Darcy Branwyn

Songs from my playlist: Banshee. I remember writing this scene like it was last night. I was alone, it was two AM, and I was listening to this song. It was awesome! 😵

Tangled Moon:

…They wound through curvy dark roads, the white Land Rover always one step behind them. Kendra settled back against the seat, staring at a cold sky filled with stars.

Just as she had begun to relax, she heard a thump. Something had hit the hood, rolling off. She looked back and saw the passenger door to the Land Rover open, Nick pulling over even as Vesper leaped, shifting into a wolf, her front paws gracefully landing her in the snow.

Kendra heard Alessandro say something in Arabic, saw a body graze the windshield. Another hit the grill head on, and then everything blurred as they skidded into a snow bank, stopping with a puff of white. The airbag deployed. Two seconds later it punctured as something broke through the windshield. A hand, white and pocked with red patches of muscle and sinew reached for her throat.

Kendra screamed.

A second hand, this one hard, too fast for her equilibrium, reached for her, pulling her out of the car through the driver’s side. She was swept up, and then behind Alessandro’s larger body, shielded between him and the car. She smelled—roadkill? There were dragging and moaning noises all around them, and then a low howl. Looking over the roof of the car, she saw Vesper lift her big black head to the sky, calling to the local werewolves.

Nick was fighting one of the creatures. The trunk on the Rover was open like he’d been going for his gun. Vesper came bounding protectively toward him. She took hold of it in powerful jaws, wrenching it away from Nick and tossing it aside. Nick pulled out his rifle, screwing the silencer into place.

Monsters everywhere, and they still had to worry about things like silencers, so the mortals wouldn’t know.

Stupid humans, Kendra thought, feeling surreal in the midst of it all, as if she wasn’t really there, just watching it like a movie.

Alessandro was deflecting bodies. Kendra’s stomach lurched as an arm landed at her feet. An arm? Her instinct was to press closer to him but she knew she’d only slow him down.

“What are they?” she said hoarsely, her voice not carrying, her back against the car.

Alessandro had heard her. “Zombies,” he said. “We have those here.”

That simple? Sure. Switzerland equals zombies. Everyone knew that. Just a fact of life.

They were slow movers, that was for sure, but when they came in all directions it was terrifying. One clambered over the car roof, another punched through what was left of the windshield.

She had every intention of calmly reminding her husband that they were surrounded by rotting bodies looking for brains and that maybe they should get a move on.

She screamed instead.

It was effective nonetheless. He scooped her up and turned, head butting one. “Close your eyes,” he advised.

“What?”

He slung her over one side of him, reached for another body, and hissing, sank fangs into its neck. He pulled back, ripping its head clean off.

She should have closed her eyes.

Kendra screamed again.

“I said close your eyes,” he growled.

“It sounded like a request, not an order.”

He kicked the head away from a body that was searching blindly for its missing piece. The skull disappeared into the darkness beyond the headlights…

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