Tenebrae Immortalis

By Arcadia, Kain's Queen and Kain, Lord of Nosgoth

Disclaimer - Raziel and Kain are © Eidos and Crystal Dynamics, everyone else is © AKQ.

Summary - Never mind. You'll see.

Chapter Six - Brothers Reunited

A few days after that night Kain was 'dining' with Arcadia, the only thing he was having a glass of a thick, dark red liquid. The conversation was less than it could have been; something had been troubling the vampyre since the previous night, a familiar presence that was nearby but still distant. But now it was close, very close, and he was almost certain of who or what it belonged to. His suspicions were to be confirmed, as there was a knock at the door before it was simply thrown open, a familiar voice calling out through the halls.

"Kain! KAIN! Where are you hiding, brother!" A rather loud laugh echoed through the halls with it.

Kain's head jerked up and if it were possible all the color would have drained from his face, but it had ages ago, yet the look remained. A groan came from the vampyre as he shook his head, setting his still mostly full glass on the table.

The woman put down her fork and knife, turning her head slowly before looking at Kain. He looked.. well.. In a single word.. Horrified. But.. Brother..? He had a brother..? The girl moved to stand, even as the door was kicked open. Her head turned and she moved about the table to stand behind Kain's chair, setting one hand upon his shoulder even as her sapphire eyes went to the raven-haired man stalking into the room. Well.. They did have the same gold eyes.. And lips. Why black lips..? She didn't know, but the woman remained in her spot, feeling as though this were the appropriate place to give her future husband her support.

The man stood at the far end of the dining hall, though he was dressed as a noble he obviously didn't behave like one. A wide grin was on his black lips, exposing ivory fangs as he strolled across the floor and towards the table. It seemed he favored reds more than his brother did who had a preference for black. His clothing was mostly red, but there was black as well with the same gold trim along the hem of his shirt and pants.

"Kain! It's been a long time, brother. And I see you have a lady guest with you." He paused and inhaled deeply, that grin of his widening further. "A mortal, too. There's obviously something I should know about."

Without a word he simply sat in one of the chairs at the table and leaned back in it, propping his feet up on the table, folding his hands over his stomach as he grinned at them like a wolf. Kain meanwhile had overcome his shock and horror and was simply glaring at this man, his face was hard set. Arcadia's presence there was just the thing to snap him out of it and bring him to his senses.

"What do you want, Raziel? Why have you come here? Of all the places in Europe, WHY HERE!" He practically roared those last two words to his brother, trembling from ill concealed anger. The last time he had seen his brother they'd had an argument over Kain's ultimate plan of raising their kind to the lords of this world. Raziel wanted to stage a bloody war against humanity while Kain opted for a more subtle method. They had parted on poor terms that night and Kain was not one to forget any insult.

She blinked, noting the man.. Raziel's handsome features before quirking a brow at the way he was looking at her. As if she were nothing more then some delicious little morsel he'd love in his bed.. And to her eyes, she could tell what he was almost instantly. Yet, Arcadia remained silent, simply resting her hand on Kain's shoulder. Bad blood.. Oh, she could tell that there was bad blood between the two of them and she swallowed ever so slowly at hearing Kain's roar of anger. All she knew then, at that moment, was that she never wanted him mad at her. The woman flexed her fingers gently upon Kain's shoulder, squeezing gently in an attempt to calm him down.

Raziel's grin widened even as he raised a hand, wagging his index finger at his older brother. He was being intentionally irritating; every time he and Kain were in the same room he did everything he could to make him as angry as possible. Then a rather evil idea came to the younger vampyre and that grin became even wider. His gaze moved from Kain to the woman standing behind him, his grin becoming lecherous as he leaned back in his chair.

"Such a lovely woman you have there, brother. It might be best if I broke her in for you."

The corners of Kain's lips twitched violently as did the muscles under his left eye. A flash of anger, of possessiveness crashed over the older vampyre as he narrowed his gaze on Raziel. A fierce snarl tore it's way out of his throat as his eyes flashed dangerously. If Raziel was anyone else and Arcadia hadn't been there keeping under a modicum of control he would have torn his brother apart then fed him to the wolves.

"If you so much as touch her, Raziel, I won't hesitate to kill you, or better yet, reveal you to the humans!"

She blinked a bit at the words that had erupted from Kain's throat before glaring coldly at his younger brother.

"And if you do touch me, I will turn you into a eunuch," Arcadia said in frigid tones.

Her hand flexed before both of them settled onto Kain's shoulders as she stared at him quite dangerously from over Kain's head. She knew that if Raziel even thought about touching her, she wouldn't hesitate to use her daggers on him, not caring that he was a vampyre.

"I am Kain's betrothed and intended wife."

Raziel's eyes widened and at the same instant he sat up, or tried to; he only succeeded in knocking the chair he was sitting in backwards, falling with it to the floor. This brought a faint smirk to Kain's lips as he shook his head. As the elder vampyre leaned around the table to look down at his fallen brother a low chuckle came from him.

"Weren't quite expecting that, little brother?"

Hurriedly Raziel rose to his feet, brushing his clothes off before grabbing his chair and picking it up. He flashed a brief scowl at the both of them; it wasn't usual that he was caught off guard like that. Slowly he sat back down, staring at the two of them through narrowed eyes.

"Betrothed..? You're going to get married, Kain..? To this.. human..?"

A scowl marred Arcadia's features before she let out a hiss of sound.

"What about it? He asked me, I accepted and we're getting married, so piss off!" she snarled, arms wrapping about Kain even as she glared at his brother.

Odd, but she was acting like a wife who wouldn't let her husband be maligned in any way.. And she was defending the vampyre who wanted to marry her simply because she had stolen his signet ring. As it was, said ring was resting upon her chest in open view to any who wished to look.

As he settled himself on the chair again and directed his attention to the pair, Raziel couldn't help but notice the ring and upon closer inspection he discovered it was Kain's signet ring. At that a brow arched highly as he looked to his brother. A smirk returned to his lips as he leaned back in the chair and spoke, not really to either one of them but more like to both of them.

"So, do you know what my brother is, and if so, why did you agree to marry him, hm? I'm very curious to know."

Kain couldn't help but twitch in anger again; was he imagining things or had his brother been looking over her in that manner of his again? He couldn't be certain, but every time Raziel looked at her another wave of rage crashed over the elder vampyre. Kain couldn't stand it when he looked at her, she was his, dammit, Raziel had no right to her.

She glared murderously at Raziel, before she pressed her cheek to Kain's, murmuring to him softly, soothingly before cold blue eyes returned to the man across from them.

"Yes.. I know what he is and what you are as well.. And.. well.. The only reason he wanted me to marry him was because I stole his signet ring."

At least, she thought that was the only reason.. But the woman remained in her stance, arms wrapping about Kain's shoulders even around the back of his chair. But the woman had let her hair flow freely and the ivory-tipped strands of sable spilled over her shoulders onto Kain's chest, scented with lavender and chamomile, a soothing, womanly, relaxing scent.

The scent of her hair, that wonderful scent, coupled with her closeness was more than enough to calm Kain to a manageable level. Gently he raised a hand and placed it over one of her own, curling his fingers around it slowly. At that moment he didn't feel quite so alone, so cut off from what he once was.. But as much as he wanted to he couldn't dwell on it right now and turned his attention to his brother.

"She is not afraid of me in the least and she is not afraid of you, Raziel. And yes, she did steal my signet ring, but that is n-" Quickly he cut himself off, what had he been about to say? Not even he knew and that upset him slightly, put him off balance. Was he about to say that her stealing his ring wasn't the only reason? And if so, what was the other possible reason..?

The younger vampyre on the other hand was simply smirking at her, shaking his head slowly before he rose from his chair. Without saying anything he started towards the stairs, speaking to Kain over his shoulder.

"Well, I think I'll remain here for a while before I continue on. There really isn't any particular reason I dropped by, brother. I simply need a place to stay while I take care of business here. I'll be seeing you later."

She blinked a bit and looked towards Kain as his brother left.. What had he been going to say..? Something in her wanted to know before the woman slowly unwrapped her arms from about him and she pulled back, cheeks flushing as she glanced away from the man, feeling quite embarrassed.

"Ah.. I'm sorry.. I just.. well.."

Arcadia peeped at him shyly through her eyelashes, wondering if she'd annoyed him with her actions.. She doubted it, but one never knew.. Yet, Arcadia remembered how.. right.. it had felt to be holding him, her cheek pressing up against his.. Closing her eyes, the girl let out a long, slow sigh of air, shifting in her stance before she turned a bit more towards him, toying with the signet ring..

"I never knew you had a younger brother, Kain.."

Oh, of all the things she had to say and/or ask him. But it was true.. She hadn't known until this very evening.. He rarely talked about himself or his life.. Indeed.. It had taken three hours of pestering him to even get the man to tell her about his home.. But a brother.. Well, that was an interesting concept. But Arcadia already had a good idea of Raziel's personality. He got what he wanted and took what he didn't get.. A shiver touched her spine.. If he caught her alone..

She didn't want to think about it.

A low growl rumbled out of his throat which was followed by a sigh as he shook his head. If she hadn't been there, near him.. with her arms around him and her cheek against his.. things may have gotten very violent and bloody just then. She had a profound calming affect on him, and he liked it. He found that he liked her being close to him like that.. would she ever get that close to him again, he wondered..

"There are times I wish I didn't have a younger brother, Arcadia.. as you can probably guess.."

A heavy sigh came from the vampyre as he looked to her, in the back of his mind he was just wishing that she'd put her arms around him like that again, that she'd hold him.. That was the only time in as long as he can remember that he hadn't felt alone in the world.. and he wanted more of that.. As his eyes swept over her face he noticed she was blushing; lifting a hand to her cheek he placed his fingers upon it gently..

"Arcadia..? You're not embarrassed for what you did, are you..?"

"No," she squeaked, even as her cheeks grew even brighter in hue.

Okay, yes, she was blushing and yes, she was embarrassed, but she wasn't about to tell him that. Coughing, she looked at him, trying hard to look calm and succeeding for the most part if one could pass off her blush. But she moved her hand and scratched at the back of her neck before coughing.

"Well.. He seems to be something of a lecherous bastard.. Your brother that is.."

Looking up at her he couldn't help but smile faintly. He knew instinctively that she was lying when she answered him, he didn't even need to be a vampyre to figure that out. When she spoke again he simply nodded, giving a heavy sigh before looking towards the stairs and frowning deeply.

"Yes, that he is.. there are times when I wonder if he even is my brother.."

He shook his head slowly before looking back to her again and brushed his fingers over her cheek lightly. The warmth of it was a wonderful contrast to the coolness of his own skin.. For a moment he wondered what it would be like to feel her entire warm, naked body against his own.. and he blinked, forcing the thought into the back of his mind. He could hardly believe that he had just thought that..