Page 9 of Zombies, Satyrs and Vampires, Oh My!

chapter

five

Atticus

I refuse to touch my cock after leaving Vivian alone downstairs. I press my palm against my zipper, willing my nearly full hard-on to go away. I don’t understand what’s happening, and until I do, I’m not indulging in any releases.

Something strange occurred recently to a friend of mine and while he’s not a zombie, he has his own monstrous issues to deal with. So I decide to give him a call.

“Silas? You got a minute?” I ask when he answers.

“Uh, sure, Atticus. You don’t normally call. Everything okay?”

“I’m not sure. Something is different, changing. I can feel it. I know that after you met Juniper, you experienced some differences with her.”

“Yes,” Silas says, his voice unsure. “Why don’t you explain your situation.”

“I met a woman in the woods. I scented her first and it was the best thing I’d ever smelled. But then she screamed and by the time I got there, one of the ferals was attacking her.”

I take a deep breath because the same sensations are coursing through me right now, that boiling of rage that pumped my blood full of adrenaline.

Rage? Adrenaline?

These aren’t things I feel. I’ve felt nothing for two decades. Nothing. There’s a vague emptiness that tells me when I need to eat. A lethargy when I need to sleep. But that’s it. No hunger. No exhaustion. No amusement. Certainly none of the big emotions. Nothing even close to rage.

Until now. Until her.

“It’s been a while for me, but I’m almost positive what I felt was anger.” I struggle to find the words to describe what I felt. And that I felt anything at all. “I wanted to rip off that fucking moth’s wings.”

Silas chuckles. “That’s pretty violent coming from you, our normally mild-mannered zombie. Plus, I knew you before we all changed and you never had much of a temper. With people, that is. I have seen you throw a computer on more than one occasion.”

My lips twitch for what I think is the second time today. Humor? Am I amused? Angry, aroused and amused. And, evidently alliterative. I roll my eyes at myself.

“Tell me more about the woman,” Silas says.

“I want her,” I say, my voice raw. “It’s a hunger like I haven’t experienced since the beginning. It’s different though. It’s not that kind of hunger. I don’t want to consume her brains, I just …” Again, words fail me. I just … what? I just want. I can’t describe it. It’s like I want to absorb her through my skin. To make her part of me. “I brought her to my house though, because I know that fucking moth probably won’t give up that easily now that he’s caught her scent.”

“Interesting.”

“I don’t want to hurt her.”

“If that was your instinct, you would have done it already,” Silas says, his voice full of certainty. “Has it occurred to you that maybe you’re just into her? Like, dude, when was the last time you were with a woman?”

“Don’t be an asshole. You know the answer to that question. That part of my life is over now.”

“I thought so, too. But look at me now. So maybe your interest in her isn’t zombie hunger, but lust.”

“Yeah. Fuck off. That’s not any better. Because it’s not like I can act on that. Ever.” The thought of burying myself inside of Vivian’s lush body makes me hard as a fucking stone.

“Why don’t you just try it?”

“Because I could kill her, Silas. You of all people should know that.”

“Give her a weapon to protect herself. If things go sideways, she can end you.”

I’m quiet for a minute while I think on his suggestion. It’s not a bad one. I mean it’s still crazy because that’s even assuming that a gorgeous woman like her would want a pale, pasty monsterfucker like me.

“You’re considering it,” Silas says.