White Wedding Nightmares
Larissa Ione
I closed my eyes, wondering how Mark had managed to get past the vampire, the werewolf, and the dragon. Sure, wizards weren’t easy to stop, or to even slow down, but this was getting ridiculous.
Sighing, I turned around. Seth tucked me protectively against him, and though I really wanted to stay there in the comfort of his strong embrace, I couldn’t. Facing Mark was something I had to do while not being propped up by someone else. I’d gotten myself into this mess, and I’d get myself out.
“So,” I said, holding up the potion like I was toasting with the champagne we should have been drinking at our reception, “why should I be afraid to drink this?” I sounded pretty brave, but deep down, I was terrified of his answer.
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Mark leaned casually against a tree, as though hanging out in a zombie-infested forest was something he did every day. Maybe he did. Showed what I knew about my fiancé. “Have you noticed how the colors change?”
“Duh.”
He looked annoyed. He’d looked like that a lot during the time we’d, uh, dated. “Depending on what color the potion is when you drink it, you’ll get a different effect.”
Well, that didn’t sound good. “How do I know what each color does?”
“You don’t.” His sneer said that he did, and behind me, Seth growled, and I sensed him tensing.
“Okay, Mark, what’s your game? I’m going to turn into a zombie here pretty soon, and I know you don’t want that, seeing how I’m crucial to some evil plan of yours. So why don’t you tell me what the colors are all about?”
He appeared to consider that. “Well, don’t drink it while it’s black.”
“Or?”
“You’ll get warts.”
I was going to kill him. The moment I turned into a zombie, I was going to eat his brains. “Knock it off.”
“Or you’ll what?”
I held out my arms and walked, stiff-legged, toward him. “Braaaaains…”
Seth grabbed my shoulder and yanked me back. “Don’t antagonize him.”
“Me?” I asked, incredulous. “He’s the one being all, I-know-something-you-don’t-know, and besides—“ Pain shot up my leg, cutting off my voice and my breath. My skin was on fire, and as black streaks snaked from the calf wound and up my thigh, my muscles stiffened, writhed, as if they were strangling.
I was running out of time. I studied the potion, which was now a crystal clear green. “Tell me what the colors mean, Mark. Now.”
His eyes flashed with irritation, but he smiled. “One will give you more psychic strength. Another, physical strength. One of the colors will make you taller, which seems a little useless. One will give you the ability to shapeshift.” He waved his hand dismissively. “I forget what all of them will do.” His voice lowered ominously. “But I do know that one will put you in a coma. And one will kill you.”
My hand shook, and I had to tighten my fingers around the vial to keep from spilling the contents. Contents that could kill me.
Low, rattling moans rolled from out of the forest, and oh, great – the zombies were here to top off everything. My stomach knotted as they shambled into the clearing, their creepy gazes – from those who had eyes – locked on me. In a smooth, easy motion that I might have appreciated in any other situation, Seth moved forward, body glowing as he prepared to defend me. Even as injured as he was, he was lethal, every movement deliberate and radiating danger.
It was on the tip of my tongue to say that I could handle myself, but the virus was sucking the energy – the very life – out of me with every passing second.
The zombies moved in, surrounding us with their bodies and their foul stench. I raised the vial to my mouth. Drinking it would either kill me or make me better, I figured, and right now, either one might be a plus.
Suddenly, the zombies froze. I looked over at Mark, whose smug expression and outstretched hand explained everything. That son of a bitch – he was the one controlling them.
“You,” I snarled. My body hummed with rage and the need to take his filthy head right off. “You disgusting, slimy—“
“Enough!” His voice was like thunder, cracking in the air and shaking the trees. “I’m done with this conversation. You will join with me.” His voice lowered to a sultry purr, and I felt the compulsion to go to him all the way to my soul. “Come here. Yes…that’s it. Come forward.”
I looked down, and sure enough, my feet were moving. My injured leg was stiff, and with every step I nearly went down, but I kept moving forward as if my body was connected to Mark’s on a string.
“No!” Seth shouted, and though I couldn’t turn to look at him, I heard the flutter of wings, the thud of flesh on flesh, and knew he was engaged in battle with the zombies.
Panting, body wracked with agony, I willed myself to stop. My leg gave out, and I hit the ground in a heap. Somehow, I held onto the vial without spilling a drop of the mysterious potion inside. The now-pink liquid swirled madly, little sparks of light bubbling from within.
Must. Drink.
The need to crawl to Mark tugged at me. My left hand clawed the dirt of it’s own will, trying to drag me toward him.
Concentrating so hard my head hurt and sweat broke out on my brow, I lifted the vial to my lips. The liquid was purple now, growing cloudy and dark, like rotting grapes. Smelled like rotting flesh.
Mark’s eyes shot wide. “Don’t!” he screamed.
“Go to hell,” I gritted out.
And then I poured the thick, vile syrup into my mouth.
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