A/N- I'm so happy that everyone is enjoying this. Now, if anyone has checked my profile, you see a list there all in bold. That's the fanfics I plan to work on in the near future. As time goes by, the fics already there will move up in numbers and I'll be adding more at the bottom. I know the list looks like a lot, but it helps me focus. Well, anyway, on with the chapter.

Chapter 3- Practice

To anybody passing by, it might appear to them that the figure on the white horse and the figure on the black were racing each other. However, it was not so. D had long since figured out who the vampire lord was and where he was hiding. He had kicked his horse into a desperate run without warning Lilah. Now, it was all Princess could do to keep up.

"D! Where are we going!" the novice vampire hunter shouted to him.

There was no reply. This didn't shock her. D didn't seem like the shouting type. She kicked at the flanks of her horse, muttered a slight apology to her for pressing her so hard, and Princess sped up. As Lilah began to catch D, she repeated her question.

"Where are we going?"

He glanced at her for a moment and appeared to smirk. Apparently, he didn't think that Princess had had it in her to keep up with the foreboding black steed.

"It's an old castle a ways out from that town," he replied, not glancing at her again. "It used to be…well, I guess you could call it a summer home for the vampires. They would come to this castle and stay for months on end, discuss new advances in technology, uncooperative humans, and such."

"A vampire summer home? That's almost funny. Do we know what to expect there?" Lilah inquired.

He glanced at her for a longer moment this time. He seemed to be shock, though it didn't clearly show on his face. Not much clearly showed on this dhampire's features. Lilah laughed.

"You sounded almost like a professional hunter," D commented lightly.

"I used to spend a lot of time with my grandmother when I was very little."

He nodded, understanding. Then, he pulled back on the reins of his cyborg. Lilah did the same with Princess. Before them now loomed a large, broken down castle. If one looked closely enough, they could see tiny maintenance robots trying in vain to keep up with repairs.

"So, we're expecting…?" Lilah said as she and D dismounted.

It was Left Hand that answered.

"There was a vampire caretaker of this castle long ago when it had been in heavy usage," he said.

"Well, he's not doing his job…" she muttered.

Left Hand chuckled. "His name was Ferni and as far as the vampire hierarchy was concerned, he was at the very bottom. Although he lived in this huge, one-time beautiful castle, he never had any real power or wealth. To sum it up, he was treated on the same level as his fellow vampires treated humans."

"So…why does he have that man's wife?" Lilah asked.

D was walking in front of the castle, examining it for possible traps. As he came to a halt in front of the drawbridge, where Lilah still was, he touched the blue pendant around his neck. The drawbridge fell as she gasped and jumped back out of the way. D raised an eyebrow at her, seeing that it fell a good four feet from where they had been standing. She giggled nervously.

"I've never been good judging distance."

Left Hand laughed. D shook his head.

"I believe that he has the woman and is asking for the ransom in order to attempt to climb up the vampiric social ladder," D explained as he began to walk inside.

Lilah hurried to keep up. Inside, it was cold and damp. A few torches were already lit along the walls. Ahead of them was a large stairway where a figure lay upon the ground.

"This looks familiar," Left Hand muttered.

"Hush," D said, closing the parasite into a fist.

They topped the stairs and saw before them a woman dressed in a simply blue cotton dress with dark brown hair. D pressed a finger to her throat.

"She's still alive and apparently unchanged," he said.

Suddenly, a voice behind them screamed in a high-pitched, panicked tone, "Get away from her!"

D and Lilah turned to see a vampire dressed in ragged robes and unkempt white hair standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Get out! She's mine, mine! Don't touch her!" he screamed again.

"The caretaker?" Lilah asked.

D nodded as he unsheathed his sword.

"I'm taking this woman back to her husband. Stand aside," he called to the vampire.

However, the insane demon did just the opposite. He lunged at the hunters. D leapt to the side, grabbing the woman as he went, and Lilah leapt to the other. The vampire screeched at them. He did not turn to attack D, but attacked Lilah instead. She kicked out at him, but it did not good. He pinned her to the ground. Then, a flash of silver was over them and the vampire screamed in agony. He leapt off Lilah as D landed just above the girl's head. The vampire then smiled a wicked smile. D had left the woman unattended.

Before D or Lilah could attack again, the vampire somersaulted over the woman, lifted her head, and snapped her neck.

End Notes: Okay, not a happy ending to this chapter. Did you like it? Please R & R! Thanks!