Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own Vampire Hunter D or his left hand. All other original characters are my own.

Ch.3 – A Fitting Start

D and Leon set off at first light, heading east toward the port city of Genola. D's cybernetic horse easily keeping pace with Leon's motorcycle. They had left the desert behind and were now traveling along a road between rolling hills to the north and a large forest to the south. They were making good time and would be at Genola within an hour.

"What do you know of Genola stranger?" asked Leon as they passed a sign saying 'Genola up ahead' attached to a pole with a large cross. D hesitated before answering, "I've never been there before myself," before he looked back to the road. "Well, I've been there before and the people are okay, if a little bit suspicious of strangers, so don't expect a warm welcome when we get there, stranger," said Leon, and this comment made them both quiet.

Leon still called him 'stranger' even though he knew D's name. Lefty was quick to answer D's thought, because there's no one stranger than you dhampire. You are one to talk, was all that D mentally replied.

It was true though, that there could be problems when they got to town. Simple folk were scared to death of the vampires, and to them half-breed dhampires were just as bad. No, dhampires were probably considered worse as they didn't have to hide from the sun. There had been more than one occasion that D had to flee a village when they found out about his heritage.

As they rounded the next hill, they saw smoke rising from the east, staining the morning sky a ruddy red. They both knew what that smoke meant.

"Oh, by the Almighty! Please no!" screamed Leon as he revved up his bike and shot off at top speed for the city, his hooded cloak billowing after him. D kicked his horse to try and keep up. This can't be good said Lefty as D chased after Leon.

When D entered the town he walked onto a scene of carnage. Several buildings were ablaze, the smoke staining the sky above an oily black. Benches, cars, and trash cans were lined up as if a barricade had been built here.

A car was flipped on its back and had been set ablaze. There were signs of battle everywhere: gunshot holes in walls, discarded magazine clips, and blood splatters on the walls. But strangely there were very few corpses in sight.

Leon was on one knee beside the body of an older woman who looked like she had been stabbed in the back and the point had exploded from her chest. Blood caked the front of her dress, turning the once pretty blue dress a dull brown. Her face was frozen in a mask of sheer terror.

"Who was she?" D asked as he dismounted his horse. Leon slowly reached out and closed the woman's eyes before answering. "Her name was Estella, she took care of me when I became ill last time I was in Genola," Leon took a deep breath before continuing. "She was always such a nice woman, always had a kind word and a hot meal for me in exchange for some company, I had told her I would visit her the next time I was in," Leon slowly shook his head, "Guess I won't be able to keep that promise."

Leon slowly got to his feet, and D did the same. Before D could console his companion on his loss there was a loud crash from farther up the street. Someone had just stumbled out from behind a car, but this person was no longer human. With skin the color of gravel, dead eyes that glowed red, and two puncture wounds on its neck, the zombie was a recent victim of a vampire attack. And it wasn't alone. More zombies appeared at several places and all looked towards the pair standing in the middle of the street. Then with one wailing call, they all jumped forward to get at the fresh meat. They leapt from car top to car top and even running along the walls of buildings to get at the two hunters.

By the time D had drawn his weapon; Leon had already drawn his sword with his right hand and had leveled his crossbow at the zombies with his left. Firing one-handed, he dropped two zombies with headshots and was charging forward like a madman.

He met the first zombie with a mighty overhead swing that split the monster right down the middle. "That was for Estella!" Leon screamed as he raised his bloodied sword for the next zombie. The next one jumped at him and he stabbed he creature through chest. As it uttered its death scream Leon calmly put his foot on its chest and extracted his sword. A third monstrosity leapt at him from his left, mouth open and snarling. Leon whipped around and got the zombie in a headlock in his left arm. He quickly twisted there was a loud CRACK as he broke the thing's neck. He let it go to fall and it fell to the ground lifeless.

By this time D had made contact with the monsters. His first slash split the zombie from left shoulder to right hip and he spun to behead another behind him before the first mutilated corpse hit the ground. Two more creatures met a similar fate as the dhampire sliced them in half at the waist. He grabbed the next one by the front of its apron (probably a cook when it was alive) and threw it at the nearby wall. The strength his heritage gave him became clear as the zombie crashed through the brick wall to leave a large hole.

On they came, and they kept dying. D and Leon stood back to back, cutting down any monsters that came in reach. However, for each one they killed, three more appeared. More and more zombies kept appearing from side alleys, and it would only be a matter of time before they were overwhelmed. "We gotta get outta here stranger," said Leon as he stabbed a former militiaman through the eye. D said nothing, but they both backed up towards their respective mounts.

Then, all the creatures stopped and turned around to look back at the rooftop of what used to be city hall. There stood two figures standing side by side.

One was a man, tall with short black hair that has bangs that covered his piercing gray eyes. He wore a long blue trench coat and a white frilly shirt. A red vest covered the shirt and had long pants on that ended in shiny black boots.

The other was a woman that barely came up to the man's chest. Her purple hair was extremely long, tied into a large braid that almost came to her knees. Her blue eyes seemed to swallow everything they saw. She wore a red Chinese dress with gold trim, with a dragon that wrapped around her slender waist.

Both radiated the aura of fear that was all too familiar to D. Both were vampires.

Dolan and Felicity Lamar.