Return to The Slaughter House

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

Note: Once upon a time I wrote a little fic called Slaughter House. Today I started a sequel.

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Chapter Two

When the sun threatened the sky, I ordered the driver to stop us in a village.

Our driver, who had until that point been remarkably blind to the obvious nature of his passengers seemed to become wise to us. His panic was loud but short-lived and Raziel had his first meal that was not my blood.

With our disagreeable driver now composting in the ditch I bade my charge remain in the carriage and took the reins myself. I considered burning the carriage and simply taking the horses, I wasn't overly pleased with the idea that I had effectively put myself in the position of servitude to my firstborn but good sense overruled my pride. Raziel could barely speak, so I had my doubts about his ability to ride a horse.

A mile further down the road and I lost my faith in his ability to remain in the carriage as well. A loud thud and a cry of dismay had me glancing over my shoulder to find my firstborn in a heap in the road. Pulling the carriage over I jumped down and went to fetch him.

"What were you trying to accomplish with that feat?" I asked offering a hand to help him to his feet. He said nothing, merely frowned venomously at the ground. "Answer me, I know you can." He mumbled something unintelligible. "Louder."

"I fell," he said.

"I saw that," I sighed turning back to the carriage, we did not have time to play questions the sun would rise shortly, and he was not going to do well if it did while we were on the road. As I climbed back to the bench, he followed me.I guestered for him to get back in the carriage but he ignored it and clambered up next to me. "You were trying to get up here?" he nodded. "While we were moving? Why?" He said nothing but sat uncomfortably close to me. I took several deep breaths and contemplating my firstborn and his possible brain damage I started the horses walking again.

Fortunately, a village was not far. Though calling it a village was being charitable on my part, it was nothing more than a rest point between towns for travellers. A tavern and a couple of houses, with what looked like a smallholding behind them. Humans, it seemed, would settle anywhere. I thought about taking one of the houses, but while the occupants would be welcome susitnance, in such a small community it would be noticed almost immediately, and I quite fancied a proper rest.

"We'll try the inn," I said. "Stay close to me but be still and silent." With that said I cast beguile and headed into the Inn.

"It is rare for us to see travellers in the early morning," the Innkeeper said when I requested lodging. "Men don't usually travel at night, you've done well to get here." His tone was not as accusatory as I would have expected from our arrival, but fortunately my beguile spell weaves an image of nobility and serfs do tend to respond better to me now than when they took me for one of their own.

"Not so well," I said feeling the disguise waver as I tried to focus my already exhausted mind on keeping both Raziel and myself under the guise and make polite conversation. "We lost our driver a few miles back."

"I see," the Innkeeper said. "What possessed you to travel at night, Lord?"

"Necessity," I said forcing my tone civil. "We have business in Meridian that cannot wait."

"Well, I hope it's a profitable venture if you're risking your life for it and the lives of your servants." He handed me the key to a room, so I did not comment further. I simply lead my charge upstairs, I stopped halfway up and made a point of turning around.

"We are not to be disturbed," I said and threw a bag of coins which he caught with surprising dexterity.

"Understood, Lord," he turned and headed away.

The room was fitting, at least once I had pulled the drapes closed and hung the bed linens over the window as well. I could have requested a room without a window but to be honest I had not occurred to me until I entered the room and saw the damned thing.

"I must be tired," I muttered to myself. Turning away from my work at the window I walked into Raziel who was so close to me it was a wonder I hadn't felt his breath on my neck. "Space," I demanded pushing him back a few steps. "We need to work on your boundaries." Glancing at the bed I pulled it away from the wall and into the centre of the room. Far too often one heard tales of cut throat inn keepers and traps in the walls in these Inn's. If they were all true then how the places did repeat business was beyond me. But moving the bed was an easy effort to make. Lastly, I forced the wardrobe in front of the door. Nothing was getting in here without making enough noise to make me aware. With all urgent concerns dealt with I all but fell back onto the bed.

I had peace for all of three minutes before a weight settled against my side.

"Space," I muttered. But the little shit didn't move away, I cracked open an eye to look at him and found him glaring at my side, pointedly ignoring my order. I snorted a laugh; the look of determined outrage was ridiculous. He did not want to move and would not unless I made him. "You realise people normally fight to get away from me." I shuffled myself around to make his positioning comfortable. "What a strange creature I have raised."

I surprised myself by sleeping through to the late afternoon. It had been a long, long time since I had slept for more than a few hours at a time. But I woke up feeling like I had been sleeping on a bar. I tried to roll over, to get my back to do its job without pain but found myself weighed down. A moment of tired blinking and I realised the problem, the bar I was sleeping on was Raziel's arm, somehow it had found its way under me. The weight keeping me in place was the rest of him.

I waited for a moment for the anger to rise, the wretch was taking too many liberties. I was raising a warrior, not something that required almost constant coddling. But despite knowing this, the anger didn't rise, instead, a strange sense of pleasure rose in its stead. As I had said before falling asleep, it had been a long, long time since any living thing didn't flee or cower at the sight of me. Some of them hid it better than others admittedly, Vorador had hidden his fear well, his body hadn't trembled at least, but his actions towards me spoke of fear, his constant warning to his kin to beware of me, his protective stance and his occasional aggression all spoke of fear. Yet, here was one who was not afraid, he would no doubt learn to be afraid of me, but for now, I found his lack of fear pleasant.

Oh shit.

Fear's cold fingers wrapped around each one of my veins and squeezed. I leapt from the bed as if the thing had become electrified. My action roused my sleeping fledgeling, who's dishevelled state and blearily blinking gave me pause, his gaze settled on me and he smiled, and the fear receded for a moment only to come back stronger than before.

"Go back to sleep," I chocked out. He didn't need much coaxing to my relief and all but fell back onto the mattress.

I paced the room for a moment before counselling myself to settle and calm.

This was instinct that was all, all parents are supposed to feel paternal, it's what stops us killing our young outright. It was perfectly acceptable, but regardless it had to be controlled. While it might be pleasant to revel in the lack of fear, the tentative affection, I still remembered what had happened the last time people had not been afraid of me. Magnus and Sebastian, and to a lesser extent, Marcus and Faustus. Betrayal, ambush, weakness and pain. I refused to put myself at that risk again. I had a destiny, I had a purpose to fulfil, I had to be careful, I could not afford this. I was no Vorador to breed only for hedonistic nonsense, I was raising a brood for a goal.

"Kain," the quiet word had me almost jumping out of my skin, so lost in my thoughts and concerns I had realised that he hadn't gone back to sleep at all.

"Go to sleep," I said firmly. He stared at me, his expectation obvious, I shook my head. "Sleep," I said again. He obeyed this time, though kept throwing me disgruntled glares as he did so. I fought not to smile, he had something of a spine at least. Again the fear rose up when I realised that I was smiling becuase he was being cute. Only when he stilled and his breathing evened out did I relax, but not enough to sleep.

It was for the best, I needed time to collect my thoughts, I had to plan the next stage. The constant trial and error of the last few days were wearing thin, we needed a plan. It would be dark enough to move again soon and when we did, I wanted to know what I was doing.

End Chapter Two

Authoress Note: Thank you for reading, please comment/review, I'd love to hear what you think.

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