...
Chapter Fourteen - Darkest Hour
Alucard's eyes closed, his arms flopped uselessly at his side and his head slumped over in the bonelessly final way of a dead thing.
"NOOOOOO!" Right Hand wailed. "I lost my precious poppet!"
"What?!" eeD asked.
D knelt, opened his arms and placed Alucard's still body on the ground.
Fairy streaked down from above screaming as she crashed into the ground next to Alucard. "Master Alucard!" she raved. "Oh, no! What have you done?! D, what have you done?!"
"What I had to do," D told her as he smoothed a lock of hair from Alucard's face. He stood up.
"Now, you die," he told eeD, reaching forward to catch his sword from the tumbling path he had placed it on before using Left Hand to destroy Alucard.
"Oh, please! I don't need Alucard or his silly synergy to beat you," eeD told him. "Evidently Right Hand absorbed enough energy from Alucard, before you killed him, to keep me solid here for at least a little while longer. Tell you what!" eeD said playfully. "What say I kill you and finalize my right to exist in the dimension before that energy runs out!?"
D had never faced an opponent as tough before. Not only did eeD know all of D's attacks and how to counter them, but he had also learned techniques on his dimensional travels that D had never seen. Try as he might, D wasn't able to land a single hit on eeD. D found his defenses battered down. He'd never felt this helpless against a single opponent before. His arms burned with fatigue. He was just able to prevent his legs from shaking from exertion. The effort was making it harder and harder to dodge or harmlessly deflect eeD's attacks. D admitted to himself, that though he was fighting at the top of his skill, it wasn't enough. He admitted that eeD would win.
Weirdly timed with his faltering confidence, his ankle twisted beneath him and he went down. Before he could regain his feet, eeD batted his sword away, pinned him to the ground and sat on him.
"Oh, such a valiant fight," eeD commiserated. "And so noble too. Avenging the death you were forced to inflict on your brother! Too bad you weren't skilled enough to win!"
D struggled to push eeD off of him, spurred by the indignity of it all. eeD was utterly unmoveable.
His features twisted up in mock sympathy, eeD considered, "What would be the best way to kill you? I know! I'll let my Right Hand have you, the same way your Left Hand took Alucard. Fitting, don't you think? Two 'brothers' sharing the same type of death? And don't worry. Right Hand will savor the energy your soul will give him for a very long time! Won't you, Right Hand?" eeD stroked Right Hand's face in a way that reminded D of one petting a cat.
"Heh, heh, heh! Savor-flavor the whole-soul, yummy-yummy in my tummy-tummy!" Right Hand sang out as it began to drool.
eeD lifted Right Hand up and slowly brought his flipped out version of D's parasite in toward D's face. D couldn't look away from the mad thing's eyes. He hoped that any remnant of Alucard had been senseless when he used Left Hand to kill him. The seconds stretched out interminably as D struggled to free himself.
"You're too weak and tired. Why not just relax and enjoy the last moment of life you have?" eeD advised. "It will soon be over!"
D ignored the taunting and struggled harder. He couldn't break free. Right Hand gently touched his cheek. A rending, agonizing pain, deeper than any he'd ever felt before, speared into him.
"I've won! I've won!" eeD shouted.
----------------------
Author's notes -
Oh, no! Whatever will D do?!
Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!
stargarde@stargarde.com
Next chapter teaser - Chapter 15 - *Sorry! So sorry! This is the last cliffhanger...I promise!*
And a question. I have a sweet (very sweet and you know that if I admit it, the sugar intolerant better steer clear or have insulin on hand when they read it! :P) chapter about what happened to Bat from Bat's point of view. Should I post that at the end of Insult of the Right Hand? Or should I post it on its own? If someone hasn't read Insult, it won't make any sense at all. What should I do? (Unless you plan on posting a review, please email me with suggestions since I don't want to artificially inflate the review count.)