Free Sunset Strip: A Tale From The Tome Of Bill by Rick Gualtieri Page A

his spine with my fist before he even realized I was there. He dropped to his knees and keeled over. Eyes still blackened, I stepped forward.
    The manager backed up a step, then slipped in some of Tad and fell on his ass. It was almost funny. I made a note to remember to laugh when this was all over. He pulled a walkie-talkie out. “Code sixty-six! I repeat, code sixty-six!”
    Ah, that’s what I was waiting for. Only the true bigwigs in this town knew of our existence, but security was always trained to deal with oddities . Anything that fell somewhere on the scale between holy shit and what the fuck would get a call sign of sixty-six. Other ears, non-human ones, continually monitored the feeds for just such a code.
    Alas, that meant I still had some time left to kill. I stepped forward and knocked the radio from his hand, breaking his arm in the process.
    Dragging him to his feet by his tie, I roughly pushed his head to the side and indulged myself in another drink. When it’s fresh from the tap, might as well take all you can get - that’s my motto.
    As I sucked out his lifeblood, I had a moment to reflect how it was ironic that I’d been prepared to spare Tad, my would-be rapist, yet had never given these two men a chance. They’d only been doing their jobs, and I’d taken everything from them without a second thought.
    Alas, blood is intoxicating. It tends to make us forget reason for a time. Even the most level-headed vampire can become a shark at a feeding frenzy if the conditions are right. Sadly for them, with blood flowing freely and visions of Jeff still fresh in my mind, it was the perfect recipe for a massacre.
    * * *
    I waited patiently. The scent of blood still filled the air, but I was pretty darn full by then. That helped to dull the effect. Thus, I used the time to collect my thoughts again. The fun was over and done with. Now it was time for business...time to make formal contact. My original plan would have given us a chance to negotiate. This way, though, was bound to put Marlene and her minions in a tizzy.
    At the very least, that was bound to be a shitload more fun.
    In time, doors opened and feet shuffled about in the hall. I knew what it meant. Anyone who had been within earshot of my earlier violence, especially those who had phoned security, were being silenced in one way or another. Unknown to the human guards expected to use it, a code sixty-six often meant no witnesses.
    I listened with both my ears and my mind. The next few minutes were very telling. Nothing out of the ordinary filtered through. That meant no compulsions. Whoever was in the cleanup crew wasn’t very old. It took a vampire of considerable power to compel a human, especially one with anything resembling willpower. Hell, I could just barely do it. Anyone younger would have an equal chance of knocking themselves out if they even tried.
    Finally, silence returned to the floor. I waited for a moment longer, then heard a sound right outside the door.
    It was show time.
     

Chapter 15
    1979
    I awoke with a start, gasping for breath as if I hadn’t done so in far too long. I opened my eyes and immediately squeezed them shut as a wave of vertigo passed through me. The room seemed far too bright and insanely vivid, as if someone had repainted it in neon colors.
    As I laid there, eyes closed, I raised a hand to massage my temples. I took a deep breath through my nose and my nostrils tingled. There was an odd coppery odor to the air...unpleasant, yet somewhat intoxicating at the same time. As I processed this, memories flooded into me...unpleasant ones of creatures with soulless eyes and nightmare teeth.
    “Jeff!” I gasped before putting a hand over my mouth.
    He’d...he’d...but that was insane.
    I sat up and cracked my eyes open again, slowly this time. The world came back into focus in that same way as before, as if everything was in extra sharp contrast. It was weird. I’d never tried LSD, but my friends at the club had