Life's Mirage
I do not own VHD;B but I really wish that I did...
Many thanks to my reviewers!
Strega: Thank you for your review! I really appreciate it! Glad you like the fic.
Kenshin No Sakura: Thanks Colleen! Reviews please me so! I hope you like the twist in this chapter!
Blackjackkat: Thanks for the review, tell your friends! (heehee!) Please read on!
Angels Have Gone: Thank you Kate! I hope you find this chapter intriguing.
D tightened his grip on the sword handle, he must be relentless, he could not give in to emotion and let this- this vampire off where others had not been spared. It was so strange, the Dunpeal had never remembered having any problems with killing these creatures in the past...so why now? His conscience told him why, the former Markus brother was not acting like a newly converted vampire. They were incapable of feelings, of sadness, of fear...they couldn't resist killing. Yet this one had not killed, there was no scent of blood, no red tint to the eyes, no random corpse/zombie things coming to attack him from behind... everything about him spelled human except for the two marks on his neck, if D hadn't known better...he might have tried to see if they were staged.
Borgoff trembled, trying not to swallow lest his throat be impaled. He couldn't move away, there was no space on either side of him, and his back was placed firmly against the wall of the tank...there was no where to go... Hell, did he even want to go anywhere? Not really, not anymore.
"So, what're you waiting for, Dunpeal?" He whispered, waiting for the pain that was to come...to die a second time. He was afraid...afraid to die now, he hadn't killed, but he was a vampire. Borgoff couldn't identify with what that might bring for the future...was he damned or not? Heaven or Hell? The sword was removed from his jugular.
Borgoff glanced up. What was the damn fool doing? Why didn't the Dunpeal kill him already? He was surprised when D slowly crouched down in front of him, looking as confused as the elder member of the Markus family felt.
"Why are you here?" D asked haltingly, staring straight into the others eyes, searching for some hint of savagery that could serve as an excuse for murdering him. The Dunpeal could not find any. "What are you?"
Borgoff looked away, great, now that he wanted to die the damn hunter was gonna quiz him! This was not expected or welcomed!
"You tell ME what the freakin' hell I am! You'd know better than I would!" Borgoff snarled, he didn't feel angry, really, just scared, what the hell was the Dunpeal gonna do to him? Take him out to burn? Borgoff sincerely hoped not, it had been bad enough when his arm had caught fire...he didn't want to know what it felt like to be consumed by it. His thoughts almost immediately turned to the vampire he and his family had been hunting. What was his name...Meier? Borgoff suddenly felt ashamed, he and Kyle had laughed and taunted Meier as he'd burned...desperately trying to reach the Albourne girl...Charlotte. Was this his comeuppance or something? Now he had to feel what it was like to be tormented like that? D's voice snapped him back to the present.
"What?" He asked, "Sorry, I-...wasn't... listening." D thought the man looked as though he was going to burst into tears; naturally he then tried to steer clear of that reaction, and asked what he thought would be a simple question.
"I asked, when was the last time you ate something?" The Dunpeal repeated patiently.
Borgoff looked stricken, "When- when I was..." He broke down.
"This is stupid." Left hand muttered quietly. "I've never heard of a crying vampire...there must be something wrong with the freak, D, just kill him. Ok?" D ignored his complaining body part, and instead patted the man on the back, reassuringly.
"The last time was when you were human?" D asked softly, receiving a whimper of assent from the trembling creature in front of him, before Borgoff drew his knees up against his chest and suppressed sobs, shoulders shaking. D nodded complacently, stood, turned, and walked away.
Leila moodily washed the next batch of filthy plates and silverware that had just been placed in front of her. This was just plain retarded. Of all the people she tried to snag a job from this was the only one she was "qualified" for huh? Well, damn them! She thought angrily, taking out her irritation on a plate, and accidentally cracking it in two.
"Shit!" Leila cried in despair, that was gonna come out of her paycheck! She'd used her half of the money D had left her with to buy a home, but now she needed food! "Arrrrgh! Why me!?!" She asked the poor, pitiful, snapped plate. "Why did you have to break on me!?"
"What's going on back there?" Her manager, Dickinson, asked, sticking his head around the corner questioningly.
"Nothing YOU need to know about Dick-the-prick..." She muttered under her breath before calling, "Nothing, I just uh...snapped my nail!"
Dickinson looked unconcerned. "Do it more quietly then!" He replied before returning to the cash register. Leila glared at his back in outrage, she hated being treated as a "common woman" it irritated the hell out of her! She quickly hid the plate beneath the sink and, grumbling to herself, continued washing.
She returned home late, Dickinson had found the plate after all, and chewed her out something dreadful, telling her that the next time something of the sort happened, she would be fired. Feeling sorry for herself, she stepped into the shower to relax for a while, the water was soothing, as was the soft music on the radio, and Leila lost herself for a bit with some more memories. About an hour later she stepped out again, looking refreshed, she resolved to quit the diner the next morning and go back to that blacksmith at the corner of Selan street, he had been nice...a little extra flirting and she was practically guaranteed a job there. Grinning, the former huntress dried her hair and slipped on some nightclothes, she was just going to brush her teeth, when the howling began.
Borgoff felt absolutely miserable. Someone he had recognized had actually come to see him...and then left him alone again! It had been so nice to see a familiar face that it hadn't occurred to him that D must think he was just some awkward freak...that he was going to be ditched like that. Now he didn't have any one, Borgoff could feel himself dying slowly, his insides practically caving in, due to his lack of nourishment. He couldn't even stand anymore. He didn't even hear the footsteps as they came toward him, just jumped, slightly, in surprise as something was dropped onto his lap. It was a dead rabbit. The eldest Markus brother glanced up questioningly, and saw D, standing over him and looking as impassive as ever.
"Eat it." D murmured quietly, sitting down slowly, so that he was on eye level with the vampire again. But Borgoff didn't, he just shoved the rabbit back at the Dunpeal and buried his face in his arms resolutely. D rolled his eyes, feeling irritated. He scooped the small furry mass back up, and once again, dumped it in the others lap. Again it was pushed away.
"Don't you want to live?" D asked, feeling slightly irritated, it wasn't every day that he decided to be nice to someone for no good reason...he wasn't used to having his rare moments of kindness rejected.
"I can't." Borgoff muttered, shifting a little so that he was turned a bit further away from the Dunpeal. "I don't want to damn myself thanks...things are bad enough as they are!"
D slowly counted to ten, getting angry wasn't going to further the situation at all. "You won't be damning yourself..." D muttered. "You will only damn yourself if you murder something in cold blood. You didn't kill it, I did, now eat it." The rabbit was deposited, unceremoniously, in the former Markus's lap. Borgoff trembled slightly, he could smell the rabbit's blood and it made him feel strange, lightheaded. He snapped back to reality when he felt something sliding across his lips. Hurriedly, Borgoff raised his hand to his mouth, feeling the two long fangs that now protruded down almost to his chin. He felt horrified, and whimpered slightly, as D shoved the small furry body at him again.
"Damn you..." Borgoff muttered angrily before the lightheaded feeling set in again. He wasn't even aware of sinking his fangs into the rabbit as far as they could go; he only knew that after about five minutes he felt a bit better. He felt the fangs retracting back into his upper jaw with revulsion, dear god...what had he just done? He looked up at D pitifully. "Why-?" He began, but the Dunpeal cut him off.
"I'll come back tomorrow...stay here." With that he rose, and turned to leave, pausing for a second at the door. "You aren't like most...see that it doesn't change...or I will have to kill you." Then he was gone.
"Oh, wow...that was real friendly..." Borgoff muttered ruefully as he stood, though he actually felt immensely grateful. He marveled at the speed with which his strength had returned, sure he still felt relatively weak, but compared to before... Sighing heavily, he stepped out of the tank and walked around the hillside cavern slowly, stretching his cramped muscles, and wondering what to do now. He could, technically, still hunt vampires...could only work at night but hey it was the same for them anyway. It'd be just like before...except now he wouldn't be paid, and couldn't associate with anyone, and couldn't make any friends... "Nothing like before at all..." He whispered, feeling depressed again, there was nothing to do for the time being except walk around and wait for the Dunpeal to come again tomorrow night.
Borgoff decided to go outside for a bit, it was still a while before dawn, and he wanted to be out of the confinements of the cave. It felt nice to be out again, to see the stars and all...just wished he could still see day...oh well. Glancing up, Borgoff could see that the moon was full; it looked beautiful...maybe some stargazing would take his mind off of current events. He was just settling down to see if he could still spot the constellations Grove had shown him once, when he heard the howls...and the screams.
Leila came racing out of her front door, wondering what in all hell could be making a noise like that. She turned a corner...and stopped dead. She remembered where she had heard a sound like that before...that barboroi...the one with black hair and lightning quick agility. A werewolf? She raced back inside and donned her hunters garb as quickly as possible, and thrusting her gun into the holster; she raced towards the sounds of screaming.
It wasn't hard to find the place of current destruction; it was Dickinson's diner. Some lanterns had been knocked askew and the tables inside were already burning merrily. Leila shielded her eyes with her left hand, her right tightening around her gun, as she searched desperately for the monster...and it wasn't long coming. The front door splintered, and was then thrown aside with a resounding crash as it leapt from the flames. Roaring and snarling, it shoved itself erect and threw the figure that had been clinging to its back onto the ground. The werewolf was truly terrifying, twelve feet high, its muscles rippled beneath its auburn colored coat, and its muzzle full of glistening fangs had a maniacal grin plastered across it. It turned to the figure that had fallen to the ground...Dickinson. Leila closed her eyes for a second, knowing that it would be a lost cause to try and save her boss now, she instead used the time to slide to a better position, while the monster made short work of ripping Dickinson open and stewing his insides about.
"Aim..." Leila whispered to herself as she trained her gun onto the werewolf's shoulder. "Steady...now!" She pulled the trigger. The monster reared up, screaming in pain as the bullet tore through its shoulder. It gave a loud roar of anger, before whirling around...and spotting Leila. "Oh..." She whispered, she hadn't for a second thought that it would be smart enough to figure out where the shot had come form! Quickly she aimed again, it leapt, and she fired. Fortunately, it was a good shot, the creature gave another scream of pain before tearing out of the town as fast as it possibly could, and racing off toward the hills in search of easier prey.
The werewolf raced over the hard packed ground, that had been rough! But there! On the wind, the scent of another living creature! Giving a shriek of triumph, the werewolf streaked towards the caverns, flame colored fur streaming in the wake.
Borgoff leapt up, looking around. The screaming, roaring sound was getting louder! The call echoed off the hills, making it impossible to figure out which direction the sound was coming from. The eldest Markus brother had just begun backing towards the entrance to the caverns when it hit him from the left. An enormous weight slammed into his side, knocking him to the ground gasping for air. He was not given time to regain his breath, the monster was on top of him in a matter of seconds. Borgoff cried out in terror, a werewolf!?! Shit! This was NOT what he needed! Being a vampire was bad enough, to be a vampire with lycanthrope would be a horror beyond the imagination! He managed to throw the flame colored creature off out of desperation, and made a mad dash back towards the entrance, hopefully to the tank...but it was not to be.
He felt himself slammed to the ground again, and heard something crack, a few seconds later there was a horrendous pain in his right leg...broken. He yelped in agony as the beast carelessly flipped him over onto his back, causing his shattered limb to twist the wrong way. Waves of agony and terror cascaded through Borgoff's skull as the creature placed a taloned paw on his head, and pushed it back...baring his throat. Dear God! The creature wasn't just going to beat him and bite him! It was going to eat him! He writhed in a last desperate attempt to escape, but to no avail. The monster lowered its head and stared straight at Borgoff, gazing at him hungrily.
Borgoff's frightened golden brown eyes locked with the monster's startlingly blue ones. The former Markus's look of horror was joined with one of complete confusion, as he stared up at the werewolf's triumphant features and managed to stammer one word. "K-Kyle?"