Author's Note: And another! Woo, I'm on a roll.
Disclaimer: Nope, just a N3k0 with another amazing fanfiction chapter.
Nobody Important
Chapter Thirty-Five: North
In which the hangover is a bit... painful.
By: N3k0
The trip north was a long one, but largely uneventful.
She stayed close to the roads, though not actually on them, running the countryside unseen and unheard. Her footfalls were lighter than air.
She had the evidence she needed for Lucien. She was almost done.
And Martin liked her! He really, truly, probably liked her!
Unless he was just under some kind of spell.
She didn't have the best control over her gifts. Was it possible to enthrall someone by accident? After all, she had tampered with his mind once already for certain.
And the way he reacted at the lighthouse ...
By the time dawn came and she had to seek shelter in a cave, she'd all-but convinced herself that not only did Martin not like her, but that, if not for her vampiric gifts, she would be literally unlikeable.
And, naturally, the cave had a bit of a bandit problem.
She didn't bother to hide - she didn't want to. A part of her was itching for a real fight, something pure to take her mind off her doubts. That was how the first bandit caught her by surprise, wrapping huge, well-muscled arms around her chest.
"What do we have here," he murmured in her ear. "Are you lost, little girl?"
Flexing her arms once, she broke his hold on her, then elbowed him in the gut. She struck again for good measure, as the dog lunged from the shadows to latch onto the man's bare ankle. He dragged the bandit off his feet, wringing the leg this way and that.
Lyssi dragged the man up by his shirt, baring sharp, dainty little fangs for him to see. He shrieked like a little girl as she took his throat.
It was only after she'd drained him that she realized how drunk he had been.
That was okay, though.
She liked the fire in her gut. It made her feel better.
So what if Martin - if anyone - didn't really like her. She was an unstoppable vampire assassin. If they didn't like her, then by Sithis, they would fear her instead.
She grinned, swaggering into the main chamber.
Five on two?
Yeah, she could handle that.
Lyssi woke with the Divines' own headache. She cursed them for good measure, rolling away from the furry lump at her side.
She vaguely recalled bits and pieces of the night before. The men had been drinking, and so she'd dispatched them easily. She grimaced as she put her hand in a puddle of blood, moments before she realized it wasn't the world spinning out of control, but her head. Her stomach wrenched, forcing most of its contents back up in a red slush that exploded from her mouth.
Ew. Ewww.
There was a natural spring in the center of the cavern that she could bathe in, although it was cold and rather yellowish-tinged. A head floated in it, the expression on the face one of surprise. She ignored that, splashing herself clean as well as she could.
The smallest of the bandits had gear she could probably use. At least she'd be able to replace her broken things. Before long, she was outfitted and ready to continue north.
Her hair was drawn back into a loose ponytail, her knives were hidden on every inch of her person. Even the dog rose to face the day, though she tried to explain he didn't have to follow her. He only growled. She couldn't be sure if he understood and disagreed, or if he simply didn't like human speech, but she didn't question it.
She was grateful for his company, regardless. The shy creature was almost as good as she was at hiding from the humans - and worse - that traveled the roads.
He didn't complain at the pace she set, and so she took more breaks and fed him strips of dried meat she'd taken from the bandits. At streams and rivers, she let him drink his fill, and she tried to ignore her disgust when he had to tend to other, more basic needs.
Before long at all, they approached the small farm of Applewatch.
Her stomach sank - even from a distance she could smell the reek of gore.
She was too late.
She clutched the straps of her backpack in cold fingers, following the path up to the house. The door fell open at the barest of touches, revealing a macabre sight.
Lucien hung from the ceiling by his ankles, scores of wounds gushing blood from every conceivable part of his body. Half-eaten entrails spilled from a gaping stomach wound. His face was twisted in pain, barely recognizable, in part because that, too, had been mutilated. Shredded flesh hung haphazardly from visible bones.
The dog sniffed at Lucien's face and growled softly, backing away. Strange. Maybe it was the poison - she could smell something not right mixed into the heady tang of blood, something that smelled inedible.
It took the high elf three tries to tear Lyssi's attention away from the corpse, and for several long moments she couldn't actually hear the words spoken over the roaring in her ears.
"... no longer will you serve as his puppet!"
Lyssi blinked, blinked again. "But I wasn't ..." The words escaped her before she could think about what she was saying.
"It seems Lacha ... what?" The Altmer fell silent for a moment. "Explain yourself."
It took all her strength to drag her gaze away from the carnage. "I was following orders ... but not Lucien's. Someone switched them." Huh. The high elf had smudges of blood around her mouth.
"That is a serious claim, Silencer." The Altmer's gaze was stern as she gripped Lyssi's shoulders with trembling hands. "What evidence do you have to support it?"
Lyssi backed away slightly, then shrugged the backpack off her shoulders. Fishing through it, she presented the journal for the Speaker's perusal.
The book trembled with the Altmer's hands.
"Sithis save us," she breathed.
A man's voice rang out then. "I'll kill you all!"