FicWad

Chapter 2: Half-breed

As Kain strode quickly down the streets, he began to take in his bearings. This city seemed to be a mix of a small tidy town and a village of rouges. It seemed that the Northern part, the part he had recently fed in and left, was the more peaceful setting. As he continued south, the double floored homes of new brick became old, crumbling skeletons. A shadow of the town's past glories. Here, no clothes lines ran out of buildings nor did children chase one another in mock battle games. Dangerous thieves and murderers stayed in the shadows. Still, there was a bit of a crowd left from the day's light, finishing any "special" transactions or other illegal operations; enough to allow Kain to blend into the background with ease.

Occasionally a guard walked by, bedecked in shining armor, often a double bladed axe or broad sword on his or her belt. There were not as many here surprisingly; then again, most of them were probably keeping the rouges out of the better part of the town and assisting the nobles in petty disagreements than stopping fights or crimes.

Kain shook his head in disgust. How ignorant humans could be! He doubted that word of the Pillar's collapse had reached this far off town yet, but it would soon, and what would be the reaction? Panic of course, but that too would slowly die down, allowing his past self to scrounge together an army and lead it against the human race, bringing his empire to a soaring height, only to have it topple in the years after he would execute his first son and lieutenant, Raziel.

"If only they knew the hell that was steadily coming towards them," Kain thought. For him, his destiny had always been a black shadow on the horizon, bloating out all hope for Nosgoth's redemption.

So withdrawn into his thoughts, Kain nearly ran into a human, stopping just in time for the cloaked being to run into him.

With a grunt, the human fell back, the hood of the cloak it wore falling back to reveal a pale ivory face, intense green eyes, and shoulder length, flaming red hair. The woman looked to be no more then twenty years old and for someone living in a dump like this side of the town, she was decently attractive. She had a thinner face with a pointed chin with high arching brows, and a natural look of superiority on her face.

Grabbing the two books she had been carrying, the woman glared up at the offending man that had knocked her to the ground. From her angle, she could see under the hood Kain wore and catch a good glimpse of his face.

The woman paled further and her eyes widened. Kain had plenty of experience with people and knew what often followed wide eyes and a pale face; a scream.

Grabbing the woman, Kain dragging her into the nearby alleyway. Unsurprisingly, no person stopped or gave even a glance to Kain pulling the woman into the shadows of the alley; such a thing was a common occurrence here.

Kain's clawed hand was over the woman's mouth, and he briefly considered snapping her neck or at least feeding off her. It would be of no consequence to him. Glancing down at the woman, he saw neither fear nor pleading in her eyes, but raw anger. Also, his keen sense of smell picked up not only her human scent, but the vague aura of a vampire. Either this woman had had contact with vampires or had recently been attacked by one and lived.

A thought entered Kain's head. He needed shelter, perhaps this woman could provide it, at least until he had decided further on how he planned to free Raziel's spirit. With luck, she may be one of the few humans in league with vampires and may be able to gain access for him to a shelter. Whispering in the woman's ear, Kain's words had a clear and menacing tone to them.

"I am to release you. Should you scream, or try to run, you'll be dead and your spirit will be consumed by the blade I carry. Do you understand?"

The woman gave a short nod and Kain released her. The woman spun and snarled angrily at Kain, "Do you think I would be so stupid as to draw attention to myself?"

Not used to being talked back to, Kain grabbed the woman a shoved her against the wall. "Do not presume to address me as some sort of human vermin; I am greater than the highest of your pathetic race." Kain released the woman who dropped to the ground. The woman muttered something Kain didn't pick up, but ignored it. "Now, you have a choice. You can either follow my commands or die. Choose quickly."

The woman held her glare but muttered, "What do you want?"

Kain gave a nod in respect to her smart choice, "I seek shelter, and you have a vampiric aura on you. You know a vampire or at least have met one. Tell me where they are."

The woman snickered, "All vampires here were wiped out a few years ago when the Sarafan lead a purge on this town. You will not find a vampire for at least a hundred miles."

Kain glared down at the woman, "Do not lie human, a smell a vampire on you."

"I'm not lying," the woman snapped back, "and I would think for such a mighty vampire, you would have already guessed what I am!"

Kain narrowed his eyes; he did not like it when people made him out to be a fool.

At his silence, and threatening glare, the woman elaborated, "I'm what the humans call a half-breed. My mother was human, my father was a vampire."

Kain blinked, "That is impossible. Vampires are sterile. They cannot sire children by natural means, let alone with a human."

The woman snorted, "Tell that to my dead mother. May I leave now?"

Kain didn't trust this human. Though her explanation explained the aura on her, it was fact that vampires could not reproduce naturally, due to the curse the Hylden had placed on his winged ancestors.

But could this be another twist that Fate was throwing at him? He had seen enough surprises for his lifetime that now anything seemed possible. He gave a small laugh in his mind at how he thought that throwing Raziel into the lake of the dead would kill him. If even death could not stand in the way of Fate, how could a simple thing like sterility stand a chance?

Grabbing the human, Kain roughly wrenched her to her feet. "I assume you have a dwelling."

The human woman nodded, looking annoyed.

"You will take me there and accommodate me for the rest of this day and the following one, half-breed," he stressed the word to show his distaste, "Then, I will leave you and you are not to utter a word of my presence here, now or a century later."

"And if I don't?" the woman asked.

Kain growled lowly, "You don't want to know."

The woman sighed and nodded. "Fine. Follow me."

Kain pulled the hood of his cloak lower over his face and followed the woman back into the street.

"It's a bit of a walk," the woman explained as they neared the edge of the town. "It'll take about an hour to get there on foot at this pace."

"Why would you inconvenience yourself by making your home so far on the outskirts half breed?" Kain muttered, already tired of walking. He would have entered into his bat flight, but he was not sure the exact place where the woman lived.

"I don't want to be noticed or found. And if I am, I can see the torches and pitchfork coming at least ten minutes before they get there. And stop calling me half-breed! I have a name."

Kain ignored her tone, not bothering to ask what her name was, knowing she would provide it.

Guessing he wasn't going to ask, the woman muttered, "My name is Maya. And yours?"

"There is no need for you to know," Kain answered as they began to pass the last building on the outskirts of the city, a pub, and he observed the long grassy plains before him. The sun had gone down and the moon was a dim crescent hanging in to sky. A few tiny white speckles showed as stars, promising many more to come. Despite the view, Kain couldn't help but sigh at how long it would take them to get to half breed's home.

Glancing over at the pub, he saw a few horses tied on posts outside. Walking over to a black stallion, Kain looked it over. It was a strong beast and seemed to be well cared for. Most likely it was some noble's horse, it's rider inside the bar either drinking worries away or even hiring someone to do away with any annoyances. Either way, the horse snickered nervously at Kain's approach but with a few reassuring pats and strokes on the stallion's muzzle the horse relaxed as if Kain had been its' rider forever.

Grabbing the chain that tied the horse to the pole, Kain gave a tug and snapped it easily. Climbing on the back of the horse Kain looked to Maya, "Get on."

"You can get arrested and killed for that," Maya said walking over to the horse.

Kain grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her onto the back of the horse, "I assure you that will not happen." With that, Kain pushed his legs down on the horse's flanks and edged the beast into a trot, a canter, than a gallop in under a few seconds.

Maya gasped at the sudden increase of speed, and grabbed Kain around the waist to hold on. Kain stiffened at her closeness, but didn't mention it as he asked, "Where does your residence lie?"

Maya nervously removed one hand from his waist and pointed slightly to the right of where they were going, "Keep going that way until you reach the large rocks. Then, you turn left slightly and go straight. Eventually you'll spot it."

Kain gave a small nod and urged the horse in the appropriate direction. His eyes, perfectly trained for the dark, could see ever blade of grass, ever pebble in the road. After a few minutes of riding, they got to the rocks and turned. They had been riding for at most fifteen minutes before Kain caught his first glimpse of Maya's home. It was small, not exactly royalty housing, but she hadn't been lying. It was secluded. Behind the house, Kain could see many large hills and on the sides the house was guarded by think forests. He nodded in respect to the half-breed's idea of making her home here; unless one knew where it was, it was unlikely anyone would find it.

Finally reaching the dwelling, Kain slowed the horse to a trot and eventually stopped a few feet away of the door to the house. The half-breed jumped down and shakily stood watching him.

"You have never ridden on a horse before?" Kain asked.

The Maya shrugged, "I have, but not in a while." Kain let the stallion go, trusting it would not go far. But Maya grabbed the reins and led the horse over to a small fenced in pen Kain had not noticed. It was too small for the horse to run around in, but big enough for the animal to be comfortable.

"If you do not ride, why to you have a pen?" Kain asked.

Maya sighed heavily, "My other horse was killed almost as soon as I got here. I, nor my home, were discovered, but my horse was killed on sight so I would never be able to use it again." There was some hurt in her voice but Kain only saw it as weakness. Over his years he had learned to block out motions such as guilt and sorrow. It made life a hell of a lot easier.

"Well, are you just going to stand there or are you coming in?" the Maya asked, opening to door and lighting a few candles. The inside of the house seem cozy. It also seemed expensive with the wooden paneling and marble floor. Candle holders were mounted on the walls and there was a small fireplace along with a two chairs a desk and a small sofa. There were three doors leading off the main room, one looking to be a kitchen, another a lavatory, and the last, probably the Maya's personal quarters. After lighting the candles, for it was a warm summer night with no reason to place a fire in thee fire place, Maya turned to him. "I'll be in my bedroom. You can sleep on the floor if you like."

Kain was growing increasingly annoyed with Maya's haughty attitude, "If you are smart, you will show more respect towards me, half-breed," Kain fairly growled, not using her name to signify his lack of respect for her.

"This is my home, and I have been gracious enough to offer you quarters here for the rest of the night and tomorrow. And I told you to stop called me half-breed!"

With that, Maya turned to enter her bedroom and started to shut the door, pausing, she muttered loud enough for Kain to hear, "There are spare blankets in the closet by the fireplace. You can make up the couch if you wish." With that she shut the door the rest of the way.