Free The Tome of Bill (Book 6): Half A Prayer by Rick Gualtieri Page B

and the other girls train was great fun in a Dolemite or Sin City sort of way. The mental image of walking into a strip club, failing to tip one of the girls, and receiving a proper kung fu smack-down in return was an awesome one.
    Where I was concerned, though, it mostly just hurt.
    Brock and I began to circle each other in the dim torchlight of the subterranean enclosure. He was larger and more skilled, but he wasn’t a very old vampire. Although the concept was somewhat laughable, I actually had a small leg up on him in terms of strength. He was also a petty goon, possessing far more brawn than brains. So, in theory, this was a fair fight.
    In actual practice...
    “Sweep the leg!”
    I turned to where my roommate stood watching the sparring match, a smirk upon his face. “What the fuck are you...?” and found myself airborne again. Fucking dickhead. I was an idiot for having even acknowledged him - especially since he’d been doing the same goddamned thing nearly every day in the two weeks since he’d arrived.
    Sally walked over to where I lay and looked down upon me. “Distraction is the enemy.”
    “So is being a smug bitch.” I reached out, grabbed her ankle, and knocked her legs out from beneath her. It was petty as all hell, but I got a shit-ton of satisfaction watching her ass smack down on the dirty concrete.
    Brock opened his mouth to laugh, but caught himself before it could escape. He might’ve been built like a moose, but I’d seen Sally take on bigger and badder foes. Ed wasn’t quite so discrete, and a quick huff of laughter escaped his throat. Normally, a glare from Sally would’ve silenced him. We’d all played that game, but before she could react, Brock was across the room and had slammed Ed against the far wall by way of his throat. Shit! Never underestimate a vampire to either puss out or look for an opportunity to suck up to a superior.
    “Humans do not laugh at their betters,” he snarled.
    I’m sure Ed would’ve had something to say had his windpipe not been in the process of being constricted. I scrambled to my feet, ready to peel Brock off of my friend, but Sally beat me to the punch...figuratively, at least.
    “Drop him,” she said casually as she stood and dusted herself off.
    “He dared to mock you,” Brock replied, flashing his fangs at Ed.
    My roommate turned a sickly shade of purple as way of response.
    “Then he is mine to punish. Not yours.”
    “But this human...”
    “Is a member of my coven,” she interrupted, making no move toward him. She could’ve torn him apart, but I began to understand that some challenges were best won with words. Psychological scars could run much deeper than physical ones, especially for a species that healed as fast as we did. “I have decreed it, and so has the First Coven. Are you trying to tell me you disagree?”
    Brock hesitated for a moment, uncertainty on his face. Heh. Vamps were suckers for name dropping. Finally, he let go of my roommate, who doubled over and sucked in a great gasp of air, the color returning to his face.
    “Now get the fuck upstairs,” she said in an even tone as she turned away dismissively. “And take the others with you.” She walked over to the far corner to a small weapons locker, where she put in the key, then punched in a code to unlock it. She began rooting around inside of it as if nothing out of the ordinary had just occurred.
    Brock glared at Ed, but that was the extent of his bravery. Rather than risk pissing off Sally any further, he nodded toward the two vampires standing guard at the massive metal gate that led to the tunnel connecting the subbasement with the sewers. Together, they climbed up to the club’s storage room. A few moments later, the booming sound of the heavy trapdoor shutting rang out in the room.
    Sally bent over the weapons locker for a moment longer, a distinct dirt stain showing on the ass of her jeans from when I’d knocked her down. Oh yeah, target sighted. When she