I don't own any Legacy of Kain games. It'd be cool if I did, though... -wanders off muttering about finishing the series-

Here's the next chapter, everyone! Hope you guys enjoy it!

Edits courtesy of my fab beta Ellara Levellan as of 04/12/2017

More edits are done as of 07/2021

Chapter Seven: Conversation with a Drunk

"Human whelp! What do you think you are doing sneaking in here where you do not belong?"

Kain's harsh, anger-filled voice and the solid 'THUNK' of a body hitting the wall near my room tore me from my slumber. I was out of the bed and on my feet in an instant. Long ingrained instinct screamed a warning of a potential threat. Sadly, I wasn't quite up to par and had to fight off another wave of nausea. Dammit all.

I cautiously made my way toward the door. Why was Kain yelling? Wait... he'd said Human whelp. Weren't there some Humans loyal to the Cabal? Maybe I was in an area that was off-limits to humans? I opened the door, intent on figuring out what the hell had the silver-haired Vampire upset and if I was in any danger... only to find that the commotion had literally happened next to the door of my room. I started and stared in confusion at the sight in front of me.

It was the boy, young man, that I had saved from the Sarafan. Kain had him by the throat, shoved up against the wall. The young man was in the process of hefting his in the futile hopes of striking at Kain, whereas Kain's right hand was poised to tear into the kid's chest and relieve him of his heart. Not good!

A noise of shock escaped me, and they both turned to look in my direction. Or rather, in Kain's case, he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. The kid had come down here. To help me? Maybe.

I wasn't sure how to convince Kain to stay his hand without losing what little of Kain's respect, if any, that I had built up so far. Still... I wanted to try.

Jerking forward, I wrenched the sword free from the young man's confused grip and then promptly slapped my hand over his mouth. He let out a muffled exclamation of annoyance, but given his... verbose... confrontation with the Sarafan, I'd rather avoid him pissing off Kain when I was trying to help him. Given that he still reeked of alcohol, the likelihood of him saying something lethally stupid was high. I looked at Kain, eyes wide, and ignored the muffled noises the kid was making.

"Kain, wait," I began hesitantly. "I... Please?"

Kain sneered but also lowered his hand from its' kill-ready angle. He didn't release the kid, though, which wasn't unsurprising, really. I reflexively flicked the kid's ear with the fingers of my free hand when he continued to squirm about and ignored the resultant muffled squawk of indignation. Still, the bizarre and somehow instinctive move gave the boy a clue to shut up and hold still.

Once the young man had calmed in Kain's grasp, the silver-haired male turned that cold blue-gold gaze fully upon me. There was a hint of curiosity in his eyes and the usual calculating coldness that always seemed to be there during the games. It was as if he were... weighing my actions. My words. I had to fight back the brief urge to pull away. To bare my throat in submission and just let him end the young man's life. An uneasy tremor ran through me as I struggled to hold my ground.

"This boy is a fool," Kain began, his voice a low and deadly growl as he raised a brow. "Only Humans with a death wish would be caught sneaking down here as he was. Why protect him?"

"Foolish or brave or whatever you might call it, the why is not important right now," I began delicately, thoughts racing. "This young man... he owes me a debt for having helped him... several nights ago now. It... appears that he has enough honor in him to realize this. Release him... please? I intend to collect on the debt that he owes at a later time, even if... even if he is just a Human."

I held my breath, waiting for Kain to make a decision. All I could really do was plead my case to let the boy live. Babbling incessantly wouldn't help my cause any. My heart pounded rapidly with nervousness and fear. Nervousness; because I've always been a Legacy of Kain fan, well, a fan of Kain mostly, I'll be honest. I kinda didn't want him thinking I was weak. Or a fool. I didn't mind being called ignorant as there were always things that people might not be aware of and new things to learn every day. Ignorance could be fixed if you yet sought to learn. But I wasn't a fool. Fear; because I wasn't sure if he would simply kill the kid and be done with it. Even if the kid did owe me a debt.

If debts even worked like that here...

After a few more tense moments of silence, Kain gave me a slight nod. The kid was dropped to his feet and shoved in my direction. I caught the young man's arm, holding him steady. When he tried to straighten up, to glare at Kain, I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and forced his head to remain bowed. It took him a moment, but he realized that he wasn't quite out of the woods yet.

Kain let out a cold laugh. Dark amusement flickered clearly in his eyes. He leaned close to the boy, lips almost brushing against the young man's ear. A low growl trickled through Kain's voice as he spoke.

"Do anything foolish while under her care," Kain hissed, "and debt or no, I shall feast upon your heart-blood while you watch."

Kain's lips curled up into a sneer as the kid paled visibly. I could feel the shudder of fear running through him as I kept a firm grasp on his arm and neck. Kain let out a huff before he turned and walked, excuse me stalked, off elsewhere. Once Kain was out of sight, I let the kid go and eased a few steps back, only to move forward and catch him by the shoulders when he almost collapsed. Shock and relief that he survived that little encounter was painted clearly upon his face. I shook my head and let out a small sigh of relief myself.

"Kain was correct, at least in part," I said to him, voice gentle. "You should not have come down here, kid. You could have been killed simply for intruding."

"I am not a kid," he responded quickly as he straightened, tugging at the bottom of his tunic in a visible effort to regain his dignity. "My name is Nikolai... and I never leave a debt unpaid."

A smile of bemusement curled my lips upwards at his actions. His words. Even after having almost been killed by Kain, the kid, Nikolai, managed to have an air of confidence left about him. The result of a noble's upbringing? Or perhaps the remnants of the beer he'd had. Not only that, but he'd also managed to sneak into Sanctuary without being detected by anyone other than Kain.

Speaking of which, shouldn't there be others in the area? I glanced around and frowned. True, it hadn't taken me that long to find the exit, but... he should have been caught long before reaching my little room. I looked him over and let out a snort. He looked like he was about dead on his feet. I helped him into my room and made him sit down on my bed. He did so, looking stiff and nervous as hell. Ignoring his unease, I picked up the bandages laying on the crate next to the bed before tending to the wounds I could see.

Namely, my concern was the cuts and scratches around his neck left by Kain's sharp claws. But I also noticed some scratches and bruises on his arms.

"You really did not have to look for me, Nikolai," I said to him in a soft voice as I worked. "I would not have sought you out to demand anything of you for helping you survive the Sarafan's... attentions."

"Yes, I did," he countered with a stubborn shake of his head. I had to force him to stop so that I could finish applying the bandages. "You saved my life, and instead of staying to help you, I left you behind! And you were taken by Vampires! Individuals who might or might not have been your allies. I've... I've lost enough to the fighting between the two groups. I won't lose at least one last chance to... to..."

"The chance to do what?" I asked with a frown, tilting my head to the side as I looked him over. "And what did the Sarafan do to you exactly? I mean, I overheard you shouting about your family. Something about them being blacklisted as traitors?"

Nikolai let out a bitter bark of laughter at my words. He watched me in silence for a few moments as I cleaned up his arms as best I could. His fingers brushed over the bandages at his throat, and eventually, he turned to stare at the stone floor. I kept quiet and waited. I knew that if he wanted to tell me about what had happened, he would so. I couldn't, didn't want to, force it from him. Better that he tell me on his own terms.

"My family... was one of the lesser noble families here in Meridian," he began, his voice quiet. Broken. "We stood by the Sarafan and fought against the Vampires for generations. We truly did believe the Vampires to be a threat to all of Humanity. What with all the brutal attacks happening at the time. When the old Sarafan Lord was killed, and this new Lord... this boy, started to lead them, everything went crazy. Several of the lesser noble families were arrested in broad daylight. Most were killed on the spot as traitors when they were out doing something as mundane as shopping for fabrics. The Sarafan kept saying that they were 'in league with the Vampire menace'! Which was not true!"

He looked up at me. His eyes were practically begging me to believe what he was saying. I nodded carefully, gently resting my hand over his own in an offer of condolence. Nikolai took a deep breath and then looked away from me with a sigh.

"I knew people that they killed," he continued sorrowfully. "One of them... one of the people they killed was going to be my future wife. She nor her family had ever stood against them. That's... that's when I started to think that maybe... maybe the Sarafan were wrong. About all of it. Maybe our long history of backing them had been wrong the entire time. I mean... why would they kill so many who were known to be supporters of the Sarafan cause? The slaughters that they claimed were justified... didn't make sense."

He shook his head, and I could see the glimmer of tears gathering in his eyes. Rage washed over his face a second later, the sorrow quickly buried under righteous anger. Not surprising. What he was describing was, to him, absolute betrayal.

"They turned their attentions on my family," he continued, his fist hitting the edge of the bed. "No reason was given. No explanation. Instead of being killed outright like the others, we had our titles and homes taken from us. We were rounded up and literally kicked out into the street! We had just barely enough money left to our names to house ourselves temporarily in various inns."

He fell silent for a moment, pain once more making him slump his shoulders. He shook his head and placed his head in his hands. I reached up and ran a comforting shoulder hesitantly over his back. Earnest eyes met my own. Eyes filled with unshed tears.

"I left most of the money to my parents so they could stay at one of the better inns before moving to stay with family in another city," he continued, his voice choked, "but... Mother and Father were supposedly killed in a vampire attack shortly after that. I did not believe it then. I do not believe it now!"

"Why would you say that?" I asked, tilting my head. "Why think it was anything but a vampire attack as the officials claimed?"

"Because I... I followed a group of Sarafan two months back. Quiet like. They came across one of the last members of another family that had gotten the same treatment as my own. They attacked him without warning, and they used some sort of Baghnakh," at my confused look, he chuckled and held up both hands. He closed one into a fist and then held three fingers of his other hand extended out over his fist. "It's a weapon that goes on your hand, with blades styled to look like claws attached to it, like this.

I nodded my head, understanding the gist of what he meant. He dropped his hands and looked away with a sigh.

"They weren't exactly skilled with it, but skill didn't matter," he said, his voice soft with remembered horror. "They used it... to hack and slash the man's body up. Later it was reported as a Vampire kill. They did it to feed the fear and paranoia in the city."

"There wasn't much you could do to stop them..." I began slowly. "You wouldn't have been able to report it to officials. Not without being slain for witnessing something you should not have seen."

He waved a hand and leaned back on the bed with a small and pained groan.

"Yeah, I... I suppose you're right. Started drinkin' after that. People don't pay much mind to drunkards and their ramblings. Ya know, it's strange..." he started before falling silent. I waved a hand at him, hoping he would continue. "As a drunk, I could watch the Vampires as they fed from time to time. Most of 'em are... actually quite neat with their 'food.' Quick kills, ya know? Most times, though, they just... take a nip, pardon the pun, and then leave their prey to sleep off the lethargy."

I found myself leaning forward, listening almost eagerly as he spoke. This was more information than even the games had provided when it came to Vampire hunting habits. Even better, what he was describing was... was a species trying to co-exist where it could. Not just dominate and take and kill.

"The Sarafan made Vamps out for years to be torturers and monsters. Only a handful have ever left a huge mess like that Sarafan group did," he continued softly. Nikolai yawned and rubbed at his face. "All o' that... made me start to wonder. Made me think that Vampire's are people too. Dangerous, yes. But Humans are dangerous too."

A small smile curled my lips upwards. This kind of open-mindedness was... was good. Even if it had been the product of some pretty horrible events in Nikolai's life, his words meant that he was willing to learn. Perhaps, one day, I could even trust him enough to call him a friend. Standing, I made my way toward the door. Tired though I was, I was too keyed up to try to rest. I didn't mind letting him borrow the bed while I sought out Kain.

I... wanted to make sure the other male wasn't too upset by my standing up to him like that. As long as it wasn't outright hostility, things would be fine. Not only that, but I hoped to get something to eat. I was hungry. I paused at the door and looked back at Nikolai.

"You can repay me some other time. Stay in this room and sleep off the alcohol. I'll come to get you to escort you out if I can unless you plan on leaving the same way you came in," I said, letting out a dry chuckle. "And if you do leave, can you leave a way for me to locate you when I need that debt repaid? I may not have intended to cash in on the debt before, but I will need to do so now. Alright?"

He nodded and waved a weak farewell my way. His hand fell against the bed a moment later, and I let out a silent huff of laughter as snoring filled the air not even a second later. I stepped out of the room and closed the door behind me. Now... where had Kain gone? I really wanted to make sure things were... amicable... between us if possible. I had no desire to end up on his bad side.

Then again, did he even have a good side?

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