The Book of Death (Bourbon Kid 4)

morning.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Apparently Sanchez just killed
him.’
    ‘Come again?’
    ‘Flake says Sanchez got into a
fight with a vampire dressed as Santa Claus at the library this morning. Apparently
Sanchez poured the guy’s green poison over him and set him on fire.’
    ‘Fucking hell. Where’s Sanchez
now?’
    ‘Up to his neck in shit, I
reckon.’
    ‘Huh?’
    ‘Flake said he’s found The Book
of Death. You know, that book that’s missing? He’s on his way to return it to
its owner.’
    Harker scratched his head. ‘Wow.
I kinda thought Sanchez was an idiot. Sounds like he’s turned into Elliot
Ness.’
    ‘More like Frank Drebbin.’
    ‘Even so. Who’d have guessed he
had it in him?’
    ‘Not me.’
    ‘Me either. Still, this is turning
into a good news day.’
    Clay grimaced. ‘Yeah, well
that’s the good news over.’
    Harker sighed. ‘Oh God. What
now?’
    ‘The switchboard. It’s jammed
with calls reporting sightings of vampires attacking people all over the city.
The local radio station is already warning people to stay indoors. I think the
days of vampires attacking only by night and in back alleys are over. These
black clouds over the city aren’t just freak weather. It looks like this is all
part of a bigger plan. Vampires are roaming through the streets of the city as
we speak. And they’re all headed towards the Casa de Ville. Something big is
going down. This could be the start of the end of the world.’
    ‘Please tell me you’re
exaggerating for dramatic effect.’
    ‘I’m afraid not. Your plan to leak
the child killer case onto the news has backfired in a big way. It’s brought
them all out of the shadows.’
    ‘Thanks. I really needed to hear
that.’
    ‘Sorry Captain. But I think we
should evacuate the city. Get back on the news and tell everyone to get the
hell outta here.’
    ‘Seriously? Don’t you think
that’ll create a state of mass panic.’
    Clay nodded at the window behind
Harker. ‘Take a look out the window. We’re already in a state of panic.’
    Harker got up from his chair and
peered through the blinds on the window at the street below. At first it looked
like nothing much was going on. But as his eyes grew accustomed to the dark
outside he saw that Clay was right. On the opposite side of the road a young
man who worked on a fruit and vegetable stall was being ripped to pieces by
three vampires dressed all in black. He turned back to Clay.
    ‘Holy shit.’
    Clay nodded. ‘It looks like
we’re all gonna die.’
    ‘Fuck that,’ said Harker
defiantly. ‘We’re paid to protect the people of this city. We’re gonna have to
get out there and deal with this problem head on.’
    ‘How the hell are we gonna fight
an entire army of vampires? There’s barely enough cops here to rescue a cat
stuck up a tree.’
    ‘That’s a job for the fire
department. Lazy bastards.’
    ‘Even so. If as you say we have
a responsibility to protect the people of this city then we should be advising
them to run for their lives. Flake took a call just now from a Sunflower Girl
Leader. She said her and her girls are sneaking through back alleys trying to
avoid being spotted by the vampires.’
    ‘Sunflower Girls?’ Harker put
his head in his hands. ‘Oh shit, they must be terrified.’
    ‘They’ve had a pretty bad day
already. The leader backed up Flake’s story about Sanchez setting fire to the
Santa.’
    ‘He set Santa on fire in front
of a bunch of Sunflower Girls?’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘Moron.’
    ‘Quite. As Flake was telling the
leader to head to the local church, the line went dead. So for all we know, the
vampires spotted them. Those girls could be dead already.’
    Harker sat back down at his desk
and shuddered. ‘I sure hope they make it. If they can get into a church then
they’re probably pretty safe. They’ll have crosses and holy water and shit like
that to use as weapons. I don’t think a vampire is gonna set foot in a church.’
    ‘Shouldn’t we send someone over
there to see if they’re okay?’
    ‘Can we send Sanchez?’
    ‘The guy who just set fire to
Santa in front of them?’
    Clay had a point. Sanchez was
probably the last person the traumatized girls would want to see. ‘Fuck. We’re
just gonna have to hope the church takes care of them. I’m gonna have to get
back over to the news station and advise everyone to lock themselves in or get
out of town.’
    Clay looked deeply troubled.
This city is fucking insane. ‘If it’s not