"Well," I said eagerly as I slipped the scales away into my pack. "Don't let this momentum die out on me. Do you have another one?"
"I do," said Vicente. "But, uhm, it doesn't require a killing."
"Come again?" I said, confused.
"I have a special contract that needs fulfillment," he replied. "In truth, I don't wish to offer it to any other family member. I've come to rely on your abilities. We're usually called upon to take a life, but not this time. This contract requires us to stage the assassination of a marked man."
I was quite flattered that he'd come to rely on me, but also so, so confused. "Stage an assassination?"
Vicente nodded. "You must go to the city of Chorrol and break into the house of Francois Motierre. Inside you will find Motierre waiting for you. Do not kill him! You see, Francois Motierre is a marked man. He owes a considerable sum to the wrong kind of people. So, they have sent an enforcer to kill him. This is an unusual contract, Motierre had to make a special arrangement with us before it was approved. I trust in your professionalism."
I sighed, a touch disappointed. "What was the arrangement?" I asked, curious at what could possibly have been offered that we considered as valuable as his life.
"The Dark Brotherhood is not in the business of staging deaths, no matter how much gold is offered," said Vicente needlessly. "Sithis demands blood, and blood must be paid. In order to accept the contract, we demanded a life. Motierre offered his mother, and we accepted. Lucien has already taken care of that...detail."
"Oh." I didn't know why I felt so disappointed that Lucien and I had worked together on the same contract and we wouldn't cross paths on the job.
Vicente proceeded to give me the Langourwine Blade and explain the poison coating it. How it would make him appear dead until an antidote was administered, which he also supplied. It all seemed very fake and cheesy to me. And I was still sore over missing Lucien – we could have killed the mother together, though I knew how unrealistic that notion was. He didn't need my help. My Brothers and Sisters didn't have much anything to tell me that I didn't already know; slash him in the enforcer's presence, make sure to keep my wits about me as he was unlikely to appreciate my act, how Gogron didn't envy this white-washed job. Antoinetta did tell me that the Undercroft was cursed, which was pretty useful. At least now I wouldn't be caught by surprise.
I dropped the Scales of Pitiless Justice back at my house, setting them up nice and pretty on my mantle, before heading out to my trek on foot to Chorrol. I didn't much like going to Chorrol; it was a very long walk, but I supposed it was better than going to Anvil.
It was well after nightfall when I arrived in Chorrol. I hoped this Motierre guy was still even awake, or else I'd have to pull a Lucien and wake him up in his own home, which would just be awkward for all involved. I found his house thanks to Vicente's instructions, and picked the lock on the door. I didn't know if it was a relief or even creepier that he was waiting up for me.
"Oh!" Motierre said, clearly startled by my entrance. "Well...uhm, hello. You must be the one Lucien Lachance told me about. I've been expecting you. We haven't got much time, I'm afraid. I borrowed quite a bit of gold from some underworld types. I...I missed a payment. Now they don't even want the money. They say I insulted them! They've sent an enforcer to kill me! His name is Hides-His-Heart, and he's on his way here now! That's why I hired you! So you can fake my death!"
"By Sithis, spit it out!" I said. He was annoying me while I was already annoyed. I wished I could kill him for real.
"Oh! Sorry! Please, I'm sorry!" he groveled. What a worm. "Well, when Hides-His-Heart gets here, I'll put on a little act. You'll cut me with your poison knife, and that vile enforcer will think I'm dead. You must then flee from Chorrol, and Hides-His-Heart must not be killed! That way he can go back and tell his employers I'm dead. If you wait a day my 'body' will be put on display in the Chorrol Chapel Undercroft. You can come to me then and administer the antidote. Got all that? Good! Hides-His-Heart will be here any moment. Get ready! Oh, I do hope this works..."
I drew the Langourwine Blade just as a thundering knock sounded at the door. "Motierre! I am here to exact payment, in blood!" An Argonian strolled into the house like he owned it, saw me, and did a double take. "You will…eh? Who's this?"
"Oh no!" cried Motierre dramatically, tilting his head back and throwing his arm over his eyes. "What am I to do! An underworld enforcer and a Dark Brotherhood assassin, both here to kill poor Francois!"
By Sithis, he was the most awful actor I had ever seen in my life. You would have to be completely daft to believe this drama.
"The Dark Brotherhood?" questioned the clearly daft Hides-His-Heart. His name should have been Not-Too-Bright. "Oh, you have been a naughty boy, Motierre, haven't you? Stand aside, assassin! Motierre is mine! My employers demand it!"
Motierre gasped dramatically. "What's this? Oh, Dark Brotherhood assassin, please don't cut me with that wicked blade! It looks like this is the end of poor Francois!"
Hides-His-Heart opened his mouth and started to say something about me defending myself, but I was so annoyed and now getting secondhand embarrassment from this farce he was putting on. "Sithis sake, shut up!" I shouted, driving the Langourwine Blade into Motierre's kidney. He slumped and fell to the floor, seemingly dead.
Hides-His-Heart let out a yell of rage and swung his claymore at me. I leapt backwards, the dinky little now-useless blade the only weapon I had. In any case, I wasn't allowed to kill him. I tried to edge around him. He swung the claymore at me again. I tried to step out of its range, but my back hit the wall and the tip sliced through my Shrouded Armor, cutting my sternum. I cried out at the contact. It was a nasty wound, though not fatal. It was a miracle he hadn't gotten my throat.
Aiming to fix that, Hides-His-Heart stepped forward to close the distance on me and raised the claymore. He came a bit too close though, and I did the first thing any girl with her back to the wall and a big aggressive man in the way thinks to do – rammed my knee straight into his crotch.
Hides-His-Heart dropped. I leapt over him and fled to the door. "Bye!" I said in a singsong voice before running for my life with my hand pressed to my chest to stem the bleeding.
I hid in the stables at Odiil farm (who owed me for taking care of a goblin problem some time ago) until morning. Being surrounded by nothing but hay, I didn't really have anything to patch the wound with, so I just sat there and held pressure until the bleeding stopped. It sure stung though. After the sun had been up for about an hour, I decided Hides-His-Heart must be long gone and returned to Chorrol. It didn't take long before I heard a rumor that Motierre had been assassinated and interred. They certainly worked fast around here.
It was easy enough to get into the Undercroft. Easier still to find Motierre's body. I opened his mouth and poured the antidote down his throat. He came to almost instantly and sat up.
"Ohhh... I'm a bit stiff, but quite fine otherwise," he said, stretching. "Ah yes, the Undercroft. My family members are buried here, you know. Which...uhm...leads me to something I may have failed to mention before. My ancestors will see my 'revival' as a desecration of their tomb. This Undercroft is...well...quite cursed. Any desecration will cause my ancestors to rise from their graves and defend their resting place. I can hear them coming as we speak! You must protect me... escort me to the Grey Mare where I can buy passage out of Chorrol!" He looked past me and gasped. "Here they come! Oh my, Aunt Margaret! You are looking the worse for wear..."
Thanks. I cursed and turned around. I hated zombies. Not only were they downright terrifying looking when they caught you by surprise, they smelled awful. My armor already needed repairs, I didn't want to have to wash zombie stench out of it too. I drew my bow quickly and shot "Aunt Margaret" in the face.
"C'mon!" I grabbed Motierre's wrist and pulled him to the entrance as quick as I could, shooting two more zombies and fleeing. Sithis fucking damn it, I hate zombies.
I dragged Motierre to the Grey Mare. When it was in sight, he slipped his wrist from my grasp. "Ah, the Grey Mare!" he said. "From here I will be able to arrange for transportation out of Cyrodiil! You have served me well, assassin. Francois is forever in your debt! Farewell!" He waved and strode away towards the inn. Was it really necessary for him to refer to himself in the third person? It was very annoying.
I returned to the Sanctuary, eager to turn this contract in and be done with it. I went through it and found Vicente, reading in his room as usual. He looked up as I walked in, and actually closed and set aside his book. Uh-oh, this must be important.
"Ah, so Motierre has escaped? Well done! As payment, I am pleased to award you this amulet, Cruelty's Heart, as well as another advancement in rank. I hereby bestow upon you the title of Eliminator." He handed me a gorgeous amulet, which I slipped around my neck without hesitation. "Your blood is cold, your heart hard. You exemplify everything the Dark Brotherhood stands for."
I smiled, glowing under his praise. "I present to you now this key," he continued. "It unlocks the well behind the abandoned house above. Use it to gain quick, hidden access to this Sanctuary."
"Thank you," I said, taking the key eagerly. I was getting tired of going through the musty, derelict house every time. "What's next?"
Vicente laughed. "Well now, you are an ambitious one, aren't you? I'm afraid I have no more contracts for you. Our time working together has come to an end. Instead you must report to Ocheeva. She will be providing your contracts from now on."
"Wh-what?" I cried, feeling like I'd just been punched in the gut. I loved working with Vicente. He was pretty much the cuddliest vampire I'd ever met, and I really looked up to him. Vicente saw my distress and put his hand on my shoulder.
"However, this need not be where we part ways, Lily," he said. "I've grown quite fond of you, and I intend to make good on an offer I made some time ago. As a vampire, I may pass my gift on to others as I see fit."
I looked up at him. Was he really offering…?
"You have served me well, and I choose now to extend that gift to you. Shall I use my dark powers and turn you into a vampire?"
"U-uh," I stammered. "Uhm. Uh. Uhhh."
"I understand your trepidation," Vicente said, amused. "It is not every day one is offered the chance to join the ranks of the undead, hm? The offer remains open if you decide to take it." He squeezed my shoulder and let go.
"Just let me think about it," I said. "A-and tell Ocheeva for me, please, that I will be by in the morning to accept whatever contract she has for me. I have my armor to repair and my wounds to tend."
"Of course," he said. "I could smell the blood on you from the moment you walked in. You're alright?"
I nodded. "Lucky shot from the enforcer. It's not fatal."
"Off you go, then," said Vicente, shooing me. "Go take care of it, and we will see you in the morning."
"In the morning," I confirmed, waving and leaving his room, taking the well exit for the first time and feeling oh so powerful as I did it.
Before heading back to do those things I had said I was going to do, I wanted to swing by Lucien's fort and see if he was in. I left Cheydinhal and climbed the hill by the fort to the trapdoor. I opened it and called down it, "It's Lily!" to prevent a weapon being drawn on me again.
I climbed down the rope ladder and saw him getting off his bed. "Hey look, you saw me and I wasn't wet," I said, trying to make a joke.
Lucien reached me as I dropped off the ladder. "Well, well, if it isn't my newest Eliminator," he purred. "I hear you've graduated from Vicente's tutelage. Most impressive. Most do not ascend through the ranks so quickly."
"Just luck, I guess," I said with a shrug. "I'm not doing anything special. Just following orders."
"Ah, but that is what makes you so impressive," he said. "It is very rare for one to be so disciplined to follow orders to the letter no matter what, and have the raw skill to carry the orders out without a hitch."
"Well I wouldn't say I'm completely hitch free yet," I said. "I wish I was still under Vicente's teachings. I don't quite feel like I was ready to leave him yet. And also I hear that you worked on this contract with me and I didn't even get to see you." I added a pout for added effect.
Lucien sighed. "It was most convenient to kill the old woman right away. You hadn't even gotten the contract yet."
"Yeah, I know, but it would've been great to go with you or something! And also the Black Door has hardly any black on it at all!" I said, folding my arms and continuing to pout. I didn't even know what I was doing, really, just trying to see if I could get an unnecessary apology out of our great Speaker.
No such luck. Lucien ignored me entirely and looked down at my chest. "You're injured."
I placed one hand over the wound, wincing for a fraction of a second. "Not badly."
"What happened? Don't tell me you slipped on your way in here again."
"The enforcer did it with a claymore, and it's not bad!" I protested, blushing slightly and putting my other hand over the wound.
"Let me see it," he said in exasperation.
"No," I protested. "I can take care of my own wounds. I'm not that clumsy."
Lucien rolled his eyes, and then before I could react, grabbed both of my wrists and pinned them to the wall above my head. Oh no. Oh my. Well. So much for not being wet.
Lucien tsked as he looked at the wound. I guess it did look pretty bad, even though it wasn't. He looked back up into my eyes. By Sithis, he was so close. "I would still say you're pretty clumsy."
I'm not quite sure what made me do it, why I thought it was a good idea, or a smart idea, or why now of all times. His face was right there, his lips curled in the stupid sexy smirk. I leaned forward and kissed him.
Lucien hesitated for an instant, perhaps just as confused as I was as to the why. He started kissing me back roughly, stepping closer and forcing me against the wall more. Funny, I didn't mark him as someone who liked to kiss. He was good at it, and I was now thoroughly aroused.
When he finally broke the kiss, he laughed softly and said in that stupid sexy low purr, "That was a very dangerous thing you just did."
"Worth it," I smirked. "You know you're not the first guy to pin me against a wall today. I much prefer this one."
"Is that right?" he asked. "Who's to say that I won't give you a pretty wound like the first one?"
"Who's to say that I don't want it?" I purred right back. I hooked my leg around his and grinded once slightly against his body.
Before I quite knew what had happened, my armor was on the floor, his robes next to them, and I was on his bed with Lucien above me. He kissed me roughly and fondled my body, eliciting moans and squirms from me, getting me more than ready for him. I finally moaned out, "By Sithis, take me already!"
Lucien took his place between my spread thighs and pushed inside me. His low moan mixed with my cry of pleasure. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he started to move.
That first time Lucien and I had sex was fast and messy and to be honest I don't remember most of it. I remember rolling over after a bit, and the whole rest of the time we fought for the right to top. I remember his moan when I ended up on top at one point and promptly went down to his hips, getting him in me as deep as he could. I remember my wound reopening and both of us ending up with blood smeared down us. I remember digging my nails in and leaving scratches on his back at the peak of my orgasm. I remember him getting me back by biting my shoulder hard enough to leave marks at the peak of his. I remember him pulling out and rolling over next to me. I remember him not telling me to leave. I remember waking up the next morning in Lucien's bed and realizing that I had to go meet Ocheeva and I hadn't tended to my wound or repaired my armor like I said I would.
