D is for ?, a vampire hunter d fanfic

D is for . . .?

Chad 'Graeystone' Harger

xxxxx

D heard the question hundreds of times before and knew he would hear it again a hundred times more. Count Lee, Lady Carmilla and countless others always asked the same question. "Are you the son of the vampire king?"

D never satisfied their curiosity as they died. They did not deserve the truth about him. Not after what the vampires did by their betrayal and remaining behind on Earth as humanity picked up the pieces after the nuclear dust settled after the war.

Tonight is no different for D. His target is Count Glackson also known among the Nobility as The Eviscerater. He has the reputation of eviscerating people from the groin to the neck. After fighting off the Barbaroi hirelings D faced Glackson in his throne room.

Glackson looked like a pitiful old man. His head having few strands of hair and his ragged clothes were that of a beggar, not a member of the Nobility. Skeletal thin and bent over Glackson's asthmatic cough echoed throughout his chambers. "So you have come to face the vampire? Glackson captured me. I am a scientist and he wants my knowledge. I managed to escape my cell," coughed Glackson.

"You should be an actor with that performance," said D. "You can fool others with the helpless old man routine but not me."

"Ah, it's you," said Glackson with amusement. Glackson stood straight and proud like all nobility do. The old age lines vanished from his face. Skin loosened and tightened as lithe muscle bulged. His white hair grew back. His clothes changed into the black body armor that most Nobility wear to protect them. "D the hunter," said Glackson in a deep voice that commands authority. "I know all about you Vampire Hunter D." A wry smile appeared on his face. "Or should I call you Prince D?"

D drew his sword. "Call me what you will. You will be dead before it matters," said D.

D lunged at Glackson. Glackson did not attack. He pulled out a necklace he wore around his neck. A dark rainbow of negative colors lit up the area. D's body locked up in midair. He crashed into the floor unable to move. Even Left Hand was immobilized.

"You are indeed the Vampire King's son," said Glackson. He held the necklace in front of D's face. "When I first heard your name and what you do I knew you would come for me some day. I did a lot of research trying to discover a way to bring you down. I discovered a lot about you dhampir including your heritage. Back in the day your father was quite afraid of his offspring wasn't he? Count Lee once told me Dracula had the habit of killing off his children." Glackson picked up D's sword and examined it closely. He could feel the weapon's power emanating from the blade. "For some reason that butchering hand was never used on you. Perhaps it had to do with Lord Dracula's human lover, eh? Whatever the case he let you live but I'll bet you didn't know he was afraid of you and so he made this. Not that he got the chance to use it on you."

Glackson raised D's sword. "Perhaps you feel its your duty to avenge your father or that you don't think the rest of us are worthy of being Nobility. Whatever the reason your genocidal behavior toward the vampires ends now!" Glackson brought the sword down hard and fast. The sword went through D's heart and into the floor. The hilt of the sword pinned D to the floor. D opened his mouth and screamed as power left him and blood flew out around the edges of his wound. Glackson never heard such a sound or witnessed such a death. No dhampir he killed ever died like this. This is Dracula's son so his death might be different. Glackson wished he had an ancient recording device to preserve the moment.

Glackson stared at the corpse for a long time. He slowly realized that he won. "I did it," he said. He started to laugh. "The great scourge of the vampires dead at my feet. I will be a legend. Nobility will raise toasts to me until the end of time." Glackson took the necklace and placed it around D's neck.

Glackson walked away laughing and feeling joy for the first time in centuries. His mood is so good he decided to share his happiness with his favorite concubines. Glackson walked to the door that leads to his bedroom.

He went open it when he heard metal shatter. The negative colors faded away. A tremor rocked the throne room. Glackson's joy turned to fear. He turned around and saw giant cracks in the floor that started from where D lay dead. D's sword rose out of the body. D's opened his eyes and mouth. He screamed such a piercing sound the most of the windows shattered. D rose up using his vampire power. His face no longer the beautiful young man, now the vampire is ascendant. His face monstrous, his eyes burning redder than fire. His nose extended and his skin tightened against bone. It is in these brief moments that D's true age and heritage is shown. His sword hovered by his side and pointing at Glackson.

Glackson tried to open the door. D's power kept the door shut. "M-my prince we don't have to fight anymore. I-I'm sorry," he whimpered.

D pointed at Glackson and used his power to launch his sword at him. The sword moved so fast and powerful a sonic boom shook the walls. The sword struck Glackson in the chest knocking him through the door and a wall. It happened so fast Glackson did not know he was hit until he felt incredible pain from the sword pinning him to a wall.

The sword missed his heart and Glackson wish it had not. D slowly walked toward him. From this distance he could feel D's incredible power. Glackson could see D slowly approach him, his powers in full bloom. As D approached Glackson wondered went wrong. He knew the necklace worked on D. He also knew he struck D right in the heart. Not even Dracula was immune to the piercing of the heart.

Glackson's quick mind realized two important things. The first is this dhampir is not the offspring of Dracula because the necklace did not work. The second is the story behind Dracula's curse. How as a man Dracula rejected and cursed God. As punishment God made Dracula eternal in the worst possible way as punishment for his sin.

Glackson reasoned it was the only possible explanation. D is getting close to him now and Glackson's horror became overwhelming. "You are not the son of Dracula," Glackson rasped. "You are the Vampire King! Yet are you not bound by the curse where you were driven from the light of the sun and forced to live in the shadows? How is this possible?"

D returned to normal. D pulled his sword out of Glackson. He needed the blade to cut off Glackson's head. First he had something to say to Glackson before he did. "Near the fall of the empire the Vampire King discovered a truth about the curse. There was a king who ruled over a land once known as Babylon. He to offended God with great pride and as punishment God took everything away from the king. The king was reduced to living off the land like an animal. He realized his punishment was to teach him humility and asked God for forgiveness. God forgave the king and gave him back everything."

"Then that would mean," said Glackson with great horror.

"The Vampire King knew that if he repented and asked God for forgiveness the curse would be lifted," said D. He raised his sword for the killing strike. "Yet the Nobility preferred the so called benefits of the curse over God's forgiveness and here we are today because of the betrayal."

"So part of your curse is lifted. To walk in the sun once again yet still retain the power and strength of a vampire. Is this your vengeance Vampire King? To drive the vampires to extinction because of their betrayal?" asked Glackson.

"I do this out of necessity," said D.

The last thing Glackson saw is D's blade reflect sunlight as it came down to cut his head off. Glackson's last thought was that D did not confirm or deny the truth of who he is.

D left the castle and journeyed back to the town that hired him. It was quiet until Left Hand spoke up. "What was that all about?" the parasite demanded. D ignored the hand as he always did. "I know that necklace should have laid you out. You were stabbed in the heart for crying out loud! I know you never like to talk about your past but Glackson did bring up an important point. There is only way you could have survived what happened. Are you actually Dracula? Was it your son that died and did you take his identity to start this private little war of yours?" D did not answer as if he would. "So that's the way you want to play this. Ok, fine, I'll just keep on talking on an on until you can't bear it anymore."

"Are you sure you want the truth? You might not like it," said D.

"What's the worse that can happen?" sneered the parasite.

D gripped the reigns with his left hand as hard as he could without snapping them. The parasite's muffled sounds of pain vibrated up D's left arm. "Here is the truth. I am the boss of you. You had best not forget that," said D. The vampire hunter rode on leaving the questions behind him as always, unanswered and best forgotten.

The End

Afterwards: Its interesting that D's past is based on other people's assumptions. As far as I can recall D never admitted it in the movies. While he does show great knowledge of the Vampire King, he never outright said he was his son. I don't know about the books though. We finally got them in our area so I'll be getting those soon. The hardest part of this story was dealing with Left Hand. In Bloodlust he did say D is the son of the vampire king. I decided to throw in doubts Left Hand would have if he discovered D is not what the parasite believed him to be.

Vampire Hunter D and related characters are copyright Hideyuki Kikuchi