Since i had a free day, I wrote this chapter in advance. I doubt if I have time to write any new chapters before the weekend.

Enjoy!

It's been almost a week since Leiah heard the truth about her mother and decided to accept the quest in the letter. She had practiced sword fighting with Django, Leiah was a quick learner but there was no time for her to master this art. Not panicking when someone came at her in close quarters combat, was enough for her at the moment. She had also done some shooting with the crossbow, she found at her mothers armory. Even when she favoured a bow, she found using a crossbow very easy and it was much faster when she had to deal with multiple targets.

Leiah had also been in Skyrim for almost two weeks now and with that time the summer had come closer and weather was much warmer. It was another beautiful morning with the sun shining brightly up in the sky, Leiah walked down to the kitchen and started eating a loaf of bread she found on the counter.

Today she was supposed to go on her way to Windhelm, where she expected to find Ralof. She had already packed her gear last night and was basically ready to go. Leiah wasn't sure if she's more exited about the journey or nervous. She had the feeling with butterflies in her stomach and felt the need to stretch her legs and shoulders all the time.

"Calm down now" Django chuckled as he followed her to the kitchen. He opened a bottle of mead and poured it into the tankard.

"Starting early, are we" Leiah asked him with a smug look.

"At least I don't jump out of my skin for a simple journey to Windhelm"

"Off with that, I'll go check on Lydia" she said and walked past Django, towards the main hall.

Lydia was working in the garden, she decided to rebuild it on the other side of the house and was busy with loosening the soil. "Finally you found something practical to do, huh" Leiah leaned on the wall and looked at Lydias handwork.

"Back in the days, when we weren't killing bears and trolls. I loved managing the garden and taking care of the crops. But more importantly, do you feel ready for the trip" Lydia stood up and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"I'm really exited about this but yes, I'm ready"

"That's good to hear. I think you should be on your way as early as possible" Lydia said, she walked over to Leiah and put down her hoe. "Go get yourself geared. We'll send you off"

Leiah went to her room to put on the new gear. She felt as if something is missing so she added her body straps from her old outfit, they was especially useful when she wanted to attach her crossbow on her back. She also added her shorts on top of the leggins but they didn't reach to cover any of the beautiful patterns on the cloth of the leggins.

She found herself become more and more proficient with the crossbow so she decided to take it, instead of the bow. Along with the crossbow she holstered her dagger and pulled the knapsack with some potions in it over her shoulder. She was now fully ready and went down the stairs to see Django and Lydia waiting for her at the door.

"Stay safe" Lydia said seriously and hugged Leiah gently.

"Don't worry, I will"

"And don't come back unless you have some bear skins to show off" Django said with a smirk.

"I'd rather skin a cat but I'll leave that for after I'm back" Leiah smiled and embraced her friend.

She waved back to them once she was away from the manor and on the road toward Whiterun. As they waved back to her, she saw Lydia saying something to Django.

"Go after her but don't be detected" She whispered and Django nodded. He believed that she can handle herself but it was always better to play it safe.

Leiah pulled her scarf higher to cover her face from the cold wind. The blizzard got worse with every minute as she was walking through the mountain range. She had decided to take a shortcut through the valley at the foot of the throat of the world.

Even though she had made some great progress by the afternoon she was now freezing in the cold snowy valley between the mountains. She saw an opening between the rocks. She needed to find a cover fast and it was her chance, Windhelm can wait she thought. Leiah pressed herself further until she reached more spacious tunnel. She felt relief from the wind, which could still be heard howling outside.

Leiah walked deeper into the cave, the walls were covered with thin ice and the floor was snowy, it was still chilly there. She stopped when she saw a light beaming from a larger complex in front of her, she sneaked closer and heard some voices coming inside. So far she had only encountered two wolves who she took down without them noticing her but she didn't want to kill innocent just to be cautious. Leiah took a peek behind the rock and saw a male and a female figure standing in front of a large door.

"It's freezing here and it's already been a full day since they sent us some fresh blood" the female voice complained.

"Once we're out from here, the master said that we can have as much of blood as we want" the male assured her and sat down next to the door.

It can't be, it's a vampire cave Leiah thought, she knew that if she want's to stay here, the vampires had to be eliminated. She slowly grabbed her crossbow from her back. It was already loaded with a bolt and she aimed at the female vampire who was pacing around the door entrance. Leiah waited till she was about to walk past the male vampire and took the shot. In Cyrodil she had heard stories that only piercering the vampires heart can kill it. The arrow wnt right through her heart with such force that she fell over her sitting companion.

By the time the other vampire realised what had happened Leiah had already reloaded another bolt and aimed it at the second target. Without much effort the two vampires were lying on the floor dead. She loaded her crossbow again and walked up to them. She looked at the female vampires face, it pale as snow and her red eyes stared at the ceiling.

Suddenly Leiah heard a growl coming behind her. She Carefully turned around and saw a black hound snarling to her. It had already taken it's attack stance and started to run at her when she turned around.

Leiah quickly punched the dog with her crossbow limb and it fell back on the ground, she aimed her crossbow at it and took the shot, the hound collapsed into a pile of ash. After reloading her crossbow again she scanned her surrounding for any more dangers. When she was sure that no one else was around she sat down on a rock and took a breath. She could understand that the vampires like living in the caves but the demon dogs? That was something she hadn't expected to see. While deep in her thoughts she heard a scream coming behind the doors, she jumped on her feet and rushed to the door and slowly opened it to take a peek.

She saw a draugur sitting on a womans chest, who was struggling, not to have her throat cut. Two other vampires rushed to her aid and killed the draugur. Leiah closed the door and waited for the voices to fade and when she opened the door again she saw a single vampire standing in the maze of tunnels. She shot through his heart from behind and moved deeper into the cave, hiding herself in the shadows.

After clearing few more rooms, Leiah watched the giant frostbite spider being killed by the male vampire. When he pulled out his sword from the creature and turned around, Leiah saw fear in his red eyes. He was looking at Leiah who released the trigger just as he turned around. After the master vampire was taken care of she pulled away the spider which was surprisingly light for it's size and opened a wooden door behind it.

The door lead to a enormous underground room. She was at the small balcony, and looked down to the larger complex. Further away she saw arches around a circle. There were also some skeletons and four humanoid creatures walking around the circle. She took a position in the dark corner and readied her crossbow. She watched the group walk around the shrine or what ever that was and moving the pillars.

After a eyeing her enemy for a while she recognised the two vampires who had identical armors just like the others she killed before. She waited the right moment when others weren't looking and shot the male vampire, the others didn't notice him being shot until Leiah had reloaded her crossbow again and killed off the other vampire. When the female vampire dropped on the floor the two skeletons collapsed into ash piles.

There were two men left, they didn't look like vampires from far and they were mindlessly walking around. Leiah shot them one after another and climbed down to the path that was leading towards the shrine.

She noticed a pattern on the floor and that the pillars were in those lines, after she moved one of the pillars, a purple flame burst out from it. She noticed the pattern and did the same to the rest. After all the pillars were burning, the lines on the ground also started to hue the same purple light.

Another stone pillar rose into the middle of the room and Leiah walked closer. Again her curiosity got better of her and she decided to press the button on top of the pillar that seemed to be a trigger for some kind of a mechanism.

Just as she placed her arm on the button, she felt a sharp pain in her arm. A spear coming from the pillar pierced her palm and was pulled back in. Leiah screamed in agonizing pain and stepped back when her hand was released. She dropped on the stone stairs and cloaked her other arm into healing magic.

While Leiah was nursing her wound, she didn't notice a larger coffin being raised where the deadly pillar was. When the pain from her wound was gone she was able to focus on what's happening before her. She heard stones grinding and after the noise stopped there was a loud thump. A woman stumbled out from the coffin and seemed dazed. But after few second of gathering herself, she stormed at the dead man near the coffin and buried her face into it's neck.

Leiah watched the stranger suck it's blood and tear it's victims throat out with her fangs. Fear took her but she felt paralyzed when the vampire finished with the poor man and turned around to Leiah, who was holding her wound. Leiah looked at the female vampire underneath her hood. Despise her deadly nature she looked gorgeous, her black hair were spun around her head and fell down to her shoulders from behind. Her face was pale but there was something different about her from the other vampires. Instead of red irises, she looked at Leiah with her burning-orange eyes.

She wiped the blood from her face with sleeve and walked closer to Leiah, who put her hand on the dagger. The vampire had a wicked smile on her face.

"No need to be afraid of me" She said with a soft, almost soothing voice. "I already feed my thirst as you saw" She crouched next to Leiah and wanted to see her hand. Leiah didn't trust her the slightest but she didn't seem to want to attack her... for now. She showed the vampire her palm, she cast another restoration spell and the warm light caressed Leiahs wound.

"My name is Serana" the vampire said eventually, "Thank you for releasing me from my slumber"

"L... Leiah" she muttered.

After few minutes Leiah felt her arm being much better, she was able to move her fingers a little now.

Leiah removed her hood and lowered her scarf and took a deep breath after the adrenaline rush started to wear off. "Why didn't you attack me just like you did the dead guy on the floor" Leiah asked her.

"When I woke up, my thirst was uncontrollable. I sensed the warm blood still flowing in his body and went for it. If it had been you standing there, you would have had much more wounds than this" Serana answered with a warm smile. "It would have been a real waste to tear up your pretty face"

Leiah felt her cheeks warm up from the blush and pulled up her scarf again. She removed her hand from Seranas and wrapped it in a bandage, which she dug out from her knapsack. "Thanks but that's good enough for now"

"As you wish" Serana said, "Anyway, I guess that the both of us want to get out from this cave now"

"That would be great, yes" Leiah said and tested if she can still shoot her crossbow.

"From the bodies lying around I guess you can handle yourself well. It's time to see if I can also fight after years of being trapped there"

"With pleasure" Leiah smirked and followed Serana. She still didn't trust the vampire but her words seemed sincere.