“I missed you too.” He kissed her forehead, causing a spark to jump between them. “Anything to report? Why did she leave?”
“We blasted her with water from the fountain in the middle of her spell. She was struck by lightning and crawled away.”
“So she’s gone?”
“No.” When Cecilia shook her head, her hair floated outward in slow motion. “She’s hiding in a car out by the street. We think she is waiting.”
“For what?”
“Nobody knows. We have another problem though. Come.” Cecilia pulled him by the hand, leading him into the backyard.
Naia’s eyes lit up at Mike’s arrival, her fountain squirting water in the shape of a heart.
“Naia.” When he said her name out loud, it finally felt like he had come home. He embraced the nymph. “What’s going on?”
“We have a guest,” she said, pointing to the garage. “She needs you.”
“On it.” He gave her a grin and stepped through the door. The first thing he noticed was the smell. It was subtle but reminded him of cloves. The lights had been turned down, and it was hard for him to make out the figure strapped to the chair. Her gray hair was fanned across her shoulders, her pale skin similar to Cecilia’s. She lifted her head, and Mike felt like he recognized her from somewhere.
“It’s about time.” Lily stepped out of the darkness. “You really know how to keep a girl waiting.”
“Who is this? Someone from the society?”
“One of their victims.” Lily stroked the stranger’s face. “Don’t you recognize her?”
“I feel like I should, but…” Oh no. He suddenly knew who he was looking at. He stepped closer. “Dana? Is that really you?” She looked like a much older version of the girl he’d known, or at least a sicklier one. What had happened?
Dana nodded but said nothing. Her lips looked dried out, like she hadn’t had any food or water for days.
“What’s wrong with her?” Mike asked.
“It’s taking everything in her not to lunge at you.” Zel walked to Mike’s side. “We don’t have a lot of time. We need some of your semen.”
“Wait, what? Why?”
“Because she’s starving. She needs to eat.”
“But why that?” Mike knew it was a dumb question the moment he’d asked. Didn’t it always come back to his sperm?
“She’s a zombie. She’s about to go feral and—” Lily’s voice vanished beneath the sound of a gong, followed by thunder. They all looked up as dust fell from the ceiling of the garage.
“Fuck, not again.” Lily looked at Zel. “Stupid bitch out front is making trouble. Romeo, what are the odds I could get you off in a hurry?”
“I’ve…blown a few loads lately.” If he was being honest, he didn’t think he could get it up knowing that some woman was on his front lawn trying to crack apart his magic house. “Could she eat something else? To tide her over until we take care of our other problem?”
Zel frowned. “We could try your blood. It might sustain her for a bit, but you’d have to be quick.”
“Do it.” Mike held out his arm. “Just not too much. I have a feeling that being light-headed won’t help me.”
He barely saw the flash of Lily’s tail, but it left a large incision on his forearm. Pain made him grit his teeth, and he made a fist when Zel held a bowl under his elbow to catch his blood.
Dana shrieked, rocking the chair back and forth. The chair sprouted new legs to keep her in place, but Mike didn’t question it. When Zel had gathered enough, she applied a blue fluid to Mike’s arm. The wound closed up and scabbed over. Lily held the bowl over Dana’s head, her tail pinning her in place long enough to get the fluid in her mouth.
They all held their breath. Dana swallowed it all, then held her hands up for the bowl. Lily gave it to her, and Dana licked it clean.
“How does that feel?” Lily asked.
“I’m still hungry.” Dana frowned at the empty bowl. “But I feel a bit better.” Another blast of thunder knocked more dust loose. “Go. Take care of the bitch on the lawn. I can wait another hour or so.”
“Dana.” Mike said her name so quietly even he barely heard it. How had she gotten caught up in this?
He walked into the backyard, where Naia waited for him.
“There.” Naia pointed at the sky, where a glowing crack had formed. “She weakened it earlier, which means it will be easier for her this time.”
“What do I need to do?” Mike touched the goggles on his head. They fit him perfectly, but he felt wrong wearing them. In his mind, they still belonged to Tink.
“There are three runes that the Caretaker must activate out in the front yard. You need the goggles to do it correctly. Otherwise, the house will kill you. Simple as that. Once you have activated all three runes and established yourself as the new Caretaker, you need to use some sort of control box in the yard to turn them on.”
“Like a console?”
“Sure. Once that is there, you will know what to do.”
“Not gonna lie. This should have been a day two kind of discussion.” Mike blew her a kiss. “Maybe I’ll punish you for it later.”
“You had better be alive to punish me. Now go!” Naia splashed him, and he ran back into the house to find the others. They had gathered in the front room, all of them looking at the yard. Cecilia phased through the wall, startling him.
“You need to come see this,” Cecilia said, then disappeared again.
Mike put his hand on the knob of the front door and took a deep breath before turning it. When he opened the door, a gust of wind blew in, rattling the windows. Another peal of
