Author's Note: Yes it's another Skyrim/ Dawnguard fic! How original, am I right? Anyway, I'm going to try and keep this as close to the dialouge in the game as I can be with my own flair added where I feel it's appropiate. I'm also going to try and update once a week or so and I hope to be able to hold to that. Yes, this is also going to be a pairing but when those bits come I also hope to make it tasteful. I also want to thank two ofmy dear friends for helping me flesh out certain details. You know who you are. Enjoy!
Chapter One: Fort Dawnguard
Josef took a wooden longsword off the weapon rack and then walked in front of the newest crop of recruits who had made their way to Fort Dawnguard. "Now." he said, giving the sword a small twirl in his hands. "One of the most debilitating abilities you'll find vampires using is their drain ability. This saps your life force and heals them, but the real danger is that being affected by this, gives you a small chance to contract the vampiric disease, so learning to defend against this is important." He motioned and one of the recruits, still unused to the weight and fit of his Dawnguard armor came up to him.
"Hold your arm out," Josef instructed, demonstrating. The recruit held his arm out and Josef turned to the rest as he went through the motions. "When you see the arm outstretched like this, they will be using, or will begin to use their vampiric drain." Slowly, so they could see, he grabbed the boy's wrist while side stepping. "Grab the wrist and step to the side, while drawing your weapon." he explained."Then, once the drain is off of you, bring your sword down on the elbow, and, with any luck, you can hack its arm clean off." he tapped his sword on the recruits elbow."It probably won't kill them instantly, but not even a vampire can brush off having a limb hacked off."
He patted the recruit on the back and handed him the wooden sword, pommel first. Though made of wood, they were hollow, with lead in the middle, heavier than a normal sword but when they could wield those with no problem, a normal blade was going to be easy. The armor was the same. It was heavier with extra padding,again a training exercise. When they could move swiftly and effectivley in the 'wrong' armor, the right one would be easy."Now," Josef said, walking back over to the weapon rack and picking up two small daggers. "When it comes to smaller weapons, you have to be quick." He motioned for another recruit to come up. He strode forward and outstretched his hand. "For this technique, you will have to adjust your stance," he instructed. "Whichever hand you see outstretched you want to put the coreesponding foot backwards. Generally they will have their right hand oustrechted like your fellow recruit here. You drop back a step so that your rightlegis back and let them come to you,and trust me, they will. You drop back half a step."Josef did this and then lunged. "So you can put all your weight and momenum into this thrust and you want to drive your first dagger into their palm." He drove the point of the wooden weapon between the recruit's fingers to hold it there. "Leave your blade there and grab their wrist." he grabbed the wrist and then side stepped and foundhimself behind the recruit,lightly bring the blade across the recruits throat. "See?" he asked, stepping back and pushing the recruit away,gently, and taking the wooden dagger back.
"Now," he said. "Last but certainly not least, heavy weapons." He walked over to the rack and picked up a battleaxe. "Who wants to help me with this demonstration?" he said with a slight smirk. "Good, because killing vampires with these doesn't need a step by step instruction." He walked over to the target dummy he had set up, dressed in robes and boots from a vampire he had slain in Whiterun a few weeks before. He regarded it for a moment before he brought his weapon up, above his head and cleaved the dummy in two with a roar worthy of the Dragonborn. He let the weapon drop and turned to his students. "If that doesn't kill them, nothing will... and trust me, it will." He hung up the battleaxe and spoke. "Now I want everyone to pair up and start practicing these techniques. I want each of these moves to be second nature to you so that you can keep your head when facing these things. I want practice until noon. Durak should be around by then for crossbow practice!" He watched as the recuits all went for weapons and began, fumbling through the techniques they had been shown.
He stayed for about half an hour, going to each pair at least twice, making sure they were keeping their footing and balance where they needed to be, and correcting their technique when it was off. He watched them for about an hour as he reflected on his own history with the Dawnguard. It was... spotty at best. When he had first found Isran, he had volunteered to accompany a Vigilantof Stendarr to a place called Dimhollow Crypt. Vampires had been sighted near the cave and reports said they were looking for some long lost vampire artifact. Josef had fought his way into the cave and found what they were looking for. The artifact turned out to be a woman, who called herself Serana.
Josef couldn't help but smile a little when he thought of her. He liked to think that he was past the 'love at first sight' belief but knew for certain that 'lust at first sight' was alive and well, the women of Skyrim had proved that over the last two or three years. He had known a few of them, a couple more than once but none had entranced him like Serana had. Josef had only known her for a short time, but in that time she had proven her right to be alive more time than any other vampire he had ever met, a sentiment that enraged Isran even more than the revelation that he had, not only returned Serana to her father, a vampire, who called himself Lord Harkon, with a magnitude of power so great he could level Fort Dawnguard if he cared to, and had not secured the Elder Scroll she was carrying. Josef was certain that had he been anyone other than the Dragonborn, he would've been skinned alive and his skull given to Gunmar's trolls for general recreation.
He had reapired his relationship with the senior Dawnguard somewhat by recruiting Gunmar, their smith and beast trainer and Sorine Jurard the Dwemer "expert". He had been helping both of them by chasing down Dwemer designs to improve Dawnguard weapons and arms, specifically the crossbows each new member was issued, and by chasing down leads on vampires wandering the provience or infiltrating bandit camps in hopes of turning the entire clan. It felt good, fighting against Lord Harkon, but he knew that one man wasn't going to be able to do much and even though their numbers were growing, they would need dozens, hundredsmore to be anything more than a thorn in the side of Volkihar's side. These thoughts were brought to a halt when he heard heavy sounds of boots against the hard stone floor.
"How's it coming?"asked the gravelly voice of Isran, the commander of the Dawnguard. He stood next to the Imperial and watched the recruits.
"Slowly." said Josf, rubbing the back of his head. "They're still not used to their armor but they're getting better. I've been teaching them some techniques for fighting off the vampire's drain. The wooden weapons Gunmar and I forged are filled with lead. When we can get them live steel, they'll be strong enough to wield them effortlessly."
"Good." Isran responded curtly. "But you and I have something we need to discuss." He turned on his heel and started across the fort, Josef following. "A vampire arrived a few hours ago, asking for you." he explained, leading the Dragonborn upstairs, towards, he realized, the torture room. It made Josef's stomache turn thinking about it, but it was necessary. The best way to break someone was psychology, painful torture eventually just got you told what you wanted to hear to make it stop. Psychological torture made the victim want to help you, but that wasn't an option for vampires. Isran kept going. "This vampire showed up while you were away. I'm guessing it's the one you found in Dimhollow Crypt. Says it's got something really important to say to you." They turned the corner and Josef's eyes went wide. "Solet's hear it." he said to the room's newest occupant.
"You probably weren't expecting to see me again." said Serana.