Thirteen
DISTRACTION
BLACK WAS RIGHT about one thing––I knew when he started.
I’d only just crouched down by the stone pedestal nearer to the fire exit when he raised his voice.
He spoke English––well, mostly English––probably for our benefit.
“Brother,” he called out. “J’talek hudre-ti. Respectfully, brother. Can we talk?”
There was a heavy-feeling silence.
Maybe in part because I held my breath, that silence made me light-headed.
Somehow, before he’d even really done it, I knew exactly what Black intended to do. I didn’t know how far he meant to go with it exactly––whatever else Black might be, suicidal wasn’t part of his personality make-up––but I knew he intended to use himself as the distraction.
The thought ratcheted my nerves up to redline.
It crossed my mind to wonder at the intensity of my reaction. That rabid overprotectiveness around Black’s life was unlike anything I’d ever experienced with another person, not even my sister Zoe while she’d been alive. There was something completely irrational about it––and borderline organic. It resembled more of a survival instinct than a conscious emotion.
I’d been battling that feeling for weeks now––months really, ever since Black left me in San Francisco––but it had definitely gotten worse.
Hell, even just from that last kiss it felt worse.
I bit my lip, fighting the desire to rise to my feet, to walk over to him now and yank him back or maybe just yell at him in the space. I knew both things would likely be pointless. Worse, they might get both of us killed.
I could almost feel him willing me to trust him.
It didn’t reassure me.
At all, truthfully––in part because I could feel that same irrational overprotectiveness on him in relation to me.
“Can we talk, brother?” Black called out. “Let us be reasonable about this.”
Another silence.
Then, from the other side of that ramp, a different voice rose.
“Reasonable?” that voice said mockingly. “You want to be reasonable now?”
I jumped in spite of myself, shocked by the familiarity of that voice.
“...You would be reasonable with me now,” Ian continued coldly. “How very civilized. How very very polite. But I think we’re a bit beyond ‘reasonable’ at this point, don’t you, brother Quentin? Or do you really believe I was somehow unaware it’s been you shooting at me most of these past few months... ?”
Black clicked at him, loudly enough for the sound to carry over the stone walls.
“That is a job, brother. Nothing more. I can sever that contract––”
“Y’enj balente ut re mugre di ali––”
“––I speak truth, brother,” Black cut in. “It is a job, nothing more.”
“Bullshit. You are protecting my mate.”
I flinched, gripping the stone base.
“She is why I took the job,” Black conceded. “But she is not the job itself. I can finish with this... with all of it. We can both walk away.”
Black paused, as if listening.
When no response came, his voice grew more warning.
“...You know he will not ever condone her death. They will never leave you alone, not as long as you insist on that as the only acceptable outcome. Let it go, brother. I am advising you as a fellow seer... giving you advice... seer to seer. There are too few of us here. You are precious to them. As my brother, you are precious to me. Drop this claim you have on her blood, and they will welcome you back with open arms. You and I will be at peace.”
He spoke formally, as if quoting something. Or perhaps translating.
I wondered again why Black was saying all of this in English. He wanted me to know what he was saying, but why? Just so we could follow along? Or was there some other reason?
Whatever it was, Ian was unmoved.
He laughed. It echoed strangely on the stone walls. “You have a honeyed tongue for one so young... Kirev.”
I felt something in that word startle Black.
Whatever it was, he recovered quickly.
“Be reasonable, brother,” he said, still even-voiced. “They will not punish me for trying to keep her safe. Since they contracted me to hunt you down for that very reason, it is clear who will win this battle of wills. You cannot go against the edicts of the majority of our brothers in this world and expect to win. No matter who you are.”
“Funny, you seem to think you can, though. Go against all of us––”
“Not when it comes to the lives of other seers,” Black shot back, warning.
There was a silence.
I crouched against the wall, breathing harder.
I struggled to control my emotions. I knew I was worse from being around Black, from having all of my feelings amped up and stretched thin just in those few minutes of contact. But hearing Ian’s voice after all this time definitely wasn’t helping. For the first time maybe, it really sank in that Ian––the same Ian I’d been in love with, the same one who tried to kill me with his bare hands––was the murderer Black had been hunting.
It also hit me that he and Black had a relationship with one another, a bond of sorts, and one I would likely never fully understand.
Of course, my logical mind had known those things for months.
I knew what Black was. I knew what Ian was, too.
Something about listening to the two of them talk brought my heart to my throat anyway. Even twisted by hate and disgust, I would have known Ian’s voice anywhere. Hearing him now, unmasked, talking to Black as a peer and a fellow seer, despite his attempts to be condescending, ripped open that wound all over again.
I crouched there, irrationally fighting tears, rubbing my chest with my free hand, when Ian spoke again, louder, that disgust thicker in his voice.
“You drink the cunt of a half-blood whore... one you fully admit to stealing from me...”
The sheer hate behind his words made me flinch.
“...Where is there enough honor in you that I can believe anything you would say to me, little brother? You are a traitor... a stain on your race. You lost your way long before you started pleasuring yourself with that filthy piece of half-human trash...”
“Which way is that?” Black said. “You know the original Evolutionists were human, don’t you, Stone? So which of us has truly lost their way?”
The other man fell silent.
I could still feel whispers off the two of them, especially Black.
When he next spoke, his voice came out subdued, once more carrying that odd formality, even in English. His impossible-to-place accent thickened, too.
“This complaint you have,” Black said. “...It is not really with her. It is certainly not with the innocent humans here. You and I, we should settle this between us. We should do it privately. Or at least negotiate terms with parties who have an actual understanding of them.”
I tensed. I caught the use of language, him playing on Ian’s racism by suggesting the two “adults” take the animals out of the equation while they came to terms. That’s not why his words chilled me. I was more worried that Black meant them––in the sense that he was genuinely offering to leave with Ian. Even apart from Ian being crazy and possibly smarter than Black, Black had a gaping hole in his side. He couldn’t even walk far, much less run.
He certainly couldn’t fight.
Unless he’d taken Nick or Angel’s sidearm, he didn’t even have a gun.
I bit my lip harder. Hard enough to taste blood.
I couldn’t risk throwing the grenade without his okay. I was too far from Nick and Angel to warn them to move without being overheard. I knew they wouldn’t venture into Ian’s sights, which meant they were still open to any blowback from an explosion.
I crouched there, thinking, when Ian spoke again, his voice cold.
“There is nothing to discuss... friend. You obviously don’t understand the situation. You are wounded, as are the humans with you. I am halfway through your shield already. Even if you find a way through that door...” He let his words linger in the air. “...You can’t possibly think to outrun me? You will see me kill her, pup... slowly. Then I’ll kill you.”
“You know he’ll kill you for touching her,” Black said through gritted teeth.
“You brought the bitch here. You have no one to blame but yourself.”
“This isn’t about her,” Black growled. “This isn’t about religion either. This is about you and me.”
When Ian didn’t speak, Black’s voice grew colder.
“You can spout racial bullshit all you want, Stone... you and I both know what this is really about. You might have killed those women in San Francisco for your ideological bullshit... in fact, I strongly suspect at least part of that was ‘purging’ yourself for the crime of being confused about that ‘filthy half-human’ you’d fallen in love with...”
I bit my tongue, gripping the stone harder.
“...But your complaint since then has been anything but ideological, brother. It’s pure, bullshit seer personal... as personal as it gets for us. Religion has fuck-all to do with it.” Black’s voice grew colder still. “Your problem with me is as old as the gods, brother. I poached your girlfriend... deliberately, I might add... and you just can’t fucking let it go.”
I froze, my mind spinning with confusion.
Black sounded like he meant what he was saying.
He wasn’t just trying to rile Ian up. He really believed that.
Ian let out a disgusted laugh. “Gaos... you are reaching, Black.”
“You’re a fucking seer.” Black spoke louder, but his voice remained deep. “...And just now you referred to her as your ‘mate.’ Let’s just cut the shit and be real about this, shall we? You’re pissed off I took your girlfriend. There’s no other possible reason you’d still be stalking either of us like this...”
Ian laughed again. “You are quite welcome to her, dirtblood.”
“Am I?” Black retorted. “Interesting how you didn’t try to kill her until after you found out I’d talked her out of her clothes...”
I felt a charge spark in the air.
It bordered on physical––raised the hair on my arms.
Whatever the truth about Ian’s feelings for me, Black’s comment struck a nerve.
“I hope you enjoyed rolling in her filth––” Ian began coldly.
“––I did,” Black cut in. “Or I should say, I am. A fuck of a lot, actually. So much so, I’m dying to rip her clothes off right now. She’s got a slit, you stupid fuck,” Black added. “You got yourself clipped for nothing, Ian. You could have been nailing grade-A seer ass, if you weren’t such a racist piece of shit. And let me tell you, you don’t know how fucking good I’ve had it because you never bothered to find out the truth about her––”
A different voice rose that time.
“You sick fuck!” Nick snarled.
Nick was nearer to me, so I jumped, looking over in surprise.
I couldn’t see his face from where I was.
Even so, I practically felt Black glare at him to be silent.
Nick could have no way of knowing what Black was talking about, of course––not in terms of the slit reference––but apparently he got the gist. I did know what Black meant. But I also knew he was deliberately baiting Ian, since he had absolutely zero direct personal experience with me in that regard.
“It’s grown back,” Ian said coldly. “How about you give her to me now? That can be your payment for the poaching. Give her to me and walk away. Do that, and our slate is cleared, little brother...”
“I’m not actually as stupid as you are, brother,” Black said, his voice filled with contempt. “I value my mate a bit more than you appeared to... and there’s precious few sisters here as it is. You’re not getting anywhere near her. Nor are any of our brothers.”
“You’re willing to lose your life to hold onto your novelty fuck?”
“I’m telling you, you need to let this go.” Black’s voice shifted to an open threat. “I’m seer too, and she’s mine now.”
The way he said it made me flinch again.
I honestly wasn’t sure how I felt about the layers of meaning I sensed there, but I could definitely feel the part of me that responded to his words in the less-rational sense.
Black continued in a more subdued voice.
“She’s not on the table. But I’m willing to admit I wronged you... and negotiate other forms of compensation.”
He paused, breathing harder, and again I felt the impact of his words in my chest.
Even so, I wasn’t getting all of it, I knew. Ian and Black were using cultural language I didn’t really understand. I glimpsed those meanings here and there, but I was missing a lot. It was beyond frustrating, not understanding.
Ian understood, though. He got Black’s nuances just fine.
Something else hit me.
Given what I was feeling off him right then, Black wouldn’t have been so quick to let me be the one to throw the grenade. He wouldn’t have wanted me to be the one closest to the explosion when it went off any more than I wanted that with him. I’d been blaming his wound, but thinking about it now, I knew that wasn’t my real reason.
As the thoughts clicked together, I yanked up my pant leg around my boot. Fumbling with the pouch strapped there, I tugged out the the object Black had wedged inside.
I found myself staring at the broad-spectrum radio frequency identifier.
Black must have gotten it off me while he kissed me.
“Motherfucker...” I swore under my breath.
I was so angry at him I couldn’t even listen to them argue for a few seconds.
“...The only way you come out of this alive is if you let her go,” Black was saying when I could hear them again. I could almost see him holding the grenade in his hand now, probably inside his pocket. “Accept my apology and back the fuck off. Get your own female. Hell, ask one of Grigiore’s pets to suck you off until you find a more permanent solution. Either way you need to walk away, Ian. Take it like a fucking grown-up.”
“That’s not going to happen––” Ian began.
“––Fine,” Black returned at once. “Then name your terms. I’ll terminate the contract with Lucky for bringing you in. I’ll offer my services in penance instead. I’ll even go to mediation if you want... providing I get protection through Lucky’s people and you leave Miriam out of it. I’ll pay damages. But I won’t give her up. And you’re not getting near her, so don’t even ask.”
Ian’s amusement sounded almost genuine. “Why in the gods would I agree to any of that? You’re two hundred years my junior. Do you really think the other seers will see you favorably in this? Historically, as a species, we have not been kind to poachers. What you did is illegal in the Old World. Or had you forgotten?”
“You lost her,” Black growled. “Don’t pretend she didn’t have a say in that!”
“You manipulated her!”
“I didn’t.” Black shook his head, once, behind my eyes. “I seduced her, I’ll admit to that... but no light tricks. No pushes. She wanted me... it was a light connection, brother.”
“A light connection?” Ian’s amusement grew louder. He sounded almost like himself now, and somehow, hearing that was worse. “How romantic. Gaos d’jurekil’a, Black. You really are desperate to hold onto her, aren’t you?”
“I’m telling the truth.”
Again, I almost saw him there, leaning against the stone pedestal as he yelled at Ian, holding the grenade in one hand. I felt him struggling. He was in pain from the wound, but it was more than that. I found myself thinking Ian was overpowering him in other ways too, ways I couldn’t see, but that had to do with them being seer.
He’d warned me to stay out of that space. He must have been worried about me being overpowered in that way, too.
Black couldn’t stay out of the space though. He had to shield Angel and Nick.
“...If you don’t trust me, let the mediators decide,” Black said, his breath short. “They can read her... from a distance. They can also read me. I’m telling you, brother, you’re going to be disappointed. You know how this works for seers. Some things are just bigger than promises, no matter how well-meant.”
“Don’t you dare defend that cheating cunt to me!”
“Fine,” Black said, his voice even. “Then how about this––I’ll kill you and me both before I let you near her. I take my responsibilities seriously, brother. Don’t doubt it. Not for a second.”
“Arrogant little fuck.” Ian cursed him again in that other language. “You might not want to promise me that. You’re too young to even have a mate, in most seers’ eyes––”
But Black cut him off again.
“––If she wants to go back to you, I won’t stop her.” Black’s voice turned colder. “But I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. As for my age, brother, we don’t choose these things. They choose us. You know that.”
The gun went off again, closer that time, from a different angle.
I have no idea how he did it, but somehow Ian must have been throwing his voice to make it sound like it came from further down that ramp. Now the shots aimed upwards, from a much closer angle, almost firing directly behind the stone base.
“Move!” Black snarled. “Right now!”
I heard Nick yell something back as gunshots were exchanged from both sides, right before Nick and Angel were scrambling in my direction. They came around the low end of the stone base, making their way to where I crouched, but Black wasn’t with them.
“What the fuck?” I said, when Angel reached me, gripping my arm. “Where’s Black?”
“Down by the wall,” Nick said, motioning with his chin.
I started to rise to my feet, but Nick grabbed my arms with both of his hands, jerking me back down forcibly.
“Goddamn it, Miriam... no! There’s no way to get to him. Not without getting cut to pieces!” Nick scowled at me, gripping me tightly enough to hurt my arms when I struggled. “Anyway, he already told me he’d rip off my head and shit down my neck if I let you get within sight of Ian. Frankly, that might be the only thing he’s ever said to me that I fully agree with...”
“What is he doing?” I snapped, still fighting to get free of Nick’s hands.
“He’s got a grenade,” Angel said to me, her gun back in her hand. “I think he must have a plan, doc...”
I let out a humorless laugh, fighting tears. “He always has a damned plan. That doesn’t mean his plan isn’t batshit crazy...”
I tried to get up again, but Nick yanked me back down. Guilt stabbed at me when I saw him wince in pain as he did it. He was already paler than he had been from the effort of holding me. That look on his face was almost enough to get me to stop struggling. Almost.
“He told us not to wait. To get through the exit right away,” Angel said, holding up her gun. “He said we didn’t need the grenade for that... told me where to shoot the lock.”
“That piece of shit asshole motherfucker...” I exploded angrily.
Angel’s eyes widened but she didn’t comment.
I swiveled my glare to Nick. “He has your gun?”
Nick nodded. “Both of them. I have Angel’s trank gun.”
Angel looked at Nick, giving me a bare, apologetic look. “Can you hold her here? I think Black was right.”
Nick nodded, his mouth grim as he looked back at me. “I’ve got her. She’s not going anywhere.”
“All right. I’m on the door,” Angel said, hauling herself to her feet.
“Black was right?” I glared at Nick. “Right about what?”
Nick was watching me with wary eyes.
“He said you wouldn’t be...” He hesitated, then his voice turned blunt. “He said you wouldn’t be rational about this, Miriam. He said you wouldn’t be able to help yourself. That you were likely to do something crazy if you thought he was in danger. He said we’d need to restrain you and probably drag you out of here forcibly...”
“Crazy?” I let out a disbelieving laugh. “I might do something crazy? You mean crazy like taking Ian on alone when I’d just been skewered through the abdomen with a glass rod? That kind of crazy?”
Nick continued to study my face, his lips set in a frown. He was looking at me like he almost didn’t recognize me. “Black said you’re going through something right now. Something to do with what you and he are. He said it was temporary, but I’ve got to say, Miri... I’m worried about you. You haven’t been yourself for weeks. And right now, you’re acting like––”
“I haven’t been myself?” The words exploded out of me. “You’re worried about that? Now? That I might be going through a few changes? You just left my goddamned boyfriend alone to be gunned down by a psychopath... and you’re concerned I might not be ‘your Miri’ anymore? Is that it? Am I hearing that right?”
“Miri, Jesus.” Nick’s fingers gripped my arms tighter. “You need to calm down. Please... try to calm down.” His eyes clicked into sharper focus as his mouth firmed. “Listen. I’m the last one to defend Black, but he’s right this time. He got you into this mess. He’s right to get you out of it. Whatever that takes...”
“Really?” I cut in. “Black got me into this? Because I thought you were the one who introduced me to Ian, Nick. Or am I remembering that wrong?”
Nick blinked at me like I’d just punched him in the face. His eyes widened, his jaw growing loose right before it hardened, pushing out the side of his cheek.
“Miri,” he said. “You know how fucking horrible I feel about that...”
“Then stop pretending it was Black who got me into this!” I snapped. “Black didn’t do this! And Ian played you just like he played me. Do you honestly think I don’t know that? Hell, even Ian was working for someone else...”
“Who, Miri?” Nick shook me lightly, his jaw clenched. “This Lucky guy? Is he the one behind all of this? If so, why? Why are these people after you? What do they want?”
“How the hell would I know that?” I let out another short laugh, fighting tears. “Hell, you might as well blame my parents, for falling in love and having me. These people have been stalking me since I was a kid... or did you really think this all started when Black showed up in the police station that day?”
Nick’s eyes widened more the longer I spoke.
Somehow, that only made me angrier.
“Jesus, Nick... use your brain! My whole family is dead. Did you think that was a coincidence, too?”
Nick winced, his face still reflecting that shock.
Even so, I saw him thinking, saw those cop and Special Forces wheels turning in his head as he stared at me. I also saw him realizing something else.
Or maybe the truth of it just finally sank in.
“You really are... like them. Aren’t you, Miri?”
I let out a disbelieving laugh, one that threatened me with tears halfway in. Choking on it, I looked past him where the gunfire had grown more intense again.
“Miri,” Nick said. “Miri, wait, I––”
“Nick. Just stop, okay? Stop.” I shook my head, forcing back that surge of feeling. “I can’t answer your questions. I can’t. The only one who can maybe is Black... and he’s probably going to die, so you and I might both be shit out of luck.”
My own words hit me in the gut, bringing another nauseating pool of that irrational fear.
I found myself fighting Nick openly then. He gripped me tighter. When I got one arm loose enough to swing at him, he wrenched me around, grasping me in a bear hug from behind, pinning both of my arms with his good arm as he dragged me to my feet. I knew it must have hurt him, given the hole in his shoulder, but he didn’t budge where he gripped me.
I struggled to free myself, but in vain. Nick had about a hundred pounds on me, all of it muscle.
“Let go of me, goddamn it!” I burst out when I couldn’t get free.
“Not gonna happen.”
Angel appeared at my other side.
Without a word from either of them, both restrained me now, half-dragging me towards the other side of the room and the emergency door. I knew Angel got that door open, just like I knew Black didn’t intend to follow us through it, at least not right away. I don’t know how I knew that last part, but I could feel it in every part of me––even over the gunfire being exchanged on the other side of the statue.
Black! I called him with my mind. Don’t do this, please! Whatever you’re doing... don’t. Please, don’t... please...
I felt him wince, a coil of pain sliding off him that caught my breath.
Then my head exploded in pain.
It felt like someone had punched me right between the eyes.
I had to withdraw. It forced a groan to my lips, even as Angel and Nick continued to drag me towards the door, which had been propped open by one of Angel’s boots. Something dripped on my face, and I looked down at the drops of blood, realized my nose was bleeding. Even with that pain, even through Black’s silence and the shock of seeing my own blood, I felt things.
My fear worsened once I made sense of what I’d felt.
Black’s bluster had been bullshit too.
He’d been telling Ian the truth... not me. He was willing to die rather than let Ian get to me. And he was pinned where he was.
He couldn’t move from the wall without Ian killing him.
His only hope was to throw the grenade as soon as he felt Ian close enough. He wouldn’t be able to run, so he’d have to throw it far enough to avoid being hit by it––which worried him, since the wound in his side would also make it hard to throw. Moreover, he knew Ian would go after Nick and Angel’s minds the second they got out of range of Black’s ability to shield them, so he had to time it right, regardless of how close Ian got. Ian was already chipping away at Black’s defenses, hitting at Black the way he’d just hit at me, only worse.
For the same reason, Black didn’t answer me.
I felt his worry. I also felt him waiting... for us to get out the door, for Ian to move closer, for Ian to try and follow us, or make a move on Angel or Nick.
That fear in me worsened, growing so intense I couldn’t think through it at all. I fought against Nick and Angel with all of my strength. Surprising them with the sudden violence of my attempt, I nearly broke free, but Nick managed to yank me back and grip me even harder. That time, I felt his pain through my back and side, felt every muscle in him tense and he struggled to hold me. Angel ran forward to yank open the door.
She caught hold of the handle, swinging it wide...
But that doorway was no longer empty.