Chapter 18 - Ariel
Kain woke and found himself staring into a pair of piercing blue eyes. He jumped, he hadn't sensed Mioko moving in the night, and certainly not climbing onto his stomach watching him sleep.
"Mioko!" he growled, "I have told you not to do that!" She giggled and rolled off the master vampire,
"I'm sorry, Uncie Kain," she muttered, "Can I have breakfast?" she asked, suddenly. Kain frowned at her. Raziel had been sleeping for the better part of a month now and Kain was beginning to realize just why Azrael hated babysitting so much.
"You know where the kitchen is," Kain told her, pulling the covers over him and attempted to fall back into his slumber. Mioko cried out and started hitting the vampire's back,
"Uncie Kain!" she called, trying to get the vampire to pay her some attention, "I'm hungry!" she shouted. Kain sighed and inevitably gave in,
"Alright!" he groaned.
"Yay!" Mioko shouted and she started jumping up and down on the bed while Kain went to the side chamber to dress.
Mioko followed behind him with Chibi Kain as Kain strode through the sanctuary halls. She had to break into a run every now and then to catch up with the master vampire. Kain held the door open for her as they went into the room that had become their dining room. Mioko climbed up in her chair as Kain left her, returning with her food. He placed a bowl of chopped fruit in front of her, she wrinkled her nose. Kain groaned as she looked down on the bowl, "Ewww," she moaned, Kain went through the same trauma every morning. Raziel had fed Mioko fruit every morning and with Raziel she was more than willing to eat it, with Kain it was a very different story.
Kain grabbed her wrist as she tried to make her escape, trying to slide from her chair. She writhed in his grasp but gave up when he started force feeding the fruit into her, holding the back of her head in place. She sat, pouting as Kain pushed piece after piece of fruit through her tightly closed lips. He waited for a moment for her to swallow; instead she opened her lips slightly and let the juices dribble down her chin.
"Mioko!" Kain snapped, sternly. Mioko wiped her chin and relented as Kain forced more fruit into her mouth.
"When's daddy waking up?" Mioko asked, after swallowing another mouthful of fruit. Kain shook his head,
"I don't know." Mioko looked sad for a moment, hanging her head,
"Can I see daddy?" she asked. Kain shook his head,
"No," he sighed, watching the child's heart break, "I'm afraid you can't, I'm sorry." Mioko sniffed and nodded,
"Oh...alright," she sighed, she ate some more fruit without the help of Kain and then she slipped from the chair, walking slowly and sadly to the door, with Chibi Kain hanging limply by one arm. Kain left the fruit bowl and went back to his chamber.
He remained there for a while, he didn't know where Mioko was and it didn't really matter. Here, Mioko was safe enough. Kain lived among his human slaves with few of his son's vampire slaves. There weren't enough vampires to hurt her, but after a while he grew curious s to her whereabouts and rising he went in search of the child.
He was walking past the throne room when he paused, hearing the child's voice. He sighed, almost happily. She was sitting on his throne, talking to Chibi Kain,
"You're mean!" she snapped, "I love Uncie Kain!" He looked in on her, and to his surprise and mild horror, the spirit of Ariel; the murdered balance guardian, was floating to the side of the pillar, talking to the child. How was it possible that Mioko could see her?
Kain swept into the chamber, "If it weren't for Kain, I wouldn't be damned to haunt these pillars, I wouldn't be..." Mioko was listening intently, but not to Ariel, to Chibi Kain,
"Chibi Kain wants to know why you don't shut up," she asked Ariel, frowning at the spectre. For the first time in years Kain watched as the child beat her into silence, something Kain had never succeeded in doing. "Why don't you leave Uncie Kain alone?" she demanded, "Uncie Kain's not a meanie, you are!"
"Mioko," Kain said, gently, alerting the pair to his presence. Ariel glared at the vampire before fading into the balance pillar.
"Uncie Kain, don't listen to the mean woman, it's not your fault..." she broke off as Kain reclined on his throne allowing Mioko to clamber up onto his lap.
"You saw Ariel?" he asked, curiously. Mioko looked back at the space where Ariel had been floating just a few short moments ago,
"Was her name Ariel?" Mioko asked, paying more attention to Chibi Kain than the real Kain. "She's mean...and she talks too much." Kain chuckled and nodded in agreement, still bewildered that she could see the dead guardian. She sat back in his arms and hugged Chibi Kain, "is Ariel related to Melchiah?" she asked. Kain looked down on her eyebrows raised, "her face is falling apart...just like Melchiah," she said, rocking Chibi Kain back and fore. Kain glanced up at the overhead pillar that supported his throne, hoping the spectre could hear the child's unintentional insults.
"My lord," a Razielim vampire called, entering the throne room. Kain got up and went to the vampire, speaking to him quietly so Mioko couldn't hear. She wasn't paying much attention to them anyway, far more interested in Chibi Kain's tunic and straightening it.
"Mioko?" Kain called. Mioko looked up, and tottered over to the vampires, "There's someone out there to see you," Kain nodded to the door. Mioko's face brightened,
"Daddy?" she squealed, "Daddy! Daddy!" she ran through the doors, still crying out, happily for her daddy, "Daddy, daddy, daddy...Rahab!"
TBC