Hilda Harvey had developed a crush on Duncan. He didn’t realise it until she started snuggling up against him right after they boarded the Witch’s Train. The girl wasn’t even sparing a glance at the medical books in her bag this time.
“How much longer do we have on this ride?” Hilda’s voice was a lot higher than usual, and her arm was coiled around Duncan’s like a hungry python.
“Five more minutes,” the man replied curtly. Thankfully.
Duncan was trying his best to crane his neck away from the girl. It was the best he could do to express his disinterest; he had already given up trying to pry her arm off him twenty minutes ago. If he so much as even looked in her general direction, she’d probably take the chance to crash her lips into his.
“Aww, already?” Hilda pouted. “Isn’t this so romantic? A man and a woman alone on an adventure, riding away from everything.”
She squinted her eyes and inhaled deeply as if savouring some sort of fragrance.
“Hilda, look—” Duncan began, but the girl immediately rested her head on his shoulder and conspicuously pulled down one of her sleeves to expose her own.
Stifling a gasp, his arm shot over to Hilda’s other side to pull her sleeve back up, but the girl took the chance to aggressively wrap her arms around his neck instead. Duncan flinched as he slipped off the seat, causing both of them to topple to the ground.
Hilda beamed almost victoriously at him, tucking a fringe behind her ear. Her legs were straddling the man’s body, and it was obvious that she wasn’t about to get off him voluntarily. Hilda leaned in for a kiss—
“Stop!”
The girl released a small yelp as Duncan twisted his body to the side, letting her slide off his body. Her head flung back dangerously towards the edge of their seat, but Duncan quickly shielded the back of her head before it hurt her. Both parties took a moment to stare at each other, their faces flushed red as they breathed heavily.
“Hilda, I know what’s going on with you.” He put his hands in front of him nervously, trying to calm her down.
“You do?” Hilda nodded vigorously. “Of course, you know how I feel. You’re so capable. There’s nothing you can’t do.”
She began crawling towards him.
“You don’t understand— Stop.” Duncan held her by her shoulders to stop her from advancing. “You don’t understand what you’re feeling.”
“I do, I do!” Hilda insisted, pushing against him. “Duncan, I love you! I want to be with you forever!”
“No, you don’t—”
“I do! My heart pounds whenever I’m with you. I have never felt so safe when I’m with you. I want to live happily ever after with you!”
“That’s bollocks!” Duncan shoved her back as gently as he could. “How long have you known me, girl? Nought but a few days. Tis but just a fantasy you are indulging in!”
“A few days is more than enough; others have fallen in love at first sight.” Hilda’s eyes turned glassy as they started to water. “Nobody has ever cared for me so much in my life. Nobody has ever made me feel so secure! Only you, Duncan! Only you have! My heart yearns to be with you!”
Bother, she’s completely besotted.
“You’re only seventeen, lass. I am more than thirty times older than you.” Duncan lowered his voice. “You’ll have plenty of better options when you grow up. You don’t know what it means to fall in love.”
“Is that it?” The love-smitten expression on the girl’s face gave way to one of indignation. “You think I’m just a child, don’t you? That’s why you won’t accept my love! Well, I’ll have you know that I’m plenty mature enough to be a good wife.”
Duncan shook his head in exasperation.
“I— I’m good at staying at home!” Hilda continued sputtering. “I’m good at—”
“I am not interested in you.”
The girl fell silent immediately as her lips began quivering. “W— What?”
“I am not interested in you,” Duncan repeated bluntly, raising his voice a little. “Prithee, mind yourself, lass. And get rid of that poisonous delusion. This is no time to be fraternising. My friend’s life is at stake here.”
The train shuddered to a stop as though on cue. Muted commotion drifted in as the train doors opened to the bustling streets of Hiroshima’s Witch Market— or ‘Ghost Market’, as the locals called it.
Duncan swiftly picked up his fedora and turned to Hilda. “Come, girl. We have no time to waste.”
“It’s Lucy Carpenter, isn’t it?”
“What?” Duncan paused, staring at his companion. Hilda had gone quiet now, although she wasn’t inclined to move from her seat.
“That woman already stole your heart,” she muttered. “I should’ve known I didn’t stand a chance against her at all.”
“That’s not even close to the truth. I never saw her in that way—”
“No, no, no!” Hilda stomped her feet childishly, snatching her belongings from below the train seat. “As long as she’s around, I can never be with you. You care about her more than me. You… I can’t believe you’ve been faking your care for me! I knew it… Nobody cares about me. It always comes to this…”
Duncan stepped towards the distraught girl and pulled on her clothes, but she swatted his hand away.
“Save that woman yourself!” Hilda spat. “Leave me alone like everyone else! You’ll regret rejecting my love! You don’t care about me!”
“Hilda, I do care—”
“I don’t need you; I can survive on my own!” the girl yelled as tears overflowed from her eyes. “I’ll count on myself from now on!”
She stormed out of the train cabin before Duncan could reply. He rushed out of the train after her, but Hilda had long disappeared into the sea of people in Japan’s Ghost Market.
“By Jove, I have not the time for this,” Duncan muttered to himself, feeling the slight dagger-shaped bulge press back against his palm as he patted his tuxedo. “You better not get yourself in trouble before I’ve settled this mess, lass.”
He walked out of the market briskly and headed for the Marked Emissaries’ last base of operations.
~ ~ ~
Duncan took about an hour to arrive at what he hoped was his final location.
He had never been to Hiroshima in his life, so he had to take the railway using a fake ticket as well as a magic glamour that disguised him as a Japanese man. It was distasteful, but a necessary measure to prevent unnecessary wasting of time, given the wartime logistics of railway trains.
The air shimmered as Duncan stepped into the liminal space, which was built like an indoor stadium. Unlike the previous one, there was virtually no supernatural presence here, which means that it was probably abandoned for some reason.
His heart sank; he was too late again.
Duncan crouched and inspected the gravel floor. A splatter of blood stained the ground. It had gone brown and hard in the last few days or so. Perhaps someone had scraped themselves when they fell. Or perhaps they spat up blood after being violently beaten.
Panic and indignation threatened to overwhelm Duncan, but he relaxed his body instead. If it were just blood, he didn’t have to worry about Lucy. It would take a lot more than heavy blood loss to kill her.
The man looked around him. Exits were limited. There were only two ways in and out of this place: Either by the main entrance past the empty cells or via the duct supplying holy magic from the outside world.
Given the choking amount of holy magic shielding this place, there was no way Lucy could’ve escaped on her own. This base must have been specially constructed to house nephilims, whose powers were borne of dark magic.
It made sense in a twisted sort of way. Nephilim magic was typically a lot more subtle than that of regular supernatural beings. A tournament would naturally weed out the weaker ones and bring out the strongest monster, which would most likely be able to survive Miguel’s sickening black magic ritual.
A gory sight greeted Duncan as he stepped out into the open stadium area.
Dozens of corpses littered the area, all of them dressed in similarly looking yellow and black vests. He narrowed his eyes in apprehension. Cultists.
At a cursory glance, none of them seemed to have been killed by magic. Instead, they were left to bleed out after either having their throats slit open or their hearts stabbed. Their surroundings didn’t look like a scuffle had broken out, either. The cultists must have been caught off guard for some reason. Whoever did this must be some sort of trained assassin, or even a whole group of them.
Duncan bent down and picked up a bloodied throwing knife. Grim recognition filled his expression as he examined it intently.
It was a kunai; he could tell only that much. After all, he had lived in Japan for a short fifty years during the fifteenth century. Still, there was no way he couldn’t recognise that iconic weapon used by the samurai and ninjas, even back in feudal Japan.
His mind wandered back to the two Japanese spies. Were these two incidents related? Did Masao Kubo— whoever that was— at war with the Marked Emissaries? Just what was going on?
Another familiar sight caught Duncan’s attention, and his heart almost dropped.
“L— Lucy?” His voice wavered as he rushed to the female figure lying motionless in the middle of a broken cage. No, no, no…
Duncan flipped the corpse over hurriedly, before almost falling over in relief. Thank god that vampire corpse wasn’t Lucy. Still, he recognised her.
Ileana Covaliov’s eternally youthful face had gone completely grey, her fangs fully visible, and her expression contorted into a terrifying-looking snarl. Duncan’s eyes shot to the metal sticking out of her chest. The cause of death was obvious: the equivalent of a stake imbued with holy magic had stabbed her through the heart.
No vampire could survive that, powerful as they were.
Duncan set the corpse down and looked around for any more clues this place could offer. For a minor relief, the corpses did not smell, since the liminal space was also a frozen pocket of time. Nevertheless, it still made him uncomfortable being among the dead. Best find out Lucy’s location and get out of here as soon as possible—
Movement flitted from the side of his eye.
“Who’s there?” Duncan called out without hesitation, magic rushing through his body in an instant. “Show yourself!”
A figure stepped out from the shadows.
“Nothing but just an old friend, Mister Ward,” a familiar voice replied. “No need to be hostile.”
Yuri Kitagawa sauntered towards him, a mysterious smile playing on her lips.
“Yuri?” Duncan asked in disbelief, lowering his hands. “What are you doing here?”
“Is that so surprising?” Yuri was standing uncomfortably close to him. “I am a member of the Marked Emissaries, after all.”
“Where have you been?” Duncan took a step back. “I thought you said you were going to stop Miguel Chukyunwelu.”
Yuri flashed an uncharacteristic flirty pout as she stepped towards him again. “Can’t blame a lady for trying. It’s so lonely fighting out there all on my own, you know?”
“If I recall, you were the one who pushed me away— Pushed us away.”
“I know, I know.” Yuri rushed forward and grabbed Duncan’s waist, running her fingers down his coat for some reason. “It was a mistake; I see that now. Please, won’t you forgive me?”
The woman stepped even closer and put her other hand on him as well, repeating the same motion.
“What are you trying to do, Yuri?”
She inhaled sharply and pulled him close enough for their lips to bump into each other, sticking her hands in his coat this time.
“Must a girl say something like that out loud?” Yuri blushed slightly as her fingers trailed down to his trousers. “I miss you. I’ve missed you for five hundred years. Let us not wait any longer, Duncan. No one can disturb us here. Come, clothes off.”
She reached into his pockets—
“Looking for this, aye?”
Yuri gasped, dropping the act immediately. She lunged for the golden pill in Duncan’s hands, but the man simply stepped to the side, letting Yuri sprawl onto the floor.
“No!” she shrieked as the witch doctor tucked the pill behind his fingers and dematerialised it.
“You have no need for my elixir, so who put you up to this?” Duncan dropped his voice, hostility lacing every word now. “Was it Miguel? Or was it Masao Kubo?”
“H— How do you know about him?”
“I had a run-in with a couple of his old associates.” Duncan stepped towards the woman threateningly, who was now shaking slightly in fear. “You’ve been lying about your loyalties, haven’t you? Is that it, then? That’s why you don’t want Hilda involved in your business. Because you’re a spy? Your daughter believes you’re abandoning her, you know?”
Yuri looked away. “I never deserved her…”
“Yuri, what’s going on?” Duncan softened his demeanour. “Please just give me the truth.”
“Do you trust me?”
“I’m trying to.”
Yuri clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes shut, as though she was enduring some terrible pain.
“Yuri?” Duncan approached her, but she turned away to hide her face from him.
“Okay… the truth,” the woman breathed heavily. “About the truth…”
She swung around without warning, her terrifying-looking mask glaring back at Duncan this time.
“You can hear it from Kubo himself,” she hissed.
Dizziness struck the witch doctor again as the glyph on Yuri’s mask glowed fiercer than ever. He stumbled back and turned away, mentally fighting against the black magic sapping his powers. Dammit… not again…
“I’m sorry.” Yuri grabbed him by his tie, forcing him to look at the mask. “For all its worth, I truly did not want to do this.”
Duncan’s eyes rolled back as the glyph’s magic finally overwhelmed him. And the last thing he felt was a pair of hands catching him before everything faded to black again.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG8fU1VQqP6
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