Vampire Hunter D Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Encore ❯ The Dangers of Hunting ( Chapter 2 )

Dark Encore

Chapter Two: The Dangers of Hunting…

"Wake up

Grab a brush and put a little makeup

Hide the scars to fade away the shakeup

Why'd you leave the keys upon the table?

There you go creating another fable"

- System of a Down, "Chop Suey"

Disclaimer: It's a chapter late, but here I go - I do not own Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. I don't even own a DVD of it yet; I'm currently borrowing it from a very nice friend of mine. To an extent, I don't even own Erika because she was first seen at the end of the movie, although I do own what's happened to her as well as her name. The only character I really own is Rose. Is that enough of a disclaimer?

~*~

The moment Erika walked out of the van to take a look at what was wrong, she could see that it wasn't the work of a vampire or a demon, or anything like that. She had been responsible for most of the van's repairs enough times to know when something was sabotage, when it was a mechanical failure, and when it was due to her own driving skills failing her. As it were, the current situation fell under the third category, for it was thus:

The van, her glorious van, had gotten a flat tire. Upon further investigation of the situation under the moon's silvery light, she found out that there was a spike of some sort on the road behind her, exactly where the tire would have pricked itself. Erika swore under her breath and called back to Rose: "We got a flat tire! Get to the back and find the spare, will ya?" The silence of the night answered her before she heard a murmur of assent and the sounds of someone frantically scrambling towards the back of the car.

At night, all was usually quiet to the point of total silence, which explained why Erika was able to hear those sounds. She could also hear the faint rush of wind, the chirping of those birds that only went out at night, and other sounds that couldn't be heard during the day with all its noise. Sighing, she looked away from the van out to the night scenery. She, her companion, and the van were located on a road that wound around a cliff, heading towards a nearby town - the first they had seen in a few days. The cliff in question overlooked a valley clothed in grass with the occasional tree or shrub appearing here and there. Not, she mused, that that would make any difference if they fell over the edge of the cliff.

A quiet squeak heralded the opening of a window, and Erika looked over her shoulder back at the van. A few moments later, both of Rose's pale cloth-covered arms could be seen from the window, and in the hands on the ends of those arms was the spare tire Erika had requested. The person carrying the spare tire whimpered softly before unceremoniously dropping the spare tire; fortunately, Erika caught it before it hit the ground. The blonde girl examined the tire before saying, "Thanks a million, Rose. If you want, you can come outta that van next town we hit - it doesn't seem there are any vampires round here."

This time Rose's face did appear at the open window. Her usually calm eyes now showed a look of excitement. "Really? Do you really mean it, Erika? Can I really…?" At Erika's amused nod, the red-haired girl let out a happy yell and disappeared from the window, presumably to go back to her seat. Shaking her head, Erika returned to replacing the flat tire with the good one.

After repairs were done, Erika walked back into the van, sat back down at the driver's seat, turned the car back on, and drove towards the next town…

…and they were totally unaware of the dark shape watching the van from a ridge above them. The shape in question was that of a man wearing a cloak, riding a horse. The breed of the horse could not be ascertained in the deep darkness, but with its red eyes and the gleam on some parts of its body, it was probably at least partly cybernetic. It could be seen this clearly because the moon appeared to be directly behind it.

The lone figure was silent, staring after them for a second before riding off.

Two hours later, still under the cloak of night, Erika and Rose had reached the town, and it wasn't two seconds into the town before they realized that while a vampire had not been responsible for the flat tire on their van, a vampire had definitely gotten to this town before them.

The first hint as to what had happened to the villagers was the fact that none of them were acting normally, i.e. staying in their homes or other places of residence, or out and about going to bars or doing some late-night shopping. All twenty of the villagers were gathered in the street and staring hollowly at the visitors' van - while a welcoming committee was appreciated, this was overdoing it.

The second hint that something wasn't right was that all of the villagers were quite undead. Their skins had all turned gray and stretched tightly over skeletal frames, their ears had pointed slightly, and their eyes were all crimson. Add to that the fangs and the smell of death that could be smelled even inside the van, and it became insanely obvious that the villagers had been turned into zombies.

"Holy hell," whispered Erika. She and Rose were still in the van, which was a good five or so feet away from the zombie villagers. Erika had stopped the van, her hands white-knuckled as they still curled around the steering wheel. Her eyes had widened and her lips were parted a bit in shock. "Who did this to them? - What did this to them?!"

Rose quietly stumbled to the front of the van, managing to get there safely by way of staying close to one of the walls (not the one that jutted out halfway between the driver's area and the quarters, of course.) She took a brief look at the villagers before her own eyes widened and she turned ashen. "I-it was probably a vampire…" she whispered in shock.

Erika looked over at her companion and nodded grimly. "Probably so," she said before turning her attention back towards what was in front of her. "Get to the back, close all the windows except the one you're gonna fire out of, and be ready to fire. I'm going to put the lights on at full blast and try to mow 'em down." She revved up the car and prepared to move. She would have done so immediately, were it not for the fact that Rose hadn't moved yet. She glared over at Rose and barked, "I told you to get moving, kid!" After Rose squeaked and ran off to do as she was told, Erika returned her attention to the task of driving and mowing down zombies at the same time. It wasn't easy, but it had worked before and hopefully it would work again.

First she turned the high-beam headlights on. She had made sure to get really bright headlights installed, so it was no wonder that the zombies hissed collectively and clawed at the air in front of them as if to stop the light or to regain their balance. A smirk crossed the red-garbed hunter's face as she said, "Sleep tight, freaks."

Then she slammed her foot on the accelerator, and in the unnatural light the headlights created, she zoomed towards the group of zombies.

Author's Note: Short, I know, but if I put the fight scene in this chapter it'd make the chapter way too long, and I don't want to bore you readers to death! (I'm not listening if you say I already have…) I was also attempting for a cliffhanger here. Please review, reviews are much appreciated.