A/N: Hello all! Real quick please don't forget to leave your feedback in a review. And if you like this please follow more updates. Also I do not own The Elder Scrolls Series. That right is left to Bethesda Softworks, and God Howard. Enjoy!
Chapter 1: The Stranger in a Tattered Cloak
Serana blinked as the light hit her face for the first time. It had been centuries, maybe a couple of them, since the last time she had felt the heat from the sun. Thankfully the stranger that had freed her from her crypt and herself had made short work of the draugr and skeletons that had inhabited the ruin they had escaped from. It was a good way to stretch out her tired muscles and get a firm grip on her magica once more, and after all those years in that stone sarcophagus she definitely needed to stretch out her very old bones.
She took a deep breath of the crisp air, unbothered by the rays of sunlight that would cause the flesh to melt off the bone of any impure vampire. The stranger next to her also breathed in the fresh mountain air, he seemed overjoyed to be out in the open once more. Serana watched him as he gazed across the landscape, a look of awe on his face, like he was seeing it all for the first time.
"You're not from around here are you." she said with a slight chuckle, not as much asking as much stating. He gave his own small laugh in response, refusing to take his eyes of the scenery.
"Is it that obvious?" he stated with his peculiar accent. Serana wasn't quite sure where this man hailed from. The vampiress wasn't exactly familiar with the world as it was now, her conversation with the stranger about the current civil war was enough evidence of that. However she was at least familiar with most if not all of the races in Tamriel. He was human she was sure of that, maybe a Breton or one of the men that hailed from Cyrodil. His certain pronunciations of words sounded like no accent she had ever heard before before. It puzzled her beyond belief.
"You stare at the landscape like it's something you've never seen it. You'd think you've never seen the Sea of Ghosts." She chuckled at the thought, for a moment following his gaze down the coast, then catching a glimpse of a small part of his face under his grey hood. He was smiling widely "Like a child looks at the world, no offense." She finished. He gave a hearty laugh.
"I've seen it before," The stranger chuckle, giving her a quick glance, his face mostly still covered mostly by his hood. "I've just never seen it like this." He stated cryptically.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She said crossing her arms and fixing the man with a stare and a raised eyebrow. The stranger looked at her for a moment before it looked as though he was going to say something but apparently thought better of it and starting making his way down the mountainside without so much as another glance. "You have your secrets, and I have mine." he stated.
With that, Serana just sighed and followed after him. "Fair enough." They walked without stop for a few hours, with only slight delays for fighting the occasional frost spider or wolf. The entire time, much like in the crypt, the man had a large smile plastered on his face, cackling throughout the entire battle. As a vampire she was used to eccentric people, hell, every person in Castle Volkihar would probably act in a similar fashion, but this man wasn't some blood drunk vampire. She would of questioned the strangers sanity were it not for how well he faired in battle. 'Maybe I should question his sanity because of how good he actually is.' She thought.
She continued to ponder his mental state as the man ripped the legs off of one of the spiders and stuffed it in his rucksack. She decided best not to question the strange man who ripped the limbs off a giant spiders with his bare hands. Keeping her thoughts to herself they continued along the road till the sunset.
It was getting towards nightfall when the stranger suggested they stop for the night and continue on in the morning. Serana almost protested, but then remembered that her companion was a mortal, and mortals needed to rest at sometimes. She had almost forgotten after centuries of keeping the company of vampires that people needed to sleep. She couldn't help but think of how tedious that must be, but kept those thoughts to herself once more.
Her companion quickly gathered wood and lit a fire with a basic flame spell, the fire was roaring within minutes and they had sat down around it happy to be off their feet.
If Serana had not spent the last few hours with him, the fact that he could use magica would of been a surprise, he didn't look the part of a mage. With his hood and his strange clothing, some sort of coat that went down to his shins and was patched over in multiple areas and light leather armor underneath, equally as patched as the coat. Serana would of pegged him for some strange hunter. Despite all that, he proved that he was indeed a very strong mage. He had thrown all matter of spells while fighting the various creatures they had fought over their, so far, short journey. He appeared to be quite adept in all manor of spell casting and schools of a magic. He also had a strange contraption that he called a "crossbow" strapped to his back. He called it his 'back up plan', then he chuckled to himself and said something about awful puns under his breath. She didn't know what any of that meant but the crossbow did take care of the many enemies they faced easy enough.
What did surprise her was what he was grilling over the fire. Wolf meat and spider legs. She found it quite peculiar that he was harvesting the parts from the fallen animals on their travels and now she knew why he had. Granted it had been some time since she had been mortal, and when she was, her family was quite rich and had the best from all over tamriel. But she knew even the poorest beggar would never eat spider, ever. At least they wouldn't before she was locked away.
"Is this a common thing that humans eat now a days?" She asked, a slight look of disgust on her face. The man just smirked, taking a strip of the wolf meat off the end of the stick he had held over the fire. He took a large bite out his "meal" and swallowed.
"Any port in a storm right?" He stated with mirth as he cracked open a spider leg and pulled out the meat then threw it on the flames, the flesh sizzled on the coals as a fairly rank smell wafted off of them.
"Is that some kind of saying?" She asked scooting away from the fire to distance herself from the odor covering her sensitive nose as she did.
"Ahh," he said slightly amused. He tossed a few spices from the pouch on his belt onto the charing meat, making it smell much more palatable. "I guess that's just something we say from where I come from." He laughed. Serana was intrigued, she always loved learning about different things both before and after she was changed into a vampire. At the thought of learning more about the strangers homeland, she realized that she hadn't asked the man his name. Slightly embarrassed she attempted to rectify her oversight.
"I've just realised you know my name but I never asked for yours." She said, trying to keep the sheepishness from her voice.
"Noticed that did you?" The man stated matter of factly, smirking at her as he spoke. Serana looked away unable to hide said sheepishness any longer.
"You can call me Naught." He stuck out his hand. Serana grabbed him by the wrist and held it firmly. Naught seemed surprised for a moment before his face spread into a look of understanding and grabbed her by the wrist as well.
Serana pondered for a moment why he hesitated, it must of shown on her face because Naught quickly explained
"From my homeland we just shake hands not wrists." He said turning back to the fire and watching the flames.
"How are you supposed to check for weapons when all you grasp is hands?" She said vaguely confused. Naught guffawed. "People where I come from don't really keep daggers up their sleeve."
"But that's the best place to hide them, why wouldn't you check for them?" She asked still confused, her companion snorted in response.
"My people are fans of, shall we say, bigger weapons." He stated, before turning away for a moment to grab his rucksack. Again, Serana was extremely curious about the man's homeland, but if she was not willing to talk about her past just yet, why would her companion talk about his. For a moment she considered broaching the subject but decided against it.
Serana watched as he put his hand into one of the pouches and procured a small cylinder colored white and yellow. Serana was confused for a moment before he put it to his mouth and lit the end with a flame from his thumb, it burned at the end and he breathed in deeply. He blew smoke out of his mouth afterwards. He didn't even act like it was strange for a moment. Serana could identify the smell of pipe tobacco. Her father was a fan of the stuff before he had
. . . changed. Clearing the thoughts from her head she pointed at the small thing in his hand.
"What is that?" She questioned. The man looked down at it, almost like he hadn't even noticed it was there.
"Shitfuck! uhhhh." He exclaimed, followed by a nervous laugh. With his free hand he rubbed the back of his neck, just slightly moving his hood enough to reveal his brown hair.
"Its uh . . . It's something from back home." He chuckled nervously again taking a small dreg from the object again, flicking ash off of the end of it as it burned. Serana was again confused by this man. Again something strange from his homeland, wherever it was. The way he reacted made it seem like it was some huge secret that she wasn't supposed to know. That only made her more curious.
"It was only a question," she said with a smirk. "You'd think I'd ask about the last woman you bedded with." He went into a fit of coughing and sputtering at that. In his attempt to get air into his lungs his hood fell down revealing his face. The smirk from Serana vanished, replaced by surprise.
"Sorry," Naught said finishing his fit of coughing. "Wasn't expecting that response this is a . . . " he said raising his hand showing the item but stopped as he noticed Serana's astonished face. "What?" He questioned.
"How old are you?" She asked perplexed. She took in the now apparently young man's appearance, the VERY young man's appearance. He had dark brown eyes to match his equally dark brown hair, an angular clean shaven face and slim nose. Not a single wrinkle or crevice on his smooth face.
"You look only 17 winters of age." She exclaimed. Naught scoffed at that and flipped the spiders leg with his bare hands, not even wincing.
"First of all, this." He held up the cylinder again. "Is called a cigarette." He said as he puffed on said cigarette. "And I'm 19 thank you very much." He stated indignantly
"19?" she questioned. "That's not possible."
"It's not possible that I'm 19 years old?" He questioned, his face morphing into a quizzical expression. His trademarked smirk still on his face though.
"It's impossible that you can cast the spells that you used back in the ruins." She stated looking him over with a critical eye. "I don't need to be a Archmage to know that Wall of Storms is a very advanced destruction spell, or that summoning a dremora is an equally challenging conjuration spell. . ." She declared. "I thought you might of been maybe 30 or 40 winters but 19? That's simply impossible even for a prodigy."
"Well you see . . ." He trailed off as he looked past Serana and onto the road that they had camped by. "Put your hood up, hide the Elder Scroll right now and stay quiet." He whispered urgently putting his own hod up as he spoke.
"Why, who's out there?" She asked standing up and turning around for a moment before, being pulled back around by Naught who suddenly was right in front of her pulling her back down into a her seat on a stump. He must of moved 6 arms length in less than a second, and so quietly that even she didn't hear him. This feat surprised her to say the least.
"If you wanna live just do as I say." Naught said seriously. The mirth in his eyes was completely gone and all that was left were very cold and serious eyes that bored into her. She felt a shiver run down her spine as she saw his grave expression. Whatever it was behind her, had the mage lose the smile that was plastered on his face at all times. Her gut was telling her to follow his orders, and she always trusted her gut. With a silent nod she threw up her hood and dropped the Elder Scroll onto the ground and pushed some snow over it with her boot. She finished just in time to hear three sets of footfalls coming right for them from down the road.
"Hail friends, care to share your fire with some weary travelers." A male voice stated from behind her, Nord by the accent. Though it sounded like he was wearing a face covering helmet by the odd reverberation in his voice.
"Free country." Naught said nonchalantly while not looking away from the fire. He had gone back to his seat as quickly as he had gotten to Serana's.
The three newcomers walked past Serana and the stump she had perched on and sat on the long log that was between Naught and herself. Serana was right about the armor, her vampiric hearing rarely let her down, except in Naught's case apparently. The three humans, by the smell of them, wore strange leather armor with iron shoulder pauldrons and full face helmets with the Sun emblazoned on its forehead.
"Say . . ." Said one of the new members who was a rather rotund Nord "I recognize the make of that crossbow." He said pointing out the weapon on Naughts back, and pulling an exact copy of it off of his own back. "So you're part of the Dawnguard as well!"
Serana cursed under her breath, thankfully not loud enough for any of the, newly identified, Dawnguard to hear her. Of all the rotten luck, they had to run into damn vampire hunters! She knew that Naught had joined their order, but he made it seem like it was just a means to an end, and he didn't kill her on sight so she at least trusted him a small amount. Judging by Naughts reaction to his brethren though, she was sure that not many others, if any, shared his opinion.
"So brother, what did Isran send you to do? Clear out a cave of some of those wretched leeches? Or how about steak out a city with a potential blood sucker in its midst." The third and much younger sounding man said. He was seated closest to Naught. Naught for his part looked less then enthused.
"Oh, you know, same mission, different day and all that." Naught started with an unchanging tone, not really answering the question at all. It was extremely clear that Naught was not looking to engage with any of the vampire hunters. Not taking the hint in the slightest the youngest member continued to berate Naught with question after question, each one being answered just as vaguely as the last. The first and tallest Nord looked down at the fire and noticed the cooking meat.
"Ahh mudcrab!" He exclaimed with joy. Neither Serana or Naught bothered to correct him. He took off his helmet revealing his stringy blond hair and patchy beard. He set his helmet down before taking a nearby stick and stabbing the "mudcrab meat" with it and taking it out of the fire before munching on it fervently. Naughts face took on a particularly sour look as he glared daggers at the newly helmet less man.
The tall Nord man turned his attention towards Serana, chewing with his mouth open. Serana suddenly became enraptured by the fire in front of her, anything to not look at the loudly masticating man.
"Well there miss, what brings you into the company of our righteous brother over here." He exclaimed, bits of meet flying out of his mouth as he spoke. "I imagine you are helping on his quest to destroy those unholy affronts against nature in some regard. I can imagine a woman such as yourself is very. . . " He paused as his eyes lingered down her form. "Talented" She felt an involuntary shudder down her entire body as the helmet less Nord gave her a lecherous grin. Both the fatter and younger nords appeared to be starring at her as well. She wrapped her cloak around herself in an attempt to hinder their disgusting gazes, she also crossed her legs. In doing so she wiped a little bit of snow under her feat away from her.
"How about you leave the lady alone, huh." Naught stated in an icy tone that Serana barely recognized from him.
"Aww come now." The tall Nord whined. "Were just having a little fu. . . " He trailed off as something glinting in the snow underneath Serana caught his eye.
"As I live and fucking breath." He said pointing down at the now visible artifact half buried in the snow. Serana looked down to see the now visible Elder Scroll, with a bought of pain she realized that she must of uncovered it with her foot by accident. She swore under her breath another time. "Is that what I think it is." Before any of the Nords could say anything else, Serana scooped up the Elder Scroll and shoved it behind her back taking a defensive stance. These Nords had put her on edge, and she wasn't taking any chances.
"What in all the realms of Oblivion are you doing with a Elder Scroll!" The heavy nord almost yelled hefting himself up from his spot on the log just as all the other members of the Dawnguard the same. Serana looked over to Naught with fear in her eyes, begging for help. Naught looked calm but he couldn't keep the worry from his eyes, slowly making his way to his feet with his hands out in a placating manor.
"Now guys don't make any rash decisions here, were on a mission from Isran. We're all on the same side here."
"Brothers, look at her eyes." Said the young one, Serana tried looking away but the damage had been done. The young one must of seen her eyes while she had glanced at Naughtat. "She a god's damned vampire." The young nord almost yelled as he reached for his weapon. Within moments all three men had their crossbows, poised to fire at Serana at any second.
"Stop! All of you stop now!" Naught yelled with authority. He walked around to the other side of the fire hands now up in the air. "I already told you, we're on a mission from Isran. Stand Down!" He demanded. For a moment it looked like it would work before the tall Nord spit on the ground in front of them.
"Isran? Condoning a mission with a blood sucker with an Elder Scroll? You must think we're as stupid as mammoth shit don't ya'." He laughed humorlessly.
"What should we do?" Asked the fat Nord. "I say we kill the vampiress, thinking about her just makes me sick now."
"Yeah I bet our brother there is under some sort of spell kill the leach, kill the spell." The tall one stated.
"No." Came the quiet words of the youngest. "If he's that easy to enthrall, we don't need his weak mind in the Dawnguard anyway, kill him." He said the last part with a dark laugh, and a bloodthirsty look in his eyes.
"Great idea Lars," the tall one said with similar laughter.
Naught looked like he was about to make another demand but was cut short by a crossbow bolt his skull. He slumped to the ground, dead.
"No!" Cried Serana falling to her knees at her companions dead body. She couldn't believe it, one minute he was there the next he was just this thing on the ground. She was so caught off guard by the sudden death of Naught that she failed to react quick enough to the giant Nord grabbing her by her cloak and ripping her off the ground and planting a armored fist into her stomach. Had she needed air it would of been knocked out of her. In a second there was a vice grip around her throat and she was being smashed up against a nearby tree. She scrambled to get loose but the two other Nords had grabbed her arms and were helping to keep her still.
"You damn vampires think you just get away with anything." The tall Nord said as he pulled out a wood and iron bolt, taking his time as he loaded it into the crossbow. "Enthrall some man here, take a holy artifact there, all the while draining the blood of the innocent to fuel your unholy wants and needs." He said as he pulled down her hood exposing her face.
"Truly this is a mercy, for you and for me, to think I wanted to bed you, ugh" He spit on the ground. "I won't be able to go to a brothel for months because of you, disgusting little demon. Better we kill you so that I don't have to think about you again." He cocked his crossbow back and pointed it straight to Serana's forehead. "I do have to say thank you, when we turn in that Scroll to Isran, it's gonna be worth a fortune for all of us. So thank you. And I hope you burn in Oblivion." He said with a sick smirk on his face, the man grinned, still with bits of food in his teeth.
Serana couldn't believe this is how it would end. She had just gotten out, she was going home! Now that wasn't going to happen at all, she would never see her mother again. She struggled but couldn't break the men's grip, and she was too weak from the years in the crypt to use her vampire lord form. This was it. Dammit! This couldn't be how it ends! She closed her eyes awaiting the twang of the crossbow bolt being fired. But the sound she heard was all together something she was not expecting.
"First of all." Came a familiar voice that she knew she must of been imagining. "Taking someone's food without asking is extremely fucking rude." A deceivingly calm but ice cold voice rang out against the quiet northern air. The Nords dropped her to the ground and turned around to see where the voice was coming from.
Serana looked up to see the impossible. Naught was standing up, alive! He had taken out a cigarette and was lighting it as he paused. He breathed in deep with it still in his mouth. His hood was up but the cigarette lit up just enough of his face to see his eyes which looked dark and filled to the brim with hatred and anger.
"Second," He said as he started walking calmly towards the three men. Each one of them shot their crossbows at him. The young one shot him in the shoulder and the fat one in his gut. Each one hit their mark but just exploded into shrapnel and splinters after ripping through his clothing and armor but seemingly rebounding off of whatever was underneath. The tall Nord shot again at his forehead but almost too fast to see he reached up and plucked it out of the air. Not even flinching, cigarette still lit. Naught jumped upward with the bolt in hand and practically disappeared from sight leaving a crater in the ground from where he jumped. The sound of him jumping off the ground was akin to the explosion of a fireball.
As quickly as he disappeared he slammed down on the ground next to the fat nord driving the bolt directly into the mans unarmored neck. "Never stare at woman like shes a piece of meat." Blood gushed from the wound in his neck and Naught let him fall to the ground.
Naught then suddenly rushed at the young nord, too fast for the eye to follow and drove his knee straight into the chest of the you bloodthirsty man. An audible crunch was heard as the Nords chest was caved in and his helmet filled with his own blood. Naught then drove his knee into the ground with nord still on the end of it. He crushed the rest of the Nords chest under his weight.
"Third" he said turning his head enough to see the last Nord shaking in his boots and literally pissing himself in the sight of this monster. Naught took a second to light his cigarette again after it went out from moving to fast. "Monologuing before you kill someone is just asking for trouble" He stated slowly getting to his feet and walking his way over to the last member of the Dawnguard. The man shakely tried to reload his crossbow and was just able to do so before the smoking man in front of him snatched it from his hands with very little effort.
"Lastly," Naught whisper with a growl in his throat. He kicked the tall man's feet out from under him and took down his hood. Naught had a scowl on him that brought the nord on the ground to tears.
"This," Naught snarled with an icy and guttural voice that barely sounded human anymore pointed up to a bruise on his forehead that was in the exact place that crossbow bolt hit him. "Hurt like hell." Without another word Naught pulled his own loaded crossbow out and along with the other "borrowed" crossbow pointed both ends at the eyes of the bawling nord begging for mercy.
"Truly this is a mercy for both you and me." Naught said and pulled both triggers, the nord screamed in agony but his yell died on his breath the nords pathetic existence ending in an instant. Naught tossed both crossbows on his back just as Serana was finally standing up. Overall the battle lasted less than a minute. Serana was dumbfounded, craters and bloodstains littered the formally peaceful campsite. Now it looked like a gods forsaken massacre sight.
"So . . ." Naught stated, the mirth back in his voice once more. Serana was almost taken aback by the rapid change in his tone. He turned over to her with his trademark smile "As I'm sure you've noticed." He paused lighting another cigarette and taking a drag from it. "I'm not really from around here."
A/N: I hope you enjoyed and are as excited to read the next chapter as I am to release it! Don't forget to leave a review. It really does help me a lot. Have wonderful day!
-Blah