"Seems like they left most of it intact," Serana says, studying the shelves.

"Is that strange?"

"The Dawnguard has access to many farming grounds. Most of these ingredients are worthless to them, so they only took the rare ones." She points to several gaps in the shelves' contents.

In the bookcases, the same pattern appears. They simply took the valuable books and left the rest here.

I also notice several troll skulls and regular ones, which were also left behind.

"They did take all the soul gems though," Serana comments. "Not surprising."

"Where is the enchanter?" I ask.

"Huh?"

"The arcane enchanter. She did have one here, didn't she?"

"Oh, yeah, of course, it's right...that's strange."

The gap she's looking at is obvious. Something large is missing.

"They took an entire enchanting table? Why would they bother doing that?"

"I don't know." Serana looks really confused. "Getting here is really hard. You have to sail through some of the most dangerous waters in Skyrim. They followed me here and when I went through the portal, they left some men behind to make sure I didn't return. The others most likely left and took everything of value with them. But why would they take an entire arcane enchanter?"

"I don't like this."

"Me neither."

"Guys." Dad's voice reaches us.

He joins us and puts a knapsack down.

"Look," he says, opening it.

He takes out something. It's red and spherical.

"What's that?" I ask.

"It's an apple," Dad says. "A type of food. Here."

He hands me the object.

Hesitantly, I take a bite.

…

Oh.

My.

God.

I take another bite.

"This is good. Really good."

I'm smiling like an idiot.

Dad wears a similar expression as he takes out another apple and bites it.

In the next half hour, we continue to eat delicious food (Serana walks around and studies the shelves, throwing us weird glances every once in a while), until I experience a new feeling.

"I'm full. This feels really weird."

I feel slow and full and hot.

I throw a glance at the Soul Cairn portal and nod.

That's why they wanted to leave. I understand now.

"We should go now," Serana says. "Search the rest of the castle."

"I say we split up," dad says. "Just in case."

"I'll go with Serana then," I say.

Mom and dad look at each other.

"Fine," dad says.

"The two of you go to the hall using the balcony," Serana says. "We will take the secret passage to the courtyard. From there, we'll go outside and circle around to the gates. We'll meet you at the hall."

Dad nods. "Let's go then."

I pick up the crossbow and sling it over my back. Then, I put on the helmet.

Serana guides me to a door and then down a flight of stairs.

"What is all this?"

"This part was deserted a long time ago after the tower partly collapsed."

That much is obvious. There is rubble everywhere.

"So your mom made her lab here and used a secret passage?"

"Indeed. This passage leads to the courtyard."

Serana pauses at something.

At first, I thought it was simply rubble from the ceiling, but it's something else. It looks more like chippings, as if something scattered. The stone is also too dark to be from the ceiling or walls.

"Gargoyles," Serana says. "They were supposed to protect her lab."

"Did the Dawnguard kill them?"

"No, these were made by my mother, designed to attack anyone. I destroyed them when I went to the Soul Cairn the first time."

"I read about that in Valerica's journal. The prophecy."

"Yes."

Seems like she doesn't want to talk about that right now.

"Let's continue," she says.

We walk through a secret passage hidden behind a fireplace. Then through a maze of corridors.

Serana stops again at a statue.

"Mara, goddess of love," she says. "I wonder how it got here."

"They must have looted it from somewhere."

"Probably. Maybe father wanted to destroy it and mom hid it here." She shrugs and continues her walk.

Eventually, we take a winding staircase up and arrive at the courtyard.

"Is that a sundial?" I ask, looking at the massive structure in the middle.

"A moondial to be precise. It hides the staircase. All you have to do is remove some of the crests to close it back up."

"You want to close it? We should make sure no one can reach the lab."

"It doesn't matter. The Dawnguard knows how to reach it. And they restored the passage to the lab through the balcony."

"Why would they do that?"

"After they killed Harkon and his court, the Dawnguard took the castle. Since they could do nothing with it, they allowed vampires who wanted to live in peace to stay here."

"But they didn't honor that agreement, did they?"

"No. Eventually, they stormed the castle and killed everyone. I wasn't here at the time."

Obviously, Serana is biased, but from what I hear, the Dawnguard can't be trusted.

We leave the desolated courtyard and go down.

Eventually, we arrive outside.

"So this is what fresh air feels like."

I take of the helmet and look around.

There is mist here as well, but I can see much more. Jagged rock formations jut out from the edges of the massive castle.

Something is wrong with the sky. Is this what they call blue?

Now that I look around, there are way more colors than I would have deemed possible. It's like I missed half of the world inside the Soul Cairn.

"It must be quite an experience, after being stuck for so long," Serana says.

"The Soul Cairn was quite…"

"Lonely."

So this is what they call eye contact.

"Come on," she says, smiling. "We should continue."

Together, we circle around the castle until we reach a massive bridge.

About halfway through, we find a body.

It's a male nord, with a brown beard and shaggy hair. His eyes are orange, but they don't glow.

Three separate crossbow bolts jut out from his chest. From the blood, it looks like he's only been dead for a couple days.

"Was he part of the court?" I ask.

"No. That's Stanley. He never bit anyone. He tapped of blood from the deceased and stored it in large jars. The Dawnguard allowed him to live here, before their betrayal."

"We should bury him."

"There's no time for that now. But thanks for your concern. It's strange to see a mortal respect vampires like that."

I shrug. "I'm sure you did not choose this life. Besides, immortality seems pretty interesting to me."

We continue walking.

Soon, we reach the gate. The double wooden doors are closed, but the iron gate in front of them is raised.

Serana pushes open the doors and enters.

We arrive in a short corridor. The remains of two gargoyles lay shattered on the floor.

Serana walks to a balcony with stairs on either side leading down.

We're overlooking a hall now. Two large tables stand on either side with a smaller table perpendicular to it. In the middle of that large table is a tall chair that's obviously reserved for the lord of the court. This chair is tipped over, but it's still whole.

About half of the regular chairs are broken or burned and one of the tables is chopped in half. The other one shows burn marks and a massive gap in the middle.

Goblets and plates fell down spilling wine on the floor. This wine mixed with blood from several bodies.

Two of these bodies belong to the Dawnguard. These are the only two still leaking blood.

On one of the remaining chairs, a man is bound with chains.

He wears the Dawnguard uniform, but his helmet is off revealing a harsh northern face with red hair and a short trimmed beard. A scar runs across his left cheek and almost reaches his eye.

Dad stand next to him. "We caught one alive."

"Perfect," Serana says.

"He doesn't say anything though," dad continues. "Stubborn old fool."

"I can resolve that."

Serana grabs his hair and forces his head to the right. Then, she sinks her teeth in his neck. A green aura shines for a moment, and then his eyes go blank.

"How may I serve you, mistress?" the man asks, his tone blank as well.

So that's the power of a vampire?

"Is there a garrison at Solitude?"

"Yes. They will come to relieve us next week."

Serana nods. That was to be expected. "What's your mission?"

"To kill the last vampire, Serana."

"Last?"

"Yes." He looks slightly confused. "With the death of Sybille Stentor, all vampires have died according to the last reports."

"And what about Valerica?"

"Died during the second attack on this castle. I was there."

She's biting her lip. "I should have known. Who ordered the attack?"

"Arthur."

"I know Isran died over ten years ago, but I can't believe the Last Dragonborn allowed this."

"My apologies, mistress, I thought you knew."

"Knew what?"

"The Last Dragonborn is dead. Died over a week ago."

"..." Serana's eyes go wide.

"Serana?"

What is wrong with her?

She goes to the stairs, half running/half walking.

I go after her, leaving mom and dad with the captured Dawnguard.

She goes up the stairs and then left. Then, she goes in a room and leaves the door ajar.

Hesitantly, I open it.

She's sitting on the bed.

"Can I enter?"

Serana shrugs.

I enter the room and sit next to her, keeping a safe distance.

I wonder why vampires would need beds.

When I look around I see a coffin as well. She probably uses that one to sleep in.

"Have you ever heard of the Tyranny of the Sun?" she asks.

"The prophecy?"

"Yes. My father was obsessed with it. My mother as well, but in a different way."

I already know about this, but I let her tell the story anyway.

"The Tyranny of the Sun spoke of Auriel's Bow. A divine weapon from the god Auri-El, who's called Akatosh by the elves now. The bow's power is linked directly to the sun, a deadly weapon against vampires. But by using the blood of a pure female vampire, you can corrupt its purpose. Firing into the sun creates an eclipse which is known as Eternal Night. Harkon was obsessed with this. Without the sun, vampires would never weaken, they could emerge from the shadows and dominate the world. At least, that was his plan."

"But your mom disagreed."

"Indeed. She was certain mortals would not stand for it. The Dawnguard would gain more and more members and eventually, armies would be raised leading to an all-out war. A war she was certain we would lose. To stop him, she buried me with an Elder Scroll and fled with the other to the Soul Cairn."

"And then the Last Dragonborn found you?"

"Indeed. He was...kind to me. Although he had a clear hatred for vampires, he didn't hate me just because I was a vampire. When he brought me here, my father offered to transform him into a vampire lord as a 'reward'."

"I can image how he took that."

"He kindly refused the offer. Harkon banished him and he returned to Fort Dawnguard. I knew I needed help stopping my father, so I went to him. Together, we found Auriel's Bow and defeated my father."

"Was killing the court part of the plan?"

She looks away. "That wasn't his fault. We were planning to sneak in and kill Harkon, but the Dawnguard mounted a full attack and killed all of them."

"I see. And I assume the Last Dragonb-"

"Stop it. Please."

Are those, tears?

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay." She stands up and walks to a heartfire. "I'm not sure how much he was involved," she says, looking in the empty fireplace. "On Harkon's death, Valerica would become the Lady of the castle, or maybe I would claim the title. Whatever the case, peaceful coexistence was a valid possibility. The Dawnguard were welcome to keep the Elder Scrolls and the bow."

"They clearly preferred killing everyone."

"Yes. I'm not sure whether the Last Dragonborn shared this view. He had a strong sense of justice and wouldn't spill blood unless it was required. After the attack we started growing apart."

"That must have been lonely."

"It was." She sighs and then quickly changes the subject. "When Harkon was defeated, people began saying the Dawnguard was no longer necessary, but the Last Dragonborn kept them alive. There were still vampires lurking around, along with hagravens, dragons and all kinds of other creatures. He realized he could never wipe them out alone so he used the Dawnguard. They teamed up with the College of Winterhold, the Companions and even the Vigilants of Stendarr at one point."

"And now that he's dead..."

"The Dawnguard will be disbanded. The Last Dragonborn helped High Queen Elisif win the war, he was the Thane of every hold in Skyrim, he even killed Alduin himself. He had enough pull to keep them alive as his personal army, but now that he's dead, they'll lose power quickly. The vampire threat, if there ever was any, is over. I don't think this Arthur likes that."

"But what could he possibly gain by killing you?"

"I can only think of one thing. I'm a threat to him, for some reason."

"That's hard to believe. You're one vampire, he's the leader of an army of vampire hunters."

"Well why don't we ask that idiot at the hall then?" she says, suddenly getting angry.

With resolute steps, she walks back to the hall.

"You. Why does the Dawnguard want to kill me so badly?" she asks, furious.

"I'm afraid I do not know, mistress."

"Why did they take the arcane enchanter?"

"I really don't know." He's getting scared. "All I know is that Arthur is planning something big. When the Last Dragonborn died, he immediately retrieved Auriel's Bow from the caverns beneath the fort. He put on the Dawnguard Royal Armor the Last Dragonborn enchanted himself and then he ordered the attack on Castle Volkihar. No one dared standing up to him, he was second in command when the Dragonborn was still alive."

"Auriel's Bow. What on earth is he gonna do with that? It's only useful against vampires... Where is he now?"

"I don't know. He placed Minarth in command and then disappeared. Said he had something important to do."

"I don't like the sound of this."

"Me neither," I admit. "But what are we supposed to do? If we want to defeat the Dawnguard, we'll need help."

"That won't be easy," Serana says. "We were close during our battle against Harkon, but after that, we slowly grew apart. He was getting older, and was rising quickly in the Dawnguard. Obviously he couldn't be seen with a vampire like that. He had a reputation to maintain."

"But he had other companions."

"Yes. But most of them are now old or even dead, if they aren't part of the Dawnguard that is. Don't forget that the Dawnguard is officially approved by all the jarls and the empire. His friends at the College of Winterhold or the Companions won't simply ignore that."

"Then we'll need someone with less respect for the law. Surely he had some, less respectable friends."

"Yes," Serana says slowly. "I think I know someone. But it's dangerous. Extremely dangerous."

"Who is it?"

"Her name is Babette. She's a vampire."

"That sounds dangerous indeed. But I thought all vampires were slaughtered."

"I doubt they caught this one. She's an assassin, from the Dark Brotherhood."