Hello reader! This chapter is up before my Vacation Away chapter 3 only because I have so many more ideas for this story at this moment. Also I did some revisions on the first chapter, seeing that there were a few inconsistencies and spelling errors. Conversation between Thedrenar and his wolf are in italics, and the start of the wolf is marked with an ~, to make it hopefully less confusing.
"Okay. First thing's first, as always: do as I say, not as I do. Second: always stay with each other." Thedrenar, the Red guard Dragonborn paced back and forth in the main hall of Lakeview Manor. His two adopted children, Lucia and Hroar, 17 and 20, respectively, listening attentively to every word he was saying, eager to get out and hunt with their father. "I can handle myself. You two need to stick together, or one wrong move and either one of you are dead, or worse. Do I make myself clear?"
The two nod simultaneously. Thedrenar's housecarl, Rayya, seated herself in a chair in the main dining area, across from the house bard, Llewellyn the Nightingale. The two didn't say a single word as the owner and his two children walked out of the house, knowing that they'd return, completely safe.
When the door closed shut behind Thedrenar made his way to the stables where his horse, Shadowmere has been stabled. Lucia and Hroar followed suit, and they all stripped of their clothing. Fortunately, this night was particularly clear, as when the three looked up to the sky, their beasts called.
All at the same time, their bodies began to change. Bone snapped, tendons torn and reformed into something different – powerful. Thick, bristled hair seeped its way out of their skin, coating their bodies. Teeth elongating into sharper canines, faces stretching to match those of the four-legged breed. Their hands convulsed as the fingers lengthened and grew claws, able to rend flesh from their prey. The transformation has completed.
"~Aaaaahhhhh… It's good to be back, Nar. How long have you kept me caged?~"
"You do realize it's been less than a week since we last trained my kids, right? Quit your wimpering."
"~Well as long as we also get to kill something, you know I will be well satisfied, my dear, sweet Nar.~"
The connection between man and their beast was strong. Thedrenar had been a werewolf for six years now. Because of the time he spent hunting in beast form, he's connected with the more bestial side of himself, taking form of the wolf persona known to him as "Lythan". Every werebeast had their own separate persona, the host only had to be welcoming to it. If the host was not willing to accept the beast into his or her mind, they would become feral, unable to distinguish friend from foe.
The three beasts looked at each other. Lucia's beast took the form of a smaller, nimbler wolf, with black, beady eyes andcfur the color reminiscent of the ash that covered much of Morrowind and Vvardenfell. Hroar's beast was bulkier than Lucia's, but a bit taller, with fur the color of the blackest of shadows and eyes as green as the leaves on a tree during the summer. Thedrenar on the other hand, was a bit different, comparatively to his children. Thedrenar towered over the two, twice the size of normal werebeasts, with fur as white as the snow at the top of the Throat of the World, and eyes that make the sea look a lesser blue.
Fortunately for the three, since they shared in Thedrenar's beast blood, they took on an innate ability for speech only they could understand.
"Alright," Thedrenar turned to face the two smaller beasts. "How was that transformation for you guys? Better?"
Lucia raised her claws, looking at them with a quizzical gaze. "I feel like that the transformations are definitely getting easier to deal with, but reverting back is always more painful, don't you think?" She looked over to Hroar. "Don't you think?"
Hroar squatted down, clawing at the dirt. "Maybe they are for you, but they're still as painful as the first one I can remember, way back when father first turned us." He stood, hunched over like most werewolves, but not as much. Hroar and Lucia were lucky to not have such a bad hunch, having a smaller stature, well, compared to their father.
Thedrenar walked on all fours towards his kids. "You two smell what I smell?"
"Fire?" asked Lucia.
"Trees?" Hroar said, with a slight giggle in his voice.
"No, and strangely, yes. What I was referring to, was vampires. Two, to be precise. You two probably wouldn't know what they smell like, being so young compared to me. Vampires have a certain smell, like all things. But theirs is just… wrong. Like it shouldn't exist. But one, oddly, smells vaguely familiar. Like I've smelt it before." He raised his nose to the sky, tracing the smell. "But I can't place where…"
"What are we going to do, papa?" asked Lucia, eagerly wanting to get out and train in possible live combat. With vampires, no less.
"We are going to purge the filth from our forest. Easy enough." Thedrenar started out climbing the rocks, followed by his two kids. He stopped and turned to tell them: "Now stay quiet when we're near where they are. We don't want to give away how many of us there are. Got it?"
They both nodded in agreement. Thedrenar turned to face where the unnatural smell was coming from and stood on his hind legs. He closed his eyes, arched his neck towards the night sky, and let out a deafening howl, with the other two, following suit.
"You know, I've heard this is where the White Wolf hunts for his food. Maybe we shouldn't be here, Ven- uh Isran…"
"If you're scared of some urban folklore about a white wolf that hunts in this area, maybe you shouldn't have joined up in the first place!"
The three wolves silently stalked their way towards the two vampire smells.
"~So, what do you think we'll find here, Narry boy?~"
"Probably just some lowly vampires fighting over their last meal."
"~I don't smell any corpses, though…~"
"Wait a minute… you're right, Lythan."
"~Of course, I'm right!~"
The pack arrived in the bushes surrounding the clearing, where stood the five humanoids. Thedrenar immediately noticed that the two vampires were squared off against each other, while the female was flanked by two men and one mer. "Okay. You two stay here, and I'll circle around. On my way around, I'll make some noise to frighten them." He said before he turned away and quickly and audibly made his way to the opposite side of the clearing.
"What is father thinking?" Whispered Hroar.
"Do as he says, not as he does, brother." Lucia replied
"~You think that might be her?~"
"If so, I'd rather not have you being the one in control."
"~Oh, come now. You know we have more fun when I am in control.~"
"You mean YOU have more fun."
The first one to make a break for it was cut short by Lucia and Hroar, as they dragged him down and started tearing into his armor, as if it were a fresh cut of venison. His screaming was cut short when Hroar gouged his throat and tore his head clean off with his claws. In the motion, Hroar accidentally let the head slip from his grasp, sending back over the hedge into the clearing where the other four people still stood.
Lucia stopped devouring the man's heart to look Hroar directly in his eyes, whispering: "Why in Oblivion did you think it was a good idea to toss the head? The tongue always tastes good, no matter the species!"
Hroar shot her a quick glare, and claimed it was an accident.
"You think father could hear us if we tried talking to him?" Lucia asked.
"I'd rather not try." Replied Hroar with a mouth full of Breton flesh. "Oh, Breton's taste so magical, don't you think, Lucia?"
"I'd think you wouldn't get used to it, as this might be a one-time thing." Lucia replied coldly.
As the two were almost done picking the man clean, the orc in the group started shouting at the bushes where Thedrenar hid. Not knowing that the big wolf was there, the orc charged, hoping that something would come of him cursing and flailing his axe.
No good came of it. His screams were cut short as Thedrenar wasted no time in killing the orc. As soon as he breached the bush barrier surrounding the clearing, Thedrenar lunged and tore orc's throat out - easily, no less – with one bite from his gaping maw. Blood spattered all over the wolf's jaw and face, tainting his snow-white fur with the crimson liquid of the orc.
"~That was tasty, don't you think, Nar?~"
"Strangely, the heart isn't the only thing that tastes good from Mer. But focus, because doesn't that lady look and smell familiar?"
"~I don't remember a specific woman, well besides- ~"
"Don't you EVEN go there! You know she asked us to do that! It was her last request!"
"~Damn tasty last request…~"
"Damn you, Lythan. Let's just save this one, before she gets killed by the vampire as well."
The last human was backing away from the bush where Thedrenar hid, and in the process backed into the male vampire, who shoved him away, claiming that his fear would attract more of "Them".
Thedrenar stood on his hind legs, totally towering over the three people still standing. He then stepped over the bush separating them and grabbed the small Nord man, who looked at Thedrenar with utter terror.
"You two can have this one as well. I have to deal with the two vampires here." Thedrenar, ordered his two children, as they appeared from behind the bush behind the male vampire. As soon as the kids appeared, Thedrenar tossed the tantrum boy on to the ground away from him. Right as he landed, the Nord was immediately torn apart by Lucia and Hroar, while the noises were cut off as Hroar went straight for the head and neck.
"Thank you for not throwing this one's head away from us, Hroar." Lucia said, with a joking tone in her voice. Hroar didn't respond, just kept tearing apart the man.
Thedrenar dropped to his fours and sauntered over in between the two vampires, whilst his eyes stayed on the female one.
"By the Hunt, it is her!"
"~Why do we recognize her again, Nar? Who is she?~"
"How can you not remember her, Lythan? She… she was the most amazing woman I- uh, we have been with…"
"~Oh, yeah, okay. I remember now. Can we kill them please? I've never tasted vampire before!~"
"We are not to harm her Lythan! If you do, I'm ending us both."
The male vampire unsheathed his hammer, grabbing Thedrenar's attention., as well as Hroar and Lucia's. "I got this handled, children. Eat."
"Yes father." They said, in unison.
Thedrenar leisurely made his way to the male vampire, who stood, ever unflinching towards the wolf's advance. Then, in almost blinding speed, the vampire swung his hammer from above his head down on to Thedrenar, only to be caught by the wolf, instead.
"…Impossible…" murmured the vampire completely dumbfounded by strength of the wolf that stood in front of him. The wolf stood, towering over the two vampires, and in one swift, fluid motion, swung his arm and flung the hammer from the vampire's grasp.
The vampire looked at his empty hands with shock in his expression, dropped lowered his hands to his side, and readied a spell that brought down a bolt of lightning that struck Thedrenar across the left side of his face, which would leave a new scar. Hroar and Lucia jumped at the sound, looking over to see their father brimming with a wolf-rage.
"This guy is fucking dead!"
Thedrenar matched the vampire's eyes, his ocean-blue eyes against the vampire's amber gold. He crept over on his fours, as the vampire threatened: "My master will hear about my death! He will feel it when I die! He will come for you! You won't – " and was cut off when Thedrenar's claw grasped the undead by the face, with it's left eye peering above the webbing of the claw.
Thedrenar, with his unholy werewolf strength smashed the vampire's head into the ground three times. Before what would be the final one, Thedrenar raised its head to match his own, as the vampire spat one last threat: "He will… come… for you… all…" Its voice trailed off as Thedrenar slammed its head into the ground once more, before stomping the head and breaking the skull open, splattering the grey matter over the green forest grass.
"~What are we doing with this one, Narry boy? You said she was important…~"
"I didn't say that specifically, but now we just got to tell her 'Friend'."
"~You want ME to say that? I don't think we can do that.~"
"Do it, or you won't be coming out for long, long time."
"~Alright, here goes!~"
Thedrenar, or Lythan for specifically this moment, turned and faced the woman, who Thedrenar recognized earlier as Serana. Lythan sat in front of her. And sniffed her. For ten seconds. Thedrenar didn't question it.
"F- fr- "
"Oh, come now, it isn't that hard to speak!"
"~It is when your body doesn't do it often, or at all for that matter! Now shut up and let me focus!~"
"Friend."
Serana looked shocked. To see a pack of werewolves save her from certain death, and then have the alpha call her friend?
"Why do you call me friend? What have I done for you?"
"Frien- Friend… Go. Friend go. Friend safe." Lythan did it. He told Serana that she was safe. She thanked them and turned to head back to Riverwood, but when she did, Thedrenar, Hroar and Lucia were long gone.
After they made it back to Lakeview, Thedrenar and his children ran behind the stable and killed a stag and its mate, needing some more sustenance after what happened in the forest.
"So, Hroar. Why did that man's head come rolling out from where you two were situated?" Thedrenar asked as they walked back to where the had stashed their clothing.
"Sorry, father. I was excited, and it just slipped from my grasp. It won't happen again, if this type of situation happens again." Hroar sulked away as he answered, not noting the hint of sarcasm in Thedrenar's voice.
"It wasn't as bad thing. Your 'accident' stilled fear in the two living, making them more liable to make more brash decisions. Easily enough for us to clear them, as you saw. Nonetheless, great job you two. Honest. You snuck and killed with the skill of full werewolves. I think you're almost done your training."
Hroar and Lucia jumped around excitedly, and when they made their way back to the stable, they both reverted into human form and cheered. Thedrenar walked out of the forest and reverted. The first thing he did, was check the new scar from that rat-bastard of a vampire. He was steps away from the stable when his enhanced hearing caught two words from on top of the rock clearing.
"It's you!"
