The Dead Read online

  I was sitting in the darkest corner, glass of whiskey in hand later that morning, still thinking of Dax’s words yesterday. He might have told me to stay put this morning but he’d also said he’d given up the day before. Who knew what he wanted anymore?

  And even if my hunch was that he wouldn’t appreciate my plans for today, this was my life to live. Yeah, sure, I owed him some loyalty, but I didn’t owe him my every waking moment. I’d already lost too much time doing what other people told me to do. I hadn’t had a choice then. I did now.

  Wasn’t like he’d told me where he was storming off to, or when we were actually going to start going after Dark Walkers. If I waited for him, I’d be a hundred before I killed them. Unlike him, I didn’t have those kinds of years to squander.

  I wasn’t living out the rest of my life like prey. They hunted me? Well, fuck them. I’d hunt them right back, and there wasn’t anyone who was going to stop me. I gave as good as I got, maybe better, and that was the way I liked it.

  I waved a hand and motioned for Bert to bring me a refill. He looked less than overjoyed to see me again, not even a day later.

  By time two Dark Walkers entered the hole, I was almost done with my second whiskey. Good thing too; I had a two-whiskey maximum before I cut myself off from dealing out death. Put on too much of a buzz and you might be catching a deathblow instead of doling one out. There was nothing worse than having to sit here without a drink for hours. You really started to notice the atmosphere with nothing else to do.

  I took in the man and woman. They looked like a couple, probably intentionally. This was something new. Maybe the Dark Walkers thought I wouldn’t notice them because they were holding hands? They couldn’t be that stupid, could they? Although I had noticed how often people overlooked a threat for the stupidest reasons. Maybe if I’d been the romantic type my eyes might have flitted right over them?

  The duo surveyed the room, and when the woman’s eyes landed on me, I waved a hand in greeting. She turned quickly, as if she didn’t know exactly who I was.

  Yeah, the wave was definitely a two-whiskey move. That was why I never had three. Another whiskey and the wave might’ve turned into the finger and I wouldn’t wait until I got them outside before I pulled out my knife.

  The door squealed open as it admitted another body just as the pair was getting settled across the room, and I wondered if I was going to have a trifecta today.

  Dax was silhouetted by the bright sun against his back. He stood in the doorway for a moment, and I knew by some crazy intuition, or maybe just the tilt of his head, he’d seen me waving at the Dark Walkers.

  A curse slipped out and I slumped back in the chair. I raised my hand to Bert to bring me a third whiskey. Looked like I wouldn’t be doling out any death today—might as well have that other drink.

  Dax strode over, his pace a little quicker than his normal gait. He swung an empty chair beside me and settled in, side by side, shoulder brushing shoulder. I was already trying to snuff out my keyed-up energy, knowing today’s fight wouldn’t be happening, at least not at this moment. I didn’t need his magical overflow jazzing me up.

  “How’d you know which one I was at?” I asked.

  “You don’t exactly make it hard.”

  We both fell silent as Bert delivered my drink. I dug out another coin, but he waved it off now that Dax was sitting beside me.

  “Rocky has you on the payroll,” Dax said. It wasn’t a question, and I was tempted to ask if he had splinters in his seat the way he said it.

  “Some people don’t have their own oil supplies. By the way, where is this rig?” He never lacked for a constant flow of the stuff, but I’d never seen the place myself.

  He leaned forward and threw back my glass of whiskey before answering. “What would be the fun of telling you that?” He inclined his head slightly toward where the couple was at the bar.

  It hadn’t even been a full inch of movement and yet I knew exactly what he was doing and what the question was. When had we gotten to this strange place where we didn’t need words?

  He cleared his throat, and it was a silent are you going to answer me? Dax question if I’d ever heard one. Technically, I’d never actually heard one, as they were silent, but he had the loudest silence of any person ever born.

  I leaned back in my chair, looking everywhere but him, as if I didn’t know what he was saying—or not saying.

  It should’ve been easy. I’d spent the majority of my life keeping things way more important than this to myself, but I was fighting the urge to speak. Why wouldn’t I just tell him? Why was it that when it came to him, I wanted to give him every little thing he wanted and then that feeling drove me nuts until I did the exact opposite? He turned me into one of those schizophrenic people Bookie had talked about the other day.

  Dax leaned forward until I had no choice but to see him, and his eyebrows rose. Now he was practically yelling—still with no sounds, of course—You’re going to sit there and ignore me?

  I pressed my lips together, trying to pretend I had no clue and keep the words in, just to prove to myself I could hold back. I will not speak. I will not speak…

  He leaned a little closer, and his scent, that perfect blend of the forest and man, drifted to my senses and screwed with me as much as his magic.

  That was it. I couldn’t take it. “Yes,” I blurted out. “Yes, yes, yes.”

  He leaned back, as if I were a rabid dog that had snapped for no reason. “A nod would have sufficed.”

  He didn’t get it. I didn’t want to understand every little goddamn thing he did and said—or didn’t say. It was weird. And I didn’t like all the touching lately, either. Or the closeness. Like, why was he sitting right next to me? He could’ve taken the chair across the table. We looked like we were a couple or something, and that wasn’t what we were.

  He didn’t want me like that, so what was with the act? Once you shoot down a girl who’s lying in your bed offering herself up, it’s pretty clear that’s not the type of relationship you’re looking for, so have some dignity and keep a respectable distance.

  And now he was intruding on my Dark Walker hunting. It was bullshit. There was no sanctuary left.

  “Should I expect this on a regular basis? You told me the other day I could do whatever I wanted.” My pent-up frustration found an outlet in the snippiness of my tone.

  He leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet up on to the one in front of him, taking his sweet old time in answering. “We both know I didn’t mean what I said in the barn.”

  “And how did we both know that?” I asked, grabbing the imaginary bait even when I could smell the trap a mile away.

  “Because I said I gave up. I don’t give up on anything I want. Some things take a little longer than others, but I don’t give up. Ever.” And if the nail hadn’t been driven in enough, he had to give it one last blow. “I’d say your career of solitary hunting has come to an end.”

  “You think so, huh?” I asked, not able to take a statement like that sitting down, especially paired with the relaxed demeanor of someone wholly confident in themselves.

  “I’d be willing to bet on it.”

  “We’ll see about that.”

  “Yes, we will.”

  The couple stepped away from the bar and headed toward the door.

  I stood and bent over the table toward him. “I’ve got some killing to do. You can join me so I’m not so solitary or wait here. But it’s happening.”

  His chair scraped along the floor and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be brawling with him or Dark Walkers.

  “What the hell. What harm are two more going to do at this point?”

  “Glad you’re seeing it my way.”

  I headed for the door with Dax at my back. The second we stepped outside the hole, the Dark Walkers were already running toward their horses. Great. He was already screwing things up just by being here.

  “See what you did?” I didn’t wait for an answer as
I took off after them. Before they could unhitch their mounts, I held my knife at the guy’s throat and had him walking into the forest a minute later.

  Let Dax take the smaller girl. This was my show. I had to walk the whole way into the forest on my tiptoes just so I could keep the knife at the larger one’s neck.

  Dax passed me on the way, the squirming female under his arm. “You don’t think this is a bit ridiculous?” he asked, looking at the mismatched sizes.

  “No. I don’t.”

  He rolled his eyes as he dropped the girl to the ground.

  Things progressed quicker than normal as the female immediately went on attack as soon as she hit the ground, and the male followed suit.

  Ten minutes later, there were two bloody Dark Walkers on the ground. Two more dead, no closer to answers than I was before, and more graves to be dug.

  “What exactly has this accomplished other than covering me in grime and blood?” Dax asked, as he leaned against a tree and watched me dig.

  After the initial blip, it had gone down the same as it always did. They’d said nothing of value and then they’d died. Only difference was I had someone watching me dig the graves this time around.

  “It’s two less Dark Walkers, that’s what.” I flung an extra-large pile of dirt aside.

  “Two less of an unknown amount.”

  His movement caught my eye, and I looked back over to see he’d crossed his ankles. I dug the shovel into the dirt with a bit more gusto. “Two less of a finite amount.”

  “You don’t know that. You know nothing, even after doing this who knows how many times. They could be breeding a thousand a day. This could be the equivalent of pissing in the ocean.”

  “You didn’t have to partake.” It didn’t matter what he said. I knew they weren’t breeding that quickly, or I’d have thousands after me. But he wasn’t looking for logic and I didn’t particularly care to argue it with him. I kicked the already dead body by my feet. Damn, why wouldn’t these things talk?

  “Oh no, I did. I needed to see the brilliance of your plan firsthand.” He looked down at my barely dug hole. “How long is this going to take? I’ve got things to do today that might actually help our cause.”

  “A lot less time if you helped.”

  “This was your choice. You clean it up.”

  “I haven’t tasted the fruits of your labors either, whatever these mysterious plans might be.”

  “And you aren’t going to know as long as you keep up this shit. You might not mind broadcasting what you’re about, but I’m not telling my plans to someone who insists on putting themselves in the line of fire every day.”

  “Is that the problem? Afraid I’ll die and you won’t get your vengeance?”

  He grabbed the shovel from me, ushering me out of his way with his crowding. “Yes, because every time I’ve saved your ass in the past was so beneficial to me?” He started digging with a vengeance, and I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to answer that question or not.

  His attitude seemed to be sinking even quicker than the hole he was digging, but that wasn’t my problem. His comment grated a bit, but not enough that I was going to stop him from digging. My plan or not, he’d killed one of them. He could take a turn digging.

  It took him a fraction of the time to dig the grave for two than it normally took me. He tossed the shovel aside, jumped out of the hole, and dumped the two bodies inside of it, making even quicker work of burying them.

  I looked at the position of the sun and remembered it was Saturday night dinner. There was just enough time to go get cleaned up before the meal started. Perfect timing.

  5

  Saturday night dinner was the biggest event of the week when you lived at the Rock. Somehow, I’d been given a standing invitation even though I hadn’t ID’d a single Dark Walker within the walls, or done much of anything to earn my keep. Dax was also invited. I wasn’t sure how he’d earned his invite either, but who was I to judge? At least he wasn’t on the payroll for doing nothing—or I didn’t think he was.

  After the day’s adventure, I hadn’t wasted too much time getting ready back at the house. Dax’s magic lately was pumping out at maximum output, to the point I was starting to not feel like I was myself around him anymore. No, it was better I went alone.

  The dinner table was set up alongside the lake, close to where Rocky’s house was, ready for its fifteen regulars, plus Dax and I. If the Rock were its own galaxy, these people were the planets orbiting around Rocky.

  Susan and Angel were already there with smiles as I approached. I looked about and realized Becca, Dax’s ex, hadn’t shown again. Susan had told me she was avoiding Dax, not me, but it was the only real awkwardness left.

  People started to find their seats. I gave it a moment, waiting to see which ones were left open. There was a certain pecking order, even with something as trivial as how close to the head of the table you sat. Things were going well here and I wasn’t looking to throw a rock into the gears.

  By time the bodies settled in, two options remained: a chair beside Rocky’s place at the head of the table and one farther down. It was an easy choice. I’d let Dax sit beside Rocky and I would stay out of the limelight at the other end of the table. Plus, the seat farther down was between Carmine and Angel, who’d both been motioning me over.

  Before I got there, though, Rocky cut across my path.

  “Come on, I saved you a seat by me.” His hand was on my back and he was steering me toward his seat, the one that had been saved.

  He sat and tugged at my hand, pulling me down beside him. But then he didn’t let go of it, even after I was seated. The warmth of his palm had me looking down at where we touched, wondering what he was about, and I watched as his fingers then weaved through mine.

  Dax had told me a while ago that Rocky wanted to use me. I’d assumed it was for how I could spot Dark Walkers. Or maybe even for sex. I hadn’t held it against him, as I’d thought of using him as well. I was eighteen, long past the point when most women in the Wilds experienced their first affair. It was part of living life. Rocky had seemed a fine candidate.

  But sitting here at the head of the table with him, his fingers entwined in mine, I realized that Rocky didn’t want to use me for sex like the guards in the Cement Giant had used the girls, and he wasn’t trying to keep me here to protect his place, either. He was holding my hand. Even I knew that holding hands, sitting beside him at dinner—this was boyfriend realm.

  Did I want a boyfriend? Could I even have one, considering my situation? I’d ruled out other entanglements, but Rocky wasn’t like Bookie. He knew what this world was like, the nasty, dirty underside of it, and had no delusions of a greater good. He would understand what getting involved with me might mean. And if I had to leave him, he’d be able to handle it. He was a grown man with some calluses built up. He’d probably had plenty of girlfriends, too. Nothing idealistic here.

  “Have you thought about the house?” he asked me as his thumb started going rogue from the rest of his fingers and doing this circling motion on my skin that felt kind of nice.

  “Dal?”

  I drew my eyes from where our hands were interlocked, and the movement of his skin on mine, back up to his face. “What house?”

  “The house I mentioned the other morning. If you’re going to be staying on, I thought it would be more comfortable for you to have your own home. Have some privacy.”

  “Why would you think she’s uncomfortable?” Dax asked as he made his presence at dinner known. I’d been so shocked by the hand-holding and public demonstration that everything beyond had blurred.

  Rocky straightened in his chair but his hand remained firm on mine. Until I noticed Dax staring down at our hands. His jaw tensed and I was pulling my hand away before I thought about the action or why I was doing it.

  I knew Dax was protective of his resources, of which I was clearly counted, but he was going to have to realize I was allowed to have a life outside of his revenge. But
maybe I should sit him down and talk to him after dinner.

  Dax, seemingly appeased by my actions, turned to stand behind the man who was sitting on the other side of me, Tyler, who happened to be in charge of the community’s plumbing system.

  “I’m sure you’d be more comfortable sitting over there,” Dax said to him.

  Tyler wasn’t someone I’d want to anger, as I liked indoor plumbing and all, but Dax didn’t have the same qualms as I did. He pissed off anyone he wanted with seeming impunity.

  The guy looked disgruntled, but only while he was facing away from Dax. By time he got to his feet, he was smiling and telling him it was no problem. I watched as Tyler took his plate to the lone seat down the table, and hoped I’d still have a working shower by tomorrow and thinking that other house might be looking really good soon if we lost our plumbing because of this.

  Dax settled into the seat beside me.

  Rocky leaned back in his chair and looked over me to Dax. “I thought we were going to do this civilly?”

  “Do what?” I asked. It would be nice to have something other than my own speculations to work from. All I did lately was guess at this and guess at that.

  “Nothing,” they answered in unison.

  “And that was civil,” Dax said as he leaned back in his chair and watched the platters of food being placed upon the table.

  “Kicking people out of their seats is civil?” Rocky asked as I watched a kid put the steak platter in front of me.

  “When I could’ve dragged him by the neck? Yeah, I’d say so.” Dax leaned forward, stabbed a juicy steak, and placed it on my plate before placing one on his own.

  He’d handed me food before, usually jerky, so I didn’t quite know why exactly it struck me as weird he was serving me, but it did. Had he ever done that at the farm? Not that I could remember, but Fudge had. But it hadn’t been like this. No, he was sending Rocky a message that I was his responsibility.

  Even if I was his responsibility, which I wasn’t, I could still have relationships. I wouldn’t lose my magic with my virginity. I was going to have to have a talk with Dax, right after I ate this steak. He really had picked me out a good one. It was bigger than even his.