The Tome of Bill Compendium Vol. 1 (Books 1-4) (48 page)

“And you ran like a pussy,” I finished. Dusk Reaper had been one of Jeff’s supporters, just not a particularly brave one; however, I made it a point to assert my position as alpha dog to him at every turn, just in case he ever got any bright ideas.

“So what do you think?” Sally asked.

“Tasmanian Devil?” I offered unhelpfully.

“Well, then you get to be Bugs Bunny, especially since it was calling for you,” she replied.

“It knew my name?”

“Dr. Death,” said a female voice from off to my left. It was one of the younger coven members (
aside from me
). Eliza, I think her name was. I didn’t know her too well, other than she was one of the conscripts who helped man Sally’s suicide hotline scheme.

“What was that?” I said, turning to her. I can’t say I minded doing so. Much like all of the other women in the coven, she wasn’t exactly hard on the eyes.

“It was calling for Dr. Death,” she repeated.

Hmmm, aside from James and the occasional mocking by Sally, nobody really called me that anymore (
my subconscious aside
). James didn’t exactly fit the definition of tiny, and Sally was standing right there.

“Alright, let’s do this, I guess,” I turned to Sally. “Are you in?”

“I’ve got your six,” she replied.

She unlocked the door and held it open. I stepped through, trying to portray an aura of leadership for the others - one that I didn’t really feel.

I had no more than crossed the threshold when it slammed shut behind me and I heard it being locked. Somehow, I wasn’t surprised. Maybe I should’ve been nicer on the phone.

The place looked like a bomb had gone off in it. Papers were everywhere, desks were overturned, and there was a man-sized hole in the wall with a pile of dust in front of it...no doubt Brian’s last stand. Dusk Reaper was right. It
did
look like a mini tornado hit this place.

Speaking of which, I should have been paying attention for the perpetrator instead of making a mental checklist for the cleanup. While I was busy observing the damage, something slammed into my back and drove me to the floor.

“FOR THE LAST TIME...” a shrill voice screamed. Strong hands grabbed me and flipped me over. Something jumped on top of me, and a small, familiar face filled my vision. “BRING ME...oh, Dr. Death. It is finally you.”

“Gan!?”

* * *

“Open the fucking door, Sally!” I shouted from the other side. “I have your
monster
.”

“Did you get it?” she called back.

“Yeah, I got it,” and she was gonna get it for locking me in.

The door unlocked, and she opened it. The other vampires stood behind her, peering in with curious eyes. Goddamn, sometimes the undead can be such pussies.

“Did you kill it?”

“Not quite,” I replied, gesturing to the small girl standing next to me. “Sally, meet Gan. Gan, meet Sally.”

“Gan?” replied Sally, completely flummoxed.

“This is your whore, I presume?” Gan asked, looking up at me.

“What did you call me?” snapped Sally.

“A whore, obviously. A woman of status would never dress like that in my culture. What else could you be?” Gan asked matter of factly.

Sally turned beet red, which was really impressive considering her lack of a pulse. She looked like she was about to let fly with something, but I interrupted.

“Well then, now that the introductions are out of the way, what are...”

But Sally wasn’t done yet. “What the hell did you think you were doing in there!?” she yelled at Gan, her courage apparently restored now that she’d gotten a good look at the big bad
monster
.

Gan ignored her, continuing to look up at me as she replied, “Your whore is insolent. You should have her whipped.”

“She’d probably like that,” I said, which caused Sally to turn even redder. Pretty soon and I’d be able to fry an egg on her forehead. “But Sally does have a point, Gan. Why were you wrecking the place?”

“Your servants did not immediately heed my command to bring you forth. Thus, I felt a lesson was in order.”

“You killed one of my coven members,” I pointed out.

“It is little matter. But I shall make you another if you wish.”

“That’s quite all right. Maybe some other time.” I looked up and noticed that all the other vamps present were still gawking at us. I had lots of questions for her, but I neither needed nor wanted an audience. “Okay, everyone, show’s over. There’s a lot of cleaning to do. Get to it before I let the rest of the coven know about this.”

There was some mild grumbling, but soon enough all of them, save for myself Gan and Sally, had gone back into the office to start the not-so-miniscule task of cleaning up. In at least one way, Gan was no different than any other kid; she could make a hell of a mess with very little effort.

* * *

A few minutes later, the three of us were seated in Sally’s executive suite (
bitch
). I sat Gan down and got her a blood pack from the mini bar (
grrrrr
) to suck on.

“I normally prefer my food fresh,” she complained.

“Maybe later. For now, just eat this, please.”

“I will do it for you, Dr. Death,” she beamed up at me.

“So you wanna tell me who
Wednesday Adams
here is?” Sally asked from behind her expensive mahogany desk (
goddamn it!
).

“Very well,” I answered. “This is Gansetseg, daughter of the Khan...you know, as in the Khan who’s a member of the
Draculas
? I hear he’s kind of a big deal.”

“Oh,” she replied, her mouth dropping open. She hadn’t been expecting that part. Anything that was even remotely connected to the Draculas got instant respect in the general vampire community. Even Sally was at a loss for words, which probably said a lot about the whole situation. “Pleasure to meet you, Gansetseg,” she finally said.

“You may call me Gan, whore. I have grown to prefer it.”

Regardless of Gan’s station in the vampire hierarchy, her comment immediately popped the little bubble of awe that had been forming around my partner. Sally glared daggers at her, and then turned her venomous gaze toward me. “And what, pray tell, is the Khan’s daughter doing here?”

“Actually, that’s a good question,” I remarked, realizing that I didn’t know either. I figured I’d do the simplest thing...ask. “Gan, what are you doing in New York?”

“I followed you, obviously.” She finished her drink and tossed the empty blood pack unceremoniously into the trash, much like any normal child might dispose of a juice box.

“Obviously,” Sally mimicked with an eye-roll.

It didn’t go unnoticed by Gan. “What is that expression the whore makes?”

“Oh, that? It’s a...sign of respect,” I said, throwing Sally a sideways glance. Hopefully, she was smart enough to realize that I had probably just saved her life. Pint-sized or not, Gan was three hundred years old. That meant she was most likely more than a match for both of us combined.

“That is good. Perhaps she knows her place after all,” Gan continued.

Before Sally could open her mouth and ruin it - because believe me, she was going to - I continued with my questioning. “So why exactly did you follow me?”

Gan smiled as she answered, “Because I have chosen you as my mate.”

“WHAT!?” Sally and I blurted out in unison.

“I have decided you are to be my mate,” Gan replied evenly. “I shall be your queen, and you shall be my consort.”

I turned back toward Sally and saw that her face had gone red again (
really had no idea how she was doing that
); however, this time it wasn’t anger. She looked like her head was about to explode. She quickly excused herself. The door had just barely closed behind her before I heard an eruption of laughter from outside. Good to see she had my back.

“I’m not sure I understand, Gan,” I said, ignoring the guffaws still coming from beyond the closed door.

“For centuries, my father has treated me like a child; however, I am no child. I am a woman, old enough to make choices. And I have chosen you, Freewill, to be mine forever.”

“
Why
exactly?”

“We are an excellent pairing. I am royalty. One day, I shall ascend to the First Coven to sit as an equal with my father. You are the Freewill that our legends speak of. Together, we will make a formidable team. Besides, you also make me smile.” She grinned up at me, flashing those big green eyes of hers.

Oh boy. This was starting to look messy. “And your father agrees with this?”

“No. He is too set in his ways. He told me that he forbids it. But I am a woman. I do as my heart commands.”

A thought entered my head, and with it I could feel the threat of a migraine coming on. “Your father didn’t let you come here, did he?”

“I need ask no permission. I am a woman. I go where I please. It pleased me to come here for you.”

Oh shit! No wonder James had wanted me to leave. He had been listening in on their argument back at my dinner/trial. I guess he figured out of sight, out of mind. He figured wrong.

“Gan, listen to me. This is important. Does the Khan know where you are now?”

“I would imagine so. I left father a letter stating my intentions as a woman.”

Fuck me! I tried to hide the fact that I could feel pinpricks of sweat breaking out on my forehead. I asked with a forced cheerfulness that I wasn’t feeling, “Just one more little question, Gan. What do you think your father will do once he reads your letter?”

“Father is set in his ways,” she replied in the bored tone of someone who has seen this sort of thing happen many times before. “He will no doubt send his assassins to retrieve me and most likely kill you and your followers (
oh, of course
). But do not worry. Together, we will defeat them and send their heads back to him. Then we shall be together forever.”

* * *

I left Gan sitting where she was and stepped out. I found Sally still wiping tears from her eyes. “Glad you find this amusing,” I snarled at her.

“Oh, you have no idea,” she chuckled back at me. “I haven’t laughed that hard in decades.”

“Good, because I hope you can keep your sense of humor when you learn how fucked we are.”

I filled her in on what Gan had just told me, making a point to emphasize the assassins coming to kill me
and
my followers.

“How bad are we talking here?” she asked, having quickly sobered up.

“If it’s what I think, then we’re probably talking three vamps with about a millennium of experience amongst them.”

“That’s not good.”

“Ya think?”

“Don’t get all testy at me. You’re the one that the ten-year-old she-demon finds irresistible.”

“Twelve.”

“What?”

“She’s twelve...sorta,” I replied.

“I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t matter much to a jury.”

“It’s not the judge or the jury I’m worried about,” I said. “It’s the
executioners
.”

“I swear, trouble just swarms to you like flies to shit.”

“Maybe next time you’ll just let me take my vacation in peace,” I offered. “As usual, the caveat being that there
is
a next time.”

“That’s one of the things I admire about you, Bill, your always upbeat attitude.”

“What can I say? The world needs more eternal optimists like me”

“All jokes aside,” Sally said, getting back to the subject at hand. “What are we gonna do about this?”

“Not sure. From what I learned while I was there, apparently these people put some pretty big stock in my being a Freewill. You should have heard the shit they were spouting.”

“Let me guess, the words
chosen one
were spoken?” Sally ventured.

“Not quite, but pretty close.”

She sighed. “The world needs some new clichés.”

“Tell me about it,” I agreed. “But anyway, I know at least one of the guys the Khan will be sending, a dude named Nergui...”

“Nerd Gay?”

“Watch it. The juvenile humor is supposed to be my thing.”

“Sorry. You must be rubbing off on me.”

“We can talk about you rubbing me off another time,” I said, quickly jumping out of slapping range. “For now, though, let’s focus. Nergui speaks English. Maybe we can talk him down. Hopefully, he’ll be willing to listen to our side of the story.”

She considered this for a moment. “A lot depends on the Khan here. If he gave a solid order...or worse yet, gave Nergui a
compulsion
to kill you, then all the flowery words in the world won’t save us.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I kind of figured that was the more likely scenario.”

“I’ll put the coven on alert.”

“Good idea. What’s the drill?” I was ostensibly in charge of the coven, but even I had to admit Sally had way more experience in vampire goings-on than I did. She also kept an eye on things during the week while I was off earning my sheckles as a code monkey. Thus, there was no shame in deferring to her now.

“I have a couple of ideas.”

“Lay them on me.”

“Okay,” she started. “For now, I say we assign guards to the main coven nests. Here, the loft, maybe the warehouse. Encourage the rest of the coven to stay in those places and not go anywhere except in a group. That part shouldn’t be hard.”

I nodded in agreement. Jeff had run the coven much like a frat house, and a good deal of that mentality still remained. I was half-surprised whenever I saw any of our membership get up to use the bathroom without three others in tow.

“I’ll also tell them to make it a point to notify us immediately in case anyone goes missing.”

“I almost hate to suggest this, but what about arming the coven?” I asked.