The Tome of Bill (Book 7): The Wicked Dead (59 page)

“There’ll be time for her later,” I said as she caught up to me.

“Oh, believe me, there will be lots of it. I’m gonna make it so fucking slow, she’ll think it lasts forever.”

“If you’re expecting me to talk you out of it, don’t bother.”

She glanced sidelong at me, but then once more averted her eyes. Oh fuck this. I stepped up and put an arm around her shoulders. “Hell, I might even help you, partner.”

I expected some retort, or maybe an elbow in my gut, but all she said was, “I’m sorry, Bill. I really am.”

I lowered my voice to a bare whisper. “There are lots of people who deserve to be sorry. You’re not one of them.”

A look of gratitude crossed her face for a single moment, then it was replaced by something I would have given my left testicle to see – her familiar arrogant smirk. “Let’s go check on the meatsack,” she said, striding forward. “But be warned. If he bleeds on me, I’m kicking his ass.”

“I think you already did that,” Ed said, finally sitting up.

“Sorry.” She offered him a hand. “I didn’t mean to hit you so hard.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“Bad timing all around,” she said. “After I realized what that red-headed bitch had done to Starlight, I sort of lost it.”

“You remembered things?”

“Yeah, but nothing good. All it did was put me in the mood for murder. Right about then, Alexander’s orders kicked in. Let’s just say it was like mixing whiskey with a blowtorch.”

“I can see that.” I turned to Dave. “You all right?”

“Define all right,” he replied.

I faced Sally again. “Adam?”

Sally gave her head a single shake. “Like I said, I’m sorry.”

Fucking Alex! That was yet one more life I owed that fucker. This whole thing had been his deal, his setup. I’d been little more than a pawn to him – we all had.

Well, this was one pawn who wasn’t going to forgive and forget.

“It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault.” Oh, the hell with this. I turned and grabbed her, pulling her in and hugging her hard. For a moment, she stiffened against me, but then she let her guard down and returned it. I could have sworn I heard the softest of sobs come from her, but maybe it was just my imagination.

“Eh hem.”

I turned to Ed. “Get the fuck over here too.” He narrowed his eyes, my affection toward Sally perhaps a bit too out in the open, but then he sighed and jumped in, grabbing both of us.

I glanced quickly at Dave, but he just held up his hands and mouthed, “No.” Oh well.

The missing member of our quartet weighed heavily upon me and I gripped my friends all the tighter for it. Ed must’ve sensed this because he asked, “Tom?”

“He’s a twelve-inch plastic doll.”

“What?”

“I tossed him into that corner over there.”

“You’re not making any sense, Bill.”

No, I most certainly wasn’t.

Nor would I be given a chance to, because right then, the screaming started.

* * *

My friends and I broke contact to see what the commotion was all about.

It was Christy.

She’d broken free of the vampires helping her along and was pointing an accusing finger toward where Alex and the other elder vamps were converging with Calibra and Firebird in the center of the room.

“What are you?” she snarled.

Alex looked at her as if he’d noticed a gnat on his arm. “Restrain the Magi. She is clearly ... overstressed.”

The two vamps managed to take a single step before Christy’s power flared up around her. They were flash-fried from the waist up, turning to dust in the next moment.

Okay, that was unexpected. Had the poor girl finally gone round the bend?

Alex raised the barest of eyebrows. “I would highly suggest you stand down, witch.”

“Oh crap. Let’s go.” I didn’t wait for my friends to start moving. Christy was tired and stressed, but apparently still dangerous as all hell. That was a bad combination when facing the most powerful vampire on the planet. I sincerely doubted Alex would tolerate even the slightest hostility from her.

Thankfully, James stepped forward, hands raised in a placating manner. “You have nothing to fear from us, Christine. I promise you that.”

“Not you,” Christy shrieked. “Her!”

Who? Firebird?

“I can assure you...” James began.

“Oh, it’s quite all right, James. This charade has truly gone on for long enough,” Calibra said.

I skidded to a halt just short of Christy, partially to avoid ending up like the last two guys and also because of what Calibra had just said. What the hell?

James turned toward the former prefect, his expression still disarming. “I beg your pardon, my dear. I know you have had to endure quite the ordeal, but I must insist you remain silent for the time being. Until we can assess what damage The Destroyer did to your mind, I cannot guarantee your safety.”

Calibra raised what looked to be a bemused eyebrow at that. “I’ve been silent for over three thousand years. You have no idea how sick of it I am.” She turned to Christy. “How did you know?”

I jumped back a step, almost bowling over Sally and Ed, as Christy began to power up again. The strain must’ve been incredible for her, but she was somehow managing it nevertheless. “I sensed it earlier,” she said. “You were using the redhead as your puppet, your mouthpiece. And now it’s stronger than ever. I can feel the connection between you and those things.”

Calibra let out a musical laugh, far different than the stuck-up bitch attitude she’d used when last we’d met. “I’m impressed. As for my children, call it a necessity. I’m afraid they’ve always been a rowdy bunch, very much in need of a mother’s touch.”

At that, the remaining Jahabich simultaneously replied, “
Mother
.”

Oh, I didn’t have a good feeling where this was going. Not good at all.

“Silence them,” Alex said to his troops before turning back to the unexpectedly mouthy vampiress.

“
YOU’LL DO NO SUCH THING!!
”

The compulsion that erupted from Calibra was like nothing I’d ever felt before – subtle, painless, but seemingly attached to the world’s biggest bass, one that just happened to be vibrating beneath our feet.

“Did you feel that?” Sally asked.

“Kind of hard to miss.”

Alex’s soldiers definitely didn’t because they all went slack – doing the very worst thing a vampire could do: ignoring his orders.

As for Alex, the only sign from him that anything was amiss was a slight frown creasing his face. “So, it would seem you were compromised after all. A pity. The Wanderer spoke highly of you. In time, you might have even made a fine contender for the First.”

The next thing I knew, Alex was flung clear across the chamber. He slammed into the wall, and slid down to land in a heap. Calibra stood where he’d been just a moment earlier, her arm outstretched as if she’d just backhanded him, but I hadn’t seen any blow – not even a blur of motion. Yet the scene spoke volumes.

Holy crap. She’d just punched out Alexander the Great. A part of me would have been tempted to applaud had I not been scared shitless.

Vargas was quick as a snake to respond to James’s wayward protégé. He shoved Firebird aside like she was nothing – which she probably was to him – and then advanced upon Calibra. “Die, slave of Ib!”

Sadly, he ended up following his own advice as a second later, he turned to ash around Calibra’s arm – plunged through his chest at nearly the same blazing speed she’d struck Alex with.

This shouldn’t have been happening. I mean, we’d won, for Christ’s sake. Why was everything falling apart?

For a second, I was sure it was Dr. Death doing all of this and that I was stuck in my freaking head again.

Unfortunately, if it was all just a delusion, it was a damned good one. Just then, Christy began to pulse with dazzling energy, hot enough to singe my eyebrows even from several paces back.

Gan saw what was coming and dove into James, knocking him out of the potential path of the spell.

She needn’t have bothered.

Just as Christy let loose, Calibra held out a hand palm up, and a skull shimmered into existence in it. I wasn’t a phrenologist by any stretch, but the sickly purple glow from within gave me a clue as to who it had once belonged to.

“No!” Christy shrieked. The energy wave dissipated instantly, leaving not even a single scorch mark on Calibra’s stark white dress. As this transpired, Decker’s spectral laugh emanated from his noggin – an asshole to the end and beyond.

“You asked what I was, child,” Calibra said. “It is not what, but who. I believe you know, though. Your friend here certainly recognized me.”

Christy dropped her hands to her sides and her knees buckled. Fuck the danger. I immediately stepped in to catch her, hoping she didn’t decide to go nuclear in my arms. “Kala the White,” she whispered. “The White Mother.”

* * *

How the fuck was that possible? “Why didn’t you tell me witches were immortal?” I asked Christy.

“That’s because they’re not, Freewill,” Calibra replied.

“Then how...”

“A bargain, no doubt.” I turned and saw Alex was back on his feet. If he’d been injured by the blow, he didn’t show anything beyond a theatrical wiping of his lips for a non-existent bloodstain. “Tell me, Magi, to what entity did you barter your soul so as to serve the abomination of Ib?” He began to casually saunter her way, but I had little doubt he was ready to strike. You didn’t deck someone like Alex and hope they were gonna let you get away with it unscathed.

“Alexander of Macedon, for all your vaunted wisdom, you truly are as blind as those fools you keep in your cave.” She smiled, revealing a set of fangs.

“Impossible,” James said, picking himself up off the ground, Gan by his side. “Magi cannot be turned.”

“Um, is that true?” I whispered to Christy.

She elbowed me in the ribs. Okay, probably not a great time for Q&A. By then, Sally and Ed had stepped in, standing on either side of us. Now where was...

I glanced back and saw Dave making a beeline for the door. I really needed to kick his ass when this was over.

“Magi cannot be turned, this is true,” Calibra replied.

“Then how...”

“Unless they are the very first to be turned.”

What the fuck?

Holy shit! That’s when it hit me. Vehron had said it in passing, referring to his so-called master as a her. I just hadn’t paid it any attention at the time.

The room seemed to grow dim, the light condensing in on itself until it seemed a spotlight shone on Calibra, her white dress nearly glowing in the illumination.

“I’m surprised none ever figured it out. I even made it a point to hide both of my names in plain sight. I was once Kala the White, but I am now and will forever be Ib. I am The First, your lord and master. And my time has finally come.”

I waited a moment to see if any other shoes were going to drop – like maybe she’d turn out to be Colin in a wig – then took a tentative step forward. “Um, excuse me.”

“This is not your concern, Freewill,” Alexander replied conversationally, continuing to approach Calibra, who, for her part, appeared unworried.

Risking a pounding by multiple beings that outclassed me several times over, I ignored him. “What do you mean, your time has come?”

“Is it not obvious, boy?” Calibra asked. Oh God, I could see where the others got it from. “I am...”

“No, it is
not
fucking obvious!” I snapped. “Would everyone please stop fucking saying that?”

All heads in the room, including the Jahabich, turned in my direction. I really needed to watch my mouth. Still, when one has a captive audience, one must make the best of it.

“I have not known you long, boy,” Calibra replied. If she was irked by my outburst, she didn’t show it. “But in that time, you have managed to impress me as a seemingly inexhaustible fount of stupidity. The mantle of Freewill chose poorly this time. Listen well, for I will not repeat myself. The time of Ib has come. My influence, once buried and forgotten, is again fertile, and I have you to thank.”

“You’re welcome, but I think you might have missed the memo on that one. In case you didn’t notice, your boy Vehron is now waiting to be mopped up whenever the janitorial staff clocks in.”

“The Destroyer was a loyal servant. His passing is quite regrettable. Once I heard he’d returned from his long exile, however, I knew it was time. The portents did not lie. My position as the Wanderer’s protégé, chosen so carefully after millennia in hiding, proved fruitful indeed. For when Vehron rose, I was near enough to quickly join him.”

“Yeah, thinking that didn’t turn out so hot.”

“Quite the contrary. Little did I know that fate would be so kind. My salvation indeed lay with a Freewill, just a different one than expected. You, boy. Somehow, despite your mediocrity, you helped facilitate the birth of the pure one.”

“Ed?” I glanced back at my roommate. “No offense.”

“None taken, man. I am the epitome of innocence lost.”

“In your dreams,” I replied before turning to face Calibra again. The look on her face was one of mild amusement.

Before I could say another word, though, she let loose with a compulsion. “
ALEXANDER, BE A GOOD DOG AND STAY!!
”

To my surprise, and a good deal of horror, Alex’s forward progress halted immediately. Oh boy, this wasn’t looking good.

James’s legs tensed, but Calibra held up a finger toward him and gave it a single shake.

“Okay, excuse me for calling bullshit,” I resumed, hoping to buy time ... for something. I wasn’t sure what. Maybe we’d get lucky and a random meteor strike would hit. “But for all your crap about pure ones, your boy toy tried his best to kill Ed when they first met. Also, if I recall correctly, you were with us when we were trying to track down Mr. Muscle Dick. You saw Ed fry at least one vamp with his blood. You could have grabbed him at any time if he was so fucking important to you.”

To my surprise, Calibra’s mask of composure dropped ever so slightly, replaced for a moment by one of annoyance and maybe even slight embarrassment. “Very simply put, I did not realize his significance at the time.”