Read Online The Tome of Bill (Book 6): Half A Prayer by Rick Gualtieri - Free Book Online
Authors: Rick Gualtieri
Tags: Urban Fantasy
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what appeared to be genuine concern toward the welfare of most of the humans here.
Most being the operative word. It certainly didn’t go unnoticed that some had just up and disappeared - there one day, gone the next. Usually, it was troublemakers - people that the others wouldn’t be sad to see leave. I wasn’t quite so naïve to believe they had conveniently moved on, though. At the end of the day, this was still a coven, and there were vampires that needed to be fed.
Sally sure as shit hadn’t reformed to the point of becoming Mother Teresa. Even so, I found myself growing fond of seeing her human moments, although I wasn’t about to admit it out loud.
She walked up to me and put her hands on her shapely hips. Despite the rapidly deteriorating state of the world, she somehow still managed to appear both kempt and fashionable - no doubt thanks to her personal stylist and fellow Village Coven refugee, Alfonso. Sally was only willing to go so far when it came to suffering for the cause. “Have I made my point?”
She’d asked her question loud enough to get the attention of the room. It wasn’t surprising. Since joining her in Pandora Coven, she’d continually reinforced that showing any weakness wasn’t an option for her. I could respect that, but it still didn’t mean I cared to lie down and play dead at her whimsy.
No matter what title she held, she was still Sally to me. More so, lately I had a newfound appreciation for our time together. Our banter had always been like a game between us, but it was one that I took increasing comfort in - regardless of the often painful side effects. Who knows? Maybe it was my time spent alone in Alex’s dungeon, or the impending end of the world, but I’d been making it a point to be more mindful of the good times as of late.
Even so, there was no way I was bending over and taking her shit. I opened my mouth to reply with something guaranteed to piss her off when we were saved by the proverbial bell.
“We have visitors,” a voice called out. “They look official.”
We both turned toward the source. Steve, her other lieutenant in the coven, had relayed the news. He was tall, thin, and pretty much all business - definitely a yes-man, but I couldn’t deny he often got results. Needless to say, I had to listen to Sally constantly crowing about him. It would have become quickly grating had I not been certain that was exactly the reaction she was going for.
“Check them out,” she instructed him.
He turned back toward the entrance of the club and disappeared, nary a comment made. There’s always gotta be one kiss-ass in the crowd.
I raised an eyebrow. “Vamps?”
“Or shape-shifters,” she replied tersely, our little spat apparently over for now.
In the weeks prior, the few visitors we’d had could mostly be compartmentalized into two camps: things trying to kill us and those seeking protection from the things trying to kill us. The former were usually not overly subtle, but there had been a couple of near disasters - enough to make everyone a bit paranoid.
The ugly rock monsters that inhabited the storm drains beneath the city - the Jahabich, or whatever the fuckers were called - made for pretty good doppelgangers when they wanted to. They’d tried more than once to gain entrance that way, but had failed mainly because we weren’t complete fucking idiots. No matter how human something looked, if it smelled like a pile of shit-encrusted granite, chances were it was getting blasted to hell. Pretty simple rules to live by, all in all. Even so, the damned things kept trying, so it made sense to keep our shields raised at all times.
After a few minutes passed and we noticed no gunfire or other such pleasantries exchanged, we made our way to the entrance hall. Steve was reentering the building, followed by five others. Two were ours - guards. They stood flanking our guests. Even with so-called friendlies, one couldn’t be too safe.
I didn’t need to catch
Most being the operative word. It certainly didn’t go unnoticed that some had just up and disappeared - there one day, gone the next. Usually, it was troublemakers - people that the others wouldn’t be sad to see leave. I wasn’t quite so naïve to believe they had conveniently moved on, though. At the end of the day, this was still a coven, and there were vampires that needed to be fed.
Sally sure as shit hadn’t reformed to the point of becoming Mother Teresa. Even so, I found myself growing fond of seeing her human moments, although I wasn’t about to admit it out loud.
She walked up to me and put her hands on her shapely hips. Despite the rapidly deteriorating state of the world, she somehow still managed to appear both kempt and fashionable - no doubt thanks to her personal stylist and fellow Village Coven refugee, Alfonso. Sally was only willing to go so far when it came to suffering for the cause. “Have I made my point?”
She’d asked her question loud enough to get the attention of the room. It wasn’t surprising. Since joining her in Pandora Coven, she’d continually reinforced that showing any weakness wasn’t an option for her. I could respect that, but it still didn’t mean I cared to lie down and play dead at her whimsy.
No matter what title she held, she was still Sally to me. More so, lately I had a newfound appreciation for our time together. Our banter had always been like a game between us, but it was one that I took increasing comfort in - regardless of the often painful side effects. Who knows? Maybe it was my time spent alone in Alex’s dungeon, or the impending end of the world, but I’d been making it a point to be more mindful of the good times as of late.
Even so, there was no way I was bending over and taking her shit. I opened my mouth to reply with something guaranteed to piss her off when we were saved by the proverbial bell.
“We have visitors,” a voice called out. “They look official.”
We both turned toward the source. Steve, her other lieutenant in the coven, had relayed the news. He was tall, thin, and pretty much all business - definitely a yes-man, but I couldn’t deny he often got results. Needless to say, I had to listen to Sally constantly crowing about him. It would have become quickly grating had I not been certain that was exactly the reaction she was going for.
“Check them out,” she instructed him.
He turned back toward the entrance of the club and disappeared, nary a comment made. There’s always gotta be one kiss-ass in the crowd.
I raised an eyebrow. “Vamps?”
“Or shape-shifters,” she replied tersely, our little spat apparently over for now.
In the weeks prior, the few visitors we’d had could mostly be compartmentalized into two camps: things trying to kill us and those seeking protection from the things trying to kill us. The former were usually not overly subtle, but there had been a couple of near disasters - enough to make everyone a bit paranoid.
The ugly rock monsters that inhabited the storm drains beneath the city - the Jahabich, or whatever the fuckers were called - made for pretty good doppelgangers when they wanted to. They’d tried more than once to gain entrance that way, but had failed mainly because we weren’t complete fucking idiots. No matter how human something looked, if it smelled like a pile of shit-encrusted granite, chances were it was getting blasted to hell. Pretty simple rules to live by, all in all. Even so, the damned things kept trying, so it made sense to keep our shields raised at all times.
After a few minutes passed and we noticed no gunfire or other such pleasantries exchanged, we made our way to the entrance hall. Steve was reentering the building, followed by five others. Two were ours - guards. They stood flanking our guests. Even with so-called friendlies, one couldn’t be too safe.
I didn’t need to catch
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