The Tome of Bill Series: Books 5-8 (Goddamned Freaky Monsters, Half A Prayer, The Wicked Dead, The Last Coven)

by Rick Gualtieri

  “Once we’re outside,” she said as we practically flew down the stairs together, “get behind me. Not too close, though. I’m going to draw their fire.”

  Good idea, except for one little thing. “What if they have us surrounded?”

  “Then find a place to hide.”

  Even better.

  I didn’t like the idea of her wading into battle while I holed up like a pussy, but she was far better equipped to deal with magic users, especially now that she was back to her full capabilities. No way was I going to allow anyone to inject her with that Baal shit again, not if I could help it. Next time, we’d just take the long way.

  We reached the outside door, and Sheila cried out for me to duck. I hit the deck just as a beam of red-hot death lanced toward us. It fizzled harmlessly against her power, but there was no doubt she’d painted a big white target on herself. Whichever entity faith magic originated from really needed to be taught the value of subtlety.

  “Oh, crap,” she muttered. “We need to move now!”

  I threw the hood of my jacket over my head as she doused her aura. Multiple beams of energy struck the side of the building, the strategy obvious. If they couldn’t blast her, they’d try to bury her.

  Not on my watch.

  I whisked her off her feet and out the exit before heading left. Though it might’ve gotten me a kick to the nuts when this was over, the reality was she might be magic-proof, but I was a lot faster.

  I dove behind an abandoned car on the far side of the street just as the building began to crumble. It came down in a rumble of debris, the immediate area filling with smoke and dust.

  “Cover your mouth,” I said. “Pretty sure the Surgeon General would call this shit hazardous to your health.”

  I wasn’t too worried about getting asbestos-related cancer myself, but I did the same.

  The one upside to this debacle was the cloud created by the building’s destruction provided us with instant cover – from both the Magi and the sun. Despite the smoke, though, multiple beams of energy lanced out in all directions, telling me that death by daylight was currently the least of my concerns.

  A dark shape appeared out of the gloom close by, wielding a massive weapon. The vamp holding the minigun pointed it our way for a moment, then apparently recognized us. He turned away and started returning fire toward anywhere a spell seemed to come from.

  Soon, others joined him.

  “Stay down,” I warned Sheila, crouching protectively over her before realizing how ridiculous that was.

  However, she apparently wasn’t in on the joke, because she didn’t try to stop me. All she did was sit there with a wide-eyed look on her face. I guess I couldn’t blame her. It felt like we were in the middle of a blindfolded turkey shoot. Both sides fired wildly at where they presumed the enemy was, hitting mostly nothing in the process, but creating a shitload of crossfire.

  Bullets ricocheted off the asphalt just a few feet away and I cried out, “Shoot at them, numbnuts! Not us!”

  Fucking trigger-happy assholes.

  “We might need to...”

  To my surprise, Sheila shirked away from me, her eyes staring at where the gunfire had just hit.

  “Um, are you okay?” After another moment, I added, “Hey!” She finally focused on me. “Are you all right?”

  She gave me a shaky nod. “I’m fine.”

  “You didn’t get hit, did you?”

  “No, it’s just...”

  “Just what?” I recognized the look on her face. Hell, I knew it well. I’d seen it staring back from the mirror enough times. She was afraid. “Shit! You still have some of that crap in your bloodstream, don’t you?”

  “What crap?” she asked, still cowering.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I figured the last of that shit cocktail was out of your system.”

  “No. It’s gone. I can feel it. I’m...” She shrieked as the car we were hiding behind was peppered with bullets.

  Goddamned idiots. I swear the Dracs’ honor guard wouldn’t be happy until everything in a three-block radius looked like Swiss cheese. Right now, though, I had more pressing concerns, like an Icon who was apparently still going through withdrawal.

  Despite knowing how potentially disastrous it could be, I moved closer to her. She immediately threw her arms around me and buried her face in my shoulder.

  Comfort wasn’t my strong suit. Worse, with her holding on to me, I could feel my old insecurities bubble to the surface. All of a sudden, words, so freely flowing just moments ago, began to get all jumbled in my head. “Um, it’ll be ... okay. As soon as that crap is out of your system you can...” Oh wow, she felt good pressed up against me. So warm, so alive.

  Focus, moron! Any second now, we could be hit with a Flamestrike. This was not the time to turn into a tongue-tied imbecile.

  “You don’t get it, do you?” she said, looking up at me, her eyes moist with fear. “This is me. That blood wore off.”

  “It can’t be. You ... well, you look terrified.”

  “I am,” she replied timidly.

  “Since when?”

  At that, her voice hardened. “Since that bastard Remington put a bullet into my head.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Holy crap. I’d never considered that. I had gotten the ever living shit blasted out of me more times than I cared to admit. But it was more the overarching task of trying to save the world that frightened the shit out of me. Remington was dead, out of sight out of mind, as far as I was concerned.

  But the thing was, we’d thought Sheila had died in that incident, too. Now that I considered it, though, wouldn’t something like that be harder on an Icon? Hell, I was accustomed to losing. After a while, you brushed that shit off and moved on with your life. But an Icon’s entire power delved from their singular belief in themselves. It was a belief that empowered them up until the point of their death.

  But what if they didn’t die? What if an Icon was only badly injured? What could something like that do to their unflappable belief?

  “I didn’t know,” was all I could think to say.

  “I didn’t want you ... anyone to know,” she replied bitterly. “I’m not supposed to be like this, not now when the world is counting on me.”

  “So?”

  “What?”

  “So you’re scared? So what?” I said. “Trust me, I’m pretty sure the only way I can fall asleep most nights is by passing out from sheer exhaustion.”

  She pulled away from me, albeit not so far that she was exposed. “You don’t get it. I’m not supposed to be scared.”

  This was really not the time to be having this discussion. Almost as if to drive home the point, a beam of green flame lanced out from the smoke and hit our cover, melting the front half of the car into a slurry of steel and burning rubber. I almost pissed myself but, oddly enough, Sheila just kept glaring at me, ignoring what had happened. I didn’t begin to understand. I mean, guns freaked her out, but a fucking death ray was no big deal? On the flip side, if I started adding up all the things in my life that didn’t make any goddamned sense, I’d be working on it well into the next century.

  Fuck it! Sometimes you gotta be direct.

  I grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her in the eye, hoping she didn’t pick that moment to ignite. “Who says you’re not supposed to be scared – heroes who died thousands of years ago? The Templar, maybe?”

  She didn’t answer.

  “Well, here’s the thing. Fuck them all. You know what the difference between you and all of them is? That first group is dead and the rest are assholes. You’re neither.”

  And that was about as much of a pep talk as I was capable of giving.

  At first, I thought I’d pushed too hard and she was going to tell me to take my advice and go fuck myself with it, but then her gaze softened and a smile crept across her face. “Anyone ever tell you the world lost a great motivational speaker when yo
u got bitten?”

  “Truthfully?” I replied with a laugh. “Not really.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  I didn’t know a lot about phobias, PTSD, breakdowns, or any of that shit. Psychology wasn’t one of my better subjects. Even so, I was pretty sure you didn’t shake stuff like that just because a doofus wearing stolen clothes told you to get over it. It was a long process to heal, preferably away from places being torn to shreds by a firefight.

  Thankfully, the vamps started to get their shit together. Fewer stray bullets came our way. Despite neither of us being at the top of this group’s friend list, they seemed to be smart enough to realize plugging their so-called allies with friendly fire wasn’t a winning strategy.

  I heard rubble shifting nearby, back toward the ruined building. The smoke had cleared just enough for me to see vague shapes digging their way out of the rubble. Not too surprising. Most of the Dracs weren’t going to die that easily. That was fine. Right then they were the lesser of evils, even if just barely.

  “Can you flare up?” I asked Sheila.

  She still had a wide-eyed look about her, but nodded.

  “Good. Do so after I step back. Draw fire from the mages. Maybe give the others a chance to take out a few so we can make a run for it.” Sue me for being a realist, but I didn’t have any delusions of winning this.

  “There will be no running. Not by us, anyway.”

  I turned toward the sound of the voice and saw Alex walking our way. His clothes were ripped and he was covered in dust, but he was very much alive. What a surprise.

  “They’re...”

  “Right where I want them, Freewill,” he replied. “Did you not stop to consider that I would have anticipated such a move?” Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out a cellphone, somehow still intact. He pushed a few buttons on the number pad, then tossed it over his shoulder.

  Well, duh. I could have told him he wouldn’t get any reception. This whole section of town was a fucking disaster. It ... what the...?

  “Do you feel that?” Sheila asked.

  I did, a rumbling beneath my feet. That wasn’t all, though. Whatever was causing it was getting closer.

  Oh no, not them. Not now!

  Counterintuitive Attack

  I stood amidst the rumbling with a look akin to terror on my face. Had Alex just called the Jahabich? Oh shit! Had Ib actually replaced him with one of them?!

  He stared back, one eyebrow raised, before finally saying, “If I were you, I would retreat to the sidewalk post haste.”

  The rumbling grew stronger, but rather than the street opening up beneath our feet and a horde of orange-eyed monsters spewing forth, I heard the throaty growl of engines – powerful and numerous.

  I looked toward where they seemed to be coming from, the exact opposite of where the magical forest lay, and began to make out large shapes in the gloom. They looked like...

  “No fucking way.”

  Sheila grabbed my arm. “I think he’s right, Bill. Maybe we should stand back a bit.”

  No shit on that, I considered, as the column of tanks advanced toward us.

  That’s when I remembered what Colin had said about the National Guard. Although, judging from Alex’s pimp-slap, Colin wasn’t the one responsible for this. No, this was too strategic in nature for that ass kisser. Alex had to know the risks flying in here, but he seemingly also had considered what was to be gained. They couldn’t lose Boston so easily without being seen as weak throughout the supernatural realm.

  And he’d known the perfect bait to set his trap with: he and his coven.

  The tanks rolled past us. A few took hits from errant magic, but the mages’ offensive had turned clumsy. I imagined our attackers were every bit as surprised as I’d been. But this time, I had the advantage of not being the target.

  “LEVEL THE FOREST AND EVERYTHING IN IT!!”

  This close, there was no need for radios or walkie-talkies. Alex was content to let his compulsion do the talking for him.

  Holy shit! I mean, I knew covens had dealings with the local police to keep annoyances such as murder investigations out of their hair, but I never imagined...

  Hah! That was on me, though. I should have. The Draculas controlled the entire fucking nation of Switzerland, for Christ’s sake. Not to mention I’d accidentally chowed down on one of the US Government’s Joint Chiefs of Staff during my trial.

  I’d thought Alex’s mad culling party a stupid decision, disastrous even. But maybe he didn’t need those troops after all. Sure, both sides had allies in the supernatural world, but whereas the Feet shunned technology, the Draculas embraced it. Tanks, planes, and guns were Alex’s secret weapons all along. The entry of the Magi into the war had simply escalated his gambit.

  Whatever mages were LARPing around in the woods were fucked. Yeah, they were potent, but guns could be reloaded a lot faster than they could replenish their energy.

  One thing nearly all creatures of power had in common was runaway egos. The Magi had given the vamps a bloody nose by crushing the Boston complex. They were no doubt overconfident of an easy victory here, meaning I seriously doubted they expected a heavily armored mechanized division to bear down upon their wooded haven.

  Wait a second... “Shit!”

  “What’s wrong?” Sheila asked, then realization seemed to hit. “The woods!”

  “Tom and Sally,” I confirmed. “Gan too.”

  The three of them – well, okay, Sally and Gan at least – were survivors. Regardless, there was simply no way I could resume our mission without knowing if they were okay. It was stupid of me not to trust in them and pure idiocy to leave now, especially when we still didn’t have the information Grulg did. It was the height of naïvety to think Alex wouldn’t notice us running off and assume the worst.

  In short, just another day in my life.

  “Let’s go!”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  This was a mistake, a stupid, stupid, stupid fucking mistake!

  It was easy to overtake the tanks. Once we got past them, though, it was like walking into some bizarre Terminator-esque future. Cannon fire on one side, death rays on the other.

  And once we entered the forest, there were falling trees to contend with, too. That would be just our luck, to dodge the worst the Magi and Draculas could throw at us only to get crushed by a falling maple.

  What an ending that would make for all the prophesies and proclamations. “The end of the world was nigh. The Icon and Freewill disappeared into the forest ... and then the next day, they were found dead under a log. The end. Now go the fuck to sleep, kids.”

  “Are you okay?” I asked as we both slipped past some thick foliage while explosions rang out all around us. We ducked beneath some cover, then got moving again once the debris raining down upon us had settled.

  “Surprisingly, yes,” she said with a smile.

  “Even with all the cannon fire?”

  “Go figure; not quite the same thing. Maybe they’re too big, or too surreal, but I’m doing okay. Let’s just hope nobody jumps out from behind a tree with a handgun.”

  If she was able to joke about things, then she was probably all right, for now anyway. I didn’t see any of that wild-eyed fear in her from before.

  “Any luck tracking them yet?” she asked.

  Sadly, I couldn’t be as positive as she was. I gave my head a single shake. “Needle in a haystack. Tom’s scent is neutral and there’s no fucking way I know dead moose well enough to track it. I sort of made it a point to never remember Gan’s scent, and we seem to have picked the one fucking day out of the year when Sally decided to not wear that overpriced perfume she likes to waste money on.” My frustration boiled over and I backhanded a nearby root that was poking out, snapping it.

  She placed a hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay to be worried. I know she ... they mean a lot to you.”

  “She does,” I replied, realizing my Freudian slip a moment to
o late.

  Sheila nodded once, then turned away. Shit!

  Before she could scramble out of cover, though, I caught her arm. “She’s not the only one, though. You should know that, just in case.”

  She put her hand over mine. “We really pick the worst times to do this, don’t we?”

  “Seems to be our fate.”

  “When this is all over, maybe the three of us should sit down and have a good long talk.”

  I grinned. “Ooh, a threesome. Now you’re talking.”

  She swatted my arm, putting a little faith into it for good measure. “And the moment is over. Shall we continue?”

  I let out a laugh, cradling my now smoking hand. “I don’t get it. Lines like that always work in the movies.”

  “You need to watch better movies ... uh oh. Down!”

  I pulled back just in time for a trio of angry beams of magic to meet the white brilliance of her power.

  The energy pouring off the attack was enough to singe my eyebrows. The foliage all around us hissed from the heat. Thankfully, this was new growth; otherwise, we’d be standing in the middle of a rapidly expanding five-alarm blaze.

  Movement registered up ahead, but when I tried to focus on it, all I saw was more vegetation. I thought it might be my mind playing tricks on me, but then it happened again. The third time, I popped my head up to get a better look and saw an odd undulation of sorts, like the bushes became blurry for a moment. A blast of green energy shot out from that same spot, barely missing me as it whizzed by and burned a hole in the tree behind me.

  I finally realized what was going on. More fucking glamours. Apparently, there were some Predator fans among the mages. Slick, but maybe not as smart as they thought. I took a sniff of the air. These weren’t nearly as complex as the one wrapped around Tom. It was just a visual distortion, probably to save power better spent trying to kill us. I turned toward Sheila and tapped the side of my nose. “Got those motherfuckers.”

  She nodded once, then stood up, her aura a beacon even in the thick growth. “Is that the best you’ve got?!”

  It wasn’t, as more lances of power struck out. Some of it fizzled harmlessly off her shield, but a few of our attackers were smarter than their coven siblings. One blasted a crater at Sheila’s feet and she stumbled. Another took out a tree, sending it careening down where it slammed into, then bounced off of, her faith-based aura. Nice try, but no dice.