The Tome of Bill (Book 8): The Last Coven

by Rick Gualtieri

  Defilers beware!

  Rick Gualtieri is the author of:

  Bill the Vampire (The Tome of Bill - 1)

  Scary Dead Things (The Tome of Bill - 2)

  The Mourning Woods (The Tome of Bill - 3)

  Holier Than Thou (The Tome of Bill - 4)

  Sunset Strip: A Tome Of Bill Series Companion

  Goddamned Freaky Monsters (The Tome of Bill - 5)

  Half A Prayer (The Tome of Bill - 6)

  The Wicked Dead (The Tome of Bill - 7)

  Shining Fury: A Tome Of Bill Series Companion

  The Last Coven (The Tome of Bill - 7)

  The Tome of Bill Series: Volume One

  Bigfoot Hunters

  The Poptart Manifesto

  To contact Rick (with either undying praise or rude comments) please visit:

  Rick’s Website:

  www.rickgualtieri.com

  Facebook Page:

  www.facebook.com/RickGualtieriAuthor

  Twitter:

  www.twitter.com/RickGualtieri

  SNEAK PREVIEW

  Tamara “Bent” Bentley has a unique problem. Her mother is a witch and her father a werewolf. Even she isn’t sure what that makes her. She’s only certain of one thing: there are those who believe she shouldn’t exist and will stop at nothing to...

  GET BENT!

  “C’mon, Bent! We’ve got to get moving!”

  Moving? Was she crazy? I was lucky to still be breathing. It had been years since I’d missed taking my meds. So stupid of me. Got caught up in the fun earlier, wasn’t thinking.

  Now, with that thing after us I ... I...

  I puked my guts out all over the forest floor as yet another cramp wracked my midsection. The pain caused me to curl up into a fetal position while the stench from my sick left me dry heaving. Lucky me. Two for the price of one.

  Even in my misery, though, I heard the sound of branches snapping underfoot. Whatever was after us wasn’t even trying to be stealthy anymore. It no doubt sensed my weakness, knew I was easy prey.

  “Oh shit! It’s getting closer.” Panic colored the edge of Riva’s voice. She was trying to keep it together, probably for both our sakes, but not doing a great job.

  “Run,” I panted, the words barely audible as pain continued to eat away at my guts.

  “I need to get you to a hospital.”

  “No ... hospital ... if we’re both ... dead ... morgue.” Yep, that’s me. A ray of sunshine in the middle of a rain storm.

  I needed to convince Riva she had to leave me, find help. I was done for. Even if we weren’t being chased by a goddamned bear, it had been too long. I’d been taking my medication religiously ever since that episode in Target when I was barely out of training pants. I’d been late with my dosage before and paid the price, but it had never been this bad.

  My body began to convulse and I cried out in agony. It was a challenge to not bite my own tongue in half as I told my oldest friend, “Go ... please.”

  Even if it was too late for me, she could still make it – get to the police. They could find my remains, hunt down the animal stalking us. At least that way my family could have some closure.

  With any luck, they’d throw me a beautiful funeral. Yeah, with tulips. I always liked...

  There came a snarl, terrifyingly close from the sound of it. That was no bear. Not a dog either, unless it was the size of a moose. What the hell? I cracked my eyes open and tried to force them to focus.

  Still unable to do much more than grip my stomach as my innards churned, I saw Riva. Her eyes were wide as saucers and she was staring at something past where I lay. When she spoke, her voice was barely a whisper. “You need to get up, now.”

  What a joke. The only way I was moving was if that thing dragged me back to its lair. Right then, that actually didn’t seem so horrible of a thought. The pain lancing through every inch of my body was enough to make me relish death’s embrace – especially if it would save my friend.

  I was easy prey. No challenge. Surely it would choose me over a foe who could fight ... in theory anyway. Riva was a great friend, but I’d once watched a squirrel chase her out of her own backyard.

  “Please!” I begged her, using every ounce of willpower to speak.

  She backed up a step, then another, her eyes never wavering.

  There came a crackle of leaves and the soft thud of a heavy foot setting down. Whatever it was, it was standing right behind me.

  “What the hell?” For one odd moment, Riva’s voice sounded disturbingly calm, then she let loose with an ear-splitting scream that I was certain would make my ears bleed.

  She was answered by an animalistic roar like nothing I’d ever heard before and then something stepped over me toward her.

  The fuck?

  Coarse black fur, claws three inches long, legs seemingly made of pure muscle, and ... bipedal?

  Surely I must’ve been hallucinating. Hadn’t my family doctor said something about that? Yeah. He’d been talking about worst case scenarios for my illness. This was one of the last stages before my body began to shut down. After that, I’d slip into an irreversible coma. Death would follow shortly after.

  Funny. If I had to hallucinate, I would’ve thought it would be of something a bit more friendly. Certainly my mind could have imagined better – that hot guy who worked down at the Chevron station maybe. Instead, it was serving me up something straight from Chiller Theater, a nightmare to follow me down into the darkness as my organs seized up and I went into cardiac arrest.

  Riva continued to back up and the creature followed, allowing me a better look at it. It moved with a disturbing sort of grace, a surety of step. It was almost as if it knew it were an apex predator and that it was stalking prey that would offer little in the way of resistance.

  I couldn’t see its front from my angle, curled in a fetal ball as I was, but it towered over my friend, almost seven feet tall. It’s shoulders were broad, and I could clearly see the ridges of its spine, almost as if they were trying to tear their way out of the creature’s skin.

  Atop a short thick neck rested a massive head. Two ears poked out at the top, over its fur. It wasn’t hard to imagine the rest – the cold eyes of a predator, a snout filled with rows of sharp teeth.

  No way.

  This was what my brain conjured up in the last few moments before oxygen deprivation set in – a freaking werewolf? So lame, and not even in a Team Jacob sort of way.

  The creature lunged at Riva. She squealed in terror and dove out of the way. It missed and gouged the tree she’d been standing in front of, scoring it deeply with its claws. It attacked again, a lumbering strike which Riva just barely managed to avoid.

  Or had she?

  I knew a feint when I saw one. Its attack had been sloppy, belying the grace with which the monster carried itself. It was almost as if it were trying to miss. That spoke of intelligence. It was trying to scare her first, drive her into a frenzy before it tore her to shreds.

  Riva backed up, tripped, and then scooted away on her butt until her back was against a tree. She looked my way and in her eyes I saw hopelessness. “Please run, Tamara,” she whispered in hitched breaths.

  In the final moments of her life she was thinking of me.

  Tears blurred my vision and with them came resolve.

  No! I couldn’t let that happen. Not like this.

  It was too late for me – there was no chance of getting to a hospital in time even if this thing didn’t stand between us and escape. But not for her. She still had a chance and by God I was going to give it to her.

  I bit down on my tongue, forcing my head to clear for a moment. Summoning everything I had, I pushed myself up with my arms. The movement almost caused me to empty my guts again, but I clenched my teeth until the feeling passed.

  It was approaching her again, slowly, seeming to savor her terror. The scent of urine caught in my nose and I realized Riva’s bladder had loosed itself. All things considered, I couldn’t bla
me her.

  Grabbing hold of the sapling nearest me, I pulled myself up, forced my legs beneath me and willed them to hold. They didn’t have to do their job for long, just enough for Riva to get away.

  I took a shaky step away from the tree then another, my legs supporting my weight. The creature either didn’t notice or didn’t consider me a threat because it continued to face my friend despite my lack of anything remotely resembling stealth.

  I should have been terrified, but all I could feel inside of me was a cold anger welling up.

  “What are you doing?!” Riva screamed, seeing me approach. “Run!”

  In response, the beast let out a grumbling sound that could have almost passed as laughter.

  Yeah, well fuck that.

  “Get out of here,” I said to her, my voice barely a whisper as I sized up the creature. What I was thinking was absolute madness, the craziest form of suicide. Still, it probably beat lying there waiting to die. At least this way my family would get a good story to share.

  My family.

  I mentally said farewell to my mother, father, and even Chris as I tensed my body, gathering all the strength I had left. They deserved more, but I didn’t have the time. So, rather than get hung up on long goodbyes that would go unheard, I flung myself at the impossible monster standing before me.

  Dizzy as I was, my aim held true. I leapt upon it’s back, wrapping my legs around its mid-section and grabbing it’s massive right arm in a half-nelson.

  Hah! Second place in states, my ass. I’d like to see the guy who’d taken gold try this shit.

  The werewolf snarled in anger and began to spin around, no doubt hoping to shake me off.

  The movement caught me by surprise and I subsequently puked all over its fur. However, I managed to maintain my grip.

  “Get out of here!” I screamed once my throat cleared.

  It was an impossible fight. I was certain the creature would throw me off with ease, that my last memory in this world would involve my skull splattering against a tree trunk, but somehow I held on.

  “Bent!” Riva cried, but I was a bit too busy to acknowledge her.

  Any second now this thing was going to peel me off like a tick and then gut me here on the forest floor. Why the hell wasn’t she running?!

  No matter. I wasn’t going to make it easy for this thing. I grabbed it’s free arm with mine and wrenched back with everything I had, a feeble move, but one that would probably guarantee this beast would be pissed off enough to vent it’s anger on me, allowing my friend a fighting chance.

  The werewolf abruptly stopped spinning and launched itself backwards. Unable to shake me, it was going to crush me instead. This was it.

  I screamed out in defiance, determined to make this thing’s victory a costly one.

  The crack of a bone breaking rent the air and suddenly the wolf staggered then dropped to one knee, letting out a doglike whine that was unmistakable in meaning – pain.

  It was only then that I realized the limb I’d locked in an armbar now swung freely. I’d somehow shattered it’s arm at the elbow.

  “No fucking way,” I whispered to myself.

  If this was indeed the last hallucination of a dying mind, it was finally getting good.

  GET BENT!

  The Hybrid of High Moon – Book 1

  COMING SOON!

  Table of Contents

  PART 1

  GIVING TO THOSE IN NEED

  DICKHEADS ANONYMOUS

  BACK TO THE BIG APPLE

  HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN

  DID SOMEONE LEAVE THE OVEN ON?

  DOWN TIME IN THE DUMPS

  A SUNNY DISPOSITION

  IMPISH INTERROGATION

  RISE OF THE DAY SPAWN

  PINT-SIZED PROBLEMS

  YOU ONLY HURT THE ONES...

  TWAT WAFFLES

  TWO MULES FOR SISTER SHEILA

  OF FISTS AND FEET

  WAR AND PIECE

  DON’T USE ALL THE HOT WATER

  MAXIMUM ADVENTURE

  THE NOSE KNOWS

  WHO WATCHES THE WATCHERS?

  NORTHERN EXPOSURE

  GENEVA CONVENTION 2.0

  C IS FOR COOKIE

  THE NEGOTIATING TABLE

  A PIECE OF PEACE TAKE TWO

  THE BROWN WEDDING

  SHOTGUN HONEYMOON

  HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO CANADA

  BLADE OF CHAOS

  A WALK IN THE WOODS

  PART 2

  EJECTING THE WARP CORE

  TAKE YOUR MEDICINE

  THE HIDDEN MENACE

  SHIFTING OUT OF NEUTRAL

  MEET THE NEW CULT, SAME AS THE OLD CULT

  WIZARD SORTING

  BAKED BEANS AND BROWNSTONES

  PARANOIA WILL DESTROY YA

  THINNING THE HERD

  ASSASSINS IN ARMANI

  DWARF TOSSING

  A COMPELLING ARGUMENT

  POLITICAL ASYLUM

  HAIRY PALM AND HIS FIVE SISTERS

  DEFECTIVE DEFECTION

  WOOD VERSUS WOOD

  DRACHAWK DOWN

  EYEBALLING THE COMPETITION

  STOMPING ON THE FEET

  OPEN MOUTH INSERT FOOT

  THE GATHERING STORM

  WATCHING THE WORLD BURN

  COUNTERINTUITIVE ATTACK

  PART 3

  ALTARED STATE

  HOLY MOLARS

  BUSTING THOSE BUNKERS

  RABBIT UP MY SLEEVE

  GIVE ME LIBERTY...

  SHUT YOUR HOLE

  BELOW

  MEETING UP WITH OLD FRIENDS

  IN THROUGH THE BACKDOOR

  THE BELLY OF THE BEAST

  WELL, THAT WAS EASY

  THE NEW BREED

  SEEING THE SIGHTS

  FIRST IN LINE

  DECKER THE HALLS

  ORIGIN OF A SPECIES

  MONOLOGUING FOR FUN AND PROFIT

  THE HOUSE OF PAIN

  MAGIC CIRCLE OF LIFE

  CROTCH FRUIT

  THE VIP ROOM

  THE MORE THE MERRIER

  SCARY MONSTER ALL-OUT ATTACK

  BRINGING A WAND TO A FISTFIGHT

  ICONIC DEFEAT

  THE BIG BOYS WITH THE BIG TOYS

  PLAYING TO A PACKED HOUSE

  PIT STOP

  TOTAL FUCKING CHAOS

  FIRST TO DIE

  HEAD GAMES

  SHOWDOWN AT THE EARTH’S CORE

  DUELING BEAT DOWNS

  PROPS TO THE PROPHECY

  THE MAIN EVENT

  THIS IS HOW THE WORLD ENDS

  DUST IN THE WIND

  THE HATE MAIL INDUCING EPILOGUE

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  SNEAK PREVIEW