Chapter Three
Chapter Three
The sound came from General Bey’s casket at sunset. Now more familiar with the behavior of vampires, the doll girl and the big raven were not startled in the least.
The doll girl said to the raven, a cool exuberance creeping into her voice, “Looks like he’s up, Grandma.”
The raven’s red tongue flicked from its pointed beak. “Wait a little while longer,” said Galeen Nuvenberg. “I am expecting somebody any minute. I assume the casket is sealed?”
“Yes, by Aki-san’s threads.”
“In that case, not even Kazikli Bey should easily free himself. Come the night, he would have trusted in his immortal body and once again crossed swords with Setsura. Settling the score, though, won’t prove easy. However, should he break the seal, you two are to flee at once.”
“But then we wouldn’t be able to save Kanan-san. I promised Aki-san.”
“I wouldn’t have come all this way for a man who asked others to sacrifice their lives for his cause. Don’t give him any more reasons to mourn than he already has.”
“And neither do I wish to give him any more reasons to mourn.”
“If that is how you really feel, then I surely made a mistake while making you.”
The doll girl had no answer.
“That man is Demon City’s manhunter. That is not an occupation that can be accomplished without understanding what moves every mind in this world. Do you think the kind of man who sees the self as a mere article of commerce could ever attract followers? That man even knows the heart of a doll.”
“But—”
“So, wait. I contacted the mayor not five minutes ago. In another twenty minutes—Well, I’ll be!”
“What is going on?”
“I knew the cockroaches would be coming out of the woodwork, but not this soon. And in number.”
“Grandma, do you mean vampires?”
“I was afraid it might come down to this. Just in case the rest of the SDF came looking for the advance party, I secluded myself here in the ruins of the Park Hyatt Hotel. Unfortunately, it looks like I’ve encountered some unintended consequences.”
“You should depart with all due haste,” said the doll girl. She looked to her side. The casket was beginning to wobble back and forth.
“Has it begun to move?” asked the big raven. “This Bey chap must be getting flustered as well. He can’t leave his own house. Just what I would expect from Setsura Aki. Those devil wires alone are beyond my ken. But no need to worry. I may be confined to this wheelchair, but this old Czech witch still has her wits about her.”
“I will trust in your abilities then. But, Grandma, you still—”
“I’m fine, I’m fine. Oh, they’re coming. Twenty of them. At this rate, it won’t be long before Shinjuku changes into something completely unrecognizable. Pale faces and bared fangs everywhere you look.”
“Grandma—”
A strong rumbling in the earth spun the doll girl around. Alighting lightly on her feet, her blue eyes focused on the madly shaking casket.
It bounced a yard above the ground and crashed down. And again. Like a fisherman with a half-ton marlin on the end of the line.
More heavy impacts. A barrage of blows on the lid of the casket from the inside. Bound with the devil wire, the lid didn’t budge in the slightest.
The sound stopped. The casket lay there, black and still in the falling darkness.
“Setsura Aki? Are you there?” The muffled voice rumbled from inside the casket.
“Sure am,” said the raven, mimicking Setsura exactly.
“Open this casket. Otherwise—”
“Otherwise—what?”
The raven’s laid-back, pitch-perfect impersonation even prompted a surprised look from the doll girl.
A woman’s scream soared toward the sky.
“Kanan-san?”
“Exactly.”
General Bey’s baritone laughter mingled with the soprano of a high-pitched scream, like nails drawn across an endless blackboard.
“Open it immediately. Undo those wires. If you do not, this girl will suffer the torments of hell.”
The doll girl turned to the raven and was about to say something, but thought better of it. Their enemy was no common thug, but a demon lord that had felled even Setsura Aki. It was becoming obvious that it was in their best interests to maintain the facade that Setsura was still here.
The raven continued with the negotiations. “Release Kanan-san. Or this casket will burn.”
The general laughed at Setsura’s—the raven’s—threat. “If you could have done that, it would already be open. You sealed it because you cannot. This casket was made by a wizard of unparalleled skills. Come the end of the world, and I shall live on as long as I remain inside it. He guaranteed as much in blood. I cannot leave. But you cannot enter. We shall enjoy the girl’s sweet terror together.”
A second scream that could split stone and pierce the eardrums of human and fowl alike. The raven was at a loss for words.
“Open it,” commanded General Bey, as if sensing their anguish.
The raven covered its face with its wing. And before taking it away said, “I can’t.”
“What?”
“If I let you out, you will spawn ten more like her in a single night. That cannot be allowed. I’m sorry, Kanan-san. I’ll never forget you. I will store General Bey’s casket at the bottom of the river forever.”
“Wait—”
The raven checked its rage. “So, General, if you are going to kill Kanan-san, best you get it over with quickly. By no means—”
The raven let the sentence trail off and gave the doll girl a wink.
“By no means—what?” The lord of darkness spoke as if he were fully in the position to lord himself over them. “Do not make her one of us, you mean?”
The raven’s silence continued.
“You are a skilled negotiator. Fine, then. I shall do as you desire. I will send your lover to meet her maker without making her one of us. Knowing that, go ahead and bury me in the earth or sink me in the river.”
The raven continued to say nothing, but gave the doll girl another knowing look. It had confirmed that Takako Kanan was not a vampire. And the general had guaranteed that she would not be changed into a vampire. Two birds, one stone. The performance of a lifetime.
“Let me think it over.” A pause. “Agreed. That is very shrewd of you. I suppose it will not kill me to spend the night at home. I shall wait one night. Then we may come to our separate conclusions. No matter what you say, this woman must be important to you.”
The voice ceased. As did Takako’s screams. A moment later, shadows darker than the night blanketed the strange duo. A fierce gale beat down. As the two of them stared in blank surprise, a dark green machine set down in the courtyard.
The stealth aircraft was at least forty feet from tip to tail. It was an SSQ 474 Hawk, the tactical transport helicopter currently preferred by the world’s militaries. The blades were still rotating as the side door opened.
“Grandma,” the doll girl called out softly.
“Come here. This is a little present from the mayor.”
Galeen Nuvenberg’s white hair danced in the downdraft of wind. The two official-looking suited men standing on either side of the wheelchair jumped down. In their hands was a big steel hook.
Realizing what they were about to do, the doll girl called out, “Be careful! The slightest contact will lose you your fingers.”
Too late. The two men groaned and grasped their hands. As soon as they touched the casket, five of their fingers dropped to the ground.
The doll girl struggled through the gale to the helicopter. “Grandma—how shall we proceed?”
Galeen Nuvenberg didn’t answer the question, but said, indicating the wide-eyed man next to her, “This is the mayor. The casket would best be entrusted to the Hazmat division. The underground storage facilities at the ward government buildings were suggested earlier. Perhaps here is just as safe. We can always arrive at a solution later.”
After Setsura’s departure, Nuvenberg had also informed the doll girl that she would rely on the mayor’s resources to move General Bey’s casket.
“Fine with me.” Mayor Kajiwara nodded politely to the doll girl. A man who didn’t know to pay his respects to an animated doll didn’t deserve to be mayor of Shinjuku. “We are in something of a fix here. The casket isn’t going anywhere. Aki-kun’s devil wires will cut through chains and cables as easily as yarn. Does the Czech Republic’s—no, the world’s—best witch have no other alternatives?”
He damned with faint praise, and made no attempt to mask the irony. Nuvenberg smiled wryly in turn. This was Demon City and the mayor always had his reasons.
“It can’t wait until tomorrow?” she asked with a sideways glance.
“Can you guarantee that what’s inside it won’t escape? Or that having met with Aki-kun, the Demon Princess won’t notice and come riding to the rescue?”
“Aren’t you the taskmaster,” Nuvenberg said.
“No.” The doll girl seized her wrinkled old wrist. “You are ill, Grandma. Expending so much energy can’t be good for your health. And with Doctor Mephisto—”
“What about Doctor Mephisto?” Kajiwara demanded in an uncharacteristically heated manner.
“Seems he was bitten by a vampire,” Nuvenberg sternly replied.
“In that case, hurry up and stake him and we’ll muster the troops.” He pressed his right hand to his chest and glared back at her. “Enough with the bad jokes. You’re going to give me a heart attack.”
“Understood,” said Galeen Nuvenberg. “We’ll figure it out one way or another. Let’s bring those two aboard. Sorry to have to say it, but it looks like we’ve got another job for you to do.”