Checking both for a pulse and looking at their pupils, Bligh let out a deep sigh.
“I’m surprised they made it back here. Okay, we’ve gotta bury ’em.”
D and Greylancer appeared in one of the corridors.
“He’s here!” Greylancer said, using his long spear to point up ahead.
D, too, had noted U-taker so far off he couldn’t be seen with the naked eye.
“Leave this to me,” Greylancer said, stepping forward. He was poised to hurl his long spear. “If we dispose of him, at least, there seems little chance of anyone making any strange creations.”
And saying that, the Nobleman made his throw.
An instant later, U-taker staggered. The crimson long spear stabbed through his chest and protruded from his back.
“Well done,” D said, because there had been essentially no time lag between when the Nobleman had hurled his weapon and when it’d pierced his target. This was the very definition of ungodly speed. Would D’s own speed at drawing and striking with his blade be a match for it?
“I’ll deliver the coup de grace,” Greylancer said, walking forward with bold strides. He was unarmed. Though there was absolutely nothing the giant could do if D were to try to cut him down at that moment, he didn’t seem the least bit afraid.
When the Nobleman had closed to about ten yards, U-taker’s body unexpectedly became a blur.
“That’s not good.”
Before Greylancer had even finished saying the words, something white flew from D’s right hand. The needle of unfinished wood went through U-taker’s body and jabbed into the floor. It was followed by a second, but a split second before it was to pierce him, the enemy vanished without a sound.
“He wasn’t destroyed. If he had been, there’d be dust left,” Greylancer said, his lips twisting with displeasure. “He vanished. And there’s only one thing that could do that.”
“Where’s the prototype?” D inquired, looking up into space.
“Are you listening, Duchess? Where’s the prototype? Also—were you the one who sent U-taker away?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” the duchess said, her face hanging in midair.
“What are you smiling about?” Greylancer asked her. “It really was you, wasn’t it? I shall look into that later. Where is the prototype?”
“That remains a mystery. It may well be that the two of them are plotting something very serious.”
“Find them, and be quick about it!”
“Oh, you can leave that to me,” the duchess said, and a split second before fading she smiled.
“That vixen’s plotting something,” Greylancer growled.
But no sooner had the Nobleman said that than a gigantic form surpassing even his suddenly appeared up ahead. “Oh?!” he exclaimed, and in his surprise he was too slow in reaching for his long spear where it lay on the floor.
One of the prototype’s hands gripped a longsword that was most definitely slashing down at the top of Greylancer’s head.
Sparks flew. The blade that’d made a horizontal thrust to lock with the other longsword was in D’s grip. Drawn with ungodly speed, the weapon then went on to pierce the prototype’s chest so rapidly even Greylancer’s eyes couldn’t follow it.
At the same time, crimson sparks erupted in front of the pair. Greylancer’s force field had protected them from a particle beam fired from a weapon in one of their foe’s other hands. However, it also prevented D from counterattacking. The instant his blade flashed out for a second strike, the strange figure standing there melted away into thin air.
“It fled?” Greylancer said, turning to look at D only for an instant. His manly grin skimmed across D’s eyes before fading. “It would seem I’m in your debt now,” the Nobleman continued.
Naturally, there was no reply. Instead, the Hunter said, “Where did it go?”
Greylancer shook his head. “I don’t know. Most likely to the same place U-taker went.”
“Should we go back to the duchess?”
“I can’t control the teleportation device. But do you think she set this all up?”
“Probably. Can you think of any other possibility?”
“Toward what end?”
“The purpose this facility serves,” D replied.
“To make a new form of life, one that is neither Noble nor human?”
“Do you have data on humans?”
“Indeed, we do.”
“How does that compare to living humans?”
“Well,” said Greylancer, “flesh with blood pumping through it would give the very best results.”
“One of them vanished from the village above us.”
“What?” Greylancer exclaimed, a terrible light in his eyes.
“Apparently you didn’t know about that, did you?”
“I swear on the Sacred Ancestor’s good name. I knew that human specimens would be the best, and that was what the duchess desired. However, I didn’t suspect she’d actually got her hands on—”
“You let your guard down too easily.”
“Don’t say that,” the giant replied, scratching his head. It was such a typically human affectation, it seemed incredibly endearing. “At any rate, let’s head back.”
The two of them went down the corridor and came to an elevator. Its doors remained closed.
“They won’t budge—what’s that bitch up to?”
“Now we’re the ones who are an obstacle to her.”
Greylancer stared at D. The Hunter had struck at the very heart of the matter.
“She has a chance to combine all three species,” D continued. “I doubt she’ll let it go to waste. And we intend to stop that from happening.”
“Wait just a moment. I—” Greylancer protested.
“The prototype was clearly after you. Even if that was of its own volition, the fact that it appeared right in front of you was probably the duchess’s doing.”
“So, she wanted to remove one of her obstacles? Hmm, we’ve known each other for a long time, but I may have worn out my welcome, as the saying goes,” Greylancer said with a grin, rubbing his boulder-like jaw. It was the way someone smiled after drinking something awfully bitter. While perhaps not in the same way as D, the Greater Nobleman had surely lived an intense life. “However, if that’s the case, things become somewhat more complicated. No one but the duchess herself knows each and every nook and cranny of this facility.”
“Do you know the general layout?”
“Yes, more or less.”
“Then show me the way to where the genetic experiments are done.”
“A simple enough request—normally,” Greylancer replied, a world-beating glint in his eye, and a sad smile, wholly unlike his earlier grin, skimming across his lips.
The Nobleman was enjoying this. And he was looking forward to the mountains of corpses and rivers of blood he and D were going to leave in their wake.
“Unit after unit of soldiers from the facility’s slumbering peacekeeping forces will be activated,” he continued. “And there’s no way to reach the laboratory without plowing headlong through the area where they’ll be lying in wait.”
“And you object to with going with me?”
“No, it’s an honor.”
Greylancer swung his long spear. The roaring wind from it tousled D’s hair, but the inhumanly beautiful face it framed wore a smile. It was the sort of smile to make any who saw want to brag for the rest of their lives that they’d been the one to put it there.
As Greylancer was enraptured, D said to him, “Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
An hour had passed since the others had buried the pair. The world outside was crammed full of rain and darkness.
Is D not coming back? That was the thought that held sway in every mind in the group. But strangely enough, not one of them gave voice to it. For they all knew that his return would be an impossible stroke of luck.
Despite the fact that fear and worry seemed ready to split th
em open from the inside, a certain kind of quiet and composure hung in the living room. In a manner of speaking, in the face of certain death, they’d had a small taste of hope.
“Quiet, isn’t it?” Arbuckle said from where he sat in an armchair, looking at the clock on the wall. Even now it kept time correctly. “A little more than three hours till daybreak. That sure is a long time.”
“It’ll be here before you know it,” Bligh replied.
Josette, who’d been there silently stroking the barrel of her weapon, said, “You’re really determined to make it out of here alive, aren’t you? Have you got someone waiting for you out there?”
The roughneck nodded. “Yeah, I’ve got about a hundred favorite gals out there. Ain’t you worried about your hubby, lady?”
“Oddly, no.”
“Lady, you’re a cold one.”
“Yes, I’m sure I am,” Josette replied, not seeming the least bit angry, and she let her eyes wander through space. “He taught me how to be a warrior at heart. As he used to say, Don’t trust other people. Use anyone, even a child, as a shield. Always stash enough food and weapons for yourself somewhere on the battlefield. If you think you’re going to lose, even if everyone around you is ready to fight to the death, run for it. You can’t fight if you don’t survive—all these despicable notions, right? There was only one that I actually liked. Tell yourself you’re going to die alone.”
Bligh shut his eyes, while Beth gazed intently at Josette’s profile from her seat on the sofa. Arbuckle was fidgeting with his pocket watch.
“That’s a good thought to keep in mind,” Bligh said, his tone like that of a mannequin.
Just then, Beth got up and left the living room. Probably to use the bathroom. She’d been gone less than thirty seconds when a scream pierced the air.
“I’ll check it out. Stay here!” Josette cried out, going after her.
Create a disturbance out back, then hit them from the front—a diversionary tactic. At times, the Nobility’s strategies were remarkably simple.
Josette soon came back, pushing Beth along as she did.
“It was a bat—a bat-monster!” Beth kept repeating, slumping down on the sofa. “I saw it through the window . . . It was so big . . . like a human with wings . . . Only . . . Only, the face . . . It was Emily!”
Josette wrapped her arms around the girl’s trembling form.
II
“Duty calls, Doctor!”
Arbuckle came over, bag in hand. Expertly checking the girl’s pulse, he then put his hand against her brow to see if she was feverish.
“No need to worry. She’s just in a slight state of shock. I’ll give her a shot to relax her. Okay, get that sleeve rolled up.”
Pulling a needle and syringe from his bag, Arbuckle filled it with medicine from a bottle, got the air out, and quickly jabbed it into Beth’s arm. Beth made a little face when he pulled the needle out again, then pressed a cotton swab soaked in alcohol to the mark it left.
“So, you really were a doctor, weren’t you?” Josette said, her tone making it painfully clear how impressed she was.
“Well, after a fashion. I come from a long line of physicians.”
“That crest on your bag—I’ve seen it somewhere before. Oh, that’s right. Sutton Creek, in the southern Frontier. Isn’t that the McCanles family’s—”
“This is just something I won in a card game a long time ago.”
Stowing his things in the bag and shutting the flap, Arbuckle once again took the pulse of Beth, who was lying down. Barely open eyes looked up at him vacantly.
“It’s kind of ironic. You save a girl’s life, but still have to cart her off to hell.” Josette was probably referring to Emily. “Why couldn’t you have stayed a doctor?”
“On account of gambling and drinking—and women,” Bligh said from over by the window.
Arbuckle replied indignantly, “Keep your remarks to yourself, will you?”
“But I’m right on the mark, ain’t I?” he chortled. “A flesh peddler playing at being a doctor is just too damn funny. But if you don’t hurry up and settle on one of the two, you’re gonna find that chasing both brings you to a bad end.”
Anger tinged Arbuckle’s face red. He banged his right wrist against his thigh, and a little concealed gun shot from his shirtsleeve into the palm of his hand. The hammer was cocked.
“Stop!” Josette shouted, but before she’d even finished, both the top and bottom barrels of the little gun belched fire.
At the same time, the window next to Bligh shattered into a million pieces. But not from the pistol’s shots. Those were right on target. They’d gone right through the heart of the winged figure that’d just burst through the windowpane.
“Everyone, down!” Arbuckle shouted, firing a second volley as he dashed toward Beth.
Bligh stood there defiantly with his back to them facing a thing that actually had Jan’s face. In fact, it had his body as well. The only thing that’d changed was that he now had wings growing out of his back.
“They’ve undergone some sort of reconstructive surgery!” Arbuckle shouted as he stuffed bullets into his concealed weapon.
Having taken two hits—and with the resulting small-caliber bullet holes in both the right and left sides of its chest—the monster that’d once been Jan still flew effortlessly into the air. But a terrible force then honeycombed his body. When his body dropped to the floor along with mortar and chunks of the ceiling, it looked just like a battered old rag—but it recovered swiftly enough.
“Rest in peace, creep!” Bligh bellowed, charging forward.
Josette’s attack had done no more than halt the demon briefly. Its accursed heart was only a weakness when pierced by the legendary weapon of antiquity. The short spear was driven deep into him, but with an anguish-twisted expression Jan pulled it out again. And Bligh, who still gripped the shaft of it, was sent flying with a single swing of the spear.
“You must’ve missed,” Beth cried as she raced over to where Bligh had smashed into the wall, snatching the short spear from his hands.
Jan turned around. The fingers he held poised before his chest were curved like gaff hooks. He bent his knees, preparing to launch himself into the air once more, but Beth barreled straight at his chest. As Jan arched backward, he spat up blood. The head of the spear had gone right through the middle of his heart and was poking out of his back.
Once Beth stepped away, Jan took hold of the short spear with both hands. Though he put his strength into it, he couldn’t pull it out. Trying to take a breath, Jan only made a sound like the croaking of a frog, then fell face-down on the floor.
“Just as I thought—they were bitten after all,” Bligh said, mopping the sweat from his brow. “Where’s Emily?”
Josette looked all around. Hers was a cold gaze. To her, the cute girl was just someone to be slaughtered now.
“Someone must’ve turned the two of them into servants of the Nobility,” Arbuckle said, putting his hand to his chest.
“Damn it all. Wish they’d just come right at us instead of pulling this underhanded bullshit. I’d put down the lot of ’em!”
Bligh’s shouts bounced off the ceiling and walls before fading away.
A dark sense of fatigue enveloped them all.
As if to shake off the gloom, Josette looked at Beth and said, “You did good, you know.” She was referring to the way the girl had destroyed Jan. “Right through the heart with a single thrust—even for pros, that’s no easy thing to pull off.”
“I wasn’t even thinking,” Beth replied, trembling from head to toe. Sweat dripped down on her knees like a faint drizzle.
“Hold onto that spear. It might come in handy again.” Josette turned her gaze to the world beyond the window, adding, “Sure is a long night, isn’t it?”
The sound of the rain swallowed her words.
Beth’s head suddenly slumped forward.
Josette had noticed an intense sleepiness sweeping over her. This i
s bad. They must be behind this . . .
Her consciousness swayed wildly. If it gave way, the darkness would ride in. And the Nobility and their servants would be at the reins.
“Can’t fall sleep. Just can’t.”
There was no one there to wake Josette up when she fell to the floor. Both the men were slumped back against the wall, breathing easily in their sleep.
A figure was visible through the windowpane.
Beth got to her feet. A blank look on her face, she seemed like a different person. Going over to the window without a sound, she touched her finger lightly to the lock, undoing it.
In came Emily, accompanied by the sound of the rain.
All three of those abducted by the Nobility had been bitten and made their servants. Beth had probably slain Jan in order to earn the others’ trust.
Looking down at their former compatriots, now helpless captives of the sandman, the two girls shared a grin. They were the sort of smiles to make anyone’s hair stand on end.
“Who do you want to feed on?” Emily inquired.
“You can choose first,” said Beth. “You’ve been hard at work out there in the rain. Take your pick. It was unfortunate about your lover, but please don’t hold it against me.”
“Don’t worry about him. When we were human, I had the worst time trying to keep him from cheating on me. Got so depressed I tried to kill myself more than once. Before we were made like this, the thought of being stuck with him disgusted me, but now I’m finally free of him. Are you sure you don’t mind me choosing who I want, though?”
Beth nodded in response to Emily’s query.
Two pairs of eyes, which at some point had begun to give off blood light, concentrated their gaze on the two men and one woman.
“Well, I really do like my men young,” Emily said, licking her lips. No trace remained of the cute sweetheart she’d been before. Now she wore the face of a blood-starved demon.
Quickly squatting down beside Bligh, she pulled back his collar. Tilting his head to one side, she exposed his carotid artery. The sight of the blue blood vessel running beneath his suntanned skin made Emily swallow hard.
Vampire Hunter D Volume 27 Page 13
