Chapter Text
Carrying a live mortal was more difficult than Kain expected. Not that the men were heavy, but the two of them together were awkward. Fortunately for him, both of the men were unconscious. Yet as he stumbled, tripping on an unseen rock, and dropped one man, he cursed his decision to move himself and his fledgling charge out of Meridian.
Hunting in Meridian had been easy. Lugging prey back to the hovel he’d claimed for himself and his charge had been little effort. He never had to go far. But Meridian was getting too dangerous. The remnants of the Serefan were an active threat. So, after one-to-many close calls, he had finally moved them out of the city into one of the surrounding villages. The downside with villages was that the populations were small and noticed when some of their number got eaten. So, hunting had to be done further afield and prey brought back under a cover of darkness.
At least there were plenty of bandits in the countryside.
Initially, after raising his first fledgling, Kain had been concerned when the boy hadn’t spoken a word for the first few weeks. But that concern rapidly faded into disinterest. At least the fledgling wouldn’t argue with him. Yet there was still a concern to be had at the rest of the boy’s ability. For all he was a grown man in appearance, his mind did not seem to match. Perhaps raising century dead corpses would not prove fruitful? Did death damage the mind? Or was the man always this way? But he couldn’t have been, he seemed, judging by the ornate grave, to have been a high ranking Serefan inquisitor. Perhaps death, at least a long death, was going to prove problematic after all.
As Kain grew closer to the point of ending his fledgling and trying again with a fresher corpse, Raziel began to speak. Nonsensical sounds at first, but he quickly got the hang of words. Long words still troubled him, but the short ones were little bother now. He seemed quite fond of names, constantly repeating his own name and Kain’s. He was coming along. Every night his improvement gained speed, and it was high time he started learning that Kain was a master, not a nursemaid.
Putting one man onto his shoulder, he reached down and hefted his dropped quarry back under his other arm. Goddamn, this was a pain in the arse. It was about time the little freeloader started hunting for his own meals. Which was the point of this little escapade tonight.
He arrived back in the village and kept to the shadows. If he was spotted, then there was little to be done to hide what he was doing. It was pretty clear he was up to no good, what with both men having obvious head injuries. But the village guard was easy to avoid. They walked slowly and carried bright torches, easy to spot and avoid.
Opening the door to their ‘home’ Kain let out a sigh of relief. The building he had claimed wasn’t a house. It had probably been a storage shed before being abandoned. It only had one floor and two rooms, but it was shelter and it was so blatantly disused that he did not fret about discovery every time he left his fledgling there alone.
He dumped the mortals on the floor before finding and waking his fledgling. The boy often slept, either he was eating or he was sleeping. He tired rapidly when Kain bid him move or tried to put him to task. But then Kain assumed recovering from a death as long as this one had endured was not something you got over in a week.
“Come,” he said when Raziel stirred. “I have something for you.” The large and rather idiotic grin that greeted him made him a little uncomfortable. The damn wretch was always so happy to see him. It was downright weird after so many years of humans and vampires fearing him. Even trusted allies had never been happy to see him.
“Kain.” The word was simple and quietly spoken. Kain grunted in response and walked out of the room, back to the mortals, knowing his fledgling would follow.
“Eat,” he commanded. Raziel fell on one man with a fledgling’s voracious appetite and inhuman strength. By the time the man had bled dry, his collarbone was broken, along with, Kain suspected, his rib cage.
“Thank you.” Raziel smiled up at him before making eyes at the other mortal, still unconscious on the floor. Kain rolled his eyes at fledgling greed and hefted the mortal back into his arms.
“Come.” He left the safety of their ‘home’ and headed back out. “Stay in my shadow.”
He led his fledgling out of the village. Raziel practically vibrated behind him with excitement. Poor thing didn’t get out much, mostly because of his own foolishness and constant need for guidance.
Once a safe distance from the village, in the woodland off the path, Kain dropped the mortal and shook him awake. The man blinked unfocused and fear-filled eyes at him.
“Tonight is your lucky night.” Kain grinned. “For, unlike your companion, you have a chance at life.” He leaned in close to the man. “Run.”
Raziel lunged behind him, but Kain caught him and held on as the fledgling struggled and let out a loud cry of distress. His dinner was running away.
“Why?” Raziel turned to face Kain when the man was out of sight. “Why did you let him go? I’m hungry.”
“I know.” Kain took a deep breath and controlled his desire to slap the petulant spoiled fool. “You must learn to get your own dinner.” He released his fledgling, who crumpled to the floor. “Now, hunt.”