The Clan of Darkness (2)
The mansion looked the same as it had a moment before.
"Have my eyes gone bad?"
But when Rian swung his sword, the wall split open and a nightscape appeared.
Then that view itself tore apart, and a single flash filled his vision.
"Kuuugh... why?" The vampire's eyes trembled from the shock. Its half-ghostly body could pass through anything that could be destroyed—but Rian's object could not be destroyed, and to the vampire it was practically a natural enemy.
"Back off."
Rian leveled his sword at it.
"It's not over yet."
Blood oozed and sealed the gap between the vampire's upper and lower torso, fusing them back together.
'Powerful regeneration.'
It was one of the pureblood abilities: using blood to rapidly restore the body.
A stake through the heart made regeneration impossible, but if the stake was removed the vampire came back to life.
"You're... not human."
Rian was human.
"My blade kills you. Surrender quietly."
"Nonsense."
History had shown what happened to vampires captured by humans.
The vampire glanced around, fixing on the knights who remained behind him.
"Heh heh—I'll kill at least one more." He split his lower body open, which turned into a swarm of bats that dove at the knights.
"Ahhh! What—!"
Rian sprang off the ground and plunged into the mass of bats, revealing the terrified knights.
"Get out of here!"
He swung his greatsword to scatter the bats, but the knights couldn't even lift their heads.
"P-please... save us...!"
Rian grabbed a knight by the scruff and hurled him outside; the man floated and rolled across the ground.
"Tonight you'll be the sacrifice!" The vampire, his lower body loosened like smoke, surged toward a neatly dressed knight.
'Damn it! Can't just stand there!'
As Rian shoved the knight with all his strength, the vampire's palm shot toward him.
"Impact Strike!"
A shock delivered in a spectral state—the vampire's technique—slammed into Rian's chest.
"Guh!"
Rian's heart stopped, and with a thud he crashed into the wall. Irene's face went pale.
"Mister!"
Clang!
A lithe figure shattered a third-floor window and landed in the hall below.
"Back off!"
A woman's voice, silver hair flashing. She raced up the stairs and swung a keen blade.
The sword sliced across the vampire's nape.
"Kyah! What is—!"
Though the vampire had shifted into a semi-corporeal state with shape-change arts, the blade still cut him cleanly.
"Hunter!"
Seeing the gleaming sword in the woman's hands, doubt turned to certainty.
Either way, since the vampire thought Rian dead, the escape route was open.
"Damn it! We'll see about that!" The vampire passed through the wall and fled; the woman hurried after it.
"Where do you think you're running to!"
"Mister! Mister!"
At Irene's sobbing, the woman paused and turned.
Rian sat slumped against the wall, his head lolling.
"Too late. An Almas-class Impact Strike doesn't just stop the heart—it shatters it."
There was no point in attempting emergency resuscitation. The woman vaulted through the broken window and disappeared into the night.
Irene refused to give up and shook Rian.
"Don't you die! If you die, what will I do! Get up, I said!"
"Ugh, shut up."
Rian slowly opened his eyes.
"Mommy!"
Irene had begged him to live, but when he actually stirred she recoiled as if she'd seen a ghost.
"W-what is it? Her heart—"
"Yeah. It's stopped."
The Yaksha's durability had preserved his form, so recovery wouldn't take long.
'Still regenerating?'
Smilee's phantom voice buzzed in his ear.
"Don't worry. He won't die from something like this." That was what she'd heard about a stopped heart.
"....Then how bad does it have to get for someone to actually die?"
"I don't know."
Wondering if he might be no different from a vampire, Rian looked up toward the third-floor window.
"Who was she?"
Even amid the chaos between life and death, Irene remembered the important detail.
"A silver-haired woman—she called the vampire a Hunter."
"Aha."
Not every Hunter was powerful, but as Rian knew, they used every method vampires hated.
'No wonder it ran.' If the force was specialized for fighting vampires, even an Almas-class opponent would be tough to face.
"Can't be helped. We'll have to wait for the next time."
It had been an unavoidable choice to save the knights; one stopped heart was better than more deaths.
"What's going on? Surely not—"
The mansion's lights came on belatedly and Irene's mother arrived with soldiers.
"Mom!"
She scooped Irene into her arms and, terrified, looked toward Rian.
She should have been on a night shift, but because of the warning-sign incident she had gone home two hours earlier.
"What happened?"
"A vampire targeted your daughter. It fled. It won't attack again tonight, at least."
"You let it escape? With all these troops?"
Rian didn't want to explain the status of an Almas in vampire society.
"Mister Rian—no, Rian-ssi—protected me."
Irene only called certain seniors 'oppa,' and her mother's expression softened.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I must've been on edge."
"It's all right. I can imagine your worry."
"If there's anything you need, tell us. We'll help however we can."
Rian glanced down the corridor.
"Stand down all the troops."
"What?"
It was a baffling order, but if the opponent was Almas, those ragged forces would only be hostages.
"I'd prefer to guard alone. I'll explain everything to the constabulary captain in the morning."
"Mom, do as he says."
Irene's tone hinted at something only the two of them understood.
"A-alright. Then—"
While the butlers cleared bodies and tidied the house on her instructions, Irene ran up to him.
"Brother, what should I do?"
Rian was firm.
"You go inside and sleep."
The next morning, Captain Benof of the constabulary, who'd been notified overnight, arrived at the Bark gate.
"You had a scrap?"
"Yes. The culprit appears to be a vampire—an Almas-class."
Hearing there were only a few dozen purebloods left, Benof scratched his head.
"Damn! A big fish has come in."
"We had fatalities. I'm sorry."
"I've heard. It's not your fault. If you hadn't acted, there would've been more deaths."
"What about security?"
"The whole family will be taken to the castle. You'll join our mobile unit. You're not planning to decline, are you?"
Rian wasn't altruistic like Shirone, but he was a prosecutor who'd sworn to take responsibility for every death.
"Of course. Any leads?"
"Confirming it's a vampire is a result in itself. From now on we'll press hard."
"Where will you move against?"
"Some places didn't have clear guidelines, so we couldn't access them. The Rodenin Blood Bank. We'll soon delegate entry rights from the castle."
If the culprit who drained massive amounts of blood was a vampire, investigating the blood bank was essential.
"Isn't that too late?"
"The blood bank is under the castle's authority. Until we get a warrant, other departments can't view its ledgers."
"I see."
"We'll dispatch the castle guard unit, 'Shinjang.' That should handle even pureblood vampires."
One Almas-class could be dealt with that way.
'Something's off.'
The amount of blood taken was too large for a single vampire.
'Did they form an organization centered on an Almas?'
If it was an institution under the castle, there could even be an insider.
"Could you give me some time?"
"Why? The mobile unit hasn't been assembled—"
"I want to investigate separately."
So the Bark family went to the castle, and Rian walked the city alone.
'Here it is. Rodenin Blood Bank.' He eyed the seven-story building that occupied the triangle's corner and slipped into an alley.
At night, as expected, several groups drifted through the maze of alleys.
'No way to confirm from here.'
One reason vampires were hard to eradicate was that they weren't distinguishable from humans.
'They're supposedly weak to sunlight...'
That flaw was fatal only to hybrids; purebloods could endure by using powerful regeneration.
"Hey, you lot."
When Rian called, a group of five stopped and turned.
"Who the hell are you?"
A medium-height man, apparently the leader, drew a knife.
"Got a question. Have you ever seen people entering or leaving the blood bank at this hour?"
The leader's eyes visibly wavered.
"You—who are you? Constables?"
"Investigator."
"An investigator?"
The leader lunged, knife slashing.
"How do you like the taste of my blade?"
The way he used a knife just to stab a belly without showing murderous intent suggested experience.
"Huh?"
Rian twisted his torso and drove a fist into the man's abdomen; the leader's feet kicked up.
"Uuuuugh—"
Kneeling, he vomited stomach acid, and the others charged.
"You bastard wants to fight, huh!" Rian didn't need his greatsword.
With the quick jabs he'd learned from Benof, Rian tapped at one man's neck and it snapped; he collapsed.
"P-please! We don't know anything!"
'They're not vampires.'
But they didn't seem completely ignorant.
"Tell the truth. Like I said, I'm not a constable. If you make the wrong choice—"
When Rian pulled out his investigator's badge, the leader went pale.
"We're telling the truth! We only transported stuff! We didn't do anything wrong!"
"Transported? What?"
"Bags! If we wait in front of the blood bank, someone comes in and out at dawn and gives us a bag and money. We hand over the bag and keep the cash."
"Who gives you the bags?"
"It was dark, so we couldn't see well." Rian leveled his greatsword at the man's neck.
"He wore glasses! Sharp features, about a hand taller than me. Pale face, thin."
'Not someone from the Bark family.'
Rian asked, "Where did you take the bags?"
"Destination changes every time. Could be Block 13, could be Block 47."
They wouldn't reveal their stash house.
"Are there others doing this aside from you?"
"Seems like everyone these days. Rival groups set dates and take turns transporting. Honestly, it's sketchy, but they pay so well. We're risking our lives too."
Rian checked the time.
"Go home. And don't you ever come near here again." The leader looked blank, as if he didn't understand; Rian fixed him with a predatory stare.
"Want to die right here instead?"
"N-no!"
The leader couldn't even pick up his dropped knife before sprinting deep into the alley; the others followed in a scattered pack.
'A broker moving goods to the blood bank. The constabulary must already be watching them.'
That's why Rian had to step in.
After sending the thugs off, he waited two hours until the place was completely deserted.
In the pitch-black night, with even the streetlights off, a man in a fedora appeared in front of the blood bank.
'Here he comes.'
He glanced around, headed for the back door, and only then did Rian step out into the street and begin to tail him.