Building up to Christmas with Dusty the Demon Hunter - A Blast from the Past - Trouble Times Three - Part 6

Vampires - Trouble x 3 is my third adventure with Dusty the Demon Hunter. I had a great time with this one, putting folk lore and mythical creatures in with Dusty.

This image is mine, the others are from Google Free to use Image Search

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

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I hope you have as much fun reading as I did writing it.

Dusty the Demon Hunter - Vampires - Trouble Times Three

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Please read This part before reading on.

It took a while for the insult to sink in and once it had, Marid began his posturing again and even the mild Jerik puffed up his chest in indignation.

“Demon, you were brought here as a peace offering.” The clan leader sighed. “My name is Rahul. I am the maker of those three troublesome vampires. They have been the proverbial thorn in my side since the very night I met them. I had second thoughts on whether to kill them or not but I decided against it because they were so cute together, the fierce one, Marid, standing guard before the others as they held on to each other in terror. They seemed to be in awe of me and I was vain then, I enjoyed it. How I wish that I hadn’t. They have stolen from me the most precious thing I had, my son...”

Dusty interrupted him then.

“I’m sorry, I know you have a son but is this the fruit of your loins type of son or is it a vampire that you have adopted as your son? I don’t quite get how you as a vampire have managed to procreate.”

His eyes twinkled and his mouth turned up in a genuine and warm smile.

“Very clever of you, Demon, I am most impressed. Felix is indeed the fruit of my loins. I had received the news that my wife was with child only a few days before I was attacked and turned to vampire. I mourned the loss of my family to such an extent that my maker took pity on me and allowed me to follow their progress. I was also allowed to send food and money to them in times of need. My son grew up to be a fine man. He was a warrior and fought well for our country. I was so very proud of him. One night, when I went to see how he was faring, I found him in the field hospital. He had been mortally wounded and the surgeons had not even bothered to attend to him; he was a lost cause. He would have been dead by morning. I made him vampire and took him with me. Felix fell in love with Cynthia when he first saw her but she held nothing but disdain for him, and his heart was breaking. She was not only dismissive of his attentions, but she was also cruel. I admire that in a woman, except when it is directed against my own flesh and blood. I threw them out of my clan and sent them on their way.”

Rahul sighed again and Dusty waited for him to continue.

“One night, Felix came and told me that he had found Cynthia again. We had been at peace in our clan for a good long while and I thought that he had forgotten her, but he had not. Instead, he had been searching for her. When he brought her back, she tried to make peace with me but I refused to speak to her and I sent her away again, under pain of death if she returned. Felix followed her. I was distraught... I am distraught. If they come back, I shall welcome them with open arms and be pleased to witness their marriage if that is what they wish. I suppose that is why you were brought here, Demons. You have the abilities to search for my son. You can ask in places that we cannot reach, are not permitted or able to go to. Therefore, I would respectfully ask you, will you find them and give them the message that I am repentant and wish only for their return?”

Dusty thought for a moment, then she spoke in hushed tones with Hunter and they came to a conclusion.

“You have a problem, sire. Why would your son believe me? If they are in fear for their lives, they wouldn’t believe that we are anything but bounty hunters who would say anything to get them back to claim the reward,” Hunter said.

Rahul’s eyes widened in realisation of the truth of that statement and his gaze dropped to the floor again. He was the picture of despondency, and Dusty could see the love that he had for his son. She felt sorry for him and wanted to help.

“Do you have something of his mother’s, something that he knows that you would never relinquish, only if you were killed?” Dusty said.

“I have a locket of hers. She gave it to me on our last moment together. Felix knows about it, he has seen it. It has a picture of me on one side and one of her on the other.”

Dusty stretched out her hand, palm uppermost.

Rahul clutched it tight in his hand; the expression he wore was almost comical, not quite avarice, mixed with terror at being parted from it for the first time in his undead life. His breathing became shallow and panicked and Dusty could bear it no longer. There was a question that was burning in her curiosity and she had to have the answer.

“Why do you breathe if you are undead? You don’t need the oxygen, so why on earth is it that your lungs work and your chest moves up and down?”

The question came as a shock to Rahul and he studied Dusty with his own curiosity.

“I’ve never thought about it,” he said. “I don’t know.” He held his breath to see if he did actually need the air that was pushed in and out of his lungs and he held it for a long time, far longer than a human could, but in the end, he got into difficulties and couldn’t hold it any longer.

“It would seem,” he panted. “That we actually do need air. How curious.”

Then Rahul looked at his closed hand, opened it to look at the locket again and handed it to Dusty.

“I also need my son. Please find him and try to assure him that I mean what I say. I want them both to return. If he can only be happy with her, then they are both welcome in my house. I remember how it feels to need someone more than I need the air that I breathe. I still feel that way about his mother. If I could hold her once more, even if it meant that I no longer had air to breathe, then I would hold her for longer than I held my breath. I would die in her arms if necessary.”

Dusty believed him because a single tear slid down his face as he thought of his long lost love.

Dusty nudged Hunter as she turned to leave the church, to encourage him to follow her. The flitting shadows that had been so very active on their way in were now subdued and still.

Dusty could see the ethereal figures watching them as they made their way past the pews. Some of them seemed to be deeply morose, almost hand-wringingly sad, but a few others were smiling.

Dusty looked at them and none could meet her eye. Perhaps they were ashamed at their earlier behaviour now that they realised she was there to help? She didn’t think so.

Dusty and Hunter walked from the church side by side and were both very glad when they had got far enough away to feel safe. Neither of them trusted the vampires, even with the assurances from their leader, Rahul, still ringing in their ears. Both half-demons wanted to be away from that place. They began to pick up their pace and they ran, not back towards the woods, but to the middle of town.

“Where are we going, Dusty?” Jerik asked.

Dusty almost leaped out of her skin at the sound of his voice. She hadn’t realised that the brothers had followed them. Dusty and Hunter skidded to a stop in the middle of the street.

“I’m not sure where we’re going. I seem to be heading in this direction more by instinct than anything else,” Dusty said.

Her brow was furrowed in puzzled concentration and she shook her head as though she was trying to get rid of some thought that had intruded into her mind.

“Hunter, can you hear it?”

Hunter didn’t answer. He concentrated too. He turned towards where Dusty was facing and said: “Yes, I can. It’s hauntingly beautiful. It makes me want to cry, it’s so beautiful.”

Marid and Jerik looked at one another and smiled. “She’s singing again!” Jerik said. “She must be very happy. Cynthia doesn’t sing if she’s stressed or upset.”

The expressions on the vampires’ faces made Dusty re-evaluate the two boys. They seemed younger, more vulnerable and less... well, less vampiric. Dusty liked what she saw, and when they began walking in the direction that she and Hunter thought the melody was coming from, they followed.