Jul

Octavian

Fen scratched at his throat as he led me into the warehouse, my arms wrapped together by rope tied to look tight around my wrists but in reality loose enough for me to easily break out when the time came. "You're trying to become a Vampire, remember? Maybe you shouldn't act nervous that someone's about to, I don't know, bite you?" I suggested dryly under my breath.

"Bite me," the High Elf retorted. I had to fight off a grin at his joke. Why'd he always do this when we were trying to sneak in somewhere?

Niramo shook his head. "Why'd you suggest this if you always act like this?"

"Better he's in danger than us," Fen said as he tugged on my bonds.

"Friends like these," I muttered under my breath.

"Quiet, Insect!" Fen shouted, tugging hard on the rope again.

"Ach!" I snapped, stumbling forward and feeling the ropes burn my skin. I tossed him a venomous snarl that was met with a backhand. Now he was acting like he knew how to play a part? Of course, I fell for it every time. "Stupid elves!"

Niramo smacked the back of my head and I snapped my chin to my chest, hissing at the 'pain' blossoming in the back of my head. "He said quiet!"

I growled. At least they were selling it, but if they kept selling it this well...

"Who goes there?" The three of us stopped moving as a new figure walked out of the shadows, a blade angled at us. It was a woman, a high elf. She was a bit shorter than Fen, though she was far more imposing. Her features looked like they hadn't smiled outside of a torture session in centuries, and it was clear that she was a Vampire if her glowing eyes were any indication. Her silvery hair was pulled into a tight bun that made her already severe features even more shark like. "My lady," Fen and Niramo muttered in Aldmeri, placing their hands over their chests and bowing. They looked over at me and pulled me down. Fen snapped at me in the Imperial tongue, "Bow, Cur."

Cur? They were really hamming it up. I pretended to push against the hand on the back of my head, and the Vampire began to laugh. "Oh, it's a feisty little pet," she mocked, letting her blade drop. She sheathed the elven blade at her hip and walked up to me, grabbing my chin so she could examine me. "Hm... Ah! Is this... who I think it is?"

"The prince of the beasts, snuck out of his castle," Fen affirmed through a smirk.

I snarled out, "Who's the real beast? Us, or the bloodsucker!?" I snapped my teeth at the Vampire still holding my face. My reward was a slap across my right cheek. I was silent for a moment, stunned she did it that early. It usually took me saying something way worse for it to reach that stage.

"A fake prince, one that does not even hold the blood of his so called king in his veins," she growled, the same story as every other Vampire. "The Empress killed your true prince years ago when he was but a child."

"And yet -" My head was shoved down by Niramo before I could finish.

"I like you two," the Vampire said as Niramo began to dig his fingers into my temples. I shouted out at the pain, all too real, burrowing into my skull. His fingers dug into my hair and yanked up. Okay, he was enjoying this too much. "Follow me." The woman turned around and began to walk towards the Warehouse.

Niramo dragged me by the hair, now, letting out a chuckle at my cry. "Going... To kill you..." I snarled quiet enough he Vampire wouldn't hear me. I wasn't even acting at this point. The fingers in my hair loosened, an apology that was more than deserved.

"Guys! You'll never guess what these two kids brought in. If they're right and this is what I think, this'll get us stationed in Alinor!" the Vampire called out out her partners.

Another six Vampires jumped down from the rafters, landing lightly in front of the group of newcomers. "What could be that good?" one, a Bosmer man, asked as he stood up straight. His golden eyes were full of disbelief at his ally's statement, but also with hope. "Don't get my hopes up, Della. I'd be glad to get out of this place. Reeks of humans."

"Oh, it is that good," the Vampire that had greeted us said. She gestured at me, silently demanding that Fen and Niramo drag me forward. They did as commanded, trusting me to spring the trap at the best moment.

One of the other Vampires gripped my face and examined me, a clinical glare on his face. Never moving his hand from my face, his eyes flicked up to Fen and Niramo. "Where did you find the Emperor's 'son?'"

"The humans let us explore during the festival, and we ran across him there. This fake was allowed to wander without guard. A sign of their Empire's 'security,'" Fen explained, his voice hitting just the right amount of condescension on 'human' and 'Empire.'

The Vampire smirked. "How much like the humans to overestimate themselves." He frowned and leaned in close, taking a good whiff of my scent. "Smells like a Vampire," the Bosmer muttered before shoving my face away. He turned around to the others. "Looks like the 'Emperor,'" he sneered, "found out how to make his fake son smell like us." I smell like a ampire. Well, I'm definitely my mother's son, after all.

It was at this point that I snapped my bindings and summoned an ethereal blade to my hand. The purple edge lanced forward, piercing the unsuspecting Vampire's chest. He yelped in surprise, then began to gurgle as blood began to leak where it did not belong – both within and without of his body. I raised my foot and kicked, sending him sliding off my blade and face down onto the ground.

Fen and Niramo jumped in to action immediately. A steel blade crashed into that of the Vampire that had met us, saving my neck from being severed from my shoulders. Niramo shoved her back and began to advance, trading blows. Fen, meanwhile, sent a fireball spell towards the group of Vampires that were advancing on us. The spell exploded, sending flames arching high into the warehouse. It took little for the roof to catch, and soon the signal was made clear. As Athyn had pointed out, we had a tendency of lighting places on fire. It's probably not a good thing...

I raised a ward in front of me and Fen, blocking the river of life draining spells that flew our way, using their expended Magicka to recharge my own reserves. I readied my blade as I knew they would eventually realize that they could do nothing with spells and would rush us instead.

Thankfully, the signal drew the attention of our allies rather quickly. Tora roared as she ran right past Fen and I, her ax cleaving through the neck of a Vampire. His head popped off and rolled to the ground in front of his peers, momentarily stunning them. Athyn took that time to shoot a pair of ice spikes, the shards of frost spiraling through the head of one Vampire and the other tearing the left arm from another's shoulder. That Vampire hissed and whirled his head towards Athyn, golden eyes aglow with rage. I dropped my ward and shot a Sun Fire spell at that Vampire's head. Sunlight exploded against its flesh and the monster shrieked as its head began to disintegrate. The other Vampires turned with wide, horrified eyes towards their ally's clearly visible skull.

Tora didn't give them time to consider what was happening. Her ax slammed into the chest of the nearest one, catching on the thick leather she was wearing. Still, the Vampire was tossed backwards and landed on her back, Tora falling to her knees next to the Vampire. Tora drew a dagger from her hip, burying it in the Vampire's eye.

It was at this point that the Vampires began to act again, all three of them. Niramo was in the middle of his duel with the Vampiress we had met outside, who was clearly the most capable of the bunch. Made sense for the guard to be the best fighter, I suppose. A match for Niramo, at the very least. Still, Tora wouldn't want to pass up on a fight with their best warrior. "Tora, help Nir," I commanded, rushing to block a sword blow that arced down at her back.

She glanced up at my back and said, "Nice view." She stood up, patting my backside drunkenly before rushing towards Niramo and his opponent.

Fen rushed up behind the Vampire I was fighting, his hands charged with energy, and placed them on both sides of her enemy's head. Purple lightning coursed over the Vampire's head and it shrieked as every thought in its brain was eliminated completely while its brain boiled. "You having fun there?" he taunted.

"She's an... aggressive drunk," I muttered while tossing the Vampire's corpse tot he side. I watched as Athyn walked up, having finished coating the other two Vampires in flames until there was nothing left of them. I looked back at Tora, who was busy using her ax to cleave the last one's head off. I grimaced as she roared in triumph over the dead body leaking blood on the warehouse ground. "In many, many ways."

"Is this not illegal property destruction?" Athyn inquired of the flaming roof above, cutting off my conversation with Fen. I glanced up and grimaced. It was about to give, crushing us all under fiery debris. That sounded less than tempting, so I raised my hand and cast a complicated spell my father had created a few years prior, one that was capable of restoring fire damage to non-living matter. The roof groaned under the weight of my Magicka for a moment before it began to stitch itself back together. I swayed on my feet as the last of my energy reserves was depleted, then fell backwards far more suddenly than I had braced for. Fen caught me before I could hit the ground, then slowly lowered me to a sitting position. I tossed him a grateful, exhausted grin.

"That wasn't a good enough fight," Tora muttered when she walked over, cleaning the blood from her ax blade using one of the Vampire's capes.

Niramo scoffed. "A war isn't a good enough fight for you Nords!"

Tora considered the statement for a moment, still absently wiping blood from her ax. "No wars! I prefer an honorable fight. None of this 'tactics' or sneaking around!"

"It is necessary, you know," I said from the ground. I groaned and pushed myself up to my feet. My father and Athyn's were likely wondering where we were, nowabouts. It was time to return to the ball. "Well, we'd better -"

There was a scream from the shadows and we all whirled towards the source, prepared for an attack, though far less than before. I would be a liability, tired as I was from fixing the roof with my Magick. None of us could see anything in the shadows until, slowly, a Vampire's corpse was lowered tot he ground. "Show yourself!" Tora snapped, rushing forward a couple steps. She brandished her ax in front of her, adrenaline obscuring the effect of the alcohol on her.

A smirking Nord walked out of the shadows. He had an eyepatch over his left eye, and his red hair had become gray with a combination of age and hardship. His beard was a dirty gray, and his yellowing teeth clearly showed that he was an avid smoker. "Now now, Lass, don't be hasty," he said. "I just saved your lives, after all. Least you could do is thank me." He held up an odd short sword that glimmered in the darkness itself and flicked the blood off of it.

"I thank you to explain who you are," Fen hissed, already aiming a fireball at the newcomer.

"Okay, okay, Lad. Just let me put this thing away," he said, putting his sword on his belt. He walked slowly towards us with his hands up. "Now, ask away."

"Name," Athyn suggested.

"Brynjolf, last remaining member of the Thieves Guild," he said, flourishing a bow. He stood up straight and frowned. "That that damn woman hasn't killed or turned into a traitorous blood sucker, at least."

"That woman..? The Aldmeri Empress?" I wondered aloud. "Thera Stormcrown?"

Brynjolf's mouth curled into a sneer. "Aye. I prefer traitor. Stabbed me in the back to steal the skeleton key decades ago now. Been tryin' to find a way to repay the favor ever since."

"You knew her back when she was... mortal?" I asked.

"Aye," he admitted with a shrug. "Should've seen she was a duplicitous bitch from the get go. Thought she was the good kind of liar – a thief."

"So why are you here?" Athyn asked after a moment's consideration. "Why not assassinate her if you're that sneaky?"

"I'm a thief, not an assassin, Lass. And besides... why would I tell you what I'm doing? I'm here to speak to the Emperor, after all. Not his son and his son's friends," Brynjolf mocked. "I need someone with actual power, no offense. An army. So, go ahead. Take me to your daddy, Lad."

I scoffed. "What makes you think I'd 'take you to my daddy?'" I asked dryly. This Nord was getting on my nerves pretty damn fast.

"Hm? Oh, right. You'd know about it," Brynjolf said, smacking his forehead. He leaned in so close that only I could hear and whispered very quietly in my ear, "The Bow, Lad. The Bow."

I froze.

He stood up straight and crossed his arms, a smile of smug satisfaction on his face. "Aye, that got your attention, dinnit?" Brynjolf asked. He gestured towards the door. "After you, Lads."

I glared at him for a full minute. The Bow. He found the Bow!? The Bow that... That could make that damn monster a god. A Divine!? I... it could be a ploy to kill my father. But – no, the man's eyes were filled with barely contained hatred every time the Aldmeri Empress was brought up. He couldn't be working for her, could he? No, that didn't matter.

All that mattered was the Bow. Finding it, claiming it, keeping it out of that damn Vampire's claws.

Begrudgingly, I made the only choice available to me.

"Follow me."

Brynjolf's wolfish grin grew even wider. "Aye, that's the way, Lad. Let's go end a war."