The Tome of Bill (Book 7): The Wicked Dead Read Online Free Page B

house,” I said.
    “Safe house?” Sheila and Christy both asked.
    “Yeah, it’s over in the naval yards. Village Coven jointly owns it with the Howard Beach Coven. It’s neutral ground between us.”
    Not too long ago, Sally would have known that was bullshit, but Tom and Ed were both kind enough to scoff in her place.
    “Fine, supposedly neutral ground,” I corrected. “Doesn’t always work out that way. Anyway, it’s a place where we can fall back during times of emergency. Being that Village Coven is gone and so is most of the HBC ... hopefully ... I...”
    “That’s where you want to do it. That’s where you want Christy to try to coax your powers out, right?” Sheila asked.
    I nodded, choosing to ignore the “do it” line. New Bill was cooler than that, mostly. “Yeah. The place is reinforced, there’s room to maneuver if something goes wrong, and unlike my living room, I don’t care if it gets trashed in the process.”
    I left out that it also gave me an excuse to leave our apartment building unquestioned, giving me ample time to scout an entirely different location.
    * * *
    First, though, Christy had a whole ton of stuff she wanted me to set up for her. Space needed to be cleared, symbols drawn on the floor, and incense burned. I didn’t really mind that last part. Abandoned warehouses tended to smell funky at the best of times. Ones that had been the scene of past slaughters were usually even more ripe – all the worse for those of us with superhuman senses.
    Unsurprisingly, Tom and Ed both volunteered to come along. Christy, however, nixed Tom’s departure. She wanted him close by to work with her on some enchantments – something about the faith-channeling amulet he owned. It was pretty much a watered-down version of what Sheila could do naturally ... albeit still pretty damned effective against vampires.
    I managed to talk Ed down from joining me. Despite being explosively resistant to vampire bites as of late, he was still no match for them in a fight. He offered to bring his shotgun as a precaution, but I declined. We’d need that firepower later, but it seemed an unnecessary risk for now. Besides, as a vampire, I was a lot faster than him. I could traverse the streets quickly and avoid any trouble. Or at least I hoped that would be the case.
    * * *
    During the day, Brooklyn seemed almost normal – at least, the parts I could see from our windows. Hell, we even got mail sporadically – mostly flyers for home security systems interspersed with bills. Jesus Christ, even in the middle of the apocalypse the fucking phone companies still didn’t stop haunting people. So sorry your husband got eaten by a cave troll, but you still owe us two hundred dollars in data overage charges .
    Anyway, my roommates’ brief forays out had confirmed how routine life appeared to be out there. Heck, many of the businesses on 86th street were still open, even if the bars on their windows were now thicker than before.
    Once darkness came, though, odd shrieks could be heard in the night ... even odder than the usual New York fare. Sometimes, bizarre arcs of energy flashed in the sky. I hadn’t taken too many strolls since our return – I may have some semblance of superpowers, but I’m not fucking insane – but I had little doubt that dark alleyways, tunnels, and other such nooks held strange alien things mortal man was not meant to behold. Bottom line: if one felt the need to go jogging past sundown, it might have been best to notify one’s next of kin first as a precautionary measure.
    Of course, it’s possible some of that was just my imagination running wild. I managed to make it to the Brooklyn safe house with no real issues to report. The streets were mostly dark – courtesy of the fluctuating power grid – as well as pretty empty. That was a small blessing – it allowed me to utilize the unnatural speed afforded to me as one of the undead.
    Sure, every so often I could have sworn I heard