World of Darkness - Vampire by Blood on the Sun # Brian Herbert

Author:Blood on the Sun # Brian Herbert
Format: epub
Published: 2013-05-29T16:00:00+00:00

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21

Twilight had almost descended, and the remaining daylight was fading into night, blurring the contours of the landscape.

A brownish-gray bird perched in a flowering cherry tree and watched a tall woman approaching on a long cobbled path that ran through maple, pine, and flowering plum trees. The woman kept her head bowed slightly against a misty spring rain. She wore a loose black kimono over another garment of pale blue and white silk, and her glossy black hair was arranged in traditional Japanese fashion. Her face was porcelain white, her eyes outlined with kohl, her mouth painted bright red. This was a geisha, a hired entertainer.

Ahead of her was a lattice gate and gatehouse, and beyond that the lights of a sprawling house. The woman hurried forward.

A harsh cry issued from the bird, and the woman looked up into the branches of the cherry tree. A pair of red eyes in the tree! She froze.

Branches and leaves swayed, and out of the foliage flew a creature with blazing eyes. Desidra alighted in front of the woman, between her and the house. Shape-shifting, Desidra took on the exact appearance of the woman, but entirely naked. In one hand Desidra clutched a small brass box.

Shock and fear covered the geisha's face. Her eyes were open wide and her lips parted.

"I'll have your garments now," the vampire said in perfect japanese. "And your wooden clogs."

"Fuji-san demon!" the woman screamed. She turned to flee, but Desidra was too fast and blocked the path.

"I won't harm you unless you resist," Desidra said calmly. She repeated her demand for the clothing, and this time extended a handful of gold coins.

The woman's eyes lit up. Her fear, still evident in her trembling body, diminished slightly.

"Think about what you can do with all this money," said Desidra. "You can go anywhere you want, never take orders from anyone again. But you must promise me to disappear, or I shall come for you. Do you understand?"

The woman nodded, and after taking the coins disrobed behind thick shrubbery.

Desidra slipped into shadows and waited.

"May I keep my outer garment?" asked the geisha. "I'll draw attention if I do not cover myself."

"Keep it," said her image.

After the exchange the geisha, wearing her dark outer kimono, hurried barefooted, back down the road.

Her look-alike slipped into the clothing and approached the gate of the Toyokuni estate.

A muscular man stepped from the gatehouse. The sword hanging from a scabbard at his side and his carefully wrapped white garment suggested that he was a descendant of the samurai. Desidra confirmed this by reading his blunt, uncompromising mind. As far as he was concerned she wasn't going anyplace without providing a complete explanation of who she was and why she was there. By nature and training he suspected everyone.

"State your business," he said, holding one hand on the hilt of his sword.

Paranoid, Desidra thought. As he's supposed to be. Who would want a guard dog that licks the bandit's hand?

"I am Akiko, the geisha sent

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