The Book of Death

Copyright
© The Bourbon Kid 2012

The
right of the author (under the accredited pseudonym The Bourbon Kid) to be
identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him/her in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This
novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents
portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to
actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights
reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted by any means, without the prior permission in writing of
the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover
other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition
including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Cover
designed by Sophie Montemagni

The Book With No Name

The cover and pages of
The
Book With No Name
were created using wood from the cross on which Christ
was crucified. Any vampire that touches part of the cross is destroyed. The
book is a vital weapon in the war against the undead.

The Eye of the Moon

The Eye of the Moon
is a precious blue gemstone
with incredible power. Anyone wearing the stone becomes immortal. It can also
be used to control the orbit of the moon, change weather patterns, heal wounds
and transform vampires back into humans.

The Devil’s Graveyard

The Devil’s Graveyard
is an area of desert where
people go to cut deals with the Devil. Buried in the Graveyard are the undead
corpses of many of those who sold their souls in exchange for fortune and fame.

The Book of Death

The Book of Death
was created to log the names of
the dead. The Egyptian ruler Rameses Gaius cursed the book so that he could
write the names of his enemies in it. They all died on the dates specified in
the book.

The Bourbon Kid would like to thank the following people by
writing their names in The Book of Death.

Sophie Montemagni, Jack Safarian, Caroline Vallat, Toby Buchan,
Isabel White, Fabienne Reichenbach and Don Murphy. Also thanks to the wonderful
people at O’Mara Books, Sonatine Editions, Bastei Luebbe and Ediciones B and
many other foreign publishers for their excellent publications of my work.

And a big hello to all the Bourbon Kid facebook friends!

This is the fourth book in the Bourbon Kid series.

1 - The Book With No Name

2 - The Eye of the Moon

3 - The Devil’s Graveyard

4 - The Book of Death

Dear Reader,

You have opened
The Book of
Death
.

Appearances can be deceptive.
Read carefully.

Anonymous

Prologue

A teenage girl ran through
the dark, murky back alleys of Santa Mondega, her lungs working harder than
ever before. Her pursuer had not given up the chase. She could hear him behind
her, his footsteps mostly softened by the snow underfoot. She hadn’t dared to
look back ever since he had first leapt out of the shadows at her. She had seen
the whites of his eyes clearly, standing out within the large black patches of
paint covering much of his face. Dressed all in black, at first he had looked
like a giant shadow with eyes. Then she saw his teeth. They were huge vampire
fangs. She ran for her life.

Screaming for help
wasn’t an option, because the vampires in the streets outnumbered the humans.
Something big was going down in the city right now, and calling out would only
attract more of the undead. She needed somewhere safe to hide. As she charged
out of the end of an alleyway and into one of the city’s main streets she saw a
place that might offer sanctuary.

The Santa Mondega City
Library.

She raced across the
road and up the steps to the front entrance. The doors were wide open, inviting
her in. She wasted no time and charged through them into the library foyer. The
foyer had a marble floor and a very high ceiling. The sight should have been
familiar to her because for months her parents had been encouraging her to
visit the library to study for her exams. Straight ahead of her was a set of
large wooden double doors secured with a large bronze padlock and chain. That
left her with one option. She raced over to a staircase on the left.

As she struggled up to
the upper floor, the soles of her sneakers left a trail of snow behind her. If
the vampire followed her in he would easily track her down. She knew she risked
cornering herself by hiding in the library, but she couldn’t outrun the vampire
forever. If he was anything like the vampires in Twilight he’d be able to leap
through the air, covering huge distances with ease, catching up with her
whenever it suited him. Maybe this particular vampire was revelling in the
thrill of the chase, excited by the sound of panic in her erratic breathing.

At the top of the
stairs she risked a look behind her. There was no sign of her pursuer. Maybe he
had given up the chase or found an easier victim to prey on. Even so, she
wasn’t willing to hang around. She staggered into the large hall of books,
hoping to find a maze of aisles to hide in. There was no one manning the
reception desk, and no sign of anyone browsing through the ceiling-high shelves
of books. Directly ahead of her was an open area filled with tables and chairs,
but that too was deserted.

She hurried over to the
Reference section and ducked behind the shelves. The aisle was dark and even
though that probably wouldn’t deter a vampire, it seemed like her best option.
At least, it did until she saw something at the other end of the aisle that
made her blood run cold.

On the floor, lying in
a pool of blood, was the body of a teenage boy. His head had been smashed to a
bloodied pulp. Of far greater concern, though, was the man leaning over him, a
man she had heard rumours about. Concealed from head to toe in a long black
robe with a hood pulled up over his head was the Bourbon Kid. As he looked up
at her she noticed that his hands were covered in the boy’s blood.

After gawping at his
hands for a second Caroline looked back up. Her eyes met his. She stood rooted
to the spot, her body and brain shut down at the sight of the notorious killer.
She watched in horror as he rose to his feet and reached inside his dark robe.
His bloodied hand pulled out a large handgun. He took aim, pointing it at her
head. A red laser sighter on the top of the gun shone brightly, aimed right
between her eyes. She wondered if she had just taken her last breath, but
before he squeezed the trigger, the Bourbon Kid said two words in a distinctive
gravelly voice straight from the depths of hell.

‘Get down.’
 

For a moment Caroline
remained frozen. Then she did as instructed and ducked down, burying her head between
the knees on her blue jeans. She put her hands over her ears and closed her
eyes.

BANG!

The sound of the
gunfire was almost deafening, even with her ears shielded. As it continued to
echo around the vast hall of books, she slowly uncovered her ears. Behind her
she heard the sound of a body crumpling to the floor. She remained in her
crouched position for a few seconds before tentatively opening her eyes and
looking up at the Bourbon Kid. He had replaced his gun within his dark coat and
was once again looking down upon the blood-soaked body of the dead boy on the
hardwood floor.

Caroline stood up
slowly. Lying flat on his back on the floor behind her, minus a large portion
of his head, was the vampire who had been chasing her through the streets. Smoke
was pouring out of the gaping hole in his head and blood was seeping out across
the floor in an ever-expanding puddle. She backed away from it and turned back
to the Bourbon Kid.

‘Thanks,’ she mumbled.
‘He’d been chasing me for a long time. I don’t know who he is.’

The Kid did not
respond. Caroline took a step towards him and spoke a little louder. ‘Do you
know what’s going on here?’ she asked. ‘Did the vampires get that boy?’

The Kid seemed to have
forgotten she was there. At the sound of her voice he glanced over at her.
‘That guy chasing you was a Panda,’ he said.

‘A what? Panda?’

‘Yeah.’

She paused, unsure what
he meant. It made no sense.

‘The black paint on his
face, around his eyes, it means he’s a member of the Panda clan of vampires. Or
at least, he was til I blew his fuckin’ head off.’

Caroline heard what he
said, but she found herself distracted by the body of the dead boy on the
floor. ‘Oh my God, that’s Josh. He goes to my school. Did the Pandas do that to
him?’ she asked.

The Kid shook his head.
‘No. This ain’t vampire style.’

‘So who did it then?’

The Kid ignored her and
reached inside his robe again. He pulled out the gun he had used to kill the
vampire. He looked like he was ready to use it. He strode towards her, his eyes
staring right past her as if she wasn’t there. She stepped aside, her back
pressing hard up against a shelf of books behind her in an effort to keep as
much distance between herself and the Kid as possible. He walked past her, his
robe brushing gently against her leg. At the end of the aisle he stopped and
peered both ways, his gun pointed and ready for action.

Caroline tentatively
called out to him. ‘Is it safe to go back outside?’

‘For me it is.’

‘Can I come with you?
I’m scared to go on my own.’

He glared at her. ‘You’ll
be safer here.’

Caroline pointed at the
dead boy on the floor. ‘But what about whoever killed Josh?’ she asked. ‘What
if they’re still here in the library?’

The Kid was already
walking toward the exit as he replied. ‘The man who killed him has gone already.’

‘Do you know who it
was?’ she called after him. ‘And are you going to kill him?’

‘He’s on my list.’

One

The gutters overflowed with
rainwater, sewage and blood. In the disquieting hush that had overtaken the city,
these were the final remnants of the massacre that had laid siege to Santa
Mondega for the last twenty-four hours. Ravaged by thunder, lightning, and
death, Halloween had never been more chaotic. And that was saying something in
Santa Mondega.

Had it been any other town,
police and press would be roaming the streets, looking for clues and witnesses.
But if any cops were still alive, they wouldn’t resurface until daylight. The
city was normally crawling with vampires, a high percentage of which were cops.
But on this night the cops and the vampires (and in particular, the vampire
cops) had been the victims of the massacre. The residents of Santa Mondega
would wake to a city with virtually no law enforcement.