A/N: Serana POV this chapter, from now on the story will swing between her and Halfdan's POV
The last thing Serana remembers was her mother's weak smile as she said goodbye before the lid of the sarcophagus rose and engulfed her in darkness. Before too long she fell into a deep slumber. Hopefully, her mother would find a way to reconcile with her father and make him see reason so that they could return home soon.
After what felt like a very long nap, the royal vampire was awoken by the taste of blood. Very powerful blood, unlike any she'd drank before. Given the fact that her hibernation as an undead creature meant she'd been a literal corpse for who knows how long, her body took a while to start working again. During that time, she felt memories flooding back into her, then her senses slowly reactivated.
First came taste, as she savored the intoxicating blood that revived her. It didn't taste like a vampire, strange because she'd expected to be woken up by her mother. And it couldn't be a thrall either because, although it tasted like a mortal, it also tasted like so much more. Like it held a touch of divinity or something.
And the power she felt from it was equal parts frightening and intoxicating. Her hearing and touch returned, feeling an electric tingle through her muscles when they suddenly contracted and relaxed as she felt shocked back to life, or unlife rather… Whatever. She furrowed her eyebrows in discomfort as her legs buckled under her when she felt the weight of herself on them for the first time in however long she'd been asleep. Before hitting the ground she was caught by something, no… someone.
Finally, her sense of smell returned, and immediately the scent of death, and undeath hit her like a train; as well as another: the scent of the alluring blood that awoke her quicky overpowered all the other scents in the room. She slowly opened her eyes and The first thing she saw was a hand with blood-stained bandages wrapped around it, gripping her shoulder, steadying her. Having felt so much strength from the blood that woke her, Serana expected its owner to be… well she didn't know exactly what to expect, but definitely something or someone… bigger, at least?
Instead, she was surprised when her gaze trailed up the arm steadying her to meet the eyes of a confused… boy? Girl? The figure in front of her wore a mask concealing the lower half of their face. Their white hair was long and pulled back into a messy half-bun to keep it from their face. Two slightly pointy ears poked out from loose strands framing their face; however, their complexion was not that of any of the mer races she'd encountered and the most striking feature was their two vibrant purple eyes. In the darkness, they seemed almost indigo. Their gaze quickly went from confusion and curiosity to fear and realization as they looked back into Serana's yellow glowing vampire eyes.
Thinking quickly and realizing her savior could very well turn into her executioner in just a few seconds she quickly lunged at the individual grabbing their head and pulling to expose their neck before sinking her fangs. Once again, she felt surprised by the overwhelming power that filled her from the blood. Realizing that she still didn't know what in oblivion was going on, like why this stranger awoke her instead of someone from her family, she refrained from killing them and instead began infusing her bite with vampiric charm to pacify them.
Unfortunately, her victim was unusually resistant. Thankfully their potent blood provided Serana enough strength to keep them restrained as they struggled to pull her off, even in her weakened state. At first, she thought it might be due to having just woken up that she wasn't able to charm the stranger; but then she felt it, a specific source of magical protection. An amulet. She quickly fumbled for it, slipping a hand inside their shirt and in the process feeling a hard chest, finally revealing the stranger to be a man. Once she felt the medallion she quickly yanked it off and proceeded to infuse more magic into her bite. She still felt more resistance than that of a normal human but this time she finally overcame it and the stranger stopped struggling.
With a bit of willpower, Serana was able to pull herself off from the stranger, savoring the last drops of his blood dripping from the corner of her lips. If it had been an ordinary vampire, even without the medallion they wouldn't have been able to pacify him. Just who was this man? She looked down at the medallion she pulled from him. It had an image of a howling wolf engraved on it. The image looked somewhat familiar, but still hazy from waking up Serana wasn't about to waste her time trying to remember.
The stranger placed a hand on the bite wound Serana left him and bowed his head before speaking. "What is thy command, mistress?"
She stared at him, his voice was that of a young man's, not unpleasant or raspy like she expected from someone dressed in dark leathers and armed to the teeth as he was.
"Show me your face, stranger." She commanded in a firm voice.
He didn't reply, merely lowered his mask and stared blankly back at Serana. The pure-blood vampire princess was struck for a moment with the view in front of her. The boy had sharp, yet youthful features. His long lashes and delicate nose gave him an androgynous yet remarkably attractive look. His skin was just as flawless except for a harsh scar, on his cheek. It didn't look to have been made by any claw or blade, though… He looked to be a year or two younger than Serana when she became immortal, and stood about her height, maybe slightly shorter with a lithe build.
"Just who… or what are you?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at the boy.
He frowned. "I…" His brows started knotting as if something about the question hurt him. "I-I'm... I'm not sure…I-"
"Forget it." That was a very unexpected response to such a basic question but Serana didn't wanna risk her magical hold over him to find out more about it. "Just tell me why you're here. Why did you wake me up? Did someone send you?"
The boy was staring down at his hands, for some reason, the previous question really affected him. After a few more seconds he snapped out of it and his face settled on a stoic expression as he answered her next one. "I was sent by a group of vampire hunters called the Dawnguard to find out why the vampires had destroyed the Hall of the Vigilants and what they were searching for in these ruins."
Dawnguard? Hall of the Vigilants? She didn't recognize those names… And he mentioned vampires searching the ruins, where were they then? Did this BOY kill them? How?! How long have I been asleep? None of this makes any sense… The thought made Serana feel light-headed.
"What… day is it? What year?"
"19th of Last Seed, 58th year of the fourth era, mistress."
"D-did you just say the FOURTH era?!" The fourth era… I slept through more than a full era. How many years… "I must've been gone longer than I thought, definitely longer than we planned…" A pang of annoyance and worry seeped into her voice. Did her mother really just leave her there for THAT long, or did something happen to her? There's only one thing she could do to find out.
"Come on, you're taking me home." She quickly summoned magic to her hands and used a healing spell to stop the bleeding from his bite wound. "Let's hurry up and get out of here, you lead the way." She said while turning around and finding the elder scroll still there where it'd been buried with her, thankfully, and strapped it to her back.
"As you wish, my mistress." The boy let go of his neck then turned around but stopped abruptly after taking the first step.
"What is it? And stop calling me mistress?" She was fine with it every once in a while but the boy seemed like he was about to start using it every time he spoke and it was starting to annoy her. The compulsion she was using on him wasn't supposed to suppress his actual personality so much, rather just instill loyalty in him. Was he always this stiff and proper?
He pointed to what must've been a balcony at some point but lay crushed under a bunch of rocks that seemed to have fallen from the cave ceiling. "That's the way I came from."
Well, shit.
Another bridge connected the other side of the Island with a different path. Serana supposed there was no other way to go, but from there on they'd be going in blind as this place looked a lot different from when her mother buried her.
"Don't worry my lady, I'm sure if we keep heading deeper we'll find another exit. Most dungeons like these eventually just loop around." My lady. Not much better than mistress but Serana decided to let him have it, afraid that asking him to drop the honorifics would just start some other identity crisis in the strange boy. She also noted how soft and clear-spoken he was, like some highborn noble from High Rock, or Cyrodiil. Yet, his tattered leathers and…. that scar seemed out of place. Now that she looked at it closer she realized it was some sort of glyph or rune. Daedric, no… dunmerii in origin. Like it had been branded on him.
Their silent walk was soon interrupted after crossing the bridge by a couple of gargoyles suddenly bursting alive out of their stony shells. Probably defensive measure's left behind by her mother, Serana thought. Unfortunately, they do not seem to obey her and aggressively howl before attacking the pair.
She pushed the boy out of the way as the first gargoyle lunged at them: couldn't afford to lose her guide once they got out of this place. She pulled out her ebony dagger and sliced the other gargoyle, ducking under its clawed swing before releasing a spell of ice storm that swept it away. She prepared another spell, a deadly icy spear, and launched it at the gargoyle before it could recover, piercing its torso and killing it instantly.
She turned around to deal with the other one but instead found the boy with an expressionless bloodstained face as he held its decapitated head in one hand and a bloodied sword in the other. His cold distant gaze made Serana shiver for a moment before he switched to a polite smile and dropped the severed head. "Are you ready to continue, my lady?"
Still stunned and lost for words, Serana cleared her throat before nodding and telling him to lead the way. He sheathed the sword on his back while Serana effortlessly reanimated the gargoyles using her masterful skill in necromancy, her magical specialty. They'd probably come in handy, she's doubtful they'll get out of this place without more incidents.
Further in the ruins, the vampire princess and her thralls mostly happened upon draugr and other lesser undead, and after having witnessed his competence earlier with the gargoyle, Serana let the white-haired boy assist the gargoyles eliminate them in order to conserve her strength as she still didn't feel back to her full power yet. She observed the boy's fighting style, intrigued. He moved like a snake, agile and precise, instinctively using the shadows to confuse his opponents, even in open combat and against undead enemies who wouldn't really be affected as much by such tactics.
Eventually, however, she stepped in when they came upon a throne room and were ambushed by several draugr and skeletons, including one with the ancient ability to shout that destroyed her gargoyles. However, against an ancient pure-blood vampire it didn't stand a chance. She engaged it while the white-haired boy finished off the rest. Fortunately her blood ward was strong enough to block the draugr's shouts. Her superior speed and strength took care of the rest once she closed the distance. She looked back to see that the rest of the undead had been taken care of by the boy.
Weirdly, however, she found her purple-eyed thrall entranced, staring at a strange wall that held many curious scratches on it. She asked him what was so special about the wall but he merely shook his head as if breaking out of the trance.
"Nothing, there are walls like this one all over Skyrim and they're said to contain the ancient dragon language. It's strange, but sometimes I feel… I feel like I can understand some of the words... Never mind that though we must leave this place so I can get you to your home, my lady."
Serana stared at his back as he walked off, she glanced back at the wall and tried to detect any lingering power from it. Nothing. This was one weird guy she found herself. Just her luck. Being woken up by a half-breed vampire hunter, with delusions and either amnesia or identity issues. At least he was an efficient enough fighter. She cursed under her breath before following the boy.
After a few more minutes of walking in one identical creepy hallway after another, the pair finally found a passage that led them out of the cave.
"Ah! It's so good to finally breathe again…" A small blizzard greeted them on the outside, the two moons barely visible in the night sky. Well, at least it was nighttime. "Even in this weather, it's better than that damn cave." A hint of amusement made its way into her voice.
A/N: I'd love to hear what you think of this version of Serana! I'm goin for a bit more of a confident femme fatale trope, without straying from vanilla Serana too much.