Tyrant's Stars: Parts Three and Four (16 page)

Sue heard a scream like nothing any living creature on earth could make. The figure who’d landed beside the girl dissolved in the blink of an eye, scattering in the black water. Another one followed. And another. Every time they screamed, seeming to burn with an all-too-human agony as they melted away.

“They’re being sacrificed,” the left hand remarked in amazement. “By doing that, they hope to dissipate the essence so they can attack us.”

“The ring—is it closing?" Sue screamed for all she was worth.

After fifty of their number had been sacrificed, the Sacred Ancestor’s essence had been weakened, and the deadly net was indeed drawing tighter. The white figures no longer dissolved. And then the mob surged forward. Their hands extended, reaching for Sue.

“Help!” Sue cried out loud.
D!

The ghosts piled on top of her—and then reeled back, screaming. They were snagged by a light. It zipped through the brow of one after another of the tightly packed figures. And then the ghosts’ faces split down the middle, and they sank into the water with a blue glow.

Sue was at a loss for words. She saw the blade of a sword stretch from the water in front of her. Gradually it rose, and a black-gloved hand appeared. When the arm had emerged up to the elbow, a black traveler’s hat also broke the surface.

“D?” Sue said, feeling the tears spilling from her eyes. She had a lone guardian against thousands of ghosts—but Sue realized she no longer had anything to fear. In fact, the ghosts who’d backed away didn’t show the slightest signs of closing in on her.

“Well, what’ve you been doing all this time?” the left hand asked, snapping its fingers for emphasis.

Naturally, there was no reply.

“I heard you fell into a river. I’m guessing that river must feed into the basement of Asclepion. If my calculations are right, you must’ve been here for a full day. Were you sleeping or something? That couldn’t be. So, what’s down at the bottom?”

Saying nothing, D reached for the left hand with his left arm. The severed limb paddled around neatly, and the two parts were joined.

Suddenly, D’s right hand went into action. It was moving so fast that Sue couldn’t follow, but the white figures falling from overhead hit the water in four spots without causing a ripple. It appeared to be two figures that had been cut into four pieces.

“They’ll keep coming. They need to take the souls of living creatures. And they don’t care whether it’s a Noble, a human, or a dhampir.”

“Dive!” D spoke for the first time after surfacing. Simultaneously, an arm like steel wrapped around Sue’s waist, and the girl barely had enough time to take a deep breath before D dove underwater.

It was only about twelve feet to the bottom. In the expanse of black stone, a pile of gunk sat like a thick concrete plug. Sue felt the powerful current. The river D had fallen into ran right through here. Hearing choking sounds from the hand that was wrapped around her waist, Sue looked down at it in surprise.

“Oh, so that’s it, is it? Down here is the ol’ Sacred Ancestor’s—” Up ahead, something white swayed. The ghosts had pursued them even down there.

Sue clung to D for dear life. So handsome he even seemed to glow underwater, the young man kicked his way through the water straight toward the mound of sludge. Oddly enough, there was no other trash of any kind on the bottom.

Swimming with the grace of a fish, D raised his sword casually. Around him, an army of pale figures pressed closer. Another stark glint filled the water—whether or not it was D’s sword was unclear to Sue. An instant later, D headed back to the surface, and black water dripped from the girl’s face as they surveyed the empty expanse of the subterranean lake.

“The Sacred Ancestor’s essence—so, that’s where it was sealed away?” said the hoarse voice that rose from the vicinity of Sue’s waist—which was still underwater. “The second it was released, the ghosts were healed—not a bad ending.”

“I feel somehow refreshed,” Sue said, a calm look in her eye as she took in her surroundings. “And the lake looks so nice now.”

“The ghosts have moved on,” the hoarse voice remarked as D began to swim for shore.

The car was right where they’d left it.

“If that don’t beat all. The old geezer’s never around when we need him,” the Hunter’s left hand spat indignantly. “Hold on. The enemy has control of the car. So it might not be too safe to—”

D had just pressed the palm of his left hand against the door, crushing out the rest of that remark. That was his way of telling the hand to get it unlocked.

There was a slight rasping sound as the door opened.

“Control is back,” the left hand announced.

D headed straight for the count’s bedroom. The huge entry opened to allow him and Sue to enter.

“Oh!” Sue said, the fist she’d brought up to her mouth unable to extinguish her gasp of surprise.

“It’s empty!” the left hand remarked with amusement.

Though the extremely lavish furnishings remained exactly as they had been, the titanic coffin that was, in a manner of speaking, a womb for the count had unexpectedly vanished.

“This is big news. A case of a Noble being abducted—and a major one at that!”

“Did you mention someone named Kima?” D asked, a strange glint in his eye. After emerging from the subterranean lake, Sue and the left hand had filled him in on the situation.

“Yeah. Apparently he travels through space warps. And it looks like he can also move others through them at will. Where the hell did ol’ Braujou get himself hijacked to? This is serious trouble.”

Turning his gaze to the window, D said, “Maybe not.”

“What?”

This time, not only the left hand looked surprised, but Sue did as well.

“We might still be in time. Let’s go.”

Sue shot a glance at the left hand, but it was already headed for the door, along with the rest of D. Did D mean to suggest he knew the whereabouts of the fearsome foe who’d abducted the count, coffin and all? If so, then this gorgeous young man was the one who was
really
to be feared.

It was a very clear day. The sun was bright and hot. About three miles from the car there was an expanse of boulders, and in their center was an especially high pile of stone—at the summit of which rested an enormous coffin. It was over fifteen feet long. Furthermore, there was a figure in a long crimson robe sitting on its lid. Kima.

“Well now, count. The end has come at last,” he said, a hoarse voice flowing from him. “Your end, that is. Even inside this, you must be able to see out. You might even know where we are—the closest place to the sun!”

“You said you’re Kima, didn’t you,” said a voice from the coffin. “This is a strange place you’ve brought me. Warping space has been accomplished through scientific means, but there haven’t been many cases of individuals with that ability. Who the hell are youi
¹
”

“Someone close to the grand duke," Kima replied, looking up at the heavens. “Next, I’m going to move just your coffin. Even you, the great Count Braujou, will be hard pressed to survive out in broad daylight. You would do well to prepare to meet your maker.” “You think someone like you could manage that?”

“Have you forgotten how I had no problem bringing you here from your car? Now you’ll see just what I can do.”

Kima put his right hand against the coffin. It was a grave gesture that called to mind some kind of solemn religious ceremony. A second passed, then two—the entire coffin grew indistinct, as if it were in a fog; it shook, and then the massive form within it became clearly visible. The figure began to tremble a bit. It was a bizarre quaking as if he were having a nightmare, or else concentrating to an extreme degree. And then the outline of the coffin, which had become a mist, once again regained its shape and solidity. The figure was back within it as well.

“You son of a bitch!” Kima shouted, and he also trembled from head to toe.

The coffin that had just regained its shape lost it once more. Once it vanished, the count sleeping within it would be exposed to the sunlight and rot away horribly. But it stopped disappearing. Again it returned to its old shape—then faded away.

“I win,” the sweat-covered Kima whispered.

Now reduced to a pale shadow, the figure in the coffin let out a deep groan as he covered his face. Kima’s malicious grin grew

particularly broad. A single needle had just penetrated him through the top of the head and back out at the bridge of his nose. Before even loosing a cry of agony, Kima grabbed hold of the needle. The needle disappeared, leaving only the wound. A tiny bead of blood rose from it, but then even that vanished.

“You were the only one who ever moved through space warps, weren’t you?”

Kima turned to where the voice had come from behind him. His mouth fell open, declaring his incredible shock.

“Ah!” Kima gasped, and then after a while, he groaned, “You’re . . . Milord . . . you . . . are . . .”

In the end, his voice just died.

Did this fiend know D? Apparently D was also familiar with him. And that was obviously why he’d appeared on this summit so suddenly for reasons unknown.

“Do you remember me?” D asked.

“How could I . . . ever forget? You . . . milord . . . But you . . . couldn’t possibly . . .”

“He looks like his heart’s about to jump out of his throat,” said a voice from D’s left hand, which hung easily by his side. It was impressed. And stunned.

“Kima, I have a message for your present master. Tell him I’ll see him soon.”

The crimson figure trembled. “Then ... you intend ... to let me live? It can’t be . .

“Go!"

At this command, Kima’s body grew smoky and dim. A silvery flash ran through it at an angle, and there was a sharp
ching!

Releasing the hilt of the sword he’d returned to its scabbard, D went over to the enormous coffin.

“Are you okay?"

“Of course,” said the count. “There was no need for you to come out here and interfere. I could’ve skewered the likes of that assassin.”

Saying nothing, D turned to walk away.

“Wait,” the count called out in a slightly agitated manner. “Do you intend to just leave me here?”

“Can you move it yourself?” D asked as he headed down the slope. “Regrettably, this coffin isn’t equipped with a means of transport.” “Then you’ll just have to wait there until the sun goes down.” “And you don’t plan on doing anything to help me?”

“I’m in a hurry.”

D went down the mound of stone. After all signs of him and his footsteps had faded, a voice from the coffin grumbled, “That savage. But to make someone like that, a freak who can warp space and take control of my computer, take flight without offering any resistance at all is really something. He’s a true monster. A pair of monsters they are ... and they seem to know each other. What in the world is he?”

D had stopped the car at the foot of the rocky mountain. He’d also given Sue strict orders not to venture outside. But there was no sign of her anywhere.

“What the hell is all this?” the Hunter’s left hand said with disgust, and rightfully so. They suspected Kima, but anyone that afraid of D didn’t seem likely to come back there.

“Will the computer take instructions from Sue?” D asked.

“No, sir.”

“Let’s check,” D said, placing his left hand on top of the computer’s central control unit.