--Amanda--

In the darkness, I slipped into a trance. My room was forbidden, just as Kain's room was forbidden to everyone else. I was trying to remember something from my world, one of the castle cats sleeping against my stomach with its nose buried underneath his paws. It was a thickly furred, dark striped tabby. Her warm body smelled nice, because I was used to cats and always loved them.

The cool breeze through my window was soothing. My skin had been hot and itchy for the last week since Kain had been gone. No sign of the net outside that Faust had promised, but I knew it would be a few years before I thought of jumping off of that thing again. For now, my hot, itchy skin required plenty of swimming and a magic salve that I begged the servants to rub on me whenever I had a spare moment. I swam in the dark, slanted corridors beneath the fortress where monsters had never lived.

I spent most of my time down there, since I'd jumped. However, I couldn't go into the air-filled caverns by the water-ways with my salve. It was mostly around my shoulders where the irritation occured. All along my back. I squirmed, and dislodged the kitty from my chest, to roll over and try to reach and scratch.

A cry disturbed my scratchy musings, a cry of an intruder. I leapt out of bed, dashed the candles and incense against the wall as I steeled myself for whatever was going to happen. After all, I was supposed to be the one to take care of these things while Kain was gone. I rushed headlong down the corridor, following the sounds of shouting.

Raoul stood in a black pair of pants, shirtless but a long cloak around his shoulders with Kain's symbol upon it. The great black doors that lead into the fortress were opened and a man was standing there - well, with the help of Faust, who was guiding him inside.

"He's injured," he explained simply, as if it wasn't obvious from the man's bleeding, gushing wounds all over his body.

The stranger wore thick bands, but apparently it hadn't been enough to protect him from the ravages of a monster. I approached him, being the only capable doctor in close proximity. He was still clinging to his sword with precariously slippery fingers, soaked with blood. He looked up at me; I fell back as if struck by a fist in the stomach. What had looked like a fierce, strong green glow now faded.

I thought I'd been looking into the tortured face of Raziel. I shook it off; Raoul was looking at me strangely. I grabbed the man and began to help him into the castle and into the nearest rooms. I sharply ordered for some supplies to make him well, but knew at once that even with the strength of Kain, I wouldn't have been able to save this man's life. The image of Raziel's face would not let me rest. I sewed him up, but he needed a transfusion. He was constantly throwing up what I'd tried to feed him. I never dealt well with nauseated people.

Finally, I commanded everyone to leave the room altogether. He was waking up again from an unsteady state of mind that left him breathless and terrified. He said nothing. I pressed close to him, the sudden emptiness of the room calming me - now it was just he and I.

"I'm dying," he said to me quietly. His pale face was beaded with sick-smelling sweat.

"You're not going to die," I said as I stroked his hair. "You're not going anywhere. You're not leaving me, Raziel. Not again!"

I sliced my arm for him. I knew that with my blood he'd most likely become a vampire, since he'd nearly no blood of his own. With a steel will and a determination that scared me, I let the stranger feed from my vital essence.

--Kain--

Relief flowed through me as I pinned the Fortress within my sight. All it had done was rain for days on end. If I had been alive, I could have seen my breath in a misty fog. The stench of old blood filled my nostrils, which was not unusual, but underneath it was newly shed blood. On the drawbridge there was a dark red stain, splotches... someone or something certainly had done himself an injury.

I rushed into the castle, greeted by my two quiet and unusually reticent sons. "Where is Amanda?" I demanded of them. Neither looked anxious to provide me with an answer, so instead I took Faust, the quiet one, and lifted him from the ground. "Where is she?" I said slowly, articulating my words very carefully.

When I put him down, he said in his soft, monotone manner that somehow accented the stress of the situation. "She is unwell, Father."

"You'd best come see her. Father, we've been trying to help her--" Raoul continued for him; his tired pale features, sharp in the shadows cast by the torches suddenly made more sense to me. Trying to see through the numbing veil of terror and worry and another emotion almost like anger pulsed through me. I shoved them aside, and sought my daughter out.

The corridors blurred in my vision as I ran past, leaping along entire sets of stairs to reach her. I found her confined in her bedroom. Out of the corner of my eye one of the gray castle cats sped out of the room behind me, skittering as fast as it could to dive behind a tapestry. Blind with emotion, I threw back the blankets and pulled her from the bed. Her knees buckled, her large hazel eyes turning yellow at me. I wanted to hit her; what damned foolery had she attempted this time?

"What have you done?" I shouted. "What now? It isn't enough that I worry about the rest of the world! What do you want from me?"

She shoved me away, throwing herself down onto her bed again. She drew herself up, turning to glare over her shoulder toward me. I stepped closer, clenching my talons. Her eyes had yellowed again, her face a disturbing mask of searing hatred. "I can leave. I don't have to stay here with you... and waste your precious time. No more... eking out some kind of purpose here, with nobody to talk to but the four walls and my idiot brothers. They all think I'm too odd! Even you think I'm crazy!"

"I don't--" I began, before I realized I might have been telling a lie. "Amanda, you are my daughter. It doesn't matter what I think. I love you always! Why do you continuously put yourself in such danger?"

"So you do think I'm mad," she whispered.. Her body shook violently. "Get out. Get out! GET OUT!""

"No," I growled, advancing on her. I extended my reach to grab her, only to feel her writhe around and lunge at me. Her weight hit me in the chest, knocking me backward. Her fingers clawed and shredded at my skin, which tore open and healed again in less than an eye's blink. My chest stung where her claws had set in; I grabbed her hair and threw her back from me, mute with the terrible horror of it. She tumbled across the floor three times over before turning back onto her heels and throwing herself again.

I left the room, slamming it shut and locking it. I leaned against it, hearing things breaking, her ghoulish shriekings of outrage, until the point of a dagger erupted through the wood close to my ear.

"Madness," I murmured, stepping away, pressing my hands against my face. Then I thought, What if Raziel had something to do with this? I believed nothing had been spared when it came to Amanda's sanity. If she continued to carry on, unhindered, would her mind be raped beyond repair? The thought tore through me, devoured me, until I felt I could no longer keep myself from weeping with helplessness. Once again I had found her ripped away from me, but this time there was no magic artifact that revealed itself to save her. No advice from a disembodied entity that showed me the way. Where was my gods-damned destiny now?

Both Faust and Raoul stood at the end of the corridor, wringing their hands, and averting their gaze when I noticed. I walked up to them, inspecting them, then said stiffly, "Go to your rooms, feed, take care of yourselves."