Beta'd by TheMegaEvolvedPony

Felt like writing.

WARNING: Implications of heinous activities that may cause discomfort in some readers. Detailed description of gory violence.

You have been warned.

'What a godsend.' I thought to myself as we neared Winterhold's gates. Or maybe it isn't? Vampire transformation could have changed. Maybe I'll enter some sort of blood-rage upon transformation? That wouldn't be good at all. No doubt someone within Winterhold could slay a new vampire. It would need some research. Surely the College would have books on that sort of thing.

"So, who exactly are you aiming to bail out?" Itarus asked from the carriage. He was sitting in the back of it, leaning his head on his knee.

"Inigo. A rather skilled adventurer." I answered, wary for more bandits. Honestly, I was sort of surprised they didn't have more. That fort looked pretty big on the map. Or at least I guessed it was pretty big.

A beat of silence.

"The Inigo? Are you kidding me? That cat is a legend!" Itarus coughed in surprise. Was he now? Interesting. I hardly recalled anyone really acknowledging Inigo in the game. Perhaps he had some famous exploits like raiding a Dwemer ruin. Those things were extremely dangerous. If I remember correctly, I don't think any of them in Skyrim were fully explored. Well, the Dragonborn surely did a few, but that's practically a minor deity.

I merely nodded.

"Gods above, you're putting together some sort of dragon slaying team." Itarus laughed. "Inigo, a giant, and now all we need is a wizard."

I decided not to reveal my plans to be a spellsword, completing the trinity he brought up.

Or the fact that dragons weren't going to be just legends much longer.

"How will you earn his allegiance? He is known to be finicky." Grimmolf questioned, his heavy armor clinking and clanking along. He rose a good question though. One I lacked an answer to.

All I could do was shrug. "I suppose I'm winging this one then."

Grimmolf chuckled. "You shouldn't do that too much."

"I don't intend to." I replied, slowing down as the carriage drove through the gates.

The guards didn't look too closely at the carriage. Just a bunch of wounded people. They hurried us through without much of an inspection at all. Clearly security wasn't too much of an issue here.

Winterhold was still as busy as it was when we left. People milled around elbow-to-elbow, buying, selling, and trading.

I nudged my way through the crowd, making my way to Iron Sand Town. Turn in the paper then go free Inigo. The building was mostly empty this time, a few older men sitting in a corner nursing mugs of ale. They were adorned in a mix of regular clothing yet also a few pieces of armor. Probably helps them reminisce.

"I'd like to cash these." I said, sliding the three slips to a man behind a wooden counter. He was rather short, but decently built. On his face was a scraggly, patchy mess of a beard. The man honestly looked more boy-ish.

He fixed a scrutinizing eye on me as he picked them up, briefly his eyes roamed over the papers before putting them under the counter. A second later and three bags full of coin were placed onto the counter. "I don't see your rank." He noted with a small voice crack.

"Rank?" I asked politely, not particularly interested. Instead, I grabbed the three bags and slipped them into my pack. The weight of the four hundred and fifty silver septims felt good. "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."

He grunted. "Yeah, rank. Signifies your experience within the guild. If you want to ever complete contracts bigger than bandits, you need to get ranked. Start with copper and work your way up." The man- no, boy- once again reached under the counter, withdrawing two copper pendents stamped with crossed swords and a laurel surrounding them. "If you want to keep receiving jobs, you got to join."

"But there's three of us..." I said idly, slowly turning my head back to Grimmolf. I looked at his breastplate for a moment before spotting a silver pendent peeking out from the edge.

"Yeah, big guy there has been taking jobs here for a few weeks. Does damn fine work." The boy replied, his voice wavering for a second. "Anyway, you taking them or not?"

There wasn't really a reason to not take them as far as I could tell. Plus, I had a sneaking suspicion that we would be doing legitimate work for awhile. "Yeah, we will. See you another day."

I offered a pendent to Itarus before slipping mine into my coat. The metal was cool to the touch but warmed quickly beneath my fingers. I slipped past my two companions and back out into the street, weaving my way through the people. The crowds were thicker than before. Perhaps some sort of sale on alcohol? I remember nords certainly loved their drink.

"One hundred silver septims." The same bored-looking woman said without looking up from her book, patting the counter. Good thing they had quite a bit. With the coins deposited, a guard stepped into view holding a key ring.

"He's bailing out the merc? Must be for a job, eh?" The guard began conversationally while spinning the ring around his finger. He wore the same militiaman outfit that the men on the wall did but his had some sort of shiny pin. Must have been a rank or something. He had a young man's face. Likely early twenties at the latest. A small brown beard was growing in on his face. His boots clicked softly on the stone floor. Though, his voice was a touch irritating.

I nodded cordially. "Something along those lines."

"Well, if it doesn't involve snorting or huffing something, he isn't your cat, boy." The guard snorted crudely. You know, this guy was a bit of a dick.

And calling me a mere "boy"? This man-child was the boy! He hasn't looked death in the face, much less actually died- twice. I knew more about his world than his whole bloodline ever would. He's a single-brain-celled moronic monkey who has forgotten his place. I should kill him for his insolence! I should drain-

I then caught myself as i slowly unclenched my fist. I hadn't even realized that I had done that. 'My condition is advancing more aggressively than I thought it would. Precautions will have to be made.' My mental monologue prattled as I focused on calming down. The blood in my veins felt like it was burning red hot. My muscles were tensed. I had nearly lunged at the man.

"Good thing I ain't looking for your opinion, brat. Go do your job." I scoffed dismissively, waving him away like a king with his servant.

He sent me a dirty look with a scrunched up nose before walking off deeper into the building.

"Excellent counter." Grimmolf whispered lowly. I couldn't tell if he was being genuine or sarcastic though.

"Thank you." I decided to take it in stride.

Minutes passed before a certain familiar purple khajiit appeared in the doorway. He wore leather armor dyed a dark grey with a forest green cloak and a chainmail under-layer. There was a wicked curved sword attached at his hip. It looked like some sort of cavalry saber but was too thick to be one. A leather strip was tied around the ring on the butt of the hilt. Khajiit earrings clinked gently on the strip. They were his brother's I believe.

"Don't return, cat." The guard growled sourly, once again throwing a dirty look at me before walking away.

"Not like I want to be around with that stench of yours. Clean your ass better! Maybe your mother will begin to love you, skid mark." Inigo called with a snicker before looking back and me. "Now, who might you be?"

"Thaion. No family name." I answered, bowing my head respectfully.

The khajiit hummed while nodding his head slowly, contemplative look on his face. "Uh huh...no idea who you are."

"Your new boss if it matters so much." I countered, crossing my arms challengingly. Had to earn his respect it seems. That's perfectly alright.

Inigo's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Yeah? Says who?"

"Says Tiber Septim." I replied smoothly, pulling out a bag of coins and showing him. The coins shined brightly in the torchlight. I watched Inigo's eyes focus on the coins, roaming over them greedily.

"Yeah, I can get with that." He said, hands going for the bag before I snatched it back.

I held my hand up like one would with a child to stop him. "Conditions. You'll be traveling with us for the foreseeable future. We're going to be fighting quite often and will experience quite a bit of peril. In exchange, I pay you."

Inigo rolled his eyes and waved his hand. "Blah blah blah, standard spiel. I agree and everything."

This Inigo was significantly different from the one I had come to adore in the game. Though, I was also at a much earlier point in his story right now. There's no surprise there really. People change after all. It seems I'll simply have to wait for that change to arrive.

"Then follow us and we'll show you who to stab." I joked, gesturing over my shoulders at my other two companions.

I stood tall on the little hill outside of town, looking out into the frozen tundra of Winterhold. It was rather peaceful in my opinion. Yet, a certain condition lingered heavily in my mind. My companions sat around a fire, exchanging their experiences and laughing together. A day had passed by with them mainly getting to know each other. Grimmolf and Inigo had taken it upon themselves to train both me and Itarus to be at least semi-competent in a fight.

My eyes trailed over the status menu before me.

[Sanguinare Vampiris]

The disease that spawns the cursed gift of Molag Bal.

-Time left: One Hour

I had no choice but to share this information with my companions. How to do so though? No one had to tell me that vampires were feared all over the continent. So, I guess there wasn't much of a choice but to rip the band-aid off now.

The snow crunched under my feet as I approached the trio, them quieting at my closer proximity.

"I have important information I feel you all should know." I began slowly, looking between them. I resisted the urge to fidget under their gazes as I took in a deep breath. It took a moment to steady my practically vibrating core.

"I have contracted Sanguinare Vampiris." I dropped the bomb quickly, gauging their reactions.

Itarus didn't seem to terribly concerned, simply raising an eyebrow.

I couldn't read Grimmolf's face with his helmet, but he hardly shifted at the announcement.

Inigo...was odd. I could see his natural reaction to flee but it was counteracted by his greed for coin. Useful stuff, money. Hell, I could almost see coins reflected in his eyes.

Itarus raised his hand like a child in a classroom would do. "You don't need to raise your hand, but what is it?"

"How long until it takes effect?"

"Roughly an hour if I had to guess."

"An hour? You do know what happens with transformation, right?" Inigo asked, standing so suddenly snow was kicked up. There was a nervous look in his eyes. His body language was flighty like a doe.

I shrugged slowly. "I have some guesses."

"They call it Vampiric Rage. Raging vampires have been known to wipe out entire villages and leave nothing but gore. Even children aren't spared. Hell, there isn't really containing it without magical means. I've seen blood-starved vampires quite literally claw through stone bricks to get at people. A single swipe of their claws can disembowel a man! They act like animals and don't stop until their thirst is quenched." He explained, his voice a bit more high-pitched now.

Sounds about right.

"Good thing there's a bandit fortress just over the hill. I intend to stay there while I transform in order to both clear it out and to sate whatever blood lust the transformation causes." I said with a grin, gesturing to one of the towers visible over the hill. The whole fort was carved into the mountain, as he correctly guessed. He presumed there was some sort of underground part to it. Hell, maybe even some artifacts they could use or pawn off? Really, the plan was about as solid as it could be.

The other three looked among themselves before Itarus nodded. "Seems alright. We'll stay out here for the night and check in the morning."

Inigo looked like he wanted to disagree, but I presume the thought of coin got the better of him. "Yes, that we will."

"Thank you." I bowed my head in respect before I dropped my stuff next to them and walked off towards the fort into the darkness. I could hardly see more than five feet in front of me. Once I was over the hill, I felt my changeling transformation drop, revealing my true form. My skin had paled significantly and running my tongue along my teeth revealed much longer and sharper canines. My muscles were tight like steel cables despite me being pretty small. My face twitched at the smell of cooking meat. The bandits didn't seem to care much about keeping their cover.

Snow crunched under my feet as I approached the gate. Currently, it was closed firmly, but that wouldn't stop me. My eyes scanned the wall for a moment before I stepped up to it. Oddly enough, there were no guards manning the ramparts. Perhaps the sound of music and celebration was the cause?

I pressed my hand against a brick that jutted out slightly, my fingers sinking into it with some effort.

"Great, scale a perfectly vertical wall. No biggie." I muttered as I climbed, my fingers leaving indents in the stones. At the top, I slapped a hand on the edge and heaved myself over, practically throwing myself really. Now that I was here, I noted the presence of two bandits. It wasn't that there were no guards, the ones on duty were just blackout drunk.

I looked at my hands for a moment, lengthened and sharp claws greeted my sight. Perfect.

My hands approached the throat of one of the bandits, an dark-skinned imperial man with a scraggly beard and a beer belly. I then sunk my fingers into his neck, closing my hand around his throat and tearing it out. His eyes fluttered open but he had no way to scream. Though, before I could stop myself, I forced his head back and brought my mouth to his gaping wound, greedily sucking down the blood that flowed like a fountain. I wasn't sure how long I stood there, draining the man, but by the time I had stopped, my front was drenched in blood and he was rather pale.

I turned to the other bandit, this time an argonian. A low growl escaping my throat. This...this was what I had wanted! Yes! Oh god, it was thrilling. Orgasmic pleasure. As if every desire I'd ever had was being satiated.

With a swipe of my hand, I slashed his throat and brought my mouth to his neck, rapidly draining him. The flavor was...different. The previous man was rich and savory like a steak where as the argonian had a sort of...fishy-chicken taste to him. It also had a small kick to it. Almost like an...aquatic chicken with sweet and sour sauce. Fascinating.

Without realizing it, I had picked up the argonian in the process and was standing with him held limply. His scales had lost their color, going from a dark green to a paler one. His yellow eyes were opened wide and his mouth was left open in a soundless scream. I dropped the corpse unceremoniously and peaked over the wall, twitching. Thoughts of violence entered my mind. It appeared full transformation would occur soon. All there was to do was ensure I would tear the bandits apart.

My vision sharpened, becoming far more clear than before. The darkness that was impenetrable before was even clearer than daytime ever had been.

I looked to my right. A sort of gatehouse was there. No noise came from inside. Speaking of course, the conversations happening down below were now far more clear. I could pick out individuals. Hell, I think I can even hear the receding heartbeat of the argonian.

And some soft sobs on the other side of the gatehouse.

I looked on my right, seeing a tower with a closed door. No voices and no heartbeats. It seemed clear.

A moment later and I was scaling the side of the gatehouse, rising to the top. There was a bow with a quiver leaned against the merlons of the wall. It was just a simple hunting bow. The quiver held steel arrows that had red tails. There was also a chest and a rack with more bows. The chest probably had arrows. I stalked without a sound over to the other side. Peeking over revealed two nord men sitting in chairs, seemingly passed out while a young-looking girl sobbed quietly in a corner. She had almost nothing on, just ragged pants and a shirt that looked more like a pillowcase. She looked to be a dark elf with dark red hair that was ratty and unkempt. Judging by how my nose scrunched up, the men had "used" her. She couldn't have been older than fifteen or sixteen.

My heart ached as I looked at her, my hand resting on the stone bricks clenching hard, leaving gouges from my fingernails. A burning hate formed as my gaze shifted to the two men. Despite just having fed, my mouth salivated at the thought of killing them both.

I pulled myself over the wall and landed next to them, my eyes landing on the girl first. I stared for a moment, her having not noticed me. My gaze then shifted to a metal shackle on her left ankle that was bolted to the wall. It seemed this was no normal bandit group. Perhaps traffickers of some kind?

Anger boiled over as I stepped over to the two unconscious men. I wanted to see the fear in their eyes as I ended their lives. My blood was baying for it. To slaughter them like animals. I slapped the closest man, throwing him to the floor. He was awake in an instant, rubbing his face.

"What the hell? Who are you?! Answer me you little bastard!" The man sputtered, jumping to his feet and fumbling for his sword. My hand rose so quick he didn't even react as I seized his neck and yanked him forwards, bringing him down to my level.

"You are a waste of space. Subhuman trash." I began, my grip tightening. The man grabbed my arm, trying to pull himself away, but my strength was far greater. "I-" My words were cut off as the other man jumped up and actually pulled his sword out. Though, I didn't look, merely staring into the eyes of the man. Time seemed to slow as the whistle of a blade met my ears. The other man made for a downwards swing at me.

My hand rose in a flash, catching the blade in my palm. It was quite dull and of low quality. I slowly turned my head to the man holding it who was frozen in fear.

"W-wh-what are you?" He whispered.

I considered his question for awhile. What was I?

That didn't matter right now. What was I to him? After all, I'd be killing every single bandit within this fort without a hint of remorse.

"Death."

My hand on the first man's throat tightened, producing a crunching sound. I dropped him to the floor, the man gagging and grasping at his neck. I then turned fully to the second man, snatching the sword out of his hand. I twisted the blade into a mangled mess of useless metal and let it fall to the floor which made a soft clang through the thin layer of snow.

"Wait! Please! Stop...I didn't do anything!" The man begged, falling over himself as I approached like a predator would. Hunched shoulders, tensed hands, and a feral gaze.

"Perhaps I should ask the girl in the corner then?" I responded, yanking the man up by the neck and pulling him over to her. She flinched hard, trying to cover her face with her hands and her privates by crossing her legs. That was the only answer I needed. There was a sickening snap as I jerked the man roughly, his whole body going limp. The man with the crushed throat was attempting to open the door. Not that I'd let him leave anyway.

In one smooth motion, I turned around and put my hand into a knife shape. I then put my hand clean through the man's back and out his front, directly through his heart. The body thudded to the floor, steadily leaking blood onto the freshly fallen snow.

With that done, I turned back to the girl who was staring at me in pure, unadulterated fear.

"Wait-" She began before coughing violently. Her voice sounded rough. Her throat was likely bruised from what...those animals had done to her.

I went to speak but I found my words struggling to get out. My breathing was skyrocketing. The transformation must be picking up in pace. I grabbed the chain and pressed my fingers against a link, pushing through like putty and separating the girl from the anchor point. I twitched more and more as I scooped her up like a bag of potatoes and scrambled down the wall, dropping her on her butt. I shrugged off my coat and shoes, leaving them for her to trek through the snow without contracting frostbite.

"Camp. Hill. Take care." I cringed while making the sound a cat would while expelling a hairball, practically shooting up the wall and landing on the other side, exposing my blood-soaked self to the bandit party down below. Celebrations slowly cooled down as the bandits stared at me in surprise.

We all stood in silence for a good minute or so.

They began getting weapons out.

I screeched like a banshee as I charged into the group.

This was NOT how Gaelig's evening was supposed to go.

He was supposed to break in a few new bitches then go party with everyone else! He had just been about to fuck some pretty wood elf girl with grey hair. A pretty exotic color. Well, old people had grey hair but hers was naturally like that. And she had this...bratty attitude to her that he wanted to crush. He would have loved to see the fear as he descended upon her, had his way with her until she broke. It was the best part of his job.

She was one of the new ones captured from that caravan going to Windhelm. He vaguely recalled some of the newbies sent there yapping about a mountain of a man in armor who refused to die and a young boy, perhaps thirteen, who killed several of them effortlessly. Probably heavily embellished, but it was intriguing none the less. Regardless, he was going to have a lot of fun with that girl.

Up until L'oth, one of the recently hired argonians burst into his chambers with the girl tied to his bed screaming about some murderous beast ripping everyone apart. Horrible timing. He was literal seconds from ripping her clothes off and ravaging her.

Now every surface in the dungeons available was coated thickly in the blood of his friends and a fucking VAMPIRE was hunting him! That and he thought they had no morals, yet he watched it rip thick ass iron doors clean off their hinges and free the slaves! Of course, they all screamed in fear and didn't dare leave the cells due to their prior conditioning from him and his friends.

Gaelig got a nasty feeling the vampire didn't like their line of work.

As the man ran, his genitals flapping in the wind, he shoved by a slave woman, shoving her to the floor behind him. A gorgeous high elf lady who looked utterly despondent. He had his way with her a few weeks ago. Hopefully, she'd serve as bait to keep the creature busy. Maybe he could make it somewhere to hide until it got bored and ran off? Yeah, that's it!

He chanced a glance behind him as he booked it down the bloodied hall. A shadow past over the slave woman, yet it did not slow down in the slightest as it made it's way towards him. Gaelig screamed like a little girl as he skidded to a stop at an iron door and threw it closed. The shadow had sailed past him, having been less than an inch form him. He locked it quickly and slide the latch in. Hopefully that'd-

SHRRRRRRRRK!

The fat, greasy man turned in horror to see the creature bending the door's upper half over, like it had a joint...except it didn't. While he couldn't see anything else of it, it had an extremely pale blue arm that had only a little muscle, but it was rigid like the metal of the door it just bent.

Gaelig scrambled into the corner, diving behind some barrels and curled up like a crying child, a hand over his mouth to quiet his breathing.

There was zero noise for a second. Gaelig almost hoped the beast had left. This hope was crushed as the door's latch ripped out of the wall, allowing the door to swing open. He heard no steps, but knew the vampire had entered the room. This quiet went on for several minutes as the man's curiosity got the better of him. He peeked through two barrels, seeing nothing.

He slowly exhaled in relief until a red pupil with a black vertical slit for an iris entered his vision. Before he could scream, a hand smashed through the barrels and dug into his chest, just below his collarbone. Despite his huge weight, the young-looking vampire pulled him forwards and held him on his knees. His greasy red hair was caked in sweat, making it stick to his disgusting face. He cried out in pain, slapping at the vampire.

"Filthy." Was all the vampire boy let out, catching a hand. The man fought harder, landing a weak punch on his face. "Filthy bastard."

Gaelig nearly threw up as the hand holding his wrist simply clenched and separated his hand from his arm. It fell to the ground with a slap. The only thing he could do was scream in unbearable pain as his new stump seemed to be on fire.

"Silence." The creature...no, the monster pressed it's thumb's fingernail through his throat and slashed his vocal cords. All that left his mouth was a hoarse exhale, his speech taken from him. "You're a waste of space." It continued, extracting it's hand from his chest and catching his remaining hand which had been clawing at his throat. Another squeeze and his hand fell to the ground...again. Gaelig fell into a curled up ball, hot tears burning his face.

The monster crouched, even bracing itself on the floor and getting onto his level.

"The only monster here is you." It spat with finality. No, it fucking wasn't! What kind of fucking monster can rip through nearly sixty men and not look the least bit expended?! Some of those guys were arena pit fighters too! They weren't basic slouches of any kind. Veterans of the imperial army, former militiamen, those types. And this boy had dismembered them like a child ripping apart grass would!

"You make me sick. Yet killing you quickly would grant you the gratification of a merciful death. Unlike those girls and women who have to live with what has been committed against them. They will never heal." It explained harshly, watching the man bleed like a particularly interesting letter. "But I can ensure you live long enough to suffer a small fraction of the pain they have experienced, animal."

The man saw nothing but one long blur as he emerged in the courtyard, laid on the vampire's shoulder like he was weightless. The cold, unforgiving winds of Skyrim pierced his bare, sweaty skin, chilling him to the bone.

Normally, the courtyard was filled with bustling activity. Men getting ready for robberies and things. Now..?

It was a complete bloodbath. Limbs and heads laid everywhere. Crushed skulls, broken bodies, and more. Hell, even the big merc they hired that wore the platemail had been bisected! His organs were trampled in the snow, blood and digestive juices leaking all over the frozen ground.

Gaelig twisted to look ahead, spotting the forge area that was typically run by a few imperials.

...Imperials who had their chest cavities crushed or torn asunder.

The man was dumped on his ass, trying to scramble away but not getting far. He looked back to see the vampire pluck some sort of plate that had been dropped into the forge with a pair of tongs. Presumably, it had been there for quite awhile. This was confirmed by it glowing quite literally white hot. The vampire dropped it on the edge of the forge, the plate sizzling gently.

What was he- NO! NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT!

The fat man increased his struggle as the vampire grabbed him by his elbow and slammed his severed wrist onto the plate, cauterizing the wound. If he could have, he would be howling. As it were, all he could do was release a silent scream as he fell to the ground, his wound now the source of the sizzling. Without respite, he was plucked up again and had his other wrist pressed onto the plate.

He fell to his back, writhing in pain and unable to bring any measure of comfort to himself.

Right now, Gaelig would much rather die than live. What was life without his voice? OR HIS FUCKING HANDS?!

Next, the vampire grabbed the plate and pressed the edge against the wound below his collarbone. He tried to curl up, but the vampire planted a foot on his abdomen and he couldn't just put his stumps on a white hot piece of metal.

"Now you'll live with your wounds. Bleeding out isn't among your concerns any long, pig." The vampire spat- literally, on his face. "Actually, calling you a pig is insulting to them. You're less than that even. You're not even the worth of an ant." The vampire picked up the plate one more time and carefully pressed it against the thin wound on his throat where his fingernail destroyed his vocal cords. Gaelig's chest convulsed for a second before his eyes fluttered shut, his consciousness leaving him.

The last thing he saw was a pale blue boy standing above him with all the power in the world.

I clicked my teeth together, looking up at the sky. It was still relatively early in the night, but that didn't mean I should risk killing myself with the sunlight. I slowly looked back down at the flaming garbage heap of a human being. Even being able to be of a vaguely similar species as him was appalling. I grabbed an ankle and began walking towards the keep, not bothering to keep the man from hitting objects and getting covered in blood.

With frivolous ease, I dragged the man all the way down to the dungeons and tossed him carelessly into an empty cell. With nary a thought, I closed the door and bent the bars over each other, preventing it from being opened.

The sound of countless heartbeats accelerating for many reasons reached my sharp ears. I shifted towards the group of women who had cautiously left their cells, staring at me in blatant awe yet also fear. If I had to guess, there was probably over a hundred women just down here alone, not accounting for others that may be scattered around or trapped in other rooms.

"Its...him. He's our savior." A voice stated from the crowd.

"We're...free?" Another woman asked in a hollow voice.

My innards twisted watching these women practically collapse in relief, holding onto each other for what little support they could get. I set my jaw firmly. Before, I had no guilt from killing all those bandits, I certainly had none now.

"T-thank you...thank you so much." A woman at the front croaked. She was an argonian female who looked a touch older. Not a senior, but middle aged. She was rather pretty to be honest, despite the dirt and bruising.

"Yes...we can never repay you enough." Another cried, coming forwards. It was a relatively short nord female with brown hair and green eyes. She slowly lowered her self to her knees and put her hands out on the floor and lowered her forehead to the stone floor, bowing deeply. Her form began to shake slowly. A choked sob left her lips. Her voice was shaky like a leaf in a storm, barely holding on. "Thank you."

I watched as these girls and women all began bowing to me in the utmost respect. It was...oddly nice. To be celebrated. Yet I also felt uncomfortable. Was what I did really worthy of all this praise? I suppose I wouldn't understand what they went through.

I stepped forwards and got on my own knees in front of the woman who began the bowing motion. I placed a hand on her shoulder and gently forced her to sit up. "And you will never need to repay me. None of you will. Now, on your feet. This is not a position worthy of all of you." I called over the crowd, grabbing the woman by the hand and helping her to stand on shaky legs. Tears flowed down her eyes freely. I couldn't stop her from latching on to me, crying her heart out into my shoulder despite the blood all over me.

She tried to form words but couldn't. I awkwardly placed a hand on her back and rubbed slowly in a soothing manner. My own mother had done that to me a few times when I was really little. Despite the bravado I displayed in combat, I really wasn't sure what to do now.

Slowly the crowd of women surged forwards, enveloping me. Countless hands grabbed at me, trying to touch my face, shoulders, and arms. They hugged me endlessly, sobbing their hearts out against me while I stood there, embracing as many as I could. I wasn't sure how much time went by as that occurred, but eventually it stopped and they formed a circle around me at a respectful distance of about arm's length.

I couldn't just leave them here. They presumably had no money and no way to their homes. Speaking of...

"Where might you all be from?"

Another while went by as I got a number of answers ranging from Markarth to High Rock all the way to the very southern most tip of the Empire. Not one was even remotely close to Winterhold. The nearest was about two hundred miles away according to my map. Holy fuck, how was that even possible? Not a single one from the local area? Insanity.

"Is there anywhere you guys could sleep? And I don't mean the cells. I'm sure you all would be glad to be on something that isn't a pile of hay." I questioned, gesturing to a cell which was...not ideal for living. There was a bucket in one corner filled to the brim with bodily waste and a pile of literal hay in the opposite corner. If I recalled correctly, six women had been trapped in that little ten by ten foot room.

Silence met me.

"Surely this place has barracks, yes?"

"That wouldn't fit all of us. There's over a hundred." A voice called out to me.

I racked my head for awhile. So perhaps sleeping would be a stickler to find a solution to for now, but surely he could at least get them fed. "Then perhaps you would all like to have some food?" I suggested slowly.

A murmur of agreement passed through the crowd.

"Well, if I remember correctly, there's a banquet hall that was being prepared for a sort of feast. The bandits won't exactly be needing all that food now, will they?"

The crowd began moving past me, apparently being led by a few who knew where the room was. I stood still, letting them pass me. As they went, many grabbed ahold of me once again in reverence. Once again, it was an odd feeling to be cherished this way, but I didn't particularly dislike it.

A small group of women had stayed behind, looking at me like I was the greatest thing since sliced bread. About thirteen of them of various ages, heights, and races.

I took a deep breath. Leading wasn't exactly something I had ever done in my old life- either of them. Surely not every girl and woman would be just conveniently down here when I arrived.

"Are you all able to walk on your own?" I asked, spreading my arms to gesture to them all.

Various sounds of confirmation met my question.

"Alright. I'm pretty sure I killed every bandit in the fort, but well...I wasn't in the clearest of minds. As such I'll be needing to go through again just in case I missed anyone. I'd like you all to search the rooms behind me as I go. I'd rather not find out someone starved in a locked room weeks after fact." I explained, looking at their faces for their answer.

"Of course, Zeti Fa." A rather large khajiit woman answered. Not large as in fat, but large as in fucking huge. She was probably the size of Grimmolf and built like a body builder. How the hell did they catch her?! She looked like she could bench three men! Her fur was a light blonde, sort of like a lion. A pretty rare color if I recalled correctly. Her ears stood tall like a caracal cat. There were marks from earrings, but they were gone. Presumably they were taken by the bandits and sold or melted down. Her eyes had sharp vertical slits and yellow irises. As she spoke she displayed sharp teeth.

Beyond that, Zeti Fa? The meaning popped in my head after a moment.

"'Honorable One'?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It is the closest to 'Honored One' this one can think of." She answered after a moment, giving me an appraising look. "How do you know Ta'agra?"

"I was taken in by a Khajiit caravan. Though, they are no more." I answered, looking over the woman.

She bowed her head in respect for the dead. "May their spirits walk on warm sands."

I nodded once. "Indeed."

I went to go off to do what I proposed but I halted. "You all seem relatively at ease with my status as a vampire."

The khajiit woman shrugged. Evidently she was the voice for this little group. "You can do no worse than those animals." She snarled the last word out.

That she wasn't really wrong about. It would be hard to top what the slavers did to them all.

"Well, in that case we should commence our search. I'm sure at least a few are scattered around and do not know what has occurred yet." I said, making my way to the exit of the dungeon, the group following closely behind me.

Itarus and company slept quite soundly to be honest. Well, as soundly as they could with the occasional ambiance of a pained scream in the wind. They were in a small divot in the snow, keeping the worst of the winds off them. A girl wearing Thaion's coat and boots came wandering in their direction. They'd welcomed her easily and put her into his bed roll and given her a blanket. She passed out the second she was tucked in.

With the rising morning sun, they broke down camp, preparing to go search the bandit fort for their collective friend.

"You think he killed 'em all?" Itarus asked to no one in particular, walking towards the fort. Even from several hundred feet away, the smell of blood and death was thick on the air.

"Certainly smells like it." Grimmolf noted, slowly pulling out his warhammer and rested it on his shoulder as they approached the gate. The girl stood at the very back of their contingent, simply along for the ride it seemed. Itarus retrieved his knife and Inigo held his ebony bow firmly in his hand. Grimmolf rounded the corner first but came to a halt so suddenly the other three ran straight into his back.

Death.

That was the only way they could describe the scene before them.

Easily forty men or more had been quite literally torn apart. Like a wild animal had come through. Broken weapons were scattered everywhere. Their eyes drifted towards a long trail of blood leading to a sort of keep that was built into the mountain itself. It had a much smaller front door that was currently ajar, a bisected corpse in the doorway. There were slits in the walls, presumably for people to stick spears through or fire bows. Higher up were windows of sorts. Craning their necks up revealed what seemed like a room carved much higher in the mountain. It had a perfect view over the whole outside of the fort. The room had a large window at the front, but that was all they could see thanks to the extreme angle.

The ground-level part of the keep seemed to extend up into the mountain which hung over the fort a bit, providing shade for about half the courtyard.

No one exchanged words as they carefully stepped inside of the keep, pushing the door open further. The entry hall was relatively grand for just a keep, but was still reasonable. Of course, the inside was covered in bodies. Hell, there was even a corpse in a chandelier on the ceiling! A bit out of place for a fort, but even soldiers like pretty things they supposed. The pretty thing being the chandelier of course, not the body on it.

They observed the carnage idly, watching as the rather basic chandelier eventually tilted, allowing the body on it to fall about thirty feet to the floor. It made a literal splash in the coagulated pool of blood on the floor.

"Interesting choice of decor." Inigo quipped, stepping past everyone and continuing into the keep. They heard a commotion ahead and walked towards it. They ended up in a sort of banquet hall that was filled to the brim with dirty girls and women wearing little clothing. They had pushed the furniture to one side and filled the room with bedrolls and things, grouping together for warmth. At the end of the hall was their man. Thaion sat on a throne that seemed to be a bit raised, sitting on a small dais. The throne looked to be stone but had various furs and things to cushion it.

The room itself took advantage of being underground and as such was huge. Easily fifty feet tall with a number of thick stone pillars supporting countless tons of rocks above their heads. Faded banners adorned the walls along with various doors off into other rooms. Going off the scent, there was a kitchen attached to the room which was currently being run.

Going back to Thaion, he looked...different. Well, aside from the fact he was quite literally soaked to the bone in blood, his face was different. It was obviously him. He not only held himself the same way, but also wore the same clothes. Sans coat and boots of course.

That and several women were openly fawning over him. Touching his hands and feet like some type of...savior? It was a little odd to see, but considering the bloodbath that they'd witnessed, it wasn't any weirder.

Itarus said it best.

"What the hell happened?"

Hot damn! Would you believe it if I told you I put nearly four thousand words in one sitting after the chapter sat at two thousand for months? Yeah, I returned with a vengeance to this chapter and I feel like I seriously cooked.

As always, I welcome criticism, hate, love, whatever you got cooking in that reply section. I love you all and I thank you for reading my work. Let me know your thoughts!

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