That was indiscreet, even for him.
Then I looked at Nick, who grimaced, glancing sideways at the pretty paramedic, who was gaping openly at Black. From Nick’s expression, along with his furtive glance at the male paramedics and Angel, he definitely thought Black had lost his mind, bringing up vampires in front of civilians.
“I’m assuming they weren’t nice people,” Nick said, his words a not-subtle warning.
“But you didn’t see them? Ravi said you saw them.”
Nick’s expression blanked. He glanced at Angel, then Cowboy, his mouth pursed. “Ravi said we saw what?”
“The fucking vampires, Nick.”
Again, Nick stared at him incredulously, giving meaningful looks at the humans present.
“You feeling okay, buddy?” he said, his voice taut.
Black scowled, glancing at the paramedics as if annoyed they were there. “What the fuck happened? Why didn’t you call Kiko? Or Dex? They could have gotten word to me.”
Nick frowned, glancing around at all of us standing around the back of the ambulance. I caught a flicker of confusion off his mind, mirrored by Angel and then Cowboy.
“I don’t know,” Nick said, blunt. “I remember us talking about it––”
“––Then someone was shooting at us––” Cowboy added.
“––And then we were running,” Angel said, frowning. “Then falling off a building––”
“––Then trying to get the hell out of there before more bombs went off, or we got shot at again,” Cowboy added. “We were going to call––”
“Yeah,” Nick broke in. “I think we were.” Confusion touched his voice as he looked up at Black. “I don’t know why we didn’t. Maybe we didn’t have time?”
Black stared between the three of them. Looking at him, I found myself thinking he was reading them. He surprised me then, admitting as much aloud.
“Someone’s fucked with your minds,” he said, blunt.
Angel stared at him, her mouth hanging open. “What?”
Nick scowled. “What do you mean? Who?”
Cowboy didn’t say a word, but I saw his lips purse.
“Is Ravi the only one you talked to?” Black said. “Was Efraim with him?”
Nick, Angel and Cowboy all looked at one another, their eyes showing confusion. Then Nick turned, looking at Black.
“Ravi was here, but only for a few seconds,” Nick said. “I don’t remember Efraim being here at all, but he might have been. Ravi had others with him... Arden, I think. Maybe Jori.” He frowned, as if fighting to remember. “They said you were on your way, that we should wait for you here. They were going to the blast site, I think.”
I bit my lip, fighting not to let my reaction show.
Black nodded, once. Anger emanated off his very skin.
He looked at Dex. “Get Charles on the line. Now. He’s blocking me for some reason.”
Dex nodded, lifting his phone to his ear. Looking at it, I realized it was a satellite phone, connected to a black box he wore on a strap around his shoulder.
I reached out with my light, too. Charles? Uncle Charles? Are you there? I paused. We’re at the blast site, Uncle Charles. Ravi was here. Where are you?
Like Black, I got silence, a blank wall.
I tried again, demanding that he answer me that time.
Still nothing.
Frowning, I clicked out of the psychic space.
Black was looking at Devin, his expression grim. “Did you bring them?”
Devin nodded, motioning towards Ace, who was closer to the limousine. When Ace started walking towards us, I noticed the twin straps hooked around his arm and shoulder and realized he was carrying Black’s swords.
“What else?” Black said, focusing his stare back on Nick. “Do you remember anything else about the period before the bombs went off? You said someone was shooting at you. Did you see who?”
Nick, Angel and Cowboy exchanged looks again.
I could tell from Nick’s expression that the information his mind had been tampered with was starting to sink in. Anger tightened his face by the time he met Black’s gaze again. That anger didn’t seem aimed at Black, however. Rather, Nick looked at Black in a way I’d never seen him look at him before––like Black really was his commanding officer.
“No,” he said coldly. “Not that I can remember. I remember us being on the roof. I know at some point, someone was shooting at us. Then that crazy fuck...” He motioned towards Cowboy, and I got a glimmer of admiration off Nick’s light, or respect at least. “...got us out of the building via a fire escape. We had to jump at least two stories, and it banged us up pretty good, but if it wasn’t for him, we’d probably be dead. We were still on the fire escape, heading down to the street, when... boom.”
Black nodded, his scowl as hard as Nick’s.
He turned to Dex. “You got Charles on the line yet?”
Dex shook his head. “No. I’m getting no answer at any of the numbers you and he set up.”
I bit my lip, fighting a growing anger in my light. When Black only nodded at Dex’s words, I found myself talking. Maybe it was more like shouting, really.
“What the fuck are we still doing here?” I snapped. “Why aren’t we going after Ravi?”
I trailed, watching them all stare at me.
Nick and Cowboy looked confused, like they couldn’t comprehend what I was saying, or maybe how I was saying it. Angel watched me warily, alarm in her expression.
I turned my focus back on Black.
That more predatory stare was back in his eyes as he gauged my face. He didn’t look alarmed at my outburst; instead, he looked to be assessing me more animal-to-animal, as if trying to figure out how he might use me.
“Well?” I stared at him. “He fucked with their minds. That’s what you’re saying, right?” I swiveled my gaze around at all of them, then turned my full attention back on Black. “We’re going after him, right? Or are you waiting for confirmation from Charles, that Ravi erased three of your people for some reason that doesn’t mean he’s a goddamned traitor?” Biting my lip, mostly to keep from saying more than I should, I looked back at Angel, Nick and Cowboy, my voice hard-sounding, even to my own ears. “Why are we all just fucking standing here?”
There was a silence.
Then Black pulled me up against him, wrapping his arm around me tighter and squeezing me to his side. I stiffened at first, half-wanting to fight him. I felt sick to my stomach. Emotion curled off and flashed through me, too quickly and intensely for me to pin it down as one particular feeling or thing. I was scared out of my mind. Not for myself––I was scared for Black. I was scared for my friends. I must have been scared for myself, too, but that part didn’t register as clearly. My uncle’s words tried to rise in my mind and I shoved them back, even as I wrapped my arms around Black, holding him tighter.
After a few more breaths, I felt my pulse starting to slow.
My breathing followed, and then I was pulling away from him, still gripping his arm, but forcing my mind back into straight lines, forcing my eyes back on the rest of them.
I saw Nick and Angel exchange a look, eyebrows raised.
Black turned to Nick, his voice hard as steel.
“Did any of our people go with Ravi?” he said.
Nick stared between us for a beat more, then shook his head. “I don’t know.”
I grew conscious of eyes watching us, and not just the paramedics.
For the first time since we’d started this conversation, I looked around at where we stood, taking in our surroundings. Ace, Dex, Javier, Michelle, Devin and Alice stood around us by the ambulance’s open doors in a dense cluster, all of them wearing black clothes and kevlar except Devin, who wore a suit with one of the vampire rifles slung over one shoulder. The white limousine stood on the side of the road near us, parked sideways in the street like it had skidded to a stop and been left there.
A row of NYPD police cars sat parked just on the
other side of the ambulance, blue and white lights flashing. I saw only one uniformed officer by the cars; he was looking in our direction, a faint scowl on his face. The rest of the uniforms I saw were scattered among the paramedics and wounded who’d been brought to this stretch of Park Avenue. When I looked north on the avenue, I saw more people bringing wounded from the upper blocks, some of them being wheeled on gurneys, but most of them on foot.
A crowd had begun to gather near us, as well. They crept closer as I watched, maybe because of the limousine and the odd outfits, or maybe because of Black himself.
Even as I thought it, I noticed a group of six or seven young women standing on our side of the street, all of them maybe in their mid-twenties. They were pointing specifically at Black as they talked in low, excited voices, wearing halter tops and short-shorts with high heels, but more on the hipster end than the streetwalker one. I moved closer to him, more out of instinct than thought, and he wrapped his arm around me even more tightly, yanking me up against him.
I saw Nick look between us again, a bewildered look on his face.
I cleared my throat. “So?” I said, my voice subdued. “Are we going to follow Ravi? Or are we waiting for more backup?”
My attempt to distract Nick didn’t work, though.
“What the hell is up with the two of you?” He frowned, looking between me and Black. “You’re both acting... bizarre.” He hesitated, glancing at Angel, who quirked an eyebrow at him expressively. Scowling harder, Nick turned back to me. “You’re really going to play this off as normal?” He motioned between us. “The weirdness of you two right now?”
“Nick.” Angel’s voice was quiet.
When he turned, she shook her head. The warning in her eyes was explicit.
Nick frowned, giving her a look that indicated he clearly didn’t intend to shut up.
“Is this that thing?” he demanded, returning his gaze to Black. “That crazy-ass shit from when we first got back from Paris?” He scowled, his eyes holding a harder understanding. “Jesus, Black. It is, isn’t it? Like we don’t have enough shit to deal with right now, in the middle of a damned terrorist attack. I thought you said you weren’t going to? You were pretty adamant about it, as I recall. You said it was dangerous, that––”
Black cut him off, his voice warning. “I changed my mind.”
“You changed your mind?” Nick stared at him incredulously. “Really? And why’s that?”
I frowned, looking between them. “Nick––”
“My wife wasn’t happy with that decision,” Black cut in, his voice a touch colder. “I tried to compensate, and it wasn’t good enough. So I tried to compensate more... and then it wasn’t good enough for me.” He paused deliberately. “Do you need to know the details, Nick? Are we back there again? Or am I being clear enough?”
Nick’s face flushed crimson.
For the first time in weeks, I saw real anger in his expression as he looked at Black.
“Are you really that lacking in self control, that you’re willing––”
“Maybe,” Black growled. “Or maybe I’m just not willing to risk my fucking marriage for that prick.”
“So you’ll risk your life instead?” Nick shot back. “And hers?”
“I planned to compromise, if necessary. On some of my goals.”
“You plan to ‘compromise’?” Nick made another disbelieving noise. “What the fuck does that even mean? Christ. You can barely keep your hands off each other right now, Black... and I’m pretty sure both of you should have other things on your mind, given we just had a bomb go off in the middle of Manhattan. Ravi might be off the reservation totally, if not Charles himself... and you’re standing here, looking at Miri like you want to have sex?”
“If you don’t like it,” Black growled. “...and if Charles doesn’t like it... you can take it up with my wife. Or better yet, both of you can go to hell.” His voice grew cold. “We’re handling this. We are. It’s not your problem.”
Nick’s expression remained disbelieving for a beat.
Then he shifted his gaze, turning to glare at me.
Clearly, I was now the one he saw responsible for this.
As for me and Angel, both of us were staring between the two of them, albeit probably for different reasons. I was staring because I couldn’t believe Nick had been privy to the Charles and Black discussion about my marriage, especially since I hadn’t been. Angel was probably staring because she couldn’t believe this was what they were arguing about, given everything that was going on around us. I was about to say something, when Cowboy cleared his throat.
“Hey.” His voice came out neutral.
All of us turned. He went on, using that same implacable drawl.
“That’s him, ain’t it?” He cleared his throat, jerking his chin. “Over there?”
I turned, sharp, along with Black. Angel and Nick turned as well, only a fraction of a second slower. Then all five of us were staring in the direction Cowboy indicated.
I expected to see Ravi standing there.
Or maybe Efraim.
Instead, my eyes found Brick.
I sucked in a breath.
He stared back at us.
The vampire’s body was more muscular than I remembered, but still lean. Utterly motionless, he stood maybe thirty yards away, on the other side of the street, wearing an all-black suit, just like the other times I’d seen him in the flesh. Staring out of the largest part of the crowd, near another ambulance and a number of wounded lying on the sidewalk with paramedics, he watched us with a faint smile on his lips.
Then he turned, and melted back into the crowd.
Before I could utter a word...
Black broke into a run.
21
CHASE
HE LEFT MY side so fast I felt nothing but the displacement of air.
Then I was looking at his back, watching him dart and weave through bodies, vehicles and onlookers as he aimed his body like a weapon towards where Brick had just been standing.
For those few seconds I was paralyzed.
I watched eyes widen as people looked up, reacting to his height and size before they realized how fast he was going, much less comprehended whatever expression he wore on his face. He reached the other side of the road and onlookers scrambled to get out of his way. Some reacted too slowly and got pushed roughly aside, or slammed into a crush of others as they frantically moved to clear him a path. A few people shrieked as he barreled through the narrow line that formed.
Black didn’t so much as turn his head.
I barely noticed I’d started to follow him until Cowboy’s voice jerked me out of my daze.
“Miri––WAIT!”
I looked back. Somewhere in that momentary jerk of my focus back to reality, I remembered Black was totally unarmed. Well, he had a gun on him, but that wouldn’t do him much good if Brick and a few of his vampire pals decided to corner him.
I pointed at Ace and the limousine, raising my voice.
“Grab the swords!” I snapped. “Now! Get them now! Bring them to me!”
I saw Cowboy’s eyes widen, but I didn’t stop to wonder if he understood. I focused back on the road. My eyes scanned through vehicles standing there, people...
YOU. My mind hit out the word like a command. IS THAT YOUR MOTORCYCLE?
A twenty-something black man wearing expensive-looking leathers and holding a motorcycle helmet in his hands stared at me, eyes wide. Terror filled his expression. He sat astride a motorcycle parked in the middle of the road, surrounded by cars stopped randomly across the width of the avenue. I felt a coil of fear come off him as he looked me over.
He nodded. “Ye-yes.”
Give me your keys. When he only stood there, as if frozen in place, I hit out at his mind harder. NOW. RIGHT NOW. GIVE ME YOUR FUCKING KEYS.
He fumbled in his jacket pocket, now actually shaking with fear.
Given his size relative to mine, it might have been funny under diff
erent circumstances.
He handed over the keys and took his leg from around the seat of the bike. Moving out of the way, he gripped the handlebars to hold it up for me, backing away from me in the process without letting go of the bike. He still balanced his helmet between his arms.
He looked at me like he thought I might attack him physically.
Or shoot him, maybe.
When his light scattered around me, confused and scared, my mind turned gentle.
I’m a police officer, I told him. I need to borrow your bike. It’s important.
“Of-Of course,” he stammered. “No problem, officer.”
I’ll bring it back as soon as I can.
“N-no problem,” he said again. “Anything to help.”
Moving stiffly, almost mechanically, he reached forward with one hand, passing me his helmet without letting go of the handlebars. He continued to hold the bike upright once he had, watching me with wide eyes as I approached.
I climbed up on the seat and engaged the clutch, starting the engine.
The man in the leathers backed off, letting go of the bike reluctantly once my feet rested on the pavement.
By then, Cowboy was running up to the two of us. His expression was baffled as he looked from me to the man with the bike leathers.
“What are you doing, Miri?” Cowboy looked at the man again, clearly feeling something wrong with the interaction there. Either he wasn’t sure how to deal with that information, or decided not to make it a priority. He focused back on me. “You should let me go, Miri.”
I held out my hand. “Give me the swords, Cowboy.”
He shook his head. “No.”
Frustrated, I stared at him. For the barest breath, I considered trying to push Cowboy, too. From what Black told me about him, though, it was unlikely to work––not if Black was right about Cowboy being different from most humans.
Buying myself those extra few seconds to think, I spoke to the man in the bike leathers, using my mind without taking my eyes off Cowboy’s face.
You can go now, I sent.
There was a strangely long-feeling pause.
Then the man nodded stiffly, again moving like an automaton. He walked away, towards the other side of the street.
Black Of Mood (Quentin Black: Shadow Wars #2): Quentin Black World Page 30