The Tome of Bill Compendium Vol. 1 (Books 1-4) (140 page)

The ruptured organs and internal damage from the stake were bad enough, but they were nothing compared to the agony that raced up my arm.

I ignited, the fires of faith determined to devour me, but still I refused to let go. Dread Stalker proved to be smarter than I thought. Realizing what was happening, he tried to disengage from me.

Oh no you don’t!
The second he removed his arm from my windpipe, I bit down with everything I had, holding him in place. The fire that was consuming me, spread to him too, and he began to scream - enough for both of us.

A savage thought raced through my mind, amidst the pain.
Music to my ears, asshole.
A funny thing happened then. Though still burning, I noticed it didn’t hurt nearly as badly as it should. A moment later, I realized why.

The world flashed red and my fangs elongated even further, burying themselves to the bone in Dread Stalkers arm. It was my body’s defense mechanism - against the Icon’s power, against death itself. I was changing.

No!

I fought it. If it happened now, all my attempts to save her would be for naught. The second it was finished, I would surely attempt to kill her. Knowing what I was capable of in that state, I didn’t like her odds - disarmed as she was.

There was no way I was going to allow that. I’d die first.

Inching to the edge, I looked over. She was there, her body alight with energy. My God, she was marvelous...like an avenging angel. Almost as if in response, the rage flared up, fighting me, but I held onto her visage. There’s only one thing that can conquer such animalist hatred: pure love...or so the fairy tales say. I desperately hoped they were true for once.

I began to lift her, forcing the rage down - doing all I could to keep the change at bay. I doubled my resolve. I would save her, even if it killed me in the process. She was worth it.

She was also badass.

Seeing my predicament, as soon as I had raised her high enough, she lifted her other hand in a fist and swung it over my head. In the space of an instant, all of her power focused on the killing blow. Her aim was true and she connected squarely with Dread Stalker’s chin.

His body became ash almost instantly.
Good riddance, dickhead.
Unfortunately for me, I sensed I wasn’t far behind.

That’s when a curious thing happened. Sheila closed her eyes. A smile lit her face and she let out a small sigh of contentment.

All at once, the glow around her faded to nothing and with it went the pain. The white hot agony that had consumed me at her very touch was gone. I had managed to control my power and now she was doing the same. Gone was the burning power of faith and for the first time since this began - hell, for the first time
ever
- I felt her. My hand continued to grasp hers and all I felt was her skin against mine. For something so mundane, it was absolutely incredible.

I pulled her up over the edge. I must’ve looked like shit, but I smiled nevertheless...right before collapsing. Oh yeah, I was still staked. Goddamn my faulty memory.

I fell flat on my face, my insides continuing to turn to charcoal. Oh well, this wasn’t such a bad way to go. I kind of felt like Leonardo DiCaprio at the end of
Titanic
, right after he saved Kate Winslet. Hmm, come to think of it, I had always hated that ending. Oh well. It could be worse. I could’ve been living out the fucking awful finale to
Avatar
.

I heard screams and shouts, but they suddenly sounded very far away.

“Tom!”

Tom? No, silly. My name is Bill. Jeez, talk about...

“Hold on,” a sweet voice said from seemingly miles away. “I’ve almost...got it!”

JESUS MOTHERFUCKING CHRIST ON A POGO STICK!

Reality came screaming in to fill the void the stake had left. It, along with a good chunk of me, was wrenched free. My senses rushed back, including a massive shitload of pain.

“Are you alright?” Sheila gently rolled me onto my back, letting the nice, soft asphalt dig into the gaping hole in my backside. Icon she may be, but Florence Nightingale she was not.

“Peachy,” I strained to say.

“I’m serious.”

“So am I...sorta.”

“That was pretty crazy. You could have, well...you know...”

“You’re worth it.”

Wait a second...did I actually just say that? Holy crap, I did! Thank God for getting stabbed, beaten, and almost immolated, because it finally gave my insecurities a chance to take a fucking siesta.

We had only a scant second, but in that time, nothing else mattered. We enjoyed our moment. Unfortunately, that’s all it was. I remembered that the battle wasn’t over yet. I tried to stand and fell right back down on my ass.

That’s when I heard the scream.

* * *

“You fucking little prick, I’ll kill...urk!”

It was Sally. That got me moving again. I clawed my way back to my feet in time to see her go skidding across the rooftop, her body still glowing from the attack. I had forgotten we still had one witch left to deal with.

“Check on your friend. I’ve got this,” Sheila said.

Her aura flared to life again and she ran off to the right.

I didn’t want to leave her, but I couldn’t turn my back on Sally. My indecision had already cost Gan her life. I didn’t want to add anyone else to that list.

I lurched over to find her semi-conscious. The witch had hit her full on, but was apparently low on juice from the continued battle. What should have been a killing blow had merely dazed her, thank goodness.

I pulled her to a sitting position, and that’s when I noticed the mark on her forehead. It was a circular burn, but it was the image charred into it that caught my eye. Two large windows on its chest and a crude faceplate covering the mouth - Tom’s amulet!

Still horribly wounded, I stood nevertheless and glanced around. Tom wasn’t where we had lain him down. I looked toward Christy. Still standing over Ed, she was fighting off the last of Remington’s vamps, the strain evident on her face. It was taking everything she had. Her eyes met mine and I saw the panic in them. That’d been her voice I had heard earlier.

I stepped forward to help her out, but she shook her head. She closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and the power flared out from her - almost blindingly so. When I could see again, the purple glow was gone, and so were the two vampires. Piles of dust lay where they had stood.

Christy looked at me, mouthed, “Go!” then her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she collapsed next to Ed, completely spent.

That she hadn’t abandoned my roommate, even when she saw her boyfriend wake up, said a lot about her. It was time to return the favor.

Sally was going to be okay, so I limped over to the other side of the roof. Rounding an air vent, I found Sheila straddled atop the witch, pummeling the shit out of her. Say what you will for magic, but sometimes all that’s needed is a good right cross.

One last punch and the witch went limp. Well damn, that was easy.

Oh wait, no it wasn’t.

I took a step forward and that’s when I heard the click of a slide being pulled. Tom stepped around an air conditioning unit, not ten feet from Sheila’s position, Sally’s Desert Eagle in his hands. He had it pointed at her head. Even a total shit shot like me wouldn’t be able to miss at that range.

“Tom!” I wheezed, catching his attention. “You don’t want to do this.”

“You’re wrong, Freewill,” he replied. “She has to die.” Was he really that far gone?

I needed to reach him somehow. Sadly, even with the last of Gan’s speed, there was no way I’d be able to cross that distance before he could squeeze the trigger. There had to be something...that’s it!

I remembered what Christy had said. Perhaps a big enough shock could temporarily bring him to his senses.

“Think about Christy,” I urged. “Think about the baby.”

“I am,” he said, focusing again on Sheila who had started to rise. “Don’t even think about moving. You’re the cause of all this misery.”

“She’s not, Tom...I am.”

“I know. I meant
you’re
in the collective sense.”

“Oh. Well...um...this isn’t you. You’re not a murderer.”

“Maybe you don’t know me very well after all. This
is
the real me. I’d do anything to protect my child.”

“The real you...” I trailed off, a thought hitting me. Maybe I was going about it all wrong. I knew Tom. Hell, I had known him for twenty years. I remembered things about him that even he had forgotten. I knew the
real
him.

His finger tightened on the trigger. I only had one chance at this. Hopefully I knew him as well as I hoped.

“I’m glad Optimus Prime got broken.”

“What?” His eyes shifted back toward me.

“You heard me. Shit like that’s for immature assholes anyway. What are you, a fucking five year old?”

He blinked at me, outrage on his face. Holy shit, was it actually working? I needed to crank it up a notch.

“Yeah. In fact, you know what? I can’t stand any of your toys.”

“You need to stop...”

“Once this is all over, you know what I’m gonna do? I’m kicking in the door to your room and taking a blowtorch to every single fucking thing you own.”

“Don’t even...”

“Try selling He-Man on eBay when he looks like a hunk of melted shit.”

“Goddamn it, Bill,” he said, a familiar whining quality entering his voice. “How many times do I have to tell you to not touch my collectibles? Do you know how much money those fucking things are...” He stopped mid-sentence and began to blink rapidly, his stance becoming unsteady.

After a moment, he shook his head. Finally his eyes cleared and he looked over at me, recognition on his face. “Dude, where the hell am I?”

Holy crap, it had worked. I couldn’t believe it. It was kind of pathetic, seeing what really snapped him out of his funk. Okay,
very
pathetic...but who cared?

He looked down at the gun in his hands. “No fucking way!”

I stepped over to him as quickly as I could. “It’s okay, Tom. It’s...”

“When did I get a vintage
Megatron
? Do you know how much this thing is worth?”

Oh for Christ’s sake! I suddenly didn’t feel so bad for what needed to be done. After all, Christy did say it was temporary.

“Tom, believe me when I say I’m sorry for this.”

“Sorry for wh...OOF!”

He didn’t get a chance to finish, as my fist connected with his jaw - dropping him like a ton of bricks. He hit the rooftop, out cold - the gun clattering out of his grasp.

Letting out as deep a breath as my charred lungs would allow, I turned toward Sheila. She stood up from where the unconscious witch lay and we approached each other.

“Is he going to be all right?” she asked, her eyes dancing between me and Tom’s still form.

“His head is harder than you’d believe. He’ll be fine. More importantly, are you okay?”

“I’m right as rain.” She looked back at the fallen witch, then lifted her fist triumphantly. “Who’d a thought I had it in me?”

“Me, for starters.”

“I can see that. Thank you for believing in me.”

I shrugged, not knowing what to say. After all, my belief in her had caused all of this.

“Thank you for everything,” she said.

“I’m not sure you should be thanking me. I...”

“Showed me that I was special? Who could find fault in that?”

“I ruined your life.”

“No, you just opened a new chapter in it. That’s what life is all about - endings followed by new beginnings.”

“It’s the endings I’m worried about.”

“I’m not, especially now that I know I have you watching out for me.”

Holy moly! Did she just say that? Despite the cold, my palms got all sweaty. This really wasn’t the best time for us to have a moment. We were in the middle of a supernatural storm, having just barely beaten a group of trained killers. And yet, somehow it felt right...almost like a touch of destiny.

She held out her hand to me, the glow disappearing from it. I tentatively reached out and took it.

* * *

Nothing happened. Holy crap...
nothing happened
! We stood there, actually holding hands like two normal human beings.

I could barely believe it. It was the most wonderful fee...

*
BLAM!
*

The bullet just barely grazed my ear, drawing blood. For a second, time stood still as realization dawned. If I live to be a thousand, there will never be a moment as terrible as that one.

Sadly, the world resumed its normal pace far too quickly.

Sheila’s head snapped violently back. The force of the impact threw her off her feet, her hand slipping from my grasp.

She landed, unmoving, amongst the slush that was building up on the rooftop.

“Oh God, no!”

“Oh yes, Freewill,” an English-accented voice said from behind me.

I turned to find Remington standing there - one arm in ruins, a massive bullet wound rendering it all but useless. In his other hand, though, he held the same weapon which had earlier been used against him: Sally’s Desert Eagle.

“I am not so easily beaten,” he said. “You would have been wise to consider that. Alas, you were not. To think our people would put any stock in such a pathetic being as yourself.”

I had nothing to reply with. My whole form...my whole world...was numb.

He glanced past me to where Sheila’s body lay. “You sicken me, you know that? Who would have guessed you would choose her over your own kind?”

“Always,” I spat back, my voice sounding deeper than normal, something that I found not altogether surprising. I considered things - a cold rationality washing over me. In the space of a few days, his team had tried to take everything from me. In the space of a second, he had succeeded.

“Do not fret, Freewill. I meant what I said earlier. You will be joining her in Hell.”

His voice hardly registered with me as he raised the massive weapon and pointed it my way. The numbness began to leave me and in its place a red rage descended over my vision. The creature inside of me demanded freedom. For perhaps the first, and last, time, I was inclined to oblige. What did it matter anyway? What point was my life, my humanity, with her gone? What possible future could I have without her?