“Sir, yes, sir.” I eased beside him.

“If your flames are red—”

“I know. Inject myself with the antidote, then run far, far away.”

He tweaked the end of my nose, a gesture of affection. “When it’s over, I’ll come find you. You better not have a single injury.”

“Same to you.”

Veronica walked toward us, and I watched her purse her lips as she noticed our easy banter.

You should see his chest, Ronny dear.

She sat across from me. The rest of the slayers joined us, and one by one we forced our spirits out of our bodies. The antidote continued to do its job, and I was able to stand with only the slightest resistance from Z.A.

The chill in the air was more pronounced than usual. Cole wrapped me in his arms, sharing his warmth, before leading the way out of the barn.

Night was in full swing, the sun completely gone, the moon in its place, and the halogens Mr. Holland kept around the property glowing brightly, illuminating our way. My eyes burned and watered against the glare.

We passed the gate at the property line, each of us on alert.

In the sky, Emma’s rabbit cloud pulsed, as though agitated.

I remembered the last time that had happened and gulped. “They’re close,” I said.

“No.” Cole’s expression was menacing. “The zombies are already here.”

They sure were. I looked, and saw multiple sets of red eyes glowing in the distance. Moans resounded, and the scent of rot drifted. I hadn’t expected things to kick off so fast, but that didn’t stop anticipation from firing me up.

Ethan had told the truth.

“Go, go, go,” Cole commanded.

As one cohesive mass we rushed forward. Cole fired his crossbow, the arrow sprouting four points at the end and slicing through a zombie’s throat. Trina picked up speed, surging ahead, already swinging her ax. Frosty and Bronx tag-teamed two zombies, whipping around the creatures and binding the pair with rope before slicing here, slicing there. The creatures could only endure the violence—before their legs were removed and they toppled to the ground.

Gavin stayed close to Veronica. She was in the process of shoving a row of zombies into the swing of his sword. Lucas, Derek and Cruz hacked through the second and third line of monsters. I stopped in the thick of it and spread my arms. A zombie tried to grab me, but Cole was there, swinging a short sword and removing the limb just before contact.

Another zombie made a play for me, but this time I was ready, filled with power—I could do this. Fire leaped from the tips of my fingers. It was white and tipped with gold, thank God, and in an instant it spread to my shoulders. I could have whooped with joy.

The zombie touched me and burst into ash.

I was grinning as the fire continued to spread to my head, then down my chest, to my waist, down my legs and over my ankles and feet. I gave myself up to the heat, basking in it, empowered by it, and marched forward, ghosting my fingertips over the spine of the zombie chomping at Cole.

Ash.

I moved to the next and the next. Ash. Ash. One touch, that was all that was needed. Soon there were no creatures left standing. The slayers were panting, watching me with rapt fascination.

“Dibs on being Ali’s partner,” Gavin said with a fist pump to the sky. “For, like, infinity.”

Veronica jabbed him in the stomach.

“What?” he said, frowning. “I believe it. I say it. I receive it. Right? That’s a spiritual law.”

“Not if you violate my free will.” I stuck my tongue out at him. “Was anyone bitten?”

“No,” echoed a welcome chorus.

“Good.” Cole nodded with satisfaction. “All right. It’s time to split up.” He looked to me. “You still good?”

My pores seemed to open up and suck the flames inside, but the heat stayed just under the surface, ready and eager for more. “I am. You?”

“Yeah.”

We held hands for a moment, only a moment, offering silent assurances, before I moved to Gavin’s side. The two of us parted from the group, heading for the road we’d seen in our vision, maintaining a normal, natural pace.

“You and Veronica seem awfully close,” I said to him. “Closer than usual.”

“Makes sense. We hooked up last night.”

“You did not.”

“It was good, but not great.” Amusement dripped from his tone. “Practically a pity fu—screw.”

“Ugh. You shouldn’t be telling me this.”

“Why not?”

“Telling people who you’ve banged is so low class.”

He shrugged. “Lucas walked in on us. It’s not like it’s some big secret.”

Still.

“You jealous?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes and made sure he noticed. “Gavin, I suddenly find you repulsive.”

“Funny. That’s what she said after I told her sex is sex, and I’d be willing to make myself available to her anytime she wanted it, but not to expect anything more. And you know what? She still jumped me.”

“Some girls have no taste.”

“In this case, you’re the one without it.”

That earned him another eye roll. “While she’s making herself available to you, you’re going to be seeing other women, aren’t you?”

“I thought I’d made that clear. Was that not clear?”

“The fact that I’ve had my tongue on your body...” I shuddered.

His grin was slow but full-wattage. “So we can joke about that now?”

“Why not?” I said, mocking him. It felt good to tease him, to act like the girl I used to be. “As terrible as it was, I don’t think there’s anything else we can do about it.”

“Terrible?”

“You practically checked my tonsils for infection, Gavin.”

He barked out a laugh. “Ha! If you were lucky enough to be kissed by me, you’d still be screaming with pleasure.”

“You say pleasure, I say—” I spotted the telltale red eyes in the distance. Inhaling sharply, I smelled the putrid stink of rot. My ears twitched, and I heard the grunts and groans of a hunger never to be satisfied. “They’re here.”

He got serious in a snap, and we picked up the pace.

Seconds before I reached the creatures, I summoned the fire, and just like that, my entire body erupted with flames. Then contact, contact, contact. Ash, ash, ash. The fight wasn’t even fair anymore, I thought with a surge of satisfaction.

The zombies had no defense.

But then, they weren’t the ones we were after tonight.

The remaining monsters branched off, half surrounding me, half surrounding Gavin. The air was so fetid it clogged my nose and tickled my throat. I gagged, felt the flames begin to sputter and practically danced through the ranks to fell as many monsters as possible before it was too late.

I focused on Gavin and realized he hadn’t had the same level of success. Around twenty of the mutated zombies still encompassed him as he sliced and hacked with his blades. I moved toward him, but not fast enough. One managed to crawl up behind him and bite into his calf. Howling with pain, Gavin dropped to the knees.

I dived for the creature, and at the moment of contact my flames licked over him. Buh-bye now.

“Others,” Gavin rasped, the toxin already working through his bloodstream.

I destroyed the remaining zombies and crouched at Gavin’s side, whipping the antidote from my pocket and sticking him in the neck. The white-gold flames hadn’t dissipated, I realized too late. They licked over his throat and face, and he howled, his entire body bowing.

“I’m sorry!” I hadn’t meant... Might have... Crap! What if I’d just signed his death warrant?

He screamed as the flames disappeared under his skin. I fell backward, panting, praying, trying not to panic, and then, babbling, “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” as he quieted and sagged against the brittle grass, still breathing.

He would live.

As the flames at last left me, I looked around and realized piles of ash surrounded us.

Piles I’d seen in our vision.

Excited, and trying not to give way to a rise of dread, I reached out and slapped Gavin across the cheek. “Wake up!”

“I am. Jeez, woman! That hurt.”

There was enough derision in his voice to scare the bravest of men, but I could only laugh.

“What just happened?” he demanded.

“I think the flames burned through the toxin.” Chased away the darkness, like the journal had promised. “Is the toxin still active?”

He thought for a moment, blinked. A sense of amazement radiated from him. “No. It’s gone.”

Would his flames have the same affect on me? Or, because I was part zombie, would his flames destroy me? Either way, I now knew without a doubt this was the solution I’d been hoping for; there just wasn’t time to explore it.

I climbed to my feet and helped him do the same. “Stay aware.”

“Sir, yes, sir,” he said, mocking me as I’d mocked Cole.

Footsteps suddenly beat into my awareness. I spun, my heart drumming swiftly. Hazmats. Coming at us from every angle, soon surrounding us. Guns aimed at our heads.

Because they weren’t slayers, but could see us, I knew they were in spirit form. They must have used the mechanical device Dr. Bendari mentioned.

Gavin and I pressed back to back.

“Where is he?” Kelly demanded as he removed his mask. “What have you done with him?”

The vision.

“Who? Your precious son?” I grinned. Payback sucks, doesn’t it? “I think I’ll keep that information to myself.”

A cock of a gun. “Actually, why don’t I show you where he is?” Cole said from behind him.

Kelly paled.

The slayers were still in spirit form, and they had come out of the darkness to circle the Hazmats.

Our hope was that they would be so intimidated by having our weapons trained on them, they would submit to us. We would lock them up in Mr. Ankh’s basement until we figured out our next move. But that best-case scenario wasn’t what we’d planned for—and I was glad.