SILENCE REIGNS
They move in silence. Their quiet footsteps barely register to me. I peek out at what's going on, because I can't help it. Nazir takes the dead girl's hand and places the ring on her middle finger. Babette is next, placing the necklace around the girl's strong neck. Cicero is last, he places the crown on her head with such care and such respect.
Nothing really happened to signify the importance of this. Nothing happened to alert me to the change. The dead woman on the ground just woke up. Her eyes flutter open first, betraying them to be brown but then shift into that familiar gold vampires have. Her hands race from her head, with the crown, down her neck to the pendant, down her curvy body and finally to the ring on her finger. Her full lips curl into a smile.
She leaps up and twirls, her joy palpable. Strong legs move her within the circle but never out of it. Almost like she was scared to try. The three members of the Brotherhood just watch her. Cicero is glowing with joy.
She glances at me and her eyes are knowing. I want to throw up with what I see. I know who is staring back at me.
"Ah, at last! How beautiful it is to be free of this place." She rests her hands on the coffin that once held her. Maybe she couldn't help herself, but she pries it open. Cicero moves to help her with the other door.
Her smile is one for the angels, but I recognize the malice. "My old body. So withered and worthless. I have to thank you, all of you. Cicero," She holds her hand out to which he kisses, "My faithful servant, taking me to the ends of Nirn. Babette and Nazir." She turns to them. "Thank you for heeding my call, your loyalty will be rewarded, I assure you."
Finally, she turns to me. The only person in the room now immobile. "Eve." The Night Mother says, her voice is now higher pitched and close to girlishness. "Thank you. For bearing the weight of me. I know it wasn't easy. I heard your fears earlier. You worry we will kill you but rest assured, I owe you for this." She holds her hands out to show off her new vampire body.
"Resurrection. That is your answer. I needed you to bring me here for this, because now, I am finally free." She tilts her head, the dewy skin of her cheek catching in the light. The girl was young when she died. Maybe twenty if that. But her face is marred with multiple bloody runes. "Don't cry, Eve. You got what you wanted. The man who killed your parents slaughtered and me…gone." She smiles at that, full lips on a rounded face, it should be pretty, but it only looks cruel. I can barely make out the rest of her features through my blood-stained eyes.
She moves towards me but I back away. I smack my head into the wall and nearly claw when I can't get into the corner further. No power comes when I call it, not even the magic I learned prior.
"Don't fear." She whispers, her small hands caress my cheek then run through my dirty hair. "You are safe and free. Like me."
"Let me out." I gasp though the tears. My fear is another being taking over. In all my wildest dreams I never imagined this.
She tilts her head before sinking to my eye level. "You don't want to stay with us? Be part of the Brotherhood?"
I don't want to be anywhere near you. I want to say. I actually expect her to smack me for that with the way her nails curl around my cheek. But then, I realize she can't hear me. She's not in my head anymore. "Let me out." I whisper.
She laughs, "I guess I could. That would be fine. We don't really need you anymore."
Oh, she's right. They could just throw me into that fire on the other side of the room and call it a day. "You owe me." I whisper, expecting her to attack me for that.
"I do, you've been good Child, but I don't want any Children who are unwilling. Maybe you need a break." Her hand slides up my chained one to pluck the ring from my finger. The one I could never move. She studies it before snapping her fingers and handing it to Cicero.
He takes it. "The chains." The Night Mother commands him. "Yes Mother." He bows then pulls out the key.
"Listener, you are good. I am so grateful for this gift." He kisses me on the cheek, I pull away at that. Don't want that at all.
The chains break free and I pull my bloodied arms down before rising. She allows me passage by moving out of the way. I shrink away from her hands. She was going to stroke my hair again in fascination.
Cicero follows, Nazir and Babette look on. I want to say something to them…but frankly, I'm shocked into complete silence. All my instincts say to run.
So, I do. I run straight and get lost once or twice but once I'm on the top floor I run straight out the doors. No one chases me. I don't know if they want to or if they don't have to. All I know is I need to get to the boat straight ahead and far the hell away from here.
I scramble, nearly dropping the oar into the ocean and losing it. I could shift but I don't think I have the power and I don't want to waste precious time. Cicero could be following, one of the others, hell, even the Night Mother herself now that she can move.
Memories of her new face, that sweet dead girl's face, now turned evil char my mind. I push off. The boat bobs in the choppy waves but that's not the worst of it. I need to control my erratic breathing. Not that I need it, but I need it for peace of mind.
"Eve."
I scream and recoil at the assault. The oar is now in my hand like a measly weapon. I expect her to be on the other side of the boat and telling me she's secretly attached to my hip now. I see a dark cloak concealing a feminine figure. I have to take a moment to remember if the Night Mother was like that. Her new body. I can't even remember what she was wearing, only the terrifying fact that a face so young and beautiful shouldn't hold the weight of a million lifetimes. Nor should it hold the simmering promise for a sort of retribution I can't even comprehend.
But, to ease my startled heart, the head raises, and her hood shifts back to show a gorgeous face with hazel eyes. The deity who left me behind, left me for my own sake, was now back. Nocturnal. She smiles softly, like a mother reuniting with her child.
I leap across to hug her and sob.
Cicero's Journal Entry
29th of Rain's Hand, 4E 202
So perfect. So right. You are free, Mother. Now we can finally converse like Mother and Child! Listener was let go, but we don't need her. We don't need Traitors in our midst. Now is a new era! A new chance at greatness and victory! All hail the Night Mother and the Dark Brotherhood!