Black Of Wing: A Quentin Black Paranormal Mystery Romance (Quentin Black Mystery Book 14)

by JC Andrijeski

  On my left, and Angel’s right, Nick and Dalejem sat on the matching love seat.

  I flinched a little when I saw them.

  Really, I flinched when I saw Nick.

  Nick had never looked so utterly alien to me before, so wholly and completely different from how he’d been as a human, as he did on Hiroto and Yumi’s flower-patterned love seat next to his seer boyfriend. A darker part of me might have found it funny, but when I saw Nick’s face, it was impossible to laugh.

  The first thing I noticed was the direction of his eyes.

  He stared past me, at Black.

  Like his father, he also sat too stiffly, too straight.

  Unfortunately, both things––the staring and the weird sitting––made him appear even less like human Nick, and more like a vampire.

  Trying to diffuse at least some of that, I instinctively turned to Nick’s father.

  Hiroto had already regained his feet, and gave me a hug.

  “It is so lovely to see you, Miriam.”

  He smiled, and I was shocked to see his eyes bright, too. I hugged him back squeezing his arms. I opened my mouth, about to say something to him, when Dalejem’s voice rose in my head.

  They just found out. About two hours ago. Yumi’s taking it better than Hiroto.

  I turned, staring at Dalejem.

  Which part? About the two of you?

  Any of it. Dalejem’s green eyes met mine, still as a windless pond. He didn’t tell them anything, Miriam. Not until about three hours before I got here… around one o’clock today. Nick told me Yumi about fainted when she saw him. He was afraid his father might have a stroke––

  Holy shit.

  I didn’t have any better words really.

  I was still staring at Jem.

  Gaping at him, really.

  Why? I sent finally. Why didn’t he do it with you, at least?

  Dalejem lifted his hands subtly from where they rested on his thighs, a barely perceptible version of a seer’s shrug.

  But I thought he told them weeks ago… months…

  No, Dalejem said only.

  From the way his mind sounded, this news was relatively new to him, too.

  Does he know about you? I asked next. About us? Me and Black?

  We haven’t talked about it yet. We haven’t gotten that far.

  Dalejem’s mental voice turned grim.

  Nick had to tell them most of what happened that led up to him becoming a vampire. The island. The fire in the forest. Brick taking him to Paris and the rest of us believing him to be dead. He omitted a lot of details, of course… but he gave them a high-level explanation of the newborn thing… a VERY high-level explanation, Dalejem added warningly. He told them the newborn thing is why he’s only telling them the truth about what happened to him now.

  Pausing, Dalejem added,

  But they’ve been watching the news. They saw Black’s press conference. They know you’re both claiming to be seers. They’ve likely guessed the same about me. They’ve been asking Nick about all of this for weeks, from what he’s told me. They’ve especially been asking about you. I think that was the thing that finally convinced Nick to tell them the truth––

  “Unbelievable,” Black muttered from next to me.

  I glanced at him.

  I hadn’t fully realized he was listening in until he spoke.

  Now Black was looking at Dalejem, too.

  His eyes returned to Nick a second later.

  “You really are a dumbass,” Black told Nick.

  Only then did I realize I was still holding Nick’s dad’s arms. I released him, and Nick’s father retreated to the kitchen, muttering about helping his wife.

  “He’s damned lucky he didn’t kill both of them,” Black muttered, much lower, glancing at Hiroto’s back. “Fucking idiot.”

  That time it was too low for Nick’s dad to hear.

  Nick was a vampire.

  He one hundred percent heard that.

  Even if I hadn’t known vampires had insanely good hearing, I would have known it by the look that came to Nick’s face.

  That look was so utterly Nick, and so much like a look that would have come to his face before the change, I snorted a laugh.

  When I looked at Black, though, he wasn’t laughing.

  He didn’t look angry, either.

  Instead, he stared at Nick, his eyes faintly wide.

  For the first time, he looked like he’d seen a ghost.

  Even as I thought it, Black removed his hand from the inside of his jacket.

  I hadn’t even noticed where it had been.

  I’d been so busy taking in the weirdness that was this room, I hadn’t noticed anything about Black at all. Now it hit me that he’d had his hand on his gun, probably from the second we walked through that door, probably the instant he handed off the pie and wine to Yumi.

  Staring up at him incredulously, I was about to say something, when Yumi pushed through the swinging doors to the kitchen and beamed at all of us.

  “Dinner’s ready!” she announced cheerfully.

  That time, however, I heard the full-blown strain behind her voice.

  That’s when I realized our true purpose here, at the Tanaka house.

  We were here to keep Nick’s parents from flipping the fuck out.

  16

  Home

  Mr. Tanaka had always been the relatively quiet one.

  Nick used to joke he was “too Japanese” to get mad at him like an American dad would.

  Angel only rolled her eyes when Nick said it.

  She told me she’d heard Mr. Tanaka yell plenty back when they’d been neighbors out on Hunter’s Point, and Nick had been in high school.

  She told me Nick and him used to butt heads all the time.

  Angel’s family had a running joke about hearing Nick’s name yelled from next door in accented Japanese-English. She could still imitate Hiroto saying Nick’s name, which cracked all of us up when she did it a few times at the North Precinct of the SFPD, back when they were both still homicide detectives.

  Tonight, however, Hiroto Tanaka was quiet.

  I noticed he didn’t take his eyes off Nick.

  He also didn’t really stop frowning.

  “Nick told us you thought he was dead,” Yumi said, her voice still containing that false cheery note. “He said when you came to the house that day, you were really shocked to find out I’d been talking to you… that Naoko had been calling us.”

  I looked away from Mr. Tanaka, smiling at Yumi.

  “Yes. That’s true.” I hesitated, not sure if I should apologize for that whole thing again, or if that would only make her feel worse.

  Yumi looked embarrassed, and that guilt again made her wince.

  “Mrs. Tanaka––” I began.

  “Yumi,” she insisted.

  “There’s no possible way you could have known what was happening.”

  She nodded, but her expression remained pinched.

  She forced a smile as she handed the platter of roast beef to the right, sending it down the table. She continued to talk to me for some reason, maybe just because she’d already talked to Angel, since they’d gotten here earlier, or maybe because she saw me as familiar with this in a way Angel wasn’t… which was kind of funny, since Nick had been living with Angel for a few months now.

  Either way, Yumi smiled at me when she spoke next.

  “He won’t eat,” she told me, her voice holding another thread of tension. “He says he’s not hungry, but it’s weird to have a son sit at my table… and not eat.”

  She glanced at Nick, and seemed to wince at how his face looked.

  “He was like a bottomless pit before. He’d eat enough for three people.”

  Hiroto grunted.

  I glanced at him, then back at Yumi.

  I had no idea what to say. I felt like I was watching a group mental breakdown happen in real time, and it was my family, so my training felt useless.

  A
worried frown touched Nick’s lips as he looked at Yumi. Seeing such a “Nick” expression on that perfect, inhumanly white face again made me wince.

  When I looked at Dalejem, I saw him scowl at me.

  It hit me that he may have misunderstood the wince.

  I didn’t, Jem growled in my mind. I didn’t misunderstand, Miri. But I wish you’d get used to this. You’re making things harder on his parents, not easier.

  You’re going to lay that on me? I sent back, incredulous. How is this suddenly my responsibility? They’re not my parents––

  It is your responsibility, Jem shot back. And they are your fucking parents, from what Nick tells me… at least in part. Not to mention what happened in Koh Mangaan. You and Black were in charge. You’re the ones who let Brick near him in the first place. Are you going to tell me… yet again… how this is all Nick’s fault? You could at least try and make things a little more fucking normal for them, Miri––

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Black broke in, glaring between both of us. “Do you honestly think you’re making things normal, talking to one another in each other’s heads? Making weird faces and glaring across the table at one another, so it’s obvious something is going on that’s leaving them out?”

  There was a dead silence.

  In it, Yumi gripped her fork in one hand.

  Hiroto sat perfectly still at the end of the table, looking down at his plate.

  Black exhaled in exasperation.

  He looked at Yumi first.

  “Your son is a vampire,” he said, blunt. “He’s not going to eat your cooking anymore, Yumi. It sucks, but it’s the least of his problems, frankly.”

  Nick glared at him, his eyes showing disbelief.

  Black scowled right back at him, leaning back in his chair.

  Folding his muscular arms across his chest in the suit he wore, he glared at Nick.

  “Miri says you’re yourself again,” he said, his gold eyes glowing faintly.

  His words came out like an accusation.

  “Miri says you’re you again, Nick,” he said, still glowering at him. “Post-newborn. How about you start fucking acting like it? In the whole time I’ve known you, I’ve never known you to be this damned weird and quiet. Is this supposed to convince any of us we can have a normal fucking relationship with you again? With you sitting there all goth and glowery… like some Bela Lugosi wannabe? You’re supposed to be the social one. Right?”

  Black planted his feet under the table.

  He continued to gauge Nick’s face.

  Nick stared at him right back.

  Then he looked at his parents––at his mother, staring at his face, her eyes round and worried, and his father, who still focused on his plate.

  Nick looked back at Black, scowling.

  “You can’t swear like that around my parents,” he growled. “What is the matter with you? Can’t you control yourself at all?”

  There was a silence.

  Then Angel snorted an uncontrolled laugh.

  She clapped her hand over her mouth, waving an apology.

  Black blinked at Nick. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Do I look like I’m kidding, dickhead? Show a little respect…”

  “Naoko!” His mother’s mouth pursed in a frown, probably more in reflex than conscious thought. “Watch your mouth! He’s a guest!”

  She turned then, looking at Black.

  I saw a faint relief begin to grow in her eyes, even as one of those dry, sideways smiles curved her lips.

  “…Even if he is a dickhead,” she added mischievously. “You don’t say it. It’s rude.”

  The silence deepened.

  Then, unable to help myself, I burst out in a laugh.

  Everyone else at the table except Angel stared at me like I’d lost my mind.

  Well, and Dalejem, who I caught smiling, too.

  Then Angel leaned forward, looking Yumi in the eye.

  “Has Nick dumped it on you that he’s gay now, Yumi?”

  “Angel!” Nick growled.

  “Yes,” Black said, scowling. “Your son’s a gay vampire. Can we move on? I’m starving. And the roast beef hasn’t moved in like… forever…”

  I smacked his arm, but I was still giggling.

  Hiroto was staring at Nick now, though.

  “Is this true?” He looked at Dalejem, then back at Nick. “Is this your… romantic partner?” Hiroto frowned at Dalejem’s face. “Did you give him the black eye?”

  Nick leaned back in his dining room chair, as if unsure how to answer.

  Hiroto prodded him again. “You didn’t hit him? Did you?”

  “No,” Black retorted. “I did that. Because this asshole was gone for like eight months and we all thought he was dead. He couldn’t bother with one damned phone call.”

  Yumi looked between Dalejem and Black, frowning.

  “Is this true?” she said, hesitant.

  “Of course it’s true.” Black jerked his chin towards Nick. “He was with your son in Siberia somewhere. Waiting for him to return to normal from the vampire thing––”

  “I meant, is it true you hit my son’s boyfriend?”

  She sounded more indignant that time.

  Black looked stumped. He opened his mouth, then shut it, looking at Nick.

  “I guess it is true. Yeah.”

  Yumi gave Black an openly disapproving look.

  Nick looked furious.

  “No wonder he wouldn’t tell me who did it,” he muttered.

  Folding his arms, he scowled around at all of us. Despite the anger I could see in his eyes, I got the impression he was at a total loss.

  He also looked so intensely “Nick,” I burst out in another giggle.

  Hiroto glanced at me, then frowned at Nick.

  “Are you really not going to answer?” he said, now sounding a little hurt. “Is this your boyfriend? Because I would rather if you told us. Not Miriam’s husband.”

  Nick exhaled in a frustrated sigh.

  He looked at his dad briefly.

  “Yeah,” he grumbled, shifting his gaze to glare at me. He turned then, aiming a death stare at Angel. “Thanks a lot for that, by the way. Isn’t that a huge no-no? Outing someone without their permission?”

  “Oh, for crying out loud!” Angel snapped. “You’re a vampire, Nick. I think who you’re sleeping with is kind of a detail at this point, isn’t it?”

  “Wait,” I said, unable to help it. “You’re sleeping together?”

  There was another silence.

  That time, Dalejem broke out in an uncontrollable giggle.

  Nick glared at him next.

  “Laugh it up,” he said, scowling. “Why don’t we all get it out of our system?”

  As for Yumi, she only rolled her eyes, looking directly at Angel and leaning over the table.

  “He thinks he’s so sneaky,” she said, shaking her head. “But I guessed about the boyfriend. I guessed even on the phone… and they’ve been making googly eyes at each other since they got here. Subtly is not my son’s strong point when it comes to romance––”

  “Mom!” Nick complained. “Do you have to? Seriously?”

  Mr. Tanaka looked at her, too, frowning. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I thought he wanted to tell us,” Yumi said, motioning at their son. She smiled that mischievous smile of hers. “Anyway, I admit, I kind of wanted to watch him squirm, thinking I had no idea… thinking he was going to blow my mind…”

  Nick stared at her incredulously. “You’re a sadist.”

  She laughed, patting his arm. “I’m old, honey. I need my entertainment. And I know these things are more… fluid… these days. As long as you and your friend are happy––”

  Nick cringed. “My friend? Jesus. Stop. Please stop.”

  I snorted another loud laugh, and Nick stared at me.

  “Shut. Up.” When I only laughed harder, he glared around at all of us. “Why in God’s name did I think any of you
were going to help make any of this go more smoothly? Jesus fucking Christ… I’m surrounded by infants.” He glared at Black. “And dickheads.”

  “NAOKO!” his mother scolded.

  I laughed harder, half-choking on the water I’d just sipped.

  When I glanced up at Black, he was staring at Nick again, but now I saw the look in his eyes had changed.

  When he reached up a hand, wiping his eyes, I curled my arm around him, pulsing warmth at his chest.

  Nick seemed to notice Black’s expression then, and stared.

  Everyone else around the table stared at Black, too.

  There was a weighted-feeling silence while Black wiped his eyes.

  Then Yumi got up and walked around the table.

  I honestly had no idea what she was going to do… yell at us for not telling her, apologize for yelling at us before, when she thought we were lying to her about Nick being dead, tell us she wasn’t coming to our wedding, which we’d invited her and Hiroto to, along with all of Nick’s sisters, and which just hit the newspapers that week.

  For all I knew, she’d tell me and Black to get out of her house.

  Before I could make sense of her expression well enough to guess, Yumi threw her arms around Black, kissing him on the cheek before she hugged him, tight to her chest.

  Black hugged her back, one-armed, his other hand still gripping mine.

  The rest of us just stared, silent.

  When I glanced at Nick, I saw him wiping his eyes, even as Dalejem moved closer to him, wrapping his arm around Nick’s back.

  Yumi patted Black on the back a few times, then released him, tears in her eyes.

  “You thought he was dead,” she said. “You really thought he was dead.”

  Black nodded, pausing to glare at Nick. “Yes.”

  There was another silence.

  Black continued to stare at Nick, but Nick avoided his gaze.

  After another few seconds, Black scowled, aiming his words back at Yumi.

  “Yes. I thought he was dead,” he said. “In more ways than one.”

  Black’s anger and pain shimmered around me briefly, coloring his light.

  He couldn’t really maintain his anger, though… not as he stared at Nick’s face.

  “…I thought he was gone forever,” Black repeated. “But he’s not. He’s not gone. Are you, Nick?”