Soul Pain

"Who am I?" Tanim repeated in desperation. Her pale hands clutched Kain's arm and stared up into his face with the innocent confusion of a child. "Please, tell me."

"You've erased her memory haven't you?" I growled, shaking the gate between us with all the rage and guilt that filled my emaciated body. My sire regarded me coldly, calmly removing her from his arm.

"Would you have her remember the circumstances of her death? Would you have those memories torment her? Drive her mad?" he demanded. His eyes bore into mine. He left the accusation unspoken, but it hung there, choking me. Her madness, her death, all my damned fault. If only I could hate her, then the sight of her standing there wouldn't eat me alive.

"No. I would have her dead and in peace."

"Then kill her, boy. Kill her and claim her defiled soul." He pushed her forwards. She stumbled, unsteady on her feet, and grasped the gate to regain her balance. Her purple eyes stared into mine with uncertainty. I reached through and grasped her by her throat. She watched me unblinking. I could rip her head off and her soul would rise from her body, chained by its vampiric corruption until I consumed it. My claws tightened. She made no attempt to free herself.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. Kain watched us impassively, uncaring of the outcome. I had to kill her, release her. I had to. I had to…but…I couldn't. I released her and she stumbled away. The bastard caught her before she fell.

"What's wrong, Raziel? I thought you wanted her dead? What's more appropriate than to liberate her soul by your own bloodstained hands?"

"Shut up."

"Perhaps we should talk when you are less distracted. Come along, my dear." He guided her away from me. Tanim watched me over her shoulder, tired eyes tracing my features awkwardly.

"Who am I?"

"It doesn't matter right now," Kain murmured turning her head away. "You will learn soon enough."

"Who is he?"

"Him?"

"Yes."

"Merely one of fate's pawns. Do not concern yourself with him now."

They vanished through a dark doorway. Gone.

"Tanim!" I couldn't stop myself. I had to cry her name. I had to make her remember me, even if it meant she would remember everything. My love, my only treasure, how much torture did I have to experience. We should never have met.

* * *

"Hold still!" the healer commanded slapping Raziel across the head. He glared at her and she returned it with her own of tired annoyance.

"That hurts!" he complained, jerking his injured arm out of her grasp.

"It would hurt less if you would hold still. In fact, you wouldn't even have it, if you had been faster on your feet." She grabbed his arm, but he quickly pulled it from her grasp. "Stop acting like a child and let me tend it."

"I want another healer. Someone with more experience."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Fine."

Without warning she tackled him. He struggled against her, but an injured arm and a sense of chivalry prevented him from really trying. He soon found himself sprawled upon the examining table with her atop and holding his wounded arm in a vise-like grip. She gave him a tired but triumphant smile and quickly grabbed a bottle of antiseptic off the table next to them.

"You should have just stayed quiet, Lord Raziel. This would have taken less time if you had just cooperated," she murmured as she dabbed a generous amount of antiseptic into the jagged wound. "Bandage!" A healer apprentice appeared out of nowhere and handed her a roll of gauze. With deft hands she wrapped the wound in a length of soft gauze.

"That wasn't so bad now was it?" He glared daggers at her as she hopped off.

"What is your name?"

"Healer Tanim."

"I shall remember that," he threatened.

"Here." Suddenly a stick of dried honey was shoved before his face.

"What…?" He looked up into the healer's tiredly smiling face.

"I generally only give these to my younger patients, but you've acted like such a child that I felt you needed one." With a small salute she walked away from her dumbfounded patient to attend another. He stared at the sugary treat and growled. A child? Him?

Not about to make a scene in the infirmary, he quietly left, tossing the treat on the floor as he left. He would exchange words with her at a later date. She could count on that.

* * *

I wished I could hold her in my memories. I leaned back against the gate and watched time pass through the ruined ceiling. What vile acts was he performing in there? If I could shed a single tear, I would. So close, she was so close. I could feel her presence breathing across my skin, but I couldn't reach her.

Why couldn't I kill her? End the suffering I had begotten? I loved her too much, and I was selfish. Hope and joy, though I deserved neither, had burst over me the moment I saw her in the flesh. I wanted…I wanted…I couldn't destroy her, release her, for I wanted to bind her to me. I wanted to make up for centuries of torment by prolonging it. What I wouldn't give to hold her and never let go.

Never let go…

We had eternity…

* * *

After the long wait, here's another, slightly longer than the first. Please read and review. Sorry for the wait. Much love, y'all.