Page 57 of Zomromcom

“We handled the pit, so the entire pack is dead,” the woman said flatly. “No more zombies. What’s next?”

Mr. Rumbly Voice sounded extremely determined. Also extremely homicidal. “Next, I’ll find whoever’s responsible for this clusterfuck—”

“Cluster of unfortunateness , as Edie always says,” his companion chided. “Remember, the Girl Explorers are nearby.”

There was an aggrieved sigh. “Fine, witch. Let me rephrase. Once I find whoever’s responsible for nearly killing my Edie, I will track that fucker—”

A vigorous throat-clearing produced no noticeable reaction.

“—down and bring them to you. Alive.” When he spoke again, he sounded very pleased with himself. “Temporarily, anyway.”

“You’re giving me someone to…”

That was definitely Sabby speaking to Max. But what in the world were the two of them—

“Sacrifice. Yes. Their life for your wife’s. Because they’ve earned their death, and Starla deserves to live.”

Whoa. That was kind of—

“I’m in.” Gwen’s friend hadn’t even hesitated.

“Although the exchange healed Edie, she’s still quite weak. But as soon as she regains her strength, I’ll begin the hunt.” He paused. “I’ll also buy her a Pottery Barn couch.”

A moment of silence.

“What the hells does Pottery Barn have to do with—” Sabby began, echoing Gwen’s own thoughts.

“After we’ve executed our agreement, I’ll be calling in favors on a different matter as well,” he continued, ignoring the attempted interruption.

“I intend to regain my immortality and offer it to my beloved. Since you saved her life, I would gladly offer the same to you and your wife. As a gesture of my…” He cleared his throat. “Heartfelt gratitude.”

“Saying that to me hurt you, didn’t it?”

“Correct.”

“Good.” Sabrina made a thoughtful humming noise. “It’s an incredibly generous offer, Max, but I’m not sure immortality is something either of us wants. A single healthy lifetime together is enough for me. I’ll talk to Starla, though, and find out what she thinks.”

He was offering immortality . Double whoa.

Clearly, Gwen needed to be hanging out with more vampires. Only, that would involve actually hanging out with vampires. Who were generally terrifying and total dicks, so…

“Fair enough,” he said. “Let me know.”

Leaves rustled in the wintry breeze, and Sabrina’s teeth had begun to audibly chatter. “Who are you going to talk to about the breach and the fae?”

The breach. The fae.

Without warning, the memory of her vision exploded to life in Gwen’s throbbing brain, replaying behind her eyelids and echoing in her ears. Protectively, she wrapped her arms around her belly and trembled at what she saw and heard and all its terrifying implications.

For more than two decades, she’d wanted to be a different sort of oracle. One whose predictions would hold grave importance and not focus, inevitably, on piddling shit.

But if these were the horrors powerful oracles saw?

More piddling shit, please. Piddling shit forever .

By the time Gwen gathered herself again, Max was already answering Sabrina’s question. “—been considering my various contacts on SERC and in the human government too. I think—”

“No!” Gwen shouted, pushing herself up on a shaking arm. “You can’t—”

“Hey, hey, hey. Gwen, honey, I’ve healed you as best I can, and as far as I can tell, the baby’s fine, but please don’t…” Sabrina strode over and dropped to her knees beside Gwen. “Let me help you back down until we figure out what happened to you, okay?”

Down apparently meant onto a very large pile of leaves , which was serving as a makeshift mattress. The work of the Girl Explorers, Gwen presumed.

Lorraine came racing toward them. “Careful, bro! You were bleeding from your nose, and you passed out for a good while, so you can’t just—”

“You have to listen . I collapsed because of a vision. A huge one.” Gwen looked beseechingly up at Max, who was definitely a terrifying dick vampire but had also been nice to her, and when he came closer, she grabbed both of his hands and shook them for emphasis.

“There was a massacre. Endless piles of bodies. Supernaturals. Enhanced humans. All dead. All of them.”

“Gwennie…” Sabby spoke gently. “You’ve never seen anything like that before in your visions. Are you sure it’s not…I don’t know. A trauma response?”

Gwen shook her head frantically and almost vomited at the jostling agony. “No. I swear to you, it’s real. It’s a genuine vision, and oh fuck, it’s cataclysmic .”

“We believe you, little oracle.” Max freed his hands, squatted beside her leaf pile, and helped support her with a strong arm across her back. “Can telling us about it wait until you’ve rested more?”

“You need to know now.” She swallowed down the acid creeping up the back of her throat. “There’s no time to waste.”

“Okay.” He didn’t seem entirely happy with that answer, but he didn’t argue. “Did you see what caused the massacre? Was it the fae, or warfare between humans and Supernaturals, or…?”

“It was the fae,” Gwen whispered. “But not only the fae.”

His brows drew together. “Who else?”

When he handed her a bottle of water, she only managed a single swallow before nausea twisted in her belly. “Common humans in uniform. They were working together with the fae. Using fae powers and military weaponry to slaughter…everyone else.”

“Holy fuck,” Sabrina whispered.

Max’s mouth tightened. “Holy unfortunateness .”

Sabby kicked his shin, and Gwen couldn’t blame her.

“Even if we found someone in the human government who was discreet, strategic, and powerful enough to take action, I don’t know how we could possibly trust that person not to be part of whatever conspiracy Gwen witnessed.

” Lorraine leaned against the nearest tree and rubbed her eyes.

“We don’t know enough about it to eliminate anyone, and if we went to the wrong official, the information would go nowhere. ”

Sabby pinched her temples between her thumb and forefinger. “And our lives would be forfeit.”

“So that leaves SERC,” Max said.

“Yeah.” Poor Lorraine. Maybe she hadn’t been snacking sufficiently, because even her bright red hair seemed limp and exhausted. “We need a SERC rep who fulfills a very long list of requirements.”

“A councillor who’s discreet, strategic, powerful enough to take decisive action, unbeholden to the fae and the human government, and also willing to believe Gwen’s prophecy.

” Max met her stare, his blue eyes kind but unflinchingly honest. “I imagine that last bit’s going to pose a problem, little oracle. ”

Her breath hitched. “You know what happened? When I was eighteen?”

“Yes.”

Her stomach churned harder at the confirmation, even though there’d been no judgment in his tone. “Then you know how hard it’ll be to find a councillor fitting that description.”

“I don’t know of such a paragon.” His head tipped to the side as he studied her. “But I get the sense that perhaps you do.”

Yes. She did. Unfortunately.

Too bad she’d rather gargle razor blades than ever see him again.

“I know someone,” Gwen said, surrendering to the inevitable. “He’s all the things you want. If I tell him what I saw, he might even believe me.”

Fresh hope dawned in the expressions of everyone but Max, who simply waited patiently for the rest of it.

She sighed. “And he’s a real pain in the ass.”

“Paragons usually are,” Max said, and patted her arm consolingly. “I mean, just look at me.”

When she vomited all over his expensive leather hoodie, it was exactly what he deserved.