Bren was awake the next day eating some mammoth cheese when he heard a knocking on his door.
"I wonder who could be here" He thought finishing his bite of cheese, with that he walked to the entrance door and opened it to be greeted by an orc woman, she wore a black smith apron and her hair was around medium length, normally black hair had a few grey spots from ash.
"Hey Therkla" Bren said but then noticed something, normally around her neck was a blood red amulet but it was gone, "What happened to your amulet?"
Therkla frowned and spoke, "I never told you about it, and that is why I came here" She said and Bren let her in and shut the door
"What happened?" Bren asked showing concern
Therkla sighed, "It was my mother's" she said, she almost looked like she was going to cry, and for an orc that was as rare as seeing a thief returning stolen loot on his own.
"Your mother's?" Bren asked, he knew Therkla, she was a good smith along with her father, but Bren had never seen her mother
"My mother was an imperial, and she is dead" Therkla said and Bren realized she was a half orc, rare in Skyrim but not unheard of
"I see, so it's a memento" Bren said rubbing the back of his head, "So what happened to it?"
"Stolen" Therkla said, her expression was one of deep sorrow
"Any idea who stole it?" Bren asked and Therkla nodded her head, "Well I was working on a new blade late last night and a man in a robe came to me, my amulet was on the table neck to me so the heat doesn't ruin it when he took it, right there, no words"
"So how do you know who it was?" Bren asked
She went into the apron's pocket and pulled out a piece of cloth, some with blood
"I fought him and tore off some of his hood, and his eyes…." She gulped, "the eyes were those of a vampire, I was frozen and he ran off"
"So a vampire stole it…hmmm maybe I should see the court mage about that, she might have some information on them" Bren said and Therkla smiled, "Thank you, I wouldn't ask you for this favor if I didn't trust you" She said to him
"Hey I owe you for this armor, and besides I can handle one vampire" Bren said drawing his dagger
He filled his travel pack with some potions and spare food
"I'll be back soon enough" Bren said to Therkla and escorted her out and shut his door; he went over to the blue palace to meet up with Sybille the court mage. She was sipping some tea at the ground floor, a book at her side and she noticed Bren. Bren looked at her, for someone who served the Jarl for 20 years, she looked good…perhaps too good.
She looked up at Bren and smiled with her lips only, "Hello Bren, I assume you want more information about ruins" She said
"Not really, you know Therkla, the orc smith? Well seems a vampire stole her amulet, thought you might know something about this" He explained and she thought for a moment
"Well I think in a cave south of here some vampires live there, you might want to try that" She told him, marking his personal map the location
"Alright, thanks Sybille", but then noticed that her drink seemed a little red…no couldn't be, he shook his head and walked out
He left Solitude and hiked through the wilderness, his map in hand. The air was crisp and cold, but hey it's Skyrim.
About 2 hours of hiking later he made it to the cave and could tell it was a vampire lair, the skulls on a pike, some dead corpse with holes and neck, and of course the lack of garlic around helped that theory.
He went low to the ground and drew his dagger and began to creep in.
"I hope this is the right lair…I rather not risk my life for nothing" He thought as he walked through the torch light caves, he could hear talking, it was an elf speaking
"…and so then that half breed tried to attack me, she should be thankful I didn't drink her filthy blood"
"Bingo" Bren thought
"Also, could you please take care of the skeever that came in, I dislike them" the vampire added and Bren began to sweat, he was quiet, how could the vampire sense him so easily
"It will be done master" the other vampire said, he must have been imperial judging by the accent but then he heard squeaking and then the sound of the skeever crying out in pain
"Oh so it was just a real skeever" He thought, he let out a sigh but that was enough to alert the master vampire
"Well looks like we have another one…much bigger" He said and walked towards the shadows where Bren hid
"Mephala, help me" He thought closing his eyes, and his body began to camouflage itself to match the stone behind him
The vampire stood a foot away from the crouching Bren and stared at the spot for a moment, then sniffed the air. Bren could see from his spot that he wore the amulet around his neck
"Turn around, and I'll slit your throat you freak" Bren thought, his hand at his side, ready to stab the vampire but then he heard a drop of sweat land on the ground and that was enough, the vampire grabbed the area around Bren and found his throat and held him up
"Well seems we have a skeever who is skilled in illusion spells…no I sense no natural magic…what are you?" He muttered holding the gasping Bren up who came into view
"Ah, so imperial, any reason why you came into my lair, or should I just drain you now?" the vampire leader asked and dropped Bren to the ground, his dagger falling away from him
"Just came her for that amulet around your neck" Bren said rubbing his neck but then felt the vampire's foot on his chest, pinning him to the ground
"Well I guess you failed that, I'm going to enjoy draining you" The leader said and Bren closed his eyes, awaiting his death, "Sorry Therkla" He thought but then heard a voice in his head
"So the hunter became the hunted, but I do not wish to see one of my better hunters's failed"
"Who are you?" Bren thought
"I am Hircine, the hunter, and I grant you the power of the beasts, use it to aid you when you become the hunted…."
The voice was silent and Bren cried out, "Hircine help me!"
The Vampire pulled back and Bren saw his left arm change, it grew larger, furrier, blacker, it was the arm of a werewolf, but his body wasn't changing, just his arm
"What are you?" The Vampire lord cried out and Bren looked at his arm and gripped his clawed paw
"A monster…." He said swinging the arm and cutting through the elf's robe and body, the other vampire fell onto his rear, trying to comprehend what was going on and Bren used the arm to grab the vampire by his throat and squeeze
"Mer….cy…" The vampire gasped and Bren gave him the mercy, he crushed the vampire's throat quickly killing him
Bren let out a battle cry and two more vampires came from within the caverns and Bren smirked, "Time to die!" He said, his mind was screaming words, "Destroy, kill, destruction, pain…." Words of a berserker, words of a monster
With his arm of the beast he slew the vampires with precise attacks, killing them without hesitation
"Anymore!" he yelled, and he only heard his echo
"Only four huh, perhaps I want more!" he cried out and saw his arm change back to normal and he gripped his head
"No, calm down, damn it I need my fix…" He told himself as he dug through his pack, he saw his bottle of skooma and uncorked it quickly and drank the silver substance. He felt much calmer
"So another daedric lord gave me his blessing" Bren thought as he went to the head vampire's body and took the blood red amulet from his neck
"Well at least I got Therkla's amulet back" He said to himself smiling
He left the cave and returned to Solitude and quickly found the orc black smith working on some new steel armor
"Therkla, I think you dropped this" Bren said smiling and tossed her the amulet which she caught and smiled
"Bren, I don't know how to thank you…." She said setting the amulet on a nearby table, she looked at Bren and kissed him on the cheek
"Please come back any time" She said returning to her work. Bren felt his cheek and smiled at her.
"Glad I could help" He said walking away from her, he went back home, plans of his next adventure in his mind.
The evening came quickly and Bren was upstairs in his bedroom still in his armor. He was reading a book on some different legendary swords.
"Hmmm I could try looking for that sword…but then again it seems to have a curse on it. Not a good idea" He thought but then he heard something, footsteps in his house
"A thief…but who would be stupid enough to rob me?" He thought, he decided to keep quiet and listen
He could heard the footsteps go upstairs and could hear the footsteps go away from him
"Must have found my treasure room" He thought smirking
He could heard the sound of gold and gems being shoveled into a pack and he decided to finally confront the thief. He quietly got up and drew his knife and then held it at the back of the thief's neck.
"Drop it, friend" He said….
To be continued in The Dragon Born of Skyrim.
AN: yes this is where this story ends, but this story will continue in that story. So yeah see ya there.
