Be Careful What You Wish For: A Zombie Apocalypse
Chapter 382: Play Dead or Be Dead

Chapter 382: Play Dead or Be Dead

Officially off of my sugar high, I stared at Père’s head as the head stared back at me. Taking a sip of my sugared coffee, I hoped to have a repeat of that nice brain fog that made everything better.

However, I knew I was doomed the moment I opened the box.

"Someone gave me such a thoughtful gift," I sighed, taking another sip. As if sensing the face that I was more than a bit cranky, a plate of freshly baked cookies appeared on the table beside the head.

Raising an eyebrow, I moved the plate just enough so that Père couldn’t contaminate the cookies.

"Who do you think it was?" asked Dante, cocking his head from the side as he leaned against the counter on the other side of the island.

"Well, there are ten possibilities," I started, taking another sip. "And since nine of them don’t have a single idea of who this man is, I am going to have to go with Father Khaos."

"Ou is he?" asked Dimitri, his voice soft as he came behind me. Stroking my hair, he pulled me back enough so that my head was resting against his heart.

"Guys, I would like you to meet my Père. Père, I’d like to introduce you to my guys. I know you know the Sins, but that’s Tank, and Chang Xuefeng." The smile on my face was brittle as I pointed to the two men that Luci might not have met.

Right. It’s not Luci. It’s Lilith.

"I really need to figure out one name to call you," I sighed. "You’ve worn too many faces. Is it okay that I introduced you as the man who had bought me as a child and then proceeded to abuse me in all sorts of ways? Or would you prefer me to call you Luci? The woman who said that I was nothing more than her replacement. Or Lilith? The woman that no one could stand, so she went to Hell and pretended to be me for 11,000 years? I’m a bit confused, and I don’t want to be accused of misnaming you."

The men around me stilled. And, while they had tried to pull this off before, it had never felt as threatening as it did now. This time, even I wanted to hold my breath, wondering what they were going to do next.

"Dat’s all sort of fucked up," grunted Ronan as Salvatore simply nodded his head in agreement.

"I’m more interested in how it’s still alive even after being decapitated," mused Beau. He walked over to where the head was resting on top of the counter. Looking around, he found a used fork and started poking at the head.

Père, because that was whose face I was looking at, glared at the man and tried to move away. However, he didn’t get too far. In fact, all that he managed to do was roll over until he was looking at us from the side, his cheek resting against the counter instead of his neck.

"She’s a demon," I reasoned, taking a sip of my rapidly cooling coffee. "They don’t tend to die all that easily."

"But, if the Hell Realm has been destroyed, how can demons still live?" asked Tank.

"Demons can live anywhere," I shrugged, not wanting to overthink things. "Hell just make it easier to recover from the different realms, but even without it to fall back on, a demon can’t really die of anything other than natural causes."

"So every time we kill a human with the demon seed in it?" pressed Tank, his eyes narrowing on the head.

"The seeds still survive. They’ll just stay in that form until they can find a new host."

"Meat sack," interrupted Désiré. "De human is called a meat sack."

Nodding my head, I thought about what to do with Père. A part of me wanted to see if I couldn’t give him a final death, while another part of me wanted to keep his head inside the house, just to make sure that he couldn’t cause me any more problems.

As if reading my mind... because it was... the house shifted slightly.

Coming to my feet, I took my coffee into the living room and looked at the place with new eyes. Honestly, it still had the same feeling as before, but it now looked like something out of a Home and Garden magazine.

In every corner and even on one wall, plants and flowers grew. A monster plant that towered over us sat in one corner, vines extending out of it in all directions. The white flower in the center almost looked like a head with razor-sharp teeth.

The more I looked at it, the more I could see a faint blush appearing at the very ends of the petals as the plant stretched out one of its vines to touch Beau.

"No touching," I smiled at it. Blinking rapidly, I stepped on the vine that was trying to go for something that was mine. The flower yelped in distress, and the vine quickly returned to the pot it was sitting in.

"Interesting," I nodded, just as I saw what the house had created.

It was a wooden cabinet with two glass doors and multiple glass shelves inside. There was a lock on the door so that no matter what I put in it, I could be assured that it couldn’t accidentally escape.

Turning back to the kitchen, I picked up Père by the hair and brought the head up to my eye level. "I think I am going to keep you for a while," I sighed, hoping that I was making the right decision. "But your choice is to either play dead or be dead. I have no problem removing the rest of your soul should you remind me too much of your presence. Do you understand me?"

Père quickly nodded his head, the cloth in his mouth keeping him from being able to reply verbally. However, I was still treating it like a contract, and I smiled at the man who had once been my monster in the darkness.

Walking over to the cabinet, I opened the door and flung the head onto the top shelf in the far left corner. "You don’t get to be looked at or even acknowledged," I said, my voice cold. "Remember what I said. Play dead or be dead. The choice is yours."