The Book of Death Read online

  ‘Hey, save some for me,’ she heard him say.

  She opened her eyes and took a deep breath. Dante took the bag of blood from her. Like her, once the blood was in his hands his self-control seemed to vanish. He poured some into his own gaping mouth. Kacy saw that he too was experiencing the same orgasmic feeling that she had just enjoyed.

  After finishing off the remains of the bag, Dante stood still, breathing slowly and blinking. He had a look of extreme pleasure on his face, the likes of which Kacy had never seen before. She then became aware of the fact that she had a huge beaming smile across her own face. Maybe being a vampire wasn’t so bad after all.

  ‘That was awesome, wasn’t it?’ she said.

  ‘Incredible,’ said Dante. ‘I mean, when I bit you and turned you into a vampire earlier, I drank some of your blood, but it was nothing like this. No offence, babe.’

  ‘None taken.’

  ‘That shit was better than heroin,’ Dante said.

  ‘When did you ever try heroin?’

  ‘I didn’t. I’m just saying.’

  Kacy wiped her finger across her cheek and licked up a small dribble of blood. ‘Where did this blood come from?’ she asked. ‘We should get some more of it.’

  Dante shrugged. ‘We just found it down here earlier. One of the vampires the Bourbon Kid killed had it in his pocket. We just chucked it under the lockers. Never thought I’d be drinking it a few hours later.’

  Kacy looked at the bag and noticed that there was a white sticker on it that had remained intact in spite of her ripping the bag open with her teeth.

  ‘What’s that sticker say?’ she asked, pointing at it.

  Dante unravelled the bag and took a look at the sticker. It was a label with some black typed lettering on it.

  ‘It says it’s the blood of someone called Archibald Somers,’ Dante said with another shrug of his shoulders.

  ‘Archibald Somers,’ said Kacy. ‘I recognise that name. Who was he?’

  ‘No idea, but I could drink the guy’s blood all day. I’ve never felt anything like this. How about you?’

  Kacy agreed. ‘I feel incredible. Where can we get some more?’

  Dante appeared to be deep in thought for a moment, which was unusual for him. Deep thoughts and Dante weren’t two things normally associated with each other. Eventually he spoke up. ‘I think I know a place,’ he said.

  ‘Really? Where?’

  ‘It’s the nightclub, The Swamp. Vanity, the leader of the Shades clan, owns it. He could help us out. He might even have some blood there that we can drink.’

  ‘Can we trust him?’

  ‘I think so. I mean, I’m already part of his clan. The rest of the Shades got killed, so he'll probably be pleased to see me, especially now I have you. He might be grateful I’ve brought him a new recruit.’

  ‘But will he know that you teamed up with the Bourbon Kid and the monk last night?’

  ‘Only one way to find out. Let’s go see him.’

  Kacy looked at her watch. ‘It’s well past four o’clock,’ she said. ‘Do we need to worry about the sun coming up?’

  ‘No. The sun always comes up, doesn’t it?’

  ‘That’s not what I meant you idiot. I mean, if we’re outside when the sun comes up are we going to melt or something like that?’

  ‘I have no idea.’

  ‘Then let’s get a move on!’

  They hurried back up the stairs to the reception area. It was still eerily quiet up there and thankfully still dark outside. As they sidestepped their way through the blood and mess on the floor on their way out, a face appeared at the glass double doors at the entrance. It was the terrified face of a young boy, no more than eight years old. He banged hard on the glass doors and appeared to scream something like “Help me!”

  Before either Dante or Kacy could react, a second figure appeared behind the boy, swooping out of the darkness. It grabbed him around the waist and dragged him back away from the doors. A second later the boy and his much larger assailant had vanished.

  ‘Fuck me,’ said Dante. ‘Did that really just happen?’

  Kacy tried to process the image in her head. It had happened so fast. ‘Did you see who that was that grabbed the boy?’ she asked.

  Dante nodded. ‘Yeah, that’s some fucked up shit. I guess we’re not the only vampires out at this time of night.’

  ‘Have you seen that guy before?’

  ‘Yeah, but only with you, and he wasn’t a vampire then.’

  Two

  Beth woke from her gentle slumber. Her bed was warm and cosy. Warmer than usual because she had shared it with JD, finally reunited after eighteen years apart. She couldn’t remember ever waking up feeling so happy. She had allowed him to fall asleep before her simply because she had been so happy to just stare at him, knowing that it was real that he had come back to her. She rubbed her eyes and rolled over to look at him again. The duvet on the other side of the bed had been pulled back.

  JD was gone.

  Her heart missed a beat. Had it all been a dream? Had he really reappeared at the end of the pier where she was waiting? Where she’d waited every Halloween night all those years?

  She thought hard. Her head felt fuzzy and she was still coming to terms with waking up so early. The curtains were drawn and it was still dark outside. She reached over and felt the bed where the duvet had been pulled back. It was still warm. She decided she couldn’t have dreamt it. It wasn’t possible. The whole thing had been so real, right down to the moment when she had fallen asleep in his arms.

  She spied a small piece of brown cloth resting on the pillow on the other side of the bed. She grabbed it and held it up in front of her face to get a good look at it. Sewn into the centre of it was a dark red heart. In the centre of the heart in blue letters were the initials JD. It was a relief to know she wasn’t going crazy. This was the proof she needed to confirm that the previous night hadn’t been a dream. But what was the significance of the cloth? Did it mean he’d left? Was it a goodbye note of some kind?

  In one swift move she jumped up from the bed, wrapping herself in the duvet as she did so. Her bedroom suddenly seemed cold and empty where it had felt warm and full of life only moments earlier. She scurried around the bed and opened the bedroom door. Peering out into the poky living room in her one bedroom apartment she saw no sign of anyone. Just as she was beginning to panic, dreading the thought that she might be all alone again, the door to the apartment opened. In walked JD. He was wearing the same jeans, black T-shirt and black leather jacket as he had when he’d turned up near the pier the night before. He saw the worried look on her face and calmed her instantly with a gentle smile.

  ‘Sorry, did I wake you?’ he asked.

  Beth breathed a sigh of relief. ‘I thought you’d gone.’

  ‘Just went outside for some fresh air. I couldn’t sleep.’

  He took off his jacket and threw it on to the back of her green two-seater sofa, then plonked himself down on one side of it, facing the TV. He picked up the remote and flicked the TV on. A late night action movie came on.

  Beth shuffled over to the sofa, holding the duvet close to keep herself warm. She sat down next to him and kissed him on the cheek. ‘I thought for a horrible minute that I’d dreamt last night.’

  ‘Maybe you did. Maybe you’re still dreaming.’

  ‘Well then I hope I don’t wake up. Ever.’

  He kissed her back. ‘It’s no dream, I promise you,’ he said. ‘I’m back. And I’m back for good.’

  ‘I can’t begin to tell you how great it is to hear you say that. I had this horrible feeling for a minute there that you might have just come back for the one night. Like maybe you had a girl in every town.’

  ‘I do have a girl in every town. I travel around on an eighteen-year circuit. You’re my girl in Santa Mondega.’

  Beth gave him a playful shove. ‘In your dreams!’

  ‘I promise you, if I’m going anywhere, you’re coming with me
.’

  ‘For now, how about just coming back to bed with me? It’s cold in there without you.’

  ‘Sure. I was just gonna watch the news for a bit.’ He changed the channel over to the local news station. A reporter in the news studio was reading out the latest news with a grave expression. Even his voice sounded grave. Beth looked at the TV screen and frowned. ‘Wait a sec,’ she said. ‘What’s that about?’

  A scrolling yellow bar at the bottom of the screen read –

  HUNDREDS DEAD AS BOURBON KID KILLS AGAIN

  ‘Oh my God,’ she gasped. ‘I hope no one I know has been killed.’

  As if to confirm her worst fears the reporter reading out the news announced that one of the Bourbon Kid’s victims had been her boss at the museum, Bertram Cromwell.

  Beth was horrified. Cromwell was one of the only people in the city who she could genuinely call a friend. She put her hand over her mouth. ‘I don’t believe it,’ she said, ‘Cromwell was the nicest man in town. He’s the only reason I have a job. And now the Bourbon Kid has murdered him. His wife will be devastated. This is awful.’

  JD rubbed her back to comfort her. ‘Maybe this is a sign that you should quit the museum,’ he said. ‘In fact, how about quitting this shithole town altogether?’

  Beth barely heard what he said. Her thoughts were only of Bertram Cromwell and his family. ‘I hope they catch the Kid and give him the electric chair.’

  JD squeezed her in close. ‘I think the Kid was killing off all the local vampires. I doubt he had anything to do with Cromwell’s murder.’

  ‘Vampires?’ said Beth, snapping out of her maudlin thoughts. ‘Like that thing that attacked us that time on the pier?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Was that really a vampire though? I mean, I’ve never come across a vampire since then. I was beginning to wonder if I’d imagined it.’

  ‘The city was rife with them. Bet they’re all dead now.’

  ‘Yes but the Bourbon Kid is still at large. He’s a bigger menace than the vampires, I think.’

  The scrolling yellow bar on the news program suggested otherwise.

  BREAKING NEWS – BOURBON KID APPREHENDED AND KILLED BY SPECIAL FORCES

  JD pulled her in towards him and kissed her again, this time firmer than before. ‘See, you’re safe. The Bourbon Kid is dead, gone forever. And so are all the vampires. There’s nothing to be afraid of.’

  Beth forced a smile. Her thoughts suddenly returned to the piece of cloth with the heart sewn into it. She had it in her hand. ‘You left this on your pillow,’ she said, holding it up.

  ‘That’s for you,’ said JD.

  ‘What is it exactly?’

  He paused. ‘What do you think it is?’

  ‘A piece of cloth with your initials on.’

  ‘Then that’s what it is.’

  ‘There’s more to it than that,’ she said, shoving him playfully. ‘This was a sign to let me know you were coming back, right?’

  He smiled. ‘Yeah. Keep hold of that. I’ll always come back for it. And you won’t have to wait eighteen years again, I promise.’

  ‘So I can keep it?’

  ‘It’s all yours.’

  Beth looked down at the heart sewn into the cloth. She now had something of his that carried some meaning. Just holding it in her hand made her feel safe. As long as she had it, JD’s heart belonged to her.

  Three

  Vanity’s club The Swamp was far more impressive than its title made it sound. Kacy was expecting a real dive bar in a back alley somewhere. In fact it was a five-storey building on the South side of the city, situated on a street corner. As they approached the front entrance, something landed gently on the ground in front of them.

  ‘Is that snow?’ Kacy asked.

  ‘Can’t be,’ said Dante, dismissively. ‘It’s never snowed in Santa Mondega.’

  ‘What the hell is it then?’

  ‘I don’t know, but let’s hurry up and get inside.’ He pushed at the black door at the front of the place. The door opened easily. ‘There’s all kinds of creepy fuckers around this place usually, so stay close to me,’ he added.

  ‘Great.’

  He led the way up several flights of stairs. There wasn’t a soul in sight. Not one single creepy looking person. Not even a Depeche Mode fan. It was as empty as the streets outside.

  ‘This place is dead,’ Kacy whispered.

  ‘Weird,’ said Dante. ‘Last time I came here there were vampires hanging around on the stairs doing all kinds of shit. I wonder where they’ve all gone?’

  A voice from above answered him. ‘They’ve gone to the Casa de Ville.’

  They both stopped and looked upwards. A vampire with shoulder length dark hair, wearing wraparound shades and sporting a neatly trimmed goatee beard was staring down at them from the landing a few floors up. Dante recognised him straight away.

  ‘Hey Vanity, how you doing?’ he said, waving.

  Kacy recognised the outfit Vanity was wearing. He had on the same black leather jacket that Dante had been given when he had infiltrated the Shades clan of vampires a few days previously. Underneath it he wore a plain black T-shirt, his outfit topped off with a pair of black jeans and matching ankle boots.

  ‘Come on up!’ Vanity called down to them. ‘I’ll get you some clean clothes. And you can tell me what the fuck you’ve been doing all night.’

  Kacy grabbed hold of Dante’s hand and followed him up to the landing where Vanity had been. By the time they reached it he had moved into a large hall. It was a pool hall with numerous tables scattered around and a long bar against one wall.

  ‘Through here,’ said Dante. ‘I’ve been in here before. Had a fight with some clowns the other day.’

  ‘Why does that not surprise me?’

  Inside the pool hall Vanity stood beside one of the pool tables in the centre of the room. He had tossed a couple of black leather jackets on the table. The words “The Shades” were sewn into the back in gold lettering. Tacky as hell, Kacy thought, but she kept her opinion to herself out of politeness.

  Vanity took off his sunglasses. His eyes were unlike anything Kacy had ever seen. They flickered between three different colours. Like a rotating disco ball they flickered from gold to black and then silver to black before repeating the routine. The image was practically hypnotic. He stared at her for a moment before turning to Dante.

  ‘So who’s the girl?’ he asked.

  ‘She’s a babe I just picked up,’ Dante replied. Kacy let go of his hand and allowed him to walk up to Vanity and slap hands with him. ‘She’s kinda cool. You’ll like her.’

  Vanity pursed his lips and looked Kacy up and down. ‘What’s your name, honey?’ he asked.

  ‘Kacy.’

  ‘Kacy. Nice name,’ he said looking her up and down again. ‘Fit too. She’ll go down well in the initiation orgy. All the guys will love fucking her.’

  Kacy felt her blood run even colder than when she had become a vampire hours earlier. ‘What?’ she spluttered.

  Vanity grinned. ‘I’m kidding.’

  Kacy breathed a huge sigh of relief. She saw Dante wipe a bead of sweat from his brow. He had obviously fallen for Vanity’s dubious wisecrack too.

  ‘Here,’ said Vanity tossing a leather jacket to Kacy. ‘Put this on. The three of us gotta haul ass. All vampires have been summoned to the Casa de Ville by Rameses Gaius.’

  ‘What for?’ Dante asked.

  ‘You heard about all the shit that’s gone down tonight, right?’ said Vanity.

  ‘Heard the Bourbon Kid killed a lot of people,’ Kacy chimed in, saving Dante from having to reveal where he was when it had all kicked off.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Vanity nodding. ‘Turns out Déjà Vu was the Bourbon Kid. Did you know that, Dante?’

  Dante was putting on one of the leather jackets from the pool table. He pretended not to have heard Vanity’s question for a few moments, dusting off the jacket as he considered his answer. At this point it wa
s hard to know whether or not Vanity knew that he knew this information already and was testing him. Kacy jumped in and provided the answer for him. ‘We heard the word on the street,’ she said. ‘Everyone’s talking about it.’

  ‘No shit,’ said Vanity. ‘Did you hear that they caught him though?’

  Dante answered immediately this time. ‘Seriously? They caught the Bourbon Kid?’

  ‘Yeah. Some military guys that Gaius hired 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.’