WOW. It gets better and better m8!


I thought the young, cocky one.

AH thank you, that was exactly what i was going for.


Aye Emmanuel, I Like him atm i have many plans for him. But apart from the main characters i'd probably say Jonah is my favourite for some reason. I have a soft spot for old Redguards with Afros, they jstu scream "cool"..

And i think you two guys are the only people actually reading this, which is a huge shame after all the effort i've put into it but i do intend to see it through to the end if only for my own reasons

EDIT: I forgot to actually post the chapter.



Chapter Twelve: The Shadows of contempt





Present day





They sat now in a private booth on the main floor of the Travelling Troll Inn, a large establishment in the city of Winterhold in the northern reaches of Skyrim. The frozen air drafting in every few minutes as a new patron entered or an old one left, though the cold didn't survive long due to the large brazier that was once an outdoor feature but a rich noble from the southern reaches of Tamriel bought the land and built an Inn around it. Needless to say, it was a spectacularly popular place of relaxation for many of the townspeople who weathered the cold harsh climate every day throughout their lives.

The Breton sat across from Almerion; nursing a flagon of mulled wine between his frozen bright red hands, he had waited outside for Almerions arrival for almost an hour instead of waiting inside. He told the vampire the proprietor of the Inn had openly threatened him for asking to many questions of the patrons when he had been searching for Almerion there just three nights ago, since then Almerion had acted as both an interviewee and a bodyguard to the Breton.

"So, is there anything you want to know after last night?" Almerion asked curiously, scooping the froth off his own flagon of mulled wine with his index finger. "I trust you have had time to formulate a few yes?"

"Yes? actually since you told me about your brother I've been doing some digging into Imperial records through the mages guild, they have no record of a Maximus Enveri ever existing let alone working the captain of the city guard." He said as he pulled a book from his worn cloth bag and began to flick through the pages. "Yes here, from the dates you gave me.. From the last two years of the second era to the first three of the third there isn't anybody listed as the captain of the watch."

"That my friend isn't a question, and does the fact that no name exists on the record suggest anything to you? Maximus must have erased his name after what happened." Almerion said, testing the heat of his wine carefully as the Breton stared at the blank space in his records -- horrified that some one could erase a part of history however small.

"What happened?" He asked at last pulling his gaze away from the ink printed words back to the weathered Nord before him.

"Nothing, well nothing that you should be in a hurry to find out about any way, but I will tell you in due time, any questions before I continue?"

"Yes, I was curious about the process of turning some one into a vampire. You said your brother wanted you to turn him? Its my understanding that people become vampires not be choice but by chance."

"Ah yes you are right. Vampirism is a mutation of a disease if you will, any vampire that bites or scratches you has a chance of passing on this disease, but drinking a vampires blood can also infect you. To deliberately turn somebody into a vampire you must feed on the one you wish to turn, draining his or her blood will lower their immunity to the disease so that when they in turn drink yours the chances of infection are greatly increased. That is how I was turned by Gabrielle."

"I see? How often is this process successful?"

"Far too often my friend, far too often."





* * *





3 E 04, Bravil





Rain poured down but not even a divine flood could clean this city of its filth. Almerions first visit to the city of Bravil hadn't left a good first impression; every inch of the wooden buildings that made up the ramshackle of a town was covered in thick green moss and rot, the floors where so caked in dirt and mud it was hard to believe a stone road ever existed. Even the chapel walls where lined with filth, though Almerion didn't much care about that, he didn't spend much time with the gods as of late.

The new safe house they where inhabiting was found opposite the fighters guild; the front rooms of the bottom floors of both buildings they where using posed as shops selling all manner of general goods, it was how the thieves guild laundered their ill gotten money after fencing their stolen goods. Most importantly though, it gave the fences of the guild a place to operate without drawing to many questions, if they where seen in the back of a tavern partaking in dodgy dealings with shadowy figures they would soon fall to suspect. This way they made an honest penny and a not to honest Septim in the process.

It was smaller than the Imperial city safe house but large enough for Almerion to have his own room, he was thankful for that. He had spent much of his time here over the last few days locked away in his own thoughts within the threadbare room, with nothing but a flickering candle for company. He could hear his name tossed around in discussion from the room adjacent to his but didn't pay any mind to it, the only time he left the room was to feed.

Jonah had tried to speak to him on two occasions, he was concerned for Almerion he could see something had changed within him after his escape and wanted to know what was wrong, the thieves where all about finding problems then fixing them. Almerion couldn't help but wonder if that was part of their job description, either way he wasn't sure if he appreciated it or not. He didn't know if he wanted to be fixed.

Parts of him longed to be mortal again, to live a life of normality with his wife and family back in Skingrad? or any where that would have him so long as he was able to live his life like it should have been lived. However, other parts of him? the more bestial primal instinctive parts he had tried so hard to lock away longed for more. They whispered to him in his sleep and he woke up longing for blood and chaos, they spoke to him about great evils and power and he wanted it for himself.

So his remaining humanity was fading and he could feel it; he had tried too hard to stay in touch with his human life that he couldn't feel the beast within him stirring in the night until it was too late, he wondered if this is what the others had sensed when they said something had shifted within him.

Almerion lost his train of thought, which was on too many tracks any way, as some one knocked softly on his door. He pulled him self out of his pit of a bed and paced across the straining creaking floor boards, dust jumping up a few inches from between the cracks with every step he landed.

"Emily, what do you want?" He asked curiously with one eyebrow raised as he opened the door to find the Bosmers bright green eyes staring up at him beneath her constantly changing hair.

"To come in, if you don't mind. We need to talk Marcus." She said curtly, ducking under Almerions arm which was outstretched against the door frame with the intention of blocking her entry. He turned to find her sat on the edge of his bed with arms and legs crossed. "Why have you been shutting us out after all we've done?"

"Forgive me for saying this Emily but I have done far more for this guild than it has done for me?" He muttered quietly as he wiped away the condensation on the windows to find the depressing sight that was Bravil, its streets almost flooded with the constant rain. He tried to avoid going outside if he could help it, the exposed water works of Bravil didn't exactly smell pleasant and they reminded him of the Imperial city sewers, which in turn reminded him of the two men he had butchered with his bare hands.

"Why didn't you tell me you're a vampire Marcus?" Her tone was soft but had a quality that demanded attention, he looked at her and found himself locked in her green eyed gaze. Something shifted inside of him, there was something about Emily he didn't quite understand but he liked her all the more for it.

"Because every person I have told has either wanted something from me or rejected me and labelled me a monster, I didn't want the same from you." He said quietly, sitting down on the edge of the bed beside Emily.

"Have we done any of that since we found out?" She said, placing her hand on his arm to encourage him to keep his eyes on hers. "Marcus we told you already; we have other vampires in the guild and we love them just like we love the rest of our kin, you are no different. You can have a home with us? with me."

It was strange Almerion thought, that when you where so close to something you had been racing towards, that you wanted to get to faster than anything in the world, that time slowed down on the approach. Emily smiled and tilted her head to the side slightly, her eyes closing with a flutter of Almerions stomach as she moved towards him, their lips just inches apart -- he could smell her flowery sent and feel her warm breath as it mingled with his own, they where almost touching.

"No!" A scream came from the building neighbouring theirs which housed the rest of the safe house. Emily's head dropped into Almerions chest with a laugh of frustration and he held her close, he could feel her heart beating and wanted nothing more than to sit listening to it. "Help me!"

The realisation dawned upon them, something was wrong. Almerion bolted from the bed and flung himself through one of the opened windows of his bedroom onto the walk way that served as a bridge between the two buildings. He could smell blood.

He nearly slipped on the slime like moss that covered the wood and swore loudly as he regained his balance, It was Julia's voice he could hear, she was crying now. He kept running, the sunlight barely broke through the clouds so the day was growing dark before its time. He didn't feel the pain just a disturbing tingling feeling that passed over his body and faded the moment he barged through the second safe house door, sliding across the wooden floor into a cabinet which fell with an ear splitting crash.

"No? No this cant be!" He shouted as his eyes fell on Julia, hugging the lifeless body of Jonah on the floor of his bedroom. His last smile had been preserved on his face through death, his skin looked almost purple, there was no other answer. He was dead.

"I think -- I think he had a heart attack? He's stone cold." Julia said, her voice muffled as she sobbed into the Redguard's chest. Almerion sunk down beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder and she turned and flung herself into his arms, crying into the satin tunic he wore. Emily walked slowly through the door -- Bardika and Mashab following behind her.

They all gathered around the body; Mashab's brutish face streaming with tears, Emily looking more lost than upset. Bardika just stood there his face solemn and foreboding, eyes staring at Jonah's neck.

"You!" He screamed, grasping Almerion by his neck, dragging him away from the body with far more strength than he should have been capable of. "You did this! Look! Look at his neck!"

Every person in the room looked at Jonahs neck to see two puncture wounds amongst the wire like stubble, then every eye turned to Almerion, some accusatory some questioning. Emily didn't meet his gaze, she stared down at Jonahs smiling face with tears welling in her eyes.

"You filthy disgusting evi-" Bardika choked as Almerion shot up and pinned him against a rotten wooden wall by his chicken like neck -- the Dunmers feet kicked against the Nords shins just inches from the ground.

"You accuse me of too much for the last time Bardika, I should end you now!" Almerion shouted as the colour drained from the faces of all around him. Emily rushed over and grabbed his arm with both hands, staring into his face imploringly.

"No Marcus, no." She said, he felt his strength falter and Bardika slid down the wall, his feet on the ground now but still pinned by Almerions choking grip. "This isn't you, I know you didn't do it."

"He said I was like a brother to him. Why would I betray that trust? That notion!" He shouted again, everybody was on there feet now, Mashab wiping tears away from his hardened face. Almerion never would have thought it possible for an Orc of his size and strength to weep like a child, but it was a strange thing losing the ones you love.

"You wouldn't, I know you wouldn't. We all do; even Bardika knows, he's just a bitter old man who needs some one to blame, let him go Marcus, please." She said, leaning into him a little as she added a little more pressure to her grip. He obeyed, letting go of Bardika who slid gasping down to the floor, his hand massaging his neck with both eyes closed and his chest heaving.

Slowly he moved away; guided by Emily's gentle touch to a side room, he heard the door close behind them as he sat down in a wooden bench under a cobweb covered window, his face buried deep into his hands.

He barely resisted as Emily parted his hands with her own; without force or pressure, just that same gentle touch she had which held so much sway over him. He looked at her, crouched in front of him with tear filled eyes, the light danced off the glazed surface of them in an almost hypnotic intoxicating manner. Neither of them hesitated this time, she moved forwards and they both exhaled in relief -- her warm breath mingled with his cold gasp as their lips met. It was everything and nothing, it satisfied every desire Almerion had but opened up so many more to be fulfilled, each second that passed by seemed to pass too quickly as he relished in every subtle movement of her gentle lips against his.

He was elated, nothing could break him now.



* * *





Almerion lay in the same depressing room beneath the same threadbare sheets as before, but this time it felt like a palace to him, everything around him seemed like a beautiful luxury as he lay there with Emily in his arms with her head resting on his bare chest. They breathed in rhythmic unison as she slept; Almerion usually spent his nights away from his home wherever that home may be, it was the only time he could afford freedom without the risk of being burnt to a cinder by the sun. However, he lay there now not wanting to move, simply staring at the woman in his arms wistfully imagining a life he didn't deserve.

Every so often she would pull the cotton sheets over her head and move a little closer to his body searching for the warmth he no longer emitted, Heddvi had told him that Emily hid her head under the duvet in her sleep every night because of something traumatic she had witnessed as a child when she was pretending to sleep. He didn't know what it was and didn't feel the need to ask at the time, but now he couldn't help but wonder while laying there in paradise.

Slowly she began to stir; exhaling a lungful of warm breath onto his stone cold skin that sent chills through his body, he could generate body heat like most living creature but only when well fed, the opposite forces of warmth and cold mixing on his form had a strange effect on him.

"Marcus?" She asked wearily as she slid her fingers through the tuft of hair that grew on his chest, winding her fingers through it as she ran her nails against his skin. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Not long, but you should try to rest you've had a long day." He whispered back, taking her hand in his as he sat up a little. He suddenly had the uncomfortable feeling they where being watched.

"No I think not, I keep dreaming of shadows standing over me, I wont be able to sleep until I can shake it off." She said as she sat up and looked at Almerion with one eye closed -- one half of her hair was extraordinarily flat from where she was lying, the other part was stuck up at all angles because of the way Almerion had been stroking it.

"Shadows?" He asked as she slid off the bed and walked to a large jug of water resting on a dressing table on the opposite side of the room, her legs shone brightly in the candlelight, the top halves of her thighs just about covered by the tunic she had stolen from Almerion to sleep in which was many sizes to big for her petite frame.

"Yes, watching and whispering to me. I don't know what they are saying but I remember being uncomfortable in my dream, it was a strange one." She turned to face him and leaned against the dresser with both legs crossed and both hands clasped around a sweating glass of water -- her fingers just visible past the large cuffs of Almerions tunic.

"It sounds strange, but pay no mind to it, dreams are just that. They cannot harm you, come lay with me again." Almerion said holding a hand out towards her, she smiled widely and began walking teasingly across the room towards him then hesitated and stood rooted to the spot, staring out of the windows. "What is it?"

"The shadow from my dream? I see it on the bridge to Jonah's room?" She whispered breathlessly, her eyes wide with fear as all the colour drained from her delicate features. "Come to me Marcus, make it look natural."

He obeyed her and crawled from the bed, walking over he threw his arms around her and swayed on the spot with her as if dancing, slowly turning her away from the window so he could look for him self, forcing a fake laugh as he did.

"Do you see it? It looked like its made out of the rain." She whispered, turning her face up towards his with a concerned expression.

"Yes I see it, don't worry I'll go and check it out in a second." He said as he kissed her frowning brow with a smile. He understood the need to look natural while in the room together, if whatever it was had reason to believe they had spotted it, it would flee and any chances of investigating it would be lost.

With a final laugh and a kiss he left her standing in the centre of the room as he pushed the door to the walkway open. The wind and rain rushed through the open door with a haunting howl, the storm wasn't natural, Almerion could feel something strange as the rain glanced off his cold flesh.

"I'll be back in a second, I'm going to go and find us something to drink!" He called back into the room with a laugh and a smile as he bowed down against the rain with his arms crossed. The rain washed over him as the cold penetrated him, the wooden planks that made up the walk way rattled under the constant assault from a ferocious ungodly wind, he nearly fell over the edge of the narrow walkway to the second building as one particularly powerful gust forced its way between the two narrow buildings.

He could see the 'ghost' in his peripheral vision, it wasn't a ghost at all but it was definitely real; he could see the light bending around a physical body. Without the barrage of rain he would have gone unnoticed, it was quite an effective Chameleon spell after all. Without warning Almerions hand shot out to where the neck would be, there was little resistance to be offered, just a drawling exuberant laugh.

"Gabrielle." Almerion muttered as the chameleon spell dropped and his former mentors laughing face was revealed. He hadn't changed a bit, every thing about him was the same as when they had parted. He still wore the same velvet over coat and breaches as well as the thrilled tunic and buckled shoes. "What are you doing here..?"

"Oh Almerion, I have oh so missed you. I thought I would pop in an come to claim what is mine." He said with a smile as if greeting an old friend, Almerion didn't return a smile, he just tightened his grip and scowled. "I mean you Almerion, you belong to me."

"I belong to no one!" He shouted, shoving Gabrielle along the wall a little as he resisted lashing out at the more powerful vampire.

"Then explain everything, I am your maker I drank your blood and you drank mine. We are forever connected no matter what you do. You have seen it in your dreams you crave power and chaos just like me!" He said with a smile, something glinted behind his empty malicious eyes then a sudden realisation dawned upon Almerion.

"YOU!" He shouted, shaking Gabrielle by the neck with both hands, his nails breaking into the skin under the force of his tightening grip. "You're the one who planted those things in my mind, you're the one who manipulated my thoughts in the prison! You're the one who made me crave power and chaos and evil, not me, you're the monster!"

He was half relieved and half furious, relieved because the thoughts where not his own but furious because Gabrielle had been able to break through his defences so effortlessly and undetected. Almerion hadn't even felt his presence.

"Oh no Almerion, there's no way you can prove that at all, I didn't do a thing. I plead not guilty, I will not stand for these outrageous accusations." He said laughing all the while, Almerion snarled animalistic through the blanket of rain almost enveloping them then did something neither of the two vampires expected.

He forced Gabrielles head back and attacked the ice cold arteries, drinking the half congealed blood that seeped out like a black treacle. The taste was even more disgusting than the sickening texture but it served the purpose Almerion had intended it to. As he swallowed the blood disturbing images began flashing through his mind; images of Gabrielle standing in the neighbouring cell to Almerion muttering strange unknown words under his breath, images of Gabrielle stood over his sleeping body in the Bravil safe house, Images of Gabrielle feeding on an unconscious Jonah. What was more disturbing to Almerion was that the images he saw when feeding on mortals where usually accompanied by emotions they felt for those particular memories, but with Gabrielle there was just a suffocating cold, a black void like emptiness.

Almerion felt his strength growing with every drop he consumed; he felt unstoppable, un-opposable. A juggernaught full of pure relentless power and no where to direct it, then as he tried to draw away the strength failed, he felt weaker than ever before as it all seemed to drain from him and return to Gabrielle. He tried to push away to escape but he could break free, Gabrielle bit down on Almerions wrist and images of his own memories began flashing through his eyes, images of running through the swamp away from Gabrielle, images of meeting Emily, loving her, kissing her. Images of his brother asking for Almerion to make him a vampire.

"Remember Almerion, there is nothing you can hide from me, I will always find you. I do not have to hunt you forever? there are always Alternatives." He whispered in the Nords ear, then without warning Almerion shot backwards with a force never before seen by mortal eyes. He crashed through the wooden wall of his bedroom but this did not slow him -- he carried on moving, penetrating the far wall he passed through back out into the rain, hitting the sodden mud floor metres away from the safe house and slid for meters more before coming to a stop beneath the shadow of a large woman.

Yes my child, we know your destiny, we feel you searching for us, we crave your love. a woman's voice whispered to him as he lay in the mud staring up at a moss covered statue of a woman said to grant luck to those who pray to it. This was the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness.

* * *

You better carry this through...
I love it!

omg, the night mother is going to make an appearance?! lol Another awesome chapter, Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Not saying. And vampires dont do thanksgiving, they do thanks.. they eat people.

Hey, I'm just anxious to read the next chapter I was wondering when it might be released. It's been awhile lol :hehe:

The lack of feedback has kinda killed my enthusiasm, I have been writing it just not as often. This last chapters been absolutely killing me aswell. But I plan to post up a treat with the next chapter to make up for the time its taken me

well I'm looking forward to it, thanks for the update

Don't let that get you down, you have to go by the readership count, (not just comment count) - you have had 917 readers, that is good. The comments are down right now because of the season too, a lot of people are having less time to read/comment right now. Your writing is Awesome, I would keep posting and not let it get to you.

Do you copy your story and post it on any other sites? The FanFiction site in my signature is a good one, I post on here, then copy it and post it on there. They have a graph that tells you how many readers you get per day, plus tells what countries are reading your story.

You are too good a writer, don't give up!

Can't wait for the update!

Thanks

And no I didnt know, but I'll definately sign up and post it over there aswell once i finish this next chapter.

Argh!!!! Sorry about how late this chapter is. I started writing it before christmass and with the crazyness of christmass/new years/my birthday and a sudden heap of work I barely got anything done. To add insult to injury I totally lost interest in writing this Fanfiction after being away for it for so long, I lost my ideas book so I forgot where i was goign with the chapters and what I had planned, I found myself in a dry spring of creative juices, nothing came out. I sat staring at the screen with total writers block. This chapters was serious torture so I apologise if it seemed rushed in places, I just wanted to get this one of out of the way so i can get to the juicy stuff.

Good news is, to make up for the wait involed with writing it, Its over 13 a4 pages long. Enjoy! And as always, feedback/suggestions and questions are encouraged and appreciated!



IC:








Chapter Thirteen: Visions of things to come





3 E 04, Bravil





Gabrielle had left Bravil and the storm went with him, following in his wake flooding the lands wherever he tread. Almerion lay now in shallow hay bed beneath the chapel; he'd been there for three days falling in and out of consciousness, the healers worked day and night to repair his wounds and broken bones. It turned out that they owed more than a few favours to the thieves guild and where more than happy to repay a few in order to heal the vampire that, under normal circumstances, they would have burnt alive.

Emily hadn't left his side for a minute, Mashab and Emmanuel checked in three times a day and even Bardika had visited, though only once. It took nearly all of Almerions remaining strength to stop Mashab and Emmanuel following Gabrielle into the wilderness, into their own doom, but eventually they calmed down and concentrated on a few tasks that where a little more productive of their time.

"I have on more favour to ask of you." Emily said quietly to the healer weaving magicka through Almerions body knitting the broken bones back together. Usually Almerion would have healed completely in a matter of hours but Gabrielle's blood had robbed him of his strength. However, now that the blood had worked its way out of his system he was healing at a considerable rate. "Our friend died, we'd transport him back to the Imperial city for a Burial but it's just not safe any more, we where wondering if we could bury him here in your under croft?"

The healer paused for a second, her nose twitching as if Emily was just a fly proving to be a minor annoyance, then she carried on. Dripping beads of blue and white light from her fingertips, which fell slowly as they formed thin tendrils that coiled around Almerions damage body, then, penetrated the surface of his skin to repair the internal wounds.

"We will pay." Almerion said -- placing a badly bruised hand on the healers scrawny wrinkled hand to force her attention to him. She looked up slowly as if being torn away from an interesting chapter of an astonishing book, her bloodhound like eyes staring into Almerions piercing blue with curiosity as they colour shifted to red every few seconds against the candle light.

"We don't need money." She said simply, slipping her hand from Almerions grasp like a snake. Without a seconds delay she was back to work, doing what she did best, healing. Almerion couldn't help but wonder why such an anti-social person bothered working for the Chapel at all.

"Everybody has their price." A gravely voice said as the mountain sized form of Mashab entered the room, Emmanuel following shortly behind with a folded piece of parchment in his hand. "And Emmanuel here has found yours."

The Orc sat himself down on the edge of the bed a few inches away from Emily who was sat with Almerions head resting on her crossed legs, both Emily and Almerion looked at Mashab with intrigue as he retrieved the parchment from Emmanuel who was sat on a stool just behind the healers shoulder.

"We have here a missing persons report filed by you five days ago to the city guard. It says your Primate has gone missing, one Latithe Hlambaru?" Emmanuel said as Mashab passed the now attentive healer the piece of parchment.

"How did you get this?" She asked with a false look of disinterest on her wrinkled vulture like face, though her eyes told a different story, they where darting back and forth from the parchment to the thieves around her.

"There isn't anything that we can't get ma'am, we find your primate you lay our brother to rest. Do we have a deal?" Emmanuel said promptly as he snatched the report back out of her hand and folded it up.

"Ok fine, it's a deal, now leave so I can finish what I'm doing here. All of you." She said waspishly, waving them out.






* * *







Almerion walked through the streets with a slight limp; his broken bones and cuts where all healed but he was left with a dull ache that shot through his body with every step he took, Mashab had to help him walk along the bog like floor. Emily and Emmanuel where up ahead in a pool of torch light near the city gates, sat atop a rickety wooden cart with two horses at the front, it was meant for nothing more than transporting produce from a nearby farm on market days but they had managed to 'acquire' it for their upcoming task.

With a little help from Mashab, Almerion clambered up onto the back of the cart next to Emily and across from Emmanuel, the Orc went up to the front and took the reins. Emily smiled ruefully and placed a hand on Almerions bad leg, Emmanuel just stared up ahead visualising what they where up against.

It could have been any thing, they had searched for two whole days for information after Almerion was released from the care of the Chapel healer, the only bit of information they got was the location -- an unnamed Aylied ruin a few hours north of Bravil. What was in there waiting for them was yet to be decided.

An hour came and went as they travelled through the countryside in idle silence; none of them wanting to speak first as they thought about what was coming. To Almerions surprise it was Emmanuel, the quietest member of the group, who broke the silence as he picked up a long package wrapped in cloth.

"Here, we might need these." He said as he unfolded the cloth to reveal three silver long swords and a mace. Mashab held his hand out over his shoulder and closed it around the handle of the mace with a chuckle when Emmanuel handed it to him, then Almerion and Emily retrieved their own weapons and tested them in their own ways. Emily by jabbing the blade into the wooden cart floor to see how sharp It was, Almerion by balancing the blade on two fingers to see how well crafted it was. Very well crafted it seemed, or at least that's what he thought as the blade balanced perfectly on his fingers -- the weight distribution between hilt and blade was seamless.

"Where did you get these?" Almerion asked curiously, as he studied the edge of his blade closely, looking for any kinks or dents, though there were not any. If he was correct in his assumption, the swords had never once been used before.

"Stole them from the guard barracks along with that missing persons report we took a few days back, thought we might need them." Emmanuel said distractedly, his attention was almost solely focused on his weapon.

"Good call, but I hope we won't need them." Emily said with a nonchalant smile, she was leaning against Almerion now, her head moving against his chest with the gentle to and fro of the cart as it traversed the uneven country road through the darkness with only the moon to guide their way. "I'll just hide behind Mashab if something jumps out."

"I'll do my best to stay stood up then." Mashab called back with a chuckle. "Anybody mind taking over for a while? My arms are going to sleep holding these reins."

Almerion obliged, giving Emily a quick smile as he jumped over the wooden board separating the drivers seat, well... bench, from the cargo part of the cart. Mashab sighed with relief as he stepped over and spread out in the back, lying across the bench Almerion was sat on which Emily had left vacant to join Almerion up front.

"I thought you might need a keen eye to help see where you're going." She said with a smile, burrowing her way under Almerions arm so she could rest against his chest again, he laughed a little and gave her a questioning look as she turned her eyes up to him. "Oh, I forgot, Vampires can see in the dark."

They travelled on through the night in high spirits, Emmanuel and Mashab talked and laughed behind Almerion and Emily; Almerion couldn't quite figure Emmanuel out, when he talked to him it was like getting blood from a stone, but when it was anybody else he was all words. Occasionally they had to quickly hide their weapons as Almerion spotted an approaching Legionnaire patrol or checkpoint but they managed to talk their way through each one with nothing but polite smiles, Almerion couldn't help but wonder if Emily's presence helped convince the guards that they where really travelling and not up to no good.

Eventually though Almerion spotted, something that was very out of place a large white marble shrine surrounded by pillars basked in light, though the source of the light could not be seen. He drew back on the reins and the cart slowly came to a halt as the horses neighed in protest.

"Why are we stopping?" Emily asked in a worried voice, craning her neck to try and find what ever it was Almerion was looking at, Emmanuel and Mashab crawled up behind them and followed his line of sight but none of them could see it.

"A shrine of some sort? It's glowing?" Almerion said hypnotically sliding from his seat onto the cold hard ground of the road. He was transfixed; it seemed to call out to him, encouraging him to take another step closer as his mind told him to take even more back away from it. Emily and Emmanuel jumped out and began following him; he could see their mouths moving but did not hear any of their words. They looked as if they where pleading him to stop as he walked transfixed to the shrine, his legs working against his brain which begged them to turn and run.

At last, he reached the shrine; it was calling out to him, telling him to touch it. The symbols carved into basin swirled and moved, transforming and joining together to breed new images and letters, he was reminded of his first time seeing the stain glass windows as a vampire, the way the images seemed to stare down at him, comfort him.

He reached out, touched the shrine, and felt a sudden jolt in his midriff as the shrine pulled him in, he closed his eyes tightly trying his best to fight the sensation that he was flying through the air at great speeds. When he opened them again he found nothing but clouds in front of him, his hand outstretched as if touching something by the shrine was no longer there, Neither was the floor. He looked down with a sudden boiling panic rising in his stomach as he saw where he was, floating miles above the Imperial city. He tried to run but he didn't move forwards, instead he fell with a scream and his vision was clouded with a sudden torrent of flashing blurred images and visions.

The images got clearer, he had a flash of himself sat across from a woman cradling a small baby and a diary to her chest, a flash of a rotten female head on a silver plate, a gold clad demon battling with an armoured man. They slowed down and he began to see them in stark contrast, he felt pain and fear from them as he watched a fire mouthed metallic demon crashing through city walls, hundreds of demonic creatures pouring in behind it, slaughtering everything in their path as the city fell. Then a wide gaping jaw, a rip through reality itself and waterfall of pure fire in an archway gate of daedric ebony. Finally, it slowed down, he saw a mountain of ice covering a tower of silver and marble, the landscape was covered in snow. a gateway opened at the base of the mountain revealing a passage to the inner sanctum of the tower, he saw a women on an ebony throne, she spoke to him as her beauty dazzled him, he heard a million beautiful words of temptation but only two of them stuck in his mind, a name.

The Blood Matron.






* * *





He woke up five minutes later on the back of the cart; he could feel a dull ache in his back where he had been dragged haphazardly over rocks and fallen branches by Emily and Emmanuel, Both where sat over him, staring into his face, Emily with worry Emmanuel with mild curiosity.

"What happened?" Almerion asked groggily sitting up slowly in between a frantic looking Emily and a pensive looking Emmanuel on the back of their cart. He looked around the landscape as they bounced over potholes and dips in the road but he could not see the shrine.

"I don't know, you just touched it then collapsed, we where worried something serious had happened." Emily said, rubbing a clammy hand across his brow as if testing for a temperature. Emmanuel tapped Mashab on the shoulder who then passed back pigskin of water.

"What was that thing?" Almerion asked, accepting the pigskin from Emmanuel but didn't drink, he was a vampire, the only liquid that would help his recoveries was blood.

"A way shrine of the gods, there's a lot of them dotted about the country side. People pray at them on their pilgrimages before returning to civilised life." Emmanuel said quietly, not bothering to elaborate on why he knew such things. "We're nearly there, but the sun rises in two hours, we won't be able to make a return trip."

He did not look at Almerion as he said it; an uncomfortable silence rang out around them, and nobody made eye contact with anybody. As heads lulled from side to side under the influence of an uneven road and large, white, ivy covered statue of an angelic creature broke the thick black shadows in the distance. Large spiral like stair cases flanked it to both sides, leading down to a stone door with a black skull painted onto it, the plant life grew relentlessly unabated around the ancient Aylied structure, though signs of disturbances to the vegetation could be plainly seen on the approach to the entrance.


"Do you know exactly what we're up against?" Almerion asked as they lurched to a stop, rocking forwards with the sudden drop in momentum on the horse's part. The group jumped from the cart onto a collection of broken dead twigs and leaves. as Almerion got closer he could see the disturbances in the plant life was more than just carelessness on the part of anybody walking through to the structure, the very life seemed to have drained from them, the once bright green leaves and warm brown branches where now a putrid grey.

"Necromancers?" Mashab muttered, the fug of his breath shooting out into the cold air blurring his face in the faint light of the twin moons. "Judging by the skull, Have you ever dealt with Necromancers?"

"No? But I'm a quick learner." Almerion muttered, grasping the hilt of his sword a little tighter as they moved slowly forward to the door, all with bated breath and painstaking care. Almost as if anticipating their approach, the door opened by itself, revealing a blue glowing light emanating from the ancient Aylied crystals and stones within. "Well? we've come this far haven't we?"

A smell of dull rot and dust met with Almerions senses with an uncomfortable wretch of his stomach, Undead? he thought to himself as he stalked through the shadows, hugging the wall away from the crumbling masonry at the edge of a long curving stair case.

Each step they took brought them closer to something each of them would rather run from, Almerion could hear the sound of metal creaking and slamming against stone. As they rounded the corner Emily gasped and Mashab visibly clenched every muscle he had, Almerion was surprised the iron plates of his armour didn't fly off under the strain of his collective bulk.

A large bridge spanning the distance over what looked to be a bottomless pit stood before them -- large metal blades falling to the floor one after another before rising up to repeat the motion, Aylied defences, Almerion swallowed silently.

"Ok? Now what?" Mashab whispered, though there was no need to do so, they could safely shout and the falling clanging blades would have drowned out their voices to anybody within earshot.

"We carry on." Emmanuel said with an air of cool grace and focus, without another word he proceeded forwards quickly, hopping over the first blade then ducking under the second as it rose up inches away from his face, it was more like a primal animalistic dance than a way of moving through unharmed. Almerion was impressed, very impressed.

The rest followed a little haphazardly and a lot more hesitantly than Emmanuel who was already scouting ahead with sword drawn. Almerion ducked quickly under a rising rust covered guillotine blade but paused when he heard a crashing noise not consistent with the sounds made by the Aylied death tools. He turned almost in slow motion, his hair whipping around his face in a non-existent wind as he spotted Mashab's fallen form on the floor, one of the blades hanging above him ready to drop at any second.

He and Emily acted instinctively, pouncing forwards barely avoiding the dropping blade they had just passed, the next blade was about to drop -- it was going to hit Mashab, that couldn't happen. Almerion dived forward and grasped Mashab's outstretched hand in both of his and moved backwards slowly at first due to his massive bulk added to his plated armour, then faster as Emily frantically gripped Almerions shoulders in a vice like grip and pulled back with him. Dragging backward to get Mashab's body from under the slamming blade just in time to save his ability to walk.

They paused, panting in the dark cold air -- Emily and Mashab both had small clouds of fug blurring their faces as their breath fought a battle with the stinging cold but Almerions made no such commitment, it was already as cold as ice.

Once they gathered their mettle, they carried onwards, passing under the final guillotine -- Emily and Almerion for a second time, Mashab for a first -- to meet with Emmanuel on the other side, who was pacing onwards with a painstakingly careful gait and furrowed brow. His knuckles as white as his Ra'Gadan skin would allow as he gripped the hilt of his blade almost as if trying to choke the life from the inanimate object.

When Almerion had caught up with the Redguard he realised what had made him so tense; they stood on a balcony, over looking a vast room filled with tables, each table burdened with mutilated body parts and reconstructed skeletons, which surprisingly weren't the grizzliest of things to be seen. Dotted around the room in an attempt at strategic positioning where a number of groaning creaking corpses, all slowly rotting on their feet, leaking fluids from every inch of flesh.

In the distance at the very end of the room below Almerion could just make out a figure behind a barred cell door, his wrists chained to the floor at either side of him, his head covered with a rough cloth sack.

"Is that him? The man we've come for?" Emily whispered in-between Emmanuel and Almerion, her tiny frame just able to squeeze between them, Mashab on the other hand had to crane his neck to see above them both while still trying to remain out of sight.

"Must be, I wonder what they are planning to do to him?" Emmanuel muttered, the fug of his breath shooting out in front of Almerions face, blurring everything in sight.

"Let's try not to stick around long enough to find out. What's the plan?" Mashab muttered, lowering his head back down, sweat beading on his dull green skin.

"I only see one Necromancer -- he might be controlling the undead, if we drop him the corpses might stop walking." Almerion whispered into the thicket of anxious looking faces floating around him, "Unless there's more beyond this room, either way we don't have enough time to plan, I saw we take a chance and test our luck."

The others nodded together, all setting their game faces -- determination anxiety fear and anticipation mixed into one set in stone expression on all four of the differently constructed faces. Almerion though it strange that no matter what racial heritage you bore, fear always looks the same on every face.

They began to move, stalking through shadows, slowly at first but faster with each step. Each breath Almerion took weakened his resolve but strengthened his stride, he had never before faced a necromancer -- he had only heard tales of their dark repute. Then, as they reached the bottom of the staircase, he let out a blood-chilling shout and began to run.

He made a beeline straight for the Necromancer; his shout played its part in his plan, startling the wizened old mage who looked up with colour drained eyes and putrid grey flesh. Almerion rose his sword, cutting through the thick rot laden air like a stone through water, the necromancer grinned.

Bodies moved around him, blurred and distorted, colour drained from his peripheral vision -- he only saw the necromancer and the dark shine behind his eyes. The sword came down with a flash of silver and a laugh, it flew from his hand as a towering mass of rotten flesh and decaying bone collided with him.

The zombies moved faster than he had expected.

He struggled against the mort flesh, he held his breath as the corpse rattled out its own -- burning his nostrils with a smell, he had never before witnessed. Another movement blurred in his peripheral vision -- a sword coming down into the thick layers of mould and decay lining the undead creatures back. It faltered for a second -- its expressionless inhuman face turning to look at the distraction, the blow had barely phased it but it was enough for Almerion to break free of its demented grip.

His fist shot upwards, repeatedly beating away at the half-exposed jawbone. Pushing it upwards, until the teeth shattered and shards of bone pelted Almerions face. He carried on, beating and beating away at the underside of the beasts head -- punching a deep welt into what used to be the roof of the zombies mouth.

More shouts resounded around him, he could not make them out, he was lost in a pool of adrenaline -- struggling desperately to destroy his aggressor without a weapon. He kept punching, concentrating on that one area, that weak defenceless area.

At last, he broke through the bone; it splintered and cut into the taughtened skin stretched over his clenched fist. His stomach jolted unpleasantly as brain matter leaked out, but the creature still moved, still tried to regain its composure and over power him.

Almerion reacted to the corpses sudden resolve to regain the upper hand and pushed his hand up through the hole, wriggling his fingers against the maggoty dead flesh, tearing through it with dirt covered fingernails, pulling at anything he could find.

It dropped to the floor with a shudder.

He looked up, he saw Emily, running to the door with Mashab, both carrying the half-dead prisoner between them, supporting his malnourish frame.

"Go on without me! I'll hold him off!" Emmanuel cried, Almerion turned to see him grappling with the Necromancer who's weak looking form hid his strength well, bolts of lightning and spiralling tendrils of fire shot from the mages finger tips -- trying desperately to hit the Redguard who stood holding both hands away at different angles by his wrists.

"Not a chance!" Almerion muttered, scooping down to retrieve his fallen weapon as he stepped over the sprawled corpse of the zombie. Weaving between upended tables and chairs and nearly slipping over discarded organs of freshly recovered bodies.

A warm trickle of blood ran over the Vampires hand, slowing in its dash for freedom, as the heat was lost to the cold flesh. The Necromancer gasped as Almerion pulled the sword from his ribs, he looked down at his wound, his face a picture of shock and pain, eyes wide and mouth gapping. But it wasn't the wound that claimed him, his left arm dropped, and the left hand side of his face drooped down as a fire burned through his mind.

Almerion watched as he slid down the wall, his mind burning under the onslaught of a life claiming stroke, slowly the light in his eyes faded and his last breath escaped him with a shudder of his chest.





* * *






Bravil





"I think we should go on a trip." Emily's playful voice whispered, her breath against Almerion's ear sending a shiver down his spine which then mitigated itself throughout his lower back, causing his hairs to stand on end. "See the countryside? Relax, enjoy the sunshine, brown our skin a little."

Almerion smiled a dark smile of irony at her suggestion of soaking up the sun -- the reality of it was, he would definitely tan faster than anyone he know, but unfortunately he'd also burn alive.

They were sat in the chapel under croft again, this time it wasn't Almerions wounds being tended to, they were here to check on the man they had save. It had been over a week and he had only just woken up after his soul decaying ordeal -- but unlike most men who would walk out of a situation like that scarred and traumatised, he saw the world again through bright enthusiastic eyes filled to the brim with a renewed faith, not in the gods, but in his fellow man.

"To risk your lives for an old man, I'm just about finished on Nirn, you could have forgotten about me and walked away but you didn't! You came and you saved me. Truly Mara has blessed you all for your bravery." The old mans voice said from his bed on the opposite side of the room, he was surrounded by fussing healers and worried members of his congregation. Emmanuel and Mashab both stood a silent vigil outside the chapel each night, perhaps they saw it as repayment for their sins, saving a dying old man and protecting him in his sleep. Almerion though it was pointless, he had said it himself, he was ready to leave this world for the next.

"What do you think?" Emily's voice came again, her nails running gently down the back of Almerions neck, sending a torrent of goose bumps over hiss skin, the feeling was quite elating, since he had been turned nothing of the sort had ever happened -- his humanity drained every day he spent with Gabrielle, but now he was with Emily he felt more alive every minute.

"I think that's a fantastic idea -- but I don't fancy my chances against the daylight truth be told, more of a moonlight person if I'm honest." He whispered back, trying his best not to earn another reprising look from the wizened old healer who had seen to his wounds after his last encounter with Gabrielle.

"Oh your no fun!" She teased again, elbowing him in the ribs with a fake scowl which lasted for all about five seconds before she burst out laughing -- earning herself a startled look from the old healer who had been reserving it for Almerion. It was one of the things he most enjoyed about Emily, he had spent all his life around regimental types -- first his father then his brother. Both legionnaires, both serious and strict. But here he was, sat with a beautiful woman who couldn't keep a straight face. "Leave at sundown?" she added as she finally regained control and the laughter slowly crept away, through it tried to make a resurgence past her struggling lips, which twitched as she tried to keep the laughter down.

"Sundown it is." Almerion said, his face breaking into a smile of his own, which goaded Emily into another fit of laughter as the old healer shot from her seat and waved them from the room furiously.




* * *






Near the Inn of Good Will





Almerion laughed into the night, he was elated. They had been travelling for two hours by horse back, they where headed for the gold coast but he'd promised to make a stop at Skingrad to show Emily his old home and Vineyard.

He watched her fondly, her energy and attitude was rubbing off on him. They had decided to take the last few miles of the trip to the Inn by foot and stretch their legs before the booked a room, the sun was making its ascent into the heavens -- light began to mingle with the darkness of the sky on the crest of the horizon, but all Emily could do was laugh as she went out of her way to stand on the dried out fallen leaves, each one crunching under her feet.

"I'm not mad you know." She said matter-of-factly, jumping forward a few feet onto another dried out old leaf. "I used to do this as a kid when we moved from town to town, before I joined the thieves guild. It was just me an Jonah back then, he took me under his wing as an apprentice thief, but he was useless -- I cant count the amount of times he'd gotten us caught." She finished with a laugh, her hair whipping around her face as she turned to look back at Almerion.

"It's a wonder you go into the thieves guild at all with luck like yours." Almerion replied, rolling his cheeks to regain the feeling in them that was stolen by too much laughter. He looked up at the horizon again -- a sense of urgency to reach shelted began to creep into his chest, but as he looked at Emily all he wanted to do was stay out in the open air with her and enjoy the day like he no longer could.

"That's rich, all you did to join the thieves guild was kill a bunch of vampires in the sewers. Anybody with a tooth pick could have pulled that off!" She laughed, jumping forward to avoid Almerions hand as he reached out to playfully hit her in the arm for her slander. "Look's like we're here." She finished, as they broke through the final few tree's and a large wooden building met their eyes, the sign hanging down in front of them confirmed they had found the right place.

"The Inn of Good will eh?" Almerion muttered as they began to tie their horses into the customer stable, he noted that the feeding trays where full as was the water barrel for the horses. Whoever owned the inn ran a tight ship. "Lets hope all who stay here as blessed with it."

"Yeah, I hope so. Otherwise we'll end up on a mission to save a blind monk from a colony of trolls."

"Trolls?"

"Well, necromancers are bound to get boring. All I want to do is steal again -- its thrilling but not life threatening. I miss the simple days of breaking into legion barracks to get dirt on the captains of the watch. Black mail was always a favourite of mine."

She laughed openly as they entered the Inn, they where met with a flowery scent of lavender and elderflower and a sudden warmth of a roaring fire. He walked forwards with her, towards an old looking Breton who somewhat resembled a blood hound.

"Welcome! To the Inn of Goodwill, may your stay here spread fortune to you and all those you hold dear!" He said rather exuberantly, his false tone of excitement was betrayed by the fatigue in his eyes. "Would you like and food? Drink?"

"Just a room thank you." Almerion said, pulling out a sack filled with different sized coins. "For one night."

"I'll just need you to sign in on the guest book, and that will be ten coins for the both of you." The Breton said, obviously relieved that he wouldn't be cooking or serving drinks to them. Almerion imagined he hadn't been awake for long.

He took the quill and pulled the large leather bound guest book towards him and began to sign his name, noting the dates and times between each visitor -- this wasn't a popular in.

"Marcus eh?" The Breton said, handing over a rusted old key. "There's a man here said he's been waiting for you to arrive. He's sat just over there in the corner."

Almerion turned, following the Bretons grubby outstretched finger, over to the corner of the room where sat a well dressed man, a thrilled cravat and blue velvet riding coat over matching breaches. The strawberry gold coloured hair glistened in the light of a guttered candle.

"Go upstairs. Lock the door behind you." Almerion said, handing Emily the key to the room as he pushed her towards an uneven looking stair case. "Go!"

Emily didn't need telling twice, she looked at Almerion with a pair of wide worrying eyes, her stare lingering on him for just a moment before they ran over the man in the corner as she moved up the flight of stairs.

"What are you doing here." Almerion said bluntly as he walked to Gabrielles table, not offering a greeting of smile as his former mentor did, who sat with his arms spread wide, his teeth shining brightly in the candlelight. "How did you find me here."

"I beg your pardon but I was here first, seems' like you found me doesn't it?" Gabrielle said, that same impish grin that used to amuse Almerion flashing across his face, forcing a coiling serpent of anger to rise in Almerions chest before it wrapped around his withered heart.

"What do you want." He spat, showing no patience for Gabrielle's cryptic games or light hearted attitude.

"To talk, please, sit." Gabrielle replied lightly, holding his hand out to the chair opposite. Almerion, realising it would be over with quicker if he didn't resist, took up his offer and pulled the chair from under the table.

"They should call this place the Inn of Ill Omen, meeting you here is hardly good will." Almerion muttered, his hand shaking on the waxed and polished surface of the old oak table.

"Oh pish posh, stop acting like an angry child. I'm here to offer an olive branch, a dead dove, a white flag of peace. Whatever you want to call it. It's not the same without you Almerion -- I miss the old days, the parties, the women, the debauchery and slaughter. Do you not?"

"No." Almerion said simply, his single syllable word carrying more truth in it than any word Gabrielle had ever said.

"Almerion, my dearest brother and friend. I worry for you. You've managed to stitch yourself into a tapestry of a long lost humanity you no longer need. Your better than this, stronger. Let me help you pull out the thread of this most vile predicament, free you from this banner of hypocrisy. A vampire cannot be a human Almerion, you know this just as well as I." Each word was smoother than silk, charming and appealing -- they weaved in and out of Almerions mind like crisp water through a valley stream.

"You say we feel no humanity, no compassion. But you are wrong, Embrace your lost humanity Gabrielle, feel love like I do, companionship and friendship. These are stronger tools than the sharpest of swords." Almerion replied, trying and failing to inject the same convincing charm into his own words as Gabrielle had done. But he knew it would be lost on the older vampire, his humanity was long buried and dead. "What is it that you want Gabrielle if not friendship? You say you can survive alone but this is the third time you have sought me out to recover our friendship."

"I want improvement, change. Perfection." He whispered, his eyes lost their warm charm and glinted with an ice cold darkness. "To destroy this hate filled world, this poverty stricken empire, this imperfect motley band of dogmatic mongrel like races that inhabit out world. Almerion, together we can find that perfection, evoke that change. I'm going to track down the ones from the old world, take their essence and add it to my own. I will be a god among mortals, and I will right the wrongs of this heinous empire."

"Add their essence to your own? You would seek to destroy this world, for a cause that is lost before it began? You will only find your own destruction on your path for perfection Gabrielle. Your speaking madness!"

"Ah but perfection is seldom seen in creation and improvement; artists try forever to create the perfect painting, the flawless sculpture, but we never think that to find that which is perfect we must destroy that which already exists. Through self destruction I will purify my being and ascend to the perfect form of a god. Through the destruction of this empire I will spark the change and revolution to create a perfect world for us all."

"Do you hear yourself speak? Have you thought about what your saying? This is insanity!" Almerion spat, using all his restraint not to fly up out of his chair and leave Gabrielle sitting in his corner alone. "I will not help you Gabrielle. I shed a tear for the brother you used to be, and hope that your insanity relinquishes its grip on your mind."

"Do not shed a tear Almerion, it would be a pointless tear drop on the fires of industry, no matter how much you weep, the flames will not dim, they will not waver. I ask you Almerion, one last time. Who is it you truly love? That woman upstairs, or your maker? Your brother?"

Almerion sat looking into Gabrielles eyes, a feeling of regret washing over him. His brother, his mentor, isolation had destroyed him, perhaps turning Almerion into his apprentice had been a cry for help. He could only hope Gabrielle would one day allow him to answer the call.

"Its her you love isn't it?" Gabrielle said as Almerion stood to leave, his eyes showing a display of sadness Almerion didn't quite believe. "Then truly, I am sorry for your loss."

If he had a heart beat it would have frozen, I am sorry for your loss, he had said, Almerion instantly thought of Emily and turned to run just as the Inn filled with a thick white fog. He ran frantically across the room, sending chairs skidding across the wooden floor, then just as he turned to sprint up the stairs, the fog enveloped Gabrielle and he disappeared.

He reached the door but it was locked, he hammered his fist against it frantically shouting Emily but no answer came -- he pounded and pounded repeatedly, splinters embedded themselves into his clenched fist.

Then a crash shot through the air as he barged into the door with his shoulder, splintering the wooden door frame as the lock burst from its fixings.

"Ah brother, your just in time. Please, come, try her. She's really quite delicious." His brothers voice said, his real brother -- the Legion captain of fifteen years, the man he had denied immortality, sat over the limp body of Almerions love, Emily, blood ran down her neck from a motley wound of torn flesh. "Don't be shy Marcus, please, join me!" he finished, laughing loudly, his laughed echoed through Almerions mind -- chilling him to the core, blood running down his chin.

"Monster!" The younger brother shouted, charging at his blood soaked now vampire older brother with a snarl.

His fist met flesh, Maximus rolled backwards off the bed with a grunt, his hand over his freshly broken nose. Almerion bent down, tears began to leak -- half salted water half blood -- down his face. He stroked his pale fingers down her mess of blood stained hair, his tears falling onto her colour drained skin.

He scooped her up into his arms, her tiny form dangling lifelessly against his bulk. Turning to leave he found his way blocked, his brother standing in the door way with a malevolent expression on his face.

"No where to run little brother. The sun's rising and we're both stuck in here together. You didn't expect this did you? You really think that I'd let you get away after that humiliation, you cost me my reputation, my job, everything!" He was half shouting half laughing, he wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of a ringed hand, his nails where crusted over with the dried red liquid. "But you didn't expect this. You didn't think Gabrielle would come for me did you?"

"I had an inkling suspicion." Almerion muttered, backing away towards the window, glancing over his shoulder at his horse through the pane of glass. Maximus followed his line of sight and laughed.

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Wouldn't I?" Almerion replied before jumping backwards against the glass. He fell down towards the floor, his stomach weightlessly following him some where above -- or at least that's how it felt. He didn't care if he left his heart be hind as well, all he could care about now was holding as tightly as possible onto Emily.

He hit the floor with a gasp and a shock of stabbing pains as several long shards of glass pierced his back, diving inbetween ribs with ease. His skin tingled unpleasantly as red streaks in the sky mingled with orange and pink clouds -- the beauty of the day was almost mocking him, or paying monument to one of the lost beauties of the world, the woman who lay dead in Almerions arms.

With some effort he pushed himself up, but that was the last thing he remembered clearly, everything else was just a blur, a blurred fragmented series of images, images of himself pushing Emily up onto his horse before clambering up himself. Images of himself on horseback, galloping between whipping branches and falling leave, smoke trailing behind him as the sun scorched his flesh, his skin blackened and purple in places -- other parts nearly reduced to chunks of charcoal.

He didn't now how long it took him to find shelter, but his next coherent thought met him and he found himself in a cave, his skin knitting itself back together, his veins filled with the remainder of Emily's blood. If she wasn't dead before? she was now.

"I'm sorry Emily?" He whispered, hand cradling her head, fingers stroking her hair out of her face as tears dropped down onto her brow. He pulled her towards him in a final embrace, kissing her still warm forehead with his icy cold lips. All he could think about was how much the tears burnt his face.







* * *





Darkness, cold binding and corrupting. Hunger, relentless, clawing an scratching. Revenge. He needed it.


The shadows where his friends and allies as so often they where, together again, working in harmony. Tonight it would happen, and it would happen again and again. He had the hunger now, like he'd never felt it before.

Emily was dead. Gone, lost to the world and its cruelties. He lost a large part of himself with her passing -- a numbness set into the hollow of his chest, a hollow which was once occupied by his feelings for her, by his fond memories and laughter they shared. A numbness that empowered him, that goaded him and protected him. A numbness that hid a much darker nature, a nature that not even Gabrielle knew existed within him.

And his name was Almerion.

Marcus was dead.

After darkness had fell he carried Emily from the cave he had used as shelter and walked for hours -- his horse following nervously behind, it could feel his pain the way all animals could, a strange sixth sense for empathy.

He had wrapped her from head to toe in the blankets they where to use it they ever felt like a moonlit picnic, or if the wind ever bit too hard and they grew cold while travelling. He walked with her, cocooned and protected in his arms, just searching for a spot beautiful enough for her to find peace.

Eventually he did, a pool with a small water fall, surrounded by mushrooms and plants the glowed bright green in the moonlight, illuminating the water in ways that made it almost seem like a dream. It was there that he laid her to rest, floating along the surface of the water in-between the flowers and roots of water plants and trees.

He couldn't keep his mind off it, seeing her for the last time before her body broke the surface of the water and it consumed her, swallowing her to the depths of its body. But he had to concentrate, had to stay focused if he was going to succeed.

Impatiently he looked out from a hole in the book case he was stood behind -- pressed flat between the hulking wooden piece of furniture and the stood wall it stood in front of. It felt like an eternity since he had been in this same room, talking to his brother about being a vampire.

He had picked up two 'women of the night', paid them upfront for their 'services' but told them they where not for him. They understood, they had met men like him before -- who just wanted to watch. So they waited, sitting half naked in their undergarments in Maximus' study.

An age seemed to pass as they waited, examining their talon like painted fingernails -- the rouge of the paint reminded Almerion of the dried blood on Maximus' fingers. Then finally, he arrived.

He paused as he entered the room, eying the two women with suspicion and greed.

"Who are you?" he asked, his eyes wandering across their curved forms, across their ample bosoms and slender legs.

"We're a gift, from your dear friend Gabrielle." The red head said, using the name Almerion had promised was his, acting her part as she moved towards Maximus, biting her lower lip in a show of demure erotica.

He lay in wait. A hunter, a carrion bird, circling the doomed prey from above -- blotting out the sky, casting a shadow over his brother Immortality. He was an eagle, a vulture. He would pick the veins from his brothers body like maggots and worms, he would cut the flesh, tear it, bite it. Inject his pain into him. Share it with him, make him feel for one last time what its like to be desperate for the end to come.

An hour passed. The room was red.

The two women lay dead, every main artery torn open -- blood splashed up on the walls and pooled on the floor around Maximus who stood over them picking his teeth. He sat down and pulled out a pipe, a hand carved cherry pipe that once belonged to their father. He was just where Almerion wanted him.

With an almighty push the book case fell with a wall shaking crash and strangled scream from Maximus, who was now pinned down on his front over the bodies of the two women, his face pressed into their pooling congealing blood on the wooden floor, his hair drenched in the crimson liquid just like Emily's was.

"Do you know why I left two women here?" Almerion said, walking across the back of the book case, pushing his weight down onto his brother back with each step before he dropped down and sat at the edge, a foot on either side of Maximus' head. "Because, the average man or woman had approximately nine pints of blood in their body. Did you know that Maximus? I doubt you did. When you full drain a human, you take half of that blood and store it in your veins, its travels through your dead arteries and renews the flesh we forsake for our Immortal gift. But it doesn't stay in the blood stream -- it is absorbed as a part of the renewal process. That's why I left two women for you Maximus. Two women to make sure you had enough blood stored in your veins."

"Marcus? Please, I'm your brother. Gabrielle forced me into it Marcus I swear it. Please, just let me go and we can talk about it." He said frantically, each word blowing speckles of blood from the pooling puddle around him.

"Talk is cheap Maximus." Almerion said simply, reaching down and pulling Maximus' head back roughly to reveal his neck. With one fluid motion Almerion cut across, severing every sinewy muscle and piece of cartilage, each vein an artery opened up and spewed blood out copiously onto the floor, gurgling bursts of breath coming out periodically from his open wind pipe as he tried to speak. "What does it feel like Marcus? How does it feel for your blood to be drained from your body slowly, how does it feel to loose that warmth to numb cold?"

All he got in reply was a series of desperate slurs and splutters, a gargling noise resounded from his throat and blood bubbled forth from the open wounds on his neck.

"Don't worry Maximus, the blood loss wont kill you. But this will." Almerion said, driving a wooden stake down into the back of his brothers neck, severing the spinal column completely as he let go of his brothers head, letting it fall into the pool of the women's blood with a squelching thud.

"One to go?" Almerion muttered to himself, walking through the blood, dropping the knife to the floor with a clatter. "Where are you Gabrielle?"

* * *

How could you do that? you- you-.......
Brilliant! Gabrielle won't know what hit him... NEXT!

My bad I'm writing it as we speak, But I'm also writing a game review and a news letter so It will either be up tonight or tommorow

ARGH! Poor Emily. I can't say I will eat any breakfast after the last seven paragraphs - Bleah! Awesome write, I only saw one typo - when Emily was running her fingers on his neck you wrote "hiss" - I am pretty sure you meant "his" there. Really great storyline, riveting read !!!

I actually noticed way more typos and grammatical "corrections" made by Microsoft works (I miss word ), and several times I've meant to hit S on my keyboards but hit D instead etc, But I'll be correcting it all on the 2nd proof read after I post up the next chapter. Thanks for the great comments guys I thought I'd be waiting a week before some one noticed I updated

You can't trust Works grammar check at all. Even their spell checker doesn't have a large vocabulary - but if I am not mistaken you can shut off the grammar part. I would, it makes more mistakes than helps, lol.

Well Its so unreliable now that I just ignore it, but I still cant get around the automated "corrections" it makes as your typing. I usually have to fix them when I copy it into the post box

Amazing. I have been hoping you were going to finish the story. And I found this by accident when I did a search. I can't believe Emily is gone though. I can't wait for the next chapter. Keep up the great work.

If you put quotation marks around something it is "auto-correcting" it will keep it the way you typed it, then highlight the word and click "Add" - that takes care of it, but it is a real pain.

I enjoyed it, good job!

Are vampires getting weak over the years canon though?
I can only imagine them getting stronger.

It's never been set in stone confirmed. So until it is I simply interperate whats already there and build upon it, and the vampires getting weaker is usually a given since ancient vampires are always the strongers mofo's around

A quick update and apology -- I have nearly finished the next chapter -- I know I know!! I promised to post it up days ago buy life has got me by the balls at the moment so I'm literally grabbing at free time where an when I can inbetween a hectic work load and looking after my little brother and sister while my parents are in Ireland. I've also mainly been focused on adapting this story into another context -- I've been re-writing it in our own world, starting back in the days of the spanish inquisition, so we can see what effects Almerion and Gabrielle would have on a real world etc. But I promise, I will have the next chapter posted up as soon as I can

I know things have been hectic, that is why I have not bugged you on updating. I hope all is well with your relative.

All is well, he got out of the hospital a few days ago but my parents flight back isnt until thursday

I'm glad they are doing better. Heres to wishing a speedy recovery for them; and my best to you and your family.