The Cowboy and the Vampire: A Very Unusual Romance (The Cowboy and the Vampire Collection Book 1)

by Clark Hays

  “I guess you don’t understand love,” Lizzie said.

  He spun, snarling. “Love is just a word. It isn’t real. Death is real. Power is real.”

  Tucker cocked the pistol and Dad helped steady his aim. “Hate to disappoint you, but my boy ain’t growing up without a dad.”

  “How do you know it’s a boy?” Lizzie asked.

  “I just know it is.”

  “I think it’s a girl,” she said.

  “A girl would be fine,” Tucker said.

  “I hope she don’t look nothing like you,” Dad said.

  Julius snarled. “Shut up, all of you. None of you will live past the sunrise.”

  “I hear congratulations are in order,” Lenny said as he hoisted himself into the room. He was tattered and bloody, and most of his hair was scorched away, and he cradled a shiny assault rifle in his arms. “Never thought I’d see the day, Tucker.”

  “Me neither,” Tucker assented.

  Julius backed a step away, the odds in his favor suddenly decreasing. “Your guns cannot kill me.”

  “Naw, but they can slow you down a bit.”

  “And then I could kill you,” Elita said, dropping down to the sand behind him.

  “Elita,” Lizzie said incredulously, “how?”

  She sniffed disdainfully. “Men are pretty much the same, no matter how long they have lived. All blinded by their desires. Not much of a challenge really.” She pulled a cigarette from the tatters of her clothes and scratched a match to life.

  “You ain’t really going to smoke that around Lizzie, are you?” Tucker said. “She’s pregnant, you know.”

  “Sorry, bad habit.”

  “You’d better get over it if you plan on being my boy’s godmother.”

  She smiled in spite of herself and stubbed it out. “Girl,” she said under her breath.

  Julius sneered, his rage barely contained. “None of you shall live. The only question is who I do start with?”

  “Start with me,” Lizzie said. Her eyes burned with a terrible certainty.

  “Gladly,” he said.

  As he took a step forward, she found the light and reached inside his mind. Confused, he stepped away. The force of her will battered into his thoughts and his power, his vitality, siphoned away. He staggered. “No, impossible.” Her thoughts surrounded him, hammered at his soul.

  “I could turn you off like a light switch,” she said. “Love is not a word. Love is growing inside me, and you couldn’t stop it now if you tried.”

  Julius spun away and pushed past Tucker. “I’ve never been a gracious loser,” he said. “I will be back. Your offspring will be mine, as will the uncreation. You cannot hide. And I dare say, many of you will not be alive to witness it.” He sprang through the open roof and was gone, his sinister laughter echoing behind him.

  “Reckon we should have tried stopping him,” Dad said directly.

  “I was out of ammo,” Lenny said, sitting down. “And I can’t see clearly just yet. Got a little too close to the explosions.”

  Elita slid down the wall and hugged her knees. “Truth be known, there’s not much fight left in me. If not for Lizzie, he would have killed us all.”

  “Probably,” Tucker said. “I’m just glad he’s gone.” He looked around at the tiny hint of pink on the distant horizon. “Y’all better find some shade, it’s going to be morning soon.” Tucker took Lizzie by the hand and gave it a squeeze. “A father,” he said, shaking his head slowly. “Funny how things work out sometimes.”

  She smiled. “Sure is.”

  “I don’t want to raise my boy in New York City.”

  “It’s our girl, and I agree.” She stared out at the slowly brightening edge of dawn.

  “Ain’t no room at my place for all of you,” Dad said.

  “And what’s poor Rex gonna think?” Tucker asked. Lizzie and Tucker looked quietly at each other and then he let go of her hand.

  “You ain’t quite finished, are you?”

  “How much time before the sun comes up?”

  He looked at Lenny’s wristwatch. “Under an hour.”

  “He threatened our child,” she said.

  “I know.”

  “I think I’m ready for my first kill.”

  “But, honey, you ain’t got time,” Tucker said.

  “It won’t take long,” Lizzie said. “I can sense him. I can sense everything.” She looked at Elita, who was closely following their conversation, with a silent question.

  “I won’t mourn for him,” Elita said.

  Before the words had time to settle in the air, Lizzie was gone. Moments later, a cry reverberated through the canyon, echoed, then slowly was lost to the wind that always seems to accompany first light.

  Epilogue

  “Being a father, that’s hard work,” Dad said, adjusting the bandana serving as an impromptu sling around his broken wrist. He and Tucker were walking through the remains of the compound, Rex and Alexandra close behind, as the sun struggled up over the horizon.

  “You did a pretty good job of it.”

  “That’s only because your mother made sure of it,” Dad said.

  “How do you think I’ll do?” Tucker asked.

  “I always figured you’d be real good at it. Plus, you got a good woman to help you along.”

  The ground was covered with spent cartridges and a layer of ash that swirled around their feet as they walked. The ash was all that remained of those who died the night before. The occasional limb sheltered by the shade they kicked out into the pale sunlight where it quickly dissolved. In the center of the courtyard, the crucifix that felled Lazarus lay gleaming. Tucker picked it up and shined it on the bandages around his shoulder. The motion, since it pained him, was slow and deliberate.

  “Ain’t much left of Lazarus and his dreams,” he said.

  “That’s not exactly true. There’s you and Lizzie. And your kid. That’s enough.”

  “Hard to believe something good can come from all this,” Tucker said.

  “At least you got the girl,” Dad said.

  They sat down on the steps. “Wouldn’t have if not for you.”

  “Glad I could help. It’s a good thing Lenny showed up.” Dad scuffed his heel in the sand. “Where is Lenny?”

  “Calling June, I imagine,” Tucker said.

  “Because he has a cell phone I imagine,” Dad said.

  “An untraceable one, practically disposable,” Tucker said. “But I swear I will get a cell phone. Makes pretty good sense now that Lizzie will be around.”

  “Where’s Sully?” Dad said.

  “In his coffin, sleeping like a baby now Julius is gone.”

  “He’s for sure gone?”

  Tucker nodded, remembering Lizzie’s half-crazed look when she returned, her mother’s pendant clutched in her hand and blood smeared down her chin.

  They were silent for a while, listening to the wind.

  “Love sure is a funny business,” Tucker said at last. “Reckon I’m gonna head back in, check on Lizzie.” He stood up. “Coming?”

  “Directly,” Dad said. “The sun feels nice.”

  “Well, come on, Rex.” Rex watched curiously as Tucker stood and started off. He made it halfway across the courtyard, ash drifting around his boots and already disappearing into the desert.

  Abruptly, Tucker turned and rejoined Dad on the steps. Rex pushed his head into Tucker’s lap and he petted him, smoothing his fur down.

  “Maybe I will sit a spell,” Tucker said. “I always did like the sunrise.”

  The End

  If you enjoyed The Cowboy and the Vampire: A Very Unusual Romance, please take a few minutes to review it on Amazon or Goodreads. Or both. Or anywhere you like.

  And check out The Cowboy and the Vampire: Blood and Whiskey and The Cowboy and the Vampire: Rough Trails and Shallow Graves for more of the continuing adventures of Tucker, Lizzie, Rex and the rest of the gang.

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