A Thousand Years

Chapter Sixteen: No Kiss From A Prince

All of the slaves and donors had been gathered in the main room, lined up and quaking from head to toe. The stench of fear was so thick it nearly choked me. I paced at the head of the room, arms folded behind my back, waiting for the last couple of stragglers to be led in before I stopped and faced them, raising my voice to be heard by all. "Lord Kain lies in bed, barely breathing, his heart almost completely still in his chest. He will not wake. The only likely cause for this seems to be that someone poisoned his bloodwine."

The silence was thick in the air as all of the humans tensed, glancing to each other, each having gone pale as a ghost. I made a curt gesture for Zephon and Rahab to begin searching the chambers while Melchiah, Dumah, Turel, and I gazed out over the crowd. Resuming my pacing, I cast cold eyes over the humans gathered. "If any poisons or anything of the sort are found anywhere, rest assured the person whose room it was in will be swiftly executed. Should Lord Kain die... I assure you, we won't simply kill the ones responsible. Every one of you will be slaughtered." My voice was bitter and icy, ignoring the surprised looks from a few of the humans I knew personally. If they thought they would be exempt from this, they were sadly mistaken.

For who is to say that they did not poison Lord Kain, hoping to elevate me to the head position so they would not have to deal with Kain's cold, unforgiving attitude? I had no way of knowing. If Kain perished, what would happen to his dream? What would happen to us? Yes, we were more than capable of living on our own now, but without Kain, we might not be able to take over Nosgoth. I couldn't imagine how difficult the battles would be without Kain's experience and wisdom to back us up.

I glanced back to my brothers. "I'm going to go check up on Kain. Make sure they do not leave this room." I shifted my gaze particularly to Turel and Melchiah. "Do not harm them unless they are deserving of it." I made sure my tone left no room for argument. Without waiting for a reply, I turned and left the main chamber, heading back to Kain's room and was startled to see both dogs sound asleep, curled up together in front of his door. I kneeled down and patted their heads to wake them, but they didn't stir... The both of them were in a state of deep sleep, and nothing I did would rouse them.

My brows drew together in confusion. What if it wasn't poison...? What if it was some sort of virus? Yet the dogs weren't nearly dead, as Kain was... Their breathing and heartbeats were very audible still. Perhaps it was worse to the undead? Or perhaps it simply hadn't had enough time to put the dogs in a worse state? I opened the door and stepped over the dogs, heading inside to approach Kain's bed. Drawing back the curtain, I sat down beside him and reached out to touch his face once more... But well before my fingers came in contact with his skin, his body was no longer ice cold... It seemed to be burning hot. Startled, I felt Kain's forehead, surprised at the amount of heat emanating from his alabaster skin. His eyelids seemed to be burning more than anything else... And as I reached down, I found the same to be with his hands.

...I snapped back to attention several moments later as my eyelids started to drift closed and I felt a weariness descend upon me. It must have been affecting me too... I realized weakly, too late. I should have expected this... The dogs should have been warning enough.

I didn't even think to warn my brethren as I slumped forward with my head resting upon Kain's chest, falling into unconsciousness, curled up against his still body.

My eyes opened, and I returned to the world once more. Kain's bedsheets were spread out before me, and I could see the outlines of his legs beneath the sheets. Several moments later, I remembered the events prior to my descent into sleep, and I quickly lifted my head. If I was now awake, did that mean Kain was as well...? Or was he dead? Swiftly I turned my gaze behind me.

Golden eyes gazed back at me from Kain's pale aristocratic features, one slender white brow lifted in curiosity. No doubt he was wondering why the blazes I was asleep with my head nearly in his lap, here in his room where none of us were allowed.

I stared deeply into his eyes, stunned at the change in them, unsure if I liked the golden amber more than pale blue-white. Slowly I lifted a hand up to his face - but it never made it all the way to touch at his cheek, for Kain's hand closed around mine - and rather than the feeling of five lithe fingers, instead my hand was encased by three massive talons. My face contorted in confusion, glancing from his eyes to his claws. "Kain..." I finally seemed to find my voice, soft with incredulity. "...What has happened to you...?"

"Metamorphosis, dear Raziel. I'd have thought you'd figured it out by now." He released my hand, only to slip the massive claws beneath my fingertips, straightening out my hand so that the two were placed, palms together. His hand was much larger now too, the claws extending almost two inches above the tips of my fingers. I stared at them, entranced. "I assume my eyes have changed color as well? You could barely tear your eyes away from them."

"Yes..." I murmured, looking back into his eyes. "They're gold now."

Kain sighed. "Typical. All vampires get gold eyes as they age. And the cloven hands and feet." The way he spoke, it was almost as if he expected that it should have been different for him - that he deserved better. But of course he did, this was Kain, after all.

"...Feet?" I turned my gaze now toward the lumps of his feet beneath the sheets. Come to think of it, they did seem quite a bit larger than one would think... A moment later Kain had slightly kicked aside the sheet, exposing his cloven foot. "...Oh..." I murmured dazedly in a state of shock. Kain had metioned physical changes, had said how Vorador had turned green with cat-like ears and golden eyes, with cloven hands and feet... But I hadn't quite imagined it would be like this. "...At least your skin didn't turn green," I blurted without thinking.

Kain paused for a moment, then tilted his head back and laughed uproariously. After a moment, I started laughing too, trying without success to imagine Kain with green skin. "Maybe next time, Raziel," Kain chortled, giving me a light shove out of the bed. "Out. I need to change."

Scrambling to regain my balance, I hurried out of the room, wondering absently exactly how long I'd been out, and what I would find had become of the others.

A/N - (Throws arms over head and cowers down, cringing and waiting for objects to be thrown) I am so sorry it took so long to get this out! Life has a way of sucking sometimes, y'know?

Anyhoo... I decided to drop out of college for the time being. I'm just not mature enough to handle the responsibility yet, and it's been stressing me out to the point where I've been feeling rather suicidal. So now I'm trying to get a full time job on top of my part time job at Quizno's Subs so I can get benefits and such, along with the money to pay back the student loans I've accumulated.

e.e; Sigh.

Well, drop me a review, everyone, please! Reviews make me very happy and give me incentive to write more!

ALSO! THE FIRST PERSON TO REVIEW WILL HAVE GIVEN ME THE 101ST REVIEW FOR THIS FIC! (Does the 100 hits happy dance) There WILL be a prize! And that prize will be your choice of any scene so far in this fic to be drawn by yours truly! Granted my drawing skills are not the greatest, but they're not bad either!

Yours truly, Shadow Wolf