Illusions

Note: Tying up the story line dealing with Mina and D's past. Didn't really hit me until this chapter just how Lost inspired these flashbacks are. Might as well say, "D walked real slow and heard a rushing sound…insert flashback here." Hehe…well that's funny if you watch Lost. As you can see I also watch Bram Stokers Dracula way way to much. Chapter 13 of 14.

Interlude Part 4 : The Final Illusion

"It's marching though my door now, the stony cold of lonesome. A bell tolls for my heart and now my lonesome song begins." -Innocente, Delerium

It took D's left hand a good ten minutes to simply flip his hosts corpse over onto it's back, "Damn it! FUCK!" the creature cried out in distress, it had only an hour or so to revive D's lifeless corpse before his vital organs shut down beyond recovery and his body would start to decay, but the symbiote required three elements for this feat…and all that was present in this wooden prison, air, was extremely limited.

Lefty clinched into a steely fist and pounded upward into the heavy, thick oak. A pained cry drifted from the fist that made no great impact upon the cloth and the wood. The fist slammed upward again and again and the tiny voice that escaped from it grew especially agonized, and then shrieked as blood began to run past it's fingers and down the wrist. A horrific snap and crunch was heard as the fist pounded again and again into harsh bulk of the wood, but the snap was not of the timber. Perhaps D might have pounded through the casket in a single blow or two, but D was dead. The countenanced carbuncle had only it's own strength to rely on, and the hand that it possessed. By the time the wood had splintered enough for the rich earth to pour though the opening the symbiote was trembling, and sobbing with pain, each one of D's fingers had been broken into formless shapes.

With slow and agonized movements Lefty fell down onto the column of dirt and weakly scooped up a handful and devoured it. More and more dirt slid down to replace the huge mouthfuls that the countenanced carbuncle consumed, after a minute or two passed the fingers began to reform in shape once again, and the bloodied hand rose.

"Alright…here goes nothing, don't have much air to begin with but I'll have to make do." Saying that the symbiote opened it's mouth wide and first bit down onto the stake of wood that protruded from D's chest…perhaps 45 minutes had passed since he'd last breathed, this was going to be cutting it close. With a grunt of effort it pulled the stake of wood from his heart and tossed it carelessly away. The hand then rose again, the tiny mouth opened wider and then wind began to howl in the wooden prison, or at least what little air that could be found rushed into the creatures mouth, as well as a good deal more dirt. Twice more the carbuncle devoured the small amount of oxygen, then pale flames began to form in it's mouth and spill past it's lips. Using two of the three elements it had created heat within it's own form, and used the energy of that heat to spark forth life from D's still heart. With a sizzling hiss the wound in D's chest began to close and at last left no trace of its presence. The symbiote felt D's heart give a feeble thump, and then a second stronger one but the dhampir's eyes did not move from their cold and fixated position, nor did he draw in breath.

"Come on D, snap out of it!" the hand cried and slapped his unconscious host in the face, "Come on! Stop dreaming! Wake up! WAKE…"

A soft groan of frustration escaped D as he rose from Luna's lips, and pushed his long hair over his shoulder, bringing the Nymphs face out from the dark veil it had cast over her face as he'd shifted into arms, kissed her rosy mouth hungrily. Her small hands clutched for purchase on his broad back, and her legs tangled about his waist so that her body was utterly flushed against D's, her breath came in short pants as she matched the passionate rhythm of his hips. D kneaded her breast, and ever so slowly dragged his kiss down to the corners of her mouth, her cheek, and then her neck. Slowly, tenderly he opened his mouth and sank his fangs down into her soft white flesh, his crimson eyes flew wide and he moaned lecherously as the succulent blood touched his tongue. No other blood on this Earth could have tasted as heated and vibrant as Luna's, and no other creature would have writhed quite so seductively beneath his dark kiss the way she did. It was this reason that he found the call of all other blood so easy to resist…why drink water when he had the finest wine? The very taste of it caused D's body to burn, his very cells to sing with a drugging rapture and his muscles to clench with orgasm. Roughly he groaned against her bleeding neck, a single cry amidst the rapturous rush that matched Luna's own wild cry. Luna smoothed her hand across his cheek, and pressed him tighter to the wound and allowed him to drink even deeper still.

When at last fulfilled, D silently moved from her neck and lay down upon her breast; calm presided strongly over him as he heard the drum of her heart. With a single hand Luna again caressed his face, smoothed back his hair although it only feel stubbornly back around his shoulders. Her other hand was bound to D's left one. In the Frontier it was customary for newly weds to have their hands bound to each other's by thin, multicolored ribbons. Red for passion, pink for love, blue for calm, green for wealth, white for fidelity and silver of eternal love. Traditionally the couple did not remove the binds until after they'd lain together in the marriage bed, but for D and Luna the marriage had consisted of a simple ceremony beneath the trees conducted by a traveling priest, and their marriage bed was the soft prairie grass and the halo of the moonlight, but all of this seemed quite fitting to D.

He felt no particular urge to remove the ribbons, nor to lift his head from the drum of her heart, no urge to move at all. Was it possible for him to simply lay here for an eternity, consumed by such rare and pure happiness, overwhelmed by his simple dreams?

He squeezed the hand that bound them, "I love you Luna."

"Then why aren't you here?" a horrible, gagged voice issued from his new wife's throat.

D snapped up to face her. That had not been what she'd said, she'd said that she loved him to, and they'd removed the ribbons, slept under the moonlight for the first time as husband and wife…

Terror swamped his face as gazed down at Luna, she was drenched in blood from the neck down, her white hair was now crimson and she was making a horrific choking sound. One of his own wooden needles was protruding from his throat, and rather than her simple green wedding gown he'd mostly removed, she was draped in a white cloth, a shroud. "Hurry D, please…wake up…" she strangled.

D saw that ribbons that bound them were now drenched in blood.

"Wake…

"UP!" cried the familiar wizened face at the top its voice.

D stirred into consciousness with a jolt, his hand exploring his wooden prison in vain. "Luna! Luna!" he cried out, the images were still vivid upon his mind. "Where I am I! What's happened!" all trace of the calm and collected dhampir where gone from his voice, all that could be heard now was his desperation.

"Well he killed you, threw you down into this casket and left! I had to bail your ass out yet again. Damn it D, I told you, I fuckin' told you but you don't listen, I am just your stupid yapping hand!"

D said nothing as he focused hard at the heavy oak wood, and he clinched his fists hardly noticing his left was still broken. Yelling with effort he slammed his fists upward, arcing all his weight into the lid, his immense strength fracturing the wood easily, the hinges snapped. With another harsh blow, the lid splintered completely and earth came rushing downward, but easily enough D gained his ground and began to claw his way upward, and emerged from his grave. The earth seemed to fall right from his form as though it was loath to mar his beauty, but there was no exquisiteness in D's face as he rose to his feet, and his eyes swept around the graveyard. There was only utmost despondency. He looked over up at the sky, saw that he'd lost an hour already for the sunlight had faded, then over to the post where he'd tied his horse, "Shit!" he cursed lowly when he saw that his horse was gone.

It had taken him two days on horseback to reach this forsaken spot…how long would it take him to return to Cthulhu on foot? D didn't not even finish the thought before he began to run. Had any human eyes been around to see they would have seen little more than a dark blur in the daylight.

Lily Odette, his bride to be, was veiled at the grand masquerade that heralded his wedding but D knew well enough that the face beneath her black veil was as gorgeous as the brilliant emerald green eyes that stared hungrily at him through the veil that covered her from nose down. Only last night he'd caught her as she road into the Castle of Dracula, and took her hand as she dismounted her horse. Their eyes locked and within moments he had her in his chambers, pushed back her veil and consummated their marriage well before the ceremony.

D wore an extravagate green and black costume and cape with a mask of peacock feathers held to his face as he started at Lily Oddette's seductive eyes, her elegant raven curls and the shapely breasts that had fit so well in his large hands. He thought of nothing but these features as the masquerade unwound about him, blocking out the constant whispers surrounding him about whether he truly was the son of Dracula, the frail screams of human sacrifices that meet their death in the ballroom and the haunting cacophony of violins and dark vocals that filled the air.

"D…" a sudden voice rose from behind him, and a delicate and trembling hand rested on his shoulder, only that voice could have torn him from his brides eyes. He whirled about and felt his heart clinch as he faced his mother. The brilliant white gown that fell in a long train to the floor, the diamonds she was encrusted in and swan mask she held to her eyes could not hide the fact that she'd been wasting away these past few years into little more than a sickly frame of a woman. She could not mask the regret, the anguish and the pain that had marked and aged her face. But D would not let his sympathy get the better of him…after all she had chosen this life, for both herself and him.

"What do you want?" he sighed.

"Can you forgive me D?" she began in her husky, and broken voice, "I am so sorry…I know the errors of my ways. I never should have given in. I was so lonely D, but I never…"

"No." he hissed, "I'll never forgive you. Leave me."

"D, please!" she whimpered but he'd turned away, unable to bear the sight of his mother. His weak and sniveling mother that had condemned him to this powerlessness, this tyranny and this unending lust. "She did this to me…" he muttered as he spied a pale, terrified human girl wondering aimlessly thought the crowd. In a flash he reached out and grasped her wrist. A fevered scream rose from her lips as he pulled her flush with his body but as soon as her eyes meet his face all her resistance died away and she closed her eyes and tilted her head back. "You have my mother to thank for you death." He mused aloud, and bit hard down into the girl's throat. After a moment Lily Oddette joined him and bit down the girls throat as well, each vampire groaning in ecstasy as the girl whimpered, then grew cold in their embrace. D dropped her lifeless body carelessly to the ground, he pulled Lily to his lips and kissed her obscenely, the blood they'd dined shared between them as well as impassioned gasps of fulfillment.

Lily pulled from him, baring her delicate fangs and she caressed his cheek, the tendrils of his hair that had fallen from his ponytail. "Son of Dracula, I think we can be very happy together, for an eternity." She purred pressing her body into his.

"Anything you say…dear." He answered almost choking on the words. How hollow that dream sounded. How could he ever hope to achieve a moment's peace with this laughable, lustful illusion tied to him? He took her hand, and led her out of the ballroom. He stole her away to an out of the way corridor on one of the upper most stories of Castle Dracula, and he pressed his soon to be bride possessively against the wall and they kissed fervently, he plunged a hand down her bodice, and slid the other up her skirt. Anything to forget this meaningless existence he was now captive of. He could not deny the softness of his vampire brides' lips was enchanting, but was lust really worth foregoing his freedom? He had no choice he supposed, he had to take this useless creature as his, his mother had sacrificed any freedom he had in the matter.

The distant sound of running feet than meet his ears, followed by panting human breaths. A moment later he heard the thunderous voice of his father, "MINA! MINA STOP IT! COME BACK HERE!" Again D pulled from Lily's embrace.

The sound of pounding footsteps rose in a crescendo toward D and a moment later he saw Mina's ghost white form rushing through the darkness, hastening past D without so much as acknowledging him but he could see the wild madness raging through her eyes, and there was the overwhelming scent of flesh blood about her. A moment later Dracula came, moving like a blur of shadow and he seized her arm, and shook her violently. "Stop this my love! Go and lay down, I'll fetch a healer, your not well!"

Mina shrieked like a banshee as the dark form of Dracula embraced her and then she thrust a hand into the bodice of her gown and pulled free a long, golden chain. Hung there was a heavy sapphire pendant and a golden piece was mounted to it's center in the strangest shape. Two lines perpendicularly crossed just above the middle. D had recalled seeing this jewel within his mothers belongs all her life, although she never wore it, and he recalled that the sight of that symbol filled with him such horror and revolution, that it made his head ache and his muscles freeze. His studies amongst the Nobility had taught him that it was actually an ancient Christian symbol; one that inexpiably had an adverse affect on vampires so the Nobles had thus erased it from the minds of humans.

Indeed Dracula recoiled, hissing as the symbol meet his eyes and Lily drew back, gasping with horror, but D merely gazed at it intrigued and disgusted. "Back!" Mina's voice wavered, "Don't you dare touch me you creature of Hell!" She turned then and disappeared up a narrow and winding staircase.

"Such silly humans…" Lily purred and moved toward D's lips but he pushed her roughly away from him and abandoned her without a second thought, rushing after his mother. D had a horrible suspicion of where she was headed as he tore after her, seeing the white train of her gown fluttering as she ascended the winding staircase, This was a staircase that spiraled up one of the tallest towers of Castle Dracula, the upper most landing was a bell tower and beyond that balcony. Often D had come there to gaze down at the sprawl of trees and fields and to reflect in his usual silence, a place away from his overbearing father and his weeping mother, from his science and his bloodlust. Perhaps it was madness that gave Mina such speed as she pounded up the stone stairs, or perhaps the glittering symbol she still held in her hands held utter say over their vampire nature, because Dracula was running only about as fast as mortal. Indeed D felt a curious weakness in his legs, but he forced it back, stared only at his mother's desperate face and rushed to catch her. By the time he was near enough to grasp her Mina had broken through the thresh hold and with an extra burst of speed she rushed across where the immense bell hung and then paused as she meet the stone edge of the balcony. This particular balcony was the most scenic of the whole castle, overlooking the lush forest life below, the purple rim of dagger like mountains that where just visible to vampire and dhampir eyes and below a silver thread of the river Arges that encircled the castle. Tonight a full moon was hung high in the sky and encircled with stars. They shimmered almost as bright as Mina's white gown as it fluttered through the air. She hoisted herself on the balconies edge and peered breathlessly down at the lethal drop, that strange jewel was still dangling from her hands.

"Mother, NO!" D cried.

Mina stiffened at the sound of his voice and turned slowly around to face him, a moment later Dracula had appeared in the doorway, but stood paralyzed as his eyes regarded the sacred symbol he'd once so honored, and now so passionately rejected. "No…you won't take her Yahweh…never…" D heard the former warlord of God mutter under his breath.

In the moonlight D could see that a thick stream of blood was winding his way down his mothers wrists and hands, dripping across the glittering jewel and down onto the stone. There were vertical cuts along her forearms were she'd previously attempted to take her life, as well as livid bruises about her forehead perhaps where she'd been pounding it to try to end her life as well.

Dracula grabbed D roughly by the shoulders and cried, "YOU! What did you say to her to make her like this! I know it was you, ANSWER ME! It's ALWAYS you, you are all that she loves anymore, all she thinks of, dreams of…CURSE YOU!"

D didn't even acknowledge his father; rather he stepped slowly out onto the balcony and offered his hand to Mina, saying nothing as he approached. Dracula offered her whispered words of love and encouragement but D merely locked onto her madness glazed eyes and fought the find the woman that lay frightened and confused beneath them.

'Take my hand." D whispered softly. Dracula did not fail to notice how her eyes shifted from that of madness to utter devotion as she gazed upon D's face, and listened to his steely voice, she was his slave. Indeed he'd made his son perfect…far to perfect.

Mina did not move from the balcony but D felt safe enough with her hand clasped in his, and slowly, not really even thinking about it he brought her bloodied hand to her lips and kissed it, "I love you, Mother."

Even that miniscule taste of her blood, succulent and vibrant, was enough to bring the blood light blazing to D's eyes, causing them to glimmer brighter than rubies in the sunlight. At the sight of them the demented Mina screamed with terror, and turned to flee but there was nowhere to flee but the very air. Still screaming she fell with a shimmer of white. Her hand was still clasped in D's and he was pulled insistently forward. For a moment D clutched tightly to her hand, tight enough to feel the bones snapping beneath his grip but the momentum of her falling form was to great even for the shocked dhampir and he to was pulled over the edge of the tower, Mina's bloody hands slipping from his. The wild thread of the river was growing into a vast expanse of lethal water, and was rushing up to greet them. Still he could hear his mother's terrified wails, and distant and tortured anguished ones of his father.

The feral water felt like bricks as D struck the surface and slipped below like a stone.

It was well known fact that for some reason vampires and dhampirs had no buoyancy in water, that their limbs would become near paralyzed and their bodies would shut down. If they surfaced from the water they where left in a death like state. With the coming of night or an infusion of blood they would return to life, but such weakness left them utterly vulnerable…and there where plenty of humans slaves here in Castle Dracula that would have loved to have taken Dracula's dhampir son. With horror filled eyes D watched the wavering moonlight fader from his sight, and he sank immobile in the blackness. A cloud of bubbles escaped his lips, and a second later his mouth opened, his face was twisted with wild pain as the water rushed into his lungs. He had not managed to take a proper breath before plunging. Feebly he tried kicking his legs, but it was nowhere near enough to move him.

"Mother…" he chocked against the onslaught of water.

"HEY! HEY D, OVER HERE!" a sudden, strangely hoarse voice that sounded much like his own shouted through the thunderous roar of the water. He felt a strange, tingling sensation in his left hand, and curiously he raised that hand and gave a cry, taking in more water. A strange tumor appeared to have suddenly risen on the palm of his hand, but there in the center of it was a gnarled, ancient human face complete with a hooked nose, jagged lips, teeth and even eyes! The tiny face grinned at him, "Nice to finally see you Dracula Murray."

"What…"D gasped although he never actually said the words.

"I am the backup plan, you see. Dracs wanted his son to be perfectly immortal, and few creatures understand the secrets of life eternal than my kind. I can give life to anything. But first I'd rather not have you die on me, now start kicking!"

D was certain that this strange image must have been some sort of hallucination; perhaps the madness in his mother blood was rubbing off on him. But hadn't Dracula once mentioned something about his left hand…hadn't he always imagined as a child he had a friend residing in his own palm? In desperation he listened and started to writhe weakly against the water.

"Come on now, keep at it." encouraged the talking tumor, and then the hand did something truly strange and rose by it's own accord. The tiny mouth opened and water rushed inside of the hand, suddenly D was filled with a sudden upsurge of power and energy. The carbuncle must have somehow used the very water to create it; the sudden strength caused D to shake aside his weakness and to pull himself upward from the water. He was soon accomplishing something none of Nobel blood had ever before done, and was swimming toward the surface, at last breaking and pulling in a huge gasp of air. D was utterly astonished, now he was being pulled with the river, floating with the current…

" There ya go now! Mind over matter. You see it mostly in the heads of vampires that they can't swim…water does weaken them a lot, but more often than not they just submit to it." The hoarse little voice kept on.

Astonishment clear on his features D lifted his left hand from the water; the tiny face was still there. It smiled again at him, "Call me anything you wish."

"Thank You…Left Hand." D breathed in rare gratitude but his astonishments was short lived when he heard a frail cry to the right of him, and a shimmer of a gown. He caught sight of his mother being pulled along with the strong current; saw her feeble attempt to move…she'd survived the plunge! How could that have been!

Without another thought D kicked swiftly over to were she'd been, moving with the strength and speed that no dhampir could ever hope to have in the water, and using the swift pull of the water to his advantage. He gathered Mina's slight form into his arms, and with a series of powerful kicks broke the current and made for the shore. Mina's bloodied hands grasped weakly at his arms as he struggled forward.

"Can you swim Mother? I am not very good…" he asked in desperation, feeling the weight of her pulling him down, but she did not answer. He'd pressed her head to her chest with his left hand, and a chill skated down his spine as that strange voice spoke again, "I had to put her to sleep there…she's in a lot of pain. She'll only just slow you down."

It seemed like hours passed before D at last pulled himself up onto the solid ground and set his mother down on the muddy grass. He said nothing as he gazed down at her body but the despair marked his face. He could tell by the limp way she laid, and the strange angle her limbs were set at the fall must have broken near every bone in her body, blood was pouring not only from her wrists but her mouth, nose and ears. For no reason he placed his left hand upon her shoulder, she then began to stir awake but the plaintive, gasping screams that rushed past her lips were enough for D to wish that she were not. Perhaps all these years of being bitten by a creature of the darkness of occasionally sharing his blood had given her a lingering thread of immortality…enough to survive that lethal fall, but it was clear now by the agony in her pale face that thread was soon to snap.

"Mother…"

"D…" she whimpered. There was no madness in her eyes now, only paramount pain and regret.

"I am sorry Mother…" even D did not believe that painful lump in his throat that made it so hard for him to speak, that summoned a sob from his rigid voice. Had he ever before cried? Mina had once told him he'd never even cried as a child.

"I didn't mean…I never…I didn't know what to do once I came here… I couldn't control…" a million excuses came to his mind but none of them could justify the way he'd tormented her these past few years. The way he'd destroyed the only person he'd ever loved. It must have been true what the humans screamed in their rebellion, slavery and death throes…perhaps the vampire race truly was damned. Fated to destroy all they touched and cared for. The first tears to have ever touched his cheeks began to slip down the side of D's face; they were as crimson as the blood that stained Mina's gown.

Mina's wavering eyes caught her sons, and she managed to speak softly, "Don't cry D, not for me."

"Mother…" he only sobbed all the harder and gently cradled her closer. The sobs had taken him captive now and were wrenched painfully from him. He was distantly aware of the fact that he hated the involuntary grip of this emotional attack, the way it stung his eyes and twisted his face, but more so than anything else he was aware of the dreadful thumping of his heart and the knowledge that this would be the last time he would ever look upon his mothers face. Soon he would have to commit her to the cold Earth, and abandon her to rot and crumble into dust. He wished desperately that he could silence those terrible cries that welled every so often from her lips, to stanch the flow of her blood that was carrying the life from her even swifter but there could be no hope for her now…not if she was resistant to the cursed blood. Only one thing would silence those cries.

"I never wanted any of this D…I never wanted to fall in love with the night. I never wanted to raise its child." Her voice was barley understood even to D's keen ears. "But I did. I love you still. Will you promise me to fight the darkness wherever you see it? There are so many like me that cannot dream because of the shadows…will you give them a chance?"

D nodded, "I will slay every vampire in this world and the next for you." He took a faltering breath, "I need to tell you something. Do you recall when we were running that every birthday I used to give you white flowers?"

She nodded, tears now slipping down her cheeks.

"I never stopped. Not even when I come here. You found them right…the flowers just outside your window, on your bed or your doorway? They where mine. I missed you Mother."

The slightest smile crossed her bloodied lips, "I thought they where from…"

"No."

With the hand that he had not crushed she weakly took his own hand, "Never fall…" her voice faded away in mid sentence along with the light in her eyes as Mina died in his arms. He could almost feel the exodus of her soul as it vanished from her body, and transcended to a place he could not ever hope to find. He was certain that she was invoking her stern words so many years ago to never to fall in love.

"I promise." He ground out brokenly to her lifeless husk, " I'll never fall in love, and I'll always be strong, for you. I remember what you told me, love is more terrible than hate, and it's all an illusion. I won't fall for it…" the rest of D's words were lost in the flood of tears that soon followed. He bent low over the body of his mother and for an hour or two wept his tears of blood that flowed like the river that had ultimately claimed her life, just as it had claimed the life of Dracula's first mortal wife so many eons ago. The final illusion of security and love he'd clung to all of these years was gone. Now there was nobody left for him in this world to cling to…no reason, no drive at all save for the promise he'd made her.

D did not ever think he would summon the courage to rise from that spot but at some point he did sit up, and he closed Mina's lifeless eyes to the stars that they blankly reflected, to all the world. He then tore the long train off her gown, and used this to gently shroud her cold body. As he covered her he noticed that she was still clutching the jeweled pendant in her hand, but now it was only the strange sapphire set in gold. It appeared the repulsive symbol had been knocked off in the fall. Lightly he pulled the chain from her hands and then slipped it around his neck. That was all that he had left of her now, this and fragile memories that already seem to be fading before his eyes.

He gathered her in his arms and took her away from the riverside, shocked that his father had not yet found them. When he reached the forest he set her down and began to dig, in only moments he'd dug a grave deep enough for her to lie in and planting a kiss on her shrouded forehead he lay her down in her shallow grave and hid her from the world. As an afterthought he took two thick branches and using cloth from his own costume he tied them together into the shape that the Nobility could not bear. He did not even feel the pain in his hands as they burned when he plunged the symbol into the ground. His hands fell away from the marker and he only stared solemnly down at the pitiful mound of earth. All that remained of the woman he'd loved and then destroyed by his own curse. He began to speak words of an ancient prayer he'd heard often from the humans, words he hardly understood the meaning of but he spoke them nonetheless, unable to find any others.

I herby commit my beloved

Into the eternal rest of Thy kingdom,

Into the dreams of Thy gentle arms.

Neither great nor small are we;

Off into the distance we go, only to be born again,

And thus we are called the far wanders.

Though we wander the earth seeking Thee,

No answers are given,

Naught but shadows do we see in this troubled world.

Yet we know not fear;

The words of silence are known to us,

And as we see the unseen,

We are Thee and Thou art us.

This far wander I now commit to Thee.

Minutes passed as D stared emptily down at his mothers grave, then back up at the looming grey stoned castle. Lights were blazing in every window, and he could distantly hear the shouts and murmurs that filled the castle as rumor spread that the Queen and the dhampir Prince were dead. He could even hear the violent, broken sobs of his father. D's own tears had since run dry.

"You killed her. " he whispered to the darkness. "You cursed her with darkness, with me. But she will have her vengeance. I can promise you that, father. I will hunt you and every other creature of the night down and destroy you."

D's knees gave out from under him and he collapsed into a heap onto the twisted mass of soil and roots beneath him. He was panting so hard that his lungs were screaming with each convulsive gasp, he tasted blood in his mouth. His whole body throbbed with aches; he was exhausted and horribly thirsty. All of this was quite understandable; he'd been running twice as fast as his cyborg horse for almost 24 hours and Cthulhu was now only an hour or so away. Vampires were capable of incredible bursts of speed, but those distances where usually very short as the exhaustion strong and quickly. The fact that D had been running so long without faltering was almost unheard of.

"Is that…oh no!" the symbiote cried in horror.

"I know. I smell it to." D rasped in agony.

There was a thick and rank scent being carried along with the wind clearly coming in the direction of Cthulhu, it was the smell of blood and of ash. D could faintly hear the voice of the wind amidst his pain; hear the agonized and sorrowful song it was singing. It was all to clear that Dracula had reached the village and left his mark upon it.

"You know what you have to do D, now just do it! Here, let me help you…" there was a munching sound beneath D's palm that clinched down into the earth. A moment later strength flooded back into D's body and he pulled himself back up, taking in his surroundings. He was now in a small wood, there should be plenty for him to feed upon. D only needed to take a few steps before he stumbled upon the scent of deer flesh, and hungrily followed it to its source. The slender doe only had time to snap it's head up from were it was grazing before D descended upon in it like a shadow, seized it's sinewy neck and bit down into its flesh.

He had to force himself to swallow the poor creatures lifeblood, not only revolted by what he had to do, but also repulsed by the taste. It seemed so watery and thin compared to the vibrant blood of his lover, to that luscious fount he'd lived off of for three years during moments of utmost passion. How could he stomach anything else? His body was screaming only for her blood, while his heart ached all the deeper knowing it was all to likely that he might never know it again.

Still no matter how vacant it tasted the blood was blood, and it revitalized him enough to push aside the exhaustion enough to began to run again. He was considerably slower now, running only about as fast as a swift, and fit human man, and woods and hillsides hindered him but at last an hour later he crested the final hillside. Night had began to fall.

Not far below lay the sea and nestled sleepily on it's sandy shores lay Cthulhu, small and diminutive with only it's piers daring to cast any connection to the world outside of it. Now, however it lay wreathed in flames, and it appeared that a grotesque woodland had sprung up just outside of it. But the trees were tall, thick spears and their foliage were the writhing bodies of victims that hung upon their end. Very few of them were dead. Where once only the soft roar of the ocean could be heard was the hellish screams of humans and the feral roars of undead beasts.