They wouldn't Believe You
Disclaimer: I did it! I have the deeds! I have the copyright! Its mine! All mine! MUHAHAHAHA! ...er.../sees The Hoard Of Angry Evil Lawyers Of Deathtm/ Yikes! Take it, take it! I don't want it, I never wanted it! I, er, umm /grabs random reader/ She gave them to me! She made me do it! Not mine, not mine, not mine! ./runs and hides/
AN: If any of you were thinking that we haven't been seeing much of Kain and Raziel so far this chapter should help with that. Actually, having more of Kain in this chapter has encouraged me with my grammar and punctuation, the Great Lord Kain does not have bad punctuation, damn it! He is very insistent on that point and non too pleased that I can get such things muddled but I'm trying, really! Down side to having more of Kain and Raziel in this chapter is that I am that much more nervous about posting it. I can do what ever the hell I like with my original characters but if I mess up with the game characters im liable to be eaten alive! So yeah, quaking in my trainers here (I don't do boots, trainers are better for running away lol).
Huge thank you to all my reader and reviewers, means a lot that you are sticking with this and apparantly enjoying it!
Warning, please read: This story is heading into darker territory now and will probably continue along those lines for a while, if that doesn't appeal to you and you continue reading regardless don't blame me, you have been warned.
Chapter 5: Into the dark
The police had come, of course they had.
Shortly after Dan had set her down in the living room, asking one of the girls there to keep an eye on her, Brianne heard the sirens.
What are they going to do? What will they make of the body? He was drained of his blood, even I could see that, would have known even if I was not so sure of the killer...god, he's really dead...
She could hear people at the front door, someone was being shown in, show to the kitchen, to the basement.
She bolted.
Ignoring the shouts of her sitter, she tore out of the room and toward the stairs. As she went she glimpsed a uniformed officer down the hall.
Charging up the stairs, her earlier slip forgotten, Brianne reached her room in record time. Bursting through the door she was lucky she didn't fall down again.
Brianne collided bodily with Kain, which as far as Brianne was concerned was right up there with running head first into brick walls. The door had closed behind her as soon as she entered the room. Leaning back against the old wood, which had far more give in it than the being stood in front of her, Brianne took a moment to clear the stars from her vision.
"I think it is time we left." He growled.
"Wha- what?"
Kain actually rolled his eyes at her as he grabbed her arm, leading her towards the window. "I said, it's time we left. Pay attention girl."
"What? You- you cant be serious!" She protested, as she dug her heals in. All she got for her troubles was yet another stumble that had her clinging to his arm to remain upright. Ok, so physical intervention, stupid and foolish. She tried reasoning with him next. "Where would we go? How would we get from place to place? Where would we stay? What about my friends? My family?" He was looking out the window now, barely paying any attention to her protests. "If I run that would be considered suspect! They would think I did it, they would be looking for me!"
Kain did look back at that. "I'd like to see them try to track you while you are with me. There are always places to hide."
"But it doesn't work like that here!"
"And why not?"
"Well- well there are people everywhere for starters! It would just be a matter of time before I was seen and... and," she looked around, "where is Raziel?"
"The basement."
"What!" She almost screeched.
"Be quiet girl!" He hissed.
"But, but, that place will be crawling with police! What was he thinking!" She hissed back.
Kain sighed, clearly irritated now. "He was talking about a spirit, hiding in the shadows down there. That boy found us while Raziel was trying to track it, when he screamed Raziel refused to give up its trail. I left him down there to get you." He was looking out the window again, ducking back in quickly before a police man walked round the corner of the house.
"Look, I appreciate the concern," if that was what it was, "but trust me, the safest and easiest way out of this mess is to wait it out. There is nothing aside from my being here to give them any reason to think I killed that boy so a couple of rounds of standard questioning and they should leave me alone, no problem!"
Kain turned on her then, terrifying. "Do you honestly think this is going to be a onetime occurrence, that I would be going hungry while I am in this world? Did it actually slip your mind as to what I am?" He snapped at her. "I can not live on bread and water Brianne, don't expect me to even try. " Brianne could feel the blood drain from her face as she cottoned on to what he was saying and where this was leading. "That body is only the first, there will be another and another, as many as it takes to satisfy my hunger. Now trust me when I say from experience, if we are going to stay hidden, we need to keep those bodies spread as far and wide as possible, staying here is hardly going to help. Now come!"
Wordlessly she allowed kain to take her arm again, pulling her close as he put one foot on the sill. She didn't know what to say, what to think.
Bang, bang, bang!
"Brianne! Brianne! We need you down stairs now!"
Kain spun round to face the door, bringing Brianne with him, a snarl on his lips.
The handle of the door rattled but would not open; when it had shut earlier it must have been locked as well.
"Brianne, come on! Open up! You need to come down stairs now!"
Pushing Brianne aside Kain made to advance on the door, his patience having run out.
Panicking, Brianne threw herself between him and the door, cringing in the face of his upraised hand as he had prepared to blast the door down. A couple of adrenalin filled moments passed in which Brianne feared for her life. Instead Kain pulled her roughly aside but she clung to him, whispering desperately, "Please! Please don't! It'll make this worse, just leave it! Let me handle this!"
"Brianne, are you alright in there?" Called the voice for the other side of the door.
"Im coming! Just give me a sec, I need to get dressed properly." Brianne answered before Kain could do anything else.
"Alright, just hurry." The floor boards outside the door creaked as the person made to go back down stairs.
Snarling Kain turned back to Brianne "Fine, we will do this your way, for now, but if this escalates then it will be on your head." And in an explosion of light he was gone.
Brianne didn't rush down stairs immediately, she got changed as she had said and darting into the bathroom pulled out her games she had hidden there. The manuals and covers were removed, rolled up and tucked into her coat pocket out of sight. The bag with the boxes and games were kept in the bag and put next to her bed with the rest of her stuff.
As soon as she was ready she was out of her room and making her way back down stairs. Must keep up appearances afer all. At the bottom of the stairs a police woman began leading her along the corridor. They got as far the living room door before someone screamed just outside.
"Robin?" The police woman tore down the hall, leaving Brianne standing at the door to the living room, listening to the frightened voices within. Another uniformed officer and two in plain clothes ran past from the kitchen, calling out to their comrade. Outside, barely audible over the sounds inside the house she could hear hushed voices and panicked exclamations. Brianne waited. Nearly twenty seconds later two others jogged past, still holding torches.
She wasn't thinking about what she was doing, not really. So as soon as the last of the officers had disappeared out the door the she was almost surprised to find her feet carrying her down the way they had come, back down to the basement. The kitchen was deserted as was the first room of the basement.
Always keep a spare... reaching behind a box of washing powder she pulled out another torch. Heading further down, down the stairs, down to the first room with the claw mark in the middle of the floor, through the broken door and to the room with the shadows, the room with the body.
He was still there, they hadn't touched him yet, he hadn't been moved at all since she had been here it seemed. Frozen to the spot she couldn't take her eyes off him, noticing some not so little details that she had missed the first time... how his sleeve was ripped from the elbow to just above the cuff, the small gash on his hip and the blood on the side of his head, next to his temple. Her mind couldn't seem to decide wether it was aiming for numb emptiness or frantic activity. How did it happen, why did he venture down here in the first place? How did he die? Was it the neck injury or the blow to his temple that really killed him? What were Kain and Raziel's reactions to him? Did they attack him as soon as they saw him or were they (in their minds) given no choice but to silence him? Shuddering as her thoughts began to follow ever more gruesome lines she finally forced herself to look away. She had neglected to think about Kains need to feed again, possibly because of stress, fear, denial, it didn't matter. She wasn't ready to even begin to contemplate Raziels own particular type of hunger.
Ahead the next corridor lead away, the shadows not so deep now, the light of the torch able to reach the wall where it turned yet another ninety degrees. Brianne gave the body a very wide berth as she walked around it to get the door. After she pasted him her pace quickened noticeably.
Turns out it wasn't another ninety degree turn, it was a T junction, two more doors and both of them were open. Now what?
"They went left."
"Aha!" Brianne spun round, slamming back into the wall between to two doors, one hand over her heart and the other over her mouth. "Don't do that!" She gasped.
Kain gave her an exasperated look and said dryly "Grow up." He made to stride past her, expecting her to follow, or not, he was obviously in no mood to wait for her. As he moved past her Brianne saw Frederic's body behind him and she shivered, very aware of her own mortality. Still, she had no intention of being left behind and the sounds from the rest of the house were coming closer. She followed him, but kept a few paces behind... not that it would make any difference if he did turn on her, he was so fast that he could kill her before she had chance fully realized what was going on.
It was becoming increasingly confusing down there, partly because of the sheer number of rooms and their chaotic layout but also because parts of it looked like an old, ruined version of the house above. There was furniture in one room, rotten and discolored, collapsing in on themselves where they were stacked against the walls, possibly placed there for storage, long ago. Brianne didn't get much chance to look closely though, Kain had set a fairly brisk pace and seemed to know where he was going. The next room was painted, was being the key word there, now it was stained, streaked with damp and decolored just as badly as the furniture was.
Brianne sped up so she could keep Kain in her sights, not because he was walking faster or that she was falling behind, she simply couldn't see him; it was getting darker again, the light of the torch was failing. Kain led her down another corridor past two doors, one closed and one merely ajar, the shadows growing ever deeper. By the time they reached the next room Brianne couldn't see the walls at all, vague shapes and patterns in the dark was all there was to suggest that there were other items in this room too. Aware that the darkness could be down to the torch losing power she shone it up at her face and was nearly blinded by the intensity of the beam after straining to see in the black. The torch hit the ground with a horribly loud clatter in the quite that filled the rooms. Brianne froze in her tracks, stunned and disorientated, losing sight of Kain entirely, her vision filled with the colored glare from the after burn on the back of her eyes.
"Kain?" She whimpered, feeling so vulnerable without her sight. "Kain? I cant see. Where-" She was cut off as his hand clamped over her mouth, muffling her startled yelp.
"Hush, stay quiet now." His hand left her mouth, touching her shoulder then tracing down her arm to take hold of her wrist, bring it up and placing the torch back in her hand. There was a momentary loss of contact then when she might as well have been on her own as she couldn't hear him at all. Then, gently so as not to startle her into making more noise, he took hold of her other arm and began guiding her forward, slower than before. The colored glare filling her vision cleared just in time to watch Kain fade from sight next to her as the shadows closed ranks around them, consuming the light Brianne carried in her hand. The first few steps were terrifying for Brianne, she couldn't see, hadn't been able to see the floor before she lost her sight so had no idea what she was literary walking into...
She let out a sharp breath as her side caught against a door frame she had no idea was coming, knocking her sideways, making her collide with Kain with much the same result as when she had literally run into him earlier. This time there was no door for her to fall back on and the feeling of vertigo in the pitch black, of having no notion of direction or any where near her accustomed level of awareness of the space around her, was truly terrifying. Just as she was tensing herself for a painful impact with who knows what or who knows where, her sharp decent was stopped. Although, the harsh claws and powerfully muscled limbs that thwarted gravity's ambition were not much more compatible with her own more delicate frame than the cold stone below. Brianne still felt the air whoosh from her lungs when he caught her, and when he pulled her upright she had little choice but to hold on to him much closer than she was comfortable with to prevent another fall. Rearranging her next to him in the darkness he switched his grip on her arm and she felt him shift so she was slightly ahead of him. Neither of them spoke a word and Kain resumed the relentless progression forward almost immediately.
The silence was almost as suffocating as the darkness. Strained as she was and with the onset of claustrophobia begging to worm its way into her mind for the first time in her life, the gentle, almost non existent scraping hiss coming from the wall next to her was enough to make her jump. What the hell! The breathy "Hush." too damn close to her ear didn't help her nerves at all but at least she was bright enough to realize quickly that it was Kain telling her to keep calm and keep quiet, but what on earth was that other noise! Kain was still guiding them steadily forwards in the dark and Brianne was hesitant to turn her head to better gauge the sound, so reliant was she on her sense of balance, despite her near death grip on Kain's arm. Still, it was frightening, having no idea as to the cause of it in such a strange, potentially dangerous situation. When she did turn her head she was surprised when she felt Kain's other arm just behind her. What...oh...
It clicked. The sound, rasping, hissing, the sound of two hard surfaces scraping against each other... like hard claws on stone. Kain was using the wall next to her for guidance.
He was just as blind as she.
Brianne regretted ever letting her curiosity get the better of her, for ever setting foot down here. If she was frighted before, now she was almost shaking with her fear. She could not go back, however much she wanted to, firstly she probably wouldn't be able to find her way back blind and second she didn't dare run while she was in such close proximity to Kain. So, seeing no other choice she continued on, listening to the low scraping close to her head, taking note of when it stopped and started up again, trying to keep track of how far they walked. She was certain they must be under the main grounds to the house now, they had walked too far to still be under the house itself.
Suddenly Kain stopped walking, jarring Brianne it was so unexpected. They just stood there for a moment and unable to see him, Brianne couldn't even begin to guess why. Soon he set off again, same as before though Brianne couldn't help but feel that he was more tense now.
Then she heard it. A distant thud then, just within her range of hearing, a slight taping sound, like footfalls but sharper. An niggling suspicion began to form in Brianne's mind as they moved closer to the sound.
A sharp crack resounded ahead.
Closer and closer they went but slower now, cautiously.
Another dull thud and a rapid scrabbling, scraping sound. A serpentine hiss made Brianne flinch.
Suddenly she felt the space around her open up dramatically, what was previously closed in, pressing down on her from above was now wide and echoing and for the first time she was grateful for Kain's presence at her side.
A 'whosh' sound then a low smack and a slight grunt came from somewhere to her left. Turning to look, all she saw was the same inky black that had dominated half the trip here, but then, another sound like the swosh of a stick or blade swung fast through the air and a flapping sound like soft leather caught in a sudden gust of wind. Kain let go of her arm and she felt his presence leave her side, leaving her alone in the black.
At first she thought she had imagined it, so accustomed had her eyes become to the blackness already. But no, there it was again. There, softly glowing blue in the dark, just a glimpse before it moved out of sight. Intrigued she crept closer, almost but not quite, forgetting about the dark in her wonder.
The sight that greeted her as she rounded what would have to be another corner made her gasp aloud.
It was Raziel, as she had suspected. The darkness surrounded him, wrapped around him like a shroud but did not touch him. He glowed, soft spirit light shimmering like moonlight over his skin and his eyes burning in stark contrast to the blackness that consumed everything else. He stood in what was clearly a battle stance, graceful and cat like, his narrowed gaze following something unseen in the dark. A shadow flickered in front of him, partly obscuring her view for a moment but in the next he had leapt back, no delay, no noticeable tensing before the jump. Landing lightly on his feet he coiled, immediately springing forward to slash at the space in front of him with deadly claws. The blow did not land, not as far as Brianne could see. He stayed still again, his arm and hands splayed slightly, ready to attack or defend. The shadows flickered to his side and he spun round, perfectly balanced, poised. Again he did not attack, just waited alert and ready. The darkness undulated around him swirling in almost liquid motions, beautiful and frightening, but no more than he. Like a snake something in the darkness- no, the darkness itself, struck at him, lifting him off his feet before temporarily hiding him from view, plunging her world into blackness once again. It did not last and even before his body had stopped moving after the blow, the darkness had fallen away, the spirit glow illuminating him again. Twisting mid air he landed on all fours, the feline comparison well deserved and showing now as he leapt up and slashed out around him at the moving darkness.
Something, the spirit that he dueled, hissed softly. "Unnatural creature, twissted, made thing..."
Raziel almost growled in response, anything he may have said was lost on her when he rolled clear as the inky shadows made a swooping motion from above like a bird dive bombing its pray.
He was all that she could see, the only thing the darkness couldn't smother entirely. Ghost like, the shimmering illumination that allowed her to see him now would have been hidden had there been any other source of light. The thing in the shadows attacked again and watching him dance away, fluid movements leading seamlessly from one to another, then to spring into a counter attack, raw power controlled and directed... it was breath taking.
Briefly the shadows concealed him like black velvet curtains but parted like smoke to reveal him instantly. "Little sspirit, reaching for the sstars. You could be sso much, have sso much potential but had to bring it here, here where neither it nor you belong..." The voice hissed from the shadows, a part of the shadow itself.
"Potential? And which potential are you referring to this time? Potential in regards to this hidden control you are so obsessed with?" Raziel spat, his sarcasm in full swing. He spun around again as the shadow creature came too close, nimbly jumping back. "Or is this the potential power you imply I have but refuse speak of outside of vague riddles that lost their interest after the first time I heard them?"
The shadows laughed. "What iss wrong, missplaced sspirit? You rant and rave, sso ungrateful of the gift you have been given."
"Gift! What gift! Speak plain!"
Kain had mentioned that Raziel had been trying to track a spirit down here, this was obviously it. The shadows lashed at him again and ducking to the side Raziel swung low in the air with his claws. He definitely struck home this time as all around the shadows gave out a shriek of pain and, just for a moment, the darkness flickered and vanished, the light of the torch shining clear again.
It was a cave! A genuine, natural, water carved cave! And big too, the very roughly circular floor gently sloping down toward the middle, polished smooth with a scattering of small gravel toward the center, like they were in a dried up pond. Kain stood only a few paces to her right, he hadn't strayed as far from her as she had thought. Raziel was on the other side of the bowl that they now stood in. Briefly, before the light was smothered again, Brianne saw a what looked like a giant, six limbed lizard with a human like head, its long whip-like tail flicking from side to side. It was utterly black, like a hole in space with no visible detail at all, not even its eyes.
The darkness covered them again like flood water breaking its dam.
"Unnatural thing, had no choice, thosse that made it couldn't let it use itss power for itsself, oh no, no, no, it iss a tool, toolss musstn't think for themsselvess." The shadows hissed. Brianne though it sounded spiteful, angry. Raziels only response to was to lash out with unbelievable speed to his right, almost colliding with a wall that was briefly illuminated where he touched it, using it to it spring back into the center of the cave again at the last moment. None of his strikes hit their mark and all he got for his troubles was a vicious blow to his back that sent him tumbling to the ground.
"Poor, poor ssoul. To sstruggle sso, must be sso tired now, alwayss fighting, musst go thiss way, musst go that way... sso tired..." The voice was like the sound of the wind through trees, soft as it echoed around the cave and chilling.
Raziel pulled himself up to his knees and to Brianne's horror, no further than that.
"You claim to know so much about me, if you are so very keen to share then why don't you stop spinning such pretty pictures with your words and just say what you mean. I'm tired of riddles."
The shadows danced around him but thankfully didn't attack. "Ssuch a wasste, ssuch a pity to be worn down sso. Ruined! Ruined in body, in heart you- akk!"
Before Brianne, and it seemed the shadow spirit itself, knew what was happening, Raziel had managed to go from kneeling almost submissively on the floor to catapulting himself forward, claws at the ready. For a few confused moments everything was black and Raziel was hidden from view.
"I said, I am tired of riddles!" Suddenly the darkness lifted. Brianne could have cheered.
Raziel had somehow managed to pin the shadow spirit flat on its back on the floor, his claws clamped down on its forelegs, his knees trapping the second set leaving its hind limbs and tail to lash out frantically behind him.
"Now," Raziel said, suddenly cool and clam sounding, "Lets see if we can be a little more civil about this. I am Raziel and you are?"
"You! You can not, thiss is unprecedented- !" Raziel cut the shadows tirade short when he suddenly reared back, pulling its 'shoulders' and head off the ground then slammed the shadow back down, hard.
"Unprecedented this may well be but you have been running rings around me since I got here, now tell me your name!"
The was a pause while the shadow seemed to be considering the situation it now found itself in. Finally it said, in a low voice, "Ssessdorass."
"Sesdoras. A pleasure. What are you?" He snapped. There was a pause as the shadow glared at its captor (probably) before another voice answered for it.
"She's an elemental." Three sets of eyes turned to look back the way Kain and Brianne had come through. Sesdoras might have looked as well but with what was basically a silhouette to judge by, it was almost impossible to tell. "A dark elemental, obviously, she has lived down here for almost a century."
Brianne was the first to recover "Annabel! You - what, er... She?" Ok, so maybe recover would be too strong a word. Next to her Kain took a step closer to the old woman. All Annabel did was to acknowledge him with a slight tilt of her head, a gesture that seemed to sit well with him.
"I can see why you did not want to talk about them, I probably would have done the same your position." She turned what Brianne would have to call her poker face to regard Raziel where he had Sesdoras pinned to the floor. Brianne had to give her credit for not cringing as she had done. "What's going on Ses?"
"He doessn't know, the sshadowss can not touch him; he can't control it, though it iss already hiss to command..."
"I thought I told you that I have had enough of word play." Raziel growled above the prone shadow.
"I don't think she can help it."
Kain circled closer to Annabel "You seem to think you know a lot about what is going on here." He still managing to make Brianne jump even though he sounded calm.
"This is my home."
"Such things don't necessarily go hand in hand."
"I am more of the opinion that if I did not know its secrets then I would merely live here, it would not be my home." To this she received a nod of his head in acknowledgment, an almost identical gesture to what she had shown him.
"Hosstesss, I assk, help me up, thiss sspirit will not reasson!"
"I will not reason!" Raziel exclaimed, seeming less likely than ever to let his captive lose. Then, almost to himself he growled "Well at least that wasn't in riddles."
"Perhaps if you let her up I will be able to explain what she is trying to say."
"No." his tone brooked no argument. Brianne couldn't help but feel more than a little worried for Annabel when she pressed further.
"I doubt she will cooperate like this."
"To be perfectly honest I don't really care, she has been rattling on at me for hours now, I find I'm quite enjoying this change of circumstance."
"Foolissh sspirit, discipline iss the path to control, you have no control yet."
Kain almost seemed to be enjoying himself "That's valid enough."
"Shut up. I suppose you find her perfectly comprehensible, you two do seem to speak a similar language. And didn't you say you had no interest in running around after shadows?"
"It just got interesting. Besides, if she and I speak a similar language, as you say, you should be able to figure out what she is telling you with little trouble."
"Only because you have such a love of word play you practically forced it down my throat the entirety of my vampiric unlife. Well, it seems I now lack the physical capacity for that."
Raziel's mood seemed to be spiraling into ever darker places and Brianne was becoming increasingly afraid of where this would lead. Kain was clearly no longer amused either.
"Let her go Raziel, so we can finish this." Raziel did not answer him, he was glaring at Sesdoras, the look on his face was terrifying. Pinned beneath him, the shadow's struggles grew more frantic.
Close by, Annabel was looking increasingly worried. "Please let her go! Think about it, she is a dark elemental but her powers do not merely stretch to the manipulation of shadows, but all forms of darkness! Touching her will rouse the darkness in you, you must let her go!" Raziel did not respond.
Seeing this Kain strode forwards and made to pull Raziel off the shadow himself. As soon as his hand latched on to his arm, Raziel turned on him, lashing out with dazzling speed, knocking Kain back. Sesdoras scrambled out from under him, darting towards a crevice in the wall when the momentum from Raziels attack and Kain's grip dislodged him form his position. Raziels blow sent Kain staggering back barely a foot from Brianne. She yelped, inadvertently dropping the torch, its spinning light cast the whole cave in rotating light and shadow. She didn't dare stop to pick it up as she ran back the way they came, fearing a full scale fight was about to break out between them. She paused only momentarily to help Annabel who was also in full retreat and moving with surprising speed for a woman of her age. Stopping when they reached the 'door' she turned back, unable to simply leave them, her curiosity yet again overriding common sense.
Kain had barely stopped moving from were he had been hit before Raziel was chasing after Sesdoras. He looked completely feral, nothing like how he had been earlier.
"Raziel, stop!" Again Kain's warning went unheaded, or perhaps, unheard. Reaching forward the air crackled around Kains clawed hand and suddenly Raziel was suspended mid air before he was sent hurtling towards a stone column made form where the water had once flowed around it. Before he had chance to hit it however, Raziel, his eyes still locked on the shadow, used his own telekinesis to pull her from the edge of the deep crevice that she was reaching for. Moments after Raziel hit the ground, Sesdoras hit the wall close to him. He grabbed hold of the shadows forelimb in what must have been a very painful grip before she had chance to fully regain her wits. Sesdoras lashed wildly at him, needle like claws, five sets of them, drew many thin turquoise cuts over his flesh in rapid succession. Raziel ignored it.
"You refused my command to cease your inane babbling, you insisted on hounding me to the point where I felt I had little choice but to confront you directly." Raziel sent a telekinetic bolt at Kain before he could get too close. "You imply I have no control, that my power does not fulfill its potential. Well, rest assured I have power enough to silence you."
All this had taken a matter of seconds, Brianne was rooted to the spot, morbidly fascinated by the scene unfolding before her even as she was horrified by it. Sesdoras screeched as Raziel reached for the cowl over his face. Brianne knew what was coming but couldn't tear her eyes away as much as she knew she may regret it. There was a darkness in his eyes now that put her in mind of how he had seemed in Avernus Cathedral. Close by Kain advanced but it was already too late.
As if in slow motion she saw him draw the thick fabric down, revealing deadly sharp exposed fangs... the distorted musculature where his jaw had been torn from his face... the pale ridges of bone running down his neck. Long wispy trails of black unwound from the shadow like tattered threads from a fraying rope, circling around their source before one by one they were drawn away. Just as Brianne thought that Sesdoras would unravel completely like a badly knitted scarf, the first of the smoky wisps reached Raziel.
His entire body became enshrouded in shadow, not the featureless silhouette of Sesdoras, it was more like the inverse of the light that had allowed her to see him when the supernatural darkness had hidden everything else. He recoiled sharply, releasing Sesdoras suddenly as though burned and the withing threads of black energy that coiled around her returned to their source like a rubber bands pulled taught then released. Shrieking, the shadow fled across the cave to the fissure in the wall opposite, moving so fast that her legs were almost a blur. Not so fast that Brianne couldn't make out some of the faint features now visible after some of her dark energy was drained. Her lizard like body was covered in a very fine black fur, almost exactly like black velvet, long thin dagger like claws extended from four fingered reptilian hands at the ends of the six identical limbs. The smooth, black, human like head was elongated, the mouth too wide, full of jagged teeth and it had no eyes what so ever, the contours of her face ran seamlessly from the wide cut off gaping nose and high cheeks to the sweeping forehead.
She vanished through the fissure that was barely a fifth her size, disappearing into the shadows within.
Raziel had collapsed on the ground, his entire body racked with violent tremors and the glare from his wide eyes was drastically reduced by the shadows surrounding him. Kain was quick to his side, looking concerned if a little uncertain as to what to do about it.
"Raziel-"
Raziel jumped at the sound of his voice, scrambling away, too unsteady to climb to his feet properly. "Keep that thing away from me!"
Kain looked a little startled to say the least. "What?"
Brianne's sentiment exactly. Keep what away, Sesdoras? Kain?
Raziel was crouched next to stalagmite large enough that it had almost reached its mate on the roof of the cave, close to where Brianne watched the scene unfold with wide eyes. His hand clutched convulsively at his chest, his claws gouging new trails into his flesh after the wisp of energy taken from Sesdoras had healed the others. A trickle of bright turquoise-blue managed to escape and she watched in morbid fascination as it made its steady way down his breastbone to pause on the brink before it fell down, down to land inaudibly on his hip. Another drop was quick on its tail. "Please, no more, don't, the hunger, I- it's not me, I can think, I can talk, not just the hunger, not just a force, I am me, I am Raziel, I am Raziel, I am Raziel!"
Kain snatched his hand away from his chest, more turquoise beads falling down to his hip, making their way to join their predecessors in a slight hollow close to his spine
"Enough!" Something in the tone of his voice must have broken through because Raziel ceased his struggles immediately, it was like watching a soldier snapping to attention, which it probably was. "What the hell are you talking about?" Raziel stared at him, his eyes still wide. "Raziel," Kain warned, though he still seemed more concerned than angry.
"A dark elemental, the power of darkness, I am imbued with that power, that darkness... " He seemed to be talking to himself as much as he was talking to Kain, his voice was strained. Brianne crept closer to try to hear him properly.
"What are you-"
Raziel cut him off "I have seen it before, I have felt it, in Nosgoth while I looked for you, while I was the instrument that cleared the path to you and any others that I sought."
A look of horror slowly came over Kains face while Brianne was still trying to figure out what on earth Raziel was going on about, he didn't run into any dark elementals in Nosgoth did he?
"I couldn't feel it before but that darkness, that power must have unlocked it." He was becoming distressed again, beginning to squirm in Kains grasp. "Like, like," he let out a bark of laughter then, "like two bodies of water, brought together in one vessel then split in two again. The containers may be different but they can never truly be separate again, it's too late. I- I absorbed part of it and in return it- it- I- " Again a broken laugh escaped him only this time it sounded more like a sob. "I remember, the pain, distortion, then nothing, just nothing. No sensation, just me, me and my thoughts, over and over. And the hunger, tearing, consuming - but maybe it wasn't, maybe that was just me, all that I am." He was suddenly disturbingly still, Brianne could hardly breathe. Oh Raziel...
"That is not all that you are Raziel, not even close." Kain growled, "If that were all there was to you then how could you have accomplished all that you have, seen the things you have seen? Fight this!"
"I don't-"
"You are not giving in to this, understand?" It wasn't a suggestion, it was an order.
The tremors that had wracked his body before were back full force now. Suddenly he turned his furious and somewhat mad eyes on Kain, "You! How would you know! You couldn't- You," He growled, "You orchestrated this!"
"No! I never wanted-"
"Liar! You knew! You knew from the start didn't you! I remember, Kain, 'Cast him in' your own words. And for what? I was never sentenced, my crime was never stated, not even to me!" He sounded furious now, his body tense, ready to snap.
"Raziel-"
"My only crime was to exist! My dark gifts, my evolution, my wings, were down to you! You made me what I am after all, now as before."
"Listen to me!" Brianne thought Kain sounded a little desperate now and even she could see they were not merely in dangerous waters now; now they were surrounded by sharks and they smelled blood in the water.
"No! All I have ever done is listen to you, even after you ordered my execution and look where it got me! I think its time to break a bad habit."
Before Kain could say anything else Raziel flung his arm to the side, using Kains own grip on him and his less than battle ready stance to send him off balance. A solid punch to Kains midriff caused him to lose his grip entirely. Kain kicked out at him but Raziel jumped back into the shadows behind where the torch lay forgotten on the ground and vanished, the shadows surrounding him melting into the darkness, taking the rest of him with them.
"Raziel! Enough of this! I do not what to fight you, that was never my true intent!"
Raziel was beyond listening and emerged from the shadows that hung on the wall of the cave behind Kain like a demon of nightmares, dark energy still clinging to him. He leaped at Kain catching him off guard, landing a deep gash across the junction of Kains neck and shoulder that began to heal instantly. If Kain hadn't, on some battle instinct honed to perfection in the long ages of his unlife, dodged away, the blow would have been much more severe, it was as though Raziel had tried to decapitate him with his claws alone. Kains telekinesis had Raziel hurtling across the cave with enough force to crack the stone when he hit. He landed right in front of Brianne who let out a frightened squeak at the suddenness and the violence she was suddenly presented with, beyond what she had witnessed between Raziel and Sesdoras. Dimly glowing eyes twisted with uncontrollable rage met hers. Frozen in time she couldn't think, couldn't move. A human hand pulled on her arm, dragging her away. Kains telekinesis latched on to Raziel again but Brianne was already running, guided by Annabel now, the meager light of the old woman's key ring torch pointing the way.
If Brianne had any idea of what she was going to do before all this had started, all that had now scattered to the wind... now she feared for her life and the lives of everyone around her as never before .
TBC
AN: I know I didn't exactly spell it out but if you cant guess what Raziel was going on about at the end there I'll eat my hat! (so to speak, I need my hat to keep warm!). I didn't want to actually say what was going on there, just didn't feel right to say it out loud.
AN the 2nd: Now, excuse my language but holy shit this chapter was a roller coaster and a half! The first part practically wrote itself and the very end took on a life of its own! Kain was never intended to meet Brianne in her room after the police arrived, that was supposed to be a tiny mini scene, he just appeared and took over! And Raziel was certainly not meant to go mad! Ok, so maybe there was a fair amount of writers block in between but I don't care, the beginning and end of this chapter more than make up for the hair pulling experience in the middle! It is as though Kain and Raziel have hijacked this fiction and I, the damn author for crying out loud, am holding on for dear life! But the really cool part is that I have the key points of this story planed out in advance and you would have thought that having the characters running around dictating their own story might cause problems but it hasn't! Quite the contrary, it has given me more ideas and the Kain and Raziel edit of this chapter is better than what I had originally planned! What a buzz! Right, now that im done bombarding you with exclamations im going to go write the next bit, I want to see what they get up to next! LOL :D Till next time...