Holier Than Thou (The Tome of Bill) (22 page)

Emerging from the school, the wind hit my face, bringing a few droplets of rain with it. Apparently the weather had changed since we had entered. Odd, I could have sworn the forecast called for clearing skies.

“Come on, Bill,” Ed cried out. “What, did you die in there?”

“You’re a barrel of fucking laughs, you know that?” I replied as we caught up with him, Sheila, and - of course - Benny. Fuck me. There’s always gotta be a third wheel on every couple’s outing.

He whispered something to her and pointed at us. Sheila immediately raised her sword as we neared, her eyes narrowing on Sally. “She killed those men.”

I guess Benny had noticed Sally’s little temper tantrum back there.

“It’s not like that,” I said, feeling my own temper start to fray.

“I don’t...”

“No,
I
don’t care,” I snapped back, “They attacked first. Sally was just defending herself.”

“But...”

“But nothing. We don’t have time for this shit. I told you, we’re here to help. Now put the fucking sword down!”

Much to my surprise, she actually took a step back. A moment passed and she lowered the blade. Holy crap! Where the hell had that outburst come from? Sometimes it was like I didn’t even know myself.

“Wow, Bill,” Sally said from behind me. “You just got ever so slightly sexier.”

“Not now, Sally,” I replied. “We need to get out of here before...”

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Remington and his vampires swarmed out of the break in the wall. Before we could react to this, several flashes of light shone on the far side of us. Decker and his witches appeared from out of thin air, cutting off our escape.

Though we and the Templars had taken out our fair share of enemies, we were still outnumbered at least four to one. There were only two words that came to mind to describe the situation:
Game Over
.

Love Triangle

“If you could only see the look on your own face, Mr. Ryder.”

“I imagine it would still be only half as dumb as the one on yours,” I shot back at Decker. Never let them kill you without a snappy retort, I always say.

The situation didn’t look good. Vampire hitmen and a coven of pissed-off mages surrounded us. I was still amped on that other vampire’s strength but wasn’t sure how much longer that would last. Sally looked like she had been dipped into a deep fryer. Benny had his cross, although I wouldn’t count on him to do much more than stab me in the back with it if push came to shove. Ed...well, let’s be honest, aside from any witty comments he might have regarding the situation, he was tits on a bull.

That left Sheila. She was definitely the X-factor there, but even she could only swing that sword so fast. At some point her back would be exposed, and there was little doubt one of our enemies would be more than happy to take advantage of that.

“Step away from the Icon, Freewill,” Remington moved to stand by Decker’s side.

“Freewill?”

“Did he not tell you, my dear?” Decker asked, trying to pour a little salt in my wounds. He was well aware of my not-so-little crush on her. Apparently everyone in our office knew.

“We haven’t exactly had much time to chat,” I replied.

“You’re in on this too, Harry?” she asked.

“Obviously,” he said, a sneer on his douche face. “Alas, had I known what you were during our little dinner date some months back...the night would have ended much differently.”

“I could say the same thing,” I snapped. “If I had known what a fucking asshole you were, I wouldn’t have been so quick to save your ass...even less so if I had known you were a wizard.”

Sheila looked between us. “Was everyone at Hopskotchgames some kind of monster?”

Ooh, that stung. Was that how she saw me now? Well okay, I
was
currently covered in blood and gore. That wasn’t exactly helping my credibility.

“You’re lucky,” Ed said. “At least you didn’t have to go out on a date with Barb from HR. Talk about a many-tentacled beast.”

“Enough of this chatter,” Remington barked as lightning flashed in the sky. There was a storm coming, in more ways than one. “You will step away from the Icon now, or we will not be held accountable for your fate.”

“You really expect me to just walk away while you fry my girlf...err friends?”

“Who said anything about you walking away? You are a traitor to your kind. You will surrender and be brought before your superiors for punishment.”

There was a little too much glee in his voice for my personal edification. Knowing vampire justice, I had to assume that probably didn’t involve just a slap on the wrist. Hell, I’d be lucky if they killed me. In special cases, vampires could draw out the torture of their enemies for an eternity. Knowing my luck, I’d definitely be considered one of those.

“I think I’ll take my chances,” I replied, putting a little swagger into my voice. Hell, they didn’t need to know I was practically ready to shit a brick. If anything, it might make a few of them slightly more cautious as they moved in to fuck my day up further.

“Dibs on Decker,” Sally said.

“No fucking way,” I tried to keep a grin on my face. “First come, first served.” I turned my eyes toward Ed. He gave a shrug and smiled back. I liked his odds far less than my own, but his look said it all. He knew the risks when he signed on to this crazy-ass adventure.

Benny could go suck a fat dick as far as I was concerned. I turned to Sheila and met her eyes for what might have been the last time. “I’ve got your back.”

“Really?” The question came out honestly, with no sarcasm.

“You can trust me.” I meant every word of it.

“Why?”

Because I am deeply madly in love with you would have been my answer. Fortunately for me...err, sadly, that is...or whatever...I didn’t have the time to sputter out a reply. Our enemies converged upon us.

Oh well, at least they saved me from embarrassing myself.

* * *

Remington’s goons had come into the fray ready for a fight, armed with silver stakes. That meant only one of two things: either silver was equally effective against the Icon - something I had absolutely no idea about - or they were expecting trouble from me. When a vampire really wants to mess with another vamp’s outlook on life, that’s what they use. It reacts badly with vampire blood...explosively so. Think of throwing a magnesium flare into a puddle of water, except it happens inside of our bodies. It also has the added effect of really screwing up our healing abilities. Depending on a vampire’s age, minor injuries can heal themselves in minutes or less. Add some silver to the mix, though, and you slow things down enough that the vamp is left vulnerable in the middle of battle.

Considering who was behind their little expedition, I had little doubt they’d arrived fully expecting me to cause some problems. I had never gone out of my way to make an enemy of Colin, outside of maybe one little joke revolving around reformatting his precious work computer. Even so, he had taken an instant dislike to me. Part of it was probably the friends I kept. Sally and Colin had history. I wasn’t sure why James tolerated his continual existence, but then he was already a bit of an odd duck amongst vampires. He had his reasons...just as I had my own for doing what I did.

“Take the Freewill alive, kill the rest,” Remington ordered. His tone implied that he wouldn’t be overly concerned should I be captured sans a few of my limbs. What a surprise. It figured that the jerk would...

“I’ll hold them. You take everyone else and run.”

“Huh?” I grunted, pulling my focus away from Remington.

“I said,” Sheila repeated, “take the others and get out of here. It’s me they’re after. I’ll keep them busy.”

Hold on, that’s what
I
was supposed to say. Damn the crazy times we lived in and its confused gender roles.

“No chance,” I replied, adding some false bravado to my voice. If I was going to die in her presence, I might as well look cool doing it. “We all leave or none of us do.”

“Don’t I get a say?” Sally asked.

“Maybe later,” I said, ducking the first blow that came my way as our enemies converged on us. The battle was on...again.

Or maybe not.

Four of Remington’s vamps rushed me, two high and two low. There was no time to dodge. They smashed into me like a herd of runaway water buffalos. I went down, cracking my head solidly against the pavement. Hopefully my friends were putting out a better showing than me.

I saw stars, but I had been hit harder during my day. I struggled against my attackers, but they had numbers and leverage on their side.

They also had weapons. One of them raised a stake high above his head. My arms were pinned, so there was no way to defend myself against it. My life, and afterlife, flashed before my eyes as it descended. I prepared myself for the doubtlessly unpleasant sensation of turning to dust, but at the last second, they heeded their orders to take me alive.

The vamp slammed the stake down into my shoulder with enough force to plow straight through me and into the asphalt below. Goddamn, that hurt! Worse yet, I was pinned like a bug.

Oh wait, that wasn’t the worst. Sparks and flame began to shoot out of the wound as I cooked from the inside out. I wasn’t sure whether it would kill me or not, but after a second or two, I began to wish it would.

In between trying not to cry like a little girl, I tilted my head to see how the others fared. It didn’t look good. Sally had likewise been ganged up on. Two of Remington’s vamps held her arms, while a third worked her over with his fists. So much for not hitting a girl.

Another vamp knocked Benny and Ed effortlessly to the ground. Benny’s cross clattered off into the darkness, making him pretty much useless for doing anything other than breaking someone’s fist with his face.

That left Sheila. At first I thought she was keeping the other vamps at bay with her kickass sword moves, but it was ruse. The vampires weren’t even trying to get to her.

“Watch out!” I screamed. It probably came out much higher pitched than I intended, being that my shoulder was currently auditioning for a spot on the Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks display. It didn’t matter, though - I was too late.

This was the opening Decker’s coven had been waiting for. Multiple beams of pure magical force struck Sheila from all angles. She was enveloped in a blinding red light, flame leaping out in all directions.

“No!” It couldn’t end like this. I bit down on my lip, drawing blood but using the pain (well,
other
pain) to clear my head. The sight of her fiery death distracted the vamps who had pinned me, and I used it to my advantage. I brought my free arm up in a fist.

I caught two of the vamps straight on the jaw, knocking them into the others and off of me. Before any more could join the fray, I grabbed hold of the stake, said a silent prayer to whatever gods are in charge of pain management, and yanked with everything I had.

FUUUUUUCCCCKKKK!!

Yeah it hurt a bit. At last, though, it came out with a squirt of blood and sparks. Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure I could do much to take advantage of my hard-won freedom. That move had used up the last of my stolen strength.

As if to accentuate the point, Decker casually strolled over and kicked me in the jaw, putting me flat on my back again.

“Let me guess,” I said, testing my mouth to make sure nothing was broken, “this little party crashing was your doing?”

“Of course,” he replied, planting another blow in my side for good measure. He wasn’t above kicking a man while he was down. “The others weren’t sure, but I
knew
you were somehow connected to the Icon. I gave my coven daughters strict orders to scry your movements the moment you were out of their sight. Imagine my lack of surprise when you led us right to her. You are ridiculously predictable.”

I gritted my teeth while trying to come up with a witty comeback. Unfortunately I had nothing. Decker was right. I had been outmaneuvered, pretty fucking easily by the sound of things. Even so, I couldn’t let him know that. I needed to...

“What?!” His eyes opened wide and he suddenly focused his attention elsewhere. I looked up and turned my head to follow his gaze.

Was it even possible? Sheila had been driven to her knees by the force of the attack, but a white glow was spreading out from her - forcing the witches’ magic back. It was like watching the Enterprise’s shields hold against a photon torpedo barrage. She knelt at the center of the torrent of power. Sweat poured off her forehead from the effort, but she looked otherwise unhurt. Un-fucking-real!

Another boot to the head caught my attention. I glanced up, dazed, to find Decker adding his own magic to the attack.

“It matters not,” he growled. “She can’t hold us off indefinitely.”

“Looks like she’s doing pretty good so far,” I gasped, trying to find enough strength to do more than make pithy remarks.

“Sir!” One of the vampires ran up. “We found this inside.” He held out a familiar looking weapon - Sally’s hand cannon.

“I’ll take that,” Decker said, glee in his eye. He cocked back the hammer and raised the massive handgun. “Hold the humans,” he commanded. What the?

“Do it,” Remington added, stepping to his side.

Two of the vamps dragged Ed and Benny to their feet. They looked beat to all hell, but they were still alive...for the moment.

“Hear me, Icon!” Decker shouted. “Drop your guard or the humans will pay for your sins with their blood.” So much for mages not hurting normal people. That nobility shit went right out the window when it was convenient.

Several of the witches gave each other worrisome glances. I guess a battle was one thing, a full-on execution was quite another. Even so, they didn’t cease their attack against Sheila. When push came to shove, they were more concerned with saving their asses than protecting their karma.

Even through the light show surrounding her, Sheila appeared to weigh her options. She was actually considering it. Goddamnit, didn’t she watch TV? That shit never worked. She seemed to forget that even if Decker let them go, they were still surrounded by a pack of angry vampires...vampires who were no doubt thirsty after all the fighting going on.