Review Responses:
bahamut: The girls are getting pretty nutsy these days. It's the change of the seasons! I'll have to check out Alien vs. Predator.
phoenix: Thanks! Raziel will be returning in a couple of chapters, but I want the story to progress to a certain point though.
Selphiefan 89: Yup, Rahab the savior. Him and Turel are my faves. As always, your reviews are appreciated.
Smoke: At least it wasn't thumbs down! Thanks for your review!
Shiva: That leash is about to be broken. Hope you have a good time in Japan! Thanks for reviewing!
The Sanctuary of the Clans came into view more quickly than I had expected or wanted to see it. The place seemed calmer now. The carts that had been parked out front had left. Everything inside appeared to be eerily still. The hour was late, and a luminous full moon was beginning to set into the mountains, only to spring up again the next night. For the moment, I let myself relax in its peaceful silver rays. The stars were at their brightest. They pulsed secret messages to each other, perhaps discussing the destiny of the world. Or one vampiress. How I longed to stay out here instead of going inside and facing…
Our company stopped in front of the gate. "Open, Samuel. It is Rahab, son of Kain."
Samuel came to the heavy wrought iron gate at once with a smile spreading his lips. "Yes, well, I can clearly see that, my lord."
"Enough of your games! Open the damned gate!" Rahab growled.
"Of course." Hastily, Samuel opened the gate wide. I was the last to pass through it due to the fact that I had intentionally situated myself at the back of the line to avoid the harsh looks and criticism. Yes, it was almost my last night out. Yes, I had been in danger. Yes, I did not get permission from the master to leave. But, I was a fledgling no longer. Some failed to realize that.
Samuel finally took note of me as our group rushed past. "Lord Rahab, you found her. She's back!"
"So she is." Rahab responded casually. "I trust the mess of broken glass is cleaned up?"
Samuel bowed awkwardly. "Yes, my lord. She gave us quite a scare. Is she hurt?"
"Does she look hurt?" Rahab queried sarcastically. "She's walking. Maybe you should do the same, and be guarding the south wing." With anger and surprise twisting his features, the Melchahim sentry stomped away. It was highly unusual for Rahab to get cross, or even to get a little bit irritated or annoyed, so something was amiss. Something was to happen. It was happening right in front of me. The closeness that had been bringing Rahab and I together like two streams running together had frozen into ice. Our bond was melting away reminiscent of frost on a window being exposed to sunlight.
"Stay here, men," Rahab instructed. "I shall handle this." With that, the leader of the Rahabim closed his clammy fingers around my pale arm. There would be no escape now. I was being treated like a prisoner! I waited until we were away from the others and out of earshot out of the meddlesome guards and curious servants to have my feelings made known. "Rahab, is this really necessary? I know I broke Kain's law but--"
Rahab's fingers tightened around my arm. I gasped. "You did more than that!" he hissed. "You proved to Sanctuary that I can't take care of my wards! You undermined the entire defense of the Sanctuary of the Clans to do something as juvenile to sneak out into forbidden territory; a place you were given fair warning to avoid by the Emperor himself, no less! What's more, you disobeyed my order. I told you to accompany me only if Kain consented. And you broke the rules anyway!"
"I'm sorry," I began. "I didn't mean…"
"Apologies mean nothing, Marina. Prepare yourself. Kain just may very well teach you a lesson."
Eventually, the door to Kain's chambers loomed in front of my face. Once a welcoming sight, it was now abhorrent. I wanted to be anywhere else. Anywhere. What exactly would he do? Rahab's grip had not let up. Not once. "Open the door," he ordered. "I'll take you inside."
"Are you going to stay?" I asked hopefully.
He shook his head. "This is a private matter. Do not worry; you have nothing to fear. I don't believe this is an offense punishable by death."
Shakily, knowing that my trepidation was evident to Rahab's dark amber eyes, I opened the huge wooden door. Inside, one single candle was burning. Everything was quiet. Shadows appeared to be the only occupants of the familiar expansive room. I breathed a sigh of relief. However, my heart quickly sunk into the ground.
"Sire?" Rahab called out. "We're here. We found Marina."
"Good. You may leave, Rahab." Kain's rich, menacing voice echoed in the darkness. And just like that, Rahab left. If I died, I decided he would be the one I would come after.
"Come here, Marina." Kain ordered. "I think we have a lot to discuss, don't you agree?" He addressed me as king to subject, not lover-to-lover. I honestly was not accustomed to him speaking to me in this manner. It looked as if I would get an education tonight.
Not daring to disobey him, I moved in his general direction akin to the condemned facing the gallows. "Yes, Kain?"
Abruptly, he stepped into the light. I stepped back in surprise to see him suddenly standing there. The gravity of the situation was finally hitting me. I needn't have seen his features to know his emotions. I could feel his eyes burning through my skin, similar to twin warrior suns striking an unprotected surface; causing it to burn and blacken. He was livid; that much was certain. "Now, do you have anything to say to me? Anything at all?"
A simple admission of guilt wouldn't do, and I wasn't about to beg for mercy. I decided to accept what was coming. I wouldn't quake in terror before him. "There's nothing I can say," I said truthfully. Stealthily, I watched Kain come over towards me. I shivered slightly and it wasn't from the cold. It was from pure dread. "I saved a girl's life today. In the Citadel," I stated matter-of-factly. There. At least I would have the delusion that I had done something decent, and maybe if I were lucky enough, Kain may decide to go easier on me. The ends could justify the means.
"Her life wasn't yours to save," Kain reminded me contemptuously. He circled me slowly, finally coming to stand behind me. I trembled slightly when he placed his claw on my shoulder. I could feel the tension in his form and the seething rage spreading through every muscle. I felt like a tiny black field mouse in the talons of a huge white owl, afraid that the slightest twitch would cause me to be eaten.
"What will my punishment be?" I whispered, closing my eyes in resignation.
Abruptly, Kain whirled me around in one swift, fluid movement so that I was now facing him. My eyes sprang open and met with his own. He smiled sinisterly. "I honestly haven't decided yet."
One could only imagine what Kain thought and what his motivations would be. I felt his eyes burning through me and noted that he was gauging my reactions as carefully as I was endeavoring to estimate his. I knew how some of the other disobedient vampires through the centuries were sentenced, execution aside. They were magnificently rewarded with a "holiday" in the dungeons below, but that was for more extreme cases, or so I hoped.
"Let me pose you with another scenario. What do you think you deserve?" Kain continued maliciously.
"How the hell do I know? You're supposed to be the ruler in this room," I retorted viciously. I was honestly surprised at myself for being so brazen. Now I would have it coming, and as it turns out, my instincts did not fail me.
"Correct, Marina, and you had better damn well remember it." Without warning, Kain's arm shot out and struck me to the carpet—nearly five feet away.
The first emotion that registered in me was shock; mere moments later, self-righteous anger replaced it. How dare he? "Bastard," I ground out at him.
"Really? I can think of an equally abrasive word that describes you at the present." Kain sounded vaguely amused. Calmly, Kain then walked over to a nearby chair and sat. He looked over at me a casually as if I were a mewing kitten that got its claw stuck in the rug. "Oh, Marina, whatever am I going to do with you?" Sneaking out into the middle of the night, putting yourself and your comrades in danger…"
"It wasn't my fault!" I argued. "The humans--"
"There would have been no trouble at all if you had remained herein!" Kain raged.
"Like your doll?" I questioned, keenly aware of the thick, red, velvety stream of blood exiting the corner of my mouth. "A little doll in a pretty dress that sits on your shelf?"
"Marina, that is enough!" Kain roared. "As usual, you are being overly dramatic. I have good reason for everything I decide. Look what the Human Citadel almost did to you; that is proof enough."
Still on the floor, I watched Kain rise from his position to pace around his quarters. "Women are very dangerous creatures," Kain mused. "So many times throughout history, empires have been reduced to rubble over idle passions. Some ladies are exceptionally crafty, ambitious, or beguiling. I have encountered this situation before and dealt with it accordingly."
"But I am not competition for your empire, Kain. I just want the basic personal freedom everyone else has." I tried my best not to let my voice tremble.
"Freedom? No one is free in Nosgoth, not even me. We are all bound in some way; in servitude to higher forces."
"Should I be treated like a possession then? Honestly, I feel little different than I did with Lucius." My words shocked myself the most. I had not spoken that name for over two centuries…
"I'm not like him because I lo—" Sadly, the crucial words were cut off. Wonderingly, I stared at Kain and he returned my gaze with heated impatience. "Well, Marina, we are straying from the original concern here. I told you that you shouldn't have entered the Citadel under any circumstances and you broke your promise. I wanted to keep you safe, but nonetheless you will receive your punishment."
I sighed deeply and braced myself. I didn't exactly have a choice, now that the lieutenants and their descendants were hearing my story, turning against me in quick succession. Pleasing their lord was more invaluable than our petty friendships. Unless I became an outlaw like the Dumahim…NO. Never. I wouldn't sink that low.
So what would I get? An execution? Twenty lashes? A sentence in the dungeons? I didn't know. My intuition was clouded by the oppressive darkness in this room; present company excluded.
"I know what you're thinking, Marina. Do not worry. I have no designs on your life, yet I haven't the heart to humiliate you." Heart? The bastard had one? Speaking of which, my lip was starting to swell. And hurt.
"Marina, you shall remain in your chambers for an entire fortnight. Your food and other needs will be brought to you by the servants. For future reference, don't even consider trying to escape. The guards have had their alertness heightened after the trickery you pulled. Actually, I should thank you in one respect, Marina. You have proved to the guards how slothful they really were. Should you be caught outside your door, you will not like the results. Are we clear?"
Kain had never talked to me that way. Ever. Part of me wanted to bawl, and run away from this newly cruel, violent man, back to my room I would now be a literal prisoner in, away from this empire and especially the accusing stares of the condescending Rahabim. But, of course, this would be infantile behavior. I wanted to retain whatever dignity I could. A fortnight in my chambers. That wasn't so bad, was it? It could be much worse, but then again, what was worse than your own lover turning against you? "I accept your terms, my lord," I replied neutrally.
"Good, although your acquiesce doesn't matter, Marina." Kain stooped down and "gentlemanly" held out his hand. I reluctantly took it and allowed him to set me back on my feet. "Now, run along, Marina. You truly are lucky you haven't been killed, or have gotten anyone else slain in the process."
"Of course." I bowed formally to "my lord" and turned to leave. As I did so, I helplessly watched a crimson drop fall through space and land on the lush cream-colored carpeting. Forever stained. Forever marred. I knew he was looking at the sudden eyesore too. Without another sentence, I retreated back to my chambers, never caring to come out again.
( )
It was the tenth day of my imprisonment and it was a trial. No. More of a torture. I was publicly in disgrace. I was allowed no visitors or even walk the walled marble corridors. The only measure of freedom was for my window to be open, and in that scenario, there were leering guardsmen gazing up at me, obscuring whatever beauty of nature I could grasp. Some were happy I had finally taken a fall, and had been cast out of the master's favor. I imagine by now the polished door to my chamber was now a sort of spectacle. A servant brought me food every sunset and then quickly slammed and locked the door behind her. It was a miserable first week, and the second wasn't looking much better. I still had four more days and nights of this.
Privately, I congratulated Kain for devising this. A quick whipping, while degrading, would have been over with. It would have taken less than a week to heal. I suspected that Kain wanted me to break down. But I would not. In the solitude of the quarters that had become my jail, I cried into my bed sheets, so that all sound would be muffled. I wonder if he listened at the door in the effort to hear it. Perhaps, I should be singing and laughing while I languished the nights away. That would make every passerby stop in his tracks. However, in that case, the others would think I had lost my mind. Maybe somewhere along the way I did.
I did have one sole comfort. That soft, indigo blue, velvet journal. It was a place to pour out my innermost thoughts and feelings—that were none too kind at the moment. And it only slightly disturbed me that it was a gift from him. The entries in the beginning were written with scathing bitterness, but eventually they dissolved into short, wistful paragraphs. I wanted so much to see the rocky shore of the lakeside that I was denied: to blissfully dunk myself under the slight waves of the greenish foam-topped water. I had come to rely on the element to soothe my spirit and caress my skin. It hadn't even rained. Oh, and the moon.
The moon was perfectly shaped and emanated pure quicksilver, transforming the war-torn landscape into something fantastical. But I was fated to pace within my tower alone, and not walk under its invigorating rays. The candlelight that was provided to me seemed harsh and abrasive. Destructive. It only served to rouse my anger when it was burning, but ultimately left me in tears with a puff of smoke when the day began anew. With each new cycle, I felt emptier than before.
On the fourteenth night, I was nearly climbing the walls like a Zephonim. Zephon. Dumah. Had their causes and reasons for splitting away truly been in vain? Perhaps the further away from Sanctuary and the tyrant that ruled it, the better. Finally around midnight, where the moon was at its height, the door to my tomb opened. A mild Victor stood framed in the doorway, the torches of the hallway beyond spilling after him. He was one of the Rahabim guards I knew. Friend or foe, I was not certain. "Your sentence is over, my lady. You are free to leave if you choose."
Leave? Did that mean leave for good? I imagined so. I suspected Kain might be washing his hands of me. I thought I caught sight of some sympathy in Victor's face, but I coldly rushed past him all the same. I didn't look at anyone as I darted past the marble corridors of this lavish prison, and no one paid me any heed. Let them follow me if they wished if they had nothing better to do.
I wandered down the mountain crevices, letting my feet take me where they would. The points of pure light above me were my sole companions. Or conspirators. My friend the moon lit the way to my favorite place. The Melchahim stopped to stare at me before returning to their nightly business. They knew me. I was hardly an intruder here. The Melchahim were far less judgmental than the "pious" Rahabim.
I skimmed the familiar jagged shore and plunged right into the cool, refreshing waters of the lake I loved. I had no idea how long I swam and twirled and floated through the depths. The temperature near the surface was just right, but the water swirling at the bottom was chilly. I adored both. I watched delightedly as plumes of the sparkling substance sprayed over me as I cut through the gentle waves. To the east, I watched the sky lighten a honey gold complimented by orange and salmon clouds. I had never swum in the morning or the afternoon. Always, it had been during the evening. I figured the sunlight combined with the water might overload my defenses. But, contentedly, I chose to lie on my back and gently float; riding the faint current as the winds picked up by the minute. We would soon find out. In all truth, it had been a long time I had watched such a scenic sunrise before.
The first rays of the golden orb that hit my damp skin were warm, but not unbearably hot. It was a relaxing feeling. I stayed there and let the water heat up around me. I was not burned, nor on fire. I was vaguely disappointed.
Sighing, I got out of the lake and made my way back to Sanctuary. I had not seen one other solitary being out here. I was half-expecting to see Rahab or Melchiah, but neither arrived. I was still to be shunned apparently. Obviously, without the master's favor, a female could accomplish little here.
Since I had nowhere to go, and the sun was gathering fiery strength, I decided to seek shelter in Sanctuary. I could always find somewhere more convenient later. I went up to the main gate and found Samuel standing there.
"I assume you want to go inside, Marina?" he asked nervously.
"If that's still allowed," I replied moodily.
"Yes. Make yourself at home. I have heard no other reports dictating otherwise." He opened the heavy metal gate and I pushed on through. For the second time, I stalked through the wide corridors that led to my chambers. I wasn't tired, I just needed to rest in someplace dark. Alone preferably.
I opened my door and stepped inside. My eyes scanned the area and I caught a glimpse of white leaning against the wall. Oh no… There he was. Like a bad dream.
"Hello, Marina. I wish to have a little discussion with you."