Vampire Hunter D: Dark Road Parts One and Two

by Dark Road (Parts 1

  “I shall not let you pass,” General Gaskell replied after some consideration. “As for why that is, it appears the goal of those of us who’ve been brought back to life is to slay you.”

  “It appears?” said the hoarse voice.

  “You come after me without even knowing why?” asked D. His eyes were still closed.

  Gaskell’s expression—or the half of it that was visible—was tinged with suffering.

  D asked, “Why have you come back, General Gaskell?”

  “That I do know. It was a promise made to me by the Sacred Ancestor.”

  “A promise?”

  “Yes. I can’t recall it too well, but before I was destroyed, the Sacred Ancestor and I made an agreement about my revival. My stipulation was that he would be sure to bring me back to the world of the living. The timing of that revival I left to the Sacred Ancestor. However, at that time, the Sacred Ancestor added his own condition. Aha!” he exclaimed, his already intense expression twisting with glee. Just one look at it would be enough to make birds fall from the sky and lions faint dead away. “Now I remember! Yes, the Sacred Ancestor placed a condition on my revival. That after I’d been brought back to life, I had to do one task for him. Ah, now, for the first time, I understand. That’s what this is. Surely it must be to dispose of you.”

  Sheathed in black, the general’s right hand went for the hilt of his longsword. Then he knit his brow.

  “But, wait a moment. I was sure I . . .”

  “I had heard General Gaskell had discovered a way to return to life through his own power,” D said as if offering the words he sought. “Why did you rely on the Sacred Ancestor’s power instead of using that?”

  Perhaps he was searching for the answer to D’s query, or he might’ve sought the solution to some puzzle of his own, but Gaskell was covered in a tense silence from head to toe. Lips thick enough to crush a rock finally spat the words that came from him like a creak. “Ah, yes. By my own power, I wasn’t able to determine the timing of my revival . . . I had no idea when I might come back to life. However, the Sacred Ancestor could have it occur whenever he wished. When I agreed to this, it was with the wish that I come back as soon as possible—within a millennium at least.”

  “Was it the same with the other Nobles?”

  “Probably, although I haven’t asked them about it. But none of them would’ve known how to revive themselves.”

  Nevertheless, Baron Schuma, Madame Laurencin, and the Duke of Xenon had all come back to life, assembled under Gaskell, and were now fighting tooth and nail over who would face D. Had all of them also received promises from the Sacred Ancestor, with slaying D as the condition?

  “What do you intend to do if you slay me?” D asked.

  “I’m not entirely sure,” Gaskell replied, folding his arms. “And I can’t think of a reason why. Why would that be?”

  A faint, pained grin flashed across D’s lips. He’d never had anyone who was trying to kill him agonize over not knowing the reason for doing so.

  “Well, stay out of our way,” D told him.

  “I’m afraid I can’t do that. I have a promise to uphold. Particularly to him, of all people. Well, so be it. Once I’ve dealt with you, I suppose the reason for all this shall come to me.”

  There was the sound of steel skimming by his chest. The general’s long, long blade reflected the distant flames, yet gleamed starkly white.

  Despite the situation, D’s hand didn’t go for the sword on his back. What did his closed eyes behold?

  The general moved forward. Although the step seemed to carry his entire weight, surprisingly enough it didn’t make a sound.

  The blade of his sword fell. D met it head on. No one had seen him draw—not even the general. But with the most exquisite sound in the world the general’s longsword and D’s blade locked together.

  “Ah!” someone cried out in surprise. Did that gasp escape from Juke or Sergei, or was it the Hunter’s left hand?

  D’s right knee had been driven to the ground.

  The general’s black face grinned. This wasn’t about technique. He simply pushed with all his might, trying to overwhelm D with sheer strength like some primitive combatant.

  __

  III

  __

  However, within the general’s grin was an astonishment even he couldn’t hide.

  “You’ve done well to withstand a blow from General Gaskell,” he said, and the surprise came out in his voice. From the very bottom of his heart he praised the young man he wished to slice in two. “Every swordsman, every knight, every single warrior who ever came from the Capital I reduced to dust with a single blow. No one ever stopped me. D, your name will not be forgotten!”

  As he spoke, his right arm bulged. With the power of just one arm, the general intended to bisect both D and his sword.

  “What?” Gaskell said, a dubious expression skimming across his face.

  Rising a bit on his toes, he put more weight behind the weapon. His expression became one of clear surprise. He hadn’t cut through D’s blade. And D wasn’t even being pushed down. To the contrary, the pressure he was exerting on the massive blade from below was gradually but unmistakably driving the general’s enormous form back to its starting position. It simply wasn’t possible that a mere blind hunter of Nobility could match him in strength!

  “Holy shit!”

  It was Juke and Sergei who cried out, their eyes bulging, but Gaskell himself was thinking the very same thing.

  D had just stood up straight.

  “It can’t be . . . Such power . . . Could it be that you’re—”

  It was at precisely that instant that the voice and the massive sword flew upward. The giant had taken a huge leap back. A flash of light closed on him. Just as it skimmed across his chest and pulled away, the general made the earth tremble with his landing. He’d lost his former lightness. And by way of compensation, he’d been left with a gash through the chest of his jacket.

  “You are truly a monster,” General Gaskell muttered. Who could’ve ever imagined him saying such a thing? “You pose a threat to me with naught but a sword. Now, allow me to do what I do best!”

  The sky darkened. The bolt of lightning that came down from the heavens without any foreshadowing roar brought a white streak right down on top of D. Fifty million volts should’ve been enough to char even a member of the vampiric Nobility right to the bone.

  The world became white, then blue. And in that light, an even stronger blue glittered—the pendant on D’s chest as he charged forward.

  “You scoundrel!”

  The enormous sword he brought down with that cry rebounded high, and the general didn’t even have time to flee the follow-up blow, which pierced his heart.

  “Aaaah!”

  A howl of pain like that of a great beast shook heaven and earth.

  D had already pulled his sword back. He realized the general had narrowly managed to block it with his body, but he was in no position to parry the coup de grâce.

  The ground quaked. Although D’s stance wasn’t disrupted at all, the general staggered badly. Flames erupted from the depths of the forest.

  When the tip of D’s sword shot forward after a second’s hesitation, General Gaskell was already sailing through the air. Once he’d landed in the driver’s seat of his carriage, his six black horses tore up the ground. Picking up speed, they ran for dear life back the way they’d come.

  “How embarrassing for our general,” someone’s voice said. “A bit more and he’d have broken through that lightproof armor. Such fearsome swordsmanship!”

  “What’s more—D is giving chase!”

  Having already turned to look, General Gaskell realized as much. For all the vaunted speed of his synthetic horses, D was closing on them with his eyes shut. Even as searing pain wracked Gaskell’s chest, his heart was bleached by fear and awe. Taking up the whip, he lashed away. The horses rapidly increased their speed.

  So close he could’
ve reached out and touched the back of the carriage, D rapidly began to fall further and further back. Leaving the now-halted D behind it, the black-as-night carriage raced off with the wind swirling in its wake.

  __

  Returning to the wagon, D was greeted by the pale faces of Juke and Sergei. Having watched a battle that aroused reactions beyond the normal human range—such as being glad that he’d survived or congratulating him on a good fight—their brains had been numbed.

  “W-would you like a back rub or something?” Sergei finally managed to say as D was reaching for the handle to climb up into the driver’s seat.

  “No, I shall see to his back,” said a luminescent tone that caused even D to turn.

  Sergei gasped.

  There by the side of the wagon, looking up at D, was Lady Ann.

  Juke and Sergei knew what fate lay in store for them—they gleaned it from the surpassingly feverish gaze she trained on D. And they also decided to take a certain course of action on seeing how the love-struck girl melted in rapture, while her eyes still burned like a flame.

  “I was awakened by the general’s aura,” said Lady Ann. The way she spoke was so cute and even carefree without being showy, it made her sound all the more earnest. “And I was treated to quite a show. A display of your fighting prowess. Dealing the great Gaskell a wound while blinded—that’s most impressive.”

  Exchanging glances with Juke, Sergei held his gun by his hip.

  “I—I’ve become quite smitten with you, D.”

  “Stop.”

  This seemed like a brusque way to reply to a profession of love; it was directed, of course, at Sergei. He was just about to pull back the trigger on the pistol he had trained on Lady Ann.

  “Keep out of this, D,” Juke said, trying to mediate. But after having spoken, he had to wonder if the Hunter was merely pretending to be blind. “If we bring this little girl along with us, I think it’ll mean nothing but trouble. We’d be a whole hell of a lot better off getting rid of her right now.”

  “I said to take her with us.”

  “But she’s dangerous!” Sergei said. “You must’ve seen the look in her eyes, right? Uh, sorry, I mean we can see it. She’s completely in love with you. And that’s sure to cause problems!”

  “Oh, that I am,” the innocent girl sneered at the two grown men. “I’ve merely fallen in love with him. The two of you are my enemies—that much is unchanged. However, please feel at ease. I won’t do anything—if that is D’s bidding.”

  “You think we’d trust you, you little idiot?” Sergei spat.

  “Do as you wish. There’s only one person in the whole world I need to believe in me.”

  The girl turned her blossomlike smile in D’s direction.

  “We’re taking her with us,” D said.

  “Oh, joy!” Ann exclaimed, clasping her hands together before her chest.

  Ignoring her, the Hunter continued, “You’re still of use to us. But let me be clear—you’re not to interfere in any way. Do anything at all to slow our progress, and I’ll destroy you on the spot.”

  “And I shall be too happy to be cut down,” the girl said, swathed in such an aura of joy that even death itself was no longer distasteful. This girl of less than ten would gladly welcome death if the one she loved delivered it.

  As Juke and Sergei looked at each other, D called over to them in a quiet tone, “Then it’s settled. Let’s go.”

  __

  †

  __

  “They’ll be out of your territory soon,” Grand Duke Mehmet said, referring to D and the others. “Though the Duke of Xenon remains, his beloved daughter has been taken hostage, and that must substantially restrict his course of action. All the more so because she’s fallen in love with D.”

  “What he says is true,” Dr. Gretchen said in a somewhat high tone, as if she’d known all along something like this would happen. “A woman blinded by love belongs to the object of her affection. There is neither friend nor foe. We’ve made a new enemy.”

  “The Duke of Xenon will have to take responsibility,” General Gaskell said, his tone almost a groan.

  He lay at length on a sofa. The doctors and nurses who’d slavishly seen to his treatment until a few minutes earlier had left with their medical equipment. As for the effects of the treatment—there were almost none. It was as if D’s deadly blade had utterly robbed the gigantic General Gaskell’s cells of their regenerative abilities, with his wound refusing to close and searing pain assailing him relentlessly. Yet for all this, his voice was calm. And though sweat welled on his parchment-pale face, his black sun protection hid it from the eyes of others. Yet he remained sprawled on the sofa.

  “May I intrude?” Dr. Gretchen inquired.

  “You may.”

  No sooner had he replied than a slim figure stood beside his sofa like a wraith.

  “You seem to be in pain, General.”

  “Don’t talk nonsense,” Gaskell said, turning his face away in a snit. While his defeat might be common knowledge, he couldn’t very well show any weakness. And this woman in particular didn’t seem to suit General Gaskell’s nature.

  “You mustn’t try to hide it from me. I am a specialist in that field, General.”

  “I am well aware of that. You are one of God’s mistakes—a woman who never should’ve been born. How many of the millions you were supposed to save did you send instead to their reward?”

  “How uncouth of you,” the shadowy figure replied, putting her hand to her mouth as she laughed. “All of that was part of an effort to make the world of the Nobility even better. What are a million humans or two in comparison?”

  “Too true,” the general said, smiling wryly. “But after you fled, the bodies of Nobility who should’ve died but couldn’t were discovered in your discarded research facility. Roughly fifty thousand of them—it came as little surprise you were sentenced to the most excruciating punishment.”

  “Ah, if only I’d burned that facility down,” the shadowy figure laughed. “It was only right the Sacred Ancestor executed that painful death sentence himself. Even my own techniques of euthanasia wouldn’t serve me. I still shudder to think back on that torment. Ah!”

  The shadowy figure began to quake. It took about a minute before her struggles with those memories were at an end.

  “Is it not time that I had a turn, General?” the one they called Doctor asked in a tone choked with cruelty.

  “No.”

  “Why ever not?”

  “I don’t need to answer that.”

  “Do you think that once I’ve caught that little traitor I’ll perform vivisection on her?”

  “I don’t care if you dissect her, but I can’t have you turning the Duke of Xenon against us.”

  “Goodness! Do you think I would ever embark on such a foolish course? Just watch. I shall take care of that little witch and earn the thanks of the Duke of Xenon, and then slay D and the other troublemakers with my own two hands. Just between the two of us, do you think any of the others can do the same things I can?”

  They could probably never match your cruelty, the general muttered in his heart of hearts, but he said nothing. On further consideration, he added, And that is probably for the best.

  “You can’t go,” he told her.

  “Oh, but I want to do this so badly. I wonder if you might allow me to try something. I should like to tear that Hunter to pieces with my bare hands. If you were to give me your permission, I would show you my gratitude.”

  “Your gratitude?”

  “Like so.”

  A delicate hand touched Gaskell’s chest.

  “Oh!” the most notorious Noble on earth gasped.

  The pain from the wound D’s sword had dealt him had suddenly vanished without a trace.

  THE WITCH DESCENDS

  CHAPTER 5

  I

  __

  Up ahead of the wagon they saw a new stand of trees and a trail through the forest that was clearl
y another road.

  “How about it, D? Is that it?” Juke asked from where he sat in the driver’s seat holding the reins, and his voice was taut with expectation.

  “It appears so.”

  D’s reply carried two meanings at once—this was a road made by human hands, and they’d exited Gaskell’s domain.

  “Yippee!” Juke exclaimed, swinging the reins wildly and letting Sergei know back in the living quarters that their escape had been successful.

  However, they’d been racing nonstop through the forest for three hours, guided by D’s instinct alone. Dusk had already begun to settle over the world.

  With Juke and Sergei’s cries of delight, the wagon jostled onto the new road.

  “I remember now. This is the way to Krakow for sure.”

  This time the horses didn’t seem afraid, their iron-shod hooves pounding the earth, and before long they arrived at the palisade of a village they all recognized. Leaning out of the wooden watchtower to see who was doing what was the same yellow-shirted young man with a rifle that they’d met before.

  “We’re transporters,” Juke said by way of introduction, and the man showed him a pearly smile.

  “Hold on a minute. It’s just—” he began, knitting his brow. “Haven’t I met you somewhere before? And fairly recently, too?”

  “Could be,” Juke said, shooting him a wry grin.

  The palisade gates opened without any problem and the wagon was met by the cries of villagers. Children came running out of houses that’d been shrouded in fog before, and carts loaded with villagers and crops bustled incessantly up and down the street.

  “What a relief!” Juke sighed, revealing his true feelings without qualm.

  Having given him the reins, D sat motionless with his eyes shut, but once the wagon had pulled into the central square and impatient villagers pressed in on all sides, he climbed down from the vehicle with a grace inconceivable from a blind man.