Chapter 9 - Reunited II
"Daddy," Mioko smiled, happily burying her face into her father's shoulder, holding him tightly, refusing to let him go. Raziel rested a hand on the back of her soft hair as he turned his face to lean against hers, he too had no intention of releasing her.
He stepped into the room, too caught up in the ecstasy of being reunited with his daughter again than to say anything or pay any attention to his own sire who sat on the edge of the bed, watching the happy scene.
Raziel and Mioko sank onto one of the sofas, still locked in eachother's embrace as Azrael followed his master in. Kain greeted the first born Razielim, who was trying desperately not to smile at the sight of the child.
Azrael collapsed wearily beside Kain as both vampires fixed their eyes on the inseparable firstborn and his daughter.
"Well?" Kain asked, curiously, wanting to hear of the battle. Azrael smiled,
"We drove them right back, they'll think twice before attacking Melchiah again." Kain nodded his approval, he had hoped that the rebels would have been completely crushed, but for the moment, he was content. "And here?" Azrael asked, "How's brat?"
Kain hesitated before he answered, hesitation not being something Kain did often, Azrael noticed it immediately, however before he asked the master of his pause, his eyes fell on the balcony where Mioko's beloved Chibi Kain, hung by his neck, water dripping off his body and splashing into the small puddle the drips had formed.
"Did you upset her?" Azrael asked, curiously, trying to imagine what could possibly have possessed Mioko to hang her favourite doll.
"She felt he needed a bath," Kain murmured, softly, still very much disturbed at looking at his image hanging limply by the neck. Azrael shrugged and turned his attention back to his sire and brat.
Mioko drew back and sat, happily on Raziel's lap, looking up at the vampire, "Missed yoo," she murmured, softly. Raziel smiled,
"And I missed you…"
"Did you get me a present?" she asked, suddenly and eagerly. Raziel's eyebrows contorted to a frown,
"It was a war, Mioko, what would you have me bring you?" Mioko thought for a moment,
"You could still have got me a present," she muttered, defeated. Raziel was about to make his reply, when his daughter started coughing wildly.
Raziel jumped, slightly, startled by his daughter's illness. It was then he noticed the paleness of the skin, the red haze around her nose and then finally, the large bruise that had formed across her cheek. Before he could question her, she left her father and clambered back under the covers of Kain's bed. She rested her head on the pillow and her arms started jerking frantically, as if she was reaching out for something.
"Chibi Kain," she called, reaching out to the hanging doll. Raziel's eyes found the doll and for a moment his expression was somewhere between horrified, disturbed and amused.
"He's still wet," Kain muttered, trying not to look at the doll. Mioko frowned and then reached out for Azrael,
"Azzy," she called, softly, holding both arms out to him. Azrael stared at her for a moment,
"What?" he demanded, knowing full well what she asked of him. She continued to hold her arms up for him. He could feel the encouraging stares of both his master and his master's sire. Shaking his head, he rose, refusing point blank to join her.
"Please," she whispered, hoarsely, playing on every ounce of sympathy he had, as she made herself look utterly pathetic.
Azrael sighed, irratated, before he caught the other vampires' eyes, as they waited for the inevitable. "Alright," he snapped. He walked around and lay next to the child, his annoyance growing as she wrapped her arms around his waist and snuggled her head against his side.
Kain rose and gestured for his eldest to follow him onto the balcony, eyes deliberately cast to the side so he wouldn't have to look at the drying doll. Raziel stood beside his lord and sire as they both stood in silence, looking over the moonlit wasteland that lay before them.
"What happened to her?" Raziel asked, his eyes flickering back to the chamber where Azrael was trying to get the child to sleep.
"She decided she would run away and help you fight the humans," Kain replied, with mild amusement at the prospect, though the amusement faded when he continued, "unfortunately, she managed to escape the sanctuary when she was captured by Vorador's brides." Raziel looked up suddenly,
"and they did that to her?" he demanded.
"They threw me in a cell and Lizabef hit me," Mioko called from the chamber. She and Azrael were listening intently to the conversation.
"Did they not know who she was?" Raziel demanded, making the wild assumption that all of Nosgoth knew of the firstborn and his human daughter.
"I told them but they didn't believe me and they were mean to me…" Mioko called again.
"Mioko, sleep," Raziel barked. Mioko snuggled down against Azrael once more.
"The human physician says she has a severe cold," Kain muttered, "nothing serious."
"How dare he touch my daughter," Raziel snarled.
"It's alright daddy, Vorydoor didn't hit me, Lizabef did and Uncie Kain chopped her in half," Mioko called again, but when Raziel looked back, she was already pretending to be asleep.
"You chopped her in half?" Raziel asked, faintly, looking up at his sire who said nothing, but the flicker of a smile appeared across his lips.
"Vorador will pay for this," Raziel muttered, under his breath, returning his attention to his 'sleeping' child. "he will pay dearly."
TBC