Disclaimer: I don't own Legacy of Kain or any other identifiable pop culture references.

Thank you for the reviews; Varyssa, Lunatic Pandora, BearVsChris, Soul of Ashes, Varewulf, and anyone I missed. Since I'm feeling in an abstract mood, I'm going to talk to people as a big A/N instead of making sure to everyone individually.

Except... OMG, Vare, GLOMP I feared you were dead (or unconscious as the case may be.) I got the weasel quote off the radio at least a month before it made it into my story.

Yeah, when I was writing the fan invasion, I realized that I'm not that comfortable with using real people, especially if I want to try to get them accurate. I still might do some small mini-invasions later if the mood strikes me. I didn't want to come out and say directly that Raven was Azrael's plaything. I just learned that Kakarot is claiming the #2 spot in Raziel fandom, "since everyone else is claiming to be #1." And Varewulf, yeah, I kinda wish I had managed to get ahold of ya about that.

I didn't hurt Dante of DMC that badly, he managed to walk away, and it was funny. I don't know who really drugged the beer, or why. Well, the why is because Raziel knows better than to get drunk in public, but I wanted that image, so it had to be an accident on his part.

Random stuff... One of my invisible muses decided to make himself known to me recently. I have an Imaginary Simon Templeman. He's the reason that I can keep Kain so close to character. My IST has been reading Kain's lines for me in "the voice," and if it's not in character, it doesn't work.

I also realized that this story is more of a collection of specific images that happen to follow a lose plot in a coherent universe. In addition to being able to backtrack in my queue, (chap 15 went really fast, so I have a queue again,) I also have specific images that I want to hit. The image that begins at the end of this chapter has existed since halfway through the original RP.

They had almost made it back to their hometown when Jennifer drove the van into a thunderstorm.

"Are you sure we shouldn't pull over?" Raziel asked, noticing how tightly Jennifer was gripping the steering wheel.

"That would be more dangerous," Jennifer said, staring intently at the road ahead. "The next exit isn't for miles."

The van lurched. "What was that?" Janos yelped in alarm.

"Just a gust of wind," Jennifer said calmly.

The vampires fell silent, unwilling to distract their driver.

After a few minutes, two cars collided in front of them, setting off a chain-reaction of crashes. Jennifer pumped the brakes, fighting to keep the van from skidding out of control. "Please," Jennifer moaned as the van neared the pile of cars.

By some stroke of luck, the van stopped just before it collided with the mass of wreckage. Unfortunately, the cars behind them could not stop in time. The van jolted forward from the impact.

Janos struggled out of his seat and went to the door.

"Wait," Jennifer told the angel.

Janos was about to question why when another impact knocked him off-balance.

After a tense minute, Jennifer said, "Okay."

The four got out of the van. Jennifer flinched as a stray piece of flying debris bounced off of her shield. Azrael hissed in annoyance at the heavy rain. Raziel grabbed his counterpart by the collar and reminded him that he didn't have that vulnerability anymore.

Janos immediately leapt to the original impact site. There was a fire among the cars, and at some point Janos had become aware of just how dangerous that could be. The angel struggled with the door of the first car. Raziel pushed Janos aside and effortlessly ripped the car's door away.

Janos took the wounded woman out of the car and teleported her to the hospital. The man in the next car that Raziel found was still conscious, and only scratched up. Azrael helped the man to safety. Janos returned with two doctors from the hospital.

It turned out that another hospital was closer, but Janos could not teleport to it until he knew where it was. This worked out for the best, as the wounded were divided between two hospitals. Thanks to the help of the guardian angel, the wraith, the mage, and the vampire, the ambulances and fire department were able to get the wounded out in record time.

A quick inspection of the van showed that it had only taken minor damage, and was still drivable. Janos was nowhere to be found, and the two doctors he had taken from the hospital were now stranded on the highway. They gladly took Jennifer's offer for a ride back.

Jennifer went inside the hospital with the two doctors. The main receptionist informed Jennifer that Janos was asleep in a spare bed.

"Are you okay?" Jennifer asked Janos as he groggily woke up.

"I am merely exhausted," Janos said. He was dressed in a pair of scrub pants and a gown that the hospital had obviously loaned to him. His own robes were soaked from the rain and hanging in the room.

"Can you walk out of here?" Jennifer asked gently. "I've got the van waiting."

Janos grimaced at the thought of riding in a vehicle again, but after a moment's thought, he said, "It appears I have no choice. I cannot fly in this weather, and I am too exhausted to use any magic."

Jennifer saw Janos' point. She could see the abnormal way that his feathers clung together as he moved, probably still damp from the rain.

"I heard you say 'please' as you were trying to stop your vehicle," Janos mentioned as they were walking down the hall. "Who were you talking to?"

Jennifer stared at the floor, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "Anyone that would listen," she said quietly.

Janos looked at Jennifer quizzically but declined to comment.

On the way out, Janos told the receptionist, "I shall return these garments at first convenience."

"With all you've done for us, you can keep them," the receptionist answered. "It's the very least we can do."

The next morning, Janos winced as he walked. His muscles were stiff from being wet the previous day. Jennifer offered to give him a back rub.

Jennifer worked methodically to ease the kinks out of Janos' muscles. She would first stroke lightly, then apply more pressure, and then put her full weight into the stroke. A few times, Janos had to stop her as she accidentally worked too close to his delicate wing bones.

"I didn't think that you only had one set of clothes, or that it would be a problem," Jennifer said.

"It usually wasn't a concern," Janos said. "I could wear the same set of robes for a decade or more. When they wore out, I would get some new cloth and make another."

"I didn't know you could sew," Jennifer said.

"I believe the expression is, 'everyone needs a hobby,'" Janos said simply.

Jennifer paused in her ministrations as she thought about this. Finally she said, "I suppose so… You more than anyone."

Janos favored Jennifer with a small chuckle, but fell silent when she began to massage a particularly sore spot.

Later that night, Raziel and Jennifer decided to watch Jurassic Park. Raziel actually started laughing when the half-eaten goat dropped on top of the car. "Honestly, where did they think it went?" He asked.

Jennifer snorted slightly at the observation, "T-rex isn't cute and cuddly."

They both jumped slightly as Brightflame pounced into their laps. "Something's terribly wrong," she said.

"What's the matter? Are you insulted that they misrepresented your family?" Raziel chuckled, gesturing at the screen.

"I claim no kin in that slobbering beast," Brightflame said. "There's something running lose, but I can't tell what it is."

Jennifer untangled herself from the blanket that they both were wrapped in. "This is serious," she said as she stood.

Half an hour later found them in the deserted business district near the middle of town.

"Are you sure about this?" Raziel asked Brightflame in irritation.

Brightflame clung to the back of Jennifer's shirt. "It's close."

Suddenly a voice rang out, echoing against the darkened buildings. "WHAT IS THIS PLACE?"

Raziel and Jennifer exchanged a surprised glance.

"Is that what I think it is?" Raziel asked.

"Oh no, not Magnus. Anyone but Magnus," Jennifer breathed desperately.

They rounded a corner to find the deranged vampire crouching in an alleyway. He was wearing nothing but a ragged pair of trousers and a large boiler strapped to his back. Metal hooks held his peeled skin open, revealing his internal organs. "No, no, they will find me. MY ENEMIES ALWAYS FIND ME!" Magnus raved.

"Stay back," Jennifer barely whispered.

"We can't let him run lose," Raziel argued.

"How do you expect to stop him? You're not indestructible anymore," Jennifer hissed as she drew Raziel back from the alleyway.

"Magnus is cloth," Brightflame informed them.

"That means that I should be able to gain control over him," Jennifer mused.

"Doesn't that require him to feed off you?" Raziel asked angrily. "Remember what he did to those prisoners."

Jennifer answered, "Hair will work just as well; I do not intend to let that crazy fiend so much as smell my blood. The trick will be getting my hair into his body."

"That shouldn't be too hard," Raziel muttered sarcastically.

"I'd like to know who brought him here," Jennifer said.

"I recognize the stitching," Brightflame said. She bristled and hissed, "Cynthia."

"That removes a problem," Jennifer thought aloud. "I do not need to leave his mind intact, such as it is."

"What are you planning?" Raziel asked.

Jennifer used the razorblade on her key chain to cut a lock of hair from the base of her neck. "If I can gain control of Magnus, I can force his personality back to before he went insane. He should be easier to reason with then. If nothing else, I can force him into his plush form and make him sleep until we can figure out what to do with him."

Raziel took the lock of hair from Jennifer and shifted to his wraith form. "I want you to stay away from that maniac."

Currently, Magnus was digging through the dumpster from a restaurant. "They think I live on air," the deranged vampire muttered.

Raziel knit his eyebrows in disgust. Still, that lunatic's hunger could be used against him. Raziel crept to the back door of the restaurant and used his unnatural strength to wrench the door open.

The noise alerted Magnus. "What? Who?" he cried.

Raziel came back out of the restaurant a moment later with a bag of ground beef. "Here," he said as he tossed the bag to Magnus.

Magnus' good eye tracked in Raziel's direction, but did not focus on the wraith. To Magnus, Raziel smelled like a long-abandoned crypt and was simply uninteresting. Magnus buried his face in the bag of meat and began slurping.

Raziel crept back to the shadows at the mouth of the alley, where Jennifer was watching Magnus eat.

"How long do you think it will take?" Raziel whispered.

"He's already eaten the hair," Jennifer breathed, her eyes her unfocused as she tried to exert her will on Magnus. "It might take a while."

Magnus finished the ground beef and dropped the plastic bag. "I failed. I tried to kill him but I failed." The mumbling vampire began to slowly wander out of the alley.

Raziel dragged Jennifer backwards, away from the mouth of the alley and the insane vampire. "He seems so calm," Jennifer remarked quietly.

"Let's hope he stays that way," Raziel muttered.

"He will," Jennifer smiled. She began creeping towards Magnus.

Suddenly, the vampire turned. "Ah! MEAT! Good, good day!"

Raziel shoved the shocked Jennifer out of the way. "Don't hurt her."

Magnus' eye glittered maniacally as he finally got a good look at the wraith. "Death. Death is here for me at last. COME! I will fight you!"

Raziel tensed and snarled, ready to defend himself. He didn't get the opportunity, as Magnus' eye rolled back in its socket and the insane vampire collapsed.

"He didn't seem right in the head," Jennifer said as she stared at the unconscious Magnus.

"That's an understatement," Raziel said, giving Jennifer an odd look.

"No, it's like…" Jennifer paused, trying to put her thoughts into words. "He seemed more lucid than I thought he would be, like Cynthia tried to make him sane already." Jennifer knelt down and lightly laid her fingers on Magnus' temple.

Raziel flexed his claws, his whole body still tense in anticipation of a fight.

"What a mess," Jennifer muttered to herself. "I guess she didn't have the ability to remove the spell."

Raziel crouched down next to Jennifer, "What do you mean?"

"Magnus mentioned that the Hylden Lord had used magic to take his mind. I can sense it," Jennifer said distractedly. She growled in frustration. "But I can't remove it, either. Hopefully Janos will know what to do."

Magnus shrunk into his plush form. Jennifer whistled in amazement as she studied the stitching. "It's a shame that she's such a bitch. This is art."

Raziel snorted in derision, "Let's get out of here."