BODY-SWAP

Chapter 4

Daddy's Little Girl

Firstly, thank you all so much for reviewing! I will beat the writer's block! I will! *takes the Reaver from Raz and starts chopping at the offending block...Raziel takes time to hand out signed photos of his vampire self to all who reviewed ("What do you mean, you want one of Faustus? And what's so great about Janos anyway?")...V.A. sniggers*

Now! On with the story...

"Excuse me," I gasp, hurrying down to the office sick-room, tablets in hand, "Not feeling too well..."

My boss nearly waylays me in the corridor. "Angel, about the new temp -"

"Sorry," I mutter, clamping a hand to my mouth, "think I'm gonna throw up..."

And I dart into the sick-room and slam the door.

Raziel! Now I almost feel sick for real.

I'd offered him the opportunity to spend a few nights in my world as an act of kindness, really. Nosgoth is okay for a visit, but you wouldn't want to live there. It's all greys and browns and smells like the back alley of a nightclub. And whoever designed the architecture had seen way too many Batman movies if you ask me. No wonder Raziel turned out so depressed and vengeful.

So I thought, why not? Maybe he deserves a few days in the sun, in a world where there is coloured wallpaper and cinemas and he can sleep in peace.

I press two tablets out of the foil, regard them for a moment, then swallow them with a cup of water from the cooler. Sleep in peace, huh. It'll be rest in peace for you, soul-snacker, when I'm through, and then I'll get a good sleep with no more fountains of blood or snarling Dumahim to disturb me.

I lie down on the ugly school-dormitory-like bed, close my eyes, and try to relax. Think happy thoughts, V.A., think happy thoughts like holding Raz down and banging his head on the table repeatedly...think happy thoughts and soon you'll be off to sleep...

I stand up, feeling the ragged wings swish against my spine, and wish I had a mouth to properly grin with. Look! There's the Abyss where Kain hurled Raziel to his doom (privately, a little voice in my mind adds and now you can understand why, can't you? Kain probably couldn't stand the little bugger either) just in front of me. And across there - Dumah's territory, where maybe Raziel's brother still lies dormant on his throne, depending what time-frame I'm currently in.

Raziel's body abruptly reacts to the presence of vampires, shifting stance into a half-crouch and hissing angrily. I force it to run away. I'm not in the mood for fighting uglies right now. I have a mission in mind, and it doesn't require dead vamps slowing me down.

Besides, when Raziel realises what I've done, he'll try and stop me. Pausing on the edge of Raziel's own clan territory, I allow myself a deep-throated snigger. He's probably back there right now, trying to get used to the fact that he's suddenly wearing a bra and has more long tawny hair than any vampire could ever cope with. I push away any worries that Raziel, in my body, will lose me my job. My boss already considers me the lowest form of life on earth. Any new eccentricities such as screaming "Aargh! I'm a girl!" or trying to look at my own butt in the mirror would probably be put down to my being so dumb that I'd failed to notice my own gender that morning.

I hoof it (ha ha) across Nosgoth towards where the Pillars should stand, to where Kain's throne room should be. I try out a few skills on the way and discover that this time I am poor ickle Raziel, Raziel before he touched the wraithblade and made it his own. Shucks. And I was just getting used to those funky glyphs. Especially that one where if you move your claws just so you get twin handfuls of fire to throw.

I use my only glyph ability and phase through some sets of iron gates until I stand before the immense double-doors of Kain's sanctum. I can't help being a little frightened - after all, behind these doors awaits an even bigger psycho than the one I'm currently sharing my apartment with - but my need for revenge drives me on. And no, the irony of this is not lost on me.

Kain stands up as I enter the room, his eyes gleaming with a mixture of delight and hatred. "Raziel, " he begins, in suitably theatrical tones, but then something in my stance, my expression, gets through to him and he stops in mid-sentence. His brow furrows in a frown as I shuffle forward towards him: he's obviously confused at the lack of arrogance that usually leaks from Raz's every pore. "Raziel, is that really -"

Now it's my turn. Now for my Oscar-winning performance. I twist Raziel's dead blue face into a mask of misery, tears pricking at the blank incandescent eyes. If I'd had a lower lip, it'd be quivering right now, baby.

Then Raziel, Reaver of Souls, Revenger of Past Wrongs, flings himself at Kain at a dead run. Kain, taken rather off-balance by this unprecedented behaviour, has no time to dodge as I grasp him around the torso in a crushing hug. "Daddy!" I wail in Raziel's dark tenor, practically sobbing into his shoulder.

Oh yeah, I think maliciously as Kain, obviously in some sort of minor shock, starts patting my cowled shoulders and making uncertain "There, there" noises, you'll be sorry you ever messed with the Angel, Razzy-boy...