Page 45 of Chaos Demons

“Fuck me,” Ramsey breathed. “I mean, you couldn’t ask for a better weapon to fight off the undead. You got the three-inch shells in there or the one-point-six-two?”

Eva grinned. “The mini-shells.” She patted the side of the dangerous-looking weapon. “Forty-one shots all loaded and ready to go.” She motioned to the backpack. “With more in there.”

Ramsey was nodding his approval. Then he looked at me and his proud smile faded. He blinked.

“What?” he asked. “Your daughter knows her stuff and can clearly handle that thing. Any other day I’d confiscate it, but today, she could actually help us.”

“No!” I said firmly.

Grey laughed behind me.

I spun on him. “What?”

“I seem to recall another Baker woman being told no recently. How well did that work out?”

I fumed for a long moment, but I knew Grey was right. I’d insisted on coming even though I had no weapon and no clue how to fight. It was clear — though I had no idea why — that Eva did indeed know how to fight, and that she’d probably sneak out even if I tried to keep her here.

“Fine!” I threw up my arms. “Fine. She can come.” I turned to Eva. “But you stay with me, no running off on your own. That’s the deal, take it or leave it.”

“Take it,” she said with a giant grin. “Come on Trent. It’s time to kill us some zombies!”

Again, she sounded way too happy about that.

Whowasthis girl?

Trent looked stunned and terrified as she dragged him along behind her.

“Technically they’re zompires,” Ramsey said.

“Oh! Cool, what’s that?” Eva asked as we all filed out of the house. “Some mix between vampires and zombies?”

“Yeah, they drink blood but—” I tuned out the rest, as Ramsey and Eva fangirled over guns and the undead.

This was my life now.

Grey led us to the intersection at the end of my street, where a helicopter was waiting, blocking traffic. And that’s when it hit me. We were going to fight… monsters. I’d insisted on coming along, but suddenly I was second-guessing that choice.

What the fuck had I gotten myself into?

FEN

“They’re not very bright,are they?” Eva almost sounded disappointed.

There wasn’t a hint of fear in her voice as she peered out the helicopter window, watching the swarming mass of undead flowing through the streets below us.

It wasn’t the zompires I feared, as much as the potential of losing control of my beast. My wolf was contained for now and I had Ana’s recorded voice whispering through my earbuds so I could still hear what others were saying.

Except even with that, the world-ender within me felt the pull of destruction, the death, and carnage below.

As much as it was quelled… it wasn’t entirely quiet. If anything happened to these earbuds, I didn’t know if I’d be able to stop myself from turning, so I tried to focus on other things for the moment.

Eva’s comment had been in regard to how the zompires seemed to be mostly avoiding the buildings around them. They swarmed down the streets and overran anyone they encountered, but those who remained inside might just survive this.

“They’re mindless,” Ramsey said softly, his voice holding just a hint of fear, which was odd for the large man.

But then, he’d already faced these creatures once and been overwhelmed. I couldn’t imagine that.

“They do the bidding of the one who controls them,” Ramsey continued, “and it looks like Nari is sending most of them into Manhattan.”

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