The Darkest Night (The Second Dark Ages Book 2)

by Michael Anderle

  Michael looked down. “I think so,” he said, then shrugged. “At least, he thought he had by the time I cut off his arm.”

  “That’s five we’ve found, and all five had communications devices.”

  “So how do we find the roach before he leaves the nest?” Michael asked. “These passages seem different than the last time I was here.

  “When was that?” Akio asked.

  Michael thought about it a moment. “When traveling to Paris with Bethany Anne.” He answered. “I swung down here for a little rest and relaxation while she was safely enjoying boxes of shoes.”

  Akio stared at Michael a moment. “Catacombs full of bones are restful and relaxing?”

  “Well,” Michael replied, “saying it that way, certainly not. However, when you know the why, it helps.”

  Michael waited for Akio.

  “Ok, why?” he finally asked, and Michael grinned.

  “First, it wasn’t shopping for shoes. Second, because the skull of a dear friend, Robespierre, was interned here. He and I had many letters back in the 1700’s related to suffrage, the rights of the royalists, and other topics. In a way, it was a very violent time, and while society was growing, the changes had been very deadly.”

  “You spoke to skulls?” Akio asked, trying to piece together Michael’s story.

  “No such thing,” he replied. “I merely came here to be grounded and explore honor and incorruptibility. Maximillian was a pleasant person to converse with on those subjects. The discussions about virtue and terror were particularly intense. It was during that time I was, perhaps, influenced to refine the Strictures.”

  To this, Akio just nodded. The harshness of the Strictures now made more sense.

  “Eve?” Akio spoke and then listened a moment. “Yes, I understand. Do we have anything that might track traffic from Paris?” He waited a moment more before adding, “Ok, let’s see what we can do.”

  “Nothing?” Michael asked.

  “She says the cloud cover will cause a problem. However, she will review the next six hours of video when she gets back from the operation to see if there are any vehicles that could have come from this area.”

  “She’ll backtrack, then?” Michael asked, and Akio nodded. “Well,” he pointed down a path, “let’s see if we can find anything else.”

  “Find anything or anyone?” Akio asked, looking at the dead Forsaken on the ground.

  “Yes,” Michael answered.

  Near the Port, Nagoya, Japan

  The two buildings each stood five stories tall, like two decorative columns flanking the street which passed between them. It continued to the Port’s gate five blocks distant. The park across the street from the buildings was pleasant. Occasionally ocean smells would assault those enjoying themselves, but not often. The Nagoya Port wasn’t close to the sea itself, but rather was located on Ise Bay. The bay opened onto the Philippine Sea and didn’t have the same surface area for the winds to pick up scent.

  “You realize,” Mark was busy kissing Jacqueline’s neck, “that just twelve hours ago, we were in Europe kicking ass.”

  Jacqueline moaned. “Don’t you mean watching ass being kicked?” she asked. “Stop that, I’m not paying attention like I should!” Mark stopped the kissing. “You idiot!” She jerked an elbow into his stomach. “Don’t listen to me!”

  Mark chuckled and thought to himself, Mark 1, Jacqueline 0.

  Jacqueline asked, “Is that a pistol I feel, baby, or are you happy to see me?” A second later she added, “sorry, too big, never mind.”

  Mark 1, Jacqueline 1.

  ---

  Four hover cars glided out of the evening sky, keeping their speed down to appropriate levels, and settled a foot above the road a quarter mile from the two warehouses. The four sets of headlights Banri had noticed in front of them that were landing some distance away on the road should be Choki’s group.

  The Port did not allow anyone to overfly their airspace, on pain of missiles tearing up the offender’s ass.

  “It is a shame,” Banri commented, “that this meeting is being held under temporary partnership.”

  Banri’s right-hand woman Eriko said nothing, but his Third, Osamu, spoke up. “It would be nice to send a few rounds in their direction.”

  Eriko glanced over at Osamu. He did not make eye contact with her, but his lip turned up in the annoying way that said, “Scored one with the boss!”

  Their car slowed down and parked next to the building, two parked closer to the other building, and the last slid behind them. They never placed the boss in the same car twice in a row. For this trip he was in the first car, but for the next trip? It hadn’t been decided yet.

  The four cars they had seen coming up the road parked beside the building as they had expected. One of them, a van, pulled up in front.

  Banri frowned, and Eriko whispered, “Good choice, we shall do the same next time.”

  Banri’s frown softened. “Hai.”

  Osamu’s black eyes glinted in frustration. Eriko showed no smile, but inside she was mentally using a foreign hand gesture to tell him to go fuck himself.

  She would take out her frustration on him the next time they sparred.

  When the teams got out, Banri was perplexed at the eight that got out of Choki’s van.

  Eriko turned to look around and whispered in his direction, “The gaijin are the wolves our contact said would come and help with Akuryō.”

  Banri nodded his understanding. “Do you have support in place?” She nodded. “Good. There is no ‘help’ to kill Akuryō. We will do as we have been paid to, and then we leave to let the others suffer Akuryō’s wrath.”

  Eriko just nodded her understanding.

  Banri buttoned his suit coat and walked towards Choki, who was coming towards him with his Second and a gaijin. They would meet in the middle of the street. This was a weekend, and at this time of the day there was little traffic at this location.

  The two men met and bowed as courtesy demanded. “What do we see here?” Choki asked, and Banri turned sideways to look to his Second. Eriko spoke up, “A gaijin couple necking in the park, and five police watching us.”

  Choki’s Second nodded and the gaijin grunted his agreement.

  Both men thought a moment. “If we are not attacked, or if Akuryō should make an appearance, we separate in peace per the agreement,” Choki said as he looked around.

  Banri nodded. “Agreed.”

  “Is there anything special about the couple in the park?” Eriko asked. The gaijin next to Choki turned towards the park and sniffed. “I can’t smell anything, and they have been here a little while according to a flyby we did thirty minutes ago. So, if they are kaibutsu, then they must be Wechselbalg, not vampire.”

  Banri thought it funny that his own team had done two flybys rather than just the one. Three hours ago the couple wasn’t there, and forty-five minutes ago they were. Either way, the couple could be a plant by Akuryō’s group, or just two people wishing to have some time to themselves.

  Poor choice to stay and neck, but that wasn’t his problem. While Japanese law looked down on stray bullet kills—a stricture left over from before the war—when Wechselbalg were involved, almost all gunfire deaths, provided they weren’t intentional, were viewed much more generously.

  There were no vampires on Japanese soil who didn’t answer to Akuryō. If a vampire showed up and was willing to work with the Yakuza, it wouldn’t be too long before that vampire disappeared and stories of Akuryō would be whispered once more.

  Banri was starting to think that perhaps Akuryō was a fiction created by the police to explain clandestine murder and provide a scapegoat.

  He hadn’t quite finished his thoughts when the shooting started.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  France

  The aircar slipped out of the ravine and headed across the country to the north. There were two people inside: the driver, and the passenger in the back seat. It was quiet in the vehi
cle for a few minutes.

  William Renaud played with his small video device. “Be careful, Gerard,” he said crisply. “We don’t want to get too far outside the beam, or we lose… Damn.” He played with the device. “Turn us back around. How far away are we now?”

  “We are just over two hundred kilometers, sir.”

  “That’s good. Move us back a bit and see if there is a location where we can rest and hide.”

  It took Gerard another five minutes to locate the ruins of an old city where he could safely tuck their vehicle into a broken old parking garage on the second-to-top floor. It was high enough to receive the signal well, and blocked from view above.

  Anyone who had heard about the Queen’s Bitch knew he used superior airships. There were many stories of those who sought to kill him so they could take his technology. Obviously, since he was alive, it meant those others were not.

  William had no illusions that the people he had hired in Japan were going to survive. That was merely the price of business. He offered a deal, they accepted. It was how business had been done for centuries.

  Now he had proof someone was searching the catacombs, but he had not received notification that anyone had been killed. Therefore, his people were down. He reached over to his own controller and tapped in the request to his people.

  He received two responses. He thought about this for a second and sent a rare command, one he had taught his people after they changed, but had never used. Only one response came back.

  He hoped this worked.

  “Let’s make sure we don’t lose this signal, Gerard,” he commanded as he looked at the video.

  ---

  “Well, that was interesting,” Michael commented as he held the device.

  “You sent the response indicating that everything is ok?” Akio guessed.

  “Yes, but it came back with another command, and I hadn’t lifted that one from any of their minds,” Michael admitted. “So now he knows that one, if more than one is alive, is fake.” Michael dropped the device and crushed it under his foot. “I hate it when a plan doesn’t come together.”

  Akio smirked, then turned to listen to the nearest hallway. “Running.”

  Michael smiled, then he and Akio were in Myst form. The two of them floated down hallways trying to locate the sound as it echoed through the catacombs.

  Japan

  “Inspector Hirano,” Yuko pointed to the small video feed her drone was sending to the Inspector’s car, “those gaijin are Wechselbalg.”

  The Inspector nodded and reached for his own communication device. He picked it up and spoke into it. “Inspector Tabata, this is Inspector Hirano.”

  A moment later a voice came over the line, “My apologies Inspector, we’re having a bit of a moment here.”

  “If you mean you are firing your weapons at Banri and Choki and a number of Wechselbalg, I would say you are right to call it a moment.”

  “We have the superior position, weapons and defenses. We will be fine,” the other Inspector replied, annoyed.

  “You are going to be dying momentarily if you don’t ...” He was speaking when the communication stopped.

  “Too late,” Yuko said, sadness in her voice.

  ----

  “There are more than five up there, Choki!” Daven growled, then he ripped off his shirt. The silver slug that had hit his shoulder hurt horribly. He grabbed a knife and dug it out as he ran towards the building. With the slug gone, he changed into a wolf and joined his brethren.

  ---

  Akiro Sugita contemplated the other seven people at the windows here on the fourth floor as they fired on the Werewolves below. “More firepower!” he yelled, then rushed to the back of the fortified room that was at least half the size of the whole floor. Officer Satow joined him, and the two ripped off the cover of the rocket-propelled gun.

  “Anyone?” Sugita asked in a hurried whisper.

  Satow looked over his shoulder. “No.”

  “Damn Inspector Tabata, if he hadn’t changed the plans…” Sugita growled as he flipped the arming on, stood up and made sure there wouldn’t be a backblast problem, and pulled the trigger.

  Those outside saw the fourth floor of the building explode outward.

  ---

  “I think that gunfire is our signal,” Jacqueline said, but a voice in her ear responded, “Stand down, Inspector Hirano is calling the shots.”

  “The shots,” Mark answered, hearing Yuko in his own ear, “are being shot already!”

  “Nevertheless,” Yuko answered, “we are under the… One moment.”

  The line went dead while the two got up and found shelter behind a large statue. “Damn, that’s a lot of shots.”

  The explosion on the fourth floor of the building caught them by surprise. Both ducked behind the statue as debris rained down around them.

  Moments later, they could hear new sirens coming in from behind them.

  “Mission approved,” Yuko spoke into their ears. “Capital punishment has been authorized.”

  “Fuck!” Jacqueline frowned as she kicked off her boots. “That’s the only outcome I was ever taught.”

  “That’s kind of …” Mark was searching for a phrase when he finally gave up, shrugged his shoulders, and told her, “Michael.”

  She turned and grabbed him for a kiss, then winked. “Hell yeah that’s Michael.” She nodded over her shoulder as the wolves howled behind them and the sirens got closer. “What say we go and do unto them as Michael would?”

  ---

  The female police officer eyed the two from her own force who killed her friends. “You dead dogs,” Sergeant Miyu Tao whispered as she rolled onto her side. Her ribs felt cracked, at the least, from the blast concussion that had thrown her up against the far wall. So far, neither Sugita nor Satow had looked in her direction. She unholstered her weapon and shot twice in quick succession.

  Both men dropped, bullets having passed through their skulls.

  She coughed up blood and spit it out. Crawling over to the massive opening in the wall, she peeked out and then started shooting. A moment later another of her team made it, and the two lone guns fired down on those below.

  ---

  “Who the fuck are they?” Choki pointed to the two gaijin who were walking around the statue. Neither looked at all intimidated by the gunfire or bothered by the police vehicles screaming down from the sky.

  “What?” Banri yelled. The two gang leaders had taken shelter behind Banri’s car, which was now full of bullet holes.

  “The lovers?” Choki spoke aloud, wondering.

  That’s when the woman changed forms and became a walking myth.

  “Dammit!” Banri spat. How the hell had Akuryō found a Pricolici to attack them? “She can still be hurt by silver and guns!” he yelled. He was about to turn to Eriko and command her to attack them when he saw the man’s eyes light up in red fire.

  Fuck this shit. “Retreat!” he yelled and grabbed Choki. “Vampire!” He pointed back to the two, but all he saw was the large female running at the wolves, roaring. He twisted around. “Where the hell did the vampire go?”

  ---

  Daven turned when he heard the Alpha challenge, his hackles rising. All the wolves turned with him, their attack momentarily forgotten as the roar overcame Daven’s response.

  “I ammm the bittchhh yoouu fearrr!” Jacqueline yelled as she slammed into the group of wolves, ripping through them. When she finally stopped and turned around half a block later, she casually twisted the head from the snarling wolf she was holding and dropped the body next to her.

  “Everyone focus on that wolf-woman…” Banri’s gurgled last words were lost as Mark pulled his clawed hand out of Banri’s back. “I would have used a sword,” Mark hissed in the dying man’s ear, “but this seemed a bit more enjoyable.” His red eyes took in the people who were now staring at him in fear. “No one,” he screamed, “will target my woman!”

  Daven knew it was a lost cause
as he raced towards the towering Pricolici, but this was his only hope. Attack her and then sprint away and get lost in the port, hoping that she would stay to fight.

  He dashed at her, but she didn’t seem worried. Didn’t even seem to prepare as he feinted a bite to her groin, then went for her hamstring. His muzzle was met with a knee, which smashed cartilage and bone. He bounced to the side but still had enough in him to shake it off and continue his flight towards the port.

  ---

  Yuko commanded, “Down!”

  The car went down. She didn’t bother to let it settle to a stop, but threw open the door and jumped the last ten feet. The disposable dress had already been torn off and the young-looking woman landed, dressed all in black. She pulled one of her personal Jean Dukes out of its holster and casually shot the wolf that was running away in the back of the head.

  She had considered shooting it in the ass, but it probably wouldn’t kill the wolf and she didn’t want any to get away.

  She pulled the other gun, and then bodies started exploding. No more was she going to be known as the Diplomat.

  That role was in the past.

  Twice, she didn’t shoot when the Yakuza members dropped their weapons and started to raise their hands, but none of the Wechselbalg survived. Those who Jacqueline had not personally killed or put out of the fight, Yuko obliterated. Within moments, the silence on the street was complete. Even the sirens had been turned off. The red lights flickered past the darkened buildings; the sun was almost down.

  Jacqueline growled as she walked up to her, and Yuko turned to see one of the police officers looking at her with his hand on his holstered weapon. “If you darrree pulll thatt gunnn,” Jacqueline ground out, “I willl ripp yourrr spine oouut yourrr ass.”

  “Sawa!” Inspector Hirano snapped. “Get your hand off your pistol or I’ll shoot you myself.”

  Yuko’s red eyes started to return to normal. “You have two, maybe three alive on the fourth floor up there.” She nodded to the destroyed area.

  The Inspector snapped out commands as Mark jogged past them calling out. “I’ll help them get up there!”