A/N: There's a weird part in this chapter that I wrote for the sake of looking into Raziel's past. Yes, I know this fanfic is fairly boring so far... but you'll see who the stranger is.. and learn what the cat's name is!!

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Raziel pressed his hands gently against the feline's sides. He still hadn't learned its name, but it greeted him by pushing its nose through the small space of the slightly ajar door. After trying to talk it out of trying to come in, he opened it a space before quickly shutting it. He held the creature in his lap, petting it softly, hearing its living body rumble with life and content.

After an hour of this, he layed back in the wide closet, feeling his eyes drift close. As he lay half-dormant, time spun by and his mind wandered to days of old when he was a lieutenant under Kain's dominant rule. Nosgoth was bent to his will with very whim and desire that flickered through the madman's deranged mind. With every new want, Nosgoth lost more and more of its vitality as it was destined to the moment of the Pillars' corruption.

He remembered living happily, ignorant of his life as a cursed Sarafan priest, with his brothers, watching as each new evolution stole over them one by one, starting with Kain and then Raziel, as he was eldest.

In the musty darkness of near-sleep, he did something he never thought he'd do. Raziel slept. And he dreamed.

* * * *

"Raziel."

The vampire turned, overcome immediately by the frightfully immediate embrace of his Sire, drawing a small gasp of alarm from his corpse before his mouth was covered by hungry mouth and fangs. The silver, colorful pain was unique and strangely familiar as Kain's teeth pierced his sensitive tongue. His jewel of crimson escaped in between and dripped down Raziel's jaw.

"Why?" Raziel said in a hoarse voice, wiping his mouth and regarding his Sire with a look of mild disdain.

Kain smiled, the wicked tips of his fangs flashing red with his blood. He waved his hand against the air with the usual distant, devil-may-care flair that preceded a usually long speech. "You are my eldest son," he answered. "And I rule Nosgoth. I take what I want. But you deserve so much more than what I've given you. You seem... unhappy of late. I want to show you something." He held out his hand. "...Come!"

The vampire regarded the hand. Like his own, recent developement, it was no longer quite a human hand but two long deadly claws and a third that replaced the thumb. He didn't take it, but simply nodded his head and followed Kain through the halls of their elaborate stronghold. The walls illustrated their sucess as the vampire nation slowly expanded and crawled over the landscape like a creeping ooze. Every mural depicted a stage in their evolution, their rise to power, their imminent godliness that would come only with the total domination of the human race.

Here where Kain stood was the balcony that allowed him to gloat over his prize; Raziel stood some ways behind him to one side, feeling strangely uncomfortable with the coming surprise.

"Come closer!" Kain insisted, motioning again. "Look here... all this we have accumulated together, you and I. Still it troubles me that you don't ask for a palace of your own or a kingdom upon yourself like your brothers."

"I'm not greedy like them, my Lord." Raziel folded his arms over his chest, gently thumbing the edge of his clan cape. He felt a claw brush over his shoulder and turn him about to face the vampire.

"Don't be afraid to ask for anything, Raziel," the vampire assured quietly. "I have, myself, amassed much to give. What the brothers ask of me is small price to what is within my power."

"And what is within your power?"

To which Kain merely laughed and turned away, walking back into the corridors with a soft sigh of satisfaction that only baffled Raziel more than the vampiric kiss of greeting.

* * * * *

Raziel awoke to the sound of the bedroom door opening and closing. Voices passed between daughter and mother before the door cracked open. The cat was still asleep on his chest, but pounced past Amanda as she stood in the doorway.

The look on her face stole the euphoria of the dream away. "New problems?"

"Someone tried to mug me at school. He sounded like he knew...about you. He had a weird accent, too..."

Raziel stood up carefully, brushing aside the coathangers as he stepped toward her. "Are you alright?"

Amanda reddened slightly. She touched her red, swollen cheek and murmured, "Yeah... I guess... Look, let me get back to my books. It won't matter once you return to your home."

"No," Raziel hissed, resting his hand on her shoulder heavily. "Don't. I'm interested now. You said he had a strange accent?"

"Yeah, he sounded all dark and British like an English crack dealer. It's a drug. Narcotic," she added as an after-thought because it occured to her Raziel's world might not have pharmacuetical centers or drug stores anywhere.

Raziel made a noise of comprehension, his hand still on her shoulder as he brushed a few pieces of hair from his face with the other. "I'm going to your 'school' with you."

"What! No, you're not! You don't even have anything to where, and you don't have a student ID--" Amanda grabbed hold of his arm, practically bouncing on her toes in her distress.

"You asked me once to trust you," Raziel whispered, pulling her close enough that their bodies stood only a hearsbreadth away. "Now I must ask you to trust me."

"But..." Amanda swallowed, finding herself hopelessly lost in the circle of his arms and greatly comforted by it in some strange way. "Oh... damn it... how am I ever going to have a normal life again...?"

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A/N: I thought that Kain kissing Raziel was in a way a sort of show of his dominance over his brothers. And his particular 'interest' in Raziel... and as for the stranger? Well...you'll have to see. Raziel can go to school without being seen by simply acting as one of the students... or Amanda can set up checkpoints Planar Portals around the school to meet up with him... either way, I'm not sure which way is better. Heh, heh... being a student would be quite humorous.. or a teacher, even!! hee... a janitor... *Blinks*