The Razlieim screamed with one voice and I could not help but laugh at their pain. The shrieking and wailing was music to my ears. As always, it reminded me of the Serafan Holy Wars. The screams on this night though were mere shadows of what it had been like centuries ago.

I was not surprised when Raziel's favorite general Kerfera spread her wings and took flight, nor was I surprised when Kain ordered us to let her go. He and I would see to it that she did not escape for long.

I was surprised, however, when it began to rain and neither my master nor I seemed to be affected by its touch. I thought momentarily of Gathonel and hoped he'd found his way back to Melchia's Bastion before the rains had begun.

Soon, the screaming stopped and we were alone in the silence. I inspected every nook and cranny and was pleased to find no one alive. But, in Raziel's chamber, I found something I had not seen for millennia or so. It glittered in the darkness. I followed the strange glint to the golden cup and leaned down to pick it up. When my fingers touched the cold metal, I lost control of time and space and remembered…

The mansion was covered in mist from the Termogen Forest. In the early evening light I could barley catch a glimpse it. I presumed it was empty. After all, the Serafan had murdered everyone inside days before.

I was here to take everything I desired from the old mansion. I had seen objects of silver and gold as my brother and I had fought our way through here and I thought of the magnificent price I could get for them back in Avernus. No one ever need know that they'd once belonged to a vampire family.

The mansion was still as the grave. I remembered the time when my brother and I had buried our father. The family crypt had been filled with unnatural silence. I felt that same silence in the mansion; it was as if someone or something was waiting for me.

In the banquet room I found him, heaving like a cow in labor, a wooden stake through his stomach. "Still alive, little vampire?" I asked, my voice cutting through the heavy silence. He looked toward me; his yellow eyes like a serpent's following me. He gave me a snort in reply. "Your family is dead. I don't see their carcasses anymore."

"Murderer." He choked out, his voice deep and angry. "Serafan." I walked closer to him, a hand on my sword.

"I am what I am, vampire." I told him bluntly. I stood next to the chair he was seated in and noticed the blood that dripped slowly onto the floor below him.

"And yet you murder my kind for being what they are." He shot back, his face contorting as if every word hurt him.

"You have no kind. You're kind is a plague that can no longer be tolerated in Nosgoth." I shouted. "You make me sick. The whole wretched lot of you."

"Do we?" His words were like crystal and just as plain. I could still hear him today, just the same.

It was then that I noticed the chalice, but as I reached for it, the vampire roared and swiped at my arm with his talons, cutting clean to the bone from knuckle to elbow. Even to this day, I bare the scar.

Angry that a vampire had gotten the better of me, I kicked out, my foot landing squarely on the wooden stake and driving it deeper into his chest. He screamed strangely. The sound was primal in its intensity and shook me to the core of my being. Leaving the chalice where it was, I stumbled out of the mansion my blood leaving a dark and angry trail across the lush carpet.

Some months later, I discovered that the vampire I had so cruelly mocked and left to die had lived. Malek told me that the vampire's name was Vorador…

I sat the golden goblet on the nearby night stand, catching the faint scent of old blood from within the cup. "Ovelin!" Kain shouted. I turned to him quickly, wondering if he had been able to sense my thoughts. Nodding I pushed thoughts of Vorador and the Serafan away from me. "Find Kerfera. In a days time bring her to the cliffs of the Abyss. I will direct all proceedings from there."

"And payment, Lord Kain?" I asked with a sneer; I wasn't about to do something for nothing. It was not my way.

"We shall see, Rahabim…All in due time." I frowned at his answer. Kain had begun to make it a habit of withholding rewards from me. If I were surer of myself I would have challenged this, but I had seen what Kain was capable of when he was angry. I decided to let it go for the time being. I would get what was coming to me in the end, I thought as Kain made his exit spitting rudely on the doorframe.

In my human life and the younger part of my vampire one I had loved to hunt. But now as the proud and somewhat arrogant adult I had become I had learned the value of waiting for my prey to come to me. I had no doubt that Kerfera would return here looking for her beloved leader Raziel. So here I would remain, lying in wait for her, no matter how much I may condemn myself for not hunting her down later.

At dawn I was joined by Gathonel, who was full of stories about his nightly adventures. He had a new skin, I noticed with some relief. "Well at least you smell better." I grumbled. Looking around at Raziel's chamber revealed nothing about him in this life or the last. Except for the chalice and a few swords there was nothing of interest. Gathonel continued on with his latest story and I seated myself on the sprawling expanse of the bed, half pretending to listen…

Vorador had come back with a vengeance, angry and indignant. Our war against him had not lasted long. In the end every Serafan Sorcerer Priest was dead with the exception of Malek. I was to be his last victim. Even the Guardians of the Circle of Nine had felt his wrath…

"I saw Kain!" Gathonel shouted suddenly. Shaking myself from my dark thoughts, I turned to the fledgling who was waving his arms and jumping up and down.

"Not here you didn't." I answered rudely.

"No, not here. On my way here." He whispered loudly as if someone might be listening. "He was headed toward the Abyss cliffs."

"You need to rid your mind of foolish notions, young one. Kain has no interest in the Abyss at this point. Aren't you tired of talking yet?" I got to my feet and stormed out of the room, angry for no apparent reason…