Blood Ties

by SailorMoonV

A letter from D's past returns the dark memories to thepresent, forcing him to remember the ordeal of being a prisoner in the hands of a pair of dunpeal sisters....

4. Ray of Light

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust "Blood Ties"

by Troy A. Stanton note: This fanfic follows the events of the original stories "Winds of Change" and "Final Hours" (both written by me), and also incorporates a few elements from the story "Drawing Blood" by Catherine B. Krusberg. I have her permission to make use of her work as a source of material, so anything 'new' you see in here about D's past with Doris that didn't happen in the movie is most likely her original plot material.)

WARNING: This story contains graphic violence and adult content, please do not read beyond this point if you are easily offended by such things.

((Chapter Four - Ray of Light))

The images that blurred past what remained of his mind did so in a jumble, not stopping long enough to be identified or processed in a rational way. He thought he heard snippets of song intermixed with fleeting tastes and ghostly sensations of touch and warmth. It was a voice he knew yet couldn't remember or place, the light feelings bringing him a measure of comfort even without knowing why.

The kaleidoscope of images and sensations continued to flow past him in an eerie montage, leaving him unable to identify or even isolate anything specific but giving him a sense of peace and solace nonetheless. It went on for what felt like hours before the blurs suddenly sharpened into focus, dragging him back into a suddenly tortured existence of pain and suffering as they resolved into something he could recognize.

A pair of sea-green eyes was watching him very carefully, seeming to be only a few inches away. The sensation of something both cold and warm at the same time registered next, feeling it brush against his lips. The taste that soon followed, however, simply could not be mistaken for anything else.

Blood.

The world was cast in a blue veil in an instant, his vampiric side not so much waking up as surging forward into exquisitely sharp focus to take total and absolute control. He swallowed the mouthful of blood and strained forward,
able to smell the amount that remained in the cup. His senses slowly began to awaken as the vessel was tilted, allowing more of that most refreshing of red nectars to wash over his tongue and slake a badly-aching thirst.

((Told you,)) a voice said very quietly as the pair of eyes seemed to triple in diameter at the forcefulness of his reactions. ((Nothing rouses a vampire like the smell of fresh blood.))

"D?" a feminine voice whispered softly, sounding to be one degree short of openly frightened.

((Give him a moment to wake up,)) it said carefully. ((That first jolt is usually just a reflex. You with us now, D?)) it prodded as the world started to make sense.

D blinked as the dark beast within him started to relax, momentarily sated by the cupful of blood. "Wh..." he panted, wincing at how raw his voice both felt and sounded. "What...?"

"I can't stay long," April said in a hushed whisper, casting an extremely nervous look over her shoulder towards the dungeon door. "But I couldn't try to bring this to you until Pearl went to bed. Here, finish it," she said as she tilted the cup, emptying the last portion into his mouth.

D blinked and nearly choked at the sudden rush of fluid, managing to force himself to swallow it before he could spill it. He could feel it starting to revitalize him already, his body eagerly breaking it down to absorb the life-energy it contained. It probably wouldn't be enough to truly restore him, but it was enough to blunt his hunger and edge him back from the brink of death.

((D, are you alright?)) it inquired cautiously.

"Th... thank you," D managed to rasp as his eyelids started to droop of their own accord. His vampiric side was starting to become dormant again and he knew that he was still dangerously weakened from his wounds.

((Try to bring some water in a couple of hours, please,)) it said to her in a quiet tone. ((But again, only if you're absolutely sure the coast is clear. He said something earlier about how he thought Pearl was going to be more than a little restless, so she might be up and about when she usually isn't.))

"I'll do what I can," April promised in a shaken whisper, still keeping a very worried eye on D. "D, you have to stay strong," she urged him, one hand coming up to squeeze his arm before stopping herself, not entirely sure how he would react to the gesture. "Once Coral finds out what Pearl did to you, she will make sure it won't happen again.

((Let's hope so,)) it muttered darkly. ((In any case, you should head back upstairs. I'll keep an eye on him for you,)) it assured her.

"Thank you," April replied, casting a brief look of slight awe at the face that was embedded in D's left hand. Still not completely sure what to make of it, she turned her attention back to D and took an unsteady breath. "Please, D," she pleaded quietly. "Just stay strong until we can figure something out. We can do this, I know we can."

It took D a great amount of effort to lift his head up, just enough to be able to look into her eyes before nodding slightly. "Thank you," he said very softly, unable to say anything more as a truly fierce ache suddenly returned to his jaw.

The faintest of blushes tinted her cheeks as she nodded back at him before she turned around and quickly left the room, trying to do so as silently as she could. The door was eased shut and locked behind her, the soft sounds barely registering on his still-sluggish senses. A sense of profound weariness came over him a few moments later, forcing his eyes to close and slowly dragging his mind back down towards the empty gray abyss once again.

((D?)) it prodded carefully. ((Come on, stay with me here...))

"Give me a moment," he murmured as he tried to make a good-faith attempt at rallying himself. The sharp pains in his chest was starting to fade as he started to make use of the infusion of blood-borne life-energy, dulling down in intensity to join the literally countless other heavy aches that left him more than a little tired. All he wanted to do right now was take a nap, to try to let his body refresh itself and repair the damaged muscle tissue in peace.

((You're scaring the shit out of me, you know that?)) it sighed in a truly weary tone. ((I may not be tied too tightly to your nervous system, but I could tell just how close to death you were a few minutes ago. Remember back when you were shish-kebob'd on one of your silver werewolf spikes by Count Renard? Same feeling, D, and let me tell you it's not a pleasant one.))

"Tell me about it," D replied absently, trying hard not to remember how he had been able to feel his heart brushing against the spike with each throb.

((Err, D?)) it said in an unusually hesitant and tentative voice. ((You want to save your breath and leave the ironic sarcasm for another day? I mean, I suppose it is a good sign that you're feeling a little bit better and all, but you really should leave that to experts like me...))

D forced his eyes open, just enough to let him cast a sidelong glance up towards his left wrist. His eyebrow twitched up a fraction of an inch as he heard a very soft laugh in his ears, feeling his palm vibrate slightly.

((Made you look,)) it chuckled.

He closed his eyes and allowed the faintest of ghostly smiles to touch the corners of his mouth for a moment, feeling a measure of comfort from knowing that it was still with him. Indeed, it obviously had been able to talk to April earlier and caution her against his instinctive reaction to the smell of blood, sparing her a significant amount of horror. Not that she didn't appear ready to drop the goblet during that first instant, but he knew that it could have resulted in far worse reaction. Like a scream that would have let Pearl know a slave was doing something she shouldn't be doing...

His moment of humor promptly passed as he thought about the blood he had been fed. He wasn't sure where it had come from, but it had still been quite warm to indicate that it hadn't been drawn more than a few minutes ago. That might have suggested it was hers, but he couldn't discount it having been drawn from Abelyne's veins somehow.

((D?)) it inquired cautiously as it picked up on the soft grunt that had risen up from D's chest. ((Something bothering you? Well, something new that sprang up in the past five minutes, rather,)) it amended sheepishly, acutely aware of the constant pain D was in.

"I was just thinking about the blood," he said quietly. He opened his eyes to glance up at his hand as it laughed very softly to itself again, making him wonder what could possibly be so amusing.

((It was hers, though you missed seeing it drawn,)) it replied, seeming to sober up but still remain remotely amused. ((She didn't want to make a cut in a place where it could be seen, so she borrowed your dagger and opened up her blouse. Mmm, I didn't know the underside of a woman's breast could be so... juicy like that,)) it purred.

D blinked and cast a startled glance at it before looking around the room. He usually kept two daggers on his belt for various purposes, and the larger one had been the one Pearl had used to injure him earlier. He spotted it where it had apparently been thrown in a fit of frustration and rage, a small arc of blood splashed around the tip where it had been flung. His other dagger was still in his belt, although it looked like it had been hastily put back into place.

((Now there's a thought, D,)) it continued in an absent tone, as if it were daydreaming about something. ((You'd need to be super-gentle, of course, but what would it be like to open up a vein just above a woman's nipple to feed? OW D! Easy!)) it protested as D's hand suddenly clenched into a tight fist.

"Quiet," D said in a low tone as he closed his eyes, keeping the tension in his hand for another few seconds before relaxing.

((It was just a thought,)) it muttered in a sullen tone.

He didn't bother to chastise it further, as they both knew that he would never dare to do such a thing. A woman's body was sacred to him, being the bearer and nurturer of life, and it was only with her permission and at her express invitation that he would approach her for anything resembling intimacy, be it for the pleasure of love-making or the much deeper sharing of both body and spirit to feed. Even so, there were still some places on a woman's body that were sacrosanct, places where her life-energies had to be strong in order to fulfill her role as a mother and care-taker of her child. He might allow himself to please her with his touch or the kiss of his lips in those areas, but never with the kiss of his vampiric hunger.

Nothing, D, Pearl's voice suddenly drifted up from the depths. My mother did absolutely nothing. You say she gave me life, but she did no such thing. She died when I was still in the womb, and my father had to free me from her body before she dragged me into the grave with her. I had no mother, and I was certainly not born from one...

He shuddered to himself at the image, trying not to imagine being forced to rip a woman's womb open to free the child inside. He knew that doctors were forced to do so on a regular basis, a process known as a Caesarean section, but that it was always done under carefully controlled conditions and with extreme care taken at all times. But having to take a knife to the body of the woman who was carrying your child, a child not yet ready to emerge and who would be 'born' in a sea of blood from the process, blood in amounts that would drive any vampiric entity to the brink of hunger-madness...

Could an infant remember that? he found himself wondering. Human babies couldn't, of course, and he strongly doubted that Pearl herself could remember the ordeal, but what if it left an imprint on her vampiric side, underdeveloped and quiescent as it was in children born to such parents? Child-birth was a bloody event to begin with, but rarely was it that bloody when things went the way they were supposed to go.

((D?)) it prodded gently. ((You're getting that look on your face again.))

The quietest of grunts rose up from his chest, knowing that he had to address the issue sooner or later. "I was thinking about Pearl," he said in a muted tone.

((Coral's not enough for you all of a sudden?)) it sighed.

He ignored the idle comment and continued as best he could, knowing that he really shouldn't be talking giving how badly bruised his jaw was but still wanting to speak his mind while they were able to do so alone. "I don't think I can reason with Coral," he replied. "But Pearl might start to listen to what I have to say a little more closely. I think she knows her anger isn't normal, but she doesn't know what to do about it or what might be causing it."

((Oh, god, D,)) it said, sighing so heavily that it caused him to open his eyes and cast a suddenly worried glance up at his hand. ((Look, I know you've got this spark of hope lying around somewhere that you'll be able to open the eyes of other dunpeals and all, but let's be honest here, okay? Pearl is as evil as they come, and no amount of heart-to-heart talking is going to get her to quit having mild orgasms when inflicting pain and suffering on others. Er, not literally creaming herself, mind you, or at least not that I can tell, but I'm just saying,)) it added quickly as D cast an unamused glance up at it.

"I think she just needs to be shown what its like to be human," he said softly, more to himself than to the symbiot.

((Umm...)) it hesitated. ((You know what, I'll just shut up now, seeing how I'm not in the mood to get squeezed like a grapefruit. Let me know how it goes and try not to piss the bitch off this time, okay?))

D cast a truly glacial look at it, having a fair idea of what had gone through its mind a moment ago. Doris had touched his humanity back then, when the lure of her woman's blood as it flowed with the phases of the moon had been too strong to resist. He ended up taking her virginity... and she his... but somewhere along the way he had realized that he was still every bit as human as he was a vampire. Sorting out the myriad of unknown emotions and thoughts in his mind had taken centuries afterwards, but that initial spark of realization was one of the most fundamental and defining moments of his life.

Could it work? he found himself thinking as he closed his eyes and tried to idle his body as best he could under the circumstances to enter a state of forced dormancy not overly different from sleep. Granted seducing her was not an option even if the notion had appealed to him, but what if he told her about his life and his past in a way she might be able to relate to? Could he open her eyes to her own humanity that way? Perhaps that might indeed work... but how do you explain or describe the warmth of a human's love when it had never been felt before? The easiest way would have been to compare it to the love of one's mother, but if she hadn't been able to have that much in her life...

But what about Coral? What did she truly mean to Pearl? He didn't have any siblings, or at least not to his knowledge, and so he never had that kind of family presence in his life. But Pearl did, not just her own true sister Coral but the other children of her father born to his noble vampiress wife, Lady Valentina Winters. Their step-mother, he realized a moment later as it suddenly hit him.

Interesting, was the last thing D found himself thinking before his mental efforts paid off and his body gently slid into a dreamless sleep, drawing his mind down with it and sparing him the worst of the pain he was still in.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The process of waking up seemed to take forever before he finally slipped free from the bonds of self-induced and almost casual hibernation, allowing the nerve impulses in his mind to once again be processed by something other than simple autonomous reflexes. The pain was the first thing to register, a series of low-level aches that seemed to pulse and throb in time with his heart. The only sharp pains he could immediately discern were in his ankles, reminding him that they couldn't heal as long as he was forced to keep his weight on them.

A very faint grunt rose up from his chest as he continued his slow return to full awareness, realizing what the shift in pain meant. It was the part of healing that he truly hated, not the sharp, lightning-like stabs of agony that came and went in an instant at the slightest movement, but the deep and truly tiresome monotone aches of mending muscles. It was the kind of throbbing ache that could be felt throughout the body no matter how you twisted or tried to adjust your weight around it. And it never seemed to end or relent, just a steady mantra of subtle pulses from everywhere.

A slight tinkling sound registered on his ears, causing him to focus his efforts and force his eyes open. The sound soon revolved to be the very soft and delicate sound of a washcloth being dipped in a basin of water. It took several moments for the image to fully resolve, a pale washcloth tainted with a rust coloring as it was held by a gloved hand. His eyes reflexively tracked its movement downward where it continued to clean off his thigh, studying the gentle motions of the hand that guided it before following the length of the arm up to its owner.

"I see Pearl paid you a visit after I went to bed," Coral said softly, her lips pulled down in a mild frown as she continued to clean the dried blood off of his thigh. "And I see she wasn't overly gentle with your face, despite what I told her. How bad does it hurt?" she murmured, her eyes remaining downcast.

It took D a few moments to speak properly, his first attempt at moving his jaw resulting in a truly fierce ache that threatened to drive the air out of his lungs. His second attempt at speech was a complete failure as his voice was overshadowed by the coarse rasping noise that emerged from his throat, a sound not unlike two sheets of wet sandpaper being rubbed against one another.

"I'll heal," he managed to say after a third attempt, his voice raspy and still dangerously dry.

"Sure you will," she replied, her tone sending a brief shiver down his spine. She turned to her side and picked up a silver goblet from the cart with her ungloved hand, leaning forward slightly to rest the rim against his mouth. "Here," she said simply as she tilted it to let the liquid brush against his lips. She was about to resume scrubbing his leg with her other hand when she realized that he hadn't taken any of the liquid yet, blinking once before she lifted her eyes up to meet his.

"D?" she said softly as she saw the look of resolve in his eyes. "It's just water, which I know you need. Drink it," she urged in a whisper as she continued to hold the goblet at a slight angle.

D continued to look at her for several moments before finally allowing his lips to part, letting just a tiny portion of moisture to enter his mouth. He waited for several seconds to make sure that it wasn't laced or tainted with anything before swallowing, grimacing as his throat suddenly seemed to burn from the muscular motions.

"Yes, you're dehydrated," Coral murmured as she continued to try to get him to drink the water. "I sent April down here earlier with some water for you, but obviously it wasn't enough. I may have to punish her for letting you dry out like this," she added. She blinked and almost jumped back as D's eyes darted up to hers in an instant, looking at her with an intensity that made her shiver briefly.

"She's not the one I would blame for my condition," he rasped calmly.

"No, she's not," Coral replied, giving him a level look. "After all, all you need to do is promise not to hurt either me or my sister and not to try to leave me. Once you do that, D, you wouldn't need to be bound in chains."

A faint huff rose up from his chest as he returned her gaze with equal measure. "So it's my fault I'm here, then?" he murmured.

"D..." Coral started to say before leaning back and sighing quietly with resignation. She tossed the washcloth back in the basin and gently set the goblet back down on the cart, reaching up with both hands to gingerly rub her sinuses. She then looked up at him in silence for a few moments before leaning forward to rest her cheek against his shoulder.

"D, don't do this to me," she murmured softly, reaching up to brush a pair of gloved fingertips over his lips. "I'm... still trying to get over how intense yesterday was, so I didn't get much sleep. I know I'm a little cranky now, especially after seeing what Pearl did to you, but please... don't be mad at me. You know why I have to do this, why I can't risk letting you go until you promise not to hurt me or Pearl."

"What time is it?" D asked in a neutral tone.

"Sunset should be any moment now," Coral replied, tilting her head back slightly to study the side of his face from a different angle. "Yes, I know it's entirely too early for either of us to be up, but after making love to you like that... what?" she prodded as he gave her a sidelong glance out of the corner of his eye.

"You should go back to bed," he suggested in an utterly unreadable tone.

"In due time, my dark hunter," she purred suggestively, moving her hand down to caress the expanse of his chest. She caught herself before she could make contact with his bruised skin, casting a resigned look at the pattern of black-and-blue imprints that were too evenly spaced to be random. The nature of the marks puzzled her briefly before she looked down at her own hand, the realization setting in once she curled her hand into a fist and noticed how spaced apart her knuckles were. "Damn her," she whispered to herself, her coy mood evaporating as quickly as it had come.

She lifted her head up as she heard the door creaking open, arching up one eyebrow and casting a somewhat frosty look towards her sister as she entered the room. "Pearl," she called out in a level tone, pausing slightly as she realized that her younger sibling looked to have quite a lot on her mind.

Pearl stopped in her tracks and blinked, obviously not expecting to find anyone else down in their dungeon 'playground' at this hour. "You're up early, I see," she said as she made her way over to where D was chained to the support frame, the edges of her mouth turning down in a scowl as she took note of the way Coral had been resting her head against him.

"The same can be said for you," Coral countered as she stood up straight and rested a fingertip on D's jaw as lightly as she could, pointing to the dark bruises that all but masked the lower half of his face. "I don't suppose you have anything to say about this?"

Pearl glanced at the bruising on D's jaw and blinked, her pale eyebrows arching up almost to her hairline. "I didn't think he'd bruise that badly, sis," she said in a carefully crafted tone. "But you did say that I could slap him around if I wanted to, right?"

Coral narrowed her eyes slightly. "Maybe I should start slapping you with my fist like that, then," she suggested in a fairly ominous tone. "I thought I told you not to injure his face like that. And surely no amount of slapping could have left his leg covered in blood, now could it?"

"Settle down, Coral, I didn't break your little screw-toy," Pearl growled back. She paused slightly as her sister promptly blinked hard in surprise, her pale yellow eyes widening slightly. "Oh, yes, I know," she added. "I finished the clean-up this morning and was coming to tell you about it, but you seemed to be a little... busy... with him at the time," she said in an edged tone of contempt.

"Oh..." Coral said in a very quiet tone, a truly heinous blush rising up to turn her cheeks scarlet. She cast a quick glance at D before the tint to her cheeks darkened slightly, leaving her more than a little flustered. "Um, well... what can I say, Pearl?" she stammered, giving D a somewhat wan smile of embarrassment before looking rather meekly at her sister. "I was going to wait at first, but... you know I was never one for patience..."

"Coral?" Pearl said in a dangerously calm voice as she crossed her arms as tightly as she could over her chest, trying to ignore the sudden chill in her blood. "Why are you keeping him here?" she asked slowly.

It seemed to take Coral several seconds to remember how to talk, giving both D and Pearl several uneasy and deeply embarrassed looks before she finally drew in a deep breath. "Well... to be honest, my dear sister... I... I need him to... well... to give me a child," she finally blurted out, averting her gaze from everyone else.

"WHAT?" Pearl demanded, her jaw falling open.

"Pearl, don't look at me like that," Coral muttered as she started to pace the room nervously, her right hand rubbing and twisting her left wrist as she moved back and forth. "You remember how it was when Elora became pregnant, how alive and healthy she became."

Pearl blinked hard and cast a truly unsettled glance towards D, her unease deepening as she saw him staring back at her with an unreadable expression. "Sis, that was how long ago?" she spoke up carefully, unable to look away from D's intense gaze.

"I know," Coral sighed, seeming to be unaware of the exchange of looks between D and her sister. "But I just can't help thinking about it. I mean, you never wanted to hold Jenna so you don't know what it's like, but when she looked at me... I... just can't explain it," she sighed in quiet frustration. "But you saw how it affected Thomas and Elora, how being parents changed them."

"Maternal instincts can be strong," D spoke up quietly, drawing the focus of both women. "I'm not sure how strong it tends to be in nobles, but human women tend to manifest very strong maternal feelings when an infant is present.
Even when the child is not their own," he added.

"That's nice to know, D," Pearl replied briskly. "But we're not human."

"You have human blood in you," D countered calmly. "And I'm sure Coral can tell you that it seems to be enough to garner her interest in motherhood."

Pearl cast a quick glance at her sister, her stomach doing a back-flip at the dreamy smile that was being directed at the chained dunpeal. "Right," she said, clearly unconvinced at his words. "Sis, you're starting to nauseate me. You're serious about wanting a child?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Coral replied, giving her sister a genuinely curious look. "I am a woman, after all, and as we both are reminded each month our bodies are quite capable of bearing children. So why not?"

Pearl just slowly shook her head in disbelief, realizing that what D had said earlier was very much the truth. "Wait, wait," she said, making a rather shaky gesture with one hand. "Okay, I can handle the idea of you wanting to have a child, that's not the problem."

"So what is the problem?" Coral prompted lightly.

"WHY HIM?" Pearl blurted out, jabbing a finger in D's direction. "Holy shit, sis, could you have picked anyone more dangerous? He's a killer who hunts people like you and me! Of all the people in the world to get knocked up by, why him?"

Coral sighed softly and reached up to massage the bridge of her nose. "As I told him," she said gently, "I wanted the father to be the best there was. Who else is stronger than D, hmm? Nobles cringe at his name, even the old ones like Countess MacDara and Count Niles. That tells you what kind of power he has, and that's the kind of power I would want for my child."

"Coral?" Pearl said slowly and clearly. "You really, really need to stop and think this one over very, very carefully. The only reason we're still even alive right now is because of those adamantium chains, and the moment those get taken off? We're dead," she stated firmly. "He's going to kill us."

"Not necessarily," Coral replied, her tone turning honeyed as she moved over to D to run her ungloved hand along his arm. "If he promises not to hurt us or try to run away, he can be unchained and allowed to move around."

"BULLSHIT!" Pearl gasped, startled by the realization that her sister had even given the notion any thought. "If he's loose, we're dead!"

Coral simply smiled at her younger sister. "Ask him why he's still tied up," she said lightly, gently stroking D's bicep.

Pearl seemed to freeze like a statue before she very slowly shifted her focus over to D, suddenly aware of the intensity of his gaze on her once again. "Alright, hunter," she said in a low tone as she felt the temperature of her blood drop by what felt like a good thirty degrees. "Tell me why you're still tied up."

The softest of sighs drifted up from D's chest before he gingerly inhaled, still able to feel a sharp stabbing in his bruised chest. "Your sister wanted me to promise two things to her," he explained quietly. "First, not to try to harm or act against either her or you, and second, to not try to escape from her control. Needless to say, I refused to be bound in even more chains."

"You must be joking," Pearl said, giving Coral a disturbed look. The look she got in return turned her blood even colder, realizing that her sister was being quite serious about unbinding D from the chains if he made that promise to her. "What the hell, Coral? How can you possibly trust him like that?"

"Honor."

Both Coral and Pearl blinked before glancing over to D in unison. Coral had been drawing in a breath to speak when D said the single word, allowing her to remain silent. Pearl seemed to be stunned by the notion, carefully moving forward until she was within arm's-reach of him.

"What do you mean?" she demanded in a low tone.

"Your sister knows how much I value honor," D explained, lifting his head up to give Pearl a piercing look that caused her to edge back just slightly. "Not just my own, but the honor of others as well. I don't make promises I'm unable or otherwise unwilling to keep. I cannot in good conscience keep such a promise, and so I haven't bothered to make it nor will I lie about it."

Pearl cast an unsettled look towards Coral before returning her focus to D. "So let me get this right," she said in a very careful tone. "My sister has what the humans call a 'brain fart' and decides to offer to let you out if you just make a simple promise to her. And you said no?"

"That's right," D replied simply.

"And I was starting to think she was touched in the head?" Pearl gasped as she leaned back and started to laugh. It was a somewhat bitter sound that lasted for several seconds before she started to sober up, looking back down at him with a mild smirk of disbelief etched on her lips. "Humor me for a moment here and tell me why you didn't say yes and turned on her the moment you were free from the chains."

D snorted quietly to himself and shook his head. "That would have been a dishonorable thing to do," he replied calmly.

"So?" Pearl countered. "You could have killed the both of us and nobody would ever have known about it."

Both women blinked and edged back as D's head rose up sharply, a dark scowl marring his face as he gave Pearl a look of open contempt. "Quite the contrary," he said in a level tone. "I would have known. As I tried to tell you earlier, nobody else can take away or taint my honor. Only I can do that, and not just breaking a promise made in good-faith but turning around and then betraying the one it was made to would be so dishonorable as to be despicable."

Pearl glanced over at Coral for several seconds, trying to get a feel for what the other woman was thinking before shaking her head slowly. "I guess I just don't get it," she admitted calmly as she looked back at D. "If I were in your boots, I'd have done that in a heartbeat."

"I would expect nothing less from you, Pearl," D replied calmly. "But I doubt anyone would have considered offering you the same deal.

The aqua-eyed woman immediately narrowed her eyes, her hands starting to clench into fists. "And why is that, hunter?" she growled in a low tone.

"Because you are without honor," D said simply, giving her a neutral look. "You only understand concepts like strength and domination. Might makes right, as some have said. The strong shall live and the weak shall die."

Pearl simply raised an eyebrow, casting an absent glance over at Coral as the gray-haired woman silently moved over to the cart to pick up the silver goblet of water. "You say that like it's not the truth," she pointed out.

D glanced up at her for several moments before he closed his eyes. "And who gets to argue the opposing view?" he countered. "Certainly not the weak, as they don't get the chance. Hence all that's left are the dominant views of the strong. That doesn't make it any more right or any less wrong."

"Whatever," Pearl said with a dismissive gesture. "What's that?" she said to Coral in a muted tone.

"Water," Coral replied as she took a casual sip. "Speaking of which, you have a bit of explaining to do," she added in a tone of faint warning.

"About...?" Pearl prompted. She paused as Coral simply pointed to the crushed copper goblet lying several feet away. "Oh, that. He pissed me off," she replied with another gesture of dismissal.

Coral raised an eyebrow, giving her sister a distinctly unimpressed look. "Be grateful I'm not as easy to 'piss off' as you are," she rumbled darkly. "That was part of the set we got from Grandma Kaitlyn ages ago, remember?"

"I'll take your word for it," Pearl shrugged. "If you're getting that upset over it, I'll have the village blacksmith hammer it back out later."

"Mmm hmm," Coral hummed absently to herself as she studied D again.

"Pearl," D said quietly, causing the other woman to cast a wary glance at him. "I take it nobody has ever tried to explain the concept of honor to you?"

"Someone probably did at some point," Pearl said as she crossed her arms over her petite chest with an almost silent huff. "I probably just blew it off as nonsense, since I haven't needed to worry about it so far."

D remained silent for a number of moments, his eyes still closed as he briefly turned his focus inward to see if he could control or otherwise ignore the throbbing aches and pains that were besieging him. The worst ones were in his jaw and along his upper chest where she had struck him with force. Had he been human it would have likely broken several bones if not killed him, but as a dunpeal who was both hardier and capable of regenerating his wounds, all her blows had done was abuse the living hell out of already-sore muscles and skin.

"I remember the first time my mother took me with her when she needed to talk to the village elder about something," D spoke up in a soft voice, causing both women to take an unconscious step forward to better hear him. "He was a quiet man whom my father respected as a trustworthy and wise man, one able to tend to the needs of the village with little oversight. He had a number of odd things in his house that caught my eye, one of which was a glass bottle of some unknown fluid.

"When I asked him if I could examine it closely, he said he would allow me to do so but only if I promised not to open it or break it. He went on to say that he trusted my mother implicitly, and that by extension he could rely on my honor to take care of it. I asked him why my mother's trust mattered when it was in my hands, and he simply smiled at me and had me sit down on the floor with him.

"'I know of you, D, but I don't know you,' he said. 'Normally when you first try to trust someone you don't use something valuable like this. After all, they could break it. However, I trust your mother's judgment, and if she believes you can be careful enough with it then I will trust you and give you the chance to demonstrate your honor by keeping your word.'

"I remember looking at the bottle for awhile before asking him what would happen if it got broken by accident, and he just laughed softly to himself. 'Two things,' he said. 'First, I will be deprived of a rather precious gift your father gave me. The second, however, is that I won't be able to trust you again in the future, nor will anyone else.'

"I asked him why nobody else would trust me, and he smiled at me. 'Honor is like a spider-web, D. Each strand is difficult to build and can be broken quite easily. For example, say I trust you with the bottle. One of two things will then happen, either you will break it or you will return it intact. As I said, I only know of you, I don't know you for myself. The only way I can get to know you is to trust you with something and see how it plays out. If I were to trust you once and you break that trust, then I see no reason to trust you a second time. What's more, others will hear of it from me, as people like I and your mother talk with one another.

"'D made a promise and broke it, they will say. Why should we trust him when he broke his promise to old Heyworth? That will be your reputation, then, passed from one person to another. But what if I were to trust you and you did not break that trust? It would mean I could trust you again, knowing that you didn't break it the first time. Others too would hear of it and be willing to trust you as well. He made a promise and kept it, they will say. They won't know who you are, D, but they will know of you. They will know of your honor and reputation, all based on the words of others, and sometimes that is all that is available to measure how a person is.

"'And honor, D, is knowing when to make a promise and when not to. You've asked to hold this bottle, and the condition for doing so is not dropping it or breaking it even by accident. If you know you cannot do that, or know that the risk is too great that it might be dropped, then there is no shame in changing your mind. There is honor in that, too. He knows his limits, they will say, he knows when he can trust himself. We know that if he asks, we can trust him because he wouldn't ask if he wasn't sure of himself.

"'That is honor, D, that is the spider-web of trust,' he said as he stood back up. 'The trust between you and me is but one single strand, tied to all the others by similar bonds of trust and faith. A broken promise can ruin your honor like a broken strand can ruin an entire web. Maybe the web will not come down at first, but sooner or later it will fail and the threads around it will start to weaken and snap as well. I will trust you because I know I can trust your mother, using the strength of her strand to start the process of building your own thread.'"

D finally opened his eyes and lifted his head up to look at them. Pearl seemed to be deeply contemplative of something, almost but not quite lost in deep thought. Coral was giving him a soft smile, a sort of knowing look of approval that chilled his blood. He could almost hear the thoughts about how his beliefs would influence her child, leaving him wondering if there was any other way out of his situation other than killing her.

"That was beautiful, D," Coral murmured as she moved over to him, bringing the goblet up to his lips.

"Thank you," D said quietly. He cast a measured look at her before taking a single tiny sip, just enough to wet his tongue and ease the dryness that was still plaguing his throat. He glanced over at Pearl and was mildly surprised to see that she was still lost in thought. "Pearl," he spoke up gently.

"Interesting concept," Pearl admitted as she seemed to snap out of her thoughts. "However, I'm still not really sure how it ties in with what you said earlier."

"It's simple," D replied calmly, tilting his head away from the goblet to indicate he didn't want any more. "As I said, only what I do can influence my honor. Actions speak louder than words, and nobody can force me to break a promise or dishonor myself. And regardless of what anyone else thinks of me, I will always know the truth. That might not mean anything to you, Pearl, but as I said, I have a conscience I have to deal with until my life is ended. My honor is what sets me apart from everyone else, and without it I am nothing more than the bloody-handed killer you believe me to be."

Pearl remained quiet as she studied him, absently watching as Coral tried to get him to drink more of the water. "Problem, hunter?" she spoke up as she caught the look D cast at Coral, causing the other woman to raise her eyebrow and remove the goblet from his lips with a faintly upset look.

"Consider the circumstances," D said as he glanced over at her. "I'm sure you would have a few problems of your own if you were in my position."

"A position that can be changed with a few simple words, D," Coral spoke up in a quiet tone. "All you need to do is promise me not to hurt me or my dear little sister, and promise me you won't ever try to run away from me."

The faintest of huffing noises drifted up from his chest. "I admire your focus and dedication towards a goal," he murmured. "However, you still have some room for improvement when it comes to confronting reality. You're asking too much of me, and so I have to decline your offer."

"D, how can you say that?" Coral pleaded softly, seeming to be genuinely upset by his refusal. "After what we shared last night?"

"Ugh," Pearl muttered to herself as she glanced away, trying to get the visual out of her mind again.

"Oh, now what, Pearl?" Coral sighed as she turned around to give her a pained look, absently swirling the goblet's contents around.

Pearl just rolled her eyes at the ceiling. "Nothing, sis," she said in a tone as flat as paved asphalt.

"You can tell me, Pearl," Coral spoke up, her tone turning honeyed as she gave her sister a coy smile. "You know I've never made fun of your thoughts."

"Ugh," Pearl grunted again as she absently started to scratch the back of her left hand. "It's nothing, really, just my skin crawling from walking in on the two of you," she said, casting a dark look at D. "I still say he's far too dangerous to be keeping around for casual itch-scratching."

"Oh, here we go again," Coral moaned softly as she craned her head back to study the ceiling. "Look, you know why I'm keeping him here and I'd hardly call that a casual reason. Besides, when was the last time you had someone in your bed working out those really deep muscle kinks?" she added pointedly.

"Gee, I don't know, sis," Pearl shot back in a poisonous tone. "When was the last time you let me bring someone in here without you screwing them first and killing them before I can get a chance to have my own fun?"

"It's not my fault he died!" Coral protested in a plaintive tone, giving her sister a truly apologetic look. "I didn't know he had a weak heart, okay? Besides, he was the one who started it with the comment about my breasts."

"He was chained up," Pearl growled. "He couldn't have done anything on his own."

"I got you a new one, didn't I?" Coral reminded her gently.

"He didn't interest me like the first one did," Pearl countered darkly. "Even less so after you bedded him too."

"Oh, come on, you said you didn't want him so I figured why let him go to waste?" Coral sighed. "You have to admit you're not easy to please, Pearl."

Pearl snorted in contempt and turned around, her gaze coming to rest on the shelf full of D's equipment. "And you're far too easy to please, sis," she grumbled.

The gray-haired woman just rolled her eyes and glanced over at D, pausing as she saw the look of patient suffering on his face. "I'm sorry about this," she said very quietly to him, reaching out to rub his arm gently. "But still, she's my sister, so what can I do?"

He remained silent as the tingle of the setting sun shot through him, a very subtle sensation that instinctively brought him a measure of relief. He knew that if things got worse tonight, he would be spared the ordeal of being seared by the rays of the sun. What was better, he might even be able to get one of them to open the ceiling hatch again and let the light of the red moon shine down on him.

"Ooooh," Coral purred as she briefly wiggled her hips. "That tickled."

"Like I said, sis," Pearl muttered darkly. "Entirely too easy to please."

Coral cast a bemused glance over her shoulder. "Tell me you don't like feeling that as well," she challenged with a faint hint of a smile.

Pearl paused and cast a sidelong glance back at her elder sister. "That depends on what feeling we're talking about," she replied in an edged tone.

"Oh, listen to you," Coral sighed. She drew in a breath to say more when the door creaked open, allowing her slave to stick her head inside with a very uneasy look on her face. "Is everything okay, Abby?" she called out.

"Mister Largo is here to see you again," Abelyne replied quickly. "April is keeping his occupied in the foyer."

Pearl just shook her head to herself. "I don't see why Father never had him replaced with someone who has a functional brain," she groused. "I'd be surprised if he knows how to wipe his own ass without having to ask for help."

"He's a good man, Pearl," Coral sighed as she moved to set the goblet down on the cart before starting to cross the room. "A little needy, yes, but he's quite loyal. Try not to hurt D this time, okay?" she called out in an edged tone as she hovered in the doorway, one hand reaching out to caress Abelyne's neck. "I'll be back shortly."

"Sure, sis," Pearl replied in a hollow tone. She waited until the door creaked shut before shaking her head to herself. "They just don't make puppets like they used to," she sighed, casting a wry glance at D. "So now it's just you and me again, just like last night. Shall we pick up where we left off, then? Go on, entertain me," she said with a faint sneer.

"In another time and place, I might consider it," D spoke up, giving her a neutral look that effectively erased her expression. "However, I'm starting to get the impression that you wouldn't know what to do with me." He did his best to ignore the very subtle wiggling sensation in his left hand as he found himself almost nose-to-nose with a very icy pair of aqua-blue eyes.

"Oh, and what have we here?" she breathed very quietly in a glacial tone. "More insults, hunter? I would have thought that you would have figured out by now just how bad an idea it is to try to insult me like that, but perhaps you need a refresher after your nap..."

She scowled as D lifted his head up to frown at her. It wasn't a broad or obvious gesture, just a faint curling of the very edges of his lips. "Don't you get tired of the anger, Pearl?" he inquired softly, seeming to study her intently. He blinked once as she reached down to grab his crotch in an iron grip, squeezing both his manhood and his testicles as she leaned even closer towards him.

"You know nothing of me, hunter," she whispered as she started to tighten her grip. "I don't know why you keep thinking you do, but unless you want to be singing in a very high pitch for the rest of your life, or what little of it you will have left when I'm done with you, I suggest you hold your tongue."

D did his best to remain stoic and composed despite the very uncomfortable sensation he was experiencing. "Who hurt you that badly, Pearl?" he asked in a low and measured tone. "Who was it that hurt you enough to blind you with rage and leave you angry at the rest of the world? You say I don't understand you, but compared to me you know nothing of anger."

He remained silent as the dark fury returned to her eyes, igniting them with crimson highlights and causing her whole body to tremble as she struggled to keep a grasp on her temper. Her hand continued to maintain a very tight and painful grip on his groin, making it surprisingly difficult for him to breathe properly. Her lips very slowly pulled back as she continued to fight against her dark anger, allowing him a glimpse of her vampiric fangs.

"You. Know. Nothing," she said very slowly and distinctly, her voice all but masked by the way her teeth were grinding together.

"I was a century younger than you are now when they came for me," D said in a muted tone. "Vampire insurgents who sought to strike at my father through me, just as they had done with my mother. I was able to kill the three who slipped past the palace defenses and confronted me in the hallway. Once I had healed, I left the palace on my own to pursue those who were attacking us, a decision made in anger. I killed three more before they learned of my presence among them and they scattered to the winds. Still angry, I began to hunt them down, one by one.

"The anger stayed with me for years before burning out," he continued in an empty monotone. "I still pursued them, eventually widening my hunt when I came to understand how vampires viewed the humans living in their domains. To them they were nothing more than cattle to feed on or slaughter on a whim, mere tools that were to be used and cast aside at the end. Nobody stood up for the humans or spoke out against the vampire lords, not a single vampire or dunpeal. I found that I could not let that pass, that I could not dishonor the memory of my mother by letting her kind be reduced to something less than human."

"And so you decided to kill us all?" Pearl growled in a soft tone.

"Not all," D replied quietly, his eyes never leaving hers. "Only to those who willfully bring harm and misery and suffering to humans."

"And let me guess," Pearl sneered, "Nobody measured up to your high and mighty expectations?"

"No," he said softly, almost sadly. "In the days following the attacks on the palace, I was too angry to care. I simply wanted vengeance and justice. As time went on and I travelled around the planet, the fires of anger and hate inside me cooled. I realized then what needed to be done, and for me to be able to do that I had to set aside that hate so I could focus properly. Rage blinds the mind, Pearl, and unless I could see what I was doing I knew it would get me killed in short order. But when I cast aside my anger... I ended up making a terrible mistake."

Pearl narrowed her eyes slightly as D suddenly trailed off, his own eyes seeming to lose some of their focus for a number of moments. "What mistake?" she prompted in a faintly-edged tone.

He blinked and refocused, looking up at her with an unreadable expression. "I'd like to make you a deal," he said calmly. "I'll tell you about that part of my past, about the mistake I made that took the rest of my life to correct, but first I need you to let go of me and open the tunnel cover beneath me."

"Why?" she demanded in an openly suspicious tone, giving his manhood an overt warning squeeze.

"I haven't urinated in two days," D replied in a perfectly calm tone. "My bladder can't hold out for any longer and I figured that you wouldn't want me to piss on you or otherwise stink up your dungeon with the smell."

Pearl blinked and cast a reflexive glance down at her hand, making note of the way she was holding him and where it would all go if he suddenly let loose without further warning. "You wouldn't dare," she said in an ominous tone.

"Try me," D said simply, giving her a somewhat stern look. "The humans have a saying... when you have to go, you have to go."

She gave him a level look in uneasy silence before she made a very faint snarling noise to herself and released her hold on him. "Very well, hunter," she said as she absently brushed her hand against her pants before striding over to the array of levers. A rather rough tug on one caused the floor to spiral open beneath D's feet, exposing the tunnel and canyon floor below that was still faintly illuminated with the last vestiges of sunset.

"Thank you," D spoke up as he promptly made use of the now-open tunnel, unable to prevent himself from making a quiet sigh of relief that any man since the dawn of Time would have been able to easily identify and relate to. The process seemed to take an unusually long time before D's bladder was finally empty, allowing him to relax a little on the inside and bringing him a small but psychologically-important feeling of relief.

A dry chuckle rose up from Pearl's throat as she waited to see if he was done. "Maybe I should be glad that I didn't kick you in the balls," she spoke up in a faintly sarcastic tone. "Do you need me to jiggle that for you, or can I close the hatch now?" she added, giving him a somewhat cruel smile as he cast a dark look out of the corner of his eye.

"I'm finished," he replied in a perfectly emotionless tone. "Thank you for your kindness."

A dark frown promptly crossed her face as she jerked hard on the lever to reseal the tunnel. "Why do you continue to insult me, hunter?" she demanded as she moved back to stand in front of him once again.

D simply raised an eyebrow at her. "I was not insulting you," he replied in an even tone. "I am actually quite grateful for the gesture. We both know you didn't need to do that, though it would have been unpleasant had you not done so. Even the smallest of gestures of kindness deserve to be acknowledged and thanked as a point of honor," he added as he closed his eyes.

"I'm sure," she replied dryly as she crossed her arms over her chest.

D sighed very softly to himself before taking a breath to speak. "As I had said earlier, I made a serious mistake when I cast aside my anger," he said in a low but measured tone. "I tried to subdue all emotion, the better to keep myself in a rational state of mind and not be provoked to reacting to whatever was happening around me. Perhaps that might have worked had I been a noble, but I'm half-human with human emotions. Suppressing them isn't as easy as you would think, as it is the strength of their emotions that makes humans so... human," he said softly.

"I eventually shut them out completely, ignoring the emotional impulses and chaotic thoughts as I continued my hunt for those vampires who had attacked the palace. I existed that way for the longest time, though I can't say it was truly living, a quiet and often tortured existence dedicated to a single goal. I was... nothing, merely a breathing automaton who hunted vampires wherever they hid as they spread their dark misery to humankind. Many humans I met said I was without a soul, that I had forsaken my mother's blood just as much as I had forsaken my father's. I had not intended to do so, but I learned too late that I couldn't deny a part of me without denying the whole of me.

"It wasn't until recently that I was reawakened to what I truly was... not just a vampire-hunter who happened to be a dunpeal, but one who was given life by a human woman and thus possessing both her human soul and her human spirit. I didn't so much learn as remember what it was like to be human again. Not just to laugh at humor, to appreciate beauty, and to find warmth in others, but to be free of things like hate and unjust anger. I learned what it was like to be loved by a human again, and in doing so I learned what it was like to love one for myself.

"'It's part of being human,' she said to me. 'It helps comfort us in a time of need. It reminds us that we're alive, that we haven't lost our hold on our humanity like so many of those creatures out there. We know we have needs they don't, needs they can never have. The need to touch and be touched, to hold and be held, to love and be loved. A need to make love, to take and be taken.' I had my mother's love as a child, but it wasn't until recently that I came to know and understand the other kinds of love that existed and the ways that it could be expressed and shared."

He fell silent as she reached out to him, her hand very lightly touching his jaw and tilting his head up so that their eyes could meet. He wasn't at all surprised to see that the dark highlights of her vampiric side were gone, replaced by a largely unreadable look in her aqua-blue eyes.

"So let me get this right," she finally said. "You got pissed off when they tried to kill you, so you started killing them in retaliation. That I can understand perfectly, but then you... what, simply quit caring or something?"

"I let my anger and hatred go in the wrong way," D replied quietly. "I let go of all of my human emotions, both good and bad. In essence, I cast away my humanity. All that I held onto was my honor, always doing what was right because there was no other alternative for me. I knew that if I lost my honor, then I would have thrown everything away only to end up just as uncaring as the rest of them. I still cared for the humans, but in the wrong way. I saw them through the lens of a stranger, not as one of their own."

"You're a dunpeal, D," she pointed out, still holding his chin up. "You aren't one of them."

"No, I'm not," D agreed, causing her to blink with surprise. "I'm no more human than I am a vampire, and that is how it was for most of my adult life. But I finally learned that just because I was half-human doesn't mean that I can't feel like they do. The human emotions within me are just as strong as the ones in any other human's heart. And just as strong as the human emotions that burn within your own heart, Pearl. Your only problem, if you can call it that, is that nobody ever taught you what those emotions are, or what they can do for you."

Pearl narrowed her eyes as the briefest flickers of crimson flashed in their depths. "I don't need weak human emotions," she said flatly.

"Perhaps," D replied softly, "But the human part of you yearns for them nonetheless. That was a pain that remained with me for most of my life, a need inside that I didn't know how to cope with or satisfy. I learned to ignore it as best I could, but as I learned the hard way you can't deny part of yourself without denying everything else. I know it hurts you to admit it, and believe me when I say I wish there was something I could do for you in that regard, but neither of us can change the tragic circumstances of your birth."

He narrowed his eyes slightly as her grip changed without warning, sliding down to grab the base of his throat in a firm grip that started to put a mild amount of pressure on his carotid arteries. "Do not speak to me of that," she snarled in a low tone, a faint glow infusing itself into her corneas. "I am nothing like that weak human that conceived me and gave birth to Coral."

"When was the last time someone told you that they loved you?" D asked in as calm a voice as he could manage. The pressure on his throat was starting to make his pulse pound in his head, making it somewhat difficult to focus.

Pearl's lips pulled back in a snarl, baring her vampiric fangs. "I don't need such pathetic human assurances," she spat.

"Maybe not," D allowed cautiously. "But it makes you angry to see others sharing in it, doesn't it? How did you feel when you saw Elora holding her newborn daughter? And what of your father's feelings for your step-mother, Lady Valentina Winters?"

The world suddenly took on a dangerously gray cast as her grip tightened hard enough to restrict both his trachea and the arteries in his throat. A truly frightening rage sprang into Pearl's eyes, giving her visage a hellish cast as she seemed ready to tear his throat out with her fangs.

"That woman is NOT my step-mother!" she yelled at him, the veins on her forehead starting to bulge from sheer blood pressure. "You DARE try to..."

D wasn't quite sure what happened after that given the way his senses were blurring out because of the lack of air in his lungs, but things suddenly made sense again a few moments later once the crushing pressure was removed. Much to his surprise he discovered that Pearl had withdrawn on her own, a look of truly unholy rage burning in her eyes as her whole body was wracked with small spasms. He did his best not to rasp as he inhaled, greedily sucking in cool air to try to ease the burning in his chest.

"I will say this much," she rasped in a harsh tone, seeming to be barely able to keep her rage under control. "You did us a favor by killing her, and I assure you that only my father stopped to say a prayer for her soul. But do not speak to me of that woman ever again."

"How did she hurt you, Pearl?" D asked very softly and carefully, knowing he had found another source of her unholy anger and that he had to tread very carefully with her. "I told you what the insurgent vampires did to me by what they did to my mother. Tell me what she did to you that hurt you so badly."

"What's it to you, hunter?" she shot back, gritting her teeth once more. "Is it not enough that you insult me? Must you mock me even further? Would you have me hold you as my sister did and slit my throat open for you so you can drink my pain all the easier?"

It took D a moment to decide how best to reply to her, knowing that not just what he said but how it was also delivered would be of equal importance. "You say I don't know you," he spoke up quietly. "So tell me who and what you are, then. You already told me about your birth, and I already told you that I am saddened to hear of it, but do you think I hold you in contempt for it? That I hold your birth against you when you had nothing to do with it, no sort of control over it? The actions of others can't change who you are, Pearl, only you can do that through your own conscious choices.

"And as for holding you... let me tell you what the village elder told me once," he said, prompting a startled blink from her. "He said to me, 'I know that one day you may change your mind about our kind and think differently than how you do now. That is normal and expected, for all people change over time. All that I will ask of you is this... if you will not hold us in your heart, then at least do us no wrong and bring us no harm, as our lives are but a small measure compared to yours but can be burdened with just as much and with less time in which to cope with them. Give us this much peace, as we have never brought as much harm to your kind as they have done to us.'

"If you cast aside your contempt for humans and do not harm them from this moment forward," D said as he looked squarely at her, "Then I can embrace you like the sister I never had. If you not just acknowledge the human heart and soul that exists within you but open them both to others, to learn to live and love as they do, then I can embrace you as the lover Coral seeks in me. I do not want your death, or Coral's, or anyone else's, but I will fight to protect the humans from those who knowingly and willfully harm them for their own evil and selfish reasons. It really is that simple, Pearl. It always has been. I just never found another vampire or dunpeal who was willing to agree not to do any further harm to humans. You don't have to love them, you don't even have to like them or deal with them. You just can't hurt them or make them suffer any more than life has already hurt them and made them suffer."

"What do they know of pain and suffering?" Pearl whispered, her eyes once again restored to their usual aqua-blue hue. "They live a century at most and that's it. What do they know of true pain?"

"So tell me," D replied quietly. "Tell me what Valentina Winters did to you that made you hate her so, not just her but all of life itself."

The crimson glow of rage returned to her eyes for a moment before it began to fade like the last flickers of a dying ember. It seemed a minor eternity passed before her petite chest finally expanded with a deep breath. "Like my so-called mother," she said in a dangerously quiet tone, "Baroness Winters did absolutely nothing. She viewed Coral and I as commoners, no better than the human slaves she kept for herself. She didn't dare order us around as such, as my father wouldn't permit it despite his... feelings... for her, but she did absolutely nothing for us. She moved heaven and earth for her own children, giving them what they wanted, but nothing for Coral or myself."

D nodded slowly in understanding, figuring that had been the case. "And what of the others?" he asked carefully. "The children your father had with her during their marriage."

Pearl simply shook her head in disgust. "Bastards," she spat. "Every single one of them. Rose was the only one who would talk to us, as she was just as ignored by her brothers as we were, but she still treated us like dirt beneath her oh-so-noble feet. I suppose I should thank you for killing them as well," she added bitterly. "The only thing that kept me from carrying them out into the sunlight while they slept was Coral's insistence that Father would be mad enough to kill the both of us if it ever happened."

"Why didn't you simply leave the castle?" D inquired softly. "Surely you could have once you became of age."

"And go where?" Pearl snapped, giving him a look of anger that had little to do with her usual dark rage. "We are dunpeals, D, who else would accept us? Humans? They would just as soon kill us. Other nobles? They would abuse us far worse then that woman's children ever did, not needing to pretend to be bound by taboos of blood like... like..."

D suddenly felt his blood chill as Pearl trailed off, her voice failing her for some unknown reason. Something was dangerously wrong with what she had said, suggesting that he had found the true source of her rage, but it wasn't something he could immediately pin down. Unless what she meant by taboos of blood wasn't related to vampires but instead meant...

"Pearl?" he spoke up carefully.

"Enough," she said, her tone suddenly empty and devoid of emotion in an eerie echo of how his own voice was when he was withdrawn. "There is nothing more to be said, hunter. You killed not just them but my father as well. I'll not mourn for their loss, but you will still pay for my father's death. Pray that you give Coral the child she wants soon and permits you to die, as I will promise you a great deal of pain and suffering until she is finished with you."

D raised an eyebrow at her, knowing that the abrupt change in conversation meant that he indeed had gotten close enough to the mark to rattle her. "What makes you think I want to give her or anyone else a child?" he inquired archly.

"How should I know?" Pearl countered darkly. "Keep putting it to her like how you did yesterday and she'll get knocked up sooner or later, though, so you might want to start..." she said, trailing off before starting to laugh softly to herself. "Well, I was about to say start keeping it in your pants, but it looks like that's not an option right now, is it?" she said with a cruel leer.

"Believe me when I say pleasing her wasn't my idea," D pointed out. "In fact, I wasn't even asked if I was interested or otherwise given any options."

It took her a moment to react, his statement seeming to stun her into an unsettled silence. "What?" she finally said, seeming to be just as suspicious and untrusting as she was startled and uneasy. "Explain," she demanded as he gave no indication of speaking further.

"I thought I said it clearly enough," D replied in a faintly-edged tone.

"Humor me," Pearl prodded, giving him an openly suspicious look.

"I did not want to have sex with your sister," he said.

Pearl merely tilted her head at a slight angle. "Let me get this right," she said slowly. "You're trying to tell me she forced you?"

"That's right," he said simply.

"She raped you?" she breathed, a faint smile touching her lips.

He narrowed his eyes before nodding once. "That's right," he repeated.

"BULLSHIT!" she gasped as she threw her head back and laughed. It took her several seconds to calm down to the point where she could get her laughter under control and look back at him. Seeing the look in his eyes only resulted in a second burst of laughter, the somewhat coarse but hearty sound seeming to echo within the stone confines of the underground dungeon.

The laughter finally faded away, being replaced with a series of muted chuckles that seemed to leave her speechless. "A-Alright, hunter," she managed to gasp out once the worst of the spasms of humor passed. "I'll admit it, you got me. You made me laugh. That was a good one. She raped you," she chuckled before dissolving into another fit of laughs that left her gasping for breath.

"You say that like she's never done that to a prisoner bound in chains before," he pointed out in a calm tone, as if he were talking about the weather instead of his recent ordeal.

"Oh, please," Pearl said as she rolled her eyes. "She's screwed a few of the fuck-toys she brought down here for me to use as target-practice, and I'll admit I watched her once or twice from a distance, but they all begged for her touch, every single one of them. You can't force a man into something like that, they'd just deflate like balloons if they didn't want to keep it up."

"And how much experience with men do you have?" D inquired. He ignored the momentary flicker in her eyes and pressed on. "Stop and think for a moment about a lesson you yourself made all too clear earlier. The body can be made to do what the will doesn't want, and even the strongest of willpowers can be broken. It all depends on how it's done. Or to borrow your crude phrase," he added darkly, "How the right hammer is applied to crack the nut."

"You must be joking," she scoffed, giving him a smirk. The look on her face started to fade after a few moments as she stared into the dark depths of his eyes, suddenly getting the uneasy feeling that he was being quite truthful with her. "Alright, hunter," she said, no longer seeming to be amused, "Tell me how it happened."

"You're right in the sense that men are weak when it comes to sex and the pleasure that can be offered by a willing woman," D said carefully. "However, keep in mind that the body has its own instincts. You jerk back when you are burned. You cough when your lungs are irritated. You cry out when you are in significant pain."

"And you shoot your seed when inside a woman," Pearl finished for him, a dark sneer crossing her face. "But tell me how she gets it up for you if you don't want to."

D snorted very softly to himself in contempt. "As I said, the body has its own ideas and the willpower can only accomplish so much when distracted."

"Really..." she purred in a mockery of a husky tone. She cast a brief glance down at him before she leaned close, pressing herself against him as she reached down to run a fingertip across his manhood. "Somehow, hunter, I just don't believe you. But go ahead, make it hard for me," she breathed into his ear as she started stroking him. "Then tell me you don't want to take me like you took my sister. Let me hear you lie..."

"I see you really haven't dealt with men before," he pointed out in a mild tone. He waited for the flash of anger to cross her face like a stormcloud before continuing, "It doesn't work that way. I know you're just toying with me, so there's no desire or reason to think anything will happen. Coral was quite serious with her attentions last night, however, and that was rather hard to ignore. I assure you a simple touch isn't going to get you anywhere."

She frowned and edged back, casting a cautious glance down at the inert flesh she was holding. "So you say," she said in a neutral tone.

"Let me ask you this," he countered, ignoring the sudden movement in his peripheral vision. "Why would I want to do her any favors after being stabbed and tortured by the both of you?"

"To fuck her, of course," Pearl replied promptly. "Why else do men lust after women, other than to have their way with them?"

"You tell me," D stated in a low tone. "Or am I supposed to be lusting after you as well, simply because you're a woman?"

"You know what, hunter?" she purred as she stepped closer to him again, her hand working against his groin in a surprisingly gentle way as she pressed her modestly curved chest against his. "I think deep in your heart, you want me too. You just want to spread my legs and fill me with your lust like you did Coral, the same kind of lust that made you cooperate with her last night. How else could she 'force' you, hmm?" she inquired lightly.

"Why don't you ask her?" D said in a perfectly casual tone. "She's right behind you, I'm sure she'll answer your question."

In another time and place, he might have enjoyed the sudden tableau of frozen motion. Pearl blinked hard enough to be heard and quit breathing, her eyes narrowing dangerously to stare at him before casting a truly uneasy look out of the corner of her eye. She glanced back at D and was about to make a comment when she heard the faintest of coughs behind her, causing her to once again quit breathing and her expression to turn dangerously pale. It took him an incredible amount of effort to keep his face perfectly devoid of expression as Pearl slowly turned around, finding herself face-to-face with a very unhappy Baroness Coral Winters.

"Hi, sis," Pearl said in a very small voice.

"Pearl?" Coral said in a tone that was both calm and chilling at the same time. "Do I even want to ask what you're doing to him this time?"

Pearl cast a quick glance at D before shifting her focus downward to where her hand was still wrapped around his manhood. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she muttered as she quickly let go of him and edged away.

"Probably not," Coral admitted casually, her lips still seemingly frozen in a look of severe disapproval. "But after dealing with the village idiot, I could use a good laugh right now. Humor me," she added in a neutral tone.

Pearl sighed softly through her nose and cast a dark glance at D before shaking her head slowly. "D was trying to tell me he didn't want to screw you last night," she said in a very carefully-controlled voice.

"Please," Coral scoffed quietly. "Of course he did, why else would he have been so delightfully hard and waiting for me? Isn't that right, my dark hunter," she purred in a honeyed tone as she moved past Pearl to lean against him, reaching up with her ungloved hand to stroke his cheek.

D ignored the knowing smirk on Pearl's face and glanced down at Coral. "Actually, I didn't," he said calmly, causing Coral to blink hard. "I told you point-blank that I didn't want it. I've no desire to give you or anyone else a child, Coral, you just chose not to listen to me."

"D, how can you say that?" Coral whispered, seeming to be genuinely upset. "I know you enjoyed making love to me like that. In fact, had you came any harder you might have hurt me. That'd be interesting to explain to a doctor, wouldn't it?" she said as she turned to give Pearl a look that was just as amused as it was embarrassed.

Pearl blinked and gave her a truly dubious look, clearly unsettled with the way the conversation was going. "If you say so, sis," she replied in an absent tone, casting an uneasy glance over at D. "So I take it our 'honorable' vampire-hunter was just trying to blow smoke up my ass earlier?" she prodded, adding a hint of sarcasm to her words.

"No, he's just confused," Coral said with a gesture of dismissal. "He knows he wants to give me a child, but I think that being left out in the sun for too long earlier may have been too much. He'll heal soon enough, though, won't you, D?" she purred as she reached up to stroke his chest gently.

"You're delusional," D said calmly.

Coral paused to regard him carefully before sighing quietly. "Pearl, what did you do to him this time?" she inquired in a bored tone as she glanced over at her younger sister.

"I didn't do anything," Pearl protested, giving both D and Coral a truly disturbed and confused look. "We were just talking."

"Indeed," D spoke up before Coral could say anything. "She mentioned how strained relations were between the two of you and your father's wife," he said carefully, giving Pearl a neutral look that might have been taken as a warning.

"Oh, that bitch," Coral sighed quietly, glancing away for a few moments as she wrinkled her nose. "Val wasn't much of a mother, if you ask me, but what could we do? She was married to Father, so it wasn't like we could ignore her. Not that she really paid any attention to us either, mind you, but still."

"It's none of his business, sis," Pearl spoke up in a flat tone.

"I suppose not," Coral admitted with a soft sigh as she rested her head on D's shoulder for a few moments.

The edges of Pearl's lips tugged down in a dark frown as the gesture was noticed, glancing over at D to judge his reaction. "Do me a favor, sis," she said in a faintly edged tone. "Let me know if you want to start snuggling up to him again so I can go find something less nauseating to look at."

"Oh, listen to you," Coral fussed as she made a face. "You sure didn't mind sticking around to watch when I had Gregory down here back then."

"That was how long ago?" Pearl growled back, her cheeks taking on a faint but still noticeable pink tint. "Trust me when I say I know how it's done now, so I don't need to waste my time watching you make another mess."

"Tsk, such a prude," Coral teased with a knowing smirk.

Pearl narrowed her eyes dangerously as she tightly crossed her arms over her chest. "So sorry if I'm not as promiscuous as you are," she replied in a distinctly frosty tone.

Coral simply shrugged a shoulder in absent dismissal. "I still think you need to let your hair down every once in a while, my dear sister," she cooed in a honeyed tone. "It might loosen up a few kinks and improve your disposition in the process." She blinked and suddenly seemed to sober up, giving Pearl a faintly uneasy look. "Or was that what I interrupted into a few moments ago?"

"You've got to be kidding me," Pearl protested darkly. "I'm still quite tempted to ask April where she keeps the steel wool so I can scrub my mind of the visual of the two of you doing the horizontal tango. And knowing precisely where you've been, why would I want to screw him after he screwed you?"

"Pearl," Coral said, her tone suddenly as cold as liquid nitrogen, "Don't start with me. I can understand if you're a little jealous, as I'm still quite surprised myself that I was able to capture him, but there's no need to be so insulting."

"Jealous of what?" Pearl demanded as her eyes started to flicker with very faint crimson highlights.

D remained silent as he listened to the two sisters arguing, knowing that it was best to say out of the proverbial line-of-fire. There was something about Pearl's mannerisms that was setting off a warning flag for some reason, though it wasn't immediately obvious as to why. Granted it could have been about her temper, which seemed ready to boil over yet again, but he had the unsavory feeling that it was something far more subtle and sinister than that.

"Pearl, just be honest with me, okay?" Coral sighed quietly, giving her sister a somewhat pleading look. "I'm not going to be mad or upset if you say you're interested in him. I mean, I know I am, and I can easily see why he would appeal to you as well."

D could easily see the sudden change in Pearl's expression, almost able to feel for himself the chill of realization flooding her veins as she figured out what her sister was suggesting. "Riiiiiight," she said slowly, giving D an uneasy look. "Yeah, sure, sis, you got me. I just want to feel his manly arms around me as he makes me all aquiver with girlish delight," she said, almost literally dripping sarcasm on the floor.

"I'll think about it," Coral smiled gently, causing both D and Pearl to blink hard. "What, you don't think I'd ever share with my sister?" she added as she saw the stunned look on Pearl's face, a look at only grew more shocked as she realized that the gray-haired woman was being perfectly serious. "Oh, come now, Pearl, when have I ever been selfish like that? I mean, I've let you play with him so far, haven't I?"

"You're kidding, right?" Pearl said slowly, her cheeks taking on a faint green tint as she looked to be visibly fighting a sudden wave of nausea. She cast a quick glance at D and felt her blood grow even colder at the look on his face before he could finish recomposing himself.

"Trust me, you'll love him," Coral purred in a silken tone as she turned back to D, giving him a gentle and almost loving smile as she started to run her gloved hand up and down his chest. "Granted I'm not finished with him by any stretch of the imagination, but stop and think for a moment. You saw how big Elora's belly grew with her child, right? Surely the same will be with me, and so he certainly won't be able to please me when I'm like that. So why not allow you to make use of his services when I can't? I might even let him give you a child as well, if you ever decide to want one," she added, looking up to give D a suggestive wink.

D glanced over at her, seeing not just the playful look in her yellow eyes but the glimmer of insanity as well. He very strongly doubted his situation would last long enough to worry about Pearl giving thought to the idea, but he was hoping that Pearl was starting to become aware of the fact that her sister wasn't thinking rationally any more, or at least when it came to him.

"Coral, are you alright?" Pearl spoke up in a guarded tone, giving both D and her sister suddenly suspicious looks.

"Actually, no," Coral sighed heavily, causing Pearl to blink hard. She gave D another soft smile that chilled his blood before she turned to look at her openly uneasy sister. "Like I said, I'm still a little... breathless, I guess, from making love last night. Intense doesn't even being to describe how it felt," she whispered, seeming to shiver briefly at the memory. "Part of me wants to take him again tonight, but I think it would be best if he was allowed to rest and marshal his strength for tomorrow. He's going to need it," she added in a honeyed purr as she reached back slightly to caress his manhood in a quite unmistakable gesture.

"Why, what's tomorrow?" Pearl inquired, still giving her an openly uneasy and suspicious look.

Coral made a soft humming noise of pleasure to herself, her fingertips still toying with the sparse patch of D's pubic hair. "Remember when you asked why I took my temperature every morning?" she murmured. "It's to help me keep track of my body's cycle. And tomorrow, my dear sister? Tomorrow my body will be ready for him," she whispered huskily, giving D a coy sidelong look. "And I want him to be just as ready for me."

D turned to give Pearl a classic 'yeah, right' look before shaking his head to himself. "I don't see that happening, Coral," he said calmly. "Given my feelings on the matter, I'd take my own life before I allowed myself to be in a position to spread the taint of our blood to a new life."

"Nonsense," Coral cooed quietly as she turned her full attention to him, now using both hands to caress the curves of his muscled chest. "I've waited years for you, D, surely you can't deny me this now that I have you in my life. I promised I wouldn't hurt you, didn't I? You won't have to worry about being killed, hunter," she said, her voice turning honeyed and sultry as she leaned in to kiss him.

Pearl remained perfectly silent and motionless as she watched D twist his head away, seeking to escape Coral's kiss. The battle became futile as Coral brought her hands up to hold his head in place, keeping him steady while her lips gently worked against his for a number of moments. The whole scene was enough to truly disturb Pearl, causing her to wonder just what the hell was wrong with her sister all of a sudden. Surely she could tell that he wasn't joking about not wanting to sleep with her again or make her pregnant? After all, if he hunted their kind for vengeance, why would he want to have a vampire child of his own?

"Hey, sis?" Pearl found herself saying in a hollow tone. "I thought you said I could kill him later."

"I said if it ever came to the point where we had to kill him," Coral said calmly without turning around, her eyes still studying D with eerie tenderness. "Like I said, dear sister, don't hold your breath. It would be such a shame to have to hurt a man like him. A man, and soon to be a father..." she purred, more to herself than to either Pearl or D.

D looked over at Pearl, their eyes locking in uneasy silence for a number of moments. He could tell that Coral's words were bothering her just as much as it was him, though he couldn't discern if that would change anything. She continued to stare back at him before she let her gaze drift slightly downward, first to her sister's gloved hand and then to what that hand was gently rubbing and massaging.

She glanced back up at him and narrowed her eyes, almost as if she were daring him to react to Coral's intimate touch. A faint chill crept down her spine as D continued to look at her with an unreadable expression, apparently not interested in passion at the moment given the way his body failed to react.

A faint footstep behind her caused her to whip around, the sudden surge of tension and anxiety draining away as she saw April very timidly standing in the open doorway holding a large wooden goblet in both hands. "M-Mistress?" she called out in a meek voice, seeming to be afraid to intrude into the dungeon or otherwise disturb the pair of dunpeal sisters.

"Mmmm?" Coral hummed as she peered over her shoulder, briefly pausing her tender ministrations. "Oh, yes, thank you so much, April," she said as she saw the steaming cup her slave was holding. "I completely forgot about that."

April cast a very hesitant look over at Pearl, seeming to quail slightly as she got a dark glare in return before she quickly carried the goblet over to where Coral was standing. "I just took it off the stove," she whispered in a shaky tone, holding it out to the silvery-gray-haired woman. "It might still be too hot to drink."

"Better too hot than too cold," Coral mused as she let go of D and turned around to accept the heavy wooden goblet. She paused to take a quick whiff of the steam before smiling warmly at her slave. "Ohh, this smells good. I hope you saved some for the rest of us," she added with a twinkle in her eyes.

April quickly nodded. "The bread will be ready in a few moments and I had Abelyne set the table for you and Lady Pearl."

"You best not let the bread burn, then," Pearl spoke up in a flat tone, casting a dark glare at the suddenly-cowering woman.

"O-Of course not, mistress," April replied. She cast a brief glance at both D and Coral before making a hasty curtsy. "I'll see to it right away," she blurted out before rapidly exiting the room, leaving the door open in the same position she had found it.

"Pearl, you shouldn't be so mean to her," Coral said casually as she very lightly blew on the steaming cup, seeking to cool it slightly. "April's a good girl and she very rarely makes a mistake when it comes to cooking. Honestly, when was the last time she burned anything? When she didn't let Abby help her out," she amended quickly with a faint blush.

Pearl frowned and was about to reply when she caught a whiff of the heavy scent in the air. "Wait, what's that smell?" she inquired, cautiously taking a deeper sniff. She blinked as her mouth promptly started to water, realizing that the aroma was more than a little tantalizing.

"Just some beef broth I asked her to bring me," Coral replied, still very lightly blowing on the cup. "She spent most of the evening working on some sort of roast and I asked her to save some of the broth for D. You're probably hungry by now, aren't you?" she added as she glanced over at D, swirling the contents of the goblet around to speed up the cooling process.

"Thank you for your concern, but I'll pass," D replied calmly, trying to ignore the way his stomach was suddenly twitching at the smell of the broth. It would have been a lie to say that it wasn't making him hungry, but he wasn't about to put himself in a position of having to be fed by Coral if he could avoid it.

"Come now, D," Coral purred in the honeyed tone that D had come to dread hearing from her, knowing what her controlling influence could do. "My darling little April worked so hard on this, surely you don't want to insult her by refusing to at least sample it? Granted it is still just a little too warm," she admitted with a faint look of surprise down at the cup, watching the cloud of steam continue to waft up with enthusiasm, "But it will cool down enough to be savored safely in another minute or two."

"It smells good," Pearl observed, casting an almost wistful glance towards the dungeon exit and the stairs that would take her back upstairs to where the dining room was.

"It does," Coral agreed. She glanced down at the cup and brought it up to her lips for a very cautious sip, wincing slightly as she realized that it was still quite hot. "Mmm. Tastes wonderful, too, though she obviously wasn't kidding about taking it off the stove before bringing it down here. You should go on ahead, I'll be up in a few minutes."

"Pearl," D spoke up quietly, drawing slightly startled looks from both sisters. "I'd like to continue our talk later, if you wish, but there are a few questions I'd like to ask Coral first. Rest assured I'll be here when you are finished with dinner," he added, giving her just the faintest looks of dry and sarcastic humor.

"No doubt that you will, hunter," Pearl replied in a perfectly neutral tone. She cast a quick glance at Coral and the goblet in her hands before she snorted softly to herself in contempt. "Try not to make a mess," she added in an unreadable tone before she turned and left the room, her footsteps sounding unusually heavy to D's sensitive hearing.

"Should I ask what you two were talking about?" Coral inquired as she took a second quick sip of the heated broth, wincing as it came dangerously close to scalding her tongue once again.

"What our mothers were like," D replied, giving her an unreadable look.

"Mmm," Coral said in a noncommittal tone. "That must've been a one-sided conversation, then, as neither of us remember her for ourselves."

"So what happened to her?" he asked gently.

A sudden veil of guarded emotions seemed to pass over her face as she gave him a measured look before glancing away. "She was eight-months pregnant with Pearl when she had an accident," she murmured. "Her neck was broken, but that happens when one tumbles down two flights of stairs. Father was able to save Pearl from death somehow, though he never answered me as to how exactly he did so. Well, in any case, Pearl pulled through and went on to become the lovely woman that she is today, though she tends to get a little moody whenever she's reminded of that little footnote of her life."

Her casual description and demeanor made D's stomach cringe slightly, just enough to blunt the edge of the ravenous hunger that had started up the instant he had caught a whiff of the beef broth. He had eaten his fill before he had embarked on his trek into the village crypts, of course, as he knew it wasn't likely that he would be able to eat anything during the journey, but that had been quite some time ago.

"What can I say, D? I don't remember her," she sighed softly, casting a somewhat glum look at the stone walls. "You would think that a four-year-old would be able to remember something about her mother, but the memories just aren't there. No matter," she said with another sigh, turning her head at the last moment to direct the outflow of air over the rim of the goblet. "Damn, how hot did she make this?" she fussed as the broth continued to steam.

"So what did your step-mother have to say about it?" D asked in a very careful tone. He figured that Coral wouldn't be nearly as explosive as Pearl would be if upset by the question, but he still wanted to tread carefully.

Coral suddenly paused in mid-motion, the goblet only a few inches away from her lips as she went to taste-test the broth again. "What did Val say?" she asked herself, her brow furrowing slightly as she tried to think about it. "Oh, yeah," she grumbled quietly as it finally clicked, taking an absent sip. "Apparently Mother was a little on the well-endowed side to begin with, no doubt what first got Father's attention, and only got bigger once she became pregnant. Val said something about how she seemed to become top-heavy and had almost killed herself during her first pregnancy doing the exact same thing. Something about how steep stairs tended to be rather unforgiving like that."

D suddenly felt his blood go cold, putting together a dark picture that made him shiver on the inside. He knew what Valentina Winters was like after confronting and killing her a number of years ago. Not so much cold as very cool and calculating, he could picture her being quite upset at the discovery of her husband impregnating a human woman, not once but twice. He could also see her trying to discreetly arrange for a fatal 'accident' to occur, one that would appear to be genuinely plausible and not draw any suspicion to her. He himself had heard of more than one tragic tale of a pregnant woman losing her balance on a staircase that had led to harm to either her or the life she was carrying inside her. Or to both...

"I'm sorry," D murmured with genuine sincerity.

"Thank you," she said quietly, looking up to give him a tender smile and a nod of understanding. "I have to admit I'm a little... upset with her, but not for dying on us. Accidents happen, and it's not her fault. But she could at least have given us the ample-chest genes she apparently had," she said with a faint chuckle, reaching up to smooth the fabric out over her chest. "I mean, I guess I'm doing okay, but Pearl tends to be a little self-conscious about her breasts not being what you would call attention-getters."

She sighed quietly as she glanced down at the broth, blowing gently on it before taking another cautious sip. "Took it long enough," she muttered as she nodded to herself in satisfaction and moved to hold the goblet up to his lips. "Here, give it a try and let me know if it's still too hot. It really is quite delicious," she added, giving him a gentle look.

He made note of the look in her eyes and was about to refuse when he felt a very faint twitch from his left hand. He narrowed his eyes as he tried to decide if it was trying to warn him of something or if it was starting to fall prey to the charming influence she could exert. "No doubt that it is," he said very carefully. "But I'm going to have to pass for the time being. Not to be disrespectful to April or her cooking, but I don't know what she made it with and I'm not about to eat anything that I might potentially be allergic to."

"Mmm," she hummed quietly to herself, lowering the goblet and casting a suddenly uneasy look inside. "I don't think she used anything exotic," she said in a faintly uncertain tone.

"Who said it had to be exotic to be an allergen?" D pointed out.

"Ouch," Coral sighed, wincing slightly. "Yes, you're right. Pearl and I managed to avoid picking up Father's allergy to carnations, but she still gets a little edgy around flowers. I'll go ask April how she made this," she added as she started to turn away.

"Coral," D spoke up, causing her to pause and turn around. "You should go ahead and eat dinner while it's still warm. Just ask April to come down and talk to me for a brief moment, I'm sure knows everything she used and in what amounts."

She raised an eyebrow at his request, giving him a slightly cool look in response. "I'm not sure that's a good idea," she said after a brief pause. "The poor thing is a little on the flighty side and I don't need her getting spooked by coming down here again. Especially when no-one else is around to keep her calm," she added in a faint warning tone.

"Bring her with you when you're done, then," D replied simply.

"The broth will be cold by then," she pointed out.

"Believe me when I say that is not a driving concern," D said dryly.

A faint smile brushed her lips for a moment. "Alright," she said, making a gesture with the faintly-steaming goblet. "I'll do that, though I'll ask her to reheat this for you first. Gently reheat it," she added wryly, casting a glance down at the gauzy wisps of steam that continued to waft up. "That, and ask her why she made this so dangerously hot."

"I wouldn't worry about it," D suggested. "As you said, she appears to be a decent woman who doesn't often make a mistake. And mistakes do happen," he added carefully.

"Aye, that they do," she agreed with a faint sigh. "Oh, well, no matter. I will be back shortly, my dark hunter," she purred softly, giving him a look of casual coyness. She continued to study him for a moment before she turned away, a somewhat disturbing smile forming on her face before her back was fully turned to him. Her footsteps seemed to whisper softly as she crossed the room, standing out in contrast to Pearl's heavy steps earlier. The door was left open as she exited, the sound of her footsteps fading away a moment later.

((D?)) it whispered as softly as it could manage.

"Stay quiet," he murmured back, making a fist to keep it silent.

((Real quick,)) it replied carefully. ((The broth is fine, though heavy on the onion flavoring, and I think Pearl just got a clue as to how screwed in the head Coral is.))

"I think I can work with Pearl," D spoke softly, casting a glance over at the open doorway. "Though it will likely take more time than I have. How are you holding up against Coral's power?"

((Like I said,)) it chuckled dryly, ((You'll succumb to her feminine charms long before that power can dominate me. And yesterday doesn't count, as I felt how her metallic touch played hell with both the wiring and the plumbing. Oh, and good call with not pissing on Pearl, that probably would have gotten you killed on the spot,)) it added with another soft snicker.

"Quiet," he said softly, casting another glance towards the open doorway.

((D, if you have any ideas on how to get us out of this one, I'd feel a lot better knowing about them,)) it pointed out. ((Granted I'm keeping my eyes open for what happens, as it were, but I can't do much of anything to help if I'm kept in the dark here.))

The faintest of grunts rose up from D's chest as he closed his eyes, still keeping an ear out for any sound to indicate that someone was returning. "I'm still working on that," he admitted, his voice barely more than a whisper.

((Keep working,)) it suggested dryly. ((Oh, and speaking of working things, I'm starting to get the feeling that Pearl...))

D's breath caught in his chest as he heard a soft sound, the noise causing the symbiot to abruptly fall silent. The sound persisted for several seconds before fading away, causing him to stop and wonder just what the hell it had been. It hadn't been a footfall or the sound of movement, but rather a deep and almost metallic sound that seemed to echo faintly.

((Wind,)) it spoke up quietly. ((Blowing through the canyon and over the end of the lava tube below you. Pitch it another octave lower and we couldn't have heard it, but still. Scared the hell out of me too,)) it admitted with a sigh.

"If you were going to suggest that I try to seduce Pearl..." D started to say in a low tone before falling silent as the thing in his hand twitched.

((D, I think her loving and caring siblings did something to her,)) it said with a faint shiver. ((I mean something really bad. Maybe they messed with Coral as well, which might explain her blown mental fuses, but I think it was mostly done to Pearl.))

"Sexual abuse?" D spoke up, trying not to grimace at saying the words or the thoughts behind him.

((Think about it. Coral has issues that the others might have picked up on and tried to exploit. They start playing games, Coral discovers that she likes it and goes along not realizing that it's wrong, they try to drag Pearl into things...))

"Or Pearl stumbles across something that scars her soul," D murmured.

Humans? Pearl's voice suddenly echoed in his mind. They would just as soon kill us. Other nobles? They would abuse us far worse then that woman's children ever did, not needing to pretend to be bound by taboos of blood...

((Stumbling into things indeed. Or rather down them. Trust me, I can see a number of staircase jokes being made by her half-brothers and half-sister,)) it muttered with a dark sigh. ((And neither Coral or Pearl would know that they were being mocked. Accident my... er, well, you get the idea,)) it added in a faintly abashed tone.

"I'll ask her about it," D decided calmly as he closed his eyes. The were opened a moment later as the thing in his hand twitched violently, almost as if it was having a momentary seizure.

((D, you are kidding?)) it said. ((Push her buttons like that and she'll go apeshit again. And in case you haven't been paying close attention to what your battered and bruised body has been telling you for hours now, you simply don't have the strength to endure any more physical abuse. Sipping some of April's blood helped, definitely, but that was what, a mouthful at best? Two? Hardly enough to revive you or let you recover that much energy. Goddamn, she had the perkiest pair of nipples I've seen in years,)) it murmured softly with an almost longing sigh.

D just sighed quietly and clenched his hand into a fist, taking a small measure of satisfaction from the way the thing's sigh was transformed into a gasping grunt of surprise and discomfort. "Quiet," he said once he was sure it had fallen silent.

((Sure, D,)) it grumbled softly, its voice somewhat distorted by the way it was compressed. ((Whatever you want. Just drink the broth, okay? We both know you need the energy more than you need to score defiance points against Coral's misguided notions. Just ask for a mint when you're done, I'm not kidding about the onion content...))

D ignored it and closed his eyes, turning his focus inward to try to sort out his thoughts. It was obvious that Coral was insane and that no amount of logic or blunt refusals would change her mind. It was likely that Pearl had noticed her sister's state of denial as well, given the look on her face when Coral had brushed off his words about not wanting to give her a child. Being offered his 'services' once Coral was pregnant had also likely made Pearl stop and truly question the situation. He would have to ask her directly to find out for himself just how unsettled the aqua-eyed woman was, and no doubt risk igniting her dark rage in the process, but it was a risk he felt worth taking.

But would it be enough to help him? he found himself thinking, wondering if he really wanted to hear the answer... or find out what would happen to him if it couldn't.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He opened his eyes and lifted his head up as they returned, able to hear their footsteps several seconds before they entered the room. He figured that Coral was in a fairly pleasant mood, judging from the soft smile on her face and the way she carried the gently-steaming goblet in her gloved hand. Pearl was obviously withdrawn, her expression a darkened mask of guarded emotions that indicated she was thinking heavily about something unpleasant.

It was the look on April's face that bothered him the most, the young girl seeming to be clearly terrified as she followed Coral's footsteps like a second shadow. Her sea-green eyes remained on his as she moved, however, her hands tightly clasped in front of her and seeming to tremble slightly. She jerked to a halt as Coral stopped, taking a hasty step back to avoid accidentally bumping into her mistress.

"Take it easy, April," Coral said in a soothing tone, reaching out with her free hand to brush her fingertips across April's cheek. The young girl remained perfectly still for the gesture, but it was obvious to D that she all she wanted to do was run screaming from Coral's gentle touch. "He just wants to know what you used to make the broth."

The rust-haired girl gave D an uneasy glance before she looked down at the floor, her lips starting to tremble as they parted. "I used a beef roast for the base," she whispered. "It was simmered in a mixture of onions, bay leaves, cloves, thyme, parsley, and peppercorn."

D nodded gently. "Nothing harmful, then," he said. He waited for her to glance up at him before he added, "I apologize for refusing it earlier, but I wanted to make sure I wouldn't have an allergic reaction to it."

"It was good, April," Coral assured her with a gentle smile. "You should head back upstairs now, if only to keep Abelyne from making a mess with the dishes. I'm sure D will enjoy it as much as we did," she added, giving D a small smile.

"Yes, mistress," April said, giving her a quick curtsy before making a rapid exit.

"APRIL!" Pearl suddenly called out, causing Coral to flinch slightly from surprise and the sheer volume of her sister's voice.

"M-Mistress?" April whimpered as she promptly reappeared in the doorway, her face turning dangerously pale.

"Close the door," Pearl instructed in a level tone.

"Yes, mistress," April replied, giving her another quick curtsy before disappearing from sight again. The dungeon door was promptly eased into the closed position, the hinges protesting softly before the door clicked shut.

"Must you have yelled like that?" Coral spoke up, absently rubbing the rim of her ear.

"Whatever, sis," Pearl muttered darkly as she leaned back against the wall and crossed her arms tightly over her chest.

Coral raised an eyebrow at the brusque response. "You're in a mood all of a sudden," she pointed out. "Don't tell me that you had a problem with what April cooked for us. That honey-butter she made to go with the bread was quite delicious, and I know you like beef to be slightly undercooked."

Pearl cast a dark glare at her sister. "Dinner was fine, sis, honest."

"So why the stormy look?" Coral inquired archly.

"Gas cramp," Pearl replied, causing the other woman to blink hard.

"Ah, yes, that... would put a girl in a mood," Coral said in a delicate tone, casting a faintly apologetic look towards D. "Okay, umm... just don't do anything... combustible, okay?" she added, giving Pearl a sheepish look as a moderate blush started to creep up across cheeks. "The torches are still lit and all, and you know how dangerous fire can be..."

"Right, sis" Pearl muttered, giving her a dour look before turning her focus on D and seeming to withdraw even more.

"I'm just saying," Coral insisted in a fairly light and delicate tone before she likewise turned her attention to D. "Anyway, here you go, D," she said as she stepped over to him, bringing the warm goblet up to his lips. "I told you she didn't use anything exotic or dangerous," she murmured.

D studied the look in her pale yellow eyes for several moments before very softly sighing to himself and taking a measured sip of the beef broth. It was quickly made obvious that the thing hadn't been joking about the level of onion flavoring, seeming to tickle his sinuses as he swallowed. The broth was quite warm though not dangerously so, making it easy for him to drink without worry about any internal damage being done. He couldn't taste anything other than what April had said was in there, finding the very subtle aftertaste of the cloves to be quite pleasing.

He drained the goblet of the broth at a moderate pace, not wanting to gulp or otherwise rush the process but likewise not wanting it to last any longer than absolutely necessary. It was easy to notice Coral's smile as he drank, a small and quiet but distinctly smug smile of victory. It wasn't enough to make him suspect that the broth had been tainted by anything, but instead merely reinforced his concerns about her intentions towards him and how she would try to dominate him in order to make him see things her way.

"Thank you," he said in an empty monotone as he tilted his head back to indicate he was finished.

"My pleasure, hunter," Coral purred softly as she leaned forward to give him a soft kiss that he decided was best to hold perfectly still for. "After all, you will need your strength soon and I certainly can't have you wimping out on me, now can I?" she breathed huskily.

He cast a quick glance at Pearl, more than a little unsettled by the stony look on her face. It was obvious that she was thinking about something, either what he had said to her or what she had witnessed for herself, but the nature of her suddenly brooding thoughts was a mystery to him.

"I have a favor to ask of you," D said carefully as he looked at Coral.

"I'm listening," Coral assured him in a cool tone.

"The mud you applied yesterday seemed to work as you said it would," he explained. "I'm not sure why or how, but surely you've noticed how it helped me heal the skin bruises in a single day. I'd like to know more about it for future reference."

"Mmmm," Coral replied, the sound emerging more as a grunt than as a hum. "I'm not sure I can help you there, hunter, as I told you everything that I know about where it comes from and how it's kept hydrated. Speaking of which, we might have to make arrangements for another shipment. We're down to how many barrels now, five?" she asked, giving Pearl a questioning look.

"Four," Pearl spoke up in a flat tone. "You traded one last month to that merchant for supplies and electronic parts, remember?"

"Oh, yes, that's right," Coral murmured as she nodded her head absently. "Still, considering what we paid for the mud to begin with and what those parts were worth, I still think we got a very fair deal for them. Mmm, and I see you managed to pick up a few more bruises somehow," she added in an edged tone as she looked back at D's chest. "I wonder how that happened."

Pearl just raised an eyebrow as she noticed Coral's sidelong glance in her direction. "It's not my fault he's fragile," she observed with a faint sneer.

"I'm sure," Coral replied dryly as she glanced over at the forgotten urn that had been brought down yesterday. She moved over to peer inside, arching an eyebrow up as she saw how much remained inside. "Hmm, I think we've got enough left for another bath if you want. Certainly enough for your jaw," she added as she glanced up at his face and sighed.

D risked a quick glance over at Pearl before looking back at Coral. "It would be appreciated," he said calmly, still fully aware of the profusion of deep aches residing in most of his muscles. He didn't like having to ask her for any sort of relief or otherwise let her 'take care of him' to further her delusions, but at this point he felt his chances of escaping her dungeon would be better if he could regain as much of his energy as he could before having to make a 'do-or-die' stand.

"Very well," Coral purred, giving him a warm smile as she reached into the urn to pick up one of the forgotten brushes. She paused at how heavy it felt, poking it into the mud base a few times to test the viscosity. "Mmm, it needs to be rehydrated again. I should make you do this," she added as she cast a mild look over her shoulder at Pearl.

"Didn't you bitch about the last batch of mud I mixed up?" Pearl pointed out in a dark tone, leaning hard against the wall. "Besides, I thought you didn't want me touching your little screw-toy."

"Pearl, what am I going to do with you?" Coral grumbled as she put the brush back into the thick mud. "There's a difference between helping me give him a mud-bath and making love to him. I don't have any problem with letting you help me with the former. In fact, I'd be grateful for the help," she added in a serious tone.

"We'll see," Pearl replied before falling silent once again, giving D a distinctly uncertain and studious look.

"Anyway," Coral muttered with a brief rolling of her eyes. "I'll be right back with some rainwater to remix this," she promised as she gave D's arm a brief squeeze before heading towards the door.

D watched her go, keeping his eyes on Coral's figure before turning to look at Pearl once the baroness had left the room. "I take it something's on your mind?" he spoke up in a quiet tone.

"Astute observation, hunter," Pearl growled back, seeming to hug herself as she leaned harder on the wall.

"Your sister is quite the generous woman," D observed, making sure to keep his tone free of any emotional influences. "I know I wouldn't be able to share a woman's bed with a sibling, if I had one."

Pearl scowled and pushed herself off the wall. "Don't get your hopes up, hunter," she said in a dark tone. "I'm not interested in you like that. All I want from you are your screams of pain and suffering."

D allowed the faintest of smiles of amusement to cross his face just long enough for her to notice. "Is that all that interests you these days, Pearl? The pain and misery of others? Surely you weren't always this bitter."

"What's it to you?" she challenged in a low tone as she approached him, stopping once she was close enough to touch him. "Or am I supposed to be all hot and bothered by the thought of being able to submit to your lusts? Oh, and such an honor it would be," she continued, her voice turning sarcastic as her lips twisted into a scornful sneer. "Being able to bed the legendary D like so many other women have. Tell me, hunter, just how many women have you taken?"

D simply raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't keep a notched belt, if that is what you're getting at," he replied calmly. "I should be able to remember if given enough time, but the number is not as great as you would think."

"I'm sure it's not," she said, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"I take it sex bothers you?" he asked, instinctively tensing up on the inside in case his question set her temper off. He realized an instant later that he had hit the proverbial nail on the head, watching as her aqua irises seemed to contract slightly before abruptly dilating outwards as a fierce red glow started to infuse itself into her corneas.

Her eyes closed a moment later as they heard the sound of footsteps, her jaw remaining firmly set as Coral returned to the room with a large cup of what was likely rainwater. The gray-haired woman paused for a moment as she sensed her sister's tension before moving over to the mud urn.

"Everything alright, Pearl?" she inquired as she carefully began to pour the water into the urn. She stopped after a few moments and set the cup down, picking up the brush with her gloved hand to stir the mixture around.

"Fine, sis," Pearl replied in a flat tone, opening her eyes to give D a dark look. The red glow had left her eyes, leaving behind a pair of aqua-blue irises that remained firmly fixed on D's expression. "It's just the gas cramp being a literal pain, that's all."

"Yeech," Coral murmured. "Well, just... take it outside if you think you need to get rid of it the easy way. A little more should be enough," she added to herself as she knelt down to pick up the cup of rainwater. She poured out a small measure of the liquid before setting it down again, her gloved hand still swirling the clay-like mixture around to soften it up.

Pearl continued to glare at D before she made a soft huffing noise and glanced away, crossing her arms tightly over her chest in a gesture that struck D as more protective than it was contemptuous. "So what's the plan for the rest of the night, sis?" she spoke up in a perfectly neutral tone.

"Mmm, a good question," Coral admitted as she continued mixing. "I was thinking about cleaning out the storage room up top," she said absently. "I'm not sure how long that would take, as we probably need to sort through all that junk first, but we should be finished long before dawn. Besides, the mud needs time to dry and all after it's put on, so we'd still need to find something constructive to do in the meantime. And before you ask, I'd rather not let you play with him while it's drying," she added in a firm tone, casting a reproving glance over her shoulder.

Pearl opened her mouth to say something when she suddenly paused and gave D an appraising look. "Alright," she said slowly, her lips slowly curling into a cruel smile that immediately made D wary. "I can take the mud off once it's dry, though, right?"

"Pearl..." Coral sighed heavily in open resignation, giving her sister a truly weary look. "The whole point of the mud-bath is to help him heal the damage you did the last time you played around with him."

"Oh, don't worry, I won't leave any bruises," Pearl promised in a silken tone, giving D an openly feral look.

"Pearl..." Coral said in a warning tone.

"You can trust me, sis," Pearl assured her with a dark smile. "No whips or sharp edges, I promise."

Coral raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh," she said slowly, pausing to glance down at the mud mixture. "Well, the mud feels to be ready. Not too thick and not too watery, either. It might be a little cold, though," she admitted as she suddenly thought about the temperature.

"He'll be alright," Pearl purred, mimicking the honeyed tone that Coral tended to use. "Won't you, hunter?" she added, giving him a coy look.

D gave her a very guarded look before slowly drawing in a breath. "No doubt that I will be," he said in an emotionless and empty monotone. "In any case, unless you used fresh glacier run-off to remix the mud, I doubt that it will be cold enough to pose a hazard. I'll let you know if things become too uncomfortable for me," he said, glancing over at Coral.

"Fair enough," Coral replied with a gentle smile. She paused to pick up the cup of rainwater and move it over to the storage cart to keep it out of the way before returning to the urn. "I take it you want to help me with this?" she said to Pearl as she fished both brushes out.

"Sure, why not," Pearl replied, still using an obviously fake sultry tone. She gave D a look that made him seriously wonder what she was up to all of a sudden before she moved to accept the offered brush. "So how do we do this?" she inquired in a normal tone, seeming to slip out of whatever mood she had been in moments ago.

"You can coat his back," Coral replied as she scooped up a glob of mud and moved to stand in front of D. She reached out to touch his chin, tilting his head back several degrees before very carefully applying the mud to his jaw.

"Coral?" D suddenly spoke up, causing her to pause and glance up at him. "You may wish to change into something more suited for such work," he pointed out. "Surely you remember what happened to your dress yesterday."

"Mmmmm, that's right," Coral purred softly, taking a step back and giving him a distinctly playful and coy look. She continued to study him carefully as D felt the padded surface behind him split and open up, swinging away on hinges to expose his back half. Her silence persisted until D heard the soft clicks of metal locks being engaged, keeping the padded halves locked against the metal support columns he was chained to.

"Pearl?" she murmured, keeping her eyes on D. "You want to come over here and give me a hand for a moment? D's right, I already got mud on one dress so far, I certainly don't need a second one to get dirty."

"Hm?" Pearl replied, seeming to be surprised by the request. She blinked as Coral simply gestured to the back of her dress, still giving D a warm and coy look. "Uh, sis, are you sure you...?"

"It's alright, Pearl," Coral said demurely. "He already made love to me yesterday, so it's not like it will be anything new. He can look," she added in a soft whisper, licking her lips slightly.

"Right..." Pearl said slowly, giving D a look that was both suspicious and uneasy at the same time. She tossed her brush back into the urn and moved to stand behind Coral, pausing briefly to give D another dark look of unease before reaching up to grab the zipper to Coral's dark blue dress.

D kept his face perfectly composed at the distinctive sound of a zipper being parted in a fluid motion. The fabric remained in place for a moment before Coral slowly inhaled, expanding her chest to increase the tension and force the material to move slightly. It did so with a soft whispering sound, seeming to glide across her shoulders like a ghost before sliding down her body in a gentle cascade of dark blue to leave her clad only in a matching pair of panties.

"Mmmmmmm," Coral breathed, her voice more of a moan than a hum. "Thank you, Pearl," she whispered huskily as she turned her head to the side, giving her sister a soft kiss on the cheek that briefly startled her.

"Anytime, sis," Pearl replied in a faintly uneasy tone, casting a brief glance down at Coral's now-bare shoulder before looking over at D. The edges of her lips tugged down in a slight frown as she saw that he was still focused on her instead of on Coral's bare breasts as she had expected. What? she found herself saying, her lips moving to form the word but her voice failing to work for some unknown reason.

Her frown darkened as he glanced over at Coral before closing his eyes, seeming to dismiss the visual without the slightest hint of concern. Coral didn't seem to notice or otherwise care as she took a step forward to step out of the dress that was puddled in a dark circle on the floor. Pearl's eyes narrowed again as she watched Coral reach up to tilt D's head back, letting her spread the cool mud across his bruised jaw once again.

Shaking her head to herself, she returned to the urn and grabbed her own brush, scooping out a large dollop of mud and absently splattering it against his back. Her lips curled back a moment later as the force of her motion was enough to send tiny droplets of the dark brown mud all over the place. She kept her eyes on the dark blotch she had made on his back before very slowly looking down, her lips setting into a thin and flat line as she realized that there was now a small but still visible spot of mud on her blouse.

"Pearl?" Coral inquired cautiously as she leaned to one side, suddenly aware of the stillness following a rather wet splattering sound.

"Quiet," Pearl groused as she took a step back, still looking down at the fleck of mud adorning her blouse. She paused and glanced upwards as D turned his head slightly, just enough to let him look out of the corner of his eye. He seemed to study her for a moment before he turned his head away, his face remaining perfectly impassive.

"He did warn you," Coral spoke up, the faintest of smiles brushing her lips as she carefully applied more of the mud to D's jaw.

"Thank you, sis," Pearl replied in an acidic tone as she threw the brush tip-first into the urn like a large dart. She cast a truly dark glare at D's back before she snarled softly to herself and started to undo the buttons on her blouse. She quickly stripped it off and cast it aside, leaving her clad in the same kind of form-hugging undertunic that she had been wearing yesterday. She moved to pick up the brush when she caught the faint twinkle in Coral's pale yellow eyes, causing her own to flicker slightly with dark rage. "What?" she demanded in a flat tone.

"It'll wash out," Coral assured her in a languid tone as she returned her focus to D's jaw and upper chest, very gently coating his pale skin with mud. Pearl simply snarled to herself as she retrieved the brush and started to smear it across D's back, glancing up at the back of his neck to see if he was trying to look at her again.

Time quickly passed in eerie silence, broken only by the wet sounds of the brushes scooping out more mud at irregular intervals and spreading it across his skin. D seemed to be ignoring them both as they worked while Coral was soon lost in absent thought, a soft and distinctly tender smile evident on her lips as she methodically coated her prisoner with the hydrated mud. A mask of dark emotions seemed to be permanently implanted on Pearl's face, marring her beauty with something that wasn't quite a scowl but was nonetheless nothing that could even remotely be considered pleasant.

All three of them seemed to refocus in the same instant as the door was opened, allowing a flaxen-haired girl to poke her head inside with a somewhat weary look on her face. "Coral?" she called out in a faintly apologetic tone, not seeming to be fazed in the least to see her mistress dressed in only her underwear again.

Coral blinked in surprise before sighing heavily. "Abby, please tell me that fool Largo isn't here again," she spoke up.

"I'm sorry," Abelyne said, giving her a truly saddened look as she stepped into the room to join her, appearing to be dressed in a slightly different version of the essentially-nothing outfit she had worn the day before.

"Oh, lord," Coral sighed in resignation as she gave Pearl a look that was just as weary as the one on Abelyne's face. "What could he possibly want now?" she muttered.

"A very slow and painful death," Pearl suggested calmly as she returned her focus to D's back. She paused as she saw how much she had already done and craned her neck slightly to peer over D's shoulder. "How much do you have left to do?" she asked carefully.

"I'm down to his navel," Coral replied as she tossed her brush into the urn and stepped back, quickly taking a hop forward when she realized that she was in danger of stumbling over her slave. "Abby, don't do that," she gently rebuked the young girl as she quickly scrambled out of the way, still holding the discarded dress.

"Tell you what," Pearl said, her tone becoming perfectly neutral. "You go see what the village idiot wants and start in on the storage room once you're done with him, assuming you're not going to pull his toenails out or something. I'll finish up here and come upstairs when I'm done."

Coral paused to give her a faintly uncertain look, blinking and arching her back slightly as Abelyne slid the dress up to her shoulders. "Ooooh," she purred softly before shaking her head to refocus. "Sure about that?" she asked as she gave D a somewhat distracted look. "Cleaning out the storage room isn't a high-priority or anything, just something that's on the list of stuff that needs to be done one of these days. It can wait if you..."

"I can take care of it," Pearl interrupted with a slight gesture of her brush. "It's not like he's going anywhere on us and we'll have to let it set soon enough anyway."

"True," Coral admitted, holding still as the zipper on her dress was very carefully resealed. "Mmm, you have a light touch, Abby," she cooed softly, turning to give her slave a gentle smile. She glanced back over at Pearl and D before sighing quietly. "Alright, my dear sister, he's all yours for the moment. Just don't hurt him, okay?" she added in an edged tone. "No scrapes, no bruises, no dents, nothing."

"Settle down, sis," Pearl grumbled, casting a somewhat dark look at her elder sister. "Just go see what that fool wants this time. Maybe he's trying to flirt with April and just needed some excuse to come up here and see her," she suggested with a casual shrug of a shoulder.

"Eww," Abelyne whispered softly to herself, shivering lightly.

"Eww, indeed," Coral added, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the visual. "He has to be old enough to be her grandfather."

"He looks it, too," Pearl pointed out sourly as she scooped up another glob of mud and continued to spread it across D's lower back. "Anyway, like I said, the sooner you see what the hell he wants now, the sooner he'll go away and leave us in peace. Or the sooner he'll have eternal peace if he insists on bothering us for trivial reasons," she added in an ominous tone.

Coral just shook her head and ushered Abelyne towards the door. "Lead me not to temptation, my dear sister, for I can find it myself," she sighed as she left the room with her slave in tow.

"I'm sure you can, too," Pearl muttered darkly to herself. She moved to paint another line of mud when he twisted his head slightly to glance at her out of the corner of his eye. "What?" she demanded in a flat tone, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I was simply wondering why you're being so helpful all of a sudden," he replied quietly as he turned his head back around. "Or is it simply so you can try to torture me once it dries?"

"You'll find out soon enough, hunter," Pearl promised him as she resumed her task, flicking her wrist to sharply slap the mud-coated bristles against the flesh of his backside.

"Explain to me why the pain of others pleases you so much," he said as he closed his eyes. "Surely there has to be something else that makes you feel good on the inside. Or is that all the pleasure you've ever known?" he added. He carefully twisted his head to glance at her again when she remained silent, making note of the dark look on her face as she visibly struggled to keep a firm grasp on her temper.

Her eyes slowly opened and refocused on his back before glancing up to find him looking at her. A faint crimson tint immediately flashed into her corneas as she narrowed her eyes down to mere slits. "I'm not going to play your game this time, hunter," she assured him in a flat tone.

"What game would that be, Pearl?" he inquired softly. "Trying to get to know you? To understand your pain?"

"You couldn't possibly understand me if you tried," she snarled, her hand tightening around the brush hard enough to start to warp it.

D glanced away from her and twisted his neck back around, seeming to sigh very quietly to himself. "Maybe not," he murmured. "But what harm is there in trying to do so? Or do you hate yourself that much that you don't want anyone else to try to know you as well?"

The brush was thrown into the urn hard enough to splatter the remaining mud out in a wide arc, leaving a curious spray-pattern on the ground a few inches away. "Don't even pretend you know me," she seethed as she moved around to stare into his eyes, her hands curled into fists. "You know NOTHING of me."

"I know what I see in front of me," D replied, letting his eyes move down to examine her carefully in a deliberate manner.

"What?" she demanded in a low and dangerous tone, her lips edging back to expose the tips of her vampiric fangs.

"So when was the last time anyone told you that you were beautiful?" he inquired in a somber tone, looking back up into her eyes. "Or have you never wanted anyone to look at you like that?" He continued to look at her as he felt his hand twitch gently, almost as if the parasite was shaking its head to itself in resignation.

"Oh, is that it?" she whispered as her expression turned cold. "You got to ogle at Coral for awhile, so now you want to leer at me as well? Got your nuts all warmed up seeing Abelyne prancing around like the little slut-slave that she is?"

D narrowed his eyes slightly. "Do I look excited to you?" he said simply.

The corner of her mouth twitched in a spasm before she glanced down, able to see that he wasn't aroused in the slightest. "So what do you want, hunter?" she demanded as she looked back up at his dark eyes, her own eyes blazing.

"Just an answer to my question," he replied calmly. "Nothing more."

She gazed back at him, her jaw working back and forth in a grinding motion that made D absently wonder just how much more he could coax from her before she snapped and put a true end to things. "I don't know, hunter," she finally spat. "I don't pay attention to such things. Men only compliment women like that when they want something, and we both know what that something usually turns out to be."

"Be that as it may," he said carefully, "I think you're beautiful, but I'm sure you'll construe that as a demand for something despite my intentions."

"And what would you have me believe your intentions to be?" she snarled, her eyes narrowing even further as she gave him an openly untrusting look.

"All I want to do is open your eyes, Pearl," he said softly. "Not every man you meet is a rutting boar who views women as mere sex-objects to be taken and discarded once they're satisfied. Your father may have been that way, but I assure you that I'm not."

A faint chill ran down his spine at the way her fists suddenly tightened, pulling the skin so taut over her knuckles that he thought she stood a good chance of splitting it open if she kept the pressure up for too long. "Why should I believe you?" she hissed softly, seeming to barely be able to speak. "You think I didn't see the way you looked at Coral earlier?"

"So I looked at your sister when she undressed," D countered gently. "Or should I say, when you undressed her. But isn't that what she wanted, to show me her body? Tell me she didn't do it deliberately."

"Oh, I know she did," Pearl said, nodding her head slowly. "But she's always been like that, showing off to try to get attention from others."

"So if being watched is what she wanted, why are you angry that I did so?" he inquired evenly. He waited for several moments as she remained silent, her dark expression remaining frozen in place as she looked at him. "Or are you really angry at her instead of me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Pearl replied in a voice as cold as liquid nitrogen. "Coral is my sister, she and Father were the only true family I had. And now, thanks to you, she's all I have."

"What did they do to you, Pearl?" D asked softly, knowing he was treading on very thin ice right now. "What did the rest of your father's noble family do to you and Coral that made you hate them so?"

"Nobles," Pearl spat harshly. "There was nothing noble about them, D, not a single goddamned thing. And like that bitch of a woman that spawned them, they did absolutely nothing."

"Meaning they just stood by and watched someone else hurt you," he said. It all clicked into place an instant later at the haunted look on her face, a truly dark look that left him feeling cold on the inside in a way that he had rarely felt before. "Pearl..."

"Shut up," she said, her voice barely more than a ghost of a whisper.

"They let someone hurt you," he breathed.

"Shut... up..." she hissed.

"They brought someone in to hurt you," he murmured, his eyes never leaving hers as he could clearly see the raw pain forming in her blood-red eyes. "To hurt you for their casual amusement."

"Not another word, hunter," she warned as she slowly raised her fist, her entire arm trembling from the sheer tension and rage in her body. "One more word and I'll kill you, Coral's desire for a child be damned, I swear..."

He looked into her eyes, knowing he was right on the very edge of things. He could remain silent and let her anger bleed off on its own, or he could take that final step and confront that burning caldera directly, to either unleash it in a burst of violence that would likely kill him or finally break through the wall of isolation that he knew she had been hiding behind for most of her life now, a veil of armor that he himself was all too familiar with...

"They had someone try to rape you," he said, almost too softly to hear.

Her body convulsed once before becoming still again, save for the rigid tension in her raised fist. The glow in her eyes seemed to ignite like the core of the sun before draining away, letting him see the faint glimmers of tears forming.

"Try to?" she said very softly.

"Pearl..." he said, allowing his sickened horror to color his tone.

"No," she countered, very slowly shaking her head as her tears began to silently fall. "No, he didn't. Oh, he would have that day, but you know what, hunter? Their friend would have succeeded in raping me if it hadn't been for Coral. And do you know what she did to save me, hunter?"

Her arm fell to her side as she advanced on him, her eyes all but masked by the flood of tears welling up. She stopped barely inches away from him, leaning forward until their noses almost touched.

"Do you have any idea what Coral did to spare me from being raped?" she whispered in a broken tone. "Do you know how she saved me from being violated by that vampire's lust, from being robbed of my virginity? Coral, my sister, my only real sister... offered herself to him in my place," she said as her voice finally failed her, the tears spilling down her cheeks in earnest.

If there was one thing D absolutely hated in life above all else, it was dark moments like this. It was bad enough that vampires existed to begin with, spreading pain and misery and suffering to all around them, even to their own kind. But worst of all were the crimes inflicted against women, crimes that were knowingly and deliberately perpetrated in the most heinous fashion against the most sacred of beliefs. It was as if they were compelled to desecrate and blaspheme in the most foulest manner that which had once been revered and even worshipped as pure and holy.

"Pearl," he said softly, almost tenderly. He waited until she finally lifted her head up to look at him, her aqua-blue eyes tinted red once again. It wasn't the crimson rage of her vampiric side, but rather the duller kind of red that came from bloodshot eyes and crying. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

It took her a long time to finally draw in enough breath to speak. "Why?" she asked in a low tone, not so much tinged with anger as muted from simple emotional exhaustion.

"It's how I was taught the world should be," he said quietly. "That women were supposed to be sacred and revered with tenderness, not dehumanized and treated as pleasure toys. That's how it was in the beginning, long before the red moon came and vampires were able to crawl out from the shadows. Women had power back then, the power that naturally flowed in their veins and in harmony with the phases of the moon.

"Surely you've noticed this," he continued as she blinked in surprise. "About how the world feels when you bleed every month, when your body renews itself in the true circle of life. That has long been the birthright of every woman since the beginning, holding not just the essence of life within their bodies but the very power and foundation of creation as well. Have you never wondered why vampires feed on blood to sustain themselves, why they draw from that particular essence of life? It is because such life energies like that were once freely given by women, able to nurture and sustain life even when they were at the nadir of their own cycle and their energies had ebbed to the point of self-destruction of the womb.

"Things changed with the coming of the red moon and the destruction it brought to the world, reshaping it into the dark realm that it is now. Human civilization fell into ruin, and it is only because of that initial collapse that vampires were able to rise to prominence and enslave the surviving humans. Drunk with power, they began to betray their ancestral roots and turn against the women that they once worshipped. They took by force what was once freely given, just because they could. Such corrupted and evil ways began to spread with their blood, seeking to destroy and deny the past in order to preserve and justify their current ways.

"That is the true evil I seek to destroy, Pearl," he whispered. "All who live today who share the blood of a vampire also share in their tainted ways, their evil souls. I made an oath to myself once I realized this, not just on my mother's grave where her defiled body had been laid to rest, but on her love and memory and honor as well. I swore that I would rid the world of this evil plague, no matter what the cost. For ten thousand years this has gone on, our vampire kin not just preying on humans and making them suffer needlessly, but continuing to dishonor and defile women and their sacred role in life.

"Look at me, Pearl," he said quietly. "Look into my eyes and tell me if you see in me the kind of lust that you see in so many others. Look at me and tell me you have reason to believe I have ever been anything other than gentle with a woman, only approaching her when she wishes it and taking only what is freely offered to me. Look at me, look into my eyes and look into my soul, then tell me if you see anything at all that suggests I don't hold women in the highest regard and as the most sacred of entities in this existence of life."

She stared into the depths of his eyes for what felt like a minor eternity before her own eyes briefly closed. "You know," she whispered once they had opened again, "I'm almost ready to believe you."

"Pearl..." he started to say.

"But why do you hunt US then?" she blurted out, giving him an almost pleading look. "Why do you want to kill me and my sister?"

It took D several moments to decide how to respond. "As I said, I don't want to kill anyone. My goal is to end the evil by any means necessary, and if I have to kill to see it done, then so be it. I have yet to encounter a single noble vampire who expressed the slightest remorse for their actions, their sins against humanity. I've come to believe that there is simply no other choice than to kill them to put an end to their evil. But you and your sister are not nobles, you are dunpeals like I am. You have human blood in your veins and a human heart in your chest, one capable of human emotions. If you can turn away from your hurtful ways, Pearl, if you can put an end to the darkness in your soul on your own, then I need not do anything. Indeed, I have always hoped and some nights even prayed that I would be able to spare someone, that they would be able to end the darkness on their own and not have it ended for them in the only way I know how.

"But so far, I have found none," he continued in a flat tone, narrowing his eyes slightly. "You ask why I would kill you. It is because you are like the others, rejoicing in the pain and suffering inflicted on those around you. Perhaps that is indeed all you have known in your life, but that doesn't change anything. I can teach you about what life should be like, how it should feel, but only if you are willing to listen and learn and change. I can't change you any more than you can change me, but you can change yourself if you truly wish.

"All I am asking of you, Pearl, is to do no harm to the humans from this moment forward. I can forgive you for all that you have done to me, and I will do so gladly if you can set aside your dark rage and hunger for pain. There is more to this world than suffering, and if you open your heart to others you will find that pleasure for yourself. And I don't just mean the pleasures of the flesh," he added as he saw the dark flicker of emotion in her eyes. "There are far better things out there to be savored, the pleasure of friendship, of honor, of love."

"And what of Coral?" Pearl asked in a suddenly neutral tone, the barriers abruptly falling back into place as she stared at him. "You would have her killed too, wouldn't you?"

"Unless she can change as well, I would," D admitted calmly. "She keeps humans as slaves, mere children at that. She doesn't respect humans as they deserve to be, treating them as pets instead of equals. The yoke of vampires must be lifted from the neck of humanity once and for all, no matter what the cost," he added softly, almost regretfully.

Pearl slowly shook her head as the dark anger starting to return. "Coral is the only family I have, hunter," she whispered in a dark tone of warning. "She is the only one who has ever stood up for me. If you think I'm going to let you hurt her in any way, you're going to be in for a very... very... painful surprise," she promised ominously.

D remained silent as she whirled around and stalked out of the room, her boots echoing softly on the stone floor with each step. His eyes closed of their own accord as the door was slammed shut, creating a metallic echo that resonated in the air for what seemed like a minor eternity. A soft sigh filled the air a moment later, a truly deep sound that anyone who might have heard it would have recognized as being one of resignation and perhaps even despair.

((Umm, D?)) it asked carefully. ((Are you alright?))

"I underestimated the strength of her feelings for her sister," D murmured softly. "As long as she thinks Coral is threatened, she won't listen to me."

((Yeah, umm... something like that. Er... D?))

"Quiet."

((I still think you're reaching her,)) it spoke up. ((I mean, it's obvious why she's so protective of Coral now, not that anyone can blame her, and why she's so uptight about relationships and the like.))

"The only human elements they've had in their lives were one another," D pointed out quietly. "That might not be enough to make it possible to reach out to them further. I doubt Coral can be saved, either."

((So are you still going to try to 'save' Pearl's soul?)) it prodded. ((Or are you going to focus on putting them out of their misery?))

"I don't know," he replied honestly. "But April and Abelyne need to be freed from them, one way or another. That's all that matters now."

((Umm, D, are you alright? You sound... depressed.))

D sighed quietly and shook his head gently, trying to ignore the ghostly voices rising up from the depths of his memories to haunt him once more. "I'm simply tired of all this," he murmured. "I keep trying to tell myself that there is hope, that I don't have to kill to end the evil of our blood. We were not evil in the beginning but changed with the red moon, meaning that we once peacefully co-existed with humans."

((Times change, D,)) it spoke up quietly. ((It's been ten thousand years, that's a long time even by a vampire's standards. They've all changed, even the ancient ones who existed before the world went to hell.))

"I know," he said simply. "Which is why I think the only solution now is to purge the world of our blood. Every last drop," he added with a sigh.

((Even yours, huh?)) it sighed as well. ((Even the one who has done no evil and has fought for countless centuries to save the world?))

"Even my blood," D echoed. "We've discussed this before, so there is no need to continue to do so."

((Alright, D, I'll shut up now,)) it said with another sigh. ((But think of this one, okay? How are you going to convince Pearl that she can change her ways and put an end to the evil in her blood if you don't believe you can do it for yourself? If death is what you think you deserve, what should she expect?))

The air became perfectly still as the symbiot's voice faded away, leaving D hanging from the chains with a lot of his mind and without the right words to express the questions that not even he had the answers to.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He wasn't sure what it was that caused him to open his eyes or how long it had been since he had done so, but several moments after his eyelids parted the door was opened to allow Pearl to return to the room. She was still dressed in just pantaloons and the dark undertunic, the thin fabric clinging to her chest to emphasize her less-than-ample curves and highlight her nipples. What caused him to become wary of her approach was the mace she was holding in her right hand, a short staff topped with a metal ball that appeared to be dotted with a series of glass-like protrusions that rose up a fraction of an inch to form shallow domes.

"So how's the mud, hunter?" she said as she stopped in front of him, her tone and manner suggesting that she had not only recovered from earlier but had completely forgotten about what had been said between them.

D allowed himself to glance down at his chest as best he could. "Dry," he said simply, returning his leery focus to both her and the weapon she carried.

"Oh, good," Pearl said, giving him a somewhat cruel smile. "Coral found a few things in the storage room that she had thought she lost, so she'll be busy fussing over them and reminiscing for hours. Which means, of course, I get to take the mud off of you," she added in a playful tone that was anything but friendly or well-intentioned.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" D inquired in a neutral tone.

"Oh, very carefully, I promise you," Pearl assured him with a light smile that was only belied by the malicious look in her eyes. "See, Coral doesn't want you to be bruised or cut or anything like that, and so I figured it's the perfect time to test out my new toy. Well, I shouldn't say new," she added as she hefted the mace and carefully tapped the glass-studded sphere against her palm. "I did break it several months ago and only recently got the right kind of replacement parts for it. Know what this is?" she said as she held it up so he could get a decent look at it.

He narrowed his eyes slightly as he examined it, knowing that there had to be a number of internal parts to it. The very bottom of the shaft seemed to have a twistable mechanism while the glass domes didn't appear to be moveable, suggesting that it was an energy weapon of some sort. Had he been able to ask the thing in his had to 'look' at it with its Astral senses he might have been able to discern what it truly was, but for the moment he was at a bit of a loss to identify it as anything other than a device intended to torture.

"I can't say that I do," he admitted calmly, keeping one eye on her and the other on the mace-like weapon. He frowned as she twisted the base of the shaft, causing the glass domes to start to take on red and blue highlights.

"It's a variation of what the humans call a cattle prod," Pearl said as she hefted the mace in one hand and gestured with the other. "Each of these nodes is given a small electrical charge that's either positive or negative. Oh, the charge itself is harmless," she said as she pressed a fingertip against a blue dome before moving to touch a red one. "But when you form a conduit so the energy can flow between them..."

His expression remained unchanged as she lightly brushed her thumb and forefinger against different-colored nodes, creating a powerful spark that caused her to jerk her hand away. "Ow, that's a little on the strong side," she muttered to herself as she carefully adjusted the dial, causing the domes to dim somewhat. A second cautious test resulted in another sharp spark and a faint hiss of pain before she nodded to herself in satisfaction. "Mmm, that's much better. We don't want to actually burn anything, now do we, hunter?" she purred as she gave him a smug look of anticipation. "Nope, nothing that'll leave a mark to upset my dear sister Coral. Shall we give it a try?"

D said nothing as she approached, tracking the movement of the energized weapon before looking up to study the look in her eyes. He kept his focus on her as she reached out, lightly tapping the mace against his chest just hard enough to crack the dried coating of mud. An electrical jolt promptly ripped through the upper half of his body, intense enough to make him wince slightly but not enough to truly hurt him.

"Oooh, I think this is going to work nicely, don't you?" Pearl purred as she gave him a chilling smile, tapping the mace an inch to the side of where the first dent-like break in the mud had been made. The blow itself was hardly felt, being largely absorbed by the mud as it fragmented, but the surge of raw energy that came with it was a different matter entirely.

D cast a dark glare at her, narrowing his eyes as her smile widened before he closed them entirely and turned his focus inward. He expected her to dial up the voltage for the next strike to get his attention, to force him to cry out or let her see his pain, but the tap that followed was essentially the same as the first two had been.

She seemed to deliberately take her time, breaking the mud apart one small section at a time using very light and precise taps of the electrified mace. Each contact produced a sharp jolt of energy that seemed to sear his nerves, the pain quickly fading away once the weapon was pulled back from his skin. He soon realized that her goal wasn't to damage his skin but to further increase the soreness of the underlying muscles, keeping him in a weakened condition.

He kept his focus inward as best he could, trying to anticipate where the next jolt would strike and doing his best to blot out the dazzling bursts of pain that followed. Time soon lost most meaning to him, or at least more so than it already did as the sparks and jolts migrated from his upper chest over to his upper back. The pain seemed easier to endure there, giving him a very minor but still gladly-accepted respite from the pain and suffering. There was very little he could do about the jerking of his muscles when they were struck, reflexive contractions caused by an overload of electrical impulses, but he knew that his energy was best saved for controlling more serious reactions.

Like that, he suddenly thought as his hip was tapped, sending the burst of energy arcing through his entire side. The spasm of his muscles wasn't what he sought to control, but rather the odd tingling sensation that the jolts were starting to produce in his groin when they got too close to his crotch. He knew it was just a simple biological response to the electrical stimulus, but now was not the time for him to be reacting to her in any way.

The sensation only got worse as she focused on his stomach, slowly and carefully breaking apart the dried mud covering. Each tap not only resulted in sparks of pain but a series of hard flexes of his abdomen that was both a pain and a tickle reflex. Hard-pressed to cope with both, he decided to focus on remaining as calm as possible while doing what he could to dampen the spasms.

"D?" she said in a faintly curious tone, causing him to open his eyes and look at her. Her head was tilted slightly as she studied his abdomen, reaching out to tap the mace against him and making note of how his muscles twitched in response. "Is something on your mind, by chance?" she inquired, glancing up to study the look in his dark eyes.

"Why do you ask?" D inquired quietly, keeping his voice neutral.

"Oh, just wondering," she said coyly as she glanced down at his manhood. "I'll be honest, you were right about me... I don't know much about men. But I think I can tell when something interests them, and if I didn't know better I'd say you were thinking about something a few moments ago."

"What makes you say that?" he prompted, ignoring the faint icy tingle that was crawling down his spine.

"Just a small twitch," she said lightly, extending a single fingertip to brush against him. "Like that," she added as she thought she saw the faintest suggestion of movement. "Well, hunter?" she prodded as he remained silent. "Are you going to tell me what's on your mind? Or do I have to apply a little pressure..." she added as she tapped the mace against his abdomen, just below his navel.

He did his best to ignore the jolt that shot through most of the nerves in his lower body and caused his now-sore abdominal muscles to spasm yet again. "I was thinking about what you said earlier," he said calmly. "About what you had to suffer through before Coral intervened."

"Oh?" she inquired in a perfectly flat tone, her eyes once again starting to take on a faint crimson highlight. "And which part interests you, hunter? Me being this close to being raped, or my sister offering herself in my place? Answer me," she demanded in a glacial tone as she jabbed him in the abdomen with the mace again and held it in place for a second.

D's whole body twitched as the energy coursed through him, sending a wave of agonizing pain shooting up and down the length of his spine. He sagged in relief once the mace was removed, allowing him to try to recover his breath. "How... how old were you?" he panted, surprised by how out-of-breath he was following the protracted jolt.

"Seventeen," she snarled softly. She paused briefly as she glanced down, her expression visibly twitching before turning even colder. "I take it that interests you?" she whispered dangerously.

It took D a moment to realize what had caused her abrupt change in mood. "Pearl," he said in a cautious tone as he immediately tried to reassert control over his anatomy that had started to react to the electrical discharge. He winced as the mace was brought up into his thigh, not hard enough to hurt or bruise anything but enough to press several of the charged nodes against a large cluster of somewhat sensitive nerves. The protracted burst of energy was enough to send his thigh muscles into a spasm of twitches, as well as further disrupting his control over his body's reflexive responses.

"Interesting," Pearl commented as she lifted the mace back up, studying the way his hardened manhood was now twitching in time with his pulse. "And all this time I thought I was wearing you down. You like pain, don't you?" she asked as she looked up at his eyes with open intrigue. "Gives you a bit of a tingle on the inside, does it?"

"Have you ever electrocuted yourself?" D rasped softly. "I don't mean a simple jolt from your mace, but been in protracted contact with a strong field of energy? Your body uses such impulses of energy to send signals and can be confused when exposed to a strong source of such electricity."

"Uh-huh," Pearl commented, still studying his groin. She reached out to very carefully run her fingers along his manhood before glancing up at him, her eyes still filled with a measure of coldness. "And how do I know you weren't thinking about me being raped, hmm? How do I know you're not thinking about it even now? Wish you were there to watch, hunter? Or would you have liked to have been the one who tried to rape me? Answer me," she demanded as her hand suddenly closed around him, gripping him hard enough to send sparks of pain shooting throughout his already-raw nervous system.

"I already told you my views of women," he said, doing his best to keep his voice as steady and even as possible. "I would never try to violate one, nor would I stand by and allow a woman to be violated if I could help it. What happened to you was wrong, Pearl, and I certainly don't want to see it happen to you or anyone else."

"But you thought about it, didn't you?" she whispered. "I know you did. You tried to imagine what it was like, didn't you? Did it excite you, hunter, thinking about a seventeen-year-old girl being held down, stripped naked, and barely seconds away from being violated by a man? He was just as hard then as you are now," she spat, tightening her grip on him. "Tell me why I shouldn't rip it off right here and now, why I shouldn't spare the world from the evil lusts of men like you..."

"PEARL!" a voice cut across the open air, causing both D and Pearl to cast startled glances towards the open doorway. Coral was standing there with a dark look on her face, holding a rather tattered crossbow in one hand and what appeared to be a flintlock pistol in the other.

Pearl cast a truly dark look at D before she released her hold on him with a soft snarl. "We're not finished with this, hunter," she promised him in a soft voice that only he could hear. "Just you wait."

"Pearl," Coral said again as she strode into the room, still scowling. "Can't I leave you alone with him anymore? What is with you?" she demanded.

"Ask him," Pearl said simply, not taking her eyes off of D. "He's the one getting all excited. I think he wants to fuck me," she added darkly.

"Or maybe you want him as well," Coral suggested flatly, causing Pearl to blink hard and whip around to stare at her.

"What?" Pearl gasped. "You're out of your mind..."

"Maybe," Coral replied, giving her sister a stern look. "But I told you once that he's mine. You finished with the mud?" she asked as she cast a quick glance over at D's body.

"I think so," Pearl said, likewise glancing over at D's body. Her gaze fell back down to his manhood, surprised to see that he was largely calmed down now but was still visibly reacting.

"Good," Coral said in a neutral tone. "I'm grateful for your help in the storage room, I mean it. Now go find something else to do for awhile."

Pearl blinked at the sudden tone of command in her sister's voice, turning back to her to find a very stern expression etched on her face. "Sis..."

"Go soak in a hot bath and have Abby wash your hair for you," Coral said absently as she turned away to set the weapons down on the storage cart. "You might even be able to get April to do it if you ask her nicely. Now go."

"Coral..." Pearl started to protest, giving her a startled look.

"Pearl?" Coral said softly, craning her neck over her shoulder to reveal the golden glow in her eyes. "Don't argue with me. Go."

Pearl blinked again and cast a dark look towards D before she spun around on her foot and stalked out of the room, holding her electric mace in a white-knuckled grip. She cast the briefest of glares out of the corner of her eye as she reached the door, exiting the room and none-too-gently closing the metal door behind her.

Coral very softly let her breath out as she braced herself against the cart for a number of moments, her neck stiff with tension. "So what did she do to you this time?" she asked in a very quiet and controlled voice.

"She told me about an incident in your childhood," D said in a very wary voice, not having the slightest clue as to how Coral would react. "About how you saved her from being raped once."

Coral immediately froze, not even seeming to breathe for several moments. "She told you about that?" she inquired in a faintly incredulous tone. "Please don't tell me that's what made you all excited..."

D snorted in contempt. "No, that was simply a biological reaction to the electric field generated by her mace," he explained in a somewhat dark tone. "I'm not the kind of person to be pleased to hear about a tragic incident such as that."

"Just checking, D," she sighed softly. "I'm... I'm actually speechless," she admitted as she stood up straight and turned to face him, her face oddly pale. "She very rarely speaks to me of that incident, and never once mentioned it to anyone else. Oh, she told Father about it... once she quit shaking, the poor thing, and Father made a rather public example out of that asshole friend of Johnathan's, but still.

"To make a long story short, D," she sighed heavily, "Our half-brothers were curious how men and women laid together, and they somehow came up with the idea of using one of their sisters as a demonstration aid. They didn't dare ask Rose, of course, and I was in the village at the time, so they turned to Pearl. They gave her a cup of wine that had been laced with a drug, carried her into the stables, tossed her on a bed of straw, and let one of their noble friends take matters from there.

"The drug would have completely incapacitated her had she been a noble, but because she was a dunpeal her human side was able to resist the effects to a degree. I heard cries of protest as I came up from the village and decided to check it not, not realizing until I got there that it was my sister. She was stark naked and spread open with that bastard Leon McKinney looming over her with his dick hanging out, and he didn't look like he was going to settle for simply putting it back in his pants.

"I was twenty-one at the time," she said, giving him a somewhat casual shrug. "I had already dispensed with my virginity a few months earlier, so it wasn't like I had much to lose. I couldn't fight him directly, as he was a full-blooded noble and I was just a dunpeal, so I made him a deal: I'd go up to the hayloft with him if he left Pearl alone. It was, quite honestly, the most disappointing five minutes of my life," she sighed. "He wasn't what you would call gentle and lost his mind after eight strokes. You should have seen the look on his face when I told him I had more satisfying gynecological exams," she added, seeming to giggle just slightly in a way that deeply disturbed D.

"In any case, he quickly got lost after that. Johnathan and Abraham very quietly left, too, but I didn't know until much later that they had been there to begin with. I helped Pearl clean up and all, then we went to see Father. Let's just say that Leon was tracked down and brought back to the castle in short order. Father gave him a chance to explain himself, then splattered the walls with his blood for abusing his daughters. Needless to say, nobody dared to lay a hand on either me, Pearl, or Rose ever again. Not that anyone really bothered Rose to begin with, but she had the hardest time finding dates for a long time afterwards," she added with a casual shrug and a soft sigh.

"That was awfully courageous and selfless of you," D spoke up, trying very hard not to shiver at the picture she had just painted for him. Bad enough vampires existed, worse still that they deliberately sexually preyed on women, but he simply couldn't fathom how one could dare to even consider having one's sister raped simply out of curiosity or entertainment.

"Not too much, actually," she said off-handedly, causing him to blink in surprise. "Granted I was a little... upset that he was forcing himself on my dear little sister, but I had to admit I had been feeling a little horny all day and figured that some opportunities shouldn't be passed up. He was kinda cute," she admitted. "But like I said, I was quite disappointed by the whole experience. It took longer for me to get undressed than for him to get his dick wet and end up spilling his seed."

D's blood suddenly chilled as she lifted her head up to look at him, her pale yellow eyes giving him an openly sultry and coy look. "Now you, my dark hunter," she purred in a honeyed tone as she started to press against him, her gloved hand reaching down to very gently stroke his now-inert manhood. "You are a far, far better lover than that bastard ever was. Would you believe I can still feel it from last night?"

"Perhaps," D said in a neutral tone, suppressing the urge to sigh in open frustration as he found himself having to fight his body's responses once more. A sudden flash of inspiration hit him as he cast a quick glance over to the pair of weapons she had brought down with her. "So what did you find when you were cleaning out your storage room?" he asked calmly, praying that she would overlook his obvious attempt at changing the subject.

"Just a few odds and ends," she purred softly, her hand still massaging him gently. "The first pistol I purchased and Pearl's antique crossbow. Mmm," she hummed softly as she closed her eyes. "You're making me horny all of a sudden..."

"I'm not doing anything," D pointed out in a flat tone.

"I can't help it if I want you," she whispered as she parted her eyelids slightly, just enough to let him see the look of lust burning in them. "I know I shouldn't let you make love to me again, since we'll both need our strength for tomorrow, but I can't get you out of my mind. You and that feeling of how hard and strong you came inside me..."

"I'm still a little sore," he said, remembering the tactic he had given consideration to using previously. It was a true statement to say that he was sore right now, as the muscles in his chest, abdomen, and back were starting to protest fiercely again after being repeatedly jolted by Pearl's mace. To say that his manhood was sore from yesterday was not nearly as accurate, but he could probably live without having to clarify that minor technicality.

"Awww," she sighed, giving him a sorrowful look. She glanced down at him and squeezed him gently before letting go. "I'm sorry, D. I'll try to be more gentle tomorrow night," she promised before leaning forward to brush her lips against his.

He would have breathed a sigh of relief if she hadn't been so close, not wanting to give her any indication of his emotional state. A dark jolt of icy electricity ran down his spine a few moments later as she suddenly deepened the kiss, the tip of her tongue deftly slipping between his lips to brush against his own. The erotic feeling caught him by complete surprise, requiring several moments of concentration recover his focus. Aha, he thought simply, finally realizing what had happened yesterday that had disrupted his self-control.

"Mmmm, D?" she suddenly purred in a husky tone as she noticed his brief reaction to her intimate kiss.

"As I told Pearl," he said calmly, "The body sometimes has its own ideas of how to react in certain situations." His breath was promptly cut off in his throat as she pressed hard against him, sealing her lips to his in a kiss that quite literally left him in a minor daze.

"I knew you wanted me," she breathed, moving her head back just enough to let her lips brush against his as she spoke. "Oh, my dark hunter... my dark love," she whispered in an even softer tone before kissing him once again.

It took several seconds for him to find a way to break the kiss, not able to move his head very far in any direction. "Coral," he rasped, trying to ease the ache in his lungs from lack of oxygen. "Now's not the time for this."

"Why not?" she countered in a honeyed tone, her pale eyes almost literally glowing with lust. "I can be real gentle, D, so gentle you will hardly know you're inside me. But we will still feel one another..."

"Coral..." he said, feeling the pit of his stomach start to churn as she pushed herself away from him and started to unlock the padded backing. He did his best not to sigh as it swung into place behind him and was locked shut with a soft metal click.

"Just relax, my love," she purred in a honeyed tone as she went over to the bank of levers and pulled the center one. She then reached behind her to unzip her dress as the gears rotated the support frame from a vertical to a horizontal plane. A simple tug on her panties caused it to join the rest of the discarded fabric on the floor at her feet, leaving her clad only in her boots and the lambskin glove on her left hand.

D cast a glance over at her as she approached, pausing only to wriggle her ankles and step out of the boots. "Coral, don't do this," he said in a hollow tone, knowing it was a futile effort but being compelled to try anyway.

"You worry too much, hunter," she chided him softly as she eased herself up onto the platform. Her ungloved hand moved up to slowly stroke his chest, her fingernails very lightly scratching him in a playful manner as she moved. Her other hand moved down to caress his manhood, brushing her gloved fingertips against him before making a cupping motion. A truly impish gleam appeared in her eyes as she gave him a soft smile before leaning forward over him.

It was one of those rare moments in his life where D knew precisely what hit him and yet didn't have the slightest clue at all. The sensation of her mouth around him was beyond words, the impulses so strong and vibrant that he didn't have the slightest prayer in a godforsaken world of being able to keep his body from responding. He felt himself swelling up like a balloon as she very tenderly teased him, both the pleasure of the feeling and the pain of his abused body melding together to create a truly unique sensation that throbbed in exquisite synch with his heartbeat.

"Easy, my dark hunter," she said softly as she started to slide her body against his, her voice sounding to be both a giggle and a purr together even as it was laced with that honeyed echo of her hypnotic influence. She trapped him in the warmth between the soft globes of her breasts for a few moments, rocking back and forth before sliding her body higher up until she was astride him.

He said nothing as she gently braced her hands against his chest, ignoring the faint twinge of pain as the pressure started to compact his ribs. It felt like they were largely healed now, but as with all such injuries they remained sensitive for some time afterwards. A faint tickling sensation returned his focus to what she was doing, feeling a haunted veil descending over his soul as she very slowly eased him inside her.

"Oohhhh, D," she breathed, absently raking her nails against his chest as she closed her eyes and leaned back. She settled her weight around him before starting to use her internal muscles, beginning a series of what felt like very gentle squeezes and tugs. It was almost like a massage given the way her grip seemed to flow back and forth a deliciously warm and fluid motion.

"How's that?" she asked softly as she closed her eyes, keeping her focus turned inwards. "Nice and gentle, just like I promised, my love..."

D found himself readily admitting that it indeed was just as gentle as she had said, absently wondering what kind of muscles women had that could be used like this. It wasn't the first time he had been made aware of the existence of such muscles, explained to him once as being quite useful during childbirth, but he could count on the fingers of one hand how many times he had encountered a woman who had such exquisite control over them and knew how to use them to the utmost effect.

He glanced up at her as her breathing began to deepen and speed up, her nipples tight enough to make him ache slightly just thinking about the amount of tension. Gently squeezing them right now would probably have resulted in a sharp surge of pleasure that tended to trigger a somewhat mild orgasm, but even if he had been inclined to do such a thing he was still very much chained down and without any mobility whatsoever.

"D?" she moaned softly, the grasping motions of her muscles seeming to be a little more frantic now as she approached her own peak of pleasure. How that worked while her hips had barely moved since he entered her was beyond him, but he was fully aware of the fact that simple willpower and raw desire could go pretty far when working in conjunction.

He blinked as he felt his own orgasm suddenly start to build. He figured it was simply another biological reflex, reacting to her own building passions and preparing to accommodate. His eyebrows arched up several seconds later as her breathing suddenly changed, resulting in a rapid increase in the sensation of his impending orgasm.

Her sheath suddenly clamped around him, squeezing him from all sides as her passion finally broke. The feeling wasn't nearly as hard as it had been the first time she took him, but it was still firm enough to produce both an instant ache and a minor eruption as his body spasmed in response. The feeling lasted for far longer than he had anticipated, leaving him stunned and utterly breathless while at the same time filling him with an unimaginable feeling of satisfaction and relief.

"Oh, yes," she whispered as she too seemed to be gasping for air. "Oh, yes, my dark hunter, come with me... oh, god, D... oh, yes, my love..." Her entire body seemed to spasm without warning, making her shiver fairly hard before she relaxed once again. "Mmmmmmm," she purred as she slowly leaned forward to rest her body's weight on his chest. "Oh, yes, that's how I love it, my dark hunter, nice and gentle like that... Mmmm..."

It took D a moderate amount of effort to keep his expression perfectly neutral, wincing on the inside as both his ribs and his chest muscles protested in earnest against being subjected to her weight. Granted she was far lighter than he was and certainly a lot lighter than that rock had been, but it was still more pressure on barely-healed bones and muscle tissue than he needed.

He cast a less-than-amused glance down as her as she shifted positions, putting most of her weight on his chest as she carefully stretched her legs out so that she was largely lying lengthwise on top of him. She then folded her arms and tucked them beneath her chin, letting her rest her head as she gazed into his eyes.

"D?" she murmured very softly to him. "You're absolutely wonderful, you know that?"

He narrowed his eyes slightly as he studied the look in her eyes, absently making note of the fact that light-colored eyes such as hers tended to be far more expressive and easier to read than dark-colored eyes like his own. The look she was giving him was one of contented satisfaction and open adoration, but he could also see a somewhat glassy aspect to her gaze that suggested she wasn't sane.

"I'd like to say I'm touched that you think so," D said in an emotionless tone, "But I didn't do anything, nor did I even want it to happen."

"Such modesty, my love," she purred softly, not seeming to be fazed in the least by his overt rejection. She carefully unfolded her right arm and moved it forward, just enough to let her fingertips lightly brush across his lips. "But I know how you really feel," she assured him with a soft smile. The smile turned playful as she squeezed her internal muscles briefly, the smile growing wider as she saw the way D blinked at the pointed reminder of their continued union. "And believe me when I say I love feeling you inside me like this."

"Be that as it may," D spoke up, "I'm going to have to ask you to move."

"Awww," she sighed, giving him a truly regretful look. "Must I?"

"It would be sincerely appreciated," he replied with absolute honesty.

"If I must," she murmured to herself as she gently eased back, just enough to let his manhood fall free from her sheath. She gently settled her weight back down on him a moment later, tickling him intimately with her pubic hair. "I still need to use you as a pillow for a few more minutes, however," she said with a longing sigh, giving him a tender look. "You're nice and warm, and you wore me out pretty well a few moments ago. Or do you not think that a girl is in need of a rest herself after such gentle love-making?" she added.

D turned his focus inwards for a brief moment, listening to the aches and pains from his ribs before deciding that he wasn't hurting badly enough to make an issue of her continued weight. "I believe it," he replied absently. He paused as a sudden flash of inspiration came to mind, causing him to twist his head slightly to the side to look at the row of control levers. "I have a question for you," he spoke up before returning his focus to her.

"I might have an answer for you," she countered as she started to lightly tap and brush her fingertips against his lips.

"Which lever controls the roof hatch?" he asked calmly, causing her to pause and blink. "Being down here for so long, I wouldn't mind having a breath of fresh air," he explained. "Seeing how you won't let me out, I figured you wouldn't object to opening the equivalent of a window for awhile."

"I'm willing to let you out, D," she protested softly, giving him a rather hurt and sorrowful look. "I just can't let you do so without promising not to do anything against me or my sister. I know you'd never harm me, not after all we've been through together, but I still need to look out for Pearl."

D looked at her in silence before glancing back towards the levers, trying not to let his expression change to reflect his thoughts on her obvious state of insanity. "So which lever is it?" he asked tonelessly.

"Far left from our current vantage point," Coral murmured. She cast a measured glance around the room before shifting her weight to the side, her right arm starting to reach out in a beckoning motion. She made a grasping gesture as her eyes suddenly lit up like magnesium flares, glowing fiercely with a vivid golden color.

D blinked as most of the hair on his body suddenly stood on end, casting a reflexive glance towards the control lever just as it started to move. The realization that she possessed the power of telekinesis, or at least a limited form of it, was a deeply bothersome one. The power to physically move external objects through force of will was largely a common one among vampires, though the range usually was limited only to objects that were in physical contact with the controller such as clothing. The ability to project that power from a distance, however, was far less common among nobles and rarer still among dunpeals. In fact, he found himself thinking, the last vampiric entity he had met with a strong power of telekinesis had been Count Magnus Lee, and that had been ages ago...

The lever finally clicked into the down position, causing the overhead hatch to spiral open. Both D and Coral blinked as they were promptly bathed in crimson radiance, a result of the near-full red moon being high up in the sky where the mirrors were able to concentrate the glow. D knew it was not often that the red moon was alone in the sky, given the way it followed an almost perfectly parallel course to the white moon like a lost puppy.

"Thank you," D said simply, focusing his attention on the reflections and scattered images inside the mirror-lined lava tube.

"The things I do for you, my dark hunter," she teased softly as she very carefully rose up on her elbows to kiss him. She then settled back down and folded her right arm under her chin once more, letting her eyes close of their own accord. They opened again a few seconds later, giving him a distinctly curious look. "D, is it just me, or does that light feel odd all of a sudden?" she inquired cautiously.

"Does it feel bad?" he inquired, already able to feel the faintest of tingles in his skin where her body wasn't blocking the tainted moonlight.

"No," she admitted before closing her eyes again. "Mmm, in fact, it feels fairly nice. Almost like how you get after a good back rub, though not nearly as good. Interesting," she added, absently pressing her groin a little harder into his with a soft sigh.

"Coral..." he started to say.

"Easy, my love," she sighed softly again, wriggling her hips slightly to tease him before becoming still. "I know neither of us has the strength for anything more tonight, but I can't help it if I want to feel you inside me a little bit more. You're just that wonderful, D," she purred softly as a truly dreamy smile crossed her lips. "And I know tomorrow will be even better..."

"We'll see," D said in a perfectly neutral tone. He ignored the soft purr of contentment he got in response and continued to study the way the light was reflected inside the lava tube. It took him a moment to realize that the tube ran fairly straight and that part of the crimson coloring overhead was a direct line of sight to the moon itself.

He narrowed his eyes slightly as he began to concentrate, extending his vampiric senses outward as best he could to focus on what he had learned was an alien intruder in the evening sky. The sounds around him began to magnify as he concentrated, the flickering and crackling of the torches lining the walls seeming to increase in volume. The sound of Coral's breathing started to echo in his ears, a soft and slightly unstable mantra that ever so slowly started to even out and relax. Twin thrums were detected next, the sound of her heartbeat and his pulsing away at steady and unceasing paces to keep the life in their veins flowing along. The faintest of trickling noises registered on his mind, perhaps water flowing through pipes somewhere, followed by the low and haunting sound of a twilight breeze flowing through the canyon. And finally...

There, he thought as he closed his eyes, not so much able to hear the odd sound as feel it. It was pitched at the bottom edge of the scale, almost too low for even his vampiric hearing to detect and certainly well beyond the range of human hearing. He had come to refer to it as the call of the moon, a dark and somewhat ominous sound akin to resonance that was very rarely audible. The last time he could remember hearing it clearly was during a rare alignment of both moons on the horizon when they were full, the deep harmonic seeming to be magnified by the gravity of the white moon.

The harmonic seemed to change pitch without warning, prompting him to open his eyes and glance up at the sky as seen through the mirrored lava tube. He narrowed his eyes as a small white spark came into focus, drifting through the darkened sky on what appeared to be a collision course with the red moon. The very edges of the moon seemed to waver before becoming solid again, revealed to be a simple illusionary effect from the atmosphere as the spark continued on its journey, now cast as a distinct shape against the backdrop of the moon.

"D?" Coral spoke up very softly, causing his eyes to drop down to hers. The yellow expanse of her eyes were filled with curiosity and concern, seeming to be genuinely interested in what he was studying. "Is something wrong?"

"The City of the Night is passing overhead," D pointed out quietly as he made the slightest of motions with his chin towards the open roof hatch.

Coral blinked and twisted her neck around before pausing. She glanced up at him before very carefully rolling over onto her back, keeping most of her weight on her arms and legs as she completed the movement. She laid back down on top of him, spreading her limbs wide to cover his and resting the backs of her hands in his palms. "Ohhhh," she breathed softly once she laid her head back against his shoulder and refocused on the ceiling. "I see it! D, are you sure it's the City and not some random satellite?"

D cast a truly disgruntled look down at her, his breath momentarily caught in his throat from the sudden burst of pain caused by her movements. The flare of pain in his chest had largely settled down after a few moments, but the rest of his muscles were still heartily protesting the continued presence of her body's weight in several locations. "Look at the shape," he said simply as he returned his focus up to the darkened heavens.

"Amazing," Coral whispered in awe as they both watched the spark of light take its time crossing the broad expanse of the moon. "Have you ever been up there before?" she asked.

"No," D replied as the whispering voices suddenly returned to haunt his conscious mind. The City of the Night was a massive space-station, built well after the arrival of the red moon into orbit but thousands of years before the Blood Wars. It had originally been part of a grand plan of domination, where vampires could rule the world from the sanctity of heavens themselves and not need to bother with the 'filth' of lesser beings like humans and mutants. The station had no windows, and so its denizens need not worry about exposure to a sun that could no longer rise or set unless the station was eclipsed by either the planet or one of the two moons.

Folly, said the calm though now-raspy voice of the eldest during the one council meeting D had been allowed to attend. You would have us forsake the world we have known for all these millennia, the very earth we came from and sustain ourselves with, and for what? A metal bubble in the void of space?

Look around you, Elaine, the other voice countered. The world is dying. We must leave it while we still can. Let the filth scrabble in the dirt, all that needs to be done is harvest the fruit once it becomes ripe. We are lord and master of the humans, should we not rule from above where we can watch over them like the gods that we are?

Let the dogs cower in their tin kennel! the voice of his father raged the night D left the castle. If they think the City is beyond my reach, then they shall be taught otherwise! I will crush their little haven if I must, and the City of the Night reduced to a cloud of stardust!

Come on, Leila whispered softly, watching intently as the spark of light rose up from the crumbling remains of Castle Chaythe, carrying Meier Link and the body of Charlotte up to what they had sacrificed everything for. The sound of the shuttle engines was not encouraging, however, seeming to rumble and gasp in a very unsteady mantra. Fly... FLY!

"D?" Coral murmured very softly, drawing him out of the dark cauldron of haunted memories. "I know this may be a bit much to ask right now, but would you consider marrying me once our child is born?" she said, closing her eyes and rubbing the back of her hands against his motionless palms. "A marriage of blood, of course, not that silly bonding ritual humans have."

The only thing that kept him from shaking his head in both disbelief and resignation was the simple fact that her head was wedged between his cheek and his shoulder, leaving him no real room to move. "You're right, it is a bit much to ask right now," he pointed out calmly. "I would even go so far as to remind you of a human expression: Don't count your chickens before they've hatched."

"I know, D," she replied with a soft murmur, stretching lightly to capture his fingers between hers and intertwining them gently. "But I can't help it, thinking about what our future together is going to be like. Would you at least think about it? Please?" she added softly.

D cast a sidelong glance at the way her gloved hand was holding his own, grateful for the fact that she hadn't taken the glove off given the way her hand was pressed against his. He had only been in physical contact with her metal implant for a few seconds, but that had been more than enough to bring him under her hypnotic sway for a short period of time. Had the metal been exposed, it would have been solidly pressed against the parasite in his hand and likely driving it up the proverbial wall.

He sighed quietly to himself and returned his focus to the overhead view, catching the briefest of glimpses of the reflecting spark that was the City of the Night before it passed out of his line of sight. "I'll give it the proper consideration it deserves," he said in a hollow tone.

"Thank you, my love," she whispered in reply, seeming to be relieved to hear him say that. "Mmm, this is making me tingle all over. I've never been one for overly casual nudity, but lying in the moonlight with you like this is making me feel... warm and comforted."

"Glad I could help," D said absently, more than a little disgruntled about the fact that she was blocking most of the crimson moonlight from reaching his skin. He was almost positive now that the red moon's light had a rejuvenating effect on vampires, more so when it was isolated or otherwise undiluted by the more vibrant radiance of the white moon. Was this the reason vampires had been able to emerge from the abyss? he found himself thinking.

"You have no idea, my dark hunter," she purred softly as she brought her arms up to stretch, seeming to be reaching for the moon. She paused for a few moments before reaching up with her right hand, tugging off the lambskin glove and casually tossing it over in the direction of her discarded dress to leave her totally bared to the moonlight.

An icy chill flooded D's veins as she looked like she was going to rest her hand against his again, but she merely continued to stretch before absently folding her left hand over her right breast as her right hand came to rest at the very top of her pelvis. The result was a distinctly relaxed pose that one could easily call a work of nude art given the way her soft feminine contours were richly highlighted in crimson. It was not an overly erotic pose, although the aesthetic portion of D's mind had to admit that she looked quite appealing like that. He blinked hard a moment later as his gaze fell on the surface of her metallic implant, able to clearly see a series of sigils etched into the metal as it lay under the light of the red moon.

It took him several moments to realize that the spidery lines were not of any human origin, but instead were suspected to be associated with the world that the red moon had orbited before it was summoned across the cosmos. Only twice before had he been able to study such samples of that writing, and in both cases the material they had been etched into was so worn and brittle that merely breathing on them had produced a new series of fractures. He had once heard rumors of a woman who knew how to translate them, but he had never been able to find her for himself. The only one to even vouch for her existence was the oldest vampire among them all, one who existed in the time before the red moon had appeared, but the countless centuries had eroded both her memories and her mental faculties to leave him with doubts about the reliability of any of her information or assertions.

"Coral?" he spoke up in a cautious tone. He winced a moment later as she started to stretch again, putting a significant strain on his already-sore ribs and chest muscles.

"Mmmmmmm?" she purred absently.

"You need to move," D said flatly, all thoughts and curiosities about what was etched into her implant pushed aside.

"But I'm comfortable," she protested in a voice that was more of a soft whisper than a quiet murmur. "And I do love your warmth against me like this, my love," she added as she reached down to gently massage his upper thighs.

He thought carefully about what he could do to entice her to move before an idea hit him. "Perhaps you should go soak in a warm bath," he suggested in a carefully modulated tone. "I'm sure Pearl would be willing to wash your hair for you if you ask nicely."

"Oooh, now there's a thought," Coral said, making a soft humming sound to herself as she continued to stretch. "We never really bathed together, even when we were children, but we did brush one another's hair out fairly often. Or at least when she would let hers grow out," she added with a faint chuckle. "Don't get me wrong, I think short hair looks cute on her like that, but she should still let it all hang down every so often, just because... Mmmm, D?" she suddenly said, her tone abruptly changing timbre as she gently rolled off of him to wind up curled against his side. "Want to come soak with me?"

He had to suppress the urge to grunt softly in response. "I appreciate the offer, but I'll pass for the time being," he replied carefully. "I'm still somewhat worn out, and so I'd prefer to remain here and rest as much as you and Pearl will let me."

"Hmm?" she said, suddenly blinking hard and giving him a confused look. "What do you mean by that?"

"Your sister has a very strong grip," D pointed out in a flat tone.

"Ah, yes, that," Coral sighed as she glanced down at his inert manhood. "I see I'll have to explain a few things to her the hard way. I thought I made it quite clear I didn't want her harming you like that, but I see that I'll have to take the direct approach with her. I mean, I know she's always been a bit on the stubborn side, but she's never ignored me like this before..."

"Why don't you have her share the bath with you?" D suggested as a fairly bright flash of inspiration hit him. "I know it's far too soon to talk of such things as children and blood-marriages, but surely you'd need to discuss it with her beforehand so there are no surprises later. And what better place to talk than in the quiet comforts of a steaming tub?"

"Oh," Coral said, blinking hard before casting a visibly uneasy look at the closed door. "Yes, I suppose you're right about that. About needing to talk to her about that, I mean. I keep forgetting how she doesn't care for surprises too much. A pity, really..."

"I don't blame her," D spoke up calmly, drawing a surprised look from her. "I've no love for surprises either, as more often than not they are not to my liking in the end."

"Oh, don't say that," Coral sighed quietly, giving him an upset look.

"You should go," he suggested, trying to keep his expression neutral as her weight continued to press hard on his ribcage. "I'm sure Pearl will be appreciative of your being open and honest about your intentions instead of saving them for a surprise. After all, marriage is a very serious topic and given the closeness between the two of you I don't want there to be any sort of friction or unhappiness stemming from surprise or resentment."

A soft and loving smile crossed her face as she leaned over to kiss him. "You're concerned about me, aren't you?" she murmured several seconds later. "Don't worry, my love, I'll make sure Pearl doesn't harm you any further. I would still very much appreciate your promise not to harm her, however," she added, giving him a faintly expecting look.

"As I said before," D replied, trying to keep the weariness out of his voice, "I have reservations against exchanging one set of chains for another."

"Must it be this way?" she pleaded softly, giving him a truly hurt look. "She's my sister, I can't let anyone hurt her. Not even you," she added sadly as she reached out to stroke his face with her ungloved left hand.

"We can discuss this later, if you want," D commented, actively ignoring the way the hair on the back of his neck was standing at rigid attention from being so close to the implant. A quick glance showed that the etched sigils had disappeared, although D suspected that was because of the way her hand was positioned to be out of the direct light from the red moon. "But you may find that a woman-to-woman talk with Pearl about your intentions for the future will be just as revealing."

"Very well, my dark hunter," she murmured as she leaned over, kissing him soundly for several moments. "I will go speak with her. Will you be alright if I leave you like this?" she inquired, casting a glance up towards the open tunnel hatch.

"I'm sure I will be," D replied calmly, giving her a neutral look. "As I said earlier, a little fresh air does wonders to restore a weary spirit."

"Mmm, that it does," she agreed as she gave him a final kiss before gently easing herself down off of the padded surface. "Still, I'll have April come check on you in a bit, just in case. I'll be back soon," she said as she knelt down to scoop up her boots and clothing. "My love," she whispered, giving him a truly tender and loving smile before she turned and silently padded across the floor.

D waited until the door had opened and subsequently closed behind her before exhaling fairly hard, trying to let as much of the tension drain out of him as he could. He wasn't sure what had made him so edgy during those past few minutes, but was very much glad that she had left him alone. And with the hatch open as well...

((You're giving me a headache, you know that?)) it spoke up as he returned his focus to the overhead view. A frown crossed his face as he realized that the red moon was barely visible now, having moved across the sky so that only a bare sliver could be seen. The reflected light in the mirrored surfaces had likewise started to lessen, taking on a faintly pinkish tinge that suggested the once-crimson light was now being tainted by a much stronger glow of white from the smaller moon rising into the sky.

((Word of advice, D?)) it continued. ((Don't try to mess with Coral's mind, I'm pretty sure it's messed up nice and good already and you'd only be making things even worse.))

"Coral is a lost cause," D said quietly, almost regretfully. "In one way, I feel pity for her, for being trapped in a world where reality is only what you wish it to be. But she's still a danger to others, and so I can't just leave her be."

((You could always take her with you,)) it suggested, immediately drawing a very sharp look from him. ((You know, as a companion on the road. You'd have to keep a constant eye on her, of course, to make sure she doesn't hurt herself or anyone around her by accident, but she could make your life quite a pleasant one on a da... ow, stop it... D, it was just a thought, knock it off...))

"Quiet," D said firmly as he continued to keep his hand balled up in as tight a fist as he could manage. He glanced up towards the mirrored lava tube and sighed softly, knowing that the white moon had fully risen now and that whatever opportunity he might have had to absorb that oddly-refreshing energy from the undiluted light of the red moon was now gone.

((Eeesh,)) it grunted once D's hand finally relaxed, allowing it to return to a more normal shape. ((I was just saying, D. So now what do we do? If I had to guess what the future is going to be like, I'd have to say fairly short and bleak once Pearl dries off and gets dressed after her bath with Coral.))

D paused and cast a quick glance towards his hands. "How so?"

((This is just my view of things, okay?)) it warned him before taking truly deep breath, inhaling enough air to create a breeze that briefly tickled D's fingertips. ((Pearl's protective of Coral because of what Coral did for her when they were kids, that much is obvious, only now she is likely to be even more so after you killed the only other family figure she felt she had in her life, that being our dear friend Simon Winters. So imagine how bad Pearl is going to react to hearing Coral discussing the prospects of marriage to you? Settle down,)) it sighed as D shivered briefly. ((Yes, I don't see it happening and it makes my skin crawl to think about it too, but let's not get distracted here, okay?

((Pearl was visibly rattled when Coral mentioned she wants to have your baby,)) it continued. ((She was even more upset when Coral made that offer of sharing you with her at a later date. Maybe that was just Coral being a bit of a tease, but that still shocked the hell out of Pearl. Now picture how bad our poster-child for anger management therapy is going to react when she finds out that she might have to put up with you as a part of her life, or certainly as a part of her sister's life, and not being allowed to take her anger out on you to boot?))

"I know," D said simply. "In fact, I'm counting on it."

((Whoa, wait,)) it protested, ((Slow down. You mean you WANT Pearl to blow her top like a volcano again? Are you sure you don't have a sudden death-wish or anything?))

"Pearl is starting to understand I don't want Coral's attentions," he said calmly. "Her devotion to her sister stems from the belief that Coral cares for her, and now that belief is starting to crumble."

((Uh, D? I think I see where this is going,)) it said in an openly uneasy tone. ((If you're thinking you can turn Pearl against Coral, then you've got one hell of an uphill fight on your hands and not a lot of time left in which to play more mind games. It might work, but don't ask me to quote you any favorable odds of success,)) it warned. ((Granted a slim chance is better than no chance, but still...))

"Were you able to see the markings inscribed on Coral's implant?" D asked, ignoring the thoughts and doubts about what he was now committed to doing. He knew time was indeed in very short supply now, but he also knew that he simply couldn't allow himself to run the risk of impregnating Coral. And if it came down to either that or death, his mind was already made up...

((Yeah, umm, funny you should mention that,)) it said cautiously. ((Odd how moonlight works sometimes, right? One stray beam at just the right angle and all of a sudden you've got something to decipher. Or at least try to.))

"So what did it say?" D prompted carefully.

((How the hell should I know?)) it demanded with a faint note of irritation.
((Reading languages are your idea of relaxing entertainment, not mine. Hell, I have a hard time understanding that vampire-hunter language you sometimes use. What did you call it again? Drool?))

"Druidic," D corrected absently.

((Look, all I can tell you is that I really, really think it has some sort of connection to both the red moon and that dead land on that one island,)) it said patiently. ((Don't ask me how, it's just a gut feeling. Anyway, I did my best to memorize what I saw, which wasn't much, so I might be able to draw a few of the scratches out for you later. That's assuming we live long enough to find a piece of paper and some drawing ink,)) it grumbled.

D said nothing as he studied the reflections in the tunnel mirrors before closing his eyes and trying to rest. He was profoundly grateful for the fact that his weight was off of his ankles for once, giving them a chance to heal. He knew that he wouldn't be allowed to lay resting like this for long, but it just might be enough to make a difference.

The question is, he had to ask himself, would that difference truly be enough to matter?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------