"We have been told that you wished to see us, Vampire Hunter," said one of the members of the council.  "May I inquire as to what?"
        D stepped forward, "My sister and I have come to Nosgoth to rid it of its vampiric infestation.  We require only information along with shelter for the night."
        Lamika watched as the old men began chattering amongst themselves.  She used her enhanced hearing to listen in on their conversations.  Most of it was about D being some kind of lunatic, and how they would be better off by casting them out now.
        "What makes you think that a young whelp like you could possibly take on the menace that has plagued Nosgoth for more than a millennium?  With only this child to aid you no less?" asked a member of the council.
        "My actions will speak for themselves," said D.  "Will you allow us shelter for the night and provide me with the information that I require?"
        After another moment of debating, the leader of the council spoke, "Very well.  You and your sister may stay here for one night and one night only.  Our historian will provide you with any information you require."
        D nodded.  He then turned to leave, and Lamika followed close beside him.
        "I was not sure they would swayed so easily," she said to D, telepathically.
        "They weren't," he said back to her in the same fashion.
        "They why did they agree?" she asked.
        "Letting us stay the night was the quickest and easiest way to rid themselves of us."
        Lamika gave D a disgusted look, "With the way you are treated, D, why do you continue to fight for these creatures?"
        "My reasons are my own, Lamika," D said, "Do not concern yourself with them."
        After that, D was silent.  Lamika knew that she would get no more from him tonight.  She sighed, and followed him the rest of the way out of the chamber.

        The moon rose high, bathing Nosgoth in its white light.  From the peak of a nearby mountain, Raziel gazed down at the citadel.  The Elder God had instructed him to find the five pieces of the Mystic Spiral, as to enhance his strength.  For if Kain had grown in power as Melchiah had, then it was even more dire that Raziel augment his own strength as well.
        A noise sounded below, catching Raziel's attention.  He looked down, and saw one of Dumah's spawn moving towards the citadel.  Raziel's eyes narrowed.
        "But first....." he said.
        Raziel moved to the side, and faded away as he did.  The vampire below kept moving, completely unaware that it was being hunted.  As silent as the wind, Raziel appeared behind his prey.  Almost at the speed of light, he grabbed the creature's head, and impaled it on a sharp rock nearby.  The vampire, unable to howl in pain, gurgled loudly, black blood running from its mouth.  As it neared death, Raziel pulled his cowl away from his mouth.  A green mist rose from the dying vampire's body, and drifted into Raziel's gaping maw.
        Once it had subsided, the vampire's body ignited, and burned itself away.  Raziel returned his cowl to its proper position, and then turned his attention back on the human citadel.  His hunger satiated, he was ready to make his move.

        Lamika opened her eyes, and gazed at the stone ceiling of the small room she and D had been given to share.  The room had only one small bed, and D had given it to Lamika, saying that he would sleep in the corner.  She looked to her right, and saw that D was not there.
        After a moment or so of thinking, she remembered that he said that he was going to speak to the historian to gain information about the vampires in this area.

        Lamika put her head back against the small pillow that was on her bed.  She shifted on the bed uncomfortably. As a noblewoman, she was accustomed to sleeping in a coffin during the day, and not a bed during the night.
        Several more moments of shifting around, and she gave up.  She sat up and put her bare feet on the cold stone floor.  She had not been given any garments to sleep in.  Had D not been sleeping in the same room, Lamika
would have simply slept nude, but her sense of decency forbade it.  Consequently, she had chosen to sleep in her unitard, minus her boots, jacket, and belt.

        "Perhaps a brief walk will help," she said to herself, quietly.   She stepped into her boots, and snapped her belt around her waist. Since she did not plan to venture too far, she chose to leave her jacket and rifle behind.

        Deep in the bowls of the citadel, D stood at a podium, studying an ancient text, written in Runic lettering.  He looked over at the historian, who had just arrived with another armload of books for him to look over.
 "This part of the passage is unreadable," he said.
        The historian walked over, and looked down at the page.  Indeed, the wording had faded away with time.
        "A tragedy," said the historian.  "But not uncommon among 1000 year old texts."
        "Yes," said D.  "Tell me what you know about Kain."
        "Kain is the most powerful vampire in all of Nosgoth," the historian said.  "While the details are lost in legend, it is known that he rose to power about 2000 years ago, give or take a century.  With the aid of his vampire lieutenants, he managed to conquer all of Nosgoth, and all but decimate the human populace, keeping us only around to feed on."
        "Is there any information on the vampire who made Kain?" asked D.
        "You can look, but I doubt that you'll find anything," he said.  "Legend has it that he was created by sorcery rather than the traditional means."
        D looked up at the historian, "Sorcery?"
        "Well, the whole truth of his origin has been lost over time," the historian said.  "But legend says that Kain was killed by highwaymen and later rose from his own grave as a vampire in order to enact his revenge."
        D didn't respond to the historian's account.  He simply closed the text he was reading, and walked out of the room without another word.
        "But, remember!" the historian called after him.  "It is just a legend!"

        Nosgoth was indeed beautiful at night.  The blackness of the sky almost hypnotized Lamika.  She wished that she wasn't cooped up in this wretched citadel.  Had her father still lived, she most likely would have spent this beautiful evening on the hunt.
        She sighed deeply, a single tear running down her cheek at the thought of her father.  He was gone now, and the life she once had was no longer.  Her new life was with D, and as much as she would like things to return to the way they once were, that could never be. 
       "Well, well," said a voice behind her.  "What do we have here?"
        Lamika's head quickly turned, and she found herself looking upon what appeared to be two of the citadel's guards.
        "If it isn't the frigid little bitch who stuck a rifle in our faces this evening," said the blonde-haired one.
        "She ain't got her gun or her big brother now, does she?" said the other one.
        Lamika burned with anger.  These pathetic creatures were insulting her and she could do nothing to them without revealing herself to them.
       Somehow, she managed to find the strength to contain her growing anger, and turned to walk away.   The red-haired guard stepped in front her, and gave her a filthy looking grin, "Going somewhere, Sweetheart?"
        The other one moved up behind her, and put his hands on her shoulders.  Lamika immediately smacked them off, and gave them both a furious look.
        "Gee," said the red-haired guard.  "It's too bad that she can't talk, huh?  We can do anything we want to her, and she won't be able to tell a soul about it."
        "Yeah," said the other one.  "Pity."
        Without warning, the two men grabbed Lamika, spun her around, and bent her over the overlook.  The blonde-haired man held her down while the red-haired man came up behind her.
        "I reckon I'll enjoy this," he said, starting to undo his belt.
        Lamika's eyes opened wide when she heard the sound of his belt being undone.  These filthy creatures intended to assault her sexually!  Knowing that, her pupils morphed from light blue to blood red, and her upper lip
curled up, revealing her razor sharp fangs.
        She let out a very audible growl, and both of the guards stopped and looked at each other.
        "What the hell was that?" said the blonde one.  "I thought she couldn't talk!"
        Suddenly, Lamika stood up, and slammed the back of her head into the red-haired man's face, breaking his nose.  He howled in pain as blood started gushing from his face.  He staggered back, and slumped against the wall, still moaning in pain.
        Lamika then turned her attention to the blonde man.  Her fangs were hanging out of her mouth, and the human turned a shade of white upon seeing them.
        "You're a vampire!" he said, backing up.
        Her hand shot out, and grabbed his neck.  He made a gurgling sound as she squeezed tightly.  Then, using her vampiric strength, Lamika lifted the man off his feet, and dangled him in the air for a moment.
        "Yes," she hissed through her teeth.  "I am of noble blood, and I would rather die a thousand deaths than be violated by filth like you!"
        Lamika threw the man off the side of the citadel wall and into the moat below.  He yelled all the way down, his screams finally being silenced when he hit the water below.  She looked down, and saw him floating face-down in the water.  The fall most likely broke his neck, and Lamika reveled in the thought.  The red-haired man used her distraction to try and escape, however, Lamika saw him move, and with vampiric speed, moved right in front of him.  She made a hissing sound, and backhanded him in the face.  The blow sent him flying off his feet, and he crashed into a heap in the corner.  Lamika leapt on top of him, and pulled his face mere inches from her own.
        "You can't leave yet, scum!" she growled.  "I'm still hungry!"
        With that, she sunk her fangs into his neck.  He made a gurgling sound as his blood was slowly drained.  After a moment of taking in his blood, Lamika lifted her head up and let out a loud hissing sound, overjoyed at being able to feed again and feeling her strength returning at last.  The man's blood was running all down her chin and onto her unitard.  Normally she wouldn't have been such a messy eater, but she hadn't fed in so long that etiquette was the
farthest thing from her mind.
        She looked down, and saw the man's dead face staring at her, a look of pure terror frozen on his face.  She grinned for a moment, and then sunk her teeth back into his neck and continued to slurp on his blood.

        Something moved behind her.  Lamika let go of the body, and jumped to her feet.  She wiped the blood from her chin with her arm, and searched for the cause of the sound, and she saw it.  A creature that looked like it may have once been a man stood before her.  It had dark blue colored skin, jet black hair, and no internal organs.  The creature could not be living, yet it was.  The bluish glow to its eyes gave only a hint of the power it probably possessed.
        "You will pay for those men's deaths with your life, Vampiress!"  the creature said mentally.
        "What are you?" she said, still gazing at him.
        "My name is Raziel," he said.  "Remember it, so you can tell Satan who sent you back to HELL!!!"
        Before Lamika could react, Raziel leapt towards her, and slammed her up against the wall behind her.  The impact was so great that it knocked the wind out of her for a moment.  She opened her eyes, and saw Raziel's face gazing right into hers.  His left hand was wrapped around her neck, holding her off the ground, and his right hand moved up to his cowl, and pulled it down.
        Lamika gasped at the site she saw.  This creature, Raziel, had no lower jaw, and in the cowl was a swirling vortex.
        "I'll feast on your soul!" Raziel said.
        Just as he said that, the blade of a sword rammed through Raziel's upper torso.  He howled in pain, and let go of Lamika.  She crashed to the ground.  Raziel let go of his cowl, which moved back into its original position.  He grabbed the blade of the sword, which was protruding from his chest.
        "Not tonight, you won't," D said, lifting Raziel into the air.
        D quickly snapped the sword to the left, cutting though Raziel, and with inhuman speed, slashed it back to the right, totally bisecting him.
       Raziel's eyes went dark as both parts of him crashed to the ground, and then blew away as if they were made of ash.
        D remained frozen for a moment, and then lowered his sword.  He looked at the dead human, and then at Lamika's blood-soaked mouth and unitard.
        "What did I tell you, Lamika?" he said, returning his sword to its sheath.
        Lamika pushed herself to her feet, and wiped the blood from her mouth.  "I was acting in self-defense," she said, folding her arms.  "They attacked me first."
        D gave her no indication that he believed nor disbelieved her.  He looked down at the pile of ash that was previously her attacker.
        "I've never seen a creature such as that," he said.  "The deaths of the humans can be blamed on it for the time being.  But in the future, should the death of a human by your hand be necessary, use conventional means, and then leave the body untouched.  Our appearance as humans depends on it."
        Lamika looked past D, and saw something slide out of the shadows.  Two blue eyes lit up, and she recognized it as the creature that she had thought dead.
        "D!" she yelled.  "Behind you!"

        Raziel put his fists together and slammed them down on the vampire hunter's back.  The blow should have killed him, but it only sent him sprawling to the ground.  After a moment, he knew why.  The hunter had vampiric blood flowing through his veins; Raziel could smell it.  He and the girl must be Dunpeals, half vampire, half human.  There was no other way that they could have entered the Citadel unless they were posing as humans.
        "Preying on your own kind, Dunpeal?" Raziel said, grabbing D by his neck and lifting him off the ground.  "Prepare for oblivion!"
        Raziel pulled his cowl down with his free hand and began to devour D's soul.   Something hot and blazing slammed into Raziel's back, causing him to loosen his hold on D.
        D looked, and saw that Lamika had somehow slipped away and retrieved her rifle.  She was firing bolts of sun energy at the creature.  The blasts didn't seem to be having much effect on Raziel other than angering him.  D used the distraction to his advantage.  He drew his sword, and rammed it through Raziel's forehead.  He let go of D, and staggered backwards.  D yanked the sword upwards, splitting Raziel's head in two.  Raziel turned towards Lamika, and she fired another bolt of sun energy into his chest.  The blast sent him flying over the edge of the wall and into the moat below.
       There was a massive amount of smoke and steam as Raziel appeared to dissolve in the water.   Lamika walked next to D and looked at the smoldering water below.  Several people were beginning to gather around them to investigate the disturbance.  Several guards were looking at the body floating in the moat as well.
        "Do you think it is dead?" Lamika asked telepathically.
        "I don't know," D responded.  "I thought I'd killed it once, and I was wrong.  There's nothing to keep it from returning again."
        Lamika looked out at the moon, and wondered what other dangers Nosgoth had in store for them.