Chapter 34

"Dahlia," I croaked as I swear I heard an echo of her screaming.

My head throbbed, the wave of nausea accompanying the opening of my eyes causing me to screw them tightly shut again while I got my bearings. Blinking until my vision cleared, I took in my surroundings. Where the fuck was I? Oh yeah, Blackwood. Dahlia's Viking had sent me to the tower so I could be safe while he fought off angry villagers. Except I hadn't made it up the stairs, instead slipping and falling on a patch of ice and soundly knocking myself out. I was a real help in a crisis, let me tell you.

Life had gotten a lot more interesting since Dahlia came to Blackwood and learned the truth about herself and the world she belonged to. Some days I still had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Days like the one where I knocked on a vampire's door and willingly entered their McMansion. Or today when, I shit you not, a whole-ass zombie walked by me.

Panic, followed by disgust, crept up my throat. She was bloody and partly decomposed, but I was pretty sure I recognized her.

"Is that the fucking doctor?" I said, clapping a hand over my mouth because, rule one of the zombie apocalypse, don't draw attention to yourself lest they eat your brains.

"Down with the ship. Captain goes down with the ship." The voice filtered to my ears, capturing my focus and turning my attention to the unconscious man I'd seen when I first ran over here. Safe to say he wasn't unconscious any longer. He pushed himself upright, and recognition shot through me.

"Pirate? Is that you?" I got to wobbly feet, stumbling to him.

"Are you lost? Do you need a happy thought?" he asked, his eyes unfocused.

"Caspian. It's Kiki. I'm here to get Dahlia."

"Dahlia? My darling Wendy-bird. Where is she?" He stood, head swiveling as he searched for her. He looked worse for wear, drying trails of blood coming from his eyes, nose, and ears.

"Yikes, buddy. What the hell happened to you?"

"Ticktock, ticktock..." His attention shifted past me to the zombie still shuffling her way to wherever it was zombies go. In search of brains, I guess.

He stood ramrod straight, his shoulders so stiff he could've doubled as a hanger.

"What is i?—"

"Hold that thought," he said, finger pressed to my lips.

Then the man rushed straight up to the zombie, somehow not getting eaten by her. He stopped her with a palm to the shoulder, but she continued to attempt to move forward. The guy was stronger than he seemed.

"My, my, Lizzie. You've looked better. What the devil happened to you? You look like you've been dead and buried for months."

The zombie didn't have much to say to that, just a low, drawn-out groan that made me think those people in charge of the video games knew more than the average bear.

"It would appear you have something I've been looking for." Without even an ounce of reverence, Hook grabbed a pendant that was hanging around her neck, yanking hard enough to break the chain.

He stepped aside, giving her a courtly bow as she continued her journey past us. "As you were."

"Caspian, what the fuck was that?"

"Hold on, love. I need a moment." He proceeded to press the dirty pendant to his lips, his nose curling in disgust as he spit out some—bleck—grave dirt. "How I've missed you. I'll never let you go again. Next to my heart, that's where you belong."

Despite the somewhat fanciful words, there was something different about the pirate. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. He seemed more focused, maybe. Alert and present in a way he definitely hadn't been when he'd woken up.

"No wonder I couldn't find it. It was buried, but obviously in a place no one would think to look. Poor Lizzie. I wonder how long she's been dead. Someone did a good job of bludgeoning her and covering it up. Hmm, perhaps it was the Ripper? But no. He seemed very invested in her."

"Caspian?"

"Hmm?" he asked, glancing over at me as if he'd forgotten I was there.

"What are you talking about?"

"I found my compass," he said, waving the pendant like it was a prize.

"Um... congratulations?"

"Yes, thank you. Oh, this is brilliant. The day has been saved, don't you see? I'm myself again. Not a trace of madness to be found."

I cocked one brow. "That's what you say. There's a fuck ton going down just over that hill, man. I don't think the day has been saved in the slightest."

He grinned, his attention shifting yet again as he looked in the direction Zombie Masterson had disappeared. "Come to think of it. It's not every day the dead just up and walk about. I wonder..."

He started walking.

"Sure, sure, I'll be right there. No need to wait for me or anything."

Guess I couldn't exactly be surprised that a pirate didn't have manners. I stumbled after him, chasing him up the cobblestone ramp until the main grounds came into view. What I saw wasn't a fight. It was a massacre. Everyone within the gates was dead. The state of their deadness, however, varied. Some were long dead, like the doctor, though instead of shambling toward something, they were standing still and swaying in place. Others had only just been recently killed. Like very recently. My stomach churned as my eyes landed on a corpse I recognized. The last time I saw him, he'd been delivering my box of dresses to Dahlia. I think she said his name was Bru. He was so handsome; he almost looked like he was just sleeping. Except for the way his vacant eyes stared at nothing.

"What are they doing?" I whispered as I tore my eyes away from him and back to the zombies doing their best streetlamp impersonations.

"Waiting."

"For what?"

"Dahlia's orders."

Dahlia had done this? She'd brought forth an army of zombies to fight the villagers? But why, when they'd clearly been killed already?

The bodies littering the grass were reminiscent of that one time I went on a date to see a fucking WWII movie. Spoiler alert, I hated it. I hated this too. Especially when I realized that the only living person standing was Dahlia. Hades was there, but he was on his knees, head cradled in his hands, blood leaking out of his ears.

Suddenly the carnage in front of me made sense. I'd seen this before. Lived through it, technically. The footage from the Rebel premiere came back to me. Dahlia's scream, the creepy look in her eyes, and the way her hair floated like she had her own wind machine. The bodies as they dropped all around her. Our bodies. Because, yeah, I'd gone down with the rest of them.

"Oh, my darling girl. What have you done?" Hook murmured.

"Dahlia wouldn't do this on purpose," I said, instantly coming to her defense.

"She would if she thought her mates were at risk."

"What do you mean?"

Hook pointed to the left, a large black lump of something in the way of whatever he was trying to show me. "That's Kai." He pointed somewhere else. "And that's Tor. Plus, I was missing. Draw your own conclusions, love."

"You seem to be drawing them on your own just fine."

He tapped his temple. "I have the added benefit of her thoughts, you see."

My brows lifted. "And you want me to believe this is the sane version of you I'm talking to? I'm not sure that compass did all you hoped it would, buddy. You're still mad as a hatter to me."

"She's my mate. We're bonded. Believe what you want, but we have to get down there and stop her because she's so consumed by her rage we're going to lose her if we don't. Dahlia may be willing to do anything to save us, but I doubt she'll be able to live with herself once she realizes she killed as many friends as she did enemies."

The urgency in his tone brooked no argument. He was dead serious. Also, Dahlia's hair was doing that scary floaty thing again, and Hades still hadn't managed to get to his feet.

"Right, so she's spiraling. I know how to deal with this. Stand back and let the master work."

Then I was jogging, doing my level best not to think too hard about what I was jumping over and weaving around as I crossed the yard to get to her. These zombies may have seemed calm and unaware of their surroundings, but I'd seen my share of horror flicks, and the last thing I was going to do was let one of them sink their teeth into me.

"Kiki, wait! I don't think you should... Oh, bloody hell."

I didn't stop. He could chase me all he wanted. If that pirate thought I was going to let my bestie's doom spiral consume her, he clearly didn't know me.

Friends don't let friends commit mass murder. I'm pretty sure it was in the bylaws, right below mentioning lettuce in the teeth and before no crying alone.

I just hoped I wasn't too late.