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Entry tags:	#6 forest, 30_somethings, anime, elysium, fanfic, nights, novel, prompts, vampire hunter d

[54] Fanfic: Vampire Hunter D 30_somethings: The Glass Trees
Title: The Glass Trees [4/??]
Fandom: Vampire Hunter D
Character/Pairing[s]: D
Theme/Prompt: #6 ‘Forest’ (Nights Prompt Table)
Rating: PG-15
Warnings: D-style violence, gore, supernatural horror.
Summary: D runs into one Noble’s utopia. It’s not quite of this world.
Notes: oO; FAST. Not too many chapters to go now, maybe one or two? I’m not using the whole of the prompt table for this one since there’re a lot of one-shots I’d like to get written. Also, I’ve still got the Thrillers table still to go. Multi-chapter death.

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Silence reigned even in this narrow, dimly lit corridor. But the torches were lit on the walls nonetheless indicating signs of life.

‘No Time-Bewitching Incense,’ was the parasite’s observation as D walked silently towards the staircase at the far end. ‘Strange though. No other presence save for those guys back there, but just a thread…’ It trailed off as something else began to make itself known.

‘There! Stop a moment!’

D stopped, about to ask what the parasite had sensed, when he suddenly felt it himself. The presence of a vampire lit up like a beacon to his awareness. The Noble was at the top of the keep, unmoving, which probably meant...

‘He let us know where he was.’ D’s frank statement split the silence.

‘Yeah,’ agreed the parasite. ‘What’re ya gonna do then?’

The dhampir didn’t hesitate before answering. ‘Then I’m going up to meet him.’

‘Right. Knew you were gonna say that.’ The parasite sighed, a whistling breath of part exasperation, part amusement. The Hunter continued to the foot of the staircase and up. It was winding, slivers for windows letting through the deep gold light of the sunset at intervals, and at the top there was a large room with a tall ceiling of dark stained glass.

Looking around, D could see that whilst the torches were lit in their braziers here as well, there was still no one around. At the far end of the hall, facing the length of the room was a high-backed chair, like a throne of sorts, and beyond that, another plain wooden door.

Walking over to it, D placed his left hand flat against the grain.

‘What’s beyond here?’ There was no answer for several long moments as the parasite Saw through the wood.

‘There’s a distortion,’ it said finally, sounding puzzled. ‘One moment it’s a normal room, then… Yeah, weird.’

‘How?’ There was a sigh from his left hand before he was answered. When it spoke, the confusion was less pronounced.

‘Like a garden of some sort. There’re some trees. Whole lotta trees actually and it doesn’t look like anywhere close by. Extra-dimensional space.’

‘The Noble is through here,’ D said flatly, turning the handle to open the door. Garden or not, the vampire is in this place.

He was met with a blast of icy wind, snow that was more clumps than flakes floating past into the large room behind him to settle on his clothes and in his ebon hair, stark against the errant strands. Opening the door fully, the temperature evened out, the wind let loose to whine in the corners and tease the torches almost to the point of blowing them out completely.

Past the swirling snow, the dark outlines of grasping branches reached to the white sky, forming ranks either side from the door to a distant point. Even darker silhouettes stood stark on some of the lower branches, swinging violently from the oddly still limbs.

It didn’t even take a second of thought to guess at their nature, though the cold and wind stole any chance of getting a scent. D walked over to an unladen tree, stopping close enough to touch the thin trunk. He laid his hand flat on it, letting the parasite do its work again, although by the texture against his fingertips there was already something very obviously off about it. Smooth as ice but substantial enough to be closer to opaque than translucent, the smoky black colour lending to the surreal effect of a sculpture. A very detailed sculpture.

‘Oi, there’s nothing wrong with this one,’ came the parasite’s shout, rousing the Hunter from his musing. ‘But try one of the ones with a body-bag on it,’ it suggested.

‘You feel something from those?‘

‘Maybe.’ If it could have shrugged, it would have. The dhampir walked over to the next tree over, which had a couple of smaller bags attached to the lower limbs. On approaching it, D could see that it pulsed, emitting a living aura as if in time with a heartbeat, and on closer inspection, the colour changed, the black becoming fully opaque every other beat.

Struck by a sudden though, he grabbed the edge of the bag nearest the trunk, revealing the layer to be a viscous substance that came away his touch. The movement revealed pale skin and the outline of a jawbone underneath. The Hunter wiped more away, the tar-like liquid falling to the ground to hiss against the snow. A chin, a mouth and-

The parasite swore, loudly and profoundly.


nanthimus, I'm still working on one of the Snape/Lupin prompts you gave me. (>___<) It evolved.