Prologue
"I think that's all of them," Ingjard said as he sheathed her weapon and looked around the manor. Vampire corpses were tossed about the floor amongst shattered dishes and broken furniture. A nest of 15 had packed themselves in and V'ivan and her group had killed them all.
"What a waste," said Haldur as he picked up and inspected a plate that was miraculously intact. "Can you imagine how lovely this place was at one point? At least this time, we didn't make it that much worse."
V'iv smirked and shook her head. "All right, Ingjard you and Haldur are on corpse duty. Get at as much ash from the pyre as you can."
"And the couple?"
"Wrap them up," she replied. "I'll let Ravencrone's steward take care of the rest."
"Got it."
"V'IV! V'IIIIIIV, YOU NEED TO COME DOWN HERE!" Beleval was calling from the basement
V'iv hurried to the far end of the house, through the pantry and down the stairs. Beleval sounded almost panicked, a tonemost unusual for the Bosmer.
"What is it?" she asked and then gasped as she turned toward the corner where Beleval was sitting with what appeared to be the corpse of a young woman. But the woman was only dead in the most technical sense.
V'iv grabbed a torch from the wall and lit it as she sank to her knees. "Oh my goodness," she said. "This must be one of their daughters."
"She's stage four," said Beleval. "But look." She took the woman's thin wrist and turned it over. Her papery skin was cold and the straggled and swollen veins were blue.
"She's not fed," replied V'iv. "They turned and then starved her—those monsters!"
The woman's eyes twitched, but did not open. To an untrained eye, she would appear to be moments from death. But she wasn't. Sanguinare vampiris, the illness that coursed through her body, would keep her in this state indefinitely.
Beleval pulled out her dagger. "This doesn't feel right," she said. "But perhaps this is mercy."
"No," V'iv shook her head and pushed Beleval's arm away. "It's not right. I'll take her to…I'll take care of it. You finish up with the others and get them out of here."
Beleval leaned over and took the Redguard's hand, squeezing it gently. "Oh my love, I know you want to help her, but Isran would not approve of this."
"Then perhaps we should not submit this for his approval," she replied.
Beleval looked at V'iv intently and thought for a moment if she should protest more. Ultimately, she knew this was futile and rather than argue, she leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. "Be careful," she said.
"I will," V'iv replied. After Beleval left, she wrapped the frail woman in a wool blanket that had been tossed aside. She stroked her forehead and cheek gingerly, with the back of her fingers, feeling awful that she had no idea how to comfort her.
"I'm going to take you to someone who can help," she whispered. And then to herself, "I hope."