“What a day!” The fat witch rubbed her hands together. Takako wasn’t attached to her.
“What happened to your mad killer?” Setsura asked.
“I chanced upon a way to separate us. The doll girl has the babysitting chores. But more importantly—”
On her way from Takada no Baba, she’d been attacked three times by “citizen vampires” and barely escaped.
“So they’ve come as far as the business district. Seems the police have got their hands full already.”
Yakou folded his arms across his chest. After griping about getting her just compensation from the mayor for all her troubles, Tonbeau said, “Hey you, young vampire general there, say we take care of that woman and her merry band, what happens to the rest of ’em?”
Setsura and Tomoko exchanged glances. That was perhaps the most important question of all. Yakou’s features darkened with concern. “I don’t know,” he said.
“You don’t know?” Tonbeau exclaimed. She slapped her ample belly for added emphasis. The rolls of fat shook like a wave-tossed sea.
“As you surely know, the dominance relationships among vampires are not set in stone. Eastern Europe traditions state that if the highest-ranked vampire, the preeminent sire who drank the first drop, is destroyed, then all his victims follow after him. But there are also cases where, as a general rule, only the direct descendants die with him.”
“Do those made complete servants, who totally become vampires themselves, return to normal?” Tomoko’s question was another everybody wanted answered.
The reply this time came without hesitation. “No. After the sire is destroyed, only those victims still in the process of becoming vampires once again assume human form.”
Everybody waited for the next shoe to drop. And it came from the representative of this city. Setsura said, “Tonbeau-san, can you forge a connection to that box from here?”
Tonbeau smiled broadly. Setsura relayed what Mephisto had told them. “Sure,” she said, folding her arms. “Using the Akashic Records, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish. However, I’m not sure our little house could withstand another go at it. Doctor, your powers will be required.”
“I refuse.”
“You what.”
“I’m sure Princess will give you a nice pat on the head,” Setsura said.
Tonbeau glared at Mephisto. “I don’t believe it,” she said.
“Bingo,” said Setsura.
“The doc got bitten too?”
“That’s the way it turned out.”
“It’s all starting to add up.”
Tonbeau gave Mephisto a once-over and nodded. “There’s no shortage of scholars, artists, and theologians itching to become vampires. Drawn like moths to the flames of that world. So what did you see?”
“I would understand if you harbored the same inclinations.”
As if taking his words as warning, Tonbeau jumped back half a dozen feet. The cow could move like a rabbit when she had to. “Heh,” Setsura mused.
The intercom rang in a different tone. Mephisto picked up the receiver. No holographic image displayed. Two seconds or so later, “Condition?” he asked.
Sensing something in the air, Yakou looked at Setsura. Setsura had nothing to add.
“I’ll be right there,” Mephisto said and hung up.
“What’s up?” said Setsura. “You don’t look so good.”
“The plan you have been hatching,” he said as he headed for the door. “Let us undertake it.” He explained to his stunned audience, “Kikiou collided with several patients on his way out. Four are reported in critical condition. Three of them are yakuza, but the fourth is a five-year-old child.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Mephisto returned thirty minutes later.
Setsura said, “Well?”
“Only the child died. Come here.”
In response to the beckoning white hand, the four came to their feet. Setsura put his hand on Tomoko’s shoulder. “Please wait here.”
His face seemed to glow in the gloomy darkness.
“But—”
“I promise to save your daughter. The world we’re going to encounter after this was not constructed for ordinary purposes.”
“My daughter is there,” Tomoko said in a sad voice. “And there is where I wish to be also.”
“I will be sure to tell her that,” Setsura said softly.
He couldn’t tell whether his reassurances were effective or not. But Tomoko’s eyes filled with both tears and trust. Perhaps she had some notion of the kind of work he did when he wasn’t working for a living.
“Please,” the mother said with a bow. “Please find Takako for me.”
“Don’t worry,” answered the proprietor of the Aki Detective Agency.