This is my first Earl Cain/Godchild story. Sorry if it's a bit crappy in advance and please excuse the grammar mistakes.
Summary: Riff gets captured by Jezebel and he has truth serum injected into his bloodstream to make him talk about…peculiar things. Jezebel questions Riff if he's ever felt jealously before when he sees Cain flirting with so many girls and with no other choice, he answers the question by force.
Disclaimer: I don't own Earl Cain/Godchild. Kaori Yuki has that honor. All rights are reserved to her.
Sanguinary Legitimacy Chapter 1: Injection
Quiet footsteps echoed through the tranquil mansion heading towards the room where death in countless vials was contained waiting for the day they would be used.
Slowly the doors to the room were ajar and where he anticipated finding his impassive loyal valet, he found only a letter greeting him in the shrouded darken room resting upon a small table to the side.
A letter? What was he supposed to do with a letter? He wanted what was his and his alone, and the only thing he left him was a bloody letter? Just where the blazing hell was he at anyways?
Cain sighed exasperatedly this really wasn't what he had wanted, he strolled towards the side table and snatched the letter expecting a good explanation from Riff explaining his absences this morning during breakfast.
With haste he opened the envelope and yanked out the fine parchment that gave off the other's enriching scent that took him by surprise.
A small amount of red pigment appeared on the young man's cheeks as Riff's scent wafted to his nose. Cain had always found Riff's scent to be so mesmerizing and welcoming as well as pleasant.
There was just something so appealing that emitted from Riff's person that drove Cain crazy; that at times he had the urge to jump Riff and pin him to the wall where he would claim those velvet-like lips of his with a desiring kiss.
Of course it was just a fantasy, Cain would never do such a thing to Riff, well not when Cain himself remained ignorant of how Riff felt for him. To be more precise, even Cain didn't know what he bared for his valet anymore.
All he was aware of that it went beyond the sentiments a master and servant should bear for each other. At times Cain felt timid around him, not trusting his own gestures or words in the least.
The urge to just simply brush his fingertips over Riff's lips was so overpowering that he had to excuse himself from the room before he did anything he would regret in the future.
Cain blinked and realized he had allowed his mind to wander off and stray away from the reason why he was there. Curiously he read through the letter and sighed. He should have guessed Riff would have a reasonable excuse for his absence like he all ways did.
Lord Cain,
Please forgive me for not tending to you and Miss Mary Weather this morning, but I had to run into the city to purchase an item Miss Mary Weather has requested she needs immediately and cannot wait so she has had me to buy it for her. I will return as soon as I can.
-Riff
P.S. Please sir, try to stay out of trouble…
"What is that supposed to mean Riff?" Cain mumbled as he placed the letter back in its envelope and tossed it carelessly on the desk where he found it. The young Earl ran his fingers through his black hair and sighed.
What possibly could have requested Mary Weather to have Riff go purchase said mysterious item at such haste? All he knew that it had best be good because Riff was supposed to accompany when he went to see his Uncle Neil for diner that evening and he sure as hell wasn't going by himself.
Just then the door to the large room was quietly ajar, thinking it was Riff, Cain turned around expecting to see his loyal friend, when in truth it was only his half sister Mary Weather wearing a frown and staring at him as if something was wrong.
Even if it was not Riff, Cain was still happy to see his sister, only her frown confused him. He walked to her and knelt in front of the little blonde haired maiden he had the honor of recognizing as kin and asked with concern, "Mary Weather what's wrong? You seem upset. Has that idiot of Oscar been hectoring you again?"
Mary Weather continued to simply stare into her brother's eyes until she mysteriously presented him with a letter that had her name on it. Judging from the confounded look in her crystal blue eyes, she seemed to want Cain to read it.
"Riff left this letter on my nightstand this morning before I woke up. It says he would be back later once he returned from London to run some errands you asked of you. Why do I get the feeling you received a similar letter from Riff saying something along these lines Big Brother?" Mary Weather asked as she handed the letter to her brother.
Cain took it from her and sure enough it was from Riff, but there was something strange about the handwriting. Riff's handwriting was elegant and neat, rush was no excuse for the young manservant to be sloppy when writing, anything he wrote it was done with elegance.
And what Cain held in his slender pale hands was not that familiar handwriting his impassive valet was capable of writing in. Cain quickly looked the letter over while he spoke to his sister.
"That's because I received a similar letter as this one Mary Weather only mine said that you had asked Riff to go to London to buy something you had requested with haste.
It seemed at first strange when I had read it, but then I considered maybe you had asked him to do a little shopping for you so I didn't expect anything odd to occur." Cain said, finally looking up to see his sister eyeing the letter that was addressed to him.
Knowing what she meant, Cain snatched the letter he had carelessly tossed onto his side table and pulled out the letter. He put both letters adjacent to each other and at once saw that Riff was not the writer.
"Riff didn't write these. Someone else must have wrote them and left them for us to find. But who and where has Riff gone if neither of us has asked him to leave this household for a specific task?" mused Cain.
The young earl didn't like the thought that someone had had the stupidity to break into his dwelling and place such mocking letter into their level of vision to spot faster. Cain examined both letters thoroughly until he noticed the corners of the parchment where beginning to change pigment.
At once Cain tossed them into the blazing fire he'd taken the liberty of setting since the morning was a bit chiller then usual. Mary Weather watched as the fire consumed the fine parchment awed that right before her eyes the flames took on the characteristics of black flame due to the poison that had been mixed with ink.
Cain narrowed his eyes and pondered darkly, whoever wrote these letters must have been desperate or in the least attempting to be compelling. To mix ink with poison; just how inane was this person? Or maybe this is part of their plan? Could father have something to do with this? Riff!? I need to go find him before something bad happens to him!
"Mary Weather you stay here. I will go search for Riff, he couldn't have gotten far." Cain ordered as he snatched his black coat and headed for the door. Before he left, Mary said with a weary smile, "Please be careful big brother and bring Riff back home."
Cain couldn't help but smile slightly in return and nodded his head. He ran out the door and headed for the city determined to find what had temporarily been misplaced. Cain ran with his cane in his hand while his black coat blew behind him like ebony wings.
He could almost taste his father's malevolence behind this scheme, but then he remembered Jezebel's depraved words from their last encounter when Riff had been poisoned by Mikaila's tarantulas.
'When that inevitable hell descends, I wonder-will you still be able to maintain your loyalty to one another…?!" Those were his words and they never failed to make Cain's blood boil with ire.
He and Riff would never shatter their loyalty to one another! Cain himself would rather die then to first betray the man who had saved his life on more then one occasion and pledged his eternal loyalty to. The thought only made Cain run faster until he felt as if he were flying instead of the reality of his black boots pounding upon the cobblestones.
'Riff! Where are you?! You'd had best be alright when I get to you, because if you're not, I'll never forgive you…nor will I be able to forgive myself if something bad were to happen to you.'
On the other side of the city walked a tall man with shimmering whitish silver hair attending to the task his young master and his master's sister had asked of him by means of a letter from each that morning.
Yet strangely Riff was finding it a bit difficult to locate the items they had asked for him to retrieve.
Well it wasn't like he couldn't retrieve them, it was just that said items were a bit eccentric especially the item his lord had asked for, but not wishing to upset the young earl, he continued on his search.
He had been wandering the streets of London for four hours searching endlessly until he stopped besides a quiet area that was only occupied by a few people including him. Riff leaned against a red bricked wall and sighed.
It wouldn't hurt anyone if he took a short rest before he set off again. Riff momentarily closed his eyes enjoying the cool zephyrs coming from the ocean sweeping through the city hardly noticing the sudden intense aura pasting him by.
He vaguely remembered the few trips he and his family had taken to the ocean to enjoy a day at the beach long ago then it seemed possible, but those few times they had gone had always ended in an argument. Now that those memories were mere bits and pieces, he wasn't at all sad that he couldn't remember anything more.
A frown crept across his ivory lips, why was he dwelling on the past now? The past was dead and there was still so much to live for the future. Riff opened his blue eyes when he was jerked out of his musing when a scream violently graced his ears. He pushed away from the side of the building scrutinizing where the scream came from.
Another high pitched scream traveled through the cool breeze coming from the alleyway behind him. Without thinking of the potential danger, Riff swiftly ran into the alley looking for the source of the scream.
There on the dirty floor was what looked to be a women bleeding of a laceration to her side. Riff went to her and knelt besides her.
"Miss, are you alright?" he asked the woman gently not wanting to frighten her. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and she spun around making him fall back. The woman smirked malevolently at him as she rose to her feet and pulled back the black hood that concealed her face.
Riff eyes widen a small fraction when he realized it was none other then the Doctor's assistant who had designed himself as a woman (and a very bad looking woman at that). Cassian threw off the black cloak and drew forth four menacing blades in his hands. Each blade gleamed turgidly in the faint sunlight that swept into the alleyway.
From Cassian's right stepped the long silver haired doctor smirking curtly at the man on the floor. The Doctor eyed Riff and scoffed, "My, my, my, isn't this a coincident indeed. I wasn't expecting to find you here in this part of London Riff. What are you doing here so far away from Cain? Has he finally gotten feed up with you and deserted you?"
Riff stood up and drew his own weapon. A .44 revolver with the hammer already cocked back ready to fire if need be so, was held in the young man's elegantly pale hand. Jezebel's smirk grew from ridicule to utter amusement.
"Doctor! What are you doing here? Have you come to harm Lord Cain?!" Riff shouted completely ignoring Jezebels' assumptions that Cain had forsaken him. But had he come to harm his lord, then he would not hesitate to open fire.
The least thing he wanted to befall his lord was pain and if he could do anything to prevent it, Riff would do so even at the expense of his own life that meant nothing if Cain were to die.
Cassian stood in front of the Doctor prepared to strike or defend the man who was entirely cynical to human beings yet kind and gentle to animals. Either way, Cassian could not allow Jezebel to die…not yet anyways.
"Doctor, should I skewer him now or should I just kill him so that earl of his feels hell when he hears his manservant was killed?" Cassian twirled one of the blades between his index and middle finger wishing he could embed the sharp point into Riff's heart at that precise moment.
Yes that would be the ideal spot to place the blade then Cain would suffer immensely. Jezebel chuckled dryly and placed a firm hand upon the youthful looking assistant indicating he wasn't to do anything just yet.
"No Cassian we need him alive. He's no good to us dead. Besides skewering him would be in vain considering I've already taken the opportunity to inject him with Codeine while he had his eyes closed.
That was very careless of you Riff. To know Delilah is out to kill Cain and you let your guard down." Jezebel couldn't help but smirk more when Riff's hand began to tremble and the gun he had held dropped to the ground. Soon Riff followed suit.
"Damn…you Doctor…" Riff was able to mutter before his vision blurred and all went black.
Even before he hit the floor he was already unconscious. Cassian snorted and put away the four blades he had been anticipating to embed into Riff, but the Doctor had acted faster then him.
Without looking away from the temporarily cataleptic manservant at their feet, Jezebel ponderously stabbed Riff in the ribs with his foot and laughed.
How fruitful this day had been indeed! His plan on forging those letters had worked out wonderfully. Not only had he tricked Cain and Mary Weather, he now had the one thing Cain treasured the most: Riff.
Now he had what he wanted and without forth ado, he ordered Cassian to pick Riff up and they left to their temporary hide out…but not before leaving a little trinket behind.
Before they fled, Jezebel thought it would be splendid if his un-beloved half brother Cain were to be given a minute hint as to want had occurred to his manservant.
Leisurely he knelt down and placed his favorite scalpel besides the revolver Riff had been holding knowing once Cain saw it he would know who had abducted Riff.
He allowed his fingers to gently brush over the items allowing his touch to taint what he knew Cain would touch soon enough.
Praying to god that when Cain touched these items he would get an idea what was about to happen to his beloved valet.
The thought was enough to make Jezebel shiver from excitement, unfortunately he would not be there to see the look on Cain's face when he came across these items and imagined the worst that was occurring with what belonged to him.
Jezebel rose and disappeared into the depressing shadows that he had emerged from a few minutes ago with his assistant besides him. Sensing Cain was coming soon enough to figure thing out.
Something called to Cain as he ran like a mad man through the throngs of the vast city that was London. He stopped for a moment allowing the sensation to wash over him. For a moment he closed his eyes training intensely on that single feeling alone until he silently gasped.
Yes it was a bit inane to think this, but what he was feeling was Riff's unmistakable presences. That was enough to make him change directions and head to the other side of the city.
Finally as if he thought time would never allow him to arrive, he slowed down his trot to a mere walk when he found himself in a nearly empty street that was plagued with dark waters.
There was nothing there, only a scarce of people, a few functioning businesses that were maintained by lower class people and the tranquil zephyrs, but that was it. Cain slumped against the side of a red building of bricks and slid down its side not caring if his clothes became blemished.
Distress and sadness washed over the young earl in waves. He buried his face in his hands and mused. He had been so sure he had felt Riff's presences lingering in this direction.
He could even say he had come close to smelling Riff's divine aroma, yet here he was with no Riff to be found.
"Where are you Riff? You where here weren't you? I'm not mad I can almost feel your presences lingering here, yet you're no where to be seen…wait, 'now where to be seen'? Of course, I'm looking in all the wrong places!
Like you once told me when I was a child, 'The things one usually looks for can be found in the most unlikely places.' But where can you be hiding?" Cain climbed to his feet and searched for any evidence that indicated that Riff had been there.
A strong sentiment told Cain to look into the darkening alleyway. It was then with the assistances of the few stray rays of the murky day's sunlight that reflected off the smooth silvery surface of what looked to be a…scalpel and a revolver.
The scalpel…was that what made Cain run down the alley or was it the revolver that was all too familiar to him. He crouched gracefully besides both glistening objects and at once identified the revolver belonging to Riff. The scalpel itself was proof enough that Jezebel Disraeli was involved in this.
Cain cursed Jezebel to hell, what the hell had possessed him to steal what was his anyways?! This was by far the most exasperating thing that had happened to Cain in the last week. These sudden appearances from Jezebel and members of Delilah were absolutely beyond preposterous.
Cain lightly brushed his gloved fingertips over the revolver he was sure Riff had held in his slender hands before he dropped it. He picked the weapon up and hid it well behind his jacket planning to return it to Riff's hands once he found him.
For a moment Cain thought about leaving the scalpel where it lay glaring at him menacingly with its sliver mirroring surface to decay, but it was a clue and to be more precise it was the only clue he had at the moment.
Sighing, with his index finger and thumb he picked up the tool usually used on dead bodies, and wrapped it with his silk handkerchief. Cain stood up and whispered to the darkness, "Riff…I will find you just like how you are always able to find me wherever I may go."
As Cain hurried back to the manor where Mary Weather awaited his arrival, the man who sworn his eternal loyalty, was being dumped carelessly into a metal chair closely resembling the electric chair, only this chair was what one could say harmless if that word was even in the Doctor's vocabulary.
"Do you want me to tie him up in this rickety thing Doctor? Don't you think the dissecting table is a much better place to torture him?" Cassian mumbled as he fiddled with the chains he was entwining over Riff's inert body.
Jezebel kept his eyes of the small vial he was draining of its contents into a needle. Once the vial was empty he set it on the table and with his fingertip, he flicked the side of the needle. Then he squirted a small amount of the needle's contents so it wasn't too full.
Turning around completely with needle in hand, Jezebel looked from the man being tied to the metal chair then to the man who in reality was 35 year old man.
With a simplistic response, Jezebel answered his assistance's question.
"No that rickety chair will be more then enough comfort our dear guess shall have. Wake him up now Cassian so we can proceed. He's slept far enough." Ordered Jezebel becoming impatience by the second as Riff continued to sleep.
As ordered, Cassian more then content woke Riff up. But to some discontent, he was hoping he could have done something more effective to wake the unconscious man, but orders were orders and just as long as he got to somewhat torture Riff, that was good enough for him.
Cassian struck Riff across the face instantly resulting in the young valet becoming conscious. Despite being awoken in such a barbaric fashion, Riff was finding it hard to open his eyes and lift his head.
His head throbbed mercilessly due to the fact when he hit his head on the murky cobblestones when he collapsed. He could vaguely remember what had partaken, but suddenly reality came crashing down on him.
He flashed open his blue eyes ignoring the blinding lights that pierced through his eyes nearly making him scream. Now that he was alert, he remembered what had happened.
He had been abducted by Jezebel and his seemingly puerile assistant in an alleyway while he had been out performing his duties to please his lord.
Now he found himself chained to a metal chair with no means of escape. Even still knowing he was chained, Riff struggled against them in vain.
Jezebel found watching Riff struggle futilely was even more amusing then the dissection of a mere child.
Deciding it was time to get things in commence, Jezebel grabbed Riff by the hair and hissed coldly, "As much as I enjoy seeing you squirm about like a worm, we really should be moving along to more important things." Cassian stepped aside planning to enjoy what the Doctor had in mind to do to Riff.
Riff let out a soft cry as he felt Jezebel's nails dig into his scalp. But he bit down on his tongue refusing to display even the most insignificant amount of a pain to the men in front of him.
Whatever Jezebel's motives were, Riff refused to succumb to them no matter how much agony was inflicted upon him.
Somehow he knew he could withstand agony for the sake of his lord so he could return to his side.
The fingernails that had made him bleed were drawn from his silky hair and the blood that stained the other's fingertips was wiped on his shirt.
Ignoring the fact that he had had his own blood wiped on his collar shirt, Riff glared at the Doctor and said somehow completely managing to remain calm, "What malevolent scheme do you have in mind this time Doctor?"
Jezebel smirked as he rolled up Riff's sleeve to bare his left arm. He pressed the end of the needle to the delicate skin right upon a vein and replied darkly, "We're going to play a little game Riff.
I'm sure you've played it before with others. It's called interrogation. Do you know what is in this needle Riff? You shall know soon enough once I inject it into your pure blood."
Riff stiffened as he felt the needle slowly pierce through his skin and suddenly without warning Jezebel stabbed the needle completely into Riff's vein. Riff could feel as the tip of the needle pierced right through the vein renting it into two pieces.
Vaguely he could feel the blood that had channeled through the now rented vein began to seep blood. If Jezebel didn't kill him sooner or later, his own blood would be his very demise before the day was through causing a hemorrhoid.
"Hn, how careless of me to do such a thing, it must have slipped my mind that I wasn't tending to an animal but a disgusting human being. But that isn't of importance. Now is it?
Since you haven't identified what I just inserted into you, I'll just tell you. It's Sodium Pentothal or to be more explicit truth serum." Jezebel snickered when he heard Riff hiss from pain.
Riff was staggered to have learnt that he had been drugged with Sodium Pentothal, and knowing the effects the drug had on people, Riff knew at once what was going to become of him.
Continuing to struggle against the chains that bound him to the metal chair, Riff trained his eyes on the man who had brutally inserted a needle into his vein and argued impassively, "Doctor Disraeli, you as well as I both know those types of drugs do not function as they say they do. They can only guarantee you mere lies and fantasies, nothing more. Now release me!"
Jezebel jerked Riff's head back exposing his slender neck and pressed another needle to the side of his neck. Riff at once froze when the needle's tip was pressed a bit more to his exposed neck.
If he moved even the slightest, the needle would be stabbed into him and this time Riff wasn't at all sure what was contained in this needle. With his eyes looking down, Riff breathed heavily as the needle was kept pressed to his neck.
Cassian laughed amusedly when he saw Riff freeze. How inane of him, to fear a mere needle. Had he not trained to be a doctor many years ago and now he feared it? Jezebel chuckled lightly and informed Riff, "Now that you've stopped fidgeting, let me tell you what I expect from you Mr. Raffit at this point:
# 1. When you refuse to answer even one of my questions, I will inject 5mg/kg of belladonna into you until you die.
# 2. If you so much as start acting like a smart ass, I will have Cassian here skin you alive until you answer me.
# 3. You can scream all you want, that to me will be music to my ears.
# 4. If you lie, I will insert procaine into you and then dissect you also alive. May I also add one more thing if you do lie, then I will cut out your tongue and send it to Cain followed by your dead body.
And finally the fifth condition, if you somehow make it out alive after this is all over, you can leave. Understood?"
Riff looked up at the mad man who held him against his will. If he refused he died, if he agreed there really was no possibility he would come out of this ordeal alive and if he did die, then in the end he would be failing his master and betraying him and that was not an option.
With a chocked sigh, Riff glared into Jezebel's amethyst eyes and muttered distastefully, "I don't have much of a choice in the matter Doctor. All my options revolve around death so I might as well participate in your little game for now."
"You answered much faster then I thought. Very well then, since I just injected you with the truth serum, it should have started working by now. But the question at hand is...what should I ask you first?" Jezebel mused as he kept the needle pressed to his antagonist's neck.
To be continued…
Hoped you liked it. Sorry if things were a bit turgid and if Cain, Riff and Jezebel were a bit out of character (or a lot out of character) Please review.