"I swear that mutt has been breathing down my neck at every corner. I don't know how much more of this I can take..." Darren looked around the dining room with a shifty gaze, as if he was afraid his secret admirer was going to materialize through a wall. I smiled as I took a bite of the banana I had taken from the big fruit bowl on the table earlier that morning while trying to avoid Alexei.

It felt like some karma driven plot of the universe, "Maybe you overreacting a little..." I say with my mouth full--using his earlier words to me against him, swallowing the bite when Darren gave me a look of annoyance.

"Your smart mouth Isn't helping..." He replied. My gaze drifted to the door as it swung open, revealing the person in question. Trailing behind him was his buddies from the other day. Cole's eyes were drawn to Darren like he was his own personal chew-toy, "Maybe mine isn't...but maybe his will..." I nodded my head in Cole's direction.

Darren stiffened, before turning slightly to catch the Lycan's momentarily. His bigger friend, caught hold of his arm before he could repeat the other days incident. Darren's cheeks turned bright red and he quickly dropping his eyes to his hands as if they were the most interesting thing in the room. I found the response more amusing than I probably should have—perhaps I was a bit of a sadist after all.

I couldn't—well didn't really want to resist the poking at him a little more. I knocked my shoulder against his, "He is pretty cute if you ignore the whole 'I might eat you alive' aura around him."

"Shut up, Poppy!" He hissed at me under his breath, cheeks heating up again as he peeked to make sure no one was listening to our conversation. I laughed at his expense, delighting myself in someone else misery—it was a nice little deviation from my own miserable reality.

I lost my smile quickly when Alexei and Anna walked into the room together, his hand on her arm—whispering something into her ear. Something inside of me roared to life, my ears ringing with the rapid rise of my blood pressure. Darren knocked his shoulder into mine, pulling my attention, "Trouble in paradise?" He sounded to happy to have the roles reversed.

I didn't give a second thought to punching him in the arm, wiping the smug smirk off his face.

"Ouch!" He pulled back and punched me in return. Darren didn't care about the fact that I was a girl or his sister. He hit me with the same amount of force he'd punch one of his idiot friends. I felt the burn in my still healing shoulder, cringing and dropping it a bit.

Alexei looked in our direction, hearing our sibling squabble. Our eyes met across the small distance—his gaze narrowing as he noticed the way I was holding my bad arm. I quickly pulled my eyes from his, not wanting or needing his concern. I had meant what I said in his office—I didn't want anything to do with him outside of business and our scheduled quality time. The closer we got to solving what had happened at the Gala event the quicker I could get him out of my life and move forward.

I pushed my chair back, face wiped of emotion—Darren looked a bit regretful, "I'm sorry, Poppy. I forgot about your arm."

I shrugged of his concern as well, letting go of my arm, "Meet me outside when your done making goo-goo eyes with your boyfriend. You're going to help me get my magic back under control." I snapped, before heading out of the room—chin held high, eyes focused on the world directly in front of me. I felt Alexei's eye on me until I was out of view, my skin spasming with unwanted pleasure.

Darren met me outside a few minutes later, crawling out one of the lower floor Windows instead of coming out the front door. I watched him struggle to get his leg out, hands on my hips, "What the hell are you doing?"

He glanced up in my direction as he dropped to the ground, "Avoiding my own complication. You avoid your the way you want and I'll avoid my the way I want." I rolled my eyes--clearly I was the twin who had gotten all of the brain power.

He came to stand next to me, "So let's get to work, my padawan."

I stared at him blankly, "Don't call me that."

He smirked at me all the earlier frustration seemingly gone from his mind, "Let's just try working on your focus and control." I watched as he walked a few feet away, stopping in front of the a large tree. It only took a moment to realize what he was thinking, "Hit the tree, but don't hit me."

I was focused the blasts of my power at the tree, Darren standing in front of it--playing the part in our little test. Slowly I was cutting notches in the trunk, progressively getting closer and closer to his head.

"You're doing good. Now focus on Alexei..." He commented.

I gave him a dark look, my magic cutting into the wood just above his head, his hair rustling, "Really?"

He returned the look, "Were you not the one who asked for my help or not?" I rolled my eyes but didn't refute his statement. He waited a moment before speaking again, "Let's try this again. Focus on Alexei..."

I let out a heavy sigh, closing my eyes. I slowly conjured up the image of Alexei in my mind, it frightened me how quickly I felt the buzzing of magic as it responded to the thoughts of him. The pressure starting to build at the base of my skull and rippling out through my limbs like electricity in a thunderstorm.

"Pull back, Poppy!" Darren shouted at me. I tried to reign it but it was stretching out far beyond my control like a wildfire it was trying to consume everything around it—in its search for what it desired most, "Shit!"

I opened my eyes as it surged forward, spiraling towards Darren. He jumped out of the way quickly, dropping to the ground as it pegged the tree. It blasted straight through it like a bolt of lightning, splintering the tree. I watched as it slowly fell towards the ground, picking up momentum until it met the earth with a great thud.

Darren rose up from the ground, dusting himself off as he survey the mess I'd made, "Well, at least we know for certain he is the trigger for your sudden lack of control..."

The ground seemed to be vibrating, the vibration growing in strength until it was shaking. Darren spun toward me, "That's enough, Poppy."

I held up my hands, "This isn't me."

The ground underneath us groaned and continued to shake, we tried to hold our footing as we stared down in confusion. A hand shot up out of the dirt like a spring daisy, flesh gray and shriveled up.

"Are you kidding me? Is that what I think it is?" Darren commented from beside me, before another hand shot up out of the ground. The ground began to billow up, as the more body parts began to ripple out of the dirt. It took a moment before the unidentified creatures upper torso finally became completely uncovered, head slowly lifting in our direction. It's eye sockets were void of anything but darkness, teeth chattering together as if it was speaking some undead language.

The smell of rotten flesh and sulfur wafted around us, making me want to gag, "That's a zombie." Darren pointed out in his infinite wisdom. I took a step back as another zombie uncovered itself, using it's awkward and malnourished rotting limbs to claw it's way out of the earth it had awoken from toward us.

"Do something!" He pushed me from behind in the direction of the zombie's just as another one popped out of the earth. I dug my heels into the ground, staring down the first zombie, even though he had no eye's it felt like he was staring right back at me—my skin crawling with dread.

"I'm sorry I don't remember 'how to handle a zombie horde' ever being covered in my training." I snapped back at him in a hushed whisper, taking a step back towards him. I watched the slow movements of the zombies as they moved towards us—I counted four and prayed that there weren't any more of them hiding underneath the ground.

"Quick, cast a protection circle, you are better at that than me." Darren moved quickly, bending over and quickly tracing a circle around us on the dirt with his finger while he uttered the enchantment needed to breathe life into the circle. Once the larger circle was drawn he moved in closer, drawing protection runes facing all the earthly directions—north, south, east, west. The circle blazed to life, glowing a faint orange—something only those with soul magic would be able to see.

We waited together in the center of the circle, watching as the zombie's drew closer.

The first one to have freed itself lowered it's eyeless sockets to the ground, tilting it's head as if it could see the circle before taking a step forward. To our amazement it crossed into the circle without any trouble, "Plan B it is..." I called on my magic. It spiraled around us like blades of wind. I pushed it toward my target doing my best to control it as I felt the ebb and flow. The rotting flesh smoked and sizzled as my magic hacked at the creature—its head tumbling to the ground.

Everything slowed down as we watched the headless body collapse to the ground. We stared at it for a moment, watching as it reanimated itself again, crawling forward toward the head that sat a few feet from us. It scrambled for a moment before grabbing the head and putting it back into place, the rotting flesh knitting itself back together again.

"Oh fuck." Darren commented beside me in stunned surprise. I swallowed the urge to let out a hysterical laugh—because apparently my life had decided to go off the rails entirely and take me into a nightmarish wonderland, where everything I knew was ass-backwards. We both took a step back as the zombie rose back up to its full height. Its zombie brow furrowed before it barred its teeth and hissed at us bitterly.

"Time for plan C..."

"Which is?" Darren questioned.

"We run." I turned and grabbed hold of his shirt, yanking him to follow behind me as I took off as fast as my legs would carry me.

The zombies hissed behind us as they gave into the chase. I glanced back over my shoulder to realize they weren't as slow moving as I hoped they would be. I forced my legs to move quicker, as we circled back through the woods and toward the house.

A ear piercing howl rattled through the air, as the sound of crashing foliage moved straight towards us, "oh for the love..." I grumbled under my breath as a familiar Lycan crashed through the trees, whipping past Darren and myself.

The zombie's surrounded us quickly, Separating us from each other--easier pickings. Darren  broke a branch from a near by tree, "Bring it on!"

Alexei's beast roared in the zombie's face before grabbing its head in a large clawed hand, crushing its head into what looked like deflated ball. The zombie didn't not comeback after that—clearly it took a beast to kill a beast.

"Darren! It's the brains!" I shout to him as I fend off the two zombie's closing in on me. I watched as Darren, swung the broken branch like a baseball bat—sending its head flying. He raced after it, beating it into the ground, "Die you undead motherfucker! Die! "

Letting myself get distracted was a fatal mistake I quickly realized as a zombie hand wrapped around my throat and lifted me up off the ground. I clawed at the rotting flesh, legs kicking wildly as I stared down into a pair of black pits. I called on my magic, feeling as it sizzled with awareness.

It coiled out of me like invisible molten wires, slicing through the zombie's arm—cutting it off at the elbow. My body dropped to the ground with a loud thud, the creatures hand still stiffly wrapped around my throat.

I watched from the ground as a clawed hands popped out through its chest. Alexei ripped the zombie in two with a mighty roar, guts spilling and exploding in every direction. The hand feel lifeless from my throat, and I exploded into a fit of gagging and coughing. I wanted to warn the beast about the other zombie. That concern seemed unnecessary as it came at him with a hiss, he caught it by the throat and tossed it away—without ever taking his eyes off of me.

My heart was pounding in my chest—my magic blossoming with excitement and a familiar need to connect with the Lycan before me. It wanted to reach out and touch—I too also wanted to reach out and touch.

Darren let out a loud warrior cry as he charged at the zombie Alexei had tossed--drawing my attention of the Lycan. I watched as he smashed its head in with his big stick. I found his face smeared with black blood and pieces of rotting flesh splattered over his clothes. He was breathing heavily, "Fuck zombies..." He kicked the lifeless heap as if to emphasize the point.

Alexei shifted back into his human form, coming forward a few steps. His breathing only slightly excelerated—body covered in sweat. A very naked body that was currently blocking the fading sunlight from my eyes. I tried to make sure I kept my gaze focused on his face, "How did you know we were in trouble?"

He lifted a brow, lips held in a firm grimace, "I was following you."

I frowned up at him, "Don't you mean stalking?"

Alexei shrugged his shoulders as he flicked a piece of rotting flesh off of his chest, "That's the second time I've had to save your life this week, snowflake. You're quite prone to near death experiences, which I find exhilarating myself but maybe cut your brother some slack." He met my gaze again, before holding out a helpful hand toward me, "He seems to get caught up in your trouble."

I accepted it with an eye roll, "As if you care about Darren..." I mumbled to myself, pulling my hand free from his grip once I was on my feet again, "I'll try not to make a habit of it."

I pushed forward, Darren coming quickly to my side, "Necromancy?"
I nodded my head looking to the piles of decay which were already returning to the earth.

"Is there a problem with Necromancy? Other than the obvious?" Alexei questioned, still uncaring of his nakedness--I seemed to be the only one having trouble with it. My damned female hormones.

"It's an outlawed art...it's a dark art that requires dark power. Druids are forbidden from learning dark magic...it's too addictive. But if a Druid has gone dark we'll have bigger problems then a few zombies." I say with a slight groan. The thought that
one of our own had gone dark was not a thought that brought me any joy.

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Song: Deadx Cell - Papa Roach

A/N: why zombies? Why not zombies?