Throwing the branch away, the woman slowly extended a hand toward the pair. Once again, her eyes took on that mysterious golden hue.
“Come to me,” the woman said. But no sooner had she beckoned to them than something fell from the sky into a pile of hay five yards to her rear.
There was an impact that sounded like a hundred cracks of thunder, and the earth quaked. The mother and son were both knocked back fifteen feet, slamming against the bam door and leaving the bam itself leaning a bit to one side. Even the Noblewoman was left shaken, and she clung to the well to steady herself. Flames went up. Heat from the friction of the object’s fall had set the hay ablaze.
How far did that thing fall? The unspoken question was visible in the eyes of Adele and Matthew as the pair lay flat on the ground. The beauty’s expression also seemed to pose the same query.
The answer soon presented itself.
A huge figure stood up from the flames in a wine-red gown. He had a great, fifteen-foot-long spear in his right hand. Though he appeared from the flames, when he took one massive stride out of them, there wasn’t anything burning on him. Still, the prospect may have bothered him, as the giant used his free hand to slap at his shoulders and hips before peering down at the three of them intently and saying, “It’s been ages, hasn’t it, Miranda?”
“I’ll thank you to address me as duchess, Count Braujou,” the Noblewoman replied with a smile, looking up toward the heavens. “Where are you arriving from?”
“One hundred fifty thousand feet up,” Count Braujou said, pounding the back of his own neck. “Some rascal calling himself Speeny, or something like that, managed to string me up in the sky.
I was able to cut myself free, of course, but I ultimately ended up being dropped. Ah, the humiliation!"
“I see you are, as always, the same carefree man, full of fight. Do you think you’re up to keeping your oath? Shaking off the dust of five millennia is no easy task,” the pale beauty—Duchess Miranda— said reproachfully.
Count Braujou gave her a personable grin in return. It was the sort of smile that suggested that on a deeper level, the two understood each other.
“So,” the giant began, looking at the mother and son who stood, stunned, in front of the bam, but he quickly headed off to the left.
Sue had just appeared from the front door of the main house. She was wrapped in a blue robe. An atomic lamp swayed in her hand.
“Mom! Matthew!" the girl called out. On noticing their bizarre callers, she became a statue.
“Sue, get in the house!”
But despite her mother’s shout, the girl’s feet wouldn’t budge. She was stupefied. A ten-foot giant towered in the yard, in front of a gorgeous woman in a white dress that glittered in the moonlight, while behind them flames from the burning haystack lit up the night. It would’ve been strange if she’d actually been able to do anything at that point.
“Don’t you lay a hand on my kids!” Adele said, standing in front of Matthew to shield him—not that there was anything an unarmed human could do against the Nobility. “Just try something funny. Before you can sink those filthy fangs of yours into my children’s veins, I’ll tear you to pieces!”
“That sounds amusing,” Miranda said, her lip curling up. White fangs peeked from the comers of her smile.
“Stop it,” the giant said, laying a hand on the Noblewoman. Her shoulder was so dainty, it seemed as if this gesture alone would’ve been enough to destroy it, yet she gave it a slight toss that easily knocked the giant’s hand away.
“Stop it,” the giant repeated, taking her shoulder again. It wouldn’t move an inch.
“Why are you against me? Doing this would be in the family’s best interest. Even the servants of the Nobility couldn’t do any harm to humans who’ve been turned into Nobles. Nor could other Nobles.” “There is something to what you say.”
“In that case, I’ll thank you not to interfere.”
“No, wait. Regardless of our opinion, we must first find out their thoughts on this matter. Would you like this lovely woman to drink your blood?” the count said, his question directed to the family. “Hell, no! Don’t come any closer,” Adele said firmly.
It was an odd situation. Two Nobles had turned up at their house when there weren’t supposed to be any in the area at all. And they hadn’t come to drink the family’s blood. Something else was going on. These two had a secret.
At any rate, they were Nobility—bloodsucking monsters. Adele’s family absolutely could not let their guard down around them.
Though her body was close to freezing, hot blood started to pump through it as her determination grew.
Gazing down at Adele from his lofty vantage point, Count Braujou remarked, “She appears firmly opposed to this. You’ll have to abandon your plan, Duchess.”
“Ah, but it would be to the greatest benefit of us all. Will you not be so good as to reconsider, human mother?” Miranda said, her eyes beginning once more to carry a golden glow. A gleam of the same color sparked in the depths of Adele’s eyes, and her resolute will began to melt away.
“Hey!”
“Be silent,” Miranda said. Her voice was laden with malice, though her demeanor was that of an amiable Noblewoman. “Even you must know in your heart that this is for the best. I merely ask that she change her mind. I’ll thank you to keep your remarks to yourself, Count. Come.”
Adele responded to her summons, her sizable breasts still bare to the moonlight. The sturdy farmer’s wife was about to fall into the vampire’s bloody trap.
When the distance separating life from death had closed to just six feet, there was a bang and a flash by Miranda’s feet, and pale-blue atomic flames spread. The flames leaped to her dress, instantly transforming the duchess into a human torch.
“Mom!” Matthew and Sue shouted as they raced over to the reeling Adele.
“Oh, my,” the giant said with admiration from his lofty vantage point. It was a compliment for the slip of a girl who’d lobbed an atomic lantern at Miranda to save her mother from peril. She also had the bolt gun she always carried when she went outside in hand as she stood in front of her mother and brother to shield them.
“This family certainly has pluck. Now, Miranda ..
Although the Nobleman hadn’t sought her agreement, the human torch replied, “Indeed. They may even be able to weather my response.”
Raising her blazing arms by her sides, she let out a sharp breath as she swung them down again. The flames vanished... along with the atomic lamp. Neither the skin of the pale beauty nor her dress showed the slightest hint of being charred.
“Come to me. No, on second thought, I will come to you.”
Before the count could stop her, she started walking, but halted after the second step. Duchess Miranda turned to look. As did Count Braujou. But what did they hear, and what did they see?
About five seconds later, the human mother and son learned the answers to those questions. From the darkness beyond the main house—and the entrance to the farm—the sound of hoof beats was drawing nearer. Who in the world could it be? The looks on the faces of Miranda and Braujou were hardly those of fearless Nobles.
“Who is it?” the duchess asked, her voice trembling.
“Someone with power,” Braujou replied.
“Who?” Adele murmured. And the light of the moon picked the answer out for her.
The beautiful darkness that had appeared from the depths of the night took the shape of a black horse and rider as they rode into the moonlight. As he passed by a haystack, flames painted his body red. He halted at a spot about ten feet from Miranda and the giant.
“I don’t know whether to say you’re late or just in the nick of time—but at any rate, here you are, D!”
Catching the fear the count’s tone carried, Duchess Miranda swallowed hard in spite of herself.
CHAPTER 4
I
The eyes of three fearful faces were glued to the faces of three others who weren�
��t quite human. Gathered around the kitchen table were D, Count Braujou, and Duchess Miranda—and across from them, Adele Dyalhis sat alone. In terms of sheer might, the group had her outgunned to a surreal degree, although these three weren’t foes of her or her children.
Matthew and Sue stood side by side in the doorway leading to the living room, and just like their mother, they wore expressions that were a mixture of terror and courageousness—but the odd tinge of infatuation was due to the gorgeous Hunter, who stood closer than the others to the siblings.
Both of them knew his name. His legendary skill with a sword had been branded into their hearts and minds with the unrivaled fire of a child’s imagination. However, more than that, there was something else that made their hearts beat faster—his great beauty. Even someone who looked as exquisite and alluring as Duchess Miranda in the moonlight couldn’t begin to compare to him. He was in an entirely different class. Though the children weren’t staring, even a brief glance at him made their minds melt, and the world began to distort around them. D’s good looks were so intense that Matthew and Sue lost all knowledge of ugliness. Count Braujou seemed unmoved by his presence, but when D ordered the giant and the duchess—who was the very epitome of the Nobility—to discuss matters inside, the latter had frowned but complied, and the humans had to wonder if that complicity hadn’t been due to the Hunter’s beauty.
Their rapture was so great, the children nearly forgot the shocking and horrifying truths that Count Braujou and Miranda had shared with them by turns—as did Adele. With her pride and her sense of maternal duty to consider, she barely managed to keep her eyes off D’s handsome features and maintain her right state of mind, but her tightly clenched hands kept the front of the robe she wore over a fresh shirt closed. When D had appeared, her chest had been completely exposed. Perhaps it was on account of her embarrassment that she was able to exhibit a normal reaction to the Nobles’ tale.
The fearful truth that besieged her and her children in the middle of the night was the tale of a Noble who’d returned from the stars.
Five thousand years ago, the entire northern Frontier, as well as the eastern and western sectors, had been under the control of a single Noble: Lawrence Valcua.
“They called him the Ultimate Noble,” Count Braujou said, and though his expression could usually be described as rather mild, at that moment he looked like the devil himself. “A Noble among Nobles, he was one of the Greater Nobility, and no one dared challenge his power, his fortune, or his rank—he’d truly attained everything befitting someone of that title.”
Though many Nobles loathed serving in the Frontier sectors, he’d actively pursued such duties, converting a castle from a mysterious and ancient human culture in the northern extreme of the very worst part of the Frontier, creating fortifications to lay claim to half of the northern Frontier, and then making a grab for the domains of other Nobles in the east, west, and south. Naturally, fighting ensued, but those overseeing the east and west were routed in less than fifty years. Only a band of Nobility in the south offered him stubborn resistance.
“That was Miranda’s husband, Duke Harness; the great General Gaskell; and I. Though it pains me to admit it, none of us had a chance alone. In addition to his physical strength, he had the ability to construct bizarre and devastating weapons, and he had retainers who were far more powerful than we were. I can’t completely disregard the rumors that he was related to the Sacred Ancestor. After he was exiled, the person in charge of learning the principles behind the machines and armaments that remained became so engrossed he forgot to eat or sleep, until he finally went mad and ran into the sunlight. No one could imagine why Valcua created such things. All we do know is that he had an insane hatred toward every living person, human or Noble. And something served to reveal all the evil he’d kept hidden inside himself. You see, beneath his castle, they discovered the remains of five million humans and Nobles who’d been murdered in every manner imaginable.”
“Your memory must be failing you, Count Braujou,” Duchess Miranda said, her voice tapering off into what seemed to be laughter. “The corpses only numbered four million; the remaining million still lived. At least, they still lived as severed heads or disembodied hearts. A single tube from a store of life-preserving drugs in an unseen tank that was said to exist in the fourth dimension kept them from dying. Moreover, the drugs contained vast quantities of painkillers and nanomachines to prevent death or madness, and they also provided an ‘alternate reality’ that would make the psyche succumb to the most extreme isolation and despair. It was for this reason that Lawrence Valcua was dubbed the Ultimate Noble.”
But even Valcua found himself challenged by the combined might of the three forces from the south, and the battle stretched on for a thousand years. The Frontier was transformed into a wasteland, bloody rains created rivers and lakes of gore, battles with hex technology corrupted the earth down to the very magma core, and only a “dream” Duchess Miranda gave it left the land capable of sustaining life.
“Ah, what a time that was! It was the anniversary of an ancient holiday. We’d already tapped the power of magma and the ley lines to give Valcua a black eye, but we never imagined he’d pay us back with a shooting star.”
His missiles were small, metallic meteors summoned by remote control from an asteroid belt two hundred million miles from Earth. Moving at fifteen miles per second when they hit the atmosphere, the five hundred meteorites were greeted with fire from space cannons, but one of them managed to make it through the defensive net and strike the very center of the Frontier. For three hundred miles in all directions the ground rose up to the heavens, mountains vanished, and seas boiled away. The dead numbered thirty million.
This incident caused such fervor among the Nobility that an inquest was held to find out why the meteorite hadn’t been detected beforehand. The conclusion they reached was a simple one. Composed largely of darkness and radiation, outer space was something the Nobility loved like it was their own parent. It had never occurred to them that the majestic void might betray them, so they hadn’t seen any reason to keep an eye on the heavens. Who would dare to probe the secrets of their beloved parent’s heart?
However, they began to scrutinize space much more closely, and just five days later, they discovered a meteor six thousand miles in diameter—actually, a planet—flying toward Earth. Based on its shape and speed, they discovered this was one of the planetoids that orbited Alpha Centauri, and there was no way to stop it on such short notice. Not only had the Ultimate Noble managed to wrest a celestial body from its orbit in another solar system, he was also able to use it in a plan to wipe out another planet.
The black arms of despair embraced the three Nobles.
That’s when it happened.
“The Sacred Ancestor stepped forward. It was unclear how the planetoid had evaded the immutable laws of the universe to travel to within five million miles of Earth, but it suddenly changed direction and flew off into the depths of space. In a sense, we were still numb from having to accept our own imminent extinction, but then the Sacred Ancestor commanded us to take Lawrence Valcua alive.”
The greatest mystery of Earth’s near destruction five millennia earlier was that on the day in question, Valcua was back in his own castle having a banquet with lakes of alcohol and mountains of meat. Perhaps he had some means of escaping. However, when the three Nobles entered his castle without even a single soldier to accompany them, he was there to face them all alone in a great hall.
Nothing could match the ghastliness of a battle to the death between immortal Nobles, but Duke Harness was ultimately slain, and General Gaskell was wounded. Even the intrepid and resolute Count Braujou knew that his end was near, but just then a solitary human figure appeared through the same hole the three Nobles had used to make their entry, the pair of swords he carried forming a cross that he pressed toward Valcua’s forehead.
“Like this, you see,” the count said, reenacting the gesture with his fin
gers even as he averted his gaze. “That shape troubles us like no other. But realizing that makes it fade completely from a human’s memory—and I see you’ve already forgotten it, haven’t you? Before that simple sign, the Ultimate Noble would be no different from any Lesser Noble. The same would probably even be true for the Sacred Ancestor—at any rate, when it was pressed against Valcua’s forehead, he fell back, whereupon Gaskell and I seized him with a most disagreeable ease and left the castle by the same way we’d gone in.”
At this point, the count gazed quietly at Adele and her two children.
“That brave human was a man who’d been imprisoned in Valcua’s castle as a test subject but had managed to escape. Finding him by the side of the road suffering from a stomachache, I’d given him some medicine. I don’t know why I did that, but I suppose it may have been because I thought I was going to my destruction. He thanked me and said he’d be sure to return the favor. We simply laughed and said in that case, he should go with us to Valcua’s castle. After that, we didn’t give him another thought. But he didn’t forget the promise he’d made.
“When it came time to part company with him at the edge of Valcua’s domain, we wished to reward the man, so we asked him what he wanted. He thought for a little while, and then told us he had the ability to see the future. It rarely manifested itself, and because of this he was bound to end his days as a poor wandering scholar, but it was this same ability that had shown him the trick with the swords he’d used to repel Valcua earlier. Now, strangely enough, it had shown him another vision of a star falling to Earth. Undoubtedly that was to mean that after Valcua had been exiled to space, he’d return at some unknown date. If the two of us still lived when he did, the man asked that we protect his family or their descendants. We agreed to that. And when, just as he’d said, the Sacred Ancestor didn’t drive a stake through Valcua’s heart but rather sentenced him to exile in the vastness of space, we came to believe that the Ultimate Noble would indeed return.
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