“I understand exactly what you meant.” Damien spoke so softly I could barely hear him. Then he handed me his notebook and left the room without looking back.
I sighed, feeling heartbroken for both of them. “Other Jack, can you think of anything else we need to know?”
“Yes. Kill them. Kill all of the red vampyres. They’re contagious and they’re full vampyres. They won’t change. I think I remember seeing two officers come through with me, and some fledglings, but mostly it was just soldiers. Red soldiers are vicious—I mean, real mean. The only thing you can predict about them is that they live to feed, and they prefer human flesh.”
“But they’ll eat vampyres, correct?” Stark asked.
“Yes. They’d rather not, though. Like, when they fight the rebels. They just kill them. Drink their blood, and mostly leave their flesh. They don’t like the taste.”
“Okay, that helps.” I smiled at Other Jack. “You did good. At least we know what we’re up against. Shaunee will be down soon with your blood. I’ll have her put some in your minifridge, too. And you do have cable down here, plus Netflix.”
He smiled back at me, looking just like our Jack. “Thanks. I’ll be out of it real soon anyway. I can feel sunrise. But I’ll need to feed as soon as I wake up, so blood in the fridge is a good idea.”
“Is there anything else I can get you?”
“A cure.”
“I’m going to try my best,” I said.
“Will you let me stay here, in this House of Night world, if you can cure me?” His voice sounded fragile, as if my answer might break it.
“Other Jack, I have no real clue how I opened the passage between our worlds, so doing it again is gonna be difficult.”
His gaze never left mine. “But there’s a difference between me staying here because you can’t send me back, and me staying here because you’re letting me.”
“You’re right. There is. So, let me be clear once and for all. You’re welcome here, Other Jack. Very welcome here.”
His shoulders slumped in relief as red tears filled his eyes. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“We’ll make this work,” Stark said.
“It’s going to be okay,” I said.
“Promise?”
“Yep. Pinky swear.” Automatically, I held my hand out, little finger extended—just as I would’ve done had it been our Jack.
Other Jack dimpled and hooked his little finger around mine before Stark could step between us. “Totally pinky sworn,” he said.
Stark and I left then. We had to, and not just because of the stupid zombie apocalypse we had to prevent. We had to leave because that Jack had touched a raw place in my heart that still belonged to our Jack. It was either leave or dissolve into snot and tears and bittersweet memories …
16
Zoey
Stark and I hurried into the administrative offices. Shaylin, Nicole, and Grandma Redbird were looking grim.
“Please tell me Kramisha’s okay,” was all I could make my mouth say.
“She is safe,” Grandma said.
I plopped into a chair and tried to prepare myself. “What’s the rest of it?”
Shaylin and Nicole stared mutely at Grandma. She came to me and took my hand. “All of the fledglings who were working tonight at the Depot Restaurant were killed.”
My hand started to tremble, and Grandma squeezed it tightly.
“One of them managed to get to the trapdoor in the kitchen and close it, bolting it behind her and warning the others before she died of her wounds,” Grandma continued.
“Did they get into the tunnels?” I asked.
“No. Thanks to the heroism of that young fledgling,” Grandma said.
“Humans?” I held my breath.
Grandma shook her head. “They are all gone, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya.”
“Oh, Goddess,” I breathed the word as a prayer. “How many?”
“Seventy-eight humans.”
“Holy crap, that’s a lot of people.” Stark looked as sick as I felt.
“The restaurant was almost filled with people celebrating the holidays,” Shaylin said.
“How many fledglings and vampyres?”
“All of the waitstaff. There were seven of them. They were all fledglings,” Grandma said sadly. “So, young. They were all so young.”
“There was also a bartender. He was a blue vampyre,” Shaylin said.
“Derek,” Stark’s voice was thick with sorrow. “I knew him. He was a better bartender than archer, but a good guy.”
“The chef, a sous chef, a line chef, and two dishwashers. All of them dead,” Nicole said. Her voice shook like my hands.
“Chef Zachary? He’s dead?” I kept shaking my head back and forth, back and forth. And then a terrible knowing skittered across my skin. “I have to talk to Darius. And Marx. They have to behead or burn the human bodies.”
“Zoey, what is this about?” Grandma asked.
“The red vampyres from the other world are contagious. It’s something in their bite. When they bite humans, they infect them. If they aren’t beheaded or burned they rise in three days.”
“Oh, Great Earth Mother!” Grandma gasped.
“Are they vampyres when they rise?” Shaylin asked. She and Nicole were sitting with their chairs pressed together as if to share the shock.
“No. It’s bad. They’re mindless things that have to feed. And their bites are contagious, too. Then they die, for good, in another week,” I explained.
“But not before they infect a bunch more people,” Stark said.
“It’s the zombie apocalypse. In Tulsa. Unfuckingbelievable.”
We turned to see Aphrodite standing in the doorway. She looked at me. “Don’t worry. Stevie Rae and I clued all the professors in on what’s going on. Well, we didn’t know about this latest horribleness, but still. Stevie Rae went to say, ‘Bye, bye, Birdie,’ before Rephaim flies away … Holy shit, this sounds bad. How’s Other Jack?”
“Fine. Except for his hunger and the fact that he’s going to turn into a contagious, zombie-plague-spreading, nearly mindless red vampyre eventually. Fine,” I said.
“Seriously?” Shaunee said, peeking her head into the office. “Other Jack’s a zombie?”
I sighed. “No. But the bite of an adult red vampyre from his world turns humans into something like zombies. Speaking of Other Jack, could you please grab a bunch more blood and take it down to him? He needs enough to drink now, and a bunch for his minifridge for when he wakes up after sunset. Oh, and don’t go down there alone.” I let my gaze take in the whole room. “No one goes down there to see him alone. Do not trust him. He looks like our Jack. Sometimes he even sounds like our Jack.”
“But he’s not,” Stark said firmly. “He has a hunger that only Stevie Rae and I fully understand. Believe us. He can’t control it.”
“I’ll get Erik to go with me. He’s FaceTiming Joss about the new Fantasyworld episode.”
“Take this.” Aphrodite handed her the Taser. “But I want it back.”
“Okay, no problem.” Shaunee left, calling over her shoulder, “Hey, a bunch of SUVs just pulled up out front. I think the Warriors are back.”
We didn’t even have time to get out of the office when Warriors rushed into the building, bringing frigid air, snow, and a terrible sense of bleakness with them.