Holier Than Thou (The Tome of Bill) (28 page)

Benny stepped out and faced me. “And the Blessed One?”

“She’s free to do as she pleases. No one here will stop her.”

“Your Holiness,” he called to her. “Let us leave these serpents to their foul fate.”

I stepped over to the front and opened the door for her. “I meant what I said earlier. I’m sorry if things didn’t go the way I planned, but I really was trying to help.”

“I know you were, Bill,” she replied, then added after a moment, “I’m good where I am.”

She was?!

Woo! Go me! Guess I’ve still got it.

“But your...”

“I’ve made my decision, Ben,” she replied, not entirely unkindly. “I’ve seen a lot of ugliness tonight, but despite what you think, Bill isn’t the cause of it.”

“You can’t be serious. They will...”

“I am. You claim to know a lot about faith, Benjamin, but your problem is that you’re too narrow in your beliefs.”

“I have...”

“Faith in God, I know, but faith goes beyond that. Sometimes you need to have faith in people too.”

“These creatures aren’t people.”

“Speak for yourself,” Ed huffed from the driver’s seat.

“I think that’s a matter of perspective,” Sheila replied.

“What has this creature done to you? Has he somehow defiled you with his evil influence?”

Heh, I wish.

“Ben, thank you for everything. I wish things had turned out differently, I really do, but at least I’m glad you survived. I won’t forget what you or your brothers have done for me. Please be safe.”

“You cannot go with this creature. It will be the end of you.”

“Somehow I don’t believe that. Have a little faith, Ben. I know I do.” With that, she pulled the passenger side door shut.

I gave Ben a smirk of triumph as I stepped past him. Hey, I wasn’t above a little pettiness. He’s just lucky I didn’t raise my hand to my forehead and give him the L sign.

“This isn’t over, spawn of Hell,” he whispered to me.

“Get in line, Benny,” I replied, climbing back into my seat. “See you at the next church revival.”

* * *

We ditched the car about a mile away from the safe house. Ed and I wiped it down for prints while the others grabbed our stuff. That done, we all headed toward our destination. Thank goodness we made it back when we did. Despite the rain, the horizon started to lighten. Another hour and things might be getting a bit toasty for my own comfort.

Sally wasn’t happy about using the new safe house, but she’d have to deal. At least I had been able to rid us of Benny. Even if he managed to round up more of his holy rollers, they wouldn’t be able to do much to bother us.

Gan was a completely different problem, but it was pointless to bother worrying in her case. Not only would she be near impossible to lose, but even if we did, she could pretty much sniff me out wherever I might be. At least this way we knew where she was. She’d hopefully cause less chaos with our eyes on her.

We reached the building and Sally let us in, disengaging the security system in the process. “Welcome to the former safe house of Village Coven,” she announced to the group, holding the door open for us in mock invitation.

“Coven?” Sheila asked. “I thought that was witches.”

“Stole the idea from us,” Sally said. “Come on, you can have the spare bedroom. It has a security door with a heavy lock.”

“I’m not afraid.”

“I know,” Sally replied. “It’s mostly to keep you from feeling Bill’s eyes staring at you all day. He can be a little pathetic like that.”

“What about the rest of us?” Ed asked before I could chime in with an appropriate response to her asshole remark.

“The main bedroom is mine. If anyone has a problem with that, they can go fuck themselves sideways. The rest of you can sack out wherever you can find a spot...that includes you too, stud,” she said directly to him. “I’m too tired to play with my food today.”

Well that was...disturbing.

“I don’t suppose you have anything to eat here that doesn’t clot?” he asked. She just stared at him for a moment, her look saying it all. “I didn’t think so. Oh well, dibs on the love seat.”

Being a gentleman, I offered Gan the couch. She attempted to entice me into sharing it with her - all the while Ed tried to stifle laughter from where he lay. I respectfully declined and found a comfy section of floor. If I had learned anything from my college days, it was how to crash just about anywhere if the situation called for it. Hard surface or not, I was out within minutes.

* * *

I awoke some hours later, I’m not sure how many, but it probably wasn’t too long. One of the advantages of being a vampire is that I needed much less sleep than during my living days. Even so, enough fatigue could knock me out for the entire night...or day. Perhaps that had been the case now. I couldn’t see any light through my closed eyelids. Maybe I had actually slept through the day. It was possible, considering the wounds I had sustained.

I opened my eyes to check the time and had to stifle a scream.

Gan’s smiling face beamed down at me from about six inches away. “Good day, beloved. I have been watching over you.”

Damn, Sally was right. It
was
creepy.

I sat up and immediately scooted away before she could try to get more comfortable. Once out of her reach, I took a look around. The storm had abated, but clouds still covered the sky. No wonder it was still dark.

“What time is it?”

“It is still morning. You have been asleep for about four hours.”

Damn, that meant the full day was still ahead...a day of being cooped up with Gan. How lovely.

“The others?”

“Asleep. We are the only ones awake.”

“Shouldn’t you still be catching some shuteye too?”

“I was. I awoke once I heard you stirring.”

“You heard me stirring?”

“Of course. I am entirely in tune with you, my love.”

Yeah, definitely creepy. Thank goodness I didn’t own any pet rabbits for her to boil.

“Well, let’s not wake the others.”

“I would not dream of it. This is the first moment I have had you all to myself. I do not wish it to end sooner than it must.”

Well, that made one of us.

“How is your shoulder?”

I gingerly touched it. It was pain free, which was good. I reached into my sleeve and under the bandages. The bumpy texture of fresh scar tissue greeted my fingers. In a few hours even that would be gone. Had it not been a silver weapon, it would have done so hours ago, but oh well. Regardless, being a vampire definitely had its perks.

“I’ll live.”

“I know.”

*sigh*

I got up, walked over to the kitchen and opened the fridge. Just as Ed had suspected, it was full of blood - but thankfully no body parts. Oh well, this was New York. It’s not like you could throw a rock without hitting a falafel stand. He and Sheila would be fine.

I grabbed a few pints and tossed one to Gan. She liked it fresh, but I preferred she not gnaw on my friends. To help keep her from balking, I raised mine in a toast. “To your...health.”

“To our future, Dr. Death.”

“Uh yeah.” I took a long sip from mine. “So what are you doing here, Gan?”

“I told you...”

“I know you did, but still, aren’t you worried?”

“Worried? Why would I worry?”

“You said you had spies in the Boston office, right?”

“Correct.”

“Well then you have to know that the group last night was operating on the authority of the First Coven.”

“Of course. Even if I did not know, I could easily surmise that.”

“Then you have to know you’re going against them in your actions.”

“Obviously, beloved.”

Grrr, again with the beloved bullshit. It was enough to make me want to get a running start and dive straight through one of the windows.

“Okay, am I missing something here, then? These are the First. You don’t go against them.”

“Are you not doing so right now?”

“Well, yeah...but that’s different.”

“How?”

“It’s...hard...well...it just is.”

“That is...fascinating, Dr. Death,” she replied, throwing her own little smirk at me. Great, I was being humored by a reject from
Monster High
. “My own motivations are simple enough.”

There was a moment or two of silence. “Care to enlighten me?”

“The war is upon us.”

“I kind of noticed, right around the time that Nergui killed Turd’s daughter.”

“Yes,” she said, a thoughtful smile on her face. “He died an honorable death. Loyal to the end, although I never expected less. Did you know that Alexander himself suggested I send him?”

“What?!” I replied, spewing blood.

“Yes. He visited my domain and told me about the gathering.”

“So he manipulated you,” I said, feeling some sympathy for her. She had been as much a pawn as I had. “He knew that if you suspected how the Humbaba Accord would end, combined with your feelings for me, it would cause...”

I stopped as she broke down into giggles. “Oh, Dr. Death, you are truly funny. It is one of the reasons I love you so. Alexander tried to manipulate me, that much is true, but my father did not raise me to be a fool. I saw through his guise the moment he began to speak.”

“Wait, so you knew he wanted to start a war?”

“Of course. He could not have made it more obvious.”

“And you still did it?”

“Certainly. I had the same vision as did he. I knew that destiny was upon us.”

“Why you little...” I snarled. For a split second, I lost all sense of anything except that this little bitch had purposely and willingly set the world on a collision course with annihilation.

Before I could stop myself, the Freewill monster inside of me reared its ugly head, and I threw a punch at her still smiling face.

* * *

Or at least I tried to. As quick as I was, Gan ducked to the side effortlessly. My fist hit nothing but the empty space where she had been.

I pulled back, stunned she had moved so fast. Fortunately it gave me pause to push the anger back down again before it could take another swing.

“Ooh,” she replied, still grinning. “I do so enjoy seeing the fire inside of you.”

I took a deep breath and mentally counted to ten. “Do you realize what you’ve done, Gan? Really, do you?”

“Obviously, my love. In fact, I see things far more clearly than even Alexander.”

“I don’t think you do. If they find out you’re going against their wishes, they’re going to...”

“Kill me? I think not. You underestimate me, Dr. Death. My father’s followers are now my followers and the breadth of his fealty was wide indeed. Besides which, they will most likely never know of this so-called treachery on my part.”

“How can you be sure of that? You let Remington and his men go.”

“Your point?”

“My point is that they’ve probably already gone crawling back to Colin for reinforcements, ratting us both out in the process.”

“Doubtful. The First are not tolerant of failure, regardless of cause. Should Remington return to them in any state other than victory, it would reflect poorly on him. As leader, he would be expected to have prepared for any contingency. That he did not would be ill-accepted as excuse.”

“You think he’s still in the city?”

“Of course. There is no question that he will try again.”

That wasn’t good, although I’d be lying if I said I was surprised to hear it. Vampires don’t like to lose. That’s probably even more so when embarrassed by a pint-sized foe like Gan. Something about receiving a beat-down from a little girl doesn’t sit well with most guys.

“But what if this makes it back to the First?”

“What if it does?” she replied contemptuously. She muttered something in her native tongue. I had no idea what it was, but it sounded vaguely unflattering in tone. “Unlike most, I do not fear the First. Their time is drawing to a close.”

Whoa, that was unexpected. Gan was a little (read: a lot) nuts, but I hadn’t taken her to be suicidal.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Is it not obvious?”

“Pretend that I’m stupid.”

“As you wish. The coming war will bring with it upheavals the likes of which this world has not known since the ancient days.”

“I kind of guessed as much.”

“Alexander thinks his time has come. He believes that it is his destiny to finish what he started so long ago.”

“And?”

“And he is wrong, my love. He arrogantly assumes he is the only conqueror amongst our people. He is not. My bloodline is stronger. I am descended from Temujin, the great Khan himself. My grandfather, then father after him, ruled over far more of this world than Alexander ever dreamed. I have even heard rumor that the First originally targeted my grandfather, but refrained at Alexander’s insistence. The reason they ultimately turned my father was because he was equally as brilliant, but less enamored of conquest. Alexander assumes that my father’s descendants are likewise cowed. It shall prove to be a fatal oversight on his part.”

Had my jaw not been connected to the rest of my face, it would have surely hit the floor and rolled away. Up until then, I had thought that all other vampires were utterly obedient to the First. Sure, there were individual power plays going on. Hell, it was practically an everyday occurrence. However, when the Draculas said jump, everyone within earshot lined up and did so - no questions asked. I wasn’t stupid enough to think it was all blind loyalty, but I assumed fear of their wrath took over where that left off. I could understand that. A powerful enough vampire could compel just about anyone they wanted, save me maybe. If that failed, well I had gotten a taste of Alexander’s power. The dude was scary strong, as in powerful enough to kick the shit out of the Sasquatch chieftain.

“And what are you going to do if Alex doesn’t cooperate? He doesn’t strike me as the type to lie down and die when challenged.”

“That is easy, my love. I shall offer my troops the benefit of my wisdom and experience.” Being insecure apparently wasn’t an issue for Gan. “That will enable them to route Alexander’s forces, already weakened from the conflict with the Alma.”

“That doesn’t handle the little problem of Alex and the First Coven,” I pointed out.