The only way to tell when his prey was there was the shimmer, that uneven disproportion of light and shadow that did not match the surrounding environment. This form of camouflage Raziel quickly came to respect. It was almost perfect. If you stood still while using it you were as good as invisible.
Whoever this vampire was, she was a skilled in his use. Within this maze of metal and stone it was nearly impossible to track her. Only the faint, tell tale scent of a vampire gave her away.
.
“She led me a merry chase, up and through the collapsing labyrinth that was this Hylden city. I did not know if she was aware that I was following her but I had to presume that she knew I was.”
.
The trail led back and forth through buildings that were falling over collapsing against one another. The ruined state of this place made the metropolis a maze of crevices and hidden paths, all of them twisting this way and that.
This chameleonic vampire used every path she seemingly could find in an attempt to shake Raziel off, doubling back and taking alternative routes over water where her scent was less apparent. Raziel however had a far sharper sense of smell and was still able to track her.
Gradually she was heading north, into the path of the oncoming storm. This was a dangerous time for a hunt but Raziel was determined to get to the bottom of this mystery quickly so Marduk would not have an opportunity to escape.
He supposed he should prioritise and go after the Hylden teacher first but he could leave a potential enemy at his back while doing so.
Outside he could hear the storm growing worse, bolts of lightning crisscrossing the sky and casting brief shafts of intense light through gaps left in the ceiling. The winds were screaming as they tore through the city streets and the temperature dropped dramatically, growing intensely cold.
Raziel, being not entirely corporal, could endure certain extremes so the decline in temperature did not bother him. His quarry however did and slowed her progress, so much so that if he was sharp eyed enough he could catch sight of her flickering movement in a distant passage.
The chambers he chased her through showed more of the Hylden science that had been this cities focus in long lost age. There were dozens of rooms and chambers, all of them devoted to one or another form of study. Some contained glass tubes that still contained a viscous yellow liquid, all around which were machines that seemed able to analysis the contents of these tubes.
Other rooms contained armillary of all shapes and sizes, now all broken and rusted to useless heaps.
One large chamber even had, laid out in perfect detail on the floor, a three dimensional map of Nosgoth. It showed the mountains that ran across the north, the curve of the southern coast and the dotting of islands off the mainland. Far to the east were the flood plains and to the west the jagged cliffs that cut out from the land like knives into the sea. The details were so precise it even showed the rise and fall of valleys, ravines and hills. What little Raziel knew of geography suggested that while this map might have been accurate at the time of its creation, there had been a great many shifts in landscape between now and then.
Raziel took a step into the room and before his heightened senses could warm him of danger, something launched itself out of the darkness. It struck him across the mid section and the blow sent him flying.
Catching his balance in the air, he caught a hold of the model of a mountain and righted himself.
Climbing down out of the shadows of the ceiling was another of the monstrous spiders, but this one was far larger than those set on him before. It dwarfed him, with powerfully armoured legs and a gaping jaw full of rubbing pincers. The massive spinnerets behind it trailed long sticky threads connected to a complex hive of webs far above. Hanging from the web were the bleached white bones of long dead creatures, human and otherwise.
“Kill him! Leave nothing left of this intruder!” The voice of the chameleon yelled and glancing up, Raziel could see that same telltale flicker of darkness on a ledge leading into a tunnel in the side of the wall. Into this she darted, leaving Raziel alone with the spider. Before he could make a move to go after her, the creature scuttled forward to block his way.
“Whatever did Zephon see in these things?” The blue wraith asked himself and then back flipped out of the way as two of the sharp front legs came down. They stabbed into the map on the floor, cracking open a large hole where the clan territory of Dumah was represented.
The massive spider came at him again, rushing forward over and another and jabbing at him with its front legs.
Raziel was swift enough to dodge the attacks, rolling and side stepping the scuttling insect legs.
Then the opening came. The blue wraith dodged through the legs and then jumped up high, raking his talons through the unprotected underside of the spider’s belly. There was a gushing of blood and the bug recoiled, letting forth a high pitched squeal. The slash had not hit anything vital but in just a sensitive area it did cause the beast a great deal of pain.
Quickly the spider retreated back up the side of a wall, laying its stomach down against the flat surface to protect it as it turned to face Raziel again. Angrily it reared back its head and then launched it forward, vomiting up from its mouth a disgusting glob of green mucus.
Raziel dodged the attack and watched in surprise as the floor where it landed began to smoke and boil.
Aware now of the danger Raziel darted to the side under a spat hail of acid. The spider’s aim was not great, its mucus slathering down the sides of the wall rather than hitting him.
One glob however scored a lucky hit, landing on his left foot. The pain was intense, worse than being scorched by water if he was still a vampire. The substance boiled through skin right down the bone in a matter of moments.
While his body’s energy could repair the injury, it degreased the amount of power he had to maintain his physical form.
Quickly he dropped down behind a high rang of mountains on the map, using the brief respite to clean his ankle of the burning sludge and come up with a plan.
Raziel did not want to waste time with this creature while the chameleon was getting away.
Glancing up, he noticed the tall spike of the simulated mountain above him and instantly a plan came into his mind.
He acted quickly then, darting out from cover and running. Half turning he sent a bolt of condensed force into the wall on the left side of the spider’s body. The surface cracked and the insect slipped a little, its footing now unstable.
Now that it was loosened, Raziel stopped and reached forth with both hands. The creature was large and Raziel was not as skilled with telekinesis as Kain was but he managed to get a firm hold on the insect.
He tugged, pulling it away from the wall inch by inch. The spider was kicking its front legs out wildly, the back one trying desperately to hold on.
The struggle between them persisted for another few moments, before Raziel gave one final effort and the spider was torn free.
It fell, rolling as it toppled forward and landed directly on top of the spiked mountain range of the map. There was a loud wet crunch and the top of the tallest simulated peak burst through the spiders exposed underside, fragments of exoskeleton and blood flying in all directions.
The spider squealed in pain, all of its legs twisting back and forth. Then the sound stopped and the legs grew still, frozen in the posture of death.
Raziel could see life force leave the body, its essence of soul and despite his distaste for the action, he drew it in. The energy restored that which he had lost in the fight. The souls of people had far more energy than the souls of animals and despite its size, the life force animating this creature was barely sufficient to repair the damage it had done.
“Enough wasting time.” He remarked and leaving the spider’s corpse behind, he vaulted up to the ledge and in through the tunnel entrance the chameleon had vanished through.
It was full of torn cobwebs that betrayed her passage and hinted at the possibility of more of her tamed spiders hiding in wait.
The tunnel was a natural on, made of the spaces between slabs of rock and intersected only now and then with openings back into the city.
Raziel carried on, trailing the scent and the sign of her passage until it came out through a crack to his left, her scent strong around the opening.
Raziel peered out through the crack and stared at the chamber beyond.
It was a cistern, a large round chamber with water circling in the middle around a central stone pillar. From the low hum of machinery that filled the air it was clear at least that this device at least was still working in the city.
And then Raziel caught sight of those using it.
-
“Humans, living out a feral, debased existence in the ruins. These poor creatures barely had luxury of clothes on their back. I knew from Kain’s stories that the Hylden had transported humans here to work as slaves. Even with the Hylden’s death they been unable to leave and so were forced to remain here, surviving on whatever came to hand.”
-
It was a small settlement, a few shack-like huts on the far side of the cistern and backed up against a tall overhang that settled them from the rain that poured in through a crack in the ceiling. The water hit the rock and then ran down into the cistern below. Raziel could see one or two humans at the edge of the pool, ending down buckets tied on ropes to fetch clean drinking water.
If there were vampires here then the native humans would supply them with all the necessary blood for survival if they were harvested conservatively.
Then Raziel caught sight of the chameleon once again, running across a metallic catwalk that stretched across the cistern. She was easier to spot this time because her method of stealthy did not work so well when she was outlined against the water. Now her outline was clearly visible.
Raziel leapt out of the hole in the cavern wall, jumping at far as he could to land with a loud clank on the catwalk.
Startled, the chameleon turned and looked back at him for a moment; then she broke into a dead run making for a metal pipe that fed into the cistern a trickling thin waterfall.
Raziel bolted after her. He was faster than she was and quickly he closed the distance, but was not swift enough to stop her from getting to the pipe first. When she darted inside, she slapped her hand against some sort of mechanical release and a portcullis style grill slide out of the wall to block his path, slamming into place with an echoing clatter.
Raziel slid to a stop at the barrier and glared at the vampire through the gaps in the grill. Up close he could make out her height and a few other details. She was about his height and lean and her eyes were a bright yellow. Any other details were obscured by the camouflage dark gift she employed.
“This is the last time I will tell you.” She said, backing away step by step, her eyes never leaving his. “Leave this place.”
Raziel leered at her.
“No.” He replied, firmly.
There was a pause, the silence broken only by sound of running water.
“You were warned.” The chameleon said then and bolted, running down the pipe and into the shadows. “Follow me again and face the consequences.” Her voice trailed off, echoing in the confines of the pipe.
Her behaviour told Raziel something that he found very interesting. It wasn’t now just that she was an anomalous vampire in this time but clearly she was protecting something, warding away intruders.
Releasing his grip on his physical form, Raziel let the matter he had gathered slip away. Around him the world morphed with a soft groan, becoming tinted a powerful bluefish green; twisting and distorting.
The Spectral realm was as disturbing and dank as ever but in this realm he had certain advantages. One of which was the use of the gift given to him by the soul of his brother, Melchiah.
Pressing his body against the grill in front of him, Raziel began to shift through it. Matter of reality had less substance here and so he was able to slip through and around it, letting it pass through his body until he was on the other side.
With the planar portals nullified and no corpse to occupy, Raziel was forced to carry on in the Spectral realm as he followed the pipe.
It carried on steadily for a few hundred feet before rising up into open air, climbing out into a drainage pit on the edge of a cliff. Probably part of a system used to keep the city from being flooded from above, years ago. From here he could see back down into the city itself.
Outside, the storm was just a vague suggestion of activity in the spectral realm.
Turning, Raziel tried to see where the chameleon might have gone from here.
It was immediately obvious.
-
“The Castle that appeared on the cliffs overlooking this ruin, emerging out of the fog and rain so unexpectedly that I was monetarily taken aback. The stonework was salvaged, resources taken from the city below to build this fort. Its design was familiar to me somehow.”
‘
On the cliff just beyond the one on which he stood was a looming fortress, completely different in style from the ruins around it. It was far more contemporary with human castles, with parapets and towers rising high above stone battlements.
A gatehouse stood on this side of the gap between the two cliffs, with a stone bridge connecting the two.
As Raziel approached this structure, he saw a large stone bust set above the entrance and the moment he laid eyes on it, he understood.
.
“And now I placed where I had seen it, for the statue before me was an obvious clue as to the master of the house.”
.
The face before him had sharp check bones and a rigid jaw out of which four spikes jutted. The ears on either side of the head were large and angled up like those of a bat. The face was instantly recognisable and unmistakable.
.
“Vorador.”
.
Revived from death at the hands of Moebius due to the alternations in history Raziel and Kain had brought about, Vorador had continued to play a crucial part in the history of Nosgoth.
.
“And now I remembered with a sudden start. Vorador, leader of the Cabal the only vampires in Nosgoth not descended from Kain. When Kain had come into power he had banished them to these islands for as long as he saw fit. I myself had taken his Cabal to this rocky outcrop and left them here, centuries ago.”
.
That was why this island had seemed so familiar to him. It had not just been Kain’s stories about his exploits against the Sarafan lord. Raziel glanced up again at bust, studying it and deep in thought.
.
“Was Vorador here? Did he still live, lingering here in this castle after his exile?”
.
The blue wraith turned to look back and forth between the city and the castle, and then with a sharp nod he turned towards the keep and began to walk across the bridge.
.
“Marduk would have to wait. Vorador and I were not friends, in fact we had only ever met twice. But if he was here then I had to find him. He and I have one issue on which we are in full agreement. The wellbeing of Janos Audron.”