Vampire Hunter D Volume 27

by Hideyuki Kikuchi

  “Roughly three million, I hear.”

  “How many successes?”

  “Zero.”

  “Then the folly knows no end, does it?”

  “Those were our orders. And no one disobeys the Sacred Ancestor.”

  “You have three samples to combine: human, Noble, and OSB. Which combination is the most promising?”

  “A combination of all three—or so I wish I could say, but while OSB with human is fine, Noble with OSB is like oil and water. In that case, human/Noble hybrids are possible. They’re quite flexible, you see.”

  “Why don’t you combine all three?”

  “Orders from the Sacred Ancestor. The reason for that we don’t know—at least, not for certain,” Greylancer said, his expression hardening.

  D quickly discerned that it was the work of the Nobleman’s memories.

  “Why not?” the Hunter pressed him.

  “This is the stuff of legend. They say the Sacred Ancestor once constructed a starship on his own and traveled the universe for about a year. And when he returned, not to Earth for some reason but to an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, unbeknownst to anyone he brought several OSB with him.”

  Greylancer continued his tale, with D listening intently. Shadows and flames intermingled on the faces of the pair.

  “This is no more than legend, mind you. The Sacred Ancestor had his own private research facility on one of those asteroids. But it’s said that within ten days’ time, the asteroid had been destroyed. The reason for that is unclear. The Sacred Ancestor never shed any light on any of it. But according to the legends, the Sacred Ancestor had manipulated OSB, human, and Noble genes and created something. They say it was the reason that asteroid vanished. After that, the Sacred Ancestor put an end to research to combine the genes of all three species for all time.”

  When Greylancer finished speaking, he stared at the beautiful young man. The Hunter’s face held not a trace of emotion about the fearsome conclusion of that tale or its horrifying implications for the future.

  What a man!

  While there was admiration, at the same time another emotion coursed through every vein in the Nobleman’s body. A will to fight that burned crimson.

  “Well, fortunately the duchess and I are both widely recognized as faithful devotees of the Sacred Ancestor. There will be no combining of the three species in this facility.”

  “But if you wanted to, you could?”

  “I would say—probably. That’s the sort of thing this facility is for. We have both the equipment and the raw materials.”

  “U-taker is a combination of Noble and human. The prototype is Noble and OSB. Either would be relatively simple to modify.”

  “And I believe I already explained this. Neither the duchess nor I would ever—”

  D said, “What about the two of them?”

  Greylancer’s expression changed. He’d understood what D was driving at.

  “The long and short of it is, they’re no more than test subjects. It would never occur to them to modify themselves.”

  “You’re a trusting one. Don’t really seem like a Noble.”

  It was unclear whether the Hunter’s remark was an honest assessment or simply a dig. Greylancer was twisting his lips when the vehicle halted without a sound.

  “Whatever the case, if we destroy them, that’s the end of it. D, stay out of this. This is my job.”

  The two of them got up. They left the vehicle at the same time.

  They were still inside the building. Greylancer looked up in the air, and then an image of U-taker walking down a corridor appeared there.

  “What about the prototype?” asked D.

  “It’s not showing up. In point of fact, it smashed the sensors.”

  “Clever thing, isn’t it?”

  For the first time, the giant turned a look of loathing on D.

  The duchess’s face appeared right next to U-taker.

  “The prototype has gone missing. Do you know where it is?” Greylancer asked her.

  “At present, the sensors are being upgraded. They should be able to tell us that shortly.”

  “Understood. I’ll set about disposing of U-taker.”

  “Very well. Be careful.”

  By the time the duchess vanished, the two of them were already silently headed toward the door up ahead.

  III

  Dark troubles roiled in Bligh’s heart. They’d be hitting the highway soon. With servants of the Nobility guarding both the fore and the rear, they were safe—as if he could ever imagine anyone saying that. The rain still hadn’t relented, only serving to darken the blue of the sky.

  Josette was riding right beside Bligh, and he said to her in a low voice, “Once we hit the highway, that’s when things will really start happening.”

  “I know. You’d better keep on your toes, too. I’ve got a feeling we’ve got more to worry about from the three who came back than those two servants.”

  “You think so? But there wasn’t any problem when you put D’s powder on ’em.”

  “That’s why I just say I’ve got a feeling. Noble brains aren’t like ours,” Josette said to him. “Maybe they’ve come up with some way around the effects of that powder.”

  “So you don’t think they’ll really let us leave just like that?”

  “Maybe we’re just overthinking this.”

  “What about the ol’ flesh peddler?”

  “He’s getting along nicely with rest of the group.”

  Bligh turned and looked. About six feet behind him, there was Arbuckle in his suit, laughing crudely in the midst of the returnees Jan, Beth, and Emily. Apparently he’d just dusted Emily again with the powder. Jan did not look pleased.

  “If things go south, you think we’ll be okay?”

  “The doll we got from D—he’s got it, doesn’t he?” Josette said, looking concerned too.

  Just then, streaks of white came into view up ahead, running to either side. It was the highway.

  The Noble lackey who rode at the fore had already halted his steed.

  “This is as far as we go,” said the one bringing up the rear. “Here we part company. Safe journeys to you.”

  The rider at the fore wheeled his cyborg horse around and rode right by the group before galloping off with his compatriot from the rear.

  Bligh turned around and said to Jan and the others, “That was just too easy. It gives me the creeps. I guess this is where we split up, too.”

  “Aren’t we headed the same way?” Jan replied.

  “Well, it’s raining, and I’m in a hurry. The rest of you can take your time. So long!”

  And, having said that, he drove his heels into his steed’s flanks and promptly galloped off. He quickly pulled farther and farther away from the group. All sense of the people behind him was swiftly swallowed up by the splashing hoofbeats.

  “That’s the end of it. Good luck, everybody.”

  Still, the man strained his ears, hoping that Josette at least would give chase, but there was no sign of that happening.

  “Screw it, then.” And with that, Bligh decided not to give them another thought. “I’ll be there soon, Musse.”

  He gave another dig to his steed’s flanks.

  The rain lashed every inch of him—his face, in particular. He felt like he was riding underwater. The faster his horse went, the harder it became to breathe.

  Before a full minute had passed, Bligh grunted, “Huh?”

  Up ahead were the silhouettes of a number of riders.

  “At a time like this? It couldn’t be . . .”

  He didn’t think there’d be travelers out. And that led to another, unbelievable concern.

  Never halting his horse, Bligh pulled up alongside the last of the riders. Those riding side by side up ahead turned and looked.

  “What’s this?” said the wide-eyed Jan.

  The rest of the riders quickly turned, one after another. It was the same group he’d just left—w
ith Josette riding at the fore.

  They all halted.

  “What are you doing behind us?” Josette asked. The barrel of her weapon was trained on him. The warrior woman wasn’t gentle in her response.

  “Damned if I know. But it looks like those fucking Nobles don’t plan on letting us out of the village!”

  “But we’re on the highway!” Emily said, trembling.

  “No, have a look.”

  Perhaps sensing something from Bligh’s words and his bearing, Josette turned forward again and tossed her chin in that direction.

  About fifteen or twenty feet ahead, a path broke off to the right. They’d seen this place before. That was the way to the village. It was the way they’d left. And also the way they’d come back.

  “I ain’t going back,” Bligh said, grinding his teeth together.

  “So, what do you propose we do, then?” Josette asked sarcastically. “The Nobility are ordering us to return to the village. They never had any intention of letting us leave. And now we don’t have D around either.”

  “Shit!”

  “What’ll we do?”

  “Plan A,” Arbuckle suggested.

  Angered by the man’s seemingly guileless tone, Bligh turned and snapped, “You got some brilliant idea, whoremonger?”

  “Fortunately, we’re outside the village. All we need to do now is wait for daybreak. It’ll mean sticking it out in the rain, but it’s either that or keep riding in circles on the same road.”

  Bligh felt his anger fading. Now that he’d heard it said aloud, it made sense. If they waited for dawn outside the village, even if it was raining cats and dogs, the Nobility couldn’t lay a hand on them.

  “That’s a good idea,” Josette said, putting her weight behind the suggestion. “As luck would have it, I have a tent. Camping out here on the road might be just the thing.”

  “Great!”

  Jan and Emily nodded, and the whole group dismounted. All but one—Beth didn’t move.

  “There’s no point staying there,” Bligh said to her.

  Her pale face remained hardened as she replied, “I get the feeling it won’t do any good.”

  “What won’t do any good?” Arbuckle asked, coming over and taking the horse by the bridle.

  “I don’t know. I just have this feeling that no matter what we do, it won’t do any good.”

  “You’ve got the Noble sickness, have you?” Arbuckle practically spat.

  The Noble sickness was a term used for when young girls were so terribly afraid of vampires they became mentally ill, imagining that Nobles surrounded them twenty-four hours a day—at least, that was symptomatic of the first stage. Following that, the secondary symptoms were to declare that they’d been bitten and drained of blood, refusing to step outside their homes and progressively growing weaker and weaker until they eventually died, though that wasn’t the worst possible outcome.

  When told by the hypnotist that they had a hot branding iron, a person in a deep hypnotic state could be touched with a simple piece of wood and still develop blisters and burn marks on their skin. Victims of the Noble sickness, though free of wounds on their necks, could actually develop bite marks and declare, “I’m a Noble.” And they would proceed to attack one person after another.

  That in itself doesn’t seem so serious, but the real problem was that those who’d been bitten became infected with the same fearful delusion. Despite the fact that there was absolutely zero involvement by the Nobility, the fear of them that riddled people on a deeply subconscious level could allow the bite of a mentally unbalanced girl to spread like wildfire, increasing the number of self-declared Nobles in a geometric progression. There were cases where entire villages had been wiped out. Even if someone didn’t become a Noble, the powerless feeling of being targeted by the Nobility was part of the sickness. And Arbuckle judged that to be the case here.

  “You’re a doctor, aren’t you?” said one of the travelers. “Fix her up. At any rate, get her down from there.”

  The others pulled the tent out of the baggage and set it up. Bligh helped them.

  “Hey,” Arbuckle called over to him.

  “Shut your hole. What, do you want me to call you a quack now?” Bligh said as he turned.

  But Arbuckle wasn’t looking at him. He was facing the same way as Beth. And as Bligh made that three, he bugged his eyes.

  They weren’t on the road. To either side of them were enormous trees and great hills of dirt. And beyond them there were scattered houses that they recognized in the moonlight.

  “The village.” The words prickled in Bligh’s mouth and echoed in his brain. “We’re back. But how?”

  “We can’t get out of here,” Jan groaned, holding Emily close. “We’ll be stuck in the village for the rest of our lives.”

  “No, not me! Do something!”

  “There’s nothing I can do.”

  “You’re gutless. Useless!”

  The girl’s denunciation was so harsh it drew the attention of the rest of the group, leaving them standing there, stunned and rooted. Having watched this pair support and encourage each other ever since the massive flood, the others found her transformation difficult to believe.

  “For the love of God, do something!” she said, pounding her fists against Jan’s chest, her actions leaving the others in a silent gloom.

  “I know. Let’s head back to the highway,” Jan said, his reply stunning Bligh.

  “What are you talking about? Can’t you get it through that thick skull of yours we’re not getting out of here?”

  Ignoring him, Jan put Emily on one of the cyborg horses.

  Before Bligh could do anything, Josette grabbed the horse’s reins.

  “Stop it. If you persist in this foolishness, you’ll only be courting death.”

  “Shut up!” Jan snapped, raising his fist.

  There was a thud, and Josette staggered.

  “Knock it off!” Bligh cried, jumping between them, and the tip of a boot shot up at his solar plexus. The elbow he used to narrowly block it was left numb.

  “Stop!”

  By that point, Jan was already up in the saddle.

  “Let’s go, Emily.”

  Bligh rubbed his right arm as he watched the two riders gallop off, splashing rain everywhere.

  “What came over them all of a sudden?”

  “You can’t blame them,” Beth said sadly. “Even if we go back to the village, there’s no guarantee we’ll survive.”

  “D’s there.”

  “He doesn’t care about us. He just does whatever suits him. There’s no way anybody as gorgeous as all that has the same sort of feelings we do. Somebody that beautiful can only bring destruction to normal folks like us.”

  The sound of the rain intensified. Everyone had fallen silent.

  “You may be right,” Josette said. She was holding her left cheek. “At any rate, let’s go back to the village for the time being. Same house as before should be good, okay?”

  I’d make it a different house—that was the thought that formed in Bligh’s mind, but he choked it back. Now that they were back, they were all under surveillance by the Nobility. No matter where they went, that wouldn’t change.

  It was seven minutes later that four drowned rats in vinyl raincoats plodded wearily back to their nest.

  Wandering the Demon Castle

  chapter 7

  I

  Once he was done toweling off and changing his clothes, Bligh felt like he’d come back to life. “Paradise, pure paradise,” he said, sprawling on a bed.

  Just then, Josette came in and said, “I think it best we all stay awake together until dawn. Let’s head into the living room.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Bligh grumbled reluctantly, but as the same thought had occurred to him, he went out into the living room without further complaint. Beth and Arbuckle were already there. They were side by side, peering out a window.

  “Hey, what’s going on?” Bligh asked.
<
br />   Beth replied, “Someone’s coming.”

  “Come for us already?” Bligh said, adjusting his grip on the spear and taking their spot at the window.

  Something was indeed coming that way through the rain. A figure—no, two. One of them was carrying the other. The two of them had almost reached the farmhouse before it became evident they were Jan and Emily.

  There was a pounding at the door.

  “Don’t open it,” Bligh told the others, and he went over to it instead. Naturally, he was concerned about whether or not the two of them had been attacked.

  “Please, open up,” Jan said in a voice that seemed to creep from the depths of the earth. “The two of us went out to the road . . . but no matter how long we followed it . . . we always came back to the same place . . . And finally . . . a tree fell . . . Lost our horses . . . and our bags . . . Got hurt, too . . . Hurry up . . . Hurry up and let us in . . . please.”

  Bligh clucked his tongue. Head and heart both vacillated.

  “We can’t,” Josette said, the barrel of her gun aimed at the door. She had more of a handle on the situation than Bligh did.

  Bligh looked at the other two.

  “We can’t,” Beth said flatly.

  Sighing sadly in his heart, Bligh asked Arbuckle, “What do you say we do?”

  “I leave that to you.”

  Don’t just shrug this off, Bligh thought, bracing himself for the worst. Turning toward the door, he said, “Sorry, but we can’t. We’ve got no proof you two ain’t fallen into the Nobility’s hands. Huh?” Bligh exclaimed, finally noticing that there was no longer any indication of anyone outside the door. He called out to them, but still there was no answer.

  “Look out the window!” the man said.

  Beth raced over, then cried out, “They’ve collapsed!”

  “I’m opening it up!” Bligh declared.

  Disregarding Josette’s shouts not to, the man opened the door.

  Jan lay right in front of the door, with Emily still cradled in his arms. The blood that soaked the right half of his body bright red was now painting a ring around him.

  “Sheesh,” Bligh said, the word escaping in a low tone.

  The right side of Jan’s head was horribly crushed. Emily’s head no longer resembled one at all.