Normal zombie attacks-"

That made Nick wonder what would qualify as an ab normal attack.

"-are done by dead people brought back from their graves. They're under the control of their masters and attack humans to get a taste of blood. But this ... the kid wasn't dead yet. Makes no sense to me."

"Maybe someone spiked his Wheaties?"

Bubba shook his head. "Wel , there is some chemicals what can give a human zombie-like symptoms. But none of them make a person eat another one. Maybe it's some bioterrorism test being run by the government. Don't be drinking no tap water or seafood until I do some testing." Nick grinned. "I don't normal y drink my seafood, Bubba, but-"

"Don't get smart with me, Gautier. I stil got loaded weapons from last night."

Nick opened his mouth to speak, but a hysterical scream silenced him.

"Oh my G.o.d! The coach just ate Mr. Peters! Someone help!

Help!"

The police went running into the school as the secretary came dashing out, screaming in terror and tearing at her hair.

Nick froze as those words about Peters seeped into his brain. On the one hand he was horrified the man had been eaten. On the other ...

He was strangely happy. The sanctimonious pig kind of deserved it.

Nick, that's so wrong. He heard his mom's voice in his head. Yeah, maybe it was, but he stil couldn't help thinking it was some kind of divine payback.

The police forced the crowd back as the media rushed the school, trying to get photos and footage.

Suddenly, the vice princ.i.p.al was outside with a bul horn.

"School is canceled for the day. Students go home. We'l be cal ing later in the day with information. Please ... disperse and leave. Any student found on campus wil be suspended.

Now go home and don't come back here today."

"And hopeful y tomorrow too," one of the students shouted.

Bubba spat more tobacco out. "It's good to be you today, huh?"

"Yeah, as long as I don't get eaten by my footbal team. ...

Can I come hang in your store and do some research on this?

Bubba nodded. "Sure, but you've got to open it for me and watch it while I catch some Z's."

That sounded fair to Nick. "Let me get my backpack and I'l head straight over." He left Bubba to find Tad, who was standing in a large group of seniors.

Intent on their discussion, none of them saw him.

"I'm tel ing you, we need to notify the council and the Dark-Hunters. This has Daimon written al over it."

"Not in daylight, it don't. Daimons can't attack until the sun goes down and you know that. They'd be toast if they stepped one foot outside right now."

"But there were more attacks last night and this is spreading. My money stil says it's Daimon related. They're doing something. Mark my words."

One of the seniors rol ed his eyes. "A Daimon can't convert a human. That's the first lesson we're al taught."

"Then what do you think it is? It has to be related to them.

There's nothing else it could be."

Tad narrowed his eyes on his friend Alex Peltier, who'd been silent the whole time. "Can a Were-Hunter bite turn humans into werebeasts?"

"What's a Were-Hunter?" Nick asked before he could stop himself.

They faced him and clammed up immediately.

Russel Jordan, who'd been doing the most talking, curled his lip as if Nick disgusted him. "What are you doing here, Trailer Park?"

Tad cleared his throat. "He's working for Kyrian now. Be nice, Russ, or Kyrian won't be happy." He faced Nick. "What can I do for you?"

"I wanted to get my backpack out of your truck."

"I'l be right back," Tad said to his friends before he led Nick away from them.

Nick scowled as he fol owed after Tad. "So what's a Were-Hunter?"

"It's a ... a gamer's term. Somebody who hunts animals." That didn't make any sense and it was a term he'd never heard before. "If it's just a game, why did you ask if they could turn a human?"

Tad didn't answer. Instead, he led Nick to his SUV, pul ed out his backpack, and then left him there to watch while Tad went back to his friends.

Thanks for all the nonanswers. Tad was going to make a great parent one day.

But in the meantime, "Something weird is going on here." Something half the people in his school seemed to know about. And if it was the last thing he did, he was going to find out what this secret was.

Even if it kil ed him.

Most of al , he was going to find out some way to protect himself, 'cause he had no intention of losing what little brain matter he had.

New Orleans was definitely getting weird and Nick wasn't about to be added to anyone's menu.

Except maybe Nekoda, who was strangely missing from the crowd. ...

Had something grabbed her last night and added her to its menu?

CHAPTER 5.

Nick let out a frustrated breath as he tried typing another search. This one-armed c.r.a.p was for the birds-except they wouldn't be able to fly any better than he could type. And they'd probably crash into a wal and get a concussion ...

which would probably hurt a lot.

Growling at his shifting ADD thoughts, he tried to focus on what he was doing.

Finding info on zombie attacks.

I am insane. . . . Since there were no adults around anywhere, he should be searching hot babe sites, not this.

He hissed as he spel ed out "chemacil zmobies." Gah, how did people manage with one hand? He kept making typos al over the place and reaching across the keyboard was real y starting to tick him off.

Worse, his pain meds had vaporized in his system and since his school had a strict no-drug policy, including Tylenol or Advil, he hadn't brought more for fear of being strip-searched in Peters's office for it. And if the pain wasn't bad enough, he couldn't find anything online about diseases that would make someone crave human flesh. Wel , not unless they were werewolves. Flesh-eating demons. Demonic parasites ...

Yeah, right. As if such a thing were possible off a movie screen. ...

He was dying to ask Bubba some questions about his theories, but the man had been explicit: "Wake me up, boy, and I wil shoot you dead where you stand." Now with most folks, that might be considered an idle threat. But when the person making the threat slept on more weapons than a terrorist training camp and had the temperament of a psycho kil er, it was wise to believe he would actual y do it and laugh while he gutted you.

As Bubba so often said: "I got a shotgun and a backhoe and no one looks under a septic tank for a dead body." Which made Nick wonder how many of Bubba's enemies had faces on milk cartons.

But that was another story. ...

The bel over the door sounded. Sighing in aggravation, Nick left the computer to wander back to the counter to wait on whoever was there.

He stopped dead in his tracks, bug-eyed.

Holy . . .

Every male hormone in his body fired as he saw what had to be the s.e.xiest chick in New Orleans. A couple of years older than him, she was amazing. The good news was she total y distracted him from his pain.

Decked out in tight black leather pants and a red halter top, she wore a studded black leather col ar and bracelets. And a long, studded black leather belt that was wrapped around her narrow waist four times. A huge rhinestone-covered silver cross fel from the belt, banging against her thigh as she walked with a seductive gait he was sure had given a few old men heart attacks from hormonal overload. Her hair was cut short into a black bob. By the opaque color of it, he figured she'd dyed it that way. Her eyes were ringed by thick black eyeliner, giving them a decidedly catlike appearance. Like her eyes, her lips were also jet-black.

Normal y Goth women didn't do it for him, but this one ...

Yeah. She was h-o-t. Best of al , if he made out with her and got that lipstick on his col ar his mom would think it was grease. Something that would definitely keep him from being grounded.

Shame on you, Nick. You're cheating on Kody.

Wel , not real y, since they weren't an item. It couldn't be cheating. Technical y. Yet it did kind of feel that way.

How flipping weird. I'm whipped and I'm not even claimed yet. Dang, that sucked.

She sauntered up to the counter, leaned over it almost spil ing her b.r.e.a.s.t.s onto the gla.s.s top, and looked toward the back room where he'd been. "Where's Bubba?"

"Sleeping. Can I help you?" He tried his best to keep his eyes on her face and not on what he real y, real y wanted to look at. That might get him seriously b.i.t.c.h-slapped and since she was wearing spiked rings ...

It could real y hurt.

She popped the gum she was chewing as she gave him an amused once-over. "What about Mark?"

"Also asleep."

She straightened up. "You new help?"

"Just fil ing in for the morning. They had a late night."

"I'l bet." She shrugged her backpack off, set it on the floor by her feet, and opened it.

Nick stood up on his tiptoes so that he could get a better view of her shapely b.u.t.t as she rooted through her pack.

Dang, she was fine. ...

I could so go for an older woman. . . .

Think of Kody. Think of Kody. . . .

After a few seconds, she stood up with what appeared to be steel stakes in her hand.

"I need Bubba to sharpen these, and tel him that I need a new batch of shurikens. ASAP. Or sooner." Nick's eyes widened as he realized there was blood on one of the stakes. "Should I ask?"

"Not if you want to live to eat lunch. Name's Tabitha Devereaux, and you are?" Cool, another great Cajun like him.

"Nick Gautier."

"Nice meeting you, Nick. Tel Bubba I'l be back at dusk to get those and they better be sharp. I don't want no vampire surviving my attacks to come at me again. Understand?" Man ... Why were al the s.e.xy women absolutely insane?

"Yes, ma'am."

She picked up the backpack and slung it over one shoulder before c.o.c.king her hip in a deadly pose that drained al the blood from his brain. "Where do you go to school?"

"St. Richard's."

"The school where the coach ate the princ.i.p.al? That's so cool. Wish we'd have something like that at St. Mary's.

Unfortunately, I'm the scariest thing there." She winked at him.

"Have a good day, kid."

Hoping there wasn't drool coming out of his mouth, he watched as she went outside to where a black Nighthawk motorcycle waited. Slinging one long leg over it, she started the engine, then put her helmet on.

Ah man ...

Nick didn't breathe again until she was gone.