Vampire Hunter D: Pale Fallen Angel Parts Three and Four

by Pale Fallen Angel (Parts 3

  The old man’s complexion grew as stark as his beard.

  “I couldn’t possibly!”

  But as de Carriole protested, the baron only continued to advance. Gaunt as a specter, his expression was tinged with blue—the electric glow given off by the forms of Miska and Vince.

  “You mean to tell me you can’t, de Carriole? In that case, I shall take it upon myself to—”

  But what exactly could he do? The effects of Chlomo’s makeup and the humiliation of being defeated by his father had left the baron in an extremely strange and precarious state, both physically and mentally. The thought of taking in the Destroyer had sparked an obsession.

  The legs that carried the young Nobleman across the floor were unsteady, and his knees hit the ground.

  Vince smirked. Even before he’d been imbued with the Destroyer, he was hardly what anyone would call normal. A creature of pure blistering energy that ordinarily could be contained solely by the immortal form of a Noble seared his brain, driving him insane in its attempts to escape this frail meat cage. His muscles and internal organs blistered as well, melting away, regenerating in a millisecond, and then dissolving once again. Which force would triumph in that infinite repetition?

  However, Vince’s crazed mind recognized a “command” that had been branded into his subconscious as a Vampire Hunter. His eyes were shut. The smile that rose on his lips was the same one that could be found on so many religious statues from the ancient cultures of the east.

  His eyelids opened . . . and unleashed the power of the Destroyer!

  Heaven and earth were both bleached by the pale light. All things lost their shadows, and were turned into shadows themselves. Even the wind died. Every sound was silenced.

  The baron’s form was enveloped by a sphere of blue light. Within it, the baron could be dimly made out running. And when that light faded away, there would be one less Noble in the world.

  The blue sphere of light rapidly lost its hue. Contracting in a matter of seconds, it broke into a million minute pieces that faded unexpectedly. Beyond them, a second sphere remained.

  De Carriole shifted his gaze to it, and then looked at Miska.

  Before the blue light that’d shielded the baron faded, Miska and Vince extended their arms simultaneously. Once again, the world dissolved into a single pale light. It took on a stark whiteness, and a split second before it was going to swallow everything in nothingness, color and shape returned.

  The baron stood out on the floor, behind him and off to one side de Carriole had both hands out, and Chlomo and Sai Fung both poked their heads out from behind a massive cylinder of specially tempered glass. All noise had died out and no one spoke, creating a horribly quiet, yet peaceful, tableau.

  Chlomo and Sai Fung moved. Gazing at the spot the two freaks had occupied, they then looked to either side before one of them groaned, “They’re gone!”

  “Where the hell did they go?” asked the other. “Damn! Look at the big-ass holes in either wall. They must’ve either escaped through them or been blasted to pieces.”

  “They escaped—or rather, they were both blown out of here,” de Carriole said in a hoarse tone.

  “What’ll we do, just let ’em go?”

  “Don’t talk rubbish. They have the Destroyer within them. If we leave them to their own devices, it’ll mean the end of the world. Although there’s not a thing you two could do against them—damn it, find them anyway. Split up—no, never mind about Lady Miska. I’m sure her Noble blood will soon check the urge for destruction. It was that that saved the good baron. Find Vince first. You’re to notify me as soon as you locate him. Just to be perfectly clear, make no move against him. You’re not to so much as breathe on him.”

  After his two subordinates had vanished into the darkness like sparrows in flight, de Carriole turned back to where Baron Balazs stood on the floor. The baron’s eyes were closed. He didn’t even seem to be breathing. Though he stood there at the ready like a sculpted temple guardian, he’d lost consciousness.

  “How unfortunate,” de Carriole said, the pain in his voice all too genuine as his gaze was riveted to the Nobleman’s haggard profile. “For you and your mother both. However, that’s only for the time being. Some day very soon, your humble servant shall slay Lord Vlad. Please wait until then. I absolutely cannot allow you to make a demon of yourself, milord.”

  And then he walked over and put his hands on the baron’s shoulders.

  The baron went into action. This time, de Carriole’s hands were not knocked away; but rather, they were seized around the wrists with a vise-like grip. Even as he heard his bones creaking, the old man couldn’t help but be impressed.

  “So, you want to attack the lord that badly, do you? Even while unconscious?”

  He broke off there, running his gaze across a water tank that’d been destroyed. Twisting around, he then looked at the two huge holes in the walls.

  “One of the two . . .”

  Regardless of what he meant by that whispered remark, the aged scholar had the sort of dangerous glint in his eyes that would make even a weeping child faint dead away.

  -

  D was at a warehouse on Thornton Street. And though it was simply a warehouse, its contents looked like they would’ve brought down lightning bolts of wrath in any place besides this village.

  When Lagoon got down off his beetle and gestured to D to follow him through the door next to the shutters, the Hunter’s gaze leapt across all the items packed into a space that looked nearly large enough to hold a five-story building. The power shovel had a bucket fixed at the end of a rough one hundred-fifty-foot arm that looked like it could reduce a city block to dust in a mere five minutes. The gleaming black drill that seemed to stand alone was actually a machine for deep subterranean boring. At fifteen feet in diameter, it wouldn’t stand very high, but the drill portion alone was a hundred feet long, and since the whole machine stretched to nearly one hundred and forty feet, it needed a heavy gantry to hold it upright. With a reputation for being able to pierce the earth’s mantle and return unscathed, the drill was made of an alloy based on the mysterious orichalcum metal said to have been created in a legendary continent in the eastern sea in ancient times—Atlantis.

  “Know what that is?”

  As the speed of the moving sidewalk running into the depths of the building slowed, Lagoon pointed to a machine with a collection of countless rails surrounding a black mountain of a base. Its appearance reminiscent of a diagram of an atom, the path of its rails didn’t appear to follow any set pattern at first glance, but on closer inspection, they were all laid out in accordance with a single guiding principle.

  “A Big Bang Accelerator?”

  Lagoon gave a hearty nod at D’s reply. He was no longer wearing his liquid metal suit. His massive form was wrapped in a dazzling robe, as befitted such a prominent member of the village.

  “Leave it to you. You’re not like most of those uneducated Hunters kicking around. Just between you and me, there are times when I’d love to fire a blast from that bad boy into Lord Vlad’s manor.”

  From Lagoon’s flushed expression, it seemed he believed the resulting devastation might take the life of their lord.

  This accelerator could produce the same results as the Big Bang—the enormous explosion that created the universe. Launched down rails that curved in arcs and angles determined by physical laws even beyond human comprehension, the “material” would exceed the speed of light once in flight and, on striking its target, it would impede the very flow of time. Although that was the greatest ability of the Big Bang Accelerator, the massive machine that smoothly slid through their view had been stripped of its time-impeding apparatus, leaving it a catastrophic death-bringer to be used solely for destruction.

  “These are all devices of the Nobility,” said D. “Were they brought here from the Capital?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I built all of them here in the village.”

  As D’s eyes fell up
on that grim visage, Lagoon’s expression instantly gave way to childlike pride and joy. The owner and operator of the Frontier’s preeminent pleasure quarter was almost certainly a surprisingly simple man at heart.

  “Of course, the theory behind the machines was taught to me by you-know-who. Later on, I drew up plans, made a refinery, and brought in the raw materials. I even built a power station. I wish you could’ve seen the scale of the factory, sprawling out on the edge of the village!”

  “So ‘knowledge’ was part of your compensation?”

  D’s query served to rob the man of some of his fire.

  “Right you are. And thanks to that, the village stays safe from bandit and monster attacks without relying on Vlad’s power. I know my place might look like some stupid little bumpkin strip joint at first glance, but it actually houses a few pearls of wisdom.”

  Just as his bragging was winding down, the automated walkway entered a narrow tunnel, and they presently halted before a metal door. Beyond the door lay two opulent rooms that were storehouses in name only, and in the first of these—a reception room—they were met by May.

  “D—what about Taki?” the girl inquired anxiously.

  “I rescued her, and she’s in another location.”

  “That’s great!” May exclaimed, leaning back against the armrest and weeping.

  “But she was given the kiss of the Nobility,” D continued in a cruelly soft tone.

  May’s body sprang up a bit as if with some sort of spasm while she stared at D.

  “Then you’ll have to . . .”

  “As you requested, I rescued Taki. My work is done.”

  As if enslaved by D’s handsome features, May didn’t take her eyes off him, and she swallowed hard. It took some time for her little head to drop.

  “Yes—I suppose you’re right. It’s all over now. Will Taki be put into an asylum? Is that how all this will end?”

  “Do you have any intention of extending the contract?”

  For a second, May stopped moving and knit her brow as if she hadn’t caught what he’d said. She looked at D in disbelief.

  “But—I mean, I don’t have any money . . .”

  “I believe I said you could pay me later.”

  “Say, would you like me to pay him for you, missy?” Lagoon said, fishing one hand into his pocket.

  “No. I’ll manage something or other. D—you have kids’ rates, don’t you?”

  A gonglike sound reverberated through the room. Lagoon had thrown his head back in a great belly laugh.

  But what was truly astonishing was what flitted across D’s lips. No matter how you looked at it, it was clearly a smile.

  “Pardon my asking, but just how do you propose to earn that money?” Lagoon asked with profound curiosity.

  May smacked one foot against the floor, and then her tiny form flew straight up ten feet, executed an elegant flip, and, after planting one hand on Lagoon’s shoulder, the girl flew across the room at an angle.

  “Wow!” the big mover and shaker exclaimed when the girl landed on the shade of a lamp and maintained her balance exquisitely as she took a bow. “I’ve seen all manner of acrobats, but I’ve never seen such a cute little wunderkind. What do you say to coming to work at my place?”

  “Well,” May said, squinting at Lagoon, “I don’t come cheap.”

  His great mitt-like hands slapped together.

  “Great! Then we got ourselves a deal. The wages will take your breath away,” Lagoon said gravely, but he gave her a smile of delight.

  To D he said, “I don’t imagine you have a problem with me making a star out of this splendid acrobat. Now, your job is to save Taki. From Lord Vlad.”

  It was difficult to tell whether that last remark carried scorn or sarcasm, but no sooner had it drawn a gasp from May than a slight tremor reached them from all sides.

  “I’ll be damned,” Lagoon muttered as he gazed at D.

  D was already headed for the door.

  “If you’re going to relocate May, you’d better be quick about it,” the Hunter said.

  D realized what had caused the explosion that he alone had heard. It was the same boom he’d heard on the outskirts of a certain town on the way to Krauhausen, when Miska—possessed by the Destroyer—had wiped the puppet master, Mario, out of existence.

  -

  II

  -

  The first reports on what threatened the ordinarily peaceful nights of Krauhausen came about ten minutes after the sound of the bizarre explosion. A farming family that lived out by the mansion of the aged scientist, de Carriole, got in their wagon and raced to the sheriff’s office, foaming at the mouth as they relayed how nearby farms and sections of forest were disappearing one after another. Sheriff in name alone, the lawman immediately contacted Lagoon to request the mobilization of his private peacekeeping forces; and, once the sheriff had seen they were on the case, his men followed along after them. Although it wasn’t really their fault, they had failed to pass along one very important piece of information obtained from the bloodless and nearly crazed farming family. As the family was on their way there, they’d encountered a young man of unearthly beauty astride a cyborg horse, and he’d gotten them to tell him about the mysterious disappearances.

  D halted his horse in the midst of the ionized air. The scene spread before his eyes.

  A section of earth roughly one hundred and fifty feet in diameter had sunken into a bowl-like depression. No. Seeing as there wasn’t a single thing resembling a rock or tree to be found within the depression, perhaps it was more accurate to say it’d been scooped out; but the way the surface had been fused into a glassy substance made it clear that that wasn’t correct either. A good thirty feet deep, it glowed bewitchingly in the moonlight, like particles of light that had coalesced. From the look of the rail fences, stepping stones, and wooden gates that remained beyond the rim of the mortar, what had been obliterated was undoubtedly a central house, an outbuilding, and a pen for animals. Near the brink of the hole, a two-story building that looked to be a barn was perfectly fine.

  Advancing further on his horse, he saw that out in the moonlight, the eerie tableau went on. The glittering of the ground that’d melted down into a beehive shape challenged the light of the moon.

  Who would do such a thing?

  There was a crash. D’s ultra-keen senses told him it came from a great distance away. From the direction of the village.

  D wheeled his horse around. The sound of the first explosion had definitely come from whoever had left this hole. Was he on the move?

  The conclusion D reached was a simple one.

  “Why, there’s two of them,” a voice remarked from the vicinity of his left hand, but D raced off without even glancing down at it.

  Having received orders from Lagoon to stop the intruder before he entered the village, the peacekeeping force formed a dragnet around the main road from the farm to the village as well as all side roads, but they soon realized it was too late. A roar was drawing closer from the dark forest where even they feared to tread by night. What’s more, it was moving at an unusual speed. A number of men who ran out into the trees with the intention of establishing surveillance were obliterated, trees and all, leaving only a glittering mortar-shaped hole in the ground. Though it was clear some sort of energy was being released, not the slightest wind blew, and they didn’t feel any heat on their skin. The survivors beat a hasty retreat, and though they peered hard into the night, they saw no sign of anyone moving around the hole. A second later, they too were reduced to nothingness. This was only about half a mile from the village.

  On orders from the peacekeepers who’d remained in the village, all residents who lived in the direction from which the unknown being approached had been evacuated with naught save the clothes on their backs. But once the devastation had spread to within a few hundred yards of town, the explosions stopped dead.

  Peacekeepers and members of the vigilance committee had crept into position wi
th their weapons, and as they focused their fear-choked eyes, a tall, thin figure appeared from the darkness at the far end of the main road. Even by the moonlight, they could tell at a glance that it was an ordinary human being. But the bartender from the all-night watering hole in the hotel recalled the face that had been etched into his memory and let out a low cry. When that man had called on his bar at dusk, getting some information and easily dispatching the enforcers that came at him before leaving, the only way to describe the way he’d dominated his opponents was to say he was invincible. Vince—the bartender repeated the name.

  The defenders were perplexed. Even on the demon- and monster-dominated Frontier, it seemed utterly unimaginable that the devastation the farmer had described could’ve been wrought by this man, who looked so dazed the very soul might’ve been sucked out of him.

  And while that was going on, Vince reached the entrance to the pleasure quarter—the kingdom under Fisher Lagoon’s direct control. The neon glared and music echoed because Lagoon swore this place would never be swayed by some unnamed threat. Halting, Vince was tinged with white from head-to-toe as he stood in a daze staring up at the glow.

  A light a hundred times brighter than the midday sun hit his body with an almost palpable weight. It came from a searchlight the public peacekeepers had set up.

  “Freeze,” an amplified voice shouted down from the sky. “Who are you? You the one who blew the holy hell out of that farmhouse?”

  As unbelievable as that seemed, it was still a possibility. One of the rules of the Frontier was that before trying to take anyone down, you asked your questions from a safe distance.

  Vince didn’t reply.

  “Don’t you have ears? I’m gonna give you to the count of three. Then we start shooting. Okay—one . . .”

  It may have seemed a rough way to do things, but now that they knew the person they were dealing with wasn’t a resident of the village, they owed him no mercy—that was also part of the Frontier code. From under cover, from behind the searchlights, from roofs and porches, the weapons aimed at Vince backed every potential bullet and laser beam with deadly determination.