Vampire

Neither Aila nor Kathryn could shake their anxiety as they waited for nightfall. Their encounter with the ghost Helgi had left them jarred emotionally.. The wait gave Kathryn time to heal, a process accelerated by Falion, but she was unusually quiet. She'd barely said a word since the encounter, which worried Aila, but all things considered, she wasn't too surprised. She would worry more later, if she was still so withdrawn.

This little quest of hers had certainly taken and unexpected turn, and Aila wasn't quite sure either of them was mentally prepared to continue. They would, however, continue regardless. Leaving with things as is was not an option. Neither's conscious would allow it. By this point, Aila was convinced that an innocent child had been murdered, and she wouldn't rest until she found out why, and by who.

The obvious answer was Hroggar, but she still had no evidence against him. That, and something about him was just... off. Bedsides the fact that he allegedly murdered his wife and child, there was something about that distant look in his eye and his detached tone that Aila just couldn't put her finger on. Aila was having a hard time believing that he, that anyone, could be so cold-hearted.

They waited quietly for the last of the sun's rays to fall over the mountains. Time seemed to stretch on and on as they sky grew darker and the stars emerged, until finally dusk turned to night.

"Ready?" Aila asked at last.

Kathryn nodded wordlessly, and together they headed off to the graveyard, wary and alert.

They passed by several tombs and gravestones, looking for the one that belonged to Helgi. Suddenly Kathryn stopped, and Aila in turn, lifting her head and sniffing the air. Her nose crinkled in disgust. "That smell again."

"What smell?" Aila wondered.

"I don't know, but it's awful. Worse than that Ratway." She sniffed again. "This way."

Many images passed through Aila's mind when she thought of finding the grave, none of which quite matched up with what she saw.

A coffin, small, almost certainly belonging to Helgi, was dug half-way out of the ground. More unnerving than that, however, was the woman knelt down beside it, clawing at the dirt frantically. She didn't notice the two at first, not until Kathryn muttered, "What in the..." at which point her head snapped to them. Then she did something both peculiar and terrifying.

She inhaled deeply, very deeply, like she was savouring some kind of scent. Aila even swore she saw her eyes roll back in her head. Then her eyes locked with Aila's, now glowing a bright, startling red. Before anyone could reacted, she pounced on Aila, pinning her to the ground and locking her in place.

"Aila!" Kathryn shouted as she moved to try and pull the woman off, but she was shoved back roughly.

Aila struggled under the woman's grasp, but her grip was like iron. She didn't understand how anyone could be so strong.

Aila wasn't truly scared until she opened her mouth. Two long, menacing fangs protruded where her canines should be, and Aila suddenly had a guess at where her ungodly strength came from. And then Aila screamed in pain as the woman bit into her neck violently. She felt blood drain from her as the woman let out a sickeningly euphoric moan. She desperately tried to push her off, but she wouldn't move an inch. When she started to she spots in her vision, she panicked and did the only thing that came to mind.

"FEIM!"

The vampire grunted in surprise when she hit the ground, Aila no longer in her grasp. Aila stood, becoming corporeal as she pulled her bow off her back and nocked an arrow, aiming it at the vampire. Kathryn appeared at her side, relief written all over her face, but not yet bothering with words. She readied an ice spell in her hands and faced the vampire.

The vampire turned to Aila, once again looking ready to pounce. "More," she murmured, almost to herself. "I need more. I've never had blood so sweet." She took a step forward.

"Stay back!" Kathryn warned.

The vampire hardly spared her a second glance, her attention entirely on Aila. She charged forward, and Aila quickly loosed and arrow into her shoulder. It growled in pain, but didn't stop her advance. Kathryn threw and Ice Spike that pierced her in the gut. She doubled over briefly, but then violently yanked the spike out and charged again, her injuries seemingly nonexistent.

When she neared Aila, Kathryn growled. But not the low and seductive growl Aila heard in bed, but loud, and fierce.

"Stay away from her!"

The vampire faltered at the sound and hissed at Kathryn. "Out of my way, mutt!"

Kathryn drew her sword then.

"Kathryn don't!" Aila yelled, but Kathryn didn't listen. She swung at the vampire, but instead of trying to dodge out of the way of her sword like she expected, she caught it by the blade, apparently not caring about the damage she was doing to herself. She twisted it out of Kathryn's hand and clawed at her. Kathryn managed to jump back in time for only a bit of her armour to tear, but the effort itself must have been painful anyway, considering the state of her ribs.

"Damn it," Aila mutter, her anger flaring up.

"SU!"

Her bow in her left hand, Aila drew her sword with her right and ran to the vampire. She quickly sliced the vampire's side and she hissed ferociously and clawed at her, but Aila caught her wrist with the end of her bow. Then Aila thrust her sword forward and impaled her.

The vampire screeched and Aila kicked her back, leaving her sword stuck in her. Aila drew an arrow and fired it into her foot, and hopefully the ground as well, temporarily immobilizing her.

Aila turned to Kathryn then, and glared accusingly at her, ignoring the fact that her eyes were glowing golden. This vampire was really affecting her. "Kathryn stay out of this! You're too badly injured to fight!"

Kathryn growled angrily. "I'm not going to let you-"

But Aila had neither the time nor the mood to argue. "Mulhaan!" she shouted with so much force that the ground around them rumbled slightly.

Kathryn was so stunned that she could do nothing but comply, her eyes even fading back to their normal silver.

Pleased, Aila turned back to the vampire, oblivious to what she had just done. She had already removed the arrow in her foot (and apparently the one in her shoulder as well) and was currently pulling out the sword in her stomach. Then Aila realized she had accidentally given the vampire a weapon. She sighed irritably and drew her dagger.

The woman was fast, but that wasn't a problem. Her Shout enabled her to keep up. The problem was her strength. Aila used her bow as a pseudo-shield, but every hit was jarring and she was worried about damaging her bow. She was just glad she didn't still have her old wooden one.

The only thing in her favour was that the vampire didn't seem too skilled in swordplay. Aila parried and attack and cut her arm, hopping to get her to drop the sword. The vampire hissed but kept her grip tight. Before she could recover though, Aila twirled around her and stabbed her in the back.

"How are you not dead already?!" Aila screamed frustratedly, pulling the dagger from her body.

The vampire snarled at her. "I will have your blood!"

Aila jumped back to avoid the vampire's swing then quickly closed the distance between them and slashed her chest. When she growled, Aila began to wonder whether vampires truly were immortal. She began racking her brain for anything she knew that could help her. All she could come up with was that they burned in the sunlight, which wasn't all that helpful at the moment. Fire may have worked, but she didn't have any of that. Kathryn knew a spell, but Aila didn't want to get her involved.

Aila blocked another hit and felt the impact resonate through her. She was really getting sick of this vampire using her sword. She shoved the her away, leaving another cut in the process. Then she quickly drew and nocked an arrow (finding it harder than usual with the dagger in her hand) and fired it at the vampire's sword hand. The plan worked wonderfully, she dropped the sword and clutched her arrow-impaled hand.

Aila slung her bow across her back, switching hands with her dagger and rushed forward. Before the vampire could, she picked up the sword and pushed her to the ground.

As the vampire stumbled, Aila allowed herself to survey the situation. The vampire, she noticed, struggled to get up, looking significantly more pained than a moment ago. She had also now lost her only weapon, giving Aila two (three if she counted her bow, which she did). She had six puncture wounds; one in her foot, hand, and shoulder; two in her stomach and one in her back; as well as several cuts and gashes all along her body.

Meanwhile, Alia was wholly unharmed, with nothing but two small pricks in her neck that she had already forgotten were there. And with all the adrenaline running through her veins, she couldn't feel the slightest bit of fatigue.

Aila had pretty much won already.

She sheathed both her sword and dagger, instead opting to use her bow for her last attack. She calmly walked up to the vampire, who was currently on her knees. She drew one final arrow, nocked it, and pulled until the string was tight. The vampire looked up at her, hissed harshly and jumped at her.

The following thwack of the bow was all that was heard as the vampire fell to Aila's feet with an arrow in her head.

With the threat now gone, the world seemed to calm, and as Aila looked down at the recently renewed corpse, a thought crossed her mind. Six. In the span of three months, she had killed six things of significance. Three dragons, two humans, and now a vampire. Before she'd hardly harm more than a bug, she'd be too scared to. But now the number was increasing rapidly, and Aila couldn't help but wonder: just how much killing would she commit before her life was spent.

A voice pulled her out of her musings.

"You found me!"

Aila whipped around, startled, and searched for the source of the voice. Her eyes laid to rest on the coffin. "Helgi?"

The voice sounded again. "Laelette was trying to find me too, but I'm glad you found me first."

"Laelette?" Aila repeated. "You mean the…" her voice trailed off and she looked at the corpse.

"Laelette was told to get rid of mommy and me, so she set our house on fire. But she didn't want to kill me, she wanted to play with me forever and ever, so she kissed my neck and I got so cold that fire didn't even hurt.

"But she can't play with me," she added sadly. "I'm all burnt up now."

She paused briefly, and Aila wanted nothing more than to comfort the girl, but she hadn't the slightest idea how.

"I'm tired," Helgi said eventually. "I think I'm going to sleep for a while now." She went silent after that.

Aila sighed and looked back to Kathryn, and noticed that she hadn't moved an inch the entire time. "You know, you can move now."

At her words, Kathryn tentatively moved toward her. She stood in front of Aila looking like she wanted to say something. Her mouth opened and closed several times, but nothing ever came out. Eventually she just shook her head and stepped forward, placing a hand on Aila's neck and began healing the bite marks.

Aila looked up into her silver eyes. "Thanks."

"Of course," she replied softly.

Minutes of silence later, Aila was convinced that she had frightened her. She didn't blame her, Aila was frightened of herself. She couldn't remember when it became so easy to kill. Even if it was a vampire. No, especially if it was.

She tried to think of something to do, some way to apologize for her ruthlessness, but Kathryn spoke up before she could.

"Aila… the vampire… she smells exactly like the woman we met the other day. The one that angered me for no reason."

Aila glanced down at the corpse. "You mean…?"

Kathryn nodded. "I think that woman was a vampire as well."

Aila sighed and pulled Kathryn into her arms, careful not to hurt her ribs, and rested her head on her chest. "Why though? Why are they here? And what do they have to do with Helgi's death?"

She felt Kathryn shake her head. "I have no idea."

They had to be missing something. Why would Laelette the vampire be ordered to kill Hroggar's wife and child? And why did she try to turn Helgi?"

"What if..." Aila started, the gears in her head spinning in overdrive. "What if that woman was Alva?"

"Alva?" Kathryn asked, looking a bit baffled. "What makes you think that?"

"Well… Laelette was ordered to kill Hroggar's family. The only reason I can think of for a vampire to listen to anyone is it was by another vampire. Maybe the one that turned them?"

"And you think that's Alva?" Kathryn questioned. She didn't sound skeptic, she was just trying to understand her reasoning.

"Who else had anything to gain from their murder?" Aila continued. "I don't know what she wants Hroggar for, but whatever the reason she probably found his family to be an inconvenience so she had them killed."

Kathryn was silent a moment as she processed the information. "That… makes a startling amount of sense. Okay then, Alva's a vampire. What now?"

"We should-" Aila stopped herself before she could say more.

"Aila? We should what?"

"N-nothing. Actually, I'm not really sure what to do right now," she lied. She did have plan, but didn't want to involve Kathryn in it. At least not with her shattered ribs. "Why don't you see Falion and heal up a bit more," Aila said, her tone a bit more demanding than she meant it to be. She hoped Kathryn wouldn't notice. "I'm going to go see the Jarl and tell her what we've found so far." Another lie.

Kathryn raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't I come with you?"

Aila shook her head. "I want you to be healed as much as possible tomorrow in case we get into any more fights. And afterwards, I want you to try and get some sleep."

Kathryn gave her a puzzled look. "Aila, you know I won't be able to-"

Aila cut her off. "Just try, Kat. I've known you long enough to figure out your sleeping pattern by know, you should know that. You normally sleep a few hours a week, you haven't in almost two. I know you're beginning to feel tired, don't wait until you're exhausted. I'll join you in a bit, I promise." That, at least, she fully intended to fulfill.

Kathryn looked at her like she wanted to argue, but she just sighed and nodded. "Okay."

Aila smiled softly, feeling slightly guilty about lying but not letting it show. It was for Kathryn's own sake after all. "Thank you." She lifted herself up to her toes and gave her a sweet kiss.

Aila walked Kathryn to Falion's where they parted ways, but she didn't head to the Longhouse like she told Kathryn. Instead, she asked a nearby guard where she could find Alva's house. She thought she would have to persuade that guard to just give away personal information to a random stranger, but he answered eagerly, along with some extra information.

He told her Alva was never seen during the day and spent her evenings in the tavern. This little tidbit not only solidified her theory, but also gave her the perfect opportunity.

She found the house easily, and getting in was even easier. She glanced around quickly to make sure no one was around then slid a pick into the lock. A few short seconds later, the door clicked open and she quickly slipped inside and looked around.

The first thing she saw was a fist rushing toward her face. She side-stepped easily and the owner of the fist went flying past her. Surprisingly, it was Hroggar.

Aila raised an eyebrow as he steadied himself. "You know what? I'm just going to save time and ask you directly. Why did Alva have your family killed?" She demanded.

Hroggar didn't answer her. He just flung himself at her again.

Aila simply moved out of the way. Gods, it was like he was moving in slow motion, that's how pathetic it was. "You're not going to answer me, are you?"

She took his third 'attack' as a no. She sighed as he come running toward her, and this time as she dodged out of the way, she stuck her leg out as he passed her. He tripped over it, and her fell to the floor, hitting his head with a loud clunk. He went still after that, and Aila judged that he had knocked himself out.

Aila rolled her eyes. She was beginning to regret lying to Kathryn if this was all the danger present. But still… better safe than sorry. Kathryn would be pissed if she knew she was doing this on her own, but she couldn't risk Kathryn getting even more injured.

Even if now it seemed about as likely as Mercer inviting her over for a cup of tea.

Aila refocused her attention to the room around her. She didn't see anything unusual, so far it just looked like an average household. She did, however, see a staircase leading down into what looked like a basement or cellar. She hopped down the stairs (quietly, of course) and opened the door at the bottom.

A large, open room was on the other side, void of anything other than a solitary coffin laying on the floor. Do vampires actually sleep in coffins? Aila pondered. I thought that was a myth.

Standing over the coffin, Aila pulled out her dagger and braced herself for whatever my be inside, but when she pulled open the lid, there was nothing save for a book. Curious, Aila sheathed her dagger and reached for it. After opening it and reading through it, Aila discovered that it was a diary. Specifically, Alva's diary. How lucky.

The diary spoke of a man named Movarth. He seemed to be the one that turned Alva into a vampire. Apparently he had a hideout in a cave near Morthal, and together they planned to enslave the whole city one by one and use them as cattle for an endless supply of blood for their sick desires. Hroggar was the first victim. She used him to keep an eye on the house while she slept during the day. Aila couldn't help but chuckle darkly after reading that. She really should've picked a better person.

There was one entry in particular that called her attention, though; the last one.

That idiot! I told her to get rid of them discreetly and what does she do? She burns the fucking house to the ground! And what's worse is she tried to turn the girl too! Worthless. I should have just drained her dry. And to top it all off, Hroggar tells me the strangers have started looking into the fire.

I'm just lucky the wolf didn't recognize my scent. Either she's new blood, or she's never encountered a vampire before. No matter. I can take her either way. Movarth once told me that wolf's blood tastes delectable, despite their horrid stench. Perhaps I can use this opportunity to try some. Odd that she doesn't have a pack, though. She just travels with that girl.

Oh, the girl... Just thinking of her make my mouth water. I've never come across such an alluring scent before. She smells of fire and ash, so potent, and so sweet. And vaguely of pine needles, oddly enough. Burning pine needles, perhaps? Such a queer scent. Oh, but I must have her blood! It took everything I had not to drain her when I first set eyes on her. So small and helpless, I may have just done just that if not for the wolf. Oh, and I should bring her to Movarth as well, so we can share her divine blood. Though, I'm tempted to just keep her for myself.

… I must think on this. I have time. Even if they somehow discover Laelette's role in all this, there's no way they can trace it back to me.

Aila set the book down and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down. She was angry, and the reasons for her anger were frustrating her. They frustrated her because they shouldn't have angered her, and that only added to her frustration. The first reason was obvious, and understandable. She had insulted Kathryn. She hated when anyone spoke badly of her, especially concerning her wolf.

The second and third reasons were what frustrated her. Not that they weren't rage-inducing in their own right, but what confused her was that they normally never bothered her.

Second was that Alva had referred to Aila as small and helpless. She may be small, there was nothing she could do about that, but she was far from helpless. She had proved that less than an hour ago when she killed Laelette. Third was that she spoke of Aila as if she was just a thing to be owned by her. That infuriated her the most. She did not belong to anyone! Maybe Kathryn. No, if anything, Kathryn belonged to her!

Aila took a deep breath to try and calm her mind and slow her thoughts. No, Kathryn and I are a couple. We belong to each other. She took several more breathes and felt her anger subside, but she couldn't make it disappear completely.

Deciding it was best to move in case Alva came back, Aila grabbed the diary and headed out, passing a still-unconscious Hroggar, to the Longhouse, still feeling rather irked.

The doors swung open loudly and Aila marched in, not caring about the looks she was getting. She was somewhat surprised that the Jarl was still sitting in her throne considering it was night. Though not, she supposed, too late into it.

Respect wasn't even considered as Aila unceremoniously tossed the diary to the Jarl. "Alva's a vampire," she said. "She's responsible for the fire."

The brutish Nord beside her was the first to speak. What was his name again? Gaim? Garn? Oh, who cares.

He started yelling. "You have some nerve barging in here like that and accusing-"

He would have said more, but Aila glowered at him dangerously and he faltered. He gulped slowly, like he was frightened.

Aila didn't bother pondering his actions as she turned back to the Jarl and waited impatiently as she flipped through the book.

"Interesting," she said eventually. "Hroggar was merely a slave to her will. Tell me, were did you find this?"

"Alva's house," Aila said simply.

"And h-how," Garn said, seemingly gaining his confidence back. "Did you get access?"

Aila looked at him blankly. "I broke in."

"You what?! My Lady, I told you we shouldn't trust her. We should send her to the-"

"Quiet, Gorm," The Jarl interrupted harshly.

I'm still going to call him Garn.

"The information she has brought us is well worth whatever crimes she may have committed. It appears Movarth has returned."

"Is he dangerous, or something?" Aila asked. If he was anything like Laelette, he couldn't be too difficult. Just troublesome.

"All vampires are dangerous. This one just happens to be especially so. He is a threat we thought to have gotten rid of long ago, but it seems we were wrong." The Jarl's eyes narrowed at something she read in the diary. "There is just one thing I do not understand. The journal mentions you and your companion, but it refers to her as-"

Aila cut her off. "That," she said. "is none of your business."

"Show some respect, elf!" Garn demanded, but Aila stopped paying attention to him a while ago.

The Jarl eyed her suspiciously, but Aila held her ground. "Very well," she relented. "But I'm afraid, stranger, that I must ask one more thing of you."

Aila sighed, already knowing what she was going to ask. Right now, she really just wanted to go cuddle up with Kathryn at the inn, but she also couldn't rest until the one's responsible for Helgi's death were either in jail or dead. So she did something really, really stupid.

"Fine. Where's this damn cave? I'll deal with him myself."