Slitting her preys' throat as she had done so many times before, Liss Nightingale found herself thinking about Valyrios. Again. And what had happened yesterday. As the hot, thick blood poured from her prey, she finished him off quickly. A small spurt of blood hit her across her cheek, and that reminded her about how the mead had spilled over both her and the young, handsome Imperial Werewolf. Drying her dagger with a small piece of cloth, Liss scoured her mind. Was she in love with this Imperial? She sighed heavily and casually grabbed the legs of the bloody corpse and proceeded through a narrow alley. She didn't pay any attention to the thick red stream of blood following where she had dragged the dead man; such things had no meaning to her at this moment. All that mattered was him. Valyrios.

But why? Gods damn it. She swore loudly, shook her head and put her hands on her sides. She looked at the corpse. A small distance away was an old rusty sewer grate. She usually used these when it came to disposing of corpses. She dragged the limp body another few metres and stopped close to the sewer grate. It maybe wasn't the best place to hide a freshly killed person, but on the other hand, in the sewers lived many a peculiar creatures. Creatures who weren't exactly picky with what they ate. And a few Imperials now and then wouldn't be bad.

She tugged at the sewer grate, and with some difficulty she managed to lift it a few centimetres and drag it to the side. The black pit became fully visible and a stench rose from the entrance. Liss wrinkled her nose, and grabbed the corpse. She dragged it the last little distance to the sewer pit and shoved it down. After a moment, the meaty sound of a body smashing against the sewer floor, covered ankle-deep in muck and dirty water echoed up the dark pit. She clapped her hands together once and sighed. Another contract was done. She had served the Night Mother. Now she wanted to go back to the sanctuary and... And then she thought about Valyrios again.

She walked in the moonlight, and made her way from the town. She located her horse outside, tied to an old, crooked tree. There were but a few, green leaves on the gnarled branches. The horse was the complete opposite of the twisted tree. Tall and stout, and proud in its posture. He was a beast black as the night itself, with deep, red eyes. He looked up and neighed lowly when he caught scent and sight of Elissa Nightingale. His name was Shadowmere – and Liss liked him very much. This might stem from the fact that this horse, this beast of the night had been her mothers. Her mothers horse. It was one of the few memories she had from her. She mounted Shadowmere with impressive agility and steadiness. She patted the horse on the neck and ran her hand through his mane. She whispered his name, as if she was whispering for night and darkness itself.

"Shadowmere." Liss whispered. "Take me back home."

The shadowborn horse started into a trot and then after just a minute, into a steady, quick gallop.

Back at the sanctuary, things were as usual. Quiet, with the aura of death hanging about. It was lovely, and when Liss stepped into the main room, she really did feel as though she had just come home. And she had, after all. She checked who was here and who was not; and she concluded that all the assassins were out carrying out their contracts. She sighed deeply and smiled to herself. A moment alone. She would take a bath and then pray to the Night Mother, and then perhaps work on a special close combat training program she had in mind to teach the newer assassins. Liss went to her bedchamber and took with her a fresh garb instead of the sweaty one she was wearing. Then she made her way down to the "Bath cave". It was indeed a cave, small, but big enough for people to be in, and bath in. In the middle of the cave room was a body of water. A pond of sorts; a pool, maybe a metre and a half deep but at the deepest point maybe two metres. All stone, the rough, jagged sides of the pool worked as seats. And in the bottom of it, there was a small spring connected to underground streams of hot water. It constantly supplied the pool with warm water, perfect to take a wash in. Having researched the cave, Liss had actually found out that the hot water came from an old Dwemer steamwork deep underground, and the hot water source was simply a brass pipe connecting with the pool.

When she came down the stairs and entered the bath cave she noticed immediately that there was someone else in the room. In the pool, just as surprised as Liss, judging by his expression, was Valyrios.

"Oh..." Liss said awkwardly. "H-hello.." She couldn't bring herself to say anything else.

"Ah..." he replied equally awkwardly. "Uh.. hello, Liss.."

"I am sorry for disturbing you.." Liss said with a small chuckle. She gestured to the stairs that winded up from the room. "I should be going now.."

"Wait.." Valyrios exclaimed when Liss had taken the first steps.

"Yes?" she replied, trying to look Valyrios in the face and not lower.

"I... Uh..." He gestured awkwardly and tried to find the right words. "It's... Ah... Okay if you stay.."

"Hm?" Liss was a little surprised. More than surprised, actually, stunned might have been a better word.

"I mean.. You don't have to of course... But it's no problem for me if you.. If you... well.." he waved his open hands to the pool.

Liss caught the hint.

"I... Well... Sure.. I mean... Yes.." Liss stammered. She blushed a little. But then she smiled a crooked smile and nodded slightly. "Well, I suppose I could... Join you, then..."

And so she did. She took off her garb casually and covered herself up with a cloth. She took that away as well as soon as she had dipped into the perfectly warm water. She sighed contently as the water warmed her. Then she looked at Valyrios. He was blushing. He wasn't looking at her, he was looking down in the water in front of him. She understood that he was trying very hard not to look and seem improper. She didn't care about that.

"It's alright, Valyrios." she said as calmly and casually she could. She failed. "You don't have to look away."

Liss closed her eyes and sighed at how ridiculous this all sounded. She was a cold killer. How could she even try to understand things like love? It was weird.

"I... It's.. Ok.. Then.." he smiled awkwardly at her and began mumbling again. "I'm.. Uh, sorry for the other day, you know, it went... kind of.. Well, awkward there..."

"It's okay. Things happen." Liss said. She was very nervous. She tried not to, but her eyes wandered towards the naked assassin in front of her. He had a muscular build, with pronounced muscles and a lot of body hair. His chest was practically furry – she wasn't surprised, he was, after all, a werewolf. She blushed and began thinking improper thoughts. She looked at his face – he was unshaven and looked quite rough, but in Liss' eyes, Valyrios the Werewolf could not have been more handsome. His furry black sideburns were growing out of control and a stub of beard was more-than-hinting on his chin. His eyes were exhausted but not tired; after a day of hard training and practising killing arts.

"Hey," Liss said and broke the uncomfortable awkward silence. "You... I..."

She went silent again. Valyrios looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

"I was just wondering, would you like some mead after this and perhaps... Perhaps we could..."

Valyrios smiled at her and moved over to sit beside her. He smiled again and moved a wet strand ov hay-blond har out of her blushing face.

"That does sound like a terrific idea, Listener." And then he kissed her. But just a small kiss. Their lips brushed softly and she felt the warmth spread through her body. She loved him with all her cold, deadly heart. And she knew her feelings were answered by this man. This werewolf. Her werewolf. She giggled a little and Valyrios withdrew slightly. He smiled at her, still close to her.

"What?" he said.

"Nothing, just..." Liss didn't finish that sentence. She hesitated for a moment, then kissed him again. And this time, it was a proper kiss.

She was laying beside him in her wide bed. She had the fur blanket pulled up all the way up to her neck. Liss smiled at him. She felt the warmth of his body against hers. She didn't want this moment to stop.

"That was interesting," she said quietly, still smiling.

"And good, I hope?" Valyrios replied. He was stretched out comfortably, partially under the blanket.

"It was." Liss said.

"Liss?" Valyrios asked after a moment of silence.

"What?"

He was silent for a small moment, and then he said,

"Do you love me?"

Liss giggled a little.

"I think I do." she said, and looked him in his eyes. The green eyes of a werewolf. "Do you love me?"

"Yes. I do, Liss. I do." he said with a smile, still looking her in her eyes. They kissed again and she rolled over, on top of him.

"We should get dressed." she said. "The others will be back any moment."

"You are probably right." Valyrios said with a mysterious expression. "But I'd like to kiss you again first."

"You may." Liss said.

Then they got dressed, and Liss went down to the main hall. Then she steered her steps to the Night Mothers' coffin. There she kneeled, in front of the massive Iron Maiden. She said;

"Night Mother, has anyone prayed to you?" She waited for a moment, still kneeling, then came the familiar voice of the Unholy Matron.

"Well, I pray you had a good time with that Imperial.." The Night Mother giggled silently to herself.

"I... What?.." Liss looked for the right words.

"It was your first time then?" the Night Mother asked. Liss blushed.

"Um... Yes, Night Mother... It was..."

"Did it hurt?"

"I.." Liss stopped. This was getting embarassing. Very embarassing.

"Oh, don't be afraid, Child, I am just concerned about you. Now tell me, was it good?" the Night Mother giggled again.

"Yes." Liss said grudgingly. "Yes it was, Night Mother."

"I do so miss my youth..." the Night Mother sighed. "Now, the contracts. We have two new. Two interesting ones. Now, to get your first contract, visit the nobleman currently renting a room at the Bannered Mare in Whiterun. He'll give you the instructions further. The second one, seek out the smith in Morthal. He has a task for you."

"Thank you, Night Mother, we will fullfill the contracts and condemn our preys to the Void." Liss said, stood up and bowed deeply.

"Now go, child. And good luck."

Maybe it was purely Liss' imagination, but the Nord girl could swear she heard the Night Mother giggle again.

Liss went back to the main hall and found Valyrios and Daza sitting by the longtable. They were playing a game of chess. Liss sat down on the short side of the heavy oak table so she could spectate the game. She took a piece of parchment and wrote down the contract details. She wondered what the Night Mother had meant with "Interesting ones" when she had talked about the contracts. There was only one way to find out.

"Check mate." Daza said, and leaned back in his chair, chuckling heartily. "You'll never find such a chess player as me, Valyrios."

"But how?!" Valyrios exclaimed. "That was a genial move, Daza, but how did you manage to do that? It must have required planning and strategically moving your pawns from the beginning!"

"Indeed." the Shadowscale nodded.

"Then... You must be right about that." Valyrios concluded. He, too, leaned back on the chair. Then he looked at Liss. "Hello there. You should have seen Daza's chess tactics."

"Oh? He won, didn't he?" Liss said. When Valyrios nodded, she continued, "He's a tactical genius, that one." She smiled at Daza who smiled back at her and said;

"Practise, lot's of practise, my brother and sister."

"I guess so." Liss said. Then she held up her note and said; "I will be doing this contract." She put the note down on the table and pointed at the top line. Any one of you are free to take the second one, otherwise, get some rest. You've earned it.

"Alright, well, good luck Liss, kill well, and often." Valyrios said to her, and smiled. Liss smiled back and said;

"Gentlemen."

Then she walked down to the armory. She tapped down the hard, old stone steps to the torchlit chamber contaning the weapons needed to slay another being. Or several. Liss entered the room and was met by the familiar smell of leather and iron. To her right was a few, three mannequinns which were garbed in the standard Dark Brotherhood armor. To her left were wooden shelves and stands with swords, axes and daggers and even a couple of shields. They were quite cumbersome and in Liss' opinion useless to an assassin. The heavier weapons were mostly used by the people who were strong enough to use them in a stealth sutiation. In front of her were several bows hung on the wall, bows of finest wood with sleek form and shape and strong bowstrings, capable of firing an arrow completely silent and kill someone at a long range. There was also another interesting weapon in the chamber – a new item in all of Skyrim, a crossbow, imported from Hammerfell. This weapon was like a bow but even better; smaller than a bow, but with a thicker frame and a stronger bowstring, which could loose a bolt that would kill effectively on double the range a bow could. But despite these fine choices of weapons, Liss preferred to choose a simpler armament.

She took a knife belt with her, made of black softened leather. She grabbed two daggers of finest steel, smithed in the Skyforge itself and purified with human blood through a ritual. Then she left the armory and went to her chamber to get her cloak. It was a long, soft cloak of black-dyed wool. It was thick, but not too heavy; it was not difficult to move in and her acrobatic moves on the rooftops would not be hindered by it. It was a perfect piece of clothing for an assassin like her; it hid her weapons and made it easier for her to stay incognito.

Then, done with the arming, Liss left the cold, dim sanctuary that was her home and headed out on her hunt.