Free Zombies Sold Separately by Cheyenne McCray

new Trackers had been moved to the city, we’d lost too many of our own to Demons. Those losses included one of my closest friends, Caprice.
    The pain of Caprice’s death was still fresh and it hit me sharp and quick to my gut. I held my hand to my belly. It wasn’t that long ago that Demons had killed her, taken her away from us.
    A reportedly wise, know it all being, the GG is revered by most. With all of her riddles, she drives me crazy. Nadia always said I was doomed for Underworld if I didn’t play nice. I played nice. Didn’t mean I had to like it.
    “Do you miss tracking the Upper West Side?” Nadia asked.
    I looked back at her and shook my head. “I really like special teams.”
    “Changes things up a bit.” She gave a nod.
    I’d been selected to lead the Tracker special team when my PI agency took on the Werewolf case. Almost immediately after it was solved, the five of us went on to handle the Sprite fiasco and then the Vampire “situation”—with a little help from our friends.
    All went quiet and I looked up to see Rodán near the door that led to the club. When he entered a room I usually felt warmth unfold inside me and today was no exception.
    One of the Light Elves, Rodán was breathlessly handsome. Every movement he made was lithe and graceful like all Elves. His crystal-green eyes were filled with intelligence and an almost ancient wisdom.
    And mystery … there was always an air of mystery surrounding Rodán. I knew him well in some ways, but that knowledge was only a few leaves in the forest of possibilities that made up the whole of who Rodán of the Light Elves was.
    Rodán opened the door and stepped aside. Two beings walked in and both had me catching my breath in surprise.
    The first was a Sprite—Penrod, Negel’s younger brother.
    Next was the Dragon who’d performed onstage.
    All of us—even Ice—remained silent as the two newcomers followed Rodán to stand at the head of the conference table.
    With his protuberant blue eyes, misshapen and mottled features, and tufts of blond hair, Penrod was still ugly as Sprites go, but carried himself with more confidence than Negel had when he was alive.
    Tall for a Sprite at about five feet in height, Penrod had a slow gait and with his knobby joints had a clumsy appearance. Sprites are Fae, though, and a great number of Fae races are anything but clumsy. Including Sprites.
    After watching Colin on stage and being a firsthand witness to him intentionally mesmerizing his audience, I expected him to be a showboat.
    Right now he had the exact opposite effect on me. He looked calm and self-assured, but not cocky or arrogant like some of our Trackers. His switch was apparently set from “mesmerize” to “off,” too.
    Instead of being bare-chested and in the red leather pants, Colin wore a pair of Levi’s, New Balance jogging shoes, and a sleeveless dark red and black Linkin Park T-shirt. His long golden hair was loose around his shoulders.
    A scaled serpent tattoo wound up and around his arm from his wrist to his shoulder. Fire erupted from the serpent’s mouth, the flames curling over Colin’s shoulder. The tattoo moved with the flex of his muscular arm, almost looking like a living, breathing thing. I hadn’t noticed the tattoo before, but I may have been too enthralled by his Dragon magic to have noticed.
    “This is Colin and Penrod,” Rodán said in his smooth, calm way as he gestured to each male. “Our two newest Trackers.”
    “What?” Lawan said with a sharp intake of breath and got to her feet. “The Dragon ?”
    We all looked at Lawan, and I think to a one our jaws had dropped. For Lawan to have any kind of outburst was almost a greater surprise to everyone seated at the table than having a Sprite and Dragon thrown into our midst as Trackers.
    Lawan’s cheeks reddened and she eased back into her seat but she kept her back straight and her head tilted high.
    “Yes.” Rodán smoothed over the interruption and nodded to the