The Book of Death (28 page)

‘A priority? I don’t think so.’

Elvis intervened. ‘Listen to
Rex, man. He’s tryin’ to help you get your woman back.’

‘Whadda you know about her?’

‘I know she’s still alive.’

‘You sure?’

‘Yeah man. For now anyway. But
you go in through the front door with all guns blazing and they’ll kill her
while you watch.’

The Kid pondered what Elvis had
said. ‘You’d be surprised what I’m capable of when I’m in the mood.’

Rex stood up from his stool.
‘Well, it’s your choice how you go about it. But whether you go in quiet or
loud, you’ve only got until midnight. Then your time is up. That’s when you
repay the man in red.’

Berkley had finished refilling
the Kid’s glass and stashed the bottle of bourbon at the back of the bar. The
Kid picked up the drink and stared at his reflection in the glass for a second
before downing the contents. Then he reached into the guitar case for a weapon.

‘Yo, bartender,’ he called out.
‘What’s your favourite colour?’

Berkley spun around and muttered
one word. ‘Shit.’

The Kid pulled a gun from the
guitar case, a gold Desert Eagle with a red laser sighter on it. It felt heavy
in his hand, a good weight. He pointed it at the unfortunate bartender. The red
dot from the laser appeared in the centre of Berkley’s head.

BANG!

Berkley’s head exploded, his
brains flying out through the back of his skull and splashing against the wall
behind him. His body crumpled to the floor in a heap.

Elvis peered over the bar at the
corpse. ‘Why did he say shit
?
’ he asked, a confused look on his face.
‘Shit’s not really a colour is it?’

The Kid ignored him. ‘Silent
weapons my ass,’ he said admiring the gun. ‘Get me some ammo for this
muthafucker.’

‘Shoulda said brown,’ Elvis
said, shaking his head. ‘Brown’s a colour. Not shit. Shit’s an object. Or a
state of affairs.’

Rex placed a small case of
bullets on the bar next to the Kid’s empty glass. ‘Fine, do it your way,’ he
said. ‘But don’t say I didn’t warn you.’

Elvis walked off around to the
back of the bar while The Kid rifled through the weapons in the guitar case,
grabbing everything that took his fancy. Rex chipped in by handing over any
ammo for each weapon. The guy had deep pockets filled with all kinds of stuff.
After five minutes the Kid had an array of weapons and ammo laid out on the
bar. Only problem was, how was he going to carry it all? He had a few pockets
in his leather jacket and he’d picked out a few holsters from the guitar case,
but concealing the weapons could prove tricky.

Elvis reappeared with the answer
to the problem. He threw a long dark hooded robe over to the Kid. ‘There’s a
real shitstorm coming the way of Santa Mondega. You might wanna wear this.’

The Kid caught the robe and laid
it down on the bartop. He slipped his arms out of the sleeves of his leather
jacket and tossed it over to Elvis. The new robe would be perfect for carrying
and concealing a small arsenal of weapons. He slid his arms into the new robe,
admiring its snug fit. Then he began strapping weapons and ammunition to
himself and utilising all the concealed pockets and holsters within the robe.

When he was done he turned to
face Rex. ‘What now?’ he asked.

Rex pointed at the saloon doors.
‘Head through there and you’ll be right back where you started. Good luck.’

The Kid nodded at Rex and Elvis.
‘I won’t need luck,’ he said.

He walked towards the saloon
doors. When he reached them he pushed them open and walked through, pulling the
hood on the robe up over his head as he went.

Thirty-Three

Rameses Gaius arrived
at the Santa Mondega City library in a murderous mood. He’d received no word
from the Santa Claus regarding the recovery of The Book of Death, and now the
fat child-killing freak wasn’t even answering his phone. It seemed he’d had the
good sense to leave town rather than face the wrath of the Lord of the Undead.

Gaius strode up the
stairs two at a time and barged through the double doors at the top into the
reception area. Sat behind the reception desk was a teenage boy with scruffy
dark hair and a white shirt that was in need of a good press.

‘Where’s Ulrika Price?’
Gaius asked, avoiding any pleasantries.

The boy looked up. ‘She
didn’t come in today. I’m covering for her.’

Gaius removed his
sunglasses and slipped them into the top pocket on his silver suit jacket. ‘Are
you Josh?’ he asked, glaring at the young librarian.

‘Uh, yeah. How’d you
know?’

‘You’re the one who
gave The Book of Death out to a member of the library the other night, aren’t
you?’

‘The Book of Death?’

‘Yes. You know the book
I’m talking about?’

Josh nodded and
swallowed hard. ‘I didn’t give it out to anyone the other night though,’ he
said nervously. ‘I just put it on a shelf like Miss Price asked me to.’

Gaius leaned over the
desk to get into Josh’s personal space. ‘Take me to it then,’ he snarled.

‘I can’t,’ Josh replied.
‘The cops took it away this morning.’

‘What?’

‘A cop came in and took
it. Said he needed it for Police business.’

‘What cop?’

‘Sanchez Garcia. Used
to be the bartender at The Tapioca.’

‘Fucking fuck!’

‘Everyone’s after that
book today,’ said Josh with a shrug.

Gaius frowned. ‘Who
else has been in looking for it?’

‘A fat Santa Claus came
in looking for it just after Sanchez. Spat piss all over me.’

Gaius sniffed the air.
‘I can smell it.’

Josh blushed and
lowered his head to sniff his shirt. He turned his nose up as the stench of
stale piss wafted up his nostrils. He glanced back up at Gaius. ‘Anything else
I can help you with?’ he asked.

‘Actually yes,’ said
Gaius. ‘Could you show me which shelf you put the book on the other night?’

‘Yeah, okay.’

Josh lifted a wooden
flap on the reception desk and walked out through it. ‘It’s this way,’ he said
gesturing to Gaius as he led the way over to an aisle of books in the Reference
section.

Gaius followed on
behind him, taking deep breaths through his nostrils, trying desperately to
control the rage that was burning within him at the revelation that The Book of
Death was now in the hands of the police. Josh led him down a tall aisle full
of thick hardback books and pointed to a row just below eye level.

‘I put it here,’ he
said, proudly. ‘Under A for Anonymous.’

Gaius pointed at a
thick book with a green spine on the bottom shelf. ‘Could you pick out that
green book for me, please?’ he asked courteously.

Josh shrugged. ‘Sure.’

As the young librarian
bent down and reached for the book, Gaius grabbed him by a thick clump of hair
on the back of his head. He hauled him up off his feet and then in one swift
move slammed his face into one of the hard wooden shelves. There was a
sickening crack as Josh’s nose broke. The boy barely had time to scream out in
pain before Gaius smashed his face into the shelf three more times. Blood began
pouring from Josh’s nose and mouth as some of his teeth were smashed. Gaius
hurled him down face-first onto the hardwood floor and leaned over him. The
young librarian attempted to climb to his knees, but Gaius quickly hit him hard
in the ribs, knocking him over onto his back.

Josh’s eyes had filled
with tears very quickly. His bloodied face revealed a look of terror. His hands
were trembling and he looked ready to burst out crying at any second. Gaius
leaned down and pressed his left knee into his terrified victim’s chest.

‘This is what you get
for giving my book to the police,’ he said, raising his huge right fist high
above his head. Josh winced and turned his head away, clearly fearing the
impact of the forthcoming blow. He had time to sob just once before Gaius
rammed his fist into the side of his face, shattering his cheekbone as if it
were made of glass.

For almost a minute
Gaius pounded his fists into Josh’s face. The boy was most likely dead after
the third or fourth blow, but Gaius found himself enjoying the violence too
much to stop.

When his adrenaline had
calmed, Gaius paused and took a look at his bloodied fists. As he stared at
them, marvelling at their power, the swelling and pain in his knuckles
subsided. The Eye of the Moon, wedged firmly in his right eye socket, ensured
that any pain or injuries he sustained healed up almost instantly.

He reached into his top
pocket and slipped his sunglasses back on. Then he pulled out his cell phone
and made a call to his daughter.

Jessica answered within
one ring. ‘Yes father.’

‘The Book of Death is
gone for now,’ said Gaius, catching his breath. ‘That idiot Sanchez Garcia has
it.’

‘Sanchez has it?’

‘That’s what I just
said.’

‘Don’t worry then. That
idiot will bring it straight to me. He’s probably on his way here with it right
now.’

‘You think?’

‘I have no doubt.’

‘How can you be so
sure?’

‘Because that loser is infatuated
with me. Don’t worry father, if Sanchez has got it, then it’ll soon be ours.
Start putting your plans into action. I’ll have your book for you in no time.’

‘Finally, some good
news,’ Gaius said triumphantly. ‘In that case, put the word out to everyone,
it’s time for us to start taking over the city. Tell them to go into the
streets and kill whomever they choose, including kids.’

‘
Including kids?
’
Jessica sounded surprised. ‘Why the sudden change of heart?’

Gaius wiped his free
hand on Josh’s white shirt, in an effort to get rid of some of the boy’s blood
from his knuckles. ‘I just bashed a teenage boy’s brains in,’ he said, taking a
deep breath. ‘And I gotta tell you, it was exhilarating. At one point I think I
even heard him cry out for his mom.’

He could practically
hear Jessica’s approving smile down the phone. ‘I’ll get the word out to
everyone,’ she said. ‘Most of them are already on their way here anyway. Are
you coming back now?’

‘No, not yet,’ said
Gaius. ‘I have an appointment at the museum first. Got a couple more people to
kill.’

Thirty-Four

‘It’s no use,’ said
Kacy. ‘He’s not answering.’

Dante was sitting on
the bed in their room at the Swamp, wearing his Shades jacket over a white
T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. He rubbed his forehead in frustration. Kacy
had been trying to call the Bourbon Kid all afternoon. The unreliable
sonofabitch wasn’t answering.

‘Fine. Leave him a
message then. But send him a text as well. We can’t just blow him off without
knowing why he’s not answering.’

Kacy walked over and
sat down on the bed next to him. She had her cell phone pressed against her
ear. When she heard a beep she reeled off her message.

‘Hi, this is Kacy,
Dante’s girlfriend. Just so you know, we’re heading to the museum tonight with
Vanity. We won’t be at the Casa de Ville. Vanity says that Rameses Gaius is
going to the museum to have his eye polished or something. So we’re going to go
there and try and get it from him when he’s taken it out of his head. If you
want to meet us there, give me a call back. Vanity is on our side so if you do
show up, don’t kill him or anything. Okay, thanks. Bye.’

Dante rubbed her back.
‘Good message,’ he said. ‘Send him a text too though. Just in case.’

Kacy handed him the
phone. ‘You send it,’ she said. ‘I need to get changed.’

‘What’s wrong with what
you’ve got on?’

Kacy had on a
sleeveless black top and a pair of denim shorts. ‘If this plan of ours works
and we end up human again, I bet it’ll be freezing out there. We might need to
make a quick getaway. With all that snow and hail out there, I think I’ll need
something more appropriate.’

‘But you look hot like
that.’

‘The weather forecast
says it’s minus three out there.’

‘Lightweight.’

‘Fine. You can wear
these shorts then.’

Dante grabbed her by the
arm and pulled her towards him. He kissed her firmly on the lips. ‘You just
look hot, that’s all I’m saying.’

She kissed him back and
then pulled away. She walked over to the corner of the bedroom and bent down to
pick some new clothes from her suitcase that was open on the floor. ‘Just send
the text,’ she said.

Dante began typing a
message into her phone. It would take him ages and not just because he couldn’t
spell some of the most basic words. He was rubbish with phones in general. As
he tried to fathom out the texting system on her phone, Kacy began flicking
through the clothes in her suitcase, occasionally holding something up to get
his approval. He nodded at anything that would show plenty of flesh, but
generally turned his nose up at anything sensible. It was all good fun though.
She knew he loved watching her undress, and she in turn liked trying on new
outfits in front of him. It was one of many reasons they made such a great
couple. And Kacy hoped to God, they’d still be a couple come the end of the
day. If anything went wrong, and it was highly probable that something would,
she couldn’t bear the thought of being apart from him. The moment she had seen
him bitten by a vampire on Halloween still played over and over in her mind.
Holding his head as blood poured from a wound in his neck where the vampire
bitch had bitten him was the worst moment of her life. She dreaded the thought
of going through anything like it again.