CHAPTER 6

-

I

-

Not knowing what to do or say, Sue simply watched as the battle ended. Perhaps piqued by the obstinately struggling Matthew, Callas brought away her right hand, and then, as Matthew tried to twist around and slip free of her other hand, she delivered a vicious knee to his solar plexus. Violence of this sort was unexpected from such a lithe beauty, but she sent Matthew tumbling forward with an explosion of breath. Carrying Matthew’s body easily over one shoulder, Callas walked over to Sue with powerful strides. Bending over, she grabbed Sue by the shoulder. A numbing pain struck the girl all the way to the bone. Sue bent backward.

Seeing Sue get to her feet, Callas grinned, until she realized Sue’s second stake had pierced her abdomen. Staggering, Callas stared at the girl. Her eyes burned with a shadowy fire.

Frightened in her heart of hearts, Sue turned and ran right back the way she’d come.

-

She got the feeling she could hear pursuing footsteps behind her. No matter how fast or how far she ran, the sound stayed with her. Time and again she nearly fell from fatigue and shortness of breath, and finally she did tumble forward. But her body stopped halfway to the ground. A powerful arm and broad chest had caught her.

Looking up at her savior’s face with eyes near death, Sue groaned, “D!”

And with that she fainted.

A chill spread through the girl from her forehead, and she quickly awakened.

Taking his left hand from her brow, D inquired, “What happened?”

“My brother was possessed by this person named Kima, and he led me away. I stabbed him. And then Callas came . . .”

She didn’t mention that her brother had nearly strangled her to death.

Just as she finished talking, D stuck his left hand out in front of himself. There was a flash of light. Sheathing his sword again, D used his right hand to take hold of his left, which came off cleanly at the wrist.

“You’re a slave driver,” the Hunter’s left hand cursed as it was set down at Sue’s feet.

“It’ll take you back,” was all D told the girl before running off in the direction from which she’d come.

-

Soon after the girl and the hand returned to the car, D came back as well. He was alone.

“What about my brother?” Sue asked.

No matter what happened, the gorgeous young man’s demeanor remained as icy as ever. It was impossible for anyone else to guess what he would do or what he might accomplish.

“He wasn’t there.”

“What?”

“There was no sign of him. But there were traces of a spatial warp.”

“Oh! That would have to be—” Sue began, going on to explain the situation in detail.

“So, they were transported, machine and all? Where’d they go?” the left hand murmured.

“There’s only one place they could be,” D replied.

“Yeah, Valcua’s land. What’ll we do?”

“I entered a contract to protect these children. We’re going into Valcua’s domain.”

“How about the girl?”

“She’ll accompany us.”

“Wouldn’t she be better off at the fortress?”

“I injured Kima, but he’s not dead. You think the fortress could stop him?”

“You’d just have to beef up the defensive systems.”

“That’d take too long. Keep in mind that every second might count in rescuing Matthew from his fate.”

“So, you plan to just head out there? Strike out into Valcua’s domain?”

The left hand must’ve posed that question without thinking. It quickly fell silent.

D turned to Sue. Although he hadn’t asked her anything, she grew flustered. He stared at her with those bottomless dark eyes. Getting the feeling he peered into the very depths of her mind, Sue became frightened.

“You have some bruising on your throat. In the shape of a man’s fingers,” D said. “Will you go with us?”

A terrifying spectacle came back to her. The expression her brother had worn as he squeezed her neck. Closing her eyes, Sue said, “I never wanna see that again. That face!”

She put her hands over her eyes. And she remained like that for a few seconds. Then she took her hands away, looked up, and said, “But I stabbed my brother. I suppose that makes us even. Bring me along with you.”

“Your brother is a real mess—but it’s decided, then,” the left hand remarked, sounding weary.

“She’s shown great courage,” Count Braujou said, having held his peace until now. There was a ring of admiration to his words.

-

For the next five days, the group traveled nonstop. There was no sign of Seurat, Callas, or even the newest assassin, Kima, but of course nothing further was seen of Matthew, either.

“We are entering the northern Frontier sectors,” the lovely female voice informed them on the evening of the sixth day.

As he gazed at the panoramic hologram projected in the room, the count was the first to say, “This is quite a sight.”

After that, he fell silent.

No trace remained of the northern Frontier the world had known. What lay there was a flat black plain utterly devoid of grass and trees. In the twilight, the surface of the plain had a metallic gleam, and it also had an unearthly air that seemed to chill the very winds that blew across it. While looking out toward the horizon where not a glimpse, not a trace of any living creature could be seen, a person might feel a tremendous despair and sensation of loss and would probably collapse on the spot.

Lightning flashed in the distance.

“Before the northern Frontier came to be as we know it, it used to be Valcua’s kingdom, didn’t it?” the left hand said.

“That’s right,” Braujou replied. He was seated in an enormous chair. Sitting beside him on a chair intended for guests was Sue. D remained standing.

“He completely remodeled the northern Frontier,” the count continued. “After he was exiled, this territory was a wasteland for as far as the eye could see. Rumor had it he’d picked up his kingdom and put it in his pocket. And it looks like that was indeed the case.”

“Do you know what the lay of the land was five thousand years ago?” D inquired.

The count thumped his chest. A sound like a gong being struck echoed through the room, causing Sue to stiffen. “Leave it to me. My mind hasn’t gone on me. I’ve also fed the maps into my computer.”

“Where should we enter?”

“It doesn’t make any difference. The whole territory is rigged with sensors. Whether Valcua considered someone an ally or a foe determined whether or not they could enter. And we’ve probably long since come under his scrutiny. I believe he’s telling us we can come at him from any direction, whenever we like.”

“I’m surprised you made it in five thousand years ago,” the left hand said.

The answer to that was simple.

“The Sacred Ancestor gave us a device to negate the sensors. Also, merchants and travelers were able to pass through them.”

It was because of this that Sue’s ancestor had met up with the three Nobles who were traveling to confront Valcua.

“In that case—a frontal assault it is, eh?” the left hand said, summarizing their plight nicely. “But before we do that, we might wanna ask that group hanging around up there what their situation is. If I’m not mistaken, that’d be a survey party from the Capital.”

By the border between dirt and steel were assembled wagons, cars, and other transports. Beside them stood sleeping quarters that resembled bisected cylinders. In the center a group of people had gathered, and they were staring in the direction of the count’s car. The first ones to come out weren’t really armed, but the ones who now bounded from the sleeping quarters carried automatic rifles, flamethrowers, and laser pistols. After all, an unknown vehicle was approaching.

A man stepped forward, his laser pistol leveled. A crimson beam of light angled down from his weapon, sinking into the dirt in front of the car. A section of ground a foot in diameter melted, sending vapor into the air.

“The impudence,” the count chuckled.

Sue turned to look at him and said, “Please, don’t.” For she’d sensed his urge to retaliate.

“Stop the car,” D said as he headed for the door.

Looking at the Hunter out of the corner of his eye, the count remarked sullenly, “Am I supposed to answer to your every command now?”

“Lives depend on it—yours, in particular,” D replied, at which the Nobleman’s displeasure became even more apparent.

“Halt,” Braujou ordered.

The instant they saw the young man in black appear, a kind of unvoiced shock rolled through the group of men like a wave. His good looks left them amazed, while his unearthly air numbed them to the bone.

“Is this a survey party?” D asked.

The men were exchanging glances when a tall and imposing figure appeared from one of the sleeping quarters, advancing to the front of the group with quick strides.

“We’re the second survey party sent out here by the Capital. I’m the leader—Otto’s the name.”

“I’m D.”

This time, it was an intense shock wave that passed through the men.

“You . . . you’re D?” Otto asked, his fearless visage tinged with wonder and excitement. “Even back in the Capital we’ve heard there’s a Hunter so good, mere money hardly seems payment enough. Who ever thought we’d run into you out here . . .”

Eyeing the car behind D, he asked, “That your ride?”

The young man before him and the car didn’t seem to jibe.

“Yes, for convenience’s sake,” D replied. Apparently he’d taken a liking to Otto.

Perhaps understanding as much, the survey-party leader grinned, saying, “Well, if there are Nobles to be slain, this job certainly calls for a Vampire Hunter. A bunch of folks have already set out and not made it back, but the man called D, now that’s—”

“You said you were the second survey party, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. The first one left a month back, but that was the last anyone heard of ’em. We got here two days ago and have been establishing our base camp, but tomorrow, we’ll finally set off.”

“Hey, if it’s all right with you, why don’t you go with us?” a heavily bearded character called out to D. “You Vampire Hunters know all about how the Nobles live. Having you along would sure be a lot of help—wouldn’t it?”

The men to whom he directed that appeal nodded in unison.

“Knock it off. You’re an embarrassment,” Otto yelled at the man. “He’s got his own job to do. And we’d just be in his way. Of course, he’d also be in ours.”

The leader was grinning at D again when a voice called out, “The scout’s back!”

A number of them ran to see. Otto looked in their direction, then turned back to D and said, “This’ll have to wait until later. The least we can do is swap intel.”

Having said this, he turned and left.

“Now there’s a man among men,” the left hand remarked, sounding both impressed and mocking.

Of course, there was no reply.

-

II

-

After seeing the condition of the scout, Otto had to catch his breath. One of the man’s arms had been torn off at the shoulder, but due to the sterile blood-stanching bandages that he’d applied to it—most likely while fleeing—he’d somehow managed to keep himself alive. Otto estimated that he wouldn’t last another five minutes. His wounds were so grave, it was a miracle he’d even made it back.

“Are you the only one left?” one of the men asked. The reconnaissance party had set out with five men.

The man nodded. He and the men surrounding him had ghastly looks on their faces.

A doctor raced over to examine his wounds, and then walked away from the scout, shaking his head.

“What happened?”

The scout understood Otto’s question, but no voice came out. His ashen lips trembled. The light was swiftly fading from his bulging eyes.

“It’s no use, I guess,” Otto said, about to close the man’s eyes—as was often done to send off the dead—but just then a black figure cut across his field of view.

Seeing the gorgeous youth place his left hand against the dying man’s brow, the men looked at each other. Some of them even intoned spells. D’s great beauty and unearthly air made everything he did seem wondrous.

The light returned to the scout’s eyes. Cries of astonishment rang out, and the men focused on their compatriot, who’d seemingly returned from the dead.

“Can you hear me, Bolan? It’s me—Otto. How about the others? What happened?”

As Otto peered down at him, the man grabbed his shoulder with an emaciated hand. Otto grimaced. The man had ferocious strength.

“They all got killed . . . Run for it . . . They’re . . . coming . . . after me!”

Some of the men shot startled glances out over the black plain, but a deep blue darkness already covered the land, and they could see nothing.

“What do you mean by they?” asked another man.

“Glowing cylinders . . . with dozens of arms . . . They hoisted up the others . . . then injected ’em with something . . . and they dropped like flies . . .”

That was when it happened. Someone close to the plain shouted, “Something’s coming, and it’s glowing!”

For a second, the men stared at the scout’s face, and then they got to their feet.

“They’re coming . . . Run for it . . . There’s no use . . . fighting them.”

Bolan drew a deep breath, his body shuddered badly, and then he gave up the ghost.

Ignoring the noisy group around him, D stood up.

Bowing his head to the deceased, Otto said, “Thanks to you, D, we know what’s headed this way ain’t friendly. You have our thanks. Now I’m asking you to stand back.”

“Captain, why don’t we have him help us?” asked a man with belt upon belt of machine-gun ammo hanging around his neck, tossing his chin in D’s direction.

“He’s a private citizen. We take care of ourselves. Don’t go looking to others to do your work for you.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Enough yapping. Reinforce that barricade. Don’t let anything get within a hundred yards of us.”

Giving D a slap on the shoulder and bidding him farewell, Otto dashed off.

The doctor grabbed the corpse by the arm and dragged it away.

“You plan on just sitting back?” the left hand inquired.

“Those were his instructions.”

“That’s right. But that Otto guy, he’s not too bad, for a human. It’d be a shame for him to die for nothing, that’s—gaaah!”

Clenching his fist tightly, D began walking back to the car that sat blackly in the darkness.

-

Fortunately, the glowing points’ approach was slow and meandering. Five minutes after spotting them, the survey party had finished setting up triple barricades of reinforced plastic and lightweight alloy shields across the front of the camp, and they were positioned for defensive action.

“Two hundred yards to contact,” a survey member peering through an infrared scope called out.

“At one hundred yards, open fire. And take real good aim.”

Not even waiting for Otto’s instructions, the men had already put the enemy in their rifle sights, and pale blue flames licked from nozzles of flamethrowers already filthy from oily smoke.

The glowing points had given way to their true shape. They were steadily approaching. Advancing smoothly, as if caution had been thrown to the wind, they sent unsettling ripples through the hearts of the defenders.

“One hundred yards!” the man with the scope called out, and simultaneously fiery streaks stained the twilight with red. Sparks flew where the men’s rounds hit the cylindrical bodies. The enemy’s advance was unaffected—each and every bullet slid right off its target.

“Fifty yards! Forty!”

The instant the lookout informed them the enemy had reached the thirty-yard mark, two plumes of fire assailed their foes. The flamethrowers had been biding their time. Right on target, the flames spread around the points they struck, but then quickly slid off. The outer skin of these cylindrical foes had been specially treated to shed oil just as easily as water.

The men heard the announcement for twenty yards. A massive explosion staggered the cylinders. Blasts in rapid succession enveloped their foes in smoke and flames. It was their final weapon—grenade launchers.

From the depths of that black smoke, silvery bodies came into view. They quickly peeled through the barricades, using their tentacles to tear them to pieces. At first appearing only a dozen feet long, they’d stretched to over sixty feet in length.

“Fall back. Make a run for it!”

Without even waiting for Otto to give his command, the men began to flee. One of the cylinders that had dismantled the barricade sent tentacles wriggling after them like serpents. Two men were captured. Their cries were like the gasps of dying men. Swiftly raising the men thirty feet off the ground, the cylinder used another tentacle to drive a needle into the base of each man’s neck.

“Son of a bitch!” Otto shouted when the pair of corpses had been discarded at his feet, and he drew the saber from his hip. Standing still, he landed a blow on the body of the approaching cylinder. All the force he’d put behind it was reflected right back at him, numbing him from the wrist to the shoulder.

A tentacle coiled around the leader’s torso. In agony and suffocating, like he was caught in a steel ring, Otto started to black out. His face instantly turned deep purple, and tremors raced through every inch of him. As he struggled, another tentacle approached the nape of his neck. The needle at the end of it glowed mysteriously in the fire of the flamethrowers.

The cylinder that held Otto began to slide off at an angle. Severed electrical systems gave off pale-blue waves of electromagnetism.

Grabbed by the collar and pulled free, Otto revived. A young man of unearthly beauty was looking down at him. Forgetting his fear, forgetting even the pain in his waist, all he could do was stare in amazement.

“Can you move?” D asked him.

Returning to his senses, he replied, “Yeah, I’ll manage.” He still hadn’t worked free of that feeling of intoxication.

“Go.”

Thrown back with tremendous force, Otto hit the back of his head against the ground. Madly scrambling to his feet, he turned and looked.

Apparently the cylinders recognized D as their new opponent. Aside from a few that continued to pursue the men, the rest charged in unison at the black-garbed vision of beauty.

Otto stared, shocked. The things had been cut apart! Every time the blade in D’s right hand flashed out, the cylinders that were impervious to bullets and flames were bisected with laughable ease, sending up fountains of blue sparks from where they fell on the ground. Each and every tentacle that stretched out to capture D was left severed.

“Behind you!” someone shouted.

The cylinders pursuing the men had circled around behind D. Before the figure in black could leap with lightning speed, the tip of an enormous spear skewered two of the enemy, which were sent flying into the air. The cylinders disappeared into the sky, and a pair of blue flashes a good hundred yards off to the right vanished.

No cheers rang out. The men had seen something they were never meant to see: a Nobleman more than twelve feet tall.

“I suppose I needn’t have done that,” Count Braujou said. He’d seen D execute a backflip that took him clear of the cylinders even before the Nobleman’s long spear had pierced them.

The spear in the count’s right hand whistled through the wind as he swung it. The men around him cried out and cowered. The Noble hadn’t just been flexing his muscles. His actions had clearly been a threat.

“It . . . it’s a Noble!” someone stammered, and that was like a signal to open the floodgates.

“He’s fucking huge!”

“He’s a freak . . .”

The voices of all were faint, weak, tremulous.

A basic fear of the Nobility had been branded into the human subconscious. Some said this was a result of an “education” the Nobility had given the human race at a genetic level more than ten thousand years earlier, but all records from that time had been destroyed, leaving no way to confirm this. Despite the scientific edge the Nobility possessed, the fact that in ten long millennia the human race had showed no hint of rebellion could conceivably be linked to that fear. And since the Nobility also knew this, it stood to reason they would become rather arrogant. As he peered down at the humans from a height of twelve feet, Count Braujou’s eyes held a distinct gleam of scorn. But since the survey party would’ve been annihilated if he and D hadn’t been there, that was understandable.

“Have you heard all they have to say, D?” Braujou said, his voice making the people cringe again as it rained down from on high. It was like the angry peals of a thunder god.

“I’m done,” D replied, sheathing his sword.

“Do we have any reason to remain here?”

“No.”

“Then let’s go. Valcua has already taken the boy hostage and laid plans to annihilate us. It makes no difference when we set off, but we don’t have time to dawdle here.”

The count broke off there, and he wore an expression of mild surprise as he surveyed his surroundings.

A thirst for blood hung in the air. Every member of the survey party had a weapon trained on the count. The men were quaking audibly, and the barrels of their weapons seemed to release a dense lust for killing that would turn into an inferno. The humans had suddenly exhibited the other reaction Nobles inspired in them—the urge to destroy them.

D stepped between them. “He saved your crew,” the Hunter said to Otto.

Otto had a four-barreled firearm pointed at the count. “Yeah. And we thank him for that,” he replied, giving D a sideward glance. Hatred burned in his eyes. And even when those same eyes were emblazoned with the youth’s beauty, this abhorrence never waned. “We’re grateful to you, too. But there ain’t a man among us who hasn’t lost kin on account of the Nobility. The battle to clean out the Capital went on for twenty damned years.”

“So, hating others is one of life’s little pleasures?” a hoarse voice commented.

For a moment, Otto’s eyes were riveted to D’s left hip. Returning his gaze to the Hunter, he said, “You—you’re a dhampir, right? That being the case, do you understand how the feelings run on both sides? Or maybe you don’t know how either side feels? Well, if you intend to intervene here, I’m afraid we can’t let you do whatever suits you at the moment. Back off. Otherwise, you’ll have to call on your skill with that sword to kill us.”

“You can’t slay him. Do you intend to die before you can even do your job?”

“That don’t bother us none.”

The men to either side of Otto turned the barrels of their firearms and rivet guns on D.

“My kid died after my wife ripped his head off. She’d been bitten by a Noble the night before.”

“My family was used as game when the Nobles had a human hunt. My dad, my wife, and both my daughters were run down by a Noble’s carriage and squashed flat. I had to go claim the bodies. Each of ’em had been run over twice.”

“You’re a dhampir, right? Then get that sword of yours out. And put it to use against one side or the other. If possible, we’d like it to be against us. Because we’d just love to blow away a bastard with Noble blood in him.”

As madness eddied in their gazes, they reflected a pair of dark eyes that were cold and deep.

“D, don’t move,” the count said. “You don’t have to do a thing here. But I don’t want you to hold this against me later. The human in you, that is.”

Stillness descended. Every sight and sound had been absorbed by the madness of these two species. And it was all a million miles from D—both the human loathing and the Noble ire. He belonged to neither group. Would his sword be drawn, or would it remain in its scabbard? And if it did flash out . . . whom would it be used against?

In the early evening, the lust for blood congealed, seeking death.

-

III

-

“Please, wait!” an unexpected voice called out, pushing back the darkness and the will to kill.

The eyes of the men and the count—and even D—turned in unison toward the Nobleman’s car to behold the lithe figure that stood by its door. Sue ran forward, coming close enough that the men could make out her features. Unable to stand this volatile situation, the courageous girl had left the car. But how had she managed that? The vehicle’s main computer had been ordered not to let her leave under any circumstances.

Taking a long look at D, the count grinned wryly. The Hunter’s left hand was missing—that explained how Sue had managed to leave the car.

“Please, stop this fighting. These people are here to protect me.”

First, a wind of bewilderment seemed to blow through the ranks of the men, but it soon became one of surprise.

“Protect you? A Noble protecting a human being?”

“Where are you from, girl?”

“Forget that—are you even human? Show us some proof.”

“Yeah, good point!”

Shock and doubt and anger became a rumble that crashed down on every inch of Sue. The storm of voices was almost like a physical blow, but Sue stood still and took it without moving a muscle. From the moment she’d left the car, she was prepared for whatever might come.

Their grumbling died down. Otto had stepped to the fore. Looking first up at the count, then down at Sue, he asked in a hard tone, “Girl—are you human?”

“Yes.”

“Where’s your village? And what’s your name?”

After Sue had answered him, he continued, “It’s hard to believe you’re traveling with a Noble and remain unharmed. He hasn’t done anything to you, you say?”

“That’s right.” Sue puffed up her chest. This was where she had to do her best. “The count hasn’t done anything. He’s merely come here to keep me safe, and to rescue my brother.”

“You got any way of proving nothing’s happened to you?” one of the men shouted out in a quavering voice.

Otto’s expression changed. There was only one way to prove that nothing had happened while she was traveling with the Noble—and that she hadn’t been bitten. They needed to be shown there were no marks on her from the kiss of the Nobility. And to do that . . .

“Yes, I do,” Sue immediately replied.

The men were shaken once more.

“Uh, miss,” Otto started to say to her, but before he could finish, Sue was already reaching for the buttons on her blouse. Without hesitation, the girl shed every stitch of clothing there in the twilight.

Turning toward the men, she said, “You can check all you want.”

The boldness of this girl, willing to completely sacrifice herself, left the men speechless. However, as Sue faced straight ahead, her expression stiffened, and tears rose in her eyes. Her lips were pursed tightly, and she bit down on them so hard she nearly drew blood. And her body trembled with surpassing embarrassment. She was a fourteen-year-old girl. There was no reason why this wouldn’t bother her.

A strange silence enveloped the group.

“Okay, I’m gonna look her over!”

“Me, too!”

“Me, three!”

The three men who’d volunteered stepped forward.

“Sure you want to do that?”

As biting cold as a winter’s frost, the words made the trio halt. At that instant, they were paralyzed. D said no more. However, the men knew with complete certainty the fate that would await them should they move one more step from where they were. He wouldn’t let them lay a finger on the girl. Their eyes wouldn’t seek the pale and naked flesh—a single remark from the young man in black had forbidden it.

“Knock it off already!” Otto shouted, his words dissolving this new moment of impending death. “All three of you, get back over there. I’m sorry, missy. You did us a good turn and almost got nothing but trouble in return. I truly apologize.”

On seeing the man bow deeply to her, Sue crouched down where she was. She felt relieved.

Something like a black shadow fell across Sue, enveloping her naked form and then moving away. Blue fabric covered Sue’s body, as if to protect her. Having draped an enormous handkerchief over her, the count’s hand had already risen back toward the sky.

D started walking. As he went over to Sue without looking at either Otto or his survey party, the weird aura that gushed from him and the way he looked like some heavenly sculpture kept everyone paralyzed.

“Let’s go,” D said.

Sue stood, wiped away her tears, and then leaned against D’s chest. Matthew wasn’t there anymore. But she quickly pulled away again. The girl knew he wasn’t the kind of person who’d let her stay there for long.

Not making a sound, the count led the way, as if to protect Sue. D brought up the rear.

“That went pretty well,” the hoarse voice said. At some point, D’s left hand had returned to its original position. “No one’s blood got spilled. You cut me off so I could operate independently, but if she hadn’t done what she did, you probably would’ve ended up killing the lot of them to protect the count. A pity what the girl had to go through—gaaah!”

As D’s fist clenched tight, it trembled faintly. The tremendous force left his knuckles white.

“Gaaah . . . you . . . you’re still . . . too soft . . . Were you touched . . . by her admirable spirit . . . or something? Geeeeh!”

The voice died out. Something red began to trickle from between D’s fingers.

-

When the door opened, the trio was greeted by a face they hadn’t seen for a while.

“You did quite well for a human girl,” said a figure of alluring beauty in a lovely white dress—none other than Duchess Miranda.

“Real nice job this car’s doing,” the left hand said loudly enough for the count to hear. It was mocking him for the way the duchess had been able to enter it as she wished.

Making an expression of undisguised bitterness, the count inquired bluntly, “Where have you been and what’ve you been doing?”

They hadn’t seen her since they’d been sucked into the extradimensional space created by Sigma back in Galleon Valley.

“Here and there, doing this and that,” the Noblewoman replied, placing her hand over her mouth and laughing in a gesture that was positively enchanting. Her delicate hand was pale, while her lips were red as blood.

Batting her lengthy eyelashes, she looked at Sue and murmured, “You’re such a credit; it’s a pity the same can’t be said for your brother.”

“You’ve seen him?” Sue shouted, the words shooting from her like an explosion.

“Yes—I rescued him. And in the process I took care of one of the assassins—someone called Courbet.”

“My brother—where is he?”

“Well, the fact of the matter is—”

From the explanation the duchess gave, it became clear that her encounter with Matthew had come before Sue had stabbed her brother.

“Then we really have no choice but to go, I guess,” the hoarse voice remarked.

“We’ll set off right away,” the count said with a nod, and then he turned to Miranda. “You’ll be joining us, won’t you?” From his tone, that was hardly what he desired.

“No. I’ll be getting out here. I have some unfinished business.”

“But our job is—”

“I’ll catch up with you soon enough. After I lost my husband, I realized that being alone suited my disposition. Basking in the moonlight as I please, enjoying the scent of moonlight grass and dark narcissus as I flit through the world of night—that’s the life for me.”

“The life for me? Don’t you mean the death for me?”

The Noblewoman stared in the direction of the hoarse little voice, and then turned toward Sue again, her eyes and expression strangely calm.

“I like individuals of mettle. I had thought humans had none, but seeing you has changed my mind. It would seem we’re defending someone worthy of my efforts.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Sue countered, but she smiled.

D and the count exchanged glances.

“I think she’s lost her mind,” Braujou muttered.

Up until that point, everything had been fine, but then Miranda suggested, “Will you not forget about your older brother and come join my clan?”

“Enough of that!” the count said, forced to intervene.

“That’s regrettable. She would make a superb Noble.” And saying that, Miranda backed away, stopping before the door to add, “Until we meet again.”

Having said this, she became a mass of mist that slipped out a gap in the door so small even bacteria couldn’t get through.

“That woman’s as self-centered as always.” Heaving a sigh, the count issued an order toward the ceiling, saying, “Get underway!”

-

“Hey! They’re on the move!”

“Goddamned monsters. Where do they think they’re going?”

“At any rate, that’s one less headache for us!”

Watched by the survey-party members, each voicing his feeling, the car advanced across the darkness-shrouded plain without a sound from its engine, and soon it could be seen no more.

“I think you should’ve asked them what’ll be waiting for us out there, captain.”

There was a clap on his shoulder, and turning, he found the doctor. The cries of the wounded that surrounded him made Otto look around reproachfully.

Taking the pipe from his mouth, the doctor replied, “It’s not all that bad. Three are seriously wounded—all the rest just have cuts and scrapes. With this new medicine that was discovered in some of the Nobility’s ruins, everyone should be fit as a fiddle by tomorrow morning.”

“I’ve heard about that stuff,” Otto said as he ran his eyes over his surroundings and felt for the gun on his hip. “Sounds like it has the power to make the cells of any living creature regenerate. Is it basically the source of immortality?”

“Something like it, I suppose. Except when humans use it, it’ll only work the first two times. So we can’t make like the Nobility.” Rubbing his balding pate, the doctor blew out purplish pipe smoke.

“But if the Nobility are ageless and indestructible, why’d they ever make something like that, Doc? They’re so fit; it’s not like they’d ever need it.”

At this perfectly natural question from Otto, the doctor furrowed his brow and scratched at his head. “Now, this is just a rumor, but it’s one I think you might recall having heard before. They say the legendary king of the Nobility, the one they call their Sacred Ancestor, was obsessed with certain accursed experiments.”

It felt as if the air around them had suddenly grown colder, and Otto trembled.

Just then, an odd thing occurred in their camp. Forty to fifty feet from where Otto and the doctor were talking, the other party members were busy repairing the barricades and cleaning their guns. At the very back a group of five men were assembling a spotlight tower when a pale woman suddenly appeared behind them. And when she pressed her ruby-red lips against the nape of the nearest man’s neck, he collapsed on the spot without uttering a word. Yet the others, including a man who was less than a foot from him, didn’t notice. The woman slipped up to a second man working in silence and did the same thing to him. The fifth man fell without any of them ever noticing the Noblewoman, and none of the other party members even looked in their direction.

Not seeming hurried at all, the woman proceeded with an elegant gait to where one party member was welding supports to the end of a barricade, and then moved on to the man beside him. From time to time, a member of the group looked in her direction, but she probably had the ability to perceive when that would happen, because she always concealed herself behind her victims, and the darkness also aided her so that no one actually caught sight of her.

In this manner, the party members fell one after another, and the woman made her way over to Otto and the doctor. The topic of the Sacred Ancestor and his suspicious experiments was more than enough to keep the men occupied.

“That would mean the Sacred Ancestor really had that intent after all, but that’s pretty hard to believe.”

“I thought the same thing, but after information brought to the Board of Antiquities was analyzed, it seemed almost certain the rumors were true.” Finally taking his hands away from his head, the doctor continued, “According to journals and other materials left by the Nobility, the Sacred Ancestor is a vampire so great the average Noble can’t even begin to understand him. Perhaps his behavior was—unexpected.”

Otto folded his arms, mulling this over, while ten feet behind him a party member who’d been coiling up a rope received the woman’s kiss. Right beside him another man was engaged in the same task, but he didn’t even look at her.

“Now this is another rumor,” the doctor said, wagging his index finger. “It’s said the Sacred Ancestor’s accursed experiments took the lives of nearly a hundred million people, and it seems he only had one success.”

“Oh, so that would be—” the captain began with a nod, but when he looked over to where the doctor should’ve been by his right side, the man wasn’t there. There was no sign at all of his companion, as if the darkness had swallowed him whole.

“Hey, doc—where’d you go?” Otto called out, but even as he spoke, he noticed that something strange was going on. Looking around for someone to shout over to, he felt a chill run down his spine. There was no one there.

“Now this is odd . . .”

Clucking his tongue, Otto ran back to the sleeping quarters. Though born and raised in the Capital, he’d been doing surveys out on the Frontier for more than twenty years. He could recall several such cases—people vanishing one by one under the darkness of night. Many times it was the work of highly intelligent beasts or evil spirits, but in the majority of such cases it was said their compatriots took notice while it was going on. There was only one exception to that—when the night itself was targeting the humans. In other words, a Noble.

A stake gun rested beside his bed. It was the only weapon humans had to fight the Nobility. Otto picked it up. And something grabbed his wrist–a pale hand that reached out from under the blanket. Pulling free with a cry of surprise, he pointed the stake gun at it. With a bang the high-density gas fuse in the bottom of the stake propelled it a thousand feet per second, driving it ruthlessly through the center of the blanket. The female hand disappeared, as if it’d never been there.

Otto looked at his right hand. He saw purple bruises where the fingers had gripped him. The limb was also horribly numb.

Shifting the weapon to his left hand, Otto ran out of the sleeping quarters. He got two steps before he froze in his tracks.

The scene was perfectly ordinary. Kenny was working on the auto cannon; Breck’s eyes were gleaming as he inspected the ammo; Corey and Djavan, Law and Agrifass all hummed as they concentrated on repairing the barricades. And the doctor? He was right where he’d been earlier, rubbing his balding pate and smoking his pipe.

Otto thought he must have dreamed it. Then he looked at his right hand. The bruises remained distinct. His left hand lowered the stake gun. To his rear, the night wind coldly informed him, “Your kind was our food. And to think that now you turn a gun on a Noble.”

When he whipped around for a look, a stark beauty stood before him. Even more than her white dress, it was her pale skin that glowed in the moonlight, and the moon that night was reflected in her vermilion lips. Instinctively, Otto leveled the gun—and the woman made a swipe with her right hand. A terrific force exploded against his fingertips and the gun, which weighed about seven pounds, was sent flying like a dry twig.

“It’s a Noble!” he shouted, still staring at the woman as he backed away a few steps. “Blast her! Burn the shit out of her!”

“What kind of thing is that to say, Otto?” he heard the doctor remark. His voice resembled a woman’s.

Otto didn’t turn around. He knew all too well what had happened.

I’m the only one left.

“Well, say hello to our new master,” Kenny said. But what had been Kenny now had the voice of a monster.

As a hand brushed his shoulder and elbow from behind, Otto shook free of it with a scream and moved forward. The woman was right in front of him.

“I am Duchess Miranda,” she said. And then, as if granting him an audience, the pale Noblewoman slowly extended her right hand. Toward Otto’s throat.

He covered his face with his hands.

DEATHTRAP