The Legend II

Tainted Angel

Vampire Hunter D Fan Fiction

# Gah. Another ultra-delayed update. I am terribly sorry. I've been alternating between lazy and busy. Here's the final chapter of Tainted Angel, anyway. It's a little of a rushed ending, I'm afraid. I hope it doesn't put you off. Do look out for the next Legend story, Dream Walker! Just a small spoiler, but Dream Walker will be mainly Vianne-bashing. Why I am so mean to my own character, I have no idea. Just my sadistic streak coming out, I guess. Do try to enjoy my increasingly slipshod work! Cries. Hopefully it doesn't become a prevailing trend.

Chapter 9: Baptism of Fire

D walked down the second-floor corridor of the deserted mansion. He stopped in front what used to be the door to a storeroom. What he could actually see through the empty doorway was a large room with floors of tan marble. Rows of sand-coloured marble pillars held up the extremely high ceiling.

He had entered this house to investigate further about the supposed angel. The runaway vampire he had caught and eventually killed had not been very forthcoming. Then again, they rarely were. Perhaps deciding that the momentary distraction would not cost him too much, D entered the warm, bright solar sanctuary.

There was an ornate pedestal the same colour as the pillars in the middle of the spacious room, above which floated a bright orange solar orb. The pedestal was empty. A fiery redhead in a vermillion dress lay on the ground some distance from the pedestal with a knife stuck in her chest. No doubt she was the solar guardian.

D walked up to the pedestal and examined it. There were inscriptions along the edge. It was a description of the Sun Bracelet's abilities. He read it, and towards the end his brow furrowed ever so slightly. He was distracted, however, when he heard two loud bangs, like that of a door being slammed and then bolted shut, from the world outside the sanctuary.

D straightened up, stood by the pedestal, and waited. Barely a minute later, a pale woman in a crimson silk gown appeared at the entrance of the sanctuary. She remained outside, far enough from the doorway that the light spilling out from the sanctuary did not touch anything more than the hem of her dress.

"Well, well," she said, sounding pleased, "what do we have here? The vampire hunter D, spending some idle time sightseeing in the solar sanctuary, of all places. What a perfect opportunity. I won't even bother telling you that I'm an angel. You know very well what I am. You also know that you've killed countless numbers of my brethren, driving us to the edge of extinction. For that, I think I'm justified in killing you, aren't I?"

D did not bother replying. He simply ran forward at a speed that would have rendered him invisible to the average human, drawing his deadly sword. As he approached the portal, a malicious smile spread over the female Noble's fine features.

She grabbed the arch of the doorway on her side, and with her superhuman strength crushed the wood, ripping down the entire doorframe. At that very moment, D reached the portal and slashed out with his sword.

The blade met only a dull, black substance that had materialised in the archway on the sanctuary side. The sword that could bisect a vampire in one stroke left not even the faintest mark on the black blockage. The doorway on the other side had been destroyed. That could only mean one thing. D had been sealed in.

Vianne and Rydel stood side by side in the garden under the starlight, staring up the path at the firmly shut front door of the mansion. "I don't remember closing the door when we left," Rydel commented.

Without answering, Vianne ran up to the door and tried it. The heavy wooden rectangle did not budge. After rattling the knocker a few times, she turned and said, quite redundantly, "It's locked from the inside."

"Stand aside," Rydel instructed, raising his bow. With a single well-aimed shot, he fired through the door to destroy the bolt on the other side. Vianne pushed the door open, careful not to touch the blackened, still-smoking area around the hole Rydel's soul arrow had made.

Suddenly, Rydel made a horrible choking noise from behind her. She wheeled around just in time to see the dashing archer drop his bow and fall to his knees on the lawn, clutching at his chest in agony. Bulging veins were clearly visible in his temples and neck.

"Rydel!" Vianne screamed, sprinting towards him. With a tremendous effort, Rydel tore his hand from his chest and raised it, stopping her in her tracks.

"Don't … come near me!" he gasped hoarsely as he doubled over in pain. Suddenly he straightened on his knees, his eyes rolling back in his head. His lips moved, and the false angel's voice spilled from them.

"Come in if you dare, human wretch, but I'm afraid I'm not inclined to allow you to bring company," the vampire said through Rydel. "This man has outlived his usefulness. If you're wondering how I'm doing this, I implanted a modified Skull Seed over his heart upon his induction into the Slayer order. Part of his fierce loyalty to me was urging on my part, which when coupled with his religious faith made for a very good servant indeed. Now, unfortunately, his heart heeds a different call, and I have no choice but to stop it. As it is, he will spasm and grovel on the floor like a dying beast until the roots growing from the seed have completely enmeshed and strangled his heart into arrest. It's a painful process. Now, let's make things more interesting, shall we?"

Rydel began to rise to his feet, flailing and wobbling like a badly controlled puppet. In that same incoherent manner, he stumbled towards Vianne, hands outstretched. She backed up against the wall in horror. Rydel's hands fastened around her neck and began to squeeze. Vianne clawed at his hands, trying to tear them away, to no avail. Black spots appeared in her vision.

Just as Vianne was about to lose consciousness from the painful lack of oxygen in her lungs, Rydel's grip abruptly loosened, and he slumped upon her, forcing her to her knees. Lifting his head, he stared imploringly at her with bloodshot eyes that were nonetheless no doubt his own.

"It hurts," he choked out. "God, it hurts. Vianne, Vianne … I don't want to hurt you. She's coming back … I feel her grabbing at my mind. I'm of no use to you like this … kill me. Kill me … and take away the pain like you did back then. At a time like this … that's the best way I can think of to go. I shouldn't make you do this, but … you have to cut deep … you have to cut my heart out and break the seed. Hurry … don't hesitate … it belongs to you anyway …"

From a small sheath hidden in his boot, Rydel drew a gleaming dagger and threw it on the ground in front of Vianne. She scrambled backwards in horror. "Are you fucking nuts?" she shrieked at him. "I can't … I won't …"

Somehow, through the unimaginable agony, Rydel managed one of his killer smiles. "Would you rather I suffer for hours before dying?" he said in an amazingly steady voice. There was a strange, wistful expression in his pain-filled eyes. "Would you rather I die as a mindless slave to that false angel? Worse, would you rather I take you down with me? Hurry, Vianne … I can't fight her off for much longer …"

Trembling and shedding tears of fear, panic, and confusion, Vianne picked up the dagger and crawled up to Rydel. He leaned close, and she felt the light brush of his cold lips against hers. Then she tightened her grip around the hilt of the dagger, squeezed her eyes shut, and stabbed.

Vianne slipped through the dark corridors of the manor like a veritable ghost. Her shoulders were hunched in, and her face, which was drained of all colour, bore an expression of great trauma. She trembled, as if freezing half to death, as she drifted almost aimlessly down the dim passages. There were fresh bloodstains on her face, her clothes and her hands, which she held out in front of her with fingers curled like talons.

Suddenly, something let out a low grunt and dropped from the ceiling. It was a rotting corpse, complete with missing eyeball and maggot holes. With a panicked scream, Vianne fell to the floor and flailed her right arm wildly. Orbs of fire splattered the walls and ceiling. Finally, one deadly orange flame struck the zombie, completely incinerating it.

Vianne heard scrambling sounds from all around, along with the occasional grunt. From every doorway and around every corner poked the dishevelled heads of animated corpses similar to the first. Framed by the only clear doorway in sight was the unmistakeable figure of the elegant vampire Noble.

A cry of rage and anguish ripped from Vianne's throat as she swept her right arm in a wide arc, sending a barrage of flames at the vampire. The false angel vanished from her spot, dodging all the flames, and reappeared instantaneously behind Vianne. With a single blow she sent the comparatively frail human girl flying into a corner. The zombies, apparently under the vampire's thrall, closed in on Vianne, crawling on decomposing limbs.

Vianne sat up with some difficulty. She was badly bruised and bleeding from a few gashes. With a yelp of fright she unleashed more flames from the Sun Bracelet, destroying the closest of the zombies. Still, more approached undeterred.

From where she stood on the other end of the corridor, the vampire laughed. "You really did it, didn't you?" she sneered. "You cut out Rydel's heart. Oh, I can see it, not from the blood on your hands, but in your eyes. They are the bleeding, guilty eyes of someone who killed for love and not for hatred. Eyes that have seen unimaginable horrors – eyes that have seen the blood of a loved one being spilt by your own hand …"

"Shut up!" Vianne yelled hoarsely as she reduced more zombies to ash. "You are the murderer! You are the one who planted that seed in him!"

The vampire only laughed and jeered more. "What makes you think it really would have killed him? Can you believe every word I say? How naïve of you. How much less painful do you think it was to have his heart cut out than to be killed slowly by the seed?"

Vianne felt her blood run cold in her veins. Horrible images of how her hands had come to be stained with blood, on more than one level, flashed through her mind. It was her hand that had held that dagger, no matter the circumstances. What did that make her?

A murderer. A murderer who killed, with my own hands, one of the few people who loved me. Is that all that I am? Why? Why am I always causing the deaths of people who care about me? Am I a jinx? Am I … cursed?

An image of Rydel's wan smile swept aside the wildly racing thoughts. "I'm fine like that, but avenge me when you get in there, if you feel bad." That's what his smile said. What am I doing, asking myself all these useless questions? Blaming myself won't bring them back to life. But if I just sit here and do nothing, I'll die, too, and their sacrifices would have been in vain. That's why …

With a wild cry, Vianne literally blazed a trail through the zombies crowding her and recklessly tackled the surprised vampire. They crashed through a half-open door into a circular chamber – the audience chamber where the vampire had conferred with the Slayers back in her days as a counterfeit angel. Here, the vampire threw Vianne off.

Vianne tumbled over the floor, gaining new scratches and bruises, coming to a stop in the centre of the room just in front of the podium. The vampire stood near the door. Zombies were streaming in from behind her, closing in once more upon Vianne.

"Vengeance?" the vampire said derisively. "Is that your purpose in challenging me? Stop trying so hard. Even with both the Celestial Bracelets, you are still a weak human. You fool. You will die, just like the other two. Just like the foolish dhampir hunter. The vampires will triumph still. We will rise again! You weaklings, who are just dying to be killed, as your various allies have proven, only deserve to be crushed!"

Vianne wordlessly got to her feet. She was shaking with a potent mixture of rage and grief. The golden swirls on the Sun Bracelet began to gleam brightly.

"They weren't weak," she spat, carefully coating her words in poison. "They died for a purpose. And that was to let me live, so that I could defeat you in the end. I won't fail them, you arrogant bitch. You're the one who will be crushed!"

As she spoke, the glow emanating from the Sun Bracelet grew steadily brighter. It gave off a strong strobe of light. Both Vianne and her vampiric opponent glanced down at it. In that moment, light exploded from the Sun Bracelet, and everything was bathed in pure, blinding white.

The fierce white light that had exploded from the Sun Bracelet around Vianne's right wrist faded. She stood alone in the circular chamber; the vampire witch and the zombies she had summoned had all been utterly destroyed by the sunlight called forth by the bracelet.

Vianne dropped to her knees, trembling, her eyes still tightly shut. The swirls of gold on the Sun Bracelet turned black. A split second later, the entire bracelet became coal black, as if charred, and fell into pieces. The blackened chunks of metal fell to the floor with loud clinks. The Sun Bracelet -- Vianne's only weapon – was no more. There was only the Moon Bracelet -- the shield that the old priest had given her – left now.

D crouched behind one of the sand-coloured pillars, using it to shield himself from the bright rays emanating from the solar orb in the centre of the room. The dead guardian lay in her vermillion dress only a few feet away from him. The blade of the knife in her chest was reflecting some of the light at D.

Even sheltered as he was, D could feel the solar energy wearing down his endurance. Soon, his vampire blood would no longer be able to take the onslaught of the sunlight, and he would suffer the effects of sun syndrome. If he stayed much longer in the solar sanctuary beyond that, he would then die.

Suddenly, there was a loud cracking sound. D looked up at the doorway on the other end of the room. The wall of indestructible black substance blocking the exit had crumbled away. Summoning the last of his strength, D got up to make a run for it.

Just as he had straightened, however, everything around him disappeared -- the pillars, the corpse, the sun orb, everything. He was standing in the empty room beyond the door that had once doubled as the portal to the solar sanctuary.

"The solar sanctuary is only the resting place of the Sun Bracelet. Its power is tied to that of the bracelet, which must be broken now. Without the bracelet, the sanctuary can no longer exist …" D mused quietly, recalling what he had learnt from the inscriptions on the pedestal.

"She made it explode, didn't she?" his left hand groaned. "Please tell me she closed her eyes before it went boom ..."

Slowly, Vianne opened her eyes into slits. The air stung them, and she squeezed them shut again. She waited for the burning sensation to pass before attempting to open her eyes again. This time, they did not hurt, and she opened them all the way.

Her heart skipped a beat in her chest, then began thumping furiously. Her eyes were open, but it was pitch dark. It was night, but there had been windows around the rooms that had let in shafts of moonlight. Had the immense destructive power of the Sun Bracelet caused the chamber to collapse around her?

A hand landed on her shoulder. Vianne screamed and whacked it away. Before she scrambled away, a gentle voice said, "Vianne. It's me."

"D?" she said tentatively.

"Yes," D's voice replied out of the darkness. "I'm right in front of you, can't you see?"

"Where have you been?" she questioned him. She was shaking. So much had happened. Two people had already died because of her, one of them by her own hand. Somewhere deep within, she had feared that D had met a similar fate.

"It doesn't matter. I'm here now," D said in an uncharacteristically reassuring tone.

"Where, exactly, are you?" Vianne asked suddenly. "Not everyone has eyes like yours that can see even in this pitch darkness."

There was a long, pregnant pause. When a voice broke the silence again, it was not D's, but that of his left hand. It said, "It's not dark. There's moonlight coming in through the windows. Jeez, you didn't close your eyes before the explosion?"

It took a few seconds, but Vianne realised what had happened to her. The flare from the Sun Bracelet's explosion had blinded her. She dropped into a seated position on the cold stone floor as if utterly defeated.

"I'm ... blind."

Neither D nor his left hand answered. Instead, Vianne felt D's arms slip around her shoulders and under her knees. He lifted her from the floor and walked away.