Jul

Lucius

"And what would lead you to believe that a Vampire would be present in my court, Dragonborn?" Elisif inquired, her voice simultaneously soothing and commanding. She did well as High Queen, though she still denied the hand of any courting her. Falk said it was because she still grieved for her husband, though I suspected differently. "Surely my Court Wizard would be able to suss them out."

"Indeed, Dragonborn," Sybille Stentor said. The Breton woman was a powerful mage, likely indignant of any insinuation against her powers of observation. "My magic would have found them long ago."

I looked over at Serana. Her hood was pulled low over her eyes. "Do you expect your companion to speak for you?" Falk asked, also angry about the accusation. I ignored him and continued to look at Serana. "Why are you even worried about this?"

"Besides your Lady being the High Queen?" I asked the red head. He stuttered nervously and I turned to Elisif whose face was a deep red. "I have recently come into rather... deadly contact with a very aggressive group of Vampires off of Solitude's coast. They are powerful, and they have done similar things before."

"What do you mean?" Sybille asked, worry in her voice. I looked over at the Breton. "I... This is the first we've heard of this."

"Vignar Gray-Mane. His short rule as Jarl of Whiterun was the bloodiest rule of a Jarl since Potema's final years. The city still has yet to recover," I explained. I shook my head. "This tribe, this... army of Vampires turned him. Their goal is nothing short of complete political domination across Skyrim, if not Tamriel. And it is likely that their goals go even further into the darkness."

"These Vampires were behind that?" Elisif whispered, horrified. Falk, Sybille, and the rest of the court fidgeted uncomfortably as their Queen considered what this meant. She sighed. "What do you need?"

I nodded. "Thank you, my Lady," I said with a bow. I turned to Sybille. "You pointed me in the direction of Vampires once two years ago. Could you possibly aid me now?"

The Breton opened her mouth, struggling with the decision. Too long, it appeared, as the choice was soon made for her. "Yes, of course," Elisif said.

Sybille bowed. "Of course, my queen," the wizard muttered. She looked at me and Serana. "Follow me, please." She turned on her heel and walked away. I grabbed Serana's hand and pulled – she wasn't looking, hiding her brilliant golden eyes and fangs from clear view. I felt her hand tighten around mine, cool marble between my fingers.

When we reached Stentor's room, Serana shut the doors behind us. "What's wrong?" I whispered to the woman. She shook her hooded head and leaned against the wall, keeping her hood up. I frowned and kept looking at her.

"We should begin," Sybille said, drawing my attention. She motioned for me to follow. "Do you have any Vampire Dust? It is important for the spell."

"Shouldn't you?" I asked the Court Wizard.

She laughed once. "I used it all earlier today. I'm afraid that I cannot do the spell without it," she explained.

"Not to worry, then," I replied quickly. I unbuckled a pouch from my belt. "I have more than enough – my partner and I have been getting into far too many battles as of late."

Sybille looked almost disappointed. "Ah. Well, good," she said. She took the pouch and poured a small amount of the dust into her palm. "Yes, this should do." She handed the pouch back to me and walked over to her alchemy station. "Yes. Bring me that cauldron over there. If we pour the potion into it, the enchantment and alchemy should react and reveal if there is a Vampire in the castle. Unless there isn't, of course."

I frowned. Serana's presence could affect that poorly. "Will it also tell us how many?"

Sybille turned to the one who had asked the question, Serana. "Indeed, girl. Do you think I am a mere wizard? I am one of the best, perhaps more learned than the current archmage," she said proudly.

I smiled. "You definitely know more about some things," I said with a chuckle. I grew serious. "Let's hurry, then."

"Yes," Sybille said, a new fire in her eyes. I pulled the cauldron over to her Alchemy lab and let her get to work.

I walked away to stand with Serana. Quietly, I hissed, "Is something worrying you?"

"I just have a feeling," she muttered back. She hadn't moved at all since we entered the room, her eyes and fangs concealed still by her hood.

I laughed quietly and put my arm around her shoulder. "You worry too much," I said, leaning in to whisper to her.

"And you worry too little, especially for someone being chased by that woman," she hissed back.

"Hm," I replied. My next breath brought Serana's scent into my nostrils and I smiled contentedly. My eyes snapped open and I leaned away. She was a Vampire Queen, I was a recovering mass murderer and Vampire Hunter. Best to ignore thoughts of that kind. Besides, best not to make a friendship awkward. "Well, no one said I was smart."

"Yeah, you'd never hear me say it," she joked. She angled her gleaming eyes to me and I could see the good natured smirk on her face. Damn, she was attractive. And there I go again.

I chuckled and began to retort, but was cut off by Sybille Stentor's call. "Sorry to interrupt your ceaseless, poorly done flirting, but I have good news. There are no Vampires in the Castle."

I saw, then, what Serana was trying to do. "Are you sure you did the spell correctly?" I asked. I put my hands at my hips, hiding that I was reaching for my blade.

"Look who you are talking to, Dragonborn. I am the best," she said haughtily.

My blade was immediately at her neck. Serana pulled down her hood, golden eyes glimmering. "I thought you were a Vampire," Serana told the Breton coldly. I looked at Sybille, slightly surprised.

"You brought a Vampire here!?" Sybille hissed. She shook her head and growled. "You must have given me false dust! You're under her control!"

"I'm not," I replied angrily. I marched forward. "When were you turned?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Do not dare to order me around, child," Sybille spat back. My blade pressed forward and she gasped in fear. "Fine. Decades ago. Being a traveling mage looking for work before meeting the king of the time afforded me the, in retrospect good fortune, of fighting often for my life."

"What do you know of Harkon?" I asked, Dawnbreaker aching to move forward. I reigned its power in. "The Vampires off the coast. I'll know if you're lying."

"Nothing. I sent you after those Vampires years ago because I don't want to be found out. Powerful Vampires bring powerful scrutiny, and I would rather stay here until the illusion cannot be kept."

"Why do you want to stay here?" I asked, my eyes still like steel.

"I have served two High Kings and a High Queen. I am invested in this land's future, boy. In making it better. Believe me or not, kill me and be done with it," Sybille spat, making it clear she had no intention of answering further questions.

I stared at her for a while. "Goodbye, Sybille," I said. My blade rang through the air and I turned away, sheathing the blade. Serana stared at me, wide eyed.

I exited the castle without another word, stopping only when Serana neared me. "Luc! Luc!" she called as I slowed. "What was that!?"

"She has a genuine love for this place. She views Elisif as a daughter," I explained. "How could I kill her."

"She's a Vampire," Serana hissed back. "This is too close to Harkon to be coincidence!"

I laughed at the irony. "Oh, and you aren't?" I asked with a smile. Serana sighed and looked at the ground. "Coincidence? Probably not. Harkon? Definitely not. The gods have a funny way of testing us and teaching lessons."

"And what was the lesson here?" Serana asked, eyes narrowed.

I grinned and began to walk away. "Not every Vampire is a hideous creature, Serana, so stop with the self-loathing. You're pretty and nice, get over it."

Serana stammered for a moment, then sighed. "Let's just hurry to Winterhold."

Jul

Ayleid

The plan was simple enough. In order to gain entrance to the Count's castle, we would have to stage an event with a terrible death toll. The Count and his men would, as weaklings do, bring the entire village's population within the castle. From there, it would be easy to slaughter the condensed population of the village in one fell swoop. "This doesn't feel right, Ayleid," Tanyin whispered as we set the Magickal runes at each corner of the inn. "Why going to kill all of these people?"

"Insects, Tanyin," I corrected absently as I set another fire rune powerful enough to blow apart the inn and the building next to it. "We're killing insects. Excrement and refuse, remember?"

She sighed and set another fire rune. "Of course, Ayleid," she said quietly. Even without looking, I could tell one of her hands was pressed to the scars on her neck. Good. "But still – the castle is open to all. We could take what we were ordered to take and leave without bloodshed."

"Skingrad is important to the Empire. The entire West Weald is important," I snarled in reply. The girl was stupid, sometimes, and the depths of that moronicism astounded me. Though, perhaps it shouldn't have, given how she clung to the insects of her past. Tanyin. The name itself was born from weakness. To flee the strength of her name, Dwemer, was another weakness in of itself. If she could not embrace what she was, she would have to die at the end of this mission as well. The Lords had ordered it. "It borders the Dominion of the Lords and would be a prime location for their invasion of the insect's Empire."

"But why do they need that advantage if they are so superior?" she asked quietly.

I began to retort, but some part of me stopped myself. The Lords were superior, who was I to question their judgment. Yet... "We must move. The runes will activate soon," I said coolly. I grabbed Tanyin's arm and dragged her away from the alleyway. She stumbled after me, my greatest failure. The Lords expected me to create a weapon, and I could only manage to craft a defective weapon ready to crumble at any moment. How disappointing.

"Wait, I didn't set one of the runes!" she hissed. Tanyin rushed forward and I growled. She was going to end up getting herself killed. But, I believe that I still needed her. I rushed forward, trying to stop her before the runes emptied their Magickal reserves and burnt her to ash. I grabbed her arm and tossed her behind me.

"Dammit, woman. This isn't -" I was cut off by the fire exploding behind me, sending me tumbling to the ground. I hissed in pain as the flames took on my boots, burning into the leather. I grabbed dirt from the ground and poured it over the flames, extinguishing them.

"Gods, are you okay!?" a voice asked. A man rushed towards us, his hand charged with healing Magick. He looked between Tanyin and I. "Do you know what happened here!?"

"No," Tanyin said. She was truly scared, causing the man to believe her. She could not lie for her life without actually feeling the emotion. She glanced at me. "We... oh, gods they're all dead." She collapsed to her knees, eyes hollow. Weakling.

The man shook his head sadly and turned to me. "Let me get that leg fixed up," he said, placing his hand on my lightly cooked flesh. I smiled as soon as my flesh was fixed.

"Fool," I replied. The iron dagger in my hand slashed across his throat, silencing his scream before it came. I marched his body over to the fires and tossed it in, igniting it in a blaze. I smirked at the still living man as he burnt to cinders.

"Why would you do that?" Tanyin asked from the ground.

I turned to her, still grinning darkly. "Because there is no such thing as a useful insect. You should know that I would do the same to any who will not serve the Lords." Tanyin's eyes filled with further fear as the meaning of the words hit her. She clutched at the scars running across her neck and I smiled. "To the castle."

Fahiil

Thera

I ducked beneath the clumsy blow sent my way by one of the warriors guarding the second location given to me by Garan Marethi. One of the Ancient Vampire's arms sat in my bag, a shrunken, blackened piece of what it once was. I sidestepped the next blow, waiting for some sort of danger to spur me on. But no, the human I fought was a nothing. My blade ran him through after but a moment. I considered draining him of blood, but I would rather feed from those who are not the bottom of the barrel. Lucius' blood would be a good start.

I moved on, quickly dispatching the fools that remained without even stopping. If the best they could offer was weak fools, I would not waste my time trying to gain meager entertainment from fools. My blade must have tasted the substandard blood of dozens that I would not sully my fangs with, though even that seemed too lenient for those so weak.

As I neared the stairs down to the next level of the ruins, I heard the pounding of feet rushing up the stairs. I sighed at the foolishness of those rushing at me even as a dozen more of the ruin's guardians rushed up the stairs. I jumped forward as the first came close, knocking him back down the stairs and into his compatriots. They screamed as they tumbled together down the flight of stairs, many smashing their skulls into the edges of the stone steps as they fell. Those who survived fell to my blades as I walked to the bottom.

"I know what you are," a deep voice said as I entered the last room of the cavern. An old Orc man stood at the wall, blade drawn. "And if you defeated all here so quickly, I will not be able to win. I won't give you the satisfaction of making a fool of me."

"Ah, I would have enjoyed that, though," I responded, laughing. "Now, where is the Vampire's body?"

"I will urge you once," the Orc said quietly, "do not gather the pieces of this Vampire. If you value your own... unlife, you will not."

"And why is that?" I asked as I neared the man. He dropped his sword to the ground as I approached and furrowed his brow. "Are you that afraid of the Bloodstone Chalice?"

"The what?" the Orc asked. He shook his head. "I have no clue what this 'Bloodstone Chalice' is, woman. I know not what this Vampire is, I know only that there are portents of great doom surrounding it. Uniting these pieces will only serve to harm your kind as well as mine, immortal."

I smiled. "I doubt that," I said. I marched up to the Orc and held my blade to his throat. "Now. Either give me the body, or I will kill you very slowly until you tell me where it is. Make no mistake, though, you'll die either way."

"I appreciate the honesty," the Orc replied venomously. He glared into my eyes. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I can," I retorted. "You can't stop me, so just tell me where it is or I will make you tell me."

The Orc snarled at me, sneering for a solid minute. Stamina, that one. "It's in the chest over there."

"Was that so hard? I applaud you quitting while you were ahead," I told the man, smiling disarmingly. Then his head left his body. I looked at the skull in my hand. "Oh, it appears that I spoke too soon. Now you're a head."