Heart of the Wanderer: Chapter I - Part I
May. 18th, 2009 10:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caersidyddTitle: Heart of the Wanderer
Chapter: An Uncommon Creature Chapter 1 Part 1
Fandom: Vampire Hunter D
Genre: Horror/Romance?
Word Count: 2,016
Pairing: D/OC (MAYBE)
Rating: At least T?
Disclaimer: Vampire Hunter D is property of Hideyuki Kikuchi, no profit is being made, no infringements are meant in a malicious manner.
Warning: It's horror so there might be some gore and uh...scary...things?
Summary: While traveling across the frontier D unexpectedly comes into contact with a female Dhampir whose human friend has been attacked by a noble. Uncertain as to her own complicity in the attack, she nevertheless begs D for his help in ascertaining the truth. Will D find the Vampire responsible, or will all signs point to Miranda? Who can say…
Notes: This story has gone through no less than ten different versions. This set up is the one I was most satisfied with. It's quite old so it may be better than some of the things I am writing currently because my skills have deteriorated over time. I don't know if I'll continue with this story since it's from my fangirl period which I have (unfortunately) sort of grown out of. It was originally intended to be a romance. I do like it, I just don't know what I'm going to do with it. :|
Also, I made an attempt to write it in a similar style to Hideyuki Kikuchi's own, because I am a fangirl. Yes.
Heart of the Wanderer
An Uncommon Creature
Chapter I
Part I
The biting wind whipped across the tall yellowing grass of the meadow. The sky was stained pink and gold by the rays of the setting sun that also forced the long shadows of the two warriors who stood in the field to be cast in such stark relief even against the high grass. One form was a man, his lean body draped in black. He wore a black cloak and a wide brimmed hat hid his face from the harsh sun’s rays. Even so everything about him from his relaxed stance to the way the autumn wind combed through his black hair held a beauty and elegance that was ethereal and otherworldly. Mere yards away stood the second figure, a woman. Her curvaceous form was clad in white and violet and her copper colored hair billows about her face. She clenched at her chest with one hand, ruby liquid seeping from between her fingers staining the pristine clothe red. In the other she held a long dagger the blade of which caught the sun’s rays and broke them apart into hundreds of tiny fragments that glittered purple and blue over the field. The dagger itself was stained with blood but somehow this did not stop the process.
“Another one?” She called, though her voice was soft. “I guess in the end they knew they couldn’t handle it alone.” She straightened slightly, forcing her obviously weary body into a fighting stance with an elegance that spoke volumes. “I won’t let you kill me.” She spat with vehemence.
“I’ve got nothing to do with this,” the figure stated coldly drawing a sneer from the girl.
“Like I believe that,” and then she rocketed toward him with inhuman speed. Caught off guard by this strange display the black cloaked figure only had enough time to draw his long sword from his back. It flashed silver in the light of dusk but when it collided with her own weapon instead of the custom shower of sparks there was instead a perfectly pitched ring. Surprisingly enough the crystal dagger did not shatter under the force exerted upon it by the blade of the hunter who was said could split laser beams. The pair leapt apart and the girl came again, her massive leap carrying her far above the hunter. He rose to meet her, his blade crashing against hers in another perfect pitch before they parted once more. Again and again their blades met across the field in euphony of perfectly pitched tones. Their inhuman speed matched pace for pace for though the girl was injured she was still quite agile. All around them the earth stood still; not a single creature cried out to its kin while such a battle raged and even the sun seemed to sink slower not wishing to miss the victor of this war.
Finally, though she had seemingly matched him in speed and strength, the girl gave out. Their blades met a final time and she dropped to her knees, her crystal dagger still positioned above her staving off the wicked steel that hovered just above her. The girl was no fool. Somewhere along the course of battle she’d regained her senses and had understood just what it was she was fighting. She should be dead right now and vaguely she wondered just why she was not. That course of thought, however, was superseded by the sudden pain that burned through her body no longer willing to be ignored. Outwardly her already laboured breathing became harsher, as though every breath she took caused her pain. Her arms weakened and gave way, the crystal dagger falling from her numb fingers as she tumbled back into the grass. She clawed at the dirt for a moment before her body curled in on itself still gasping for air. The girl gave one harsh agonized cry and was then still, save for the tremors that shook her body.
The black clothed hunter gazed down at her appraisingly, his eyes fathomless and unreadable. Finally, and with such grace it seemed unreal, he dipped down and gathered the girl into his arms. His black cloak flared out as he turned and walked swiftly back toward the tree line.
--
“I can’t believe you. She attacked you and you let her live. Not only that you barely fought her. What’s the matter with you? Are you going soft on me?” The voice that spoke was little more than a hoarse whisper but it was livid. “And to top it all off you actually saved her life, actually saved her.”
“What do you care?” The hunter asked tonelessly.
The disembodied voice sputtered in outrage, “You know what. I don’t care. You do what you want.” And with that the little voice fell silent.
The hunter’s eyes shifted back to the girl who lay quietly, buried in the dirt so that only her face and her massive amounts of copper hair were visible. The voice had been right. The woman had attacked him and he’d spared her life, something that leapt clear out of miraculous and fell somewhere just inside the boundaries of phenomenal. However, the girl herself was an uncommon creature and it was that fact alone that had stayed his skilled hand. After seeing her skills displayed he could not mistake her for anything less than a creature through whom ran the blood of the nobility, but it was not her blood that had stayed his hand rather it was her sex. Dhampir themselves were not entirely uncommon. They mostly they made their living on the Frontier as hunters of the nobility and some higher end monsters. Of those however, a very, very few were women. The reason was quite simple. Most female dhampir never survived their adolescence. Being of a naturally weaker emotional constitution, or so the belief was held, many female dhampir succumbed to the madness which plagued many dhampir children in their early life and ended their own lives. Their bloodlust also had a tendency to be stronger after puberty so many more had ended up on the wrong end of a hunter’s sword. The fact that any still lived at all was rather surprising. This made the girl something of a novelty.
As if on cue the girl opened her eyes, blinking several times at the dirt ceiling above her. Her brow furrowed in confusion, “I guess I’m not dead,” She said aloud more for the comfort of hearing the sound of her own voice than the confirmation of her continued existence. It was then that her eyes caught sight of the dark clad hunter seated near her his back against the wall, “For the moment,” She continued. She shifted slightly, the earth covering her surging upward in protest of the sudden movement.
“You should continue to rest,” D said emotionlessly, his eyes fixed on the opposite wall.
“I should be fine now,” She replied though her movements ceased. “It doesn’t take me all that long to recover. I’m sorry about earlier. It wasn’t…I mean usually I wouldn’t just attack a person,” she frowned slightly and returned her gaze to the ceiling.
“How did you get that wound?” He asked suddenly, though somehow coming from him it sounded less like a question.
She moved slightly, the earth covering her shifting with the movement of her arm. For a moment she didn’t answer. “In a village, not to far from that field where we fought, a girl was attacked. Her name is Holly and…” her words trailed off and she sighed. “When they found her they assumed it was me and they put a guard around her and me. When the attacker didn’t come back after three days they came for me. I had to fight to get away but I couldn’t fight all of them at once. I managed to get away…” her story trailed away but her voice continued on quietly. “I wonder if it was me… I wonder if maybe I finally lost it…I’ve been pretty good about it so far. I stay away from people when it becomes too much. Maybe…” The girl lifted herself from the ground shaking and patting away the excess dirt that clung to her absently as she sifted through her thoughts heedless of her silent audience. “I couldn’t have been me,” She assured herself. “I would never hurt Holly,” her hands came to rub at her temples. “Not even if I went mad.”
“What makes you so sure?” The hunter asked suddenly startling the girl from her thoughts so that she looked up at him with wide eyes as deep and fathomless as his.
“What?” She furrowed her brow. “I… Because Holly is my friend,” she said with sudden conviction and D let one eyebrow lift imperceptibly. Suddenly the girl was much closer, her hands on the ground by his thigh her face turned up to his in earnest. “Holly is the only person I’ve ever met who wasn’t afraid of me. She treated me like a sister, she wouldn’t let anyone near me. Holly can be really scary, even the boys are afraid of her sometimes. I would never hurt Holly. Not ever.” There were tears in the girl’s eyes now as she spoke. She stood suddenly and D’s eyes followed her movement. “I didn’t bite Holly so somewhere out there is the vampire who did and I’m going to find the bastard before it’s too late!”
“Have you ever hunted a vampire before?”
“N-no… But I’ve taken down my fair share of monsters. I’m sure I could…do something…” She trailed off again, her brow creased with worry. She sank to the floor slowly. “Who am I kidding? Hunting a noble? That’s nothing like hunting Behemoths, is it?”
Behemoths were huge creatures, ruthless and some would say mindless, except that the truth was they were quite a bit smarter than the average human gave them credit for and all the more dangerous for that intelligence. Even the most skilled of hunters had to form packs of six or seven men strong, perhaps even genetically enhanced, men to take down a single Behemoth, but this girl, who was smaller than D and seemed only to carry the crystal dagger she had fought him with earlier, seemed to claim it as her profession. If D was at all surprised he did not show it. Instead he graced her with an answer, though it was not so much of an answer as it was a gesture of the affirmative.
She saw his slight nod and slouched even further toward the ground.
“What do you do?” She asked absently, hugging her knees to her chest and staring at the toes of her violet boots.
“I’m a vampire hunter,” he replied. She lifted her head and stared at him for a long moment. The silence might have been uncomfortable if anyone who cared about that sort of thing had been there to feel it.
“Okay then,” she announced, unfurling herself from the ground and brushing off the seat of her pants all in a very business-like manner. “The vampire attacked three nights ago and hasn’t returned. Holly is bed ridden and she hasn’t moved since the attack. If he doesn’t come back by tomorrow night then it really must have been me…but until then there is a chance that some other vampire bit her. I don’t make as much as a vampire hunter but I can pay you…as soon as I find my horse…” she paused and wrapped her arms around herself in a sort of hug, “and if you find out that it was me… Then could you…I mean… I don’t want to live like that.”
D stood and looked down at her. After a moment she looked up at him. Their eyes met, and thought his face was impassive and unreadable she felt reassured.
“Okay,” was all he said, and then turned to leave the cave.
“They probably think I’m dead, so I’ll stay out of sight as much as possible, but if you need any information or help, I’ll be here.”
Chapter: An Uncommon Creature Chapter 1 Part 1
Fandom: Vampire Hunter D
Genre: Horror/Romance?
Word Count: 2,016
Pairing: D/OC (MAYBE)
Rating: At least T?
Disclaimer: Vampire Hunter D is property of Hideyuki Kikuchi, no profit is being made, no infringements are meant in a malicious manner.
Warning: It's horror so there might be some gore and uh...scary...things?
Summary: While traveling across the frontier D unexpectedly comes into contact with a female Dhampir whose human friend has been attacked by a noble. Uncertain as to her own complicity in the attack, she nevertheless begs D for his help in ascertaining the truth. Will D find the Vampire responsible, or will all signs point to Miranda? Who can say…
Notes: This story has gone through no less than ten different versions. This set up is the one I was most satisfied with. It's quite old so it may be better than some of the things I am writing currently because my skills have deteriorated over time. I don't know if I'll continue with this story since it's from my fangirl period which I have (unfortunately) sort of grown out of. It was originally intended to be a romance. I do like it, I just don't know what I'm going to do with it. :|
Also, I made an attempt to write it in a similar style to Hideyuki Kikuchi's own, because I am a fangirl. Yes.
Heart of the Wanderer
An Uncommon Creature
Chapter I
Part I
The biting wind whipped across the tall yellowing grass of the meadow. The sky was stained pink and gold by the rays of the setting sun that also forced the long shadows of the two warriors who stood in the field to be cast in such stark relief even against the high grass. One form was a man, his lean body draped in black. He wore a black cloak and a wide brimmed hat hid his face from the harsh sun’s rays. Even so everything about him from his relaxed stance to the way the autumn wind combed through his black hair held a beauty and elegance that was ethereal and otherworldly. Mere yards away stood the second figure, a woman. Her curvaceous form was clad in white and violet and her copper colored hair billows about her face. She clenched at her chest with one hand, ruby liquid seeping from between her fingers staining the pristine clothe red. In the other she held a long dagger the blade of which caught the sun’s rays and broke them apart into hundreds of tiny fragments that glittered purple and blue over the field. The dagger itself was stained with blood but somehow this did not stop the process.
“Another one?” She called, though her voice was soft. “I guess in the end they knew they couldn’t handle it alone.” She straightened slightly, forcing her obviously weary body into a fighting stance with an elegance that spoke volumes. “I won’t let you kill me.” She spat with vehemence.
“I’ve got nothing to do with this,” the figure stated coldly drawing a sneer from the girl.
“Like I believe that,” and then she rocketed toward him with inhuman speed. Caught off guard by this strange display the black cloaked figure only had enough time to draw his long sword from his back. It flashed silver in the light of dusk but when it collided with her own weapon instead of the custom shower of sparks there was instead a perfectly pitched ring. Surprisingly enough the crystal dagger did not shatter under the force exerted upon it by the blade of the hunter who was said could split laser beams. The pair leapt apart and the girl came again, her massive leap carrying her far above the hunter. He rose to meet her, his blade crashing against hers in another perfect pitch before they parted once more. Again and again their blades met across the field in euphony of perfectly pitched tones. Their inhuman speed matched pace for pace for though the girl was injured she was still quite agile. All around them the earth stood still; not a single creature cried out to its kin while such a battle raged and even the sun seemed to sink slower not wishing to miss the victor of this war.
Finally, though she had seemingly matched him in speed and strength, the girl gave out. Their blades met a final time and she dropped to her knees, her crystal dagger still positioned above her staving off the wicked steel that hovered just above her. The girl was no fool. Somewhere along the course of battle she’d regained her senses and had understood just what it was she was fighting. She should be dead right now and vaguely she wondered just why she was not. That course of thought, however, was superseded by the sudden pain that burned through her body no longer willing to be ignored. Outwardly her already laboured breathing became harsher, as though every breath she took caused her pain. Her arms weakened and gave way, the crystal dagger falling from her numb fingers as she tumbled back into the grass. She clawed at the dirt for a moment before her body curled in on itself still gasping for air. The girl gave one harsh agonized cry and was then still, save for the tremors that shook her body.
The black clothed hunter gazed down at her appraisingly, his eyes fathomless and unreadable. Finally, and with such grace it seemed unreal, he dipped down and gathered the girl into his arms. His black cloak flared out as he turned and walked swiftly back toward the tree line.
--
“I can’t believe you. She attacked you and you let her live. Not only that you barely fought her. What’s the matter with you? Are you going soft on me?” The voice that spoke was little more than a hoarse whisper but it was livid. “And to top it all off you actually saved her life, actually saved her.”
“What do you care?” The hunter asked tonelessly.
The disembodied voice sputtered in outrage, “You know what. I don’t care. You do what you want.” And with that the little voice fell silent.
The hunter’s eyes shifted back to the girl who lay quietly, buried in the dirt so that only her face and her massive amounts of copper hair were visible. The voice had been right. The woman had attacked him and he’d spared her life, something that leapt clear out of miraculous and fell somewhere just inside the boundaries of phenomenal. However, the girl herself was an uncommon creature and it was that fact alone that had stayed his skilled hand. After seeing her skills displayed he could not mistake her for anything less than a creature through whom ran the blood of the nobility, but it was not her blood that had stayed his hand rather it was her sex. Dhampir themselves were not entirely uncommon. They mostly they made their living on the Frontier as hunters of the nobility and some higher end monsters. Of those however, a very, very few were women. The reason was quite simple. Most female dhampir never survived their adolescence. Being of a naturally weaker emotional constitution, or so the belief was held, many female dhampir succumbed to the madness which plagued many dhampir children in their early life and ended their own lives. Their bloodlust also had a tendency to be stronger after puberty so many more had ended up on the wrong end of a hunter’s sword. The fact that any still lived at all was rather surprising. This made the girl something of a novelty.
As if on cue the girl opened her eyes, blinking several times at the dirt ceiling above her. Her brow furrowed in confusion, “I guess I’m not dead,” She said aloud more for the comfort of hearing the sound of her own voice than the confirmation of her continued existence. It was then that her eyes caught sight of the dark clad hunter seated near her his back against the wall, “For the moment,” She continued. She shifted slightly, the earth covering her surging upward in protest of the sudden movement.
“You should continue to rest,” D said emotionlessly, his eyes fixed on the opposite wall.
“I should be fine now,” She replied though her movements ceased. “It doesn’t take me all that long to recover. I’m sorry about earlier. It wasn’t…I mean usually I wouldn’t just attack a person,” she frowned slightly and returned her gaze to the ceiling.
“How did you get that wound?” He asked suddenly, though somehow coming from him it sounded less like a question.
She moved slightly, the earth covering her shifting with the movement of her arm. For a moment she didn’t answer. “In a village, not to far from that field where we fought, a girl was attacked. Her name is Holly and…” her words trailed off and she sighed. “When they found her they assumed it was me and they put a guard around her and me. When the attacker didn’t come back after three days they came for me. I had to fight to get away but I couldn’t fight all of them at once. I managed to get away…” her story trailed away but her voice continued on quietly. “I wonder if it was me… I wonder if maybe I finally lost it…I’ve been pretty good about it so far. I stay away from people when it becomes too much. Maybe…” The girl lifted herself from the ground shaking and patting away the excess dirt that clung to her absently as she sifted through her thoughts heedless of her silent audience. “I couldn’t have been me,” She assured herself. “I would never hurt Holly,” her hands came to rub at her temples. “Not even if I went mad.”
“What makes you so sure?” The hunter asked suddenly startling the girl from her thoughts so that she looked up at him with wide eyes as deep and fathomless as his.
“What?” She furrowed her brow. “I… Because Holly is my friend,” she said with sudden conviction and D let one eyebrow lift imperceptibly. Suddenly the girl was much closer, her hands on the ground by his thigh her face turned up to his in earnest. “Holly is the only person I’ve ever met who wasn’t afraid of me. She treated me like a sister, she wouldn’t let anyone near me. Holly can be really scary, even the boys are afraid of her sometimes. I would never hurt Holly. Not ever.” There were tears in the girl’s eyes now as she spoke. She stood suddenly and D’s eyes followed her movement. “I didn’t bite Holly so somewhere out there is the vampire who did and I’m going to find the bastard before it’s too late!”
“Have you ever hunted a vampire before?”
“N-no… But I’ve taken down my fair share of monsters. I’m sure I could…do something…” She trailed off again, her brow creased with worry. She sank to the floor slowly. “Who am I kidding? Hunting a noble? That’s nothing like hunting Behemoths, is it?”
Behemoths were huge creatures, ruthless and some would say mindless, except that the truth was they were quite a bit smarter than the average human gave them credit for and all the more dangerous for that intelligence. Even the most skilled of hunters had to form packs of six or seven men strong, perhaps even genetically enhanced, men to take down a single Behemoth, but this girl, who was smaller than D and seemed only to carry the crystal dagger she had fought him with earlier, seemed to claim it as her profession. If D was at all surprised he did not show it. Instead he graced her with an answer, though it was not so much of an answer as it was a gesture of the affirmative.
She saw his slight nod and slouched even further toward the ground.
“What do you do?” She asked absently, hugging her knees to her chest and staring at the toes of her violet boots.
“I’m a vampire hunter,” he replied. She lifted her head and stared at him for a long moment. The silence might have been uncomfortable if anyone who cared about that sort of thing had been there to feel it.
“Okay then,” she announced, unfurling herself from the ground and brushing off the seat of her pants all in a very business-like manner. “The vampire attacked three nights ago and hasn’t returned. Holly is bed ridden and she hasn’t moved since the attack. If he doesn’t come back by tomorrow night then it really must have been me…but until then there is a chance that some other vampire bit her. I don’t make as much as a vampire hunter but I can pay you…as soon as I find my horse…” she paused and wrapped her arms around herself in a sort of hug, “and if you find out that it was me… Then could you…I mean… I don’t want to live like that.”
D stood and looked down at her. After a moment she looked up at him. Their eyes met, and thought his face was impassive and unreadable she felt reassured.
“Okay,” was all he said, and then turned to leave the cave.
“They probably think I’m dead, so I’ll stay out of sight as much as possible, but if you need any information or help, I’ll be here.”
