Fiends of the Rising Sun by David Bishop Page B

keep feeding?" Constanta pointed at the prisoners waiting below. "There's your next meal. Feed on them."
    "Cattle," Hitori spat. "None will taste as sweet as you."
    Constanta folded his arms and glared at what he had created. "Be that as it may, you took more than enough to assure your future as one of my kinsmen. But I still control you, Zenji Hitori; you will be ever in my thrall."
    "We'll see about that," the Japanese soldier snarled and hurled himself at the Rumanian. Constanta smashed him aside, as if swatting away a gnat.
    "Do not try my patience," the vampyr lord warned. "Yes, I have made you powerful, more powerful even than my faithful Gorgo, but I still have your measure, Hitori. I can resurrect myself from the smallest speck of dusk. You remain vulnerable, you can still be killed. You are immortal, but only up to a point. Do not make the mistake of believing yourself unbeatable."
    "How?" Hitori demanded. "How can I be killed?"
    "I will tell you as dawn approaches tomorrow morning. For now, you should go and feed. Discover your abilities, what you can do, the powers that you have. Return here before the next sunrise and I shall complete your education." Still scowling, Hitori moved to the door that led inside. "You need not go that way anymore," Constanta said. "You are a vampyr. Fly and be free!"
    "I can fly?"
    The Rumanian grinned. "There is little you can no longer do, kinsman."
    "But how?"
    "Leap from this terrace and your new instincts will do the rest."
    Hitori stared at his benefactor, as if trying to see into his thoughts. "How do I know I can trust you?"
    "Would I let you drink my blood and then suggest jumping to your death?" Constanta gestured at the vast cityscape splayed out before them. "This is all yours now, take it! Enjoy your new freedom, your new abilities. Embrace them. Become one with the night."
    Hitori looked down at his hands, studying them as if they were newly grown. He opened his mouth and ran a finger across his fangs, freshly emerged from within his upper jaw. He grinned, a grin that turned to laughter. "So be it," the Japanese vampyr said, before throwing himself off the terrace.
     
     
    FROM: Lieutenant Hitori, Manchuria
    DATE: September, 1941
     
    My dearest Aiko,
    By the time you get this letter, I imagine you will have already had the baby. Is it a boy or a girl, I wonder? If our child is a girl, I hope she has your beauty and your serenity, your patience and your compassion. If our child is a boy, I hope he has your courage and your faith in human nature, your openness and your smile. I wish I could have been with you at the birth, but know that your parents and mine will have done all they can to help you.
    As always, there is little I can tell you about our situation here, in case this letter should fall into the wrong hands. I can't wait until the day we are reunited, so that I can tell you in person how much I love you and our child, how much both of you mean to me. Be assured that your devoted, loving husband is fighting bravely and as well as he can for the empire. Our enemies are many and our resources finite, but the men show great courage and I am proud to lead them into battle.
    Outside the sun is setting and I can smell jasmine on the breeze. It makes me long for our little home, to be drinking green tea with you and sharing the story of our day, to be sharing our love for each other, as husband and wife. I would give anything in the world for this war not to have taken me away from you, but such wishes are beyond my power to grant, sadly. I must put such fancies from my mind and concentrate instead on the happy day when we are all reunited. Know that my thoughts and feelings will be with you, always.
    Your loving husband,
    Zenji.

FOUR
     
    Sergeant Emery Lee Hicks had never seen such a pathetic, useless, despicable and craven collection of marines in his life and he wasn't afraid to say so. More than a dozen men from B Company had been arrested for fighting at Tokyo