A/N – I started this chap last month and then went back to it recently so if it doesn't flow I apologise I tried…

Darth – I hope so too x

Smoke – Thank you for the advice, I am actually pleased with this chapter whether that means it's any better I don't know? x

Abbil – (hugs) thank you so very very much! x

Gryps – Thank you too x

Chapter 6

"Wake up, wake up!" Meg's voice broke as she became more and more panicked by the demon's loss of consciousness, "Please wake up, Please, I'm sorry, I am so sorry."

"S'alright," Gogandantess managed to splutter as he lay on his back, sprawled on the cave floor. Meg stopped slapping him lightly on his cheek as he woke from his state. He was still dazed and obviously so, his eyes weren't focusing on anything and they drifted around the cave, completely unable to concentrate.

The vampire was wringing her head in her hands, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she kept repeating, having fed forcibly from the man who had saved her life. She hadn't needed to drink much, his blood was so strong and rich she had only received a few mouthfuls before she had felt more replenished than she ever had in her life. The swordsman, however must have been sent into some kind of shock from the force of her feed and how harshly she had driven her fangs into his neck, for he had lost consciousness, if only for a while.

Dantess used Meg's hand to push himself up into a sitting position so he could rest against the wall. He raised a hand to the puncture wounds in his neck, they were still bleeding, but not profusely. Meg saw the problem and looked around them, searching for something she could use for a bandage. There was of course, nothing, they were after all in a cave and all that lay about them were rocks, pebbles and Dantess' sword.

With a frustrated groan Meg took up one of her daggers and used it to cut off the sleeve of her top and managed to use it as a make shift bandage, stopping the flow from his neck. "Thank you," he gasped, his hand pressing the cloth against the wound to aid the healing. "But it won't take long to heal."

Meg was sorting out the shirt she had just torn, but she seemed intrigued by this, "You heal fast?" she asked, as if to show a comparison she used the dagger to cut her hand, but the wound healed immediately. Dantess chuckled,

"Not that fast…but…fast nonetheless, it'll heal by nightfall," he looked up at a crack in the rock ceiling, the light was bright outside, it must have been about midday.

"We should stay here and rest," Meg suggested, repeating what he had said earlier before her short outburst. Dantess shrugged,

"I'd rather get you home as soon as possible, I don't want you to get hungry again," he paused for a moment, "Where's the nearest town?" he asked her.

Meg looked up at the crack in the ceiling as if it would allow her to see exactly where they were in all of Nosgoth, "I don't know," she sighed, "I need to see where we are…but I think the clouds are thinner here so we must be in the far north," she closed her eyes and drew a map on the floor before her, etching the image into bare dust. "This is Durnacht, the city you found me in," she drew a small circle, "we must be about here," she drew a line far north of the circle to represent the caves they were following. She stopped drawing and looked down at the picture, "so if we come out here, we'll be closest to one of Rahab's villages…I think."

"You think?" Dantess asked, somewhat concerned. Meg shot him a sheepish smile and held her hands up to gesture to the cave,

"I can't tell where we are while we're in here," she protested. Dantess sighed, but nodded and he pushed himself up on the wall, sheathing his sword when he had stood.

"What are you doing?" she asked, jumping up to support him as he swayed on the spot, laughing inwardly at the change and how just a few hours ago he had been the one to support her when she had been weary.

"Well we need to get you out so," he tried to push himself away from her to walk alone, but he was soon leaning back against her to walk. He gave up trying to walk independently when she put one arm around his waist, firmly so that she could help him walk,

"When we get to Rahabim, I will not be the only one who will rest," she assured him. He gave a small sigh back while trying to distance himself from the vampire, in an attempt to maintain his independence or as much of it as he could manage to without losing his balance.

In the town of Durnacht Kain's horse slowed to a trot as it made it's way through the deserted streets of the destroyed Razielim city. The hooves of the horses from the army behind him disturbed the settled dust upon the ground and caused it to rise into clouds above them.

Behind him rode Raziel, Azrael and Dumah in one line. Raziel and Dumah for obvious reasons and Azrael because he had the experience of the creatures that had taken residence in the town. Though there was nothing and no one to be seen. Nothing but endless dust and deserted ruins.

"Well?" Dumah asked, his voice echoing off the buildings around them. "Where are they?"

"There's nothing here," another vampire muttered, earning him a glare from the Razielim firstborn. Kain beckoned for Raziel to ride beside him,

"Send a scout to scour the city," he muttered. Raziel nodded and summoned one of his own to his side. The young vampire Jade rode obediently to his master,

"Scour the city," Raziel murmured to him. Jade nodded and spurring his horse into motion he set off to ride lightly among the streets of Durnacht looking for any kind of sign of the demons that had invaded it.

Kain held up one hand and there was a loud stirring as the entire Dumahim and Razielim armies stopped in their tracks behind their master. They waited patiently, some even anticipated to be ambushed and attacked, but nothing came. Silence was the only thing that surrounded them.

They waited for a short while before they heard the sound of horse hooves against the rough ground. Jade had done his search of the city but only confirmed what Kain was expecting,

"There's nothing there, my lord. There's no one here."

Kain nodded, though Raziel could sense the disappointment or relief in his expression. He gestured for the army to turn around and summoned Azrael to his side.

"Take your unit and secure the city," he commanded. Azrael looked around them as if expecting to see the demons laughing and mocking them from the shadows,

"My lord, they were here," he insisted. Kain nodded,

"I believe you. We will return to the northern bastion and plan our next move, I want you and the others to secure the city and ensure we didn't miss anything."

Azrael nodded, "Jade, Maret, Thorne!" he barked, the respective vampires drew their horses back and grouped around their leader, "Secure the city," he ordered, turning his own horse to search the streets. The vampires nodded and joined him in a raid of the ruins as Kain and his two sons led their army out of the town back towards Razielim.

"There is nothing here," Jade assured his sire as they searched the streets together. Azrael nodded,

"I know, but they were here this morning…they must have gone somewhere."

Far from the city of Durnacht, masses of demons were swarming towards the next town. Nobunaga had concerns about the amount of activity from the vampires concerning Durnacht and so had decided to move his followers on. They would raze the next town as they did Durnacht and set up their camp there. He would have the advantage, able to build up his defences as well as his offence while the vampires had to rally themselves to save the new city they would destroy and with their focus on Durnacht it would take much time to realise the new threat.

One of the demon commanders ran to his lord's side, "My lord, there is another town a few miles ahead. They do however have defences but I'm sure we can overcome them. There is also a smaller town to the north of the main city" Nobunaga nodded,

"I will lead to the main city, you may take who you will to the smaller town, we shall use it as a base should we need to," he spurred the horse he had claimed in Durnacht on, closely followed by the mass of demons as they headed to the cities before them.

In the main city of Rahabim, Rahab was reading within the quiet of his great library as he often did with his spare time. It freed him from the stress of being a clan lord and allowed him to escape to other worlds.

He was jolted harshly back to reality when there was a frantic knock on the door. He didn't have time to look up and call for the intruder to enter as a Rahabim messenger flung the door open and threw himself at his master's feet, "My lord, there is…something approaching."

Rahab sighed, heavily and put aside his book, "What do you mean there is something approaching?"

There was a loud bang and the Rahabim palace shook, causing Rahab to look up in alarm, "We're under attack!" came a shout from outside. Rahab caught the messenger by the neck and dragged him out of the library and outside with him onto a balcony where they could see swarms of unknown but clearly hostile creatures swarming through the streets of the city, killing whatever and whoever they found.

"You!" Rahab pulled the messenger to within an inch of his face, "Find Kain and tell him what has happened here." He almost threw the messenger aside, but he quickly regained his balance and shot off into the palace to do his master's bidding, "and you!" Rahab caught hold of another vampire running through the halls in a panic, "You will go to Turel and request his help." The vampire nodded, though he looked terrified at the thought, nevertheless he agreed to the command and like the other vampire, he too rushed off to fulfil his duty.

Rahab retired immediately to his chamber and began to dress in his armour and arm himself appropriately. As he expected his firstborn was soon to arrive in his chamber, already dressed for battle and armed to the teeth. "The men are ready my lord," he announced to the vampire, "They wait at the main gate, the intruders will not push further into the city." Rahab nodded and sheathed his sword, heading immediately to lead his men into battle.

"Talk to me, Circe," Rahab said as his firstborn appeared inexplicably beside him, walking at the same pace as though she had been there the whole time.

Circe adjusted her sword as she replied, "They're not human, they're some sort of creatures, I don't know where they came from…By Kain I don't even know what they are!" Circe pushed open the main door allowing her master to pass her, "They've broken past the outer lines, but they won't breech the inner city."

Rahab stepped out into the city where he could see smoke billowing from beyond the inner walls. Rahabim vampires were crawling along the walls, archers were lined up already firing volleys into the oncoming masses, although whatever it was that was attacking was hidden behind the walls.

The Rahabim army was already in position behind the gates of the inner city, all of them standing in impeccable precision waiting for the attack to come, though the archers seemed to be doing their job well and nothing managed to come close to the outer inner walls.

Rahab walked down the ranks, Circe ever faithfully beside him, she looked over as they reached the walls to find Rahab surveying his army proudly and smiling at her. "Excellent job, Circe, as ever." Circe flushed, her vaguely aquamarine skin turning scarlet as she turned back to the wall and tried, with her master to try and figure out just what it is that was attacking him.

"Light!" Megara shouted, jumping forward. Traversing the caves had finally come to an end and a light had finally appeared at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately in her haste to leave the somewhat claustrophobic caves she let Dantess go, as he had been leaning against her for support he ended up crashing into the rock wall.

Dantess threw his arm out to hold himself up and he watched the vampire leave the cave. From Megara's breathless comments as they had made their way through the mountains Dantess knew she missed the outdoor air and the sky, but her reaction now was not what he had expected. She had come to an abrupt stop just outside of the door, staring dead ahead as though the world had come to an end while they had been inside and there was nothing left.

Dantess sensing something was very wrong, picked up his sword and managing to force all thoughts of pain and discomfort out of his mind he somehow forced himself to run after her, only to find that her horror stricken face did indeed reflect the situation outside.

It looked as though Meg had been right in that there was a Rahabim village waiting for them on the outside, but there was nothing left of it. The majority of the buildings were on fire just as Durnacht had been and the crocodile demons were swarming everywhere, the scorched bodies of Rahabim vampires were littered about the streets among those who were simply bitten and slashed to death.

"Not again," Dantess groaned as his comrades saw the vampire and moved in to surround them. Meg drew her sword as Dantess did the same,

"Try to stay conscious this time," Dantess called as the demons moved closer, the adrenaline that flowed through his body seemed to have made him forget the fact that he had two swollen bruises on the side of his neck and was still very weak considering he had had his blood drunk from him. Meg stepped forward, holding her sword out between the demons and Dantess,

"This time," she said with a winning smile, "It'll be me protecting you."

TBC