by AnonYMous
‘Wow,’ Flake gasped. ‘You’re having quite a day!’
‘Much the same as any other,’ said Sanchez nonchalantly.
Flake slipped a thin black leather bookmark onto the page she was reading and closed the book in order to give him her full attention. ‘So what happened to Jessica? How did you lose her?’
‘She’d gone on ahead of me. She must have seen the Kid and made a break for it in case he tried to kill her again.’
‘Do you think she’s okay?’
‘I’m guessing she’s headed back home to the Casa de Ville.’
‘You’re not going to go over there tonight are you? What with the Bourbon Kid being on the loose again. And the vampires!’
Sanchez shook his head. ‘No, not tonight. I’ll get The Book of Death for her first. It’ll cheer her up if I turn up there tomorrow with the book she’s been looking for.’
Flake looked unconvinced. ‘Do you think you’ll be able to find it?’
‘I had it this morning.’
Flake laughed. ‘You’re so funny.’
‘No, seriously. I borrowed it from the library,’ he paused and looked around to check if anyone was nearby, before adding, ‘without actually checking it out.’
Flake gasped. ‘Oh my God. You’re the one who stole it!’
‘Shhh,’ said Sanchez looking around again. ‘I gave it to Rick to take back to the library this morning, just before you made my breakfast.’
‘Why give it to Rick?’
‘So I didn’t have to face the wrath of that librarian bitch Ulrika. Why d’ya think?’
‘Oh, of course.’
Flake took in a deep breath through gritted teeth, in the manner of a mechanic who was about to give a quote for some new brakes. ‘I’d be wary about being seen with that Book of Death if I was you,’ she warned.
‘What do you mean?’
She pointed at the thick hardback book that she had been so engrossed in reading when he entered. ‘I’ve been reading this book,’ she said. ‘And it’s got a bit in it about a book called The Book of Death.’
‘Really? What does it say?’
She opened the book and began flicking back through the pages. ‘It says it’s an ancient Egyptian book that was used to record the names of the dead,’ she said, struggling to find the page she was looking for. ‘It also says that there was an ancient ruler of Egypt who dabbled in the dark arts. Apparently he found a way to write the names of the dead in it before they actually died.’
Sanchez slid off the desk and stood beside Flake, peering over her shoulder at the book. ‘How could he do that?’ he asked.
Flake continued to flick through the pages until she eventually found the passage she was looking for. ‘Look here,’ she said pointing at a short paragraph at the beginning of one of the chapters. ‘It says here that he used to write the names of his enemies in The Book of Death. According to this, his enemies would then be cursed to die on the date specified on the page in the book.’
Sanchez scratched his chin and thought about what Flake was saying. ‘The Book of Death that I gave to Rick was full of names, and there were dates on the top of each page, but they were all in roman numerals or something. I couldn’t work them out.’
Flake shook her head. ‘Don’t you think a book like that should be destroyed?’
‘I dunno,’ said Sanchez. He nodded at the book on the desk. ‘What’s this one you’re reading anyway?’
‘It’s that one I used to kill the librarian.’
‘What’s it called again?’
‘It’s doesn’t have a name.’
Sanchez stepped back from the desk. ‘Oh my God! You’re reading The Book With No Name?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Fuck! You never told me earlier that it was The Book With No Name.’
‘Why? What difference does it make?’
‘That book was mentioned in the news a while back. Everyone who ever read it died. The cops never figured out why. I was looking for a copy of it at the library yesterday when I picked up The Book of Death instead.’
‘I’ve read about a hundred pages of it now,’ said Flake. ‘Does that mean I’m going to die?’
‘It might. I don’t know.’
‘Weird, isn’t it?’
‘What?’
‘There’s two books that seem to be causing people to die.’
Sanchez thought about it for a few seconds. ‘I suppose,’ he agreed eventually.
‘Which one’s worse, do you think?’ Flake asked.
‘I figure they’re both pretty bad.’
Flake grimaced. She looked genuinely concerned for her wellbeing. ‘I think I’d rather have read the first hundred or so pages of The Book With No Name, than have my name written down in The Book of Death,’ she decided eventually.
Sanchez took off his sunglasses and slipped them into his breast pocket to take a better look at The Book With No Name. ‘Have you told Captain Harker about this?’ he asked.
‘No. He’s real busy with some kind of child killer case. He’s been on the news all day talking about it.’
‘Child killer, eh?’
‘Yeah, someone’s been poisoning kids and draining their blood.’
‘Bloody vampire, I’ll bet.’
Flake nodded in agreement. ‘Yeah. Harker reckons there could be hundreds of victims, mostly orphans.’
‘Well, we’re lucky we’re adults, aren’t we?’ said Sanchez finding something positive to take from the distressing news.
‘Terrible though, isn’t it?’
‘Absolutely. What happens when he runs out of kids to kill? He might move on to adults. Then we’ll be in trouble.’
Flake frowned. ‘I hope he does try his luck with us. We’ve got this book that kills vampires, remember.’
‘Oh yeah, good thinking,’ said Sanchez. Flake really was pretty smart sometimes, for a waitress. He glanced at his watch. ‘The library will be closed now. I’ll go tomorrow morning and take back another book I borrowed yesterday. I’ll look for The Book of Death while I’m there.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ Flake offered.
‘It’s okay. That’s not necessary.’
‘You could pop by the Ole Au Lait first and we could have breakfast together,’ Flake suggested.
Sanchez slipped his hat back on as he contemplated her offer. She clearly had plans to share in the reward on offer for returning The Book of Death to Jessica. He slipped his sunglasses back on to hide the deceit in his eyes.
‘Yeah, okay. See you there at about nine o’clock tomorrow morning.’
‘Great!’ she beamed. She continued babbling on about something or other as Sanchez made his way out of the station. He had no intention of stopping off at the Ole Au Lait for breakfast. Getting to the library first thing in the morning was his top priority.
Twenty-Three
Kacy hadn’t set foot in the Tapioca for a long time. The place hadn’t changed much. It was still a shithole. The walls were a disgusting yellow colour, it stank of cigarette smoke and although it wasn’t very busy, everyone in there looked like a criminal. The only major difference was that there wasn’t a fat guy behind the bar this time.
She followed Dante and the Bourbon Kid up to the bar. Before they had even taken a seat, the Kid called out to the barmaid.
‘Get me a bourbon. And fill the glass.’
Kacy grabbed a stool and sat down at the bar. The barmaid set a whisky glass down on the bar and began filling it to the top with bourbon from a dirty brown bottle of Jim Beam.
Dante nudged Kacy. ‘Watch what happens once he’s downed it. Those four guys at the table in the corner are most likely gonna get wasted.’
Kacy glanced over at the table in question and saw four greasy lowlifes supping at bottles of beer. She made eye contact with one of them and immediately looked back to the bar. The Kid had thrown a five-dollar bill at the barmaid.
‘Keep the change,’ he muttered.
As the barmaid began ringing the
sale up in the till at the back of the bar, he picked up the glass of bourbon and took a long hard look at it, inspecting the contents. The glass wasn’t particularly clean and the bourbon didn’t look particularly special, but he was definitely going to drink it. He put the glass to his lips and poured the contents down his throat. Then he slammed it back down on the bar.
From all that she had heard about him, Kacy expected to see him turn into a giant psycho, or pull out an arsenal of weapons. What actually happened was distinctly underwhelming. He simply stared down into the empty glass, deep in thought.
Eventually he looked over at them. ‘I feel nothing,’ he said. ‘Something’s gone. Right now I should be looking at those four guys in the corner and deciding on how I’m gonna kill ’em.’
‘What do you mean?’ Dante asked.
‘I can’t think of a good reason to kill them.’
‘Since when did you need a reason?’
‘Since now.’
Kacy gestured over to a table by the entrance. ‘Why don’t we take a seat and talk about this,’ she suggested.
The three of them made their way over to the table and each sat down on one of the creaky wooden chairs around it.
‘What’s different?’ Kacy asked sympathetically.
‘I don’t feel the same,’ the Kid said, looking confused. ‘I used to get a major adrenaline rush after a drink. You know that feeling where you just wanna kill everyone you see?’
‘Not really,’ said Kacy.
‘Well, something used to take over after I’d had a drink. It was brought on by the memories of the moment when I killed my mother.’
‘You killed your mom?’ Kacy couldn’t mask the shock in her voice.
‘She turned into a vampire. Begged me to kill her. I had to have a drink first. Drank a bottle of bourbon, ploughed about six bullets through her heart. After that the only thing that ever made me feel alive was drinkin’ bourbon and killin’ folks. Especially vampires.’
‘And you’re not getting that feeling any more?’
‘No. Not since…’ he trailed off.
Dante finished the sentence for him. ‘Not since he used the Eye of the Moon to get his soul back last night. Now he’s a regular guy. Got a conscience like everyone else.’
The Kid reached inside his jacket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He used his teeth to pull one out of the pack and sucked hard on the end of it. It lit up brightly and he replaced the pack in his jacket. ‘There’s some shit I can still do,’ he said. ‘Don’t go thinking I’m all washed up. I still know everything I knew before, I’ve just lost a bit of my inner rage.’
Dante looked at him. He looked like a regular guy. Something was missing and it wasn’t just the dark hooded coat. There was something missing from his eyes. Those eyes used to reveal a look of contempt for everything and everyone, but now they looked just like anyone else’s.
Without realising he was doing it, Dante shook his head scornfully as he looked at the man opposite him. ‘So how are you gonna help us kill Rameses Gaius and get the Eye of the Moon back?’ he asked.
‘You can’t kill Gaius.’
‘Why not?’
‘You said he’s got the Eye of the Moon in his head. It’s a part of him, like a pulse or a living organism that gives him his strength, so he’s totally immortal. And a mummy. Those fuckers don’t die. There’s only one way to deal with him.’
‘And what’s that?’ Kacy asked.
‘You send him back where he came from.’
Kacy looked at Dante. He appeared to have no idea what the Kid was talking about either. ‘Where does he come from?’ she asked.
The Kid took a drag on his cigarette and blew the smoke back out through his nostrils. ‘A tomb. You gotta wrap that fucker up in bandages and bury him alive in a tomb.’
‘You’re kidding, right?’ said Kacy.
‘Nope. That’s why you’re gonna need my help.’
‘So what are you gonna do?’ Dante asked before Kacy had the chance.
‘I’m gonna head out of town for a while. Can you two get into the Casa de Ville and meet me there tomorrow?’
‘Yeah,’ said Dante. ‘We were there this morning. Big place. Fucking lot of vampires there. Heavily guarded too. I’m not sure how you’ll get in there. No offence, but unless you can get back to your bad old self, you won’t even make it past the front gate. There’s an undead only policy there at the moment.’
‘Wait a minute!’ Kacy butted in. ‘He’ll get in if he’s a vampire.’
Dante raised an eyebrow. ‘You wanna turn him into one then?’
‘Won’t need to,’ she replied.
‘Huh?’
She tapped Dante on the leg. ‘Give him that serum you brought back from the hotel.’
Dante’s eyes lit up as it dawned on him what she was getting at. ‘Good idea.’
‘What serum?’ asked the Kid.
Dante pulled a syringe and a small bottle from his pocket and slid it over the table to the Kid.
The Kid looked at it and frowned. ‘What the fuck is that?’
‘That’s what’ll get you past the front gates.’
‘Care to elaborate? ‘Cause I don’t wanna have to read your mind.’
‘This is the serum I was using to lower my blood temperature when I was undercover with the vampires. It’s what helped me walk among them unnoticed. Inject yourself with that before you get to the Casa de Ville and they’ll think you’re one of them.’
The Kid picked up the bottle of liquid and looked closely at it. ‘This stuff didn’t work that well for you. I spotted you right away when you were undercover.’
‘Maybe so,’ said Dante. ‘But the rest of the clan fell for it. It’s worth a shot.’
‘Fine,’ said the Kid. ‘You got a cell phone?’
‘I have,’ said Kacy.
The Kid slipped the syringe and bottle into a pocket inside his jacket and pulled out a cell phone. He handed it to Kacy. ‘Stick your number in here so I can contact you if I need to.’
Kacy took the phone and began inputting her number.
Dante prodded the Kid in the arm. ‘What do you want us to do while we’re waiting for you?’
‘See if you can find out what happened to my woman. If she’s still alive I wanna know about it. If she’s dead, I wanna know about it too. Send me a text, okay?’
‘Sure thing,’ said Kacy.
‘What about Gaius?’ Dante asked. ‘He’s mounting a whole fucking army at the Casa de Ville. How can we deal with that? There could be a million of them by the time you get there?’
‘Let me worry about that.’
‘Normally I would. But you aren’t exactly demonstrating army destroying skills right now, if you don’t mind me saying.’
‘I do mind you saying, since you ask.’
‘Sorry, but I’m only callin’ it as I see it.’
‘You’ll see it differently tomorrow.’ The Kid got up from the table. ‘Right now I’ve got a conscience. I’ll be back to my old self once I get rid of it. I’ll see ya later.’
As he walked towards the exit, Kacy called after him. ‘So where exactly are you going?’ she asked.
He stopped short of the door and turned around. He pulled a pair of sunglasses from inside his jacket and slipped them on. Then he answered her question with two words that meant nothing to her.
‘Devil’s Graveyard.’
Twenty-Four
Gaius burst into his office and found Jessica sitting in his black leather chair behind his desk with her feet up. Her black knee-high boots were resting on his favourite notepad. She was wearing an all black outfit as usual, with a plunging neckline on the top, revealing a fair amount of cleavage, much to her father’s disapproval.
‘You’d better have found The Book of Death!’ he snarled.
‘Nope,’ said Jessica nonchalantly. ‘Got something better.’
‘I seriously doubt that.’
She gestured to a cream sofa set agai
nst the wall behind him. He looked over at it and saw a woman slumped across it. She was lying face down and was wearing a pair of tatty ripped black jeans and a blue cardigan. This was not the usual kind of riff-raff Gaius expected to see in his office.
‘Who the fuck is that on my sofa?’ he asked.
‘That’s Beth Lansbury.’
‘Who’s Beth Lansbury?’
‘She is.’
‘Very funny. Seriously, who is Beth Lansbury and why is she in my office, taking a nap on my sofa?’
Jessica took her feet down off the desk and stood up. She pointed at Beth and smiled. ‘That there little lady is the Bourbon Kid’s girlfriend.’
Gaius raised an eyebrow and half a smile. ‘Is that so?’
‘Yep.’
‘Did you kill her?’
‘Nope. No sense in that. Look what happened to those three idiot cops who killed his brother.’
‘Okay. So why is she here in my office?’
‘Leverage. If he cares about her as much as I think he does, then he’ll try and rescue her. When he shows up, we give him a choice, his life or hers.’
Gaius was unimpressed. ‘I fail to see how this is better than bringing me The Book of Death.’
‘You’re getting cranky.’
‘No I’m not.’
‘You are. And you’re getting paranoid again too. You’ve been keeping that Eye in your head for too long. It’s making you all paranoid, just like the last time you had it.’
Gaius squinted suspiciously at her. ‘Who’s been saying I’m paranoid?’ he snapped.
‘Just me.’
‘Are you sure?’
Jessica sighed. ‘See, you’re being all paranoid now. That Eye is having a bad effect on you. You need to take it out for an hour or two here and there, otherwise it makes you all vengeful and you make bad decisions based on all your pathetic personal grudges. That’s what got you in trouble all those years ago and it’s why you ended up being mummified for centuries. Take it out and think for yourself, for fuck’s sake!’
‘I am fucking thinking for myself, thank you very much. Now are we going to kill this woman on my sofa or not?’
Jessica strolled across the room to the sofa and gave Beth a prod in the back. She didn’t stir. Jessica turned back to Gaius and smiled. ‘Calm down, father, and just listen to me for a minute. Before I put her to sleep I managed to extract some information from her. She didn’t even know her boyfriend was the Bourbon Kid until today when he killed Silvinho. She knew him by another name. His real name.’