Chapter 5: Rebel
For what may have been the first time in her life, Suzume wished that Death would appear in front of her. She needed to focus her anger somewhere. It wasn't satisfying to scream at an empty ceiling, and considering the recent battle, the idea of getting mad at Slogra just felt wrong.
More importantly, when he was in the room, she felt like she could do something to stop him. Considering who he was, it was unlikely, but still...
In this situation, though, she could do little but sink to her knees and appeal. "Please... don't do it."
"You care for him." Death's words, traveling through the air from no apparent source, showed little emotion.
She sighed. "Marcus taught me how to be a priestess." A deep breath. "I'd rather let Soma die than him."
"I find it hard to believe, and yet I have seen it many times. Humans who would trade away the lives of themselves and everyone they know for the sake of one person."
"So you will..."
"You already agreed to allow Soma to die as part of the pact. The survival of your friends was never discussed."
She pounded the ground angrily. "Fine! What do I have to do to..."
"I will not accept your offer." His voice had become stern. "Death is a part of life. You need to accept that humanity is mortal. To do otherwise will result in nothing but disappointment."
"...you bastard." She clenched her fist angrily. "You dare to say those words, when you're about to kill a man for outliving his usefulness?"
A short pause. "I am not killing him. You should be thankful that I allowed you to meet with him at all."
Suzume's eyes widened. "What do you..."
"He has been deceased for a while now."
She shook her head. "No. He can't be. I've talked to him repeatedly. He looked fine."
"You also retain a large amount of health for someone who has been deprived of life on two occasions."
She sighed. "Okay, I get it. So... uh... what happened?"
"He was killed by the vampires of this castle. Possibly, by the master himself."
Suzume sighed. He had said that he was looking for Soma. She should have expected something like this.
Death continued. "It was fortunate that I noticed him. He possessed great holy power and sufficient cause for revenge. Thus, he was ideal to accompany me on my first attempt."
"Wait. Your first..."
He suspects that I have given up at this time. This is not my first attempt. He had said that. And she hadn't thought about what that meant. So Marcus had been...
"He was here before me?" Suzume shouted in disbelief. "He knew what was going on the whole time? He never told me he formed a pact with you!"
"He did nothing of the sort. When I offered to help him, he accepted. You were the only one to make demands."
"So that's why he was so desperate to make sure I didn't die, huh? Do you get all your allies this way?"
Without acknowledging her comment, he continued. "His holy power was great, but it was not sufficient for the task. In fact, he was the one who suggested your presence in his stead."
"Why?" She was having difficulty taking this. "Why would Marcus do that? Seriously?"
Death remained unemotional. "I do not claim to understand his decision, though I suppose you have greater holy power than him. I merely sent for you, and you already know how we met."
Sent for her? He had...
...the people in the village. The vampires mentioned that they had killed them all. But a small number of survivors remained, and they contacted the church, and when she arrived, they directed her to the castle. And while she had noticed that they were just as severely injured as the bodies in the street, she hadn't considered why...
"...so you were using me from the moment I left." She pounded the stone floor again. "That's just freaking great."
"Considering how rarely I am able to intervene in mortal affairs, you will find that manipulation is my most common strategy."
"It is, huh?" she snapped angrily. "So why the hell are you telling me this? Do you want me to break the pact?"
Death's voice was impatient now. "You asked for this. You could have achieved your goals without ever needing to learn the circumstances of your arrival. Instead, you demanded complete honesty from me."
"Yeah! Like this made it any easier to trust you!"
"I suggest that you find solace in the knowledge that the pact renders any further actions I could make along these lines difficult and impractical."
"Oh! Like that helps! You sent me on a damn suicide mission, enlisted my help under false pretenses and allowed everyone else to get killed, and now you want to make my last remaining living help drop dead while you pile all the blame on him? And you think I should be okay with this because of our goddamn pact? If I had known that you set me up, I would have never..."
"Stop speaking."
Suzume stopped. Considering the entity who gave the order, she didn't know if this was actually a willful action on her part.
Death's voice was considerably more forceful than usual. "This pact was your idea. You knew who I was when you agreed to it. And I do not break pacts. Ever. Everything that I have told you is the truth." He paused. "If I was in your position, I would be more interested in the fact that I gave you this information, and Marcus did not."
Suzume pondered this. Every time she had spoken with Death before, she left with the indication that his words, while not polite, were correct. And now he had said all this, and almost every assumption she had ever made was proven to be false, and now she had to admit that he was right and everything Marcus had said before was wrong...
"...good question. Why would he send me here, knowing I was likely to die, and yet try to keep me alive?"
His voice was exasperated now. "This is tiresome. Stay where you are. I will claim his soul and bring him to meet with you directly. You will be able to ask him as many questions as you like."
She sighed and sat down on the floor, looking up at Slogra. He still hadn't reacted in any manner. She wondered just how much of the conversation he could hear, and whether or not he actually cared about its contents.
"...this is unusual." Death's voice seemed genuinely surprised. "I cannot control his soul at all."
"Let me guess", Suzume muttered. "Holy power?"
"No. This is far more interesting. It is the power of dominance."
Suzume thought back. "I think I've heard the term before. Vaguely."
"Your mother knows of it. It is a large component of the power of Dracula. It allows him to claim the souls of the fallen for his personal use."
She nodded. "Sounds like something you'd know about."
"His soul is no longer in my possession. It has been claimed using this power, and thus belongs to the master of this castle."
She stood up immediately. "No!" Slogra immediately turned to face her.
"You are fortunate, Suzume. If our efforts are successful, you will be able to save the soul of your mentor." Death's voice became more contemplative. "Continue to follow my instructions precisely, and I may even feel generous..."
Suzume frowned. In light of the pact, what choice did she have? "...fine. You win this round."
"Head to the eastern ramparts. Gaibon waits there, and I shall meet you when I am able."
"I guess I'll do that, then." She walked over to where Slogra was standing, and then turned around and looked at the ceiling again. "You know, you're really starting to annoy me."
"Few mortal men have ever tolerated my presence."
The door that led from the central structure to the eastern side of the ramparts opened slowly. From the shadow cast by the structure against the moonlight, a pair of eyes watched.
Slogra looked through the crack in the door cautiously, then stepped out. He scanned the area around him, judging it to be free of threats, and then noticed the eyes upon him. He stared at them impassively and lowered his spear to his side.
Gaibon stepped out from the shadows with a toothy expression on his face. Slogra gave him a quick nod, and then turned to look behind him.
No one was there.
Back inside the structure, Suzume finished healing herself, and then remained sitting on the floor in thought.
The last battle had taken its toll on her. While there were more guards than usual, she just wasn't handling them as well as she used to be. Slogra had picked up the slack, certainly, but...
Marcus had requested her to come here. Whether or not he thought she would be at risk, there had to be a reason.
Death suspected that she had stronger magic than him. She had a hard time believing that. She considered herself talented, yes, but Marcus was her teacher. Every spell she had learned came from him or from one of the books that he gave to her. He had more than a decade's worth of experience on her. If he failed... what made him think she would do any better?
It wasn't like she was much good otherwise. She had only a basic sense of strategy. She was brash and gullible, and had fallen into far too many traps since she arrived here. And she was only an amateur with a polearm. Good enough to destroy a few weak demons, but nothing that would impress anyone, especially when compared to someone like Slogra.
She groaned softly. Sometimes she wished she wasn't a Belnades. People always expected too much of her, and then complained when she failed to meet their standards.
And what standards they were, too. Death had practically wanted her to die, proved that she was no match for anything that he or the vampires could do, and was now insisting that she aid him in killing an innocent person...
The door opened again, letting a small draft into the room. Slogra entered.
Suzume looked up at him. "Did you find your friend? Is he okay?"
The dinosaur skeleton didn't respond visibly.
She looked down at the floor again. "Great."
There was a lengthy period of silence. Slogra closed the door behind him.
"He should probably come in, too. It's harder to spot us in here."
Slogra didn't move. Suzume exhaled sharply. This was going nowhere. Would she have to go out there and drag Gaibon in herself? She sighed. It wasn't worth the bother. If he got caught, it was his fault.
Something poked her in the shoulder. She looked up. "What?" she asked angrily.
Slogra was holding the blunt end of a spear toward her. She thought for a moment, then remembered that he had picked up both spears after the crusher incident. "Is that one mine?" she asked.
Slogra nodded slightly. She reached up, took the spear from him, and dropped it to the side next to her staff. "Thanks."
No reply from the demon. She continued to stare at the wall.
"I guess your boss isn't back yet, huh?" Still no answer. "That or he's spying on me again without letting me know", she muttered to herself. "It wouldn't surprise me." She raised her head and voice to Slogra again. "Was he always like this, or just after he met Dracula?"
Slogra just stared at her. She stared at the wall again and grumbled to herself. It felt like the vampires had systematically eliminated everyone on the premises who would bother to have a straightforward conversation with her, or even listen.
She was being poked in the shoulder again. "What now?" she snapped, looking up at Slogra. He was once again tapping her with the blunt end of his spear.
"You already gave me the other one!" She gestured to the staff next to her. "I don't even deserve it. You'd be better off with a backup weapon. Especially compared to me." She sighed. "I should just stick to ma..."
He poked her again, this time with the sharp end of the spear. She felt the slow trickle of blood coming from her shoulder, and glared upward at him. "What the hell was that for?"
Slogra stared at her impassively. Then he lifted his spear and swung it at her, striking her in the side with the shaft.
"All right! That does it!" Suzume stood up, grabbing her staff in the process. "I don't know what the hell you're doing, but if you do that one more time, I'm blasting you." She pointed the staff at him to accentuate her threat. "You should be happy I haven't already..."
In the blink of an eye, he struck the staff with his own spear, causing it to break free of her grasp and roll across the room to connect with the opposite wall unceremoniously. She looked at it in shock, and then looked back at Slogra. "You asked for it!" she yelled, charging up a spell in her hand.
He lowered the spear to one side, quickly stepped forward and grabbed her arm with his opposite hand. It wasn't terribly painful, but she wouldn't be able to cast a spell in his direction like this. Before she could reconsider her strategy, she felt the shaft of his spear thrust into her hand, and then he had released her and dashed behind her.
Turning around quickly, she saw him staring at her. He had picked up the other spear and was holding it in a battle position toward her.
"Spear fight, huh?" Suzume said. "Whatever. You know you have the advantage, right?"
As she finished speaking, he dashed forward and swung his spear at her. She blocked quickly. He followed it up with a few pokes, which she tried to sidestep or deflect as best as she could. Finally, without warning, he swung the blunt end out toward her legs. It connected, she reacted in pain slightly, and before she knew it, he had planted the end of the spear firmly in her chest.
She looked down. No blood. He had deliberately poked her with the blunt end again. She looked up angrily. "See? I can't def..."
And he quickly struck her legs, knocking her down. As she slowly got up, he backed off slightly, holding his spear at his side.
"You bastard!" she yelled, grabbing her spear and charging at him.
She tried everything she could. Hard swings, soft swings, pokes, feints, high and low. He dodged them all fairly easily, except for a couple of strikes that he had to lift his spear to block. Finally, as she went for a mid level poke, he caught the spear in his hand and stopped it. She struggled to move it for a while, but Slogra's grip didn't loosen and she couldn't get his arm to budge.
Shaking her head, she let go of the spear, leaving it in his hand. "I lose", she said dejectedly. "I told you. I can't touch you." She turned in the direction of where her staff had fallen. "If you want a fight so bad, try someone with more than a day's worth..."
Before she could cross the room, his hand grabbed her wrist. "Stop that!" she yelled, and turned around in an effort to strike him with her other hand. This time, he didn't dodge. Her fist hardly hurt him, and he didn't let go of her wrist. With a slow, deliberate motion, he raised his spear to waist level with one hand, then directed her wrist until her hand laid on the shaft.
"What are you..." she started to ask before he held his hand out in the direction of her other arm. Reluctantly, she held it out for him. He took it, more gently this time, and directed her other hand to hold the spear at a lower point. This done, he grasped the spear about halfway between the two hands, lifted it up slightly, and started pointing it in various directions. Then he settled on one and pulled the spear further away from Suzume, then pushed it back toward her.
Suzume realized what he was doing. "Are you trying to teach me?" she asked, looking at him. He looked up at her briefly, nodded, and then held the spear with one hand as he grasped one of her arms with the other hand. He then pulled the spear further from her, holding her arm such that it would keep the spear level as she thrust.
After a few minutes of this, she was finally poking with the spear in a manner that met with Slogra's approval. He then took the spear and reached for her wrist again.
"No", she interrupted. "It's not necessary. Seriously, I'll stick to the staff." He looked at her blankly for a few seconds, and then moved his hand away. She rubbed her wrist for a few seconds and looked at him again. "Nothing personal. Thanks for trying."
Without a word, not that he was known to use words anyway, he returned to the door and looked through it again. Suzume slowly walked over to her staff, picked it up, and turned to watch him.
He really had tried to help. That alone was surprising to her. It was hard to tell at first, because he seemed more interested in goading her into a fight. Maybe he wanted to observe her form first, or maybe get her into a mindset where she was willing to strike as hard as possible.
It was about this time that she realized that, before he had started, she had been moping about Death's recent revelations and wondering why she was even bothering with the quest. Suddenly, she wasn't so sure about his goal. He might have been trying to help her become better in battle, or he may have just been giving her something to do to relieve her stress and take her mind off the situation...
"Death's still not back yet, is he?" she asked. Slogra turned, shook his head, and returned his sight to the doorway.
She thought for a bit longer, and then walked over and picked up her spear again. "Okay. We've got time. What else were you gonna show me?"
Practice went smoothly in general. Suzume had long since come to the conclusion that she would never reach Slogra's level of skill, but she was beginning to understand the fundamentals. He put a particular amount of emphasis on making sure that she didn't leave herself open after most of her strikes.
She was also interested in figuring out how she could make her training more practical for her style of fighting. So she had been brainstorming a few ways to use spells and spear strikes in quick succession when she first heard Gaibon's roar coming from outside the door.
She looked at Slogra. "Let me guess. He's our watchman?" He didn't respond to this, instead dashing to the door while picking up his spear in a smooth motion along the way. She followed quickly.
Just outside the door, Gaibon was staring upward at the eastern tower. Still no sign of Death, Suzume noticed immediately. She couldn't tell what he was doing, so she moved next to him and followed his gaze.
One of the lights in the eastern tower was on. Upon close examination, she could see the motion of a shadow inside the room.
"I see it, too", she mumbled. "Maybe we should check it out."
She had barely met Gaibon earlier, so she took this opportunity to take a good look at him. In her opinion, he didn't look too different from her mental image of a generic demon. Sharp teeth, a pair of horns, claws, and a multitude of muscles of a bluish hue. No wonder she had mistaken him for an average monster earlier. His limbs were actually bat wings, but sufficiently built and possessing of digits to be used as arms. Most importantly to her, his facial expression, while savage, did not bear any immediate hostility toward her.
"Um", she said, looking back at the tower again. "I can't see it any more. Should we take a closer look?"
Gaibon looked at her, then past her to Slogra. Then, with some hesitation, he raised his arms and flapped them enough to lift himself into the air above the ramparts. It was hardly as graceful looking as a soaring bird, but it got the job done, she decided.
Then, before she could react, there was a gust of air pressure, and there was a fair amount of weight digging into her shoulders, and she was no longer standing on a solid surface. "Hey!" she exclaimed in surprise.
Adjusting slowly to the new sensation of being carried, she took a look around her. In front, the upper levels of the eastern tower, including the suspicious window from earlier. To the sides, a fairly nice if darkened view of the surrounding countryside. Below, an increasingly large drop to the ramparts below - no, she decided, she would not continue to look in that direction. Above, her view was blocked by a pair of blue knees.
Looking forward again, she saw that she had been carried directly to the window. The room continued to be well-lit, containing a chandelier, a few candles on what appeared to be a desk, and a furnished bed in the back corner. No one seemed to be in the room at this time. She started to wonder if the flickering of the candles had created the illusion of...
"...Suzume..."
That was a man's voice, she realized. Who would be calling for her that knew her name? A surviving clergyman? She still couldn't see anyone inside.
"Uh, can you get any closer?" she called upward. While she couldn't see any response, her body was now being carried closer to the window. A moment later, she was able to stand on the sill, at which point she leaned forward, and the claws released her shoulders. There was only a small amount of lingering pain, and it passed quickly.
The room still appeared to be empty, but now she could see a small table to the side of the window, as well as the door that led out of the room. It was closed.
"Thanks", she said, turning to the window where Gaibon continued to hover. "So, were you told to listen to me or are you just being poli..."
The window's shutters suddenly slammed closed. The resulting gust of wind was sufficient to extinguish the chandelier and desk candles, leaving her completely enveloped in the dark.
She sighed audibly. "I'm getting tired of this."
"You're not very bright, you know." It was the female vampire's voice. Yet again. Suzume started to wonder if she would ever get the opportunity to wipe that smug expression off her face.
"Is this going to end in another fatal stabbing?" she asked lamely.
A brief pause. "No. Not if you cooperate." And, to Suzume's surprise, the candles on the desk were relit, giving Suzume barely enough light to make out the room's furnishings again. The vampire was standing in front of her, smiling. She made another spark with her fingers for effect, then continued. "I'm here to tell you to leave."
Suzume shook her head and glared at the other woman. "Not happening. You killed those villagers, you have two of my friends, and in case you didn't know, my soul is riding on this."
"So I've heard", the vampire said. "You shouldn't worry. Soma is unhurt."
"Oh?"
"Trust me", she said in a tone of voice that made Suzume not wish to do so. "If he was dead, we wouldn't be able to tap his power like this."
She started to pace around the room as she spoke. "Vampirism is an unholy curse, I'm sure you're aware. Now imagine what it must be like to have the abilities of a vampire, but while retaining your identity, and even being able to use holy power at the same time."
Suzume nodded. "I wondered about that last part."
"We have no desire for Dracula to return." The vampire turned to face Suzume directly, probably to imply that she was not lying to her. "We just thought, why should Soma be the only one to benefit from his existence? Why not allow everyone to know what it's like to be like him? To fly through the air, to bend souls to their whim... to not fear death?"
"Wait. You're not just vampires... you're Draculas?" In the background, there was the sound of a heavy pound.
The vampire shrugged. "At least, a lot more like him. And since we're still partially human, we can survive sunlight." She reached forward suddenly and grasped the rosary that had been hanging around Suzume's neck. "Sanctity, too. This little cross has no effect on us."
As she let go, Suzume looked down at the religious symbol. "I had forgotten about that thing..."
"Naturally, Death doesn't approve of this, and I can see that he managed to wrangle you into his service." She took a brief breath, then smiled again. "That's why I'm here to offer you a way out."
Suzume stared at her in disbelief. "After all I've tried to do to you? Why would you help me?"
The vampiress gestured to the door. "It wasn't my idea. Your friend suggested it."
Suzume turned to the door to see that it was now open. Marcus was standing in the doorway, leaning casually against one of the jambs. "Hello again, Suzume", he said with a bright smile on his face.
A little too bright. With visible fangs.
She stared at him for a moment. Behind her, there was another loud pound from the window.
Finally she reacted. "Marcus!" she yelled, marching toward the door. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
His smile disappeared, replaced by concern. "Suzume, I..."
"You knew Soma was responsible for this! You knew Death was trying to interfere! You set me up to come here! And now you're telling me you've been with these vampires the whole time?"
Behind her, the vampire responded. "No. Not the whole time. He..."
"Please", he interrupted. "I can explain." He looked at Suzume. "Death owned my soul. He told you that, right?"
Suzume nodded slowly while keeping a suspicious eye on him.
"Well, like you, he allowed me to hold onto it. You know, until he no longer needed me around. So when you teamed up with him, I realized that my hours were numbered." He looked depressed. "He would have killed me. You know that."
"It's my fault", she replied. "I shouldn't have healed myself."
"Not at all. That's the point of healing, isn't it? To get better when you're hurt? No, he shouldn't have been such a jackass about..."
The pound came from the window again.
Marcus quickly got to the point. "Anyway, that's when I remembered that these vampires have the power of dominance."
"He asked to join us", the vampiress said. "Better to be one of us than die, he said."
"So you joined up with..." Suzume started, then drew the obvious conclusion. "You stole your own soul?"
"I did what I had to do to live", he finished, then looked at her in the eyes. "I'm sorry for misleading you."
He had said that he could cure himself, she thought. And he didn't. He wanted this to happen...
"We can do the same thing for you, Miss Belnades", the woman whispered in her ear. "Join us and your soul can be yours again. You won't have to serve Death. You can leave and pretend none of this ever happened."
Suzume turned to face her directly. "You were in the church, right? You tried to cover up the slaughter. You want me to keep quiet about these events. Why?"
The vampiress shrugged. "It should be obvious. If word got out that elite vampires like us were around, humanity would be restless. And then we wouldn't be able to get our blood so easily."
The window was pounded again. In Suzume's mind, it helped to accentuate the point. "Oh. Blood."
"We're vampires. We need it."
Marcus spoke again. "They slaughtered the villagers for two reasons. They wanted to keep their disappearance from the church a secret, and they needed to harvest the blood for later."
Suzume's eyes widened. "That's horrible!"
"It is worth it if it means Death can no longer come for us." The vampiress glared at her. "So, will you join us, or will we have to silence you as well?"
In a quick motion, Suzume moved to the side, pointing her staff directly at both vampires. "I can't believe you two! I'd rather give myself to Death than let you have your way with humanity!"
"You would..." Marcus muttered.
The vampiress drew a sword, similar to the one her male counterpart had wielded earlier. "Don't say I didn't make the offer."
"Don't make this hard, Suzume." He stepped forward. "Give her your staff."
She glared at him. "No. I'm not stupid."
"Just give it to her." There was now a slight smirk on his face. "As hard as possible."
The vampiress turned. "What?"
Suzume had learned well. In under two seconds, she had grasped the staff and struck the woman with it. She screamed in pain and fell to the side. Reacting quickly, Suzume moved to her position, lifted the staff, and drove it directly into her back.
"AAAAAAUGH!" the vampiress screamed. "You assholes! How did you... we're supposed to be immune to holy..." She never finished her sentence, as her body caught fire and burned to ashes in seconds.
As a reflex, Suzume next turned the staff toward Marcus, who smiled and shrugged. "Holy power. Yeah. That doesn't help much against weapons that have been enchanted to kill Dracula."
The window pounded yet again, louder this time. He looked in that direction, then looked back at Suzume. "Thanks for your help. And thanks for taking that thing off my hands earlier before it killed me, too."
"Marcus?", she asked hopefully. "You're not one of them?"
He shook his head. "Well, kinda. She was right. I'm a vampire now." He sighed. "But she was also right when she said it doesn't change who we are. I'm me."
"Yeah... but you're a vampire, too."
"So what?" he said dismissively. "It's better than the alternative. I'm still alive and I've still got my soul. I can get blood without killing anyone. I don't feel like terrorizing the world. Hell, I could probably fly around healing everyone!" He paused, looking at her again. "I can't really say I'm doing anything wrong."
"Fine", Suzume stated bluntly. "Now tell me about your other lies. Why you tricked me into coming out here. Why you didn't tell me about Death. And exactly why you're taking advantage of Soma's power when you should be saving him."
He sighed. "You're right. I shouldn't have lied to you. You don't deserve it." He took a deep breath. "The truth is, I didn't want Death..."
The pound sounded again, except this time, the window broke. Marcus jumped backward in time to avoid Gaibon flying shoulder-first into the room, crashing into the opposite wall and falling flat on his back. He and Suzume looked at him, then turned to the window to see the entity that was floating through it into the room.
"You deliberately repossessed your soul with the power of dominance", Death said contemptuously. "I should have expected something so underhanded from you."
"No kidding", Suzume muttered under her breath.
"I have nothing to say to you anymore", Marcus said bluntly. "My life is mine again."
"Do not be so certain. This girl has vowed to help me destroy your master and the vampires under his command. Do not believe that you will be freed from his fate."
"Go right ahead", Marcus said. "He's not my master. He doesn't command me. Do as you wish."
"We are still sworn to kill you."
"Is that so?" Marcus was sounding downright flippant. "How do you intend to do that? I only claimed a soul that rightfully belongs to me, and I haven't even raised a finger against you."
If Death had a facial expression, he might have been glaring. "You continue to annoy me."
Suzume was lost. "Uh, what? Someone please explain?"
Marcus looked up at the ceiling. "Uh... can't remember the exact words... God gave the angel of death his blessing and mastery over the mortal soul so he'd deliver their souls to the next life... heaven and hell, all that... uh... claim their lives to release them from eternal suffering... or to enforce the will of those above him... or, as an angel, to stop those who would stand against God... later on, they decided that yeah, self-defense would also be allowed." He shrugged. "All in all, he can kill the dying, or those that attack him, or those who threaten the proper workings of the universe, which I guess are based on some unsaid rules, but we know them when we see them, and yeah, stealing souls from him should count there, but that doesn't matter, because it's actually my soul and I can justify it that way." He paused for emphasis. "Anyone else, he can't do anything."
She boggled at him. "Uh... that sure as hell wasn't in any holy book I've read."
To her side, Gaibon began to stir and rise to his feet. Suzume walked over to stand beside him, keeping her eyes on the arguers.
Death watched her impassively. "Despite his insultingly poor delivery, he is correct." He turned to Marcus. "It does not matter. As you said, I can also act according to the will of those above me, and I think you will find that one such being is Dracula."
Marcus grinned. "But Dracula's not here, is he?"
"Not yet." He moved in the direction of the window again. Marcus turned to watch him.
Something about this didn't feel right to Suzume. She looked at Gaibon once again, and then took a few steps in Marcus's direction. "You know a bit too much about Death for my taste."
Marcus shrugged. "I'm a healer. Know the enemy."
Death turned to look out the window. "I have been subject to these limitations for considerably longer than your entire bloodline has been in existence. You would be foolish to believe that your understanding is superior to mine." A short pause. "I have known for a long time that there are many situations where I am incapable of exacting my will on my adversaries. This is one reason why I keep minions."
Suzume had watched everyone move around the room, and she had figured out what Death was doing, so she was one step ahead of him. She raised her staff horizontally above her head in a manner that successfully blocked Gaibon from striking Marcus in the back. She turned to glare at the gargoyle. "Don't."
Marcus turned to the two in surprise. "Hey!"
"If you want to kill Marcus, you have to go through me first. And the pact says you can't."
Behind her, she heard Death's voice grow angry. "The pact also says that we have to work together to destroy the vampires."
Without turning, she responded. "I know. And I'll be helping you until we complete that task. But it does not say that we have to destroy any of them on sight." She quickly moved her staff to keep Gaibon from getting around her. "He is not attacking us and he says he doesn't serve the master. As far as I'm concerned, he's no threat to either of us. We can safely ignore him for now."
Marcus's voice was relieved. "Thank you, Suzume."
"Don't thank me." Another block. "Death's right. You're one of our targets. If you get in our way, I will be forced to kill you myself. I can, and I will. Trust me on that. And you'd better get your condition cured sometime very soon."
"...you wouldn't..."
And then Death said something completely unexpected to her. "I defer to your decision. We withdraw for now." Gaibon, hearing this, stopped attacking immediately and started walking around the two humans to return to his master's side.
"Huh? You agree?" Suzume continued to separate the demon from Marcus with her staff, just in case.
"We are running short on time to argue about this. We must move."
She nodded. "Sounds good to me."
"In the end, his soul is damned. I will claim it soon enough. If not tonight, then when Dracula returns."
As she reached Death's side, she heard Marcus behind her. "He won't. You're not getting Soma. Suzume will stop you."
Without any hesitation, she turned to look at him and glared. "No. I won't."
"What?"
"You heard the pact. I made a promise. I can't just break it."
Marcus was looking somewhat fearful. "You'd let him die? You, Suzume?"
"Think of it as sacrificing his life to save everyone", Death's voice resounded from behind her. "He shall be a hero to millions."
Marcus's expression quickly changed to that of anger. "I don't need to hear that kind of crap from anyone who is willing to enslave people to help him revive Dracula."
"I have a sworn duty. Neither she nor I can simply give up on such things, regardless of your opinion."
"Promises at the expense of the common good are hardly worth keeping!"
"And what good is the common good if a commoner is unable to trust the word of others?"
"That's enough!" Suzume yelled. "There's someone else more deserving of a moral lecture!"
Marcus took a deep breath. "The master is stronger than the others. He's not going to be nearly as simple to defeat."
She looked at him. "But there's no reason why this staff won't work on him, is there?"
"It'll hurt him, at least. But you have to get to him first."
She turned to face her ally again. "I trust the reaper has a plan for that?"
Death nodded. "I rarely act without one."
"There you go. We'll take care of everything." She turned to the gargoyle. "Gaibon, can you get me down from here?"
His response was quick, as if he hadn't almost come to blows with her several minutes earlier. He climbed on the windowsill and hunched over in a manner that would allow Suzume to climb on his back.
Marcus's voice was still worrisome. "Suzume, listen to me! You can't let him get Soma!"
"Silence, demimortal", Death replied. "She knows to whom she is supposed to listen, especially if she wants her soul returned to her."
"Heh." Marcus smiled slightly. "Her soul, you say. Have you forgotten about the whole 'power of dominance' thing? Just so you know, if she winds up dead, odds are someone's getting her soul. And it might not be you."
Suzume, who had climbed onto Gaibon's back by now, turned and stared at him in silence. To her side, Death was contemplative. "The thought has occurred to me."
And without another word, Gaibon took off, and Suzume once again saw the sights of the countryside around the castle. To her side, Death levitated effortlessly at the same velocity.
She shrugged in his direction. "Maybe I should have let him bite me after all."
Death stared at her. "If he had, I would have had an alibi while you died with that staff in your possession."
"...I was joking."
"I was not." His voice was stern. "This is not the time to take ill-conceived risks. You will only regret your actions later."
She looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Since when do you care if I endanger myself?"
"It would coincide with the time when I realized that this may be our final chance at success."
"Things will go bad for you if you fail your lord, huh?"
Below the three, the ramparts drew closer. Suzume could make out the figure of Slogra near the doorway. She turned to look at Death again to find him staring at his scythe. "That would not be my worst failure", he mumbled quietly.
He sounded different, she thought. He certainly wasn't being as pushy as before. If she had to make a guess, she'd say that he had found out that he was not in as much control of the situation as he had thought.