The day was hot.  The sun beat down on the land, seeking to scorch anything that it touched.  The barren desert that sat on the edge of Nosgoth could have once teamed with life.  The ruins of buildings and other structures suggested that there was once a human city here.  But that was in another time, and the world was a different place.  A lone figure riding upon a metallic steed slowly made his way across the seemingly endless desert.  His dark blue eyes did not wander, instead, they remained focused on the path ahead.
      "Hmph," grumbled a voice that was not the figure's.  "You would decide to trek across a desert of all places.  I seem to recall a beach a few hours back that looked perfectly comfortable to travel down.  Could we go that way?  NOOOOOO.....as usual, you have to pick the most difficult, most uncomfortable way possible.  I swear, D, we should have just stayed with Doris and Dan a few days longer.  At least there we had a roof over our heads."
      D looked down at his left hand, and raised it up.  He slowly pulled the glove off, revealing the grinning face on his palm.  "I told you before," he said, totally devoid of emotion.  "Doris is not a part of my life anymore, nor was she ever meant to be.  I don't want to hear you mention her name again."
      "Very well," Hand said, "You know I'm right, though."
      Without responding, D put his glove back on, and took hold of the reign again.  He looked above, and saw the sun beginning to descend behind the mountains.  It would be night soon.  D had to be wary, for his vampiric nature seemed to be stronger when the moon was overhead.

      After the sun had vanished, and the sky became black like death, D approached Nosgoth's border.  He looked overhead, and saw the thick cloud of smoke and pollution in the sky, giving it a strange bluish tint.   Vampires, he thought.  That cloud serves no purpose other than blocking out the sun.  I was certain the Sarafan would have purged the vampires from Nosgoth by now.
      "Obviously, they failed miserably," Hand spoke up again, "I can smell them even from out here."
      D didn't answer him.  Instead, he moved forward, closer to Nosgoth, the land he hadn't set foot in for over 1000 years.  He stopped dead in his tracks as he heard a growling noise.  D slowly searched for its origin, only realizing that it was coming from below him.  His hand shot for his sword, but before he could grab hold of it, two figures burst from beneath the ground, toppling his cybernetic steed.  D was thrown from the horse, and landed on his side, a few feet away.
     The two figures turned, and looked at him, revealing their hideously deformed bodies, lashing tongues, and small sets of fangs in their misshapen mouths.
      "What vampire wretch spawned you filthy beasts?" D said, rising to his feet.  One of the creatures stepped forward and hissed a barely understandable sentence, "Beeeeeasts, are we?  You will regret that insult, human morsel!"
      The vampire dashed forward, and slashed at D with sharp taloned hands.  He pulled back, barely avoiding the attack.  It slashed again, and D avoided it as well.   With lightning speed, D drew his massive blade, and slashed the mutated vampire down the center, cutting it clean in half.  There was a huge splash of blood, and two pieces of the creature fell to the ground, unmoving.
      D heard a sound behind him, and looked to see the second creature airborne at him.  Even as he saw the vampire, he knew that he wouldn't be able to react in time.  Without warning, a bright bolt of light slammed into the vampire,
igniting it.  It flew past D, and hit the ground, burning and crackling.  After a moment or two, its death spasms ceased, and it lay motionless, still burning.

      D turned towards the direction the bolt had originated from, and saw a figure standing there that was significantly smaller than he was.  His eyes narrowed to slits, and he relaxed.
      "How long have you been following me, Lamika?" he said, twirling his sword once before returning it to its sheath.
 Lamika stepped into full view.  D examined her for a moment.  Her face looked exactly the same as it did the last time he had seen her, when she had vowed to die along with her father, Magnus Li.  However, her vampiric garments had been replaced by skintight black unitard, black high heeled boots, and a black jacket.  Her long hair that she had once
worn almost to the floor, was now pulled up into a massive ponytail that hung almost to her waist.  In her hands was a large rifle.
      "Since two days after you left my father's realm," she said in her sharp accent.
      D stepped up to Lamika, and looked down at her, since the top of her head only reached the middle of his chest, "I was under the impression that you chose to die as a vampire rather than live as a Dunpeal."
      Lamika looked away from D before saying anything.  After a moment or so of silence, and looked back at him.  "I had every intention of ending my existence along with the House of Li," she said, looking up at D.  "However, at the last moment, my fears overcame me and I escaped the castle just as it sank into the abyss."
      D nodded, accepting her explanation, "That doesn't explain why you're following me."
      "I understand that we have not know each other long, D," Lamika said, clutching her rifle as if it were a giant teddy bear.  "But you're all I have left.  My devotion to my family was the reason for my existence.  Without them, I have nothing."
      "What do you want from me, Lamika?" D asked.
      "To come with you," she said.  "I caused so much misery as a noblewoman, and as a Dunpeal, I wish to give something back to the world.  Teach me to hunt vampires like you, D."
      D remained silent for what seemed like an eternity, then he spoke.  "No," he said.  "What I do is dangerous and there is no rest for those in my profession.  You would do best to live a simple life as a human, Lamika."
      "But I can help you!" pleaded Lamika, stepping forward, showing D her rifle.  "I fashioned this weapon for the sole purpose of killing vampires.  It is powered by the Sun Glyph.  My father came to possess it centuries ago, and kept it hidden so that it would never harm another vampire.  I took it from his vault before my escape."
      "You know nothing of hunting vampires," D said.  "Of its dangers and hardships."
      "I can learn," she said.  "Please don't make me beg you, D."
      D sighed loudly, and looked away from Lamika, weighing his options.
      "Deeeeee....." growled Hand.  "Let her come along, she could prove useful.  After all, she's got most of your abilities, and I bet she's a much better conversationalist than you are."
      D glared at Hand, who promptly shut up.  He then looked back at Lamika, "Very well.  But you must obey my every order without question or hesitation."
      "I will D!" she said, a smile appearing on her face.  "I swear it."
      D nodded, and summoned his cyber-steed.  He pushed a switch on the cyborg's neck, and a holster for Lamika's sunblaster appeared.  He took the weapon from her, and hung it on the holster.
      "Get on," he said.  "You will ride my steed until you get your own."  Lamika, not wanting to disobey D after swearing not to, immediately mounted the metallic horse.  D took the reign, and lead the horse while walking next to it.
 

      From deep within his hidden sanctuary, Kain glared at the window of time in front of him.  On it, appeared the image of D and Lamika entering the realm of Nosgoth, already leaving two slain vampires behind them.  Kain gritted his teeth as he watched the two half-breeds invade his realm, polluting it with their tainted human blood.
      He moved away from the window, and moved towards the center of the labyrinth.  The two Dunpeals were anomalies in his grand scheme.  Moebius' windows had never given any mention of these two creatures before now.  Why?  Kain knew that he could ask the question until the sun fell from the sky and he would receive no answer.  The Time Streamer was the only one who knew all the secrets this place possessed, and he was long since dead, slain
by Kain's own hand.  All of the visions that the windows had produced before had come to pass; Raziel's damnation, his return, and his battle with Kain.  Now, these two seemed to erratically enter the picture, possibly altering the
windows' visions out of Kain's favor.
      "No," he said out loud.  "I will not have almost a millennium's worth of planning ruined by two freaks of nature.  They must be dealt with before they have a chance to interfere in my plans."
      Kain laughed loudly, his powerful voice filling the chamber where Moebius' time device sat dormant.  Then, he vanished from sight.

      An hour had passed since D and Lamika had entered Nosgoth.  Luck was with them, as they had encountered no more vampires along the way.  D seemed to be having trouble navigating through the region, as it had changed substantially in the millennium since he had last visited.
      "Where are we going, D?" Lamika asked.
      "I'm not quite sure yet," he said without looking at her.  "All of the human towns that were once here seemed to have all been decimated."
      "Ah, but D, you forget," Hand said.  "1000 years may be but a tick of the clock for you, but for humans, it's an eternity."
      "There," D said, ignoring Hand.  "That citadel has human inhabitants within it.  I can sense them from here."   Lamika looked, and in the distance, she saw a huge structure surrounded completely by a large moat.
      "The scent of their blood is strong indeed," she agreed.  "My mouth waters just thinking about it."
      "Rule number one," D said.  "No one must never know of our vampiric roots.  When we are in the company of humans, you will never, under any circumstances feed upon them."
      Lamika looked down at D, not believing her ears, "Surely you must be joking."
      "That's a good one," said Hand.
      "You agreed to obey my commands," D said, looking back at her.
      "But how will we survive if we do not feed?" she asked.
      "Your human half can gain nourishment from digesting food," D said, "That will substitute your need for blood."
 Lamika shuddered at the thought of giving up blood.  Never once in her 800 years had she ingested anything else.  It would require an incredible amount of willpower on her part.
      "Also," D added, since we will be among the company of people who hate and fear anything and everything vampiric, it will be necessary for you to retract your fangs during our time here."
      Lamika gave D a rather puzzled look, "I wasn't aware that I could."
      D had to remember that Lamika had only recently discovered her human side, and was vastly unaware of its added abilities.  "Simply will your fangs to retract, and they shall," he said.  "Observe."
      D opened his mouth, and Lamika gasped slightly as his fangs sunk into his gums, and vanished completely from sight.  Once they were gone, he shut his mouth, and gave her a nod.
      Lamika sighed once, and tried to do as he had shown her.  She opened her mouth, and D saw her fangs moving slightly, however, they seemed to refuse to move.  After a moment or so of struggling, Lamika let out a pant, and closed her mouth, "They aren't going to move."
      "I feared this," D said.  "They've been exposed for the entire duration of your life, and it appears that they have become fused in place.  There is no way to conceal them from the humans in the citadel."
      "Do you have any suggestions?" asked Lamika.
      D looked away from her, and towards the citadel, "Yes.  From the time we enter the citadel until the time we leave, you will pretend to be mute.  You will say nothing to anyone, including me.  Do not open your mouth under any circumstances.  I will only ask you questions that require a 'yes' or 'no'.  Is that understood."
      "Perfectly," Lamika said.  "My lips are sealed."
      "Good," D said.  "Now, let us be on our way."
      D took the reigns of the horse once again, and the two of them stepped out from behind the rock face they had been hiding behind, and out into the open.  The human sentries in front of the citadel immediately saw them, and moved into a defensive stance.
      "Halt!" said one of them.  "Identify yourselves, or we shall open fire!"
      D made a quick observation of the guards, and saw that they were all welding an assortment of crossbows, flame-throwers, and rifles.
      "My name is D," he said.  "I am a vampire hunter, and I seek to speak with your leaders."
      The guard closest to them let out a hearty laugh, "Sorry, Partner.  But we got us enough hunters around here.  However, that is a mighty fine steed you've got there, and an even finer lady.  Hope you don't mind us
takin' both o' 'em off yer hands, now."
      D made no expression or movement.  He looked back up at Lamika, who had silently acquired her massive weapon, and was aiming it at the guard.  D looked back at the humans.
      "I don't believe that Lamika is in agreement with you," he said, "Now, if you please, escort us to your leaders."
 The other guards began moving in, and Lamika cocked the rifle, causing them to back off.  The guard closest to them cursed under his breath, and motioned for the drawbridge to be lowered.  The large metal drawbridge slammed down on the ground, over top of deep moat that surrounded the citadel.  D walked past the guards, not even looking at them.  Lamika, however, glared down at them as D led her past.