Shiwolf: Hey, long time, no see! :) I appreciate you're still keeping up with the story. Just out of curiosity, are you going to continue yours?

bahamut: My last chapter was a little rushed. Don't worry, I was planning on making them longer! Fanfiction probably has only so many chapters you can use.

Shiva: Yeah, Kain and "cute" usually don't go together, but it's fun to explore it. Anyway, I appreciate your reviews!

Varewolf: Grammatical errors are never good. I'm actually a little obsessive when it comes to proofreading. Well, I'm glad you're enjoying the fic!

Agent-G: Raziel's return is in the works. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to do it. But this chapter deals with something else of Raziel's…

January 20

Everything is the same, but it's not. At long last, Dumah and Zephon sheathed their swords and now there is an unnatural silence in the land. No word if they'll be back. Zephon firmly plants himself in his Cathedral and has his food brought to him by his children and meek vampire worshippers. Dumah is consolidating his power and delights in razing nearby nameless human villages. However, he seems not up to the task of challenging Kain's power. Perhaps he knows that half of the vampires in Nosgoth is still loyal to their ruler and does not want to suffer the possible indignation of losing a war. As for me, I am the displaced one. At least, the long tension in Nosgoth has broken at last. Except for the Razielim. They…

            A firm knock on my door disturbed me from my reflecting. Sighing, I snapped the sparingly used journal shut and hid it under my mattress. A juvenile place, but it served in the little time allotted. "You may enter," I called out graciously. I felt no fear at saying this, for I also had a dagger under the mattress for possible unkind callers. 

            The door opened and a now customary figure shuffled through. It was Deborah, my "servant". It was still hard for me to label her as such. I had not desired a servant, but Kain insisted. Deborah was the nervous sort, but moved and conducted herself with a hidden grace. Deborah was a very young Razielim, not even six months old. I would have preferred one from an alternative Clan for obvious reasons, but Kain made the decision, not I. Yet another mystery I would have to solve.

            Deborah was a beauty in the classic sense. Those tilted silver eyes were as bright as the stars and that glossy ginger mane reminded me of ambers. She wore a simple white dress with a laced bodice. Her hair had been pulled back with an orange silk ribbon so as not to get in the way of her job.  

            "Good Evening, miss," she greeted me warmly.

            " Good Evening, Deborah," I replied.

            "I came in to see if you needed anything. Does the fire need more wood?"

            "It does feel a bit cold in here," I said obligingly. In reality, I thought the temperature perfect, but Deborah loved having work to do, as I soon found out. If I assured her everything was fine and her services were not needed at the moment, she hung around my door, pouting slightly. Even though it was wrong, in my mind anyway, to lord over this girl, I rather enjoyed some of it. Finally, there was a vampire that was younger than I.

            "How are you tonight, Deborah?" I asked conversationally.

            Deborah smiled at me shyly. "Quite well, miss. Although, I can't say the same for my kin."

            "You mean the Razielim?"

            "Yes. It's so much more cheerful here in Sanctuary than in my city." In the back of my mind, I thought Deborah mentally deficient. Sanctuary? Happy?

            "Well, that's understandable. Your beloved leader is gone," I murmured, desperately trying not to mull over the Razielim "situation."

            "Hmm?" Deborah had her back to me whilst she tended to the fire.

            "I said the Razielim are grief-stricken because of the fall of their beloved leader," I repeated.

            Deborah shook her head slightly. "I really didn't know him." She punctuated the last word, refusing to speak the name. She was just like the others in this regard. "I was Made scarcely two months before the execution. I only saw him two, possibly three times. I never spoke to him personally. He was always surrounded by admirers, or his brothers."

            Or me. "So, how did you come to work in these halls?"

            Deborah shrugged. "For experience, I suppose. Anyway, I like it here. It's better than hearing the depressing rumors."

            I was alert at once, for some of these "rumors" had reached my ears as well. "What rumors?"

            "That my race is damned. As our leader fell, so will we all."

            Deborah's back had stiffened and her voice had a strained edge to it. This topic was obviously difficult for her to speak about, so I decided to drop it. There were other ways to get information. Before I could get a word in edgewise, Deborah chattered on. "In any case, it certainly is a privilege to work for the lady of the house."

            I froze. "Really?" Most likely, she means the mistress of the house.

            Deborah had the audacity to giggle. "Of course. Everyone knows you're the uncrowned Empress of Nosgoth." With an uncharacteristic mischievous gleam in here eye, Deborah turned to face me. "Surely, you must know."

            "Actually, I don't. This is the first I'm hearing about it." My tone took on a hardened edge.

                  "Oh, I did not mean to upset you, miss. It's just silly talk." Deborah immediately dropped her eyes to the floor. "I'll just be hurrying along."

            I watched as Deborah scuttled out of the room. After all this time, I still did not know what to make of her. She seemed so meek, yet I sensed something devious about her. It was becoming more apparent with every passing night. In fact, I wished to turn her out of my service. Unfortunately, I had to take the matter to the king himself.

            I wandered out of my chamber to the door with the scarlet bat wings that I dreaded. Kain told me that I could walk in anytime I chose, but to be on the safe side, I knocked.

            "Enter," a voice informed me.

            I opened the door and walked inside the familiar interior. Kain was seated at his desk writing something vigorously, almost as if he were taking notes. Seconds later, he stopped and looked up at me. "Yes, Marina? Is something wrong? Did you need something?"

            "It's about Deborah, Kain. She has been telling me unsettling things. I wish to turn her out of my service."

            In reply, Kain motioned to a chair for me to sit upon. "Let us discuss this further, then."

            I sank down into the plush red velvet, watching Kain direct a smile towards me. It did not comfort me. "So, Marina, what seems to be the problem?"

            "Deborah appears to be the devious sort. She has repeated several bits of gossip to me and I wanted you to clarify it."

            Deborah seems to have forgotten her place; that much is certain. I wouldn't tolerate it. But, what exactly did she tell you?"

            "She told me that her Clan feels that they are damned; that they are to be destroyed."

            Kain smirked. "No doubt. Rumors circulate like wildfire. But, somehow, I feel that there is something more. What did Deborah say that truly upset you?"

            Again it felt like I was embroiled in a chess game of words, and Kain was the more experienced player. What else could I do but forfeit? "Deborah said that I was your Empress. The "lady of the house," as she put it."

            "And this upsets you?"

            "People should not make such assumptions. That girl should be—"     

            "Disciplined?" Kain inquired.

            "Sent home," I corrected him.

            "To the Razielim lands? No. I'd watch her here."

            "But she seems so innocent!" I blurted, surprising myself by coming to her defense.   

            "So does a rosebush, but one does not always see the thorns," Kain countered. "And to answer the question, I do not consider you my Empress. I am in no need of a co-ruler, especially now. To me, you are a goddess, a goddess of the night. That's how I first envisioned you."

            "What will become of the Razielim?" I pressed, not letting flattery throw me off.

            "Kain sighed. He did that a lot now, as if keeping this Empire together was making him weary. "If they cannot help themselves, they will be picked clean by the other Clans, I suppose. The Razielim are becoming bitter. Personally, I wouldn't trust a one of them. With no touchstone, they are turning as corrupt as the Pillars."

            Then, why did you hire one to be my servant? I wanted to ask this, but I held my tongue. I silently pulled myself together and nodded. "I understand, Kain. I wish to return to my chambers now."

            I was aware of Kain's eyes on me as I left the room and made the trek back to my own. As I did so, I noticed the guards pacing the corridors were Rahabim and Turelim. Where the Razielim were once the most loyal and respected, they were now the outcasts. No wonder they were soured. When I approached my door, I immediately noticed that my door was left ajar. Who had been in here?

            Cautiously, I stepped inside, anticipating an attack, but none came. I noticed that my drawers had been rifled through and the bed sheets had been hastily rearranged. A coldness seeped through me; the coldness of knowing. Of accusation. I knew who had been in here. I could just imagine her excuse for having come in here. Oh, I was polishing your jewelry, miss. Oh, I could not find the candlesticks. There was a rat…

            Indeed there was a rat. To confirm this, I spied an orange silk ribbon unfurled on the floor. Someone was quite careless, weren't they? I lifted up the mattress and saw that my journal was not in the same place. Not to mention that my dagger was missing. Of course.

            I snatched up the ribbon. From behind me, I felt a presence in the doorway. I spun around to see Kain lounging there. Wordlessly, I held up the ribbon. He shook his head. "You see what I mean, Marina? The Razielim are not to be trusted. It's only a matter of time."

(   )

            It was inevitable what happened next. Slowly, but surely, the Razielim population was declining. There were innumerable counts of cruelty, such as mass executions and many quiet ones also. Deborah was one of the first. She sneaked into Kain's room and tried to stab him while he slept. Unluckily for her, he was only pretending to be deep in repose. She too was marched off into the Abyss with the others--for betrayal. Consequently, we found my dagger at last.

            Worse still were the bounty hunters, members of other Clans, seeking to gain favor by nabbing a few Razielim. The Turelim took the most part in this, gleefully turning over their disgraced brothers that were for so long preferential over themselves.

            We could look at this matter anyway we wished, but this fact remained certain. Ultimately, we were the monsters and the unfaithful and treacherous Razielim were the martyrs. But were they a true threat? Deborah was only one Razielim out of a race of hundreds.  

            As the storms lifted and more pleasant weather graced our world, the internal storms raging within me brewed more wickedly. The persecution of the Razielim only added to my guilt. However, I had not contributed to the apprehension of Deborah. Still, I was present. And I couldn't blame Kain anymore, for I had come to the same chilling conclusion as he. To prevent war and to protect our existence, the Razielim had to be dealt with. Imagine what Raziel would think now, his corpse and once glorious wings disintegrated, his children slain, and his lands derelict!

            I did not witness the executions, personally. Raziel's was enough. Besides, I didn't want anyone to have reason to suspect me. I kept a calm composure during the long nights ahead. I had even befriended a few of the guards. But, I would let not a one of them too close, lest they have a trick or two up their sleeves.

            Most days it was too bright and glaring for me, or any other vampire to sleep. It was such a hopeless situation, that I spent much of the next week in my chambers. Something that had not gone unnoticed by the master of the house. Kain always found someway or some reason to visit me. He expressed such heartfelt concern, it was nearly impossible to consider it could all be an act. I knew I had to move on and go forward in this new world, corrupt as it was, but it seemed the only thing I could do was to mourn, and endeavor to figure out Fate itself. Indeed, some nights, I felt as if entire constellations of stars had shifted positions

            On some particularly bad evenings where regret and worry consumed me, I wept, and there was always a figure in the darkness aware of it. Yes, the same hand that had instructed his eldest to be executed comforted me. Now, as Kain held my shivering form in an attempt to soothe me, I wondered exactly what he was. First, he was my rescuer, then my lover, my possible enemy, and now…maybe all three. Or, perhaps, not any.

            The only thing certain was that the future would continue. And I would have to discover my role in it.