Vampire Hunter D Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Encore ❯ Discussions and Arrivals ( Chapter 8 )

Dark Encore

Chapter Eight: Discussions and Arrivals

"All I ever wanted and more

My dreams are fighting for

Never ending nightmare

Always there instead of you

Never ending nightmare

Punishing me for the things I do

Never ending nightmare

No escape this time from you…"

- McAuley-Schenker Group, "Never Ending Nightmare"

Notes to everyone: Guess what you will about the characters' fates, but I'm not going to declare it true or false here. You'll have to find it out as the story goes on; I refuse to speak a spoiler. Whatever will be said, will be said in the chapter itself. Get it? Good. ^_^ Onward!

~*~

Before the discussion could continue, however, Erika needed to make arrangements on the topic of transportation. Her van was past the point of no return and definitely past the point of being repairable. It was an ex-van, to put it simply, which left Erika stranded unless she found another means of transportation. Fortunately for her, the van could still be sold for its various usable parts, which included and were not limited to one functioning door, one steering wheel, and four functional tires. When the total came out and she took a look around town, she realized that she wouldn't be able to buy another van for a while. In fact, the only thing available to her was a horse - a cybernetic one like D's, fresh out of repairs as well, but a horse nonetheless, and one that could get her to the castle and back.

She took the offer, but not without musing to herself about the change. For so long she had been living in the van like it was a home, with another person. The van and its other inhabitant had become her home - and now both were gone. From the looks of it, not even the funds from defeating Meier would cover another van…Leila's words rang through her mind then: There's no such thing as coincidence…

If it weren't coincidence, she realized as her heart nearly stopped from the shock, then that meant she would be going back home alone. If it weren't coincidence, it meant - Well, she wasn't going to think about what it meant.

That evening, D and Erika rode their horses to the bridge and stopped for a moment. They were both in hearing range of each other; sensing her cue, Erika explained what had happened. "…and right after she told me that, the van nearly flopped onto its side and all the interior lighting went out. Then the windows shattered, and Rose was knocked out. That vampire from four years ago leaped in and got ahold of Rose - when I tried to stop him, he hit me upside and I was knocked out. When I woke up, the lights were back on, it was morning, and Rose was gone." A pause. "I'm sorry for making you listen to all this…"

"It's all right." There was a pause as slowly, slowly, the horses began moving again and trotted their way onto the bridge. There was silence for a while, until finally D said, "The castle ahead is the only vampire hideout in this area, if your friend has been taken anywhere, it's here."

"Yeah, that's what I was afraid of," agreed Erika. She looked across the bridge to the foreboding castle looming in the distance, then back at D. A slight smirk crossed her face then. "Guess we'd better get going. Two hours is a long time, maybe even too long." With that, Erika turned her attention once again to the goal at hand and rode forward, urging her horse into a full gallop. A second later, she heard the sound of a horse's gallop next to her - perhaps even passing her - she could see D in front of her, but that wasn't a bad thing really. At least she knew where he was…

In the castle, meanwhile, a good deal of confusion had broken loose. Meier had noticed Mnemosyne's arrival late last night and, after allowing both himself and the elder a good day's rest, had flown down several rounds of stairs and across one hallway to Mnemosyne's room to find out what he wanted. When he landed, he nearly gave a start at the realization that the elder was carrying something - someone - in his arms, almost as if the person were a child in his care. "Why have you brought a human here?"

"Ah'll have you know it took a good deal just to get her outta that blonde mother hen's care!" piped Mnemosyne. A catlike grin was on his face as he said this, a grin that looked eerie on a face forever slightly shaded by a straw hat. "Ah do like a good challenge every now n' then, an' this time it was really worth it." He indicated the unconscious figure in his arms by shrugging his shoulders slightly. "Ah did what Ah was planning ta do. Whether that coincides with yer plans means not a thing ta me."

Meier almost rolled his eyes at this. Mnemosyne had seemingly abducted the figure in his arms and covered it in a dark green cloak to keep it from being recognized. The white-haired vampire highly suspected that the person in question was female, as this was how most vampires nowadays went about and - curses, now he was remembering his own little venture into the world of abducting humans… He was probably looking rather withdrawn and upset, because Mnemosyne let out another one of his long, loud laughs. "Really now, Meier, Ah didn't do this just ta torture ya. In fact," now Mnemosyne was sounding deliberately mysterious; this was never a good sign in Meier's book, "Ah'm doing this for exactly the opposite reason. Not that you'll understand me, but all Ah can hope for is that you figure it out before it's too damn late."

Meier sighed softly, then glared at the elder. "You often say that questioning one of such age as yourself is something that should not be done, but I question you anyway…" His curiosity, much as he hated to think otherwise, was greatly piqued by Mnemosyne's actions, so rather than continue into one of those tirades of questions that had become commonplace since the first time he met the elder, he asked softly, "Who is that person, and why did you bring them here?"

The grin on Mnemosyne's face became more pronounced as gently, almost tenderly he moved the cloak around a bit, eventually finding an edge of it and removing it from over the girl's (so it was a girl!) face. One of Meier's eyebrows went up at this. The girl was beautiful, no doubts of it, with long red hair, light skin that hadn't seen the sun too often, and a face that seemed to be the work of some sculptor. Come to think of it, her face…there was a vague resemblance to Charlotte! If Meier's heart were still beating, it would have stopped at this realization. There was one thing slightly off with that picture, though - ah yes. The way she was held, the left side of her neck was exposed, and for that matter so was the mark there… "You say you do not lie, but here you have this girl that looks like my dear Charlotte and from the looks of it you've bitten her. You say you're not here to harm? I don't believe this."

Mnemosyne shook his head softly. "Uh-uh. That mark there, that's a birthmark. Looks awful like a vampire bite though, don't it? If Ah didn't know better, Ah'd say it was just a coincidence…and there's gonna be explanations, don't worry. Ya're gonna rip my lungs out through my spleen if Ah don't explain it 'fore the night is out. Don't worry, Ah am gonna explain. Just need to bring her to a room of her own, y'know, otherwise little Rose is gonna go bonkers when she wakes up. Later!" With that, Mnemosyne brushed right by Meier in an attempt to find the guest room.

Meier had to resist the urge to swirl around and attack Mnemosyne as the elder brushed by. How DARE he think he could do this?! How dare he…Meier's mind immediately went to the mark. It had undoubtedly been well hidden beforehand; without a doubt, Mnemosyne had deliberately arranged her hair to show off that birthmark. Despite its strangeness, Meier could accept that it was a birthmark - he could not sense death on that girl. Strangely enough, his mind flew back to those last few moments before his beloved's eyes had closed forever. Hadn't she been bitten in exactly the same place?

If there was a chance to remedy the situation… Those were Mnemosyne's words before all of this happened, weren't they? It was painfully obvious the elder was planning something, and that it had a good deal to do with this strange girl. Rose…It immediately hit Meier as to why the Vampire of Memory would bring a girl named Rose into the castle, and he nearly laughed at the elder's little joke. Charlotte's favorite flower, after all, was the rose…oh, Mnemosyne's sense of humor was often far too much to take at times. In fact, it was too much to take. The elder was going to wind up with a serious maiming if he kept with this horrible joke!

But why then had he mentioned that he had a way to remedy the situation, and for that matter, what situation was he talking about?…No doubt of it, the elder vampire would end up interrogated half to his final grave before he left the castle again.

Author's Note: Believe Mnemosyne or not, whatever you will - but if it were a bite, wouldn't Rose be either zombie-fied or a vampire by now? (Not that anyone could tell; Mnemosyne might have found a way to delay the effects. Who knows?) Please think about it while I write up the next chapter, ok? ^_^