Unforeseen Challenges

SUMMARY

D is raped whilst in one of the villages he often passes by after completing a job. He stumbles away from the experience and ends up with more then he bargained for when the seeds of this cruel deed begin to blossom inside of him and take form into something D never dreamed he could ever have.

Warning; m-preg, don't like then don't read.

STORY

D stumbled from the alleyway, shakily.

Never in his immortal life had he ever been so scared or defenceless as he had been a few seconds ago. Never before had he ever been so vulnerable. Never before had someone invaded his person to that degree. No one had ever before dared. Especially not a vampire.

No one had ever even dared to rape him before.

D shook as he mounted his horse and spurred it from the village, tears of fear and humiliation streaking down his pale face as he went. People scattered from his black horse and D disappeared from the town, never to be seen again.

About a week later found D puking once more in a bout of nausea that had struck him early in the morning every day for the past four days.

"You should see someone about this D." said Left Hand. "It started happening three days after that incident last week, what if that vampire did something to you that you were not aware of?"

"Where, prey tell, would I go?" D asked bitterly as he wiped his mouth to get rid of the bile. "Vampires and humans alike hate me. I will not risk either performing any medical care upon me when they could easily end my life in one fell swoop."

"You have to do something D." Left Hand insisted. "You can't carry on like this. You keep having fits of nausea that disappear by midday and they always come afresh in the morning. You should try and find a small abandoned place where you can find food and wait out the sickness."

"I know." D groaned and placed his right hand over his stomach as it rolled aggressively in a threatening attempt to spill whatever was left in it onto the ground.

A week later and D found a small cottage that was in fairly good condition that he could use and that there were several loose and clean items of clothing in one of the chests of draws, obviously abandoned. He was still suffering from the sickness and was, strangely enough, gaining weight. Left Hand had commented on his ravenous eating habits that had recently surfaced and D had confessed that there were times when he felt like he was eating for two. They had both drawn it up to the sickness and left it at that. D had fixed the place up as well as he could. It was now suitable for living in and, although it was by no means classy, it was comfortable for a vampire hunter that had spent most of his life on the road.

Over the next two months, D gained a lot of weight, though it all seemed to travel straight to his stomach, which confused D to no end, because he was by no means idle. He did housework all day in an attempt to busy himself.

One day D was cutting vegetables when he felt an odd fluttering feeling in his lower abdomen. He dropped the knife he was holding in his right hand and pressed the hand lightly to his stomach. He felt it again… and again.

"What is it D?" asked Left Hand, getting worried.

"I felt something." said D breathlessly. "In my lower abdomen."

"Let me take a look." Left Hand insisted. "Sit down, lift up your shirt and let me take a look." D did as instructed and allowed Left Hand to inspect the pale skin around his stomach. He had that fluttering feeling again and Left Hand asked him to pause.

Left Hand finally requested to be allowed his space to breath and D held him so that he was looking right at him.

"What is it?" asked D, sounding… frightened. D had been doing that a lot recently, his emotions had been on an absolute helter skelter.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say there was a baby in there, D." said Left Hand. D froze and went very quiet. "D?"

"My grandfather had the ability to carry a child and give birth." said D, quietly. "These things can skip generations, but they are not unheard of. I… I could really be pregnant."

"What are you talking about D?" asked Left Hand.

"You remember how I told you, long ago, that my grandfather actually carried my father to term and gave birth to him?" asked D.

"Yes." replied Left Hand.

"Well this ability often skips a generation, thus allowing future generations of either sex to carry and give birth to children." D explained. "That man used no contraception when he r… raped me. I could very well be pregnant and this…" he gestured to his stomach. "…is all the proof I need."

"But D…"

"I can scarcely believe it." D whispered. "I could very well be a father in a few months time." he placed a hand over his stomach where the fluttering feeling was still continuing and smiled, a true, joyful smile. Left Hand smiled too, glad that his host was happy.

"You will grow big, D." Left Hand told him.

"I know." replied D.

"You will receive no help during the pregnancy, or the birth." Left Hand continued.

"I know.

"You will have no help in taking care of the child."

"I know." D said. "I have enough money to last me several hundred years, there shall be no problems. Whether my child, or children be boys or girls they'll be safe with me."

"I knew that there was a big old softie somewhere beneath that cold, uncaring exterior." Left Hand commented.

D chose to ignore him as he went back to preparing his meal, still smiling as he thought of his future with his unborn child.

D had grown.

Two months later and there was no denying it. D was definitely pregnant. D's stomach had enlarged by quite a bit and the dhampir looked healthier in general.

D sat in front of the fire in the living room, one hand resting on his enlarged stomach whilst Left hand chatted away to the unusually perky being.

"I must say that this pregnancy has made you lighten up quite a lot." commented Left Hand. "I'm glad of it too. You will actually talk to me nowadays. Just think, in four short months you'll be a father. I have the distinct impression that you're carrying triplets."

"Why?" asked D.

"You look like you should be much further along then you actually are." Left hand continued. "I'd say that this is either a very big baby or you have got more then one on the way. Either way, I'm sure that you will be happy." D smiled. Left Hand didn't know just how happy.

At seven months, D looked fit to burst. There was no denying it. He was either carrying very large twins or average sized triplets and had had to start wearing the loose clothing in the chest of draws at the side of his room. The dhampir was getting more broody every day as his instincts took over just before he went to bed a few times, which caused him to actually create a birthing area in his room, which he knew was something that female vampires did a couple of months before they were to give birth.

He also knew that as he entered his final month, D's instincts would really start to kick in and he'd start to sleep on the birthing area, should his waters brake overnight. It was strange how he was beginning to feel female instincts, which included warding off danger from his unborn children and even singing softly to his stomach at night, whilst caressing it lightly with his right hand as his children kicked against the wall of his womb.

Left Hand said surprisingly little about this, D had a feeling that the parasite found it endearing, how D already had a strong sense of protectiveness over his children and he hadn't even given birth yet. It was quite sweet really, the hardened vampire hunter was giving into emotions and instincts that were normally only felt by a female vampire.

One night, D was sleeping peacefully when a jolt awoke him, causing him to panic. He relaxed when he realised that it was just the kids and settled down once more.

Then he heard a soft creaking downstairs, like footsteps on floorboards.

"There's someone in the house, D!" Left Hand told him.

D got out of bed and grabbed his sword.

He crept down the stairs and saw light from the kitchen. He looked around the corner and almost dropped his sword in surprise. He had come.

D looked round at the vampire who'd raped him seven months before. He knew what he had to do, he only prayed that he didn't die and take his children down with him.

"I know you're there D." commented the smooth voice of the brunette.

D stepped from the shadows and the vampire turned to him.

"My, my." he said. "You have grown." he looked at D's midsection and D immediately went into a defensive stance.

"You cannot defend yourself against me." the vampire purred. "I am a fully grown vampire and you are a seven months pregnant dhampir. I shall not stay long, because I have important business to attend to, but I shall tell you this. When you finally give birth to the children, I shall come and take them away and shall tell all of how I got the great Vampire Hunter D pregnant and produced heirs from him before taking the children away from him."

"No!" D sounded terrified, his right hand shielding his stomach from the vampire. "I won't let you!"

"You will be in no place to do anything." replied the vampire. "You will not have an easy labour. It will be long, painful and drawn out. It will leave you very weak and defenceless, D. there will be nothing that you can do."

With that, the vampire fled the cottage, leaving a terrified D behind.

D fell to his knees, weeping.

"Snap out of it D!" Left Hand told him sternly.

"He's… he's right!" sobbed D. "He will come and take my children and there will be not a thing I can do about it."

"Don't talk rubbish…"

"I will be too weak to help my children and by the time I get to them it will be too late!" D continued to sob uncontrollably as he cradled his stomach.

"D, you are not a vampire hunter for nothing!" snapped Left Hand. "All I can suggest is that you place several warding devices around the room. You have vampire magic in you D, and if you use your developing instincts to guide you then you'll be able to keep him out long enough for you to regain your strength and take him down before he can even blink." D calmed himself and wiped his eyes.

"You're right." said D. "Thank you."

"What am I here for?" asked Left Hand.

"Nine times out of ten, to make a nuisance of yourself." replied D.

"True." replied Left Hand. "Don't worry D, if you let your instincts take over a little more then you'll be able to protect yourself and the children from that vampire."

"Okay."

D had done as Left Hand had said and left his instincts take over a little more. As he entered his eighth month the room he was going to give birth in had several wards in it. He was still worried though, and often had to seek comfort from Left Hand in order to keep going.

D had never appreciated Left Hand nearly as much as he did now. The parasite had been his rock through the entire pregnancy and was still helping him stand tall.

D stood in the kitchen and cut vegetables whilst a small amount of the outside darkness could be seen through the crack in the curtains.

"Oh!" D dropped the knife again and put his right hand to his stomach, which had grown even more.

"What's wrong?" asked Left Hand, sounding agitated. "Are you getting contractions early?"

"No." replied D. "The children are restless, they kick rather hard." he felt the babies shift around a bit and patted his stomach gently to quieten them.

"Let me talk to them." said Left Hand, D smiled slightly at the unusual request and placed his left hand near his stomach and heard the parasite talking to them.

"Come now kids, daddy's very tired at the minuet, what with carrying you around all the time. Cut him a little slack will you? I know daddy likes to be able to feel you moving inside of him, but lets not keep him awake at night when he should be resting."

D smiled as Left Hand talked to the bulge his belly had become. D must admit that he did the same thing sometimes. He couldn't help it. He wanted so much to be able to hold them that he couldn't wait for the birth, but at the same time, he was dreading it. He knew that that vampire would be back and would stop at nothing to take his children from him. But he was impressed with what his instincts had managed to dream up, it seemed that the pregnancy instincts of a female vampire were very strong as he'd managed to create wards that would hold for at least a day under a brute force attack, which would give D time to get up and about again and protect his children from threat. He also found himself rather glad of the three cots in the corner of the room, after all, his children would need somewhere to sleep.

At nine months D was having trouble sleeping at night. Left hand told him that it was part of his body's way of telling him that it was preparing to go into labour to add to the fact his instincts had already caused him to move over to the birthing area.

D tugged the curtains shut around the house and had just finished when he suddenly doubled over as far as he could, in pain.

"What is it D?!" Left Hand sounded worried.

"I… I'm getting contractions." gasped D, panicking.

"Calm down D." Left Hand told him. "Let your instincts take over or you will start to push too soon and the children will break their necks."

D did as he was told and his instincts immediately told him to head upstairs to his room to give birth. He went up the stairs and into his room. He walked over to the corner as well as he could after locking the door and setting the enchantments. There was a small bed of spare cloth which was comfortable enough to give birth on.

He set himself down and prepared himself to give birth as the before birth discharge pooled around his birth canal.

D screamed as liquid fire shot through his very being, he could barely hear Left Hand's encouragements as he let his instincts tell him what to do.

The room was enveloped in a dim, but ethereal green light and D's eyes glowed a spectacular red and his instincts took over completely. He screamed as contractions tore through is body and took great gulps of air in between.

Finally, the first child was born and D used the temporary reprieve of contractions to clamp and cut the umbilical chord and clean the birth fluid from the child's nose and mouth and cover the child in a blanket, before the contractions started up again.

This went on well into the night until finally, all that could be heard was the cries of three newborn infants and the panting of an exhausted male dhampir, who was effectively still female as his instincts got him to feed his children and wrap them securely in blankets, before pulling them close to himself and curling around them like a vixen.

D fell asleep almost instantly.

The next night, D woke up to the cries of his infant children. He quickly fed them before cleaning himself up and donning some of the less loose clothes in the draw, because, although he had given birth, his stomach was still a bit swollen from the pregnancy.

D smiled. He had two handsome sons and a beautiful daughter. The daughter was, by far, the quietest, whilst his first son was the noisiest.

D hovered over the cots and smiled down at his children. They were all just like him. Silver grey eyes and titanium white skin.

"Hello Amanda." he whispered to his daughter, stroking a pale finger across the girls cheek.

"Hello Alexander." he spoke to his second son, doing the same to him as to Amanda.

"Hello Romulus." he then spoke to his first son, once again doing the same to him as he had to Amanda.

Then there was a loud bang as the door shook with the impact of some spell.

D spun around as the door swung open, vampire instincts taking over.

There he stood. The vampire who'd started this all.

"Hello D." said the vampire. "I've come for the children."

"You shall not take them!" D snarled at the vampire, his eyes already glowing scarlet.

"How do expect to stop me?" asked the vampire. D's eyes narrowed and then glowed even brighter as red energy formed in his hands. He threw the energy at the vampire, who was so shocked that he forgot to dodge and stood stock still as the energy hit him squarely in the chest.

"Get out!" D yelled at him. "If you ever come back, I'll kill you!"

The vampire looked slightly afraid as he rose from the floor.

"This isn't over D!" he shouted at the half vampire, before fleeing from the house.

D immediately went over to the cots and scooped the children from them to hold them close to his heart.

"I promise…" he whispered to his children. "I will never let anything harm any of you, my children."

THE END

I do not own Vampire Hunter D. I make no profit from this piece.