A WISH CLOAKED IN DARKNESS

CHAPTER 3

—

I

—

The reaction of the three knights was almost comical to see. At the sound of the chiming voice, each had fallen to one knee right where he was. Since the voice had come from behind the trio, only D and Elena could actually see the speaker. As the girl remained slumped against her bike’s handlebars, a gasp of surprise slipped from her.

Moonlight rained down on the woman, melting into her white dress when it struck the shoulders, the bust, the skirt. For an instant, each spot glistened like a collection of tiny jewels, but this sight couldn’t be enjoyed for more than a heartbeat before ripples spread across the surface of the dress and the gleam faded away. Her brow and eyes, nose and lips—each beautiful part had been so delicately arranged they would leave any poet incapable of ever setting his pen down again. With her crystal-clear gaze trained on D all the while, the young lady brought the rose she held up to her mouth. Her lips were so red that it seemed they’d stain the petals.

“So we finally meet in my world, D and whoever-you-are,” she said.

The moonlight gave a pearly luster to the lips of the woman—although given her youthful visage, it would’ve been more accurate to call her a girl. It was night now.

“Since you’ve taken all the trouble to come up here, would you join me for a spot of tea? If you don’t mind the company, that is.”

“Princess!” both the Red Knight and Blue Knight cried.

“Silence!” the princess snapped at them as if they were a pair of high-spirited children. The rose whipped around, painting a streak of white in the air. “The prospect of that filthy moppet coming along doesn’t thrill me, but I’m sure you won’t agree to anything unless she can accompany you. Both of you, follow me,” she said as if she were giving orders to her retainers, rolling the flower between her fingertips all the while. But the young lady stopped immediately. Her expression tightened, but she quickly formed a smile and said, “Don’t be that way. Are you all business? You may be eminently trusting, but I’m sure you’re equally stubborn.” Here the young woman tilted her head a bit to one side. “Say, I have an idea. Would you join me in a little competition?”

It was not D, but rather the trio of knights who froze where they were. Still, it was remarkable how the warriors never took their eyes off of the Hunter for a second.

“Oh,” she laughed, “you should be accustomed to my whims by now. Don’t make such a scene in front of your foe. You know, I said a little competition, but I’m loath to engage in anything as unseemly as a drawn-out sword fight. Let’s do something light and refreshing. I’ll stand right in front of you, and you come at me any way you wish. But only once,” she said. “If you cut me, I lose. And if by some chance I’m unscathed, you lose. In which case the two of you will have to join me for tea. What do you think?”

Everyone’s eyes were riveted to D. Oddly enough, the look the three knights gave him didn’t carry as much anger or menace as it did a powerful tinge of dependence—and that included the eyes of the Black Knight.

“Let’s do it,” said D.

The princess, incredibly enough, snapped her fingers. “Fantastic! I just adore decisive men.”

Her body seemed to float through the air, and she came to stand before D with just the faintest ruffling of the hem of her dress.

“Princess!” the Blue Knight shouted as he prepared to dash to her aid.

“I believe I told you to be silent, didn’t I?” she said, her voice flying like a spear of ice to nail her guardian in blue firmly in place. “There will be no interruptions now,” the princess told the Hunter. “So, shall we get started?” she asked, her tone incredibly innocent even as she invited a blow from his blade.

While she was a full-grown woman and a beautiful one at that, the gap between the way she looked and the way she sounded wasn’t so much strange as it was bewitching, and even another female like Elena found herself swallowing hard. When faced with such charm, a Hunter of even the firmest resolve would’ve found himself suddenly unable to attack her, stripped of not only malice but of all hostility. Anyone but D, that is.

A flash of white light came straight down at the top of the princess’s head—a merciless blow from D’s sword. However, Elena forgot all about the numbness that had spread through her entire body.

The enchanting princess had clearly been split in two from the crown of her head to her crotch, but she was smiling.

“Which of us won?” she asked. But who would’ve imagined anyone who’d felt the edge of D’s sword would live to frame such a question? The princess was twirling the white rose right in front of her nose.

“You did,” D said, sheathing his blade without another word.

“Oh, I’m so glad you’ve put your sword away. I take it you trust me when I say those three won’t lay a hand on you. I like you better with each passing minute. And I have some really delicious tea to offer you.”

The Hunter and the biker followed the princess through a doorway into the main building. The knights didn’t come with them, for the princess had ordered them to remain there. What’s more, she’d told them they weren’t to do anything to the girl’s motorcycle, and the trio acquiesced.

The interior of the manor had every imaginable luxury. Seeing how generous the Nobility had been in their use of crystal and gemstones, gold and the legendary precious metals their kind had synthesized, Elena could only stare in amazement. Her paralysis passed when D’s left hand touched her.

“Unbelievable . . . So this is what Nobles’ houses look like?” she muttered in amazement as they passed the base of a crystal statue that looked to be over sixty feet tall. She meant every word.

Fog coursed around the three of them incessantly, and as it writhed around their bodies, it took the shape of gorgeous men and women. When Elena waved her hand through them, they faded away, leaving only a smile that wasn’t really a smile.

“As you can see, nothing has changed in my manor. By day, it may not be much to look at, but it returns to its glory when my time comes. Like it?” the princess inquired innocently.

D replied, “The Nobility dreamed of the daytime. Do they dream of the nights now, too?”

“Dear me, that’s a terrible thing to say! I’ll have you know I’m as alive as can be. No different from yourself, my good dhampir.”

Elena thought her heart was about to fly out of her mouth.

“Oh, does that surprise you, child? You’ve known him even longer than I have—how could you not notice? I guess you humans really are terribly stupid after all, aren’t you?”

“How do you know that’s what he is?” Elena asked, having worked up her courage once more. The fear the Nobility inspired in humans was overwhelming both mentally and emotionally. Her voice was hoarse, and its volume a whisper.

With faux sympathy, the princess said, “Do you think any human male could be so beautiful? Five minutes in his presence should be enough to tell you he’s from an entirely different world. And that’s why he’s a Vampire Hunter.”

Pondering the ghastly implications of the words the princess had uttered with such weight, Elena began to feel dizzy. How could the person who was going to dispose of the Nobility so easily be half vampire himself?

“We’re here,” the princess exclaimed, the doors before her opening at the sound of her voice.

The trio stepped into a lavishly appointed room. Once they’d taken their seats around a marble table, semitransparent stewards came over without a sound and poured wine into goblets wrought of pure silver.

“I had been thinking about tea,” the princess said, “but this is a more grown-up taste. It may be a bit too mature for our young miss, though.”

“What, this crap?!” Elena sneered, and she was about to drain the cup when D put his hand across the top of it.

“Let’s hear what you have to say. Before anyone drinks anything.”

“Are you trying to tell me the battle will be on as soon as we’re done drinking? Well, don’t worry on that account. I’ll gladly indulge you. Are you incapable of taking a simple invitation to tea at face value?”

“Yes.”

“How unfortunate that you’ve had such a poor upbringing,” the princess remarked with a wink at Elena, but the biker turned away in disgust. Nonchalantly taking a sip from her cup, the enchanting princess let out a sad sigh and said, “There’s something I’d like you to do for me.” Her words were directed at D. “It’s about my four guardians—although you’ve only seen three of them so far. I don’t suppose you’d be so kind as to dispose of them?”

Silence fell.

Still in the process of bringing the cup to her lips, Elena had her eyes open as wide as they would go. She looked extremely uncomfortable. Born and raised in the village, she was all too familiar with the four knights and their relationship with the princess. If the princess was the moon, then the four knights were the darkness that allowed her radiance to reach the earth. At her bidding, the knights would gallop out like thunder on their chargers, racing off to trample all those who would oppose her.

Ironically enough, it also meant that at times the knights defended the village of Sacri. Elena herself knew of more than a dozen times when various monsters or bands of well-armed brigands had attacked, trying to get at their rich supply of grain. And it was said there’d been countless other attempts in the past. Burn, pillage, and kill—this was the standard under which their villainous attackers gathered, but they’d always been repelled by a hair’s breadth and then made the victims of their very own motto by the four knights acting on the princess’s orders.

And it was the four knights who boldly thundered out across the plains to challenge the gigantic “earth devourer” that could swallow a whole hill in the course of a night, eventually slaying the beast after a fierce and bloody conflict.

And when the land tsunami that unavoidably crushed everything in its path and churned the debris high into the air was bearing down on the village, it was the knights who arrived like a four-colored wind and used the Nobility’s civil engineering equipment and advanced technology to temporarily hide the entire community deep in the earth to keep it safe.

The skillful Hunters who’d come to dispose of the lovely princess residing in this lonely outpost had never managed to breach the doors to her fortress before being cut down amid the whistling blows of her guardians’ swords and lances.

The strange thing was, Elena had never actually seen the princess in the flesh before—nor had the mayor or any of the other village elders. When they’d been born, the lady of the manor was already the stuff of legend. The only reason she remained painfully carved into the hearts of the people was because when the knights occasionally called on the village, they often mentioned the princess and delivered her edicts.

Just how old was this woman they called their princess? What were these knights who could walk in the light of the sun? These questions were always on the tips of the people’s tongues, but ultimately sank back into the dark recesses of their brains unanswered. Living as she did in a manor far older than the village, there was no point in asking her age. Most likely, several generations of knights had fought from beneath that immutable armor. After all, it only stood to reason the Noblewoman would need someone of human blood to guard her coffin by day. Needless to say, the Nobility were objects of fear and hatred, and the princess was no exception. At one time, young people and even children had vanished from the village every night, irrespective of sex. They returned with teeth marks on their necks; pale and less than human. Every last one of them had the aroma of roses on their breath, and rose petals filled their pockets. Thus, the lady of the manor became known as “the rose princess.”

And yet, incredibly few people had ever offered her any resistance. Aside from the fact she was shielded by her knights, the human populace of this region had a more deeply rooted fear of the Nobility than people in other Frontier sectors. Mothers could only weep as their children were locked up on the edge of town, and husbands drowned their anger in liquor after driving stakes through the hearts of wives who’d bared their fangs. Once in a very great while, a brave rebel would take the road up to the manor, but many of them were never seen again—as if swallowed by the darkness—while even more had been left as brutalized corpses decorating the sides of the road out of town.

It was a few years earlier that the first symptoms of change had manifested. Young people had been born without the innate fear of the Nobility many believed had been fused into their very genetic code. And once grown, they made little secret of their plans to resist the princess and her guardians. Elena was one such person; the dangerous nucleus of her biker group.

“Just what the hell are you up to?” she asked the princess, her voice a mix of tension and trepidation—and expectation.

“They’re a hindrance, the lot of them,” the lovely princess replied, but her words were directed to D, as always. “The fact of the matter is, I’ve finally grown tired of these lands. Although I look young, I’ve actually been here for a fairly long time. And recently, I’ve yearned to see something of the world at long last. But when I go, I’d like to spread my wings and fly solo. And that’s where they become a problem.”

Elena also looked at D. She couldn’t help but wonder what he thought of the staggering information the princess had just disclosed. Relief and excitement filled the biker’s heart, but D’s expression hadn’t changed in the least. No matter what the Nobility had in mind, the Hunter would no doubt remain impassive as he brought all their plans to naught. Beautifully and emotionlessly.

“They are certain to insist on accompanying me,” the princess continued. “After all, they live solely to protect me and my stronghold. Doesn’t that sound absolutely dismal? I’ve always been sickened by that cloying kind of love and feelings of loyalty.”

“Then why have you put up with it for so long?” D asked.

The princess let a wry smile drift to her lips as she replied, “Oh, there are any number of reasons. Bound by the traditions of my ancestors and so on. They are my retainers, ultimately. It wouldn’t do for me to leave them with nothing to do, would it? After all, they haven’t a talent for anything but this work.”

“But you’d abandon them now that you’re bored?”

“Don’t make it sound so sordid. Everyone has a right to put their own happiness first, right? I have a feeling that in that respect, humans and Nobles don’t differ in the least.”

There was no reply.

“That’s all I had to say. If you’d be so good as to eliminate them, I’ll move on to a different area. And the village will be free—won’t it? Everything works out nice and neatly that way. And you can finish up here without even having to destroy me.”

“I listened to what you had to say,” D said softly.

“Now, hold it right there,” the princess said, fairly admonishing the Hunter.

The ghastly aura that’d begun to permeate the area left Elena unable to speak.

“Wait just a moment,” the princess continued. “I told you I’d be willing to leave these lands. There’s no need for you to try and kill me, is there? Are you some kind of homicidal maniac?”

“I’m a Hunter,” D said. Perhaps even that brief response was only out of politeness.

The flash of silver that shot out bisected the lovely princess once, slicing the table in two as well.

“Well done,” the princess said, rising completely unscathed.

A stark light mowed through her waist.

In her white dress, she flowed to the center of the room like a fog.

“See, I knew you were pigheaded. If you are intent on fulfilling your contract to slay me, it seems I have no recourse but to change the mind of your employer. But first, watch this.”

The princess raised one hand. What then suddenly formed in the air was an image of the village of Sacri as seen from a distance. The silver disc that glowed in the sky was obscured by the fluttering of black wings.

“Bats?!” Elena exclaimed.

As if taking their cue from the biker’s cry, the countless winged mammals dove straight for the village.

The view changed.

Elena had her eyes glued to it, for the tiny descending creatures had become roses beyond number. Flowers in four shades billowed ornately down the streets and alleyways. And before the eyes of the awestruck Elena, the image vanished.

“This is not a dream, I tell you. All of that actually happened. Aren’t you at all curious what’ll become of the village I’ve blessed with my flowers?”

“What have you done? What the hell were those flowers?!” Elena cried.

“You’ll see when you get back there, little girl,” the princess replied, her lips remaining parted for silent laughter. “I had intended to kill you here, but now you may return to the village. However, you’ll find there are some cases where it’s more painful to live than to die. Go ahead and find out for yourself. See exactly what I mean.”

As the princess spun around and raced for the door on the far side of the chamber, a stark needle pierced her back. Her laughter never abating, the figure in white was swallowed by fog before she reached the door.

At the same time, the same door that they’d entered by opened to the rear of her two guests. No doubt it was the princess’s way of ordering them to leave.

“Let’s go back, D,” Elena urged the Hunter.

But D walked off toward where the princess had disappeared.

“Where are you going?”

“If you won’t go home alone, come with me. Or stay right here, if you like.”

Elena’s eyes bulged in her sockets, but it only took the blink of an eye for her astonishment to become anger.

Pointing toward the door, she said, “You saw those roses, didn’t you? Something really awful is happening back in the village. The only thing that can save someone from being harmed by a Noble is another Noble. And you’re half one, right?” Elena exclaimed, but only as the words were coming out of her mouth did she realize what she was saying.

Putting her fist to her mouth, she said, “I’m so sorry.”

D had already been swallowed by the fog.

Realizing the gorgeous man and woman were truly creatures from a whole other world, Elena was plunged into a solitude that rent her soul.

—

II

—

Elena couldn’t even remember how she’d gotten out of the manor. The next thing she knew, the rose garden spread before her like something out of a dream, and a knight sat before her on a black horse. The moonlight informed her that the armor encasing him was the same hue as his mount.

As the girl froze in her tracks, the Black Knight indicated the back of his horse and told her, “Get on.”

Elena was at a loss for words.

“There’s nothing to fear. The princess’s orders were that I deliver you safely back to the village. But only in the event that you came out without the Hunter.”

“Why?” she asked. Although she’d tried to put some force behind it, her voice quavered.

“She bade me to let you see the village, come what may. And some very dangerous things come out at night in these parts.”

“Sounds like not everything’s under her control. Are human beings the only thing she can’t set free?”

The Black Knight smiled without saying a word.

Noticing that his was not an unsettling grin, Elena pulled herself together once more. Swallowing her saliva, she said, “I’ll go back on my own ride. Out of the way.”

“In that case, you’ll find it right there,” the Black Knight said, tossing his chin to the right and ignoring the rude manner in which she’d declined his offer.

Glistening in the moonlight, her motorcycle looked like it was brand new.

“I gave it a tune-up while you were inside,” the knight told her. “That was also on instructions from the princess. But even if you’re riding back, I’ll escort you.”

“Do whatever you like,” Elena said absentmindedly as she walked over to her bike. It was like a completely different vehicle. The responsiveness of the accelerator and brake, the feel of the spring suspension, the purr of the engine—they’d all been raised to a new level. Elena restrained her own curiosity about how he’d managed so many improvements in such a short time.

But the question that weighed most heavily on Elena’s mind was whether this man or his compatriots in the quartet—one of whom had yet to show himself—had any idea of the change that’d come over their proud liege. The princess was certainly a capricious character, but did she actually think the biker wouldn’t tell the knights what she knew?

“What a fine mistress you have,” the girl said sarcastically once they’d finished coming down the hill. Suddenly, she stood transfixed by a fierce gaze evident even through the dark of night and held her tongue. In a heartbeat, she’d lost all urge to divulge the secret.

Quickly facing forward again, the Black Knight said in a rusty voice, “Never mention the princess again.”

Elena thought he was going to follow up with a threat of some sort, but the knight continued to advance on his steed without saying another word.

“You and your friends will be finished soon,” the incorrigible Elena sneered, even though she realized it was a reckless thing to do. “I’m sure he’s gonna kill you all. You could all come at him at once and it still wouldn’t make any difference.”

“You’re probably right.”

The knight conceded so easily, it threw Elena into a strange mood. Her bike was creeping forward at a speed of about two miles per hour. To be honest, the reason she didn’t just take off was because she was scared. Although this knight in black was the most human of the four in his emotions, she was still chilled to the marrow just knowing he was there by her side. And it wasn’t horror that chilled her, but rather a physical coldness from the supernatural aura given off by all those in league with the Nobility.

“Then why don’t you all take off out of here as fast as you can? And take your mistress with you.”

“I believe I just told you I wouldn’t allow any further discussion of the princess,” the Black Knight said in a tone that froze Elena’s blood. “Do you hate us that much?” he asked, his voice carrying a puff of laughter.

“Of course. How many people do you think have been put on the stakes over the years?”

“That’s always been done to make an example of those who would harm the princess. It’s unavoidable.”

Anger caught hold of Elena.

“Unavoidable?!” she snapped. “Try putting yourself in the shoes of those you killed. Of course, the whole lot of you are half dead already, so you probably wouldn’t mind, would you?”

The Black Knight seemed to chuckle softly. “Very good. You’re exactly right.”

As for the next question, even Elena herself didn’t know why she asked it. Nevertheless, she said, “Were you guys human once?”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know—that’s why I’m asking.”

“If you happen to be around when I die, take my helmet off. Then you’ll know.”

“Okay. I’m looking forward to it.”

The biker was just congratulating herself on her cheeky reply when the Black Knight rode past her on one side.

After he’d gone about fifteen feet ahead of her, he asked, “Can you speed up?”

“I only need a half second, and then I’m good to go!”

The two of them were approaching the road that ran straight into the village. To either side, black tree trunks stretched up to the sky. But one of the trees in the stand seemed to be sort of twisted out of shape, and it made Elena blink. Come to think of it, she’d taken this road hundreds of times. There’d never been a tree like that before.

Elena was bracing herself to say something when another tree shot across her field of view. It hadn’t fallen. It’d leaned over, and was going right for the Black Knight’s head.

The girl saw a band of light. It flowed up from the Black Knight’s back to wind around the monstrous tree bearing down on him like an avalanche, and then the bizarre creature fell to the ground, sliced in half where the band of light had touched it.

“Go!” the Black Knight bellowed.

Above his head loomed another tree, and this time it had split open from the tip to reveal stark white fangs as it attacked.

It took half a second for her to hit forty miles per hour. A full second later she hit sixty—and Elena and her bike were both propelled forward by a roar. The very instant she passed the Black Knight, Elena caught the band of light once more out of the corner of her eye, but she sped off without so much as a backward glance. And while she didn’t look back, she did wonder about the outcome all the way to the village.

The village gates were still open when they greeted Elena. But it was long past the hour when they should’ve been shut. Something was wrong here.

Fighting the chill against her skin, Elena rode her bike into the village.

In areas where the Nobility remained, people holed up in their houses as soon as the sun went down. While it was natural that there was no one on the streets, the scent of roses filling the night air made Elena tense. Before she knew it, her left hand was massaging the opposite breast in an attempt to ease her apprehension.

Elena peered into the guardhouse to one side of the gate. There was no sign of anyone. The gatekeeper wouldn’t go right home after closing the gates–after all, travelers were known to show up suddenly, and express messengers came from the Capital on occasion. The absence of the gatekeeper was fairly strong evidence something wasn’t right.

Elena turned forward again. Someone else’s face was right in front of her.

Choking back a scream, Elena said, “Miksin?”

That was the name of the one of her gang members. He wore a dazed expression she’d never seen on him before, and it made him look like a specter.

“What the hell happened? And where’s Stahl?”

“Don’t . . . know . . . ,” the stocky little man mumbled, saliva spilling out with the words as he swung his head from side to side. “Oh, that’s right . . . He helped . . . bury everyone. Right now, he’s digging . . . a hole . . .”

“A hole? What are you talking about?! Snap out of it!”

Grabbing the man by his powerful shoulders, Elena shook him. The head on top of his bull neck snapped back and forth easily, but Miksin didn’t offer any resistance. The girl’s left hand slipped off Miksin’s shoulder and slid right down his back. Elena knew immediately what the soft sensation traveling from her fingers had to be. She spun Miksin around with all her might.

“What in the world . . . ,” she muttered.

On the man’s broad back—directly above the seventh thoracic vertebra—a symbol of the world of night was blooming in all its crimson glory. The girl tried to yank it out, but only the petals were left in her hand, while the stem remained rooted in the middle of his back.

“Where is everyone, Miksin? Tell me!” she shouted, but just then the sound of hoof beats reached her ears. “D?!” she said, her assessment all too natural under the circumstances.

“I see you made it back safely,” the Black Knight said from outside the gates. His armor had a white luster to it—the work of the moonlight.

“You of all people must know something about what’s happened here, right?” Elena asked in a low voice as she pulled her hands away from Miksin. “Tell me. What do we have to do to save everyone? How are we supposed to get these flowers out of them? Tell me, damn you!”

The girl sounded like she was spitting up blood as she beseeched him, but the Black Knight sat there listening like a lump of cold steel.

“My work is done,” was all he said as he wheeled his horse around.

“Wait! Wait just a second!” Elena shouted, and at just that moment an idea sparked in her brain, as if by a miracle.

Leaving Miksin behind, the girl dashed out through the gates.

“I’m outside the village now. I’m not safely inside. You haven’t fulfilled your duty yet.”

“Enough of your childish games,” the Black Knight said as he continued to ride away.

“I’m gonna stay out here until you do something. In another minute or so, the beasties will catch my scent and come after me. And if I were to die outside the village, that’d mean you disregarded your princess’s commands, wouldn’t it?”

Elena had ample confidence in that last comment.

Sure enough, it hit the mark. Certainly this must’ve been the first time anyone had ever made the Black Knight turn his mount around not once, but twice.

As he rode over to Elena, he remarked, “A crude but effective ploy.” He said the words without any modulation, but his delivery alone spoke volumes about Elena’s victory. “However, I’m not about to do anything,” he added. “What has happened to the village is in accordance with the will of the princess.”

“Which would you choose?” Elena asked, desperately trying to retain the upper hand. “To be punished for killing me, or to be scolded for preventing some evil work of the princess that you had no part in? If I were you, I’d see to it that I did my job.”

“I’m not going to move from this spot,” said the Black Knight. “But I shall be here all night to cut down anything that tries to attack you. Stay right there, if you wish.”

Elena realized he’d turned the situation around. With despair and rage blasting through every inch of her, the biker stomped her feet and shouted, “If you walk around in the daylight, you can’t be a Noble! What are you, a synthetic human? Well, no matter what you are, if you’re even remotely human, there’s no way you could just leave the village to its fate. If you believe in following orders, you must be capable of respecting others. In that case, you’ve also gotta be able to understand their suffering!”

Elena’s reasoning was a bit forced, but it was all she could think of at the moment. To be honest, she didn’t believe it would have any effect at all.

As expected, the Black Knight didn’t budge an inch. He had become a statue, sitting there on his horse, devoid not only of emotion but of life itself.

“You heartless monster! Fine. I won’t ask any more of you. Take off already.” The girl turned and was about to walk back in through the gates.

“Wait,” a voice called out behind her.

Another reversal—but Elena couldn’t focus on her own joy at this turn of events as she’d noticed a number of figures heading toward her from the village.

—

III

—

It wasn’t Miksin, but she was only sure of that after she noticed the five or six villagers who had also drawn the Black Knight’s attention.

“Look over there . . . That’s Elena, isn’t it?” an old woman thin as a withered tree branch said with obvious joy.

“That’s right. It’s Elena,” said another. “You’re unharmed, I see.”

“We can share this with you. Join us.”

Beslik, dressed in his butcher’s apron, and the old man who ran the general store clawed at the air like they were swimming as they approached her.

Elena swore she could hear all the blood draining from her body like a tide. She was looking at things that wore faces all too familiar to her.

She got them, the girl thought with horror. But something’s wrong. It’s so . . . indiscriminate. Up until now, she’s only preyed on young people.

“Stand back,” someone bellowed, but Elena found it difficult to believe it was the Black Knight. Weren’t the creatures before her eyes the very same thing as the princess? Elena backed away three steps, while the Black Knight rode forward three.

Instinctively curious about the man’s weapon, Elena looked at his back and saw an iron sheath roughly two feet long. Or rather, there were two scabbards for two broadswords there, and it looked like one was laid on top of the other. Rough in size and shape, the weapons didn’t seem at all suitable for this giant.

It came as little surprise that the trio of villagers were taken aback when they came out through the gates, but they must’ve viewed the knight as an ally, as they quickly spread their arms and started walking toward Elena.

A horizontal flash of light mowed through the napes of their necks.

Elena was reminded of champagne corks shooting off from the internal pressure. But instead of fermented fruit juice and gas, the three necks were sending geysers of blackish blood into the air. Beyond brutal, beyond gruesome, the scene could’ve even been termed striking by some, but it left Elena so totally unnerved that even when she heard the blades being sheathed, she didn’t turn toward the swordsman.

Undoubtedly the Black Knight had utilized the weapons from his back. But how? He’d sat on his horse without lifting a finger, and even if he’d extended his arm, his weapon never would’ve reached the closest villager, let alone all three of them.

Apparently the stroke had been so masterful the trio didn’t even realize they’d been cut, and they took two or three more sure-footed steps before collapsing limply.

The sight of the falling bodies finally brought Elena back to her senses.

“What the hell are you doing?!” the biker shouted, glaring at the Black Knight.

“They were going after you,” he replied. There was laughter in his voice, but the flustered Elena didn’t notice it.

“You didn’t have to kill them. I—I mean, there’s gotta be some way to save them.”

“Once they’re like that, there’s but one way to ‘save them,’ as you put it.”

Elena’s chest grew tight at the Black Knight’s reply. It was exactly as he said. The only “salvation” for a human who’d been made a servant of the Nobility was the kind the Black Knight had dispensed.

“But why? They were your mistress’s . . .”

“Never.”

“What?” Elena said, her eyes going wide.

“The princess would never do such a thing. The very thought of her elevating you humans to the same state as herself, even as her servants—there must be some mistake.”

“Oh, it’s no mistake, mark my—”

The rest of Elena’s words were crushed by the black figure’s advance. Feeling the same pressure as if a mountain was moving by, Elena stepped to one side.

“I must rectify this error,” the Black Knight said before he passed through the gates.

“Wait!” Elena cried, bounding out in front of his horse.

“Out of my way. You’re in the village now. It’s no longer my responsibility whether you live or die.”

“Are you planning on killing everyone here? I can’t let you do that.”

“And you intend to stop me?” the Black Knight asked, his voice dropping lower.

“I sure do,” Elena replied from a spot ten feet away.

The wind snarled. The skill the girl displayed in pulling her chain free and swinging it around as she leapt out of the way was truly impressive, but how much good her weapon would do against the heavily armored Black Knight was the real question. And her motorcycle wasn’t nearby.

There was a sharp rap as sparks flew from the Black Knight’s helm. The weight on the chain had scored a direct hit, and more hits came in rapid succession. This rustic lass had taken that single length of chain and made it seem more like a dozen weapons, simply with the skilled manipulations of one hand. And when the knight’s upper body swayed, Elena brought her left hand into play, too. As the second chain swept the front legs out from under it, the horse toppled forward.

The knight’s massive form rose. The laws of physics should’ve launched his body forward, or perhaps it would’ve been even more appropriate for him to touch down feet-first, as light as a feather, behind Elena. But the skill of the woman warrior had seen to it that chains were wound about both his wrists. Moreover, when Elena raised her hands, the weights at the other end of the chains angled up into the air, wrapping around the heavy branches of the colossal trees that towered to either side of the knight and robbing him of his freedom.

“Just stay there and behave yourself,” Elena said as she dashed toward her bike.

From behind her, a low voice called out, “What will you do now?”

Ignoring the query, she hopped onto her bike and started the engine. The only thing that kept her level-headed was the fact that the Black Knight’s voice hinted at mocking laughter when he’d called out to her. Although she wasn’t sure whether the laser generator set inside her headlight would prove effective or not, Elena didn’t have any other options.

“Watch this, missy!” the Black Knight exclaimed.

Elena saw him tug on his fully extended arms. The branches snapped, and the crimson beam split the darkness as it blazed at the Black Knight. Tree branches rained down from either side to block the laser.

A wind and a rumbling of the earth sent Elena and her bike flying, but it wasn’t from branches. Rather, she was sent into the air by the thud from the trunks of the gargantuan trees that’d fallen over. The Black Knight had torn them up, roots and all, with consummate ease. The trees rested against the rows of houses to either side, their trunks forming double fences while a composed voice called from behind them, “Well then, here I go. Off to correct all the mistakes. You should be thankful these trees have saved your life.”

“Wait!” Elena shouted as she was about to start her bike, but then she received a shock.

The two tree trunks seemed to have been purposely placed in an arrangement calculated to keep her bike from ever getting between them.

“Damn it all!” Elena snarled, slamming her fist into the palm of her other hand. But she quickly decided on her course of action.

Freeing the chain from a branch of the nearer tree, she then wrapped it firmly around the trunk, pulled it taut, and looped it around an iron stake driven deep into the ground. The stake was one she’d had in the storage compartment on her bike.

Having backed up as far as the gates, Elena hunkered down over the handlebars wearing an expression that brimmed with impatience and self-confidence. The exhaust pipes spat flames. Steered with miraculous skill, the bike barreled up the thin line she’d strung from the tree to the ground, flying high into the air to effortlessly clear the two trunks and land on the darkened street beyond.

Taking a hard bounce as they came back to earth, Elena and her bike knifed through the wind now that the last obstacle had been cleared, and a few seconds later they sped into the square.

An unexpected sight greeted the warrior woman. A well was situated at the center of the square, and by it stood the Black Knight with a tiny, frail figure.

“Mama Kipsch!” Elena cried, her voice carrying an added weight. While she realized the village was in great peril, the name she’d said was the only reason even a hint of reassurance lingered in her heart.

“Welcome back,” the silver-maned crone replied without ever looking at Elena. An earthen pot was cradled under her left arm. Her right hand was sunk into its wide mouth up to the elbow.

Turning her eyes in the same direction both of the others faced, Elena had her breath taken away. In the moonlight, it looked like the villagers lay on the ground, piled one on top of the other. None of them were moving at all. Worse yet, the sight of a number of others crawling into the open holes that riddled the ground gave Elena goose bumps. Was this what Miksin had been talking about?

Looking up at the Black Knight, Mama Kipsch said, “So, how about it?”

“Very well. As promised, I shall wait three days. And during that time—you know what you’re to do, don’t you?”

“Not a problem. I’ll keep my end of the deal, too.”

Elena suddenly felt like her own deadly battle with the knight was something that’d happened a whole world away.

Silently climbing onto his jet black mount, the Black Knight then said, “Well, I’m off—but the humans truly don’t deserve such a great witch doctor.” With those words, he wheeled his horse around.

As the knight and his mount passed right by the end of her nose, Elena could only stand and watch like a demented soul.

The horse halted. Up on its back, the Black Knight merely turned his head a bit to gaze at Elena. White moonlight gleamed off his helm and pauldrons, making him look like a sculpture from another dimension.

“We shall meet again—soldier!” he told her.

And then his horse’s hooves tore into the dirt as he galloped off down the street.

When a hand came to rest on Elena’s shoulder, the biker returned to her senses. Mama Kipsch’s mournful countenance greeted her. Before Elena could say a word, the elderly witch doctor who’d just sent a killer packing said, “You threw down with him, did you?”

“Yeah.”

“Must’ve been a good fight.”

“How do you know that?” asked the girl.

“You heard what he said, ‘soldier.’ It would seem he’s taken a shine to you.”

“Spare me, Mama Kipsch. Anyway, what the hell was all this . . . ,” Elena began to say, but when she’d surveyed the whole square, she then let out a little whoop of joy. People had appeared from some of the neighboring houses.

“There are some folks the flowers didn’t get, though that’s less than a tenth of the populace, I warrant.”

“And all the rest have joined the Nobility?”

Mama Kipsch nodded, and for a moment Elena’s head began to swim. The only thing that kept her from fainting was the old woman’s next remark.

“But that’s not to say they’ve gone over completely. After all, they haven’t been bitten. We should be able to do something for them.”

At the crone’s doleful expression, Elena was forced to swallow the next thing she wanted to say.

In just three days?

—

D was in a fog.

An hour had already elapsed since he’d first started after the princess. Elena hadn’t come with him, but he didn’t appear at all concerned by that.

D didn’t actually know where he was, as surprising as that might seem. Though the gorgeous Hunter was part vampire, his sense of direction had become horribly confused. But what was truly scary about the young man was how he didn’t seem to rely on it at all. The fact was, he wasn’t wading through a cloud of complete darkness. The fog carried a fragrance—that of a rose. Without a doubt, it had to belong to the lovely princess. The scents of other roses swirled through the fog as well. And yet, there was no uncertainty in D’s gait.

“You happen to know where we are?” the Hunter’s left hand asked. It sounded anxious.

But what could leave the hand so frightened?

D didn’t reply, and perhaps that added to the left hand’s anxiety, because it continued, “Now I’m sure you don’t have a clue, but—”

“We’re six hundred feet underground,” said D.

“Sheesh!” the hand spat in reply. “You mean to tell me you don’t know where we’re going, but you still know how far down we are? You’re an odd one. Well, what have we here?”

D had already noticed, too—the fog was clearing. The white mass was drifting away, becoming a thin band that unraveled, coiled, and vanished like the threads of a spider’s web. And from beyond the fog appeared a bottomless darkness.

“It stinks like hell down here,” the left hand stated.

Having lost the scent of roses, the air and darkness were now choked with the nauseating stench of corruption.

“It’s not a room—it’s more like a root cellar, I’d say. As far as the dimensions go, it stretches about six miles across and goes about a hundred fifty feet high. Wild animals probably live here. Still, it’s awfully quiet. I don’t sense a single—”

Before the hand could say, “thing,” the sound of creaking gears traveled down through the darkness that loomed over them like the heavens.

As D looked up, his eyes must’ve caught something, because just as his cool black pupils came to rest on a certain spot on the floor, there was a juicy plop!

Something had dropped from the ceiling. And the room above the ceiling was apparently shrouded in darkness.

D started off through the pitch blackness without any sign of agitation. But not toward where the thing had fallen. He was following the scent of flowers that lingered despite the putrid stench. The lovely princess was to be destroyed— nothing else interested D. But was it mere coincidence that the thin thread of fragrance led him right to where the massive sack lay on the floor?

“There’s raw meat inside,” the left hand said. “A whole ton, roughly.”

A rank odor spilled from the mouth of the bag.

“I’m sure you already know, but I smell something else, too. And it’s—,” the voice began to say, the words flowing off to the right.

As D was in motion, two bits of darkness came from either side of him and overlapped before his nose. From the spot where they’d landed, shrill cries arose. Although it was unclear if this was the sound of a man or a beast, D’s eyes confirmed the presence of tiny creatures armed with equally diminutive blades about ten feet from him on either side. Their little fishhook claws and tiny bat-like wings were more cute than menacing, but the creatures’ ability was made manifest by strands of black hair that continued to fall from D’s brow.

Crimson points of light began to glow. They were the eyes of homunculi, spiteful blood-light spilling from faces covered with lumps.

Thin glimmers flew at D from all sides. Short spears aimed at him, though they were so tiny as to hardly even qualify as spears. The hem of the Hunter’s coat whirled out to fend off the missiles, but a second later the garment was rent in an “x” shape. A tiny assassin who’d flown at him with the fusillade of spears had deftly laid into it with his blade.

Preparing to launch a new assault, the second wave of creatures was coiled to pounce when their crimson eyes bulged in their sockets. Just as the two homunculi from the vanguard had landed, they’d split in half lengthwise. Screeching cries of astonishment intertwined, fading off into the distance like ripples on a pond. But then they stopped dead.

With his naked blade in one hand, D slowly turned his whole body to face the way he’d come. Something enveloped his entire frame, and his left hand gasped in surprise.

An eerie miasma likely to leave all who felt it dead or disabled was billowing from the depths of the darkness. There was an intensity to it that was completely unlike that of the three knights he’d met in the world above—and yet there was also a strange similarity. This was the fourth—the last of what people called the “Four Knights of the Diane Rose.”

The source of the eerie emanations had moved. It was headed of the depths of the vast darkness. Several seconds later, the presence he’d detected became the sounds of hooves. Perhaps it was the weird atmosphere of the place that made the echoes of kicked-up soil warp into torpid, drawn-out sounds.

D didn’t move. With his blade in his right hand, he waited somberly for his foe.

The sound stopped. Fifteen feet lay between it and D.

“What have we here?” a strangely lisping voice called down from high on a mount. “I came looking for my meal and opponents. But the princess has played a cruel trick on me . . . Who knew there were still men of such beauty in the world?”

D was now gazing at the knight in white armor who sat before him on a white steed. Or perhaps it would’ve been better to say the Hunter’s eyes were facing straight ahead, and it just happened that the horse and rider filled his field of vision. Though even his left hand was enveloped in the eerie aura, the figure of beauty showed not a glimmer of tension.

“I’m so pleased,” said the knight. The longsword on his left hip shook ever so slightly. “It’s been a long time . . . since my heart raced so. There’s a fire in my chest . . . I hear a beating that was supposedly silenced more than five centuries ago . . . Oh, yes . . . Yes . . .”

His sword sang out once more. The White Knight’s upper body trembled with delight. The words spilled from his lips as if he couldn’t push them out fast enough.

“Do you want to cut him down, ‘Slayer’? Do you want to slice into this gorgeous man? I know . . . But just wait . . . We’ll save that pleasure for later . . . First, we must do our daily cleaning . . .”

The White Knight extended his left arm and began to beckon to the homunculi with his hand. Languidly. Gently. Like a pale resident of the afterworld beckoning the living.

“Come,” he said. “Come . . . foes that the princess has granted me . . . Oh, it seems today . . . we have a lively bunch . . .”

A streak of light pierced the white body, and with the hurled spear, the tiny murderers pounced on him from all sides. They were consumed, deadly weapons and all, by a wave of white. The movement of the wave resembled the hand that’d called them forward. When it opened once more, the short spears had all been knocked to the ground and the four homunculi had been sliced in half at the waist horizontally, as if in answer to D’s vertical cuts earlier.

“Come,” he said as he beckoned to his next opponents—the only ones who remained.

Three tiny figures zipped at the figure on horseback. Although they were moving at different speeds and flying at varied altitudes, a flash of white light mowed through their torsos, leveling all three of them at once.

“My cape . . . wasn’t cut . . . ,” the White Knight muttered.

Only after he’d finished did the six pieces of sundered flesh fall to the ground. And more horrible than the sight of them was the sound they made as they struck the earth.

“Not good . . . Not good at all . . . I went through them much faster . . . than I would’ve liked,” the White Knight said, the words coming out in a pant. His right hand returned the longsword to his hip as he continued, “And it’s all your fault. You’re that striking . . . That powerful . . . Oh, you wicked man . . . Now I must introduce you to ‘Slayer.’”

A tiny metallic rasping rose from the knight’s hip. The sound was so disturbing that if there’d been anyone else to hear it, they would’ve curled up in a ball and covered their ears. The sword and scabbard were rubbing against each other. All by itself, the blade was sliding out of its sheath, then back, only to repeat the whole process again and again—as if it hadn’t done enough cutting, or spilled enough blood. As if it was too soon for it to settle back into its scabbard. After all, D was still there, wasn’t he?

So, this blade was “Slayer.”