'Qui: The Fall of Ottawa' Part 2, Chapter 7

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Previously: Qui and Sam visited a mechanic shop in the south end of Ottawa, investigating a murder. They surprised a Tzimisce vampire, resulting in a vicious battle. Sam helped Qui drive the murderous creature away, but now she'd seen far too much for Qui to leave things to chance.

He had a choice: Kill her or bring her into the fold. There were no other options. He chose to tell her the truth and he very much hoped that he wouldn't have to kill her afterward.

Chapter 7

"A vampire," Sam said in an incredulous deadpan. "You're seriously saying that the guy I shot was a vampire?"

Qui sighed. He'd forgotten just how resistant the mortal mind was to revelations regarding the supernatural. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

"You're sure he wasn't a psychopath high on crystal meth?"

"Can junkies turn into a wolf after taking several bullets to the head?" The pain of his injuries was getting to him, as was the expenditure of energy it was costing him to mend them while he drove. He rarely stooped to sarcasm to make a point, but he was feeling less generous than usual and the good will he'd been feeling earlier had nearly been sapped dry. He hadn't even told her about himself, yet. Maybe he wouldn't.

She shook her head. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm not meaning to be difficult. It's just that this is the last thing I expected to hear from someone as straight-laced as you."

"You think I'm straight-laced?" That was a new one, but it meant that he'd been maintaining his cover well enough in the lead-up to Cranston's attempted coup. "What makes you say that?"

"If kicking out the corrupt cops and actually taking investigations seriously doesn't do it, I don't know what would," Sam replied. "Besides, I've never even seen you take a sip of alcohol. Do you know how many night shift cops I've met who don't drink?"

"Zero?"

"Damn right it's zero. And you barely even touch your coffee!"

Qui had expected Sam to stop buying him a drink on her way into the station every night after a while, but she'd kept it up even though all he ever did for the first week was sniff at it longingly. Maybe she could tell that he appreciated the aroma or maybe she was only interested in keeping up appearances. Either way, he'd taken to dumping a small amount into a thermos while she wasn't looking and discreetly disposing of the contents later. It made her happy and it gave him the illusion of normalcy. At least he thought it did. God, he wished he could take a proper drink of the stuff, just once. Unfortunately for him and every other Kindred, food and drink other than blood simply wasn't on the menu unless he wanted to be violently ill almost immediately. 

"So if I'm not a drunk and I take this job seriously, why do you think I'd lie to you about a creature that nearly killed us tonight?"

She paused to think for a moment. "Stress can do a lot to a person. You got thrown through a window, for god's sake! Come to think of it, we should be going to a hospital right now. Turn right at the light up there. I know a quicker way."

"Sam…" he said.

"Not another word. We're going to get you taken care of and then we can revisit this whole vampire thing."

"Sam…"

She looked over at him. "What?"

It was time to bring out the big guns. "I know that you know about Commissioner Cranston."

Dead silence.

"What did you say?" Sam asked.

"That you know about Cranston."

"That I know what about Cranston?"

"That she's not human."

Sam leaned back in the seat and stared at the roof. She started laughing and didn't stop for several awkwardly-long seconds "You know, I'd only just managed to convince myself that night was a bad dream," she said. "How did you know I was there?"

Qui bit his lip. He couldn't exactly say that he'd seen it in her thoughts. Fortunately, he had a far more logical answer. "I was there," he said. "You know that."

"You saw me?" She sounded panicked all of a sudden. "Did the commissioner see me, too?"

He shook his head. "She was occupied with someone else at the time."

"Good god." Sam shuddered, and Qui could tell that she was reliving the memory. He hadn't been sure just how much she'd witnessed, but now he was willing to bet that she'd seen far more than Cranston would be willing to accept. He didn't have much of a choice, now–this loose end needed to be contained. If he couldn't turn Sam into an ally, he'd be forced into drastic action that he'd rather not take.

He pulled to the side of the road and put the car in park. "Sam, this is serious," he said. "I'm sorry that this is happening to you; it's never easy when someone is brought into this world without any preparation. But if you don't listen to me, and listen to me well, I can't guarantee your safety."

She looked over at him. He'd been expecting fear, maybe even tears, but instead he saw the face of grim determination. "Somehow I knew it was real," she said. "I just didn't want to admit it to myself." She was unconsciously caressing her holster which was missing its weapon. The gun was still in Qui's coat pocket. "Is that why the thing came after us tonight?" she asked. "Because we found out about the commissioner?"

Qui shook his head. "They aren't the type to be working together," he said. At least that's what he assumed. Hoped. Cranston may be working to take out the domain's Prince, but that was fairly common among the Kindred's Camarilla. There was a world of difference between them and the monstrous Sabbat. He could see why Sam might not appreciate the finer details at the moment, though.

"Then why did it attack us? I've never heard of anything like that happening in my life; if these things are just hanging around Ottawa I would have heard about it by now, right? But suddenly I find out that the head of my department is one and then we get attacked by another a week later? There has to be a connection." She narrowed her eyes. She was perceptive, alright. "You're one of them, too, aren't you? That's why I always feel a chill when you walk past me, like I'm supposed to run away or something." She inched her hand toward the seatbelt release and Qui grabbed it. She was going to run.

"I'm sorry, Sam," Qui said. "I can't let you do that."