really am sorry about dinner. If I’d kept our plans, last night wouldn’t have... Well, it doesn’t matter now. I’m just so, so sorry.”
“Don’t think another thing about it, A-diddy. You have responsibilities, and I know that.”
A-diddy? I laughed again. Nana used to love to keep up with what she considered popular slang, but she’d stopped after Pops had died. Knowing she was finally picking up the pieces of her shattered life delighted me.
“Nana,” I said, hopping on the counter that divided living room from kitchen. “Did you know the journal you gave me is all about zombie slaying?”
Her eyes grew wide. “No. I didn’t.”
“Has anyone in your family ever... I don’t know, talked about invisible monsters no one else could see? Or been committed to a crazy house, maybe?”
“Well,” she said, peering down at her loafers. “My mother was an alcoholic, and she used to babble about creatures of the night desperate to steal her soul. My dad forbade us to discuss her condition with anyone, and as embarrassed as we were, we were more than happy to agree. Of course, when I was dating Pops, he would sneak over and...well...” She cleared her throat. “Never you mind. He witnessed one of her episodes.”
Slayers. On my mom’s side of the family. How could I not have known?
How many other slayers came from a double lineage?