Vampire Hunter D Fan Fiction ❯ My three leaf clover ❯ the basement’s secrete ( Chapter 5 )

Vampire Hunter D

My three leaf clover - ch5 - the basement's secrete

As soon as the last ray of sun disappeared the rusty iron chains holding the bridge began to clatter and bridge began to come down. It wobbled as it descended and shuddered when is came to a stop against the opposite edge. It was made of stone and wide enough for two horses, although it looked very fragile. As soon as the bridge touched the edge Jake was off with his younger brother right at his heel. D watched from his perch on a boulder as the two thundered a crossed the bridge.

"Quite anxious to die, eh?" D's hand said, scoffing at the brothers. "They hire you but rush off before you can! Not that that's bad. A human is always good to use as a shield."

"That's not nice, they're just concerned for they're mother and sister…" Clove said softly from her spot by Ives. She nuzzled the dark horse as she spoke. The young donpeal had an uneasy feeling about this. She had no idea why but she was worried.

"Yeah, a mother and sister who are dead!" D's hand spat out. "Humans are so pathetic, those two know that they're dead but still risk their lives to drag out the stiff corpses."

"You don't understand, humans lives are so short… It just means more to them then it does to you…" Clove said quietly.

All Clove got in response from the parasite was a hmp.

"I think for humans they have more of a grasp on righteousness," Clove continued. "It's because of their short lives…"

D looked thoughtfully at the little girl. She may be young but she had a better understanding of humans then he did. Maybe it was because she was young that she understood them so. "They feel their morality pressing on them…" D said adding his musing to the mix, "That's why those bodies mean so much… Their time on this earth is so short to begin with, they do not feel need for it to be ended for them." Stepping down from the boulder he closed the subject by addressing Clove. "Wait for 20 minutes and then take Ives into the castle with you. Pick up any injured and leave." Once he had gotten a confirming nod from Clove he stepped onto the bridge and ran swiftly after the brothers.

Clove watched D disappear into the castle cap flying behind him. She let out a sigh and plopped down on to the ground. More waiting.

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D slowed his steps as he crossed the thresh hold into the ruin of a castle. The brothers stood waiting for him. It seemed contrary to the parasite's ravings they had some sense. Before them were two wide stone staircases with a wooden door between them. Open stone archways lined the walls. As D walked toward the two he glanced into them. Just empty rooms with broken down wooded doors.

"Through that door," D said, walking toward the door between the stairs.

"How'd ya know that?" Lawrence asked shoulder his shot gun and walking after the hunter his brother followed with his gun at the ready.

"Because for one the door looks new," Jake said a bit annoyed with his little brother. "And two the whole place is roofless so there'd be no sense for a vamp to be living up there with the sunshine."

Lawrence's cheeks got hot, "I knew that…" he mumbled.

D grasped the brass doorknob and was surprised that it was unlocked. The doors hinges squealed as D opened it revealing a long stone spiral staircase descending into the ground.

"That stupid bastard is so cocky he didn't even lock the goddamn door…" Jake growled out.

Slowly the three descended, the smell of wet earth increasing with every step. When they finally came to the basement all were shocked by what they saw. The basement was a long rectangular room filled with columns and a dirt floor. chained to the columns were the women and girls of the village.

"Ma!" Lawrence yelled out. He and his brother rushed past D to their mother's side. D glanced around as he walked through the room. The women were all dirty and ragged looking; this vampire was starting a harem. At the sight of the three men they all began to moan out and call for help. They're pitiful cries and jostling of their chains filled the room. Almost everyone woman had a pale looking face and bite wounds on their neck. They were all near death but none of them had been turned into a vampire or a zombie. Zombie arose from the kills of a vampire.

"Oh… my boys… my boys," The mother breathed out. She had dull blonde hair and still wore her cooking apron. Jake buried his face in his mother's chest with Lawrence kneeling at her side, both were crying.

Lawrence quickly stood up and glanced around. His eyes stopped on a near by column ran to another woman, his sister. "Lilly!" he yelled sliding to a stop in front of her. She had black hair like her twin and the same face as well. She sobbed, "Please Lawrence… please get us out…."

D continued pasted the reunited family to the end of the room and to a door there. Jake glanced up at the hunter as he pasted and saw his destination. He pulled him self from his mother and stood up.

"I'll be back mom, Lily, "He said as he jogged to catch up with D. "Lawrence you unchain all these girls and get outta here, I'll gonna look for the vampire."

Lawrence gave his brother a nod and got to his feet. He pulled his gun from its hoister and pointed at the lock of his sister's chains. "You'd better hurry because this is gonna wake the guy up." With that he pulled the trigger. The gun went off and shattered the lock, the bang echoing of the walls.

Like before the door wasn't locked so D just walked right in. Jake hesitated a bit, looking back at his brother and now rising sister before following him. The two walked down a long narrow hallway. It was completely pitch back and smelt of mildew. As he walked farther into the darkness Jake's breath began to quicken, his palms to sweat, and the hair on the back of his neck to stand up. The two continued on in silence, only the sound of their footsteps to comfort them. D's eyes made out a second door. Slowly he drew his sword, the hiss of it sliding from its sheath caused his human companion to grasp his shotgun even tighter. D reached out and grasped the knob…

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Clove climbed onto Ives's back and tugged at his reins. She had waited long enough. Quickly Ives galloped over the bridge and into the castle. As she crossed the threshold She was shocked to find Lawrence coming toward her with a woman on each side of him. She pulled Ives' reins hard to stop him from trampling the three.

"Clove!" Lawrence yelled out.

Her hard pull caused Ives's to winy and rear up on his back legs. Clove quickly brought him to the ground and reached out to pat his muzzle in order to calm him.

"Clove thank god, they're alive!" Lawrence yelled.

Clove looked down at the two women at his side, this mother and sister. Lawrence reached around to his back and pulled out another pistol. He held it out to her. "Here take this and start shooting locks!" Clove took the pistol and dismounted. As soon as she hit the ground she was off down the stairs. She began to blast locks off and was soon joined again by Lawrence. Just as she was about to help a weakly woman to her feet the room shook and a cloud of dust blew out from the hallway in which D and Jake had gone.

Lawrence ran to the door and down the hallway. Clove left the woman for a healthier woman to help and took off after him. There had been a collapse in a room at the end of the hallway. Moonlight streamed in through the now collapsed room. It seemed the room was the basement to a tower. Clove stared up through the wreckage. Some lingering logs were laid a crossed the circular tower helping to cast eerie shadows on the wreckage below. In the blink of an eye two figures came together in the air and the clank of metal sounded down to her. For a moment Clove could see D and his sword locked with the vampire before they pushed off and began to leap among the timbers, clasping occasionally.

A cry from Lawrence caught Her attention and she turned to him. Lawrence knelt at his brother's side. Jake had a blank stare, blood dribbling from his mouth. He was dead, crushed by falling rocks. Clove felt the sting of tears at her eyes but composed herself. She went to his side and pulled on his arm. He didn't budge, tears running down his face.

"Lawrence please, we need to go," she pleaded. "You can't help now him but you can help those women. We have to get them out before that vampire finds out."

Lawrence looked up at her with his tear-streaked face. His lips quivered but he slowly stopped them and nodded solemnly to her. The two rushed back to the make-shifty prison, Clove silently praying for no more dead tonight.

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D landed crouched on the remains of a rampart letting his sword finish it's swing. It's blade shone in the moonlight. D slowly rose to his feet and searched to ruins for the vampire. His attention was drawn by the sound of horse hooves. He looked toward the sound and saw that it was Lawrence leading the women to safety. His brow furrowed and he wondered where Clove and Ives were.

In his moment of thought the vampire sprang forward, catching him off guard. D's head turned just in time to see the vampire charge into him. The air was knocked right out of the donpeal and he felt him self fall back. Unfortunately the only thing behind him was the broken down wall and he tripped over it, which caused him to completely flip over and tumble to the river below. Amidst the vampire's laughter D twisted his body and reached out for something to stop his descent.

His grasping had caught the remains of stone waterspout. Using the momentum he got from his fall he swung himself up and through a gap in the wall. D came to a gracefully landing on a creaking wooden floor. At the edge of his vision he saw a blur of black heading toward him. The high crack of metal echoed off the remaining walls.

The vampire stared down at D, his blonde hair coming loose from his ponytail and falling into his face and his burning green eyes shining. His metal formed arm the only thing stopping D from cutting of his head. From their stalemate the bridge was clearly visible.

"It looks like your harem is running away…" D's monotone voice said.

The vampire growled his brows furrowed in anger. "So it would seem…" He said. With a roar he pushed off from D springing up into the air, the tails of his coat flying around him, to sit on the stone remains of the next level. He looked down at the bridge. He saw a black stallion and it's rider running a crossed it, he knew the girl rider wasn't human right away and flashed a grin. "Pretty little girls become beautiful women and one pretty little donpeal girl would make up for losing all of them."

D's lip began to curl up and he could feel the anger rising within him. His grip on his sword tightened which caused the vampire to laugh out. In the blink of an eye he had launched him self off the building and was free falling toward Clove. D dashed over the edge as well the wind rushing past his ears and a fear he'd never known before filling him. As he came to a hard landing the vampire was lifting Clove from her seat on Ives. Clove let out a startled shriek, she hadn't even seen him coming. The vampire held her tightly to his chest.

D leap into the air and swung his sword a crossed the vampire's back and reached out to grasp the end tails of his cloak. As he came back down to the bridge he yanked on the cloak hard and brought the vampire against the stone with a loud smack. D brought his sword down and pierced the vampire's shoulder, pinning him to the bridge. The donpeal reached down and wrapped an arm around Clove's waist. With a quick yank she was free and clinging to him.

The vampire let out a yell of frustration and pulled himself up, sword and all. When he turned to face D the donpeal grabbed the sword's hilt and pulled it hard to the right. The vampire held on to the sword and went with it. D gave a quick yank and the sword tore from the vampire's hands and shoulder. He brought his sword back and swung it toward the vampire's head. The vampire held up his steal arm to block his head.

This angered D to no end. This vampire had tried to take Clove, had had his hands on her, and now was not dying. D let out a yell himself and with all of his strength behind it he continued to push the sword. The vampire was pushed back and into the side of the bridge. He flayed his arms trying to grasp on something and fell over the edge. D with Clove held close to his chest looked over the edge just in time to see the vampire disappear into the raging river.

D sighed in relief and sheaved his sword. He slowly came to sit down, his back against the edge of the bridge and Clove curled up her head tucked into her knees at his side. Her shoulders were pulled in tight and she sobbed quietly. D gently stroked her cheek, "Clove…"

At his gentle touch Clove turned and buried her face in his lower chest. D pulled the crying girl into her lap and held her tightly. He let out a breath of relief and laid his head on hers. D had never felt fear like that before. It wasn't the fear of death or that unavoidable fear you get when you know you're about to be hit by an attacker. It was the fear of losing someone, of losing Clove. After a moment D rose again bring Clove up in his arms as he did so. He placed her on Ives's and mounted behind her. Like always his arm was around her waist but this time she held on to it. Ives slowly clopped down the bridge and to Lawrence. D continued Ives on past the group of women and into the field, not the deer path.

"Hey!" Lawrence called. "Wait don't you want your money!"

D stopped Ives and without glancing back he said, "Keep it." Leaving the villagers with his last words to them he drove Ives to a gallop a crossed the field. Lawrence watched with his mother and sister at his side as the two donpeals disappeared down a hill.

A/n - hm… HM… I know where this is goin' don't worry, I've got more.