The Purification Rite and a Troublesome Night
Let the fun begin! Granted killing everyone was going to be hard if they weren't all asleep. With my luck, they'd be awake and doing something...which was exactly what they were doing. I was sitting next to the ladder that gave the exit to the well, with Shadowhunt sitting across my lap and an arrow on top of it. My first target was Antoinetta Marie, who was standing in my line of sight, and oblivious to the fact that I was behind her. Nearby, Gogron and Teinaava were sitting in the two chairs in the corner of the room, reading and talking. Then there was the Dark Guardian that continuously patrolled the area, but he shouldn't do anything. I made sure that Sufferthorn was at the ready, and raised my bow with the arrow notched. Aiming carefully, I released two enchanted arrows which sung in the air and found a home in Marie's right shoulder. Of course she'd notice me, and she ran at me with weapon drawn. I stood from my crouched stance, withdrew my dagger and sliced her when I could. I saw Teinaava and Gogron stand up and wield their weapons but not move toward me. Marie made one mistake and ended up with a dagger plunged into her face, and yanking it out made a wonderful 'thwock' sound. She fell to the ground, and Gogron came running at me, swinging like a mad man. It was going to be harder to kill Gogron, especially since he was wearing his heavy armor.
I casted flare as often as I could to get him to stagger back, but his battle axe would always find a way to chop at my body. Striking in one spot with my dagger, was hard to do when he moved around but eventually, I got the dagger to dent the armor so bad that one more stab into it would make the metal pierce him. Getting close enough to him without getting my head chopped off was the fun part. I was getting tired from avoiding the damned axe, and when he rested for a brief moment, I shoved my small dagger into the dented metal, which went into his skin. He staggered back in shock and pain, raised his axe, and didn't get to swing it down in time. I had shoved the dagger into his gut, and forced it up. Removing the bloody weapon and my bloody hands from his wound, I watched him fall down into a dead heap. I took out repair hammers, fixed my dagger, and took out soul gems to recharge it. I looked at Teinaava who still hadn't budged. I walked toward him, hunched over a little and grinning madly. I stopped, sheathed the dagger and took out Shadowhunt and shot him with an arrow. I continued to fire arrows, even when he was chasing me around the main hall. I think I dropped an arrow when he slammed me up against the wall. His face was twist with hate, disgust, and regret. I just grinned, took out Sufferthorn and jabbed it into the side of his head. Blood dripped from the blade as I held onto his dying form.
"Told you that you would die if you ever tried to hit on me again," I said with a slight laugh as I yanked the blade from his skull and let his body drop to the ground. I heard a scream, and felt a dagger pierce my side. Ocheeva must have been awake in her room, strolled out to see what was going on and seen me kill her twin. The pain reminded me that I couldn't afford to waste too much more time out here in the open so I ended it with a jab through the eye socket. Her shrill scream was still ringing in my ears as I went into the living quarters. Telaendril and M'raaj-Dar were sleeping in their beds, unaware of the chaos that had just ensued in the main hall. These two made my purification a lot easier. I went and slit their throats. I watched for a few minutes as M'raaj-Dar's blood seeped into the fur, giving it a nice new color. By now, I was covered in everyone's blood, including my own. My arms hurt, my side was throbbing, my legs felt like they were turning into jello, but I couldn't stop yet. There was one more person I had to execute.
Vicente lay asleep in his room on top of that stone cold slate. As I approached him with a shaking hand, and a wicked gleam in my eyes, he stirred. I quickly swung my dagger so that it cut across his face, and this just woke him up even more. I kept forgetting that Lucien had lent me a scroll to summon Rufio's ghost, and by the time I did remember that... my weapons were broken, and I could feel all of my life just seeping out of me. It was hard to stand up after being stabbed three times in both of my legs. My left arm hung limply, the shoulder was shattered. I was panting heavily as I kept my arm up to block his swings, even if my arm felt like raw meat at the moment. He managed to make me stagger back and took the chance to cut me good before I finally summoned Rufio's ghost to help me. The ghost took care of Vicente, and I was left holding onto the table for support. Getting back home to Skingrad was going to be really bad, but Eyja would be there to take care of me. So, I stood up and began the long journey back home. I couldn't stay at Alex's house... I didn't have the key and I didn't want to have to break-in just to bleed everywhere. Better to bleed out in the open where the wolves will munch on me... it was going to be a long journey indeed, especially with my mind set on the negative.
I leaned against the big doors to my house, and pathetically knocked twice. I was starting to see doubles, and I was grinning lopsidedly, but that was happening from the loss of blood part. I heard Eyja walking toward the door, and the door was pulled open. I dropped to the ground and growled at Eyja for not just opening one of the two doors. Apologizing quickly, she helped me up and led me to my room where I was stripped of clothes and tended to. I could barely hear Eyja as she spoke to me, but I caught every single word the second time she said it. I was stabbed off in the side of my gut, the upper portion of my back, my left shoulder was shattered, the nerves in my right forearm were damaged and the bones in my legs were almost shattered, they were just fractured. I had a deep cut running down my chest, thanks to Vicente's last stand of defense. It'd turn into a scar, probably a hideous one but I had good hopes that these scars would turn out magnificent. At least no one decided to slice my face. It took her hours to clean and bandage me, and it took a couple of minutes for her to dress me in huntsman clothing. She said that it wouldn't cause me any pain to wear these, and she was dead right about that. Although, I could've done without lying on my back in my bed, but it gave me time to think about things. Like where in Oblivion did we get something this revealing? I don't remember pulling these off of anybody, or finding them in a chest. Did these come with the bedroom set? If so, that store owner is so dead.
I bore easily when I can't do a thing. I was freezing too, but that was impossible, the fireplace was burning brilliantly and boldly. I turned my head a little to be gazing up at a hooded figure that smiled coldly down at me. He changed his outfit quickly when he heard Eyja come up the stairs, and smiled at my visitor before tossing more wood into the fire and leaving. I looked back at Lucien, who had leaned back in his chair and was studying me. Not that I was self-conscious or anything, but I hope he was studying all of me.
"You've done well, better than what I was expecting... and I wasn't expecting much," he started, and I glared at him, "I had a feeling that you wouldn't arrive that day, so here I am. When you are feeling better, you may go to the first dead drop point to obtain your next assignment, and a gift waiting for you in the stables. I want you to treat her better than you treat yourself. Shadowmere is her name." He placed his freezing hand on my good shoulder, and looked at me intently before making his other hand hover over the wound that Vicente had given me. Lucien gave me an angry look as he forcefully kissed me, I was shocked and then I screamed... well, screamed to the best of my ability if someone's lips weren't on mine. The screaming was because Lucien had applied pressure to the wound, causing it to open and bleed. He pulled away, a sadistic smile of pleasure on his face as he stood to leave me.
"Get better soon," he said, leaving and telling Eyja that she needed to go and change my bandage again. He watched Eyja enter the room in a panic before changing into his robes and vanishing out of sight. She carefully lifted me up and went to redress my wound.
Seconds passed into minutes which passed into hours. Sleep continued to evade me, and I wanted to sleep on my sides so bad but couldn't. The fire in the fireplace had died three hours ago, and Eyja hadn't been up to give it life again. I heard the front door open downstairs, and I could hear heavy footsteps followed by lighter ones on the staircase. I couldn't see anything because it was so dark in here, so when the door opened I screamed. The guest probably winced and was covering his ears from my screaming, and Eyja was busy trying to calm me down. I was trying to yell at her at the same time I was screaming, but it came out to be a bunch of gibberish. I nearly went into another shrieking fit when someone touched my shoulder, but a hand clamped over my mouth to keep me silent.
"Enough screaming Lav, you'll just end up harming yourself more than I would," a very familiar voice said as a fire roared to life in the fireplace, and lit up none other than the dunmer. He was smiling a very small smile. I still freaked and bit his hand, growling dangerously. He cursed and held his hand as I, very painfully grabbed the blanket on my bed and covered myself. I was not in the best of state at all. I hadn't eaten in days and Eyja wouldn't let me eat until the wound on my chest healed completely. Also, I looked more translucent than a ghost. Okay, so I wasn't see-through, but I was pale. Most likely paler than Lucien at this point. Modryn didn't glare at me, nor did he reprimand me for biting him.
"Well, it seems that our Guild master isn't expecting the unexpected as she should be," he said calmly while I gave him his orders, but he never left my side, "I'm here to help Eyja take care of you. As well as another person who should be arriving here shortly."
"What do you mean shortly? I'm already here," another familiar face said as I tilted my head a little to see Alexira standing next to Eyja, "Just sleep little sister, we'll be bunking downstairs." When all three had left me, I still had troubles sleeping. Alex and Modryn were laughing up a storm down there, I was freezing cold. Eyja forgot to close the window so it killed the fire and the blanket wasn't keeping me warm. There was a third person laughing down there, and the laugh didn't belong to Eyja. I didn't know who it could be, and I couldn't even guess at what could have been so freaking hilarious that they just had to keep me up. I was tempted to knock myself out cold by hitting my head on the headboard but somewhere along the time of just laying there... I fell asleep.