There was an old saying some spineless people would say… something like, "I'm a lover, not a fighter." And then proceed to summon some sort of inhuman bodyguard to do their dirty work for them. One could say Falien was such a person, to send Terra after her at night instead of coming himself. Truly, was he afraid of her? But considering Sinnae-Marie was doing more running than she was fighting, she could probably spat out the same line.

Sinnae-Marie ducked behind a couch just as Terra launched herself, disguised as D, in the female dhampire's direction. The golden and silver-haired beauty scrambled out of the way of another tackle, looking around for something to take the mutant down.

Terra was once a human, but she crossed Glaerian in some severe fashion. He had her captured, tried, and sent to Falien as a present. Instead of feasting on her, Falien decided to put her through several horrific operations that twisted the very make up of her body. Her body could regenerate itself so long as it was still connected—as in, when Sinnae-Marie blew off her head; the strip of skin that kept it connected was enough to let Terra regenerate the nerves, tendons, muscles, everything to reattach the head.

The dhampire tore out four strands of her hair, gripping them in her fist as they hardened into the metallic needles. Just as Terra charged at her, Sinnae-Marie let her instincts take over—rapidly she threw the needles faster than the eye could see. Terra jerked to a stop as one pierced her forehead, her heart, her right lung and her stomach. The mutant cackled wildly.

"You're a slow learner, aren't you?" Terra grabbed the carpet Sinnae-Marie stood on and swept it out from under her. Sinnae-Marie gave out a cry as she lost her balance, and next thing she knew, Terra had her pinned to the ground, a dagger stabbed into her left forearm between her bones to keep her in place.

Terra twisted D's beautiful face into a horrific smile, incomplete fangs in her mouth. "I always thought you lovely, Sinnae-Marie." Terra lowered her face to the dhampire's neck. "But I knew you didn't swing this way… but with D's form and his awesome equipment, it shouldn't prove too horrible for you, should it?" Terra ripped the dagger down, blood gushing onto the floor.

Sinnae-Marie lifted her knee right into Terra's crotch, and the mutant's eyes bulged. She may not normally be a man, but when she morphed her body into one, Terra had all the weaknesses the body had. With a pained roar Terra rolled to the side and Sinnae-Marie reached behind the desk nearby with her right hand, grabbing the computer wire and snapping it in half. Sparks flew, and as Terra regained her composure and charged at her, Sinnae-Marie held the wire up and plunged it right into the silver needle sticking out of the mutant's heart.

Terra shrieked in a horrid mix of her and D's voice as the silver conducted the electricity to each needle still in her flesh, intensifying the shock. Her skin blackened, charred, and her eyes dried up and exploded into spurts of blood. When Sinnae-Marie finally ripped the wire away, the husk was smoking and horribly mutilated, for the silver had melted and mixed into the melting flesh and only further carried the charge. Sinnae-Marie breathed several deep breaths, then grabbed the dagger pinning her left arm and jerked it out with a pained cry.

She dropped the dagger and laid where she was, Terra's blackened body standing watch like a poorly sculpted gargoyle.

As D rode through the village, it was early morning, almost sunset. A few curious villagers, wondering what their dogs whined about, looked at him in surprise. For they had seen him ride through earlier… hadn't they?

When the Hunter approached the manor, the scent of blood hit his nose that made him freeze. It had the sweet smell of a virgin's pure blood, but at the same time, the pungent spicy aroma of vampire blood. It had to be Sinnae-Marie's. D came up to the manor's doors in a hurry, and when the computer refused him, he tapped the console once—the doors opened and he pushed in quickly. He saw three rooms in complete disarray, and in the star room he saw scorch marks and a dried pool of blood. He followed the linger trail to the back hallway, leading to the second floor's bedrooms. As he approached Sinnae-Marie's bedroom, he heard the rip of cloth and the hiss of annoyance that was in the female dhampire's voice. D visibly calmed and stepped into the room unannounced.

Sinnae-Marie glanced up, her left arm held up in front of her face. One hand held the gauze and end of the bandage against the wound, the other end of the bandage in her mouth as she tried to pull it taunt. No words were spoken as D made his way to her, expressionless and cool, and gently laid his hands over hers and took the bandage from her mouth. Sinnae-Marie watched him wordlessly as he wrapped her still bleeding arm without her asking for help, and he spoke nothing as he worked. When the bandage was rolled on and secured, D let her go, and she looked up at him from her seat on her bed.

Again neither spoke, but it wasn't a tense silence. Something akin to understanding somehow passed between them via their eyes, and Sinnae-Marie sighed as she glanced away. She stood up, wanting to get some coffee for herself and her Hunter guest, and D took hold of her elbow as she wavered.

"Sit down," he said. There was no sense of an order in his tone, yet the way he said it invited no argument.

In truth, Sinnae-Marie was too tired to rebel, and she sat back down. As if he read her mind, D left the bedroom in direction of the kitchen. Several minutes ticked by, but instead of hot, black coffee, D returned with sweetened hot tea for her. He offered her the mug, and with a small smile of appreciation, she took it and helped herself to a long sip. Despite the scalding on her tongue, it was such a welcome feeling she drained the cup before she knew it. D stood over her, waiting patiently for her to tell what happened, as if his offering of tea was both an apology for his failure and to make up for him not protecting her from Terra.

When she set the mug aside and explained, she also added more detail about Terra, including that although she burned all of Terra's bodily nerves and dumped the body into the refuse pit, Sinnae-Marie was not a hundred percent sure the mutant was totally destroyed. D confirmed the blood sample and gave her a vague and brief summery of his visit to Falien's castle, from where he entered the gate, encountered the hologram and the disturbing vision of Glaerian in the water tank, and a brief description of the monsters D had fought his way through to get out of the castle. When both were done, Sinnae-Marie covered her eyes with her hand.

"Do you think…" she murmured. "Do you think he is tortured like that? In a tank of water?"

"I don't know," D answered, blunt as ever.

Sinnae-Marie uncovered her eyes, now shining in their oddly beautiful dual metallic colors. "Are you tired, D?"

"Not really."

She nodded to him. "Would you like to come with me to the village?"

D said nothing for several long moments, but the gorgeous man finally left the room to let her get dressed. When Sinnae-Marie donned her protective white leather outfit and left the manor, she found D waiting for her at the stables, both of their horses saddled and ready. Her smile was brilliantly beautiful, and although D did not respond with his own, his dark eyes did soften just a tad for just a moment under his wide brimmed traveler's hat. No one would have noticed it, but naturally Sinnae-Marie did, and it was enough.

Soon the pair of dhampires were riding through the village at a slow pace. Early morning villagers waved and shouted greetings, of which only Sinnae-Marie answered and reacted to. D rode passively next to her, a statue of polished black, the shadow cast by his hat covering his eyes.

The village was not particularly large, consisting of perhaps a few hundred small residences and a handful of stores. Although their part of the Frontier wasn't particularly lush, they still had healthy, thin green grass and large trees to offer shelter from the sun. D noticed a path leading off to a copse of trees, and when Sinnae-Marie saw him looking at it, she smiled so tragically a child nearby who saw it started to weep.

"There is a clearing there, surrounded by various bushes of flowers," Sinnae-Marie explained as they passed the path leading to the area. "My mother's grave is there. Father has machines just under the soil to make sure the flowers never wilt."

D said nothing but he did nod, indicating he heard her. "Oh," Sinnae-Marie added. "Please, if you ever need anything I cannot provide, see the shops here. The villagers all expressed they would give you their wares for free should you need them."

"Are the villagers not afraid?" D suddenly asked, a rarity for him to seem curious or interested.

Sinnae-Marie shrugged. "Of course they are, but their faith in Father and I override it."

"I meant of you and your father."

Sinnae-Marie was silent as their horses rode on toward the gathering stadium, where many humans were going as well. Before they made it to the water troughs for their horses, she sighed deeply.

"They aren't, no. They love us… father I guess cultivated them as such." Sinnae-Marie watched D dismount, and then as she started to dismount her own horse, she felt D's hand steady her against her mid-back.

While Sinnae-Marie brushed off his kindness as being a gentleman, D himself wasn't too sure of his own actions towards the fellow dhampire. Most Nobles or dhampires he came across either did not interest him or he was meant to kill them. Something about Sinnae-Marie—or, perhaps more accurate, her life and her village—left D in the oddest state: he was interested and slightly confused. Such a state was new for him, and he was unsure of how to act upon it. This led him to acting slightly kinder toward Sinnae-Marie than he usually was with clients. His left hand was sure to speak about it when they were next alone.

"Every tenth day since Father's capture and disappearance, I come here to assure the humans and tell them to keep their wits about them and never give in to fear," Sinnae-Marie explained as she led D around to a side door. "It'll only take a few moments, and then I'll show you something you'll actually be interested in—the factory Falien created then abandoned."

"I could find it myself." D interrupted.

"Naturally, and probably get in yourself, but as your employer I ask you to wait for me. If you want go on ahead to it, but don't go in." with that, Sinnae-Marie patted his arm in farewell and entered the building.

Silence filled the air as D stared at the door. Finally, his left hand spoke up, "So, uh, are we leaving? Pretty sure she isn't gonna come out and throw herself at you."

D looked down at his left hand, where the little face was imploring him to move on and find entertainment. His face never changing expression, D slipped on the black gloves he had purchased from the village before going to the manor earlier. He ignored the muffled protests as he used his right hand to open the door and follow Sinnae-Marie.

Inside it was the typical stadium type building, with rows of seats starting low then climbing higher. A podium and microphone stood lonesome on the stage in the middle, and D found himself under that stage. He looked to the left, than the right, but did not find his employer. He shrugged ever so slightly and, through the shadows, made his way to the stadium seats.

Sinnae-Marie was at the podium when D settled into a shadowed corner where he knew no one could see him, except for perhaps the other dhampire. Humans were filing it, but there were hardly enough to come up to the top row where the Hunter hid himself. Even the hyperactive children he had seen screaming and playing in the roads were quiet and obedient to their mothers, sitting and behaving. After perhaps a few minutes of people shuffling around for seating, Sinnae-Marie tapped the microphone. When the sound echo from the speakers all around and comfortable silence descended, the dhampire opened her mouth in speech.

"Villagers of Lastiva, once again I gather you here to listen to my words. I know of your fear, your anxiety. It has been countless days since our beloved Noble Lord, Duke Glaerian, has gone missing and the foul wretch that is Falien has settled in. Since his reign, I've been forced to hide in my own home village and my friends, you, forced to suffer his wrath and destructive whims. That first dark day, by the light of the dawn, I swore to you I would restore my father, Glaerian, as your rightful and righteous ruling Noble.
"And although I thank you for your loyalty and absolute faith in me and my father, I must tell you that it breaks my heart and soul to hear of when Falien strikes while I am out attempting to find help. That I apologize to you, for being weaker than he and unable to strike the bastard down with my own hand! I am sorry that some of the previous help I had commissioned had failed, and you my faithful villagers, suffered for it.
"But those nights of terror are swiftly coming to an end! For I have finally found someone able to withstand the horror of Falien, someone who shall bring back my father Glaerian and restore the peace and happiness you all knew! He is like me… of mixed blood, a dhampire, whose strength and cunning bests that of any Noble. His name is D, and he will save us. Trust in me, trust in D… and keep your souls and minds steeled. No more terror, no more bloodshed… D and I shall prevent it; believe in us! Remember the happiness, envision it until you can taste it… and watch as we bring about our golden age again.
"I ask you to provide what you can to Hunter D, and to do your part, however small it may seem, to save us all."

Sinnae-Marie smiled and nodded as the villagers' murmur of agreement and consent echoed throughout the stadium. D stood from his spot and, again through the shadows as if one of them himself, to leave the building. A movement caught his eye, and when he turned to look, a small girl was waving at him with the biggest smile he had ever seen.

D inclined his head to her, and her excited giggle echoed in D's ears as he exited.