The Tome of Bill (Book 6): Half A Prayer (3 page)

I filled her in on Ed and his condition as best as I could. The truth was we still had no idea what had happened to him, how it worked, or if it was permanent. On the outside, he seemed to be fine. It was when you got to his creamy center that things got all explodey.

All the while, Robert continued to just stand there. It was starting to get a bit creepy. Sheila, oddly enough, seemed fine with it, though.

“So he really doesn’t know?” I hooked a thumb at the bookkeeper. “Not even with the world going all batshit?”

“It’s not going crazy everywhere.”

“I noticed. This place seems pretty...well, normal.”

Now it was her turn to avert her eyes.

“Your doing?”

Silence met my question.

“You know, I could have sworn I had seen mention on the news of a...”

“Fine,” she snapped. “Yes, it’s me. Robert works late, usually well after dark. By day, I can be Sheila Williams, a girl who works the register at the local pharmacy.”

My thought process slammed to a screeching halt at that.
Williams
? My first name was William. Was it just a coincidence? Or was there something deeper that...?

“...good that he works long hours. It gives me a chance to go out at night and keep the neighborhood safe.”

“Let me guess,” I replied, trying to focus. “You kill any vamps that happen to get too close?”

“I’m not specifically hunting vampires, Bill. I’m keeping an eye out for anything that’s
weird
in a bad way.”

“Weird in a bad way, like vampires?”

“Yes, like vampires if I get the sense they’re a danger. But the last several days, it’s been other things as well.”

“I can imagine. So...would you consider me weird in a bad way?”

There was an awkward pause in the room. Yeah, I’m good at killing meaningful conversation that way. It’s not too hard to guess why I’m so popular with the ladies.

“I wouldn’t,” she finally said. That was a relief. “Normally.”

Oh, fuck; here it comes.

“But Ed told me what happened...or at least, what he was told happened.”

“You can’t trust the telephone game,” I countered lamely, fidgeting with my hands.

“Oh, so you didn’t turn into some kind of mon... something else. Something that tore Remington limb from limb.”

“I thought he killed you.” There was an edge to my voice and I wouldn’t have been surprised if my eyes momentarily turned black. It was not a pleasant memory for me to relive. “I kind of lost it.”

“So when were you going to tell me?”

“Tell you what? That I killed Remington? I kind of thought you were dead these past three months.”

“Not that. There was no way that guy was walking out of there alive, not after what he did. I don’t care about that. When were you going to tell me that...?”

“That I’m a monster?”

“Pretty much.”

“I would’ve gotten to it eventually.”

She ignored my pathetic excuse and went on. “That’s what worries me about you.”

“That I can turn...”

“No. That you’re not
you
when you do. I saw you fighting: against the Templar, those vampires, and even those witches. You didn’t kill anyone you didn’t have to. In fact, you went out of your way not to kill. You could have left people behind, but you didn’t. You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble, but you were there for your friends.”

“It’s nothing anyone who’s halfway decent wouldn’t do.”

“I know, but that thing isn’t
you
. I asked Ed about it. He told me about Canada and, before that, with the Khan’s assassins.”

“He did?” Jeez, didn’t the asshole have any of his own stories to tell?

“Yes, and it all points to the same thing: whatever mercy or goodness you have in you normally - it all goes right out the window when you change.”

“You don’t have to be afraid of me.”

She looked directly at me, her strange silver eyes glimmering. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“Oh.”

“I’m afraid of what it is you turn into. I’m afraid of what could happen. And most of all...”

“Yes?” I prodded gently.

“I’m afraid of what I might have to do to stop you.”

Robert began to stir, breaking the awkward silence. He blinked his eyes and moaned, beginning to wake from the power of the compulsion. Oh, crap.

Sheila’s eyes opened wide in panic and mine quickly followed. When Robert last had his senses about him, he’d been ready to call the cops on me. I’d also spilled the beans about her using a fake name. This was going to require some pretty fast talking on both our parts.

“Do it again,” she hissed.

“What?”

“Put him under again. Make him forget all of this.”

“The world is coming apart at the seams,” I argued. “He’s gonna figure it out sooner or later.”

“I’m not ready yet.
Please
, Bill.”

Oh, fuck me. She could have added “tear off your own head while you’re at it and put it on the mantle as a bookend” and I’d have still done so. There was no way I could resist her plea, and it had nothing to do with compulsion.

Speaking of which, I hoped I had enough of Sally’s juice still running through my system.

“
TAKE A LONG NAP!! THIS IS ALL JUST A BAD DREAM!!
”

I don’t know which of us hit the floor first or hardest. All I knew was that one second the compulsion came flying out of me, and the next I was studying the pattern of the ceiling tiles.

Much to my dismay, Sheila went and checked on Rob the Knob first. At least it gave me a moment to collect my thoughts.

She was right about everything she’d said. There
was
a monster in me. It didn’t matter that at the moment I couldn’t change into it. Dr. Death was still inside of me and could return at any time...albeit, knowing him, it wouldn’t be at any time that was remotely convenient for me. My inner beast was both a killer and an asshole. Talk about pouring lemon juice on a paper cut.

It was weird. I’d never considered myself a likely candidate for having a split personality. My childhood wasn’t all wine and roses, mind you, but it was pretty decent. I’d been an only child in a middle-class household. The closest my parents had come to being abusive had been the occasional bit of sarcasm from my father, and even that wasn’t remotely close to the level I got from Sally most days. Who knew? Maybe I was more fucked in the head than I realized. Heh, if I actually managed to save the world, maybe I’d reward myself with a couple of rounds of psychoanalysis. That would be a hoot.

That would have to wait, though. I had a big mean motherfucker up in Boston to kill first, not to mention a worldwide supernatural war to stop. It was safe to say my dance card would be pretty full for the next few months.

I blinked a few times to clear my head and found my view of the ceiling blocked by one much more pleasant.

“Are you okay?”

“Nothing curling up in a corner and crying for several hours won’t fix,” I muttered. “How’s your boy toy?” Ugh, I should’ve waited to open my mouth until the room stopped spinning. It came out far more sarcastic than I’d meant.

“Sleeping like a baby, thanks.” She raised one eyebrow at me - looking far sexier than Mr. Spock ever had a shot at. “Is that jealousy I detect in your voice?”

Yes!
“No,” I replied quickly, my voice still a bit slurred. “I just think you can...”

“Think I can
what
?”

Oh, crap. I needed to get back to my feet and clear the cobwebs out before I spilled my guts while lying there on her floor. “Think you can maybe help me up?”

She reached down and offered me a hand, which I took before I could think better of it. The moment my hand closed upon hers, I realized my mistake and immediately winced. A second passed and nothing happened, save maybe my palm sweating. There was no flash of light and, even better, no horrifically painful immolation of my body.

“I’ve been practicing,” she explained.

“I can see that,” I replied once back standing vertically. It was impressive. I’d seen her exercise control over her powers before, but it had taken some effort on her part. Now, though, she’d barely batted an eye. Harkening back to her question; hell yeah, I was jealous, and not just of Robert. It made me think of all the things I could do if Dr. Death and I could only come to some sort of agreement.

I pushed it from my mind. There I was, standing in the same room as the girl of my dreams - holding her hand, even. It was not exactly the time to be having a pity party.

I could have stood there like that for an eternity.

“So, you didn’t come all this way just to compel my boyfriend into letting you see me wearing only a towel, did you?”

“Um...no, of course not.” I reluctantly let go of her hand, immediately missing the feel of her skin. I took a deep breath and forced myself to get down to business. “We need your help.”

“We?”

“All of us: Me, Ed, Sally, Tom, Christy...Hell, maybe even the whole world.”

“How is she doing?”

“Sally? Oh, she’s as big of a bitch as...”

“No, Christy. She was a little freaked out when I met her. How’s she doing with the baby?”

“Oh, fine. Interestingly enough, she freaked out again when she found out you were still alive.” The resulting flare-up of her powers necessitated the use of a fire extinguisher to put out our couch. “But she’s okay with it now.”

“That’s good to hear. Please send her my regards.”

“Will do.”

“So this help you need...”

“Yeah.” I sat down. This was going to be fun. “You know how the world has been getting ready to shit a brick?”

“Believe me, I’ve noticed.”

“Well, it’s started.”

“Noticed that too.”

“Good...sorta. Anyway, remember that whole thing about us fighting to the death?”

“Yes. That girl - Gansetseg, wasn’t it - seemed pretty convinced that you were going to kill me.”

“Yeah, she’s funny like that.”

“I’m sorry, by the way.”

“Huh?”

“She was a little...intense, but she didn’t deserve what she got. In the end, she helped us out, and that counts a lot in my book.”

“Gan’s fine,” I interrupted offhandedly.

“She
is
?” The surprise was evident in her voice, minus the typical horror one normally expressed when they heard something like that. I had to remember she’d never seen Gan at her
finest
.

“Yeah. Apparently, the little psycho jumps off buildings all the time.”

“Oh...that’s...”

“Yeah, forget about her. Trust me, I’m trying to.”

A sly smile played out over Sheila’s face. “She has a crush on you, you know.”

“Hence the trying to forget about her part.”

“It’s cute.”

“She’s a three-hundred-year-old mass murderer.”

“Maybe a bit less than cute.”

“Exactly.” Gah! I was letting myself get sidetracked way too easily. If I kept this up, I’d keep talking to her until sunrise. That wasn’t a bad thing, mind you. The problem was if that happened, I’d be stuck, and I was pretty sure Robert would eventually wake up. With no more of Sally’s blood to swig down, I’d probably be forced to do things the old-fashioned way and punch him out...which would most likely go a long way toward undoing any trust I was trying to build up again with Sheila. As much as I hated to do so, I needed to focus and just blurt it out.

“We might not have to fight to determine the fate of the world.” As far as pickup lines went, I’d used better.

“Well, that’s good,” she replied, bemused.

“No, you don’t get it. This prophecy shit is pretty serious. I mean, I don’t take it seriously, but a lot of folks do.”

“So we just don’t...”

“That’s the problem. I’m not sure we
can
avoid it.”

“Didn’t you just say you don’t take it seriously?”

“I know and I’m trying really hard not to, but everything I’ve done seems to draw me closer and closer to actually living it out. It’s starting to make me paranoid.”

“Okay, fine. The Templar were pretty convinced of that too. Let’s pretend for a second that maybe they were right about some things.”

“Good. Well, that’s just the thing. See, our prophecy, the one the blind vampire seers made...”

“Blind vampire seers?”

“Yeah, they’re fucking weirdos. I met them when I was trapped in Switzerland.” I held up a hand. “I’ll tell you all about it later. Anyway, long story short, there’s another Freewill.” She raised an eyebrow and I remembered that the Templar had drilled another name into her head. “Another
Night Spawn
like me.” I really needed to remember that phrase more often. It was so much cooler than Freewill.

“Oh.” Her eyes opened wide in surprise, but that was all. It was safe to say she was starting to come to grips with the various nasty surprises the supernatural world liked to toss out when one least expected it. “Are you sure he...or is it she...”

“It’s a he, and yes, I’m sure. I’m doubly sure he’s bad news. Let's just say he makes Remington’s entire hit squad look like a Girl Scout troop in comparison.”

“But how...”

“Because he kicked my ass six ways to Sunday. He turned my dungeon master and he ki...” I swallowed before saying it. Starlight’s death still seemed far too surreal to be true. “He killed a good friend of mine.”

Sheila was quiet for a moment, then she raised a hand and put it on my shoulder. It wasn’t much, but at the same time, it was insanely, weirdly comforting. I wasn’t sure if it was my feelings for her, something to do with her Iconhood, or maybe a bit of both. All I knew was that for a moment I felt warm inside, and not in an about to burn to a crisp sort of way. Sadly, I had to interrupt the moment. She had to know the danger.

“His name is Vehron...”

“That’s a strange name.”

“They call him Vehron the Destroyer, and believe me, it’s not just some bullshit moniker to make him look cool. This guy is the real deal.”

“Listen, Bill, I...”

“You don’t understand. I mean it. He’s over two thousand years old - a former vampire general who used to fuck up whole civilizations for shits and giggles. The guy has a rap sheet a mile long and...” I paused, unsure if I wanted to let her know of Vehron’s other crimes - that he’d been responsible for the deaths of more than one Icon.