Loose Ends

by monomeggy

An esteemed assassin from the Dark Brotherhood finds herself in the unlikely position of being summoned to a different realm. Now bound to an elven mage, she will do whatever it takes to keep her alive and return home to Skyrim. Will her thirst for blood cause a rift between her and her new companions? Or will they set their differences aside and save the world from darkness?

1. Chapter 1

Loose ends

Chapter 1 : Contracted into a portal

I could smell the blood in the air, it surrounded me, enveloping me in it´s scent. The bodies that circled me ,torn and bloodied by my sharp blades, were mercenaries hired to protect an oblivion worshipper. An elf I was contracted to kill.

My dry lips parted as my red eyes narrowed in on the pooling blood beneath the bodies,the mercenaries weren´t that much trouble to deal with, it was the hunger that plauged me at the sight of their life blood that had me pausing.

This hunger was an ever present thirst, always straining against my contorl, against the humanity I held onto with a vice grip because without it I´d be nothing more than a rabid animal looking for it´s next meal. The thirst made my throat ache and my mind more unfocused the longer I went without feeding.

I´d need to feed soon, hopefully some bandit would do me the honor of donating some blood on my way back to Sanctuary, on my way back home. Or maybe our dear oblivion worshipper wouldnt mind having a bloodletting.

I tore my gaze away from the crimson liquid, I could hear something .There was a voice, a whisper echoing throughout the cave like a melody of harsh tones. My eyes closed ,ears straining in the silence listening for the dunmer. I grinned, fangs showing. He wasn´t far, his chanting echoing in the few tunnels of the dimely lit cave.

My footfalls were silent as I followed the growing voice of the dunmer. And ,as I crept the through tunnels, I briefly wondered why dark elves liked such dreary places. Perhaps it was the lack of civilization or the quiet or maybe, just maybe, they just liked damp, dark tunnels filled with creepy giant spiders. The mere thought of the large aracnids made me shudder, thankfully I hadn´t come across any in this cave.

I stuck to the shadows instinctivly as I snuck closer to where the target was, ever weary of unwanted company, it would be unfortunate to encounter more of them so close to the dunmer.

I made it to a badly made wooden door, the dunmers voice now easily heard even by normal men. My red eyes glanced about the tunnels one last time , looking for any more unwanted company, before easily slipping past a wooden door .The dunmers back was to me as he stood on a stone pedestal, reading from a sinister looking tome, facing the opposite wall. His ragged black robes were stained and smelled something awful making my nose scrunch up, I tried not to dwell on the stench as she crept closer.

The curved dagger in my gloved hand glistend with blood in the candle light as tip-toed closer to him, easily avoiding books and bones abandoned on the floor. Once I was behind him, I stood quickly , plunging my blade into his back ,severing his spinal cord ,and wrapped my free hand around his mouth to muffle the scream that was sure to come .

Grinning a little too widely,I leaned in close to his pointed ear even as he struggled against me and whispered "The Night Mother sends her regards" before twisting the blade and sinking my teeth into his frail neck. Without my hand covering his mouth his scream surely would have been a screeching melody to my sensitive ears, alas I didnt want to risk being caught and tightened my grip around his mouth as he struggled in vain against me. His legs gave out beneath him as he bled,his flailing arms subsided and his gasping breath ended . His dead eyes looked up at me ,his face twisted into one of agony as I let his corpse fall to the ground carelessly.

My smile was blood stained and my chuckle haunting as I licked the red from my lips, he would be nothing more than a rotting corpse to all those who explored this cave. Ignoring his now blood stained attire ,me knelt down and retrieved my blade. I wiped the blood off on the back of the dunmers robes before standing up and put it securely back onto the back of my belt. I knelt down next to the elf and gently closed his blank eyes. Death was something I was used to, especially now. It was around every corner and followed me like an old friend, it was something I had been doing for years but it was only recently that I started to enjoy it.

Smiling I tugged up my mouth piece to cover as much of my face as possible and made sure the hood was still in place, it should be noon outside the sun would be high in the sky. I stood up ,the contract had been fufilled and it was time to leave this cave and return home. And hopefully find an inn to bathe in.

It was only as I tried to leave that I took notice of something, it was more of a smell that made me turn back around. The scent was crisp, clean even, like a cool winter breeze. The smell itself was not strange but where it was was. It was rather odd that I should find such a scent in a murky, blood-splattered cave.

However, even as I turned to catch sight of what was emitting the smell it started to feel like I had decided to step outside when the sun was at its highest peak in summer...compleatly naked, not a great idea for a vampire. Something was changing the room or ... perhaps it was I that was changing. My vision blurred and my knees buckled as if the ground were moving.

Closing my eyes , I felt my whole being move like I was being squeezed through a crack entierly too small for my body, constricting me as it pulled me to the ground and then I heard something , a whisper in the dark.

Protect her .