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The Scarlet Hunter	By : naturechild02 Category: +S to Z > Vampire Hunter D Views: 2103 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own rights to Vampire Hunter D or any of Hideyuki Kikuchi's works. I do not make any profit/monies from this story. This a fanfic written merely for the enjoyment of myself and others.

Chapter List
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PART THREE
Tomo

Sebastian’s supercomputer had been completely destroyed. They set out once again to persue Pseudo but the trail had grown cold. It was like he had totally vanished. Each town they passed through during their travels seemed peaceful. There were no rumors of any Noble troubles in other towns; no monsters attacking children. All seemed right in the world. Though that was good for the humans, it was bad for a Hunter’s business.
“Strange for the world to be suddenly peaceful. Especially in these areas where strange beasts used to rule the forests. It seems horribly suspicious. What do you think?” Katherine asked. D said nothing and kept his opinion to himself. But the young woman appeared carefree and content as they headed west toward the Forlorn Mountains on the chance that Pseudo and the ancient vampire Dominique were indeed one and the same. She didn’t seem in a hurry; she took her time as they traveled and D enjoyed her company.
Sometimes they would go all day in silence, a comfortable silence, for Katie seemed quite relaxed in his presence. For D, it was a trait of hers that he particularly enjoyed. He was used to most girls jabbering his ear off and most humans became nervous in a dhampir’s presence after some time. Often, she did little things that amazed him: saving a praying mantis from falling in a lake though she herself got soaked; lying in the tall grass and watching the clouds pass for hours. One day it was raining and they came upon an open field.
“Oh, look D!” she pointed to a rainbow in the sky that grew brighter as the rain stopped. “Think we can find the end of it?” And she raced off on her mare with her arms extended, the rain glistening on her hair and face. He couldn’t help the smile that graced his lips. Katherine was so full of life. She often wanted to race and he good-naturedly agreed. But of course, no one could match his speed.
“What was your father like?” he asked her one day.
She gave a little forlorn smile at the question. She was practicing her bow on a tree a good three meters away. “Funny you should ask that as I practice. One of the last memories I have of him is when he found me out in the forest practicing my bow. He came right upon me and surprised me. ‘What in the world are you doing?’ he asked and I could not lie to him. I could never lie to father when he asked me questions straight out. ‘Practicing my bow father, watch.’ And I shot a target a few meters away and he was amazed. He asked if I had taught myself and I said yes. I thought he would be angry but he smiled at me. ‘You do whatever you want, princess. If you are good at it and it makes you happy, go ahead.’ And he did not say anything more about it. He did not want to know about any other things I did when I was gone out by myself for hours. He trusted I could take care of myself. I begged him not to tell Dathan about it, he has always been so worried about appearances. ‘I will take it to my grave, princess,’ he said.”
Her eyes grew misty. “He always called me princess. Little did we know he would be in his grave soon. He died in his sleep one night. We do not know the cause but he looked so peaceful. He is buried by a cherry tree in the orchard. That was over four years ago, and it is still hard to talk about.”
She let an arrow fly and it missed. She dropped her bow. “Outliving your parents because you are immortal is one thing; outliving them when you are only sixteen is another. Still, I am sure it was not easy for you either.” She glanced at D’s silent form and left to retrieve her arrows.

Winter became harsher the closer they came to the mountains. One day in early December, they passed through a recently deserted village. The small houses clustered close together still stood, but the scene was wrong somehow. There were weapons scattered along the ground and signs that the people had left in a rush. One house still had decaying food on the table, insects and rodents having at it.
“Flying jellyfish?” Katherine wondered aloud.
“Perhaps,” D said, “but that wouldn’t explain them.” He pointed to some bodies on the other side of the village. One family had not escaped the pursuers. There was a man, woman, and two children, their throats ripped out and bodies tossed on the road. Katie was examining the mother when she heard a sound. One of the children was being guarded by a large cat. It was lying next to the boy and when D approached, it jumped up and growled at him, not letting him any closer. D drew his sword but Katherine stopped him.
“Come now, D, he’s only frightened.” Katherine stepped over and got down on one knee.
The cat was orange colored with a white area on its chest. “Do not be afraid, we mean him no harm. I will lay him to rest for you. Would you not prefer that?” Katherine’s voice was low and soothing but the animal was riled up. His paw slashed out and clawed her face, the wound oozing blood down her cheek, but she didn’t move a muscle.
“There is no need for that. I am a friend, see.” She put her hand out and left it hanging in the air between them. After a few minutes, the cat stopped growling and sniffed her hand. Then it meowed and rubbed against her. She petted it softly behind the ears.
“You know he is dead but you are afraid to leave him, right? You do not want some animal to harm his remains? I will bury them all for you, my friend.”
And she wouldn’t rest until she buried every member of the family and prayed over their graves. D helped her dig the graves and lay the bodies to rest. “There was no reasoning to this murder,” he said.
“I noticed that. A person would have taken their money and goods and an animal would have ripped them up or dragged them off. It makes no sense.” Katherine was puzzled. “It will most likely remain a mystery never solved.”
“Farewell,” she said to the cat as she went to mount her horse. He came and rubbed against her leg hard. It nearly knocked her over. The beast's back came up to her knees. She laughed and crouched down to pet it. “You do not want to come with me. It would be too dangerous.”
The two Hunters rode away, leaving the tragic yet mysterious scene behind. A few minutes later, Katie looked behind to see the cat following them. When he noticed her looking, he ran faster and made a gigantic leaped into her lap. The horse seemed nervous at first, but the cat curled up and hung on to the saddle. D could hear Katie’s laughter echoing through the fields.

“What will you call him?” They rested near a stream that evening. Even as she tended to her horse and readied her blanket to sleep, the cat wouldn’t leave Katherine’s side.
“Troublesome!” She laughed but began to think about it. “Tomo, because he is my new friend and follower.”
“Where did you learn that?”
“From a book.”
She soon found that the cat could change its color at will. One day she woke up and he was lying beside her, a jet-black color. She only knew it was him because he still retained the oddly shaped white marking on his chest. Tomo loved Katie dearly but would not warm up to D. If the cat was sitting in her lap, D could not sit beside her. He would growl and swipe at the dhampire until her moved. Katherine found it amusing. Once, when Katherine was off having a bath, D actually tried to talk to the cat. He sat near it and offered to pet it. But it ignored him and walked away, his ears folded backwards. His left hand cackled at him.
“Am I so detestable a damn feline will have nothing to do with me?” D said irritably.
“He, he. Yes, you are so loathsome that that girl will only leave you to bathe.”
That comment caught D off guard and made him wonder why Katie hadn’t brushed him off yet. She wasn’t afraid to be alone; she had worked alone for two years before they had fought together against Pseudo. He was hardly a suitable companion: the cat gave her more attention. She didn’t really need him there. So why hadn’t she asked him to leave? He didn’t leave of his own accord because he felt he still owed her. Plus, the promise to kill Pseudo together. At least, those were the reasons he gave himself. But at this rate, she would be an old woman before they even found Pseudo. That thought didn’t bother him like he thought it should: staying with Katie for so long. He pondered these feelings for the next few days.

“You have been unusually quiet, even for you,” Katie said. It had begun snowing that night and she was like a giddy child. She pranced and shuffled her feet, holding her head back with her mouth open to catch the frozen crystals on her tongue. “Are you still upset because you and Tomo have not had your heart-to-heart yet?”
“Who would be upset over a feline?” D said and Tomo hissed at him. D was riding and Katie and Tomo were walking with her mare when they all stopped simultaneously and listened. They were in a valley between three mountains, taking a path leading around the smaller one. There hadn’t been much wind a moment ago, but now it began to blow fiercely. The Hunters were suddenly on full alert. Something wasn’t right.
Then, from behind them, came a bloodthirsty scream and a pack of about twenty werewolves rushed in on them. The humongous wolf bodies racing towards them through the blinding snow and wind was a fearsome sight to behold. There was nowhere to run on the narrow trail so they were forced to turn and fight immediately.
“The fools, it will be light soon!” Katie sneered as she drew her sword. They must have been on their trail all night because they looked half exhausted as they raced in. This gave the Hunters a great advantage. Two dove for Katie at once and she dodged one and thrust her sword in the chest of the other. D’s sword was already stained red as he sliced through the ones nearest him. Out of the corner of her eye, Katie saw Tomo spring for the throat of a smaller one. She was proud of her companion as the huge cat ripped the werewolf’s jugular out; but she had no time to dwell on it.
They were surrounded and she must be on her toes every second. She grabbed her bow and quiver just as a werewolf jumped on her horse and took it down. She aimed for the heart but it bounded away from her for D. He lopped its head off in one swift motion.
Between the two of them, in a matter of minutes, all but two were defeated and the Hunters hadn’t suffered a single wound. The beasts ran back the way they had come and Katherine and D pursued them. Faster than the eye could see them, shards of ice about the length of a man’s hand shot through the air towards the Hunters. Katie threw her forearms up to protect her face as they hit her. They were as sharp as knives and speared right through her flesh. She hissed through her teeth in pain, her eyes darting around in search of the culprit.
A man was standing between the two werewolves. He had dark hair and dark features. The sun rose over the mountain and the werewolves began to change. She could now see the man’s green eyes and evil grin as he hailed them.
“You fight well; hardly even scratched. My master advises you to stop hunting him or you will meet foes who are more, shall we say, intimidating. This is your first and last warning. Farewell.”
D ran to meet him before he could escape but a blast of wind slowed him and when they looked to the spot again, all three had vanished.
“Cute,” Katie scoffed, “like a little threat would really stop us.”
“That man, he was some sort of spellcaster.”
“Hmm, well Psuedo must be worried if he sent someone to actually threaten us like that. We must be getting close.” Katie examined her dead horse and started salvaging what was left of the saddlebags. “Poor girl, at least she went quickly. Let us find a place to rest for the evening. The cold is bothering me.”

That night, Katherine had a nightmare about her aunt Margaret. When she awoke, covered in a cold chill, she couldn’t remember exactly how the dream had gone. The dream left her with a sour feeling in her stomach that wouldn’t leave her for the rest of the day. D offered her his horse but she said she wanted to walk a bit. When the path became too rough to ride, he walked beside her and Tomo took his place on the horse’s back. The rising layer of snow slowed them, but Katie walked slower than need be. She was constantly looking to the North.
“What troubles you?” D finally asked. She was quiet for a moment longer before she answered.
“I had a rather unpleasant dream last night. It gave me a bad feeling that I cannot shake: something is not right. My aunt Margaret…” she trailed off and looked at the snow falling steadily. When they camped around midnight she couldn’t rest. D leaned against a tree and dozed with his hat over his face. Finally, as the sun began to rise, Katie fell asleep but it was a troubled sleep for the dreams returned, only now Dathan was there and he seemed so distressed.
“Katie,” D was calling her. She woke to see the dhampir’s beautiful face looming over her with a concerned look in his eye. His hands rested lightly on her shoulders but as her vision cleared, he stepped back, his gentle touched immediately missed when gone.
“What is it?” she was still half asleep and disturbed by the dream.
“You were calling out for your brother. Bad dreams again?” D’s voice was soothing but when she was fully awake she felt the truth of the dreams. Something had happened. She knew it in her heart; something horrible had happened and she was needed. “I had dreams like this when I was a child when my mother died.” And when she realized the weight of what she had said, the look of horror on her face made D ache for her pain.
“I must go.”
She started searching for her horse; she was that affected by the feelings that she had completely forgotten it was dead. When she collected her wits, she looked at D apologetically. “I am so sorry. We have come so far but I fear the worst.”
“I’ll give you a ride to Dathan’s.” D watched her wringing her hands and that wasn’t at all like Katie. She was so vulnerable now. D was afraid he might reach out and draw her into his arms to comfort the girl. But would she really want that? He shook his head slightly to clear it. Where had that strong urge come from? Since when did he ever comfort humans?
“Come, let us go,” D whistled for his horse.

For three days they rode, stopping only to rest the horse. Tomo ran beside them or rested in Katie’s lap. Katie wouldn’t eat or sleep: she could think of nothing but getting home. Sometimes she felt she would cry from worry so she was glad the dhampir’s strong presence was behind her to remind her of who she was. Her demeanor became worse as they entered Lichen Valley and she saw Haven for the first time in months. Just outside of town, D stopped the horse and let her down.
“I’ll wait for you, Katie.”
“It could take a while. Maybe a week if what I fear is true.”
“If you need to grieve, take your time.”
She looked up at him questioningly. The great Vampire Hunter D would wait for little ole her? It seemed unbelievable. He read her thoughts: “I haven’t anything else better to do. You know where I will be.”
“Thank you.” The look on her face was so appreciative that he had to look away. She turned and headed into town. Tomo followed at her heels.
“What is it about this girl that has made you soft? How is she different from the hundreds of others you’ve met?”
“She is different. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about her…”
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The Scarlet Hunter