The Book of Death (Bourbon Kid 4)

sleet and snow. His
scruffy appearance had made her only too aware of her own suddenly.
    ‘Fine thank you, Brenda. Is it
still raining out?’
    ‘My name’s Beth.’
    ‘Whatever. Is it still raining?’
    ‘I’m afraid it’s worse than
that. It’s snow and hail stones.’
    Rockwell stepped out of the
elevator and staggered past Beth out in to the hall corridor. He reeked of
booze. She watched him steady himself by pressing his hand against the wall as
he made his way to the front door.
    ‘You go easy, Mr Rockwell,’ she
called after him. ‘It’s very slippery out there. Might be best to stay home for
a while.’
    ‘I gotta stock up on whisky,’ he
called back. ‘Been waiting for it to stop raining all mornin’. Can’t wait no
more.’
    ‘It’s not raining, it’s
snowing.’
    ‘Whatever.’
    Beth spotted the elevator doors
closing and quickly stuck her arm through the gap to prevent them from meeting.
The doors reopened and she stepped inside. She pressed the button for the
fourth floor and turned back to watch Rockwell walking slowly towards the front
door. As he reached the door he looked like he was falling over headfirst but
he somehow managed to grab a hold of the doorknob to hold himself up. He
twisted it and opened the door. It swung open with surprising force. Someone
had pushed it hard from the outside. The door caught Mr Rockwell full in the
face, knocking him to the ground. Beth was about to rush out to offer him some
help when she saw the person who had pushed open the door from the outside
appear in the doorway.
    He was a giant of a man, soaked
through from the downpour outside. His most distinguishing feature was a long
pink streak of hair down the middle of his otherwise shaved head. After walking
through the door he looked down at Jerry Rockwell who was lying on the floor in
a daze.
    ‘You okay, old man?’ the hulking
figure asked.
    Beth heard Rockwell respond with
something that sounded like, “I landed on my balls.” The man with the pink hair
leaned down to offer Rockwell some assistance before recoiling and holding his
nose.
    ‘Jeez, you fuckin’ stink,’ he
said, stepping back from the old man on the floor.
    As the elevator doors began to
close the man looked over at Beth. Their eyes met for a second. She realised
that she recognised him as one of four military guys she’d seen in the Tapioca
on the previous night. A second later his eyes seemed to reveal that he
recognised her too. He started walking towards the elevator. Before he reached
it, the doors closed and it began moving upwards.
    Beth had no idea why this man
was in her apartment block, but she didn’t like him and was glad he hadn’t made
it into the elevator with her.

 
 
    Fifteen

 
    Vanity had parted company with
Dante and Kacy shortly after the morning meeting at the Casa de Ville. They had
other business to attend to moving themselves into the Swamp. They had told him
that their clothes were still in a hotel room somewhere, so Vanity left them to
it and went out with Cleavage and Moose to try and find some new members of his
clan. Unfortunately he’d barely gotten started when he received a phone call
summoning him to the office of the great Rameses Gaius. He’d been told it was
urgent so there had not been time to change into a suit or anything smart to
impress the new boss, so he turned up in his jeans and his black leather Shades
jacket. This wasn’t likely to make a great impression.
    He arrived at Gaius’s office
knowing that his days could well be numbered. He was head of the clan that had
been infiltrated by the Bourbon Kid. That wasn’t something that was going to
make him popular with the vampire hierarchy. Gaius had some serious anger
issues and Vanity might be about to feel the force of his wrath. He hoped he
would be given time to explain himself before Gaius passed sentence on him.
History had shown that the former ruler of Egypt was a merciless killer, one
who didn’t usually offer his victims the time to make their excuses before he
killed them. It was rumoured he could absorb and control energy sources,
granting him the power to expel such things as electricity from his hands.
Vanity was hoping not to be on the receiving end of a demonstration of any such
power.
    Standing guard outside Gaius’s
office was one of the vampires from the Panda clan, a fairly decent looking
female with an athletic build. Vanity approached and did his best to look
confident.
    ‘Hi. I’ve been