Healing Chapter 2: It Wasn't Just A Dream, a vampire hunter d fanfic

Healing

Chapter Two

'It wasn't Just a Dream'

Darkness…

All around…

Everywhere…

All he could see…

Was darkness…

He curled in on himself, pulling his black cape around himself protectively, silver eyes scrunched shut as he shook with unsuppressed fear.

And then there was a voice. One that did not come from the darkly clad figure, curled up against the wall of his pitch black prison.

"Good evening." said the harsh, bloodthirsty and bodiless Voice. "You were watching what happened today. I know you were, boy. You watched me kill that factory worker and his wife, and his delicious teenage daughter and son. You saw the way their pathetic, headless bodies dripped with what was left of their blood after I was finished with them. Did you enjoy watching them die? Did you like the way their lifeless bodies hit the floor after I had drained them dry? Did you like the way that the girl screamed? The way the woman wailed, dunpeal? I bet you did. Well you're in luck, because it shall happen again tomorrow."

"STOP IT!" The darkly clad prisoner had his hands clasped over his ears, shaking his head from side to side as the voice rang through his mind and his normally deep voice slightly high from emotional turmoil. "JUST STOP IT!"

"Why?" asked The Voice, again. "Admit it, you enjoy it."

"NO!" Yelled the man. "JUST STOP IT! STOP FORCING ME TO SEE THESE HORRIBLE THINGS!"

"Oh, have I gotten to you, dunpeal?" asked The Voice. "If only your sister could see the pathetic mess you've become. She hates you, you know. Ashamed of you. However, once she realises what is natural, she will make a perfect bride."

"LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS!" the prisoner's voice was suddenly laced with anger as well as fear. "SHE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!"

"She is the one who has taken it upon herself to avoid me at every turn, boy." replied The Voice. "And I must say that I'm quite taken with her. Just like you, she's a very beautiful creature. A very fine bride she'd make. Very fine indeed."

"SHE WOULD NEVER BE YOUR BRIDE!" yelled the black clad man. "SHE IS STRONG!"

"So were you, dunpeal." replied The Voice. "But I broke you over time, didn't I? I'm sure that breaking her will only be a matter of time."

"NO!" instead of fear, the prisoners voice was filled with defiance and certainty as he stood up, his paleface drawn back in anger. "MY SISTER HAS PEOPLE TO CONFIDE IN! YOU CANNOT BREAK HER!"

"Everyone can be broken, boy." replied The Voice. "It is only a matter of time. I broke you, didn't I? The girl's breaking will be all the more sweeter, for the fruits of my labour will be all of the more rewarding with her."

Images filled the prisoner's head and he fell to his knees, shaking his head as image after image was forced through his mind until he finally screamed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

D sat bolt upright in his bed, eyes wide with terror as his throat felt like it would tear with the scream that poured from his mouth with his elongated fangs exposed. The bead clothes were tangled around him and his pyjamas and bedclothes were soaked with sweat as his heart beat so fast in his chest that he thought that it might break free. He shook all over as he took in great gasps of air, panic still flooding his senses.

Light suddenly flooded into the room and he cringed away from it as he vaguely heard a woman's voice through his panic fogged mind.

Suddenly the mattress sunk a little and there were warm, gentle arms around him.

D buried his face in his sister's chest, tears leaking from his eyes. He clung to Lexa like she was his only lifeline as he shook against her lithe frame. A slender hand found its way into D's hair. Lexa's other hand rubbed comforting circles into his back as she whispered comforting words to her fretting brother. She could hear his frantically beating heart in her sensitive ears and almost feel his racing pulse.

She merely held D tighter, letting him seek sanctuary in her presence.

At length she spoke.

"Was it a nightmare?" She felt D nod. "Do you want to talk about it?" D neither nodded, nor shook his head. That was a good enough answer for Lexa. She pulled D to his feet and lead him through to the kitchen where she put some water on the boil. She then lead D over to the kitchen table where he sat with his head in his hands. Alexia jumped up onto his lap and D petted the cat with one hand as she braced her front paws against his chest so that she could lick at his face.

Lexa soon returned to the kitchen table with two mugs of tea and pressed one into D's hands. D robotically drank from his mug.

"What did you see?" asked Lexa, breaking him out of his trance like state. "What did you dream?"

"It wasn't just a dream." replied D. "It was a memory."

"What happened?" asked Lexa.

"It was dark." said D. "It was when I was trapped in my mind. It was like a prison cell, with no windows or doors. Count Leo would visit me through my mind after every hunt. He'd mock me. Ridicule me. Bait me, even. And then he met you. He started taunting me, not just about those he killed, but then he kept taunting me about you. He kept telling me that he'd make you his bride. That he'd break you and make you his own. Every morning it was the same thing as he disappeared into his lair to escape the sunlight. Always. The fact is, if you live long enough, hearing only the same thing everyday, it gets to the point where you believe it, and if it's something like that, it hurts. I hurts so deep that it would never heal fully. I believed what he said for a time. The thought still haunts me and it probably always will, even if my heart knows that you are stronger then that." D suddenly slammed his hand down on the table in a fit of anger and Alexia darted away with a surprised and slightly affronted yowl. "WHY DID I HAVE TO BE SO WEAK! SO MANY HORRIFIC THINGS HAPPENED BECAUSE I WAS WEAK! I THOUGHT THAT I COULD MANAGE, THIS ONLY PROVES JUST HOW WRONG I WAS!" D suddenly sagged back in his seat, breathing heavily and looking thoroughly deflated now that his anger was spent. His shoulders shook as he leaned forwards with his head in his hands as sobs were dragged out of his throat. "Maybe the world would be a better place if I just wasn't alive."

"Don't say that." replied Lexa, standing up and kneeling in front of her brother, looking right into his tear swollen eyes.

"It's true." D replied bitterly.

"No it isn't." replied Lexa. "Do you know how many lives you've saved."

"I've destroyed many, too." D told her.

"No." Lexa corrected him. "That wasn't you. That was Count Leo. You did not destroy those lives, no matter which way you look at it." D was about to cut in, but Lexa cut him off before he'd even spoken a word. "No, D. You are a lot stronger then you give yourself credit for. You have been through horrors that would make the bravest of men and vampires alike, weep. You are strong, compassionate and honourable to a fault. You have a lot more to be proud of then you have to be ashamed of. And if there's one thing that's for certain, I certainly wouldn't be better off if you weren't alive. And that would, in turn, affect my friends. You make me happy, D, which then makes so many others happy. And what about when you made that public apology? You heard what Elizabeth said, and she is the wisest human in the city. She said that you made Anna smile that day. Not her. Not me. You. You are a light in so many lives and so many of those lives need your light and not just me. You deserve so much more then what many of us can offer. D, if it weren't for you, I'd be a very different person toady. When we were children you was my rock, now let me be yours."

D looked surprised as he looked down at Lexa and she started back defiantly. Her anger had surprised her twin. It was something that she normally saved for the battlefield, not for attempting to give her only sibling some self value. Her brow was furrowed and her eyes were flashing as her lips were pressed into a thin line, all in all, she looked like an irritated school teacher.

D's eyes softened as he slid from his feet and onto his knees so that he level with Lexa, before embracing her tightly.

"Thank you, Lexa." he said. "Thank you for being there. I guess there are times when I forget that people still need me. I love you, Lexa. You are a wonderful sister."

"I try." joked Lexa, with a lopsided grin. She pulled D up from the cold, wooden floor and flicked her hand in the direction of the cooling mugs of tea on the table and the tea vanished and the mugs appeared on the draining board, perfectly clean.

Lexa then lead D over to his room and pushed him over to his bed. She then tucked him into bed and stayed with him until she was certain that he was asleep, before leaving the room and closing the door soundlessly behind herself. Lexa sighed. She knew that this was the first of several nightmares that were sure to come over the next few weeks. She knew that it would take a long time for D to heal, but how long remained to be seen.