The Darkest Night (The Second Dark Ages Book 2)

by Michael Anderle

  Yuko nodded her understanding and turned to the Inspector as she holstered her weapons.

  “My stories,” he commented, looking around before returning his gaze at her, “have always had you as a diplomat?”

  Paris Catacombs

  Michael and Akio worked out how to use their separate hearing to triangulate better, finding the last Forsaken as he ran down a small hallway that opened into another room. Michael stopped and reappeared as the Forsaken literally ran into the two older Vampires.

  Nothing but pieces of the body went past them.

  The two men turned as one to see the decapitated, armless body stagger before it fell. Michael turned to Akio. “You need to speed up a little. One slice?”

  Akio’s eyes narrowed and a small smile played at the edge of his lips.

  They looked around. Michael went left, Akio went right. A few moments later, Michael heard “Door!”

  He came back around from his hallway and walked over to Akio.

  “You’re right,” Michael agreed. “Door.”

  Akio tried rolling his eyes again. “Keep that up,” Michael encouraged. “You can express so much more with body language than you have so far. Your ability to stay as motionless as a mannequin is preternatural.”

  Akio didn’t take the bait. “Trap?”

  Michael cocked his head and reached up, stopping just before he reached the top. He lowered his hand again. “Probably not.”

  “Why?” Akio asked.

  Michael jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “I’m thinking the tumbling Forsaken here would have tripped it. He didn’t seem particularly bright.”

  Akio thought about that a moment. “What if he was supposed to trip it and catch us in here?”

  “Yes, I considered that angle, but gave the other a one-percent higher chance.”

  “I’ll go with trap.”

  Michael considered the door to the next room and disappeared. Akio heard in his mind, I figured you would.

  The room behind the door was very clean. There were still a couple of lights burning. He reached out and felt four small electronic pulses, but nothing that felt like explosives.

  He appeared in the middle of the room and waited.

  Nothing.

  Michael shrugged, walked over to the door, turned the knob, and opened it.

  Japan

  Yuko considered her answer before replying to the Inspector. “I am considered the diplomat. That was the role I embraced in the past.”

  “And now?” Inspector Hirano asked.

  “Now I’ll be known as a diplomat when I occasionally seek out peaceful solutions compared to others.”

  “Akuryō?” The Inspector asked, “or is it Akio?”

  Yuko raised an eyebrow. “Well, it is Akio.” She admitted. “Although he might be considered a diplomat now as well.”

  This time it was the Inspector whose brows raised. Yuko watched the short figure emerge from the trees at the back of the park. She scanned the surrounding area, noticing one of the Wechselbalg Jacqueline had fought starting to twitch. “Inspector?”

  “Hmm?” he asked, looking towards her.

  “Do you have any silver handcuffs?”

  “Of course, but we never use them,” he admitted. “I have no idea if they will work.”

  She put a hand out. “Let me see them.”

  The Inspector turned to his left. “Wataru,” he called, “Wechselbalg cuffs!”

  A moment later the uniformed officer brought a heavy pair of cuffs and handed them to Yuko, who turned and tossed them to someone on the other side of the Inspector.

  He turned and was surprised to see a young girl, or short woman, next to him. It took him a moment. “Eve?”

  The young woman looked up at him. “Have we met?”

  “No.” He held out his hand. “Inspector Hirano.”

  “Eve,” she replied and shook his hand. She turned to Yuko. “Where?”

  Yuko nodded over her shoulder. “There is a Wechselbalg that Jacqueline left alive.”

  Eve nodded and started walking towards the building.

  “Um,” the Inspector licked his lips, “will she be ok?”

  “Eve?” Yuko smiled. “Of course, why?”

  “She’s so tiny,” he answered, looking beyond Yuko.

  “Don’t let that fool you,” she told him. “She is much stronger than she looks.”

  “How do you know those cuffs will work?”

  “You bought them from one of our companies,” Yuko confided. “Your precinct didn’t cheap out. There is a number that lets us know the tested strength of the cuffs.”

  “So, they will hold a Wechselbalg?”

  “Well,” Yuko temporized, “they wouldn’t hold someone like Jacqueline, but they’re good for any of the other Wechselbalg that were involved.”

  “I heard that!” a young woman’s voice called and they turned to see a woman breaking off from a group of officers who had at least five of the Yakuza in cuffs. Those had been the criminals around Mark when Yuko had started shooting. “I’m not planning on testing them for you.”

  She was coming right at them, and the Inspector had to swallow down a bit of fear. Wechselbalg were bad enough, with their ability to change into wolves and shrug off bullets. Here he was talking with a myth; a Were who walked upright.

  Not like Yuko wasn’t a bigger myth, actually.

  Jacqueline caught up with them and Yuko made the introductions. Once again, the Inspector shook hands rather than bow. Yuko appreciated that he seemed capable of jumping back and forth between regional customs.

  “Inspector?” a voice called, and Hirano turned around. The young man who had hailed him held out a communicator.

  “A moment, ladies?” he asked, and walked towards the vehicle. The two women turned to see a large white vehicle, blue lights flashing, arriving from the city.

  “Ambulance,” Yuko told her.

  “I was wondering when that was going to happen,” Jacqueline answered. “I’m pissed they held us back so long.”

  “You would not have been able to stop the killing among the police,” Yuko told her. “Did you know that the police had someone in their midst who would kill their own people?”

  “Um,” Jacqueline thought a moment.

  “We had doubts, but we didn’t know, did we?” Yuko pointed out.

  “No,” she admitted finally as the Inspector walked back to them.

  “So,” the Inspector asked, “are we all going to forget this occurred?”

  Yuko smiled at the all-knowing, all-guessing, Inspector. “Not right now.”

  “Akio?” He asked.

  “Only if someone up in the chain makes a special request, I would think.” She answered.

  “Why? Is that what they did when my dad’s memory was wiped?” he asked.

  “Nooo…” she answered, thinking back to the large research book the Inspector had. “That was Akio’s typical method of keeping us hidden.”

  “So why won’t he do it again?” Asked Hirano. “I have two diary entries where my dad put down he had met you two, then later thought he must have dreamt it.”

  There was a scuffle behind them, and they turned to watch. “Let me be!” a male Wechselbalg, handcuffed, yelled at Eve. He stood a good two feet taller than her.

  Eve promptly kicked out and smashed his knee cap, then swiped his legs from under him. He slammed to the ground and soon had Eve’s hand pointing rudely right in his face. He tried to bite her finger, and the loud crack of her slap made the Inspector wince.

  “He will heal in a few minutes like it never happened,” Yuko commented. “Violence is the only mode of communication some Wechselbalg understand.”

  “Tell me about it,” Jacqueline agreed.

  The next time Eve pulled the man up, he didn’t yell. The three turned back to each other to continue the conversation.

  “Where was I?” Yuko asked. “Oh yes. We won’t be removing any of your memories unless those above you care to hav
e it done, and I doubt they will this time.”

  “Why this time?” he asked.

  “Because we are going to become more active and change a few of our procedures, I believe.” She told him.

  “Why?”

  “Well, I could tell you,” Yuko admitted, but then looked around, “but it would need to be someplace a little more private than here, Inspector.”

  “I heard that!” Eve called to Yuko. The Inspector looked at the ladies. Yuko rolled her eyes. The one called Jacqueline covered her mouth, but from the glint in her eyes she was laughing.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Paris Catacombs

  Michael pulled open the door and stood aside. “Do come in.”

  Akio nodded and stepped inside. “Someone’s private residence while they are down here?”

  “I think so too,” Michael told him as the two looked around.

  ---

  “I’ll be damned,” William whispered as he watched the man appear in his video. “You were dead when I got out, I made sure to find out.”

  Gerard couldn’t quite make out the Duke’s comment. “Sir?”

  “Nothing, Gerard.” He spoke louder, “I see the answer to a question, and the fates have provided me with the means of revenge at this time.”

  William didn’t usually tell his enemy his plans before he implemented them. Perhaps if he didn’t have a choice between execution of the plan or lording it over Michael he might have been tempted.

  Execution won. He reached over to a second device and started punching in a code.

  A moment later, he pressed a button.

  ---

  The muffled multi-directional explosions caught both Akio and Michael by surprise. They bolted out of the room as Michael yelled, “Meet you back here!”

  Then he disappeared.

  Japan

  The last two police cars were sitting on the side of the street. The officer didn’t want to interrupt the Inspector, but they had finished everything. It was now close to three in the morning, and he had noticed both the young man and woman yawning. Hell, he had been yawning.

  He walked up to the Inspector and asked, “Time to go?”

  Thankfully, the Inspector didn’t seem upset. “We have everything, Inspector,” he told the senior officer.

  “Ok.” Hirano turned back, but didn’t get to say anything before Yuko spoke up.

  “Do you need a ride somewhere?” she asked.

  “Yes, please,” he answered, before he realized that Eve had just looked at Yuko with annoyance.

  Yuko turned to the officer. “Thank you, we will make sure the Inspector gets home safely.”

  He nodded and left.

  No way was the officer telling her that the Inspector was supposed to go back with them.

  ---

  “You,” Eve spoke quietly, too softly for the human Inspector to hear them, “are doing this to tweak me!” Jacqueline was having a hard time keeping a straight face.

  “Is it bothering you?” Yuko asked, just as quietly.

  “Are you that into him?” Eve shot back.

  “No, Eve.” Yuko replied. “I’m not doing this to tweak you.” A moment went by before Yuko asked, “Did you know he and his father have a research folder on us, and he was trying to get a glimpse of you earlier today at the police station?”

  Eve turned in confusion as the five of them walked through the park. “There are no files on any of us. I constantly make sure of that.”

  “There can be,” Yuko answered, “when all the information is on paper.”

  “Paper,” Eve spat, “is one of the most annoying storage mediums on this planet.”

  “That’s because you can’t hack it,” Mark answered.

  “Who asked you, Vamp-Nerd?” Eve asked.

  “I believe,” Jacqueline answered a moment later, “that would be Vamp-Geek, wouldn’t it?”

  “Annoying,” Eve clarified and then closed her eyes a moment before opening them and saying, “I’ve just become Akio.”

  ---

  Michael was already standing outside the room they had found when Akio returned. “Three hallways, all blocked.”

  “Three my way, the same.” Michael agreed.

  “Myst?” Akio asked.

  “Possible,” Michael answered, “although I doubt it. The workmanship seemed very good and upgraded. Almost like someone wanted to get some revenge. Turnabout is fair play and all that.”

  “He would think you would come?” Akio asked.

  Michael waved a hand. “I doubt he thought about it consciously. However, I made it very unlikely he would ever be able to leave his prison, so maybe he was subconsciously trying to best what I had accomplished?”

  “How is just shutting us in besting us?”

  “Well ...” Michael broke off as a voice from the other room caught their attention.

  “Hello, Michael, it’s William. I can hear you two talking out in the hall. Why not come in here where we can chat more easily?”

  Michael raised his voice. “I think not, William. You don’t expect this to hold me, do you?”

  “Only long enough,” William replied.

  “I’ll bite,” Michael answered before grimacing. “I can’t believe I just said that.”

  Akio nodded. “Bad pun.”

  “You two can continue the fun-and-games routine,” William spoke from the room, “but you might want to practice holding your breath. Goodbye, Michael. I do hope you pass away in a spectacularly painful fashion.”

  “Eve!” Akio shouted, but Michael shook his head.

  “Not yet,” he replied to Akio.

  “Why not?” Akio asked.

  “Because we haven’t tried hard enough yet. Plus, we have time,” Michael answered as another thump of explosives sounded. There was a small rumbling, then a larger crash that caused both men to look around in alarm.

  “That, gentleman,” William said, his voice barely audible over the rapidly rising noise. “Is the River Seine coming to cradle your dead bodies in her bosom. I can’t claim to have built most of these traps. I just found them, and perhaps added a few modifications to make them deadlier.”

  Michael pursed his lips. “Well, fuck.” He turned to Akio. “Don’t suppose you have a technological way out of this one?”

  Akio slowly shook his head. “For what it is worth,” he replied, “Eve could not have gotten here quickly enough.”

  “I do so love to hear your witty dialogue,” William said.

  Michael turned towards the room and stepped in. “Oh, hello Michael ...” The static was immediate when Michael tossed energy throughout the room.

  “I hope that broke his eardrums,” Michael commented as he walked back out of the room. “Now, let’s see if I can reverse my last trip to the Etheric with a modicum of ability.”

  The water started sweeping into the room. “Gott Verdammt!” he spat. “I’m not getting my coat wet!” Michael opened himself up to his anger, something that seemed always to reside just below the surface of his calm thoughts, and traveled beyond it, seeking the connection that allowed the energy to flow into and out of him. Somewhere during the search, he found the path of the energy streaming to the other dimension, more felt than seen.

  “Hold my arm,” Michael commanded, extending that appendage. He felt Akio grab his upper arm, as he clasped Akio’s. He looked into Akio’s eyes. “I hope to see you on the other side.”

  “Of what?” Akio asked, but then he was blinded by white energy.

  ---

  Inspector Hirano was surprised to see what looked like a large black shipping container from decades ago, perhaps even before the war, sitting on the ground behind the trees in the park. The dark allowed it to remain hidden, but he was certain that during the daytime it would be easily seen.

  If someone came back here.

  Eve walked to the door and lifted a latch.

  “You keep it unlocked?” he asked, and then checked himself. “Of course not, there is an
electronic lock for when you are gone, and Eve controls it.”

  Eve opened one of the doors and the lights came on inside. She waved. “In we go, please keep the sticky blood off the floor.” She put a hand out, stopping Jacqueline. “That means you.” She pointed to the left. “You will find some disposable towels over there to toss on the floor. Use them or you get to clean the floor.”

  Jacqueline nodded and Eve let her enter. Eve looked over at Mark. “Hey, you have blood all over your sleeve! What happened?”

  Mark looked down. He had cleaned his hand back inside the building when he was helping to get the police through the rubble of the fourth floor, but the blood was still on his shirt. “I ripped someone’s heart out.”

  “Seriously?” Jacqueline grabbed a towel and tossed it to the ground. Then she used two more to move along until she pulled a seat down, pitched a towel onto it, and sat. “How come?”

  Mark pulled the seat down next to her. “He was going to tell some people they should shoot you.”

  “So,” Jacqueline clarified, “let me get this straight.”

  He nodded.

  “Someone says to shoot the tall scary wolf-woman.”

  “Uh-huh,” he agreed.

  “And you come up and stick your hand ...” she continued.

  “Clawed hand,” he replied.

  “Clawed hand,” she amended. “Through his chest and rip out his heart so no one would shoot me?”

  “Well, of course,” Mark shrugged. “That bullshit isn’t going to fly with me.”

  “That’s pretty hot,” Jacqueline murmured, her eyes sparkling.

  Yuko smiled as the Inspector tried to take in the casual carnage the two younger people were discussing. “You have to forgive them, Inspector.” He turned to look at her. “About eighteen or so hours ago, they were in the area we called France. There, outside of the somewhat ruined city of Paris they were standing between a couple thousand Wechselbalg and the humans who call it home.”

  The Inspector blinked a couple of times before turning to the two, who were ignoring anyone except each other. “Them?” Yuko nodded. “Oh.” He processed that thought a moment. “That’s why they weren’t too worried about a bunch of guns and wolves.”

  “Well,” Yuko shook her head, “part of the reason they didn’t run was Michael, of course.”