As the sounds of leather boots on stonework faded, and Sofia vanished into the shadows beyond the top of the stairs with an uncharacteristic urgency. Sounds of stonework being destroyed, and metal striking stone as Lydia took her frustrations out on anything that came within range were echoing, but fading as the two women moved deeper into the crypt. Soon, all that was left behind was Kaius and the naked vampiress at the bottom of the circular stairs and open sarcophagus.

  “So. You have me curious.” Kaius said, as the sounds of Lydia and Sofia faded into the crypts that they had journeyed through to reach the cavern. “And that curiosity is the only thing between you being sent to meet Molag Bal in person. Who are you? Why were you locked away like this? And why shouldn’t I just cut your throat right here and now?”

  A flash of what was unmistakably fear crossed her eyes for a heartbeat, not at the threat of imminent death, but at the mention of the Daedric Prince responsible for the vampiric curse. Slowly, grimacing with the effort, she forced her darker side deeper within her being, her fangs sliding up into her gums and becoming human canines once more. Even the glows of her eyes faded and died like someone kicking sand over a campfire. In its place was just the woman, looking at Kaius with a pair of blue-green eyes, and practically glaring at him in challenge.

  “My name is Serana.” She said, carefully thinking of the words and speaking with an accent that showed common was not her native tongue. “As for why I was locked away, that’s… that’s complicated.”

  “Complicated is my huskarl not knowing I was a vampire for the months we have been journeying together, and finding out when another one comes out and says it.” Despite the smile on his face, there was not a hint of amusement in his tone. Instead, his voice was threatening, and a silent promise of violence at the smallest provocation. "I know from personal experience that we vampires can heal from most injuries, but regeneration like that is something else entirely. A very neat trick."

  “If you are looking for an explanation of how it works, then unfortunately you are out of luck. I wasn’t responsible for preparing it.” While the burning glows of vampirism had faded from her eyes, a calculating one instead began to grow within them. “You aren’t a usual one of our kind either. You smell… different.”

  “One of a kind. With a single surviving exception.” Kaius watched as Serana slowly, and unsteadily, rose to her feet as though expecting him to stop her. “You mentioned your ‘F?der’ before. I’m assuming that means ‘father’ or the like. you were expecting to be recovered by your sire?”

  “Lord Harkon.” For a moment there was pure panic in her eyes as Serana saw the way how Kaius reached up, his hand passing over the dagger strapped to his chest harness to work on the buckles attaching his cloak to his breastplate. “He’s a very powerful man. Or was at one point. I’m surprised that another vampire who has made it here hasn’t heard of him.”

  “I don’t usually make a habit of learning the names of most vampires. At least not until after I’ve killed them.” The last buckle came undone, and he pulled his cloak from his back, handing it over to her as a bundle of wool-lined cloth. “There are a very, very rare few who I have encountered in my time who haven’t attacked me, or tried to kill me as soon as we met. You are now one of them.”

  Nodding her thanks to Kaius, Serana wrapped the cloak around herself and hid her nakedness from view, and she practically disappeared under the thick, heavy cloak. In many ways she was similar in size and build to Sofia, and came up to Kaius’s nose in height, which allowed the cloak to almost entirely cover her.

  "Maybe I haven’t attacked you yet, because I have nothing, you are heavily armed, and obviously not taking any chances with me." Serana’s blue-green eyes glanced at the way that Kaius’s hand was resting on the hilt of his sword in a way that only appeared to be in a casual manner.

  “I don’t know much about you, but I can tell that you aren’t some youngblood. Therefore you and I both know that even naked and unarmed, our kind are not weak or helpless.”

  “True. But that does make me wonder what is going to happen now?”

  "I'm not sure.” Shrugging, and his fingers tapping a steady metallic drumbeat on the hilt of his sword, Kaius thought for a moment. “Vampires have been stirring up trouble throughout Skyrim lately and to me; you, this place, and whatever in Oblivion the means of your resurrection, is no coincidence. I came here only in the attempt to gain some support in dealing with the rest of our kind, but I do know that the Dawnguard would want me to kill you."

  "Not fond of vampires are they?"

  "They wouldn’t be one of the oldest vampire hunting orders in Tamriel if they were. It's something that they and I have in common."

  The obvious curiosity, and the questions resulting from Serana regarding the Dawnguard were crushed aside for the moment. Her attention was easily drawn elsewhere and Serana looked around the interior of her burial cavern, seeing the bloodstains, ruptured bodies and the obvious traces of the four slain vampires. The blackened, tumbled bones, and the scattered ashes and dust from their combustive demises were something she lingered on.

  “Look, kill me, you’ll just have killed another vampire. But, if others are after me, there’s something bigger going on.”

  “That important, are you?” Both of them stared into each other’s eyes and Serana could see that Kaius was as cold as the cavern they were standing in. He may have given her his cloak, but there was something in his manner that suggested he could easily draw his sword, run her through, and walk off without a moment’s hesitation. “I would also like to find just what sort of magicka that was…”

  Moving from her to the interior of the sarcophagus, Kaius trailed off in mid sentence, his face shifting from grim determination to outright astonishment as his eyes fell upon the object that he and Sofia had attempted to retrieve. It was sitting there, locked into a recess only slightly larger than itself, and on instinct he went to move towards it until Serana snarled.

  Fangs once again bared, nose and brow squashing and reforming as her vampirism rose to the surface, she stepped between him and the open sarcophagus, blocking the view of the object and utterly heedless to the way that his grip tightened around the hilt of his sword.

  “Is… Is that…”

  “Yes, it is.” She said, in a voice barely human. “And it's mine.”

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  For a handful of seconds they stood there, unmoving and while Serana’s face was twisted and partially inhuman, Kaius was stunned in place, mouth fallen open in amazement and struggling to comprehend what he had just witnessed. Thankfully, for both of them the sound of footsteps broke their standoff, as Sofia practically skipped her way down the stairs.

  “Lydia will need a few more minutes, but I managed to calm her down a little.” Stopping in place, Sofia glanced between the two of them, seeing the way that Serana’s vampirism had surfaced with some measure of concern, while also noting how she was dressed in Kaius’s cloak. “Is Everything okay here?”

  “Uh. Yeah.” Visibly shaking himself, Kaius turned away from Serana and the sarcophagus, and looked at Sofia. “How is she?”

  "She's... Well... She's royally pissed off."

  "She hates me." he said softly, almost too softly for anyone to hear.

  "She hates you, because you didn't trust her enough to tell her yourself. I'd hate to say, 'I told you so...'" Crossing her arms, Sofia kept Serana in the corner of her eye, but frowned at Kaius. “Actually, who am I kidding? I’m going to love saying it. I told you so. There; that's something else you owe me for."

  "I know."

  "Then you should have done something about it. It wouldn't have mattered if you were Pelagius the Mad or Mannimarco Himself; she has sworn an oath to you and will follow you no matter what you are or what you do."

  "And what about you?"

  "It's been months, Kaius. If I was going to leave, I would’ve left after Bleak Falls Barrow… Or the Dragon… Or The Throat of the World. Or…”

  “I get your point Sofia.”

  “Good. Don’t worry about me. I'll be by your side, until I find someone better to stalk." Despite the grin on her face, there was a deadly seriousness in her tone as she threw a thumb in the direction of Serana. "What about… it?"

  They both saw the way Serana scowled a little at Sofia's words, turning away from the sarcophagus and tucking the object within the folds of her cloak.

  "I’m undecided at the moment. What do you think we should do?"

  "Cut her throat, find everything shiny in here, and go spend it at the nearest tavern."

  The deep, ‘hmmm’ was not lost on either of them, and Serana moved closer, ignoring the way that Sofia edged away slightly. Her vampirism was once again hidden, but there was no mistaking the way she moved like one. Unlike Kaius she was obviously not used to keeping her nature hidden.

  "My family used to live on an island in western Haafingar. I would guess they still do." Serana said simply, ignoring the way that Sofia was watching her like a hawk, and not making any attempts at hiding the way she was gripping the hilt of her shortsword. "If anyone is going to know what is going on, it would be my family."

  "Don't tell me you're actually considering that.” Rounding on her companion, Sofia rolled her eyes at Kaius with an exasperated sigh. “Solitude is what? At least a week's travel from here? More if we can’t get a barge through Hjallmarch’s marshes."

  "Yeah."

  "And she's a vampire. Which means travelling by night..."

  "A vampire with an Elder Scroll."

  Sofia and Serana both stopped and stared, Sofia’s with an expression of shock mirroring Kaius’s only minutes before, and Serana staring with a new level of concern.

  "An Elder Scroll? She has an Elder Scroll? As in, a solidified piece of time? A key to the past, present, future and all sorts of reality breaking nonsense? That kind of Elder Scroll?"

  “Yeah.”

  “How the fuck does she have an Elder Scroll?”

  Turning and staring with his expression once again grim and foreboding, Kaius stared, while Serana simply stood still, her body and the priceless, golden artefact hidden underneath her borrowed cloak.

  “I have no idea. All the Elder Scrolls scattered themselves during the Great War and I haven’t heard of any being found since. That all by itself I think is worth us ‘helping’ her just to find out how such a thing happened.”

  Cold expressions, hooded gazes and suspicion was shared between the three of them as they stood, waiting for one of the others to make the first move. Finally, Sofia sighed loudly, groaning with half feigned annoyance and folding her arms.

  "Well then. I suppose we all better find our way out of here."

  In the time it took for Lydia to return, her frustrations resolved on various inanimate objects, Serana had busied herself with stripping various articles of clothing from the handful of thralls. Most of the clothes were various sizes too large but with little other choices available she soon managed to conceal her nudity under more than just Kaius’s cloak, acquiring pants, tunic, and most importantly shoes for their return to the surface. What she did lack however was a weapon, but the brief attempt to acquire a sword from one of the fallen was quickly stopped with a warning from Kaius, before they made their way back to the surface.

  Dimhollow Crypt, like many of its kind throughout Skyrim, was an ancient barrow, long since disused and abandoned centuries before, but the dead never rested easily in such places. Draugr, mummified and ancient, habitually rose from their slumber, and even after clearing the crypt on their way to Serana’s burial cavern, some had already begun to awaken from the intrusion. Compared to the likes of the thralls and vampires, they were easily dealt with, especially as Serana proved to be exceptionally dangerous even while clad in cloth and fabric, unarmed and not even using her vampiric abilities.

  “Okay, that was impressive.” Looking down to the draugr at her feet, and the long chunk of ice that had been conjured and thrown through its skull from several metres away, Sofia looked between Serana and Kaius, rubbing her temple the mild headache. “You know how to use some magicka, that’s for sure.”

  Kaius moved silently through the main entrance ‘hall’ of the crypt, seeing the half dozen mummified beings scattered about from their brief skirmish and ensuring none would rise yet again. Nearby Lydia was busy pulling her axe free from the chest cavity of one of the more heavily armoured of the undead, the ancient rusting armour proving little hindrance to her heirloom weapon.

  “Lydia, you okay?”

  There was no answer, and Lydia didn’t even look in his direction or make any indication that Kaius was even present. Instead wiping her axe clean and glaring around for something else to slay.

  Knowing better than to push the huskarl in any manner at the moment, Kaius looked around the interior of the crypt’s main entrance and sighed. It was still daylight outside and travelling was going to be complicated, but potentially not as complicated as attempting to remain in a crypt with an increasingly active population of undead until nightfall. Between the weeks the thralls and vampires had been excavating and exploring the enormous underground crypt complex, and the recent fighting that day, the draugr were now well and truly active.

  “Okay. We need to secure this room, Sofia, see if you can find a way to close off the main doors. I’ll move these bodies before you do though.”

  “Why?” Serana was softly spoken, and while there was a level of confidence she obviously didn’t like raising her voice any more than she needed to. “Aren’t we going to start travelling?

  “Not until sundown, then we should be able to…”

  Trailing off, Kaius stopped in mid motion and mid sentence once more, turning to look at Serana while he spoke to her. Sofia and Lydia too had stopped what they were doing and stared in equal parts confusion and unease.

  “What is wrong with leaving now?” Serana asked expectantly, looking at their expressions of astonishment as she stood just outside the crypt’s entrance, in full sunlight and without the slightest ill effect.