Disclaimer: I own nothing. All rights to Bethesda.

Was there a fate worse than being buried alive? Tales of sadistic killers had quite a few who, once done torturing their victims enough, would throw them in a wooden box and bury them in a shallow grave never to see the light of day again.

How more horrific and frightful when that victim is you? Or worse, the fact that you couldn't look forward to the cold embrace of death because you are already dead? Trapped in a stone tomb with no hope of being saved?

How about when your own mother does this in a thinly veiled promise that you would be safe and she would return?

Her head throbbed at thinking of it. The betrayal, the abandonment, and knowing she'd been forgotten. Again A bitter reminder of foggy memories when she was pushed away or locked in her room to not bother both of them. While they argued and spat. Perhaps at the time she thought that her father was the cruel parent. But now she hoped they both rotted in Oblivion. But then that was a better fate than what she was going through.

She was reminded of the maddening silence, opening her eyes to the cold walls surrounding her, ready to cave in and crush what dwindling life she had, but mocked her pain, refusing to end it all just yet. A shuddering whimper. It was never a long nightmare she'd wake from. Why she expected any different at this point…

Vampires; they should be allowed to die if they wanted. To wither to ash and wake in Coldharbor. Even the lord of domination she'd numb to see. If it meant to finally leave this hollow tomb forever.

Her mother's malicious plan to get back at her father only seemed to lengthen her suffering. For her sake, she said. Her father was the monster, she said. She bleakly remembered that foggy night where her mother stole her away from their home and traveled here. Her mother's voice cooed and tried to soothe her. Justifying that this was the only way to keep her safe.

Fucking Liar...

She had been so frightened and confused by her mother's frantic speaking and planning. Set in a stone coffin of all things. Then she felt a calm wash over her and then nothing.

Nothing until she groggily awoke, only to find herself still trapped in complete darkness.

She was a creature of the night yet the terror of not having any sense of time or understanding why she was still here made her panic. She could see in the dark, but there was little to see at all. Just walls surrounding her, closing in on her. She screamed out for her mother to let her out. Banging and pushing at the wall in front of her to move yet it would not budge.

The choking grip of claustrophia settled at the back of her throat. By the blood her throat felt like it was being seared shut. Her thirst slowly got worse until she caught herself biting her own wrist for something. Anything that would stop the burning.

That's what it was like the first several times she awakened.

This was her… fifth? Or was it fifteenth? No, fiftieth. She'd forgotten how to count. She had forgotten how to talk. What was the point of speaking to walls anyway? They never talked back. They never reminded her what her name was. What was it, again?

Sleep was all she could do to try and stave off insanity in an ironic coffin that was supposed to keep her safe. Her mother had said that, hadn't she?

She reluctantly opened her eyes to see the same wall with a log of her awakenings. It had been bent in places and subtle scratch marks dug into its surface. She had tried so hard to get out. She could feel the bitter tears she had spilled last time begin to fall again.

Her mother had left her to rot in this prison. Did she have one or two parents that enjoyed her suffering? And then the dreams. The nightmares she had become accustomed to having. She longed to be mortal again. At least she would die and leave this place.

She was sure she'd go insane soon from this solitary confinement. Not even a vampire could mask the fear of entrapment. There was no point in screaming. Her hoarse throat proved that to be true. All she could was wait and sleep time away. Enter another nightmare where the lord of domination's daedra would swarm on her like savage wolves.

Serana felt herself grow weary at the thought as time passed without a care for her torment. Her mother's spell pulled at her conscious to soothe her to sleep again, but she hopelessly accepted she'd awake again to affirm her incased tomb once more.

Her only comfort she hugged. An elder scroll her mother had left with her. It had become an odd attachment of affection for her when she awoke. Such a powerful artifact she couldn't use, but its presence was a comfort. It had to be. And as she slipped into unconsciousness again she wondered if the scroll's power kept her from falling into complete madness.

A nightmare of hell overtook her entire world again.

She could smell death in the air, could hear the sorrowful moans and cries of eternally damned souls. And she was such a soul, too. It was like the first time of her lord's awakening, when she and her mother were to be gifts of tribute. That was the beginning of the end for her she mused. But here, it was different. She was in His domain without warning. Cast into this hellish place without a word. She was scared, alone in this cold realm. Then they rose like famished draugr. Daedroth climbed from the cold sand, throaty breaths and groans of excitement at they focused on her.

She tried to run. But a hand grabs her by the ankle and makes her trip. She couldn't remember how to use magic. Frantic, she pulled at the daedra's clutches, but more swarmed on her. Grabbing at her limbs, they tore away her clothing in pieces, sometimes their claws would rake across her skin and draw blood. She screamed, tears falling down in terror, but no one would come to save her. Her mother, her father... it was expected of her of course!

But they never told her it would be eternal offerings.

She was held down for more agonizing torture. Betrayal from her parents kept her tears falling. She always fought back in the beginning. But no matter how hard she tried her limbs felt like they were shackled by the claws that left thin gashes on her skin. They made hissing screeches at her but she couldn't understand. She never could.

And then He came into view out of the shadows. The spikes and horns adorning his head like a crown. His soulless eyes that pierced into her soul and felt like he was just a yank from ripping out of her still breathing body. His drooling, gnashing teeth that hungered for her flesh. His glowing armor bathed in the blood of his past victims. Long clawed hands reached out to grab her once more. And to end it was a whipping, reptilian tail.

She screamed as his claws dug into her thighs. She begged and pleaded to be let go, sobbing that her payment had already been claimed before as he positioned himself knowingly about to make her pay again. He never spoke a word. Never even uttered a breath that she could hear. His hollowness sent shivers of fear and anxiety down her sweating body. She was naked before him, her cold heart leaping with new fever in her chest as their eyes met.

She weakly pulled at his underlings to feebly attempt to get away but it was no use. She knew it and let out an agonizing scream the moment he plunged into her core and ripped into her flesh...

A drop of something tapped on her lips. Then another and another. She groaned herself half-way awake. She licked whatever was on them without much thought. Then the taste set in and her eyes snapped open. Her dry mouth remembered the sweet flavor of blood.

At first she suspected it was her mind playing tricks, but as the slow drips continued to fall on her open palm, she dared to let herself dream. The taste was nothing like what she remembered from blood. She savored it, licking it off her hand and even pushed herself to let as much of the crimson fall into her awaiting mouth. She would've been ashamed of herself before her cravings got so bad. It was a fiery sweetness that warmed her parched throat. She looked up as a few more drops formed at a tiny sliver of the coffin. She lost herself in the warm sensation for a moment. Was this salvation at last?

Her sluggish mind worked a question of who's blood this was and why? Was this a new dream to feed her craving thirst until she awoke again?

Sounds muffled. It sounded like hard metal shifting on earth. Her brow furrowed. Her mind playing tricks. Surely that was the case. She would not even dare to allow hope to slip itself in her heart. A struggled breath left her lips. Please just make the sounds stop. She had had enough of hopes killing her when they turned out to be false.

She tried to go back to sleep, to tune out the noises. Every time she almost slipped back into her slumber the same sound jolted her awake. She could still taste the lingering copper of blood as her throat worked a more exhausted sigh out. It was a nightmare after all. She'd have to endure a new one this time. The tempted desire to finally escape. Settling her head back down in her coffin, she shook her head bitterly. She'd have to wait until she woke up to sleep again. At this point this dream tore at her enough that she desired the usual daedroth swarm. Though never what came next. She'd rather die.

A sudden rumble tore her away from her thoughts of misery. Hands lept to grasping the walls of her prison. That had felt too real to be a dream. Eyes widened. Could it… truly be? She dared to this time. To hope that this reality was not a lie. She could feel the need to believe. Her hands gripped at the gravel stone in earnest. Another rumble. Her exhausted eyes looked frantically for what they could not see. Was this really happening?

And then like an ascension to the heavens, her coffin rumbled forward to a standing position, clicking into place. Her legs felt atrophied and lethargic. She could barely stand were it not for the impenetrable wall in front of her preventing her knees from bending further. And then she could feel it. Dank air filled her cold tomb. Not fresh, but fresh enough that she quickly took a breath though for what she was it wasn't needed.

Her desperation grew frantic as she felt what seemed like layers of earth move down around her sarcophagus. This was truly happening. Her mother had returned. Release at last.

She couldn't wait eagerly enough, pressing into the marred wall of her coffin to try and speed the process of freedom. She couldn't utter a word her throat felt so unused beyond sobs. But surely her mother had a blood potion. She could smell the blood now. It was stale in comparison to what she tasted. Clotted and stagnant. She would swear it smelled like a thin-blooded-

It was vampire's blood she was smelling. She had never gone from one emotion to another so fast. She pulled her hands away from the lid of her coffin. She had been trapped for the gods know how long but she knew vampire blood when she smelled it. It wasn't her mothers. That didn't stop fear from snagging her chest. What was happening? What had happened? She was starting to wonder if whatever activated her sealed tomb was going to be a pleasant sight.

The lid clicked and for a moment she wished she could control it and make it stay in place. She wanted freedom but she may only enjoy it for a few moments. It wasn't her mother here. And it certainly wasn't her father. Whatever was on the other side killed vampires? Would she be next?

She didn't have much time to worry as the scraping of her knees forced a hiss as she tried to stand on her own power. A sliver of a light and then a blinding flash blinded her and she shut her eyes quickly. Light was foreign to what her eyes had been used to. She reached out to use the lid to stable herself but she already forgot it was gone and stumbled out of her tomb. She frantically felt for something to grasp onto or she'd fall on her face.

Arms caught her at her shoulders as the rest of her pressed into what felt like hard armor. She groaned on impact unwilling to open her eyes just yet. Everything was spinning and blinding light would nauseate her. Not that she had anything to regurgitate any way. Whatever held her up remained still. Maybe they were just as surprised as she was to the introduction.

Curiosity got the better of her and she opened her eyes slowly, the light throbbing into her eyes as they focused. What met her sight was nothing short of a horror. The distinctive crimson glow on polished ebony. The spikes protruding from the person's body. All terror came crashing down at the faint glow of red eyes staring through its horned helmet at her. It was a daedra. She could see its maw opening with teeth, ready to tear her apart again. Its claws were already clutching her arms. So real it felt.

"An elder scroll…" came a murmur but it was quickly cut off.

She screamed in terror, wrenching herself from the monster and stumbled back into her coffin, unintentionally slamming the back of her head against the unrelenting stone. She knew she looked like terrified prey because she was. The pain dulled in comparison to the creature before her.

It was a nightmare after all! She would be captured and tortured to wake up alone in her coffin again!

"Stop screaming! I'm not going to hurt you!" a woman's voice cried out as she flinched away from the vampire. Hearing a female voice halted the rest of her screaming in surprise. The voice was nothing like a dremora.

The disembodied sound was hoarse and throaty. Nothing like a Nord or any accent she could recall. She stared at the person in front of her, realizing much too late of the feminine qualities of the daedric armor she wore. Two axes rested at each of her side with a quiver full of blackened arrows and a bow on her back along with a coal colored backpack. A hand fiddled with one of her axes cautiously as the armored clad woman calculated what type of danger Serana may be.

What danger the mortal presented was another matter. Her arms, chest piece and legs were covered in the blood of her opposition, some places in the ebony plating were chipped to show it was well-worn from previous battles. It couldn't be a much more avoidable person Serana would rather have nothing to do with in different circumstances.

The vampire struggled to control her raspy breaths at the scare she just had and tried to recompose herself. Then it hit her as adrenaline slowed down in her body. The scent… the smell was of a mortal. How could she not notice before? She had never smelled something with such a spiced sweetness. And her senses landed her eyes on the woman's right hand that still seemed to be bleeding slightly. So it was her blood she tasted. The few drops had lessened in flavor as it passed through metal to her tomb. Her hunger resurfaced with new vigor. She wondered what a direct taste would be like…

The woman seemed to notice her lingering eyes and snapped her out of her hungry stupor when she channeled a ball of flickering fire in her left hand. An armored clad mage. That was entirely new threat if she fancied to use fire on the vampire. She had to think quickly and unfairly given she just resurfaced into the world again.

She wanted to get as far away from her tomb as possible, but right now she was standing before someone who was still covered in the blood of her thin-blooded kin and looked to easily spook if she made the wrong move. Before she had been trapped she wouldn't feel so threatened, but right now the mortal who looked in her prime seemed like a huge danger to her weakened state.

Perhaps using her vampiric seduction would work, though she resisted the idea. She despised manipulation more than anyone. But if she couldn't get this woman on her side through normal means she'd have to.

She had confidence in her persuasive talking. She had to be composed and quick to sway a potential threat. "I…" her throat rebelled in a fit of dry coughs that were hard to stop. Who was she kidding? She couldn't encourage herself to be more confident. Luckily she didn't have to try and finish her sentence while trying to clear her throat,

"I've had plenty of people react poorly to my attire, but that has to be the worst I can scarcely recall. You about made my ears bleed." A sense of humor. Serana smiled inside. So this mortal wasn't a strike first ask questions never.

"Look, I… didn't mean to scare you. Honestly I wasn't even expecting a 'someone' to scare." At least mortals could be more sympathetic than other creatures. And she said 'someone', not something. Her voice had turned more soft-spoken, more pleasant than that hoarse yelling. It didn't match her appearance at all, but perhaps her likeness for daedric might work in her favor. She wondered if the woman even knew what she was would she still be cordial.

She had to admit her curiosity was taking hold. A mortal she was not expecting. But this woman; her appearance and smell was something completely different. She couldn't quite place what she smelled like, but the taste of her blood lingered in the back of her mind. It had revived her in ways no other mortal had.

Her thirst clawed at the back of her mind and the temptation to feed was heavy behind her glazing eyes. No, she couldn't let go of herself now. No matter her reasoning, she couldn't attack anything in her state. And the mysterious woman before her had saved, unintentionally or not. "It's… not your fault. I just… need a moment. Please." Her voice working again, though to her it sounded grating, she hoped it was honeyed enough to have the woman be patient as she tried to gather her senses a bit more. The woman nodded silently.

After a few short seconds and some deliberating on her plan to not end up decapitated, she looked up fully and smiled meekly at the woman who had not even budged an inch since her request was made. "May I ask who I'm speaking to? You're… certainly not whom I was expecting."

She didn't need to see the woman's furrowed brows to know she was conflicted to answer. She cursed herself for looking the helmed woman fully in the eyes. She must know what she was now. "I'd like to say the same about you. I was told there was a long lost vampire artifact and was asked to retrieve it before they did. I wasn't expecting an ancient vampire to be what I was looking for." As if to emphasis how unusual Serana seemed to be, the woman looked her up and down and then behind her to the decrepit tomb. "You must've been in there a long time." Her helm pointed slightly behind Serana's head. "And why do you have an elder scroll of all things?"

The mention of something she had found comfort in triggered her movement before she could think. Reflexively Serana's hand stroked the golden artifact with possessive eyes. "It's mine. You can't have it." She snapped with bared fangs, but only afterwards regretted it. She was so out of touch with dealing with people.

"I'm not just gonna rip it from you. I'm trying to be nice here," she rebutted with a shrug. "You don't look very intimidating right now to be venomous at me," she retorted sharply, obviously annoyed by the reaction. "You're gonna make me regret being nice, aren't you?" Serana felt a twinge of aggravation. Could this mortal not understand what she'd been through? But then she had to remind herself. Most mortals believed vampires weren't entirely human anymore.

"N-no. Wait, I… I'm sorry… it's just I-I don't who you are to be able to answer a lot of questions like that. I've been in there… awhile. I can't even guess what year it is." She scolded herself for baring her teeth. She really had to reign in control of herself if she wanted to make it out of this cave alive. But truthfully, the woman seemed unfazed by her inhuman reaction and more at her tone. The woman must get around to not be bothered by vampires.

Though easily annoyed. She couldn't see a face, but she guessed she was being scowled at. She'd have to make up for it quickly if she wanted to sway the mortal. "My name… is Serana. Good to meet you, regardless how it might seem."

The woman seemed to relax some at the shoulders, but otherwise seemed more wary than before. "I'm Roza. A pleasure." The sarcasm wasn't lost on her. But she at least provided something in return. A pretty name. She'd be sure to remember it.

But Roza seemed to still be aggravated with her enough to not say anything else. Serana took a moment to survey her surroundings. This place looked a lot different than what she remembered. Her eyes fell back on the mortal. She was lost. Perhaps she'd might be able to persuade this woman into helping her find a way out of here. And perhaps maybe find out who her rescuer is in the helmet.

I know. I know. Not like we don't have enough of these. I couldn't help myself. I'm so terrible. XD

But hopefully this will be a story you can enjoy as a somewhat unique arc. God, I can't even remember the last time I wrote a fanfic. Must've been over 6 years ago. I don't think I'm that rusty, but constructive criticism is always welcome. :)

I just always thought it funny in Skyrim. No one reacts to your daedric armor. Not even the dumb vigilants which I always had to screw around with because I think it's funny and because I'm a horrible dragonborn hero. I would think for someone who doesn't say in so many words that a daedric lord savagely abused her, Serana wouldn't react as calmly as the game made her out to. Just my thoughts.

My first fanfic in a long time. Hope you all enjoy.