--Written By: Reality Obscured--
AN: What inspired me to write this? Honestly? The answer would be 10+ hours of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, a dream, and a mixture of dark roast coffee and sake. What caused me to upload this? A morbid fascination of what people might think.
Krahka-Toa is my character in Oblivion. He's just as blood-thirsty and moral confused as how I portray him here.
Krahka-Toa never thought of such things as love or lust. Only permitting himself what he needed to sustain himself allowed for a clear mind. His train of thought uninterrupted, he could successfully fulfill any endeavor the Dark Brotherhood placed upon his shoulders. There was no contract he would not accept.
Within the past week, however, he'd taken notice of a peculiar occurrence. Vincente Valtieri, his vampiric former quest-giver, had begun watching him with an unwavering gaze. In nearly every room, Krahka-Toa would find the pale figure with his eyes upon him. It was a stare, strong and silent. Sometimes Krahka-Toa thought he could see something more in those eyes. The Argonian's only thoughts of this were of the uneasy knowledge that Valtieri was, in fact, a vampire. A vampire that didn't have the chance to leave the Sanctuary much to feed.
-- -- --
Krahka-Toa sat in one of the unoccupied beds of the Cheydinhal Sanctuary's Living Quarters. Slouched wit his back up against the wall, his Shrouded Hood was pulled down, resting limp down on his shoulders. One leg was bent, his arm propped limply upon his knee, and the other leg was stretched out. The position he usually assumed when he was dozing. As far as he knew, he'd never slept lying down. Too many risks were there to those who closed their eyes when they slept.
Especially in a clan such as the Dark Brotherhood.
The more he relaxed, the limper the spines became on his head. The relaxed breathing of a sleeping fellow assassin, Teikaava, helped ease his nerves. The Shadowscale didn't have Krahka-Toa's trust in the slightest of fashions. He had learned that from the "favor" he had accomplished for the fellow reptile in Bogwater, near the Black Marsh. All the same, Krahka-Toa knew without a doubt that his own abilities were above Teikaava's, and that knowledge allowed him to rest at comparative ease.
His half closed eyes opened a little wider as a shadow fell across the torchlight of the room. The Eye of Sithis he wore gave enchantment to his vision, allowing only him to se the purple aura thirty feet away. It meant there was a living being coming. Only his thing wasn't as living as what the enchanted necklace had intended to show.
Vincente stopped at the foot of Krahka-Toa's bed. His steps, even with his heavy leather boots, had been unsurpassingly silent. "Krahka-Toa. Would you mind joining me for a stroll on this dark evening?"
He knew he should not be agreeing tot his, but there was that strange glaze in Vincente's pale eyes once more. He was unable to place its meaning. He had never seen personally the blood hunger that all vampires felt every now and again. Sufferthorn was hidden in the lining of his pants, just under his belt, and Krahka-Toa remembered its position well. He nodded once, standing to signify his agreeance. If Vincente tried anything, he wouldn't kill him. No, that was against the Five Tenants. But he would lessen his blood supply enough to remind him of his stature...
Outside, the streets of Cheydinhal were dark. Only the occasional torchlight gave any light to the blackness that was this near moonless night. The clouds blocked the stars and the moons from being seen in the heavens. A storm was approaching, the bulk of it visible in the distance to the North. For anyone who could actually appreciate such a natural wonder, it was beautiful.
But Krahka-Toa knew he had not been brought out here to get wet in the storm. It wasn't raining yet, though it would be soon. "You're wanting to talk about sssomething." He rarely spoke. When he did, his voice was rich and deep, and his S sounds elongated in his words. "I know you, Vincente."
"Indeed, and so you do, Brother." Vincente smiled, walking with his hands clasped behind his back. His silver long sword tapped lightly against his hip with the sway of his stride.
Krahka-Toa wasn't going to pry and fish for the conversation. Vincente knew it, too. But they continued to walk down the street for a couple of minutes, bathed in the silence they'd come to embrace. The slight rumble of thunder trimmed it up nicely. Its own form of silver lining.
"I hope you don't think too ill of me after this, Krahka." Vincente said after a time. "But..." He stopped and turned his eyes to his companion's direction. "You are actually a very handsome Argonian, did you know?"
Krahka-Toa stood up a little straighter, as did his spines. The only guess he had was that this vampire had just came on to him! Vincente sensed the uneasiness he'd just caused in his fellow Brother and changed his tactics.
"I suppose I should just get to the point, seeing as that is how you tend to be." He looked away for a moment before returning his gaze to him. "Krahka, I've been interested in you physically for quite some time now. I know you've noticed me watching you. I wasn't going to hide it, and yet you've never approached me about it."
His skin tingled under his scales, suddenly becoming acutely aware of how closely he and Vincente were standing. Both of them were male! Surely Vincente noticed this! While two different races toying with each other wasn't an uncommon practice in Cyrodiil and Vvardenfell, two of the same gender was rare.
"Consider this an offer, dear Brother." Vincente added, his tone as smooth and even as it always had been. "Even if you don't accept, my past offer of the Dark Gift still stands. Now, I hate to leave so soon, but I need to take tonight to satiate my hunger."
Krahka-Toa watched as Vincente faded before his sight. The amulet of Eye of Sithis allowed him to see the purple aura moving away. He knew that one unlucky victim would not, as neither would any of the guards along the streets.
The moon was high, and still he had not slept...
A leathery, scaled hand lifted up to trace along scars young and old. Scars that almost completely covered the left side of his face and muzzle. The rest of his body remained unmarred, every sleek, white inch of it. Countless times he'd been proposed the very same thing Vincente had just offered, and never before had he considered it in the slightest. Yet here he was now, thinking about it incessantly! Perhaps Vincente liked his scars. Vincente himself was gaunt, his skin as pale as death. His form was lithe, almost too thin to be possible, but wasn't all bone and skin. Krahka-Toa had once before seen the dense muscular structure that gave Vincente his strength.
But was it wise to trust a vampire with one's own body?
-- -- --
The concept of night and day really was an invalid thing in the depths of the Cheydinhal Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary. It did not matter, for the Dark Brothers and Sisters all instinctively knew when the night fell. It was then they awoke and, like phantom's of the night, fulfilled their contracts.
It had also been two days since Krahka-Toa had spoken with Vincente Valtieri.
Krahka-Toa climbed down the ladder of the well entrance, removing his hood when he reached the bottom. Five new deaths lay now on his hands and the blade of Sufferthorn. The Deceiver's Finery and worked well on this job, as had the Boots of Bloody Bounding and the Gloves of Midnight. He'd had to put on one of the greatest airs he'd ever done to win the trust of those people. In the end, he'd had the pleasure of five bloody corpses to show for it.
The skeletal Dark Guardian sustained his trudge around the main room, taking no notice of anyone in sight. Ocheeva wasn't anywhere in this room. And so, Krahka-Toa continued down past the room to the hall at the end. The first bedroom he came to would be Ocheeva's...who was not inside.
Nearby, a fellow Argonian had been witnessing his efforts. Teikaava spoke up. "Ocheeva is fulfilling a contract of her own tonight. We'll all have to wait."
Krahka-Toa knew all too well what "we" meant. Teikaava had long been the secret lover of Ocheeva for some time now. Scar-Tail, the Shadowscale Teikaava had asked him to kill, had also been a former lover of the female. It wasn't easy to see the two Shadowscales motives for having Scar-Tail slain. It could have been for the ethic reasons Teikaava had said...or it could have been to just get him out of the way. Possibly enough of both for neither to matter.
"Try not to make ssso much noissse next time." Krahka-Toa said as he walked past Teikaava. "(insert name here) heard you, and he talksss."
Teikaava narrowed his eyes to slits at the white Argonian assassin. Krahka-Toa felt the tension of an upcoming smile at the corners of his mouth. Really, (insert name here) had no clue as to what his fellow Brothers and Sisters were doing, but for Teikaava to know that Krahka-Toa knew...!
The smile faded when he realized how close he was to Vincente's quarters. There was a good chance the vampire was inside. Or, even outside, considering it had been two days since his last feeding. He could go inside, wait for him, and...
No. Krahka-Toa shook his head. He wasn't ready for that.
Later that night...
Shadowhunt was cool and strong in his hands as he drew the bowstring back. A steel arrow was notched. During an actual kill, he preferred the silver arrows or the Arrows of Embers, both of which he stocked. In training, he didn't want to waste the good arrows or tips. Steel arrows worked fine for target practice.
The arrow was released, sailing clean to the middle of the target. It pierced deep into the wood.
Only four people were inside the Sanctuary. The rest were gone. Two of them had holed themselves away inside Ocheeva's living quarters with the door locked behind them. He had heard them, both trying to keep their gasps and moans to themselves. Normally something like this would not set him on edge...
...but since Vincente had given his offer...
In one swift and fluid motion, Krahka-Toa unsheathed the Blade of Woe and threw it at the archery target. It stuck dead in the center, knocking the arrow aside. All he could think about was Vincente Valtieri! There was no getting his mind off on anything else! He hissed in frustration, sitting in the chair Mraaj-Dar always claimed as his own. He must've watched his thrown dagger for several minutes before finally standing to retrieve it.
As he took hold and pried it loose, two hands came to rest on his hips.
Krahka-Toa stiffened up instantly! All of his instincts to turn around and strike had to be fought against, for the Argonian knew only one person in the Sanctuary quiet enough to have caught him off guard. Valtieri! When he began to pull away, Vincente wrapped one arm around Krahka-Toa's slender waist, his other hand moving down his thigh. The hand trailed up and along the base of his exposed tail. It was at that moment Krahka-Toa's breath nearly stalled in his throat. He lifted his tail slightly without even realizing it. This is what Vincente was looking for. He began to caress and massage the sensitive area.
"You haven't pulled away yet." Vincente whispered, his hot breath on Krahka-Toa's neck. "I'm pleased. What now, Krahka? Would you like for me to go on?"
The temptation was too much. He'd never felt anything like this! "Bite me and I'll kill you."
"I give you my word."
"Then..." Krahka-Toa had to pause in mid-sentence, Vincente's hand having gone a little lower to play with an even more sensitive area just under his tail. "...sssomeplace private."
Satiated with a fast asleep Ocheeva by his side, Teikaava had already begun to allow himself to drift off. Something Ocheeva had told him earlier still rang like a wind chime in a gentle breeze in his mind. She was with egg and would be laying at least one in the next three months! This would place the hatchling, if all bode well, under the protection of The Shadow. The young one would become a Shadowscale. The Dark Brotherhood would be pleased. Perhaps even pleased enough to overlook the fact that he and Ocheeva had been sharing a bed together...
He looked over at his secret mate. She only slept like this when he had her in his arms.
A quick stab of hunger reminded him he hadn't eaten all night and then most of the day before. Carefully, he plucked himself away from Ocheeva's bed and went to the door. After he went through it, his train of thought changed from food to curiosity. Vincente Valtieri's room was just down the hall to his left. That garish vampire almost always had his doors open in welcoming fashion. Very unbecoming, Teikaava personally believed, though he didn't know too many people who Vincente needed to keep out. This time, though, it was odd. They were closed.
He walked up to the door, trying it lightly enough to only see if it was locked. It was. Another oddity.
A lock pick skillfully presented and used cleared the obstacle. When he was finished, he slid open the door just enough for him to see through the crack. Teikaava wasn't sure if he was dreaming or having a nightmare...!
-- -- --
The poisoned apples Lachance had given him weighed heavy in his pack, perhaps only because Krahka-Toa knew of their existence. And their use. The scroll to summon Rufio's angry ghost was no lighter.
As he stood in the central chamber of the Sanctuary, he could only think about his new role as Silencer. He was at work for Lucien Lachance and for the Black Hand itself now. Everyone he could see moving in and out of the shadows here... He was their murderer, the end of all that they'd worked for in the Dark Brotherhood. They knew not of their futures now.
The Argonian's brown eyes ended their scan when they found a pale man clad differently than the rest, a silver long sword in a sheath on his hip. Vincente's name had been on Lachance's list as well. Memories of the previous nights haunted his mind. Vincente saw him watching and smiled, unknowing of what was to come. Krahka-Toa felt the heat begin to stir within the knowledge of what that smiling mouth could do.
That night...
Mraaj-Dar's poison-ridden corpse laid on the floor, a red, ripe apple still clutched in his claw...
Leaning up against the wooden archery target, (insert name here)'s lifeless body was pinned to the wood, an arrow piercing through her skull. Nearby, (insert name here) was dead as well, his axe still in his hand, though his throat was cut...
In the Living Quarters, Antoinette's flesh had become dinner for Schemer...
In Ocheeva's room, Teikaava and Ocheeva both lie side by side, the remnants of a poisoned blade criss-crossing their exposed flesh...
Krahka-Toa walked into Vincente's room, closing and locking the doors behind him. The scent of fresh blood was coating his Shrouded Armor, a scent that Vincente's specialized senses were keen on picking up. The vampire looked up with interest from the book he'd been reading, instantly excited by the blood, visible and not, on Krahka-Toa.
It was not unusual for Krahka-Toa to come to Vincente after a contract had been finished.
"The smell of blood is strong on you tonight, Krahka." He placed his book down on the table nearby, standing up. "The contract wasn't too messy, I hope?"
"There wasss more than one involved." Krahka-Toa replied. "I thought we'd ssstay in tonight."
The grin that spread across Vincente's face showed more than he could express that he was up for it! "I hope you're not too sore after last night's...amusements."
The fervor with which Krahka-Toa took hold of Vincente surprised even Vincente himself! Not that he minded! Krahka-Toa made quick work of removing his lover's shirt and loosening his pants and belt. Holding him by his waist, his tongue moved across the smooth skin of his neck down to his chest. He slid his leathery, scaled hands down the back of Vincente's pants. Clutching his buttocks, Krahka-Toa pulled the shorter man to him to hold him there. Vincente was normally the one initiating things and keeping them moving. He was entirely willing if Krahka-Toa wished to take the reins!
Two and a half hours later...
Krahka-Toa looked down upon the still nude and sleeping man on the stone slab nearby. He re-buckled the final straps to his Shrouded Armor, barely letting a single though trespass on to what he was about to do. Vincente Valtieri, 300 years and still alive...
He slid the Akavari Katana from its sheath on his back, raising it above his head. He doubted he would ever forget the sound of the sharpened metal through the flesh and bone of Valtieri's neck.
FIN