It was a hallucination, something that couldn’t exist in the world. However, the way the wind snarled in his ear, how his hair and the hem of his coat streamed up behind him, and more than anything, the feeling that he was dropping at a velocity of nearly two hundred miles per hour didn’t seem to be a lie.
“A hell of stroll this turned out to be,” remarked a wind-tattered voice. “If we slam into the ground at this speed, we really will be smashed flat as a pancake. Tell yourself none of this is real. Eep!”
Returning his balled fist to the reins, D continued to fall.
The black earth grew closer. They were falling at more than three hundred miles per hour toward the ground.
D was suddenly standing on the road in the forest in the same spot where he’d started. He surveyed his surroundings. Something that wasn’t quite blood and not quite oil had been splashed all over the road and the bushes. The fragments spread far and wide in all directions were pieces of his cyborg horse. His mount hadn’t been able to escape his foe’s psychological attack.
D started to walk without saying a word. Before he’d gone a hundred yards, his surroundings were enveloped by white light. The fact that the light wasn’t artificial became clear when D was involuntarily driven to his knees. Natural light—yet it shone with a hundred times the brilliance of the sun at high noon.
“A land of light in the forest of darkness—now this is the very essence of Lord Johann’s magic,” a malice-choked voice called down from the heavens. The old man’s ragged breathing was a vivid testament to the gravity of the wound D had dealt him.
“The Noble blood that flows in a dhampir won’t allow him to escape the light. How will you get out of this, Vampire Hunter?” the voice said from the direction of the light.
Although D sent a needle of rough wood flying in that direction, the only result was a burst of scornful laughter.
“At a loss, Hunter? If that’s the best you can do, it’ll be my turn now. Here!”
The ring of dazzling light took on an added glint. Countless steel arrows assailed D, and were in turn sent flying by his longsword. However, every last one of them turned into an arrow-shaped scrap of paper. Actually, the scraps of paper had been fluttering down gently, but Lord Johann’s fearsome art had made it seem to D that they moved with the speed of real arrows.
An instant later, D was pierced through the back and out the solar plexus by a short spear. Roasting in the sunlight and with all his nerves focused on the false attack, the Hunter hadn’t been able to fend off that blow.
“The secret of magic is to draw their attention with a deception in the right hand while the real trick is being done with the left,” Lord Johann said with a mighty laugh. “Can you see through my grand trick, Hunter?”
His laughter was cut short by the sound of something knifing through the wind. A streak of black lightning had shot to the sky from D’s right hand. Extracting the short spear that impaled him in a flash, he’d hurled it in the direction opposite the voice—into the treetops off to his right. The leaves shook with the crash of breaking glass, and a cry of surprise rang out. Simultaneously, the prison of light that’d restricted D’s movements suddenly disappeared.
“Can you see through Lord Johann’s magic, D?”
A needle of unfinished wood flew off toward where that shout had originated, and once again, a scream of pain was heard. Glittering fragments rained down from the treetops, and deep red blood dripped down on their glassy surface.
D raised his sword with his right hand. His foe hadn’t been fatally wounded yet.
The mechanical groan that was heard next only proved the accuracy of the Hunter’s assessment. From the region where the short spear and wooden needle had vanished, a flying machine descended like a bird with wings spread, and at its center—through the round glass window of what was apparently the cockpit—Lord Johann and his flowing beard could be seen. He had a black handkerchief pressed to one eye.
“We shall meet again, my fearsome Hunter. I have to repay you for what you’ve done to my eye. Remember that.”
The black wings beat clumsily and the device began to rise, disappearing between the branches with a speed unimaginable from its stocky form. There was the sound of trees breaking, and after a few branches dropped like parting gifts, all other noise ceased.
Sheathing his blade, D turned his gaze toward the countless glittering bits spread out a short distance from him before leaving. Not merely shards of glass, they reflected the stand of trees as sharply as a mirror. It must’ve been how the magician had magnified the scant sunlight to restrict D’s movements, and made scraps of paper seem like arrows to the Hunter. Although it was said that the simpler the trick, the more effective it was, the effects Lord Johann was able to achieve bordered on sorcery.
Before walking back out of the forest, D wiped his lips with one hand. As he rubbed the blood from the back of his hand off on his coat, his eyes burned red. The blood that flowed back into his lungs from the short spear wound had given the dhampir the strength he needed to escape the mysterious bonds of sunlight.
__
D returned to the boulder that concealed Baron Balazs.
Your spirit is in disarray, the wind said in the baron’s voice. I take it from that you were less than successful.
“I’ll go back first. You can come once the sun has set.”
D began to walk away.
They’ve taken a hostage. I’m sure they’ll be in touch soon. However, I’d like you to hold off on taking any action until I’ve returned.
“Very well,” the beautiful black shadow said as he walked away in the sunlight.
__
On top of a hill quite some distance away, the black insectlike flyer came down for a landing.
In the shadow cast by the craft, a youthful voice said, “The attacker became the attacked, as expected.” The tone was one of both understanding and contempt.
“He truly is something,” Lord Johann replied. “Exposed to sunlight like that and impaled by a spear, and he still lived. I’m sure he’ll recover quickly, too. However, my eye will never see again, and the wound to my abdomen shall take some time. It would seem the price was too dear.”
“Which is exactly why I offered to help you. Last night, you were the one that approached me.”
“I wanted to see what D was capable of with my own eyes. No matter how skilled an opponent he might prove, I was confident I would come back unharmed and dispose of him later. To be honest, it was my intention to enlist your aid at that time. This isn’t something that can be done by conventional means, you know. He is neither a regular Vampire Hunter nor your average dhampir.”
“Certainly not. And Baron Balazs is also formidable.”
“I’ll get right on coming up with the next plan. This time, I’ll take special care to see to it I don’t fail. You go back and join the others.”
“I’d have done that anyway. But when you contact me, do so secretly, Lord Johann.”
“Not to worry. And for your part, see to it no one learns that you’ve joined forces with me.”
“Nothing to worry about there. The mere thought of how great the reward will be without them getting a cut is enough to keep me from allowing even the tiniest slip-up. All so that we can dispose of that meddling Hunter and get rid of Baron Balazs.”
And then one portion of the shadows broke away from the rest and left the wind swirling in its wake as it dashed down the hill.
__
When D returned without the boy, a small storm of panic blew through the camp.
“Where’s Hugh?” May muttered absentmindedly.
“He was abducted,” D told her bluntly. He wasn’t the sort of man to offer a softened explanation of the facts.
The girl’s eyes swam with tears.
“Why—why didn’t you go look for him? Who took him?”
“I know who it was. I’ll get him back.”
“What if . . . they kill him first?”
“No one abducts someone just to kill them,” the Hunter replied.
Suddenly, May launched herself at D. Her hands pounded relentlessly against his broad chest.
“You left Hugh back there! He’s my one and only brother! My mother and father were both killed because of the Nobility, and Hugh’ll be killed, too! The Nobility are our enemy! They’re murderers! Half of your blood is the same as theirs. That’s why you could leave him out there to die!”
Her little fists struck his coat time and again, bouncing off it each time. But even though her fists sprung back, May kept hitting him. It was as if making this gorgeous young man feel pain would somehow bring Hugh back to her. She didn’t care if her hands broke; she wouldn’t quit. Her breathing was ragged, her hands weak as she raised them. Nevertheless, she went on pummeling him. As her swollen hands relayed the dull pain, May’s face twisted in agony.
Fingers like steel took hold of her wrists, and it finally dawned on the girl what an incredibly foolish thing she’d done.
“Hit me any more and we’ll be looking at some broken bones. Namely, mine.”
The instant she met the gorgeous visage peering down at her like an icy blossom with dark eyes, May rapidly lost all her strength. She knew she couldn’t do anything to D. She also knew that D’s words were a lie. And she understood for exactly whose benefit he’d feigned this weakness.
The next thing to hit D’s chest was May’s upper body. Both arms hanging by her sides as she leaned against that powerful physique, the girl did the last thing she could for her younger brother. She began to cry in a loud voice. Her voice traveled around the clearing only to be swallowed by the stands of trees and sunlight, but still she kept crying.
And then May unexpectedly pulled away from the Hunter and ran off into the trees without a backward glance.
As D quietly watched her go, a teasing voice asked him, “Are you not going to follow her?”
The voice drifted from the white carriage to D’s rear—from Miska.
“No, there’s no point in chasing her,” the Noblewoman continued. “The girl’s heart seethes with hatred for you and thoughts of her brother. You’d best take care she doesn’t slit your throat while you slumber. Noble and human—and held in disdain by both races because of the two kinds of blood that flow in your veins—that is a fitting fate for the half-breeds we call dhampirs. Oh, I do believe I’m beginning to grow a bit fond of that lass—”
The Noblewoman’s words ceased there.
As if frightened by something, her team of white horses reared up on their hind legs and whinnied fiercely. The horses and carriage had been enveloped by a ghastly aura that defied description.
The one emitting that aura had a hard gaze trained in the direction May had disappeared, but he suddenly turned to the right.
Taki had just come out of the woods. Apparently preparing to make camp, she had a huge pile of dead wood in her arms. The reason she’d frozen in place before he even saw her was undoubtedly because Taki had been baptized by his unearthly aura.
Perhaps deducing the situation, the young woman said, “You didn’t find Hugh, did you?”
“No. May’s in the woods over that way.”
“I see. I’ll go find her.”
Dropping the firewood at her feet and dusting herself off, she then took two or three steps before she turned around again. It took a while for the firm, straight bar of her lips to open.
“D—If something happens to Hugh, I know it won’t be your fault, but I’m sure I’ll hate you for it too. You and those two Nobles.”
After Taki dashed away, only the young man in black was left in the clearing that swam in the white sunlight. His stern face was beautiful to the point of violence, looking as if solitude and all other worldly matters and every human emotion from grief on down had no bearing on him.
__
II
__
Soon after the sun went down the baron returned.
“So, you haven’t found the child?” he asked.
May and Taki were by the side of the campfire, gazing vacantly into the flames.
“We’re setting out,” D said from where he leaned back against a tree. A cyborg horse was by his side. He’d gone back to town to procure it.
“This is a rather abrupt departure,” the baron said, turning a pained gaze in May’s direction. “Let’s take another day to search for the child.”
Neither Taki nor even May could keep the surprise from showing on their faces as they stared at the Noble who’d just shattered their preconceptions.
“There are no objections to that, I take it?” he said as he turned to D, and then there was the dry whistle of dead wood and a white needle stuck in the ground at the Nobleman’s feet. There was a note of some sort attached to it.
Pulling it off, the baron read it.
Continue your journey. The child will show up along the way.
“Who left this, and when?”
“A white rabbit carried it here around noontime.”
The speechless baron gazed at D.
“It’s true,” said Taki. “It stuck it on the door of the carriage—and stood up on two legs to do it! When D put a needle through it, it exploded.”
“I suppose you can’t have a magician without rabbits,” the baron remarked with a wry smile. “In that case, we had best proceed. But before we do—”
Perhaps the baron noticed the swish of fabric to his rear. Miska’s white dress had a hazy glow, as if it were a thin fog that shrouded her.
“Have you had any problems?”
“You needn’t worry on my account. I am the very picture of health,” the beautiful woman said with a smile. Even a human out for her blood would’ve been left disarmed by her allure.
Although her air was the same as always, the baron’s brow crinkled slightly, as if he sensed something.
“That’s fine, then. What I said still stands. We leave immediately.”
“For the child’s sake?” Miska asked, eyes wide with feigned disbelief. “Is your travel itinerary to be determined by the life of a human child?”
“Do you have a problem with that?”
“Don’t be absurd. I owe you my life. I wouldn’t think for a moment of questioning your wisdom.”
“Then return to your carriage. A journey by night can be a pleasure, too.”
“One thing first,” said the Hunter.
His remark paralyzed everyone—and even made the flames seem to freeze.
“What is it?”
The baron looked at D, and then quickly stared at Miska. He was following D’s gaze.
“Last night, there was a sizable explosion,” D said, his gaze still locked on Miska. “And you alone were on the scene. The surrounding air hadn’t been disturbed in the least. Such a phenomenon is impossible. What did you see?”
Miska laid the four fingers of one hand across her lips to hide a silent laugh, replying, “Is this somewhere where impossible phenomena occur? Spare me your foolish chatter. I shall overlook it as the nonsensical ramblings of a half-breed.”
As she turned to walk back to her carriage, her sensuous figure froze as if nailed to the ground.
Everyone felt the swirling vortex of unearthly and overwhelming energy that bound the Noblewoman and the gorgeous Vampire Hunter. The vortex would consume one of them . . . and what would happen then? Would it be D or Miska? The unsettling aura narrowed and tightened. At that moment, it was neither density nor intensity the aura required of them. It was will—pure, crystallized focus. The vortex grew taut between D and Miska.
Just then, the baron’s blue cape spread out as he shouted, “Stop it!”
The torrent of ghastly energy was sent flying by his cry.
Somewhere, insects chirped.
“If you take this any further, one of you will get hurt,” the baron said as he looked at one, then the other. “As a fellow Noble, I can’t very well allow a lady to be harmed. And I would be in quite a predicament if I were to lose such a
n excellent bodyguard. Allow me to intercede.”
“From what I saw, your fate may depend on this too,” said D. Needless to say, he was talking to the baron. “Nothing could be more dangerous than traveling with someone who’s become part of some unknown entity.”
“I don’t believe the degree of danger is something I’ve been too worried about in my journeys. And I don’t suppose you have, either,” the baron said with a smile. “If I were to insist that she accompany me, would you quit?”
“You’re the boss.”
“In that case, I believe I’ll exercise that privilege. Both of you return to the carriages. We’ll address D’s concerns at another time,” the baron declared in a firm tone.
__
The dark of night was split by the wind.
The road wasn’t exactly flat. With D speeding ahead on horseback, the two carriages were jostled up and down, throwing up dark earth and dust. But inside, they remained perfectly tranquil.
“Do you think Miska’s been possessed by something?” the baron asked in a low voice from the driver’s seat.
“Probably, back at the Talos arsenal. Maybe by the Destroyer,” D replied.
While the echo of hoofbeats and wheels obliterated the pair’s conversation, the words reached their ears softly and clearly.
“We checked her out.”
“We have no way of knowing what knowledge they possessed in ancient times.”
“It certainly is dangerous beyond all measure. And yet knowing that, you’ll accompany us, Vampire Hunter ‘D’? You certainly appear confident.”
“This is my job.”
“Do you know no fear?”
There was no reply to that. Instead, the Hunter said, “At this rate, we’ll reach the village of Diemli in less than three hours. It’s a ghost town, so we’ll blow right through it. We’ll probably see the village of Corma by dawn.”
“Which of them will have our foes?”
Vampire Hunter D: Pale Fallen Angel Parts One and Two Page 16
