A/N: Whooo! Large chapter! ...Large for me anyways. Anyway, I really have no idea where this chapter came from. So please read and enjoy as best you can. I'll be glad to hear any comments or complaints. Also, a huge thank you to all those that have faves and watched this story. It means a ton. ^^

Chapter 8

Raziel watched the whole affair that was set out before him across the room and he didn't like it. Something was off; the gleam in the so called benefactor's eyes as he looked at Sayumi, the split-second of uncertainty that flashed in her eyes as she hesitantly took his hand and curtsied but what did it mean? Something was wrong but he couldn't put his claw on it and he could simply leave because he had made a promise. How he hated how these things happen to him.

"This is madness!" He growled out as he kicked over a nearby chair and annoyance. The little "meep!" that sounded next to him surprised him and made him spin around to see the human Alpine standing there. The little human seemed to have been passing by, holding a tray covered in food, drink and a book for drawing along with a writing instrument. It chuckled nervously as it shifted its chubby weight and tried to avoid making eye contact.

"Uhmm… I-is everything a-alright….?" The uneasiness in her voice quite clear but she tried to strike up conversation anyway. Raziel's golden eyes flashed over to where Sayumi was sitting at the large dinner table across the room with the humans; she gave him an ashamed shake of her head before throwing him a pleading look. A growl rumbled in Raziel's throat but her turned back to the short human stand to his side and replied some-what politely for Sayumi's benefit.

"No, everything is not aright as of now but that is of little concern…" The words were pretty much grumbled out as he back down on the bench he had been on earlier and crossed his arms.

"Oh, ok then… Uhm.. Mind if I sit down…?" Raziel's drifted over to Sayumi, pleading for her to simply kill the little pest but the replying look to told behave and try to make friends. Right eye twitching slightly with annoyance, he grunted in reply and motioned to the seat next him as he pulled his wings in tighter to his body.

"Thank you." Raziel blinked as he watched the little human female set her tray down on her lap and eat slowly, her two little words rang in his ears; they were two words almost never uttered to a vampire by a human. The young woman happily munched away at her dinner, the ribs of sort of animal; a small flash of a smile graced Raziel's lips as he watched her tear the meat from the bone in an almost animalistic fashion. She seem so content with herself and the meat like nothing else in the world mattered, unlike the other humans who seemed to be stuck on some sort of manner system when it came to food to the point where it seemed like Alpine was the only one enjoying her meal. The girl flashed a little smile at him as she wiped some sauce from her face with the back of her hand and then wiped them on a cloth, sucking the last bit of sauce from her fingers. She acted like she rarely got the meal and that it was rather treasured. Raziel still detested humans and their ways but something about this one was ever so slightly different; she reminded him somewhat of a Nosgothian human but not nearly as skittish around him even though she knew what he was. Though there was probably good reason behind this, from what he had overheard there was no such things as vampires in their world so she did not know that she should be terrified of him. He wasn't exactly thrilled about her sitting next to him but the fact that she didn't have the stench of fear or hatred secreting from her was an oddly pleasant upside. The girl finished her meal and thoroughly cleaned her fingers and palms of any mess before setting her tray aside and gently grabbing up her sketchbook. Raziel looked down at her as she began to sketch out the basic shaped to what looked like a wolf but the girl seemed unfocused on her artwork; her head was bent but he could see it move just enough for her to cast a glance between and behind them.

"Have a problem with my wings…?" The suddenly hissed out words made the jump slightly in her seat and quickly look up at him.

"Wha? Oh, no! I think they're beautiful…" She beamed him a smile and reached out slightly towards, "Just that I've never seen wings up with close before. As an artist, I find it easier to draw things if you've seen them in real life." She looked intently between his eyes and his wings before she shyly asked her next question.

"Would you mind if I touch one? We don't really have wings like this in our world anymore…" Raziel was very uncomfortable with people touching his wings, even more so with it being a human; the very idea made his skin crawl but he felt oddly compelled to let her, he had a feeling that this was Sayumi's doing. Finally letting the nagging feeling take over, he grunted in reply. She flashed him another smile and reached out more with her hand and barely grasped the rib of his wing with her tiny fingertips. She gently ran her hand upward, rubbing palms and fingers up the bone; taking in every detail to fuel her art. While she was doing that, an involuntary shiver of pleasure spiked through Raziel's spine. He couldn't remember how many thousands of years ago he had last felt such a thing; the renewed feeling was unnerving and it took all his strength to stuff down the moan that wanted to escape. He didn't like it and the girl's touch was starting to make him feel like his brain was turning to mush; he had to get out of there before all conscious thought left his mind. Alpine was currently rubbing her fingers over the joints of his wings, sending another jolt through Raziel; making him snapping his wing away and stand up. Alpine was a little shocked by the sudden movement but it didn't really surprise her; what did surprise her was that he had let her touch him for so long. She watched the vampire as he walked out the door and smiled as she went back to her drawing.

~h~t~

Once outside, Raziel jumped into the tall leafy hold of a full tree and sit against the trunk; trying to shake off the rest of Alpine's disturbing touch as he pulled out a small jewel from his pocket. It was diamond shaped and about two inches by one inch in diameter; despite the jewel being a midnight blue, it glowed a magma red color.

"Xalthu…" The keyword slipped from his lips as he held the jewel up to the moonlight. He needed ask Sestine about something that was bothering him…

~H~T~

Sestine was hip deep in books and old scrolls in here underground library when her own jewel started to vibrated and glow in the bosom of her dress. Lifting it by the string it was attached to, she blew gently on it.

"Yes?"

"Sestine, is that you?"

"Oh, Raziel, hello. Yes, it's me. I see you got the stone to work. Is something wrong? Where are you two?" Sestine climbed out of the books and sat down on a large pile.

"We found the humans from the Otherland, it's called Earth apparently. Sayumi has decided that we shall camp here with them tonight against my better judgment… Though, that is not the issue I wished to bring up. It is something that happed upon first arriving here with these humans. As I watched Sayumi go forth and mingle with the small clan, I noticed that not all was well with Sayumi for a split-second upon her initial introduction to the benefactor to this 'anthropological expedition'…"

"Anthropological expedition?"

"The human's words, not mine. Ignoring that, as I was saying; this benefactor's name was Runekin. Sayumi seemed to know the name but the look of recognition fled quickly after it and she paid no heed to it then it seem as she had never heard or met him before. What could be her reasoning behind this?"

"Well, Raziel I'm no expert on ancient spirits of the land but from what I do know… Sayumi told me that her memories are a little jumbled and some are hidden and confused due to you and Kain jumping around through time so much. Odds are she does know him but doesn't know it; the recognition didn't last long enough for her memory to kick in…"

"But that is not the only event I wished to mention…" Sestine scratched the base of her alicorn as she tells him to continue.

"The human. This Runekin, he too seemed to have a sense of recognition about her too but hid it extremely well and surprisingly fast…

"Hmmm… Now that is interesting…. There's no way the same Runekin that was exiled, if there is one, to still be alive if he was still human. Are you sure he was?"

"Extremely…"

"Hmm… Alright then, how about this? You go back and look after to Sayumi while I search the history books. If there was a Runekin then perhaps I can find him…"

"My thanks to you, Sayumi."

"You are welcome. I will contact you if I find anything; keep your whisper stone with you at all time. Goodbye and take care, Raziel." The link between the two stones fell dead and Sestine leaned back on her throne of books, holding her hands together and resting her fingertips against her lips; something was very wrong with this whole picture…

~h~t~

Kain wiped the blood from his lips with a claw as he stepped into the library to look for Sestine. He was quickly greeted by the sounds of mumbling and books being tossed around with one another. He quickly wove his way through the maze of bookcases to find Sestine flipping through a book while sitting on a pile of them in the middle of a sea of them. He watched her for a few moments; the petite lunacorn seemed to be wracking her brain for information while she had her frantic search through the ancient text.

"No, no, no! This is bad, so very bad!"

"Something wrong, Sestine?" The vampire lord's sudden words shocked his little companion, causing her to jump in fright and drop her book; she quickly jumped up and span around, hand to chest as she tried to catch her breath.

"K-kain…!" Her eyes flickered to everywhere but on him as she picked up her book, "U-ugh… Enjoy your meal…?"

"Quite so." He raised an eye brow at her and turned his gaze to the history book in her hand, "A little light reading, Sestine?"

"What? This? Umm yes… Heheh…" Kain didn't like how jumpy she was around him; she never acted this way.

"We'll have to start repairing the barriers tomorrow when Sayumi and Raziel, you should get some rest. You should come to bed, Wralyx is waiting for you, the reading can wait." He walked towards her and towered above her as she gulped in fear, "That is unless there's something you haven't told me yet…." The intensity of his gaze was too much and the dam finally broke.

"Raziel and Sayumi are camping with the humans from the Otherlands and it was all Sayumi's idea, Raziel made it painfully clear that he was against it but Sayumi wouldn't listen she wanted to get to know the humans better so they're staying there tonight but Raziel has bad suspicions about this one human and wanted me to look him up so I did and I found out that his ancestor was an evil sorcerer that created an evil stone that can enslave and destroy all of Nosgoth." Kain could only blink at her, the speed of the run-on sentence had seemed to slur all her words together and he was trying to decifer them as she raised the book to hide her face and whimpered, "Don't hurt me…!" It took a good thirty more seconds before processed through everthing.

"WHAT!" His exclamation was filled with so many frightening emotions that Sestine was reduced to shivering in fear before him; something she had never done before. Kain yanked the book from her tiny fingers with one hand as he used a claw from the other to lift her chin so she was looking up at him.

"Sestine, run that by me again and this time slower."

"They're camping with humans. There's a human there that's the descendant of a human that was banished as part of the great exile. He's pure evil and probably knows about the enslaving stone his ancestor created. If he gets his hands on Sayumi, all of Nosgoth is doom!" She just kinded crumpled into the grasp his claws had on her arms.

"That's all I needed to know. Have you contacted Raziel and told him to get Sayumi as far away from there as possible?" The little lunacorn quickly nodded her head as her tail drooped.

"I tried, Kain, I really did. But the stone, it couldn't connect to his… I don't know what's wrong, I told him to expect my call…" Kain didn't like the sound of that one bit.

"Come, we must go to them. Something is wrong here."

~H~T~

~Not long Before Hand~

Raziel sat cross-legged on a crate in the large tent he was sharing with Sayumi; the humans had given it to them to sleep in. He listened to Sayumi's happy humming as he watched her set up her sleeping roll.

"I don't like it…" The words slipped from the wraith-turned-vampire's lips as his golden eyes involuntarily focused in on a strange-smelling candle burning to his right; how long had that candle been there?

"Don't like what, Raziel….?" More humming.

"Being here. Something is wrong, I can feel it but I cannot put my finger on it…." That candle! Where had it come from? It hadn't been there when they were first given the tent before dinner yet it had been lit and waiting for them when they came back after the meal.

"Raziel, I'm sure it is simply your mistrust of the humans… Just try to relax and forget about it…"

"No…! That is not it, we must leave! Now!" Oh beautiful Nosgoth, why did he feel so tired and his body so heavy?

"You're over reacting. Everything's fine, Raziel."

"You're wrong…!" He forced his lethargic body to stand but he quickly fell to his knees with a thud mere seconds later.

'What is wrong with my body? Why is the room spinning? Human trickery? ….That bloody candle! I knew it!' The edges of his vision started to grey as the rest of his body collapsed to the ground, the last thing he was aware of before the darkness took his was the muffled sound of Sayumi frantically calling his name.

"RAZIEL!"