by AnonYMous
She raced out into the pool hall and looked out of one of the windows at the street below. Sure enough, the streets were chaotic. There was a group of terrified girl scouts racing down the street screaming. Vampires were grabbing civilians and dragging them into shop doorways and alleyways to feast on their blood. The girls had stayed together in a group, but they would be picked off soon enough. Kacy felt sick at the sight of it and rushed back into the apartment to grab her sneakers.
Dante recognised the look in her eyes. ‘You want to try and stop them?’
She nodded. ‘We all should. They’re just little girls.’
Vanity grabbed Dante by the shoulder. ‘There’s nothing we can do for those girls. Gaius has left for the museum already. We gotta go now, or we might miss our chance.’
Kacy looked at Dante with pleading eyes. ‘We’ve gotta try and save those kids, surely?’
He nodded in agreement. ‘Yeah. Come on, let’s go.’
Kacy slipped on a pair of sneakers and raced out into the pool hall after Dante. Vanity didn’t look so keen. In fact he looked exasperated. He called out after them as they went. ‘You can’t save those kids. You’re vampires. All you’ll do is scare them. And maybe get yourself killed.’
His words fell on deaf ears as Dante and Kacy bounded through the pool hall and leapt over the landing, jumping down three flights of stairs to the ground below.
Thirty-Five
Dan Harker had spent much of the morning at his desk staring at his computer monitor, trawling through the previously top secret files of the previous captain, Michael De La Cruz. Almost every single one of them related to either the child killer or the Bourbon Kid. The child murders had never been investigated. Every single one of them had been filed under the list of Bourbon Kid victims. This wasn’t just lazy police work, this was blatant corruption. It had been started by Archibald Somers and continued by De La Cruz. But why had they been so keen to pin every murder on the Bourbon Kid? Was it just because he was an easy target? Or was he an enemy of theirs? An enemy to the undead?
After an hour of viewing countless files containing almost identical details, Harker came across De La Cruz’s file for the death of Archie Somers. And this one was interesting. It was the only case with any evidence to prove that the Kid had murdered the victim in question. It contained a link to some CCTV footage too. He brought it up onto the screen and moved his face closer to the monitor to get a good look at what was a rather grainy picture. The film footage showed the Bourbon Kid turning up at the police station and gunning down all of the on duty police officers. The only survivor initially was a receptionist named Amy Webster. The camera was positioned behind the Kid and showed the look of terror on Miss Webster’s face as she followed his instructions. Unfortunately there was no audio, so Harker could only speculate on what was being discussed. It looked as though the Kid was dictating to Amy what to say on the phone. Eventually, after she replaced the phone on its handset, he issued one more instruction. Amy closed her eyes and a second later he fired a bullet through the middle of her face. Maybe it was this kind of behaviour that made Somers and De La Cruz decide to pin every unsolved murder on the Kid? After all, he was clearly a merciless killer.
Harker skipped forward through twenty minutes of film where nothing happened. He resumed play again when Archie Somers showed up at the station to confront the Kid. It proved to be fascinating viewing. Harker had to rewind and watch it several times to make sure his eyes weren’t deceiving him. After a minute of heated discussion between the two, Somers transformed into a vampire and flew at the Bourbon Kid, grabbing him and plunging his teeth into his neck. The Kid embraced Somers and held him tightly, but then came the strangest part. A puff of smoke appeared from in between the two men. More words were exchanged and then Somers staggered back. He had a large hardback book stuck to his chest. A small cloud of smoke was emanating from beneath the book. Somers tugged at the book, desperately trying to rip it from his chest. The damn thing wasn’t shifting though. It stayed glued to him, smouldering for a while until suddenly Somers literally exploded into a ball of flames, waving his arms wildly and screaming. Moments later he disintegrated into a pile of smoking ash on the floor. So, Somers the vampire had met a grisly end, but what was the deal with the Kid? Was he some kind of vampire slayer? And if so, why did he also kill innocent people, like Amy Webster?
As Harker pondered the answers to a multitude of questions, he heard a knock on his office door. Stood at the glass door wearing a long white coat was Bill Clay from the Forensics department. Harker gestured to him to enter. Clay pushed at the door a few times with no success before finally kicking it at the bottom and forcing it open. He walked in and closed it behind him with another kick and then turned to face the Captain.
‘Hey Cap, how you doin’?’
‘What can I do for you, Bill?’ Harker asked.
‘Switchboard is going nuts down there. Flake can’t cope with all the calls.’
‘Get her buddy Sanchez to help her.’
‘Don’t you think he’d just annoy people?’
‘Yeah,’ said Harker shrugging. ‘Then they’ll hang up. He’s perfect for it.’
Clay smiled. ‘Well there’s one small problem. Sanchez hasn’t showed up for work. In fact Flake’s only just come in herself.’
‘Lazy assholes.’
‘Yeah, but there’s a reason for their lateness.’
‘It better be good.’
‘It’s not bad. Flake says they bumped into your child killer this morning.’
‘What?’
‘Apparently Sanchez just killed him.’
‘Come again?’
‘Flake says Sanchez got into a fight with a vampire dressed as Santa Claus at the library this morning. Apparently Sanchez poured the guy’s green poison over him and set him on fire.’
‘Fucking hell. Where’s Sanchez now?’
‘Up to his neck in shit, I reckon.’
‘Huh?’
‘Flake said he’s found The Book of Death. You know, that book that’s missing? He’s on his way to return it to its owner.’
Harker scratched his head. ‘Wow. I kinda thought Sanchez was an idiot. Sounds like he’s turned into Elliot Ness.’
‘More like Frank Drebbin.’
‘Even so. Who’d have guessed he had it in him?’
‘Not me.’
‘Me either. Still, this is turning into a good news day.’
Clay grimaced. ‘Yeah, well that’s the good news over.’
Harker sighed. ‘Oh God. What now?’
‘The switchboard. It’s jammed with calls reporting sightings of vampires attacking people all over the city. The local radio station is already warning people to stay indoors. I think the days of vampires attacking only by night and in back alleys are over. These black clouds over the city aren’t just freak weather. It looks like this is all part of a bigger plan. Vampires are roaming through the streets of the city as we speak. And they’re all headed towards the Casa de Ville. Something big is going down. This could be the start of the end of the world.’
‘Please tell me you’re exaggerating for dramatic effect.’
‘I’m afraid not. Your plan to leak the child killer case onto the news has backfired in a big way. It’s brought them all out of the shadows.’
‘Thanks. I really needed to hear that.’
‘Sorry Captain. But I think we should evacuate the city. Get back on the news and tell everyone to get the hell outta here.’
‘Seriously? Don’t you think that’ll create a state of mass panic.’
Clay nodded at the window behind Harker. ‘Take a look out the window. We’re already in a state of panic.’
Harker got up from his chair and peered through the blinds on the window at the street below. At first it looked like nothing much was going on. But as his eyes grew accustomed to the dark outside he saw that Clay was right. On the opposite side of the road a young man who worked on a fruit and vegetable stall
was being ripped to pieces by three vampires dressed all in black. He turned back to Clay.
‘Holy shit.’
Clay nodded. ‘It looks like we’re all gonna die.’
‘Fuck that,’ said Harker defiantly. ‘We’re paid to protect the people of this city. We’re gonna have to get out there and deal with this problem head on.’
‘How the hell are we gonna fight an entire army of vampires? There’s barely enough cops here to rescue a cat stuck up a tree.’
‘That’s a job for the fire department. Lazy bastards.’
‘Even so. If as you say we have a responsibility to protect the people of this city then we should be advising them to run for their lives. Flake took a call just now from a Sunflower Girl Leader. She said her and her girls are sneaking through back alleys trying to avoid being spotted by the vampires.’
‘Sunflower Girls?’ Harker put his head in his hands. ‘Oh shit, they must be terrified.’
‘They’ve had a pretty bad day already. The leader backed up Flake’s story about Sanchez setting fire to the Santa.’
‘He set Santa on fire in front of a bunch of Sunflower Girls?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Moron.’
‘Quite. As Flake was telling the leader to head to the local church, the line went dead. So for all we know, the vampires spotted them. Those girls could be dead already.’
Harker sat back down at his desk and shuddered. ‘I sure hope they make it. If they can get into a church then they’re probably pretty safe. They’ll have crosses and holy water and shit like that to use as weapons. I don’t think a vampire is gonna set foot in a church.’
‘Shouldn’t we send someone over there to see if they’re okay?’
‘Can we send Sanchez?’
‘The guy who just set fire to Santa in front of them?’
Clay had a point. Sanchez was probably the last person the traumatized girls would want to see. ‘Fuck. We’re just gonna have to hope the church takes care of them. I’m gonna have to get back over to the news station and advise everyone to lock themselves in or get out of town.’
Clay looked deeply troubled. This city is fucking insane. ‘If it’s not the Bourbon Kid killing everyone, it’s fucking vampires. Why would anyone want to live here?’
Harker frowned. ‘Low taxes. Plenty of jobs. Nice weather, usually.’
‘Even so. I’m not sure why I’m still here.’
‘You’re here because you love your job and you’re a good guy who takes pride in protecting the citizens of this city.’
Clay smiled. ‘Are you quoting the Officers’ Handbook?’
‘I know it off by heart.’
‘That’s not gonna save us though, is it?’
‘Nope. But I know something that could. Here take a look at this.’ He pointed at his monitor. Clay walked around to his side of the desk and peered over his shoulder.
‘What is it?’ he asked.
Harker used his mouse to drag the CCTV footage on his monitor back to the moment where Somers and the Kid squared up. The two men watched the monitor in silence as they witnessed the Kid send Somers to Hell in a ball of flames. When the fight was over, Harker paused the footage again and looked up at Clay to see his reaction.
‘That’s weird,’ said Clay.
‘Yeah. Freaky, right? The way he just spontaneously combusts like that.’
Clay looked puzzled. ‘That’s not what I meant.’
‘Why? What are you looking at?’
‘The Bourbon Kid. That’s not the same guy that killed Bertram Cromwell.’
Harker looked closer at the man on screen in the dark robe with the hood pulled up over his head. ‘You sure? How can you tell?’
‘Get the footage from the museum up on screen. It’s a different guy.’
Harker sifted through the database and eventually pulled up the footage of Bertram Cromwell’s murder on to his screen. He and Clay watched Cromwell being butchered again. The attacker was a hooded man all right, but the psycho with the machete hacking the Professor to pieces had a completely different build to the man who had set fire to Archie Somers. The Professor’s killer was tall and thin, whereas the Bourbon Kid in the Somers footage was broad of shoulder and not quite as tall.
‘What do you make of that then?’ Clay asked.
Harker mulled over what he’d seen. These were definitely two different killers. ‘You’re right, he said. ‘We’ve got two Bourbon Kids.’
‘Do you think there were two all along?’ Clay asked.
‘I don’t know. All I know is this. One of these guys kills vampires. And he’s fucking good at it. I’m not sure who the second guy is, the one who killed Cromwell. But the guy who killed Somers could be a useful ally.’
‘You’re thinking of asking the Bourbon Kid for help?’
‘Why not? He could be the only thing standing in the way of the vampires taking over the city. Problem is, we’ve got to find him.’
Clay didn’t look convinced. ‘He’d kill you before you had the chance to make him an offer.’
‘I’m not so sure. Look at it like this, Somers was a vampire. The last Police Captain, De La Cruz, was a vampire and so were his lieutenants. The Bourbon Kid killed them all. I think he might just be the hero this city needs.’
‘He’s a disease. We need him like we need a plague of frogs.’
‘Maybe so, but I’m telling you, the Bourbon Kid could kill every vampire in this city before they even know they’re dead.’
Clay furrowed his brow. ‘That doesn’t even make sense.’
‘Maybe not, but it sounded good in my head.’
‘Look Captain, what you’re saying is…’
Harker stood up, sharply. ‘Look, if I can put out an appeal on the local news station, I think I could maybe bring him on board.’
‘You’re kidding, right?’
Harker grabbed his long brown raincoat from a clothes hanger by the door and began slipping his arms into the sleeves.
Clay gestured to him to slow down. ‘Captain, if you’re thinking of making an appeal to the Bourbon Kid on the news, you’re gonna make yourself public enemy number one in this city. It’s a bad political move. He’s killed relatives of everyone in town.’
Harker pulled the collar of the coat up around his neck. ‘When the people of this city hear that the Bourbon Kid has actually been protecting them all along, they’ll be right behind me.’
Clay shook his head. ‘It’s not just the people of this city you’ve got to worry about. It’s the vampires. They’ll kill you before you finish broadcasting that news piece.’
Harker pulled open the door of his office. ‘Then I’ll have to hope the Bourbon Kid gets to me first.’
As Harker walked out of the office Clay called after him. ‘In that case, I guess I’ll see you in Hell!’
Thirty-Six
The terrified troop of Sunflower Girls were racing through the snowy streets of Santa Mondega screaming for all they were worth. No wonder. Vampire clowns were picking them off one at a time and dragging them kicking and screaming into darkened side streets. The girls had set out for the day as a group of thirty but now only around fifteen remained. After the horror of seeing Santa Claus burned to death by a fat cop, their day had only got worse. Their troop leader had been one of the first to be picked off as she fought in vain to protect them.
As the remaining girls neared the church hoping to find solace there from the undead, one of the clowns, a particularly vile sort wearing a red and white striped romper suit and a bright red wig launched himself into the air and swooped down onto the back of one of the stragglers. The young girl, aged no more than ten, crumpled to the ground beneath him. Her face was thrust into the snow leaving her incapable of screaming for help.
The clown sat astride her as two of his comrades raced past in pursuit of the remaining Sunflower Girls. Ignoring them, he turned the young girl over to get a good look at her terrified face. He ran a long bony hand down her cheek, fee
ling the warmth of the blood flowing through her.
‘Hello my pretty,’ he crowed. ‘You have lovely skin.’ He pulled a hairband out from her long blonde hair and brushed some stray hairs away from her face. ‘This will only hurt for a minute.’
He opened his mouth wide, revealing a set of huge vampire fangs. The girl closed her eyes and screamed.
SMACK!
Dante arrived in the nick of time. Just as the clown was leaning in to take a bite of the girl’s neck, he ploughed into the side of him with the speed and power of an express train. He and the clown rolled through the snow. Dante had the element of surprise on his side so he was able to gain the upper hand. Behind him he saw Kacy grab the small blonde girl and pick her up from the ground. Then from out of nowhere Vanity appeared. He raced past Dante in pursuit of the other clowns that were chasing the girl scouts up to the front doors of the church.
Dante wriggled on top of the clown he had knocked down. His enemy’s red wig slipped off, revealing a short crop of brown hair beneath it. Unfortunately Dante hadn’t thought too far ahead with his plan to come to the rescue of the Sunflower Girls. He had acted on a rush of blood as usual. He knew he’d done the right thing; he just wasn’t entirely sure what to do next. The clown had been taken by surprise and had a look of fear in his eyes, so Dante raised his right fist above his head and then ploughed it down into the clown’s face. A loud crack followed and Dante winced at the sharp pain in his knuckles from the punch.
He heard Kacy’s voice call out something from up ahead. He looked up and saw her shepherding the girls in through the front doors of the church. Behind her, Vanity had successfully knocked two other clowns to the floor and was doing his best to keep them both down.
The clown who was lying flat on his back underneath Dante spoke out in an anguished voice. ‘Ow,’ he groaned. ‘You broke my nose.’
Dante looked back down at his prisoner and saw that the red plastic nose he had been wearing had snapped in half, revealing a large warty nose beneath it. There was only one thing to do in the circumstances and that was to punch the clown in the face again and break his real nose. But as he was about to throw a second punch, the clown pulled his right hand out from by his side. He was holding a gun. He pointed it at Dante’s face.