Author's Note: Trigger warning - This chapter contains brief attempted rape about halfway through.
For the first time in years Elisif rode along the open Skyrim road with no company of guards swarming her, no advisors nagging her, and no pompous courtiers haranguing her. Her only company was Sybille and their two horses. Early that morning Sybille had entered Elisif's chambers telling her to pack lightly and to wear her plainest traveling clothes; they would not be traveling as Elisif and Sybille, Jarl and wizard, but as Astrid and Clarke, sisters paying tribute to their recently deceased father at the shrine of Arkay.
"Oh, and bring Torygg's horn," Sybille had added. "We're actually making a trip to the shrine of Talos."
Elisif's heart had skipped a beat. She personally didn't worship Talos, but Torygg had and she had secretly been waiting to entrust someone with the task of delivering his warn horn to the shrine. But how had Sybille known? Elisif had dismissed her confusion, attributing it to the notion that as a vampire had been hiding in plain sight for decades, nothing should surprise her now.
So Sybille and Elisif had arranged to be absent from court no longer than a week and agreed that upon their return, Elisif would undertake her position as Jarl immediately. Falk had reluctantly agreed and retreated humbly with an intimidating glare from Sybille.
Tapping her heels into her horse's flanks, Elisif trotted up alongside Sybille.
"Who knows?" Elisif questioned frankly, pulling her fur hood around her face as a chill breeze licked around her body.
Sybille tugged her own hood down over her face as the cold sun peeked from behind a cloud.
"No one except for you now," Sybille answered. "Some attribute my habits to oddity or magic, but none to vampirism."
"How did it happen?"
"Elisif, it's been a very long time since I've discussed my condition with anyone," Sybille began tersely. "I'd prefer we leave this conversation for another time."
Elisif nodded silently, directing her attention to the road ahead. Bright sunbeams streaked through the clouds once more and Elisif heard Sybille catch her breath.
"Damn this sun," Sybille breathed.
"Let's stop in Dragon Bridge. We can wait until nightfall," Elisif suggested.
"Yes, I'd thought of that," Sybille mused. "But it will be an inconvenience to you."
"If you could just give me one of the sleeping elixirs, I'll rest until evening and then we can be on our way," Elisif concluded.
Sybille and Elisif agreed on this plan and reached Dragon Bridge without any event. The two bought a couple rooms in the Four Shields Tavern, warding off small talk from the innkeeper and interested patrons. With the help of one of Sybille's sleeping potions, Elisif drifted quite soundly into her first sleep on a straw bed.
Elisif woke to a gentle shake from Sybille, and after eating some food from the inn, the two were soon on the road again, crossing the formidable stone bridge for which the town was named. Elisif stifled a yawn as they reached the opposite side of the ravine while she glanced up at the moon, nearly full and brightly glowing down on the earth. As they traveled, Elisif admired the gray-tinted moonlit world. Silvery light illuminated the leaves as they fluttered against their branches. The cobblestones shone with the white moonlight, nearly like day. The highlights struck Elisif's eyes like new color, but the shadows, inky black, threatened to consume her mind dare she let it wander close to them. It wasn't often that she experienced the outside world in this way. She felt like she was a foreigner in a strange land. This wasn't the land she knew, but it certainly didn't lack beauty. The glow-washed expanses instilled a terrifying thrill, the shadows, a startling foreboding. Something about the quiet hours hushing over the world brought an exhilarating new sense of existence.
"It's beautiful," Elisif whispered after a few hours of admiring her surroundings and riding in tired silence.
"Indeed," Sybille replied. "But like every true beauty, it has its flaws."
"Hm," Elisif hummed, eager to dig deeper into Sybille's meaning, but holding her tongue in respect for the quiet vampire.
As the horses hadn't slept during the day like Sybille and Elisif had, their natural cycle began to wear on their exhaustion, and as the early hours of the morning dawned, they were forced to stop in the interest of the animals about halfway through the night.
"We'll reach Rorikstead tomorrow, but for tonight, let's give the beasts rest," Sybille suggested.
The women found a flat spot of ground a little way off the road and began to set up camp. Sybille gathered what small sticks she could find to start a fire, and Elisif trudged off through the woods in search of larger logs. When she was out of sight of Sybille, Elisif reveled in the fear and ecstasy of the solitude in the midnight woods. She closed her eyes and listened. She heard the millions of leaves rustling against each other. She heard the multitudes of insects chirping in harmony. She heard a twig snap. She opened her eyes.
But before she could cry for Sybille or even look around, hands grabbed her arms and a meaty palm clamped over her mouth.
"Hold her against that tree," a man's raspy voice whispered as he approached her from the mottled forest shadows.
She couldn't see the two men holding her back, but as the approaching man tugged his hood from his head, she could just make out his bulky form, his closely shaven scalp and short ruddy beard.
"You," he growled, driving his finger into Elisif's chest, "are trespassing on my land."
Elisif swallowed hard and struggled to breathe against the constricting palm.
"You know what happens to trespassers?" One man holding her arm whispered in her ear.
He chuckled as he lifted Elisif's skirt, gripping her legs and forcing them open with his rough hands.
Elisif tried to scream, only muffled sounds escaping from the palm over her mouth. She struggled against the hands and arms forcing her back against the tree, and she bucked her hips as the man approaching her drew himself in between her legs. Tears sprung to her eyes as fear gripped her chest. Her breathing became labored as she fought for more air but struggled against the palm over her mouth. Her lungs began screaming and burning for a breath, but she couldn't draw enough in and quickly her vision started darkening and fading.
"She can't breathe, idiot," the man said, gripping the hand over her face.
"We're gonna let you breathe a minute, but I swear to Stendarr if you make a noise, you will regret it," the man before her whispered threateningly.
The palm slid away from her mouth and she took huge breaths of fresh air, trying to alleviate her fear. She needed Sybille.
"Oh, we got a pretty one, lads," he chuckled, gripping Elisif's jaw and turning her face. "Maybe I'll even share."
His hands wandered away from her face and down her body, and Elisif took her chance.
"Sybille!" Elisif yelled as loud as she could.
Almost immediately a fist drove across her cheek and pain blossomed in her head as the hands gripping her slammed her back against the tree. Dazed Elisif felt the hands release her and another angry grip threw her to the ground. A boot dug into her ribs, and she curled in on herself to protect her body from more blows. But the man with the shaved head gripped her shoulders and smashed them against the ground, knocking out her breath as he forced her legs down and began digging an arm under her skirt.
Suddenly Elisif saw a figure dart from the trees and one of the men slammed to the ground, Sybille kneeling over his chest as her dagger protruded from it. The other man was still searching for the strange new figure's origin when Sybille jumped on his back and slit his throat.
Just as quick as the killing started, it was over, and Sybille gripped the man kneeling over Elisif by his hood, easily pulling him off Elisif.
"My mistress is not to be played with, dog," she spat. "But you, you will make a nice little toy."
With inhuman strength she flung him against a tree and Elisif heard something snap as the man groaned. Sybille stalked over to him, crouching by his slumped form.
"What a sick little pig you are," she hissed.
Suddenly she dug her teeth into the man's neck. Immediately the man screamed but soon his body became limp as Sybille drained his blood. As Elisif writhed on the ground struggling to regain her breath, Sybille drew away from the man, her lips stained with blood while she walked back and knelt by Elisif.
"Where are you hurt?" Sybille asked directly.
"Ribs," Elisif gasped. "Right side."
"Alright," Sybille breathed, her hands glowing with yellow light. The golden rays swirled around Elisif's torso, but as they did Elisif felt her muscles and bones shifting where Sybille was healing them. She cried out as her body contorted away from the pain, her yell dissolving into whimpered sobs.
"It's over. It's over," Sybille comforted her, reaching towards Elisif. But Elisif scrambled back in fear. Blood trickled down Sybille's chin and her teeth were soaking red.
Sybille's expression fell and understanding confronted her. She wiped her mouth with her sleeve, spitting the excess blood on the ground.
"I'm sorry you had to see that, but I needed to feed," Sybille explained. "I haven't eaten in a while."
Sybille's explanation couldn't remove the memory from Elisif's mind, though. Elisif was repulsed by the sight of Sybille draining a man's life for her own sustenance, even if that man had attacked Elisif. Sybille literally drained the life from the man. It was unnatural and inhumane. And it scared Elisif. She'd heard of vampires' habits, but nothing could have prepared her for the act itself. The power Sybille had displayed intimidated Elisif, and the predation she had demonstrated had terrified her. Sybille was a hunter, a powerful predator. And Elisif was the prey.
"You're scared," Sybille concluded. "Let's just get back to camp."
Sybille offered Elisif her hand, but like a stubborn child, Elisif pulled herself up, refusing Sybille's touch. Sybille turned away nonchalantly and led the way back through the woods to their campfire and tents.
"127 years ago," Sybille said as they sat by the fire. "That's when it happened."
Elisif wrapped her arms around her knees, looking up at Sybille and devoting her attention to the Breton.
"I was only twenty-eight, just a harmless alchemist," Sybille began. "I was in the countryside gathering ingredients one day when a group of hooded figures grabbed me and dragged me into a cave. They restrained me and cast their draining spells on me and I contracted Sanguinare Vampiris. For three days they held me there. For three days they refused to feed me as the sickness ate away at me, and they watched me deteriorate. I truly thought I was dying."
Elisif heard Sybille's voice tighten in anger.
"I didn't stand a chance," she rasped. "On the third day something changed. My senses were different. My skin was different. My abilities were different."
Sybille held out her palms, gesturing to her own body.
"And I was hungry," Sybille breathed. "I had gone days without food before, but this was different. I didn't want bread and meat and vegetables. I wanted something else. Something I couldn't quite identify but realized the moment I lay eyes on it. Or rather him. They held me in that confinement for another week without any food, and by the time it happened, I was a complete animal, a beast. The first man they placed before me was no older than I. He cried in terror for me to stop, but I couldn't. After what they did to me in that week, my body wouldn't—couldn't—stop. Then an old woman. She screamed too. But it didn't matter."
Sybille's voice shook slightly as she stared at the flames.
"Then a young girl," she whispered. "Very young. Maybe eleven or twelve. She was crying before I even looked at her. Begging for her parents. Begging for them to let her go. Begging for me to stop as I crawled towards her like an animal."
Sybille voice hitched and her words stumbled.
"I didn't stop though," she said quietly. "I couldn't stop myself. They laughed as it happened. They applauded me afterwards. But after I slept off my sickness and realized what I'd done, I couldn't live with myself. And I blamed them for making me the way I am. I killed them all as they slept. And I don't regret it."
Elisif dropped her gaze as Sybille met it.
"I never joined another clan. I hated what I had become and I wanted to ignore the fact that anything had changed," Sybille admitted. "I've come to terms with it now of course, but at the beginning I simply refused to acknowledge what had happened. I drank animal blood which satisfied me for a time until I began to feel its effects on my body: my skin deteriorating, my muscles shrinking, my hair thinning. And I knew that I needed something more to stay alive. I began to prey on the dying, even the freshly dead. And that worked for a time, but after a while I began to realize the negative consequences of a poor diet on my body again. Before the change, I had been able to perform some spells, but as a vampire I found that I had an affinity for magic like never before. I could learn new spells and cast them more easily than ever, and so I studied and grew my powers. With these new powers came the solution to my problem. Since I could fight for myself, I realized there was plenty of healthy blood waiting to be harvested from the bodies of those who didn't deserve to live: bandits, murderers, and thieves. So I began clearing the land. I single-handedly ransacked entire bandit hideouts and stalked hitmen in the night even as they stalked their own targets. Somehow Istlod's court caught wind of my endeavors and a platoon of his soldiers managed to encircle me while I was fighting a clan of bandits. Istlod himself made the offer for me to act as his court wizard. And while of course I couldn't very well decline the high king, I also genuinely anticipated the position and the opportunities it entailed. So I accepted his offer. I worked for years under him before I found the courage and opportunity to inform him of my true nature. But when I did, he only laughed and said that it explained why I hated the sun so much."
Sybille sighed, folding her arms over her chest.
"He was a fair king and a good man, but unfortunately just like everyone else I had known before, I had to watch him age and pass away while I remained the same," Sybille said. "I know it doesn't make much sense, but I hope you may begin to understand."
Elisif simply hummed a response, staring blankly into the fire as she processed everything Sybille had told her.
"I… Thank you," Elisif mumbled as she stood, dusting off her skirts. "For saving my life and telling me this. I need to rest and think. Wake me when we should leave tomorrow."