A Mad Zombie Party

“Certainly...after I tell her about the time you tried to collar a zombie, but actually collared yourself.”
He smacks my behind. “You know what happens to rats, don’t you?”
“They bite anyone who holds them?”
He gives me another smack, and I playfully kick at him.
“Put me down. I’m hungry.”
“Put her down. Now.” The new voice is as hard as steel.
Frosty! I still, even as my heartbeat speeds up.
“Why? I’m not hurting her.” Chance sets me on my feet. “I don’t hurt my friends.”
Frosty approaches us, trapping me in the middle of a testosterone sandwich. “Where were you a few months ago, when River kicked her out? She was sure hurting then.”
“I know where I wasn’t,” Chance snaps. “At the bottom of a bottle, or in some random chick’s bed.”
Frosty draws back a fist, ready to strike.
“No!” I shout. “No. This isn’t happening. We aren’t fighting amongst ourselves. And over what? A little teasing?” I give Chance a push toward the exit. “Go tell Love good-night, then go to your own room like a good little boy.” I stare him down until he shuffles off—then I turn to Frosty. “What the hell was that?”
He leans down until we’re nose-to-nose. “He’s with someone else. I won’t let him lead you on.”
“You mean the way you led me on?” My cheeks flash with heat. “Are you concerned for my feelings...or jealous?” I say the words to taunt him, but they echo in my mind and I gasp. Is he jealous?
“I’m not jealous.” He steps away from me and rubs the back of his neck. “I’m your friend.”
“Uh, you aren’t my friend. Friends talk to each other. Especially after they’ve kissed.”
“Well. This is kinda awkward.” Ali stands in the doorway, rocking back on her heels. “I came to get some cookies for girls’ night, and if my craving wasn’t so savage, I’d come back at another time.”
Frosty opens his mouth, but the shatter of glass registers, then a loud thump. It comes from above us, and the three of us take off in unison, running for the stairs, palming weapons. Other slayers come out of their rooms, hastily dressing.
“Did you hear that?” Justin asks.
“Where’d it come from?” Jaclyn demands.
 Pop, pop, pop. 
Gunfire! “There!” I rush toward the door to Ali and Cole’s bedroom.
Frosty grabs my arm to yank me behind him, making him the first to enter. Another round of gunfire rings out— courtesy of Frosty. I move beside him, determined to defend and protect, and see a black-clad figure propel out the shattered opening in the window, as if pulled by a rope.
I race over as violent gusts of wind lift strands of my hair. The sky is black, but it doesn’t fully camouflage the helicopter hovering just above our roof. Once the black-clad guy is secured inside, the copter flies away.
Chance shoves me aside, looking as though he plans to jump. Blood trickles from a gash in his forehead and gushes from a wound in his chest. He’s been shot.
“They took her,” he croaks. “Took Love. There were three of them. They shot me as I entered the room.”
“We have to do something.” Ali’s chin trembles. “Fast.”
“First, let’s get you patched up, Chance.” I reach for him.
He steps out of reach. “Bullet only grazed me. I’m fine. I don’t care what the rest of you do, but I’m gearing up and going after my girl.”
  
  
Justin heads to the roof to watch for any other copters, or any agents who might be sneaking around the perimeter. The rest of us gather in the weapons room to arm up.
Rebecca wanted a war. She’s got a war.
I’ve never seen the stoic Chance so panicked and inconsolable, and I sympathize. I’m not sure how I would react if Milla had been the one taken. At least his wound is a simple graze, as he claimed.
“How are we going to track her?” he demands. “Her phone is here.”
“I think I know a way.” Judging by the stubborn glint in Milla’s pretty golden eyes, her way is going to put her in danger. My hands clench as she looks to River rather than me. “Do you still have the hazmat suits we stole from Anima?”
“Of course.”
“Go get them, one for every slayer here. And hurry.”
“Hurry?” He spreads his arms, all shall I pull a rabbit out of my ass, too? “The suits are at our house, an hour and a half away—and that’s one way.”
Your house isn’t her house, prick. Not anymore.
“Then you better get going.” She gives him a push.
“Tell me what you’re planning.” Chance grips her by the shoulders and shakes her. “I need to know.”
A bolt of fury launches me to his side. I yank him away from her with enough force to damage. “You don’t touch her. Ever.”
Milla gives me a strange look before motoring on. “The plan is simple. Rebecca and Tiffany tried to destroy me with thanatos. Tonight I will use those flames against them.”
“How?” Ali asks. “And how can you use them without destroying yourself in the process?”
Those words—destroying yourself in the process—are a punch in the gut.
Milla’s nightmare is more reliable than a postman. Wind, sleet, rain or shine, it comes. Red flames hurt her, kill her. Now she plans to unleash them? Hell, no.
Forget losing another girl. I can’t lose her.
“In the cemetery, zombies bit me and red flames appeared of their own accord. While it made the zombies crave me exclusively, it made me hunger for you.” Milla scans the room, but avoids my gaze. “The mix of thanatos and toxin, I mean. I sensed you. Blindfolded, I could have picked you guys from a crowd of thousands.”
Reeve nods. “Like to like.”
Realization clicks, horror on its coattails, and I curse. “You intend to let a zombie bite you.” I get all up in Milla’s personal space. “You want us in those suits so you won’t sense us when you become a slayer GPS. But at what cost?”
“No cost on your part. Only mine. A few minutes of pain and suffering.” She pushes me away. “My pain, my choice. Deal with it.”
“No cost on my part?” What about the agonizing fear that is currently plaguing me? “You only have a ten-minute window before the toxin becomes too strong to neutralize.”
“Probably closer to fifteen or twenty minutes,” Reeve says. “Most of these zombies are clones, remember, and their toxin is weakened.”
“That doesn’t change my answer.” I never look away from Milla.
“The vision,” Ali says, as if I need the reminder. “We know she’ll survive this—”
I point a finger at her, silencing her. “Don’t you dare mention the vision to me.”
She flinches. “Yeah. Okay. My bad.”
“We’ll find Love another way,” I tell Milla.
She latches onto my shirt, giving me a shake. “There is no other way.”
Desperation radiates from Chance. “The longer we wait, trying to think of something else, the more damage Anima can—and will—do to Love.”
“But trading one life for another isn’t our way. Is it?” I snap at Ali.
Ali withers. Milla only raises her chin.
I cup her cheeks. “I’m not willing to risk you.” Not today, not tomorrow. Not ever. “We’ve got time. Love will be kept alive. She’s a bargaining chip now.”
“Frosty—”
“No.” Since our kiss, my obsession with her has become as much a part of me as my arms and legs. I never should have walked away from her. I should have stayed with her, continued to lose myself in her. Should have told her how I felt—feel. I’m as desperate as Chance. As possessive as Cole. As determined as Bronx. But I didn’t, and this is the price I must pay.
“Come with me.” She takes my hand and draws me into the hallway. After shutting the door behind us, she anchors her hands on her hips and glares up at me—