Vampire Hunter D: Dark Nocturne Read Online Free

Now, run along to the diner. You go out and take a right on the street—”
    â€”and going straight for about two minutes, he found the sign for the diner. Right above it the words “liquor” and “dry goods” were written in large letters. In small towns and villages, it was typical to combine the general store, diner, and saloon into a single establishment. Although Ry thought they might be in there, he wound up being the only customer.
    Finishing his meal of stew and bread, Ry followed the street west. The fence at the edge of the village was where he was supposed to meet Amne.
    Snow still remained in a few spots along the road. Stepping into an alley he’d been told was a shortcut, Ry stopped in his tracks.
    Countless gold sparkles drifted in the air–seeds of the golden snow flowers dancing on a gentle breeze. They weren’t an uncommon sight in the eastern Frontier sectors. Exceptionally heat and cold-resistant, the seeds could also withstand poor soil conditions and severe weather until one bright, sunny day in spring when they’d bloom into small golden flowers that delighted people’s eyes.
    Bathed from head to toe in their golden light and seeming to almost suck up the glow, a figure in black suddenly stood there on muddy earth not yet dry from the previous night’s rain. He wore a wide-brimmed traveler’s hat and a long coat, and had an elegant longsword across his back—that was all the young man could see of him from behind. A short distance from him, a cyborg horse was toppled by the side of the road.
    Ry didn’t move. There was something about the figure that was even more dangerous than the trio he’d encountered the previous night. Suddenly, it occurred to him that the rider who’d saved him in the forest might be this very same man.
    A spring breeze stroked the end of his nose. As if that harmless sign was a declaration of war, the figure in black made a leap. Looking like darkness coalesced, the figure sent flecks of light flying everywhere.
    The roof of the warehouse off to his right was ten feet high. At the top of it, Ry saw a silvery flash. There were two simultaneous thuds, and a brief cry of pain rang out. Ry then watched something red fly off at an angle and strike the ground.
    â€œWe’ll meet again!” a voice he’d heard before shouted in apparent pain from somewhere in the heavens.
    Ry ran out into the middle of the road. The spell over him had broken. As he was looking up, the figure in black landed right in front of him without a sound. The young traveler was once more thrown into a hopeless daze. Could a human face possibly be this beautiful? He had to wonder if he weren’t perhaps still in the forest, and all of this was a dream.
    â€œIt looks like you made it out okay,” said the man.
    Although that was hardly what someone fresh from a deadly conflict would be expected to say, Ry seemed free from such concerns as he nodded. “Thanks for what you did last night,” he said with bowed head. “That character just now—was he one of them . . . ?”
    â€œApparently they hold a grudge. You’d do well to watch yourself.”
    â€œI will,” the young man said, adding, “Um, I’m Ry.”
    â€œCall me D,” said the youth in black, brilliant bits of gold dancing all around him.
    Â 

THE WHITE SONG OF THE RUINED MANSE
CHAPTER 2
    I
    __
    Just then, the squeak of wheels came from the far end of the street.
    â€œSorry to keep you waiting,” Amne said from the driver’s seat of the wagon as she pulled up beside the two of them, and then her eyes went wide. Her whole body, not just her cheeks, seemed to blush like a rose.
    â€œWho’s he?” the girl asked in a tone that could only be described as childlike.
    â€œThis is Mister D. He happened to help me out last night.”
    â€œYou don’t say.”
    â€œWhere are you going?” D asked