Raised in the Shadows
Disclaimer: You have no idea how much we wished we were the creators of Oblivion. If we had made it then we would own Lucian Lachance and Vicente Valtieri. But we don't own it so….yeah…
A/N: Once again I am writing a story with my friend Gaaraxocfan. So half of the credit goes to her.
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Deep within the Cheydinhal Dark Brotherhood sanctuary…
There was a loud crash as the two girls ran down the hall, knocking over a small table along the way. They ran into Vicente Valtieri's quarters and began to run in circles around his table. Vicente groaned. He was trying to sort through several contracts and maps of different provinces and major cities.
"Lucian, would you mind stopping Kira from attacking Rain?" The vampire said irritably. The 13 year old Imperial glared at Vicente.
"Why can't you do it? I'm busy." He said.
"All you're doing is sitting there doing nothing! Now get Kira!" Vicente ordered. Lucian Lachance sighed and stood up. He watched the five year old Imperial girl chase Rain, a four year Wood Elf around the table. Finally he managed to pick up Kira.
"Luke, put me down!" The five year old struggled against Lucian's iron grip but finally gave up after a few moments. Rain hid fearfully behind Vicente's chair. Lucian put Kira down on the chair next to him. Vicente looked up from his papers and looked at Kira.
"Now, tell me why you were trying to attack your sister." The vampire said calmly.
"Kia hit me!" Rain said from behind the vampire's chair.
"Rain was messing with my stuff! Tell her to stay out of my room!" Kira complained. Vicente sighed. He had enough to worry about already.
"Kira stop picking on Rain. Rain, stop going into Kira's room if she says she doesn't want you in there. Now both of you go and find something to do. I've got a lot of work to do." Vicente ordered sternly.
"But Vissy," Rain whined, "I don't wanna go! Kira's just gonna start chasing me around again!" Vicente sighed.
"Vicente, I don't wanna go find something else to do! Can't I at least stay here with you?" Kira whined.
"Lucian, take Kira somewhere and tell Ocheeva I want her to keep an eye on Rain for a while."
"Where am I supposed to take Kira? And why do I have to do it?!" Lucian complained.
"Don't you have to pick up some special alchemy ingredients in the Market District of the Imperial City? Take Kira with you. And you have to take her with you because you're getting on my nerves." It was obvious to everyone in the room that Vicente was getting very angry.
Lucien picked up Kira and ran quickly out of the room, with Rain following behind him. They ran up the stairs to Ocheeva's room.
"Ocheeva, Vicente wants you to watch Rain for a while. I'm headed to the Imperial City to steal some alchemy ingredients. I'm taking Kira." Lucien said quickly before running up more stairs to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary's main room. He ran straight to the ladder leading to Cheydinhal, still carrying a complaining Kira.
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Vicente leaned back in his chair, enjoying the silence for a moment. He thought quietly about the night he had found Kira and Rain. That had definitely been on of his stranger contracts but he had actually experienced worse.
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Flashback to one year ago…
"Ocheeva, do you think you can pick the lock on the back door?" Vicente asked. It was a cold, clear night in Bruma. The town, as usual, was covered in snow. A soft wind blew threw the town.
"I think so. It doesn't look too hard. But are you sure we can take down Alexial Azrael? He supposed to be a master with just about any weapon. Are you sure we're prepared?" Ocheeva said worriedly.
"Yes I'm sure we can take Azrael. He should be asleep. We just have to sneak into his bedroom and kill him and his wife. Then we go on our merry way back to Cheydinhal." Vicente said confidently. Ocheeva nodded and began to pick the lock. A minute later they were inside.
The house was simple enough. There were three bedrooms. Two of them were on the main level but Alexial and Asana Azrael's bedroom was upstairs. The two assassins slowly made their way upstairs, never making a sound.
Vicente walked into the master bedroom while Ocheeva waited by the door in case one of them tried to make an escape. Vicente pulled out a dagger and quickly slit the throat of Alexial's throat. The man grunted quietly before dying. But it woke up his wife, Asana. She gasped and stared in horror at the vampire standing next to her husband's body.
"What have you done?!" She asked. She didn't dare scream, not wanting to scare her two children downstairs.
"I am a son of Sithis." Vicente said simply before killing Asana before she could say anything else.
"It's over, now let's get out of here." Ocheeva said, turning to walk back to the stairs.
"Wait, I hear a heartbeat. Someone is walking up the stairs. Ocheeva, hide. I will take care of this and you can cover me if needed." Ocheeva quickly used an invisibility spell.
Vicente waited in the middle of the bedroom to see who was coming upstairs. He was very surprised when a young girl, no more than four years old walked sleepily into the room. Vicente was even more surprised when he got a clear look at her face. She looked just like his daughter had, 300 years ago.
Before he was turned into a vampire, Vicente had had a wife and a young daughter. But one night their home was attacked by a horrible vampire. He had killed Vicente's wife and daughter and left him to turn into a vampire himself. For 100 years or so he wandered aimlessly, filled with grief. But then the Brotherhood had found him.
They had helped him get over the grief and cope with his "condition." By now he had almost completely let go of that horrible night but it all came back to him when he saw this girl's face. Vicente fell to his knees as he felt the familiar grief crush him.
The girl rubbed her eyes a few times before finally seeing clearly through the darkness. She definitely looked almost as surprised as Vicente.
"Who're you? What have you done to my mommy and daddy?!" The girl asked loudly. Vicente shook his head, finally coming back to his senses.
"I'm sorry, but your parents are dead." He said simply. Several emotions passed through the girl's eyes but none of them were the emotions Vicente expected to see.
He expected to see terror and overwhelming sadness pass through her eyes but instead he saw shock, which was normal, but there was also a strange acceptance. It was as if the girl barely cared what happened to her parents. There was barely even rage or hatred for Vicente. The girl actually even looked a little curious about Vicente. She was no normal girl.
But then he heard someone else coming up the stairs. Concern instantly filled the girl's eyes.
"Rain, stay downstairs!" The girl yelled. Vicente could still hear whoever Rain was walking up the stairs.
"But Kira, I thought I heard some scary noises. I'm scared and I want mommy." Rain said. She made it to the top of the stairs. Vicente was very surprised to see she was a Wood Elf instead of an Imperial like the rest of the Azraels. But the Vicente figured she must be adopted.
The other girl, Kira, looked worriedly at Vicente with a silent question in her eyes. She didn't want her younger sister to see their parent's dead bodies. Vicente knew what to do.
"Ocheeva, get the Wood Elf girl." Vicente said. The spell on Ocheeva broke as she ran forward quickly, not really knowing what else to do but listen to the vampire. Ocheeva used a spell to knock out Rain before she could enter the bedroom. Vicente turned his attention back to the Imperial girl Kira.
"What are you going to do now?" She asked. Now she looked afraid. Vicente smiled at the girl.
"Don't worry; I'm not going to hurt you or your sister. What happens now is up to you." He said. The girl looked confused.
"What do ya mean?"
"I'm giving you a choice. You can come with me and my friend, Ocheeva here, back to Cheydinhal. We're part of a large family there, you could stay with us. Or you could stay here and do whatever you feel you should do." Vicente said, trying to explain as simply as he could.
"I won't go anywhere without Rain." Kira said simply.
"She can come too. Our family can protect both of you." The girl seemed to try and think about it for a moment. It had to be a lot to take in. Finally she nodded. Vicente could tell she was a lot like her father. She always knew what would lead to the best outcome.
"I'll come with you but you have to look after my sister." Vicente stood up and walked over to the girl. Before she knew what was happening he knocked her out and picked her up.
"Ocheeva, would you mind carrying the Wood Elf girl?" Vicente said calmly.
"What are you doing? We can't bring these girls back to the sanctuary! Why are you doing this?" Ocheeva asked.
"Honestly, I'm not sure. But she's just…so much like my daughter had been. I can't just leave her here. Besides, they're young. They can't cause that much trouble." The vampire said. Ocheeva sighed but picked up Rain and followed Vicente out of the house….
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Vicente shook his head at the memory. At first, he remembered, he had been shocked by Kira's reaction to the death of her parents. She really didn't have much of a reaction but then when they were almost halfway back to Cheydinhal she had cried but only when Rain was asleep. She was trying to be strong for her little sister. Kira was very aware of the world for someone so young but Vicente guessed that had something to do with her strict father.
And now, one year later, Vicente Valtieri sat in his quarters. Kira had become something like a daughter to him. He wasn't completely sure what he thought of Rain but he liked her well enough. He was sure Kira would grow up to become a fine assassin, just like Lucien would one day be too. He was sure both of them would one day be a part of the Black Hand itself one day.
But Rain didn't seem to have that killer instinct. She did seem good at getting into places where she wasn't supposed too. Maybe she'd become a member of the Thieves' Guild one day.
Vicente shook his head as his thoughts drifted to the young Lucien Lachance. Lucien was a very ambitious and cold young man. At only age 13 Lucien already seemed prepared to accept contracts and kill people but Christine wouldn't let him until he was least 15.
Christine was the Speaker for the Black Hand. She kept everything under control in all of the sanctuaries all over Cyrodiil. She was good at her job. She was a kind lady but everyone in the Brotherhood knew not to cross her. Making her mad would definitely end badly for that person. She was a typical Redguard; a good leader and fighter but with a bad temper.
Vicente shook his head again before returning to sorting through all of the contracts on the table in front of him. He still had a lot of work to do and the silence could only last so long…
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"Lucien, wait up!" Kira yelled. She was following Lucien to the gates leading out of Cheydinhal to the Imperial City. She had to run to keep up with him. Lucien rolled his eyes but slowed down.
"Here." He said, picking her up and lifting her onto his shoulders. He continued walking quietly through the night. He barely made any sound at all and he blended in perfectly with the darkness. The fact that it was raining helped to give them cover.
Both Lucien and Kira pulled up their hoods to cover their faces as they walked past the guards at the gate. Once they were outside the gates they found Shadowmere, Lucien's horse. Kira held on tight to Lucien's belt as they rode quickly to the Imperial City.
The journey took around three or four hours on Shadowmere and when they got to the city it was still the middle of the night. They stopped not too far away from the gates to the Market District.
"Alright Kira, I want you to stay here and watch Shadowmere while I go get those alchemy supplies." Lucien said.
"I don't wanna stay and watch the horse. I wanna come with you!" Kira complained.
"No, it's too dangerous. I might get caught by the guards. You don't wanna end up in jail do you?"
"C'mon Lucian, let me come along. I won't get in the way." Kira said, begging with her ice blue eyes. Lucien chuckled a bit and ruffled her already messy brown hair.
"No, wait until you're older and more experienced. I'm in charge when it's just us out here. Now stay here." Lucian ordered. Before Kira could protest more he ran off to the gates.
"Jerk." She said quietly. Kira waited for a few moments before deciding it would be safe to follow Lucien now. She jumped off of Shadowmere and began to run to the gates…
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Ooh, what kind of trouble will Kira and Lucien get into?
And how will Rain's day…er night go with Ocheeva?
Reviews are always lovely and make us update sooner!