Chapter XII

"Wh-what?" I stammered. Moebius had told me pretty much the same thing, but somehow the words just had more meaning when Raziel said them.

"I'm afraid it's true," he said, still in that gentle, soft tone. "You're world is the one that isn't supposed to exist. That's not to say it doesn't, but it shouldn't." I stared up at him, then looked down, putting my hands to the sides of my head.

"My head hurts," I whispered.

"Considering the spell you cast, I'm surprised you're still alive," said Raziel, putting his hand on my shoulder to steady me. "Though you always were unnaturally strong, even for an unnatural being." I looked up at him.

"Did you come to me when I was sick last night?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.

"Thank you," I said softly, dazedly. Then I looked up at him again, forcing myself to meet his glowing, scleral eyes. "Why?"

He seemed startled by the question and didn't answer for a time. "Because I wanted you to trust me," he said finally.

"Why?" I persisted. "Why am I so important? Why are so many people after me? What's this battle being fought over me?"

"Peace," he said. I glared at him but fell silent. His tone softened. "I'm sorry, but you must keep your head. There's a lot going on and very little time to explain it all."

"Then talk quickly," I said coldly, crossing my arms. "I'm listening." Raziel sighed, but he could see I would not be deterred.

"Very well," he said, sitting back on his heels. "You are an anatomical miracle. You know much about this world and my kind, so you know that vampires are sterile. But your father is a vampire. That, and a powerful alchemist. Your mother is an equally powerful necromancer."

"Of what species?" I asked, trying not to sound entirely sarcastic.

"Hylden," answered Raziel, shocking me.

"What!" I gasped. "No, no, that's…that's…"

"Impossible?" asked Raziel gently. "That's what everyone who knew said. But it's true. No one is quite sure how it happened, but what they say is that you were born dead. Not undead, just dead. Using her necromantic skills, your mother, a beautiful and clever woman named Alatáriël, raised you from the dead to be what you are."

"And what am I?" I whispered, barely able to hear my own voice.

"Half vampire, half Hylden," replied Raziel, "but stronger than both. If the Hylden get ahold of you, it'll mean your peril."

"Thank you for that cheery little update," I said scathingly. I rose to my feet, restless and antsy. Raziel rose and waited patiently for me to calm myself. When I did, I sighed and turned back to him. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be snapping at you like this. I'm just a little freaked out."

"I can understand that," said Raziel. "As they say in your world, this sort of thing is "just plain freaky", correct?" He made air quotes around the words with his claws, and hearing him trying to speak American-teenager lingo just made me laugh. He seemed satisfied by this.

"This is just completely unreal," I continued. "I actually wouldn't be surprised if I wake up in my own bed with Fenrir lying on my stomach and a bad headache."

"I'm afraid this isn't just a headache," said Raziel. "You're the key to ending this war."

"Why?" I asked.

"You learned alchemy from your father," said Raziel, "and necromancy from your mother, who was more powerful even than Mortanius. But you did something no one believed possible: you found a way to combine them. And you see, the Reaver is a physical combination of alchemy and necromancy. The Reaver, for which you are named." I just looked at him. I wanted to trust him, really I did, but I couldn't be quick to trust anyone. I knew the games front and back, inside and out, left and right, and so on and so forth, but this was different. This was real.

"What do you want of me?" I asked. "Are you one who would protect me? Destroy me? Or use me?"

"I will not force you against your will," he said. "I want to help you. We were…very close, before I was cast into the Abyss." I looked at him questioningly, but he didn't elaborate. He looked like he wanted to say more, but didn't. Or maybe he couldn't. I didn't know.

"What do you need me for?" I asked, trying to make my tone gentler. I looked around. "And, er…when are we?" Raziel looked at me in surprise, then laughed.

"How apropos," he commented. "We are currently five centuries past the death of Janos Audron."

"Oh," I said. "Then I take it you saw Janos's death?"

"Yes."

"Then you know it was you who murdered him."

"Yes."

I looked at him closely. "I'm not insulting you, Raziel. Don't look at me like that."

"I didn't take it as an insult," said Raziel, surprised. I sighed and looked around. Unconsciously I started chewing my lower lip, tearing the skin off with my teeth and licking away the blood that started flowing freely.

"Don't do that."

I looked up in surprise. I hadn't even realized what I was doing.

"Sorry," I said. "Nervous habit. I can't help it, really." I wasn't feeling well. I felt weak and out-of-sorts, and not just because of all this new information that I had to wrap my head around. This was something physical. My eyes widened and I groaned as I realized what it was.

"Something wrong?' asked Raziel.

"Yes," I said. "I have a disease called porphyria. An extremely severe case of it too. My blood can't produce oxygen or hemoglobin. Because of this, I…have to drink blood. Human blood."

"You don't have porphyria," said Raziel gently. I glanced up at him.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"It is your vampiric nature that causes your need for blood. There's nothing wrong with you otherwise." I blinked in surprise, then sighed.

"Y'know, you never answered my question," I said.

"What was it again?" he asked.

"What do you want me for?" I asked. "I'm sure it has something to do with the Reaver and my ability to combine necromancy with alchemy, whatever that means. So what is it?"

Raziel didn't answer for a time. When he did, his voice was heavy:

"I need your knowledge of what has happened and what will happen," he said.

"In English, please," I said icily. He gave me a hard look. I even go so far as to say he glared at me. But his voice was without anger when he spoke again.

"I know what has happened," he said. "You know what will happen. You with your games and "websites", whatever they are, you know what my destiny is."

"You brought me here for that?" I asked. "You could've just asked me last night, you know. Would've saved a lot of trouble."

"I did not bring you here!" he said in annoyance. "That was Kain! I wanted to leave you be, let you live out your life in your world. I was there to try and keep Kain from doing this, bringing you here against your will!"

"Did a lovely job, didn't you," I said sarcastically. Raziel's eyes flashed, and he raised his hand. Automatically my arms flew up to protect my face and I hunched over, turning my head away.

"No, don't hit me! I'm sorry!" I cried. Raziel stood, frozen in surprise.

"Hit you? I'm not going to hit you," he said, confused. I looked up at him and slowly relaxed.

"It's just a reflex, I guess," I said. "I don't like when someone raises their hand like that near me." Raziel looked at me closely.

"He hit you, didn't he," he said. "That man who you thought was your human father. He hit you." I didn't answer for a time.

"It wasn't like abuse," I said finally. "I was a little kid. I'd do stupid things that I knew better than to do just because I was throwing a temper tantrum or something. It was nothing, really." Raziel didn't look convinced, but at least he dropped the subject. "Is there anywhere we could go that's a little more…private? I feel so exposed out here." Raziel nodded and gestured for me to follow him. Every particle of rationality in me, few though there were, was screaming for me to stop and think, that this couldn't be possible, that none of this was real and I'd soon wake up on the library floor having slipped in the spilled water and hit my head.

'Well if it's not real, then there's no harm in finding out what happens next, now is there?' I thought. I followed quickly after Raziel.