Page 75 of Nearly Dead

Three servants lie dead on the marble floor, their bodies strewn in unnatural angles.My heart breaks to see them.We weren’t close, but they were always kind and didn’t deserve this fate.

Anthony stands at the base of the grand staircase, his hands glowing with defensive magic as he faces off against the open front door.Beside him, fallen back on the stairs, looking terrified, is Paul.

Paul.Here.

My heart stutters at the sight of him, and I look for Diana.I can’t see her.This is no place for a human.I should know better than most.

“Get back!”Anthony shouts, hurling a burst of magic through the front door.I hear something gurgling in the night.“I can’t hold them all!”

“Tamara?”Paul’s voice is a mix of relief and horror.There’s no time to process his reaction.

“Diana?”I yell, looking for where the girl might be hiding.

“She’s not here,” Anthony answers as Costin and I rush toward them.

“Walking corpses?”Costin asks, scowling.

“They’re coming up the drive from the old graveyard,” Anthony says.“We almost didn’t make it to the house.”

I see the front door isn’t open, it’s torn off the hinges.Rotting creatures amble through it toward us.The first one wears a coat that might’ve been red for his burial but is now the color of mold.His hat is smashed against a crooked skull, the kind of lopsided triangle you see in paintings of powdered men posing with muskets.

A woman in a collapsed mobcap limps behind him.Her dress hangs open at the throat, and her arms are nothing, but clawed bone wrapped in paper skin peeling like old bark.Her petticoats drag like a bridal train from hell, barely hanging onto her naked hips.It’s something I could have gone a lifetime without seeing.

“Zombies?”The word sounds like a curse.I cover my nose and mouth.The smell is horrible, enhanced by my preternatural senses.I can’t look away as I watch the dead walk.Why does it have to be zombies?

Anthony throws magic at them, knocking the creatures back only to have more clamor to get inside.They stumble into each other in a grotesque dance to reach the door.

“Aim for their heads,” Costin instructs Anthony.

A moan sounds from one of the servants on the floor and I automatically go to her to help.“Mina?”

“Tamara, no!”Costin shouts.He zooms into me just as I’m reaching to touch the woman’s shoulder.The momentum knocks me back.

I struggle against his tight grip.“Costin, what the hell are you?—?”

A gargle cuts me off as Mina lifts her head.Half her face is missing and she’s oozing blood.Her shoulder juts at odd angles as an arm hangs limp at her side.She jerks violently as she comes at us.What is left of her mouth opens like she wants to bite me.

I don’t hesitate.The wolf surges forward.I strike her face propelling her across the foyer.The other now-undead two servants begin struggling to their feet to join the others.

Paul looks terrified as he grabs a marble bust from its stand.I hear his human heart calling to me.He lobs it at undead Frankie at the bottom of the stairs, subduing him.Poor Frankie.The servant was a low-level magic and has only worked for us a couple of years.

Paul’s eyes meet mine and I see the moment my new look registers.He stiffens and gives a small shake of his head.There’s no time to ease him in.This is not how I wanted to introduce him to my changes.I wonder if he sees me as a monster now.There’s no time to soften the blow.

They won’t stop coming.Buttons from a militia jacket clink softly as a soldier emerges, the brass dulled by centuries but still attached.He leads others like a commander.They groan incoherent threats, biting the air as if that is their only driving need.

I come between Anthony and an attacking corpse soldier, my claws already extended.With one savage swipe, I separate its head from its shoulders.The body takes a few trembling steps, hands grasping blindly before dropping to the ground.The disembodied head keeps trying to bite.

Costin is a blur of movement.He grabs reanimated Micah and carries him toward the door.The servant used to hide in the various rooms pretending to clean, so he didn’t have to work.He might have been lazy, but he didn’t deserve this fate.

Costin bowls over the zombies as he makes his way out of the home.I hear thuds.He’s clearing the front steps of attackers before they make it inside.The flow of corpses slows.Moments later, Costin reappears, hands bloody.He grabs Frankie, who is still squirming to get to his feet near Paul and carries him out.I see them go upward only to have Frankie’s body drop to the lawn.

“How have zombies breached the property?There are spells protecting the borders,” Anthony says in confusion.“We’re protected by family magic.”

The realization hits me like a slap.

“Mortimer,” I growl.

“Why would…?”Anthony shakes his head in confusion.

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