Chapter 14 – The Ring
"Raziel!" Kain shouted, loudly. Raziel bolted up in bed and fell out of it. Mioko, who had already woken by Kain's earlier calls, burst into peals of laughter as Raziel sat up on the floor. Kain frowned as Raziel scrambled to his feet and bowed to his master. "Zephon is waiting for us," Kain told him, annoyed it had taken so long to wake his son up. Raziel nodded and turned to dress,
"What about...?" he called after Kain, but Kain answered before Raziel could finish the question,
"Wyatt will watch her," he said, gesturing to Zephon's firstborn who was standing in the hall.
When it came to leaving Mioko, she attached herself to Raziel's leg and didn't let go, terrified of the Zephonim vampire. "No daddy," she begged, "daddy please." Kain looked up at Wyatt. He was the image of his master, sharing everything including the same greasy smile and the arrogant way he held himself. Wyatt gave an innocent smirk at the master and looked down on the child. Kain too rested his eyes on her, in all the time they had spent together he had only known her to be this sincere on one other occasion; when she had begged him to look after her after she'd had her nightmare. Kain gestured for them Raziel and Wyatt to leave them. Mioko clung to Kain as soon as Raziel had left, "Please don't leave me Uncie Kain," she pleaded, "I'll be good, I promise...please don't go!"
Kain knelt down beside her, "Mioko," he said, gently, "Raziel has to come with me," Mioko's expression was that of utter despair,
"Does daddy have to look after you too?" she asked. Kain shook his head,
"Not exactly," he said.
"Daddy has to protect you...but who will protect me?" she asked, pitifully. Kain took a ring off his finger and placed it in Mioko's hand.
"Do you see this?" he asked, pointing to her Razielim brooch. Mioko nodded, sadly, "This is to keep you safe..."
"Will this keep me super safe?" she asked, looking at the ring. Kain nodded, and closed her hand around it. Mioko sniffed and nodded, hugging Kain, "I love you Uncie Kain," she whispered. Kain tapped Mioko on the head and left her.
At the end of the day, Raziel and Kain returned to the firstborn's chamber. "Mioko?" Raziel called. There was no answer, Kain returned one of the overturned couches to its' original position and sat.
"Mioko?" Raziel called again. Kain shook her head, "Mioko!"
"Might I remind you, Raziel that Mioko is rarely here when we get back?" Kain sighed. This did nothing to comfort Raziel, "Before she was always with people I trusted."
"Where is she?" Zephon demanded. Wyatt shook his head,
"I don't know my lord," he said. Zephon glared at his first born.
"We need her if we are going to exploit Raziel. We need her! How did this happen?!" Zephon demanded, "You had specific orders to keep her safe and to bring her to me! What happened? Why did she run?" Zephon paused, "Did you hurt her?" Wyatt shook his head,
"I'm sorry, my lord, she was with me then I...I was hungry...so I...then she just ran off." Zephon struck his firstborn across the cheek,
"I want her found."
Raziel paced the floor, his acute hearing straining to hear any indication of his daughter. Kain sighed heavily, partly from irritation, "Go and look for her, Raziel, I'll have no peace until you do." He received a grateful look from his son before he practically ran from the room. Kain sat on his own for a moment, thanking whatever God cared to listen that Raziel and his brethren were never children.
After a while, Kain rose and left, returning to his own chamber, "Uncie Kain?" a voice whispered. Kain's eyes rolled as he looked around for the source of the voice, "under here," she called, quietly, crying silently as she did so. Kain knelt beside his bed and looked under, Mioko was cuddling Chibi Kain, hiding under the bed. She was dirty and her face was stained with tears. Kain held out his hand and helped her out. As soon as she was free from her self imposed prison, she hugged Kain and refused to let go.
"What is it child?" he asked, alarmed that she had taken to hiding in his room and was obviously distressed. She shook her head and hugged him tighter,
"You said it would protect me," she sobbed. Kain lifted her up and sat her on the bed,
"What are you talking about?" he asked, but broke off. On the side of her neck were two fresh, bleeding puncture holes.
Kain was surprised at the anger he felt rise within him as he examined her wound. There was a bruise forming around them, she had been bitten rather harshly. "Who did this?" he asked, quietly, his voice shaking with anger. Mioko shook her head, refusing to answer, "Was it Wyatt?" he asked. She nodded before looking away, quickly. Kain sighed and placed his arms around her, trying to comfort her,
"Want daddy," she murmured. Kain nodded and using the whisper summoned his son to his own chamber.
Raziel came just a few moments later, looking angry, "Mioko," he growled, seeing his daughter, "will you please stop running off, like that?" he asked, moving toward her. Kain stood and stopped his son with a look. Raziel looked back at his master; Kain shook his head and gestured for Raziel to sit with Mioko. Raziel sat opposite his daughter and stroked her hair out of her eyes,
"Mioko? Mioko, my love, what's wrong?" he asked, "Why are you..."his eyes fell on the bite marks on her neck. "Who did this to you?" he asked, but only a moment later, he asked, "Was it Wyatt?" She nodded, silently. Raziel kissed her forehead and without a word to her or his master, he swept, determinedly from the room. Mioko cried out and reached to the door, "Daddy!" she called, but Raziel didn't return. She hung her head and started crying again before she felt Kain's arm slip around her again. She fell against him, and looked back at the door, "Daddy."
Raziel's claws slashed through Wyatt's skin and the vampire fell to the floor, wounded but still alive. Wyatt tried to get up but Raziel's heavy foot landed harshly on his head, pushing him into the dirt. He forced the Zephonim's face to wipe the dirt with his face. Wyatt cried his protest as Raziel kicked him over and kneeling down, drove his fangs into his neck, as painfully and as harshly as he possibly could. After Raziel had drawn a mouthful of blood from the vampire, he rose and spat it back at him, and to end his assault, drove his claws deep into Wyatt's chest. He watched the Zephonim's eyes flicker and then close with his last breath.
"Raziel has killed my firstborn!" Zephon protested to Kain in the master's chamber, "I demand justice." Raziel stood, leaning casually against the doorway, wiping the blood off his claws. Kain was sitting, to both vampires' surprise, with his arm around Mioko. "He killed my firstborn!" Zephon repeated. Kain looked up at his son with dangerously calm eyes,
"It saved me the trouble of killing him myself," he replied. Zephon looked down, incredulously,
"But my lord..." he began to protest, but Kain cut him off as he rose to his feet and lifted Mioko to stand on the bed.
"Tell me Zephon, what is this?" he asked, lifting a golden chain from around Mioko's neck from under her shirt. Zephon flinched as he saw a ring bearing Kain's crest hanging from it. "Well?" Kain demanded.
"It's...it's your ring, my lord," Zephon muttered.
"That's right, Zephon," Kain said, sardonically as if he were talking to a child again. "Meaning that Mioko is under my protection. You should thank Raziel," Kain told his son, "He saved Wyatt from a much worse fate."
Kain watched Raziel draw the covers up over Mioko's head, then down again. She giggled softly as Raziel repeated the process until she was settled and happy. "Good night, Uncie Kain," she called. Kain smiled at her from the doorway,
"Good night, Mioko." Raziel kissed her fore head and he stroked the bandage around her neck,
"I will never let anyone hurt you again," he whispered, "I promise." Mioko smiled,
"Daddy?" she asked, "tell me a story." Kain was just turning to leave when he paused and looked back,
"Once there was a vampire. The greatest vampire of us all, his name was Kain..."
TBC