Hey guys, again I apologize for the lack of updates :( School, re-designing my room, plus I finally got 'Vampire Hunter D' and have been watching it for three days :D!!! I had no idea about the relationship thing between D and Doris (or anything else that happened for that matter . . .) nonetheless I love it and it has given me inspiration, my writer's block is gone! I really like this chapter, it;s a bit mushy, yes, but it was one of 'those moments.' I am a little upset though, why? Well, lets just say I dedicate this chapter to Osiris, my pet snake who died on the morning of November 22, 2004. Sad squeek . . . -Invader Nicole

Disclamier: I do not own Vampire Hunter D/ Bloodlust, I only own Epiphany, Gwen, and Damion. Is it just me or does this fic keep getting more characters?!

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Chapter Four: For Those Who Died

By Invader Nicole

"What about Meier?"

"Meier . . . the second."

D blinked in shock, "What do you mean 'Meier the Second?' Does he have a son?"

"Yes, and two daughters," Epiphany said in a quiet voice, almost as if she didn't want to say it, D noticed. "I know the story, the whole story actually, about Meier and Charlotte. Before Meier fell in love with Charlotte there was another woman. She was a vampire like him, they had one child. A boy, she didn't want the child and left it and Meier. The boy's name was Damion Meier Link II."

It took D a minute to take this info in, the whole time he had been chasing Meier to save Charoltte he had never once seen a child with him. Where could he have kept Damion where it was safe? Could it have been . . . "Epiphany, where did they meet each other and live until they seperated."

"The City of the Night."

Of course, he was right. Meier must've met this vampire in the City of the Night, that was probably why he decided to take Charlotte. It was safe for them, they could stay there and be together, with no one to bother them. D kept his eyes on the trail ahead of him, trying to pay close attention of where they were heading and listening to Epiphany at the same time. "Go on, what else happened?"

"Well, as far as I know, Meier raised Damion until he was seven. He then learned of Charlotte, he left Damion in the care of a family of vampires he knew well. He left the City of the Night to get her. You know what happened from there, you tried to rescue her, but in the end Meier bit her."

"Yes," D said in a sloemn voice, remembering he had been unable to save her. "And then she died after the battle between me and Meier."

"No, she didn't . . ."

D pulled at the reigns and Epiphany held on tighter to him, not wanting to fall off from the horse's sudden halt. When the horse finally stopped and she thought D was more relaxed she turned to face him. "D? What's wrong?"

Epiphany saw the look of horror on D's face. His usually calm eyes were opened wide, dilating the black pupil and contrasting the amber-colred iris, making his eyes look as if they were glowing. "She couldn't possibly have lived, Meier bit her and she wasn't breathing at all afterwards."

"Exactly," replied Epiphany, looking out towards the crescent moon. "She was bitten, turned into a-"

"- a vampire," finished D.

"She lived because she was turned into a vampire. Usually people who have been bitten turn a vampire zombie or an underling for their master. But they were lovers, Meier knew she would live and that is why he chose for them to leave in the end."

D didn't say anything, he flicked at the reigns once and his ebony horse began to walk again at its normal, peaceful pace. D couldn't believe this. Charoltte had been alive, she had lived through the whole thing, and D thought she had died. He had given Charlotte's brother and father her ring, it told them what they feared, that she had died. D didn't know how to feel, basically he had lied to the family, not knowing what he must've put them through when he showed them the simple gold ring. What was he to do?

The little, all too familiar voice in his mind was saying "Forget about it, we got paid and that's all that matters. Besides, they're all dead. C'mon, you know that! How long ago was it, D? Twenty-eight?"

'That's right,' D thought. It had been a little over twenty-eight years, but not much. Twenty-eight years ago that he had fought against Meier, twenty-eight years ago he had tried to save Charlotte and return her to her family, twenty-eight years ago he had failed his mission. He needed to know more. "What else happened?"

Epiphany gave him a sympathetic look before continuing, hoping she was doing the right thing in telling him. "Meier and Charlotte were wed in the City of the Night and lived there for a while. Eight and half months later they had another child, Charlotte was already pregnant before she and Meier left and before she got bit, they had their first daughter."

"What was her name?"

Epiphany bit her lower lip before saying a secret she had never told anyone. "Epiphany Meier."

D's eyes, for the second time, expanded and made that eerie glow. His mouth stiffined, opening a few centimeters as his canine teeth began to grow at an alarming rate, getting sharper and more powerful with each centimeter. 'No,' D thought as he closed his mouth and shut his eyes tightly, trying with all his will power to keep it hidden away. For a moment, Epiphany could've sworn she saw his eyes change from amber to blood red, but just for a brief second. She saw that they returned to their normal color when he opened his eyes and softly panted, as did the color to his normal-y pale skin which was covered in a few beads of sweat. His eyes shifted to hers for a second then back to the direction the horse was walking in, acting as if nothing had happened. Epiphany thought she had seen something in his eyes, other then the departed from others look, it looked like . . . fear? No, D didn't look the type to ever be afraid of anything. Still, she saw something there, she knew it. No matter how much he had tried to hide it she knew what she had said definitely startled him.

"Continue."

Epiphany blinked in confusion before registering what he said, she continued on, trying not to show her shock while recalling the painful memories. "They had me twenty-eight years ago, by that time Damion was almost eight. Sadly, Charlotte died during child birth . . . my mother died giving birth to me. I was too young to understand then, but later on I learned by dad was devestated. He couldn't believe, he and Charlotte were finally together for a short while, and then she died because of me. He took Charlotte's body and a ship back to here. Before he left he said he's be back, that he'd only be gone to bury Charlotte's body in a proper burial place. There were no cemetaries in the City of the Night, vampires live thousands of years so there was no need. He left us, he left us for five years," she whispered, leaning against D for support.

"Five years?" D asked in disbelief. "Why was he gone so long?"

"To this day I'm still not sure. All I know is that when he came back me and Damion were at home, reading, the babysitters were cleaning around the house while watching us. Meier said they were dismissed and would get their pay the next day, they gladly left. He lifted his black cloak and out walked a human girl. She had raven black hair in tight curls falling over her fair skin, and hazelnut-colored eyes. Her name was Gwen."

"Who was she?"

"She was my sister, Gwen Meier."

"What?!" D turned to her, this was strange, even for him.

The raspy voice of Left Hand asked the question he was wondering, "What the hell?! Does Meier leave just to screw around and come back home with kids?!" D felt like forcing his left palm into a wall at full speed.

It was Epiphany's eyes turn to expand, inching away from D as she did. "What was that?!"

"I'll explain later," D replied, trying to drown out the maniacal laughter coming from his hand. He looked ahead, almost forgetting that they were riding the horse. "Look, we're already at the town."

Epiphany looked away from D, forgetting to explore and question D about where the voice came from. Indeed, they were at the next town, it looked small and desolate, with only a few houses and places for rent. They walked to the closest one, tieing the black horse to a tree near the building. As they walked in they both noticed the main room was small with puke green wallpaper, a sofa on one side, a desk on the other. A short white-haired, almost bald man greeted them as he looked up from his book, tilting his glasses up to the bridge of his nose as he talked. "What can I help you with?" he asked them in a feeble voice.

"We need a room for the night," stated D, pulling out a brown, leather pouch filled with gold currency to pay the man.

"Right then," the man said as he reached for something under the desk. D noticed this and sighed, some things never changed.

"There's no need for weaponry, sir. We just want to rent a room and we'll leave early in the moring before anyone knows we were here." D kept his all too familiar stare on the man, watching for any sign that the man might attack. After a few tense seconds the manager pulled a bronze key from his vest pocket, and handed it to D.

"That there key is to the top floor, where the moon shines the highest during the night. I hope it's to your liking, for what your paying me it's only fitting you should get the best." The man put away the gold D had given him for the room before going back to his reading.

D nodded and thanked the man, signaling Epiphany to follow him up the flight of stairs. As they walked, they talked in low voices, trying to make as little noise as possible. "Hey, D, how'd you know that guy had a weapon?"

"I've lived in this world long enough to know. If your a Vampire, or a Dunpeal, they will always pull out a weapon on you. If your human, they treat you like an equal. I wasn't surprised when I saw him reach under the desk, I told him we meant no harm and he accepted it."

"Oh," was all Epiphany could say. "By the way, what was the voice we heard while we were riding your horse?"

D tried to act casual, hopeing but knowing, that she was talking about Left Hand, who was happily cackling in D's mind at the mention of the incident when they first met. "What voice?"

"The raspy one that sounded like it belonged to something old and wrinkly. I know that wasn't your voice, so who's was it? It sounds so familiar."

D thought to himself for a few minutes, should he show her Left Hand, or shouldn't he? She would have to learn some time. Left Hand couldn't resist, but put his own two cents to what D was thinking.

"How do you know, D?" D was the only one who could hear the parasite, he had gained the ability to speak directly to him through his thoughts, able to have long conversations, even if he didn't want to. "It's not like she's going to be coming with us. Right? Why tell her about me if she's just staying with us 'til tomorrow? You said so yourself, she could come with us until we reached town. If you're going to have fun with her then do it tonight so we can leave tomorrow before anyone else notices."

D dug his long, sharp nails into the palm of his hand, silencing it and enjoying the muffled cursing he coud hear. It annoyed him greatly when Left Hand talked in a vulgar manner. He sometimes questioned why he put up with his sarcastic hand. That's right, he remembered now, in more than one occasion the hand had been quite useful in life or death situations. That's why, the hand was lucky, for is he was of no use; D would have torn him off long ago.

The two Dunpeals reached their room and opened it with the bronze key, which D decided to keep with himself. The man at the desk hadn't lied, the room was probably the best he had, and what a beauty it was at that. The walls were painted an ash grey color; casting shadows in the corners. A small bathroom was on the left side of the room, the tiles a tacky blue color. Next to the bathroom door was a beige burea with an oval mirror. There was a single bed in the center of the room; raven black sheets and fluffy white, comfortable-looking pillows. In front of the bed was a blood red rug, a celtic design sewn into it. On each side of the bed were two glass-less windows, they each held deep red drapes blowing in the night wind. On the right side of the wall was a room with the largest window, the window that could see all the land that surrounded the hotel. A rectangular wooden box sat under the window, so that anyone could sit on the box and stare out the window for countless hours.

Epiphany walked into the room, admiring the simpliciy of it. Back at her home in the City of the Night everything was done elegantly, made to be perfect to what Meier liked. She loved how plain everything looked, it almost made her forget she was the daughter of one of the most powerful vampires to ever exist; other than Dracula of course. She slipped off her purple cloak and let it fall onto the sheets of the bed, as she walked to the bathroom and closed the door behind her and D heard the running of water. D walked inside and left the brown messenger bag that held some of his possession fall onto the floor. He took off the sheathe of his sword and laid it out onto the burea, making sure it was nearby incase he needed it. He removed his dark blue cape, along with his ebony armor, laying it out on the burea for tomorrow. The bathroom door opened and he watched as Epiphany walked out, drying off her face and hair with a paby blue towel. It was then that he noticed that she'd been wearing the same dress ever since they met, even now as her body was cold from her shower she wore that dress.

"Aren't you cold?" he asked her finally.

"What?" she asked, snapping out of a daze.

"You've been wearing that dress ever since we met, which was almost three days ago."

Epiphany raked her then fingers, through her hair, curling a lock of hair around her finger as it was already drying in its natural wave. "Well, when I arrived here I was attacked by humans and they destroyed everything I brought with me, including my clothing, except for this dress. The next day, I met you, and so our adventure began. I don't mind being in this dress though."

"Don't be insane, you'll catch your death if you go to sleep with your hair wet in such a dress. If you want, you may borrow some clothes from me until you can buy some more, I have extra."

"Oh . . .okay then, thank you, D."

"It's no problem," D said as he reached for the messenger bag. He opened it and brought out a black pants and shirt. He always brought extra clothes, he did since he usually wore his armor most of the time. He handed Epiphany the clothes and turned away as she began to change. When she was done D saw her in his pants and shirt that were much too big on her, but would do just fine for the night.

Epiphany walked over to the window, sitting down on the rectangular box and clutching her legs to herself as she stared out the window. D couldn't stop himself from staring at her, her skin glowed in the moonlight and her eyes sparkled as she looked at the stars, radiating her beauty, as her long, wavy hair blew in the wind. To him, she looked like a goddess of the night. A goddess in black clothing, that glowed in the night, and shared what he was, a Dunpeal, they were both the same and he was happy for that.

"Where did all the mushy stuff come from, D?" asked Left Hand through D's mind.

D blinked in shock, how long had he been like that? For once he was glad Left Hand had interrupted him from something. He walked over to Epiphany, sitting opposite of her on the box, not staring out the window, but at her. He leaned against the window pane and closed his eyes, he could sit there for hours, not having to change a thing. He felt a sudden pressure on his chest, he opened his eyes and looked to see Epiphany laying against him. He didn't say anything though, or shift positions. He was comfortable this way.

"D?" Epiphany said after a few minutes of relaxation.

"Yes?"

"When will you tell me what that voice was? It's been bothering me for a while already."

"Tomorrow," D said, ignoring the snickering from Left Hand, he had ruined the moment without even trying. "After you tell me the rest of your story, you left off when Meier came back with your sister, Gwen."

"Right, we'll continue tomorrow. I'm quite tired, I think I'll go to sleep now."

Epiphany got up from her resting spot on D and walked to the bed, followed by D, who was already making a makeshift bed on te floor with a pillow and an extra bed sheet. "What are you doing?"

"Making my bed," replied D.

"You can sleep in this bed with me, D." Epiphany said in a tone that was stating the obvious. "You paid for the room, if anything I should be sleeping on the floor."

"No," D said quickly. "We can both use the bed then," D said as he brought back the black sheets and got into them, resting his long, auburn/brown hair against the pillow. He watched Epiphany as she got into the bed, facing him as she rested her head against the pillow, staring back at him. "Goodnight, D," she said as she closed her eyes and leaned into D.

D closed his eyes and let Epiphany do as she wished, "Goodnight, Epiphany."

Before D fully went to sleep he heard Left Hand muttering in a disappointing tone. "Listen, D, I just want you to know something. No matter what happens, don't let her get too close yet, I don't want to see you getting hurt. Okay?"

D merely mumbled something and let his mind wander, not sure if he heard Left Hand correctly, only knowing that he was happy right now and hoped to stay that way.