My Sister's a Zombie!

Author's Note: Incest. Zombies. Magic. If any of those make you uncomfortable, this isn't for you.

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He stared at the two women standing on his doorstep in confusion, a half slice of pizza in one of his hands. The tumble of thoughts was bordering on panic, as his brain just completely failed to process the scene in front of him.

Firstly, the one of the pair that he didn't know was... Weird. Her hair was long and white, except for the tips that were red. Despite the impossible colour combination, his brain kept trying to tell him it wasn't dyed. Her dress was black, short and flared - matching the peaked black hat sitting on her head that wasn't exactly a Halloween decoration.

The weird witch was holding onto the back of the other woman's neck tightly, and looked incredibly pissed at her. However, the one being held didn't look like they were up for a fight. They were staring at the ground, shoulders slumped, and looked all the world like they'd just endured a parent giving them a three hour lecture.

He recognised her.

She might be mud-soaked. Her blonde hair hidden beneath the stuff, caked on. However, he recognised those little sky-blue eyes. He knew that tiny button nose. Lord knew he'd been to blame for that trembling lip enough times.

"Chris." The witch snapped, voice almost snarling, "We need to come in and have a bit of a talk. And Raquel needs to borrow your shower. You mind?"

"What... The fuck?"

The witch rolled her eyes, "I'll explain, idiot, but I'd rather do it not on your doorstep in the cold! It's the fucking witching hour. So, can we please shove this thing in your bloody bathroom and get a decent cup of coffee? Not what I was planning for my weekend, either!"

He went to move backwards to make room for them, but just sort of stumbled and fell over. He landed in the middle of a turn, hitting the wall and just barely managing to stay upright.

The messy one limped by him, turning her head so that she didn't have to face him. He still saw her tears dripping onto his carpet, among the clumps of mud and dirt she was dropping.

The witch stepped in, sniffing cautiously, and then snapped her fingers and the door swung shut behind her. She took him by the shirt front, and seemed to effortlessly drag him into the kitchen, where his electric kettle was already switched on - which he didn't remember doing.

The woman sat him down roughly at the bench, on a stool, and then she shook out a garbage bag and started going through his fridge. Chris tried to shake off the confused shock as she dumped his fresh bag of deli bacon, "Oi! What do you think you're doing!?"

"Saving your life." She said casually, "I'm Lily, by the way. Sorry about interrupting your... Private time. I really wasn't expecting this. Normally, when I get an alarm from a graveyard, it's a vampire or elder god. Just another bitch trying to get at my brother. There's... Actually no precedent for this, so I'm kinda making it up as I go along."

He looked down the hall with a pained expression, "I'd tell you that you were crazy, and to fuck off... But that was her. Wasn't it?"

"I can actually hear your thoughts. For someone whose sister just came back to life after four years, you're coping fairly well." Lily said sympathetically, as she sorted through his planned meals for tomorrow, tossing a couple of the frozen meals. "Anyways... I won't be the one in charge of keeping an eye on her. That'll be Ginger. She's a sweet girl. So... Questions? Go for it."

Chris winced, "How... Do you know who I am?"

"I can read minds. Read hers." Lily shrugged, "She's all about you. I found her sitting beside her tombstone, balling her eyes out. She... Can't speak, yet. Dunno if it'll come to her. Mostly she was crying about missing you. Remembering... Reaching for you. The accident."

He closed his eyes briefly in pain, "She remembers the accident?"

"It's going to suck." Lily said quietly, "But it's about all she remembers. Doesn't really remember anything from before. Not your parents. Not growing up together. She just remembers her Chris, how much she loved him, and... The accident."

He winced, "Fuck... Just... Fuck."

"Yeah." The woman said sympathetically, before disappearing the garbage bag with half his food. She leaned onto the bench, looking at him, "So... She's your sister, then? Why don't you tell me about her? I'm still looking into why this happened. And you need to decompress, at least a bit."

Chris swallowed, "It was my fault..."

"No, no. We're not going down that path, right now." Lily gently chided him, "Remembering the girl, not the accident."

He shrugged helplessly, "I... Raquel had just had her birthday. It was her twentieth. I'd been giving her a lift to her boyfriend's house. Th-they were going away. Didn't want to leave her car there. How am I not meant to remember all that? She died, because of me!"

"Huh. She didn't remember a boyfriend." Lily said in surprise, and Chris felt something cold crawling inside his head, before the witch nodded, "Sammy. Ta, for that. I'll just have a looksey in on... Oh. Yeah, don't tell him about this. He moved on. Married, kids."

Chris took a deep breath, "So... She's... Alive? Just memories missing?"

"No, she's still dead. Sorry." The witch said brutally, "Raquel can't heal or anything. She cuts her hand, that cut will stick around forever. Probably festering and being a danger to making you sick. So you're going to need to keep her out of the kitchen, no bike riding, basically... Uh... Girl in the Bubble, her. Huge responsibility, and unfair, so I kinda told the Council to put you on a Carer's Payment. No more work, you've retired to take care of her. It's unfair... But..."

"I'll do it." Chris said, "I get that you feel uncomfortable forcing it on me, but I don't care. Wait, if she can't heal... Is she going to uh... Rot? If she soaks in a bath or something?"

Lily shrugged, "Maybe? It's been a couple hundred years since the last zombie popped up. Uncharted waters, Chris. I need to do some research. I think she can get by a bit if she gets a steady diet, so Ginger will try some foods with her, when she pops round, tomorrow."

"Holy shit. Zombie." He shivered.

The woman smiled, and then produced one of his mugs with some steaming tea in it, from somewhere. She pressed it into his hands, "Things to remember. She doesn't remember being alive. Human. She might seem like the woman you knew, at times, but she isn't. Not entirely. Never will be, again."

He winced, "Yeah, that's going to be hard."

"Secondly, pig and person taste the same. Same-ish. You're going kosher, unless you want to wake up to her gnawing on you, because the smell gave her cravings." Lily waved at his fridge, and then looked pointedly at the piece of pizza he was still awkwardly holding onto.

"Oh." He looked for the bin, but the pizza, and its box, vanished.

The witch smiled warmly, "Now, um... Witches can tell when someone knows about magic. So a few strangers might talk to you differently. Maybe a few people you know, too. I want to assure you that the magic community has nothing against Raquel. Most want to study her, which is a bit insensitive, but relatively harmless. A few vampires might think she owes them loyalty or whatever. But you don't have to worry that anyone would come hunting her. And if someone really is that nuts... Call Ging. She'll fuck 'em up."

Chris felt a chill, "Supernatural hunters. Awesome."

"Nah. Probably won't happen. I'm the world's most powerful hunter, and this is my city, so people tend to stay clear. I'm the White Witch, and you two are under my protection." Lily said casually, like she said it a lot.

A loud groan made Chris jump out of his skin, and he looked over to see his younger sister shuffling into the kitchen. Without a single scrap of clothing on.

He could see the stitches to her chest. Where the medical examiner had attempted to undo their crimes, and repair the bigger bits of damage from the accident. Her skin was mottled. Not old and dry, but like she was covered in bruises, head to toe.

Lily tsk'd and stepped over, "Don't you dare tell me you're not flexible enough! I bought you a dress that you could slip on with one arm. Even a klutz like you would find it easy. You did it on purpose. Go get dressed, now. We're not done talking."

Raquel made Chris' heart break by emitting a timid sort of moan. However, the witch was unmoved. His sister's eyes and shoulders dropped, and she turned and shuffled away, again.

"As bad as Fan." Lily muttered.

Chris winced, "She sounds like she's in pain."

"She's not. Which is one of the problems." Lily said tiredly, "She won't notice if she hurts herself. The stumbling thing? She can't feel her feet. I think... Not certain... That some of her nerves will wake up. But right now, she's numb. So she'll rely on you to notice if she breaks a toe, or scratches herself. You'll need to clean it, and... Ging can take care of stitches and stuff."

"Emotional pain."

Lily shook her head, "She... Can't feel things. Not like you. She lives in a grayscale world, now."

Chris winced, "I think... I think I'm going to start crying, the minute I hear her and you're not here."

"Yeah. I'm handing you a shit sandwich." Lily nodded. "You were just getting over the trauma of losing her, and surprise, she's back! But not really. Not actually. Someone like her. But someone different."

He clenched his fists, "I get what you're saying, but... This is is still a second chance. No matter how you want to paint it. Doesn't seem like there's a huge difference between... Zombie... And if she'd managed to live through it and needed help. PTSD and stuff."

"World of difference." The witch rolled her eyes, "But you, do you. I'll work out how the fuck her soul managed to crawl back inside her ugly corpse. Hopefully, we can find a balance for her."

Chris nodded, "Sure."

"Final note, before I take off." Lily stood up and stretched, "She's going to try and eat you. Going to. Not might. Will. Probably best to call Ginger when it happens. Her number's in your phone, now."

He frowned nervously, "What if she needs help with the dress?"

"She'll be fucking happy about it." Lily glared down the hall, "But... You're her carer, now. Awkward stuff will pop up. Um... I'll ask Ginger to come by with some food to try, for the both of you. But, I really need to get going. Fucking alien and my fucking idiot brother..."

With that, the woman vanished. No fading, pop or light show. Gone like she was nothing but a hallucination in Chris' sleep deprived brain.

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It was a good fifteen minutes before he heard his sister.

Chris, true to his word, felt the tears rise up and swamp him when Raquel came limping into the kitchen in a pale pink dress. The shoulder straps were broad, but only one was really in place. The other hung awkwardly off her shoulder, and the dress was twisted askew.

His sister was staring at the ground, and when she noticed that he was alone, seemed to get even more timid than before. Turning to flee back up the hall.

Chris half-ran over, before fixing and straightening her dress with shaking hands, "Uhm... Lily said you can't remember much. Just... What happened. So... Do you hate me? Is that why you run?"

Her sky blue eyes looked up at him, growing wide in innocent confusion, and then Chris grunted involuntarily as the blonde chomped down on his shoulder. She sucked gently on it, through his t-shirt, whilst not-so-gently grinding her teeth into him.

He extricated himself slowly, afraid of hurting her, and then waggled a finger, "Um... No? No. I'm not for eating."

She moaned weakly, sounding like he'd slapped her.

Chris sighed, "You don't know who I am, do you?"

Those innocent eyes stared into his, and she reached up slowly with jerky movements to touch her swollen lips. She screwed up her face, thinking, and then her thumb went into her mouth and she bit down, hard.

He fought her, pulling the thumb out, and sighed at the fresh bruising. "Sorry. I guess comfort eating is a thing with you. Makes sense. Let me see if Lily left me anything in the fridge that you can chew on."

She surprised him by nodding, seeming to understand what he was saying.

He did find a large carrot, but when he turned back to give it to her, she was gnawing on her thumb, again. Not sucking. She was making a concerted effort to bite it off.

He felt awkward as he pushed a carrot into a grown woman's mouth. She looked surprised, and then grinned, smiling and drooling around the object at him.

In all his discussion with Lily, he hadn't thought to ask how badly death had fucked over his sister's intelligence. He was starting to feel that her brain really had gone and died, leaving not much of anything behind.

The girl reached up and put a hand onto Chris' chest, and gave a small groan.

"You're... Welcome?"

Her smile vanished and she glared at him, before awkwardly turning and stumbling away, still chewing on her carrot. Chris followed, unsure if letting her have space was a good idea, despite knowing he'd just offended her somehow.

His sister took three attempts before she managed to swipe the TV remote from the table, and then just walked into the couch and let herself fall over. As she went down, and the dress went up, Chris copped an eyeful. Didn't seem like panties was something she felt capable of, just yet.

Which probably meant he'd need to help her with a pair, in the morning.

Chris sat in a nearby chair, and pulled out his phone. He found the other witch's number had appeared in his contacts, as promised. He also found his bank account had registered the first payment from a government source, but it was significantly more generous than most pensions he was aware of.

He rubbed his chin, "Do... Do you think you'd be up to some clothes shopping, tomorrow? Get a few more dresses, and uh... Maybe some... Underwear?"

The girl lying facedown on the couch groaned and rolled until she could face him, and then lifted up her arm to point at him, with only the rude finger on display.

"What I do!?" Chris complained, "I'm just trying to help, Raquel!"

Her eyes widened, and her chest shook with a ragged gasp, and then tears started to fall down her cheeks. She jerked her head away, burying it into the couch, before letting out the most terrifying and pained groan that he had ever heard in his life.

The couch did exactly nothing to dull the noise that shook his windows and set off every cat and dog in the neighbourhood. However, before Chris could leap to her side, Raquel kicked her feet in frustration, causing the couch to make a splintering sound and groan of its own, before collapsing with a thud.

Pieces of plywood hit his ankles, causing his own limp as he stumbled to her side, falling to his knees on the edges of the cushions. He rubbed her back gently, "Hey, hey. That was a big emotion. Can you... Try? To help me understand? I know charades are hard right now. But... Please?"

Raquel looked up at him with tears in her eyes as her carrot fell from her mouth in two pieces. She sniffled and pushed herself into a sitting position. Grabbing and heaving her legs so they were tucked up under her chin. With a stiff arm she patted at the carrot, looking at him pleadingly.

"Want another?"

She nodded, a jerky motion that made him feel like she was going to snap her neck.

Chris headed back to the kitchen, grabbing the first aid kit as well as the whole bag of carrots. He found her in the same position, but staring wide-eyed at the news on TV.

She didn't seem to acknowledge his presence, and simply bit down on the carrot when he proffered it. He shrugged it off and checked over her legs, finding a few scratches probably from the couch. He disinfected them, as she seemed to mindlessly drool and stare at the host on the TV screen talking about the blatant corruption of yet another politician.

She had a couple more scratches on her elbows, but she'd done more damage than he'd expected to her thumb. Torn the skin, and felt like she might have hurt the muscle as well. Again, she had zero reaction when he disinfected the area. Her nerves really were dead.

As he finished, he almost instinctively kissed the top of her head. Like they were kids again, and he'd been helping her with a scuffed knee.

It was a mistake.

Raquel let a huge and angry growl. Her arm popped audibly as it snapped out towards him, and her fingers seized his throat with a mechanised grip. She lurched to her feet and picked him off the ground as if he weighed nothing, before letting out a bellow of rage that covered his face in spittle and carrot pieces.

"Aw gad. I'm runnin' more 'n wee bit late." A voice said from behind where Chris was gasping and kicking, unable to do a thing. "Go ahead 'n put him down, sweet."

His sister blinked, then her eyes went wide in surprise and horror. She instantly dropped him and lurched off out of the room with a sobbing moan more fit for a haunted house.

Chris fell onto his knees, one hand holding his throat as he wheezed and gasped pathetically. The world was spinning with the inrush of air, and though he was grateful to be able to breathe again, he was surprised to find that air burned. His throat was screaming as his lungs sang in ecstasy.

The newcomer knelt in front of him, brushing a handful of orange curls out of her green eyes. Her jaw was straight, and belonged on a Hollywood starlet. She rolled her eyes, and then popped a mint of some kind into his mouth. His throat immediately seemed to relax and she nodded. "There we go. Noaw, anything you picked up, before I go 'n try and talk to Little Miss?"

"She likes... Chewing things." He gasped weakly, "Thumb, if she can't get... Anything else. Also... I think... Short term... Memory problems."

"Ta." The woman said and kissed his cheek, before giggling as she stood, "Name's Ginger, by the by."

Chris fell tiredly onto his broken couch, letting the mint dissolve in his cheek.

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"Take two!" Ginger announced, coming into the room. "I be playing translator, 'kay? Chris, Raquel has some t'ings she wanna say."

He sat up, looking over at the timid blonde hiding behind the stranger. Ginger was probably a witch, like Lily, but she wasn't dressed like one. Woman was wearing jeans that looked frayed around the edges, and a fairly cute blouse, with a small patch featuring an anime catgirl with black hair and silver ears.

His sister gave a tiny moan, and jerked further behind the witch.

Ginger nodded, "Aha. She thinkin' ya be a rude dick, pretty much. Don't like the way you don't ask before goin' yanking stuff outta her mouth. She understands why ya do it, but she wantin' ya to ask, not tell. Only fight her if she refuses, and it isn't safe."

"Oh." He winced, "Sorry."

Ginger nodded, "Hmm. Also, ya be treatin' her like a kid. She may not talk, but she's a grown ass adult. If she not want -"

Raquel moaned frantically at the witch.

The redhead laughed, "Ya gots to be straight with him, sweet. He's a guy."

His sister attempted, and failed, to cross her arms. However she did manage to put a pout onto her bruised face. He was starting to get used to her skin, see his cute little sister under it, again. Which helped him see that she was downright furious with him.

"She is that." Ginger nodded, "Fury be a good word for it. Raquel not wanting underwear. It ain't about it being hard to wear, she don't like it. Her body is a bit different, noaw. Bladder not workin' and stuff. So she not even need it. I'm with her, probably best not to enclose her girly in a hotbox. She cannae sweat."

"And here I thought I was being sensitive." Chris said tiredly, "Sorry for being an idiot, Raquel. Do... You still want to get some dresses? I thought it'd be nice. Something to make you feel normal. Get something pretty. Maybe find a unicorn with pockets and squee over it. Am I being stupid and missing something there?"