35. Evalee

EVALEE

H unter 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.” 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 of amusement 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. Maybe even more interesting than what just happened in your bed.”

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.

He sighs, his eyes softening. “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.”