Zombies Sold Separately

THIRTEEN



Friday, December 24


“I don’t know if I can do this.” I crossed my arms beneath my breasts as I stared at myself in the mirror. “What if Adam’s family doesn’t like me?”

My reflection didn’t answer, of course, and I brushed down the lines of my simple plum Armani jersey dress with my palms and discovered my hands were shaking.

Nerves made me feel like Faeries were being juggled in my belly. A lot like the Sprite juggler had done when he was in the talent competition. Yep. Spinning, colorful Faeries tucked into ball shapes and releasing sparkling Faerie dust as they tumbled.

I thought I was going to be sick.

I tracked down Metamorphs, rogue Werewolves, Vamps, Demons, and any other kind of bad paranorm there was … but I was scared to death to meet Adam’s family and see a few norms at a wedding reception.

Adam’s familiar knock sent another burst of tingling through my abdomen, but this one was caused by excitement at seeing him rather than almost terror at meeting his family.

My four-inch heels clicked on the wood flooring as I went to the door. I’d gone all out when I went shopping for an outfit for the reception. A princess had to dress her very best when meeting her boyfriend’s family for the first time.

“So beautiful,” Adam said the moment he got a look at me. He stepped through the doorway, brought me into his arms, and kissed me. “You look unbelievable.”

I felt the press of his suit against my body as he held me. When he raised his head he was smiling and I smiled back at him.

As I stepped away, I ran my gaze over him from the shine of his black dress shoes to his tamed brown hair. “I’ve never seen you dressed up like this.” I ran my finger along the lapel. “You look amazing.”

Then I gave him an evil grin. “First chance I get, though, I’m going to mess up your hair. It’s too perfect.” I stopped and reached for his hands. “Do we need to go over my ‘story’ in case they ask?”

Adam brought my hands to his mouth and kissed my knuckles. “We’ll keep it as simple as we can.”

“I work as an assistant to a private investigator, which is how we met.” I started to recite the story we came up with. “If they ask who, I give them Olivia’s name and say she’s not in the book, takes referrals only.”

“Yes.” Adam brought me close to him. “Your parents just moved from New York City to Alaska.”

“Anchorage,” I said. “And I haven’t been there yet to see their new place but plan to soon.”

“You grew up right here in the city and went to a private school for girls,” Adam said.

I laughed. “Okay. I know just the school. But then you rescue me so that I don’t have to answer more questions.”

“Get your coat,” he said still smiling. “It’s cold as hell—I mean it’s cold out there.”

The cold wouldn’t bother me that much, but I grabbed one of my long dress coats from my closet. I had already selected a dressy clutch to carry my ID, credit cards, and cash in before going back into the living room where Adam was waiting.

We closed the door behind us and he took my arm and walked with me down the steps.

Adam had parked on the street in front of the apartment building. Before I could start to walk down the wet sidewalk, he scooped me up in his arms.

I gave a little cry of surprise and instinctively wrapped my arms around his neck. He carried me to his SUV and I laughed. I didn’t argue that I could walk on my own. It was nice being held by him. Strangely it made me feel secure, protected.

Once he had me settled in my seat and he was in his, Adam pulled his SUV on the road and drove it the short distance to West Fifty-eighth Street.

When he neared the Hudson Hotel my stomach pitched. “The wedding reception is at the Hudson?” I asked, hoping it wasn’t.

Falling twenty-four floors from the top of the Hudson after being blasted through a window by a Master Vampire didn’t bring a whole lot of warm and fuzzy memories.

Adam glanced at me as he started to park the SUV. “You okay, Nyx?”

I did my best to smile. “As long as reception is not in the penthouse.”

At first Adam looked confused, but then he said, “Damn, Nyx.” He reached out and touched my face with his fingers. “Kasey gave me the invitation weeks ago. I knew it was in the city, but I didn’t actually open the invitation until last night,” he said. “I didn’t make the connection. Are you still okay with going?”

I drew in a deep breath. “I can’t let Volod affect my life any more than he already has. I won’t let him.”

Adam cupped the back of my head and leaned forward to kiss me. “We’ll make up some new memories. Good memories.”

I smiled. “I’m fine with that.”

Once Adam had parked and we were walking into the hotel, not-so-good memories came at me anyway. My team had used the stairwell to get to the penthouse where Volod had been living. So the stairwell, penthouse, and the asphalt beneath the window I’d been blasted through were my only experiences at the hotel. I hadn’t spent any time in the heart of the Hudson.

The hotel itself was unique, unlike any other I’d been in. It was what the hotel called cheap chic. “Stylish, young at heart, and utterly cool,” per the brochure I picked up.

None of those words applied to the Master Vampire who had made the penthouse his lair. An interesting choice for him.

I’d only picked up the brochure to have something to hold onto after we checked our coats. Next thing I knew I’d crumpled it when my thoughts turned to Volod. I stuck it in my clutch and gripped it tight instead.

The hotel’s unique use of lighting and colors was nothing but a blur to me as we headed to the banquet room for the reception.

When we walked into the crowded room, I wanted to turn and run all the way back to my apartment. I might have if Adam didn’t have such a great hold on my hand.

Adam smiled, greeted, and shook hands with one person after another. Soft background music played as he introduced me as his date then moved on after telling each person, couple, or group that it was great to see them and that he had to find his parents and sister. I did my best to smile and wondered how I was going to get through the reception with all of these humans.

It was an entirely bizarre feeling for me to be around only humans in an intimate environment, with no other paranorms. Now I knew how Olivia and Adam must feel every time they went to the Pit.

“Finally.” Adam drew me beside him.

A hot flush from sheer nerves slid under my skin as we walked toward a good-looking man with graying hair and a beautiful blond woman. They both appeared to be in their mid-fifties.

“Mom, Dad,” Adam said as he introduced me. “This is Nyx.” He turned to me. “Nyx, this is my mom, Laura, and my dad, Ron.”

“Adam told us about you,” Laura said as she took my hand in between her palms and squeezed it. “It is so good to meet someone Adam cares so much for.”

Heat rose to my face and out of the corner of my eye I noticed that Adam was having the same reaction. But the thought that he’d talked to his parents about me was a great feeling.

Ron shook my hand and smiled and I smiled back at him. I murmured how nice it was to meet them both.

When Laura asked me where I was from and Ron asked the specifics, I had the answers. With Adam at my side this was going to be all right.

“Honey,” Laura said to Adam, “will you please go up to the bar and get me a sea breeze?” Maybe it wasn’t going to be so all right, I thought when she turned to me and said, “What would you like Adam to get for you?” because it meant that Adam had to leave us.

“Dry martini with three olives.” Adam recited my favorite drink and I nodded. He looked a little concerned about leaving me when he said, “I’ll be right back.”

Wait, I wanted to cry out as he left me with his parents. Instead I made myself smile at Ron and Laura.

Commence the drilling.

Thanks to practicing my answers with Adam, I did all right as they asked me what I did for a living, where I worked, and about my parents. Easy enough.

“They would like that, I’m sure,” I replied to Laura when she said they would love to meet my parents the next time they came to the city.

My mom was human, so that wouldn’t be a problem—unless someone asked her about Alaska. However, I didn’t think anyone could get past my Drow father’s long sapphire-blue hair, light blue skin, and silvery-gray eyes. It was such an alien thought, I wasn’t sure whether to frown or smile at the image of anyone I knew in the norm world meeting my father. Not that I wasn’t proud of my father. It would just be … weird.

I wondered what Adam would think when—or if—he met my parents. How strange it would be to take my human lover to the belowground realm of the Dark Elves. Just thinking about it made me feel uncomfortable, which surprised me but shouldn’t have. I couldn’t picture Adam sitting down and having a mug of ale with a bunch of Drow warriors, including my father.

When Adam returned with our drinks I let my breath out in a rush of relief.

“Adam told me that you grew up here locally. Where did you go to high school?” Laura asked with an animated smile as she took her sea breeze from Adam. “When did you graduate?”

“A private school for girls,” I said after I took a sip of my martini. I told her the year Adam said I would have graduated if I had grown up in Earth Otherworld.

“A private all-girls school—was it The Château by chance?” Laura asked.

“Yes.” I couldn’t think fast enough and the word was out of my mouth before I could stop it.

Laura perked up. “What a small, small world. My close friend Marcy’s daughter, Jennifer Dubois, went there. Do you recognize the name?”

“Umm, no. No, I don’t think I do.” My face started to heat up and I felt an instinctive urge to flee.

“Well, I’m almost certain that she graduated that same year, because I remember not being able to attend the graduation because of my surgery that year. You must know her, the school is not that big.”

I almost coughed out my next sip of martini. “Uh—”

“Mom, Nyx and I need to—” Adam sounded almost desperate to leave.

“Jennifer is here somewhere.” Adam’s mom stood on her toes and peered around the room. “This is wonderful. We can reconnect you.”

“Mrs. Boyd.” A man with a chef’s hat caught Laura’s attention. “There is a problem with the canapés.”

“Oh!” Laura’s eyes widened and she swung her gaze back to me. “I will be right back and we’ll find Jennifer.”

And then she was gone.

“There’s Kasey, my sister.” Adam gestured with his beer bottle toward a pretty blonde at the back of the room who looked a lot like Laura. “I want to introduce you to her and her new husband, Jacob,” he said to me, “then we’ll find my brother, Mike, too.”

“Go see your sister.” Ron patted Adam on the back and winked at me. “I’ll make sure your mother doesn’t get too excited over the appetizers,” he said before he walked after his wife.

“Adam, that was way too close.” I leaned close to him so that no one could hear me. “I can’t believe she knows someone who graduated from the same high school I supposedly did. And on top of that, the person just happens to be here.”

Adam looked a little grim and I wondered if my martini stem would snap if I gripped it any tighter. “I can’t keep this going,” I said. “There’s too much information to track too quickly. It’s getting so awkward.”

He continued to study me as I talked, looking like the Adam I had known for so long and had fallen in love with—while at the same time like someone I didn’t know at all.

“What do I do when she brings Jennifer here?” I set my martini glass on a tray before I could spill the drink on my dress. “Say I hit my head when I landed after being thrown from the penthouse of this hotel … and ever since I have been saying stupid things that make no sense?”

“We’ll figure it out,” Adam said, but he didn’t look happy.

“I don’t know how this works,” I said. “I wish we could just sit and tell them the real story, but of course we can’t.” I had already spotted the exits to make my escape when Laura came back with some woman in tow. “I’m afraid if I have another conversation with your parents or brother or sister, I won’t be able to keep it all straight.”

Adam glanced at me and there was a look in his eyes that made me feel like something was off. Maybe even wrong. His smile seemed a little forced as he set his empty beer bottle on a tray.

“Okay, this time I won’t leave you alone.” Adam clasped my hand. “I’ll control this.”

I nodded my okay as he led me toward his sister.

Kasey was standing with a man who was my height, a few inches taller than his wife, and a few inches shorter than Adam’s six-two. They both looked a little tan, like they’d been in the sun recently. Which of course they had, on their wedding cruise.

Adam looked apprehensive when he introduced me to his sister and her new husband.

My face felt funny from smiling so much as I greeted them. “Congratulations on your marriage.”

Kasey’s brown eyes were bright, her expression animated, a lot like her mother’s. “Adam has never brought someone to a family event before.” Kasey’s words ran together because she spoke so fast. “You must be special, Nyx.”

Red crept into Adam’s face and I felt my own cheeks grow hot.

Kasey didn’t seem to notice and continued on, full speed ahead. “Nyx is such an unusual name,” she said. “Is it N-i-x? Is it short for something like Nicole? Or is it a nickname? What does it mean?”

That was a question I could answer easily enough. Plenty of norms and paranorms had asked me that one. “My mother is into Greek mythology,” I said when Kasey paused for breath. “Nyx means goddess of the night. It’s spelled N-y-x.” When I was young, my mother told me the goddess Nyx was considered a figure of exceptional beauty and power.

“Nyx is also the name of an asteroid and one of Pluto’s moons,” Jacob said, surprising me. He had been standing so quietly to the side that I’d forgotten he was there. “However,” he went on, “the moon is spelled with an ‘i’ instead of a ‘y’ to avoid confusion with the asteroid. Both were named after the same Greek goddess you were,” he added.

“Oh.” I didn’t know what else to say.

Adam didn’t seem to either.

Kasey laughed, the sound sweet and musical. “Jacob is into astronomy if you can’t tell.”

“Where’s Mike?” Adam asked, probably to keep Kasey from saying anything else that might embarrass him.

She glanced around the crowded room much like Laura had a few moments ago. “I know he’s here somewhere.”

“We’ll find him.” Adam kissed his sister on the cheek. “See you later, kiddo.” He turned and gave Jacob a light punch in the arm. “I’ve got a gun and a badge. I’ll be watching you.”

It was Jacob’s turn to look uncomfortable. I think Adam wanted to laugh but he kept a straight face.

Adam couldn’t get two feet without someone stopping him to say hello, or to say how long it had been since they’d seen him last. He introduced me each time and moved on to the next person.

An hour and a half later we still hadn’t found his brother and had talked with at least twenty different people.

Then Adam did a great duck and roll maneuver.

He pretended not to notice the next person who recognized him, ducked to the side, took me by the waist, and whirled us into the crowd of dancers at the center of the large room.

“This is better,” Adam said close to my ear. “Just the two of us.”

A shiver ran through me from the warmth of his breath and the sound of his voice. He held me close as we danced and he smiled at me. At the same time he seemed different but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

He kept me on the dance floor and had me breathless and laughing. We danced and danced. It shouldn’t have surprised me that Adam was such a good dancer considering how athletic he had always appeared to be.

We didn’t leave the dance floor, but plenty of couples stopped us to talk with Adam. After he greeted them, he only took enough time to introduce me before he danced me away again.

Then the tingling started.

The feeling jerked me out of my enjoyment of the moment and I backed a step from Adam.

“I’ve got to go, I’ve got to go.” I said and heard the urgency in my voice as the tingling grew more insistent. “I totally lost track of time. I can’t believe this. I have to leave now.”

How could the time have gone by so quickly? It had seemed like more than enough time when we planned today, but the hours had passed faster than I’d expected.

Adam looked confused, then realization hit him.

“Picture time!” Laura’s voice sang out from behind us before she grabbed Adam’s hand. “Family pictures now.”

“I’ll meet you at the SUV,” I said before I told Laura, “I need to go to the ladies’ room.”

Tingling sensations pricked at my skin as I fought my way through the crowd and a sense of panic made my throat tight. What if I was already transforming?

I fled the reception and made it into the restroom in time to see blue shimmer down my black hair. I heard the door open behind me and ducked into a stall.

So close. Too close.

The shift is always harder when I’m stationary and can’t stretch into the changes in my body. I tilted my head back, closed my eyes, and felt my muscles grow stronger, tighter, more defined. My skin tingled and I knew it was now amethyst. I could feel the change in my hair as it turned completely blue. My small fangs were sharp as my tongue touched them and I even felt my ears shifting so that they were now pointed.

When the transformation was over I opened my eyes and looked down. A strong sense of being out of place came over me. I didn’t belong here.

I waited until I heard the flush of a toilet, a stall door opening and closing, and the sounds of water running and paper towels being ripped from the dispenser.

When at last I heard the bathroom door swish open and closed I let out a sigh of relief. I needed to get out of this place. I wrapped myself in an air glamour and slipped out of the stall.

I debated on whether or not to wait until someone opened the door to leave, but I really wanted to get out of there. I left the stall I’d been in and hurried to wash and dry my hands before opening the door to leave. A couple of giggling young women pushed the door from the opposite side at the same time and one of them stumbled into the ladies’ room.

“That was weird,” one of them said as I slipped past and out into the hotel.

The sense of not belonging was stronger now as I made my way out of the hotel and to where Adam had parked his SUV. Loneliness snuck up on me, tightening my muscles and making my head ache.

It was dark now. And I couldn’t be a part of Adam’s world.

I used my air element to unlock the door of his SUV before climbing in and shutting the door. I sat there in the cold while I waited for Adam to come and hoped he would get my coat that I’d checked in earlier.

The vehicle was cold inside but that didn’t bother me as much as the length of time I sat there alone. I looked down at my dress and felt ridiculous at the way the plum color looked against my amethyst skin. My blue hair clashed with it, too, as I leaned forward and my hair fell over my shoulders.

I had the strong urge to leave. I didn’t want Adam to see me like this. It didn’t matter that he’d seen me plenty of times in my Drow form. Right now I felt so out of place that I might have cried if I had the ability to do so.

An hour passed before Adam made it to the SUV. He climbed in, leaned over the console, and gave me a quick kiss. “I’m sorry, Nyx.” He drew away. “Pictures took longer than I thought they would and a group of old friends grabbed me and I had a hard time getting away.”

I’d been forcing smiles all night, so I managed to now. “I’m sorry you had to leave so soon because of me. I should have thought of that when you asked me to come.”

“It was nice having you with me.” Adam touched the side of my face. “I’m just sorry I didn’t get a chance to introduce you to my brother. They all were asking where you were. I told them you didn’t feel well.”

He started the SUV and drove me back to my apartment before parking and walking me to my door.

Before I could open the door, Adam brought me to a halt, turned me to face him, and clasped both my hands. “You’re going to visit your parents for the next few days?”

I frowned. Lawan was missing. Should I be out looking for her? At the same time I realized that getting answers from my father might be a way to learn how I could find her.

Also, I hadn’t spent much time with my parents for the past two years and I’d planned this trip for a long time. They would be disappointed if I changed my plans.

“I’ll come back sometime Monday,” I said. “Is your family still planning on going to your parents’ winter home in Fort Lauderdale?”

Adam nodded. “I’ll return on Monday, too. I’ll give you a call.” He kissed me, a light brush of our lips. “See you when you get back.”

I tried not to let my surprise show that he wasn’t coming in with me.

“See you,” I said quietly before I let myself into my apartment and closed the door behind me.