"I'm a gods damned vampire Rayya." The short Breton woman turned vampire rubs her forehead in annoyance.
"It is quite the surprise, normally you would have gotten rid of any disease with how you pray at times, my Thane." The redguard woman watches the manor owner drink a bottle of mead as she sat on the moonlit top of the bedroom.
"Yeah, I got a little careless, the ring here protected only against poison… Missed that. Thought I was just exhausted from fighting all those dragons recently. Nope… Vampire disease." Laessa groans as she rubbed her forehead.
An orc pushes open the door that leads from the second floor of the manor and steps out from the home.
"Honored kin, it pains me to see you like this after you succeeded in Malacath's trial." The orc gives his chest a thump.
"Thanks for the care Lob, but this is just… Distressing." The vampire sighs.
"Are you going to see Falion?" Rayya throws out the idea.
"See, that would be the easy thing to do, the correct thing but here I am sitting under the moon and I think. It's actually quite nice. Gods, being a vampire, is nice. What am I doing?" She tosses the empty wine bottle aside and buries her face into her hands.
"You know that the Housecarl and I will be at your side to assist you with whatever you need, but you can't be weak like this. It is not right for you or your little ones." Lob states firmly.
"Oh the kids… I don't want them to feel like their mom is a monster. I'm supposed to be their hero, their idol, their role model. Now, I'm supposed to drink blood otherwise, I'll wither away to nothing." Laessa leans back against the railing where the bench is placed, her face pointed to the moon.
With a slight creak, the door is slowly opened once more. Blaise holds the handle while Sophie stands behind him.
"I… I don't think you're a monster ma." The boy speaks up first.
"I think you're still a hero, fighting dragons, smacking bandits, helping good people. If you were a monster ma, you'd be like… Uh… Like a…" He continued and struggled a bit to gather his thought.
"A stinky Thalmor." Sophie piped up.
Rayya and Lob looked to the girl each with a raised eyebrow. Laessa continued to look up to the moon, a smile creeps onto her lips before she begins to laugh. Lob has a grin and shakes his head while Rayya covers her mouth and suppresses a chuckle though some do slip out.
"Right, right. Considering Northwatch Keep and the Embassy incidents… I don't think I could be a stinky old Thalmor, eh?" She sat up on the bench and looked to the two children, opening her arms up.
The pair of adopted kids ran into their mother's embrace, hugging her hard as she was gentle with her own.
"Oh little ones… Sorry for being cold… I can't really be warm anymore…" Laessa speaks with a somber tone.
"Don't worry mama, we'll make sure to keep you warm." Sophie asserts.
"Yeah, no matter what, you're our ma now, no going back on it." Blaise tacks on.
Lob and Rayya silently take their leave and stalk back into the manor, leaving the family to share their moment.
"Thank you children… I'll be the best mom ever, no matter what." She smiles as she blinks away tears, her hands gently holding their heads.
The next day came and Laessa was making trail to Markarth.
"Take care mama! If you need to, just drink a bandit dry!" Sophie calls out.
"Yeah, show them the power of super dragon vampire ma!" Blaise waves to her.
Laessa shakes her head and smiles, slipping on the Volsung mask. Rayya and Lob give their nod to her as she makes track.
"Those kids…" She chuckles as she smiles, giving one last wave before starting her journey.
Beefy one this, least comparatively to the other ones. And thinking about it more, I should've put this up a little after I posted the last chapter. Ah well.
I almost forgot to put a little chapter up, life gets busy ya know.
But here I still am and here I say, have a good day.
~ Makmix