With that and his curiosity satisfied for the moment he left me to finish the rest of my meal. For a while I simply sat and stared at the congealing mass of oats in the bowl with my conflicting thoughts running through my head. The last day had left me feeling shaken and I couldn’t keep the memories of what had happened in the shrine away. The sights of blood, death and such overwhelming violence made me shake with a terror that made it impossible to stand. It wasn’t the death or even how close I had come to dying myself several times during the battle but the way I had revelled in the bloodshed. There was no way for me to deny the fact that I had enjoyed every second of it, even when I was nearly dead or severely injured. The throats I had torn out, the bodies I had hacked into pieces and even Camoran’s daughter, who’s face I had eaten didn’t even create the slightest remorse or pity for anything or anyone other than myself. The vampire had taken over my soul, but what concerned me more was maybe it hadn’t corrupted me but instead had released a darker side that I never knew existed.

  The Guild Porter, a grizzled veteran of many years and the wounds and scars to show for it came within minutes of Burz leaving. His face permanently disfigured from a massive gash that had claimed an eye and the hole in his face where his nose should’ve been was hidden behind a leather patch, he was terrifying enough to stop all but the most determined of thieves trying their luck on the guild coffers. Barely even saying a word to me he simply came in, handed me a few sheets of parchment, an inkwell with its wax stopper and quill and simply left again.

  Carefully, and as neatly as I could I wrote out a short missive to Jauffre, thankful that the legion ensured at everyone in its ranks knew more than just killing.

  Jauffre,

  Currently staying at Cheydinhal Fighter’s Guild. Viconia and myself severely injured and receiving treatment for coming days.

  All others believed dead.

  MC escaped with Amulet, unable to follow. Will return once fit to travel.

  Kaius.

  With one of our last gold septims I gave the wax sealed letter to the porter and found myself seated in the room next to Viconia’s bed. There was nothing for me to do while she was still unconscious and my current health meant that I had struggled to walk the handful of metres between our rooms with a body that had since given up trying to ignore the pain. So I busied myself with reading from the handful of books in the guild and dozing in the chair next to her bed.

  She was terribly pale, skin a sickly grey that left her looking more like a Dunmer than a Drow even with her white hair. Wrapped in bandages and showing signs of the poison that had been pumped through her veins she looked strangely fragile and nothing like the tough, hard bitten companion who had travelled by my side for the past month. But she was healing, slowly compared to my unnatural nature but the collections of salves and medicines that Ohtesse and the other healers had used were soaking up the last traces of the poisons and ensuring that her wounds wouldn’t become infected.

  And so I waited, resting lightly and occasional looking over her prone body and contemplating everything that had happened. The more I thought of it the more I came to believe that it wasn’t entirely the vampire’s instincts to survive and to inflict revenge that had led me into the tunnels and caverns near Lake Arrius. I had gone in there seeking Viconia and I knew that there would have been nothing that would’ve stopped me short of death itself from getting to her.

  There was also the question of the abilities that I had used within the caverns, the ability to transform into mist and a flock of bats made me feel uneasy as I remembered the sensations. The untold power of the vampire was one thing; the ability to merge with the darkness, to explode into multitudes of separate entities and change into a cloud was quite something else entirely. I had never heard of such a thing before, even within the realms of alteration and illusion magicka and it was definitely something I had never heard of a Vampire being able to do. But as I supposed, such abilities had never been witnessed by mortals before or if they had it was likely that they were never believed or simply never survived the encounter.

  I decided that the first chance I got I would have to go and try to learn how to use my new abilities and try to gain some form of control over the beast that was consuming my soul. While effective, I didn’t want to go into a situation again where I would lose control as there would be no telling what carnage I would inflict on innocents or more especially; Viconia.

  Viconia slept for nearly the entire day, waking on occasion but never regaining full consciousness until later in the evening. She would open her eyes from time to time, look around the room confused for a few seconds before falling unconscious again. I stayed in the room for the whole day, looking over her and watching the few occasions that someone from the temple would come to check on her and change dressings.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  Dozing lightly as the afternoon deepened I leaned back in my chair, tilting it back until my shoulders were pressed into the wall and my feet were up on the table between me and the door. I had been sitting there for hours but for the moment I simply sat with my eyes closed, arms crossed across my chest and concentrating on listening to my surroundings. With a significant amount of control that left my jaws tingling I called on my new abilities and felt my hearing improve until I could hear the movement of rats in the basement, the sounds of the Fighters outside going about their practice and the multitudes of people walking the streets. I could smell baking goods from several city blocks away, and I knew that if I had opened my eyes at that point I would’ve been able to see the pair of flies buzzing around the doorframe and count their legs from my position five metres away.

  “Sleeping are we?”

  The soft voice next to me broke my concentration and I felt my face relax and the tingling of my jaws and teeth fade away in an instant.

  “Just taking a nap.” I replied, turning and looking over to where Viconia still lay with her head on the pillow. She still looked distinctly unhealthy but there was no hiding the vitality that was making its way back into her features as she lay there. “It’s good to see you awake again.”

  She pushed herself up weakly, bracing her forearms under herself and groaning with the effort and pain from the wounds in her chest. Anticipating her request, I held out a mug full of fresh water which she took from my hand with the tiniest nod of gratitude.

  “How long was I asleep?”

  “The better part of two days. We were found yesterday on the way back to the city by some of the local Guildsmen and they brought us back here and sent for healers.”

  I watched as she suddenly heaved, simultaneously groaning from the pain and forcing herself not to throw up. “I thought that they had killed you.”

  “For a while there they nearly succeeded with both of us.”

  Carefully she sat up a little bit higher and clutched at the mass of bandages around her chest. Other than the salves and the cloth wrappings she wore little else and it was hard not to notice the strong, athletic body underneath the injuries and bruising. “What happened?”

  I looked around and allowed the vampire to come to the surface just enough to ensure that there wasn’t anyone in earshot. Satisfied that no one was within the vicinity I looked over to her and felt strangely guilty. “They captured you, Mankar Camoran escaped with the amulet and I may have lost control over myself."

  The silence between us dragged out painfully long as she stared ahead into nothingness. “When you say that you lost control… How exactly?”

  “I killed them all.”

  She looked over to me and stared for a moment, studying my expression and the guilt that I was obviously showing. “I don’t see that as a bad thing.”

  “It wasn’t the fact that I killed them all, but the way I did so. I ripped them apart, drank their blood and even ate their flesh.” I felt sick remembering how I had bitten Camoran’s daughter’s face off and how exquisite it had tasted as I swallowed.

  “But you got me out of there.” Conflicting emotions waged a war beneath the surface of her waxy, pale skin. “and I am thankful for that.”

  “You pulled me from Oblivion, so I think we are even now.”

  “I merely dragged you up a few flights of stairs. You came in and rescued me and managed to get me to healers. That’s… That’s a bit different.”

  She looked over the mass of bandages and the tiny spots of blood that were beginning to seep through the cloth from where her movements had reopened the wounds. “How bad was I injured?”

  “Punctured lung, broken ribs, perforated bowel, assorted internal haemorrhaging and of course a blood stream filled with enough toxins to have killed an orc.”

  The silence dragged out again and her fingers pressed lightly into her bandage covered stomach. “That explains the pain. What about you?”

  “Broken forearm, cracked ribs, a fresh hole in the shoulder, broken eye socket, internal bruising, minor haemorrhaging, and enough deep tissue bruising to ensure that walking from here to the next room over takes half an hour.”

  “You look good for it.” her voice was surprisingly honest and even held a few traces of concern.

  “Yeah, but suspiciously so. The guildsmen think that I was able to fix most of the damage with magicka before they found us.”

  “But you think differently?”

  “I know it’s not the field aid I gave myself that has left me sitting here mostly intact.” With a slightly trembling hand I gestured to my body. “I should be dead, but it’s my curse that has left me sitting here feeling pretty good all things considered while you are left bed-ridden.”

  The frown of pain that scrunched her features as she lowered herself down again made her appear terrible to behold. “From here that doesn’t seem too much like a curse. Pain might be a handmaiden to my people but there are times where it isn’t as welcome.”

  She turned her head on the pillow, hair cascading over her shoulders and covering the bed covers. “All these long months I have been on the surface I had thought that there was nothing redeeming or worthwhile to be found. I had been yet to find someone that hadn’t intended to harm or use me. Often I was attacked on sight or was instead manipulated by those who pretended friendship.”

  There was a sigh as she closed her eyes, feeling every inch of the pain that was running through her body. “You however seem to be different, and I am unable to decide whether that is a good thing or whether merely time will show your true colours.”

  “I don’t intend on harming you Viconia. Not now, or ever.”

  “So, you say.” The grin that spread on her face was a combination of satisfaction and amusement. “You do have my thanks though for pulling me from that situation. It was… not pleasant to be reminded of what it is to be helpless, but for the moment I think I shall sleep again.”

  “I’ll be here.” I replied, and her eyes cracked open slightly as she regarded me with a strange expression. The smile softened for a moment and within minutes of settling into the pillow she had gone back to sleep.