First he would take over Germany, then the world.
His expression changed to annoyance. It was supposed to be Paris first, then Germany, finally the world.
That damned Akio.
“Let me tell my children what they need to do,” he told Gerard. “I’ll be back.”
Gerard nodded and bowed until the Duke was out of the room. He shivered just a bit. The Duke was very close to a man while remaining a vampire. His present children were little better than ravenous monsters, but he kept them around for times like this.
Release them, and allow them to suffer should any attacks come. Early warning system, he called it.
Gerard looked around and began to clean up. If they needed to leave quickly, there would be a few things they should take.
He started packing the bag.
---
“I’ll be a son of a bitch,” Michael exclaimed when the sharpened metal rods that shot through the air where he had been a microsecond before caught his coat at the very bottom. He grated his teeth in annoyance, then produced a fine molecular edge on his hand and cut through the metal rod. He pulled his coat hem up and looked at it.
It had a quarter-inch hole punched through it. “Those cretins,” he hissed as his eyes flared red. He looked back down the hallway. When the trap had been sprung, Michael had jumped ahead and Akio had jumped back.
“I got lazy,” Michael admitted as he turned to Akio. He reached out and used the Etheric molecular edge to cut all the rods except the topmost.
Akio wasn’t that tall.
Akio shrugged as he walked over to Michael. “I’ll tell you about the time a little girl shot me in the ass with a crossbow.”
Michael looked at Akio’s deadpan face. “Truth?”
Akio smiled a little and nodded. “I try not to dwell on it much.”
“Was this recent, or hundreds of years ago?” Michael asked.
“I would like to say when I was young, dumb and foolish,” Akio told him. “But the truth is it happened twenty-eight years ago over in the area that was Taiwan before the war. There was a Wechselbalg group that was pretty militaristic, and one of their people who was bent on subjugating humans rose to the top. As I took care of the leader, I didn’t pay attention to the children, one of whom picked up a guard’s crossbow and shot me as more of his people came running in.”
Michael laughed. “Well, I appreciate the sharing and it did help.” He picked up his hem to look at the hole again. “But this pisses me off. I like this coat.”
“Easily fixed, Michael,” Akio answered, but then he noticed Michael wasn’t paying any attention to him. Akio reached out with his own senses and felt faint energy in the direction they had been heading. Only a few seconds later they heard noises as something moved quickly through the catacombs.
Coming directly for them.
---
“What I am saying,” Jacqueline stated as she pointed to the monitor with a map of the location, “is that there is a park across from the buildings.”
“And?” Yuko asked.
“Well,” Jacqueline leaned into Mark who reached up and put an arm around her shoulders, “they are looking for Akio, not a pair of lovers.”
“You want us,” Yuko pointed to Eve and herself, “to allow you two to get involved in a police takedown between two criminal gangs, possibly including Wechselbalg, that is most likely a trap for Akio?”
Jacqueline snorted. “Yes, and your point?”
“What would Michael say?” Eve asked.
“Did you see him,” Mark asked, “have any problem with us standing in front of a few thousand hungry Wechselbalg?”
Yuko opened her mouth and then shut it. She turned to Eve. “What do you think?”
Eve shrugged her shoulders. “The difference in risk between the fight they were in this morning and a fight with the criminal gangs is so large as to be laughable.” Eve admitted, “We can always ask Akio to ask Michael.”
Yuko nodded. “Do that, please.”
Catacombs under old Paris
Sean Gwelvin had been a very poor policeman when he was alive. When he was serving, he had learned all the diverse ways a house could be broken into, and many places and methods to hide valuables.
It was an education in theft, so he applied his education.
To steal, that is.
For a year and a half, he policed during the day, went home and took a nap, then went out to either case a location or break into the location. The last three months he was alive, his captain had actually assigned him to solve his own crimes.
Amazingly enough, he failed to find the perpetrator.
Then, he made the fateful mistake of trying to break into the Duke’s house looking for treasure. Instead of treasure, he found trouble.
The deadly kind.
Sean didn’t remember much about the time before he was turned, but he sure knew about his life since. The Duke was a hard master, but remarkably fair with both his praise and his punishments.
The senses honed during his thieving days were still useful. He couldn’t see anything down the hallway, but he could feel that something wasn’t right.
So he stopped. He smelled the air and turned in multiple directions, then reached into his pocket to grab his warning device and froze. Looking down, he pulled his pocket inside out before shoving it back in and checking the other three pockets.
“Looking for this?” a man’s voice asked him.
Sean twisted around, eyes flashing red, and hissed.
What he saw scared his lizard brain so much he couldn’t speak.
---
“Akio?” a tiny voice called in his ear. Akio turned away from the distraction of Michael ripping apart the Forsaken down the hallway.
“Yes, Eve?”
“Yuko would like you to pass on a question to Michael as to whether it’s okay to get Jacqueline and Mark involved in an operation.”
“There?” he asked as he glanced down the hallway in time to see Michael decapitate the body and turn to look back at him. Down here, there were tiny flames every forty feet, enough that you could see decently if you were advanced.
“Yes.”
Akio considered it a moment. “Tell me about it.” He stayed quiet as Michael joined him. “So, a trap.” he said as she finished.
“Oh, definitely.” Eve agreed.
“Problems?” Michael asked.
Akio summarized Eve’s communication.
“So,” Michael replied, “we have two gangs, some Wechselbalg and perhaps cops involved in an effort to capture or kill you?”
Akio gave a minute shrug. “Probably kill.”
“And the two young ones wish to be a part of this to do what?”
Eve answered loud enough for Michael to hear, slightly hurting Akio’s hearing, “They don’t like that there will be innocent cops involved.”
“There is no way of knowing they are innocent,” Michael answered, “without Akio or me to confirm.”
“In Japan,” Akio replied, “look for cops firing their guns at the bad guys. That is a good enough determination because any bad cops won’t be firing.” Michael raised an eyebrow, so Akio continued, “The old days where only the cops and the Yakuza had guns is gone. Too many times a Wechselbalg has rampaged as a wolf and killed indiscriminately. Now the cops have guns with silver bullets as well. While some are paid by the criminals, most are not.” He shrugged. “Japan is still mostly civilized, but it is a harsh life now when someone can change into a creature that is almost impossible to kill. So, civilians have guns.”
Michael nodded his understanding. “Yuko wants my permission for two adults to go into harm’s way?”
There was a very faint, “That’s what I told them!” coming from Akio’s implant.
Michael smiled. “They are old enough to decide what to do on their own. I didn’t promise them they wouldn’t die in Europe, and I can’t say they are safe in Japan either.” He could almost see the cold water splash on Jacquel
ine’s face when she heard those words and the narrowing of her eyes as she took on the responsibility anyway.
“However,” Michael continued, “make sure they know I will be very upset with both of them if they get killed. And if I figure out a way to resurrect them, I will make them train every day for ten years so it doesn’t happen again.”
“Oh shit.” This time it was Mark’s voice.
“Yeah,” Jacqueline chimed in, “that training bullshit is for the birds. So try not to die.”
“Got it.”
Akio smiled at the two talking in his ear. “That is all?”
“We are good,” Eve agreed, and they closed the connection.
Michael rolled his eyes before turning back to Akio. “Children!” He pulled a device out of his pocket. “What do you suppose this does?”
Akio looked at Michael, who was smiling. “You already know.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Nagoya, Japan
“Oh my god,” Mark whispered as the four of them walked through the city of Nagoya. All the buildings had electricity and cars whisked overhead. “This is nothing like New York.” His head kept swiveling, trying to take in all the sights. “How does everyone have so much here?”
“We kept them safe,” Yuko answered. “Bethany Anne made a secret agreement and placed enough armaments to protect the island in case of a war. She wanted a place that Michael could come and be safe when he made it back.”
Mark snorted.
Jacqueline watched a version of a motorcycle whiz past her. “They make almost no sound,” she noted before asking Yuko, “Bethany Anne trusted the Japanese government?”
Yuko smiled. “Hardly.”
“Why then,” Jacqueline watched another motorcycle speed past, the lights underneath the fairing coloring the street. “Did she give them guns?”
“She didn’t, exactly. She gave Yuko and me guns and plans. From there, we took on the responsibility to make sure those weapons were used according to the agreements we had worked out.”
“They didn’t try to just take them?”
“Oh, certainly.” Yuko nodded and pointed for them to go across the street. “After Akio discussed it with them, they stopped.”
“Stopped trying or breathing?” Mark asked.
“Yes.” Yuko answered.
Mark was surprised to see passing vehicles come to a stop and wait for them. “The laws here are strong enough to make sure everyone stops?”
“Of course,” Yuko answered, but a small smile played on her face, “but that isn’t the only answer.”
There was a long pause before Eve spoke. “What she means is that we have multiple companies here in Japan. Interestingly enough, the most secretive is a programming group which is responsible for all upper EI capabilities, including the role-specific EIs that run all the cars, including those that can be taken over by manual control.”
“Wait!” Mark came back, excited to see the cars start up again once they stepped onto the sidewalk. “You mean you wrote the code that runs these cars?”
Eve nodded. “You are very perceptive.”
“Why you?” Jacqueline asked.
“Because she is the best programmer in Japan,” Mark answered. “Probably the world, right?”
“Probably,” Eve agreed. “I only qualify that because there is a very small chance that the EI in the Colorado base is better, but that chance is less than one in four thousand.”
“Daaamnnnn,” Mark whispered.
“I would never have guessed,” Jacqueline admitted, “that I was walking around with a couple of business people.”
“More like business moguls, but that might be bragging.” Yuko replied, and stopped. “Ok,” she nodded down a street, “fifteen blocks south is the park. It is next to the Port where we need to meet the police. It is about two hours before the meeting is supposed to occur. Use your implants to communicate, but remember there are supposed to be Wechselbalg here.” Yuko turned to Jacqueline. “Are you able to deal with an Alpha’s command?”
“Fuck,” Jacqueline spat out, “I have no Alpha but Michael. They can bring it.”
Mark poked her in the ribs. “What about me, baby?”
She turned and jabbed him with her elbow, then smiled. “I don’t know, ask me next time and we will see who ends up on top, ok?”
“Ok.” Mark’s eyes went a touch vacant. “Either way, I win.”
Yuko snapped her fingers twice. “A little focus would be good here.”
Jacqueline blushed. “Sorry, I’m still reacting like a wolf in heat.”
“No,” Yuko shook her head, “like a woman ready to pounce on her man. Just make sure you guys don’t lose it out there so that Michael has to try and resurrect you.”
“Can he do that?” Mark asked.
“No.” Yuko told him, and Mark’s face lost its humor.
“Well, baby,” Mark held his hand out for Jacqueline to take, “let’s go to the park, shall we?”
Police Office, Nagoya Japan
“Inspector Hirano?”
Inspector Jijo Hirano turned to the young lady and raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”
At the moment, he happened to be at the front desk of the station instead of his own office or out on a bust that needed his oversight, and he was surprised someone knew who he was.
Especially with his back turned; she couldn’t have seen his name badge. “Reporter?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I’m here to discuss something with you,” she replied. “May we go to your office?”
Hirano stepped up to the counter that separated the police from the civilians and placed his hands and elbows on the five-foot-tall surface. This meant he was looking slightly down at the woman standing three feet in front of him. “Well, it all depends on what we need to talk about. I apologize, but I don’t have the time to just chat about anything—”
She interrupted him. “The Bitch Protocol.”
The blood left the Inspector’s face. “I see.”
At that moment, the regular officer of the desk came back. “Thank you, sir!” he said.
The Inspector barely nodded in his direction as he directed the attractive young woman to follow him to his office.
Kimio watched the two leave. “Lucky bastard,” he breathed, and then took his seat, waiting for the next hot young woman to come in so he could help her.
---
Yuko walked behind the Inspector, making sure to watch him as she kept her senses alert. While Eve was fairly sure this Inspector was clean, it could be that he was just very good at hiding his real affiliation.
The Inspector opened his door and held it to allow Yuko to step in. She was wearing her black operations gear under a large and easily-disposed-of dress.
“Thank you.” Yuko nodded as he closed the door.
“Well,” he admitted as he moved to sit behind his desk, “if you are who I think you are, then it is I who needs to thank you.”
Yuko turned her head. “Meaning?”
Hirano pursed his lips and opened the top drawer of his desk. He bent over to the right side and used the keys to open the bottom drawer. He pulled out the book, binder really, that was kept inside and locked the drawer again. He laid the book down on his desk and ran his hand across it reverently before unfastening its bronze clasp and opening it.
Yuko was surprised to see note papers inside, all glued or taped. Running her eyes over the first three entries on the first page, she saw they were from over five decades before.
“This book was my father’s,” Hirano announced. “When I found it after he died, I thought he was perhaps delusional. It wasn’t until I met my first Wechselbalg that I went back to my mother’s home and searched for the book. I have kept it up to date since then.”
“Why paper?” Yuko asked.
Hirano grinned. “Because the wife of ADAM cannot find what isn’t in the systems, can she?”
Yuko laughed a second before she slammed a hand over her mouth in surpr
ise. “Sorry!” she said in a muffled voice. “That shocked me.”
Hirano smiled. Meeting a living legend wasn’t what he had expected to occur today. She was even more beautiful than the description that his father had written in the entries in the book. “That I know that Eve exists?”
“No,” Yuko answered, removing her hand. “That you called her the wife of ADAM.” Yuko thought about it. “Although it is accurate in a way, I suppose.”
“So, Eve is absolutely real as well?” Hirano asked. “I know that I am acting as if it is true, but we didn’t have proof.”
“Oh, certainly, she is outside right now,” Yuko answered and smiled as Hirano craned his neck, obviously wishing that he could go look. “She is not on this side of the building, Inspector.”
“Oh,” he turned back to Yuko, “sorry.”
“No offense taken,” Yuko answered, but she now understood why Jacqueline could be annoyed by Mark’s attraction to technology.
This Inspector was kind of cute. She would have to inform Eve that the AI had turned an Inspector’s head.
The Inspector continued his explanation, “It is not that I am any less impressed with you, my lady,” he bowed slightly, “but she really is the ghost in the machine, is she not?”
Yuko considered that a moment. “Both machine and shell, I could argue,” she said before continuing. “As much fun as this is to consider,” she nodded to his book, “we have a situation going down at the Port, and I am here to find out if I can trust any of the police who will be there.”
“The Port isn’t my jurisdiction,” he answered and pushed his book out of the way so he could see the screen in his desktop. “Let’s see who we will have working down there with you.”
Ten minutes later, Hirano stuck his head out of his office and yelled, “Hana!”
“Here!” a woman’s voice called as she came out of an office two doors down. Hirano gestured for her to join him and retreated into his office.
---
“Well,” Michael breathed out, annoyed with himself, “shit”
Akio stepped over the latest severed arm, whose blood was seeping into the old limestone. It held a device in its hand.
“He got a message out?” Akio asked.
The Darkest Night (The Second Dark Ages Book 2) Page 16