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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
- 7
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He leaned against the wall outside her door, arms crossed, as the doctor went in. After a few minutes, the older man came back out clutching his throat like he was choking, confusion and fear written across his features. He wouldn’t answer any questions posed, but refused to go back in.
D asked the owner if she knew anyone else who would look after Katherine’s injuries. She couldn’t look at him without blushing, but she sent for a woman she knew next door.
“Shelia acts as a nurse and midwife. She’ll have a look at her.”
Shelia didn’t take very long inside the room either, but came out looking a bit bewildered. “She’s not hurt badly at all, mister. Hardly any injury for all that blood. She should wake up soon enough,” she left him with a smile and a nod. Then D was alone in the hallway in front of her door.
“Well, are you going in or leaving town? The girl’s too much trouble to take care of, if you ask me.”
“No one’s asking you. Who’s the real troublesome one? She’s gotten me out of two scrapes so far. I owe her.”
“Call it even. You brought her out in one piece, didn’t you?”
D hesitated another minute then opened the door. Katherine was lying, unconscious, on the bed with only a sheet covering her. The gash on her forehead was now only a small bruise. Her leg was wrapped around a splint but the dressings were clean.
“She sure is nice to look at. Young and foolish, but almost as beautiful as you, he he.”
“Quiet, she’s waking up.”
She opened her eyes to slits and looked around. Dark circles ringed her eyes. “How long have I been out?”
“Just a few hours.”
Katie glanced at D’s left hand, a hand flying to her temple as if her head ached. “We have not formally met, hand, but I remember you knocking me out in my own bedroom. What sort of parasite are you?”
“A better question is what are you?”
She didn’t answer.
            “Are you in much pain?” D asked.
“No, just tired.” She rubbed her eyes sleepily. “It takes a lot of energy to heal. Of course, I cannot heal as fast as you, but close enough.”
“Hmm,” D came up beside her until his thigh touched the side of tehbed, “Do me a favor…”
“Do me one too,” - she interrupted, - “use your peripheral vision next time, please.” She smirked at him but her face looked so haggard that it was more like a grimace.
“Sit up, Katie.”
She slowly pulled herself up and realized what he wanted. “Oh, of course, you are curious about that.” She tugged her hair off her back and leaned forward. Her back was as smooth and pale as ivory. There was no sign of the injury from the lizard.
“Not even a scar,” D mumbled. His right hand moved towards her, as if to touch her back, before it froze and fell back to his side.
“Only the ones I had before.” Katherine realized the sheet was her only cover and pulled it higher over her chest, her cheeks growing pink. Lying back, she asked, “Do you have anywhere to be?”
“Not at the moment.” D stepped back and leaned against the wall behind him, knowing what was coming.
She gazed up at the ceiling in thought. “Not quite human, not quite vampire. He was right about that. I am a whole different creature altogether. My brother told you a vampire took me when I was a child. He does not remember much about it. We used to play in the forest behind our home. The Noble castle still stood but as far as the townspeople knew it was abandoned. But of course, it really was not.
“I used to creep up there during the day and I could hear machines running. I was lost looking for my brother at dusk one day when I came upon the Noble in the woods. I was upset but I was not crying. I never cried much. He was so beautiful and he just stood there watching me. I knew I should be afraid but I wanted to ask him for help. But without a word he scooped me up and carried me to the edge of the forest near my home. I thanked him as he put me down and he suddenly looked at me strangely. He was staring in my eyes so intensely that I became nervous. ‘You are a Noble, aren’t you?’ I asked him. ‘Yes, but you do not fear me. My name is Sebastian. There is something different about you, child. Something in your blood. One night I will come for you, would you like that? Would you like to visit with me at my castle? I promise no harm will come to you.’ I thought about it. I had been told vampires were bad, evil. But he was polite and he seemed lonely. His eyes were so sad. I told him I did not mind as long as I was not gone too long. He bowed and flew away.
“Every night I stayed up for a while waiting for him and finally one night he came to my window. ‘Would you still like to come and talk to me, child?’ I held my arms out to him and told him my name. I was actually gone for three days and nights. He showed me his castle; told me about the Nobles; showed me old paintings and writings from the time when Nobles ruled these lands. He also told me about the King of vampires,” she paused and looked at D for a moment before she went on, her eyes as stormy as the sea.
“I was like a sponge, absorbing his every word. I was fascinated by the technology and history. ‘Why are you telling me all this?’ I asked him. ‘It is interesting to you, is it not? The Nobles were a great race once but our time is over. It is the humans turn now to carry on. Our race has become weak. These younger ones are not worthy of the name Noble. They are merely bloodsuckers. I detest them. They shame me and they should be wiped from this earth.’ His face clearly showed his shame at the way his people had fallen. Once a proud race that lived in luxury and held large parties; now they hid in dark corners and feared being murdered in their sleep. I felt so sorry for him.
‘Are you lonely, Sebastian?’ I asked. ‘Yes, but my time is coming to an end, too. There is more I would like to tell you and I want you to try your best to remember all I say.’
“I enjoyed my time there. I could not tell if it was night or day in his castle so I just slept whenever I felt sleepy. But he never rested. I never once saw him crawl in a coffin or even dose in a chair. I wondered how many years it had been since he had slept, for he never seemed tired. He served me bread and vegetables and fruit, but no meat. He never left me to feed in those three days. He was always waiting for me when I woke; sometimes I even slept in his lap. He was becoming like a second father to me and on the last day when he told me I must go home, I did not want to.
“‘Don’t you miss your family?’ he asked. ‘Yes, I do but… can I come visit you?’ I wanted us to be friends for always. He frowned and said, ‘I am afraid I will not be around here anymore, Katherine. We will not see each other again after tonight.’ That was when I knew he was going to die and I cried. He sat me down and told me the most important thing of all, the one thing that has not grown a bit fuzzy in my memory.
‘You are special Katherine,’ he said, ‘There was a vampire somewhere in your family tree. There are special genes in your blood that will make you a very strong woman one day. You can do whatever you want with your life, be anything you want. But I will ask one thing of you. If, when you are grown, these inferior vampires are still lurking around, kill them. Be a protector to those you love and to your race. And do not ever let any man use you because you are a woman. Now, before you go, would you drink some special water? This will help you become fast and powerful as you grow.’ And he gave me a chalice half full of water. I drank it all, as he asked, but I was still sad.
“‘Do not leave; I will stay here with you so you will never be lonely!’ I cried out. He gave me a sad smile. That beautiful, ancient face was like porcelain. ‘The Nobles are no more. Our race is finished. I must go join my kin.’ And he put me to sleep and left me on my doorstep. The next morning when the sun rose, I ran to the castle before my father could stop me. But on the way, I felt it. The pain in my heart. He was dying. I came upon the castle in time to see it falling to pieces. There he stood, in the sunlight, burning to death. He looked at me one last time before he turned to ashes.”

Katherine paused and breathed in deeply, closing her eyes, her chest heaving as if she were trying to suppress a sob. “But he knew what I was. He knew he could alter my genes with his tonic to become a being that had many vampire traits but could walk in the sun. A mortal, but a fast healer. He wanted me to know about his dying race, everything beautiful and ugly. He wanted me to keep these things in my heart and pass them on to the next generation. He knew I would understand, even though most people do not. What would Sebastian think of the Scarlet Hunter I wonder? Would he be happy for me? Would I disappoint him?” She looked D straight in the eye. “One drop of his blood in that water was all it took to make me who I am today.”

“I could have sworn you were dead when he brought you back last night. Now you look like you never even fought.” The sheriff shook his head and handed Katie a bundle. “Here is your food and money along with this town’s thanks. You are welcome here anytime, even your friend.” He nodded at D who stood quietly by with his horse. Katie, who was fully recovered after only a night, nodded in return and mounted her horse. Her face was once again covered but she no longer bothered wearing a hat. She never would again: her red hair was her trademark now.
As they left the town, Katie was silent but D knew she wanted to speak with him about something. Her brow was wrinkled in a way that meant she had questions. When they were a few miles out, she finally spoke. “Will you hunt the vampire then?”
“Will you?”
She looked at him. “Until July, then I am due back to my brother. But I will track him until then.”
“How long will you go on leading this double life?”
“As long as it is necessary. My brother will marry in a few months. After he is settled down and has no one to dote on but her, I will tell him. I must break it to him gently; he has no idea his sweet, naïve little sister has vampire blood coursing through her veins. It will come as quite a shock. He will probably disown me and kick me out.”
            “Then you will have no one to go home to.”
She shrugged. “I love my brother but we are two worlds apart. He will be angry with me but I will show up once in a while to let him know I am alright.” She took her face covering off and smiled at D. “We make a good team, you and I. Want to kill this Pseudo character together? After it is done with, I swear I will let you go on your own lonely way. How about it; just for a little while?”
He stopped his horse and stared at her, “Do you realize what you are asking? What it is really like to work with me? What about after, Katie? Will you travel alone?”
“Of course. You do not want me hanging around all the time, do you? That is not your style. I think you enjoy being all alone and lonely. It makes you unhappy and that is what you want,” she said matter-of-factly.
D gave her a hard look and spurred his horse to a gallop. She followed at a slow canter. They rode this way for miles, past the brook where they had rested just the day before and through a vast desert. Hours passed as they rode on. The sun began to hurt Katherine’s eyes.
D finally stopped his horse at an oasis that held a beautiful waterfall. He was leaning against a palm tree when she caught up with him. Katherine took a moment to drink in the beauty of her surroundings before she refilled the canteen she had drained dry in the desert. As she breathed deeply of the moist air, she unsaddled her horse and let her wander. The mare immediately walked toward D’s black horse and they grazed together. This gave Katherine pause, her eyes turning to her silent companion. She walked over and plopped down beside D on the grass.
“We are friends, are we not?” She asked timidly.
“I suppose.”
            She began to pick the small yellow flowers blooming in the grass around her and weave them together. Her eyes stayed on her fingers as she worked. “As a friend, I was only telling you what I see. You are unhappy and you do not care, or maybe you think you deserve to be. Why? I spilled my whole life’s story to you earlier; can you not answer me this one question?”
D sighed and sat beside her. “I’m not unhappy. I’m just…”
“Cold and emotionless.” She made a ringlet of flowers and placed it on her head with a solemn look.
“No, I feel emotions just as you. I just refuse to show them.”
Katie leaned back on her palms and looked at the sky. “Why do you hunt?”
“Because I must.”
She shook her head. “That is no answer. I gave you a true answer when you asked me. Are you trying to atone for your father’s mistakes?”
D opened his mouth but nothing came out. She spoke so bluntly about his father, of all things! It was a taboo subject to him. “I am searching for someone and I hunt because that is all I know. There is no other life for me. I am accepted by neither human nor vampire. You’ve seen how people are around me.”
“We are more alike than you realize, I think. Neither of us will really fit in anywhere because of what we are. You say humans will not accept you but I am sure you have met some who have. Like me.” She grinned at him. “Of course, I hope the others you met are not as odd as I am. But I see what you are truly afraid of. You will fall for some girl and then outlive her. You will watch her die and be miserable all over again, right?”
“Yes, I would outlive any woman I cared for, as I have outlived friends in the past. But it is difficult for me to be with someone anyway. My vampire urges are strongest when I hold someone close.”
“Well, in your case, I am sure that if you bit a girl just once, she would forgive you. After all, you cannot control it and if she really loved you she would understand that.”
“But could I forgive myself.” D took the crown of flowers off her head and stared at them, his voice quiet. “Once I tasted her sweet blood, would I be able to stop myself from draining her of it? I have seen it happen to others. It is a risk I would not take.” He placed the flowers in her hand. His touch sent a pleasant chill up her spine.
“That is very noble of you. And foolish too, in my opinion. If you truly loved someone, I think you would risk anything to be with them. You would take a chance. Even if it was only for a few decades: a blink of an eye to you. But would you not have gained something in the end? Would not that brief time of happiness be enough to last through the rest of your days?”
She stood up and stretched. “I guess people like us do not get to experience that kind of love. I have never been with a man and I am sure I never will. That is why I am counting on Dathan to make lots of cute little Clemmons babies to carry on the family bloodline. He would be a good father, just like our father was.”
Her eyes misted over unexpectedly and she whistled for her horse. She searched through her saddlebags for a small pot and filled it with water in the waterfall. D was kind enough to scrounge around for sticks and leaves as Katie dug a little hole in the ground and made a fire. She found the dried food from the town and boiled it in the pot.
“All this sentimental talk is making me sick.” D left hand commented.
“Hush, you.” Katie feigned anger.
D sat brooding as she ate her small meal.
“I will hunt this vampire with you, Katherine. Even after you go back to your home I will continue to track him down. I will keep you updated on his whereabouts. I think he will try to make it a grand chase. He’s a traveler. He wasn’t in that town very long. And I think he will recruit more than just a dragon against us. This may take some time.”
She finished up her meal and drank some water before responding. “Well, I am in it for the long run. I will be at Dathan’s for a few months but then I will be free. Free for good.” The thought brought a smile to her lips.
“Won’t you miss your hometown?”
“No. It was more of a prison to me than a home sometimes. Father would have been the only thing to keep me there. He understood me best of all.” She doused the fire and gathered her things.
“I believe he went west. The closest village in that direction is across the desert. We could make it before dusk,” D said as he readied himself for the ride.
“I have never been this far west. How large is that village?” Katie asked. She jumped on her mare’s back and grabbed the reins.
“It’s been a while since I passed through. Growing rapidly, last I heard,” D mounted his own horse.
Katie’s eyes were sparkling in mischief, “Then, I will see you there!” And she raced off.
“A challenge?” D smirked and went after her.
- 7
- 8
- 9
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The Scarlet Hunter