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, or anybody else. None of the characters in this
fanfic are mine. (with the possible exception of Garou's Mother) This fanfic
is based on the original 1985 Vampire Hunter D movie and my own experiences,
superstitions, and research.

Darkpaws
paws@jenovaproject.com

Werewolf Tears

*I know it's around here somewhere. Her scent is still fresh.* Garou
followed the invisible scent trail, sniffing along the ground on all fours.
The grass was wet with dew and the fur on his paws was already soaked. *That
rock looks familiar. Yes, that's the one Master Lee was standing on. Now it
shouldn't be hard to see, it's so shiny.* He started scanning the area, head
raised higher this time to concentrate more on the visual aspect of his
senses. Suddenly, he saw a glint out of the corner of his eye and his head
quickly jerked around to get a better look. He saw a small golden object in
the grass reflecting the moon's light. *Yes!* Garou thought as he bounded
towards the item he had set out to find.

Delicately, he picked up the small golden cross in his talons and looked at
it for a moment, remembering the first time he had touched it. Magnus Lee
had ordered him to scout ahead to remove any possible danger specifically
harmful to vampires. That was his job, to remove things like garlic and
crosses for his master. First he moved the dying cyborg horse out of the
way. Then Garou saw the shining gold cross around the girl's neck and he
automatically reached for it to tear it from her neck. Just as he had done
with many other of his master's victims in the past. This time was
different, he had almost hesitated when he saw the girl's eyes. Those big,
innocent blue eyes. Something inside him said, *No, not this one.* They
were familiar somehow, he couldn't quite place it yet.

Garou passed the cross, still on its chain, from his paw-like hands to his
mouth and started walking on all fours back to his den. His tail was
absentmindedly wagging a bit on the way, he was happy to have found what he
had been looking for. Then he froze at his next thought, *Mother! Her eyes
were like Mother's!* A cold wind blew through his mane and he shivered.
After a moment he resumed his journey to his den at a faster pace and he was
soon in the cool darkness of his burrow under some fallen logs. He listened
to the sound of the nearby stream and started thinking again, *It's been so
long since I've thought about her.* He dropped the little cross into his
huge paw-like hands again and stared at it.

A rush of memories came back to him as he remembered those eyes. *It was so
long ago.* He was very young, right after his very first Change. His mother
was a servant for a Noble that lived not too far from where Magnus Lee was
living at the time. The first time Garou saw Lee the young werewolf was
scared of him. The vampire stranger was carrying a bag. Lee handed it to the
Noble and the Noble walked over to the puppy and his mother. He yelped and
whimpered as he was taken from his mother's arms and handed to Lee. The
vampire stranger held him by the scruff of the neck and instinctively the
werewolf pup went limp. When his mother had held him like that she had done
it carefully and lovingly, but Lee held the pup not unlike he had held the
bag he came in with. Lee went for the door and the pup's mother cried out,
"Wait, don't you even want to know his name!? It's..." SLAM! Lee shut the
door behind him hard and the pup let out a sad little whimper. The adult
Garou in his den let out a similar whimper as he remembered this.

When he was "introduced" to the Count's other servants he was as scared as a
human would be. The kinder Noble that kept his mother never had any servants
as scary as Magnus Lee did. Garou was insecure and didn't like being in
human form around them so they never got a chance to find out his real name. 
That "Flying Psycho" as Garou secretly called Gimlett, referred to the werewolf
as "Garou" once and the name stuck. Garou is just a more obscure name for a
werewolf, and he never really grew to like it, but everyone there now knows
him by that name only. Reigensei was the only one of the count's servants
that Garou had bonded with. Somehow the mutant knew the werewolf didn't like
that name and Rei avoided it if possible.

"Hey buddy!" yelled a familiar voice. The sudden sound shook the werewolf
out of his deep thought. He hid the pendant he was holding in a safe corner
of his den and bounded happily out into the night. Reigensei was waiting for
him. He saw Garou's tail wagging and said, "Sorry old friend, we'll have
time to play later, Ramika and I need you." The werewolf cocked his head to
the side, puzzled. Rei got the clue and said "We have to go after Doris
again, c'mon." Garou trotted behind his mutant friend's left side as Magnus
Lee had trained him to do. Garou hated to see such an innocent girl be
victimized by the Count, especially when her eyes reminded him of his long
lost mother. He'd heard about the disaster that happened fifty years ago. He
didn't dare disobey his master, but with a sentimental tear in his eye Garou
vowed to himself that he would never directly harm the girl himself.