A/N It's me again. Like I said before, I don't own the rights to this game so don't sue me. Thanks to everyone that reviewed. I'm glad that people have found this interesting. It's still a bit fluffy, but it'll get darker in the next chapter. Additionally, I would like to say that I'm aware of Sarryn's fiction, and it is similar to mine in some aspects. Mine, however, is different in several ways that will become clear later on in the story. Sarryn has a great story, and I am not trying to copy it or anything like that. Well, with that said, here's the second chapter.
Raziel awoke to find the room cold and dark. It must have been after midnight, but Melina was still there. He could feel her pressed against him, her head on his chest. It bothered him to even think of disturbing her, but he was cold, beginning to shiver. He could see the last embers slowly dying in the hearth.
"You can get under the covers if you want."
Raziel was startled, even though Melina constantly did this, waking soundlessly and answering questions he had only thought to himself.
"I didn't mean to wake you."
"You didn't," Melina responded, pulling herself away so that they could nestle under the blankets.
"And will you be remaining here until morning?" Melina had once more pressed herself against him. It was rather distracting to him, but he managed to focus his attention on her words.
"Alas, my love, but I shall be gone with the first whisper of the morning, nothing more than a fading vision."
Raziel had to laugh softly at that. She was a poet at heart, trapped in the body of a warrior peasant girl.
"And here I had dared to hope that dawn would bring a vision of you sleeping in my arms."
"Any such vision will have to be of your own invention, dear love, for I shall be gone."
Raziel sighed melodramatically. No amount of arguing could dissuade her, but it was fun to try.
"Here now, can I not have but one morning where I wake to find you in my arms?"
"Raziel, dear heart, just as your righteousness will not allow you to rest while vampires yet inhabit Nosgoth, my rather hypocritical sense of honor will not allow to sleep while the threat exists of being caught in my paramour's bed."
"And what if you were too tired to wake up before dawn?" He questioned her playfully, a slight nonchalant lilt in his voice.
"I don't think you're capable of tiring me to that extent."
"Is that a challenge?"
"No, Raziel it isn't. You and I are at an impasse my love. You refuse to take a wife before this crusade ends, and I will not have Turel stumble in here and find me sleeping naked in your arms."
"The war may end sooner than you think. Melina, you act as though this war will last forever."
"It takes a long time to obliterate an entire race. It's not something that gets accomplished in one day Raziel."
"And if it were?" He wanted her to understand how close they were to destroying the vampires, how easy it was.
"What do you mean?"
"What if we could eliminate all of those filthy vermin in one fell swoop?"
"Raziel, I believe that you are being excessively optimistic. Vampires would never allow every member of their race to simultaneously occupy a single location."
"They don't have to, my love. If we can eliminate the source, their progenitor, we destroy the race."
Melina tensed in his arms, obviously shocked. When she spoke, her voice was tremulous, but in the darkness, Raziel had no idea how she was truly reacting.
"You mean that by killing Janos Audron all those that share his blood will die? But what about fledglings? When you kill the maker, the fledgling remains alive."
"This is different. Janos is the ultimate source from which all vampires come. Destroy the root, and the tree will fall as well. Just think, in a year's time, this will all be over."
Melina sighed, and again, Raziel had no way of knowing the direct cause.
"It will be over." There was a dark undertone to Melina's words, and quite suddenly her body stiffened.
"Melina?"
Panic briefly gripped Raziel's heart, but he soon realized that she was having a vision. She might not say anything about it, but Raziel knew that she had seen a glimpse of the future. Slowly, Melina's frame relaxed, but she was still uneasy and trembling. Raziel pulled her closer to him and embraced her reassuringly, protectively. Melina buried her face against Raziel's chest and took a deep breath to calm herself. Raziel allowed her to do so, knowing that she would be gone before he ever awoke.
"Once this is all over," he whispered gently, "we can finally live happily ever after."
Raziel was already too far into the lull of sleep to hear Melina's response. And it was just as well, for he would not have appreciated the foreboding in her voice.
"There's no such thing as happily ever after. Not for us."