Raziel hadn't managed to leave the house, but he was huddled in a secluded walkway bordering the top of the stairs. I sat on the floor in front of him and pushed myself between realms. With one foot firmly in the reality of the physical realm, I couldn't see or hear Raziel clearly, but I hoped that he could hear me well enough.
"Raziel, please come out," I begged softly.
The wraith's lamplike eyes focused on me for a second, but then he turned his back in shame.
I held out my hand. "Raziel."
I let him ignore me for a long time. Even though I was not fully in the spectral realm, I was beginning to grow woozy. Seeing that Raziel wasn't going to budge any time soon, I slipped completely into the spectral realm and forcibly turned him to face me.
"You can't hide forever," I said.
Raziel scowled in silent fury, but then closed his eyes in misery. "I remember." He looked up to see my reaction and noticed that I was rapidly losing strength. "I'll come with you."
I took his claw and dragged him back into the physical realm. Raziel sat motionless for several moments before speaking again.
"I remember my human life. I was so wrong," Raziel choked on his welling of emotions.
"I'm not here to judge you," I assured him.
"I never knew my real father. My mother never told me what happened to him," Raziel began hesistantly. "I was fairly young when I lost my mother. I found her bled dry in a field. The Sarafan found me and took me in. Moebius told me that Janos had killed my mother, and from that moment I knew only hatred."
"And now?" I asked.
"I don't know," Raziel breathed. "I don't know what the truth is, I don't know how I feel about it, I don't even know if any of it matters anymore."
Raziel was wiser than I was. The only words of encouragement I could offer was that he would survive this, and he had already endured far worse.
"Where is he?" Vordor bellowed from downstairs.
"He wasn't this angry when he knew part of it," I winced. I stuck my head through the bars of the railing and shouted, "Go away."
A tense moment passed, and then Janos silently flew up and over the railing. Raziel panicked and dropped back into the spectral realm. I simply waited for Janos to have the first say.
"There is much that we need to talk about," Janos stated calmly. He seemed dissapointed that Raziel had run away.
I let myself drift back between realms until both Janos and Raziel seemed ghostly and insubstantial. "Janos wants to talk."
"Is he angry?" Raziel asked.
"I don't think so," I answered, "Are you?"
"No," Raziel sighed. "Not immediately, but I don't think I can face him."
"He's staying right here," I said to Janos.
"I think I know who Raziel was, but I don't understand it," Janos admitted.
"He thinks he knows who you were, but he doesn't understand it," I repeated.
"I was the Sarafan that murdered him, and the demon that avenged his death," Raziel answered.
So I became the medium between them, only changing pronouns.
"Why did he not say anything?" Janos asked.
"I barely knew," Raziel answered. "As a wraith, I only knew that I had been a Sarafan, not the actual events of my human life. I revered that past only as a rejection of the vampiric empire that had cast me to my fate. When I saw myself kill him, I was horrified."
"But he must have known when he resurrected me," Janos said. "He must have known during these past adventures."
"I had rejected that past. But still, I don't suppose that absolved me," Raziel admitted. "I should have said something, but I didn't want to."
"If he truly does not remember, then he cannot be blamed for the actions of a past life," Janos said. "I would have forgiven him at any time, and I offer my forgiveness now."
"If you truly do not remember, then you cannot be blamed..." I repeated, but Raziel cut me off.
"I remember now," he spat.
"Do you want me to kill him so you can talk face-to-face?" I shouted. "He's offering to forgive you."
I glanced over my shoulder at Janos, a silent apology for my outburst. He seemed so sad at this whole situation. Raziel knew that I was talking for myself now. He stood up a looked to where my gaze had been directed. He then held out his claw to me. I let him help me up off the floor, simultaniously dragging him back to the material realm.
"Leave us," Raziel said to me.
Silently, I walked past Janos and down the stairs. Vorador was still standing below, listening to the strange conversation. I grabbed him by the sleeve and led him out of the room. Before I shut the door, I heard Raziel speak.
"I remember my human life now, why I hated you so. I thought you were responsible for my mother's death. Were you?"
I closed the door without hearing Janos' answer.