Vampire Hunter D: Dark Nocturne (3 page)

Ry didn't move. There was something about the figure that was even more dangerous than the trio he'd encountered the previous night. Suddenly, it occurred to him that the rider who'd saved him in the forest might be this very same man.

A spring breeze stroked the end of his nose. As if that harmless sign was a declaration of war, the figure in black made a leap. Looking like darkness coalesced, the figure sent flecks of light flying everywhere.

The roof of the warehouse off to his right was ten feet high. At the top of it, Ry saw a silvery flash. There were two simultaneous thuds, and a brief cry of pain rang out. Ry then watched something red fly off at an angle and strike the ground.

“We'll meet again!” a voice he'd heard before shouted in apparent pain from somewhere in the heavens.

Ry ran out into the middle of the road. The spell over him had broken. As he was looking up, the figure in black landed right in front of him without a sound. The young traveler was once more thrown into a hopeless daze. Could a human face possibly be this beautiful? He had to wonder if he weren't perhaps still in the forest, and all of this was a dream.

“It looks like you made it out okay,” said the man.

Although that was hardly what someone fresh from a deadly conflict would be expected to say, Ry seemed free from such concerns as he nodded. “Thanks for what you did last night,” he said with bowed head. “That character just now—was he one of them . . . ?”

“Apparently they hold a grudge. You'd do well to watch yourself.”

“I will,” the young man said, adding, “Um, I'm Ry.”

“Call me D,” said the youth in black, brilliant bits of gold dancing all around him.

 

I

__

Just then, the squeak of wheels came from the far end of the street.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Amne said from the driver's seat of the wagon as she pulled up beside the two of them, and then her eyes went wide. Her whole body, not just her cheeks, seemed to blush like a rose.

“Who's he?” the girl asked in a tone that could only be described as childlike.

“This is Mister D. He happened to help me out last night.”

“You don't say.”

“Where are you going?” D asked bluntly.

“There's one of the Nobility's mansions up ahead. Aside from that, there's nothing to see around here,” Ry said, his tone growing more familiar.

“In that case, give me a lift.”

“Huh?” Ry said, raising his eyebrow. Anxiety had suddenly taken root in him. Although he frantically sought a reason for this, his mind encountered only an amorphous darkness.

“Be my guest,” said Amne, gesturing to the seat beside her own somewhat absent-mindedly. Not only had she readily agreed, but she seemed to be in a trance. To a girl of seventeen, D's beauty must've been a drug.

“That's your seat,” D said, tapping the boy on the shoulder.

“But I thought—”

As he pushed Ry into the seat next to hers before he could say another word, Amne showed her teeth. She was a straightforward girl.

Once D had climbed into the cargo bed in back and the vehicle's unseemly trio of pistons began pumping up and down, the wagon started splashing through the mud puddles at a relaxed pace.

When Amne faced forward again, she let out a shriek and pointed at the ground. “That thing over there—it's a hand!” she exclaimed.

Although the black earth didn't make it too obvious, there certainly was a right arm taken off at the elbow lying in a pool of blood—and the piece of uniform on it was something Ry would never mistake.

After the wagon had left the village and run along the road for a while, it began to climb a slope.

“What the hell are those guys?” Ry asked D, who hadn't said a thing since they'd set out. The boy had held his tongue because he was engulfed by D's aura, and also because the role of the simple traveler he'd assumed required that he avoid anything related to that song.

“Itinerant warriors. All of them are quite skilled,” D replied softly.

“You mean to tell me you've already fought them?” Ry asked as the incredible sights of the night before skimmed through his brain. Although he knew nothing of the blond youth, he'd seen one of his compatriots slice a snake to bits with a single stroke of his hand, and watched another swallow a massive serpent. What's more, based on the brawl a short while ago, the same individual was apparently capable of vanishing completely. These abilities put them far beyond any warriors Ry had ever known. And yet the man that was with him right now had fought them off with ease. Ry became terribly excited.

“Hey, who are these ‘guys' you're talking about?” said Amne as she worked the steering wheel. The girl was a veritable mass of curiosity.

“A trio that attacked me. He just told you they were warriors.”

“Well, they're in the village, you know,” Amne said, taking no notice of the surprise on Ry's face. “They're staying at the merchant inn. There was a note posted on the message board that said ‘Swords for Hire.' There've been bandits around the village recently, so the mayor will probably hire them. If they're any good, that is.”

And then, in a strangely self-conscious manner, the girl asked, “And, um—what is it that
you
do?”

“I'm a Hunter,” D replied succinctly.

“A Hunter? You don't mean to tell me you're a Vampire Hunter? That is so cool!” Amne said, looking back at him.

By the age of seventeen or eighteen, most people had a better understanding of what Hunters were really like, but this girl seemed to be an exception. But, it was certainly true that the relatively rare Vampire Hunters were regarded with a reverence not afforded other monster-slaying experts.

“In that case, you could take care of those three, no sweat. Even if the Nobility have returned to the mansion, there won't be any problem.”

“They've returned, you say?” asked D.

“That's the rumor. Almost twenty years ago—” Ry began, recounting the tale exactly as Amne had told it to him. D listened without saying a word, but then he suddenly turned his gaze forward. Following his lead, Ry let a gasp escape.

Nestled in the sea of green into which the narrow road dissolved was a magnificent mansion that could almost be mistaken for a palace.

“What's the matter, haven't you ever seen one before?” Amne teased, but the boy didn't even seem to notice.

The closest of the Nobility's castles was still a hundred miles or more from Ry's village—no small distance. While he'd heard vile tales about them before bedtime, he'd never actually seen a real Noble. What's more, there was the matter of the song.

“Are there any victims of the Nobility left in your village?” asked D.

“Don't make me laugh! They were all disposed of. I'm sure it's the same everywhere.”

“That's not necessarily the case. When someone didn't completely become
one of them
, there have been cases where their family took pity on them and kept them hidden and locked in the basement.

“That's revolting! In that case, what are they supposed to do after that? Victims who've progressed to a certain degree toward becoming Nobility stop aging. If their family died out, would those things just be left living alone in the basement till the end of time? I wonder what they'd do about food? Would hunger torment them for all eternity?”

“You just say whatever the hell you feel like, don't you?” Ry said, his voice laden with anger. “You can put down the Nobility all you like. But their victims are human, just like us. You could choose your words a little better.”

“What are you putting on airs for all of a sudden?! If you've been bitten once by the Nobility, you're one of them, and that's all there is to it. You're such a softy.”

Ry was disgusted. Was that all this girl who'd been so worked up about the whatever-it-was club at school had to say? She was far too callous.

“And you've spent too much time with your nose in books!”

“Oh, is that a fact?!”

After that, no one said anything and the three of them merely listened to the rumble of the engine.

The front gates grew closer.

“Stop here,” said D.

“Why? Aren't we going into the courtyard?”

“I heard a horse whinnying. It seems someone else has gotten here first.”

Ry and Amne looked at each other.

“You suppose it's those guys?” asked the boy.

The wagon stopped. D got out first, saying, “You'd better stay put.”

“But—” Ry protested.

“Those men are after you.”

“Oh, great! You mean to tell me there are people on your trail?”

“Put a cork in it.”

While the two of them were arguing, D raced over to the gate with his coat streaming out behind him. Pushing the rusted iron panel open, he entered the courtyard.

The garden where women in white dresses and men in black capes had come long ago to admire the elegance of the night was now laid bare to the light of the sun, leaving the ravages of time painfully displayed. Various spots around the white mansion that'd been destroyed must've been the work of villagers who'd slipped in after the Nobility had left.

D entered the vestibule. Its large door had collapsed.

“Welcome,” a youthful voice called down to him.

Quietly looking up, he found a golden light that danced on the landing directly ahead of him, where the two staircases leading to the second floor converged. Blond hair. The cold and youthful face it framed played host to a refined smile.

“Forgive our lack of manners last night. Seeing that you've made it out here, I take it Kurt must've been wounded.” The young man hadn't said his compatriot had been killed. His assessment was right on the mark.

“You got here fast,” said D.

“I flew. Oh, forgive me for not introducing myself earlier. I'm Price.”

“D.”

The way the young man's changed expression was a sight to see. His face suddenly filled with fear and regret—but he grinned then nevertheless. “The Vampire Hunter ‘D.' I should've realized as much the moment I first gazed on your beauty. It's an honor to meet you.”

“I've heard talk about you as well,” D said emotionlessly.

“Oh, really? What kind of things?”

“That you'd sign on for killing women and children so long as there was a paycheck in it for you. You're a real piece of work.”

Price was at a loss for an answer. Ordinarily those words were a condemnation, but when they came from D's lips, they could also be taken as a compliment.