Page 103 of Tethered Fates

Kate swings her baton, which snaps the officers behind her into action, and they start fighting back.

Grabbing hold of the ugly blue chair, I jab it at the zombies, using all my strength to force them back as Kai shoots purple flames. None of the undead cry in agony as they’re set on fire or hit; they simply collapse, twitching and smouldering.

“Teagan!” Kai shouts. “Get behind me, for fuck’s sake!”

I give a zombie a swift kick. Her stomach sinks in, and when I stumble back, the indent of my foot remains, like when I’ve pressed a thumb into clay. “Like hell!”

Distracted, I don’t see zombie Jace until he’s almost on top of me. I let out a surprised yell as I try to swing my chair around to hit him. But the legs are tangled in the reaching zombie arms.

A blue chair swings into zombie Jace’s head, and he goes down without much of a fight.

“Ugly then, ugly now,” Golden spits, then helps me push back more of the zombies.

Purple fire bursts beside me, and the smell of cooking flesh and rot turns my stomach, bile rising in my throat.

Then, somewhere within the chaos, comes Apollo’s manic laughter as he fights Emma.

I just hope he’s winning.

“Aim for the head!” Kate orders the other police, her baton crushing in a zombie’s skull.

But it isn’t enough; we’re being forced into a corner. Kate and her fellow officers are pushed further back.

Kai is flagging, sweat on his forehead, his flames not as bright or as hot. My muscles ache, and Golden cries out with every swing of his makeshift weapon.

There’s a pained cry, and I look just in time to see Emma wrap her fist around Apollo’s neck. He’s a wreck; open cuts all over his face that aren’t healing. His eye is black and swollen to the size of a golf ball; one arm hangs limp at his side.

“Apollo!” I shout, gritting my teeth. My arms scream as I try to push the zombies back so I can get to him. But it’s no use; no matter how hard I shove, the zombies shove harder, and my sweaty grip on the chair begins to loosen.

“I might not need your heart—” Emma pulls her hand back, and the blood on Apollo’s face is sucked towards her bloodied nails, turning each tip into deadly sharp points. “But I won’t pass up a vampire’s heart.”

Apollo wheezes as he sucks in each laboured breath. Shaking, he brings up his hand to flip Emma off with a smirk that’s barely holding, and through red fangs, he spits, “F…fuck you, bitch.”

“EMMA PLEASE, NO!” Kai screams, high and pleading. There’s a burst of his purple flame, but it dies as quickly as it came.

“APOLLO!” Golden cries out as he’s overwhelmed by a swarm of zombies and forced to the floor.

I try to say something, but my words are stuck as I watch in unbelieving horror as Emma shoots her pointed tips at Apollo’s chest.

And the world slows down.

I scream, louder than I ever have. I push harder at the zombies, but they aren’t tiring like we are.

The sound Apollo makes when his chest is pierced cuts into me. Apollo shouldn’t make that sound; it isn’t funny or stupid or sarcastic. He’s in agony.

He’s dying.

Then, at the entrance, zombies suddenly fall or are tossed away like garbage, before a man with blonde hair and clear blue eyes appears at impossible speeds behind Emma.

“Get your filthy fucking hands off him, asshole!” he roars with a slight Russian accent, clapping his large hands on either side of her head.

Emma screeches, dropping Apollo. She tries to fight back by swinging her arms around. But our new arrival doesn’t give her a chance.

The blood mage’s neck twists with a CRACK so loud I feel it in my bones. Her face is fixed in an expression of shock as she topples to the floor with a thud.

The zombies collapse with her.

The silence that follows is filled with our heavy breathing as we wait for Emma to get up. But she never does.