Okay, I know that I made you guys wait. Lots of things have happened since I posted the last chapter, but now I think I can focus on it.
My girlfriend and I are currently 'taking a break'. But no matter how temporary that seems to be, it still hurts. Not as much as it did, but I still get depressed. I am, however, going to be making a few changes to this story. After this is the epilogue, and it won't be long now!
So, here's the 26th chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Eidos or Soul Reaver or anything LoK. Damon, Ally, Raevin, Vogel/Kirstunoh, Ectoplasm, and the Aiermunarck-Uyilnarkiah forest tribe are mine. Sareptiah and Wraith (the wolf) belongs to HealerAriel (Erin).
Raevin and Ectoplasm raced through the forest, the half-Demon riding on the back of the dead horse. The two came to the keep, expecting the guards to still be outside at the gate and the entranceway torches lit.
They were not.
"What the…" Raevin glanced around, trying to figure out if this was some type of joke. Her demon eyes pierced the darkness, but didn't see anything even remotely helpful. She listened to the sounds of the night, but failed to pick up anything. At all. The sounds of the forest were at a dead standstill.
She growled, then turned her head up to sniff the air. There, she did pick up something. Blood, lot's of it. "There was a fight here…" Raevin murmured. She slid off Ectoplasm's back and walked cautiously towards the entrance, eyeing every shadow like it had the ability to jump up and attack her.
Ectoplasm snorted and pawed at the ground, obviously very uneasy. Raevin made her way back to him and removed his saddle and bridle. "Don't let anyone catch you, buddy." Raevin whispered. The ghost horse bobbed his head up and down in response.
"Raevin?" The two heard a voice coming from some nearby trees. Sareptiah and Wraith came out of hiding; the wolf's mane was bristling and Sareptiah was cluthing her sword. "Where were you?"
"Chasing some Sarafan. Where is everyone? What happened here?"
"We were attacked by Sarafan. I stayed out here with the guards and tried to fend them off." Sareptiah replied. "They came in swarms… One of the guards shoved me into the bushes, then they were all slain…" Wraith had been growling when Sareptiah spoke, staring at the entrance as she did.
"Ally? Is she okay?" Raevin asked, fear dripping off her words. If she's hurt, I'll kill every single one of those Sarafan! She thought.
"I don't know, I-"
"GET THEM!" A voice bellowed from the shadows of the entrance.
Ectoplasm reared up and scream as he and Wraith turned transparent. Raevin and Sareptiah spun around, ready to fend off the surprise attackers. A mob of what looked like two dozen Sarafan poured out of the Keep entrance. A quick head count by Sareptiah said it was around thirty.
"We can't fight them all, we have to run." Sareptiah yelled, grabbing Raevin by the wrist and attempting to drag the half-demon away.
"I have a better idea." Raevin jerked free and grabbed Sareptiah around the waist. While the Hunter was cursing and struggling against her iron grip, Raevin ran at the mob as if to barrel right through them. Instead, just as she reached the Sarafan, she smashed the heads of two if the Sarafan into the ground with her wing-bones, and used them to vault herself and Sareptiah over the men's heads and onto the wall above the Keep's entrance. "See? No problem."
"If you ever do that again, I swear on the sun and moon I'll kill you!"
Raevin continued to climb as she half-heartedly listened to Sareptiah's threats about hanging her from a tree, decorating the Hunter's sword sheath with the bone blades growing out of Raevin's arms, and using the spikes and wing-bones growing out of Raevin's back as stakes and spears.
"Well Ally, where is your precious demon now? Why isn't it here to save you?"
"I said I don't know!"
Ally was bound by thick ropes, her hands tied behind her and her feet tied together. Heavy chains secured her against the stone wall. Raziel was about ten or fifteen feet to her left, chained to the wall with silver chains. Damon was interrogating the two of them, and two Sarafan stood by with silver-tipped cat-o-nine-tails, one in each of their hands.
"I think you're lying, girl!" Damon lunged forward and grabbed Ally by her scalp, yanking her head up to look him in the face. "WHERE'S THE DEMON?!"
"You've been given your answer… Sarafan… neither of us know…" Raziel rasped. He had already been beaten a few times, and his silver induced wounds weren't healing fast enough. His shirt was completely shredded, and gashes covered his chest abd back. One eye had been swollen shut, but since it had been a simple punch it was healing much faster than the rest of his wounds.
Damon spat in Raziel's direction. "You two, beat the rest of the life out of that moving corpse. I have a way to make Ally tell me where the demon is…" He glanced at Ally and quickly began to remove his shirt.
When Ally realized what he had in mind, she panicked and struggled against her bonds. Despite the fact that she was part vampire, she could do no more than stretch the rope around her wrists.
By this time, the two Sarafan near Raziel had gotten in a few good kicks to Raziel's gut. They hadn't ended his life just yet; they wanted to pay him back for all the "damage" he caused. Raziel's clan could only watch, being kept back by the rest of the Sarafan.
Damon had his shirt off, and started to advance on the still-struggling Ally. He almost reached her when a blur from above nailed him squarely in the chest, knocking him on his back. He looked up to see what hit him and saw the blood-thirsty, glowing red eyes of a furious Raevin. "I knew we couldn't trust you." He heard her sneer.
"Raevin, look ou-ugh!" Raziel yelled, his warning cut short by a well-placed kick from one of the Sarafan. The other threw his spear at Raevin, hoping to kill her with the one shot.
The half-demon snarled and knocked the spear away with a bladed arm. She snatched up Damon before he could escape and threw him into the two Sarafan near Raziel. Another Sarafan had snuck up behind her and tried to impale her with a pike, but he stepped too close and was instead impaled by the flexing spiked on Raevin's back.
"Enough! All of you die NOW!" Damon yelled as he grabbed his sword and swung it at Raziel. Just before the silver blade sliced through the vampire lord's neck, it was blocked by a jagged blade…
Sareptiah, while clinging to the jutting stones in the wall, slammed her foot and it's iron-heeled and toed boot across Damon's jaw. While the man was trying to regain his senses (and feeling in his jaw), Sareptiah jumped down and removed Raziel's chains.
"Why did you save me?" Raziel asked. He got a shrug in return.
"I have to get my hearing back somehow, don't I?"
The Razielim saw that their leader was free, and they surged against the Sarafan all at once. It was a very rare scene; vampires and their human servants against vampire hunters. Even though outsiders thought the human servants of the vampires were tormented slaves, the servants themselves were actually better off. The Sarafan tended to be ruthless, but the servants had food, shelter, protection, and they were only killed if they had the nerve to disobey.
Raevin had lost sight of Damon in the fray, so she returned to Ally. After a few moments, Raevin shredded the ropes and chains that imprisoned her companion. "Are you alright?" Raevin asked, pausing only long enough to beat back a Sarafan. She noticed that Ectoplasm and Wraith had joined in on the fun, and Vogel was cheering them on with screeches and caws and the occasional "Behind yous backses!"
"Yes, I am now. Thank you." Ally said, hugging Raevin tightly and smiling when she felt her kiss her on the cheek.
"Good, let's get out of here." Raevin picked Ally up and was about to scramble up the wall when she was interrupted by a yell. She instinctively put Ally down and pushed her away, then turned around to face her challenger.
It proved to be a mistake. A pike impaled Raevin through her right shoulder, throwing her back and pinning her against the wall. She snarled and struggled against the weapon, but couldn't free herself.
"If I can't have you, no one can!" A crazed voice screamed. Raevin looked up in time to see Damon aiming at Ally with a crossbow that was loaded with a standard silver bolt.
"No!" Raevin tore herself free just as Damon fired the bolt. She could only watch as the bolt impaled Ally through the heart. Blood oozed out around the bolt. Ally was too stunned from the impact to feel the pain. "Ally!" Raevin screamed.
Raevin's muscles bulged as she tackled Damon. "If you have anything you pray to, I suggest you start praying. I should have killed you when I had the chance!" She drove her claws into his chest, twisting them as she went. Damon screamed as his chest seemed to explode, spraying blood everywhere. He didn't scream long before his head was crushed by the claws on Raevin's wings.
While Raevin was slaughtering Damon, Raziel and Sareptiah were trying their best to keep Ally alive. Raziel cut the wound open to remove the bolt, and Sareptiah used bone splinters to stitch the gash. "Ally, you must stay alive. Raevin needs you!"
"I… I can't… It's just.." Ally coughed and gurgled a bit, but managed to keep breathing. Her chest heaved up and down with the effort.
Raevin stumbled over to them, her energy spent. She collapsed on the ground, and was dragged the rest of the way to Ally by Raziel. "Ally.. You're going to be okay, right? You're going to be okay…" Raevin half begged, half commanded. She was terrified, more terrified then she had ever been. "Raziel, you gotta save her! Please…"
Raziel seemed to mull over this for a bit. He began to raise his wrist to his mouth when Ally grabbed him by the arm, stopping him. "No… don't. Please don't."
"Ally, no.." Tears had started to escape from Raevin's eyes. "Don't leave me. Please don't leave me…"
"Raevin.." Ally murmured soothingly, despite the fact that her life was slowly seeping away. "I don't want.. Don't want to live forever. I don't care that I'm dying, it's.. worth it." She reached out and placed one hand on the side of Raevin's face, and the other on one of Raevin's hands. "You made life worth living, and death worth dying." Her breath came out in rasps, and her once sparkling eyes had lost their luster; they were now clouded and unfocused.
"Ally.."
"Shhh." Ally whispered. "Be strong for me, Raevin… I will always be with you if.. You keep me close.. To your heart…" She managed to finish speaking before Death silenced and stilled her forever. As Death overcame her, a gurgling sound could be heard deep in her chest. Her eyes closed just after they clouded over completely.
"Ally…? Ally?" Raevin shook the lifeless body. "No.." She closed her eyes tightly and clenched her fists. "NO!" The half=demon bellowed out her rage and anguish to the sky. The heavy storm clouds that ad gathered above the surviving vampires and servants released their burden, and heavy sheets of rain started to pelt them from above. The vampires felt waves of intense discomfort instead of the usual itch, and they ran to find shelter. Raziel winced slightly, but didn't move.
As Raevin sobbed, a small glowing ball of light appeared over Ally's chest, where her heart used to beat. Raevin became silent as the ball reshaped itself. When the light faded, a crystal medallion on a chain could be seen on Ally's chest. Raevin reached for it cautiously, scared that it would disappear if she moved too fast. She picked it up and held it in her hands, as if it were a delicate crystal that could break at a moment's notice, and stared at it in an attempted to memorize the object.
The medallion was about half an inch thick, with a diameter of three or five inches. The surface was smooth and flawless, like a mirror. Raevin couldn't see anything in the cloudy gray surface, but she swore she saw movement in the medallion's stormy depths. The chain was most likely an alloy; it looked like silver, but was as strong as steel.
"Ally…" Raevin murmured to herself, fingering the chain.
Raziel placed a clawed hand on Raevin's shoulder. "I will have the servants give her a proper burial, and-"
"No."
Raziel was silent for a moment. "No?"
"No." Raevin repeated herself. "I will take care of her. Only I can. It's my fault she's dead."
"Raevin, it's not your fault." Sareptiah scolded. "Don't ever say that. Ally doesn't want you to carry that kind of burden."
"That's not the point! I was supposed to protect her!" Raevin snapped angrily, then realized all too late what she had done. "I…" She sighed, and felt a horse's nose rub against the back of her head. Raevin lifted a heavy hand and gave Ectoplasm a pat on the nose. "I'm sorry, I just… need to be alone right now." Raevin gathered Ally up in her arms and, clutching the medallion in her fist, scaled the wall to the outside. Ectoplasm wasted no time in phasing through the wall to follow her.
"Do you think she'll be alright? Will she come back?" Sareptiah had never felt so depressed in her entire life, not since the destruction of her tribe.
"We can only hope." Raziel replied. "Let's go inside."
A few days later, the storm had vanished and the bodies from the battle had been taken care of. Repairs to the keep had been made, and the scrolls (and their translations) had been locked securely in a stone chest and thrown into the Abyss. The only thing that hadn't been touched, repaired, or tampered with was the tower room that Raevin and Ally had spent nearly two years in.
Sareptiah climbed the stairs slowly, studying the stones that made up the tower. She could still see the gashes and pits left by Raevin whenever she raced up the tower stairs. The ex-Hunter reached the door to the living quarters, and hesitantly pushed them open.
The room still resembled the state that Ally and Raziel found it in before they were captured by the Sarafan; a complete disaster area. Mud and blood stains still marred the walls, floor, and ceiling, but she had no idea how the blood got there. Raziel told her than the Sarafan broke into the room to look for something, and apparently weren't too concerned with wiping their boots off, first. Sareptiah had guarded the tower and the room herself, with her newly regained hearing and Wraith. No one had been up there since Raevin left.
At least, that's what she thought. Sareptiah did recall an event that happened the night after Raevin left. She had been standing guard at the entrance to the tower when she heard some howls, screams, and violent curses coming from the room. Sareptiah raced up the stairs as fast as she could and nearly broke the door down in her attempt to catch the intruder, but only caught a glimpse of someone leaping out the window with a bundle in their arms. She had gone to the window to try to see who it was, but only saw a panicking Vogel. She called the raven to her, then left the room in a hurry.
Now she knew what was missing: a blanket, the broken weapons, and the Book that Raevin and Ally had found in the dungeon library. But on the table were two items that did not belong. One was a letter, and the other was a bone blade that looked like it was torn right out of Raevin's arm. The blade still had pieces of flesh clinging to it's base. Sareptiah picked up the letter, and opened it to read it:
Dear Raziel, Sareptiah, Vogel and Wraith, and the Razielim Clan,
I leave this place now, it's too painful to stay here. Ally had been buried in our clearing, and I've marked the grave with the wings, claws, blades, and spines, from my body. Ectoplasm is staying with the grave to guard it.
The old Raevin is dead… that is no longer my name. That part of me died with Ally. I'm a nameless wanderer, now, doomed to travel, live, and die alone.
I wish you all the best of luck and fortune. May you live long lives (or afterlives) and please remember Ally and I by the blade I leave.
-Nameless One AKA Raevin
Sareptiah stared at the letter, then at the blade. She shook her head slowly, as if trying to clear her mind. "Raevin…"