The Book of Death (Bourbon Kid 4)

floor.
    BANG !
    The guy’s head exploded as a
bullet flew through his forehead. Blood and brains splattered out onto the
marble floor behind him. It created an almighty mess. “ That’ll stain if it
doesn’t get cleaned up soon,” Sanchez thought, remembering a similar
incident that had taken place in the Tapioca once.
    The Kid turned his attentions
back to Jessica and tried once more to line up a clean shot at her. He had no
success. Jessica was just too damned quick. But all the while he had Jessica
distracted it allowed Flake to edge ever closer to her, brandishing The Book
With No Name. As Flake tiptoed almost to within touching distance, the Kid
lowered his gun and addressed Jessica once more.
    ‘You’ve got no intention of
letting her go, have you?’ he said.
    Jessica smiled. ‘I want you to
watch this,’ she said. ‘I’m going to make your darling Beth into a vampire.
She’s going to be my new bitch. And you can be her first victim, unless you
choose to kill her of course. You know, like you did with your mother?’
    ‘And like I did with Archie
Somers. Shoulda heard him scream. What a bitch.’
    Jessica tightened her grip on
Beth’s neck. The claws on the end of her fingers were on the verge of drawing
blood. ‘I’m going to enjoy this,’ she hissed.
    The Kid seemed unfazed. ‘I knew
it would come to this. Quit stalling and do it now. What are you waiting
for?’
    Flake stopped creeping towards
Jessica and literally charged at her.
    Sanchez watched on in horror as
Jessica, the woman he had been infatuated with for the best part of six years,
opened her mouth wide, revealing a set of huge vampire fangs, thirsty for blood.
She plunged them deep into Beth’s neck, right at the moment Flake ploughed The
Book With No Name into her back.
    Jessica and Beth both screamed
out in pain at the same time. It was hard to tell how far Jessica had managed
to dig her fangs into Beth’s neck, but as soon as Flake hit her with the book,
the Vampire Queen reeled back. Flames erupted all around her back where Flake
was pressing the book up against her. These were big fucking flames too.
Sanchez could feel the burning heat from them back where he was. In a
matter of seconds Jessica had erupted into one giant fireball. Flake too was
caught up in it.
    Sanchez felt his blood run cold
when he heard Flake join in the screaming. He rushed forward and grabbed her,
wrapping his hands around her waist. He tugged hard at her and succeeded in
pulling her free from the flames and the book, which had glued itself to
Jessica’s back. Pulling Flake free hadn’t been easy and the recoil caused
Sanchez to fall back, dragging her onto the floor on top of him.
    The Bourbon Kid dragged Beth
clear of the flames, although unlike Sanchez he didn’t lose his footing. He
laid Beth down on the marble floor and then once again took aim with his gun.
This time he had a clean shot. Jessica had nothing to shield herself with. He
fired off a succession of shots. They rang out so quick that Sanchez couldn’t
be sure exactly how many times he fired. But every shot seemed to plough right
into Jessica’s chest as she writhed around in agony within the ball of flames.
The final bullet flew into her face. Her screaming stopped and her body seemed
to implode. The flesh all but disappeared from her body in one quick flash of
light. The Kid stepped back away from the flames and Sanchez watched in awe as
what remained of Jessica slowly crumpled to the floor, her bones crumbling away
into ash as she fell.
    And then she was gone. Forever , this time .
    The flames where she had once
stood flickered lightly on the floor before extinguishing themselves completely,
leaving nothing more than a pile of grey ash. Behind the dissipating smoke
Sanchez could see the Bourbon Kid. He was crouching over Beth who was slumped
in a heap on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. Blood was dribbling from a
large bite-mark in her neck.
    Flake freed herself from
Sanchez’s vice like grip and stood up, racing over to the Kid’s side. Sanchez
slowly climbed to his feet.
    ‘How’s Beth?’ Flake asked. ‘Was
I too late?’
    Sanchez couldn’t get a good look
at Beth to see what kind of state she was in. The Kid summed it up for him.
    ‘She’s either about to die, or
turn into a vampire,’ he said.
    ‘Oh God,’ said Flake. ‘Is there
anything we can do?’
    The Kid leaned down and picked
Beth up in his arms. He had one arm under her knees and another beneath