My brothers' sudden appearance was explained by whatever that spirit did to me. I would be damned to spend all eternity in this hell hole. Not the most comforting thought.

'It will be okay.'

I knew that voice too. It was Izual. Even in death he would haunt me.

'Can I tell you about death now? Do you want me too? I might be able to. What you gave me could be death, but as I said before, I don't remember it. I can't feel anything. Nothing hurts; nothing gives me hope, happiness, or fear. You name it, I don't feel it.'

"Leave me alone, Izual. Don't come near me."

'How can I? I am but a voice in your head. Just a memory waiting to kill you. Don't waste your energy on me. I am but a spirit in this lost world, never to escape, always to linger.' I pressed my hands to my head. 'I will always be here. When you are long gone, I will be here.' I knew what he said was wrong. I would always be here, just like him. Rahab was right, I shouldn't have killed him. 'Look at me. Raziel. Look at me.'

"I can't. As you said, you are just a voice in my head. You can't hurt me."

'No more than the next victim here. No more than that Hylden that ripped all of your souls from you.' As he spoke the voices around me gathered in volume. The din was so intense. The voices mocked me, tormented me. And very affectively stole bits of my sanity.

I lied.

I doubt now if I ever had anything remotely close to sanity. Just the hoping that …

I had hope.

What these voices were stealing from me was my hope.

"You killed us!! All of us!"

"Filthy vampire scum!"

I couldn't take it any more of it. I had to get out of here. I was going mad.

"You are mad. What are you talking about? 'Going mad'. This is what you are. You have always been mad. Even when you lived. Madness infested in every part of your being. 'Going mad'. You can't run from us."

'Look at me, vampire.' I couldn't hide. I knew it. They knew it. I would have to face them some time. I turned to face Izual. 'Do you know me now, vampire?' The Ancient had been reduced to a skeleton. I remembered the vampire Guardians that I had to kill to get the elements for the Reaver. The majesty of those wings reduced to only bone.

"I know you."

'What am I?' I heard the voices of the others in the sword call out the same question and others like it.

"Damned."

'Correct.' Izual moved close to me. He raised a claw and touched my face, in very much the same manner I had done when I drank form him. 'As are you. Now just relax.' I did as I was told. He leaned forward and pressed his mouth to mine. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as the voices took shape. They were no longer voices but solid beings. 'Close your eyes. Don't watch.' Again I did as I was told. Then there was nothing but pain. Izual was forcing himself in my body.

'Soon you will know how it feels to be lost. To be one without hope. Without love or hate, just hunger.'

I might have been vaguely aware of everything I remembered fading. I might have felt a small twinge of pain at the loss of my memories. Of Kain, my father, my destroyer. Of my brothers. Of my clan.

Of me.

_______________________

Numb.

Izual was right. All I would feel is hungry and numb. I don't remember anything before, or after.

I walked around the caves with no real sense of where I was going. The cavers were silent. My feet didn't make a sound as they touched the ground. I was alone. All the voices were gone from the sword.

How I longed for someone to talk to.

I was so hungry. I need a soul.

I closed my eyes for lack of anything to do.

I don't remember what was before now. I don't remember anything.

Izual? I couldn't remember him. Just that he was right.

Dark gods, I was so hungry.

Then there was a sound. Like a…

I opened my eyes and saw just what a wanted. A soul.

Quickly I devoured the hapless soul. It had done nothing. Just heightened my hunger with the long lost taste of food.

Days might have passed. Maybe it was months or weeks. Years? I don't know. I don't care.

A voice called to me.

"Vampire. Do you remember what you were?"

I shook my head. I didn't remember anything.

Another voice called out. "Vampire. Do you remember who you were?"

Again I shook my head.

"We know."

"We know. We watched you."

"We know you."

"At least we knew you."

"A fallen hero."

"A traitor to your kind and kin."

I found a corner to sit in until they left me alone. I don't care for what I was. All I care about is getting some peace and quiet. And food.

Something. Anything. Be it blood or souls.

"You wont get it."

"We know what you are. Vampire."

I sighed. Peace I had. I think. But quiet would not come just yet. "Then what am I? If you know all, tell me."

'Nothing more than pretty features to hide the rotting corpse.'

"Izual?"

'No any more.'

"Izual?!"

Nothing. He was gone.

"Izual! Get back here this instant!!"

He did not come.

"He was never here, vampire. We were never here."

"You are."

"You are and am and will be."

"Figments of your over active imagination."

"Time to wake up."

Suddenly the caves were ripped a part. The ground was no more. The voices had never been. As things righted themselves, I saw a room. Tinted blue and green. Pillars lay in ruins. Tattered banners hung still. Nothing moved.

As I turned I saw a creature. A strange one. No skin. No anything. Just blue muscle and white eyes. It reached out to me and I to it. I felt like going home.

And for the first time in who knows how long, I felt something.

Pure ecstasy.

The End