The Tome of Bill Compendium Vol. 1 (Books 1-4) (125 page)

Sheila and Ed were still fighting off vamps (well okay, she was anyway). I pushed my way through the combatants, shoving several to the side, enough to make a path. Fighting my way to them, I grabbed Ed by the arm and spun him to face me.

“Get her out of here!” I shouted.

He nodded and tapped her on the shoulder - almost losing his head in the process. She swung her blade at him and only managed to change the trajectory at the last moment. It was close, so close he probably lost a few hairs off the top of his head.

“Sorry,” she said.

Ed blinked once - most likely evacuating his bowels in the process - then somehow managed to compose himself. “Let’s go.”

They started to make their way to the newly created exit, Benny hot on their heels. Sheila expertly used her sword to keep clear the path I had made. God damn, I really needed to ask her where she learned that stuff.

There was only one other minor thing to worry about.

“Sally!”

“One second!” A Templar came flying through the air in my direction.

She was still squaring off against the guys (two of them anyway) who had tackled her and, from the look of things, she wasn’t particularly happy. My distraction, however, had allowed her to get to her feet and turn the tide in her favor.

She had one from behind, her teeth sunk into his neck - arterial blood spraying. His remaining companion tried to close in, but Sally’s claws flashed out. He went down missing even more of his throat than his recently chewed on buddy.

Not bothering to wait for her to follow, I ran over, grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her toward the hole in the wall.

“You ruin all my fun,” she protested, helping me slash and claw through anyone standing in our way.

“It’s what I live for.”

* * *

We dodged several more potshots from Decker’s coven, but at last managed to make it out. The remaining few Templars, having seen Sheila make a run for it, redoubled their efforts against Remington’s forces. They weren’t going to last long, but it would hopefully cover her escape - as well as mine and Sally’s (although I doubt they cared about that latter part).

Emerging from the school, the wind hit my face, bringing a few droplets of rain with it. Apparently the weather had changed since we had entered. Odd, I could have sworn the forecast called for clearing skies.

“Come on, Bill,” Ed cried out. “What, did you die in there?”

“You’re a barrel of fucking laughs, you know that?” I replied as we caught up with him, Sheila, and - of course - Benny. Fuck me. There’s always gotta be a third wheel on every couple’s outing.

He whispered something to her and pointed at us. Sheila immediately raised her sword as we neared, her eyes narrowing on Sally. “She killed those men.”

I guess Benny had noticed Sally’s little temper tantrum back there.

“It’s not like that,” I said, feeling my own temper start to fray.

“I don’t...”

“No,
I
don’t care,” I snapped back, “They attacked first. Sally was just defending herself.”

“But...”

“But nothing. We don’t have time for this shit. I told you, we’re here to help. Now put the fucking sword down!”

Much to my surprise, she actually took a step back. A moment passed and she lowered the blade. Holy crap! Where the hell had that outburst come from? Sometimes it was like I didn’t even know myself.

“Wow, Bill,” Sally said from behind me. “You just got ever so slightly sexier.”

“Not now, Sally,” I replied. “We need to get out of here before...”

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Remington and his vampires swarmed out of the break in the wall. Before we could react to this, several flashes of light shone on the far side of us. Decker and his witches appeared from out of thin air, cutting off our escape.

Though we and the Templars had taken out our fair share of enemies, we were still outnumbered at least four to one. There were only two words that came to mind to describe the situation:
Game Over
.

“If you could only see the look on your own face, Mr. Ryder.”

“I imagine it would still be only half as dumb as the one on yours,” I shot back at Decker. Never let them kill you without a snappy retort, I always say.

The situation didn’t look good. Vampire hitmen and a coven of pissed-off mages surrounded us. I was still amped on that other vampire’s strength but wasn’t sure how much longer that would last. Sally looked like she had been dipped into a deep fryer. Benny had his cross, although I wouldn’t count on him to do much more than stab me in the back with it if push came to shove. Ed...well, let’s be honest, aside from any witty comments he might have regarding the situation, he was tits on a bull.

That left Sheila. She was definitely the X-factor there, but even she could only swing that sword so fast. At some point her back would be exposed, and there was little doubt one of our enemies would be more than happy to take advantage of that.

“Step away from the Icon, Freewill,” Remington moved to stand by Decker’s side.

“Freewill?”

“Did he not tell you, my dear?” Decker asked, trying to pour a little salt in my wounds. He was well aware of my not-so-little crush on her. Apparently everyone in our office knew.

“We haven’t exactly had much time to chat,” I replied.

“You’re in on this too, Harry?” she asked.

“Obviously,” he said, a sneer on his douche face. “Alas, had I known what you were during our little dinner date some months back...the night would have ended much differently.”

“I could say the same thing,” I snapped. “If I had known what a fucking asshole you were, I wouldn’t have been so quick to save your ass...even less so if I had known you were a wizard.”

Sheila looked between us. “Was everyone at Hopskotchgames some kind of monster?”

Ooh, that stung. Was that how she saw me now? Well okay, I
was
currently covered in blood and gore. That wasn’t exactly helping my credibility.

“You’re lucky,” Ed said. “At least you didn’t have to go out on a date with Barb from HR. Talk about a many-tentacled beast.”

“Enough of this chatter,” Remington barked as lightning flashed in the sky. There was a storm coming, in more ways than one. “You will step away from the Icon now, or we will not be held accountable for your fate.”

“You really expect me to just walk away while you fry my girlf...err friends?”

“Who said anything about you walking away? You are a traitor to your kind. You will surrender and be brought before your superiors for punishment.”

There was a little too much glee in his voice for my personal edification. Knowing vampire justice, I had to assume that probably didn’t involve just a slap on the wrist. Hell, I’d be lucky if they killed me. In special cases, vampires could draw out the torture of their enemies for an eternity. Knowing my luck, I’d definitely be considered one of those.

“I think I’ll take my chances,” I replied, putting a little swagger into my voice. Hell, they didn’t need to know I was practically ready to shit a brick. If anything, it might make a few of them slightly more cautious as they moved in to fuck my day up further.

“Dibs on Decker,” Sally said.

“No fucking way,” I tried to keep a grin on my face. “First come, first served.” I turned my eyes toward Ed. He gave a shrug and smiled back. I liked his odds far less than my own, but his look said it all. He knew the risks when he signed on to this crazy-ass adventure.

Benny could go suck a fat dick as far as I was concerned. I turned to Sheila and met her eyes for what might have been the last time. “I’ve got your back.”

“Really?” The question came out honestly, with no sarcasm.

“You can trust me.” I meant every word of it.

“Why?”

Because I am deeply madly in love with you would have been my answer. Fortunately for me...err, sadly, that is...or whatever...I didn’t have the time to sputter out a reply. Our enemies converged upon us.

Oh well, at least they saved me from embarrassing myself.

* * *

Remington’s goons had come into the fray ready for a fight, armed with silver stakes. That meant only one of two things: either silver was equally effective against the Icon - something I had absolutely no idea about - or they were expecting trouble from me. When a vampire really wants to mess with another vamp’s outlook on life, that’s what they use. It reacts badly with vampire blood...explosively so. Think of throwing a magnesium flare into a puddle of water, except it happens inside of our bodies. It also has the added effect of really screwing up our healing abilities. Depending on a vampire’s age, minor injuries can heal themselves in minutes or less. Add some silver to the mix, though, and you slow things down enough that the vamp is left vulnerable in the middle of battle.

Considering who was behind their little expedition, I had little doubt they’d arrived fully expecting me to cause some problems. I had never gone out of my way to make an enemy of Colin, outside of maybe one little joke revolving around reformatting his precious work computer. Even so, he had taken an instant dislike to me. Part of it was probably the friends I kept. Sally and Colin had history. I wasn’t sure why James tolerated his continual existence, but then he was already a bit of an odd duck amongst vampires. He had his reasons...just as I had my own for doing what I did.

“Take the Freewill alive, kill the rest,” Remington ordered. His tone implied that he wouldn’t be overly concerned should I be captured sans a few of my limbs. What a surprise. It figured that the jerk would...

“I’ll hold them. You take everyone else and run.”

“Huh?” I grunted, pulling my focus away from Remington.

“I said,” Sheila repeated, “take the others and get out of here. It’s me they’re after. I’ll keep them busy.”

Hold on, that’s what
I
was supposed to say. Damn the crazy times we lived in and its confused gender roles.

“No chance,” I replied, adding some false bravado to my voice. If I was going to die in her presence, I might as well look cool doing it. “We all leave or none of us do.”

“Don’t I get a say?” Sally asked.

“Maybe later,” I said, ducking the first blow that came my way as our enemies converged on us. The battle was on...again.

Or maybe not.

Four of Remington’s vamps rushed me, two high and two low. There was no time to dodge. They smashed into me like a herd of runaway water buffalos. I went down, cracking my head solidly against the pavement. Hopefully my friends were putting out a better showing than me.

I saw stars, but I had been hit harder during my day. I struggled against my attackers, but they had numbers and leverage on their side.

They also had weapons. One of them raised a stake high above his head. My arms were pinned, so there was no way to defend myself against it. My life, and afterlife, flashed before my eyes as it descended. I prepared myself for the doubtlessly unpleasant sensation of turning to dust, but at the last second, they heeded their orders to take me alive.

The vamp slammed the stake down into my shoulder with enough force to plow straight through me and into the asphalt below. Goddamn, that hurt! Worse yet, I was pinned like a bug.

Oh wait, that wasn’t the worst. Sparks and flame began to shoot out of the wound as I cooked from the inside out. I wasn’t sure whether it would kill me or not, but after a second or two, I began to wish it would.

In between trying not to cry like a little girl, I tilted my head to see how the others fared. It didn’t look good. Sally had likewise been ganged up on. Two of Remington’s vamps held her arms, while a third worked her over with his fists. So much for not hitting a girl.

Another vamp knocked Benny and Ed effortlessly to the ground. Benny’s cross clattered off into the darkness, making him pretty much useless for doing anything other than breaking someone’s fist with his face.

That left Sheila. At first I thought she was keeping the other vamps at bay with her kickass sword moves, but it was a ruse. The vampires weren’t even trying to get to her.

“Watch out!” I screamed. It probably came out much higher pitched than I intended, being that my shoulder was currently auditioning for a spot on the Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks display. It didn’t matter, though - I was too late.

This was the opening Decker’s coven had been waiting for. Multiple beams of pure magical force struck Sheila from all angles. She was enveloped in a blinding red light, flame leaping out in all directions.

“No!” It couldn’t end like this. I bit down on my lip, drawing blood but using the pain (well,
other
pain) to clear my head. The sight of her fiery death distracted the vamps who had pinned me, and I used it to my advantage. I brought my free arm up in a fist.

I caught two of the vamps straight on the jaw, knocking them into the others and off of me. Before any more could join the fray, I grabbed hold of the stake, said a silent prayer to whatever gods are in charge of pain management, and yanked with everything I had.

FUUUUUUCCCCKKKK!!

Yeah it hurt a bit. At last, though, it came out with a squirt of blood and sparks. Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure I could do much to take advantage of my hard-won freedom. That move had used up the last of my stolen strength.

As if to accentuate the point, Decker casually strolled over and kicked me in the jaw, putting me flat on my back again.

“Let me guess,” I said, testing my mouth to make sure nothing was broken, “this little party crashing was your doing?”

“Of course,” he replied, planting another blow in my side for good measure. He wasn’t above kicking a man while he was down. “The others weren’t sure, but I
knew
you were somehow connected to the Icon. I gave my coven daughters strict orders to scry your movements the moment you were out of their sight. Imagine my lack of surprise when you led us right to her. You are ridiculously predictable.”

I gritted my teeth while trying to come up with a witty comeback. Unfortunately I had nothing. Decker was right. I had been outmaneuvered, pretty fucking easily by the sound of things. Even so, I couldn’t let him know that. I needed to...