The Book of Death (Bourbon Kid 4)

the Bourbon Kid killing everyone,
it’s fucking vampires. Why would anyone want to live here?’
    Harker frowned. ‘Low taxes.
Plenty of jobs. Nice weather, usually . ’
    ‘Even so. I’m not sure why I’m
still here.’
    ‘You’re here because you love
your job and you’re a good guy who takes pride in protecting the citizens of
this city.’
    Clay smiled. ‘Are you quoting
the Officers’ Handbook?’
    ‘I know it off by heart.’
    ‘That’s not gonna save us
though, is it?’
    ‘Nope. But I know something that
could. Here take a look at this.’ He pointed at his monitor. Clay walked around
to his side of the desk and peered over his shoulder.
    ‘What is it?’ he asked.
    Harker used his mouse to drag
the CCTV footage on his monitor back to the moment where Somers and the Kid
squared up. The two men watched the monitor in silence as they witnessed the
Kid send Somers to Hell in a ball of flames. When the fight was over, Harker
paused the footage again and looked up at Clay to see his reaction.
    ‘That’s weird,’ said Clay.
    ‘Yeah. Freaky, right? The way he
just spontaneously combusts like that.’
    Clay looked puzzled. ‘That’s not
what I meant.’
    ‘Why? What are you looking at?’
    ‘The Bourbon Kid. That’s not the
same guy that killed Bertram Cromwell.’
    Harker looked closer at the man
on screen in the dark robe with the hood pulled up over his head. ‘You sure?
How can you tell?’
    ‘Get the footage from the museum
up on screen. It’s a different guy.’
    Harker sifted through the
database and eventually pulled up the footage of Bertram Cromwell’s murder on to
his screen. He and Clay watched Cromwell being butchered again. The attacker
was a hooded man all right, but the psycho with the machete hacking the
Professor to pieces had a completely different build to the man who had set
fire to Archie Somers. The Professor’s killer was tall and thin, whereas the
Bourbon Kid in the Somers footage was broad of shoulder and not quite as tall.
    ‘What do you make of that then?’
Clay asked.
    Harker mulled over what he’d
seen. These were definitely two different killers. ‘You’re right, he said.
‘We’ve got two Bourbon Kids.’
    ‘Do you think there were two all
along?’ Clay asked.
    ‘I don’t know. All I know is
this. One of these guys kills vampires. And he’s fucking good at it. I’m not
sure who the second guy is, the one who killed Cromwell. But the guy who killed
Somers could be a useful ally.’
    ‘You’re thinking of asking the
Bourbon Kid for help?’
    ‘Why not? He could be the only
thing standing in the way of the vampires taking over the city. Problem is,
we’ve got to find him.’
    Clay didn’t look convinced.
‘He’d kill you before you had the chance to make him an offer.’
    ‘I’m not so sure. Look at it
like this, Somers was a vampire. The last Police Captain, De La Cruz, was a
vampire and so were his lieutenants. The Bourbon Kid killed them all. I think
he might just be the hero this city needs.’
    ‘He’s a disease. We need him
like we need a plague of frogs.’
    ‘Maybe so, but I’m telling you,
the Bourbon Kid could kill every vampire in this city before they even know
they’re dead.’
    Clay furrowed his brow. ‘That
doesn’t even make sense.’
    ‘Maybe not, but it sounded good
in my head.’
    ‘Look Captain, what you’re
saying is…’
    Harker stood up, sharply. ‘Look,
if I can put out an appeal on the local news station, I think I could maybe
bring him on board.’
    ‘You’re kidding, right?’
    Harker grabbed his long brown
raincoat from a clothes hanger by the door and began slipping his arms into the
sleeves.
    Clay gestured to him to slow
down. ‘Captain, if you’re thinking of making an appeal to the Bourbon Kid on
the news, you’re gonna make yourself public enemy number one in this city. It’s
a bad political move. He’s killed relatives of everyone in town.’
    Harker pulled the collar of the
coat up around his neck. ‘When the people of this city hear that the Bourbon
Kid has actually been protecting them all along, they’ll be right behind me.’
    Clay shook his head. ‘It’s not
just the people of this city you’ve got to worry about. It’s the vampires.
They’ll kill you before you finish broadcasting that news piece.’
    Harker pulled open the door of
his office. ‘Then I’ll have to hope the Bourbon Kid gets to me first.’  
    As Harker walked out of the
office Clay called after him. ‘In