Vampire Hunter D Fan Fiction ❯ God of Death ❯ Chapter 15: Tortured Conflicts ( Chapter 15 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Queenhellfire 
A dark truth surfaces.
Anime/Manga: Vampire Hunter D Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Occult / Adventure / Action | Type: Self Insertion | Uploaded On: 02.09.2011 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.9K | Visits: 170 | Status: Completed
A dark truth surfaces.
Anime/Manga: Vampire Hunter D Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Occult / Adventure / Action | Type: Self Insertion | Uploaded On: 02.09.2011 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.9K | Visits: 170 | Status: Completed
Chapter 15
The young Huntress had a fierce tenacity within her that seemed unrivalled. No matter how much hellish treatment she endured, or how much torment she sustained from the constant jeering and physical abuse that had been meted against her all these years, it was merely shrugged off like the early spring rain. In fact, it had come to a point that when the council hauled her in for ‘questioning’, it merely integrated itself into her daily routine. It had become regular and, to her, practically monotonous. Nothing seemed to faze her when it came to the interrogation methods Verna used to extract whatever information could be wrenched from her.
So it came as little surprise when she was thrown into the interrogation chamber, falling to her knees because her hands were bound behind her back. Her wrists were bound together by a rough rope. It was a pitiful room, a single chamber concealed within the ruins of a black church on the outskirts of town. The only light shone through the dusty panes of the stained glass window set into the ceiling. Weeds and vines were beginning to poke through the cracks, weaving a web of dead foliage over the weathered stone. The brown and crackling leaves watched listlessly as the young woman began to climb to her feet.
No sooner had she risen, the council burst through the door. Melissa’s cheek rang with a slap as she whirled around, and the beauty fell to the floor.
‘That hurts, you bastard!’ Knowing what she’d expected to come, she still put up a fearsome fight.
Amicus was furious. ‘You….you stupid little bitch. Spitting on our laws, revelling in a man’s work. Consorting with that Hunter……a damn dhampir. You little…’
She tossed her head and glared at the blustering fool as his ugly face congested with rage.
‘It’s you that are stupid,’ she spat, the words being forced up as though she were coughing blood. ‘Is there something wrong with a woman being allowed to follow her own desires? Is it really such a crime to want something other than slavery? If so, then you’re the ones responsible. Chaining me to this destiny by forcing me to sacrifice all that makes me human. And since I defied you, I can’t let you continue with this legal farce anymore. Are you going to lock me in a cage, chained up like some fucking beast?’
Amicus’s eyes were bulging in fury. Even the faces of the other members were growing white in their barely contained rage. One of them was even chewing his own tongue, as though it would keep him from throwing the restrained diatribe at the defiant girl.
‘You bitch, you. So you refuse to side with the village, eh? You lousy little whore. You won’t get away with this. Not this time!’ The council leader had the look of a madman.
‘You defied our laws, Melissa,’ Jeremiah said coldly. ‘You show no remorse for your actions. Your disobedience will be punished accordingly. You won’t get off so lightly this time.’
She burst into scornful laughter. ‘And what makes me such a criminal?’ Melissa shot back. ‘The whole reason I’m your Vampire Hunter in the first place is because you saw what kind of strength I had and wanted to lock me up in a cage so others didn’t follow my example, wasn’t it? You were looking forward to the reward you would get for rectifying the mistake of going against your fucking ridiculous edict. And that’s not all. You let Ambrose run loose and attempt to have his way with me, even when you know that non-consensual sex is against your pitiful laws. Who is it that gives the laws loopholes specifically designed for the council and their families to get away with anything they desire?! Even the Nobility don’t act like such filthy scum. And your son is the worst of them all. You let him try to fuck me while you watch as I struggle, jerking off in the damn corner while I suffer. You’re no better than your hateful council and its loose laws! Your limp dick progeny makes my skin crawl every time he comes near me…….You sick, voyeuristic fraud!’
Silence descended. She watched somewhat unnerved as the entire colour drained swiftly from the Covenant elder’s face. The entire council watched in pure, unadulterated rage as Jeremiah descended upon the young Huntress.
‘Is that so? Can’t even stand my son’s touch? Very well. I’ll touch you with this then!’
A black whip glistened in the elder’s right hand, the nine barbed tails hanging in anticipation. Foam frothed at the corner of his mouth, and his eyes were laughing. The change in the usually cool, levelheaded council member was extraordinary, as if the darkness lurking within him had suddenly gushed to the surface.
Before she could turn and make a break for the open door, Amicus’s hand lashed out as if taking cue from Jeremiah’s madness. It caught the collar of her shirt, tearing it open with a loud rip.
‘Get your fucking hands off me, you perverted sleaze!’
A sharp crack turned her angry protests into screams. She fell, and in seconds, black and blue welts were rising on her back, their number growing with each snap. The tails of the whip had even sundered flesh and blood trickled in bright streams down her back, stinging her already burning wounds.
~*~
Light had returned. A pile of overturned rubble surrounded D.
‘Looks like we’re okay,’ said the Hunter’s left hand. It didn’t sound at all apprehensive. If anything, its tone could’ve been described at matter of fact.
Giving no reply, the gorgeous youth surveyed his surroundings. The darkness was almost akin to the young man.
He was still within the collapsed antechamber. A long line of similarly overturned stones continued down towards the sealed entrance, their faces glimmering in the dim light pouring through a crack in the ceiling, reminiscent of the crescent moon outside.
‘It took a while to dig out of that mess,’ his left hand said bitterly. ‘All the dust I had to suck up….if I had lungs I’d be surprised I didn’t have asthma due to that.’
‘Where are Ambrose and Lizbeth?’
‘I don’t know. It looks like they took off after their little humping session on the ledge there. Looks like they saw us coming after all and set a trap. Well, they sure caught us napping!’
D didn’t say a word as he climbed up the ledge and through the crack in the ceiling. He was on top of a huge rounded stone, hundreds of smaller ones surrounding it. He looked up at the stars, but quickly lowered his eyes again and began making his way down the rocks without a sound. The way he leapt from one rock to the next, he seemed like a master of dance.
Based on the position of the stars, he must’ve been close to northern extreme of the village walls. It wasn’t too far to the north gate, but something in the distance caught his eye. The ruins of an old church yawned in the velvet backdrop of the heavens, the crumbling steeple carving a sharp silhouette dusted with moonlight.
‘What do you make of that?’
‘Probably the remains of a Noble’s chapel. It doesn’t look like it was just built on its own. Most likely integrated into the east side of a castle of sorts. Either way, it’s worth checking out.’
D didn’t respond. He was listening carefully to the wind that swept through his raven hair. On the updraft, he heard a faint but clearly distinct sound. A woman screaming in agony.
‘Something is going on there,’ muttered the parasite. ‘Whatever it is, it sounds ugly.’
‘One way to find out.’ As if muttering this to the night winds, he set off down the embankment, following the source of the wails flying on the wind.
~*~
The whip rebounded off her white back for the next hour.
It seemed an eternity had passed, but in reality it was merely sixty minutes of pure agony. The men laughed and told her they were going easy on her. Though there’d been a few pauses along the way, the first few lashes were nothing but torture. This wasn’t about getting a confession out of her over what had transpired between D and herself after all. This was all about her pain- about enjoying the excruciation Jeremiah’s whip wrung from the woman’s flesh.
Sobs escaping through gritted teeth, Melissa opened her eyes and fought off the sudden urge to faint. Though her face and her fully exposed torso were both soaked with sweat, her body was quite cold.
Pushing the snarls that had risen to the top of her throat down with all the strength she could muster, the beautiful Huntress endured the beating. She’d decided that she wasn’t going to give the sick fuck the satisfaction of her torment.
She tried to think of the Vampire Hunter. Her expression became mysteriously serene.
The Covenant elder discarded his whip briefly and gestured to the others. He then climbed on her from behind. His dark red tongue licked at her wounded flesh.
‘What the hell are you doing?! Get the fuck off me!’
‘Not going to happen,’ said the Covenant elder, getting her struggling hands out of the way while he kneaded her shapely breasts. ‘Does it hurt, sweet little Hunter? I shall make it better now. I will soothe your pain with this tongue of mine.’
A clammy sensation crept over the nape of her neck, and her whole body thrashed wildly. The council member continued to fondle her, still speaking as he took pleasure in the young body struggling in his arms. His voice was like coagulated obsession, reeking of the unwanted desire that she now heard clearly in his tone.
‘I could keep you like this and screw you to death now if I wanted. Getting you run out of town would be pleasurable entertainment as well. But I can’t do that. After all, you’re our resident Vampire Hunter and you protect the village. That dhampir has vanished into thin air, and the other victims have been disposed of. No doubt that uppity ruffian will end up as nothing more than a worm-feast. On the other hand, I can’t let you get away. And I’m going to continue playing with you until you die.’
Jeremiah’s mouth clamped onto the nape of Melissa’s neck. A forbidden act. Unable to accept it, she let out a long-drawn scream. Because kiss marks on the nape of the neck were far too reminiscent of the marks left by the Nobility. It was taboo for even married couples to do this. The cruelty of this man’s heart had now been laid bare for all to see. He was just as sadistic as the very Nobility.
‘No, don’t! Stop! Please……D!’ she screamed with all her might.
The window built into the ceiling exploded in a shower of glass, the rainbow shards glittering in the moonlight. A beautiful shadow briefly shrouded the room before landing silently in the interrogation chamber. The young man’s eerie aura seemed to suck the moonlight bathing his gorgeous countenance as he turned his head towards the sinisterly lascivious scene before him.
‘Unhand the girl,’ he said, his beautiful voice flecked with rust.
‘You are becoming a thorn in my side, Hunter.’ Jeremiah still clung to the young woman, whose eyes were glittering with tears of despair and anguish. It was so unlike the fierce Huntress to give into such emotions, so it was likely that whatever the Covenant elder did to her had robbed her of her fire. ‘Why should you be concerned with this bitch? She’s nothing. No reason to even spare a thought for her.’
‘Isn’t she your Vampire Hunter?’ asked D in a tone like ice. Jeremiah’s supposedly careworn face twisted in a cruel smile.
‘Oh, but she’s far more than that.’ He dug his nails into her breast and she whimpered in pain. ‘You see, I saved her a long time ago when she was to become the village plaything. A brilliant mind and a fierce aura of defiance and strength. At first, I found it amusing, but as time went on, I realised she was more than a brat. She was the key to change that would shift the course of Verna’s thinking. Such an irritant shouldn’t be left unchecked. So when she defied the laws and killed her first vampire, it was the perfect stage to keep her on a short leash.’
‘So you put that edict in place so you could have her to yourself?’
‘Would you let such a woman run wild?’ asked Jeremiah, twisting her nipple cruelly and delighting in the girl’s cries of agony. ‘She’s fierce and capable of independent thought. A clever girl and so pretty.’ He jerked her head to the side to lick the side of her face. She wrenched her head away but he slapped her and brought it back around. Her eyes fixed on the dhampir, tears of despair dazzling in her eyes. ‘So Ambrose was the perfect countermeasure….until he fell for that whore Lizbeth.’
‘So you knew of your son’s relations with a vampire.’
‘Of course. He told me straight away to spite me. So I decided to take matters of controlling Melissa into my own hands. And as you can see, she still has fight in her, but soon she will break.’ He leaned into her neck, smirking cruelly. ‘What say you to that, Hunter?’ He clamped his lips over the nape of her neck once more, causing the woman to scream and thrash wildly. He slammed the side of the whip he held once more into the side of her head. Blood trickled down from her temple and she fell limp. She was still conscious, but stunned into submission.
D’s sword sang out as it was drawn from the sheath. The Covenant elder’s body trembled in delight and jerked the woman to her feet. A tiny metallic rasping rose from the man’s hip. The sound was so disturbing that if anyone else were to hear it, they would have curled up and clapped their hands over their ears. The sword and scabbard were rubbing against each but the blade of the elder’s weapon had a strange miasma eddying around it, as though it begged for blood.
‘Would you cut me down with the girl, I wonder?’ Jeremiah laughed, the cruel symphony scraping against the air.
The elder’s blade danced out. The motion was so smooth, it looked as if the sword had magnetically attracted itself to D. The gorgeous form was eclipsed by a strange shadow seeping from the blade, the keen edge now crashing down like a tidal wave. And then- there was the most glorious chime in the world, and a flash of white flew out of the living darkness like a shooting star.
D’s sword had snapped off at the hilt!
Jeremiah crowed as he glared at the Hunter. ‘No blade can stand up to this sword! It was crafted by Titus himself and given to me as a gift for keeping the girl on such short rein. Is this all you have to offer? You have been disarmed. Your weapons are useless against mine. So tell me, what will you do now, Hunter?’
And what did D do? He remained in the same spot while the enchanted blade once again groaned through the air, this time aimed at the Hunter’s skull.
A bloody spray shot out.
Melissa’s eyes flew wide open.
Jeremiah cried out in surprise when he felt his sword do something other than sink into flesh.
The blade was pinned between the palms of the hands D had clapped together over his head. However, a dark liquid was also gushing from those same hands. The dhampir’s own fresh blood rained down on his forehead, streaming down the side of his nose.
Jeremiah’s blade sank a bit deeper.
‘Damn you! Why won’t you DIE?!’ the Covenant elder bellowed, his eyes now tinged with an insane blood-light.
The blade was slowly sliding down between the palms of D’s hands, releasing a shower of blood on the Hunter in the process.
Roaring like a crazed beast, Jeremiah let his cry become the force behind his blade as he brought it down. His eyes reflected a hue that was far deeper. Yes, D’s eyes. The blood that’d coursed down off the Hunter’s forehead ran in a crimson line to his lips.
D pivoted.
The prostrate woman was thrown high into the air as Jeremiah fell on his back, fifteen feet away from the gorgeous youth. Gory blade dangling limply from one hand, he pulled himself up. Giving a rough shake to his head, he said ‘You’re truly a powerful individual. It can’t be that you descend from the same blood that birthed Titus. You’re no ordinary dhampir, are you?’
Jeremiah’s eyes studied D’s profile, the fear now settling like cold steel into his flesh.
D’s eyes were ablaze with blood. Still empty-handed, he advanced.
‘Wait a minute,’ the council member said as he backed away. ‘I said wait!’
A whistle pierced the air.
‘Jeremiah!’ Amicus shouted from behind the closed door to the chamber. It burst open as the Covenant elder barely avoided being pierced by the rough wooden needle that had been thrown. Jeremiah landed with the other members, who all held oil lamps in their hands. They were prepared to hurl them to the ground and torch the chambers if D dared to approach.
‘We’ll have to settle this another time, you wretch!’ hissed Jeremiah. ‘But mark my words, you’ll feel the wrath of the Purifiers!’ Before D could advance, Amicus threw down one of the lit lamps, setting the room ablaze before turning around. The turned council fled from the scene.
D immediately leaped into the air, the wind of his launch causing the cloak of the man to flutter gracefully flutter gracefully. The young woman had barely managed to grip the rafter as she flew up into the air earlier, but now that strength had vanished and she plummeted to the flames below. Strong arms caught her shapely form and he leaped once more to the broken steeple of the church. Safely out of range of the flames, D effortlessly dropped silently to the ground outside, the woman still cradled in his arms. He looked down at her and their eyes met. Feeling as if the sheer depth of the dhampir’s eyes would swallow her, the woman was actually scared and tried her best to shut her eyelids.
‘Let me go!’ She roughly shoved at the Hunter, extricating herself from his grasp and running several feet from the man. ‘Keep away from me, you monster!’ Her eyes were clouded with fear, not seeing the gorgeous youth as her ally. It seemed the treatment that had been visited upon her had shattered her mind, sending her into a nightmare in which she was drowning.
D silently approached her. She backed away, but tripped over an outcrop of rock. She fell on her ass and scrambled to get away.
‘Stay away from me!’ she cried, all trace of the fierce Huntress gone from her beautiful face. The dhampir swiftly knelt in front of her, locking eyes with her.
D’s left hand came to rest on her forehead. Her eyes slid shut and slowly slid open again. The green depths were now clear and bright, bereft of the mist of fear that had shrouded them.
D backed away from her. He didn’t tell her to get up, or ask if she could stand. He didn’t even offer to help her.
She immediately sprang to her feet.
‘Stay out of my way, Hunter,’ she snarled. ‘I’m going to patrol on my own tonight. Too much has happened since you got here and I can’t stand to look at you. Now get out of my way!’ She shoved the dhampir aside, running past him to the roads that lead to her shack.
D didn’t move. He simply watched as she got several feet away, before turning his back and gazing at the flaming ruins of the old church.
‘Well, so much for that,’ muttered his left hand. ‘You’d think we’d turn up something right now. Not go gallivanting after a slip of a girl. It seems the council’s been turned after all. Looks like our next step is to find out why and what they’re planning next.’
The Hunter didn’t respond, but turned towards the source of a heavy thud. Melissa had collapsed to the ground, perfectly still. He gracefully moved towards the young woman and stopped a few short steps away from her.
The beautiful Huntress was curled up in a ball on the side of the dusty path, her face buried in her hands. The shoulders of the girl trembled. A low voice spilled from somewhere beneath those bloodied fingers.
The young woman was crying.
D sank to one knee next to her, peering down at her curled form with a beautiful light in his eyes. He rested a hand upon her shoulder. Something he would never do again.
‘I’m sorry, D.’ The words spilled in a shaky torrent from the girl’s lips, muffled by her hands. ‘I’m so sorry.’ She fell back into the melancholy melody of sobs that quietly drifted from her. The Hunter merely gathered her into his arms and held her close to his powerful frame.
She buried her face in his left shoulder and tears streamed down her face, soaking the smooth armour the dhampir wore as choked whispers of apology continued to flow from her.
D wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair softly.
He could only wonder in the deeply shuttered recesses of his consciousness, what would drive such a man to exhibit such cruelty towards an innocent girl. And for some reason, the actions that Jeremiah had haughtily performed in front of the gorgeous youth had almost driven him into a fury. What had come over him lately? Could it be that, for the first time, he actually displayed outward concern for the young Huntress? Did he actually mourn her awaited fate?
D remained silent, the song of the grass whispering in the breeze.
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The young Huntress had a fierce tenacity within her that seemed unrivalled. No matter how much hellish treatment she endured, or how much torment she sustained from the constant jeering and physical abuse that had been meted against her all these years, it was merely shrugged off like the early spring rain. In fact, it had come to a point that when the council hauled her in for ‘questioning’, it merely integrated itself into her daily routine. It had become regular and, to her, practically monotonous. Nothing seemed to faze her when it came to the interrogation methods Verna used to extract whatever information could be wrenched from her.
So it came as little surprise when she was thrown into the interrogation chamber, falling to her knees because her hands were bound behind her back. Her wrists were bound together by a rough rope. It was a pitiful room, a single chamber concealed within the ruins of a black church on the outskirts of town. The only light shone through the dusty panes of the stained glass window set into the ceiling. Weeds and vines were beginning to poke through the cracks, weaving a web of dead foliage over the weathered stone. The brown and crackling leaves watched listlessly as the young woman began to climb to her feet.
No sooner had she risen, the council burst through the door. Melissa’s cheek rang with a slap as she whirled around, and the beauty fell to the floor.
‘That hurts, you bastard!’ Knowing what she’d expected to come, she still put up a fearsome fight.
Amicus was furious. ‘You….you stupid little bitch. Spitting on our laws, revelling in a man’s work. Consorting with that Hunter……a damn dhampir. You little…’
She tossed her head and glared at the blustering fool as his ugly face congested with rage.
‘It’s you that are stupid,’ she spat, the words being forced up as though she were coughing blood. ‘Is there something wrong with a woman being allowed to follow her own desires? Is it really such a crime to want something other than slavery? If so, then you’re the ones responsible. Chaining me to this destiny by forcing me to sacrifice all that makes me human. And since I defied you, I can’t let you continue with this legal farce anymore. Are you going to lock me in a cage, chained up like some fucking beast?’
Amicus’s eyes were bulging in fury. Even the faces of the other members were growing white in their barely contained rage. One of them was even chewing his own tongue, as though it would keep him from throwing the restrained diatribe at the defiant girl.
‘You bitch, you. So you refuse to side with the village, eh? You lousy little whore. You won’t get away with this. Not this time!’ The council leader had the look of a madman.
‘You defied our laws, Melissa,’ Jeremiah said coldly. ‘You show no remorse for your actions. Your disobedience will be punished accordingly. You won’t get off so lightly this time.’
She burst into scornful laughter. ‘And what makes me such a criminal?’ Melissa shot back. ‘The whole reason I’m your Vampire Hunter in the first place is because you saw what kind of strength I had and wanted to lock me up in a cage so others didn’t follow my example, wasn’t it? You were looking forward to the reward you would get for rectifying the mistake of going against your fucking ridiculous edict. And that’s not all. You let Ambrose run loose and attempt to have his way with me, even when you know that non-consensual sex is against your pitiful laws. Who is it that gives the laws loopholes specifically designed for the council and their families to get away with anything they desire?! Even the Nobility don’t act like such filthy scum. And your son is the worst of them all. You let him try to fuck me while you watch as I struggle, jerking off in the damn corner while I suffer. You’re no better than your hateful council and its loose laws! Your limp dick progeny makes my skin crawl every time he comes near me…….You sick, voyeuristic fraud!’
Silence descended. She watched somewhat unnerved as the entire colour drained swiftly from the Covenant elder’s face. The entire council watched in pure, unadulterated rage as Jeremiah descended upon the young Huntress.
‘Is that so? Can’t even stand my son’s touch? Very well. I’ll touch you with this then!’
A black whip glistened in the elder’s right hand, the nine barbed tails hanging in anticipation. Foam frothed at the corner of his mouth, and his eyes were laughing. The change in the usually cool, levelheaded council member was extraordinary, as if the darkness lurking within him had suddenly gushed to the surface.
Before she could turn and make a break for the open door, Amicus’s hand lashed out as if taking cue from Jeremiah’s madness. It caught the collar of her shirt, tearing it open with a loud rip.
‘Get your fucking hands off me, you perverted sleaze!’
A sharp crack turned her angry protests into screams. She fell, and in seconds, black and blue welts were rising on her back, their number growing with each snap. The tails of the whip had even sundered flesh and blood trickled in bright streams down her back, stinging her already burning wounds.
~*~
Light had returned. A pile of overturned rubble surrounded D.
‘Looks like we’re okay,’ said the Hunter’s left hand. It didn’t sound at all apprehensive. If anything, its tone could’ve been described at matter of fact.
Giving no reply, the gorgeous youth surveyed his surroundings. The darkness was almost akin to the young man.
He was still within the collapsed antechamber. A long line of similarly overturned stones continued down towards the sealed entrance, their faces glimmering in the dim light pouring through a crack in the ceiling, reminiscent of the crescent moon outside.
‘It took a while to dig out of that mess,’ his left hand said bitterly. ‘All the dust I had to suck up….if I had lungs I’d be surprised I didn’t have asthma due to that.’
‘Where are Ambrose and Lizbeth?’
‘I don’t know. It looks like they took off after their little humping session on the ledge there. Looks like they saw us coming after all and set a trap. Well, they sure caught us napping!’
D didn’t say a word as he climbed up the ledge and through the crack in the ceiling. He was on top of a huge rounded stone, hundreds of smaller ones surrounding it. He looked up at the stars, but quickly lowered his eyes again and began making his way down the rocks without a sound. The way he leapt from one rock to the next, he seemed like a master of dance.
Based on the position of the stars, he must’ve been close to northern extreme of the village walls. It wasn’t too far to the north gate, but something in the distance caught his eye. The ruins of an old church yawned in the velvet backdrop of the heavens, the crumbling steeple carving a sharp silhouette dusted with moonlight.
‘What do you make of that?’
‘Probably the remains of a Noble’s chapel. It doesn’t look like it was just built on its own. Most likely integrated into the east side of a castle of sorts. Either way, it’s worth checking out.’
D didn’t respond. He was listening carefully to the wind that swept through his raven hair. On the updraft, he heard a faint but clearly distinct sound. A woman screaming in agony.
‘Something is going on there,’ muttered the parasite. ‘Whatever it is, it sounds ugly.’
‘One way to find out.’ As if muttering this to the night winds, he set off down the embankment, following the source of the wails flying on the wind.
~*~
The whip rebounded off her white back for the next hour.
It seemed an eternity had passed, but in reality it was merely sixty minutes of pure agony. The men laughed and told her they were going easy on her. Though there’d been a few pauses along the way, the first few lashes were nothing but torture. This wasn’t about getting a confession out of her over what had transpired between D and herself after all. This was all about her pain- about enjoying the excruciation Jeremiah’s whip wrung from the woman’s flesh.
Sobs escaping through gritted teeth, Melissa opened her eyes and fought off the sudden urge to faint. Though her face and her fully exposed torso were both soaked with sweat, her body was quite cold.
Pushing the snarls that had risen to the top of her throat down with all the strength she could muster, the beautiful Huntress endured the beating. She’d decided that she wasn’t going to give the sick fuck the satisfaction of her torment.
She tried to think of the Vampire Hunter. Her expression became mysteriously serene.
The Covenant elder discarded his whip briefly and gestured to the others. He then climbed on her from behind. His dark red tongue licked at her wounded flesh.
‘What the hell are you doing?! Get the fuck off me!’
‘Not going to happen,’ said the Covenant elder, getting her struggling hands out of the way while he kneaded her shapely breasts. ‘Does it hurt, sweet little Hunter? I shall make it better now. I will soothe your pain with this tongue of mine.’
A clammy sensation crept over the nape of her neck, and her whole body thrashed wildly. The council member continued to fondle her, still speaking as he took pleasure in the young body struggling in his arms. His voice was like coagulated obsession, reeking of the unwanted desire that she now heard clearly in his tone.
‘I could keep you like this and screw you to death now if I wanted. Getting you run out of town would be pleasurable entertainment as well. But I can’t do that. After all, you’re our resident Vampire Hunter and you protect the village. That dhampir has vanished into thin air, and the other victims have been disposed of. No doubt that uppity ruffian will end up as nothing more than a worm-feast. On the other hand, I can’t let you get away. And I’m going to continue playing with you until you die.’
Jeremiah’s mouth clamped onto the nape of Melissa’s neck. A forbidden act. Unable to accept it, she let out a long-drawn scream. Because kiss marks on the nape of the neck were far too reminiscent of the marks left by the Nobility. It was taboo for even married couples to do this. The cruelty of this man’s heart had now been laid bare for all to see. He was just as sadistic as the very Nobility.
‘No, don’t! Stop! Please……D!’ she screamed with all her might.
The window built into the ceiling exploded in a shower of glass, the rainbow shards glittering in the moonlight. A beautiful shadow briefly shrouded the room before landing silently in the interrogation chamber. The young man’s eerie aura seemed to suck the moonlight bathing his gorgeous countenance as he turned his head towards the sinisterly lascivious scene before him.
‘Unhand the girl,’ he said, his beautiful voice flecked with rust.
‘You are becoming a thorn in my side, Hunter.’ Jeremiah still clung to the young woman, whose eyes were glittering with tears of despair and anguish. It was so unlike the fierce Huntress to give into such emotions, so it was likely that whatever the Covenant elder did to her had robbed her of her fire. ‘Why should you be concerned with this bitch? She’s nothing. No reason to even spare a thought for her.’
‘Isn’t she your Vampire Hunter?’ asked D in a tone like ice. Jeremiah’s supposedly careworn face twisted in a cruel smile.
‘Oh, but she’s far more than that.’ He dug his nails into her breast and she whimpered in pain. ‘You see, I saved her a long time ago when she was to become the village plaything. A brilliant mind and a fierce aura of defiance and strength. At first, I found it amusing, but as time went on, I realised she was more than a brat. She was the key to change that would shift the course of Verna’s thinking. Such an irritant shouldn’t be left unchecked. So when she defied the laws and killed her first vampire, it was the perfect stage to keep her on a short leash.’
‘So you put that edict in place so you could have her to yourself?’
‘Would you let such a woman run wild?’ asked Jeremiah, twisting her nipple cruelly and delighting in the girl’s cries of agony. ‘She’s fierce and capable of independent thought. A clever girl and so pretty.’ He jerked her head to the side to lick the side of her face. She wrenched her head away but he slapped her and brought it back around. Her eyes fixed on the dhampir, tears of despair dazzling in her eyes. ‘So Ambrose was the perfect countermeasure….until he fell for that whore Lizbeth.’
‘So you knew of your son’s relations with a vampire.’
‘Of course. He told me straight away to spite me. So I decided to take matters of controlling Melissa into my own hands. And as you can see, she still has fight in her, but soon she will break.’ He leaned into her neck, smirking cruelly. ‘What say you to that, Hunter?’ He clamped his lips over the nape of her neck once more, causing the woman to scream and thrash wildly. He slammed the side of the whip he held once more into the side of her head. Blood trickled down from her temple and she fell limp. She was still conscious, but stunned into submission.
D’s sword sang out as it was drawn from the sheath. The Covenant elder’s body trembled in delight and jerked the woman to her feet. A tiny metallic rasping rose from the man’s hip. The sound was so disturbing that if anyone else were to hear it, they would have curled up and clapped their hands over their ears. The sword and scabbard were rubbing against each but the blade of the elder’s weapon had a strange miasma eddying around it, as though it begged for blood.
‘Would you cut me down with the girl, I wonder?’ Jeremiah laughed, the cruel symphony scraping against the air.
The elder’s blade danced out. The motion was so smooth, it looked as if the sword had magnetically attracted itself to D. The gorgeous form was eclipsed by a strange shadow seeping from the blade, the keen edge now crashing down like a tidal wave. And then- there was the most glorious chime in the world, and a flash of white flew out of the living darkness like a shooting star.
D’s sword had snapped off at the hilt!
Jeremiah crowed as he glared at the Hunter. ‘No blade can stand up to this sword! It was crafted by Titus himself and given to me as a gift for keeping the girl on such short rein. Is this all you have to offer? You have been disarmed. Your weapons are useless against mine. So tell me, what will you do now, Hunter?’
And what did D do? He remained in the same spot while the enchanted blade once again groaned through the air, this time aimed at the Hunter’s skull.
A bloody spray shot out.
Melissa’s eyes flew wide open.
Jeremiah cried out in surprise when he felt his sword do something other than sink into flesh.
The blade was pinned between the palms of the hands D had clapped together over his head. However, a dark liquid was also gushing from those same hands. The dhampir’s own fresh blood rained down on his forehead, streaming down the side of his nose.
Jeremiah’s blade sank a bit deeper.
‘Damn you! Why won’t you DIE?!’ the Covenant elder bellowed, his eyes now tinged with an insane blood-light.
The blade was slowly sliding down between the palms of D’s hands, releasing a shower of blood on the Hunter in the process.
Roaring like a crazed beast, Jeremiah let his cry become the force behind his blade as he brought it down. His eyes reflected a hue that was far deeper. Yes, D’s eyes. The blood that’d coursed down off the Hunter’s forehead ran in a crimson line to his lips.
D pivoted.
The prostrate woman was thrown high into the air as Jeremiah fell on his back, fifteen feet away from the gorgeous youth. Gory blade dangling limply from one hand, he pulled himself up. Giving a rough shake to his head, he said ‘You’re truly a powerful individual. It can’t be that you descend from the same blood that birthed Titus. You’re no ordinary dhampir, are you?’
Jeremiah’s eyes studied D’s profile, the fear now settling like cold steel into his flesh.
D’s eyes were ablaze with blood. Still empty-handed, he advanced.
‘Wait a minute,’ the council member said as he backed away. ‘I said wait!’
A whistle pierced the air.
‘Jeremiah!’ Amicus shouted from behind the closed door to the chamber. It burst open as the Covenant elder barely avoided being pierced by the rough wooden needle that had been thrown. Jeremiah landed with the other members, who all held oil lamps in their hands. They were prepared to hurl them to the ground and torch the chambers if D dared to approach.
‘We’ll have to settle this another time, you wretch!’ hissed Jeremiah. ‘But mark my words, you’ll feel the wrath of the Purifiers!’ Before D could advance, Amicus threw down one of the lit lamps, setting the room ablaze before turning around. The turned council fled from the scene.
D immediately leaped into the air, the wind of his launch causing the cloak of the man to flutter gracefully flutter gracefully. The young woman had barely managed to grip the rafter as she flew up into the air earlier, but now that strength had vanished and she plummeted to the flames below. Strong arms caught her shapely form and he leaped once more to the broken steeple of the church. Safely out of range of the flames, D effortlessly dropped silently to the ground outside, the woman still cradled in his arms. He looked down at her and their eyes met. Feeling as if the sheer depth of the dhampir’s eyes would swallow her, the woman was actually scared and tried her best to shut her eyelids.
‘Let me go!’ She roughly shoved at the Hunter, extricating herself from his grasp and running several feet from the man. ‘Keep away from me, you monster!’ Her eyes were clouded with fear, not seeing the gorgeous youth as her ally. It seemed the treatment that had been visited upon her had shattered her mind, sending her into a nightmare in which she was drowning.
D silently approached her. She backed away, but tripped over an outcrop of rock. She fell on her ass and scrambled to get away.
‘Stay away from me!’ she cried, all trace of the fierce Huntress gone from her beautiful face. The dhampir swiftly knelt in front of her, locking eyes with her.
D’s left hand came to rest on her forehead. Her eyes slid shut and slowly slid open again. The green depths were now clear and bright, bereft of the mist of fear that had shrouded them.
D backed away from her. He didn’t tell her to get up, or ask if she could stand. He didn’t even offer to help her.
She immediately sprang to her feet.
‘Stay out of my way, Hunter,’ she snarled. ‘I’m going to patrol on my own tonight. Too much has happened since you got here and I can’t stand to look at you. Now get out of my way!’ She shoved the dhampir aside, running past him to the roads that lead to her shack.
D didn’t move. He simply watched as she got several feet away, before turning his back and gazing at the flaming ruins of the old church.
‘Well, so much for that,’ muttered his left hand. ‘You’d think we’d turn up something right now. Not go gallivanting after a slip of a girl. It seems the council’s been turned after all. Looks like our next step is to find out why and what they’re planning next.’
The Hunter didn’t respond, but turned towards the source of a heavy thud. Melissa had collapsed to the ground, perfectly still. He gracefully moved towards the young woman and stopped a few short steps away from her.
The beautiful Huntress was curled up in a ball on the side of the dusty path, her face buried in her hands. The shoulders of the girl trembled. A low voice spilled from somewhere beneath those bloodied fingers.
The young woman was crying.
D sank to one knee next to her, peering down at her curled form with a beautiful light in his eyes. He rested a hand upon her shoulder. Something he would never do again.
‘I’m sorry, D.’ The words spilled in a shaky torrent from the girl’s lips, muffled by her hands. ‘I’m so sorry.’ She fell back into the melancholy melody of sobs that quietly drifted from her. The Hunter merely gathered her into his arms and held her close to his powerful frame.
She buried her face in his left shoulder and tears streamed down her face, soaking the smooth armour the dhampir wore as choked whispers of apology continued to flow from her.
D wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair softly.
He could only wonder in the deeply shuttered recesses of his consciousness, what would drive such a man to exhibit such cruelty towards an innocent girl. And for some reason, the actions that Jeremiah had haughtily performed in front of the gorgeous youth had almost driven him into a fury. What had come over him lately? Could it be that, for the first time, he actually displayed outward concern for the young Huntress? Did he actually mourn her awaited fate?
D remained silent, the song of the grass whispering in the breeze.
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