Disoriented and furious, the vampire let out a string of heinous profanity as she stumbled back to her feet. Tolan hesitated at that, torn between swinging his weapon at the aggressor and berating his companion for the appalling language. That moment of pause was all that Serana needed as she crossed the small distance and kicked the still recovering Redguard in the gut.
The woman in question keeled over in pain, spilling another round of curses in the name of Boethiah as she did so. The Vigilant, still not having learned his lesson, gaped at his supposed ally in horror even as the woman picked herself up and spat thick, black blood on the chiseled rock beneath her feet. She grinned, flashing her tainted smile to the both of them as she spoke.
"Don't you go looking so shocked now, Vigilant," her eyes lit up as her leer widened, revealing the abhorrent nature of his companion to the staring man.
"Foul creature!" he screamed with righteous anger in his voice, but his features gave away the fear eating at his heart. The abomination-hunter heaved his warhammer with every intent to turn her into a bloody mess on the floor, but the third party on the platform interjected before the vampire could even react.
The man's vindictive yell petered off into short, pained gasps for air as he let go of his weapon in a desperate attempt to keep his entrails on the inside, his twitching fingers scrambling across the rapidly spreading red stain on his stomach. Another agonized groan was ripped out of his sore throat as the bitter edge of an ice spike shot though his already massacred abdomen, forcing the Nord on his knees.
The exactor of his torment planted her feet firmly on the stone as she stood behind him, observing the rictus of his features with a sort of twisted fascination before breaking his neck with a single, elegant shift of her hand.
"No-one kills her but me," she said coldly to the fallen Vigilant as she stepped over his still warm corpse. Her gaze was fixated on the Redguard a few paces away from her, beautiful and enrapturing in all its terror.
"I will have your heart, At'Ria," she spat at the other vampire and raised her hand, a red-wreathed viper ready to strike. All of the fatigue she had felt when she first stumbled out of her prison was pushed away to the back of her mind, overruled completely by the white-blazing ire in her eyes.
"And then I will have your head, and your body I will hang from the walls of Volkihar for all the crows to feast upon," Serana went on as the red mists around her hand intensified, almost blinding the Redguard.
"What in the name of Boethiah did I do to you, woman?" the accused finally retorted, tensing her muscles in preparation for a fight that was closing in faster than a Nord on a tankard of mead. "And more importantly, when the Oblivion did you become a vampire?" the Redguard uttered the one question that had been plaguing her ever since the woman had tumbled into her arms.
The genuine surprise in her voice made Serana pause, and her poised hand faltered in the air. "You dare tell me you know nothing of my fate?" she said in a shaking, but level voice, too angry to shout anymore.
"Should I?" At'Ria let out a dry chuckle as she wiped the black trickle in the corner of her mouth. "I left after your precious daddy got a bit too zealous, remember?" she, too, kept her voice even, but poison seeped from every word.
"He got too zealous?" Serana's mocking tone seared to the bone as she seethed at the infuriating vampire, her spell completely forgotten. "If it weren't for you he would never have lost his mind in the first place!" the fierce Nord balled her sleek fingers into threatening fists, baring her teeth at the Redguard.
"Well, of course, it's my fault now, right?" the woman in question bit right back, spurred by the Nord's audacity. "Because daddy never did anything wrong. The piles upon fucking piles of corpses he so properly hoarded in the courtyard are just a minor detail, aren't they? Never mind that he sacrificed fucking half of his kingdom in his raving obsession to be cursed for the rest of his life!"
Centuries of bottled ire spilled from her dry throat, her own fingernails digging into her palms to the point of pain. Her whole face was contorted in a sneer so full of millennia-cultivated rancor that Serana's previous animosity seemed like a child's meek anger compared to it.
"It seems he did get his wish in the end, so the correct term would be death, would it not?" At'Ria added as a venomous afterthought, tapping her blood-stained lips as if she were truly engaged with the idea. The Nord didn't take the verbal abuse for very long though, and spat right back at the Redguard.
"And naturally your immaculate self had no play in this matter, did it?" Serana snorted and took a step closer. "Your teasing, your boasting, your very presence, for Shor's sake!" her voice raised in pitch as she backed the Redguard against one of the pillars lining the platform. "You dare deny that you didn't push him, vehemently so, on that mind-eroding path?!" Her yellow-white eyes narrowed in rage as she pressed her prey flush against the crumbling column.
"Do you have any idea what you did to my father? He was once a just, good, revered ruler! His people loved him, and he cared for them in turn! It wasn't until you came along that he lost sight of what was right and began committing unspeakable acts in pursuit of his mad goal!" The Nord was teetering on the edge between anger and tears as she gathered the fabric of the Redguard's cloak in her fist, lifting her into the air.
The vampire, however, didn't allow the woman to jerk her around like a puppet, wrapping her strong fingers around Serana's hand in a vice-like grip. "I did no such thing," she ground out between her teeth, boring her eyes into the two yellow orbs opposite. "I was a respected guest of your court and never once offered your father that which… tainted me," her voice cracked a little and her nostrils flared as she forced the words past her lips, more unsettled by them than she was by the fist still clutching at her robes.
"He would've found his path to madness eventually, whether I was there or not," she said and went to pry the offending fingers off her clothing one by one, surprised by Serana's lack of resistance. Apparently some of what she had said had reached the woman even in her furious state, rendering her… less-aggressive for the moment. As soon as she was free, the Redguard extracted herself from the perilous embrace of the Nord and took a couple steps back to pick up her scimitar.
The movement pulled Serana out of her dazed reverie, and her burning eyes – now merely smoldering and not blazing anymore – focused on At'Ria again.
"Perhaps you are right," she said, tone suddenly flat and dejected. "But it doesn't change anything. You still left when we needed you the most," for the briefest of moments she could see something else than anger swimming in those dangerous eyes, but it was gone before she could place it.
"Because At'Ria Shahi," Serana let out in a strangled voice as she averted her eyes, finishing almost too quietly too hear, "At'Ria Shahi waits for no man."
The words stung deeper and harsher than all of the previous accusations combined, and a sharp spike of pain in her chest had her biting the inside of her cheek to suppress the groan it elicited. There were things on her mind, things she wanted to say – had been wanting to say for the past three thousand years – but her throat was too dry, her tongue too heavy, her heart too cold.
She swallowed her hurt, though, and sneered again, determined to return the favor tenfold.
"Well, look at the bright side, Serana; at least you get to hate me forever," she chuckled icily, and the Nord pierced her with that terrifying gaze of hers once more.
"You find this amusing, do you?" she retorted, eyes narrowing with newfound anger. Whatever vestiges of amicability that had been lingering in her features were replaced by fury as she continued, pointing an accusing finger at the Redguard. "Can you even imagine the absolute agony I went through, At'Ria?!"
"Oh, don't be such a crybaby, a little pain is good for character. You can't be a damned vampire without suffering a little," she winked as her lips curled into a cruel smirk. "And I'm sure that old Molag – as the prince of domination and all – fucked you good and deep, didn't he?"
That was the final straw.
"You – " the word came as a whisper the first time, choked out, almost.
Then came the unholy screaming, and the ire, and the crushing, razing force of Serana's raw power as she very nearly brought down the ceiling on them. Her eyes were fire, her words the bitter edge of a blade as she advanced on the Redguard in the middle of the room with the sole purpose of tearing the grinning head off her shoulders and reveling in the death of her one and only sin.
But as she reached the vampire and looked into those nigh-black eyes she found the resolve forged by thousands of years wavering, for they were filled with so much more than the spite and disdain that At'Ria had voiced. There was a wound so deep, so old that Serana could hardly fathom how the woman lived with it; the debilitating pain from many other bleeding lesions in her psyche; and then there was that which ultimately stayed her hand; the sorrow-wrought fondness flickering deep in the black reaches of the Redguard's eyes, laden with guilt and sadness and many other, less conceivable feelings.
As quickly as the maelstrom of spells around them appeared it vanished, leaving a pair of exhausted and emotionally drained vampires standing in the middle of an ancient tomb. The Nord maintained the eye contact for a few precious moments more before severing the disquieting connection and stepping away.
"Leave now, At'Ria, and I will spare your life," her voice was tired as she leaned on the pillar which was her prison for the better part of her life. Her eyes were closed and her forehead furrowed with fatigue, but the Redguard's attention was completely taken by the object on Serana's back. She glared at it with fervent hatred, barely catching the words that had left the Nord's lips. She bit back her cutting remark, the ominous feeling swelling in her chest and the instincts that were screaming at her louder than her own thoughts, choosing instead to reply.
"Don't be foolish, Serana. We have to get out of here, or we'll get buried alive," she said and pointed at the cracks in the old rockface above them.
"There's no 'we' here, At'Ria," the Nord replied as she opened her eyes, but her words lacked proper venom. It was obvious that whatever energy she had left had been drained by their confrontation and despite the terms on which they were, Serana wasn't so stupid as to throw her life away after just gaining control over it again.
"But you and I could find the way out of here… side by side," she finished and pushed herself off the pillar, stretching her limbs tiredly as she took a tentative step closer to the Redguard. The vampire merely nodded and gripped her sword a little tighter as they set off to find the exit.
Side by side, of course.
I apologize for the lack of updates, guys, but school's back on track and it's been hectic. _
I'll do the best I can, but I can't promise anything.
Hopefully you'll enjoy this one. :D
Comments are delightfully appreciated, as always.^^