“You can use him well, this Setsura Aki?”
With deliberate actions more obscene than his words, he painted her face with his bloody finger. Nodding over and over, Shuuran crushed her mouth against his cruel lips.
Chapter Two
Although most of the patients in Mephisto Hospital were residents of Demon City, many were relatives and friends of friends. But this kind of relative was a first since the hospital had opened.
After finishing Setsura’s examination and observing nothing out of the ordinary, Mephisto suggested meeting with Takako Kanan.
“It hasn’t been that long since I saw her last. Why do you ask? Has she taken a turn for the worse?”
“My. Aren’t you in a lone wolf mood today.”
“Like you’d never have a day like that. C’mon, I’m in no mood to be playing with dolls.”
“Better that you call her a fantoccini.”
“Marionette. Whatever. In any case, hurry up and do something about my state of health. I’m beginning to question your reputation.”
“I have got my shoulder to the wheel.”
“I’m looking for another scholar with the same degree of knowledge as Professor Niwa. I’ll let you know what turns up.”
With that, Setsura started for the door.
“Oh,” said Mephisto, in a meaningful manner. Setsura stopped. A grimace rose to his expressionless face. Mephisto said, “I will be attending the Elder’s funeral services after this. If you are not otherwise engaged, I would like you to come along.”
Setsura rolled his eyes. “Sure, why not.”
“Fine, then. Before that, you may accompany me to Miss Kanan’s room. We will depart directly from there. There is still time.”
And so the two of them came to meet Takako’s bespectacled mother in the reception area of the special isolation wing where Takako was being held.
“I’m Tomoko Kanan. And you must be Doctor Mephisto?”
“Yes, I am Mephisto,” he replied with a polite bow.
In a voice that was the audible equivalent of shoving an ice pick through his forehead, Mrs. Kanan shrieked, “My word! And just what is your sorry excuse for the abominable way this hospital is run?”
“The way the hospital is run?” responded Mephisto, as coolly as ever.
“Yes, the way this hospital is run. I haven’t been sitting around in the waiting room so I could be served expensive tea. I came here to see my daughter. What’s the hold up? All the runarounds and delays? I asked if she was in critical condition, but all the nurses will say is that her life is not in danger. But they can’t tell me anything concrete. This is not the kind of attitude I expect from an institution that purports to call itself a hospital!”
Standing behind Mephisto, Setsura said in a low voice, “I couldn’t agree more.”
“Doctor, what exactly is the condition of my daughter, Takako? I’m beginning to believe she’s caught some sort of contagious illness.” The glare in her eyes shot through them like a pair of laser beams.
Mephisto nodded. “To be perfectly honest, she contracted a disease that is very close to what you describe.”
“That’s what I thought.” Behind the glasses, anxiety colored her eyes.
“But please don’t worry. Her life is not in danger. I assure you that her condition will not deteriorate as long as we keep her here.”
“And exactly how long will that be?”
“A month, roughly speaking.”
“In the meantime, can’t she be transferred to another hospital?”
“What about our hospital do you find so intolerable?”
“I have no complaints about the facilities. It was obvious from the moment I passed through the front doors. The facilities are top-notch, the staff and doctors well-disciplined. I’m impressed that, above all, the patients appear to be treated equally without regard to financial or social status. However, I cannot agree that there are no grounds to criticize the environment in which this hospital is located. I’ve been interested enough to visit several times in a professional capacity. And each time, the treacherous charms of this city become all the more impossible to ignore. No matter how high-minded one’s spirit and intentions, the atmosphere pervading this city corrupts and corrodes it. No person should be left to convalesce here, regardless of the good or bad qualities of the hospital itself.”
“Good point,” Setsura agreed.
Mephisto ignored him. “Your daughter’s illness can only be treated here. I will not disagree with everything you say, except that just as we go to a hospital to be healed of a disease while residing among the diseased, only in this corrupt city can we hope for a cure.”
“Hope for a cure from what?”
“Your daughter was bitten by a vampire. There is no cure for that anywhere but here.”
The woman’s mouth half-opened. The handsome physician looked back at her with an ice-cold serenity. Five full seconds passed. Tomoko Kanan said, “Surely you jest! That is the product of someone’s imagination run wild, like something out of a fairy tale.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” said Mephisto.
“This is Demon City,” added Setsura.
Mephisto glared at him over his shoulder. Setsura counted the tiles on the ceiling.
“I just don’t know what to think about that—her associating with anything but people—that vampires really exist—I guess I’ll have to put my faith in you, Doctor Mephisto—if you don’t object—”
“As you please,” Mephisto said kindly. “If you wish, I can take you to see your daughter. The two of us will accompany you. I will prepare a sedative. Is that fine with you?”
“Yes. Let’s go. I don’t think I’ll need a sedative.”
“Fine, then.” For the first time, a faint smile creased Mephisto’s lips.
Tomoko touched her hand to cheek. She blushed. The passions escaping from the cracks in her emotional state had begun to activate her aesthetic sensibilities.
“Hey, Doctor Hippocrates,” Setsura needled him. He spoke in low tones that sounded like a monk reciting a Buddhist prayer.
Mephisto pretended not to hear. He passed through a door, then Tomoko, with Setsura bringing up the rear.
“Um—” Tomoko said to Mephisto, as they proceeded down the hall.
“What is it?”
“Who is he?”
“The person most directly connected to the incident involving your daughter. In fact, she was at his bedside when she was attacked.”
Tomoko looked at Setsura. The belligerent attitude of a middle-aged lady returned to her face. When Setsura stared at the ceiling a third time, it was Mephisto’s turn to smile.
“And what is your occupation, young man?”
“I own a senbei shop.”
“Can you tell me specifically what went on there?”
“Ah—”
After a dialogue that was pretty much a repeat of what had gone on between Tomoko and Mephisto, they arrived at Takako’s room.
Observing her daughter’s vacant eyes turned toward the heavens—eyes set against a bluish, waxy complexion—the two punctures swelling out from the base of her neck like a pair of tumors—Tomoko fully grasped the reality of the situation.
Out of consideration, Mephisto temporarily dismissed the strategically-positioned security personnel.
Setsura felt the lingering doubts he harbored since he’d been discharged that afternoon being rekindled. He’d been attacked, Takako had tasted the poison of the demon woman’s fangs, and then she’d busted through Mephisto Hospital’s heralded defenses without breaking a sweat.
By all rights, he should be the one turning into a hell beast.
But as far as Mephisto was concerned now, all that commotion was beside the point. Setsura had to wonder what more than his soaring pride was sitting on the doctor’s mind.
Tomoko’s questions came one after the other. The relationship between her daughter and Setsura. Why she’d been tending to him in the first place. Wh
y she’d been possessed by the strange disease.
Setsura replied that their relationship was simply one between a senbei shop owner and his guest. She’d been with him when he collapsed, and had accompanied him here. He didn’t know why she should have contracted this “disease.”
For the time being, Tomoko accepted these explanations at face value, though she still wasn’t satisfied. She wanted to know more about the nature of the vampires. To which Setsura replied by drawing his breath in between his teeth and tilting his head to the side.
“Where do they come from?”
“From China, it seems.”
A short silence followed. “Can they enter a room without opening the door?”
“No. They must follow the same physical laws as us. They cannot pass through solid matter. Though it does appear that they can unlock doors without touching the mechanism.”
“Any weak points, or way of keeping them out?”
“No. We experimented with crucifixes but they had zero effect.”
“That stands to reason. Somewhere in the depths of a human soul that has fused with evil must reside an acknowledgment of those things that are imbued with spiritual powers. Vampires who fear the cross must have recognized its spiritual essence before they became vampires.”
“I’m impressed,” Setsura said with unfeigned admiration. “In which case, it follows that vampires who loathe crosses must be Christian. But what would happen if a person possessed of a particular religious taboo converted to Christianity and then became a vampire?”
“That person would react just as strongly to a crucifix as to that taboo.” Tomoko spoke in the crisp tones reminiscent of a professor putting an upstart student in his place. “The logical conclusion is that if you can then ascertain the home environment of the creature in question, several methods of subduing it should present themselves.”
“I agree. However, when it comes to the perceived powers of heaven and hell, the numerous facets of our individual customs make it difficult if not impossible to arrive at a standardized approach.”
“May I presume that the Tao does not exist that can handle the vampire who attacked my daughter?”
“So it seems. What sort of creature is this, Doctor?” Setsura asked, turning to Mephisto behind him and figuratively tossing him the ball.
The conversation ground to a halt as Mephisto came up with an answer. He said breezily, “I have nothing to add.”
Anyone who didn’t know him might have thought this the dodge of a pretender.
“If she was attacked inside Shinjuku and then was taken outside Shinjuku, shouldn’t she be safe then?”
“Please consider what would happen if they did come after her.”
Tomoko started to reply but reconsidered. She turned her attention to the bed where her daughter lay. The severe intellectual air vanished, replaced by that of a middle-aged mother anguished over her daughter’s welfare.
“Excuse me,” Setsura said. “It’d be rare to stumble across a vampire outside Shinjuku, but you seem to accept their reality quite readily. You wouldn’t perhaps share with your daughter a similar interest in history?”
“I teach history at Tokyo University.”
Hearing the name of the most respected educational institution in Japan, Setsura nodded to himself.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“There are other matters to which we must attend,” Mephisto announced. “I will speak with the attending physicians and nurses and arrange for separate accommodations. Starting tomorrow you may see her whenever you please. All your needs will be attended to. For now, however, your daughter must remain in our care. I hope you understand the reasons why.”
“Yes, but—” Tomoko didn’t finish the sentence. She stood next to the bed. A strangely cool object jutted out of the blankets and clasped her hand. Looking down, she realized it was her daughter’s hand. “Takako—”
The delight died in her throat. The fingers closed around her wrist felt like writhing snakes. Takako turned and looked at her mother. The empty, demented eyes could not possibly be hers. These weren’t the eyes of a hungry carnivorous beast encountering its prey. No, they were the eyes of a mad serial killer who after doing unspeakably vile things to the victim in his thrall would strangle her during coitus and carve up the body afterwards.
“Let go. Takako! Let go of me!” She jerked her arm with all her might, but her daughter wouldn’t let go.
“Mom? What are you doing here?” Her slack expression betrayed not the slightest sign of inquisitiveness. “Thank you for coming to see me. I am fine. The Doctor and Setsura are doing a good job looking after me. And yet you came all the way to see me.”
The blankets slowly fell away from her chest as Takako sat up in the bed. She didn’t need her free hand to support herself. Her attitude didn’t change. Like a robot.
“I will give you a kiss to thank you.”
Her fang-like canines—that her daughter should not possess—were visible behind her lips. Tomoko realized at that moment that everything Doctor Mephisto and Setsura had told her was true.
“Let go, Takako. I’m your mother. Let go.” She could only entreat her daughter with the same words over and over.
Takako started to get off the bed. A comely hand covered the hand wrapped around her mother’s wrist—Doctor Mephisto’s.
A primal growl rose in Takako’s throat. She seized Mephisto’s wrist with her free hand. A moment later, quite out of the blue, she stopped struggling and her fingers opened. She lay back down on the bed as quickly as she had arisen. Her eyes burned with pain and anger, suggesting that her own will had been overruled by an outside force.
The professor as well seemed on the verge of collapse. Mephisto supported her to the nearby sofa. Her wrist where Takako had grasped it was stained with purple bruises. Tomoko silently massaged the skin, hard enough to scour it away, as if that sensation would remain with her for the rest of her life.
Mephisto placed his hand on hers. Tomoko stopped rubbing her skin. She relaxed and settled back against the cushions.
“Are you finished?” Mephisto asked.
Tomoko nodded. “That is—the victim—of a vampire—?”
“Yes.”
“Can she be cured?”
“I will cure her,” Mephisto softly guaranteed her. “Your daughter has not yet become a true vampire. If the one who sired her is vanquished, she will recover.”
“But—when—?”
“You’d have to ask him. He is Shinjuku’s best vampire hunter.”
He’d just said that a cure would take a month. Mephisto was a genius when it came to passing the buck. Feeling the weight of the lady professor’s earnest eyes on him, Setsura scratched the back of his head.
“Give us a month. Doctor Mephisto said as much.”
“I understand. I shall hold you to it.”
“We’ll give it our best shot.”
“No effort will be spared,” Mephisto added. “So let us be on our way. She is in the care of our highly-qualified attending physicians. The nurses will prepare her meals. This time of day is when the vampires come out. We have to make sure they don’t get in here.”
After escorting the cowed Tomoko to another room, the two turned toward Mephisto’s private hallway.
“Nice racket you doctors have got here,” Setsura observed with a completely straight face as they strolled along. At times like this, Mephisto was the only person in the world who could tell when Setsura was cracking wise. “Mrs. Kanan clasped your hand and asked you to look after her daughter. But I was the one who made Takako let go of her hand and behave herself.”
“And I thank you for that. If you like, I’ll squeeze your hand as hard as she did mine.”
“Do you think that woman will be back tonight?” asked Setsura, changing the subject.
“I am sure she will,” said Mephisto with conviction. He was not a man who ever lacked for conviction. “I hazard she bit Takako in orde
r to make you suffer. She came to drink your blood and the opportunity presented itself. So Takako wastes away day by day, drawing ever closer to those creatures of the night. But coming all this way and being prevented from achieving her goals must have been vexing. You never did tell me how you defended yourself.”
“I don’t know.” Setsura shrugged.
“Maybe you whispered sweet nothings in her ear.”
“Like, Oh no, not tonight dear, you mean?”
“Something like that. When it comes to the female of the species that is the nature of the beast.”
“Your female employees will all kill themselves in despair.”
Mephisto didn’t answer.
“So, do you plan to transfer Takako somewhere?” Setsura suggested.
“Yes. When we get back, I shall take measures.”
The two of them left the building. It was night. A limousine was waiting at the front gates. The city of Shinjuku glittered in the background.
“Everything is being spelled out in darkness,” Doctor Mephisto said. “Actors unequaled at their craft have appeared on this most perfect of stages. But are we directing the play? Or them?”
Setsura said, “Or is Demon City?”
With that, the two stepped onto the night-lit battlefield.
Chapter Three
The silhouettes emerged from the building manager’s office and proceeded silently in the moonlight. They bore the casket on their shoulders. The buildings to their right and left towered over them like great walls. Behind the casket-bearers followed a larger throng.
The shadows were cast and created by the moonlight. The streetlights were dark. Here and there, the gas lamps preferred by the residents of this block had been extinguished too.
In keeping with the departed’s wishes, no one chanted the sutras. There was no music, no tears, no talking as they walked along the thin strip of asphalt.
They arrived at a plaza behind one of the buildings. Nothing grew on this desolate plot of land. In the center of the plaza was a rectangular hole. The shadows approached it. They lowered the casket into it with ropes, then took up shovels and covered it with earth.
Yashakiden: The Demon Princess, Volume 2 Page 9
