The cabin was more of a rundown, wooden shack, barely better kept than the shacks of the Waterfront and almost overrun by flora. Sera couldn't even be sure this was the right place; it stood alone on a hill offering a pleasant view of the white city under the golden glow of the afternoon city. She crept up to it anyway and made short work of the feeble lock on its single door. The cabin was not what Sera had expected, inside it was large and well kept with a stone floor, a single lit fireplace with a stone chimney, a double bed, an oak table with four chairs, a bookshelf, cabinets and barrels of food, tasselled rugs of blue and red velvet and gorgeous framed paintings of the city and the nearby wilderness. It looked like the perfect romantic getaway.
"Go away! I know what you're here for! Just leave me alone!" The angry yells drew her attention to the hut's one occupant, a dishevelled, gaunt and exhausted looking Roland. He was standing in the shadows of the hut clutching at the handle of a sheathed sword.
"Roland!" Sera exclaimed in horror.
"Sera?" He was just as stunned to see her as she was to see him. He stepped out from the shadows slowly to look at her with wide, golden eyes. "Sera it is you! What are you doing here?"
"In your rundown shack?" she quipped accusingly as she gestured out to it with both hands.
He had the grace to look embarrassed as he sighed and released his sword to scratch at his drab hair awkwardly. "Sera," he murmured quietly, "I..."
Sera shook her head angrily as she contemplated turning away from him and leaving him to his lies but she knew she couldn't. She had come all this way hadn't she? "Roland everyone is saying that you're a vampire and that you..." She paused; part of her wanted to hurt him but another part of her was reluctant to state the horrible rumours going about the city. "That you murdered Relfina." She loathed saying the woman's name; even though she was dead now and had been a stranger to Sera she still could not help but hate her. 'He brought her here,' she thought angrily as she looked about the cabin, 'this was their place.' She hated him for it, for his treachery and secrecy, for having a place with Relfina and for loving her more.
"All the lies of that bastard Seridur!" Roland hissed out hatefully. "I loved her, I'd never harm her! Relfina was the love of my life." He froze at his condemning words and looked at Sera with fresh guilt. She was silent, her stare cold as she waiting for him to continue. "Sera I'm sorry, I am but...For the first time, I had a positive outlook. Then I saw Seridur looking at her with those coveting eyes. When she started taking walks in the garden at night, I became suspicious. I didn't want to lose her. I should have trusted her... oh, Relfina..."
"She was married," Sera grumbled frostily, "you never had her Roland."
"But I did!" he protested. "Here, this was why...why we came here, to be alone in secret, here I could have her. That night, I decided to follow Relfina. I wanted to see where she went on her walks. When she stopped in the garden, and Seridur stepped out of the shadows, my heart sank. Then, suddenly, he was upon her! She seemed entranced as he wrapped his arms around her and sank his teeth into her neck. I burst from my hiding place and attacked Seridur. He became startled for a moment and tossed Relfina aside. She fell to the ground and I heard a sickening crack as her head struck a stone. I was no equal to Seridur. He knocked me down in one quick movement. As I lost consciousness, I saw him laugh and then run away. Now I know why he didn't finish me that night. He wanted to cast suspicions on me instead."
He sagged in his grief looking older and frailer than his thirty odd years. "I deserve it," he said bluntly, "I killed her really, if I'd only trusted her...if I hadn't attacked him he might have let her live..."
"Roland why did you let him away with it?" Sera demanded. "Why let everyone think you'd done it?"
He looked at her moodily and snapped, "I panicked. By the time I awoke, her body was gone. I knew Seridur was a respected member of the community. They'd never believe he was a vampire. I retreated here to the cabin to collect my thoughts." He looked about the cabin wearily and rubbed his hair again. "It's been lonely here," he admitted, "without her."
"Why did you need to go to her?" Sera demanded hatefully. "Why? Were we not happy? No, you didn't have a positive outlook until her," she sneered. "Why wasn't I enough Roland?" She could feel the tears beginning to burn at her eyes, she had truly loved the forester, he was different to the normal middle-class folk of the Imperial City, he had a side of the wilderness to him, carried down from his woodcutter grandfather he had told her, and he had never looked down on her for being poor or a thief. "She was married! I wasn't, I was yours Roland, just yours, why wasn't that enough?"
He shrank back at the accusations, and found himself walking over to the double bed to sit on the edge of it. He was exhausted, he hadn't slept since Relfina's brutal murder, seeing her pallid face and torn neck every time he closed his eyes and Seridur's mocking sneer. 'It wasn't that I didn't think of Sera,' he admitted to himself, 'she's young, blonde and beautiful to me, and she's fun, and...'
"I don't know," he admitted aloud, "I did love you Sera, I still do." He paused to glance up at her awkwardly before continuing on. "I just I met Relfina one day and I don't know, there was just something between us, right from the start, like this never ending light, I just felt like I hadn't truly known happiness before her. It's not that you didn't make me happy Sera it just wasn't the same, I can't explain it but when you feel it you'll know and gods I hope you don't lose it like I did."
"I did feel it," Sera argued as she walked towards him, "I felt it with you." Even as she spoke she was unsure, had she really felt the bliss he spoke of with him? 'We didn't have a private place to cuddle under the moonlight,' she thought bitterly, 'our moments alone were in his house in the city and they didn't feel sacred or special.'
Roland shook his head pityingly. "I'm sorry Sera, I didn't mean to make a mockery of our relationship or insult or betray you, I really didn't. I just couldn't resist her, she made the world bright and now she's gone and it's dark and quiet and lonely."
"It's not," Sera insisted though she doubted her own protests as she dared to take a seat beside him, "I'm here Roland, you're not alone anymore."
He turned his head towards her slowly and attempted a smile and failed. "You're right," he murmured, "you're here, after everything I did to you, you're still here. Oh Sera, you treat me far better than I deserve and I wish...I wish I could appreciate it better."
"I'll tell everyone the truth," the blonde vowed, "and see Seridur turned to ash; I'll make it right so you can come back to the city."
"Seridur's a vampire," Roland reminded her, "he's strong and dangerous and no one will believe you."
"They will believe me if I shove a stake into him in front of everyone," she vowed. 'I can do it now,' she realised, 'I've killed three times now, I can do this. I can stake Seridur and turn him to ash for what he's done to Roland.'
Roland reached out to her with one hand, gripping her right shoulder tightly. "Sera I can't lose you too," he said to her seriously, "it's enough trying to live through Relfina's demise but I can't keep going with your blood on my hands too."
"You could," she said darkly thinking of the stains on her own palms. When he looked at her strangely she added hastily, "but you won't have to because I can do this Roland. I won't be alone; I'll get Methredhel and Othrelos to help."
Roland squeezed her shoulder tighter and said sternly, "don't do this for me; I don't deserve your help."
"Maybe not," Sera agreed, surprising herself at the coldness of her words, "but I will give it anyway." She leaned into him, moving closer to those ensnaring gold eyes and startled him with a soft kiss. "For the sake of old times," she murmured as she broke free from him. It wasn't the same, of course it wasn't, it couldn't be the same, nothing was the same anymore for Seraphina Polita. She stood up hurriedly and rushed for the door before Roland could protest.
The blonde let out a breath of relief only when she was out of the cabin and back to the cool, fresh afternoon air. 'I need to find Seridur before the sun sets,' she thought anxiously as she began to make her way back to the city, 'he will be stronger in the night and he might have other vampires to help him. Will I have time to find Methredhel first?'
Two hours later found the blonde thief in the company of the wood elf thief travelling through the Temple District. Methredhel had doubts about Roland's claims and had expressed them several times before sighing at Sera's pleading face and agreeing to help her. "Do you actually have a plan?" she queried quietly as they moved around the Temple of the One. "I mean how does one stop a vampire exactly?"
Sera really wasn't sure so she admitted to her weak plan. "Get him out in daylight and confront him in front of people," she confessed. "People have to see that he's the vampire and not Roland."
"Right, and you're confident that he is a vampire."
Sera glanced at her friend sternly and nodded.
"Good afternoon."
The pair halted for the newcomer who had stepped in front of them and whilst Methredhel openly frowned at him Sera tried to be more tactful, greeting him with a polite smile instead. "Afternoon Captain Avidius."
The balding middle-aged captain leered down at the blonde and quipped mockingly, "what are a pair of questionable individuals like you two doing in this respectable district?"
"Walking," Methredhel snapped back.
"Seems more like loitering," the guard retorted coldly.
"We are not!" Methredhel retorted angrily.
"And causing a disturbance," he continued, still calm with a small smirk beginning to show, "and unease given your reputation."
Methredhel bristled, only just holding back another furious retorted as Sera squeezed her left hand to silence her. "We are not here to cause trouble," the blonde said softly, "just to enjoy a walk."
The guard turned his smirk on her with a leering glance. "You always seem to be around when there's trouble," he commented accusingly, "all you Waterfront trash do. I think it would be risky to this fine district if I let you two just wander around it."
Sera let out a frustrated sigh, she did not have time for this the sun would be down in an hour! "How much coin for you to leave us in peace?" she queried frostily.
He let out a crude chuckle at this. "Hmm trying to bribe an officer, serious crime that but you're too dumb to get that so I'll let you off with a fine, just this once."
"Sure, just once," Methredhel grumbled sardonically, wincing slightly when Sera's grip on her hand became painful.
"What's the fine then?" Sera queried tiredly.
"Fifty septims," he retorted. Seeing Methredhel ready to argue he added, "next time I won't take coin."
"Fine," Sera grumbled as she hunted through her pockets and produced a pouch of coin which she held out to him.
The captain snatched it off her and weighed in his palm with a grin. "This will do," he murmured, "but remember, if I catch either of you up to mischief again there won't be a fine, you'll have to think of another way to make up for your crimes."
Sera suppressed a shudder and an urge to stab him as she caught the lecherous gaze he gave her. 'Pig,' she thought hatefully, 'now there's someone I wouldn't mind killing for the Brotherhood.' She paused at that thought, shocked by how suddenly eager she was to kill him. 'He's still a person,' she thought to herself, 'killing someone is permanent, it shouldn't be up to me to make that call, even if they are a lecherous corrupted asshole, it's not right, it's not.' Still there was a voice that told her the city could only be better without a man like Captain Avidius in it.
"Quickly," the blonde hissed to her friend as they headed to where Seridur's house allegedly was.
"I'd love to stick that man with one of my arrows," Methredhel grumbled, "you really shouldn't have paid him Sera."
"Well what was the alternative?" Sera demanded as they hurried along the cobbled stones. "We're running out of time, we need to find Seridur before sundown when he'll be too strong for us."
Methredhel shook her head scornfully. "You know I really have my doubts about this plan of yours."
"Well too late," Sera said as she led the way down a quiet alleyway, "because that's his house." She pointed to a lone wooden door set in a group of stone townhouses. "Let's hurry, remember we need witnesses for this." She glanced about for passersby before hurrying to the door and checking the handle, it was unsurprisingly locked but the lock wasn't too hard and after a couple of minutes of fiddling with it, Sera had it freed.
"How do you know this is his house again?" Methredhel queried suspiciously as they entered a seemingly empty, modest looking abode.
"I asked around," Sera retorted bluntly as she glanced around their surroundings.
It didn't exactly look like a vampire's abode, there was a circular wooden table with four chairs around it, an empty fireplace, a few cupboards and shelves, a staircase and a door leading to what was probably the basement.
"Nothing undead about this place," Methredhel murmured pointedly.
Sera gave her friend a look of annoyance. "Well he's hardly going to be obvious about it," she argued.
Methredhel sighed. "Alright, upstairs or the basement first?"
"The basement," Sera decided with an ominous look at the door, "he's bound to have his coffin down there."
"Coffin," Methredhel repeated with a shudder, "do they really...you know?"
"No I don't know," Sera answered seriously as she crept up to the basement door and fiddled with the lock. It was stubborn and broke two of her lockpicks before it finally clicked free granting them entry to the wooden steps leading down.
Methredhel unslung her bow and clutched it tightly in her right hand, just in case, whilst Sera tugged out a dagger. The pair tensed seeing torchlight flickering up from down below. "This is freaking me out," Methredhel confessed nervously.
"I smell you morsels," a male's voice suddenly called out mockingly.
Methredhel let out a scream of terror, turned and abruptly fled up the stairs without warning. "I don't want to be eaten!" she wailed as she fled. Sera was stunned as she watched her friend go before she turned back to face the house's occupant. He was a tall, well dressed Altmer though his skin was paler than the average high elf and his eyes were tinged with red. If he was not looking at her so hungrily Sera might have even believed he was just an Altmer but she knew that he was as Roland had claimed, a vampire.
"What little treat has stumbled into my lair?" he queried wickedly, not even attempting a pretence.
"Lair?" Sera echoed, determined to play dumb. She stood upright but even though she stood three steps higher than him he still towered over her. "What are you talking about? Sheesh you're weird. I was looking for Seridur that's all."
"I am Seridur," he hissed again, still grinning, his eyes glimmering with malice, "and I am not fooled by you. Any other thief yes but you are Roland Jenseric's lover, one of a pair. He did not deserve Relfina, greedy man. Do you think I'm stupid girl? He's accused of being a vampire, flees the city and then you, his lover, and probably the only one liable to believe him appears at my door." His grin widened and Sera recoiled as she glimpsed two prominent canines.
"Good to know you want to hide your secret," she retorted sardonically as she took a step back. 'Get him outside,' she reminded herself, 'outside where it's still daylight and there are witnesses!'
"But I do," he retorted sincerely, "you just came at a bad time. I was about to answer my thirst but then I heard you arrive and unfortunately a thirsty vampire is an obvious vampire."
Sera couldn't argue with that, instead she held the dagger out threateningly and started to move back up the stairs, one steady step after another.
Seridur laughed at her. "You won't be nearly quick enough."
He pounced; she ducked and lashed out with her dagger. Satisfyingly she managed to cut deep through his right arm before he slammed her head hard against the steps causing her to go dizzy. She shrieked when the fangs tore through her neck, it felt like two knives stabbing deep through her flesh and probing through it. Her neck felt aflame as she tried to pull back and screamed in pain. He was too strong, too fast and too heavy, she had been stupid thinking she could best him, she couldn't even match him!
"Down there captain!"
Seridur paused in his attack to look up with a hiss as a badgered looking Hieronymus Lex appeared in the basement doorway looking down doubtfully. The captain's pale blue eyes went wide with horror when he glimpsed Seridur's drawn back and decidedly not mortal face and he immediately tugged out his sword.
Sera took advantage of the distraction and kicked the high elf hard with both feet sending him rolling back down the steps. She jumped to her feet, tugged out her other dagger and threw herself down on him with a wild scream. Both daggers plunged down into his chest. "This is for Roland!" she shrieked triumphantly.
Seridur was stronger though and only slightly fazed by the daggers piercing his chest. He gripped her wrists in an iron grasp and threw her off him and into the wall. Hieronymus had descended the steps by now, snapped into action by the sight of a damsel in distress and he was quick to swing his sword, quicker than Seridur had anticipated. The blade severed head from body and Methredhel gave a scream from her safe vantage point at the top of the stairs as the body immediately turned to ash. The captain spluttered as ash filled his throat before he wiped his mouth, sheathed his sword and held his hand out to the blonde. "Are you alright madam?" he queried worriedly.
When the blonde turned and met his blue stare his gaze hardened slightly as he thought she looked familiar. "Yes, thank you," she spoke up hastily as she waved his hand away. 'It would be Captain bloody Lex!' she cursed in her head. 'Still if not him I'd be dead.' That thought did not stop her from glowering up at Methredhel. She touched the back of her head and frowned when she felt a bump there. 'That's going to hurt a lot later,' she thought in annoyance as she pushed herself up, using the wall for support.
"That was amazing!" Methredhel trilled down to them. "The way you swung your sword, that was so heroic!"
The captain flushed slightly at the praise as he allowed Sera to lead the way back up. It had taken a lot of frantic squealing and pleas for the wood elf to persuade him to follow her to Seridur's but he was the only potential witness she could spot in such short notice.
"So...Seridur was a vampire then?" Hieronymus queried doubtfully as he tried to go over in his head what had just happened.
"Yes," Sera said firmly, grateful that Methredhel had managed to find a reliable witness; no one would question a captain of the guards. "He framed Roland for Selfina's murder," she added helpfully.
"Roland?" Hieronymus echoed. "Oh right, Roland Jenseric, yes, never did think he was a vampire but I didn't think Seridur was one either." He shook his head and tutted as they reached the main door. "Well I'll see this mess sorted," he assured them with what he hoped was a confident stare, "you ladies please find your way safely home."
"Oh we will," Methredhel enthused as she looked up at him with a dazed affection, "the streets are certainly safer with you."
Sera grabbed her friend tightly with one hand and grinned up at the captain. "We will," she assured, "and thank you," she added sincerely, "for saving my life."
He nodded looking at her with suspicion once more. "You're welcome Miss..."
Sera did not fill in the blank instead she smiled and turned away, hastening on with Methredhel who kept turning round to wave and smile stupidly at the captain. "He's really quite handsome," she mused with a sigh.
"He's also the Gray Fox's main opponent," Sera reminded her in a growl, "and he despises thieves more than anyone."
Methredhel rolled her brown eyes and retorted in irritation, "well I know that but come on, he's sweeter and more honest than Avidius at least and he saved you! Great plan by the way," she added sardonically.
"Thanks for running off and leaving me to it," Sera shot back heatedly as her head began to throb.
"I went to get help," Methredhel reminded her, "and you'd probably be sprouting fangs now if I hadn't!"
"Probably," Sera agreed wearily.
Methredhel pulled her to a halt and looked at her with concern. "He bit you," she observed, "we had better get you something for it from the Market District."
Sera nodded as she reached up to the wound with one hand, which came away sticky with blood. "Yes," she agreed, "and then I can go tell Roland it's safe to come back."
Methredhel frowned at this and shook her head disapprovingly. "He should've killed Seridur himself," she scorned, "instead of dragging you into his mess."
"He didn't drag me into it," Sera argued, "I went and found him."
"Hmm well don't get any ideas of consoling him during his grief over Selfina," Methredhel warned, "he doesn't deserve it."
"Don't worry I've no time for that," Sera retorted darkly. 'I have to go Kvatch,' she thought with worry, 'and help Matthias...' She paused at that thought, she didn't really have to do it, if she never gave him the trinket there wasn't a lot he could do but she wanted to. 'Why?' she wondered. 'Why help someone with something I stole? Why waste time on this? To delay going to Kvatch? Lucien put a time limit on that, and who is to say Matthias won't double cross me? By Oblivion why do I even think of him as Matthias? He's Mr. Draconis, guard to Umbacano of all people.'
"What about that Draconis fellow?"
"Huh?" Sera looked at her friend with a naked surprise wondering if the Bosmer had somehow read her thoughts.
Methredhel let out a loud laugh. "Oh dear your face," she mocked. "So what's the story there? Honestly you're only back in the city and already it's saving old flames, meeting new ones and attacking vampires!"
Sera sighed as her neck continued to burn and the blood loss made her feel heavy and tired. "Let's just get to the potions store," she retorted wearily.
"Avoiding the subject," Methredhel scorned, "don't think I'm going to forget all about the less than charming Mr. Draconis."
Sera shook her head and opted for silence.