I'd like to start off by apologizing. I'm so sorry that I've been absent for so long. I'm currently in Italy for a study abroad, but I'm working to typing more chapters, which I hope to get up sometime soon. However, I also have limited internet access, so we'll have to see.

For people still reading this, thank you so much for sticking with me, and for those of you who are new readers, thank you for reading!

And before we start, can I rave about how wonderful Spirit Bound was? I very displeased with Dimitri(even though I can see where he's coming from) but I'd like to slap him and be like, you doing this is killing everyone else, so stop being selfish! (because if you think abou tit he's punishing himself for what he did to Rose, without considering how much it'll hurt her, despite the fact he THINKS its better for her if he stays away. COME ON, MAN!

And now the story.


Chapter 3.

It was like something out of a bad horror movie, except the skeleton that first popped out came out ass-first, and then managed to get its head stuck in the ground. I'd guess it had gotten it tangled in all the roots.

The next corpse popped out more easily, hand first, and then head, body, etc. Furthermore, this corpse was clearly a fresh burial; its flesh was only beginning to rot and stink up the air. "Holy…mother of God," I breathed as several more gravestones cracked open. It was seriously like the rising of the zombies or something, absolutely ridiculous.

The second corpse had completely freed itself and started toward me. I shot it twice. The first bullet took out a chunk of its arm; the second hit its eyeball, causing it to explode. I gagged. The whole thing was worse than I imagined. Although the first skeleton was still stuck, at least four corpses had successfully escaped, and several more were in the process of digging themselves out.

A rustling behind me made me turn. Ryan staggered to his feet and I got my first good look at the damage that had been done to him. His jaw had been broken, and it looked like half his face was ripped off. His chest was a bloody head, threads of flesh hanging, wet, over the gaping, red cavity of his chest. One arm was bent at an odd angle, pearly bone protruding from the skin like stalagmites. He walked toward me, his one good eye bulging.

I gagged. Words failed to describe how absolutely disgusting this situation was.

Ryan lunged at me; I didn't know zombies could lunge. I flew backwards, shrieking, as I landed on the second rotting corpse, feeling its ribs crack beneath me. With a snarl, I tore Ryan off me and tossed him into two other corpses. The corpse beneath me had wrapped its arms around me, making it difficult for me to get up.

Straining, I slammed my elbow backward and sat up quickly, my abs screaming in pain. Triumphantly, I jumped to my feet.

However, my triumph was short lived when I realized that the corpse's arms were still locked around my waist, having completely detached them from the body. "Oh my God!" I yelped, yanking the arms around me.

I yanked out my SIG-Sauer and aimed, blowing out one corpse's head. Turning, I aimed at the oncoming corpses and shot until I was out of ammunition. None of the shots really did much damage, although I do recall seeing an ear flying and landing at my feet.

Left with no other choice, I holstered my gun and balled my hands into fists. I really hated the idea of actually touching these mofos, but I didn't see any other option at the moment.

Just as I s going to slug a corpse, all of them froze and looked away from me. A high pitched laugh rippled across the cemetery, making the hair on my neck stand on end and I resisted the urge to shudder. If there was ever a laugh that could kill children, that would be it.

"My dear, that certainly won't do," a distinctly British voice said. "You should know better; guns can't kill the undead." No, but your voice can.

I squinted. It was so dark by this time that it was hard to see, even for me. A petite woman stood a ways from m. She was draped in dark robes, and held some sort of cross in one hand, with strings attached to a skeleton of a dog at her feet, kind of like a puppeteer.

"Um miss? You've got your outfit wrong." I said loudly. "Witches wear robes; necromancers wear normal clothing. Cool effect with the dog though."

"You can be a smartass all you want, Rosemarie Hathaway. But we'll see who's laughing when you're a part of my undead army."

Gee, that was an original comeback. Who did this check thing she was? No, let me rephrase that. What did she think this was? Some cheesy horror flick? Honestly, I was dying to ask how she knew my name, but I wasn't about to give her the satisfaction.

"You're not going to kill me," I retorted.

"What makes you so sure?" Her shrill voice was really beginning to hurt my ears.

"Well first of all, I'm better than you and your corpses, so obviously, between the two of us, I deserve to live." I snapped in two new magazines. "And second of all, just because you've got a bunch of dead rotting dudes doesn't mean I can't get to you."

I charged at her, knowing my only way to get out of this was if I could get rid of her first.

An old lady grabbed my arm and I shot her in the face. Haha, sucker. Grabbing a large skeleton directly in front of me, I heaved myself up and flipped over him, effectively avoiding three more corpses and destroying a fourth as I landed on it.

One more burst of energy, and I came face-to-face with the necromancer.

"And when I get to you, I don't really think even your corpses can save you from a headshot at point-blank range."

The woman looked up at me with dark blue eyes and smirked. "No, but let's see what you value more." He fingers twitched and I felt something being pressed to my chest. Looking down, I saw a detached hand holding a gun to my heart.

"So, do you want to kill me? Or do you want to save your –and the Devil's –heart?"

I went cold as (for the first time in a long time) fear completely overwhelmed me. As soon as I got a hold of myself, I started shooting myself for not suspecting that she might've hidden something under her roves. For that matter, that's probably why she wore the damn thing in the first place.

"You posses the heart of the Devil I must kill," the woman said quietly. "Originally, I'd hoped to raise and army to pit against it, but thing YOU showed up."

We continued to stand there, me pointing my SIG Sauer at her head, and her pressing a gun to my heart. My head spun as I tried to figure my way out of this one. I still held my Beretta in my other hand, so I could try to shoot her. But if I wasn't fast enough…

"So, Rosemarie, any dying words?"

I stared, then blurted, "What's he or she like?"

She looked confused. "What?"

"My Devil," I snapped. "What's she—or he—like?"

"IT is a being so magnificent yet terrible that one look could possibly blind you. The amount of power it possesses…it really is indescribable."

That was a really lame description.

"So…you're saying my Devil is God." I stated, still thinking. I was stronger than her, so if I tried to overpower her with brute force—

"No…that Devil wasn't like God," the crazy woman spoke as if she'd actually met the dude upstairs. "But there were definitely God-like attributes.

I mentally rolled my eyes. Wow. I just need to shoot her just for the sake of putting her out of her psychotic misery.

"But that's enough talk. After I kill you, I can finally rest in peace knowing that the Devil is dead and then I'll be able to retire, find a good place and have my corpses do my housework—"

"Wait!" I yelled. "You actually sold your soul to acquire necromancy because you didn't want to do things around the house?" This woman was clearly beyond help.

She frowned. "Well, that is only part of it. I am a professor, after all. Do you know how worthwhile it would be to get some real answers about history? Especially archeological digs. The stories these corpses could tell me…" She seemed to be lost in her own fantasy now.

That was the perfect distraction. I jerked my knee up and knocked the hand away, and the gun dropped to the ground. However, I lost my chance to shoot her because the bloody dog had attacked me, forcing me back.

But my triumph was short lived. The corpses leapt back into action, all gunning at me.

The necromancer laughed again, and I wished desperately to at least rip out her vocal chords if I couldn't kill her. "I compliment you one your efforts," she chuckled. "But it ends here, Rosemarie."

"Don't bet on it."

Everyone –including the zombies, might I add –turned toward the speaker. I raised my guns and shot at several corpses. "I was wondering when you'd show up, Comrade."

Dimitri grinned evilly.

If I were one of those corpses, I'd have run away screaming for my mommy, because when Dimitri smiles evilly, I mean he smiles evilly. Satan himself would run away screaming like a castrated man.

He held up a weapon that resembled an AK-47 and turned some sort of knob at the back. Then he held a lighter in front of the barrel. I realized just in time what he was doing and dove out of the way just as the jet of gas coming from the gun ignited, effectively becoming a flamethrower.

I scrambled to my feet just as I heard a gunshot. My leg gave out, and white hot pain tore through my thigh and nearly made me scream. I looked up for the shooter (my guess was the necromancer) but whoever it was, was either burning and dying, or long gone.

"Rose!" Dimitri ran over, gripping my shoulder tightly. "Are you alright?" He saw my leg injury and frowned worriedly. "Does it hurt?"

"No, I'm on anesthesia 24-7, so I don't feel a fucking thing," I snarled through gritted teeth. "Of course it hurts!"

"I called for backup, so soon—" He stopped and whipped out a Colt Python, calmly shooting something behind me.

Instinctively, I whirled just as the corpse Dimitri had shot fell toward me. I gripped its head, braced my uninjured leg on its shoulder, and tore its head of, its flesh tearing with a sickening squelching noise.

"That was disgusting" Dimitri said. He did sound slightly nauseated.

"Well excuse me for not being gentler with the attacking corpse!"I snapped, knowing that it wasn't fair for me to be bitchy toward him, but pain made me unreasonable at the moment. "Where did the necromancer go?"

"Gone. That corpse was the last of them."

I looked around, shocked. All the corpses lay on the ground, unmoving or burning or both. I was a little amused to see that the first corpse had still failed to pull its head from the ground and was now lying, unmoving, with a burning ass.

"C'mon, Rose," Dimitri said, bending and picking me up.

"What do you think you're—?"

He looked at me sternly. "You are in no condition to walk or run and you know it. So, for ONCE in your life, would you put aside your pride and that ridiculous independent streak of yours and let me take care of you?"

I stared up at him in shock. I knew that a cemetery full of burning corpses wasn't an ideal place to be thinking the way I did, but I couldn't help but thing that that was a really sweet thing to say. Then again, a setting like this was perfect for the two of us.

Then I mentally kicked myself again. Strictly professional! Besides, a guy like Dimitri would never be interested in a person seven years younger, not to mention annoying and bitchy. Oh, and there was that little issue about me having maybe six more months left to live. And that was only if I survived the necromancer who was hell-bent on killing me.

That thought really startled me. I had so little time left to live…how the hell was I supposed to find my Devil in time?

"Rose. Hey, Roza!"

I blinked and looked up at Dimitri. I somehow had ended up in a cab and Dimitri sat next to me, examining me closely. "Yeah?" Haha, my voice sounded funny.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Besides the bullet in my leg? Yep, I'm just okie-dokie!" Okay, something was definitely wrong with me. I don't think I've ever said the words okie-dokie before in my life, and I wouldn't even have said them, even if my life had depended on it.

Dimitr obviously noticed this as well. "Obviously not," he smiled amusedly.

I rubbed my eyes, the ran a hand through my hair. "Ew! Do I have human gunk in my hair?" The adrenaline was quickly rushing out and I was now reaping the rewards.

"Go to sleep, roza," Dimitri ordered me, placing his large hand on my head (despite the gunk). "With all the trouble you attract, you'll need all the rest you can get."

I grinned at him, then closed my eyes.

I think Dimitri hugged me close to him, but I was sleep too fast to be sure. Still, one can hope…


Sorry for such a short chapter. I promise to have the next chapter of Spirit Bound out as soon as I can, it's almost done. Once again, I'm sorry for my absence, and I PROMISE I'll try to get more up more often.

Please, please, please review! They really do keep me motivated!