The wedding preparations were still going on, directed by Tremere, when the vampire felt something was wrong. Two flashes of pain from his thralls, and then the sensation of anger. He frowned, ordered his wraithly servants to continue their work, then hurried off down the hallway. Nearing the room where Catherine was supposed to be sleeping, he found Grigori leaned against the wall, still trying to recover from Varda's lighting blast. "What the hell is going on!" the vampire roared.

Grigori groaned as he looked up at his master. "The dhampir is still alive," he reported while now standing up on his feet. "He escaped Marrigan some how and got into the castle. Reidai is after him and the girl right now."

Tremere snarled and spout off a string of vulgarities at the lack of competance in his minions. "Why aren't you with him!"

Another wince. "The dhampir hit me with some kind of lightning power," he replied, almost stumbling. "I couldn't move until just a few minutes before you got here."

With a snarl, the vampire hurried off in the form of a bat. It wouldn't do to punish Grigori; he'd been caught unaware and incapacitated in the first strike. Reidai, however, was going to be in some serious trouble if he failed to recover the girl and deal with that hunter. One single half-breed, regardless of vampiric heritage, should not be causing this much trouble. Who the hell was this boy?

There were roars from various beasts and monsters as D led Catherine down through the corridors of the castle. Trying to find their way through this centuries old estate was proving to be a nightmare, and that wasn't counting the monsters now looking for them. Tremere, no doubt, had discovered his injured minions and set his castle on alert. "I should have gotten the blueprints on this place before coming in here," the hunter muttered under his breath as he pulled the girl around a corner. There was a pack of barghest not far behind them, leashed by ghostly masters.

Reaching into his coat, D pulled out a small spherical device, pulled the pin, then threw it back just as the monster beasts and their masters came out the corner. With a bright flash, the device erupted into smoke, filling the corridor behind the escapees. One of the barghest stumbled out of the poison cloud, then fell over dead. That solved the problem of their scent being used to track the two, but a group of mutents now came from one of the other hallways.

D pulled Catherine into a niche, hiding while the group of monsters raced past them. He breathed in with relief before turning to check the girl. No further opening of those bite wounds on her neck, and they looked to have almost healed. Tremere had indeed proved to follow Kinthea beliefs about the blood moon. "Once we get back to the ranch, you'll be safe there from Tremere."

The girl gulped. It wasn't Tremere she was worried about right now, it was D. He hadn't told her or her siblings about what he was. While she had refused to believe it before, those pointed ears of his that were now unhidden by his hair spoke the truth; he wasn't completely human. "Will I be safe from you though?" she timidly asked. When he looked at her, perplexed, she again gulped. "Tremere...he told me about what you are, that you're a dhampir."

There was a low growl in the hunter's throat. His eyes flashed, and he had to resist the urge to lash out in response to being called such a thing. "I am not a dhampir," he stated, trying his best to keep his anger under control. He couldn't blame Catherine, being that she probably had never heard of his kind as they were supposed to be called. "Hybrid, yes, but not a dhampir bastard of the Kinthea."

Confusion again. He just admitted that he was a half-breed, but was maintaining that he wasn't a dhampir. "So you're not the son of a vampire?" Catherine asked, her voice hopeful that Tremere had been lying. Granted, the fact that D was a supernatural half-breed wasn't all that comforting, but all the same, if he was something else, it made her feel a bit better.

"I never said that," D replied. He drew out his force gun, leading her out of the niche and back down the hallway to turn into the main corridor. Hopefully it would lead them into the foyer where his motorcycle was waiting for them. "Remember how I told you and your family about how there are many vampiric races?" She nodded. Good, it made this simpler and quicker to explain. "Well, only two races are actually vampires in the strictest sense of the term, the others are just vampiric in how they sustain their existence." He pulled her into an open room, allowing another group of monsters to go by while they hid. While he had the chance, D readjusted the setting on his weapon. "Vetala are wraiths that simply have a host body they permanently use as a shell, they take their food by leaving the body and attacking their victim. Kuei-jin feed on life-energy, not blood, so they're not in the classification of vampires."

That sort of explained it for her, but she clearly still didn't understand. He sighed, looked out the door, and nodded for her to follow him. His left hand was still holding her right while he held his gun in his own right hand. "Most undead races that are vampires are actually Kinthea bloodlines that have taken on certain evolutions," he continued, keeping his senses attentive for any sign of trouble. "Then there's the vanpyr, which are a legitimate second vampire race."

There was the foyer, just ahead at the end of the hallway. It looked like they'd get away home free in just a few minutes once they reached the foyer and got to his motorcycle. "Vanpyr are what you could call daywalkers." D now quickened his pace toward the exit. "Once you get to around the fifth generation and below, sunlight does little more than give a vanpyr an annoying sunburn." Almost there now. He could hear a group of mutants now following them, but it wouldn't matter as soon as they got to that motorcycle.

Odd, there was some kind of mist floating in the foyer. It hadn't been foggy when he'd last looked out a window. Wait, that wasn't fog, that was the mist form of a vampire! D came to a halt and raised his gun as the mist shaped into human form and solidified. It was Tremere, just as he'd feared. Wait a minute. He knew that face. The black hair and ice blue eyes, those features. They had indeed met before, and D could never forget how it was they'd met, the reasons he could never forget that face.

"Arkhm," he hissed. Images of things he'd tried to forget flashed in his mind, old pain returning as fresh as if it all has just happened. In an instant, D pulled the trigger of his gun, firing a force blast that slammed into the vampire and sent him flying back. D pulled on Catherine, leading her out of the hall and into the foyer. A second round from his weapon forced Tremere to shift form into mist again, allowing the two to reach the entry corridor.

There. Still right where he left it was his motorcycle. D quickly tapped on the control keypad on his right arm to deactivate the security system, then opened up one side of the armor paneling. "Get in," he ordered, grabbing his helmet and slipping it on. He turned and fired his gun at the pursuing mutants, noticing that Tremere was gone. All the better. D holstered his weapon, slid in behind Catherine on the motorcycle, then keyed in the code that extended the retracted armor panels back into place.

The start up took a bit, not to mention that he had to program the 'cycle computer to relay a video feed of outside right into his visor. "Hang on," he said while revving the engine. Catherine was clutching tightly to him now, having turned a bit so that she was sitting across in his lap. Not that he minded, but it did prove to be something of a distraction. "This could get rough."

Right foot pushing the gearshift pedal to engage the drives, D turned the control grip sharply to bring the motorcycle about and go tear back down the foyer hallway. A rearview display showed the number of monsters that were racing to catch up with the machine, and a couple were even starting to succeed. Right hand now tapping on the central control board, D waited for confirmation of the overdrive being activated, then gripped the controls tightly. "You might wann'a hold on tight," he said to the frightened girl in his lap. That resulted in her clinging to him like her life depended on it. Moments later, the thrusters ignited, sending the motorcycle screaming down the hall at an incredible speed.

The drawbridge was starting to pull up. That would be his luck now. "I hate it when I have to turn this thing into a gas guzzler," the dunpeal growled while tapping on the control board and causing the overdrive thrusters to flare up even hotter. His foot pressed down on the throttle all the way, causing the speed to increase even more. A pair of mutants were ahead of them, standing in the way to no doubt slow them down. Easily solved by a pair of metal blades that fired out from the front end of the motorcycle and flung them back, the blades lodged deep in their torsos.

The drawbridge wasn't even at a forty-five degree incline when the front wheel hit steel and the motorcycle raced upwards along the bridge. As the bridge continued to rise, the machine kept going up its length, and at last fired off another pair of blades, which flew at the chains and cut right through. The bridge ceased movement for but a moment as its ascent became a rapid descent. As the bridge came crashing back down, the motorcycle bounced slightly from the impact. Inside, Catherine yelped in surprise while D, hidden under his helmet, gave a satisfied grin and tore over the bridge onto solid ground.

Now standing there at the main entry of the castle, Reidai watched his prey escape. He looked back into the castle, then, as he growled, ran off to give chase. "I won't come back until I've killed you, dhampir," he hissed to himself. No doubt Tremere was going to be furious, and right now it was best to go after his target than face the wrath of his master for failure.

Stalking down through the halls on his way to the ballroom, Tremere did his best to remain calm. Things had already gone wrong with the arrival of this hunter when he had beaten two werewolves and a thrall. Now the girl had been rescued and was now on her way with that half-breed back to the ranch, and there were only a few hours left before sunrise.

Grigori was waiting for him at the entry into the ballroom. "I ask for your forgiveness in my failure," he said, lowering his head. He was ready for any punishment that his master deemed necessary.

Tremere paused for a moment. Almost tempted to lash out at his servant, he then shook his head. It would do no good to inflict pain on his favored minion, especially since there had been nothing Grigori could have done. "I can't afford to dispense punishments on those who have not earned them," he stated while gesturing for Grigori to walk beside him. "Reidai has followed the hunter, no doubt to kill this dunpeal scum, or die trying."

The thrall glanced to his master in confusion. Why had he referred to the half-breed by that ridiculous term that the hunter insisted on being called? "Reidai is well trained, my lord. He will kill the dhampir."

He came to a halt and turned toward Grigori. "Let's drop the act, Grigori. That boy is no dhampir." Tremere growled as he looked upon the work of his ghostly servants. A grand display had been prepared for the wedding this night, when the moon was clear and his bride in his hand. Right now, however, Tremere needed to break these illusions that his favored servant had about this situation, and himself. "Just as you are no thrall."

The young man blinked. He clearly didn't understand at all what his master was talking about. "Sire?" Grigori intoned, unsure what he was being told. "Might I ask what you mean?"

The vampire snorted and threw up a hand. "You're not a thrall like Reidai or Nore," he replied. Now he gestured to his own features. "Have you not figured it out yourself in the three hundred years since I brought you into my service, why you look like me!" No, the young thrall did not understand, but realization was starting to dawn on him. It was about time that the boy used that brain of his. "You're a dhampir yourself, Grigori, my son with a mortal woman, and the reason I favor you over all my other living servants!"

He only stared at his vampire liege. Grigori found it hard to believe that this whole time, in the three centuries he'd served this noble, that he was a half-breed himself. But then he realized that it only made sense. Such was why he was chosen to be Tremere's chief servant even all those years ago. Yet even with the vampire's blood in his veins, he was tainted by human blood, the blood of his human mother. "Then I hope to rise above the human taint in my body when you grant me immortality, as you promised," Grigori said, bowing his head once more. "I wish to have nothing in common with this dhampir who angers you so."

Again, Tremere scoffed at his use of the term. "Don't you get it!" the vampire roared. Now his spectral servants halted in their tasks, wondering why their master was so agitated. "He's no dhampir, he is a dunpeal!" Hm, that was right. He'd told Grigori that the vanpyr were a delusional bloodline, since he'd never expected to encounter their kind again after killing Greymare. Sadly, such had been his own delusion, one that he'd passed on to his dhampir son. "The vanpyr are real, Grigori, and they are dedicated to protecting the humans from the Kinthea by using our own powers against us!" He sighed, now walking away from the ballroom and leading Grigori in the direction of his own quarters. "I was sired by Dracula himself, Grigori. The most legendary of our kind, yet he himself had encountered the vanpyr. They are a race who were born almost fifteen hundred years ago when a crusading knight was transformed into the first vanpyr by the Divine."

"Then why did you not tell me-"

"Because there was no need to," Tremere stated. "When I killed Hyrem Greymare, I thought that he would be the last I saw of their accursed race." He paused now, stopping at the doors of his chambers. "Now listen carefully, Grigori, because this is very important. The dunpeal are their spawn with humans, and this hunter is a dunpeal. He's a powerful one, having escaped from Marrigan is more than enough proof of this. I seriously doubt that even you could kill him on your own."

With that said, the vampire entered his chambers and shut the door behind him. The sun would rise soon, which left Grigori with the task of planning out an assault to kill the dunpeal and recover the girl. While he was at it, he might as well take the older girl for his own and bring their brother along so that he could witness the marriage of his sisters to this vampire house.

The growling engine roared while the overdrive thrusters continued to burn. Inside the enclosed seating section of the vehicle, D was now re-establishing the transmission link with the orbiting satellite network. It took him a few minutes, but he finally got the data stream going again. So far, nothing was following them, which was definitely a good sign. Time to shut off those gas guzzling thrusters and slow down a bit on the way back to the ranch.

"You've been through more than you deserve," he said to Catherine while keeping his eyes on the road. D took the chance to key open the windshield armor panel, now giving him a real visual out the outside. Resetting the data stream to his helmet, the dunpeal sighed and watched as the normal readouts of speed and distances to his destination were the only things displayed in his visor. "This will all be over soon enough, so you don't need to worry about the vampire and his servants anymore."

She was silent on the trip home. D really couldn't blame her for that, being how much had happened to her. Then there was the fact that she knew what he was. How would her brother and sister react to learning that he himself was half-vampire? Granted, he wasn't one of the Kinthea's spawn, but still, he was what he was. When it came to that, he'd deal with the consequences when they came.

About an hour later, they finally returned to the ranch. The sky was beginning to brighten now with the coming sun, which meant they were safe for the time being. D noticed the damage to the barriers ad he drove the motorcycle into the yard, then saw the torn down wall. That explained how Catherine had been captured. He brought the vehicle to a stop, opened the armor panels to let Catherine and himself out, then re-engaged the armor and security system before following her into the house. Fortunately, Daniel and Iria were still there, alive and well.

"Daniel!" Catherine cried out. Her brother and sister leapt up and ran over to the girl, hugging her tightly. They both looked up to see D standing there and nodded their thanks. The hunter simply walked out and began working on repairs to the barriers.

Just some cut wires that has disrupted power, which also explained why the generator were offline. Seemed that Grigori hadn't done as mush damage as he could have here. D quickly striped open the cables with a finger on his left hand, using the tip of the gauntlet like a knife, then cut the damaged wire ends and began splicing the cable ends back together. "For want of some electrical tape," he muttered just before a roll of the desired material was handed down to him. The hunter looked up, saw that Daniel was the one who offered him the roll, then nodded and used the tape to wrap the patch job before going over to the generator and working on repairs.

"I want to thank you."

His crimson eyes glanced over to the young man. "I was just doing what you hired me for." Strange. All Grigori had done was short out the generator with a hunk of metal against the main conduit. Removing the offending object, D held his left hand around to the damaged section. "Varda," he whispered. "You know what to do."

There was a soft grunt while lightning surged from the gauntlet's fingertips. Moments later, the generator came to life, restoring power on the ranch and bringing the house lights back on. D sighed and pulled his hand out, shutting the maintenance panel and heading back into the house to reset the barriers. The sun would be up in a couple hours, so they had that safety, but it was still a good idea to have the shields on.

He headed toward his room, very exhausted from everything he had done this night. He was hungry as well, but breakfast could wait until after he'd gotten some sleep. Closing the door behind him, D peeled off his coat and threw it onto the desk, then let himself fall onto the bed. "Varda..."

There was that click and the sound of Varda's grafts retracting from his flesh. D slowly pulled the gauntlet off, setting it on the floor since he wasn't in the mood to do much else. He didn't even bother taking his armor off. Instead, D just closed his eyes and passed into sleep, but he could see nothing but the horrible visions of things he never wanted to remember.