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Realms Converge	By : Candice Category: +G through L > Legacy of Kain Views: 3563 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Legacy of Kain, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.Don't get to Nosgoth itself til chap 5

Chapter List
- 49
- 50
- 51
Thank you for the kind review Strife VII! Your concern for Kain's well-being is well founded given how stubborn that particular male ca-
-A growl in the background makes the authoress twitch and she glances over her shoulder-
Y-you know damn well how stubborn you are...
'And you know precisely how fragile you are'
... right... um... changing the subject...
Ahem! -looks nervously back at screen-
Oh hey, lookie! A new reviewer! Welcome Raziela! I am glad you are happy with the last chapter! Please continue to enjoy the story!
Chapter Fifty: Masquerade Part 3
Centuries of fighting together, of trusting one another both on and off of the battlefield, of being able to rely upon each other in the oft violent arena that was Vampiric politics and Clan dynamics, meant that Kain's first response to my panicked Whisper was to shift immediately into his Mist form. It was a good thing that we had developed such a close bond over the centuries, as a series of rapid-fire bullets tore through the mist not even a second after he had shifted into said form. The bullets passed through the air right where his head and heart would have been had he not changed. A soaring, desperate sense of relief tore through me even as Auron let out an enraged snarl at having had one of his plans thwarted.
Kain's continued existence and safe return to Nosgoth was paramount... and it was his safety that was what I had been subconsciously fretting so much about since we had decided upon our course of action. All of our plans had been centered around my personal safety. We had not calculated for Auron to target Kain in such a manner in an attempt to kill him. I felt thrice the fool for having forgotten that Auron wanted my Mate dead for having 'stolen' me from him by Marking me as he had. I cursed myself as I made sure that both I and the Prince were safely under cover and out of the snipers line of sight.
~Get behind cover and stay there Kain! I am not his only target this eve!~ I snapped mentally, the fear and rage at the situation clear in my tone.
~Woman, I am not-!~ I cut him off.
~Rage at me later if you must my King,~ I growled, ~but your continued safety is more important than my own at this point and you know this! You must be returned safely to Nosgoth or she is doomed and all of our efforts, all of your efforts, will be in vain! I can handle this shit-stain on my own if need be! I am not the weakling he thinks I am. Have Altair's men deal with the sniper if you must, but do not move from out from behind cover before they are dealt with! A bullet to the skull will kill you!~
He went silent for several seconds and I could feel the enraged press of his Aura against my own. I used the time to regain Auron's attentions, whistling at him mockingly in an attempt to distract him whilst also managing to remain under a decent amount of cover. I noticed that Sigrun had started to pull Brice's unconscious form free of the rubble and to the side as soon as the sniper's shots had been fired in order to get the male into a safe spot until he could recover. Lucius fired off a few rounds first at Auron to force the male behind cover and then toward the direction that the sniper's fire had seemed to have originated from. He twisted to fire again at Auron when my tormentor tried to dart towards my hiding spot and the younger half-blood worked to provide cover-fire as best he could for me and the unconscious Prince.
~Try to have Auron pursue you to the level below us,~ Kain snapped suddenly in my mind. ~Take the Prince with you and play the wounded animal. Altair has advised me that there is another stairwell nearby and I will go there to pincer him in. Your Siblings and a number of other guards that Brice has chosen have been called upon and they are already taking the 'elevators' up to that floor as well as the one below that in order to hem him in. Your Siblings will be the ones to rendezvous with you in the elevator lobby below us. Go! Lucius will continue to cover you for a few more moments before allowing Auron an opening to follow you!~
~As you say,~ I growled in acknowledgment.
I swiftly drew the Prince up into a Fireman's carry position. While Lucius continued to distract Auron whilst also dodging random bursts of fire that was being launching from the item that Auron held, I made my way down the wide flight of stairs towards the door that led to the next floor down. Thankfully they were not far, nor had the doors been blocked by the explosion that had torn a hole through the building. As I shoved the doors open with my shoulder I let out a soft, pained-seeming curse and allowed my foot to scuff against the ground almost loud enough for a human to have heard the noise.
"Incompetent whelp!" Auron shouted when he heard me. Another small explosion filled the air followed immediately by a pained yelp from Lucius and I winced, hoping that the younger half-blood was alright. "Get out of my way vous garçon stupide!"
I hurried my pace when I heard the clear sound of Auron's booted feet landing on the stairs near the door. He was not concealing his pursuit of me in the slightest, angry as he was. The noise was followed by more gunfire as Lucius continued to delay him and Auron spat out a vicious string of French as he was prevented from chasing after me right away. A second series of gunshots filled the air and I smiled grimly. Either Brice had recovered or Sigrun had joined Lucius in laying down cover-fire for me. I used the precious seconds that they had bought me in order to bolt down the expansive hallway and past the widely spaced doors that led to some of the more extravagant hotel rooms as I made my way toward the elevator lobby as Kain had instructed.
I refrained from activating my own Gift as I ran as I needed Auron to follow me and think me too injured to use it effectively. The male had no idea at this point just how much time had actually passed for me while I was on Nosgoth and did not yet know that I had gone through my first Torpor. I saw the lobby ahead of me and nodded to myself, better that any further fighting happen there where I would have more room to maneuver. The halls, while wide, were still far too narrow for me to fight effectively.
~Do you really believe that you can escape from me, ma petite puit?!~ Auron roared into my mind suddenly and the shear force behind the mental bellow staggered me for a moment. ~I will take you back with me. I will break you open upon my cock. I will rip my way into your womb and then I will tear your heart from you and paint the walls with your blood as I continued to take your cooling corpse! I will leave your body where the upstart who stole you from me can find you and then, when he is weeping bloody tears over your fallen form, I will tear off his head and then use his entrails to decorated the walls of my new castle!~
I snorted softly at the thought of Kain 'weeping' of all things, but refrained from replying to his taunts as my silence would only piss him off further still. The angrier Auron got, the sloppier he became and I knew that would work in our favor. I darted into the wide lobby that housed multiple elevator doors and damn near plowed into one of my Brother's, Cuthbert. Rather than apologize or offer any niceties, I shoved the Prince into his arms and then shoved my Brother toward the closest elevator. The rest of my Siblings took in my dust-covered form with surprise but they also looked ready to fight. Good, they would need to be ready. Auron couldn't be that far behind me even with the efforts of the others.
"Cu, get the Prince out of here," I ordered briskly. I took in, and ignored, their shocked expressions at my commanding tone.
"Sheila," Eli started warily. "The hell is going on? We heard the explosion from downstairs and then we were ordered to take the elevators up here to meet with you."
"Not much time to explain," I said as I turned and tossed one of the until then hidden smoke grenades that Brice had given to me down the hall that I had come in through. "Suffice to say that my tormentor has made a bid to recapture me and ruin my debut party."
I glanced back at the others and saw them share a dark look that promised vengeance. Cu started for the elevator as I had ordered. He was sent flying backwards a moment later when an explosive blast of fire shot out of the smoke. The blast took out the elevator that he had been heading toward and a high whine filled the air as the elevator shook violently enough for one of the cables to snap. I winced as the screeching sounds of the falling elevator filled the air and hoped that no one was in the first-floor lobby downstairs... I turned back around with a hiss though and drew Kindness from the hidden, expanded pouch at my waist even as the boom of the elevator hitting the first floor echoed up the elevator shaft.
I slipped into a defensive stance with the blade of my sword resting along my right arm and my left palm resting upon the pommel of the blade. The smoke grenade had already filled the hallway with a dense cloud and the sheer amount of it would reveal where Auron's form was hidden by the movements of the smoke as it billowed around his form. Least wise, that was the plan. He seemed to have decided to remain back in the densest part of the smoke in order to remain concealed rather than risk moving forward.
Coward, I thought.
~Eli, you and Cu protect the Prince,~ I ordered through the Whisper without turning around. ~Joan, Benedict; the two of you watch the other hallway. Sigrun and the others should be making their way to us via that hall but my tormentor might also try to make his way back along that route rather than allow the smoke to reveal his location to us.~
~Who the hell are we fighting sheila?~ Eli asked over the Whisper as he moved over to Cu's side as I had commanded. ~And why the smoke anyway? It's impeding our vision as well as his.~
~Watch for movement in the smoke Brother. He has ways to conceal himself from sight,~ I growled out. ~The smoke is there because otherwise we would not be able to notice his movements!~
Eli let out a grunt of acknowledgement and turned his attentions toward the cloud of smoke. We stood in tense silence for several long moments, the only noise to be heard the hissing of the smoke grenade. I hadn't been able to tell what kind of item that Auron was using to launch fireballs at us, but I knew that he had strongly alluded to the fact that he was unable to cast magic on his own, much like myself. He'd mentioned that back when the Sarafan Lord had caught me the first time, saying that 'the boy's magic' made it easier to make me scream for him. If we could get the artifact away from him, whatever it was, then we would weaken him. I continued to watch for unusual movement in the smoke and reached out with my Aura to try to get a better sense of the area. I also listened closely for the sound of his heart-beat.
Auron was a half-blood like myself and that meant he yet had a heartbeat even when one was attempting to conceal ones position. He, like myself, might well be able to slow his heart-beat to a crawl but there would still be that occasional thu-thump to give his location away. Another fireball suddenly shot out from the smoke toward Eli, Cu and the Prince and I stiffened but kept my gaze narrowed upon the smoke, trusting that they could take care of themselves and the Prince. A flood of magic filled the room and a circular shield made of light appeared in front of my Brother's and the Prince and the fireball struck the shield harmlessly. I shifted my stance just slightly as I readied myself for a follow up attack when that distraction tactic failed to draw my attention and yet... nothing happened. Cu suddenly let out a snarl of equal parts anger and incredulousness.
"So the one who took you is so pathetic that he must rely on spell-artifacts and trickery?" Cu asked in a bland tone of voice. "Had you not been taken by surprise in the middle of the night, I expect you may well have been able to deal with one such as he even with just human strength available to you."
I smiled coldly at my Brother's casual taunting and chuckled as I continued to watch the smoke.
"He was a rather dull host in all honesty," I said in a mocking tone. "The methods of torture and torment grew repetitive rather swiftly. What got to me the most was the boredom of it all."
"Really surprised that you can joke 'bout that shit sheila," Eli muttered.
"What can I say Brother?" I asked in a calm tone. "When someone kidnaps you and then demands the willing sacrifice of your virginity to 'make the pain stop' you tend to deny them out of sheer spite. I mean really, how basic and pathetic is that?"
I just barely felt the flash of Auron's enraged Aura and my eyes narrowed on the smoke. The pulse had only been just enough to confirm that he was not attempting to circle around to try to attack from the other hallway, but not enough to pinpoint his exact position. Another burst of fire magic, easily blocked by Cu's shield, made me realize that he would likely continue to use whatever artifact that he had in order to mask his heart-beat. If the hall had been one of the narrower ones, I would have been able to press an attack, but as it was wide enough for several people to walk through shoulder to shoulder, I did not dare risk darting into the smoke after him.
"A woman denying a man such a thing purely out of spite?" Benedict chimed in suddenly with a teasing smile. "Why Sister, I have never heard of such a preposterous thing!"
I let out a bark of laughter at his words and felt another flash of anger followed by a blast of flame that seared the air between myself and forced me to jump aside lest I get caught up in the flames. Cu threw up another shield, plus a second one that appeared in front of me to help deflect the flames, but the blast was rapidly followed by an explosion that took the floor right out from beneath my feet. I let out a cry of pain as my head cracked painfully against the floor below.
"Katrina!" multiple voices rang out loudly and echoed oddly in my ears, especially after the noise of that latest explosion combined with the blow to my head.
I rolled swiftly to the side out of instinct and it was good that I did. I felt the breeze of the fist that had been aimed for my skull as it missed me. I lashed out with Kindness and darted to the side. I then twisted to avoid another blow by judging the subtle changes in the air around me. I darted past a large couch and then turned swiftly to kick the couch in roughly the direction I believed Auron to be in. I hoped to pin him between the couch and the far wall.
Auron flickered back into sight briefly as the couched clipped him in the side. I lunged forward in an attempt to take advantage of the slip in his control. I managed a glancing blow to his side with my blade and a wide splatter of his blood hit the far wall. He flickered out of sight and a brief trail of blood was left behind for me to follow his movements. I let out an enraged snarl of breath and pressed my attack swiftly as I rapidly judged the angle of how the blood fell. I knew, somehow, that I had to be the one to kill him. I hissed when my second blow just missed him given the way a block of wall scattered to hit the far wall as he dodged. A splatter of blood hit the ground to my left barely a second later and I ducked low and leapt backwards swiftly rather than follow the obvious trail.
The blood had hit the ground with the force of that which had been flung aside, not that which had fallen on its own. When one was used to using such tactics, one knew what to watch for. Even as I heard one of the others move to follow and assist me in my fight, I did not dare to activate my own Gift and fade from sight to avoid Auron's blows. It might well make it easier for Auron to attack me in the mean time, but Kain and I had both agreed that my disappearing from the sight of the others would be a signal that I had been caught by Auron and that the entire area would need to be put on lock-down.
"Next floor down!" Eli's voice, roughened by injury, sounded through the air. "Through the damn hole! Hurry!"
I had barely registered the snarled response when my feet were abruptly kicked out from under me. Kindness was struck from my hand with enough force that I felt several bones in my hand shatter. I snarled in rage more then pain and rolled with the blow. I lashed out with my foot only to have my ankle caught in his grasp. Using the tricks that Alma had taught me whilst we practiced over the years with my Gift wrapped around the pair of us, I lashed out with my other foot whilst I managed to keep balanced on my good hand.
My foot connected with his jaw and the blow shattered his control so that I could see him. I ignored the sounds of the others as they landed behind us and twisted my ankle free of his now lax grasp. I twisted and pushed as I launched myself away from Auron. He let out a bloody snarl of breath and launched himself after me, his eyes wild. I landed on my feet and darted forward to meet his attack head on. When he raised his hand, a thick chain wrapped around it that flickered brightly with magical power, I ducked and just barely managed to avoid the flames that he had launched at my head. He twisted his hand as I moved and the chain unwrapped from his wrist to strike out at me in a whip-like movement.
I snapped my damaged hand out as I rose up and forced the chain to coil about my own wrist. Before he could activate the damned thing, I lashed out with my other hand to strike his arm and forced him to release his grasp on the odd artifact. He let out an enraged and pain-filled bellow as my blow damaged the radius and ulna bones, not breaking but at least fracturing them from the sound of it. He pulled away from me with another enraged sound. I tossed the chain aside, toward the others, lest he use some kind of trigger word that I did not know about to ignite the damn thing whilst it was wrapped around my wrist and then pressed my attack, eager to finish him off.
Annoyingly enough, I proved to be a little too eager...
Auron twisted about faster than I expected and I let out a frustrated roar of noise when his hand successfully closed around my own healing limb. He crushed the bones of my hand in his grasp and used the hold to twist me about. I moved with him and drove my elbow backwards harshly into his ribs as I tried to drive him backwards into the wall to pin him in place. If I could keep him from reactivating his Gift, then we had him dammit! The satisfying sound of several ribs breaking filled the air and I jerked my head backwards when he continued to pull me in close despite the pain even as his back hit the wall.
My skull cracked against his jaw with a vicious sound and he let out a bloody snarl of noise in my ear. I started to wrench myself free of his slackened grasp and then froze in fear and shock as a sudden tearing, squelching sound filled the air. Pain blossomed through me in slow increments and my breaths came in stuttered and pained bursts. The pain spread slowly, starting just below my ribs and up under the right rib cage itself. Then there was the line of fire-like pain along my right lung, a pressure that made it hard for me to breathe. Worst still was the slow, dawning, recognition of a long forgotten pain; the pain of a hand clasped tight 'round my heart.
I coughed up blood and I knew that my lung had been nicked and had already healed and yet some blood had still entered the lung itself. I barely heard the panicked shouts of the others past the sound of my own blood rushing in my ears. I dimly realized that all of my Siblings, Kain, a now conscious Armon and Lucius had all successfully made their way to the same level that I had been on and had leapt through the hole that Auron had blown into the floor. Angry, enraged shouting filled the room along with several growls of warning, but I could not make any of the words out as I focused on trying to hold still and not drive my own heart into the claws that threatened to end me. Even as I focused on slowing my heart-beat, that hand tightened around my heart and the pain of it forced a strained noise past my clenched teeth. A wave of calm filled the air as Joan took a step forward with her hands outspread. Suddenly I could hear past the pain...
"Release our Sister," she started softly, "and we will ensure that you receive fair judgement."
"What right have you, any of you, to judge me?!" Auron roared. "Not a one of you would exist on this world without me! I am your God! It is only by my will that any of you were born! Now move vous animaux stupides, ma l'ange puit and I will be leaving the area. Move!"
"You are going nowhere," Kain snarled and he took a step forward with Havoc and Malice brandished threateningly.
"Down, you wild mongrel!" Auron roared and his hand again tightened around my heart. My eyes flew wide and my body spasmed abortively against him at the tight hold. "Drop your weapons beast! All of you, disarm yourselves now!"
Kain snarled viciously. He did not take another step forward as yet, but neither he nor the others dropped their weapons.
"I said 'disarm yourselves'!" Auron yelled and I found myself abruptly being twisted about while still being held in a way that used me as a living shield ad prevented those with guns from getting in a head-shot.
The armor at my back was suddenly ripped away and a ringing chorus of 'No!'s and 'Don't!'s filled the air as his hand suddenly slammed against the pressure point on my back. Agony seared through my every nerve as my wings were forced from me and the pain heightened further still when I felt my right wing wrenched downwards and then off. I let out a choked, bitten off howl at having one of my wings torn from me barely even a second after they had been forced from my body. My body went limp despite the pain and Auron was swift to pull me back against his chest in a mockery of a loving embrace lest I slip low enough for one of the others to get a shot in.
"You damned beast!" Benedict snarled even as he threw his weapon to the ground. "You will die for this insult, mark my words."
"Not to your hands whelp and not any time soon," Auron said and he let out a dark laugh. "The rest of you, drop your weapons now or I will rip off her other wing and make her sing so sweetly for me."
One by one their weapons hit the ground until Kain was the only one who remained visibly armed. Auron tucked himself more firmly against my back and his left hand, the hand not around my heart, closed tight around the base of my left wing. I let out a grunt of pain at the tightened hold.
"Drop the axes, you upstart little thief!" Auron hissed.
"I will not allow you to leave here with her," Kain growled and his eyes flashed white for a brief moment.
"NO GIFTS!" Auron roared. "If I see any of your eyes glow with such power again then I will rip out her heart and shower you with her life-blood!"
Kain's eyes flickered back to his normal blue-gold gaze only after a strained sound of pain was forced past my lips as Auron snapped the humerus bone of my remaining wing. Auron brushed his lips against my ear lightly, the foul, mocking caress of a lover's kiss. His fangs then brushed against the skin of my neck just over Kain's Mark and I twitched at the vileness inherent in that touch. Just as before, when I had been caught by the Sarafan Lordling and Auron had ridden the boy's skin, a perverse sense of wrongness filled me at the feel of Auron's power being forced through Kain's Mark. I felt Auron twitch with pain against my back and I recalled that the Mark had actually harmed the Lordling. I growled at the sensation and tried to move in a way that might drive the Mark against Auron's flesh in an attempt to make him drop me. He snarled and tucked himself against the back of my neck instead.
I used that distraction to lock my gaze upon Kain's before flicking my eyes to where Kindness had fallen. I looked back at him an instant later. Kain's expression did not change, but I knew that he had realized that I had come up with a plan. Not necessarily a good plan... but a plan at the least.
"Will the chien only heed your words, ma petite puit?" Auron asked with his lips pressed against the back of my neck. "Tell him to drop his weapons ma l'ange, or I will rip your other wing off slowly."
"As if you were not already goi-GraaAAAAH!" I let out a grimacing snarl of sound as he started to apply a slow, tearing pressure along the point where he had broken my wing. "Kain..."
"Woman..." he growled the word in a low, warning tone that hid the subtle, questioning note that meant, 'was I certain of my plan?'
"Do it," I said through gritted teeth. 'Yes, I was certain.'
Kain dropped the axes and Auron immediately started to let out a barking laugh of victory. What happened next occurred all within the span of a few seconds...
As Havoc and Malice tumbled toward the ground, I reached out with my new Telekinetic Gift and grabbed hold of Kindness. Auron would not be able to see the slight glow of my eyes as I called upon that Gift and thus was not warned of the danger to his person. As Kindness shot forward like an arrow that had been launched from a bow, I twisted as much as I could given my yet disabled state in order to alter the angle of my body just that hair's breadth that I needed. Havoc and Malice struck the ground with a ringing clang that echoed throughout the room just as Kindness pierced my own chest. I had managed to angle the blade in a way that Auron's wrist would be severed off within me before he could tighten his grasp again around my heart. My earlier movement also meant that the blade of my sword would pass through me and into his very much living heart.
As the axes bounced upwards into the air again and Kain lunged forward with a lethal swiftness. His hand closed around the hilt of my sword and his grip equally forced the blade deeper and held it in place so that the blade did not shift about within my body. Auron's foul laughter cut off with the impact of my blade in his chest and through his heart. I could feel it as he jerked and tried to pull away. I did not know if he would be able to heal from the wound if he could successfully pull off of the blade, but I knew we could not allow him to escape. As Havoc and Malice hit the ground a second time, and the others shouted their shock at my actions, Kain's other hand closed around the back of Auron's neck in order to prevent him from free. I abruptly scented more of Auron's blood in the air and felt the male go limp against my back as Kain severed the connection betwixt his brain and body. At this point, only Kain's grasp and the point of my own blade embedded in the wall behind us kept us from falling to the ground. I could not yet stand under my own power and likely would not be able to for several minutes yet.
I focused upon my sword and its' fire magics instead of worrying about my rather precarious position. Vorador had designed the runes of the blade to work in such a way that the flames would start at the tip and work their way down the blade toward the hilt. I could light only the very tip of the blade aflame if I so wished. It was a tricky thing to do and would require all of my focus, as I would need to stop the flames from reaching my own body. A 'woosh' of noise filled the air as I activated the rune-work with a whispered 'ignis'. It was Auron's turn to scream in agony as the fire spread, searing and cauterizing the stab wound open around the blade itself. By the time that Havoc and Malice hit the ground in a final ringing impact, the flames had leapt up along the blades edge to hit Auron's heart. His scream cut off and I felt his remaining hand spasm around the base of my wing, breaking it further still.
I tried to cut off the magic in time but the flames still licked at my back painfully before they flickered out. Auron convulsed against my back, hand tightening and relaxing in a spasming, painful hold that was thankfully not enough to rip the limb off as he obviously wished to. His convulsions shifted the blade around within my own body despite Kain's grasp upon the hilt and the point digging into the wall and I hissed at the pain caused by the movements. I turned my head and glared at Auron's pain-shocked gaze over my shoulder.
"You worthless piece of filth," I bit out between clenched teeth. "Your corpse will feed the carrion birds and all shall know the truth of your pathetic, feeble existence. Die, you contemptible, insignificant little cretin."
Rage, shock and fear of his now inevitable death flashed across Auron's face as the life in his eyes slowly dimmed. His mouth worked as if to speak but the only sound that escaped him was a rattling death-gurgle as blood trickled down his chin. His eyes dulled to that glassy death-gaze and an animalistic, vicious satisfaction filled me due to my having slain my life-long foe. Kain shifted me forward, his other hand moving to wrap around my waist as he moved our forms away from the wall.
"Pull the body off the blade! Swiftly now!" he ordered.
"Yes sir!" one of the others responded. Lucius, I think...
I swallowed roughly as I fought against the haze of pain. I could taste my own blood upon my tongue. I turned my head forward and focused my gaze upon Kain's own in order to keep myself stable. The edges of shock had started to eat at the edges of my sight and my vision tunneled until all I could focus on was Kain's blue-gold gaze. I hissed faintly as the heavy weight on the other end of my blade was removed and some of the pressure in my chest lessened as a result. Kain turned his attention to one of the others and I blinked rapidly.
"The blade must be removed swiftly," he said in a voice that was distant despite our being so close. "Joan, you have the smallest hands of those here..."
"I will remove the limb from her swiftly and carefully," came the soft reply.
"You had best," he growled. The viciousness in his tone was amusing for some reason and I chuckled weakly.
I arched in pain a moment later as the blade was pulled from me, flesh that had been healing around the blade cut open once more as the metal slid out of me. Kain shifted to pin me against the ground and I choked back a howl of pain as Joan's dainty hand slid into my chest cavity in order to pull Auron's hand away from my heart and out of my body. I coughed violently and blood flecked from my lips as I wheezed for breath. My breathing eased as the mass that was both her hand and Auron's was pulled free and I fell limp against the ground. Kain turned and started to bark out another order. Though the only thing that I could make out was the word 'heart', I lashed out with my hand to catch his shoulder in a weak grasp and tried to speak. I snarled weakly when I found that I could not yet speak past the pain and Whispered to him instead.
~His blood... is not to pass my lips,~ I said past the pain. ~Drain him if you wish and... and take what power you can from him, but I will never again have his foul vitae upon my tongue.~
~You would potentially gain one of his other Gift's or the improvements to your shared Gift,~ Kain responded in a pragmatic tone.
~You need them,~ I said with a sudden flash of clarity. ~Centuries of us sharing vitae and only I have gained any Gifts from that sharing of blood and yet... I did not see you...~
~What do you mean mine own?~ he asked calmly and his talons trailed idly down my cheek.
~Your Eldar self... surprise me at the Pillar's that day. You appeared behind me... as suddenly... as suddenly as I might take an enemy by surprise...~ I allowed the connotations of that register before I smiled faintly. ~You feed from him... take his Gift. I need whatever his blood might offer me... not at all...~
~As you wish Dear Katrina,~ he responded several moments later. ~Drink of my blood then, mine own, and regain some of your strength whilst the others fetch some of those 'blood packs' for you.~
I let out a pained thrum of acknowledgement at his words. I found that I could move somewhat and I focused and drew my wings back into my back first and foremost rather than do anything else. The pain of it blacked my vision for a brief moment and once my vision was cleared I found that Kain had drawn me onto his lap once my wings had been tucked away to heal. I almost purred despite the continued pain when he moved my mouth to his neck and I sank my fangs into his throat to feed. He allowed me to feed from him for an undefined amount of time before he finally let out a warning rumble of noise. I pulled away immediately, even though my mind was yet hazy. I blinked rapidly as the shock fever started to eat at the rest of my vision, sight darkening to naught but spots and shadowed shapes.
"Here Sister, drink quickly."
The voice of one of my male Siblings filled my ears as an open blood pack was held up to my lips. I opened my mouth and the blood was freely poured past my waiting lips. There was more movement around me and it briefly caught my attention.
"Will she be alright Father?" A hesitant and soft question that could only have been asked by the Prince.
"She has healed without issue from such wounds before," Kain's voice answered. Several enraged hisses filled the air. "She will recover whelp."
"Do not call me a-"
"Be silent boy!" Kain snarled. "You allowed Auron into the building, and while that worked in our favor and aided in setting up our trap, you still aided our enemy. Whilst you realized your blunder in time to aid Katrina, you still became as much of a distraction to us as you did to Auron!"
"Kain," I murmured softly as I pushed away the empty blood pack. "His interference, his distraction, was a blessing this eve..."
Kain looked down at me with a raised and incredulous brow. I smiled past the pain from my healing wounds and my aching shoulders and reached up to touch his cheek lightly.
"If we had gone up to the roof... and continued with our plan unimpeded... I might not have noticed the sniper's sighting laser in time to warn you," I shifted my hand and brushed a strand of hair back behind his ear. "You would be dead."
He remained silent and stiff beneath my continued, gentle and somewhat weak touch. He finally let out an angry huff of breath.
"'Might not have'," he stressed. "We do not know for certain what would have happened. I will allow that the boy's actions may have proven to be of more assistance than previously thought, and Auron's Charm ability was strong, but the boy was still a fool to act as he had without forewarning any of us. Sigrun was correct to say that the boy should be leashed."
A sputtering, indignant noise filled the air, followed by several relieved sounding barks of laughter. Armon was gently silenced by the soft thrum of his Father's voice and I chuckled. With that one statement, Kain had made an allowance for Armon's failure that. Had we been back on Nosgoth, that would have meant that Kain would allow Altair to met out his son's punishment rather than demand personal satisfaction. From the relief writ clear upon the other's faces, it was plain that there would have been similar expectations here had my Mate chosen to press things.
The voices of the others started to blur together and a tremor began to wrack through my body starting at my fingers. I growled in a low and weakened voice as I tried to struggle against the more obvious effects of shock fever. A small hand brushed soothingly over my forehead and I frowned when I felt Joan's Aura settle over my own with a soft yet insistent pulse that urged me to rest.
"No," I grumbled faintly and I flared my own, weakened Aura at my Sister. "I will not be rendered insensate. Leave off Sister..."
"As you please," she responded in a soft tone.
Her Aura changed, still soothing with that sweet tang of Clan but no longer was it filled with the cloying call to sleep. My sight cleared somewhat and I relaxed bit by bit. I stiffened when Kain passed me over to where I was laid out over her lap. I watched with bleary eyes as he moved over to Auron's cooling corpse. He ripped out the split and cauterized heart and then glanced in my direction with a raised brow. I waved my hand weakly in a 'go ahead' gesture. A number of surprised looks were flashed my way when Kain nodded his head and then sank his fangs into first one of the heart-halves and then the other to draw upon the potent vitae. My vision wavered again briefly and I could suddenly see the Aura's of everyone there. I watched Kain's Aura as it began to flicker and glow with the power that he was taking from Auron's blood. The glow grew stronger as he drained the blood from the rest of the body. Joan drew my attention back to her as she held out another blood pack to me and my vision flickered again as the Aura's around me faded out of sight once more.
While I managed to successfully remain conscious as the shock fever started to tear through me in force, I found that I was not entirely coherent. Eventually, I'm not sure when, but I passed out from pain and exhaustion despite my efforts to stay away. I woke up briefly with the sense that I was being carried somewhere and I stiffened and prepared to lash out. I relaxed when I felt the familiar thrum of Kain's Aura brush against mine soothingly and his taloned hands tightened briefly at my shoulder and thigh. I was lain out on something soft and I let out a soft groan when my back hit the soft cushion of... a... a couch perhaps? It seemed too large for that but yet too small to be a bed. I was instantly moved onto my side and my head was lifted up so that I could lay my head upon someone's lap. Taloned hands far daintier compared to Kain's started to card through my hair and my eyes fluttered briefly before consciousness faded once more.
Several times I was drawn back to wakefulness and Joan was always there, taloned hands soothingly pressed against my head or neck with her Aura as soothing a thrum as Kain's. His Aura was a consistent weight originating from where he... stood...? several feet away or, sometimes, right next to me. Conversations were held around me, but the pain muffled any ability for me to make out their words. Something bumped against my back and I hissed at the pain that shot up my spine. My surroundings snapped into focus with the resultant pain. I propped myself up on one elbow with the help of more then one set of taloned hands and I blinked in confusion when I found myself at the center of a very large, circular love seat that looked like it could hold at least a dozen people on it. At the least, all of my Siblings and Kain were easily curled around me in a large puppy pile.
"What...?" I blinked and then started when I realized there was a heavy weight over my leg. I kicked out at it and someone shifted. Benedict rose up and raised a brow at me.
"Please refrain from kicking me," he said with a fang-less smile.
I blinked at him and eyed the lot of them in confusion.
"Your temperature has spiked dramatically several times over the past four hours," Cuthbert said to my right, answering my silent question. I blinked in his direction. "As all of us run at cooler temperatures, we have been alternating who is next to you in order to keep you cool."
"You..." I blinked again and frowned. "You still produce some heat. Why... why not an ice bath?"
"We do not produce as much heat when we go long periods between eating søster," Sigrun said from somewhere to my right. "And to put you in an ice bath would be too cold, too much shock for your system."
"Ah," I muttered and I rolled my shoulder. I hissed in pain at the movement and Kain's cooler than usual touch suddenly rubbed soothingly along the sore area.
"Hush my own," he thrummed in my ear. "From what your Siblings have told me, you need to sleep for a longer period of time to recover. We will continued to keep your fever down as we have been and you should recover faster."
"Bossy bastard," I muttered fondly, much to the amusement of my Siblings, yet I knew he was right. They knew more about my nature than we had learned through trial and error.
Faint tremors continued to wrack my body and I curled up between the lot of them. Their corpse-cold bodies helped me deal with the fever that tore through me and I found that I could let sleep claim me once more. Victory had been ours this day. Kain was alive, safe from the snipers that Auron had called upon to kill him and I had slain my greatest foe. Now was the time to recover, regroup and then we would seek out those who had assisted Auron and end them as well as free those who could be saved.
I hope everyone has enjoyed the latest chapter and Auron's ultimate fate! Thank you again for all the views and reviews! Love you all!
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