Arven's veins burned. He felt completely disoriented, lost, and confused. A moment ago there had been nothing. No light, no thought, no consciousness. He had felt himself sinking away as an overwhelming calmness spread throughout his body. He, for the first time in years, could breathe out and feel at peace.

Then that peace was ripped away as the sensations started to come back to him. He heard his mind as it was struggling to figure out what was happening. He felt his limbs responding to him, and then he felt that fire running through his body.

The pain was so intense it forced every limb, every finger out straight. His vision went pure white a split second after he opened his eyes once more. There was a voice, far off in the distance, but he couldn't focus on it. He was unable to think of anything but the debilitating torture his body was undergoing. It felt as if needles were stabbing into his skin and tearing it at the same time, while someone had poured molten steel into his blood stream.

Serana felt powerless. She tried to hold him still, tried to calm him down but Arven started to writhe about, his screams echoing around them both. She hadn't thought about the transformation. She hadn't thought at all, really. What she did was on instinct, purely from a desire to save him. Climbing on top of him she grabbed him by the shoulders, pinning him down to the floor.

"Arven! You have to calm down. I know it hurts, but you have to relax or you could hurt yourself!" She said, but her words didn't reach his ears.

Arven continued trying to writhe beneath her, wriggling, pushing against her grip. His eyes opened momentarily and they were no longer his eyes. The blue that used to be there was shifting, changing. It sunk away becoming a dull, lifeless grey before Arven blinked – and suddenly they were a deep, sanguine red. Serana felt her heart drop as soon as she saw them.

Oh Gods, she thought. What have I done?

"What's- what's happening to me?" Arven breathed out amidst his screaming. He hadn't realised it yet, of course. He had no idea what Serana had done to him. He just woke in excruciating pain with no explanation. It was only when he managed to open his eyes once more, seeing Serana's face, that he understood. Seeing her gave him some level of peace, as it had done so whenever he looked at her recently. But as soon as he saw the blood on her lips it all changed. He understood.

Arven lashed out, shoving Serana off him before he scurried back up against a wall. The pain in his body started to give way, being replaced with the sensation of an unnatural power. He felt dirty. Then, the transformation truly began.

He felt his skin start to crawl, and as he ripped off a gauntlet he saw his skin turning an ashen grey, his fingers becoming gaunt, longer, ghastly. It wasn't a clean transformation either. It happened through jarring, sudden jolts and cracks of muscle and bone, movements that were unnatural, and incredibly painful. The pain returned twice as hard, and he hunched up into a ball on the floor, unable to stop himself from screaming as his body shifted, changing into something demonic.

The sounds of metal snapping were drowned out by his screams as his back began to protest. His shoulder blades were twisting, shifting, jutting out from his body as he felt his skin tearing. Creating an opening. A pair of bony, tattered wings forced their way out of his back, piercing through his armour with no effort as chain links from his outfit ended up scattering across the floor.

He felt his skin continuing to protest, tearing in order to give way, shocking pain that threatened to rob him of his sanity. The rest of his armour was mostly forced off his figure as his torso grew in length. During the process he felt an incredible heat coming from his waist, his skin starting to burn and sear. He instinctively moved a hand down to swat at the source of the heat, knocking Dawnbreaker away from his body.

As he screamed, his tongue sliding over his bottom row of teeth, he felt them changing as well.

By the time the transformation had finished Arven was one of the things he hated most. Still against the wall he scrambled to his feet, hugging the stone in an attempt to stay as far away from Serana as possible. He looked down, seeing his new body – seeing that horrific visage that made him feel sick.

"What did you do to me?" He gasped out as he turned his eyes back to Serana. The woman was kneeling on the floor, her cheeks stained with tears while fresh ones started to well up in her eyes.

"Arven, I'm sorry I had to-" She started.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?" Arven screamed. He knew the answer, he just couldn't believe it. His memory started coming back more, remembering everything that lead to Serana carrying him out of the Soul Cairn, and that sensation of everything slipping away. He had come to terms with that, but his choice had been violently ripped away from him. And in its place, he was forced to live as a monster.

"I had to Arven! You were dying, it was the only way I could think of to save you!" Serana exclaimed as she stood to her feet. She started slowly inching closer towards Arven, arms out as if she was getting closer to a wild animal.

"You should've just let me die," Arven responded.

Serana swallowed a lump in her throat, shaking her head as she tried to fight the tears.

"How could I do that?" She asked. "What was I meant to do, just go on without you?"

"Yes!" Arven yelled back. "Move on, take the scrolls, fight your father, do whatever the fuck you wanted. Anything but this!" As he spoke Arven's voice wasn't his own. It was twisted, it came out deeper, raspy, and ragged.

Serana was trying her hardest to maintain her composure, something which was proving harder and harder by the second.

"Arven I'm sorry, just- just breathe, okay? I can talk you through this, everything will be fine," she said, still inching closer to him.

He couldn't, though. When Arven breathed in air it felt wrong. It didn't feel the same as it did before, his body responded to it differently. Air had a different taste and it was no longer… satisfying? The more he focused on his body the more he realised how different everything was. The way his blood felt in his limbs, the way his heart felt in his chest. He got so lost in those thoughts for a moment that when he snapped back to reality and saw Serana getting closer and closer now almost within arm's reach, he lashed out.

"Get away from me!" He screamed, lashing out with a single hand. The action was meant to merely ward Serana back but in his new body me misjudged, and the back of his hand struck her. Serana raised an arm to block it just in time, but the sheer strength he had in this form sent her flying back, rolling on the cold stone.

He was momentarily shocked. He hurt Serana, and he felt a strong sense of self-anger at that. Yet, that anger was so weak compared to the rage he felt inside from what he had become. Instead of helping her up Arven felt like he had to get as far away from everything as he could. He had to get away from himself, yet that wasn't possible. It didn't stop him from acting on impulse though. Turning on his heel he ran, climbing up a flight of stairs to burst through a door.

He found himself on a balcony high up the walls of one of Castle Volkihar's towers. Snow had started to fall while they were inside the Soul Cairn, and the worn stone was mostly covered in the soft, powdery white substance. His bare feet didn't even feel the cold as he stepped out, clawed hands gripping the railing as he looked out back over Skyrim.

A second later he heard Serana following him, standing a few steps away. "Arven, please! Just calm down, you'll turn back soon, but I need to help you through it," she pleaded. Her voice was coarse, and tears had formed streaks down her cheeks as she looked to him.

Arven couldn't listen to her though. He was overcome with anger and fear, and it all came from what he had become. What Serana had turned him into. In that moment, acting not out of sense, but out of instinct as his mind had become twisted by the overwhelming new senses flooding his nervous system, Arven jumped over the balcony before falling to the ground far beneath him.

Serana moved to the railing, holding onto it as she watched Arven fall. The now Vampire Lord hit the ground with a distant thud, seeming to be unharmed as he ran down the coastline, away from the castle. Serana tried to will herself to move, to follow him, but she couldn't. All the strength had left her. Not only from the battle they had gone through not 30 minutes prior, but from seeing the man she loved die, come back to life, then leave her.

She felt helpless. Despite all the power she had been given, despite all the strength and raw power she held in her body, Serana felt as if she couldn't do a single thing in this situation. She had saved Arven from death, but plagued him with undeath, a curse which seemed far worse to his own eyes. She had kept him alive, but now it seemed as if she still might have lost him forever.

So she collapsed. Taking a few steps back, she fell and rested against the wall of Castle Volkihar behind her. She didn't know what to do. When she felt like this, she had started to rely on Arven to make her feel better. His presence calmed her, made her feel safe. Yet because of what she'd done, she'd seen him angrier and more panicked than she ever had before, and she had nowhere else to go.

Curled up in a ball, she wept alone on the balcony of Castle Volkihar.

The longer you live, the quicker time seems to pass. This is true for all creatures, and Vampires are no exception. So while her grief had overtaken her, Serana had no real idea of how long she'd been curled up on the balcony outside Castle Volkihar. The snow had stopped and started once again, and the Sun had risen overhead – mostly blocked by the snow and the castle she was leaning against as she wept. Even after all of her tears had run out, her grief hadn't, and she remained frozen in place.

Seeing Arven turn had brought back twisted memories of her own. Memories of her first time transforming into that beast. Where she was granted the power of a Vampire Lord. Where she suffered for days on end at the hands of a sadistic Daedric Lord. Where her family had truly settled on their path towards fracturing and becoming mad with their lust for power. She tried to block those memories out, but she couldn't.

She tried to think of Arven, but then she just remembered that look in his eyes as he came back from death, looking at her, terrified with deep sanguine red eyes staring right back at her. Those eyes which didn't fit him. Those eyes which replaced the blue ones she could stare into for hours, losing herself in. There was seemingly no way to escape these horrid thoughts, and so she curled into a tighter and tighter ball. She tried to clear her mind and become numb to it all, but she was unable to forget the sorrow.

By the time she drew her head out of her folded arms, Serana had no idea how long it had been since Arven had fled. A day? Two? Three? It didn't seem to matter to her. Why would it? She had nothing to do, Arven wouldn't want anything to do with her right now, so she was left to her own devices once more. And she had eternity left, so what was a few more days of weeping?

Even as she sat there, exhausted, nothing else seemed to bother her. Nothing else registered in her mind. Even the gnawing hunger which ate away at her, fuelled by her being utterly exhausted from fighting in the Soul Cairn, turning Arven and not eating for days, barely registered in her mind.

If I'm this hungry, I can't imagine how hungry Arven is.

That thought passed through her mind, fleeting as it threatened to sail away and drift into her subconsciousness, out of her ability to recall. She only managed to snap back onto it at the very end of the thread, her brain scrambling to remember what she had thought exactly, as something about it seemed very important. Once she took hold of it again, and processed it, she was filled with dread.

Arven would have to feed soon. And when that happened, the guilt he'd feel would likely tear him apart.

Serana stood up in an instant, piled up snow falling from her slender frame as she had a sense of urgency about her once more. She knew Arven wouldn't want to see her. She knew their relationship was likely over, but the thought of him feeding and hating himself for it was far, far worse than any self-pity she had.

Despite everything she had done so far, there was no way she'd sit by idly knowing that the man she loved may be out there, alone, fighting an all-consuming hunger that would tear his morality apart. Serana explicitly remembered the hunger she felt when she first turned. She remembered feeling disgusted with herself after the things she'd done to satiate that hunger, and she wasn't even against the idea of being a vampire. She wanted it, in a twisted way, and she still had regrets from how the hunger made her act.

Suddenly she was filled with panic. Panic, and a sense of urgency to find Arven as quickly as she could. Approaching the balcony she leapt off it, dissolving into a cloud of bats on her descent before that swarm cascaded along the coastline, covering ground at a blinding pace until she reached the dock. The boat they used to get there was no longer present, she couldn't spot it anywhere. But that didn't matter. She kept moving, across the open water and back onto the mainland of Skyrim as she tried to figure out where Arven would have gone.

He's not thinking. He'd just run, run to wherever is familiar.

He wouldn't go to Solitude. No, judging from what he said about Solitude Serana knew he wouldn't go in that direction, even if it was the closest major settlement. Dragon's Bridge is possible, but what would he do there?

Would he get help? Find a place to hide?

She mentally cursed at herself. She didn't have the answer. Knowing Arven, he wouldn't go immediately for help. At least, not unless it was someone he trusted entirely. And if he was going to hide somewhere, he'd want to do it someplace familiar. Or at least, close to someplace familiar. Far enough that he couldn't be found, but close enough for some sense of security.

Whiterun. That's the only place that makes any sort of sense.

Moving as she was, soaring across the ground in a swarm of bats, Serana was covering distances that took hours by foot in minutes at a time. At least, in comparison to walking. Arven, in that form would've had nearly endless stamina until the transformation hopefully ran its course. Most of the time it went away on its own after the forced transformation, but it was possible to sustain it unintentionally.

Feeding on others fuelled it, made the demonic form last for longer. Serana simply prayed that such a thing wasn't the case, to whatever God would listen. After half an hour of flying, half an hour of trying to stay focused on her task, a few lights off in the distance stuck out in the moonlight. Dragon's Bridge.

Serana toyed with the idea of detouring. She didn't want to waste time, but on the off chance someone had seen him she had to check. Reforming into her human shape on the outskirts of the town she stuck to the shadows, effortlessly melding in with them as she avoided the main road. On the off chance those guards from before were present, she was in no mood to entertain them. As she got closer though, there wasn't just one, or two guards on the night patrol. She could spot a good five guards loitering around, all looking surprisingly alert given the late hour.

This isn't a good sign, she thought.

Slipping past them all, Serana found her way to the inn pushing the door open and stepping inside, out of the cold as she removed her hood. It wasn't until she felt the warmth from a fire inside that she realised how cold she actually was, after spending well over a day in the snow.

"Come on inn, get some warmth by the fire. Let me know if- oh, it's you!" From behind the counter Faida stepped out, greeting Serana with a warm smile.

"Not travelling with your friend tonight?" The woman asked, a coy smile on her lips.

"Actually, I'm looking for him," Serana responded. "We… got split up earlier on. You haven't seen him by any chance, have you Faida?"

The woman shook her head in response. "I'm afraid I haven't, love. You're welcome to stay here the night and rest if you need, before heading out in the morning."

Serana offered her a sweet smile, but shook her head. "Thank you Faida, but no. I need to keep looking for now." Turning back she placed her hood back on but paused as she felt the innkeeper's hand on her upper arm.

"Be careful out there. I know you're the sort that can handle yourself, but there's something out in those woods," Faida warned.

Serana's stomach became a knot. She turned to Faida, a far more serious look on her face. "What do you mean?"

"One of the hunters came across a traveller out in the woods. Poor bastard looked like he'd been torn limb from limb by wolves, or a bear," Faida responded.

The knot in Serana's stomach tightened even more before sinking, filling her with a sense of dread. Without responding Serana pushed her way out of the inn, sprinting towards the edge of the town, out of sight before dispersing into a cloud of bats once more.

Please no, she thought. Please don't be because of him.

As Serana travelled, she became more and more exhausted. Not physically, but mentally. With every passing minute she struggled more and more to stop those invasive thoughts from getting into her head. Thoughts of the ceremony she went through. Thoughts of Arven hating her. Thoughts of him turning into a vampire and succumbing to his need to eat.

For some reason thoughts of her past came into her head as well. Memories from when she was a fresh Vampire Lord. Capable, strong, and drunk on power. She thought back to something Arven had said, something she glossed over at the time, but had been lingering in the back of her head.

"I'm not stupid enough to think you've never done anything wrong, anything bad, you're a vampire that has lived for a long, long time. But you're not a bad person-"

He's wrong, she thought.

After she turned, she was a bad person. She was a monster. She stood by while her father sacrificed hundreds to Molag Bal. She went on hunts. She resolved her issues with violence and had no qualms about killing a man to further a goal of hers. Even if that goal was merely to feed. When she could force strong people to their knees, people who once thought themselves above her. When she had absolute control and couldn't be opposed. That made her feel good. Perhaps it was a sick, twisted way of regaining control after what she suffered from Molag Bal, but either way. She did horrible things, and to some extent she felt as if she didn't deserve Arven.

She thought that she was starting to put that all behind her. As she grew 'older' as a vampire those things appealed less to her, but she still wasn't good by any stretch of the imagination. She still didn't care about others. She just didn't go out of her way to cause suffering.

When she met Arven, though, it changed. What started off as a natural curiosity led to understanding, and led to a sense of humanity returning to her that she had lost a long, long time ago. At first his complaints, his views on life seemed comical. Childish. After all, she was older than him by a significant, significant margin. But that inexperience didn't mean he was wrong. He still had an entirely different worldview he could share with her.

And damnit, she still wanted to know more of that. But was that something she even deserved?

Her mind continued to grow more and more clouded. Even as she passed by Rorikstead she diverted off to the side, deciding not to go into the town to check like she did at Dragon's Bridge. She told herself that there was no need, as she knew where he was likely going. But truthfully, she just didn't think she could handle talking to anyone right now.

Her head, and her heart were both a mess. As they kept boiling up inside of her she reformed into a human once more, her pace slowing down until she was walking in the moonlight, hands clenched in fists by her side. All that emotion came bubbling up, and she raised her head to the sky and screamed.

A yell of frustration and anger. She hated how powerless she felt right now. All that she had suffered through to gain this strength, and it was useless when she needed to find and help the one person she cared about.

Venting her anger to the sky, once that rage left her she was left with a hollow sadness taking up space in her chest. All she felt was longing, and before she knew it Serana was only slowly walking along, her pace and motivation gone as she struggled with those inner demons.

I need to find him. I need to hurry, she thought. But try as she might, willing her limbs to move and actually moving were two different things, it seemed.

As Serana walked in the light of the moon, arms cross her chest, hugging herself with her hood over her head she lost herself in thought. That made it nearly impossible for her to hear the sound of crackling magic before she was struck by a bolt of lightning, crashing into her side and sending her sprawling on the ground before she managed to right herself and jump up, crouching down as she scanned the night for whoever was stupid enough to attack her.

She found her answer pretty quickly.

"Would you look at that, I finally found the traitorous bitch," Garan said as he casually walked over to Serana, his red eyes glowing deeply in the night while he had one hand extended out to the side, more magicka surging in his palm. "And it looks like she's alone, as well. I wonder, what did I do to deserve such luck?"

Serana felt anger boiling up inside of her, and she felt thankful. She needed to vent some more, and this was the perfect opportunity to not only do that, but forget about that sorrow for at least a few minutes.

"You couldn't have picked a worse time to be this stupid, Garan," Serana snarled. "You never learn, do you? I'm going to send you back to my father in pieces." Standing up straight, Serana extended her hand and blasted the vampire with magic – the same as she had done in their last encounter. However, instead of the blast knocking Garan off his feet the other vampire merely swatted it away with his free hand before attacking Serana once more.

Her shock almost stunned her, and Serana dodged to the side just in time to avoid getting struck by the destruction magic again. Her eyes wide, she sent a barrage of blasts back towards Garan, each one either being dodged or blocked by the man as they started their battle. Within seconds the ground all around them was scorched, small embers lying on the floor from the bolts of lightning missing their target over and over.

This isn't right, Serana thought. There's no way he could get so strong in such a short period of time!

She didn't have the luxury of thinking about it for too long. She ran to the side, ducking and dodging each blow coming her way. Reaching the crest of a hill she dived behind it, her hands blowing cold winds to form a shield of solid ice behind her just as she disappeared behind the crest of the hill, a mere moment before a blast of lightning blew that make-shift barrier apart. As she ducked out of Garan's line of sight Serana's body dissolved into a cloud of bats before they all spread out, flying in different directions before regrouping behind her attacker. Garan's head was darting about, scanning the air to try and see where each bat was going. By the time he figured it out he spun around, drawing a blade just in time to block Serana's attack as she shoved her blade towards him. The two then danced across the floor, two blades, each hundreds of years old with intricate designs and patterns etched into the metal colliding against the other. The dim night was filled with the sparks of their blades crashing and the occasional blast of lightning, the two fighters striking with movements so quick and precise that no mortal could truly hope to keep up with every thrust, every parry.

As they fought Serana's shock gave way to anger, which felt good. She brought her blade down harder and harder every time, sending shocks through Garan's arms with every single strike. He was shockingly close to her strength but there was still a gap between them, and that gap was something someone as skilled as she was could easily exploit.

"I don't know how you got this strong," Serana said. "But you're still no match for a Vampire Lord!"

In an act of recklessness Garan swiped his blade with two hands, trying to cut Serana's head clean from her shoulders. She ducked, dodging the blow before striking out with her leg to kick him square in the chest. As he stumbled she then reached out to place her hand against his torso before blasting him with destruction magic, sending the man flying away with a pained shout.

Serana lowered her arms to her sides, each of her senses acutely aware of every sound and movement around her as she waited for Garan to respond. For him to climb back over the crest of the slight hill she sent him flying over, but he didn't.

Surely that wasn't enough to kill him, she thought. Taking careful steps, Serana walked up the hill to glance down at her enemy, her sword grasped tightly in her hand as she readied herself to fend him off again. But what she saw, she was not prepared for.

As soon as she peaked her head over the crest of the hill she saw something terrifying. Garan wasn't standing there any longer. Not as a typical vampire. In his place was that demonic, horrific visage, the one she refused to acknowledge was inside of her.

Standing tall and proud as a Vampire Lord, Garan sneered at her. Then, he charged. Serana tried to duck to the side but she was too slow and he struck her directly, the back of Garan's hand crashing against her arm to send her flying across the floor. Serana quickly reoriented herself, stabbing her blade into the ground to slow herself as she rose to her feet and raised a hand, blasting the area right in front of her out of instinct.

However, Garan had already disappeared into a cloud of bats. As the blast struck nothing but dirt hundreds of metres away, Garan had reformed behind Serana to strike at her again. He sent her sprawling on the floor once more this time followed by multiple ice shards in quick succession, each one missing Serana by a hair's breadth as she tried to roll out of the way.

I don't have a choice, she thought. I have to turn!

Garan wasn't going to give her that chance, though. Before she could even rise to her feet the man was advancing once more, lashing out with razor sharp claws that Serana could barely dodge. She swung her blade to try and repel them but Garan's claws sliced the metal, rendering her sword entirely useless as she dropped it to the floor. She kept moving backwards, doing her absolute best to dodge every attack but she couldn't keep up with his speed and ended up being lacerated on her arms and one of her legs as she did her best to avoid him.

She needed a weapon now. She didn't have time to transform, and she didn't have time to think of anything else. She had an idea, but it was going to hurt. As Garan went to strike again Serana turned, facing her back to him. It was a risky move but thankfully it worked as intended, with those deadly claws striking against the Elder Scrolls on her back. Garan's attack rebounded harmlessly, unable to cause any damage at all to the mythical scrolls which gave Serana enough time to draw the other blade at her waist. Dawnbreaker burned at her hand through her glove as she wielded it but she grit her teeth, bearing the pain as she turned back around and swung the blade.

The light from the blade was blinding, but she had spent enough time with Arven so that she was used to it. The blade arced out and the tip sliced Garan on the arm, slicing his flesh effortlessly to leave a deep cut which was instantly cauterised by the sunlight emitted from the blade.

Garan cursed. "How dare you! You really are a traitor to use that blade!" He hissed at her as he backed away for a second. Serana darted forward immediately, lunging with Dawnbreaker but she wasn't lucky twice in a row. With a daedric blade or not, she still wasn't fast enough to keep up with Garan.

The Vampire Lord stepped to the side dodging the strike, then backhanded Serana across the face to send her to the ground once more. Serana barely managed to hold onto her sword and climbed to her feet as quickly as she could, blade raised. However the light from it made it hard to focus on anything, and as Garan approached she didn't notice the ethereal blade in his hand. She lunged towards him with Dawnbreaker, but the vampire lord was too fast, and he ducked to the side before ramming the summoned dagger into Serana's ribs.

Serana's mouth parted, exhaling air in a voiceless gasp of pain as she felt the dagger sink in. Shocked, she couldn't respond as Garan mimicked an attack from earlier. He placed a hand on her chest and blasted her away with magic, forcing Serana to drop Dawnbreaker as she was sent flying back.

Standing tall and proud, Garan chuckled to himself. Then he laughed. "See!" He called out. "You are nothing! Take away your undeserved advantage of this blood, this gift and you are a weak plaything. A toy, a pet that Harkon refuses to put down."

Serana's vision was swimming, blurred from shock her body had experienced. She lay out of sight for the moment, having fallen into shrubs that, for the time being should've obscured Garan's vision. "You realise… he's going to kill you after you bring me back. He won't let anyone else have this power," she called out.

"You think he could fight me as I am?" Garan boasted.

He's drunk on power. He still doesn't understand how much stronger father is, Serana thought.

"Your father is a coward! He wouldn't dare risk a fight he might lose," the arrogant man continued, his voice a deathly rasp as he spoke in that demonic form. "And once I have more time to understand this power, to fully grasp it? I can break away from his pathetic court and start my own clan. A clan that Harkon would never dare oppose."

As he spoke, turning his back to Serana she clenched her teeth as she started to transform herself. She let that terrifying blood start to pulse through her body, her skin starting to turn grey. All she needed was for him to be distracted for a second long enough and she could transform and slaughter him.

She had no such luck, though. Garan turned back around, deciding it was time to continue his punishment of Serana and started gliding across the floor towards where she was lying. Although his vision was obstructed, the presence that a vampire lord gave off could always be felt, and as Serana tried to lay low Garan realised what she was doing. He had a look of rage on his face as he noticed her skin changing. Floating in the air, he held both hands out to Serana's direction and blasted it with destruction magic, the scrubs Serana was using for cover being obliterated as only embers and scorched earth was left in its place. Serana was sent flying back once more, her transformation cut short from the trauma her body was receiving.

"Arrogant bitch," Garan spat. "Do you really think I'd be that careless? Perhaps I should cripple you, so you can't give me any trouble as I drag you back home."

The grin on the man's face was simply evil, a smile of pure satisfaction and arrogance as he floated over towards the prone Serana. In his hand he summoned the ethereal dagger once more, holding it high above his head as Serana was still dazed, confused. "I'm going to enjoy making you scream, Serana."

Before he could slice his blade down though, as he had his hand raised high above him Garan only barely noticed the sound of an arrow slicing through the air before it struck his hand, piercing it clean through and forcing him to dismiss the summoned weapon. Within a second three more arrows struck him, two in his chest and one on his arm.

Garan let out a howl of pain, followed by a hiss before tearing each arrow free as he looked to the direction where they came from. There he saw a man, standing with a bound bow drawn and another arrow knocked, ready to fire. He thought he recognised that man.

"Mortal!" Garan screamed as his body dissipated just in time to dodge the next arrow, a swarm of bats dispersing. The man's voice still echoed out, coming from each winged animal while they surged around his attacker. "You fool! You think you can fight me, when your traitorous protector cannot? Do you not remember how close I came to tearing your head off last time we fought?"

Serana was dazed, bleeding and confused. She didn't understand. Was Garan talking to… Arven? That was impossible.

As his bats swarmed around the attacker, the lone man didn't react. He just watched the swarm idly, the bow in his hand disappearing into mist. Garan reformed behind the man, lashing out with deadly claws in an attempt to tear at his spine.

His claws didn't land though. The man, clad in simple traveller's attire with a hood covering his head and mask covering most of his face ducked out of the way, dodging each repeated attack with infuriating ease. Garan's attacks became more and more aggressive, careless as he advanced, yet every one still missed. The masked man had no weapons of his own, only a bandolier across his chest and a belt around his waist. The way he was effortlessly dodging was infuriating Garan. Not only because of his unnatural speed and agility, but because the sheer arrogance to not fight back!

That didn't last for long, though. As Garan lashed out with a hand the man grabbed his forearm in a shockingly strong grip. An instant later and an ethereal blade was in his other hand, moving straight for Garan's stomach. The vampire lord dispersed into mist, shooting back a few metres before reforming with a blade of his own as he charged.

The two started a duel of their own. Compared to the duel Garan and Serana had, there was a start difference. It was less elegant on one side, as there was no way a creature that looked so horrific could be called graceful. Additionally, it was far too one sided.

Seeing Garan charge with a sword, the hooded man whispered under his breath and moved with frightening speed, appearing to disappear in one spot and appear in the next a second later. Moments passed, and Garan had a series of cuts all along his body, although they were quickly healing.

Getting desperate, Garan raised his hands for an overhead strike. As soon as the other man raised his sword to block, Garan let his sword dissipate as he lunged straight for him, claws out as he tried to tear the man's torso in half. It didn't seem to work.

The man dropped his own blade, reaching out just in time to catch Garan's arms by the wrists. The forward momentum from the vampire sent them both rolling across the ground, although Garan's attacker managed to pin him down after rolling over backwards, ending up straddling his chest. The man then raised a fist and attempted to punch Garan's skull, with the vampire only managing to dissipate into mist just in time, reforming a few metres away. The man instead punched the floor, the stone underneath shattering under the force of the strike.

The Vampire Lord let out a howl of anger, confusing and arrogance raging inside him.

This is impossible! There's no man alive who can rival a Vampire Lord!

Standing tall and proud once more, Garan then hissed and raised both his hands, vampiric magic swirling around bony fingers as he tried to drain the essence of the man. As soon as he did though his attacker raised a hand in response, a ward forming to block the attack without much trouble. Even though Garan was multitudes stronger than he was back in Whiterun, he was unable to break through this ward.

"How!" He cried. "How are you doing this?!"

The man lowered his arm, his mouth moving to respond. Yet he didn't speak any words, at least none that Garan knew.

"Krii Lun Aus."

The words struck Garan and shook him to the centre of his being. He immediately felt feeble. He felt like he was a whimpering, weakened animal staring down the predator that had come to kill him and drag him off to be eaten. He felt fear. In his desperation Garan charged forward, screaming, that demonic screech echoing around the plains as he lunched for the man's throat.

His attack didn't reach its target. The man stepped in, dodging the swipes as he formed a fist and punched Garan directly in the chest. The force from the attack cracked Garan's sternum, shattering it to pieces as he stumbled to the floor, gasping for air. Before he could catch his breath though his head was yanked up, forced to look the man in the eyes properly. There, he saw the reason why he was being dealt with so easily.

Deep, sanguine red eyes.

Garan's own eyes widened with shock before the man summoned a bound blade within a fraction of a second, the ethereal weapon razor sharp as it was brought to Garan's neck. His head was severed cleanly from his body and it rolled across the floor, spilling blood as the body of the Vampire Lord sunk lifelessly to the ground.

Serana struggled to see what was going on. Her ears were still ringing from the blast before, and she felt her blood dripping from the stab wound she had suffered, along with the cuts on her limbs. Her body would heal itself, but it was still damn painful. She struggled to get to her knees, trying to stand up but found that her sense of balance had been shot, and she had to place a hand on the floor to steady herself.

Then she heard footsteps approaching her, raising her head to look at the man stepping towards her. He had a mask covering most of his face along with a hood, so it was hard to properly see him. That was, until he knelt down in front of her and removed the hood from his head and drew his mask down, letting her see his face again. That face that she loved, but with deep red eyes staring at her, instead of the blue ones she had looked into so many times.

"Arven…?" She asked, breathing out.

Arven nodded, a gentle smile on his lips as he removed a glove, raising it to Serana's face to cup her cheek as his thumb wiped some of the blood from her pristine skin.

"Yeah, it's me," he responded. "Sorry I'm late, Serana."

Hello again! I'm back with another chapter, after a longer break than I would've liked but I'm back nonetheless! I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy with everything going on, and as always thank you for reading and supporting the story. Sorry for the delay, life has been hectic and I'm starting the process of writing an original story of my own, but I'm still working hard on this one too!