I find it hilarious that this story actually got any follows considering the writing was so awful. I am rereading my fanfiction as an adult and am astounded how people actually enjoyed my shit. I hope the revisions are to everyone's liking. I'm working on the next chapter (chapter 19) but with all the revisions...

It's probably not going to be for another while.

I appreciate the new follows, it warms my little dead heart.

2023 update baby.

"Are you alright, lass?"

The voice of Brynjolf brought the dovahkiin out of her thoughts and back to the real world. In the stables the elf blinked back into focus and looked down to her hands holding the reins of her brown horse. They trembled, one could hear the leather sift through her uneasy grip. The moon was bright tonight and gave just enough light to reflect the fear in Irina's eyes, enough for Byrnjolf to take notice of and for him to rush to her side with a calm grace.

He glanced down to her hands and placed his own atop them, he gave her a reassuring squeeze and one of his best smiles. She looked into his eyes and found nothing but warmth and respect, also understanding. The fear left her, just a little. He knew that she was afraid but not of what was to come but for the woman in captivity herself.

The aftermath, to be more specific. That was what she was afraid of and rightfully so. Lydia was well within her rights to want to be as far away from the bosmer as possible, everything considered. The idea of that scenario coming to pass must have been terrifying. He knew that- internally, the bosmer was going through mental challenges that not even the Greybeards could have helped her manage.

Brynjolf's eyes went to Serana and Mjoll, they made to saddle their horses and inspected everything to make sure nothing was loose or slips off when they ride. The blonde tightened some straps to pouches that hung off the side of her horse and adjusted the reins, she properly inspected her horse- something that Serana herself should have been doing.

The black haired nord looked to them and saw his hand on hers. She couldn't help but frown a little to herself at their contact- coming to terms with her new feelings and being rewarded with jealousy was not something she looked forward to dealing with although she suspected she would be dealing with it alot.

Their eyes found each other. Both nords held each other's gaze for what seemed like hours to Serana, she was sure her frown told him everything he needed to know. Even so, his hand did not leave Irina's.

Serana averted her gaze as to not stare and busied herself with her saddle. She bit the inside of her cheek and furrowed her brows, an obvious sign that she needed to relax and gain some control over her emotions.

Irina and Brynjolf had been long-time friends, easily more than three years. Not only that but Irina had been so nervous to get her housecarl back to safety, romance was the last thing on her mind and least of all from him. To seek some comfort from a friend is normal and she needed to drill that into her psyche.

Jealousy was unbecoming and she would not have it.

Eventually she climbed atop her steed as swift as she could, years and years of living up to nobility's standards had the woman subconsciously do these things with grace. Serana had always been graceful with the things she did, Irina hardly failed to notice.

Irina took back her hands and patted Brynjolf on the shoulder bringing the man's gaze back to her, "thank you."

He gave her a half-grin. "Of course."

Mjoll had been waiting on the group to straighten themselves out. She sat on her horse with pursed lips and a sublte impatience that hurried them along. The sounds the leather and shifting weapons made Mjoll tighten her hold on her reins, this was a dangerous mission and yet it was so exciting. She hadn't had the oppurtunity to use her greatsword in quite some time and she was more than willing to crush a man's skull or slice him in two.

She had no allegieance to the vampire slayers, especially not after what Irina had explained.

Irina checked over her potions and poisons, being sure to be prepared for whatever circumstance. In the moonlight, her daedric sword shone with an threatening potential. Whoever crossed paths with her was not guranteed a second chance at life and with her pent up aggression it was unlikely the unfortunate soul would have the privilege of her mercy.

Brynjolf came armed modestly, an elven sword and two daggers. He preferred to travel lightly since he didn't know a lick of magic, unlike Irina who hardly faired any better but she knew enough to enchant her traveling ruck to store all the items she needed. Brynjolf was built but preferred to stay light on his feet and the extra poisons would slow him down- realistically... he wouldn't have had much space to carry them all on his person anyway.

"Everyone ready? Because I am." Mjoll asked with a deadly and knowing look in her eyes.

They all nodded silently to the woman's question and at this Brynjolf took the lead with his horse, they set off at a walking pace for their steeds not trying to attract any attention from a guard or farmer. Their horses made clopping noises against the cobblestone, all of them out of sync and filling Irina's head with good distractions.

He found a good remote spot in the woods and motioned for them to stop. He reined his horse in order to face them and scanned Irina's face, the dragonborn looked determined yet a little uneasy. He gave her a reassuring smile before he decided to speak, "alright, I hope you ladies got the rest you needed. As per the plan I will count their numbers, see if anything is amiss. There should be no less than eight. Probably a little more since they have been recruiting in big cities...-"

"You think we forgot the plan already? Let's just get on with this, I would rather do this before the sun rises" Mjoll interrupted with narrowed eyes at Brynjolf. There was less hate in her eyes than their last time speaking, she looked more impatient than anything else. Serana wondered what happened between the two of them since their brawl.

He didn't even look offended, he only shrugged and glanced back at the nord slyly. "I didn't think everyone forgot, only you. Pardon me if I was wrong, Mjoll. You strike me as the type to need things to be repeated."

Irina made to interject but Mjoll only raised a hand to the dovahkiin, "It's alright, I bet he was thinking of that one all night. Let's just go."

Serana followed with Mjoll behind Brynjolf and Irina, who had proceeded to hit the burly man on his arm and scold him. The nord felt the... feelings, tug at her heart again and she tried to take interest in her steed. His name was Frost, Irina's old horse, she hadn't ridden the steed since she left for High Hrothgar. She made sure that the stablemaster kept him in good health.

Serana stupidly smiled, the elf had given her her own steed instead of pawning her off with a random horse. Perhaps she was reading too deeply into it, but the woman still felt flattered. Mjoll eyed the pale nord from the corner of her eye and saw the pink that had dusted her cheeks, the four had rode with a good space between each other.

With a decent hundred feet to separate them.

Irina and Brynjolf conversated, one could tell by how close he rode to her and how he used hand gestures when he spoke. A bit of movement later and Mjoll noticed that the vampire had yet again set her eyes straight ahead to the pair. He'd said something to make her laugh, but not a chuckle, it was a genuine hearty laugh and it sounded so pure. Serana pursed her lips and furrowed her brows, hating the tight tugging in her chest.

Mjoll took notice of her annoyed look almost immediately.

"If you don't mind me asking, are you and Irina together? As in... Are you her new mistress?"

Serana tensed at the question and glanced to the other nord with profound astonishment. Mjoll casually matched the pace of her horse with Serana's either not taking notice of her shocked expression or completely ignoring it. Mjoll looked to the pale woman expectantly with raised brows as if what she'd just asked was nothing intrusive at all.

"Of course not! She's had too much on her mind to be wasting time on...- and not that I would want to either...- I actually wouldn't...-" Mjoll furrowed her brows in annoyance at the vapire's stammering. Serana noticed readily and she silenced herself with pursed lips and a small dejected sigh, her shoulders slowly slumped down and black hair tickled her face.

"Do you want to?" Mjoll asked half as a joke and half seriously. The big muscled woman was stroking her steeds mane with her thick fingers, her eyes went to the pale nord after some moments and caught her nervousness. Serana felt her hands grip the reins tighter and she bit her lip. It would've been a lie if she responded with a no, especially after having seen everything. The woman was such a temptation.

"You know... I have thought about it a few times. But I don't think she's interested. I mean, she suggests things but they never happen." the blonde chuckled and tightened the straps to her nordic gauntlets, a gift from Irina very long ago.

"Maybe. Maybe not. You won't know until you take the chance for yourself, but I will give you a word of advice. She is very independent, and does what she wants, you'd do well to remember that." Mjoll said with glance to the elf's back.

The black-haired nord looked down to her hands with a distant frown, "the idea of making the first move sounds horrifying... and don't you worry about that last part, I've noticed she does what she wants. But, that part about her is the most exciting."

"Aye, she has an appeal. But, there's no more excitement for you, even my old eyes can see you've grown to care for her as she did Lydia." the blonde spoke nonchalantly. Serana felt her shoulders slump at having heard the words come out of someone else's mouth, if another person could see it then no doubt Irina would soon come to find out.

"Even still, that doesn't mean that I would go out of my way to try. We have a good friendship, this is probably just a passing fancy." Serana said with a distant tone, she looked straight ahead the elf and male nord. Brynjolf has managed to put a half-smile on the elf's face, he managed to make her fears go away. Serana could see the light in the young dragonborn's eyes, like a fire.

Serana found herself rolling her eyes.

"Whatever you say, I think we're stopping." Mjoll responded as her eyes flickered to the front pair.

Irina dismounted her horse and tied it down, motioning for the other two to do the same thing. Whatever affect Brynjolf had on her, it worked. Irina was back to her confident self, at least for the moment. Once finished with her horse, she walked to the nord and helped him tie his down.

Serana received help from Mjoll and within minutes the four of them stood face to face with one another. Mostly everyone looking to Irina for whenever she was ready, one deep breath and a half-smile later Irina gave them a single nod.

They tied their horses down off road, a little ways from Dayspring Pass. They all returned to the dirt path and briskly walked to the entrance of the canyon, they all rightly kept their hands on the pommel or handles of their weapons. All except Serana who had been armed with a dagger but was comfortable enough with her magic to forget about it.

The stars looked beautiful and within a few hours they would be met with the sun. They would have to be quick, chaos would ensue within only a few moments of a battle. The crossbows were loud when they fired and that would only alarm the dawnguard members.

Irina felt her palms become sweaty as they entered the canyon and drew nearer to the fort. The night was dark and clouds covered the moonlight that would've given them away, their chances of being detected were low. The bosmer quickly stopped to draw her bow, the dark ebony glinted even with the lack of light.

There came a point where instead of walking the four of them took to crouching together in pairs. They approached the makeshift wooden gates to the fort and stuck to the shadows inspecting the gate for any scout. Usually, being this close to headquarters of any kind the scouts are more than likely asleep or have their weapon tucked away somewhere far out of reach.

Irina's eyes caught the tiniest movement coming from one of the small towers. She squinted in the area until she found a scout perched on his seat with his crossbow in his lap. He polished it and cranked the weapon, almost admiring it. The scout had a sluggish demeanor and he was obviously exhausted. His guard was down so the killing would've been made easy but Irina didn't want to have to, but if it must be done then she had no qualms.

Upon further examination she noticed that he was an orc, his name was Durak, she remembered him.

The only one in the Dawnguard whom she was certain didn't hold a grudge against her, he was the one who had told her to come seek them out in the first place, only just four months ago.

The elf swallowed a lump in her throat and gripped her bow tighter, it was surreal to realize how little time had passed since she'd left High Hrothgar. It felt like an eternity- so much had transpired. Brynjolf looked to her expectantly and motioned for her to shoot him and be done with it. His eyes glinted dangerously, the man was focused and intent to rescue Lydia.

Irina's mind should be just as focused. So with a sharp inhale the bosmer readied her bow.

With a small breath the elf pulled back the bowstring and placed an ebony arrow at the ready, she knew he didn't deserve to die. But, Irina already knew how selfish she was in order to succeed in rescuing her housecarl, she would feel guilt, but only a little. She took in a breath and just as she was about to shoot Durak rose from his seat to stand up straight.

"What is it Sorine?" He asked with an annoyed tone.

Sorine? Who was that...?

Irina immediately stopped herself and released her breath quietly, the tension in her back was released but she couldn't help but to curse at herself for not noticing the other woman sooner. The breton woman approached with a slow walk, she looked exhausted as well.

"She came out of nowhere..." Serana wispered to Mjoll who pressed her back into the shade of a large tree.

"Aye. Let's just watch for now..." Mjoll whispered back.

Serana took initiative and lifted her hood obscuring her face and crouching lower than before. She blended into the darkness well, Irina wouldn't have to worry about her much. With a silent scoff the elf stuck her arrow in the dirt, her eyes narrowed and watched the pair intently. A shift change, maybe?

"Isran says it's high time we kill that woman, something about wasting food and time- I don't really know, but he wants her dead somewhere in the woods." she said matter-of-factly.

Durak looked appalled. He took his attention away from his weapon before sputtering "is that it then? I thought we were going to send her and her husband back to Whiterun?" Irina felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand at the mention of Whiterun. Vilkas had also been inside as well, judging from the way they spoke, the nord probably didn't fare too well against them. Irina slowly inched her head forward and listened for more information. What she heard did not please her.

"No, Isran switched up last second like I said he would, honestly it's for the best, we didn't get much information about the dragonborn out of her, only what Celann told us and what we already knew." she explained with a disappointed tone to her voice.

"What a shame, truly. I can almost feel sorry for her." he said distantly. Sorine narrowed her eyes at that and cleared her throat.

"It doesn't matter anymore, Durak if you ever see her treat her as you would any vampire, there's only one fact here and it's that she's betrayed us. Selfless service be damned." she responded sternly.

"I understand that but even so- to kill the human woman? She's mortal." he said with furrowed brows. The orc was the only person Irina had come across in the dawnguard who had some common sense, who had some deceny in his character. Her orange eyes flickered to the breton who only gave him narrowed eyes.

"Relax woman, I'll do it. Is she still with child or did it die?" Sorine ran a hand through her hair and shrugged as if she didn't care, "I suppose she's still pregnant, but if anything something will still be wrong with the child. The father, a werewolf? It's revolting."

"What of the companion? Am I to dispose of him as well?" Durak asked loading his crossbow for his targets. Sorine nodded "both of them, him first though since he's the most feral, don't forget how many we lost thanks to him." Sorine spat, the orc tightened his lips before slinging crossbow bolts over his shoulder.

Sorine patted the orc on his shoulder "come, Isran wants it done now."

With a disgruntled sound the orc stood upright. He followed the breton to the castle and left the four of the intruders to take in the silence. Serana and Mjoll were about tens of feet away from the other pair but they could see the bosmer silently working with the interaction. Her expression was unreadable, stoic but with wide eyes.

Just minutes ago, she'd been nervous. It had been clearly visible on her face. But now, she looked as if she found a purpose and cared of nothing else. Wind blew and leaves on trees and bushes rustled; she looked focused. Like a true killer.

Brynjolf scrunched his face with disgust and shook his head, "she speaks vile words. She does not understand what you do."

"She is not important. We'll wait for them in the woods and kill however many there are- Brynjolf with me. Serana and Mjoll go to the bridge we passed and keep an eye for any returning dawnguard soldiers. If there are any, kill them." Irina spoke curtly. Her tan arm reached out and retrieved her arrow from the ground. They stayed low despite the night being their ally and moved quickly out of the canyon.

Irina strode to her horse while the rest followed. Serana watched the dovahkiin move with purpose and was astonished to see the clarity in her eyes. As if she knew everything that was going to transpire. How terrifying she could be.

"I will save them both."

Mjoll and Serana had waited by the bridge for some time now. No one looked to be coming or going, the dirt path was quiet and looked dead. Which was how they wanted it to be. Mjoll took the horses a little ways away from the bridge, a decent minute walk or so, to keep them from view. Irina had given her very firm instructions as to not be seen. Serana leaned against the bridge and flicked tiny shards of ice into the earth out of boredom, should any dawnguard think to return, there would be an ice spike lodged into their leg.

"The sun is almost rising, we've been waiting for a little minute haven't we?" Mjoll asked her with a dejected sigh. She looked itching for a battle of some kind, Serana could tell from the way she gripped the handle of her sword.

"I'd say they'll be coming back soon." Serana spoke while she raised her hood to cover her skin.

"I hope they come back unscathed." Mjoll said while she crossed her arms over her chest.

Irina had been waiting behind a tree for what seemed like an hour. She'd rushed Mjoll and Serana to the bridge because of the urgency of Lydia's execution, but here they were, waiting. The enemy was sure taking their sweet time.

Her eyes widened at the realization that they might have decided to kill them inside the fortress instead.

Irina swallowed a lump in her throat and felt her knees begin to shake, she leaned against the tree for support and dug her nails into the bark. The thought of her housecarl dying was unbearable, it made her tremble with rage. The usually composed woman was letting into her anger, and she had every right to do so. Her love was dead, her babe dead and her husband who was a good man, an innocent man who wanted nothing more than to protect his family was dead.

She rested her head against her forearm and found herself struggling to keep herself in check. A silent suffering, a silent rage. Brynjolf glanced over to her and made a sound of surprise, "whoa what's going on with you?" he asked her while he reached to hoist her upwards.

Irina stood upright and shook her head. Wordless. She didn't have anything else to say, she couldn't form words right now. She wondered if the rage in her heart was also amplified by her dovah, she had never felt such intense and focused hate before in her life.

"They're already dead, Bryn. They're taking too long, they must have already killed them in the canyon... We've been here for nearly an hour, an entire fucking hour..." She hissed wildly as she kicked the trunk of their tree. Leaves fell from the branches and she leaned against the giant man who looked dumbfounded at her. Brynjolf had rarely heard the woman curse so strongly before, it was a rare thing, one that he would never like to see again.

His strong arms wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her into a tight hug, "I understand the anger, lass. Believe me I do, but you need to keep quiet, we're too close to their canyon to be making this much noise. It's time to take our leave."

"I'm going to kill them all, Bryn. Starting with that bitch, I will have their...-" her voice had been low and dangerous. But she abruptly stopped herself when she heard the rustling of leaves.

The sound slowly got louder and Irina untangled herself from Brynjolf who was also aware of the noise. He glanced back to Irina and caught her eye, she nervously nodded to him giving him the go-ahead to hide himself again. If the bosmer were counted among the living she knew that her heart would be racing this moment. A small bead of sweat formed on her brow and she wiped it away in annoyance.

Her eyes widened when she saw Lydia and Vilkas walking in a line with Durak in the back. Ropes bound them at the wrist, and they were dressed in rags. The kind of garb they'd have you wear in jail if not worse than that. They both shivered relentlessly as they were being forced to walk through the chilly night air, Durak looked to be pitying them and tried to look away whenever he saw Lydia trip on her own two feet.

They looked awful. It strained the elf's heart to see it.

Lydia's stomach looked the same as when they reunited in Whiterun but her arms and face were bruised. Her lip was cut just a little, there was bright red on the cut- some dried blood that would soon turn into a scab. Her hair was dirtied with blood, dirt, mud and tangled with strands covering her face. Her skin was even more pale than before with splotches of dirt and purple covering the exposed areas. Vilkas looked even more roughed up than her, with open wounds on his cheeks and burn marks on his arms.

The companion sniffed the air and moved his eyes towards Irina's hiding spot, after a few moments of searching he finally found her. They locked eyes and he furrowed his brows as if confused she was actually here. He couldn't bring himself to believe she was there. His eyes squinted some more, she was there, she was present.

Irina glanced behind them and saw that no one else was with them, Durak was alone.

Immediately, as quick as lightning the bosmer readied her bow and pulled her string back with all her might. As soon as the orc stopped walking he was dead. She would not hesitate. Durak finally stopped them both a good ways from the pair's hiding spot and released the ropes. Vilkas looked too weak to fight back but he didn't look completely hopeless. His eyes were on Irina the entire time.

Durak sighed and hoisted his crossbow at hip level. He aimed straight for Lydia who hung her head low. Her eyes closed and she took in a deep breath accepting her fate, seeing her like that made Vilkas' eyes scrunch with sorrow.

"Kill him now you fool!" he howled into the air. His words startled Durak making the orc glance to the werewolf with confusion.

Irina didn't waste another second. Her arrow was coated with poison to speed the killing and shot it straight into Durak's neck, the orc fell to his knees while his hands twitched and shot his crossbow into the ground just narrowly missing his own feet.

His hands stuttered against his throat. He spluttered on his own blood and tried desperately to keep his breathing calm, to no avail. Even if he tried to calm himself his breathing was uneven because of the arrow lodged in his wind-pipe.

The crimson liquid dribbled out onto his chin and unto his clothes. In a blind rage the orc pulled the arrow from his neck, a stupid thing to do. Although it was impressive to watch, the brute strength of the orc tearing the arrow from his flesh, the pain would've had some people pass out- but now the blood gushed out faster and spilt onto the leaves of the ground.

Realizing his mistake the orc gripped his own throat with enough force to kill a normal man. Irina seethed with a silent rage at the sight, he didn't deserve to die- even so, she felt a small twinge of satisfaction at giving in to her bloodlust every now and again.

Brynjolf emerged from the shadows with long rushed steps, looking graceful but also deadly. He moved over to the nords with Irina close behind him. Her shock took a moment to leave her and when her eyes finally registered the pair, a light shone back into her dull eyes. She released a shaky breath and the cracking of her voice left Irina with a broken heart.

"T-thane..." she whispered.

Irina rushed her with furrowed brows and unsheathed the ebony dagger she had on her waist, she cut the ropes from Lydia's wrist and embraced her tightly. Her frame was tiny, malnourished and cold. Before the dragonborn could succumb to her building anger her housecarl leaned against her and sighed, warm wet tears touched her neck which made the dragonborn blink back tears of her own.

She could feel her lip begin to quiver but she silently forced the sadness back. They were still too close to the fort to be safe, and the sun was due to rise soon.

"I knew you'd come…It took you long enough." she spoke with an attempt at humor but Irina only winced at her words.

She sheathed her ebony dagger and wiped at her eyes fiercely. But even still, a tear or two spilled down her cheek, "come, we haven't got time to waste- let them find the body. I want them to know their numbers are beginning to dwindle."

Brynjolf cut the ropes from Vilkas' wrists and feet, and helped the man to stand. His beard was overgrown and his hair dirtied, they both looked malnourished and unable to run. Brynjolf wrapped an arm under Vilkas' and hoisted him upright, Irina did the same with Lydia. The two theives shared a knowing look.

They would have to move significantly slower than what they were used to. Not that anyone was looking for them now, but it was now a matter of being seen by any witnesses.

"Come on, we have horses just farther up ahead." Brynjolf spoke dragging Vilkas as a brisk pace, Irina rushed Lydia as well and mumbled apologies to them both for moving them too fast but time was of the essence.

It didn't seem like they had been up and about for too long since she could see how they both buckled each time they took a step. The lack of mobility was alarming.

As soon as they reached the bridge, Serana turned around upon hearing footsteps. The undead nord's eyes widened at seeing Lydia and whom she assumed to be her husband. Serana put two fingers in her mouth and whistled for Mjoll to come out, as soon as the whistle was heard Mjoll emerged from a low steeped hill and hurried over with the horses upon seeing their disheveled state.

Her armor clanked as she trotted to them, her cheeks beginning to redden at the effort it took to run with her heavy gear and horses. Irina gave the nord a reassuring squeeze to her bony shoulder but scrunched her brows at her temperature. She would need a healer, undoubtedly.

The child is barely alive.

Was the only thought that Irina could bring forth now.

Brynjolf climbed onto his steed with Vilkas and Irina with Lydia, the nord gripped the elf's waist tightly and buried her face into her back. Her small trembles told the bosmer that she was crying in silence. This did not help Irina's pscyhe and bit the inside of her cheek to keep tears of her own from spilling free.

The elf breathed in deeply through her nose and gripped her reins tightly and prompted her horse to ride quickly with a loud snap. Brynjolf and the others did the same all the way to Riften.

The guards posted at the front squinted their eyes at seeing the four horses going full speed. One, a young lad with messy blonde hair tied into braids glanced to his partner and they both unsheathed their swords thinking it was a dragon on its way to them and these were the weary riders, or if said riders were bringing trouble to their city.

Irina was the first to the gate and the guards recognized her immediately.

"is there something amiss, dragonborn?" they both asked in unison. Their weapons were lowered at knowing the threat was non-existent but their eyes took in the woman's anxiousness.

Irina took in a breath and nodded, she glanced back towards Lydia who looked to the soldiers wearily. Her hollow sunken in eyes peered back at them from Irina's shoulder- it was all the explanation they would need.

Taking initiative the guards sheathed their weapons and helped the woman down, Irina hopped down from her steed and gave the reins of her horse to the soldier with a helmet who sauntered to the stables giving their party a few glances. He must have had a few ideas as to where they came from and Irina would be sure to remember to bribe him first.

The blonde guard without his helmet hoisted Lydia upright to her feet, the brunette groaned lightly and mumbled something incoherent under her breath. Serana had been the second one, followed by Brynjolf to dismount her steed. She rushed over to the housecarl's side and gently took hold of her from the guard.

Irina gave them a single nod and within moments Lydia was ushered inside by Serana with her husband on Brynjolf's arm. As they passed through the gates Irina felt a wave of relief wash over her, her hands began to tremble and she clenched her fist in an attempt to stop the tremors.

They wouldn't though.

Mjoll came up from behind her and squeezed her shoulder with enough force to snap the elf out of her spiraling thoughts.

"I don't like seeing you like this. You need to find yourself, friend. They are both safe- just think of that."

Irina swallowed a lump in her throat and nodded.

"They are both safe, you're right."