Vampire Hunter D: Pale Fallen Angel Parts Three and Four (15 page)

Neither Lagoon nor the doctor could speak.

“So . . . it's just as I suspected,” Lagoon said after a little while, his face lit up with a childlike delight. “Now, after thirty long years, a man has finally come along that I can tell my secret to. I'm glad. So glad I could cry.”

The man's emotion was obviously rooted deep in his personal experience. Yet he had to choose his audience carefully.

“Let's hear your story,” said a steely voice.

Apparently understanding, Lagoon gave a nod, then set right to his explanation.

“When I met him, the big guy seemed to be all wrapped up in certain experiments. After one look at me, this is what he told me:
I want your seed. To fertilize Noblewomen and create a new form of life!
”

-

I

-

The chaos of the situation kept growing. And at the end, drawing cold breaths, naught but death waited. No, not death, but annihilation. Even Miska and Vince—both of whom housed the Destroyer—could only stare at him in amazement. A ghastly aura slapped them and de Carriole across the face.

“Kindly step back, milord Balazs.”

The hand that came to rest on his shoulder to push him back was tossed off by a single shake from the Baron, following which de Carriole pedaled backward eight or ten feet in a kind of bizarre dance before finally coming to a halt.

“De Carriole,” someone called out.

“Yes?” he replied, but he hesitated a few seconds because de Carriole himself knew that the person to whom that voice belonged couldn't be there. The voice was like that of a ghost rising from the depths of earth.

“De Carriole . . . who are these two?” the baron continued.

“You mustn't go near them, milord Balazs. Each carries within them the Destroyer.”

“The Destroyer . . .”

The baron's gaze seemed to bore right through Miska and Vince.

“I was defeated . . . by Lord Vlad. I could never beat him . . . as things now stand . . . And there is no shame in that . . . but my ambitions shall remain unfulfilled . . . in the end.” But in that wraithlike voice he added, “And this Destroyer . . . might it prevail? Over Vlad?”

“Good question,” de Carriole answered reflexively, and then he numbed with shock.

The baron's intent had dawned on him.

“How about it?”

“Well . . .”

“De Carriole!”

Realizing he was beaten, the aged scientist replied, “I can't say for certain that it would win. The odds are fifty-fifty, I'd say.”

The baron walked forward intently.

“These two—either one will do. Take the Destroyer out of one of their bodies and give it to me.”

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 upon 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.