The night was a swift killer. As if a shade had been drawn, darkness filled every street corner as they walked. Raziel was ever on the alert. He no longer walked comfortably as he was used to, but skulked like a hunted thing. Amanda realized he was probably very used to it, for he fell into it as though it were an old routine.

"Vampires obviously don't mind water," Raziel said suddenly. "It was pouring outside when he came, but dark enough so that sunlight did not bother him. He ran away before the storm passed to escape the danger of the sun."

"Burning like acid..." Amanda murmured, clutching at the necklace. She hoped the bauble will have some effect on the vampire scourge just as well as Raziel's spirit weapon did.

A rock scuttled in the shadows. Almost simultaneously Raziel tensed and crouched, his arm glowing like being wrapped in a transparent greenish-blue silk banner. Likewise, Amanda held a few words of incantation on her tongue. She had been practicing in her mind whenever she wasn't peering precariously into each shadow she passed through.

The disturbance set them both ill at ease. When nothing else came, not a sound or a whisper, they went forward. Amanda followed the direction of the spell she had cast, leading them on by a very dim, hidden glow in the palm of her hand. She checked it, seeing an emblazoned 'arrow' apparently pointing toward their destination. It was quite nifty and she had a really fun time trying to figure out how to get the spell just right.

Their progress was impeded only a tenth of a way to their destination. Not one, but four vampires stepped in front of them, melting out of the twisted wreckage of an old office building along the length of the Nile. They all appeared similar in dress, and their hair was similar in that it was black, cropped and wavy. Their skin could have been dark, but the underlying pallor of the dead was there.

"Turn away, strangers," said the first, a tall muscled vampire with emerald eyes and a face like a leopard's snarl. "You're walking the streets of our great lord and master. You have been warned before!"

"If we could but the lord and master here, we would kindly ask his permission," Raziel leered, "but as his presence is not immediate, I find myself inclined to continue regardless. The sooner I find what I seek, you will see me no more."

"Give us the girl, and maybe we'll let you pass," another hissed, eyeing Amanda.

She rolled her eyes and stood at Raziel's back, silent.

The first vampire growled, slowly drawing a narrow, lethal twenty-four-inch blade."Then you seek death, fools. And you shall have it!"

It was a mistake to believe that the four vampires would lunge first, when it was in fact two came from the side. Amanda was practically drilled into the ground and she barely had any air left in her lungs to scream. Her elbow was ragged with fresh scrapes, and found herself tangled against the snarling vampire. Its pearl claws scraped against her throat and when she felt the cold breath of him, she coughed out a word and slamed her palm against the side of his face.

Amidst the other hellish screaming as the Reaver sought to rip the immortals' flesh to pieces, she saw her own attacker fly away from her and roll all five full times like a log across the ground, one half of its face and shoulder charred black. She saw the whites of his teeth where his lips had curled back. He was exhausted already. Raziel didn't hesitate to impale him before turning to the next foe.

Having dispatched two already, Raziel finished the third and faced the remaining three. "Bastards," he snarled, licking his lips - for the simple love of slaughter! "My power is too great for you. Run home to your beloved father and don't make the same mistake again."

Amanda scrambled to her feet, gasping as she clutched her arm to her chest. For pity's sake, it hurt! She stared at the vampires, who circled round-about with their own savage bloodlust in their eyes. The one closest to Amanda bared her teeth and lunged again. Amanda threw her arms up to ward her, screaming her words again, sending a flash of blinding, otherworldly brilliance into her face. It was like sunlight. She burst into flames and leapt clear of her.

"It burns, god help me, it burns!!" Falling to the ground, she writhed in agony before she crumbled to nothing.

Amanda repeated it again, gasping at the agony in her chest that began spilling through her. She felt magic coursing through her, possessing her and draining her it seemed of every drop of heat in her body. She shivered and watched another vampire fall fast to the swift sun spell she cast, just as Raziel destroyed the last.

Raziel stepped over to her. She saw his pants in the dim light buzzing and crackling from the Reaver's ever-changing, ever-talkative blade. It was pulsing and throbbing with the powerful lust, aroused nearly to turning on him. But as the seconds ticked away it was good to let the Reaver relax, indulge in its power for awhile.

He crouched, reaching out to stroke her hair a little. She sat on the ground, pallid and feeble. She took hold of his arm and he pulled her to her feet.

"Next time we battle, girl... keep your spells to a minimum. You nearly blinded me."

"I'm sorry," Amanda whispered honestly, leaning against his non-Reaver side. "I only knew the words.. I prepared them all before.. but it's taxing me."

"Take care," he replied. "Don't exhaust yourself for me."

"I don't want to be useless."

"You will be if you tire yourself too quickly! Come."

He aided her along gently. Gradually her strength came back, lessened noticably. Her steps quickened and she pulled free, jogging alongside him, following the arrow blazing in the center of her hand. The suddenly started over a bridge that seemed to materialize out of the darkness like a phantom structure, manifest out of hell. Now, here in the vulnerable openness of the highway bridge she could see the moon's reflection in the swift-moving waters.

She could just imagine the countless eyes that watched them, and the stories that seemed to burden this very river, biblical and full of prophesy. How ironic that Raziel's destiny would continue from this capital of myth and legend, of secrets and martyrs and religion. She listened to his panting as he ran, stopping only once to take a quick look around him.

It was peaceful. The middle east wind pulled at her short hair, making her skin bristle. The night felt good. She loved it more than the day, and she had forgotten about being cold, being lost and helpless and floundering in the snow like a duckling.

They ran again. She halted suddenly, for waiting for them at the other end of the night-enclosed bridge were vampires again. How many were there!? Surely Darius's coven wasn't nearly so big! Just a few, a precious handful, full of companions...

These companions were armed better to kill. With guns.

They warned them in the same way that the ones before had done. The same dark, wavy hair. There were only three, but the pair was ready to expect more. As instructed, Amanda hung back from fighting and magic, even if she still felt the tug of battle pulling on her and she felt her power come to her command. She waited it out, seeing that Raziel had things under control completely. She hid behind a weathered steel column.

He charged them, head down, his eyes leaving a fiery trail of green in the night. He leapt against the first, kicking off of his chest and sending him spinning into the dirt. Rebounding from his chest, he crashed into the second with his talons, shredding his snarling face before pulverizing his throat with one final wrenching twist.

Blood spattered everywhere. Raziel's face was speckled with it, a startling crimson contract to his unearthly white skin. The last vampire standing held the gun shakily pointed at him. Raziel stood up, licking his claws, for although he held no desire for blood... somehow the taste of it was satisfying, though it hardly filled his own hunger. He had killed the last two with his own hands, and their souls lingered still, confused, angry, but helpless.

He made his point clear, as he breathed in slowly, letting his claws hang at his sides and feeling the souls drawn into him. They cried out in horror, for what new terrors awaited them in the unseen maw of the reaver of souls?

The survivor was horrified. He was tossed between wanting to shoot, stay, be killed, or run, live, become a coward. Raziel stepped closer, baring his fangs, seeing that the gun was beginning to fall loose out of the vampire's hands. He knocked it aside, and it skittered across the asphalt with a clatter. In the same motion, his striking hand was followed by the next and he snatched the limp hand. He pulled him close.

"You can still run," he whispered soothingly, stroking his hair gently, simultaneously slowly squeezing the blood out of his forearm. "You can still live your pathetic unlife serving some divine elder, an unthinking machine which runs on blood as cars run on gasoline...if you can understand me."

The terror was more than Raziel could bear. It was enough. He pushed the vampire away with a curse of disgust, not even turning long enough to watch him scrabble away in outright animal fear. Gone in an instant, like an unpleasant daydream.

When Raziel found Amanda, she was crawling out from behind the metal pillar and picking up the gun. She smiled at him, tilting her head a little. "This won't waste too much energy," she said proudly, carefully pointing the gun at the ground. She noticed the look in his face, and added quietly, "You're not feeling remorse are you? These guys are asking for it."

"They're not," Raziel replied. "They're only doing what they have been told. I know the feeling. I let that one go because...because..."

"You owe him?"

Raziel shook his head. "These are just followers. I may seem to enjoy seeing them die - in fact, sometimes I honestly admit that I do - but I tried to show one of them some measure of mercy."

Amanda arched a brow, incredulous. "Okay. That's just weird. But why would you show them mercy if they're all out to kill you?"

"I'm not a heartless murderer. I won't kill indiscriminantly until I know who is behind all of this."

"Maybe they live in the cathedral and they probably don't want you crashing their little party," the young witch supplied, brushing her hands through her sweat-soaked hair. "Can we... can we take a break? I'm a little tired."

They walked a safe distance from the bridge before she sat down on a large plastic milk carton stack. Raziel crouched in the darkness, pawing at the dirt. Finding no traces, he wipes it clean and began scratching his name out in what he hoped was accurate writing. Then he swiped that clean, too.

In a few minutes, they were off again. The cathedral was near, and Raziel's destiny would soon continue.