Invincible

Disclaimer: Legacy of Kain belongs to Edios and Crystal Dynamics, not me. I am making £0.00 out of this fic; it is written purely because I have a burning need to create. Although I would like to own Vorador . . . then he'd be mine.

Rating: PG-13

Part: Two of Three

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The reprimand didn't come. At least not immediately. Instead of harsh words, a clawed hand touched the back of his head near where it had split. Raziel watched, his vision still slightly blurred at the edges, as Kain pulled his hand back, tutted at the blood and absently popped his finger into his mouth cleaning it of Raziel's blood. Kain watched the battle for a long moment before turning back to his eldest.

"That was foolhardy," he said eventually. Raziel nodded slowly, still expecting a stronger rebuke. "You could have died."

"So, could you," Raziel managed, feeling the injury to his head close and his dizziness subside. Kain snorted at him.

"I am not so fragile," he muttered. Raziel bristled at the insinuation that there was an element of fragility about him. He was the strongest of the Clan Lords, there was nothing fragile about him. Kain watched him and a smirk spread across his face as if reading his eldest thoughts. Absently Raziel peered to the left, trying to get a look at his Sire's back. The smell was making him uncomfortable, a mixture of blood, burnt flesh and the intimately organic smell of an open wound. But there was something else underlying that, a smell of rot and decay.

"What are you doing?" Kain said turning, keeping his back out of view.

"Something's wrong," Raziel almost danced around his sire trying to get a better look at the injury, Kain turned, keeping the injury out of view.

"I should say so," Kain snapped. "When my eldest, and supposedly wisest, child takes mindless risks that even the most foolish fledgeling would not, yes I'd say something was wrong."

"That's not what I meant," Raziel grumbled still pursuing his sire. "Stay still." Kain did still but the slight waver in his stance made Raziel think that perhaps it was because the movement was causing him pain as opposed to stilling for Raziel's sake. Raziel manoeuvred to stand behind Kain. Something was wrong, Raziel had seen Kain injured before, he was not so foolish as to believe his Sire was above such. But he'd also seen Kain heal before and he did so fast, faster than any other Raziel had seen. But the wound on his back wasn't healed, it was vile.

"What the…" Raziel said before closing his mouth as bile rose in his throat. His father's back was worse close up. Open and raw, a hellish mixture of organic colour and scent. It bled freely and heavily but not enough to disguise the bone and puss revealed. It looked and smelled infected. Raziel frowned, vampires did not get infected, ever, let alone so quickly. Gently he reached out to touch the wound.

"Will you stop," Kain snapped turning quickly and batting Raziel's hand away. "Tell me," he said taking a defensive step back. "Is that what you do when someone admits injury, poke it?"

"It's wrong," Raziel said.

"It's bloody rude," Kain muttered. "Next time you crack your head I'll stick my fingers in and see what you have to say."

"No, I mean," Raziel stumbled over his words. "The wound it's full of puss and hot to the touch, it's infected." Kain frowned.

"It can't be infected," he said.

"Well, it is," Raziel grabbed his sire's shoulder and forced him to turn, concern overriding his sense not to poke a wounded creature. He winced at the wound. "It's not healing, it's getting bigger."

"What are you talking about," Kain said, his voice strained, partly from pain, partly from frustration at his eldest's poor explanation. A sound not unlike a yelp, if Kain were capable of such noises, escaped him when Raziel touched the wound again. "What did I just say!" Kain snapped.

"Here," Raziel offered his now gore covered fingers up to his sire, Kain turned his nose up at the yellowish substance on Raziel's fingers but sniffed. Raziel frowned when the strange substance began to burn his hands, he shook it off his fingers and watched the ground where it landed blacken. Eyebrows raising in alarm he glanced at his fingertips which were now starting to hurt.

"Putrescence," Kain said knowingly.

"Excuse you?" Raziel said rubbing his fingers on the ground. Kain leaned down and clawed up a handful of dirt and rubbed it over his eldest's fingers.

"Free yourself of it," he muttered.

"What is it?" Raziel asked.

"An old trick," Kain said as Raziel used the dirt to rub the substance from his skin. "Crafters used to create items that allowed those without magic to cast a certain number of spells by throwing said artefact at a foe."

"And this?" Raziel said, standing and once again reaching out for his Sire, Kain took a step away.

"It seems that the humans here found an old Font of Putrescence artefact," Kain muttered. "It causes rot and decay to spread, it's also contagious so stop trying to touch me," he struck Raziel's questing hand away.

"But you're hurt," Raziel felt foolish stating the obvious, but he had no idea what to do.

"It'll heal," Kain said. "Eventually."

"Eventually!" Raziel snapped.

"It must have been a very old artefact," Kain muttered looking up as the doors to the stronghold finally gave under the push of the Razielim. "I've not heard of one who knows the craft for centuries."

"You need to see a healer," Raziel said. "I have several."

"I'm not seeing a healer," Kain said firmly.

"You need to, what if it keeps spreading!" Raziel snapped.

"It's already stopped," Kain said after a quiet moment. "I said it's contagious, anyone touching it will be affected."

"But your back is melting!" Raziel snapped.

"Don't be so dramatic," Kain said. "It's not melting, fortunately, the item was old and not as potent as it once was."

"You're talking as if nothing is wrong," Raziel said his stomach rolling at the unpleasant smell still coming from his Sire's back.

"And you, I feel are focusing on this so as to avoid focusing on the fact that you almost killed yourself a moment ago," Kain said. Raziel went quiet for a moment, replaying the event in his mind.

"This is my fault," he lifted his hand again.

"If you try to touch me again, I'll cut your hand off," Kain muttered, it was not an empty threat.

"I did this," Raziel said. "I was foolhardy as you say, and you've been injured because of it."

"Your sudden talent for stating the obvious has me questioning the blow you took to your skull," Kain frowned. "You seem to have become annoyingly simple." He watched Raziel for a few moments, as Raziel watched his clan move into the stronghold, now that the door was down the fight was over, it was merely another massacre. That such a simple conquest had nearly been his end, had caused such an injury to his sire was shameful. "Come," Kain said snapping him out of his thoughts. "You can feel sorry for yourself just as well somewhere I can sit down without a gawking audience." Raziel blinked, just now noticing the eyes watching him. He snorted, Kain was a private creature, it was a rarity for any clan to lay eyes on him. Their standing together on the field of battle was something of a spectacle and he knew now why Kain did not want him fussing.

It's hard to be an untouchable God when your being fussed over.

"Very well my Lord," he dipped his head, raising an arm to one of his older fledgelings Raziel signalled his departure. He had no need to worry, his clan would be fine without him for a few hours.

"You realize," he said catching up to his retreating Sire. "That you have not shouted at me yet?"

"I had noticed yes," Kain said. "Maybe later."

End Chapter

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