Mathieu Bellamont eyed the new recruit with a mixture of suspicion and interest. It had been one month since the Imperial's arrival and it was no secret amongst the members of the Cheydinhal Sanctuary that she had not so much joined as been forced into the Dark Brotherhood. It was strange and unusual, two things Mathieu was good at showing but not at embracing. 'What if he knows?' the Breton male pondered worriedly. 'What if he's being clever and she's a spy? What if he remembers? No, no, he forgets! Forgets poor mother, poor me, but don't worry mother I'll make him remember.'
Seraphina looked back at the pasty skinned, brown haired Breton cautiously, out of all the members of the sanctuary he was one of the few who seemed vaguely sympathetic to her plight even if he did have an odd way of showing it.
"Mathieu why do you look at her?" This sulky question was queried softly in Mathieu's right ear by the Imperial beauty Maria. Dark haired, golden skinned, tall and curvy, Maria was easily the best looking member of the Cheydinhal Sanctuary, yet she seemed unaware of this and had an ill-suited insecurity about herself.
Mathieu glanced over his shoulder slightly meeting Maria's chocolate brown stare with his own pale grey gaze. His eyes warmed as he took in the young beauty and he murmured, "she is interesting."
"Interesting?" Maria queried with a slight frown and a raised eyebrow. She had no opinion of the blonde newcomer though she had tried to be nice her but Seraphina was untrusting of her sweet nature unwilling to believe that an assassin was capable of sincerity or niceties.
Mathieu nodded, convinced that that was the right word for Seraphina. "Yes, interesting, don't you feel bad for her? Unwanted sin, that's what she suffers."
Maria shrugged and retorted quietly, "it couldn't be that unwanted, she didn't catch Lucien's eye through ill luck."
"So he says," Mathieu retorted with an angry edge to his voice. Knowing the assassin had once again been so close made him sick to his stomach. Feeling Maria's hand grasp his own tenderly eased his angry thoughts and he looked to her again with love. This world was much too dark for her, for the both of them; it was poisoning them, driving him mad, Maria wicked and now this new woman too. The Brotherhood corrupted everything, including its own members.
"Are we still going to meet your mother later?" Maria quipped hopefully.
Mathieu nodded with a happy smile. "Yes," he said cheerfully, invigorated at the thought, "we will go in an hour, it is a long enough journey to Anvil."
Maria nodded eagerly, her grip on Mathieu's hand tightening. The assassin was a strange one but she adored him for it, his quirky nature entertained her and he was so kind to and about her, insisting she was too lovely for this business. Truthfully she disagreed; thoroughly enjoying this business too much to consider leaving it but it was still nice to be called good and lovely all the same.
Seraphina watched as the assassin couple turned and exited out of the wide, stone chamber leaving her alone to her thoughts once more. She sat in the main chamber of the sanctuary, considering it the safest place to be despite the squeaks of mascot rat Schemer and the unnerving sound of the skeletal feet of the Dark Guardian pacing about. At first Seraphina had been in terror of the skeleton guardian, avoiding it at all costs, her teeth put on edge every time she was forced to be near it but after a couple of weeks she had become numb to it, trusting that it had no interest in her.
She had yet to leave her prison, Vicente refused to allow her the privilege of fresh air until she consented to taking a job. She had of course, upon swallowing down her stubbornness, tried to lie and promise to complete a job but the vampire had not been fooled. She was convinced he could read her mind, wasn't that what vampires did after all? He was just another reason to try and escape this place; he was a monster in every sense of the word, killing for pleasure, money and food. She had tried to escape on several occasions but if the vampire wasn't watching someone else was, there were always eyes upon her no matter where she went in the sanctuary.
Vicente entered the chamber quietly, hugging close to the shadows as he did. For a human she was quite perceptive, undoubtedly due to her skills as a thief, and he did not want her to notice him yet. Their time was up, Lucien would be returning soon, today, perhaps tomorrow, maybe the next day but undoubtedly soon, the month was up after all. Vicente could not understand why his superior was so keen on this sulky woman becoming an assassin nor could he fathom how Lucien had expected him to make her one. She was as unresisting as iron, Vicente had attempted all manner of persuasion and trickery with her, threats, bribes and promises but all to no avail. When she had finally offered to make a kill he had thought it too good to be true, too used to her often colourful retorts, and upon looking at her face he had spied the lie. No matter what he said or did she was determined not to bloody her hands anymore than she had.
The brown haired vampire had spied upon her during a restless slumber, against the wall close to the main doors where she had nodded off unwillingly, too exhausted to resist sleep anymore. She had mumbled a name then, Pennus, cried out for the Gray Fox and sobbed her innocence. It had been disturbing to see and made Vicente wonder if she was one of those very rare things, a guilty innocent. Her attitude the past month had convinced him that whatever kill she had made to garner Lucien's attention had been an unwilling one.
She turned, flashing a hostile emerald glower his way, letting him know that she had sensed him. Her stare remained upon him, threatening, but he knew it was an act, he could smell her fear on the air. For all her experience the twenty-year-old had never met a vampire until now and had no idea how to cope with being in such close proximity to one. Vicente was frankly too used to hostility and hate to be bothered by hers and so he ignored her heated stare as he stepped towards her.
"A last chance before your final chance comes," the formerly handsome vampire addressed her smoothly. It was not that he was ugly by any means, just changed, deformed from allowing his hunger to last too long once a century ago, it made his vampirish appearance all the more obvious sadly.
"I won't do it," she growled back as she clenched the wooden bench she occupied tightly with both hands.
"Not even a lowlife who deserves it?" Vicente retorted calmly. "A rapist, a killer of children? My dear not everyone deserves life."
"That's not up to me," Seraphina replied coldly, "or to you, if it's up to anyone it's the Nine."
"Not everyone deserves to be stolen from either," Vicente remarked suggestively, "but you have fewer qualms about that."
"Stealing isn't killing," Seraphina protested angrily as she shook her head, inching back against the wall subconsciously as the vampire stepped closer.
"It can be," he replied, "you do not know the value of what you take, perhaps silver from a man in debt to others who have no issue with killing him or his family for it, a ring that is all a woman has of her husband, causing her to commit suicide in grief when it's gone. You thieves, you think yourselves quite noble, it's a laughable way to justify your dirty actions."
Seraphina flinched at the accusations, in truth she had never much considered the gravity of her thefts. She had taken from those who deserved it or who could spare it and she had never stolen much but perhaps a necklace from a collection of jewellery had had more sentimental value than she had cared to consider or perhaps certain jewels had been bought out of blind love with borrowed cash. She swallowed hard and frowned up at the pale skinned male. "I will not kill for you," she said firmly, "it is not the same as stealing."
Vicente held back his own frown, by Sithis she was stubborn! "Very well but remember that Lucien LaChance does not share your morals or my patience." He turned away from her, heading in frustration to the Training Rooms where he could hear Ocheeva practising.
Seraphina relaxed just a little as she vowed to herself that she would find a way out of the place before Lucien could get to her. 'In the dark of the night,' she thought to herself, 'Vicente will be out hunting, Ocheeva and Teinaava will be sleeping, and hopefully only Gogron will be on duty tonight. He's meant to be with Antoinetta but I know she's planning to sneak off to a party, she fancies someone in town. It might be my only chance.' The blonde had been waiting for the right opportunity for a week now, attempting to plan it better than her last escape attempt. Breaking any locks was easy, it was evading whoever was on duty that was the problem, they had better senses than some of the Thieves Guild, and the Dark Guardian and Schemer had both given her away previously. 'Stick to the shadows and get through the doors,' she told herself, 'quick and quiet, and up the corridor, the only one out on a job tonight is M'raaji-Dar, hateful cat, and he won't be back until dawn.'
She gave a small grin, in their hateful or indifferent dismissal of her they had thought her too weak a threat and too hateful of them to ever be interested in their work but she was interested, in their schedules, and through spying, careful listening and some break-ins to private chests she had learned a few of the jobs and who was taking them.
The day passed by painfully slow for the blonde as she tried to appear inconspicuous, drifting from one end of the main chamber to the other, ever afraid of Lucien every time the doors opened. Mathieu and Maria departed within the hour as planned, Maria pausing to give what seemed like a polite and honest enough farewell to Seraphina, who dismissed it with a nod. Next Telaendril returned, happy as ever and ignorant to Seraphina who she had given up on weeks ago. Telaendril referred to the blonde as Vicente's failed project, and often remarked about her tauntingly to the others. She was not as cruel with her words as Antoinetta, who still loathed her for being singled out by Lucien, and even Seraphina could admit that the Bosmer might be nicer to her if she was warmer back.
At last it turned midnight and the sanctuary seemed ironically dead. Satisfied that Gogron was inspecting the training room and the Dark Guardian was shuffling in the opposite direction, Seraphina took her chance. She moved like a shadow, silent and swift, hugging close to the darkness she refused to embrace. She reached the doors with ease and cracked the lock effortlessly, opening the door was harder; it was heavy and gave an unpleasant creak. She slipped out of it without hesitation and pulled it closed behind her, putting herself in an ugly red glow she had struggled to forget. She squinted slightly in the light before hurrying forward down the corridor, forcing herself not to panic and betray herself with noise.
'Caution before haste,' she reminded herself of a familiar thief phrase. It was hard to move slow however as she had images of Vicente coming at her in a blur, fangs at the ready, or Gogron thundering down the corridor with a roar and an axe.
It was with great relief and surprise that she made it into the dark and damp smelling basement and slipped up the wooden steps and through the door to the main floor. She tensed suddenly hearing a voice call out somewhere from the shadows.
"Hello?"
Seeing the faint glow of a lantern coming from the top of the stairs leading to the second floor caused Seraphina to shrink back against the wall in alarm. 'Damn assassins are everywhere!' she thought hatefully as she looked about for a place to hide. Spying the silhouette of broken furniture in the corner she hastened towards it, crouching down behind it with a wince as her knee brushed against a sharp piece of wood.
"Hey!" This voice was different and sounded oddly young for a bringer of death.
"Why aren't you in bed?" the first voice answered scornfully. Seraphina could just make out the glow of a lantern where the voice sounded from but it was hard to see the form carrying it from her hidden position. She sounded surprisingly young too though. "I'm just going to check the cellar."
'She heard me! Seraphina thought in horror as she sank down lower in the shadows. She watched as the light seemed to move to the stairs and heard a low humming from upstairs as the light seemed to disappear from sight as the basement door was opened and closed again. The humming was low and nervous, obviously forced and it made the blonde Imperial fill with unease.
She waited for the humming to cease, her legs tingling with pins and needles as minutes passed by slowly. Eventually the humming stopped but only for that oddly young boy's voice to call anxiously through the gloom. "Aelva? Aelva, what's taking you so long? Aelva!"
'Aelva?' Seraphina wondered at the name, she had never heard it before. 'There's no one in the Brotherhood called Aelva.'
"What's happening down there? Stop playing around, boy, and go to sleep." Seraphina almost jumped at the voice. It came from upstairs, muffled by distance and sounded like an older male.
'What in Oblivion is happening?' she wondered in confusion. 'Why does it sound like there are children moving about here?'
"Papa!" Bang, bang, bang, someone moved up towards the top floor in a hurry.
Seraphina almost jumped up in her fear but instead forced herself to stay calm and move stealthy, perhaps this was just a cruel trick to lure her out. She certainly wouldn't put it past Antoinetta or Gorgron to try something like this though it didn't sound like either of their voices.
She heard more feet upon the stairs and a woman cry out, "Don't leave us alone, Silenus! We're coming with you!"
'Silenus? Who are these people? What are they doing here?' Seraphina wondered as she tried to move quickly to the door, halting once more when she saw a light at the top of the stairs.
"Aelva? Say something, Aelva."
Seraphina's throat turned dry at the voice, her eyes widened and her heart started to pound wildly against her chest as she filled with a horrible, almost suffocating fear. There were three figures descending down the stairs, one a young boy in the lead, closely followed by an older male carrying a torch and a woman clutching close at his hand. They seemed completely at home and yet looked so out of place. Worst of all as they neared Seraphina noticed something else; every one of them was translucent with eyes sunken in blackness, their flesh pale and their clothes of a strange fashion and faded.
The man took the lead as they reached the bottom of the stairs, hastening past Seraphina to the door to the basement. "Aelva? What are you doing down in the cellar, girl?" he called down as he opened the door.
"You see her?" the woman called.
Filled with dread, Seraphina abandoned all attempts at secrecy and bolted for the front door. Her hands were slippery as she grasped the handle and tried to open it but of course it was locked. She fumbled with her lockpicks as her breaths came out short and fast and her heart pounded louder and louder. At last she grasped at one and reached for the lock.
"I think so... I see someone... Hello?"
The entire house was plunged into darkness, causing Seraphina to foolish drop her lockpick in her fright. When three screams took up the air she found herself shrieking with them. A low growl came from close behind and the feel of something's hot breath along the back of her neck let her know that something else had come to join them. She moved, darting wildly to the right and only just avoiding whatever it was snapping at her in the darkness. Clumsy and unable to see, she collided with a broken chair leg, catching her right leg as she did, causing her trouser leg to be ripped and her flesh to be cut. As fresh blood soaked the floor, exciting whatever creature chased her; she mercifully found the stairs and hastened up them.
She tried to be quiet, tried to soften her breaths, hold back any winces of pain and ease her steps but it was difficult. Snap! It narrowly missed her again as she reached the second floor and half-ran, half-stumbled across the wooden floor. Using the darkness to her advantage, she sank low and attempted stealth.
'Quiet, quiet,' she urged herself as her heart banged so loudly she was certain all of Cheydinhal could hear it. She saw a pair of large, hideous, red glowing eyes in the blackness and immediately turned and scrambled away. She moved quickly, but more quietly this time, trying hard to avoid debris or at least manoeuvre over it silently.
There was a low clatter as her foot hit a stray piece of porcelain. It was immediately answered with a low snarl. She tugged out her dagger at last, one of a pair, the only weapons the Brotherhood allowed her, and ducked and stabbed upwards as teeth came snapping at her. Her dagger caught in something soft and furry but it did nothing save irritate the beast, which struck her hard with a clawed paw. She swallowed down a cry as she rolled across the floor, her head banging awkwardly against a wooden step. She forced herself to shake off her dizziness and move once more, upwards again.
Once she reached the top floor she shrank into the darkness and fell silent. Her leg was bleeding fast, her head was throbbing and her hair getting sticky with blood, her heart still beat like a drum and her chest throbbed with the effort. Her throat was tight, her breaths irregular and too fast, and her skin soaked with a cold sweat.
It was coming, she was certain, though she could not see or hear it. Damn it was good at stealth too! 'It's hunting me!' she thought with alarm. 'Following my blood! Is it him? Is it the vampire?' It was a ridiculous thought but what else made sense? 'Nothing! Who were those people? Were they ghosts?' She suppressed a shudder as she clamped her mouth tightly shut and leaned as close to the wall as she could. It was here, she could feel it getting close, a shadow moving just in front of her. 'This isn't normal, none of this is normal, this is a house of freaks!'
One hand caught her throat tightly whilst another clamped upon her mouth, silencing her scream and bruising her mouth. "Did I not warn you about wandering in the night?"
New fear filled her but before she could react to the newcomer she found herself seized firmly by the wrist and dragged across the room quickly. There was a snarl of anger and a snap of frustration as she was yanked through an open window and just out of reach. It was only when she was upon the cold tiles of the supposedly abandoned house that she was released to attempt to gather her breath back.
Seraphina was swift to yank out her remaining dagger and push herself to her knees, knowing better than to attempt standing on a slanted rooftop with a wounded leg. He stood there, just as she remembered, clad in black and grinning sinisterly at her. He glanced at her dagger mockingly and shook his head. "Sera even at full strength you would not have a hope," he remarked pityingly.
"What in Oblivion just happened?" she demanded angrily as she swallowed down a deep breath.
"The residents of Krately House carried out their evening ritual of going through their most unpleasant demise," Lucien answered calmly.
"Krately House," Seraphina repeated slowly.
Lucien nodded. "The ruins upon which you sit where once Krately House, home to the most unfortunate Krately family they met their end one dark and bloody night to a terrible fiend."
"That creature," Seraphina murmured as she finally acknowledged the pain spreading through her bloody right leg.
"A Daedra conjured as an act of malice or revenge, who knows, maybe it just came with the house," the assassin paused to grin at that, "long dead like the family it slaughtered and yet still here to re-enact the events as if in a play."
"Madness," Seraphina muttered.
"Just the unnatural way of restless ghosts my child," Lucien replied, "but you were warned."
Seraphina looked to the edge of the roof then, if her leg was not injured she could jump without a problem and sprint but with her injury, if she did not worsen the injury in the fall she would not be able to outrun the assassin with a wounded leg.
"You won't make it," Lucien assured her, "I will stop you before you even reach the ledge. Now, I will allow you a moment to take in the view as it a pleasant night and I understand you have not seen this admirable city in a month."
Seraphina continued to glower at him, knowing he was mocking her. "I have not seen anything except that prison for a month," she growled out.
"That is your own doing," Lucien answered sharply as he sat down to her left, his legs resting on the slope of the roof. "If you had agreed to serve the Brotherhood you would be out enjoying the freedoms of Cyrodiil once more. Truthfully though I would have been disappointed had you killed by now, I did not expect you to give in so easily."
"Why should I give in at all?" Seraphina demanded. "I would be angry if the Gray Fox spoke with you but I know he will."
"Indeed, one favour for you, perhaps more, but then it's done, you're gone and so is he," Lucien murmured. "No, it's not so simple my dear, once you embrace the Dark Brotherhood and Sithis then you are secure and so is his...ah help shall we say. Do not look so angry you are a thief; you know firsthand this world is not all goodness and light, and I would not force your hand so firmly in Sithis' favour if I did not think you had potential. I would wall you up instead where only I could find you with three days worth of air and food, a fine time limit for the Fox and not nearly enough, not even for one of his legendary status, so of course I would swear to him you had longer to live."
The serene smile on the Imperial's face made the blonde feel ill, he was a disturbed and wicked individual and she was beginning to realise that despite her best efforts to escape she was wholly at his whim and mercy.
"Now, we shall descend from this rooftop, call upon the Mages Guild to see if they might have a potion to help you leg and then you and I shall go on a journey and today, for it is past midnight, someone shall die. It will be your choice once more," he said smoothly as he took her hand with ease and tugged her up, "you can choose for yourself to sacrifice to Sithis or for me, and I have seen many poor souls in the Imperial City who would satisfy the Dread Father."
Seraphina looked up at him sharply as he wrapped his free hand about her and drew her close as they neared the edge of the rooftop. His implication was all too clear but before she could curse at him he jumped. They absorbed the landing in a crouch that caused a sharp pain to rush up the blonde's leg. She gritted her teeth and swallowed down a cry of pain before she was ushered upright. Lucien released her momentarily, busying himself in the shadows of the house where inside a dusty barrel he deposited his sable hooded robes. He stepped out wearing a black, cotton shirt with a silver trim at the collar, plain, black trousers and black, leather boots.
"You like wearing black then?" Seraphina queried dryly as he wrapped a hand about her waist and began moving forward.
"Stains show less on it," he retorted simply. "Do put your dagger away now," he remarked scornfully as he felt its edge pressing slightly against his side, "I would break your wrist twice before you could use it and I do not think the mages will welcome you with it out."
"Why should they help me at all?" she grumbled as she slipped it back into its case at her belt reluctantly.
"For the same reason most mages will use their superior knowledge and potions to help those in need, coin."
Lucien guided Seraphina to one of the bridges and across the calm, dark waters. A few frogs called up from below and a couple of ripples indicated fish. The skies above were clear, the stars bright, the air dry and just a little cold, and the streets quiet, it was indeed a lovely night, or rather morning. They met only a few people on the streets and narrowly avoided a guard, who glanced at them once with suspicion. Most people where at the exclusive Riverview gathering tonight or drinking in one of the two inns.
The mages guild was an impressive sight, nothing compared to the university in the Imperial City of course, of which Seraphina had only glimpsed the outside, but it was still a noticeable and attractive building. In the Dunmer fashion like most of the buildings in Cheydinhal it was wood and stone with turrets with a spike at the top of their conical roofs, intricate arched windows save the circular one at its centre and tapestries of blue and green with gold embroidery on them. Three of the windows were lit up indicating life though the two doors looked securely closed. Lucien pulled Seraphina up the steps confidently and wrapped on the door.
The door was opened by a curious, red eyed Argonian dressed in a flattering blue velvet dress with gold at its sleeves, collar and down its skirt. "May I help you?" she queried politely.
"Morning," Lucien retorted politely, "I am sorry to disturb you at this hour but my friend sustained an injury hunting and we would like to purchase a healing potion for it."
The Argonian studied him hard before looking to Seraphina and then the bloody leg she was incapable of hiding with suspicion. "A hunting accident at this hour?" she queried dryly.
"I like to hunt wolves," Seraphina lied, "they tend to come out at night more, but I stumbled and caught my leg against a sharp piece of log."
"I see. Well Eilonwy is our alchemist and she is out for the evening, er morning but perhaps I can find you a potion."
"Thank you," Lucien answered happily.
The Argonian shut the door leaving Seraphina to sag against the wall slightly with a concealed wince. The wound was still running heavily and she was starting to feel faint with the blood loss. A couple of minutes later the door was re-opened and the Argonian offered out a small green bottle and a slightly larger pink one. "Apply the pink to the wound first, for infection," she instructed, "then the green for healing."
Lucien nodded before plucking out a small, brown pouch from his shirt pocket and offering it over. The Argonian accepted in one hand, weighing it slightly before nodding and allowing the Imperial to take the bottles.
"Thank you," Seraphina murmured. The Argonian gave a final nod before shutting the door.
Lucien escorted the blonde down from the porch and then to the river banks where he made her sit and stretch out her leg. "Let me do it," she said sulkily but he ignored her and pushed her trouser leg up. She let out a hiss out of pain as he applied the contents of the pink bottle without warning and her leg immediately burned. Next he added the green bottle causing her to hiss once more in pain and finally he produced a piece of blue cloth from his trouser pocket, which he knotted about the wound tightly.
"You'll live little assassin," he assured her with a smile. "Now, let's begin our journey."