Billy the Kid & the Vampyres of Vegas (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #5.5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

black, and he tossed it aside. “Ah, but we have a huge advantage.” The Morrigan glanced sidelong at him, razor-thin eyebrows raised in a silent question. “We have the element of surprise,” he continued. “Scathach believes she is coming here to rescue me.” He laughed and his breath created a moist circle on the glass. “And in that moment of surprise lies her doom. I will have my revenge.”
    “Revenge is always a dangerous game,” the Morrigan said quietly. She slid open a door and stepped out onto the balcony. A waft of sour, dry heat accompanied by a dull, buzzing rumble of traffic washed in from the city below. Then, climbing onto the rail, the Crow Goddess launched herself into the night, soaring high over the never-sleeping city.
    Uninterested in the Morrigan’s flight, the young man turned away from the window, slid a flat black phone from his shirt pocket and hit a speed dial number. The phone was answered on the first ring. “She’s coming,” he announced. “Remember, the red-haired female is mine and mine alone. Any companions are yours.” His smooth, handsome face turned bestial. “If she is harmed by anyone other than me, my vengeance will be terrible.”

10.
    The lights of Vegas bloomed on the horizon, a glowing stain against the waning night.
    “Decision time,” Billy said. “Where are we going?”
    “We?” Scathach asked.
    “We. I’ve decided I’m going to hang around for a while. Just in case you need a hand.”
    “It is a very sweet offer,” Scathach said, sounding genuinely moved. “But if you stay with me, you will end up dead. Everyone does. It’s one of the reasons I don’t have a companion.”
    “I’m not that easy to kill,” Billy said. “Trust me, a lot of people have tried and failed. I’m still here and they’re not.”
    “It’s your decision. I can’t be responsible for you,” Scathach said, her voice turning cold.
    “I wouldn’t want you to be,” Billy said. “I’ve been responsible for myself for my entire life. This is my decision.”
    “As you wish.” The Shadow turned away and looked back outside at the cucubuths still keeping pace with the car.
    “ ‘As you wish’?” Billy said. “That’s it? No arguments?”
    “Would you listen to me if I argued?”
    “No.”
    “Would you obey me if I told you to leave me alone and head back to San Francisco?”
    “No.”
    “Exactly, so what’s the point in arguing?”
    “There is none.” Billy grinned. “I’m sticking right here. I have a feeling that hanging around with you might be fun.”
    Something like a smile curled Scathach’s lips. “Fun. I don’t believe anyone has ever said that to me before. You know something,” she added, reaching for the nunchaku on the floor, “these cucubuths are really starting to irritate me!”
    Without warning she leapt from the moving car.
    Billy stood on the brakes, locking the tires. The heavy car fishtailed down the road, rubber screaming and smoking. By the time he came to a stop, Scathach had landed in the middle of the startled creatures. Instinctively, one lashed out at her, dagger-sharp curled talons hissing through the air toward her face. The Shadow moved her head a fraction and the claws missed her; then the heavy end of the nunchaku shot out to hit the creature between the eyes above its long wolf’s snout. It fell without a sound. A second threw himself at her, transforming from a wolf into a man in midair. The nunchaku struck him down, and as he fell, Scathach caught him and flung him into another creature. They tumbled into the dirt together, yelping and barking like dogs. The Shadow’s nunchaku whirled around her in a buzzing blur and then connected with both creatures’ skulls. They crashed back into the dry undergrowth and lay still.
    “You should not have done that,” another of the monsters lisped, its tongue struggling to make sounds in a mouth never designed for human speech.
    Scathach whirled. She was facing three huge