Bloodcall

Rated NC17 for explicit m/m sex.

Vampire Hunter D:Bloodlust, D/Meier Link. D has one last encounter with Meier Link, wherein he learns what it is to give in to his vampire nature.

Vampire Hunter D belongs to Hideyuki Kikuchi/Asahi Sonorama, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Urban Vision Entertainment, and probably a lot of other people who aren't me. No infringement intended.

Many thanks to Lilith and Lorelei for beta.

The distant future... Vampires rule the night, but their numbers are dwindling. With huge bounties on their heads, a class of hunters has emerged. Bounty Hunters. One hunter is unlike all the others. He is Dhampir—a half human, half vampire. At war with himself, feared by all, tortured and alone, he is... Vampire Hunter D.
—from Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

     Death. In his long millennia of existence, D had seen much of it. Natural death, violent death. Human deaths. Vampire deaths. Many of the latter he had caused himself. The sight of the human girl lying on the stone floor, blood dripping from two sharp wounds in her neck, pooling beneath her, caused him only mild regret. He had been sent to save the girl, if he could, or to kill her if he couldn't. He had done neither: she had been killed by Countess Carmilla, her fate taken out of his hands.

     Out of Meier Link's hands, as well. The vampire lord knelt beside the body of his beloved, the crystal tears glinting on his white cheeks. His grief was genuine and deep, of that there was no doubt. And the girl had loved the vampire, as well. D would have liked to dismiss her feelings as youthful folly, but her faithfulness had finally been convincing. Meier's beauty, his charm, his fine intellect, and, yes, his faithfulness in return had won a human's love. D found the thought vaguely troubling. He still felt that perhaps he should kill Meier. The vampire's love for one human girl didn't make up for the hundreds he'd destroyed. Like all of his kind, he was a predator, and that would not change.

     But D had made his decision. He would allow Meier to take Charlotte's body and leave. Why, he was not really sure. Perhaps it was simply that it made no difference: Meier on a space ship far, far away would have the same result as Meier dead. He would kill no more humans; that was what mattered. D did not think he felt pity for the grieving vampire. Nor did he feel kinship for Meier's struggle against his vampire nature in loving a human. He felt only... weariness. Here was a chance, for once, to finish a job without the effort of killing. Why not?

     Meier Link looked up. His hands, clenched into fists, slowly opened. The sounds of mortar cracking and glass shattering filled the air, as the doomed castle slowly crumbled. "I would have done anything for her."

     D did not respond. Perhaps it was so. But if the girl had lived, he would have taken her away from Meier and back to her family, as he'd been paid to do.

     Meier stood. He looked into the face of the dhampir. "You have never known love."

     "No," D replied. "I am a hunter. I do not love."

     Meier stood still for a moment, blank, hard-eyed; then his mouth twisted into a grimace of rage, his arm transformed into a metal gauntlet, steel talons springing forth from its fingers, and with a lightning-swift movement he leapt at the dhampir.

     D's katana sang out, blocking Meier's attack. He was driven back a pace by the force of the steel arm clashing against his sword, then he steadied himself, and they were locked together, staring at each other across their straining weapons. Meier's lips were drawn back over his fangs, his blood-red eyes glowing. "No," he spat. "You bring only death. If you had not come...."

     "If I had not come, she would still be dead. You might be, too."

      A piercing howl of pain and fury escaped Meier's throat, and he whirled away, lowering his gauntlet. "It would have been better so. Why didn't you kill me when you had the chance?"

     "If you seek death, kill yourself. Don't ask me to do it for you."

     Meier let his arm transform back to flesh with a hollow laugh. Dark blood stained his shirt high on the shoulder where D's blade had previously entered, away from the heart, a non-fatal wound. "I suppose you would want to be paid."

     D felt the chuckle vibrate in his left hand, where his companion lived. "You couldn't afford my price."

     Meier Link stood again over the body of his beloved Charlotte. Pale and drained, bloody wounds in her throat, yet her face was calm and at peace. D wondered whether her contentment would have lasted, had she survived. The being in his left hand would tell him he was being cynical, but this was the way of the world as he knew it. Peace in life was a fleeting thing, illusory, and only death could make it real. The clatter of a sconce falling from the decaying far wall seemed to agree.

     "How can you bear it?" Meier asked. He gazed down on his dead lover. "The loneliness."

     D hated such questions. "I have no choice."

     As suddenly as before, Meier turned and closed the distance between them. But this time he did not attack, only stood face to face with the hunter. Again, D could see the pain and anger etched in the lines around Meier's ruby eyes, the tightness of his pale lips. Traces of tears still marred his fine features. So passionate. So full of want. It was uncomfortable to be so close to so much raw emotion. D wanted to step back, but pride made him hold his place.

     "I will give you a choice. Come with me," Meier urged. "Come with me to the stars, to the City of Night. Give up this useless fight. There will be a place for you there, as there would have been for Charlotte and me."

     D felt something strange stir within him. More than ever, he wanted to step away from Meier's intensity. He closed his eyes for an instant, then opened them again. Meier's icy paleness seemed almost to shine. "I can't."

     " 'Can't!' Nonsense! Won't, you mean."

     "If you please. I won't."

     "Why not? Is wandering alone, killing your own kind, so much to be preferred?"

     "I do not kill my own kind."

     "Your father's kind, then. You are half vampire, dhampir."

     "Only half. I will never belong among vampires."

     "You will never belong among humans."

     "No. But I will not abandon them, while I can still help them."

     Meier took a step closer, brought his face within inches of D's. D nearly flinched away, but managed to steady himself. Meier's passion radiated like heat from a fire. "We vampires are dwindling. We will be extinct soon enough, with or without your help. Haven't you fought long enough? Why not let nature take its course?"

     Again, D fought the urge to flinch. He had spoken words very like these to Carmilla less than an hour ago. The line of vampires would inevitably fail. It was the law of nature. Was it really so necessary for him to go on hunting? What Meier was offering was very tempting: as tempting as the urge to kill humans and drink their blood. Perhaps that was why he resisted it. He had held himself back from his desires for so long... he didn't know how to do anything else.

     And Meier was a vampire. It was his nature to betray. No, D would not go with him, tempting though it may be.

     His answer must have been in his eyes, for Meier pressed his lips together in a bitter smile and inclined his head in acknowledgment of D's refusal. "Pity. I would have enjoyed getting to know you better."

     "What is there to know? I hunt. I kill. That's all."

     Meier reached out a slender hand, fingers tipped with lethally sharp nails, and touched D's cheek. This time, D could not prevent himself from flinching, although the touch was light, not threatening. The heat that filled his body was only partly shame. He began to lift a hand, to brush Meier's hand away, but he did not finish the movement. He must not allow Meier to know how much the fingertips on his cheek affected him. He would not flinch again.

     But when Meier's hand flattened against his face, palm cupping his cheek, fingers drifting into the long dark hair that fell past his shoulders, D once again found himself responding against his will, closing his eyes, turning his face into the caress. Meier's voice was soft in his ears. "I do not believe that. I believe there is much behind those honeyed eyes of yours."

     "Stop." But there was no force behind his command, and D knew it would not be obeyed.

     "I will not stop." There was harshness in Meier's voice now, although the hand stroking D's cheek remained gentle. "Why should I stop? You would have taken her from me. Even now, if she lived, you would try to take her. You let me go because you already have the proof of her death that will bring you your reward. I owe you nothing. But you owe me...."

     His cold fingers slid behind D's neck, and pulled him close. D could smell the rich, sweet scent of vampire blood, heady with death. He felt his jaws ache, and his mouth begin to drip with hunger. He felt Meier's tongue slowly trail across his lower lip, and his mouth opened, unbidden. The ground quaked beneath them, and D flung his arms around Meier's shoulders. D's wide-brimmed hat was pushed back on his head, falling to the floor as Meier's lips descended over his, tongue filling his mouth, bittersweet, demanding. Long moments they stood locked together, and for a time the only sound D heard was the slow thud of his own heart, legacy of his living humanity.

     With a groan, D pushed Meier away. He swallowed hard, still tasting the vampire's coppery sweetness. "Is this how you revenge yourself on me?"

     "Is it revenge to want you? I suppose it is." Meier's voice turned sly and mocking. There was a certain wildness in his eyes; a careless indifference to consequences: part grief, part want. "You fear your own desire so."

     "I'm not afraid." The protest was automatic; even D knew it was not true.

     "I knew you feared love, but I had no idea you feared even a moment of passion."

     "I don't fear it. I reject it."

     "Even now? Even under these circumstances?" Meier took a step forward, reaching out his hand. No longer worried about stopping himself from flinching at Meier's touch, D pulled away. "Soon I'll be gone from here forever. You won't come with me. You would deny me my lover. Will you deny me even the slightest comfort before I go?" He continued to walk towards D, and with each step he took, D took one step back. "A brief moment of your time. For one neither you nor anyone else on this world will ever see again. Is it so much to ask?"

     D found himself backed up against the wall. Turning his head, he steeled himself against the inevitable touch. "You think I owe you this?"

     Meier's body was so close D could feel the energy vibrating off him. The vampire lord leaned in, not quite touching, and spoke in D's ear. "Perhaps you owe it to yourself."

     "You do not know what you ask."

     "Don't I? You resist me the way I resisted Charlotte. But I am not human, and neither are you. There is no need to reject it."

     D glanced over at Charlotte's body, lying in its blood on the cold marble floor. Perhaps it was true. Perhaps he did owe Meier this. He didn't know. But he did know this: Meier would not stand aside to let him leave, and he did not have the strength to deny the call of his blood.

     D drew a harsh breath. "If I do this...."

     Before he could finish, Meier had pressed into him, stopping his mouth with a forceful kiss. It was just as well. He didn't know what else he would have said. He had nothing to bargain with; it seemed he had already agreed to Meier's demands.

     The rushing of blood: that was what he was most aware of. In his own veins; in Meier's. The blood taste of Meier's mouth, the aching, coppery sweetness under his tongue. He was aware of heat building within him, heart pumping, jaws throbbing. Meier thrust against him, slamming him into the already weakened wall so hard it cracked behind him, bits of plaster falling to the floor at his sides. D found himself thrusting back, heat now pooling in his groin, blood engorging him. He gripped Meier's shoulders, sucked at his mouth, lips stretched wide. His fangs began to lengthen and sharpen. He felt a growl deepen in his throat. He felt the urge to bite.

     Crying out in protest, D again pushed Meier away. He slumped against the wall, fangs still throbbing in his mouth. "I cannot."

     Meier smiled. His fangs, too, were long and tinged with red, and his mouth glistened wetly from D's kisses. His large ruby eyes shone. D could almost see the tiny capillaries and veins under the pale skin, rich with dark blood. "You won't hurt me," Meier said. "Bite if you wish."

     It was true; he would do no harm to a vampire by biting him. Still, he had spent a very long lifetime suppressing these urges. He would not give in now.

     Meier's long-fingered hands rose to his throat. He unfastened his cloak, and let it fall to the floor. One corner dipped into the widening pool of the girl's blood. He unbuttoned his shirt and drew it open, letting it slide over his shoulders. His skin was white as marble, sculpted over well-defined muscle. He brought one sharp fingernail down his chest, leaving a fine red line. "Come to me," he demanded.

     Blood coursed through D's veins like fire. The pounding of his heart shook his entire body. He fell upon Meier, mouth fastened to Meier's chest, tasting the thin line of blood over the cool earthy flavor of vampire flesh. Even that small trace of blood was intoxicating, overwhelming; all the more for being forbidden, all the more for being the blood of a vampire, the hated and feared half of his lineage.

     Meier's hands gripped D's shoulders, fingers digging into him, painfully hard and sharp. Meier was strong, and it felt strange for D to be standing with his head bent, sucking and licking at a vampire's breast, strong hard hands on his body, not fighting, not even resisting. It felt even stranger when Meier began to push him down to his knees, and he went, his mouth leaving a wet trail along Meier's torso.

     Strange, but powerful, irresistible. The fire within him burned brightly, too brightly ever to be put out, or even banked down for long. He kept himself apart from others, spent his strength in the hunt, but the fire still burned, to his eternal torment. To give in to it just this once, in this crumbling, blood-drenched castle, with this proud, passionate vampire: he would suffer greatly for it, in shame and fear and regret, but he would remember its painful beauty, its terrible pleasure.

     His hands trembled as he lifted them to the fastenings of Meier's trousers. There was a tingling in his left palm that meant that his companion was stirring. What would the being make of this folly? It never spoke when others were present, for which he was grateful, but he knew he would bear the brunt of its taunting afterwards. So be it. One more price to pay.

     Meier's member was hard and smooth as polished stone, white as marble. The vampire moaned when D took it into his mouth, and gasped a short laugh. "You impress me, D. I wouldn't have thought you so adventurous." His hands tightened in D's hair. His voice trembled slightly, rising as D used his tongue to explore the taste and texture of the skin. D held Meier's hips and took him deeply into his throat, hungry and eager. The taste was muskier than the skin of Meier's chest, richer, darker, with the tang of the drops that seeped onto the back of D's tongue. More bitter than blood, but just as hot and full of life. D was lost in the sensation, kneeling, jaws working, his own body throbbing in response. He was barely aware of his fangs lengthening, or his jaws closing, until Meier abruptly cried out and jerked away.

     D fell back onto his heels, disoriented from the sudden emptiness. Then he saw the twin rivulets of blood dripping down the sides of Meier's white shaft, and tasted the copper in his mouth.

     Meier chuckled softly, shakily. "When I said you could bite, my dear D, I didn't mean there."

     "I... apologize." D licked his lips, unable to tear his eyes from the sight of the tiny wounds on Meier's still-engorged member. "I forgot myself."

     "So you did. Perhaps it would be better not to use your mouth, if you can't control your teeth. No matter, your body has other entrances."

     D swallowed hard, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I don't think...."

     "Please." Meier's voice was easy, but there was a cruel tilt to his mouth. "Let's not go through the protests again. You're worse than any shrinking virgin I've ever seduced." He leaned down and began to unfasten D's cloak. "I promise to be gentle," he whispered in D's ear.

     Meier tossed the cloak to the floor, then crouched down to reach for D's belt. D pushed his hands away. "I'll do it," he said, his pride stung, as Meier had known it would be. Meier moved away to watch with a creamy smile as D undid his trousers and quickly, before his nerve could fail, pulled them down over his hips. D then laid himself out over his cloak, face down, and waited.

     Meier knelt down beside him. The first touch, unexpectedly, was to his hair. Meier stroked D's long, thick hair with a hand that was, in fact, gentle, then slowly moved his hand across D's back, fingers running along the sheath of his sword. "Will you wear your sword while I take you?" He spoke in a soft murmur.

     "Yes," D replied. "Leave it."

     Meier's hand then passed over D's hip, down his thigh to the band of his trousers. D shivered, though he wasn't cold. His breathing grew heavy. Fingers trailed across his thigh, then up between his buttocks, circling, teasing. The vampire's hand was cool and sure, knowing. Each probing touch left him further undone. Meier moved between D's legs and opened him like the pages of a book. Something warm and wet fell into the cleft between his cheeks. One finger spread the wetness over D's anus. It was Meier's saliva, he realized. The moisture of the vampire's body lubricating D's. Meier's sharp fingernails pricked lightly at D's tender flesh. D twitched and squirmed, sweat soaking his shirt. He felt that he must do something, but did not know what. He drew up his knees and arched his back, and buried his face in his arms to stifle his groans. Why should it affect him like this? This was no grand submission to his vampire nature; this was mere rutting. Yet he felt helpless and shaken, overcome.

     Even more so when Meier's shaft pressed into him. His breath came in ragged gasps. A large chunk of stone separated itself from the wall in front of him and fell to the floor with a loud crack. The pool of blood from Charlotte's body spread until it began to stain D's cloak. The being living in D's left hand began to vibrate with silent laughter. And Meier Link pounded into him, each fierce thrust driving his body against the stone floor.

     D cried out, pushed himself up onto his knees and began to thrust back, working himself hard on Meier's phallus. He felt it stab deeply into him, and he gave himself to it, howling like an animal. His fangs gnashed at empty air. He felt Meier's hand wrap around his cock and he thrust into it. The castle itself seemed to shriek and roll in time with their coupling. He flung himself into it harder and harder, until at last his body spent itself, in a bright red burst of ecstasy.

     For a time, he lay curled up on his side, heart pounding, breath rasping in his throat. Meier had moved away as soon as they were finished, and was sitting on his knees in blood at his beloved Charlotte's side. D's shirt and trousers were clammy on his back and legs. His sword lay at an uncomfortable angle at his back. His cloak was stained with semen and blood. He felt dirty and sick.

     How long he might have lain there he did not know, but eventually he heard his left hand muttering to itself, and knew it would soon begin pestering him to get up, so he sighed deeply and pushed himself wearily to his feet. He pulled up his trousers and picked up his cloak, then went to retrieve his hat from where it had fallen.

     When he turned around, wide-brimmed hat once again hiding much of his face, he saw that Meier was leaning back lazily, watching him with an inscrutable eye.

     "I'm leaving," D said.

     "Sure you won't change your mind?"

     "About what?"

     "Coming with me, of course. Think of it. You and I in the City of Night, free from all constraint. I could show you things... tonight would be nothing to what I could show you."

     D could not restrain a slight shudder, whether of fear or pleasure or both, he didn't know. "No."

     Meier shrugged lightly. "Ah well. One must ask. Tell me, hunter, do you think this one night will sustain you throughout all the long, lonely nights ahead?"

     D walked toward the doorway. "It must," he said.

     As he passed out of the gates of the failing castle, he heard his left hand chuckle slyly, "It won't."

     D continued on. "I know."