Disclaimer: Vampire Hunter D is the property and copyright of Hideyuki Kikuchi. The author of this work is making no profit from this fan-fiction story and is not challenging the status of the copyright holders.

---

The loud thumping beat of the bassline wasn't enough to keep some people from trying to speak. Even the small bar of the club was surrounded by the sound, the resulting echo something akin to a deep-hitting heartbeat. The lovely young woman seated at that bar raised one dark eyebrow as the man next to her tried to get her attention.

"Vail," he seemed to be saying as he leaned closer to her, "maybe we should move someplace less open."

The woman shook her head before reaching up to tuck a dark curl of hair behind her ear. Her place at the corner of the bar gave her a good view of the floor around them. She studied the entire room, a large area to be sure, before her attention went back to the drink in her hand. She sipped at the glass and frowned, flicking her sapphire gaze down to the liquid. It had already turned to a watered down facsimile of what she'd ordered maybe thirty minutes before.

"It's already been two hours," her companion said in her ear, the effort much more effective this time. "He's not going to show."

"He'll be here, Brandon," she answered with a slightly narrowed look to the man. "Trust me... he'll be here." Vail winced as she drained the glass and put it back on the bartop, her eyes sliding until she caught sight of the bartender. She gestured for him to bring her another drink, giving the man a somewhat sultry smile that caused him to hurry and comply.

Her right hand came up to the side of her face, the littlest finger resting against the corner of her sensuous mouth. Vail still smiled at the club employee, letting her darkly lashed eyes fall to half-lids as he moved closer. She could feel his gaze rake over what he could see of her from the other side of the bar. With an elegant sweep of her other hand, the woman deposited several bills on the counter as he set her fresh drink before her.

The man with her, Brandon, had once called her his hottest fantasy made real. Vail had never taken him seriously, but she did know that she could turn heads - both male and female - if she had a mind to it. It wasn't often she went out of her way to be like the nocturnal siren that he claimed she was, it just made things easier when she did.

"Will you turn it off?" Brandon asked her as she reached for the glass. "The last thing I need is to take a trip to the bathroom - again." His eyes were riveted to the alluring curves of her legs that could be seen from under the edge of her skirt.

Vail flicked him an irritated look, her lush mouth curving downwards in displeasure. "If you'd fight gravity and think with your correct head," she snapped back to him, "then it wouldn't be an issue."

"V, I don't think you realize that you'd make a gay guy think twice about his preferences," the man said in his own defense. "I mean, shit... they should market you as a cure for impotence."

"As if you'd ever suffer that problem."

"With you around and dressed like that, how the hell would I end up with that problem in the first place?"

The woman's eyes focused across the room as she lifted her glass for another drink. "He's here," she said, somehow managing to be heard over the violent music.

"Then that's your cue."

Without another word, Vail rose from the barstool and smoothly insinuated herself into the crowd on a direct path to the dance floor. Her alert senses kept track of the man they'd been waiting for during the past several hours. Like a lion at play, she gave a toss of her dark head, sending her luxuriant hair with all its curls flying over her shoulders to drape down her back.

Eyes followed the woman as she walked, moving with a grace that captivated. When Vail reached the crush of bodies that undulated to the music rampaging out from the speakers, she melted in with them. There was no lack of partners willing to join the seductive woman as she began to lose herself to the sound that washed over them all. Vail drowned in it, let them close in against her, bringing them in with her unheard dark siren call.

---

Brandon watched her go, giving a last look at the temptress who had been unleashed on the unsuspecting club. He had a feeling that, someday, she was going to be the death of him. But, oh, what a death that would be.

His verdant gaze moved along the patrons, scanning each face to see that the closest ones were truly entranced by the woman who had left his company minutes ago. Then, he took up her drink as he checked to see the effect she was having on the man who had just walked in right before then.

Cesar Gregorio. He was part of a local mafia sect that was rather selective in both membership and dealings. The club belonged to one of his business associates and, according to what information Brandon had been able to obtain, they were having a meeting that night.

The young man had done some serious digging and discovered that Cesar had a hardcore taste for beautiful things: art, clothing, and women. The last had been a huge boon to the pair of them. The young man knew that Vail would be able to get his attention and keep it. He'd want her. He'd want to possess her and own her.

Then, Cesar would learn that he'd made a bad choice.

Without thinking any more about it, the young man vacated his seat and made himself inconspicuous. It was easy to slip into the back halls of the club given Vail's act outside. Brandon found it just as easy to be stealthy, especially with the training he'd had in that direction, due to the music that raged throughout the building. He approached one of the bouncers and felt a twinge in his chest the closer he got. That sensation caused a soft growl at the back of his throat.

Up to that point, he'd been considering letting the heavily muscled man live, but now things were different. One of Brandon's hands drew a wooden fan from the small of his back, the style Japanese in origin. Brandon flipped it over in his hand before slipping up behind the bouncer.

The man couldn't even give a scream as the bamboo somehow pierced his flesh through the back between his ribs. The wood jabbed into his heart and then the most curious thing occurred. The bouncer almost seemed to crumble as he fell.

"That's okay," Brandon said in a low voice, "you don't have to get up, I'll just see myself in." He stepped over the pile of dust and continued moving along the hall.

---

"You're exquisite," came Cesar's accented voice as he unashamedly let his gaze rove over Vail's body.

She'd taken a break from out on the floor to get herself another drink. It hadn't taken long for the woman to find herself surrounded by the man's thug-like bodyguards in dark suits. He followed almost immediately after, taking in the lean body that she'd covered with a tight cropped shirt and a leather skirt that rode to her upper thighs.

"I'm nothing special," Vail said in response as she leaned against the bar.

The man lifted one of his meaty hands, several rings glittering gaudily under the flashing lights in the club. "On the contrary," he said, "I think you're perfect."

Vail shifted her stance, giving the impression that she was definitely interested. This man was accustomed to getting what he wanted, when he wanted, and how he wanted. The woman also wanted something.

She wanted to go with this man.

"Looking for some company?" she asked with a coy smile. When he held out that same hand to her, Vail didn't hesitate to put her slim fingers against his.

"Call me Cesar," he told her as he drew the woman along with him. "I'm here for a bit of business, but after..."

She gave him a small pout. "I don't like to be kept waiting."

"I don't see why you can't accompany me then," Cesar said, attempting to placate Vail. She tilted her head a little at him, her smile seductive and utterly sweet. It promised pleasures that often weren't supposed to be voiced in public places.

Her reward for the act was him leading her deeper into the bowels of the club. He wouldn't want to defile her either in the open or around his peers, but private, so Vail knew she had things well in hand at this point. She recognized a few faces as they walked, the entourage of his bodyguards making a little noise even with the backdrop of noise from the music above their heads. It was but perhaps ten minutes before they were at the meeting room.

Once the doors closed behind Cesar and Vail, they were directed to a comfortable place to be seated. The beautiful woman kept up her minx behavior as she settled down and tossed her flawless legs over the Italian man's lap. She gave him a smile as he lowered one hand to stroke from the top of her mid-thigh to ankle, caressing the smooth skin with his beefy fingers.

"Mr. Gregorio," their host said as he approached the couch that the pair were seated on, "you've found yourself quite the lovely companion."

Vail feigned adoration on the man touching her leg even as she lifted her gaze up to the newcomer. She knew she wouldn't have to say a word. Cesar Gregorio was a vain creature under the belief that he'd enthralled his beautious companion with his excessive wealth.

Hell, the fat bloated bastard hadn't even bothered to ask for her name.

Before the meeting began in earnest, she took his hand in both of hers. "Your hands are ice cold, baby," Vail all but purred at him. "Maybe you should let me warm them up."

"It's just poor circulation, my lovely," Cesar responded to her, though he did give a smile. "However, if it'll make you happy."

She rubbed vigorously at the palm and back of his hand, creating friction to offer some warmth.

Hurry the hell up, Brandon, she thought while smiling sweetly towards the Italian. If you take too much longer, I'm going to start without you.

---

By the time Brandon had reached the lower levels where the meeting was taking place, he'd all but abandoned stealth entirely. He loped along the corridor, his right hand carrying a Japanese crafted single edged sword that was braced along his arm to keep it from being noticed immediately. Two of the actual bodyguards approached him to challenge his passage into their demense.

Again, there was that sensation in his chest and it alerted him that these two men were also not what they appeared to be. He walked forward, unhurried, until they were in range. With a swift twist of his body, he slashed across the throat of the vampire on the left while kicking out at the one to his right. With a gurgle, the vampire whose neck had been cut through reached up to try to stem the bloodflow, though the right hand guard bent forward with the force of the attack.

Before the vampire could right himself again, Brandon ran the sharp edge of the blade around the man's neck. With a flick of his wrist, he snapped the blood from the weapon and the guard's head fell to the floor with a wet splat. The dark haired man resumed his walking pace even as both bodyguards crumbled to dust behind him.

Knowing Vail, she was getting damned impatient waiting for him. It wasn't as though the woman truly needed him to arrive, because she was a dangerous figure in her own right, but she often preferred to have someone watching her back when vampires were involved. It really hadn't been all that long ago that they'd actually met in a place like this; both of them going after the same blood-sucking pig at the same time on the same night.

He approached the door in time to see one of the members of the meeting come flying out through it. He raised an eyebrow at the display before peering into the room beyond. It sure did appear that Vail had gotten tired of waiting for him.

---

The man Vail had launched out of the room came flying back through the forcibly opened doors, causing her to turn her head and look as she pulled the trigger of a borrowed gun. She gave a bit of a smile towards Brandon as the immediately deceased form crumbled into a wispy pile of dust. "Aww, you brought me take out," the woman said.

"Just figured you'd want this as complete as possible," the young man replied. He turned subtly, his katana flashing in a graceful, silvery arc to slash down the back of another vampire that was trying to leave the meeting room.

Vail gave a look around, frowning to herself. Of the figures and piles in the room, someone wasn't accounted for. "Brandon, finish up in here," she told her companion quickly, "I think we had a runner."

"That's what you get for coming in weaponless." The words were followed by a horizontal slice that severed the head of the vampire Brandon had just brought to his knees. He pulled a shorter lengthed wakizashi from behind his coat and tossed it to her.

Catching it, Vail jogged past the other hunter, running effortlessly in the high heels, opening her senses. Without really knowing why, she turned and started off towards her right in the hallway. A bouncer got in her way as she maneuvered the hall in the background of the active club. Given his demeanor, someone had alerted him to the violence that was still ongoing.

"Not your wisest move," Vail said and leapt high into the air to deliver a nasty kick against his chest. The man flew back and skidded along the floor, but before he could get up, the young woman was on him. Her slim hand grasped his collar and hauled him back to his feet so she could smack him head-first against the metal piping that ran down the wall beside her.

He ceased struggling in her grip so she let him go, leaving him alive in her wake. It was her policy to not kill true humans, only the blood-sucking fiends that got in the way. He'd been whole, so far as she could tell, with his rapid heartbeat and the lack of puncture wounds on his neck. That she'd managed to detect both in but a few moments was incredible.

Vail ran up some stairs, now on the same floor as the club proper, but there were no open doors to alert her that the runner had gone out. Her shapely legs blurred, taking her up another series of steps and into a hall above, where more portals lined each side. The woman paused and tilted her head slightly to each side as she absorbed what she was seeing.

To her, it was the end of the road for the man who had run, which had been Cesar himself.

Without a word or wasted gesture, the woman started walking forward down the hall before her. A sensation crept along her skin, the intensity of it growing and becoming something of an uncomfortable feeling as she continued her pursuit. It persisted, growing ever more potent, until she felt like something threatened to rip her apart from the inside out. Vail's lovely countenance twisted, uncertain of what was happening, and then she heard a noise coming out of one of the rooms to her left.

She tried the door. It was locked. Vail backed up two steps and snarled, lifting one leg and thrusting it forward powerfully. The impact forced the portal to swing wide, revealing the interior, but it also showed her where the vampire she'd been pursuing had run to.

"Hi, Cesar," she greeted in a sweet voice, though she stalked into the room like a predator.

"Did someone pay you to assassinate me?" the other asked her in a somewhat fearful manner. He seemed panicked for a reason that was far more than just a vampire hunter's approach.

She didn't answer, all emotion draining from her face as she fully entered the room. On the floor was a body, face-down, and that caused her to give Cesar a raised eyebrow. "Did you kill him?" Vail asked the man flatly. "A last attempt to get some blood?"

The vampire drew a gun from his coat, pointing it directly at the woman who had obliterated his underlings and his associates in the meeting room. "Who are you?" Cesar finally asked her.

"I already told you, I'm nothing special," Vail answered, advancing despite the weapon in the vampire's hands. Her sapphire gaze was locked on him, unblinking, like a serpent hypnotizing its meal. Her free hand moved to the grip of the wakizashi she carried, slowly drawing the naked blade from the sheath she held in her fist.

Cesar fired the gun and there was a pure ringing tone as the bullet was deflected off the single edged blade. With a dismayed noise, he fired again and again, either missing his target or hearing the slugs be redirected elsewhere. It wasn't until she was suddenly in his face that the vampire actually managed to hit her.

She hadn't even grimaced at the impact, still standing before him, one hand reaching up to grasp his dark hair and pull his head backwards with an unfathomable grip. "You're in my way," was all the woman said in a dark siren voice before he screamed.

The short blade in her hand sang through the air but once, sending a spray of blood against the wall beside the woman.

Cesar crumbled to dust as his head fell backwards to the floor behind the rest of his body. The woman reached to her side, where the bullet had grazed her flesh, and probed at the skin gently. "Hnnn... Even that close the bastard couldn't hit for shit," she muttered before turning her attention to the other body in the room.

Curiously, the huntress walked over and looked down at the lean, unconscious man. From the back, it was obvious that he was well-formed and armored, though the style of clothes seemed quite unusual. Vail moved closer to the long frame before kneeling down to press her fingers against the side of the man's neck. Her sapphire eyes shifted just slightly when their skin came into contact.

He was cool to the touch, but his heartbeat was steady under the translucent flesh. Gently, her teeth worried the corner of her lush lower lip and she rolled the form over. Mahogany silk spilled across his face, giving it a splash of color where there otherwise would have been very little. Vail's breath caught as she was awestruck.

The unconscious man was absolutely gorgeous in a way she'd never seen before.

She took in the rest of the details, such as the weapon that he had strapped across his back. A quick inspection revealed several more dangerous items - knives and such. Included in the collection a healthy few handfuls of rough wooden needles.

"So," the young woman whispered as she smoothed strands of hair from his face, "I figure you're a hunter, huh? Probably got caught by those pricks before we came in and busted up the party." Vail tilted her head, giving the situation some thought.

There were only two options: leave him here or take him out. He was alive and breathing, no puncture wounds to indicate that he'd been bitten, so killing him wasn't anywhere on the list. Her hand rested on her upper poised knee as she gave much consideration to the plight of the form before her.

Part of her said to leave him behind and let him fend for himself, but she shrugged that notion off. Behavior like that usually had a habit of biting her in the ass later. Thus, this left Vail with the other option that said to get him out of the club and somewhere safe.

Before she could talk herself out of it, her hands reached down and tugged at his wrists to pull him upright. "No point in leaving you here for the leftovers to play with, then." Vail grunted as she drew the long form over her shoulders and got back to a standing position.

"It's not usually my style to help an unknown hunter, so count your blessings."