The Book of Death (Bourbon Kid 4)

caught up with him and cut his fucking head off.’
    ‘Shit,’ Dante couldn’t hide how
shocked he was at the news.
    Kacy wasn’t nearly as concerned
as Dante. She was far more interested in how her new leather jacket was going
to look on her. She slipped her arms into the sleeves and discovered to her
delight that it fitted perfectly. Vanity then tossed her a pair of sunglasses.
    ‘The fact they caught him and
killed him has probably saved our necks,’ Vanity said. ‘I doubt the powers that
be are too impressed with us right now.’
    ‘Maybe we should stay here for a
while then?’ Kacy suggested, looking at the sunglasses in her hand and
wondering how she would be able to see with them on.
    ‘We’re in enough trouble
already,’ said Vanity. ‘But the fact that the Bourbon Kid killed hundreds of
vampires earlier tonight means that Gaius is low on numbers at the moment. He’s
assembling an undead army to take over the city. The lack of other experienced
vampires should be enough to keep us alive for now.’
    ‘Is it safe to go out at the
moment?’ Kacy asked. ‘I mean, won’t the sun come up soon?’
    Vanity shook his head. ‘Gaius
says not. He’s found some way to keep dark clouds over the city. So for a while
we’re all daywalkers.’
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Yeah. Archie Somers tried in vain
for years to turn the skies dark permanently. Gaius did it in no time.’
    Kacy perked up. ‘Who was Archie
Somers?’ she asked.
    ‘The old boss. Chief
bloodsucker, one of the original daywalkers.’
    Dante blurted out what was on
Kacy’s mind. ‘We just drank some of his blood.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘We were scoping out the police
station earlier for any potential victims and we found a bag of blood with the
name Archie Somers on it.’
    ‘ Archie Somers? Where is
it now?’
    ‘We drank it all.’
    Vanity eyed them suspiciously.
‘Are you bullshitting me?’
    ‘No,’ said Dante. ‘It was
fucking good stuff.’
    Vanity sighed. ‘You know, if I
was you, I’d keep quiet about stuff like that,’ he said. ‘Don’t let Jessica or
Gaius hear you say shit like that. Gaius will fire fucking laser bolts from his
fingertips at you. And Jessica, well, she’ll just rip your fucking insides
out!’
    ‘Who’s Jessica?’ Kacy asked,
cautiously.
    ‘You’ll see her when we get to
the Casa de Ville. Now we gotta make a few stops before we get there. See if we
can find any more of our clan alive. Safety in numbers an’ all that.’
    ‘Great,’ said Kacy, unable to
mask her lack of enthusiasm.
    Vanity slipped his sunglasses
back on and nodded towards the exit. Kacy saw Dante slip on a pair of
sunglasses too so she followed suit and was surprised to find that she could
see just as clearly as before even though it was dark.
    Vanity walked past her and
jumped over the banister at the top of the stairs. He disappeared out of sight.
Kacy rushed over and peered over the banister. Vanity was dropping gently to
the ground floor. She looked back at Dante.
    ‘Can we do that? ’
she asked.
    Dante grimaced. ‘I guess so.
Shall I go first?’
    ‘You’d fucking better!’
    As he was about to hurl himself
over the balcony Kacy grabbed his arm. ‘Baby, are we about to go and join a
vampire army?’ she asked.
    ‘I think so.’
    ‘Are you sure we want to do
this?’
    ‘Well, we are vampires at the
moment. I say we go with the flow.’
    ‘I’m not sure I’m ready to go
around killing people just yet.’
    Dante pulled her in towards him
and planted a kiss on the long dark hair on the top of her head. ‘We’re
vampires now, babe,’ he reminded her. ‘Until we find the Eye of the Moon and
transform ourselves back into humans I say we go with the flow.’
    ‘I suppose,’ said Kacy. ‘But
Vanity said the vampire army is going to take over the city. Do we really want
to be a part of that?’
    ‘I dunno, babe, but with the
Bourbon Kid out of the picture, there’s nothing to stop the undead from taking
over the city. At least we’ll be on the winning team.’
    ‘Yeah, but I still can’t get the
image of that little boy being dragged away at the police station out of my
head.’
    ‘Thanks, I’d just about managed
to forget about that.’
    ‘Well I can’t. It’s still
bugging me.’
    ‘Try to think about something
else.’
    ‘Like what?’
    ‘Baseball.’
    Kacy sighed. ‘It’s not just the
image of it that’s bothering me. It’s what it represents.’
    ‘Huh?’
    Dante wasn’t getting her point
so she