Vampire Hunter D

by Hideyuki Kikuchi

  “I’m in a hurry. Let’s do this!” Moving faster than his words, D’s longsword made a horizontal slash that reflected the red sunset.

  Barely leaping out of the way, Rei-Ginsei stood at the bottom of the depression that until now had served as an arena.

  “Please, wait—” he said, unable to conceal the quavering of his voice. His shirt had a straight cut running from the right side of his chest to the left, the result of D’s attack. D was ready to pounce on him.

  “Wait—Miss Lang’s life hangs in the balance!”

  Those words left Dan paler than D. Satisfied at the hint of unrest showing in D’s eyes, Rei-Ginsei felt his cheeks rise at last with his trademark angelic smile.

  “What are you talking about?” Surprisingly, D’s tone was as calm as ever.

  “Miss Lang is with Dr. Ferringo, is she not?”

  “So what if she is?” D said.

  “Right about now, the girl is being delivered to the Count. The poor thing had no way of knowing the good doctor she trusts more than anyone became a servant of the Count last night.”

  “What?!”

  Rei-Ginsei was shocked to see the look of naked surprise and remorse that came over D. He didn’t know that D had personally escorted Doris to the doctor’s house. “Come now. Relax, relax. I shall tell you exactly where they’re to meet the Count. That is, if you agree to what I propose.”

  “And what proposition would that be?”

  “That the two of us replace the Nobles,” Rei-Ginsei said, his voice brimming with confidence. “I have an arrangement with Count Lee. If he can take possession of the girl as a result of me slaying you, I shall be made one of the Nobility. To be perfectly honest, if I decided to kill you, there’s still a very good chance I would succeed. However, having seen you in action for myself, I’ve had a change of heart. Even if I were to be made a Noble, as the good doctor was, I’m certain that, as a former human, I would be treated as a servant. I would prefer to become the Count instead.” Having rattled all that off in a single breath, Rei-Ginsei paused. Tinged with a hint of blue, the glow of sunset left delicate shadows on his beautiful profile. The shadows made his visage so indescribably weird that Dan trembled in the safety of the statue.

  “In the world today, what keeps the Count in that position, aside from his immortality as a vampire? It’s his castle, and the fear that’s been fostered in the hearts and minds of the populace since ancient times. It’s that and that alone. They had their time once. But now they lie shrouded in the afterglow of destruction, vanishing into the depths of legend. If you and I should join forces, we could do so much—kill the Count and all his followers, claim their fortune and their throne as the new Nobility. We might even bring the majesty of true Nobles into the world with no destruction.”

  D watched Rei-Ginsei’s face. Rei-Ginsei watched D’s.

  “You are already a dhampir—half Nobility. Let me pretend I have killed you and have the Count drink my blood. And then ...” Rei-Ginsei laughed, “Surely there has never been such an exquisite couple in the entire history of the Nobility.”

  Rei-Ginsei’s laughter was cut short by what D said next. “You like to kill, don’t you?”

  “Huh?”

  “It’s only fitting the Nobility be destroyed.”

  In a flash, Rei-Ginsei was leaping away for the second time. In midair he shouted, “You fool!”

  Count Lee’s daughter had called D exactly the same thing once.

  Three flashes of black shot from his right hip. One flew over D’s head, arced, and came at him from the rear. One zipped right along the ground, clipping every blade of grass it touched until it turned up at his feet and shot toward his armpit. And one came straight at the Hunter as a distraction. Each was a shrike-blade unleashed on a different course with breathtaking speed.

  However …

  All of Rei-Ginsei’s murderous implements were knocked out of the air with a beautiful sound.

  A pained cry of “Ah” could be heard from the bushes, as Rei-Ginsei’s left hand was severed at the elbow. It flew through the air, a candle still held tight in its fist. D, who’d rushed to where Rei-Ginsei had landed the moment he’d fended off the three attacks, had chopped it off.

  As blood spilled from Rei-Ginsei—just as it had from his three companions—his expression said less about his pain than it did of his disbelief. At the same time he was hurling his shrike-blades, he shook the Time-Bewitching Incense, but it hadn’t given off its beguiling scent. In fact, the candle hadn’t even lit. It’s a fake! But when was it switched, and who could’ve done it?!

  As agony and suspicion churned together in his gorgeous face, a naked blade was thrust under his nose.

  “Where is Miss Lang?”

  “How foolish,” Rei-Ginsei groaned as he pressed down on his bloody, dripping wound. “Out of some duty you feel for no more than a human girl, you would cut me down—me, a human who told you of my contempt for the Noble, and that I would take his life. Accursed one, thy name is dhampir ... You share the Noble’s world by night and the mortal’s by day, but are accepted by neither. You shall spend all the days of your life a resident of the land of twilight.”

  “I’m a Vampire Hunter,” D said softly. “Where is Miss Lang? That face you’re so fond of will be the next thing I carve.”

  There was something about his words that wasn’t a mere threat. The ghastly aura that had stopped Rei-Ginsei in his tracks that time in the fog now hit him with several times its previous power. Rei-Ginsei heard his words come out of his mouth of their own volition, due to a terror beyond human ken. “The forest ... Go straight in at the entrance to the north woods ... ”

  “Fine.” D’s ghastly aura died down instantly.

  Rei-Ginsei’s body shot up like a spring, and was pierced by a flash of silver.

  And yet it was D that fell to one knee with a low moan.

  “What?! That’s impossible ... ” It was only right that Dan exclaimed this as he peeked around the statue.

  As Rei-Ginsei was leaping into the air, D’s sword slid into his belly in the blink of an eye. Half the blade’s length had clearly gone into his opponent. And yet the tip of the blade had emerged from D’s own abdomen!

  “Damn!” Rei-Ginsei spat, leaping away. And as he did, something even stranger happened—naturally the sword in D’s hand came out of Rei-Ginsei’s belly, but at exactly the same rate the blade jutting from D’s stomach pulled back into the Hunter’s body!

  Dan watched in astonishment.

  “I see now. I’d heard there were mutants like you,” D muttered. Not surprisingly, he was still down on one knee, and wincing ever so slightly. A deep red stain was spreading across the bottom of his shirt. “You’re a dimension-twister, aren’t you, you son of a bitch? That was close.”

  Having leapt ten feet away, Rei-Ginsei’s eyes sparkled, and a loathsome groan escaped his throat. “I can’t believe you changed your target at the last second ... ”

  Here’s what they meant by “that was close” and “you changed your target.”

  Rei-Ginsei hadn’t beat back the pain of his severed arm and leapt up to launch an attack of his own. He expected to have his own heart pierced by D’s sword. At that instant, the sword was indeed headed straight for his chest, but at the last second it pulled back and pierced his stomach.

  That was why he shouted, “Damn”—Rei-Ginsei realized D had noticed the way he’d adjusted the speed of his leap so his chest would be right where the Hunter could stab it. After all, a single thrust through the same vital spot as vampires could kill dhampirs too. Still, why had he resorted to such an outrageous tactic—allowing himself to be stabbed to kill his opponent?

  Rei-Ginsei was a dimension-twister; through his own willpower, he could make a four-dimensional passageway in any part of his body but his arms and legs and link it with the body of his foe. In other words, when his foe attacked him, the bullets and blades that broke his skin would all travel through extra-dimensional space into th
e body of his assailant, where they would become real again. A bullet that was supposed to go through his heart would explode from the chest of the person that fired it; bringing a vicious blade down on his shoulder would only split your own. What attack could be more efficient than that?

  After all, he simply had to stand there, let his attackers do as they pleased, and his foes would die by their own hands.

  But Rei-Ginsei leapt away. A belly wound wasn’t life threatening for a dhampir, and he was badly wounded himself.

  “I’ll see to it you pay for my left hand another time!” he could be heard to say from somewhere in the bushes, and then he was gone without a trace.

  “D, it’s all right now—oh, you’re bleeding!”

  Ignoring Dan’s cries as the boy ran over to him, D used his sword like a cane and got right up.

  “I don’t have time to chase after him. Dan, where’s the north woods?”

  “I’ll show you the way. But it’ll take three hours to ride there from here.” The boy’s voice was filled with boundless respect and concern. The sun was already poised to dip beneath the edge of the prairie. The world would be embraced by darkness in less than thirty minutes.

  “Any shortcuts?”

  “Yep. There is one, but it cuts right through some mighty tough country. There are fissures, and a huge swamp…”

  D gazed steadily at the boy’s face. “What do you say we give it a shot?”

  “Sure!”

  DEATH OF A VAMPIRE HUNTER

  CHAPTER 7

  .

  It was Greco who’d used the Time-Bewitching Incense to save Doris. The morning after he eavesdropped on the conversation between Rei-Ginsei and the Count, Greco had one of the thugs who usually watched out for him pose as a visitor and call Rei-Ginsei down from his hotel room to the lobby. The thug was gone before Rei-Ginsei got there, however, and by the time Rei-Ginsei returned to his room, the Time-Bewitching Incense had been replaced with an ordinary candle that looked just like it. With the incense in his possession, Greco had kept watch on Dr. Ferringo’s house, and when the vampire-physician left with Doris, he’d followed after them but kept far enough back so they wouldn’t notice.

  He intended to rescue Doris and bind her fast with the shackles known as obligation. And, if the fates were kind, he would also slay their feudal lord, the Count. In one fell swoop, he would become a big man in town, and he had ambitions of heading to the Capital. The fact that he had single-handedly dispatched a Noble would clearly be his greatest selling point to the Revolutionary Government, and his best chance to win advancement into their leadership.

  However, the situation had changed somewhat. The buggy was supposed to go straight to the Count, but it had stopped when a girl in white suddenly appeared, and on top of that, the very same girl staked Dr. Ferringo. No longer sure exactly what was going on, Greco was convinced that something had gone wrong. He got closer to the wagon. Seeing the vampiress and her lurid expression as she prepared to sink her claws into Doris’ throat, he’d given the Time-Bewitching Incense a desperate shake.

  Timid at first, when he saw Larmica writhing in agony and he approached the buggy with his head held high. The incense was in his left hand. In his right hand, he was gripping a foot-long stake of rough wood so fiercely that it pressed into his fingers. Stakes were everyday items on the Frontier. The ten-banger pistol holstered at his waist with the safety off, and the large-bore heat-rifle stuck through the saddle of the horse he’d tethered in the trees, were for dealing with the Nobility’s underlings. His beloved combat suit was in the shop for repairs, just like most of his flunkies’ gear.

  “Oh,” Doris groaned as she got up. In her writhing, Larmica must’ve struck some part of Doris’ body and brought her around. Her eyes were torpid for a brief moment, but they opened wide as soon as she noticed Larmica. Then she looked at Dr. Ferringo’s body, lying on the ground not far from the buggy, and at Greco and said, “Doc ... why in the world?...What are you doing way out here?”

  “So that’s the thanks I get,” Greco said, clambering up into the backseat of the buggy. You know, I kept that bitch from making chunky splatter out of you. I followed you out here from town in the dark of night. You’d think that’d win a little favor from you.”

  “Did you kill Doc, too?”

  Doris’ voice shook with sorrow and rage.

  “What, are you kidding? The bitch did it. Although, it did making rescuing your ass a little easier.”

  Being careful not to let the tiny flame go out, Greco moved Larmica into the backseat with his other hand. The young lady in white curled up under the seat without offering the slightest resistance. Not only was she deathly still, but she also seemed to have stopped breathing.

  “That’s the Count’s daughter. Was she responsible for turning Doc into a vampire, too?”

  “No, that was the Count. See, he attacked him last night so he could use him to lure you out here.” Greco quickly shut his mouth, but it was too late.

  Doris stared at him with fire in her eyes. “And just how the hell do you know all this? You knew he was gonna be attacked and you didn’t even tell him, did you? You dirty bastard! What do you mean you saved me? You’re only looking out for yourself!”

  “Shut your damn mouth, you!” Turning away from her burning gaze, Greco reasserted himself. “How dare you go talkin’ to me that way after I saved your life. We can hash that out later. Right now, we’ve got to decide what to do about her.”

  “Do about her?” Doris knit her brow.

  “Sure. As in, do we kill her or use her as a bargaining chip to negotiate with the Count.”

  “What!? Are you serious?”

  “Dead serious. And don’t act like this don’t concern you. I’m doing all this for you.”

  Doris was in a daze as she watched the young tough make one preposterous statement after another. Then her nose twitched ever so slightly. She’d caught the scent of the Time-Bewitching Incense.

  Come to think of it, the moonlit night felt strangely like a brilliant, sunny day. Greco said with pride, “The perfume in this candle is to thank. The Nobility has them, and apparently they can change day into night and vice versa. As long as it’s lit, the bitch can’t move a muscle and the Nobility can’t come near us—which is what got me thinking. It’d be so easy to kill her, but considering how she’s the Count’s daughter, there’d be hell to pay later. So, we take her hostage to set up a trade, then take the Count’s life, too, if all goes well.”

  “Could you ... could you really do that?” Her plaintive voice made Greco’s lips twist lewdly, and when Doris averted her gaze she saw the pale face of Larmica as she lay beneath the backseat breathing feebly.

  Larmica was lovely, and didn’t look very far in age from herself. Doris felt ashamed for having considered for even a moment using the young lady as a bargaining chip.

  “Noble or not, there ain’t a parent out there who don’t love their own daughter. That’s how we can trip him up good. We’ll say we want to trade her for some treasure. Then when he comes out all confident, bang, we use the incense to nab him and drive this here stake through his heart. Rumor has it their bodies turn into dust and disappear, but if someone like my father or the sheriff is there to see it, they’d make a first-class witness when I give the government in the Capital my account.”

  “The Capital?”

  “Er, forget I mentioned it.” In his heart, Greco thumbed his nose at her. “At any rate, if we kill ’em, the two of us will get the Noble’s stuff—their fortune, weapons, ammo, everything! All for the huge service to humanity we’ll be doing.”

  “But this woman ... she hasn’t done anything to anyone in the village,” Doris said vehemently, sifting through everything she could remember hearing since childhood.

  “Open your eyes. A Noble’s a Noble. They’re all bloodsucking freaks preying on the human race.”

  Doris was dumbstruck. This coarse thug had just hurled the same curse on them that she had onc
e said to D! I was just like him then. That’s not right. Even if they are Nobles, I can’t use someone’s helpless daughter to lure them to their death. Just as Doris was about to voice her objections, a voice dark as the shadows held her tongue.

  “Kill me ... here ... and now ...”

  Larmica.

  “What’s that?” Greco sneered down at her in his overbearing manner, but her expression was so utterly ghastly it took his breath away. Even as she was subjected to the agony of her body burning in the midday sun, she showed incredible willpower.

  “Father ... is not so foolish he would exchange his life for my own. And I will not be a pawn in your trade ... Kill me ... If you don’t ... I shall kill you both someday ...”

  “You bitch!” Greco’s face seemed to boil with anger and fear, and then he raised his stake. As a rule, he hadn’t had much self-restraint to start with.

  “Stop it! You can’t do that to a defenseless person!” As she spoke, Doris grabbed his arm.

  The two of them struggled in the buggy. Strength was in Greco’s favor, but Doris had fighting skills imparted to her by her father. Suddenly letting go of his arm, she planted her left foot firmly and put the full force of her body behind a roundhouse kick that exploded against Greco’s breastbone.

  “Oof!”

  The cramped buggy, with its unsteady footing, was too much for him. Greco reeled back, caught his leg on the door, and fell out of the vehicle.

  Not even looking at where the dull thud came from, Doris got out of her seat and tried to talk to Larmica. “Don’t worry. I’m not gonna let that jerk do anything to you. But I can’t very well just send you on your merry way, either. You know who I am, right? You’ll have to come back to my house with me. We’ll figure out what to do about you there.”

  A low chuckle that seemed to rise from the bowels of the earth cut off all further comment from Doris. “You are free to try what you will, but I won’t be going anywhere.” Doris thought her spine had turned to ice when she saw the beautiful visage look up at her, paler than moonlight and filled now by an evil grin of confidence. She didn’t know what had just happened. When Greco had fallen from the buggy, the Time-Bewitching Incense had gone out!