Morndas, 12th of the Steed, 4E 201

"Of course. Nothing gets done without my approval in this city. I have the Jarl's ear, and the guards in my pocket. Anyone makes trouble for me and I pay a visit to the Thieves Guild. Make me angry and I contact the Dark Brotherhood. You'd do well to remember that next time you make such a stupid observation."

He laughed when I said this. Laughed! in my face! in front of a tavern full of MY people, Me, Maven Black-briar! I couldn't speak, I was so incensed with uncomprehending rage. Yet there he was, chortling as if I had told a magnificent jest he hadn't heard before. He took a drink, to calm himself I imagine, I took one to focus on the taste of my family mead, our pride. the smooth honeyed strength tasting like vinegar after that laugh. This man-child that Brynjolf had sent me had crossed a line. He needed education.

"Do you think I was exaggerating?" I murmured. Ice. Ice and Honey had always been words to describe my voice when I desired to intimidate my enemies and competitors.

"My dear woman, I do hope you weren't" He replied, wearing a damnable, sincere smile on his face. His voice was smooth as well, no ice in it though, no bite to his words. I wanted to strike him. I didn't. I resolved to wait for that lesson.

"Then you understand what it means to make offense to me? To one who holds strings to that Death Cult and your pickpocket friends below My city?" I said, keeping the testiness out of my voice as much as I could.

"Yes, yes of course I do. I just... well that's the joke isn't it."

"What Joke?" I had to keep myself from screaming. I looked around for the ever present Maul. I froze, glass still at my lips. Maul was nowhere to be seen. That quite simply couldn't be, he had orders. The city could call the man what it liked, but he was Loyal, far above what most sell-swords were.

"Looking for someone? Are we expecting a third party?"

I glanced back at the man. He was still smiling with those damnably straight and queerly long teeth, each shining like polished bone. I took another sip, thinking over what was going on. He laughed when I brought Them up... Could he be one of them? Would that explain why Maul was...

"No. Not in the least. I prefer us having our conversation private." This man... this thin, pale, man with the supercilious smile was an unknown variable. I don't like unknowns, I like facts. I need facts to run my world. My World can't abide the Unknown creeping into it.

"Oh? Private, you say."

A change in his face appeared. His expression grew distant, apart from the ever-present smile. His eyes seemed to gaze into something far away to the left of my face. I was about to snap his attention back from what ever daydream he had. Before I could, I stopped, mouth hanging open as everyone, Everyone in the Bee and Barb stood to their feet and began marching out the door. Keerava and Talen-Jei too. The entire tavern Emptied as this man stared off into space.

I swallowed dryly, disguising it behind my mead glass. What daedra-damned sorcery was this? Who was this upstart to laugh at the mention of that dark, murderous Cult of a long forgotten god? Who was he to treat me so lightly, as if I were but a passing street urchin? Who was this... Fiend to command an entire tavern, all who knew me and mine, to depart and leave me... alone, with Him.

"There." his gaze returned to me, still... smiling the way he did. "Private, just the way you prefer, my Lady." something about him changed. his... Divines, it was his Eyes. Never had I seen their like. Before they had merely been dark, perhaps a suggestion of red or purple to them. But when he spoke they were so empty, they looked colorless but had some sort of unworldly effulgence. I couldn't bear to look at them and I couldn't bear to look away. And even with those hideous eyes, he still Smiled. I still couldn't speak, it was as if there were fingers fastened around my throat. "Maven? Lady Black-briar? Don't tell me you've partaken too much. Perhaps you're feeling drowsy? Would you like some air?" he stood up and moved over to me. His Eyes didn't blink. Not once. All the while they blazed with an almost unnameable emotion. Desire. Hunger perhaps. Anger. Mocking subservience. Wicked and unknowable things seemed to move inside them. They were Inside his Eyes, faces twin to his but skeletal and gaunt with ravenous and insatiable-

I came to myself after who knows how long, staring into his face that was inches from my own. He was inhaling deeply, and I felt my lungs grow cold as ice as he pulled away.

"My, but you gave me a fright." He whispered. Foul, foul whispering in my ear and those disgustingly long white teeth clicking with the syllables. "You swooned, My Lady."

I was on my back, somehow I had fallen and sprawled upon the wooden floor of the tavern. He was crouched over me like some gargoyle conjured from a nightmare. His eyes... no those simple, dark, and smiling eyes could never truly belong to him. But the repulsive orbs that seemed to be windows to Oblivion were no more. No hint to them remained. Just the same smile, and those long white teeth remained. I tried not to shudder as he took my hand and lifted me to my feet, as if I weighed no more than a child's doll. His hands were pallid, and I could see veins below the skin. The fingers were long and spindly, yet cruelly strong. They were cold too, like the coils of some many armed undersea thing. Every single thing in this seemingly ordinary man was so undeniably Wrong upon scrutiny. Every mannerism, every motion, every step and gesticulation was a facade that barely concealed the Thing I had seen twinned in his Eyes.

"A shame we could not talk longer, My Lady." He said, his hand upon his chest like a crouching spider as he bowed low. "I do think you should take some rest, some fresh air would do you good." I could do nothing but nod. My throat was dry and my face was cold with sweat. "Perhaps we will meet sometime soon, I do enjoy my walks in the night air. To have the pleasure of your esteemed company would be a double blessing."

Then he was gone. That was months ago. I saw him from time to time after that at the tavern or at the Jarl's Hall. He would wave politely, his face smiling in that way that made me sick. I never went out when the sun was down after that, however. Not even with guards. At night, when I say my prayers and lock my doors and bar my windows... I swear I can feel them, His Eyes, staring at me. Waiting for me to fall asleep. Waiting for me t