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Blood Feud	By : Nakkinomiko Category: +S to Z > Vampire Hunter D Views: 1907 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Hunter D or its characters. I make no money from this fic.

Chapter List
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From Raina’s Journal:

My name is Raina. I, like my father and my grandmother before him, am a Hunter. I don’t really hunt Vampires--there are very few left on the world, and those that are left are smart enough to take blood only from willing donors or risk the chance of losing their lives to a Hunter’s sword. I’ve never taken a Vampire case, myself. It’s too close to a conflict of interest for me. My Grandma, Leila, used to tell me stories about her last job, and after years of sitting on her lap and listening to the tales, I can’t bring myself to hunt the creatures. The tales of Meier, Charlotte, and D are forever etched into my memories, and the lesson they teach is one I cannot forget. Not all monsters are bad guys.

Most of them are, unfortunately--another lesson that has hit close to home this past week. I have lost Father to the blade of a Barbarois shadow-walker, and narrowly missed death myself. The creature died, and took with it the one piece of information I needed to avenge the death of a dear friend. I feel hollow inside without Father by my side, and I am not sure I can continue the quest alone. I fear that my friend and my father’s deaths will go un-avenged. I am not too proud to admit that I am afraid to face the dangers of the midnight world on my own. I am not a strong man--I am a woman--and no matter how strong others think I am, I know my own limitations. . .

Raina paused in her writing when a knock on the study door interrupted her. She cocked her head towards the door when it opened, and the familiar form of her late Father’s housekeeper entered the room.

“Ma’am?”

“Yes, Raymond?”

The man, in his late fifties, ran a hand over his balding pate in a nervous gesture before he spoke again.

“Ma’am, you should really get some rest,” Raymond finally said. It was the first time any of the staff had spoken their concern out loud. Raina hadn’t slept more than two or three hours a night since her Father’s death.

“Thank you for your concern,” Raina said after a moment. “But I’m fine, Raymond. Was there anything else?”

“Ah . . .no, Ma’am.” Raymond’s expression was one of utter defeat. He had been with their family for years, and no doubt her father’s death had affected the housekeeper much more deeply than he was letting on.

“Raymond, I’m fine,” Raina said, her voice softer. “Please don’t worry yourself over me.”

“I can’t help it, Raina,” he said. The corners of his eyes crinkled a little when he gave her a slight smile. “I helped raise you, child. You’re like a daughter to me, you know?”

“I know,” Raina said. Her own smile was bittersweet, and even more so for the tears welling in her eyes.

“If you need anything, Ma’am, just let me know,” Raymond said. “Otherwise, I’ll be getting some rest in my room.”

“Of course. Thank you, Raymond.”

The man nodded and slipped from the room, leaving Raina with her own thoughts.

It had not been, Raina thought, the kindest of years. She had lost so much. First, Madeline, her best and most trusted friend, and then her father. Two deaths in only three months’ time. The temptation to lock herself away and pretend the world did not exist was extremely appealing, even though she knew it wouldn’t take away the pain of her loss and grief. It would be so much easier than facing the task she had set for herself.

She was going to find out who was behind Madeline’s death. She knew once she found that person, she would also have the person that was indirectly responsible for her father’s death, as well. But where to start? The Barbarois that had killed her father had been the only one that they had known of that knew who was behind the kidnapping and murders of peaceful vampires, and Raina had been forced to kill it before it had killed her.

Damn it.

Raina stood from the desk and went to look out the window and across the rows and rows of houses and shops that made up the town. Her home stood on top of a hill on the eastern most boundary of the town, and she could see the lay of the entire area from her vantage point at the window. The sun had gone down mere minutes ago, and the western sky was awash with an angry orange glow. The small castle on the western most side of town was a shadow against the dimming light of the sun, a dark sentinel on the hillside. It had been Madeline’s home, before she’d been mysteriously kidnapped, starved for over two weeks, and then chained outside the town’s East gate to burn in the morning sun.

Raina felt tears well in her eyes again . . .it had been one of the most terrible moments of her life. The town had woke to the sounds of Madeline’s screams that morning, and by the time her father and her had made it to the gate it had been far too late. Madeline, a vampire, was burning in the morning sun, and the temperature of her enflamed skin had been far too high for anyone to get close enough to her to save her. Raina had watched in horror as her best friend had burned, until there had been nothing left but ashes, and even that had been carried away on the morning breeze.

The tears in Raina’s eyes slipped slowly from her lids, and her hand came up to cover the broach that held together the lace of her collar. It was a large sapphire surrounded by pearls and mounted in silver filigree. It was the only thing she had left of Madeline, just as the two wedding bands hanging from a gold chain around her neck were the only things she had left of her parents. All three would be closely guarded and kept close to her person.

The low, somber tones of the church’s bells signaled the approach of night. It was nine o’clock now, and Raina turned away from the window. Raymond had been right--she needed some rest. Her father would be laid to rest in the morning, and she would need to be ready for that. There would be mourners there, and she would be expected to speak with every one of them. It was a task she dreaded, but one she knew was necessary. Her father had been a well-loved member of the community, one of its protectors. The whole town would be there, most likely. Raina wasn’t entirely sure she was ready for it.

“I’ll just have to be,” she whispered to herself. She dashed away her tears with trembling fingers and went to find her bed.

The weather took a turn for the worse during the night, and by the time it was time for her father’s coffin to be lowered into the ground, the rain was falling in a light drizzle. Raina stood in it, utterly alone in the sea of people that had come to honor her father’s memory, and did her best not to shiver. She’d refused to carry an umbrella, and stood now and let the chill mist permeate her black mourning gown and soak her skin, as if hoping that the cold of it would numb her to the pain of her loss. She was so cold and so intent on not crying that she failed to notice a stirring among the gathered townsfolk. It wasn’t until she heard a deep, almost long-forgotten voice speak from behind her that she realized another had arrived for the graveside service.

“Would you like my cloak?”

Raina went utterly still, and then slowly turned to look up at the man now standing next to her. He hadn’t changed at all, not that she would have expected it. He was still young-looking, even though he was rumored to be thousands of years old, and just as beautifully handsome as Raina remembered him being. The same pale features and dark chestnut hair she remembered, and he still dressed in black.

“No,” Raina finally answered him. “You’ll be cold as well. I am warm enough.” Raina turned away from him and turned her attention to the priest reciting the final rites over her father’s grave.

“You are just as proud as your Grandmother was,” he murmured, just loud enough for her to hear. “She never really wanted my help, either.”

She heard a murmur run through the gathered mourners, and a moment later she stiffened slightly when she felt heavy cloth descend around her shoulders. The cloak was twice as heavy as her own, and Raina couldn’t help the grateful sound that escaped her as she pulled it close around her.

“Grandma admired you,” Raina said softly. “So did Father, even though he never met you. He was upset that you did not come to the house that day. He made me retell our conversation many times before he let it drop. And now, he will never meet you.” Grief rose in her throat like a bitter bile, and she did her best to choke it back and swallow it whole. She was a Hunter, wasn’t she? Things like this were not supposed to affect her.

“I am sorry for your loss.” His voice did, indeed, resonate with regret. “Your father was a well-known Hunter. He will be sorely missed.”

“He will be missed as a Father most of all,” she said, a little bitterly. She regretted it almost instantly, for she knew that he had not meant to belittle her loss. He said nothing, then, and the silence stretched on for several moments, and she abruptly realized that the priest was waiting for her to throw the first handful of dirt onto the coffin before finishing the service.

“Go on,” he said, and she felt a light touch through the folds of the cloak in the center of her back.

She took a few halting steps forward and then crouched down to take a handful of wet dirt in her black-gloved hand. Tears began to flow freely from her emerald eyes as she held her hand over the grave and slowly opened her fingers. She watched the dirt flow through them to fall with soft thumps upon the lid of the coffin below.

“Goodbye, Papa,” she whispered as the priest spoke the final words of the service. “Save a place for me. I’ll see you and mama again . . .someday.” She stepped back as the rest of the mourners filed by the grave, each taking a handful of dirt and tossing it on the grave before turning to give her their condolences, the whole time gazing almost fearfully over her shoulder at the man standing behind her. She thanked them all for their well wishes, and after what seemed like ages, she was left alone with the open grave and the silent presence behind her.

“How did it happen?” he finally asked.

“Barbarois,” she whispered. “We got careless, and underestimated the beast’s speed . . .and Father paid the price.” Tears filled her eyes again, and they felt warm on her chilled cheeks. “I killed it before it was able to turn on me, but by then, it was too late. By the time I’d finished the fight, Father had already bled to death. Grandma Leila used to warn him not to get arrogant. It was a lesson I thought we had both learned.” She fell silent and shivered with the dampness that surrounded her.

“You are cold.” A statement, not a question.

They fell silent again, and she stared down at the coffin for a very long time before she finally looked away and turned to faced him again.

“You really haven’t changed at all,” she said, her voice soft with the wonder of it.

“You have,” he returned, and there was definite amusement in his tone. “You are no longer a little girl.”

“No, but sometimes I wish I was,” she whispered. “Then I could be naïve and pretend that the monsters don’t exist.”

His dark eyes softened as she spoke the words.

The wind howled around them, driving the fine mist like needles into her face, and Raina shivered almost violently.

“You should go home now,” he said softly.

She paused and looked up at him.

“Will you come to my home now?” She carefully kept all emotion out of her voice as she asked the question, even as she was silently praying that he would accept. She’d given the staff the day off, and she didn’t want to be alone in the house.

His dark eyes settled on her features, and after a long moment he finally spoke.

“Yes,” he answered simply.

Raina almost cried with relief. She turned and started to walk from the graveyard and back towards her home. They were halfway there before she finally spoke again.

“Thank you, D.”

< /br>

“Why are you here?” Raina asked the question as she opened the front door of the house.

“I heard your father had died,” he said simply. “And I was passing through.”

“Oh?” She closed the door behind them and hit the light switch before lifting his heavy cloak from her shoulders and handing it back to him. As she suspected he would, he put it back on before readjusting his scabbard and sword across his back. “And where are you going?”

“I am a Hunter.”

“Then you are on a Hunt?” She removed her own cloak and hung it on a peg next to the door before brushing by him and heading for the kitchen. He followed silently behind her. She turned the light on before crossing to the stove and turning the burner on under the tea kettle.

“I am only looking,” he finally answered.

She nodded to herself as she pulled a mug from the cupboard. She paused and looked over her shoulder at him. He was standing just inside the doorway, his dark eyes watching.

“Do you want some tea? I mean . . .I don’t know if you can even drink it or not . . .” Her voice faltered as she suddenly realized she knew next to nothing about the man she had invited into her house.

“Yes . . .” And here he paused. “What is your name?”

She almost laughed at that. Instead, she pulled a second mug from the cupboard before searching for the tea in another.

“Raina. I had forgotten that you never asked for it all those years ago.” She put a teabag in each mug and filled each with boiling water. She lifted a mug and turned to face him. “Here you go.”

He took the mug, and she would have sworn that his eyes narrowed in pleasure for a moment as he wrapped his slender fingers around the warm mug. He took small sip before nodding slightly.

“It’s good.”

“I wasn’t sure you could drink or eat anything other than blood,” she said, suddenly feeling like an idiot as she made the admission.

“I’m half human,” he said, his tone implying that the simple statement should explain everything about the mystery that was D.

“I know,” she said softly. She turned away to retrieve her own mug before she motioned for the table. He slid smoothly into a chair facing the one she chose.

“What will you do now?” D asked her.

“I will continue to do what I do best,” she said after a moment. “I will Hunt, and in doing so, it is my hope that I will find and avenge whoever is responsible for my Father’s death.”

D grew very still, and his mouth turned downward in the slightest of frowns.

“It was not an accident?”

“Not entirely,” Raina replied. “We were chasing the Barbarois with the hopes of capturing it. It had information we wanted . . .information that would have led us to the killer, or killers, of peaceful vampires in the area.” She paused, and her eyes narrowed thoughtfully as she looked at D. “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? You’re here to find the culprits, too.”

“Yes,” he answered. “But why were you and your father trying to find them?”

“Did you pass the castle on your way in?” Raina asked, her voice gone very soft. “Did you see how dark and empty it was?”

“Yes.”

“That castle belonged to Madeline, a dear friend of mine,” Raina said. She met D’s eyes and swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. “She was a vampire, and she was my best friend. Nearly three months ago she just disappeared. When father and I went into the castle to look for clues, we found her lover nailed to a wall. He’d been completely disemboweled, and a message had been written in his blood on the wall.”

“What did it say?” D prompted when she paused for too long.

“Join or die.”

D seemed to think about that for a moment, his brow wrinkled slightly as his frown deepened. “Was she ever found?”

“Two weeks after we found her lover in her house, there was a terrible screaming from the town’s Eastern gate. Most of the village ran to see what it was . . .and the bastards . . .oh, God!” She stopped and wiped sudden tears from her eyes. “They had starved her for two weeks, until she was too weak to fight, and chained her to a pole in the ground and left her for the morning sun! By the time we realized what was happening, it was too late. She had been out in it too long, and her flesh burned too hotly for anyone to get near enough to cover her.”

“The Barbarois that killed your father . . .he knew something?”

“Yes. He was supposed to have known who was behind the kidnappings. There have been two similar cases since, all occurring in a span of less than three months.

“I see.” D paused to take a sip from the mug of tea he held. “Raina, it is dangerous to continue to pursue this. If the Barbarois are involved, it means that someone very powerful is behind it.”

“I know it, but I’ll not stop. Madeline was my friend, and now my Father has been killed. I can’t let it go, even if it means I must find the culprits on my own.”

“Not on your own,” D said after a moment of silence. “I will help you.”

Raina looked up sharply, not quite sure she’d heard him correctly. It went against everything she’d ever heard about the Dhampire, this offer of help.

“Why?” The word was out of her mouth before she could stop it, but she decided that it was okay. It was better to know the truth of it now. Raina had always believed in being truthful and straight-forward, an attribute that was not going to go away any time soon.

He didn’t answer her right away. His dark eyes stared into the mug of tea wrapped in his fingers for what seemed like a very long time before he finally spoke again.

“Your Grandmother was my . . .friend,” D said softly. His words were slow in coming, almost as if he were reluctant to speak them, and he didn’t look up at her.

“Strange friend, to not come visit her every once in a while,” Raina found herself saying. It was a story she knew well--her Grandmother had told it to her often enough, and more often than not, at Raina’s request. After she and D had done battle with Carmila and finished their business with Meier Link, the Dhampire had taken her to the nearest village and left her there. According to her grandmother, few words had passed between them on the journey--Leila had done most of the talking. And once D had left, Leila had never seen him again. In fact, from what Raina understood, the day of her funeral was the first time the man had shown his face in the village since.

“I suppose I deserved that,” D replied, his voice very quiet.

“She loved you,” Raina said, speaking a truth that had, until that very moment, gone unspoken. Maybe somewhere, her grandmother was cursing her, but Raina felt he had the right to know. From all that her Grandmother had ever said, she had the distinct feeling that D had some self-esteem issues, believed himself to be nothing more than a monster, and that knowing that someone had loved him might help with that a little. Not that Raina had any illusions that her Grandmother had been the only human woman to look twice at D. God knew, the man was so beautiful it was unreal!

“I . . .” He fell silent for a moment, and then he finally looked up at her.

An audible gasp left Raina when she was hit full force with the pain she saw in his dark eyes. A sudden realization made her eyes tear up, and she didn’t even try to hide it when they started to slide silently down her cheeks. Not only had D known, he had loved her, too.

“I’m so sorry,” Raina managed to whisper, her tears threatening to choke her voice entirely. “It’s none of my business, I had no right . . .”

“You are her granddaughter,” D interrupted her, and a slight hint of a smile pulled up the corners of his pale lips. “You have every right.” The pain she had seen in his eyes was replaced with a sort of sad resignation. “I know that she loved me, Raina.”

“Then . . .why did you leave?” she whispered.

“Because after all that she’d been through, with her parents and the Markus brothers, she deserved a better life than what I could offer her. She needed peace, and stability, and those were things I could not give her. I am a Dhampire--there will always be those that fear and hate me, and I did not want her to suffer because of it. I have a dark legacy, Raina. I couldn’t damn her to a life with me.”

“But . . .” she bit her lip, afraid to finish the thought out loud. You loved her, too.

D’s smile was resigned, and he nodded slightly.

“Yes, I loved her,” he whispered. “And that was why I left.”

It was twisted logic, but Raina could see his reasoning, and while she didn’t have to like it, she could understand. Still, the whole situation was bittersweet, and Raina found herself fighting tears again. How very sad for both of them! She buried her face in her hands and let the tears come. He made no move to comfort her, not that Raina would have expected it from him. She let herself cry until her chest hurt and most of the emotional hurt had dulled to a numbness within her, and then she forced herself to stop, and she dried her tears with the back of her hand.

“I’m sorry,” she managed to mutter as she dried her tears.

“No apologies are necessary,” he said. “Perhaps you should get some rest. It’s getting late, and no doubt this has been a very trying week for you.”

“Oh, it has,” Raina said, and her smile was wry. “There’s an extra room upstairs, 2nd door on the right. Please, stay here as long as you like.”

“As long as it takes to help you find the ones responsible for your friend’s and your father’s deaths,” D returned. “I meant it. I am going to help you, Raina.”

“And for that, I am most grateful.”

TBC
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Blood Feud