The carriage driver was more than happy to see the back of us. I paid him the rest of the coin, and he left immediately. Masser hung in the sky, its rays creating more than enough light for our heightened senses. Even so, Serana smelled the blood before I saw it. She took off at a sprint, down the road, and I followed close behind.

An overturned cart and three dead bodies were waiting for us as we rounded the bend. "Do you think the Priest was here?" she asked, standing away from the bodies.

I knelt by a torn satchel and found a book, Effects of Elder Scrolls. "He was." I eyed one of the corpses. "Your father's people got to him first."

She knelt by the vampire's corpse, and handed me a small note. "Forebears Holdout?"

"Can't be far." I looked around, and shook my head. "There's blood on the ground, I can smell it. If I were in my beast form I could track it."

"Then why don't you?"

I folded my arms, glaring up at Masser. "She and I haven't been seeing eye to eye on things lately. I don't know how she'd react to being free."

"I can keep her under control," Serana said. "If you want to try, that is."

The idea of turning, of feeling the delicious burn of my body breaking and changing into something so much more powerful, sent a shiver down my spine. I took a breath to steady myself, and nodded. "Alright. Can you hold my things? I don't take them with me when I change."

She smiled a little. "I guessed as much when I saw you in that vampire armor. I'll carry your bag and your weapons until we find the Priest."

I dropped my bow, quiver, and bag to the ground, then knelt by the pile to draw something out of a hidden pocket in the bag. As I tugged at the strings binding it, the red cloth fell away to reveal a silver dagger. The metal wasn't touching my skin, but I could still feel the cold burn of it.

I handed it to her, face as grave as it could be. "If I do anything stupid, use that," I told her. "A decent cut will at least put me out for a while. Or it will change me back. Either way, I'd prefer you have it."

She nodded, and tucked it into her belt. I shucked my armor off, followed by my smallclothes, and dropped them in a pile. I let the barrier between myself and my beast drop, a tenuous thing that had barely been holding, and the change began.

I dropped in a crouch as the muscles and tendons of my body began to snap and reform, making way for the growing bones. My jaw ached as it elongated, and my teeth grew sharper and longer. My skin prickled maddeningly as coarse, black hairs pushed their way through my skin. The world went red, and I let out a howl that was equal parts pain and exhilaration. When the earth stopped spinning, and my ears stopped ringing, I stood, cautiously remaining on four legs.

Serana was gaping at me, amber eyes wide. The beast didn't attack, even though it knew vampires tended to mean danger for me. I stepped forward, the beast curious to see the vampire with her own eyes.

In Harkon's court, she had been slavering to attack; to rip the throat from the demon before her and bathe in its blood. There was none of that aggression here, only interest.

"Elayn?" Serana breathed, barely moving. "You aren't going to attack me, right?"

I snorted, a short breath through my nose, and shook my head. The top of my head bumped against her, almost without my consent, before I started toward the bloodtrail. In human form, I could barely see or smell the splashes of red, but they were practically glowing now. I growled over my shoulder and broke into a run on all fours, nose to the trail.

It led to a cave, which was about what I had expected. I began the shift back, grateful that the beast-blood seemed to accept Serana as an ally. Jealousy, thy name is wolf, but that didn't seem to be a problem here.

The change back was a bit more painful than usual. I sobbed once, curled into a ball and shuddering. The thing about the change was that it always hurt. Always. It just never seemed to matter later on.

I heard footsteps advancing toward me. They sounded like the vampire, quiet and methodical, so I didn't move. I did, however, jolt when a cool hand my hair back, away from my face. Against my feverish skin, it felt like ice, and that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

"That looked painful," she murmured.

I groaned, not moving. "More so than usual," I admitted. "She doesn't like being caged, and if I don't change more often, she makes sure I regret it."

Her hand didn't move from my hair. That was nice, even though I didn't like to admit it. A vampire petting a werewolf; other packs would laugh themselves to death at it. The pain faded from my bones and the shuddering stopped, and I decided that other packs could go skin themselves for all I cared.

I sat up, slowly, as not to startle her, and shook the dirt clear of my head. Or, as well as I could. I really needed to bathe. "My stuff?" I croaked. I cleared my throat and repeated it.

She handed me my bag, and I dressed swiftly. I stood with my hand braced on the rock for support, and shouldered my bag. "Let's go find a Priest," I said, grinning. My blood burned when she repeated the gesture.