Vampire Hunter D Read Free Page B

blood-starved Noble, he’d be coming every night. But, you see, the greater the interest they take in their victim, the longer the interval between attacks so they can prolong the pleasure of feeding. But the fact that it’s been five days is incredible. It seems he’s extremely taken with you.”
    “Spare me the damn compliments!” Doris cried. No trace of the spitfire who had challenged D to battle at twilight remained now. She sat there, a lovely seventeen-year-old girl trembling in fear.
    As D surveyed her coolly, he added words that only made the hair on her neck stand higher. “The average interval between attacks is three to four days. More than five is extremely rare. He’ll come tonight without a doubt. From what I can tell from your wounds, he’s quite powerful, as Frontier Nobility go. You said something about ‘his castle.’ His identity is clear to you, is it?”
    Doris gave a little nod. “He’s been lord over this region since long before there was any village of Ransylva. His name is Count Lee. I’ve heard some say he’s a hundred years old, while others say he’s ten thousand.”
    “Ten thousand years old, eh? The powers of a Noble grow with the passing years. He could prove a troubling adversary,” D said, though his tone didn’t sound particularly troubled.
    “The powers of a Noble? You mean things like the power to whip up a gale with a wave of the arm, or being able to turn into a fire dragon?”
    Ignoring Doris’ query, D said, “There’s one last thing I need to ask you. How does your village handle those who’ve been bitten by vampires?”
    The girl’s face paled in an instant.
    In many cases those who’d felt the baleful fangs of a vampire were isolated in their respective village or town while arrangements were made to destroy the culprit, but if they were simply unable to defeat the vampire, the victim would be driven from town or, in the worst cases, disposed of. This was the custom because a night fiend, crazed with rage at not being able to feed on the one it wanted, would attack anyone it could get its hands on. More towns and villages than anyone could count had been wiped out for just that reason. Ransylva had similar policies in effect. That was the reason Doris hadn’t asked anyone else for help, but had privately sought a Vampire Hunter. Her failure to confide in her brother was for fear that his conduct might tip off the villagers if they happened to go into town. Had she no younger brother to consider, she’d surely have gone after the vampire on her own, or done away with herself.
    Vampires dealt with their victims in one of two ways. Either they drained all the blood from their prey in one feeding and left them a mere corpse or, through repeated feedings, they turned the individual into a companion. The key point in the latter was not the number of times the vampire fed but rather something D had touched on earlier: whether or not the vampire took a liking to its victim. Sometimes a person joined their ranks after a single bite, while other times they might share the kiss of blood for months only to die in the end. And it went without saying that those transformed into vampires had to bear their destiny as detestable demons, wandering each night in search of warm human blood, living in darkness eternal. For Doris, and for every other person in this world, that was the true terror.
    “Everywhere it’s the same, isn’t it,” D muttered. “Accursed demons, ghouls from the darkness, blood-crazed devils. Bitten once and you’re one of them. Well, let them say what they will. Stand up, please,” he said to Doris, who was caught off-guard by the one remark meant for her. “It looks like the guest we were expecting has come. Let me see the remote control for your electromagnetic barrier.”
    “What, he’s here already? You just said he’d be here after midnight.”
    “I’m surprised, too.”
    But he didn’t look it in the least.
    .
    Doris came back from