On another’s Sorrow
Sequel to Slaughter
Disclaimer: Legacy of Kain belongs to Edios
and
Warning: it has to be said . . . . This fic contains YAOI (GuyXGuy),
blood play and a lemon, if this offends or upsets you do not read this, it’s
that simple. Please also note it contains Possible Defiance references.
If you choose to avoid any of these things the back button is right there
for your use and I hope you find what you are looking for. By continuing and
reading you are acknowledging the above information and accepting it.
Pairing: Kain/Raziel
Rating: NC-17
Part: One of Four maybe more.
Set: Post Blood Omen Two Pre Soul Reaver
Authoress note: This is a rewrite of the
original, mainly due to the huge writer’s block I hit after I had finally
managed to churn out the first chapter. I have been constantly re-reading this
and finally decided the only way it was going to go anywhere was if I scrapped
it and started again.
After such an overwhelming response from all of my reviewers about
‘Slaughter’ I could hardly say no when nearly every single one asked for a
sequel.
No matter how bloody hard it was to write J
Chapter Two
Shattered Visions
You may
have uncovered your past but you know nothing of it
Kain: Soul
Reaver
Meridian
was almost unliveable in the hot season; all the filth that had somehow been
covered in the cold seasons now rose to the surface and slowly started to
literally cook in the gutters and sewers, great scummy puddles of toxins sat on
pavements and roofs smelling of poison and death. Slowly but surely the whole
city began to smell like a corpse that had been left in the hot sun for many days
and was slowly roasting, very, very slowly. The stagnant waters in the still
rivers began to grow a skin out of the pollution the dwelt within and slowly
fumes began to rise, Kain had decided that it was remarkably similar to the
soup his household servants had once concocted when he had had the misfortune
to be home one summer, he’d been glad to return to boarding that winter.
Disease
became a bigger problem for the mortals in this heat and this change had a big
effect on
Kain
had been brooding over this problem for a few nights now, should he raise his
next child when they were in such an unstable condition, little in the way of
food and hunted. Or should he eliminate the problem first, should he hunt down
this new leader or should they leave this city, flee to another where they
would be safer. He had hissed at that idea, not only was it damaging to his
pride to even consider fleeing but all the other cities in Nosgoth were far,
far smaller than
Kain
had decided to raise his second and wait and see what the future held.
Raziel
woke shivering, with a distinct feeling that something was wrong. Without
opening his eyes he nuzzled forwards expecting to nudge against the cool skin
of his father, Kain often had the ability of dispelling his child’s fear with
his mere presence. Raziel frowned sleepily when he did not touch his father;
blearily he opened his eyes blinking in the darkness of the room. Kain was gone,
the sheets smelt only of Raziel, Kain had not spent the day sleeping, or
perhaps he had simply not spent the day sleeping here. Raziel sighed loudly;
sitting up wrapping arms around himself, repeating the words his father had
used before, “I will not leave you child.”
taking a few deep breaths Raziel composed himself, burying the almost
overwhelming feeling of loss and grief he was feeling. After a few moments the
fledgling vampire ungracefully crawled out of the bed; reaching a chair he
pulled on the clothing he had worn yesterday, having dumped it there last night
and stumbled out of the room into the corridor. The corridor was dimly lit, the light was coming from the ‘bathroom’ the door
slightly ajar. Raziel smiled a little to himself speeding up his steps to enter
the room in which he knew his father would be in, he ignored the bud of
jealously rising in his gut.
Kain
was indeed in the ‘bathroom’ and he was sleeping as Raziel had guessed he would
be, head resting on his arms which in turn were resting on the rim of the great
basin; hair dipping into the blood, Raziel absently lifted the few blood soaked
strands and draping them over his father’s bare shoulder. Kain stirred at the
contact waking slowly, golden eyes focused on Raziel for a moment before
settling on the still sleeping for of his new child.
“Father?”
Raziel spoke up and got no reaction from his father who still eyes half closed
watched his new born. “Father?” he pressed again
“Mmm,”
Kain managed
“I’m
hungry,” Raziel breathed kneeling beside his father, half hoping Kain would
sigh and rise to his feet and take him hunting but also knowing he would not.
“Then
do not go to far,” Kain murmured, it was the same response he had been giving
Raziel these last few nights since he had raised Raziel’s younger ‘brother’.
Raziel swallowed the sudden lump in his throat and stood; sparing one more look
at his father he left the house and wandered onto the streets of
Would
Kain even notice if he spent the whole night out, would he notice if he didn’t
come back at all?
Raziel
absently considered finding somewhere else to spend the day but knew he had to
stay with his father; he was no yet strong enough to live alone. He wasn’t
physically strong enough, he didn’t know enough but more than that he wasn’t
emotionally strong enough to be alone yet. Without much thought he began
tailing a young woman, she reminded him of the prey Kain had instructed him to
go after on his first solo hunt. He remembered feeling like an adult,
completely self sufficient as he followed the woman he had chosen to be his
first lone kill, he remembered how she had lead him closer to the upper city
but he had not noticed to prideful at hunting alone. He had considered hunting
twice that night, taking live prey back for his father; he had been in the
middle of imagining the look of pride and amazement on Kain’s face when he had
been pounced upon by clanking armour that glowed with the feeble light of the
remaining glyph magic. The glow burned him and the shock of being attacked so
suddenly left him unable to react. But he needn’t have worried for after a
moment the weight was gone and the smell of thick blood filled the air.
“You honestly think I wouldn’t be
watching?”
Kain had said helping him to his feet.
After
that he had often caught the scent of his father when he was out alone, or
sometimes he would see brief flashes of white. At the time it had made him feel
as if Kain thought he wasn’t capable to hunt on his own, it had made him angry
and he had berated his father to let him try alone. But every time Kain would
just smirk at him and say “but you were
alone.” playing innocence. Raziel sighed loudly to himself before catching
it, what if the woman heard? He shook his head, no she was too far in front of
him to hear such a noise, and he often had to remind himself that humans had
much weaker senses than vampires. The woman turned into a silent street and
Raziel moved closer in for the kill, absently looking over his shoulder, wanting
to see the flash of white or smell his father; he would give anything to have
him watching him again.
* * *
“Father?”
Raziel stuck his head around the bathroom door intent on letting Kain know he
had returned, knowing all he would get in return if he was lucky would be a
grunt of acknowledgement.
Instead
what met him was his father standing reaching down to help a now awake Turel
out of the bath. The young fledgling stumbled on his exit from the basin and
was caught by his father who smirked. Raziel turned to go but something stopped
him, he glanced over his shoulder at his younger brother who was trying to
stand alone feebly pushing Kain’s hands away. Raziel hissed,
he had been abandoned by his father for one who didn’t even appreciate it! The
lump in Raziel’s throat fell like a rock to his stomach and before he knew what
he had done, Raziel had marched forwards, forced Turel from his father’s arms
and had taken his place.
“Go
away,” he growled at the fallen newborn “I belong here,” he hissed “not you.”
Almost
as suddenly as he had moved, Kain moved; Raziel found himself knocked to the
floor, abandoned once again. Turel was lifted, wrapped in one of the
bloodstained towels and carried to the door. On reaching the door Kain stopped.
“I
expected better of you.” He sighed before leaving the room; he hadn’t even
turned to look at him. Raziel sat shocked on the damp floor for a few moments,
it had taken an act of rebellion to regain his father’s attention, for despite
not even having looking at him those were the most words Kain had said to him
in a long while and he had gotten them by acting poorly. This stung Raziel, he
still had the childish want to please his father and it hurt deeply that Kain
spoke to him more when he was bad then anything else.
He
did not want angry words . . . but if they were the only words he could get.
In
a sulk Raziel left the room, moving down the stairs into one of the book filled
rooms. On one of the small tables pieces of parchment lay scattered and a few
books were open. Some of the parchment held letters that were well formed,
clear and obvious as to their meaning, others held the same letters but less
well formed, less clear and in some cases completely wrong. Kain had been
attempting to teach his eldest the blood script, a type of writing originally
used by vampires in spells and incantations and later adopted by the mortal
clergy. But the teaching had stopped when Turel was raised. Quietly Raziel
lifted one of the feathers used for writing and began to copy out the alphabet
once more.
* * *
The
night was warm and muggy but dry; the heat of the summer season still had not
broken into the second rainy season of the year. Kain had decided to take both
his fledglings out tonight. For the reason that having two teachers may benefit
Turel, as there was always more than one way to achieve a goal but he had also
chosen this course of action for the reason that Raziel’s behaviour as of late
had been . . . unpredictable to say the least. He was slightly worried for his
eldest, he knew the reason Raziel was acting thus but wasn’t sure how to handle
it and was worried; Turel took all his attention the way Raziel had when he had
first woken, it seemed to make everything else insignificant in comparison for
this tiny helpless creature needed him, needed him in a way nothing else ever
would.
But
Raziel was proving that he was needed by more than this tiny helpless one.
They
walked slowly down the silent streets of the slums. Kain had chosen to bring
his children here tonight for the Serefan were never here and those humans who
were here were easy prey, hopeless creatures left to die in the cities refuse. Turel
clung tightly to his father, tiny partially formed claws biting into the
leather of Kain’s trousers; eyes on his elder sibling who he now seemed to be terrified
of; Turel’s early signs of independence had been completely destroyed by his
elder siblings actions. Raziel in turn was glaring daggers at his younger
brother as they walked, twice now the elder had stumbled because he was not
watching where he was walking. But the clumsy actions did nothing to remove the
fear Turel held for him.
Kain
mumbled a curse under his breath, he’d never had to deal with anything of this
nature before, true that once upon a time he had had Magnus and Sebastian vying
for his attention but that situation was completely different to this one,
simply because Kain knew he couldn’t have cared less if Sebastian and Magnus
killed each other in a fight, now he actually worried for those who would
fight. He was seriously beginning to wonder how Vorador had raised so many
young at once, a new respect for the elder vampire was growing: suddenly he went still, ignoring
the venomous looks Raziel was giving his younger sibling, something was wrong.
Raziel stopped staring at Turel for a moment and glanced to his father who was
staring high on a building. Raziel frowned following his fathers gaze and
spotted the sudden glint of moonlight off of silver armour. His breath caught
in his throat when he realised what it was.
But
the moment he realised what it was he was looking at the flaming arrow had been
launched from the archers bow, the arrow zipped through the air almost faster
than an immortal eye could follow, Raziel yelped loudly when the dangerous
weapon imbedded itself in his thigh. His eyes span to find his father,
terrified and in pain. But suddenly everything stopped, Kain was not there,
instead he had bolted with Turel, leaving his eldest to flee himself. Raziel
swallowed and bolted alone, his run was slowed by the arrow in his leg but he
didn’t really notice that pain anymore, he had been left, properly abandoned,
Kain had run and had left him. Raziel dived into an alley and curled deep into
the waste there; hiding himself hoping that he would not be found by the
Serefan who for some reason were now stalking the slums.
* * *
He
hid for the better part of the night. But when dawn threatened he moved,
sitting up fully and dragging himself from his vile hiding place, he sniffed at
the air, trying to scent out the mortal, to see in they were still in the area,
but all he could smell was mortal waste, rubbish from their daily life.
Settling himself against the wall he took a few deep breaths before gripping
the arrow and pulling sharply. The tip burned as it was wrenched free, and Raziel
realised that it had broken, the wound was now more serious than he realised
for the arrow head was inside him. If it healed it would take a day or so for
his body to push the arrow head out, rather than the minuets it should take if
it had been a simple cut. But in all honesty his wound didn’t interest him for
the young fledgling was still reeling from the fact he was now completely alone.
Obviously
Kain thought him old enough to look after himself now; obviously he was no
longer wanted. His father had spoken once of what would happen one day when he
would no longer need Kain to survive, he had spoken of separating and heading
off into the world to fend for himself, hunting alone, living alone, fighting
alone and then one day raising a child of his own. Obviously that day had come
sooner than Raziel had expected for the evidence was all there, Kain had been
watching him less and less over the last few days and then tonight he had left
him truly alone to fend for himself. Raziel took a deep breath swallowing the
grief that was threatening to escape him.
He
could not remain in this city, it held to to many images of times when he was
happy. So he would leave, he would go north.
His
father had always liked the North.
End
Chapter
Authoress note: well I hope you like it
so far, but I won’t know unless you tell me, hint, hint, hint.