Free From Darkness Comes: The Horror Box Set by Scott Nicholson, J. Thorn, Tw Brown, Kealan Patrick Burke, Michaelbrent Collings, Mainak Dhar, Brian James Freeman, Glynn James Page B

capturing that aspect before the two were face-to-face. The vampire opened its mouth and plunged into Adrianna’s throat. I was super jealous. In this state, she smelled so yummy that I was already deciding the best way to deal with the whole ‘Queen of the Zombies’ problem: have her for breakfast. (See what I did there?)
    I guess vampires don’t have the same taste palate as we ghouls. She flew back and began spitting and hacking like a cat with a monster hairball. Seriously, at one point, she was scru bbing at her tongue with her hands.
    “ What are you?” the vampire managed after hawking up a big tar-like glob that hit the floor and actually dissolved through the tiles in a steaming, bubbling flash that left a lingering smell better than any bakery.
    “Silly little vampire,” Adrianna cooed. Yeah, cooed. Hey, you weren’t there, but that is what she did. “I am The Queen of the Zombies.”
    And seriously, when she says it, you can actually hear the capitalization of each word. Yeah, even the word the; it’s cr azy. Somebody has a pretty high opinion of herself…besides me that is.
    The vampire seemed confused. It appeared pretty obvious that she didn’t know a zombie queen from a drag queen at this point. And typical of a vampire, she considered herself at the top of the food chain.
    “Well I don’t care what delusions you live under, this loc ation has rules. If you are part of this community, then you are bound to them just like any other ghost, ghoul (she glanced at me, yay!), or goblin. The magic here is older than time and binds us all to its rule. This is a place of peace. Wars have ended at these tables and you will not violate the sanctity of the ju-ju …”
    I had to stifle a giggle. I’m sorry, but just say those last few words out loud, ‘you will not violate the sanctity of the ju-ju .’ Come on, it’s a little funny. Like aardvark, I can’t say that word without at least smiling. Tell me I’m not alone here. Somebody at least nod. Fine! But I bet you didn’t say it out loud or you’d totally be on my side.
    “…and do not return!” the vampire said with way more a uthority than you would have expected from a girl that looked like she had slipped and fallen on a piercing gun face first.
    I shrugged and headed for the door. Adrianna seemed to want to test the water a bit more and stayed rooted in place for a moment; and then I saw her wince. Hmm. Maybe that ju-ju thing had seen about enough of The Queen of the Zombies for the time being.
    I was almost to my car when I heard my name being called. She was back to a mix of regular voice and that oom-papa-mow-mow guy from the Oak Ridge Boys ’ song… Elvira I think was the title. I considered just ignoring her. Something told me I should get in my car and go home. After all, hadn’t she threatened Lisa? It was starting to get fuzzy. Damn! This was what she had done last time. She had some sort of ability that allowed her to erase my memory. Actually, it didn’t get erased. It was more like the keys to your car. You know you set them somewhere, you just can’t, for the life of you, remember where.
    “Ava,” the voice said in a really demanding tone.
    “What?” I spun around and tried to focus. Everything was getting kind of hazy. Hey…when did sharkmouth go away?
    “I t old you that our truce was over.” She folded her arms under her breasts, pushing them up farther than her push-up bra already… I looked closer. The fairness fairy was a bitch! She wasn’t wearing a bra! How can breasts defy gravity like that? I was hating her more every single minute. I mean seriously, she’s like several hundred years old. Mine stopped looking that good about ten years ago.
    “So, I will be taking your young friend with me.” That snapped me out of my little trance.
    “Like hell you will!” Thankfully, my fingers and toes were still sporting serious nailage.
    Adrianna took a step my direction and staggered. I heard her say something,