by Unknown
“How much can you stand before you break, Daisuke?” Sakurai licked his lips and walked through the storage area to get to the front of the shop, picking up some clothing along the way. “That’s an answer we’d both like to know, I think.”
“What the hell?”
Sakurai glanced over his shoulder at the store owner, who must have been asleep in the apartment over the shop. The little man had wiry hair and wore a stained, gray sleeveless T-shirt. He awkwardly rubbed the sleep out of his eyes with one hand while he held up a gun with the other.
Two guns being pointed at him in less than twenty-four hours . . . . Sakurai gave an irritated sighed. “Go back to bed.”
“This is some weird shit man—what the hell are you doing in my shop? There’s nothing in the register! No shit—are you stealing my clothes?”
Sakurai picked up a black T-shirt with the words “I Love NY” scrawled across the front in neon green. Sakurai’s eyebrow twitched. “Trust me, it’s not by choice.”
“Are you high or something, buddy?” The shop owner’s mouth hung open. “What the fuck happened to your clothes?”
Sakurai ran a hand through his hair, his pissy mood worsening. Changing forms too many times in a short span of time and keeping up a shield against mortal eyes had left him more drained than he’d anticipated. Even the strongest and oldestchiang shih had a hard time using the skill of shapeshifting; chalk it up to having too much of a healthy sense of over-confidence that Sakurai thought he’d be an exception. He sighed. Ah, well.
Crossing the distance between himself and the mortal faster than the other could pull the trigger, Sakurai knocked the gun out of the man’s hand and pushed him against the countertop.
“Do you have a car?” Sakurai asked while the man struggled and kicked. He caught a flash of a red ‘69 Camaro in the man’s mind and rolled his eyes as he pulled the keys form the man’s pants pocket. “What is this American fascination with muscle cars?”
“Weirdo, you stay away from my baby!” The shop owner struggled a little harder now, so Sakurai pinned him down with both hands and bit down on his neck. That shut the little pest up, and the blood went a ways in easing the headache pulsing in Sakurai’s temples. It wasn’t the best kill in the slightest way, though. No hunt, no thrill . . . .
Disgusted and irritated, he moved away and pulled on the least tacky shirt he could find as the shop owner’s body slumped to the floor and a few minutes later he was heading back to the apartment near Chinatown. He parked in the alley beneath the fire escape and met his feline friend on the way up to the railing.
“Sayuri, I’m sure you had more fun tonight then I did,” Sakurai teased the cat, a little jealously, actually, but reached down to stroke the animal’s velvet-like fur as he wrapped around his legs. The cat called him forward to the partially open window of his master’s bedroom, and too tired to protest, Sakurai climbed into Daisuke’s flat.
He shut the window and pulled the blinds against the morning sun, which was starting to creep up on the horizon a little too quickly. He eyed the trunk full of erotic toys at the foot of the bed with an amused smile, but left it untouched. Dropping facefirst onto Dai’s bed, he immediately fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Dark Whispers Sheridan and Cain 2009
Chapter Seven
Dai parked in front of the house with the familiar green-painted porch and cement driveway just as the sun was starting to come up. He could’ve gone back to his apartment instead of making the drive to Long Island, but didn’t know what the hell would be waiting for him there. It seemed like he hardly knewanything anymore, so he went to his mother’s house, where at least he could hope to find a little consistency. In his mother’s world, nothing much ever changed.
He jumped over the waist-high chainlink fence and climbed up the front steps, being careful not to bump his head on the wind chime hanging from the porch roof. He probably should’ve called or stopped by more often over the past year, but it was no secret his mom was always afraid for him and Wei. If he called or stopped by, she asked a lot of questions, and the less she knew about the shit he faced on the job, the better— and safer—for her. Why make her worry more than she already did?
Dai froze, his hand on the key. Coming here was a mistake; he didn’t want her to get involved in any of this. Instead of saying anything to his mom, he would just go in quietly, change his clothes and slip out before she knew he was there.
“You’re a fucked up son, Daisuke,” he mumbled to himself and stepped inside. The place was quiet, she was still asleep upstairs. He patted the belly of the red stone Buddha on the table against the staircase and crept up the stairs to his old room.
Mom hadn’t touched a damn thing since he last visited and she’d told him she was going to clear some old things out. Dai smiled, a little sadly. Everything was pretty much the way he’d left it before moving out to go to college, except that a few boxes of random junk she couldn’t bring herself to toss were piled under and on top of his desk.
Half the clothes in his dresser didn’t fit right. He was a little broader in the chest now, but at least his jeans still fit. With some clothes in hand and a towel, he turned to go take a shower and found his mom standing in the doorway.
The look of worry on her face almost crushed him.
“What’s wrong, Daisuke?” She clutched at the front of her robe, her skin blanched. “Did something happen to Wei?”
“No! Wei Wei is fine.” Dai hurried over and gave her a comforting hug. “I went out after work last night. I crashed at a friend’s and thought I’d stop here to get cleaned up and grab some breakfast. You know how it goes.”
She smiled and slipped her arm around his waist. “I don’t suppose you were out with that nice girl I saw you with that time, were you? She lives out this way doesn’t she?”
Shit. She meant Susan. “I was out with the guys.”
Dai’s mother clicked her tongue disapprovingly. “You need to settle down, Daisuke, and give me some fat, happy grandchildren to spoil.”
“I can’t, Mom. My job is crazy. Most cops I know are divorced.”
She frowned. “I wish you had a different job. I worry about you all the time. Look what happened to Raymond. Twenty-five years on the force and he was about ready to retire when he got killed.”
Dai winced. That had been the worst day of his life, the worst day on the job.
“Sh—stuff happens, Mom. It’s just the way it is, but the odds are in my favor.”
She frowned and looked at the small framed photo on Dai’s dresser, the one with him and Watts the day he’d graduated from the police academy. Exhaling a soft sigh, Dai’s mother gave him a slap on the rear. “Get your shower. I’ll have a nice big breakfast waiting for you.”
“Okay, Mom.” He gave her a kiss on the top of her head and then watched as she went down the stairs.
For years he’d wondered why the hell Watts never went out with his mother. He knew the other man had loved her, loved all of them, but never went out on a date with her or anything. Sure, it had been one of those stupid dreams kids have when they want a parent to marry their ideal surrogate mom or dad. But he sure found out later on why Watts hadn’t shown any romantic interest, hadn’t he?
God. Dai tried to imagine what all their lives might’ve been like with Watts marrying his mom and living here . . . . He walked down the short hall and locked himself in the bathroom then leaned back against the door. That would’ve added a twist to the Oedipus complex alright, wanting to fuck your stepfather every night.
Shoving his messed up thoughts out of his head, Dai stripped and took a very long shower, just letting the warm water run over his body and ease some of the soreness and tension in his shoulders . . . and elsewhere.
He was still toweling his hair dry when he went downstairs and sat at the little round table in the kitchen. His mother was at the stove, cooking too much like she always did when he or Wei came to visit. There were bowls of rice, cold pickled radishe
s and fresh boiled eggs already on the table. Coffee was brewing in the pot next to the stove and it smelled like she was making an omelette, too.
“You don’t have to cook so much, Mom.” He served himself some rice as she came over and dropped a steaming tamagoyaki roll on his plate.
“You can always take it for later.” She rubbed his back and smiled.
Dai looked down at his plate. “Mom . . . we’ve never talked about what you should do if something happens to me.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said, quickly turning to put away the egg carton and begin washing the pans.
Dai got up and hugged her from behind, lightly resting his chin on top of her head. “We have to talk about it, Mom.”
She touched her hands to his. “I heard about those killings yesterday. I saw Raymond’s friend on the news. You knew those men, didn’t you? Did you ever arrest them? It said they had prior arrests for drugs.”
“Yeah I knew them, but they’re gone now.” Dai turned his mother to face him. He hated seeing the fear for him in her eyes and hated himself for never acknowledging it before now. “I just want you to remember what Watts taught us, right? If, by chance, there’s some f—nutcase who wants to get back at me through you, you just need to be careful. Be aware of everyone and everything around you when you go to the mall or the store, okay? And in case anyone you don’t know ever comes for you saying they’re off duty or undercover and they say they came to get you because I’ve been hurt you don’t let them in. You ask them if I said anything or you call me on my cell or at the station. You remember the code word, right?”
“Mochiko,” she said quietly. “Raymond loved those little cakes I used to make with the mochiko flour.”
Dai nodded and kissed the top of her head.
“You finish your food before it gets cold.”
Dai ate and thought over the weird shit that happened at the club last night. That little skell trying to lap up the blood, saying he needed the power. Wei Wei’s crazy shit about the mind-reading vampires. And, oh fuck--the truly weird shit with that Sakurai character. He chewed on another mouthful of rice and swallowed it down with a gulp of coffee.
“Oh, Daisuke, I’ve been wanting to ask you something.”
He nodded as she came back to the table and took the seat next to his. She’d left a couple of messages on his machine recently and he felt bad now at not having really paid attention to them. Part of him had been worried she’d ask about Susan, about why they hadn’t moved in together or why they’d broken up. Shit he hadn’t wanted to deal with at the time.
“Anything you want, Mom,” he said, feeling more than a little guilty.
“I was thinking about renting your old room out to a college student,” she said. “The Kim’s are doing it down the street, and well, it would be nice to have someone in the house.”
Dai sipped his coffee and shook his head. “No. I don’t want you to do that. Do you have any idea how many college kids come to my precinct to buy dope? If they have the sh—stuff in the house . . . I’m not having it, Mom.”
“If they know my son is a policeman whovisits often then they won’t do that, will they?”
Dai sighed and finished his coffee. “I work a lot of hours, Mom—”
“I was teasing, Daisuke.” She poured herself a cup from the pot on the table. “I hear from you a lot more than I ever hear from Wei.”
“That’s not necessarily a bad thing,” he mumbled as he took his dishes to the sink.
“What has he done now?”
“Nothing, really,” Dai said, filling the sink. “He still hangs with a rough crowd, that’s all.”
“Just like his father.”
Dai said nothing. He washed his plates and cup then set them in the stainless steel drying rack. He couldn’t contain the question he’d wondered most of his life. He sat back down at the table and took hold of his mother’s hand. “Why did you hook up with Dave Chen? You were always too good for that bastard.”
She stared down into her cup. “I was lonely. I had a small son who needed a father in his life. David wasn’t always so bad. He was good to me early on but you were probably too little to remember that. He lost his job then Wei came along and I couldn’t work for a while. Money was tight.” She paused and shrugged. “He changed.”
She looked up with a sad smile and brushed back a few wet strands of hair from Dai’s forehead. “I suppose David always knew that I still loved your father with all my heart. Toshi was wonderful and you’re a lot like him. Except for the bad language.”
Dai chuckled softly. “I’m watching it, Mom.”
She smirked at him as if to say “yeah, right,” but patted his cheek gently before sighing.
Dai reached up and took her hand. “What was he like? I feel bad I don’t remember him . . . . My dad, I mean.”
“You were so small when he died.” Keiko gave him a sad smile. “Still just a baby, really. He did everything for his family; he was even going to night school so he could find a better job to take care of us. He wouldn’t have been out so late that day, otherwise. And that drunk driver wouldn’t have hit him head on the freeway that night.”
Dai looked down at the tabletop, wishing now he hadn’t brought any of it up. Was everyone who ever cared about him going to end up meeting an early death?
“I’m sorry, Mom,” he murmured.
“What? Why are you sorry? You’re a good son, Daisuke.” Keiko cupped his chin and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. “You could make time to call me more often, and give me pretty grandchildren, yes, but I know your father would be so proud of you.”
Dai stood up from the table. “I guess I better go. I’ve got things to take care of . . . .”
Keiko stared up at him.
“Please be careful,” she said softly. “And look out for Wei. You don’t want to tell me, but I know something’s wrong.”
Dai frowned. “Wei isn’t into anything really bad. If he was, I’d know about it. He just hangs with that Chinatown crowd like he always did.”
“I still think you’re keeping something from me, Daisuke. A mother can tell, you know.”
“You’re a mind reader now?”
She grinned. “Something like that. It comes with the job. It’s called ‘Mother’s Intuition.’”
Dai gave his mother a hug. “Don’t you worry. I’ll keep an eye on him the best I can, okay?”
Keiko nodded. “But if he gets in real trouble you let him take his punishment.”
“I will. He knows right from wrong. You taught us that.”
“And so did Raymond.”
“Yeah, he did.”
Keiko started to say something more, but pressed her lips together instead and turned away to pick out some Tupperware from the cabinet over the sink. She was packing up the rest of the omelettes.
“Mom—I’m fine, really.” Dai protested half-heartedly.
“You’ll be better now.” She pushed the plastic container into his hands. “And don’t say no again.”
Dai kissed her forehead. “Alright, alright. Don’t worry about us, Mom. I promise we’ll be okay.”
He didn’t give her a chance to say anything else and left the kitchen, picking up his jacket from the couch on the way out.
Stepping off the porch, he smacked his head into the wind chime.
* * * * *
“Hey, Vinnie.” Dai stepped into the restaurant, shoving his hands into his pockets as the older man straightened up behind the counter. “Long time no see.”
“Oh my God, my wife’s right—it’s time for me to check my eyes and hearin’ if I think Daisuke Matsui is standing on my doorstep again.” Magera grinned from ear to ear and used his apron to clean his hands free of flour as he stepped around the counter. “Come here, kid!”
He wrapped his thick arms around Dai, practically crushing him in a hug. Just because Vinnie Magera retired after 30 years with the NYPD and put his fifteen hours a day into his pizza restaurant
now, didn’t mean he skipped going to the gym every damn day.
Dai laughed, despite all the fucked up shit going on right now, and patted his hands on Vinnie’s back.
“You could come by more often,” Magera scolded him. “I still need a busboy, you know.”
Dai rolled his eyes, but was still smiling. “Yeah, I know. But the tips here are shitty what with the manager pinching them all the time.”
Vinnie smacked him on the back of his head and then stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest. The older man’s face grew serious, Dai guessed because Magera knew that if he was here, something had to be up.
“So what’s goin’ on, kid?” Vinnie asked.
“Lots of shit, man. Really weird shit.” Dai returned his hands to his pockets and furrowed his brow.
“This have something to do with Wei?”
Damn if Vinnie wasn’t psychic. Dai had a terrible flash from last night—that man —Sakurai. Mind reader . . . . He shivered and clenched his hands into fists in his pockets.
“I guess it does,” Vinnie said grimly.
“It’s weird. Really weird. I was off last night and Wei asked me to meet him at some new club, theResurrection. There was some kinky shit going on there, but the weirdest thing was that when I left I saw a couple rmps and a bus going balls out to the place so I ran back myself and there was blood like someone got their throat slit but there was no victim. None. But there was this crazy little fuck, who was trying to drink the blood off the floor. He said he needed it. He needed the power or some weird shit.”
“Where’d they take the perp?”
Vinnie stared at him a long moment and a familiar feeling of something being wrong slid along Dai’s spine. “Bellevue.”
“I’m glad the missus talked me into this TiVo shit.” Vinnie grabbed the remote and wound back to an early news broadcast then turned up the volume of the television situated behind the sales counter.