Yuche glanced at me but I ignored him.

The last big cluster came from the far edge of the yard, drawn by the light or the men or whatever stupid zombie instinct made them think walking into a fire tornado was a good idea.

They pushed forward in a loose mass, too many for Chenghai to handle physically and too spread out for Yuche to drop before they reached the burn zone.

"Zhenlan," I said.

"I see them."

"Good. Then do something about it. Widen first, then tighten."

The wind shifted and the tornado opened just enough to catch the wide edge of the group, dragging smoke and flame toward them before tightening again.

Lingyun shoved more heat into it at the same time, his hands trembling so badly I could see it from inside, but he didn’t stop.

The whole front lawn lit up and for a few seconds, I couldn’t see anything but fire.

Then the bodies started dropping.

One after another.

The smell was awful.

Burned meat, rot, smoke, and wet grass. I was absolutely going to need more candles.

The tornado finally thinned when there was nothing left standing inside it.

Lingyun’s hands dropped first, the fire snapping out so fast it left the yard strangely dark. Zhenlan held the wind a second longer, pushing the smoke away from the house before his control broke and the air went still.

No one moved.

I looked over the lawn; not a single zombie still walking.

Good.

Now that was what I called home security.

Lingyun stumbled backward and sat hard on the floor. "I hate you," he breathed.

"No, you don’t."

"I might."

"You can hate me after you stop shaking."

Yuche was still at the window, staring at the bodies he had dropped without raising his hand. His expression was calm, but not blank. He was thinking now, really thinking, and that was more useful than the finger gun.

Chenghai came back inside a minute later, covered in dirt and blood that was hopefully not his. He looked at the lawn, then at Lingyun, then at Zhenlan, then finally at me.

"That worked," he said.

"I know."

His mouth twitched. "Of course you do."

Zhenlan lowered himself into the chair nearest the wall, breathing slowly through his nose like he was trying not to admit how close he had come to dropping. His eyes found mine anyway.

"You knew we could do that."

"I saw it in an anime once. Thought it was cool and wanted to try it in real life," I replied with a shrug. "If it works on TV, it would work here. Right?"

"That isn’t the same thing."

I looked at him, and he didn’t look away this time.

That was going to be a problem later.

Before I could decide whether I cared, something moved near Chenghai’s boot.

At first, I thought it was a strip of burned grass caught in the draft from the open window. Then it lifted.

A small devil’s vine slid down from Chenghai’s leg, thin and bright green against the blackened mess on his pants. Its pointed leaf head rose slowly, turning from side to side as if it was trying to find someone.

I could only hope that I was the only one to notice it.

"Oh shit."

I didn’t move.

Not my feet. Not my hands. I was pretty sure that I even held my breath as I stared at the little vine that shouldn’t exist in this lifetime.

It was my... baby. Nurtured from my blood, sweat, and tears in my past life. It had saved me more times than I could count. It was the only thing that I ever had in two lifetimes that was mine.

Purely and completely...

Mine

The vine lifted a little higher, its main leaf tip turning again, slow and deliberate, like it was scanning the room. Looking for something that it knew was here but couldn’t see.

It didn’t lash out. It didn’t react to Chenghai shifting his weight or Lingyun swearing under his breath or Yuche stepping closer to the window.

It continued to scan the room blind.

For me.

It knew that I was here. And it transcended time and space to return to my side.

I lowered my gaze just enough to watch it without making it obvious. The thin body slid another inch down Chenghai’s pant leg, leaving a faint clean line through the dirt and blood before it dropped the rest of the way to the floor.

No one said anything, they were all too lost in their heads to even notice something so small...

Good.

Chenghai moved his foot, probably to shake off whatever he thought he felt, and the vine slipped away from him like it had never been there in the first place.

It hit the floor and stilled for half a second.

Then it moved.

Straight for me.

My brain panicked for a single second, but for once, my heart silenced it. I kept my expression the same, making sure that my eyes lifted back toward the yard like I was still checking for movement.

My baby was back. And I was going to protect it from absolutely everyone.

"Anything still moving?" Chenghai asked, his voice a little rougher now that the fight was over.

"No," I answered with a shake of my head. Even if one of the men had left a zombie alive, the vine would have already eaten it. It was worse than a teenager when it came to never being full.

The vine reached my boot and paused again, the pointed leaf tilting up like it was checking to see if I was in a good mood or not.

I wiggled my fingers, even as I pretended to ignore it.

I felt a flash of happiness inside of me, the connection between me and the vine coming through for the first time since I was reborn.

Then it climbed.

Up the side of my shoe, over the edge of my pants, light and almost weightless as it wrapped once around my ankle before continuing higher. It didn’t squeeze. Didn’t dig in the thorns that I knew it had hidden away inside of it.

Then, it just... settled around my wrist like a bracelet. Like it had always been there.

I shifted my weight slightly, just enough to feel it react.

It moved with me like we had never been apart.

My sleeve brushed against my wrist when I adjusted my stance, and the vine changed direction immediately, sliding up under the fabric like it had been waiting for the invitation.

Then it went still.

I flexed my fingers once as if I was about to give it a command and it tightened a fraction in response, waiting for its order.

I relaxed and it relaxed.

"Rouxi." Zhenlan’s voice cut through the room, low and steady. When I looked up at him, his eyes were on me, not the yard, not the bodies, not the others.

Just me. "You saw something," he said. It wasn’t a question, but I wasn’t about to explain everything that was going on. The vine would bring about a lot of questions, and I didn’t want to give the answers.

I shrugged. "I saw a lot of things. You are going to have to be more specific."

He didn’t push, but between the way he was looking at me now and how Yuche had been looking at me, I knew it was going to be a problem later.

Behind me, Lingyun let out a shaky breath that turned into a quiet curse. "I’m not doing that again without warning."

"You’re doing it again," I replied dryly, rolling my eyes, grateful that he had broken the tension.

"Yeah, I figured. But seriously... give me a bit of advance warning next time?"

"I’ll be sure to ask the zombies to send invitation cards before they decide to show up, would that work better for you?"

Lingyun smirked at me, even as he nodded his head. "Yeah. That would be a bit more considerate of them, if nothing else."

The yard was too quiet now, too still after that much noise and power. Smoke was still drifting in the wind, and the smell of rot and ash stuck to everything, even me and the men.

Candles and Febreze really weren’t going to cut it.

I glanced down once more, just a quick check.

The vine hadn’t moved since it took its place around my wrist. If it wasn’t for the hum of contentment inside my head, that I knew didn’t come from me, I would have thought that I had dreamed the whole thing.

I was debating between binging a new drama and taking an hour long shower when, outside, something crunched over the broken gate.

The sound of engines followed a second later.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

This had to stop.

And fast.