Shadow: Hi again! Chapter 3 finally up, but first a little thank you to our reviewers
Korde: You're right, most slash writers are female, but it was still a little wrong for us just to assume. Thank you for your praise and yourcriticism is always welcome as we are always trying to get better at what we do. Love ya lots!
Mannariel: Lol, thanks for the praise and I've always said that the wait always makes the prize better. Thanks for the praise! A lot of people seem to like Jack. We love creating characters and hate it when people make characters perfect in every way, makes it a little dull, so we always try to make our characters feel natural with their own little flaws and quirks. Anyway, we love you alot man!
Ryo: We feel loved too! (huggles the reviewers)
Evangiline: (hugs too) We didn't think this would be as liked as it was
Amelia: even I'm excited!
Shadow: So without further ado, to the fic!

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Chapter 3: Musings

Jack felt his stomach shaking, his mind racing, fingers twitching. He hated what he was becoming, ever since that night, all those years ago. He still remembered how he felt that day, the scent of blood and death invading his senses, the terror at the count's cold hands ghosting over his shoulders, the raw primal power that rushed through his veins when he fought for his life. But now…when he thought back on it now and all the other times, he realized how much of a monster he was changing into.

The monster was always clawing at his mind, ready to fight, to kill, to bathe in blood and drink to its hearts content. This was the reason why he refused to take partners, why he barely ever had a real lover, why he spent most of his extremely long life alone. He felt a bit scared of this monster inside of him, the wolf and human in him needed and craved companionship, the vampire couldn't care less, but the monster…the monster wanted to eat and kill. The monster had it's own seductiveness, the promise of blood and the temptation such sin gave.

But when the monster wanted to come out, change him into a true creature of the night that killed without remorse and ate it's fill of screams and blood, he always saw his mother briefly, blood leaking from her slender throat and hair falling gracelessly over her eyes, but instead of seeing the count, he saw himself, eyes glowing and fangs extended.

It killed him inside when he saw that image, the thought of killing someone he cared about made him wish the monster inside of him would just…go away. But it couldn't, it was a part of him, and it had saved his life but it asked for fresh prey in return. Prey…blood…flesh, all things that creature demanded, and it made him ache inside. He refused to drink any blood whatsoever now, it had been almost a century and a half since he had last tasted blood, and that was the memory that made him cut himself off from people, only existing for his vengeance.

It was no way to live, the human often reminded him, appealing to his long buried remorse and such. The human was always telling him that the pain was pointless; he needed someone, someone who cared about him. Even the wolf said that as well. It wanted a pack, to have one or more traveling companions. The vampire didn't care; it was drawn to power, strength, and mystery.

All three wanted to reach out to D. He was the companion that the wolf and human craved, he was the mysterious new twist that kept the vampire interested, and sadly he was alsothe prey the monster wanted.

Jack just wanted to die, or curl up in a corner somewhere and hide. It hurt to have so much apposition in his mind. It made his head hurt and his soul ache. He masked it though, all the tension and sorrow, behind his mask of control and contentment. It fooled everyone, everyone except himself. It was redundant but he was trying to fool himself, with fake smiles and false hope. That's all he was made of, false hope. The question was…what was he hoping for? He knew he had no other future but to hunt these creatures mercilessly but his humanity was clinging to something, the hope of something beyond the killing, the blood. The idea that there was something waiting for him, just for him, that would fill the gaping hole he felt, it was a nice idea but unrealistic in his world.

He was Jack, the hunter who had to other purpose but to survive day to day, the monster that killed mercilessly and without remorse, but he was also the wolf that ran through the rain alone, the human that was lost, and the vampire who never ate. That's what he knew he was, what he believed he was.

But was he really?

Jack mulled this over in his mind, suitably depressing himself but masking his face with contemplation.

n

D was thinking as well, but mostly about whether or not Jack could be trusted. The rare-blood had proven his worth in battle and that he was responsible but was he worth trusting, that was the million-dollar question. It was finding the answer that was the trick.

For some reason, the Dunpeal just kept thinking about the look in Jack's eyes. It looked lost…sort of alone too.

Then again, D had the God-forsaken parasite as "company" if that's what you consider company. It got frustrating but he had become far to use to it over the years, but now, there was actually someone in his life that had his own body, and it was uncomfortable mostly.

D looked over at the dark haired hunter beside him, he looked lost in thought and a bit wistful. His eyes were glazed a bit and he radiated with hidden regret and repressed pain. D knew the feeling well but he never felt it from another person.

The other hunter must have felt D's eyes on him because suddenly, those dark golden eyes were on him, staring right through him almost. The Dunpeal was uncomfortable and felt like squirming under his gaze. He safely kept his composure and looked away, feeling those eyes staring into his very soul. D was doing his best to ignore it, shuffling his shoulders a bit. Soon he felt the gaze leave him, he almost sighed in relief. What about this hunter made him so…unsure and nervous? Jack had this aura around him; it both drew D to him and repelled him as well. D felt his curiosity perk at this; he now wanted to find out exactly what about Jack was so different from other people. This mission got more interesting by the minuet.

And it would get better as it went on.

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Shadow: Well, this was basically Jack and D's musings. Jack about what he's becoming and D about his trust (obviously) so yeah, this was a bit of a bridging chapter between here and the first town
Ryo: Yep! We love exploring the psyches of characters because it makes for interesting chapter work, actually being in a character's mind!
Amelia:...was that actually an INTELLIGENT sentance out of you! OO
Ryo: Duh, I'm not stupid!
Amelia:...no comment on that one
Evangiline: (giggles) Till next time, ja ne!