This is a fan fiction and does not intend to infringe on the copyrights of
Hideyuki Kikuchi (Asashi Sonorama), the Vampire Hunter D Production
Committee, Urban Vision, Jaleco, or anybody else.

Valerian Rokes is my original character but D and Left Hand are not.

This fanfic is based on the first Vampire Hunter D movie, the video game,
what little I know of the second movie, the illustrations by Yoshitaka
Amano, and my own experiences, superstitions, and research.

Darkpaws
paws@jenovaproject.com

Dark Mind, Dark Heart

Part 1

It was the beginning of a new life. Valerian Rokes had never experienced
anything like it before. At least at school there was stability, she knew
what to expect and there was always a home to go back to if things went
wrong. The loss of that stability, a place where she could fall back on even
if she didn't really feel like she belonged, was frightening to her. She did
take some consolation in D's promise to take care of her, but the trauma
still had her shaking on the inside, if not the outside.

She could still smell the smoke of the burning Rokes Manor as D's horse took
them to the nearby town. The horse went slowly, as if it were in a funeral
march, and the cyborg's motion was remarkably smoother than the normal
horses Valerian had been taught to ride when she was younger. They had been
a bit rough on her back so she avoided riding them, but she still enjoyed
being with them and often slipped away to the stables with a bit of fruit
for a short visit.

They eventually reached the town and made their way to the hotel. D wouldn't
have stopped here if he were alone, but Valerian looked like she really
needed a good night's rest. It was obvious that this town was also for the
wealthy, it was clean and well kept for a public place and most of the
buildings were either new or refurbished to look that way. In this post
apocalyptic world that was rare. D stopped his horse in front of the hotel
and dismounted first, then helped Valerian down from the rather large beast.
He secured it to the hitching post, a totally unnecessary action as the DL4
cyborg was programmed to never be disobedient, but old habits die hard. She
waited patiently until D finished this, and then followed him through the
door that was held open by a doorman in uniform. A painfully thin woman with
hair that looked like it had come out of a plastic mold who was standing
behind the registry desk looked up and said, "Oh, hunter, it's good to see
you again! How did you do?" D had stayed there the day before he had been
summoned to the Rokes Manor. The long journey that took him there had been
hard and D had gotten a little too much sunlight. "Lamech is dead." was D's
emotionless response. "Oh good, then I have your room ready as I promised,
the 'royal suite' as we call it. Is this young lady with you?" D nodded yes.

******************************************************

The first thing Valerian did was wash her face at the bathroom sink. She
splashed the refreshingly cold tap water on her face to help herself relax
some of the tension that had been built up during her rough day and then
dried herself off with a towel. She looked in the mirror and tried as best
as she could to make her hair look nice without a hairbrush. She was
beginning to appreciate the little things that she had been taking for
granted. Walking back into the large bedroom area she said to D, "I'm going
to need a hairbrush and some other things." D, who was sitting on the only
bed, looked up and said, "We can take care of that tomorrow when the markets
open." Then he cast his eyes down a little and continued, "I'm not sure what
to do about the sleeping arrangements..." His vampire side's hunger was
still satisfied from the battle against the mutants so she would be in no
danger from that, but what would he do when his hunger returned? How could
he dare put this innocent little girl who had already been victimized by a
vampire in any more of that kind of danger? "Well, since there's only one
bed..." she said as she sat down close beside him. Not able to think of
anything more to say, she started to lean up against him, hoping he was
still receptive. D, realizing he had hard armor and sharp objects under his
cape, grabbed hold of her and said, "I should take this armor off first." He
stood up and took his cape and long scarf off first, then proceeded to take
off anything harmful. His long, curved sword had already been set up against
the wall and served the purpose of holding his hat. He carefully removed his
armor, the belt and enameled skull buckle with attached dagger, leather
boots, and the strap across his chest that held his sword. He left nothing
but a black shirt and trousers and the dark brown gloves.

He realized his blue pendant was missing, it was an important tool in his
line of work and he definitely didn't want to lose it. It not only served as
a flashlight, but its special properties caused weaker creatures of darkness
to draw back in pain. He turned around to see if Valerian still had it. She
was now sitting on the bed in nothing but her slip and underclothes. She had
apparently done this while he was distracted with his own undressing and
when he saw it the sight of her aroused him a little. She had been living a
life that made more than a few people out of shape due to lack of physical
exertion, but she had a petite and youthful figure. After a pause he said,
"Do you still have that blue pendant?" She reached for her own blue quartz
pendant that was still around her neck, for a moment thinking of it and
hoping it was there after all she had been through. She didn't want to lose
her birthday present, not when it resembled D's eye color so closely. She
quickly realized what he was talking about and pointed at the beside table
and said, "Don't worry, I didn't lose it."

With everything in order D turned his attention to the girl. He looked at
her again for a moment and sat down on the bed beside her. Valerian finally
leaned up against D and shivered because of his frigid body temperature. She
looked up at D, and he looked down at her. Their eyes met and she was lost
in D's amazingly beautiful eyes. They were, as always, tinged with sadness.
This saddened her too. Then she remembered the legends about vampires not
having reflections and said, "D, do you know how beautiful your eyes are?" D
just continued gazing into her eyes and said, "Do you know how your eyes
sparkle in the light?" Valerian smiled at this and snuggled more closely to
D. She could hear his faint heartbeat and the sound of it was soothing. D
held her a while and they were both contented for a for the moment. She was
already beginning to doze off and she didn't notice anything unusual when D
slipped off his left glove and held his symbiot close to her head. It caused
her to fall deeply asleep and D held her a little while longer, then settled
her under the covers in bed. The memory of his loss of control during the
fight against the vampire Lamech's mutants came to mind and he cringed
inside. *I'm sorry, I just don't want to hurt you* Although she had a
mindspeaking ability, she shouldn't be able to hear him while she was this
deeply asleep.

D took a short nap and began to feel restless. His human half was worn out
from a hard day's fight, but his vampire half didn't like being on the upper
floors. D put on his knife belt, cape, armor, hat, then paused and looked at
the sword. He wanted to be able to leave it behind just once, to relax and
not have to worry, but he had learned the hard way a long time ago that
letting his guard down was a very painful thing to do.  He grabbed the sword
and attached it to its strap at his shoulder, then took the elevator down
and started wandering around town. It was a rare thing when D had the
opportunity to slow down and appreciate things, something inside him kept on
pushing him on and on, never letting him stop for long. Soon he found
himself in a park and he sat down under a gnarled old tree. He looked around
and saw no one, and he couldn't sense any danger, so he laid down on the
ground and tried to relax. It felt so good to be close to the earth. He
looked up at the few stars in the sky, the city lights were so bright that
not many stars were visible, and listened to the nocturnal insects buzzing
and chirping. Then he remembered one reason why he rarely let himself have
any free time. He began to think, and he thought about what was freshest in
his mind. He thought about what had happened earlier that day, how he had
lost control and how he had been tempted by that innocent young girl. What
was he going to do with her? He couldn't keep her with him forever, his life
was too dangerous. He tried to put the thought out of his mind for the
moment, he needed to relax, but images of the mutant squirming between his
jaws were haunting him. "You just can't get over it can you?" said the left
hand. "The more you deny your true self the more painful it'll get. And what
about the girl? She wanted to get close to you! Vampires aren't going to end
up killing you, it'll be you own self denial that does you in!" D stood up
angrily and started walking quickly back to the hotel wanting to finally put
some distance between that creature and himself, inwardly knowing that would
not happen, but he pressed on anyway. The symbiot got the point and was
silent once more.

******************************************************

Meanwhile, Valerian was dreaming...

Running. Running as fast as she could. *On all fours again. Why?* It was
night, so dark, the moon was only a tiny orange sliver in the sky. *Who is
chasing me?* Still running. *Evil!* She could smell the algae in some water
that was nearby. *Go for it! * She finally broke out of the underbrush and
onto the beach. *A lake! * She leapt high into the air and a bright bolt of
lightning lit the whole sky, followed by the rolling roar of thunder. She
landed in the lake and the cool water washed over her.

She was now in Lamech's castle, watching D confront the vampire. "My god who
are you!?" Lamech said feebly. D said nothing and as quick as lightning ran
his sword through the vampire's heart, all the way to the hilt. Lamech
screamed in pain and then the scream turned to gurgling laughter as blood
rushed up his throat. Lamech fell to the ground and laid still, then a
twisted wraith like version of the vampire rose out of the body.

******************************************************
Awake again Valerian groggily opened her eyes and looked to her side. She
saw Lamech in bed beside her and a cold fear shot through her body. She sat
up quickly and screamed. D ran into the room and straight to Valerian. "Are
you okay?" asked D. Bewildered, she nodded and said, "I thought I saw Lamech
in the bed, lying beside me. I guess it was a bad dream, but I thought I was
awake when I saw him." Tears were coming to her eyes as she continued, "Are
you sure he's dead? I've heard of vampires coming back plenty of times." D,
trying to sound reassuring, said, "I made sure he was dead, I destroyed his
body." D wanted to spare her the gory details of how he had disposed of the
vampire.

"Okay" Valerian said nervously. D helped her up out of bed and said, "Would
you like to get some things at the market, it should be open by now." In all
her confusion she had failed to notice the time, it was day now. The bright
morning sun was shining beautifully through the huge windows that made up
the outer wall, and light and shadow danced together on the green tree
leaves swaying in the wind outside. "Yes." she said and D left her to dress
and get ready.

******************************************************

The city during the day was busy and noisy. People talking, the hooves of
cyborg horses clacking metallically, wagons being loaded and unloaded, motor
driven cars, the cries of farm animals, and many other sounds filled the
air. It was a bright morning, a very refreshing sight after the dark night
before. Valerian was browsing market stalls picking up things she thought
she might need, a hairbrush, toothpaste and toothbrush, and various
necessities with D following her closely.

She would have passed by the herb cart without thinking a thing about it if
something in one of the bins hadn't caught her eye. "D!" she cried, "This is
the same herb that was in a pile on my bedside table after Lamech attacked
me!" D came closer to get a good look at it. *Mugwort* D thought. Valerian
heard his thought and asked, *What's that? * D responded, *I read that
mugwort is said to help in controlling dreams and astral projection if
placed by the bedside. * Valerian stared at the herbs for a moment and then
thought to D, *I had a nightmare and when I woke up Lamech was there, then I
found the herbs the next morning. * They started walking again. Then D
remembered something he had heard a long time ago and thought, *I see, so he
was the Dream Eater. I heard a noble in this area was called that because he
not only fed on human blood, but he also enjoyed taking the energy of humans
while they were frightened and having nightmares. In ancient times there
were legends of a creature called a baku. It would eat the nightmares of
sleeping people. In the legends it was usually a lot more benevolent than
Lamech was*

The frightened Valerian thought, *I hope he can't come back another way.*
and proceeded to tell D about the nightmare she had before she saw Lamech in
the bed beside her. *You couldn't have seen that, you were in another
room... and that wraith... This could be a problem, but I think I know who
can help. * thought D to Valerian.

******************************************************

D had heard of three benevolent sages that lived nearby who might be able to
help their situation. They lived a cabin in the foothills of a mountain, in
an oak forest. D told Valerian about them on the way. Sages weren't always
benevolent in this frightening world filled with evil creatures so D had to
reassure her that these were friendly. They finally arrived at the cabin at
midday. It was on the top of a hill and a plume of smoke was rising from the
top of the chimney. They both stood before the door and D knocked. After a
short while the door was opened by a woman with hawk-red hair and kind eyes.
"Hello" she said. "My friend here," D said as he looked down at the much
shorter Valerian, "is having some unusual trouble, and I heard you might be
able to help." The woman looked at both of them and said, "Come in, we were
just making dinner."

There were two other people in the cabin sitting at a table, a tall man with
long blond hair, and a shorter man with long red hair. The shorter man was
helping out with cooking by grating some cheese. He smiled and said "Howdy!"
when the two strangers entered the house. The taller man was doing something
with some tarot cards on the table and seemed to be engrossed in his own
business, but eventually he looked up and said, "Hi!" Valerian noticed all
this cooking activity and saw an opportunity to do something she had been
longing to do since home economics class at school. "Is there anything that
I could do to help?" she said to the woman. She smiled and said, "Sure!"
then began giving Valerian instructions while D sat down at the table and
started talking to the man with the tarot cards.

Eventually, dinner preparations were finished and they all sat down to eat.
They had a pasta and cheese dinner with fresh baked bread and green tea.
Valerian commented on how good the food was, and she meant it. It was far
better than any of the expensive gourmet food she had to eat at home, and
she could eat much more too. She had always been kept on a strict "diet" as
her mother called it. At one point she was practically skin and bones, and
with all that wealth! Once during the meal she became a little overly
enthusiastic with her eating and she choked on a piece of food. D, who was
sitting beside her, had to use the hiemlech maneuver on her. Once she was
out of danger D said, "Careful, you need to slow down." The shorter man
said, "The way she eats it's a wonder she keeps her figure." The taller sage
responded, "That's no surprise, really." and stared straight a Valerian. D
noticed this and gave the man who had made such an odd comment a questioning
look. The rest of the meal was finished uneventfully.

******************************************************

Meanwhile, a very unusual woman was making her way through the desert. She
was dressed in a plain, black outfit consisting of a simple pair of shoes, a
sleeveless shirt and a pair of shorts that went down to her knees. A hole
was cut in the back of her shorts to let her long, yellowish-tan tail
through. Her hair was of the same color and so were her large, pointed ears.
She kept the ears and tail in her humanoid form for her own vanity and to
set herself apart from the humans that she disliked so greatly. The tufted
tip of her relaxed tail brushed the back of her bare legs as she lazily
walked along the dirt trail. She was very bored and was looking up at the
clouds that were drifting by. Occasionally, a bird would dart by and she
would watch it hungrily and wish for her own set of wings to help her reach
a much needed meal. Even lizards were scarce here and she hadn't seen a sign
of intelligent life, human, mutant, or otherwise, using the trail in about
two days.

Suddenly, she saw a movement out of the corner of her left eye and froze.
Slowly and carefully, she turned her head just enough to see what it was. A
desert hare!  It was a good distance off the trail and it hadn't noticed her
yet so she started to quietly stalk it. She was hiding behind a pile of
large rocks just a few feet away from it and she was ready to strike when
she was interrupted.

"Hey cutie, c'mere!" called a voice from under the rocks.

The catgirl let out a feline shriek and leaped into the air in surprise. The
hare was nowhere in sight when she regained her human composure and she
started sniffing the air around the rocks, trying to find the source of the
voice. She couldn't find any fresh scents so she stood up and yelled, "Come
out here you coward!"

"I can't!" it answered.

"Why not?"

"I'll burn up!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm a vampire!"

"A vampire? I ought to drag you out here in the sun you parasite! You made
me lose that hare, do you know how rare food is out here!"

"If you help me you won't go unrewarded!"

"How's that?"

"I'm a very wealthy noble!"

"What's a very wealthy noble doing out in the middle of such a sunny
desert?"

"Some greedy human bounty hunters who thought they could make money off of
any vampire's death gave me some trouble, but I got away!"

This struck a personal tone with her, humans had hated and abused her for
most of her life.

"Yeah, humans are like that. So, what do you need ME to do."

"Well, I don't know this area very well and I don't want to get caught
without shelter when sunrise comes around. You seem to know where you're
going."

"Well, the next town is less than a two night walk from here, but if you
tell me where your castle or whatever is then I can try to get you there."

"Don't worry about that, if you get me to the next town I can handle it from
there."

******************************************************

After dinner was finished and dish washing was done by all but the
apologetic D, Valerian went to bed. She wasn't used to such busy days. Then
D and the others sat down for a serious talk. D explained the situation to
the sages.

And Valerian started to have another dream. She was in a general store with
many people around but no one seemed to notice her. She was standing beside
shelves of bolts of cloth and behind her was a counter with a cutting board
on it. Suddenly, the crowded area in front of her cleared and formed an
inwardly pointing circle of people, as if to observe her. The circle parted
for a moment, only long enough to admit Lamech. He stared at her greedily
and began telling the crowd various lies about her, that she was a murderer
and a slut. Valerian flew into a rage. Her nails formed into claws and she
shredded the vampire's face and head into a bloody mess before Lamech could
do anything about it.

******************************************************

Night had fallen in the desert and a nearly full moon hung high in the
cloudless sky bathing everything in a pale, gentle light. "The sun's gone,
come out already!" the catgirl whined. The vampire leapt dramatically out of
his hiding place and proclaimed, "I am Rex Copper the Great!" He was a lanky
man with very pale skin and disheveled looking shoulder length red hair.
Most of his body was covered by a long black mantle. "My name is Dawn. If
you're so great then why haven't I ever heard of you?" said the catgirl.
"Dawn, I'm hurt! A modern, beautiful young lady such as yourself hasn't
heard of the Noble family Copper? We're direct descendants of the Sacred
Ancestor himself!" Rex declared. "Mmmmm... Oh, sacred, yeah." Dawn mumbled
as she batted at a moth that flew by.  She then started for the road and
said, "Are you ready? Let's go!"

******************************************************

Valerian awoke the next day and prepared be on her way again. The air was
cool and refreshing, and the birds were singing their songs of daybreak. The
shroud of fog over the forest was just beginning to lift and the morning sun
shone brightly. Everything that the sunlight touched was bathed in the color
of the sun, even D's usually dark armor and cyborg horse shone gold. "I'm
ready!" she called to D as she exited the cabin. She walked up to the cyborg
horse that D was standing beside. D looked down at Valerian with much
concern in his eyes, almost bordering on worry. Seeing this caused her to
mirror D's concern in her own eyes and she asked, "D, is everything okay?"
Unwavering, D helped her up on his horse and answered, "We have a lot of
things to do." Then he sat in the saddle behind her and rode away.

******************************************************

"Ugh, that was sooo boring, all he did was flirt with me!" said Dawn as she
prepared for a long and hot day of waiting for the sun to set again. The
vampire was taking a dirt nap in another cave and Dawn was lazily napping
under a nearby date palm, occasionally nibbling on some of the fallen fruit
and drinking from her canteen. The small meal was much easier to catch than
a desert hare, but not as satisfying.

******************************************************

"So, what exactly do we do first?" Valerian asked after they had traveled
out of the forest and the fields were thinning out into arid plains.
"First," D said, "You need to tell me about every dream you have about
Lamech. Did you have one last night?" Valerian nodded yes, and she told him
about her dream. When she came to the part about her growing claws D came as
close to gasping as a taciturn man such as himself could. Fortunately for
him, Valerian was so caught up in telling her story that she didn't notice
his barely audible reaction.

******************************************************