The Book of Death (Bourbon Kid 4)

girls feel a lot better about their predicament. Some of
them even looked like they believed her. Ever since the Kid had finished
shooting up anything moving in the streets outside, things had gone pretty
quiet.
    Dante helped out by explaining
to the girls that no harm could come to them while the Bourbon Kid was alive.
He even regaled them with a tale about how he’d seen the Kid stick a shotgun up
a vampire’s ass once in an elevator. The girls laughed, probably because they
thought he was kidding.
    Vanity seemed more on edge than
anyone. He was spending a lot of time on his phone, regularly texting or
chatting in a far away corner of the church where no one could hear him. After
one particularly long call he came back to where Dante and Kacy were. He looked
worried.
    ‘Whassup, man?’ Dante asked.
    ‘I just spoke to Moose. She says
Gaius left the Casa de Ville half an hour ago. He’s probably at the museum
already. We’re gonna have to go now if we want to catch him with his eye out.
We’ll have to leave the girls here.’
    Kacy balked at the suggestion.
‘We can’t do that. They’ll be all on their own. It’s not safe.’
    Vanity turned to Dante. ‘We
gotta do something. If you two are really serious about ever becoming human
again then we have to go now.’
    Dante puffed out his cheeks.
‘He’s right,’ he said, rubbing Kacy’s back. ‘What do you wanna do, babe?’
    Kacy looked at the troubled
faces of the Sunflower Girls. It had taken almost an hour to calm them down. If
she now announced that she was leaving them they would be in tears again pretty
quickly.
    ‘I’m staying here,’ she said.
‘Why don’t you two go. If you can get the Eye from Gaius you can bring it back
here, can’t you?’
    ‘That’s not such a bad idea,’ said
Dante. ‘You’ll be safe here. If things with Gaius get ugly I wouldn’t want you
there anyway. Me and Vanity can go on our own. Right, Vanity?’
    Vanity didn’t look convinced. ‘I
think the three of us should go together. We’ll be stronger.’
    ‘I can’t leave the girls,’ said
Kacy.
    Vanity shrugged. ‘Why don’t you
bring them along with us?’
    ‘That’s a shitty idea,’ said
Dante immediately. ‘They’re Sunflower Girls, not Ewoks!’
    ‘Fine,’ said Vanity. ‘Just us
two should go then. But we’ve gotta go now.’
    Kacy sensed that Dante just
needed some reassurance that she would be okay without him. She slipped her arm
around his waist and leaned her head against his shoulder.
    ‘Go do what you gotta do with
Vanity,’ she said. ‘You don’t need me. I’ll text the Bourbon Kid and let him
know what you’re doing. Hopefully he’ll get there and be able to help you out.’
    Dante kissed her then ran his
hand through her long dark hair. ‘This’ll be a piece of cake,’ he said. ‘We’ll
be in and out of the museum and back here before you know it.’
    ‘You’d better be.’
    Vanity interrupted their tender
moment. ‘Let’s get moving,’ he said, nodding toward the front doors.
    Dante kissed Kacy on the
forehead and pulled himself away. ‘See you soon, babe,’ he said.
    Vanity started jogging down the
aisle towards the front doors with Dante following on just behind. Kacy watched
them go and wondered for one awful moment if she would see them again. She’d
acted calm so that Dante wouldn’t worry, but deep down she was terrified of
what might happen to him when he confronted Gaius. She was also having
suspicions about how trustworthy Vanity was. Why was he being so secretive with
his phone? Had he really been talking to his friend Moose? And if so, why did
he have to do it out of earshot?
    As Dante was following Vanity
through the door and out into the street, she called after him. ‘I love you.’
    Dante stopped and looked back.
‘I love you too, babe.’
    As he pulled the door shut
behind him, Kacy made one last plea that he probably didn’t hear. ‘Try not to
get yourself killed this time!’

 
    Forty-Six

 
    Bull’s palms were sweating. He’d
been in far more dangerous predicaments than this and remained completely calm.
But this was different. He was standing in a giant hall in the Casa de Ville
waiting for the conclusion to a plan he’d waited over half his life to
complete: the opportunity to avenge his father’s death. On a couple of previous
occasions he’d come close. Two days ago he’d even sawn off a man’s head only to
find he and his men had been outwitted and had killed the wrong