Chapter Two

Chapter Two

“Princess must be furious.”

“That’s one way of putting it.” Yakou cast down his eyes and bowed in the direction of Mephisto’s back.

They were in the laboratory Kikiou had given to Mephisto. What was the good doctor up to—who would otherwise be slaving away in the remains of the old ward government building? Despite his familiarity with the sciences of the occult, not even Yakou could begin to guess.

He could almost believe that this doctor could create a human being out of a test tube filled with tap water. He’d handed over Kikiou’s wrecked frame as soon as he’d returned, but the old warlock was nowhere to be seen.

“If you find us so unreliable, one way or the other, you must intend to take up the task yourself.”

“Oh?” Mephisto held the flask up even with his eyes. “Demon City is awash with blood. Shinjuku may have gotten a bit too laid-back of late. The goal, then, is to take possession of Takako Kanan and thus torment Setsura?”

“At this juncture, she lives for nothing else.”

“And Setsura is no less obsessed, it seems. Somebody will have to choose.”

Mephisto slowly turned around. Yakou sensed his whole body stiffening, something he’d never experienced before. He looked into Mephisto’s eyes. By the time he sensed Mephisto looking into his, the face of the white doctor was right there in front of him.

“I have accepted a commission from Setsura, to return you to your normal self.”

A fragrant aroma drifted on Mephisto’s breath. His voice formed a delicate, controlling chord that echoed down to the stem of his brain.

“At this late hour, what—” Yakou started to retreat and stopped. Mephisto’s face came so close their noses almost touched. “What do you intend to do?” Yakou managed to squelch his rising voice. When had he become a prisoner of the white doctor?

“Setsura entrusted me with the drug necessary for your treatment.”

“Why now?” squeaked Yakou, despite himself.

“It has taken time to prepare the elixir. Here it is.” He held up the test tube, half-filled with a clear liquid. “Drink this and you will fulfill Setsura’s wishes. Though not yours right now.”

“You’re asking for my opinion? Doctor Mephisto turning down a commission from Setsura Aki—”

“There is no need for me to turn down anything. I am not the man I am or appear to be. He forgets that, and did not recompense me as expected. In any case, isn’t listening to your opinion on the matter the natural thing to do in a situation like this?”

“I don’t know. But if I say I do not want to return to how I was, will you allow Setsura’s request to go unfulfilled?”

“We can only try and see how things turn out.”

Yakou fell silent. He knew that Mephisto had become a vampire. Even without looking into those eyes, the Demon Physician now was so much more alluring and dangerous.

“Let’s keep it between ourselves, but he asked that I cure Takako Kanan as well.”

“He did what?” Yakou shuddered. A human whose blood was taken would remain a vampire as long as the sire lived. To want to go back under any other conditions was a joke. But none of them had ever faced off against Mephisto.

Yakou said, “Can you really do it?”

“Well.”

“And why would you tell me about it?”

“Annoying Setsura counts for one reason. And the other—”

“The other?”

Dark wings began to spread their shadows across his mind. Be baptized a second time in the endless cold of that black nothingness and he would never emerge again. I must go, he prayed somewhere in his thoughts.

Mephisto’s face again drew close. The tips of their noses touched. “Setsura wanted me to save you. That’s the reason.”

“I don’t get it.”

“I cannot allow a man such as you to occupy the thoughts of Setsura Aki for more than a moment.”

Yakou had no response to that. Their two shadows fell across the floor. Only the distance between their faces maintained a strange integrity, painting a gap in light and dark on the floor.

“So you will keep what I just said to you stored away in your heart?”

“Of course. If I told Princess or Kikiou, what would you do?”

“I suppose you could. And this as well?”

The shadows overlapped. The one trembled, then grew compliant. When they parted, Yakou’s eyes were closed.

“You must worry about it on your own—whatever goes on between Princess and myself. Remember this—before Princess can make Setsura her victim, I will cure Takako Kanan. That is something you can never disclose.”

“You’re a strange man, Doctor Mephisto,” said Yakou, unconsciously brushing his fingers against his lips. A veil was falling over his eyes. He took two, three steps backward, then the energy went out of his limbs. “What do you intend to do with Kikiou?”

“I will fix him. However, Princess asks that I take my time doing so.”

“That is cruel. Wasn’t Princess the one who brought Setsura back to life in the first place?” Despite the anger in his words, a cold smile rose to his face. Not so much as Princess’s underling, but because he and Kikiou had been at loggerheads from the start.

The smile was still on Yakou’s face when he suddenly stiffened. “She’s calling,” Mephisto said.

A distant gong sounded through the sky. And again. Setsura Aki stood in front of the wall at the west entrance of Chuo Park. The three shadows behind him were as still as the summer night.

“It’s moved, obviously.”

Setsura reeled the invisible titanium threads back into his right hand. Five minutes before, having escorted Kajiwara to the ward government offices, he’d raced here and sent his devil wire over the wall to confirm the entrance to Princess’s lair near the library.

He’d felt no response. The devil wires communicated nothing more than a depression in the ground covered by the infinite mass of the earth. Like the ruins of the Keio University Hospital where Mephisto had previously stolen into Princess’s world, it had shifted to another location. According to Mephisto, there should be traces of the move left behind.

The doubts smoldering in his chest burst into flame. What did their world consist of exactly? Based on something Kikiou had said when the wall of water swept through the mausoleum beneath the lake, that question had caught Yakou’s attention as well. Were he not Princess’s prisoner, Setsura may have even been able to checkmate her forces.

But right now, a more pressing matter was on his mind. “It’s awfully quiet,” he said.

“Yes, it is. Quite unbelievable for two o’clock. So many things have happened since those people arrived, too many to count.”

The doll girl’s answer brought to mind haunting emotions. Tonbeau Nuvenberg wept with heartrending sorrow. “My big sister is dead! And only her head remains!”

Perhaps horrified by the hoarse voice, the small gremlins nearby turned tail and scooted off into the darkness.

Unperturbed, Setsura said, “As things stand now, the mayor has rescinded the evacuation order. The battle ahead of us turns on two deadlines, dawn and noon.”

“The gates to the outside world will be opened, won’t they?”

“If not, there’ll be no announcement. The rest depends on the mayor’s skills.”

“The mayor is putting his faith in Setsura Aki.”

“My only concern right now is Aki Senbei. Getting gobbled down by monsters is one thing. But having it vaporized so dispassionately by a nuclear missile would give me no good reason to keep on living in Shinjuku.”

“I understand completely.”

“Thank you.” Setsura turned to the wailing Tonbeau and said soothingly, “Your big sister would take solace in seeing such sorrow from you.”

Tonbeau sniffled and wiped her eyes with her handkerchief. “I finally make it to Japan to earn a little money, and this! What do I do now? When my sister and I joined forces, any city in the world was our oyster. Those Witch Association loans? Vatican City debts? A piece of cake! Oh!”

And she resumed wailing.

“I give up,” said the doll girl.

“She does say exactly what’s on her mind,” an impressed Setsura said, who had his own standards for evaluating a human’s worth.

“I persuaded her to join us, but when push comes to shove, her usefulness in this present state of mind is questionable. I’m sorry.”

“I’m happy enough that she chose to come with,” Setsura said with a smile that lit up the darkness. “I’m grateful to you, too.”

“You needn’t be.” The doll girl lowered her eyes. Her cherubic cheeks grew a tad redder than usual. “You needn’t,” she said again, and then she appeared to steel herself and looked up. “And her?”

Her eyes focused on the third shadow standing beside Tonbeau. The pale Takako Kanan glowed like a will-o’-wisp in the moonlight. She wasn’t wearing her shroud. They’d stopped at an all-night market near the ward government building and bought her a moss green and light-brown plaid blouse and jeans.

Though this more normal appearance brought out something of the human in her, the vibe she engendered in any case was more that of the grave. Setsura had bound her with his devil wires. The look she gave him in turn was filled with curses and naked animosity. Her breath hummed from between the fangs protruding from her lips.

What did Setsura have in mind for this girl, hardly different from any other blood-lusting demon? He had already faced death on several occasions to avoid bringing her to a place like this.

He answered breezily, “We’ve no other choice but to play the cards we’ve been dealt.”

“People are coming.” The doll girl looked down the Koshu Highway behind Setsura. A number of shadows were trudging along the moonlit, rain-dampened sidewalks as if wading through high water. Red points of light glowed on their faces. Their nature needed no other explanation.

Setsura glanced briefly in that direction, but didn’t move. The brave little maiden started forward, intending to make this fight hers as well.

“Stay there.”

“But—”

“Something odd is going on. Let’s observe first.”

He was not a man to stand down from a game of chicken. But the vampires approached and despite noticing him there, passed on by in an obviously agitated manner.

Following behind them, the doll girl said, “There are several more over there too, just wandering about. What is going on?”

“The vampires have sensed something waiting in the wings,” Setsura said, checking out Takako. “Kanan-san is looking up at the sky. She must have noticed as well.”

“The missile?”

“Hard to imagine what else.”

“In which case, then tomorrow—”

“I can’t say. All we can do is our best and let the chips fall where they may.” Setsura turned to Takako, standing there stock still. He said in an admonishing voice, “Kanan-san, you’re the only one with a direct line to that whack job. She could be looking through your eyes at me right now. Hey, Princess, there’s something I need to talk to you about. Listen up. Right now, Shinjuku is in a shitload of trouble. Looks like you’re the only one who can do something about it. To keep it short and simple—”

He summed up the situation in less than three minutes.

“If you want to speak through Kanan-san, that’s fine too. A few pointers would be nice. Your world won’t exactly escape unscathed.”

This might well be the most pressing and earnest appeal Setsura had made in his life, even since the birth of Shinjuku. And yet Setsura’s voice resembled more a jocular bon vivant awakened in the springtime of his youth.

Despite something being slightly out of sync somewhere, those who knew what was going on knew there could be no more urgent appeal. He repeated it three more times.

The moon hid behind a cloud. The asphalt grieved the passing of its shadow and rejoiced at its reappearance. The creatures of the night moved silently by.

“Enough already, pretty boy,” Tonbeau Nuvenberg called out on the fourth go-around. Her sorrow at the lost profit possibilities with her sister in this foreign land had apparently exhausted itself. “Hard to believe that girl’s connected with another vampire. Besides, why would any of them be interested in this nuclear missile stuff? The guy vamps are too busy lusting after girl blood and the girls are all obsessed with stalking the guys. Although—”

Here the doll girl caught her breath and her features hardened.

“When it comes to a good-looking guy like you, yeah, she’d show herself in exchange for the blood in your body. You really are a fine piece of work. Even the homunculi I make can’t hold a candle to the likes of you.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Setsura said with a slight nod.

From some indistinct direction came the sound of a chariot. Setsura oriented himself to its approach—from the south, from a corner of the Koshu Highway.

On the right was Shinjuku’s Chuo Park and the trees of the DMZ. On the left, the Park Hyatt Hotel and the mountainous remains of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Complex.

The one sank into the darkness, the other shimmered with pale light like a silver plate. The four raised their heads, as if intoxicated by the gaze of the moon. The wind rustled through the branches of the trees.

Setsura brushed a strand of hair from his forehead. The pounding of hooves turned into two black horses pulling a red and black chariot. The red wheels identified it at once as from the Han Dynasty. The parted black curtains cocooning the top half of the nine-foot square carriage suggested that the entire chariot was patterned after a shisha or “covered wagon” of the period, also known as a fusha or “canopied carriage.” Since the Han Dynasty, it’d been used to transport women and children out of view of common eyes.

The curtains were covered with gold embroidered tigers and dragons. The horse and chariot came to a flamboyant halt beside the four. Tonbeau Nuvenberg screeched at the exquisite sight and jumped backwards.

The pair of otherworldly creatures continued to paw the ground. Standing on the coachman’s perch, reins and a whip in her hands, was none other than the Demon Princess herself.

She looked down at Setsura. “At last the day has come when you have beckoned me.” Her words were filled with fire and ice. “I know what you want. And you know what you have to do to get what you want.”