Disclaimer: Vampire Hunter D is the property of its creator, Hideuki Kikuchi. I do not own D or any of the characters related to the novel series.

Warning: This story is rated R for language, violence, adult situations, and sexual content. Reader digression is advised.

Author's Notes: Special thanks the VHD Yahoo! Posting Board for their information on D, his sexuality, and so on and so forth. Special thanks also goes to Psi Yamaneko for her insights on D, his personality, sexuality, and ideas for this story; like the names. Sorry, but Forest wasn't going to play the victim this time, Psi.

I dedicate this story to Akemi and Psi, D's a dish, and we all know it.

Kirsten Winters looked at the gleaming diamond ring on her left hand. She twisted it around her finger nervously as her boot heels clomped loudly against the hard wood floors. The tiny house was beautiful and more than two hundred years old. She would live in it in less than a week, but the move wasn't the main thing on her mind.

She looked at the sparkling diamond in its platinum band and wondered how her Chris was going to take the news. She splayed her right hand over her flat stomach, as if she could feel the life pulsing there. The life that she and Chris had created that was now growing inside her. The life that was the final proof of their love for one and another.

"Now telling him is the hard part," Kirsten chuckled to herself as she saw her reflection in the mirror. She was dressed in jeans, hiking boots, and a camouflage print tank top, her blond hair was cut in a stylish bob around her face, and her honey brown eyes were sparkling.

There were other things going through her mind as well, mainly her ties to the government. She was a Black Ops agent, one of the best and one of the most secret. Mommyhood didn't include breaking into third world countries' dictator's homes and steal important papers. It didn't entail shoot outs in Tokyo Square with yakazua software in her hands. It didn't entail high speed chases. It meant that she was going to have to get a desk job and divide the Intel instead of gathering it.

Still, Chris and the little one were worth it.

She smiled to herself as she watched the sunset and waited for Chris.

"This just isn't fair," the Left Hand was complaining as D was running after the two vampires and the dhampire, "See, those bitches can fly. But here we are running around like idiots after them."

D, as he usually did, ignored the parasite there as he ran. His cloak was swirling behind him with each step, but the two vampires in the air were fast. However, Swan was still bleeding from the wound the other vampire had inflicted upon him. D could follow the blood scent with ease.

He looked up and frowned. The three had disappeared into the night sky, using low-lying clouds and fog for cover. Fog that hadn't been there before, D realized with a start as he opened his left hand and directed it up and out.

He felt his skin stretching on his palm as the two beady eyes, the snub nose, and the mouth formed itself from his flesh. He stated, "Do you sense a spell?"

"Actually yeah. Someone just cooked one up, rather quickly too. Elemental stuff with a hint of dark magic. Probably from that hot witch from Belle Morte," Left Hand answered.

D sniffed the air and frowned. Left Hand snickered, "What, can't smell that other dhampire anymore? She probably teleported them back to their mistress. Win some, you lose some D. You'll get em later. Come on, lets go back to the inn."

"No," D replied as he lowered his hand, "I want to find that other vampire."

Left Hand sighed, "She's not right. Using guns like that. Vampires and guns don't mix. They have other powers, why the hell would she need a gun?"

"And why is she hunting her own kind?" D asked rhetorically, knowing that the Left Hand would have trouble wrapping his brain around that.

Left Hand answered, "I don't know. Territorial dispute, who knows. Maybe she lost her mind or something. After all, she uses guns, how plebeian."

D narrowed his eyes and began another search.

"What the fuck was going on back there?" Anne snapped as Moira began to reattach Swan's arm. They had made it back to the castle with Moira's help. They were currently in one of the solars, waiting for Lady Circe.

The dhampire had a greenish tint to his white skin and his face was slack. He was moaning slightly in pain as Anne held him up. Her red eyes were glowing in fury as she replayed the events in her mind.

Moira closed her eyes and began to hum in a lyrical and lilting language that Anne couldn't recognize. Her hands glowed with a dark violet energy as Swan's face and arm began to seal themselves, leaving the skin perfect and whole, beautiful once more. Anne reached up and stroked her lover's near-white hair and cupped his cheek.

"Is something amiss, little Anne?"

Anne turned toward the purring voice of her mistress. She stood to her full height and gave a deep bow. Circe approached her and lifted her hand to signal Anne to stand up right.

Anne did and looked at her mistress. The Lady Circe's cheeks were flushed with fresh blood, her long ruby red hair was spilled over her shoulders and trailed to her curved rear. She was dressed in shimmering emerald, highlighting the stark crimson of her hair and eyes. The pure blood noble observed Anne, Moira, and Swan with a quizzical tilt of her head.

Flanking Circe was Yin-Xi, dressed in her crimson gi top and black pants. She stood straight and alert, on guard. She fixed impassive black eyes on them. Anne had the urge to take her whip to the beautiful and exotic face of the mistress' weapon.

Circe asked, "My bonny Swan, what happened to you?"

"We met D," Swan answered.

Circe's full lips curved into a cattish grin. She toyed with a lock of her curly hair and asked, "Is he as beautiful as rumors say?"

"I'd fuck him in an instant," Anne answered with a hungry grin.

Circe looked Anne over and said, "But you are drawn to the half breeds, dear. I think this is because you were human once. Luckily, I do not suffer from that ailment."

Anne stiffened at the tiny reminder that she was made and not born. Swan was more accepted among the nobles because he had a noble father. She was turned, but she had been one of the cattle.

Moira answered in her soft, lilting voice, "He is, my lady, and more. He puts Swan's beauty to shame and he is a hunter."

"Trust my witch to always give me a straight answer," Circe said fondly.

Moira gave a tiny bow and stood away from Swan. The witch said, "But there is more, Lady Circe. Another vampire who uses man's weapons went after Anne and Swan while they were encountering Hunter D."

"That gun toting, psychotic bitch," Swan growled, baring his fangs.

A flicker of interest passed through Yin-Xi's eyes. The doll like vampiress stated, "I trust that you escaped."

"I had to cast a few spells to aid them, but as you can tell, they are here," Moira answered, tossing her burnished hair from her face.

Circe asked, "And did you deliver my message to the good mayor?"

"Yes," Swan answered as he moved his newly reformed arm. He nodded in satisfaction and wrapped an arm around Anne's waist. She leaned into his warm body and smirked as she seductively rubbed her backside against his hips.

Circe replied, "Excellent, even though I doubt that our pretty little mayor would resend such a contract, but I am giving her a chance. However, it's been a while since I've participated in a good slaughter. There's nothing like it, the fear, the eroticism, the taste of rich blood on your tongue that is spiced with fear, hate, and passion." She sighed fondly in remembrance.

"And what about D and the traitorous bitch?" Anne asked, meeting her mistress' garnet colored eyes.

Circe shrugged her graceful, slender shoulders. She grinned as she answered, "Well, I'm planning to keep D for a while. It's been so long since I've had a toy that wouldn't break easily, as for the other problem, I might want to play with her too."

With that, she turned away, her hips swaying seductively as she walked away.

"Fucking yay to magic," she groused as she landed. She had lost them, Anne and Swan.

"Fucking great," she cursed. Her boots touched the ground. She felt winded and exhausted. She didn't ingest enough blood to have the full range of vampiric powers.

She sensed the presence of someone approaching. She drew her rifle and aimed it with one hand. She frowned as it was the dhampire that Anne and Swan had attacked in the inn.

Then, as he approached, she got a clear look at him.

He was beautiful, exquisite, even compared to the vampires she regularly killed. He was tall and slender with broad shoulders. He wore a wide brimmed hat that covered most of his face, but what a face it covered. It was delicately sculpted with high cheek bones, a pointed chin, that Aristocratic nose, and those pouting lips. Wavy, ebony hair spilled over his shoulders and laid upon the sleek raven caprice of his armor. A sapphire the size of her fist lay upon his chest, swaying slightly with each movement.

He had his sword pointed directly at her.

"Well, I'll give her this, she's a looker," Left Hand commented once the vampire landed.

She was tall, athletic but her body could only be considered feminine. She had long golden hair in a braid that fell to her waist, strands of it falling in her face. She stared at D with amber colored eyes. Her duster was whipping slightly behind her. She was also pointing her rifle at him.

D had his sword out, prepared to strike.

They stared at another for an endless moment. In the silence, D could hear his heart beat. The parasite was quiet as well. They stood in their stalemate, her with her unusual gun and him with his familiar sword.

"Nice sword," she stated in a husky voice.

D replied, "It's unusual for a vampire to have a gun."

"Unusual, that's a nice way of putting it," she retorted, putting her gun away and holding her hands up.

D asked her, "What are you doing here?"

"Probably the same reason you're here, but different motives," she answered with a tiny grin as she stepped closer.

The parasite warned, "I don't trust her D. Watch her."

D said nothing as they looked at each other. From the fact that her eyes were not crimson at the moment, D surmised that she was turned. She was not born a vampire. She had been human at one point in time.

He envied her for that.

"Oh, and you're welcome for blowing off that bastard's arm, by the way," she said sarcastically.

D frowned in confusion as she continued her verbal tirade, "And then there's this witch who decides to use fucking magic! Vampires and witches? There should be some sort of rule against that!"

Then she smiled at D. It was an empty smile, lost of emotion. As if she had turned herself off to such things a long time ago. D reasoned that she probably had and was still going through the human motions.

"I'm Morgan," she said in form of introduction, "And you must be the infamous Hunter D."

D said nothing in return.

She shrugged and continued, "I'm guessing you're going for the bounty right? Ten million is kind of an insult for a bitch like Circe."

"I have my reasons," D replied stonily.

She smirked at him and retorted, "Like the town full of innocent people? Or the pretty mayor who fluttered her eyelashes at you and showed off her little brother?"

The Left Hand snickered at this.

D glared.

"You know, not everyone knows the Language of the Glare. Most people speak, make with the verbal communication to get their point across. See, with the look you're giving me right now you could either be undressing me with your eyes or plotting my horrible flaming death," Morgan quipped, placing a hand on her slim hip.

Now D blinked in confusion. Her manner of speech was confusing. Her words were in English, but her accent and her word usage completely floored the dhampire.

"Now what's wrong?" Morgan asked, her brow furrowing.

D tried again, "Why did you attack Swan and Anne?"

"Because Anne is a nymphomaniac bondage bitch and Swan is one step away from being an incubus and they both work for the Whore From Hell," Morgan spat as she checked her rifle. She was avoiding D's gaze he realized.

D asked, "So you're not after the reward?"

"Right now I don't give a flying fuck about the reward. Like I said my reasons are personal involving vendettas and promises to dead people," Morgan answered before looking back up at D.

She took a deep, unneeded breath and asked, "Anything else do you want to know?"

D said nothing. Then she smiled and said, "Well, it was nice meeting you. And talking to you, even though the conversation was one-sided, but all women like a man who listens."

With that, she turned away, her duster flipping behind her like bats' wings.

Left Hand said, "Well, she was rude. And her way of talking? Did you have any idea what she said? She's a made vampire D, not even noble. She's not worth our time. Now, lets focus on Circe and get this bounty."

D however chose to follow the blond.

Left Hand groused, "Oh, come on D, what the hell are you thinking? She's a weird vampire yes, but she's still a vampire. Insane at that. Leave her alone unless she gets in the way."

"There's something different about her," D replied softly.

Left Hand snapped, "D, you've seen hot female vampires before. Sure, she was human, but she's a vampire now. If you wanna get laid, which after a couple of thousand years its about damned time, why don't you go to something a little less dangerous than an insane vampire?"

D's jaw tightened at the symbiote's words.

It continued, "I'm all for you ending your Vow of Chastity. Hell, I have a sex drive and I wouldn't mind getting the occasional piece of ass, but sex with a vampire isn't a good thing, D. I mean, look where it got you."

D's fingers closed over the taunting parasite as he made sure he kept distance enough from Morgan that she didn't sense him, but yet he could follow her. The long braid of blond hair wasn't hard to miss, and she didn't take that many precautions to keep someone from following her. Which all worked to D's advantage.

Until she walked into Lichpin's forest.

She went off the well-trodden trail. She doubled back several times. She even covered her tracks and made a false trail. D admired her systematic methods. Still, he wasn't the world's best hunter for nothing. He was crouched in the darkness, still as death as he watched her.

He watched as Morgan pulled a small box from her pocket. She pushed a button on the box and the trees in front of her shimmered and faded from view. In the hologram's wake a house-sized vehicle was parked. Unlike the tank like vehicles of the day, this was sleek, polished and streamline despite its size.

She walked up to the door and punched a code in on the console. D's eyes narrowed so he could catch the numerical code. Her slender fingers pressed 5-1-9-0-4 and the door slid open with a slight hissing sound. With a look over her shoulder, she stepped into the vehicle. As soon as she was in side, it slid shut with a sharp clang, sealing her from the outside world.

D was curious about the vehicle now and where she had acquired the long dead technology. He hadn't been alive before the War that depleted the number of man enough that the Forces of Darkness could take over and rule. He had heard tales from his father about the blasts that destroyed all life for miles and filled the sky with a deadly light and suffocating gas.

As he watched, the hologram shimmered back into place, placing perfect camouflage for the vehicle. He couldn't enter it now. She would be ready for a strike, but dawn was only an hour a way. Once the sun was in the sky she would be helpless and he would be back to investigate.

"Look, Honey Bear, I'm on the Bestseller's list again!"

Kirsten grinned as she kept count of her sit-ups.

Her fiancé, Chris Anderson waved the latest issue of Publisher's Weekly in her face. On the cover there was a photo of his latest book in his Dark Tymes series. The post-modern vampire story about a feme fatal vampire hunting her own kind for cash and helping out humans when she could was a big hit. Especially since Buffy the Vampire Slayer had went off the air over a year ago.

Chris' green eyes were sparkling behind his wire rimmed glasses. He always reminded her of Harry Potter because of those sparkling green eyes and his always mussed hair. But his hair was a dark auburn instead of Harry's raven locks. However, his tall awkwardness was always what she had in mind when she read the Harry Potter series.

"Honey Bear, didn't you hear me?" he asked, a teasing smile lifting his lips.

Kirsten nodded as she sat up. She ran her fingers through her sweaty hair and answered, "Yeah, your Dark Tymes series is kicking ass with all the Gothers. Buffy must have really left more of a void than Joss Whedon realized."

"You're teasing me," Chris accused as he held out his hand to her. She took it and he managed to lift her up. She kissed him gently before turning away from him and heading to her kitchen.

She retorted, "Of course I'm teasing you, Chris. If I didn't tease you, I wouldn't love you."

He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. She looked up at him fondly, from the five freckles on his slightly crooked nose, those vibrant green eyes, and the slender planes of his face. He was almost her bipolar opposite, his nose always in a book or pressed against his computer screen as he wrote. To get him outside for exercise was like pulling teeth.

"I can't wait until Friday," he purred, nuzzling her neck before kissing the damp skin he found there. His long, nimble fingers rested over her stomach before trailing lower. They rode the edges of her exercise shorts before trailing back up to cup her breasts.

He continued, "I love watching you work out. I love the way your muscles move. How your eyes narrow with concentration. I get hard just thinking about it, Honey."

"Maybe I should give you a work out," she retorted, turning around to face him and wrapping her arms around her neck. With a slow movement, she slid one of her long legs up his body to wrap around his waist. Kirsten grinned wickedly as Chris groaned and rested his forehead against his. She rubbed her socked foot down the outer edge of her thigh as much as she was able.

Chris moaned, "And I love it when you do that. God, it turns me on so much that you can do the things you do."

"What, like this?" Kirsten asked as she lowered her leg to the ground. She then locked her foot against his ankle and swept it toward her. He went down like a sack of potatoes and she then straddled his prone body. He placed his hands up on her hips and looked at her hungrily. She shifted her hips and felt exactly how much this was exciting him.

He nodded and groaned, "Exactly like that." He thrust his hips up to meet hers, causing her to gasp. Then she bent down and captured his lips with her own in a hot kiss. As she kissed him, she forgot about telling him about the baby, worrying if her father was going to punch Chris' father at the wedding, and the desk job she was going to resign herself to after she was married.

Chris' hands roamed up her back and then slid under her shirt. His skilled fingers brushed against her breasts. He moved his mouth from hers to run his swollen lips against her throat. She sighed and arched toward him for better access.

When she did, she looked out the window. The motion had been totally accidental, but what she saw there made her freeze. Red eyes glowing in the darkness, watching them.

"Kirsty?" Chris asked, stopping his attentions as he looked up at her with a questioning glance.

Kirsten frowned and pointed toward the window. She answered, "I thought I saw something watching us."

"What, a pair of red eyes?" he joked as he moved to kiss her again.

She placed her hand on his chest to stop him. She replied, "Exactly."

Chris sat up and studied her face. He cupped her cheek and frowned. "You're spooked."

She nimbly climbed to her feet and silently grabbed her service piece from the desk. She put the holster on and checked the Glock 19's safety catch. With that, she swiftly crept outside to the balcony of her apartment. She held her gun down as she went through the usual motions that had been integrated into her mind since she had been eighteen.

Kirsten looked around, on perfect alert.

She heard something inside the apartment and it wasn't Chris. She spun around and jumped back in to see a huge wolf-man thing towering above Chris. Her mouth dropped open, but she reacted quickly when the thing reached out to grab her fiancé. She aimed and fired.

The werewolf looked at her and growled. However, it picked up Chris and bounded out the door. Kirsten followed it, holding her gun out. She hit it again, blood spraying on the apartment walls. She shouted, "Let him go, now!"

"I don't think so, my dear," a sultry female voice said from behind her.

She spun around, her gun out. Standing there was a tall, stunning redhead in complete fetish gear. Black leather cat suit, laces, knee high boots the works. Like one of the villains from Chris' novels.

And she had eyes like rubies.

She looked at Kirsten, holding her gun at her and Kirsten realized that the gun felt too heavy in her hands. That she had to let it go and that the stunning goddess in front of her could not be killed by such plebeian means. She turned the safety back on before the gun dropped to the ground.

"No," Kirsten protested weakly as the redhead approached her.

The redhead looked at Chris and Chris shouted, "Leave her alone, you bitch!"

"You're wasted on one like him," the Redhead purred as she stroked Kirsten's cheek. "However, you're perfect for me, my sweet."

"Anne and Swan attacked you last night."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement, but D realized very quickly that Giles Wyndom-Price was a very intelligent and observant man.

D nodded as Giles slid him a pot of tea and a teacup across the bar. D was pleasantly surprised to smell real tea in the teapot and not the herbal teas that had become more easily accessible in this day. He poured himself a cup, inhaled the rich scent of tea leaves and took a sip.

Giles sighed, "Damn those bastards. They're the worst of Belle Morte, almost as horrid as Lady Circe himself."

"They'll be dead soon enough," D said matter-of-factly. He was sure that he could kill Anne and while part of him was regretful at the idea of killing Swan, it had to be done. What Swan is was what D was afraid to become, preying on humans simply because he could. Swan had given up his humanity and that was something D swore to himself a long time ago that he wouldn't do.

And if that did happen, he hoped that another hunter would kill him before he became too dangerous. Maybe Morgan, D thought strangely, a frown gracing his features at the thought. He studied the golden brown liquid that sat in his cup as if it had the answers.

Giles said, "I'm surprised you even took this job, for the price that Mayor Montgomery is asking. Younger, I would have been bloody insulted if she had offered only ten million for a vampire like Circe."

"You need her dead, it's as simple as that," D replied as he sipped the scalding liquid, careful not to burn his tongue. However, his left hand was another matter entirely. He gripped the cup tightly, secretly hoping he was causing the parasite discomfort.

Then he asked, "Where is her castle at? I didn't see it."

It was true, he hadn't seen her castle, but Shannon had mentioned one last night. She hadn't mentioned much about it, just that there had been a castle and after it had been built was when Circe had been attacking. Since he couldn't see it that worried him.

"It disappeared after it was built and no one has been able to get to it and come back alive. Just before you arrived here a group of teenagers set out to find the castle. All but the leader arrived dead," Giles sighed, "Rumor has it that it's hidden by a spell and only those who Circe wants to enter or of vampiric blood can enter its grounds."

That doesn't stand a problem for me then, D thought reflectively, Nor Morgan.

D then asked, "About the castle, do you remember where it was built at?"

"Young man, what sort of ex-vampire hunter do you take me for?" Giles retorted with a tiny grin as he pulled a map from under the bar. He unfolded it and said, "Now, from which direction would you like to storm the castle at?"

D raised an eyebrow at being called a "young man" but he let it pass. He studied the map and answered, "All, and the surrounding terrain."

Giles' smile bloomed, "I wish some of my students had your foresight."

5-1-9-0-4.

"D, we shouldn't be here. We shouldn't be going in here, and I don't know how you were able to find this monster again. It blends in too well," Left Hand was grousing as D used his right to type in Morgan's code.

The door hissed open and D felt a rush of cool air hit his face. It felt relaxing against the warm sun outside. He soundlessly stepped in, carefully moving his cloak away from the door as it shut itself.

The vehicle was bathed in crimson light, perfect for light-sensitive eyes. It was also cool inside and there was the feint sound of electrical humming. There were weapons stored all over the walls, mainly various types of guns from different areas. He noticed storage panels lined against the walls complete with electronic locks.

In the center of the vehicle, pushed up against the wall, was a large clear storage unit. It was filled with a thick, red viscous fluid that D automatically knew as blood. Despite the airtight casing he could smell its sweet, sharp smell on the air. He walked up to it and placed his right hand on it.

Frowning, he withdrew his hand to find that it was warm. It was also moving. Flowing really. D noticed that the blood was hooked up to a filtration and heat system. He stared at the device, captivated by it.

"Neat little contraption, probably when she can't bite people," the Left Hand snorted sarcastically.

D replied, "It's pigs' blood, not human."

"Easier to get then," the Symbiote huffed.

D continued to look around the vehicle and all the weapons. All he knew was that they were guns and some of them unlike any he had ever seen before. Like the tiny, light weight black pistols. Most guns, even revolvers, were chunky and awkward. Some of these were streamlined and delicate.

D wondered how old was she as he typed in the code to one of the lock panels. It came open with the now familiar hissing sound. It was filled with various books about vampires and the supernatural. Some of them had bright, glossy covers while the others were the more familiar leather bound tomes that D was use to. One's cover was even inlaid with rubies and garnets.

He closed that panel and moved onto the next. This one was filled with what looked to be paperback novels and a few hard backs. Things that D hadn't seen since he was a small child. He picked up one of the books and frowned.

It was vampire fiction written by mortals during a more innocent time. At closer inspection all the books were. They were all written by the same author: Christopher Campbell. Frowning, D closed that unit and moved onto the next.

This drawer was filled with personal items. There was a photograph in a plastic frame fashioned to look like tarnished silver. He picked it up and studied it.

In the photo there was a tall, gangly young man with dark auburn hair, wire framed glasses, and bright green eyes. He was handsome in a bookish sort of way, and his smile was personable and open. Innocent almost.

His arm was wrapped around a tall woman with blond hair cut into an efficient bob. She was grinning wickedly, her golden brown eyes sparkling in the photograph. Morgan had been pretty as a human, but was stunning as a vampire.

D put the photograph down and picked up a small black velvet box. A jewelry box. He opened it to find a simple round diamond gleaming in a platinum band. On the inside of the band it read: For All Eternity.

He gently closed the box and replaced it. There was a bigger box, this one green velvet. He opened it to find a few military rank insignias nestled in there. There was a golden name plate that read: Capt. Kirsten J. Winters. D put the box down.

There was a scrap book and D picked it up. He carefully flipped through the pages. There were some of Morgan, no Kirsten, dressed in a smart black uniform holding a rapier that seemed more for show than combat. The same rapier that was wrapped in gauze under the various keepsakes.

There were some of her and the redhead, as well as a few articles about an author named Christopher Campbell. Who obviously was the redhead. They seemed to be a happy couple if strangely mismatched.

D also found a book on Celtic Mythology of all things that was lovingly dog eared. He put that down and found an amber heart on a silver chain. Then his hand brushed against a thick sheet of paper, yellowed and brittled with age.

A wedding invitation for May 19, 2004.

"Maybe I should just call you Nick," Morgan's husky voice said behind him as D felt something press against the back of his head, just under his hat.

He spun around, grabbed her wrist, and jerked the gun down. Her golden eyes widened as she looked at him. His narrowed as he let her wrist go.

He said, "Hello Kirsten."