So, I'll put this past my Skyrim fans, as I think you guys will like this idea the most: I will write for Fallout NV. Yeah, I'm only about ten chapters into all three of my books, but humour me. I'll start writing an intro and first chapter for Fallout NV once this chapter goes up, so I hope you guys enjoy, and feel free to review or PM me for criticism or comments. Bye!
Chapter Ten
This was a fight to remember, Areus thought. Whatever had him had kept punching and clawing for the entire time they had been tumbling. Everything they had done was done to keep him off balance and unable to hit back. Too bad it didn't work.
"Enough!" Areus roared, his voice echoing through the empty castle. Fire spouted from his hands as Areus cleared an area around him with light. When he finished the room was nearly completely lit. There was fire on the walls, floor and on decomposing wooden objects like a barrel and a table.
"Oh shit." Areus groaned. It wasn't just one enemy. There were many. Several forms were moving just beyond the light, as if they were scared of it. Then a gnarled hand slowly extended itself out of the inky blackness. When nothing happened the hand pulled back. Then the forms walked into the light. There were seven in total, two elves, a Breton, a Nord, a Khajiit and two Imperials. That wasn't all. They all had clawed nails, fangs protruding from their mouths and glowing yellow eyes.
"Vampires. Shit again." Areus groaned. He drew his sword and stepped into a ready position, waiting for the charge. But they didn't move. All seven were standing still, sniffing the air.
"A wolf!" The Breton hissed.
"He has the scent of the prisoner!" One of the elves hissed back. "He must not reach her!"
"Good. You obviously have the person I'm looking for." Areus smiled, "Now could you please move aside so I can collect her?" The vampires drew their weapons, except the Khajiit who just raised his talons.
"No." They chorused before leaping. Areus just managed to roll under the flying monsters before they collided where he had just been. These seven weren't as responsive as most vampires he had fought, Volkihar included. Areus quickly slashed along the spine of the Khajiit and the vampire screamed and crumbled to dust.
"Good to see that enchantment still works." Areus said under his breath, parrying an axe strike from the Nord. He didn't block a kick from an elf, and Areus flew back into a wall. Looking back, he saw the Breton run at him, then suddenly it was two Bretons. They had mastered the art of creating false copies.
"Shit!" Areus shouted before the Breton grabbed him and flew to the upper levels. It slammed him into another wall, and reached back to claw his face. Before it managed to Areus shoved his sword, miraculously still in his grip, into the monsters gut. It screamed and threw Areus off into another room before crumbling into a dust pile just like the Khajiit. "Fucking vampires." Areus grumbled, picking himself up as fast as possible and moved to leave the room and call out to Vala, Alek and Dina But when he stepped down a loud crack emanated from underneath his foot. Fire sparking to life in his palm, Areus stepped back, only to create even more noise. Surprised the vampires hadn't chased him in here Areus moved his fiery hand closer to the ground and wasn't very surprised to see dozens of broken bones scattered across the floor.
"Well, they had to have eaten something." Areus shook off a feeling of dread.
"Oh, they didn't do that." A woman's voice giggled.
"What!" Areus stumbled backwards and swung wildly. He did a quick turnaround, but couldn't see something.
"Up here." The voice called. Looking up, Areus could see a woman, wearing a suit of strange black armour with a hood over her. The woman was suspended by several thick ropes, frayed from her struggles. Then a mass of skittering emanated from the main hall, as well as sounds of battle.
"Cut me down! Hurry!" The woman hissed. Areus did, slicing through the ropes like they were cheese.
"Well?" Areus asked the woman as she threw the remains of her binds off of her.
"No time to talk!" The woman said hurriedly, pointing at the doorway. Standing there was a large man, wearing the same armour as the woman.
"Wait a minute," Areus mumbled, stepping aside so both the man and woman were in front of him. "That's, that's Nightingale armour!"
"Aye, too bad I didn't get to stay in mystery." The man laughed. "But I'm here with a message. Come to Black Briar City, if you ever want to see your ward alive again." Areus stood there dumbly, until the man's words sunk in.
"What?" Areus roared at the man, now facing him completely. The man ignored Areus and pulled a small bottle off of his belt. Shaking it quickly the man threw it forwards where it shattered of the stone floor. Seconds later, wherever the liquid touched white smoke billowed from the ground, blocking sight and smell.
"LOK VAH KOOR!" Areus Shouted when he recovered from his astonishment. The smoke was pushed from the room, but the man was already gone.
"Shit." The woman groaned. "We need to-"
"WULD!" Areus interrupted. He slammed into the woman, pinning her to the wall with his nearly closed fist.
"Who was he! Who are you!" Areus nearly screamed.
"Calm down." The woman spoke calmly, despite Areus's choking her. "I will tell you everything, but not now."
"No." Areus growled, reaching up with his free hand and pulling down the Nightingale hood and mask.
"What?" Areus gasped, stepping back. The Nightingale was female, with short black hair, gleaming skin, two glowing yellow eyes and a pair of fangs in her mouth. And Areus knew her.
"Serana . . ." Areus whispered, staring at her.
"Yes." Serana responded. Before Areus could do anything she leapt forwards and smashed into him with all her might, which was a lot considering she was a vampire. Areus was launched through the air, through the doorway and over the railing, crashing back onto the floor of the main hall where a bleeding Alek and Dina were. Scattered around them were piles of dust and dead bodies.
"Where were you?" Dina demanded, ignoring the fact that Areus had just fallen from the sky. "First we're attacked by vampires, then the Thieves Guild?"
"Thieves Guild?" Areus groaned, pulling himself off the ground. Falling onto hard stone wearing a metal armour was one the most uncomfortable things Areus could name.
"Yes, Thieves Guild." Alek grunted, calming Dina with a hand on her shoulder. He motioned at the bodies that hadn't disintegrated. They were all wearing a leather armour set Areus had never seen before, but it was uncannily similar to the Thieves Guild armour Areus had worn a long, long time ago. "They attacked us after I slew the last vampire. A Nightingale was with them." Alek continued.
"I know that." Areus said. "He told me, 'Go to Black Briar City if you ever want to see your ward again'. He took Vala." Dina and Alek nodded, and Areus screamed into the empty castle.
"Oh, you shouldn't be so unhappy about losing someone my dear. After all, you did it to all of us!" A snarl came from above. Alek and Dina each spun to face the new threat, both of their gazes landing on Serana, hanging like a bat from the underside of the balcony where Areus had fallen.
"Why are you doing this? We were friends!" Areus shouted up at Serana, the vampire crawling along the balcony, still upside down.
"Aye, that's true. We were friends. Were friends. Not anymore it would seem you bastard." Serana said the words so calmly no one would expect her to launch herself down from her roost into Areus, clawing and hissing the whole time.
"Raagh!" Areus roared, raising his armoured left arm to catch Serana's fangs as they shot towards his vulnerable neck. When Dina rushed to slash Serana's back she was flattened with a powerful back kick, and Alek rushed to her side. Serana stepped back lightly and slammed her open hand into Areus's chest, digging her claws in and raising him over her head only using one arm.
"You are a betrayer! You abandoned us all at Whiterun!"
"What?" Areus coughed. "I had a vision of you all at my funeral, and since when were you at Whiterun?"
"Funeral? Ha! I would never mourn you! All your vows, all your promises mean nothing! You broke them!" Serana spat into Areus' eyes. "I was in the tavern. You told me to be there! And do you know who died at that battle?"
"No," Areus groaned, tears forming at his eyes from the pressure on his chest and the thought of his friends hating him.
"Your housecarl, the wolf Aela, and dozens of guards. They died because you ran!" Serana bared her fangs, preparing to tear into Areus's unprotected neck.
"No!" Alek growled, tackling the vampire from behind and letting Areus slam into the ground. But whatever skill Alek had, it wasn't enough to stand up to a Vampire Lord. Serana threw off the Nord and began to smoke, her Nightingale armour disappearing as her skin turned green and she grew taller. When the transformation was complete, a nine foot tall, winged goblin-like creature stood, or maybe floated in front of Alek.
"What?" He gasped, scrambling to his feet in a defensive position.
"She's a Daughter of Coldharbour! A Vampire Lord!" Areus shouted too late. Serana swung her massive claws into Alek's head. Thankfully the old man ducked slightly, and his was hit with the muscled arm of Serana, not the claws.
"It's just you and me Betrayer!" Serana roared at Areus.
"So be it." Areus whispered. The thought of fighting one of his closest companions, maybe killing her was a horrid thought. But if Serana died to save Dina and Alek, not to mention a kidnapped Vala, Areus had to do it. Dodging Serana as she rushed at him, Areus began his own change. Thanks to his enchantments, his armour still melted into his skin, becoming coarse, black fur. He grew to ten feet, his face elongated into a snout. His hands became crossed with paws, as did his feet. A few moments more and Areus was now standing in all his wolf glory.
"Your wolf has become stronger." Serana acknowledged with a hiss. "Let's see if you can beat me now!" Areus knew he had little chance of beating Serana. He would have never been able to fight Harkon alone. No, he did it with Serana, his faithful hound Bran and Isran. Together the three, or four, of them finished off the king of vampires. A Vampire Lord was, in all of Areus' knowledge, the most powerful beings in Skyrim. But he had to fight. Leaping forwards, Areus smashing both his fists into Serana's body, slamming her into the ground. Before she could raise herself Areus began pounding and slashing at her wings so she could not fly away. Serana stopped him of course, but not before her wings had been torn to shreds.
"You will pay." She snarled. Areus responded with a roar and charged forwards. His brutal frontal assault was the only thing that was allowing him to stay alive in this fight. Meaning Areus would need to keeping hitting until he died or Serana gave, which she never would. So no matter what, someone was going to die. What confused Areus was her massive hatred for him for being a traitor. For being a traitor, which is what Serana herself was to the Volkihar Clan. He had no more time to think through his muddled wolf mind, as Serana was breaking through his offence. The Vampire Lord slammed into Areus, knocking him back far enough to give Serana room to manoeuvre. She clawed and screamed, wailing against Areus' many sins. Betrayal, murder and desire. Betrayal of his friends, murder of Serana and desire of more power, enough desire to sell Whiterun to monsters. Where does she get these idea? Areus thought. He gave one more assault, slashing across Serana's face. Before he could hit again she turned back to her human form and began trying to lick up her own blood. Then he realized something. Serana's eyes had no gleam, her fangs dry and her skin had lost colour.
"Blood rage," Areus breathed. That's why she was so furious. The vampires holding her prisoner must have wrought their revenge by dooming her to slow starvation. Leaping on top of Serana, Areus pinned her arms and legs using his own. Reaching to her face and slicing a fang across his palm, Areus let drops of blood drip into her open mouth. When the crimson nectar hit her tongue Serana gasped, then sighed in relief.
"Feed." Areus commanded, pulling Serana to the still fresh corpses of the Thieves Guild members. He let her go to work on them, just in time to hear Alek.
"So she is also an old friend?"