Page 335 of Mercy Written in Blood

"Where?"

Renji turned towards the service stairs. The Takahara pulse moved below. So did others. Many. Too many. The attack on the theatre had been a diversion.

"The lower garage."

"What is there?"

"Someone they need."

"Which faction?"

Renji listened. One group wore white bands. Their heart rates carried uncertainty and excitement. Unveiled recruits. Another group moved without fear. Slower pulses. Disciplined. Several were vampires. Shibata interests. Both had entered the hospital for the same person. Multiple factions converging. Just as Mori warned.

"The answer is beneath us," Renji said.

He entered the stairwell.

The lower garage had been designed for ambulances and supply vehicles. Tonight, it had become a battlefield. The Unveiled held the western entrance. Eight humans behind overturned trolleys and parked vehicles. The Shibata faction occupied the easternramp. Five vampires. Six armed human contractors. Between them stood a hospital transport van. Its rear doors were open. A woman crouched inside holding a boy against her chest. The boy appeared twelve. Perhaps thirteen. Blood marked his nose. Not from injury. From awakening.

Takahara blood responded to Renji's presence. A faint pressure passed through the garage. Every vampire felt it.

The Shibata leader turned towards the stairwell. He was tall. Old enough that stillness had replaced any need to display strength. His suit remained immaculate despite the smoke and rainwater blowing down the ramp.

"Renji Takahara," he said.

The name carried recognition. Renji stepped into the garage. Weapons shifted towards him. The Unveiled leader wore a white cloth around her wrist. He recognised her from Sota's meeting. The university student who had asked why uncertain cases were included. Her face was pale. Her hands were steady around the gun.

"You followed us," Renji said.

She shook her head.

"We followed them."

She pointed towards the Shibata group.

"They were taking the boy."

The woman in the van tightened her arms around him. Hospital bracelet around her wrist. Patient. The boy pressed his face into her shoulder.

"Who is he?" Mori asked from behind Renji.

The Shibata leader smiled.

"A child who has been hidden from his inheritance."

The student lifted her weapon.

"He is not going with you."

"He belongs to a bloodline your movement cannot comprehend."

"He belongs to his mother."

Renji looked at her. The answer mattered. Ordinary people joined the Unveiled because institutions had stolen truth from them. This woman had now crossed into a garage with a weapon because she believed a child was about to be taken. Not every act committed under the white band was cruelty. Not every person wearing it had abandoned the line.

Renji looked towards the Shibata leader.

"Release the eastern ramp."