Chapter One

Chapter One

“There is no need to worry about me,” said the white doctor. His voice was such that everything he said seemed wrapped in that wan, calm darkness. “I am no one’s enemy, just as I am nobody’s ally. React to me no differently than you remember.”

Yakou didn’t answer, the consequence of his lingering confusion. In this case, all those who became creatures of the night bent a knee to Princess and recognized her dominion. He found it hard to accept that this doctor alone should prove the exception.

“Rashness will yield us nothing right now. Please sit.”

Yakou felt no alternative except to sit down in the chair indicated.

“On my way here, a murderous and hostile vibe passed by me. That was Kikiou, I take it?”

“Yes. This is Tomoko Kanan, Takako’s mother.” Mephisto went on to briefly describe what had just happened.

“So that box was definitely it.”

Tomoko answered with a small nod. However she might be the incarnation of the calm and dispassionate scholar, for a middle-aged woman from outside Shinjuku to retain such composure inside it, let alone witnessing the antics of what might better be called demonic beasts in the office of the director of Mephisto Hospital, required a heart and soul of a particular sort.

In any case, Yakou’s expression shifted from understanding to contemplation. “But what would happen when casting that world down the other end of the nexus connecting this world to itself—that is a question for physicists and mathematicians.”

“There is nothing in history that suggests a solution?”

Tomoko drew her brows and said in a small voice, “There is an account of something similar from the Qin Dynasty, but I do not remember the details.”

“Where do you think the box is?”

“Well—”

“You couldn’t construct a parallel route?”

“Not the kind of task normally in the purview of a medical doctor.”

“Didn’t you learn everything about that world when you were there?”

Mephisto’s expression shifted, a fleeting smile, a shadow no one saw. Yakou’s question struck a raw nerve.

A visage of demonic beauty turned quietly to Yakou. “You sin against knowledge itself,” he said. “I amassed much knowledge in that world. But it is not nearly enough. There is much more, equal to the heavens and the earth, that awaits me. I should be on my way.”

“No matter what the world?”

“No matter what the world.”

“As I am now, I must destroy it.” Yakou unconsciously raised his hands to his lips. “Will you stop me?”

“There is knowledge in that world,” Mephisto said shortly.

That was all he needed to say. Yakou focused his thoughts on a single point—whether he could defeat this doctor. He felt the doctor’s eyes on him. Were these the eyes of a man who hungered after blood and feared the sun? What in the world had those eyes seen?

The intercom buzzed. Those eyes of darkness faded into the distance. “What?” Mephisto said to the nurse’s face floating above the desk.

“Setsura Aki is here to see you.”

“Show him in.”

“He is already on his way.”

“I figured as much.”

Yakou caught in Mephisto’s voice reverberations of exactly what he’d heard before, and that raised waves of discord in his heart. The only thing in existence that aroused in the doctor ordinary human emotions. Yakou restrained these whispering sentiments breaking like foam upon his consciousness, that seemed awfully akin to jealousy.

A minute later, the door of the director’s office opened solemnly and the young man in black entered.

“What’s with the box?” he asked.

Mephisto repeated the same explanation he’d given Yakou. His features clouded and Setsura raked his hand through his hair. “Takako is in there.” He gave Mephisto a hard look. “And Princess should have returned as well. What are we going to do?”

“We have yet to come to an agreement on a way forward. But we should be on our way.”

“Are you connected with it?” With Princess’s world, he meant.

“No. We have no choice but to discover the nexus for ourselves.”

“Time’s a wasting, Mephisto,” Setsura said. “Night is falling. The people of this city will be waking from their sleep. The police are mobilizing, but the odds of beating back the entire population with peaches alone are slim. We have to destroy that world, eliminate the place they return to, and put an end to them once and for all. Otherwise, the victims will only multiply. There won’t be enough Toyama housing projects in the world to handle all of them.”

“It’s quite unlike you to talk in such immoderate terms. Has your personality taken a turn for the worse? Perhaps you have been on the receiving end of a defiling kiss?”

“Yeah,” Setsura said in a clearly pissed tone of voice. “That’s all I’ve been doing of late, making kissy-face.” He followed up Mephisto’s sigh with a loud smacking sound.

Directly in his line of sight, Yakou raised the back of his hand to his mouth and grinned. A moment later, the smile froze on his face.

“So, the entire citizenry becoming creatures of the night—?” Mephisto grumbled, averting his eyes from Yakou. “Maybe that’s just what they all want. What if we left it up to them?”

“Sure, tell that to the mayor,” Setsura said. He gazed back at Mephisto. “Everybody in this city becoming the same is the last thing anybody wants, and blood will run in the streets to keep that from happening. We need to do whatever we can to stem the tide.”

“He’s right,” Yakou agreed. “Mephisto, any stopgap measures?”

“It will take time.”

“We have no other means.”

“If you want to leave that world in one piece, we need to cooperate.”

“There are other means.”

They all looked at Yakou. “I got here first, but Tonbeau-san should be along presently. If she and the doctor got together, I’m sure they could find a way.”

“Yeah, but—”

Setsura flashed Mephisto a satisfied smile, the only human being on the planet allowed such latitude. “Can you say no to that woman? Otherwise, you won’t be much use to us as a vampire.”

He said so in as blunt a tone as he could manage. Mephisto had opened his mouth to respond when the intercom buzzed and announced that Tonbeau Nuvenberg had arrived.

“What a day!” The fat witch rubbed her hands together. Takako wasn’t attached to her.

“What happened to your mad killer?” Setsura asked.

“I chanced upon a way to separate us. The doll girl has the babysitting chores. But more importantly—”

On her way from Takada no Baba, she’d been attacked three times by “citizen vampires” and barely escaped.

“So they’ve come as far as the business district. Seems the police have got their hands full already.”

Yakou folded his arms across his chest. After griping about getting her just compensation from the mayor for all her troubles, Tonbeau said, “Hey you, young vampire general there, say we take care of that woman and her merry band, what happens to the rest of ’em?”

Setsura and Tomoko exchanged glances. That was perhaps the most important question of all. Yakou’s features darkened with concern. “I don’t know,” he said.

“You don’t know?” Tonbeau exclaimed. She slapped her ample belly for added emphasis. The rolls of fat shook like a wave-tossed sea.

“As you surely know, the dominance relationships among vampires are not set in stone. Eastern Europe traditions state that if the highest-ranked vampire, the preeminent sire who drank the first drop, is destroyed, then all his victims follow after him. But there are also cases where, as a general rule, only the direct descendants die with him.”

“Do those made complete servants, who totally become vampires themselves, return to normal?” Tomoko’s question was another everybody wanted answered.

The reply this time came without hesitation. “No. After the sire is destroyed, only those victims still in the process of becoming vampires once again assume human form.”

Everybody waited for the next shoe to drop. And it came from the representative of this city. Setsura said, “Tonbeau-san, can you forge a connection to that box from here?”

Tonbeau smiled broadly. Setsura relayed what Mephisto had told them. “Sure,” she said, folding her arms. “Using the Akashic Records, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish. However, I’m not sure our little house could withstand another go at it. Doctor, your powers will be required.”

“I refuse.”

“You what.”

“I’m sure Princess will give you a nice pat on the head,” Setsura said.

Tonbeau glared at Mephisto. “I don’t believe it,” she said.

“Bingo,” said Setsura.

“The doc got bitten too?”

“That’s the way it turned out.”

“It’s all starting to add up.”

Tonbeau gave Mephisto a once-over and nodded. “There’s no shortage of scholars, artists, and theologians itching to become vampires. Drawn like moths to the flames of that world. So what did you see?”

“I would understand if you harbored the same inclinations.”

As if taking his words as warning, Tonbeau jumped back half a dozen feet. The cow could move like a rabbit when she had to. “Heh,” Setsura mused.

The intercom rang in a different tone. Mephisto picked up the receiver. No holographic image displayed. Two seconds or so later, “Condition?” he asked.

Sensing something in the air, Yakou looked at Setsura. Setsura had nothing to add.

“I’ll be right there,” Mephisto said and hung up.

“What’s up?” said Setsura. “You don’t look so good.”

“The plan you have been hatching,” he said as he headed for the door. “Let us undertake it.” He explained to his stunned audience, “Kikiou collided with several patients on his way out. Four are reported in critical condition. Three of them are yakuza, but the fourth is a five-year-old child.”

Mephisto returned thirty minutes later.

Setsura said, “Well?”

“Only the child died. Come here.”

In response to the beckoning white hand, the four came to their feet. Setsura put his hand on Tomoko’s shoulder. “Please wait here.”

His face seemed to glow in the gloomy darkness.

“But—”

“I promise to save your daughter. The world we’re going to encounter after this was not constructed for ordinary purposes.”

“My daughter is there,” Tomoko said in a sad voice. “And there is where I wish to be also.”

“I will be sure to tell her that,” Setsura said softly.

He couldn’t tell whether his reassurances were effective or not. But Tomoko’s eyes filled with both tears and trust. Perhaps she had some notion of the kind of work he did when he wasn’t working for a living.

“Please,” the mother said with a bow. “Please find Takako for me.”

“Don’t worry,” answered the proprietor of the Aki Detective Agency.