Raziel did not, in truth, expect a truthful answer. He expected a human lie, something he would have accepted without complaint. But the fact was, he was usually wrong about such judgements, just as he had been wrong about Kain being the benevolent, truthworthy creature he was.

Moebius was obviously an idiot, prattling on about his 'God'. And the Elder God was about as trustworthy as a giant squid, pardon the insult.

Her eyes had taken to them that peculiar shine when he knew she was about to start crying, or already was. He knew then that the honesty was hurting her. She swallowed, sliding herself toward him with a small smile. "Raziel..." She was as strung as a metal coil spring. Raziel was hard-pressed to find the true reason, but in the back of his mind it was tickling at his awareness.

He reached out to her to take her hand. But he barely brushed her fingers when he sensed a screeching danger so close to him that he leapt toward her, pinning her to the floor as a spray of knives went hissing overhead. He felt them snip open his shirt and send a needle of pain through his shoulderblade.

"You will have to ask her in the true afterlife, fiend," the purring voice so deep, it felt like it came out of the floor. "For you are not leaving this room by any means."

Raziel stared down at the human girl, barely registering the speaking voice, hardly believing that yet another obstacle stood in his way. But his life was riddled with obstacles, non-living and living alike. He slid back, turning on his heel to face his new enemy in a crouch.

"And who are you to disturb my journey?" he demanded hotly. "A new foe? Wonderful. I need the exercise!"

"I am Sethys. You needn't overwork yourself, creature. This chamber will become your tomb shortly, and you have all the time in the world to think of ways to torture me."

"Oh... well, that's great," Amanda stood up. "Meanwhile, I'm going to send him home and you can kill me. I don't care. Just let him go."

"What?" Sethys laid his cold, amber-colored eyes on the girl as if he'd never even noticed her in the room. "Oh, the witch speaks. Given the opportunity, I would love to see you work your magic. But the Door must not be opened, for once it has, it cannot be shut and we have worked hard over the last thousand years to keep it so."

The vampire stepped into the room, sweeping open his long coat and letting it drift to the floor. He had long, dark hair like the many lesser kindred they had seen, and with every vampire lord there is a sort of vanity that wants the company of those who look most like him, especially older vampires. Raziel was positively disgusted.

The Reaver thought so, too.

"Ah. He carries that. Damnable weapon! I thought it was lost centuries ago! Why do you have it?"

"Silence and leave, unless you want to die!" the Soul Reaver snarled, leaping toward him and swiping the shrieking blade. The vampire Sethys barely had time to move away, but he swerved around him, reaching to grab hold of Raziel's throat and throw him into a brazier, knocking it and Raziel to the ground.

Amanda moved away slowly, leaving her sneakers sitting like a pair of forgotten puppies in the middle of the floor. Then she turned, dropping down onto the floor and quickly browsing the symbols on the wall. She bent her head then, hearing Raziel's harsh cries of battle. She ducked her head just in time as another brazier was flung, scalding her ear with a hot ember from it. She spread her things out, speaking her spell to herself so fast it was like a babbling brook from her mouth. It didn't yet cross her mind that she was still going through with this, even when she... needed Raziel.

Raziel was hardly aware that she was working, battling the vampire with every ounce of power he had. He was powerful, but the vampire didn't know his tricks and his moves, and it was a wonder the vampire put up such a good fight at all. Still, the vampire fought with two blades of somewhat equal length and cut into Raziel whenever he was ever a little slower or a little more careless.

And occasionally, he would notice Amanda and dive for her. Before he could reach her, Raziel would savagely intervene with a tackle that sent them sprawling to the limestone floor.

"Damn you to Hell, you bastard!" Sethys howled, raising his arm and plunging it into the junction of his neck and shoulder. Raziel bit out a hoarse cry of agony, his fangs glinting off the light cast from the churning depths of the slowly awakening door.

He saw the light of it. It looked completely black. The stars seemed to swirl as though in a vortex, hinting at colors he couldn't name but were close to obsidian, subtleties in the light changes that were impossible to calculate. A thrill shot through him, and it wasn't only because he was engrossed in a heated battle and he still felt the pain of the knife in his dead flesh.

Light exploded from behind his eyes. Sethys was driving him to rage with this pain, with each breath he took gave him more agony and stole more of his energy away. He finally howled, reaching to grab him by the skull. The moment he had him, he used every ounce of his remaining strength and sent him sailing like a bag of bricks into the wall, which unfortunately had a sharp obtrusion from which hung another glowing light source. He was impaled instantly.

Raziel followed up by picking up one of the nearby braziers and threw it at him as well. The embers splashed into his face, and he was immediately on fire, screaming and howling with agony. His ghost was naturally forthcoming and Raziel devoured the soul without a pinch of remorse.

In spite of feeding to replenish his energy, the state of his body was crumbling. He'd already lost most of his body mass to the injuries he had sustained. Before he had long to mourn the loss of his well-being, Amanda had grabbed onto his claw and started pulling him toward the roaring door. The sound was like the constant roar of the Lake of the Dead, with its voices screaming in the distance. He was loathe to go near it.

"Wait," he hissed, pulling his claw free. He pointed it in her startled face. "I still haven't gotten your answer!"

"There's no time," she cried, grabbing onto his arm. The next moment she flung her arms around his neck and started to kiss his cheek, just beneath his left eye. Her eyes were bleeding tears non-stop, but her voice was unwavering. "I love you, Raziel!"

His eyes grew wide. She pulled back, holding onto his shoulders before she began to grow limp. Her lips moved with some meaning he didn't understand until he saw the vampires pooling at the entrance of the chamber. Momentarily stunned by the light and sound, one of them fired in hopes of killing the witch and stopping the door from being opened.

It was all too late. Raziel sunk down onto the floor just a few feet from the threshold of the portal, holding her body close. She was still trying to speak, but it was increasingly difficult to understand. Raziel sent a telekinetic blast toward the switch and impaled another vampire on the falling spikes of the gate. He devoured its energy before looking down at her.

"My... soul!" she cried at last. It was peeling away from her. Blazing brightly.

She was dying. She wanted Raziel to take her soul with him. Raziel was torn, touching her face and watching her small hands clasp his claw. She was freezing, while all the warm blood in her was pooling around her and soaking through his pant leg and sticking to his skin.

All the while he had been so concerned with returning to Nosgoth, killing Kain, something precious had been given to him and now it was fading before his eyes.

Instinct rebelled with his emotions. The excruciating battle within himself was not made lighter with the screaming of the vampires on the other side of the gate, suddenly aware of their lord and master burning upon the spike in the wall.

"It's... not fair..." he growled, pulling her close. He closed his eyes. Then he kissed her.

It wasn't difficult. Her indomitable spirit practically jumped from her body, although something inside wouldn't allow all of it to simply vanish. From mouth to mouth, he sipped at her spirit in exchange for some of his own, but this final action was beyond his awareness and if he had known, he would have returned to Nosgoth knowing the truth.