WHERE YOU HANG YOUR ENEMY'S HEAD

His eyes were brown as the forest. Hers were as blue as the sea. His hair was as dark as charcoal. Hers as light and golden as the rays of sun dancing on the ocean. His face was rough, masculine and all sharp edges. Hers was soft and inviting, but strong in it's own way. He was a fierce businessman and she was a loving artist. And a seamstress. A fashion statement. He was a hunter. Close to a warrior but not that close.

I was a mix of the two. Some sort of weird combination. Black hair like my father, once blue eyes like mother's. Warrior spirit but artist freewheeling. Actually, more of a prankster than anything. Yet, that had no real purpose unless I wanted to be a jester…

Speaking of, he's right next to me. Waiting for me to wake up. I just keep my eyes shut a little longer and pretend. The silence was bliss. I worked up the nerve to speak the Night Mother, just as I was getting tired again. Apparently, I had gone without blood for days, so replenishment and sleep were essential. It was only…when I slept, I would dream of them. My parents.

I hadn't thought of them in a while. Not until my meeting with the Emperor. Maybe that makes me a horrible child. But I could only suffer such emotional trauma for so long. Thinking of them brought up old wounds that would fester…but maybe I needed that. I was forgetting my purpose.

Right when I was free from the shackles, free from Helgen, I wanted to gain wealth. Climb up the ranks somewhere and the Thieves Guild was just for that. It wasn't until I met Mercer Frey that I realized how deep the wounds ran. My parents were killed before my eyes. I was sent to prison shortly after because they couldn't keep my electric powers together. Mercer Frey had a part in that, but he wasn't the one who orchestrated it.

Maybe it was time I found out just who that was.

I kept that thought in my mind when I opened my eyes and tried to convince Cicero I was alright. I kept thinking of them as I stood before the Night Mother's coffin, up above near the entrance of the Sanctuary. If I just thought of them, then maybe I could be brave enough to face her.

Why have you wept child? We completed the contract.

I keep my face carefully blank. "I did as you asked, we got that…necklace you wanted. That was the reason for killing the Emperor, right?"

That, among other things.

I don't pry, "We have another problem. The imposter is back."

I know. Forty people killed across Skyrim, nearly a hundred in total…if I needed a new champion, I would choose them.

"Have at it." I smile. I'd be delighted to trade places with them.

You could. She says, and I'm just waiting for the words "but you don't have a choice".

But I can make a deal with you.

I raise my eyebrows. This is new. "What kind of deal and why would I bite?"

She laughs, The man you want dead. I know who it is.

My hands begin to tremble. The person I've been dreaming of.

Mercer Frey was amusing, wasn't he? However, he was not the one to gorge your parents in front of your eyes was he not?

"No." I whisper. The day was hazy, maybe by my own desire. It was best not to think of it. But memories of that dark night come flooding in whether I like it or not. The house was quiet, everyone had just gone to sleep after a rewarding day outdoors. A storm had just come through and watered the crops in the nearby farms. Mom said it was almost time for planting season, so, we worked out in the garden for most of the day.

That night, when I had just rested my head, I heard them. Something creeping through the lower rooms. I always had good hearing, so I leapt from my bed and sneaked out of my room. Below the banister I heard arguing. I can't remember for the life of me, what it was about. Next thing I knew the leader, the main guy up front, shoved his hand through dad's stomach. Mom screamed. Dad's head was gone and mom was running. I was paralyzed with fear. The other henchmen got her and that's when they started to tear her limbs…

I'm shaking now. "You know who it is?"

Not precisely but I have a guess. Kill the imposter, that is your next contract. They are skulking around Solitude as we speak. We might be able to get some information from them.

A new fire rages inside. Not all of the past events and troubles with the Night Mother are forgotten. But their consequences could be…delayed. "I will."

The carriage wasn't going fast enough. "Calm down Listener! We will be there in no time, Cicero knows it!" He peers over the edge at the gray sky and mountains we pass. I'm wound up, tight as a top. When I get this person, make them pay for impersonating me and framing me in murders, then I'll be happy. But the Night Mother's comments about my parent's murderer still linger. In the Sanctuary I believed every word she says, but now I have reason to doubt. What better way to get me back in her good graces than to dangle that carrot in my face?

"Solitude! Solitude! We are here!" Cicero bounces in his seat. I turn my head to see the towering city on a cliff. A bounty will be on my head no doubt, and the Nightingale Armor was too suspicious, so, I sit in the red and black Brotherhood armor. Just this time. I'm not sure how well it will stand against the sun.

"Here you go." Carriage driver says. He stops the horse and allows us to get off. "Don't go getting into any trouble you hear?"

"We'll try." I say. Cicero bounds ahead of me, a spring in his step. I told Nazir to stay with Babette to defend the Sanctuary if needed. Cicero wanted to stay with Mother, but I needed another pair of eyes and ears. Maybe I should have brought one of the others instead.

Cicero's eyes fill with joy, "Ah! The sounds of the city! I can never get used to it! Where shall we go first? The Blue Palace? Radiant Raiment? The Bard's College?"

"There." I point to the Winking Skeever, "We wait there."

Cicero sulked about not being let loose on the city, but I'll be damned if I let him out of my sight. He took to singing and dancing for the bard in the corner. Business was slow tonight and this might have been a factor. Most patrons sat at the tables around the perimeter. I took on another mug of ale. Bartender here was no help. He didn't know much about the Woman in Black than the basics. So, we sit and wait, maybe our luck will strike twice.

"Any clues?" I whisper.

She hears me. The target is in Solitude. I know that.

You'd wonder how the Night Mother knew this. A Black Sacrament needed to be performed for her to have this kind of access, at least from what I've gathered. And one was performed. Not by us but someone else. The contact wished to remain anonymous. I was getting the feeling it was time to hunt them down.

"Where's the contact? Windhelm?"

Dragon Bridge.

Not far from here. I pay Bartender then fetch my partner. "Come on. We have a village to visit."

"Yes! Let us go! Cicero was getting bored of the music anyways!" He sneers. I give the poor bard a few gold coins then we head out. Right outside is when it happens. I guess you could say we were very lucky, but I would say we weren't. This person had been stalking us anyways.

She, and it's very obvious it's a she from the form fitting clothing, leaps from the roof of the Winking Skeever for all to see. People scream when she lands on me. I drop and let her momentum push me. An old man dancing with a mug of ale shouts, he retrieves a sword from his hip to come to my defense.

"Don't!" I yell.

"Guards, guards!" Another man races from the Inn to find them. Wherever could they be?

The Woman in Black pins me and punches me twice. I block before letting electric power loose. She flies five feet from me and bring out her own spark magic then reaches for her katana. I pull my hood off and bare my fangs. Her throat would taste marvelous just about now.

She can't land the mark with the katana because Cicero gets in the way. He stands between me and her. "How dare you impersonate the Listener?!" Before I can stop him, he lunges at the woman, daggers flying faster than the eye can see. She holds him off for awhile with her katana before blasting him with power. He goes sailing across the way and smashes into the door of the Winking Skeever.

I pull my own Ebony Blade and move to meet her. Power flows down my right hand and out to her form. She screams when it hits her. Good. She's not immune to this. She begins to circle then snarls at me. "You. He wants you dead and you should have been by now."

"Who's that?" I question, not that she'll give me the answer.

I was right. She lunges again and our blades meet in the air between us. The sound can be heard all around the city. Here we are, right in the cobblestone streets, fighting to the death. Her hand comes down to shoot her own spark power at me. Oh, I feel it alright but it's not enough. I pull my Blade around and nick her good in the thigh. She screams.

The throat. The Night Mother chimes in.

Right. Her blade swings around to give me the same injury, I block with my own then lunge. Power surrounds me, hers or mine I don't know. All I know is her blood fills my mouth as I rip her throat out. Dead. Although the blood tastes oddly familiar.

Her form falls to the ground. I expect it to stay still while I unmask her, but her arms raise up. This is all with a giant gaping hold in the front of her neck. I ready my Blade. But Cicero beats me to the punch. He flies around me, and in a sickening crackling noise he stabs her right through the heart with a splint of wood from the door. It's jagged and uneven, but it does the job.

We stand there panting. People gasp and begin to crowd around the shenanigans in the street. I don't listen, just pull off the hood and am somewhat shocked at what I find. A Dunmer woman with hair white as the snow. Her eyes are unfocused but definitely show what I needed to know. A vampire.

Cicero pulls the red gem from her neck. "I've never seen one like this before, what do you think Mother?"

Yeah, what does she think?

A vampire. That explains the speed and agility.

She's withholding something from me, I know it. I begin to question her when a guard towers over us. "A vampire! Not good. Hey, I heard they're reforming the Dawnguard, vampire hunters. Might join up myself." Then he walks off, hopefully to find a body bag.

"Dawnguard?" I ask Cicero and Mother.

Old vampire hunters. They might know more of the gem.

"People who kill vampires, as Mother would say. Listener, I don't like the looks they give, we should leave." I look around to our audience, he's right. Soon, they'll truly recognize me. I lift the woman in my arms and direct Cicero to keep the gem handy. We have a long carriage ride home.

"An assassin sent out for another assassin, that's always a tale I thought I'd never be alive to witness. I'm glad you came out on top." Nazir says. He's drinking from a chalice and watching us watch her.

Me and Babette stuck around to investigate the body. Nothing was amiss. No tattoos or strange markings. Just puncture wounds at the throat as someone would expect. "She's a vampire alright." Babette says. "She does have something odd about her though. But I can't figure out what it is."

"Maybe the Dawnguard could help?" Cicero emerges from the staircase, last I heard he was cleaning the Night Mother.

"Dawnguard, I know you told me before that they were still active, but I just can't get my head around that." Nazir mummers. "They haven't been active in years."

I don't like this. The Night Mother speaks, A vampire sent to pretend to be you, then kill you. We need to know who sent her.

"Dawnguard?" I ask, knowing the obvious answer.

Yes. Go to them, they will recognize the body and the bite wounds.

"Where are they?" I nod to Cicero to get ready. I'll have to change myself. Back into Nightingale armor. I can't go alone, and Babette would be too easy a target for them. I dubbed Nazir head of the Sanctuary since he seemed the most responsible. He's still under the delusion that I'm running the show.

Near a city you hold so dear. The Dawnguard can be found in a cave near Riften.

"Good." I speak to her. The others give me a blank look. "Hear that Cicero?" I give him a knowing smile, "We're headed back to the Rift."

For once, the jester was squirming. I guess the weight of the coffin was too much. "How much further?" He pleads.

"Almost there." I pull the wooden coffin up the rest of the way. The cave was nearing. Vampires don't always turn into ash when killed but I wasn't sure what would happen with her body. So, I told Cicero to fetch a coffin. Carriage drivers were weary about us but we found one eventually.

He dropped us off on the only path in the area, leading out of the Rift and to the east. The Night Mother told me were to go. Up the mountain, which was fine with me, but Cicero kept struggling along. I'm surprised he didn't ask me to change into a vampire himself.

"Here?" He asks.

I survey the cave entrance. It will lead to the Dawnguard.

I follow her lead and pull the coffin in. Cicero sighs but picks up his side. The temperature drops with the darkness, but soon the light comes in. On the other side of this mountain pass isn't a cave, but a secluded wonderland. Red ferns dotted the land, snowmelt gave way to a strong and healthy river, and trees along with various species of moss lined the path.

A honey haired Nord balks at our coffin and backs up. "Huh, is that a vampire? Here for the Dawnguard? I'm thinking of joining up with them!"

"Yes, lead the way." I say but based on how the guy zizags I'm not sure if he knows where he's going. The trees part eventually, and then I can see the brick of a castle. It's pretty, not something I've seen before. More like a fortress. All gray and rough edges.

Cicero falls, tripping over a rock. I growl. "Just walk and I'll carry it the whole way up. Some miracle it was that you got the Night Mother's coffin all the way across Skyrim."

He's panting on the ground. "Cicero…had help…from Angel…carriages…"

I pull the coffin over my back, not the most ideal spot but it does the job. Cicero labors next to me the whole way up the winding path. When the entrance is right ahead Cicero states the obvious. "They'll know you're a vampire." He whispers.

"I know. And they won't do a damn thing about it, because we have a bargaining chip. I'm an odd vampire, I'm not afraid to go after my own kind." I grunt again with the weight of the coffin on my back.

Cicero's grin is devilish. "Oh Listener, Mother chose the right person to hear her and carry out her tasks. Never forget that."

Cicero's Journal Entry

2nd of First Seed, 4E 202

The carriage is shaking, we are almost to the Dawnguard. I hope the body stays at bay…it isn't you Mother. But I know this is important. It's important to be away from you so we can find out who is trying to smother us! The soft, flickering flame brought back to life by Listener...still so fragile. But the Brotherhood will not be taken down so easily! Cicero will see to it!