by Unknown
“You see, Wei, unlike the mistress, I never really thought much of you.” Yun reached into his coat pocket to pull out a long, pointed object that flashed in the light from the billboards and streets lamps. It was a knife, the blade hook-shaped and serrated on the inside edge. “You’re too weak.”
* * * * *
A sick feeling settled in the pit of Dai’s stomach even before he turned off Eldridge and onto his street and he regretted taking a drive after leaving Long Island.
“Oh shit, what now?” he muttered, pulling in the first available space. He was a half block from his building and the street was crammed with patrol cars, an ambulance and a couple unmarked cars, too. A uniformed rookie tried to block Dai from going past the first rmp.
“I’m on the job, asshole.” Dai reached for his ID and shield wallet before he remembered. “Fuck!”
“Shit!” The rookie slammed Dai into the car parked along the sidewalk, slapped a handcuff on one wrist and yelled for help.
Fuck. The kid had seen his off-duty piece.
“Ho ho, cowboy, hold up. Let the man go. He’s one of us good guys.”
Dai shook his friend Cal’s hand once he was let up. He did not like the look on Cal’s face though. Not at all. “What’s going down?”
“Bad shit, bro. Real bad shit. Come on.”
Dai recognized the watch despite the blood dripping down around it. He’d given it to his brother this past Christmas. It was a fucking Daffy Duck watch. He’d chosen it for Wei because ever since they were kids his little brother had liked Daffy. “No, man.” He took another step forward, but Cal held him back.
“It’s bad, Dai. It’s really bad. Can you handle it?”
He wanted to cry, to scream, to break someone’s fucking neck with his bare hands, but fuck if he’d break down now. Not in front of these gawking bastards. He drew a deep, somewhat calming breath. “Yeah I can handle it.”
Cal let him go and the cops standing around all backed away.
“Oh, holy fuck . . . .” The burger Dai had on the way home from Long Island came up and he turned away, losing his guts on the pavement. Once he’d spit out the remaining bile he looked again just to be sure. It was Wei and he’d been slashed— hacked nearly to pieces, but there wasn’t nearly as much blood as there should have been and Dai knew why.
Dai leaned into the cab and carefully touched Wei’s hair, afraid that his little brother’s head might fall completely off.
“Hey! Don’t disturb the evidence!”
“Fuck off!” Dai shouted, hitting the detective-on-scene with a damning look. “This is my baby brother and you’ll never get the fucks who did this.”
He turned back, closed his eyes to fight back the tears and touched his fingers to his brother’s cold lips in a final farewell. He straightened and took another slow, calming breath. He barely heard Cal speak.
“The sarge was going to head over to your mom’s and tell her since we found his empty wallet. It looks like a robbery gone real bad.”
“It wasn’t any fucking robbery. It was a hit.”
The detective nearby butted in. “What’s that? You know who may have done this?”
“Fuck you.”
“You can be charged with obstruction, Matsui. That will go good with your suspension.”
“Dai, don’t—”
Too late. Dai decked the detective then stalked back toward his car.
* * * * *
Sakurai felt Daisuke’s pain long before the young man arrived and he slipped outside to intercept him.
“Your brother—”
“Get the fuck out of my way.”
Sakurai gripped his shoulders. “I know what you’re thinking and it’s suicide.”
Dai tried pulling away. “Yeah, well, it doesn’t fucking matter, does it?”
“It does to your mother. Think about her.”
Dai stopped resisting Sakurai’s hold, and the vampire let him go. “Is she asleep yet?”
Sakurai shook his head. “No, she’s having tea with her friend. They’ve been amusing themselves by commenting on my hair and various other things.”
He said it so quietly and with such a straight face that any other time Dai would have laughed himself silly. But not tonight. Tonight, Wei was dead. Murdered. Fucking slaughtered like a pig hanging in one of the Chinese markets.
“I’ll see that you have your revenge, Daisuke,” Sakurai said. The look in his eyes was intense and Dai could swear that the vampire felt his own fury at the fuckers who’d done this.
“I’ll avenge him on my own.”
“You can’t. Not against them and certainly not tonight.” It was as much a command as comment. “They’re expecting retaliation now, which is exactly why you need to wait.”
“Wait and let them kill other people the way they killed Wei Wei?”
A stifled scream caught them both off guard. They turned to see Dai’s mother and her friend on the porch. Keiko’s hands were clamped over her mouth, holding in the rest of her scream.
“Mom . . . .” Dai went to her, enfolded her in his arms as she broke down and sobbed. After a moment he led her inside and her friend Mrs. Walker went to follow. Sakurai touched her shoulder. “There isn’t much you can do at this point. I’ll keep an eye on them tonight. I’m sure Keiko-san will need your help in the morning.”
* * * * *
Mikail sat at the long table in the greeting hall, the club still pumping with music some two-stories above on ground level. He was drinking from a saucer brimming with a thick pool of sanguine fluid.
Just as he had that night several days ago, Yun crossed the floor under those swaying fluorescent lamps and approached the table. He had a cloth sack in one hand and a knife in the other. Both objects were leaving a trail of blood on the floor.
“It’s done.” Yun tossed the bag on the table and Mikail gave a delighted squeal. “Wonderful!”
Mikail opened the sack and turned it over. The organ inside plopped out into the
saucer with a splatter. “It’s still so fresh,” he said with a grin, taking up a knife and fork. “But the Mistress won’t exactly be pleased with this, you understand.”
“The Mistress . . . .” Yun gave a short, barking laugh. “She’s dawdled enough already. It’s time we take matters into our own hands.”
Mikail frowned a bit. “I hoped it wouldn’t come to this.”
The old vampire shook his head. “I will do what I must,” he said quietly.
Yun snorted. “I’m sure it’ll be difficult for you.”
“It will!” Mikail insisted between mouthfuls of Wei’s heart, the blood oozing past his lips. “You know how fond I am of her.”
“All the more reason to move.” Yun cleaned the flat of his knife with one of the cloth napkins on the table. “Her fondness for Wei Qing made her weak, and she’s drawn so much unnecessary attention to us already.”
“Yes, I’m afraid you’re right.” Mikail sighed and offered the plate to Yun.
“I think I’ll save my appetite for what’s coming next.” Yun turned down the remains of the bloody organ. “Jung Kai’s heart will taste especially good.”
“And what of the mortals who’re trying to meddle in our affairs?”
Yun smiled wickedly. “The two men will be taken care of, but I have something in mind for the woman.”
Mikail gave him a long, curious look. “And what of Wei’s brother? He’s the type to seek vengeance.”
Yun laughed. “As if he could ever pose a threat. Oh, but let him come. I’ll be waiting and sovery ready.”
Licking his fingers clean of blood, Mikail lowered the plate to the floor and snapped his fingers. Two large, Russian wolfhounds trotted in to devour the bloody heart. “And master Sakurai? Have you forgotten him? He poses a very real threat.”
Yun smirked. “He poses a minor inconvenience, nothing more. I’ll especially delight in slaughtering him with my bare hands.”
Mikail frowned and Yun snorted his cont
empt.
“You pathetic fool. Don’t get in my way when I kill him or I’ll take your head too.”
Dark Whispers Sheridan and Cain 2009
Chapter Eighteen
Sakurai slipped back inside the house, sayuri rubbing against his legs as he closed the door. Usually the night never seemed to last long enough but tonight, the hours before the first glow of sunlight started on the horizon were going to be long.
To say Keiko was devastated would’ve been one of those contrived descriptions someone who’s never understood or felt this kind of all-consuming sense of loss would use. She was emotionally broken and she desperately tried to cling to the pieces to keep from falling part.
“You don’t know what you saw. It’s late and you’re tired!” Keiko babbled in
Japanese. “That wasn’t Wei!”
“Mom . . . .” Dai was crying. He kept letting go of her shoulder to wipe at his
face. “Mom, listen to me.”
“No.” Keiko pulled away from him. “I’m going to call him and you’ll see for
yourself.”
“Mom, he’s—” Dai choked on his words and then tried again. “He’s gone,
okay?”
She started weeping louder and this time didn’t pull away when Dai threw
himself around her and buried his face in her shoulder.
From his place by the front door, Sakurai watched. How strange this all was . . . . Not the outpouring of mortal grief—he’d seen enough if that in his lifetime to
blanket the earth in a shroud a thousand times over. No, it was his own reaction that
was strange to him. There mere fact that he cared about the pain this tiny family felt
was repulsive to him, and yet he could not turn his back upon them. He’d felt that very
pain twice before. When his mother died of a ravaging disease in a small village in
Japan, and again the night he’d slit the throat of his lover, his adopted brother
Kiyoshi . . . .
“How strange,” he repeated dully. Though maybe not so strange . . . . In the past
he’d even bargained with a sorceress in the hope of resurrecting his lover. What other
motivation had there been but a sense of emptiness . . . . ”Of loss.”
Dai looked up. Behind the grief, his eyes flashed with rage. “Don’t you start
opening that fucking mouth of yours,” his voice cracked. Keiko sobbed quietly into her
hands as he pulled away.
“This is your goddamn fault!”
Sakurai frowned. “Explain that to me.”
“You and all those other fucking vampires or whatever the hell you are, you sick
fuck!” Dai stopped in front Sakurai with his hands knotted into shaking fists. “Vampires?” Keiko mumbled as she stepped forward.Kyuuketsuki? No. It’s not
possible.” She grabbed the back of Dai’s shirt. “It can’t be.”
“But it is,” Dai hissed. He reached out and pulled Sakurai’s upper lip, revealing
the fangs.
Keiko trembled. She cried out, clinging to her remaining son like a lifeline. “No,
no, no! Go away! Don’t hurt us please!”
“I would never do that,” Sakurai said softly. “Never.”
“Get out of our house you fucking monster.”
“I can’t. Not tonight. The ones who attacked Wei may come here.” “If they do I will fucking kill them!”
Keiko cried harder and Dai wrapped his arms around her quaking shoulders.
“We don’t need you!”
“Yes, you do.”
Listen to reason, Daisuke. You know what they are capable of. Do you want to subject
your mother to that? You can’t stop them. You’ll barely be able to slow them down. “So what are you saying—” Dai’s face twisted. “Ilet Wei die?”
Sakurai clenched his teeth. “I’m asking you to be careful.”
He was actuallyasking something of a mortal. If their grief didn’t resonate so
deeply within his own soul, he might’ve laughed at himself until his belly ached. As it
was, he reached out to touch Dai’s cheek, to wipe away one of those fat tear drops that
might never, ever truly stop flowing.
Pulling away with a choked cry, Dai held Keiko tighter. “Don’t! Don’t go there,
fucker.”
“Daisuke, please,” Keiko pleaded softly. When she looked up from her son’s
shoulder, her skin was completely drained of color. “Stop it.”
“She’s going into shock.” Sakurai licked at his fingertip, tasting the salty tear so
full of bitterness.
“Fuck you!”
Dai led his mother upstairs, murmuring comforting words and telling her to try
and rest because he had the necessary calls to make to arrange things. Just as he’d had
to do for Raymond Watts, who’d lacked a family of his own.
Sakurai made a conscious effort to stop reading the young man’s thoughts. Dai’s
cat wandered in, rubbed against Sakurai’s leg. The vampire took a seat in one of the
high-backed chairs in the living room and allowed the cat to jump onto his lap. Leaning
his head back, he stroked the animal’s fur and tried to come to terms with the feelings
swirling within him.
* * * * *
The ensuing three days were quite unusual, to say the least. Not wanting to intrude further, yet not willing to leave these grieving mortals alone and unprotected, Sakurai took to cloaking his presence as he followed them to the funeral parlor then the church, and then the cemetery. It was draining and he wasn’t feeding at all properly and yet he was compelled to continue on.
The blonde bitch, Susan, showed her face, not seeming to care that Daisuke all but ignored her. She fawned over his mother and family friends and acted very much like the potential wife, staying discreetly in the background yet making her presence known as if she were a central part of things.
With every passing hour Keiko Matsui reminded Sakurai more and more of his own mother. So elegant and with such utter regal poise she publicly handled her grief. Much in the same stoic way his mother had handled her humiliation of being taken from Shanghai and forced into becoming the servant then concubine of insufferable samurai.
And Daisuke. Daisuke was a study in contrast. Guilt and grief colored his soul black while he, too, put on the most composed, brave front possible for those who came to pay their final respects. He even managed a few melancholy smiles as old childhood friends he hadn’t seen in years came by to offer their condolences and rehash their long gone hellion days on the streets of Chinatown.
Sakurai watched the burial a few yards away, standing in the protective shade of a tall birch tree. Too weak to take any direct sunlight just now, he kept the collar of his long, leather coat high and wore sunglasses to help with the discomfort in his overly sensitive eyes. He stayed there, unmoving, until the cleric ended the service and the coffin was lowered slowly into the earth.
A large, heavy-set man in his mid-sixties, a friend to the family, took Keiko away, but Dai refused to move from where he stood in front of the grave. Deciding Keiko was safe with her mortal friends for now, Sakurai stayed behind to watch after Dai. Susan started to leave with the other mourners but after a few steps, she turned and came back. Sakurai glared at the bitch through the dark tinted lenses of his glasses.
“Maybe we should go.” Susan hooked her arm through Dai’s. “It’s getting pretty late and you must be exhausted.”
“I’m fine.” Dai didn’t even look at her.
She sighed and fiddled with her blouse collar. “I know how much you loved Wei
. . . .”
“You don’t know anything, Susan.” Dai did glance her way this time. He gave
her a long and very cold look.
The woman actually seemed surprised that her attempt to com
fort him wasn’t
well received. “I just want to be here for you,” she said after a bit.
“You want a lot of things, don’t you?” Dai moved his arm so hers dropped away.
He turned back to the grave. “Goodbye.”
With another sigh, Susan finally took the hint and walked away. Sakurai brushed
past her as she left, the vibes rolling off of her raising his suspicion, but not enough to
warrant him doing something about it just now. Instead Sakurai moved next to Dai,
wincing a little as even the late afternoon light made his few exposed areas of skin feel
like it was being burned.
“I know you’re there,” Dai said without looking up from the hole where his
brother’s coffin lay. “You’ve been following us like a fucking stalker. Get out of here.
Get out of my life.”
“If only it were that simple,” Sakurai said with a sigh as he stopped cloaking his
presence. He rubbed his temples. Even this simple act was draining him. How could
lesser vampires stand living like this?
Dai looked at him. “What do you want?”
“Nothing.” Sakurai couldn’t help but be amused as a truly insipid thought ran
through his mind. “I want absolutely nothing from you, Daisuke Matsui.”Except
perhaps to see you smile.
“Asshole.”
Dai turned his angry visage upon the cemetery workers exiting a small truck on
the road a few dozen yards away. They stood a discreet distance, waiting to cover the
casket with earth. “Do it,” he growled at them. “I’ll come back later.”
Dai stalked away and Sakurai fell into step beside him.
“I said—”
Sakurai cut him off. “Fuck off, I know,” he mumbled, only half meaning the
sarcasm behind it.
They walked up to the GTO in stony silence, the last of the sun sinking behind
them. Dai opened the car door, but didn’t get inside. He rested his forehead on the edge