Disclaimer: Sarah's mine, but much of her dialogue isn't. I own nothing else, Crystal Dynamics and Eidos do. Important message to readers in the notes at the bottom.

Sarah hesitantly crept down into the catacombs of Vorador's mansion, wondering why Kain had insisted she come here. The stench of decay hung thick in the air, combined with equally unpleasant odors of mildew and swamp muck. The vault was dimly lit; only a vampire would be able to see clearly. Sarah's best source of light was the lone candle that she carried in trembling hands, and she guarded its wavering flame carefully.

As her eyes slowly adjusted to the gloom, Sarah realized that the catacombs were different than the way they appeared in the game. Instead of a sharp drop into a pool of stagnant water, the floor extended to the walls. It was then that a squarish shadow caught Sarah's attention. She slowly shuffled towards it.

The pool of light cast by the candle illuminated the garish features of a fresh and bloody corpse: the Sarafan Raziel. Someone had placed him on a slab in the middle of this room, but had taken no pains to clean the body or arrange it in a comfortable position. His dead eyes bulged in their sockets, and his gray tongue parted ashen lips. Sarah stared in horror at the grotesque features and bloody ruin of a throat for a long moment before taking a trembling step backwards.

Sarah took a few panicky breaths and tried to calm her frayed nerves. It was then that she sensed that there was something moving in the inky shadows. Two bright spots of light appeared, and a dark shape stepped into the dim light filtering from the ramp that led back to the main floor of the mansion.

Sarah yelped as hot wax from the candle dripped onto her trembling hands; the flame winked out as the dropped candle dashed onto the floor. Sarah stared in wide-eyed horror at the humanoid silhouette.

"I don't intend to harm you," the wraith's cultured voice asserted, "but I might forget that if you keep resorting to your little quoting game."

Sarah opened her mouth as if to say something, but left the words unspoken. She took a tiny step backward then froze as a quick glance reminded her of the bloody cadaver in the darkness. Sarah acted equally afraid of both embodiments of Raziel, even though only one was capable of harming her.

Raziel made no move to get any closer to the girl, it was enough that he was between her and the exit. "Can you not speak for yourself?"

"Y-yes," Sarah quavered.

"Then I expect a straight answer this time. How can I avoid my fate?"

"Don't touch the Reaver," Sarah whispered. Her voice conveyed an insistence that it was that simple.

Raziel shifted his weight in irritation. "That will only delay my end. There has to be a way to rewrite it completely."

Fat tears welled up in Sarah's eyes. She was scared, mostly, and wondering what else was going to happen to her.

Raziel hadn't really expected the dead body to impress Sarah, nor did he wish it had. Raziel had discovered through his journeys that even if he did kill Kain, that wouldn't erase the anger that he felt towards his Lord and executioner. Still, before he realized this, the thoughts of revenge had been a great comfort. It seemed that this poor girl was beyond that type of succor, or perhaps it was simply because she knew that the death wasn't permanent.

"Answer me truthfully and I'll let you pass," Raziel pressed.

Too upset to speak for herself, Sarah once again lapsed into a quote. "I cannot help you, even if I was inclined to."

Raziel stared coldly at Sarah for a long moment. "Very well, we will continue this later."

Raziel stepped back into the shadows, giving Sarah more than ample space to get past him. He kept his eyes open this time, their dull glow clearly indicating his position. Sarah fearfully took a few trembling steps towards the exit before breaking into a run.

Later, Raziel and Kain watched as the bodies of the Sarafan warriors were loaded onto a cart. Raziel noticed Kain's gaze lingering on the six corpses that one day would become his sons, but the vampire held his chiseled features in an emotionless mask.

"What a mess," Kain murmured.

Raziel shot an angry glance at Kain. The other inquisitors were merely marked with deep slashes and stray smears of blood. It was obvious that Kain had drained them all, doubtless to recover from the wounds he would have sustained when facing such skilled foes.

"It is fortunate that little has changed," Kain continued. "Though I seem to remember that now they'll be buried with their mouths stuffed with foul-smelling herbs. Perhaps they were afraid that their venerated saints would join the undead."

Raziel's eyes blazed with resentment. "I still do not applaud your little joke."

Kain turned away from the corpse-laden carts. "Did she speak to you?"

"For a moment," Raziel said in disappointment, "but she doesn't seem to know anything of real value, nor is she willing to give me anything I might possibly use."

"Then we will need to find our answers elsewhere," Kain declared.

Janos was among the architects of the pillars," Raziel pondered. "He seems to have imagined things differently than the way they turned out, but he still might be able to shed some light on this mystery."

First, I'd like to apologize to anyone who has been exposed to my especially abrasive attitude lately. I have a feeling that Sarah is really bad for my psyche. I'm thinking that I should divide my attention between this and a happier project. (I have another story in mind that closely resembles this one, except that the character is snarky and has unbelivably good luck.) Actually, I can't blame Sarah for this because I kinda feel that I've been like this for longer than that.

I realize that this is a half-chapter, but I just can't figure out what Janos is going to say to Kain, or where I'm going to go next, or how I'm going to get there. I think that I'd have better luck solving the Stone Glyph puzzle with my pitiful mortal strength than trying to shift this stupid writer's block.

The sad thing about Raziel deciding to tell his past self the truth is that it won't do one lick of good. I love making moments like that. I'm almost of the same mind that it was only the body that made the vampire Raziel, combined with some random soul, but there was probably a good reason why they went rocketing off like that in SR2, so I'm going to act like it's still a possibility that it was the same soul.

I present Istari with a pretty dagger. Next time you lay into my story like that, you won't have to risk damaging your claws. (grin) As for Raziel and the Reaver, I'm going to take a cue from CD and not give any real clue about what I'm planning.(Actually, I haven't decided yet.)

Varyssa figured it out. I had two options with Sarah: keep quoting or speak for herself. Just because there are two options doesn't mean I'm going to stick with one.

Thanks to Istari, Lunatic Pandora, Varyssa, and Anonymus for speaking up.