Zombies Sold Separately by Cheyenne McCray Page B

I asked. “A little bit of sulfur and sandalwood incense.”
    “Not all of us have noses like you do,” Lawan said as the glazed look went out of her eyes and she appeared almost mortified. “Did I just act like an idiot, Nyx?”
    “No more than anyone else.” I took her by her arm and tugged her toward the bar, which was close to the corner where the Trackers hung out. “We’ll ask Hector for an elderflower Tom Collins. That should counteract the Dragon-thrall.”
    Lawan still looked a little dazed at I took her by her arm and pushed and elbowed our way through the females in the crowd who were still going nuts. He had a pull on females similar to the effect Sirens have on males. Dragons could burn a being to its death, Sirens would sing a male to his demise.
    “Damn Dragons, anyway,” I muttered as we reached the bar.
    “One vodka martini coming up, Nyx,” Hector, the Shifter barman, said the moment he saw me. “What would you like, Lawan?”
    Hector was going for the Stoli when I held up my hand. “I’m changing things up tonight.” His expression shifted to surprise as he stopped in mid movement. “Elderflower Tom Collins,” I said and glanced at Lawan before I looked at him again. “Make it two. Heavy on the elderflower liqueur.”
    He raised his eyebrows and looked at the stage. “Dragon?”
    I nodded. “I hope you have a lot of liqueur in the back.”
    A low rumble came from his chest and I imagined him changing into his lion form. “His kind should not be allowed in the Pit.”
    “Obviously Rodán thinks otherwise.” I glanced over my shoulder to see Colin taking a bow. I caught my breath. Magnificent. He looked absolutely magni—
    Stop it.
    I shook my head and turned back to Hector. “You’ll probably want to bring out a couple of bottles of St. Germaine and give all of the females a shot glass of it.”
    “Rodán and I will have a chat.” Hector growled like the lion he preferred as his Shifter form as he started throwing together two of the elderflower Tom Collins drinks. Lemons, limoncello, vodka, soda water, and of course the liqueur made up the drinks he handed to us.
    Hector was stomping into the room behind the bar just as Colin finished his act.
    Lawan took a sip of her drink. “It’s good. I’ve never heard of the flower you talked of.”
    “Elderflower.” I felt the intoxicating, mesmerized feeling ease away after my first swallow. “In this Earth Otherworld, for only a few days in late spring, the flower blooms in the Alps. They’re gathered very quickly because the blooms lose their potency within a couple of days.”
    In the time it took me to explain what elderflower liqueur was made from, Lawan had drained her glass. “How do you know all of this?” she asked as she set her glass on the bar.
    Hector jogged out of the back room, another growl rising from his throat as he started pouring shots of St. Germaine across the bar to counteract the Dragon-thrall.
    “The plants are common in Otherworld,” I told her as dazed women started stumbling toward us. I drew Lawan out of the way so we wouldn’t be trampled. “When a few Dragons started coming to this Otherworld centuries ago, Gnomes were hired and given the task of planting the flowers here. It took some time before they discovered that the only place the flowers will grow is in the Alps.”
    “I would prefer not to meet another Dragon,” Lawan said as a Mage-mime took the stage. Lawan touched the hilt of her Krabi. “I may have to kill him.”
    I grinned as we started to make our way to the corner where the Trackers lounged on large overstuffed black leather chairs and couches. It was rare to make Lawan mad, but I thought the Dragon male had just done a good job of it.
    As the Mage—dressed in black but with white gloves and his face painted white—performed his act as a mime, the crowd surged, forcing me to come to a stop. I couldn’t see Lawan anymore.
    Before I could try to make my way through, a hand