Black was freaking the fuck out.
When Black freaked out… bad things happened.
But maybe now was a time when we needed bad things.
Fire rose inside Black.
With that fire came a quiet voice, one that had been quiet more or less since Hawaii.
The presence of that voice swirled around Black’s mind, filling it with stars, with galaxies, with slow, pulling waves of celestial ocean…
Who is that? Coreq whispered.
Black blinked, startled by the silence.
Then his fury returned.
You know this one, Black growled back.
He spoke to that emptiness, to the thing that rode around inside him.
It put us away before. In the lab. Underground. Remember?
Black felt Coreq remember.
Coreq didn’t like labs.
Coreq especially, really didn’t like labs, more than Coreq didn’t like any other thing.
What does it want? the being murmured.
You know that, too.
So why should we care? Coreq now sounded bored. It is no different now. It is the same as it ever was. Since time immemorial. Why must we care about this now?
Black felt Coreq’s interest in the wedding.
Black felt Coreq’s interest in Miri, specifically.
Coreq’s interest lay in the wedding night… in fucking Miri.
Coreq didn’t care about whatever this other thing was.
Black turned his head, looking at where Miri struggled to regain her feet. He showed her to Coreq, showed him the blood on her hands, the blood trickling down the side of her face, and rage pulsed in him, even as he turned to face Charles.
Coreq’s mind grew cold as ice.
How? he said. Why?
Telekinesis, Black told Coreq. As for why, presumably he didn’t like being dumped on that other world… the one where Miri took him. He didn’t like losing all that power. Or to have his friends shoved naked into cells under the building on California Street––
“You are talking to it,” Charles mused. “Are you not?”
Black’s eyes clicked back into focus.
“I have seen this before,” Charles added. “I have seen it with the other. You get this odd look on your faces… different from how normal seers look when they are communicating with one another. It is like the frequency is different somehow… or perhaps you listen with a different part of your light…”
Black didn’t speak, not at first.
He listened to Charles instead, muscles tensing under the sixty-thousand-dollar tuxedo he wore, fighting to control his light, to keep his mind moving in straight lines.
“Yes,” he said simply.
Charles smiled knowingly.
The ice in his eyes never grew any warmer.
“The other one… the other dragon,” Charles explained, waving a hand vaguely. “He explained to me how this works. His blackouts. How they got triggered. He might not have thought through that last part, because he more or less told me how to summon the dragon in him whenever I wanted.”
Pausing to let his words sink in, Charles added,
“Rather simple, really. All I had to do was make the dragon think his life was in danger, or otherwise throw him out of his regular state of consciousness.”
Charles shrugged gracefully with one hand, seer-fashion.
“I’ve found LSD works quite well. So does crystal meth… but it takes longer.”
Black let out a humorless grunt, in spite of himself.
“You’re dosing your telekinetic dragon with LSD?” Black grunted again. “Well, that’s fucking genius. I’m sure that’s going to work out great for you, Charles.”
Faustus acted like Black hadn’t spoken.
“He handed himself to me, more or less from the beginning,” Charles added. “I think the lack of control had become a problem for him.”
Charles paused, gauging Black’s face, a smile ghosting his lips.
“Oh, and I promised him he could have Miri,” Charles added. “That motivated him quite nicely, Black. Apparently you dragons have quite the yen for my niece. I’m not going to pretend to understand it… especially now that I know the truly vile and duplicitous nature of that little cunt.” Charles’ eyes grew colder. “At this point, I’ll enjoy watching him rape her. Frankly, I’m quite looking forward to it.”
Black felt every muscle in his body tense.
That time, he didn’t speak.
Everything inside him seemed to be telescoping inward.
He was going to have to kill Charles.
It was a thought he hadn’t let himself entertain since before he’d met Miri.
Family was sacred. He couldn’t kill his mate’s family.
Charles shrugged, his eyes as flat and lifeless as a shark’s.
“The dragon took me here of his own free will, Black. He merely asked me to show him Miri so he could track her across dimensions… and I complied. It was relatively clear he wasn’t in a wholly rational state of mind at the time. He became his true self again, somewhere in the process of our traveling to this dimension together. So I took him out to breakfast. He and I… we got along famously.”
Charles smiled, but his eyes remained dead.
The green-eyed seer added, “We had long talks about what he was, about what triggered the transformation. It was quite… educational.”
Black didn’t change expression.
Still, he heard every word, as well as every word left unspoken among Charles’ words.
“You have yourself a pet dragon.” Black grunted. “How nice for you.”
He forced his eyes to travel casually back to his wife.
Gaos… she was moving now, at least. She still looked dazed. Her jaw hardened as he watched her try to crawl her way to the metal and glass table.
He reached out for her, unthinking.
He couldn’t fully go there, not now… not without losing his goddamned mind… but he reached for her anyway, knowing only that he needed her safe.
Jump, he told her. Go, Miri. Now. Take as many as you can with you… Yarli, Jem, Angel. Whoever you can get out. Go somewhere where you can be of help to the rest of us.
She didn’t answer.
He felt her anger.
That anger definitely wasn’t aimed at him, but she struggled with what he’d asked of her.
He couldn’t argue with her.
He didn’t have time.
“So your dragon is telekinetic,” Black said, shifting his attention back to Charles. He lifted an eyebrow as he folded his arms. “A telekinetic, dimension-hopping dragon. That’s nice, Faustus. That’s gotta be a real expensive, rare pet you’ve got there.”
He paused, forcing a faint smile to his lips.
“Is this where you tell me your dragon is bigger than mine?”
“There is always a bigger dragon, Black,” Charles said, smiling humorlessly. “You should have remembered that.” He narrowed his gaze. “I should have known you could not really be a manifestation of the One True God. I don’t entirely understand it yet, but you are but a copy, Quentin. A copy of a copy of a copy, perhaps… definitely not the real thing, but likely a genetic clone from the Old World. Something meant to be a weapon.”
Still gauging Black’s eyes, the older seer clicked at him softly.
“You know, I was told of another like you there. One that left that world, not long before the end. Apparently they used your cousin’s DNA to create that one. Perhaps it is something in your family… some genetic tolerance for certain types of intermediary powers…”
Black had no interest in any of that.
In that way, he was like Coreq.
He cared about his wife.
He cared about his wife so much, it took every ounce of his willpower to wait, to not launch himself at this fucker and strangle him with his bare hands.
He cared about all the people here who could die, if things went truly ugly.
If he did care, though,
everything Charles just said… it all sounded wrong to him.
None of that sounded remotely like how any of this worked.
It sounded too… physiological.
Too genetic.
Too materialistic.
From what that old witch doctor on his cousin’s world told him, Dragon was more of an multidimensional collective than a single being. It was a sophisticated, multifaceted consciousness, one that formed the building blocks of the very creation.
If there was a single “Dragon,” it was more like that entity split its consciousness into many worlds, many beings.
It wasn’t either a “genetic anomaly,” as Charles was implying, or a single “god” in the sense of being a unified entity.
Dragon was… something else.
Perhaps something beyond what a mere seer or human mind could comprehend.
Either way, Black didn’t care.
He really didn’t give a fuck.
Miri? Black clenched his jaw. He could no longer feel her light. I hope like hell you got out of here. I hope you brought Jem, Yarli, Angel, and some of the others out of here with you––
He knew that was somewhat manipulative.
He didn’t care about that, either.
––You have to trust me, baby. Please. Please trust me.
He hoped fervently that the manipulation worked. He hoped if she wouldn’t leave for herself, she might leave to save the people she loved.
“So?” Charles came to a stop, leaving only a few feet between them. “What will it be, Black? Will your dragon take over? Must I put more fear into you? I confess, I’m curious to see who would die in a match between the two of you.”
The pale, leaf-green eyes grew more metallic.
“I am thinking it will be you,” he said.
Black stared back at him.
He found himself remembering Lucky from Russia, way back in the day… and from Vietnam before that.
He’d almost forgotten that Lucky.
It was difficult to view him entirely the same once he found out Karlov “Lucky Lucifer” Vasiliev was the beloved “Uncle Charles” of the woman he was courting… and later, the woman he wanted as his mate.
Now he found himself remembering.
He found himself thinking he knew why he could once again tangibly see that murderous psychopath shining out of Faustus’s eyes.
Black had changed categories in Charles’ mind, too.
In Charles’ mind, Black and he were no longer family.
Back when Black first knew “Lucky Lucifer” Vasiliev, the two men were enemies.
At the very least, Black was an adversary who stood in the way of Charles’ plans, an asset who’d proven maddeningly difficult to either eliminate or recruit. Black doubted he was the first seer on this version of Earth to say no to Charles, but he might have been the one who said no the longest, if only because he managed to stay alive.
Black could see that look in Charles now.
He’d forgotten what it was like, being on the receiving end of the stare.
Black was the enemy again.
Worse, given what Charles had just done… given what he’d just said… Miri clearly fell into the enemy camp now, too.
Charles finally hit his limit with his favorite niece.
Leaving him on that empty version of Earth had been the last straw.
For the same reason, Black didn’t even try to play that card now.
“Where is he?” he said. “Your dragon. Did you leave him parked in a handicapped space somewhere, Faustus? Really, I’m surprised you just didn’t order him to wipe out the whole damned city. I mean… what’s one human city, in the wider scheme of things?”
Black carefully kept his mind out of the Barrier.
He knew Charles would have people there, too.
Charles would have seers monitoring him, and they could be doing it from pretty much anywhere.
Just then, it came.
Black didn’t even hear it.
He saw Charles’ face flinch.
The seer put a hand to his throat, a confused, angry look rising to his eyes.
Then he collapsed.
28
Backup
“Collar that son of a bitch!” Black snapped, motioning for Dalejem and Javier.
Yarli, he growled in the space. Start the evac. Now. Tell Frank.
Got it, boss.
Black glanced at Nick, who’d stood in the wings, waiting.
“Get the prototypes I gave you,” he growled. “Do it, Tanaka. Now! If he wakes up from that dart, uncollared, we’re all going to be really fucking sorry…”
Jem was already moving, snapping out of his confusion even as Nick disappeared and reappeared in seconds, holding a bag that came from… gods knew where.
Black was just glad they’d done as he asked, and hidden all of that crap with the vampires during the ceremony itself.
Black figured there was no way Charles would have his people searching the vampire guests, not even for that. For all his paranoia, Charles would never allow that Black might trust one of their kind with holding onto that tech in the first place.
And to be fair, Black hadn’t trusted “vampires” with that.
He’d trusted Jem and Nick.
Most of the vamps only stayed past the ceremony because Black asked Brick for backup, as part of their treaty.
He’d called in a lot of favors that day.
He’d also hired real backup.
But he’d deal with all of that in a minute.
Black threw more words at Jem, this time from the Barrier.
When you’re done with that, help Yarli get all of these people out of here, he growled. The non-family. Make sure you loop Frank and Devin in. They had something in place for that as well. And you can tell Brick his people can go, if they want… as soon as we get the site secured. In the meantime, if they can find any more of Charles’ people, we would really appreciate it.
Black didn’t wait to see if Jem understood.
He pushed his way through the crowd gathering around Charles’ body, and ran for where he’d last seen Miri, even as he called out to her in his mind.
MIRI! WHERE ARE YOU? CHARLES IS DOWN…
There was an endless-feeling pause.
In that pause, Black covered half the length of the pool deck.
It’s okay, Black, she murmured in his mind.
Relief flooded him, along with exasperation.
Miri! Why didn’t you leave?
I’m okay. Just a little dazed. My head hurts.
I’m so sorry, baby… I had no idea he would do that. I didn’t think he’d hurt you like that, even now––
It’s okay. Really, Black, it’s fine. If I hadn’t tried, he would have been suspicious immediately. He probably would have rained hellfire down on the whole place if that happened, or maybe had his dragon jump both of them out of here.
Black reached the area of the deck where she was.
You still should have jumped… he scolded her, changing direction to run to the table. You should have grabbed some of the seers and jumped the fuck out of here. Hell, I would have been happy if you’d gone with just Nick and Jem.
She didn’t bother to answer.
Black stood over her now, only to find his wife still halfway on the ground where Charles’ dragon had left her. Angel and Cowboy were bent over her, with Angel holding one of her arms, Cowboy holding the other.
Ace and Mika were there, too.
They looked like they’d gotten there first, actually. Ace held Miri carefully around the waist; Black watched the big Texan ease her into the nearest deck chair almost daintily.
Black didn’t know if he wanted to bark at the other man, or kiss him.
In the end, he did neither.
“MIRI!”
He threw himself down on the pool deck in front of her, wrapping his arms around her and immersing himself in the folds of that gorgeous, sexy fucking wedding dress.
&nbs
p; Most of all, he flooded her with his light.
“Are you okay, honey?” Tears came to his eyes as he cupped her face gently, looking her over with his eyes and his light. Without waiting for her response, he looked up and back at the rest of them. “Where’s Luric? Someone find Luric… NOW!”
Even as he said it, he pinged the medical tech seer with his light.
LURIC GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE. POOL DECK. NOW. MIRI’S HURT.
He used the construct, showing him exactly where Miri was.
Feeling Luric acknowledge him, Black clicked back out.
He saw Euston, Dog, and Magic run off, too, presumably looking for Luric in person.
Jax, Kiessa and Jorji stood there now, too.
“He’s coming, boss,” Jax said.
Black looked only at his wife. He felt over her body carefully through the dress, noting where she seemed to be in pain, the way she sat in the chair.
“Gaos,” he growled. “That fucker. He could have broken your back!”
“He didn’t though, Quentin,” she said, caressing his face. “It’s okay.”
“The hell it is.”
Kiko’s voice rose, sounding flustered.
“Who brought him down?” she said, panting, obviously out of breath. “None of our people seem to know.” She swallowed her voice growing tense. “The vampires? Is that why they were here?”
“No,” Black cut in.
He never took his eyes off Miri’s face.
She was clutching at his fingers now, smiling at him, but he could still tell she was in pain. He had to fight not to yell at Luric in the space, tell him to move his ass. Black could feel pain coming from her lower back, her tailbone, her spine, and her head. So far, he didn’t think anything was broken, but his light swam over her frantically anyway, looking for injuries, especially in her head or back.
He barely glanced at Kiko.
“No,” he repeated. “I mean… yes, they were partly here for protection. They did some of the coordinating, too, since I couldn’t bring my team in on this. I knew Charles would be watching all of us.” He grunted then, giving Kiko another look. “Also, it’s a fucking wedding. If Charles didn’t show, I didn’t want all of you working.”
Kiko let out an outraged sound.
Ace, clearly hearing him too, burst out in a disbelieving laugh.
Black Of Wing: A Quentin Black Paranormal Mystery Romance (Quentin Black Mystery Book 14) Page 25
