Sorry I have taken so long to update this. I know a lot of you wanted the conclusion, so I will work on it. I'd like to start a sequel of sorts that happens in Skyrim...but with different characters of course. SO I will finish it... My main goal is work on original fiction, but this story is fun and I don't want to let it go.
Let me know what you think! What do you want to have happen?
Lana took a slash to her arm before realizing how useless her dagger was. Skeletons required a hard hid to the middle section, breaking the bones. Swords and knives just slid into air and did nothing.
Cloth wrapped around a broken table leg helped steady her as she brought it down on the head of a rotten zombie. The rotten brain tissue pushed out of its ears as a kick to its middle section send the creature down onto the stone floor. The worst part about zombies had to be the meaty noise they made when hurt. Still, they were easier to kill than skeletons.
The difficulty of adapting to previously unknown creatures is what kept Lana from adventuring. The advantage of a single chosen victim to stalk from the shadows proved Lana's cup of tea. The kills she made for contracts feed a deep seeded blood lust. These abominations felt like a job. Stalk, bash, beat, repeat.
Hands and clothes covered with dirt and dust as Lana stepped into a room. Gripping the lathed table leg she looked around the edges of the room where the candles didn't meet. Something shifted in her peripheral vision and she turned, raising her arms to swing at it, before she dropped the table leg mid swing.
"You have done an adequate job of dispatching my sentinels," Lucien said.
He stepped forward slowly, his face covered with a dark cowl. Here was the majestic human who came to the foot of her bed and beckoned Lana to join the Dark Brotherhood. Months of longing had melted into apathy and the lover she burned for showed himself as the dark man who served the Night Mother. Lana glanced around the vaulted ceiling of the underground chamber. Her gaze stopped on hand rails going up towards a door and she turned to Lucien.
A cruel smile curled across his face. "I would have been less entertained had you taken the short cut."
Silent in response, Lana watched Lucien. The quiet remained and she felt him read every nuisance of her awkwardness and concern. Refusing to give him this pleasure she turned her emotions off, becoming a beautiful nothing. He reflected the absence, a perfect mirror. His polished stoicism impressed her but at the same time increased her worry. Would he see her flaws and purify them through a cruelty born of intimacy? She shivered at the thought.
Suddenly Lucien stood at her side, his fingers trailing through her hair. She cocked her neck to the side and he took the strands in his fingers, yanking her head back painfully. A deep growl spoke to his pleasure.
"You are truly a creature of stealth," He said. "I admire your technique. Lana, I am a speaker, a finger on the hand of the black brotherhood. Only the initiated know the secret of the speakers and that is each finger has a nail, a talon. My claw has been wretched from my flesh and I desire to replace it with you."
"What?"
"I didn't expect you to speak." Lucien teased as he released her hair. "You are no longer bound to the tenants as the others are. You work directly for me. The listener has approved this decision, even when informed of our relationship. She thinks affection will motivate you to survive."
Shaking her head Lana watched him as he moved to face her. Looking up into his eyes she only saw the speaker, a fearsome killer. In his hardened features she found someone more akin to herself. That he wanted her for more than a lover and had the Listener's blessing cheered her, but something about his tone caused Lana to hide her smile.
"I have your first assignment if you want it."
Lana nodded.
"I thought you'd be eager." A grim quality filled Lucien and she watched him flip between delight and worry. "There is a traitor in your sanctuary. The Listener tells me this problem precedes your tenure and you will be spared for that reason."
Lucien paused and looked at Lana, communicating something he didn't want to voice.
In thanks she walked forward and pressed herself to him. His arms spread around her, squeezing her tight and holding her in place. "I don't have to sacrifice you, but to prove your worth you must eliminate the threat. Everyone in the sanctuary must die by your hand. If you don't, I will be forced to take your life."
Burying her face in his chest Lana tried to melt into Lucien. She couldn't care less about those people. While she didn't wish death on them, but she would do what she had to for the good of the Black Hand and the Night Mother. Meanwhile her senses were flooded with Lucien's smell and how hard he felt under his clothes. In him she saw Sithis embodied and she yielded to him in honor of her God.
If Lucien felt this he didn't show it. Instead he lifted her from where she stood and escorted her to a sleeping area. The furnishings were typical of houses in the region but seemed out of place in a dungeon. While he pealed the black leather armor from her body she looked up at the vaulted ceiling and thought how funny life could be. Did her step-mother know this would be Lana's fate? The evil she fostered in her heart, had it always been there? These things floated in and out of her thoughts as Lucien's body pressed into hers. His soft, firm flesh sunk into hers with only a little resistance, making both bodies quake. In the quite darkness they made love, turning and exploding together until warm bliss oozed out of them into the black.
In the morning they had an ordinary breakfast of eggs and meat. Lucien sat across the table from Lana in a pair of black leather pants with no shirt on. She watched him spoon eggs into his mouth and saw the man she made love to the first night. Whenever she prepared her heart to abandon the image of him as the Speaker his face would grow hard and she'd wonder how she could think him mortal. These moments when he no longer felt the need to show his power were her first clue that he loved her.
All too soon they stood on the surface of the earth again. They'd had sex right before walking up and she could still feel his moisture mixing with her own. He'd pulled on a white poets shirt, leaving it untucked. His hair fell around his face, wild and tangly. After demonstrating the proper way to enter the hidden door, Lucien turned and smiled in a way that promised something amazing.
"I suppose it would be improper to make you walk back to Cheydinhall."
Before Lana could laugh he reached a hand up and gestured boldly towards the ground. Lucien chanted several words in Latin, his baritone rich and commanding. The ground before them churned black like tar and smoke rose from the spot. Lana took a step back. A devilish black horse emerged from the muck, burning red eyes glared at the world around it. Free, the animal shook out its mane, showing off black skin and hair that seemed impossibly dark and rotten.
The devil horse neighed, causing Lucien to smile as he reached out and brushed its muzzle.
"Shadowmere," He sounded impressed.
Exhaling out of her nose in time with the horse, Lana took a step back and then over to the side of the beast. Her hand rested on his neck and the skin flinched with a fluidity that seemed to suggest vermin existed in place of muscle. Revulsion caused small tendrils of to carry up Lana's arm, but she dared not let Lucien see her flinch. Instead the Speaker offered her his hand and Lana lifted herself onto the animal. Legs lay across his back she started down at her lover who seemed pleased.
"Come back to me when it's done." An order and a wish, all in one.
Lana nodded to the affirmative then took off over the ground. The horse beat his hooves hard into the earth but absorbed most of the jolt. As he moved the creature released a smell, like soil recently disturbed. Instead of focusing on the nightmare between her legs Lana stared forward and focused on the task at hand. So much, so fast, and very little time to consider.
The Orc proved easiest. She'd lured him to the storage room, promising her body as reward, only to deliver her knife into his neck. Several family members fell in their sleep, well placed dagger strikes to the heart. With each slash of her blade Lana felt more and more bold, the blessing of Sithis once again enchanting her with a burning want.
Ecstasy coursed through her body, yet she remained unsatisfied. As Lana climbed through the shadows of her former home she looked quietly for the one person whose death would bring her the most satisfaction. Antoinetta Marie, the Breton bitch. Eventually a solitary candle lit a table in the training room, and blond locks swung to the side. Antoinetta read a book on the edge of shadow, her face twisted with laughter. Lana wanted this kill, she felt as if her knife became an extension of her body, and she poised herself on the edge of the sight.
"Why are you hiding over their sister?" Antoinetta's voice startled her. "Come out and sit beside me. I have the most ridiculous romance book, it makes me think of Lucien."
The surprise of hearing her lover's name made Lana sheath her knife and come to stand by the doomed colleague. In the blonde's hands rested a novelette with flowery writing and an illustration of two lovers kissing under an apple tree. Lana noticed Antoinetta's cheeks were rosy like an apple and the urge to jam a weapon into her face grew strong.
"You know Lucien and I went on an adventure a long time ago," Antoinetta laughed. "We searched for a treasure. Once we had it Lucien grabbed me up and kissed me. I believe he is taken with me and it's why he stays away."
Lana said nothing.
"I always wonder what would happen if we were alone again," she grinned wickedly.
"Nothing." Her smile spread across her face like a spider unfolding black legs.
"Why do you say that?" Antoinetta gave a cross look.
Flicking her knife free of the holster Lana drove the blade forward and into the girls back. She'd pierced the lungs and driven the air out. Antoinetta could no longer scream but would be in horrible pain. As the blond woman gasped for air, struggling away from her assassin Lana stood over her, grabbing the girl by her shirt.
When they were eye to eye Lana spat into Antionetta's face, "Because he fucks me, you simpering child."
"Good." Antoinetta gasped for air. "I'm glad he'll be destroyed then. I was going to warn him."
Unable to bare the dying woman's lies, Lana drove her head into the floor, using her hair to beat her face against the stone until she lay still. Satisfied she'd passed she lifted her up, twisted her neck around, then dropped her body onto the ground. For a second Lana fancied she could sense Lana's soul escaping her body, screaming towards Sithis, and a rewarding shutter filled her body.
Everyone had been disposed of but the cat and the vampire. M'raaj-Dar and Vicente could smell blood, which meant Lana's easy kills were over. As she rounded the corner and crept towards the cat's room, Lana felt the hairs on her arm tingle.
Glowing, the back room had been filled with a light spell. In the center of the room stood M'raaj-Dar, claws unsheathed.
"Come out now, you murdering bitch," M'raaj taunted. "I know you will come for me and when you do I mean to fight you."
As he finished his words the Kahjiit turned to investigate a noise from the corner. Taking her opportunity, Lana lunged from the doorway, towards him. The keen hearing of the cat-creature undid her surprise and he dodged her advance, leaving Lana to crash into the wall. Her shoulder aching, Lana managed to stand in time to feel fur and muscle come in contact with her body.
Twisting and turning on the ground, Lana settled on her back with the feline's incisor's inches from her nose. A laugh started from the belly of her foe and echoed outwards with rank breath.
"You always liked being under Khajiit, didn't you girl?"
Watching her struggle rather than respond M'raaj continued. "I've seen the marks on your shoulders when you bathe. Scars from fangs, a human who will fuck KhaJiit, perhaps you'd like it if I obliged you before I kill you in the name of Sithis."
Nauseous loathing spread through Lana's arms as she managed to gather the strength to shove the giant cat off her. His claws left a trail of blood as he moved away, curling up on back legs to lunge again. As he did this Lana placed her dagger in front and swung at the air - an empty arch through the bright room and then another. Each time M'raaj managed to slide out of the way of her strike. Finally he moved in to get another scratch and Lana used his proximity to drive the knife into his side.
With a roar of pain, the cat-kin pulled back and limped towards the corner.
"Bitch," he hissed and began to chant to set off a spell.
Retrieving her second dagger Lana worked her way into a corner, preparing for the fire spell he would surely launch. Once the flames extended from his fingers towards her, Lana rolled under it, jumping up at the last minute and driving the blade through his chin and into his brain. The Khajiit sputtered, sending a spray of blood with his breath and Lana withdrew her knife only to quickly slam it into his chest, ending him.
Out of breath and half expecting Vicente to attack her, Lana waited in the center of the room. She turned to watch the bespelled stone turn black, followed by another and another. When the room had but a single light spell she closed her eyes and listened for the breath of the undead.
Shaking her head she realized the futility of trying to hear a vampire breathe. A wretched laugh filled Lana's ears as she once again slid into shadow. "I suppose you've made a decision about my offer of immortality. Come. Come Lana. Let me show you death."
The gash across her mid section left by the cat-kin caused enough pain to prevent her from moving as swiftly as she had but soon enough she found herself on the edge of Vicente's room. Inside the vampire penned a letter with a great flourish of his hand, muttering to himself as he made his final composition.
"I suppose you are going to lunge at me from the doorway. You are able bodied enough to manage to kill me, I'll grant you that, but I have to wonder why. I have been loyal and true to the Night Mother, as have you. So why you are breaking the tenants and murdering your brother."
Lana stood in the shadow and watched, making no response.
"I've heard of a purge before," Vicente confessed. "I thought them rumors. Fairy stories told to keep members of the Brotherhood in line. Yet here I see the proof before my eyes. Tell me, Lana, what sin have we committed to warrant our deaths?"
Snarling, his fanged teeth exposed, Vicente grew tired of waiting for her response. He stood and faced away from Lana, looking at the wall. Extending his hands out to his side dramatically Vicente addressed the air around him. "This is not how I imagined centuries to end. Decades of hard work rewarded with swift death and yet I find myself welcoming it, if it's at your hand. Your silence testifies to your being a true child of Sithis. Yet head my words before you continue: The Brotherhood has made mistakes for which it will pay, and if what I have heard the others speak of is true, the day of reckoning is at hand. The Listener has appointed advisers in error and will pay."
With a shaking hand the vampire drove a smooth palm over his pony tail, only to close it over his heart once he finished. Pounding his chest he looked up at the ceiling, his voice cracking. "Strike."
Listlessly she swept in behind him to drove the wooden steak into his heart through his back. Instead of falling to the floor the body exploded into dust and scattered about the room. Lana returned the stake to her jacket and felt a lack of reward. "Rest well noble servant of Sithis."
Slow steps guided her body through the sanctuary. One hand kept the blood oozing from her midriff at bay. Closer to the door. Lana retrieved bandages and made a hasty job of binding her wounds over her clothes, before downing a bottle of healing potion she'd stashed here. The sick smell of death grew faint on the air and she felt the need to get away from the corpses of her former companions. Fleet of foot, she escaped to the surface to find the black horse waiting for her at the gate. Thinking of the carnage she'd left behind she felt her stomach churn and vomited on the ground. An unusual exhaustion carried her throughout the ride, leaving her arms weak and her victory hollow.
The reward for her success had been a hot bath followed by the swift ministrations of an eager lover. For days they ate, slept, had sex and watched time pass. The freedom to be together proved liberating but soon a messenger from the Listener came to tell them good times were at an end. With work to be done Lucien had turned to her with quite despair in his eyes and informed her of how things would work.
"I'm not allowed to give you orders directly." It sounded like an apology but she knew the job would keep them apart more often than not. "You'll go to a drop outside of town and retrieve a jar I place orders in. I will place them there on the second Wednesday following the completion of your tasks. In the time between feel free to make use of Fort Farragut."
A soft sigh came from her nose and she ran her fingers down his chin and across his lips. Closing his eyes he enjoyed the touch of her before she kissed him. "You'll need to spend the night somewhere else, I'm afraid."
Answering him with another kiss she collected her things as he busied himself with papers in the far corner. As she placed her foot on the stair up to the tree that hid the secret entrance, she looked over at Lucien and felt her heart lurch. Under the light of a burning candle he looked handsome and she drank it in, wanting to remember him like this before anything else. With a biting feeling something bad would happen soon she began her accent, pausing when she heard him call her name."
Silence whispered his words to her before he said them but when he did the reassurance felt nice. "I love you."
Her heart twisted in her chest and she felt ill for a moment. Words didn't pass for him to know how she felt but finally she calmed her stomach enough to open her mouth. "Ditto."
With no more words to pass between them she stepped out into the sunshine and felt it cruel that the day could be so beautiful when they had to be apart.