Post-Defiance Fan Fiction: Mirrors of Balance
By: Dragonaia
Disclaimer: The Legacy of Kain games belong to Eidos, not to me, much though I may wish it. The OOC involved in this fiction belong to me however: Rastha, Kainen/Kaye, the Voice, and the few secondary others. My retribution will be swift and horrifying.
Author's Comments: You're probably all pretty eager to get down to business, so I'll make it quick. Excuses for my extended delay are written in my profile, so I won't list them here. In regards to the story, let's all remember folks, that Kain and Kainen are essentially the same person, just with very different meat wrappers. Hence, why the fight turned out the way it did.
Chapter 7: The Twins
By the time they reached the bottom level of the throne room the five able hunters had already finished stacking the bodies in a neat pile at one side of the room. The captain oversaw the chore with a dispassionate attention for detail. Kain thought for a moment that the vampires were about to be cremated, but that couldn't be possible, could it? They'd burn the whole building down around their ears.
At a nod from their leader the other hunters scurried backwards from the headless corpses, and the Warden pulled a slip of rolled paper from his pocket. He popped the wax seal and threw it to land on the gruesome pile, where paper and bodies included suddenly ignited in a blazing fireball. The flames licked upwards, but not once did they touch the floor or anything other than the flesh of the vampiric corpses. The heads were thrown onto the blaze where they were enveloped into the heart of the fire by eager, burning arms. All except for Korzen's head, which was packed carefully in a padded box for later transport and loaded into the backpack of one burly hunter. Rastha was careful to avoid looking at him.
"I see Mari Scion's spells are coming along quite nicely," Rastha commented as she strode onto the circular stage and stepped beside the gun-wielding hunter, quite as if Kain was not there. He chaffed at the disregard, but decided to hang back by the shadowed archway and observe the proceedings before plunging headlong into them. Kain may be impulsive at times, but he was wise.
"She's proven to be a real asset," the young hunter agreed. "Especially since she figured out how to store an effect on paper. It's like having a competent sorceress to back you up, whenever and wherever you want it, and at more than one place at the same time." He hadn't seen Kain yet, but from this distance the vampire could make out the hunter's profile.
It surprised Kain that so many of these hunters were as young as they were. The eldest was a Warden no older than thirty; the youngest was the blond that Rastha was speaking to, who couldn't have been more than eighteen years old. The hunter with the serpentine blade was still monitoring the fire at the other side of the room, and Kain couldn't get a good enough look at him yet. Something about the blond one had attracted Kain's attention, however, and Kain found himself staring at the youthful face, trying to discern where he knew it from.
"Hey," Rastha remarked, trying to indulge in small talk in a valiant effort to ignore the stench of her relatives' rapidly burning corpses. "You earned another Warden stripe." She nodded in the direction of the three red bands on the man's shoulder.
"Yeah," the hunter agreed. "It will be forever until I catch up to my cousins though." His triumphal air had dissipated, and he had the grace to look uneasy and a little guilty in her presence. It was one thing to forget yourself in the heat of battle. It was another thing altogether to do so while a relative of the person you were killing was watching. He was spared any more awkward attempts at conversation by the captain's shouted question.
"What does Lieutenant Rastha want this time, Magnus?" The captain was glancing over his shoulder and had decided to rescue his compatriot.
Kain started at the name, and tried not to gape. Magnus? It couldn't possibly be! But the harder he stared, the more he came to the conclusion that his first impression was the right one. The bone structure of the face was correct, the shape of the eyes, the set of the shoulders. It was difficult to determine because this Magnus was so young and wasn't a vampire, but it likely was one of his long-dead, original lieutenants. The only one who'd remained loyal to him, in fact. It appeared that even in this parallel life, Magnus was destined to serve him.
"What are you here for?" Magnus asked Rastha. "And where's the friend you were talking about?"
"Umm," Rastha appeared nervous now as she tried to explain. Kain didn't blame her. She was trapped between him and a troupe of vampire hunters. It amused him that she chose to face the hunters rather than him. "See, that's what I'm not sure about. He's an Elder that says his name is Kain, sorry, Lord Kain, and that he wants to have a chat with you Scions. I haven't a clue as to why, though he does wear your insignia."
"What are you talking about?" Magnus demanded, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Kainen, come here. I think you need to hear this!"
The hunter glanced back over his shoulder again, and ordered his other men to disperse and search the throne room as he began to walk in their direction. "This had better be good, Rastha," the hunter grumbled, brushing droplets of vampire blood from his uniform in a business-like manner. While Magnus had the decency to look subdued, this hunter didn't appear to care about Rastha's obvious discomfort in the proximity of her butchered family.
Rastha continued on in the friendly manner that Kain was fast realizing she used with everyone, quite as if she could not see the gore and rapidly disintegrating corpses. "Oh, calm down, Kainen. I'm not here to step on your toes. I just want to talk. There's this elder vampire that Toroth ordered me to look after, and if I'm not mistaken, he'd very much like to meet you in particular, little Warden."
"Why?" the young man stepped closer to her, his arrogance fast dissolving.
"The hell if I know." Rastha shrugged her shoulders helplessly. This just really wasn't her day. "Well, my Lord Kain," she called back over her shoulder, trying to draw him out from the shadows of the curtains. "You have their attention if you'd like to have that conversation with them now."
Kain studied the two hunters standing with Rastha for one long moment before he stepped into the full light of the room, pushing the female vampire aside as he moved to stand in front of the captain. He towered several inches over the young man's head.
"Dismiss your men," Kain directed him quietly, "And we will have our talk." He ignored the puzzled and alarmed glances Rastha and Magnus were exchanging with each other.
The captain gazed back at the Elder vampire just as steadily, arms crossed over his chest as he considered the vampire's request. Finally, he turned his head without breaking his gaze. "Everyone but Magnus spread out through the building in teams of two, and check for any pockets of resistance. Remove them if necessary."
"But sir!" the nearest man protested, gawking at the Elder vampire, "We can't leave you here by yourself! What if…"
"Those are your orders, obey them," Kainen snapped harshly, before his voice softened. "Don't worry. I've got Magnus to watch my back, and even Rastha might feel inclined towards lending a hand given the circumstances. I'll be fine. Go on now, and do your duty."
The men reluctantly agreed, assembling their equipment and leaving the bloody and glass-strewn room. Kain nodded his head once in satisfaction as he saw the last one disappear into the nearest hall. "Excellent."
He gave no warning before lashing out with his talons to take the bloodline hunter by the throat, dangling him in mid-air to examine him in greater detail. He peered through narrowed eyes at a face he hadn't seen since the days of his youth, so very long ago. It was a miracle he even remembered that time, let alone the features that used to stare back at him from the reflective surface of a mirror. Years of evolution had even altered the structure of his face, bones appearing larger and harsher than they had those millennia passed. Even his increased size and stature skewed the comparison, especially since the young man had yet to fill out into the full muscle of adulthood. Kain had been in his late twenties when he'd been murdered and remade at the hands of the necromancer Mortanius, and the Warden before him was just barely entering that period of his life. But even with all those reasons why he should not have done so, Kain still recognized his own face. Keen, dark brown eyes were set amongst strong features with high cheekbones, a determined jaw and a stubborn chin that Kain could not deny echoed his own. The youth's hair was not as long, the tail drawn low behind his head with the tip resting between his shoulder blades.
"The resemblance between us is uncanny," Kain muttered under his breath.
Even with such a powerful grip bruising and nearly choking the air out of him, the hunter did not appear alarmed, though Kain's words did startle him. "Pardon me?" he croaked the words between gasps.
Kain titled his head in a considering manner before answering. "I said, 'the resemblance between us is uncanny'. Believe it or not, if I were still human, you and I would be nearly identical." Kain did not elaborate further, continuing his perusal of the human adolescent.
There was a metallic click, and Kain finally turned his head to see the barrel of the weapon Rastha had called a 'shotgun' aimed at his cranium. This momentarily concerned him, until he detected a flicker of movement as the vampiress ripped the weapon from Magnus' hands.
"Wait!" she exclaimed, pulling the injured hunter back from Kain by the scruff of his neck. "Don't shoot him!"
"Why?" the hunter exploded, snatching the weapon from her unresisting grip, but he hesitated to level it again.
"You might wing your cousin," Rastha clarified, a thread of Persuasion coming into her voice. "Just let it play out."
"Oh, I believe that," Magnus snapped, though he was careful to keep the shotgun pointed downward, taking her advice to heart. "And it has nothing to do with the fact that you want him to finish the conversation so you can figure out what's going on?"
"Hell yes," she agreed without shame, "But you still might accidentally hit your cousin. Besides, he's a big boy. He can take care of himself."
Kain was pleasantly surprised that the lieutenant had taken the initiative to prevent herself and the hunter from being drawn into the confrontation. It made his chore all that much easier.
"Look, you albino freak," Kainen had finally gathered enough oxygen to speak more than two words. "Put me down." The harsh wheezing tone alerted Kain to the fact that he was clenching the human's throat too tightly, and he loosened his talons a little. He disregarded the human's rudeness to be dealt with at a later time. Sucking in a bigger mouthful of air, the human continued with more force, "Are you insane? Do you have any idea who I am? I am Kainen Scion, one of the heirs of my Bloodline. Elder or not, you've already seen what can happen when you threaten my family."
Kain chuckled in dark amusement. "I'm not planning to kill you, young one. Were that the case, you'd already be dead. No, I have need of you and your unique abilities, and as it stands, you are to be coming with me when I depart this place. The more you resist, the harder you will make this on yourself."
The Warden laughed right back. "You think so, vampire?"
"I do."
Both combatants eyed each other menacingly, only to be interrupted by a nervous cough. Kain turned his baleful stare to Lieutenant Rastha.
"Sorry to intrude, my lord," Rastha piped up nervously, "But I feel I must ask this. What do you mean by 'depart this place'? Where are you intending on taking him?"
Kain considered before answering. What did it matter what he said? He already had what he came for. "My homeland," he replied simply.
"You're not from Nosgoth?" Magnus jumped in with his own question.
Seeing his alternate's confused expression, Kain realized he would have to explain eventually, and if it would shut his interrogators up, he would do so now. He lowered Warden Kainen's feet to the ground and eased the pressure around the human's throat a little more, though he did not release the lock his talons had around the hunter's oesophagus. A little civility wouldn't hurt him in this situation, but he was no fool.
"No, I am from Nosgoth."
"But you said-" Magnus began before Kain cut him off.
"Just not this Nosgoth."
There was a long pregnant silence.
"Time travel?" Rastha asked. Her brow knotted in confusion. "What!" she protested upon seeing the harsh glares the two hunters shot her. "Don't give me that scandalized look. It's theoretically possible! I don't see you two coming up with any bright ideas!"
"Close enough," Kain shrugged. He was not in the mood to deal with these strange people and their mannerisms. His Nosgoth may be corrupted, but at least it was familiar, and predictable.
"Well, as fun as this conversation has been," Kainen wriggled in Kain's grip as he tested the Elder's strength and began to reach for his sword. The weapon was similar to Kain's Reaver, but in place of the full skull, the hilt was smaller and set with an embossed circular representation of a fanged skull on one side, a partial glyph of the Scion family on the other. "I'm afraid I must be leaving. I hope you enjoy the rest of this delusion of yours. I expect we'll be seeing each other again real soon, this time in a more official capacity. I admit I'll be looking forward to it."
Kain scowled at the human, but said nothing. The boy would see the truth soon enough. There was no sense wasting time and effort on a lost cause. He reached over the human's shoulder, ripped away the harness holding the sword to the human's back, and flung it away across the room. That action earned him a hatred-laced glare.
"I don't know about that 'delusional theory' of yours, kid," Rastha cautioned the Warden, placing a warning hand on Magnus' shoulder. "He seemed pretty lucid on the way over, and he's very strong. Maybe it would be best to play along, just for now."
Kainen shot her an incredulous glance before turning his attention back to Kain. "I don't know what things are like where you are from, sir, but around here kidnapping is a capital offence. What possessed you to think I would just come along quietly on this little adventure of yours?"
Kain's grip tightened in an unsubtle threat. "I can be very convincing when I need to be, boy."
"Uh-huh." Kainen rolled his eyes. "Well, as much as I'd love to hang around with you all night, I'd better get going. Now let me go." He gave a meaningful tug on the vampire lord's wrist. When Kain did not release him he let out an aggravated sigh. "Then you leave me no choice, and I have witnesses."
There was a metallic click and a knife ejected from a hidden sheath on the hunter's wrist and into his waiting palm, where he wasted no time plunging it into Kain's wrist joint, severing several crucial nerves and tendons, and slackening the vampire's grip enough that he could pull free. The human opened his palm and a telekinetic blast issued forth; slamming into the vampire elder's chest and throwing him across the room to slam into the opposite wall. Pride was abandoned in favour of survival as Kainen made an undignified scramble to retrieve his sword.
Kain pulled himself upright, brushing plaster dust from his shoulders. He was mildly impressed. He'd never possessed any visible, tangible powers until after his vampiric rebirth. It suddenly occurred to Kain that perhaps he aught to test out his alternate's abilities before bringing him anywhere. A few paltry energy tricks wouldn't get the boy very far in the harsh realm Kain wished to take him. It was time to see how developed the human's combat skills were. He watched his peripheral as Rastha, sensing what was coming, seized a protesting Magnus around the shoulders and dragged him from the dais and stage around it.
"Let's see how well you wield that Reaver of yours, boy," Kain taunted the hunter, advancing towards him.
"Well," Kainen glowered back, rubbing his aching throat as he panted to catch his breath. "Aren't we the confident one?"
"I have reason to be," Kain responded, drawing the Soul Reaver in one smooth, practiced motion. He watched in satisfaction as the boy ran approving eyes over the formidable blade, even as his hands tightened around his own sword's hilt.
While the human may have admired Kain's Soul Reaver, there was no fear in his eyes, only a morbid sort of excitement that was unnerving in its own way. "This might just prove to be entertaining," the human whispered to himself before charging the vampire lord.
While the boy hunter's attacks were neat and precise, they lacked the power that only a vampire was truly capable of. Kain could easily deflect most of the lightening fast movements, parrying with the more stunning and effective blows of his own whenever he saw an opening present itself. But those openings were few and far between, and the human, young as he was, had the fortitude to bear up under the force of whatever the vampire lord directed his way. Granted, unlike most circumstances, Kain wasn't trying to injure the human. An eviscerated corpse would not be able to serve the purpose that Kain had in mind for this particular human, and if what Rastha said about the Bloodline Hunters' immunity to the vampiric conversion was true… well, it could only pay to be prudent in a situation like this. It didn't help that the human was just good enough to make him dangerous, but not skilled enough to make an effective sparring partner. Nothing could make up for several centuries of hands-on combat experience.
It wasn't long before the hunter's mortal frailty began to make itself known; the boy's movements were becoming slower and less coordinated as time wore on. There was now a slight give whenever Kain brought the Reaver crashing down onto the human's likewise imbued sword, silver-blue sparks of luminous wraith energy dancing across the surface wherever metal touched metal. Kainen's self-assurance had eroded into wary caution, and the vampire could see the barest flickering of indecision in the veiled dark eyes. The time had come to press his advantage.
In the end, it was almost sad the way Kain easily managed to disarm and pin his human opponent beneath one cloven hoof. A flick of the hand and the boy's sword flew telekinetically into Kain's free palm, both points held to his opponent's exposed throat. The vampire emperor gloated down at his vanquished foe, studying the boy's guarded expression. There was most definitely something wrong with this whole situation. The human must have known he could not defeat an Elder, hunter or not. Why had he bothered to take up the challenge then?
"Do you concede defeat?" Kain growled down at his young likeness.
The human didn't respond in words, dissolving into a fit of helpless giggles that had Kain raising a scornful brow in genuine bafflement. Had the boy gone mad then?
"You really are an idiot, you know that," the boy chuckled as he regained control of himself and finally stopped laughing.
Kain opened his mouth to demand an answer to that statement when something so unexpected happened he almost forgot where he was, let alone what he was trying to say. A razor sharp pain shot through his calves, a burning agony that had him crying out in shock as he sank to his knees, his legs buckling out from under him. Kainen used that moment of distraction to snatch back his own Reaver and roll away before the elder vampire collapsed on top of him.
Kain managed to keep on his hands and knees, much though the effort pained him, and waited impatiently as his severed hamstrings began to regenerate. Kain was truly astonished. He hadn't sustained a wound this crippling in centuries, unless he counted the incident when Raziel had ripped his, or rather Janos' heart from his chest. While his enraged gaze was fixed on a guarded Kainen, he felt a stinging pinprick against the back of his neck from the opposite direction of the boy. The cool numbness seeping into his skin from the contact point signalled the presence of yet a third Reaver.
"This is the last time I save your ass, Kainen," a female voice ground out. "Next time you want to pick a fight with a super-vamp, leave me out of it." At first Kain assumed it was Rastha, but when he turned his head to glare at the interloper his gaze met the dark eyes of yet another hunter, and this one's face was familiar for a completely different reason.
"Why didn't you warn me about the twin!" Kain bellowed across the room at Rastha, massaging one of his healing legs to regain feeling in it.
"I did! I told you he was one of a set!" Rastha yelled back, still trying to maintain her gentle hold on the injured Magnus and keep him away from the fight. "It's not my fault you didn't pay attention!"
Ignoring her for now, Kain switched his attention back to his doppelganger's female twin. The resemblance between them was eerie, making Kain feel all the more uncomfortable by comparison. So this is what he would have looked like if he'd been born female…. It was an unnerving image to say the least. She was wearing the same uniform as the other Scion Hunters, though her body armour was shaped more like Rastha's to accommodate her leaner but fuller, female shape. Her dark brown hair was longer than Kainen's, and her jaw line softer, but her eyes were the same cunning shape and deep shade of brown, and her chin was set at a more sympathetic, though just as stubborn, angle. The Reaver she wielded was identical to her brother's; smaller, less detailed reproductions of Kain's Soul Reaver.
But her eyes were the coldest he'd ever seen on a woman, narrowing in fury as they watched his body piece itself back together. Both hunters kept their distance from him, circling the vampire as they waited for Kain to recover.
Again, Kain was confused. "Why haven't you just killed me?" he asked the closest of the twins, the female whose name he did not yet know.
"We're not allowed to," Kainen explained in his twin's place. "We don't have a hunting permit, and you and I both know that you haven't tried to kill anybody yet. If you had, I'd already be dead, or Rastha would have let Magnus shoot you. I knew I couldn't handle you on my own, and Magnus is too injured to help, so I distracted you until my sister arrived. Fairly simple really."
Kain was having a hard time following them with his eyes. They moved independently of each other, but always perfectly coordinated, like a dance routine arranged far in advance. He heaved himself to his feet; the tendons had finally repaired enough to hold his weight, though he'd be feeling that injury for at least a few hours to come. "And what would two be able to do, that one could not?"
"Why don't you come and find out," the female snapped, shifting into a fighting stance. Her twin matched her actions from Kain's other side.
Kain looked between the two humans standing on either side of his body. If Rastha's expression was anything to go by, this would prove to be a very interesting battle.
Kain hadn't worked this hard since his battle to defeat the Saraphan Lord. It wasn't that these humans were particularly powerful or skilled, it was just the way they chose to attack was difficult to evade. The twins were armed with Reavers, and with the inhuman speed accorded by their bloodline, Kain was hard pressed to keep the majority of his skin on. Already a dozen or so small cuts had been healed in the first two minutes since the fight began. They may have lacked physical power, but with both twins coming at him from opposite angles, ducking and weaving in under his guard to inflict long shallow slices that sent burning lances through his ribs, Kain had the impression that there was something distinctly unnatural about the ease with which they synchronized their movements. No sooner had he raised the Soul Reaver to deflect one blow than a second blade came up into the opening from behind, forcing him to whip around to fend off that strike as well.
Again, Kain was tied by the problem that he could not afford to kill either of these mortals. He may have been ignorant of the domestic ways of humans, but he knew that it would not go well with the boy if he injured his sister. Kain had only ever encountered one set of twins before (both female vampires) but he was well aware of the bond this kind of sibling shared. The irony did not escape him that while he had lived most of his immortal existence in self-imposed isolation, his alternate had not even been alone during his time in the womb. Needless to say, the problematic circumstances made the going difficult.
The male hunter ducked a sword blow just in time, Kain's Soul Reaver clipping a few hairs from the end of his ponytail. Incensed at the near injury done to her sibling, the female twin ripped into Kain's chest, for once scoring a true blow against the vampire lord. Kain hissed in pain and backed away from both of his opponents, clutching at the folds of skin over his chest as they began to knit back together. His eyes narrowed as he considered both humans. He needed a way to end this fight as soon as possible, else someone was bound to die, and he did not intend it to be him.
The problem resolved itself without Kain's interference. A small device on the belt of the female twin activated, yowling a high-pitched alarm and flashing a bright green light. The mortals in the room froze automatically, staring at it.
"Uh-oh." Rastha was the first to react, releasing her grip on Magnus. "That's not good. Where's the emergence point, Kaye?" she called across to the human.
The female twin unclipped the device, pressed a button, and examined the glowing surface that appeared. "Right here," she gasped in shock. "Everybody get off the floor!" She thrust the small box back into its holster and rushed for the stairs, her twin close on her heels.
"Shit!" Rastha exclaimed, glancing around wildly. "Magnus, you idiot! Don't just stand there! Get to high ground!" She gave the hunter an encouraging push in the right direction before looking to Kain. "Come on sir, we have to climb!" Forsaking the stairs, Rastha used her jumping trick to gain the third level in one fluid leap. Once there, she leaned over the railing, beckoning the elder vampire to follow her. "Sir, get off the floor! It'll be here any minute!"
"What will be here?" Kain shouted up at her, his grip tightening on the sword hilt.
"An Aquanos, you fool! Are you trying to get yourself killed? Quit arguing and get up here!" The panic in her voice alerted him that something significant was about to happen, but Kain balked at the command.
"Do as she says, Kain," Raziel cautioned from within the sword. "I can sense something approaching."
"From where?" Kain glanced at the pulsing hilt of the Reaver.
"From everywhere." The wraith sounded almost frightened.
On Raziel's advice, Kain chose to comply. Unable to jump as high as Rastha, he used two controlled leaps to reach the third level, where the three hunters were already rushing the stairs to join her. The captain was speaking into one of those 'two-way radios' the whole way, commanding everyone within the vicinity to head to high ground. Whatever was about to happen, it had to be big enough that any threat he might have presented was dismissed.
He could hear human feet pounding their way up the steps and into the higher levels, and Rastha stood by the head waiting for them to gain the third floor, her talons rubbing together anxiously. Her fear appeared to be justified when the building shook beneath them. The walls and panelling cracked and spider-webbed from the pressure, while plaster dust rained down from the ceiling. Kain took Rastha by the forearm, spinning her around to face him.
"What is taking place here?" He didn't loosen his grip.
Rastha stared at him for a long moment, a flood of emotions washing over her face before she dismissed them all with a shake of her head. She knew that examining his lack of knowledge would get her nowhere, save on his bad side again, so she choose to forego her conclusion and answer his question instead. "An Aquanos is about to breach the dimensional barrier. Their home plane is underwater, so the lower levels of this building will probably be flooded. It's difficult for vampires to get close to one when they've newly emerged like this. There's not much undead like us can do except head to high ground and wait for somebody with a syringe and a Reaver handy to come by and take care of the problem."
Understanding dawned on Kain. "That's what you meant when you told your human protégé that vampires need the skills of the Bloodline Hunters!"
She seemed relieved that he finally understood. "So you heard that? Yes, that's the main reason we tolerate the hunters. Somebody needs to take care of the soul eaters, and most ordinary humans can't wield a Reaver without melting their brains, so its not like we've got much choice. Ever since the banishment of Leviathan two thousand years ago, the planar membrane has been thin, making us more vulnerable to attack than ever before. The world was gradually decaying before vampires and hunters put aside our differences a hundred and fifty years ago and decided to work together to solve the problem. I was one of the individuals spearheading the movement actually. Fifty years later we had the Aquanos population under control and a governmental reform well in the works. In the last decade we've been able, through a combination of vampiric magic and human technology, to predict their emergence points before they appear and get themselves dug themselves into a remote area, and we've been able to locate and roust even the most stubborn nests. But as time goes on they have finally realized the threat we present to them, and their efforts to wipe us out completely have redoubled. This would be the fourth breach in a month. It's a new record." A fang worried at her inky bottom lip as she watched for the young hunters. "There have been twenty-six deaths this year already, vampire and hunter. I'm not sure how much longer we can hold up under this kind of pressure."
Any comment Kain might have made was forgotten when the three young humans barrelled up the stairwell, nearly colliding with Rastha in their haste.
"ETA?" Rastha demanded without preamble.
The girl withdrew the device to study while she gave a hoarse cough into her hand. "One minute, twenty seconds and counting."
"Damn," Rastha covered her eyes and heaved an exhausted sigh. "You have enough equipment for the job?"
"I've got mine," the girl holstered the strange piece of technology and tapped a pouch on her vest. "But the boys here," she jerked her head in the direction of her companions. Both of the young males looked very guilty. "Seem to have 'forgotten' their doses."
"Oh yeah," Magnus scoffed, "Like we could've known a squiddy was going to show up in the middle of a damn hunt!"
"No," Kainen disagreed, shooting his sibling a mollifying glance. She looked ready to rip her cousin a new one. "Kaye's right. A dose isn't a heavy load to carry, and there never is any warning when the bastards show up. We should have been prepared."
"You better hope its not a big one or a single dose will never give you enough time to get close," Rastha admonished, her severe tone not quite managing to mask her own apprehension.
A spark of insight caught Kain at the word 'squiddy'; a rising wave of suspicion grew in his mind.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Raziel asked carefully from his perch above Kain's shoulder.
"I'm afraid so," the vampire lord answered.
Three sets of shocked eyes stared at the skull-like hilt of the Reaver in disbelief, their attention immediately diverted. Rastha only glared at him in exasperation.
"You are going to explain that to me one of these days," she said with a fierce growl.
"I thought I warned you-" Kain's growl was drowned out by a loud popping sound, and a spurt of salty water and foam were misted into the air. Both vampires hastened to jump away from the balustrade, just in case.
Kain's young alternate self swore viciously under his breath as a set of at least eight massive tentacles filled the chamber, dripping slime and weed. At the first glimpse of the sickeningly familiar members, the Reaver was resting in the palm of his hand, Raziel's hot anger flooding up and into his arm.
"The Aquanos really need to learn to stick to their own dimension," Kaye muttered to her twin in an undertone. She drew a long, cylindrical object, about the span of her hand, from her vest pocket, the clear liquid inside glowing a faint greenish colour, and tipped with a sharp needle.
The male nodded in agreement before holding out his hand for the weapon. "You draw him off and I'll go in deep. The vamps can't get near enough right now and Magnus is pretty much useless."
"Hey!" the young human in question protested.
"You'll be lucky if you don't need tendons re-sown," Kainen jerked his head in the direction of his cousin's damaged wrist.
"Humph," the youth grumbled, turning away to stand next his unofficial vampire protector. Rastha gave him a patronizing shrug and a smirk.
While the humans debated, Kain had taken the time to lean over the railing and look down at the thrashing monster below. He snarled in frustration upon seeing three and a half feet of water pooling there, vampire ash and blood hissing away at the contact. Rastha was right again, damn it! He couldn't get close enough without burning his feet off!
It wasn't long before the creature seemed to shake off the disorientation it must have been feeling as its myriad tentacles gathered in around it, coiling like a spring. He barely had time to duck as one of the largest unwound itself from the others and barrelled straight at him, a javelin seeking the place his heart resided, if he still had one that is. A tonne of mottled, greenish-grey flesh slammed into the wall and ceiling behind him, shattering the construction and bringing down a large chunk of the building and a shower of debris built up around him. His world was shaken, but Raziel burned with hatred within his hand, demanding vengeance and urging the Vampire Emperor forward.
(Again, I'm very sorry about the delay. And yes, there was no real winner in the fight between Kain and the Twins. That was on purpose. Teehee. No one has been able to guess what Rastha was before the alliance with the Bloodline Hunters, why she was made. First one to guess gets a free preview!)