Arven slowly woke with a soft grumble as the light entered his eyes. He felt heavy. Very, very heavy for some reason. Rubbing his eyes as he let out the groan of a man who just wanted to sleep in, he removed his hands to find that Serana was looking down at him. She was straddling his waist with her hands on his chest. No wonder he felt so heavy.

Wait. What?

"…Serana? What are you doing?"

In response the woman just smiled. It was a different smile than what Arven had gotten used to though. It wasn't innocent, nor was it sweet. It was… expecting. She had a thirst in her eyes, a look that Arven had seen a few times before in the eyes of a vampire just before he killed them.

His heart-rate spiked. Arven tried to sit up but Serana's strength was overwhelming and he couldn't budge. Not even one inch.

"Serana…"

"Sorry, Arven," Serana said without a hint of remorse in her voice. Her lips curled further back into an almost sadistic smile, one that made Arven incredibly uncomfortable. "It's nothing personal, I promise. A girl just needs to feed, and, well… I've always been attracted to powerful blood."

See? The voice in his head called out. You knew this would happen. All vampires are the same.

As Serana came closer, opening her mouth with her fangs protruding out Arven coalesced as much restorative magic in his hand as he could. He shoved it against Serana's torso with a shout. The spell singed her body on contact causing the vampire to flinch backwards with a hiss.

While she recoiled Arven tried to summon an ethereal blade in his hand to drive through the woman, but she was too fast. Serana instantly responded by summoning a sharp sickle of ice in one hand, driving it right through Arven's palm and pinning the hand to his own bed.

Letting out a sharp cry of pain he opened his mouth, ready to shout as a last resort. He just wasn't fast enough. Serana stuck at him with a closed fist, breaking his nose and causing his head to rebound back against his bed. With his vision blurred and pain searing in his face and hand, Arven couldn't stop Serana as she sunk her fangs into his neck.

Arven woke, rather violently. He sprung up in his bed, sweat beading from his forehead and dripping from his nose as he struggled to catch his breath. He was fine. There was no ice piercing his hand, and his nose was in one piece. Well, it was still broken. It'd been broken numerous times before, but Serana hadn't added another to that count.

As he woke, he turned to find Serana looking at him with a concerned expression. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, leaning towards him as if she wanted to come closer – but she restrained herself. The look on her face was entirely different than it was in his dream. It showed genuine care, as far as he could tell.

"Arven?" She asked. "Are you okay?"

Arven just nodded, reaching up to wipe the sweat from his brow. He unconsciously did so with the arm that was in the sling, but it caused him no pain. His bones seemed to be fully healed.

"Uh, I think you're meant to let that rest for a bit longer," Serana said.

Arven smirked, consciously trying to make the smile more visible as he didn't want Serana to worry. He didn't even want to look at her for the moment. The rational part of his brain knew she wasn't going to attack him. After all, she saved him the day before.

I'm not going to get over a life time of fear that easily, he thought.

"It's fine. I heal pretty quick. One of the perks, I guess," he said as he removed the sling and dropped it off the side of his bed. He stretched out his arm, rolling his shoulder to make sure it was fully recovered. Slightly tender, but fine.

Serana nodded in response, but she still seemed worried. After a pause, she spoke up.

"Nightmare?"

Arven just nodded, and Serana offered him a sweet, surprisingly comforting smile.

"I can sympathise," she continued. "Do you want to sleep some more? I can't imagine you're well rested after that."

As Arven had calmed down he looked around, taking in his surroundings. He'd passed out almost instantly the night before, so it was the first chance he had to look at this room. It was fairly small, with a few steps between his bed and Serana's. Besides the two beds each had a chest at their base and a small table sat in the corner of the room with two chairs. Behind both beds was a window, with curtains keeping the light out.

Looking over to Serana she had shuffled back on her bed, legs up by her chest with a small book in her hands. It must've been another one from Fort Dawnguard that she'd picked up.

"What time is it?" Arven asked

"Not sure, I haven't really checked."

"…How long have you been awake?"

Serana tilted her head off to one side as she sat in thought. "Maybe a couple of hours?"

Arven let out a defeated sigh before looking out the curtain. Bright sunlight reached him and entered the room, causing Serana to pull back ever so slightly. Rearranging the curtains so he could only see out and the light didn't get too far in, he tried to find the Sun.

"Serana… It's noon."

Serana just looked at him, frowning. "You're saying that like it's meant to mean something."

"It is. We could almost be at Dragon Bridge by now, if I didn't sleep in."

"So? You were exhausted, and we're in no huge rush."

Arven dead-panned, staring at Serana who seemed entirely nonchalant about the entire thing.

"No rush? We're trying to stop your father, remember? The guy who wants to control the Sun?"

"…Yeah, and he needs our Elder Scroll for that," Serana said, motioning to the scroll which she had casually placed on the table as if it were any other, ordinary item.

Arven ran his hands through his hair. He almost felt like he was dealing with a child.

"Did you actually leave that there overnight, while we both slept?"

By now Serana had gone back to her book seeming uninterested in their current conversation. "Yep."

"Didn't think someone might try and steal it?"

"No one can see it on me. Illusion magic, remember? Besides I'm a light sleeper, if anyone tried to sneak in, I'd know." Closing her book again she looked over at Arven with a kind smile. "Go back to sleep. I know you heal fast, but you're probably more exhausted than you think."

Arven hesitated. Whenever he paused for a moment, he could feel his exhaustion, rolling over him like a wave that wanted to drag him down. He just hated being still. Even more, he didn't want that dream to return. Seeing Serana like that terrified him.

"I'll make you a deal," Serana said as she rested her chin on her knees, looking over to Arven. "Lie back down. If you can stay awake for one minute, we'll get going."

Arven looked at her, rolling his eyes.

One minute? Seriously?

Scoffing to himself he resigned to lying back down, willing to play her little game. While it was nice, admittedly, to have someone care about his wellbeing like this he didn't want to be cared for. He wanted to be moving, hunting vampires. Making a difference.

10 seconds after his head hit the pillow, Arven was out.

"Some tough Dragonborn you are," Serana whispered to herself as she struggled not to laugh. Watching over Arven for a moment, she put her book down and walked over. Taking the sheets that were only halfway up his body she pulled them up, gently tucking him in before walking back over to her bed and resuming her book. Every few seconds she'd glance over, making sure he wasn't having another nightmare.

When Arven woke again it in a much more relaxed fashion compared to before. His eyes slowly opened, scanning the now dark room for familiar objects to orientate himself with as he shook himself out of a daze. He was surprisingly refreshed, all things considered. There were only the most minor aches in his body which he didn't even notice unless he made an effort to focus on them.

As he waited for his eyes to adjust, he realised that it was just really, really dark. He sat up and stretched out with a slight groan, causing a small rustling sound to appear on the other side of his room.

"Oh, you're awake?" Serana said. Arven couldn't even see her, despite the room being fairly small.

Arven groaned in response, rolling his neck to let out a satisfying crack. "How long was I asleep for?" He asked.

Serana idly hummed to herself for a moment before responding. "12 hours, maybe?"

"You're joking, right?" Arven asked, running his hands through his hair, still trying to wake up properly.

There was a moment of silence before Serana responded. "If you can't see, I'm shaking my head while judging you."

Arven rolled his eyes. He stood up, getting out of bed and peering out through the window. After confirming that no sunlight would come through, he opened the blinds to let what little moonlight there was into the room.

"You couldn't wake up at dawn or something? That'd be much more convenient," Serana said.

"Not like I can control it." Arven replied. "Besides, it's not really an issue. We can just walk at night."

Serana perked up at that. "Really?"

"Don't see why not. It'll make it easier if we get attacked again, you might actually be useful." Arven said. Serana let out a sarcastic laugh.

"Alright, do you want to head off now, then?" Serana said.

"Give me 15 minutes."

A minute later, after taking a loaf of bread from the inn Arven was strolling barefoot out to a river behind the building. He had left his armour in the room while he found his way to the calm stream, discarding what was left of his clothing except his undergarments before halting an inch before the stream. The water was calm enough that he could see his reflection and he studied it for a moment.

Ever since he started absorbing the souls of dragons his physique had changed. He'd always been fit, but over time all the fat on his body had evaporated, giving room to trained muscle. While he kept an athletic figure, he was strong, and without armour in the way it was painfully obvious.

It was fitting of course. He'd become far, far stronger than any regular person. The souls he had within him were one of the main reasons he hadn't died yet. They gave him the strength to fight off vampires that could toss a mortal man to the side in an instant. That's not to say he was invincible; he knew that certain creatures could potentially overpower him. A Vampire Lord, for example.

As his reflection distorted in the stream he stepped forward, letting his feet into the water before lowering his body until only his head was above the water-line.

The water was freezing, but he had a handy trick. Taking a deep breath and reciting the Dragon language for the word fire, Yol, water started to steam off of his body. He turned the river into something closer to a hot spring as he relaxed and tried his best to clear his mind, looking up to the lights in the sky.

He had heard of the sky-lights before, but he never saw them until coming to Skyrim. Cyrodiil wasn't blessed enough to see such a beautiful sight, it seemed. As the lights danced in the night sky, bright stars illuminated behind them, Arven let his body sink just a little bit lower until his entire figure was submerged. The hot water cleansed his skin, washing away the dirt and grime that had built up over the last few days and weeks.

Standing up, he ran his hands through his hair and started to clean himself. It was oddly relaxing, and feeling clean was a luxury he wasn't able to enjoy much as of late. Not to mention, a moment of privacy was pure bliss.

Of course, privacy never lasted for Arven much anymore.

"Here you are. I was wondering where you'd run off to," Serana asked as she sat down cross-legged a few metres away from the stream.

Arven paused after becoming aware of the fact that Serana was staring at him. After a moment of consideration though he decided he simply didn't care. He had his modesty still, and she was invading his privacy. If anyone was to be embarrassed, it was her.

"Trying to get a moment of quiet before we set off," Arven said as he began to stretch in the warmth of the water. Every muscle in his body seemed to be thanking him as the tension left him.

"Oh," Serana replied bluntly. "Want me to head back?"

"No, it's fine," Arven replied. "I was just about to get out anyway." He wasn't lying, but he might've stayed in for another minute if left alone. Walking out of the river he let out another deep breath, chanting the Dragon language again. As he did all the water on his body evaporated almost instantly, leaving his skin completely dry with only a slight amount of moisture clinging to his hair.

Serana at least had the decency to turn around as he threw his clothes back on.

"You know, we can wait until morning to leave," Serana said.

"Why? Unless you're tired, we should just go now," Arven said as he pulled his shirt over his head.

Serana shook her head. "I'm fine, but you remember we're hunting vampires, right?"

Arven nodded, and Serana pointed to the sky. "See an issue?"

"Nope," Arven responded.

"If we run into them, it'll be a much tougher fight at night, just in case you weren't aware Mr. Vampire Hunter."

"Tell me, besides your father are there any other Vampire lords?"

Serana tilted her head to the side. "Well, maybe somewhere else in Tamriel-"

"I mean here. Associated with Castle Volkihar."

"No, just my family."

"And your father isn't the type to do his own work, from what I can tell, right?"

"No way. He's not leaving that Castle unless he's won."

"So, nothing to worry about. In the day I'm stronger than they are and at night you are. We win both ways."

Serana just sighed. It felt nice that he trusted her, but it still would've likely been safer during the day.

"Fine, as long as you're sure," she said.

Arven walked past her, turning to her to give the woman a brief smile. "I am."

After getting clothed, taking some more food from the inn and leaving his payment on the main counter, the two of them continued towards Dragon Bridge. It wasn't far, and Arven guessed they'd be there before the Sun started to rise.

"Who knows, with any luck we might run into the Dragon Priest before we even get there," the Imperial said.

"In the middle of the night? Don't think anyone else is crazy enough to go travelling at this time," Serana said.

Arven shrugged. "He's crazy enough to read Elder Scrolls. This isn't a stretch."

"Different kind of crazy."

"Like, hanging out with a Vampire Lord crazy?"

Serana rolled her eyes, shoving Arven in the shoulder. "Yeah, that kind of crazy."

Now that they were walking in the dark, Serana didn't need to have her hood on. Arven found that awfully distracting. There was a soft breeze in their face, letting her hair flow behind her figure ever so slightly. Although they walked along side by side, Arven found himself occasionally taking a few steps back as he absent-mindedly looked over towards her.

He did it a few times before he properly caught himself, shaking his head and running a hand over his chest – right where his magic resistant charm was. It wasn't any magical charm that was compelling him, it was just reassuring for the warrior to think so. The idea that her magics led to his attraction was more comfortable than the idea that he simply found her attractive.

Despite his rather obvious gaze, Serana never noticed. At least she didn't act like she did. Although Arven slowed himself on occasion to take a step or two back, after a few moments Serana matched his pace. Before long they were travelling at half the speed they were before, nothing more than a leisurely walk.

"Hey, Serana," he called out.

She perked up, her eyes widening slightly as she looked over to him. "Hmm? What's up?"

"Did you get enough sleep? You're kind of zoning out."

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine." She waved him away, taking a few steps forward after realising just how slow they were moving.

"You sure? You seem distracted."

"Just daydreaming, that's all. Wondering what it'd be like to travel with someone who's actually funny, charming. Handsome. Never really experienced that." She looked over to him with a cocky smile, while Arven just rolled his eyes with a groan.

Arven found that as long as he didn't slow down, Serana didn't either. He still felt like something was up but he didn't push it any further. Instead he just enjoyed the quiet of the night. He missed the warmth of the sun that came with travelling during the day, but the night had its own perks.

The Imperial kept coming back to staring at the lights in the sky. The way they danced through the air entranced him, and he couldn't stop a smile from crossing his lips. He almost tripped once or twice, but he didn't let that stop him.

While the view was gorgeous, as the road started to get less well paved further away from the town he found himself tripping up more often. With his helmet on he had no peripheral vision, making it too easy for him to stumble. There was really no reason for Arven to be fully armoured so he chose to remove the bulky helm. It normally fit his head fine, but after fighting the dragons it had come slightly deformed. Still fine to wear, but it certainly wasn't brand new anymore. As he lifted it a small sharp piece of metal that had formed from a crack scraped against his neck, slicing the skin over a few centimetres just enough to let some blood start to drip down.

Cursing to himself he finished removing his helm before going to take off his gauntlet so he could wipe away the blood, but before he could he saw Serana staring at him. She was no longer spaced out. Her eyes were insanely focused, and she seemed more alert than she ever had been.

She seemed incredibly intimidating in that moment, but she seemed to break herself out of it, turning away and hurrying off ahead of Arven.

A terrible feeling started to rise in the Imperial's stomach.

With his hand free of his gauntlet he placed his fingers across the cut and jogged to catch up to Serana. As he got closer, she increased her stride to maintain a certain distance between them.

"Serana," he said. She didn't respond. He felt the warm blood against his skin, sticking out against the cold air that cooled the rest of his neck and face. Letting the blood slowly drip from the wound he called out again in a sharper, louder voice.

"Serana. Wait."

She turned around, looking off to the side and refusing to make eye contact. Her nostrils seemed to flare and her eyes were bright and intense. They were hungry.

"Serana…"

She mumbled something in response that he couldn't hear.

"Serana, what're you- "

"Clean your damn neck!" She almost shouted at him, making eye contact while clenching her hands in fists. Arven eyed her off, not moving from his position as the blood continued to drip.

"Just, please. Clean your neck already," she continued looking back down. She almost sounded ashamed.

Eventually Arven did so. He let a soft golden glow cover his fingers as he ran them over the cut, sealing the wound while wiping away the blood. After his neck was clean, he didn't move. Neither of them did.

He understood what was going on, now. He should've realised much earlier, but he didn't.

"You're starving," he said.

She simply nodded.

"For how long?"

Serana shuffled her feet before looking up at Arven. Whether intentionally or not, her illusion faded for the briefest moment and her face became gaunter. Her eyes seemed to sink into her skull. She seemed like a shadow of her former self – a sickly, older version. She was still attractive, but the difference was shocking.

The illusion was only dropped for a second before Serana had it back up. "Hungry for days. Starving since the dragons."

Arven closed his eyes at the mention of dragons, taking a deep breath. He was going to ask her why she didn't speak up, but he knew why. She was trying to be considerate. Any normal vampire would've started showing the signs of hunger much earlier. Fresh vampires would've gone rabid, or feral. Not to mention, getting attacked by dragons would've drained most of Serana's remaining strength. It was honestly a shock to Arven that she hadn't collapsed, now that he thought about it.

The silence that fell over them was long and exceedingly uncomfortable. Arven knew what she needed to do, but he wasn't going to say it.

"I need…" Serana started. She cut herself off, biting her lip. "You go on ahead, I'll catch up by the time the sun rises."

"What're you going to do," Arven demanded.

"Don't make me say it," Serana responded.

"What. Are you going to do?"

Serana shook her head. "There's a small town nearby. I can smell them from here. I'll be back before- ".

"No."

Serana frowned, staring at Arven. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, no. You aren't… I can't let you attack innocent people," Arven said through clenched teeth.

"Attack? Who said anything about that? They won't even know I'm there, I just need to feed and get out."

"Can you do that?" He asked. He had words coming up, things he wanted to say. His instincts were taking over. He knew he shouldn't lash out, but controlling himself was proving incredibly difficult. His gut was to protect anyone from being a victim of a vampire. He trusted Serana as a person, but the cautious side of him didn't trust her as a Vampire Lord still.

"Of course I can!"

"Are you sure? Will you be satisfied with just one? You won't feed on another, and another?"

"How dare you! Of course I won't!"

"Are you sure? What if you get caught? What if their partner, their family or their child walks in? What if they attack? What if you get caught in a fight and someone dies?"

"That won't happen! I can just- "

Arven stepped closer. His voice was choking slightly and his eyes were wet with moisture. "What if you fuck up, and the smell of blood drives you crazy? What if you turn into that thing and before I know it, I'm down there trying to save some kid from becoming an orphan, watching his parents get torn a-fucking part!"

Serana took a step back, her eyes full of disbelief, shock and anger. The look in her eyes hurt Arven, but he knew he deserved that look. Despite his words he was the one that lacked control.

Without saying anything, Serana turned off and left into the woods. Her body dissipated into clouds, surging with the wind away from Arven in a blink of an eye. She'd normally tried to hide her vampiric powers from him, but that courtesy seemed to be gone now.

Arven was left wide-eyed in the middle of the road, stunned.

"Shit. Shit!"

Half an hour later and Arven was sprinting through the woods. He'd looked at his map the second he came to his senses, finding the nearest town. It wasn't close by any stretch and he wasn't sure if there was a smaller group of people that Serana had been talking about, but this was the only thing he had to go off.

He was getting closer to the town quickly, having shouted to let the wind surge at his back. There was no way to track Serana given how she travelled. Arven had a charm that warned him of undead around, but he was no where near skilled enough as a mage to sense them out, let alone at a distance. The charm didn't seem to work on undead of Serana's level either.

As he ran, he continually cursed himself underneath his helmet that he'd put on again. The worst-case scenario kept running through his mind. He was mentally preparing himself for it. What if Serana got to the town and fed? What if she did lose control? What if her anger at him lead her to lash out against the people, and by the time he got to the village all he found was drained corpses and blood splattered across their houses?

He knew Serana would never do that. He knew she wasn't just a mindless vampire. That didn't stop the terrible images from filling his head though, and he ran with his sword drawn.

By the time he'd found the nearby town he was covered in sweat underneath his armour, but he didn't notice. The Imperial came up on the crest of a hill that looked over a town, if you could even call it that. There were maybe 8 buildings all up, all relatively close together. It was deadly quiet except for the sounds of nature around him. No light came from the town. He couldn't see any torches, enchanted lights or anything else. No signs of an attack, or at least no signs of a struggle.

After taking a few breaths he stepped forward, ready to climb down the hill to try and look for Serana, apologise, and try to stop her before she fed. Even though he knew she had to feed somehow, he didn't want any innocent people being subject to a vampire.

Just as he stepped out, he heard Serana's voice.

"Over here, idiot."

He spun on his heel, finding the woman sitting on a tree stump with her forearms resting on her knees. She saw the blade in Arven's hand and shook her head.

"Seriously? Put your fucking sword away."

Arven looked at the weapon with a dumb expression before dropping it. He took a few steps towards Serana, but he stopped. He didn't know what to say.

"I didn't feed," she said. Her eyes were the same as before. They still had that hunger to them.

Arven nodded in an attempt to respond.

"They're all safe. I'm not planning on going down there, no child is going to lose their parents."

Arven swallowed the lump in his throat.

"I'm sorry vampires took your family, Arven." She him in the eye. There was kindness in her eyes, but the hunger remained. It made Arven's skin crawl, and reminded him that Serana wasn't fully human.

"That obvious, huh?"

"That's some of the first real emotion I've seen from you. Pretty obvious, yeah." Arven just sighed in response. He wanted to say a lot, but he didn't know to get the words out. Before he could respond Serana had moved over on the stump, tapping an empty spot next to her.

Hesitantly Arven walked over and took the offered seat. He took his helmet off, making sure not to scratch himself again and placed it down before letting his tense body relax. "Sorry, Serana."

"It's okay." She nudged him with her shoulder. "So, now what?"

Arven turned to her and she met his eye.

"I can't starve to death Arven," she said, and Arven nodded. "I have to feed on someone eventually."

"No," Arven replied as bluntly as before. Serana recoiled, anger coming to her face again but before she could speak Arven held his hands up. "I'm not telling to starve, okay? I just… I'm sorry. I'd rather you drink someone who's, well… compliant."

"And how is that going to happen? I'm not just going to go around asking people if I can bite them."

While Serana responded Arven started taking off his gauntlet, leaving his hand and part of his forearm bare. Then in a blink of an eye, he drew his dagger from his belt and sliced his arm, enough to let blood flow freely. He winced. It hurt, quite a bit.

Serana just stared at him in shock as he offered his arm.

"Are you serious?" She said. Her eyes were absolutely wild and it took everything she had not to salivate. She was even fidgeting on the spot, incredibly uncomfortable.

"Yes. There's no risk this way," he said. He looked at her, moving his arm closer to her. "Just drink already."

After another second's hesitation Serana caught hold of his arm and latched her lips around the wound. She started to drink, heavily. Her skin turned a flushed red as she drunk and her eyes seemed to burst with colour while her grip grew stronger every time she swallowed. Arven couldn't help but stare. Seeing the dignified, noble looking woman feeding like this was such a stark contrast.

After a second, Serana stopped. "Don't look. It's creepy."

Rolling his eyes, Arven did as he was asked. He looked up at the night lights while the sounds of Serana feeding filled his ears. He felt incredibly squeamish, but this was the best way to handle it.

Before he knew it Serana had finished. She pulled away and wiped her mouth, breathing out heavily. Taking his arm back and sealing the wound with a quick spell Arven couldn't help but notice the change. There was an aura of strength around her now. She always seemed capable, but now she seemed as if she was above everyone else. Not in a cocky, or arrogant manner. Serana just seemed as if she could walk into any room in the world and demand the attention and respect of every person in attendance, regardless of who they were.

It reminded Arven of Harkon, in a less terrifying way.

Serana turned to him, offering him a gentle smile. Her eyes had returned to the way they normally were. She still let him see the true colour, but they seemed human again – despite the yellow iris.

"Sorry," Arven said. "Don't really know what to say after someone drinks your blood. Kind of new to this."

Serana playfully hit him in the arm. It seriously hurt.

"Should we get going again?" Arven asked.

Serana didn't respond. She just rested her head on his shoulder for a moment, looking up at the night lights. "In a moment. I'm truly sorry about what happened to your family, Arven. I'm always here if you want to talk about it."

"Thank you," Arven said, in more of a whisper than anything.

Hey again! Sorry for the delay with this chapter, work has picked up recently and my free time has been cut down dramatically. I'm still working on it, but it might be longer between chapters from now on.

Thank you to everyone who's favourited/followed or left a review! It's incredibly motivating knowing you're all waiting to read what I've written next. I hope you've all enjoyed this chapter as well!