Page 47 of Happily Undead in Dark River

I screamed that he could go to hell, but it was muffled. So I told him that he was worse than a maggot and that his face looked like the herpes virus infected an intestinal worm and his face was the spitting image of what that worm shat out. It didn’t make sense, but cussing him out kept the panic at bay. The sun was burning me, it's what it had to be. Or maybe they had legitimately set me on fire, but I couldn’t smell smoke or any kind of accelerant. So I had to assume it was the sun. And given the amount of my skin that felt like it was being flayed, I’d probably been stripped down to my underwear. Now I was doubly glad I wore underwear.

My eyes were scrunched closed, which was a blessing. But it meant I couldn’t see my attackers, or how many there were, or where I was. I couldn’t process anything but the searing of my flesh.

Someone stood over me, blocking the sun from touching my skin momentarily. It gave me a brief reprieve so I could just breathe. Well, theoretically breathe because I was still gagging on the rag in my mouth. Whoever was blocking the sun leaned down and plucked the rag from my mouth.

Someone further away let out a frustrated grunt. “For fuck sake, I’m sick of listening to her screaming. Just go put her under the tree already,” the voice, a man’s voice, grumbled.

Whoever was blocking the sun grunted his assent, then he dragged me over rocks and sticks, which scraped against my already burned skin. I whimpered as the pain made me gag.

Noticing, the person dragging me stopped, and hefted me into his arms. “Don’t bite me,” the person, a guy but young if his voice was anything to go by, said softly in my ear. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know this is what they wanted. You gotta tell the Alpha I didn’t know they’d do this. I’ve gotten a message out to Annie, I know he’ll come, but if you rat me out now, they’ll kill us both. Well, re-kill you.” The words were hushed, a barely audible whisper. “I didn’t know. I just thought we’d all just sit around forever and bitch about how bad the Alpha was while drinking beer. I didn’t know they’d do this.” He repeated himself, but I’d tuned him out as we’d reached the shade. I let out a relieved sigh as the burning stopped, giving my body time to heal itself.

I didn’t give the kid the words of reassurance he seemed to desperately be seeking, because fuck him. But if I could, I would try and get Brody to spare him. Maybe.

“Come away, Kid, before she eats you,” someone laughed. That was the third voice. “She’s trapped there until sundown, and then they’ll be here for her. You never know how you’ll catch vampirism from nasty fucking Death Dealers.”

Someone laughed. “Can’t send you home to your mama with the worst STD on the planet.”

Rage bubbled in my chest. Rage and fear and frustration at the unfairness of it all. I gritted my teeth. “You know what, you bigoted pieces of shit, you are all nothing but sheep, following each other off a cliff because you are too stupid to turn away before you plummet to your deaths,” I spewed back at them, my nerve endings buzzing with trapped power. I wanted to tear off their heads. I wanted to fucking bathe in their blood. I was sick of this shit. Sick of being tormented, tortured, attacked. All I wanted was a life where I could love and be loved. Was that too damn much to ask of the universe right now?

Tears of anger pricked my eyes and I blinked them away. I wouldn’t seem weak in front of these assholes. I’d let my body heal, then I would kill every last one of them myself, even if my skin melted off in the sun in the meantime.

After a moment, there was silence in the camp. I could still hear the heartbeat of the kid near me, obviously not taking the advice of the rest of the douche bags here to run away while he could. But I didn’t eat kids. He didn’t know that, but he knew that when the cavalry arrived, it was probably better to be near me and not them. Because Brody would tear them to pieces, and all that would be left was their entrails littering this forest. I smiled a little at the thought.

“What the fuck?” the kid whispered.

I huffed out a frustrated noise. I couldn’t see, and I needed to see. I was a fucking easy target sitting here with my thumb up my ass. “What?” I growled to the kid.

“They’re… I mean I think they are trying to…” he trailed off again. “They are pretending to be sheep.”

Someone bleated and I blinked. “What?”

I could almost taste the kid’s confusion on the air. Magic swirled through the clearing. “Shit, now they are shifting to sheep. Clint is fighting it, but he can’t stop the change.” Another magical pop, and another bleating baa.

Um. The kid was right. What the fuck?

“Did I do that?” I asked, but how the kid would know was beyond me. Couldn’t be a coincidence though, right? “What about you? Are you feeling sheepish?” I snorted, the hysteria finally beginning to kick my ass.

Even the kid let out a honk of laughter. “No? I mean, I don’t think so?”

“How do you feel about lettuce?”

“Uh, not as good as steak?”

I nodded. Whatever was happening, it wasn’t affecting him.

He tugged at my arm. “Whether they are sheep or not, we need to go before sunset. I don’t want to be slaughtered, and no offense, but I don’t think you can take on a whole squad of Enforcers.”

I spun on him. “What?”

His heartbeat became fainter as he took a big step away. “That’s what Clint and the others were doing. A call went out to all the Shifter mercs that they wanted you. Clint heard about it from one of his old biker buddies. He said we were going to be rich, and we’d be rid of the Alpha and the Death Dealer as a bonus. I mean, it's not like I don’t like the Alpha, but Dad said you were evil and you’d infected his mind with your undead pus–” he snapped his mouth closed, and I had to laugh.

Seriously? This was the propaganda they were spreading? If they hadn’t almost melted my flesh from my bones, and you know, tried to sell me to a psycho, I’d be in hysterics. But right now, no matter how misguided he’d been, the kid was right. It was time to go. I did not want to see Lucius again any time soon.

However, that meant I had to rely on one of the people who had kidnapped me in the first place to get me home. I was fucking doomed, but I figured that between the kid and Lucius, I’d take my chances with the kid and hoped the fact I could tear him to pieces and Brody would eat him alive would deter him from making any more bad choices.

Ugh. I hated this. “Okay, look. I’m going to level with you. I don’t trust you even a little bit, but I’m between a rock and a psychotic ancient vamp, so you are the best I’ve got. I need you to play guide dog for a bit, but I swear, if you push me over a cliff, I’m coming back to haunt your ass until you beg for death, got it… what’s your damn name?” I prompted

“Colton.”

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