'You've never tried your own kind?'

Nysteris smiled almost undetectably as she looked at me, her red eyes half-lidded and her black hair blowing softly around her in the breeze. She appeared deceptively calm and content as she stood there, leaning against the tree next to her former home in Falkreath; where she had once lived with Marcurio as her steward. She had been a vampire then, and he had been her thrall. Now I had taken his place, all these years later; and as I stared at the abandoned and run-down shade of Lakeview Manor, covered in creeping vines and awash with pale silver moonlight, I couldn't help but feel the painful loneliness.

'No. And I never will. I could never harm one of my own. Snow Elf blood could be sweeter than honey for all I know; it shall not cross my lips.'

I frowned slightly in confusion as I watched her eyes pass over me, the little smile still upon her face. It seemed more malicious to me now as she spoke and her teeth caught the reflection of the moonlight.

'You could tell me.'

I scoffed slightly and smiled to myself as I sat down on a mossy rock near the run-down stables and looked at her, raising an eyebrow. 'No I couldn't. I've not tasted any other. Sujamma wouldn't be sweet to one who'd never had anything else.'

'You should be broadening your tastes, then.' She observed me quietly for a moment, a small furrow in her brow as she spoke, a mild expression of sternness and concern passing across her face. 'You won't awaken as the fearsome creature you truly are until you've tasted mortal blood. You limit yourself. Stop being weak and embrace your gift.'

I hated it when she chided me. I was just as stubborn as she was, and there was no way I was going to shed the last vestige of my honour, whatever it may be, by taking mortal blood into myself. Not yet.

'All in good time, sera.' I smiled at her through my mild annoyance. 'Let me pace myself.'

'You're a terrible fledgling. I should have chosen someone stronger.'

'Ah, but you didn't.' I grinned broadly at her, my mouth widening into a savage grin. 'Was it because you couldn't find a stronger one, or because you can't bear to be without me? A bit of both perhaps, sera?'

She turned her head away as she spoke, giving a small exasperated sigh. 'Were you always like this?'

'Always, my dear. That will never change. You should stop being weak and embrace your gift.'

'You? A gift?'

'Oh yes. Don't try to deny it. I can see it in your dead, lifeless eyes. I know you want me.'

A smile cracked her face as I winked at her; after a few moments she came gliding across the mossy earth and softly relaxed into my arms, her cold fingers gently closing around my bicep. I murmured into her ear as I kissed her hair and smoothed it with my open hand. 'See? I don't even have to ask.' She smiled again as she softly dug her nails into my bicep, her eyes almost closing as she sighed softly and melted into my embrace.

It reminded me of how she used to be; young and vivid and a mystery to all but myself. A creature of fearsome power and fathomless depth to all who beheld her; but to me, my heart and soul. The one who knew me better than anyone else ever could, and the one whose affections I would give up my life for. Indeed, I had done exactly that.
But the creature I held in my arms now was not her. It was the reanimated corpse of the woman I loved; a hollow shell of undead flesh driven by a heart of darkness. The familiarity of her face and her form constantly caused my heart to flutter; but what kept me here was the promise that I would somehow be able to reclaim her, in whatever form that may be. That she would be mine again.

She was placated now. It was as good a time as any to gently press her. I murmured quietly to her as I kissed her hair and idly twirled its cool, glossy blackness around my fingers.

'You never told me what Companion blood tastes like. Sweeter than the average Nord?'

She scoffed quietly. 'The underlings are no different.'

'I wasn't talking about the underlings.' I smiled so that she could hear it in my voice. I was trying to get her to tell me what I wanted to hear; if it took a little embellishment and charm, then so be it. 'I'm referring to those hairy, sweaty brutes holed up in that mead hall. The ones you love to visit. Maybe with the promise of letting me see you with all that bloody mess on your face, you could even persuade me to join you. Toughen up and embrace it. Deflower me.'

She purred and twisted in my lap to gaze up at me, a lecherous grin on her face and her eyes tainted with a hint of lust. 'Really? Mmm. This would be the first time you've had something to deflower for many a long year.'

'I can't deny it.' I smiled broadly at her. 'Don't tease me, sera. Come on. Let's do it. I'm asking politely like a good little fledgling.'

'You're a vampire lord. You don't need me to hold your hand to go and bother some worthless thugs.'

'I want you there. Don't tell me you're scared? I'm shocked.'

She grinned at me again; that familiar touch of evil tainted her dark beauty. 'I'm pleased by your eagerness. But it cannot be done.'

My heart stopped beating for a moment. I felt a rush of adrenaline and anticipation ripple through me at the words she spoke.
It was working. If I could get her to elaborate...

'I knew it. You are scared. I'm disappointed in you, sera.' I leaned in to gently bite the tip of her ear as I smiled; I silently begged to Azura that she wouldn't hear the pounding of my heart as I waited for her response.

'Don't be stupid. It would be suicide to drink werewolf blood.'

I almost exhaled with the intensity of the emotion that burst in my chest.

I had it. What I had wanted her to tell me. It was almost over. I tried my hardest to control my breathing as I calmed myself and quietly continued.

'What? How do you mean?' I asked her softly. 'I thought you'd been feasting on them for years.'

The sound of my own heart thundered in my head as my chest began to heave.

'Of course not. They are children of Hircine. Their blood would take away my master's blessing and make me a vulgar beast of the wilds like them. And it would do the same to you.' She looked up at me again, her big, blood-red eyes fixed upon my face. 'Their lot in this life is to suffer. As they caused my people to suffer, and weep for their slain daughters and sons; as the Falmer children suffered upon learning of the deaths of their fathers and the elders cried in vain when the news of the Snow Prince's death reached them. They will suffer as my kind suffered at the hands of the Dwemer. And you nor I will do anything to prevent it.'

My hands began to tremble.

I had the answer; the cure.

If Nysteris drank from one of the circle, and the Glenmoril witches were slain...

'What's wrong with you?'

I saw her eye me warily as I breathed heavily and a smile spread across my face. I met her stare with a wide one of my own and tried to calm myself.

'I'm hungry.' I slid my hand down from her hair and roughly pulled her up toward me by the waist, licking her neck as I murmured, trying to disguise my frantic excitement and joy as hunger and lust. 'Don't deny me.'

She laughed softly as she wound her arms around my shoulders. 'For what?'

'What do you want, sera? You know I'll give it to you.'

'Death did nothing to dim your desire, did it? Dunmer men...'

'We've had this conversation before. In Whiterun. When we never left the house and I wore you out.' I grazed her neck with my teeth and roughly grabbed her backside. 'Three times as many couplings for a third as many children. We have to be like this. It's in our blood. You've never complained about it.' I grinned wildly, still elated from the news she had given me; I wasn't even thinking about what I was saying. The plan was already beginning to form in my head.

I felt her grip my hair as she leaned up to press her lips against my neck; I wasn't listening to the words she spoke.

Finally, after all of these years; hope.