The Seattle FPD field office was a place of ghosts. Less than seventy-two hours after the massacre, the air still tasted of stale coffee, burnt ozone from discharged tasers, and a grief so thick it felt like a pressure against the ears. Emma strode through the once-bustling command center, her heels clicking a sharp rhythm. Diamond and Kyo followed in her wake, two opposite poles of energy creating a silent, charged vacuum around them.
They were stopped by two men in crisp FPD tactical vests, their expressions carved from granite. Lieutenant Miller, a bull-necked man with a permanent scowl, crossed his arms. “Weston. You’re not seriously taking these two into the field.” He didn’t look at Diamond or Kyo; he spoke about them as if they were malfunctioning equipment.
“They’re the best chance we have, Lieutenant,” Emma stated, her voice dangerously level.
“They’re psionics,” Miller’s partner, Cole, hissed, his voice a venomous whisper. “Unstable assets. One bad day away from being the next Hakim. We have twenty-three officers in the morgue to prove it. How do you know he,” Cole jutted his chin towards Kyo, “isn’t going to have a bad memory and decide to slice this whole building in half?”
Diamond, who had been observing the exchange with a bored detachment, suddenly stepped forward, placing himself slightly in front of Kyo. His lazy slouch was gone, replaced by a predator’s coiled stillness. “You got a problem with him?” he asked, his voice a low rumble.
Miller puffed out his chest. “I got a problem with entrusting a critical mission to a freak who dresses for a costume party and a thug who used to run the gutters.”
Diamond laughed, a short, humorless bark. “First off, Bull-neck, that ‘thug’ you’re talking about could chew you up and spit you out before you filed the paperwork. Secondly, you’re worried about sword-boy?” He gestured back at Kyo with his thumb. “This ‘freak’ could dice you into confetti before your hand even cleared your holster. He’s got more honor in that goofy ponytail than your entire whiny squad.”
Kyo’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly behind his glasses. He said nothing, but a subtle shift in his stance acknowledged the unexpected defense.
Miller took a step forward, his hand dropping towards his sidearm. “You watch your mouth, Vincent.”
“I don’t need to,” Diamond sneered, his dark eyes flashing. “I just need to watch him,” he nodded at Kyo again, “and know that our backs are covered by someone who can actually do the job. You’re just angry that the guys with the badges and guns got taken down while the ‘freaks’ are the ones being sent in to clean up your mess. Now get out of our way before you become part of the problem we have to solve.”
Emma watched, fascinated. The raw, fierce loyalty emanating from Diamond was a force of nature. It wasn’t the cocky ego of the gang leader; it was the protective instinct of a pack alpha. A flicker of warmth sparked in her chest, a surprising counterpoint to the office’s cold dread. She saw past the swagger to the steel spine beneath, and for the first time, felt a bond with Desmond Vincent that went beyond a professional working arrangement.
“That’s enough, Lieutenants,” Emma commanded, stepping between them. “Diamond is right. We’re on the clock. You will give this team your full support.” She locked eyes with Miller, who, after a tense moment, backed down with a disgusted grunt and turned away.
***
Using a tactical command van procured from the garage, the group followed trace psi readings to an abandoned warehouse district. They parked the command van some blocks away from a location where psi energy spiked, indicating some kind of unknown activity or presence.
Diamond and Kyo moved through Warehouse 9B, a labyrinth of rusting steel shipping containers and wooden crates, walled in by thick, decaying brick that had crumbled enough to let sunlight filter through in small shafts of gold. The sheet-metal ceiling had completely rusted in parts, further allowing the evening’s spectral sunlight to peek through and enhance the interior’s ethereal ambiance: the dusk sun casting long, predatory shadows.
Inside the mobile command center, Emma sat surrounded by a halo of glowing monitors, a comms headset pressed to her ear. “Alright, I’m linked in. I can feel… traces. Hakim was here. He was with the other one. Be careful, the emotional residue from that unknown psionic is… hungry. It feels like an animal, like a ravenous beast, but not a wolf or a dog or anything living.”
“Hear that, pretty-boy?” Diamond murmured, his hand resting near the butt of a heavy-caliber pistol strapped to his thigh. “Stay sharp. Emma feels something hungry, and I’m not in the mood to be dinner.”
“My focus is absolute,” Kyo replied, his hand resting on his bladeless hilt. “Keener than yours, which is split seven ways by the false bravado you call wit.”
Diamond chuckled. “You know as well as I do, sharp retorts keep your mind sharper. It’s a thing of beauty, words like these, because they hone the agility of your mind under pressure.”
“Or they distract you from what’s happening,” Kyo almost seemed to smirk. At this point, it was safe to say he was playing with Diamond, not arguing with him for the sake of being right.
Despite the familiarity of their banter and the heat from their hotheaded exchanges, the air grew unnaturally colder with every step they took. The ambient noise of the docks outside, which had been alive minutes ago with the chatter of gulls and even the rumble of distant vehicles, seemed to die, swallowed by an oppressive, unearthly silence.
“There’s someone here…” Emma’s voice crackled in their earpieces, her voice tight with strain. “Not Hakim, but someone else… I feel it… a consciousness made of spite and shadow. It’s all around you!”
As she spoke, the shadows around them began to writhe. The spaces inside and between shipping containers contorted and breathed, then took three-dimensional shape: the shape of four-legged animals. They bled from the corners of dumpsters and the undersides of fire escapes, coalescing into hunched, canine forms, replete with open mouths seeping liquid shadow saliva. Patterns of purple swirls danced upon the tufts of shadow that made up their “fur.” They were things of nightmare, with lithe bodies and muscular limbs that held long claws of obsidian that looked more like miniature knives, and eyes that glowed like dying embers.
“Well, isn’t that cute,” Diamond scoffed, drawing his weapon as the first beast lunged. He fired two rounds, which passed through the creature’s smoky form with no effect. It slammed into him and sunk its jaws into his muscled neck, its weight immense and body freezing cold. It felt like getting hit with a refrigerator. The beast tried to snap his neck with violent motions, but was unable to do so: it was as if it had bitten into a rock that wouldn’t give an inch. Diamond grunted, recoiled a single step, then grasped the beast by the collar and flung it like a puppy. There wasn’t even a shadow of a bite mark upon his neck.
By now, Kyo was already in motion. A soft hiss was the only sound as Kyo drew the bladeless hilt Shizuka. From Shizuka poured forth a blade of pure, white-hot psi energy, casting the dimness of the warehouse with relief. Kyo moved like a silver blur, his hakama swirling around him as he bisected two shadow beasts in a single, fluid arc. They dissipated with a sound like tearing silk, but two more immediately pulled themselves from the darkness to take their place.
“He’s a summoner! A conduit!” Emma yelled over the comms, her voice strained with panic. She had visuals on the two of them through body cameras patched into systems used to monitor their biometric vitals.
A beast lunged at Diamond’s blind spot. “Diamond, right!” Kyo called out, already moving. His psi-blade flashed, dispatching the creature an inch from Diamond’s neck.
“Thanks, samurai,” Diamond grunted, shoving another beast away. He holstered his useless pistol. Brute force was the only answer. He drove his fist into the face of a shadowy hound, the impact creating a shockwave that momentarily scattered its form. But a claw scraped across his bicep, and for the first time in years, Desmond felt his own blood run hot and slick down his arm. He stared at the deep gash with disbelief before a feral grin spread across his face. “Alright, you bastards. You wanna play rough?”
He became a whirlwind of violence, a human battering ram smashing through the spectral pack. But for every one he destroyed, another took its place. They were tireless, relentless. Kyo was a master of efficiency, his glowing blade a blur of light in the encroaching twilight, but even he was being driven back. A claw raked across his side, tearing through his hitagi and drawing a sharp intake of breath.
“The source… it’s consolidating its energy!” Emma warned, her voice trembling. “He’s… making something bigger.”
Diamond kicked away the remains of a beast just in time to see Kyo stumble, his hand pressed to his bleeding side. More and more of the creatures were forming, pouring from the walls, their numbers seemingly infinite. Diamond planted his feet, shielding Kyo’s back. “Don’t you go dying on me now, pretty-boy! I’m just starting to like you!”
A guttural roar echoed through the warehouse, a sound that seemed to tear at the very fabric of reality. The shadows before them began to boil, pulling inward, rising into a single, monstrous form that dwarfed all the others. Its claws were as long as Kyo’s blade, and its gaping maw burned with the light of a thousand hateful eyes.
Kyo’s psi-blade sputtered, its brilliant light faltering for a heartbeat as his energy wavered. They stood back to back, wounded and surrounded, before a beast born of pure nightmare.
They weren’t just losing. They were being devoured.
***
“Well… shit,” Diamond spat, a trickle of blood from his split lip staining his teeth. “That’s new.”
The monstrous amalgamation of shadows didn’t just stand there; it warped the very air around it. Its presence was a psychic dead zone, absorbing sound and light, its thousand eyes burning with a malevolent intelligence. The smaller beasts stopped attacking, falling back like hyenas letting their alpha eat.
From the monster’s gaping maw, there came no sound, but a wave of pure despair washed over the warehouse—a silent, psychic scream. It hit Diamond like a physical blow. His vision swam. It felt as though every doubt he’d ever had, every street-fight he’d almost lost, every lonely night in a cell at SynapTek, was being hammered into his skull. His knees buckled.
“Vincent!” Kyo’s sharp voice cut through the mental static. His hand, glowing faintly with psi energy, clamped down on Diamond’s shoulder. The touch was a grounding anchor in the psychic storm. “Do not let it unmake you. It feeds on fear.”
Diamond shook his head, clearing the haze. “Right. Thanks.” He set his jaw, planting his feet wide. “Alright, Kyo. Back to back. Like old times on Kenmore Avenue.”
“That was not a ‘team-up’,” Kyo grunted, moving into position, his back pressing against Diamond’s. The blades of their shoulders aligned perfectly. “You were attempting to rob a pharmacy. I was stopping you.”
“Details, details,” Diamond shot back, a pained grin on his face. He felt the warm press of Kyo’s back against his, a solid, reassuring presence in the swirling chaos.
The monster lunged. It didn’t run; it flowed forward like a tidal wave of ink. Diamond met the charge head-on, bellowing with raw defiance. A colossal clawed hand swiped at him. He crossed his arms to block, his diamond-hard skin shrieking in protest. The force of the blow was cataclysmic, launching him backward, dragging Kyo with him. Diamond felt a sickening crack in his ribs, and the air was driven from his lungs in a ragged gasp. He stumbled but did not fall, his heels digging grooves into the asphalt.
“Still standing, you ugly son of a bitch!” he roared, blood now dribbling from the corner of his mouth.
While Diamond absorbed the titanic blow, Kyo saw his opening. He detached from Diamond’s back, a silver phantom surging forward. His psi-blade hummed, bright and fierce, and he plunged it deep into the monster’s leg. The beast screamed—a high, thin sound of grinding glass that echoed both in the air and in their minds. It kicked out, not with the wounded leg, but with the other, catching Kyo square in the chest.
The swordsman flew backward, landing in a heap of black and white cloth. His glasses were knocked askew, and his pristine white hitagi was now stained crimson from the deep gash on his side. He pushed himself up onto one elbow, his breathing ragged. The psi-blade flickered violently, its light dimming to a faint, ghostly shimmer.
***
In the command van, red lights blinked frantically across Emma’s console. She saw their biometrics plummet. Desmond’s heart rate was skyrocketing, with impact trauma warnings flashing red. Kyo’s indicators showed a critical energy drop-off and significant blood loss.
“Diamond? Kyo? Talk to me!” she yelled into the headset.
Her only reply was the rasp of labored breathing and the psychic screech of the Gloomweaver. She clutched her head, her own empathic senses under assault. She felt the monster’s cold, alien rage, but beneath it, she could sense the flickering embers of her agents’ resolve: Diamond’s was a core of pure, stubborn defiance; Kyo’s was a pinpoint of focused, disciplined pain. She could feel them dying. Panic, cold and sharp, seized her heart. She was going to lose them. Her best. The only ones who stood a chance.
“No,” she whispered, her knuckles white as she gripped the console. She forced the panic down, shoving her fear into a box. Analyze. Don’t mourn them yet. Analyze!
Her eyes darted over the telemetry. Every time Kyo’s blade flared, even weakly, the smaller shadow beasts recoiled. The monster itself had screamed when the psi-blade, a tool of pure focused energy—of light—had struck it.
“That’s it!” she breathed, her voice finding its steel again. “It’s the light! They’re creatures of shadow! Pure psionic light is anathema to them! Kyo, your blade is their weakness! You have to overload it!”
***
Diamond hauled himself upright, ignoring the fire in his chest. “You hear that, Kyo? You gotta shine bright like a diamond!” he yelled, wincing as he shifted his weight.
“My energy is nearly spent,” Kyo coughed, clutching his side. “Another blow like that… and the blade will extinguish.” He was surrounded now, the smaller beasts circling, sensing his weakness.
Diamond saw it then. The flickering blade. Kyo’s pale face. The closing circle of shadow hounds. There was only one way.
“Then you better make this next one count,” Diamond said, his voice dropping to a serious growl. “I’ll buy you time.”
Before Kyo could protest, Diamond charged. Not at the small fry, but at the towering behemoth. It was a suicidal, desperate, magnificent act. He slammed his body into the creature’s midsection, a gnat attacking a titan. The monster roared and swatted him to the ground. Diamond rolled and came up, spitting blood.
“HEY! UGLY!” he bellowed, drawing its full attention. “COME AND GET ME!”
He was buying seconds, at the cost of his life.
Seeing Diamond’s sacrifice, Kyo found a final reserve. He struggled to his knees, laying his faltering blade across his lap. He pressed one hand to his bleeding side, and the other to the bladeless hilt, pushing his own life force, his own psionic essence, into the matrix. “Unity is strength,” he whispered, the words a prayer.
The psi-blade sputtered… and then erupted. It was no longer a blade, but a miniature sun. A blinding, searing sphere of white light that pulsed outwards, vaporizing the smaller beasts instantly and engulfing the warehouse in a silent, brilliant detonation. The Gloomweaver threw its head back and shrieked, its shadow-form sizzling and dissolving like smoke in a hurricane.
Emma watched on her monitors as the area was washed out in pure white energy. Kyo’s biosigns flatlined for a terrifying second before returning as a faint, critical flicker. Diamond’s signal was lost in the interference.
The light faded, plunging the alley back into an unnatural dusk. The monster was gone. The silence was absolute. Emma held her breath, her hand shaking as she keyed the mic.
“Diamond? Kyo? Report!”
Static.
“Kyo? Diamond, answer me!”
Only the hiss of an open channel answered.
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