Chapter 7 – Only Human
The sun had barely set when Kain, Raziel and Mioko rode into Turelim territory. The sky had darkened and night was preparing to fall, dim lights were already being lit in Turelim. The main gate of Turelim creaked open, revealing the city to them. Raziel snarled as he looked across the town. No doubt Turel had heard of his master's plans and improved the condition of the city for the visit. There was something unusually clean about the city and two of Turel's finest vampires were waiting inside the gate, dressed in their finest regalia. It was only after the two vampire lords had ridden into the town and come to a halt outside of the palace did they speak.
"Welcome to the glorious city of Turelim, my lords," the vampire, Raziel recognized as Turel's first born, announced, bowing low as they dismounted. Raziel left his horse and the other Turelim vampire made to lift Mioko down. Raziel grabbed the vampire's wrist and twisting it harshly, hissed at him, baring his gleaming fangs. The vampire held up his hands defensively and backed off; Raziel calmed himself and took Mioko from the horse. Kain sighed in disbelief and turned to the second born who continued from his place at Kain's feet, "We were not expecting you," he said, "master Turel will be most pleased," the vampire rose and turned to the palace, "This way please."
Kain and Raziel followed the vampire into the palace which, as well as being cleaned, had two rows of banners hanging from the ceiling of the main hall. One row depicted Turel's insignia and beside them hung fine cloths displaying Kain's crest. They followed the first born deeper into Turel's keep and soon found themselves in his grand throne room, which was significantly larger than Raziel's and many of the other brothers'. After stepping inside, one had a long walk to the throne which sat alone in the empty room. No doubt the long walk, with nothing to draw one's attention to but the sight of the second born, fixing an intruder with a piercing stare, was meant to intimidate any and all who entered. Though Raziel was never intimidated by his younger brother and Kain would certainly not be intimidated by anyone. Once again the throne room had been lined with banners hailing Turel and Kain.
The second born was sitting on the throne, purposely ignoring the lords, instead choosing to bury himself in a report of some kind. When he finally looked up, he feigned shock and rose to his feet to greet the master heartily, "My lord!" he said, grandly, "I had no idea you were coming and..." his eyes fell upon his elder, "my brother Raziel, what a pleasant surprise."
"You can drop the false pretences, Turel," Kain snapped. Turel faltered and looked up at his master, trying to look confused, "We have had a long...tiresome journey," Raziel saw Kain's eyes flicker in Mioko's direction, "Show us to our chambers and we will speak in the morning." Turel nodded and reluctantly showed them out of the throne room, ignoring Raziel's expression of almost glee as Kain saw through Turel's façade.
They followed Turel to their chambers. They were placed in the chambers next to each other with Mioko expected to sleep in Raziel's chamber, which of course she was more than happy to do. Turel said his good nights to his sire as Kain retired to his chamber, then turned to Raziel. His eyes fell on the child, holding Raziel's hand, tightly. Mioko looked up at Turel, wide eyed and frightened, she remembered Turel, though from the puzzling look on his face, he didn't really remember her.
"You brought your own slave?" Turel asked his brother, Raziel snarled back at him,
"Unlike here, the children born into my territory are not slaves; they are children." Turel glanced back at Mioko,
"Why did you bring her here, then?" Turel asked, curiously. Raziel gave a small smile at his brother,
"Why, do you not remember Mioko?" he asked, faking disbelief. At this when Turel laid eyes on the child he remembered exactly who she was and to Raziel's surprise Turel smiled,
"Sick of her already?" he mocked. Raziel glared at him and he gestured Mioko into the chamber, "I'd be more than happy to have my blood slave back," Turel offered. Raziel grabbed Turel by the back of the head and with his vampiric strength, forced him harshly against the wall, "Stay away from her," he warned. He released Turel and followed Mioko inside, slamming the door behind him, leaving Turel humiliated and indignant, "Or I could appeal to Kain if you'd prefer!" Turel shouted at the door.
"Kain's not interested," Kain's quiet voice muttered behind him. Turel turned around, totally horror stricken that his master had heard him. Kain was frowning upon his son, "and I expect you to call me my lord, at all times, not just as a courtesy to me," he added.
"Yes, my lord," Turel stuttered, "Good night, my lord," he mumbled, turning and hurrying to his own chamber.
Kain chuckled, watching his son's desperate escape, before stepping towards Raziel's door and knocking politely. Raziel opened the door in person, he didn't seem too surprised to see his sire, in fact he looked like he was expecting him. He stood aside, allowing Kain entrance.
He looked around the room, studying what honor Turel had chosen to bestow on Raziel. The room wasn't as grand as Kain's. Kain had suspected that the room that Turel had allocated to him had been created for the master alone, should he visit. He doubted that even Turel slept in such splendor. Raziel's room was smaller and the décor less splendid, with Turel's insignia draped at every possible place, a constant reminder to the first born as to where he slept.
Kain sat on one of the comfortable sofas, to his mild surprise, Raziel didn't join him. Instead he lingered by the door, "I am going to fetch something to eat, would you like something my lord?" he asked. Kain looked back and gave a nod. Raziel gave a short bow of his head and left the chamber for a while, leaving Kain to consider what he had already seen of his second son's clan.
"Uncie Kain?" Mioko's soft voice called from the bed. Kain looked back, she had been so quiet since their arrival, he had forgotten she was there to begin with. Now she was lying, covers up to her chin, looking over at the lord, sleepily.
"I am not 'uncie' Kain," he told her, firmly. She overlooked this and gestured him to come to the edge of the bed. At first he refused, but after much persuading and cries from the sleepy child, even the mighty Kain gave in. He went to her side and looked down on her, annoyed and irritated. "What?" he snapped.
Mioko shifted slightly and Kain could see in her arms, tightly pressed against her chest for comfort, she held the image of the master in the form of what she had christened, 'Chibi Kain.' She held her arms up to the lord,
"Good night kiss," she murmured. Kain took a step back, away from the child, shaking his head. She reached out to him, "Please?" she begged.
"Mioko?" Raziel called, softly, re-entering the chamber. He carried two goblets of blood, which he set on the table before the sofa, Kain had previously sat on. Kain almost sighed in relief as Raziel's return allowed him to return to his seat. He picked up the goblet of blood meant for him and drank, slowly, as he watched Raziel sit beside Mioko.
There was something unusual and somehow touching about the way the first born vampire cared for a young human child, Kain couldn't help but watch. Raziel drew the covers over her face, chuckling she snatched them down to her chin, smacking Raziel's hands away as he tried to cover her once again. Raziel laughed and held his hands up defensively, "Are you comfy?" he asked her. She nodded happily and content, she held out her arms to Raziel who melted into them and embraced her, tightly. When he broke away she kissed his cheek, "Good night, daddy," she murmured, sleepily. Kain flinched; he hadn't heard Mioko address Raziel before now. They really did consider each other as parent and child. Mioko shifted, Kain couldn't see what she was doing but a moment later she held the doll that resembled him up to Raziel. To Kain's horror, Raziel said good night to Chibi Kain before she drew him back into her arms and snuggled down into the sheets. "Good night, Mioko," Raziel whispered, kissing her forehead, lightly.
As Raziel turned to the goblet that awaited him, Mioko's soft, tired voice called after him, but it was not to him she called, "Good night, uncie Kain," she said, already falling asleep. Kain glared at her and said nothing. Raziel didn't say anything and Mioko had already fallen asleep, so she could not pester him as Kain was sure she would normally have done.
Raziel collapsed into the chair opposite Kain, taking his own goblet to his lips and as he expected, Kain immediately started talking about their observations in Turelim thus far. "What do you think?" Kain asked his first born. Raziel downed the goblet and replaced it before he answered,
"I think everything we see here will be part of an elaborate show to make Turelim appear better than any of the other clans," Raziel decided. Kain nodded in agreement,
"Which is why Turel will not be accompanying us when we have a look around," Kain paused, "He can look after her," he jerked his head in Mioko's direction. Raziel frowned,
"I don't trust him with her," he declared. Kain growled, coming to the end of his patience as far as the human was concerned,
"I hope you do not expect her to come with us when we actually inspect the territories," he asked, raising a white eyebrow. Raziel, seeing the look in his lord's eye shook his head, but refused to cower or shrink back as any other man or vampire would have done when fixed with the master's steely-eyed stare. As the first born, Raziel didn't assume that he was blessed with some kind of amnesty from Kain's anger or temper, but he did feel that rather than just his servant, he felt he was a kind of friend to the master.
"When I asked you to come with me, I did not expect to baby-sit for the majority of the journey." Raziel shook his head,
"Of course not, my lord," he said, honestly, "I only brought her with me because it would not have been possible to leave her on her own for a month or more." Kain shook his head, unsympathetically,
"She is human, Raziel, nothing more." Raziel looked furious for a moment, but knew better than to challenge the master. He sunk back against the seat and sighed,
"Even so, she is my daughter," Raziel rose and picking up the goblets made to leave, returning them to the blood slaves. Kain rose, too and bid his good night to his son, left. When Raziel returned, he slipped into bed beside Mioko and after placing a gentle kiss on her forehead, he fell into slumber beside her, blissfully unaware that the child had tears streaming down her face as she sobbed silently into the soft body of Chibi Kain.
When Raziel woke the following morning, he found his bed unusually empty. Mioko usually woke before him and wandered off to amuse herself in Razielim, but here in Turelim Raziel jumped out of bed, full of concern. He didn't have time to dwell on her whereabouts; he'd barely changed his clothes when Kain came knocking at his door. When his son didn't answer the door, Kain, assuming Raziel to be asleep, went in anyway. To his slight annoyance, Raziel was searching the room for something and a glance at the empty bed told him what.
"Have you seen Mioko?" Raziel asked, confirming Kain's suspicions. Kain shook his head, having not seen the child since he left the chamber the night before. Kain folded his arms as he watched his son search the chamber in vain,
"I hope you do not intend to delay our business looking for her," Kain frowned. Raziel looked up, desperately at his sire, but knew that on this occasion he would have to go along with Kain. He had irritated his master enough so far because of the child. Besides, if Mioko had wandered into Turelim, they would probably encounter them as they inspected it.
By the end of the day, Raziel was having a difficult time keeping his worry and anxiety hidden from his master and younger brother. They had spent the day looking at the Turelim clan, while Turel explained in a majestic tone how far his brood had come in just a few decades and there was still no sign of his daughter. Rather than looking with his master on the finest of Turel's children, Raziel found himself looking past them for any sign of his child, but to no avail. When they had finished their brief tour of the clan, Raziel rushed back to his room, but Mioko still had not returned.
Kain made his way to the feeding chamber. He had hoped to discuss the matter of Turel's clan with his eldest, but there was no doubt in Kain's mind that his first born's mind was not on clan business. In fact, he doubted that Raziel had paid any attention at all to the clan around him during the day. Kain had found himself looking for the child in the hopes that once reconciled; Raziel would be able to focus once more. Even so Kain was slightly disturbed that his first-born had become attached to the child and was worrying so much about her. It wasn't like Raziel to get worried easily and it was unheard of for the vampire to get to the point he was at now. Kain shook thought of his eldest son from his mind as he entered the feeding chamber and drained a young man, chained near the door.
When his hunger had been fed he turned to leave after his extremely brief visit to the chamber. He approached the door when he heard a soft sniffle, the sound muffled by something. Kain sighed, more from annoyance than relief and he moved, silently to the door to the blood slave's chamber. He wasn't surprised to see that the blood slave wasn't there, at this time he was probably restocking the feeding chamber with suitable slaves from the lowest abodes in Turel's seemingly perfect city.
The room was small and cluttered, with only a small, unmade bed and an untidy desk in the corner as furnishing. The fire in the hearth was dying, leaving only a few glowing embers casting a dim orange glow into the room. Kain's eyes fell on the bed. Poking from under it, almost hidden by the strewn blankets was the tip of a dress he recognized. He reached under the bed and grabbing her harshly by the leg, pulled Mioko from under the bed and held her high in the air. She writhed and kicked, screaming for him to let her go. Alarmed by her sudden outburst, Kain dropped her onto the bed. She scrambled up, into the corner and clutching Chibi Kain buried her face in him and her knees, shielding her face. Kain was on the point of dragging her back, kicking and screaming if need be, back to Raziel who by now was probably a nervous wreck, when he realized that she was crying.
Kain rolled his eyes and sat next to her, snatching Chibi Kain from her and holding her hands down, he forced her to look at him. Her face was dirty and wet with tears, she had probably been crying all day in her absence.
"Why are you crying?" he demanded, unsympathetically. Mioko sniffed and hung her head,
"Uncie Kain doesn't like me," she whimpered. Kain froze for a moment, in disbelief. She had spent the whole day hiding, crying, making Raziel sick with worry and all because she thought the master vampire didn't like her, "You said, 'she's only human,'" she said, on the verge of tears once again. When he didn't say anything she continued, "Why don't you like me?" she asked, taking her hands from Kain's grasp and wiping her face with them. Kain hesitated for a moment. It wasn't that he didn't like Mioko, she was an annoying human child, who had no place with the lord of Nosgoth and his first born son. Then Kain came to a realization, if Raziel's behavior through the day had demonstrated anything, it was that he genuinely loved Mioko and really did think of her as his daughter. He had already showed that he was willing to defy Kain for her when he had brought her with them in the first place. There was only way Kain was ever going to get Mioko to stop crying and return with him, calmly. He was just lucky there was no one around to see it.
"I'm sorry," he muttered, quickly. Mioko smiled and threw her arms around him,
"I love you Uncie Kain!" she squealed, happily. Kain wrestled himself free from her grip and stood up, away from her. He realized he was still holding Chibi Kain and held it out to her. Before she took it, Kain couldn't help but admire just how well made the doll was and how much it looked like the vampire. Mioko took Chibi Kain from the master and hugged him tightly, "Friends?" she asked the vampire, hopefully.
Kain nodded, briefly, "Come, Raziel is waiting." Kain reached the door when he realized Mioko wasn't following him. Irritated, he turned back to her and saw her holding both her arms up to him. He realized what she was asking, but refusing pointblank to be seen carrying a human child through Turelim while she carried a doll in his image, grabbed her wrist and instead pulled her back to her chamber, while she struggled and moaned behind him.
TBC