It was late in the evening when Catherine finally woke up. The sun had yet to completely set, and Daniel was just finishing up with fixing dinner when D came in from storing away his motorcycle. The young hunter paused at the doorway of the house, glanced back at the slowly setting sun, then entered the house.

"I recommend you turn the barrier fields on now," D stated as he walked into the main dining room. He paused when he noticed Catherine, now able to get a better look at her features. The same blue eyes as her siblings, small nose and a round face. D was silent for a moment as he looked her over, then finally shook his head and walked over to where Daniel was setting the table. "Have you explained the arrangements to her yet?"

A shake of his head, and Daniel gave a faint smile as he looked over to his younger sister. "Katie, this is D," he stated while gesturing to the young hunter. "He's going to be solving our problem with Tremere."

The girl nodded, then gave a small bow to the blonde young man. "Thank you for helping us," she said softly. Catherine paused, looked at the odd crimson eyes that D had, then moved to sit down at the table while Iria was bringing in the rather large chicken and setting it in the center of the table.

Only once D himself had taken a seat at the head of the table did anyone say anything. Daniel quickly filled the hunter's plate with mashed potatoes, gravy, and chicken, then passed it over to D before serving himself. "How long have you been hunting vampires?" he idly asked, trying to make some kind of conversation with the person they hoped would be their savior.

"Longer than you probably assume," D replied as he cut a piece from the chicken on his plate and placed it in his mouth. After a moment, he gulped it down and brought his gaze on Catherine. "And I imagine your sister wants to ask me some questions of her own."

The girl blinked in surprise, then realized the way she'd been staring at him was an obvious dead give-away. She swallowed the food in her mouth, then sighed and nodded. "I suppose that I am wondering why you hunt the vampires," Catherine began. She noted the look that her siblings were giving her. Best to elaborate. "Not many vampires hunters survive to get all too good, or so I've heard."

D didn't answer right away. He sipped from the glass of milk he'd been given, furled his brows, then set the glass down and shifted slightly in his seat. "Not many hunters get good enough to live long, that's true." He paused for a moment, glancing to his left arm where there was no sign at all now of the wounds where his gauntlet had been grafted on. "I suppose you could say that I'm one of the really good ones, considering how long I've been doing this, and how many of the Kinthea I've taken down in that time."

"Kinthea?" Daniel asked, not understanding the term. "I'm not familiar with that word."

"Not many humans are," D replied. He sighed, took another bite of his chicken, then glanced down at the table for a moment before returning his gaze to the Rans. "There's more than just one race of vampires. The kuei-jin in the Asiria region, vetala in Indonia, and most commonly, the Kinthea." He paused for a moment. Secrets of the undead were a touchy subject, even for a hunter to be discussing. But, it was best to let these people know what they were facing. "Kinthea are the most well known breed, with most of the traditional weaknesses that you probably have read about. They're the ones that took over after the Great War four hundred years ago."

There was a nod from Daniel, and the indication for D to continue. "So, Tremere is a...Kinthea?"

D didn't exactly give a confirming gesture, but he really didn't need to. "For him to have been around since before the war, he'd have to be Kinthea." A glance to the Rans that let them know the seriousness of what he was telling them. "Not many vampire races have members which predate the war, and from all the information you gave me, Tremere is definitely a Kinthea." His eyes narrowed as he tilted his head toward the front door. After a moment, D continued. "I suppose that there are werewolves living in the area."

Daniel and Iria nodded in response. "There's a pack of them that live out near the castle," Iria stated. "Tremere has been controlling the werewolves around here ever since he first took up residence at the castle."

There was only a nod from D as he continued eating his meal. It didn't seem that he was about to tell them any more now. Catherine sighed, then took a breath before continuing with her questions. "You have a rather unusual name," she stated, now getting a pair of surprised looks from her brother and sister while D simply glanced up at her. "I've never heard of someone who only had a single letter for their name."

A nod and D seemed like he would answer that inquiry. "You could say that you've never met anyone like me before," was his reply. He didn't comment further, which led to the rest of the meal being rather quiet.

The sun had finally set. Daniel and Iria had brought in the animals and turned on all the barriers while D simply waited. It wasn't until the last fading traces of sunlight vanished that he donned his coat and the golden gauntlet. With the sentient metal object back on his arm, D looked around at the various old weapons that were displayed on the walls of the living room. He recognized quite a few as arms he himself had experience with.

"You're certainly in an odd mood," came the voice of the gauntlet Varda. The face formed once more on the back of the gauntlet while D did his best to ignore the being. It didn't make Varda go away, unfortunately. "Telling them information on the Kinthea, which, by the way, is a bad idea. You know how much those suckheads hate having their little secrets spread around."

The young hunter snorted as he continued to admire the Rans' collection of weapons. "The more people know about them, the better off humans will be."

It was Varda's turn to scoff. "You're normally not like this, kid." The face shifted to give the expression of distaste while the eyesockets narrowed. "Usually when we're after a Kinthea, you're making all kinds of smartass remarks, but with this Tremere guy, you're kind'a...brooding." One socket widened a bit. "You're not going angsty on me, are you?"

He didn't answer right away, being that he wasn't that intent on giving Varda more to play with. "This one is different," D stated while he examined a large hand pulser. Decent handling, and the type of output it had would no doubt blow a hole the size of a watermelon in the target. "This job overall is different."

Varda's face shifted again, now looking almost like the being inhabiting the gauntlet was leering lecherously at D. "It's the girl, right? The one you're suppose to keep from being turned?" Now Varda was snickering. "I knew it, you're still a sucker for a pretty face with a nice set of tits!"

Those crimson eyes flashed violently as D brought his full attention on Varda. The face frowned in response; he knew that look. "Fine, fine," the gauntlet growled while now angling to look up at the displayed weapons. "You're in one of those moods." A pause as Varda looked over toward the main hallway. "Speaking of moods, I'll let you stew on your own for a bit."

With Varda's face flushing down to vanish from the top of the gauntlet, D sighed and reached up to a broadsword that was mounted above the fireplace, taking it down from the stand and looking it over. He hadn't held something like this in a while, it felt a bit off.

"That belonged to my grandfather," came Daniel's voice as the young man walked up from behind D. He smiled when the hunter glanced back at him, shrugging while joining D in looking over the display of weapons. "He was a werewolf hunter in his day, taught my dad what he knew about dealing with werewolves." A pause as Daniel saw D put the broadsword back on its display and walk over to the window. "I have to be honest, I don't know much about vampires, only that they fear the sun, symbols of faith, and garlic."

As Daniel stepped over to join him at the window, D glanced to the young man. "Only if you have unwavering faith in what the symbol represents," he stated before returning his attention to outside. "Anything less, and it's useless." Something caught his attention, his eyes changing shape to become slit like a cat and his vision increased in depth. "Garlic only helps with revenants, true vampires are unaffected." Now his gaze went up toward the moon. He frowned as he saw the faint reddish tint. "Tomorrow night will be a blood moon, when Kinthea believe that human blood is tainted and embracing a mortal as a vampire is bad luck." His eyes turned toward Daniel, narrowed in concern. "He'll most likely come for your sister tonight."

The young man nodded and grabbed his rifle from a stand, checked the power cell, then engaged the firing systems. "I'll do whatever it is I have to," he stated firmly. When D only shook his head, however, Daniel blinked in confusion. "What? I'll do anything to protect my sister!"

"The best thing you can do is stay out of this fight," D replied while now heading back toward Catherine's room. The girl was in there alone, reading. It was enough to satisfy D, and he shut the door, pulling a small device from in his coat and placing it on the door. After he entered a keycode on the keypad, a faint crackling field flashed out from the device, very similar to the barriers that protected the house. "She'll be safe behind that," D stated as he walked back into the living room. Daniel was still waiting there, likely ready to join D in the inevitable fight regardless of what the hunter told him. With a sigh, D held up his left hand, and the shifting metal face formed in the palm while Daniel stared in shock. "And you will be much safer this way."

"What the hell is-" Daniel slumped over a second after that gauntlet touched his skin. D quickly caught him and set the young man on a nearby couch before turning his attention toward the grid controls for the barriers. With Daniel now fast asleep, all D had to worry about was the vampire who would be coming for the youngest of the Rans.

Something was definitely moving outside, just outside the barriers. "Lupus," D muttered while Varda's face shifted about to appear on the top of the gauntlet's hand area. "No doubt Tremere has a group of mutants as well. Best to save Daniel the trouble of repairing the barrier in the morning." He walked over to the grid, opened the panel, and keyed off the power to the barrier.

Now shutting off the lights as well, D could see the forms outside. A pair of werewolves and three more human forms. No doubt Tremere and a pair of mutant thralls. D sighed, took a breath, then walked to the front door. Opening it, D stepped outside and shut the door behind him while now locking his eyes on the group of beings waiting just outside the barrier zone. Strangely, he couldn't smell any vampire blood here, just the tainted blood of thralls.

One of the thralls, a slim young man who looked no older than Daniel, quickly ran his gaze over D, appraising him. There was a mocking laugh from the thrall as he shook his head. "You're the best those brats could get?" he intoned tauntingly. His eyes shimmered with light, a light which was from the touch of vampire's blood in him. "Not bad looking, but still, nowhere even near a match for our master."

"My business is with Jonathan Tremere," D stated calmly. A breeze caused his coat to flare open slightly, and he took the chance to step toward the group of mutants and werewolves. "Since you're still somewhat human, I'll give you this chance to leave now."

The young thrall growled in response to being ordered around by this simple human hunter. "How dare you!" he spat. "I am Grigori, favored of Tremere's servants, and I won't take that kind of talk from a lousy human!" A nod to his companions, and the werewolves rushed at D, claws flashing while they roared.

The hunter narrowed his eyes, then flew up with little preparation and went sailing over the werewolves. As he landed, D drew out his gun, turned, and fired to unleash a rippling burst that tore open a hole the size of a human head in one werewolf's chest. A second burst blew the creature's head off, and as the other werewolf turned around to attack, the third shot cause its head to explode like an overly ripe tomato. Blood and brain matter splattered on the ground, while D simply turned on his heel and aimed his weapon at the three remaining thralls.

One of the older thralls took a step back. "He just wasted both fleabags in less than a minute," the man hissed to Grigori while preparing to retreat. "This guy is a hardcore hunter!"

Grigori snorted as he snapped his right hand open and extended a set of metallic claws from his fingers. "They were mindless dogs good only for hunting and fodder," he stated while walking toward D. "I am a high thrall, human, promised that I shall become one of the nobility as reward for my service, and you'll find that I am much more difficult to fight than a pair of lupus."

The thrall flicked out his hands, firing those metal claws at D. The blonde hunter merely raised his left arm and swung out, batting the flying nails away while a wide two-and-a-half foot long blade was now protruding from the gauntlet. D's crimson eyes narrowed again, once more becoming feline slits. Now they were glowing with a bright red light. It gave the thralls warning that they had misjudged and underestimated him.

"I'll say it again," D intoned with a venomous trace of anger in his voice. "My business is with your master Tremere. Don't ignore my mercy and continue to stand as his human shields."

The third thrall, a tall burly man, growled and raced at D. In a flash, the blade on Varda came up and slashed at the thrall, who dodged to the side and brought out a viciously serrated knife that was driven into D's stomach. The hunter gritted his teeth, then yelled when the man pulled his knife back out. Pieces of skin were still on the edges of the blade while blood was streaming down from the wound.

"Not so tough now, are you?" the thrall stated, raising his knife to stab the hunter through the head and finish the job. As he swung down, however, D's right hand dropped his gun and came to grab the man's wrist. "What!" the thrall gasped. D was staring up at him, pushing him away despite the loss of blood. "But how!"

The man stepped away, out of range from the blade on D's arm. The hunter stood up, looking to the three thralls and clenching his left hand into a fist. "Your first mistake was in thinking I was easy prey," he stated calmly. After a moment, he reached down and picked up the pressure blaster, slipping it back into his coat. "Your second mistake was in assuming that I'm a mere human."

Grigori finally cracked a smile. As one could see, the large wound in D's stomach was already rapidly healing, something no human could do. These new revelations seemed to amuse him. "How ironic," he stated while brushing back his hair and laughing. "Oh, how damn ironic! You're a dhampir!"

Those crimson eyes flashed and narrowed as they reverted back to normal. "What did you call me?" D hissed as he took a step toward the thralls. He wiped off the blood that had gotten on his belt, then raised up Varda to aim the blade at Grigori. "You did not just call me a dhampir."

More amusement shined in Grigori's eyes. This was getting interesting. "Not all that accepting of what you are, I take it," the thrall stated saucily. He relaxed his stance a bit, acting flippantly now in regards to the situation. "You know, I've heard about your kind, but I've never actually met a dhampir before." There again was that mocking gleam in his eyes. "A vampire's joke with a mortal woman."

"I am not a dhampir," came D's scathing retort. "And I have no relation to your Kinthea suckhead masters."

Now Grigori has confusion mixed with his amusement. This hunter was obviously a dhampir; the half-breed spawn of a Kinthea vampire and a human. Why was he denying what he was, even if he did hunt his own ancestors? "Like hell you're not," the young thrall stated while giving a rather flamboyant hand gesture. "You just took a hit that would have any human hunter on the ground, bleeding to death, and you healed the whole thing in a matter of seconds."

"You talk like your Kinthea masters are the only vampires that exist," D replied as he took a step toward the thralls. "More to the point, you seem to think that the Kinthea are the only ones who can breed with humans." Now it was D who smiled. "I take it your master never told you about the vanpyr."

The older thralls had confused looks on their faces. Grigori, however, recognized the word, and his face suddenly went from amused to a scowl. "Oh," he growled, now knowing what D was talking about. "You're one of those dhampirs."

"That's dunpeal, asswipe," D snapped back angrily. "Just because I'm a hybrid doesn't mean I'm some filthy-blooded bargain bin vampire wann'a be."

There was a grin again on Grigori's face. It seemed this half-breed hunter was rather easy to goad into anger. Already this was proving interesting. "No," he replied, "it means you seem to have this notion that because your father won't admit what he is, you have to have your own special name for what you are." A snort as he flipped away a bang from over his eyes. "I've heard about your 'vanpyrs'. A bunch of idiots who don't want to admit that they're just another Kinthea bloodline, so they make up their own name and tell their dhampirs that they're 'dunpeals'." He turned his gaze to the less bulky of his companions. "Would you kill this dhampir idiot and get it over with? Master Tremere wants his bride already, as in yesterday."

A nod. "My pleasure," the thrall replied, now smiling as he turned toward D. "Just a dhampir," he muttered. "Allow me to introduce myself, dhampir. My name is Reidai, and I'm going to enjoy beating your half-breed ass into the ground where it belongs."

The golden blade protruding from Varda flashed as D took ready stance. In an instant, it shimmered and fluidly retracted back into the gauntlet like liquid. Now he stood in preparation for hand to hand instead of armed combat. His eyes changed once more into slits, allowing him to perceive everything he saw.

Reidai ran at the hunter. In an instant, D swung out and slammed his left arm against the thrall's chest, brought his right hand up to crack into Reidai's face, then spun around and delivered a powerful kick that flung the thrall back almost ten feet before he hit the ground and skidded along for another five.

The black coat billowed out as D once more spun and brought out one of the small throwing blades. As he completed his turn, the young half-breed hunter flung out the weapon, landing a hit directly between the eyes of the burly thrall who had stabbed him. There was a satisfied smile on D's face as the man slumped and fell to his knees before falling over on his face.

One brow raised in surprise as Grigori looked down at what had been one of his fellow thralls. Half-breed spawn that this hunter was, he was good, Grigori had to give the boy that much credit. However, the fact he was this good meant he was a possible major annoyence. Certainly no threat, since a simple dhampir, while powerful when compared to a human or even a lower thrall, was no match for a vampire and their prized high thrall childer-to-be.

Yet, this hunter could prove an interesting challenge later on. "Reidai, leave him be for now," Grigori ordered when the thrall was about to resume his attack. A smile was on the younger thrall's lips now. "Let the dhampir have his victory here, we can easily replace Nore."

The older thrall hesitated, then nodded and stepped back to join Grigori. "I wanted to kill him," he hissed to Grigori as they moved to leave.

D frowned as he kept his eyes locked on the departing thralls, then finally sighed with relief and walked over to where the dead body of the thrall called Nore lay. He turned the corpse over, gripped the throwing blade that was lodged in Nore's head, and ripped the weapon out. After wiping the blood off the stained blade, D silently slipped it into his coat again.

"Scumsucking bloodguzzler wann'a be," he whispered as he stood up and looked out toward the castle where the thralls were headed for. "I should have torn his goddamn throat out for calling me a dhampir."

Varda's face quickly formed on the top of the gauntlet as he raised a 'brow'. "You know, you could seriously work on that anger management issue when someone calls you a dhampir." He smiled when that same flash of anger grew in D's expression. "I'm being honest. Most of your kind let it go, even if they do want to rip the head off of whoever called them a dhampir."

"Most dunpeals aren't like me," D replied sharply. He looked around at the werewolf corpses and Nore's own dead body. It was going to be a hell of a job to dispose of these, and he didn't have anything that could incinerate the bodies. "Varda, get to work and suck these guys up."

There was a chuckle as Varda's face shifted into the palm of the gauntlet. "Dinner time!" he exclaimed just before opening his mouth wide and creating a vacuum force which pulled on the corpses. After a few moments, Nore's body flew off the ground and was sucked down into Varda's mouth, followed by the two werewolf corpses. The face let out a belch, then acted like he was licking his lips. "Mm, mm," he remarked while shifting his face to the back of the gauntlet again. "Nothin' like lupus spare ribs with a side of thrall steak to fill a demon's belly, eh?"

D didn't reply to the joke. Instead, he looked around to make sure that the thralls and their minions had indeed left, then walked back into the house to restart the barriers. It was then that he walked over to where Daniel was sleeping on the couch, checked to make sure the boy was indeed alright, then headed to the back room and pulled off his coat. "We're heading into town tomorrow," he stated while pulling Varda off his arm. The gauntlet let out a groan at the plan after being set on the table. "I need to find out more about Jonathan Tremere, something about those thralls smelled familiar."

Varda frowned. Now that D mentioned it, there had been something familiar about the vampire blood which empowered those thralls. "You think Tremere might be someone we know?" he asked, voice now missing that joking tone. "The kid said that this guy is supposed to be a pre-war Kinthea, and we know that there aren't too many of them still running around who aren't in their first millennium at the least."

There was a nod from D while he unlocked and took off his armor. The section plates found themselves now resting next to Varda and D's coat. "It's possibly someone we've gone after before that got away and changed their name, we've seen Kinthea do that before." He looked out the window, noting the moon and how close to full it was. "Either way, I want to find out who he is before we go after him in that castle of his."