The Book of Death (Bourbon Kid 4)

was none other than Jessica the Vampire
Queen. The very same woman he had fired a shitload of bullets into at the
Tapioca during the eclipse the previous year. The Bourbon Kid had been gunning
her down at the time, so Dante had joined in and then they had left her for
dead. It wouldn’t do to be spotted by her either.
    Up ahead, Gaius raised his arms to
grab everyone’s attention. ‘Thank you all for coming,’ he said. ‘I have big
news for you today. After all that happened yesterday, when we lost a number of
our brothers and sisters to that scumbag the Bourbon Kid, we now have reason to
be cheerful. And very excited.’
    A wave of muttered conversations
swept around the hall briefly before Gaius continued.
    ‘At just after midnight last night
we captured and beheaded the Bourbon Kid. He is no more!’
    A huge cheer went up from the
crowd and Gaius gestured quickly for them to quieten down again.
    ‘With him now out of the way, it
is time for us to make our move. Soon we will be able to reveal ourselves to
the world. I have set in motion a plan which will enable each and every one of
you to hunt by day. No more sneaking around in back alleys and clubs at night.
We will soon take over the city of Santa Mondega. This is our time! ’ The
crowd cheered even more boisterously than before. After hushing them, Gaius
continued. ‘The local police force is now crippled, and with the Kid out of the
picture I want everyone here to be ready to carry out my instructions to take
over the city. You may have noticed that it is snowing outside and that there
is a large formation of dark clouds settling over the city. This, my friends,
will become permanent very soon.’
    A woman’s voice shouted out from
the crowd below. ‘How so?’
    Gaius removed his sunglasses and a
huge gasp went up from the crowd, including Dante and Kacy. In his right eye
socket was a glowing blue stone: The Eye of the Moon.
    ‘Yes. That’s right,’ said Gaius.
‘I have the Eye of the Moon once again. It is secured back in its rightful
place.’ He tapped the eye gently and smiled at his watching audience. ‘With the
powers of the Eye I have brought together all of those clouds. At the current
time I estimate that ninety percent of the sunlight over Santa Mondega is being
blocked out. By the end of the day tomorrow I expect that to be one hundred
percent. And it will stay that way. We don’t need an eclipse to block out the
sun, my friends. I can do that for you using the power of my Eye. Once the
clouds have intensified sufficiently to block out the sun entirely, we shall
come out from the shadows and take over the city. The snow will incapacitate
our enemies and once we have complete control of Santa Mondega, we will look to
expand our empire and increase our numbers. The humans will be harvested and
grown for your consumption. Now I know most of you don’t need reminding
of this, but do not feed upon the children of this city. We will need them in
the future. They will live simply to create more of their kind for our future
survival.’ There were more mutterings from the crowd below, mostly voicing
their approval. Gaius waved them down and continued. ‘Now, I ask one thing of
you. Go out into the streets and hills of Santa Mondega and round up all of
your vampire brothers and sisters. I want the werewolves informed too. They
will make useful allies in the early days as we seek to conquer. Get the word
out to everyone. Tell them to congregate here tomorrow night. This will be the
staging point of our war on humanity. Tomorrow night will be the beginning of a
new dawn where the undead will rule the world!’
    He shook his fist in the air as he
finished his speech. A huge roar went up from the watching crowd. Vampires
high-fived each other and slapped one another on the back. There were fanged
smiles all round in fact. Except for Dante and Kacy.
    Kacy tugged at Dante’s arm,
dragging him back away from the crowd and out of earshot. ‘He’s got the Eye of
the Moon in his head,’ she said, her voice largely drowned out by the cheering
mob around her.
    ‘I know,’ said Dante. ‘I thought
things were really bad before but this is worse than I thought.’
    ‘How much worse?’
    ‘It’s very bad.’
    Kacy frowned. ‘ Very bad is
worse than really bad?’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘Are you sure?’
    ‘ Really sure.’
    ‘Well, let me know when you’re very sure.’
    Dante peered over his sunglasses
at her and raised his eyebrows. ‘I’ll