Nick felt the book heating again in his pocket as it whispered to him.

To make the dead behave, Total dominion you must crave.

Huh? What crack was the book on?

But no sooner had he thought that than he final y understood. It was something Brynna had done a report on in school last year. At the time he'd thought it stupid, but he final y got it.

Visualization. In order to make something happen, to become something else, you had to see it clearly in your mind.

That was the first step of achieving success. Vague dreams never amounted to anything. Only those that were ful y seen could manifest.

Just like with the dagger.

Thoughts had power. Negative and positive. They influenced everything. They could empower a person or rip them to shreds.

And hopeful y, tonight, they'd save al their lives.

Closing his eyes, Nick saw himself like the character in the Zombie Hunter video game.

I will fear no evil for I am the baddest beast in the land. I am the power they can't tear down. And my will is law.

They will do as I say. The dead don't command me.

I command them.

Power, true power, comes from within. Not without.

Laughing as the He-Man chant went through his head, Nick opened his eyes.

And everything looked different. There was a haze around the people and a dul glow over the zombies.

More than that, he could actual y hear the zombies in his head. No, not zombies. What he heard were the evil souls that the mortents had summoned to take over the dead bodies and reanimate them.

The body was only a vessel. And it was time to empty it and send them home. All of them.

To make the zombies fall and vanish.

A simple spell and touch you must brandish.

Nick shook his head to clear that gibberish. "Real y, book, your rhymes seriously suck."

Fine then, Malachai, you try rhyming in a language not your own. You're lucky I'm even helping you. Not like I care whether or not you live or die. You know I can get a whole new master who'd be glad to have me . . . human. It spat that last word at him like it was the lowest insult imaginable.

Yeah, his book had some serious att.i.tude problems. But at least it whispered the words he needed.

Ashes to ashes.

Zombie head gashes.

Dust to dust.

Return to your graves you must.

But the words sounded so much better in the book's native tongue, which were: Tirre Tirre.

Grauz sa ton.

Dhani Dhani Madabauhn.

Thank goodness he only had to say the latter to kil them.

Along with one more bit.

He had to touch them too. Gross, but effective, and the moment he said the words and put a hand on them, they fel to the ground like a bunch of bad actors.

Bubba and the others stood back as Nick made his way through them until the only ones left were the three demons who hadn't been banished.

The mortents glared at him.

"This isn't over, Malachai," the woman spat at him, her eyes glowing deep in the dim light.

Nick scoffed. "Oh yes it is. I banish your smel y a.r.s.es back to the holes they crawled out of. You do not command me and you never wil ."

Evil laughter rang in his ears. "You say that today, but come tomorrow ... it's so much easier to go wrong than it ever is to go right. We wil win this. You'l see. Before al is said and done, you wil be on our side. This I promise you." Nick didn't believe it for a second. "You should never underestimate the stubbornness of a Cajun guttersnipe. We wrote the book on cutting our noses off to spite our faces." Glaring at them, he used his newfound powers to banish them.

Tabitha wiped the blood off her sais onto her pant legs.

"That's right. Get thee behind me, b.i.t.c.hes. I don't got no time for you. Ha!"

Nick shook his head. "Good thing there's only one of you, right?"

Eric snorted. "You do know she has a twin sister?" Nick didn't even want to contemplate that gene pool. Right now, he was merely glad to have the demons gone and his life not threatened.

At least hopeful y not for the next hour or so.

Kody came running up to him. "Are you al right?" Before he could stop himself, Nick pul ed her into his arms and held her. He just needed to feel someone close to him who wasn't trying to eat his brains or kil him.

And G.o.d, she felt great.

"Yeah, I'm al right. How did you get here?" She pul ed back to gesture toward Mark. "I was surrounded by zombies when he showed up with his monster truck and ran them down. He told me to get in and I didn't argue." Nick laughed. "I think that's how I got sucked into al of this." But it didn't explain everything.

He went over to Bubba, who was packing up his crossbow and bolts into Mark's truck. It was so good to see him alive, even if he did have a gash and bruise on his forehead. Nick would have hugged him in relief too, but knowing Bubba he might shoot him for it. "I saw the truck blow up. I thought you were dead."

Bubba pointed to Alex. "I told you about those shapeshifters and their wicked powers."

Alex held his hands up. "You're lucky they worked. At my age, it's a rare thing that they do what I want them to, and they're what caused the truck to explode when I used them to get us out."

He turned to Caleb, who had his arms crossed over his chest as he c.o.c.ked one arrogant brow. "Oh, they kicked my a.s.s hard. I'l be limping for a few weeks, no doubt. But I'm a lot tougher than I look, and while they might have had me on the ground for a few, they weren't demon enough to keep me there."

Nick jumped as he heard something shattering behind him.

Turning around, he saw Madaug at the gaming console, where he was smashing it with a pipe he must have found on the ground. He beat on it until both the machine and the disc were busted beyond repair.

Then he stomped both and ended up by jumping up and down on them.

Once he finished his tantrum, he went to his mom and hugged her close. "I'm so sorry for everything I did." He looked down at Ian and grabbed him too. "I'm so glad you're both al right. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you. I love you guys so much."

Ian grinned. "Does this mean I can come into your room whenever I want?"

Madaug shoved at him. "Don't push it, E. I'm not that grateful."

Eric and Tabitha joined them. "Thanks, Nick," Tabitha said.

"We owe you."

Nick shook Eric's hand. "I would say any time, but real y, next time zombies attack, cal Bubba. He's the one ready to believe you. Remember the number: 1-888-Ca-Bubba. 'If he can't fix your problems one way, he'l fix them another.' There ain't no Nick in that slogan. After this, Nick's retiring to work for Kyrian as a go-fer. That's al I want to do. I don't want to know nothing about zombie slaying, duck urine, or anything else paranormal. Ever."

But Nick stil had one person left to speak to.

Mark.

"How did you survive?" he asked as Mark left Simi, who was licking her fingers and joined them by the truck.

Mark flashed him a grin. "What? Did you forget the first rule I taught you, boy?"

Nick scowled as he tried to remember Mark's various rules for survival. "Duck urine chases away every living and unliving thing?"

"Nah, that's number six. Rule number one: I don't have to outrun the zombie. I just have to outrun you. How you think Eric and Tabitha got captured?"

Tabitha laughed. "Oh please. Inspector Gadget over there made a blowtorch out of Eric's art sealant and a lighter. I'm not sure the house is stil standing, but he got us out of there and Simi covered the rest of our retreat. We'd have gotten away completely had Eric not tripped and I made the mistake of going back for him while Mark was hot-wiring a neighbor's car."

Nick laughed at more proof Mark wasn't completely insane.

Never go back for the fal en unless you want to be captured or kil ed. Unless the fal en was Bubba, who usual y had a larger calibre of weapons.

Mark sighed. "By the time I realized they weren't behind me, they were gone and I was sick over it. I real y thought they'd gotten eaten. But luckily I saw your girlfriend under attack and, with Simi's help, was able to get her to safety." Nick nodded as he ran al of that through his mind. He only had one question left. "So how'd they get Stone?"

"Stone was here?" Tabitha asked.

"Yeah, the coward ran out and left us the first chance he got.

Alex curled his lip. "You know, he's what gives werewolves a bad name."

Madaug's mom let out a deep sigh. "You know, guys, I've had enough excitement for one night. Bubba, can you take me home? Ian needs to be in bed. Madaug and Eric need to be grounded, and I just want to forget that I ever heard of anything preternatural. At least until I have to get up in the morning and deal with the Dark-Hunters."

"Sure."

Alex grinned at her. "So does this mean you're surrendering your Squire status, Mrs. S.?"

"Not on your life. It just means I need to rest." She lifted Ian up into the truck, then climbed in behind him. "Eric and Madaug ... get your b.u.t.ts in here."

Eric gave Tabitha a quick kiss. "I'l cal you later." Bubba opened the door to climb in while Tabitha and Mark got in on the other side. "Let me run them home, then I'l be back to grab the rest of you."

Nick nodded as Nekoda took his hand into hers and held it tight.

He, Caleb, Simi, Alex, and Nekoda stayed behind.

Nick went over to the game and sighed. "You know, it was a fun game. But for the whole zombie conversion thing, he'd have made mil ions on it."

They al froze as they heard something rustling in the shadows. Nick pul ed Nekoda behind him as Alex flashed himself from their group to the source of the sound.

A few seconds later, he threw Stone into the light.

Nick glared at him. "You loser dork."

"Ah, shut up, Gautier. You're nothing but trash anyway." Nick grinned. "Yeah, but I'm trash with a seriously modified cattle prod." He stuck the tip of it against Stone's hip and sent him flying.

But it had an additional effect that Nick hadn't expected. Not only did it shock him, it turned him from human to wolf to human and back again.

"What the-?"

Alex backed up as Nick looked at him. "That's the bad thing about being a shapeshifter. You hit us with electricity and we lose control of our forms."

Gaping, he looked back at Stone, who would try to curse him during the few seconds he was a human as he flashed between forms. "How long's he going to do that?"

"You gave him a pretty good jolt. Probably an hour." Nick laughed. "Bonus round."

Alex shook his head. "And on that note, I should get home too. I don't want to get grounded either. See you guys tomorrow at school." He disappeared into thin air.

Nick looked at Nekoda. "You're taking al of this weirdness in stride. Should I be afraid?"

"I almost got eaten by zombies tonight, Nick, and I rode in a truck with Bubba's driving. Some guy flashing out of the room and another one turning into a dog isn't exactly the scariest thing I've seen in the last few hours." Simi came up to lean against Kody's shoulder. "Oh, the Simi thinks you've seen things much, much scarier than that." Nekoda paled a bit, but didn't elaborate.

Nick pul ed her away from the others so that he could speak to her with a little bit of privacy. Gah, this was awkward. There were so many things he wanted to say to her, but deep inside he was stil afraid, even after everything they'd been through, that she'd shoot him down.

"Um, Kody ... I was wondering ..." He let his voice trail off as his fear mounted.

Just ask her out already.

Good grief, Nick, she kissed you.

Yeah, but she'd thought they were going to die. Now that they weren't dead she might be regretting that kiss. Wishing she'd saved it for someone who was better looking. Smarter.

Someone not dressed in a goober shirt.

"What?" she asked.