The Mourning Woods (The Tome of Bill Book 3)

by Rick Gualtieri

  Whoa!

  “My lord?” James asked, perhaps the first time I had ever heard him unsure of himself.

  “You heard me. I choose you to fill your sire’s place. You have proven yourself more than worthy.”

  “What?” François hissed, rising. “I protest. This is...”

  “This is my will,” Alex said, the threat evident in his voice. “Or would you challenge that?”

  A look of fear crossed François’s face. He wore it well. It suited the weasely little dick. “No ... of course not.”

  “A wise answer. Perhaps the only one I have heard escape your lips since this began. I must say I am disappointed, François. This is not the first time you have attempted and failed to betray our race, am I correct?”

  “I was just...”

  “Fear not. Your death shall not come at my hands. I have a bit of admiration for ambition, after all, inept though your efforts may be. Fortunately for you, there will be plenty of chances to prove yourself again in the coming days.”

  “There will?”

  “Of course. This is your domain, is it not?”

  “Yes,” François replied, a little uncertain.

  “Well, I dare say then, you are on the front lines of this war. When the Grendel attack, yours will be the first line of defense standing before them.”

  “But...”

  “But nothing! You have much to prepare for ... NOW BEGONE FROM MY SIGHT!!”

  The compulsion was aimed squarely at François. Such was its force, though, that the trees around us all shook as if a tremor had passed through them. I may be the Freewill and immune to such things, but I had a feeling Alex could’ve popped all our heads like water balloons had he felt like it. As it were, François’s eyes glazed over. Without another word, he turned and walked away. His men quickly followed his lead, not wishing to risk Alex’s wrath.

  A recent memory hit me as I watched them leave. “I thought you said...”

  “I said it was difficult to compel someone of François’s age ... not impossible,” Alex calmly replied, turning back toward me. “Now that the refuse has been taken out, I must say, well done, Freewill.”

  “Well done?”

  “Yes. I am quite pleased.”

  “Um, you do realize I just started a war back there, right?” I asked. “I thought the Drac ... err ... First Coven wanted peace.”

  “Partly true. My brothers and sisters desired that outcome.”

  “I’m not following.”

  “What a surprise,” Sally commented under her breath.

  “Sally...” James growled in a slight warning tone, shutting her up.

  “Though I am first amongst equals,” Alex said, showing that low self-esteem was obviously not one of his vices, “I am occasionally forced to acquiesce to the whims of the other First, but not so this time. The opportunity was too ripe.”

  “Opportunity for what?”

  “To finish what I began two millennia ago, of course. I had half of Asia bowing down before me when an unfortunate encounter in India led to my being turned. As the recently reawakened, I was forced to obey my master and step into the shadows. Helpless, I watched as my armies squabbled amongst themselves and eventually dispersed.”

  “Yeah, I remember reading about that in history class.”

  Alex ignored my interruption, apparently lost in his own thoughts. “I bided my time, gaining strength and power while removing any rivals. At long last, I became the first of the First. After all these countless centuries, I knew that it was time for our people to step forth from the shadows and claim this world as our own ... as my own. Alas, the others begged to disagree. It has been a point of consternation amongst us for some time now.”

  He stepped forward and looked me square in the eye. “When you were born, though, I knew it was a sign, a call to action, if you will. We shall rise and conquer, the wishes of the others be damned.”

  “Okay,” I replied slowly, feeling the crazy coming off of him in waves. “So you planned all of this yourself?”

  “Not entirely. Your reputation precedes you, Freewill. In such a short time, you have developed quite the aptitude for ... how do I say this...”

  “Fucking things up?” Sally offered.

  “Yes, that will do nicely. You really are astute, my dear. I meant it when I said that earlier. I see a great future for you.”

  “Thanks,” she answered blithely. Bitch!

  “I knew deep down,” he continued, “that by putting you in a position of authority, you would find a way to fulfill your destiny.”

  “My destiny?”

  “Have you not listened to the prophecies, boy? You are the Freewill, the one who shall lead our forces against our enemies. Well, congratulations, now you have enemies to lead the charge against.”

  “That was your blood,” I said, beginning to understand.

  “Of course,” Alex admitted. “I will say it had quite the effect on you. Startling, in fact. You are everything the legends said you would be. You simply require a bit of polishing before you reach your full potential.”

  “But ... the world, my lord...” James stammered, still not having regained his composure.

  “I already told you, Wanderer, enough with the groveling. We are brothers now. As for the world ... the world needs a good purging. It has been far too long since the last great flood or Black Death. This time we shall remake the world in our own image.”

  Sally and I exchanged glances. Oh, yeah, this was not good.

  “This is a great day, my friends,” Alex said, clapping us each on the shoulder in turn. “The vampire nation shall rise from the ashes, supreme in a world of darkness!”

  Yeah ... a world of batshit crazy darkness.

  The Awesomely Important Epilogue

  The world of darkness would fortunately have to wait. Work was my most pressing concern right at that moment. Our trip back from Canada turned out to be considerably faster and easier than the trip there. Once the truce had been dissolved, we didn’t need to worry about the Sasquatches’ restrictions on technology. After filling us in on his plans for an extreme global makeover, Alex conveniently produced a satellite phone and made a quick call. An hour later, a pair of black, heavily-armed helicopters arrived to pick us up and take us back home. I guess it's good to be king.

  Alex and James departed in one, headed for parts unknown. There were preparations to be made on both sides. Despite Alex’s posturing, neither faction was prepared for immediate battle, which I guess was good. I wasn’t quite ready to kiss my own ass goodbye yet anyway.

  Sally and I were flown back to the city on the other, being told that the vampire nation would call upon us when it was time. Essentially the fuckers set me up to doom the world and then gave me a “Don't call us, we'll call you.”

  We spent most of the trip back in silence, a rarity for us. I knew we were both thinking the same thing, but the vamps flying us were undoubtedly Alex’s men. In such company, it was best not to voice our true thoughts on the “glorious” future ahead of us.

  That being said, once back, it was amazing how quickly the whole frigged-up experience began to feel like a bad dream. Sally and I had the same top priority upon arriving home ... the world’s longest shower (sadly separate). She went back to Manhattan to deal with coven issues ... although I suspected her main issue would involve a massive amount of pampering at the hands of Alfonzo. Note to self: stake that guy just to piss her off.

  I made my way back to Brooklyn where I happily found my roommates waiting for me. Christy had made good on her part of the deal. They had even cleaned up that “disintegrate Bill” dust for me, which was awfully cool of them considering I had completely forgotten about it by then.

  Upon my arrival, I filled them in on what went down after they had poofed out of there. Tom summed it up best of all.

  “What a bunch of fucking cocks!”

  Couldn’t have said it better myself.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Our
boss, Jim, was overjoyed at having us back. I was kind of glad, too, since that meant I still had a good chunk of my vacation days left. I figured there was no reason to upset him by mentioning that the concept of programming video games was all for naught since civilization was teetering on the edge of total destruction. I’m considerate that way.

  Despite my status of permanent telecommuter, Jim asked if I wouldn’t mind popping by the office on a day when I was feeling up to it. He wanted to have a face-to-face to go over existing projects as well as some new priorities that were coming down the pipe from the higher-ups.

  He was referring to the, unbeknownst to him, bullshit cover story of my illness. For me, though, this meant picking a day when I wasn’t likely to be turned to dust. I quickly checked the weather report (a gamble, I know), discovered it would be overcast on Friday of that week, and set our meeting for that day. It made sense. I could stop in and talk to him, then head over to the Office to see what shenanigans Sally had been up to.

  Little did I know then, but I should have prayed for sunshine.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  I arrived at the office of Hopskotchgames around mid-afternoon. My first impression was that they had redecorated. The entire programming floor had been rearranged. There was still the prerequisite sea of cubes, but several open work areas had been created.

  One of the database guys, Mike, saw me standing there taking it all in. “Hey, Bill. Heard you were dead.”

  “What?!”

  “Just kidding, man. Haven’t seen you in a while.”

  “Oh ... yeah,” I stammered. The joke shouldn’t have caught me off guard, but sometimes I could get paranoid over the whole undead thing.

  “Like the new digs?”

  “It’s definitely different. One of the VPs get a bug up their ass about the décor?”

  “Nah. Upper management hired these new efficiency experts. Apparently, they made quite the pitch. They’ve been changing things left and right.”

  “More management bullshit?”

  “Not really. Some of it actually makes sense. Go figure,” he replied. “They’re all here today. You should stick around and meet them.”

  “Why would I care?”

  “I think you’ll like them,” he finished with a smug smile and said no more. I was about to pump him for more info when Jim spotted us and beckoned me over.

  We spent about an hour and a half going over stuff. There was nothing really special to discuss – just your typical type-A personality boss crap: him having a near aneurysm about new priorities and me making assurances. Still, he seemed in a better mood than when last we spoke. I learned it was because he was close to hiring a new admin. The relief coming off him was palpable. Personally, I couldn’t have cared less. There had been nothing wrong with the old admin. In fact, she had been perfect, as far as I was concerned.

  That pretty much ended the meeting for me. Jim droned on for another half hour, but I didn’t hear him. I was stuck thinking about Sheila and how our potential future had been snatched away ... first by her quitting and now by me destroying the world.

  We finished up and I said my goodbyes, preparing to head over to the coven. As I was walking out, though, I noticed a few of the executive team exiting one of the larger conference rooms. I remembered Mike’s suggestion. It looked like they were wrapping up anyway, so I figured it wouldn’t kill me to wait a few extra minutes. I leaned up against a wall to get a load of the jokers that were here to make us all super-efficient worker drones.

  And that’s when all my thoughts pretty much ground to a dead halt.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  It wasn’t the sight of our CEO that got me. It was whom he was shaking hands with. No fucking way! It was no wonder Mike had been so goddamn sly. I had been told that my infatuation with our former admin wasn’t exactly a well-kept secret. Guess they were right. Suddenly I was glad I had listened to him, smug grin and all.

  Sheila stood there talking to our CEO. Hell, just a few weeks ago, I doubted he would have recognized her if he’d run her down with his BMW. Yet there she was, looking him straight in the eye and talking as if they were old friends. I almost couldn't believe I was actually seeing her again. At the same time, though, it almost wasn’t her.

  It's hard to explain, but she had changed. I could tell that with a casual glance alone – not that there was anything casual about the way I was staring at her. Gone was her typical bland office attire. She was dressed in a business suit – an expensive one, by the looks of it. She held herself straight and proud, an aura of confidence about her. The shy girl who had, just a short time ago, confided in me about not believing in herself was nowhere to be seen. Standing there was a woman who looked like she could conquer anything that stood in her way.

  Despite all of that, though, she was still the most amazing person I had ever seen ... just more so, if that was even possible.

  I stood there gawking like a complete idiot for what could have been hours, for all I knew. She said her goodbyes and then her eyes shifted in my direction. Normally I would have picked that moment to dive into an unoccupied cubicle, but I had changed, too. With the fate of the world resting upon my shoulders, the very least I could do was stand my ground and say “hi.”

  When she saw me, she broke out into a big smile, and I could tell it was genuine. She was just that type of person. It could’ve been wishful thinking on my part, but I didn’t get that vibe.

  She walked over and I immediately felt my veneer of bravery collapse. It was as if the cool, confident part of my brain decided that it was the perfect time for a nap. Guess I hadn’t changed that much after all. Fucking asshole subconscious!

  “So ... you’re back?” I stammered, feeling sweat break out on my forehead.

  “Hi, Bill,” she said, the warm smile never leaving her face.

  “Sorry. I mean, it’s great to see you again. I didn’t know if ... well ... I would ever...”

  She giggled. “You can’t get rid of me that easily. I’ve just been really busy.”

  “I can imagine,” I replied, having no real clue. “So are you ... they said efficiency experts ... and...”

  “Yes, and yes.” She reached into her breast pocket (oh, those heavenly breasts) and produced a business card. “Check it out.”

  “I will,” I replied, absentmindedly sticking it into my own shirt pocket. That could wait until later. No way was I wasting a moment of our time together staring at a stupid business card.

  We stood there in awkward silence for a few moments. Could it have been that she was as nervous as I was? Nah, not the way she looked. She was probably just thinking of a way to escape from my...

  “You know, it’s weird running into you here.”

  “Yeah, the whole work from home thing...”

  “No. It’s just that ... this is going to sound a little bizarre, but I had the strangest dream about you the other night.”

  “Really?” Please let it be a sex dream.

  “Yeah. You were in the woods and these things were chasing you. Weird huh?”

  I blinked stupidly at that for a moment. “Uh, yeah ... weird.” Holy crap, hadn't I dreamt of her too just a few nights back? Well, okay, I tended to dream about her all the time. Still, maybe this was the sign I was looking for, the one that proved we were connected by fate. Yeah, I liked that. Worked for me.