Vampire Hunter D : The Mysterious Girl from the North

Chapter 4

One can never truly escape the dark cobwebs that shadow the corners of the mind. Repress them, or even try to forget them, they always return when it is time to dream. That time when the waking mind and the unconscious mind become one in an exchange of data fleeting through a highway of neurons and electrons. Taking shapes of objects, people or places in time. And while the dreams may be transmitting from our own mind, it is that part of our mind we have the least control over…What we dream.

For sometimes the things that are shown to us are the things we don't wish to see.

And for him…The symbols took on shapes. The emotions wore faces. And the era from long ago clawed its way back into the present. For him, it was a symbol a tragic symbol of beauty, of love, and of a broken heart.

She stood before him. That shadow. That demon. He wore the face of an angel, a perfect Fallen Angel. Was she pitting her will against his? Is that why the demon was smirking? Is that why she was shaking?

"I'm leaving." She said defiantly, and with all the dignity she could muster.

The darkness hung thick in the air. The metallic smell of blood so pungent one could swallow it and taste it.

A voice replied, calm and regal, yet full of venom. "That won't be allowed."

"You can't stop me this time. What you're doing isn't right. I've invoked the help of something you and your blood-sucking monsters will be powerless against…"

"You dare impugn on my work?" The shadow asked calmly, rising as he spoke. He began to pace slowly The hem of his velvet, black cloak trailing behind his boots. "What I'm doing is for the good of the future. For both humanity and Nobility alike. You were aware of that the moment you consented. You wanted to help people. Well, I do too."

"I didn't know you were going to take it this far! I didn't consent to you forcing me to have children and then…" the tears she didn't want to escape flowed, "Taking them away from me…"

"It was necessary. You sound as if you are the only person that suffers - the only person who has ever sacrificed," he said with a hint of sadness, almost as if he could be referring to himself. "There must always be a price to pay for the greater good. Any wise man can tell you that. I am not so cruel if I am thinking of the wellbeing of future people. They will praise me, and it wouldn't have been possible without you. In your blood lies a valuable key, you bore me my one success. I let you keep him, didn't I? Even after you tried to take him away from me. Surely I have been good to him. I've honored him by naming him after myself."

"No, I won't stand to listen to your lies anymore!" she hissed. "You're just trying to find a cure for your leeches so your reign of Darkness can continue on forever! I won't consent to that, I can't allow you to let other people suffer!"

"And if you leave here there will be a suffering like never before. I'll be forced to search the globe for a human woman with important genes like yours simply so they can bare me my successes. Would you really want to inflict that suffering upon thousands of women? Maybe even millions? Surely your best option would be to stay here and help me."

"Not even if you manipulate me into feeling guilty will I stay here. I know what you're up to, and I won't allow it to go on any further. Nothing you say will make me regret my choice. I'm taking them and I'm leaving. As a mother, I won't stand to watch them inherit a throne of evil and darkness."

"Them…?"

Her brown eyes were crying, but firm as she looked straight at him. "The children you took away from me. I'm taking them to some place safe where they can know the love of their mother, not this evil place. Where are they? Where are you keeping them?"

The shadow this time did not reply. A long silence hung in the black air as the dark figure slowly returned to where he was sitting and sunk himself into the chair. "Is that what this is about…?" His voice heavy with contemplation and something deeper.

"Where are you hiding them? I want to know the truth." She stood defiant.

"You want to know the truth?"

The darkness began to lose its shape. The void was becoming so clear now… now that the dream was starting to relinquish its hold.

"You want to know the truth?" The voice echoed once more. It was fading this time, almost like it was getting further and further away…

The dark figure stood face to face with the woman. Eyes as black as midnight that could swallow the sun looked into her broken brown eyes. Into her broken soul. And before he could answer, the figures melted away. He could no longer see them, but he could feel them there. He heard only this reply:

"They were inadequate."

D's eyes shot open as fists pounded against glass and a hoard of angry voices from outside permeated through the walls. A pillow was propped underneath his head and some of his wounds crudely tied to bound the bleeding, but the girl was no where in sight.

Wincing slightly as he stood up, the pain from his cracked ribs seared through him now that the adrenaline in his body had worn out. He balanced himself on his hands and stood up, looking around the room. There were droplets of blood on the floor, but it was his own blood.

It was the early hours of the morning. Word that a dhampir was in town traveled through the town's makeshift bar. Some curious drunk ventured over to the Inn when he heard about the person the dhampir put up for the night. However, instead of getting to annoy that person about a "real dhampir" in a drunken stupor, he saw the blood on the porch and rushed back to the bar with his new revelation: "He bit someone!!"

Soon the humans took it upon themselves to form a mob with the idea of safety in numbers and to purge their village of the "demonic force". It was the same tale over and over since the times of antiquity. Overthrowing the monster, killing the beast. If the spirit of humanity in great numbers is what empowered them through the reign of the Nobility, then overthrowing one person with Noble blood in his veins surely shouldn't be so difficult. He was just one person, after all.

And yet when the dhampir stood before them on the porch, tall and hinting of power from another world, no one dared make a move. One look at the creature the men had only heard legends about was enough to scare the fight out of them. Deep within their minds, though they had power in numbers, a carnal fear overtook them that said even they would not be enough for this dhampir.

"What do you want?" A deep voice asked carried by the wind. Though D showed not a hint of rage his aura was overpowering. It seemed to whisper 'Come any closer and I'll tear you apart.'

"We want you leave town! We don't care who hired you, we don't want any Vampires here!" The people in unison with torches in hand echoed in agreement.

D wasn't even going to protest that he wasn't even a Vampire. Or convince the townspeople he could help them. Or even that he was the best hunter the world had ever known. No. He simply stepped off the porch and began to walk away without a word. The mass of people parted before him as if he was a contagious disease. No thought whatsoever about the injured person he was leaving behind, D didn't even glance behind him. He just walked straight ahead with no intentions of looking back, just as he always did when Man rebelled. If the humans would ever come to be sorry later for whatever doom befell them for running their only hope out of town, D resolved a long time ago he simply wouldn't care.

And then an odd change came over the crowd. The angry hissing stopped, and one by one the people turned their attention. It was something behind him. Finding this strange, D stole a glance at a nearby couple as he was leaving.

Their eyes…They held the same awe entranced and flustered look that people wore when they looked at…

Standing on the porch where D had earlier was the human girl devoid of bandages. Her hair, now unbound and slightly damp, cascaded across her shoulder on one side in a mass of waves. It reached down to her waist and glowed in a most unnatural way under the moonlight. For her hair was so blonde it was as white as the moonlight itself. A color more common for small children or the elderly, not someone who looked barely passed her mid teens. Yet the body silhouetted by the single sheet wrapped around her shivering frame held the unmistakable curves of a young woman. Her face, however, held a rather childlike quality, almost doll-like, with full lips slightly parted. She was looking at him with sad imploring eyes. The man that had rescued her, the man that had left her. Unnerving to look straight at, yet haunting to look away from, her eyes were as bright as the mid-day sky. She was altogether beautiful, yet eerie.

The girl stepped down from the porch and clasped her coverings like a cloak as she followed pursuit behind D. He was the only person she knew.

"Wait!" one man called after him. "Is-is she with you…? Because if she is…you can stay here. As long as she does."

And then more voices, both male and female alike rang out;

"It must not be her blood, she's not bitten!"

"What if it was someone else's blood?"

"Look! He's injured!"

"It must be his blood, then."

"Is she albino?"

"That's the strangest girl I've ever seen."

"Where does she come from?"

"You idiots!" Came the angry voice with an unmistakable rasp like an old woman. The old woman was Lulu. "I hired him! He's the best hunter that money can buy and I sent for him personally," she sneered. "I'm paying for this out of my own pocket after we were denied help from the Capitol! Do you really want to run him out of town when he could solve the problem and figure out the reason for why we all suffer like this?"

She looked into the eyes of the people near her, daring them to show just one hint of defiance. She was met with downcast pairs of eyes. "I thought not. You all trust in my Craft, now you'll have to trust in my judgment. Now leave him alone and don't get in the way of his job." The anger seethed through her worn teeth.

Even those who held their superstitions and doubts about having a dhampir hunter in town kept their opinions to themselves, or at least behind closed doors. For the old, Gypsy fortune teller at the edge of town was a respected elder member of the community. Even if her reasoning for gambling her retirement money on a top class hunter her cards told her to hire seemed illogical, no one would argue with her intentions for summoning help to their forgotten and run down village. If she was willing to fund him out of her own pocket to help them, then perhaps the community owed her that much more respect. And so, slowly the ends of the crowd began to scatter until the mob dispersed.

"Come on." She said to D, anger still present in her voice. "I'll put you up." She turned to leave and walked away with a bit of a hobble. D followed silently and the girl, two meters back, took a step too. D stopped.

"What is it?" Old Lulu asked in annoyance over her shoulder.

"It would seem I still have a dying favor to pay." D recalled the old woman whom the party out on the Frontier called Granny, and her dying wish for D to take care of the mysterious girl she loved for a short time as a granddaughter. He had done his part. He had delivered her to the closest town and made sure no harm had come to her. There was nothing to bind her to him now, which was why he could walk away from her and not look back. But perhaps lurking in his eyes was a bit of remorse for having done so.

Lulu cut him short. "I hired you and you alone. I didn't plan on this and company from out of town will be staying with me tomorrow." When D didn't move or protest her words she sighed. "Fine. If it's a dying favor you owe," she barked.

When they reached the old woman's two story house, Lulu immediately locked the door and instructed the girl to go upstairs and find something decent to wear from a spare closet. No sooner had the girl disappeared from sight did the old woman reel around and shout, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

She looked right at D as she went to draw the curtains and turn on another light.

"Just what are you trying to pull? I'm an old woman trying to get a decent nights rest and I hear the neighbors pounding on my door at some odd hour of the morning, ranting and raving saying 'a Noble's bitten someone,' and others said they felt tremors like a bomb exploded hours earlier. They've got their torch lights and daggers with them and I follow them, wondering what the hell this is all about and I see it's you that's caused all this trouble." She raved on.

"Half the village is scared to death and I had to be the one to burn out the flames of Hell in their eyes. On top of this, you've got blood on you, and a busted lip like a bat crawled out of Hell. What are decent folk suppose to make of you? They half about killed you! They thought you made a victim of someone, how could you be that careless?"

She half expected D to walk right out of her house and never come back. She would have even understood if he answered back, some sort of reaction, but he stood perfectly still. She was downright confused and slightly amazed. And then slowly, the pieces began to connect together like a puzzle in her mind. "Oh my Lord… You went into the mine, didn't you..."

"Yep."

Lulu, with a look of pure amazement on her face and mouth agape, slowly sunk into a seat. "I…I had no idea. I'm so sorry for shouting at you like that, I just wouldn't have thought in a million years you would have went into the mine. I mean, it's all boarded up…What did you find? What happened?" She asked with earnest and great interest, almost on the edge of her seat.

"Nothing out of the usual, at first. Until I encountered a Crypt Walker."

"In this part of the Frontier?!"

"My hearing is regained but it would seem there was a nest down here."

Lulu put her hand to her mouth in amazement. "That could explain the missing people that went into the mine. Maybe they got eaten, but without their remains we may never know for sure. But to my knowledge, Crypt Walkers have no supernatural powers. Even if they are engineered by the Nobility. And what's plaguing us like those Night Phantoms isn't mere flesh and blood. It can't be." She took in his battered form. "Crypt Walkers couldn't have done all that to you…What else happened?

D contemplated answering for a moment. "It would seem that perhaps your hunch that the Nobility might be involved could be correct."

Her eyes went wide.

"Before the cave in, deep in the tunnels of that mine I encountered a machine."

"A machine!?"

D nodded. "I'm positive it was created by the Nobility, but who's using it for sure I can't say. Or for what purpose. My best guess is that it's guarding something."

The old woman's eyes were searching his. Any bit of information. Any.

"That's all I have." D said.

"So a machine created by the Nobility is probably guarding something secret deep within the mine. Interesting. Could the machine be what's giving us the nightmares?"

"No. A machine alone couldn't do that…" On his last note, D began to chew on some of the details in his head and held a lost look in his eyes. Lulu watched him intently.

"What is it, D?"

"The technology the Nobility created I've encountered numerous times." The pendant at his chest glowed in the lamp light. "But technology like this I have yet to understand. It just may be that I may not be able to help you."

D looked into Lulu's eyes to make sure she grasped the full meaning behind his words. It was a harsh revelation. Staring at him, it was clear his body had paid the price for encountering the machine deep within the mine.

"But…"

"But, what?" Lulu asked.

"A machine alone could not have done what it did, or do what is happening to your village. Which can only mean one thing."

"What?" Lulu asked louder, still clawing at the answer she was searching for.

"There's someone inside the machine."

Just then, D turned his attention to the girl coming down the stairs, cutting away from the serious note of the conversation and leaving the old woman to fester with her questions. She wanted to ask him more about the battle with the monstrous machine and how he managed to escaped the cave-in alive.

The creaking of the boards shifting under the girl's weight on the stairs caught D's attention before the old woman noticed a stranger in her living room, wearing her old nightgown. The intense conversation still lingering in her mind carried over a heavy silence into the atmosphere.

The old woman was bleary eyed and tired, having taken little notice of the girl all night. She was just about to let out an amusing chuckle at the sight of a small slip of a girl in an old lady's night gown when she was caught by a pair of eyes that gave her a shock.

"Heavens, child! How did you get such eyes? Gave me a jolt, you did." She turned to D. "What did you say her name was again?"

D's silence told her. Lulu looked back at the girl to ask. "What's your name?"

But she was met with the same silence.

"She can't speak or write."

D was met with a puzzled look on Lulu's face. She looked back at the girl. "What do you mean…she's mute, then? Where are her parents? Do they know their child is running around with a Vampire Hunter?"

"It would seem she has no relatives. The woman that was taking care of her died."

"And she left her with you?"

D showed no signs of being offended. His lips held the usual stern line.

"Where is she from, anyway?"

D stole a glance at the girl. She had comfortably situated herself on the couch, looking at the pictures on the wall.

"…No one knows who she is. I found her up in some Northern village. The people there were raving she walked right out of the Northern Portal…"

"I wouldn't know," the Hunter uncrossed his arms and left the wall he was leaning against. "You should work on that list of the books that were stolen. Where did you want me to stay?"

Somewhat flustered, the old woman rose. "Oh. Yes, of course. I'll show you to the spare room. Not sure if you sleep by day or by night," she turned slightly red upon realizing what she had just said, and then noticed his blood stained shirt. "I'd appreciate if you'd take care not to get any blood on my linens. Do you need a doctor? The doctor's out of town from what I hear, but I can brew you up something or stop by the apothecary tomorrow. I've read dhampirs have amazing healing abilities. Are your wounds healing?" She asked as she headed down the hallway. D followed.

"The scratches and bruises should heal by morning, but the broken bones might be a couple days."

Lulu flipped on the light and looked up at him with wide eyes. "Bones? You broke a bone?" She eyed him with worry and then looked him up and down.

"Two broken ribs."

"And you're walking? You certainly are an odd one. You're lucky you haven't punctured your lung. I'll do the best I can to fix you up in the meantime until the doctor returns."

"Don't worry about me. Have a look at the girl tomorrow, see what you can do for her. She seems better but she hit her head before we left."

Lulu nodded. "My granddaughter should be here tomorrow. She's coming to stay with me so I can teach her about our family's ancient practices. I'll see what we can do for the girl."

D nodded.

"Just leave the bloody clothes on that chair and I'll come and get them in the morning." Lulu shut the door.

The beautiful dhampir took in a deep breath and winced slightly at the pressure from his ribs. In truth, every breath felt like a fresh sear of pain. Though good at concealing his agitation, D wanted nothing more than to lay down. Taking off his coat and peeling away his bloody shirt, he looked in a mirror and saw just what the extent of the damage was. An ordinary person witnessing this site might not be able to take their eyes off the perfectly sculpted chest and stomach of ivory pallor classic only to Vampires. Across his torso were violet bruises that marred his flesh as toned as marble, dappling the body of a youth that would put even the god Adonis to shame. The bruises should have turned a sickly yellow by now. D let out another soft sigh.

At least the lacerations had stopped bleeding. He turned out the light and laid down, finding the shift of a mattress beneath his weight a more uncomfortable feeling than an inviting one. D had become rather accustomed to sleeping on dirt and gravel. Silently having yearned for what most overlooked, now the feeling of a pillow beneath his head and sheets caressing his skin felt almost too close for comfort. Being a wounded warrior made him feel vulnerable.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. Just sleep it off and give me a couple of the usual elements tomorrow and you'll be fine."

D closed his eyes to be greeted by the usual nightmares.

When he awoke the next day, the curtains were drawn and the room was blessedly dark. He knew it to be around mid-day but was caught off guard by the sound of voices coming from the living room. He saw his garments were folded neatly and devoid of blood on the same chair and his sword remained untouched by his side. With a wince, D got up.

After Old Lulu had bade D goodnight, the old woman had given the girl a warm wool comforter. In which the girl had promptly wrapped around herself like a burrito and drifted off to a deep sleep on the couch. In the late morning, she awoke to the tickling sensation of someone stroking the strands of her soft hair, and was greeted by a grisly face.

"That's some mighty purdy snowy hair ya got there…"

The girl's eyes went as wide as saucers in alarm as she perked up and cornered herself against the couch.

"Get away from her." A dark voice from the hallway deadpanned.

Lance stood up and backed away from the couch with his hands in the air as if being held hostage. "Now wait jes' a moment. I didn't mean anythin' by it."

Alerted from the distraction, a chipper voice called "That's her?! That's the girl!?" It was Piper.

Mina turned her raven haired head from the table where she was sitting and looked at D with a calm expression. "Hello, D. We meet again. I see you've met my grandmother." She watched for a change of expression on his face.

Now he could place it. The traces of an accent that lingered in Old Lulu's voice was perfected in the thick accent of her granddaughter. Upon looking around, he noted that Kyle, the one who's brother was killed, wasn't present. Yet the reason for the presence of Piper and Lance was one D couldn't place. Interpreting his silence as confusion, or perhaps sensing D's agitation, Mina tried to explain. She spoke as if she was trying to appease him - trying to take the pressure off Lance who was caught like a child with his hand in a cookie jar. All the while Mina was talking softly, the ever perceptive Hunter took notice of the look of intoxication in Lance's eyes. Not once did he lift his gaze from that eerie girl. Whatever spell the woman looking over her had placed upon her had definitely worn off, and now D understood the impact of the old woman's words. To be beautiful was its own curse. Being a dhampir, D knew that curse all too well.

Mina explained that Piper was her neighbor, and returning home from visiting relatives in another town for the Summer. Lance was merely passing through town on a business call and was staying at the local Inn. And Kyle was currently making arrangements to prepare for the funeral of his departed brother. The party had arrived early morning and were given warning in advance about the dhampir Hunter in town and the ruckus he had caused. Everyone was shocked he arrived in town half a day before they did, but Mina was surprised it was her grandmother that had hired him. And had taken him in when the town rebelled.

Old Lulu made her way down the stairs, holding a box of sorts. "Ah, D. So you're awake. No need to introduce you to everyone, they've told me this morning they've met you previously out on the Frontier. Thank goodness you were there to save Lance here from that werewolf." Her voice was half-hearted and heavy with something else on her mind. "We were in the process of picking a name for the girl. Have any ideas? Everyone else's stinks."

"Hey!" Called Piper.

"We're not naming her She-Ra, so get over it!"

Lulu turned to D. "Don't just stand there, have a seat. We were hoping we could draw out a name for her using our mediums, but names are always tricky." Lulu set down a cup of coffee on the table. "Mina is trying her hand at crystal gazing, but I've been doing it my whole life and I got nothing on her. It's like there's a block. I tried divination this morning, crystal reading, and I refuse to do channeling, that's too dangerous. But it's difficult to get a name when our mediums aren't designed to work like that. My tarot deck is a last resort, but it will only give me clues about her traits and personality, hopefully what's hidden and we cannot see, but we've had no luck so far on this girl." She grumbled.

Old Lulu sat down perplexed and annoyed. D watched as she did the proper shuffling for her cards, mumbled the right words, and then laid out a strange pattern on the table. Everyone grew quiet and listened. But then Lulu sighed like it had went wrong. With no explanation to anyone, she aggressively collected the cards back together only to re-shuffle them. This time she laid out a different pattern.

"Nothing. Nothing is reading this girl." She said with great frustration and hands in the air from defeat. "I can't get anything to work properly. I've had this happen before with a deck or two, but never all of my mediums at once…"

The girl sat quietly on the couch, observing the people in the other room with curious eyes.

"Wait…" Mina said. "You taught me that the spirits describe what they want us to see, right? Well, maybe we're just not interpreting correctly."

"By getting nothing?"

"Exactly. Maybe we're getting nothing for a reason. Maybe the spirits want us to name her Nobody." Mina shot the girl who's beauty surpassed her own a look of annoyance, hoping to drive her point home.

"What if you just choose one card?" Piper asked innocently. She grabbed a random card and held it up. "Death. Maybe not."

"No no no, wait. Maybe that'll work…" Lulu called. She shuffled the deck and then displayed the cards again. "Mina, why don't you try."

Mina picked up a card. "I don't get it." She flung it carelessly on the table. "'The Empress.' What does that tell us? Nothing."

"Well, let's think about it," Piper said.

Mina sighed and started naming off adjectives in a bored tone: "Fertility, Maternity, Womanhood. Nothing that would describe a girl."

"Oh come on, that's not all that it means. Name the rest of them."

"It doesn't matter, it won't help us."

Amidst their bickering, the girl in the other room slowly surrendered from the security of her comforter and ventured barefoot across the room unnoticed. She picked up the card on the table and looked at it. She could no more understand what it meant than if she was asked to explain the theory of Milton.

"Wait…" Lulu said. A changed washed over her as if something was snapping into place. She took the card from the girl's hand and studied it. She stood by D and whispered aloud Mina's words back to herself, "Describe what you see…"

The name that flowed from D's lips like a whisper was enough to still the room;

"…Freya."