As Lilia walked back to Chorrol she struggled to make sense of her feelings. She'd actually been ordered to kill every other assassin in the Sanctuary. She certainly couldn't try to attack them; one on one, she might stand a chance, but she could never hope to survive taking them all on, vampire attributes or not. Listing all of the sanctuary members in her mind she realized that she was actually going to do it. But what about Vicente? She couldn't kill him. Sighing loudly, she decided to worry about him later. Perhaps he'd kill her and then she wouldn't need to worry about dealing with Lucien ever again.

That man had been so calm as he'd discussed the death of the other assassins, people who looked up to him, trusted him, even loved him. He'd practically raised Teinaava and Ocheeva, and yet he didn't hesitate to name them as part of the contract. His calmness, combined with the cold that chilled her already cool blood, had made her skin crawl.

Going invisible she made her way into Cheydinhal via the stream entrance. The cool water helped soothe her back, which still felt as if it was on fire from the poison. She'd have to ask Vicente how to fix it. Gods, what was she going to do about Vicente?

She grimaced to herself as she pulled the well cover aside. The muscles hurt to use. Gingerly she pulled it back into place above her and made her way down the ladder. She maintained her invisibility spell until she reached her room. Letting the spell fade she opened the door and stepped inside. She faked a large smile as she greeted the other vampire. At least he couldn't read her emotions anymore. Perhaps this is why she'd been turned into a vampire, she mused.

Vicente gave her a hug and then turned her around, having felt the holes in her armour.

"Lilia, I think you may just have to give up on clothes. The concept obviously doesn't work for you." He teased her gently. "These tears will take some time to repair; what happened?"

"I ran into a spiked ball tipped with poison. Vicente, right now there are several spots where my back is in agony. Please tell me that there is a way to cure this." She was relieved to see him smile.

"Yes, a very simple spell. I really should have taught it to you before. It's a cure poison spell, but instead of curing the blood stream, as a normal spell does, this one cures a specific area. Here, let me show you how." He brought his right hand towards the wounds.

"Wait." She quickly pulled off her gloves. Closing her eyes, she grabbed hold of his left hand. "Continue."

"Very well." Bringing his right hand to the first hole he let the healing magic flow. While doing so, he felt as if he had to cast the spell through something, or someone. He eyed Lilia curiously.

"Now let me try." She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. As she exhaled, he saw a swirl of blue magic float across her back. "All better." She had a huge grin of relief on her face.

"Now where did you learn how to do that?"

"Oh, here and there. Mysticism is my favourite form of magic, and I was taught how to learn spells by feeling other mages cast, instead of trying to have them explain it. All I need to do is have body contact and put my mind into the right state. Simple spells are of course easier to learn than complex ones." Moving to her dresser, she began to rummage through her clothes. Vicente had purchased her a few things, which was a boon to her, because her original wardrobe had been ruined one way or another. Except for her black dress, but she never wanted to wear that again. Maybe he was right, perhaps she should just forget about wearing clothes. She almost giggled to herself. The distracting thought of 'Lilia, the naked assassin' was too amusing a mental image. She finally settled on a dark blue silk robe, similar to the style favoured by mages. The soft touch of silk felt good against her skin; she had found that her leather seemed to stick, tugging and pulling her as she moved.

"Vicente, please don't bother with the armour. I probably won't need it again for a while. When's dinner?" She tried to sound casual, but was growing increasingly nervous about the task at hand.

"In about an hour. I believe Teinaava is making roast swampfish. But you don't need to eat, you know that."

"Of course I know that. But it doesn't mean that I shouldn't keep up appearances. Would you be a dear and return the borrowed equipment to the training room? I forgot to do it on my way in." Lilia fixed him with another fake smile. She was trying to keep her hands from shaking. She needed to be alone in the room.

"Of course. Maybe you should have a nap, you seem a bit tired." His gaze was intent.

"Yes, thanks, that might be a good idea. Come wake me for dinner, will you?" Another fake smile.

"With pleasure." Picking up the mace and shield he gave her a big kiss before exiting.

Waiting to make sure Vicente was out of range of sound she quickly ran over to the locked chest beside his desk. In her nervousness her open lock spell was so intense it almost shattered the lock. Telling herself to calm down she rooted through the various vials of poison, occasionally opening one and sniffing the contents, before she found what she was looking for. Pushing the lid back down she had to wiggle it back and forth several times before it finally clicked shut. Reflexively taking a deep breath to calm herself, she made her way to the living quarters.

Teinaava was in the far corner in the kitchen area, tending to dinner. M'raaj-Dar was sitting at the table along with Telaendril. Lilia's resolve weakened. If they caught her, she'd be dead. Forcing a big smile onto her face, she walked up to the Argonian.

"Ah, Lilia. You smell different." He sniffed at her.

"New perfume. Can I give you a hand with anything?" She tried to keep her voice light. She wasn't sure if Teinaava was eyeing her suspiciously, or if it was her imagination.

"So you're an expert chef too? No wonder Lucien is so impressed with you, blessed Sister." Telaendril's tone was nasty as she spoke.

"Telaendril, that's enough." Teinaava spoke quickly to the Bosmer. His expression softening he turned back to Lilia. "Of course you can help. Here, stir the sauce."

During the course of the meal preparations Lilia poisoned the roast fish, the sauce, the wine, the ale, and the fruit for good measure. Dinner ready, she quickly ran to fetch the other assassins, imploring Teinaava not to serve until everyone was there. Lilia told him that she felt bad about being away from the sanctuary so often, so she'd like to eat with them all. He seemed to believe her.

On her way back from Ocheeva's room, after having summoned Gogron and Antoinetta from the training room, she bumped into Vicente.

"I thought you were going to nap." He was studying her.

"I considered it, but then I decided to help Teinaava." Lilia glanced around and lowered her voice into a conspiratorial whisper. "I know that three of the family already dislike me. I don't want to alienate the other three, so I'm going to try and spend more time with them. Go read in our room, I'll be down after dinner." She gave a quick prayer that the vampire would leave.

"You know, that's not a bad idea. I think I'll join everyone for dinner." With that he offered her his arm.

"No, you don't need to do that. Go, read, and I'll join you after dinner is finished." She faked a smile, then a wink.

He eyed her curiously. "Really, I insist. Come."

Unable to think of any way to get rid of him without arousing his suspicions, she forced herself to accept. During the walk down the hallway to the living quarters she had to keep her knees from giving way. Lilia had never been so nervous in her life. This was far worse than preparing for her first meeting with Lucien.

"Lilia! Come, I've saved you a seat." Gogron patted the bench between himself and Teinaava. Seeing the vampire, he spoke again. "Vicente, grab a chair."

Making her way over Lilia managed to seat herself at the table without falling over. Time seemed to slow down. She faked a grin, smiling politely at everyone. She noted that Vicente was seated at the far end, a glass set in front of him.

"Since we're all here, let's have a toast. Antionetta, would you mind pouring the wine?" Vicente waved at the glass decanter as he spoke. Waiting for everyone to be served, he raised his glass. "To family!"

"To family!" The group of assassins raised their glasses and drank. Lilia pretended to sip at her wine, chastising herself all the while not to let her hand shake. There was no turning back now. The wait was torture. The assassins were chatting happily, eating the fish, and drinking the wine. She managed to mumble polite answers to everyone around her, and picked at the bread. After a while she started to think that her plan had failed. Was the poison too old? Too fresh?

Suddenly Antionetta clutched at her throat. Everyone stared at her in alarm. Before anyone could move to help her the poison took hold in their bodies, causing their throats to swell shut as well. Lilia clutched her own throat and tried to look panicked. It wasn't hard, considering that she already was. Looking around wildly she saw that Antionetta was the first to die. After that it was M'raaj-Dar, Telaendril, and then Gogron. Lilia had to push the dead weight of the Orc off her; he'd fallen onto her left side. The Argonians were still struggling against the poison that was now shutting down their nervous systems bit by bit. She'd expected that; Argonians were known for their natural resistance to most poisons, but they weren't immune. Glancing down the table she noted with alarm that Vicente was also holding his throat.

Dropping her hand in surprise she saw him do the same. He'd also been pretending! The expression on his face was unreadable. Opening her mouth to explain the only thing that came out was a small trickle of blood, as Teinaava's dagger pierced her right side. She felt so cold, and the world went black.