Okay, I'm NOT DEAD! YAY! Now that I'm back from my trip, I've got much writing already going on, so if all goes well, you all can expect at least one chapter update for both Fire and Flight and Rose and Thorn in the next couple of days. Sorry about the long time I was gone. I was on vacation.
Oh, and there are new fanarts up! Go to my bio and click the link to see them!
The doorway that hid the secret tunnel slid away, revealing a huge fortress shooting up into the night sky, seeming to try to touch the moon itself. Kain stalked out into the night air, and Lara stepped out, looking up at the monstrosity before them. Suddenly, she felt Kain stiffen beside her, and when she glanced at him, he had a pale white glow about his body.
"Not without difficulty. I encountered another old friend on the way. Marcus," Kain hissed, aloud and almost like he was talking to himself. He was silent a long moment. "You may." He was quiet again. "My arguments were more convincing. … Where is the Sarafan Lord? Is he here?" He fell silent again for a much longer period of time, then a furious expression blossomed over his face. "Run?! Hide?! Vorador, you do not know me!" He growled slightly, but cocked his head to the side, as if listening to something only he could hear.
Lara watched him, both eyebrows raised in high arches, effectively the same as a normal mortal yelping in surprise and worry. She hadn't known her compatriot had a habit of talking to himself . . . But then, he had mentioned the name Vorador.
Kain sighed deeply, as if letting out some of his aggression and turned to Lara, noticing her gaze.
"What?" he nearly snarled. One of Lara's eyebrows slid back down to leave only one up.
"Do you often talk to yourself?"
"I was not talking to myself, woman, I was conversing with Vorador." Seeing her looking at him expectantly, he snarled out an explanation, "I was using the Whisper, something that all vampires possess that gives them the ability to speak to others of their kind over great distances."
"Ah."
Without waiting for her to say anything, Kain lunged off the platform they were standing on and walked to a soft layer of mist. Lara walked down the steps, noting a knight who was patrolling the courtyard. Kain stopped at the edge of the mist, concentrated a moment, then his body seemed to shift into the air and water particles. If she narrowed her eyes and cocked her head slightly, she could just make out the form of Kain as he slid around the guard and pulled back an arm. He shot his arm forward, feeling his claws rend through the knight's armor and the human's ribs crack. Kain grasped the most important organ to the human, the heart, and shoved through the ribs on the other side, his hand reaching through the knight. The knight gurgled in pain before falling to his knees, dead. Lara moved over to the vampire and stared down at the body.
"Losing your nerve, human?" he sneered.
"Me?" She looked up at him, a slow smile reaching her eyes. "Never." She indicated down the courtyard. "Shall we?"
Kain stormed over the cobblestones, ignoring the mortal following amusedly after him. At the end of the courtyard they found a small room with glass windows on the end facing them, a shut and locked door, and a single human servant walking around inside. Lara brought a pistol up, aiming for the glass, when Kain caught her hand and pushed it back down. He made a quick negation with a shake of his head.
"Too loud." He glared at the servant, then let his hands drift up to his temples, concentrating. Lara watched as the servant's body suddenly jerked upward and stiffened, his eyes glazing over. The human ran over to the lever that opened the door and pulled it. She felt rather then saw Kain relax next to her, and the servant put his hands to his head as if in pain. Lara followed after the vampire as he calmly walked in, killed the human, and fed.
"How did you do that?" Lara finally inquired as Kain walked over to open the door into the Keep. A cruel smile graced his lips.
"The Dark Gift, the curse of vampirism, manifests and grows differently in all of us. When a vampire slays another and drinks the curse out of his opponent's veins, he gains a weak version of said Gift. Marcus' abilities relied on the charming and expulsion of a human's free will."
The two walked into a hall with wooded walls and a door to the right. Cool steam caressed the air in front of it. Lara walked over and stepped through it, getting a bit wet, but saw a flight of stairs that led down. She glanced back at Kain, waiting for him to follow. He shot a glare at her and indicated the mist.
"Water, remember?"
She looked up at it. "Oh, yes."
He headed down the hall, and she poked her head back out of the mist to watch him. Sure, he might have been stronger and faster than she was, but she had some decisive advantages.
Lara watched as Kain brutally ripped apart another knight and walked into a side room. Curious, she followed and watched as he picked up the knight's sword and walked to a small brown box. He concentrated a moment, then the box opened, spewing out a strange mystical purple light. The light condensed on the weapon and infused it with a strange glow. She blinked at it a long moment, then shook her head, sighing.
"Magic . . ." She headed back toward the doorway as Kain twisted the winch near them that shut off the steam. She headed down the stairs while Kain walked through the door. Abruptly, he landed in front of her silently. She blinked at him a moment in surprise, then pushed passed him while he enjoyed the look of shock on her face. Lara quickly darted down the stairs and out into a room with machines of some kind that she couldn't even begin to guess what archaic purpose it held.
"Woman, you are to leave at once," a male voice growled nearby. She turned, an eyebrow raised to see another armor-covered male, his sword in his hand already, but pointed toward the ground, as if not quite sure what to make of her.
"Sorry, love, but I can't do that."
The sword shifted and rose into a guard position as his eyes narrowed.
"You will leave this place at once, peasant—"
Lara never waited to hear what he would have said. At the name of peasant, her eye had twitched and her hands were already drawing out her pistols without her commanding them to. The triggers were automatically pulled as soon as they were at a level to threaten the knight's health, and the bullets punched right through the man's armor. He screamed in pain before collapsing, the chest plate of his armor torn to shreds. She glanced back at the stairs to see Kain was leaning against the wall, watching her. With one pistol, she indicated the room.
"Well? Shall we?"
After quickly pulling a few levers and moving a glyph battery in front of the locked door, Lara grabbed the last switch and flicked it. She watched as the machinery started up with a low whirring noise and a gout of flame poured out of a break in the metal pipe that disappeared into the wall. As soon as the flames heated the metal of the battery up, the battery shuddered, then exploded in a brilliant light, taking the door off its hinges. Kain calmly stalked over the still-smoldering door and Lara walked after him, admiring the destructive handy work. The two quickly traversed down a long hallway and passed into a huge common room. Upon walking in, both human and vampire watched as a male warrior raced across the wooden floor to attack one of the female thieves. Both didn't pay the slightest bit of attention to the two that had just entered, and Lara and Kain shared a single look of annoyance at the stupidity of some mortals. Kain killed the guard as Lara headed further into the room, stopping at a door. It had one of the glyph-energy operated switches, and of course the glyph wasn't turned on. Sighing slightly, Lara followed the pipeline down toward the back of the room.
She found the glyph, but she also found a guard and a thief. As before, the male concentrated on killing the thief before paying the slightest bit of attention to Lara. Lara simply shook her head in annoyance and before he had glanced at her, she emptied a clip into the man. He sank to the ground with a low groan before lying still. She lightly jumped over the body and flicked the switch, then turned to watch the green energy curl languidly down the pipeline. Kain fed on the last two bodies and watched in frustration as the human walked past him toward the door. Just how long was she going to stay alive?
The two walked through the doorway and headed down the hall in silence. Lara let Kain handle the next knight they found and headed into the next room. Her eyes widened slightly in appreciation. The next room wasn't so much of a room; it was more of a huge chamber. There were three ledges on each of the walls aside from the one where the door she had just come out of was nestled, and next to each ledge was a waterfall pouring into a large pool that looked slightly deeper than a wading pool. If anything, it looked more like a swimming pool. At the other end of the water was a tube fully submerged, but large enough for a human to walk through.
'Or a vampire,' she mused, looking at Kain as he stepped out beside her, running a hand across him mouth to wipe away any excess blood. His eyes narrowed and he twisted, glaring at the human, as if blaming her for the mess they were in. Seeing that challenge and getting damn well tired of it, Lara simply stepped forward, looped her legs over the railing, and dove into the water. She paused once at the tube for a breath, then slipped under and through the tunnel. It was a short five or six meters, and she found herself in a large stone room with stairs at the opposite end. She swam to them, sloshed up the stairs and shot down a guard before he could ask anything stupid.
Kain glared at the audacity of the human as she disappeared into the water. He quickly climbed up to one of the ledges, turned a wheel, and watched as the waterfall next to the ledge stopped. The water in the pool sank a few feet, but not far enough. He quickly repeated the process with the two other ledges, and the water sank completely. He stalked through the tunnel, fully intent on beheading the impudent woman, and came upon her sitting at the top of the stairs on top of a knight's body. Five other bodies littered the ground near her, and she sat with her pistols crossed in front of her.
"Took you long enough," she stated gently, somewhere between nonchalantly and teasingly. "Collected quite a feast for you if you'd like it."
She stood as he snarled, "Were it not so necessary for my quest, I would never feed from anything you killed, woman—"
"But it is," she interrupted, "so you might as well take what use out of our time together you can."
She lightly dashed down the hall as he fed, then he caught up to her, growling inwardly.
'Infuriating woman,' he sneered to himself mentally. 'She is just begging to be destroyed, and I'm not at a position to do it.' He glared down at the end of her braided hair as she disappeared around a corner. A malevolent smirk graced his lips.
'Fine then,' he thought to himself. 'I'm the one who's had to deal with her the longest, so I shall be the one who will kill her. For that, and that alone, no one else is allowed to touch her. Only I may, as once this entire expedition is over, I will kill her.'
The two moved through a large room and went up an elevator. Outside the elevator was a small room with a hall that ended in a door. Kain pushed the door opened and stepped out into a huge antechamber, a hall going off to both sides, and a second level above. Both moved into a large room. At the end of the chamber, over a locked door, was a wall-sized mural of a strange being armored from head to toe striking out at an image of Kain himself. The vampire lord was falling backwards off the cliff, a sword that looked like the duplicate image from Lara's medallion falling from his hand. Kain growled softly and stalked up to it, Lara right behind him and silently studying it. Kain hissed quietly up at it.
"I must commend him on his art choice," Lara stated simply from where she stood. Kain's head whipped around so he could stare at her in a mix of a glare and a look of incredulity.
"It looks like it was done with eggshell pastel, no small feat to get as a medium," she continued and Kain's look narrowed into a deadly glare. She kept speaking, acting oblivious to her compatriot's anger, though she knew it was there, "I even applaud the topic matter. It's masterfully done. I simply must get a copy of this put in my main hall."
"Would you shut-up about the art?" Kain's tone ripped out of the lower part of his throat, and Lara knew she had pushed almost too far. She nodded simply and turned away, a small smirk showing when she knew he wouldn't see it. He stalked passed her roughly and quickly headed down one of the halls and stopped abruptly at a ward gate. There was a feminine giggle and his head snapped sharply to the right, seeing a woman standing behind a barred door.
"Greetings, vampire," she thrummed amusedly.
"You have mistaken me, madam, for some . . . thing I am not."
"Don't waste my time. I know what you are. I work for the Cabal. Now, listen carefully."
"Speak then, madam," the vampire sighed.
"The woman you seek is held in one of the upper towers."
"Very good. How do I get to her?"
"Not so fast," the woman admonished. Lara walked up to Kain as the woman continued, "You will need to pass this ward gate, and you will need me to open it for you."
"Then do so at once," Kain stated, his tone indicating his impatience was growing.
"In due time. First, there is another task which must be completed."
"What task?" Kain snarled. Lara studied that vampire out of the corner of her eyes. She could see the tension quivering across his muscles, and she knew he was barely restraining the urge to smash through the gate and kill the woman.
"A noble of some importance is visiting the Keep at this moment. He must be killed."
"So that you may open the ward gate?" Kain retorted. "Do you think me a fool? Open it!"
"He must be killed, I tell you. He is a traitor. He has done immeasurable harm to the Cabal, I swear it."
"Do I look like a common assassin?" he demanded.
"The ward gate will not be opened until that man is dead, I promise you."
It looked like she would have said something more, but Kain simply turned away and looked down at Lara silently. A slight smirk ran across her lips as she slipped a pistol out of its sheath and pointed it at the woman.
"We don't have time for this," Lara stated simply in her practical fashion. The gun let out a muffled explosion and as the woman fell to the ground, Lara slid her arm through the bars and flipped the ward gate off. Kain drained the woman of her blood and pushed passed Lara.
"Perhaps you might be of some use after all, woman."
Lara sneered silently to herself, but followed the vampire. As they rounded a corner, a heavily armored guard ran toward them, apparently attracted by the sound of the gunshot. Lara stepped back once.
"I'll leave this one just for you."
"Your generosity is staggering," he snarled. He quickly killed the guard and they continued on.
After a time, they found themselves in a small room with a servant. He blinked at them and cordially told them it was best if they returned downstairs as there was apparently a vampire on the loose. Kain simply snapped his neck and fed while Lara looked on curiously.
"How can they not see you as a vampire?" she inquired when he dropped back down after pulling a lever to open a gate. She followed him through.
"I have the innate ability to put up an illusion around my form, and normal mortals react to it as they wish. It works on most lowly mortals, but the more well-trained humans, such as the guards, can see through it if they know what to look for."
"Why do I not see that illusion, then?"
"I would surmise," he sighed as he opened another lever to the roof, "that either you are too aware and too in touch with the supernatural world, or else that curious medallion of yours keeps your eyes unclouded."
Both walked out into the crisp night air and made short work of the three solitary guards patrolling the courtyard. Kain twisted a glyph wheel to move the ward gate away from the main pair of double doors so he could get into the tower. He moved around toward the doors and Lara noted how though he had always moved fast, this close to his goal, he moved with a liquid, quicksilver speed she hadn't thought possible. She followed him into the tower beyond and saw at the back of the room a large cage with a roughly human-looking woman wearing purple that was chained up, her arms locked in shackles that were held up so she couldn't free herself. As if sensing them, the female vampire blinked and looked up.
"Kain," she breathed. "I thought no one would dare attempt to rescue me. You are either brave or foolish."
"You will find me relentless," he answered, walking up toward her. A ward gate burst into life at the top of the stairs and he hissed, wincing away from it slightly.
"There must be a glyph nearby that powers that ward. Find it, and shut it down."
"What was it you learned in the Industrial Quarter? Tell me, in case I cannot free you."
Lara walked up next to Kain, and the vampiress spared her a glance before looking back at Kain again.
"Tell you know, before I am free? What would you do in my position, Kain?"
"I would offer my rescuer a token of trust," he responded smoothly. Lara looked up at him and never missing a bit, shot in, "Bullshit."
Umah turned to regard Lara closely as she stated, "It seems your human concubine understands your persona and is not completely useless."
Lara's eye twitched as she glared at the female vampire, and her hands slid down to her pistols. Lara pulled one out and pulled the hammer back, then pointed it at Umah.
"I don't care if we're hear to save her. I'm going to kill her myself."
"You will not," Kain reprimanded. Lara glared up at him and he returned the glare.
As the two glared at each other, Umah added, "Besides, that information is for Vorador only."
"Haven't I earned your confidence yet?" Kain demanded, breaking the glare with Lara.
"You have not rescued me yet."
"Very well," he snarled, turning. "I will return shortly."
Lara followed him down, a silent snarl on her features. Kain shot her a glare as he walked to one of the statues and pulled it away. There was a sharp click and part of the wall slid down, revealing a secret entrance.
"Woman, if I ever have children of my own, I pray they never meet you." Kain stormed out the door and over to the other side of the tower to turn the ward gate back onto the main door again.
"If you ever have children, I will weep for your world," Lara shot back. "And what woman would ever bring forth such monstrosities as your children?"
"A woman of strong independence, but who knew where she stood in the world, a woman who didn't need constant humbling." He gave her a steely glare, indicating some women he knew could definitely use such a lesson. Lara ignored it and he continued on, "A woman who would be a perfect queen and mate, such as Umah." He waved back toward the tower. "She possesses all the qualifications in a queen I would want. She is not an upstart of a mortal who thinks she's better than everyone else."
Kain moved the direction of the ward gate energy and the two walked back toward the double doors that were now covered in translucent green energy as Kain drew closer to them.
"Then by all means," Lara stated with a sardonic smile, "let us go save the woman you are trying to mate with." She stayed still until he lashed out at her, and she dropped back into the ward gate, away from his reach. He cursed her before moving around to the other side of the tower. As soon as he hopped back in, Lara stepped back out into the courtyard. She stepped away, chuckling, then the sound of metal clanking drew her attention around. Standing in front of her was a seven-foot tall humanoid male wearing golden armor, holding the sword depicted in the mural. Green flames crawled around his head as he leaned toward her and glared at her. Lara's eyes widened.
Inside, Kain had opened the gate to the cage and helped Umah down.
"You're hurt," he stated, an edge of concern almost visible in his voice.
"It's nothing," she responded. "We must get to the roof. Once I am outside these ensorcelled walls, I can use a spell to transport us back to Sanctuary."
Kain carefully took hold of her hand and led her out, glancing around to make sure it was clear. Umah leaned around and gasped, "No!" seeing the monstrosity that Lara was currently dodging away from. At the sight of Kain, the being who could be none other than the Sarafan Lord turned his complete attention to the male vampire.
"At last!" Kain hissed.
"What living soul disturbs my lair? What creature dares shed the blood of my servants?" He peered closely at Kain and demanded, "What is this?"
"You know me," Kain snarled back.
"No, you were utterly destroyed so easily, your name was drowned in the backwaters of passing time. All your plans were set alight and seared to smoke and ashes."
"Let those words be your epitaph!"
"You dare dream of killing me?! That fancy was quenched in blood long ago when I defeated you. And yet, you learned nothing. Such a pathetic creature. Dare you to challenge me again?!"
"Die, fiend!" Kain snarled as he lunged forward. The Sarafan Lord smirked cruelly and let out a blast of telekinetic energy from the Soul Reaver, slamming the vampire back. Umah leaned over him.
"No, Kain!"
Seeing the creature advance on the two vampires, Lara decided she was going to take her compatriots' side and pulled out both pistols. The hammers clicked back, and on hearing the noise, the Sarafan Lord turned.
"You forgot the most important rule of combat: never turn your back on the enemy!"
Lara pulled the triggers and held, letting the bullets punch into the armor. The Sarafan Lord cursed and swung around at her. She dodged once, but was caught on the side with the second swing, not expecting the speed with which he attacked. She slammed back against the same wall Kain had hit and the male vampire scooped her up to keep her from hurting herself further.
"Your death is fated at my hands," the Sarafan Lord continued as if he had never been interrupted. "How many times must I teach you that lesson?"
Umah held Kain back from trying to rise to rend his enemy to pieces.
"He is too strong for you, Kain. With the Soul Reaver, he can kill us both. We must flee, and fight him when we are stronger."
"No! Release me! That demon of filth is mine!"
"I am your fate, Kain," the Sarafan Lord stated, striding closer. "Now and forever. You will come to me for yours."
As the Sarafan Lord swung the blade down, Umah activated her teleportation spell, and it swirled around them. The energy cleared to show them standing in the darkness of Sanctuary again. Umah fell back and Kain caught her, turned, and set her down gently.
"Umah!" Vorador cried softly. "Alive and safe! Kain, you have all our thanks."
"I can follow orders when it suits me." Lara resisted the urge to make a comment. "We met the Sarafan Lord."
"He showed himself?"
"He is . . . a touch more powerful than I expected. And he has the Soul Reaver. Strange that you did not tell me of this at the first."
"You are not ready to fight the Sarafan Lord," Vorador snorted. "I told you that."
"It was only by good fortune that we escaped," Umah spoke up suddenly, sitting up slowly. "Vorador, I must speak with you."
"You have information for us, I know. You may speak."
"I was in the heart of the main factory in the Industrial Quarter. Before the guards discovered me, I had found a huge central chamber. It housed some kind of magic portal. This portal looked into a place the likes of which I had never seen before. And this portal was held open by a single source of magic, a stone, set on a pedestal. Vorador, I believe it was the Nexus Stone."
"The Nexus Stone?" Vorador breathed. "Of course."
"What is this thing?" Kain demanded. "Explain."
"The Nexus Stone is an item of great power. It can bend time and space to create doorways to any location within Nosgoth. I know not why the Sarafan Lord would be using it within the Industrial Quarter, but we could put it to great use."
"And what use is that?" Kain inquired.
"One who wears the stone cannot be harmed by the Soul Reaver."
"And is this but a legend, to be proved false at the fatal moment?"
"Oh no," Vorador shook his head. "No legend at all. It has been proven. The Sarafan Lord wore the stone when he defeated you two hundred years ago."
"WHAT?!"
"How else could he have resisted the power of the Soul Reaver?" Umah added in. "You were unable to use the sword's power, and without it, he was able to defeat you."
"Then I shall take the stone, and use it to kill him," Kain murmured to himself, "but know this: when I recover it, I also claim ownership of it. I trust that is understood."
"So be it," Vorador responded. "You must use the subway to reach the Industrial Quarter which lies in the northeastern part of the city. Find your way passed the gate that blocks the townspeople from entering. But perhaps we may leave that to your invention. Umah."
"Once in the quarter, look for the main factory complex," Umah commented. "It is there that the stone is held."
"I will return with the Nexus Stone, and the Sarafan Lord's head!" Kain snarled. Lara just shook her head silently to herself and rolled her eyes.
'Here we go again. And he says I need to be put in my place . . .'