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The sounds of thousands of heartbeats and conversations surrounded D. He could smell them with his keen senses; a mix of artificial scents to attract that were cloying all at once, but under that he could smell notes of sweat, skin, fear, and lust. Thundering heartbeats filled his ears as did the rush of blood.
However, some of the rabble had a cold smell to them. Their heartbeats were slower, and the smell of fresh earth clung to them despite furious bathing and scrubbing. D’s eyes swept over a man who was taller than him with long, curling black hair wearing blue jeans and a button up green shirt with the sleeves rolled up. His features were sharp with a square jaw and deep set deep blue eyes.
D knew at the scent of blood those sea dark eyes would turn a glowing crimson.
The man was talking to a pretty girl with long, dark brown hair pulled up into a high ponytail. Her honey-brown eyes seemingly took up much of her heart-shaped face. Her rosette mouth split easily into a smile. As if she was aware, she turned to look at D and raised her hand to wave at him.
D lifted his hand in response. She eyed him and tilted her head before motioning him over with her fingers. From his left hand, an archaic, hoarse voice said, “You’d better go see what she wants before she drags us over there.”
“She’s talking to a Noble.” D’s hand itched to go to his back, but his sword wasn’t there. It wasn’t allowed on campus, no weapons were. It was sitting in the back seat of his car, which was parked off campus.
The hand snorted and D could feel the flesh ripple as a face formed there. “Lina’s never been the brightest star in the sky.”
“She just wants to study the Nobility.” D shook his head, causing his own wavy, black hair to sway.
The skin on D’s hand continued to crawl. “And marry you.”
“She’s just joking.” D’s hand went to the large sapphire pendant around his throat. “I hope.”
Not that Lina wasn’t beautiful. And she’s feisty but kind to me, despite knowing exactly what I am, D thought as he walked over to her.
D was a dhampir, the misbegotten child of a male vampire and a human woman. He was born of two worlds, but it was made evident every day in his wretched existence that he belonged in none. Both sides made it very clear that he was an outcast. Once he had been told that he should have been killed in his mother’s womb.
Lina on the other hand was fascinated by what he was. She had peppered him with questions since the night he had saved her from an inhuman attacker on campus. Most importantly, she treated him as a person. She teased him and drug him along on various social outings if he wasn’t hunting.
She wanted to study the history of the Nobility, from their progenitor to current day. So, she had enrolled in a college that was mainly for vampires and other supernatural sorts. D really didn’t take any classes; this place was a perfect hunting ground for the Nobility and the other creatures who attended here.
With all of the secluded spots to grab a victim, the campus guard turned a blind eye when some poor soul got the Kiss of the Nobility or mauled by a werewolf. That was where D stepped in. He hunted the things that hunted others and brought some sort of justice for the victims’ families.
It was what he was good at. It was all that he was good at.
He didn’t belong anywhere but in the shadows with a blade in his hand and a target in his sights.
Still, being with Lina felt good. For a little while he could pretend that people wanted to be around him. That he wasn’t some half-blood freak, that he was a person with wants and needs. It was a dangerous feeling, but one he couldn’t let go.
He walked over to her and the vampire she was chatting with. Lina turned and smiled brightly at him. She gestured towards the hulking form of the vampire. “Hey D, this is Noble Greylancer. Apparently, the Sacred Ancestor gave him that title!”
D’s blood ran cold at Lina casually mentioning his father; not that he’d let that information about himself slip out to her. However, he recognized the name Greylancer. In a voice only D could hear, his Left Hand said, “Holy shit. This isn’t just any vampire, but this is one of the most loyal to your dear old dad.”
Greylancer nodded towards D and held out a large, pale hand. “A pleasure to meet you, D.”
***
He looks like his father.
Greylancer was stunned for a moment.
The urge to bow was heavy as he looked at the youth before him. D’s elegant features looked as if they were carved from living marble from the heavy arch of his eyebrows, the sharpness of his cheekbones, and the line of his jaw. He had an aristocratic nose that was the spitting image of his father’s.
However, the eyes were wrong.
The Sacred Ancestor’s eyes were always burning crimson, alight with their own ruby fire.
D’s eyes were a dark grey, like storm clouds.
Just like Mina the Fair’s were.
Except Mina the Fair’s eyes didn’t look like they could cut steel from with a glare, Greylancer thought.
He held out his hand to the young man, knowing that the “boy” before him was almost as ancient as Greylancer himself. Those steel gray eyes looked at Greylancer’s hand for a moment before flickering over to Lina. Lina smiled at him and gave D a nod.
“You might want to sit in on one of Greylancer’s lectures, D.” The girl tucked a loose strand that had fallen from her ponytail behind her ear. “You could find out a lot about your father’s people.”
D’s grip was hard and strong as he shook Greylancer’s hand. “I know enough.” His fingers were long and eloquently formed. It was also pleasantly warm to the Noble; not as warm as the human girl beside them, but enough that Greylancer found himself wanting to lean into that warmth.
“I’m considered an expert on the Sacred Ancestor.” He flashed D a smile as he lowered his hand to his side.
D shook his head, causing his long, black curls to fly about his face. Greylancer wanted to remove the black cowboy hat from his head, to see that gorgeous face unadorned. Does he blush? Or is he beyond that? The vampire thought.
Look at me, bewitched by a dhampir . . .
D said, “I know enough about that poor bastard.”
“I see that he found you a suitable host, Old Man.” Greylancer looked at D’s left hand, knowing what dwelt there.
The Life-Force Regenerator snorted. “Suitable host my ass, Greylancer. He doesn’t get laid. I have to work my ass off to keep him alive because he’s either stabbed or shot or clawed up.”
Lina blinked and jumped at the sound of the ancient voice coming from D’s palm. D’s eyes narrowed at Greylancer before he dug his fingernails into the palm of his left hand. A choked cry escaped and then it was silent. Greylancer frowned and tilted his head.
“The Sacred Ancestor’s son should be more vigilant.” Greylancer clasped his hands behind his back and turned to look at D.
Sanguine light flickered in D’s eyes for a moment before the dhampir turned on his heel. He swiftly walked into the crowd, his long black coat whirling about him like wings of a mystic bird. Greylancer looked at Lina, who was staring at D with wide eyes. “You have an unusual friend, Miss Sween.”
“You knew his father?” She canted her head as she looked at the elder vampire.
Greylancer nodded as he watched D walk away. “Very well.”
***
D lurked in the doorway to the classroom where Greylancer was currently giving his lecture. His voice was deep and rolling, and every students’ attention was fastened towards the Noble as he spoke. D half-listened to the lecture, hearing about the war with the Outer Space Beings, or the OSBs for short, and Greylancer’s participation in said war.
The vampire had an anecdote about being blown in half during the war. A blind human girl had come to help him, hearing the sound of his battle and Greylancer muttering to himself as he lay literally torn apart. Greylancer made it a point that he didn’t feed off of the girl; how could he? She was an innocent who was wanting to help him.
D frowned as he listened to the lecture. His left hand said in a voice only D could hear, “I knew the guy. Really loyal to your old man, almost to a fault. He had a reverence towards him, more so than the average vamp.”
D leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms over his chest. “Do you think he knows where he is?”
“Probably not, but he maybe able to give you a good place to start.” D felt the flesh in his hand ripple; a wrinkly, elderly face forming there.
“Then I’ll have to talk to him.” D sighed and shook his head.
There was a snort from his palm. “Heaven forbid you have to be social. Even though you’re pretty close with Lina.”
“She’s a friend.” Perhaps the only friend I have, he thought.
He could feel the skin on his palm curve into a wiry grin. “She wants to be more than that though.”
D clenched his left fist, making sure to burrow his fingers into his palm. There was a satisfying yelp amongst the slight stabbing pain in his hand. Worth it, D thought as he looked back at the class.
Greylancer said, “Alright, I want a 10,000 word essay on the history of the war with the Nobility and the OSB due within two weeks. You can choose one battle to focus on or make it a summary of the war itself. However, it must be about the Nobility’s war with the OSBs.”
There were a few groans following this as the students gathered their things together. D stepped back from the door frame as the students filed out of class. Complaints about the assignment’s length were the conversations of the day. Lina gave him a tiny wave as she walked past him.
She turned to him with a smile. “One hell of an assignment he gave, right?”
I was a child during that war, D thought. Aloud, he said, “Seems like you’re not going to have a lot of free time in the next few weeks.”
“Right? Between this and Mayerling’s required reading my social life is going to be on pause.” She did grin before rubbing her forehead with a groan.
D nodded and looked over her shoulder to see Greylancer collecting his notes in a black briefcase. “I’ll catch you later. I need to talk to the professor.”
***
Greylancer gathered the last of his things only to feel an oppressive aura fill the classroom. Blinking, he turned to see D walking towards him, the edges of his coat moving behind him like the wings of some great mythical bird. He smiled at the dhampir as he closed his briefcase.
“So, you decided to stop lurking.”
D stopped in front of him with a nod. “I want to talk to you. About him.”
“The Sacred Ancestor.” Greylancer tilted his head and tucked a lock of raven hair behind his ear. “Your father. Your secret’s safe with me, D.”
D’s steel-colored eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Greylancer felt his chest tighten in the presence of such beauty. He wanted to take that ridiculous hat off and see D’s face unadorned. He wanted to run his hands through D’s wavy ebon hair, to see if it was as soft as it looked.
“I need to find him. We have unfinished business, him and I.” D’s hands clenched into fists at his side and that oppressive aura pushed throughout the room, thickening the air with its intensity.
His father could do the same, Greylancer thought. Except he had better control over it than D seems to. Then again, did anyone teach D to use his inherent gifts?
Greylancer sighed and shook his head. “Unfortunately, D I don’t know where he is.”
“Tell me where to begin to look then.” Those steel eyes met Greylancer’s beseechingly.
Greylancer reached out and clasped the young-looking man’s arm. “D, if I knew where to look, do you think I’d be here?”
“Maybe. You seem to value human life.” D shrugged, looking every inch the sullen teenager he appeared to be.
“I value both human and Noble life, and like your father, I think we can co-exist peacefully. This campus is proof of that.” Greylancer gestured to the classroom with his right hand.
D’s eyes flickered around the classroom. Greylancer said, “And your friendship with Lina also points in that direction.”
D sighed, his broad shoulders drooping ever so slightly. “You really have no idea where to start?”
“From the beginning. Your beginning anyway.” Greylancer lowered his hand from D’s arm.
D tilted his head as he looked at Greylancer. “My beginning?”
“You were his only success after all,” came the wizened voice from D’s left hand. Greylancer remembered the parasite when it was kept in a jar, the Sacred Ancestor wanting to connect the creature with a host it couldn’t overrule. It was just one of the many experiments that D had been subjected to as a child.
Greylancer shrugged and took a step closer to D, so close they were almost touching. “Or you could stay here. With me. With Lina. Show that the Nobility and Humanity are compatible. Find a place for yourself that has nothing to do with your father.”
D shook his head with a sigh. “Father made too many mistakes. I’m cleaning up after him.”
“That’s not right. He shouldn’t have left his son to do that.” Greylancer clenched his own fist and struck it against his palm.
D said, “It’s not your concern.”
“It should be,” Greylancer replied. Or I could help.
D shook his head and looked around the classroom. “Your place is here. You can do more to protect them than I have been. I’ve been putting it off for too long.”
“Well, remember this D.” Greylancer reached out and cupped D’s cheek. The skin was smooth like silk and warm underneath his fingertips. D’s eyes widened and lips parted, revealing his small fangs. Greylancer leaned forward and brushed his lips against D’s, tasting plasma supplements and heady Salsa Booze.
Then the Noble pulled back, his heart racing at the simple touch. D blinked and then leaned forward, kissing him in return. Lips, teeth, and tongues dueled in a dance older than time itself. Greylancer felt himself start to be swept away by need and desire. He moved to caress D’s cheek one last time as D pulled away.
D smiled, his whole face transforming into something even more otherworldly beautiful. Greylancer felt his knees weaken at the glorious sight and his chest tighten. His hand grabbed the edge of his desk to keep from falling.
“I don’t think I’ll be forgetting that,” D said.
Greylancer felt his cheeks heat up and looked away. “Remember that, no matter what, you have a place here. Or wherever I am at, find me, and I will give you safe haven.”
D bowed his head. “Thank you.” Then without another word, the hunter turned on his heels and strode out of the classroom, leaving Greylancer with a racing heart and flushed cheeks.
The End