Read The Book of Death (Bourbon Kid 4) for Free Online Page B

looked.
The hall was already buzzing with noise. Literally hundreds of vampires were
standing around chatting amongst themselves.
    ‘Wow, something big is definitely
going down,’ said Vanity. ‘Let’s hang at the back. After that whole thing with
Déjà Vu being the Bourbon Kid I think a low profile is the way to go.’
    ‘I’m down with that,’ said Dante.
    The crowd of vampires in the hall
resembled the audience at a rock concert. There were all kinds of strangely
dressed freaks from every vampire clan in the city, all congregated in this one
huge room staring up at the marble staircase at the end of the hall. Dante
recognised some of the clans, such as the Clowns, of which there were quite a
few. There weren’t too many of the Filthy Pigs and Rastafarians from the Dreads
clan around this time; of course, there weren’t many of the Shades around
either. Apart from Dante, Kacy and Vanity, only Cleavage and Moose had survived
the recent massacre. The two female members of the Shades were present in the
hall, but they had naively ventured to the front of the crowd to get a good
look at what was going on.
    The majority of the audience now
seemed to be made up of what Vanity informed them was the Panda clan, a group
of vampires like the one who had let them into the building. They all had black
face paint across their eyes giving them a look much like a bunch of human
pandas, albeit carnivorous fanged bloodsucking pandas. One of the other
dominant clans was the Black Plague, a group that usually stayed on the
outskirts of the city. They all wore ninja style black outfits complete with
black masks that revealed just their eyes and a small amount of dark skin
around them. No doubt lethal predators at night, Dante thought.
    After a twenty-minute wait, the
huge imposing figure of Rameses Gaius appeared at the top of the staircase. The
chatter in the hall beneath him hushed to a silence. Dante recognised Gaius
immediately. He shuddered at the memory of Gaius kidnapping him and Kacy a week
earlier. He had travelled under the name Mr E at the time and had claimed to be
a member of the Secret Service. He had given Dante the mission that involved
infiltrating the Shades clan to discover the whereabouts of Peto the monk.
    Dante peered over his sunglasses
at Kacy. She peered back over hers. It was obvious that she too recognised
Gaius as Mr E.
    Dante nudged Vanity in the arm.
‘Is that really Rameses Gaius?’ he asked.
    Vanity nodded. ‘Yeah. Don’t mess
with him. He’ll snap you in half.’
    Gaius wore a shiny silver suit (as
he had when Dante had met him before) and a pair of dark sunglasses. His head
was bald and his olive skin as smooth as a billiard ball. Both Dante and Kacy
lowered their heads in the hope that he wouldn’t spot them at the back of the
crowd.
    ‘Hey,’ Vanity nudged Dante back.
‘That’s his daughter Jessica behind him. Total babe. Queen of the vampires.’
    Dante glanced back up and saw that
standing behind Gaius on the steps was none other than Jessica the Vampire
Queen. The very same woman he had fired a shitload of bullets into at the
Tapioca during the eclipse the previous year. The Bourbon Kid had been gunning
her down at the time, so Dante had joined in and then they had left her for
dead. It wouldn’t do to be spotted by her either.
    Up ahead, Gaius raised his arms to
grab everyone’s attention. ‘Thank you all for coming,’ he said. ‘I have big
news for you today. After all that happened yesterday, when we lost a number of
our brothers and sisters to that scumbag the Bourbon Kid, we now have reason to
be cheerful. And very excited.’
    A wave of muttered conversations
swept around the hall briefly before Gaius continued.
    ‘At just after midnight last night
we captured and beheaded the Bourbon Kid. He is no more!’
    A huge cheer went up from the
crowd and Gaius gestured quickly for them to quieten down again.
    ‘With him now out of the way, it
is time for us to make our move. Soon