Chapter Seventeen

"Come on," Serana said, helping Yosa'Min to her feet, the redguard wobbling to stay standing. "We need to speak with Garan Marethi."

"Who's that?" Yosa'Min questioned, following along as they left the shrine and made their way through the castle.

Serana turned a corner towards what looked like a laboratory of sorts, a dunmer sitting in chair flipping through a book on the other side of a doorway, set between two bookshelves. "A high ranking member of my father's court, he was that before I left, I can only imagine what he's like now." She then walked right up to him and the dunmer swiftly took note of her. He rose to his feet, closing his book and leaving it resting on the chair he'd just been using.

A pleased smile drew across his face. "Lady Serana," he said, dipping his head in greeting and then turned to look at the redguard. "Yosa'Min," he said, the respect instantly lost in his voice, but it sounded friendlier than most others would be giving her. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I have a message from my father," Serana said. Yosa'Min's eyes settled on the split in his lip, and the bat-like look of his nose, curious and fascinated.

"Oh?" The dunmer vampire's brow rose a bit with curiosity, "What does our Lord wish?"

"He simply said 'it's time', does that mean anything to you?" Serana replied, a hand on her hip.

The smile drew into a grin that was a bit frightening to the fledgling. "Well well, he finally wants the Chalice. Do you remember it Lady Serana?"

Serana had stiffened, and swiftly waved a hand about in the air. "Of course I do, how could I forget it?"

"I meant no offense my Lady," the mer swiftly said, "but what of your fledgling? I'd imagine she knows nothing of it." They both shook their heads, and Garan nodded his in response. "Right then. It's a well kept secret young Yosa'Min, but I trust your presence here means that Lord Harkon wishes you to know of it." Another nod of their heads was given. "Good. It's been in Lord Harkon's possession for a very long time now, and is a powerful artifact, capable of increasing the potency of our powers to unimaginable heights. It must be filled, however, with a particular liquid that is found in one place only."

"Redwater Den," put in Serana. "Father's never had to use it before, he prefers his own strength... This means something terrible is brewing."

He nodded his head, red ponytail bobbing for a moment. "Exactly. Come now, I'll take you to the Chalice. We've moved it since you were last here my Lady." The mer started walking out, and the sire and fledgling followed suit, being led back to the grand entrance hall as more vampires feasted on the thralls that lay on tables or drinking from tankards filled with blood. Seeing them made Yosa'Min's skin crawl with disgust. Perhaps she could slowly come to terms with having to drink blood to survive, but seeing the sheer gluttony of the vampires made her feel sick to her stomach.

They came up to a pair of vampires, Yosa'Min recognizing one as the vampire that had first greeted them, Vingalmo, while the other was a red clad stout nord. "Excuse us Vingalmo, Orthjolf," Garan said, "we need to fetch the Chalice."

The pair tensed, "The Chalice?" The altmer spoke first, "Why the Chalice?"

"Because our Lord has ordered it," said back the dunmer, "Now calm yourself Orthjolf, you need not bare your fangs at me yet. Lady Serana and her fledgling are going to see to its refilling themselves."

Orthjolf scowled. "Why is a whelp going to put her grubby fingers on the Bloodstone Chalice?"

Serana gave a short hiss, and stepped towards him. "Because this whelp is my fledgling, and as such will be accompanying me until I see fit." He stepped backwards, ducking his head with obvious reluctance. Serana lingered for a moment, shooting Vingalmo a challenging look but he shook his head as if to say he had no qualms with Yosa'Min's presence. The redguard smiled a bit, the weight in her chest lifting as she realized that despite the time gone, Serana would still hold power in the court and with luck the adjustments wouldn't take as long as she'd been beginning to think they would. The obvious show that she had Yosa'Min's back, also comforted the redguard.

Garan cleared his throat, and stepped between the pair of advisors, leading the women towards where another shrine like area almost was of the castle, this one just one particular pedestal where a singular, massive silver spiked chalice resided. Serana grasped it, thumbing over the engravings with a masked expression, before turning her attention to Garan as he began to speak. "I need not go over what to do with it to you, Lady Serana, however I must warn you- Redwater Den has fallen into the hands of those less... reputable than before."

Yosa'Min perked up at that, suddenly recalling something. "I know of that place," she said, garnering their attention. "I am quite familiar with the Rift, it's a skooma hub now mostly. A lot of lowlifes that would make even rats shudder with disgust dwell within."

Nodding his head, Garan agreed, "Exactly. Deal with them as you must my Lady."

Serana nodded her head, "We will. Come on Yosa, we should leave now."

"No chance for rest?" The redguard softly complained.

Sighing, she shook her head, Garan leaving them now and joining in the ongoing feast. "I'm afraid not. It's quite the trip though, so we'll find plenty along the way." Serana started walking towards the set of curving stairs that would lead out into the open Skyrim world, only to pause for a moment and turn to the tables laden with bottle and thralls. She reached out, taking a handful of large bottles that were a pinkish color, and handed them to the redguard. "These will help, all right, let's go." With that, she started walking out, the eyes of the Court upon her.

The entrance of Redwater Den was an old, run down shack of wood, the ceiling having collapsed inwards under the weight of snow and disrepair long ago, crumpling wooden pillars that were crusted with mold and moss making up the skeletal remains. A table was overturned to block the door but a gap in the side walls left it open to the world beyond the roof. The only thing that remained of it in one piece, was the fireplace that burned with dying embers, a skeever roasting on a stick making a foul odor fill the air. Serana crinkled her nose with disgust, and then waved for Yosa'Min to follow her into the den, having to step over the corpse of the lookout before climbing down a fairly hidden trapdoor.

A thicker musk of putrid scent assaulted the vampires the moment they'd stepped down into the den, a corridor that went further down stairs lined with wood and goat horn sconces. They walked slowly down, ready for a fight, to a small room with a cobblestone floor littered with leaves from outside, a nord wearing armor standing besides the sole door. He jolted upright, and glared at them. "You're no regulars," he said suspiciously.

Before Serana could open her mouth, Yosa'Min was on it, silver tongue running. "No, but we got a recommendation about this place from a friend, heard you lot make skooma so strong it'll knock you on your arse."

He smirked, "Aye we do." Eyes ran the two women up and down once, "Fine, you can go on in, just keep any weapon you may have on you out of your hands, and no magic either. Talk with the mer in the cage, she'll set you up." They nodded their heads as he unlocked the door, and they walked inside down a set of stairs to a basement like complex. All they could hear were the coughs of mortals and a thick red smoke filled the area, curling around pillars like misty fingers. Before either of them could make way through the den of skooma addicts, the dealer in the cage called them over, and they had no choice else they wanted to risk alerting the guard that they could sense hiding away.

The dealer was a bosmer, her hair pulled into two ponytails that gave her a warm and comforting look. "Oh, look at you two," she purred rather sensually, leaning forward, "you need to relax, take a load off. Just go on into a booth, and don't forget your skooma." She pushed a tray with two red bottles towards them through the gap in the iron barring, a wooden counter running the perimeter of the cage except the side with the locked door. Yosa'Min took them, and gave a nervous smile. "Oh, first timers?" The dealer further said, "How cute."

"You could say that," Serana replied, faking jitters also.

"Well, how about we give you a private booth then? I don't think anyone's using the last one. I know the first time can be a bit... different than the rest," she said, snapping her fingers and a dunmer dressed in plain clothes came out of a room that was comprised of wooden walling, an open doorway giving them a glance of a man hurling into a bucket. "Vil, show them the back booth would you please dear?"

They turned to him, and he gave them a nod, already turning on his heels and starting towards the several booths they had to house the addicts that came to them. There were rugs and benches in them each, buckets and trays littered with empty bottles of skooma as well as piles of hay that confused both vampires until they realized it was likely there for patrons who passed out, were spattered about the booths. The short lived walk ended with the attendant motioning for them to enter the booth besides an iron gate door, and so they did, sitting down on a long wooden bench in a very smoky room.

"So what's the plan?" Whispered Yosa'Min so quietly that even Serana almost didn't catch it. "Do we fool them or kill them?"

"The door's probably locked," Serana whispered, "I bet that leads to the rest of the den, and then to the Bloodspring."

"I can pick the lock," Yosa'Min replied, taking in a strong whiff of the air that quickly got her swooning. "The sooner we're out of here the better though."

Suddenly the white haired Vil appeared in the doorway, poking his head in to check up on the pair. Serana started to laugh, as if the redguard had just told a funny joke, and Yosa'Min opened the redwater skooma, pretending to be ready to take a swig. They kept the act going for a few moments after he'd vanished from view, unable to try to smell for him in the thick cloud of skooma permeating the air. It was starting to mess with their heads, a slight distortion filling the world the longer they dwelled within. They'd have to move fast before they were under its effects entirely.

"He's going to be a problem," said Serana with a tight hiss.

Yosa'Min nodded her head. "If you can distract him and the dealer, I can pick the door and then we can get through."

"Except that assumes I can slip away without alerting them," Serana replied.

The redguard shrugged, "You're a vampire lord, I'm sure you'll think of something." A snort was earned from her sire, the fledgling stiffening with alarm for a moment. "I mean, really Serana."

She sighed, dipping her head. "I'll think of something." The attendant appeared again, and they simply remained there, talking softly and coughing occasionally due to the thick musk. His suspicious glances were enough to add to why they'd need to get a move on, yet the more they tried to plan the more their minds seemed to slow down. Yosa'Min held the bottle of skooma to her face, inspecting it. "Don't-" Serana's order came too late, the redguard's curiosity winning out and her judgement seemingly impaired, as she took a sip from it.

Instantly she pulled it away with a hiss, sputtering at the taste. "Gods, that tastes like pure sugar!" She complained, tongue burning, "nasty!"

"Yosa!" Scolded Serana, "What in Oblivion do you think you're doing? We're not here to actually drink the stuff!" She snatched the red bottle away from Yosa'Min.

"I figured they'd be suspicious otherwise," defended the redguard, eyes closed tightly. Pinching her nose, the redguard shook her head. "Trust me, no more worries about that," she said, scowling still. Serana rolled her eyes at the theatrics, but as it continued worry rose up her body like hot sunlight. She took another breath, the clouds of red dust making her lungs ache with an almost pleasurable burn. Yosa'min was swaying where she sat, and before Serana had a moment to catch her the vampire fledgling had collapsed into one of the hay piles. The attendant appeared, and gave a frown.

"Oh, she's passed out," he said, and then his gaze flickered to Serana. "Have you tried it yet? Too nervous for the first sip?" Vil stepped a bit inside the booth, and the vampire rose to her feet, only to find her legs had grown unstable while she'd been sitting down. The dunmer was seemingly unaffected, and she could only guess it came from such constant exposure to the drug. "You should try some, it'll relax you just like it did she." The vampire hissed at him in warning as he stepped closer. "Oh, such pretty fangs you've got," he laughed darkly, "but they're not the biggest set I've seen friend. Come now, just try some."

Staunchly, Serana refused, about to lash out and attack him but something in the air was making her more afraid than aggressive. She knew exactly what she needed to do, but for some reason just couldn't. "Such a shame," he frowned, and then a shadow surged forward with an object in hand, rushing past the dunmer who stood still with a dark smile on his face now. Serana slashed out, trying to hit the shadow, but the skooma clouds had gotten to her and she attacked too late. The shadow rammed her into the wall, and then grasped her by the throat, one hand keeping her in place while the other forced the lip of a bottle into her mouth. Serana thrashed, claws raking the body of the form that was cloaked in black, but nothing seemed to phase it. The skooma rushed over her tongue, as foully sweet as Yosa'Min had claimed, and though she struggled not to swallow, the shadow forced her to else she choke. The wave hit her hard, sending her tumbling down as the form released her. Face meeting hay strewn cobblestone, Serana managed to keep conscious for only a few breaths more before passing out, catching a glimpse of burning eyes.

A terrible, monstrous aching in Serana's skull pounded her awake, knocking her into consciousness with a sharp gasp. She was laying down, dirt and rock pressing into her back as she slowly got her bearings. The vampire gingerly rose to a sitting position, her body aching with a special kind of pain as the skooma at last wore away, and her vision stopped dancing. Where ever she was, it was dark and musty, wooden support beams lacing across the square room as roots bore in from above. Slowly the headache reduced itself to a dull, terrible throb, and she sucked in a breath of air.

Instantly she stiffened when she smelled Yosa'Min, and blood, jumping to her feet only to stumble and barely catch herself on the wall before she bashed her face against it. The nord vampire hissed with frustration, trying to shake the mental cobwebs away only for it to seem to grow worse. The air wasn't as thick with skooma anymore, but she could certainly smell it, a lingering aftertaste instead of the forefront scent. Serana pushed herself off the wall, and blinked towards a metal gate forming a cell, trapping her inside. There was a shadow on the other side, facing away towards a large cave where platforms and fires were, from what she could tell boiling massive metal vats that steamed out red clouds that clung to the ceiling and upper levels like a blanket.

Serana's eyes widened a bit as she realized they'd been taken to the belly of the skooma operations, gazing at where they made the special variant itself. A few fur dressed bandit type mortals were walking along on either rock or wooden platforms, tending to the drug making process. The vampire peered at the nearest platform, making out what looked like the entrance and across the way high up was a raised bridge. "That's where we need to go," she whispered, turning around and expecting to find the redguard in the cell with her, only to realize she was alone in the cell.

"Yosa!" She shouted with alarm, forgetting the guard and the threat for a moment as she searched fruitlessly about the cage. "Yosa where are you?" The shadow turned around, and as Serana faced it, burning eyes glared at her. "You!" Screeched Serana, lunging forward against the cell and reaching through the bars to grasp the other vampire, only he remained faintly out of reach.

"Me?" He mocked.

"What have you done with Yosa'Min?" Serana demanded, her claws just brushing the cloth of his outfit. "Tell me!"

A dark laugh came from him, fangs glinting in a flickering torchlight from behind. "My dear, I don't know who that is."

"Like Bal you don't," she hissed. "The redguard, where did you take her?"

"Oh, she's Yosa'Min," he said, hands behind his back curiously. "That's useful to know, thank you. Saved us a bit of time in the interrogation." Serana's eyes narrowed and she pulled back some, hands wrapped around the metal bars as horror and dread crept up her. "Don't worry, you're next."

Serana shook her head. "Why?"

"Vampires, showing up here?" He mocked, "please, like your intentions were obvious? The only reason any vampire would come sniffing around here would be for the Bloodspring." The vampire had drawn closer, and Serana narrowed her eyes with hate. Slowly he came within reach, throwing insults to her along the way. "Is that young one your fledgling? She has the scent of fresh blood, yours even. I wonder if she'd still taste like mortals, so fresh and vibrant, so-" Serana cut him off, surging forward to wrap her fingers around his neck, choking the few last words that would have come tumbling out his mouth and wringing him against the bars.

Serana pulled him until his face was pressing against the metal, leaning in to growl in his ear as he struggled to get free from her grip. "If you or anyone else has so much as scratched her, I will kill you and reanimate your corpse just so I can do it again." Strangled chokes came from the dunmer vampire, hands reaching awkwardly and desperately through the gate hole to try to shove her off, but she only dug in deeper. Eventually she grew tired of listening to his gasps, and she twisted sharply to snap his neck. Instantly his body grew stiff and the burn in his eyes faded to a dull amber color. Serana released the vampire, his form crumpling to the ground, and snagged the keys that hung on his hip, just within reach now.

The keys were violently shoved into the lock, twisting open in a rush, and the gate thrown open. The sire took off into a mad spring out, turning up a path that sloped to the brewery, her footfalls alerting the thralls within the cave that hadn't realized their master had been killed. They shouted, raising up hands of magic or weapons, and the volkihar hissed with frustration and urgency. A woman came running first, swinging a blade that was aimed to lob off her head, while a man charged with a battleaxe. Serana ducked under the swinging blow, and the sword instead slashed the man right across the chest. He dropped his massive weapon, a deep boom echoing in the cave that sent dirt flying everywhere. The imperial woman screamed with fury, wildly striking at the nord vampire that dodged each attack and instead brought up a hand that glowed with blue light. A bolt of lightning jumped outwards from Serana's hand, hitting the thrall directly through the chest and arching outwards into the ground. The thrall dropped to the floor with a resounding thud.

Serana started running instantly, turning up further to work her way towards the upper platform, sprinting past beds and crates, torches and a forge and workshop, reaching the bridge where she had to pause and look for a switch. Once it was found, wooden bridges lowered on both the far and near end, popping into place where they ran over the brewery and brilliantly wafting through the red mist. Her frantic footfalls raced across them, not a moment of hesitation as she entered a mine shaft looking area. The ground sloped downwards now, and instantly the vampire was met with another thrall, this one dressed in heavy set iron armor.

He'd already spotted her, and drew a mace from his hip with a shout. Serana returned it in full, raising her hands and shooting more magical lightning from them. The man cried out in pain, skidding backwards as the force behind the dual hit sent him flying into the rock wall nearby. He fell limp after a soft moan, blood seeping out of his helmet. Serana pressed on, coming to a nordic ruin that entered the shaft, messy disarrays of where mine shaft and ruin melded, another thrall already running towards her to investigate as soon as she'd turned the corner. The argonian screeched wildly, waving a sword and shield. Serana dashed forward, moving at speeds no mortal could match, and grasped him by the elbow before pulling hard and back to sling him into the draugr besides him against the wall. The argonian hissed with fury, bashing the pommel of his blade against her skull and she released him, stumbling backwards.

Waiting to counter his next move, Serana watched the argonian closely, circling the undead nord as well. The draugr rushed her, swinging an ancient sword, and she blasted it with lightning, before sending a singular ice spike through its chest. As it fell dead anew, the argonian jumped her, slashing the vampire across the shoulder and then aiming for her neck. She rolled to the side, kicked his feet out from under him, and then grabbed the blue feathers sprouting from the top of his head and wrenched him painfully back. Before he could try to get free, Serana brought her other hand and reached it around to his long face, and a magical ball of fire formed in her hand before she burned him with the concentrated blast. His smoldering corpse fell besides the nordic one.

Her mind was plagued with thoughts of Yosa'Min as she pressed on, finding a chain and pulling it to reveal a tunnel previously blocked by a stone. As she entered it, a long rounded passageway that sloped up and down, she struggled to keep her mind clear and keep the fear at bay. "She's a strong woman," she said to herself, "she'll be fine. Yosa can handle this. She's fine." It felt like she was lying to herself however. The corridor opened up to a room with a fireplace on the left, and a coffin dead center. There were a pair of death hounds on guard, padding about leaving tendrils of black behind them. Their presence was alarming, Serana having last believed that only her clan had death hounds in their service. What's going on here? She wondered.

Suddenly one hound smelled her, lifting its toothy mug up and growling at her, the other charging towards her with snapping jaws. The coffin was thrown open and an altmer vampire came jumping out with magic in her hands. "Fine," Serana gritted, "let's dance." She jumped over the death hound that charged her, and blasted it with magical bolts of lightning, the other coming up and getting a mouthful of her cape in its fangs. The vampire that had burned red eyes hissed and got a grazing hit with an ice spike spell similar to Serana's. The volkihar snarled in pain, kicking the death hound back and breaking free of its grip, before blasting the commoner vampire with a pair of ice spikes of her own. They sunk into the altmer's chest, blasting her against the wall before breaking on impact. The death hound that rushed her again was rewarded with a dagger to its throat, pulled from Serana's hip.

Breathing hard, she removed her dagger from the black hound, and stomped through the last turn in the ruins, twisting around a curved wall to come up a small slope to stand before a massive wooden door. A reddish liquid was pooling underneath it, smelling thick of blood but she could tell it wasn't. She hoped it wasn't. Taking in a breath, she pushed it open, and was about to enter the spring when a shrill cry came out from behind it. "Yosa!" She gasped, throwing it open and stumbling on the slicked ground. There was no sign of her, only more stones that ran red with the spring's river, leading to a eerie post before her against a wall, a journal resting besides it. Despite the rush, she knew that perhaps it would hold information she'd need later, and swiped it before pressing on.

Creeping along now to remain hidden, Serana found her way to slats of wood that pressed against the ceiling, just able to look through to a chamber where columns and hanging lanterns were, cages across the floor. She sucked in a breath of air, hoping to find her fledgling, but there was only a hint of a sign, fresh blood on the ground. She looked about, and found a pathway down, rushing through as silently as possible to the chamber. A moment after she'd entered, Serana had stepped onto a grate that suddenly yawned open beneath her, the nord jumping to the side just in time to escape it. Peering in, she was horrified to see logs that would have battered her body on the fall down, only to have bloodied spikes soften her landing. With relief however, there was no redguard among the skeletons below. She rushed through, curling around a pillar and swiftly moving through the top level to where she looped back to where she'd first found the slats of wood, only this time on another side. A chain glinted and she yanked it hard, urgent as another scream filled the caves, echoing off walls, and a gate across the way opened up as well as the one that blocked her from entering in the first place.

She ran across through, following the red water through draugr tunnels until she was startled to find a crypt of coffins with death hounds on guard. Most of them were closed, meaning that a threat could be resting just on the other side. Serana snuck around the hounds, trying not to get into more of a fight, and managed to just work her way past into the shadows. As good as a vampire was, the death hounds were better at detecting, a soft sigh of relief escaping her as she managed to avoid that one. After that she was in a long corridor that was spattered with pressure plates, the runed circles enough warning and she scurried around them. Opening the door at the end, jets of flame suddenly bursting out and nearly catching her had she not dropped onto the floor, Serana entered a chamber room that looked more like a throne room that was deserted.

Another scream came out, and Serana raced through it without thought, coming through a set of doors to a chamber where at the center was a bubbling red spring of water, bones littering it. Standing on the center of it was Yosa'Min, grappling with a vampire Serana recognized as Salonia Caelia, a member of her father's court. Another lay dead in the pool, Stalf, and some third Serana didn't recognize. "Yosa!" She shouted, rushing to her fledgling's aid only for the redguard to unleash something that terrified her.

The cave shook and a burst of light came from the redguard's opened mouth. "Yol Toor Shul!" Fire spewed out and Salonia's scream just rose above the torrential roar, the blast of heat stifling in the air as the ball of fire melted the vampire. It stretched out, curling at the ceiling before clinging and burning for a few long moments before dying. Salonia was a sick, melted mess, half ash already, and disintegrated into the blood colored water. Yosa'Min collapsed, out of breath, struggling to control herself as the effects of the shout and the day wore on her. She looked up at Serana, who stood there stunned still, and a half smile pulled across her face slowly. "Hiya," she breathed.

"Hi..." Serana replied, and then she broke into a wide smile of relief as the realization settled in. "Yosa, you're okay..."

The redguard shrugged."Worse for wear really, but I'm all right." There were scrapes all across her face and arms, her armor having been removed and she was wearing a jerkin and pants, torn into several shreds. She looked rugged and beaten, but a light glowed behind her burning eyes, this strength and power that stole the vampire sire's breath the longer she looked at her. Serana rushed over to her, and pulled her into a hug, tightly clutching the shocked Yosa'Min before pulling back. "Serana, I'm fine..." She said, flustered.

"I know, but... I was worried." She looked at burning orange eyes, and smiled again. "I'm glad." The sire looked about them to the corpses. "What happened here? Why were they here?"

"I'll... tell you on the way, I'm just... really tired."

Nodding her head, Serana helped the redguard to her feet. "Of course, it's a long trip back after all. We'll have plenty of chances to talk. I'm just, glad you're okay."

Yosa'Min laughed a bit, "You've said that already Serana."

"I have?" She blinked, before smiling as she dipped the Chalice into the water, and then bit her wrist to drop a bit of blood in it. A light flurried out of the water as they mixed, and she smirked. "I guess I'm that relieved then." She poured the new mixture into a large rounded bottle from her satchel, before topping it and putting them both back. "And yeah, we needed that ungodsly big cup just for that. Let's get home." Yosa'Min gave a toothy grin, shaking her head as they started out of the spring, leaving the call of the blood colored water behind.

"I think I've had enough of this place," replied Yosa'Min.

Serana smirked before replying, "There's just... one thing I have to take care of first."

"What?" Yosa'Min's brow furrowed.

"I need to reanimate a bastard."

AN: Thanks for reading, I hope you like the switch up with the familiar quest. Don't forget to review, I'd love to hear what you think of this chapter and what's to come.