The Book of Death (Bourbon Kid 4)

Kid
showed up, killed ‘em all and fucked off out into the street.’
    Vanity looked
surprised. ‘I was only gone a minute,’ he said. ‘Seriously? The Bourbon Kid was
here?’
    ‘Yeah. I guess he just
got back from the Devil’s Graveyard.’
    ‘What was he doing
there?’
    ‘I don’t know, but
whatever it was, it’s made him back into his old self again.’
    Vanity frowned. ‘What
do you mean?’
    There was no need to
answer his question. In the streets outside, the sound of gunshots and screams
was clearly audible. At the end of the hall, Kacy was pulling the door closed.
Vanity walked down the aisle towards her, with Dante following on behind. Kacy
had left the door slightly ajar and was peering out into the streets outside.
One of the schoolgirls spoke up.
    ‘Is that man in the
hood killing all the vampires out there?’ she asked.
    Kacy looked back at her
and then up at Dante and Vanity. Her face, although still half covered in
blood, showed great concern. She pulled the door shut behind her and looked
back to the Sunflower Girl who had asked the question.
    ‘Stay in here, honey,’
she said. ‘It’ll be safer.’
    Outside, the gunshots
were becoming more frequent and the anguished howls of the Bourbon Kid’s
victims more vociferous. Voices were pleading to be left alone, then silenced
by more gunshots.
    Vanity repeated the
girl’s question. ‘Is he killing all the vampires?’
    Kacy was trembling as
she slid the metal bolt back into place on the door. ‘No,’ she said, turning
back to face the others. ‘He’s killing everyone .’

 
    Thirty-Seven

 
    Beth had regained consciousness
in the late afternoon. She was in a fairly poky little room with a couple of heavy set soldiers who introduced themselves as Tex and Razor.
She recognised them from a brief stop she had made at the Tapioca on Halloween.
Her memory of events leading up to how she ended up in a room with them was
extremely hazy. And her head hurt as if she’d been hit with a baseball bat.
    They hadn’t given her much
information about why she was being held prisoner, only that it had something
to do with JD or as they liked to call him, the Bourbon Kid. She was being used
as bait in a plot to kill him. She’d tried explaining to them that she and JD
were no longer together but her words fell on deaf ears. The soldiers weren’t
interested and they weren’t particularly clear about what her fate might be
either.
    She sat on a sofa watching the
news on a large widescreen television on the opposite wall. Below the television
was a bank of CCTV monitors. Tex, the taller of the two soldiers, was sitting
at a desk in front of the monitors, watching them intently. His hair was cut
almost to the bone at the back and sides and Beth could see an unpleasant
collection of red spots on the back of his neck. The other guy, Razor (who had
a scar on his face twice the length of Beth’s), was sitting uncomfortably close
to her, watching the news with her.
    In the early evening, the news
reader caught everyone’s attention with some breaking news. ‘We now go to Sally
Feldman who is with Captain Dan Harker of the Santa Mondega Police Department
for a live update on the Bourbon Kid case.’
    The screen switched to a picture
of Dan Harker sitting at a desk in the news studio with Sally Feldman, a middle
aged blonde reporter in a smart red suit. Just before the interview began, a
door in the corner of the room swung open and in walked Bull, the senior member
of the soldiers.
    ‘What’s up, fellas?’ he asked.
    ‘Hold on,’ said Tex, pointing up
at the television on the wall. ‘Got some breaking news about the Bourbon Kid on
here.’
    On screen, Dan Harker was
answering Sally Feldman’s first question. ‘New evidence has come to light
regarding the Bourbon Kid case,’ he said, staring out through the screen with a
serious look on his face. ‘I believe I have proof that the Kid did not murder
Bertram Cromwell this morning. In fact, it’s entirely possible that he’s not
guilty of most of the murders he is accused of. I suspect that in recent times
the Bourbon Kid has been protecting this city from a group of corrupt police
officials and a large army of what would appear to be vampires.’
    Bull stood watching open
mouthed. ‘What the fuck?’
    In front of him by the monitors,
Tex snorted a laugh. ‘Whoa, death wish!’
    A smirk broke out on Bull’s
face. ‘This idiot’ll be dragged away by the men in white coats before they