D and Aera finally arrived at the village. The sun was now setting, making everything a lot cooler. Aera shivered, holding onto D to try to keep warm more than trying not to fall off a horse. "Take my cape." D said to her turning the horse's reigns to the left.
Aera carefully undid the hunters cape, and threw it around herself. She held back on to D's waist. "thank you….." she more whispered tan said to him.
"that's my farm up ahead….." Aera said pointing to a large amount of land and a little house. "a welcoming party?" D asked aloud.
"Huh?" Aera asked looking over. About a quarter of the town was in Aera's front yard, and making a big commotion. She could also see that her front door was opened.
"what's…..going on?" Aera asked out loud.
The two rode up to fence, which circled around the whole farm. "Hold on….." D warned, as the horse leaped over the gate. The three landed with a dull, but loud thud on the grass of the front yard, causing the people to turn around.
All the people shouted in shock as they saw who sat on the back of the horse. The whole town was aware of the kidnapping of Aera Clare. Then had never expected to see her ever again. Everyone's attention was now drawn to D, the mysterious figure no one really recognized.
"Alright everyone, calm down!" the sheriff called out walking up to D's horse, where the two still sat. "Aera…..are you alright? Its been almost a year….." The sheriff said with a slight smile. "Sheriff Rushton, what's going on?" Aera asked anxiously. "why are all these people here? Where's my dad?"
"Aera, why don't you step down from that horse, and have a seat inside…..we can talk." The Sheriff said. "Will you stay here?" Aera whispered into D's ear. D nodded. Aera slipped off the horse, one hand grabbing onto the Sheriffs for support, the other clenching D's cape around her so no one would notice her stomach.
"Alright everyone, go home, theres nothing more to be done here." The sheriff shouted from the porch of the house with Aera still holding his hand. They both stepped inside, closing the door.
The towns people started to leave, but some lingered around a bit, watching the mysterious man on the horse. He just sat there quietly, not speaking a word, nor moving a muscle. "I recognize that man…..he was talking with Clare a few days ago back in the bar…..must be one of them vampire hunters….." A man whispered before leaving.
A few minutes later, and D was the only one left in the yard, still sitting on his horse. "are you only staying because she has your cape?" The mysterious voice asked. D was silent. "…..what do you think is going on?" D was silent still. "…..your such a stiff……"
D watched the front door as it opened, the Sheriff stepping outside. He walked over to D, who was still, sitting on his horse, and looked up at him. "im not quite sure what your business is here otherwise, but you should either go inside and see if the poor girl needs any help, or leave this town, before rumors start spreading….i don't want any trouble." He said looking up under D's hat.
D finally dismounted his horse, and walked to the front door, leaving the Sheriff still standing there. The Sheriff looked back at the mysterious quiet man, shook his head, and left.
The youth stepped inside looking around. There were stairs right in front of him, a room directly to his left, a hallway to the right of the stares, and another room directly to his right. D turned right walking into what looked like a family room. He saw Aera sitting on a couch, her tearstained cheeks and bloodshot eyes giving away the fact that she was crying.
Aera finally noticed D's presence, and clumsily wiped her eyes with the palms of her hand. "…..he died…..the Sheriff said he had a heart attack …..he died almost a week ago…..they already buried him." She said, another tear rolling down her cheek. "the people were here…..cleaning out the house."
D looked around just realizing that the house was very empty, but not completely. "I'm…..sorry…..would you like something to…..eat or drink?" Aera asked as more tears rolled down her cheek.
"………I think you should get some rest….." D said looking at her. "I don't think I can….." Aera replied whipping her tears again.
"you should try…..I'll stay here and figure something out….." D said referring to her situation with the vampire.
Aera headed upstairs for a shower and hopefully some sleep, while D sat on the couch, thinking very hard about what to do. "and this…..is why we do not do rescue missions!" the voice said annoyed. D slammed his left hand down on the couch with force.
He sat again, hunched over, his elbows resting on his knees, his right hand cupping his chin. "…..what to do……" D muttered, a comment like this very rarely.
D looked over to a box that was on the floor In the corner, no doubt things people had already packed away. He stood up and walked over to it, crouching down to look inside. It was a box full of framed pictures. D sat down next to the box, looking through. The first picture D pulled out was a little one, framed with silver. Emotion appeared on his face for a brief second, as he saw a picture Doris Lang…..or Doris Clare, holding a baby in her arms…..it was Aera. D placed that one back in the box, and pulled out another. It was a picture of Aera when she was perhaps three of four years old.
The curious and intrigued hunter, who was rarely distracted was now looking at every picture in the box. He pulled another out, a picture of Doris on her wedding day. To D's discontent, there was only one left in the box. He pulled the picture out. This picture caught D incredibly off guard, the expression on his face froze.
"excuse me, shouldn't you be thinking of a way to help this girl?" The voice asked. "Quiet!" D said staring even more intrigued at the picture, annoyance in his voice. The picture was of Doris when she looked to be about 17, the age she met D, and of her little brother Dan, who was 8, and holding a very familiar pendant up at the camera. A small smile stretched across D's face. He had given that to Dan…..this picture must have been taken shortly after D met them…..and this picture gave him an idea he should have thought of 2 hours ago.
It was around midnight when D started to doze off on the couch, when he heard something faint in the distance. D slowly sat up, sleep still possessing his worn out body. the sound was getting louder. D's eyes widened when he realized it was the sound of a carriage pulling up to the house
D flung himself off the couch, and ran over to the front door, looking out the window. It was in fact the count coming for Aera…..and he did not look the least bit amused. D was not expecting for the count to come for Aera right away. This completely caught D of guard.
D thought to the girl upstairs sleeping…..as long as she was sleeping, no harm could be done to her…..as long as D keeps the count occupied.
"Uh…..D, he's getting closer…..you better do something….D…he's almost here……..he just walked through the electric barrier…….he's coming…" The voice panicked. "your getting out of line again….." D said in a hushed tone.
As the Count stepped up the the porch, he looked up, seeing D standing in the window, staring at him with his dark eyes. The Count froze.
"uh…..D?" Came the voice. D was silent. He kept staring, getting ready to draw his sword. Then, the count did something shocking and unthinkable.
The count looked back into D's eyes. With a grin and a sarcastic bow, the count turned around, walked back to his carriage, driving away almost immediately.
"D…..what just happened?" The voice asked. D ran outside to watch as the Count's carriage disappeared into the distance. "…..not good……."
The direction the Count was going was strait for the inner village. D was assuming he would feed and get more slaves before coming back to do the real work. He was simply giving a heads up to D….The Count wanted to fight D when he was well prepared, and ready, giving it his all.
D called his horse, about to go into the village to prevent the Count from biting other villagers, When he heard a rattling in the bushes to his far right. Four pairs of reddish yellow glowing eyes appeared, with multiple growling noises.
Waiting for an attack by the beasts, D drew his sword. Out ran four werewolves at full speed, dashing toward the hunter. D dodged out of the way, getting sliced on his left arm from a sharp claw, and at the same time, cutting one of the werewolves' left arm off.
The werewolf yelped in pain, but attacked with the others once more, but with a little more force. Two were able to jump on D's back, while another ripped the sword out form his hand. The last one pounced on his chest, knocking him backwards, landing on his back in the moist dirt.
The four wolves circled D, growling, showing their fangs. Just as they were about to move in for the kill, someone whistled, causing the werewolves to twitch their ears, and look back. They left D, and ran to the owner of the whistle.
D sat up, looking fro the one who made the noise. He looked far over to the fence, to see a familiar looking woman with blonde hair, and a red dress standing just behind it. She looked at D, and simply smiled. She then walked over to the fence gate, and walked through.
"You should really fix your electric barrier…..i presume my husband broke it for me when he came here." She said walking over to her wolves. She petted them, and examined the one who's arm was cut off. "you hurt my werewolves….." she said with a frown.
"why have you come?" D asked looking at her. "I was only sent here to keep you occupied…..once more…..My husband said you would try to stop him as he went into the village for blood…..he said if I kept you here, it would make things a lot easier…..he has not come back for the girl…..yet."
D ran to his sword snatching in in enough time to shock the vampire standing in front of him. "You dare aim that sword at me? I thought you were not paid to kill me…..very well, if you threaten me, you must die." She said. with another whistle, all four of her werewolves ran at D, growling louder than ever.
The hunter was just getting ready to strike his blade into the closest one, when quite a few loud bangs sounded. After that, a few more. D looked to realize that all of the werewolves were now on the ground twitching in pain, as blood poured from their heads.
D looked to the porch to see Aera standing there, the gun still aiming at the last werewolf she shot.
"You bitch! How dare you kill my beautiful monsters!" The vampire called out to Aera, running at her with her fangs bared. D held his blade out, the vampire running right into it.
With a shocking cry, the counts wife sank to her knees, holding an incredibly large wound from her stomach. D ran up to Aera on the porch, turning around to look back at the Count's wife. "Soon she will have no where else to go, but back to my husband…..and when she does, ill kill her." The vampire said. she whistled again, as a horse came up beside her. She hoisted herself onto the horse, and rid back into the woods.
"are you ok?" D asked looking down at Aera. "I'm fine are you ok…..your arm is bleeding pretty badly……" Aera replied looking down at his arm. "I'm fine." D replied.
"What are we going to do now D?" Aera asked. "The count had not come for you…..but passed your house on the way to the village…..he knows we may leave…..for some reason he wants us to leave…..D said thinking. "but…..i heard Sarah say he was going to come back to fight you….." Aera stated confused.
"She was lying…..only saying thatto make the chances of us leaving in greater……" D responded taking in that the woman's name was Sarah. "We will stay for now…..if the count returns tomorrow night, or the next, I'll be ready for him." D said looking toward the village. "You should go back to bed….." D added looking at her. With a nod, Aera walked back inside her house, up the stairs and into her room, where she lay on her bed, not being able to sleep, a million thoughts running through her head.
"It bothers you doesn't it? Yes of course it does. Your so predictable like that…..you are bothered because she is going to give birth to a dhampir like yourself. Heh heh, so predictable." Came the voice. D looked down at his left hand. There in his palm, was a face, belonging to this voice that had given him company fr s long as he could remember. "if you become unruly one more time, I will cut you off." D said seriously. "Well excuse me for speaking the truth!" the face spoke sarcastically. D's left hand formed a fist, muffling the rest of the faces comments.