Alrighty then. So. Not long before the vampires go on the rampage through Skyrim and I thought I'd put this in to slowly bring in Lina's feral side. :) Enjoy.
The vampires I had collected all convened at the Keep in a matter of days, much to the impatient Harkon's displeasure. He paced every night, resting only a few hours a day, furiously muttering to himself as he paced.
Movarth and his lackeys became impatient also, sitting in the Keep all day and all night, waiting for the last member to arrive. Vighar was almost always the last to arrive to a meeting of sorts and, when he did arrive at the castle, each and every vampire was sat in the main hall, feasting ravenously on the stores of the cattle that had been amassed from the dead Dawnguard. The older vampire entered, descended the steps, looking every bit as hungry as the others as he ripped Laelette from her meal and threw her against the nearby wall before digging in to the raw meat lying on the table. I grinned at the display as Laelette crouched and growled at Vighar.
Vighar turned to see the young woman, flashing a feral grin at her and laughing as she visibly cowered before him before returning to his meal. Laelette simply turned and joined Alva by her meal. As soon as everyone had finally taken a seat at one of the tables, Harkon stood from his chair, commanding the attention of the room, simply from the power that emanated from his person. The vampires in the room fell silent as they looked to him, awaiting the speech they knew was coming. I sat back to watch the small group of vampires', noting emotions, responses, aura.
I saw the difference in the vampires immediately. Where Movarth took the brief glances from both Alva and Sera every few seconds with relish, Babette watched every corner of the room like a sabre cat would its prey.
Sybille sat at the far end of one of the tables, quietly observing the speech, obviously cautious of the vampires around her, clearly not used to being around such feral beasts, though she shared their love of bloodshed and revelled in the idea of taking Skyrim for our own. Her face showed a range of emotions as I observed her. Anger. Passion. Glee. Even a brief hint of fear, but just as I scrunched up my eyes at it, she hid it at the deep recesses of her mind and her eyes shone as she met my gaze. Her aura was strong and red. A strong colour, though I knew that Sybille had neglected her vampiric powers for a number of years.
Movarth sat up straight, eyes glued on Harkon as he spoke, confident that he was safe from the attacks of the others, oblivious to the glances of his two chief advisors, Alva and Sera. His face betrayed nothing but the determination in his oddly dull eyes. The fire that raged in his eyes was enough to show that he had wanted this for a long time and was willing to do anything to see it done. I admired that spirit, thinking that he would be a good warrior in the coming war.
Alva sat, vaguely paying attention to the speech at all, focusing more on her meal than Harkon, though glancing up to her master every few seconds as though making sure he had not abandoned her yet. I scrunched my face in disgust at the idea that she was afraid to lose Movarths presence. She had not been a vampire long I noticed as she had not yet learned to control her emotions well, as I thought Movarth would have enforced with a steel hand in his feeble court. She showed fear, happiness when she saw her master was still there, disappointment, anger, sadness and even the sense that she had simply given up, which confused me greatly. I shook my head at the girl and moved on. The aura she emitted was weak, and I regretted seeing her face.
Babette was sat, a smug grin plastered on her child-like face as she lazily sat in the chair, as though she had heard this speech before. Her incisors were visible over her lips and her eyes were a permanent orange. Barely 300 years old, she had been an assassin for much of her vampire life and I had known her from my own days in the Brotherhood, so I knew that under the innocent exterior, was a brutal, merciless and sadistic killer and I admired the girl for it, even if Harkon didn't agree with me.
Laelette stood patiently awaiting some kind of order from her mistress, Alva, or her mistress' master, not listening to the speech Harkon was giving. Her aura was even weaker than Alva's and I knew, just by looking at her that would not last very long in the upcoming war. No, not long at all.
Hert, ever loyal, listened intently to the speech at hand, clearly making notes in her mind as she listened. Even though the Dark Brotherhood had killed her husband, Hern, she did not seem to be showing any kind of anger towards the vampire child, in fact, she didn't seem to emit many emotions outside of determination and fierce passion, clearly for the cause.
Vighar was the most difficult to read, and always had been, as he had had almost as long as I had to school his features and steel his mind, shielding it from powers such as mine, though I never used the full brunt of my force on anyone. It would drive them insane in an instant. Vighar, though listening to speech and having been a devout Volkihar vampire for many years, let his guard down for only a moment and I saw the brief glimpses of anger, towards the Dawnguard, and disappointment, that we had not already taken Skyrim.
Sera was watching Harkon with an obvious passion in her eyes, quick glances to her master, like her sister. This girl needed to learn who was taken and who was not. She caught my glance and I knew my eyes had flared at her looks at my husband. She merely flashed a smile at me, at which I saw red and felt my incisors grow rapidly as I stood from my chair by Harkon's side. My husband stopped talking and looked to me, seeing my face and visibly looking worried, though I knew it was not for me, but for my next victim.
I moved around the table slowly, seeing Sera stand from her seat, walking around the side of her table. We met in the centre of the room, each and every pair of eyes watching us intently. I could feel the weak heartbeat and I could sense her feeble strength in her bones. I growled at the girl, seeing the flinch come from her as she almost stepped backwards, away from me.
I laughed at her. "You think you can come into MY KEEP! And take what is mine by right!?" I screamed into the silent hall, seeing the fear seep into her features as she actually took a step backwards. "Listen here girl. You may think you have a chance at surviving this war. But listen to me closely when I say. If I EVER see you looking at MY HUSBAND that way again. I will tear you limb from limb. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?" I stepped forward as I spoke, ending up with my face centimetres from hers, the fear almost consuming her completely. She nodded slightly and I bared my teeth at her, reaching forward.
I grasped her neck, lifting the feeble child from the ground easily as I felt my anger growing towards this girl. "I would have thought you would not give in so easily. Is this who you are!? A coward? If so, you do not belong in the Keep, girl." I lifted my hand slightly and then slammed her into the floor, seeing the impact shatter the floorboards. I crouched down to her level and grasped a handful of her brunette hair, lifting her now bloody head to look at me. I used my power, my anger getting the better of me, and delved into her mind, looking deeply into her eyes. To everyone else, it would simply look like my eyes had changed colour to dark purple and I was staring her down, but I walked among her thoughts, destroying the urns that held her fear and anxiety at the deep corners of her mind before pulling back out of her.
Dropping the girl on the floor again, I turned away and, looking to my husband, I saw pride in his eyes as he grinned ferally at me. I returned the grin and, glancing over my shoulder, left the main hall, seeking solace in the cathedral.
Well.. chapter 3 (?) up and done. If there's anything you'd like to see. Opinions, moments, etc. Let me know and I'll include them in the next chapter. :)