Blood and Bullets

by James R. Tuck

  Normally, Were-spiders formed clusters according to subspecies and didn’t intermingle, but with the trauma of their shared experience, it seemed we would have the world’s first commingled group.

  “It’s going well. They are all finding places. There is a lot of pain and anger left still, but I have found therapists who are aware of exactly what they are dealing with to help.” She smiled. “I almost have my house back to myself.”

  “Good.” I turned my attention back to the Immortal. “So if you are flying, what are you doing with the Spear?”

  He smiled widely. “Long ago I discovered one of the benefits of being a legendary holy relic is that it doesn’t register with any technological device. As long as I keep it covered under my coat, I can pass through metal detectors and X-ray machines.” That explained the long coat.

  His face grew serious. Leaning in, he dropped his voice so that only the three of us could hear it. “Deacon, do you remember the first time we spoke?” I nodded that I did. “When you told me your name I said something in another language.” Another nod. “It was Hebrew and what I said was Dam Mala-chaim.”

  I waited for it. I didn’t know what he was about to say, but I knew something was coming.

  “It means ‘Blood of Angels.’ That is the name I have heard for you before.” His eyes burned fiercely as he leaned closer. “Be careful. There are people and things of this world talking about you. The same people who talk about me and seek my immortality and the Spear’s power.”

  Understanding made my chest tight. The kind of power and magick you could manage if you fueled it with an Immortal who had been cursed by God would be incredible. And after Appollonia I was well aware of what the Spear of Destiny in the wrong hands could accomplish. Even from my short time holding it, I had been affected. If those same people were talking about me, then I would have to watch my back. Nodding to Longinus again, I put my hand on his shoulder. “Thanks for the warning. If you need anything, give us a ring.”

  “You do the same, and if I hear anything else about you, I will call.” We stood for a moment, the tension building between us from the weight of what he had said. It was broken by Charlotte reaching out to hug me. Her arms circled around my chest and mine went around her shoulders.

  We broke apart and she took Longinus’s offered arm. With a final wave and a nod they walked away, heading down the hallway to the elevators.

  I stood, thinking about what the Immortal had said. All I needed was a mysterious set of enemies I knew nothing about. Ah well, to hell with it. I would burn that bridge when I came to it. The soft click of the hospital room door made me turn.

  Tiff had just stepped out into the hallway. She gave me a smile and walked over to me. Reaching out, her hand slid down my jacket sleeve until it reached my own. I took note that she had reached for my left hand, leaving my right free to get to my gun.

  “I am glad I caught you.”

  My eyebrow went up and a smile crept across my face. “Oh really? Why is that?”

  “I know it will be a little while until Father Mulcahy is ready to leave the hospital, and Kat seems to want to stay with Larson, so I wanted to offer you my help. I have club experience, so if you wanted, I could help you with Polecats until they get back.”

  I looked at her. Her hand was still touching mine, her skin warm and soft. Those big blue eyes stared up at me, wanting to know where the two of us stood after everything that had happened. I wasn’t sure myself, but I wanted to find out. Smiling, I took a cue from the priest and raised her hand up. Pressing my lips softly to the skin, I kissed it. “I would really like that. Thank you.”

  Her smile exploded across her face. Quickly she rose up and kissed me on my cheek, lips warm and soft on my skin. Her arm slid into mine and we began to walk to the elevators.

  I would be glad for her help. There, I admitted it. Yes, we had stopped Appollonia and saved humanity, and that had seemed to quiet things down for the last few days. But monsters are like buses. Wait long enough and there would be another asshole coming around the corner, trying to enslave humanity or destroy the world, or whatever evil plot was cool at the time.

  There always was.

  That’s what keeps me in business.

  A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR

  Loyals and True Believers,

  Thank you!

  Truly and deeply, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for buying Blood and Bullets. I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I worked my ass off to give you one helluva thrill ride.

  Now, if you did enjoy this book, I need you to do your part. What’s your part, you ask? It’s simple really.

  Go out and tell someone about this book and this series. Tweet it, post it on your status, blog it, write a review. In short, tell all your book-reading friends about it.

  Spread the word.

  We are in this thing together, me and you. I write the books, I entertain. You read the books, you spread the word. You are my Loyals and True Believers, fans of the Deaconverse and all that is still to come. I love you one and all, and I cannot wait to meet you in real life.

  Until then, check out my Web site for extras, news, and places you can meet me in person, and keep reading!

  www.jamesrtuck.com

  Take care,

  James R. Tuck

  And now for an exciting sneak peek at the next Deacon Chalk Occult Bounty Hunter novel!

  Look for BLOOD AND SILVER

  coming in August 2012!

  1

  Good days don’t last. Not for me they don’t. Not for the last five years. Since the deaths of my family good days are like pet rattlesnakes. I may not know when they will bite, but I damn sure ought to know that they will. Suddenly and sharply. With great venom and without mercy.

  I was having a good day. Scratch that, I was having a great day. My friend Tiff had dragged me downtown to a little carnival that had set up in a parking lot. It took some persuasion on her part. After all, I am a big, badass Occult Bounty Hunter. We had ridden rides and filled our bellies with greasy carnival food, laughing in the sunshine and making fools of ourselves. We were surrounded by normal humans, families enjoying themselves. There were no monsters. No bloodshed.

  So far the only thing that had threatened my life was a rickety Tilt-A-Whirl and some sketchy-looking hot dogs.

  And I’d had a good time. Leaving the carnival, I was happy to simply walk down the street, the warm sun on my back, and a good-looking woman at my side.

  I was at peace with God, nature, and my fellow man.

  And I should have known some asshole was going to come along and screw it up.

  “Are you working tonight?”

  My eyes cut over to the small brunette walking beside me. Well, I say brunette. I mean her hair was dyed black and had bubblegum pink cut through it in streaks. Tiff matched me stride for stride, even though at five feet two inches she was more than a foot shorter than me. The quick pace flipped her short skirt back and forth, flashing a nice length of leg from hem to calf-high boots.

  “Nothing’s on the books, but you know that doesn’t mean anything.” I stepped close to her as we walked. “Don’t you have to work the club tonight?”

  “Nope. I got Kat to cover so that I’m free.” She moved close and her arm slid around my waist. Fingernails painted to match her hair lightly scratched through my t-shirt. A pleasant shiver chased up my spine. Her arm rested above the snubnose .44 revolver she knew was at the small of my back. I had a lightweight button up shirt over it and the big .45 semiautomatic that hung under my arm.

  “Maybe we could do Indian food tonight then.”

  Her free hand rubbed her stomach. “I don’t know how you can think of food right now. I am completely stuffed.”

  “I always think about food when I’m not working.” I was comfortable walking beside Tiff. Spring was in the air. Warm, but not oppressive like the South gets in the middle months of the year.

  Things had been quiet for a b
it, which is why there was time to do things like go to the carnival. Normally I am eyebrow-deep in monsters. Work had been pretty tame since last year when I had gone up against Appollonia, an insane hellbitch of a vampire who had gotten hold of the Spear of Destiny. Of course, that job had nearly killed me, but I was still standing at the end of it. I had survived and managed to kill off a good part of the vampire population in the Southeast. All in all, not a bad day at the office.

  That was also the time I had first met Tiff. The break in action had given me a chance to get to know her better. We had grown pretty close.

  We were not dating. I wasn’t ready for that. She understood. Hell, she had to. She knew about my family. About what had happened to them. How I had lost them five years ago at the hands of a Nephilim serial killer named Slaine. I hunted him down and found that monsters are real. I found that every nightmare you ever had, every story you ever heard that made you lie awake at night and sweat even though you were cold with fear, every damned thing in the dark that made your heart skip a beat ... it’s all real. My thirst for revenge was so great I hunted Slaine anyway, monsters be damned. I chased him even after learning what a Nephilim is.

  Nephilim are the offspring of Angels and humans. While tracking Slaine I came across an Angel. Yes, an honest-to-God Angel of the Lord. Slaine’s people were raping her, trying to impregnate her and make more Nephilim, filming it to sell as Angel porn. I killed those sons of bitches and set her free.

  After that I found out he was the bastard who killed my family. Being just human I was outmatched. He killed me.

  Dead.

  When I died, the Angel showed up to return the rescue. She infused me with her blood, or whatever Angels have that passes for blood. It brought me back, made me more than human.

  I am faster, stronger, and tougher than normal. I heal fast, not like a superhero, but a lot faster than a human, although it all still hurts like a bitch until I do. I can see almost perfectly in the dark, and I can sense supernatural crap. I killed that evil son of a bitch and I have been killing every evil son of a bitch I can find ever since.

  Oh yeah, I’m Deacon Chalk, Occult Bounty Hunter.

  I hunt monsters for a living.

  To this day the deaths of my family sit like stones where my heart was. Sometimes the pain of their memory is crippling. It breaks my bones and grinds my soul. It crushes me. All I want to do is go be where they are. I can’t buy that ticket myself, that’s a mortal sin according to the Pope. Kill yourself and go straight to Hell. Do not pass Go. Do not collect two hundred dollars. So I move on and I keep hunting, waiting for the day I run up on something monster enough to take me out, to send me on my way to be with them. To give me the peace that was ripped away from me with their deaths.

  The loss of my family is why I strap up and hunt. I carry the pain and rage of their loss every day. It’s always there. Always waiting to crawl from the shadows. Always looking to explode and shatter into shards that cut and tear. I miss them every day.

  Every.

  Fucking.

  Day.

  And there hadn’t been anyone since my wife had died.

  Until Tiff.

  She had come along last year in the middle of that shitstorm with Appollonia and the crazy bitch’s plan to enslave humanity. Once that was settled Tiff stayed and made a place in my messed-up life. Somehow, she found a way to make her intentions clear, and yet not put any pressure on the situation at all. She knew about my family and what happened to them. Not the full story, because I still can’t talk about it. It’s too painful. Too sharp. Even without knowing, Tiff still understood. And that was enough for now.

  So understand that I was happy when we walked toward the parking lot to leave. All was good and right in this shitty old world, better than it had been in years.

  Until we turned the corner and came across a man beating a dog.

  The man was large. Dark chocolate skin bulged, thick with muscle. Not quite as big as I am, but a big sonnuvabitch nonetheless. Fat dreads hung around his head like dirty snakes. They shook as his arm rose and fell and rose again. One hand snarled around a heavy chain connected to a wide leather collar around the dog’s neck. The rest of the chain flailed from his other hand, thudding against the dog’s sides and haunches.

  The dog was curled into a ball, trying to be as small as possible, hiding from the chain as much as it could. Pitiful whimpers mewled with each blow. Blood-slicked shaggy fur picked up dirt and debris from the gravel lot they were in, sticking in layers of brown and grey grit. It was so covered in blood and dirt I couldn’t tell what kind of dog it was.

  The man stopped beating the dog, still holding the chain. I could hear his breathing from across the lot, bellowing in and out, short from exertion.

  Tiff drew to a stop beside me as I went still. She took a small step away, giving me room to move. Her arm was still behind me and I could feel her hand on the grip of the .44 at my lower back. She had her own in her bag, but mine was closer to her hand. She was following the training I had been giving her over the last few months.

  Good girl.

  The keys to my car were already in my hand since we were close to the parking lot. I handed them off to her. Tilting my head, I spoke from the side of my mouth without taking my eyes off the scene in front of me. “Get the car. Pull it back here and stay in it. Keep the motor running and be ready to go.”

  I caught her nod from the corner of my eye as she took the keys and moved away. I looked around the lot before I moved. It was at the end of a building on the corner of two streets. The back of the building was a brick wall. Some artist had painted a mural of a girl with a butterfly on her outstretched palm. It was pretty well done. The street side of the lot had a chain link fence clogged with kudzu that was trying to take over, using the fence as a trellis. Kudzu will grow anywhere. It’s like a disease here in the South. Give it a crack in the asphalt to plant itself and it will latch on, getting bigger as each day passed, growing and spreading in little increments like vegetable Ebola. A row of cars lined the fence, leaning on their wheels.

  I looked back. No one was coming down the sidewalk. There were a lot of people at the carnival, but they were all far enough away that they looked tiny and indistinct. The coast was fairly clear as long as this stayed quiet.

  I took a step, walking toward the man. Rolling my shoulders to loosen them, flexing my hands open and closed to warm them up. Adrenaline coursed through my arteries making my heart beat harder. Not faster, the rate stayed the same but each beat thudded inside my ribcage like a bat to a bell. Each beat slammed an echo inside me and anger rose, pushing more blood through my veins.

  People who abuse animals are cowards, especially ones who hurt dogs. Dogs are God’s way of showing He still loves us. They only exist to be devoted to us. So when some jackass has to abuse a dog to make themselves feel better it really, really pisses me off.

  I am not someone you want pissed off at you.

  My whistle cut across the lot, making the guy jerk his head up. Deep amber eyes flashed out under a thick brow. The scowl he gave wrinkled a wide nose and curled his lips into a snarl. His voice rumbled from a deep chest. “Go away redneck. This is none of your concern.”

  “When I go away, I will be taking that animal with me, asshole.” I stopped just a few feet from him, finger pointed toward his face. “Walk away now and save me the trouble of kicking the shit out of you before I do.”

  The man dropped the chain on top of the dog with a run of clinks and a thud. It didn’t move or run away, just lay shaking, as the chain slithered off its huddled form. Turning to face me fully the man flexed his fingers against each other. The knuckles popped loudly. A shudder ran through him. His chest and shoulder muscles compressed under his black t-shirt, tensing for a fight. He raised his face up to look at me.

  The bones underneath his skin shifted.

  It was subtle, but I saw it. The bones thickened and slipped just ever-so-slightly, squaring up his skull and w
idening his mandible. A warm power slid over my skin, rubbing like velvet against the grain. The hairs on my arms stood up. The spring breeze pushed from behind him. The moist smell of cat made my nose wrinkle.

  Damn. A lycanthrope in broad daylight.

  This changed everything.

  My eyes cast around for a weapon to even the odds. Weres are fast as hell and stronger than a motherfucker. I had guns, I always have guns. I even had silver bullets in them, but we were in the middle of downtown on a spring day. There were people around, families just around the corner from where we stood. Hell, we were only three blocks from the local police precinct. Gunshots would bring lawmen a-runnin’. That wouldn’t be good. Cops don’t have silver bullets. Some of them know about the things I fight, but most are in the dark. I try to keep it that way.

  The lot was flat and mostly empty, nothing but gravel under my boots. No weapons I could see. I squared my shoulders and started walking toward him again.

  “What did you just say to me?” His voice was deeper, the edge of a growl rumbling out into the air.

  “I said...” And with that I closed the space between us, looping my right hand from behind and driving it into the side of his head. My fist slammed into his temple where the skull is its thinnest. It drove his head to the side and pushed him down into a crouch. Fingers closing on a handful of dreads, I jerked his face into my knee, smashing his cheek. Pain made him roar. The volume of it shook me, vibrating through my bones. Velvet power exploded from him, rushing along my body, stinging my skin.