Zombies Sold Separately

THIRTY-THREE



Friday, December 31

Morning


“Is it going to hurt?” I asked as I moved away from Colin and Desmond. I seated myself in a hardback chair, directly across from the chair Candace Moreno’s Host body was strapped to.

The gagged Host fought against the bonds, looking wild-eyed as the Sentient Bryna struggled from within.

It was morning and the four of us were in Desmond’s apartment, after I’d used my glamour to help us steal Candace’s Host body from the infirmary. Lucky us that we managed to get away without getting caught.

I wondered if we counted as five persons instead of four with Candace in the stone and Bryna in Candace’s body.

To be ready for anything when we returned, I was in my leather fighting outfit, but had handed my weapons belt to Desmond for safekeeping when I’d arrived. Wouldn’t do to have an armed Zombie-body left behind.

“I don’t think it will hurt.” Desmond answered my question with a casual shrug. “Although I have never asked anyone if it does.”

“Great.” I swallowed and tried to relax. “How can you do the same thing Amory can do in the transference of essences?” I asked.

“The magic is in the stones,” Desmond said. “My powers are similar to Amory’s and I understand the mind and the process like he does. It is a matter of tapping into the power of the stones. We both can do this.”

“What are you doing?” I said as Desmond and Colin began to strap my own body down.

“We need to make sure your body remains safe when you exchange essences,” Desmond said.

I tested the restraints. “These aren’t strong enough to hold me.”

“They will be.” Desmond rose and stepped back and Colin did the same.

Desmond raised his hands and a yellow glow radiated from his palms. The glow felt warm against my skin and I suddenly felt relaxed, languid. The bonds tightened around me and I pulled against them. The magic he used was so strong that the bonds had no give to them at all.

The Sorcerer picked up the cloth-wrapped stone that had Candace Moreno’s essence locked inside. He pulled the cloth aside and I saw the tiny image of Candace staring out the flat side, as if she was trying to look through a TV screen.

Desmond placed the cloth and stone on the end table closest to me. “As long as no one else is touching the stone at the same time, you are safe and you will have control.” He crouched beside my chair. “Because you have control of the stone, your essence will go into Candace’s body, and Bryna’s essence will join Candace’s in the stone.”

I swallowed and looked up at Colin who gave me an encouraging nod. I knew he wanted to argue against my doing this, but he also was aware that this was a way to get in with the Sorcerer Amory, something we really needed right now.

“It’s just temporary,” I said to Colin and he gave me a grim smile.

Desmond stood beside me, looking deceptively calm. Colin was on my opposite side.

When I picked up the stone an electrical sensation shot through my arm, straight for my head. It was like my brain was suddenly connected in some way to the stone.

My heart beat faster and I looked up at Desmond. “Go on,” he said. “Touch her.”

“Okay.” Maybe I said it to shore up my courage as I took a deep breath. Then I repeated the word. “Okay.”

I can do this.

My heart pounded, my breathing become tight and painful in my chest.

Bryna struggled, her eyes growing wider as I reached for her hand. It all seemed to happen in slow motion, as if I had to force myself to do it.

She screamed behind her gag as my fingers met hers.

Brilliant white light flashed in my head. My whole body prickled when I felt myself grasp the stone.

At the same time I realized that it wasn’t my fingers wrapped around it anymore. Yet I was holding it.

The thoughts didn’t make sense as I felt myself rush forward, straight for Candace’s body. At the same time I wanted to scream for it to stop. To change my mind. Not to do this.

Too late. I felt myself flow into the other body.

Colors exploded in my mind. If felt like I was surrounded with brilliant flashes of light in green, blue, purple, orange, red.

Pictures flashed around me. It was like I was standing in a circular room filled with screens. On each screen were images I didn’t recognize. They swirled around me, and then began bombarding me with so much information I thought I might pass out from it.

A mixture of Candace’s memories, Bryna’s memories, and mine, too. Information came to me with each image, as if they were my own memories.

Christmas with Candace’s large family in Mexico; Bryna talking with a tall dark-skinned man she referred to as Amory and the knowledge that he was in a new body; Adam and I in the Italian restaurant when he broke up with me; Candace at work in her position as the CEO in a brokerage house; Bryna stalking Candace, holding the stone, ready to trade essences with her; Bryna watching her own body walk away, now a Zombie, after she made Candace her Host; Colin and I fighting Sentients in the coffee shop.

One image after another after another after another … a hundred different thoughts all at one time … everything flying around in my brain until I thought my head would explode from it all.

“Nyx!” I heard Colin’s shout somewhere outside my head and the bombardment of thoughts and memories.

Someone was shaking me—but not me.

I grasped onto the thread that was me. A thread that felt drawn so tight that it might snap.

“Nyx.” Desmond’s voice. “Open your eyes.”

My eyes. Not my eyes.

Warm hands on my own. Not my own. But grounding me. Bringing me forth out of the swirling haze that surrounded me.

“Open your eyes,” Desmond repeated.

I gripped the strong male hands holding my own and clenched my teeth, and willed everything to slow and come into focus.

Gradually it all fell into place, memories slotted but ready for me to draw on when I needed them.

I opened my eyes. Colin was crouched in front of me, his hands grasping mine tight. “Nyx?” He looked concerned. “Are you all right?”

He looked different, the outline of him not so sharp, the colors of his clothing not as brilliant. His light blue shirt looked grayish-blue, his hair a darker gold than I was used to.

I was seeing him as Candace would, through her eyes. The scents of Desmond, Colin, and even the smells in Desmond’s apartment were dull, muted. My hearing didn’t seem as acute as it always had.

When I looked down at my and Colin’s hands, I saw small hands with smooth light brown skin and long, manicured nails. I wondered vaguely how one would fight with such long nails.

All of the aches and pains that Candace’s body had, I now felt, including the bruise from the IV that had been in her hand while she was at the infirmary.

I felt everything—the scrapes along one side of her face from the asphalt as well as other cuts and bruises, along with her injured backside from being hit by a truck. She really needed a chiropractor.

Other than that, Candace’s body was toned and fit. She obviously worked out, but I felt nothing near the power of my own body.

My own body …

I raised my head—Candace’s head—and saw myself in the seat across from me. My heart thumped harder.

Seeing myself through another person’s eyes sent a shock through my core. The fair-skinned woman across from me with black hair would have been pretty, but her face was slack, her expression blank, her eyes vacant.

My body looked so … Zombie-ish, and a sick feeling churned in my belly. Despite the blank appearance, the shell of a body was pulling against the bonds that held her to the chair. Held me to the chair.

I turned my gaze toward Desmond. “You do know,” I said, startling at the sound of the unfamiliar, sultry voice, “that I’ll have to kill you if you don’t get me back into my own body.”

Desmond and Colin studied me.

“Are you sure it’s Nyx in the driver’s seat now?” Colin asked.

Desmond gestured to the floor and Colin and I looked down to see the stone by my foot where I’d dropped it. On the smooth side two women now shared the stone. Candace, of course, was one of the women. The other I recognized as Bryna when I drew from the memory of her looking at herself in a mirror in Amory’s manor. Words actually came to me in that odd French-sounding language the Sentients had been using the night Candace-Bryna was hit by the truck.

“It’s me in here.” My throat felt different as I spoke, the body I was in strange, feeling somehow fragile compared to my own body.

Desmond moved around me and looked behind my ear. “Two burn marks.” He frowned as he came back around so that I could see him. “I’d thought the first mark would be the one used to transfer Bryna’s essence to the stone, and yours into Candace’s body. Let us hope that Amory doesn’t notice. With your Host body’s short hair, it’s a possibility.”

“Great.” I tried to move but then realized I was strapped to the chair. “Think you can let me up?”

Desmond and Colin unstrapped my loaner body and I rubbed my wrists and arms where the bonds had been the tightest. I did my best to avoid looking at my real body because this whole thing was creeping me out.

I wobbled as I got to my feet, as if the muscles in “my” body were confused as to which memory they should be working from.

Colin caught me by my upper arm and steadied me. His palm felt warm against my skin. The sensations of being touched in this body felt alien.

Candace was gorgeous, her body more rounded than mine. The heaviness of her breasts and the stretch of her slacks around the hips felt so different. I’d never had short hair and hers tickled at the neck and the lack of any length and weight felt naked.

Worst of all was the feeling of impotence. My powers, my magic had all been left behind in my own body. The absence of the elements made me feel alone, as if I’d been abandoned by family and friends.

The remnants of Candace’s essence told me she’d worked out at a gym regularly, including weight training, and that she was strong for a human female. But without my Drow strength I was weak and vulnerable in a paranormal world.

I glanced at my real body again even though I’d told myself I wasn’t going to. It was a mistake. The Zombie-like expression and the drool rolling from one corner of the mouth made me shudder.

“I don’t know if this is going to work.” I brushed my palms along my hips, a nervous movement. “I don’t have any of my magic or paranormal strength. What if something happens when I’m in the Doran Otherworld?”

“That’s why I’ll be with you, along with the rest of the team.” Colin tried to give me a reassuring smile. It didn’t work. I wasn’t reassured.

Then I realized that it was my team he was talking about, and I had every confidence in them that they’d get me in and out safely.

“Most of all, pay close attention to Bryna’s essence.” Desmond took one of the cloths from the Magi, went down on one knee, and wrapped the stone before picking it up and setting it on the coffee table. “You will be fine.”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “What now?”

“Step two.” Desmond remained on one knee as he met my gaze. “What more can you learn from Bryna’s essence?”

With a nod I closed my eyes. Relax, Nyx.

I let the images start to roll through my mind again. This time I focused on Bryna. Her thoughts, her feelings, her knowledge. I allowed it all to flow through me until I felt as if I was walking side-by-side with her, only I was the one in control.

“Bryna is Amory’s favorite niece,” I said. “She is also his confidante.”

“We couldn’t have been more fortunate than to have found his niece.” Desmond gave a grim smile. “What does he have planned?”

The words came easily to me, as if they were my own thoughts and memories that I was speaking from. “Amory’s planning a lot for this world, but he’s only revealed it on a limited basis.”

“What do you see in regards to Amory sending his people here?” Desmond asked.

“It’s what we suspected,” I said. “Amory is having his people take over positions of power and they did take the entire Paranorm Council, exactly as we thought.

“And they have been taking norms in positions of political power,” I continued. “Bryna doesn’t know the list.”

“What about the theory that he’s working on converting mass numbers of norms and paranorms at one time?” Colin asked.

“Yes.” I gave a slow nod. “Amory has been experimenting and wants to accelerate the process and take this world over sooner. She believes Amory was prepared to reveal a lot more as the next stages of his process gets closer,” I said. “One problem is that because she’s been in this world for a few days, Bryna has limited new information.”

I went on, “She knows he’s probably very worried about her disappearance and she’s sure he won’t stop searching for her.”

“That’s another reason why the sooner the better that we get you to Doran,” Desmond said. “We need to make sure you’re clear on your capture and subsequent escape.”

“Yes.” I nodded.

“Anything else?” Colin asked.

“Amory has a new body,” I said. “He’d stayed in that old body—frail and wrinkled with graying red hair—until recently.”

“Even twenty years ago he looked like he might wither and blow away,” Desmond said. “But his magic was so strong that his presence was powerful in a magical way.”

As I continued to read Bryna’s essence, I tilted my head. “Amory’s new Host is a very large, very intelligent human. He’s built like a body builder and was one of the named partners in one of Manhattan’s most prestigious law firms. So not only is he powerful magically, but also physically and mentally.”

I frowned as I turned my focus on Desmond. “How can he keep his magic yet I couldn’t bring mine along with me?”

“It is different for some,” Desmond said. “For Amory it is because of the strong magic he wields as an extremely powerful Sorcerer.”

“Normally whatever power the Host body has, the Sentient will have,” I said. “So if he was a normal Sentient he wouldn’t have kept any of his magic.”

“Yes,” Desmond said. “On the other hand, your friend Angel’s body likely can turn into her Doppler form even with a Sentient having taken it over as a Host. She is a Doppler, is she not?”

“A squirrel.” I bit the inside of my lip as I thought about her and prayed we’d find her essence along with Lawan’s and Olivia’s.

“So…” I said, “The Sentient who took over Angel’s body would have powers because Angel did. But I have none because I’m in a body that has no powers.”

“You’ve got it,” Desmond said.

I sighed. “Bummer.”

“You might need these,” Desmond pulled a few pieces of material from one of his pockets. “I spelled the cloths in case you need to carry any other stones.”

I took them and stuffed them into my own pocket. “Thank you.”

“Nyx, do you have a grasp on what it will take to ‘be’ Bryna?” Desmond asked.

I paused for a moment, then nodded with confidence. “I already feel like I know her inside and out. I can turn that switch on at will.”

“Good.” Desmond brought the other stone to me that rested on its own cloth. “Now you can use the keystone,” he said. “Go ahead, pick it up. As one of Amory’s key people it is yours to command.”

The moment I took the stone from the cloth and wrapped my fingers around it, I felt warmth travel through me. Warmth and confidence and knowledge.

“Where is the portal to the Doran Otherworld?” Desmond asked.

Mentally I asked the question as I stared at the stone. In the shiny, flat side of the stone appeared a local homeless shelter.

“Thirty-second Street between Park and Lexington avenues,” I said as I recognized the area. “It’s right by the location where a higher number than normal of homeless people have been cited.”

“You were right.” I looked up at Desmond. “That’s the connection we’ve been looking for. The number of homeless people in the city is at a tragic high. But the inflated number in that area must have to do with Sentients and Zombies coming through the portal.”

“Let’s get the team together.” Colin drew his cell phone out of his pocket and started pressed a number. “It’s time to go.”


* * *



My entire body shook rather than just shivered in the freezing outside air. Despite the muffler wrapped around my face and neck, my cheeks were so cold they felt almost hot and I thought my nose might freeze off. I’d never been so cold in my entire life. How did humans live like this?

Slush on the sidewalk made wet squishing sounds beneath Colin’s and Desmond’s boots and my shoes as they walked to either side of me. I wasn’t used to making sounds when I walked and I felt like the whole world could hear all the noise my human body made.

We’d had a taxi drop us off at Lexington and Thirty-second Street, and I drew the heavy coat I was wearing tighter around me with my gloved hands.

Before we’d left Desmond’s apartment Colin had gone out to buy the coat. Within fifteen minutes of the time he’d left, he’d returned with a Macy’s bag containing a heavy, lined coat, a muffler, a pair of leather gloves, and a wool cap.

At the same time I was cursing the cold, I was thanking Colin for helping put some barrier between me and the icy chill. I was almost too cold to feel all of Candace’s injuries.

“Doing all right, Popsicle?” Colin asked and I gave him a pretend glare.

“Let’s just say in some ways I am very glad my Drow half is dominant when I’m in my own body.” As I spoke the muffler did a very good job of doing just that—muffling me—making it so that it was a wonder the Dragon could hear me.

Colin’s cold-weather clothing was practically summer wear compared to what I was wearing. That despite him shivering in the cold before we’d gone to his apartment that night for Belgian beer.

I looked at the Sorcerer Desmond, who wore a jacket and gloves, along with a muffler, too. But his clothing was light in comparison to mine and he didn’t look cold at all.

“I sure hope it’s not this cold in Doran.” I shivered even more.

“Weather in my home world is pleasant year-round.” Desmond had an almost wistful expression on his face. “We just need to get you to that portal reasonably unfrozen.”

“This is reasonably unfrozen?” I said, my teeth chattering with every word.

The stones were in the pocket of my slacks, beneath the coat, and I felt their weight against my leg as we approached the homeless shelter on Thirty-second Street. We were on the opposite side of the street and I saw that most of the rest of our team was already there, waiting for us.

Meryl perched on a newspaper stand in her preferred oriole form while Ice sat beneath her as a pure white cat. His tail twitched from side to side as he looked up at her like he was ready to pounce on her and eat her whole.

Joshua was in his shadow form on the ground near the cat, and I saw Mandisa through her glamour close by.

“Can you tell if Penrod is there?” I asked Colin, not sure if he could see through Sprite glamours. I wished I could. Of course Penrod wouldn’t be able to walk among norms unless he was in glamour.

“Can’t see him, but I can sense him,” Colin said. “And smell him.”

There were some benefits to having a human nose and not being able to smell as well as I could as Drow, I supposed. Penrod might be an all-right male and an asset to the team, but he smelled like overcooked broccoli, the same as most other Sprites.

“It’s on the other side of that barricade,” I said to my team as I gestured toward the blocked-off space between two huge buildings.

The street was busy, vehicles driving up and down its length and pedestrians crossing at the intersections and striding down the sidewalk.

“Let’s go.” I started across the street with Colin and Desmond to either side of me.

The Zombies and Sentients traveled when it was dark here in the Earth Otherworld. Bryna had made that clear to me, so I wasn’t worried about being seen by any of Amory’s people. All I had to worry about were norms seeing me go through that barricade since I couldn’t go in glamour.

We crossed the street and Meryl flew over the barricade while Ice found a place to slip through. Joshua simply slid beneath the fence in shadow form. And Mandisa … while still in her glamour, the Abatwa Fae walked right through the barricade.

“Some trick,” Colin said.

“Sure is.” The first time I’d seen her do that was just a few weeks ago at the Vampire compound and it had been a little unnerving.

“I’ll see you when you get back,” Desmond said as Colin easily pulled apart a section of the barricade, large enough for us to walk through.

I nodded to Desmond, feeling too frozen to say anything else. As he walked away, I glanced around to make sure no norms saw us. It was clear. Then Colin and I squeezed through the opening he’d made.

When I made it through, something bumped against me and I stumbled to the side. Penrod said, “Apologies,” as Colin caught me by the arm. This human body was so clumsy and awkward compared to my own. At this rate, if I didn’t get used to it, Colin was going to have to carry me everywhere.

After Colin closed the barricade behind us, we came to a pause beside the rest of the team members.

Garbage was strewn across areas not covered with snow in the vacant lot. Graffiti was sprayed on the inside of the barricades and along both walls that ran the length of the lot, and at the back was a chain linked fence with another building beyond the fence.

“Where is it?” Mandisa spoke from beside me and I almost jumped out of my winter clothing at the sound of her voice. I didn’t think I’d ever heard her actually speak before. “This portal you spoke of.”

I started to unbutton my coat so that I would be able to reach into the pocket of the slacks I was wearing. “Despite the fact that this keystone is over twenty-two years old and was found in Otherworld, it should show us where the portal is. At least that’s what Desmond and the Sentient Bryna believe.”

It took me longer than normal to undo the buttons because I wasn’t used to having long, manicured fingernails like Candace did.

The moment I moved aside my coat I sucked in my breath. Freezing cold instantly stabbed me like hundreds of icicles wherever I wasn’t covered. My arm was shaking I drew out the keystone and held it up on the palm of my gloved hand.

Nothing happened, the portal didn’t appear. It should have. I knew that from Bryna’s now confused thoughts.

“You might need to take off your glove,” Colin said with an apologetic look.

I groaned. What if my fingers fell off from the cold? I told myself to stop being a baby and held the stone in my left hand while Colin helped me pull the glove off my right hand. My fingers burned from the cold the moment the glove was removed.

A sensation like an electrical shock jolted me as I clasped the stone in my bare hand.

Air in the space between the two buildings grew dark and I held my breath. The darkness grew deeper and deeper yet until a moving mass of gray fog appeared before us. The gray cloud-like fog swirled like water going down a drain.

My heart pounded, my mouth dry, the coldness in my body almost forgotten as I stared at what must be the portal. My first thought was, Would we have to step through that?

Bryna’s essence told me no at the same time the gray began to fade and a hole opened in the air in front of us.

Through the hole was a world with lavender-streaked skies, a world of sunshine and beauty. Its warmth began to defrost my chilled body.

But the sight of it, along with the overly sweet smell of flowers coming through the opening, made my stomach churn.

Through that opening into another world, I knew that it was the same world, the exact place, where my brother had gone to when he disappeared from Otherworld.

Twenty-two years ago.