A/N:Hi everyone! I'm alive! This update took waaaay longer than it should have. It would have been up sooner if I didn't have so much stupid math homework! But anyways, I hope you enjoy Raziel's suffering. Have fun. It's 4:32 in the morning... I'm going to bed.

Chapter 6

After lying there for roughly ten minutes, drowning in exhaustion and self-pity, he began to grow aggravated in his own wallowing. This line of thought wouldn't get him anywhere; especially not out of the mess he was currently mixed up in. Grunting softly against the pain, he pulled himself to a half-kneeling position. He sucked in a ragged breath, the action forcing stabbing pains to shoot through his chest. Other than clenching his fingers to his chest, he ignored the pain and climbed to his feet. He gritted his teeth and hid his nose under his makeshift scarf as he looked about his surroundings.

I seemed to have ended up near the outskirts of this town. Something that can be considered an unfortunate affair; as I find myself longing to head back to the inn. These hours that has begun to feel like an eternity has in actuality been quite lacking in length. I can see the moon, partly shrouded in clouds as it is, has only just neared the middle of the sky. Not even midnight has come and gone despite my ordeals.

The air is so cold and far from safe to stay out in. Alas, returning to that revolting inn is my greatest choice for survival. It will provide warmth despite the obvious danger that that is attached to it by my pursuers residing there… I see no other option offered to me, I must return to the inn as Kain will not be back until dawn and I really do not have the strength or patience to listen to his angry lecture if I were to leave the town. To the inn it is then… Ugh…. My head is pounding, I feel as if I'm talking in circles…

He sighed and stretched out his freezing limbs, the icy water in his boots numbing his legs and making them feel as if they were going to collapse from under him. Not really caring if it hurt, he took a deep breath and stepped forward. His legs wobbled a bit but he was pleased to see that they'd hold his weight. Feeling his confidence in his ability to walk grow, he quickly scurried for the shadows. Stealth was not his forte, never had been, but he deemed it necessary if he was going to make it through the rest of the night.

_V_

Keeping close to the walls of the buildings, Raziel slowly made his way through the dark alleys of the town. He glared up at the dark sky as tiny white flecks rained down from it; he really hated snow when traveling, almost as much as he hated swamps. He snorted angrily as snowflakes clung to his ebony bangs; when would this all end?!

He gritted his teeth and pressed himself up against the wall of the alley he was in. At the end of the alleyway was the opening out into a larger street. He could see some men stalking down the street, hunched over slightly and looking around. Fear of being caught made his already racing heart pound harder in his chest. He clenched his teeth against the pain and forced himself to take soft, steady steps around the building.

The inn had been on the main street towards the middle of the town. All he needed to do was make it there in one piece. Stopping suddenly, he swore under his breath as two towns people entered the alley from opposite sides; successfully trapping him between the two of them.

"No humans out after moonrise!" They both called making Raziel groan in aggravation as his hands clenched into fists. He was starting to give up on asking if fate would ever cut him a break. He squinted in the darkness at them as they stalked closer, watching their movements; they seemed uncomfortable in their own skin.

Raziel dropped into a half crouch as he watched them get closer. He was smaller than them, well-muscled and usually had good stamina; he could afford to push his body to and perhaps beyond its limit of physical exertion if it meant his life. They were getting closer, still looking uncomfortable as they headed towards him; he could use this against them.

He used his crouching position as leverage to push himself towards the man to the right. Long legs quickly carrying him towards his target, taking the man by surprise when Raziel suddenly took hold of his arms and used a mix of his momentum and the snow under foot to agilely slip between the man's legs. Raziel let go of the man's arms at the last second and skidded along the snow covered street past the man until his momentum ran out. Grunting softly, he forced his body to at least get into a crouch while his predators looked about in confusion at what just happened. Gasping for breath, he pushed off the muddy street into a fast run down the rest of the alleyway.

Skidding on the snow, he reached out and grabbed the corner of the building closest to him; flinging himself around it. He knew he was going to regret it but he forced his tired legs to keep up the fast run; stumbling and nearly slipping due to slight lack of feeling in his legs and too much snow. He bite back a growl at his ridiculous situation as he wove his way through the absurdly confusing town; a town this small should not have had this many twists and turns. He was just glad all this running was bringing the feeling back into his exhausted body, even if it was only making his fever and vertigo worse.

_V_
Raziel had made it away from Jameh's scouts, having dodged through grimy alleys and under cracked fences. He collapsed to his knees and gasped for breath; the world spinning. He couldn't understand how his body could hold up against the constant abuse of the night. He sighed and crawled forward down the alley he was in. As he got closer to the end, he heard the sound of children playing. He couldn't understand why anyone would want to play in snow; it was cold, wet and extremely uncomfortable.

He struggled forward to see three young children playing happily in the snow, bundled up in warm fur clothing. He sat in the shadows and watched them; somehow he could tell they were the offspring of the race of people he had been captured by. He squinted at them in the dim light as they began to sing disturbing children's songs revolving around death and plagues. He gritted his teeth as they threw snow in the air and giggled. Their little eyes snapped over to where he was hiding and they smiled, coming over to sit around him in the snow; disturbing Raziel because he was sure they couldn't have seen him.

"Greetings, human…" Chirped the middle child; a girl about twelve years of age. Raziel frowned and pressed himself against the wall, something didn't feel safe about these children; most likely the fact that their parents would be somewhere nearby and could show up at any moment. The oldest, a blond boy with his hair tied back, gently removed one of his fur coats and draped it over Raziel's shivering form.

"You shouldn't be out in the snow with no coat, human. You'll freeze." He said clearly as the last child, a five-year-old girl, climbed into Raziel's lap and smiled up at him. She giggled as she pulled his scarf up over his nose while the boy just smiled and shook his head.

"What are you three?"

"Hehe, we're not allowed to tell that to humans." The middle child said softly as the youngest sniffed at Raziel.

"He smells funny..." It said unhappily and put a tiny hand to where Raziel's sweat-soaked bangs clung to his forehead, "He's really warm..."

"Yama, stop…" The boy pulled her hand down and cleaned it off, "That's because he's sick... See how pale he is? He has the plague that Amaiya's father came up with." Little Yama looked at Raziel then at the middle child.

"Why? He doesn't seem bad? Papa said the Bad Ones had to die, Vakeh..." She sniffled at her two companions as Raziel sat there in confusion but used his weakened state to his advantage; perhaps these children would tell their parents' secrets.

"The Bad Ones are going to die but the humans have to too." Vakeh gently stroked Yama's head and frowned, "The Bad Ones feed on the humans; that's why we have to kill them all... Then we can have the Moon Mother to ourselves and not have to hide from the Bad Ones…" Yama pouted and crossed her little arms, resting her head against Raziel's chest.

"…Still not fair..."

While the others were trying to convince Yama that it was the right choice to kill the humans, Raziel closed his eyes and thought over what he had just heard. The result should have been easy and would have been easy to find if the pounding in his head could let him put two thoughts together; he felt like this headache got worse with each passing moment. It took a good amount of concentration but he finally got his thoughts in order enough to unravel what they had said and the answer made his blood run as cold as the snow he was sitting on. These people had created a plague to kill all of Nosgoth's humans in order to starve the vampires! He had to tell Kain. The genocide of two of Nosgoth's major races had to be one of those "disruptions in balance due to the puppetmaster being gone" scenarios Kain talked about when he had revived Raziel.

He shifted slightly and the children stood up, Vakeh lifting Yama off Raziel's lap so he could get up. Raziel forced himself to stand despite his unsure legs and handed Vakeh back his coat.

"Thank you." He said softly, half thanking them for the coat and half thanking them for handing him the information he needed. The children smiled and were about to say something when they heard their mothers call for them.

"Goodbye, human! We hope the end comes soon to you and without too much suffering!" The three chirped as they ran off home.

"…A little late for that…" Raziel sighed and looked around. Judging by the buildings around him, he was getting close to the inn. He gritted his teeth and rubbed his arms as he looked up, midnight had come and gone by now. He started on his way again, reminding himself he had to make it to at least dawn. He was not going to let Nosgoth crumble because one race wanted to be in charge! He stopped suddenly; the hypocrisy of that train of thought was not lost on him.

_V_

After about ten more minutes of searching, a choked laugh escaped Raziel's throat. There, before him, stood the inn. Never had finding a building been so hard; this whole evening of events had been plain idiotic. Why couldn't he ever have a normal life!? Was that really too much to ask…?

He sighed and looked about; he couldn't see any guards and he didn't really like that fact. That didn't mean he was safe, it meant he had to be twice as careful.

Sticking to the shadows, he easily slipped behind the targeted building. Still no guards to be seen as he spotted some lattice work going up the back walls; used for plants to crawl up it. He closed his eyes and forced himself to put his thoughts together, picking out which of the rooms with the lights on was his. Third from the left on the second floor. That information in mind, he tested his weight on the lattice work. Luckily he didn't weigh much and that all of what little he weighed was all muscle.

The wood and wire would hold him as long as he didn't linger in one spot too long. He scrambled up as quickly as his disobedient body would go. The process felt like it lasted forward, his limbs were so sore and stiff, refusing to move properly.

His semi-numb fingers gripped the wood window sill to his room as he leveled out his weight between it and the lattice off to the side a bit. He snorted at the window and its pathetic attempts to keep him out. His thoughts on the window's hostility towards him disturbed him slightly; windows weren't hostile.

He sighed and punched in the thin wire mesh that made up the screen of the window and hoisted himself inside the room. Collapsing to the grimy floor of his semi-warm room, he laid there and simply rested; wanting nothing more than to curl up and go to sleep. He slowly breathed in the warm, dirty air as he laid his head on the floor, eyes trying not to slip closed. He was so tired, so weak and that annoying need for water and human food tormented his body. He wanted to whimper but refused himself. He had broken down once tonight, he didn't want to do it again so soon.

With a pained grunt, he forced himself to his hands and knees. He breathed in a ragged breath before crawling over to his bed, trying not to think of what things the humans had done in it. He sat back on his ankles as he got his things from the nightstand; his short sword and the art journal Lara had given him.

Needing to relax, he slowly opened the book and flipped through the pages. He looked down at it in interest, its pages filled with sketches Lara had done of the ancient architecture of her realm. He read the notes she left scribbled all over the pages, telling of the historical and cultural significance of each of the places that the sketches portrayed. Her handwriting was beautiful and she always put the facts in her notes, never any wasted words. He frowned and slammed the book shut; this was no time to reminisce.

He groaned and made himself stand. He tied his sword belt around his waist and hooked the book's carrying bag to it behind him. He wasn't entirely sure why he was doing it but he was heading for the door. He was pretty sure he subconsciously had a death wish…

He opened the door and headed down the hall. He gritted his teeth as he looked around the halls; he was being idiotic. He was relatively safe and warm here and he had to go and possibly mess that up by looking for trouble. He had taken on the foolish task of looking for more evidence to give to Kain. The man was annoyingly detail oriented.

He slipped down into the lower half of the inn and searched out the records room. He quickly found it and was rewarded for his efforts. He found letters and documents from different cities full of information that an innkeeper wouldn't need; like battle plans. The Lost City came up a great deal in what little he could read of the letters. Though, his findings were cut short as he heard movement coming from the conjoining room at the back of the records room. He looked up just in time to lock gazes with a surprised Jameh. He blinked stupidly at the commander before bolting for the door that led to the main room of the inn.

"After him, you fools!" Jameh growled to his men as Raziel scrambled for the front door. Raziel could hear the men clambering behind him as he made it to the door. He threw it open and didn't bother trying to closing it, just running out into the main street. A snarl sounded as he was slammed into from behind, knocking him to the snow covered ground. He sat up and turned around in time to scurry backwards as Jameh slashed down at him with animal-like claws on his hand rather than a sword. The claws dragged across the left side of Raziel's chest and into his shoulder. Crimson splattering against white as he scrambled a good ten feet away from the larger man. The commander stalked towards him as Raziel's legs finally collapsed from under him and he fell to his knees; finally too exhausted to run anymore.

"Bats!" One of Jameh's men yelled out, making the commander stop in his tracks and reply.

"Don't be daft! There are no bats near this town!" At this, Raziel looked towards the sky as he held his hand to his wound; his blood decorating the snow around him. A huge colony of bats was flocking towards the town and were almost there. A choked sob of a laugh dragged itself out of his hoarse throat; he'd recognize those bats anywhere. He just never thought he'd ever be so happy to see them.