Vampire Hunter D Fan Fiction ❯ Herculean Task ❯ Task II ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: Vampire Hunter D belongs to its respective creator and companies. No copyright infringement is intended.

“Acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledgment of the facts of a situation. Then deciding what you're going to do about it.”

-Kathleen Casey Theisen

As soon as the sun had broken over the horizon line, D had swathed Daniel in one of his many scarves with the purpose of hiding the boy's identification number before putting the spurs to his horse. The boy, who was still on tender hooks from the previous night's discussion, reluctantly went with his father, his newly-braided hair playing out lightly in the wind. Besides providing extra security association-wise, much like the Hunter, Daniel cleaned up very nicely.

Now, as they stood in front of a row of approximately twenty cyborg horses, D said in a voice as cold as his frostily gorgeous visage, “Pick one.”

The boy bowed his head before saying quietly, “I don't have the money to afford a mount.”

“Don't trouble yourself with that,” D replied as he turned and rummaged through one of his horse's saddlebags. “I'll pay for it.”

“I can't let you do that,” Daniel whispered, his eyes now shadowed even further by his cap. “You don't need to waste your money on someone like me.”

“As long as you make good use of your mount, it's money well-spent.” D's tone didn't invite room for argument.

Daniel, who had perhaps already realized by this point that he had lost the battle before it had even begun, turned around irritably and gave the floor a good hard smack with his boot before walking over to examine his prospective mounts.

Maybe the stable manager had misinterpreted the boy's stomp for one of impatience as he turned to D and wryly informed him, “You know, I have one about the same age and he acts exactly like your little boy. When they hit that age, I swear… Now don't you worry your pretty little head about it, though. It's just a phase. It'll pass over time.”

To no surprise, D didn't turn around as he searched inside his next saddlebag and said quietly, but rather bluntly, “He's blind.”

“Really?” the stable manger asked with raised eyebrows as he watched Daniel carefully feeling each horse's face before moving on to the next one. “And yet you still let him ride?”

“He has good hearing.”

Several moments of silence passed with nothing save the sound of hoofs being shod for comfort before a voice from the far end of the stable asked in a scratchy tone, “Is this the DL46 model?”

D looked up from picking his mount's rear hoof and answered before the dealer could open his mouth, “It is. They're a good model; it's a shame they stopped producing them a good ten years back. They have impeccable strength and stamina, but their trail manners are terrible. Never quite seen one with that coloration, though.”

The horse the boy was standing next to was such a light grey that its coat was almost the color of highly-polished silver and was twice the boy's size.

D then turned back to his horse and continued working on picking out a particularly stubborn pebble that had been wedged between the hoof and shoe before asking the stable manager quietly, “How much?”

“Nine-hundred thousand dalas,” the man said firmly. “I won't take anything less than that. Not for one of my stable's finest mounts.”

Just as D was reaching into his coat pocket to pay the man, a sharp “Don't!” halted his hand. Both the stable manager and Hunter turned to look at the boy.

“Please, don't spend that much on me. I have no way to repay you,” Daniel said before digging through his pant's pockets and bringing out a few meager coins. Feeling each one carefully, the boy asked the manager. “How much for your least expensive mount?”

“Twenty-thousand dalas,” the manager replied as he watched the boy carefully identify each coin before they were presented to him.

“I'll take it then,” Daniel stated. The youth had used whatever life savings he managed to keep on his travels and now with that purchase, only one ten-thousand dala coin remained on his person.

A figure suddenly brushed past him and a few seconds later, there was the rhythmic sound of hoofs walking on the hard cement floor of the stables. The coins that he had just given the stable manager were returned into his hands, and before he could protest, there was the unmistakable clinking of coins and the transaction was over.

As D pressed the reins into the boy's right hand, he said but two words: “We're finished.”

Ahead of them lay vast tracks of barren desert, the sun already beginning to cause the usual scorching heat of summer. The pair of travelers—one out in the sun, the other in total darkness—stood there for a moment, probably listening to the sounds of the wild that only dhampirs alone could hear. The older of the two was the first one to break the silence.

“From here on out, we set out on our own paths,” D said, not even turning to face his progeny. “You are free to follow me if you wish or stay here. It matters not.” There was a slight pause before he continued, “Whichever path you should choose to take, I wish you the best of luck. Godspeed.” And with those final words of parting, D put the spurs to his horse and set out across the plains.

Daniel sat on his horse listening to the receding hoof beats and debated within himself. On the one hand, he still wasn't on the best of terms with his father, nor did he want to be, but on the other, he had no place to go. He was a wanted person—no, creature, he reminded himself—and he honestly believed that not one soul would want to help him out.

“You're father was a good man…”

Daniel bowed his head once again. If his eyes hadn't been concealed beneath his cap, one could have seen the tears starting to form there.

“Mother…” The words slipped past his lips in a whisper—unbidden.

The sudden stop of iron-shod hooves barely reached the boy's ears. With his well-developed senses, the older dhampir had heard him. But why would this word cause the normally stoic hunter to come to an abrupt halt? Had something slipped through a well-concealed crack in his icy demeanor and reached what was left of his heart? It was the second time he had heard someone call out the word in a tone of regret and sorrow—the second time it had stopped him in his tracks.

The young boy curled his hands into tight fists and was biting down on his bottom lip so hard that he drew blood.

“Do you really think I would take such a risk with your mother if the feeling wasn't mutual?”

This statement said only a day before pulled itself free from the boy's tangle of thoughts and lodged itself deeply into his heart. It was at this moment that the boy suddenly dug his heels into his newly-purchased mount and took off at a gallop the way his father had gone, his ears catching the sound of said person dismounting. He ground his teeth together once again.

Before D could even comprehend what was happening, Daniel had pulled a whip from seemingly out of nowhere with lightning speed and had wrapped it around his neck in such a tight binding that even D had to struggle to get air to his lungs. The whip was quite familiar to him, made from tanned werewolf hide and segmented in a way that only the Lang family could accomplish successfully, and yet it seemed that the boy's vampiric strength had a much more profound effect on the Hunter than when a human executed the attack.

Daniel jumped off his horse, which skid to an immediate halt when it realized it was missing its master.

“Why? Why was I allowed to be brought into this world just to suffer? Why did you have to be my father?” The question was the same thing the boy had asked D just the night before, but unlike the whisper Daniel used then, it was now yelled out in an almost hysterical tone, his scratchy voice carrying surprisingly well over the howling desert winds. “Why did you choose my mother?Answer me!”

The Hunter's lips didn't move, nor did his emotionless demeanor quiver in the slightest—and yet—deep in the recesses of his mind, the boy could hear his voice.

“This isn't what your mother would have wanted…”

“Shut up!” the boy screamed at the voice, not even bothering to respond with his own telepathy. “Do you know how much she's suffered—how much I've suffered?”

The Hunter reached out his hand towards the boy. Through his rapidly blurring sight, D saw the boy jolt and immediately jerk away from the attempted touch. The look in his eyes was not unlike that of a frightened animal's.

“Who did it to you, Daniel? Who took away your innocence?”

Time itself ground to a sudden halt.

“Who did it, Daniel?” the voice asked again, and D felt the boy slacken his hold a little on the whip.

“I…” Daniel began, his words sounding more like something he was trying to expel from his stomach, “I don't know what you're talking about…”

“You do.”

“You don't know what you're asking… Nothing like that happened to me…”

As D tore the coils from his neck, rendering what was left of the whip totally useless, a hurricane was beginning to form deep inside his chest. This Vampire Hunter—who was known for never showing emotion, for being able to kill in cold blood—was beginning to experience a rage unlike anything he had ever felt before so that even he didn't know what was its cause. Maybe it was because he felt he owed it to his former employer or maybe it was because the boy was in many ways similar to himself.

No, it wasn't any of these. This was the feeling that only a parent could experience—the rage and utter loathing towards the one who had committed one of the cruelest of sins upon his or her child.

Suddenly, without any prior indication at all, two white hands clamped down on the young dhampir's upper arms, their owner shaking him roughly.

“Daniel, who did it to you? Who raped you?” The words came out softly and in a low voice, but it was the white-hot anger and desire for revenge behind them that gave these questions their final touch, causing the boy to a feel a violent shudder of fear wrack his frame. “Answer me!”

Something akin to a gagging noise reverberated in the back of the boy's throat. It was a mental struggle between father and son—one fighting off the other's crushing aura. The boy didn't need to see D's eyes giving off a blood-red hue to know his vampiric half was showing. This, the boy knew, was something truly fearsome and not something to be reckoned with, even amongst the strongest of foes.

An invading presence pierced the depths of his mind and began to take a familiar shape. A desperate struggle ensued, but the boy's efforts to repel his father's invading presence were all in vain.

“No! No one was meant to see this! Get out! I don't want you seeing this!”

The presence hesitated for the slightest fraction of a second before continuing on further, Daniel's efforts at resistance not disrupting his pace at all.

“No! Leave me be! You'll think me a monster! Leave me be!”

A strong gale of wind threatened to upset the Hunter's seemingly leisurely stroll, almost knocking him off his feet. But even this resistance the boy responded with wasn't enough to stop him. D was more experienced, more capable, and much more powerful.

“GET OUT!”

The boy provided one last attempt to stop the Hunter's advance, but it was too late—D had already reached the point of no return, flashes of vague images rushing past his eyes.

III

D waited in the midst of the blurring scenes. Many images were faceless while others brought those faces into sharp focus. However, everything was soon reduced to fuzzy outlines and then there was nothing at all except complete darkness.

An antagonized scream cut through the black, creating a stream of white light—and then, a voice was heard.

“Let go of me! Please, no more!”

The voice sounded hysterical in its pleading, and yet, not a sob could be heard.

“GET AWAY FROM ME! NO MORE!”

D's surroundings turned a vivid scarlet and the sounds of ripping and tearing flesh could be heard in conjunction with the psychotic laughter of another voice, but before it had barely even begun, everything became silent save the quiet echo of sobs.

“No…Not again…I tookblood…It doesn't stop…Was it not enough for my thirst to take Mother's blood against her will? Why? I have committed the ultimate sin…once again…”

Suddenly, the same voice overlapped the previous one.

“I SAID GET OUT OF MY HEAD!”

Lightning cracked as a large gust of wind knocked the Hunter off his feet and he was back in the material world, his expression cold and emotionless once more.

Daniel dropped to his knees, breathing heavily, and silence reigned for a few moments before D said with no change in emotion, “You took your mother's blood.”

Like so many other statements before, D spoke the truth without questioning it.

The boy raised his head at the sound of his father's rusted voice, his entire body quivering like a leaf. He started to say something, but bit down on his knuckle instead, almost as if forcing something back.

“Was it him?”

The boy froze.

“What did he want from you? I can imagine what it was, but I could be wrong.”

“I…” Daniel began, “I don't remember…”

“Is it that you don't remember or that you don't want to remember?”

The boy didn't respond.

“He took you in after you blinded yourself, didn't he?”

Daniel gave a silent nod of assent that seemed a bit forced, as if his father's voice commanded it of him.

“What did he promise you if you complied with his wishes?”

Daniel's mouth suddenly became dry.

“I…was a fool,” the boy began quietly. “He said that hewas capable of bringing Mother back…and I honestly believed him… Never again…”

As he stood up and turned his back to the child, the Hunter said, “Sometimes, it is best to leave those that have died at peace, Daniel. He is living proof of that.”

A chuckle erupted from around the vicinity of D's waist. “I'm supposing you didn't mean that as a pun, did you?”

Daniel's ears pricked upwards and he turned his head slightly to the side.

“Who was that?” he asked.

“Nobody important,” D replied as he swung himself up into his saddle, his left hand clenched into a tight fist—a muffled sound of protest seemed to be emanating from it.

Presently, the unmistakable sound of hooves on the hard earth reached the boy's ears before there was a pause and the Hunter's voice gave him once last piece of advice before the hoof beats started up again: “Don't let your desire for revenge and your feelings of regret consume you, Daniel. Nothing profitable ever springs from it.”

And then the Hunter's presence faded into the distance before it disappeared completely.

“So, what do you think he wanted with him?” the same crude voice as before asked.

“Knowing him, it's probably another one of his `tests' for me,” D replied tonelessly. “The one who hurt the boy was probably one of his cohorts.”

“You worried about him?”

“Is that what you think?”

“What parent wouldn't be worried for his child's safety—but then again, you're not the average parent, now are you?” There was a slight pause before the voice continued, “Think he'll bite? Err…so to speak.”

“Yes,” D replied, ignoring the last remark, his eyes still trained on the vast expanse of the horizon line ahead of him.

“What makes you so sure?” the voice asked snidely. “He's almost as stubborn as you are and his mother's personality certainly doesn't help ma—“ D's answer cut the voice off before it could say any more.

“He'll come.”

Something along the lines of “well, you're certainly an arrogant bastard” was heard from D's left hand before silence descended between the two.

Presently, the sound of galloping hoof beats swiftly approaching was heard. D had been right. The boy had decided to come along after all.

As the boy began to pull up beside him, the Hunter glanced at him from the corner of his eye. Daniel's face had become an expression of serene beauty giving anyone who looked upon it the impression of a newly-freed bird that had just been released from its cage.

Daniel, it seemed, was best when he was riding freely out on the plains. He was truly a boy of this day and age on the Frontier.

The two had ridden a good ten miles before the silence was broken.

“Something's after us...” Daniel said softly. “It's coming up from around the north to northwest area of Sector 47B. It doesn't sound human.”

“Nicely done,” D said, still not bothering to look at the boy as he spoke. Maybe the compliment would have had more effect on the boy if Daniel knew he had just accomplished a small miracle. Still, the Hunter didn't offer any further explanation.

Reaching his right hand towards a saddle bag to the horse's rear, D rummaged through it, his eyes still set on the terrain ahead. After finding what he was looking for, D held it out towards the boy riding alongside of him. There was a snapping noise and Daniel turned his head around. From what Daniel could make of it through the air's vibrations, it was a dagger of some sort inside a plain leather sheath.

“Take it,” D said simply, returning his hand back to the loose rein when the weight of the dagger disappeared from his palm. “They'll be here soon.” His tone made it sound as if he was offhandedly commenting on the weather instead of whatever was chasing after them.

“Must we kill them?” the boy asked, regret making his voice sound hollow.

“Do you even know what is pursuing us?” D asked.

The boy listened to the sound that was now steadily growing louder for a few seconds before replying hesitantly, “Banshees?”

D didn't reply, naturally, but a greatly muffled but sarcastic voice commented, “Lovely.”

Daniel riffled through his brain for information before coming to a sudden roadblock in the logic of his solution.

Banshees aren't supposed to be in the northwestern sectors, he thought. What are they doing this far out? Suddenly, a soft voice jolted him from his musings.

“How acute is your sense of touch and smell?”

After hemming and hawing for a bit, the boy replied, “I can tell some terrain by touch and identify most things by smell, if that's what you're asking.”

D looked behind them and then quickly turned to Daniel.

“Cover your ears,” was all he said before leaping off his horse and running towards a few grotesquely mutilated figures.

The boy gripped his horse with his legs tighter before completely covering his ears. With no sound or vibrations to base anything off of, Daniel had no idea what ensued in the darkness of his blindness. Occasionally, a faint shrieking noise escaped through a crack in his fingers, sending the boy reeling with nausea and disorientation.

The shrieks steadily became louder and no matter what the young dhampir tried, the cries of what was probably the sole remaining banshee still reached his eardrums. Unable to stand the pain and wait for his father to take action, the boy grabbed the dagger he was recently given and hurled it towards the source of the noise, risking further damage by uncovering one of his ears. Whether the target hit its mark or not, Daniel never knew as almost immediately after throwing the blade, he fell off his horse and tumbled to the ground, spraying sand all around him. Covering his right ear once more, the boy lay there motionless, waiting for the pain to recede to a dull throbbing.

Something red seeped out from between his fingers—blood. The cry of the banshee had ruptured his ear drum.

Someone lightly tapped him on his shoulder before he felt vibrations from the ground due to the stomp of that someone's foot. The outline that Daniel's senses conjured was faint, but the person's identity was clear—D.

Neither grain of sand nor drop of blood marred the Hunter's countenance. He turned around to look at the fallen banshee and he had to wonder if the boy had meant to stab the creature in its throat. Targeting something with half his senses shut down was something even D had trouble with.

The two dhampirs were motionless for a few long minutes, before Daniel had uncovered his ears, his ruptured ear drum already fully-healed.

After coughing some sand out of his lungs, he asked the Hunter in his hoarse voice, “What were banshees doing this far out?”

D looked back at the carnage he had caused—corpses torn open, some with their throats ripped out, others having their cracked and broken ribs jutting out from their own chests.

“They probably became lost in the desert,” D replied, his eyes still as cold and distant as ever. “They must have been feeding off of the unfortunate travelers that wander through these dunes.”

Daniel picked himself up off the ground and dusted himself off, wiping his bloody hand on his faded jeans. Lifting his head up once again, the young dhampir nearly lost his nerve, the smell of blood and gore hanging heavily in the air. Deep in the pit of his stomach, the boy was starting to feel ill. He walked back to his mount on unsteady legs, D placing the dagger back into his horse's saddlebag.

Wheeling his horse around, the Hunter rode off the same way he had come at a brisk trot, his ears informing him of the fact that Daniel was not too far behind though he was still coughing.

Are you headed towards the town of Brahman? the boy's voice asked soundlessly, his query echoing throughout the Hunter's mind.

So you've already recognized that the desert has flipped itself around? D replied with his thoughts.

I have. Why has it rotated, though?Is this the sentient desert I've been hearing about?

No, that desert learned its lesson four years ago.

So this is akin to the Living Mountain in Rixken?

Yes.

D looked up and out into the distance, his eyes clearly seeing through the clouds of sand that were buffeting them. He remained focused on a certain point for a few seconds before saying indifferently, “Ready yourself.”

The boy raised his head before feeling a large shockwave spread throughout the ground. Before the two was a giant wave of sand that could be likened to a tsunami, steadily mounting in roaring tides.

Author's Note: As always, this story may still have some typos I might have skipped over in my self-revision as this has not yet been seen by my beta-reader. Constructive criticism is encouraged and very much appreciated.