Sunset Strip: A Tale From The Tome Of Bill (25 page)

Starlight was now in charge. She wasn’t the most senior in the coven, and I had little doubt those politics would come into play. Fortunately, my final orders as leader to Monkhbat had included that he watch out for such shenanigans and deal with them accordingly.

That still left Firebird. She’d thoroughly fucked me over and no doubt was thinking she’d gotten away with it. Let her. She could go about her nights, offering her wares up to whoever she pleased. Her main sources of favor, Jeff and Marlene, were gone. She was just an undead whore now - toothless in a sense of the word. Besides, much like the vulture, I’m a patient bird. She’d get hers, and when that happened, I planned on being there. At the very least, it gave me something to look forward to.

I stood up from my desk and stretched. The club would be opening soon. Dusk was approaching, and thankfully there were clear skies ahead. Those fucking monsters tended to only come out right before and during a storm. Not sure why, but I hadn’t had much time to research it yet. I’d eventually figure it out and when I did, I’d take that knowledge and ram it down their throats.

Steve and his hunting party would be returning soon, hopefully with a few more kills. The Jahabich were tough, but they tended to be solitary...never in groups of more than three or so. By systematically searching for them rather than waiting for the fuckers to come to us, we maintained the status quo.

Interestingly enough, life had begun to return to the tunnels. The downtrodden were starting to set up shop close to the club’s underground entrance. They didn’t ask questions, but seemed to know we were doing what we could.

The irony of it all made me laugh. Humans, our prey, were now flocking to us for protection. What had the world come to?

* * *

I walked to the one-way mirror of Marlene’s former office, now my executive suite, and surveyed the club below. Fate had quite the sense of irony putting me in charge here. Even so, despite the oddness of the situation, it felt somehow natural.

James had been more right than I cared to admit. Watching the bartenders and DJ set up below, I smiled. Hopefully theirs, as well as the girls who were even now prepping for the night ahead, were lives that would be allowed to live. While some had been, or would be, recruited to our side, many more would be able to go about their day ignorant that anything was amiss.

For a while, anyway.

I wasn’t about to fool myself. There was still the upcoming war. The very Earth would potentially be torn asunder as our forces clashed with those of our enemies. The end times were very much nigh.

Still, until such time as that happened, my place was here. I would hold the line no matter what. I would...

My cell phone rang, interrupting my thoughts. Figuring that perhaps it was Christy, calling for the umpteenth time to check on Kara, I lifted it and saw an unfamiliar number. That was odd. It wasn’t a Boston extension, either.

I clicked to answer it and brought it to my ear, hoping it wasn’t a telemarketer. If so, I’d track their ass down and...

“Sally? Is that you?”

My mouth froze halfway open at the sound of his voice.

“Jesus Christ, where the
fuck
are you? You have no idea the shit I’ve been through.”

No, not now!

There came a crash on the other end of the call, like a wrecking ball had just plowed through a wall.

“I’ve...sorta...fucked up, just a little bit. I kinda need your help...oh shit!”

More commotion exploded out of the receiver. It sounded like World War Three had broken out.

I finally found my voice. “Bill?”

But the line was already dead. What the fuck had just happened? Had I imagined it? Was it some sort of hallucination brought on by post-traumatic stress? Was maybe someone messing with me right when I’d found my peace with the world?

I looked down at the handset. At the very least, I’d definitely received a call. I dialed the number back and held it to my ear. It rang...three...five...times before switching over to a generic answering message.

For a long time after, I stood and watched the club come to life below me but didn't really see it.

It isn’t fair!

This was home now...where it had all started for me. It was a chance to right my wrongs and make sure history didn’t repeat itself for anyone else. James had entrusted it to me. He sent me here knowing I’d make the right choice. He’d believed in me.

Could I throw that all to the wayside for one lifeless fucking dork with a penchant for screwing up every single thing he fucking touched? Hell, I couldn’t even be sure it had really been him.

It had to have been a mistake...or a trick...or maybe I’d somehow developed brain damage at some point in the...

Goddamnit!

I let out a long sigh. Was there really any choice?

Actually, I mused, there was. For perhaps the first time in my life, I was in charge of my own fate.

James had said he’d trusted me to make the right decision, but I realized now he’d been very coy as to what that choice was. Perhaps it was still waiting to be made.

Maybe I was the only one who could truly decide what that was.

That crafty son of a bitch!

Looking at the glass that separated me from the club below, I momentarily caught a glimpse of my reflection. I wasn’t surprised in the least to see a big smile plastered on my face.

I turned back toward my desk. There was a lot of work to be done to keep this city...this world...from going straight to Hell. I, for one, intended to play my part, but in my own way. My days as a pawn were over. The right choice would be whatever I deemed it.

I grinned and considered my next course of action. Whatever I chose, I’d make sure as shit it counted.

Fate could be a bitch, but it had nothing on me.

THE END

Sally
Sunset
will return in:

Goddamned Freaky Monsters
(The Tome of Bill, part 5)

Can’t wait for more Bill? Follow his ongoing misadventures on Facebook at

http://www.facebook.com/BilltheVampire

About the Author

Rick Gualtieri lives alone in central New Jersey with only his wife, three kids, and countless pets to both keep him company and constantly plot against him. When he’s not busy monkey-clicking words, he can typically be found jealously guarding his collection of vintage Transformers from all who would seek to defile them.

Defilers beware!

Rick Gualtieri is also the author of:

Bill the Vampire
(The Tome of Bill, Part 1)

Scary Dead Things
(The Tome of Bill, Part 2)

The Mourning Woods
(The Tome of Bill, Part 3)

Holier Than Thou
(The Tome of Bill, part 4)

Bigfoot Hunters

The Poptart Manifesto

To contact Rick (with either undying praise or rude comments) please visit:

Rick’s Blog
:

http://www.poptartmanifesto.com

Facebook Page
:

http://www.facebook.com/RickGualtieriAuthor

Twitter
:

https://twitter.com/RickGualtieri

Bonus Chapter

Goddamned Freaky Monsters

ARISE FREEWILL!!

There are few things that can fuck up a good night’s sleep quite like the goddamned alarm going off.

I stretched then sat up, feeling as if I’d slept for weeks. A yawn escaped my lips and I blinked several times as my body continued
booting up
. Once my head was clear, I put my glasses on - snapping things into focus.

Before it could go off again, I smacked the button on the clock - giving it a good whack to drive the point home. Jeez, what a stupid alarm. Who the hell would program something like that into a clock anyway? It had to have been Tom or Ed fucking with me...
again
. The dickheads seemed to have a hard-on for doing so.

Oh well, it was probably time to get my ass moving. It’s not like the work day was going to start without me.

I hopped right into my morning routine, pausing only momentarily as I tried to think of what was on the docket for the day. Surely there was some fire to be put out - a project due that was no doubt giving Jim, my manager at Hopskotchgames.com, a near aneurysm. It was the same thing week after week. Sure it could get annoying, but there was a certain comfort in the routine of it all.

The only problem was I had no idea which project needed tending to. Was it
Farm Fury
? No, we launched that already. Maybe
Birds of War
? Could be
Doctor Dexter’s Daring Dash
- that one was coming soon...I think. Odd. Usually I was pretty spot on for my schedule, but for the life of me had no clue what I was supposed to be working on. Hell, come to think of it, I had no idea what day it even was. It could have been the freaking weekend for all I knew.

But then why did the alarm go off?

Oh well, it would probably sort itself out once I grabbed some breakfast. Trying to ignore the concern that nagged at me, I grabbed my clothes and headed toward the bathroom. Hopefully it would be unoccupied and there would still be some hot water left. Surely a shower would help clear my head.

* * *

Just as I sat on the couch, a bowl of Cap’n Crunch in hand, a sense of déjà vu hit me, as if I’d done this before. That was stupid; I mean
of course
I’d done this before. I lived in this place for Christ’s sake. I’d probably eaten hundreds of bowls of tooth-rotting cereal sitting right in this spot.

I shook it off as part of the general paranoia that had become a part of my existence ever since dying and rising from the proverbial grave as a vampire. The supernatural world was a fucked up place and it seemed that I couldn’t take a shit without some entity deciding that I needed to be vaporized. Such things tended to mess with one’s outlook on life after a while.

Fuck it! The denizens of the underworld could wait until after I’d had my breakfast.

I flipped on the TV, enjoying the rare moment of normalcy. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Hell, a disturbing amount of my life remained mundane. There was my job for starters - believe me, becoming one of the undead hadn’t been an instant lottery ticket to riches. There were also my roommates...

Speaking of which, where the hell were they?

I guess it made sense that Tom had either left early for his job in Manhattan or maybe slept over at his girlfriend’s place, but Ed worked from home like me. There wasn’t anything requiring him to be in the office today, at least that I could remember, and last night was...

I paused, a spoonful of cereal halfway to my mouth. Last night was what? I had no idea on that either. Couldn’t have been too memorable. I mean heck, the apartment wasn’t even close to being trashed. Still, at the very least I should’ve had some remembrance of what show I’d watched or video game I’d played, but there was nothing.

The important stuff was all there: who I was, where I was supposed to be - that kind of shit. It was just the immediate past that eluded me for some reason.

This was starting to get odd.

Maybe we had...

Come to think of it, when was the last time I had even
seen
my roommates?

No, that was stupid. We were the best of friends. We hung out all the time...even when the forces of evil were trying to collectively ass-fuck us.

Who knows? Maybe I drank a glass of overly-skunked beer last night. That didn’t sound so farfetched. If so, my vampire metabolism would take care of it as the day progressed, hopefully allowing the fog to lift from my head.

Yeah, I’d let things sort themselves out. Probably no point in worrying.

I bit down with a satisfying crunch then began scanning through the channels hoping to find something worth watching.

Not wanting to burden my soul with Good Morning America or similar insipid shit, I quickly skipped to the cable channels - finally stopping on what looked to be some sort of action flick.

There was a cataclysmic battle taking place on a rooftop. Multi-colored lightning flashed in the background as the combatants recklessly tore into each other - gotta love low-budget sci-fi. Yeah, this had promise.

A glowing blonde angel was trashing the bad guys in the middle of it all. Damn, she was hot. Hopefully this flick had some nudity in it. Now that would be a fucking awesome way to start the day.

Another character, this one decked out in a SpongeBob backpack of all things, hopped onto the screen and began similarly kicking ass. She looked to be of roughly school girl age. Must’ve been a Japanese fetish flick. Those dudes are seriously fucked in the head when it comes to entertainment.

I was about to change the channel and see what else was playing when my hand paused on the remote. The walking Nickelodeon advertisement was tackled from the side and dragged screaming off the edge of the rooftop. It should have been hilarious. I mean seriously, I’ve never seen a Wilhelm scream that didn’t crack me up. Something about this bothered me, though.

That déjà vu feeling hit me again like a brick to the forehead.

I didn’t know why, but the whole thing felt familiar. Watching it, sadness filled me at the poor little character’s demise. As the rest of the scene unfolded, I actually had to reach up and wipe a few tears from my eyes.

I quickly glanced around, making sure neither of my roommates was present to see my pussy side coming out to play. I’d never hear the end of that. Satisfied that I was still alone, I turned back to see how things played out.

The battle seemed to be over. The angel stood there victorious. She was still wearing too much clothing for my personal edification, but nevertheless I was tempted to stand up and cheer for her. Then I noticed one of the bad guys was still alive. He was approaching from her blindside.