Tale of the Dead Town (6 page)

A flock of predatory birds was on the attack. Ordinarily, these vicious monsters flew
at altitudes of six thousand feet or more, and fed on the air beasts and flying jellyfish
that lived at that height, but, when food became scarce, they’d come closer to earth.
The larger ones had wingspans of over sixty feet. They could even carry off a giant
cyclops. But the most frightening thing about them was that they didn’t act alone,
but rather always attacked in flocks of dozens. To their starving eyes, the moving
town must’ve looked like one tremendous meal for the taking.

In the distance, the chatter of what sounded like machine-gun fire started. Streaks
of flame rose to meet the approaching shapes. A black curtain swiftly fell over the
streets. Around D, the stand of trees bent backward from the intense pressure of the
wind.

Giving a stomach-churning caw, a bird with a wingspan of over fifteen feet swooped
down like it was going to land right on top of D. Resembling a short horn, its beak
was filled with nail-like teeth. Between wings beating incessantly with gale-force
winds, clawed feet were visible. Three digits as thick as tree roots went for D, hoping
to catch him in their iron grip.

Silvery light flashed out. Though the Hunter’s blade only seemed to paint a single
arc, the colossal bird’s wings were both cut down the middle, and fresh blood gushed
from the creature’s throat. The water spouting from the fountain was instantly dyed
red. As D leapt away from the massive beast’s falling corpse, other talons reached
for him. Leaving only the crunch of severed bone in his wake, he slashed a gigantic
leg off at the root.

A shrill scream filled the air. D turned around. Under a slowly rising pair of wings
some fifteen feet away he saw a desperately struggling figure. It was a little girl
in a long skirt. D ran directly under her and her captor. His left hand went into
action. Leaving a white trail in its wake, the needle he hurled pierced the colossal
bird at the base of its throat. Giving a shriek, the creature stopped flapping its
wings and began losing altitude at an alarming rate.

A second later, D’s expression changed. In an instant everything around him was black,
as a hitherto unseen bird of prey with an enormous sixty-five-foot wingspan swooped
down on the bird that had the girl, sank its claws into the base of the other bird’s
back, and started to rise again. The monstrous bird flapped its wings, and a tremendous
shock wave hit the ground. Trees snapped, and the fountain’s geyser blew horizontally.
One after another, the window-panes of every house around the park shattered.

The hem of D’s coat shielded his face. Was that all it took to negate the gale-force
winds coming off the monstrous bird? Though the winds buffeted him, D’s posture didn’t
change in the least as he stood his ground. When the avian monstrosity lifted its
wings a second time, D kicked off the ground with incredible force. Flying almost
straight up, he rose over fifteen feet. His extended left hand latched onto the ankle
of the massive bird the other was carrying. Having taken a deadly blow to a vital
spot, the lower bird was already dead. And the girl it had captured had fainted. Using
his left hand as a fulcrum, D swung his body like a pendulum. In midair his coat opened
and, adjusting for wind resistance, D sailed skillfully onto the back of the larger
bird. The avian monstrosity roared. The harsh cry was not that of a bird, but of a
vicious carnivore.

Holding his sword-point down, D raised the weapon high above his head. All at once,
the wings of the monstrous bird swept back. Quivering, they gave off intense vibrational
waves. The bird-like monstrosity’s back became semitransparent. The agony of having
a needle driven through each and every cell in his body assailed the Hunter. D’s brow
knit ever so slightly. That was his only reaction. The longsword he swiftly brought
down pierced the monstrous bird right through the medulla oblongata.

A howl of pain shook the sky, and, when it ended, the breakup began. The creature’s
death throes must’ve turned the vibrations against its own anatomy, because every
last feather came out of its wings, and its skin and flesh cracked like drying clay.
In the blink of an eye, the monstrous bird of prey was reduced to numerous chunks
of meat spread across the sky.

All this took place at an altitude of six hundred and fifty feet. Together, D and
the little girl fell from the sky.

-

All told, it took the town two hours to fight off the birds of prey. Afterward, traces
of the battle remained. Bright blood ran down the streets, several buildings had their
roofs blown away by the wind pressure, and a boy who’d picked up a still-hot antiaircraft
shell cried out in pain. The faces of the people were unexpectedly bright. There had
been no fatalities. Hardly anyone had been wounded, either. A few people had received
minor cuts from glass blown out of the windows, but that was the extent of the injuries.
What’s more, the food situation in town had started to show signs of improvement.

The smaller birds of prey were being loaded onto carts and hauled away, while men
with axes and chainsaws gathered around the gigantic carcasses that filled the streets.
The whine of motors mixed with sounds of meat and bones being severed, and here and
there the stench of blood pervaded the town. In less than thirty minutes a huge bird
with a thirty-foot wingspan could be stripped down to the point it was no longer recognizable.
After all, man-eating birds were delicious, even to the very people they’d intended
to eat.

The town was bustling with activity. Carts were laden with piles of meat, viscera,
feathers, and bones to be hauled away. All of them would be sent to the factories
for chemical processing, with some of the meat being preserved and sent to warehouses
for storage. The rest would circulate to the butcher shops and turn up on dinner tables
this very night. In the factories waited men with various skills at their disposal.
Spears could be made from some of the bones, tendons and viscera could be used for
bowstrings, and the rest of the skeleton would be pulverized to make a paste to be
delivered to the hospital. Even the sharp fangs could be turned into accessories.
And the blood had its uses as well—trace amounts of it would probably be mixed in
juice or in their nightly drinks at the bar. The blood of birds of prey had been proven
to have an invigorating effect on humans.

Among all of the bustling activity, a mother suddenly noticed her daughter was missing.
Seeing her dashing all over town like a woman possessed as she called out the girl’s
name, other folks finally realized they hadn’t seen the woman’s only child anywhere.
As someone tried to soothe the half-crazed mother, one of her friends answered that
her daughter had been seen headed for the park. There was every reason to suspect
the girl might’ve met her end at the talons of the colossal birds.

Several people started to dash down the street, but quickly stopped in their tracks.
From the opposite direction came a beautiful yet foreboding young man. By his side
was a slight figure. The woman called out the little girl’s name and ran to her. As
the mother and child shared a tearful embrace, D turned and walked away without giving
them so much as a glance. Where was he going?

After the mother had brushed the little girl’s hair away from her neck and confirmed
there wasn’t a mark on her, a relieved smile swept over her face.

“Didn’t do nothing funny to you, now, did he?” said one man. “He’s a dhampir, you
know.” Everyone muttered their shared sentiments at that.

“He saved me,” the little girl mumbled.

“Saved you? From what?”

“A bird got me . . . Carried me way up into the sky . . . ”

“You’re talking nonsense. Nothing like that fell in the park.”

“But it’s true,” the little girl said absentmindedly. “We were falling from the sky.
And then he saved me . . . He really did save me.”

The eyes of the townsfolk sought the young Hunter. But they could no longer find the
faintest trace of him on the noisy street.

-

-

I

-

Night fell and the clouds appeared, swirling shapes borne by the wind. The light of
the moon was snuffed out.

This day—or to be more precise, this evening—was entirely without precedent for the
town. Ordinarily, the streets would’ve been filled with merrymakers. Unwinding after
a hard day’s work, men with flushed faces would be arguing in bars where the lights
burned all night and the hum of the electric organ never faded. Women would be harping
about their daily toils while children dashed through the streets with newly acquired
fireworks in hand. But tonight, shutters were lowered before the bar doors, and the
wind alone danced through the streets. From time to time someone passed by, but they
were volunteer deputies with deathly grim faces. The windows of every home were shut
tight, and men ranged with weapons and sharpened stakes. For what was probably the
first time ever, this town had to deal with the sort of rampaging demon all too familiar
to those in the world below.

-

As soon as Laura had fallen asleep, the mayor called for D. “Now it’s up to you.”
And saying only this, he left.

Putting the armchair they’d provided him against the wall, D sat down to wait. It
was eleven o’clock Night. One of the most common times for the Nobility to pay a call.
The young lady in bed breathed easily as she slept. But, though her breathing sounded
serene enough, D heard another sound over it. Her breaths were just a bit longer and
deeper than those of ordinary people. When she exhaled, her breathing sounded more
like a sigh.

If the Noble who’d attacked the girl lived only by night, then the chances were extremely
good that he wasn’t aware D was here. No matter who was guarding the young lady, they’d
certainly be no match for the power of a Noble. That was exactly the sort of self-confidence
that led to mistakes. And all Vampire Hunters found that sense of security the key
to destroying the Nobility.

An hour passed, and then two, without anything out of the ordinary. Both D and the
girl seemed like statues, motionless. D had his eyes open.

At one o’clock Morning, there was a rapping sound outside the window. Laura’s eyes
snapped open. An evil grin of delight rose on her lips, and red light shone from her
freshly opened eyes. As if checking just how they’d left her, she looked up above
her, then to either side. When her eyes found D, they stopped dead.
Damned interloper
, they seemed to say.

Those who’d known the rapture in their blood didn’t flee from it—rather, they were
doomed to drown in it. Regardless of what she made of the Vampire Hunter sitting there
with his eyes closed, after watching him for a while Laura turned her gaze beyond
the window. “Who’s there?” she asked coyly. She put the question to the pitch-black
space.

Faint laughter came from the darkness. A voice that only the closest of human ears
would hear said, “I’m coming in.”

“You can’t,” she whispered back. “There’s a Hunter in here.”

“I don’t have to fear the likes of him. Not even your father can touch me now.”

“But he’s not like other people,” Laura said softly. “There’s something different
about him.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Something that looked like a black stain started flowing in through the window while
the girl watched. Before Laura’s very eyes it gathered on the floor, took human shape,
and became an actual person of flesh and blood. This vampire was gifted with one of
the powers of legend—that of entering rooms as a fog. The sight of him there, in an
orange T-shirt and wrinkled jeans, would’ve made the bulk of the Nobility grimace.
Still young, he was a powerfully built man. Yet his whole body was subtly distorted,
looking like a human figure molded by the hands of a child . . .

Looking first at Laura, the vampire shifted his gaze to D. Sleeping, perhaps, D kept
his face down and didn’t move at all. The vampire’s eyes began to glitter wildly.
Red light tinged D’s form a crimson hue. Soon, the light faded again.

“That’ll keep him asleep,” the intruder said. “Just as it did with the others. He
won’t even remember me.”

“Oh, please hurry. Come to me . . . ” Laura writhed beneath the blankets. “I want
your kiss. I—I need . . . ”

“I know.” The vampire’s lips twisted into a grin. Though his teeth were dirty and
crooked, his canines were particularly impressive. They slanted forward. When he slowly
bent over the girl, whose eyes were shut in rapture, the air in the room grew unspeakably
cold. And the chill emanated from one point in particular. The intruder looked over
his shoulder in disbelief. “You dirty bastard,” he growled. “You mean to tell me my
gaze didn’t work on you?”

D got to his feet without saying a word.

Just as he was about to launch himself at the Hunter, the intruder stiffened. His
already pale face lost even more color. D’s aura had just hit him.
If I move, I’m as good as dead
, he thought.

“Any more of your kind around? Before you answer that, you’d better tell me your name,”
D commanded him softly. Calm as his voice was, it had a ring of steel to it that said
no resistance would be tolerated. “Answer me. What’s your name? Are you the only one?”

“No, I’m not . . . ” the intruder replied.

“How many others are there?”

“One.”

“What’s your name, and what’s theirs?”

The intruder began to tremble. Every inch of him shook, as if he were struggling against
the threat that ensnared him.

“You don’t have to tell me,” D said. “If I check you against the resident lists, I
should find out who you are. Step outside.”

The man nodded. Slowly he made his way to the door to the front hall. D followed behind
him. Something caught lightly at the Hunter’s coat. Laura’s pale hand. Most likely
the action was merely a reflex, and not some effort to save the intruder. However,
D’s attention was diverted for a split second, and the spell he had over the other
man broke. The intruder’s body lost its shape. Wasting no time, the fog rushed for
the door’s keyhole like a black cloud and poured through it in a single stream.

D’s right hand went into action. A flash as bright as the moon arced over his right
shoulder, and the intruder who was supposedly safely on the other side of the door
gave a scream of agonizing death. D’s expression actually changed. Quickly opening
the door, he peered beyond it—into the mayor’s living room.

Before him was the intruder, now leaning backward. A sharp wooden tip poked from the
left side of his back. From the waist down, the man remained in his fog-like condition.
With a deep groan, the intruder fell to the floor, both hands clutching his own throat.
It seemed that the fog was probably his true form after all. His fallen body soon
covered itself in a black hue and curled up on the floor with a rustling sound.

“What do you think you’re doing?” D’s quiet tone harbored an unearthly air.

“Nothing, I was just . . . ” Dr. Tsurugi stammered, shaking his head. “I heard a strange
sound and I froze in my tracks, trying to figure out what I should do, when all of
a sudden . . . My eyes met his, and then I just panicked and ran him through.”

Not saying a word, D merely gazed at bits of fog spreading across the floor and the
stake dripping with black blood. “How did you get in here?” the Hunter finally asked.
His voice was far more terrifying than any heated tone could’ve been.

“I snuck in,” said Dr. Tsurugi, giving the sack over his shoulder a pat. There was
a loud clatter that suggested it contained a hammer and stakes. “But everything’s
taken care of now, right?”

“It seems we face two foes.” Heedless of the changes those words wrought on the physician’s
expression, the Hunter continued. “One may be gone now, but we don’t know the whereabouts
of the other. Are you sure there haven’t been any other victims? None at all?”

Dr. Tsurugi nodded.

“The girl’s probably back to normal,” said D. “Go check on her.”

“Sure,” the young physician replied, and he was just about to nod his head. Then his
eyes halted at the legs of the corpse that’d been reduced to dust. There was a gap
of a fraction of an inch just below the knees. “It almost looks like . . . You cut
him, didn’t you?”

Giving no reply, D squatted down by the dusty remains. Once he was sure Dr. Tsurugi
had gone through the door, the Hunter stretched his left hand over the dust. “How
about it?” he asked.

“Oh, this is a tough one,” a hoarse voice said in reply. “The memory’s been completely
erased from the cells. But then, I guess you already know this guy wasn’t made to
serve any Noble.” Was the voice suggesting, then, that this vampire had just spontaneously
generated?

Not surprised in the least, D nodded. “But those who aren’t Nobility don’t just turn
into Nobles on their own.”

“Then that’d mean someone had to make him that way,” the voice suggested. “What we’ve
got here is an imitation vampire. The question is, who made it?”

D didn’t reply.

“Come to think of it, they did say something about letting someone into town two centuries
ago. Could be him again . . . ” the hoarse voice mused. “Still, it’s all very strange.
From what the mayor’s said, and from the way the locals have been acting, it doesn’t
seem like there’s been a ruckus over vampires before. So, these characters suddenly
show up two hundred years after the fact? There’s no way their strange visitor could
still be in town after all this time. What do you think?”

Straightening up, D headed for the mayor’s room. “There’s another one out there,”
he said. “That’s all I know.”

When the Hunter knocked on his door, the mayor stuck his head out like he’d been waiting
for him to come. “What is it?” he asked.

“He’s been taken care of.”

“My daughter’s been saved?”

“Ask the doctor about that.”

Just as the mayor’s dazed face turned toward his daughter’s bedroom, Dr. Tsurugi appeared.
Seeing the mayor, he gave a satisfied smile. The mayor’s shoulders dropped and a deep
sigh escaped from him. “Can I see her?”

Not saying a word, D stepped aside. The mayor disappeared into his daughter’s bedroom.

“Remarkable, isn’t it?” As D was headed for the front door, the odd remark followed
him. It was neither praising nor sarcastic, but the tone of it was nearly a challenge.
“This thing had everyone quaking in their boots, but you come here and things get
taken care of in no time flat . . . Although it was yours truly that put the fateful
stake through his heart.”

“Yes, it was.” D turned around.

A strangely firm resolve, or something like it, graced the young physician’s face.
It was an unusual emotion, one no one had ever directed toward D.

The mayor quickly came back out of his daughter’s room. A smile spread across his
face, and he declared, “The wounds on her throat have vanished, and she’s sleeping
peacefully. And all thanks to you, D!”

“If you’ll pardon me saying so, I was actually the one who finished him off.”

Looking dumbfounded, the mayor turned from D to Dr. Tsurugi and back again.

“The doctor’s right,” D told him. “I was no use at all.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Dr. Tsurugi countered vehemently. “Mayor, this gentleman not
only prevented the sneaking vampire from laying a finger on your daughter, but also
succeeded in driving him from her room. I merely happened to be in the right place
at the right time. If any reward is to be paid, we’ll split it.”

“You’re welcome to it,” D said, sounding somewhat surprised. His tone was strangely
agreeable. Perhaps he was taken aback by events.

“I’d like you to come to my room,” the mayor said with a smile. “You’ll be given your
remuneration. We’ll put you up wherever you like in town. Why, if you should decide
to stay on permanently with us, that’d be fine, too.”

“Can’t do that just yet.” In the present mood of jubilant confidence, the Hunter’s
words hung like icicles. “There’s still another one out there.”

“What?” the mayor began to say, but his mouth merely hung open. “Impossible!”

“No. He said there were two of them. I don’t think he was lying.”

“But—” the mayor sputtered, “You see, up till now there haven’t been any victims aside
from my Laura.”

D turned to the physician. Gathering the drift of his question from that look alone,
the physician shook his head. “No one’s come to my hospital secretly for treatment.”

“When was the town’s last regular medical exam?”

“A week ago. There were some colds and minor chronic conditions, but there wasn’t
anyone out of the ordinary. No one skipped the medical exams. I can guarantee that.”

“The last time his daughter was attacked was three days ago. How about since then?”

“I can’t vouch for anyone after that.”

Letting out a deep sigh, the mayor brought his fist to his forehead. “A fine mess
we have here. One problem solved, and another arises to take its place. Now we hear
our town—a town our foes in the outside world can’t even get into—has been invaded
by not one but
two
filthy freaks.”

“Only two if we’re lucky,” Dr. Tsurugi said, his expression greatly changed. “You
just happened to find out about your daughter, but there may well be other victims
who’ve been bitten without anyone noticing. They might not yet have turned into vampires.
In some cases, their families may keep them hidden, too.”

“Exactly,” D said with a nod.

While humans feared the Nobility to their very marrow, the love they felt for their
own flesh and blood sometimes prevailed over their terror when a member of their family
became one of the undead. Many were the families who’d watch their child growing thinner
and paler each night and think it better to hide them in some back room of the house
rather than have them run out of the village. That was usually the case when a whole
family became dark disciples of the vampires. Love thinks little of courting death.
When the fangs of the very child they’d risked their life to defend coldly pressed
against their carotid artery, was it a feeling of remorse that skimmed through the
mother or father’s heart? Or was it satisfaction?