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WARNING: Some portions of the following work of fiction contain explicit sex. If you are under 18 (or whatever age is appropriate for your location), HIT YOUR BACK BROWSER BUTTON NOW. If you find explicit sex offensive, please don't offend yourself by reading further.

The full disclaimer for this work of Vampire Hunter D fanfiction is at the beginning of Chapter 1.

Author: Charlotte MacFarlane
Email: duckey@ns.sympatico.ca
Feedback: Please, yes, lots.
Forward to others: would be flattered if you did.
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Of the Heart

Chapter 7 Broken Dreams

It had taken till evening to reach Trexa's village, and no one seemed too pleased that she'd brought a human back with her. Trexa led D to one of the many family tents, with other guards following. "Densa, Rilu? It's Trexa."

"Our baby!" came a woman's cry, as the tent flap flew open. "Where is she?"

"I'm sorry Rilu," Trexa offered. "But the only way I can get to your baby is through this man, and he insists on speaking with you. I had no choice."

A large muscled man with dark tan skin and long, almost black, hair pushed D against the tree he'd tied his horse to. "If you value your life human, you'll give me back my child!!!"

"Densa! NO! That isn't going to help! Let Him GO!" Together with the other guards, Trexa was able to pull the enraged father off of D and kept them separate as D spoke.

"I will speak with you. The situation is far more complicated than you think."

"What's so complicated!?" the man shouted. "Lessira is our daughter! Return her or die!!"

"You need to understand..." D began.

"NO! You understand this. In the morning you will take Trexa to where you've stashed our child, and you will return her! If you refuse, you will die."

"I can't do that," D lowered his voice, his sorrow breaking he heart. "I don't know where she is."

"Then you die at Dawn. Take him away! Trexa," as D was pulled away, the woman joined the parents to receive further instructions. "We took a big chance on you," Densa threatened. "You have till dawn to get what you can from him. For after he dies, you die. Unless you've made progress to find our child." Densa returned to his tent, with his crying wife, leaving Trexa to her own superiors.

"I knew I should not have made a tramp, a tracker," said an angry voice. She turned to a tall older man, his uniform indicating his leadership over the trackers, his suite being all gray, accept for a lavender stripe down the outside of both sleeves and pant legs. The man limped over to her, supporting most of his weight on his right leg, swinging his left out as he strode. His uniform had been cut up the out side of the leg to accommodate the splints that held his leg straight. He obviously felt better walking on it, for he no longer had the crutch under his arm.

"Master Reaches, please. I've yet to sway him," she cooed. "After all. He is a man, and all men answer to their more baser needs. I'll get him to talk. Then when I know where the baby is, my price will be him, alive. And his bitch dead."


"Her name is Lessira," whispered D, to no one really inparticular, but the sym. listened. It had never seen D like this. It was worried. But what could it do? Perhaps by D voicing the baby's really name, it would make it seem more real to him. Though it didn't make it any easier. "Until I heard her name, I didn't want to believe it were true."

"D, we can get away tonight, can't we?"

"No," D looked out the tent's screened window. The temperature had dropped. Close to zero almost. It was going to get colder, the clouds were moving out. He wouldn't be surprised if there was a frost in the morning. "I hope she ha shelter."

"She'll be alright. She has Max, remember."

"I know. But even he can't keep her comfortably warm all night. I've got to talk to the parents, it's the only way."

As he turned to leave Trexa stepped in. She no longer wore her lavender suite. Instead, she had a short red tight skirt that barely reached her mid thy, and it had been split down both outer seams just shy of her waist. She also wore a translucent off white blouse, buttoned just to her breasts, with no bra underneath. "They won't let you leave camp," she said softly, ensuring that the tent flap was down. "I sent the guards away, so we could be alone to...talk." D turned back to the window and looked out. It was getting darker by the moment. Trexa stepped up to him, running her right hand across his shoulders, using her other to un button her shirt. "There's nothing you can do." She said, stepping closer and in a whisper. "But I can save you."

D pushed off of her, searching the darkness for answers. Trexa's shirt fell to the floor as she approached him once again. "What can she offer you?" she asked stepping before him and tipping his hat off his head. "A woman who steels another woman's child. She's already dead. Densa will see to that." She took his hands and curled his fingers around the flesh of her breasts. D's expression never changed, then again he wasn't really looking at her. His eyes were centered on the treed off in the darkness, his mind racing with worries over Kale & their child.

Their child, he'd have to stop thinking like that. He'd need some way of convincing Kale to return the baby to Rilu & Densa. He'd have to get to Kale first. "Forget her. She's nothing. What can you possibly get from her that you can't get from me?" She tried to kiss him, only he stepped away, tossing Trexa on the bunk. She squealed playfully and flashed her nakedness under her skirt, smiling playfully at him.

"Commitment," he said, "Her heart, her soul. She's...my everything. Including my life. I'll get to her first, and you can return to the whore house you came from." He tossed her shirt at her as he collected his hat and left, dropping the flap as he passed.

Outside he saw a number of the trackers gathered around an older man. It was he whom D addressed next. "Do with Trexa as you wish, I'm the only one who can get close to Kale to talk to her."

"We leave in the morning. You'll be dead before then." Scoffed the old man dismissively.

"Do you have any idea where she is? Do you know which way she's going? Do you know what kinds of weapons she has? Do you know how she fights hand to hand? Do you know her preferred way to kill?"

The old man put his stack of papers down as he looked at D's glowing eyes. "What are you?" he whispered fearfully. The other trackers around him had left, favoring their own skins, than helping their master.

"Densa & Rilu's only hope of seeing their child again," he hissed in answer. "We've done nothing to you. Let me do this. So that it will be less painful for all concerned." His eyes returned to their normal saddened blue.

The old man sighed, more relieved to live through the encounter, than anything else. "If the parents agree, than...than I will call off my trackers."

"No Master!" the other trackers grabbed Trexa, as she ran to of the tent she'd entered, her clothes barely buttoned. "This is MY search!"

"And you failed!" yelled the old man. "Not only that, you brought a potentially dangerous human right into our camp. For that alone you are stripped of your tracker's status. Return the tramp to the whore's tent. Where she belongs."

"NO!! REACHES!! You'll pay for denying me!! Dearly!! You'll pay!!"

The old man turned to D. "Densa and Rilu are upset. If you can get through to them, then you may go."

"Thank you," he turned and headed for the stripped tent of KD's/Lessira's parents. "Densa," he called, tapping the handle of his knife on the outer tent pole. If he had to, he'd use the sheathed blade to protect himself. A father enraged was unpredictable.

The tanned long eared man barged out to the tent, his fury and pain on his face. "You wish to die!?"

"I would gladly die for Kale," he pledged. "But this hunting her down isn't going to get your daughter back. Let me do this. I can get her back...but I'll need you & Rilu to come with me. Only the three of us can get close to Kale, and only you and Rilu can persuade her to give up you baby. But only, and I mean ONLY, if you do exactly as I say."

Densa shook his head. He couldn't believe what this man was proposing. The two of them leave with him to god knows where! He was sure they would never return. Then he felt a slender hand entangle his fingers. "We have to try," croaked a woman's voice. Densa looked into the woman's eyes. his wife, his mate, the mother of their first born. What she must be going through. He wiped a tear from her face.

"The last one," he assured her, and turned to D, much calmer than he was. Wives can do that you know. "What do we have to do?"

"First, describe your daughter. So that we know the child with Kale is yours. Are there any birthmarks on her?"

"Yes," Rilu quipped. "She has a a white patch, on her chest, in the shape of a little heart." Rilu traced her gloved fingers over her chest where she knew the mark was on her daughter.

D nodded. He'd seen that mark on KD himself, when he removed her nightclothes to change her. "She's very ticklish on that spot tool," he sighed. "The baby is yours."

"Please, come inside. Tell us everything." Rilu begged.

Surprised over their change, he entered their tent. It was a modest dwelling, a series of trunks lined the back wall of the tent, a thick mat spread over them to serve as a bed. Though he could tell neither of them had done any sleeping. Next to the bed was a cradle, slightly damaged. Broken dowelings and chips in the varnish. The bedding in it was soft pastels, and frills lined the blanket. A tiny mobile of hand carved wooden animals, hung above the cradle, gently turning. He could almost see little KD in it. KD, he'd have to remember that wasn't her name. He was having trouble letting go. He could only imagine what it would be like for Kale.

There were crated set out in the middle of the tent, around an oval disk held up by the center support post, with thin balancing legs along the four sides of it, another set of trunks supported planks that made up the counter, on which to prepare meals and other tasks. The main fire outside was used for all cooking, as was normal in a large camp. Though each tent had a small wood stove they used for small things, such as soups, coffee, and tea.

Rilu quickly produced a hot cup of coffee for each and ushered the men to sit. D tore his gaze from the cradle once more, and sat down facing the parents. "Please sir, forgive us. It has been nearly two months sense we'd seen out daughter. Trexa swore that when she returned she'd have Lessira in her arms. When she didn't, well. You can only imagine what we felt."

D put his cup on the coaster several times, as though trying to figure out how the slab of...whatever it was made of...hold the cup so perfectly. "My name is D. Kale is taking good care of KD...Lessira," he sighed.

"How did you find her?" asked Densa. "Trexa left here soon after the attack, and still did not return till now."

"Trexa couldn't track her way out of a paper bag." D snapped. "I'm sorry."

"No, don't be. You're most likely right. But all our experienced trackers were needed in the attack. Most were killed or badly wounded. Those you see out there, with Reaches, are the trainees. When Trexa declared she could do it, we jumped at the chance."

"All we want is Lessira home safe. Please."

D settled his cup one last time. Lessira was her name, not KD. These were her parents, not he or Kale. He looked up slightly, and told them how they'd found the wagon. The tainted milk, and the mad D had seen put to death. He explained how they believed the baby's people were all dead, and how they had decided to keep her, and named her KD.

Then he told them about the Inn, and how Kale had left the tracks in the mud, while backtracking and taking a different path all together, and how he led the mob down the road passed the crumbling town. "I'm surprised that your tracker didn't notice the tracks of Kale's horse going down the other road. One would think that she'd realize that Kale was thinking of protecting the child, but I'm glad she didn't." He sipped lightly at his coffee, not a preferred beverage, but it did help warm him against the dawning's chill. "Tell me, how was she taken? And why?"

"We're no0t sure why," surmised Rilu. "I guess we'll never know."

"We came to this world, really just to get supplies and refuel, but our ship was seized by the authorities of the city we landed in. We were aloud only what would fit into these horse wagons given us. We were then ordered to leave the city. Some of our people fought back, but they were quickly killed. That was six years ago, and we've been running ever sense.

"We use to travel in the day, but when we got to this area, we were attacked for no reason. Then one day, these men came, they killed or wounded most of our trackers, what young people they captured, managed to escape & return, many with what they were told were over seas slave brands, burned into their skin. But those that returned never saw or heard our baby."

"This Kale. Is she a good woman?"

D's shoulders heaved as he thought of her, and how she'd be heartbroken over what he would have her do. He looked up to Rilu, her eyes full of a mother's concern. "Kale is a very good person," he sighed. "She sees joy in the most unusual of places. The greatest beauty in the everyday things, she'd happiest with a simple touch, and she sings, like I've never heard some one sing in a long time...If I were a father, with a small child. And I found out I were dieing, I would have no hesitation in giving my child up to Kale...She loves your daughter. I have no doubt . And...so do I."