The Clan of Darkness (1)
The knights escorting Irene finally couldn't hold out and toppled onto the cold floor.
"What's going on?"
Irene asked in disbelief, but even Captain Benov couldn't make sense of the situation.
'A snow technique? No—this is different.' The knights' faces showed clear pain, as if they'd actually been struck.
"Don't worry. There's no physical trauma."
If a vital palm had actually been used, their bodies wouldn't just be down—they'd be shattered.
'I didn't expect them to be such weaklings.' Rian licked his lips. They had gotten stronger crossing the desert, true, but even so the knights' skill was unimpressive.
"All right."
Irene changed her tune.
"You're competent enough. Let me take charge of your escort. From today on, guard me twenty-four hours a day."
As Rian had said, she didn't want to die.
'You said a warning arrived.' If the note was genuine, Rian would be the one feeling uneasy if Irene were killed.
"If you want my protection, apologize for your rudeness."
She wasn't one to hold a grudge, but to be properly guarded she had to show a change in attitude.
"Apologize? For what? What did I do wrong?"
Rian turned toward the door as if there was nothing more to say.
"A-alright! I get it! I get it!"
Blunt but quick to shift stance—almost cunning.
"I'm sorry. Happy now?"
"What exactly are you apologizing for?" Irene snapped.
"Could you be a little cooler? That's why I don't like older men. You just cling."
"Want me to cling even more?"
No need to get any deeper than necessary.
"I was a bit…."
Irene cocked her head. "I was insolent. Do you really have to hear it spelled out?"
Rian thought it a decent opening, nodded, and held out his hand.
"All right. You said a warning arrived? Show it."
Irene drew the letter from her bodice. Benov stepped closer to Rian.
The next victim is you.
Rian frowned at the short sentence pieced together from newspaper letters.
"What is this? Looks like something a criminal would do, right?"
Benov shook his head. "Unlikely. Serial killers don't send announcements. They wouldn't suddenly reveal themselves."
"Or it could be a prank. A minister has many rivals—political maneuvering…"
Irene planted her hands on her hips and stepped forward. "No. My father has no rivals—no one would dare. And I think the warning is probably real."
Rian handed the note back. "Why do you think that?"
"Do you know what the victims had in common?" Irene asked. "They were teens to twenties. Pretty, wealthy. Most importantly, their skin was so good they didn't need makeup."
"So?"
Irene jabbed a finger at herself. "Me! It's me! I'm pretty! I have money! My skin's soft! If a killer were picking someone, who else would there be but me?" She sounded as if she were flirting with the idea of being targeted.
"There's reason to Irene's point. One common trait is that the victims weren't wearing makeup."
Rian propped his chin on his hand and thought. "Someone extremely sensitive to scent, or—"
"Vampires," Benov finished. "Certain chemicals humans tolerate are weaknesses to them."
"It could be a setup to turn suspicion toward vampires. If so, it's thorough."
"Right. The problem is there aren't even witnesses. Without narrowing the search, it becomes harder to solve."
"Understood."
He had a rough sense of the situation. "Tonight is exactly the seventh day since the warning. I'll guard this place for now."
Relief showed in Irene's eyes. "Good. I'll ask a favor. If the note's fake we can't mass troops, so we'll need discretion."
"Don't worry. I can handle it alone."
If a Maha knight guarded her, the Bark family could relax for the time being.
Benov told Irene, "Miss, follow Rian's instructions. You won't find another like him anywhere."
"Look at this man," Benov muttered, then left the mansion. Irene revealed her true colors. "We're going shopping—get ready. Please stop wearing tacky clothes and put on a tuxedo… eek!"
Rian had his own brand of boldness, so he slung Irene over his shoulder and climbed the stairs.
"Shopping? Forget it. Go to your room now and don't take a single step outside."
"You pervert! Touching me without permission! I'll tell my father everything!"
"Please do."
The butler, who'd never seen Irene handled like that, gaped.
"What are you doing? Show her to her room."
"Yes, sir!"
At Rian's nod the butler darted up the stairs and led them to the room at the end of the corridor.
"My word!"
Irene flopped onto the bed, rolled onto her side, hooked a leg over and smiled. "Be honest. Doesn't it feel great? Don't you enjoy treating a pretty girl like this?"
Rian glanced at the butler. "Bring every mirror in the house. And tell every knight in the hall to come to me the moment they rise."
"Understood. But the mirrors—why?"
"To prepare for infiltration." Vampires can hide themselves by manipulating human vision, but that only affects living eyes; they can't hide their reflection in a mirror.
"Understood."
While the household staff hauled thirty mirrors into Irene's room to eliminate blind spots, Rian repositioned the knights.
'This should do it…'
He snapped his fingers and turned back to the bed. Irene scowled. "Well? Anything to say?"
"Can I call my friends?"
"No."
Irene lowered her head sullenly. Rian spoke in a low, coaxing voice. "Hold off. Lives are at stake."
"I'm scared being alone. If a killer is really after me—"
She tried to be brave but was still a child. "Just do as I say. If I'm with you, you won't die."
If she died, I'd die first.
'They're not coming.'
When the bell on the first floor tolled midnight, Rian's eyes narrowed. 'So it's a prank after all?'
"Um… may I use the bathroom?"
Irene twisted and Rian pointed at a chamber pot in the corner. "Use that."
"You pervert! How can a grown woman use something like that?"
"Then come with me."
"No! Absolutely not! This isn't trivial—"
Rian sighed. "Then what do you want me to do?"
"I'll just be quick, okay?" Irene was sweating cold; she looked as if something terrible might happen any moment.
"Come with me."
At the bathroom door Irene checked again. "Don't come close. Understand? Wait at the end of the corridor."
"Hurry up. Aren't you in a rush—?"
She stamped, shut the door, and Rian sat down with his back against it.
"...!"
He couldn't help but snort when he heard the sounds from inside.
'Do kids always act like this these days?'
He hadn't felt the world heavy back when he was young either.
A while later water ran. "Phew, that was close."
She'd been so tense she'd practically fainted from relief. 'Hope she didn't overhear anything,' Rian thought as he approached the washbasin.
'I'll go out in a bit. It's been a while since I had freedom.'
He splashed water on the sweat-glazed face and turned to the mirror—only to find a man standing there.
"Huh?"
Irene, reflexively cupping water, widened her eyes.
'W-what is that?'
She didn't dare look directly into the mirror again. Slowly she turned, then snapped her head around.
No one was there.
"Phew, okay."
But Rian's words came back to her, and trembling she forced herself to look into the mirror again.
A handsome man in a suit grinned, his red lips curling.
"Uh… uh."
"Shh."
The man in the mirror pressed a finger to his lips.
'S-save me!' She wanted to scream with all her strength, but her throat closed; no sound came out.
The man moved silently, laid his hands on her shoulders, and a cold breath brushed her nape.
'He's going to bite. He's going to bite.'
Through the glass she could clearly see his fangs.
"Mister!"
She screamed, and the door shattered as Rian charged in, greatsword leading.
'Vampire.'
The bathroom itself was empty, but in the mirror the man turned his head.
Rian took his stance and swung his greatsword down; dark smoke slammed into the wall and a body took shape.
"Mister! That thing kept following me—"
"Get out."
There was a different weight behind his voice, and Irene darted through the broken doorway.
"Can't let you go!"
The vampire's lower half dissolved into black smoke and flowed out. Rian sprang and slashed with his sword.
"Annoying creature!"
Angry at losing its target, the vampire spun around Rian like a cyclone.
'Fast.'
Among the fiends he'd fought, only those at or above division-commander level matched this speed.
'Still.'
Rian's sword was a straight, shortest path. 'Cut the instant you sense it.' He swung with blinding speed; there was a pop as the vampire split into two.
"Arghhh!"
But the two bodies dissolved back into smoke and regrouped in the center of the corridor.
'Half-body, half-soul. Tricky.' Still, attempting a corporeal split just before being cut marked it as high-ranking among vampires.
"...Almas?"
The vampire's eyes twitched. "A hunter, huh."
Pureblood vampires have lineages.
"No. A wandering swordsman." The chain of injections—true fiend, Lord, Almas, Veshika—those ranks.
"How does he know about the darkness lineage?"
"You hear a lot of stories living out in the desert." Raodum's mixed-blood groups, and Lyka—the former Interior Minister of the Spectrum—were also Almas-class.
"Hah—insignificant human—" The vampire moved like an afterimage. "How dare you speak of darkness!"
All the corridor windows shattered and the walls gained slashes and claw marks as if by unseen hands.
"There! The culprit's that way! Catch him!"
At the far end of the corridor, Irene's self-styled guards charged up the stairs with longswords.
"Don't come!"
Bravery born of ignorance—since they couldn't see the fight, they felt no fear.
"Show yourself!"
The knights, seized by vanity, swung at empty air—and three throats were instantly cut.
"Aaaaah!"
Terrified now, the rest fled back toward Irene.
"You idiots!"
Even so, aren't knights supposed to protect their employer, even at the cost of their lives?
"Got you!"
A towering column of smoke shot up in Irene's view; the vampire's face cascaded down like a waterfall.
'Divine Transcendence!'
A gust exploded out, and Rian — now between Irene and danger — swung his sword in a horizontal arc.
'Mind Blade!'
First the mind was cut.
"Kraaaah!"
The Infinite Horizon cleaved the vampire in two.
"Ah, mister—"
For a moment the world had been split top to bottom; the afterimage of that vertical division shimmered before Irene's eyes.