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Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters related to the VHD movie. Kale however is mine. If you wish to use her as a character in one of your stories, please contact me for permission. The story that describes how the symbiote got into D's hand the I make reference to, is located at http://www.altvampyres.net/vhd/vhdstory.html I thought it made a lot of sense and thought you'd like to hear about it.

Authors Notes: this is a work of fan fiction. So please read on and enjoy.

WARNING: The following work of fiction contains explicit sex and sexual references, that may be uncomfortable for some. If you are under 18 (or whatever age is appropriate for your location), HIT YOUR BROWSER BACK BUTTON NOW. If you find explicit sex offensive, please don't offend yourself by reading further.

Author: Charlotte (AKA jemstone5)
Email: duckey@ns.sympatico.ca
Feedback: Please, yes, lots
Forward to others: would be flattered if you did.
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Chapter 1 "Did you see that?"

The floating city had upgraded their air taxis sense last he visited. They were no longer just a cargo sled with handrails for passengers, instead they were split level cargo ships. Cargo went below, as the passengers now enjoyed a comfortable seat with a window, looking to the outside, and a selection of periodicals from the city to read. The ship traveled about 10 miles from the city, picking up people, but mostly cargo, then it returned, an empty ship continuing on, once the city got within 2 miles of the last pick up point. They weren't very fast ships, but they did make the journey less dangerous for the people, and they could hold more than the old sleds.

The fare had gone up as well. It took all the bits and pieces they had left, as well as nearly half of Kale's raw silver reserves. No matter. D always kept a stash of money in a special place with his father. He and Adrian always kept their belongings with their father. That way they felt they always had a home to return to, regardless of the relationship with the ancient vampire.

The horses were stored and locked to the floor below, their programming more or less on stand by so they'd be inactive through the trip, but would make a fuss if someone tried to steel from them. Which often happened on these kinds of ships. D & Kale took the seats closest to the stairs, with Kale next to the window. Though she didn't like heights that much, she did feel comfortable looking out, as long as she was inside a secure environment. D however, didn't like to be far off the ground. "Will you be alright in the city?" she asked in a level tired voice.

"Yes. The city officials, in its early years, had dirt hauled up there. There's about a 200-foot depth of earth all around the city, with grass and trees and all kinds of other plant life. I'll be fine."

"Excuse me," asked one of the attendants, "are you toe owners of the silver and gray cyborg horses?"

"Yes," answered D flatly.

"Could you come with me? We have some large cargo coming on board, and we'd like to move your horses so they won't be damaged in it's lading. Only they won't budge."

"I'll be right back," he told her, and headed off with the attendant.

She remained, looking out the window, trying her best not to think. Though doing so proved very difficult. "Guess what?!" chimed a cheery little voice. She looked up to see a little boy leaning over the back of the seat in front of her. "Guess what? My dad can beat up that guy you're with. Then you'll be with my dad."

"Doubtful," she sighed, returning to the window.

"You callin' me a liar!" the boy practically screamed "Dad! DADDY!!"

"Will you sit down!" snapped a man she couldn't see. "Quit bothering people."

"But dad, she called me a liar!"

"Sit down NOW!" The boy disappeared behind the seat back.

D then retook his seat. "We moved the horses across the bay," he mentioned, he was trying anything he could think of to try and bring her around. But so far, nothing seemed to work. "Hey Mister! My dad can beat you up!" D regarded the boy above the seat back ahead of him. "Well?" he persisted.

"is this little boy annoying you?" asked another attendant, passing by.

"Not when he is silent," D answered.

"Hey!!"

"Sir," the attendant addressed the man in the seat ahead of D. "Would you and your family come with me? I have some seats up here I think would suite you better."

"Thanks Denis! I can't take you anywhere! Get moving!"

"I hope he didn't bother you," D asked Kale.

"No D, he didn't," she sighed, not looking from the window.

"Attention passengers. We thank you all for your patients. We are now ready to return to the floating city. Please make sure your seatbelts are securely fastened, and all carry on baggage is secured below your seats. Flying time is approximately one hour, forty minutes." His gaze never left her. He was angry with himself for not keeping his word to her, and wished she would get angry with him for doing so. He swore nothing would hurt her, and then he went and broke her heart. He let her down. Then to make it worse, not only did he hurt her, he tolerated others doing the same.

'She'll never forgive me.'



About two hours after arriving in the city, the pair left the customs area, absurd tests that proved nothing, proved they were human, and were permitted to enter the city. He took a moment to feel the city over his scenes, and found his father's presence. "This way," he said, and led her to the right, along the Horses Only Lane. Nearly another two hours later, they stopped at the gates of an only style four-story house, in the English tutor design. "This is it."

"Nice. A little old."

"Father always preferred this style, if a full castle wasn't' available."

"Kind of advertises that he's old."

"No, just looks through too many of the old books. What ones that survived are preserved here in the historic library." She didn't say a word. "Come on." As they stepped up to the door, it opened and a slender young woman stepped out. She wore a long blue dress, with fine lace trim around the collar and cuffs.

"Can I help you?" she asked cheerfully.

"I am D Tepes, son of Dracula Tepes. Inform him at once, I am here."

"One moment please," she closed the door.

"What is she doing?"

"Most likely talking to father. He doesn't often sleep in the afternoon."

The door opened again, swiftly, and a tall blond man quickly stepped out. "D! Kale!! It is you! Come in!"

"Adrian? What are you doing...oh never mind."

"Linda, have a groom tend to their horses!"

"Yes Master Adrian."

"How have you been? I want to hear everything."

"D! It is good that you have accepted my invitation."

"Father."

"Come in, have a seat, tell us what you have been up to."

"My Dear Kale, Adrian and I were discussing futures. He seems to be still far too young for any serious commitments..."

"I'm nearly 500 years old, father, I hardly think that is young."

"Quite, Kale, perhaps you can tell me. Are there any plans for you and D to make me a real grandfather?"

"FATHER!!" D turned just in time to see Kale strike his father. The crack of her hand against his jaw echoed through the silence.

"Did you see that?" Adrian asked, quietly, not quite believing it himself.

"My lord?" asked the woman who had first opened the door.

Dracula rubbed his cheek where she hit him. "D, take your lady you your room," he said with great restraint. "I think some rest will do her some food. Then join me for a drink in the dinning area."

"D. Allow me," Adrian offered. "You and father really should talk first. Come Kale." As Adrian led her up the stairs, D followed a rather bewildered vampire down the hall to the dinning area.

"I have to admit," Adrian began, as he threw the curtain open in D's room. Kale just lay down on the bed, staring out the revealed window at the sunset beyond the city. "I have never seen father react that way. No one has ever struck father like that and lived." As he turned, he was surprised to see her lying down looking lost. "You ok?" he sat down next to her stroking her hair. "I guess you're tired. I'll let you be." He spread her cloak over her, and left.



"D, I don't usually insist on behavior in this house," Dracula began. "However, I must insist you tell me, what the hell is wrong with her!" He downed a glass of red substance that D could smell was blood.

"She's hurting, father," he responded, accepting a glass of blood from the man. "I'm the cause."

"Oh deer," he pushed a chair out fro him and took his usual chair at the head of the table. "You best tell me all about it."

"It's something I'd rather not tell twice." He stated sitting down heavily.

"Very well. Then tell me this then. Does it have anything to do with what resides in your left hand?"

He looked at his gloved hand, almost distantly. "I wish."

"D," called Adrian, joining them at the table. "I don't mean to alarm you, but Kale is acting...well...not like the last time I saw her, I guess. Is anything wrong?" D just started at his hand, tracing it with his fingers.

"Have a seat Adrian," said his father calmly, signaling for Linda, as she passed the door, to get a glass of blood for the younger Dhampire. "D was just about to tell us the whole story."

After a moment, D began, "about four years ago, Kale and I were in a small town called Donrath. We'd just come from a hunt, and I was looking for talk of another vampire. The night, after you met her father, she returned from hunting a rabbit for me, to where we were staying to make a stew."

"She cooks? Look out Linda..." taunted Adrian of the blond woman. She said nothing, but smiled and stood near Dracula and listened.

"The bar owner had made a deal. Desert slavers could take Kale without a fight from him, if they left his daughter alone." He clenched his fists at the thought of it. What Kale had gone threw. "The took them both, and headed back across the desert in what looked like an old floating barge. She...she'd cut open her hand, and left a blood scent in the air for the horses & I to follow."

"You went across the desert?!" D nodded. "Were you insane!"

"It would explain my intense feeling of dread some weeks after I met you outside of Donrath," voiced their father. "D, please continue."

After D drank his glass empty, he eyed the tiny pool of blood at the bottom of the glass. He felt the blood warm him, it was fresh, and human, though he couldn't tell much more than that, or did he want to. "They beat her...they raped her...she dearly died! They killed the bar owner's daughter, and dumped her body in the desert. When we found her, I was afraid it was Kale."

"We?" asked his brother. "We who?"

"Desert nomads found me dying. They had an animal they had to put down due to injury. They let me have its blood. They suspected who the slavers would sell Kale to, so I traveled with them. When I got to her, she was so pale, so thin, and her skin was covered in scars, and wounds." He laid his hat on the table as he rested his head on his hands on propped up elbows. This wasn't even half of what had happened, but it was really all they needed to know. "The ones who Kale was sold to are dead, as are the slavers themselves. We continued south to get out of the desert. We found evidence of werewolves and vampires down there, so we hunted them down. Kale met up with some aliens who were able to heal her wounds swiftly. I was caught and nearly killed by Tagres. My best friend from centuries past, father. Brought over by a vampire you made!"

"I make no excuses, or apologies for the actions of those I create," he said. "Though I do not condone their actions. I am not always impressed with their results." "Kale killed him to save me father!"

"D calm down. What happened to make Kale act so...?"

"Defeated?"

"Yes. What happened?"

"It took us nearly another year to get back north. It was quiet, no monsters, just us. We met up later on, with some rather incompetent robbers. Then...then we found an abandoned wagon...with a baby in the back."

"Oh no. Dead?"

"No! Alive! And Kale, she just, well...she fell in love with her...and so did I. She wasn't human, and her people were being wiped out. We thought her parents were dead. We called her KD. She was our daughter. And I never felt so...happy... Then we learned her parents were alive, and we had to give her back. It tore her apart!! She watched me...ME...hand her child over to strangers!! How she can even stand to be near me now, I'll never know!"

"You then came here?"

"No. First we went to Donrath, to return Mina's ashes to her father. He tore into Kale, rubbing in the pain of loosing a child! The last thing she said before we left the town, was the she wouldn't feel it. That it was too much. She then just shut down. She won't talk to me, she doesn't feel like she use to, she doesn't even kiss me any more. I didn't know what to do...I...I just brought her here...there wasn't...we had no where else to go."

Dracula put his glass down as he gently voiced his next words. "D, you know that you are always welcome here. You and she may stay as long as you like." He looked up to see Kale enter the room. To him she looked very tired. He was surprised she hadn't given up like this sooner. "You are stronger than you know my dear." D & Adrian at once turned to her.

"Kale, you all right?" asked D, quickly regaining himself.

"Yes," she whispered.

"My dear, you and D are welcome here as long as you like. However, I must insist on a few things. First, remove your...I guess you call them battle clothes. You will find suitable garments in your wardrobes in your room. Second, no killing my guests, even if they are vampire or wolf. This house is neutral ground, and they are welcome to visit, just as you are. Thirdly, no mentioning of what we all are to the authorities. Idiots and fools they may be, but they can incite riots with a few choice words. Forth, please, now that I have both my sons here, and my new daughter-in-law, let us decorate for Christmas. It will help us all relax."

"Christmas! Father, that's a wonderful idea. I haven't truly celebrated Christmas in over 200 years."

"Christmas?" whispered Kale, as she slowly turned and left the room.

"Father, I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Nonsense. Kale just needs to..." he never got a chance to finish hi sentence, for out in the hall they heard a loud crash, as something hit the floor.

They dashed from the dinning room to the main hall. There they found the remains of a porcelain vase, thankfully no one of the antique ones, shattered across the floor. Kale sitting in the middle of the debris, tears streaming down her face, though she didn't seem to notice, as she carefully collected the broken pottery. D knelt down to her, taking her hands in his. She looked to him with tired teary eyes. D just nodded and helped her back to her feet. "She's sorry father," he said, knowing that she had broken the ornament on purpose. "We'll replace it. Right now I think we'll just head up to rest. It's been a long journey."

As they disappeared behind their room door, Adrian turned to his father. "This holiday is truly going to be interesting." Dracula just nodded.