DO NOT BE DECEIVED! This chapter was originally supposed to be the start of the next, but I found a cure for my writers block so dramatically fantastic...

I actually had to split the chapters up. Good news is, next chapter should be up in about 2-3 hours, less if I get my ass in gear. MISSED YOU ALL!

My shoes slipped over the slick asphalt as the icy rain began to pour harder. I blinked through the dim storm light, Carlos' body becoming clearer – for a moment I thought he was already dead and my feet came to a sudden stop along with my heart. I heard a soft groan; his body twitched and I ran to him again, skidding down to my knees by his side. He was face down, the clothes half torn from his body, his cocoa skin shredded. I bit my lip and carefully put my hands on him, lifting his body as gently as I could and turned him over…

He was silent, glaring at me… One of his beautiful brown eyes was gone, a hollow bloodied mess where it used to be. There was a crack in his head, a flap of skin and hair folded back exposing the broken skull beneath, blood pouring from it, skin and muscle down his torso shredded away.

You can save him this time, I promised myself. I went to scoop him up and carry him to safety, but suddenly his arms were around me, tight and unrelenting as his face buried into my neck and his voice purred darkly at me.

"Come with me this time nena," he growled, "We don't have top run out of time-"

I struggled against him but my body wouldn't move because there was a thick, heavy weight on my legs. The chain was wrapped on them, my feet tingling and numb.

"Carlos, this isn't you-" I warned but he bit into me, skin tearing and bones crunching in his mouth. I tried to scream but my voice was paralysed and he held me so tight my body was melting into his.

"We're already a part of one another," he growled in my blood, "It's only a matter of time-"

Blood was running down my face as tears cut open on my skin, my vision went dark and blotched and he squeezed me so tight one of my eyes burst from the socket, a thick spray of blood erupting over my fa-

My own jolting gasp woke me up this time and my shaking hands raced to my face, rubbing my eyes. I hated those dreams, I hated them. It wasn't the first (or last) time I dreamt of Carlos; usually he was something good, something calming and safe. But recently he was… wrong. I went to roll over but soon found what was making my legs heavy and numb – the giant tiger that had casually flopped himself over on them.

"Trubs," I grunted, trying to kick a bit and he growled at me. Awkwardly I sat up and gave him a shove. He looked up over his shoulder and crinkled his nose, then flopped back down. Trouble had been causing… well, trouble, ever since Gat was back. Jealous, I think. Johnny was already up and must've let him in to placate him.

"Trouble, c'mere," I said, patting the mattress next to me and he pricked his ears up, lazily slinking on his belly to lay next to me rather than over me. I gave him a hearty belly scratch then cuddled into his fur; world's biggest teddy bear. It was comforting since I was still shaken by the dream. Nearly the same one, over and over again. I would try and save Carlos, and he would try and kill me. Always saying the same things, that we were a part of each other or that I should die to stay with him or something about our blood…

I blinked, my hand leaving Trouble's fur to idly rub the crescent scars on my neck. Maybe the dreams weren't causing problems… maybe they were hinting at the solution? When Carlos had… come back in Stilwater, I had control over him because that crazy old woman from Eye from an Eye said she bound him to me, that my life force was in a way powering his and he made my body 'revert' back… or heal up faster or… something.

On that ship, Carlos could have killed me; he could have torn me apart like he did to Manny. But he didn't. I had to get control back; I had to get that connection back again… somehow…

I don't know what it was. Science, voodoo, some kind of weird, twisted combination of both, but what I did know was that this was a reality. I had an undead Carlos on my hands and I had to find a way of bringing him back under my control, no matter how outlandish the idea was. And if I couldn't…

I would have to find a way to let him rest more permanently.

First things first I knew I'd need help, someone who would have more answers about Carlos. I could think of only one person back in Stilwater who could be any use to me; when I made the call she sounded reluctant to come, so naturally I had some of the boys 'help' her to the airport. By late that afternoon she had arrived at Burns Hill, flanked on all sides by the Saints who escorted her as she was guided out of the elevator. I leant against the bar before slipping up onto a stool, curious to meet with the young woman again.

The last time I saw Yveline she was only fifteen or sixteen, thrust into taking over Eye for an Eye after her nut of a grandmother carked it. She'd been a gangly thing back then, but now was tall and willowy, her skin a soft sheen of chocolate and her hair still closely clipped to her scalp, nearly bald. She also still wore a lot of white, a flowing cheesecloth dress that seemed to float almost weightlessly when she moved, a contrast to the heavy beads and jewellery around her neck and over her arms. She had a strange, weighty air about her now, newfound confidence muddled with a permanent cloud of melancholy. When she saw me she didn't smile, clearly not exactly thrilled at being summoned like this. She'd get over it though.

"Thanks for coming on such short notice," I said dryly. Yveline swallowed carefully, lifting her chin.

"I was not exactly given a choice in the matter," she said and I nodded.

"Well, this is your family's mess that needs cleaning up," I warned. She flinched a little at that.

"I already told you, I don't understand fully what my grandmother did."

"But you've been studying it," I interjected flatly. She glanced away then and a Saint that had been flanking her who I recognised as Mo stepped up to me, heaving a duffle bag up onto the counter next to me.

"This was all the stuff we found Boss," he said. "A few books, some kinda journal. Dunno what it's for."

"Thanks. You boys can go, talk to Pierce for your pay." The crew obediently dispersed, leaving only me and Yveline in the penthouse. I broke the eerie silence first.

"I don't have time to kick the shit with you," I said, "Carlos has come back, and for some reason I can't control him anymore. You know the most about how he operates, so you are going to fix this for me."

Yveline blinked, glancing away from me worriedly.

"You're overestimating what I can do," she urged and I waved my hand nonchalant.

"Not at all. You'd be surprised what people can accomplish when they're looking to stay alive."

I saw her hands beginning to shake, her jaw twitching, "Well," she said sharply, trying to hide her fear behind a veil of bravado, "If you could tell me everything about the situation, I might be able to help."

I nodded easily, seemed fair enough. And I supposed the best place to start was the beginning.

"Not long after the last time I saw you at Eye for an Eye… I saw Carlos again," I said, softer, "He helped me when I was trapping an Ultor construction site and some kids got in the way. I actually managed to… sort of speak with him."

"By the Baron, he spoke to you?" Yveline suddenly interjected, her eyes wide and she took a few steps forward in amazement. I balked a little at the interruption, but her interest was a good sign.

"No," I said, "But he seemed to be able to understand me. He'd do anything I told him to. Still, I was a little disgusted with what your grandmother had done to him," I snarled icily and Yveline shifted uncomfortably, "So I took him back to the graveyard and told him to die. Properly."

Yveline nodded slowly, her spidery fingers to her chin, "What were the exact words you used?"

"Exact?" I felt my mouth tug a little, "Rest in peace."

Yveline only nodded so in her silence I continued, telling her everything I knew about the zombies on Arapice Island, and seeing Carlos on the ship. But when I got to the very last moment, remembering hanging from the side of that ship and looking up at his soulless face-

I swallowed and looked to the ground. "They've found some way of using him. We need to figure out how to stop that before they use it on the zombies on Arapice Island and bury us in fucking corpses."

That wasn't the reason, and the way Yveline watched me with her deep black eyes I knew she knew it too. Carlos had been taken away from me… before, all I'd wanted for him was a little dignity in death, to be able to let him rest. And now Cyrus had stolen him.

No one steals from me…

"Now… I will try and explain what I know about my grandmother's work…" she said slowly, thoughtfully. Her voice was smooth and deep, and I realised I quite liked hearing her. She could probably sing beautifully.

"You recall Grandmother used your blood in the ritual to bind him back. Your life feeds his, and when he bit you and shared his blood with you, the ritual was completed, the bond was forged. I don't know if it can ever be undone."

I hate hocus-pocus. No logic or rhyme or reason to it. What's worse is I had the evidence of it sitting right in front of me so I couldn't damn well deny it.

"Is that why I could control him?" I pressed and she narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.

"Your intentions became his intentions," she said cryptically, "The lines between you two become blurred along with your blood."

"English please."

I could see Yveline resist the urge to roll her eyes, "I was only saying that control wasn't exactly-" she sighed, "Never mind. Yes, it is why he would do what you wanted him to."

I pursed my mouth slightly, hopping along in my train of thought.

"…Okay. So, maybe it got weaker? Or maybe they tried binding him to someone else? You're grandmother wasn't the only voodoo-lady around. Carlos could have torn me apart but he didn't, so something is still there, right?"

"It's possible," she said and I gave her a flat look. I was hoping she'd know more.

"Fine," I said coolly, "So, by that logic, I feed him a bit more blood, he gets stronger, he's on my side again. No problem."

"Whoah, big problem!" Yveline said swiftly, slipping for a moment back into the casual tone of a nineteen year old girl. I blinked at her and her mouth pulled into a worried grimace.

"It's the most basic of principals, you can't have it both ways," she said carefully, her deep eyes drilling into mine, "The more you bring him into the world of the living, the more of your own life he'll take. If you give over to him more you'll begin to loose yourself, your emotions and eventually your very conscious thought till you are the shambling mess of unlife, a shadow of yourself."

I was quiet for a long time at that.

"Well. That does put a damper on the plan."

I actually heard her breathe out a heartless laugh at that. Idly I pressed two fingers up under my jaw, counting out the creepily slow heartbeat under my cool skin.

"You know, since Carlos came back, I heal really fast," I said matter-of-factly and she took a few steps forward up to the bar, taking the liberty of propping herself up on a seat. She leant forward curiously, resting her chin on her hand.

"Now that is interesting…" she mused and I smirked and nodded.

"Usually helps if I eat lots of blue steak and stuff-"

"Have you tried consuming human flesh as opposed to animal?"

I blinked, turning and slowly looking at her and felt something under my eye twitch.

"Sure," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm, "I hear fava beans and a nice Chianti go swell with human liver."

Yveline held up her hands defensively, "Merely a thought. It is consistent in nearly all mythology that it's how the undead sustain themselves on some level. A person cannot continue aging once they're dead. The moment Carlos was brought back you were forced into half-life, so I was… curious."

"I'm not chowing-down on the neighbours because you're curious."

She smiled a little laughingly, before it dissipated into seriousness again.

"It would help if I could find out exactly what it is they've done to him. Your plan might work," she said, but then leant forward fixing me with those deep black eyes again, "But you must understand what you will be risking."

A small smirk tugged at my mouth.

"I once shot through the windshield of a carrier plane mid-flight and flew out the other end," I boasted, "This isn't going to be the first time I've risked my mortality hon."

And I rush off to finish the next part...