'You sicken me.' I growled as I stalked through the streets of Cheydinhal, kicking aside pebbles and twigs in my attempt to get away from him.

'What do you mean? Plenty of people are into necrophilia! Have you met that woman in Skingrad, the alchemist? Lovely woman she is…'

'Shut up! Just shut up!' I shouted over my shoulder, attracting glares from passersby who were busy being their boring, unattractive selves. A Bosmer looked up from her book and insulted my lack of congeniality.

'I'm just saying that she's wonderful! Maybe we should-'

'Maybe we should what, Damien? Go around…pleasing ourselves with the rotting…erm…parts of the un-dead? If you're really into that kind of thing I'm sure Vicente would be happy to oblige.'

'I love how you can't say anything even remotely sexual. They're called genitals.' Damien sniggered.

I stopped abruptly and Damien walked into me at a fast speed, falling backwards onto the pavement. I turned around and placed my feet either side of his head, picking up a large stone and holding it to his cheek. My eyes were wide, my nostrils flaring. 'You've annoyed me all the way from Chorrol. If I were you I'd shut the hell up, alright? Otherwise this stone will be shoved up your genitals.'

'Don't you mean "where the sun doesn't shine?" the other place?' he squeaked, daring to aggravate me further.

'No." I answered menacingly and dropped the stone at the side of his head. 'Let's go, the others will think we're dead if we mess around any longer.' I helped Damien up and threw him in front of me. 'You're picking the lock today.' Damien saluted me and dashed off towards the abandoned house before I could get my hands around his throat. He'd picked the lock of the boarded up door in seconds and it opened with a loud screech, revealing that the boards were simply an illusion. We walked together, with Damien casting me worried looks, through the main part of the old building and into the basement where we found a large hole in the wall. Through the hole was a pile of bricks, a few broken barrels and the bones of some unfortunate people, as well as a long tunnel that dipped down further into the earth and stopped at a door. It was large, made out of some foreign material and had several carvings of a skull and a woman holding a baby and a dagger, towering over several cowering villagers. A luminous red substance made the door appear as if it were glowing and lit up part of the tunnel.

I touched it lightly with my fingertips, withdrawing quickly as the door spoke in a deep, strangled whisper.

'What is the colour of the night?' It asked.

Clearing my throat, I bowed to the lady upon it and spoke clearly. 'Sanguine, my b-'

'BOOBS!' Damien screeched and then burst out laughing when I turned to face him, twitching. My hand crept towards my dagger as I began to growl at him and I sucked in air, ready to give him the scolding of a lifetime. He quickly saw me and put his hands up.

'Alright, alright! I surrender! I'll just go and sulk over here, shall I?' He said frantically and hopped off somewhere behind me. I sighed and touched the door again, and it repeated its question.

'Sanguine, my brother' I answered and the door opened to reveal the Cheydinhal sanctuary of the Dark Brotherhood. 'Welcome…home.'

'Come on, you dope…' I turned and grinned at Damien as I set foot inside the underground hideout and spotted my dark sister in the corner. I nodded at Antoinetta Marie as she looked up from reading silently in a corner on how to cook a goblin.

'You aren't seriously considering that, are you?' I laughed as I spotted what she was reading. She smiled, looking a lot like a mother.

'Of course not, but they say that a goblin has the same basic anatomy as a teenage Altmer.' She grinned at my shocked expression. I was a 15 year old Altmer! Was she planning on murdering me and boiling my remains? It wouldn't be the first time she'd tried it, thankfully on someone else. Trembling, I pointed at myself with a confused look on my face. She chuckled and pointed behind me.

'Annie! You're no fun!' Damien whined as I span around to see him with two fingers above my head. He grinned impishly and shrugged his shoulders. 'Do what you want. Smack me, beat me to a pulp;' he said, 'that'll just show Annie what a total dead weight you are.'

I had it in my right my to kick the crap out of him and I was going to until Vicente graciously strolled into the room, followed by his pet rat, schemer. 'What is this I hear?' he asked, raising an eyebrow at Damien. 'You can hardly call yourself an assassin with such a brilliant sense of humor.' He scowled and Damien's mouth fell open as he recoiled slightly and slumped against the wall. I laughed.

'You can't say anything. You began shaking at the very thought of sweet little Antoinetta here slicing you up and eating you. It'd be quite easy for her; far, far too easy! She'd find it boring.' Vicente smiled, showing off his fangs that twinkled as brightly as his crimson eyes in the torchlight. My smile faltered and I frowned at the vampire, retreating to the wall that Damien was still stuck firmly to. I hated his amazing ability to make us both feel like hell. Vicente turned to Annie.

'If you'd really like to resort to cannibalism, do inform me.' He said and then turned back to me, beckoning me with a finger. 'Come to my chambers, Lillian, I have something private I'd like to speak to you about.'

Damien came out of his trance like state, in which he probably questioned his own self value, and nudged me. 'Tell me how it goes; maybe you'll reconsider what we were talking about.' He whispered.

'What do you mean?' I whispered back, not taking my eyes off of Vicente.

'He wants to speak to you, Lils! I think we both knew this time would come. He must be lonely and depraved.'

Ugh.

'Happily, Vicente.' I answered and as he turned I elbowed Damien in the stomach and made my way after the 6 foot ancient. We made our way down two flights of stairs and into his dimly lit room. There was a round table in the middle, a large space in the left side with a ladder and a trapdoor that led to Ocheeva's room (why he needed that I didn't know.) and a freezing stone slab in the right side, where he slept. He sat on the chair that was next to the table and rummaged around in his large silk pocket for something. His face scrunched up and his head fell back as his hands moved around in the darkness of his robes. My eyes widened as I considered what Damien had said. Oh, hell no…he's not…

'There we are.' He sighed and pulled out an envelope. 'This is addressed to you, from Lucien Lachance. You remember him, don't you? The man who visited you that night.'

'Yeh, I remember.' I breathed as I took the envelope from him and studied the ruby colored wax seal. If Vicente had a talent for anything but making people feel worthless in a jesting manner, it was definitely the ability to make scary old men sound like pedophiles. Well, not much difference there then.

I looked back up to see Vicente lying on the stone slab, fast asleep. 'How rude…' I whispered and left the room, staring intently at the envelope. What would Lucien be writing to me for? A loud creaking sounded behind me and the Dark Guardian made his way past me, walking in long, slow strides.

'SO THEN!'

'Holy crap!' I breathed and jolted backwards to see Damien standing to the right of me.

'What did he talk about then?' He asked, not noticing the envelope that was practically touching the tip of my nose. I whipped it behind my back and smiled at him.

'He told me that you should mind your own damn business.' I frowned and carried on walking.

'What's that?' he asked, noticing the envelope and he stuck his hand behind me to try to take it from me. I quickly held it above my head with one hand and grabbed Damien's wrist with the other, twisting it. 'Sod off!' I shouted. He cried out in pain and his eyes began to water as I twisted it further and further, feeling his muscles tense under my grip. Eventually I released him and he crumbled to the floor, clenching his burning limb.

I left him to curse and cry on his own and made my way to the shared chamber where I threw myself onto my bed and lit my bedside candle. Thankfully nobody else was in the room; they were all out mutilating helpless people. I smiled.

It didn't take me long to get the envelope open, but the seal was a real bugger to try and remove. I was too excited to tear the envelope, worried I'd tear the thing inside. It was a letter, pure white, with the most exquisite handwriting I'd ever seen, and it was for me! Wow.

Lillian,

You've proven yourself to be quite the talented assassin. You are ruthless, merciless and a loyal servant of the Night Mother and our dreaded father, Sithis. It has recently come to light that a traitor is in our midst and that one of your brothers or sisters has been relaying information to the Cheydinhal guard; the Black Hand will not tolerate this. Seeing as you are the most skilled and promising young assassin we proudly cherish, the Black Hand has decided that you are most fit to carry out an ancient ritual that has been exercised within the Dark Brotherhood for centuries.

The purification ritual, utilized to eliminate any traitors that may be brave enough to reveal our secrets to the outside world. I would have liked to speak to you about this in person, but my rather busy schedule prevents me from finding the right time and place to meet you; forgive me. Prepare yourself, for even a professional killer such as you may not be able to carry out this task.

The Black Hand are asking you to kill every one of your brothers and sisters in the Cheydinhal sanctuary so that we me once and for all be rid of this annoying pet of the law. This may not be an easy task and may seem drastic, but it is the only way we can ensure the safety and prosperity of the Brotherhood.

Go forth, young assassin, and fulfill the task given to you by Sithis. Yes, he is the one instructing you to carry out this dark deed; I am simply his messenger.

May Sithis and his consort be with you during this time,

Lucien Lachance.

I'd stopped breathing as I read the warrant for my family's' death. I'd have to kill them all. Gogron gro-Bolmog, Teinaava, Vicente, Ocheeva, Telaendril, M'raaj-Dar, Antoinetta, Damien…

I let out a loud scream and knocked the candle from my bedside. It was extinguished and rolled to the other side of the room as my voice echoed off the walls and melted into the darkness that was slowly taking over my mind, my soul.

My heart.