Vampire Hunter D (13 page)

Doris was well aware the only thing that had saved her was the superb reflex of a trained Hunter. The average person would’ve had their throat torn open a few seconds ago. In her heart, she whispered thanks to her father. “It’s forty feet to the old lady. Guess this calls for a bit of trickery,” Doris muttered to herself. This dangerous gamble was her only choice. She had no idea what kind of misery her opponent could be causing with her spell.

Once again, her whip mowed through open air right toward the crone.

Slashing through the air, the spirit beast attacked Doris. At that moment, her whip snapped back. An instant later, she could feel something in the air rip in half. The air was suddenly flooded with a choking malevolence, but it dispersed quickly enough.

“Waagh!”

The scream that escaped the crone as she doubled over made Doris leap to her feet in the brush. Doris had drawn the spirit beast out by appearing to attack the crone, then used a flick of her wrist to turn the blow on the beast at the last possible second. Of course, if her timing had been off by a split second, Doris would have been the one to die.

Her suicidal gamble had paid off, but it had also had an unforeseen side effect. Because the crone had created the spirit beast with her own sorcery, the destruction of the beast meant a disturbance to her other spell as well. She invested the whole of her life force in performing that spell, and when it was broken, the crone’s black heart beat its last. It was at just that moment the outlandish creature bearing down on the last remaining FDF member vanished.

“Hey, lady! C’mon, snap out of it!” Doris raced over and took her in her arms, but the crone’s eyes showed dead white, foam spilled from her mouth, and the mortified look on her wrinkled features defied description. There was a pentagram branded on her forehead, the mark of a sorceress. “Oh, crap! This isn’t quite what I had in mind ... ” Though this was an evil sorceress, and her own actions had clearly been in self defense, the thought that she’d brought about the death of an old woman weighed heavily on Doris’ heart.

“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait here until I can come back. I’ve got serious business to attend to.”

Doris laid the corpse out on the ground, and was about to head back to her horse when she hesitated. She’d already decided that finding out whether or not D was okay was more important than bringing this corpse back to town. She’d come out here aware of all the risks that entailed.

Still, the dark body of the crone looked so terribly sad and forlorn stretched out on the ground. The wind tugged at the sleeves of her overcoat. And a corpse abandoned in the wilds was a tempting target for monsters. It would be bad enough to have them feasting on her, but if one of them
got inside her
that would be yet another threat to humanity. Even in broad daylight, there were probably some creatures around that might risk turning into a ball of flame to slink out and take possession of a corpse that hadn’t been disposed of properly.

Doris didn’t have any of the gear she’d need to take care of the body. She didn’t see a horse or wagon for the crone. On inspection, the inner pocket of the crone’s overcoat contained nothing aside from a few suspicious-looking trinkets.

Doris went back to the body and lifted it gently. “I don’t really think there are any critters to
take you over
out here, but I’m gonna bring you with me anyway. Of course, I can’t offer any guarantees we’ll make it back in one piece, either.”

Loading the corpse onto the horse behind the saddle, Doris used rawhide lacing to secure its arms and legs around the steed. That was to keep it from falling off, and just to be safe in the event something did possess it. Leave it to the daughter of a Hunter to be accustomed to this sort of work—she had the whole thing done in less than three minutes. Doris got in the saddle.
At any rate, I’ll make for the main road.

When her horse had gone but a few steps, Doris suddenly spun around. At the same moment, she heard a thunk as something heavy buzzed by at neck level. The decapitated head painted a gory parabola as it sailed through the air, and just before it hit the ground, its eyes snapped open. It bared its teeth. They were the eyes of a demon, and the foul fangs of one as well. It flew toward the person responsible for separating it from its body. Black lightning streaked from a mounted figure topping a hill quite some distance off. Split in two from forehead to chin, the crone’s head fell to the ground and moved no more.

Doris realized she’d had a very close call.

Right behind her was the decapitated corpse of the crone, frozen in place with its claws a heartbeat away from tearing into the girl’s throat. The snapped binding dangled from its wrists. An evil spirit had possessed the corpse before Doris had even touched it. The instant it snapped its bonds to attack Doris from behind, the figure on the distant hill had lopped the head off with consummate skill and speed.

Her horse gave a shake, and the headless corpse dropped to the ground. Doris finally turned to face her savior. “Oh, D, I was … ” An elated hue lit up her face, but it was gone all too soon.

While the figure coming down off the hill fresh from his graceful display of skill certainly had beauty on par with D, he was clearly someone else. “I can’t believe you picked up on that.” As he pulled up along side her on his horse, Rei-Ginsei smiled blindingly. He was referring to how she had sensed a strange presence, and turned around a split second before the possessed corpse attacked.

“That was nothing. It looks like I’m in your debt again. What kind of weapon did you use?”

Rei-Ginsei took a playfully surprised expression at her less than ladylike inquiry. “If you’ll forgive my saying so, judging by your clothing and that whip, you appear to be a Hunter.”

“My father was. I just sorta play at it,” Doris said without embarrassment or modesty, and then she smiled. She wasn’t entirely sure why, but her smile felt strangely forced.

Realizing that even after they’d exchanged civilities Doris’ eyes were not focused on his face but rather on his weapon-girt waist, the dashing youth smiled grimly.

“What brings you here of all places at this hour of the morning, sir? You been out on the road?”

“Yes, that’s it exactly.”

“In that case, you suppose you could bring this old lady’s body back into town for me? Normally I’d have to go and explain what happened to the sheriff, but the truth is, I’m kind of in a hurry.” Doris stopped her horse and proceeded to recount the entire incident.

Listening silently until the end, Rei-Ginsei then muttered, “I see now. So that’s what happened to it ... I can take care of the corpse for you. I shall see to it both are disposed of properly.”

“Both?” Doris knit her brow, but as the dashing youth’s carefree smile struck her, she reflected a smile of her own. “Okay, then. Thanks.”

As she was reining her horse around, her arm was grabbed from the side, drawing the lovely young woman into an embrace on horseback. The sweet aroma that lingered around his mouth wasn’t what she’d expect from any man.

“What the hell ...”

“I have saved your life, even though it meant slaying one of my four companions. Of course, you’re also quite beautiful. And then there’s the matter of your rescue yesterday. I hardly think anyone would blame me for taking a little compensation.”

“You’d better leave me alone, or else—”

“You’ve also seen something you shouldn’t have. We really can’t have you going into town and telling everyone about that. So you’ll have to die out here. Why don’t we just say I’m avenging my fallen comrade? Don’t put up such a fight. You’ll live a while longer. Until I’ve taken my pleasure, at least.” The dashing youth’s mouth locked over the virgin’s lips.

There was a gasp, and Rei-Ginsei quickly pulled back. He pressed his hand to his mouth, and blood spread across the back of it. A bite from Doris had torn his lips open.

“Don’t fuck with me! I’ve got someone I care about. I wouldn’t let a creep like you touch me!”

Her tone was awe inspiring. She thought Rei-Ginsei’s countenance would flush with anger, but he simply smiled. Only it wasn’t the charming smile that people couldn’t help but return. It was the satanic grin he’d worn on the main road.

Giving a shudder, Doris lashed her whip at the center of his face. Less than a foot and a half lay between them. It was really too close to swing the whip. And yet the swirl of black from the girl’s fist leapt right up at the youth’s dashing face. It was about to land there when it disappeared into the black streak of lightning shooting up from her foe’s waist. Rei-Ginsei’s skill in drawing his bizarre, v-shaped weapon—and slashing off the end of her whip in the blink of an eye—was truly miraculous. And yet, his face had none of the tension of a battle about to be joined, but rather held the same smile as before.

“Hyah!”