Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I own only the crazy idea for this story. Vampire Hunter D belongs to Hideyuki Kikuchi, Doctor Who belongs to the Beeb.

A/N: Initially I intended to follow the first film but I just read the novel and decided to change a few things, so that the story's based predominantly on the book now, apart from Left Hand, who is mostly based on the way they portrayed him in Bloodlust. Whether you like or hate my story, please let me know. Constructive comments are much appreciated.

It hurt. More than he had expected. Most of all it hurt that he couldn't say goodbye, couldn't hold her in his arms one last time.

Doris Lang was dead. D knelt at the simple stone that marked her grave and rested his forehead against its cold surface. How long he stood like that, he didn't know but for once the symbiote in his hand didn't utter a single word until he was on his horse again, riding away.

'I'm sorry, D. I know you cared a lot about her.'

D didn't reply.

'For once you could admit your feelings, at least to yourself.... Oh, why am I wasting my breath, you never listen to me anyway.'

D just let a deep sigh. The symbiote fell silent, as he knew for D that was as close to a confession as he'd ever get.

*****

It hurt. More than he had expected. Most of all it hurt that he couldn't say goodbye, couldn't hold her in his arms one last time.

He had lost Rose. His brave, beautiful, brilliant Rose. The Doctor stood in the console room, the lone tear tracing a wet path down his cheek. He had said goodbye, and yet he hadn't. He hadn't said the most important thing, the one thing he had burned the supernova for. It felt as if it had been all in vain. The Time Lord, cheated by time, what an irony.

He stood like that for a long time, letting the Tardis float through the vortex. Then he shook himself out of the trance and started pushing various buttons on the console. He would stay away from Earth for a while. For a good while. Let's go somewhere he'd never been before.

*****

As D rode through the field, he heard a strange, grating noise which seemed to grow louder and louder. In the next moment a big blue box appeared to his left, gradually fading into view. The hunter stopped his horse and watched silently as a man opened the door and stepped outside, squinting lightly in the afternoon sun.

'Oh, hello there. Um... can you tell me where I am? Oh, and when.'

The dhampir spurred his horse and slowly rode off. The man ran after him.

'Hey, wherever we are, surely that would be considered very bad manners! I asked a very simple question, and I get treated as if I had asked you the radius of the Medusa Cascade! Or would that be perimeter? Yes, the perimeter of the Medusa Cascade!'

D stopped his horse and looked at the man, no emotion betrayed in his gaze.

'Blimey, you're not much of a talker, are you?'

'I only speak when there's something important that needs saying,' the man said in a deep, melodic voice.

'Oh, thanks. I take it my question was insignificant?' The Doctor had begun to get a little bit annoyed but also very intrigued by this silent man. He strode to D and peered up at his face. And gasped. For a fraction of the second the Time Lord felt intimidated and mesmerised by the sheer, cold beauty of the face above him. Black locks waved around pale, luminous face and violet eyes, framed by long lashes, looked dispassionately at him.

'Who are you?'

The hunter was surprised to see eyes so impossibly old and full of sorrow on someone so young. He found himself answering:

'My name is D. I am a vampire hunter.'

After a moment the Doctor gained composure.

'Lovely to meet you, D. I'm the Doctor. But come on, vampires don't exist, surely you know that?'

D looked down on him impassively.

'All right, I won't argue. If you can just tell me where and when I am, you can be on your way.'

'You are near the Frontier's west border. The year is 12,100.'

'Oh… And that would be… which planet?'

'Earth.' D didn't show any surprise at the strange question but merely looked impatient to go on. His horse, sharing the same feelings, pawed the ground beneath.

The Doctor seemed to grow suddenly weary.

'Of all the time and space there is, I can never escape that planet, can I?' he muttered quietly to himself. D had no problem hearing it, however, and a thought half-formed in his mind. He stored it away for late deliberation and, making a decision rather unusual for him, said:

'I am set for Castle Stellaréa. I have been hired to return to her parents a girl kidnapped by the vampire who owns the castle. You can join me and see for yourself whether vampires don't exist.'

'Erm... yeah, that sounds good. Thing is, am I supposed to follow you on feet?'

Before he could say anything else, the Doctor felt two strong arms lift him up and put him on the saddle, in front of D.

'Right, um, thanks. Is that a robot horse, by the way?'

'Cybernetic.'

'I see. Do you travel on your own?'

'Yes.'

'Yeah, me too... That's the best way... No complications.' The last part of the sentence was said so quietly even D could barely hear it.

The dhampir was surprised again by the hidden bitterness and pain he detected in the stranger's voice.

'You lost someone.' It wasn't really a question, more of a statement.

The Doctor was silent for a few moments. When he spoke, his voice was quiet.

'Yes. I had this companion... Rose, her name was Rose... She was brilliant... and I lost her.'

'What happened?'

'We were fighting these... creatures - Daleks and Cybermen. I had to send them in the void... the space between universes. Rose fell too... her father saved her... well, her father from a parallel universe, that is... She's fine now, she's with her family but... I will never see her again. I can't. The worlds are sealed off again.' The Doctor fell silent, surprised by his own actions. He had just told a complete stranger about Rose, the most precious thing he had left in the universe.

'I see.' For the first time since he had met the Doctor, there was something like an emotion in the hunter's voice. Something like compassion.

The Time Lord was surprised to hear it. But as soon as it appeared, it was gone and D's next question was said in his usual detached tone:

'Why did you come here?'

'Who, me? Oh, just passing by, really, didn't even mean to come back to Earth. But here I am, and on my way to meet vampires. Brilliant!' He grinned brightly at D. 'I still say vampires don't exist though, I mean, haemophilia is a real enough illness but turning into bats and supernatural strength? Nah, that's just people's imagination running wild. Don't you agree?'

'I kill vampires. All the rumours about them are real.'

The Doctor looked at D. Something in his features niggled at him, until he arched his eyebrow.

'Are you a vampire?'

'My father was a vampire. I'm a dhampir - half-vampire, half-human.'

'I see,' mused the Doctor. 'It's getting interesting.'

They travelled in silence till they got to a small village.

'Now, that's positively quaint!' the Doctor exclaimed. And indeed, the village looked like it was taken from an old Western film. The people they met on the way in were dressed in 1800s style. They didn't seem too keen on walking anywhere near the vampire hunter and his companion, the Doctor noticed, but moved as far away as possible from them.

'You've certainly got their respect,' he noted.

'I'm a dhampir. They trust me as little as they'd trust any vampire,' D stated dispassionately.

'Doesn't that bother you?'

'I'm a hunter,' the dhampir said as if that explained everything. The Doctor gave him a long look, trying to see behind the distant expression. Whatever he saw satisfied his curiosity for the moment, as he went back to observing the village.

When they reached the village inn, D got off the horse, helped the Doctor down and tied the animal to a post.

'What's next then?' the Doctor was back to his usual self, looking as eager as a puppy.

'We stay here for the night and set off for the castle early in the morning.'

'Oh, all right, we can meet the locals then,' the Doctor grinned. The dhampir lifted slightly his delicately shaped eyebrow but didn't say anything.

The Doctor's enthusiasm was just a little dampened by the fact that the inn only had one free room, which meant he'd have to share it with his new travel partner.