The Tome of Bill (Book 6): Half A Prayer (43 page)

Farley grinned and produced a handgun, pointing it my way. Obviously, he was of the mindset that three against one was a fair fight.

He was wrong.

Under different circumstances, Farley and I might have had a decent slugfest...or at least a slap fight. He looked about as cut out for the life of a soldier as I was. Sadly for him, I was the Freewill and he was just some low level putz who’d...well...somehow managed to overcome the compulsions of the most powerful vampires in the world.

Okay, forget that last part. I still had no clue how the fuck he’d pulled that one off. What I did know was I was amped up on Gan’s blood and he wasn’t. Before he could so much as cock the trigger, I had grabbed him by the throat with one hand and lifted him off the ground - mainly because that move never fails to look cool in the movies. With my other, I grabbed hold of the weapon he held and crushed it...also probably awesome looking, but maybe not the smartest thing in the world. I could have probably used it.

Oh well, when in a pinch, sometimes one must make do with what’s at hand. Interestingly enough, that happened to be my buddy Farley. I swung, using his body as a flail, and smashed both of the Jahabich aside. Judging by the sharp crack that sounded, I also pulverized Farley’s legs in the process. Oh well, can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

I continued forward, using him as my personal meat shield to ward off any attacks. Ooh...that was a nasty hit to his kidneys. That was gonna hurt in the morning. Too bad, so sad the Jahabich didn’t seem to hold him in high enough regard to not pummel him into chopped meat in their quest to get at me.

“It makes my heart proud to watch you brutalize our enemies so,” Gan said, stepping up to my side as we continued to gain ground.

A part of me was sure I would feel bad the next day, but for now, giving an asshole his just deserts felt pretty darn good. Whoever said revenge ultimately left a hollow feeling inside had apparently never given it the old college try.

Flashes of light out of the corner of my eye told me my squad-mates on this mission were dispatching Farley’s buddies...probably with extreme prejudice. There were few things scarier than powerful vampires with bruised egos. Likewise, I turned and caught sight of the white glow of Sheila’s faith aura flaring up as she swung her sword in an arc, taking out a Jahabich and two of the traitorous vamps with one swing.

I allowed myself a nanosecond to think
so fucking hot
before concentrating on our objective.

Gan pried a few of the monsters away from the hinges where they stood guard like living doorjambs, and then we were through. The scene in the room beyond was surreal. Piles of ash and discarded weapons lay everywhere, speaking to how the vamps on guard had been ambushed. Sadly, whatever was left in there didn’t seem particularly friendly to our cause.

A column of both Jahabich and what I assumed to be more traitorous vamps stood guard outside. Multiple heads turned in our direction, and they did
not
look happy. One of the creatures stepped from its line and pointed its clubbed arm at me.

“
Freewill. We shall enjoy this.
” Before my eyes, its features melted and deformed. Within a second, it had reformed into...fuck me...Mark.

“Never let a witch do a vampire’s job,” I muttered.

He grinned, revealing the blackened granite spikes of teeth in his mouth. “Kill the rest, but keep this one alive for questioning. He’ll know where the pure one is hiding.”

His vampire buddies, obviously holding a very liberal concept of keeping me alive, all raised their weapons toward me. They’d ditched the silver stakes in favor of semiautomatic assault rifles.

As for the Jahabich, about half of them took Mark’s lead and resumed their alternate forms. Unfortunately, those who did had seemingly been cloned from some of our uglier enemies. About a dozen Sasquatches, all sporting stalagmite dentures, charged us.

Shit had just gotten surreal.

* * *

Shots rang out, and I wasn’t taking chances that they were aimed at anyone else. I held Farley - still ineffectually struggling against my iron grip - up to block them, hoping maybe he’d dissuade their ire. Unfortunately for him, the poor dude just wasn’t very popular and they peppered the fucker. Looked like silver too, from the way his extremities combusted. At least he’d had the foresight to wear a bulletproof vest.

I dove to the side, out of the line of fire and, when I came back up, did my best Captain America impersonation - using Farley as my shield. I threw him with everything I had, nailing the vamps right in the middle of their lineup. Woo, bowling for assholes!

There wasn’t time to gloat, though. What we were trying to do was painfully obvious, and our enemies closed in on us to put a stop to that shit. Theodora and Yehoshua took up positions to the left of me, engaging the Jahafeet - or whatever - while Gan raced forward on my right, intent on doling out some justice to the vampire traitors.

Two of the monsters, still in their rock forms, came straight at me, but they didn’t expect me to come equipped with Gan’s speed. My claws extended, I erased both of their faces before they could even properly raise their clubs against me.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Sheila had cleared the door of the last of the creatures blocking it open. We just needed to buy her a few more minutes.

I turned back to the fight at hand, thinking that now would be the perfect time to knock Mark’s fucking head off his shoulders. I caught sight of his still grinning face, but he was backing up, letting the others swarm out before him. He was obviously trying to goad me into following, but as much as I’d grown to dislike him during our short acquaintance, I wasn’t that stupid.

The four of us formed up into a loosely knit defense in front of the door, trying to keep anything from getting past us. Even with two Dracs on our side, though, that was gonna be tough.

Their initial clumsy charge repelled, the Jahabich began to line up in a formation similar to how they’d kept me and my friends penned down below - turning themselves into a living wall.

At least several bodies deep from what I could see, they began to press forward. Every time we’d smash one to bits, another would take its place. They weren’t even trying to attack, just force us back - their goal obviously the opposite of ours, to keep the damned door open.

And they were going to do it too if we didn’t hurry. As powerful as we were, they started pushing us back. Even Theodora’s fury, tossing the monsters aside like they were ragdolls, didn’t stem the tide.

A small breeze on the back of my neck caught my attention, and I glanced over my shoulder to find Sheila was pulling the blast door shut - the massive structure moving silently and without much effort.

“Wait for her to get it at least three quarters of the way,” Yehoshua said from the far side of our line where he’d just put his fist through a Jahabich skull, exploding it like a freaky-ass pumpkin.

Unfortunately, I didn’t think we were going to make it. Sheila was only about a quarter of the way there, and the enemy was rapidly gaining ground. We may as well have been trying to fend off an avalanche with a snow shovel.

It didn’t help that we couldn’t put our guard down to just push back either. The few vampires remaining on their end had regrouped. They were firing shots over the Jahabich, hoping for a hit on us - keeping us dodging and weaving...and occasionally throwing a severed rocky limb their way.

Bright flashes of white light lit up the room from behind us and I had little doubt of the source. They were trying to shoot Sheila too, but she was ready for them - her shield flaring up whenever they were spot on with their aim. That in of itself was another danger. If one of us was too close to her when that happened, it was going to hurt.

Fuck me. Talk about choosing between the fire and the frying pan.

A bullet whizzed past my head and my hair was blown forward by the close proximity.

Wait,
forward
?

Just then, the shot echoed from behind me, followed by another and then another.

I glanced back into the auditorium and saw Alex leading a contingent of vampire guards toward us. Though he still held a sword in hand, the vamps following him had apparently ditched the ceremonial silver stakes for weapons with a bit more range. Beyond him, I could see the last of the survivors leaving through the exits.

He’d made good on his word. They’d fought their way through the monsters still in the room before we’d cut them off, and now he was actually coming to help us. As much as I hated the fucker, I had to admit it was good to see his arrogant asshole of a mug.

Whereas Farley’s men had seemingly been mostly newbs, Alex’s guards were not. Several of the traitor vamps took headshots and immediately exploded into dust.

Although bullets weren’t great for killing the Jahabich, they weren’t half bad for slowing them down. The monsters themselves didn’t seem overly fond of taking a round in their empty glowing eye sockets.

It wasn’t much, but it was enough.

A few seconds later, Yehoshua shouted, “Go!”

I didn’t need to be told twice, taking off with Gan at my side. She quickly took the lead, and I understood why. The battle had finally taken enough out of me that her blood was wearing off, but I most certainly had enough left for one last super speedy sprint.

We raced through the rapidly closing portal with a few feet left to spare.

Theodora was next. She stopped behind us and turned. “Hurry, Joshua!” Gone was her typical arrogant tone. I was actually surprised to hear what sounded like genuine concern in her voice. Guess maybe some of the Dracs still had a few of their emotion circuits plugged in after all.

The door’s momentum was carrying it the rest of the way. Sheila let go and stepped to the crack of an opening, raising her sword. “Come on; I’ll cover you.”

At last, Yehoshua appeared in the doorway. He stepped through and...

Sheila’s aura flared to life around her in a brilliant flash of white flame.

* * *

The crack of rifle fire sounded a scant second later, but I barely noticed it. Yehoshua had been too close to her. The powerful magic coursing through her flung him back, his body catching aflame as he flew through the last remaining feet of open doorway into the sea of angry orange eyes beyond.

Theodora cried out, but it was too late. The blast door shut and the hollow thud of the bolts engaging sounded throughout the room.

What happened next was quick, almost too fast to make sense of it.

I turned back to find one of Alex’s guards still pointing his gun at Sheila, the barrel smoking. Before I could say a word, though, Theodora crashed through me and Gan, knocking us to the ground as if we were inconsequential. “You traitorous whore!” she screamed.

Dazed, I watched as Sheila raised her sword defensively. She spoke rapidly, telling Theodora it was an accident, but the ancient vampire was having none of it.

Thea swung her claws, connecting with Sheila’s sword. Sparks flew, but she continued her assault, seemingly not caring when her hand ignited from the impact. She swung again and once more it was parried, if just barely.

The attack nearly knocked Sheila off her feet, her foe too strong even for her. She continued to give ground until her back was against the now locked portal.

“Stop,” I cried, but it was too late. Her opponent cornered, Theodora leapt - no doubt intent on finishing things.

Sheila just barely ducked in time as Theodora’s claws sank into the metal framework. She sidestepped, swinging with her blade, and nearly bisected the elder vamp with the blow. White fire exploded out from the weapon and Theodora instantly immolated from the inside out in a brilliant explosion of fire, sparks, and dust.

Within seconds, one of the oldest creatures on the planet was no more.

Gunfire caught my ear from behind and I spun to find Alex pointing accusingly at the guard who had fired upon Sheila. The other soldiers at his command emptied their weapons into their former comrade, destroying him instantly.

Alex’s eyes met mine, but where I expected to see sympathy or perhaps confusion, he instead momentarily flashed me a confident grin.

It immediately became painfully obvious.

The whole ordeal had been a setup and we had played our parts as pawns perfectly.

I half expected us to be rearrested immediately. However, I’d forgotten there were still plenty of Jahabich left to deal with. Alex and his men, all apparently loyal to his cause, quickly vacated the room - the fight not over yet.

By the time I got back to my feet, only me, Sheila, and Gan remained in the auditorium.

Gan was dusting herself off, obviously only barely inconvenienced, but I paid her no heed. I stepped toward Sheila, who wore a shocked look on her face. Her sword clattered to her feet as she backed away from the pile of scorched remains that had been Theodora.

“What the hell just happened?”

“Alex,” I replied, wanting to reach out and comfort her, but not quite daring to, as she was still aglow.

“Huh?”

“It is quite simple,” Gan said from behind me. “Theodora has obviously been a thorn in Alexander’s side for these entire proceedings. He could not directly punish her, but when he saw an opening to do so with minimal damage to his own reputation, he took it. I have to say I am impressed he was willing to sacrifice another of his council so easily.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Oh, beloved?”

I opted to ignore her continued infatuation with me - instead mentally replaying the earlier memory of me clocking her. Oh, yes; that one was going to be a keeper every bit as much as Sheila in her towel.

I took a quick look around, confirming we were alone, and then replied, “Both Theodora and Yehoshua were working against Alexander.”

“How do you know?” Sheila asked.

“They told me.”

“Okay. Ask a stupid question...”

“They weren’t open about it, though. I think they were relying on me to be an X-factor in Alex’s plan. An agent of chaos, if you will.”