Laurell Hamilton - Affliction

‘No, they just rot and die.’

‘But zombies aren’t contagious,’ I said.

‘These are,’ Al said.

‘How many victims?’

‘Five, but we’ve had witnesses to the last three attacks, so we know what’s doing it now.’

‘Now?’ I asked.

‘The first two victims died pretty quick, until Dr Rogers found some cases back east that sounded similar. He used some of the information that they published about it and was able to slow down the spread in the vic before the sheriff.’

‘That’s more than one question,’ Nathaniel said softly.

‘No, it’s all right, Nathaniel,’ Micah said. ‘Anita can’t be anything other than what she is, who she is, and my dad doesn’t have cancer, he has something … preternatural, and no one is better at that than she is.’

‘Are you saying I can treat this like a crime?’

‘You’ve taught me that zombies don’t rise spontaneously from the ground, so someone had to raise these, right?’

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘People have already died, so isn’t it at least negligent homicide?’

‘Potentially, that’s really for a court to decide, but someone raised the zombies and there has to be a reason they’re out of control and attacking people, so it’s either someone bit off more than they could chew and now doesn’t want to fess up, or it’s on purpose. Either way, when we locate the person who raised the zombies, it’s a death sentence if they’re convicted, because it falls under “using magic to kill people.” That’s an automatic real death sentence, no waiting on death row for years, but executed within weeks to months.’

Micah nodded. He turned to Al. ‘You’re saying my dad was attacked by a flesh-eating zombie and the bite is rotting?’

‘Dr Rogers will explain it.’

‘I’m asking you,’ Micah said, looking at Al.

‘I’ve said more than I should have shared with civilians.’

‘Nicky went with Anita as her deputy on a warrant of execution.’ Micah motioned at Nicky, who nodded enough for his bangs to swing out from his face a little.

‘I know the preternatural marshals get a lot of leeway with calling in help in the middle of a vampire hunt, but this isn’t a hunt.’

‘Would you tell Anita more without us standing here?’ Micah asked.

‘And then she tells you later anyway?’

‘She doesn’t usually share details about ongoing cases with me, Al.’

‘Swear to me she won’t share details about your dad with you.’

Micah looked at Al and prepared to lie to him.

‘No, Micah.’ I squeezed his hand and turned to Al. ‘I swear to you that everyone here will keep their mouths shut, and Nicky has been back up on a hunt, and I tell Micah and Nathaniel all sorts of personal shit that they don’t blab.’

‘What, you going to have them pinky-promise, cross their hearts?’ Al shook his head. ‘You know it doesn’t work that way. I’m not usually this chatty about an ongoing case. Except it’s Mike, and you have a badge.’ He looked at Nathaniel, who was still holding Micah’s other hand. ‘Can I say something that is absolutely none of my fucking business?’

Micah said, ‘You can,’ but his voice made it clear that Al better be careful what he said.

‘Introduce Nate as your significant other, or whatever, but don’t meet your family for the first time in almost ten years holding hands. Please, Mike, I know your family, and your Aunt Bertie and Uncle Jamie are here.’

‘Uncle Bertie and Aunt Jamie, you mean?’ I asked.

‘Bertie is short for Bertha. She’s my mom’s sister,’ Micah said. He pulled Nathaniel closer. ‘So I’m not supposed to touch him at all, is that it, and his name is Nathaniel, not Nate. I’ll let you call me Mike, because that’s what I grew up with, but I go by Micah now.’

‘Of course you can touch … Nathaniel, but can you just put Marshal Blake in the middle for the first meet and greet, that’s all I’m saying. And I’ll try to call you Micah, but not sure I’ll remember.’

Nathaniel leaned over and kissed Micah gently on the cheek. ‘Anita sleeps in the middle most of the time at home anyway.’

Micah looked up at him. ‘You’re okay with hiding?’

‘No, but I want to be able to come back to see your family with you, and if you shove me into their faces constantly, then they won’t like me. I want them to like me.’

Micah seemed to consider it for a minute. He turned to me. ‘You in the middle means one of us has your gun hand.’

‘We walk with me in the middle in St Louis when we have guards with us and I’m not on a case,’ I said.

‘Why am I the only one fighting not to hide?’

Juliet came back with her phone call over, and apparently she’d caught enough of the talk to comment, ‘Because you’ve decided to shove your boyfriend in everyone’s face, and once you decide to take a stand you don’t back down; you never have.’

‘That’s more me than Micah,’ I said.

He had a stubborn look to his face that I hadn’t seen before. It was Nicky who said, ‘Sometimes when we go back home to our family and hometown we fall back into old patterns, old actions, old feelings. They come back up like ghosts, and if you’re not careful you sort of become your old self again.’

We all looked at him. Juliet said, ‘Well, you’re not just handsome muscle, are you?’

He shrugged as much as the muscle development would let him. I knew his comment had come from personal experience. It made me want to ask him how his visit home had gone and how long it had been since he’d visited. His mother was in prison, as far as I knew, and his siblings adopted out. Had Nicky visited his dad? Why was it hard to picture him going home to visit?

‘No,’ Micah said, ‘Nicky is pretty smart,’ and he looked embarrassed, which was something else I didn’t get to see often. He put his head against Nathaniel’s shoulder, more like he was resting against him than holding him, and then he let go of his hand and swung me around so I could walk between them.

I loved walking with both of them holding my hand, and I felt pretty secure that the few seconds it would take me to drop their hands and go for my gun would be filled with Nicky and Dev shooting first.

Micah said, ‘Thanks, Nicky, I needed the reminder.’

‘You’re usually reminding the rest of us to be grown-ups; just returning the favor.’ They shared a smile and a nod, which is a particularly male way of thanking and saying, it’s okay .

Juliet led the way, smiling and more relaxed. Al dropped back behind us and I heard him say, ‘Thanks, Nick, or Nicky?’

‘Either one is fine,’ Nicky said.

‘Yeah, I’m Al, or Albert. What’s Dev short for?’

‘Devil,’ Dev said, and I knew he would either keep a straight face or flash a devilish grin. The hospital doors whooshed open, or I might have looked back to see. The cool, antiseptic smell of the hospital wrapped us. I felt both men almost flinch. I glanced at Micah and found him wrinkling his nose, as if something smelled bad. I turned to see an almost identical reaction from Nathaniel. He actually shook his shoulders like a bird settling its feathers, or I guess in his case like a cat shaking something off its fur.

Micah’s face was back to neutral as he spoke low. ‘I’ve never gotten used to how hospitals smell.’ And I knew he meant since he got super-scenting ability as a wereleopard.

I heard Al from behind us, saying, ‘Oh, come on, your name can’t really be Devil.’

‘My twin sister’s name is Angel.’

‘I don’t believe it.’

‘Nicky,’ Dev said.

‘Dev is short for Devil, and his sister is named Angel.’

Apparently, neither of them was going to tell Al that Devil was a nickname. We were going to need a little humor to get us through tonight, and bedeviling Al about Dev’s name was a start.