"Alright... So, unlike myself, my wife has... A bit of an issue with vampires. I don't know how well she's going to take it, that you're following me around and such. Just... Keep quiet, and I'll talk to her."
I lifted my gaze away from my home to look back at the woman following me. I still had no idea how I managed to get myself a vampiric follower, but I needed Serana in order to try and stop the blood-suckers from ruining the world as we know it. As a result, the woman had decided she would follow me as I tried to find a Moth Priest who had stumbled into Skyrim, to decipher the Elder Scroll she carried for us. Before we made our journey, I wanted to stop home, and see my family for at least a few minutes, restock my potion and food supply, and get a bit of rest before we left. But with my wife being Aela the Huntress... Bringing a vampire home might not have been the best idea.
"Are you sure it's smart for me to be going in there, then?" Serana asked, arching an eyebrow as she warily gazed toward the front door. I sighed, and folded my arms over my chest, looking down.
"Well... I don't know. But, it's bright out - as I'm sure you already know," I looked back up at the vampire who, at the mention of light, shifted to pull the hood covering her face up a bit more, making me smirk, "so the kids are not going to be sleeping, and there have been rumors of a giant running around here, so they're stuck inside until either myself or someone else can disprove the rumor, or kill the thing. She wouldn't do anything rash in front of the children."
"So... As long as the young ones are around, I'm safe?"
"Somewhat..."
Serana frowned. "That... I don't know if that makes me feel better or not."
I sighed, and shook my head as I started off for the door. "Just... Trust me. I won't let anything happen to you, regardless of how Aela may react."
"I hope you're right," the vampire murmured. I could hear the nervousness in her voice.
I slipped the key into the lock of our front door and twisted it, listening to the tumblers click and unlock. With a smile, I pocketed the key again, and turned the knob so I could step inside - leaving it open for Serana to follow me. I slipped off my Masque, which had been given to me by Clavicus Vile after a rather... Interesting encounter with the Daedra prince, and settled it onto the table beside the door. "Aela? Kids? I'm home!" I called out.
Almost instantly, three children came barreling out from further inside of the house, laughing and giggling happily the instant they saw me. "Mama!" they cried in almost perfect unison, and as their excitement brought a laugh from me, all three of my children latched onto me for a hug. I did my best to wrap my arms around the three of them, and pressed a quick kiss to the top of each of their heads.
"Mama! Did you bring us anything?" my eldest daughter, Runa, asked, her eyes lighting up at the thought of presents.
"Yeah! Did ya?" my son retorted, and I let my eyes fall onto Samuel as I chuckled.
As usual, my darling little Mirabella, the youngest of our three adopted children, simply gazed upon me with a happy expression. My return was always enough of a gift to her - she never asked for anything else when I came home.
"What kind of mother would I be if I didn't bring something home for my children?" I asked, as I stood straight again and slipped off my gauntlets - setting them beside the masque - so I could reach into the bag I always carried with me.
"Yay! Presents!" Runa gasped, leaving me to chuckle. I dug into the bag for a moment before pulling out a small, hand-sewn doll, and handed it to Runa.
"The woman at Bits and Pieces in Solitude thought you might like this one," I hummed, "After I told her how much you love dolls."
Runa gasped, and took the doll from me, hugging it tightly to her chest. "It's beautiful mama!" she cried, running up again to hug me, "Thank you!"
I watched with a smile as she ran off, most likely to show her mother the toy, and then looked over to Samuel. "For my little warrior? I noticed that you don't have a proper sword to train with... So I figured I'd rectify that." I reached toward my back, to the holster that held my own weapons, and pulled out a decently sized wooden sword, which I then held out for the boy to take.
Samuel's eyes widened, and he reached out to take the thing into his hands. "Wow, really?" he asked, looking up at me with a grin, "Thanks, mama!"
"Why don't you head downstairs?" I hummed, tilting my head to the side, "Practice that on the dummy I made for you there?"
"Alright!" Samuel laughed, turning to run off and do just as I said.
That left the last of my three children. I smiled, and knelt down a bit to get closer to Mirabella's height. Not that she was small at all, but I wanted to be closer to the child - though I adored all of my adopted children greatly, Mirabella and I had an incredibly special bond, and the other two knew that. She had been the first child Aela and I took into our care, and like both of her newfound mothers, she too was a werewolf.
"For you, Mira?" I asked, reaching into the satchel secured to my waist. I looked around for a moment, before pulling out a small wrapping, which I undid to show a small blue flower to the girl. Her eyes lit up instantly. "I know you've been looking for this flower for a while, to study it... It was the only one I saw in my travels, but I knew as soon as I saw it that I had to grab it for you. If you want, your mother and I can try to get a few seeds from it, see if we can grow more in the garden before you pull this one apart to study it."
Mirabella had gotten into alchemy a few months back, and heard about a particular flower that could possibly help with taming the beast inside of us - one that would help us keep from shifting without our command. We were not sure how well it would work, but she was desperate to try, and I did my best to look out for this strange little flower.
"Thank you, mama," she breathed, looking at the flower now in her hands for a moment before looking back to me. She hesitated, before leaping forward and throwing her arms around me. I smiled, and hugged the child back.
As she pulled away from me, though, the girl's nose wrinkled up a bit, and she looked past my shoulder toward something rather intently. "Mama? Who's that?"
I turned my head just enough to see who she was looking at. "A friend of mama's. She's helping me out with a job I have. Serana, this is my youngest daughter, Mirabella."
The vampire smiled, and I noticed that as soon as her gaze met my daughter's, recognition entered her eyes. "A little wolf? It's a pleasure to meet you, Mirabella."
The girl in front of me hesitated for a moment. "It's... A pleasure to meet you as well."
Just when I thought things were going to get awkward in the present company, the sound of footsteps caught my ears, and I lifted my gaze to watch as Aela came stepping into the room. As soon as our eyes met, her expression softened. "So you are home," she hummed, "Runa told me you brought each of the kids a present again. Spoiling our children as usual?"
I chuckled, and rose to my feet so I could head over to Aela. "When do I not spoil them?" I asked, just as I approached her and took the woman into my arms.
Even though we had been married for a few years by that point, it still continued to amaze me just how perfectly Aela seemed to fit into my embrace. It was almost as though the taller Nord woman was born to be mine, and I to be hers. I still could not believe this woman fell in love with me. Me, the orphaned Imperial who had been brought up for a decent part of her life by Khajiit, and spent the rest of it traveling the world, still to this day.
We held each other for a few silent moments, before she pulled back to cup my face in her hands and tilt my head up for a kiss, which I happily responded to.
When she finally released me, she leaned in to rest her forehead against mine, and smiled down at me. "Good to see you, dear," she murmured.
I sighed, nuzzling her a bit as I answered. "It's good to see you too, love."
My wife held onto me for a few more moments, before she almost reluctantly pulled away, curling an arm around my waist and turning her gaze away to look over toward Mirabella. Of course, just past our daughter was my newfound follower, and as soon as Aela's eyes landed on Serana, the woman froze. I felt her arm curl a bit tighter around me, her fingers digging into the side of my armor. I bit my lip.
"Kitsune..." she murmured, her eyes darkening as she stared Serana down, "There's... There's a vampire in the house..."
"Yes..." I said slowly, lifting my eyes to look at her through my lashes. I did not like how she was reacting.
"Why is it in our home?" the woman hissed, her eyes narrowing now as her lips pulled back to flash her teeth. I looked over at the sight of movement, and watched as Mirabella backed away toward the wall, getting out of the way of her mother and the stranger. Serana simply watched Aela, not moving or speaking - though I could see a faint glimmer of fear in the other woman's eyes.
"Okay, first, love, it has a gender. And a name. She's Serana." I paused, turning to curl my arms around Aela's waist and try to hold the woman against myself, hoping to distract her. She completely ignored my attempts. "And she's going to be helping me out on a few jobs I have. It's... A job you would like, love. Despite the fact that it's a vampire who is helping me."
"She better have a good reason for tagging along. And entering our home," Aela hissed, finally looking away from Serana to look at me instead. I shivered a bit at the harsh gaze in her eyes, though as soon as the beautiful orbs landed on me her expression softened - the anger still lingering deep down within them. Luckily, I knew that emotion was not directed toward myself.
"Aela, have you ever heard of the Dawnguard before?" I asked, reaching up to rest one of my hands against her cheek. I stroked her skin gently with my thumb, and almost instantly at my touch, the woman leaned her head into my hand, and she seemed to relax, at least slightly.
Aela let her eyes fall closed, and I could tell that she was attempting to relax herself - a rather difficult feat with our new visitor still in the room. "Yes... I believe so. Vampire hunters or something, weren't they? But they disbanded or were forced to stop their actions or something of the sort," she answered.
Despite the fact that her eyes were closed, I nodded my head. "Yes... They were. No one knows the real reason why the original ones disbanded - there are plenty of rumors as to why it happened, but none have been proven true or false. However... They're forming again, with a new leader this time." I paused, watching as Aela's eyes snapped open almost instantly, "And I have joined them."
Aela was completely silent as we stared at each other, and I could tell that my wife was trying to make sense of the entire situation. "You're... A member of the Dawnguard now?" she asked, in almost a breathy whisper - as though her words were meant to be a secret.
"Yes, love," I murmured, biting my lip for the briefest moments as I looked up at her, "I am."
"And..." she paused, her gaze flickering from me, to Serana, and then back to myself, "How... Does i-err... she," she almost hissed, as though it were hard for her to actually give the vampire a gender, "fit into this? Shouldn't you be slaying her then, or something?"
I watched from the corner of my eye as Serana flinched at Aela's words. "Perhaps I should be, yes," I murmured, not letting my eyes stray from the woman before me, the love of my life, "But I'm not. I rescued her, when I went into Dimhollow Crypt to explore it. She came back to tell us about her father's plans to take over, and insisted that she be of help to stop him. So... Now she's following me, helping me try to stop the vampires from actually getting anywhere."
Aela was silent after I had finished speaking, obviously trying to make sense of what I just told her. I could see the turmoil rolling around in her eyes at the idea - a vampire was going to help me kill her own kind? That obviously made no sense to the Nord woman. Then again, if I were to be honest, it still made no sense to me, but it was nothing but the truth, and I knew Aela would come to realize that.
After our brief starting contest, Aela's eyes finally shifted to look over toward Serana. I could see the discomfort that formed on the vampire's features, despite her attempts to hide it. "Is this true?" Aela asked, arching an eyebrow upon meeting the woman's gaze, "Are you honestly expecting me to believe that you're going to fight against your own father, to stop your entire race from taking over the world?"
At this, Serana sighed, and ran a hand through her hair before looking away. "It's difficult to understand, I know-"
"Impossible is more like it," Aela interrupted, though after getting a nudge from me, she silenced herself and allowed Serana to continue.
The vampire hesitated, before she spoke up again. "Alright, it might be impossible to understand... But I promise you that my word is true. I do not want my father to ruin the world as we know it. Yes, the idea of eternal darkness is pleasing to me, but I don't agree with his plan to take over with this newfound power to blot out the sun. That... Is ridiculous to me. Which is why I have decided to help the Dawnguard, in hopes of preventing him from carrying out this plan."
Aela once again fell silent, her eyes never straying from Serana. For a moment, I thought someone had turned my lover into a statue - she did not move, at all. Were it not for the faint sight of her chest moving as she breathed, I would have begun to panic.
"I still do not trust you," Aela murmured, and I bit my lip in fear of what was to come, "But... My Kitsune does, and if she trusts you I will have to give you the benefit of the doubt." As soon as I heard this, I breathed a sigh of relief.
Aela made her way over to the vampire, and I watched, horror filling my eyes, as she gripped the girl by the front of her robes and lifted the vampire off of her feet. After pushing her back into the door, my wife drew close, their faces mere inches apart. Though I could not see her expression, I could tell, by the look in Serana's eyes, that it was absolutely terrifying. "I will make one thing clear right now though, leech," Aela growled, the tone dark enough that even I shivered at the sound of it, "If so much as one hair on my Kitsune is harmed, I will hold you personally responsible. If you do anything to harm her, betray her, upset her, in any way, well..." my wife chuckled, the sound dark and sinister, "Let's just say, it is never smart to mess with a werewolf's mate. Got it?"
As soon as Aela had finished speaking, Serana nodded her head, a bit too quickly. This, of course, made an amused chuckle fall from my Aela's lips.
To both my and Serana's joy, the woman let go of the vampire shortly thereafter. A unified sigh fell out from between us, and in that moment, Aela made her way back over to my side, pulling me into her arms and gazing down upon my features. The look in her eyes made me shiver, though this time, it was in a very good way. Though there was a look of hunger in her eyes, an obvious hunger for me, I could see the love and adoration that was fueling her need, and that was always enough for me to go weak at the knees. "You better keep yourself safe out there," she murmured, as she leaned in to press her forehead to mine, "Especially since I cannot give you a more proper goodbye, with the kids in the house and your visitor still here." At her words, I could not help but shiver again - and the action made the corners of the woman's lips twitch up in amusement. "Promise me you'll return as soon as possible, so I can make up for this terrible parting?"
Without any verbal answer, I reached up to take the woman's face in my hands, tilting her head down so that I could press my lips to hers. As soon as I heard the almost feral-sounding growl that left her throat, I knew she figured out that my answer was yes, just from the simple action.
Despite the fact that Aela grabbed me tighter in response to the kiss, and she seemed to have to force herself to pull away, we finally broke apart, panting slightly for the breath we so desperately needed. Once more, the woman rested her forehead against mine, and nuzzled me with a small sigh. "I love you, my Dovahkiin."
"And I love you, my wife."
Neither of us wanted to part from the other, but with Serana's presence in the room, and my poor, confused Mirabella's eyes lingering on us, I knew we had to part. Aela would have to try and explain what was going on to our youngest child, and I had a Moth Priest to find.
When I stepped back from her, Aela gave me one last supportive smile, which I returned with a gentle one of my own.
After gathering up the potions I figured I would need, and having Aela stuff my bag full of food once more, I decided my companion and I were ready to leave. Though I was hesitant, I finally turned to look at Serana, and motioned with my fingers for the girl to follow. I gave both Aela and Mirabella, as my other two children were lost in the house somewhere, a final goodbye, and my companion and I made our way out of the home.
As we left Lakeview Manor, Serana was silent. It was not until we had gotten onto Shadowmere's back and taken off for our next destination, that she finally murmured, "Your wife... Sure is lovely."
That, of course, made me laugh.