Chapter 10: Farther down the road
The Countess Lily was breathtaking. 'Shame I'd have to kill her,' thought D to himself. The Vampiress stopped just a few feet away from him and wave a graceful wave of her hand with claw-like nails, she dismissed the Mutants, but they did not entirely leave. They had disappeared into shadows of the long hallway and the Hunter could sense them there. He was curious…wouldn't she know the same?
D looked up. The corners of his mouth were turned down and his hat cast a shadow over his eyes. "Where is the girl…"
Lily chuckled softly, the white of her fangs showing. "The child? Oh you have no need to worry…She has a destiny to fulfill.
"If you harm her, I'll--"
"You'll what?" Lily ran her slender fingers through a lock of her white hair. "There's nothing you can do, Dhamphire."
D did not reply. He simply seemed to be studying the ground. His face looked as if he had given in to defeat and realized there was nothing he could do about it.
"I know very well you hunt your own kind, and it is punishment to any Vampire, any where that death is the consequence for killing your own kind. But what intrigues me Mister Vampire Hunter, is that you not only kill them, you hunt them, and yet, you are one…"
The enchanting Countess lowered herself to his level. She sat neatly in front of him, her white hair streaked with silver seemed like a timeless waterfall cascading off her shoulders, down her back and on the stone floor. D lowered his head, shielding more of his face. He was not ashamed of her words, but it gave Lily the impression he was bizarrely ashamed of her beauty.
"It's a shame I'm going to have to kill you, you seem like you've lived so long and came so far, but your quest for immortal death ends here, Dhamphire…"
Lily rose up and turned her head to the shadows. "Bring me the child."
The faintest sound of footsteps was heard scurrying off and after a few moments which felt like eternity to D, they returned clutching the precious child he swore to protect and deliver safe to her family. He couldn't allow this, he just couldn't allow them to hurt her. They could hurt him all they pleased, he would heal, but not the girl, not the innocent…
The Countess walked in silent steps over to where Gormain held Araydia and Aurelio and Rufus watched. Ray's hair was a tangled mess and her bright eyes glimmered on the verge of tears. As Lily approached with her white hair streaming behind her, Gormain pulled the top of Ray's hair back which tilted up her face. The girl clutched her teeth in agony, the position revealing the girl's untouched and smooth neck.
The Vampiress gently reached out her hand and ran her delicate fingers over the girl's throat, feeling the pulse of her heart beating in her veins. She then brought her hand back and smacked the girl clear across the cheek, sending her view facing a completely different way and some of her hair had been ripped out.
Araydia held in a whimper the best she could but her cheek and tender area of her scalp stung.
Lily turned to face D. "Does this anger you?"
D said nothing. He hadn't even lifted his head.
The Countess took this in and gave a small snort. She then faced the girl once more. Ray looked up at her with fear in her eyes and this time, the Vampiress dealt the girl a striking blow with inhuman strength, not just turning her head, but her body ended up a few feet away. The child doubled over in pain. D heard a 'crack' sound in that one.
"Stop." Came his voice, only enough to get the Vampiress' attention.
"Had enough, have you? That's exactly what your ancestors must have felt like when you rose up against them. I have been called rather ruthless, and this child that you seem to care about so much will just have to watch you die. Out of respect for you, I will kill her after you are dead, but you can be left haunted by her screams."
"Nooooo!" Araydia called. Gormain only tightened his grip on her and Lily did not seem to have any compassion at all. Aurelio stepped forward with a golden dagger. It was a ceremonial weapon for human sacrifices, but it could very well kill a Vampire. Maybe not an incredibly powerful one, but all your typical Vampire needs is a piercing through the heart, and that's the end of his immortal existence.
The Countess Lily grasped the long dagger in her pale hand, it was barely short of being called a sword.
And poor Ray, the poor little girl who's lifestyle was not suppose to be like this. Not a farm girl like her. Now she was mingle in between Vampire affairs and she didn't want D to die…the only man who had ever taken care of her, had never been angered by her, even if it was what he was suppose to do, she just couldn't watch him die. She would be left with the same fate after he was dead…
The poor child's knees were trembling as Lily knelt down once more and pointed the blade at him. D's head was still hung and Araydia didn't understand one thing…
"You can't kill him!!" She screamed. "If his punishment for killing is death for killing a Vampire, then you're doing the same thing! He could rule over you if he wanted!"
"Quiet!" Shouted Aurelio.
"No…" replied the Vampiress. "What do you mean he could rule over me?"
Ray hung her head to let the tears fall. "D, I know your secret. I knew you where part Vampire, but last night you murmured things in your sleep, you were haunted by it…"
"She has nothing important to say, quiet her," said Lily as she waved her hand.
"You can't kill him, He's Dracula!!" she sobbed.
D still hadn't looked up, nor replied. Lily looked back at the Hunter in shock.
"She's lying Mistress! Obviously the child is delirious."
"Silence, Rufus."
The Countess studied D for a moment and shook her head. "Dracula is dead. He was burned in the Massacre, only fire can kill such Vampires as Our Lord. He is far too young looking to be any Aristocrat of Importance."
Aurelio tilted her hand and studied D for a moment as well. "But…didn't Our Lord have a son?"
Lily stood frozen and furrowed her fair brow. "Yes, but…his son is dead. There's no way humans or Vampires would have allowed him to live. Or…did they?"
The immortal woman stepped close to D after she set the dagger off to one side and pulled the hat off from his head. The hat fell from her fingers when she beheld the filthy creature she was about to kill who looked exactly like the infamous Aristocrat himself.
"It can't be…" The Vampiress shook her head and Aurelio's mouth lay gaping. "After all these years, these rumors, and they are true…" Lily reached out her hand and gently stroked his cheek, then unpredictably she racked her claws/nails across his cheek. D grimaced in pain as the hot blood trickled down his cheek and jaw.
"You are a traitor! You disgust me! You were to be our Dark Lord, our salvation, and you threw it all away to be with filthy humans!" She shouted and then whispered, "But I can give you a last chance…"
Lily reached out her two delicate hands and cupped his jaw, pulling him closer and he allowed her to swiftly lap the blood off his cheek. She then brushed the bangs out of his eyes, but he would not bring himself to look at her. "I can give you a whole new generation…" She whispered in his ear.
The Vampiress stood up and made her way back under the dim window light. It was obviously night now, ever since Lily had appeared. D quickly wondered how long they had been in this castle.
"For years I had searched for the perfect Vampire. To be loved by a Noble man. One who knew how to treat a lady, a Vampiress. I wanted to be a mother while I was in my prime, to bare a powerful child, the child that would be the next Ruler of the Vampires. But no….My chance was over once that Human filth had been taken as the Aristocrat's bride and bore him a child."
She paced back and forth, her hair flowing behind her, her gown.
"I had to have her killed. And so I did. But the baby was too well guarded, and I lost my servants instead. And that filthy unworthy creature grew up." Lily glanced at D, "It grew up into a man, neither Vampire, or Human, but beautiful non the less."
Lily knelt down and ran her fingers through the man's dark locks. "Don't think for once you got your beauty from that filthy woman, you got your beauty from your father, and by far, you surpass him…And so…I don't believe I have failed. I wanted to be along side of an Aristocrat and bare him a powerful son," this time, D was catching on to something, he raised his gaze and his dark blue eyes met her icy silver, "And now I think I shall…"
Araydia had been well aware of all the conversation that had taken place, and her eyes widen when she heard those words escape from Lily's mouth. She was to make D the father of her child.
Ray couldn't grasp this concept, she wouldn't allow it to set in, she felt like she didn't need to. She knew perfectly well that D held a code of honor and wouldn't sire the offspring of something he hated as much as a Vampire. The girl wasn't going to allow herself to worry, but then, Lily shot her a look of pure malice.
The Vampiress approached Ray. "Such a pretty thing you are. Do you know what I'm going to do to you?" Lily said all this as if she was addressing Ray like she were her child, a child awaiting a harsh punishment, "You will become one of us, my child. You will be a creature of the damned and never again to see the sunlight of the earth. That will be your reward and your punishment, if my lord does not agree to my wish."
"I'll never become a bitchy Vampire like you, my punishment would really be listening to you PMS all of eternity!"
The Vampiress tossed her head back and laughed. "I'm going to have fun torturing you all of eternity. And D has no choice. He either grants me my wish, or he will have to watch an innocent girl be taken into Darkness." Lily looked over at D, "What'll it be my Dark Prince? Your seed or the girl's damnation?"
The man clutched his teeth together. He couldn't allow such a thing to fall upon Ray. It was more of a burden on his shoulders than anyone could imagine. Such an innocent creature to fall from grace and it would be purely his fault, but then, if she weren't to be damned, he would have to surrender himself to the very Vampire he could hate more than his father, the one who killed the only person in the world he thought would understand him. She had killed his beloved mother.
And this would leave him to forever be her captive until he could brake away. She would bare his child, and this child would in time be as powerful as him, if not more. More bloodshed, more innocent lives lost, either one was against his code of honor and against his entire being.
And still, after all this contemplating, D hadn't replied to Lily. She was not familiar with patience being a virtue and figured he was not going to answer. Very well. She would put temptation right under his nose.
She pulled Araydia from Gormain's grasp and held the girl by the arms so tight her nails left puncture marks in her delicate wrists. She forced Araydia to lean slightly into D's lap and tilted her head by pulling at her hair. Her throat was exposed and so near to his mouth. The smell of the blood on her wrists carried an aroma long forgotten into the air and into his nose. His breathing increased and he looked away.
"You cannot fight it, it is your nature."
This breathing was starting to thicken and the girl could feel his breath across her throat. Chills ran down her spine as she shut her eyes tight.
"Such a beautiful thing she is, and how lonely you always think you are, and yet you can surround yourself, give yourself to any woman you choose and you don't allow yourself. You don't think a man like you is capable of love." She was reading his mind. She had been the entire time. "How so many men would take a woman by pleasure and you prefer pain. Your secret fantasies are not of pleasure, but of your Vampire nature. Don't lie to yourself, you _want_ her. You want to make her part of you, you want to feed on her…"
He was squeezing his hands so tight his nails dug into the palms of his hands, the grunts he was fighting back were more clear as long, sharp fangs started to protrude from the corners of his mouth. His eyes were radiating an iridescent blue. The pounding of Ray's heart was like a drum in his ears, getting louder and louder with each heartbeat. He could hear the warm blood coursing through her veins.
"You want her…You owe it to yourself…" The beautiful Vampiress whispered.
D let out a meek 'no' as his fangs took their full form. Long, thick at the gum line and slender as they made their way down to the tips, just the look of them looked incredibly sharp. They were a magnificent set he no doubt inherited from his father and the drool started to collect at the edge of his lip. It was too much, he was fighting as hard as he could with the aroma of blood, the smell of panic and fear and the drumming of her heartbeat, he would give in any second. And this is what the Countess wanted, to bring out his Vampire side.
And just when Ray felt the sharp tips of his canines, the breathing pattern of his hot breath quicken, a voice rang in D's head. Not the voices of long ago, the soft voice of an innocent girl not aware of the monster she put her hands in willingly; 'I know you won't hurt me D, I trust you.' And then that sweet smile.
He started to pull back and summoning all the strength and will power he had, all of what he stood for, he chomped his jaws shut. The fangs stabbed into his gums like knifes.
"Grant me my wish…" Lily whispered.
"Fine." D said through clutched teeth. "Just let her go…"
The Vampiress smirked, wickedly pleased. She pulled the girl back and released her from the tight grip. "Very well. I will let her go and she will not be harmed."
Aurelio took the girl into her grasp, but in a gentler manner. Lily gave a wave of her hand and dismissed Rufus and Gormain. Surprisingly they had not taken Ray with them like D thought. Lily soon cleared up his question.
"The girl can watch." She gave a fanged smile.
Araydia gasped and averted her eyes all upon hearing this. She would squirm her way out of she needed, she closed her eyes and tried to make an effort to put her hands to her ears in that innocent little girl fashion, but Aurelio's grip wasn't as loose as she thought, just more gentle.
Lily seated herself comfortably as she allowed herself to stroke D's hair. "How I've waited for this for so long…"
The lovely unearthly woman leaned forward, placing her hands on the ground and kissing the masculine jaw line of the Hunter. His teeth had not vanished completely and she could feel them steel being clutched behind his lips. She then made her way to his lips and placed a full passionate kiss on them.
Ray could hear the sounds of her sloppy kissing.
Lily brought her hand up to caress the side of his cheek where she had scratched him and seemed a bit displeased he was not kissing her back. She then propped herself on her knees and straddled herself across D's waist, still kissing him, trying to unlock his innermost passions, and feeling all the more disgruntled. Upon bringing her lips back to meet the Hunter's she seemed bothered by his reluctantless.
"Have you not pledged me my wish?" She asked in a tone that made him feel he was not keeping his side of the bargain.
"The child…" He whispered.
She gave a sly grin. Had he meant he felt uncomfortable with the child in their midst? That he couldn't express his true passions with an innocent creature in the room? Whatever it was, even though she wanted to make the girl suffer, she was the one suffering. If that was the case, Araydia would have to leave the room.
"Aurelio, take her upstairs."
"Yes, Mistress."
The female Mutant did as she was told, but right before Ray disappeared under the shadows of the hallway, she gazed once more into the eyes of the man she trusted. D even brought himself to look at her before she left. What he saw in those eyes he could not tell, but they seemed to be saying; I trust you.
As if instantly when Araydia had left, Lily straddled D's waist and began caressing his hair as if she had known him for years, revealing such affection. A gentle finger traced its way across his strong jaw and the Countess smiled.
"It's pathetic to try and lock up your Vampire half. I think it's more…suiting."
"More suiting…?"
She began planting gentle kisses across his lips, even running her tongue across his fangs. It sent chills down her spine.
"It's more suiting that you are like this…" She hissed and began to try and find a way for him to shed his skin-tight outfit. It outlined the beautiful muscles of his chest perfectly, but then he always covered them up with that hideous cloak!
And what was D to do…to force himself into something, to give his highest form of affection to the one Creature of Darkness he hated more than any other. The one who killed his mother. How ridiculous of her to bare his son…
Lily's lustrous, silky white hair hung from her face and brushed against the man. He could literally hear the increasing beat of her heart, slightly increasing with his own.
"Kiss me, son of Dracula…"
D shuddered at the thought, but Vampires had a different way of kissing, the kind that drew blood.
Lily bit her own tongue, gently on the tip with her sharp fangs, just enough to be irresistible. The smell of the Vampiresses blood was overwhelming. The Hunter would do anything to resist the blood of a human, but the blood of Vampire? He never tried, but it didn't seem to apply to his code of honor. What harm in the blood of a Vampire could come to him? D leaned into the 'Vampire Kiss'.
By now, with her lips completely locked with 'her Prince' in the sweet and bloody embrace, she couldn't remember a more satisfying moment. He was in his full Vampire form now, and his eyes were producing a beautiful blue glow. His fangs were fully mature. And then D didn't know what came over him…
He began to shed her clothing as quickly as she shed his, though neither was fully exposed. The Vampiress' body was as lustrous as her face, completely pale with gothic beauty all over. Her pale arms and slender fingers were completely wrapped around D's neck and tangled in his thick hair. Her slightly sagging breasts pressed firmly against his chest. Every now and then, as D would run a hand with claw-like nails across her body, a soft moan would escape her lips, with the essence of blood in the corner of her mouth.
She was lying with her soft back pressed against the cold floor of her dungeon and the pressure of D's weight on top of her. His lips were tracing the tender jaw of her cheek and up to her ear. As Lily's plan was falling into place, so was D's.
He stretched his free arm out to retrieve something while his other arm was wrapped around Lily.
"It's been so long since I've experienced something like this…" she whispered in his ear.
"It's been the same with me as well…" D whispered back, trying to keep her as diverted and unsuspicious as possible. And with this, a pale, slender hand ran across her stomach and across her breasts. She let out a gasp by the coldness of his hand against her body. D could have never thought anything was so melodramatic.
He began tracing around the firmness of her bust and she tossed her head back with her eyes close. Indeed she was a beautiful creature, so warped up in her own obsessions to pay attention to anything outside of her own pleasures. This was her naïve move, the distraction. Completely oblivious to D's other hand she thought was resting behind her head, to the hand caressing her breasts, the other hand quickly drew up and D plunged the dagger that had been disregarded on the dungeon floor into her heart!
"You seriously think I could ever show any love to the Vampire that killed my mother! Wanted to destroy my, and my fathers life for her own selfish reasons! It's suitable…" By the end of his sentence, his voice had dropped to a passionate whisper.
"What's….suitable…?" The Countess choked.
"That I be the one to kill you, return to hell!" And he drove the dagger in farther, it couldn't have just pierced her heart, but went right through. The heart. The very thing that pumped the blood throughout a Vampires body, it could no longer pump, and this is what brings the immortality of a Vampire to its end.
And as with every Castle without it's King, it crumbles. As soon as the blood of it's Master touches its walls and floors, it falls.
D struggled to quickly dress himself and knew he had little time, he didn't know how deep in Lily's fortress he was, and the possibility of a main entrance collapsing was highly possible. He also didn't know where to find Araydia…
The howl of a Vampire's corpse is a blood-curdling one. Lily's eyes by now had sunken into her sockets and the blood gurgled from her mouth, even in tiny bubbles. D averted his eyes, but even the spots of blood that squirted out of her precious heart were stained on the cobble stone walls. The ground was shaking all around him, he had to get out.
The man placed his hat on his head and once again felt like D the Hunter, and not D the disgraceful Vampire. And with only one way of escape, he plunged into the dark hallway where Ray last disappeared.
Human eyes could have never found their way through, but his eyes could. His feet plunged up the steps and through the labyrinth of corridors. D managed to make it up to what was a main level, above the cellar rooms, but no where to find Araydia. Not a Mutant running to defend it's Master, not a scream.
And then he heard it. A cry of help in desperation, the cry of a young girl. He plunged into the direction of the voice, careless of the debris falling around him, willing to crush his head. The rumble of the castle falling and groaning in agony caught him off balance as the floor split in two.
"Hang on, Ray!"
He staggered to catch his balance but managed to get back on his feet in no time. The man ran down some hallway in what he thought he heard Ray's voice and barged into a door. A what he found was a sight for soar eyes. He never thought he would be so relieved as to see Araydia completely unharmed and safe, but unfortunately, guarded fiercely by a Mutant willing to seek revenge on it's Mistress and in the way of him getting Araydia. He didn't have the time to fight Aurelio.
The symbiot shouted through the rumbling cry of the castle, "You kill one, and the other two will show up like vultures to a carcass!"
D knew the demon was right. He had no time to fight the kill of the Mutants or to retrieve his weapons.
'Too damn bad, that was a great sword…' D thought to himself quickly before Araydia made a bolt him, being unchained, but the female Mutant stopped her.
"You killed the Mistress, this girl deserves to be killed!"
"Look out!" D shouted, but it was too late. The chandelier in the middle of the ceiling was too heavy to hang and it fell, drawing some of the ceiling top down with it, and fortunately, broke the skull of Aurelio in half. The contents almost splattered but were still somewhat attached. It was a disgusting sight, but the top that had crushed Aurelio had trapped Araydia by the hem of her gown.
"Pull, Ray!"
"I can't…it's got my leg…" came her gentle voice. It was like knifes stabbing him, that voice didn't sound like a voice in distress, it sounded like the voice of someone who had given up.
"Ray, you've got to try…" D pleaded. "If you can't save yourself, no one can…"
His eyes were so pleading. Pleading; live. With everything falling around her, adrenaline kicked in. The boulder-like piece was heavy, but not as big as she thought. And by her own will, and the precious essence that flowed through a human to save its mortal life, she was able to pry her leg from the fallen piece and scrambled up. Though her dress was torn and as the boulder-piece fell back down to it's sunken position, crushed Aurelio's head even more.
"Don't look. Just follow my lead."
"Hurry!"
D rushed off in the opposite direction from when he came and the girl followed close behind. He didn't know how long until the other Mutants would appear, but he hoped they were already dead. Ray was allowing quite some distance to pull between them. He was rather good at dodging falling boulders and such, she was having a hard time.
He rushed back and picked her up in time and slung her over his shoulder. D had go with his gut feeling to find an exit from the castle, and luckily, he managed to find one. No Mutants in sight.
_____________________________________________
In a well-sized cottage on the edge of a forest D sat overlooking a window as the soon fell behind the mountains in the distance. Horses grazed the inside pastures of acres of meadow and Araydia's niece, Lina, was running along the pathway up the house, through the shadows of the blowing trees. Yes, Araydia had been delivered safely to her family, and even though they had only last saw her when she was a baby, her Aunt and Uncle loved her as if she were their own child. And already, Ray and Lina were behaving like sisters. Which included Lina finding Ray's diary and running around screaming "D! MY UNDYING LOVE FOR YOU—" "GIVE IT BACK!"
The Hunter couldn't help but feel that feeling inside he couldn't explain when everything was over. The battle was won, and the innocent were, once again, happy. He had stayed there for a few days until his wounds had healed and he could regain his strength with rest. D knew by morning, he must be gone. He told Ray he would stay another day, even though it was a fib, it was for the best. Good-byes were not D's best subjects, and he didn't believe in saying good-bye when truly, you might see those departed friends again.
Whatever it was, he managed to get through a night with sleep and by morning, when Araydia hurried into his room right before the sun had came up, she found him gone, with everything still neatly in its place as it was before.
"No…"
"Ray!? What are you doing up so—"
Araydia ran past Lina and in her nightgown as fast as she could to find D far down the road at a light trot.
"Wait!! Oh please, wait for me! If you don't stop right now D, I'll make sure that freak on your hand never shuts up!"
And she finally caught up to him. Completely out of breath and panting, he stepped down from his robotic horse to give her a polite hug when she threw herself on him, supporting herself by her arms around his neck and gave him a full kiss on the lips. His eyes widened in surprised, but D was D. True to his code, he wouldn't allow himself to kiss her back, but he enjoyed it none the less.
"I wish you didn't have to leave D, I love you, take me with you!"
"You know I can't do that."
"Yes you can, I can keep your hand company!"
D gave her a light smile, truly award-winning coming from a person like him.
"I'll never forget you, Araydia…"
And he never did. Even years after he learned she had been killed during yet another great war that broke out between the massive countries for possessions between governments and world leaders, he never forgot her. He will always continue his quest to wipe the Vampire Race from the Earth. But you never know, maybe one day, he will come trotting through your small town…
The Countess Lily was breathtaking. 'Shame I'd have to kill her,' thought D to himself. The Vampiress stopped just a few feet away from him and wave a graceful wave of her hand with claw-like nails, she dismissed the Mutants, but they did not entirely leave. They had disappeared into shadows of the long hallway and the Hunter could sense them there. He was curious…wouldn't she know the same?
D looked up. The corners of his mouth were turned down and his hat cast a shadow over his eyes. "Where is the girl…"
Lily chuckled softly, the white of her fangs showing. "The child? Oh you have no need to worry…She has a destiny to fulfill.
"If you harm her, I'll--"
"You'll what?" Lily ran her slender fingers through a lock of her white hair. "There's nothing you can do, Dhamphire."
D did not reply. He simply seemed to be studying the ground. His face looked as if he had given in to defeat and realized there was nothing he could do about it.
"I know very well you hunt your own kind, and it is punishment to any Vampire, any where that death is the consequence for killing your own kind. But what intrigues me Mister Vampire Hunter, is that you not only kill them, you hunt them, and yet, you are one…"
The enchanting Countess lowered herself to his level. She sat neatly in front of him, her white hair streaked with silver seemed like a timeless waterfall cascading off her shoulders, down her back and on the stone floor. D lowered his head, shielding more of his face. He was not ashamed of her words, but it gave Lily the impression he was bizarrely ashamed of her beauty.
"It's a shame I'm going to have to kill you, you seem like you've lived so long and came so far, but your quest for immortal death ends here, Dhamphire…"
Lily rose up and turned her head to the shadows. "Bring me the child."
The faintest sound of footsteps was heard scurrying off and after a few moments which felt like eternity to D, they returned clutching the precious child he swore to protect and deliver safe to her family. He couldn't allow this, he just couldn't allow them to hurt her. They could hurt him all they pleased, he would heal, but not the girl, not the innocent…
The Countess walked in silent steps over to where Gormain held Araydia and Aurelio and Rufus watched. Ray's hair was a tangled mess and her bright eyes glimmered on the verge of tears. As Lily approached with her white hair streaming behind her, Gormain pulled the top of Ray's hair back which tilted up her face. The girl clutched her teeth in agony, the position revealing the girl's untouched and smooth neck.
The Vampiress gently reached out her hand and ran her delicate fingers over the girl's throat, feeling the pulse of her heart beating in her veins. She then brought her hand back and smacked the girl clear across the cheek, sending her view facing a completely different way and some of her hair had been ripped out.
Araydia held in a whimper the best she could but her cheek and tender area of her scalp stung.
Lily turned to face D. "Does this anger you?"
D said nothing. He hadn't even lifted his head.
The Countess took this in and gave a small snort. She then faced the girl once more. Ray looked up at her with fear in her eyes and this time, the Vampiress dealt the girl a striking blow with inhuman strength, not just turning her head, but her body ended up a few feet away. The child doubled over in pain. D heard a 'crack' sound in that one.
"Stop." Came his voice, only enough to get the Vampiress' attention.
"Had enough, have you? That's exactly what your ancestors must have felt like when you rose up against them. I have been called rather ruthless, and this child that you seem to care about so much will just have to watch you die. Out of respect for you, I will kill her after you are dead, but you can be left haunted by her screams."
"Nooooo!" Araydia called. Gormain only tightened his grip on her and Lily did not seem to have any compassion at all. Aurelio stepped forward with a golden dagger. It was a ceremonial weapon for human sacrifices, but it could very well kill a Vampire. Maybe not an incredibly powerful one, but all your typical Vampire needs is a piercing through the heart, and that's the end of his immortal existence.
The Countess Lily grasped the long dagger in her pale hand, it was barely short of being called a sword.
And poor Ray, the poor little girl who's lifestyle was not suppose to be like this. Not a farm girl like her. Now she was mingle in between Vampire affairs and she didn't want D to die…the only man who had ever taken care of her, had never been angered by her, even if it was what he was suppose to do, she just couldn't watch him die. She would be left with the same fate after he was dead…
The poor child's knees were trembling as Lily knelt down once more and pointed the blade at him. D's head was still hung and Araydia didn't understand one thing…
"You can't kill him!!" She screamed. "If his punishment for killing is death for killing a Vampire, then you're doing the same thing! He could rule over you if he wanted!"
"Quiet!" Shouted Aurelio.
"No…" replied the Vampiress. "What do you mean he could rule over me?"
Ray hung her head to let the tears fall. "D, I know your secret. I knew you where part Vampire, but last night you murmured things in your sleep, you were haunted by it…"
"She has nothing important to say, quiet her," said Lily as she waved her hand.
"You can't kill him, He's Dracula!!" she sobbed.
D still hadn't looked up, nor replied. Lily looked back at the Hunter in shock.
"She's lying Mistress! Obviously the child is delirious."
"Silence, Rufus."
The Countess studied D for a moment and shook her head. "Dracula is dead. He was burned in the Massacre, only fire can kill such Vampires as Our Lord. He is far too young looking to be any Aristocrat of Importance."
Aurelio tilted her hand and studied D for a moment as well. "But…didn't Our Lord have a son?"
Lily stood frozen and furrowed her fair brow. "Yes, but…his son is dead. There's no way humans or Vampires would have allowed him to live. Or…did they?"
The immortal woman stepped close to D after she set the dagger off to one side and pulled the hat off from his head. The hat fell from her fingers when she beheld the filthy creature she was about to kill who looked exactly like the infamous Aristocrat himself.
"It can't be…" The Vampiress shook her head and Aurelio's mouth lay gaping. "After all these years, these rumors, and they are true…" Lily reached out her hand and gently stroked his cheek, then unpredictably she racked her claws/nails across his cheek. D grimaced in pain as the hot blood trickled down his cheek and jaw.
"You are a traitor! You disgust me! You were to be our Dark Lord, our salvation, and you threw it all away to be with filthy humans!" She shouted and then whispered, "But I can give you a last chance…"
Lily reached out her two delicate hands and cupped his jaw, pulling him closer and he allowed her to swiftly lap the blood off his cheek. She then brushed the bangs out of his eyes, but he would not bring himself to look at her. "I can give you a whole new generation…" She whispered in his ear.
The Vampiress stood up and made her way back under the dim window light. It was obviously night now, ever since Lily had appeared. D quickly wondered how long they had been in this castle.
"For years I had searched for the perfect Vampire. To be loved by a Noble man. One who knew how to treat a lady, a Vampiress. I wanted to be a mother while I was in my prime, to bare a powerful child, the child that would be the next Ruler of the Vampires. But no….My chance was over once that Human filth had been taken as the Aristocrat's bride and bore him a child."
She paced back and forth, her hair flowing behind her, her gown.
"I had to have her killed. And so I did. But the baby was too well guarded, and I lost my servants instead. And that filthy unworthy creature grew up." Lily glanced at D, "It grew up into a man, neither Vampire, or Human, but beautiful non the less."
Lily knelt down and ran her fingers through the man's dark locks. "Don't think for once you got your beauty from that filthy woman, you got your beauty from your father, and by far, you surpass him…And so…I don't believe I have failed. I wanted to be along side of an Aristocrat and bare him a powerful son," this time, D was catching on to something, he raised his gaze and his dark blue eyes met her icy silver, "And now I think I shall…"
Araydia had been well aware of all the conversation that had taken place, and her eyes widen when she heard those words escape from Lily's mouth. She was to make D the father of her child.
Ray couldn't grasp this concept, she wouldn't allow it to set in, she felt like she didn't need to. She knew perfectly well that D held a code of honor and wouldn't sire the offspring of something he hated as much as a Vampire. The girl wasn't going to allow herself to worry, but then, Lily shot her a look of pure malice.
The Vampiress approached Ray. "Such a pretty thing you are. Do you know what I'm going to do to you?" Lily said all this as if she was addressing Ray like she were her child, a child awaiting a harsh punishment, "You will become one of us, my child. You will be a creature of the damned and never again to see the sunlight of the earth. That will be your reward and your punishment, if my lord does not agree to my wish."
"I'll never become a bitchy Vampire like you, my punishment would really be listening to you PMS all of eternity!"
The Vampiress tossed her head back and laughed. "I'm going to have fun torturing you all of eternity. And D has no choice. He either grants me my wish, or he will have to watch an innocent girl be taken into Darkness." Lily looked over at D, "What'll it be my Dark Prince? Your seed or the girl's damnation?"
The man clutched his teeth together. He couldn't allow such a thing to fall upon Ray. It was more of a burden on his shoulders than anyone could imagine. Such an innocent creature to fall from grace and it would be purely his fault, but then, if she weren't to be damned, he would have to surrender himself to the very Vampire he could hate more than his father, the one who killed the only person in the world he thought would understand him. She had killed his beloved mother.
And this would leave him to forever be her captive until he could brake away. She would bare his child, and this child would in time be as powerful as him, if not more. More bloodshed, more innocent lives lost, either one was against his code of honor and against his entire being.
And still, after all this contemplating, D hadn't replied to Lily. She was not familiar with patience being a virtue and figured he was not going to answer. Very well. She would put temptation right under his nose.
She pulled Araydia from Gormain's grasp and held the girl by the arms so tight her nails left puncture marks in her delicate wrists. She forced Araydia to lean slightly into D's lap and tilted her head by pulling at her hair. Her throat was exposed and so near to his mouth. The smell of the blood on her wrists carried an aroma long forgotten into the air and into his nose. His breathing increased and he looked away.
"You cannot fight it, it is your nature."
This breathing was starting to thicken and the girl could feel his breath across her throat. Chills ran down her spine as she shut her eyes tight.
"Such a beautiful thing she is, and how lonely you always think you are, and yet you can surround yourself, give yourself to any woman you choose and you don't allow yourself. You don't think a man like you is capable of love." She was reading his mind. She had been the entire time. "How so many men would take a woman by pleasure and you prefer pain. Your secret fantasies are not of pleasure, but of your Vampire nature. Don't lie to yourself, you _want_ her. You want to make her part of you, you want to feed on her…"
He was squeezing his hands so tight his nails dug into the palms of his hands, the grunts he was fighting back were more clear as long, sharp fangs started to protrude from the corners of his mouth. His eyes were radiating an iridescent blue. The pounding of Ray's heart was like a drum in his ears, getting louder and louder with each heartbeat. He could hear the warm blood coursing through her veins.
"You want her…You owe it to yourself…" The beautiful Vampiress whispered.
D let out a meek 'no' as his fangs took their full form. Long, thick at the gum line and slender as they made their way down to the tips, just the look of them looked incredibly sharp. They were a magnificent set he no doubt inherited from his father and the drool started to collect at the edge of his lip. It was too much, he was fighting as hard as he could with the aroma of blood, the smell of panic and fear and the drumming of her heartbeat, he would give in any second. And this is what the Countess wanted, to bring out his Vampire side.
And just when Ray felt the sharp tips of his canines, the breathing pattern of his hot breath quicken, a voice rang in D's head. Not the voices of long ago, the soft voice of an innocent girl not aware of the monster she put her hands in willingly; 'I know you won't hurt me D, I trust you.' And then that sweet smile.
He started to pull back and summoning all the strength and will power he had, all of what he stood for, he chomped his jaws shut. The fangs stabbed into his gums like knifes.
"Grant me my wish…" Lily whispered.
"Fine." D said through clutched teeth. "Just let her go…"
The Vampiress smirked, wickedly pleased. She pulled the girl back and released her from the tight grip. "Very well. I will let her go and she will not be harmed."
Aurelio took the girl into her grasp, but in a gentler manner. Lily gave a wave of her hand and dismissed Rufus and Gormain. Surprisingly they had not taken Ray with them like D thought. Lily soon cleared up his question.
"The girl can watch." She gave a fanged smile.
Araydia gasped and averted her eyes all upon hearing this. She would squirm her way out of she needed, she closed her eyes and tried to make an effort to put her hands to her ears in that innocent little girl fashion, but Aurelio's grip wasn't as loose as she thought, just more gentle.
Lily seated herself comfortably as she allowed herself to stroke D's hair. "How I've waited for this for so long…"
The lovely unearthly woman leaned forward, placing her hands on the ground and kissing the masculine jaw line of the Hunter. His teeth had not vanished completely and she could feel them steel being clutched behind his lips. She then made her way to his lips and placed a full passionate kiss on them.
Ray could hear the sounds of her sloppy kissing.
Lily brought her hand up to caress the side of his cheek where she had scratched him and seemed a bit displeased he was not kissing her back. She then propped herself on her knees and straddled herself across D's waist, still kissing him, trying to unlock his innermost passions, and feeling all the more disgruntled. Upon bringing her lips back to meet the Hunter's she seemed bothered by his reluctantless.
"Have you not pledged me my wish?" She asked in a tone that made him feel he was not keeping his side of the bargain.
"The child…" He whispered.
She gave a sly grin. Had he meant he felt uncomfortable with the child in their midst? That he couldn't express his true passions with an innocent creature in the room? Whatever it was, even though she wanted to make the girl suffer, she was the one suffering. If that was the case, Araydia would have to leave the room.
"Aurelio, take her upstairs."
"Yes, Mistress."
The female Mutant did as she was told, but right before Ray disappeared under the shadows of the hallway, she gazed once more into the eyes of the man she trusted. D even brought himself to look at her before she left. What he saw in those eyes he could not tell, but they seemed to be saying; I trust you.
As if instantly when Araydia had left, Lily straddled D's waist and began caressing his hair as if she had known him for years, revealing such affection. A gentle finger traced its way across his strong jaw and the Countess smiled.
"It's pathetic to try and lock up your Vampire half. I think it's more…suiting."
"More suiting…?"
She began planting gentle kisses across his lips, even running her tongue across his fangs. It sent chills down her spine.
"It's more suiting that you are like this…" She hissed and began to try and find a way for him to shed his skin-tight outfit. It outlined the beautiful muscles of his chest perfectly, but then he always covered them up with that hideous cloak!
And what was D to do…to force himself into something, to give his highest form of affection to the one Creature of Darkness he hated more than any other. The one who killed his mother. How ridiculous of her to bare his son…
Lily's lustrous, silky white hair hung from her face and brushed against the man. He could literally hear the increasing beat of her heart, slightly increasing with his own.
"Kiss me, son of Dracula…"
D shuddered at the thought, but Vampires had a different way of kissing, the kind that drew blood.
Lily bit her own tongue, gently on the tip with her sharp fangs, just enough to be irresistible. The smell of the Vampiresses blood was overwhelming. The Hunter would do anything to resist the blood of a human, but the blood of Vampire? He never tried, but it didn't seem to apply to his code of honor. What harm in the blood of a Vampire could come to him? D leaned into the 'Vampire Kiss'.
By now, with her lips completely locked with 'her Prince' in the sweet and bloody embrace, she couldn't remember a more satisfying moment. He was in his full Vampire form now, and his eyes were producing a beautiful blue glow. His fangs were fully mature. And then D didn't know what came over him…
He began to shed her clothing as quickly as she shed his, though neither was fully exposed. The Vampiress' body was as lustrous as her face, completely pale with gothic beauty all over. Her pale arms and slender fingers were completely wrapped around D's neck and tangled in his thick hair. Her slightly sagging breasts pressed firmly against his chest. Every now and then, as D would run a hand with claw-like nails across her body, a soft moan would escape her lips, with the essence of blood in the corner of her mouth.
She was lying with her soft back pressed against the cold floor of her dungeon and the pressure of D's weight on top of her. His lips were tracing the tender jaw of her cheek and up to her ear. As Lily's plan was falling into place, so was D's.
He stretched his free arm out to retrieve something while his other arm was wrapped around Lily.
"It's been so long since I've experienced something like this…" she whispered in his ear.
"It's been the same with me as well…" D whispered back, trying to keep her as diverted and unsuspicious as possible. And with this, a pale, slender hand ran across her stomach and across her breasts. She let out a gasp by the coldness of his hand against her body. D could have never thought anything was so melodramatic.
He began tracing around the firmness of her bust and she tossed her head back with her eyes close. Indeed she was a beautiful creature, so warped up in her own obsessions to pay attention to anything outside of her own pleasures. This was her naïve move, the distraction. Completely oblivious to D's other hand she thought was resting behind her head, to the hand caressing her breasts, the other hand quickly drew up and D plunged the dagger that had been disregarded on the dungeon floor into her heart!
"You seriously think I could ever show any love to the Vampire that killed my mother! Wanted to destroy my, and my fathers life for her own selfish reasons! It's suitable…" By the end of his sentence, his voice had dropped to a passionate whisper.
"What's….suitable…?" The Countess choked.
"That I be the one to kill you, return to hell!" And he drove the dagger in farther, it couldn't have just pierced her heart, but went right through. The heart. The very thing that pumped the blood throughout a Vampires body, it could no longer pump, and this is what brings the immortality of a Vampire to its end.
And as with every Castle without it's King, it crumbles. As soon as the blood of it's Master touches its walls and floors, it falls.
D struggled to quickly dress himself and knew he had little time, he didn't know how deep in Lily's fortress he was, and the possibility of a main entrance collapsing was highly possible. He also didn't know where to find Araydia…
The howl of a Vampire's corpse is a blood-curdling one. Lily's eyes by now had sunken into her sockets and the blood gurgled from her mouth, even in tiny bubbles. D averted his eyes, but even the spots of blood that squirted out of her precious heart were stained on the cobble stone walls. The ground was shaking all around him, he had to get out.
The man placed his hat on his head and once again felt like D the Hunter, and not D the disgraceful Vampire. And with only one way of escape, he plunged into the dark hallway where Ray last disappeared.
Human eyes could have never found their way through, but his eyes could. His feet plunged up the steps and through the labyrinth of corridors. D managed to make it up to what was a main level, above the cellar rooms, but no where to find Araydia. Not a Mutant running to defend it's Master, not a scream.
And then he heard it. A cry of help in desperation, the cry of a young girl. He plunged into the direction of the voice, careless of the debris falling around him, willing to crush his head. The rumble of the castle falling and groaning in agony caught him off balance as the floor split in two.
"Hang on, Ray!"
He staggered to catch his balance but managed to get back on his feet in no time. The man ran down some hallway in what he thought he heard Ray's voice and barged into a door. A what he found was a sight for soar eyes. He never thought he would be so relieved as to see Araydia completely unharmed and safe, but unfortunately, guarded fiercely by a Mutant willing to seek revenge on it's Mistress and in the way of him getting Araydia. He didn't have the time to fight Aurelio.
The symbiot shouted through the rumbling cry of the castle, "You kill one, and the other two will show up like vultures to a carcass!"
D knew the demon was right. He had no time to fight the kill of the Mutants or to retrieve his weapons.
'Too damn bad, that was a great sword…' D thought to himself quickly before Araydia made a bolt him, being unchained, but the female Mutant stopped her.
"You killed the Mistress, this girl deserves to be killed!"
"Look out!" D shouted, but it was too late. The chandelier in the middle of the ceiling was too heavy to hang and it fell, drawing some of the ceiling top down with it, and fortunately, broke the skull of Aurelio in half. The contents almost splattered but were still somewhat attached. It was a disgusting sight, but the top that had crushed Aurelio had trapped Araydia by the hem of her gown.
"Pull, Ray!"
"I can't…it's got my leg…" came her gentle voice. It was like knifes stabbing him, that voice didn't sound like a voice in distress, it sounded like the voice of someone who had given up.
"Ray, you've got to try…" D pleaded. "If you can't save yourself, no one can…"
His eyes were so pleading. Pleading; live. With everything falling around her, adrenaline kicked in. The boulder-like piece was heavy, but not as big as she thought. And by her own will, and the precious essence that flowed through a human to save its mortal life, she was able to pry her leg from the fallen piece and scrambled up. Though her dress was torn and as the boulder-piece fell back down to it's sunken position, crushed Aurelio's head even more.
"Don't look. Just follow my lead."
"Hurry!"
D rushed off in the opposite direction from when he came and the girl followed close behind. He didn't know how long until the other Mutants would appear, but he hoped they were already dead. Ray was allowing quite some distance to pull between them. He was rather good at dodging falling boulders and such, she was having a hard time.
He rushed back and picked her up in time and slung her over his shoulder. D had go with his gut feeling to find an exit from the castle, and luckily, he managed to find one. No Mutants in sight.
_____________________________________________
In a well-sized cottage on the edge of a forest D sat overlooking a window as the soon fell behind the mountains in the distance. Horses grazed the inside pastures of acres of meadow and Araydia's niece, Lina, was running along the pathway up the house, through the shadows of the blowing trees. Yes, Araydia had been delivered safely to her family, and even though they had only last saw her when she was a baby, her Aunt and Uncle loved her as if she were their own child. And already, Ray and Lina were behaving like sisters. Which included Lina finding Ray's diary and running around screaming "D! MY UNDYING LOVE FOR YOU—" "GIVE IT BACK!"
The Hunter couldn't help but feel that feeling inside he couldn't explain when everything was over. The battle was won, and the innocent were, once again, happy. He had stayed there for a few days until his wounds had healed and he could regain his strength with rest. D knew by morning, he must be gone. He told Ray he would stay another day, even though it was a fib, it was for the best. Good-byes were not D's best subjects, and he didn't believe in saying good-bye when truly, you might see those departed friends again.
Whatever it was, he managed to get through a night with sleep and by morning, when Araydia hurried into his room right before the sun had came up, she found him gone, with everything still neatly in its place as it was before.
"No…"
"Ray!? What are you doing up so—"
Araydia ran past Lina and in her nightgown as fast as she could to find D far down the road at a light trot.
"Wait!! Oh please, wait for me! If you don't stop right now D, I'll make sure that freak on your hand never shuts up!"
And she finally caught up to him. Completely out of breath and panting, he stepped down from his robotic horse to give her a polite hug when she threw herself on him, supporting herself by her arms around his neck and gave him a full kiss on the lips. His eyes widened in surprised, but D was D. True to his code, he wouldn't allow himself to kiss her back, but he enjoyed it none the less.
"I wish you didn't have to leave D, I love you, take me with you!"
"You know I can't do that."
"Yes you can, I can keep your hand company!"
D gave her a light smile, truly award-winning coming from a person like him.
"I'll never forget you, Araydia…"
And he never did. Even years after he learned she had been killed during yet another great war that broke out between the massive countries for possessions between governments and world leaders, he never forgot her. He will always continue his quest to wipe the Vampire Race from the Earth. But you never know, maybe one day, he will come trotting through your small town…