Group Info Group Founded 12 Years ago 56 Members
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This group will be migrated to the new design soon. Please contact the group admins to start the migration and save content the group may lose access to.

Group Info

Check out our latest journal post for information on our mini contest! Grand prize gets a 3 month dA subscription! Please be sure to check the journal if you haven't recently as it has been updated with more detailed instructions, judging guidelines, etc.

This group is specifically devoted to fanfiction based on the Vampire Hunter D universe (anime, manga, or light novels; or, yes, the video game based on Bloodlust!).

There are not many VHD groups on dA, let alone ones that proactively permit fanfiction; and in my search for a fanfiction group, I found it can be rather difficult to get assistance with creation of folders or questions answered on certain topics.

So I've decided to create VHD-Fanatic, a group for any and all VHD fans. We will specialize in fanfiction, but fanart and story illustrations are welcome and will have their own folders given time. :)

The group is open to Global - if you need a folder for a specific language (so they can be grouped together) please note the founder or the group itself.

Fanfictions must bear standard disclaimers, and please, no NC-17; these are not permitted per dA guidelines. However, "mature content" that is not explicit (more an M nature) WILL be permitted as long as it is flagged appropriately. If you submit mature content that is not properly marked as mature, you may be removed from the members list. So please don't do it.

Enjoy!
Group
Founded 12 Years ago
Sep 20, 2012

Location
Global

Group Focus
Fan Club

56 Members
56 Watchers
8,565 Pageviews
Yaaay we got enough new art to do a rotation! I added more than I usually do because there is some classy stuff in there right now. :)
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Gallery Folders

Featured
D by kokoko-sir
Vampire Hunter D (Tilt Composition w/Action Shot) by M-Milburn
VHD Bloodlust: Baron Meierlink's portrait by ElenaLeetah
Charlotte and Meier Link by Sunymao
General Fanfiction
VHD -The Mistress, Chpt 8: God's and punishment'sThe orange light of the soon setting sun was pouring in from the huge glass windows into a lavishly decorated lounge. With the exception, that the actual sun rays never reached the indoors thanks to the high-class filters, installed into the glass panels, that removed the dangerous radiation. The walls were covered with exquisite tapestries and paintings that would make any art specialist from the Capital to faint with awe if they would ever lay their eyes on them. The huge glass windows were framed with big heavy velvet curtains. Several sofas and divans were scattered in the vast room and the floor was covered with heavy rugs. Side tables standing near the windows were holding exquisite crystal glasses and carafes. On one corner of the room, an old piano stood silently. Notebook was open on its place on the music stand, but its white pages was covered with red dots. And the bench that was meant for the player, was laying on its side, as if being knocked over. A man sat on a big armchair. His black hair framed his beautiful paraffin white face. A pair of fangs poked between his vermilion red lips. A Noble. The mere thought of a Noble being awake before the sunset would have made anyone’s psyche to freeze with fear. If there were some things in the Frontier that were thought as absolutes, it was that the Nobles slept on a day and walk in the night. Even thought there were some rare exceptions known, where some members of the Nobility could be up and about during sunlight hours, but even them could not face the pure sunlight. Rising his left hand, he looked at his fingers at somewhat contemplating manner. His fine structured elegant fingers were covered with red colored fluent. Blood. As he watched the narrow red lines flowing down from his fingers to his wrist where they joined into a bigger flow that then drippled to the floor, his lips formed a faint smile. A smile, that would have made all who saw it to run to the hills in a jiffy. Slowly he brought his fingers to his lips and sucked them one by one in enjoying manner. His eyes got a crimson hue as he breathed in the air of the room that reeked of blood. Slowly rising to his feet, he gave one look at the floor. Three twisted corpses of women were silently lying near him. Two almost at his feet and one nearer the old piano. Their blood still flowing from their slashed-out throats and chests. Their faces had already stiffed into expressions of pain and agony. Lord Merrash stepped over them, not giving them, another thought. “So disappointing”, he murmured to himself. “They had plenty of time to learn that song.” Reaching the other end of the lounge, a top-looking manservant dressed in black attire offered him a towel to clean the blood from his hands and face. “Sorry to hear that, my Lord.” After cleaning the blood, the Nobleman took off his white shirt that´s front had been stained at the women’s gushing blood sprays. Changing a clean one given by his manservant, who didn’t seem to be at all concerned about the carnage that had happened just a moment ago. Helping his master to dress up his jacket that had been waiting for him at the back of an armchair nearby. As his master was about to leave, he asked: “What will you want to be done with them, my Lord? Shall we try to recover them?” Lord Merrash halted. Noticing a single drop of blood had remained on his right hand, he licked it away. Rolling the flavor on his mouth, he then twisted his lips as if tasting something sour. “No… Throw them over the castle wall. Let the Children of the Night have their feast.” “Very well, my Lord”, the servant replied with a bow. As Lord Merrash stepped on the waiting room, a lovely sight was waiting for him. A young woman in a beautiful, white dress was standing there. Her long blonde hair had been bounded into several elegant braids. Seeing the man, her entire face lighted up with delight and broad smile rose to her lips. “Oh, there you are! I was trying to find you.” “Is there something the matter, my dear?” the Lord asked kindly, letting a small smile rise at his blood red lips. “Oh, no. Not at all, my Lord.” Lilian shook her head. “Everything is just fine.” Her eyes sparkled like stardust. “Everyone has been so nice to me. And the food is just excellent.” Did the girl not see the carnage behind the Nobleman? Did she not see the teared up, bloody corpses lying on the floor from the open door? How was it possible, that she even failed to notice the Nobleman’s blood shot eyes?! Laying his hand at the young woman’s shoulder, the Nobleman gently guided her to the corridor. “I think I asked you to wait at your courters”, Lord Merrash said gently. “I am sorry, but I haven’t seen you at all in two days. I missed you!” Lilian exclaimed to her defense. The Nobleman touched the young woman’s lovely face. Sliding his hand thorough her hair. “My dearest Lilian”, he said. “I do apologize. But there are, unfortunately, some important matters that requires my attention.” “Oh, I see. Will that take long?” Lilian asked innocently. The Nobleman suggested into the corridor with his hand so they would continue walking. “No, it should be a matter of a day or two. Then you shall have my full attention. I give you my word.” “Oh, that’s wonderful!” Lilian exclaimed and slipped her arm around the mans. An evil smile spread to the Nobleman´s face. A smile that would have frozen the blood of everyone who would see it. However, Lilian seemed to fail to see it. “Isn't that just so.”* * * After the sun had set, the group had halted and put on another camp in a small clearing. The barrier had been lifted after they had managed to escape their latest attack. First there had come another group of soldiers and combat robots from the castle, and then a group of golems and forest-dragons from the surrounding forest. It seemed that even the Frontier didn’t give them any ease. Ramos had set the fire and was adding more wood, when a voice came next to him. “That won’t save you”, Sara commented. “Huh?” the bald man asked turning his head. The woman pointed at his neck. A big silvery cross sparkled on the red fire as it swung in a heavy chain around Ramos´s neck. “Oh, this”, the man said grabbing it on his hand. “You tried?” Sara sneered. “Had one on my neck the night I was taken. He just yanked it off, laughed on me and melted it before my eyes just with his gaze.” “Well, crosses don’t work on everyone”, Ramos said shrugging his shoulders. Throwing a wood into the fire, he continued. “But that’s not the only reason I wear it.” “Oh?” Sean came to sit between them. “Ramos is a priest. Can you believe that?” “What?!” Sara exclaimed. “You?!” Ramos grinned. “Wouldn't guess, would you?” Sara shook her head. “Wait, wait, wait. So, you’re saying that you are a Vampire Hunter, a weapon designer, a medic, and you´re a priest?!” Waving her bound hands, she laughed. “Alright, now I have seen everything!” The big man smiled broadly. “Yes, that’s right.” Ramos leaned back on his place. “Well… it actually was some time ago. I have been searching my place in the world in many occupations. Priesthood was just one of them, just as medical studies.” “And what drove you into church?” Sara asked. The smile disappeared from the man’s face and was replaced with serious expression. He stared into the fire for a long time., before he finally answered. “I lost someone I hold dear”, he said slowly. “Gathered, that I could get some piece of mind by committing myself to the God.” “And did you?” Sara asked. There was no reply. Sean cleared his throat to break the silence. “Did you say that you actually worked as a priest?” Pulling himself back from his grimness, Ramos nodded to his friend. “Yeah, I did. For few years. Then realized that it wasn’t for me.” “Lost you´re faith, did you?” Sara asked. Ramos gave off a light laugh. “No, no, no, that’s not why. All that preaching just wasn’t my thing. Believing, as I think of it, is more of a personal thing. You can’t make people believe, if they don’t want to.” He reached for the cross on his neck and returned it under his shirt. “And how about you? Do you still believe in God?” Sara smirked. “Well… let’s just say, that we aren’t talking at the moment.” Ramos snorted. Surely, the woman’s reply wasn’t a surprise. “And what about before? If I remember correctly, the south of Black Water is more of a religious area.” Sara let out a heavy sigh. It seemed that she wasn’t that eager to approach this matter on her own point of view. It was so long time ago when she had last time given any thought about her past. Then, giving up for the memories that had started to flow into her head like a tide, she smirked. “Went to church every Sunday. Sometimes even twice a week.” “And how did you react on the abduction?” Ramos asked. “Well,” Sara said taking a deep breath and changed her position. “I actually thought for a long time that I had done something horribly wrong to deserve what was coming to me. Then…” She gave of a light laugh and shook her head. “I can’t believe that I actually believed that God was somehow testing me and my faith. I was so sure that if I would just hang on long enough, He would actually come and save me!” “I suppose that’s more or less what all, who have been taken by the Nobility, goes through,” Ramos said comforting. “Mmm...,” Sara sighed. “And as time went on, I prayed for both the God and the Devil to save me. And in the end, everything or anyone, or some kind of higher power to hear me and save me. But of course, nothing happened. No one came. Even the God had forsaken me.” “It wasn't your fault what happened”, a new voice came from behind them. A shape appeared from the dark shadows. It was D. Turning to the Hunter, Sara gave a small smile. “Perhaps. To be honest, I don’t care anymore. What happened, happened. Nothing can change that. It´s better to let the past be.” D sat down on Sara´s right side and removed the scabbard from his back and placed it against his shoulder. It was so unusual for the Hunter to come sit with the others that it made the men to exchange looks of surprise. Vlad brought a huge piece of meat to be roasted above the fire. He had been backing their steps to collect some forest-dragons meat as their dinner. As they had lost all their gears and packages, also the dried food they carried with them, had gone as well. They had to use what they could. A chill went thorough Sara, and she moved slightly to the left as to get further away from the gorgeous Hunter. After D had given her the third-degree interrogation, Sara had kept her distance. It seemed that her earlier tries to get into the gorgeous man’s favor had now grown sour and she avoided him as much as it was possible. The incident had reminded her, that D was from a completely different world. Even being prisoner for fifteen years, all Sara could do, was to stand on the crossroad. Never quite fully understanding what it was to live in a world on eternal night. And now the Hunter had parked himself a one meter away. Sara even turned her head to another direction. Noticing the woman’s reaction towards the Hunter, Vlad grinned from the other side of the fire. “What´s the matter? The dhampir not you’re second choice anymore?” Sara gave off a tired growl. She was really getting tired of Vlad getting under her skin all the time. Smirking, Vlad continued. “Well, I don’t blame you. They’re all cold-blooded monsters with ice cold skins. Surely, one would crave for warm arms and a beating heart.” Then, his face got an expression as he had just remembered something, and his eyes sparked with curiosity. “You know, I have sometimes been wondering… are the Nobles ice cold even from down there?” he made a signifying nod towards his groin. Sara´s face twisted with pure disgust. “You really expect me to answer that?! And I am not going to talk about milord´s sex life with you or with anyone else for that matter either. Have some courtesy. It´s none of your business.” “Fine”, Vlad snorted. “But tell me this, does it feel different with a Noble? Compared to a human, I mean.” Mixed feeling of rage and disgust went thorough Sara. Biting her tongue, she barely managed to swallow her vicious counter-words. Pressing her nails into her palms she managed to calm herself down a bit. Then another kind of feeling took place in her heart, she murmured. “I wouldn’t know.” “Huh?” The men turned their eyes on the woman with some smirks on their lips. “What? But you said that you were getting married. You really gonna tell us, that you two never…” “No, we didn’t”, Sara said moving uncomfortably. “It was the tradition our village had. The brides to be untouched at their weddings.” Ramos slowly nodded his head. “Yeah, some places still have that old tradition. Especially in the more religious areas.” “Not the wedding night you were expecting, eh?” Vlad smirked. “Shut it, Vlad”, Ramos snapped. “I've getting enough of your shit. Leave her be.” Rising his hands as for a sign of surrender, Vlad continued tending the roasting meat. After few moments of silence, Sean scratched his head under the red bandanna. “You know, this just doesn’t make any sense to me at all. All the things that I have ever learned about the Nobility is saying the same thing, that they are known to hate and loath the humankind over all else. They hate the sight of us, even hate the smell of humans. I think I read somewhere, that there aren’t many Nobles who can even spend more than few days around humans.” Waving his hand towards Sara. “And now we have someone who is bedding women and tormenting them for years. What the heck is this?” “It’s the decline”, Sara said quietly. Then she shrugged. “Or that’s what milord says. That because of the dropping numbers of the Nobility, the remaining Noblewomen won’t be willing to become anyone’s servants or mistresses. They are too strong and in depended. So, all that remains is the humanity. As much as milord hated the very thought in the beginning. However, he the realized how… hmm… how did he say it…?” Sara paused to dig her memory. “Ah, ´convenient´, that’s what he said. Realized how convenient we are. Just something he can use and then throw away as he pleases”, she said plainly. “Or eat.” Sean shook his head. “That’s still not right.” Sara shrugged again. “Well, in milord´s point of view, the Nobility is being second only to God. And we should be extremely honored to be handpicked by a supreme being like him to warm his bed.” Vlad almost chocked on to the water he was just drinking. “S-say what?!” he burst to laugh and coughed the water he had just inhaled. Ramos shook his head with a grin on his face. “Well, that’s the Nobility alright. They and their supremacy complex, I tell you…” Then a though crossed Ramos´s mind and started to grow like a vine, slowly spreading its branches as it grew. Slowly he tapped the ground with a twig he had taken on his hand, as the thoughts took a darker shape. Then, turning his brown eyes towards the woman, he asked in a slow pace. “Sara… are there many dhampirs’ in the castle?” “Yeah… You’re right, Ramos”, Ali agreed on his compatriot’s thoughts. He had come to join the others and stood next to Vlad, leaning his back on a boulder. “There must be loads of dhampirs there. Heck, the bloodsucker has been bedding girls for ages.” Meeting the bald man’s serious gaze, Sara slowly shook her head and lowered her gaze onto her bound hands. “None.” “What? You telling me that you haven’t become pregnant? Even that you have been bedding him for fifteen years?!” A shadow crossed Sara´s face. She lowered her head and her long hair covered her face like curtains. Her entire being darkened, like a shadow had wrapped around her. With very heavy hearts, all she said: “That’s not what you asked.” The men exchanged baffled looks. Ramos cleared his throat. “Well… If you could…” “It is not allowed”, Sara said quietly, as if she was talking to herself. She kept her eyes on her bound hands on her lap. “Bearing children, that is”, she continued slowly. “Milord has forbidden it. In the thread of punishments.” “W-what?!” Ramos exclaimed doubtfully. “No one can forbid it. It´s a natural thing that no one can… ohh…” he then said, realizing what she had meant. “Yes, that’s right”, Sara said confirming his thought. “They get terminated in the beginning.” “No one ever tried to keep one?” Greg asked, joining the conversation from Ramos´s right side. A very sad smile rose to Sara´s lips. “Yes… few have tried. As Milord travels for months at times.” She gave off a long sigh. “But those have always ended in tears and horror.” “And what has been done to the fetuses?” D asked. Sara fixed her eyes on the ground and pushed her hands to fists. With a strained voice, she replied: “They are being burned alive… in front of us” The men looked stunned. “Have you ever heard the voice of a baby screaming as its being burned alive?” Sara asked pain and desperation in her voice. “I have. And I can tell you, it’s the worst thing imaginable. It sticks in your dreams. The desperate screams of pain and horror of something that is so innocent and pure. And the heart and soul tearing feeling, that there’s absolutely nothing you can do to save it!” The men sat silently. Horror and fear creeping up on them, along with disgust turning their stomachs. “You tried to keep your child?” D´s words sounded more of a statement than of a question. “Yes…” Sara whispered quietly. “I know, it sounds insane. It was insane, especially after we all saw what happened to Mira... But when you become older, you start to longer for a child of your own. To have something that would be completely yours. Someone, who would love you unconditionally, and to whom you could pour the love you still have inside.” Giving D a glance, Sara continued. “I know, you don’t understand. Men usually don’t.” Sara took a long, trembling gasp of air. Even that there was no question, she started to tell her tale. “Milord left to one of his travels. And at the same day I realized that I was pregnant. I got this insane idea that I could somehow get the child while he was away. I somehow thought that once the baby had been born, milord would not have the heart to kill it. The ticking of a biological clock can be so strong at times, you see. Prevents you to think straight. “And what happened?” Sara gave a long, sad sigh and bit her lip. “I got all the way to six months. Not an easy thing to do, when you are being watched all the time. Anyway, a friend of mine finally managed to talk me out of it.” Sara shook her head slowly to the memory. “It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. And it was the longest walk of my life. The corridor to the hospital wing seemed to stretch on for eternity…” “And they made you watch when they burned your baby?” Ramos asked shocked. Sara nodded. “Yes… there was absolutely nothing I could do. They were holding me down, so I couldn’t move. There was no way to reach out for it.” A wry smirk formed on to her lips and tears rose to her eyes. Only one single tear rolled down on her check. Quickly she wiped it away. “And when milord returned and heard of what I had tried to do, he got angry.” Sara snorted. “I got my punishment. As if seeing my baby being burned to death wasn’t enough.” Silence had fallen onto the campsite as the woman’s story had left the men speechless. Only the burning branches in the campfire gave some rattling. “That’s the third time you mention the punishments”, D stated. “What are they?” Sara gave off a light and sad laugh. “Oh… it´s not that I could give you a list. That’s not how it works. It would be great, if it would. To know what comes from breaking a certain rule.” “How does it work then?” the Hunter asked as if it was a mere trivial matter. Sara turned to the Hunter. Looking him for a while, she then turned her eyes back to the campfire. She opened her mouth few times, but no words came out. Then she shook her head. “The punishments…”, she started with trembling voice, but her voice failed her. The fear was so deep within her. Taking a very deep breath, she pushed all the emotions aside. “The punishments are something we all try to avoid to the end.” As if guessing Vlad’s thought, Sara gave the man a sharp look. “And it’s not a laughing matter, I tell you.” “Go on”, D said with a voice that stopped the becoming argument, before it even started. Sara gave D a quick glance and then sighed. “Well… the punishments are as they sound. To put it very simple: break the rules and guidelines made by milord, and you get punished. “ Looking at the sparks flying above from the campfire, Sara tried her best to keep her fears and memories at bay. “You never know what will be coming to you. And the same punishment is not being used again, not as such anyway. So, you cannot prepare yourself for it either. All you know is that there will be pain beyond imagine. It can be either physical or mental or both in worst cases. And you don’t know, if you will wake up the next day. Many have died during the punishments.” Sara’s body shook and she felt her throat choke. “Could you tell few examples?” D asked with dark voice. After a small silence, Sara managed to catch her breath. “Well… I mentioned Mira”, she said thinking it would be the best way to start by the resent topic. “Mira thought that she could keep her pregnancy a secret and have the child as milord was away. Indeed, he was away for a very long time. Mira got few others helping her to conceal it from the medical check-ups and surveillance of the main computer.” Sara shook her head sadly. “But Lord Merrash returned when she was still two months due. I don’t remember ever seeing him so furious.” Sara swallowed hard. “He… he gathered all of us in the main hall. He had chained up Mira in a tall wooden pole that had been brought there and bolted to the floor. Her hands chained up above her head. We were all terrified. Never before had all of us been called to watch anyone’s punishment. The guards kept us at the sides, so we could not intervene.” “I don’t recall anymore what Lord Merrash said, but he wanted all of us to see what he thought about such treachery as Mira had committed. He walked to her and took out a knife from his belt. He…”, Sara´s voice started to tremble. “He… cut Mira´s stomach open… and pulled out the baby. Hanging it from its leg, he… he teared its limbs off one my one with his bare hands. Then, he dropped it to the floor and… and… and smashed the baby’s head with the heel of his booth.” Sara shook with the shock and horrid of the memory, barely managing to talk. “And then he turned to Mira. And did the exactly same thing to her!” Sara closed her eyes. “Then he ordered the few, who had helped Mira to hide her pregnancy, to mob the blood and remains from the hall´s floor. No one saw either of them again after that.” Sara´s words faded into darkness. The men were silent. There were no words. Without giving them time to really comprehend the horrors she had told them; Sara tilted her head to left and gave a sad sigh. “And then there were Talia… dear Talia. She couldn’t bare another day at the castle. She got so desperate at ending her own life. And as I told you before, we can’t do it ourselves, and it is forbidden even to try”, her sad voice became deeper. “She got a friend to help her. To figure out a way to brake or bend the spell.” “As milord finally heard about her agenda, he called Talia to see him. In the end of the discussion milord granted her death. He let Talia throw herself down from a selected window, straight into sharp spears on the lower roof that impaled her body in several places. She didn’t die instantly. No, it took all night.” Sara paused to gather herself. “Milord caught himself a chair to the roof where she lied impaled, two meters above the roof base. He made Talia’s friend to go and collect her dripping blood on a chalice and bring it back to him to drink. Over and over again the friend went back and forth, all the same watching her dearest friend bleed to death in huge agony. That was her punishment.” “H-how do you know that? Did she tell you?” Ramos asked. Fair question, as just a moment ago she had told them that they didn’t see each other’s punishments. Raising her head, Sara looked at the bald man, who obviously was terrified. She gave him the saddest smile imaginable. “No… I was that friend.” Ramos´s eyes bulked. The silence lingered on at the campsite. Sean seemed so pale that he could faint at any moment. “Why… why would anyone do such horrible things?” Then, looking at Sara, he continued: “Why don’t you just say no?” Sara gave off a laugh, like the young man had told a joke. Then her face went dead serious. Rising her bound hands and leaning towards Sean, she said in grave serious voice. “You never, ever, say no to a Noble! That is something everyone must learn in the very beginning.” Sean swallowed hard. Leaning back on her place Sara then continued with quieter voice. “One of my first punishments… its stuck in my mind. I was taken into an empty room. And every night milord came in, broke five completely random bones of my body, gazed me for a while and then went off. For fourteen days, every single night, he came in and broke five bones. And he never said a word. I lied there screaming of pain and agony. The medics came every fourth day to inject fluids into my body, so I wouldn’t die. Nothing for the pain.” Sara slowly shook her head for the memory. “I never forget the last days. I couldn’t move. Not without a huge, body ripping, shaking pain. It was so hard to stay even conscious. I begged milord to kill me, to stop the pain. But of course, he did not.” “W-w-what on earth did you do to deserve that?” Sean asked with stammering voice. Sara turned her head. Looking straight at the young man’s eyes. “I said no.” Sean looked completely horrified. Ramos knitted his eyebrows. “Five times fourteen… that’s seventy broken bones”, he started to do the math. “Human being has about 206 bones… so he broke one third of all of your bones just because you said no?” Shaking his head thoughtfully. “It must have taken a huge amount of time to heal from that. And of course, including all the internal injuries…” Vlad got a hunch where his compatriot was going. “It would have taken way too much time. The Nobility is known from their impatience. No, a Noble would never use his time to wait and heal a human. You know what I think? I think you are just pulling our legs and trying to scare- “ “And then is that,” Sara interrupted him with a heavy sight. “Huh?” Vlad got puzzled. “What is what?” “That damned, treacherous thing”, Sara said her voice tinted with fear and anger. Licking her lips, she focused watching her well painted, long nails. “Milord has this machine at the hospital wing.” “What machine?” D asked, showing some interest after a long time. “I don’t know what it’s actually called. It had some long and very technical name. We call it the Phoenix. It’s a big cylinder shape, just big enough for two persons to lie side by side. It heals you completely just in a day or two. No matter how badly you are injured.” Looking at Ramos, she continued. “It took twenty-four hours to heal my broken bones.” “What?!” Ramos exclaimed. “There isn’t any machine of that kind that can heal a person that fast!” Then his face seemed to melt and froze at the same time as the only thing, he ever had heard of, doing anything like that came to his mind. The same though had come to the others as well. The men exchanged unsettling looks. “You... you mean to say that-” Vlad started. “That he has made the Nobility’s rebirth system to work on humans?!” Greg finished his colleagues’ sentence. The Nobility was known to have a rebirth system installed in their coffins. It could heal all the wounds of its occupants within hours or days, depending how severe their injuries were. Even after being staked thorough the heart or decapitated, having enough energy to return to his/her coffin, the device would fully construct and revitalize their DNA. “Yes. He has”, Sara answered shortly. “Well, that’s really something”, a hoarse voice commented on D´s direction. Sara startled. Turning to look where the voice came from, she expected to see someone new standing there, but of course there was only D. “Yes… yes, it is. And it’s on use on regular bases after the punishments. Well, if he decides that you will see another day, that is.” Ali pursed his lips. “I´ll be damned… Think about how great it would to have one, Vlad! No matter how badly you could get injured, all I would need to do was to get inside that thing.” Wild scenarios started to circle on his mind. “Damn, you would be invincible!” Sara started to shake her head slowly. “It’s not suitable for human psyche”, D said. “No, it really is not”, Sara said looking at the Hunter. “Yes, you wake up all right, but your mind still remembers. You feel ghost pains. And you can’t understand how you can still be alive after the horror that had come to you.” Nodding her head, she continued. “Many have gone insane.” “And you?” Giving a twisted smile, Sara replied. “I have had my melt downs, believe me.” “But you have managed over them?” “More or less”, Sara said hugging her legs. “I might look strong on the outside, but on the inside… I am really… broken.” Then, looking at the members of the Black Scorpion, Sara grinned. “Welcome to the parties!” The group was finishing their roasted dinner. The woman’s stories had left the men quiet with their thoughts, as they were trying to consider if it was all true or all lies to the core. After all, all they had was a story of a servant of the Nobility. And in the scale, it did weight near to zero. All it needed was a word from a free man to make it disappear in the thin air. At least then they could have a good laugh and admire the woman’s wild imagination. It might have been because of the men’s pity, or Sara´s loudly crumbling stomach, but she had finally been offered food. And with huge hunger she had been eating with a good appetite. Even thought she had pointed out that it completely messed up her strict diet. Witch then had let into another discussion about the matter, that the women actually had been made personal food diets and specific exercises plans. How else would they manage to keep their beauty and figures? While the others had been eating and contemplating Sara´s story, D had barely been moving a muscle on his place. Even that he had lowered his head and pulled his travelers hat down to cover his eyes, none of the others considered him sleeping. And being a dhampir, the night was their domain. Even that they could move around in daytime like any other human, their metabolism dropped at mid-day and peeked at the midnight. D was no exception. “As you can move around the castle, you must have entered Lord Merrash´s private courters”, D said suddenly. Still, not moving at all. It was like his voice had come from the darkness itself. Sara turned her head. “Yes… I have. Why?” The next thing D said, made the others freeze on their places. And the curse themselves that the idea hadn’t come onto their minds. “Then you must know where his coffin is.” “Umm… a w-what?” Sara said with confusion, being totally surprised by the question. “Coffin. You know?!” Vlad annoyingly cut into between their conversation. “A wooden box, where people put their dead before they bury them. Or in this case, something that the Nobility calls home.” “Yes, I know what a coffin is! Thank you.” Sara exclaimed and rolled her eyes. “I had to stare that damn thing day after day, the whole god damn way here at the carriages. I´ll never forget it. Every little detail in it is burned into my mind. Heck, I can even draw it for you if you like!” Sara said annoyed. “Where is it?” D repeated his question. Sara shrugged. “Haven’t got the foggiest. After arriving at the castle, I never saw it again. None of us have.” “Is that so?” Sara sighed. “Listen. I am telling you the truth. You think he would just leave it lying around? I don’t know where it is.” “Are you sure? You have been there for a long time” Sara nodded, tired of repeating her words. “Yes. I am sure. You know, it might come as a surprise to you, but we do actually talk with each other’s in the castle. The subject about his coffins whereabouts has come up few times. At one time we even tried to figure out where it is, but there hasn’t been any luck.” “Were you planning to kill him?” Sara smirked. “Well, that spirit do rise on regular bases. We have tried… but the results have been extremely poor. I, once, almost managed to hit his heart with a wooden stake, that I had ripped out of a broken chair. Missed by two centimetres. And few years ago, one group actually managed to topple him over into a water fountain at the garden. Needless to say, that he didn’t drown.” Sara was pointing to the well-known fact that some members of the Nobility were known to be drowned into just knee-deep water. Why that was, no one could say. Only, that water had the strangest of effects on the members of the Nobility. Even a regular rain could drop their metabolism in half. “But you do have an idea, where the coffin could be?” Sara gave off a light laugh. It seemed that the Hunters thoughts wasn’t that easy to turn into another direction. “Yes… I do have few guesses, but that’s all they are…”, she then said shrugging. “Your guess is as good as mine.” Vlad shook his head. “That’s bullshit. You must know.” “You call me a liar?!” Sara raised her head. Light, barely heard sigh came from D´s direction. It had started to seem that whenever the Hunter was getting anywhere with his inquiries, one of the members of the Black Scorpion interrupted him. Usually Vlad. And it seemed that Sara was more than eager to start a fight. Was she doing it intentionally to avoid further questions, or was she using her opportunity to cause discord among them? It remained to be seen. “Here we go again”, a hoarse voice said tiredly from the vicinity of D´s left hand. “Yeah! You do like the sound of your own voice. You’re pouring poison into our ears and trying to mess up with our heads!” Vlad spat at the woman. “You really think none of us believes a word you say?!” “I don’t care, if you believe it or not!” Sara spat back. “But don’t you call me a liar!” “Ha! You´re so brainwashed that you don’t even know yourself what is true or not. You just blindly do everything he tells you to do! Damn, your just one of his puppets.” Rage flashed on Sara’s eyes and she stood up. “You god-damn savage! You think you are so terrifying. You think you are so high and mighty. But I tell you, you’re nothing! Absolutely nothing compared to Him!” “Oh, is that so?” Vlad sneered. “Just look at you!” Sara exclaimed. “You are all already bruised and tired of fighting against his men and the Frontier. You have no chance against him. None whatsoever.” Fixing her eyes to Vlad, an evil grin rose to Sara´s face as she bared her teeth’s. “And when he will come to claim me, he will tear you all to pieces. I hope he will let me watch when he tears off your limbs one by one!” “But before that, have at this!” Sara took fast step towards the campfire and kicked the burning woods. A fiery burst of flames and pieces of burning wood junks flew against Vlad. “Hey! What the- “The man miraculously managed to lift his armored covered hand to protect himself from the burning wall of fire. Jumping up he started to suffocate the flames that had rained against his chest armor and set fire at his traveler’s coat. “That’s it!” Ramos exclaimed as he stood up. He took few quick steps and grabbed Sara by the arm. He swung her around and pushed her towards the edge of the barrier. “Hey! What do you- “ Just before she would have touched the invisible force field Ramos halted. “You wanna go back?! Do you!?” he shouted. “By all means! You’d be doing us a favor!” “Wait! What- “, Sara’s voice got a higher pitch. “Just one push, and you will be outside the barrier! And once you’re out, there’s no coming back!” Ramos yelled shaking the woman. Changing his grip so that his left hand was on the back of Sara’s neck and the right one on her shoulder. “You try to come back, and you will be grind to dust!” Grabbing night vision goggles from his belt he pushed them onto Sara’s eyes. “But you might want to take a look what’s waiting for you!” As the goggles went onto Sara´s eyes, the darkness of the night became bright as daylight. Her eyes bugged as she saw what was around the campsite. At least five dozen pairs of glimmering eyes were reflected from the shadows. Crawling, slithering, walking and some flying monsters and demons of the Frontier were circling around. On the ground, climbing on the trees and something worm-like with huge maw full of teeth had just come up from the underground. And just two meters away, a pair of Clawers were sniffing the air. Instinctively, Sara tried to back away. Ramos didn’t let her move an inch. “You see them? You see, what´s waiting for you on the other side?” Ramos kept the squirming woman still with both hands as he spoke to her ear. “The barrier prevents them from seeing us, smelling us and hearing us. But they can still sense us. They know, we are somewhere here.” Ramos took off the night vision goggles from Sara. “You go ahead. See, if your lordship can save you before they will tear you to pieces”, he lowered his voice. He moved his hand to her back, as if to push her. “No! NO! Please, wait!” Sara screamed in panic. She pushed herself backward with all her might. “Don’t make me go there! Please, stop! STOP! I promise, I will do everything you want!” Sara´s panic for losing her life in the most horrid way swept away everything else. “You swear to that?!” “I swear!” Sara’s high-pitched voice was reaching the heavens. "I swear!" And with that, Ramos let her go. It was all he had wanted to hear. Sara took few steps back and fell onto the ground. Shivering with fear and relieve. Looking down at the crumbled woman, Ramos had dead serious expression on his face. He raised his index finger. “You put this in your mind, woman. We owe you nothing. You pull out any other of your tricks, and you will be thrown outside. Is that clear?!” “Y-yes”, Sara said with trembling lips. She was shocked by the violence and malice that had come from the big, dark skinned man, that she had been considering to be the kindest and fairest of the men. Now, that illusion was gone. He had shown his true colors. A Vampire Hunter to the core. “Now, you will shut the hell up. I have gotten enough of this! Get back to your place and you will speak only if you are spoken to. I guess that should be familiar procedure for you.” Ramos´s low voice rolled over Sara like a rumbling thunder. As Sara watched Ramos walking back to his spot next to the campfire, he passed the gorgeous Hunter. D hadn’t moved a muscle during the incident. As if he wouldn’t have cared at all. Would he really have let Ramos to push Sara to her death? A sadness flowed to Sara´s heart. A painful realization slowly slithered to her consciousness. She meant absolutely nothing to the men. Being used to being absolutely nothing in the presence of the Nobility was nothing new, but having the same sensation even among fellow humans, teared her apart. She was simply and plainly, alone. As she always had been. Slowly Sara rose to her feet and got back to her place. She didn’t say a word. There weren’t any....
VHD -The Mistress, chpt7: Thornes of Death, part 2The queue formation of the Hunters had started to break. The distances between them had stretched and Sara and Sean had fallen behind. Partly because Sara had been stopping here and there to admire some beautiful plants or an animal, and the young man had had to rescue her for more than few occasions. Sara had stopped. She was looking at something on their left side, between the forest trees. Reaching her neck, she tried to see without going any closer. She had a tensed look on her face. “What is it?” Sean asked as he reached the woman. Taking a better grip of his riffle he turned to face the same direction. Walking on the Frontier forests were no pick nick, even on daylight. There was always some beasts, monsters, supernatural creatures, sprites or spirits around. “I thought I saw something,” Sara said seriously. “Where? What did it look like?” Sean asked slightly nervous. “What did it look like?” “I don’t know”, Sara said slowly. “Something big and fast. I saw it very briefly.” “I don’t see anything…” Sean said as his gaze wiped the forest side. “Let’s get going. We better catch up the others.” “Yes, that’s probably the best”, Sara said turning towards the young man. Then her gaze went past Sean and her eyes went wide. A fear crossed her face as her gaze went higher and higher. It stopped somewhere about three meter above man’s head. Sara's lips started to tremble, and she was seemingly getting into a full panic. She took a slow step backwards. “W-w-what the hell is that?!” All the hairs on Sean’s neck had stood up, realizing that there was something huge behind him. Slowly he took off the safety from his riffle. Then he turned rapidly to face the monster. There was nothing. “Huh?!” he exclaimed. Looking at every direction, there was absolutely nothing. He got baffled. Then, realizing something was really off, he returned to the woman. Or would have if she would have still been there. There was no sign of Sara. Just as he knit his eyebrows, he saw a line of swinging bushes on his right side leading about twenty meters away. He had been fooled. “Oh, fucking hell!” Sean growled. Swinging the riffle on his back he started the chase. Running as fast as he could, Sean pushed his way thorough the dense bushes. Jumping over the fallen tree trunks and big rocks he kept going. He was driven by the anger he felt for falling into a such an easy trick. Even that Sara was running all she could, she lacked the experience to move in a forest. Her long dress got teared at the bushes, and the red dress made her glow like a target in the green forest. Little by little Sean was gaining the woman. Only ten meters were now between them. A victorious grin rose to his lips. Seeing the woman disappear behind a gigantic tree, Sean made a quick decision to cut her off on the other side. Just as he was halfway, he suddenly got almost run over by the woman. “Run!!!” Sara screamed in horror to Sean as she run right past him. “Wait! What?!” Sean yelled back, as the situation dawned on him. Something big was coming through the forest with a huge rumble. The trees waved by its force and bushes were stamped down by its feet’s, all eight of them. Seeing the dark silhouette of the approaching beast, Sean turned on his heels and followed Sara. Gaining the running woman, he grabbed her by the arm and swing her behind a huge rock. He took his index finger to his lips. Breathing heavily, Sara nodded. Slowly Sean peeked from their hideout. The monster running after them had slowed its speed, perhaps realizing that its preys were hiding somewhere. It was a gigantic spider. It´s legs were as wide as man’s waist and as long as ten meters. At the end of each leg was a razor-sharp, hook-like extension, meant for disembowel its preys. Slowly it started to wipe its gaze through the scene with its dozen eyes. Sean pulled himself back behind the rock. Looking at his riffle he bit his lip. Then he gave Sara an angry look. One, that seemed to tell her: Try that again and I will shoot you myself! Sara shrugged her shoulders with an innocent smile, like saying: Well, what did you expect? Then she averted her look above them, and her face went completely white. The huge spider was standing above the rock and staring right down on them. Its sharp mouthpieces moved like scissors as it opened up its red maw. The head started to lower down on them. Sara let out a scream. Sean yanked her backwards and wheeled her behind him. He gave the gigantic spider a well-aimed shot with his riffle. The spider gave off a painful scream as it lost one of its eyes. It staggered backwards with the sudden pain. Then it gave a raged, high pitched howl. Finding its deceitful prays, it then launched attack on them. With an even and steady hand Sean kept shooting and reloading his weapon as they backed away from the spider. Making the spider lose more of its eyes and hitting with its legs. Then, as the spider rose to its back four legs, Sean took Sara’s arm and they went running. Just a second later a slimy green ball of acid, spat by the spider, hit to where they had been standing. The stones and bushes melted to the ground, leaving a crater of one meter deep and two meters wide. The spider spat another one after them, unsuccessfully. The high-pitched howl rang out the forest. It was answered by two others. “Great, now you’ve done it!” Sean shout at the woman as they run. But before he had the time to say anything else, a pair of familiar faces were coming out towards them, and Sean gave a sigh of relief. It was Ramos and Vlad. “What’s going on?!” Ramos asked. “She tried to run”, Sean said throwing the woman onto the ground. “And got that acid-spider after us when getting her back.” “Let’s deal with this then. And you”, Vlad said pointing the woman with his battleaxe. “I will deal with you later.”* * * D stood still. He was casually keeping his left hand on top of an old stone as simply resting his hand on it. The stone was one meter tall and thirty centimetres wide. The sides were clearly cut straight. Once, its four sides had been sharp, but time had rounded its corners. Green moss had grown to cover it, and the carvings were worn off, making it impossible to read. But it wasn’t alone, there were several of them forming a line with certain distances between each of them. “They are mileposts alright”, a muffled voice came from the left hand that was laying on the stone. “No mistakes about it.” D let his hand slide off from the column. Looking at the forest that had made its best to conquer the forsaken old road. Overgrowing, moss, grass, bushes, trees and vines made it almost impossible to be recognized. “It must have been here three to four hundred years”, the voice continued. “Someone has used it”, the Hunter said. And he was right. With first glance one could easily miss it, but a second one confirmed it. Some of the nearby tree branches had been cut, and some large bushes had been moved. Looking at the cutting wounds of the trees one could tell that it had been done few years ago. And some old wagon prints were still barely to be seen. “Not his Lordship, that I can tell you. This isn’t a road made by the Nobility.” “Where does it lead to?” D asked. He looked at the road as he could see the other end. “You asking me? How the heck would I know?!” the left hand exclaimed. “The nearest town is in four days ride away. We came straight through it. But I doubt this will go there. Hmm… Maybe an old service route for the servants?” Then D looked at the other end of the road, the castle, that was now almost two kilometres away. D turned his back on it. He had seen enough. * * * Sara sat on the ground, leaning her back against a huge tree. Her lip had a bluish red bruise, which had started to swell on the right side of her face. It was the handicraft of Vlad, who had taken himself the task on putting the woman on her rightful place. Sara closed her eyes and let her head tilt to one side. Then she gave off a long yawn. “Tired?” Ramos asked from her right side. “Not used to this much of a physical labor, I gather.” Sara opened her eyes slightly and gave off another yawn. “No… but that’s not it.” Settling herself on a cozier position she continued weary. “I am usually full a sleep at this time of the day.” Ramos raised his eyebrow. “You take day naps?” “No, I sleep at the daytime. One must rest as Lord Merrash is resting.” Sara closed her eyes once more. “All the life comes up as the sun goes down.” “The Noble makes you reverse your day rhythm?” Ramos asked baffled. “Mmm…”, Sara replied sleepy sound on her voice. “Took a long time to settle, but it’s possible.” She opened her eyes. It seemed that she wasn’t granted even a small nap. “And a lot of punishments”, she added to herself. “Punishments?” Ramos asked grinning as he was opening his medical bag to attend Greg by his side. “What, he puts you across the knee and spanks you?” Sara looked at the man slowly. She wasn’t amused at all. And after a small silence she replied. “Well, if you add five tailed whip and hits coming from his hand, I guess you could classify that as spanking.” The men halted. Slowly they exchanged looks. As Vampire Hunters they were very well aware how strong the members of Nobility were. There were countless of stories of how Nobles had taken the entire heads off from people, with just a simple swing of their arm. Or how they had grabbed a heart out of a human’s chest bare handedly. The group themselves had witnessed few years ago a Noblewoman slicing a man half with a single stroke of a whip. Greg’s coughing snapped them out of the dumbfound. “Done that, you wouldn’t be here talking”, Vlad commented. “You’re just making things up”, he continued with a wave of his hand. Sara didn’t reply. A certain kind of pain and sadness was shown in her eyes before she closed them. She let her head drop to one side and her brown hair covered her face. She had fallen asleep. As D returned few hours later, he found the members of the Black Scorpion on another temporary campsite arguing about what to do next. One look at the sleeping woman´s swollen yawn made it clear that she had been caught on conspiring her little plot. D leaned his back against a tree, crossed his elbows and leaned his right foot against the tree trunk. The men had opened their charts of the area. Surely, they had to start thinking a strategy of how to continue. They couldn’t just keep on changing the campsite all the time. Not, if they were about to save girl they were hired to. One day and one full night had already gone since the girl had been arrived at the Castle Nightshade. A lot of different scenarios was presented, but they all lead into the same dark result. “And how do you suppose we do that?” Ramos said once more. “All of our stuff is gone, as are our weaponry and transport.” “We have lost the element of surprise, that is our hallmark”, Greg commented tiredly. The old man was looking really pale and tired. Even that Ramos had managed to stop the bleeding of his missing leg and burned the wound close, the leader had lost huge amount of blood. It would take a lot of energy and rest to heal a missing leg. Giving the old man a heart-warming smile and a tap on the shoulder, Ramos continued. “I am sorry to say, old friend, but perhaps it’s time to…” Greg rose his hand to interrupt his friend. “No, don’t say it. There will be a way. There always is. We’re not dead yet!” “Regrouping to the nearest town by foot takes at least a week. It will take way too much time “, Vlad murmured from a wooden stump he was sitting on. “Damn it!” “What do you actually know about Lord Merrash?” D asked from the shadow. The men turned their heads to his direction. Some evil eyes were given, as exchanging information between rivaling Vampire Hunters nearly ever happened. You never knew, what little detail could change the game into their advantage. Scratching his bold head Ramos finally opened his mouth. Perhaps he saw their situation better than the others. “Not much, actually. Pretty basic stuff. His name has come up here and there, but no other mentions about him have actually stayed in the records. He has been traveling a lot lately and meeting other Nobility. No one actually knows, why that is. Surely there were no mention about that gigantic fortress! And you?” D gave a small nod. “Mostly the same. He is being paid with human women, and their fates aren’t that fortunate. It is strange, that there isn’t much information about him. It´s possible that those have been erased.” “Erased? But why?” Greg asked. “It is just a possibility”, D said simply, raising his gaze. “But we do have someone who does know him.” “Huh?” “You have to take me back”, a voice said behind the men, giving them a slight startle. It was Sara. All the others had their backs on her, except Greg and D. She had woken and came behind the quarreling men. She stood there with her hands bound behind her back, thanks to her earlier escape attempt. Just as the men started rolling their eyes and shaking their heads for the conversation that just kept on repeating again and again, Sara continued with a strong voice. “You will have to take back sooner or later. You must know that. This will only get worse. He will not stop until you are all dead. You can’t get anywhere near the castle undetected.” “Listen, lady- “Vlad started, when he was cut off by a beauty in the shadows. “She is right. The only way to get into the castle is to take her back. It would give the chance to challenge Lord Merrash into a duel.” D lifted his gaze from the ground towards the group. “You will not survive here for long.” As the dark Hunters words sank into the men, Ali jumped up. “And just what makes you think that we would let you take the hag?!” The young man’s eyes fired up. He drew his sword and took a step forward. “Ali! Just stop it!” Vlad exclaimed, realizing what his companion was about to do. A shiver of fear went thorough him. As he tried to rise up to stop him, Ramos´s strong hand pushed him back down. “Leave it”, Ramos said. He looked at D and gave him a sort head shake. Ali squeezed his sword. “I have had enough of this shit! Who the hell do you think you are?! First you crash our steam wagon and our motor bikes, and then you have the nerve to come bossing us around!” He pointed his sword at D. His entire body was shaking with rage, his words with malice. “Let’s see just how good you really are! Have at this!” And with that, he charged at D. Anyone living on the Frontier knew the legendary Vampire Hunter D. The ones on the same trade knew very well about his legendary skills, that were beyond compare. And they knew that he only drew his blade to kill, and when he did, there was no mercy. To charge against such a fearsome and cruel man was surely a suicide. And still, Ramos had prevented his colleague to intervene. D made no move to avoid the oncoming attack nor to respond into it in any way. Just two seconds before Ali´s blade would have pierced the heart of the feared Hunter, Ali found himself flying backwards. He flew good five meters before crashing on his back on the other side of the temporary campsite. Rubbing his aching chest, he looked at D. The Hunter hadn't moved. He was still leaning his back onto the big tree like before, his elbows crossed and right foot against the trunk. “Good dammit!” Ali yelled. Jumping back up he took another dash at D. As he reached the Hunter, he was again thrown back. Staring at D, it seemed that even this time, he hadn’t moved. Ali´s rage kept growing and he trembled with the growing hatred. He drew his second sword from his scabbard as he took next attempt on his enemy. “You fucking half-breed!” It was almost like watching some sort of comedy show. The young, hot blooded man with swords once again dashed against D, only to be trowed back once again. “Enough?” D asked after Ali´s third attack. The way the young man was holding his chest and side was telling about possible broken ribs. Ali spat blood at the ground. Still, as he rose, he had a fiery look on his narrow face. “What´s the matter, D? Don’t have the nerve to fight me?” Vlad started to get up. But before he even had the chance, the young man had gone to the next attack. Looking at him flying over them yet another time, he asked. “Now?” Ramos grinned. “Yeah. Now. Stop him before he really hurts himself.” Sara chuckled behind them. “What the hell are you laughing at?!” Ali spat and took few steps towards the woman and raised his sword. “Whoo- whooa!” Vlad exclaimed like calming down a wild horse and stopped his friend. “That’s enough already! Cool down! You’re lucky to be alive!” Slowly Ali cached his breath and returned his swords on his back. Greg was shaking his head. “God dammit, Ali! Go walk it off!” Turning to D, he said. “I am terribly sorry about that. The stress is really getting into him.” “Next time will not be so fortunate”, D replied. He walked to the other side of the campsite and faced the dim forest. “Why the heck are you wasting your time with these bozos?” a hoarse voice asked annoyed voice that only the Hunter could hear. “Just grab the woman and let’s go kill that Noble! You don’t owe them nothing.” D said nothing. “You worry about them? Is that it? Hey, they’re all big boys. They have their precious barrier. They will be fine”, the voice from his left hand continued. “Don’t you sense it?” “Huh?” the voice sounded completely surprised. “Sense what? Is there something there?” D´s dark gaze didn’t seem to be fixed in anything special in the forest. “Things don’t add up”, he said. “Something strange is going on. I can’t quite put my finger on it.” “Hmmm. What makes you think that? The woman? Well, she can be lying her butt off. Geessh! That’s no news…” Before the Hunter had time to respond, Vlad’s voice rang out. “Hey! Where’s my knife? I left it right here!” The man gaze swept the grounds nearby, but nothing was there. The others did the same. Then Vlad looked at Sara, who was standing just two meters away. “Okay, hand it over”, he said extending his hand. Sara looked sour. “I don’t know, what an earth do you mean?” Vlad stepped closer. “Just hand it over. I know you took it.” “Me? Why would I take your precious knife? You should take better care of your things”, Sara said innocently. Vlad groaned. “Oh, shut it! Just be a good girl and give it back.” Sighing he continued, “Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. You fancy getting a pair for that lip?” Sara backed up. “I already told you, I don’t have it!” But the truth was, of course, that she was in fact holding the man’s knife between her bound hands behind her back. She had used her chance, and took it, when the men’s attention had been drawn elsewhere. Vlad´s face went serious. “Turn around. Let me see your hands.” Sara swallowed as the man came closer. Behind her back, she dropped the knife. Unfortunately, it hit the ground flat. Taking one step backwards, the knife was left under her long dress hem. “Okay, okay. No need to get violent”, she said and turned around, showing her bare hands to the man. Just as she turned around Sara realized that she had backed up right next to D. A fright went through her. He must have seen the knife! Checking her hands and the rope around it, Vlad then grabbed her arm. “Move over.” Surely, it was the oldest trick in the book to hide something under a dress´s long hem. Sweat rose to Sara´s brow as she stepped aside. “Oh, excuse me”, she said as she almost pumped into D as she was pushed to the side. D slide to other direction. Vlad glared at the ground. With various checks on the woman and the ground they were standing on, Vlad let out a growl. The knife was nowhere to be seen! Even Sara knitted her well-shaped eyebrows, also searching for the knife with her gaze. Barely hiding her own astonishment. She couldn’t understand what she was seeing, or rather, what she didn't see. Where on earth did it go? It was right here! “It seems you knife isn’t here”, D said plainly. “Yeah”, Vlad replied slightly disappointed. Surely, he would have been eager to give the woman another good beating. Then he looked at Sara and extended his right index finger. “Consider yourself to be warned.” And with that he turner and joined the others. Sara let out a long and relieved sigh. Then she turned to the man standing next to her. “D, I…” “Consider this”, the gorgeous man said without any hint of emotions. “The men here will protect you as long as you remain as you are. The very moment you take a blade or any other weapon on your hands, you will become their enemy. There will be no exceptions. And there will be no mercy. Pointed at me, I will take you down myself.” D paused for a second. “Do you understand?” The coldness and plainness of those words made Sara shiver. She might have gotten off the hook this time, but it wouldn't happen next time. Slowly she nodded. “I-I understand.” Watching the woman stiffly walking to others D slowly faced the surrounding forest once again. Had he sensed something there? Moving his left foot, a black hilt of a knife was barely be seen from between the long grass blades. He had been standing right on top of it! As D had passed Sara, he had flipped the knife with his foot and stamped it deep into the turf. “Aah, you’re such a softie!” a hoarse voice laughed. “So, regrouping and stocking up is out of the question”, Greg said brushing his beard. His sharp eyes were examining the map, like any of the interruptions wouldn’t have happened at all. “Hmm…” “Whatever were going to do, we have to do it fast”, Ramos agreed. “We’re running out of time.” All the men nodded to that seriously. “What do you mean by that?” a woman’s voice came behind them once again. Ramos turned. “You really shouldn’t be listening. Go back to sit over there, where I can see you.” “But I am assuming that this will also involve me. And I do want to know what´s going on”, Sara said innocently. “So, why are you running out of time? Do you mean the new girl?” “Lilian”, Sean stated. Ramos gave off an annoyed growl. He felt like he was talking to a child. “Yes. The second night will be upon us after six hours. She will not last long.” “Well, that’s no true”, Sara said. The men froze and slowly turned to her. “What do you mean?” Greg asked. Being a center of their attention made Sara slightly uncomfortable. “Well… I just…” “Spit it out!” Greg raised his voice. Contemplating, if she will be giving too much information, Sara then shrugged her shoulders. “I guess it’s no harm saying this. Milord is kind of a perfectionist in some things.” “So? Aren’t they all?” “Well… I don’t think he will harm the new girl while I am still here”, Sara said. “Lilian”, Sean repeated. Totally ignoring the correction of the young man, Sara continued. “It’s too much of a distraction. Milord wants to enjoy his newcomer without any interruptions.” The men rubbed their jaws as to consider if Sara could be talking the truth. Surely it did have a logic in it. “And just how sure are you about this?” Ramos asked. Sara shrugged. “Well, never can’t be too sure. But considering that time means nothing to the Nobility, I don’t think milord would rush into anything before eliminating you. Besides, the new girl can’t be that pretty.” Sean stood up. “Lilian! Her name is Lilian!” Stepping towards Sara he continued. “Not ´the new girl´! She has a name!” Sara´s startled first at the young man´s strong reaction. Then her eyes fired up with anger. “So do I! It’s not a ´whore´ or ´hag´! It´s Sara! SA-Ra! I haven’t heard anyone of you using it!” Then she threw her head towards D. “The only one that has called me by my name is him!” Sara stepped toward the young man with red bandanna and lowered her voice. “If you aren’t using mine, why should I use hers?! Hmm? She is just another one caught up on his web. That’s all.” “But surely- “, Sean started. Sara laughed. “What? You really expect me to learn everyone’s name? Oh, my dear boy… they come, and they go.” She shook her head. “Some last few weeks, months or even a year or two. Getting friends with each and every one is just way too exhausting.” Looking then at the horrified young man, Sara gave a gentle smile. “Believe me, it will only break your heart.” Vlad blew a smoke cloud out of his lungs. He was having a tobacco between his fingers as usual. Pointing with it towards Sara. “In which, we come back to you”, he said. “How have you managed to stay alive, and seemingly sane, this long?” “She must have made some sort of deal with the Lord”, D remarked. Sara was slightly startled to hear the dark Hunters voice. Or had the gorgeous man hit too close to the truth? Quickly, she regained her calmness. “Whatever is the reason, or having a deal or not, it’s between me and milord. It has nothing to do with you. So, don’t bother your mind with it.” “You must have a talent that he finds valuable”, Vlad pondered. “Maybe she´s a witch? Or can predict the future?” Sean suggested. “Shape changer, perhaps?” Ramos guessed. Sara sighed and grinned. “Don’t worry about what I might or might not be. I hold no danger to you. Believe me, you have a lot of more important things to think about.” And with that, the men forgot the matter. Surely and simply, it did not matter. She did not matter. Turning back to their map, they forgot the woman. All except Ramos, who was keeping a keen eye on her. Sara went back to her place next to a tree. Another voice drew her attention. “You said in the castle that you’ve seen Hunters come for the Lord”, D said, still gazing at the forest. “Y-yes…” Sara said uncomfortably. “How many?” “Umm… I don’t know… haven’t actually counted them. Maybe a dozen. Some were small groups and some loners.” “And have you seen your Lord fight them?” D asked turning his eyes on the woman. Feeling the man’s dark eyes compel starting burn her from inside, Sara managed to turn her eyes to the ground. Surely there weren’t many who could escape D´s gaze. Twisting her posture uncomfortably as if the man’s sole will be frying her, she finally spoke. “M-most of them haven’t got thorough the defense systems”, Sara said in slow and uneasy tone. “Have you seen the Lord fight?” D repeated his question. Sara bit her lip and moved again uneasily. A piercing pain was pressing her heart. A sweat rose to her temples. She knew this was going too far. “Y-yes. I-I have”, she said in pain. “F-from afar!” “And what is his choice of weapon?” Sara´s face wore an expression as she would have been in great pain. The only words she managed to say with great effort was,” It´s…it’s not… not my place... to say!” Surely, she knew the limitations of her knowledge....
VHD -The Mistress, chpt7: Thornes of Death part 1Few hours later the men were back on their feet. The wounds from the previous night had been tied up and taken care of. Dislocated limbs and broken ribs had been mended as possible. The barrier had been lowered after the area had been proven safe enough. The ruins they were taking shelter at were covering an area of two hundred square meters. Few old columns and stone floor were all that was left of whatever used to be there. Mostly all of the ceilings and walls had collapsed. Long, strong vines were overgrowing the site with few bushes and long grass growing here and there. Sara was curiously exploring their surroundings few meters from the others. She run her bound hands on one of the remaining columns surface. She looked closely at the markings circling around it like a snake. Whether they were words or plain symbols, she could not tell. It wasn’t any language she knew. Keeping his eyes on Sara, Sean snorted. “It’s like she’s a lady on a pick nick.” The young man grinned as Sara turned to study the nearby plants. “You don’t go out much, do you?” Sean asked raising his voice. The reaction he got wasn’t what he had expected. After staring at the young man for few seconds, Sara tilted her hear back and started laughing. It was no heartwarming laugh, that could be heard among family and friends, or which echoed from the taverns after a long day’s work. No, it was high pitched, and closer to something of a totally twisted and insane person would sound like. Hearing it raised the men’s hair up and made their skin crawl. Sara tilted herself almost double and tried to hold her stomach as she kept on laughing. Sean pursed his lips annoyed. “Okay. Not the best word choice, but it wasn’t that funny.” Sara wiped her eyes, still chuckling. “Ohh… oh, that was… the funniest thing in a looong time. Can’t wait to tell the girls.” She found it difficult to stop laughing. “Damn, she is crazy”, Vlad murmured shaking his head. Sara´s eyes met Sean’s. “Oh, you were actually being serious?” “Yeah.” Still grinning, Sara leaned to the column next to her. “Well, this is the first time I am out of the castle since I was brought here. Heavens forbid, I am not even allowed to step to the courtyard.” “It seemed, that you had the freedom to move around the castle”, a voice came from the other side of the ruins. It was D. He had been studying the site for quite some time. “Aah”, Sara said smiling sadly. “I am sorry to say, but it was just for the show. It actually was the only route I could take into the Harem.” “But you can move around the castle?” “Well…” Sara hesitated. But something in D´s dark gaze made her answer rapidly. “It is very limited. Milord can give and take the privileges… He determines where we can and cannot go.” “The Favorites have more clearances, I gather.” Sara nodded slowly. Surely, she could guess where the conversation was going. “Yes… yes, that is true. But when milord is not here, even we cannot move around that much. Just few rooms and corridors… and the sickbay of course.” “So… you have the door codes?” Greg raised his gaze. Sara shook her head. “No, no, no. It´s all… what´s it called again…” she turned toward D. “The bio- biological…” “Bio-scan”, D replied. “Yes, it probably is.” “Yes, that’s the one.” Turning to the others Sara continued. “So, you see, it´s no use to chop me into pieces and use my body parts to enter the castle either.” Then looking at Greg, she continued. “Do you really think that any of us would really be here, if we would know the exit codes?” “Suppose not”, Greg said brushing his bushy mustache and beard. “But the guards must have them. Never tried to get it from them?” Sara pursed her lips and the sighed. “Yes… but that have never ended well. It´s really not what one should do.” “You sound like you haven’t ever even tried to escape”, Vlad stated. “Well, I suppose getting all the food you can eat, pretty dresses and jewelries can be a dream come true for a girl.” Sara froze as the man´s words finally get to her. Then she gasped as being insulted. “Ohh! How dare you!” Gasping for air, her eyes filled with hatred for the scarred man once again. “You… you… you really think I got here quietly?! The entire travel I was brought here I fought back! I ran every single time I got the chance. Tried to stab him at the heart with everything I got my hands into! I literally even scratched his eyes out once!” Sara yelled. Taking a few deep breaths as to calm herself, then she shook her head sadly. “But it’s no use… Do you have any idea how strong they really are, the Nobles? You simply cannot win. No matter how much you try…” Then, returning to Vlad´s original statement, Sara continued. “Did I ever tried to escape? Every waking hour for the first year I did nothing but thought about the ways to escape or kill him… or to kill myself!” “Then why didn’t you?” Vlad asked. “Didn’t what?” “Kill yourself. Would think that a suicide would be a sensible solution. I would rather kill myself than become a whore of the Nobility.” Staring at the man for a while, Sara smirked. “Oh, you know nothing. How could you? A savage man like you.” Something changed in her. The anger she had felt disappeared and was replaced by sadness and melancholy. “I simply cannot. The death comes only from milord.” “What do you mean?” D asked from her right. Sara leaned once again to the column next to her and lowered her gaze on her bound hands. After few seconds of silence, she gave off a long and sad sigh. “Simply what I said. I cannot kill myself. None of us can. And… its forbidden to even try.” “You cannot or you won’t?” “Yes… It’s difficult to explain”, her gaze traveled onto Vlad’s knife that the man had struck into a log next to him. “It would be easier to show you.” “Sure, it would”, Vlad said grinning. “But you can believe that you aren’t getting anything as a weapon.” Shrugging her shoulders, Sara then took a while to gather the words. How could one explain something that sounded impossible? Something, that Sara herself hadn’t believe, before the cruel reality had revealed itself to her. She already knew, the men weren’t going to believe it either. “To put it very simple… I… no, we can’t hurt ourselves. No matter how much we would want or how much strength we would put on it. There´s something stopping you... It´s simply not possible. Except… in the presence of Milord.” Sara turned her gaze onto the canopies. “If I got a knife, I could keep it on my wrist, yes. But as much strength as I would put behind it, I couldn't make it go through the skin. Or if I would stand on the edge of an open window or a balcony, I can´t jump! No matter how much I would want it, or how much courage I would have! It´s like… like… there´s some kind of invisible force field that keeps you still. You simply cannot!” “Bullshit!” Ali exclaimed. “You just take a knife and cut your wrists or throat open. It’s as simple as that.” Just as Sara was about to response, a cold voice came next to her. “Show me.” It was D. Sara turned baffled. And just as she was about to ask how she would do that, she realized that her hands were free. She hadn’t even felt the Hunter to cut the rope nor seen him doing it! Staring at her freed hands and the cut rope on her feet in amazement. Then something even more incredible happened. The gorgeous Hunter was offering her a knife. “Hey! Wait just a second!” Vlad and Ali shouted in unison and stood up. “Hold it!” Greg shouted to them. “I want to see this”, he said turning himself into a better position. A plain curiosity had awakened inside the old man. It seemed that this hunt was getting more interesting by the hour. Surely, getting as much information on the Noble they were after, was valuable. Sara swallowed and slowly reached for the long knife that was being offered to her hilt first. Just before her fingertips touched it, she paused and looked at the D´s face. Perhaps she thought it could be a trap. However, there was no expression on the gorgeous man´s face. D gave Sara a small, confirming nod. Taking the knife Sara looked around still slightly confused about the suddenly offered weapon. Then she went down to her knees. Sara stared at the blade on her hand for a while. Then, checking that the men could see what she was going to do, she slowly laid her left hand on top of her thigh and turned it wrist side up. She rolled the red sleeve to reveal her wrist. Sara closed her eyes and took few deep breaths. As she opened her eyes, she took the knife on her right hand and turned it sideways. Not a single emotion moved on her face. It was that she already knew what was going to happen, or in this case, not. She took a better grip of the handle and placed the blade over her exposed wrist. Sara took down the blade. The men to raise their eyebrows and exchange looks. There was no blood. The blade had stopped just one millimetre above the woman’s wrist. Thinking that Sara was somehow pretending and trying to trick them. But as they kept watching, their thoughts slowly crumbled, and they were left in confusion. The way Sara was pushing the blade down and even adding her own body weight behind it made it clear that she wasn’t pretending. Few times she pulled the knife away and tried again, harder than before. Her face was getting red with all the trying, her right-hand muscles trembled with exhaustion and triples of sweat rolled down on her face after few minutes of trying to get the blade thorough her arteries. “Aaarrhhh!” Sara gave off a scream mixed with anger, exhaustion and most of all desperation. The knife went flying through the air as she threw it away. Leaning on her fours, she was trembling in exhaustion and breathing heavily. A watery member covered her eyes, but never condensed into tears. As much as she had tried, as much strength as she had used, had made no difference. The blade had not pierced her skin, not even left the faintest scratch. Her death still lied with her master. “Well… I’ll be damned… “, Greg said in low tone. “That´s something.” The members of Black Scorpion started pondering the cause of what they had just seen, in low murmur. Analyzing the phenomenon with their long and wide expertise as Vampire Hunters. “But… wait, wait, wait”, Vlad stated raising his hand. Turning to Sara, who was getting back on her feet, he asked, “If you can’t hurt yourself… can you hurt the others?” A fair question to be sure. Sara shook her head slowly. “No. And you can be sure, that we have tried everything. Murder, causing accidents, traps… nothing works.” The men knit their brows and pursed their lips. Surely, this was something new to them. “It´s a mind blockade,” a cold voice said. All the eyes focused on the black garmented Hunter. “It’s a complex mind barrier. It seems, that as long as you know consciously or unconsciously that the goal is death, it prevents the body to act.” D examined the woman with his dark eyes. “So, your master has the ability of mind modification.” “Among other things…”, Sara said in a low voice, but didn’t continue. Perhaps she had realized that she had given more information than she had meant to. D turned around. He casually walked over, where his knife had landed. The Hunter knelt down. Just as his delicate, pale fingers touched the handle, D went flying and sparks of silver were left behind. A quarter of a second earlier something had come up from the ground. Being an ordinary man, D would have been pierced by it, but thanks to his unhumanly keen senses, he had barely avoided it. As D was sailing through the air. A black, spear like thing stretched after him from the ground and split itself in three sharp points. D´s sword crossed with the sharp spears, leaving sparks and certain kind of a ringing sound behind. “It’s some sort of metal!” came a hoarse voice from his left hand. Just as D was about to land, another black spear rose from the exact spot he was about to come down to. Twisting his body sideways, D narrowly avoided it. Kicking his boot against the spears shaft he launched himself back into the air. The black spear of a metal followed suit. It split in five parts, which split into five more, sig sagging after him. Slashing through the air, swirling himself around, moving sideways between the spears D miraculously managed to avoid the razor-sharp tips, making the spears barely missing its marks on his face, chest, and back. More sparks rained down. Then, all of a sudden, the spears withdraw back into the ground. By the time D had landed, the others had already drawn their weapons. “Where did it go?!” Ali asked holding his double swords. The answer came after he took one step forward. Barely managing to dodge it, Ali leaped left and raised his sword. A black spear had come from underground. It´s shaft was triangle shaped, five centimetres in diameter. It came straight up from the ground with a circling motion to two meters tall. With sharp, about three centimetres long spikes covering it made it remotely remind of a thistle. After two seconds, it attacked. The metal spear grew eight branches, each splitting into eight smaller ones and even those splits into eight. Each having razor sharp edges and points, seemingly slicing to random directions in a just two second’s time. Backing up, rolling, jumping, hitting the branches with all his might, Ali managed to survive with just a single scratch on his left shoulder. “Hah! Is that all you can do?!” As an answer, the whole area was quickly covered with slowly rising black thistles, two meters apart from each other’s. There must have been hundreds of them. “Oh, this isn’t good!” a hoarse voice stated from the vicinity of D´s left hand. It seemed that they were completely surrounded by them. Slowly the spears returned into the ground beneath their feet as if they were merely letting the Hunters to know their numbers. There were no detectable movement. Even the holes where the spears had become had vanished, as if they were never there at all. The men stood still. After ten seconds, it started. Springing up from the ground like a jack-in-a box-toy, two came up in a second between Ali and the others. One sprang out between Greg and Ramos. It was forcing the Hunters to spread up. As soon as the men took a step out of their place the branches came up from the ground in different angles, spreading in all directions in alarming speed. It seemed like it had just tested their skills with D and Ali. It was getting faster. Much faster. The men were fighting for their lives. Giving and getting hits from the spears that coming at them faster than eyes could see. Ali was once again proving his skills as a master of double-bladed swords. Twisting, turning and bouncing here and there. Vlad was barely managing to evade the slashing blade-like branches. He got a hit from behind to his left shoulder. With a yell, he turned and cut the branch with his enforced battle axe. Ramos and Sean had their backs together. Not having blades to evade the metal branches, they had to use their riffles as a blockade. Sweat was pouring down from their temples. As soon as they managed to block one attack, another one, or in cases, several metal spears sprang up from underground. It didn’t take much time for them to realize how the mechanism worked. “Stop moving!” Greg croaked from his place. He was actually the only one not being attacked. No, that wasn’t actually true. Another character stood dead still near one of the columns where she had been left. “It has motion detectors!” Greg continued. It was easier said than done. How could one fight against the steel branches without moving? But, after thirty seconds, thanks to their experience as Vampire Hunters, the men had somehow managed to stand completely still. D, of course, had done so earlier already and was standing quietly. His sword pointing down. Eyeing the scene and pondering their options. All of them were scattered around the old ruins. The one left standing in the middle was Sara. As the fight had started, she had lean her back tightly against the nearest column and hadn’t moved a muscle since then. Her face had a pale hue. “Is everyone in one piece?!” Ramos enquired. Even him and Sean had been forced to split up, and they were now standing five meters from each other’s. Agreeing murmur came as a respond. “What the heck is it?!” Sean asked. “Seems mechanical”, Ramos said. “It must have a motor or control unit of some sort.” “How the hell can it move like that? I mean, in underground”, Sean continued. “It must have come from the castle”, D said in a low tone. The men got quiet and turned toward the dark Hunter, nodding to his statement. “It could be part of the defense systems”, he continued. “Tell me something I don’t know!” Vlad spat. “How do we disable it?” Totally ignoring the man D turned his eyes to Greg, who was sitting almost fifteen meters from him. The next words that came from his lips would have shocked the ones who knew the Hunter. Surely, it was unthinkable that D would ever ask anyone’s opinion about matters. “Any ideas?” The old man brushed slowly his mustaches. After a few seconds, he nodded as to confirm his own thoughts. “Ramos is right. Whatever this is, its artificial. Some sort of mechanical entrapment. No doubt, coming from the castle. I don’t believe it was here earlier.” “How you reckon that?” Ali asked from good twenty meters away on his right side. Greg smirked. “Because I didn’t sense it. And, besides, it wouldn’t have waited this long to attack us.” Then the old man pursed his lips. “It must have a control system in it somewhere. In the center would be the most logical… but where is it?” Giving a consulting gaze at D, he continued. “Can you tell, where that might be?” Surely, he had some knowledge of D abilities. D gave a slow nod. “I have an idea.” “How the hell could he possibly know?!” Vlad spat pointing the handsome man on his left side with his axe. Lifting his axe caused another attack towards him. “Fuck!” he exclaimed realizing his own mistake and dodged the metal branches as well as he could without taking another step. “And just how the hell do you suppose to get there?!” Vlad cursed. “Dhampir or not, you can’t avoid all of these shits! Even you aren’t that fast!” D gave no reply. He let his gaze go around the ruins, pondering his options. He completely locked out the men’s arguments about their situation. His gaze went through every column, tree and stone wall there was. There seemed not to be any route to the center of the entrapment without exposing completely to the deadly thorns. Thinking back about their fight, there didn’t seem to be any logic on where and how densely the steel spears would appear either. “He´s right, you know”, a creaky voice said from the vicinity of D´s left hand. “As much I hate to admit”, the voice continued with a low tone only the Hunter could hear. “Your speed won’t help you now. The distance is too great. It will nail you down before you get there.” D´s gaze was drawn into one spot on the ruins over and over again. “I don’t need to get there. It will come to me.” “Huh?!” All the men got silent once more and turned to D. Then they followed his gaze. D looked straight as Sara. “When we got scattered, you dashed next to that column. It didn’t come after you.” The Hunter stated. “S-so what?” Sara stammered. “You are standing above the control unit.” “How did you figure that out?” Ramos asked amazed. “It’s the only spot we cannot attack.” D´s words seemed to make sense. But had the Hunter really had time to see, what Sara was doing, while he himself had been attacked? It sounded impossible. Then again, no one could know. “Come to me”, D said. “What?! Are you insane?! No, no I rather stay right here, thank you”, Sara said shaking her head. Surely, she was terrified. Being the only one unarmed and completely defenseless. If she would take one step from her place, the steel branches would surely tear her to pieces in a second. “It won’t hurt you. It´s send here to eliminate us, not you. Just like the beasts last night.” “Oh? And just how sure are you about that?!” “Quite.” Sara laughed. “Quite?! Oh… that´s just not enough for me. I rather stay right here.” The woman’s voice trembled slightly. Averting her gaze onto the heavens she tried to calm herself down in a horrible situation. Closing her eyes, she pretended to be somewhere else, the same old trick she had been using countless of times. After a short silence, D spoke again. “Sara”, his voice softer than before. It was precisely the softness of the man’s voice, not hearing her name, that made Sara open her eyes and turn toward the man with unearthly beauty. D had raised his head, so that Sara could see his entire face. Sara looked straight into his dark eyes. Even that the man was standing over thirty meters from her, she heard his voice as he was standing next to her. Keeping the woman on the hold of his gaze D continued with calm, quiet voice. “Sara. Come to me.” Slowly he raised his left hand and extended it slightly toward the woman, into an inviting gesture. “Keep your eyes on me. Slowly, start walking towards me.” As Sara opened her mouth to oppose, D continued. “Everything will be fine. Just keep your eyes on me. Listen to my voice and do as I tell you.” And for everyone’s surprise, that is exactly what Sara did. Slowly, very slowly and carefully she started to walk towards the Hunter. Her entire body was stiff, but her face wore the expression of trust. Had the man hypnotized her? Step by step Sara got closer to D. Few times a metallic spear rose slowly from the ground, and Sara stopped on D´s orders. Trying her very best not to look at the spears that she saw from the corners of her eyes. She was terrified. Even as Sara bear a certain death wish within, she didn't want to be killed so brutally as this. Her skin was pale, and she had squeezed her hands into balls beside her. Still, she followed on D´s command. At the moment it seemed that her life was in his hands. Finally, she reached the dashing Hunter and took his extended hand like it was the salvation itself. She gave off a heavy sigh of relieve and leaned against D. She trembled with the exhaustion and relieve. She had actually survived. Her knees almost buckled. “Well done”, said the Hunter. He circled his left arm around Sara´s waist to keep her on her feet. D lowered his gaze on their feet. “Now comes the tricky part”, a hoarse voice stated from around Sara´s waist, but the woman was too exhausted to notice. D changed the way he was holding his sword. The control system was now right under their feet. He had been right assuming that it would stay under Sara, even if she would move. The main reason for that must have been to keep her alive while killing the Hunters. And then to keep her safe against the monsters and creatures of the forest, until someone would come to collect her. But how deep in the ground was the control system? There was no way to know that. Was the length of D´s sword be enough? “Stay right here. Don’t move a muscle”, D said to Sara, pulling his left arm away from her waist. The woman nodded seriously. Slightly bending his knees, D bounced into the air. Straight up. His travelers coat spread up around him as he reached the top point of his incredible ten-meter jump. The Hunter had gone up in the air faster that they could see, but it was nothing to compare at the speed, what he was coming down with. The air swirled around D as he accelerated to half the speed of light. Taken the length of the drop, it was nothing but miraculous. Sara closed her eyes and squeezed her fingers into tight fist, her nails pressing painfully into her skin. She turned her head sideways as to evade the becoming hit. D landed. His blade sunk into the ground all the way, piercing something metallic, right between Sara´s feet. Only the tip of the hilt was left to be seen from the long sword. A huge pressure wave followed suit, spreading underground and around them like rings on water. There was an ear ringing screech echoing from underground. The ground shook. D pulled his sword off from the ground. Something like a blue smoke followed. Few faint bleeps could be heard. Then it got quiet. The devious machine moved no more. Ali took one step aside, as to test if the machine really was destroyed. Nothing happened. All the men gave off a sigh of relief. Finally, they could relax. Looking at Vlad, Sean’s lips formed words without a sound. Did you see that?! Dhampir magic! With a sour face, Vlad rolled his eyes. D returned his sword back to its scabbard. As Sara was about to lean on his left arm, D pushed her coldly aside. “We better get moving.” “You´re right”, Greg said reinforcing D´s words. “They know we´re here.” Then, like nothing had happened at all, the old man asked. “By the way, did you manage to learn what this was?” Greg pointed at the old ruins. “Can´t say for certain. But it seems to me an old sacrificing place.” “That would make sense”, a voice came from behind them. It was Sara. D turned. “And why is that?” “Oh, for no reason”, Sara said quickly. “Just… you know… vampires and all…” She shrugged and then turned toward Ramos, who approached her with a rope. “Oh, not again…. What if I promise to behave?” “No can do, lady. No can do”, the bald man said with a grin. Once again, they were walking through the thick forest in a line formation. Ali and Vlad had taken the lead, followed by Ramos who was carrying Greg on his back. Then came Sara, who was being baby-sit by Sean. Last, like always, came D. The men had managed to get Sara a pair of boots from one castle soldier´s corpse that they had run into. In the Frontier one had to use everything that came to you. Robbing the dead was a basic way to survive in the wastelands. And after some opposing words from Sara, she had then been convinced that it was better to have shoes in the forest than continue with bare foot. Even that the boots weren’t a perfect fit, it was better than nothing. “You don’t seem like a Vampire Hunter to me”, Sara said, turning to Sean. Looking at the young man, who couldn’t be much more than nineteen years old. Giving him a broad, seductive smile, she continued, “So, what is a nice young man like you doing with these brutal men?” Sean was surprised by the woman’s sudden attention. “Huh? Well…I´m not a Vampire Hunter. Not actually. I am more of a tracker and a sniper.” “Oh?! Is that so?” Sara said obviously delighted. “That sounds exciting. Sean, was it?” Sean cleared his throat and fixed his grip on the riffle that’s barrel was leaning on his right shoulder. “Yes… Ramos warned me not to talk to you.” Sara gave a light laugh. “Oh? What possible harm is there to talk?” She gave another smile at the young man. Whether Sean realized that the smiles given to him never quite reached Sara´s eyes, remained unknown. “Words have never killed anyone, have they?” “Well… no,” Sean said shrugging his shoulders. A reddish hue appeared on his young cheeks. “But he did say that… that you would try to get some information, that you could then use against us later. And… maybe try to do something funny.” “Who, me?” Sara continued with a smooth, innocence voice. “Oh, come now. I am all tight up, what harm could I possible do?” She lifted her bound hands for the man to see. “All I can do, is have a decent conversation.” Sean sighed unease. “I do get you… this mustn’t be easy for you. Still, I think it’s better to keep going quietly. We don’t want to draw too much attention to ourselves from the forest monsters.” Sensing, that the young man was coming back to his senses, Sara nodded smiling. “Yes, you might be right on that. You know, you are much cleverer than what they give you credit for.” She nodded towards the others walking before them. As the young man knitted his eyebrows for an obvious flattering, Sara got quiet and kept on walking. Turning her attention to other matters. After walking for some time, Sean stopped to tighten his bootlace. As he stood back up, D had already gained him. “Just look at that”, the young man said tossing his chin toward Sara ahead. “She´s like a lady on a pick nick. It´s like she just has to touch and look everything she sees!” And at the moment, Sara had stopped to admire a huge vine that was covering an entire tree trunk. It had heart-shaped leaves, and beautiful white lily-like flowers that were ten centimetres wide and had pale blue lace edges. A faint smell of vanilla floated into her nostrils and she leaned closer. Suddenly, Sara was violently pulled back. “What are you doing?!” Sean shouted at the woman with anger. “Don’t you know White Lace?! It´ll melt your entire face off!” Sean grabbed a stick from the ground and took it close to the white flower. He gave a gentle poke with it. The white flower turned slowly and spat pale white smoke from its center. The stick Sean was holding started to melt from where the acid smoke had touched it, spreading wider and wider, until he had to drop the stick. “See!” Sean said in frustrated tone, the same that parents gave to their disobedient children after something had broken, even that they had been warned about it. Sara stared with wide eyes. “Oh… I -I didn’t know…” “How can´t you possible know! It grows everywhere in the Frontier!” Sean exclaimed. Then he harshly pushed the woman forward. “Just keep going.” Sara murmured a thank you for saving her life and then continued her walk even more quiet than before. She made no attempt on looking or touching anything around her no more. Sean shook his head. “See what I mean? It’s like she´s never seen these plants or animals before. She is like child, who is bound to touch everything to know what it is! But even a child knows the White Lace.” “There is another possibility”, D said behind the young man. “And what is that?” “It is completely possible that she is seeing all of this for the first time.” “Huh?!” Sean turned his head toward D. “You forget that she is very far from her home. It´s possible that the flora and fauna here are different than the one at her home region. Not all the species are global.” “Well, I suppose…” “She has been imprisoned for a long time. She might have forgotten just how dangerous the Frontier can be”, D continued. “Perhaps you shouldn’t be too hard on her. It would be a good idea for you to keep a closer eye on her more than usual would be required.” Sean gave no reply. He only nodded as he carried on. The Hunter had been right. “You think…” Sean started to say as he turned to D. He stopped on his tracks, looking left and right and down to the path they had just come from. “Hey, where did you go?” There was no sign of the dashing Hunter. * * *...

Mature Content

Comedy Fanfiction
Romance Fanfiction
Drama Fanfiction
Mystery Fanfiction
Fanart - Mature

Mature Content

Be Mine - uncensored by Mandi-Cakes81

Mature Content

In the Mine (uncensored) by Mandi-Cakes81

Mature Content

D Wank, with Tea (censored) by Mandi-Cakes81

Mature Content

Vamp Hunters Can Bite Me by Mandi-Cakes81
Fanart - General
Rose Princess - Nightfall by OwlVirus
Chibi Vampire Hunter D - NO.03 by Hallowie29
Chibi Vampire Hunter D - NO.02 by Hallowie29
41st Anniversary of VAMPIRE HUNTER D by Hallowie29
Fanart - Story Illustration
Lament of The Innocent Heart P.9 by Amethyst-Phoenixx
Fanart - VHD Fic OCs
Cosplay
Graf Von Krolock by the-ALEF
VHD OC Contest
Dark Vampire by Jeffwolf12

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:iconvesperknight:
VesperKnight Featured By Owner Jun 17, 2014  Hobbyist Digital Artist
OMG SO EXCITED! (*shee*) ONLY... 25-17=... (had to use calculator -_-) 8 DAYS TILL VAMPIRE HUNTER D VOLUME 21: RECORD OF THE THE BLOOD BATTLE IS PUBLISHED (:D)! I'M SO EXCITED I COULD EXPLODE INTO MINI D'S! (not litteraly guys that would be to awesome) I WANNA JUMP OFF THE WALL AND DO A BACK FLIP! (I can't do that ethier no free wall space right now -_- and I'd fail epicly) I CAN'T SIT STILL! (not joking my foot won't stop jumping o-O) AND THE SAD PART ABOUT THIS IS THAT I CAN NAME ALL THE BOOKS IN ORDER! (not a joke :D)
1: Vampire Hunter D (inspired Vampire Hunter D)
2: Raiser of Gales
3: Demon Deathchase (inspired Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust)
4: Tale of the Dead Town
5: The Stuff of Dreams
6: Pilgrimage of the Scared and the Profane
7: Mysterious Journey to the North Sea Parts 1 and 2
8: Mysterious Journey to the North Sea Parts 3 and 4 
9: The Rose Princess
10: Dark Nocturne
11: Pale Fallen Angel Parts 1 and 2
12: Pale Fallen Angel Parts 3 and 4
13: Twin-Shadowed Knight Parts 1 and 2
14: Dark Road Parts 1 and 2
15: Dark Road Part 3
16: Tyrant's Stars Parts 1 and 2
17: Tyrant's Stars Parts 3 and 4
18: Temple of the Elder God
19: Mercenary Road
20: Scenes of an Unholy War
and
21: Record of the Blood Battle
EVEN THOUGH I OWN THE WHOLE SERIES I DIDN'T LOOK I SWARE I'D MAKE TO MUCH NOISE MOVING THE BOOKS OVER TO THE LIGHT OF MY LAPTOP AND ALL CAUSE IT'S 4:00 IN THE MORNING! I'M SITTING ON MY TOES! (this is actually happening in real life right now and I walk on my toes to so I stay on my toes :D (get it?) I know I suck at jokes :P)
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:iconjeishii:
Jeishii Featured By Owner Jan 30, 2015  Hobbyist Digital Artist
LOL I feel your excitement! :) I admit I"m happy you posted this because I needed the list of names xD Now I know what ones I need to get :D
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:iconvesperknight:
VesperKnight Featured By Owner Jan 30, 2015  Hobbyist Digital Artist
heres the names of the rest XD
22: White Devil Mountain Parts 1 and 2
23: Iriya The Berserker
24: Throng of Heretics
25: Immortal Island
26: The Hellish Horse Carriage
27: Nightmare Village
28: The Royal Tiger of Winter
29: Battlefront of the Nobility
30 (and possibly 31): The Golden Demon Part 1 And 2
31: Sylvia's Road Home
32: Festival of the Nobility
33: Banquet in Purgatory
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:iconvesperknight:
VesperKnight Featured By Owner Jun 17, 2014  Hobbyist Digital Artist
I'm sorry if this is epicly random
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:icone1l0n3wy:
E1L0n3wy Featured By Owner Dec 12, 2013  Hobbyist Traditional Artist
OOOOps ^^; hahaha I put some pictures in the wrong folder... There was no way to submit to the "cosplay" folder... so I just clicked the Sumbit to gallery button... and it put it into fan fiction ^^; soooorrrryy I don't know how to fix it heheeh...^^;.....
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:iconjeishii:
Jeishii Featured By Owner Feb 25, 2014  Hobbyist Digital Artist
I will fix, no problems. :) I'll fix the cosplay folder too.
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:iconcrossedscythes:
CrossedScythes Featured By Owner Oct 7, 2013
Thanks for adding my work to your gallery ÖwÖ
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:iconjeishii:
Jeishii Featured By Owner Nov 4, 2013  Hobbyist Digital Artist
Ya! Thank you for allowing it to be added. :)
Reply
:icondarkestslumber:
DarkestSlumber Featured By Owner Jun 9, 2013  Hobbyist Digital Artist
I recently got into this series and so far I love it :)
Besides fanfictions, does this group do roleplays?
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:iconjeishii:
Jeishii Featured By Owner Jun 10, 2013  Hobbyist Digital Artist
At this time we don't have any roleplays going. :) The group is still pretty small.
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