A/N: Thanks for reviews! :)

Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Oblivion or any characters, plots or other elements there within, and I gain no monetary profit from the writing of this story. I do claim responsibility for Elowyn Demark and one or two random characters scattered throughout the story.

Chapter 36

The hooves of Thedret's bay gelding pounded the rough, broken terrain behind Elowyn, but he could not hope to keep pace with Shadowmere. Elowyn tried to lose him in the woodlands, but his shouts were never far enough away for her to feel she had truly left him behind. The fool – she could kill him for being so stubborn. And that was the precise reason she needed to put distance between them.

Despite the exhaustion of her curse, a hard, angry kind of insanity drove her and spurred Shadowmere to run faster without needing to be urged. The sun crested the horizon, and Elowyn could not help but cry out in pain as the rays scorched down upon her. She tried to bury herself in her cloak, to hide from the deadly heat, but it was not enough. Searing pain and the nauseating stench of burning flesh filled her senses.

Why had she been so stupid and put off feeding for so long? The search for the sword and greaves had been a welcome distraction from her current physical condition and she had foolishly lost track of time. It was a mistake she had not made in many, many years. She had been nearly out the gate to find a convenient victim in the streets of Bruma when she had heard the riders approaching Cloud Ruler Temple. Brellin's timing could not have been worse.

She abandoned Shadowmere and dove for the cave as soon as it came into view. Her body screamed in protest as she scrambled inside, her blistered, withered skin cracking into open sores and fissures as she slipped and skittered to a stop in the blessed darkness. The curse pressed down on her suddenly as the desperate burst of adrenaline left her, and she collapsed into a smoldering, whimpering heap on the stone floor.

"Elowyn?"

The wounded vampire started to turn around, but the flicker of torchlight stopped her and she covered herself completely with the cloak. Of course he would bring a torch, she thought bitterly. He was human and needed the light to see. In more than ten years, it was the first time she could recall wishing she was just a simple human once again, if only to escape the pain and hunger that seared through her.

"Thedret, stop!" she snarled when he said her name again, and he halted so suddenly that she hoped he had remembered exactly what she was. Good. He needed to be wary. "I'm such a fool. This is my fault. No, it's their fault. Don't come closer. Should never have come back…should have..."

She ground her teeth together to silence the mindless babbling that threatened to escape, but that only caused her to take a sharp breath in through her nose. She could smell him, the warm, life-giving blood pulsing through his veins. The blood that would douse the inferno raging under her skin, the blood she surely needed more than he did.

"Elowyn, I brought you another potion to help with the curse," he said very carefully, "and a healing potion if you need it. Are you injured?"

"I said stay back!" she growled savagely into her cowl when he stepped forward. "Am I injured? Hah! Can't you obey anything I tell you?"

"I'm trying to help," he answered, his voice still cautious.

"If you wish to have your throat torn out, then by all means, keep helping!" Her shout echoed off the stone walls and she cringed as her head pounded and swam. "It's all unraveling…I knew it would…matter of time…only a…always a matter of time…"

"Enough of this." Thedret's voice was commanding then, the same tone she had witnessed him use on the other knights from time to time. They always obeyed him, always deferred to his judgement, second only to her own. That was a good thing, she decided, but her aching body would not let her dwell on that thought. "The others are not far behind. We don't have time for delays."

"Keep them out of here. Keep them out until after nightfall, then I can…just keep them away! Your lives depend on it. And mine. Hah! And mine..."

Thedret was silent for a long moment as if he were working something out, but the longer he stood there, the worse Elowyn's situation became. The pain was twisting into a burning itch as her skin cooled, and she could barely resist the desperate urge to scratch at her face and neck. She knew from past experiences when the sun had punished her for being caught outside that scratching would only make the skin peel and flake off in pale, dead chunks.

"Turn around," Thedret eventually said. "Look at me."

"Get…out," she growled through clenched teeth. She tried to pull the cloak tighter, but her arms trembled and her head felt thick and clouded. Internally she cursed the Nine with the worst words she had ever learned. Which, considering the sailors she had grown up around, was a rather extensive repertoire of insults.

"No," he insisted stubbornly. "Turn around. I need to know what's going on."

She started to sneer, but what came out was a harsh bark of laughter. "You are such a fool. You belong with your petty gods. Do you have any idea what I am, who I am? I tried to tell you..." The shaking woman gathered her trembling legs under her and used the wall to push herself upright. She was careful to keep her back toward him, and she was silently pleased when Thedret stopped himself from coming to her aid.

"You once said I'm not, but I know I'm a monster. A beast. And that's fine with me. I chose this, and I've accepted it. You never will, but you have to.

"And I am Sheogorath." She slowly turned toward the torchlight, not daring to move too quickly lest her legs buckle beneath her and ruin the dramatic effect. "The Lord of Madness, who dances for the Nine and cannot die. The great, legendary hero, whom prophets herald and women swoon over." The other Redguard's face blanched at the sight of her puckered, scorched skin, and Elowyn laughed again. "Not the face you were expecting? They never said madness was beautiful, hmm?"

"What…" Thedret's voice stuck in his throat for a moment before he swallowed and tried again. "What's happened to you?"

"The sun does not love my kind. I denied my hunger for too long and have paid the price. When the others see me, the price will double, hmm? This is the payment I receive for helping your gods. But," she eyed him significantly, "I am very hungry right now."

Thedret took an instinctual step backward but recovered enough to frown as he tried to sort out the situation. "Why did you let this happen to you? I don't…"

"Let this?" she snarled. "I told you to wait! Your impatience is to blame for this! All of you fool males! Sheogorath at least was wise enough to choose a female to replace him! And Oblivion take your precious Nine as well! I tried to get here before the sun, but…"

"What can we do?" Thedret cut in harshly. "This arguing serves no one! Tell me what needs to be done and we'll do it."

"Get out!" she shrieked, her whole body locked and tense for a tremulous moment before her exhaustion won out. "Get away...before I...." The rock floor spiraled up toward her, arms flailing as she tried to focus on not cracking her head open against the stone. This time, Thedret could not stand idly by, and even as she desperately wished he would get away from her, a dark part of her smiled.

As he reached out, his torch clattered to the ground, its sputtering light sending mad shadows dancing across the walls. She flopped to her knees as he caught her shoulder with one hand, holding her slouched form from completely crumpling. His scent, his warm, human smell filled her mind and awakened the dormant, feral side of her that usually stayed contentedly caged.

Instinct led her to snap her hand up and grab him by the throat, her fingers digging into his flesh like iron despite the trembling of her weak body. She raised her unsteady head to look into his wide, suspicious eyes, though he stubbornly continued to hold her up and did not struggle. She could feel his seductive pulse pounding beneath her fingers.

"El…owyn." His voice wheezed from his throat and a tiny sliver of reason crept into her clouded mind, but not nearly enough for her to ease her stranglehold on his throat.

He lifted his other hand to show the potions held there, perhaps thinking they would calm her or distract her. As he held the restorative potion in front of her face, she tore out the cork with her teeth and downed the bland concoction. Almost immediately, strength surged through her frail, cursed body, but the relief only sharpened the agony of her burned flesh.

Thedret started to offer her the healing potion, but she slapped the bottle from his hand. She smiled in cruel satisfaction at the tinkling sound of shattering glass farther down the shaft of the cave, and drank in the sight of his startled, wary expression.

"Fool."

She snarled the word like the animal she knew she was, then threw her weight against him, sending him flat onto his rear end as his back slammed against the wall behind him. Elowyn followed straight through, straddling his thighs as she tilted his head back and sank her fangs into the soft tissue of his throat.

Though she was not gentle and she knew it must be a painful experience for him, Thedret only offered violent resistance for the first few seconds. Her renewed strength ensured that he was thoroughly pinned no matter how he flailed, but she was privately relieved in some detached way that she would not have to injure him unnecessarily. She could both hear and feel a growl rising in his throat, feel his fingers fisting against the sides of her tunic, but for whatever reason he stopped fighting back and sat gasping and rigid beneath her. Pain seared across her flesh as the burns and broken skin and deep fissures knit themselves back together, but she had never felt more pleased by agony in all her life.

Thedret's pulse quickened, his heart struggling to keep up with the sudden and deadly drop in blood supply. Despite being far from satisfied, Elowyn withdrew her mouth from his neck, pausing only to run her tongue lightly over the small wounds in his skin. A shudder ran through him as he struggled to even his breathing, and she was a little impressed that he managed to stay conscious. A small twinge of guilt hit the back of her mind as she looked down at his defiant but dazed expression, but she only smiled and licked her lips.

"You taste better than I expected."

Shadows shifted and played across the faint sunlight filtering through the cave entrance. Elowyn twisted her head to see her two knights and the young squire taking in the scene with a discernible degree of disbelief. Judging by their expressions, they had heard Elowyn's last comment and translated it in an entirely different way than she had meant it. Carodus was the first to recover.

"We can, uh...wait outside if you two need a few more minutes…"

Elowyn laughed, for the first time really aware of how compromising their position was, and smirked wickedly down at Thedret's thunderous expression. "No need. We can pick up where we left off later, hmm?"