Vampire Hunter D Fan Fiction ❯ God of Death ❯ Chapter 4: First Temptations ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4: First Temptation

 

The pale rays of the sun had melted most of the light snow on the slope. Young sprouts raised their heads from the ground, diligently drawing to themselves the energy they would need to send out shoots in the season to come.

Like a pastoral painting, green already covered the gently rolling terrain, and off in the distance a young Adonis stood in stark relief against the blue sky, walking as the wind fluttered the hem of his cloak.

One only had to draw a step closer, however, to be struck by the ineffable eldritch aura swelling from that tall, black-clad form to realize he was an otherworldly entity thoroughly in keeping with that perfectly preserved beauty.

Vampire Hunter D- in spring, in summer, his emotionless eyes reflected a demon-haunted darkness.

Halfway up the slope D stopped.

A woman stood on the hill, clad like he was in black. It was Hellfire, with her black mane streaming out behind her. Despite being mortal, it seemed the beautiful Huntress belonged to the darkness that ruled the dhampir. Sensing a presence, she turned and saw the Hunter climbing the hill.

`If you're going to tell me to go home, you're wasting your time,' Hellfire said with a dour look.

`I wasn't going to say any such thing,' D said. `I was going to ask you what you're doing here.'

Her expression softened slightly. `I was out here before dawn this morning hunting for the vampires that tried to kill me. I just found a trail that leads to the fortress ruins about five hundred miles from Verna. It's long cold, but I have a feeling that they're still taking refuge there.'

of his eye, he was surprised to see the young woman was able to keep up with his graceful stride. On reaching the summit, she immediately slipped into the ruins without a backward glance, and was gone.

Completely unruffled by her coldness, D slipped through the breach after her.

Humans remained afraid to enter the castles of the Nobility. Their owners having disappeared for reasons unknown, weeds and rats usually overran the homes and untended grounds. In some cases automated maintenance devices had broken down, in others the Nobility had disconnected them before they vanished. Such actions seemed to state that these were still places no mortal should ever touch. Seeing these ruins with that in mind was enough to send chills climbing the viewer's spine.

Ramparts not withstanding, the main gate and chapel, which had once been the principal edifices here, were all blown from their foundations. Even the pitiful figure of the belfry, top half now lost, glared at the empyrean vault. Stony heaps of rubble and the remains of buildings formed the central courtyard. The courtyard also barely retained its original shape, and it did an excellent job now of slowing Hellfire's pace.

D was in the darkness of the main hall. At the sight of him silently studying something on the wall, she got the distinct impression the pale blue stream of time had ceased to flow.

`Those markings capture your interest?' she called out as she approached. D, who hadn't answered no matter how she'd called out to him, turned toward her.

`Come here often, do you?'

`Yes,' she replied. She dropped from the high breach and landed on her feet in a crouch. Rising gracefully, she brushed the cobwebs off her shoulders and walked towards him. She was like an angel shrouded in darkness, her destiny filled with death and blood. `The markings are stories carved in stone using an obscure script used only by the Nobility themselves. I've been studying them since I found this place. I know more about these ruins than the council combined.' She wasn't boasting: she was just stating the facts. She looked at the beautiful Vampire Hunter. `I'm not entirely sure what you came here for, but since we're both here why don't we look at these markings together?'

For the briefest instant, D scanned the face of the fierce young Huntress, then nodded.

The two of them played their gaze across the one panel after another in the prodigious collection of manuscripts set in the walls.

`The setting of these stories is always darkness, night and moonlight and mist- so why do they make it sound so beautiful? How could they write of that world so softly when we can't set foot outside without that ineffable terror crushing us? Is the Nobility's night somehow different to ours?'

D watched the young woman silently. Her face was soft and her green eyes were sparkling with a longing that stripped away the veil of ferocity- this woman whose innocence had long since been taken from her.

`Why are you shunned by the people of Verna?' the Hunter asked.

Hellfire turned to him. `I thought you would already know that, considering you knew what we were up against.' Her tone was gently teasing. D just looked at her. The teasing sparkle faded from her eyes as she stared at him.

`You're serious?' she said softly. `You really want to know?'

The Hunter nodded. She sighed and looked away, unable to meet the gorgeous youth in the eye.

`Ever since I was a child, I knew I was different from everyone else. I refused the traditional life of a woman in the village. I found it very demeaning and would constantly ask questions about why women and girls could not be soldiers. I was the laughing stock of the city and my family thought I was being stupid. But I wasn't going through a phase, as everyone believed. When I turned fourteen, the legal age where girls were allowed out at night, I would sneak into the barracks and talk to the younger soldiers. They liked my spirit and would cover for me when I needed to return home. They would even train me as one of their own, disguising me as one of the young boys that came in every now and then. Those were happier times.'

There was a strange but beautiful light in the Vampire Hunter's eyes as he listened. He nodded slightly to show his interest and she continued.

`Then came the battle. The Nobility were out in full force and we were sent to the battlefield. Unfortunately, it was on one of the days where I would spend all day with the soldiers and I was mistaken for one of the infantry. But I didn't care: this was something I had dreamed about for years and it was finally coming to fruition. But it was a long and agonising three months. Many died under the fangs of the vampires, some of their victims very dear to me. I killed many vampires myself, all in disguise of course. Then things took a turn for the worst.

`One of the older and stronger vampires had attacked me from behind. I threw him off and turned to see he was lunging for me again. I leaned back to avoid his talons and drew the sword I'd concealed. It was not a legitimate weapon to use in battle, but my rifle had been knocked aside by the attack and I had no other weapon on me. He turned back for another lunge and I jumped back again. He slashed at the straps holding my armour in place and it fell as I blocked his next attack. I could see the bloodlust in his eyes now and knew it was only a matter of time before he overpowered me. When he leaped into the air to attack from above and throw me off guard, I followed him and put all the strength I had into my attack. He slashed at my face and I felt it burn as blood ran down my cheek. I blocked his attack and, moving into an overhead pass, split him from the skull downward. He fell in a shower of blood that rained on me and landed on the ground in two halves, his entrails strewn across the ground. I felt a quiet elation at my kill and turned to see if my associate was alive. He was staring at me with hatred and horror in his eyes, and so was everyone else. I realised too late why everyone was staring at me as though I was some sort of demon.

They now knew my darkest secret.

My disguise had been torn off during the fight and now everyone knew that it wasn't a man who'd been fighting with them.

The city official that was there took me into custody and a trial was held the next morning. I'd broken their most sacred tradition and indulged in the most forbidden act a woman could ever commit. I'd become a warrior and engaged in battle.

`Normally, the punishment was lifelong confinement at the internment camp near the barracks. But instead, they dealt out a different sentence.'

D looked at her. `They made you a Vampire Hunter as punishment for your crimes.'

Hellfire nodded. `But that I didn't see it as a punishment. What they did to me after that made it unbearable: they made me non-existent.'

`How did they do that? You're still allowed into the city.'

She sighed. `They erased me from the city consensus. I was taken to a facility where they erased part of my memory so I wouldn't remember my name nor who my family was and I was damned by the city. I cannot go anywhere without being cursed or regarded with hostility. I am called the bitch of death and whore of damnation. Hellfire was the name that was given to me by the vampires that I killed because to them my wrath was like the searing fires of the inferno manifest in human form. To become a Hunter was a desire that I paid for with my life.'

She turned to D. `So you see, D, I know what it's like. To be the protector of one race and the slayer of another, and to be loathed and cursed by both. A Vampire Hunter: there can be no existence more lonely or hateful than that. And yet why do we even become Hunters in the first place, knowing the life we are doomed to live?'

There was a distant look in her eyes as she asked this question of herself, unaware that the dhampir was still standing next to her. Then she frowned.

`D, why did you ask that?' she inquired softly. `You say I'm strange, but if that is so, then I suppose that makes you crazy. No matter what I ask you, I know you won't give me an answer, but there's one thing I'd like to know. When I first met you, you were here reading the scriptures, weren't you? Are you certain that it's the Nobility you hate? Or is it that you hate yourself, knowing what you are?'

D turned to her and she gasped softly. There was unmistakable anger, and his eyes were blazing with it. She swallowed, wondering if she'd hit a nerve with the young Hunter. She stared at him, not wavering under his gaze. The anger vanished and his face was as beautiful and expressionless as a statue.

 

D looked back into the darkness.

`I've wasted more time than I intended. Time for me to get to work.' He turned to her. `As experienced as you might be, this may be too dangerous for you-`

`I am not going to be dissuaded by a Hunter, no matter how beautiful he may be or what blood runs in his veins,' she cut him off, her tone stern as steel. `I'm going with you and I'm not leaving until I get what I came for.'

`You're on your own if anything happens. I won't bail you out.'

`You'll try to save me even if I don't need your help. You can't afford to lose me.'

`Don't fool yourself,' D shot back with agitation. The warrior who evoked shudders from the bloodsucking Nobility was completely at the mercy of a Huntress twenty years of age. There was nothing he could do.

`Well, for the time being, I'd like to know exactly what you intend to find here,' said Hellfire. D sighed: it looked like she had him right where she wanted him.

`To find out why those vampires attacked you.'

`I knew it!' she hissed with agitation. `That's exactly what the council are asking. Well, I'm going to tell you I know as much as you do, and that I'm getting sick at heart of being asked that question. If I am dragged into that interrogation chamber one more time-`

She hissed sharply, doubling over slightly and pressing her hand to her side. D turned to her. Hellfire glanced at him and quickly straightened up.

`You're hurt,' the Hunter said in a tone that suggested that he was commenting on the weather.

`I'm fine,' she said, letting her hand fall to her side, but covering it with her coat. She saw the youth didn't believe her and opened her mouth to tell him to mind his own business when the words died on her lips.

D's eyes gave off a fierce red glare as he caught the scent of fresh blood and a desolate unearthliness shadowed his gorgeous visage. He moved towards her. She backed away from him until she was flush against the wall. He advanced on her until they were so close Hellfire thought a single breath would draw her to him. She could see the pair of fangs jutting from his mouth and his eyes were blazing with a brilliant crimson light. Yet she didn't run. If anyone were to look on this, their jaw would have dropped to the floor. Who could have stood to look directly at that ghastly visage?

Hellfire stood there, staring directly into the lurid countenance as a hot, rapacious desire burned in her heart. She wanted the Hunter to take her. D leaned into her, the scent of fresh blood too strong to ignore. He pushed her hard against the wall with his body. She could hear the soft growl deep in his throat, like a wolf in the shadows. D placed a hand on her face and turned her head to the side, brushing her hair away from her throat. She could see his beautiful, powerful hand shook slightly, as though he was fighting his desire. She closed her eyes. She could feel his soft hair brush her skin, feel his warm breath on her neck…

Then she felt herself being pushed away and she opened her eyes. D was holding her against the wall at an arm's length. He was breathing shakily but he'd already regained his paraffin beauty. He looked at her, his icily gleaming eyes now devoid of that red glare. He gently pushed her coat open and saw the deep wounds on her torso. They still bled slightly and she looked up at him.

`Torture is the only method of interrogation these people seem to understand.' Was D's voice filled with disgust? `You must be of extraordinary strength and will to endure it.'

`No.' Hellfire gently pushed his hands off her and pulled her coat closed. `Just used to it.' She pushed off the wall as the Hunter stepped away and turned to him as though nothing happened. `Let's get to work before the sun sets.'