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DOMINIC GAVE BIANCA permission to walk around the property in search of herbs and other items for her shop. She was busy searching for everything she needed when she noticed a car coming up the long driveway. Curious, she headed towards the house and moved in closer to get a better look. She didn’t recognize the man.
He walked right up to the door and rang the doorbell as if someone was expecting him. Could it be that the new Mrs. St. Germaine had grown tired of Dominic and found her someone on the side? She could see why the woman would be attracted to this man; he was well built and ruggedly handsome.
Mais, Bianca needed to find out more about this man. This may be just what she needed to get rid of the new Mrs. St. Germaine. She was never good at sharing and wanted him all to herself.
Bianca seriously considered calling Dominic and asking if he was expecting company at the plantation. She could already envision Dominic’s reaction if he walked in on his new wife doing the horizontal mambo with another man.
Before picking up the phone, though, she should make sure that the man went inside. Something about the stranger’s energy had her unsettled. She watched as the door opened, and Alexis stepped outside. She held her breath and waited for the man to take Alexis in his arms and carry her upstairs. But if she was reading their body language correctly, these two didn’t know each other.
She wished she could read lips. He seemed to be asking Alexis something to which she just shook her head. He handed her something and pointed to whatever she was holding. Again, Alexis shook her head. It looked as if the man handed her a business card of some kind and headed back to his car.
Disappointed, Bianca headed back home. She wondered who this man was. He had her curiosity piqued.
Nightfall had descended by the time she made it to the dense woods leading to her small cabin. She preferred to live further away from the others so that when her lover came to visit no one would notice. Although she loved her growing family, she did not want them knowing about her and the Mafia Prince.
She listened as the leaves in the trees rustled from the breeze blowing off of the bayou. She heard something scurrying along the leaves on the ground. She tried to see which creature was lurking about, but the heavy canopy of the branches and foliage above blocked the moonlight from penetrating to illuminate the path to her cabin.
A low moan rose up from the bushes ahead. She took a step back instinctively. An animal did not make that sound. Mais non, she knew exactly what that sound came from. She must see which one made that noise. Who could have broken free?
The closer she got, the louder the moan became. The moans turned into growls. As she neared the thicket of shrubs and trees, the groans and moans abruptly stopped. She gently pushed back a low lying branch that obscured her view.
That was when she saw him. A recently turned zombie was traipsing back and forth moaning as he went. When he turned to her, his eyes were hollow and dry in their sockets. He stared ahead with all intelligent malice gone; all that remained was an emptiness to him. His skin was already pale and gray as the dead. He had become one of those who walked among the dead. She wondered how this one broke free.
She must get him back to the others before he made his way into town and scared the locals. She couldn’t have anyone in town discovering what they did here. A zombie outbreak was the last thing they needed to bring attention to them. As long as she could control them, they were the perfect free labor for the Mafia Prince.
She reached out to the man as he growled viciously at her. The man was still not easy to control. There must be some of his inner soul remaining inside of him. She would have to take care of that.
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