Page 5 of Zombies, Satyrs and Vampires, Oh My!

She shakes her head, but she still hasn’t taken my hand. “I just came for peace and quiet to get work done,” she says.

But there’s something else she’s not saying. “No cabin back there will be safe enough for you,” I say. She clearly has no idea what she’s actually gotten herself into. And despite my twenty emotionless years, I’m starting to get frustrated.

A lone woman. In a cabin in the woods. A human woman in the woods near a town full of monsters and ferals? She won’t make it through the night.

And if she and I stay out here exposed much longer, I might not be able to protect her if that creature comes back.

“I’m just supposed to believe you that I’ll be safe with you? Who’s to say you’re not going to bring me back to your place just so your wife can rub me down with paprika?”

“I don’t have a wife and I’m allergic to paprika.” I exhale slowly, these new emotions so unfamiliar it almost hurts. “What I can tell you is that if that creature comes back, and I’m betting it will now that it has scented you, it will mate you, then eat you. Your odds of survival are much greater back at my place. I have several bedrooms and you can lock me out if you’re worried.”

Her eyes roam over my form and my cock twitches again. “I need to get my stuff,” she finally says.

Her cabin is, indeed, not far away. I follow her there and it takes only a few moments for her to grab her things. She doesn’t have much packed with her, mostly a computer bag and then a small roller. It’s easy enough for me to haul while we walk the rest of the way to my place.

“We could have taken my car,” she says.

“I know. Just prefer to walk.”

“It’s beautiful out here. When giant bug men aren’t trying to eat me.”

We walk in silence until we reach the clearing that opens up to my property.

“Holy shit! That’s your house?”

My “house” is actually a Victorian gothic mansion. Back before the transition, when Hunt Industries first went public and I was worth hundreds of millions of dollars over night, I imagined I might one day get married and have kids. I bought this monstrosity—no pun intended—hoping to someday fill it with a family.

Awkward nerd that I was, I’d never had much luck with women. I didn’t have a problem attracting women. My face and body always helped with that. Then later, the millions, success, and relative fame that came along with that helped even more, but I never found anyone I clicked with. They liked to look at me, but no one ever wanted to listen when I spoke. I just never met anyone I wanted to spend my life with. Then the transition happened and I no longer had a life to share.

“I know. It’s obnoxious. I told you I had enough rooms.” I guess I should be grateful for the rooms since I continue to run Hunt Technologies from home.

“That’s a damn mansion.” She turns to me again. “Seriously, who are you?”

“I told you, my name is Atticus.” I lead her up the stairs to the front door. “You haven’t told me your name yet.”

“Vivian.”

“Vivian,” I repeat, letting the consonants and vowels of her name swirl around in my mouth.

Once we’re inside the house, I lock the front door, then lead her through the two-story tall foyer and into the study and set down her belongings on the leather sofa. “You can pick whichever room you want. I’ve got bedrooms upstairs and on this floor. I can even sleep outside if it will make you feel more comfortable.”

She shakes her head and takes a step towards me. Those pale blue eyes of hers search my face. Her lips are kissably full, and I fight the urge to lean down and press my mouth to hers. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“Maybe you should be.”

“Why won’t you tell me what you are?”

“We both know that you already know what I am.”

One hand reaches up and traces the pronounced ridge of my cheekbone. “You don’t look like any zombie I’ve ever seen,” she says.

“I’m the only zombie I’ve ever met so I can’t speak to the breed as a whole, but I can say that I am quite different than the ones you’ve probably seen in the movies or on television.”

A furrow appears between her brows. “Exactly. For one, you can talk.”

“I can,” I say with a nod.

“You’re not all grrr….grrr…. Brains!”