After a long chat with the now drunk nord woman, I decided it was time to leave. As I walked towards my room, someone coughed behind me, managing to get my attention. I turned and there was the same orc from before, who had mentioned something about a group of vampire hunters. I raised an eyebrow at him and he raised his head to full height.
"The way that you took down that drunk, was it luck or skill?" he asked and I grimaced.
"I could take down anyone here, and luck has nothing to do with it." I stated and he snorted.
"Isran is going to like you," he muttered and I sneered at him.
"This Isran, getting people to do his dirty work, hm? You see, that is why I work alone." I began to walk towards the stairs when I heard him growl.
"How about you see for yourself. Go to Fort Dawnguard and help defeat these damn vampires," he replied. I snorted, but the thought was tempting.
"Do I get a pay?" I asked and he shook his head. I growled and turned around again, ignoring his protests.
"So that is why you're doing this, for pay? How about the lives of people who died from them? Did they get money? How about the victims who lost their families, do they get paid?" he hissed and I clenched my fists.
My rage spiralled and I rounded on him, "Just shut up! You have no idea what it is like!" I mentally kicked myself, I shouldn't have done that. This was letting too much of myself out. I shut my eyes and looked away. I hated people.
The orc snarled and slammed his fist into a wall and glared, "I lost my wives to them, so you aren't the only one who has lost people, alright?" I looked away and he continued to stare at me. I usually hated when people did this, but for once he seemed alright, for someone who just pissed me off.
"There are beds and food there, for now, that is all there is. Isran will probably start paying people anyway," he muttered and I raised an eyebrow.
"Not so noble now, huh?" I mumbled and he glared at me. The drunken woman in the corner hiccupped and the bard was giving me glares while tending his forehead. Everything else was silent. The orc glared for one more moment before shaking his head with a snarl on his face. He walked out, and I turned around too. My head began to pound again.
I entered my room, but my head was hurting and continuing to run. All I could think about was somewhere I belonged, hunters like me born to kill vampires. I could think of the great walls and the men and women guarding them. Sharing tankards of mead over the tables and boasting about stories. We would be loved and wanted, and I would be the secret weapon. The main woman always on the job, fighting every vampire.
I lowered myself into the covers, knowing that crazy ideas were going to start swimming in my pounding head. I really needed to see a healer for this. It took about three hours for sleep to come, and when it did, I wish it hadn't.
Snow was splattered with blood, mine or someone else's I wasn't sure. Screams filled my head and the people I cared about screaming at me. Why didn't I save them before, why was I so scared? My mother and brother flashing before my eyes and as I tried to reach them, they danced away from me and further into the darkness. And from the darkness came a man with vampire eyes, glowing yellow and evil. He was cruel and I shivered from his presence, he began to reach for my family, but before I could yell or scream for them to run, another man tackled the other vampire to the ground.
I wanted so badly to move, to run, but my dream wouldn't let me. I watched as the two vampires fought over and over, neither getting the upper hand. It felt like ages, but the blonde one was glaring at me. He whispered to me about helping him, someone, but I couldn't move. I was rooted in fear. When I finally moved, it was too late. The black haired vampire turned on me and his hand was around my throat in a second. I was choking.
My tunic was soaked in sweat and the fur cover was thrown to the ground during my nightmare. Music still played and I realized that I had probably slept for a couple minutes. I looked around and my head felt slow and groggy. I was useless when it came to waking up. I hid under the covers again, but by then I was wide awake. I breathed out and felt the warmth start to itch.
Why I even try to sleep was beyond me, I could never get any. I began to walk down the stairs, my head still feeling like a skeever was biting everywhere in my brain. I grabbed a bottle of mead from the table and threw it into my bag, wondering how my armor was getting repaired. Once I walked down to the blacksmith's, an odd thought coming into my mind that she would be out at night, I heard a voice whisper from behind a hood.
"They are so easy to trick, these mortals…" a voice laughed gently and I realized exactly what it was. Unlike my dream self, I felt my rage begin to start again. A trait that never seemed to go away. I became a different person when I was faced to face with a vampire. My eyes burnt into the stranger and I ducked into the bushes. He walked towards the blacksmith's house and I watched as he muttered something and he took out a lock pick. The last thing he said made me enraged, "Just a little snack…" the vampire muttered and I threw myself at him. His back slammed into the workbench and I grabbed the hammer and aimed for his face.
What surprised me the most was how calm he was, and how he easily caught the hammer in his hands. He then grabbed my wrist and was about to bring it to his face, but my other punch stopped his teeth. I grabbed his head and slammed it back and forth into the steel bench. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and I pulled out my dagger and slammed it down. It never hit the target. He managed to roll out of the deadly path and my arm rattled with the force of my weapon.
I felt my strength draining and his hand was pulsing with red and green lighting. Draining my strength. I glowered and managed to throw my dagger with enough force and watched as it sunk into his chest. He stumbled back and with a shaky breath, I got up with the hammer slammed it into his face.
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Chapter 2: The Proper Adventurer Carries a Map
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I had snuck into the alchemists shop and drank the potion, along with one labelled for curing a disease. I couldn't take my chances with vampires. I drank half the potion and placed it into my bag and exited through the back entrance. I felt no remorse for the woman, I had a headache that was basically like a disease. If I didn't treat it in time, I would be in utter pain and may die. I have tried to ignore my headaches once and it resulted in me being immobilized for a day or two. I couldn't move my head to any side and my eyes felt like they were burning whenever I opened them. It was a terrible experience, not being able to move. I was someone who relied on that. That was my life.
So in the end, I felt no guilt when I stole something. They probably didn't need it as much as I did, and if they did, then it was too bad. It was time I should leave and I made my way to the door of the city, wanting to leave this place soon.
My hands slammed against the wood and I opened the heavy doors, watching from the corner of my eye the guard who was giving me an odd look. He was looking at my white hair and I growled. "What are you looking at?" I snorted and he sneered back at me. Someone was having a bad day.
"A freakish woman, how about you?" he retorted and I clenched my fists.
"A-a…an annoying…uh, guy!" I snapped, but it was obvious I wasn't used to this. I sucked at the terms 'talking' and 'replying' and 'human-interaction' and also 'being-normal.' The guard just laughed and I moved slightly faster through the door, trying to heal my wounded ego. This was a bad day for me. Mighty hunter, wimpy talker.
I pulled out my map and began searching the area of Skyrim, my finger hovering over Riften and I bit my lip. "South-east…" I muttered and trailed my finger to what I thought was south east. I looked to the small arrows on the map and cursed. "Damn, that was north-west. One day, I'm going to walk right into a troll nest and die because I thought east was west." Trying again, I trailed my finger, in the right direction, and circled the area around where it could be. With a deep breath, I turned towards where Riften was and continued to travel.
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I was outside a cave entrance and heard a voice call me out. Turning around, I saw a group of vigilants motioning me over. I stopped.
"Hey you! Traveller, come here a minute!" I gripped my dagger and growled. This was fishy, and abnormal. Vigilants were independent and distrustful towards 'travellers'. I gripped my dagger in one hand, and a nervous shaking hand in the other. Although I would never admit it to anyone else, I was terrified of these beasts. I was never in control of myself around them and it seemed I was a different person. Most days, I could never think of going out into the dangerous world of Skyrim. It was terrifying and made me shake slightly. I seemed to watch myself take one step towards the vigilantis, then another, until I was standing in front of them. Their faces were hooded and the first thing I noticed was the troubling smiles on their pale faces.
I swallowed and asked in a shaky voice, "What do you need, vigilants?" The one who called my lifted his hood and smiled gruesomely.
"Your blood," he whispered and jumped back, his hood flying off his head. I gasped and there before me was three vampires.
A pulse radiated through my body and I stared at them in shock, then it slowly mixed into rage. It was odd, a feeling I could almost picture. My fear slowly mixing in with anger, deep inside my body, in my mind and in my heart. It melted, and a red colour tinted my eyes and I roared. Charging with no armor on, no weapon of possible destruction to vampires, nothing but deep and squashed down rage.
My vision slowed and I grabbed the neck of the first vampire, and I seemed to watch in horror as I slammed my forehead into the vampire's. I pushed him away and snapped my leg at his chest, feeling his body fly past mine. It slammed into a tree, but as I approached him, a vampire sunk its teeth into my throat.
I screamed and elbowed the beast, not feeling the pain it inflicted. The beast hissed, my blood dripping from its lips. My blood. Mine! I threw myself at it and spun in a circle, kicking its neck. When I saw the neck snap, I stopped and stared at the body. I shook. The blood was still dripping down her chin, she had tried to end my life. I took a shaky breath, when an arrow pierced my arm. I yelped and turned around, feeling that deep anger rise up from my chest and past my beat-skipping heart. It seemed to reach my eyes and pain shot from the back of my eyes, until all I saw was red and the slightest figure of the two vampires. The archer knocked another bow and shot, but somehow I was fast and ducked. Once again, something else was in control of my body and I grabbed the axe from the vampire's hip.
I charged, throwing the axe towards the bow man. He ducked and it stuck into the tree behind him. He smiled and shot another arrow, but I ducked once again. My fist slammed into his face and he laughed at my attempt. The man dropped his bow and lifted me by the neck. At my last breath, I kicked the bow away from him, to the opposite direction I was running from. My vision turned to where the vampire I had kicked earlier and he was getting up slowly. The pain was increasing and the vampire sniffed my neck, smiling.
"Your attempts are flattering, a good show. But a pointless one, too. Die, little girl," he hissed and sank his fangs into my neck.
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To my first awesome reviewer…thanks a bunch Jasmine Phoenix! Your review was awesome and I can kind of say that I relate a lot to Snow… c: To anyone else…maybe pop down a review! I can take it. I'll love you forever…? Oh, and I was too lazy to take out the beautiful typo I made in the last chapter, if you are wondering. See yah next chapter!