Sorry this has taken sooooo long. If you want to read the terrible and irritating story, check out my profile.
Well! Here we are again! Hopefully, this one will not be boring!
For Malice-Pyro-Valcom: Heh, I'm glad you liked it ! But I will add in some wraith humor later.
For Smoke: I'm glad you like the imagery in my work. I really try to convey what I'm seeing to the audience. But I am sad the lieutenant part bored you. Although the muddlement (Kain: Is that even a word!) was intentional to convey the chaos of the battle; yes, I know, lay off the English class crap…
Raziel, accompanied by his brothers: (irate huff) What, we're not cool enough to fight along side our sire now?
For Abbil: Glad you had fun:) (snicker!) You're diiirrrtyyyy!
Kain: Brains…
Look, this one is more gross than funny, but oh well.
The Revolution of the ReaverChapter iv: Tainted Blood
With some strength and a few tugs, the lieutenants finally managed to free the vampire king from his situation. Yet not without trouble, for when they pulled their lord loose, the brothers had used too much of their power, which caused that final wrench to send them all tumbling down the mountain of dead. The vampires landed unceremoniously in a heap at the foot of the slain mound, Kain on top of the brothers, and at the very bottom, under all that weight, lay Melchiah.
Just glad he was out of his predicament, Kain leapt off his fledglings and wildly scraped his soiled cloven foot on the rocky floor, trying his best to clean it. Rahab crossly slapped a claw to the soil.
"Damn static forces!"
Slowly the rest of the brothers came to their feet, yet the youngest needed help. Raziel and Turel hoisted him to his feet; all the while he muttered curses and insults. After successfully patting the dust from themselves, they turned to find Kain already intently studying his map. Zephon looked to the sky, only to catch the last light of the sun before it sank beneath the horizon.
It was night and they were hungry.
They crowded around their sire, save one, who stared at a felled body of a zombie: Dumah. It was just recently slain; red sludgy blood leaked from various abrasions and lesions. The lumbering vampire's stomach growled loudly. He could not help but lick his lips as the gelatinous fluid oozed from the cadaver. He glanced around. Kain and the rest seemed still occupied as to where they shall go next. Somehow, Dumah knew touching these dead was ill-witted, feeding or otherwise; after all, would not his lord and brethren had done so already? Yet he could not tear his mind from the drippy, almost chunky blood.
He arrogantly harrumphed to himself. He had drained strange and unseemly creatures on previous occasions. Some time ago, when Dumah was still a fledgling, he wandered from the Sanctuary and managed to lose himself in a deep forest for a good week. Luckily, his lord had taught him how to be silent. Yet all the humans around his area were too well armed to attack without the risk of death. After finding himself in a farmer's pasture, he discovered an enormous flock of sheep under the guard of a single dog. After felling that nuisance, he slaughtered a few livestock, fed, and sought cover under the canopy of trees.
A few days later from this, Kain finally found him wandering the same forest, very dirty and very hungry. The vampire king took him back to Sanctuary where he tended to his hunger and assorted diminutive wounds. The instant he was completely fit, Kain assaulted him with loud angry shouts. He made it a point to give Dumah nothing but the harshest torment without directly striking him to show his other children what happens when one makes the busy overlord worry over something completely one's fault.
He shuddered from the memory. Still, he will feed. Picking up the slain zombie, he sank his fangs into its neck, forcibly sucking. The viscosity of the being's blood was something to be left desired, and it tasted quite peculiar, yet he did not care. It was filling and that was all that mattered.
Slightly raised voices from his company broke his thoughts. He dropped the body. His brothers were becoming quite impatient with their thirst and wished not to travel much further to sate it, yet Kain still insisted the next township should be at least somewhere 'away from the edge of oblivion', as according to the vampire king. Dumah suppressed a hearty chuckle; how terribly his master hated backwater villages! "Lord Kain, what about Mournfair? That is a nearby city, correct?"
Kain, regarding his servant with an unreadable expression, as always, blinked. "That's retarded." He returned to studying his map.
"How so?" Dumah pouted.
The others turned to face the outspoken one, and they stared at each other silently for some time before someone finally spoke. "Is that not the city the humans built upon rafts over the Lake of Tears," Zephon aridly reminded.
Dumah tried to protest, stating they were experienced enough to not fall into the water, yet Raziel cut him short. "It has nothing to do with our discretion," he explained annoyed, "but with how long our kind has not made ourselves superior there. No one more important than a few lowly traveling vampires has seen need to journey this far north for two centuries; who knows how the local inhabitants shall react to our arrival?"
Dumah stared at his feet, defeated. Sometimes he felt rather dejected.
Perceiving the small whine from his towering son, Kain shook his head. He had always intended for his fledglings to feel equal in respect, even if it was not true. The vampire king sighed. "Dumah, under normal circumstances, I would heed your advice and proceed there," he soothed. Dumah's frown washed away into a beaming grin. "If you would, do you have any other nearby cities to suggest?" He silently congratulated himself for avoiding another possible uprising. Unhappy subjects, especially in the ranks of lieutenants, can lead to disaster if he does not remain wary. Of all things his early years as a general has taught, this was possibly the most important lesson to Kain.
Still smiling, Dumah placed his claw to his chin. Kain had asked his recommendation, and he was not about to disappoint him. He took a deep breath and started to give the subject matter as much concentration as his brain was willing to give. As he pondered, he felt a distinct heat build in his gut. This puzzled the looming vampire; it cannot be anticipation, so he became resolute just to ignore it. But soon, the heat grew, and traveled to his forehead, his arms, his legs, and growing ever more searing.
Although it seemed like forever to Dumah, only seconds had really past. Kain did not have to wait long for Dumah's answer. He grabbed his abdomen. A loud groan was all that slipped past his dark lips as the bulky vampire started to fall to his knees.
Kain raised his head from his map. "Ug?" asked a confused overlord with a raised brow. He glanced at his fledgling just in time to watch him plummet to the ground.
All gathered around Dumah, who still lay groaning, crutching his gut.
"What is wrong now?" Kain huffed.
"Oooooh," the lumbering vampire moaned, perspiration starting to build upon his brow. The wretched burning had become much worse. "That blood … . Something was wrong with it!"
Kain furrowed his brow. Blood? What blood? Then it hit him like a tone of bricks. "Dumah," he purred, hiding his ire, "did you drink from one of these zombies?" The addressed nodded as he curled in upon himself. The vampire king hissed. "Did I not tell you those things were bad? Did I not make myself clear when I clearly expressed the dangers of these creatures?" He proceeded to grouse to himself. "Why am I constantly surrounded by incompetence? Is it just me? Do I somehow possess a natural attractive quality to stupid people?" He returned his attentions to Dumah, now quite infuriated. "Have I not told you to start thinking before you do anything that could possibly hurt you?" The crumpled youngling vampire started to protest, but Kain interjected. "What have I always advised you? Stay away from stupid! If you look at something, hear something, or even think something, and say 'that is stupid', then stay away!"
He threw his hands in the air in exasperation. Now rethinking the wisdom of taking his fledglings with him, Kain effortlessly scooped up his son and started walking west. The healthy lieutenants followed dutifully.
"Lord," Melchiah wondered, striding to the left side of the elder vampire, "will Dumah be alright?"
Kain sighed. "Yes, Melchiah. He will be fine."
Rahab jogged to the right side of his master. "Yet I read that the transfusion of saliva or blood would turn one into a cursed undead oneself."
Once again, Kain sighed. "He is already a cursed undead. How undead can one man become? He will be fine; his only punishment is a stomach ache that will plague him for some time, likely a few hours." He decided to change Dumah's position; he threw him over his shoulder. "Come my servants; we will be proceeding to Mournfair after all."
Kain: Damn! Why is Dumah so stupid?
Isn't he anyway?
Kain: Yes, but really! (just remembering) But wait; 'static forces'?
That is the force required to break the friction force in order to move an object at rest.
Kain: Physics? Why!
I don't know; Rahab seems the type to have read something about it. Plus, it is good to have smart people humor once in a while…
Kain: Not that you are one as such…
…
So what, no innuendos?
Kain: None that I noticed. (to you! Yes you!) Review this! 'Twould make her happy.
