The Book of Death Read online

  The Book of Death

  A novel (probably)

  Anonymous

  Copyright © The Bourbon Kid 2012

  The right of the author (under the accredited pseudonym The Bourbon Kid) to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him/her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  Cover designed by Sophie Montemagni

  The Book With No Name

  The cover and pages of The Book With No Name were created using wood from the cross on which Christ was crucified. Any vampire that touches part of the cross is destroyed. The book is a vital weapon in the war against the undead.

  The Eye of the Moon

  The Eye of the Moon is a precious blue gemstone with incredible power. Anyone wearing the stone becomes immortal. It can also be used to control the orbit of the moon, change weather patterns, heal wounds and transform vampires back into humans.

  The Devil’s Graveyard

  The Devil’s Graveyard is an area of desert where people go to cut deals with the Devil. Buried in the Graveyard are the undead corpses of many of those who sold their souls in exchange for fortune and fame.

  The Book of Death

  The Book of Death was created to log the names of the dead. The Egyptian ruler Rameses Gaius cursed the book so that he could write the names of his enemies in it. They all died on the dates specified in the book.

  The Bourbon Kid would like to thank the following people by writing their names in The Book of Death.

  Sophie Montemagni, Jack Safarian, Caroline Vallat, Toby Buchan, Isabel White, Fabienne Reichenbach and Don Murphy. Also thanks to the wonderful people at O’Mara Books, Sonatine Editions, Bastei Luebbe and Ediciones B and many other foreign publishers for their excellent publications of my work.

  And a big hello to all the Bourbon Kid facebook friends!

  This is the fourth book in the Bourbon Kid series.

  1 - The Book With No Name

  2 - The Eye of the Moon

  3 - The Devil’s Graveyard

  4 - The Book of Death

  Dear Reader,

  You have opened The Book of Death.

  Appearances can be deceptive. Read carefully.

  Anonymous

  Prologue

  A teenage girl ran through the dark, murky back alleys of Santa Mondega, her lungs working harder than ever before. Her pursuer had not given up the chase. She could hear him behind her, his footsteps mostly softened by the snow underfoot. She hadn’t dared to look back ever since he had first leapt out of the shadows at her. She had seen the whites of his eyes clearly, standing out within the large black patches of paint covering much of his face. Dressed all in black, at first he had looked like a giant shadow with eyes. Then she saw his teeth. They were huge vampire fangs. She ran for her life.

  Screaming for help wasn’t an option, because the vampires in the streets outnumbered the humans. Something big was going down in the city right now, and calling out would only attract more of the undead. She needed somewhere safe to hide. As she charged out of the end of an alleyway and into one of the city’s main streets she saw a place that might offer sanctuary.

  The Santa Mondega City Library.

  She raced across the road and up the steps to the front entrance. The doors were wide open, inviting her in. She wasted no time and charged through them into the library foyer. The foyer had a marble floor and a very high ceiling. The sight should have been familiar to her because for months her parents had been encouraging her to visit the library to study for her exams. Straight ahead of her was a set of large wooden double doors secured with a large bronze padlock and chain. That left her with one option. She raced over to a staircase on the left.

  As she struggled up to the upper floor, the soles of her sneakers left a trail of snow behind her. If the vampire followed her in he would easily track her down. She knew she risked cornering herself by hiding in the library, but she couldn’t outrun the vampire forever. If he was anything like the vampires in Twilight he’d be able to leap through the air, covering huge distances with ease, catching up with her whenever it suited him. Maybe this particular vampire was revelling in the thrill of the chase, excited by the sound of panic in her erratic breathing.

  At the top of the stairs she risked a look behind her. There was no sign of her pursuer. Maybe he had given up the chase or found an easier victim to prey on. Even so, she wasn’t willing to hang around. She staggered into the large hall of books, hoping to find a maze of aisles to hide in. There was no one manning the reception desk, and no sign of anyone browsing through the ceiling-high shelves of books. Directly ahead of her was an open area filled with tables and chairs, but that too was deserted.

  She hurried over to the Reference section and ducked behind the shelves. The aisle was dark and even though that probably wouldn’t deter a vampire, it seemed like her best option. At least, it did until she saw something at the other end of the aisle that made her blood run cold.

  On the floor, lying in a pool of blood, was the body of a teenage boy. His head had been smashed to a bloodied pulp. Of far greater concern, though, was the man leaning over him, a man she had heard rumours about. Concealed from head to toe in a long black robe with a hood pulled up over his head was the Bourbon Kid. As he looked up at her she noticed that his hands were covered in the boy’s blood.

  After gawping at his hands for a second Caroline looked back up. Her eyes met his. She stood rooted to the spot, her body and brain shut down at the sight of the notorious killer. She watched in horror as he rose to his feet and reached inside his dark robe. His bloodied hand pulled out a large handgun. He took aim, pointing it at her head. A red laser sighter on the top of the gun shone brightly, aimed right between her eyes. She wondered if she had just taken her last breath, but before he squeezed the trigger, the Bourbon Kid said two words in a distinctive gravelly voice straight from the depths of hell.

  ‘Get down.’

  For a moment Caroline remained frozen. Then she did as instructed and ducked down, burying her head between the knees on her blue jeans. She put her hands over her ears and closed her eyes.

  BANG!

  The sound of the gunfire was almost deafening, even with her ears shielded. As it continued to echo around the vast hall of books, she slowly uncovered her ears. Behind her she heard the sound of a body crumpling to the floor. She remained in her crouched position for a few seconds before tentatively opening her eyes and looking up at the Bourbon Kid. He had replaced his gun within his dark coat and was once again looking down upon the blood-soaked body of the dead boy on the hardwood floor.

  Caroline stood up slowly. Lying flat on his back on the floor behind her, minus a large portion of his head, was the vampire who had been chasing her through the streets. Smoke was pouring out of the gaping hole in his head and blood was seeping out across the floor in an ever-expanding puddle. She backed away from it and turned back to the Bourbon Kid.

  ‘Thanks,’ she mumbled. ‘He’d been chasing me for a long time. I don’t know who he is.’

  The Kid did not respond. Caroline took a step towards him and spoke a little louder. ‘Do you know what’s going
on here?’ she asked. ‘Did the vampires get that boy?’

  The Kid seemed to have forgotten she was there. At the sound of her voice he glanced over at her. ‘That guy chasing you was a Panda,’ he said.

  ‘A what? Panda?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  She paused, unsure what he meant. It made no sense.

  ‘The black paint on his face, around his eyes, it means he’s a member of the Panda clan of vampires. Or at least, he was til I blew his fuckin’ head off.’

  Caroline heard what he said, but she found herself distracted by the body of the dead boy on the floor. ‘Oh my God, that’s Josh. He goes to my school. Did the Pandas do that to him?’ she asked.

  The Kid shook his head. ‘No. This ain’t vampire style.’

  ‘So who did it then?’

  The Kid ignored her and reached inside his robe again. He pulled out the gun he had used to kill the vampire. He looked like he was ready to use it. He strode towards her, his eyes staring right past her as if she wasn’t there. She stepped aside, her back pressing hard up against a shelf of books behind her in an effort to keep as much distance between herself and the Kid as possible. He walked past her, his robe brushing gently against her leg. At the end of the aisle he stopped and peered both ways, his gun pointed and ready for action.

  Caroline tentatively called out to him. ‘Is it safe to go back outside?’

  ‘For me it is.’

  ‘Can I come with you? I’m scared to go on my own.’

  He glared at her. ‘You’ll be safer here.’

  Caroline pointed at the dead boy on the floor. ‘But what about whoever killed Josh?’ she asked. ‘What if they’re still here in the library?’

  The Kid was already walking toward the exit as he replied. ‘The man who killed him has gone already.’

  ‘Do you know who it was?’ she called after him. ‘And are you going to kill him?’

  ‘He’s on my list.’

  One

  The gutters overflowed with rainwater, sewage and blood. In the disquieting hush that had overtaken the city, these were the final remnants of the massacre that had laid siege to Santa Mondega for the last twenty-four hours. Ravaged by thunder, lightning, and death, Halloween had never been more chaotic. And that was saying something in Santa Mondega.

  Had it been any other town, police and press would be roaming the streets, looking for clues and witnesses. But if any cops were still alive, they wouldn’t resurface until daylight. The city was normally crawling with vampires, a high percentage of which were cops. But on this night the cops and the vampires (and in particular, the vampire cops) had been the victims of the massacre. The residents of Santa Mondega would wake to a city with virtually no law enforcement.

  At four a.m. two figures roamed the ghost-like streets. The young couple stayed mostly in the shadows. The girl, aged in her early twenties, wore jeans and a grey sweatshirt. The bloodstains on the front looked black in the darkness. The blood was mostly her own, dribbled there from a wound in her neck which she hid well beneath her long dark hair. Her partner, a male of similar age, was the cause of the wound. He’d transformed her into a creature of the night like himself just after midnight.

  Since then they had traipsed across town and had just spent several minutes in the shadows outside the police station, the scene of some of the night’s more unpleasant carnage, checking for signs of any life inside.

  The male, Dante Vittori, eventually stepped out of the shadows and into the light that shone down from the streetlights. The lights showed up the heavy bloodstains on his light blue police officer’s shirt that hung untucked over a pair of dark blue pants. He gestured to his partner to join him. The police station looked totally desolate and unoccupied. Dante walked unashamedly towards it, secure in the knowledge that anything that might be lurking nearby would not dare harm him. His girlfriend Kacy slipped from the shadows and chased after him.

  ‘I’m not convinced this is the best place to be right now,’ she called out to him as he made his way up the concrete steps that led to the glass double doors at the front of the station.

  ‘Trust me,’ he said, pushing the glass door on the right open. ‘There’s something here you’re gonna like.’ He peered around the door to check if anyone was around.

  Kacy wasn’t convinced. ‘Unless it’s a cure to turn us back to normal I doubt I’m gonna like it.’

  ‘Come on. There’s no one here,’ said Dante waving her in through the door as he held it open for her.

  Kacy stepped inside and waited for him to lead the way. The reception area inside the station was a mess. And eerily quiet. Dante headed towards an elevator on the far side of the reception, past several unmanned desks. Blood covered the desks, walls and much of the floor around the reception area. The corpse of a police officer lay on the floor by the right hand wall. The top half of his head was missing.

  ‘I wonder what happened to him?’ Kacy asked, stepping clear of the body.

  ‘The monk Peto knocked him out.’

  ‘The monk who had his head cut off earlier?’

  ‘Yeah, Peto. He was a good guy.’

  ‘I hope the cops find the person who cut his head off.’

  ‘I bet they don’t even find the head.’

  Kacy frowned as she stared at the corpse on the floor. ‘How did knocking this guy out leave him in this state?’

  ‘After Peto knocked him out, the Bourbon Kid shot him in the back of the head to make sure he didn’t wake up.’

  ‘Nice,’ said Kacy, taking one last look at the body before following Dante over to the elevator. ‘Where exactly is the Kid now? Can we find him? Would he help us?’

  Dante shook his head. ‘Nah. The Monk used the Eye of the Moon to help the Kid get his soul back or something. It turned him all queer and then he just drove off and left us.’

  ‘Asshole.’

  ‘Yeah. I wouldn’t call him that to his face though.’

  Dante pressed a button in the wall by the elevator to call it up to their floor. As the gears of the elevator began to churn, Kacy became aware of a foul stench in the air.

  ‘What on earth is that smell?’ she asked.

  ‘Shit.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘That smell is shit.’

  The elevator made a pinging noise and the doors opened, revealing an elevator carriage with walls covered in blood and shit.

  ‘Oh my God,’ Kacy put her hand over her mouth and reeled back, not just at the shock of the sight but also at the stink.

  ‘See,’ said Dante pointing at some of the browner patches. ‘Shit. Kid rammed a shotgun up a cop’s ass and blew his guts out. Shit went everywhere. Real nasty.’

  ‘Can we take the stairs?’ Kacy asked.

  Dante stepped into the elevator and pressed a button on the keypad on the right hand side.

  ‘Come on in,’ he said. ‘It’s just shit. And blood.’ He glanced at a spot on the floor out of Kacy’s eye line, before adding, ‘and a testicle by the looks of it. Real hairy one.’

  ‘I’m taking the stairs,’ said Kacy. ‘What floor are you going to?’

  ‘Basement.’

  ‘See you there.’

  The elevator doors closed and Kacy hurried over to a door on the right that led to a flight of stairs. She rushed down them and arrived in the basement a good few seconds before the elevator.

  The basement was a disused locker room. It had seen better days and was in need of some serious modernisation and a good clean up. There were several long wooden benches nailed to the walls with unlocked grey metal sports lockers above them. The floor was covered in blood (similar to the floor in the reception area above) and black burn marks. And much like the elevator, the place stank of shit and death. The walls too, were stained with a ridiculous amount of blood. Dried blood though, not the kind that would satisfy the lusting that Kacy was beginning to feel. The sight of it made her incredibly hungry.

  The elevator made another pinging sound, the doors parte
d and Dante stepped out. He looked around at his surroundings.

  ‘Why are we here?’ Kacy asked.

  ‘There’s something here you might like. Or certainly need anyway.’

  ‘Like what? A dirty jockstrap?’ asked Kacy looking around once more at the foul locker room.

  Dante kissed her on the cheek then walked past her to a row of lockers on the wall. He peered along the floor beneath the wooden bench that ran beneath the lockers. About two thirds of the way down the wall, maybe twenty lockers along, he leaned down and scoured the floor beneath the bench. He reached beneath it and pulled out a package that had previously been concealed from view. He turned around and grinned at Kacy. Two of his top teeth slowly extended into tiny fangs.

  ‘What’s that?’ Kacy asked pointing at the package in his hands.

  ‘Catch.’

  He threw the package towards her. As it flew through the air Kacy realised it was a bag of liquid. Dark liquid. She caught it competently. Once it was in her hands she soon realised she was holding a fairly hefty bag of blood. The mere sight of it set her pulse racing. She felt her own vampire fangs grow a little in length. An urge came over her, an almost uncontrollable urge. Suddenly without giving it a second thought she lifted the bag up to her mouth and used her razor sharp teeth to rip it open. She began to pour the blood recklessly into her mouth. Much of it missed its target and dribbled down her face. But every single ounce that slid down her throat brought on a sensation like nothing she had ever known. A feeling of pure adrenaline raced through her bloodstream and she became lost in her inner self. She closed her eyes and let the feeling of power and lust flow through her body. For a brief time she felt at one with the universe, yet oblivious to everything around her, until she felt Dante’s hand grab hers.