“And what, pray tell, would we do in the woods? Earlier, you grabbed my hand in front of everybody. I can’t imagine what you’d try if you were alone with me. If you so much as lay a finger on me, I’ll knock you flat.”
Facing him squarely to lay down the law, Lina swallowed her words. Something resting in Callis’ breast pocket glittered in her eye.
A single white blossom.
The one at my window this morning . . . It couldn’t be.
“Oh, this? I picked it just for you. Here.” The sharp-eyed playboy had read Lina’s reaction like a book and made his opening move.
She didn’t say a word.
This courageous girl was too kind to call him a liar. The flower passed into her pale hand.
“We’ll do the woods some other time,” Callis said, nearly in a whisper.
A dozen minutes later, as the boy watched the wagon disappear through the gate to the mayor’s home there arose in his eyes a look of cunning and self-confidence not at all appropriate for his age.
-
The wrath of the mayor awaited Lina at home.
As soon as she’d closed the door to her room, it was thrown open again. Lina’s cheek rang with a slap as she whirled around, and the girl fell to the floor.
“What do you think you’re doing? That hurts, you know.” Knowing what she’d expected had come, she still put up some spirited resistance.
The mayor was furious. “You . . . you stupid little girl. Embarrassing me like that in front of everybody. Standing up for a Noble . . . a damn vampire. You little . . . ”
Lina stuck her red tongue out at the old man as his ugly face congested with rage.
“Nobility or not, what’s wrong with trying to stop someone alone in a cage from being killed like a wild beast? Did you have some kind of proof he was even a Noble? He was probably just a plain old victim. If so, he wasn’t that way because he wanted to be. If the Nobility made me one of their kind, I sure as hell wouldn’t want to go out that way. And since I wouldn’t want it done to me, I couldn’t let you do it to anyone else. You gonna lock me in a cage and have Fern stab me to death, too?”
The mayor’s eyes were bulging in fury. Though his Adam’s apple was moving, no words came out.
However, even though she’d gotten off her little rant, Lina questioned her own position. Really, what’s wrong with locking a Noble in a cage and torturing them to death?
Before Lina was born, a group of Nobles had assailed the village and claimed nearly twenty victims before they were done. The tragic tableau ended with fathers driving stakes through their daughters’ hearts, or husbands through their wives’. What the children later heard was a tale of tragedy between loved ones told with tears of blood, and they learned a deep hatred for the Nobility. In the hearts of these people, the Nobility were vicious beasts to be slaughtered—a feeling that the severe Frontier life helped foster. If by chance one were to be taken alive, anyone would think it perfectly natural that it would face the same fate as the vampire in the cage.
“You bitch, you. So you side with the Nobility, eh? You lousy little ingrate. You won’t get away with this. Hell, no!” The mayor had the look of a madman.
“What makes me an ingrate?” Lina shot back. “The whole reason you adopted me was because you knew what kind of mind I had and wanted to send me off to the Capital, wasn’t it? You were looking forward to the reward the village would get. And that’s not all. You had your way with me when I didn’t know anything. Who is it that comes sneaking into my room every night even now?! Even the Nobility don’t act like such filthy beasts. Even your touch makes my skin crawl.”
Silence descended. Lina watched somewhat unnerved as the mayor’s face swiftly paled.
“Is that so? Can’t even stand my touch? Good enough. I’ll touch you with this then!”
A black whip glistened in the mayor’s right hand. Threads of drool hung from the corners of his mouth, and his eyes were laughing. The change was extraordinary, as if some darkness lurking within him had suddenly gushed to the surface.
Before Lina could turn and make a break for the window, the mayor’s hand caught the collar of her shirt, tearing it open with a loud rip.
“Stop it. Have you lost your mind, you old fool?!”
A sharp crack turned her angry protests into screams. Lina fell, and in seconds, black and blue welts were rising on her back, their number growing with each snap.
Pushing the howls that had risen to the top of her throat back down with all her might, Lina endured the beating. She’d decided she didn’t want to let the likes of this man get the better of her.
She tried to think about the white flower. Her expression became calm.
The mayor discarded his whip and climbed on her from behind. His dark red tongue licked at her wounded flesh.
“Quit it,” Lina protested, writhing.
“Not a chance,” said the mayor, getting her struggling hands out of the way while he kneaded her shapely breasts. “Does it hurt? I bet it does. But I’ll make it better now. I’ll make you feel good all over with this tongue of mine.”
A clammy, lukewarm sensation crept over the nape of her neck, and Lina’s whole body squirmed wildly. The mayor continued speaking, even as he took pleasure from the young body struggling in his arms. His voice was like coagulated obsession.
“I could keep at this and screw you to death now if I wanted to. Getting you run out of town would be child’s play, too. But I can’t do that. After all, you’re going to the Capital for the sake of our little village. Mr. Meyer’s vanished, and Fern’s taken custody of Cuore. No doubt he’ll spend the rest of his days as no more than a dim-witted errand boy. But you’re special. I can’t get rid of you. On the other hand, I can’t let you get away, either. And I’m gonna keep having my fun with you till the day you have to leave town.”
The mayor’s mouth clamped onto the nape of Lina’s neck. A forbidden act. Unable to stand it, Lina let out a scream. Because kiss marks on the nape of the neck were far too reminiscent of the marks left by the Nobility, it was taboo for even married couples to do this. The cruelty in the heart of this old man rivaled that of the very Nobility.
“No, don’t, stop! Please . . . D!” she screamed with all her might.
The old man’s lips pulled away from her. With evident bitterness he said, “Oh. So that’s how it is, eh? That punk’s caught your eye? Well, he’s not around. I sacked him. Right about now he’s setting up house all by his lonesome in the old mill. That’s the perfect place for a drifter with the blood of the Nobility.”
When Lina’s head sank forward, the old man tried to push the girl down on the floor, and, for an instant, the strength went out of his arms. She swung her head right back up, smashing into the old man’s nose with a terrific whack.
He fell over, squealing. Vivid blood gushed from between his cupped fingers. “Bitch! Now you’ve gone and done it!”
Lina grabbed the vase off the table and smashed it over the mayor’s head as he attempted to rise. Fashioned from the ribs of a fire dragon, the container was light, but it had sharp protrusions jutting from all sides. Quite a few fragments lodged in his head, and the old man’s face was stained with blood. Giving a cry, he collapsed again.
Lina’s blood boiled. Now their situations were reversed. And, to Lina, it was a pleasant change. ’She pulled back her foot to kick him where it counts, but, true to form, she thought better of it and stopped.
As she gave the door an energetic slam, her litany of curses carried right through it. “Screw you. I won’t be coming back here any time soon. I hope your head wound gets infected and you die.”
-
Lina headed off to the mill in her wagon. The past few days these streets had seen little pedestrian traffic, but apparently everyone felt safer since that vampire had been killed, and a number of faces now watched with astonishment as the wagon raced by.
She was there in about twenty minutes, but, taking measure of the old, dilapidated m
ill, she saw and heard nothing but the squeal of the waterwheel and the base growls of its hydroelectric motor. D’s things weren’t even there.
Maybe he’d already left town?
Anxiety quickly withered Lina’s spirit. A chill that she hadn’t felt in the least when she left her house now seeped into her through her pores. Looking up, she saw the sky was still dark.
The world was rife with fear.
Lina left the shack.
The wind whistled over her head. Though the wind should have borne some foreshadowing of spring, it was colder than she ever could have imagined. It invaded her leather coat through the collar and sleeves, stabbing at her exposed back.
“Damn. Of all the lousy luck. Wonder if I should go back home? But then, I don’t much fancy another beating. What to do, what to do . . . ”
Deciding to wander around a bit while she mulled it over, Lina went back to the wagon and took a sliver gun out of the storage compartment for self-protection before setting off on foot down the path.
It seemed that even Lina was comforted by the death of the vampire this afternoon. She was as yet unaware that the female victim had been killed, so the possibility that the vampire in the cage had been guilty still had a strong base to work from.
When she’d gone so far the outline of the mill was no longer visible, the wind called her name.
She turned, but could sense no one around her.
The new grass fluttered in the wind.
Tightening her grip on her weapon, she started walking again. Before she’d gone ten steps, she heard it.
Lina.
This time there was absolutely no mistaking the sound.
“Who is it, and where are you?” she turned around and shouted, and the wind responded.
Lina, Lina, Lina.
“Come on, where are you already? Seriously, I’ll shoot.” Heedless of the contradiction in that, the girl was overtaken by fear.
Awaken, Lina, the wind said.
It was a voice she’d heard before. Lina sifted through her memories intently.
Still don’t understand, do you, Lina? Awaken. You must awaken.
The voice danced all around her. It laughed beneath her feet, whispered at her ear, bellowed above her head. Lina, Lina, Lina.
“You’re starting to piss me off, mystery pest!”
When she raised the sliver gun, still lacking a target, a particularly powerful gust of wind smacked her between the eyes. Her balance was gone in a flash. The hand she was certain she’d set on the embankment beside her swept right through the air without meeting the slightest resistance. Lina fell headfirst to the bottom of a benighted pit. Judging from the impact, the drop couldn’t have been that great.
Looking back the way she’d fallen, she saw a circular opening about seven feet above her. The soil banked up toward it, forming an incline. Surmising that she’d be able to climb out somehow or other, Lina gave a sign of relief.
Lina, the voice cried out. Without a doubt it was a man’s voice, and this time it was very close.
Fixing her gaze before her, Lina was enveloped by surprise.
Ahead of her lay an unsettlingly spacious area—a subterranean chamber. The depths were shrouded in darkness, but in the light stabbing down through the hole above her she could see it was quite vast.
On the boundary between darkness and light stood a gray figure—the source of the voice.
“Damn, that hurt . . . ” Starting to rise, Lina pressed her hand to her hip. Desperately garbing herself in an air of calmness, she wrung the words from her throat. “You’re that character from the night before last. I just knew the guy they caught this morning was someone else. So, is it supposed to be my turn now? If you come near me, I’ll shoot!”
She aimed the sliver gun at him, but the shadowy figure didn’t seem in the least bit perturbed. In a leaden, low voice he asked, “Don’t you understand? Seeing this place, don’t you recall anything?”
“What is with you?! You just keep saying the same damn things over and over,” Lina said angrily. “This is the first time I’ve ever fallen into this blasted hole. No reason why I should remember anything. So stop your yammering and reach for the sky. I’ll shoot!”
The figure raised one arm. Just as she was admiring this docile display, he swung it in a wide arc.
“Take a good look. At this place. At this lab. Remember. Remember what happened ten years ago.”
Finally Lina noticed that the scene before her was the interior of some sort of room. It was apparent at a glance that destruction had ravaged this place, leaving a mountain of rubble on the stone-paved floor, but the toppled tables and the shapes of what seemed to be colossal machines looming motionless in the depths of the darkness testified that the gray man spoke the truth.
However, there was something strange about the scene.
Although the place where Lina stood was a dirt floor in a hole in the ground, the boundary between that and the room was terribly indistinct.
The room looked so close she could reach out and touch it, but it was in fact preposterously far away—at least that was the impression she got.
However, it was something else entirely that shocked Lina now. The shadowy gray figure whose face D’s computer had revealed—someone she was sure she had never seen before—knew about what’d happened a decade earlier!
“Don’t you remember, Lina? Very well then, how about this?” Disregarding Lina’s astonishment, the shadow made a sweep of his hand.
Ripples ran through the depths of the darkness, eerie things defying any attempt at metaphor.
“Well, Lina, how’s that?”
“I . . . I don’t know. What are these things? Keep . . . keep away from me . . . ” Her voice cut out. As if a white scalpel had sliced open her brain, fragmented memories blazed to life.
That’s right, this is where . . . And where they . . .
The vision faded away abruptly.
“I don’t understand. Don’t come near me!” Anxiety and relief hung in her cries, and her finger worked of its own volition.
Fired off with a sigh-like snap unique to highly pressurized gas, a tiny tungsten needle pierced the heart of the shadowy figure. The figure smiled silently.
The eerie things continued forward.
Lina’s pupils opened wide, like one who has peered into the abyss at things no one was meant to see.
They—the eerie things approaching—had called her name. Lina, they said.
There was a flash. And another. Light knifed in through the incisions in her clouded mind. All these people are . . .
Suddenly, the shadowy figure looked upwards.
The things raised a commotion. And yet, she couldn’t hear their voices.
A problem has cropped up. We’ll meet again, Lina, the dwindling shadow said.
A fear completely different from what she felt before now assailed Lina. Dropping the sliver gun, she started to scale the incline without so much as a backward glance. She had the feeling that as soon as her hands reached the lip of the hole some seven feet away the vision would vanish.
The forest awaited her.
What Lina crawled out of was a small hole in the ground just over a foot and a half in diameter. The grass grew thick and wild around it, and even the most concentrated gaze would be hard pressed to discover the opening.
Lina swiftly brushed the dirt off herself.
Taking a deep breath, she set off back down the road. After she’d walked forty or fifty yards, she heard the echo of hoofbeats closing on her from the rear.
Was this the problem the gray man been talking about? If so, that shadowy figure must have been able to discern this sound several hundred yards away, and through the ground no less.
Having stepped to the side of the road, when Lina turned around her face was quickly suffused with joy.
“D!”
Unsettlingly beautiful, he gazed down at Lina from his horse. “What are you doing? What brings you out here?”
&nbs
p; Lina paused for a moment, then made a quick answer. “Well . . . actually, I was out looking for you. Would you be so good as to put me up this evening?”
An inquiring glance from D.
Lina told him she’d left after a falling out with the mayor. Without asking the reason or any of the petty details, D silently offered his hand, then pulled her up on the back of his mount. Before the horse had taken a step, she stammered, “Er . . . umm . . . ”
“What is it?”
“Is it okay if I put my arms around your waist?”
“You’d fall off if you didn’t, wouldn’t you?”
“Yep.” Her cheek pressed against his back. Hard and wide, the firmness of the skin beneath came right through his coat. She’d heard that the bodies of dhampirs were much colder than those of humans, but that didn’t seem to be the case with D. He was warm.
Before she knew it, tears spread across her cheeks.
“Are you crying?” D asked. He inquired in the same way one might ask for directions on the street.
“So what if I am? Everyone gets the blues from time to time. Don’t keep badgering me about it.”
Lina didn’t know that it bordered on miraculous when this youth asked anyone anything about themselves.
D fell silent.
“Say, D . . . the ruins are off the way you were coming. Were you up there again?”
“That’s right. Looking for another entrance.”
“Another one? What about the usual one?”
“It’s been sealed. No one can get in that way now.” Giving a little shake of his head, he said, “You can forget about all that stuff. Shouldn’t you be studying or something?”
“Killjoy,” Lina replied, butting D’s shoulder with her head. “With a brain like mine, it’s not like I need to do any more studying at this late date.”
“Oh, that’s right. You’re the girl genius.”
“That’s me all right.”
The horse arrived at the mill, and the pair crossed a bridge over the fairly swollen brook before going into the shack. Perhaps due to the evening almost upon them, the wind bore a chill, but it was a far cry from the harshness of the white season.
Vampire Hunter D: Raiser of Gales Page 13