Vampire Hunter D: Dark Nocturne

by Dark Nocturne (v5. 0) (epub)

  “I’m afraid we can’t do that,” the giant replied. “See, I’ve got business of my own with her.”

  The captain’s expression clouded as he said, “Then I guess you leave us no choice. We’ll have to use force. You’d best bring the young lady on out here.”

  “Sure thing. Why don’t you go get her?”

  Respectfully stepping to one side, Dynus gestured to the front door.

  D went back into the house without saying a word.

  “What, you’re not gonna watch?” his left hand said with obvious dissatisfaction.

  “I don’t want any part of that nonsense.”

  “Shit, it’d be such a good show, too! You’re no fun at all, you know that?”

  Angry shouts and the sounds of a slugfest echoed from the yard. But they didn’t continue for long.

  D went into the living room.

  Serna was standing over by the window.

  “He’s really going at it!” the linguist said, his hand balled into a fist. He was quite excited—he was still so young. “It’s incredible! He just knocked five of them down at once. The whole squad is out of commission now. Oh, he just caught hold of that other guy!”

  Letting a carefree smile rise to his lips, Serna took a seat in front of D.

  “You may think it rude, but while everyone was out I took the liberty of investigating the house. And I just finished examining the girl in the bedroom, too.”

  “And what did you find?” asked D.

  “There’s no evidence that she is what we think. However—”

  “Apparently she underwent some sort of transfiguration.”

  “In that case, there can be no mistake,” Serna remarked, rubbing his temple.

  “How about the man?”

  “His size certainly fits.”

  Serna recalled the tragedy that’d occurred three years earlier while investigating a certain mountain stronghold where a vast subterranean chamber had held rows of artificial human warriors. A section of the massive rock walls looming over them had suddenly collapsed, crushing ten scientists who were busy working down below. At the time, Serna was having a smoke with a colleague out on a deck that overlooked the mountain. Though the hole that’d been dug through the rock wall and the booming laugh that was left behind had done little to reveal the identity of whatever had been down there, at least it solved the mystery of where all of the power had been going. If the giant outside were to be set into that opening, it’d be a perfect fit.

  “So it’s just as we thought,” D said, adding, “We’re looking for some way to keep the girl just as she is now.”

  “What a waste. At least, that’s what I’d normally say if I weren’t afraid of getting my head bitten off.”

  “Do you know of a way?”

  “Sure,” Serna replied easily.

  On the way back to the farm from the post office, they’d exchanged information on the connection between the giant and the girl. That was why D could speak so directly to him now.

  “Six months back, several ancient manuscripts were discovered in the remains of a moving continent. They contained a record of another case like this.”

  “Unlike Dynus, she’s just a regular girl. She was born right here in the village to ordinary parents. There’s a mountain of evidence in support of this,” said the Hunter.

  “That may be, but in her case I believe it’s actually a matter of something that happened before her birth. One of her forebears, or possibly even both sides of the family, may have undergone some sort of genetic manipulation. The will and strength, the knowledge and superhuman powers of a warrior—all of these slumbered in their blood for uncounted generations until Dynus’s awakening called them to the fore. I’m quite certain that’s the case here.”

  “Why was it that she went out to the ruins?”

  “I believe that even for someone with the power of the Nobility, it would be a monumental task to attempt to free the warrior consciousness that’s been in her family’s blood for thousands of years. There must be some sort of equipment wreckage somewhere around here that’s intended to aid in that process.”

  “Would it be possible to keep her as she is now?”

  “If the equipment remains. You said there were some ruins nearby?”

  “Care to go there?” asked D.

  “I can handle a horse—” Serna began to say, but he shrugged his shoulders and gave up. He’d just recalled his humiliating performance earlier.

  At that point, the door loudly swung open.

  “Save me!” the blood-soaked Brewer cried as he raced in. Although he was trying desperately to take refuge behind D, at some point the young man in black had turned so that he was facing him.

  A shadow fell across the doorway.

  “Come on out, you dirty bastard!”

  “Me?” Brewer squeaked, throwing himself flat on the floor.

  Even Serna backed away.

  “I took care of the others outside. Don’t worry—I only knocked them out. Just left one awake so he could drive ’em back in the carriage.”

  “We might be able to do something for Raya.”

  At D’s word’s, the giant’s eyes went wide.

  “Great! Is he the one that’s gonna do it?”

  With an apprehensive squeak, the linguist backed against the wall.

  “Thank you kindly. I’ll be in your debt. You’re a saint . . . an angel!”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Serna replied modestly.

  A face three times as large as the linguist’s and only a foot away said, “That little girl hasn’t had it none too easy up till now. I’ll thank you to see to it that this is an exception.”

  “Are you sure you won’t have a problem with this? You’ll lose your opponent.”

  “Ah, what’s that to me? I’ll get over it. Hey, you bastard,” he added as he thrust out a hand and did a remarkable job of snagging Brewer before he could escape. “What do you figure I should do with this here flesh trader, D? Having his head part company with his body would be a gift to humanity.”

  “I suppose we should be happy he brought the garrison instead of a bunch of hired thugs,” D remarked.

  “That’s right!” the man with the monocle cried as he hung ten feet in the air with arms and legs flailing. “I’ve remained within the bounds of the law. Unhand me, would you? Let me go!”

  “Well, I suppose I can forgive you. But I’m warning you: don’t even think about ever showing your face around here again. Hey, D—I’ll leave the rest of it to you. I’m not so good with all that complicated stuff.”

  Once the giant had left to the accompaniment of shrieks and jeers, D said to the still-rooted linguist, “Shall we go?”

  Needless to say, he had to be talking about going out to the equipment that could save Raya.

  “Of course.”

  As he was putting his arms through the sleeves of his insulated coat, Serna stiffened. A chill had raced down the length of his body. He’d seen D’s face— he thought the Hunter looked somber. Now he was afraid to look in the same direction.

  The door between them and the back room opened, and Raya was standing there. She was in her pajamas. And though she clutched a long broom, she hadn’t come out to do any cleaning.

  “Have you awakened again?” D inquired softly.

  “I suppose I should thank you again for all you’ve done,” Raya said with a grin.

  Though neither her face nor her voice had changed, the girl who stood there giving off a ghastly aura was no one D recognized.

  “I have a favor to ask of you. Don’t interfere. This is our job, you know. Just lend your power to the person I am while I sleep.”

  Gently lowering her gaze, Raya headed toward the doorway.

  As she looked down from the porch, the giant stood on the snow-covered earth below with his club in one hand and stared back at her. Not far from him, a man’s legs jutted from a snow bank, kicking furiously.

  “Well, well,” said Dynus. />
  Raya simply nodded. A second later, she pounced. As she swung her broom down in midair, her figure was swallowed by the sun to her back.

  Warrior instinct alone allowed Dynus to get the log up over his head in time.

  The whoosh of the broom coming down split the winter air, and with a tremendous roar, the log bowed under the impact.

  “Whoa!” Dynus cried as he leapt back, his voice ringing with pain. His arms were both numb.

  As he watched Raya close on him, her speed was incredible. Time and again she brought the broom down on him while he barely managed to parry each blow. It was a sight to see as she drove him down on one knee. Such was the force of her blows. The power of Raya—the warrior woman of Sinestro!

  There was the sound of wood striking wood, and then the log club was finally knocked from the giant’s hands.

  As Raya raised her broom for a triumphant blow, a colossal arm tightened around her waist and pulled her close. From where D stood on the porch, the two of them looked as if they were fusing together in a white-hot glow, and the hot wind that snarled by him carried moisture.

  “Stay inside,” D said, reaching back to shut the door behind him as he stared at the core of the raging heat.

  The vapor that arose churned at an intense rate. Doubtless the deadly battle unfolding within that cloud was beyond the imagining of even D himself. The white mist burst through the fence and rammed into the forest.

  D raced down off the porch. Behind him, he could hear Serna shouting. His field of view was crimson. In the wake of the steam cloud, flames had arisen.

  D got on his horse and galloped into the forest. Charging by one side of the vapor cloud, he said, “Go to Castle Sinestro!”

  The steam buffeted his cheeks, and the cloud split in two. One half became a stark naked girl who took off into the forest, the other an armored warrior who bounded onto the road. Each of them glanced at D—Raya with a sad look, and Dynus with a thin smile. But these images soon disappeared, borne away by the winter wind.

  Tugging on his horse’s reins, D returned to the road. To his rear there was the sound of hoofbeats.

  “This is amazing! I managed to rescue Brewer, but if someone doesn’t hurry up and put that fire out, this whole area will be a sea of flames.”

  Turning to Serna, D said, “I need you to get word to the village.”

  “Okay. But what’ll you do?”

  “Meet up with me later at Castle Sinestro. It’s straight down this road.”

  “Got you.”

  D wheeled his horse around. His coat fluttered out against the wintry sky like something out of a painting. He wasn’t headed down the road—his mount was galloping off into the forest.

  Perhaps there was some secret trick to the way he worked the reins, because the completely commonplace cyborg horse he rode performed like a peerless thoroughbred. Though roots and branches jutted out with utter disregard for the plans of passers-by, not once did they ever come into contact with D. His horse’s hooves merely pounded the ground, and the mount never showed a moment’s hesitation.

  On glimpsing a plain of white between the trees, D tugged the reins to the right. The snow that fell from a massive branch sent up a spray of white to one side of him. A rough wooden needle seared through the air toward the branch in question.

  “Oh, you’re good!” a voice intoned from every possible direction. “It’s Crumb. Remember me? I figured you’d take the shortest possible route to these coordinates, so I set a trap. This time things won’t go as well for you as they did back at the warehouse.”

  D’s body rose straight out of the saddle, like a dark blossom opening in a silvery white world. Beneath his feet, his mount met a powdery spray of snow as it was cruelly driven to its knees. But did D see the naked steel that sank halfway into his horse’s neck?

  The instant he landed on the massive branch, D made a horizontal swipe with his sword. The blade thrust from the snow that’d collected on the branch changed direction of its own accord, leaving the right arm that grasped it exposed all the way to the shoulder as it became motionless on the tree limb. Although the Hunter had only struck with his weapon once, the awesome power was manifested in the wounds he’d dealt the arm, splitting the flesh wide open from the wrist to the shoulder.

  “Fighting a disembodied arm is kind of creepy,” D’s left hand said in a sarcastic tone. “It’d seem the first guy you fought has the ability to do more than just split in two. Watch yourself.”

  The hoarse voice flowed downward.

  At the same moment D landed on the ground, three streaks of light pierced him . . .or so it appeared. A left arm and two legs—each wielding a sword—fell to the ground, split lengthwise.

  Not even bothering to turn, D made an underhanded throw to his rear with his left hand. With only his head and trunk remaining, it seemed Crumb still planned on attacking D.

  Having taken a rough wooden needle in a spot about three feet off the ground, the torso was left nailed to the very same tree trunk it’d just leapt out from behind. The needle ran right through its neck.

  Not even bothering to look at it, D walked off toward the exit from the forest, and then unexpectedly spun his right hand around like a veritable top. The blob that flew into the iridescent blur cracked in two before falling to the ground. Lacking a head and all four limbs, the trunk now looked somewhat forlorn.

  “Not bad at all. But this was actually my true form.”

  A miniature version of Crumb’s face poked out from where the old head had been. It had arms and legs attached to it, too. Its tiny hand clutched a knife.

  A vermilion line suddenly ran from the tip of his head all the way down to his crotch, and this time Crumb really did split in half and fall dead in the snow.

  “Seems they’ve been watching you all along. Were you wise to them?” the Hunter’s left hand asked, but its question was swallowed by the white winds that surrounded D as he dashed on. Lost in the snow.

  ONTO THE WHITE BATTLEFIELD

  CHAPTER 4

  __

  Occasionally the silently falling emblems of winter would be caught in an eddying wind and blown around like bubbles. The imposing castle and all its pillars were caked with white, their outlines left terribly indistinct. And beyond them lay the silvery world where the line between heaven and earth was no longer distinguishable.

  The pair of figures that’d appeared without warning was quickly swallowed by the flowing whiteness, yet their colors faintly remained like a watercolor painting.

  “Aren’t you cold?” asked the giant.

  Raya was stark naked.

  “Well, it’s all your fault, you know,” she countered.

  “I suppose it is, at that.”

  “This is my domain. I’ll thank you not to imagine you’re at an advantage.”

  “I know,” the giant said as he took a quick peek over his shoulder.

  “You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?” said the woman.

  “You mean to tell me you’re not?”

  “I’d like to see him once more.”

  “He might not be very personable, but he’s a good guy,” Dynus remarked.

  “He’s a sad man, though.”

  “You can say that again—heh, I don’t think he’d care to have us empathizing with him. Compared to him, our fate’s not that bad. At least this can be concluded.”

  “How true. Come to me.”

  “But why do we fight? We don’t know each other from a hole in the ground.”

  “It’s a pointless question. You should know that,” Raya said, her voice tossed by the wind.

  “You’ve got a point,” the giant said with a nod, and then he swung his club with one hand. “We still fight, even though both our masters are now gone. That’s a laugh.”

  “I hate you.”

  “We don’t hate each other. We’re just hostile. And even that emotion doesn’t really belong to us.”

  “It seems you’ve gone soft on me. You’ll ne
ver be able to beat me like that.”

  “And what happens when one of us wins?”

  The wind whistled. There were no words for it to shred. There were only warriors.

  Raya’s body sank a bit. She was empty-handed. Her broom had been lost.

  Suddenly, the ground beneath the giant’s feet glowed as electric shocks ran in reverse. The few streaks of light that challenged the heavens formed a massive cylinder, giving the desolate white world a purplish hue. And in the center of that cylinder was the giant.

  Even after the light suddenly disappeared, the ruins stood out sharply from the white of the snow for some time to come.

  “Not too shabby,” the giant said as he clapped at all the smoking sections of his body with both hands. “This certainly is your domain, all right. But I still have a few tricks of my own.”

  He brought his right hand up to his mouth, and his thick lips disgorged a shining ball. As he grabbed it and hurled it into the air, the winter was greeted by a miniature sun. Apparently the feverish globe was emitting a tremendous heat of its own, and wrapped around it was a fiery corona exactly like that of the real sun. It instantly reached a temperature of a hundred million degrees. Even the constituent atoms of the very ground were scorched, reduced to nothingness.

  And out of that inferno, a naked figure flew at the giant’s chest.

  He was sent flying thirty feet, his arm still raised in a hasty block. As he rolled on the ground, snow caked around his body like a belt. And the belt was tinged with red.

  Quickly rising again, the giant clutched the right side of his chest and spat up bright blood. “You’re one hell of a woman, you know. If I didn’t have this armor, I’d have been a goner.”

  “And if this barrier wasn’t still active, I’d have been reduced to ashes,” Raya replied coldly.

  “Interesting. We’re finally getting down to business.”

  The giant held his log club at the ready. When Raya’s body gently tilted forward, the weapon sailed through the air, forcing her lithe form to jump back.

  “What the hell?!” Dynus groaned, knitting his brow.