Tabitha swal owed. “He’s real y messed up over it. He keeps saying that he should have been here to protect them.” She sighed again. “What about Madaug?”
Mark shook his head. “He’s been real y quiet. Freaky, scary quiet. Like Eric, he’s blaming himself. He keeps saying that if he hadn’t created the game, none of this would have happened.”
Nick met Caleb’s gaze. “You feel as bad as I do for them?” Caleb nodded. “I just can’t figure this out. Where are al these living zombies coming from? If Madaug only had the one game … surely they’re not al coming from that.” Nick scratched at the back of his neck. “Like Bubba said earlier, someone must have made a copy of it.”
“Yeah, but doesn’t it seem like it spread a little too fast?”
“What do you mean?”
Caleb narrowed his eyes on the cops. “I think there’s something else at play here. Something just doesn’t feel right about any of this.”
Nick gave him a drol stare. “You mean other than the dead zombies who tried to eat us a few minutes ago?”
“That’s my point, Nick. This isn’t just a game gone awry. I smel the hand of evil. Real evil.”
Nick started to make a snarky comment at the hokiness of his tone and words, but thought better of it. While he stil believed Caleb was a head case, in this he might, God forbid, be right.
There was something terribly wrong here. Even he could feel it.
Wishing he could help Madaug and Eric, he glanced over to the crowd of gawkers who’d come to see what was happening. A tal man in black who stood apart from them caught his eye.
He knew him in an instant and that recognition slammed into him like a fist in his gul et.
Ambrose.
Nick watched as the flashing light from the police car highlighted his sinister face. It cast shadows across the planes of his cheeks, making his eyes look inhuman. And I thought my father looked evil. . . .
Adarian had nothing on Ambrose.
With that thought came a bad feeling that Ambrose might be behind this. Wanting to get to the bottom of it, Nick started toward him.
Ambrose turned and his gaze locked with Nick’s. In that single heartbeat, Nick swore the man’s eyes turned a deep bloody red that glowed in the darkness. One second Ambrose was staring at him like he could kil him and in the next …
He was gone.
Nick came to a halt as he looked around the yard. No one seemed to have noticed the man who was now missing.
“What the heck?”
Caleb came up behind him. “What’s wrong?”
“Did you see …” What was he supposed to say? Did you see my crazy uncle, Jason Voorhees? Do you think he could kil someone’s mom and brother?
“Did I see what?”
Nick shook his head. “Never mind. It must have been a shadow.”
Caleb scowled at him. “You al right? You look kind of pale.” Nick wasn’t sure anymore. Suddenly, he felt dizzy and weird. For a second, he thought he might be sick until he felt a soft hand on his shoulder. Turning his head, he saw Nekoda behind him. Her pale face was gorgeous and she was the best thing he’d seen al day.
“What are you doing here, Nick?”
He’d never been happier to see anyone in his life. Before he could think better of it, he turned and hugged her close.
Nekoda froze at the unexpected contact. Never in her life had anyone held her like this. Never had they greeted her as if they were thril ed to see her. A wave of foreign emotion ripped through her entire body.
What was it?
And it wasn’t just the emotion, it was the sensation of his arm around her. Of his breath fal ing against her cheek and the warm smel of his hair. It made her entire body hum and gave her an insane desire to bury her hand in his soft hair. Most of al , it sent a wave of chil s over her. “Nick?” Nick couldn’t answer as he let the heat of her body comfort his ragged emotions. How strange that in a night of chaos, she seemed to ground him.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, before he let go and stepped back. “I didn’t mean to assault you. It’s just been a real y, real y bad night and I’m glad to see a friendly face.” Nekoda trembled as he put his hand on her cheek. He’s my enemy. A creature she was sworn to kil . But looking into those blue eyes, she didn’t see a monster.
She saw …
Something that scared and shocked her to her core. Don’t let him charm you. It’s not real. It’s his powers. Nothing more.
He is evil to the center of his soul.
But her compulsion toward him didn’t feel like it was coming from him. It felt like it was coming from deep inside her. As if some part of her just wanted to be closer to him.
How utterly peculiar.
Unable to stand it, she pul ed his hand away from her face and put enough distance between them that she could think straight. “You didn’t answer my question.” He gestured over his shoulder, toward the house. “We brought Madaug home. What about you? What are you doing here?”
“I live nearby,” she lied. She’d been summoned here by a violent wave of magick. It was like Nick’s powers on steroids.
If she didn’t know better, she’d say it was him at his ful strength, but he was stil weak.