At my silence, Charles sighed, clicking, even as Black nudged me with his light, pulling my attention to another group of people hurtling down the street towards us. They ran in near formation, like a quasi-military unit, wearing black and red masks.
Rather than Molotov cocktails and tire irons, this group carried automatic rifles.
They gave us a wide berth, but we all stared at them and they stared at us as they passed. I still wasn’t able to read them much through the construct, but they were running towards the rioters we’d just left behind, the ones facing off with the cops on Valencia and 18th.
My uncle spoke, jerking my mind back to him.
“Miriam,” he said, his voice subdued. “You and your husband cannot simply ‘opt-out’ of the world we are building. You cannot simply avoid the vast majority of your people, or your heritage, no matter how far or fast you run.”
I grunted in annoyance.
“Maybe you haven’t been paying attention, Uncle Charles. Black and I have plenty of opportunities to rub elbows with our ‘heritage’ these days––”
From next to me, Jem grunted a laugh.
I glanced at him, and he smiled, nudging me with his elbow.
Grinning back, I jabbed my own elbow back at him, even as I spoke to my uncle through the earpiece.
“––They also remember our so-called heritage a little differently than you do, Uncle Charles. They remember seers like you from Old Earth, and want nothing to do with you and your weird religious bullshit, or your dreams of some bloody Armageddon. From what they told us, your kind are the reason the last world ended in the first place.”
Before he could argue, I sharpened my voice.
“––Call off Solonik,” I said. “Let me and Black deal with Brick. If you really want us to trust you, then stay out of this.”
My uncle clicked at me sharply.
I could almost see him shaking his head.
“You know I can’t do that, Miriam.”
“You mean you won’t.”
“I mean I can’t,” Charles said, sharper. “I cannot allow those creatures to have that kind of power over you. You and your husband are too important. As young and as maddeningly naive as you both are, you simply matter too much… and not only to me. I cannot allow you to make foolish decisions that affect the rest of us, purely based on sentiment over a human who you cannot accept is already dead, Miriam.”
That time, his words hit me like a punch to the chest.
Nick. He was talking about Nick.
My uncle went on, his voice colder.
“Do you have any idea how many people your ‘friend’ Nick Tanaka killed while he and his vampire family were in Europe? Do you have any idea how many he killed in Paris alone? He and that vampire henchman of Brick’s, Dorian, averaged around six a night for nearly a month. You say you care about humans? They killed children, Miriam. They killed whole families––”
Gunshots erupted behind us.
Everyone in our group flinched, including me.
We turned, looking for the source of the shots without stopping our fast jog down the street in the opposite direction.
“Miri!” Charles said, his voice harder. “Are you hearing me?”
“How many have you killed in the past few months, Uncle Charles?” I snapped back. “How many are you killing in my city right now?”
“It’s not the same! You know it’s not the same. My goal is peace, Miriam. Peace and safety for the humans and seers of this world. I am trying to keep vampires from destroying both of our races. If you can’t see the difference between what I’m doing and the indiscriminate murder committed by sociopathic serial killers, I’m not sure I can help you, niece…”
When I shook my head, fighting to push him out of my head, Charles’ voice grew louder, a near-shout I couldn’t help but hear over the gunshots in the background.
“You know damned well your place is here, with me! So is your husband’s, as much as he seems determined to play this game of adolescent rebellion with you. Do not think I will allow either of you to jeopardize our only hope of survival in this world. All for some base sentimentality about a human you gave to vampires to protect. You have no one to blame but yourself for this, Miriam! This is your fault! Nick Tanaka is on you––”
The connection broke.
It happened so quickly, I blinked.
Then I tapped my earpiece, wondering if I’d done it myself.
I glanced at Black, who shrugged, his expression unapologetic.
Did you just hang up on him? I sent.
He was irritating the crap out of me, Black sent.
I couldn’t help it––I laughed.
“He’s not going to help us,” Black said, speaking aloud that time, over the sound of gunshots, which seemed to be getting louder again. “I’m starting to worry Solonik is here for more than Nick, though.”
Jem glanced over from where he jogged beside me.
When I met the older seer’s gaze, he nodded, his mouth as grim as Black’s.
“I agree,” he said. “Charles is inordinately focused on Black, in particular. Some of that is seeing him as a threat… likely for the reasons he stated, because your husband is drawing seers to him who defect from Charles’ camp.
“…That’s not all of it, though,” Jem finished in a mutter.
“Meaning what?” I said, frowning.
Jem’s brow furrowed.
He looked past me to Black, staring at his eyes.
“I have a few theories,” he exhaled under his breath.
I followed his stare to Black, but Black only scowled.
Melodramatic b.s., he muttered in my mind.
Jem’s mental voice rose next to his.
Melodramatic? Really? That’s the position you’re taking?
When Black only rolled his eyes, Jem’s mental voice got louder.
Have you told her? Does your wife have any idea what you even are, brother? Or should I say ‘cousin’? he retorted.
When Black only clicked at him, Jem clicked back at him, louder.
I didn’t hallucinate that earlier, did I? Your eyes glow. Or were you going to pretend that didn’t happen? Glaring at Black, he snapped, She has no idea what that means, does she?
When I gave Black a puzzled look, he glared at Jem, his eyes openly warning.
Jem only scowled.
Does she have any idea how Charles would react, if he saw what I saw tonight? Much less his more fanatical religious followers? You about gave Jax a heart attack. You need to tell your own team something, at least––
“No. I don’t.” Black growled the words aloud that time, giving Jem an openly threatening look. “I don’t need to tell them shit––‘cousin.’ Neither do you. You’d be wrong, anyway.”
I frowned, looking between them.
I opened my mouth to speak, but Black sent me a hard pulse of light, his eyes warning in a different way that time. I felt what he meant, but it didn’t exactly clear up my confusion. When I frowned harder, not hiding my puzzlement, he gave me a barely perceptible shake of his head.
We’ll talk about it later.
I got the message. Both of his messages.
I shut my mouth.
Without thinking about why, I also blanked my mind.
I had no idea what was going on between the two of them, or what Jem was talking about in terms of Charles, or Black’s glowing irises, but clearly Black didn’t want Jem knowing my eyes glowed, too. I felt the protectiveness behind that, and not only in relation to Jem, so it didn’t bother me really, but I fully intended to take him up on that explanation once we were alone.
Exhaling his annoyance, Black focused back on the rest of the group.
He increased the pace of his military jog, scowling around at all of us.
“Someone get eyes on those goddamned vampires for me,” he snapped. “Now. Or I’m going to try bleeding a few of you, see if we can coax them out that way––”
“Sir!”
Black turned his head.
So did the rest of our group. For the first time it struck me that Jem wasn’t the only one who’d been staring at me and Black during that exchange.
It was Kiessa who’d spoken. She met Black’s gaze, her black and white-ringed eyes flashing, her expression grim but satisfied.
“We have them,” she said.
24
Race War
I SHOULD HAVE known Brick wouldn’t come to San Francisco with only those fourteen or so vampires he’d brought to the armory.
I should have realized that.
It was obvious, now that I thought about it for even a second.
Even so, my jaw dropped when we burst out onto 16th Street, following Dex, Keissa and A.J., who’d taken point once we heard more gunshots and screams up ahead.
It seemed like half the people on the street were vampires.
I stared in shock as two of them jumped at a cluster of humans wearing black and red masks. Gripping handguns, the humans fired wildly, missing both of them.
I watched, frozen, as a red-haired female sank her fangs into the throat of the man in front. He let out a scream, like an animal caught in a snare, even as the second vampire, a male with long, gold hair, bit the wrist just below the gun the second man carried, causing that man to scream even louder as he threw himself backwards, trying to shake him off.
I watched the humans around them scatter backwards, too shocked to even fire their guns.
Within seconds, both vampires had bitten three more humans.
I turned, gripping my rifle as I stared up and down the street.
We’d gotten there via the infiltration team, which finally managed to hack enough of my uncle’s construct that they were able to tap into Barrier communications between the seers in Solonik’s team.
They’d been a lot closer than we’d expected.
We caught up with them roughly at 16th and Mission.
A full-scale riot was already in progress.
We burst out on 16th as more screams erupted.
We were immediately surrounded, forced into a funnel of people fighting to get out of the main intersection. Gunshots erupted on either side, loud even over the panicked shouts and breaking glass I heard from the buildings closest to us. Automatic weapons fire erupted next, followed by louder screams.
Forced to slow our pace, our group came to a near-stop as we stared down at the sheer chaos on the block ahead.
Men in black riot gear fired tear gas canisters and live rounds of ammunition at the crowd as I watched, driving back a group of screaming people stuck in the middle of Mission Street. Only about a third of them wore the black and red masks of the Purists.
That meant the cops were firing on unarmed civilians.
I watched some of those civilians fall to the pavement, screaming, clutching gunshot wounds on legs and torsos.
Bottles were flung back at the cops, some of them on fire.
Here, Miri… put this on.
I tore my eyes off the crowd, looking at Black, who stood next to me. He handed me a face mask, yanking a second one out of the backpack he carried.
Frowning, I pushed my rifle out of the way to give my arms and hands the space to quickly pull it on. It took me a few minutes to adjust the thing as I brought the filter down over my mouth and nose, adjusting the goggles over my eyes. It made it harder to see, even with the infrared in the goggles, but as I watched the approaching gas clouds, I checked the edges of the mask, making sure they were sealed.
I’d been gassed before; it wasn’t exactly fun.
I glanced around and saw Cowboy, Angel, Dex and others pulling on face masks too.
I ducked as more rocks and bricks got thrown in our direction. Some of the nearer ones seemed to be aimed at us, probably because we were dressed more or less like cops or military, especially with the face masks.
Still, we didn’t carry riot shields or grenade launchers, or wear the insignia of the SFPD, so most in the crowd ignored us.
What now? I asked Black.
He gave me a grim look. You know why we’re here, doc. Look for vampires we know. His mental voice lowered to a growl. Preferably vampires who won’t fucking eat us before we can get a message to Brick––
Gunfire erupted to our left, cutting him off, and I ducked, turning.
Cops were aiming automatic weapons into the broken windows of a storefront. I couldn’t see what they were shooting at, but I saw more shadowy forms disappear into the nearby alley.
One darted out as I watched.
Before I could blink, he dragged one of the riot police into the alley with him.
To our left and in front of us, a thicker line of riot police continued marching forward with batons and Plexiglas shields, heading north up Mission. They formed a circle now, protecting their line of uniforms from the front and behind.
More bottles and rocks hit into their shields as I watched.
Some of those bottles were on fire.
A few of those exploded when they hit the Plexiglas, spreading liquid flame across curved shields, setting fire to the arms of the officers holding them.
I winced, ducking when a chunk of brick narrowly missed my head. I’d barely recovered when a larger explosion went off half a block up the street, lifting a cop car off the pavement.
“Goddamn it,” Black muttered from next to me. “This is a fucking mess.” He touched his earpiece. “They’re firing live rounds on civilians down here,” he growled to whoever answered. “We’ll try to get close enough to diffuse it, but we need air cover. Check the tops of buildings around Mission and 16th. So far, I’ve counted at least two teams in sniper hides… I can’t get a read on them, but it’s got to be Solonik’s people.”
His voice lowered, turning gruff.
“See if you can get someone on the horn from the local military too, before this becomes a fucking bloodbath. If it stays like this, we don’t have enough people to diffuse this on our own, not with the construct in play…”
As he spoke, he motioned for Dex and Kiessa to go ahead.
He nudged me to follow as he pushed forward after Kiessa.
Gripping my rifle tighter, I stepped into the path his body made through the crowd, sandwiched between him and Jem, Angel and Cowboy. I felt Black’s light wrap deeper into mine as we moved further into the melee, grounding me in a way that made everything around me seem to slow down, turning my vision hyper-clear.
Shadowy forms continued to pull down bodies as I watched, grabbing them out of the crowd like wolves picking gazelles out of a herd. Darting through the dark lines rimming the spaces of light, they stayed outside the glow of streetlights and fires, working the sides of the streets and staying out of range of the snipers on the buildings above.
A lot of them seemed to be working in pairs.
I saw two more grab and pull down uniformed soldiers on the edges of the riot police scrum, dragging them out of the light. Seconds later, three more grabbed humans wearing the red and black masks of Purity soldiers.
I didn’t recognize any of them.
None of the vampires I’d seen so far had been at the meeting with Brick.
More gunshots echoed between the buildings, forcing my eyes up.
I heard hisses then and turned, right as two of those bullets found targets.
A black-haired vampire growled, releasing the Purity soldier he’d been biting and limping back to the dark. The female vampire with him snarled from a bullet wound to the shoulder. Rather than releasing her prey, she dragged it backwards, holding the heavyset man in the red and black mask up as a shield as she disappeared into a broken storefront.
Black nudged my mind towards another skirmish, further down the street.
I saw a cluster of vampires in street clothes fighting about fifteen Purity soldiers, all of whom were firing hand guns into alleys and darkened store fronts.
I didn’t recognize any of them, either.
It might be enough if they
recognize one of us, Black sent.
Frowning, I nodded.
Watching two more vampires dart out to grab cops wearing riot gear, I looked to the other side of the street when I heard more shots ring out, that time coming from higher up.
Black was right. Solonik had at least two groups of snipers up there.
They were clearly targeting vampires.
The crush of humans around us screamed when more shots rang out, pulling us first to the right, away from the direction of the gunfire, then back to the left when more vampires appeared out of the dark parts of the streets on that side, grabbing humans who got too close.
Frustrated by all of the chaos around me, and the poor visibility, I reached out with my light, trying to hook into our infiltrator’s construct.
No, Black sent sharply. He looked back at me, even as Jem gripped my arm, sending me a warning pulse. Stay out of the Barrier, doc. We kept you out of that for a reason.
But why? I sent, frustrated. Don’t you need as many eyes on this as we’ve got?
There’s a good chance Solonik knows we’re here, Black sent, giving me a grim look. We don’t want him knowing you’re with us. Not if we can help it.
He lowered his mental voice.
You used to be connected to him, doc. If that fucker hacks your mind, we have a whole new set of problems.
Black glanced at Jem, adding,
If he’s got a sight ranking as high as Jem says, we have to assume the son of a bitch can hack us. I know you don’t fully get sight rankings yet, doc, but trust me, if he is what Jem says he is, it’s a whole different ballgame.
I frowned, remembering what my uncle said about Jem making someone like Solonik “necessary.” Still pushing past bodies, I only nodded to Black’s words.
Got it, I sent.
I could see a little more now.
The icy December wind was blowing most of the tear gas away from us, up Mission Street towards Highway 101 and South Market. A lot of the Purity Movement soldiers had broken rank and seemed to be moving east, towards Van Ness, probably to get away from vampires as much as the gas.
A lot of the Purity soldiers I saw wore gas masks now, along with their red and black uniforms.
TO BLACK WITH LOVE: Quentin Black Mystery #10 Page 35