Aphrodite wobbled a little, like the ground beneath her had shaken. Then her gaze found mine. “She’s infected.”
“She is,” I said.
“And Other Jack says she’s going to die. For sure. Within three days.”
“Yes.”
“I am so sorry, my beauty,” Darius spoke quietly to her, pulling her into his arms.
I could see her blue eyes, bright with unshed tears.
“All of those humans. The ones killed at your restaurant. They’re going to have to be decapitated or cremated, correct?” Marx spoke into the silence.
“Yes. That’s what Other Jack said.”
“And you trust him?” Marx asked me.
“I do. He wants sanctuary here, so he has every reason to tell us the truth,” I said.
“Then they need to be cremated,” Marx said, sounding a lot older than his years. “I’ll tell the families myself.” He looked at Stark. “How long until sunrise?”
“An hour and a half,” Stark said.
“And you said you’re pretty sure you know where that goddamned horde went? It’s blizzard conditions out there since the wind picked up. We couldn’t track those monsters.”
“I would’ve thought you could track their blood trails,” Stark said.
“That’s what we thought at first, too,” Darius said. “But they took care of that.”
“Huh? How?” I asked.
“They rolled in the snow. Like animals. And then they scattered, all in different directions. We can’t even get canines out there because of the damn weather. They can’t track in a blizzard.”
“We think we know where they are,” I said. “Other Jack told us where they’d go to ground in their world. They’re all red fledglings or vampyres. That means they have to get under cover before sunrise, or they’ll be dead.”
“Even if it keeps snowing and hides the sun?” Marx asked.
“I don’t know if they’re more sensitive than we are,” Stark said. “But I would have trouble being outside during the day for long, even under cover of snow.”
“So, they have to find shelter,” Marx said.
“And it has to be in a public building. They can’t enter a private residence without being invited,” I added. “We need to go to the Philtower tunnels and the tunnels under the Atlas Building. But first we need to send Warriors to the entrances to the other tunnels. Have them be showy. They need to stand where they can be clearly seen by anyone sneaking around outside looking to get in.”
Marx nodded. “Limit their safe places.”
“Act like we do not know that they’ll target the Philtower and the Atlas Building,” Stark said. “Then close in after sunrise and wipe them out.”
“I’ll get my men right on it,” Marx said, but I put a hand on his arm, stopping him.
“It needs to be Warriors. They can’t be turned into, well, for lack of a better word—zombies,” I said.
Marx sighed. “Okay. Yeah. I get it. Your Warriors will take the lead on this one.”
“But the Warriors will need to look like TPD,” Stark said. “If they think they’re only dealing with humans, they’ll get sloppy. They have no idea that vampyres and humans work together in this world.”
“Good point,” Marx said. “I’ll get dispatch on the horn and put the word out to have someone get the hell over here with a bunch of uniform trench coats and hats.”
“Also, be sure all your cops know not to get bitten by any of those creatures,” Stark said.
“Put out another word,” I said. “Tell Tulsa to stay inside. All of Tulsa. Don’t even let the snowplows go out there. We have to keep humans safe from this infection.”
“I’ll call the mayor’s office and brief him. He’ll put out an emergency bulletin telling everyone to stay inside because of the blizzard. But you know Okies.”
“We stand outside and watch the tornados come. I know. Let’s hope we show better sense in the winter,” I said.
“One can dream,” Aphrodite said as Marx started to head back to his truck to radio the really terrible news back to the station.
He paused at the door and looked at me. “Do you know how they got into this world?”
I made the decision quickly. He deserved the truth. Tulsa deserved the truth. “Kalona warned me through a dream that danger was coming.” Marx’s eyes widened at the mention of his dead friend, but he stayed silent, letting me finish. “He thought it might have something to do with Neferet, so we were casting a protective spell over the grotto just in case she was trying to stir up trouble.”
“I thought you said Neferet wasn’t behind this.” I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but Marx blanched even paler.
“We haven’t seen any sign of Neferet, but she is alive and well in the zombie world,” I said.
“Figures,” he muttered. “If it wasn’t something Neferet did, what happened?”
“My mother showed up and screwed up our spell,” Aphrodite said.
“Actually, I think I messed up our spell,” I said. “It was because Mrs. LaFont was screaming at us, and I shouldn’t have let her get to me, but I did.” I drew a big breath and then told on myself. “My hand slipped. I cut myself. And at the same time I remember thinking that if a zombie apocalypse happened in Tulsa it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if they ate Mrs. LaFont.” Miserable, I stared at Aphrodite. “I’m so sorry. I really didn’t mean it. And this is all my fault.”
Aphrodite stared back at me, and then she started laughing. It began as a soft giggle, and grew until she had to lean against Darius, who looked utterly confused and more than a little worried.
“Uh, I’m going to get the ball rolling on warning people,” Marx said, throwing Aphrodite a concerned sidewise glance as he left.
I went to her. She was wiping her eyes. Her laughter had dissipated to soft giggles interspersed with snorts. “Hey. I’m so, so sorry. Truly.”
“Oh, Z. It wasn’t all your fault. I was basically thinking the same thing you were,” she said.
Shaylin cleared her throat and our attention shifted to her. “Um. Me, too.”
“Me, too, what?” Stevie Rae asked as she hurried into the office, holding Rephaim’s hand.
“When Mrs. LaFont showed up at the park I wished she’d drop dead,” Shaylin said.