Chapter One

Chapter One

Princess froze. A cold sheen of fear colored her features, perhaps the first time she had tasted such an emotion.

“So you are here too, Setsura.”

Her voice seemed very far away. Strangely enough, even drowning in terror, the Demon Princess was at the heights of arousal. Her heaven-favored face and the root of its beauty shone forth like that of the chemist staring at a lump of radium.

“I am so happy to meet you. You should understand what is in my heart right now.”

She pressed her fingers against her bountiful breasts. A crimson line arose on her wrist, as if erupting from within. The line thickened and the hand slid away from the rest of the arm. She caught it—severed by invisible knives—with her other hand and returned it to the wrist. When the Demon Princess licked away the blood, there wasn’t a mark left on the white skin.

“Mine resembles General Bey’s regenerative powers but is my own home-grown specialty. It is frightening, making the blood flow forth like that. I don’t think General Bey could recover from the likes of this.”

“He comes next,” Setsura quietly said. “But you first. Cleaved apart by the justice of these threads, you can wait for General Bey to join you.”

The air hummed. A rainbow of light split the clear air. Princess leapt backwards. In a flash she was twenty feet into the air. “Wait!” she cried out.

Perhaps such desperation in such a proud woman threw off his timing. Perhaps Setsura’s hand was stayed by the confidence that this time she had no place to run and no place to hide.

“You would do well to wait. Kill me—if you ever could—and you will never leave here alive. Kikiou wouldn’t allow it. Or Takako Kanan.”

Setsura’s eyes flicked downward at the head of the old woman, her eyes shut.

“I know but one fate.”

As he spoke, a spray of red erupted from her neck. This time she made no attempt to stop it. The blood rained down, soaking her body like a misty shower.

“Hoh, do you hate me that much? The more the better. That is my desire. Your anger is the sweetest elixir of all. It makes my heart race. Your pain is the music of hell that makes my blood boil. Your suffering is the song of Hades that rings with ecstasy in my soul. Before doing anything rash, you should listen to this first.”

Princess reached with her right hand into her dress and took it out. How could such a horrifying demoness exhibit such grace and beauty in so simple a movement? The pale hand held a glimmering red and golden embroidered bag.

Setsura could begin to imagine what it held. She tossed it into the air. It could hardly hold much, but as if being drawn up by an invisible thread, it rose a dozen yards above his head and opened.

What it brought forth shook the heavens and the earth and raised the hair on the back of the neck. The voices of men and women and old and young, thousands upon thousands crying out, and their resounding echoes answering back.

The blue sky did not change, nor did the drifting clouds. Nor did the rustling wind or the golden rays of the sun. But any living thing hearing them would plug his ears to halt the pain. If he could not deafen himself at once, he would die in agony from the sound. The shattering screams would destroy the souls of any living thing.

And mingled among them, Setsura Aki could make out the cries of Takako Kanan.

“I have many more like that one.” The Demon Princess shrieked with laughter, her scorn cutting through the cacophony. “The voices of those who cursed and reviled me as I destroyed them. And this is only the most recent bag. Did you hear her, Setsura? There’s no plugging your ears, now.”

Princess raised her bloody right hand and brought it sharply against her own throat like a stiletto. Blood blossomed against the blue sky.

Setsura detected an abrupt change in Takako. The expected fear, but also a new scream of pain. The crimson flowers fluttered, the myriad of bloody petals scattered and danced in the air. Princess laughed her shrill laugh.

“Hoh. You understand, Setsura? Kill me and you kill her. That is what becomes of those whose blood I drink. Knowing that, will you follow through?”

There was no lack of confidence in her words. She was not lying. A faltering look passed across Setsura’s countenance. He didn’t cast out another devil wire attack. “Where is Kanan-san?” he asked, his cool voice tinged by distress.

“Oh, yes. Judging by where her cries are coming from, a room in my manor house. Rest assured she has not yet become fish food.”

“With Mephisto, then?”

“Probably. Most likely.” Speaking the frightening reality she added, “But the good doctor is presently one of us.”

“And just in time, Princess,” Setsura said, even gently.

“You don’t mean—” she started to say.

As her mouth closed on the last syllable, her lips split in two. The beautiful red line ran from the top of her head to her crotch. Her round breasts sprang into view—followed by her glistening flat belly and bush—as her robes divided and fell away.

The red line grew thicker. Ah, the two halves of her were slipping vertically past each other. Setsura Aki’s fearsome devil wire. Would his clear and shining countenance watch over yet another death?

But if the scene were not already strange enough, a new grotesqueness was soon added to it. Her two arms hugged the two halves of her together. Setsura observed dispassionately as the arm of the half sliding down pressed down on the torso opposite and the two halves melted back together.

This time she didn’t wipe away the blood or smile. Her face was ashen, and not only from anger. The roiling pain as well. Setsura’s devil wire would not be scorned.

“Bastard!” was the severed woman’s first word. “Bastard! Look at what you did to me! It would take the fingers of both hands to count the glorious kingdoms I have destroyed. That fucking hurt! You’re not getting away with this!”

Princess’s body shook. Her arms were still wrapped hard around her. She was clearly holding herself together—literally. This was the figure of a woman steeling herself against paroxysms of anger. What manner of retribution could such fury transform into? And how would Setsura Aki reply to such an attack?

The Demon Princess raised her right hand. The firmament shook. A black veil covered the world. Dark clouds swirled across the sky like endless whirlpools of mud.

Setsura Aki narrowed his eyes. It was as if the stage suddenly went dark, with a single spotlight on him, in the center of the world. He looked at Princess, who was staring up at the sky in blank amazement. Had not this apocalypse been brought about by her wizardry?

The ground shook beneath his feet. The walls of the fortress fell like dominoes. The water sluiced through the dikes like a black storm surge and swallowed up the ruins.

Unable to maintain his balance, Setsura pivoted to the right while throwing a strand of devil wire into the woods beyond. He felt a strange response. No sooner had it become clear that he wouldn’t reach his objective than he was seized by an overwhelming force and drawn body and soul into the encompassing darkness.

“Son of a bitch!” Princess cried out.

But from the way she said it, this expression of disbelief could not be aimed solely at Setsura’s sudden disappearance. Her eyes frantically searched her surroundings as she soared high into the sky, darting to the left and right in a haphazard fashion, as if afraid of being touched by that invisible something.

She arrived back at the manor house five minutes later. Coming through the front door she roared, “Kikiou!”

She knew he had no arms or legs. Even so, when called, he must appear in a flash. That was the law in this world.

The great hall trembled and she stomped through and into the corridor. Above her head hummed the sound of wings. The figure in the long gray robes followed up at the rear.

“Princess—what happened!” Kikiou asked, now right behind her.

He sported a white beard like a mountain goat, his hands and feet sprouting from the gray robes, a staff in his hand—the same old warlock as before.

“Setsura got away,” Princess said, grinding her teeth.

“Did he inflict those wounds?”

“Who else? And they hurt, damn it! Hurry up and treat them.”

“Understood. But what about Setsura?”

“This anomaly.” The eyes of the Demon Princess brimmed with the fires of hell. She looked up into the air. “That bastard was sucked into a vortex. Based on past experience, he must have been thrown out of here. Under no circumstances can he be allowed to escape. Where is Takako Kanan?”

“With Mephisto,” said Yakou from above.

“What is that quack doing?”

“Twenty or thirty minutes ago, Takako suddenly vomited blood. When Mephisto examined her, there was nothing wrong with her. Princess, that wasn’t the work of her sire?”

Not answering Yakou’s question, Princess sank into a moment of contemplative silence.

“But of course. So that bastard Setsura slashed you?”

“Kikiou, do you understand what caused it?” They’d arrived outside Mephisto’s laboratory.

“Yes,” he said with a bow of his bald head.

“Then go get rid of it. Yakou, you go with him. Find Setsura Aki and bring him back to me alive. Do you hear me? Do not kill him. Return with enough of him left to feel plenty of pain.”

“Yes.”

“Get out of here.”

“In that case—” Neither of them had spoken. The door had opened before even Princess noticed. Three pairs of eyes reflected the statue-like image of the man standing there. “If Setsura is the man you are after, then he is the one you should bring with.”

Behind him was the looming silhouette of General Bey.

“Not him,” Princess spat out. Far more than her tone of voice, a murderous light burned in her eyes. “So you’re still alive? The idiot who destroyed my mausoleum over a girl. I could annihilate you a hundred times over and not grow tired of watching you die. I’d happily draw and quarter you here and now. No. It’s better this way. Setsura and the girl he came to rescue—how about popping off their heads while keeping them alive? You’re capable of something like that, aren’t you, Mephisto?”

“More or less.” Mephisto looked calmly at Princess. “You have already perceived my control of the girl and the general. In that respect, I have a proposal for you.”

“What?”

“Add these two to the posse pursuing Setsura. I am sure the spectacle will unfold to your liking.”

“No,” she said with the sharpness of an icy north wind. “This hick of a traitorous soldier and the girl being sought by the man who left me in this state? Do you think I would let either out of my grasp? As soon as these wounds heal, I will kill him by inches. Or tear him a new one and pour in molten iron. Mephisto—undo whatever you’ve done to them.”

“The girl has been commanded to turn Setsura into a vampire.”

“What!”

“And if she fails, General Bey will kill her and then eradicate Setsura.”

Princess was at a loss for words.

They all shook. A rumble from deep within the earth, as if to toss them off their feet. No one paid it any mind. Even in the eyes of these demons who could shake Demon City to its foundations, the white-clad doctor remained a mystery wrapped in an enigma.

Nothing was out of the ordinary here. Mephisto’s blood had been taken by Ryuuki. He was one of them. And yet, the Demon Physician’s words and actions sent cold fingers of foreboding down the backs of Kikiou and Yakou. And even Princess.

“General Bey is attached to this girl. As is Setsura. But knowing that Takako has not only Setsura’s life but his soul in her sights, there is no way that Setsura can risk taking her for granted. At the same time, she has not become a vampire in toto. Setsura would otherwise have no qualms about taking her head. He is a frightening man when it comes to things like that.”

Nobody answered. It was indeed frightening. Mephisto’s words hit home.

“On the other hand, this would fan the flames of General Bey’s ardor for the girl all the more. And yet his hand is stayed in that sense as well. Wouldn’t he find himself in a deeper hell? He must watch as the object of his affection is pursued by a far more handsome young suitor, and one brimming with life. Not only can he not ride to the rescue, but he would be compelled to kill his mistress should she fail. I can say with certainty that Setsura will not be killed by this girl. Nor can Setsura dispose of her. Then who will? Will Princess shed tears for the general’s feelings as he rips out her throat?”

“I would gladly weep bloody tears for him.” A look of evil joy unlike anything moral beings could experience suffused her face. It bordered on the sublime. “You have thought this through well. My hat’s off to you.”

Mephisto accepted the compliment with a slight bow.

“There is one problem, though.”

“Oh?”

“Be it a one in a million chance, but what if the girl should actually kill Setsura? It seems to me that that tying everything up in a nice little bow like that would rather spoil the fun.”

Mephisto answered in the same tone of voice, “In that case, then General Bey would have his hands around her neck.”

“Well, you certainly thought of everything.” The Demon Princess smiled at the two behind her, a smile like the glistening petals of a gorgeous but deadly belladonna. “You heard what he said. Just what we should expect from Doctor Mephisto. This man could make the sun rise in the west. Very good. First, you will do everything in your power to assist these two in finding Setsura. But you will do nothing more. At that point you will stand down. Everything will be left to them. Intervene only if both of them fail.”

“But, Princess—” Kikiou objected. Yakou hovered in the air and said nothing.

Kikiou continued, “As I have said on many occasions, Setsura Aki is an accursed star from which no good can come. He can tie us in knots with a single strand of that devil wire. That we have yet to take his head should be proof enough. Princess, even General Bey—to say nothing of this girl—found Setsura too difficult to kill, not to mention bringing him back alive. Combining our strengths here and now, we can bring his existence to a speedy end. That should be our first priority. Only then can we make this city the base from which we will plunge the world into blood and darkness.”

“An end to his existence? Please. The sooner the better. But by my hand. The man who cut me without so much as a by-your-leave? The man ridicules me by his very presence, slipping out of my grasp again and again. Not you, Kikiou. Not Yakou. Not even General Bey shall be allowed. I’ll say it once again. I will tolerate no deviation from what has been explained to you here. Bring Setsura Aki back here alive.”

“Princess,” Kikiou said again. “Do you really intend to destroy him once he’s brought back here?”

“What did you say?” Princess demanded, her eyes narrowing to slits.

Kikiou backed away, fear filling his features. He had tested her limits and opposed her on many an occasion, but the cold bath of terror he felt then was nothing like the gruesome sense of foreboding he felt now.

“What did you say?”

Kikiou swallowed hard. The arms and legs Mephisto had made for him might well be for naught, but he steeled his resolve. “Princess, I am asking whether you intend to end Setsura’s life or not.”

“Not.”

“Are you mad?”

“I do not intend to kill him. Did you think I did? Did you think I could? To die is to sleep, perchance to dream. Setsura Aki will taste eternal torments, wide awake forever. Hungering for blood, his body will burn while the marrow of his bones turns to ice until the end of time. You should understand. As my slave, he will live a never-ending living death.”

“Still stuck on that.” Kikiou bit his lip. “Princess, have you forgotten how we have journeyed across thousands of years? Over and over we have been seduced by the blood that flows through human history, and every time, sealed away for centuries. To what ends have we observed and gathered knowledge from within this world I constructed, and then come to this city? In order to make the dreams coursing through our blood real. Anything that frustrates those dreams must be dealt with, no matter what form it presents itself in, even that unlucky star.”

“Those dreams are your dreams.” Princess laughed out loud. The manor house itself seemed to lean away from the sound of her voice. “I dream no such dreams, nor do I wish for their fulfillment. The ways you and I live our lives have nothing to do with each other. I think only Shuuran understood that. I’ve allowed you to accompany me only because I have no good reason not to. My interest in this world or the world out there merely comes down to what holds my interest. The name of the cord binding my interest right now is Setsura Aki.”

She barked, “Kikiou—”

Perhaps it was his four thousand years of experience with the supernatural that made the great warlock step back and prostrate himself.

“That is all I have to say on the subject. Bring Setsura Aki back here.”

“Understood.”

The great warlock groveled on the ground like a crab.