A/N Greetings, and welcome to the story proper. The story does take place after most of the main quest lines, so SPOILERS for that. And possibly Dawnguard, later on. But anyway, enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Skyrim or its characters.


Out of the Cold

For bloodsucking creatures of the night, vampires were remarkably trusting of their own kind. Or perhaps they were just as disarmed by children as humans were.

Nazir, Dark Brotherhood assassin extraordinaire, paced relentlessly in the enormous ice cavern that had, until quite recently, been the home of a master vampire. These days the Redguard handled most of the day-to-day duties of the Brotherhood, and at the moment that meant running errands the esteemed Listener didn't want to bother with. Even if this particular errand concerned something very close to his heart.

A shadow flitted in the corner of his eye. Nazir swung his head quickly to his left, but saw nothing there at all. He frowned.

"This. Is. BORING."

Nazir gritted his teeth. While she certainly had her uses, he sometimes wondered why, of the three assassins to survive the Sanctuary's destruction, one of them just had to have been the vampire of eternal childhood. Slowly he turned.

Babette was lounging in the vampire master's throne, which was on a balcony several feet above Nazir. She was idly picking at her fangs. Despite all of his years with her, and the fact that she had taken down the feral vampires almost singlehandedly, Nazir still had trouble thinking of her as anything more than a child.

"That's what these things are," he said drily. Babette didn't respond to him directly. Instead, she spat a glob of something red over the balcony. It sailed through the air and landed directly on his left boot. As he scraped it off Nazir hoped, for Babette's sake, that this thing wouldn't turn out to be a waste of time.


The stars seemed colder, almost as if they were more distant than usual. As the taller of the two travelers gazed up at the little pinpricks of light, he was not comforted in the slightest. The wind picked up and he shivered, pulling his travelling cloak tighter around him. His Companion, several feet ahead of him, had turned and was gesturing towards the broken down stub of tower that lay a little ways ahead. It looked like it was sinking into the snow. His Companion seemed to be trying to tell him something, but he couldn't make it out over the whistling wind. Eventually she gave up and slipped inside. He stood for alone for a moment, stealing one last wistful look at the stars before trudging in the footsteps of his Companion.

Afelle, Harbinger of the Companions of Jorvaskrr, surveyed the tower's entrance area curiously. It was rather small, and narrowed even further into a passage that bent sharply to the right. His Companion, Ria, was already at the far end, peering around the corner suspiciously. He silently joined her.

"No one to greet us," Ria said, acknowledging his presence with a slight nod. "That's odd, don't you think?"

"Maybe they thought we'd be late," Afelle replied, though there wasn't much conviction in his voice. Ria must've sensed it, because she was turning as if to head back.

"Let's not waste anymore time, " she said abruptly.

Afelle smiled in a patronizing sort of way. "Ria, I thought you wanted to go on adventures."

"Yeah, well I've got a bad feeling about this," she said, turning and striding back the way they'd come. "Besides," Ria threw over her shoulder, "What kind of sane employer would want to meet in a place called 'Bloodlet Throne'?"

Afelle smiled to himself. The name did strike him as strange, but no stranger than the rest of the cryptic message they'd received a few weeks past, insisting on an urgent meeting with the Harbinger of the Companions. There had been a rather heated debate amongst the Circle about the validity of the message but, in the end, he convinced them it was worth a look.

Afelle was suddenly thrust back into the situation by the sound of two bodies slamming into each other, and two cries of shock. Taken off guard for a moment, Afelle quickly gathered his wits and leapt around the corner and back to the entrance hall.

Ria was not alone. A man in a black robe was standing in front of the door, and by his defensive position it looked like Ria had walked right into him. Afelle suddenly had the insane urge to laugh at the two. Both had the expression of a beached horker. The sight became much less humorous when the stranger lunged at Ria, snapping his teeth like a dog.

Afelle ripped his dagger free from its sheath as the two hit the floor, still grappling. Ria had her sword, but it was pinned to her side, and while the stranger was unarmed he was recklessly biting at Ria. Afelle hesitated, and in that instant the strangers' teeth sank into Ria's shoulder. She screamed, and Afelle was galvanized into action. As reckless as his enemy before him, the Harbinger hurled himself on top of the stranger, plunging his dagger into the man's back. Ria kicked herself free and in the next instant she had plunged her sword hilt-deep in the man's chest. The stranger convulsed in agony, his fingers futilely trying to pull the blade free. Afelle helped Ria to her feet as the man's struggles slowly ceased. And then he was dead.

"Well, I'd say this pretty much rules out the 'friends' possibility. If we hurry we can make it to Riverwood in time for breakfast," Ria said, wiping her blade clean on the stranger's black robes.

Afelle studied the man's sightless eyes, not answering immediately. The dead orbs didn't look quite right. They were an odd color. And the agility with which the stranger had moved had been nothing short of blinding. And there was something else that was bothering the Dragonborn, but he couldn't place it.

"Harbinger?"

Afelle's eyes snapped up to Ria's. She looked perplexed, perhaps a little defiant.

"I think it's a test," he said shortly. Moving quickly he sheathed his dagger, unlimbered his bow, and turned back down the dark passage.

"What are you doing? How is it a test?"

"You are under no obligation to follow me, Companion. Return if you wish," he called over his shoulder. He heard her exasperated sighs, indecisive shuffling and finally her irritated mutter.

"This had better be worth it."

Afelle smiled.


"Do you want to play a game?"

"No."

"It's called I-think-there's-something-wrong-with-the-ceiling-and-you-should-really-look-up."

Nazir sighed loudly and turned away. He was now coming to the conclusion that he was simply not cut out for field work. Nazir thought longingly of his desk back at the Dawnstar Sanctuary. Now that was real work: planning, strategy, scheme-hatching. There, Nazir flourished. But the actual grunt work he saw as nothing more than a chore. They all had their ways of looking at their work. To Babette, it was a game. The new blood back at Dawnstar would consider something like this a privilege. And the Listener . . . well, Nazir didn't really want to know what that man saw it as.

His musings were cut short by the sharp twang of a bowstring. There was a lightning fast blur as Babette faulted over the balcony and caught the arrow mid-flight. She landed lightly beside him. Admittedly, she wasn't completely worthless.

"And there goes your element of surprise," Nazir called out. "This will all go smoother if you show yourselves."

Slowly, two shapes detached themselves from the shadows and stepped forward. A man and a woman, obviously Companions by their garb. Nazir's eyes narrowed.

"Well, well, well. If the unbeatable Dragonborn hasn't deigned to make an appearance."

"What do you want, assassin?"

Nazir snorted. While it was interesting the esteemed hero had recognized them, Nazir found fools to be intolerable. People acting like fools were worse.

"Don't play games with us, Dragonborn. You have ten seconds to tell us where she is. Ten." The two Companions exchanged surprised looks.

"Nine."

The female Companion grabbed the Dragonborn's shoulder and muttered something in his ear.

"Eight." Nazir said pointedly. The Dragonborn brushed his Companion's hand off and stepped forward.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about!"

Now that was just infuriating. Nazir drew his scimitar, light bouncing off the razor-sharp edge. In the next instant the two Companions' weapons were up. Nazir approached slowly, blade dancing slowly back and forth. The Dragonborn drew back his bow, the arrow aimed directly at Nazir's head.

"Drop your weapons, assassins." Out of the corner of his eye, Nazir saw Babette making quite a show of trying to pull her fangs out.

"You think you can escape," Nazir breathed, still moving forward despite the imminent death staring him down. "The Listener will hunt you to the ends of the earth for this injustice." Babette advanced on his other side, twirling the arrow she had caught. Together the assassins advanced, and the Companions slowly gave ground, inching back the way they'd come.

Nazir lunged. He'd angled himself to one side, and the Dragonborn's arrow sailed harmlessly past him. The next instant the Redguard had cut the bow from whence it came in half. He allowed himself a small smile.

Then a pommel slammed into the back of his head. He staggered, lights exploding behind his eyes. Regaining his composure Nazir sprang away, his scimitar swinging in a wide arc. He felt a visceral pleasure as it collided with the female Companion's shield, the impact sending a savage shock up his arm. She disengaged and began circling him, a new wariness in her eyes. Nazir was vaguely aware that the Dragonborn and Babette were grappling with their bare hands. He shifted his attention back to his opponent.

She was good, but she was all attack and no defense. With the speed of a skilled assassin, Nazir danced around her, weaving a web with which to catch her. He made small attacks, nothing to seriously wound her, but scratches that made her even more reckless. Slowly, her swings became wilder, exhaustion setting in. Nazir danced on; he could feel her weakening.

Unfortunately, she must have felt it too, because nothing else would've prompted such a reckless maneuver. Honorable assassin that he was, Nazir would never have even considered throwing his shield. Additionally, such an attack lacked any semblance of elegance or finesse. So it happened that Nazir was completely defenseless.

The heavy shield smashed into his face, and Nazir felt something crack as his head snapped backwards. In an instant the Companion had barreled straight into him and sent him crashing to the ground. His scimitar had slipped from his grasp and was gone. The Companion raised her blade, and Nazir could see determination in her eyes.

Nazir was just wondering if an honorable assassin had a stone's throw chance of entering Sovngarde, when a vampire fell from the ceiling and pinned the Companion to the ground. It took several moments for Nazir's mind to comprehend this, even as the vampire bared its fangs at him. Slowly, the assassin's eyes were drawn upward. Hanging bat-like from the cavern's many stalactites were a dozen vampires, all grinning the same sick grin.

"Babette, it's time to go!" Nazir yelled, but a moment later the creatures came falling down like black rain.