Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
                             "Final Hours"

                           by Troy A. Stanton
                      (sailormoonv@sailormoonv.net)


(Author's note: This fanfic follows the events of the original story
  "Winds of Change" (written by me) and also incorporates a few elements
  from the story "Drawing Blood" by Catherine B. Krusberg.  I have her
  permission to make use of her work as a source of material, so anything
  "new" you see in here about D's past with Doris that didn't happen in
  the movie is most likely her original plot material.)

* * * WARNING:  This story contains adult content, please do not read beyond
                 this point if you are easily offended by such things.



     It was the beginning of the end, at least from his perspective, and he was
tired enough to almost be glad for it.  He was old, far older than the one who
was threatening not just his existence but his legacy as well, the legacy of
his entire species.  He was the last true vampire left, and judging from the
chaos echoing down the hallway he would not live to feel the gentle tug of the
rising sun on his dark soul one last time.
     He might have resisted a little more strongly if the sights in the sky
hadn't so thoroughly crushed his hopes.  Pieces of the City of the Night still
rained down at odd intervals, briefly setting the sky ablaze as fragments were
incinerated by friction.  He knew when the magnificent city had been destroyed,
that last bastion of his kind that once twinkled and glittered in the night sky
as it orbited the planet.  All that he wanted to learn in his final hours of
existence was whether or not *he* had anything to do with it, the one who would
shortly be his executioner.
     Enough, he told himself as he allowed his eyes to briefly close.  He knew
this day would come eventually, but he hadn't expected it to be so.... tiring.
Was it the stress of living for so long, watching not just the days or the
years grind past, but the centuries slipping past him, no more noticed than a
single grain of sand among so many others in the hourglass?  Or was it worry
for what the future would be like after he was gone?  He cared little for who
would cry for him, but rather was curious in an academic sense about who would
mourn the loss of his kind.
     She would, of course, but that was to be expected of one's daughter.  He
opened his eyes and turned to look at her, easily seeing so much of her mother
in the soft lines of her face.  He was tired enough not to care about his own
passing, but the last of his children.... that was something else.
     "Galen," he said quietly.  He waited until she lifted her head up, wanting
to see the odd liquid-like coloring of her eyes one last time.  "You should go
from here."
     "I'm not leaving you," she countered.  She dared not raise her voice to
him, but the soft undercurrent of defiance was still quite audible.
     "It is of little use to postpone the inevitable," he said with a gentle
shake of his head.  "I am not sending you away to protect you, as we both know
he will find you eventually.  I merely do not wish to spoil your memory of me,
that is all.  It would break what is left of my heart if you were to see me in
death instead of remembering me in life.  Please, humor an old man and go from
this place.  Confront him if you wish, but do not let it be in my sight for I
want to remember you as you are now.  Please, my daughter," he added in a soft
tone few had ever heard from him before.
     She reached out to touch him, a pair of tears silently falling from her
cheeks as she held his hand for the last time.  The black satin cape around her
shoulders seemed to shimmer slightly before wrapping tightly around her, a hood
sliding over her head to conceal all but the softness of her pale blue lips in
darkness.  "Father, when he comes...." she started to say as she stood up.
     "Please," he replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.  "You need not
worry about any suffering.  My death will be quick and perhaps even painless,
that much I can promise you."  He paused to tilt his head at a slight angle,
listening to the mental screams inside his head as his guards continued to try
to protect him, only to be cut down by a seemingly unstoppable entity.  "He
approaches," he warned her quietly.  "Leave while there is still time."
     "Father...." she whispered quietly, unable to say anything more.
     "You've never defied me before, Galen," he said calmly.  "Do not start to
defy me now.  Go."
     He sighed and leaned back in the throne as she nodded and turned away,
making use of a hidden passage concealed by a modest-sized tapestry.  Perhaps
it was a cliche to have built it as such, but of the six previous visits to his
dark castle by vampire-hunters, only twice had someone lived long enough to
reach his throne room and neither hunter had noticed the concealed door.
     This hunter would be different, however, for that which could easily be
hidden from humans could not be so easily hidden from his kind.  Or from one
with the blood of both.
     Even as he thought about it, he realized that the clangs of metal and the
inaudible screams in his mind had ceased.  He found the silence to be.... a
welcome sound, an indication that this would finally end soon and he would be
at peace with a universe that had tormented him since his descent into the
realm of darkness.
     "So it finally ends," he said quietly as the double doors creaked open.

                *               *               *               *

     D said nothing as he slowly entered the room, his sword held at the ready.
Four colors of blood stained the length of his blade, all slowly running down
towards the tip to drip onto the crimson carpeting.  His eyes never wavered
from the figure seated on the ancient throne, intent on finally fulfilling what
he had come to believe was his sole reason for existence.
     "Greetings, D," the vampire said calmly.  "You would not remember this, of
course, but we have met once before.  You were still a child then, barely more
than a toddler at your mother's knee.  I would welcome you to my castle, but
given the purpose of your visit.... no matter.  Please, sheathe your sword and
have a seat," he added with a gesture to a cushioned stool.  "I should like to
ask you something before I am consigned to being little more than a footnote in
the annals of history."
     D looked at him for a moment before slowly reaching up, sliding his sword
back into the scabbard on his back.  "I think history already has a suitable
place for you, Count Niles," he said in a neutral tone, making no move to sit.
     "Perhaps," the vampire replied with a slow nod of his head.  "I have taken
great pains to verify this one, as you no doubt have as well.  With the utter
destruction of the City of the Night, you and I are the last of the nobles."
     "You and your daughter," D corrected.
     The old man sighed quietly and seemed to slump back in his throne.  "So
you would hunt her down and murder her as well?" he asked softly.  He received
only silence in reply and sighed again.  "No matter, D.  I should like to ask
you a question, and a truthful reply would be appreciated more than you could
possibly know."  He paused for a moment before adding, "The City of the Night."
     "I had nothing to do with its destruction," D replied truthfully.
     Niles nodded slowly, seeming to be relieved at the reply.  "Thank you, D,
I would not liked to have thought that you would have done such a thing.  Or
would you?" he added in a faintly accusing tone.
     D remained silent for a number of moments before speaking up.  "Once my
work here on the planet was finished, I would have sought a way to travel to
the City of the Night," he explained carefully.  "Perhaps destroying it like
that would have been my only option, but it would not have been.... my way."
     "Indeed," the vampire said, a faint hint of a smile crossing his face as
he assessed the dunpeal standing before him.  The moment of humor left just as
quickly as it had come, leaving him feeling even more tired than before.  "Do
you by chance know what happened, then?" he inquired out of idle curiosity.
     "Countess MacDara's shuttle wasn't in her castle," D said calmly.  "When
she died and the castle fell, a band of humans discovered where she had taken
it for repairs.  From what I've heard, they loaded it with the most powerful
explosives they could find and launched it on an automated docking course, set
to blow up when the hatch was opened."
     Niles said nothing for at least a full minute, trying not to think about
the chain-reaction that would have gone off.  He had visited the City himself
in his youth and could picture the way the docking bays were set up.  If the
main hatch was open when the explosives went off, the blast would have coursed
along the network of service conduits to ignite anything combustible it came
across.... like the honeycombs of liquid oxygen tanks.  The blast would then be
multiplied by a frightening factor, spreading throughout the super-structure
until the pressure of the expanding gas ruptured the hull....
     "Ironic that it would be Elaine's shuttle," he finally said softly, more
to himself than to D.  "She was an unusually quiet woman, even among nobles.
Probably one of the few of our kind that I will truly miss.  No matter," he
said with a soft sigh before looking up to stare at D.
     "When I look at you, D, I can easily see the resemblance to your mother,"
the vampire said in a gentle tone.  "I remember the first time I met her, so
full of life and beauty.  It was all too easy to see what your father saw in
such a woman.  Tell me, D, was it her rather brutal murder that drove you to
hate us so, to commit yourself to a one-dunpeal crusade bent on nothing less
than complete and total genocide?"
     D's eyes narrowed as the vampire leaned forward, resting his elbows on his
knees.  "Is that it, D?" Niles mused, a faint look of amusement crossing the
heavy lines of his face.  "Do you still hear her screams in your dreams, hear
her voice calling out for your father, begging for mercy, for release?  I must
confess I sometimes still do," he said absently, leaning back and removing a
gold-plated locket from around his neck.
     D caught the pendant in his left hand as it sailed across the room to him,
casting a single glance down at it before feeling his blood freeze as it had
never froze before in his entire existence.
     "Yes, I remember your mother quite well," the vampire said lightly as he
leaned back even further in his throne.  "I remember how she was brought to me,
right to the very spot where you stand now.  Her clothes had someone failed to
make the trip with her, but that only made it easier for me to marvel at her
true beauty.  Oh, what a woman she was, with such flawless, perfect skin that
was soft to the touch...."
     D's hand tightened around the locket so hard that it began to cut into his
skin, drawing a tiny trickle of blood that slowly oozed down his wrist.  The
thing in his hand began to wriggle uncomfortably as it was also crushed by his
suddenly shaking grip, remaining oddly quiet for reasons of its own.
     "You cannot imagine how sweet her blood tasted, how warm and intoxicating
it was," Niles continued in that mockingly calm tone, a smile that was close to
a sneer on his lips.  "Or how warm and inviting her body was when I raped her.
Her screams still haunt me every now and then, but I have only to stop for a
moment to remember what your father did to my friends to be free from any sense
of guilt.  Strike and be struck, harm and be harmed.... or as the humans say,
an eye for an eye.  Is that not the way your father ruled, D?"
     A soft hissing noise filled the room as D pulled his sword out from the
scabbard.  The blade was still wet with the blood of the vampire's minions,
seeming to gleam in the light like a macabre prism.  The world became a solid
veil of dark blue a moment later as his vampiric nature freely asserted itself,
unbound for once from the normally tight grip of his human will.
     "So the hunter reveals himself," Niles said quietly.  "A little hypocricy
by relying on your father's blood to aid you in killing your father's kind?  No
matter, dunpeal," he said as he unbuttoned his tunic, pulling the halves aside
to bare his chest.  "I grow tired of this, D.  Come, let us see if my death
will silence the screams of your mother.... that wonderful human woman...." he
whispered to himself before he began to laugh.
     D couldn't have refused the offer if he had wanted to.  The air itself
seemed to scream in terror as he sliced through it, charging forward to bury
the tip of his blade in the vampire's chest.  Driven by a fury and rage that
had been countless centuries in the making, the heart muscle was neatly split
in half by the blade's force, held together only by the thinnest threads of
muscle tissue that were sundered an instant later as it reflexively tried to
beat one last time.
     The force behind the thrust would not be, could not be stalled.  The tip
missed the spine by a fraction of an inch and promptly exited through the back.
Encountering the heavy metal of the throne barely slowed the blade as it went
further, blowing through the back of the chair as if didn't exist and embedding
the first two inches of the tip in the solid granite wall that stood behind the
ancient throne.
     The sound of the laughter continued to ring in his ears long after the
voice that had fed it fell silent, the air becoming perfectly still and the
corpse ceasing to twitch beneath his hands.  The sword, however, continued to
vibrate in his hands, subtly at first before increasing in strength to a tremor
that made him slowly edge away.
     <D!> the thing in his hand suddenly yelled.  <Energy trap!>
     It took him a moment to throw off the dark rage and think clearly, the
urgent words registering on his mind a moment later.  He quickly whirled around
and ran for the open doors, able to physically feel the amount of energy that
was gathering behind him.
     The shockwave washed over him just as he dove through the door, trying to
roll with the incredible force of the ancient vampire's soul being freed from
its mortal bonds.  He could feel it searing his skin, countless years of dark
and unholy energy being released in a single burst.  Through it all, despite
the pain of the glare visible even through tightly-closed eyelids, only one
thought rose up from his mind.
     He had just lost Doris' sword back there.
     It was an odd thing for him to have thought of, he realized once the worst
of the energy burst faded away.  He had just found his mother's killer after
all this time, having gave up hope hundreds of years ago that he would be able
to identify which vampire had desecrated her so.  And yet, with her locket in
his hand, the locket he still remembered after all this time.... his mind was
on the sword Doris had given him.
     <D?> it prodded him as he remained perfectly still on the carpet.  <D, we
need to get going.  The castle's starting to come apart already and the front
door isn't just across the hall.  D, come on, you've got to get up!  You can
think about what he said later, which isn't going to happen if you're still on
your ass when the ceiling comes down!  Now let's *GO!*>
     He really couldn't say that it was a desire for life that made him get up
and start moving.  Perhaps it was his subconscious mind working in an autopilot
mode that guided his body through the maze-like corridors and hallways.  Maybe
the thing in his hand had figured out how to take control of his body and was
steering him towards the massive arched doors of the now-shaking castle.  All
he knew was that his thoughts remained on the sword he had just lost, and with
it the only physical reminder he had of....
     Of his first love.
     It had taken him a full century after he had met the second human woman he
found himself falling in love with to realize how much they had both meant to
him.  Doris had touched his humanity, showing him that there was still a part
of him left that could truly connect to humans.  When he had met Leila she had
touched his human soul, making him realize that he was far more human than he
had thought possible, that it *was* possible for a dunpeal like himself to open
his heart and yield to the loving warmth of another.
     The sword has been a gift from Doris after he had lost his in the fight
against Count Magnus Lee.  He had kept the blade by his side through all the
trials he had faced since, giving him a strength that he had only truly became
aware of when Leila touched his heart.  A single white flower petal had been
encapsulated and woven into the clasp around his knife belt, taken from the
bouquet of flowers he had brought to Leila's grave to keep his promise to her.
He had never been a sentimental man, but keeping those two items as memento
mori had brought him a feeling of comfort that he could still not explain to
this day.
     And now the sword was gone.
     <D....> it warned him, causing him to refocus on his surroundings.  He was
on the marble causeway that bridged the front doors of the castle with the edge
of the landscape, crossing over a deep ravine that seemed to stretch on for an
eternity.  Behind him, the castle was already masked behind a cloud of ash and
dust as it slowly crumbled away.  However, the problem at hand wasn't what was
behind him, but what was in front of him.
     A cloaked figure stood near the end of the bridge, shrouded in a glossy
black hooded cape that concealed all facial features.  What it couldn't conceal
was the slender shape of the figure beneath it, clearly denoting the presence
of a woman.  He could feel the weight of her stare as he approached, absently
tucking his mother's pendant into a pouch.
     He came to a halt as her hand slipped inside the cape, able to hear the
rasping of metal as she drew a weapon.  The light of the setting sun glinted
off the silvery rapier as her other hand came up, pushing the hood back to
expose a mass of blue-green hair and a pair of liquid-like eyes.
     "So you're D," she said quietly, her voice laced with steel.
     D said nothing as he regarded her carefully, keenly aware of the fact that
he didn't have his sword with him.  That wasn't to say he was unarmed, having
a pair of daggers on his belt, but he would *really* have felt a little less
edgy with the situation if he could rely on the sword's reach and strength.
     "I need not ask you if my father is dead," she spat bitterly, raising the
rapier slightly.  "I only have one question for you.... are you armed?  Good,"
she said as D withdrew one of the daggers from his belt.  "Then we can finish
things here and now with honor.  We may be the last of our kind, but I will die
with the satisfaction of knowing that my father will be avenged.  EN GARDE!"

                *               *               *               *

     It would have been an amusing battle to watch if the situation wasn't so
serious.  Armed with only a dagger and going against a much more versatile
weapon with a vastly longer reach, D was put on the defensive almost instantly.
It was only because of his abilities as a dunpeal that he was able to dodge her
thrusts so quickly, only able to use his dagger to divert the slender shaft of
her weapon away instead of blocking it.
     In another situation he might have retreated, fallen back and avoided her
until he was confident he was properly equipped to deal with her.  However, he
was not in his usual state of mind.  Still in a quiet rage at the discovery of
the identity of his mother's murderer and fueled by the realization that he was
not only going up against the killer's daughter but the last of his kind, being
so close to finally ending his hunt once and for all, he threw caution to the
winds and pressed his attack as best he could, intent on his final goal.
     They fought for a good five minutes before he finally realized that he was
simply not capable of winning the battle as it stood.  He had just decided on
a change of tactics and was reaching for the other dagger in his belt when the
entire bridge shuddered violently, throwing them both off-balance.  They both
recovered almost instantly, but she was able to seize the opportunity just a
hair faster than he could have.
     The tip of her rapier smoothly slid into his abdomen as she thrust, just
narrowly avoiding his kidney as it emerged out the other side.  Not prepared
for a proper counter-strike, D allowed himself to react by pure instinct alone.
Bracing it against the palm of his left hand, he slammed the flat of his dagger
against the metal shaft of her rapier just above the hilt.  The carbon alloy of
his weapon promptly shattered into fragments, but not before it was able to
severely weaken the physical integrity of the thin foil.  Driven by both pain
and desperation, his hand continued forward as hard as it could to follow right
behind the ruined dagger.
     The sound of the rapier's blade snapping off at the base echoed in their
ears like a thunderclap, shocking them both.  Before either one could react to
the new development, the marble structure of the bridge fell out from beneath
them at an angle to send them both skidding towards the abyss.
     D dug in by instinct, his fingernails ripping away as he tried to secure
a hold on the smooth marble.  His boots provided just enough friction to slow
him down, giving him the opportunity to properly brace himself.  The fire in
his abdomen almost made him lose his tentative grip, the broken shaft of the
weapon still poking out from his skin and dripping blood at both ends.
     He was preparing to make an attempt at scaling the angled surface when it
shifted again, the angle almost doubling and causing him to lose his hold.  A
heavy sucking sound filled the air an instant later, his left hand slamming
into the smooth surface as it tried to hang on using the power of raw suction.
     He knew that the thing was trying to save him, to save them both, but he
knew that it couldn't hold out for more than a few seconds.  He quickly looked
around for options but saw none, finding only the gaping maw of the abyss below
him, waiting for him.
     So it ends, he thought as a sense of peace filled him.  He saw his life
flash before his eyes in a cosmic instant, seeing the warmth of his mother's
smile, hearing her soft melodic voice singing him to sleep, feeling the sheer
rage and fury in his father's screams as he found her broken body dumped on the
steps of his palace, feeling the cold metal of the sword in his hands as he
removed it from the wall, vowing to avenge his mother's murder, crossing the
planet from one end to another once, twice, three times to search for the one
vampire who killed her, killing the others as they mocked his mother's death,
mocking his dunpeal heritage, eventually vowing to end the dark plague of evil
that had enshrouded the warmth of life for so long....
     "D!" a voice screamed out at him, causing him to refocus and look up.  She
was only a few feet away from him, a burning red glow in her eyes as she tried
to reach out to him.  Her cape was all that kept her from falling, the black
satin coiled around a broken strut like a living being, seeming to strain to
support her weight as she tried reaching out to him again....
     "Give me your hand!" she demanded.  "Quickly!"
     All he could do was blink in surprise, staring at her in disbelief.  What
was she trying to do?  Could she be.... trying to *save* him?  After what they
were trying to do ten seconds ago?
     The thing in his hand suddenly started screaming a warning, the audible
part of its voice completely blocked out as it struggled to hold on.  The part
that he heard in his mind was unintelligible, only being registered as the last
gasps of someone at the very end of their limit.
     "*D!*" she yelled across the narrow void, unconsciously baring her fangs.
     He knew the choice was simple.... either yield to her and surrender to her
whims, or face certain death.  Her grip seemed secure, making it unlikely that
she would be sent tumbling into the darkness unless another tremor hit.  It was
possible that she was offering her hand so that she could kill him herself, to
have that one single measure of satisfaction.
     It ends either way, he thought with surprising calmness.  Staying put was
not much of an option, for even if the thing could hold on he would have to
remove the blade from his side or bleed to death.  Letting go was technically
an option, but the result would be undeniable.  Accepting was the true unknown,
but at this point, during this final hour.... what could a few more seconds of
mortal existence do to him?
     He braced as best he could and launched himself into the air just as the
thing lost its suction-grip, slicing the side of his hand open on the edge of
the marble causeway.  For one brief instant he thought he had missed, or that
she had just wanted to make him jump only to snatch her hand away.  The feel
of her grip on his hand registered a moment later, the sudden tension almost
snapping the bones in his right wrist.
     She held onto him as tightly as she could, holding him with both hands.
They both hung there for a moment, rocking back and forth from the force of the
contact.  They braced an instant later as another tremor shook, dislodging the
chunk of marble he had been holding onto and sending it tumbling into the inky
void that seemed to lap at their heels.
     <Hold on,> she said to him, her voice seeming to be distorted into a raw,
almost mechanical timbre.  She began to flex her body, causing them to swing
back and forth with increasing velocity.  She waited until they were moving at
a fairly decent speed before heaving with all of her strength, timing it just
right to take advantage of the swinging motion.
     D made a strangled gasp as she suddenly let go of him, sending him into
the air on a ballistic arc.  He barely had time to realize what was going on
before he slammed into the remaining portion of the causeway, his instincts
telling him to roll back to avoid the edge.  The motion proved to be an unwise
one, driving the broken rapier shaft deeper into his abdomen as his weight was
pressed down.
     <*D!*> it screamed at him, seeming to be genuinely shocked to still be
alive.  <DON'T MOVE!>
     He ignored it as he rose up to his hands and knees, crawling towards the
lip of the broken bridge.  "Just.... hang.... on...." he said, spitting out a
mouthful of his own blood as he grabbed on to the exposed strut with his left
hand in as tight a grip as he could manage.
     <D, what are you doing?> it sputtered, the voice sounding odd as its lips
were mashed flat.
     He leaned over the edge as far as he dared, trying to hold on to the strut
with what little strength he had left while reaching down with his right hand
to grab hold of the edge of the cape.  He got what he thought was a firm grip
on the taut material and started to pull back, slowly drawing her up to where
she could reach the edge.
     The material seemed to tense suddenly, almost ripping free from his grip
before a pair of hands rose up to grab the uneven marble edge.  One of them
slipped for a horrifying instant before getting a better hold, bracing as a leg
was heaved up and over the edge.
     D let go of the cape and slumped back on his side, listening as she flung
herself onto firm ground.  They both edged a few inches away from the abyss and
spent the next few seconds trying to relax, both panting hard from the amount
of exertion required.
     Galen lifted her head up as D moaned, watching as he reached down to try
to rip the broken foil out of his abdomen.  It seemed to resist his efforts
before it finally slipped free, prompting a deep gasp of pain that made her
cringe with reflexive sympathy.  Her blue-green eyes followed the path of the
blade as it was sent spinning into the empty air, succumbing to the pull of
gravity a moment later and silently disappearing into the chasm.
     She blinked as she heard him whisper her name, looking back at him just in
time to watch him spit out another mouthful of blood.  The dark red splotch on
the ground made her shiver lightly despite her being very much accustomed to
the sight, smell, and taste of the crimson nectar.
     "Galen," he said quietly, lifting his head up to look at her.  A faint
blue glow was visible in his eyes as he studied her in silence before finally
speaking to her again.  "Why.... did you save me?" he breathed, the soft words
obviously causing him a fair amount of pain.
     The corners of her mouth arched down in a frown as she stared back at him.
"I'm asking myself that same question right now," she said in a flat tone.  "By
all rights I should have cast you into the abyss myself for what you've done."
     He continued to look at her for a moment before turning his head to one
side, spitting another small blob of blood into the void.  "And what exactly
have I done?" he inquired calmly, his right hand gingerly probing his side.
     It took her a moment to close her mouth, having fallen open at the sheer
audacity of his question.  "You dare ask such a question?" she spat.  "You just
killed my father and brought an entire culture to extinction!"
     He leaned back against the marble railing with a very soft grunt, his eyes
never once leaving hers.  "Your father," he said very slowly, "Brutally raped
and murdered my mother."
     "You lie!" she snarled as she shot to her feet, the crimson glow starting
to return to her eyes.  "I know him, he would never do such a thing!"
     "You know what he is now," D replied quietly.  "I've heard how he seemed
to change after your birth, but that doesn't change his true self."
     Her eyes narrowed to mere slits as she started at him.  "You dare accuse
my father of a dishonorable crime?" she hissed.  She tensed as his hand went to
his belt, bringing something up to glint in the fading sunlight.  She jumped
back as it came sailing through the air towards her, only reaching up to catch
it at the last possible instant.
     She felt her blood suddenly grow cold as she saw the golden locket in her
hand, recognizing it as one of the few pieces of jewelry her father had ever
worn with any consistency.  "What is this?" she demanded in a low tone, giving
him a poisonous look.  "First you murder him, then you rob his corpse too?"
     "Open it," D said very softly.
     She blinked again as the momentary flush of anger left her, leaving her
feeling deathly cold inside.  "Open it?" she repeated, not ever having been
aware that it could be opened.  She had examined it on occasion, but never saw
any hinges or a locking mechanism that would indicate it was hollow.
     "Press down on the anchor," he instructed in an empty tone.
     She looked down at the small locket and did as he said, very carefully
pressing down on the short stem where the locket was attached to the necklace.
Her hand flew to her mouth as it quietly flipped open, revealing a pair of very
tiny portraits.
     The one on the left was a family portrait, a man and a woman holding their
infant son.  The woman had a soft smile on her lips while the man had a dark,
almost brooding look on his face.  The portrait on the right was one of a very
young boy, apparently an older version of the infant.  The eyes and the hair
were the same, and as she studied the man in the first portrait she suddenly
realized what she was looking at.
     "Oh my god...." she breathed softly, almost dropping the locket in shock.
"This is a portrait of the Vampire King," she said as she looked up at him, her
liquid eyes seeming to be close to becoming flooded with tears.  "And there was
only one woman he had taken as his wife.  D.... how could this have ended up in
my father's possession?"
     D said nothing, simply looking at her as he waited for his wounds to seal
themselves.  The amount of blood he had lost was trivial, as his regenerative
abilities would easily make up the volume before the sun finished setting.
     "No...." she whispered, slowly shaking her head in denial.  "D, please say
that you're lying.  I know my father, I know what a noble and honorable man he
is, how he himself taught me the values of honor and integrity.  D, please...."
     "I have no doubt you are an honorable woman," he said as he gingerly rose
to his feet, wincing slightly at the soreness in his joints.  "Indeed, after
going to all the trouble of saving one who would kill you, I would have to say
your sense of honor is beyond reproach.  But that doesn't change the fact that
your father confessed his crimes and gave me my mother's locket as proof of his
guilt.  Whatever you know of him now wasn't what he was back then."
     She cast a final glance at the locket in her hand before gently closing
the cover with a soft click.  She looked back up as his shadow fell over her
hand, finding him standing about a foot away from her.  She wordlessly held the
locket out to him, her eyes following the movement of his hand as he took it
from her and tucked it away in a small pouch on his belt.
     "So now what, D?" she asked softly, looking up to gaze into his eyes.  She
was answered with a stony silence that made her feel incredibly tired for some
reason.  "Are you going to kill me, then?" she wondered aloud, suddenly finding
herself wondering what she would find once death claimed her.  "You do still
have a weapon on you, don't you?"
     He looked into her eyes in silence for a minor eternity before nodding,
withdrawing the remaining dagger from his belt with a near-silent whisper.
     She glanced down at the weapon in his hand and sighed quietly, returning
her focus to the seemingly weary lines of his face.  "A question if I may," she
asked softly.  "Tell me.... did you make my father suffer before killing him?"
     "No," he replied quietly, slowly shaking his head.  "Even with as much
pain and suffering as vampires have brought to the world, I have always tried
to make it as quick and painless as possible.  To do otherwise would be to sink
to their level."
     "So I see," she said as she very gently nodded in understanding.  "So you
would do the same for me, then?  A quick and simple thrust to the heart to put
me out of the misery of the world and humankind?  I see you would," she said as
she studied his eyes.  "And yet.... you would not enjoy it, would you?"
     "There is no pleasure to be had in such a deed," he said.  "I only kill
when I have to."
     She paused to turn her head, glancing at the burning disc of the sun as it
started to touch the horizon.  "And you have to kill me, correct?" she asked.
"Because I am the last dunpeal left in the world?"
     "Our blood is cursed," he said softly, his tone causing her to look back
at him.  "This world needs to be free of it once and for all.  That means I
will have to die as well, but it is a sacrifice I've been ready to make since
the beginning."
     "That is.... a sad existence, D," Galen said with a slow shake of her
head.  "In another time I might have tried to open you the possibilities of
what you are.... no, of what *we* are.  I am a dunpeal like yourself, D.  Well,
almost," she added with a faint hint of a smile.  "We both have vampiric blood
in our veins, but I am not as human as you are."
     She waited to see if he would respond, to take the bait and ask her what
she meant.  A very soft sigh rose up from her chest as she was met with only
empty silence.  "No matter, then," she said quietly.  "We are the last in the
world, and I am growing both tired and cold.  We can do this one of two ways,
hunter.  You can end this here and now and be rid of me, or you can let me have
one final moment of peace before I yield my life to you.  I am a noble and I
will not beg for my life, but will instead meet my fate with dignity."
     He looked at her in silence before finally speaking.  "I'm listening," he
said in an impassive tone, still holding the dagger in a firm grip.
     "My mother's resting place is in a grove of trees to the east," Galen said
in a calm, measured tone.  "It is a five-day excursion by carriage, even longer
by foot.  I ask that you come with me, to give me the honor of seeing her one
last time in life before I go to join her in death."
     His head seemed to tilt at a very slight angle as he regarded her very
carefully.  "A lot can happen in five days," he pointed out in a neutral tone.
     "I am a noble, D," she said calmly, staring hard into his eyes.  "If you
believe it to be so, I will make you a pledge.  Hold out your dagger."
     He remained perfectly motionless for a number of moments before finally
raising his hand, keeping a firm grip on the dagger as he held the point up to
the presently orange-hued sky.
     "I will make you a promise in blood," she said, reaching out to slowly run
the palm of her hand over the razor-sharp carbon tip.  Tiny drops of her blood
began to splatter his hand as she spoke.  "If you come with me, I will not try
to run or hide from you, nor will I attempt to attack you.  I will not spend my
last days hiding like a dog, to cower in fear over every shadow that falls over
my path.  Once we reach my mother's grave, you will let me speak to her for a
moment in private and not attempt to disturb us.  I will come to you when I am
finished, and then you can do what you will with me."
     D glanced down at his hand as she fell silent and stepped back.  A small
pool of crimson covered his fist, seeping in between his fingers to drip down
the hilt and splatter the marble floor.  He had long ago learned about what it
meant to be an honorable person, and what was required to remain so.  If there
was one lesson to be taken to heart, it was that one who lived by the code of
honor always gave others the chance to prove themselves to be of the same code.
     Or in this case, of the same blood.
     D said nothing as he lowered his hand and returned the dagger to the empty
sheath on his belt.  He should have cleaned it, as the blade would only get
disgustingly sticky once the liquid dried, but a deeper part of him knew that
trying to wipe away a pledge written in blood would be unacceptable.
     "I accept," he said simply.
     They looked at one another in heavy silence before Galen finally nodded.
"Very well then.  It is almost nightfall, and while that doesn't bother either
of us, I am in need of a rest before we set out.  There is a Hive not too far
from here, perhaps an hour's ride at most.  I can secure us lodging there for
the night, and perhaps even acquire new weapons.  The road we will travel is a
fairly dangerous one," she added at the sudden change in his expression.  "It
would not be wise to go about unarmed, as bandits care little about whom they
try to waylay.  Or do you doubt my pledge that I will not attack you?"
     He said nothing as he turned from her, making his way towards the main
road where he had left his mount.  He would have rode it across the bridge and
up to the castle gates had he not been warned ahead of time about the numerous
pitfalls and traps that had lined the causeway.
     "D?" she called out in slight confusion as he walked away from her.
     "This way," he said simply without turning around.
     She paused to stare at his back for a moment before shaking her head to
herself, wondering just what she was doing this for.  She knew she was the last
of her kind, indeed, the only one of her kind given her unique heritage, and
that he would eventually kill her.  So what would it matter if she died now
instead of a few days later?  But at the same time....
     A lot can happen in five days, he had said.
     Sighing quietly to herself, she set off after the mysterious hunter who
would be either her destruction.... or her salvation.

                *               *               *               *

     They rode in silence, D holding the reins of his mount with Galen perched
on the saddle in front of him.  She was almost as tall as he was, making it a
touch difficult to see the road around her.  Not that he expected to find much
of anything at the moment, not on a road near a vampire's castle just after the
sun had set.  Even the woodland animals knew better than that.
     "D," Galen spoke up very quietly.  She turned her head to one side to look
at him out of the corner of her eye when he didn't respond.  "I think I know
what happened back there, why I didn't kill you when I had the chance."
     She waited for some sign of acknowledgement, sighing very quietly when it
was apparent that none was forthcoming.  "You really don't care, then, do you?"
she said softly as she returned her focus back to the road ahead.
     "I'm listening," D said in a neutral tone.
     She carefully twisted around in the saddle to look at him, her liquid-like
eyes narrowing slightly.  "I'll be honest, I haven't met many other dunpeals
before," she said in a level tone.  "The few that I ran across were open and
talkative about themselves, however, despite the situation they were in.  Why
do you remain so.... closed to others?"
     She took the time to study his face as she waited for a response, knowing
that one would probably not be forthcoming.  "I'll admit I was.... upset about
my father's death when I attacked you," she continued in a level tone.  "He was
all that I had after my mother passed away from an illness her body couldn't
cope with.  When the first tremor hit the bridge and I had the advantage, I was
aiming for your heart when I suddenly realized that if I killed you.... I would
truly be alone in the world."
     Her breath suddenly caught in her throat as he blinked, the full force of
his gaze seeming to bore straight into her very soul as he looked at her.  "I
don't know what made me aim for your stomach instead of dropping the weapon,"
she said very quietly.  "I guess I.... I wanted you to suffer a little, to make
you bleed for what you did to my father."  She seemed to hesitate before adding
in a respectful voice, "I didn't think my rapier could be destroyed like that.
You must be even stronger than the legends say."
     "So why did you save me?" he asked quietly.
     She sighed and looked away, studying the gloom of the terrain.  "When the
bridge collapsed and you started to fall.... all I could think of was how alone
I would be if I were truly the last dunpeal.  I can handle being unique.... but
I don't think I could handle being the last.  Part of the reason I do not fear
my death at your hand," she added, looking back at him.  "You would then be the
last, not me.  Selfishness on my part, perhaps, but I don't want that burden on
my conscience or my soul."
     He remained silent as he looked at her, studying the soft contours of her
face as she had studied him.  She appeared to be young, even for one who would
not age with the centuries.  Her hair was a curious mixture of blue and green,
seeming to vary within each individual strand to give her beauty a distinctly
exotic look.  Her irises didn't appear to have the subtle flaws that most other
eyes had, seeming to be a ring of bluish-green liquid instead of muscle.  Her
lips were a pale blue color, whether naturally or from lipstick he wasn't able
to tell.  They appeared to be soft and inviting, however, and in another world
he might have even been tempted to find out for himself....
     "D?" she said very softly, drawing his attention back up to the look in
her eyes.  "I know I saved your life for my own reasons, and honor forbids me
from making demands on you because of it.... but I would still like to ask you
to open up to me.  We are the last of our kind, you and I, and I would like to
know more about you before I surrender my life.  I swear on my honor that all
that is said, whatever secrets you share with me, will remain between the both
of us.  Maybe being a woman makes me sentimental, but.... is it truly too much
to ask that we get to know one another in our final hours of existence?"
     She looked up at him intently, trying to find even the slightest hint that
her words were reaching him, that she was breaking through the wall of silent
isolation.  She was genuinely curious about him, a man she had heard whispered
in taverns and enclaves as a living legend.  Every single one had spoken of his
preference for silence, but she had also heard a few whispers about times in
which a woman had gotten him to take off the armor, not just the heavy shroud
of silence but the physical armor that protected his body as well....
     <D, we have company,> a soft voice whispered around them, causing Galen to
to blink hard and almost fall out of the saddle.
     "Who said that?" she demanded as she righted herself and peered around the
landscape.  Her right hand automatically dropped to her belt, a chill creeping
through her body a moment later as she remembered that her 'sidekick' had been
destroyed in the fight on the bridge.
     D ignored her as he gently tugged on the reins, causing the mount to stop.
He looked around the landscape with a critical eye, trying to either see or
hear whatever was upsetting the thing this time.  He couldn't see anything in
the gloom that might have posed a threat, but the super-quiet whispering sounds
that reached his ears....
     "Up ahead," D said quietly, trying to decide if there were two or three
creatures lying in wait.
     "Give me the reins," Galen said quietly, reaching up to grab the leather
straps just above his hands.  "We're almost at the Hive.  It will look better
if I'm holding the reins as they should know me."
     He looked down at her, studying the points on her ears before her head
twisted around to look back at him.  Their eyes met in heavy silence for a few
seconds before he relaxed his grip, allowing her to take control of the reins.
     She nodded her head slightly at him and flicked the reins, gently urging
the mount back into casual motion.  They continued to ride on in silence for a
few hundred yards before a guttural growl cut across the still air, causing her
to tug sharply on the reins.
     D remained perfectly still as Galen lifted her head up and called back to
the darkness.  Her voice seemed to be inhuman, clicking and rasping with a very
strong metallic undertone as she spoke in a language he had never heard before.
He thought he could see one of the sentries, barely able to discern the outline
of the bestial creature against the inky backdrop of the shadows.  Even knowing
where it was, he still couldn't make out any features as it snarled back a soft
reply before completely vanishing into the darkness.
     A soft laugh rose up from Galen's throat as she nudged the mount forward,
slowly proceeding down the trail.  "Welcome to the Cha'laka Hive," she said in
a quiet tone as the air suddenly rippled in front of them.
     D blinked hard as the shimmering veil parted, revealing what appeared to
be a mound-like structure built into the side of a small hill.  In all of the
centuries of his travels around the planet, he couldn't remember seeing any
sort of structure like it.  As they drew closer, he realized that it was a city
of sorts, a collection of small huts and buildings all linked by a series of
small bridges and causeways.
     <D?> the thing in his hand suddenly spoke up.  <I've suddenly got a bad
feeling about this place.>
     The horse came to a gentle halt as Galen tugged on the reins, making sure
it had stopped moving before twisting around in the saddle to give him a very
piercing look.  "Alright, what keeps talking like that?" she demanded in a low
tone.  Her eyebrows arched clear up to her hairline as D simply raised his left
hand, letting her see the wrinkled face embedded in his palm.
     <That would be me,> it said, turning slightly to give D an uneasy look.
     "Oh, I see now," she said, nodding her head as a great number of puzzle
pieces suddenly fell into place.  "If he has your power to draw on, that would
explain an awful lot about what the legends have said.  Interesting that nobody
ever thought of this as a possible explanation before," she mused.
     "You know what this is?" D inquired with a small measure of disbelief.
     She paused before looking up at him.  "It's rare to encounter symbiots on
sentient beings, seeing how they usually are disposed of as soon as they're
discovered," she said carefully.  "But yes, I've met a couple of them before."
     "Do you know how to get rid of them?" D immediately asked, prompting a
very soft grunt of protest from the thing.  He made a fist to keep it quiet,
keeping his focus on Galen and trying not to react to the possibility of being
able to be free of it once and for all.  Not that he truly wished to have it
excised from his hand, as it had been a literal life-saver on more occasions
than he could count, but he would still feel better if he had that knowledge
available in case of a true emergency.
     "You're kidding, right?" she said, giving him an incredulous look.  Her
eyes widened with disbelief when she realized that he was being serious.  "You
mean you've had that with you for all this time and you never figured out how
you could get rid of it?"
     <Uh, excuse me....> it tried to protest before being silenced as D's fist
tightened even further.
     "It's never been an urgent priority," he said in an absolutely flat tone,
giving her a look that some might have interpreted as dangerous or threatening.
     She looked back at him for a moment before slowly shaking her head, still
not fully believing this one.  "It's simple, D," she said in as neutral a tone
as she could manage.  "Just drown it.  Immersion in a bucket won't work, as it
will just swallow up the water.  Probably the bucket, too, if it panics," she
added as an after-thought.  "Anyway, just go for a swim in a lake or other body
of water too big for it to absorb.  Twenty minutes should be enough.  It might
take a day or two for it to decay to the point where you can remove it without
harm.  It'll leave a mark on your skin, of course, but they're almost entirely
astral in nature so you won't have to worry about losing anything inside you."
     D just stared at her in disbelief, not believing that he had overlooked
something as patently obvious as that.  How many times had it complained about
being choked or unable to breathe?  And he never made the connection?  It was
enough to make him consider beating his head against a tree as punishment for
being so utterly *stupid* for all these centuries....
     Galen just laughed very softly to herself as she turned around and flicked
the reins once again.  "You're welcome, D," she said as she guided the mount
over to a small barn at the very edge of the Hive.
     D looked around as they dismounted, letting a young man take care of the
horse.  The stable boy appeared to be human, and if D had to guess he would say
that he was either a bandit or a gypsy.  Both tended to show up in the oddest
of places and in the strangest of company.  D tossed him a coin as payment,
receiving a grateful nod of thanks in return.
     "This way," Galen said, making a gesture to a narrow spiral staircase.  D
stood back, letting her go first up the wooden structure before attempting to
follow her.  An icy chill was crawling down his spine as he continued to look
around the city, knowing that something was out of place.  It finally sank in
a moment later as they reached one of the causeways, edging aside to let a pair
of disfigured creatures head towards the stable staircase.
     The entire population of the city were mutants.
     Some of them seemed human from a distance, and a few of them could even be
mistaken for a full human up close.  Most had mutations that were obvious, one
possessing an excess of body hair that resembled fur, several others having
wings of assorted shapes and sizes.  A number boasted teeth that were too large
for their mouths, prominent fangs jutting out at odd angles.
     He looked up as he felt a touch on his wrist, finding Galen giving him a
slightly impatient look.  "You can go play tourist later," she chided him as
she gestured to a large nearby tavern.  "Right now, we should see if we can get
a room for the night.  This way," she said as she let go of him, making her way
across the causeway.
     He followed her in silence, still thinking about the nature of the city.
Mutants had been around since the early days, back when the vampires summoned
the red moon from another world to bring chaos to this one.  A sort of truce
existed between the two, the vampires largely leaving the mutants alone in
exchange for their protection and servitude.  The mutants had in turn taken
great pains to keep a low profile with respects to everything and everyone
else, living in the shadows to try to avoid drawing the destructive attentions
of humans or other predators that fed on human-like creatures.
     It amazed him to finally discover how they did it, building small cities
that were scattered across the land to be hidden behind large veils of secrecy.
He couldn't have said for sure if it was the powers of darkness or the legacy
technology of the ancient human civilizations that allowed an entire city to
bend light around it, hiding it from all but the most keen of observers.  And
even then, those smart enough to find it would likely be just as smart enough
to know that disturbing the city's residents would be most unwise....
     Had he not known he was in a city of mutants, he would have thought he was
stepping into any one of the countless taverns in a random human city.  A hazy
cloud of cigarette and herbal smoke hung from the ceiling, tainting the air
with the scent of at least six different kinds of dried plant material.  A bar
took up the back wall of the tavern while dozens of patrons were spread out
among the array of randomly scattered and dimly-lit tables.  The level of noise
was low, little more than a collection of muted conversations, soft clinks of
bottles against glass, and the sounds of various mugs being drained of their
respective contents.  A simple railed staircase was off to one side, leading
up to a second-story of bedrooms.
     The low buzz of conversation dropped even lower as he followed Galen over
to the bar, remaining a few paces away as she motioned to the bartender.  He
put the mug he was polishing down and leaned over to her, making a series of
noises that D thought a beached whale might have made as it struggled to retain
a hold on life.
     He edged closer as Galen started to reply, her voice taking on the same
clicking, rasping metallic aspect he had heard earlier.  She went on for a few
seconds before falling silent, obviously waiting for the bartender to reply.
D remained motionless as the bartender gave him a blatantly suspicious look,
snarling something to Galen before starting to turn away.
     D's hand dropped down to his dagger as Galen reached out to grab the front
of the bartender's shirt.  The skin of her hand suddenly turned a dark brown
color as her fingers began to curl inward, taking on a very rough and bark-like
appearance.  A deep red glow appeared in her eyes as they started to change
shape, acquiring a series of tiny divisions that resembled the facets in the
compound eyes of most insects.  A very rapid clicking noise emanated from her
throat, dropping away to a mere whisper of a rattle after a few moments.
     The bartender blinked hard and glanced over at D, seeming to be more than
a little uneasy at the situation.  He looked back at Galen and made a series of
deep moans, almost hauntingly beautiful in their timbre.
     <He doesn't think you are what I say you are,> Galen said to D, her voice
distorted almost to the point of incomprehension.  <Show him your heritage.>
     It took him a moment to realize what she was asking.  He nodded and moved
over to the bar, reaching inward to unlock the darkest part of his soul.  His
vision took on a blue cast a moment later as his eyes began to luminesce, the
edges of his mouth parting as his incisors elongated into fangs.
     The bartender looked at him in silence before grunting quietly to himself,
reaching up to yank his collar free from Galen's grip.  He glanced back at her
and made a low noise, his tone seeming to indicate he wasn't too impressed.
     D glanced down at his hand as it suddenly began wriggling fiercely.  He
turned his palm up to look at the thing, pausing as it looked up at him with an
odd smile before it winked at him.  He hesitated for a moment before he nodded
and brought his hand up, turning it around to face the bartender.
     The bartender paused and cast a very suspicious glance at him, blinking
fairly hard as he suddenly saw the wrinkles open up to form a sort of face.  He
squinted as he peered closer, making a very low growling noise to it.  He was
rewarded with a rather sharp belch from the odd face, causing him to jerk back
in surprise.  He seemed to alternate his gaze between D, Galen, and the thing
before beginning to laugh to himself.
     D glanced up to find Galen giving him a truly odd look, the lines of her
face distorted into something that looked vaguely insectoid.  It was probably
her eyes that made the most impression on him, now clearly a multi-faceted red
hue as a single blue-green eyebrow was raised in curiosity.
     She smirked as D remained motionless, turning her attention back to the
still-chuckling bartender.  He said something else to her, causing her to blink
in surprise before nodding.  She reached into her belt to produce a number of
coins, laying them out in a neat pile before him.  His hand seemed to casually
pass over them, the coins vanishing to be replaced with a simple room key.
     She waited until her hands and face had returned to normal before replying
with a simple thanks, scooping up the key and turning to face D.  "Let's go,"
she said simply as she headed for the staircase, casting a quick glance over
her shoulder to make sure he was following her.
     The stairs had obviously seen better days, creaking unsteadily as they
were used.  They were a lot firmer than they sounded, however, as there was
very little give as the pair of dunpeals reached the second floor.  Galen cast
a quick glance at the number etched into the key before counting doors, finally
reaching the one she sought.  The lock seemed to briefly resist the key before
yielding, the door opening with a muted creak that would have made them wince
in pain had it been any louder.
     D said nothing as he followed her, stopping just inside the doorway to
look around the room.  It obviously wasn't a high-quality establishment, but
nothing was damaged or broken.  The wooden ceiling was a little low for his
tastes, almost low enough for the lone light fixture to be an impact hazard if
he wasn't paying attention.  The towels and linens appeared to have been washed
recently, suggesting that at least some attempt was made at keeping the room in
an acceptably clean condition.  There was, however, one detail that promptly
leapt out at him as being a potentially significant problem....
     "Something wrong?" Galen inquired as she closed the door, finding herself
on the receiving end of a distinctly unamused look.  She followed his gaze as
he turned back around, suddenly realizing what was bothering him.  "Oh, that,"
she said with a faint smile as she studied the single mattress.  "I thought it
would have raised too many suspicions if I asked for a double."
     "What did you tell him?" D asked quietly, trying to decide which corner of
the room looked to be the most comfortable.
     "Just that you and I were passing through together," she said casually, a
hint of a smile crossing her face.  "Don't worry, hunter, you will not have to
share a bed with me."
     D said nothing as he watched her cross the room, sitting down on the edge
of the bed.  She looked up at him for a moment before smiling gently, reaching
down to remove her calf-length boots.  They both fell free after a few moments
of tugging, allowing her to stretch her legs out and wiggle her bare toes.  She
paused and looked back up at him, studying his expression before leaning back
on her elbows in what might have been termed a casually seductive pose.
     "Something on your mind, D?" she asked in a light, almost coy tone.
     "You have mutant blood in your veins, don't you?" he finally said.
     She frowned as she sat up straight, giving him a moderate look.  "If my
grandmother was still around to hear you say it like that, she would have put
you through the floor," she said in a faintly edged tone.  "As I said earlier,
I am every bit a vampire as you are, D, but only half as human.  My grandfather
was a human, of course, but my grandmother was one of the Barbarois."
     D blinked at the confession, slowly nodding in understanding at everything
suddenly made sense to him.  Her beauty was exotic, but he had thought it was
a little *too* exotic to be from purely human or vampiric origins.  Her ability
to assume an insectoid form, or at least part of it, had confused him until he
realized that it wasn't part of her heritage as a dunpeal, but instead part of
her Barbaroi heritage.  They were technically mutants as well, but had chosen
to live in a self-imposed isolation from the rest of their kind.  An isolation
that they all too vigorously defended against intruders....
     I can handle being unique, she had said, but I don't think I could handle
being the last.
     "I didn't think it was possible for any of the Barbarois to have children
with humans," he said quietly, remaining in place while she resumed stretching
her shapely legs out.  Her skin was every bit as pale as his, no doubt due to
her instinctive desire to avoid excessive sun exposure, but appeared to be both
silky smooth and utterly flawless.  It was the kind of perfection that made
men's heads turn, and as he discovered in the not-too-distant past, he wasn't
truly above giving such beauty a second look either.
     "That's what everyone said," Galen replied with a slow nod.  "Including my
grandmother," she added with a sly smile.  "She and the others celebrated my
mother's birth whole-heartedly, viewing it as nothing short of a miracle.  I'm
not entirely sure how or when my father encountered my mother, as neither one
of them seemed to want to talk about it, but I'm sure you're intelligent enough
to figure out how things eventually played out."
     He said nothing as she stood up and slowly walked over to him, her bare
feet making only the lightest of sounds on the floor.  "I don't suppose you'll
tell me about your parents?" she mused, stopping only a few feet away from him.
"I'm sure the son of the Vampire King and his human bride would have a most
interesting tale to tell about his birth...."
     She looked up at him, her mood slowly evaporating as she only encountered
a stony silence.  "Very well, D," she sighed softly as she turned her back.
"I will not force you to open up to me.... even though I wish you would," she
added in a very soft tone, casting a glance over her shoulder.  "Should you
wish to wander about the city, you are free to do so.  Few of them would ever
consider bothering a dunpeal, but I would not suggest you advertise your nature
as a hunter.  The bartender was amused by your symbiot, and so you may find
that others would likewise be more inclined to help you.  Providing you don't
give them the silent treatment as well," she added gently.
     She reached up to the ceiling, her hands slowly turning into bark-like
claws.  She grasped the edges of the wooden support beam and swung her body
forward, her feet likewise becoming gnarled as she used them to get a second
grip on the ceiling.  The black satin cape around her shoulders hung limply
towards the ground, barely brushing against the mane of blue-green hair that
likewise hung free from her head.
     She hugged the ceiling tighter, adjusting her grip several times until she
was almost pressed flat against the wooden beam.  She relaxed her arms enough
to tilt her head back, looking into his eyes with a soft smile on her face.
"You may wake me whenever you wish once the sun rises," she said softly, only
a faint hint of red visible in her eyes.  "I only ask that you do so gently.
Granted I am not the lightest of sleepers, but a simple touch should be enough
to rouse me.  Sleep well, D," she said, her voice dropping to a soft whisper.
     D watched with mild interest as she hugged the ceiling again.  The black
cape started to shimmer like a living being before turning a mottled brown hue,
seeming to mimic the pattern of bark on some trees.  The fabric suddenly began
to move upward, spreading out and molding against her body to envelop it as
completely as it could.  A series of snapping and cracking sounds filled the
air a moment later as it appeared to harden, taking on the consistency of a
wooden cocoon that would have perfectly blended in with a tree.
     <Okay, now there's something you don't see every day,> it said quietly as
D studied the cocoon-like object attached to the ceiling.  The only thing that
stood out were several inches of her blue-green hair, hanging down from the top
end of the cocoon like some sort of lure.  <I'll bet she doesn't have a problem
finding shelter on a camping trip.  Barbaroi blood, eh?>
     "Leave her alone," D said quietly without thinking.  He paused a moment
later to wonder *why* he had just said that, trying to determine if it had been
an instinct of some sort.
     The thing remained quiet for a few moments before speaking up again.  <D,
just what the hell is going on?> it asked in an unusually cautious tone.  <One
minute she's trying to run you through and you're aiming to carve her heart out
with a dagger.... and I must say, going up against a rapier like that was *not*
very bright.... then all of a sudden you two start planning for a five-day trip
across the country like you're a pair of friends?  Did I miss something here?
I mean, I can see the death of her father loosening one of her screws, but what
the hell are you doing?  You leave a wad of brain-matter on the floor when you
killed Count Niles or what?>
     "Enough," he said quietly, spotting the room key on the bed.  He made his
way over to retrieve it, picking it up before heading back towards the door.
     <Hey, wait,> it protested as D reached for the door.  <What are you doing?
We're alone in a city of mutants, where are you going?>
     "Shopping," he said calmly as he opened the door.

                *               *               *               *

     The sounds of the tavern quieted down as he descended the stairs, finding
himself on the receiving end of a number of very discreet and casual glances.
He ignored them as he made his way towards the door, intent on finding someone
who could help him acquire a new sword.  He made it halfway across the room
before coming to a halt as something abruptly coiled around his ankle.
     "Well, well," a husky voice said as D looked down to find the tail of a
very large snake gently wrapped around his leg.  He followed the muscular coil
along the floor and found himself looking at what was commonly referred to as
a lamia.  The lower half of her body was that of a massive snake, while the
rest of her was that of a humanoid woman.  Her hair and eyes were a deep shade
of forest green, her modesty somewhat preserved a small and rather flimsy dark
blue strip of fabric criss-crossing her ample chest.
     "That was a rather quick trip upstairs, now wasn't it?" the lamia purred
as she leaned back in her chair, openly studying him.  "Don't tell me that the
stories of a dunpeal's stamina were wrong...."
     D paused and cast a sidelong glance at the other person at the table.  He
knew a fellow hunter when he met one, most of her face kept in shadow by the
wide brim of her hat.  A black leather bracer was tied to her left wrist, a
number of scars visible on the skin that was left exposed.  She seemed to be
fully human at first glance, but he wasn't about to rule out possessing any of
mutant abilities of her own.  She didn't appear to be interested in what was
going on, quietly sipping on a rather large mug of pale orange beer.
     "She had a long day and needed to rest," D said quietly to the lamia as he
looked back at her.  "Nothing more."
     The snake-woman nodded soberly, very gently squeezing his leg with her
tail.  "I can imagine, having just lost her father a few hours ago.  News does
travel fast in these parts," she added coyly.  The look on her face seemed to
harden slightly as she leaned forward.  "You wouldn't happen to know anything
about that, would you, dunpeal?"
     D could feel the thing in his hand suddenly take a very discreet breath,
seeming to tense up slightly.  "She wanted to go visit her mother," he said
calmly, his expression never changing.  "I'm escorting her there."
     The lamia seemed to accept his explanation as she leaned back, her tail
still gently rubbing and squeezing his leg.  "Yes, I imagine she would want to
spend some time with her after what just happened.  Not to be nosing in your
business, my friend, but I couldn't help but notice earlier that you have a
symbiot with you.  May I take a look at it?"
     He said nothing as he looked at her, briefly casting another glance at her
hunter companion.  He wasn't sure what kind of hunter she was, but the marks on
her arm said that whatever it was apparently didn't go down easily or without
a serious fight.  He looked back at the lamia to find a somewhat sultry look on
her face as she leaned forward once again, her tail not so much squeezing his
leg as gently massaging it.
     "I happen to have one of my own, you see," she explained coyly.  "It's not
the best friend to have, but I haven't really decided if I want to try to get
rid of it or not.  That's why I want to study yours for a moment, just to do a
bit of a comparison.  What do you say, dunpeal?  I'll show you mine if you show
me yours," she offered, her voice turning husky.
     D paused for a moment as the other hunter seemed to come dangerously close
to venting her beer out her nose.  She recovered so quickly that he might not
have suspected she had reacted to anything if his hearing wasn't so sensitive.
     The thing in his hand twitched gently, causing him to look down at it.
Silently sighing to himself, he raised his arm to give the lamia a look at his
palm.  He remained perfectly still as she reached out, taking his hand in a
very light and gentle grip to make sure she wouldn't accidentally scratch him
with her razor-like fingernails.
     "So what have we here?" she mused quietly, studying the wrinkles.
     <Hi,> it replied in a neutral tone, calmly looking back at her.
     "Oh, my," she said, her eyebrows arching up in surprise.  "You seem to be
fairly articulate.  I might even think you were intelligent."
     <Why wouldn't I be?> it inquired in a wary tone.  <I don't want to sound
arrogant by claiming to be a genius or anything, but we're not exactly dumb as
fence-posts, you know.>
     She paused and glanced up at D before sighing wistfully.  "I guess I must
have picked up a reject, then," she said as she leaned back, her other hand
coming up to casually bare her melon-sized breast.
     D's eyebrows arched up a fraction of a millimeter as he studied the soft
curves of her breast, able to see the wrinkles for what they were.  The eyes
were positioned on either side of her hardening nipple, set just low enough to
put the areola in the middle of what passed for its forehead.  The mouth was
still concealed from his angle, however, and it was only with extreme caution
that he allowed her to pull his hand closer to her feminine flesh.
     <Hey there,> D's symbiot said carefully.
     The entire base of her breast suddenly opened up, revealing a gaping maw
lined with dozens of very sharp-looking teeth.  A muted roar billowed out from
the opened mouth, bathing D's palm in a blast of hot air.  The sound continued
for a few moments before falling silent, the two 'lips' closing together to
return her breast to its normal plump shape.
     <Okay, we're done here,> the thing in his hand said in as calm a tone as
it could manage.  The attempt at casualness didn't fool anyone, however, as the
lamia started to laugh as she tugged the fabric back over her breast.
     "I see what you mean," D said in a moderate tone, not overly impressed by
either the display of flesh or the other symbiot.
     "It's not that bad," the lamia purred gently.  "He likes it when someone
pets him real slow and gentle-like.  Other than that, however...."  She paused
to think about it before shrugging in dismissal, absently squeezing his leg
once again before uncoiling her tail.  "So I take it you're looking to find a
sword, dunpeal?" she inquired idly as D started to turn away.
     He paused and looked back at her, casting yet another brief glance at the
female hunter still silently sipping her beer.  The soft chuckle of the lamia
drew his attention back to her, finding a look of remote amusement crossing her
face.  "That one is just a little obvious, you know," she explained, making a
gesture to his back.  "After all, who walks around with an empty sword scabbard
for the fun of it?  Or, it seems, a less than full belt," she added with a very
low purr as she looked at his waist.  "Mmm, but you do seem to be packing your
fair share of equipment, however...."
     He decided to skip that last comment entirely.  "Do you know where I can
find a weaponsmith?" he asked calmly, pointedly ignoring the faint shudders
still emanating from his left hand.
     The lamia chuckled and gestured to the tavern exit behind her.  "Over the
bridge on the right, third shop on the left-hand side.  He's a gruff one, but
he'll deal with you if you have the right reference.  Tell him Lani sent you,"
she added with a delicate purr.
     "Thank you," D said quietly as he turned to leave again.
     "You do have a name, don't you?" Lani asked lightly, leaning back in her
chair as she tickled his lower thigh with the tip of her tail.  "I would hate
to think I wouldn't have anything to remember someone like you by...."
     He paused to glance over at the other hunter, something in the back of his
mind warning him that he should keep an eye on her for some unknown reason.  He
glanced back at the patiently-waiting lamia before drawing in a soft breath to
reply.  "D," he said simply.
     Both he and Lani turned to look as the mug of beer very quietly hit the
table, the exposed part of the hunter's skin turning pale.  She remained very
still before slowly lifting her head up, a pair of dark purple eyes looking out
from under the brim of her hat.  The hunters looked at one another in silence
before she finally drew a breath.
     "You saved my mother," she said very quietly.  "Hazel Averness of Cyan."
     D nodded as the name registered, having freed her from a vampire's castle
a number of years ago.  She hadn't been the only captive he had broken out of
the dark dungeon that early morning, of course, but she was the only one who
had approached him later when he was getting ready to leave.  He still hadn't
figured out why she did so, but he allowed himself to keep the other promise he
had made to Leila....
     "Carmen, you simply amaze me sometimes," Lani said with a soft chuckle,
shaking her head to herself.  "You never told me anything like that had ever
happened to your mother.  That should be a *very* interesting story to hear."
     Carmen ignored the lamia and continued to stare at D.  "Thank you," she
finally said.
     D said nothing, simply nodding his head in mutual understanding before
turning to leave.  He almost sighed in frustration as he felt a hand take hold
of his wrist, causing him to turn back and face the lamia.
     "One more thing, my friend," Lani said very quietly.  "If you are who you
say you are, I'm afraid your reputation very much precedes you.  I can't say I
can imagine anyone's mug of ale being watered down by tears over the loss of
Count Niles, may his dark soul rest in peace.  Most of us remember what a nasty
bastard he was before the birth of his youngest daughter."
     She tugged very gently on his wrist as she leaned closer to him, her voice
dropping a few decibels.  "However, almost everyone here happens to like Galen.
Most of the people in this city would be.... personally displeased if anything
were to happen to her while under your care."  She let go of him and leaned
back, idly rubbing the inside of his leg with her tail.  "You may consider that
a friendly warning, dunpeal.  One symbiot-host to another," she added with a
casual gesture.
     "Thank you for the warning," D replied calmly.  He paused for a moment
before adding, "And your help."
     "Anytime, dunpeal," Lani purred suggestively, turning to watch him as he
passed by.  "Anytime....  So that's the legend," he heard her fading voice say
as headed for the door.  "I can see they weren't exaggerating much.  Tell me,
Carmen, why can't I snag a man like that, even if only for a few hours?  Galen
is in for a very, *very* interesting time if she's traveling with him...."
     He waited until he left the tavern and closed the door behind him before
glancing down at his hand.  It took a moment for the thing to realize it was
being looked at, the wrinkles eventually parting to expose its face.
     <What?> it said in a slightly defensive tone.  It received only silence in
reply and gave D a disturbed look.  <What?> it repeated.
     "Nothing," D said in a perfectly neutral tone as he lowered his hand and
looked around, spotting the building that he had been told about.  He made his
way across the causeway, trying to ignore the thing as it rambled on.
     <Look, that thing wasn't in your face, okay?> it started to babble at a
rapid pace.  <I mean, c'mon.... it's no worse than you looking into the face of
another dunpeal and not liking what you see.  What a brutish lout, not even
capable of talking like a civilized being.  I mean, granted we're not the most
sentient of creatures roaming this godforsaken planet, but we're not all boors,
you know.  Most of us are smarter than a rock in a box.  You see where it had
attached itself?  Damn, maybe you should be thanking me that I didn't try to
embed myself in your nuts or something.  Now there's a boring place to try to
spend a few hundred years.... *OW!*  Hey, that was just a joke!  Ow, ow, ow!>

                *               *               *               *

     The man behind the counter looked up as D entered the small metal shop,
appraising him with a very critical eye.  They looked at one another for a few
moments before the weaponsmith spat into the corner, a sharp hiss rising up as
the spittle encountered something extremely hot.
     "Go away, I'm busy," he growled as he turned back to his anvil.
     "Lani said you could help," D said calmly.
     The smith paused and cast another dark look over his shoulder.  He seemed
to take his time in studying the size of the empty scabbard before he made a
curt gesture with his chin.  "Fourth cabinet," he said before turning his back
to the hunter.
     D said nothing as he crossed the room, absently glancing at the various
types of weapons on display.  The majority of them were swords of all shapes
and sizes, but more than a few projectile weapons in various states of repair
were scattered among the blades.
     The rusted hinges on the cabinet protested loudly as D opened the door,
finding himself face-to-face with at least six swords of the general variety
that he had come to favor.  He took his time in examining each one, knowing
that whichever one he chose would likely be with him for a long time to come.
     <D?> it suddenly spoke up quietly.  <That fourth one looks like it was
forged by the same smith as the one you acquired from that island vampire.  It
feels pretty solid to me, although you'll need to tighten that hilt a little.>
     He said nothing for a moment, his mind automatically flashing back to that
particular battle.  Killing that vampire had cost him his sword, much in the
same way that killing Count Magnus Lee had, and so he had selected a new blade
from the wall collection on his way out.  The balance had been superb and the
edge extremely keen, serving him remarkably well until it was destroyed by the
acidic blood of a particularly nasty mutant....
     The hilt was indeed just a little loose as he picked it up.  A few solid
blows from the smith's hammer would likely correct the issue, leaving him with
a very well-crafted and balanced sword.  He could already imagine the comfort
of its weight on his back as he carried it over to the smith, chiding himself
for such an emotional weakness but understanding it nonetheless.  He was almost
at the counter when a basket of smaller weapons caught his eye, causing him to
stop and examine the assortment of knives and daggers.
     <You're like a kid in a toy store sometimes, you know that?> the thing in
his hand spoke up half an hour later as D finally narrowed his choices down to
two daggers.  Both were crafted to be thrown, possessing an exceptional sense
of balance and a perfect center of gravity.  <Poking with this one, playing
with that one.... just pick one, D.  We both know you'll just use it to blow a
bloody hole through some ugly critter somewhere along the line, so looks won't
really matter too much.>
     D made a very soft noise to himself as he realized the simple truth behind
its words.  He put the rune-carved blade back and selected the less decorated
dagger, adorned with a simple sigil-stamp at the base to denote who might have
made it at one point in time.  He then reached up, putting both the sword and
the dagger on the counter.
     The smith barely glanced over his shoulder before returning to his work,
pumping the bellows up to heat a length of metal.  "Two hundred thousand," he
said flatly.
     "The sword hilt needs to be tightened," D spoke up as he reached for his
coin pouch.  He paused for a moment as the smith turned around again, a dark
scowl marring his face.  He watched impassively as the smith reached for the
sword, spitting in disgust as he felt the hilt rattle slightly.
     "Bad recasting," he snarled, more to himself than to D.  "Five minutes,"
he said slightly louder, carrying the blade over to his forge and laying it
flat on the anvil.
     D allowed his attention to wander around the room as the sound of heavy
hammering filled the air, idly studying the other weapons that were for sale.
He studied the hilt of what was known as a sun-sword, a legacy weapon that was
both extremely powerful and extremely dangerous to use.  They were rare to find
these days, as few had the technology and resources to maintain the intense
plasma fields they generated when switched on.  He had used a sun-sword himself
once, a very long time ago back when....
     <Hey,> it protested quietly as D suddenly shook his head, trying to dispel
the sudden resurgence of memories.  <Got another gnat in your ear or what?>
     He said nothing as he browsed the rest of the weapon cases and displays,
trying to keep his mind empty.  He paused as something seemed to leap out at
him, causing him to back-track half a step to study the weapon.
     <Oh, now that's nice,> it cooed as D picked up the rapier, testing it for
balance.  <Let me get a closer look, eh?  Oh.... ohhhhh, D, this is a *nice*
blade.  You don't see many platinum-silver amalgams like this.  Hmm, it feels
like it might even have a titanium filament as a core.  Heh, let's see you try
to break *that* with a carbon dagger....  Uh, D, where are you going?  Put it
back, it probably costs a fortune.  I'm serious, with all this platinum?  D,
you've got to be kidding me....>
     "How much?" D asked quietly as he held the highly reflective rapier up.
     The smith paused in mid-stroke and cast a glance over his shoulder.  His
eyebrows arched up a fraction of an inch as he studied the foil before brining
the hammer down in a heavy blow that made the entire room resonate briefly.
     "Five hundred thousand," the smith said flatly as he brought the repaired
sword back to the counter and set it down.  He watched impassively as D laid
out a moderate pile of coins on the edge of the counter, scooping up both the
sword and the dagger.
     <D, are you out of your mind?> it protested as D left the shop, sliding
the sword into the empty scabbard on his back and tucking the dagger into the
empty sheath on his belt.  He held the rapier by the base of the foil as he
made his way back along the causeway, heading back to the tavern.  <Two hundred
thousand for a new sword and dagger I can see, but half a million for a shiny
pointed chunk of platinum as well?  I know we can afford it, but....>
     "Enough," he said quietly, casting a casual eye around the mutant city.
Very few people seemed to care about his presence, glancing up at him for a few
moments before returning to their business.  Those whom he passed as he walked
seemed to pay him little heed, only moving aside when necessary as strangers do
when moving past one another.
     Very little in the tavern seemed to have changed since he left.  Lani and
Carmen were still at their table, joined by another pair of female mutants in
a very quiet group discussion.  The edge of Carmen's hat lifted up just enough
to let her see who was walking through the door, her purple eyes meeting his
for a brief moment before refocusing on her half-empty mug of beer.
     He crossed over to the other side of the room, more out of a casual desire
to avoid being waylaid by Lani again than anything else.  He made his way over
to the stairs and ascended them, the back of his mind warning him that a number
of the patrons were now watching him.  A very brief glance out of the corner of
his eye told him that nobody was actively posing a threat, however.  Whether
that was because of his reputation or because he was clearly armed he couldn't
say, but it didn't matter to him either way so long as he was left in peace.
     The door lock resisted him as it had Galen earlier, seeming to stick for
a moment before yielding with a soft creak.  He stepped inside and closed the
door behind him, engaging the lock with a casual twist of his wrist.  A quick
glance around the room told him that everything was exactly as he left it, the
odd cocoon still securely attached to the ceiling.
     <D, you're starting to worry me now,> it spoke up as he sat down on the
edge of the bed.  His new sword was removed and set aside to lean against the
small nightstand.  The wide-brimmed hat was hung on the hilt a moment later,
shortly followed by the broad expanse of his cape.  His boots came off next,
moving to place them at the foot of the bed before discovering that Galen's
boots were already there.
     <Do you even know what you're doing?> it asked as he gently picked up her
boots and neatly laid them against the wall.  The rapier was laid right next
to them, the super-sharp tip leaving a divot in the floor as it was set down.
He then returned to the bed and laid his boots out next to his sword, casting
a wary glance at the switch on the wall.  A simple flick plunged the room into
near-total darkness, only the faintest of light visible from something glowing
in the bathroom.
     <Look, it's a real simple question, D,> it protested.  <Either you know
what you're doing or you don't.  If you do know what you're doing, great.  It
wouldn't be the first time you had a plan in mind and didn't clue me in until
the absolute last second.  But if you *don't* know what you're doing, you need
to tell me so we can try to figure it out.>
     For all the times it had annoyed him with such questions, there were just
as many times when the questions proved to be both useful and insightful.  What
*was* he doing, anyway?  She was the last, the very last one, the final step he
needed to take to purge the world of the curse of the vampire.  Her and him.
He knew he would welcome the darkness when it finally came, now that his mother
was truly at peace now....
     The voice drifted up to him from his memories, spoken by one whom he had
long wished would remain silent but yet still desired to hear again.  Actually,
I don't know why you hunt vampires.  I understand the need to exterminate them,
but you never told me why you decided to pick up a sword.  Tell me, D, what is
it that drives you to pursue those blood-thirsty creatures of the night?
     Come, another voice echoed in his mind amid the sound of laughter.  Let us
see if my death will silence the screams of your mother....
     The voices continued to echo in his mind long after he slid into a state
of semi-consciousness, not quite awake but not quite asleep, spoken by a woman
he had come to love in the little time spent with her before her loss and by a
man he had come to hate in his entire life, a man he had only gotten to know in
the few minutes before his death.  A rather calm, quick and painless death, one
so unlike the one his mother had suffered through until her body succumbed and
her soul was allowed to drift free....
     The screams that echoed in his dreams were not his mother's, but his own.

                *               *               *               *

     Vampires had a keen interest in the sun, given the fatal consequences of
being exposed to it.  As such, they had evolved over the ages to become aware
of where the burning disc was in the heavens at all times, even in the depths
of slumber.  The crossing of the horizon, both rising and setting, produced the
most powerful of vibes in their bodies to warn them when the danger was past,
or when the danger had just begun.
     D awoke as the tingle ran through his blood, just the faintest of shivers
that he had come to recognize as the feel of the rising sun.  His human blood
protected him from being instantly crisped by the searing light, but even that
only went so far before the radiance would first incapacitate, then kill him.
Resting in complete darkness did a lot to restore his vitality, but the only
true remedy was to rest buried in the comforting embrace of the earth.
     He wondered if he had the strength to see the journey to the end before
having to 'take a dirt nap' as that thing so cavalierly phrased it.  He very
much disliked having to do so, not because of how dirty he got but because it
keenly reminded him of his darker half.
     <Good morning,> it greeted him with a faint yawn.
     D cast a very irked glance at his hand as he began to yawn as well.  He
froze for a split-second as he saw the dark shape on the ceiling, remembering
after a moment what it was.  Or more precisely, who it was.
     <Hey, D?> it said quietly as he rose to his feet, absently stretching out
a minor kink in his sword arm.  A faint twinge in his abdomen reminded him that
he was still healing.  While his regeneration sealed wounds quickly, completely
repairing all the damaged or destroyed tissue tended to take longer.  <This is
just one of those hunch things, but you might want to use the can before you
wake her up.  You know how women are when it comes to hogging the bathroom in
the morning.>
     He just stopped and looked down at his hand, wondering just what exactly
was leading it to believe that he knew much about women as a species, let alone
being consciously aware of trivial details like their morning bathroom habits.
He cast a quick glance at the cocoon and headed into the bathroom to take care
of his own business, deciding it was not worth the effort to argue with it so
early in the morning.
     The cocoon was still in place when he returned, a fact that surprised him
slightly.  He was fairly sure that she had felt the rising of the sun just as
easily as he had, and the way the plumbing had rattled when he flushed the
toilet could have woken a three-quarters dead zombie from a slumber.  So why
hadn't she started to stir just yet?
     <She wasn't kidding about being a solid sleeper,> it chuckled softly to
itself as he reached up to touch the shell-like covering.  The satin cape had
taken on both the color and consistency of soft bark, identical down to the
smallest detail that he could determine.
     Empathic control over inanimate objects such as one's clothing was a skill
that most vampires could learn, animating them with a simple act of will.  The
degree to which they could be commanded to act depended on the individual skill
of the noble, which tended to vary quite widely.  He himself had the power to
do so, once causing his own cape to try to hold onto the edge of a crevice as
it opened up beneath his feet.  It required a fair amount of effort to do so,
however, or at least it did for him, and so he tended to limit his exertions to
keeping his hat and cloak both in-place and out of the way during combat.
     His hand traced the bark-like cape from one end to the other, remembering
how Meier Link had been able to turn his into steel to use as a weapon.  The
thoughts were thrust from his mind a moment later, not wanting to remember the
rest of the events that had followed that first discovery of Meier's ability.
     His fingertips soon encountered her hair, very lightly brushing across the
blue-green strands with a feather-light touch.  They seemed to be quite soft
and silky as they brushed against his hand, causing him to repeat the stroking
motion.  A slight frown formed on his face as the impulse registered on his
conscious mind, a quiet desire to simply touch her hair like that.  It was an
unknown impulse, one that seemed harmless but bothered him nonetheless.
     A very soft buzzing sound registered on his ears a moment later, looking
up to find the cocoon-shell vibrating gently.  He held perfectly still, one arm
still outstretched to touch her hair as he waited to see what she would do.  A
faintly suspicious look crossed his face as the buzzing stopped after a few
moments, starting back up once his fingertips resumed a slow glide through her
hair.
     He continued to very carefully stroke her hair, the buzzing noise growing
louder with every passing second until the cape-cocoon fell away from her body
without warning.  He lowered his hand to his side as she arched her back, her
head moving down until her barely-opened eyes were on level with his.
     <Good morning,> she buzzed very softly, her eyelids taking their time in
parting to reveal her insect-like eyes.  Their shape slowly returned to normal,
the ridges melting away until the smooth liquidness of her blue-green irises
were restored.  "Or are you not speaking to me for some reason?" she inquired
in a soft tone.
     "Morning," he replied calmly.
     "I suppose that's a start," she purred quietly, slowly allowing her arms
and legs to relax.  "I know I asked you to wake me gently, but I certainly
didn't expect something as gentle as that.  You have a nice touch, D."
     She carefully let her legs drop to the floor, making sure she had a firm
sense of balance before releasing the rest of her hold on the ceiling beam.  It
took a moment for her features to return to normal before she turned around,
giving him a slightly curious look.  "That was a compliment, you know," she
said quietly.  "Or do such things make you uncomfortable?"
     "The bathroom is yours," he said quietly, moving over to the bed to gather
his things together.  "Feel free to take as long as you need."
     "Thank you, I think," she replied with a raised eyebrow.  She glanced over
at the bathroom door before looking back at him, shaking her head to herself.
She padded over to the bathroom without another word, gently closing the door
behind her.
     <That wasn't so hard, now was it?> it spoke up with a faint chuckle.
     "What was?" he asked, pausing to cast a slightly wary look at his hand.
     <Being nice to her like that.  Honestly, how many times have you woken a
woman up with a gentle caress like that?> it inquired languidly.  He couldn't
see the smile on its face from his angle, but he could definitely hear it in
its voice.  <Don't get me wrong, that's a great way to do it, and I'm sure if
you had stuck around some of your other companions long enough you'd have found
out for yourself what it was *WRRRRF!*>
     D waited until the thing had fallen silent before taking his hand off of
the hilt of his sword.  He watched as a good three inches of it was removed
from the palm of his hand, idly wondering where exactly the thing's internals
were located.  He knew it could swallow up a *lot* of mass when it had to, but
the question was where did it go?
     He busied himself with the task of getting dressed, not overly concerned
with the answer to the metaphysical question.  He had gotten his boots on and
was in the process of reattaching his cape when he heard the heavy rattling of
the plumbing, shortly followed by the sound of the bathroom door opening up.
     "So that's what that sound was," Galen said with remote amusement.  "At
first I thought it was a toilet being flushed upstairs, until I remembered that
there isn't a third floor to this thing.  I guess they just don't make pipes
like they used to.  So tell me, D, do you....?"
     He lifted his head up as her voice suddenly trailed away without warning.
He turned to follow her gaze, suddenly realizing what she was looking at.  He
cast a quick glance at the expression on her face before returning to the task
of securing his scabbard on his back.
     She moved across the room in perfect silence, very slowly reaching out to
touch the platinum-and-silver rapier.  "D?" she whispered, her eyes dangerously
wide as she picked it up.  "What is this?"
     "You said the road ahead was dangerous," he replied calmly, tugging on the
various clasps and straps that tightly secured his equipment against his body.
He looked up to find a pair of liquid-like eyes staring hard at him, a look of
stunned disbelief clearly visible in their depths.
     "But...." she stammered for a moment.  "But this is....  D, this has to be
worth a fortune!" she protested.  "Why would you do this?"
     "You needed a weapon," D said in a neutral tone, not looking up at her.
He stood up and patted himself down again, a completely unnecessary gesture to
do but doing it anyway for reasons that he wasn't sure of.  He felt a touch on
his hand and looked up, feeling.... *something* unknown on the inside at the
sight of Galen on the verge of tears.
     "D.... thank you," she whispered very softly.  She looked at the rapier
for another few moments before sliding it into the empty sheath on her belt,
moving over to the wall to retrieve her boots.  She slipped them on with ease
and looked back up at him, still clearly taken aback by the gesture.  "I'm....
I'm ready when you are."
     He said nothing as he put his hat on, casting one final glance at the room
to make absolutely sure he wasn't leaving anything behind.  He nodded in idle
satisfaction and headed for the door, turning his head slightly to make sure
that Galen was following him.
     The stairs protested just as loudly as they had the first time, seeming to
announce to the tavern that someone was coming.  It occurred to the both of
them that perhaps the wooden slats had been made so squeaky for just that
purpose, warning the bartender and the patrons of their presence.
     D cast a sidelong look at Galen as she deftly plucked the room key from
his hand, handing it to the barkeeper with gentle nod of thanks.  She received
a soft series of moans in reply, accompanied by a gesture to a sort of buffet
table set against one wall.
     "I trust we have time to grab a quick bite for breakfast?" she inquired as
she rejoined him.  She edged past him without waiting for a reply, having by
now figured out when not to truly expect one.
     <A little feisty in the morning, isn't she?> it mused quietly, drawing a
dark look from D.  <Oooh, something smells really good in there.... watch out
for the lamia,> it added casually.
     D took a half-step to the left as he moved past Lani, glancing down at her
to find a distinctly coy look on her face as he dodged the casual flick of her
tail.  His gaze briefly swept across the table, only slightly surprised to see
Carmen keeping her company at this early hour.  The bracer was still securely
tied to her left wrist, but from this angle he could see that more marks were
hidden beneath the black leather.
     He idly wondered what had hurt her like that as he turned his attention to
the breakfast buffet.  It wasn't the widest variety he had encountered, but it
offered enough items he found palatable to make it worthwhile.  The majority of
what ended up on his place were wedges of fruit, not presently in the mood to
play the guessing game with the slices of meat sitting beneath the warmers.
     He glanced down at Galen's plate as he sat across from her, part of him
remotely amused to see that their choices were almost identical.  She glanced
up at him with a look of light amusement, already working on devouring a small
cluster of fairly ripe grapes.  He ignored her and started to eat, saving a
small portion of melon for the symbiot.
     They both looked up as the tavern door opened, admitting what could only
be described a wrinkled gnome-like creature that was maybe three feet tall.  He
carried a heavily-decorated staff that was easily twice his height and looked
to be about twice his age as well.  He stood up on his tip-toes to peer around
the room before spotting the two dunpeals, a faint hint of a smile crossing his
face as he shuffled over to them.
     "Countess Galen," he wheezed in a very soft voice.
     "Elder Marken," Galen replied with a nod of her head.  She hesitated for
a moment before adding, "I'm not claiming my father's lands, there is no need
to call me Countess."
     The gnome seemed to shrug in dismissal.  "You are a noble regardless, my
dear," he said in a voice made brittle by age.  "Our sympathies are with you
nonetheless for the loss of your father."
     "Thank you," she said with a hint of sadness.  She looked up as he made a
quiet noise to himself and pressed something into her hand.  "What's this?" she
asked as she held up the oddly-shaped trinket.
     "A token of our kind," the elder explained.  "You will always be welcome
in Cha'laka Hive, Countess Galen, and with this in your possession the other
Hives should be willing to grant you sanctuary if you need it.  A simple token
of kindness for all the kindness you've shown us, nothing more."
     "Thank you, Elder," Galen said with a smile of genuine gratitude.  She
blinked hard as the gnome then reached out with his staff, thumping it hard
against D's calf.
     "And you, hunter," he said in a slightly sharp tone.  "I was told you were
here in our Hive, but I was not told why."
     "Elder, he is...." Galen started to say before being cut off with a sharp
gesture.
     "I wish to hear him speak for himself," the elder said gently, his beady
eyes still fixed on D.  "I do not believe he will attempt to lie, as that is
not what I've been told of his nature.  Speak, hunter," he added.
     D lifted his head up to gaze squarely into the elder's face.  "Galen has
asked me to accompany her," he said simply.  "I have no interest in doing harm
to anyone in this city."
     The elder raised a bushy eyebrow and snorted quietly to himself.  "It is
not this city I am worried about but Galen," he countered in a low tone.  "I
know what brought you this region, hunter."
     "Elder, please," Galen spoke up quietly.  "I asked him to come with me as
an escort.  You don't need to worry about me."
     "I will worry about whatever I please," the gnome countered with only a
faint hint of amusement in his eyes.  "And for the moment, it pleases me to be
worried about you.  Eh?" he added as D reached down to his belt, drawing one of
his daggers and holding it out to him.  "What is the meaning of this?"
     "We have an agreement signed in blood," D said quietly, tilting the blade
slightly to show the gnome the dried crimson streaks.  "She will not come to
any harm while she travels under my protection."
     The elder remained very quiet for a number of moments, studying the dried
blood on the dagger.  "Very well," he said softly as the dagger was returned to
its sheath.  "I shall not worry about you then, my dear.  I think I speak for
the rest of the Hive when I say we will pray for you on your journey, wherever
it may take you."
     Galen smiled gently and leaned over, planting a soft kiss on the gnome's
bald spot.  "Thank you, Elder.  I won't ever forget your kindness."
     "Safe travels to the both of you," the elder said quietly, casting a final
glance at D before heading back outside.
     Galen shook her head gently as she studied the wooden trinket.  "My mother
had something like this," she said quietly as she tucked it away in a pouch on
her belt and resumed eating.  "It was a token of the Barbarois that would allow
safe passage through the city.  She said that it had been intended for her and
her alone, given her heritage, and so father had it set into the tombstone when
she passed away."
     She remained silent for several minutes, finishing her breakfast before
standing up to take the dirty plate over to the kitchen bins.  She paused as D
stood up as well, waiting for him to catch up before moving once again.  They
put their utensils in the bins before heading for the door together.
     D paused for a moment in the doorway, casting a glance over his shoulder
as he felt a tingle on the back of his neck.  He swept the room for possible
threats, his gaze coming to rest on the pair of purple eyes looking at him from
beneath the edge of a wide-brimmed hat.
     <D, what is it?> it asked very quietly.
     D said nothing as Carmen brushed a single fingertip against the brim of
her hat, tipping it just slightly in what might have been a gesture of either
farewell or respect.  He gave her a subtle nod of recognition, the edge of his
own hat dipping slightly in a gesture that would have gone unnoticed to anyone
who wasn't actively paying attention.  It didn't matter that he was a hunter of
vampires while she hunted something else, the unspoken bonds of understanding
and respect were often the only true feelings of friendship that people like
them ever had.
     <D?> it prodded carefully as he closed the tavern door behind him.  He
looked up to find Galen giving him a slightly curious look, wondering what had
delayed him for that brief moment in time.
     "Let's go," he said to them both, not in the mood to try to explain the
unspoken code of respect that existed between hunters.
     "D, go ahead and get your mount ready," Galen said as she turned to take
one of the causeways.  "I've got a bit of last-minute shopping to do.  Or are
you going to make me travel for five days without a change of underwear?" she
added lightly at the faint look of suspicion on his face.
     He said nothing as he headed towards the stables, knowing that she would
not run away while his back was turned.  Quite the contrary, he found it to be
more than a little bothersome that she seemed to be so willing to travel with
him given yesterday's events.  He couldn't readily figure out her motives for
doing so, save for stalling for time.  That made little sense to him, but he
knew that not everything would at first.
     He reached the stables in short order, tossing another coin to the stable
boy as his mount was promptly fetched and made ready.  The horse seemed to be
both well-rested and in good spirits, the faint scent of fresh oats discernable
in the air as it breathed.
     He almost moved to climb in the saddle when he remembered what Galen was
doing, moving instead over to the saddle-bags to make some room for a package.
A moderate space had just been freed up when the sounds of footsteps on the
spiral staircase reached his ears.  He lifted his head up to see Galen making
her way down to the ground level, holding a bundle that was smaller than he had
anticipated.  The bundle was handed to him without a word and was neatly tucked
away in the saddle-bag, fitting nicely between a small blanket and a set of
digging tools.
     She waited patiently as he climbed in the saddle, reaching up to accept
the offered hand and mounting up in front of him.  She grabbed the reins before
he could, nodding her gratitude to the stable boy as he opened the doors.
     Both dunpeals inhaled sharply as the full brunt of the morning sun spilled
through the doors, taking them by surprise.  The burning disc was still low on
the horizon, the optical illusionary effect making it seem twice as large as it
should be.  They weren't sure if the brightness was natural or due to the odd
lensing effect of the invisibility screen, but neither one wanted to remain out
in the open for very long.
     A simple flick of the reins set the mount into motion at a steady pace,
first steering southeast to follow the trail.  A guard tower stood just inside
the hazy bubble of light-bending energy that kept the Hive hidden from others,
manned by a number of heavily-armed mutants.  One of them nodded to her as they
approached, ducking back inside the tower to deactivate their segment of the
invisibility field.
     "I was wondering about that," Galen said quietly as the air rippled before
them, the intensity of the light dropping by a considerable amount.  "I mean,
I've been inside the Hive at sunrise before, but I never got curious enough to
ask about what the cloaking field did.  I don't know about you, but I'd rather
not have to put up with another case of heat exposure anytime soon.  Do you
mind if I drive for awhile?" she asked, casting a glance over her shoulder at
him.  "The trail east is pretty obvious, but I know a few places along the way
to stop and rest your horse."
     He glanced up at her before nodding silently, reaching one hand around her
waist to take hold of the saddlehorn for stability.  She gave him a look of
amusement as she braced herself in the saddle and gently snapped the reins.
The mount took the overt hint and picked up the pace, settling into something
that wasn't quite a gallop but still covered the terrain at a decent rate as
they headed due east, directly towards the rising sun.

                *               *               *               *

     They traveled in silence for close to two hours before Galen eased the
pace down to a casual trot.  The terrain here was primarily comprised of open
meadows dotted by the occasional patch of scrub brush.  She continued to guide
the horse along at a trot until they came across a small pond, easing back on
the reins to let the horse rest and momentarily graze.
     D frowned as he looked around the area, not finding any sort of shade or
cover from the overhead sun.  Casual travel during the day didn't bother him,
but having to do so after three days of non-stop combat was a different matter.
The guards and minions of Count Niles had mounted a fierce barrier-defense,
forcing him to fight through their ranks to make it up the trail to the castle
proper.  Things had only gotten worse on the inside, as it became obvious that
they had been preparing for his arrival for quite some time.
     The very edges of his lips curled back in a faint snarl as he realized
that he would most likely have to seek shelter soon, certainly before the end
of their five-day journey.  The thought of being buried and thus vulnerable was
bad enough, but given the fact that he had company....
     He blinked and looked up as she sighed heavily, the kind of deep sigh that
usually only accompanied a situation of despair.  She was staring off at the
horizon, her eyes narrowed as she searched for something that wasn't to be
found anymore.... like a castle.
     She paused and looked back over at him, a heavy sadness plainly visible in
her liquid-like eyes.  She sighed quietly again and looked down at the willowy
meadow-grass that grew around them.  "I used to be able to see the castle from
here," she said quietly.  "My father said he didn't want a large domain, just
enough to be self-sustaining and low-maintenance.  The land the Hive is on used
to be his, but he sold it to them after a couple of centuries of occupancy."
     He said nothing as she seemed to gaze around the immediate area, taking
her time in enjoying the view.  "The Cha'laka Hive was like a second home to my
mother after she left Barbarois," she quietly spoke up.  "Even though she came
from a culture that had lived in isolation for five thousand years, she seemed
to fit in nicely with the denizens of the Hive.  They welcomed me as well after
I was born and grew up enough to truly understand them and their way of life.
I tried to do the same with the Barbarois, but while they allowed me access to
their city in my mother's presence, I didn't feel the same sense of kinship as
I did here."
     She sighed quietly and looked over at him, studying him carefully.  "You
went through Barbarois once yourself, correct?" she inquired.
     He glanced over at her for a moment before nodding once, returning his
focus to the level terrain and the menacing sunlight.
     "I was still a child when my grandmother passed away, but I remember her
telling me about it," she continued.  "About how a vampire noble had come to
them seeking sanctuary with a bunch of hunters in pursuit.  She said that three
Barbarois volunteered to protect the carriage as it traveled, and that one of
them was a close and personal friend of hers.  Tell me how you killed them, D."
     D blinked in surprise at both the abrupt change in tone and the directness
of the question.  He turned to face her and found her twisted around in the
saddle, looking squarely at him with a fairly unreadable look on her face.
     A frown crossed her face as he remained silent.  She continued to stare at
him for a moment before she reached down, grabbing his left hand and flipping
it over to expose the wrinkles.  "I don't suppose you'll talk to me," she said
in an edged voice.
     <Umm,> it spoke up quietly, the wrinkles parting to reveal a face marred
by uncertainty.  <Listen, you're a cute dunpeal and all, but I don't want to
get involved in whatever it is the two of you seem intent on getting yourselves
into.  Nothing personal,> it added in an abashed tone.
     "Hmmph," Galen muttered, casting a dark look at D.  "Some company you're
turning out to be.  Do I want to ask why you don't want to talk about it?"
     <D?> the thing spoke up quietly, taking them both by surprise.  <I know
you don't want to remember everything that went on back then, so just give her
the basic background and stick to the part she's interested in.>
     D glanced down at his hand before looking up at Galen.  He noticed that
her expression had changed slightly, taking on a hint of guarded curiosity and
perhaps even concern.  Sighing quietly, he drew in a breath and began to tell
her about one of the most defining moments of his entire existence.
     "I was hired by the Elbourne family to rescue their daughter Charlotte,"
he said in a quiet voice.  "She had been kidnapped by a vampire named Meier
Link.  The Elbournes had also hired another team of vampire-hunters, the Markus
brothers.  We pursued Meier's carriage for a number of days, eventually up to
the gates of Barbarois.
     "One of the hunters was killed outside the gates, causing them to withdraw
for the moment.  I entered the city to try to negotiate with them.  While I was
inside, one of the hunters used an astral drug to project his soul and launch
a spiritual attack.  The carriage escaped the attack and I went after it.
     "One of the Barbarois guarding the carriage was a shadow-weaver, able to
warp and twist the darkness to his will.  He entrapped me in a shadow prison
that took some time to free myself from.  By the time I escaped, the carriage
was several miles down the road.  My horse had died in the attack, so I was
delayed for another few hours while I secured a new mount."
     She nodded slowly in understanding.  "Sounds like Benge," she explained.
"Grandmother said he was a little touched in the head, but he was one of the
few Barbarois who could meld into shadows.  Let's go," she said to the mount,
reaching down to pat the side of its neck before gently flicking the reins.
     They traveled down the road a few hundred yards before she peered over her
shoulder at him, giving him a faintly reproving look.  "You can still tell me
about what happened as we ride, D," she prodded gently.
     D sighed quietly and looked back out at the flat terrain, briefly looking
up at the burning sphere in the sky.  "I caught up with the carriage while they
were resting their horses in some ruins," he said quietly.  "Charlotte was out
in the open to bask in the sun, which meant that she was still human and that
I wasn't too late.  One of the other hunters intervened, trying to take her
back by force, and we were both attacked by one of the Barbarois.  A dryad."
     "Caroline," Galen said softly, causing D to lift his head up to look at
the back of her neck.  She twisted slightly to look at him, her blue-green eyes
seeming to be filled with regret.  "That was my grandmother's friend.  Please,
tell me how she died," she asked very quietly
     "I pursued her into a wooded area," D explained in a calm and measured
tone, his voice remaining as soft and gentle as hers.  "Had I known about her
powers, I wouldn't have done so.  She had melted into the trees to escape when
I was overcome with heat exposure.  She then assumed the form of a treant and
attacked me, leaving me with no other choice but to strike back.  I managed to
decapitate her while she was in her treant form and immediately sought shelter
against the sun.
     "While I lay buried in the earth, she regenerated her body and tried to
attack the hunter who had intervened earlier.  The hunter drove a knife into
her skull and a bolt of lightning struck a few moments later, drawn by the
metal and finishing the task before the favor could be returned."
     Galen closed her eyes and sighed quietly, trying not to imagine what he
had just described.  "So it wasn't you after all," she said softly once she had
regained her composure.  "Everyone had blamed you for it, simply because they
didn't think that anyone else could have killed her.  You said she died while
in a forested area?  Good," she said when D simply nodded to her.  "At least
she found peace in a place her spirit could rest comfortably in."
     They rode along in silence for awhile, Galen absently steering the mount
as she reflected on her grandmother's stories while D quietly brooded about the
past.  He looked up as she called his name quietly, finding her looking over
her shoulder at him once again.
     "D, what about the other one who was with them?" she inquired.  "Mashira."
     "The lycanthrope," D said quietly, causing her to blink at the tone.  "He
remained with the carriage until it approached Castle Chaythe, abandoning it to
try to stall me long enough for the carriage to reach the castle."
     "Castle Chaythe?" she echoed in surprise.  "Carmilla's castle?  So it WAS
you who finally put her spirit to rest!  My father thought it was you, but he
felt it was too dangerous to try to find out for sure.  He.... didn't want to
attract your attention," she added, her voice dropping to a soft whisper.
     D said nothing for several moments, trying very hard not to remember what
happened after he had entered the castle.  "Mashira made no effort to conceal
his presence, seeking to engage in a battle that was designed to delay me.  I
was able to approach him undetected and so the encounter was.... brief."
     "I see," Galen said very quietly, returning her attention to the trail.
"When they didn't come back, the Barbarois held a memorial in their honor.  My
grandmother never was able to tell me what the elders said about them without
starting to cry.  She said they were viewed as heroes who had died in the line
of duty for the sake of the honor and reputation of the Barbarois."
     "They did what they were hired to do," D said calmly.  "Nothing more."
     "Much like you do, D?" she spoke up without thinking, her tone faintly
laced with bitterness.  She paused as she realized what she said and glanced
over her shoulder at him, studying the look on his face.  "I.... didn't mean
that in a bad sense," she amended quietly.
     D looked at her before gently shaking his head.  "As I told their elder,
I have nothing personal against the Barbarois.  Indeed, their loyalty to their
ancient traditions is something to be admired.  I was hired to do a job and the
Barbarois were hired to stop me.  There is no honor to be lost or won when it
is simply a matter of doing business."
     Galen just shook her head to herself.  "I could never live like that, as
a mercenary with no ties to anything but gold," she said in a subdued tone.
"Is that all you are these days, D?  A hired blade who will exchange the blood
of your vampire kin for mere coin?  I'm almost afraid to ask what the true cost
of this was," she added darkly, reaching down with her right hand to run her
fingertips along the hilt of her rapier.
     "So tell me, hunter," she continued in a slightly clipped tone, her mood
growing darker the more she thought about things.  "What became of this Meier
Link you pursued for so long?  Surely the great vampire-hunter rescued the
kidnapped girl and slew the evil fiend who dared take her.  How much gold did
you collect in exchange for his head on a stick?  And how much gold will you
receive for my father's death?" she demanded as she jerked the horse to a halt
and spun around in the saddle to stare into his eyes.
     He looked up at her as that last sentence came out, seeming to drip with
scorn and contempt.  "None," he said calmly.  He waited until her liquid eyes
had blinked with surprise before explaining.  "My contract with the Elbourne
family only related to Charlotte, not Meier Link.  She died in the castle and
her ring was returned to her family as proof of her passing.  Meier then used
Carmilla's shuttle to take Charlotte's body up to the City of the Night, never
to return to the planet again.  That was his original intention all along....
his and Charlotte's.  I saw no need to pursue him."
     "What?" she said, blinking in surprise again.  "You mean she went with him
of her own accord?"
     "So it seems," he replied with a subtle nod, praying that she wouldn't ask
him to recount the entire story of their tragic love for one another.  It had
taken him quite a long time to quit thinking about that one, helped in part by
the time he had been alone with Leila during the sandstorm.  "Charlotte's ring
was returned by the lone survivor of the other hunter team," he added, causing
her head to snap up.  "I made no monetary profit from it."
     She looked at him in heavy silence before taking in a deep breath, seeming
to brace herself for something unpleasant.  "And my father?" she asked in a
steady voice, belied only by the look in her blue-green eyes.
     "I was not hired by anyone to kill him," he said quietly, suddenly unable
to look into her liquid eyes any longer.  He let his gaze roam across the flat
terrain as he continued to speak.  "I know he was one of the ones involved in
the attack on my father's palace, a number of years after my mother.... after
she was murdered.  He had taken great pains to keep his whereabouts closely
guarded since then, and it was only recently that I was able to finally trail
him to this castle."
     "D?" she breathed quietly, drawing his attention back to the soft curves
of her face.  "You mean.... my father was involved in the Blood Wars?"
     D simply nodded, knowing that she was referring to the bloodiest part of
the ten-thousand year history of the vampire reign.  Upset with the Vampire
King's iron-fisted rule, a legion of nobles had banded together in an attempt
at usurping his power and destroying him.  His father eventually fell, but not
before most of the vampire population had been decimated almost to the point of
extinction.  Their numbers had slowly returned after the end of the Blood Wars,
but that had all changed once he began his crusade to put an end to things....
     Galen slowly shook her head in disbelief.  "He never said anything about
it," she whispered.  "D, the legends...."
     "Are in the past," he interrupted quietly.  He leaned forward slightly,
grabbing the reins from her and giving them a gentle flick.  The mount started
back in on a casual trot, slowly heading further down the trail.
     "D...." she said quietly, reaching up to touch him.  She blinked as he
edged away from her touch, finding a dark look of concealed pain in his eyes.
She tried to study that hidden emotion before she finally turned away, righting
herself in the saddle and holding onto the horn for balance.  She knew that
there was a great deal more to the story than he was telling her, but the pain
in his eyes....
     A lot can happen in five days, he had said, the quiet words starting to
echo in her mind for some reason.  She knew that half of the first day was
almost behind them, the searing light of the sun reaching its zenith overhead.
She decided she would try asking him about the Blood Wars and her father's
involvement another day, not wanting to push things.  She had seen it in his
eyes when he talked, opening up just the slightest amount.  She thought there
had been far more hidden in shadow behind the story of Charlotte's kidnapping
as well, a sort of woman's intuition whispering softly to her.
     Very well, she thought to herself, I will not pry further into your pain
or your past.  For now, she added as they rode along in silence.

                *               *               *               *

     They stopped twice more along the trail, both times near small ponds of
water and willowy grass.  They dismounted to stretch their muscles as the mount
drank and rested, D seeming to withdraw further into a shell of sorts while
Galen tried to relax and savor the beauty of the local terrain.
     They were approaching the edge of a wooded area when Galen tugged on the
reins, guiding the mount over to another small oasis of water and long-bladed
grass.  The sun was starting to approach the horizon behind them as she slid
out of the saddle and walked around, absently patting the horse's flank.
     "The trees will remain fairly thin for another day or so," she called out
to him as she sat down at the end of the pond.  She wriggled out of her boots
and soaked her ankles in the cool water, a faint look of bliss crossing her
face at the contact.  "There's an old druid circle further up along the trail.
I usually camp out there when I'm not riding through the twilight hours.  You
have any objection to staying put at night?"
     He said nothing as he looked at the flaming skyline, watching as the edge
of the sun started to brush the horizon.  He narrowed his eyes as he thought,
wondering just how long he would be able to keep going at the current pace.
The forest canopy would cut down on the amount of sunlight he would be exposed
to, which meant that he should be able to endure another full day before he
would be required to make use of the digging tools in the saddle-bag.
     <Uhh, D?> it spoke up quietly, too quietly for Galen to overhear.  <Let's
not try to be a macho man with this one, okay?  I don't know how well you're
holding up, but I seem to remember an awful lot of sunlight this past week, and
you know what that means?  Heat exposure.  Need I remind you of the last time
we went through this one?  And I have the sneaking suspicion that you won't be
able to rely on a passing werewolf to take pity on you and bury you like a bone
in the backyard again....>
     D said nothing, his right hand suddenly reaching up to touch the hilt of
his sword without consciously realizing it.  A faint chill registered on his
senses a moment later, the unmistakable feeling that someone or something was
nearby and was watching him.
     "D?" Galen said in a low tone, remaining absolutely motionless.  She had
been reaching for her boots when she saw him tense, her own combat instincts
telling her not to move until she had a better feel for what the problem was.
     "In the woods," he said quietly, staring at a particular section of the
treeline.  The sensation of being watched had faded after a few moments, but
not before he had caught the barest flickers of motion behind one of the trees.
He wasn't sure if it had been a falling leaf or a squirrel that had drawn his
attention, but he had long ago learned to trust his instincts when they tried
to tell him something is amiss.
     She scanned the woodline for a few moments before glancing back at him, a
faint frown crossing her face as she saw him slowly lowering his hand from his
sword.  "What do you think it was?" she asked as she gently shook the water off
of her skin and stepped into her boots.
     "I don't know," he said simply, his eyes still narrowed in suspicion.
     "Bandits don't usually operate this far out," she spoke up as she slowly
moved next to the mount.  "They usually stay fairly close to the human village
that's another two days down the road.  We're technically still on my father's
lands, and he had a reputation for dealing somewhat decisively with any common
thieves who dared bother people passing through his domain."
     I'll bet he did, D thought to himself in a momentary fit of sarcasm.
     <So how did he deal with the uncommon ones?> the thing inquired, the voice
briefly startling Galen as she went to reach for the saddlehorn.
     "I never asked," she said simply, casting a faintly wary look at D as she
took his offered hand.  She hoisted herself in the saddle and picked up the
reins, glancing down at her side to where D's left hand rested on his thigh.
"But I doubt that he killed them if that's what you're getting at.  After all,
how is one supposed to learn the error of one's ways if they're dead?"
     Both D and the thing remained quiet as the mount was gently urged into
motion once more, both dunpeals keeping a causal but wary eye on the terrain.
The shadows around them began to grow longer as the sun continued to set, a
swath of cool and comforting darkness enfolding them as the last sliver finally
slipped over the horizon.
     D looked in front of him as Galen seemed to shiver briefly.  He had felt
the tingle as well, but it certainly wasn't strong enough to make him consider
physically reacting like that.  He paused as he suddenly realized that he was
now looking at the side of her face, faint looks of amusement and embarrassment
visible on her eyes as she gazed back at him.
     "Sorry," she apologized quietly.  "I tend to get all shivery like that at
sunset.  I tend to blame it on my Barbaroi blood, since nobody else I've talked
to seems to react that strongly."
     "You are who you are," he replied in quiet dismissal.
     "I should hope so," she said as she turned back to look at the trail.  "I
would certainly hate to think I was someone else after all this time.  May I
ask you a question, D?  What was it that made you stop back there as we were
leaving the tavern?"
     He remained silent for a few moments before finally speaking.  "Paying my
respects to another hunter, that's all."
     She twisted around in the saddle to regard him carefully, one delicate
blue-green eyebrow arching up in mild surprise.  "Another hunter?" she echoed.
     "Carmen Averness," he explained after a brief hesitation.  "I rescued her
mother from a vampire's dungeon a number of years ago."
     "Really...." Galen said slowly, her other eyebrow arching up in surprise.
"Odd that she never mentioned that to anyone before.  I suppose you are right
about her in one aspect.  She used to be a hunter, a werewolf hunter."
     The image of the scars on Carmen's wrist suddenly flashed into his mind,
sending a twinge through his guts.  If she had indeed been hunting werewolves,
then surely one of them must have struck her in the arm at one point.  That
alone shouldn't have been enough to infect her with the lycanthropic disease,
but if such an attack were to be followed by a deep bite....
     "I see," he said quietly, already able to figure out the rest.
     "She'll be alright, D," Galen said gently.  "It took the elders six months
to purge her body of the disease, but they believe it is finally done.  She is
still recovering from the antidote, however, so she will likely remain with the
Hive for another month or two.  Few think she will ever leave, though," she
added in a slightly remorseful tone.  "Not after what she confessed to doing
while under the effects of the moon-rage...."
     D said nothing, not able to think of something to say even if he had been
inclined to comment.  He had met his fair share of werewolves in the past, most
enslaved by vampire nobles as tools.  He considered himself fairly fortunate
that he hadn't been in a situation where he had to worry about exposure to the
disease, still not overly sure if his vampiric blood would have been able to
subdue the infection.
     "Would you believe she's only twenty-two?" Galen murmured, more to herself
than to D.  "Hardly an adult, and yet her entire life has been changed beyond
repair twice.  First becoming a hunter to avenge the death of a close friend,
then becoming the very thing she so wanted to destroy.  Tell me, D, living the
life of a hunter as you do.... how long can a soul truly exist like that before
it twists in on itself and either collapses or burns itself into ruin?"
     It seemed a minor eternity passed before he finally answered her.  "Not
long if one possesses a human soul," he said quietly, drawing a faintly uneasy
look from her.  "One either finally rejects the fires of vengeance inside them
or becomes consumed beyond all redemption.  You don't see many old hunters on
the trail, simply because they've either given up or died by that point."
     He looked up as he felt her touch on his wrist, her head tilted slightly
to one side to regard him carefully.  "And what of you, D?" she asked in a very
soft tone.  "Which side of the balance do you place yourself on?  Surely you
think of yourself as having at least part of a human soul," she added as he
remained silent.  "Or does that not mean anything to you?"
     Actually, I don't know why you hunt vampires, the voice from the past said
in his mind's ear.  I understand the need to exterminate them, but you never
told me why you decided to pick up a sword.  Tell me, D, what is it that drives
you to pursue those blood-thirsty creatures of the night?
     Leila's voice continued to haunt him, gently reminding him, even playfully
teasing him in that coy voice of hers that he had never actually answered the
question she had asked, never offered her that glimpse into his own dark past
and tortured soul.  He then heard her voice again, very softly whispering to
him as he thought how Galen was now asking the same question.  I can't change
the past for you, but I can give you a second chance....
     He allowed his eyes to close at Galen's touch, her fingers gently brushing
across his cheek as Leila's once had, carefully trying to pry his soul open
using the warmth of her own.  But she was not his beloved Leila, not the young
human woman he discovered he had loved only once it was too late, once she had
forever slipped beyond his reach....
     "D?" Galen asked very quietly, wondering if she was finally going to be
given a glimpse behind the veil of his isolation.
     He finally forced his eyes open to look at her, watching impassively as
she instinctively recoiled from something that was visible in the depths of his
visage.  "Galen," he started to say, pausing as he heard his voice rasping in
the confines of his throat.  It seemed to take forever before the words finally
worked their way free and slipped from his tongue.  "Ask me later."
     She looked at him before nodding in silence, seeming to be at a loss for
words.  It seemed for a moment that she might have tried to reach out to him,
to touch him in a gesture of understanding and comfort before she turned away
and refocused on the road ahead of them.
     D was surprised by how tired he suddenly felt, his strength seeming to
leave him once the eye-contact was broken and he was allowed to withdraw back
into his shell.  He looked out at the land around him, the thin line of trees
starting to blur together as the evening twilight took a firmer grip.  Soon it
would be true night, the sky untainted by the cloud-reflected rays of the sun
and the countless glittering pinpoints of the heavens allowed to shine upon a
world long forsaken by the gods.
     He blinked hard as the horse suddenly came to a stop, lifting his head up
to quickly scan the area.  He almost fell out of the saddle in shock as he saw
that they were now in a different part of the shallow forest, the dim light of
the setting sun apparently long gone.  A quick search of his memories revealed
absolutely nothing, not the slightest hint of the passage of time.  A faint
chill crawled down his spine at the realization, not having had his mind just
summarily dispose of sensory input like that in quite some time.
     <D, you with us now?> the thing in his hand ventured carefully, drawing a
very sharp look from him.  He glanced up to find Galen twisting around in the
saddle, giving him a distinctly wary look.
     "Wait, what happened?" she asked, glancing down at D's left hand.
     <He's just tired and won't admit it, that's all,> it replied casually.
     "That's enough," D said in a flat tone.  He paused and looked back up at
Galen as he heard a very soft giggle, finding a knowing smile tugging on the
corners of her pale blue lips.
     "Men," she said with exaggerated patience.  "I have yet to meet a single
male of any species who will admit to a woman that they're tired.  We're at the
circle, D, so you can take it easy now."
     D said nothing as he dismounted, giving her a mild look as he held his arm
out to her.  She accepted the offer with a deliberately sweet smile, holding
onto him for balance as she climbed down from the saddle.  "Thank you," she
said with a slight nod of her head.
     He looked around the area, only needing a momentary glance to know that he
was now on what had once been holy ground.  A small clearing in the forest was
taken up by a number of medium-sized stone slabs had been arranged in a rough
circle.  It wasn't on the scale of the ancient ruins of Stonehenge, the circle
perhaps being a third of its size and the slabs considerably smaller, but it
nonetheless gave one the impression that this place had been of considerable
importance to somebody at one point in time.
     The center of the circle appeared to have been blackened by the ashes of
countless small campfires, no doubt making a natural campground for the druids
who once lived here and those who visited the circle after their departure.  A
closer examination revealed that a number of loose pebbles and rocks had been
gathered together in a circle of their own inside the larger one, whether the
focus of their rites or simply a makeshift fire-pit he couldn't tell.
     He began to move towards the circle to get a better look at the stones,
suddenly halting in mid-motion as the blood-chilling tingle that meant he was
being watched returned.  He very slowly looked around at the trees, trying to
discern which direction the threat was coming from.
     <D....> it warned quietly.
     "Yes, I know," he replied calmly.  He cast a quick glance over at Galen
as she slowly backed up towards him, one hand on the hilt of her rapier as she
likewise scanned the surrounding terrain.  He said nothing as he felt her back
lightly press against his, his hunter's instincts telling him that he could
trust her to guard his back.
     "Somehow, I don't think that's a squirrel," Galen said in a very low tone.
"You see anything?"
     The faint but sudden sound of brushing leaves made them both tense, but it
was the sharp report of a crossbow string that set things into motion.  Even
before he knew where it was coming from, D launched into a rolling-tumble to
get out of the way, drawing his sword in a single smooth motion once he ended
up back on his feet.
     The sounds of two more crossbows being fired in rapid succession told him
that there were at least two opponents, possibly three if the first shooter was
slow on the reload.  A blur shot out from the darkness in front of him, aimed
at Galen's fleeting figure as it vanished behind a tree.  Deciding that he had
enough time to cover the distance before the weapon could be reloaded, he began
charging forward as fast as he could.
     Another sharp twang echoed through the air as a bolt sailed close to him,
coming from a patch of darkness several yards away.  He could feel the rush of
displaced air from its passing as he pressed forward, focusing on the sudden
blur of panicked motion directly ahead of him.
     The image of a human dressed in the typically dark and shoddy clothing of
a common bandit registered on his mind as he got within arm's-length of him,
the crossbow clearly visible as the bandit swung it up for a point-blank shot.
Pure combat instinct took over as the threat registered, bringing his sword up
at a steep angle with a powerful swipe.
     A hideous snapping sound filled the air as the entire front half of the
projectile weapon was shorn off, the steel-fiber bowstring coming apart as if
it were cotton instead.  The tension on the bowstring caused the severed ends
to whip back wildly, narrowly missing D but catching the bandit in the side of
the head to leave a fairly large gash.
     Still acting on instinct, D didn't try to stop his forward momentum in the
slightest.  Raising his arm up higher to avoid making contact with the edged
blade, he ran forearm-first into the bandit to slam him against a tree.  The
whooshing of air was clearly audible as it exited the bandit's lungs and left
him in a barely-conscious daze.
     Deciding that the bandit wouldn't be a threat for a few moments, he turned
to go after the second crossbowman and came within a fraction of an inch of
eating another bolt as it lanced out of the darkness.  The feathers on the
projectile managed to graze the edge of his ear as it passed, leaving behind a
shallow nick that only served to really annoy him.
     He started to charge forward but stopped just as quickly as he saw that
the situation would shortly be resolved.  The second hunter was holding what
was called a repeating crossbow, having a clip of bolts mounted in a case on
top of the bowstring for rapid-fire loading.  The bowstring had just been drawn
back to the firing position again when a dark blur suddenly passed over him.
     D's face remained impassive as he heard the heavy thump of a human skull
becoming rather solidly introduced into a nearby tree.  A pair of fiercely
glowing red eyes became visible a moment later as Galen stood up, her cloak
slowly changing back from its bark-like camouflage pattern.
     "Bandits," she muttered in disgust as she slid her rapier back into the
sheath on her belt.  "What fools...."
     D said nothing as he returned his sword to the scabbard on his back, idly
wondering what they had been thinking.  Attacking a pair of travelers when they
were clearly armed and the odds were perfectly even?  And that didn't even take
into account the fact that they were trying to waylay a pair of dunpeals when
the sun was down.  Granted it was possible they might not have noticed that
particular aspect in the darkness, but still.... foolishness or desperation?
     <D!> it suddenly yelled as a metallic whispering reached his ears.
     D leaned back as far as he could with something akin to a sigh as the
dagger was thrust past him, barely missing the base of his throat.  His right
arm came up to pin the bandit's wrist back, holding it steady.  His other hand
formed into a fist as it swung up, the back side casually slamming into the
center of the bandit's chest.
     The bandit gasped hard as he was thrown back into the tree once more.  The
dagger promptly fell from his limp fingers as his eyes rolled up into his head,
the blade neatly falling into D's hand as the bandit slid down to the ground in
a three-quarters unconscious stupor.
     "Nice reflexes," Galen said calmly as she dragged the other bandit over to
where D was standing.  The man's nose was clearly broken, blood streaming down
his face to leave an even darker stain on his dark shirt.  "So, whatever shall
we do with these two, hmm?" she mused loudly, grabbing the second bandit by his
collar and pinning him against a tree.
     She leaned forward until they were almost nose to nose, her eyes glowing
a vibrant red color as she pulled her lips back to expose her vampiric fangs.
"Let me ask you something, fool," she said in a decidedly casual tone.  "Do you
have any idea who you just tried to kill?"
     The man's eyes became dangerously wide as he stared at her, a steady flow
of blood still oozing down his face.  "C-C-C-Count's.... d-d-d-daughter...." he
gasped, clearly terrified at the realization.
     "Oh, good boy," Galen cooed quietly.  "Maybe I'll let you live after all,
just so I can tell my father about this.  Oh, you spineless WORM," she spat in
disgust a moment later.
     D just looked away as he heard the sound of the bandit's bladder letting
go, no doubt at the mere thought of being taken to see the vampire landlord for
punishment.  A very soft moan at his feet told him that the first bandit was
regaining his senses.  A not-overly-gentle nudge of D's boot convinced him to
keep his moans of pain to himself and stay put.
     Galen reached out and grabbed the bandit's jaw, wrenching it hard to the
right so his gaze fell on D.  "Next question, fool.... do you have any idea at
all who my traveling companion happens to be?" she inquired evenly.
     It took a few moments for him to recognize the silent figure.  "I-I-It's
him.... t-t-the dunp-p-peal vampire h-h-hunter...." he rasped in a high-pitched
tone as his eyes widened even further.
     "Mmm, that's two for two tonight," Galen replied coyly as she forced him
to look back up at her.  "Had your aim been as good as your memory, we might
have been in a bit of trouble.  Of course, had you bothered to take a closer
look at us before pulling the trigger, you wouldn't be in this situation, now
would you?" she added in an edged tone.
     "Countess, p-p-please...." the man babbled quietly.  "I beg you...."
     "Hush," she said absently as she looked over at D.  "What do you think we
should do with them, D?  One for you, one for me, sounds like an even split.
I haven't had a bite to eat in a long time," she added, deliberately flashing
her fangs at the terrified bandit.
     D remained silent as she reached out with a single finger, lightly dabbing
it in the mass of blood dripping down his face.  She brought the crimson smear
to her lips, very gently flicking her tongue across it.  She made a face and
spat on the ground a moment later, her nose wrinkling in disgust.
     "Yeech, maybe not," she said sourly.  "Well, there goes that option.  Not
that I was kidding about needing a decent meal, but you taste like week-dead
roadkill.  So what do I do with you, hmm?  D, would you...?" she added, making
an absent gesture at the bandit next to D.
     D said nothing as he reached down, casually grabbing the bandit's collar
and yanking him to his feet.  A simple glare convinced the man to stand still
and remain perfectly motionless as they both waited to see what Galen would do.
     "Thanks," Galen said to him.  "We should always do our part to keep our
lands clean and free of trash.  Okay, fool," she said as she turned her focus
back to the bandit with the broken nose.  "I'll be honest with you.  I got a
really nice wake-up call this morning and that sort of had me in a good mood
all day.  So in spite of what you two idiots tried to do, I'm going to give you
a chance to learn from this.  Just grab your stuff and go home.  Really, that's
it," she said as both bandits gave her incredulous looks.  "Of course, if I
ever find either one of you trying to rob anyone again, I'll feed you to him,"
she added, making a subtle gesture towards D with her chin.
     The second bandit flinched hard as D cast a sidelong glance at him, very
carefully edging away from the dunpeal as discreetly as he could.  "Go," D said
in a perfectly calm and level voice.
     Galen smirked to herself as the bandit promptly took off running like a
bat out of hell.  "You should go get that bandaged," she said as she took a
step away from the other bandit, making a gesture to the retreating figure.
"Now get out of here and take your broken toys with you.  Or do you intend to
stick around and see what's for dinner?" she added lightly.
     The bleeding bandit immediately started running, coming to a halt as he
tried to pass D only to have his arm grabbed in a solid grip.  He remained
frozen in fear as D edged closer, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets
as D calmly tucked the other bandit's forgotten dagger in his belt.  A single
step back was all D needed to take to indicate he was finished with him, the
bandit promptly bolting off into the woods a fraction of a second later.
     D and Galen just looked at one another in silence before they both glanced
down at D's left hand as it began to laugh very softly to itself.  <You two are
a piece of work,> it chuckled in obvious amusement.  <Somehow, I think it will
be a very long time before either one of them even thinks about trying to pull
a stunt like that ever again.>
     "Let's hope so," Galen replied as she wiped her fingertip against her leg.
"Well, that was an exciting way to end a day, don't you think?"  She sighed and
gave D an irritated look as he simply turned around and headed back towards the
mount without saying anything.  "Or would you prefer I had killed them?" she
called out in an edged tone.
     D stopped in his tracks and cast a dark glance over his shoulder.  "You
did the right thing," he said calmly before moving over to the mount to start
unloading a few items from the saddle-bags.
     "Thank you, your highness," she muttered sarcastically as she headed over
to the saddle-bags to get her own equipment.

                *               *               *               *

     Galen sighed as she set her mess-kit aside, not able to eat the last bits
of the trail rations she had warmed over the small campfire.  Had the forest
been any thicker she would have suggested that they go hunting for some game
instead of relying on the too-dry foodstuffs for sustenance.
     She looked up at the dark figure sitting opposite her, peering through the
shimmering veil of heated air caused by the quietly crackling fire.  The circle
of stones made for a rather interesting backdrop, one that might have inspired
her to paint a portrait if she had any artistic skills worth mentioning.
     She remained silent as she studied him, absently wiggling her bare toes as
they were warmed by the fire.  The more she thought about it, the more she was
convinced that something was hurting him on the inside.  Why else would he keep
such a wall of isolation around him if he didn't fear being hurt further?  Part
of her yearned to reach out to him, to try to break the wall down to see what
was hurting him, to try to see if she could help him.  But at the same time....
would it be worth it?
     This was the very same man who killed her father, who hunted not just him
relentlessly over the years but the rest of her kind as well.  She knew that
not all of the recent vampire deaths had been by his hand, some of the more
spectacular ones being attributed to him simply because of the disbelief that
anyone else could have done it.  But he had definitely killed his fair share of
his own kind, vampires and dunpeals alike.
     And now that she was the last, she knew he would eventually kill her too.
So why had she bothered with the charade of wanting to see her mother?  Part of
her truly did want to visit her mother's grave, of course, but her real intent
back then had been to stall for time, to give her a chance to get her wits back
in order and think rationally again.  So now that she was thinking clearly....
why allow this to continue?
     A lot can happen in five days, he had said.
     She closed her eyes as the words continued to echo in her mind.  Five days
she had asked for, and one was all but gone now.  Four days left, four days for
her to.... do what?  Get to know him?  See if she can be his friend?  Would it
matter to him if they did become friends?  She knew he abided by his own code
of honor that she was starting to understand, but would even friendship hold
him back from killing her?  Certainly not if he was willing to die in the name
of his personal crusade....
     She sighed quietly as she opened her eyes and looked back up at him.  He
had finished eating awhile ago and was simply sitting there, the brim of his
hat masking his face from her gaze.  Not from the fire, however, as that was
what he appeared to be staring at.
     What sort of fire burns in your heart, hunter? she silently asked, part of
her wanting to ask aloud but not having the courage to do so.  What is it that
has driven you for so long, for all the hundreds of years that you have roamed
the world?  You have to be at least two thousand years old, if not three.  And
yet through it all you have remained focused on one goal, one single task that
should have seemed to be all but impossible at first, but now....
     "D," she said very quietly, not entirely sure if he would be able to hear
her over the quiet crackling of the fire.  She saw the edge of his hat tip up
just slightly, an indication perhaps that his gaze had shifted towards her.
     She drew in a deep breath and suddenly decided to press on, figuring that
the subtle sign would be all the acknowledgement that she would receive.  "What
happened to you back then?" she asked.  "What went on during the Blood Wars
that made you hate your own blood like this?  What could you have done to make
you hate yourself so?"
     He remained silent for so long that she feared he wouldn't answer.  The
passage of time was only measured by the soft pops of the branches that fueled
the campfire before he finally spoke, the softness of his voice almost lost
among the background ambient noise that one could find in any wooded area.
     "I saw what we were like," he said.  "I saw what we were capable of, and
how little we regarded all that wasn't like us."
     He didn't react when she silently rose to her feet, moving around the fire
to sit a few feet away from him.  His gaze remained focused on the flickering
heart of the small blaze, his eyes seeing the dancing yellows and oranges of
the flames but his mind seeing something else entirely.
     "When they attacked the palace, they also attacked the local villages as
well," he said in a hollow whisper.  "Human villages, innocents who had nothing
to do with the insurrection.  They torched everything and everyone, viciously,
mercilessly slaughtering all who managed to escape the fires.  I could hear the
screams from my bedroom, smell the scent of burning flesh and spilled blood,
watch helplessly as women were raped, children beheaded, innocent people caught
in the middle of a war and left to die.
     "I had thought that was only because of their greed, their evil.  When my
father planned to strike back, my mother pleaded with him to spare those who
were not involved in things, to leave the innocents alone.  He apparently did
as she asked at first, but she suddenly disappeared two days after the first
wave of counter-strikes.
     "She was found on the steps of the palace three days later, broken almost
beyond recognition, her body violated, drained dry of blood and life.  I can
still remember the screams of my father at the discovery, screams that I will
never be able to forget.
     "Without her influence, without her love to guide him, my father flew into
an unholy rage at all who had risen against him.  He demanded that her killer
be brought forth or that all who opposed him would suffer.  When none stepped
forward, he went on the offensive and brought the war to their domains, laying
waste to their lands, bringing death and destruction and ruin to the innocent
humans whose sole crime was happening to live in their domains.  I asked why he
was doing this and he said it was the only way they would understand.  Strike
and be struck, harm and be harmed.... that is what your father said, about what
my father became in the end."
     He fell silent as he felt her touch on his arm, very gently squeezing his
wrist before slipping her fingers among his to hold his hand.  The warmth of
her skin was almost on par with the heat of the fire, bathing him with a level
of intensity that threatened to burn him if he spent too much time near it or
got too close to it.
     "Eventually they came for me," D continued after awhile, not knowing how
much time had passed since he last spoke.  "They sought to strike at me to hurt
my father, much as they had done with my mother.  Three of their number were
able to breach the defenses, finding me in the hallway.  I grabbed the nearest
weapon I could by instinct, nearly burning myself with the searing light of the
ancient sun-sword that was part of the collection on the wall.  I knew how to
use a sword by then, but I had never used that one.
     "The light alone was bad enough, but its touch proved to be devastating.
I killed the first two within moments, the white light melting through their
swords as if they had been cast from wax.  I went to confront the third one
when he used his powers, first disabling the power source of the sun-sword,
then causing it to destruct in my hand.
     "I don't know how I survived either the explosion or the assault that
followed.  All I remember was blindly grabbing for a weapon from the collection
on the wall, then hearing the sounds of many voices screaming in unison.  I
later awoke in my bed, one of my father's retainers telling me that I had been
found near death and had spent four days in a slumber.  The hole that had been
torn in my hand had been healed, but not by my regeneration."
     D sighed very quietly as he looked down at his left hand, seeing the quiet
wrinkled face of the symbiot staring back up at him.  "It has been with me ever
since, becoming a part of me in many ways."
     The gentle grip on his right hand tightened as D closed his eyes, not able
to look at her or it or anything else anymore.  "Nobody seemed to care that
innocent people were being slaughtered by the thousands," he whispered.  "Not
my father, not the other nobles, not the insurgent vampires.  I left the castle
on my own a few days later, intent on finding my mother's killer without having
to resort to wholesale slaughter.  I began to pursue those who I knew had taken
part in the assaults on the palace.
     "I confronted and slew three before they realized what was going on, what
I was doing among their ranks.  Those who weren't preoccupied with the attack
quickly left, returning to their lairs and castles and domains.  I began to
follow them, hunting them one by one, tracking them down wherever I found them,
whenever they slept with the sun.
     "As I traveled, I realized just how they treated their own people, their
own citizens of their domains.  Most viewed them as simply cattle, existing
solely for the nobles to feed from when they desired.  The rest viewed them as
tools, resources, something to be exploited, manipulated, used.  Not a single
one seemed to care, not even the other dunpeals I encountered.  Nobody.
     "As I chased a vampire past a small village on the far eastern continent,
I suddenly found myself having to make a choice.  I could either continue to
pursue him, one whom I knew had taken part in the attacks, or I could let him
escape and instead help the villagers rescue a young woman who had been taken
captive by a local vampire.  In the end, I realized that it really wasn't a
choice after all."
     "And so you put vengeance aside to help them," she said very softly.
     "It hurt to let him go," D replied, his voice barely more than a whisper.
"But I suddenly realized that only I had the power to rescue the girl, a young
innocent barely old enough to be a woman.  I realized that if I didn't do it,
if I didn't step in to defend the weak from the strong, nobody else would.  Who
else could go up against a vampire and live?  My conscience.... the teachings,
the words, the love, the soul of my mother wouldn't allow it.  I had to stop
and help them.
     "I don't know how long it took before I was able to start searching for
that vampire again.  It seemed that as soon as one wrong was righted, as soon
as one innocent was freed, was spared death or worse, another would be taken
captive, and another, and another.  Always by the hands of vampires, always by
those who cared nothing for justice, for innocence, or for humanity.  I finally
realized that I had to try to put an end to things, to put a stop to the dark
pall that vampire-kind was casting over the world."
     He felt her touch on his chin, tilting his head up to force him to look
into her liquid eyes.  "I understand, D," she whispered.  "Knowing what I know,
seeing what I've seen.... I don't think I can truly blame you.  Our kind has
brought great pain to others, and there is nothing I can say or do that would
ever undo what was done, to restore what was taken.
     "But it is over now, D," she said as she leaned forward slightly, holding
his hand a little tighter.  "You've done what you've set out to do.  They're
all dead, D, every single last vampire.  Your mother's killer has been found as
well.  I still find it.... difficult to believe that my father could have been
capable of such a thing, but.... she has been avenged.  Her soul can rest now
in peace knowing that you have...."
     She fell silent as he abruptly pulled away from her, his gaze returning to
the flickering core of the campfire.  "That I have annihilated an entire race?"
he said softly, almost bitterly.  "That I destroyed an entire civilization in
my quest for vengeance?  I don't believe she would have wanted that."
     "Then why did you do it, D?" she asked softly.
     D closed his eyes and rested his forehead on his arms, wishing the voices
would go away, the calls and cries of his past rushing up from his memories to
torture him once again.  "I had no choice," he said simply.  "I killed the ones
like your father for vengeance, and that doesn't bother me.  But the others....
I had to kill them because they were evil, they brought only death and misery
to those who were innocent.  Had any of them been able or willing to change
their ways, I would have gladly left them alone.  Do you know what it is like,
to look at them, to feel sickened by what they do, and then turn around to look
at your own reflection in a mirror, knowing that their blood and all its evils
flows just as strongly in your own veins?
     "I know the hunger, Galen," he whispered harshly, seeming to be on the
verge of a breakdown.  "I feel it every day, every night, every time I see a
drop of blood, smell it in the air.  I've seen what that hunger can lead to,
how easily it can tempt and corrupt.  How many times did it take every ounce of
my strength and willpower to turn away from a pretty girl's throat, knowing she
was offering herself of her own free will but knowing what it could lead to,
how easily it could turn me into that which I had spent my entire adult life
trying to fight, to suppress, to defeat?"
     His eyes snapped open as she suddenly moved, her hand glancing off of his
cheek a moment later.  The slap hadn't been a powerful one, intended to shock
more than hurt.  Surprised and stunned, he looked up at her to find a faint
scowl marring her exotic beauty.
     "Arrogant bastard," she said very quietly.
     It took D a fairly long time to get his brain back in working order, his
eyes finally blinking into full focus.  "Galen...." he started to say.
     "You think you're the only one who suffers like that?" she said as she
leaned closer to him, the edges of her lips edging back to expose the points of
her fangs.  "I'm a dunpeal as well, D.  Maybe having Barbaroi blood makes it a
little different from my perspective, I'll grant you that much, but we're both
half-vampire and I'll bet we both have the same needs, the same hungers, the
same cravings for blood."
     She sat back and regarded him carefully, slowly shaking her head.  "You
know what your real problem is, D?  You're not alone simply because you're a
dunpeal, you're alone because you *want* to be alone.  I understand your pain,
believe me I do.  But you don't see me crawling into a little shell to try to
hide my pain from others.  No, I reach out to them, to try to draw as much
strength from them as I can.  I'm not above asking for help when I think I need
it.  There's no dishonor in relying on others, D."
     He said nothing as he turned his attention back to the fire, not sure what
else to say anymore.  He closed his eyes at her touch again, her fingertips
lightly brushing over his cheek where she had struck him.  "D?" she said very
softly, her breath tickling his ear as she spoke.  "We all hurt inside for one
reason or another.  I can try to help you with your pain, but only if you're
willing to open up to me.  It's just.... something to think about."
     "Thank you," he said quietly, not knowing what else to say.
     She squeezed his shoulder before moving to stand up, pausing for a moment
and leaning back down.  "I'll be on that large tree at the edge of the circle.
It would be.... appreciated if you could wake me up in the morning as gently as
you did earlier.  Sleep well, D," she whispered softly before standing up.
     He remained where he was, head bowed and eyes closed as he listened to the
soft sounds of the night around him.  He could make out the faintest of clawing
sounds as Galen started to climb the tree-trunk, the louder snaps and cracks of
her cape assuming a bark-like form echoing a few seconds later.
     The quiet sounds of the forest and the soft crackles of the fire were the
only things he heard for the longest time afterwards, the voices of the past
remaining surprisingly silent for once in a very long time.  Perhaps they would
even let him sleep in peace, something that hadn't happened since....
     Two faces suddenly looked back at him from the depths of his memory.  Both
blue-eyed blondes, born centuries apart, never knowing one another, but still
able to reach across time and space to touch his heart and soul.  In was only
in their arms on two quiet nights that he had found true peace, true silence,
and part of him wondered if he would ever be able to find such a thing again.
     <D?> it spoke up in a very soft tone, only the psionic half of its voice
registering on his senses.  <Listen, I just.... wanted to say thank you.>
     That caused him to lift his head up, just enough to part his eyelids and
glance down at the hand resting on his elbow.  "For what?" he asked.
     <I know I've been with you since.... well, pretty much since the beginning
of this whole crusade,> it replied quietly.  <But I never really remembered how
it all began.  Childhood memories don't last too long, especially when they're
buried by all the years that follow.  Thank you for opening up and telling me
how it started.  I'm sure Galen appreciates it, too.>
     "Galen...." he muttered, a whisper so soft that he almost didn't hear it
himself.  He closed his eyes a moment later, wondering why he had spoken her
name like that.
     <Look, I can feel the exhaustion from here,> it spoke up.  <Just grab the
blanket and call it a night, okay?  You can think about things in the morning
if you still need to.>
     D sighed and laid down, making sure he was close enough to the fire to
still feel its warmth but not so close that he would run the risk of singed by
burning embers.  Sleep claimed him faster than either of them anticipated, a
thick curtain of darkness seeping over him to draw his tortured soul into the
realm of haunted dreams once again.

                *               *               *               *

     He awoke with the sun, his eyes parting just as the leading edge of the
dawning sphere crept over the horizon.  The campfire had burnt itself out long
ago, only a single and nearly invisible wisp of smoke remaining as it wafted up
from the last few embers.  A faint hint of a chill hung in the air, serving as
a gentle reminder that the turning of the seasons was slowly approaching.
     He remained motionless for a number of moments, gazing at the horizon as
it slowly brightened.  A bulge hanging from on one of the trees cast an odd
shadow on the ground, the large tuft of blue-green at the top being the only
indication that it wasn't the seasonal home of a very large caterpillar.
     He closed his eyes briefly as he heard a loud yawn, doing his best not to
follow suit.  He finally gave in after a few seconds of resistance, trying not
to wonder what was so contagious about it.
     <I was wondering when you'd wake up,> it greeted him with a quiet chuckle.
<Not to be a louse, D, but has anyone ever told you that it's obvious to tell
when you're sleeping well and when you're not?>
     D took his time in sitting up, trying to work out the stiffness in his
joints that came from sleeping on uncushioned terrain.  "What do you mean?" he
finally asked, allowing his curiosity to get the better of him despite the fact
that he could clearly see he was just being baited for entertainment.
     <You only snore when you're sleeping comfortably and you're not too busy
thinking about something,> it replied.  <Therefore, when you're quieter than a
dead mouse when you sleep, it means something is weighing heavily on you.  I
don't suppose you want to mention what it might be?  Or do I have to play the
infamous dunpeal guessing-game again?> it added when D remained silent.
     He ignored it as he looked around the terrain, trying to see if he could
locate a suitable bush.  Had he been traveling alone he would have pissed on
the ashes of the fire without a second thought, just to make absolutely sure
that it was completely out.  But since he was not alone and in the presence of
a woman to boot....
     <Hey, where we going?> it spoke up as he headed off.  <Galen's cocoon is
over that way.  You know, so you can wake her up like you did yesterday?  I'll
bet that's going to be a real hard task for you.... hey, hey, HEY!  Watch the
branches!  Ow!>
     "It would be best if you were to stay out of this," D said calmly as he
proceeded to take care of his personal business.
     <Oh, here we go again,> it replied with a groan that was only half-faked.
<Not another 'you shut up while I go screw up another shot at a relationship
with a very beautiful woman' scenario.  D, when are you going to listen to me?
C'mon, after what she said last night about wanting you to open up to her?  I'm
pretty sure it means she....>
     "I said stay out of this," D interrupted in a flat tone as he sealed his
trousers with a sharp tug.
     <D....> it sighed, its voice taking on a tone of resignation that usually
came with the impulse to bang one's head against a solid object.  <What in the
name of all that is holy are we going to do with you?  Look, just trust me for
once on this, will ya?  I can have the two of you.... *!!!*>
     The entire tree rocked with the blow as D slammed his left palm against
the trunk as hard as he could.  He remained perfectly motionless until the tree
quit swaying, watching impassively as a thin trickle of his own blood began to
ooze down the bark.
     <....Ow....> a quiet voice moaned inside his mind.
     "Stay out," D said simply, knowing he didn't need to say anything else.
     <Eeesh,> it grunted as D removed his hand from the tree.  <Well, I'll be
damned, that actually cleared out my sinuses pretty good.  Alright, D, I get
the hint.  I'll keep my mouth shut about it.  Umm.... crap, hold still....>
     He said nothing as the thing slowly drew in a deep breath, creating a
powerful vacuum-like effect that caused several of the tree's lower branches to
start swaying back and forth.  It paused after a few moments, trying to hold
the mass of air in before it began to twitch hard.
     D almost wound up flat on his backside as it suddenly sneezed, the stored
air rushing back out with the force of a major hurricane.  The outrush of air
was so powerful that it created a dent in the tree-trunk, blowing the layer of
bark apart and cratering the wood beneath it.  A small deluge of leaves began
to rain down a moment later, ripped free from the branches by the sneeze.
     "Gezundheit," D said calmly once he was sure his balance was stable.
     <Sorry,> it apologized quietly.  <Told you it cleared my sinuses....>
     He said nothing as he returned to the circle of stones, not surprised to
see that neither the blood-tingle of the rising sun nor the momentary hurricane
had disturbed the cocoon-like object on the tree.  It had been positioned at an
angle on the tree, the trunk sheltering the majority of the cocoon's surface
from the morning rays of the sun.  A few stray orange-and-crimson beams managed
to strike her hair, however, blending in with the blue-green strands to create
a kaleidoscopic highlight that he had to admit was fascinating to study.
     A very faint buzzing noise started up as he began to run his fingertips
through the prismatic strands, very lightly stroking her hair.  He continued to
repeat the motion at a slow and fluid rate, the soft buzzing noise starting to
grow louder with every passing moment.  It seemed to him that the process took
a fairly long time before the cocoon-cape finally fell away from her, revealing
the way she was curled up with the insect-like claws on her hands and feet
securely attached to the tree.
     <You're the first person to ever wake me up like this,> she said softly,
her voice distorted into an almost metallic buzz.  She leaned her head back,
just enough to bring his fingertips in contact with her scalp.  A soft sigh
rose up from her chest as he promptly withdrew his hand, taking a step back to
give her enough space to climb down.
     She twisted around, her facial features slowly reverting to normal as she
looked at him.  "It is.... definitely a pleasant way to start the day," she
said quietly as she slowly stretched her joints.  "Good morning, D."
     "Morning," he replied quietly, absently studying the muscle structure of
her elbows and knees.  They appeared to be perfectly normal, but after seeing
how she had spent the night vertically hanging from the tree by her fingers and
toes, he knew that she had to have some incredibly powerful muscles to be able
to not only support her weight but to still be able to move after several hours
of remaining motionless as well.
     "But not a good one?" she inquired as she eased her way down.  She resumed
her normal form a few moments later, the twisted spurs and gnarls seeming to
melt away to restore her pale skin to utter flawlessness once again.  "Surely
you're not so pessimistic about life that you can't enjoy a morning every now
and then.  I think it looks fairly scenic from here," she added as she turned
to face the rising sun, narrowing her eyes slightly against the radiance.
     She sighed and closed her eyes as he moved past her without a word, her
hand reaching out to snag his arm at the last moment.  "D, I'm sorry if I upset
you last night," she said quietly, slowly opening her eyes to look up at him.
     "You didn't," he replied in a faintly reassuring tone.
     "So what's the problem?" she said, raising a delicate eyebrow.
     He looked at her for a moment before the corners of his mouth twitched up
a fraction of an inch in what might have been the beginnings of a smirk.  "I'm
not a morning person," he said evenly.  He paused and regarded her carefully as
she began to chuckle very softly to herself.
     "I suppose I walked into that one," she said dryly.  "Now imagine that, a
dunpeal who isn't a morning person.  What ever is this world coming to?"  She
just shook her head to herself as he moved past her in silence, heading over
to the circle of ashes to make sure all the embers were extinguished.
     He busied himself with the task of cleaning up any traces of the camp,
packing everything away in the saddle-bags while she slipped away to tend to
her own morning call of nature.  He looked up when she returned, a faint look
of confusion marring her exotic beauty.
     "D?" she called out when she drew close.  "Did something happen back there
last night while I was asleep?"
     He lifted his head to follow her gesture, grunting softly to himself when
he realized she was pointing at the sneeze-damaged tree.  "The air needed to
be cleared," he replied calmly.  "Nothing more."
     She gave him a truly odd look for a moment before shaking her head, not
entirely sure if she wanted to inquire further.  "Okay," she said in a leery
tone.  "So did you want to grab breakfast now or a little bit down the road?"
     "Later," he replied as he made sure the saddle-bags were properly secured,
casting a momentary glance at the rising sun.  The burning sphere had already
cleared the horizon and continued to inch higher in the sky, only partially
masked by the treeline.  He knew that the forest canopy was pretty thin at the
moment and wanted to reach a measurable amount of shade as soon as possible.
     She shrugged in dismissal, taking a step back to give him space to hoist
himself into the saddle.  "That's fine with me, I'm not in much of a rush for
another helping of those trail rations.  Heh," she chuckled, giving him a coy
look as he held his hand out to her.  "If I had to eat those things all the
time, I'd probably be as dour as you are as well," she teased him gently.
     He shot her an unamused look as he braced, half-helping her up into the
saddle.  He got another amused look and a quiet giggle for his efforts, her
hands reaching down to pick up the reins once again.  "D, please tell me you
have a sense of humor," she said as she gently nudged the mount forward.
     <He has one,> D's symbiot suddenly spoke up, immediately drawing a truly
dark look from D.  <Quit looking at me like that, D, we both know you have a
sense of humor.  The only problem is you keep forgetting where you put it....>
     He just sighed as Galen giggled quietly to herself, ignoring the playful
pat on his leg.  The sun was already creeping above the treeline, bathing them
with its golden brilliance.  He sighed again as he began to feel its effects,
wondering which was going to end up posing the greater risk to his health....
the flesh-burning light and heat of the sun or his uncertainty about what he
would ultimately end up doing with Galen.

                *               *               *               *

     They rode for another two hours before stopping to rest, letting the horse
graze on some of the still-abundant meadow grass while they idly nibbled on a
portion of the trail rations.  The trees were still fairly thin, far too thin
for D's comfort as the sun continued to beat down on them.
     "Ooooh," Galen cooed quietly as she caught motion among the willowy grass.
She narrowed her eyes as she followed the progression of moving stalks and very
faint rustles, wondering what sort of woodland creature was causing it.  "Oh,
yeah," she purred as a pair of ears were glimpsed as they darted across an open
patch of terrain.  She unconsciously licked her lips, watching as the rabbit
poked its nose up above the grassline.
     "What's your favorite kind of game, D?" she asked quietly.  "Mine happens
to be rabbits," she added without waiting for a response that she knew wasn't
very likely to come.  "Yeah, they're a little small and reeeeeeeally hard to
catch, but mmmmmm, do they taste good.  Maybe if we're lucky we'll be able to
snare a couple for some stew.  Their blood is pretty good too, if you don't
mind a bit of an aftertaste, but I've found that you can cover that pretty well
if you add a little cider mulling spice."
     She continued to watch the rabbit move around before it seemed to suddenly
disappear, no doubt going back to its underground burrow.  "Oh, well," she said
with a longing sigh.  "Relax, little one, you won't be on my dinner plate any
time soon.  Now should I meet a few of your cousins near my own burrow...."
     She paused and glanced behind her as she felt D shift his weight in the
saddle slightly, narrowing her eyes slightly at the look on his face.  "D, is
something wrong?" she asked carefully.
     He lifted his head up to glance at her for a moment before slowly shaking
his head.  "No," he said simply as he returned his focus to the surrounding
landscape.
     She narrowed her eyes even further as her woman's intuition tried to tell
her that something was indeed wrong.  "You sure about that?" she inquired in a
cautious tone.  She just sighed as she received a faintly reproving glare in
response.  "I was just checking, D, relax.  One might think I was asking you to
do a cartwheel on the grass from the look on your face."
     <You must've missed the moves he made last night during the ambush,> it
spoke up in a faintly amused tone.  A very soft grunt could be heard a moment
later as D balled his hand into a fist, effectively keeping it quiet.
     "I noticed," Galen replied quietly as she went back to scanning the grass
for more rabbits.  "Very agile.  I'm not sure I would have charged someone with
a crossbow like that, but I guess one develops different combat styles when you
use an edged sword instead of a pointed rapier.  I still can't believe how you
managed to break mine like that," she added as she picked up the reins and gave
them a gentle flick.
     "Speaking of broken weapons," she said conversationally as she guided the
mount into a casual trot, "What exactly happened to your sword back there?  You
know, the one you used to kill my father."  She paused for a moment before she
glanced over her shoulder, suddenly aware of an almost palpable shift in his
mood.  "D, you sure you're alright?"
     "It was destroyed," D said quietly, almost sullenly.  He glanced up at her
with a veiled look of pain in his eyes before looking away.
     "Do I want to ask how?" she inquired, alternating her attentions between
him and the trail ahead of them.
     "He had gathered together an incredible amount of spiritual energy," he
replied quietly.  "When he died, that energy was released in a blast of raw
power.  I didn't have enough time to both grab my sword and get clear of the
explosion."
     "Wait, what?" she said as she jerked the mount to a halt.  She twisted
around in the saddle to look at him, her brow furrowed in confusion.  "You mean
he used *himself* as an energy trap?"
     "The old ones like him were very powerful entities," D explained quietly.
"Their deaths always resulted in a massive outpouring of all the life-energy
they had absorbed and retained throughout their existences.  That burst of raw
energy is what causes their castles to crumble, often held together through the
ages not by mere mortar but by sheer force of will.  In your father's case, he
merely channeled all that energy into a single point so that it would violently
erupt when my sword pierced it."
     "I.... see," Galen said softly, a somewhat disturbed expression crossing
her face.  "I take it that sword of yours was a family heirloom or something?"
She blinked in surprise as D seemed to wilt and withdraw inward, the shell of
isolation almost taking a physical form.  "D, please.... tell me," she asked in
a soft tone as she reached out, gently laying her hand on top of his.
     She was surprised when he didn't flinch from the contact or pull away,
giving her a glimmer of hope that she was somehow reaching him through the veil
of his guarded emotions.  "It was a gift from.... an old friend," he finally
replied after almost a full minute of silence, his eyes still downcast.
     "Human or vampire?" she asked softly, hoping that she wasn't pushing too
hard by asking.
     His eyes rose up to meet hers for a moment before he looked away again.
"Human," he whispered.
     She squeezed his hand gently before turning back around, setting the mount
into motion with a gentle flick of the reins.  "I know what it's like," she
said after a few moments of careful thought.  "You're out riding around, just
minding your own business, and all of a sudden a human winds up in your life.
I don't know what it is that makes them so fascinating, and I don't think any
of our kind really knew either.  They're so chaotic and unpredictable, and yet
that seems to be both a weakness and a strength.  And just when you start to
get used to one, get to know and understand how he or she thinks, they get old
on you.  And before you know it, they're gone, just like that.  It's.... I'm
not sure I understand it even after all this time."
     She risked a glance over her shoulder, blinking at the openly haunted look
of pain and suffering on his face.  It wasn't anything like physical pain or
discomfort, but rather the silent agony of loss and sorrow.  His expression
changed a moment later as he glanced up, realizing that she was looking at him.
     "A woman, then?" she asked quietly, receiving nothing but silence and an
emotionless stare for several moments.  He finally nodded slightly, the edge of
his hat barely wobbling up and down in acknowledgement of her insight.
     "I had a.... consort like that once," she said as she looked back at the
trail, sighing quietly as her own memories returned.  "So young and full of the
warmth of life.  He made me smile a lot, though not always from his sense of
humor.  I guess he just knew how to share his love of life with me, to make me
appreciate things as he did.  He was an affectionate little beast, too," she
added with a soft chuckle.  "Always a little hug here, or a gentle touch there,
or a soft kiss when I didn't expect it.  I pitied his human stamina, but he did
his best to please me whenever I let him coax me into something a little more
involved than casual snuggling under a tree."
     She sighed again and looked up at the sky, trying to estimate the time of
day by the position of the sun.  "That went on for a good twelve years or so,
then he apparently lost a fight with some hairy thing in the forest.  I don't
think anyone ever managed to find out what killed him, but I was.... not nearly
as prepared for his loss as I thought I would be.  I mean, of course I knew I
would outlive him, but.... time has a way of weighing on you when you're not
watching it."
     "Did you love him?" D asked very quietly.
     Galen paused for a moment, caught off-guard by the question.  "Love him?
Not really.  Don't get me wrong, he was a lot of fun to be with and all, but I
certainly didn't see us as a couple or anything.  He was.... well, like I said,
more a casual consort than anything.  Someone to spend some time with, relax
around, have a little fun.... okay, a lot of fun," she amended with a fairly
moderate blush on her cheeks.  "I still miss him sometimes, but I'm not about
to go drown myself in a mug of ale over the memories.  Perhaps that's a little
cold of me to say so, but this was quite awhile ago.  Time tends to dull a fair
amount of pain as it slips past you.  D.... why did you ask me that?"
     She was answered with a long stretch of silence before her sensitive ears
finally heard him draw a breath.  "I.... wasn't sure if we knew how to love,"
he said very softly.  "I knew there was a bond between my mother and my father,
and I knew she loved him, but I was never able to determine if he loved her in
the same way she did him.  I never knew what it felt like until I met.... her.
And I didn't realize what it was, what I had until she was gone."
     He looked up as she leaned back slightly, taking hold of his hand to slip
her fingers among his in a gentle grip.  "I don't think I can answer that one
for you," she whispered, looking down at the road as she loosely held the reins
in her free hand.  "But perhaps you can answer it for me.  Tell me about her,
D, about this human woman who touched your heart and gave you that sword."
     He sighed quietly, almost painfully as he began to tell her about all that
had happened back then, how he had met Doris and helped her win her personal
struggle against Count Magnus Lee.  He then went on to tell her how Doris had
been his first in so many ways, his first lover, the first sips of willingly
offered blood he had taken, the first time he slept in someone's arms since his
mother's death.... and the first voice to haunt him after he came to believe he
had hurt her.
     "It took me a very long time to forgive myself for that," he whispered.
"I.... I would still be in pain today if.... if it wasn't for another young
human woman.  She touched my soul as Doris had touched the human part of me,
making me realize that I was capable of love and that I had loved Doris.  It
took me a long time to realize that I loved her as well, but.... by that time
it was already too late.  Again."
     Galen remained quiet as she listened to him, still holding his hand in a
gentle grip.  She could almost physically feel the pain in his voice, almost
taste the sorrow on her tongue as it threatened to drown him once again.  Even
with as strong a grasp as she had on the common language they shared, she knew
that there wouldn't be any, couldn't be any words that could possibly help ease
his pain.  Time itself couldn't mend that sort of wound, the kind that could
only be healed by the gentle touch of a kindred spirit and an open soul.
     She lifted her head slightly as he realized that he had fallen silent, the
shroud of his isolation starting to surround him once again.  She dared not try
to prod him further at this point, to dig deeper into the wound to ask who the
second woman had been.  She would try to gently ask later, as the passage of
time could dull that particular kind of pain, the kind caused by the baring of
one's heart and soul.
     She sighed quietly as he tugged his hand free from hers, finding herself
wishing that he would trust her.  The realization that she was starting to have
feelings for him caught her by surprise, making her suddenly question her state
of mind.  He had killed her father, brought her entire species to extinction,
and at the end of their journey would pierce her heart with his blade as well.
So why was she trying to reach out to him like that?  Was she simply *that*
desperate for company?  Did she truly fear being alone that much, unique not in
just her heritage but as the lone survivor of the vampire's legacy as well?
     The sun continued to shine down on them with a fierce intensity as they
rode along in silence, both lost in dark thoughts that burdened their souls so
heavily that neither would have ever wished the weight on their worst enemies.

                *               *               *               *

     It was late afternoon when Galen finally realized that something was wrong
with D.  Not just the dark and silent brooding that she had come to accept as
part of who he was, but something more bothersome.  She had briefly rested the
mount on three occasions, once easing herself out of the saddle to make use of
a particularly dense bush.  He had hardly moved at all during the breaks, only
reaching out to offer her a steady hand as she mounted and dismounted.
     She cast a worried glance over her shoulder as she nudged the mount into
motion once again, trying to decide if she should risk confronting him.  The
back of her mind was clearly screaming a warning of some sort, but she didn't
know what exactly it was trying to warn her of.
     "D," she said quietly, studying his face intently.  The edge of his hat
lifted up slightly, a gesture she was starting to become familiar with.  "Are
you alright?"
     She received a gentle nod before he went back to thinking about whatever
it was he had been thinking about for the past few hours.  A sudden flash of
her women's intuition told her that he was lying, that he *wasn't* alright and
that he was trying to mask it for some reason.
     Think, she told herself.  You know how men work.... well, somewhat.  What
would cause a man to try to conceal pain?  Pride, certainly, but that he would
try to quietly take care of on his own.  Is it even pain? she suddenly asked
herself.  Or is it something else?
     She allowed the reins to go slack for a moment, letting the mount settle
into his own pace with only the slightest of nudges of her boots on his flanks
needed to keep him moving forward.  She tried to study his face even closer, a
slight frown crossing hers as he looked up at her with a level gaze that was
completely unreadable.
     "D," she found herself saying in a slightly flat tone.  "What's wrong?"
He remained silent as he gazed back at her, prompting a very soft growl of
frustration from her.  Just talk to me, you fool, she wanted to yell at him.
She knew that it would only make matters worse if she did so, however, which
was the only reason she held her tongue.
     "Men," she allowed herself to mutter as she turned around and flicked the
reins, perhaps just a little harder than she had intended.  The mount promptly
picked up the pace, the change in inertia slightly rocking them both in the
saddle as the horse moved forward at a canter.
     She paused as she felt him adjust his weight, almost as if he hadn't been
prepared for it.  That struck her as slightly odd, as he had always seemed to
be able to compensate for a change of inertia even when he was clearly wasn't
paying attention to anything other than his own private thoughts.
     Could he be getting sick? she wondered.  She knew that he was probably
just as resistant to things like viruses and bacterial infections as she was,
given their robust immune systems and capacity for physical regeneration.  It
was possible for dunpeals to get the equivalent of a sniffle or a headcold, and
both vampires and dunpeals tended to be just slightly more susceptible to that
which affects the blood or the heart, but such things were still rather rare.
     She carefully listened to his breathing, not an easy task given all the
immediate background noise.  The steady clop-clop rhythm of the horse's hooves,
the subtle creaking of the leather saddle as it moved back and forth, the soft
rustle of their clothes as they moved with the saddle, the whisperings of the
light breeze as it blew past, the calls of the daytime woodland animals....
     There, she thought as she closed her eyes.  Her features started to take
on an insectoid appearance as she concentrated, an unconscious side-effect of
her focus.  It took a moment to determine the rhythm of that super-quiet sound,
a gentle passing of air that seemed.... shallow.  Frequent.  Not labored, but
not relaxed either.
     So something *is* bothering him, she thought as she returned her focus to
the road, her exotic beauty smoothing out to normal of its own accord.  She
began to shift her sensory focus again, trying to see if she could smell the
scent of his blood.  She gave up after a few moments as she realized that the
breeze drifting past them put her upwind of him.
     Something's wrong, she thought, rewinding her thoughts to start over at
the beginning.  He seems.... lethargic?  Not breathing deeply, faster than it
should be, but still quiet so it's not a respiratory irritation or blockage.
He's not tense or irritable, so it's not the blood-hunger.  I really hope he's
not coming down with something, although I don't see what it could possibly be
in terms of a virus.  His hand felt a little warm, but that's just....
     She jerked hard on the reins as something clicked in her mind.  She waited
until the mount had stopped before turning around, reaching out to grab his
hand and ignoring the startled look on his face.  His skin *was* warm, just a
little warmer than it should have been.  It wasn't the feverish warmth of an
infection or sickness, but rather the warmth of pale skin that had been exposed
to the cloudless sky for two full days of late-summer sunshine.
     A simple glance at the look on his face drove the realization home, able
to piece together everything.  Breathing shallow to avoid rasping as his throat
started to constrict, hardly moving at all to avoid exerting what little energy
he had left, keeping his head down so she wouldn't see the unusual contractions
of his pupils whenever she glanced back at him.
     "D, it's heat exposure, isn't it?" she said quickly, letting go of his
hand to tilt his head up slightly.  He jerked away from her touch, but not
before she could see the faintest traces of luminescence in his eyes and the
very tips of his vampiric fangs lurking beneath his slightly-parted lips.
     "You fool, you could have said something earlier," she muttered as she
turned back around and quickly looked at the landscape, trying to determine
where exactly she was.  "Okay, we're close, but just how close?  Let's try it
like this," she whispered to herself as she held up a hand.
     Her eyes began to take on a multi-faceted composition as she lifted her
head up, making a rather loud and protracted buzzing-hum.  A pair of ridges
formed on her forehead as she concentrated, her features continuing to slowly
assume a distinctly insectoid shape as she called out in a language that was
anything but a language.
     A very faint buzzing sound registered on her senses as a common bee flew
over to her, circling her hand for a moment before landing on an outstretched
fingertip.  She very carefully brought her hand up to her face, studying the
insect intently as she made a series of very soft buzzing noises.  The yellow
bee reacted a few seconds later, wiggling its abdomen in an odd pattern as it
fluttered its wings in pulses.
     She nodded in understanding as she very gently blew a puff of air at the
bee, dislodging it from her hand and causing it to fly off.  <We're a little
farther from my burrow than I thought,> she said as she glanced over at D, her
voice distorted by her insectoid form.  <You can rest in safety there, but we
still have a lot of ground to cover first.  I can bury you here if you don't
think you can hold out that long.>
     He looked at her for a moment before nodding in understanding.  He leaned
forward, sliding both arms around her waist to grab the saddlehorn with both
hands.  "Ride," he said softly.
     <D?> the voice drifted up from his left hand.  <I don't think you should
try to push it.  Now might be a good time to *WHHGURK*> it gasped as D jammed
his hand down, shoving the horn into its open mouth.  <D, when was the last
time you washed this thing?> it asked psionically in a rather calm tone that
only D could hear.
     "Hold on," Galen whispered as she made sure she was braced properly.  She
cast a final glance over her shoulder, her blue-green eyes seeming to be filled
with liquid concern as she flicked the reins hard.
     Most of D's senses promptly blurred into uselessness, the thunderous sound
of galloping hooves blotting out anything else that he might have heard.  The
rough motion of the saddle quickly played havoc with both his vision and his
sense of balance, causing him to close his eyes and grip the saddlehorn with
what little strength he had left.
     Two senses he did manage to retain were his senses of smell and touch.  An
unusually soft and airy scent was tickling his nose for some reason, making it
even harder to think straight.  His face felt like it was being bathed by a
thousand feathers, a sensation that was somewhere between a tickle and a very
soft caress.  It took him a moment to realize that both were being caused by
Galen's hair as it fluttered past him, brushing across his face as she drove
the mount forward at a hard pace.
     D wondered if that is what it had felt like to her when he had touched her
hair earlier, waking her up from her slumber as she had asked him to do.  The
faintest suggestion of a smile crossed his face as he decided he liked it, the
last thought to register on his conscious mind at his body began to shut down
from too much exposure to the searing light of the sun.

                *               *               *               *

     Earth was the host for the circle of life, the great wheel of events in
which all living things were born, lived, and died.  Everything grew from the
land in one form or another, either by living in it directly as plants do or by
sustaining themselves on the food-chains that were rooted in the ground.  Life
sprang from the earth, took nutrients from it to continue, and later returned
those nutrients when that spark of life died and decomposed.
     It was this sort of fundamental life-energy that vampires and their kind
instinctively sought out when wounded or weakened beyond their capacity for
self-healing.  Just as they needed to draw blood from the living, the liquid
essence of life needed to sustain themselves, so too did they occasionally need
to draw upon the most fundamental force of the land that fueled and hosted life
as an entity.
     When D regained consciousness, he was immediately aware of two things.  He
knew that the sun had just set, as it was the gentle tug on his spirit that had
finally drawn him back from the inner darkness.  But even before he could open
his eyes or make sense of the sensory input his body was giving him, he knew
that he was buried fairly deep in the ground.
     It seemed to take forever for his eyelids to finally part, letting him
assess his surroundings.  He immediately noticed that he was in a pit of some
sort, buried up to his armpits in soft soil.  A small barrel and a shovel were
nearby, both covered with the same kind of dirt he was resting in.  His arms
had been left free, allowing him the freedom to dig himself out or pile more
soil around him if he so wished.
     The nature of the room he was in took a few seconds to figure out, finally
realizing that he was in a large hollow dug under the roots of a fairly massive
tree.  The roots could be seen along the walls, indeed forming the structure of
the walls themselves.  A sort of ramp was off to one side, no doubt the only
way in or out from the underground chamber.
     The smell registered on his nose a moment later, an unusual blend of the
rich, earthy smells of the soil and tree mixing with the tantalizing scent of
meat being slow-roasted over hot coals.  It took him a moment to spot where the
pit was, a matted sheaf of leaves gathered together in a corner to surround a
tiny column of smoke and steam.
     He began to turn his head to look around, noticing that his sword had been
propped in the corner just inches beyond his reach.  Both his hat and his cape
were hanging from the hilt, neatly folded and tucked away so they wouldn't get
dirty.  He narrowed his eyes for a moment as he tried to decide if he would be
able to stretch enough to reach his sword without having to dig himself out.
     A light touch on his cheek startled him, twisting his neck around to find
Galen sitting against the root-wall with her shapely legs stretched out.  She
smiled softly at him as she continued to stroke his cheek, a look of relief
plainly evident in her liquid-like eyes.
     "So you're awake," she said softly.  "You had me worried for awhile, D."
     <That makes two of us,> a quiet voice spoke up a moment later, causing D
to clench his left hand by reflex.  He said nothing as he looked away, quietly
cursing himself for being such a fool for trying to press on after exerting
himself so much in the sun.  Bad enough that he had collapsed from exposure to
the sunlight, but now he was both vulnerable and essentially at her mercy.  And
in her debt....
     "Here, you need to drink this," she said as she hefted a simple copper
goblet, holding it out to him.  She sighed quietly at the look of suspicion in
his eyes and leaned over to set it down in front of him.  "What, do you think
I'd go to all the trouble of bringing you here and burying you, just to wait a
few hours for you to wake up so I could poison you?  Drink it."
     He glanced down at the offered goblet, blinking at the crimson contents.
The smell of fresh blood registered on his nose a moment later, followed by the
taint of something else mixed with it.  He carefully picked it up, sniffing at
it intently to see if he could identify what that other smell was.
     "D?" she said in a weary tone of resignation, causing him to look up at
her.  "It's just rabbit blood mixed with mulling spice.  Give it back if you
don't trust me or don't want it.  Junior there wasn't easy to catch, and I'd
rather not let his blood go to waste," she said, making a gesture to what was
in the covered roasting pit.
     He studied the look in her eyes before nodding in resigned acceptance.  He
took a cautious sip from the goblet, pausing as he realized that the contents
seemed to have been warmed.  The blood was hotter than it should have been,
even when drawn fresh from a living artery, and the distinct flavor of the
mulling spice made it a very unusual taste experience.
     His eyes closed of their own accord as he savored the blood as one would
a fine wine, able to feel the strength creeping back into his body with each
sip of the crimson nectar of life.  He could tell that it had been drawn from
a youthful source, overflowing with energy and vitality.  The young ones were
always the best, he had heard many a vampire comment during his travels, not
soured with the blood-fat that infants had or having had time to harden and age
like cheese as the blood of adults did....
     He almost reflexively spat out a mouthful of the spiced blood at the mere
thought of taking blood from an infant.  He swallowed and set the goblet down,
the faint shudder of revulsion effectively quashing any desire for more.  He
glanced down at it before picking the goblet back up again, swirling it around
gently before holding it up higher to Galen.
     She blinked in surprise at the gesture.  "D, you sure you don't want the
rest of it?" she inquired, eyeing how much was left inside the copper vessel.
     "It was enough," he replied quietly.  "Thank you."
     "If you insist," she said as she accepted the goblet from him.  She gently
swirled the contents around again before taking a deep sip, sighing softly in
relaxed contentment as she savored the taste.  "Mmmm, that's good.  He was so
small, I didn't want to waste any of his blood by sampling it first.  Hopefully
that means he'll taste just as good when he's finished roasting."
     "How did you catch him?" D inquired, the hunter in him slightly curious
about how one went about catching something that tended to be very small, was
easily spooked, was highly agile, and ran extremely fast.
     "Point-first," she replied with an amused twinkle in her eye.  She made a
gesture to the gleaming rapier that was leaning against the far wall next to
her boots.  "One of the advantages of using a piercing weapon like a rapier.
One simple thrust and you've got your prey.  Very little loss of blood, and if
they're light enough you can simply carry them back like a large skewer.  Oh,
you could probably take a swipe at a rabbit with a sword like yours and even
manage to tag it hard enough to count, but only if you don't mind having some
of the meat being shorn off and probably spilling most of the blood."
     D said nothing as he continued to look around the small underground room.
He realized that his instinctive feeling of depth had been caused by the fact
that they were below-ground to begin with, and that being buried in the pit
just made it seem like he was deeper than he should be.  "Where are we?" he
asked quietly, casting an appraising glance at the exposed roots of the tree
overhead.
     "My own little world," she replied coyly, her tone causing him to cast a
slightly uneasy glance in her direction.  "It used to be a large rabbit warren
when Mikhail and I first discovered it during one of our forest trips.  We had
it hollowed out into a sort of.... I wouldn't call it love-nest, but it was a
place where we could snuggle in privacy when we wanted to," she explained with
a faint blush.  "I used to come here whenever I wanted to get away from the
castle or just be alone.  You're the first person I've taken here since his
death," she added, her tone growing soft.  "And that was quite awhile ago."
     He gave her a simple nod of understanding as he continued to look around.
The ground had been hard-packed to the consistency of stone, making it unlikely
that anything would try to tunnel into the chamber from deeper underground.  A
small barrel was tucked away in a corner, almost completely hidden by the thick
wall of roots.  A slender pipe ran above it to disappear into the 'roof' of the
underground room, probably used to collect dew or rain-water.
     "That's technically my bed you're in, in case you were wondering," she
added casually.  A soft chuckle rose up from her chest at the look on his face,
her pale blue lips unable to suppress a gentle smile at his discomfort.  "It's
been awhile since I had to use it, however.  I learned that sleeping attached
to a living tree is just as refreshing for me as spending a few hours buried in
the soil.  A small but important bonus for having Barbaroi blood," she purred.
     "Useful," D commented quietly.
     Galen smiled at him as she drained the last drops of spiced blood from the
goblet, setting it aside on a small bench-like shelf of packet dirt that jutted
from the wall.  She looked like she was going to say something when there was
a gentle popping sound from the roasting pit, a large volume of steam wafting
up in a large cloud a moment later.
     "Mmm, that sounds like our little friend is ready to join us for dinner,"
she said, giving him a coy look before standing up to cross the room.  "I hope
you aren't allergic to rabbit-roast or anything," she said as she carefully dug
up the edges of the pit cover, leaning back as a veritable wall of steam rushed
out at her.
     He remained silent as she extracted two bundled packages from the glowing
coals and embers of the roasting pit, leaving the covering off to let the heat
warm the room for a few minutes.  The leaf-wrapped and obviously hot portions
were carefully untied and sorted out into their mess-kits, resulting in two
fairly large piles of steaming meat and a few assorted steamed vegetables.
     "Sorry about having to use your mess-kit like this," she apologized as she
leaned down to set the tin pan and stainless-steel utensils down in front of
him.  An accidental glance up at her provided D with a momentary view down her
blouse, clearly able to see the super-soft curves of her unrestrained feminine
anatomy.  He glanced away a moment later, trying hard not to blush by reflex to
indicate that he had seen anything and thus embarrass her.
     "I'd offer you the plates I keep here, but it seems that I forgot to put
them back in storage the right way the last time I was here," she continued,
apparently unaware of the accidental exposure.  "Lichen grows in the damnedest
places," she added with a faint blush of embarrassment.
     "Thank you," D said, not bothered in the least at having to use his mess-
kit to eat dinner.  It was slightly awkward to try to eat when the pan was only
a few inches lower than your mouth and you were buried up to your armpits in
dirt, but he did his best to enjoy the hot meal regardless.
     Galen sat down by the edge of the pit beside him, stretching her legs out
as she had when he first woke up.  Neither bothered to make any attempts at
conversation for awhile, both deciding it was best to simply enjoy a meal that
tasted a *lot* better than the dried trail rations they had relied on since
leaving the Cha'laka Hive.
     They were half-way through the meal when she got up and went back over to
the other side of the room.  D watched with idle curiosity as she retrieved a
heavy clay jug and a short stick from within the barrel of water.  The jug was
hung from a small hook on the end of the stick and carefully lowered into the
still-smoldering pit, creating a truly large hissing cloud of steam.  She then
quickly unhooked the stick and pulled the cover back over the pit, settling the
matted leaves into place.  A steady stream of super-hot water vapor promptly
started to rise up from the small hole in the center, making it seem like one
of the many vents he had seen while traveling through a volcanic region.
     "I like warm wine with dinner," she explained as she returned and noticed
the faintly intrigued look on his face.  "It should be finished heating up by
the time we're done eating."
     He said nothing as she sat back down and resumed eating, quietly wondering
what the hell he was going to do now.  She had saved his life twice, first on
the bridge and now saving him from his own foolish stupidity and the burning
light of the sun.  To even think of killing her now would be unconscionable,
not when he owed her so much.  But at the same time.... her blood was just as
contaminated as his was by the taint of vampirism.  She would *have* to die if
he was to free the world from that foul stain on the soul of humanity.... but
at what price?
     It was his honor that had kept him going for so long, that set him apart
from the other dunpeals he had met.  They hadn't cared for the lives of humans
one damn bit, mere pawns to be used in the game of life, used as cattle for
food and labor only to be cast aside when their usefulness was over.  It was
his sense of nobility that kept him going, not in the sense as the veneer of
elitism that the vampire lords used among themselves, but in the virtue of his
character, the purity of his purpose, the integrity of his word.  He kept his
word and only promised what he knew he could and would deliver.
     But to kill Galen now would be one of the most dishonorable things that he
could do.  Yes, they had been enemies on the bridge, but circumstances since
then had changed that.  She had bound herself with a blood-oath, staking her
honor and even her life on her promise.  He was bound by his own honor to the
other terms of the oath, to escort her to her mother's grave-site.  Striking
her down before then hadn't even remotely crossed his mind, but once their
journey was over and they were both released by the conclusion of the pact....
     He glanced up as he felt her fingertips brush against his cheek, a rather
gentle caress that sent just the tiniest of shivers down his spine.  She was
looking at him with a curious expression, those liquid-like eyes narrowed just
slightly as she focused on whatever emotions he might have had on his face.
     "Something on your mind, D?" she asked quietly.  She tilted his head up
when he looked away, very gently pulling his chin towards her so that there
would be no easy escape.  "You can tell me, hunter," she purred.
     "It's nothing," he said calmly, giving up the battle and keeping his eyes
focused on her exotic beauty.  A distant part of him made note of the fact that
the soft blue color of her lips was completely natural, answering a question he
had idly wondered about earlier.
     "Seems awfully heavy to be nothing," she chided gently, tilting her head
at a slight angle.  "Granted a case of heat exposure will give a dunpeal a lot
to think about, but something tells me that this isn't the case here."
     He sighed quietly through his nose, knowing he was both physically and
verbally trapped with no easy or graceful way out.  "Let's just say being in
this sort of position doesn't sit well with me," he said frankly, keeping his
voice free from any negative influences that might have upset her.
     A delicate blue-green eyebrow arched up in what could have been amusement,
intrigue, curiosity, or any combination of the three.  "And what position might
that be, hmm?" she inquired.  She continued to study his expression before a
small light-bulb went off, causing a soft smile to slowly spread across her
face.  "Oh, I get it now," she said in a silken tone.  "You're upset that you
had to be saved instead of being the dark knight who usually does the saving,
isn't it?  It's okay, hunter, your secret is safe with me."
     "I never doubted it wasn't," he replied calmly.  "You haven't given me any
reason to doubt that you are a woman of honor."
     "Thank you," she said, a new kind of smile briefly crossing her face at
the compliment.  "Well, if it isn't a matter of your honor or mine, then what
is the problem?  Mmm, nevermind, you already told me," she added with a faint
sigh.  She glanced over at the column of steam coming from the roasting pit
before a new thought came to mind.  She cast a sidelong glance at him before
slowly turning to face him, a slightly predatory gleam starting to form in her
liquid eyes.
     "D?" she asked very slowly, watching him react to the tone of her voice.
"You're not upset that *I* saved you, are you?  Mmmhmm," she purred to herself
as he suddenly glanced away.  "I think I can see how that would pose a bit of
a problem for you.  Here you are, letting me go see my mother one last time
before you kill me, and all of a sudden I end up saving you from a fatal case
of sunburn.  Honor can be such a cruel bitch at times, don't you agree?"
     He shot her a dark glare as she spoke that last sentence, suddenly not so
sure about her after all.  They both knew that he did in fact owe her his life,
and that if she decided to make a demand of him that he would feel honor-bound
to comply with her request.  Only up to a certain point, granted, as there were
a few things honor couldn't compel him to do, but there was still a fair amount
of leeway to be had in what he would allow himself to do if so demanded.
     She looked at him before sighing quietly to herself.  "D, I already told
you this once, I will not make demands on you for such a thing," she said in a
slightly flat tone, able to clearly see the thought passing over his eyes.  She
had to suppress a hollow grunt of amusement at his look of relief.  "But I have
to admit, I am.... tempted," she added, letting her voice turn coy again.
     <Here we go again,> a muted voice said in his mind, spoken so softly that
only the mental component could be heard.  The voice promptly fell silent as D
pressed his hand against the ground as discreetly as he could, not wanting to
cause a scene by disciplining it in public.
     "I hope you don't blame me," she purred as she edged closer, leaning down
slightly as she ran her fingertips along his jaw.  "How many women do you think
would just love to be in my position right now?  Imagine, being trapped in a
small underground room with a legend, one who can't run from you, can't escape
your touch...."
     A fairly strong icy chill ran down D's spine at the change in her tone,
setting off a quiet alarm in his mind.  It wasn't the first time he had been
exposed to such a thing, the whimsically playful whisperings of a woman who was
in a mood for something a little more substantial than casual conversation.
The part of his mind that usually dealt with the hyper-fast dynamics of combat
suddenly spun up, trying to analyze the situation he was in and hopefully find
an honor-saving way out of it.
     He was physically unable to move away from her.  He could lean back to
indicate that he wasn't interested in whatever she wanted.... but that would
not only be rude, but possibly a bit of a lie as well.  Her touch was far from
an unwelcome one as it traced his chin, but it was at the same time something
he still couldn't bring himself to openly embrace.  He could all too keenly
remember Leila's touch, caressing him as Galen's hand did now, and all that it
had led to in short order.
     Would that really be a bad thing? he found himself thinking.  It wouldn't
be bad in the sense that he wouldn't enjoy it.... far from it.  Part of him was
worried that he would enjoy it too much, but that was a whole different issue
altogether.  No, the bad part he was truly worried about was the sheer conflict
of interest that would arise once their journey was over.  If he yielded to her
now under these circumstances, how could he expect himself to be able to kill
her?  Being able to live with himself afterward wasn't the issue, as that only
had to last for a few moments before the blade could be turned on himself and
that would be that, but he would have to strike her down first....
     And deep down inside, whether from his human heart or hybrid soul or from
some new place he hadn't discovered yet, he knew that he really did not want to
hurt her for any reason.  She didn't seem like any of the other dunpeals he had
met, she actually seemed to *care* about others who weren't like her.
     The scene with the bartender back at the Hive sprang to mind.  Yes, she
seemed to give the impression that she was ready to rough him up if he didn't
give her what she wanted, but at the same time it seemed that her only intent
was to break through his xenophobia and bias against outsiders.
     Then there had been the bandits, two humans who seemed to be lacking a
little common sense.  He had no doubt that any other dunpeal or vampire would
have killed them where they stood for having the audacity (or stupidity) to
attack them, maybe even making one watch while the other was drained of blood
just for sport.  But she had let them go with only a warning and a painful
lesson learned, giving them a second chance to perhaps find a new path to walk
in life.
     No, her actions were not like the evil whims of the others.  That clearly
made her different from them, different enough that he would have to have a
very clear justification for killing her.  And after saving his life twice, he
simply couldn't think of any possible reason to wish her harm.  Indeed, part of
him once yearned to find a kindred soul, to have something close to a friend
who could understand him and his way, his choice that really wasn't a choice.
     But could Galen be it?  That desire had died out a very long time ago,
starved to death when encounter after encounter with his own kind had eroded
all hopes of finding someone else like him.  But still.... perhaps there was
still a spark of that left, a tiny seed buried within the depths of his soul,
his humanity.  Both had only recently been touched in his life, and both by
women he had come to love....
     He blinked and refocused as she tilted his head up slightly, those soft
blue lips seeming to edge even closer to him.  He could tell what was going
through her mind, wondering where things would go if she leaned over just a
little more.  He also knew that if he allowed it to happen it would make the
situation even more chaotic than what it already was, and at this point that
was saying an awful lot.
     Question, the combat-oriented part of his mind finally said.  You're in a
situation you well and truly can't figure out if you should remain in or not.
Time is not in abundant supply, and if something isn't done soon the balance
*will* be shifted to one end or the other, and that will be awfully hard to try
to undo once it happens and the results are not to your liking.  You don't want
to act, but *not* acting isn't an option.  So what do you do?  Simple....
     You stall for more time.
     "Galen?" D murmured as she edged even closer to him.  He winced as his
voice sounded more than a little husky, made slightly raw by stress but easily
mistaken for something else entirely.
     "Yes, D?" she breathed softly, almost too softly for him to hear.  Those
soft lips were dangerously close to him now, being only a simple gesture away
from making contact with his skin and possibly even sealing his fate in a way
he probably wouldn't be able to imagine on his own.
     "The wine is boiling," he said as calmly as he could manage.  His breath
promptly jammed in his throat with anticipation, wondering just how she was
going to react.
     She blinked in surprise at his words, perhaps having expected him to say
something either positive or negative and caught off-guard by the statement.
She cast a sidelong glance towards the steaming vent, turning her head to fully
focus her attention as the faint whistling sound registered on her mind.
     "Damn," she said quietly.  Whether it had been a muttered curse or a soft
sigh of disappointment wasn't clear, but it was enough to break the electric
tension of the moment.  "Thanks," she said as she quickly stood up and darted
across the room.
     D couldn't help the heavy sigh as his breath suddenly exited his lungs.
It was all he could do to keep it silent, watching with mixed relief as she
carefully hooked the heat-blacked jug with the stick and lifted it out of the
burning embers.  A soft hissing sound filled the air as the clay jug was dunked
in the barrel of water, cooling the external temperature down by at a couple
hundred degrees.
     He paused as he felt a funny sensation in his hand, flipping it over to
look at the mass of wrinkles in his palm.  He watched as they opened up just
a fraction, letting him see the look of disappointment on the thing's face.
     <You're a wuss, you know that?> it muttered softly.
     "Stay out of this," D whispered back, hoping that Galen was too busy with
the heated jug to hear either one of them.
     It rolled its eyes before the face seemed to melt back into his hand, a
quiet snort of contempt echoing inside his mind.  <Fine, have it your way,> it
said before the voice fell quiet.
     D looked up as Galen returned, holding a pair of wooden goblets that were
filled with a steaming liquid.  She knelt down next to the pit and leaned over
to set it in front of him, causing him to avert his eyes to avoid a repeat of
the earlier accidental exposure.  "Thank you," he said quietly as he reached
out to touch the goblet.  It was decidedly warm to the touch, the gentle wafts
of steam rising up from the amethyst liquid warning him it was probably still
too hot to drink.
     "Sorry about that," Galen apologized as she sat down, putting her own
goblet aside for the moment.  "It's a little hot right now, so we'll have to
wait a few minutes."
     A faint chill ran down his spine as she glanced at him for a moment, her
blue-green eyes quickly moving down to stare at her goblet.  She seemed to sigh
as she picked it up, very gently swirling the steaming liquid around as she
lightly blew on it.  "D.... I want to ask you a question.  About what happened
when you were chasing Meier Link and Charlotte," she said softly.
     She kept her gaze focused on the amethyst wine, waiting to see if he would
reply to her.  She sighed softly when no response was forthcoming, disguising
the action as a gentle puff on her wine to try to cool it down a little more.
"Why did Charlotte go with him?" she finally asked in a quiet tone.
     "She said she loved him," he replied, suddenly feeling tired for some odd
reason.  He briefly wondered if there had been something in the rabbit blood
or the roast that was making him feel so weary, but he soon realized that it
was only the weight of the memories from that particular incident.  That, and
the memories of what it eventually led to with Leila....
     "What do you think it was?" Galen asked, gingerly bringing the goblet to
her lips.  It was apparently still too hot for her liking, however, for she
edged it back down without tasting the overheated wine.  She looked over at him
as she felt the weight of his puzzled look.  "I mean, do you think that she
really did love him enough to let herself be kidnapped and carted off?"
     He looked away, fixing his gaze on the faint column of heated air rising
up from the open roasting pit.  "I believe so," he said quietly, remembering
how Charlotte had called out to Meier during their first encounter.
     She nodded and looked down at her wine again, softly blowing on it once
more.  "What about Meier?" she asked.  "It's pretty obvious that humans can
fall in love with vampires.  You and I are both proof of that, though I can't
quite say the same about all the other dunpeal births."
     D said nothing, not needing to be reminded how many other dunpeals had
been born.  Human women tended to be the vampire's favorite prey, regardless of
the sex of the vampire.  While a vampiress would usually have little interest
in the sexual capacities of their female victims, the males were another story
altogether.  He had rescued more than one human woman who had been an unwilling
victim of a vampire's lustful attentions.  Of course, saving the ones who had
willingly gone to bed with them and were later made to regret their decisions
tended to result in far worse consequences....
     "How do you think Meier felt about her?" she asked softly, finally risking
a sip of the heated wine.
     It was not a question he could easily answer, not having been able to find
a satisfactory answer for himself.  He had heard the grief in Meier's tone when
he had held Charlotte's lifeless body, grief genuine enough to cause Leila to
stay her finger from the trigger of her pistol and not blow the vampire into
the afterlife.  D didn't doubt that Meier was deeply saddened by Charlotte's
loss, but at the same time he still had his doubts that a vampire like Meier
Link had enough of a soul in him to truly love.  D's father hadn't seemed to,
despite the radiant, almost blinding love his mother had for him, and her love
had been about as powerful as it could get.
     "It's possible," he finally said, almost too softly to hear.  He couldn't
have answered with a definitive yes-or-no response, as he truly didn't know for
sure which one it was.  The easiest solution would have been to ask Meier Link
himself what his feelings had been, but given the fact that he had gone up to
the City of the Night and was now so much stardust with the rest of the City's
countless inhabitants....
     "What's possible?" Galen asked, lifting her head up to give him a confused
look.  She had barely heard his muttered words and wasn't sure what he meant.
     He glanced over at her before looking down at his own goblet of wine.  "I
suppose it's possible that Meier loved her," he said before taking a cautious
sip of the wine.  A deliciously warm sensation flowed across his tongue, the
gentle flavor of the mulled wine blending in perfectly with the aftertaste of
the rabbit roast.  He could tell that the wine was a little more potent than it
should have been, part of the water having been boiled away to concentrate the
heavier liquid that remained.
     She said nothing for a few moments as she sipped at her wine, her gaze
slightly unfocused as she thought.  "D?" she said softly after taking a slow
and subtle breath.  "I have a confession to make...."
     The goblet was almost to D's lips when he heard her soft-spoken words,
resulting in a near-spillage of the hot wine.  He cast a brief sidelong glance
at her before setting the goblet back down, not wanting to be in a position to
embarrass himself by venting the liquid out his nose should her words shock him
or otherwise take him by surprise.
     Galen sighed quietly and looked down at her own goblet, swirling it around
in a gentle circle.  "I never stopped to wonder if.... if it was possible for
us to fall in love.  It just never crossed my mind for some reason, nor did I
ever try to seek it out.  But now that I've met you and I know such a thing is
possible...."  She paused as she turned her head slightly, just in time to see
a classic 'deer in headlights' look on D's face before he recovered.  "D?" she
asked carefully, her brow furrowed slightly with confusion at his reaction.
     He slowly drew in a deep breath before he looked up at her, praying very
hard that he had simply misheard or misunderstood something.  "Us as in who?"
he asked as calmly as he could manage.
     "As in our kind, of course," she replied carefully.  "Why, what did you
think I...?  Oh," she added in a whisper as she suddenly realized how her words
could have been taken.
     D blinked as a truly violent blush seemed to explode onto her cheeks, the
bright red coloring standing out in very stark contrast to the paleness of the
rest of her skin and the blue-green coloring of both her hair and her eyes.  He
said nothing as he looked back down at his wine, deciding it would be best to
indulge in a deep drink of the super-warm liquid.  It was intended more as a
method of buying time than quenching his thirst, but he found the taste to be
pleasing nonetheless.
     The awkward silence hung between the two of them like a heavy veil, keenly
visible for what it was but neither one in any great rush to try to get beyond
it.  Galen tried to swirl her wine around in the goblet and almost sloshed it
over herself, sighing quietly as she realized that her hands were starting to
become unsteady for some reason.
     "D, tell me about the women you've loved," she found herself blurting out
in a quiet tone.  A momentary anxiety attack gripped her chest a moment later,
threatening to cut off her breathing entirely.  What the hell am I thinking?
she thought to herself, trying to take a sip of her wine and barely able to get
the goblet to her lips without the tremors in her hand spilling any.
     She sighed and looked over at him as she heard only silence, seeing him
staring down into his half-empty cup with a haunted look on his face.  Her left
hand reached out to him of its own accord, very lightly brushing the back of
her fingers against his cheek.  "You already told me about Doris," she added
quietly.  "Please, tell me about the other one, the one who helped you realize
that you loved Doris."
     He lifted his head to look at her, his face composed in a neutral mask of
unreadable emotions.  His eyes, however, spoke quiet clearly of the depth of
his personal pain and sorrow at the memories.  "Why?" he asked simply.
     She sighed yet again and looked down at her amethyst wine.  "D.... I'm
starting to like you," she admitted quietly.  "When I look at you, I don't see
just a hunter or a dunpeal, I see.... pain.  Sorrow.  Loneliness.  Part of me
wants to reach out to you, to ease that pain, that sorrow, that loneliness.  I
already told you that my worst fear is to be utterly alone, and yet.... yet you
seem to feel that you already are and have been for some time.  I want to know
how you've managed to survive that for so long and still.... and still be so
human," she whispered, looking up at him.
     "I know what you mean about the others being different," she continued.
"How the other dunpeals acted towards those who weren't their kind.  I know
what you mean about.... having something deep inside, something that doesn't
like what you see, something that won't let you do as they do.  When I look at
you past your armor of isolation....  I see something I like, a spark of life
that I haven't seen before.  I want to know more about it, just in case...."
     "Go on," D said gently, closing his eyes as the heavy weight of his entire
existence settled around his shoulders once more.
     "Just in case that's what's inside me as well," she finished softly.  "I
look at you and I think that.... maybe I've finally found a kindred spirit, a
person I can relate to and not just understand but be understood as well.  I'm
asking you to tell me about your past, about what you've done and experienced
and felt, simply so I can try to learn more about myself.  If someone like you
can love, D.... then why can't I?  All I want to know is what to look for."
     He said nothing as he looked back down into his goblet, trying to study
the transient reflection amid the amethyst ripples.  It seemed that the tiny
waves cleared out for a moment, just long enough for him to clearly see the
reflected look of his own eyes.  The amount of pain visible made him cringe,
wondering just how much of it she had been able to see earlier, pain that he
felt deeply ashamed at being unable to keep to himself and thus not burden her
soul with worries or concerns.
     "Her name was Leila," he said softly before taking a deep drink of the
wine.  He didn't care if the impulse had stemmed from a desire to absorb as
much of the alcohol as possible to dull the pain of simply speaking her name
aloud or if he simply didn't want to look at his purple reflection anymore.
"She was a vampire hunter as well and had joined the Markus brothers in their
attempt at rescuing Charlotte from Meier Link."
     Galen said nothing as she listened to him tell the entire story about the
failed rescue, about how he had bandaged her shoulder after her solo attack on
the carriage and all that had happened between them since.  She closed her eyes
as she listened to the quiet, almost inaudible recount of what happened while
they were trapped by the sandstorm and how they helped one another reawaken not
just their humanities but the gentle fires of life and love that had been all
but forgotten in their human souls.
     The very end of his story almost made her cry, quietly describing how he
had kept his promise to Leila.  It wasn't the sentiment of bringing a bouquet
of flowers to her grave that finally sent a single tear down Galen's cheek, but
the quiet conversation with Leila's grand-daughter and the explanation of why
the promise had been made in the first place.  And, as he departed, the full
realization of just what Leila had truly meant to him after all.
     She gently reached out to him once his soul-weary voice fell silent, her
hand holding his in a gesture of support, comfort, and understanding.  She knew
that there couldn't be any words that would make his pain any easier, able to
see the dark and haunted emotions reflected in his eyes as he stared at the
root walls, looking at the present but seeing only the past.
     The little wine that remained in their goblets had long cooled to room
temperature before either one of them finally moved, Galen squeezing his hand
tightly as she leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder for a moment.  "D?"
she asked very quietly, the softness of her breath faintly tickling his ear.
     "It's late," D said quietly in his usually somber and reserved tone.
     "And?" she countered with a faint hint of amusement.  "We're both night
people, it shouldn't bother us."
     "We still have a lot of traveling to do in the morning," he replied, not
looking over at her.  "You should try to get some sleep."
     She sighed quietly, almost flooding his ear with her breath before turning
her head aside at the last second.  "And what about you?" she inquired as she
squeezed his hand again.  "You going to be alright during the day?  We can stay
put until you're rested and travel at night if you want."
     "I'll be fine," he reassured her in a calm, if somewhat hollow tone.
     "I don't want to see you get hurt," Galen said, her voice barely more than
a whisper as she looked at him.  She stared into his eyes as he turned to look
back at her, part of her wanting to scream as she saw that the walls were back
up once again.
     "Galen...." he started to say.
     "I don't want to be alone," she breathed.  "I don't want to be the last of
my kind.  I'd rather take my own life than have to be the last."
     He truly didn't know what to say as he studied the look in her liquid-like
eyes.  Part of him wanted to reassure her that her fears wouldn't come true,
that it wouldn't ever come to that.  But at the same time.... he couldn't make
her that promise, couldn't tell her that it wouldn't come to that.  Their blood
was cursed with darkness, and the world needed to be free of it forever.  They
would both have to die when this was over.  There simply wasn't another way.
     Time suddenly seemed to turn to an icy gel without warning, moving along
at a dangerously sluggish pace as she leaned forward to brush her lips against
his.  It was a very light and hesitant contact, as if she wasn't exactly sure
she knew what she was doing, but it sent a curious surge of warmth through his
body even as the chilling shock flooded his veins.
     She edged her head back slightly, studying the look in his eyes.  "D...."
she said very softly.  "I.... you're.... you're my only hope now," she said,
her voice fading away entirely as she leaned forward to very softly and gently
kiss him again.
     D struggled hard, not against her or the softness of her lips, but against
the sudden loss of the sensation of time.  He simply had no idea of how long
their lips remained in contact with one another, not really kissing so much as
brushing together as lightly as one could and still feel the touch.  Her lips
finally backed away, the information from the rest of his senses rushing back
into his conscious mind hard enough to physically stun him for a second.
     "Wake me in the morning?" she asked softly as she sat back, seeming to be
on the verge of tears for some reason.  A faint hint of a smile crossed her
face as he simply nodded to her, clearly unable to remember how his voice box
worked at the moment.  "Good night, D," she whispered as she rose to her feet,
silently making her way towards the wall opposite the exit ramp.
     He said nothing as he watched her grab a thick root that ran the length of
the ceiling.  He couldn't have said anything if his life depended on it, his
mind in total chaos as he watched her hands and feet start to darken and gnarl,
hugging the ceiling tighter as she dug in.  Her cape folded around her a few
moments later, taking on the color and texture of tree-bark as it molded and
hardened into a cocoon-like shell that only left a long tuft of blue-green hair
visible.
     <D?> the thing spoke up a few moments after the cracks and snaps of the
morphing cape had fallen silent.  <I can feel the shell-shock from here.  She
didn't zap you with anything in that kiss, did she?  D?>
     "I'm fine," he rasped, closing his eyes as his voice seemed to physically
grate against the back of his throat.  The last mouthful of tepid wine left in
the goblet seemed to ease the sudden dryness, the alcohol seeming to burn like
liquid hellfire on contact before the sensation abated.
     <Right,> it replied, clearly not believing him.  <D, listen....>
     The voice fell silent as D turned his hand around, giving the thing a look
that would have frightened anyone who saw it.  "I will not say this again," he
said in a very low tone, his lips pulling back to expose the edges of his sharp
fangs.  "Stay *out* of this."
     <Alright,> it said in a tone of heavy resignation.  It remained quiet for
a number of moments before adding, <Oh, and about that just-drown-the-parasite
advice she gave you earlier?  It'll take longer than twenty minutes, so don't
get your hopes up.>
     It took him a moment to calm down long enough to think rationally.  "So
how long would it take?" he asked.
     A soft sigh echoed in his mind as it drew in a quiet breath.  <Stop and
think about this one, okay?  How many times have you taken a dip in a river or
a pool or whatever for longer than twenty minutes and I didn't say a word?  So
either I'm different than the symbiots she's met or she doesn't know what she's
talking about, as I can take in a *LOT* of air if you give me a moment.  Trust
me, holding my breath is easy.>
     "How long?" D repeated in an eerily calm tone.
     <You really want to be rid of me that badly, eh?> it said in a voice that
is best described as terminally depressed.  <Honestly?  Probably a good twelve
hours or so.  Less if I'm surprised, more if I have time to really prepare.
And I think we both know just how difficult I can make life for you during that
entire timeframe,> it added darkly.  <Question for you, though.  Why now?  You
never really seemed to want to get rid of me before.  Well, aside from when I
would needle you for a reaction, but that was to be expected.  Finally reached
your limit, D?  Or am I no longer of any use to you now that you've killed all
the vampires and just have Galen left to deal with?  I'm waiting,> it prodded
as D remained silent.  <If nothing else, you owe me a truthful answer.  After
all, I've saved your ass plenty of times before, so there's that little....>
     "Enough," D said quietly as he closed his eyes.
     <So what are you going to do with her, anyway?> it inquired.  <If you had
the balls to listen to me, you'd realize that I can help the two.... *!!!*>
     He didn't even bother opening his eyes to look, instead simply slamming
the palm of his hand down on the hard-packed edge of the pit.  The thing made
a soft psionic grunt as a wedge of dirt wound up in its mouth, taking its time
in chewing it up and swallowing it.  It remained silent after that, apparently
getting the hint that its dunpeal host really wasn't kidding about not wanting
to hear it try to help him deal with Galen.
     D sighed silently as he tried to make himself comfortable, not an easy
task given the fact that he was solidly buried up to his armpits in soil.  Not
that it was so packed down as to render him immobile, but it was just enough to
ensure than he wouldn't be moving anywhere without a concerted effort.  He
finally settled for tilting his head back slightly, resting his neck on a sort
of incline that had been made in the burying process.
     He could almost taste the super-light kiss that lingered on his lips, the
sensation seeming to haunt him just slightly.  The gesture had taken him by
surprise, not that he wasn't expecting her to finally do so but that he had
been too busy thinking to pay attention.  Again.
     A deep sigh rose up from his chest as he remembered the last time he had
been caught off-guard by a soft kiss.  Leila's image rose up to fill his mind
once more, teasing him with the memory of her gentle touch, her soft kiss, and
the warmth of her body surrounding his.  She had lured him to her, called to
him, seduced him, left him panting for breath among the ashes of her satisfied
lust.... and her love.  Doris had opened his heart to expose his humanity, but
it had taken Leila's touch to pry that open and bathe it the warmth of love.
     And now Galen.... what was she doing?  What part of him was she trying to
reach out to, to awaken, to hold?  Or was she simply doing what she said, using
him to examine herself, listening to his words, his pain, and his past?  Would
it be bad for him to let himself be used so?  He would be cast away once his
usefulness had ended of course, but still.... that's how it worked, right?
     But.... Galen wasn't like the others, was she?
     And Leila had certainly shown him that being used wasn't always bad....
     The shroud of thoughts continued to swirl around him as the quiet tug of
the earth's comforting grip on his body drew him down into the realm of sleep
and dreams, part of him smiling quietly at the memory of Leila and all that she
had meant to him.  And still did.

                *               *               *               *

     As before, it was the gentle tug of the rising sun on his soul that woke
him up from the foggy existence between a dreamless sleep and sleepless dreams.
The level of light in the room was unchanged as he opened his eyes, figuring
that a door or covering of some sort was shielding the chamber from the morning
rays of light.
     It only took a few short seconds to unearth himself, using his renewed
strength to pull his body out of the soil.  What took far longer, however, was
getting the worst of the dirt out of every place imaginable plus a few others
that he hadn't readily thought was possible.  Finding dirt in your boots was a
given, but how could so much of it end up packed in his navel like that?  And
that didn't even cover how much wound up in his underwear....
     Once that task was done, he spent the next few minutes using the shovel to
'make the bed' as it were, digging out a deep hollow to make it available the
next time Galen needed to use it.  The rest of the soil was scraped together
and put back in the container, moving it aside before going over to the barrel
of collected rain-water.  A ladle hanging from a hook was all he needed to wash
the dirt off his hands, letting the runoff flow into a ditch apparently carved
out for just that purpose.
     <Mmmph?> it suddenly grunted, causing D to pause with his hand still over
the ditch.  <Mrrph.... mmmrrkkk, mmmghph.... *GAAAAHK*> it horked as a clod of
dirt was finally expelled with the force of a clay bullet.  <Hrrrrk, what an
aftertaste.  Don't get me wrong, that was nice and rich in nitrogen with just
a hint of sulphur, but the level of phosphate in that.... bleh.>
     D said nothing as he reached for the ladle again, scooping up more water
and pouring it over the palm of his hand.  He ignored the slurping sounds it
made as it inhaled the water, turning his hand back around when it was finished
making swishing noises to itself.  A small stream of dark brown water jetted
out into the ditch, followed by a deep sigh of satisfaction.
     <Thanks, D, I needed that,> it said gratefully.
     "You're welcome," he replied with just a hint of dryness.  He carefully
studied the room, finally able to truly get a feel for it now that he wasn't
fixed in one location.  The underground chamber wasn't all that large, but it
was roomy enough to be a suitable place to cuddle with an intimate friend when
you really weren't interested in large tracts of personal space.
     The ceiling was a lot lower than he had thought it was, able to reach up
and brush the overhead roots without fully extending his arm.  An idle glance
at the ramp showed that a layer of matted foliage had been placed over the
archway, thick enough to block almost all the light while really blending in
with the surroundings.  Curious, he approached the barrier and tried to move it
aside, surprised to see that it was actually a sturdy frame that was mounted on
a hinge just like a door.
     He winced as he was greeted by the blinding glare of the morning sun, the
topmost edge of the burning sphere just clearing the treeline.  He could feel
it already starting to weaken him, but he was strong enough now to be able to
withstand full exposure for at least a week, maybe two if he didn't have to
exhaust himself in high-energy combat again.
     <Ahh, don't you just love those east-facing bedroom doors?> it chuckled.
<Galen must not have been kidding about being able to draw strength from a nap
in a tree to ward off the sun if she let the door face this direction.>
     He cast a dark glare down at his hand at the casual mention of her name.
"Ask the rabbits," he said calmly.  "They built their burrow here first."
     <Oh,> it replied a moment later.  <That's right, they did, didn't they?
Well, no matter, you probably can't blame them for wanting a little sun in the
morning, now can you?  It probably gets awfully dark and cold in those tiny
underground burrows.  Especially during the winter-time.  That's not too far
off in the future, you know.  Think this place keeps warm when the snow starts
to blanket the area?  At least, when it's not being used as a love-nest.  Now
there's irony for you, using a rabbit burrow for that.  Kinda gives new meaning
to the term snuggle-bunny, eh?>
     D said nothing as he strode up the ramp and into the sunlight, looking
around the immediate area for a suitable tree or bush.  A fairly large thicket
was visible a few dozen yards away, causing him to raise an eyebrow at the
realization that it didn't appear to be native to the rest of the plant-life
in this part of the wooded area.
     <Hey, what's wrong?> it spoke up as it sensed a change in D's mood.
     "That bush shouldn't be here," he said slowly, wondering if he should go
back and get his sword.  "It's the wrong species for this region."
     <What, you expected a wooden structure with the word 'outhouse' painted on
it with a neon arrow?> it countered with a scoffing noise.  <I'll bet you quite
a lot that it was transplanted here when they terraformed everything.  I mean,
just look at it.... dense foliage for privacy, not too close to the burrow to
smell, large and relatively soft leaves for.... well, you get the idea.  At
least it tries to blend in with everything else.>
     He decided it had made a very valid case and went over to take a closer
look at the bush, not surprised that it was exactly it had said it would be.
He stopped to look around, finding where his mount had been tied to on a rather
lengthy tether.  He headed over to it, patting it gently as he grabbed the roll
of rapidly-degradable toilet paper from the saddle-bags to make his life just
a little easier.
     He left the roll prominently hanging from a branch and returned to Galen's
burrow, pausing for a moment to study it from the outside.  The host tree was
largest one around, the nearest one in terms of size being a good six or seven
hundred yards away.  It would be rather hard to miss if you actually got close
to the trunk, but from a distance it wouldn't be too much of a curiosity.  He
didn't know where the trail was in relation to the burrow, but he was willing
to bet that casual travelers wouldn't be able to see it.
     The cocoon was still securely hanging from the ceiling as he descended the
ramp, the lower half bathed in the orangish-yellow radiance of the sun.  The
glow was cut off as D moved the matting back into place, reducing the amount of
light to almost nothing.  He waited until his eyes had adjusted back to the
near-darkness before moving over to the cocoon, looking up to study the mass of
blue-green hair hanging down from the end.
     <D?> it spoke up very quietly as he started to reach out to touch her hair
as he had done the previous two days.  <I really think you should let me tell
you what I think is going on between the two of you.>
     "I don't care what you think," he said in a very low tone, dropping his
voice to a whisper so he wouldn't disturb her.
     <But you care about her,> it countered immediately.  <And deny it all you
want, deep down inside that heart of yours you know damn well that you do.  I
just don't want to see you continue to suffer, D, that's all.  Honest.>
     "Then shut up," he said flatly.  He waited to see if there would be more,
hearing only the softest of disgruntled mutterings in both his ears and in his
mind.  Satisfied for the moment that it was finished, he very slowly reached up
to run his fingertips through her soft mane of hair.
     The soft buzzing noise started up almost immediately, lasting for so long
that he knew she was definitely taking her time in waking up.  He found that he
really didn't mind the delay, not really being in any great rush to reach the
end of their journey.  The realization was almost enough to make him stop his
gentle caress of her hair and step back, wondering if the comment last night
about her kiss possibly having an effect had any truth to it.
     His hand stayed where it was, moving in a slow and gentle rhythm as the
cape slowly fell away from her body with a soft cracking sound.  She began to
relax her arms, slowly bringing her head down to where she could look directly
into his eyes.  The insectoid features of her face melted away a moment later,
leaving her exotic beauty untouched by any outward manifestation of her unique
hybrid nature.
     He paused slightly as she adjusted her clawed grip on the root, seeming to
edge slightly closer to him.  "Good morning," she whispered softly.
     "Morning," D replied calmly as he lowered his hand to his side.
     "D.... I didn't upset you last night, did I?" she asked, her voice still
little more than a soft whisper.
     "No," he said with a very subtle shake of his head.  He paused and held
perfectly still as she leaned forward, very gently brushing her lips against
his in a soft kiss.  It wasn't the most graceful of gestures, given the fact
that she was hanging upside-down from the ceiling, but that didn't have any
impact on the way the kiss left a rather delightfully electric sensation on his
lips when she finally edged back.
     "I'm not much of a morning person either, you know," she breathed softly.
"But being woken up by you.... like this.... it just keeps getting better and
better each time.  It makes me wonder what the next morning will be like.  Or
does that thought bother you?" she added softly as she tried to read the look
on his face.
     D said nothing as he took a step back, giving her plenty of space to lower
herself down to the ground.  She seemed to do so with deliberate slowness, her
arm and leg muscles flexing and tightening as they bore the full brunt of her
weight.  He couldn't help but be impressed by the display of both strength and
grace, her body moving with almost cat-like fluidity as she finally let go of
the root structure.
     "You mind waiting here for a few moments?" she inquired as she bent down
to grab her boots.
     "I left a roll of toilet paper on a branch for you," he said impassively,
causing her head to snap up to give him a surprised look.
     "Thank you," she said after a slight hesitation, the faintest hint of a
blush rising up to tint her pale cheeks.  She quickly slipped the boots on and
headed for the ramp, pausing to cast a final glance over her shoulder at him
before pushing the matting aside.
     <What *are* we going to do with you?> the voice sighed as the covered door
was closed behind her, returning the chamber to semi-darkness.  The amount of
light seeping in around the archway had increased as the bulk of the sun rose
above the treeline, allowing several pinhole-sized beams of light to lance out
across the empty air like so many low-intensity lasers.
     <So have you given any thought to what you're going to do once this mess
is over?> it prodded him quietly, causing D to suddenly hold very still.  <I
mean, this assumes you're not going to be a coward and slit your throat open
and let the worms feed on your corpse.  What good will that do, hmm?  Even with
as much as you say you dislike yourself, I think you've come to like what life
has to offer you as of late.>
     "I am rapidly losing my tolerance for you," D said very calmly.
     A dark sigh rose up from his left hand.  <Look, I really don't mean to be
a pimple on your ass, D, but my parasitic life is tied to yours, remember?  If
you die, so do I, and unlike you I happen to like existing.  That kind of gives
me a little incentive to try to keep you alive as well, don't you think?  Or am
I supposed to just stand aside and let you obliterate us both?  It doesn't have
to end with your death, you know.>
     "We've discussed this before," he reminded it in a warning tone.
     <Yeah, well, that was before this new opportunity arose,> it countered.
<Now we have Galen to deal with, and that's...?  D....> it suddenly said in a
very apprehensive tone as it heard a dagger being withdrawn.
     D tried to keep his breathing under control as he pressed the tip of the
dagger against his left palm, right between and just above the wrinkles where
its eyes were.  "Do not...." he said very slowly and distinctly, "Mention her
to me again.  I didn't ask for your company to start with, and I have never
asked for your opinion.  I tolerate you because you are a useful and powerful
ally, not because I like you.  My patience with you is at an end now.  If you
will not stay silent, I will silence you myself.  Do you understand?"
     <Yes, D,> it replied in a voice as cold as arctic tundra.  <I understand
you perfectly.  You know where to find me if you need something.>
     He said nothing as the voice fell silent, the face embedded in his hand
melting back into his skin to become little more than a few unusually deep
wrinkles in his palm.  The dark anger seemed to leave him a moment later, the
dagger almost slipping from his fingers as he wondered just what the hell was
wrong with him.  Certainly it had pissed him off before, but never had it been
able to get under his skin *that* deeply.... and why?  Not just why was it
bothering him so, but why was he so bothered by even thinking of her?
     His hand seemed to move without conscious effort, returning the dagger to
the empty sheath on his belt just as the matting was opened up.  He sighed and
turned away from the fierce glare of the light, seeming to hit him harder than
usual given the fact that he had just moments ago been in moderate darkness.
     "Sorry," Galen apologized quietly as she left the door-like barrier open
to add some light to the underground chamber.  "I put the toilet paper back in
the saddle-bag.  Thank you," she added with distinct gratitude as she headed
over to the barrel of rain-water to rinse her hands.
     D simply nodded his head, knowing that a life spent in constant travel
didn't mean he had to give up *all* the creature comforts one found in any
civilization.  The ones that wouldn't fit in a saddle-bag or required a power
source were always the first to go, but somehow the most basic of the basics
found a way to persist in one form or another.
     He paused as she moved back over to him, a small frown crossing her face
as she lightly brushed her hand across the front of his dark tunic.  A small
cloud of dust wafted up from the contact, the tiny particles sparkling in the
beams of sunlight like microscopic fireflies drifting around on a lazy current
of air.  "You need a bath," she pointed out in a slightly disgruntled tone.
     "It can wait," he said calmly, figuring that he could find a river or a
small lake somewhere along the way.  Either that or wait for the next time it
rained, one of the two.
     She shot him a remotely unamused look as she wrinkled her nose.  "Your
horse might not care, but I'd strongly prefer if you dealt with that before you
start to reek.  There's a fork down the road ahead, probably take us most of
the day to reach it.  My mother's grave is on the north-west fork, but if you
take the south fork for about an hour you'll find a small human frontier town.
We should be able to find a clean bed, a warm shower, and a decent meal for a
fair price.  We'll lose a couple of hours, of course, but at our current pace
we'll still reach her well before sundown the day after tomorrow."
     He looked at her in silence for a moment, wondering if there was something
more than the face-value of her words to consider.  He had no great love for
social interaction, with humans or anyone else, but at least he knew he could
deal with humans well enough despite their chaotic tendencies.  A frontier town
meant that they would be even more reserved and coarse than usual, but it was
a perfectly understandable attitude to develop when one lived on the very edge
of civilization in a rather unfriendly wilderness area.
     "Besides," she added coyly, giving him a look that made his blood chill
for a brief instant, "After the dinner we had last night?  I wouldn't want to
even look at more trail rations, let alone have to eat them."
     "Very well," D said calmly, knowing that she had spoken that one with pure
and absolute sincerity.  The dried rations weren't exactly his favorite either,
but after living off of them for so long it would have been a lie to say that
he hadn't adapted to the coarse textures and bland flavors.  And it had been
quite some time since he had allowed himself to indulge in some wine, providing
for a very flavorful contrast....
     "Good," she said with a smile as she reached out, intending to give his
shoulder a gentle squeeze.  She paused as she encountered the very well-crafted
plates of his armor, remembering being surprised by its discovery last night as
she buried him in the ground.
     D said nothing as she gently rapped a knuckle against his shoulder, the
metallic sound gently echoing back at her.  "Forgot about that," she said in a
quiet tone.  "I don't know who designed this armor for you, D, but they did a
superb job.  You almost can't tell that you're wearing it.  Hold still," she
added as she did a very quick poke-test to determine what the shell-like armor
protected and what it left vulnerable.  "Just the upper-body?" she inquired.
     "Most vampires and beasts go for the chest or throat," D explained calmly
as he turned around, heading over to the corner of the room to retrieve the
rest of his clothing.  "The design offers the most protection against the most
likely targets while allowing me to still remain unencumbered and able to move
freely.  Deliberately non-fatal attacks from weapons like yours are rare," he
added as he slipped on his cape and sword scabbard.
     He paused and cast a glance over his shoulder as he heard the soft whisper
of her rapier being drawn, turning around to face her as she whipped the sharp
tip through the air to create a soft buzzing sound.  His eyes narrowed to mere
slits as she approached him, her platinum-silver weapon carefully held at the
ready.  He remained silent as he put his hat on, adjusting the brim slightly
before lowering his hand and remaining perfectly still.
     The super-sharp point of her rapier made just the slightest of noises as
it was casually tapped against the center of his chest, the faint echo of metal
meeting armor registering on both their ears.  She carefully struck at him with
a feather-light touch, the rapier making only the most superficial of contacts
with various points on his upper body where major nerves were known to cluster.
In each case the point was blocked by his armor, creating very soft pings and
rings of resonating metal.
     A look of amusement crossed her face as she stared up at him, her rapier
suddenly flashing down at a steep angle.  A delicate blue-green eyebrow was
raised as the slender shaft of her weapon was brought up into his groin, moving
hard enough to have truly gotten his attention if it hadn't been blocked by a
smaller piece of armor plating protecting a distinctly sensitive spot.
     Their eyes met in silence, and for one instant it seemed that he might
have thought about smiling at her.  "Trust me," he said quietly, the dryness in
his tone indicating that he didn't need to say anything else about that one.
     "Curiosity, hunter, nothing more," Galen said demurely as she slid the
weapon upwards, sliding the metal shaft along the groove of his thigh before
swinging it away from his body.  The weapon was returned to the scabbard on her
belt and the edge of the cape tucked over it, her liquid-like eyes looking over
the dusty lines of his dark clothing.
     She glanced up at his eyes and smiled at him, not entirely sure why she
was doing so.  "Go get the horse ready," she said softly.  "I need to finish
cleaning up in here since I'm not sure when I'll be back."
     He nodded in understanding and turned to leave, pausing as he felt her
hand gently touch his wrist.  He turned to look at her just as she gave a firm
tug, causing him to edge forward just enough to bring his lips into very soft
contact with hers.  The sheer surprise of the gesture produced yet another odd
disconnect in his mind, making it impossible to tell just how much time had
passed before the gentle kiss was broken and she edged away.
     "Thank you for opening up to me last night," she whispered softly as she
gazed into the depths of his eyes, the exotic blue-green structure of her eyes
seeming to be even more liquid than usual.  "I think I'm finally beginning to
understand you, D."
     It was one of those moments in which he didn't know what to say.  All he
could do was nod slightly before turning away, unable to reply to something he
didn't even understand for himself.  He left the underground burrow without
looking back, not sure how he would react to seeing the emotion in her eyes,
*any* emotion.  Part of him realized that she was starting to weave a web
around him, seeking to trap him in a mesh of feelings as a spider would snare
a passing insect.  He truly didn't know if it was conscious or not, if it was
intentional or not, or even what her true intentions were.  All he knew was
that if the web was finished, things would get very uncomfortable for him.
     A stray memory rose up from his mind as he untethered the horse and made
sure everything was still secured.  May you live in interesting times, someone
had once said to him, only later explaining how some of the ancient humans had
viewed that phrase as a curse.  Indeed, D thought to himself as he climbed into
the saddle and gently urged the mount over towards the burrow entrance.  This
has definitely been.... interesting.
     A second thought rose up from the dark recesses of his memory, the simple
realization registering so forcefully on his mind that it almost caused him to
slip out of the saddle.  He recovered just as Galen stepped out of the burrow,
carefully sealing the matting behind her and fluffing the edges out to help it
blend in to the landscape.  He automatically reached down to help her into the
saddle in front of him, his eyes seeing the gentle smile on her face but his
mind seeing something else entirely.
     Doris had tried to lure him into the web of her emotions, fragile strands
hesitantly reaching out to him as he lay on the rug before the fireplace.  He
had yielded to her, but only after the call of her moon-blood proved to be too
strong to resist, and so he had spent the night trapped in that web....
     Leila had likewise ensnared him in as neat a web as any woman could weave,
luring him into her embrace as a siren would a lonely sailor.  She had used her
body as bait, but it was her heart and soul that finally reached out to claim
him as hers....
     And he had loved both women, not realizing the webs for what they were
until long after the threads has been broken by the passage of time.  Only the
residue remained, still wrapped around the part of his heart where they had
anchored themselves to him even as they loved him in their own unique ways.
And now with Galen trying to reach out to him as well, with the softness of her
voice and the even softer feeling of her lips against his....
     "D?" she asked quietly, snapping him out of his thoughts.  He looked up to
find her twisted around in the saddle, giving him a slightly puzzled look as
she sought to make sense of the brooding look on his face.  "You okay?"
     He nodded to her before quietly adding, "I just have a lot on my mind."
     She tilted her head at a slight angle, regarding him carefully as she idly
toyed with the reins.  "Tell me something.... do you *always* have something on
your mind like that, or is this just one of those weeks for you?"
     The silence hung in the air for a few moments before he opened his mouth
to speak.  The voice that was heard, however, was clearly not his own.  <Trust
me,> it spoke up in a calm, empty tone.  <This has been one of those months.
Just leave him alone, he'll figure it out sooner or later.>
     Galen shrugged to herself, missing the dark look D cast at his left hand.
"I think I know what you mean.  Somewhat," she added lightly, looking up to
give D a sultry look.  "I have monthly issues as well, but that refers to the
timing and not the duration.  Still, I know the feeling," she said with a soft
smile and a wink that he almost missed.
     "Let's go," D replied in an unamused tone, drawing a laugh and a pat on
the leg from his female companion.  A gentle flick on the reins set them into
motion once again, first heading south to reach the road and then turning into
the burning disc of the sun for another long day's ride towards the east.

                *               *               *               *

     He was both surprised and grateful when she didn't make any attempt at
trying to talk to him during the journey.  As before, they rested at several
places along the way to water and feed the horse.  The forest was starting to
thicken up as they went, the overhead foliage starting to provide enough cover
and shade to blunt the worst of the weakening effects of the overhead sun.
     The silence gave him more than enough time to think, to try to sort out
just what in the hell he was going to do with her when they reached the end of
their travels.  He couldn't see himself killing her, driving his sword into her
chest to sunder her heart as he had all too easily done to Count Niles.  Nor
could he see himself simply walking away and leaving her to her own devices,
not as long as she held vampiric blood in her veins.
     Not while she still had the power of creation in her body.
     The legends were both right and wrong about how vampires could be created.
The true vampires, the so-called nobles, had evolved over the ages into a new
species of sentient being.  They were every bit as sexually functional as their
ancient human ancestors, bearing children of their own kind.  They could even
breed with humans, the result being dunpeals like himself and Galen.
     However, they could also be created with the infection of the dark blood.
A simple bite alone from a full-blooded vampire is enough to make the victim
vulnerable to their willpower and domination, but that wouldn't cause them to
undergo the irreversible transformation into blood-thirsty creatures of the
night.  What was needed was often termed a blood marriage, the vampire draining
his bride-to-be almost to the point of death before offering her a taste of his
own blood to seal the bond between them.  The infection, concentrated in his
blood, could then easily spread throughout the weakened victim's veins and thus
forever taint her body with its curse.  Those who were born tended to look down
on those who were created, the former calling themselves nobles while giving
the latter the epithet of commoner.  Both, however, were equal in power and in
the utter destruction of their humanities.
     Dunpeals, however, were different.  The curse in their blood wasn't nearly
as strong or as potent, unable to spread the infection through a casual bite.
A dunpeal could perform a blood marriage, however, but the result would not be
a living noble vampire.  Their tainted blood instead trapped the victim in a
state between life and death, twisting their bodies into vampire-like forms
that were called zombies by the humans.  The shock of being changed seemed to
always unhinge the human mind, corrupting it with madness and destroying the
spark of intellect that it once had.
     D had never tried to create a zombie, but he had destroyed more than his
fair share of the foul creatures.  It seemed that noble vampires could create
them as well, but the process required some sort of modification that he had
yet to figure out to this day.  He suspected it wasn't a widely-shared secret,
as he only encountered zombies in certain areas and always all grouped under
the control of the same master or mistress.
     He almost asked her if she had tried to 'gift' another with her dark kiss,
easily able to picture her sipping the blood from a young man's throat but not
able to imagine her opening up a vein to feed him in return.  Or, for that
matter, trying to order a bunch of zombies around to do her bidding.  Perhaps
it was just him, but she really didn't seem like that kind of dunpeal.  But by
the same token.... could he really afford to overlook that risk?
     He soon found himself staring at her, studying the back and sides of her
head as they rode in silence.  The points on her ears were a little sharper
than most, perhaps due to her Barbaroi blood.  Her hair was likewise a hallmark
of her inhuman blood, creating a soft cascade that he was starting to find more
than a little mesmerizing.  Perhaps it had been the soft feel of it beneath his
fingertips when he had woken her up, or maybe the gentle fragrance he seemed to
remember tickling his nose yesterday....
     He blinked and almost jerked back as he refocused, suddenly realizing that
he had started to lean over to her.  The fading impulse registered on his mind
before it vanished like a ghost, wanting to inhale her scent and savor it for
some reason.  A quick search of his memories revealed other momentary impulses
that he had discarded without realizing them, the urge to reach up and touch
her hand, to feel her fingers intertwine among his in a gentle grip, to lean
forward to nuzzle her hair, the nape of her neck, the exposed portions of her
soft and pale skin, to lean her back and taste her lips once again....
     The gentle touch of her finger on the tip of his nose almost shocked his
bladder into activity, causing him to lurch back in surprise as if he had been
struck with a lightning bolt.  Her eyes widened at the sudden reaction, edging
forward in the saddle as much as she could to put a bit of space between them.
     "D?" she asked carefully once she saw he had gotten himself back under
control.  "I didn't mean to startle you like that, but.... you alright?"
     He looked at her with a slightly harried expression before he slowly let
his breath out, his face darkening at being caught so completely off-guard.  He
remained silent for a number of moments before finally drawing a soft breath to
reply to her.  "I was.... just thinking, that's all," he said quietly.
     "About what?" she prodded carefully.  "I don't want you to take this the
wrong way, but the look on your face was starting to give me goose-bumps.  You
sure you're alright, D?" she said, casting a brief glance at the road ahead to
make sure she wouldn't steer the mount into a tree or anything.  Not that she
feared it was stupid enough to actually bump into one even if told to, but that
she might encounter a low-hanging branch to put a dent in both her head and her
somber mood.
     "What do you know about zombies?" he asked, taking them both by surprise.
His expression didn't change to give her any indication that it was something
he had said purely on impulse, something that he very rarely allowed himself to
do.  Her expression seemed to flicker with brief puzzlement before becoming
something else, a sort of veil of sadness crossing her face only to vanish as
she turned back around in the saddle.
     "I assume you're not asking me if I know of any tips on how to hunt them
down," she said quietly without looking over her shoulder.  She sighed heavily
and flicked the reins, encouraging the mount to increase his pace to a steady
trot.  "I won't lie, D, I've made two of my own.  Bear in mind this was back
when I was a teenager, wondering about the extent of my powers once I came to
the conclusion that being one-quarter Barbarois changed the equation more than
either of my parents realized."
     "What became of them?" D asked in a quiet tone.  His voice wasn't flat or
harsh, but she could clearly make out the undercurrent of disapproval as he
spoke to her.
     "I destroyed them, of course," she replied softly.  "The first was a young
fop of a man who claimed he loved me and wanted to be as immortal as I was so
that we could be together for eternity.  I was a young girl, still a maiden and
somewhat naive about men, so I eventually gave him both my body and my blood.
He attacked me in a rage as he was transformed and would not relent, so I had
no choice but to defend myself against him."
     "And the other?" he prompted, his voice still quiet and empty of warmth.
     "What I thought was an act of mercy," she said in an even quieter tone.
"A woman I found on a trail who was a victim of a bandit attack, robbed of her
purse, her virtue, and nearly her life.  I thought that I could save her if she
had the strength of my kind.  I tried to explain it to her as best I could but
she begged me to do it before she could bleed out.  I could tell that she would
indeed die soon, and so I made a cut on my wrist and let her feed."
     He remained silent as her voice trailed off, clearly filled with regret
and sorrow over what she had done.  He could imagine what had happened next,
the dying woman quickly being transformed into little more than a warmed corpse
as her mind was reduced to a mere cinder of what it once was.  Whatever it was
that made humans so.... human would have been destroyed in a moment, leaving
behind only a savage beast that could only act on instinct unless its will was
dominated by its creator.  Thus already near death and without control, it most
likely would have lashed out as the other one had, leaving Galen with no other
choice but to permanently render it lifeless.
     "I never dared share my blood again," she finally whispered, seeming to
speak more to herself than to D.  "At least, not to anyone who wasn't one of
our kind.  A vampire kissed me once, seeking to woo and seduce me in order to
gain an influence on my father.  It was.... dangerously erotic.  The intensity
frightened me and I resisted him.  My father was not pleased to learn what had
taken place and forbade me from allowing such a thing to happen again.  When I
later asked him about it, once his temper had cooled, he said that such a thing
was more intimate than sex and should be treated as such, revered with the same
passion and level of caring that needed to be present for physical intimacy to
be worthwhile enough to indulge in.  I didn't realize what he meant until I met
Mikhail and gained a true appreciation for such things."
     She sighed softly at the memories of her past lover, casting the briefest
of glances over her shoulder at the dunpeal riding behind her.  "I bit him by
accident once, during the height of an unusually fiery passion.  His blood only
fueled the fires inside me, and I might have taken far more blood had he not
whispered my name.  The pain in his voice brought me out of the bloodlust, and
it was quite some time before I allowed myself to relax in his arms again.  He
told me that it had hurt but that he hadn't minded tending to my needs, only
asking that I warn him ahead of time if I wanted to sample his blood again.  It
must have been a full year before I finally yielded to his gentle words and far
gentler touch, to taste his blood once again even as it burned with his desire
for me and the love he felt in his human heart."
     She sighed again and twisted around in the saddle to look at him, her eyes
seeming to be little more than blue-green puddles of liquid sorrow.  "D, was I
really wrong in giving him the pleasure of my dark kiss?" she asked in a soft
tone, the intensity of her emotions making her voice sound as fragile as newly-
cast glass.  "To share with him part of what I really am?  If such a thing can
be shared among our kind, supposedly within the same bonds as sex and love, why
can't it be shared with a human in the same way?"
     He looked at her in silence for a moment, wondering why she was asking him
such a thing.  There was something in her eyes that he found deeply disturbing,
rattling him just enough to give in to his dark curiosity.  "Why does it matter
what I think?" he inquired calmly.  "It is not for me to judge anyone else."
     The saddle almost jerked out from underneath him as she brought the mount
to a halt, the sudden change in inertia rocking them both.  Her eyes seemed to
bore straight through him, suddenly filled with indignation.  "Do you ever stop
to listen to yourself?" she demanded.  "You have acted as a judge of others for
your entire life, damning vampires and dunpeals alike who do not measure up to
your personal standards of justice.  You who have sworn to destroy evil now say
is not for you to stand in judgment of what defines that evil?  If not, then
what courts have you taken the others to, what laws have you accused them of
violating?  If you have not acted as judge, jury, and executioner for all these
centuries, bringing our kind to extinction for their crimes, then who has?"
     She blinked and said nothing as he suddenly dismounted, the dirt crunching
beneath his boots as he walked over to the nearest tree.  A frown crossed her
face as he reached out to touch the trunk, seeming to hold onto it for a few
seconds before edging closer to rest his shoulder against it.  Sighing quietly,
she climbed down from the saddle as well and went over to him, pausing a few
paces away as she suddenly realized that he was shaking lightly.
     "D?" she called out softly, suddenly unsure of the situation.
     "I never intended to be a judge," he said very quietly, his voice audibly
shaking with barely-contained emotion.  "All I wanted to do was right a great
wrong, put a terrible injustice to rest for good.  Nothing more."
     He closed his eyes as he felt her touch, first on the armored plates of
his shoulders, then on the unarmored flesh of his wrist.  He felt her other
hand touch his face, turning him around to look at her.  His eyes opened after
a moment, finding a look of slight confusion in her oddly colored eyes.
     "So why did you do it, then?" she asked, her soft tone free from any hint
of reproachment or condemnation.  "Vengeance I can understand, wanting to see
justice brought to those who killed your mother.  But what about the others?
What of those who had nothing to do with the attacks on the palace or innocent
humans?  Why did they have to die?"
     It took him a moment to find the proper reply to her.  "Someone once said
to me that all that evil needs to flourish is for good men to do nothing," he
replied quietly.  "I felt that I needed to do something, that with all I had
seen and heard about the injustice, the wrongness of what vampires had done, I
felt I was being given a duty to see this evil ended.  I felt I had no choice
but to see this ended."
     "Ahh, I see," she said with a slow nod.  "So the judgment had already been
made then, and you were not the judge but merely the executioner?  D...." she
whispered as he suddenly turned from her.  She pulled him back and slid her
arms around him, drawing him into a soft and gentle embrace.  "I understand,"
she said simply.
     It was one of those rare moments when D was almost brought to tears, the
moisture starting to leak from his tear-ducts but not enough to make it fall.
His sense of the passage of time disconnected itself again as he let her hold
him, taking comfort from the warmth of her body pressed against his.  There was
something about the feeling that started to make him wish, not just wish but
actively *want* for time to remain frozen, for the sands to stay stuck in mid-
motion in the hourglass while he simply held her.
     His senses started to reawaken one by one, slowly restoring a feeling of
the passage of time once again.  Her breathing was slow and steady as she held
him, her chest gently expanding and contracting as it pressed again him.  Her
skin-scent and the smell of her hair teased his nose, a gentle and airy, nearly
flowery smell that was almost physically soothed him.  And her pulse....
     It was the beginnings of desire that finally brought him out of the sort
of emotional haven he had slipped into.  Had it been a simple physical desire
for her, he could have dealt with it as easily as he had dealt with such things
in the past.  But it had been a desire for blood, a more than simple curiosity
about what her blood tasted like and a musing how she might react to having her
own life-force sampled like a sip of the most fragrant of wines.
     He gently pushed himself away from her, having learned from his mistake
long ago in rejecting Doris' initial offering of herself.  He didn't want to
take Galen's blood, not now.... but neither could he bring himself to slam the
door shut on that, to forever cut him off from that possibility.  He had come
to appreciate the willing gift of blood from others, first Doris, then Leila,
then the other women he had yielded to over the years, and part of him didn't,
simply couldn't bring himself to deny Galen the same.... pleasure, the same
satisfaction of giving him life and comfort and even satisfaction of his own.
And if anyone could truly understand that one, it would be another dunpeal....
     "D?" she said quietly, tilting his chin down just slightly so they could
look into one another's eyes.  "I really do understand how you feel.  It's just
that nobody else would have understood if you didn't tell them yourself.  Just
think of it as one more reason not to hide behind your armor, to open yourself
up to others just a little bit more."
     He simply nodded to her, realizing that there was a few grains of wisdom
to be found in her words.  He almost sighed as she leaned closer, once again
feeling her lips brush very softly against his.  It wasn't the delightfully
electric feeling that was starting to bother him, far from it.  It was just the
temporal disconnect the sensation produced that was really starting to make him
wonder just what the hell was going on.  He found himself actually wanting to
feel how much time elapsed between when her lips touched his and when they
finally broke away.  How else was he supposed to....
     Enjoy it? he suddenly thought, sparking a considerable shift of his mental
focus to the realization.  Yes, he *was* enjoying the feeling of being kissed,
and he honestly couldn't explain why.  It certainly was different than all of
the others, the hesitant but determined kisses Doris had tried to give him so
long ago, the kisses Leila had given him that were as fiery as they were deep
in the throes of passion, the sometimes naive kisses of innocent young maidens
he had rescued, simply wanting to express their gratitude in a time-honored
traditional fashion....
     He blinked hard as his mind was snapped back in to crystal-clear and very
sharp focus.  It took him a moment to process the backlog of sensory input,
realizing that what had brought him out of his thoughts had been the sensation
of her teeth very gently nipping his lower lip.  Not her sharpened fangs, of
course, but delivered in such a way as to be distinctly attention-getting.
     "D?" she said in a faintly amused tone once she was sure his dark eyes had
fully refocused.  "You really need to do something about those dark thoughts of
yours.  I've never seen anyone so constantly driven to distraction as you seem
to be.  Not a good trait in a hunter, if you know what I mean," she observed.
     "Then stay out of my mind," he said quietly before he even realized the
retort had formed on his tongue.  He mentally winced a moment later, knowing
that he had just made two serious mistakes.  The first was letting her know
that his grip on his thoughts was slipping, leaving him dangerously vulnerable
when distracted.  The other mistake, the greater of the two in his opinion, was
letting her know she was the one shaking the screws loose, at it were.
     The comment clearly took her by surprise, leaving her speechless for a few
moments.  "Well," she finally said after a number of slow and steady breaths,
"I suppose it's only fair given what you're doing to me," she said, her eyes
drifting down to study one of the small pouches tightly secured to the chest
pocket on his dark tunic.
     "And that is...?" he prompted in a guarded tone.
     "What's it to you, hunter?" she countered, her tone soft and gentle with
an undercurrent of a challenge.  Her eyes rose up to meet his, the corner of
her mouth quirking up into a faint smirk.  "Or do you care a little more about
what others think of you than you would have them believe?"
     The urge to sigh in frustration washed over her as she was answered with
stony silence once again, realizing that he wouldn't be giving her a reply to
that question any time soon.  She knew that his silence this time wasn't due to
his armor of isolation, but was instead a part of what he had become over the
centuries.  He simply was not talkative by nature and that no amount of gentle
coaxing could be able to radically alter that.  At least, not anytime soon.
     "Alright, D," she spoke up after taking a deep breath, looking him square
in the eyes.  She almost choked on a random air molecule as a sudden wave of
anxiety swept over her, making her wonder just what in the hell was wrong with
her.  "Like I said last night, I'm starting to like you.  You're unlike anyone
I've ever met.... human, dunpeal, vampire, mutant, anything.  I'm glad to hear
I'm driving you to distraction, because that's exactly what you've done to me
since the moment I saw you step out of the front gates of my father's castle.
I have no idea what I'm going to do, either with you or with myself, and it's
making my head spin so much I'm surprised I haven't gotten nauseous enough to
throw up on your boots.  Figuratively," she added with a soft growl as he edged
away half a step.
     "So now what?" D asked calmly, his expression perfectly impassive.
     She simply looked at him, not believing that he could be so unaffected by
her confession of feelings.  "D, please tell me everything I just said means
something to you," she asked in a very soft tone.
     He looked at her in silence before very slowly nodding his head, a look
of dark isolation and pain slowly seeping into his eyes.  "It does," he replied
quietly, almost too softly for her to hear.
     "Then tell me," she pleaded, her liquid-like eyes starting to fill with
tears.  "D, please, I need to know if.... if you feel the same as I do, if you
care about me as I've found myself starting to care about you."
     The look of pain on her face was like one of the many daggers that had
been rammed into his chest at various points in his life.  This one seemed to
bite more deeply than the others, leeching him not of blood or life but of his
resolve, his strength, his projected armor that had kept him shielded from the
confusion and soul-searing chaos of human emotions.
     "Galen...." he started to say before hesitating.  He couldn't lie to her,
not just because honor forbade it but it simply wasn't in his nature to do so.
And yet, when the truth would hurt far more than a lie would, when it would be
almost a mercy to spare her the pain.... even then, he couldn't.
     "I don't know," he finally said as calmly as possible.  He had tried to
keep his tone empty of emotion, to project the feeling of impassiveness and
control, but there was simply too much pain to have kept it concealed.  "Not
that I don't have.... feelings, but that I.... I simply don't know what they
are.  I'm sorry."
     "You've loved before," she pointed out in a soft whisper, visibly fighting
to keep her tears and emotions in check.  "I'm not asking you to love me, D, I
just want to know if.... if you.... if we.... if we can...."
     Her blue-green eyes closed as he stepped forward, a single tear sliding
down her face as his hand came up to very softly brush her cheek.  A gentle
embrace followed, wrapping her up in a comforting hug just as she had done for
him.... how long ago?  Minutes?  An hour?  She summarily dismissed the thoughts
of time from her mind as she melted into his arms, feeling a sense of emotional
peace surround her at the simple warmth of the gesture.
     <Guys?> a very cautious voice spoke up, causing them both to blink at the
unexpected interruption.  <I *really* hate to break this up, but we're about to
get some company.  Up the road ahead.>
     Both D and Galen immediately turned to look, the soft clomping sound of a
horse-drawn wagon reaching their ears at it approached.  It seemed to be a
delivery cart of some sort, several large wooden barrels and crates neatly
stacked and tied down in the back.  A very gruff-looking man was holding the
reins in the driver's seat, turning his head to look as he saw the pair of
figures holding one another on the trail.  A fairly large shotgun was resting
on the seat next to him in easy reach, the polished double-barreled weapon
seeming to sparkle as it was struck by tiny rays of light breaking through the
forest canopy.
     D looked down to find Galen giving him a slightly uncertain look, clearly
not sure what to do now.  She kept her arms around him as the cart approached,
however, laying her head on his shoulder as it finally reached them.
     The cart didn't even slow down as it passed by them, the driver casually
nodding his head to them in idle recognition as he rode by.  D kept his gaze on
the driver the entire time, making sure that they wouldn't be attacked as more
than one shotgun-bearing wagoneer had done when they encountered a dunpeal on
the road.  The driver apparently had no interest in doing so, however, and it
was only a matter of seconds before the wagon sounds faded from their ears.
     "I take it that means we're getting close to the human town," she said in
a quiet voice, her head still resting on his shoulder.  "You sure you don't
mind if we spend the night there?  I really don't think they'll bother us."
     "And if they do?" he asked quietly, fairly sure he knew what the answer
would be but feeling the need to hear her say it anyway.
     "Then I guess we leave as quickly as we can," she replied, squeezing him
tightly.  "I'm not about to start a riot just because I want a hot shower."
She lifted her head from his shoulder and added, "You need one too."
     He glanced down at her, trying to determine her mood.  She seemed to be
serious and somber for the most part, but there was just the faintest flicker
of something else in her eyes.  Amusement, perhaps, teasing him just a little.
And after putting up with that thing in his hand for so long, he knew he could
deal with being teased.
     "Let's go," he said simply.  He paused when he started to turn away from
her, feeling the grip on his hand suddenly triple in intensity.
     "D...." she said hesitantly, looking up at him with openly uncertain eyes.
"Do you.... do you want to try to make this work?"
     He paused in slight confusion, wondering what exactly she was trying to
ask of him.  "Make what work?" he inquired carefully.
     Her lower lip trembled slightly as she hesitated for a moment.  "Us," she
finally said, barely able to whisper the word.
     The stabbing sensation was back in his chest again, seeming to burrow even
deeper than the first time.  Again it took him a few moments to gather enough
courage to speak the painful truth, and again it almost burned his soul like a
brand to have to say it.  "I don't know," he whispered back.
     He almost blinked as she laughed very softly to herself, a smile briefly
crossing her face as she looked up at him.  "I suppose I should have expected
that," she murmured softly, more to herself than to him.  "Damn you, hunter,
what the hell am I supposed to do with you?"
     <I've been asking *that* question for centuries,> the thing muttered.
     Galen's hand shot out just as D's did, her hand grasping his left wrist in
an iron grip before he could slam his palm against the tree trunk.  She gave
him a warning look before turning his hand around, looking down at the suddenly
uneasy face in the center of his palm.
     "Do me a favor, little one," she said slowly.
     <Ma'am?> it asked in an extremely wary tone.
     "I remember what you said earlier.  'You're a cute dunpeal and all, but I
don't want to get involved in whatever it is the two of you seem intent on
getting yourselves into,'" she mimicked gently.  "Please have the good grace to
keep your word and stay out of our business, or at least keep your commentary
to yourself.  It is.... not appreciated."
     <Yes, ma'am, I'll keep quiet,> it promised in a subdued tone.
     "Thank you," she replied with a slight nod of her head as she let D's hand
go.  She cast another warning look at him before turning around, heading over
to where the mount had wandered off to.  She hoisted herself into the saddle
without effort and picked up the reins, pausing to give D a slightly impatient
gesture.  "Whenever you're ready," she called out to him.
     <D?> it spoke up very quietly to him, drawing a dark look.  <Do you have
any idea how much trouble we're probably going to be in soon?>
     "No," he replied succinctly as he headed over to the mount.
     <That makes two of us,> it sighed softly, moments before it was mashed
flat against the saddlehorn.

                *               *               *               *

     Another two hours of silent riding brought them to the fork in the road,
Galen pausing just long enough to glance over her shoulder at D before steering
the mount along the southern trail.  It took another half-hour before the first
signs of human habitation could be seen, small farming houses and open fields
dotting the landscape at random intervals.
     The majority of the trees sharply thinned out as they approached the town,
the forest here reduced to simple fields in order to provide raw materials for
building construction.  They didn't see any evidence of advanced construction
such as metal structures or electrical distribution lines until they reached
the hub of the town itself, a rather loose collection of small buildings that
boasted both commercial and residential uses.  Only a handful of people could
be seen moving about, but almost all of them stopped to very closely watch the
pair of dunpeals as the came to a halt next to a tavern-like inn.
     They left the mount tied to one of the posts next to a water trough and
stepped inside, carefully assessing the environment as they went past the pair
of saloon-like swinging doors.  It was fairly dark inside, with only a handful
of shielded lamps hanging from the ceiling and a slew of typically rowdy neon
signs to provide any illumination.
     Whatever activity had been going on at the time had come to a perfectly
silent halt, a game of cards suspended in mid-motion as a good two dozen pairs
of eyes all turned to focus on the two figures standing just inside the open
doorway.  Most were dressed in the rugged, dusty overalls of ranchers, complete
with wide-brimmed hats and fairly large belts.  More than one weapon could be
seen in a holster hanging from the leather-and-metal belts, and more than one
hand was discreetly freed up to move fast if need be.
     "Howdy, strangers," a man sitting by himself at a table said with a very
heavy drawl.  Most of his face was hidden in darkness despite the lightbulb
hanging almost directly over him, his light gray hat casting a wide shadow
around his head.
     "Evening," Galen replied calmly, making sure both her hands were in front
of her where everyone could see them.  The edge of her cape seemed to slip back
a few inches as if stirred by a breeze, letting the hilt of her rapier reflect
some of the dim light in the room.  "We're just passing through and wondering
if we could get a room for the night."
     The man said nothing for a moment as he sipped on a rather huge tankard of
bright yellow beer.  "Well, miss, you'll have to talk to Rosie over there," he
said with a casual gesture of his free hand across the room.  "She's the keeper
of the keys, as it were.  I must say, though, it's rather.... unusual to see
one of your kind in these here parts, let alone two of you together," he added
in a calm manner before taking another sip of his beer.
     Galen cast a quick glance at D before shrugging in dismissal.  "Like I
said, we're just passing through, nothing more."  She looked up and frowned as
she heard a snort of contempt from another patron a few tables down.
     "Yeah, that's what the last dunpeal said before we had to run his ass out
of town," a dark-haired man growled quietly.  "Buncha blood-sucking...."
     "Zeke?" the first man said in a weary tone.  "Now I know your momma done
taught you better manners than that.  Just sit down and drink your beer, we'll
handle this one.  You'll have to excuse him, miss," he added to Galen.  "We've
had a few bad experiences with your kind a few years back, and some of us are
still a touch bitter about it."
     Galen nodded quietly, the edges of her lip curling down in mild disgust.
"I can understand that one," she allowed, absently reaching back to brush her
fingertips along D's wrist.
     "Rosie, you've got a room or two still open, right?" the man called out
towards the back of the tavern.
     "Well, I...." a woman who appeared to be in her fifties started to say.
     "Now hold on," Zeke said with a scowl.  "Red, you can't be serious about
letting them stay here!  You know what happened the last time!"
     A quiet sigh rose up from the first man's chest as he took a very deep
drink from his tankard before setting it down with a heavy thump.  "Zeke, you
really need to learn a few manners.  Not all the dunpeals in this world are
hell-bent on death and destruction.  How about giving 'em a chance to at least
introduce themselves before flyin' off the handle, eh?  My name's Red," he said
to the dunpeals, reaching up to tip his hat just slightly.  "If you don't mind
my saying so, miss, you've got some right pretty looks on you.  Don't suppose
you'd mind telling me your name?"
     "Galen," she replied with a slight bow of her head at the compliment.
     "Huh," Red said as he scratched his chin.  "Now I know I done heard that
name tossed around before.  Daughter of some nearby vampire lord, right?"
     "That's her, alright," a woman's voice spoke up from somewhere in the dim
depths of the tavern.  "I ain't never heard of nobody else having hair like
that, she has to be Count Niles' daughter."
     Red nodded to himself before picking up his beer again.  "That's right,"
he muttered before taking another deep sip.  "Now I don't know much about the
man, but I can't say I've heard anything about him attacking humans or being a
pain in the neck as it were.  Whoops, sorry," he added as he realized what he
had just said.  "Figure of speech, miss, didn't mean to offend nobody."
     "No offense taken," Galen replied with amusement.  "And my father isn't
the kind of noble to bother anyone who isn't bothering him.  Not all of us are
mindless blood-sucking leeches," she added lightly, casting a look at Zeke.
     Red laughed softly to himself before taking another sip of beer.  "That's
right comforting to hear, Miss Galen.  So what about you, stranger?" he said to
D.  "Don't suppose you'd care to introduce yourself as well?"
     D cast a glance at Galen as she took his hand in hers and squeezed gently.
"D," he said simply to the room in general.
     "WHAT?" Zeke blurted out loudly, standing up so quickly that his chair
tumbled onto the floor.  "*The* D, the legendary vampire hunter?!"
     "Now hold your horses, Zeke," Red said patiently, seemingly unfazed by the
announcement.  "That's a fairly famous name and all, and one you're not likely
to see around these here parts.  Granted he's a dunpeal, but everyone knows D
is a dunpeal.  No disrespect, stranger, but you'll have to prove that one to me
just so we know for sure you are who you claim you are," he said very calmly
before taking a sip of beer.
     "Red, are you crazy?" another voice called out from somewhere in the back
of the tavern.
     "Nope," Red replied as he set his tankard of beer down.  "Just cautious,
that's all.  Now I know how his identity can be proven, too.  You folks may
want to have a seat," he added, making a gesture to an empty table across from
him.  "This one should take a fair bit to explain, so bear with me.  Rosie, you
want to be kind enough to get them something to drink?  Put it on my tab."
     "Thank you," Galen said, still holding D's hand as she made her way over
to the indicated table.  She looked up as Rosie carefully approached, holding
a small serving tray as if it were a wooden shield of sort.  "Do you have any
wines, by chance?" she inquired carefully as she held out a coin.
     "I.... think so," Rosie replied hesitantly, looking at the offered coin
before nervously accepting it.  "A-And you?" she asked, casting a glance at D.
     "The same," he said quietly, the brim of his hat keeping virtually his
entire face hidden in shadow.  The scabbard of his sword rasped quietly as it
was removed and leaned against the table, allowing him to sit down in the old
wooden chair.
     Red waited until the bar-mistress headed back towards the kitchen before
starting to speak again.  "It must've been a good, oh, thirty years ago when I
was still living in Riverwake out west," he mused, his voice staying calm and
quiet but still loud enough for the rest of the room to hear.  "Small town like
this, mostly ranchers herding cattle for a living.  One day this dunpeal fellow
comes through town, middle of the day in full sunshine.  Talkative gent, but we
could tell he was a little touched in the head by the way he spoke.  Not really
a simpleton, but he wasn't exactly a right thinker, either.
     "So anyway, the day goes by and this gent moves on about his business.  As
soon as the sun goes over the horizon, however, all flaming hell breaks loose.
Zombies start swarming the place, must've been a good seven or eight dozen of
the bastards.  The screams started about six seconds after the first one was
spotted and they didn't stop.
     "My boys and I were out in one of the cattle pens when we heard the first
screams, so we start riding like the devil himself was on our tail to see what
was going on.  Almost made it to the town when we met up with the zombies, and
damned if things didn't get ugly right quick."
     Red paused to take a deep sip of his beer, the rest of the tavern seeming
to remain perfectly still and listening to his story in absolute silence.  "We
had our guns with us, of course, but the ammo didn't last too long and really
didn't slow the bastards down too much.  Miss, I'm sorry if my rough manner of
speaking offends you," he suddenly said to Galen.
     "It's quite alright," she replied softly.  "Please, go on."
     "Thank you kindly, miss," Red said as he paused to take another sip of his
beer.  He was about to speak but held his tongue as Rosie returned with two
large mugs of dark purple wine.
     "Here you go, miss," Rosie said in a slightly uneasy tone as she set the
pair of mugs down in front of D and Galen.  "We don't have much in the way of
wine as few of these rustlers drink it, but we still have a cask we bought a
few years back."
     "Thank you," Galen replied with a gentle smile as she picked up her mug.
She sipped at it carefully, blinking hard at the smoothness of the taste.  "Not
to complain in the least, but this tastes like it's been around for far longer
than a few years.  You should try some yourself one of these days," she added.
     "I'll.... I'll think about it," Rosie stammered.
     "So anyway," Red drawled quietly once Rosie had returned to the other side
of the tavern, "We're busy blundering around like newly-castrated cattle trying
to figure out how in tarnation we're going to deal with these zombies, when all
of a sudden this dark figure on a dark horse just blows past us like he was the
wind himself.  Didn't hear him coming, didn't see him coming, nothing, just
bam, he's there.
     "Now I'll be honest, I didn't see the man's face, moved too quickly for
that, but I caught a glimpse of his skin and could tell he wasn't just some
pale ol' white boy from the back forty.  The rest of my boys picked up on this
too, and we're all thinking he's just a second dunpeal come to join the first
to finish us off."
     The room remained deathly silent as he paused to take a sip of beer before
continuing.  "That thought got changed right quick soon as this fellow meets up
with the zombies.  His horse didn't even slow down as he whipped out one of the
biggest swords I ever seen in all my life and just starts whaling away at them
zombies like he was the hand of God himself.
     "Now I was a younger man back then, but I hadn't just fallen off the hay
wagon the week before.  I done seen my share of one-sided fights before, but I
ain't *never* seen one man kick so much ass all by hisself in so short a time
like that.  There must've been a good twenty zombies or so, minus the two we
managed to plug before we ran out of ammo, and I swear that he done cut 'em all
down in about thirty seconds.  Wham, bam, thank'ee zombie, just like that.
     "Now the rest of us are just standing there ready to piss ourselves, not
believing what we're seein' maybe twenty feet in front of us.  And before the
last chunk of zombie parts can hit the dirt, he's off galloping towards the
town again like a bolt of black lightning.  So we stop to make sure that the
zombies ain't gonna sit back up again before we start scramblin' after him."
     Another sip of beer provided an agonizing pause of anticipation before he
began to speak again.  "Well, there are several paths into town, and he must've
taken one of the low roads because we didn't see him until we reached a small
hill overlooking the center of the town.  So we're looking into the town and
all we can see is a herd of zombies being mowed down by this stranger.  He had
gotten off his horse for some reason and was still wingin' that sword around,
dropping zombies like they was just ugly clumps of wheat during harvest time.
     "Then all of a sudden we hear a scream.  Real high-pitched, coming from a
little girl over by the barn.  Cute little thing, couldn't have been more than
five or six years old.  Anyway, she was backed up against the barn with this
zombie looming over her, like he was going to eat her or something.  Now the
stranger was on the opposite side of the road with a good four or five zombies
in his way, and we all knew that even if he ain't had nothing but open road in
front of him to run, there was no way that he'd be able to get over there to
save that little girl from that zombie."
     Red paused to take an unusually deep swig from his tankard before setting
it down on the table.  "And then the damnedest thing I *ever* seen in my life
happened.  This stranger looks up to see where the scream is coming from, and
all of a sudden he starts moving faster than I can follow.  I mean blurred like
a ghost, he moved that quickly.  That sword sounded like a thunderclap as it
cut through both the air and the two zombies in front of him.  Then he reached
down to his belt, drew a knife, flipped it to catch it by the point, and then
chunked that thing across the entire distance between him and that little girl.
Must've been a good sixty yards, but damned if it didn't make the distance.
     "Damn thing looked like a saw-blade as it spun through the air, and it
nailed that zombie right in the back of the neck.  Just whip-whip-whip-thunk,
the entire thing buried up to the hilt.  The tip blew clean through its throat
and stuck in the barn, and that was it for the zombie.  Bastard was just nailed
to the side of the barn like the ugliest scarecrow you ever seen.  That little
girl damn near broke our eardrums with a scream of fright, but she was able to
run away and over to the arms of her mother.  They both hauled out of there,
safe and sound, and that stranger just went back to kicking zombie ass and
taking names like it was a Sunday afternoon stroll."
     "Ho-ly *shit*, Red," someone whispered from the darkened tavern as the
rancher stopped for another sip of beer.  "Are you serious?"
     "Quiet, Jeb, I ain't finished yet," Red said calmly.  "So anyway, this
dunpeal finishes with the zombies, saddles back up, and goes tearing off after
the first dunpeal who was seen on the other side of town.  Then things get real
quiet for about ten minutes before one of the townsfolk comes back with that
mentally-challenged dunpeal's head on a stick.  Boy told everyone as loud as he
could that the two dunpeals got into it real ugly-like before the stranger just
lopped his head off.  Then he just wiped the dirt off hisself and started to
head out of town like it was nothing.  The boy managed to get a name from him
before he left, and he said his name was D.
     "'So that's D,' we all said soon as we got everything back in order.  I
still never got to see his face, however, so I didn't think I'd be able to say
for sure if I ever ran across him again.  So anyway, we're still cleaning up
when I remember the scarecrow-zombie he left us with, so I walk over to it,
plunk it with my .45 a few times to make damn sure it's dead, and yanked the
dagger out of its neck."
     Red paused for a sip of beer before continuing.  "I remember thinking to
myself that it was a right nice piece of work, light, well-crafted, and just
begging to be thrown.  I flipped it over and saw.... well, let's just call it
a design for the moment.  Anyway, I was thinking that surely he'd come back to
get it once he remembered where it went, so I just rinsed it off, wiped it down
with a touch of metal polish, and kept it nice and safe for him.
     "Thing is, he never came back for it," Red said with a casual shrug.  "So
after a month or so, I finally said hell with it and decided to keep it myself.
Damned useful knife it was, saved my ass from a werewolf once seeing how it had
some silver edging on it, but anyway.  Here's what I'm thinking, stranger....
surely that man who called himself D knew what was on that knife of his, so if
you could tell me what that.... design was, that'd be all the proof I need to
know that you're the same man I saw in action way back then."
     "Well damn, Red," Zeke muttered into his beer.  "Why didn't you just ask
that question at the start and spared us that whole story?"
     "Well, stranger?" Red prodded D quietly.  "What was on it?"
     D took a slow sip of his wine before speaking.  "Flowers," he said calmly.
     "Flowers?" Galen echoed, giving him a startled look.  "What kind?"
     "A lily and a pansy," D replied before taking another sip of wine.
     The entire room turned to look at Zeke as he bust out laughing, almost
spilling his beer across the table.  "F-F-Flowers?" he laughed, clutching the
table for support.  "You tryin' to tell me that this supposedly bad-ass hunter
of vampires puts *flowers* on his weapons?  A lily and a *pansy*? BWAHAHAHA!"
     The rest of the room looked over at Red as he leaned back, swinging his
leg up to thump the heel of his boot on the table.  He reached down and pulled
a large knife out from inside the boot, flipping the weapon in the air to catch
it by the point.  His arm suddenly flicked out in a surprisingly fast throwing
motion, sending the knife spinning along a dangerously low arc.
     The blade embedded itself right on the edge of the table, barely more than
an inch away from the still-laughing Zeke.  The laughter abruptly changed to a
very startled yelp of surprise as he stumbled back, the mug of beer landing in
his lap with a heavy splashing sound.  "God *DAMN*, Red!!" he gasped as he shot
to his feet, dripping beer.  "What in tarnation do you think you're doing?!"
     "Zeke?" Red said in a very tired tone.  "Shut your yap before I shut it
for you, a'right?  Now pull that thing out and show it to Rosie.  I don't know
nothin' about flowers 'cept that they smell nice, and I'm fairly sure an inbred
hick like you don't know a pansy from a weed.  Rosie, think you can help us out
with this one?"
     Zeke stared at the old rancher before yanking the knife out of the table
with a snarl, casting a dark look at both Red and D before glancing down.  His
eyes doubled size a moment later as his head snapped back up, giving Red an
incredulous look.  "What the hell, Red?" he gasped.
     "Rosie?" Red asked quietly as the bar-mistress leaned over Zeke's shoulder
to look at the delicate designs etched on the blade.
     "Well, I'll be damned if that ain't a lily," she breathed.  "And you just
have to go look at my garden to see what a pansy looks like, and that right
there is one of the most beautiful pictures I ever seen of one."
     "Good enough for me," Red said calmly as he leaned back.  "So I guess you
are that D fellow after all.  Welcome, pardner," he added with a gentle hoist
of his tankard in casual salute.
     Galen just stared at D in silence for a moment before rising to her feet.
She quietly walked across the room to where Zeke and Rosie were, ignoring the
latter as she edged back and gently plucking the blade out of the grasp of the
former.  She looked down at the blade, tilting it slightly to get a better view
of the pair of flowers with intertwined stems.  "D?" she called out, lifting
her head up to give him a slightly stunned look.
     "A gift," D said quietly, taking another sip from his mug.
     Galen's eyebrows arched up in surprise as she studied the knife in silence
for another few seconds.  She made a soft noise of curiosity to herself as she
hefted the blade, testing it for balance and aerodynamics.  Satisfied that it
was of a very high quality, she flipped it around to hold it by the bladed end.
     Few people actually saw her move, her wrist snapping out in a very tight
arc to send the blade singing through the air.  A collective gasp of surprise
and awe rose up from the rest of the tavern as D reached up to pluck it out of
the air as it neared him, the hilt slapping his palm solidly enough to sound
like a wooden board being broken.
     "Jesus...." someone muttered as D calmly finished his mug of wine before
standing up.  He walked around to the front of the table and pulled one of his
daggers from his belt.  The weapon was then gently laid down on the edge of
Red's table as D put the decorated knife back in the now-empty sheath.
     "Naw, you don't have to do that, pardner," Red drawled quietly.
     "Thank you," D said quietly to Red before he started to turn away.
     "I don't think so, hunter," Red suddenly said in a low tone as he started
to rise to his feet.
     The entire tavern suddenly held its collective breath as D slowly turned
back around, his eyes narrowing slightly at the other man's tone.  It had been
some time since someone had used it with him, and in every case it had been the
precursor to a fight of some sort.
     Red slowly reached up to remove his hat with his left hand, revealing the
face of an old rancher who had seen things he would rather not have.  A pair of
ice-blue eyes looked back at D, the man's jaw covered with the coarse salt-and-
pepper bristles of one who hadn't bothered to shave in a few days.  His right
hand slowly came up, outstretched to offer D a simple handshake.
     "I thank *you*, D," he said very slowly, "For saving my daughter's life
back there with that knife throw."
     D looked up at him before nodding slightly, reaching out with his own hand
to accept the handshake.  It was a simple gesture, one that he hadn't been in
a position to do very often, but it was probably one of the very few uniquely
human gestures he didn't have many problems being a part of.  Under the right
conditions.
     "Damn, Red," someone whispered quietly, the soft feminine voice audibly
laced with emotion.  The emotion was also visible in Red's eyes, the old man
seeming to be close to the point of tears himself as he shook D's hand.
     D looked up as they stepped back from one another, finding Galen quietly
approaching him with a similar look in her eyes.  She gave Red a gentle smile
before she stepped closer to D, sliding her arms around his waist and leaning
forward to give him a very solid kiss that raised more than a few eyebrows from
the rest of the tavern patrons.
     The kiss took him completely by surprise.  It wasn't the soft brushing of
her lips against his as the previous ones had been, but a full and bold kiss on
the mouth that left them both silently panting for breath.  Her lips parted as
she edged back a few seconds later, just enough to let the very edges of her
teeth lightly nip his lower lip before pulling away from him.
     He simply had no idea what to say or how to react as she let go and moved
past him, returning to her seat at the table.  Stunned, he turned to look at
Red, noticing that a very faint blush of embarrassment had taken up residence
on his sun-weathered face.
     "I've been waiting to thank you for thirty years," he said with a slight
cough as he put his hat back on.  "But I'll be damned if I'm going to thank you
like that as well," he drawled with a twinkle in his eye.
     A series of quiet chuckles and laughs swept the room as D gave the old man
a faint smirk of amusement, nodding his head slightly before returning to take
his seat as well.  He paused as he sat down, casting a sidelong look at Galen
as he felt her hand lightly rest on his thigh.
     "Rosie?" Red drawled as he tossed back the remainder of his tankard in a
single gulp.  "About that room they were askin' for...."
     "Easy, Red," Rosie replied with a gentle scoff, looking over at D.  "After
hearing a story like that, I don't think anyone would have a problem with them
spending the night here.  I'll fetch the room keys after dinner.  Assuming the
two of you are staying for dinner...?" she asked, giving Galen and D a slightly
uncertain look.
     "Just as long as trail rations aren't on the menu," Galen replied dryly as
she drained her mug.
     "Oh, heavens no," the bar-mistress replied with an insulted look.  "I may
not be the best cook in these here parts, but I certainly can cook a lot better
than that!  Trail rations.... I never!" she stated indignantly.
     "Easy, Rosie," Red chuckled quietly.  "Those rations are good for filling
you up on those long wagon rides, but they do sort of wear out the taste buds
after a few days.  I'm sure whatever you make will be right delicious.  What's
going to be on the grill tonight?"
     "Well, I was fixin' to try my hand at some ribs," Rosie hedged, suddenly
not so sure of her abilities anymore.  "Been awhile since I done that, but we
just got a crate of 'em from Westerfield yesterday.  Decent price, too."
     Galen chuckled quietly to herself, idly rubbing D's leg beneath the table.
"Ribs sound good to us, ma'am," she said with a soft smile.  "Don't suppose I
could trouble you for some more of that wine?"
     "Sure thing, miss," the bar-mistress replied as she started to turn away.
She paused and glanced over at D, still appearing to be slightly nervous with
his dark presence in her tavern.  "I take it you need a refill as well?" she
asked in a slightly hesitant tone.  She paused as she only got a silent nod in
response before she turned to Red, casting a slightly disgruntled look down at
his empty tankard.  "And I take it you want me to fill that glass buffalo of
yours as well?" she said primly.
     Red chuckled quietly as he held out the empty tankard to her.  "You know
I always pay my bar tab, Rosie," he drawled.
     Galen looked over at D as the tavern seemed to slowly return to normal,
the long-interrupted card game once again progressing.  She leaned over to him,
to speak quietly without being overheard.  "Flowers, D?" she asked lightly, a
look of amusement dancing in her liquid-like eyes.
     "I was once hired to rescue a girl who had been kidnapped by a small clan
of vampires, apparently for ransom," D said in a hollow tone, his face hidden
in darkness by his hat.  "At least, that's what the note they left said.  They
really wanted me and just used her as bait.  They sought to play mind games as
I followed their trail in the hopes it would make me easier to kill.  I came
across that knife left out in the open, etched with the supposedly cowardly
images of a lily and a pansy as a sort of insult.  I would have left it where
it was had the blade not been wetted with blood.  Her blood," he added softly.
     "D...." Galen said gently, squeezing his leg.  They both looked up as
Rosie returned, quietly placing another pair of wine-filled mugs in front of
them before collecting the used ones and departing.  Galen's eyebrows arched up
as D picked up the mug and seemed to down a good fourth of the contents in a
single swallow, feeling tiny threads of ice slowly wind around her spine.  "So
what happened?" she asked softly, praying it wouldn't play out as she started
to fear it had.
     "I found the girl's body nailed to the castle doors," D said softly, his
muted tone faintly laced with anger, bitterness, and sorrow at the memories.
"She didn't have a pulse when I reached her, but her blood was still hot.  She
had been hanging there for hours, but she couldn't have been dead for longer
than five minutes.  I kept the knife with me, not because of its craftsmanship
but because it was a reminder that even after all that I had done over the
centuries, I still needed to make sure that every moment counts.  When I was
able to use it to save a life when a single second had mattered.... I felt it
was best to leave it behind and let the girl's memory finally rest in peace."
     He remained silent as she scooted closer to him, leaning over to take his
hand in hers and resting her head on his shoulder.  The gesture was not truly
unexpected at this point, having already gotten used to her tendency to try to
comfort him like that.  The realization that he *was* both getting used to her
and that he was indeed starting to find the gestures to be of some degree of
comfort was enough to make him put his mug back down with a muted thump, not
wanting his sense of unease to be revealed by a hand-tremor or worse.
     "You know," Red drawled slowly, tipping his hat back just enough to study
the pair of dunpeals, "I've heard many thing said about you, pardner, some I
can easily believe, others I'd have to see proof of m'self first.  But in all
the stories and legends and the like, not one of them ever said anything about
you having a traveling companion.  Certainly nothing about a woman as uniquely
beautiful or as memorable as Miss Galen there," he added respectfully.
     Galen lifted her head up to cast an amused glance at D, giggling softly to
herself at the dour look on his face.  She edged forward to plant a soft kiss
along his jaw before turning around to look back at Red.  "Let's just say that
I'm a recent development," she said with a hint of coyness.  She missed the
look that crossed D's face, his free hand reaching for the mug of wine as he
cast a slightly unamused glare at the back of her head.
     "Oh?" Red mused as he leaned back, idly sipping on his refilled tankard of
light yellow beer.
     "We had a bit of a rough encounter at first, but once we.... ran through
our differences," she said playfully, casting a sultry look back at D, "We were
able to sort things out between us well enough."
     It was one of those rare moments where it took D every single ounce of his
self-control to avoid publicly embarrassing himself by reacting to the way she
had so cavalierly summarized their initial encounter on the bridge.  Even so,
he was unable to fully suppress a faint cough from wafting up from his lungs.
He set his mug back down on the table and swallowed the wine as discreetly as
he could to avoid a choking hazard.
     Red chuckled quietly to himself, having caught the momentary change in D's
expression and knowing that something was definitely going on between the pair
of dunpeals.  "Now that sounds like an interesting story, miss," he said in a
somewhat lazily tone.  "I take it the two of you have been traveling together
for some time now?"
     Galen shrugged off-handedly as she reached for her mug of wine with her
free hand, her other still holding D's hand in a gentle grip.  "Not really.  He
had some business with my father, and I guess we sort of made a connection on
the way out."  She took a deep sip of the wine before adding in a dangerously
calm tone, "I guess you can say we're now on our way to go see my mother."
     She looked up at D just in time to see his expression change, unable to
prevent herself from smiling at the look of sheer surprise and even a hint of
horror with the implications at the way she had said it.  A quick glance around
the tavern revealed more than a few raised eyebrows and looks of intrigue at
the thought, especially from the small group of women clustered together in the
far corner.
     "Sounds serious," Red observed carefully with a sip of his beer.
     Galen turned to look at D, not bothering to hide the gentle look in her
eyes.  She squeezed his hand gently before leaning over, letting her lips brush
against his for several seconds.  A very faint sighing-hum rose up from her
chest as he didn't resist the public display of affection.  "We're starting to
think it is," she murmured to the rancher as she laid her head back on D's
armored shoulder, a soft smile of satisfaction crossing her face.
     The old rancher nodded sagely to himself, idly taking another sip of beer.
"That's probably one of the best things than can happen to a man like him," he
said quietly.  "If you don't mind my saying so, pardner, I can see for myself
that you're not the most talkative gent in the world.  More often than not it
means you got something right heavy on your mind.  Sometimes you can tell your
boys about it while you're chasing the herd all over God's creation, to get it
off your chest and all.  But there are some things that you really just can't
talk about with your boys, and so the only cure for that one is the presence of
a special woman at your side."
     He paused to take a sip of beer before continuing, "Now I imagine that a
famous vampire-hunter such as yourself has seen a lot of stuff us common folk
couldn't even dream about in our worst nightmares.  If I had that weighing on
my mind, I'd probably be sitting on my tongue as well just so I don't let slip
something that might scare the color off anyone's drawers just thinkin' about
it.  Now I don't mean to be racist or nothing, miss, but seeing how you're one
of kind as well I'd be thinking that you'd be better-equipped to cope with some
of those notions given your nature than us human folk might be."
     "That's a fair way of looking at it," Galen replied quietly, squeezing D's
hand yet again.  She almost blinked when she felt him return the gesture, her
eyes closing briefly as she savored the feeling of comfort that came from so
simple a thing as a momentary increase in pressure.
     "You'd be surprised what humans can cope with," D spoke up very quietly.
     "Oh?" Red said, looking up from the rim of his tankard with a slightly
startled look.  "And what do you mean by that, pardner?"
     D seemed to stare down at his mug for a few moments before replying.  "The
strength of the human spirit is often stronger than people realize," he said.
"That's part of what vampires found so interesting, and also why they continued
to underestimate the power humans have when confronting them."
     Red and Galen exchanged slightly uncertain glances, neither one sure where
this one was going or even where it had come from.  "I reckon you might have a
point with that," Red said carefully.
     "D, what's wrong?" Galen suddenly spoke up, suddenly sensing a dramatic
shift in his mood.
     "The human spirit is what keeps you going through the darkest of times,"
D said in an emotionless tone.  "Once the final hours have passed, the horrors
will eventually fade in intensity as you adjust to and cope with the memories.
You may even forget them entirely if enough time passes, allowing you to live
your lives with only a few scars."
     Red snorted quietly and took a deep sip of beer.  "I don't know about that
last one, pardner, but I'm following along with what you're saying.  I think,"
he added in an openly guarded tone.  "I reckon there's just a little more to
what you're saying than that, however."
     Galen studied D's face as he remained silent, seeming to absently sip his
mug of wine with uncaring indifference.  "I think his point is that my being a
dunpeal probably doesn't make that much of a difference," she said to Red, her
eyes never leaving the slightly weary lines of D's face.  "At least in terms of
being able to cope with all that he's gone through," she added, giving the old
rancher a gentle look.
     "I see your point, miss," Red replied, easing back against the wall in a
relaxed position.  He seemed to pause for a moment before the brim of his hat
tilted up, allowing some of the light to be cast on his unshaven face as he
sniffed the air.  "Well, damned if that don't smell like some good ribs," he
drawled with a faint smile.
     Galen tested the air as well, making a soft purr of intrigue as the aroma
of barbecued ribs registered on her senses.  "Mmm, I do believe you're right,"
she said in a slightly husky tone.  "I'm a little more partial to rabbit stew
than beef, to be honest, but think I can tell when something is going to be
delicious when I smell it."
     "Rabbits?" Red echoed with a dry chuckle.  "Miss, you got to be kidding
me.  Not to poke fun at your idea of vittles, but how can you compare the taste
of an itty-bitty ball of fast-hoppin' fur diced up in a kettle to the taste of
some plump an' juicy corn-fed, hand-raised good ol' fashioned beef all laid out
on a grill and roasted over a hickory fire to mouth-waterin' perfection?"
     Galen chuckled quietly to herself as she laid her head back down on D's
shoulder, giving the rancher an amused look.  "Half the fun is catching them in
the first place," she pointed out.  "The taste of triumph in a difficult hunt
tends to sweeten things.  And if they give you a real hard time in the process,
the taste of vengeance can be just as honeyed as any glaze," she added with a
slightly predatory smile.
     "Jesus," Red laughed, almost spewing a mouthful of beer across the table.
"Now that's one vivid image you just painted there for me, miss.  Now I ain't
never been much of a hunter and all, but I've taken a few pot-shots over the
years at migrating ducks and geese.  Only had a duck on the dinner plate but
once or twice, but I do know what you mean about the taste of satisfaction."
     D said nothing as he listened to the conversations around him, trying to
figure out what was bothering him so much.  It was clear from the way Galen and
Red were talking that the rancher didn't mind their presence in the slightest,
a slightly unusual attitude for a human to have after being attacked by another
dunpeal in the past.  Granted it was thirty years ago, not counting the other
incidents he quietly alluded to earlier, but still....
     A casual survey of the room produced a wide range of reactions.  He could
tell from the way that Zeke kept glancing at him that the younger man didn't
trust him, which was both understood and expected.  A good number of the other
patrons glanced over at him every so often as well, but he couldn't tell if it
was out of distrust or simple curiosity at the 'legend' sitting at one of the
tables.
     The small group of women clustered together around a large table in the
corner worried him the most, able to discern more than one furtive glance in
his direction that had little to do with distrust.  It was a phenomenon he only
recently became aware of, a growing number of women becoming more than a little
interested in the man behind the stories they heard.  Not the stories that he
could hear being told in bars and taverns among the general population, but the
far more quieter whispers only rarely heard outside the very complex and almost
frighteningly huge social circles that women formed.
     It would have been a lie to say it wasn't his fault, as he had willingly
joined a very small number of equally willing women for a (usually) quiet night
of (mostly) gentle passion and lust.  He did, however, quietly blame Leila's
sense of humor for leading him to make his other promise to her on that very
windy and sand-stormy night so long ago.  She had wanted others to also be able
to boast about having had a night with him, a concept that he *still* had yet
to truly figure out why even to this day.  He might have refused the promise to
her had he any idea that such dalliances, rare as they were, would fuel such a
wide-spread phenomenon.
     Of course, had he known just how many women would try to approach him for
a quiet night after hearing about the whispered stories, he probably would have
ran screaming out the door, sandstorm be damned, for the sanctity of a plague-
filled rat-infested crypt buried in a swamp before making that promise to her.
That wasn't to say he didn't mind the occasional dalliance.... well, as least
only recently, as it had taken him quite some time to get used to them after
Leila had opened his eyes in more ways than one.... but he still didn't like
having to leave them in the morning after sharing so much with him.  And that
didn't take into account all the less-than-comely women who approached him.
Granted he truly didn't care much about physical appearances, but in some cases
he just couldn't help the faint nausea at the thought of seeing some of them
naked with a look of lust for him in their eyes....
     He blinked as he felt a pair of fingertips touch his chin, very gently
turning his head around to wind up looking at a pair of openly curious liquid
eyes.  "You're thinking again," Galen said very softly, her gaze sliding down
slightly to study his lips.  She waited to see if he would say anything before
glancing back up to gaze into his eyes.  "Something on your mind?"
     "Always," he replied softly, his tone quite unreadable.
     "Of course," she purred very quietly, playfully batting her eyelashes at
him.  The corners of her mouth edged up in a satisfied smirk at the brief but
still discernable reaction of surprise and unease that crossed his face, the
wicked part of her delighting in being able to throw him off-balance so easily.
"It wouldn't have anything to do with that gaggle of geese in the corner making
eyes at you, now would it?" she said in a soft, almost sultry tone as she made
a slight gesture with her head.
     He honestly wasn't sure which alarm went off first, the one warning him
that she was a woman in a playful mood, the one that sensed a hint of jealousy
in her tone, or the display of uncanny insight that most women tended to have
that openly bordered on the supernatural and he had yet to figure out how it
functioned as it did.
     "And if it did?" he replied calmly, figuring that pushing the jealously
button was probably the easiest of the three to understand and cope with.  He
had come to understand just how volatile a jealous woman could be, but he was
quite used to physical danger.  The sheer unpredictability of a playful woman,
however.... that he doubted he could ever get used to.
     The remote looks of amusement and intrigue were clearly visible in her
blue-green eyes as a delicate eyebrow was arched up in response to his words.
"Really now," she purred in a soft tone.  "And do any of them catch your eye?"
     He paused for a moment as something seemed to tickle the back of his mind.
It wasn't another warning alarm going off, although there were plenty of them
doing so at this very second.  He quickly realized that it had been the psionic
voice of the thing in his hand, perhaps doing the equivalent of a silent sigh.
The vocal part didn't register on his ears, of course, as it had been entirely
too soft and lost amid the muted background noise, but the mental part of its
voice was still able to reach him.
     Was it trying to warn him? he quickly wondered.  Or was there something
else it wanted?  Granted it had been trying awfully hard lately to try to keep
him together with Galen, possibly even as a couple.  That much was glaringly
obvious, even to one as obtuse as he knew he tended to be in social situations,
but what would that truly accomplish?
     He refocused and looked into her eyes, a very soft-spoken part of his mind
urging him to do something.  It was a part he rarely heard from and listened to
even less, but there was something about this particular situation that made
him stop and actually listen to it for once.  She was being playful, trying to
tease a reaction of some sort from him.  So why not turn the tables on her, if
only for a moment?  Would it hurt if he played along just this once?  Surely he
could be coy after so many centuries of dealing with countless coy women....
     "Maybe," he finally said quietly.  He waited for the span of a heartbeat
before adding, "But not like you do."
     He realized a moment later that perhaps he had miscalculated something,
deciding that he couldn't have drawn a stronger reaction from her if he had
stuck a cherry stem in her ear and set it on fire.  Her eyes promptly doubled
in diameter, her irises widening so rapidly that it literally created a ripple
of liquid motion in their depths.  Her soft and pale blue lips parted of their
own accord, the gentle outrush of air suddenly freezing in mid-motion in a soft
gasp.  The grip of her hand on his suddenly tightened, not painfully so but
enough to threaten to cut off all circulation in that area.
     "D...." she breathed very softly as her expression changed, her tear-ducts
starting to open up just enough to increase the level of moisture in her eyes.
The look in her eyes changed yet again, a fairly wicked gleam of playfulness
replacing the stunned looks of shock, surprise, and something else that had
been too fleeting to truly identify.
     "Well now," she said in a husky whisper as she leaned over towards him,
just enough so that her lips brushed his as she spoke.  "I guess we'll just
have to give the geese something to gaggle about for awhile to keep them busy,
now won't we?"
     Her lips seemed to burn with electric fire as they melded to his, giving
him a decidedly deep kiss that quite literally took his breath away.  He was a
fraction of a second away from tearing himself free from her so he could try to
breathe before he suddenly remembered he had a nose that could conduct air just
as well as his mouth could.  The cool sensation of life-giving air filling his
lungs seemed to settle his nerves down a notch, just enough to let the rest of
his brain cope with the feeling of being turned inside-out by the raw emotional
intensity of her kiss.
     A distant part of his mind started to nag him quietly, telling him that he
was making a scene and that the tavern was becoming dangerously quiet again as
they noticed.  The voice was a drop in the bucket compared to the whirlwind of
emotions and feelings whipping around inside his skull, however.  He figured
the only reason Galen wasn't in his lap was because of the design of the wooden
chairs, making it somewhat problematic to rest anything other than a napkin on
your upper thighs in comfort.  That did little to interfere with the range of
motion of her upper body, however, which was demonstrated by the way her arms
wrapped around him in a very tight embrace.
     He was unable to resist responding to the fierce pressure of her lips, his
own parting just slightly as hers started to work around in a gentle motion.
His hand seemed to move of their own accord, coming up to lightly squeeze and
knead the muscles of her upper back.  He had no idea how long the kiss lasted
before a loud cough seemed to echo across the deathly silent tavern.
     "I don't mean to be rude, kids," Red drawled in a very polite tone, his
face all but buried in his tankard of beer, "But you might want to save some of
that appetite for dinner.  Rosie's passing out the plates now...."
     The kiss was broken so quickly it almost rattled their teeth, Galen's head
pulling back from his just as a truly intense bloom of crimson embarrassment
swept across her face.  D's face quickly became its usual impassive mien, but
not before a dark blush of his own could be seen making a brief appearance.
     "Sorry," Galen managed to murmur without tripping over her tongue, giving
D a look filled with more emotions than could be counted.  She quickly removed
her hands from around his waist, one hand sliding down to hold his in a very
firm grip.  She scooted her chair over as close to his as she could, leaning
against him his arm as best she could.
     "Don't need to apologize to me, miss," Red replied with a rueful chuckle
and a very long drink from the tankard.  "I know how it is when you young'uns
fall in love and all.  Shoot, with all the nonsense that's been happening as of
late with the bandits and other unsavory nocturnal types, it's a bit heartening
to see you two go at it like that.  After all, how often do you hear of that
happening?"
     "Red, you sick buzzard," a voice called out, "I keep telling you that if
you get a woman of your own, you won't get all hot and bothered if you happen
to see someone else getting a lil' kiss or two.  Might even improve your mood
on occasion."
     "Cork it, Jeb," Red growled quietly.
     "I'm not sure I understand what you mean," Galen said to Red in a slightly
hesitant tone, briefly exchanging glances with D.
     Red paused and gave her a slightly abashed look.  "I was just sayin' about
the snuggling and all, miss," he replied.  "That's not something we hear about
happening among your kind, that's all."
     "Really," Galen said dryly, giving him a half-amused look.  "And how do
you think we came to be if it wasn't for.... snuggling?"
     Red promptly blushed hard as he looked down at his tankard of beer.  "Not
what I meant, miss," he managed to say in a level tone, clearly embarrassed at
where the conversation had ended up.  "I just meant that I can't remember ever
hearing any stories from anyone about meeting a vampire or a dunpeal who was as
friendly as you are or who seemed to be.... well, forgive my saying so, miss,
but who seemed to be human enough to do such things in public like hold hands
or give your man a right solid kiss like that as you seem to be.  I had always
thought that y'all simply don't do that."
     It took her a few moments to figure out how to reply to that, exchanging
openly surprised looks with D.  "Why, thank you, Red," she said with genuine
warmth as she looked over at the old rancher.  "I.... don't remember anyone
ever saying anything like that to me before."
     "Shoot," Red grumbled quietly as he busied himself with a deep drink from
his tankard.  "If it weren't for the points on your ears, miss, you could pass
for a human with the way you've been carrying on like that."
     D looked over at Galen as she turned around, her eyes starting to fill
with tears and completely at a loss for words.  He knew his own expression was
as impassive as ever on the outside, but what he was feeling inside was a whole
different issue.  If one who was only one-quarter human had enough humanity and
human-like traits to impress a full-blooded human.... what was a half-human
dunpeal like himself truly capable of?  It had taken him virtually his entire
adult life to learn how to love and be loved, but she was probably a tenth of
his age and had already learned so much.... not just learned, but *mastered*
to the point of readily gaining human warmth, trust, and approval....
     He blinked and refocused as he felt her fingertips brushing across his
lips, finding her staring up at him with a very soft and tender look on her
face.  She was so young, and yet knew so much about being human.  Perhaps....
perhaps she could teach him?  If she could learn, why couldn't he?  Surely she
wouldn't refuse him if he asked properly....
     "D?" she said in a very soft tone.  "You're ticking me off now."
     That drew a very hard blink from him, the soft declaration of her current
mood completely taking him by surprise.  "What?" he said, allowing his tone to
reflect his stunned state.
     "You're thinking again," she replied, the corners of her mouth twisting up
into a gentle smile as she tapped a fingertip against his lips.  "You really
need to quit doing that every so often, you know.  It's not good for you.  Why
don't you just quit thinking and follow your heart for awhile?  You know," she
said, lazily tracing random patterns with her fingertip.  "Just try to relax a
bit.  Look around you, D, nobody's interested in hurting us or anything.  If
you start to open up a little, you might even make a few life-long friends, or
at least find someone to share a few stories with over a few beers.  Or are you
afraid that people might start thinking of you as.... being human?" she added
in a very soft and light whisper.
     D knew a challenge when he heard one.  He usually ignored the ones that he
knew would have little impact on whatever it was he was doing at the time and
responded to the rest as appropriate.  The part of his mind that weighed such
things decided for some reason that this was one challenge that really might
not be in his best interests for him to simply let pass unanswered.
     "Alright," he said simply, clearing his mind of all active thoughts and
deciding to permit the first impulse that would normally be rejected by his
conscience when it crossed his mind.  There was a delay of precisely six one-
hundredths of a second between when the first impulse popped into his mind and
when it was validated as an acceptable action under the present circumstances,
making it seem like there was no hesitation at all.
     He could almost *feel* her eyelids closing in surprise as he leaned over,
pressing his lips to hers in what he felt was a moderate kiss.  Not too light
to be ignored, not too deep to be invasive, and with just enough passion and
warmth to make it something worth remembering for longer than a few seconds.
     The only reaction he could discern was in her hands, one squeezing his
hand gently and the other coming up to lightly hold his cheek.  There was no
resistance whatsoever to him, her soft lips seeming to be nothing more than a
most pliant and warm putty.  It surprised him to realize that he could feel her
pulse beneath her lips, seeming to race along at a fairly rapid pace.
     The sound of a pair of plates being laid on the table caused him to break
the kiss and look up, finding Rosie standing there with a small serving tray
and a look of almost motherly disapproval on her face.  Her eyes seemed to
sparkle with amusement, however, as she finished laying out the steak knives
and silverware in front of them.
     "I said I'll fetch the room key after dinner," she said, giving Galen a
knowing look that tripled the intensity of the blush on her cheeks.  "You two
just enjoy your ribs and behave yourselves, alright?  I know you ain't going to
cause no problems to nobody, but I still don't need no ruckus of any kind here
in my tavern.  That goes for you as well," she added, giving Red a stern look.
"Don't need you giving these kids any ideas or nothing."
     "Shoot, woman," Red chuckled into his beer.  "They look like they need any
ideas from an old coot like me?"
     Galen just looked over at D as a series of quiet snicker and chuckles went
around the room, the vibrant blush on her cheeks seeming to get even worse.
"I'm sorry," she whispered to him as she gave his hand one final squeeze before
twisting back around to sit at the table properly.
     "For what?" he asked, giving her a slightly curious look.
     She giggled quietly before making a gesture to the rest of the tavern.
"I think I just ruined your dark and mysterious reputation," she said as she
grabbed a napkin and fluffed it out over her lap.
     He cast a brief glance towards the back wall where the group of women were
seated, seeming to be whispering among themselves at a furious pace despite the
fact they were all busy eating.  A second sweep of his eyes revealed that the
rest of the patrons were likewise occupied with their meals, all busy devouring
the fresh-off-the-grill barbecued ribs and paying scant attention to the pair
of dunpeals.  Perhaps there was still a lingering sense of wariness in the air,
but for the most part the impression he got was one of.... casual acceptance.
     "Good," he said calmly as he reached for his own half-rack of ribs.

                *               *               *               *

     Dinner was delicious by anyone's standards, more so when compared to the
trail rations he was used to.  The ribs had been just a little over-cooked, or
at least it was to his sense of taste, but the tartness of the barbecue sauce
more than made up for it.  Of course, the sauce had provided its own host of
problems, namely the unholy mess it made, but that's what the stack of napkins
was for.
     Both D and Galen sat back in their chairs, Galen to relax as she nibbled
on one of the last ribs and D to conceal the fact that he was letting the thing
in his hand eat some of the bones.  It had taken Galen a few minutes to notice,
giving him a slightly startled look of curiosity before dismissing it and going
back to her task.
     "Rosie?" Red drawled as the bar-mistress returned to collect most of the
dirty dishes.  "I think you need to quit frettin' about your cooking skills.
Those were some of the best ribs I've had in awhile."
     Rosie shot him a faintly unamused look.  "I know I can cook, Red," she
countered tartly.  "All you cattle-rustlers wouldn't be hanging around here
begging for scraps if I couldn't."
     A quiet laugh rose up from somewhere in the back of the tavern.  "Now if
you could just brew a better-tastin' beer instead of having to have those kegs
of chilled horse-piss hauled out from the tradin' post up the trail, you just
might have something here," a voice called out.
     "Jebadiah, you ingrate backwoods hick, get out of my tavern!" Rosie yelled
over her shoulder, causing the rest of the patrons to burst into laughter.  "I
don't seen you goin' to all the trouble of brewin' your own, and you sure drink
a lot of my beer for not likin' the taste."
     Galen gave D an amused look as she scooted back from the table and stood
up, idly gathering the dishes together in a neat pile.  "I'll be back," she
said quietly as she carried the dishes over to Rosie.
     "Huh?" Rosie said as she turned around to find Galen approaching her.
"Oh, you didn't have to do that, miss," she said rapidly as she set her tray
down to rebalance the load and make room for more dishes.
     "It's quite alright," Galen assured her as she handed the dishes over.
"I just need directions to the washroom, if you don't mind."
     Rosie nodded in understanding.  "Straight back through the kitchen door
and off to your left," she replied as she hefted the tray and went back to
collecting more dishes.
     It seemed that the majority of the room's attention shifted as a single
unit, first to follow Galen's exotic beauty into the kitchen, then turning to
unobtrusively assess D as he silently sipped on his third mug of wine.
     "You know, pardner," Red said gently as he sipped on a fresh tankard of
beer, "I hope you don't mind my saying so, but Miss Galen seems to be a right
fine young woman."
     "I know," D replied quietly, his tone seeming to be one of resignation.
     "The two of you are going to be alright together, I trust?" the rancher
inquired in a very careful and slightly guarded tone.  He sighed quietly as he
got a slightly confused look from D and took another sip of beer.  "I'm just an
old man and don't mean to be pryin' into nobody's business, pardner, but I'm
seeing the two of you together and I'm wondering why I ain't never heard of
something like that being seen before, you know?  Now I don't know anything
about the young lady, but you.... you're just a little warmer than what I've
heard about you.  Not that anything bad is said about you, just that you were
a little.... distant, I guess.  Almost like you didn't care about nothin'."
     There was a long stretch of silence as Red sat back to study the dunpeal,
idly sipping his beer as he watched him work on the mug of wine.  "Now I know
that ain't true," he finally said quietly, keeping his voice low so only D and
perhaps a few nearby patrons could hear.  "I've seen you react when innocents
are in danger, and I done heard far too many other stories about the same to
believe otherwise.  I also heard about some of the critters you've gone up
against, and I don't mean some casual nasties like them zombies.  You got some
heavy guts there, pardner, taking 'em on like that, and I reckon it wasn't a
pretty sight in the end."
     Red sighed quietly and paused to take another sip of beer before pressing
on.  "But I'll tell you what, pardner, I also done seen what those kinds of
horrors can do to a man.  Just eats you alive from the inside on out, leavin'
nothing but an empty shell behind.  Now I don't know what you've seen or what
it's all done to you, but you might want to take it easy.  Don't none of us
need to be hearing about the same sort of thing happening to you, not after all
that you've done for us human folk."
     "Your kindness and concern is appreciated," D said calmly.
     "I'm sure it is, pardner," Red replied.  "Still, I think you should just
try to relax a touch.  Miss Galen there has a lot heart for a dunpeal, if you
don't mind my saying so, and damned if I ever met one like either of you.  She
seems to be happy havin' your arm to lean on and all," he pointed out.  "Now I
know what it's like to have a loved one to be with, and I know what it's like
to try to live without one.  The difference 'tween them is like comparing a
field of wheat to a herd of tumbleweeds.  Same plant, stalks and all, but only
one of 'em is truly alive and healthy.  And they need a little attention every
so often to stay healthy, if you know what I mean."
     "I do," D said after a few moment's of contemplative silence.
     Red just chuckled and tipped his hat back a few inches.  "I guess what I'm
trying to say to you, pardner, is be careful with what you've got.  Might end
up like me one day, waking up with the crack of dawn to find that the special
woman in your life won't be waking up ever again," he said, pausing to take the
deepest swallow of beer anyone had ever seen him take.  "If she treasures you,
pardner, you best be treasuring her just as much lest she slip away from your
grasp while your head is turned.  She might not pass away from a fever as my
wife did several winters ago, but a loss is a loss regardless."
     "I understand," D said quietly, staring in to his mug before looking up
over at the old rancher.  "And I'm sorry for your loss.  Thank you for having
the strength and courage to share that with me."
     "That's right kind of you to say so, pardner," Red replied quietly, making
a slight tipping motion with his hat.  "My daughter moved down south a ways a
number of years ago to get married, sends me letters every so often.  Last one
I got was a couple of months ago, letting me know that she'll be making me a
grandpa before the spring thaw is finished.  It's the kind of thought to put
hair on your chest, if you know what I mean," he chuckled ruefully.  "Still,
her letters keep me going some days, and I've got Rosie and the boys here for
those days when I need something more than a beer for company.  You get used to
it in some ways, and others you don't."
     "Ever thought of remarrying?" Galen inquired softly as she approached in
perfect silence.  Neither D nor Red has seen her return, the end result being
a very hard cough from the rancher that almost coated the table with beer.
     "Tarnation, miss!" Red gasped once he was sure his lungs were beer-free.
"You about made me embarrass myself, sneaking up on an old man like that."
     "I'm sorry," Galen apologized with a smile as she sat down next to D, one
hand reaching out to take hold of his.
     Red said nothing for several seconds as he sipped his beer.  "I suppose
some folk would want to get married again," he finally said in a quiet voice.
"Maybe if I were twenty years younger, I'd think about it.  But I was married
to my wife for damn near forty years when she passed away, and no woman in the
world could possibly even come close to replacing what she meant to me.  Oh, I
suppose I could find some widow my age to like, spend the rest of my days in
her company, but all we'd be doing would be growing old together.  You only
live once, and I already done lived out most of my life with Grace.  You just
can't replace something like that, not just the memory of living together but
the memory of life itself.  It wouldn't be right if I were to try to forget all
that we had, to replace that little empty spot in my life with someone else."
     "I think I understand," Galen said softly.  "And I'm sorry if...."
     "Miss," Red interrupted quietly with an absent gesture of his tankard.
"Don't ever be sorry for asking questions you don't know the answer to.  I'm
not foolish enough to just look at your pretty face and reckon that you're my
daughter's age, I know dunpeals like yourself don't age with the seasons like
the rest of us human folk do.  I suppose if I could live as long as you do, I
would eventually find another woman to be with, to fill the void in my life,
but I'm old, miss.  Old and tired.  Not that I've got one foot in the grave,
mind you, I can still round up the herd with the best of 'em, but I'm tired
enough to just want to sit back and count the days until I can be with her once
again on the other side.  Had the tables been turned I don't doubt she'd be
doing the same for me, so I'm not going to disappoint or dishonor her memory or
her love just for a few years of good times that an old man like me probably
wouldn't be able to enjoy like a younger man would.
     "But you?" he said, setting his beer down to face her squarely.  "I'll be
honest, I have no idea how old you are, and I'm not rude enough to be asking a
lady for her age, but I reckon you're plenty young enough to have several human
lifetimes ahead of you.  If you and your man over there are serious about one
another, you shouldn't hesitate to make the best of it.  Might only be for a
short while, might be for longer than my grandkid's life, but at least you have
that kind of time to enjoy life together.  I had almost forty years with my
wife, and I thank the good lord for every second of it.  And if the two of you
can find as much happiness and love with one another.... well, I wish you two
the best.  Not much more than a man can say about that," he added with a shrug
and another deep sip of beer.
     "Thank you, Red," Galen said very quietly, squeezing D's hand gently.  She
looked over her shoulder at him, her blue-green eyes starting to fill with the
beginnings of tears again.  She blinked as a shiver ran through her, causing
every single muscle in her body to twitch ever-so-slightly in unison.  "Sorry,"
she muttered as a faint blush crossed her cheeks.
     "It's okay," D said quietly, having likewise felt the gentle tingle in his
soul caused by the setting sun.  He lifted his head as Rosie approached their
table, a knowing look of what might have been called motherly understanding on
her face as she set a simple metal key in front of him.  She then briefly wiped
off the table with a damp cloth before moving over to another table, leaving
their half-empty mugs of wine on the table.
     D and Galen exchanged glances before she blushed again, the pale crimson
tint of her cheeks providing a rather fetching contrast to the blue-green hues
of her hair and eyes.  "You want to get my stuff out of the saddle-bag for me
while I go find out which room is ours?" she asked in an unusually quiet tone.
"I'll leave the door open so you know which one it is."
     He nodded as he stood up, reaching out to grab the sword leaning against
the edge of the table.  He paused as she tugged gently on his wrist, turning
him around to give him a soft but decidedly warm kiss.  "Thanks," she whispered
as she grabbed the key with her free hand and headed towards the staircase at
the far end of the tavern.
     "Night, miss," Red drawled quietly as she passed him, looking down at his
beer with a small knowing smile.
     Galen paused to give him a slightly embarrassed look, the dark blush still
in full force on her cheeks.  "Good night, Red.  Thanks for the company.  It's
not often that.... well, that I'm so openly welcomed in a place like this."
     "Due respect, miss, it's not often we get paid a visit by a dunpeal like
you," Red countered gently.  "Truth be told, I don't think we've ever had such
a visit, period.  We're pretty fair-minded folk if you stop and try to get to
know us, and so we tend to treat strangers in the same way they treat us.  You
and your hunter friend are the only dunpeals I ever heard of making an effort
to be friendly and all, so it's only fair that we return the favor.  Manners,
you know," he added.
     "Thank you," Galen said quietly, glancing over at D before turning around
and resuming her walk towards the stairs.
     D watched her go for a moment before casting a glance at Red, absently
slipping the scabbard's strap over his chest to secure it against his back.  He
was almost at the door when Red spoke up again, causing him to pause for a few
moments to listen.
     "Word of advice, pardner," the old rancher said quietly.  "Now I know you
ain't going to find no horse-thieves in these here parts, but we still get a
visit every now and then from a few nocturnal critters who have a taste for
horse-flesh.  You might want to take your mount over to the stables at the end
of the town, just a short walk from here.  Bart's a good man and he'll watch
over him for you.  If he gives you any problems, just tell him you know me, and
if that don't do the trick, just come back here and I'll go have a word with
him m'self.  He's a bit like Zeke, you know, but he's got better manners."
     "Thank you," D said quietly as he pushed his way through the saloon-like
doors and into the cooling twilight air.  He untied his horse and led him by
the reins up the street, able to see the wide structure of the stables a good
five hundred yards away.
     <You know, D,> the thing in his hand spoke up quietly, <I have to admit I
never really thought about it myself.  Honestly, how many times have you heard
of a dunpeal walking into a town for a casual meal?  And I mean a true meal,
not just window-shopping for his or her next victim.  Or a pair of dunpeals
traveling together?  Sure, you hear about the vampires going for an evening
carriage ride with their brides, or their living sex toys depending on how you
want to look at it, but....>
     "Enough," D said quietly.
     <You're not listening, damn it,> it protested with surprising harshness,
causing him to stop and glance down at his hand.  <Has this ever truly happened
before?  Not that you or I are aware of, which means it is actually possible
that you are the first to do such a thing.>
     "And?" he prodded quietly after pausing to search his memories for just
such an occurrence.  The only thing he could think of was the time he had been
asked to meet another dunpeal in a very dark and seedy tavern ages ago.  The
discussion had been distinctly blunt and open, rapidly degenerating to the
point where it had to be 'taken outside' to be resolved with rather unsavory
results.  At least, unsavory to the other dunpeal....
     <And I think that things back there went pretty damn good for happening
for the first time,> it pointed out.  <Especially in a town that seems to have
been victimized in the past by other vampires and dunpeals.  They opened up to
you, D, they gave you the chance to prove yourself.  And then they welcomed you
as one of their own.  I think that's pretty significant, don't you?>
     D said nothing as he resumed guiding the horse up the road towards the
stables.  He realized that the thing was right, however, that he had just been
pretty much accepted back there.  At least in Red's point of view.  Granted he
had apparently saved the man's daughter back then, which would have put him on
any man's good side, but the rancher seemed to have made a genuine attempt at
reaching out to him as a friend.
     <And you know what's even more significant?> it continued carefully.  <It
wasn't just you that got accepted.  She did too, and she didn't have her own
legend to rely on.  She didn't bother to hide herself from them, did she?  No,
she just showed them who she really was and they liked what they saw.  And you
can do the same, D, I know you can.  You two are really are a pair, even if you
don't want to hear it,> it added before falling silent.
     D managed to keep his thoughts fairly empty until he reached the stables.
Bart turned out to be a fairly gruff man in his forties, his mannerisms giving
D the impression that he got along better with animals than most people.  That
suited D just fine, needing only a very short and curt conversation with him to
have his horse guided into an empty stall for the night.  He was almost back to
the stable doors before he remembered the change of clothes, quickly heading
back to extract them from the saddle-bags.  His abrupt about-face seemed to
amuse the stablemaster, prompting a knowing smirk and an absent shake of his
head as he returned to his work.
     D glanced down at the bundle he was carrying as he made his way back to
the combination tavern and inn, idly curious as to what she had picked up.  A
cursory check revealed that it was little more than a clean blouse, some fresh
underwear, and a very small container of basic feminine toiletries.  That last
drew a very quietly grunt of remote amusement from him, idly wondering why
women as a universal whole insisted on such things, or at least the items he
deemed non-essential.  He readily understood the purpose of some of them, and
could even appreciate their usage despite being a male, but the 'need' of the
rest continued to elude him even after all this time.
     Very little had changed when he returned to the tavern, his quiet entrance
briefly drawing a number of curious eyes before they returned to whatever it
was they had been doing.  Red wasn't around but both his hat and his tankard of
beer were still lying on the table, suggesting that he had simply stepped out
for a moment.  He could feel a number of discreet gazes following him as he
headed towards the stairs, the majority of them coming from the distant corner
of the room where the 'gaggle of geese' were still clustered together in quiet
conversation.
     The stairs creaked quietly as he used them, not nearly as loudly as the
staircase in the Hive tavern had been, but still loud enough to be heard by a
majority of patrons still idly nibbling on the remains of their dinner.  The
stairs terminated in a fairly darkened hallway that ran in both directions.  He
could see Galen leaning against the wall at the very end of the left-hand wing,
causing him to hesitate slightly before heading over to her.
     His sense of unease deepened as he drew closer to her, able to make out
the unsettled look on her face.  She looked up as he approached, her cheeks
once again taking on a faint crimson tint for some reason.  She still held the
key in her hand and the door next to her was slightly ajar.
     "Thanks," she said quietly as D handed her the package she had picked up
back at the Cha'laka Hive.  "Umm, D, we.... umm.... might need to think about
this one for a moment," she said in a hesitant tone, the blush on her cheeks
darkening slightly.
     "Why?" he asked carefully, not entirely sure if he wanted to ask what was
wrong or not.  He paused as she simply opened the door and edged back, giving
him a clear view of the inside of the room.
     The room was roughly the same size as the tavern room they had gotten back
at the Hive.  The walls were painted a soft pastel red color and the ceiling
was fairly high, probably too high for Galen to reach unaided and without any
sort of surface she could readily attach to.  That meant she would likely have
to use the bed to sleep on, which was fairly large and over in the corner....
     ....Decorated in whites and reds with cutesy heart prints all over.  The
pillows were likewise adorned with them, and a quick glance around showed that
everything else that could be decorated with them in fact was.  He couldn't see
inside bathroom from his angle, but he had little doubt that the towels and
other sundry items inside were fabricated to match the rest of the decor.
     He cast a sidelong glance at Galen, knowing a honeymoon suite when he came
across one and wondering what exactly was going through her mind at the moment.
"I see," he said very quietly, suddenly feeling an urgent need to go use the
toilet as his kidneys finished processing the wine.
     "I think I gave everyone the wrong impression earlier," she muttered, the
cherry red glow on her cheeks tripling in intensity again.  "I never cared for
cutesy girl stuff when I was growing up, so this really isn't my idea of....
well, you know," she added, seeming to blush even harder as she looked away
from him.  "I don't want to embarrass you or anything, so I can go ask Rosie
for another room if you don't think this will be appropriate...."
     She glanced back at him, blinking hard as she realized he wasn't there
anymore.  Confused, she peered into the suite, blinking again as she saw him
half-way across the room and unstrapping the massive sword scabbard from his
back.  "D?" she called out hesitantly.
     He turned to look at her over his shoulder, his face perfectly impassive
as he gazed at her.  "I thought you said you wanted to give them something to
talk about," he said calmly.  He paused and watched with amazement as her face
and skin suddenly became as red as an overripe tomato, making him wonder just
how concentrated her blood was becoming from blushing so hard.
     She leaned against the doorway as she began to feel light-headed, acutely
aware of the sudden change in her blood pressure.  "That's.... not what I had
in mind," she muttered, mostly to herself.  She looked up at him for a moment
before ruefully chuckling quietly, carefully slipping inside the room to very
quietly close the door behind her.  "You really don't mind?" she asked.
     "The room decorations do not concern me," D replied calmly as he laid his
sword against the wall.  His cape was removed and neatly folded into a dark
square that was draped over the hilt, followed by his wide-brimmed hat.  He
then turned around and headed towards the bathroom, intent on doing something
about that weighty feeling taking up residence in his bladder.
     The bathroom was unusually spacious in his view as he stepped inside and
closed the door behind him.  The toilet and sink were of the usual sizes, but
the shower stall appeared to be large enough to accommodate a small horse.  The
reason why it was so spacious suddenly came to him as he finished his business
and flushed the toilet.  The thought was enough to make him pause for a moment
as he washed his hands, shaking his head to clear the mental images once he was
finished.  He quietly exited the bathroom, figuring that it had been either a
playful woman behind the architectural drawing board or somebody with entirely
too much free time and wishful imagination on their hands.
     He found Galen waiting patiently just outside the door, her cheeks still
tinged pink with lingering embarrassment.  He started to move past her to let
her use the facilities, pausing as he felt her gentle touch on his wrist.  He
looked back at her to find a slightly curious look in her liquid-like eyes, her
lips moving up to brush against his in a feather-light kiss before poking her
head into the bathroom to look around.  He could feel a sudden change in her
mood as she froze, very slowly leaning back out before looking up at him.
     An icy chill promptly formed in his blood as he saw the emotions changing
in her eyes.  Surprise at first, then curiosity, then a mixture of studious
assessment, careful playfulness, and sultry intrigue.  She reached up to pat
the front of his tunic, creating a very slight puff of dirt and dust that made
her wrinkle her nose.  "You're dirty, you know," she said softly.
     "I know," he replied in a perfectly neutral tone, suddenly feeling like he
was looking down the business end of a fully-charged hyper-velocity railgun.
     "You think that shower is going to be too big for you?" she inquired, her
fingertips lightly toying with the topmost button on his shirt.  She glanced up
into his eyes and smiled gently, able to see the look of unease on his face.
     "Why?" he finally asked after several moments of heavy silence.  He knew
what she was getting at, of course, but he wasn't exactly sure what was going
through her mind.  The kisses she had given him earlier was a definite clue,
but this was something he really didn't want to misunderstand in the slightest.
     The blush started to return to her cheeks as she slowly undid the first
button on his collar.  "Well, I was just.... wondering.... if you.... needed a
hand with that," she murmured softly.  "Like I said, I don't want to embarrass
you or anything, D, I just.... thought it would be.... nice."
     He said nothing for several moments as the second button came undone, her
fingertips starting to lightly explore the exposed skin beneath the dark fabric
of his tunic.  He found the offer to be dangerously tempting for some reason,
and not just because she was an extremely beautiful and undeniably attractive
young woman.  He had rarely allowed others to touch him before, and fewer still
to do so intimately, but there was something about her touch that made him want
to yield to her, to let her pry him open as one would a clam to get at what was
safely nestled beneath the armor....
     "I've never done that before," he found himself saying very quietly.
     She looked up at him with a faint twinkle in her eyes.  She nodded as she
pressed herself against him, her lips softly brushing against his to produce
that now-familiar electric tingle.  "It's okay, D," she breathed softly, her
lips continuing to brush against his as she spoke.  "Neither have I."
     Time seemed to turn to slush again as she deepened the kiss, the softness
of her lips parting just slightly to entice him to do the same.  Her hands came
down to his, intertwining their fingers gently as they leaned against the wall.
It wasn't a deep or passionate kiss, but rather something that was slow and
gentle, neither one seeming to be in any rush to 'turn up the heat' or end the
soul-tingling experience.
     She finally edged her head back from him, knowing that he was pretty much
pressed flat against the wall and had no room of his own to move around.  She
smiled at him softly as she stepped back, keeping their hands together as she
led him back towards the over-decorated bed.
     He almost panicked at first, thinking that he had either grossly misread
the situation or had completely zoned out and missed some crucial detail.  He
breathed a silent sigh of relief as he realized that she wasn't trying to take
him to bed, but instead just needed a place for them to sit in order to remove
their excess traveling gear.
     It turned out to be a fairly large pile of equipment.  Her belt had only
been adorned with her rapier sheath and a pair of small pouches, but his belt
and chest bandolier had had been laden with far much more.  He found it to be
oddly amusing to watch her eyebrows rise up higher and higher with each pouch
or tool or device that was removed and stacked on the floor.  The two knives,
a pair of pure silver spikes, no less than a dozen small pouches, a compact but
extremely sturdy set of lockpicks, a magnetic compass, a small package of tiny
but wickedly-sharp caltrops, and a bundle of what looked like used tea-bags.
     "Wolfsbane," D said quietly as she held up one of the pouch-on-a-string
packages, her eyebrows arched clear up to her hairline.
     "Ah," she said simply as she set the tiny pouch back down and nudged it
away from her.  While wolfsbane was primarily used to deter werewolves, more
than one full-blooded vampire had experienced an unpleasant allergic reaction
to the delicate herbal plant.
     His armor was removed next, followed by his boots.  He looked up as she
laid a hand on his wrist when he went to remove his tunic, giving him a gentle
look.  She merely smiled in response to the questioning look on his face and
slipped out of her own boots, absently setting them aside as she stood up.  She
then gently took hold of his other wrist and pulled him to his feet, edging him
away from the bed.
     He frowned in slight confusion as she nudged him back a few paces and let
go, turning around to untuck the heart-dotted blankets and sheets.  She drew
them down to the very foot of the bed and left them at a slight angle, as if to
make the bed ready for immediate use.  That worried him as she turned back to
face him, reaching out once again to take hold of his wrist.  He nonetheless
allowed her to lead him back towards the bathroom, stopping outside the open
door as she gently pressed him against the wall.
     Her pale blue lips brushed against his as lightly as possible while her
fingertips took their time in toying with the third button on his tunic, the
feathery contact seeming to tantalize him with its shallowness and brevity.  He
soon found himself leaning forward, trying to bring his lips into firm contact
with hers.  She actually seemed to resist at first, edging back by fractions of
an inch to keep the contact super-light before allowing her lips to be very
gently captured by his.  A pair of silent sighs seemed to whisper like ghosts
out of their noses as she relaxed against him, the third button parting beneath
her fingertips to expose more of his skin to her.
     The kiss was gently broken as she leaned back to gaze into his eyes, her
eyelids half-closed as she studied him.  Her hands came up to slide inside the
open collar of his shirt, very lightly caressing the pale skin of his neck and
upper chest.  "I could probably kiss you like this for hours," she said in an
almost inaudible whisper.
     The only proper response he could think of was another kiss, leaning his
head forward enough to capture her soft lips between his own once again.  The
gesture was a bit more passionate that before, drawing a very soft sigh from
her as she continued to lightly caress his skin.  The remaining buttons of his
tunic parted as if by magic, her hands seeming to need only glide over them to
entice the desired response.
     A quiet sigh rose up from his chest as her hands slowly slid up the length
of his now-bared chest, seeming to be in no rush to push the fabric off of his
shoulders.  A slightly louder sigh followed the first as her lips slid off to
one side, following the lines of his jaw and very slowly down to the curves of
his neck.
     His world started to take on a distinctly blue tint a few seconds later at
the feel of her lips on his throat, lightly teasing the pale skin.  The dark
desire of his vampiric blood quieted down a few seconds later as her lips came
back up to his, her hands gliding up to his shoulders to gently massage them
before moving off to the side.
     He had allowed himself to be seduced before, first by Doris, then later by
Leila, and later still by the handful of trysts that had followed as he kept
his unusual promise to Leila, but none of them had ignited such a deep desire
to respond as Galen's attentions were doing.  What truly amazed him was that it
wasn't an overly strong or burning compulsion either, leaving him feeling that
he had all the time in the world in which to proceed at his own pace.
     Her black satin cape appeared to be secured only by a simple clasp, the
metal appearing to be forged from an amalgam of platinum and silver.  The irony
of the discovery made him pause for a moment, realizing that it was virtually
identical to the composition of the rapier he had bought for her back at the
Hive.  He quickly brushed the thoughts from his mind as he reached out to work
the clasp, absently wondering if it was tied around her body somewhere else as
well.  The image of her hanging by it back on the bridge popped into his mind's
eye, realizing that she would surely have been choked if her entire weight had
been supported by a simple chain around her neck.
     <D, watch it!> the thing suddenly yelled as the clasp separated.  He moved
back by sheer reflex at the warning, blinking hard as the metal links began to
move and twist back and forth like a pair of miniature metal snakes.
     Galen blinked hard at the situation, taking a step back and reaching up to
touch the clasp with both hands.  She glanced up at D and blushed, giving him
a deeply apologetic look.  "Sorry, I completely forgot about that," she said in
a whisper as she stroked the edges of her cape.  The moving links seemed to
calm down after a moment, gently relaxing to hang free from the mounting points
on the fabric itself.
     "A silken?" D inquired carefully, having heard of the creatures but never
actually encountering one before.  They weren't sentient beings in the sense
that his parasitic symbiot was, but rather empathic creatures that could react
to living beings if attached to them.
     "A gift from the noble who sought to charm me," she replied quietly as she
very carefully removed the cape from around her shoulders.  It seemed to resist
for several moments, almost like wet fabric sticking to a body, before it slid
free.  The creature immediately became a mottled gray color as it was neatly
folded into a bundle and carried across the room, gently set down on top of the
pile of gear.  She lightly stroked it for a few seconds before returning over
to him, her cheeks still faintly tinged with embarrassment.
     "I'm sorry," she apologized quietly again, her hands gliding across his
upper chest once again.  "I tend to forget what it truly is.  No matter," she
purred softly, her hands sliding up to caress the back of his neck.  "So remind
me where we were?"
     She closed her eyes as she was answered with a soft kiss, her lips parting
slightly beneath the gentle assault of quiet passion.  She leaned back slightly
as his hands brushed against the collar of her blouse, letting him examine the
opal-like buttons.  She barely felt the first two being undone and failed to
notice the third, only realizing that one had been touched as well once the
upper part of her blouse was parted to bare most of her upper chest.
     Her breath seemed to snag in her throat as his head dipped down, leaving
a trail of soft kisses from her jaw down along the full length of her neck and
around her collarbone.  The swells of her breasts were exposed but not entirely
so, kept in gentle confinement by the tension on the fourth button.  Even so,
the feel of his lips brushing across the supersoft skin sent tingles of both
fire and ice coursing through her veins, her hands kneading the back of his
neck in a slow and gentle rhythm.
     She almost opened her eyes as she felt his hands working on her blouse
again, only this time working the buttons from the bottom up.  The cool air
seemed to tickle her stomach lightly as they were all undone save for a single
button, the one keeping the fabric pulled over the rest of her breasts.  She
could feel his fingertips lightly caressing the muscles of her abdomen even as
his lips continued a gentle exploration of her exposed curves.
     A soft noise rose up from her chest as she pushed his tunic off of his
shoulders, her fingertips gently guiding it down along his arms until it was
mostly bundled around his wrists.  She then lightly pushed against his bare
chest, edging him away from her just enough so she could look into his eyes as
she slipped the material off of his arms.
     He looked back at her as he cooperated, absently wondering just what the
hell he was getting himself into.  The whole experience was unlike any other he
could remember having, part of him thoroughly enjoying her touch as she first
freed him from his tunic, then caressed all that had just been bared.  Another
part of his mind was warning him that something was missing from the equation,
but that somehow it was in fact a good thing.  He probably would have felt just
a little bit better if he knew what the missing aspect was, but right now he
already had more than enough to feel good about....
     The button felt slightly cool as he lightly grasped it between his thumb
and index finger.  A very simple and slight gesture of his fingers slipped the
button through the hole, allowing the blouse to part beneath its own weight.
She inhaled gently as the loss of tension registered, expanding her chest just
enough to cause the fabric to slide further and fall away to fully reveal her
feminine curves to his gaze.
     He paused for a moment to study her breasts, entranced by the sheer beauty
that lay bare before him.  She wasn't as voluptuous as some of the women he had
the privilege of seeing topless but wasn't flat-chested either, seeming to be
able to fit into his hands with perfection.  Her areolae were a very pale shade
of powder blue and her nipples were an equally soft shade of light lavender.
They began to harden as he watched, seeming to draw inward and tighten up even
as her areolae started to crinkle in a most inviting fashion.
     He could hear her sudden intake of breath as he leaned forward, gently
nuzzling the shallow valley of her cleavage.  Her fingers started to intertwine
in his hair as he took his time, kissing her curves softly, inhaling the airy
scent of her skin, lightly tasting the softness of her quivering flesh.  A very
slow exhalation followed as he began to tease her nipple directly, brushing his
lips against the hardened nub before giving it a deep and lingering kiss.
     "D...." she whispered very softly, almost too softly for either one of
them to hear.  He heard her nonetheless, giving her curves a final soft kiss
before letting his lips slowly migrate back up to the hollow of her throat.  He
dared not let himself linger too long there, however, able to feel the heavy
throbbing of her pulse and sense the almost burning heat of her rapidly-flowing
blood as it called to him.
     The temporal disconnect returned as his lips found hers once again, the
deep yet gentle kiss seeming to go on for an eternity.  The feeling was broken
sometime later as her hands came up to his chest, her fingernails very lightly
gliding across his skin as they slid down to his waist.  Their lips remained
melded together as they worked, his hands gently sliding the blouse off of her
even as her hands worked the fastenings of his pants.
     He paused slightly as he ran his hands along the full length of her back,
his fingertips encountering a pair of ridges that he hadn't expected to find.
The feeling of her teeth only half-gently nipping his lower lip a moment later
provided a momentary distraction, listening to the faint intake of breath as
she suddenly breathed in.
     "Sorry," she said in a very soft whisper as she edged back slightly, just
enough for her slightly-wide eyes to look into his.  "They're sensitive to the
touch at the moment."
     "How sensitive?" he asked softly, deciding it was best to hold off on the
more obvious question for the moment.  They had felt like dorsal ridges of some
kind, running parallel to her spine along her lower back.  Had he to guess, he
would have thought they were either an aspect of her Barbarois heritage she had
yet to mention or perhaps something that the silken creature had implanted to
attach to or otherwise make use of.
     "Just use a light touch," she breathed softly in his ear as she leaned
into him, her lips brushing his earlobe as she spoke.
     It took him a moment to focus enough to respond, distracted by the sudden
sensation of the front of his pants being opened.  Her fingertips wriggled into
his waistband a moment later, gently loosening the fabric around him.  He made
a soft sighing sound as he kissed the delicate shell of her ear, using as light
a touch as he could to probe the ridges on her back.
     They felt fairly long, seeming to run for at least half the length of her
back,  The surface was rough but not hard, unlikely to be something like bone
or cartilage.  He decided it was best not to probe too long, knowing that he
would be able to see it for himself shortly.  That she had failed to mention it
to him previously indicated that it was something she didn't feel comfortable
with or wanted to talk about, a concept that he could all too easily understand
and accept.
     The thoughts of what was on her back became lost as he suddenly felt cool
air flowing around him, rushing into fill the displacement caused by his pants
succumbing to the force of gravity.  He allowed them to settle down around his
ankles before leaning hard against her, bring his lips to hers in a deep kiss
as he shifted his weight to step out of the dark fabric.  She seemed to be
surprised by the depth of the kiss but yielded instantly, molding her body to
his as he shuffled slightly.
     A startling realization lanced through his brain with the force of a bolt
of lightning a moment later.  Here he was, now just wearing a pair of ink-black
briefs and deeply kissing a half-naked woman that he would soon make a serious
attempt at transforming into a fully-naked one, his lips pressed to hers and
savoring the taste of her kiss....
     ....And the beast in his shorts was still taking a nap.
     The shock was enough to almost physically throw him off-balance.  What the
hell was wrong with him?  Why wasn't he reacting to her touch, to her kiss, to
her taste, or to the thought of what lay ahead?  Was he broken, or was there a
far more disturbing problem that he hadn't consciously picked up on yet?  He
did want her.... right?
     "D?" she murmured very softly as she sensed a sudden shift in his mood.
She edged back to look up at him, pausing slightly as she sensed a new kind of
barrier slipping into place around his personality.  "Something wrong?"
     He looked at her for a moment before shaking his head, leaning forward to
brush his lips against hers as softly as he could.  "I'm not used to this," he
said softly.  It was a literal truth, of course, as he simply couldn't lie to
her.  Perhaps he would regret his rare attempt at faint misdirection, but for
the moment he just couldn't bring himself to mention his sudden doubts.
     She giggled very softly and kissed him softly, briefly flicking the tip of
her tongue against his lips.  A very soft humming purr rose up from her chest
as she felt him react slightly, clearly surprised by the new gesture.  She slid
her hands around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder, turning to one
side to tease the edge of his ear with her lips.
     Okay, D thought quietly to himself, suddenly feeling a slight increase in
the warmth of his blood at her shift in attentions.  Perhaps there was far more
to the situation than he had realized at first.  The reaction, subtle as it had
been, went a long way in reassuring himself that the plumbing still worked just
fine.  Of course, it also meant that the problem was probably psychological in
nature, which meant that he still had a long way to go before he had his whole
situation ironed out.
     He tried to split his attention as best he could, giving up after just a
few seconds as he realized that achieving any reliable degree of mental focus
at the moment just wasn't going to happen.  He shoved the thoughts onto the
proverbial back burner as he caressed her shapely hips, deliberately tickling
her.  He almost smiled as she wriggled against him in a most delightful way,
her breath audibly tangling up in her throat as she fought to quell her body's
reflexive actions.
     He continued to tease her lightly before moving his hands down further,
gently working the fastenings to her pants.  They seemed to readily part with
a simple touch, the zipper almost undoing itself as he glided his finger along
it.  His hands followed the movements hers had earlier, gently working their
way inside the waistband to loosen it up before carefully sliding it down over
her hips.
     The kiss came as a surprise to him, her body pressing hard against his and
almost mashing him against the wall.  Her hips seemed to do a little dance as
she stepped out of her pants, her lips sealed to his with an almost frightening
intensity.  And yet despite the fierce passion behind the kiss, there was still
the feeling of something missing, something that he knew should have been there
but simply wasn't.
     They were both quite breathless when she finally relented, easing away
from him and taking the worst of the pressure off of his ribcage.  Not that he
had minded it in the least, far from it, but being pressed up against the wall
like that was likewise not something he was used to.  In fact, after stopping
for a brief instant to think about it, he honestly couldn't remember ever being
subjected to that rather delightful if unusual experience.
     He paused to look her over for a moment, noticing that she was now just
clad in a pair of pale blue panties.  She smiled gently at him as she noticed
his gaze, leaning back provocatively to let him drink in the soft lines of her
body.  The gesture raised her breasts in the air, seeming to offer the pointed
nipples to him.  It was an offer he didn't decline, dipping his head down to
very softly plant a series of kisses around the throbbing nubs that drew a very
quiet sigh of pleasure from her.
     She finally straightened up and reached down, taking his hand in hers and
squeezing gently.  "Come on," she whispered, moving towards the bathroom with
him in gentle tow.  The tiled floor was dangerously cool beneath their bare
feet, neither one wasting much time in crossing the bathroom to stand on the
floormat outside the shower stall doors.
     They both paused to cast a measured look at the towel rack before looking
at one another.  The white towels were fairly large and adorned with tiny red
hearts.  One had been emblazoned with 'his' in bright blue lettering while the
second said 'hers' in a vibrant pink script.  Galen giggled quietly and leaned
forward to kiss him briefly before stepping into the shower stall, casting a
glance over her shoulder to indicate he should stay put for a moment.
     D remained motionless as he watched her play with the shower settings,
adjusting the dial to a moderately hot temperature before giving it a gentle
yank.  The showerhead immediately began to gurgle as the water flowed through
the pipes, causing her to quickly dance out of the way before she could be
soaked with what would likely be cold water.  She stepped back out of the stall
to stand near him, her blue-green eyes seeming to study his physique with open
interest.
     She looked up at him and smiled gently, staring into his eyes for a few
seconds before she suddenly blinked.  She quickly looked around the room, her
gaze finally coming to rest on the small basket perched on the back of the
toilet tank.  She padded over to examine it, giving him a clear view of the
dark brown lines marring her lower back.  He could only view them for a brief
moment as she plucked several of the items out of the basket, quickly turning
around and bringing them back to him.
     "These might help," she said playfully as she handed him a small plastic
bottle of shampoo and a miniature bar of soap.
     "Indeed," he said quietly, glancing down at the standard-issue shampoo and
soap sets one found in virtually every inn across the planet.  He stared at
them before finally looking back up at her, the expression his face causing her
to blink in surprise.  "Galen...." he said in a soft tone.
     "You do want some company with this, right?" she replied in a hesitant
tone, trying to gauge his mood.
     "I do," he said honestly, feeling the anxiety easing just a little bit at
the look of relief on her face.  "Can I ask you a favor?"
     His eyebrows almost hit the ceiling as she smiled and stepped over to him,
a soft and almost predatory purr rising up from her chest.  "Anything," she
whispered softly, reaching out to run her fingertips across his pectorals.
     It took him a moment to remember what he was going to ask, realizing that
she had probably meant it when she said anything.  "Would you turn around for
me, please?" he managed to ask in a level tone.  "Just for a few moments."
     A faint sadness seemed to cross her face for a brief instant before she
nodded, seeming to understand what he was asking.  She reached out to take his
free hand in hers, holding his palm against the softness of her breast as she
twisted around to let him get a close-up and unobstructed view of the ridges on
her bare back.
     "Part of your grandmother's heritage?" he said softly as he gave her a
very gentle squeeze.  Her feminine flesh felt extremely soft and supple in his
hand, able to feel the hardened point of her nipple pressing against his palm.
It was enough to start to rouse his lust, sending a feeling of blooming warmth
throughout his veins.
     "Yes," she whispered back, tilting her head to one side to rest it on his
arm.  She didn't attempt to explain further, further solidifying his impression
that she was self-conscious about it.
     He very gently pulled her against him, gently tossing the bar of soap and
bottle of shampoo into the shower stall before bring his other hand up to cup
her other breast.  He started to knead them very gently, dipping his head down
to kiss the nape of her neck.  "You're beautiful, Galen," he murmured softly,
knowing it was very much the honest truth and hoping it would distract her from
her current self-conscious mood.
     She seemed to melt back against him with a soft sigh, likewise tossing her
own soap and shampoo into the shower.  Her hands then came up to cover his,
gently massaging his knuckles as they continued to knead her soft flesh.  Her
breathing began to deepen as he continued to kiss the side of her neck, tilting
her head slightly to give him better access.
     Her pulse started to flutter even harder beneath his lips as he slid his
hands across the full length of her body, gliding down over her abdomen to slip
his thumbs inside the waistband of her panties.  A few gentle tugs was all it
took to send them sliding down her shapely legs to puddle on the floor, his
fingertips pausing to linger over most of the bared skin before moving back up
to cup and cuddle her breasts.
     He held perfectly still as she reached behind her, very gently trying to
return the favor.  It was a slightly awkward evolution, but after a few tugs in
the wrong places she finally managed to work the fabric down far enough to let
gravity handle the rest.  They both remained still for several moments, their
underwear still loosely around their ankles as the held one another.
     A heated cloud of moist air billowed past them, causing them to open their
eyes and realize just how much steam was in the room.  She turned around to
look up at him, her liquid-like eyes filled with warmth and tenderness as she
gazed into his dark eyes.  They closed a moment later as he leaned forward, his
lips brushing across hers as he gave her a tight hug.
     "You ready?" she whispered softly once the kiss was broken after a minor
eternity had passed.
     "For you or for the shower?" D replied quietly.
     "One thing at a time," she murmured back.  She kissed him once again as
she took his hand, carefully stepping out of her panties and drawing him into
the now dangerously-warm shower stall.  She waited for him to step out of his
own underwear before gently pulling him deeper into the vapor cloud, kicking
the forgotten bars of soap aside and closing the stall door behind him to trap
both the billowing steamcloud and themselves in the distinctly hot and soothing
embrace of a cleansing shower.

                *               *               *               *

     The shower was virtually over before D finally figured out what he had
been missing all along.  The basic purpose of the shower was definitely taken
care of, namely purging their bodies of the layer of trail dust that they had 
managed to acquire during the previous three days of travel.  Granted it had
taken at least four times as long as it should have under normal circumstances,
but neither minded the excessive delays as they took turns gently soaping up
one another with gentle touches.  It seemed that they spent more time kissing
than actually rubbing or scrubbing, but that was part of the fun.
     The kisses has been warm and gentle, seeming to be content to take their
time and savor each individual brushing of the lips as a new experience.  The
soapy caresses had been slow and gentle, even playful at times as a cleansing
lather was worked up, massaged around, and thoroughly rinsed off.  Shampooing
one another had been a whole new experience as well, neither having done that
for anyone before.  A few playful questions had led to them trying to compare
the length of their hair, discovering that D's was longer than Galen's by less
than a full inch.
     But what surprised him the most was the realization of how they kissed and
caressed.  It wasn't the deeply personal or invasive touches of experienced
lovers, but neither was it the timid explorations of someone new to the art.
There was genuine warmth and passion in it all, but it finally dawned on him
that what was missing was the feeling of lust.
     That wasn't to say there wasn't an undercurrent of desire, as it was very
much present.  What had been left out were the feelings of haste, of urgency,
of an overriding need to take one another and do it now.  It seemed to him that
she was in no rush to increase the heat of the fires of passion, content to let
them burn with gentle warmth at their own pace.
     He found it to be a refreshing feeling, as if time itself was actually on
his side for once in his life.  He had very little reason to believe that their
gentle passion would be ending with the shower, but was instead left feeling
like it was going to be a very long night and for all the right reasons.
     They looked up at one another as the shower was finally shut off, their
bodies covered from head to toe in countless drops and beads of water.  A faint
smile crossed her face as she kissed him and took a step back, bracing herself
against the wall and taking a deep breath.
     D flinched as she shook her head rapidly, sending a fair amount of water
flying into the air as her blue-green hair whipped back and forth.  He gave her
a mostly-feigned look of unamusement as he wiped the droplets off of his face,
reaching over his shoulder to squeeze the majority of the water out of his own
dark mane of hair.
     "You're no fun," she teased quietly as she cuddled up to him again, one
hand coming up to run her fingers through his damp hair.
     "That's not what you said a few minutes ago," he pointed out in a somber
tone, drawing a quiet giggle and a very light blush from her.
     "I'm a woman, I'm allowed to change my mind," she retorted with a playful
twinkle in her eyes.  She giggled again as she got a dour look in response,
leaning forward to kiss him yet again.  She figured that their lips should have
bruised by now from all the kissing, but she felt only a gentle tingle at the
contact.  She parted her lips a moment later, flicking her tongue against his
lips to savor the natural sweetness of his kiss once again.
     She shivered lightly as the shower door was opened, letting a distinctly
chilly draft creep in along the ground.  She looked up as he reached out to
grab a towel, chuckling softly to herself as he could only grab the pink 'hers'
towel without having to take a few more steps.  "Wait," she said very softly as
he began to brush the towel against her.
     He paused in mid-motion and gave her a slightly curious look, wondering
what she was going to do this time.  He watched as she took the towel from him
and wrapped it around her body for a few seconds before unwrapping it.  She
then did the same to him, letting it enfold him for only a brief period of time
before removing it.
     "Come on," she said quietly, taking his hand as she gingerly stepped out
of the shower.  The damp towel was casually tossed onto the rack, leaving the
blue 'his' towel untouched.  She paused to let the floormat absorb the worst of
the water on her feet before walking towards the door, still holding his hand
in a gentle grip.
     "Galen...." he started to say in slight confusion.
     "Trust me," she said over her shoulder as she opened the bathroom door.
The heavy cloud of steam that had built up in the bathroom promptly began to
billow out into the rest of the room, allowing an even colder gust of air to
surge inside to greet them both.  The end result was a pair of light shivers
and a slight increase in their pace, leaving a trail of damp footprints across
the floor as they padded along in silence.
     She led him over to the bed and climbed in, edging over to the far side to
give him enough room.  She looked up at him as he hesitated, giving him a soft
sigh and a patient look.  "What's wrong, D?" she asked quietly.
     "I'm still wet," he protested, eyeing the water marks that were starting
to form on the sheets where she had touched them.
     "Yes, I left us that way for a reason," she replied.  "I'll show you in a
moment.  Now you coming in or what?" she said lightly.
     He gave her an uneasy look before gingerly laying down, feeling the heart-
dotted fabric start to absorb the water almost instantly.  He blinked as she
reached down to grab the topsheet, pulling it over them almost up to the base
of their throats.  She then scooted over to him, slipping his arm around her
and molding her body against his as she made herself comfortable.  She laid her
head down in the crook of his arm, the warmth of her breath tickling his ear as
she exhaled slowly.
     "There," she cooed softly, patting the sheet against his chest.  The red
and white linens promptly adhered to them like a second skin, molding around
them to emphasize the curves of their naked bodies.  She looked up to catch the
truly puzzled look on his face, unable to prevent herself from giggling softly
at the expression.
     "I like sticking to the sheets," she explained softly as she closed her
eyes, letting her arm rest on his chest.  "I usually take a hot shower and then
cool off like this.  Yes, the sheets stay wet at first, but they dry out soon
enough and cool you as it goes.  And if it gets too cool, you just reach down
and grab the blankets."
     "Okay," he said slowly.  The simple physics of evaporation made sense to
him, but the reasoning for doing so wasn't so easy to grasp.
     "I just figured we could cuddle for awhile, that's all," she murmured,
edging herself a little closer to bring her lips in contact with the soft skin
of his neck.  She paused before lifting her head up to give him a playful look.
"Or is that something else you're not used to?" she inquired lightly.
     He turned his head to look at her, his expression impassive as he gazed at
the soft contours of her face.  "Why would I be?" he asked, trying to keep his
tone free from any negative influences.
     She sighed and laid her head back down, absently tracing patterns over his
chest with a fingertip.  "I've heard the stories," she said quietly.  "About
how every so often you would wind up in bed with a young woman.  They all said
the same thing, too, that you were always gentle with them.  Most said that it
was the best night of their lives, lying in your arms until you left with the
morning sun.  Surely you didn't just sweep them off of their feet, slipped them
out of their clothes, and made them breathless with passion and pleasure."
     A very soft sigh rose up from her chest as she received silence in reply,
barely able to make out the sound of his breathing even with her head on his
shoulder.  She glanced up at him, pausing as he saw his empty gaze focused up
at the ceiling, seeing and yet not seeing at the same time.  "D?" she asked in
a very soft whisper.
     "I would rather not talk about it," he said quietly.
     "Why not?" she prodded, her question causing him to refocus and cast a
sidelong glance at her out of the corner of his eye.  His head turned after a
few seconds to look directly at her, revealing a faint veil of pain.
     "I'm not interested in what the stories have said about me," he finally
said in a somber tone.  "To borrow a uniquely human phrase, I don't kiss and
tell.  It would be best if you were to form your own opinions and not rely on
the whispered words of others who weren't there."
     "Ah," she purred very softly.  "The shield of honor comes to bear, hmm?
I understand, D," she said, lifting her head up to brush her lips against his.
"Sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable.  Although I hope you won't blame me
for trying to see if the truth is being told about you.  I'd hate to think that
the stories of your tenderness and gentleness are wrong...."
     A very soft and hollow grunt rose up from his throat as he looked back up
at the off-white ceiling again.  "I have no desire to harm anyone who doesn't
deserve it," he said quietly.  "You should know that by now."
     "And what about me, then?" she inquired softly.  "I'm a dunpeal like you,
and you already said our blood needs to be destroyed.  Does the circumstances
of my birth mean I deserve to be harmed?"
     He blinked and turned to look at her, a faint chill working its way down
his spine as he saw the somber look in her eyes.  "You're different," he said
in a calm tone.  "You're not like the others."
     "So what will you do with me?" she whispered softly, her eyes suddenly
filling with painful uncertainty.  She blinked hard and edged back as he sat
up, turning to the side to put his feet on the floor.  "D?" she asked as he
leaned forward, resting his arms on his thighs and bowing his head slightly.
     "I don't know," he said softly, almost too softly for her to hear.
     The bed creaked slightly as she sat up and moved over to him.  The sheet
draped across them both as she hugged him, gently locking her arms over his
chest and resting her cheek against his back.  He subconsciously leaned back
against her, the odd feelings of both cool dampness and burning warmth blending
together to provide a very unique feeling of comfort.
     "D?" she said softly, her face still pressed against his upper back.  "We
discussed this once before.  I'm a noble who only has my pride and honor left
to truly call my own.  I will not beg for my life or otherwise ask you to spare
me from the death you believe I deserve."
     "Galen...." he whispered hoarsely, his voice rasping in his suddenly too-
dry throat.  He closed his eyes as she turned her head, tenderly brushing her
lips across the nape of his neck.
     "All I ask is that you let me enjoy what I have," she said.  "And right
now, I have you.  I don't care if that will change when the dawn comes, I just
want to hold you for awhile."
     D said nothing as he leaned back against her.  He simply couldn't bring
himself deny her that much, not even if he wanted to.  He found himself wanting
her as well, wanting to feel the warmth of her touch, the soft taste of her
kiss.  Leila's soft voice rose up from the depths of his memory, reminding him
of the promise he had made to her.  The spectral whisper was banished from his
mind a moment later, not out of malice or pain but simply because her words
were unnecessary this time.
     He could feel the softness of her bare breasts as she hugged him tighter,
the aching points of her nipples leaving a tiny pair of dents in his back.  A
soft blue glow filled his eyes a few moments later as she tilted her head, her
lips sliding along the curve of his neck to kiss the side of his throat.  The
glow became stronger as the kiss deepened, feeling her lips parting to gently
nip his flesh with her teeth.
     "D? she murmured softly.  "Have you ever kissed one of our kind before?"
     He blinked at the question, knowing that she didn't mean the soft kisses
they had been sharing for most of the evening.  He had been bitten twice by
vampires before, but only during the heat of battle and only because his arm
had gotten in the way and provided a convenient attack of opportunity.  There
had likewise been a few times in which his dark bite had been his only weapon,
used not to feast on blood but only used to seriously injure his opponent.
     "No," he said very quietly.  He suddenly tensed as he felt her teeth nip
his throat again, just a little harder than the last time.  Then he felt the
twin points of her vampiric fangs, ever so lightly scratching his skin as she
gave his throat a lingering kiss.  "Galen...." he started to say, only to fall
silent as her hand came up to his mouth, a pair of fingertips lightly pressing
against his lips.
     He simply closed his eyes as she gently tugged on him, leaning him back at
an angle to rest against her.  Her other hand came up to stroke his chest, her
head tilting to one side to get a better angle.  He knew what she was going to
do, something he had never allowed to happen before.  Various encounters with
his kind and others had drawn his blood, but never before had he willingly let
it be taken from him....
     His entire world suddenly ground to a halt, flushing a deep shade of dark
blue and pulsing in time with his heart as his corneas luminesced like they had
never done before.  The pain was as exquisite as it was inconsequential, deep
and shallow at the same time, and producing a feeling unlike anything he had
ever experienced since his birth.  He realized right then and there that if
this is what Doris had felt, or Leila, or any of the others he had taken blood
from in the past, then he had grossly underestimated the emotional impact it
would have had on them.
     And then she started to sip the blood from his veins.
     If the simple act of being bitten by her made him question everything he
had done since the first days, then the feeling his blood drawn out by her was
enough to sear every single synapse in his brain with pleasure.  He could feel
his body reacting as it had never done before, tensing, relaxing, melting all
at once.  He could feel everything and nothing at the same time, no idea what
his hands were doing at the moment, no idea if he was sitting up or laying down
or whatever.  And at the moment, he didn't give a good goddamn.
     Her lips, her soft and supple, *wonderful* lips worked gently against his
skin as she sipped his blood, gently drawing out tiny crimson pearls of liquid
life to bathe her tongue with his essence.  Waves of pleasure crashed into him
with each gentle stroke of that warm and wet muscle, lapping up the droplets
that welled up through the puncture marks.
     His breath left his lungs in an explosion as she bit him again, her fangs
piercing deeper into the same spot even as his body tried to seal the wounds.
The mixture of pain and pleasure brought him dangerously close to orgasm, the
sheer force of his pulse making his manhood throb like a rabid animal raging
against the bars of a cage.  The rest of his body was likewise as taut, kept in
check only by the warmth of her presence and the gentle touch on his chest.
     He didn't know if he was alive or dead at that point, only aware of the
fact that he was with her, her lips at his throat, and very slowly sampling the
blood that burned like liquid fire in his veins.  His vampire nature was well
beyond his control, fully awake in ways it had never been allowed to be but
still restrained by the tender force of another.  He knew he would return the
favor, he would *have* to lest he go completely mad, but there was something
about the whole experience that left him content to wait his turn.  She *would*
be his soon, but for the moment he belonged to her in ways he simply couldn't
have imagined before....
     His whole body was suddenly wracked with the most pleasurable of spasms as
she bit him a third time, piercing him even deeper than before.  This time he
did orgasm, the shockwave of pleasure coursing through his body until he was
erupting like a volcano.  He could feel her hand leave his chest and come down
to grab his hand, intertwining their fingers and squeezing firmly as the worst
of the spasms finally abated.
     He simply had no idea how long she tasted his blood, but he knew the exact
moment she ceased.  The loss of contact was like an icy shock, freezing his
nerves solid and leaving him feeling utterly drained in more ways that he could
count.  Perhaps it was just the stress and the relieving of that stress in his
body finally catching up to him, but he found himself unable to move as she
leaned back and rested his cheek against the softness of her breasts.
     It seemed an eternity passed before his strength returned, creeping along
the length of his body and thawing his nerves from their icy prisons.  His eyes
opened a few minutes later, seeming to take forever to adjust and bring focus
to the solid wall of blue he was seeing.
     The world promptly faded to black again as she tilted his head back, her
lips gently pressing against his to send that most delightful of electrical
sensations throughout his body.  It seemed to speed up the recovery process,
reawakening his senses one degree at a time until he was fairly confident he
knew were everything was again.  His legs were still hanging over the edge of
the bed, feeling dangerously cold from lack of circulation.  One hand was still
intertwined with hers while the other was.... where?
     It took him a moment to realize it was wrapped around her ankle, and that
the only way they could be in that position without breaking anything was if
she was curled up in a ball around him.  He sighed softly as he kissed her, a
dark tingle shooting throughout his body as he could taste not just her but his
own blood as well.  The tingle deepened as her lips parted, her tongue coming
out to very gently slide between his own lips to give him a better taste.
     "D?" she whispered when she finally edged back, her voice dangerously raw
with several emotions.  "Are you alright?  I.... didn't think it would have
that strong of an effect on you...."
     It took him three tries to get the knot out of his vocal chords, barely
managing to audibly whisper her name on the third attempt.  "G.... Galen," he
rasped.  "I.... have.... never...."
     His voice failed him again as he focused enough to part his eyelids and
look up at her.  Her face was clearly insectoid at the moment, her usually pale
skin a very light shade of mottled brown.  A pair of sensory ridges had formed
on her forehead like rudimentary antennae, and her glowing red eyes were very
strongly faceted.  Even with her Barbaroi blood on display like that, he still
found her to be incredibly beautiful.
     D very carefully sat up, almost falling back down as he felt a momentary
empty feeling in his skull.  His blood pressure stabilized a moment later and
he carefully turned around.  He moved to kneel next to the bed before pausing,
casting a quick glance around as he suddenly remembered making an orgasmic mess
in the recent past.  He made a face as he saw where it had ended up, making a
mental note to run her boots through the shower in the morning.
     He returned his attention to her as he knelt down on the floor, gently
drawing her curled-up form over to him.  He then began to caress her entire
body with his fingertips, starting at her ankles and taking his time in moving
upwards.
     The skin of her lower legs and arms had taken on a dark brown cast but had
remained otherwise unchanged.  The woodland coloring started to drain out as
his fingertips gently caressed and massaged her, lulling her Barbaroi blood to
sleep and restoring the pale, flawless perfection that he was used to.  Her
muscles readily relaxed at his touch, seeming to melt into patches of fibrous
flesh that he took his time exploring and mapping.
     He closed his eyes at her touch, her fingertips gliding through his still-
damp mane of hair.  He worked for several minutes by touch alone, his hands
sliding and caressing the supple expanse of her legs.  His eyes opened once
again as he reached her upper thighs, one hand slipping between them to gently
part her legs and expose her most sacred of treasures.
     The downy hair here was the same as the rest of her hair, each individual
strand seeming to be unable to make up its mind if it wanted to grow blue or
green.  They were softer and finer to the touch as well, a very gentle mass of
silky strands that almost but not quite concealed everything from his gaze.
     He leaned forward to kiss her there, his fingertips parting the soft mass
of hair to let his lips brush against the velvety folds of her sex.  The scent
of her musk tickled his senses a moment later, a rich, intoxicating, almost
dizzying scent that warmed his blood in an instant.  He knew she was ready for
him, and had been ready for quite some time.  The scent only served to further
temper his resolve to take her, to yield to her desires and not deny her the
pleasure she needed.
     He teased her for several minutes with his tongue, flicking out to caress
the firm pearl of her womanhood from several directions.  Even without hearing
her soft cries of pleasure or feeling her hands knead his scalp, he could tell
that he was having an effect on her, giving her the attention her body craved.
     His lips finally slid upwards, taking a very slow and meandering path
across her groin and up to the flat smoothness of her stomach.  The soft sounds
that were whispering up from her throat didn't diminish at all as he worked,
seeming to savor his attentions without being in a frenzied rush.  He figured
she was either the most patient life-form he had ever encountered or that he
was overlooking something else.  It didn't matter to him at the moment, as he
knew that he would put a strangle-hold on time itself if need be in order to
pleasure her the right way.
     He allowed his hand to stray back down to her sheath, lightly caressing
and toying with the supersoft strands of hair as his lips finally reached the
base of her breast.  He decided to let his tongue do most of the work, slowly
tracing the circumference of her breast in a large circle before moving over to
tease the opposite one in an identical fashion.
     It soon evolved into a sort of a figure-eight pattern, tonguing a circle
around one breast before sliding across to the other.  The circles began to
shrink in size, eventually encountering the pale circles of her areola.  His
tongue was starting to get a little sore by that time, so he switched tactics
and began to use his lips instead.
     Her hands never left his neck and upper back as he continued to pleasure
her, a soft but steady mantra of whispered moans and gentle sighs escaping her
lips.  Her hips began to twitch ever so gently, rocking back and forth in slow
and subtle motion as his hand continued to caress her honeyed sheath.  A wave
of pleasure washed over her without warning as he opened his mouth to nip the
throbbing, aching tightness of her nipple, bringing her to a gentle orgasm and
catching them both by surprise.
     The volume of her soft cries increased slightly as he didn't relent even
for a moment.  He gently rocked his head from side to side, passing her nipple
between his parted teeth in a light scraping motion.  A single fingertip began
to caress the full length of her labia, first tracing one super-sensitive fold
of flesh before repeating the same process with the other.
     He lifted his head up as he heard her whisper his name, calling out for
him in a soft voice that said she was ready for him, that she wanted him and
couldn't wait any longer.  It was a call he didn't want to refuse, giving her
thoroughly-stimulated nipple a lingering kiss before moving up to give her a
deep kiss on her pale blue lips.  He paused for a moment as he almost sliced
himself open on her fangs, still fully extended and prominently displayed as
she whimpered softly.
     Taking the unintentional hint, he dipped his head down to kiss her throat
softly, marveling at the feel of her humming vocal chords beneath his lips.  He
could also feel the strength of her pulse, thrumming a heavy tempo in a most
alluring fashion.  He very gently nipped her, using the very edges of his flat
teeth to see what sort of reaction he would draw from her.
     He blinked as she tensed, her arms tightening around his shoulders in an
almost painful grip.  Her breathing drastically changed as well, deepening even
further even as it started to rasp in her throat.  Fearing that any attempt at
biting her would make matters worse, he started to edge away only to discover
that he didn't have any room to move at all.
     "Galen?" he whispered very softly, unsure of what to do now.  He received
his answer as her hand came up to caress the back of his head, gently pressing
his mouth back down to the soft skin of her throat.  The rest of her started to
react as well, her free hand all but dragging him into bed and drawing his body
over hers in an unmistakable indication of what she wanted from him.
     He wasn't sure which part of him reacted first, his vampiric nature as he
kissed her throat again or his manhood as it brushed against the soft patch of
her pubic hair.  The simultaneous reaction of both was enough to overload his
conscious mind, producing a momentary disconnect from one second to the next.
The haze soon cleared, leaving him almost breathless with desire, a need to
pleasure her and be pleasured.... and a hunger for her in a way he had never
felt before.
     The rich, heady scent of her blood called to him as he brought his lips
to her throat, finding a throbbing conduit of life within moments.  He kissed
her softly, tenderly, gently as if it was the first time he had ever done so.
Her skin seemed to dance at the contact, able to feel the vein fluttering in
a reflexive action.  The sharpened points of his fangs touched her skin next,
just lightly enough to dent the pale flesh without breaking it.  He closed his
eyes as he felt, not just felt but *heard* her pulse echoing inside his ears,
inside his mind, inside his very core.
     There were no true thoughts of hesitation that he was aware of.  She was
offering him her blood, almost begging in a way for him to taste it, to savor
her life's essence as she had his minutes ago.  He was aware of the call of her
body as well, the exquisite warmth of her sheath waiting for his hardness to
enter her, to fill her with passion and pleasure.  Never before had he been in
such a position where a woman was offering him so much, not like this, not when
his own body, his own blood was begging, almost screaming to accept.
     So why was he hesitating?
     A soft whispered voice drifted up from the depths of memory, one of the
many voices of the past that had haunted and tormented him his entire life.
This one, however, was one of the all-too familiar ones, coming not to wrack
his soul with guilt or pain, but to soothe and calm his doubts.
     Remember.... Leila whispered to him, a soft and loving smile on her face,
slowly to do it right, and doing it for the right reasons....
     He stopped for a moment, wondering what were the right reasons for taking
Galen like this.  Because she wanted him to?  Because he wanted to?  Because of
all they had shared in the past three days?  Did it matter that he would have
to decide in two days if he had to kill her or not?  Could he even be able to
do so if he took her body and blood?  Would it matter?
     You made a promise, something said in the back of his mind.
     Very well, he thought to himself as he took a deep breath.  He would try
to sort out things later when he had the time and luxury of being able to think
straight, but right now he had a promise to keep....
     ....And a woman to make love to.
     A truly deep sigh rose up from her throat as he slipped inside her, very
gently filling her depths with a measured thrust.  Her response was very much
expected, tilting her head back even farther in a reflexive motion.  Her quiet
sigh of pleasure quickly changed to a sharp gasp as he bit down, his fangs
carefully penetrating the large vein beneath her skin in a quick strike.  Her
blood flowed across his tongue almost instantly, the incredibly warm and rich
taste making his senses reel with delight like no other experience could.
     He almost cried as a mental fuse was blown an instant later, able to not
just taste her blood but her emotions as well.  The sensation washed over him
with the force of a tidal wave, threatening to sweep him away in a torrent of
pleasure, passion, pain, warmth, tenderness, happiness, contentment, desire....
     The sense of the passage of time went screaming out the proverbial window
as he began to move within her, a series of slow and gentle thrusts that left
distinct ripples of super-sweet flavor in the taste of her blood.  Each slow
movement inside her brought out the sweetest of pleasurable tastes, and each
measured withdrawal resulted in a keen sense of loss, almost sorrow, only to be
replaced with a sense of yearning and anticipation for the next stroke.  The
experience left him dangerously disoriented, only able to focus on the taste of
her blood and the feeling of her body beneath him, surrounding him.
     How in the hell had he missed this one?  Of all the times he had taken a
woman's blood, he hadn't done so while actively engaged in making love to them.
Sure, the latter tended to follow the former in almost every instance, but why
hadn't he thought of trying them together?  The result of doing so was almost
literally blowing his mind inside-out, leaving only the barest threads of his
consciousness intact to think about the situation.
     His jaws flexed slightly to bite her again, doing so even before he could
realize that the flow of blood had slowed down due to her regeneration.  He
didn't want to leave his fangs imbedded in her skin, afraid of what it might
result in.  He felt her body shudder beneath him as her throat was pierced for
the second time, his eyes almost popping out of his head as her sheath became
as tight as a vice from her orgasm.
     He barely managed to retain control of his own body's response to the vast
increase in pleasure, having the hunch that the only reason he was able to do
so was because he had already orgasmed himself earlier.  A momentary feeling of
shame washed over him at the thought, and not just because of the mess he had
made on her boots.  Although now that he thought about it, if being bitten was
every bit as orgasmic for her as it was for him....
     He waited until she had recovered before drawing his tongue over the twin
wounds, lapping up the crimson globs of blood before carefully biting her for
a third time.  The reaction was just as immediate as the first time, feeling
her whole body shudder as a single entity as the waves of pleasure ran amok
through her nervous system.  Her sheath tightened around him once again, but
even prepared for it he wasn't able to stave off a response of his own.
     She seemed to pull him tightly against her as he came, almost driving his
fangs back into her throat as she clutched him.  Her internal muscles seemed to
ripple slightly, increasing the hyper-stimulating sensation and threatening to
spark a whole new explosion of pleasure.
     They simply held one another for several minutes, his tongue still lapping
up the droplets of blood that flowed from her throat before the wound finally
sealed itself.  Her hands began to caress his back, a slow and gentle sweeping
of her fingertips up and down his spine.  They were both quite breathless and
beyond words, content to enjoy the intimate comfort and warmth of their mutual
afterglow as he lay buried within her depths.
     A soft, almost plaintive whimpering-moan drifted up from her throat as he
gently withdrew from her, her arms tightening around him in an effort to keep
him with her, inside her.  A soft but deep kiss convinced her to relax, letting
him slide off to the side just enough to take his full weight off of her.  The
very soft sigh that followed was one he easily recognized, filled with the deep
disappointment that the love-making was officially over for the moment but at
the same time quietly relieved to be free from the mild crushing sensation of
his body on top of hers.
     He kissed her again before edging back, giving him enough room to reach
down and grab the blankets.  The heart-dotted linens were careful drawn up to
their waists, trapping part of the burning heat of their bodies to keep them
warm while still letting the worst of it escape so they didn't cook themselves.
     He laid his head down on her shoulder, brushing his lips against her soft
skin as she cuddled against him.  Time seemed to slip past them in silence as
they held one another, their pulses and their breathing eventually slowing down
to a more moderate tempo as both their passions and the air cooled.
     "I see why you're not worried about the stories," Galen murmured softly
sometime later, her fingertips coming up to stroke his hair.
     "And why is that?" D inquired, only now starting to wonder just what he
had gotten himself into this time.
     She gently rolled over onto her side, very carefully pulling him up higher
on her arm so she could bring her lips to his.  "They were right about you,"
she whispered, her lips brushing against his as she spoke.  "But they don't do
you justice.  You are.... far more than they had claimed."
     He couldn't have said anything in reply even if he had wanted to, finding
the air gently drawn out of his lungs by the warmth and gentleness of her kiss.
Her leg came up to gently slide between his own, intertwining their bodies even
as their lips seemed to fuse together as a single entity.
     "D...." she whispered softly after another minor eternity had passed.  "I
don't want you to read too much into this, but.... if you're going to kill me,
could you.... could you do it right now?"
     "What?" he said, clearly startled by the soft request.
     It seemed to take a long time for her to find the words to reply.  "Just
before you came to kill my father.... he sent me away from him, saying that he
didn't want my last memory of him to be of his death," she said in a very soft
and somber tone.  "I understood what he was saying, which is why I left him and
waited for you outside.  If.... if I am to die, D, then let it be now while I
still have this memory of you."
     "Galen...."
     "Please," she whispered, giving him a tender kiss as her tears started to
well up.  "I have never felt this.... satisfied, this fulfilled, this.... happy
in all my life.  I don't want this feeling to end, D, I.... don't want to lose
you now that I have you.  In my arms.... inside me.... in my.... in my heart,"
she whispered before her voice failed entirely.
     His voice likewise refused to work as she embraced him, pressing their
bodies together in a gentle but tight hug.  The sting of her tears on his skin
registered a moment later, tiny drops of acid-like moisture dripping onto his
shoulder and leaving a searing path down his skin.  Why tears burned him he had
yet to figure out, but a couple of experiments awhile ago had confirmed his
suspicions that exposure to them was every bit as dangerous as sunlight.  At
least, it was to him....
     "I'm not going to kill you," he said softly, only realizing after he had
spoken that he had already decided the issue long ago.  He wouldn't be able to
bring himself to hurt her, not unless she did something truly deserving of such
a fatal strike.  But that only made the chaos in his mind even worse.  What was
he supposed to do with her if he couldn't bring himself to kill her?  And as
long as there was another dunpeal in the world, how could his life-long quest
ever be finished?  What would all the sacrifices he had made mean then?
     The deep kiss that followed his words took both their breaths away, filled
with the joy of relief and the warmth of happiness.  There was even a hint of
renewed passion in the kiss, something that might have been explored a little
further if they both weren't still thoroughly exhausted from earlier.  Whether
the feeling of weakness was from draining one another of blood or if it was
because their love-making had really been *that* good they couldn't tell, but
at the moment neither one really cared why.
     "So...." she whispered once the kiss was broken, reaching up to stroke his
cheek.  "Now what?"
     He almost sighed at the question, knowing there were literally countless
ways he could answer her but only one would be the literal and honest truth.
"I don't know," he replied softly, looking up at her to stare into the depths
of her multi-faceted eyes.  The red composite shape smoothly melted back into
the liquid-like ring of blue-green a moment later, the few lingering traces of
her unique heritage fading away as she regained full conscious control of her
body's reactions.
     "I don't suppose you'll stay with me?" she asked, seeming to be uncertain
of the situation.
     He nodded slightly.  "We still have a promise," he reminded her gently.
"We will resume traveling to your mother's resting site in the morning, and we
should be able to figure out something by then."
     "Just don't leave me, D," she implored in a soft whisper.  "Not after what
we just shared.  Not just the love-making, but.... everything," she said, her
hand coming up to press against his to intertwine their fingers.
     She closed her eyes as he leaned forward, her lips parting as he gave her
yet another soft and deep kiss.  She made the softest of moaning sounds as his
tongue momentarily flicked against her lips, causing her to reflexively try to
capture it between her teeth.  She ended up nipping his lower lip instead, the
sensation resulting in a very quiet sigh of his own and a gentle increase in
the tightness of their intimate embrace.
     "D?" she murmured softly, very lightly chewing on his lip.
     "Ask me in the morning," he replied with a faint hint of dry amusement to
his otherwise somber tone.  The tone made her giggle very softly, bringing a
light blush to her cheeks at the realization that he had apparently been able
to read her mind.
     "I'm sorry," she whispered, giving him another kiss.
     "Don't be," he replied as he leaned down, planting a light kiss on the
swell of her breast.  He paused as he felt her hand on the back of his neck,
very gently pressing his mouth against the tightening point of her nipple.  He
allowed himself to do what she wished him to do, parting his lips slightly to
capture the nub of sensitive flesh.
     "D?" she breathed softly as the tingles of pleasure started to run rampant
through her body once again.  "Are you sure I can't convince you to make love
to me again?  It would be.... nice.... to have you inside me some more...."
     He paused and lifted his head up slightly, drawing the nipple upwards with
his lips until the tension slipped it free with the faintest of popping sounds.
"Galen...." he started to say quietly.
     "Let me enjoy you while I still have you," she whispered breathlessly.
"Even if it means our bodies might regret it in the morning.  Please...."
     D paused to assess his body's condition.  Being a dunpeal meant that his
capacity for regeneration made for some truly impressive stamina.  However, he
knew that there was a major difference between sealing a wound and replenishing
his life-energy, which between the blood-taking and dual orgasms is precisely
what he had lost a fair amount of earlier.  "It might take awhile," he warned
her in a carefully guarded tone.  "And we still have to get up in the morning,"
he added, more as an after-thought than as an actual reason.
     He almost sighed at the soft laughter that rose up from her chest, the
motion causing her supple breasts to jiggle in a most inviting fashion.  "I've
waited my entire life to meet someone like you, D," she murmured, reaching out
to run her fingertips through his hair again.  "And you've already proven to be
worth the wait.  Take your time, hunter, *please*.... take your time."
     This is going to be a long night, alright, he thought to himself with a
gentle shake of his head before lowering his mouth to her body once again.

                *               *               *               *

     He awoke with the rising sun, the gentle tingle in his soul seeming to be
unusually strong for some reason.  He immediately regretted the rise into full
consciousness, feeling his body quietly but firmly protest the interruption of
its rest.  The host of trivial aches and pains in his joints were both routine
and expected, making him wonder not for the first time if it was possible for
him to start to experience a form of arthritis after so many centuries of solid
abuse from fighting his own kind.
     A lower and slightly deeper ache registered on his mind a moment later,
not the most gentle reminder of how he had exhausted himself last night to a
point just short of full unconsciousness.  Not that he had minded, and if he
was correctly interpreting the moans she had made at the time she hadn't minded
the repeat performance either.  But apparently his body minded, or at least the
part of him that had been put to slightly excessive use....
     He finally managed to force his eyelids open, focusing on the red pastel
walls of the honeymoon suite.  The reminder of where exactly they were prompted
a very faint grunt, knowing that the whispered stories were probably already
well on their way to wider circulation.  Not that he truly gave a damn, but it
was still something to think about whenever he was in an introspective mood.
Or at least in one worse than what was usual for him.
     The level of light in the room was still fairly low, only the faintest of
glows visible around the edges of the shuttered window that he only now just
realized had been set into the wall.  That usually meant a west-facing window,
kept sheltered from the brunt of the sun until the afternoon and evening hours.
It suited him just fine, not sure he presently had the strength to cope with
the first searing rays of the sun.  That would change once he fully woke up,
but as a vampire had once said in passing, it was usually the first glimpse of
the sun that caught you off-guard and thus would prove to be the last as well.
     A quick glance showed that Galen was still curled up next to him, her
features having slipped into her insectoid form at some point in her peaceful
slumber.  Her skin had tinted to a soft shade of woodland brown, and the ridges
that had taken shape on her forehead seemed to be dotted with a fine layer of
microscopic feathers.  Even with the lines of her face shifted into something
less than fully human, he still found her beauty to be incredibly alluring.
     <D?> the thing in his hand whispered as softly as it could, drawing an
almost resentful look from D at the intrusion.  <You alright?>
     "Of course," he murmured back, keeping his voice as soft as possible to
avoid disturbing the slumbering woman next to him.  A quick glance showed that
she didn't appear to be thinking of waking up anytime soon, the faint traces of
a smile still evident on her soft blue lips.
     <Just checking,> it replied in a relieved tone.  <I don't know what it was
like for you, but I felt a whole lot of.... well, let's just say I was starting
to worry about you.  I mean really hard-core worry.>
     "I'm fine," he said in a monotone, wondering why it was bothering him.
     <Yeah, well, I just wanted to make sure, you know?  Umm, I don't suppose
I could get you to listen to me for a moment?  Got something I'd like to say,
you know, but after the mood you've been in lately.... well, let's just say I
think I can handle eating a pillow a lot better than a tree.>
     He sighed heavily, trying not to wonder what was on its mind this time.
He had learned the hard way that it had no shortage of comments and critiques
to make about his performance in bed whenever the situation arose, but it had
always waited until they were back on the road before speaking up.
     "Very well," he said quietly.  He dared not move to look at the palm of
his left hand given the way she was still nestled against his arm.
     <Think you can handle waking up next to her for awhile?> it asked softly.
<I'm only asking because I think I've figured out a way for the two of you to
be.... *!!!*>
     D just sighed and closed his eyes, clenching his fist as tightly as he
could manage.  "Why do you persist in this?" he said in a weary tone.  "Leave
us alone."
     <Honestly, do you have any idea what you're going to do with her?> it said
as best it could, its voice distorted as its mouth was crushed in on itself.
<You said you can't kill her, and I don't think you'll be able to leave her by
herself.  So what other choice do you have aside from staying together?>
     That caused him to stop and think for a moment.  Could he remain with her?
To say that they had gotten to know one another in the past three days would be
an understatement on par with calling a tornado a localized wind current, but
had they formed a strong enough bond that could keep them together?  A simple
glance off to his side suggested it already was, but what about the fact that
she was a dunpeal and that the world *needed* to be free once and for all of
the dark taint that ran through both her veins and his?
     His entire adult life had been all but forced onto his path ages ago, and
not once since he started walking it had he questioned himself this much since
meeting her.  What was it?  That her life was the absolute last barrier that
needed to fall before his own would be complete?  Was it because she was the
only one of her kind, having not just the blood of two worlds in her veins but
three?  Human, vampire, and Barbarois mutant.... she drew on all of them, she
*was* all of them, the living incarnation of what they had to offer.
     A simple glance showed what her body was, the insectoid lines merged with
a vampiric form that couldn't be fully contained in an outwardly human shell.
Even at her strongest, she couldn't mask the exotic beauty that meant she was
more than human.  But yet deep inside, well past the barriers of her flesh, her
heart and soul appeared to be dominated by a human spirit.  He knew that any
one of her aspects could manifest itself at will, sometimes even against it,
but that was the same way he was, his mother's human blood seeming to always be
locked in a struggle against his father's vampiric nature.
     And in order to negate the risk of his ever losing control, of unleashing
that dark nature upon the world again, he knew that he had to die.
     Which meant she would have to die as well.
     But he also knew he couldn't bring himself to do it.
     The conflict roiled back and forth inside him like a dark maelstrom, one
side demanding her death and the other resolutely refusing to do so.  He knew
that he needed to resolve the situation and soon, lest it drive him completely
mad.  He couldn't leave her alone and run the risk of a resurgence in her own
vampiric blood, but he couldn't bring himself to negate that risk in the only
definitive way that he knew.  And remaining with her....
     What would that accomplish?  There were times in which he couldn't even
fully control his own dark blood, how could he dominate or otherwise control
her blood as well?  Sure, being with her was.... nice, as she quaintly put it.
The word had come to mean so much at this point that it was almost enough to
make him smile.  Yes, he could probably manage to bring himself to enjoy her
company for a period of time.... but how long?
     For the next two days, at least, as that's how much of their journey lay
ahead of them.  He would take her to see her mother's tomb, perhaps even having
her in his arms the rest of the time just as she lay in them at this moment.
Once there, he would oblige her wishes and not disturb her while she spent some
time on that holy ground.  And afterwards.... what?
     It'd be the perfect place to kill her, part of his mind reasoned.  After
all, what better place to be laid to rest than next to the grave of your own
mother?  And she did say that she wanted to see her once final time in life
before joining her in death.  Just a simple, clean thrust to her chest with his
dagger to make it as quick and painless as humanly possible, as promised....
     ....And put her forever beyond his reach.  He wouldn't feel her lips ever
again, brushing softly against his before deepening to offer him a taste of her
natural sweetness.  He wouldn't feel her hand in his, squeezing him gently as
her fingers slid around his to bind them closer together.  He wouldn't be able
to taste her blood, washing across his tongue in a kaleidoscope of tastes and
flavors as he made love to her, slowly and gently into the night....
     Could he really afford to lose her?  The immediate answer was yes, as he
had passed on other such feelings in the past with no permanent harm done.  He
might end up adding her voice and memory to the plethora of such phantasms in
his mind that haunted his thoughts when he wasn't paying attention, but surely
he could live with another voice in his mind's ear, another needle stuck into
incorporeal flesh to add its sting to the eternal pain he was in.
     He had managed just fine before meeting her, so surely he could do just as
well without her.... right?  It would be like all the other trysts he had in
the past, coming to them in the darkness of the night, quenching the fires of
their lust and passion to leave only extremely contented ashes behind, and then
take his leave from them with a soft kiss once the sun rose anew.  Right?
     Except for one thing, a detail that had quietly been bothering him since
he first became aware of it.  Her body was incredibly soft and supple, and yet
so amazingly strong at the same time.  Her heart and soul were perfect matches
as well, full of youthful vigor and enthusiasm, almost blazing with the heat of
her tender passion.... except for one thing.  Her passion had been as fiery as
the core of any star, but not once had he sensed any hint of true lust.
     Desire, certainly.  A burning need, an almost overwhelming requirement to
make love to him, to feel him inside her, to fill her body and her soul with
passion.  But not once had it been tainted with the greed of lust, having to
fulfill her own desires at any expense, to truly demand more from him that he
was giving her at any given moment.  Sure, she might have whispered for him to
pleasure her like this, or to move like that, but always it had been a shared
experience, equally giving as much as she took to keep a level balance.  And
her level of patience with him was beyond anything he had ever encountered.
     *She* was unlike anything he had ever encountered.
     So how could he possibly let her get away from him?  How could he allow
her to forever slip beyond his reach after having her in every sense of the
word, not just in body but in spirit as well?  He wouldn't dare to think of
holding her against her will, of course.... but what if she didn't want to go?
Could he keep her?  Would it even be possible for someone like him to have her
by his side?
     A gentle touch on his cheek startled him, blinking hard to find himself
staring into an insectoid face that seemed more than a little angelic at that
particular moment in time.  He sighed quietly at his own reaction, turning his
head to the side to kiss her fingertips softly.
     <Good morning,> she buzzed very softly, the metallic undertones of her
changed voice distorting her words into near-incomprehension.
     "Morning," he replied softly.  His eyes closed as her hand gently twisted
his cheek around, giving him a gentle and protracted kiss.  The kiss was every
bit as electrifying as the first one had been, seeming to send a cascade of
tingles throughout his entire body.
     <But not a good one?> she whispered as she edged back a fraction of an
inch, just enough to let her lips move.  They still brushed against his as she
spoke, however, the electrical feeling not diminishing in the slightest.
     "Force of habit," he replied calmly.  He yielded to the impulse to kiss
her more deeply, gently pressing her against the pillows as his lips worked in
a slow and steady rhythm.  He relented after a few moments as she made a soft
noise in her throat, clearly audible as the first stirrings of renewed passion.
     Her hand came up to hold his head in place, bringing him back down to her
to continue the kiss of quiet passion.  It was quite clear that it was having
an effect on her, the noise she was making slowly growing in volume until it
was a fairly loud buzzing sound.  Her tongue began to tease his lips, flicking
lightly against them before sliding in between in a very gentle thrust.
     Time slipped away again for a number of moments as he yielded to her, his
lips parting to let her explore him in a new way.  He found the sensation to be
deliciously erotic, almost in a literal sense as well as their tongues touched
and teased one another.  A rapid increase in his blood temperature forced him
to eventually push away from her, not wanting to start something that he wasn't
fully sure he would be able to finish.
     Her features had returned to normal by the time he could refocus his gaze,
studying the soft lines of her face.  Her eyes seemed to be even more liquid
than before, faint traces of what might have been microscopic ripples playing
back and forth along the rings of her flawless blue-green irises.
     "Do you remember what I said yesterday morning?" she said in a very soft
tone, one hand coming up to very gently trace the contours of his face.  "About
how good it felt to be woken up by you and how I wondered what the next morning
would be like?"
     "I remember," he said quietly.
     She smiled at him and lightly tapped a finger against the tip of his nose.
"What can I say, D?  It really does keep getting better and better.  I'm almost
afraid to imagine what I will be waking up to tomorrow morning," she purred.
     "Just as long as it's not in another honeymoon suite," he replied with a
perfectly dead-panned expression.  "The shower was nice, but I'm getting tired
of seeing all these cutesy hearts everywhere.  Did you see how they were even
on the toilet paper?"
     She blinked in surprise for a moment before seeming to come down with a
case of the giggles.  She appeared to try to speak to him, but finally gave up
and settled for wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.  He returned the
gesture with warmth, holding her jiggling body until the giggles finally worked
themselves out of her system.
     "So you really do have a sense of humor," she purred softly, leaning over
to brush her lips against his ear.  She made a soft noise as he twisted around
to kiss her deeply.  The gesture left a gentle smile on her face when he pulled
back, a look of tenderness reflecting in her eyes.  The smile melted away a few
moments later as he started to edge out from beneath her.  "Hey, where are you
going?" she protested softly.
     "The bathroom," he said simply as he continued to extract himself.  He
paused as she grabbed his arm, looking up to find a slightly uneasy look on her
beautiful face.
     "D...." she said carefully, "You will come back to me, won't you?"
     "Of course," he said, giving her a faintly suspicious look.  He hesitated
as he saw the smile slowly return to her face, suddenly wondering what she was
up to and having the sinking feeling that it was becoming playful again.  While
that had been amply demonstrated to be a rather.... nice.... quality to have at
times, he didn't find it to be nearly as nice to contemplate experiencing at
this early hour of the morning.  "Why do you ask?" he ventured carefully.
     "I was just wondering if we could do this again sometime.  You know," she
cooed as she brushed her fingertips across his chest.  "Make love like that.
Not now, silly," she added as she caught the look on his face, almost suffering
from another case of the giggles.  "I'm not sure how you're holding up, but I
know I need a few more hours to recover.  You didn't hurt me," she quickly said
as his expression changed yet again.  She sat up and leaned over to him, giving
him a very deep and solid kiss.  "Trust me, D, that was the best night of my
life," she breathed softly.  "And I hope you'll forgive me if I want to look
forward to having a few more of those with you.  Besides, you *did* say that I
should ask you again in the morning...."
     "That's a little academic now, Galen," he chided her gently, a faint look
of amusement on his face as he tossed the sheets aside and gingerly got out of
bed.  He made a face as a joint popped somewhere in the process, not really a
painful sensation but hardly a pleasant one either.
     "I've got an idea," she said as she scooted out from beneath the sheets,
casting them aside and stretching out her nude body.  She paused to stretch for
a moment before casting a slightly playful look up at him.  "Mind if we take a
shower together again?  I think we both need one, and I'm sure it will help you
get rid of any lingering kinks.  Assuming you didn't break something with that
one," she added, making a slightly sour face as she gestured to his kneecap.
     "I'm fine," he replied quietly as he looked around for where he had left
his change of underwear.
     "Shower with me anyway?" she asked softly.
     He looked over at her before nodding, knowing it would probably delay them
by a good hour or so but not really caring at this point.  He took a step back
as she climbed out of bed, watching as she stood up on her tip-toes to stretch
her muscles in a rather provocative fashion.
     "Sorry," she said as she stepped over to him to kiss his cheek.  "I'm not
used to sleeping in beds like that these days, I keep forgetting how it kinks
different muscles.  Give me a moment to use the bathroom first?"
     He raised an eyebrow at her, knowing that he had asked first.  "If you
want," he said calmly, deciding that his bladder wasn't screaming loud enough
to pose a hazard.  He figured he would have to wait until they were done with
the shower before he could make use of the toilet.
     "Thank you," she purred softly as she gave him a gentle kiss, reaching
down to playfully squeeze his backside before giving him a wink and padding
over to the bathroom.
     He waited until he heard the bathroom door close before sighing quietly,
resisting the sudden urge to bang his head against the wall.  Here he was,
standing stark-naked in the middle of an over-the-top heart-decorated honeymoon
suite, having just spent virtually the entire night making love to a beautiful
young woman who was going to draw him into another shower soon, and he *still*
didn't have any idea what he was going to do with her.
     No matter, he thought in dismissal as he looked around.  He bent down to
pick up the packages of clean underwear, both hers and his, and started to head
over to the bathroom door.  He paused as a mental note fell out of the stack in
the back of his mind, causing him to backtrack just slightly.
     The stains on her boots had long dried out, but there was still a visible
hint of a residue on them.  The thought was enough to bring a very light blush
of embarrassment and shame to his cheeks, carrying them over to wait patiently
outside the bathroom door.  She apparently worked faster than he had figured
she would, as the door opened just as he reached it.
     "Thanks," she said softly as she stepped aside.  She glanced down at what
he was carrying, a soft smile crossing her lips at the realization that he had
been thoughtful enough to bring her some clean underwear.  The smile quickly
morphed into a puzzled look as she noticed he was carrying her boots as well.
     "D?" she asked carefully.  "What are you doing with my boots?"
     "Cleaning them," he managed to say in a level tone.
     "Cleaning?" she echoed, leaning over to get a better look.  "Why do...?
Oh," she added softly.  A delicate blush rose to her cheeks as she looked up at
him, remembering the sequence of events last night.  "I.... didn't think you'd
react that.... forcefully," she murmured as she thought about what she had both
seen and tasted in his blood at that particular moment.
     He shot her a slightly unamused look as he set the clothes on top of the
toilet tank and carried the boots over to the sink.  "Neither did I," he said
in a faintly miffed tone.
     She giggled quietly as she kissed his cheek, one hand straying down to
very lightly caress his inert manhood.  "It's okay, D," she said in a dulcet
tone.  "I won't tell anyone else.  I mean, just think of what that would do to
your reputation...." she added with a laugh as she shut the bathroom door.

                *               *               *               *

     The few patrons eating breakfast in the tavern level of the inn barely
glanced up as D and Galen descended the stairs.  The tantalizing aroma of fresh
bacon and eggs made them both stop in their tracks, exchanging looks before
heading over to a vacant table.
     "Good morning," Rosie said quietly as she moved over to them, accepting
the offered key from Galen.  "I trust the two of you slept well?"
     "I haven't slept like that in years," Galen said, somehow managing to keep
the blush on her cheeks to a very modest minimum.  "I hope you don't mind if we
stick around for breakfast, ma'am.  We've still got a lot of road ahead of us
and something smells pretty good in here."
     "Oh, come on," Rosie said in a mock-offended tone.  "As if I'm going to
rent you one of my rooms and kick you out to the street without letting you
have a bite to eat in the morning."
     Galen chuckled quietly as she squeezed D's hand.  "We just thought we'd
ask," she said softly.  "So how much do we owe you for the room?"
     "Pah," the bar-mistress replied.  "Don't worry about it.  That room barely
gets used at all, and after hearing about what you did for Red's daughter....
well, I met the young lady a few times myself, so I know what she means to the
old coot.  It's on the house, miss.  Eh?" she added as D held out a small stack
of coins to her.
     "Please accept it," D said quietly.  "We appreciated the kindness and
generosity we were shown yesterday.  We also know you have a business to run,
and the fair value of the wine you served isn't as cheap as you think it is.
It might even be older than you are," he added, letting his tone turn gentle so
she wouldn't take offense at the reference to her age.
     Rosie blinked and regarded him carefully before hesitantly accepting the
offered coins.  "Well, I.... I thank you for your honesty," she said, seeming
to still be slightly nervous with his presence.  She glanced down at the coins
in her hand before looking back up at the dunpeals, clearly not sure what to
say.  Something clicked in her mind and she cast a quick glance over towards
the kitchen, seeming to remember something.  "I'll be right out with your
breakfast," she said quickly before pausing and turning back to them.  "Oh....
how do you two want your eggs?"
     Galen and D exchanged momentary glances before she looked back up at the
bar-mistress.  "Scrambled will work fine, ma'am, thank you," Galen said with a
gentle smile.  "I don't suppose I could trouble you for some fruit juice to go
with everything?"
     "Orange, apple, or grape?" Rosie promptly asked.
     "Orange, please," Galen replied.
     Rosie nodded and cast a glance over at D, waiting to see what he wanted.
She received only silence and was about to ask him directly when Galen laughed
very quietly to herself, causing the old woman's attention to shift back over
to her.  "Something wrong, miss?" she ventured.
     "I think D needs some grape juice," Galen said, giving D a playful look.
"He seems to have woken up in a slightly sour mood today.  He's not a morning
person," she added in a loud whisper.
     "Oh," Rosie said quietly, giving D an unsettled look.  "Well, I...."
     "Orange juice will be fine, ma'am," D spoke up quietly.  "Thank you."  He
waited until Rosie had returned to the kitchen before casting an unamused look
over at a visibly amused Galen.
     "You need to lighten up," she said, giving him a gentle smile as she gave
his hand a soft squeeze.  "Or are you still upset that I accidentally splashed
water up your nose in the shower?" she added with a muted chuckle.
     "I'm fine," he replied somberly, giving her a look that clearly conveyed
his unhappiness at being reminded of the incident.  He just sighed silently and
looked around the tavern as she leaned against his arm, still trying to figure
out what in the name of all that was holy he was going to do with both her and
himself.
     Breakfast was served in extremely short order, apparently already having
been cooked in a large batch.  Each plate was half-covered in a steaming pile
of dark yellow scrambled eggs, accompanied by sides of bacon, hashed browns,
and a small biscuit made from a type of grain that wasn't readily identifiable.
     Aside from the fact that the orange juice tasted like it had been frozen
solid at some point in the recent past, they didn't have any complaints about
the meal.  Even the unknown biscuit had a distinctly fresh and flavorful taste
to it that more than made up for its uncertain nature.  The plates were cleared
in relatively short order, not so much from haste as from hunger, and as before
Galen collected them to carry over to Rosie.  A very brief exchange followed
before the exotic-haired woman made a 'wait right there' gesture to D and went
off to use the restroom again.
     <D?> it spoke up very quietly.
     "Not now," he sighed softly, casting a dark glance down at his hand.
     <Hey, I'm just wondering if you're going to do anything with that napkin,>
it protested quietly.  <I need a little fiber every now and then, you know?>
     D just looked at it for a moment before glancing around the room, casually
picking up an unused paper napkin and balling it up in his left hand.  A very
quiet crunching sound followed as he felt the napkin disappear into the open
mouth, not entirely sure where it would wind up and not wanting to know either.
     <Mmm, thanks,> it said in a faintly cheerful tone.
     "You're welcome," D said dryly.  He looked up as Galen returned, feeling
an unknown emotion tugging on his soul as he saw the look on her face.  It was
a look of contentment, even happiness as she neared him, the corners of her
mouth arching upwards in a soft and gentle smile.  The look in her liquid-like
eyes, however....
     Both Doris and Leila had looked at him like that after he had made love to
them, a gentle look that was simply beyond words, beyond description.  And few
words indeed had followed that look once given, accompanied by little more than
the lightest of touches and the softest of sighs.
     He leaned back slightly as she came over to him, dipping her head down to
give him a soft kiss that was now exquisitely familiar in both sensation and
taste.  Granted the acidic aftertaste of the orange juice masked most of it,
but he was still able to savor the unique and completely natural flavor of her
pale blue lips.
     "You ready to go?" she said quietly once the kiss was reluctantly broken.
     He simply nodded and stood up, absently grabbing the sword leaning against
the edge of the table.  He cast a final look around the tavern as he slipped
the scabbard across his back, part of him wondering if he would ever return to
this tiny niche in human society.  The thought was almost enough to make him
pause, realizing that of all the unique places he had visited during the course
of his travels he had never before wondered if he would return to them.
     "You love-birds come back and see us one of these days," Rosie called out
as they reached the saloon-like doors.
     Galen and D exchanged startled glances before she blushed.  "Thank you,
Rosie," she called back.  "We don't know when we'll be back, but if we're in
the area we'll stop by.  Say hi to Red for us," she added.
     "I will," the bar-mistress promised.  "You two take care of yourselves."
     They both simply nodded to her and stepped outside, wincing slightly at
the brightness of the sun.  It was well above the treeline at this point, a
less-than-subtle sign that they were getting a late start on their travels.
They walked up the road towards the stables in silence, her hand slipping into
his and squeezing gently as they went.
     A very simple conversation with Bart and the production of a pair of coins
was all it took for the mount to be released from the stall, fully rested and
apparently well-fed.  He seemed to snort quietly in greeting as they approached
him, Galen patting his muzzle while D loaded the small package of dirty laundry
in the saddle-bags.  D then climbed up into the saddle and held his hand out
to Galen, very gently pulling her up in front of him.  A simple flick of the
reins and a final nod of thanks to the stablemaster was all it took for them to
return to the road and resume their long travel.
     They followed the road north past the farmsteads and cattle fields, able
to see the majority of the townsfolk busy in the fields and tending to their
herds.  Then they were back into the wooded areas again, both dunpeals quietly
relieved to be out of direct sunshine.  Neither would be succumbing to heat
exposure anytime soon, but it was still a discomfort they would rather not have
to put up with.
     They eventually reached the fork in the road and headed northeast, Galen
casually slipping her hands into D's to take the reins.  She hardly moved after
that, however, content with the feeling of his hands gently covering hers as
they rode in a surprisingly comfortable silence.
     Another two hours had passed before the mount was gently slowed to a very
casual trot while Galen studied the terrain.  A few moments of focused memory-
searching finally produced a realization, causing her to step up the pace once
again.  The moderate pace continued for another half-hour before they finally
came across a fairly sizable pond.
     "Think this is a good place to take a break?" she asked quietly, twisting
around to give him a curious look.  A faint smile tugged on her lips as she
only received a single nod in reply, privately amused at having gotten so used
to reading his body language by this point.
     She guided the horse over to the edge of the pond and slid out of the
saddle, letting it enjoy a drink of the rather clear water.  She waited for D
to dismount as well before brushing past him, giving him a quick kiss before
retrieving the dirty clothes from the corner of the saddle-bag.
     "No sense in letting them reek longer than necessary," she explained as
she fished out the small bar of soap she had taken from the suite.  She then
slipped off her boots and waded into the pond, quickly and efficiently giving
the dirty clothes a firm scrubbing to remove the dirt and oils that had wound
up in the fabric from prolonged usage.
     D looked around the landscape as she worked, idly curious as to what sort
of wildlife he might expect to find in the region.  Small woodland creatures
could been seen in casual abundance, a flock of doves perched on one tree and
a number of juvenile squirrels running around the trunk of another.  A fleeting
burst of motion in the distance seemed have been caused by a small rabbit, no
doubt reacting to the presence of a badger lumbering through a nearby bush.
     <Something on your mind, D?> the thing spoke up quietly as D simply stood
still for several minutes, staring at the quiet terrain around him.
     He said nothing, as they both knew that there was *always* something on
his mind.  Usually it had to do with vampires, either finding where they were
hidden away or working out a plan to rescue someone from them, but he didn't
need to do that anymore, now did he?  All the full-blooded vampires were gone
and the only dunpeals left were him and Galen.  So what was there for him to
think about?
     It startled him to realize that he didn't have anything to think about at
the moment, aside from what to do about Galen.  He didn't want to think about
that one right now, as it was starting to give him a major headache, but if he
didn't have to worry about vampires.... what was left for him to think about?
     <Let me guess,> it said slowly, <You're not thinking about your situation
right now, so you're trying to think of something else, right?  I'm willing to
bet that it's not working too well, however, since I can hear the empty sound
of mental gears spinning in neutral all the way over here.>
     He blinked and glanced down at his hand, wondering yet again if the thing
had somehow managed to connect itself to more than just his arm.  The insight
it had shown into his thoughts had long ago ceased being uncanny and had become
downright frightening.  Its reactions to him voicing his thoughts on occasion
had proven that no such mind-reading was going on, but simply that it knew him
entirely too well after being a part of him for so long.
     "What do you mean?" he asked softly, returning most of his focus back to
the woodline.  He kept part of his attention on Galen, listening to her hum
quietly to herself as she continued scrubbing their underwear.  Had he been by
himself and came across such a pond he would have simply immersed himself and
his clothes at the same time, letting the worst of the water drip off before
climbing back in the saddle to let the sun and the breeze dry him.  That tended
to take hours and could only be done on warm, sunny days when he didn't expect
to be doing much, as it was extremely irritating to try to fight a vampire when
your underwear was both cold and wet.
     <I mean now that you've finished your life-long task of exterminating all
the vampires, you're clueless about what to do with yourself now,> it explained
in an unusually quiet tone.  <If I were in your boots, I'd have lit up a cigar
after killing Count Niles and probably would have gotten piss-drunk just to
celebrate.  I might even have indulged in a little casual debauchery, too,> it
added in a lecherous tone.
     It simply laughed quietly as D turned his hand over to cast an icy look of
unamusement at it.  <D, you need to relax,> it said, the wrinkled face shaking
back and forth in a gesture of resignation.  <You *can* do that now, you know.
All your life it's been work, work, work.  Rescue a human, kill a vampire, go
look for another one.  Rescue a human, kill a vampire, go look for another one.
That got old centuries ago, but you kept at it and at it and at it.  So guess
what?  You can't do that anymore, they're all gone now.  So now you need to sit
back and take it easy for a few, you know?  You did your job, so now you can
retire to some dimly-lit tropical paradise of an island.  Or do you think you
haven't done enough to earn that kind of reward?> it prodded.
     "Perhaps," he said quietly.  "But my work is not finished just yet."
     <Oh, here we go again,> it replied, rolling its eyes.  <Right back to
where we started a few days ago.  You going to listen to me now, or are you
just going to try to avoid the problem and go back to staring at the warm fuzzy
critters with a whole lot of *nothing* on your mind?>
     "Your silence would be appreciated," he said flatly, prompting a truly
heavy sigh of resignation from the thing.
     <Have it your way,> it grumbled.  <Let me know when you get tired of empty
thoughts so I can give you a hand in working this one out.  Err, pardon the
pun,> it added with a soft snicker.
     D remained quiet as he lowered his hand to his side, once again returning
his gaze to the tranquil woodlands.  He paused as he heard a faint sloshing
noise, casting a glance over his shoulder to find Galen stepping out of the
pond with the wet clothes in her hand.  She gave him a faintly amused look as
she held onto them tightly and began to whirl them over her head as rapidly as
she could.
     The edges of his mouth flicked down in a slight frown as he was splashed
with tiny droplets of water, watching as they were scattered in a wide radius
by her forceful motions.  The worst of the water soon left the fabric, leaving
them only moderately damp to the touch.  His eyebrow rose slightly as she
carried them over to the saddle-bags, extracting the small skein of string he
occasionally had a use for.  A length of string was measured out and used to
secure the underwear between the saddle-bags and the horse's flank, protecting
them from a majority of the dirt while allowing the mount's body heat to help
dry them out.
     "See anything out there?" she asked as she slipped her boots on and came
over to him, leaning her head against his arm.
     "Nothing dangerous," he replied quietly, keeping a casual eye on where the
badger was moving.  It wasn't very likely to approach them or otherwise pose a
threat, but you only have to go up against an enraged badger once to develop a
healthy amount of respect for the creatures.
     "That's always comforting," she said softly, giving his hand a gentle
squeeze.  She looked out at the woodline for a few moments before lifting her
head up, her expression brightening as she caught a momentary glimpse of rapid
movement around a small bush.  "Ooooh, now what do we have here?" she purred.
     D cast a sidelong glance at her before looking back towards the source of
the erratic motion, knowing that she had spotted the rabbit as well.  "I know
you're not hungry already," he pointed out in a calm tone.
     "Not yet," she said lightly, absently licking her lips as she followed the
rabbit's cautious movements.  "But I can hunger for a taste of his blood, can't
I?  It wouldn't hurt either of us to feed again," she pointed out.  "After last
night, I think we're both a little.... what's a good word?" she asked in a soft
and playful tone, leaning over to brush her lips against his ear.
     "Satisfied," he said somberly.
     "Perhaps," she purred as she nibbled on his earlobe.  "Although I have to
admit I am a little curious what it would be like to go hunting with you."
     "What do you mean?" he asked, turning his head slightly to glance at her.
     She paused and leaned back slightly, studying his eyes.  "Have you ever
gone hunting with anyone?" she inquired.  "The two or however many of you there
are working as a team to bring down your prey?  My father and I used to hunt
deer together," she explained as his eyes narrowed slightly.  "It was fun.  He
wouldn't help me hunt rabbits, however, as he said they were too small to be
worth anything more than a quick snack."
     He said nothing as he looked out towards the tree containing the juvenile
squirrels playing some sort of marsupial game.  He had hunted deer as well, but
always alone.  The only times he could remember hunting anything in the company
of another were the rare occasions in which others had gotten in his way and
the least dangerous solution was to let them accompany him.  At least, it was
from a relative point of view.  Going up against a vampire of any kind was a
dangerous task no matter how you looked at it, but at least he could keep an
eye on the humans and shield them from the worst of the dark horrors if he was
around to protect them.
     "I can't say that I have," he said to her, idly wondering what it would be
like.  He doubted he would do so if it involved rabbits, as they were extremely
small targets and frustratingly agile.  Perhaps she had a finer skill than he
did for such things, but he would prefer a slightly more fulfilling target if
one was available.  Elk blood had a rather memorable flavor, but it was very
unlikely to find one in this particular region....
     "Want to try it later?" she offered softly.  "There's a lake a few hours
up the road ahead, I thought that'd make the perfect place to stop for a late
lunch and rest the horse again.  Should be plenty of deer around there, maybe
even a moose or two if we're fortunate."
     "Any bears?" he inquired.  The majority of the bears in the region lived
farther north, but it was possible for the odd stray to be around given the
climate and local wildlife.
     "With as close as we are to a human town?" she pointed out, making an idle
gesture over her shoulder back towards the west.  "I doubt it.  Between the
herds of cattle and ranchers armed with guns, I think the nearest bear would be
a good ten miles north of here.  Twenty miles if he has a brain," she added.
     "Good," he said quietly, not wanting to mess with any of them if he didn't
have to.  He had encountered them several times before, only twice needing to
draw his sword to convince them to leave him alone, but as with the experience
with the badger, one encounter was usually enough to last a lifetime.
     She laughed softly and nuzzled his ear for a moment.  "Come on, pardner,"
she said, mimicking Red's drawl fairly well.  "Time to saddle up and ride on
out of here."  She giggled quietly at the look on his face and leaned forward
for a soft kiss, shivering ever so lightly at the electric contact.  "You need
to quit being so serious all the time, D," she pointed out as the headed back
towards the mount.
     "I'm working on it," he said with a perfectly straight expression.
     She giggled again as she climbed into the saddle before he could, scooting
forward to leave him as much room as possible.  She waited until he had settled
in place before leaning back against him, one hand moving down to stroke his
leg gently.  "You're doing fine," she said gently, leaning back even further
for one last kiss before gently urging the mount back into motion.

                *               *               *               *

     The sun became hidden by a thick veil of dark gray a few hours later as a
gentle mid-autumn storm crept through the region.  It appeared that rain would
eventually be on the way, most likely near sundown.  The gradual darkening of
the skies was a mixed blessing to the dunpeals, relieved that they would be
further protected from the sun's searing light but wary about the soaking they
would likely encounter in the visible future.
     The lake Galen spoke of turned out to be a modestly-sized one, fed by what
was best described as a creek with enthusiastic aspirations of grandeur.  They
circled part of the embankments until they found a spot that looked to be more
of an oasis, neatly tucked between the lake and the fast-flowing creek.  Heavy
thickets of bushes lined the rest of the perimeter, giving them a feeling of
isolation and privacy.  They dismounted and tied the horse to a nearby tree,
giving it ample space in which to graze on the short marsh-like grass growing
near the water's edge.
     "D," Galen said very quietly, reaching out to grab his wrist.  He looked
up at her and followed her gaze as she pointed, spotting the pair of deer off
in the distance several hundred yards upstream.  "What do you think?" she said,
keeping her voice low so as not to startle the animals.  "I don't have a taste
for venison, but their blood makes a suitable refreshment."
     He remained silent for a number of moments as he thought over what she was
asking.  He really would rather not kill them if he wasn't going to drag them
back for roasting, but between the heat exposure the other day and having her
take some of his blood during their love-making, the half-cup of rabbit blood
and the few sips he had taken from her simply wouldn't be enough.  That wasn't
to say he was starving for blood at the moment, but merely that he would have
to feed a little sooner than he would have cared to.
     "Very well," he replied in a soft tone, already trying to map out the lay
of the land so as to determine the best way to approach them.
     She paused at his tone and glanced over at him.  "We don't have to do this
together if you don't want to," she pointed out.  "I can handle a deer on my
own, of course, I just thought it would be fun to try this together."
     <Galen?> the thing in D's hand suddenly spoke up in a hushed tone, taking
them both by surprise.  <Don't mind him, deer aren't in the top category of his
list of personal favorites.  Now if you can find some elk or caribou, that'll
get his attention.>
     She paused for a moment, aware of the venomous look D was casting at the
symbiot.  "We're too far south for caribou, and you won't find any elk around
here," she pointed out quietly.  She glanced up at him as she started to wonder
what he was going to decide.
     <D, you do realize why we're doing this, I trust?> it said to him.
     "Yes, I know," he replied calmly.  Had she not seen the momentary look on
his face, she wouldn't have been able to tell from his tone that he was not
pleased in the least to hear it speaking in the open.
     <You mind if I toss out a suggestion or two?> it asked carefully.
     D and Galen exchanged wary looks before she nodded to him.  He looked at
her in silence for a number of seconds before sighing quietly, turning his hand
over so they could both see the wrinkled face embedded in his palm.  "We're
listening," he said evenly.
     <I'd think about a pincer approach.... from upstream,> it explained.  <It
will take a lot more work to set up, but if they catch on before you're ready
and try to bolt, they'll head downstream and will run out of room in fairly
short order.  Granted you can't out-run them, as these guys look like they have
'turbo' written on their cottony tails, but I think you'll be able to snag at
least one if you have enough patience.>
     Both dunpeals looked over towards the distant deer, making mental notes of
the terrain and how to best use it.  "You know...." Galen said slowly, chewing
on the edge of her lip, "That might not be such a bad idea after all.  If one
of us crosses the creek here and we both take our time in swinging wide, sort
of like a heart-shape.... don't look at me like that," she added as she caught
the face D made.  "Yes, I'm sick of seeing cutesy heart shapes too, but let's
not go overboard here."
     He gave her a distinctly unamused look before turning his attention back
to the grazing deer.  "How did you want to bring them down?" he asked simply.
     "In a perfect world, without weapons," she replied with a shrug.  "The
idea here is to drink their blood, not spill it on the moss.  Granted I'd make
a lot less of a mess with my rapier than you would with that sword, but I've
seen what other sharp implements of death you carry around with you.  D, I like
you and all, but you *really* need to lighten up," she added with a soft sigh
as she caught the glance in her direction.
     He continued to study her for a moment before once again turning his focus
upstream.  "I take it you want the buck?" he asked quietly, trying to decide on
what sort of weapon to use.  She had a valid point about the sword, which meant
he could either use one of his daggers or the silver spikes he kept with him to
convince werewolves that he really wasn't someone they wanted to mess with.
     "If you wouldn't mind," she purred quietly, her mood starting to change as
she focused on the impending hunt.  The shift didn't go unnoticed by D, causing
him to glance over at her once more in slight concern.  He paused as she looked
over at him, their eyes meeting in silence for a number of moments before she
finally smirked.  "I'm going to try this one without my rapier, okay?"
     He nodded back to her, starting to feel an icy thread of unease wrapping
around the base of his spine.  He quickly realized that he would be able to see
for himself if he was right or wrong about her, about how different she would
be from the other vampires and dunpeals.  Granted the hunt would have a brutal
ending regardless, or at least it would if successful, but he suddenly wanted
to see just how savage she would be with it.
     She made a soft humming noise to herself as she stepped over to him, her
lips brushing against his for a few moments before she turned away and headed
into the woods.  Even before she vanished from his sight he could see the first
changes in her, the satin-like cape spreading out and taking on a camouflaged
pattern even as her skin started to darken as she assumed her insectoid form.
     <D?> it whispered quietly.  <Time to get going, it's going to take you a
few minutes to get into position.  You going to use one of your pointy toys or
are you going to play it by fang this time?>
     "We'll see," he said simply as he started to move.  He crossed over the
rapidly-flowing creek and started to follow it north, turning at an angle to
keep both the deer and the creek in his line-of-sight at all times.  He moved
as quickly as he could while still remaining as silent as a cat's shadow, still
wondering how exactly he wanted to take the doe down.  He figured he would try
to drive the buck over to Galen first, giving them a decent chance at having
one kill if not both.
     He slowed down considerably as he passed the deer, still idly grazing on
the marsh-grass and only casually paying attention to their surroundings.  He
carefully began to circle back in a gentle curve, gingerly drawing closer from
the upstream side.  He couldn't see Galen, of course, but he didn't expect to
be able to until he was almost within striking range of the animals.
     A sudden clicking noise made him freeze in his tracks, sounding to him
like a cricket with arthritis.  The deer, now only a few dozen yards away from
him, paused for a moment to listen before resuming their gentle grazing.  The
clicking noise persisted for a few seconds before falling silent, fading away
with a muted rattling noise.
     He paused for several seconds, trying to determine if that was a natural
sound or if Galen was playing some sort of game.  He carefully crept forward
towards the deer again, covering another dozen yards before the clicking noise
started back up.  It seemed to be slightly louder this time, and after a moment
of concentration he thought he had a fair idea of where it was coming from.
     <Sonar, anyone?> the thing said in a very quiet tone.
     "I know," he murmured back, realizing what Galen was doing now.  It was a
classic 'hammer and anvil' tactic.  By mimicking a loud insect, she would be
revealing her position to him without alerting the deer to her presence.  He
would then act as the 'hammer' and drive them towards her location where they
could be caught between them.  And as any metalsmith would tell you, the space
between a falling hammer and a waiting anvil was the last place anyone wanted
to be caught in.
     <You still have those starburst cherries, right?> it inquired.
     D thought for a moment before slowly reaching for one of the pouches on
his belt, extracting a pair of tiny glass nodules.  The alchemical substances
within them were highly volatile, quickly exploding with dazzling intensity a
few seconds after the contents were allowed to mix together.  A simple crushing
motion of his hand would start the process, after which he had roughly three
seconds to get rid of them before they erupted with a bright flash and a very
hard bang.
     <Good,> it said with a near-silent chuckle.  <Pop left, pop right, drive
right up the middle.  She grabs the buck, the doe panics, in you go.>
     He said nothing, figuring that it was a good enough plan as any.  He very
carefully switched the alchemical bombs to his other hand and drew the flower-
etched dagger, deciding that the werewolf spikes would probably be insufficient
and not wanting to taint the other dagger with deer blood.
     Closing the distance for the last twenty yards was the hardest part, and
not just because had to move slowly.  The deer apparently ate grass as fast as
they looked like they could run, occasionally wandering a few feet downstream
every so often to keep munching.  That meant he had move slightly faster than
them to keep closing the distance and remain undetectable at all times.
     There was one instant where he thought he might have seen Galen, catching
the briefest of flutters against the trunk of a tree that may or may not have
just been a random leaf.  He mentally revised his assessment of the challenge
it would be to have to try to hunt her directly, knowing that her camouflage
abilities were by far superior to his.  Whether that was due to her insectoid
form or the silken creature she used as a cape or both, it was hard to say.
     He emptied his mind of almost all thought as he finally got close enough
to them to see their eyes.  He was peering out from behind the trunk of a tree,
perhaps a good thirty feet away from them and separated only by the flowing
expanse of the creek.  The loud chirping noises had fallen silent a few seconds
ago, fading away with that soft rattle again.  He figured that she was in front
of the larger of the pair of trees not fifteen feet behind the buck, still not
able to see her but estimating that it was the source of the cricket sounds.
     So it begins, he thought to himself as he tensed up.  The dagger was held
tightly in his right hand, the blade held behind him to avoid having the shiny
metal reflect even the smallest beam of light.  He carefully rolled the glass
nodules around in his hand until they were positioned just right, waiting an
extra moment to make sure he was ready.  Satisfied that he was, he took a deep
breath and tightened his fist as hard as he could.
     Both deer looked up at the faint crunching sound as the barriers between
the nodules were broken, letting the liquids mix together.  A simple and very
subtle gesture was all it took to fling the now-reacting 'cherries' towards the
deer, neatly landing off to the left and right.  They both seemed to explode in
the same instant, twin sparks of magnesium-like flares bursting into blinding
existence with almost ear-shattering booms.
     Precisely as expected, both deer reared back and immediately bolted away
as he came charging out from around the tree.  The buck had barely taken six
steps before the tree in front of him seemed to split in half, reaching out in
a blur to seize the creature by the neck.  It immediately tried to jump back by
rising up on its hind legs, only to be literally picked up off the ground by
its throat and spun around to be slammed against the tree.
     The sound of several vertebrae breaking in unison echoed across the forest
as D drew close to the doe.  Galen's attack had panicked it even more, causing
it to try to whirl back around in confusion.  It spotted D before he was close
enough to grab it, trying to leap away and run further downstream.  The tip of
D's dagger sliced into its flank as it shot past, hampering it but not taking
it down.
     D immediately ran after it, knowing that he stood a decent chance of being
able to down it before it got away.  They ran for a good fifty yards before it
stumbled, obviously weakened by the deep gash in its leg.  The doe was able to
recover almost instantly, but the momentary delay was just enough to allow D to
approach within striking range.
     The dagger was thrust sideways into its ribcage with enough force to break
a pair of ribs.  The creature's forelegs promptly collapsed beneath it, its
forward momentum sending it tumbling head-over-heels into a motionless heap
that almost took D with it.
     <Tag, baby, you're it,> the thing in his hand laughed quietly as D very
carefully stood up.  <Damn, I haven't seen something this beautiful in years.
Talk about a work of art, D.  You probably weren't paying attention, but did
you see the look on the buck's face when Galen popped up in front of him?  I'm
surprised he didn't piddle all over the place.>
     D ignored the thing and carefully extracted his dagger from the deer's
body.  A simple check revealed that the pulse was silent, meaning that he had
probably scored a direct hit on the doe's heart muscle.  That suited him just
fine, as he didn't care for unnecessary suffering, even if it was just a deer
that you only killed to make a meal out of.
     He looked down at the creature, its eyes half-open and frozen in the empty
embrace of death.  There was no beauty to be seen here, no work of art to be
enjoyed.  He sighed quietly as he knelt down, not really wanting to do this but
knowing he had little choice.  A slash of his dagger across the doe's throat
opened up the main arteries, releasing a minor torrent of hot blood.  The scent
registered on his senses a moment later, a warm and inviting aroma that he did
not overly care for but reacted instinctively to nonetheless.  The world became
tinted with blue as his vampiric nature asserted itself, leaning over to drink
the crimson nectar of life that he needed in order to survive.
     He did not stop to savor the taste as he had with Galen's blood, instead
simply drinking his fill to quench the dark thirst that always lurked in the
back of his mind despite his attempts to ignore it.  The taste was palatable,
if not exactly desirable.  Not that he ever truly desired blood except to blunt
the vampiric hunger, but he would admit that he had his preferences of animals
to feed from if given a choice.
     He drank until he simply couldn't drink anymore, not sure if it was due to
being full, to the cooling temperature of the rapidly dying blood, or if he was
simply sick of it.  He lifted his head from the carcass and edged back, one
hand absently making sure he hadn't made a mess on his tunic.  The dagger was
wiped clean on the animal's hide before he returned it to its sheath and stood
up, casting a glance upstream to see how Galen was doing.
     <Honestly, D,> it said to him as he started to walk.  <Tell me you didn't
enjoy that little diversion.  I know you don't like having to drink blood, but
you are who you are, after all.  You'd think that after a few thousand years of
you being you, you'd have gotten used to it by now.>
     He remained silent, trying to determine the truth to its words.  It would
have been a lie to say he hadn't found the whole hunting experience to be....
what?  Fun definitely wasn't the right word, but there had been something to it
that couldn't simply be explained away as a misunderstanding.  Yes, there was
the satisfaction of a successful hunt, but it was hard to say if that was all
that it was.  The question he needed to ask himself, he thought, was would he
do it again?  If it was worthwhile to do it a second time in his view, would
that suggest that he liked it?
     Come to think of it, wouldn't that apply to Galen as well?  He knew that
he hadn't bothered trying to resist her gentle affections since that first soft
kiss back in the underground burrow, and even then he didn't do a damn thing to
avoid it or otherwise indicate it wasn't welcome.  He knew of the old saying in
how silence implied consent, so didn't that mean by not resisting her touch he
in fact consented to her attentions?  And if he consented, didn't that mean he
not only liked but welcomed them?
     His silent train of thought was broken as he looked up, finding himself
only a few yards away from where Galen was standing.  He was surprised to see
the buck still pinned against the tree, standing on its hind legs with most of
its weight supported by Galen as she continued to remain with her lips at its
soft white throat.
     <Uh-oh,> the thing whispered very softly as the deer's front legs started
to twitch gently.  An icy wave swept through D as he realized that the buck was
still alive, all but completely paralyzed by the shattered spinal column.  She
was still taking blood from it, apparently in no rush to finish the task or put
the gravely wounded creature out of its misery.
     His eyes narrowed dangerously as she cast a sidelong glance at him, one
hand letting go of the animal to make a beckoning motion.  He hesitated for a
moment before moving closer, keeping a wary eye on the buck.  He could see that
it was still fully conscious, trying to watch him with a gaze that was well and
truly beyond terrified.
     Galen began to move as he approached, startling him with the realization
that she was removing her blouse.  She quickly slipped it off completely and
held it out to him, her other arm still holding the deer against the tree.  He
stared at her in confusion and disbelief before carefully accepting the offered
garment, trying to figure out what in the hell she was doing.
     His eyes briefly swept over her half-naked form, pausing as he saw that
the ridges on her back seemed to have gotten larger.  He studied them for a
moment before looking back up at the rest of her, feeling his blood chill even
further the more he thought about what she was doing to the buck.
     That she needed blood was a given, and that she had to take it by force
from a woodland animal was somewhat regretful but still completely necessary,
simply one more link in the often-times brutal circle of life.  That she had
deliberately kept the paralyzed creature alive while she fed, however, was in
his opinion borderline sadistic.  Granted blood was the most nourishing when it
was fresh and hot, more so if it was oxygenated blood from an artery instead of
a vein, but it wasn't a requirement to feed from a living creature.
     He remained perfectly still as she finally stepped back from the creature,
releasing her hold and letting it fall forward to the ground.  The sound of
fractured vertebrae grinding together was clearly audible, a horrid cacophony
that made him wince as he thought about the physics of it.  The collapse was
clearly fatal for the deer, its body twitching for several moments before it
became utterly still as the spark of life went out in its eyes.
     A single glance up at Galen was enough to explain why she had removed her
blouse.  The feeding had apparently been messy at first, as her chin and neck
were covered with several rivulets of crimson that was slowly oozing down her
chest.  While the sight of blood usually didn't bother him in the least, the
rather macabre sight of seeing her womanly curves stained with it made his own
blood turn even colder.
     "Sorry," she apologized softly, her cheeks taking on a dark pink tint.
"I'm not usually this messy of an eater, but he was rather spirited in his
resistance.  I take it you managed to take down the other one as well?"
     "I did," he said in a slightly flat tone as he held her blouse out to her.
     She gave him a slightly uneasy look as she accepted the garment, casting
a reflexive glance down at her bare chest.  "Yeech," she sighed quietly before
looking back up at him.  "D, what did you use to scare them like that?" she
inquired as she moved over to the edge of the creek.  "You surprised the hell
out of me too.  So much so that I almost didn't see the buck," she added.
     "Alchemical devices," he said in a neutral tone, unable to completely turn
away from her as she scooped up handfuls of water to splash against her bare
chest.  His reactions were starting to drive him to distraction, finding her
incredibly beautiful on the one hand but still deeply disturbed by her actions
on the other.
     "Well, they worked just fine," she pointed out with a soft chuckle.  "I
wasn't sure you knew what I was doing with the insect calls, and I only saw you
moving around once or twice.  That was actually a pretty good hunt for working
together for the first time like that."
     He said nothing as she continued to splash herself with water, running her
hands over her neck and chest with efficient rubbing motions.  That the sight
was also more than a little erotic to watch was most likely unintentional, but
he doubted she would have objected if it had been pointed out to her.  She
finally finished removing the last traces of blood from herself and stood up,
folding the blouse and draping it over her shoulder as she drew close to him.
     "Mind if we stick around to rest for a bit?" she said softly as she took
his hand.  "I don't know about you, but I'm not too keen about having to move
around too much after feeding."
     "A storm is coming soon," he reminded her in an impassive tone, casting a
reflexive and momentary glance at her bare breasts before looking up at the
gentle contours of her face again.
     She leaned back slightly to peer behind him, deliberately arching her back
so that her breasts were prominently thrust into the air.  "Why, so there is,"
she said coyly before straightening up.  "But it's not here yet, nor will it be
for another hour or two," she pointed out.  "At least, not a rainstorm...."
     He said nothing as she squeezed his hand tightly, leaning into him for a
gentle kiss.  He didn't resist the soft contact but he didn't actively yield to
her either, standing impassively as he let her kiss him.
     The kiss was broken after a moment as she leaned back, giving him an odd
look.  "D, is something wrong?" she ventured.
     "We can rest here for awhile if you wish," he replied calmly, turning away
to head back to where the mount was tied.  Her hand remained around his as she
followed, a slightly confused and uneasy look on her face.
     They reached the horse after a few minutes of walking, D absently steering
clear of the spot where the fallen doe was.  He knew that nature's scavengers
would find the carcass sooner or later, possibly even before nightfall, and the
circle of life would thus continue to revolve without further intervention on
his part.  He paused when Galen gently tugged on his wrist, bring them both to
a halt.
     "Wait here," she said quietly in his ear as she kissed him.  She gave his
hand a final squeeze before letting go and moving over to the saddle-bags.  She
briefly checked the condition of the underwear still tied to the inside edge,
untying them once she was satisfied that they were dry and stashing them inside
the saddle-bag.  She then extracted the ground blanket that D sometimes used to
sleep on, carrying it back over to where the hunter was standing.
     D watched in silence as she laid the blanket out and sat down on half of
it, removing her boots and setting them aside.  She then reclined back on her
elbows and looked up at him, a soft smile tugging on her face as she saw him
studying her exposed curves again.  "Do me a favor, D?" she said softly.  "Do
something with that armor and come sit with me."
     He gave her a distinctly wary look for a few seconds, suddenly getting the
impression that she didn't really want to rest at the moment.  He nonetheless
did as she asked, first removing his sword scabbard and leaning it against a
tree, then following up with his cape, hat, and finally the dark armor that had
protected him fairly well for ages.
     The soft smile was still on her lips as she waited patiently for him to
finish and sit down.  She reached out to him as he did so, lightly running her
fingertips along his jaw before leaning over for a gentle kiss.  The kiss soon
became a little less gentle as she pressed down hard on his lips, gently easing
him down against the blanket on the fairly level grass.
     He looked up at her as she started to work the buttons on his tunic, very
gently opening them one by one until his entire chest was bared.  She leaned
down to rest on one elbow as her other hand came up, lightly caressing the
smooth expanse of his chest and abdomen.  "You alright?" she asked softly as
she studied the dark look on his face.
     She received only silence in response and sighed quietly, wondering why
she was suddenly seeing the barriers back in place around him.  She reclined
even further, laying down on her side with her head on his shoulder as one leg
came up to rest between his.  "D," she said in an even quieter tone.  "I take
it you're not in a mood to cuddle right now?"
     "No," he said quietly, staring up at the overcast sky.
     "Tell me why?" she implored softly.  She waited for an answer that she
really didn't expect to receive and sighed again.  "D, I know you're upset with
me for some reason.  I just want to know what I did."
     She idly traced random patterns on his chest as she listened to his pulse,
hearing it thrum softly where her ear was pressed against his shoulder.  It was
a slow and steady tempo, which meant that he wasn't worked up over anything.
His breathing was likewise deep and steady, a calm and measured pace that made
her realize he wasn't really mad per se, but instead was.... what?
     "So now you're not going to talk to me?" she prodded him softly, wondering
if that would draw a reaction.  "I had hoped that after all we've been through
together so far, you wouldn't close yourself to me like this.  What have I done
to deserve this, D?" she said, leaning up on her elbow to stare at him.  She
reached up to tilt his head toward her, to force him to look at her.  An icy
chill filled her as he did so, his eyes seeming to be distant and impassive as
he studied her.
     <D?> it spoke up quietly.  <I think you need to answer her....>
     Galen blinked as D suddenly sat up, almost knocking her over.  An uneasy
look crossed her face as they both stood up, D casting a truly dark glare down
at the wrinkled face in his palm.
     "I said stay out of this," he said in a low tone.
     <Yeah, well, this is one of those times where you need.... *!!!*>
     Galen flinched as D lashed out, smashing the palm of his hand against the
tree so hard that the entire trunk started to sway back and forth.  The heavy
impact sound couldn't completely block out the sound of something popping, a
trickle of blood slowly dripping down his wrist a few seconds later.
     <Grd d'mmit, D!> it snarled, its voice mangled by the distortion of its
face.  <When 'r you gr'ing t' learn t' *lissen* t' me?>
     "When I ask for it," D said in a voice as cold as arctic tundra.  He cast
a glance over his shoulder as he heard Galen made a flat sound to herself, her
eyes narrowed to slits as she stared at him.
     "So is this how you treat your friends, D?" she asked in a deceptively
calm tone.  "You ignore them when you can and abuse them when you can't?  I'm
starting to wonder now what you think of me.  Well, hunter?" she prompted as
she crossed her arms over her chest.  "I think you owe me an explanation."
     He looked at her before removing his hand from the tree trunk, ignoring
the chips of wood that were spat in his general direction.  "Explain what?" he
said in a neutral tone as he began to rebutton his tunic.
     "Explain to me what I mean to you," she demanded.  "Explain to me what
last night meant to you.  Dammit, answer me!" she yelled as he remained silent.
"What did that mean to you?  Why did you take my blood, why did you take me?"
     "I didn't intend to take your blood," D said quietly as he slipped his
armor back on and cinched it in place.  "At least not at first.  Blood calls to
blood, and yours called to me."
     "Okay, I can believe that," she replied in a tone only slightly mollified
by his explanation.  "And the rest?  I'll take the blame for the shower, as it
was my idea, but you certainly didn't seem to mind.  Nor did you seem to have
any hesitations about sleeping with me.  I don't care who started it, it takes
two people to make love.  Or do you think it was simply sex instead?" she added
in a dangerous tone.
     She paused as he looked up at her, suddenly feeling the core of her anger
freeze as solid as a glacier.  "You came to me," D said quietly, his voice and
expression both utterly impassive and unreadable.
     "And?" she countered.
     "And so I gave you what you wanted," he replied as his cape was tied into
place and put his hat on.
     "That you did, D," Galen said in a level tone.  "And believe me, it really
was the best time of my life, but don't you *dare* try to tell me you didn't
enjoy it as well."
     "I did," he said softly with a nod of his head.
     "So *why* did you do it?" she demanded.  "Why did you sleep with me?  You
sound like you didn't want to, and just maybe you didn't, but I still want to
know *why* you did in the first place!"
     <D, you need to be honest here....> it warned him.
     He ignored the voice and looked at her, asking himself the same question.
There wasn't an easy answer, but there was a simple one that was still part of
the truth.  "I was keeping a promise," he said simply.
     "What?" she said, blinking hard in confusion.
     <D, you fool, what the hell are you doing?> it said.
     "What promise?" Galen said in a very guarded tone, feeling her insides
turn even colder than before.
     "A promise I made to Leila," he explained simply.  "If a female companion
ever wanted to share some intimate moments with me, I was not resist her."
     <Goddamn it, have you lost your mind?  D, that's not it and you know it!>
     "No...." she said in a soft whisper, shaking her head back and forth.  "I
don't believe it.  You can't tell me that what we had, all that we shared since
we met.... oh, no, I don't think so, D."
     <Look, will you just listen to...? *MMMMRRRF!*>
     D said nothing as he kept his left hand pressed down on the hilt of his
sword, fully half of it crammed inside the thing's mouth to muffle it.  He
remained motionless and silent as he saw the emotions playing across Galen's
face like a movie caught in fast-forward, one seeming to blur into the next so
fast that they could barely be seen.
     "So that's it, then?" Galen finally said when everything quit spinning
around inside her skull.  "I'm just another story to be whispered about by the
others when they talk about the legendary vampire-hunter?"
     "Galen...." he started to say.
     "No, that's fine, D," she sighed as she held up her hands.  "I suppose I
wasn't paying close attention to the subtle signs, that's all.  You're not the
kind of guy to truly open up to a woman, despite my intentions.  It's a shame,
really," she added, her tone turning bitter.  "I w