Chapter 5: Hearts lost in sorrow

Naturally, Elsa invited 'D' to dinner, and after the elegant meal, a skeptical but extremely polite servant showed him to the guest room, which was, in a word, luxurious. Lefty looked around, his eyes gleaming in delight. "D! Oh man, you aren't going to believe this!"

The wrinkled face formed in his palm and scowled at him. "We'll see about that," D muttered. Lefty grinned down at him.

"Check out this room! And dinner was amazing. I could hardly eat three bites of the food, whatever it was, but Elsa was practically drooling over me the whole time! She's completely under your spell—God, remind me to thank your old dad for that someday-- And get this—she said she'll see to my every need personally. Personally! She sounded all eager about it, too. And you know what that means, Heheheheh!"

D frowned worriedly. "Listen to me. You don't know what you're doing. And that poor woman isn't thinking clearly right now."

"No kidding! Her husband died just this morning! She's in dire need of some distraction, something to take her mind off her pain. And what do you know, here I am, and of course it was lust at first sight as it usually is with you--"

"And you've no qualms about taking advantage of that?" D interrupted, quiet disapproval smoldering in his voice.

"Jeez! Will you chill out? I won't be taking any more advantage than she wants me to and you know it! If these beefy arms of yours can hold her together in her time of sadness, where's the harm in that?"

"And when you leave in the morning?"

"Who's leaving?"

D made a soft growling noise, which made Lefty chuckle. "Calm down, I was kidding," he assured the grumpy-looking face in his palm. "Tomorrow we'll ride for the Capitol and I'll make sure she knows that. But really, is breaking her heart that way any crueler than breaking her heart by ignoring her plea for comfort?"

"Besides breaking her heart, there are other risks that--"

"Risks?" Lefty said nervously. "Oh, damn- you're right, I hadn't thought about that. But actually that's something I've been wondering about. Considering how irresistibly seductive vampires can be, how come there aren't more dhampirs running around? I mean, sure, there used to be a few more than there are now, but never as many as you'd expect. We both know that most vampires don't show as much restraint in their interactions with humans as you do, so why aren't there more babies?"

D grimaced. "Because--" he started to explain, but suddenly Lefty clenched his fist, muffling D's voice.

"Oh, sorry D! I think she's out in the hall!" Lefty whispered excitedly.

Sure enough, a moment later, there was a quiet knock on the door. "D?" Called the woman's voice. "May I come in?"

"Of course," Lefty said, as solemnly as possible. The handle turned, and into the room stepped a vision of loveliness clad in a skimpy, silky, sky-blue negligee. She looked up at Lefty with shimmery, desperate eyes. "Holy cow!" Lefty exclaimed, his jaw dropping almost comically. "Is that honestly what women wear to bed these days? No wonder the world's messed up: everybody's sleep-deprived!"

Elsa's eyebrows flinched uncertainly.

"Uh… what I meant to say," Lefty recovered immediately, "was that you are absolutely beautiful… Elsa." He let his voice linger breathlessly on the syllables of her name.

"My heart is lost in sorrow," Elsa whispered, her eyes locked on his. She took a step closer, and brought up her hand to rest her fingers ever-so-lightly above his heart. "Is it not the same with yours?"

"You bet," Lefty said, wrapping his hand gracefully around hers. "Loneliness, angst, suffering, it's all right here, at your service, ma'am."

She gasped for air with one of those enthralling, fluttery breaths.

"Do you think…" she whispered, stepping in even closer "that our two hearts… might find solace… together?"

"Uh…" Lefty blinked a few times, and then brought his other hand up to her face, tenderly cupping her cheek. "Well, I guess there's only one way to find out. I'm game if you are, honey."

The intensity of her expression left no doubt that she was, indeed, 'game'. She melted into his arms as he bent his head forward to kiss her.

Unfortunately, he skipped her anxious lips and went right straight for her throat.

She made a tiny sound of surprised delight as a shiver of anticipation rippled through her.

"Oh crap!" Lefty said in the next instant, reeling backwards in panic.

Slowly Elsa raised her hand to her neck. Thankfully, there was no mark, no wound.

"God, I'm sorry," Lefty panted. "You gotta believe me. That was an accident."

"It's all right," Elsa murmured, moving towards him again.

"Hey hey hey, hold it," Lefty said, staggering back a few steps. "Not so fast, ok? Give me a second. I just-- Uhg!" he hunched his shoulders and hid his face in his hands as red-hot, excruciating thirst suddenly shot through his veins.

"What's wrong?" Elsa purred, continuing her advance.

Lefty scrambled away from her as if she were a poisonous snake. "Stay back! Jeez, Elsa, I'm serious!"

"Tell me what's the matter," Elsa insisted. His hands were still covering his face.

"Uhhg! Damn it! I'm just—oh god, it hurts!" he took a final step backwards and met the wall. He was out of room to retreat, and Elsa was still closing in. "I said stay back!" Lefty shouted at her.

"But why?" She asked, dazed by his harsh tone.

"Because I want to rip your throat out, alright? Don't you get it? Augh, I feel it! It's killing me! I want to drink… drink your…" he was having a little trouble forming words around the aching, elongated fangs in his mouth, but Elsa understood exactly what he was saying.

"Then go ahead," Elsa whispered. "I'm not afraid. Take what you want. What you need."

"Ugh! I… won't…I… can't!" Lefty was trembling now. Suddenly he held up his left hand towards Elsa, palm out. "Help," he gasped, his eyes clenched shut.

Elsa simply could not believe what she saw next. A face, a horrid, wrinkled little face, grew out of the flesh of the vampire hunter's palm! It blinked its empty black eyes at her. "And just what do you expect me to do?" D asked crossly.

"Tell her to leave me alone!" Lefty begged. "If I have to put up with this agony for one more minute I swear I'll sink every tooth I've got into her neck—aargh!"

D sighed. "It can't be that bad, if you can still speak."

Elsa was beginning to look significantly distressed. The handsome vampire hunter she had been about to hop into bed with was currently slumped against the wall in pain, and a goblin-like face in his hand was talking, actually talking-- !

"D?" she asked tremulously. "What is that… that horrible thing in your hand?"

"A parasite," Lefty groaned.

Elsa didn't say anything, but her expression betrayed her thoughts. A parasite? Disgusting!

"That's right," D said softly, narrowing his gaze at Elsa. "I'm a parasite. And I just might be looking for a new host. Interested? If you share yourself with him, you know… you'll be granting me access as well."

A look of pure revulsion appeared on her face, and without another word, she fled from the room.

A few moments passed and Lefty gradually regained his composure. "Man… that was a close call," he panted at last. "I don't even know how it happened. One second I was just going to kiss her, and then all of a sudden I realized… her blood would've been so delicious! I could've killed her! Is it like that for you every time? Every time you let one get close like that?"

"Usually," D replied.

"Wow. I always tease you about being more interested in biting women than bedding them, but… I didn't realize it was like that. So that's what you were trying to warn me about, huh? Sheesh. I'm sorry I didn't listen." He smiled weakly. "Thanks for scaring her off, though. Lucky for us that being infected with a parasite is so gross, huh?"

For a moment D didn't say anything. "…it can be tolerable at times," he commented at last.

"Yeah…" Lefty said, but he didn't sound convinced. "Well… I guess we better hit the road. I feel like total scum right now. I wanted to help myself more than I wanted to help her… and I totally messed everything up."

"She'll be fine," D assured him. "The people of this town will support her and help her recover."

"I still feel like a loser about it though. I at least want to apologize to her, before we head out."

He made his way down the hall to the master bedroom, and knocked softly on the door.

"Elsa?"

There was no reply. Lefty hesitated for a second, and then opened the door.

"Go away!" Elsa cried. She was already under the covers in the huge, canopied bed. She sat up, clutching the blankets to her chest like a little girl.

"I just came to say I'm sorry," Lefty said, peeking his head around the door.

"You tried to bite me!" Elsa accused.

"Uhh… yes. That's what I'm apologizing for."

"I almost… I almost let you bite me!" Elsa said, her tone revealing that she was more than a little freaked out.

"Well, uh, that wasn't really your fault."

"Oh, please get out! Just leave me alone!" Elsa sobbed.

Crestfallen, Lefty withdrew, closing the door so gently that it didn't make a sound. Like a ghost, he drifted silently through the Mayor's mansion, and out to the stables. Spike gave him a questioning look as he cinched up his saddle.

"We're heading for the Capitol," Lefty muttered to the cyborg animal. "Being D isn't as fun as I'd thought it'd be. I'm kinda sick of it."

Spike nickered consolingly.

Up in her room, Elsa heard the drumming of flying hooves and made it to her window just in time to see the blur of a black cape disappear down the road into the twilight.