The Tome of Bill (Book 6): Half A Prayer (33 page)

I decided it was probably in my and James’s best interests to not elaborate on that. “Never heard of them.”

“Edgar was the son of a former soldier turned farmer. He lived during the tenth century in a village south of Normandy. One day, a band of raiders invaded. Edgar took up his father’s sword and joined in with the defense, but it was all for naught. After a brutal fight against them, he found himself the last man standing, the only one left to protect the widows and children waiting to be raped and sold into slavery. He was ordered to surrender, but refused, vowing to protect his home no matter what.”

“So let me guess. One of the women was a vampire and...”

“Hardly. Edgar’s resolute vow awakened the dormant power within him. He became an Icon. Shining with the fires of faith, he proceeded to decimate the invaders. But Edgar wasn’t a conqueror. He had no interest in adventure or glory. He stayed to help his people rebuild and eventually became their sworn protector. Some years later, word of his existence reached the ears of Vara. She was a Freewill, as beautiful as she was deadly. Having just cleansed a broad swath of Germania of trolls, she was eager for a new challenge - eager to kill one of the Shining Ones.”

“Doesn’t sound like much of a love story to me.”

“You obviously haven’t watched too many chick flicks,” Sally replied.

“The two mortal enemies met in the fields outside Edgar’s hamlet at dusk,” Alex continued, ignoring us. “They battled throughout the night, neither able to gain an advantage over the other. Finally, both of them bloodied and tired, the sun began to rise. Shelter was too far away and Vara too spent to make it to safety in time. She would certainly have been doomed, but then Edgar, not wishing for such an ignoble end to a worthy foe, stepped in and raised his shield above her, blocking the deadly rays. For the entire day he protected her, refusing to let her burn. By the time evening came, they were no longer enemies and much more than friends.”

“That’s...pretty hot, actually,” Sally said.

Give me a break. Chicks were such suckers for this bullshit. “So what happened?”

“For a time, they were happy. Vara renounced her ways to be with her love. By day, he would stand guard and, by night, she would keep their enemies at bay. Alas, eventually the men under Vara’s command began to wonder why she had not returned. Thinking their commander slain, they ambushed Edgar at dusk, before Vara had risen. Using weapons consecrated in the blood of Baal, they slew him.”

“So what did Vara do? Get her revenge?”

“Quite the opposite,” he said. “Discovering the bloody corpse of her lover, she stayed with him until dawn - cradling him close as the sun rose. It is said that as her body caught aflame, so too was his form consumed by the heat of her love for him.”

“That’s so beautiful,” Sally said, sounding almost choked up.

Uh, yeah. “I don’t get it.”

Alex looked pained for a moment, and I had a feeling it had nothing to do with the story. “The moral of the tale is that you two never had a chance, I’m afraid.” As he turned to leave, the full implication of this sank in.

Oh God!

“Please, I...”

“It is out of my hands, Freewill.” He knocked once on the door and it was cracked open from the outside. “I would caution, however, that you think of your friends before trying anything foolish.”

I bared my teeth, but said nothing.

“To that end, I am truly sorry.”

“You already said that.”

“I do not mean the trial this time. As I have already mentioned, I will not leave anything to chance at this juncture. I meant what I said about you two. You are a formidable team.”

He turned to Sally. “I was truthful in Canada. I foresee a great future for you.”

“Thanks, but...”

“But not at the Freewill’s side.”

I sensed a tingling in the back of my skull as the psychic energies built up inside of him.

“
YOU WILL FORGET YOUR ASSOCIATION AND PAST WITH THE FREEWILL AND HIS FRIENDS!!
”

“No!”

The compulsion, even targeted at her as it was, knocked me backwards from the sheer force of it. The effect on Sally was even more dramatic. She flew off her feet and slammed into the far wall, leaving a smear of blood as she slid to the ground.

Panic coursed through me, and I shook off the effect quickly and raced to where she lay. I cradled her head and took stock of her injuries. Thankfully, it seemed to look worse than it was - a solid clonk to the head, but nothing a vampire couldn’t shake off.

“M...Mark?” she asked groggily, opening her eyes.

“No, Sally, it’s me. I...”

“Who the fuck are you?”

“I’m Bill. You know me.”

She glanced down at herself, no doubt noticing how close I held her to me...and probably noting her ripped shirt from our battle with the Jahabich.

Her eyes immediately turned black and she powered out of my grasp, elbowing me a good one in the solar plexus.
Oof!

“Hands off, perv. What, a dickless loser like you can’t get any unless you attack a girl when she’s asleep?”

“It’s...not...”

She backed up, hands on her hips, until she nearly stumbled over Tom’s still sleeping form. She glanced down and her fangs descended. “Ooh, a threesome, is it? Well, I’d be rude to turn down the refreshments.” Her claws began to extend and she bent down toward where he lay.

“Don’t you...”

“Kindly leave him, my dear,” Alex said from the doorway.

“Says who?”

“I am a friend,” he replied. “A friend of the Wanderer...James.”

Sally looked skeptical. “Ozymandias is here?” For a moment, a look of confusion crossed her face. “Wait...Night Razor too?”

“No.”

“He’s...” Her head cocked to the side as if she was struggling to remember. “Wait. He’s dead, isn’t he?”

“For some time now.”

“But how?”

“Come with me. I will explain it all. You need not bother with this rabble any further. They are inconsequential to you and your new life.”

Sally hesitated for a moment. The compulsion had obviously scrambled her brain nice and thorough. Even so, it didn’t take a genius to see which way she was leaning. On the one hand, you had a well-groomed, eloquently speaking gentleman standing at the door leading out. On the other, there was me - dirty, covered in dried blood, and wearing half-melted body armor - not to mention the groping.

Appealing to her wouldn’t do dick. Compulsions could be overcome with sheer force of emotion, but he wasn’t asking her to do anything other than walk with him. There was also the fact that he was insanely powerful. A compulsion from him could have torn through nearly anyone’s mental defenses like tissue paper.

That didn’t mean I couldn’t try, though. Unfortunately, Alex was a step ahead - quite literally. I opened my mouth to say something and he was there in front of me, moving faster than I could believe.

“No, you will not manipulate her again, Freewill.” With that, he grabbed my arms and made a show as if to restrain me. He appeared to be putting in a lot more effort than he was. We both knew he could have flattened me with a wave of his pinkie, but you’d have sworn he was struggling. Fucking asshole.

“Freewill?” she asked.

“Yes, it was my mistake to send you here. I didn’t realize the danger you were in. Now go, while I still have him.”

“Wait,” I said, “that’s not what...” But I was too late.

Confusion still reigned on her face, but Alex’s performance had been good enough. She stepped through the door and out into the hallway beyond.

Alex resumed a casual stance in front of me. “Remember that of which we spoke, Freewill.” He glanced toward Tom, his meaning clear - I had more friends.

Before I could say a word, he had crossed the room again. He smiled triumphantly and swung the door shut behind him.

It latched with a hollow boom and then they were gone - leaving me alone in my misery.

I will perhaps admit to losing my shit ever so slightly. I don’t know how long I pounded on the door in a fruitless attempt to batter it down, but by the time I heard the voice behind me, my fists had been beaten into bloody pulps against the unyielding metal.

“Ugh, what’s going on, Bill?”

The self-inflicted damage only served to exacerbate my earlier hunger. I’d been able to ignore it temporarily during Alex’s interlude with us, but now it was back with a vengeance - blotting out all other thoughts with its need.

I turned toward the voice and my fangs descended as my nostrils picked up the scent of blood flowing through human veins. As expected, it was right there, sitting on the floor like the good prey it was. This would be too easy.

“Dude, what the fuck did you do to your hands?” The pathetic thing got to its feet, perhaps thinking it would make a fight of it. That was good. I’d enjoy that greatly.

I looked down at my hands, seeing my nails extend into talons. The blood that dripped freely from them would soon be joined.

I took a step forward.

“And where the fuck did Sally go? Did they let her out for a bathroom break, because if so, I’m next. Gotta piss like a racehorse.”

Sally
?

I paused, conflicted, as rational thought tried to break through the haze. I didn’t really want it to, though. This current feeling, while not exactly pleasant, was clean - uncomplicated. Kill, eat, and do it again - pretty simple rules to live by. I mean, it seemed to suit other vampires just fine.

But I wasn’t other vampires, was I?

Fighting against every instinct I had, I raised my hand and slapped myself across the face...make that
slashed
. Kinda forgot my claws were still out.

“Holy fuck, man!”

“Stay back,” I warned, cradling my torn cheek. Another injury was most certainly not going to ease the situation.

“Why? Let me help...”

“Because I’m trying to eat you!”

Tom...the mists in my mind cleared enough to fill in his name. It was my roommate and oldest friend, Tom, stuck here in this cell with me.

A look of confusion stood on his face. “I’m gonna assume there’s an implied ‘no homo’ after that statement.”

“Are you a fucking moron?” I pointed to my fangs, which I couldn’t seem to retract no matter how much I tried. Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm down, desperately holding on to the memories of our past playing in my head - except for maybe fourth grade. That was best forgotten. “I’ve been running on fumes ever since these assholes picked us up and, unfortunately, you happen to be the only blood-filled snack machine in the room.”

That seemed to get through to that small reserve of common sense hiding in the back of his addled brain. “Yeah...I’m thinking maybe you don’t want to do that.”

“No shit.”

He seemed to mull it over for a moment, then he rolled up his shirt sleeve and held out his arm. “You could take a little if you wanted, y’know, just because you’re a bro. Don’t tell Ed, though. I don’t want to get shit about it.”

I forced a fang-filled smile. I didn’t have a lot of friends in this world, but I would’ve gladly died for the ones I had - if I really had to. However, I would have never wished the same for them. “Don’t. It’s too dangerous.”

“C’mon, a little won’t hurt me...well, except the biting and tearing part.”

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop.”

“If you don’t, I’ll just cock-punch you.”

That would probably do it. There was one other complication, though. “I don’t know if I can control it.”

“What, eating?”

“No, not turning you. There’s supposed to be some way to stop that, but honestly, I haven’t chewed on enough living people to figure it out. I could take a single sip and the next thing you know, you and Christy will be forced to have a moonlight wedding.”

“Technically speaking, we only talked about that - nothing official. There hasn’t been too much chance to go ring shopping - I mean, with the end of the world and all that shit. Plus, what’s with that stupid rule about spending three month’s salary on a fucking ring?”

“If she hears you say that...”

“I know. I’ll be wishing for the world to end.”

We shared a laugh. It was cathartic in more ways than one, serving to further push down the desperate need growing in the pit of my stomach. I just hoped it would last.

The images of those feral vamps down in the tunnels kept flashing through my head. They were more like animals than anything else. How long had they been able to keep things in check before going mad: hours, days, weeks?

I really hoped I didn’t have to find out.

* * *

“That was a serious dick move.”

“Are you kidding? That was a fucking Long Dong Silver dick-sized move,” I replied.

I’d brought Tom up to speed on what Alex had told me and what he’d done to Sally at the end of it. I hadn’t seen Alex flip back on whatever surveillance he’d suppressed upon entering, but that didn’t mean anything. Fuck it; hopefully, some other vamps were listening in even now and this was poisoning them toward what a multilayer cooze cake their leader was.

I had no idea how much time had passed since we’d started talking. Tom was the undisputed master of steering conversations down pointless side streets. Fortunately, though, the banter mostly served to keep my mind off the fact that he’d started to smell mighty tasty.

“So what did he do with her?”

“That’s the million-dollar question.”

“Think he’s fucking her?”

I raised an eyebrow at my roommate’s sense of priority, but then realized there might be some validity to that. “I probably would be.”

“She’d tear you apart.”

“But what a way to go.”

Tom chuckled. “So, did you ever think about it?”

“Fucking Sally?”

“Yes, but not that. I mean, actually going out with her? Don’t tell him I said this, but I’m not sure Ed and her are compatible now that he makes vampires explode. Also, Christy said she thinks you two have chemistry.”

“She did?”

“Yeah, although there’s a slight chance that might just be because Sally isn’t fated to destroy all of the witches in the world. I mean, Christy is cool with Sheila and all, but that still might make things a bit awkward on double dates.”