Dark Whispers Sheridan and Cain 2009 Read online

  “I know. Is that his, or yours?” Ray nodded toward the gun Daisuke held loosely in his hand.

  “It’s mine.”

  Ray pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket. He slowly reached down, wrapping the cloth around the gun. Dai released the weapon immediately, as if thankful to let it go.

  “Your life is just beginning. You’re graduating and starting college in the fall,” Ray said quietly as he pressed the barrel of the gun into Dai’s hand. “Touch it.”

  “What’re you doing?” Dai asked.

  “That piece of shit isn’t going to destroy your life.” Ray clenched his jaw. He went to Chen and wrapped the dead man’s fingers around the metal grip, leaving his prints behind as well. Ray dropped the gun to the floor then picked up Chen’s piece from the blood-spattered mattress.

  Dai pushed himself up, his eyes wide. “What . . . ?”

  “Listen to me—he was beating on your mother. You saw he had a gun and struggled with him. It went off by accident and you’re fucking lucky the bullet didn’t hit you.” Ray tucked Chen’s gun away in his leather jacket.

  “Your piece isn’t registered, right?”

  Dai nodded.

  Ray frowned and sighed a little then looked toward the hallway. Vinnie Magera stood in the doorway. “That’s the story we’re all going to tell.”

  “That’s what I saw,” Vinnie said. “I was closing up, heard the commotion, came up and saw the kid struggling to get the gun.”

  Dai simply nodded and looked at Ray. Ray put his hand on Dai’s shoulder. Go check on your mom. I’ll go call it in. Remember, you struggled for the gun. You got it first.”

  1998

  Dai wiped a smudge off the edge of the GTO’s fender as he passed by, creeping around the side of Watts’s house toward the back door. The place seemed pretty dark. The old man must be catching up on his beauty sleep, this being his big weekend off. Well he was gonna get his lazy ass in gear and go get drunk, because Dai felt like partying. He’d just received his final grades before graduation; not only did he make the Dean’s List, but he’d gotten a 3.98 GPA. Of course, that smart shit fucker Watts would ride his ass for not getting the 4.0.

  Dai smirked as he let himself in the back. Dumbass Watts. Would he ever replace that piece of shit lock or did he think no one would ever have the balls to try and break in? Dai froze as he pulled the door quietly shut behind him. He heard a grunt and a low, masculine-sounding moan. Shit. Was Watts hurt? Sick, maybe? Dai was about to call his name when he heard Watts’s laugh. But it sounded odd. Almost fucking wicked.

  “Don’t you act like a pussy, now. You asked for this. Hell, you fucking begged for this for months.”

  “Yess.”

  Slap!

  “Did I tell you to speak, you fuck? You don’t say word one unless I tell you to.

  You got that, bitch?”

  Dai’s eyes grew wide and he crept through the kitchen then a bit down the hall. “I told you to relax. I know exactly what I’m doing,” Watts said, a bit softer this

  time. There was a muffled sound and another grunt then Watts’s voice again. “That’s it you slut, open up for me. Push onto it. You know you want it.” There was a whimper then Watts again.

  “That’s it whore, fuck it good. You want it, you do the work to get off.” Sweat soaked Dai’s forehead along his hairline and he had to stop and adjust his

  hardening cock within the tight confines of his jeans. He took small steps closer to the bedroom and peered inside the door, hoping Watts still had that mirror that showed the hall when the door was opened.

  Holy fuck!

  Watts had some red-headed guy on the bed—bound to the bed with long leather straps at his wrists and ankles. The guy was on his knees, his legs spread, and Watts was standing at the foot of the bed with his hand shoved up into the guy’s ass as far as his wrist!

  And the guy was rocking back and forth. Shit. He wasfucking Watts’s hand.

  The redhead wore a leather dog collar and a leather strap ran from the collar, down and around his cock and balls, binding them. The man’s package looked all purplish and about ready to explode.

  Dai’s own balls throbbed and ached. He cupped his cock and watched. Watts continued to talk dirty to the guy as he reached his free hand around and undid the strap. Watts jerked the guy’s cock and he exploded, sending a shower of sticky cum all over Watts’s hand.

  Fuck!

  Dai couldn’t move. He couldn’t breath. He could only stare and clamp his thighs together in a vain attempt to contain his own raging hard-on.

  Watts removed his fist form the guy’s ass then undid the leather straps. The guy collapsed on the bed but Watts grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked his head up.

  “You’re not done yet, bitch. He held both hands out. “Lick them the fuck clean.”

  The man did as he was told, whimpering between each long stroke of his tongue across Watts’s sticky fingers.

  “You like it, don’t you, bitch?” Watts growled throatily. The redhead must’ve known better than to answer this time and just sucked harder. Watts reached around with his other hand and swatted at the man’s cock, causing the swollen flesh to bob up and down. The guy groaned loudly, covering up the helpless whimper that managed to slip past Dai’s lips.

  Watts laughed and yanked his hand away from the guy’s mouth. He grabbed at both sides of the man’s head, his fingers groping the bright red curls of hair as he pulled him close. They kissed, long and hard, Watts never loosening his grip.

  The first hot smear spread across the inside front of Dai’s jeans and he steadied himself on the wall as his knees threatened to give out. Fuck . . . !

  Stumbling away as fast and as quietly as he could, he slipped out the back door. A fence lined the property, and Dai grabbed at the chain-links, holding himself upright with one hand while he desperately tugged open his pants with the other. Thick fluid oozed from the head of his throbbing, swollen cock.

  “Oh shit . . . .” Dai hooked his fingers through the metal rings on the fence for support while he stroked himself, working his cock until some of the pressure was gone and his cum was splattered on the cement. Before anyone could see him, he shoved his dick back into his jeans and stumbled into the heavy shadows on the side of the house.

  What the fuck was that about? He’d fucking creamed in his pants! Dai shivered, the night air cold against his sweaty skin as he leaned against the bricks. His joint was still hard—the jerking off he just did only a temporary relief that was starting to fade already. He couldn’t stop picturing Watts bent overhim that way, slapping his cock and balls, fucking him with his hand . . . .

  A muffled moan drifted outside from the window and Dai bolted. He couldn’t stand there and listen.

  * * * * *

  Watts came to the graduation ceremony, along with Mr. and Mrs. Magera, Dai’s mom and his younger brother, Wei. Ray took them all to a swanky dinner in Manhattan then afterward took Dai out to get drunk, or as he put it, “celebrate like a man.”

  They ended up on the beach hours later, just staring up at the sky and enjoying the silence they so rarely got to experience in the city.

  “So how are those applications coming?” Ray asked, setting his bottle of beer on the ground next to him as he leaned back against a piece of driftwood and stared at the moon. “You put one in to all the city departments like I told you?”

  “Yeah. I’ve been accepted into the Academy.”

  Watts grinned and gave Dai’s head a playful shove. “You don’t want to bust your balls rounding up little savages like yourself. I told you to hold out for the sanitation job. At least when those guys are done for the day they can look down the block and know all the trash they hauled away is gone for good. They don’t have to see it back underfoot again three hours later.”

  “Yeah well, I figure your ass is getting way too old to protect us law-abiding citizens so I might as well sign on and help you with your walker when you’re on foot patrol.”
>
  Watts grinned then took another swig of his beer.

  “Daisuke, about what you saw and heard yesterday . . . .”

  “Watts, I—”

  “Don’t talk. Just listen, please?”

  Dai nodded and stared down at the dark sand.

  “It’s a stressful job, ya know? And guys let off steam in all sorts of ways. What you saw—that happens to be mine, but I don’t do it often, and I don’t usually do it close to home. And I never, ever play games with anyone who isn’t a hundred percent willing. But something like that . . . if it got out . . . I put a lot of fucking years in on the force and all I want to do is retire with my twenty or thirty and a half decent pension. I don’t want the moon and stars. I just want some peace and quiet when the time comes. If this shit gets out . . . it wouldn’t be good. You understand?”

  Dai looked up, his dark eyes shining in the dim light. “Fuck, Ray I wouldnever say anything. Iowe you. You helped me that night and kept quiet about me and Chen and I won’t ever forget that. Never.”

  Ray nodded and clapped him on the back. “Then it’s over. We don’t talk anymore about it.”

  “But Ray . . . .”

  “I love you like a son, Daisuke. You’re a great kid. You always were. I want the things for you that a father wants for his son. I want you to be somebody; I want you to be a suit down at the Puzzle Palace, not some grunt on the street fighting back the skells every day. You go and you make something good of yourself with that degree of yours, okay?”

  “I will,” Dai said quietly. He got up and wandered off, draining his beer bottle then hurling it far out into the ocean.

  Ray watched Dai walk away, sensing the boy’s frustration and disquiet. He stood and brushed the sand off the back of his black pants and shoved his hands deep into his pockets.I love you too, Daisuke, maybe too much . . . .

  Part Two: Now

  Dark Whispers Sheridan and Cain 2009

  Chapter One

  “Well maybe if you stayed closer to home, ge-ge, instead of fucking around with thelow faan pigs, you’d know all the cool shit I’m into these days. And it won’t be long now until I’m one of the Inner Circle. Ain’t nothing gonna touch me then. Ever.”

  Dai gritted his teeth and clenched his hand into a fist while wishing very much that he could reach through the cell phone and strangle the life out of his half-brother, Wei.

  The kid was talking all sorts of shit. Fucking vampires. Fucking mind reading the local cops. What kind of whacked out shit was Wei Wei on? Dai shook his head. After all his preaching, could Wei have just ignored him and gotten into drugs?

  The derisive laughter coming through the phone was like a knife to the heart. “Poorge-ge, being bullied by the white boys again?”

  The line went dead and Dai barely stopped short of smashing the phone into the side of the porcelain sink. “Fuck!”

  A knock sounded on the restroom door. “Detective? You okay in there?”

  “Yeah, I’m okay, Jimmy.” Dai ran the water in the sink, soaped and rinsed his hands quickly then exited the restaurant restroom, playfully stuffing the damp paper towel into the old cook’s hands. “I better get back on the street before you start bitching about your tax dollars not at work.”

  The old man gave him a suspicious look. “You sure you okay?”

  Dai nodded and clapped the older man on the shoulder. “It’s just family shit. You know how that goes.”

  But the fact of the matter was that Daididn’t know what was going on with Wei. His brother was talking weird shit and not acting like himself.

  Shit—do you even know who your brother is anymore, Daisuke?

  “Fuck this.” Dai dropped into the black GTO parked out front and revved the engine. Instead of going back to the precinct to get some paperwork done, he headed for the Triborough Bridge. He was on his own time now, anyway. The paperwork could wait until his next shift. At twenty minutes to midnight, the traffic would just be thin enough so he could make it to the south side in about an hour.

  As he started to pull out, out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of something darting past, the sudden movement catching his attention. Whatever it was looked big, and from the way it moved, it might’ve been a stray dog. He hit the brakes and turned in his seat to look out the back window.

  The only thing back there was a man in a leather trench coat, walking, his back toward Dai. A sheet of waist-length black hair swayed with each step. Moving out of the circle of light from the street lamp, he blended into the shadows of the buildings on his left.

  “I’m losing my fuckin’ mind,” Dai muttered. But the unease inside of him didn’t go away.

  * * * * *

  Liu Sakurai turned and watched the black car speed away, his vampiric senses prickling from the energy emanating from the man behind the wheel. What a pity they’d only passed in the night; his blood would surely be quite the treat. Flicking his hair behind his shoulder with a toss of his head, Sakurai walked on until he reached the hulking housing complex where he was to meet his new employers, the “Five Uncles” whose “Chinese Benevolent Association” had been controlling the vice trade in New York’s Chinatown from the earliest days. Now why, exactly, had they asked him to come to this section of the Bronx?

  Sakurai approached the basement area where he’d been instructed to meet them, crinkling his nose at the acrid stench wafting up from the stairwell. The commingled scents of human wastes, vomit, and the desiccated carcasses of rats and untold legions of bugs greeted him.

  Humans were such a disgusting lot. Why did he even bother interacting with them?

  “Ahhh, here’s our friend now.”

  “You are hardlymy friend.” Sakurai sneered as he stepped into the small pool of yellow light from the single hanging bulb suspended over the five men tied together and gagged upon the floor. Two of the men were Latino, one white, the final two black. The men lording over them, the ones who considered Sakurai their “friend,” were Chinese—and also vampires.

  “This had better be worth my time.”

  The vampires exchanged a few glances, their opalescent eyes reflecting the dull yellow light from the bulb.

  “We would hope that anything concerning our kind would be worth your time, Liu Sakurai.”

  It was the elder of the fourchiang shih who spoke, a vampire not of impressive stature with sharp cheek bones that matched the harsh lines of his face. He might’ve been middle-aged when he was changed, sometime in the past two centuries.

  Sakurai cocked his head to one side and laughed. “Our kind. Yes,” he sneered. “What makes you think you belong withmy kind?”

  The men said nothing, but Sakurai caught wind of a series of disgruntled thoughts fluttering between them, despite their efforts to mask them.

  “We’re allchiang shih,” the older one said in a quietly dangerous tone.

  “In two very different classes, obviously.” Sakurai’s smile widened. “Or else why call me now?”

  “Because it’s your duty as part of the family,” another of them said. And rather indignantly, too.

  “Only on my mother’s side.” Tilting his head, Sakurai regarded them through the thin strands of hair that fell across his face. They were powerfulchiang shih—old, even. But Sakurai was the ancient one. They would all be dead before they felt his fangs tear through their throats.

  But behind all their ruffled pride, these Elders were afraid. And not only of him.

  Sakurai crouched down next to one of the bound, writhing men. The scent of cocaine filled his nostrils; the drug’s earthy yet chemical-like odor clung to the man’s bronze skin underneath the acrid stench of his nervous sweat.

  “Let me ‘help’ then,” Sakurai looked up at the otherchiang shih and steepled his fingers in front of him. “See, these are all humans—” He gestured with one hand at the men bound in front of him. “And to kill them you just slit their throats, crush their skulls, smother them. You can be as creative or as cliché as you wish . . . . Surely
you don’t need me to show you how to do this.”

  With a flick of his fingernail, he slit the first man’s throat, quickly turning him so the blood sprayed on his cowering human companions who struggled to scoot away.

  “And surely you can do this on your own,” he drawled lazily, moving to stand behind two others. He banged their heads together, crushing their skulls. He frowned as blood and bits of brain matter oozed out.

  “This is a waste of my time. Don’t bother me again.”

  “Wait, Master Sakurai—you don’t understand what’s going on.”

  Sakurai flicked his wrists to clear some of the blood off and glared at thechiang shih who’d spoken. “You’re dangerously close to joining these human corpses in death, Jung Kai.”

  “Or not,” the vampire whispered. He pointed with a well-manicured nail to the bodies. Right before Sakurai’s eyes, the mangled flesh was regenerating.

  “Now that’s something.” Sakurai’s lips turned down into a very displeased frown. He kicked at the crushed skull of one man and the tip of his boot hit a solid piece of bone as the wound had already healed over. “I’ve seen a sorceress pull this shit before.”

  The vampires murmured among themselves again while Jung Kai ordered one of his companions forward. “This isn’t mortal magic.”

  Pulling a knife out of his coat pocket, Jung’s lackey bent down and severed the head off one of the captives—one that technically should have already been dead, but who was managing to sit up once more. He kicked the head across the room and stabbed the knife into the body’s heart. This time, the mortal stayed dead.

  Jung Kai scowled. “Anotherchiang shih is doing this—giving these worthless shits partial gifts like this. It’s fucking with the way we run business.”

  “Who is doing this thing?”

  “We don’t know. That’s why we called for you.”

  “You don’t know, or you’re afraid to find out?”

  “Both,” the one in the back of the group muttered.

  “Shut the fuck up, Tse-hsu.”

  Frowning, Sakurai folded his arms across his chest. “I should kill you all here and now.”