"Guards!" she shouted on the top of her lungs, throwing the empty cauldron aside with an enormous metallic ringing sound that echoed through the empty halls. "Guards!"
With the vampire so close to the surface that my jaws were deformed I moved entirely on instinct, ripping my dagger from its sheath on my breastplate and slashing it across her throat. A smile opened up under her jaw that cut off her cries in mid breath, spraying an arc of crimson across the floor and splattering Viconia's boots.
"What the vith is wrong with you!" Viconia spat as the servant dropped to her knees, grasping at her gashed throat with both hands that left the candle to bounce and extinguish itself on the floor. She was minutes, if not seconds from death as her blood bubbled from between her lips and fingers as she tried desperately to staunch the flow.
"She's a thrall!" My words were little more than growls around my lengthening incisors as I motioned for Viconia to move back toward the door we had entered through. There were no sounds of approaching feet or any further shouts of alarm, but with the vampire consuming my flesh and mind and the way it had been uneasy about the whole situation I wasn't taking any more chances.
Not turning our backs on the room or the near dead servant we edged towards the door, glancing back to ensure we didn't trip even as Sunchild found its way into my hands. I almost expected to hear howls of the cursed and a wall of werewolf flesh come charging down the two-metre-wide staircase, but instead there was nothing. No further cries of alarm or tolling of bells or anything, just the sickening gurgles of a dying woman as she choked and bled to death on the floor.
Again something dark and terrible in my mind stopped me, prodding at my conscious mind and leaving me as still as a statue and gazing carefully into the shadows. There was no sign of movement, no pulsating life-force other than the weakening one writhing a few metres in front of us, but some deep corrupted instinct I knew that something was wrong.
Sunchild returned to its sheath and Viconia watched as I turned, moved past her and ripped the lantern from where it hung. She was shocked and confused, standing less than a metre from the entrance into the southern barracks even as I opened the lantern's shutters and flung it overarm in the general direction of the stairwell.
Glass shattered and metal deformed as the lantern hit the stone floor, the tiny burning wick inside spreading its hint of flame to the remnants of the oil as it sprayed over several metres. Where there had been flickering shadows and gloom was for the moment a flaring radiance that filled the room with golden light, and illuminated a trio of figures who until a second before hadn't seemed to exist at all.
"Well, that was clever." One of them hissed as he and his fellows were pulled from the shadows. Armour clinked together as they stepped forward over the burning oil, staring at Viconia and I with eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness.
Unlike the servant who had finished squirming as life left her, these were no mortal beings. I could taste their corruption, and looking into their cursed eyes I felt almost as though I was staring into a mirror.
"Kaius." Viconia whispered, and out of the corner of my eye I saw her gesture to another pair that seemed to glide their way out of the prison wing.
A handful more stepped from the shadows, showing the exact same ability that I had only minutes before. Appearing as though birthed from the darkness, Viconia stepped back slightly at the sight of almost a dozen vampires surrounding us. Pale skin was wrapped tightly under layers of leather, fur and metal; pallid and unhealthy like a corpse yet to feel the bloat of rot. Their eyes glowed in the darkness, reflecting the light of the remaining lanterns almost like those of a Khajiit at night during a full moon.
They were all laughing, a horrible, flesh tingling laughter that crawled over the flesh like insects as the armoured figures surrounded us in a loose semicircle. Facing those creatures of a similar curse as mine I felt my hold on my own animalistic side tighten, pushing it aside and allowing my face to crunch back into shape once more. They were doing little more than sizing up what they believed to be their next meals but I struggled to hold back the smile as I pulled my mask down to reveal the face of a man.
"My, my..." Chuckled one of the grinning vampires as it stepped forward sniffing the air. "How lovely to see a morning snack deciding to come to us for a change."
Despite my outward appearances I was highly unnerved. Far too easily did these creatures remind me of Volmyr. They were not mindless animals like the rest of his wretched coven, instead they still contained a large amount of their humanity that hadn't been consumed by the thirst. Some had already drawn weapons, tapping swords against armoured thighs or patting maces or war hammers with a paternal familiarity.
I cursed under my breath and moved between Viconia and the semicircle of blood drinkers. While I had no illusions of her ability in combat and I knew that the creatures could smell her blood, whereas mine was unpalatable. They had us backed into a corner figuratively and literally and even if Viconia and I had tried to flee we wouldn't have gotten more than a dozen paces before they fell upon us.
Hissing with a warning, I felt all their eyes darting between me and Viconia, seeing the shifting changes in my facial structure and the hint of fangs under my lips. The warning went unheeded, and one of the armoured vampires moved forward from the group with a disapproving expression on his face.
"Really brother, there is no need for that." The grin that creased the Imperial Vampire's face was not one of camaraderie despite his words. "And there definitely wasn't any need to kill one of the cattle... We're short enough as it is."
"I can remedy that..." There was threat laden in every syllable and I returned his smile with one of my own. "Brother..."
Another of the creatures laughed. Dressed in chainmail and plate and transformed there was little to determine the vampires sex other than the feminine tones of her voice. "Oh I bet you can. A thrall for a thrall is the preferred payment after all."
Their expressions darkened further as I laughed in their faces, waving Viconia off as I sensed her rising anger. "Is this it? A pack of you facing us and all you can think of is satisfying your thirsts? Not how we got in here or what we are doing in the depths of the castle?" I grinned like a mountain lion that hid my eyes in shadow. "I'm going to take great pleasure scattering your ashes..."
The snarls of anger were not lost on me and Viconia gave me an exasperated look despite the scent of fear that was slowly emanating from her flesh. While not one for losing herself to terror and capable of bearing witness to horrors that would have left most people in comatose states, the dread and terror that a vampire excluded was unnatural and affected her nonetheless. In the back of my mind I was concerned with the way that she was feeling fearful of me as I slowly released my grip on the darkness of my soul, allowing the vampire to clothe itself in my flesh and fill me with its power.
"Such questions will be asked and answers found later when we take you to the mistress." The lead vampire growled, fangs fully extended and fingernails sliding out and tapering to a point even while he gestured to Viconia with his sword. "But we will have a taste of your meat first."
Even since they had revealed themselves I had been studying them, looking over their clothing and mannerisms and prioritising them from most dangerous to the least. I knew Viconia had been doing the same, seeing the way how they held themselves like trained fighters despite how they were all only a few short strands from raving animals. All were dressed in a similar way to the now-dead servant whose corpse was cooling in a pool of blood, and I knew that most were from the original castle guards. Their heraldry defiled, smeared and otherwise covered in some form; they all instead wore patches or surcoats with the curiously simple blue circle and blood drop that the servant had worn. Some deep instinct provided me with the knowledge that despite their corrupted natures, they were not vampire ancients or had been suffering the curse for long. The flesh still had the aroma of their mortal forms and the stink of mortality had not diffused from the corruption and soul-rot seeping into them. A month previous, or in some cases less than a fortnight before they had been normal men and mer serving the county as guards and Men-at-Arms. Now, they were nothing more than monsters.
My terrible grin was growing larger much to their annoyance, the tenseness of their muscles almost leaving them humming in their pale, waxy flesh even as I reached behind my head and drew the Light of Dawn.
Like starved wolves they all looked at the swirling blade that I held confidently in both hands. Almost as long as a claymore, it appeared almost ridiculous that I had chosen to draw such a weapon against a pack of the fiends. They had no understanding of the significance of the enchanted sword, instead they continued to laugh and mock us.
"There's fourteen of us, and two of you." my eyes flickered over to one of the vampires blocking our escape through the southern door as it spoke. "You've got no hope... Brother..."
I turned and looked at Viconia momentarily. "You might want to close your eyes for a second."
"Yeah!" said the armour plated leader. "Close your eyes meat... You don't want-"
I crossed the distance between us in a heartbeat, moving far faster than the newbloods around me could even react. Before any of them had realised I had moved, the Light of Dawn had erupted from between the lead vampire's shoulder blades, spearing it through the chest and cutting its foul heart in two.
With less than a handbreadth between us I snarled through a mouthful of fangs, more and more of my teeth tapering to a point as the creature in front of me struggled to realise what had occurred. The entire length of the Light of Dawn was coated in its blood after ripping through his body and plate armour like it was nothing more than fog.
The creatures were stunned not only at my speed that made them appear little more than infants but the way how the changes that were consuming my flesh were different to their own. While I shared their curse, my nature was not the same as theirs but before they could move the enchanted blade began to react.
Drinking deeply from the vampire's blood it seemed to drain a portion of its essence into itself, absorbing the blood into the shining metal to fuel the powerful enchantments. Within a second the powerful magicka bound into the star-metal had ignited and light blasted out almost as a physical force.
The vampire impaled on the blade was seconds away from death from having its heart cut in half, but the scouring light from the sword was what truly killed it. Powerful and ancient, the enchantment burned the creature from within, the sun-like rays striping flesh from bones and turned it to a steaming pile of ash and scorched armour and smouldering clothing.
Roars and hisses in agony the other vampires felt the full force of the Light of Dawn. It burned brightly in my grasp, forcing me to look away from the blade's edge as it blasted away the darkness with the full force of the sun and crisping the flesh of the other thirteen creatures within the room. The scent of burnt hair and roasting flesh filled the air as they shrieked and scrabbled away from the powerful beams of light. Even above their wails of suffering I could hear their skin and muscles sizzling like cooking fat on a fire.
The true potency of the blade against vampires I soon discovered was not the impossible cutting edge but rather the specific effects of the sword's enchantment on vampires. Able to cut through anything I had tested it on, it was sharp enough that if I dropped it point first from chest height it would sink to the hilt in solid stone. It could hack a fully armoured orc from forehead and groin in a single blow, slash through marble statues and so far I had not found anything other than Sunchild that could withstand its edge. As such I had been limited in practicing with it. I couldn't spar against Viconia as even the slightest mistake could result in the loss of a limb or worse, but in the depths of Glenvar castle I found myself thankful for the hours I had trained alone with it.
Overwhelmingly burning, the enchantments fuelled by vampiric blood did effective, if horrible work against the bloodsuckers. Even against a pack of the creatures the light blasting from the sword's edge was wounding and disfiguring which was how the Light of Dawn was the ultimate vampire slaying weapon. It could cut through anything yes, but the light would burn flesh and blind. Even a half second's exposure left the creatures reeling and flailing from the light, their skin burnt and blistered. Those dressed in full plate armour and helmets that only allowed the tiniest slits or holes for seeing and breathing were affected just the same as their brethren with exposed flesh. Eyes were plucked from skulls, eyelids fusing together and the pair of fully plated vampires were left screaming and pawing at their sallet helms as the light took their vision.
I danced through their ranks, hacking and cutting through the pain maddened vampires with impunity. Even someone without my strength could have destroyed them, the light removing their ability to defend themselves or in some cases even see or hear me coming. More than one was left shrieking on their knees, cradling their faces even as the magical energies burned and fused their palms as though welded.
Some fought with all the savagery of animals caught in a trap, ignoring the pain and damage to their bodies even as I cut through their defences and armour with ease. Weapons were cut into pieces, armour cloven apart and several burning skeletons were left scattered behind me.
A couple of the vampires hurled themselves at Viconia, their speed only barely matched by her own Drow reflexes as she parried and stabbed with Dragonbane. Forewarned and having closed her eyes as I had stabbed the first creature, she hadn't been left as disoriented as what she could have been. While somewhat faster than what she was, the blasting waves of light were disorientating and battering their defences mercilessly, leaving them open for attacks as she swatted aside their flailing attacks.
I cut through a steel sword like it was made of nothing more than silk, ramming the pommel of the Light of Dawn into the cringing Vampire's throat as it struggled to comprehend what was happening. Another dropped into a pair of twitching and burning halves as I bisected it at the waist and I had to kick away the burning remnants of one that ran screaming onto my blade. It took a second or two for the enchantments to absorb their corrupted blood but this left the room looking as though it was playing host to a thunderstorm. The flickering and flashing blasts of light seemed to make the vampires even more disorientated, leaving them cringing and screaming and alternating between trying to fight or shield themselves through the fact that flesh was burning and hair smouldering.
Between the two of us we slaughtered them. My vampiric abilities and immunity to sunlight allowing me to hack and slash my way through the others of my accursed kind, and Viconia with her natural skill and years of training as a priestess of Lloth allowing her to combat their lightning quick movements with those of her own. Despite my initial fears for her safety, two of the three creatures facing her were soon following their fellows into Oblivion. She took one of their snarling heads clean off its shoulders as she grasped its fellow clawing at her armoured forearm by the throat. There was no sign of pity or emotion on her expression as she crushed its windpipe, repeatedly jamming Dragonbane into its armpit until it burned and tumbled away into ashes.
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Three of the vampires were left, all burnt and singed and I could see one of the ones facing me had ripped its eyelids open in its agony after they had fused closed. They were both terrified; an emotion that the vampire within my soul found disgusting as I advanced towards them, shaking away the ash that coated my arm to the elbow while holding the blade out to my side. While seemingly open for an attack I was doing little more than taunting them to attack me. One hesitantly did but the other decided to try to make a break for it.
Turning tail to flee up the stairs, it didn't make it far. With a twist of my wrist and a flick of an arm, the Light of Dawn ripped through the air and pinned it squirming to the wall. It shrieked in agony for a second, grasping and trying to draw the blade from its chest even as its blood fed the enchantments. Pure light erupted from the blade, stripping the flesh off its bones and leaving its scorched armour and clothing to clatter to the floor.
The second looked at me in fear, the skin of its face red raw and weeping from the burning effects of the Dawn's light. It snarled at me through split and bleeding lips, seeing the way I had disarmed myself and lunging towards me with a sword of its own. No longer holding the blade that had left its flesh burnt as though it had been rolled through hot coals, the vampire attacked with a desperate slash at my throat, cutting through the air before the blade was parried away with a clang.
Sunchild appeared in my hand, being ripped from its sheath and slapping away the careless attack even as I gripped the hissing creature by the throat. There was horror in its burnt and scarred eyes as I twisted Sunchild in the palm of my hand, leaving the blade in a downwards grip before spearing it down its gullet.
Behind me Viconia was left facing the last of the coffin-dwellers as I slaughtered the rest of its kin. Shielded partially by the way I had fought with my back to them it was only partially scalded by the humming blade's light, leaving half of its face and head a smouldering ruin of blisters and wounds that wept blood and other fluids. Viconia was struggling against the creature that was now pain maddened and thirsting for mortal blood to soothe its horrid injuries.
Hearing her cries of outrage and anger I twisted the red-hot blade of Sunchild from the immolating form of the vampire's charred skeleton, sending the flame weakened bones and ash across the floor as I twisted around. The burning pain of the repeated waves of light over its scarred flesh had allowed it to utilise its unholy abilities to the fullest, and even my hardened and experienced drow companion had struggled to fend it off. She was pressed back first into the wall, holding Dragonbane tightly even as she pressed a knee into the armoured sternum of the beast on top of her. It was all that she could do with their swords crossed between them, her knee locked into it and hand holding it by the throat to keep its gnashing fangs from her face and flesh. She was screaming and roaring her own pain into the creatures twisted visage, but where it was thirsting for her blood and pain-maddened; she was infuriated that it had managed to subdue her in such a way.
Seeing her trapped under the weight of the vampire pinning her to the wall and struggling to sink its fangs into her flesh, something within my own mind snapped. Within a second my face had twisted and writhed and I roared on the top of my lungs that left dust shaking from the lanterns and support beams above our heads. Crossing the distance between us, I saw it stiffen at the threat I posed, some bestial instinct triggering a flight response from my daedric bellow. Both Viconia and the remaining vampire froze at the sound, both twisting and staring in horror as I appeared behind its shoulder fully changed into the monster that dwelled within my flesh.
Blackened claws of ivory erupted from my fingertips. Where the other vampires simply had their fingernails lengthen and taper to a point in a similar shape to the claws of Khajiit, mine instead were my fingertips sharpening and pushing through the flesh and muscle and merging with the nails. After ruining several pairs of gloves and growing tired of repairing and patching the minotaur leather I had instead hacked away the ends which allowed the changes to pulsate and corrupt my flesh without destroying my clothing. Every muscle in my body suddenly swelled, my teeth and all the bones in my skull suddenly breaking, separating and growing until it angled forward and left me appearing like a mutant spawn of a man, Dremora, Khajiit and crocodile.
The vampire stood in shock, looking into my soulless eyes as I hissed through a lengthened and expanded maw filled with dozens of needle-like teeth. Each was over six centimetres in length, locking together like a beartrap despite the way they no longer allowed my mouth to close or lips to touch.
There was a moment of horror from both the last vampire and Viconia as she stood in amazed terror at my appearance. There was no denying the daedric corruption that pulsated through my veins, especially how my arm snaked out and ripped the vampire away from Viconia before either of them could react. My right hand grasped it tightly by the shoulder, my claws crumpling the metal of its pauldron and punching through the armour like they were crossbow bolts.
Shrieking as its shoulder bones were turned to dust in my grip, the vampire twisted in a vain attempt to escape my iron grip. I could feel the hot jets of blood around the unyielding talons imbedded into the meat of its shoulder, spurting out of the holes in the crumpled metal plates and staining the tabard it wore with its life-force. It struggled, writhing and screaming and pleading as I dragged it up off the floor until its feet kicked and twitched in the air. With a single arm I held it up, drinking its fear and terror and the stink of our mutual corruption filling the air. I knew that it and Viconia could smell my own daedric taint, the lingering aftertaste of sulphur emanating from my flesh but before either of them could react I twisted in place, swinging it around and throwing it through the table in the centre of the room.
The wooden furniture exploded, splinters flying through the air and pattering like hail off the stone floor and off a couple of the walls. The overwhelming strength of the monster flowing through my body was expanding my flesh, the chain-link armour binding the daedroth scales together into a shirt which was straining to contain the power. Each of my footfalls was as though from a minotaur, the weighted impacting ringing up my legs as the darkness of oblivion infused me into something terrible and from the very worst of nightmares.
Wooden shards and even a fork were left imbedded into the vampire's flesh, and mewing and begging it tried to drag itself away. One leg was broken and useless, flopping about where its thigh and shin had snapped in several places, and the enormous holes in its shoulders had left its entire arm dangling and leaden. Using nothing more than its good arm it tried desperately to get away, moaning in terror as I stomped over to it, pushing it face first into the ruins of the table with my boot before stomping down as hard as I could.
I felt the impact rock through my leg as I crushed its skull, blood, brains and teeth spraying out of the ruin of its head even as I lifted my foot again, and again, and again. Everything above its sternum was crushed, ruined with such force that the stone tiles underneath were cracked and broken. The force of my stomps rattled the lanterns hanging from the walls and shook the remains of the other vampires and I did not stop my destruction of the creature until it had burned into ash. Dressed in full plate armour, the cuirass and the back plate were deformed and crushed; looking as though someone had gone to great efforts with a Warhammer to flatten them. By the time I had finished the torso armour and the underlying chain-link were almost unrecognisable, beaten into a mass of scrap metal and burnt leather.
Even in the depths of the caverns of Lake Arrius I had not felt such overwhelming power and corruption of what I was. Where the desire for revenge and survival against the Mythic Dawn had unleashed the creature within me, the sight of Viconia threatened had unlocked it.
Now that the threat was gone, the changes began to shift and mould me back into my original form. The corrupting influence of Oblivion receded like the backwash of a tsunami and I fell to my knees, pain suddenly erupting from every bone, muscle, tendon and organ. I felt bones break and reform, the lengthened and expanded portions turning into a slurry that fed itself into my veins and arteries as my body reabsorbed the additional mass. Organs shifted in my chest and guts, moving about and in some cases shrinking and in a reversal of the growing pains I had suffered as a teenager I could feel my muscles shrink and tighten.
The maw of needle teeth also changed, the slaughterfish like fangs sliding up into my jawbone before snapping in half at the reformed root. Each sharpened tip rounded off like they were made by clay rather than bone, leaving molars and normal incisors once more. It felt as though molten iron had been injected into my veins, my back arching and limbs contorting as I twisted and writhed as the beast struggled against my mind for control.
At some point during the change I had bitten my tongue as it had slid back into its original length and shape. The twisting muscle locked into my bottom jaw writhed with a life of its own, jerking and convulsing and leaving me drooling bloody saliva. The scream that ripped froth from my chest was animalistic and demonic despite the way that I clenched my jaw so tightly that several of my transforming teeth cracked. There was nothing but fire and darkness in my mind, pain and agony and the beast within my soul struggling to consume my conscious mind with its bloodthirsty instincts and desires.
I was losing the struggle. With every breath I could feel it rippling through my bones and twisting me into a shape that was more pleasing for its daedric form. For several moments I felt as though it was a darkened presence in my veins and in my mind; a terrible evil that I couldn't determine was a result of my corruption, or had simply been allowed to grow in power since succumbing to my curse. I could taste nothing but blood, sense the beating of hearts nearby and wished nothing more to drag them down one by one and gorge myself on their flesh. There was nothing left in me but the desire to tear open throats, drain arteries, stuff bloody organs down my throat and suckle marrow from cracked bones.
Before myself or the bestial instincts wrestling for control of my flesh could realise what was happening I felt the soft caress of a gloved hand on my jaw and a pressure of someone wrapping themselves around me. Hair tickled my face, delicate strands floating into my nostrils and making me involuntarily snort as I opened my eyes to the ash and bone strewn ruins of the guardroom. Just as the sight of her in danger had roused the darkness of my soul, so did her presence suppress it.
Viconia held me tight despite her unease and terror of the changes rippling through me. Holding me tightly and pressing into my back she could feel the way my bones and muscles moved under the layers of armour, leather and cloth. Inexperienced and awkward, the embrace bore little of what I would have considered a loving hug but it was enough for the man to regain control over the monster.
Stilted and wooden and bearing more of a resemblance to grip one might use on an unruly prisoner, it would have been easy to believe that she had been attempting to restrain me. At that moment I knew that without a doubt she was doing everything she could to hold me tight, to attempt to copy the way that I had held her during several nights over the past weeks while she had shuddered and cried. Those nights, whether we were within the rough bedcovers of an inn or boarding house or under our furs and cloaks at a campsite I had held her tight as she rode the waves of emotions that had been suppressed for many, many years. Whether brought on by a memory or nightmare, there had been nights were we had done little more than hold each other tight for hours, gaining little sleep but instead gaining comfort in each other's presence.
At that moment she was returning the favour, holding me tight with the inexperience of someone who until a month previously had never shown affection or even cared for another living soul. With a hand no longer consisting of blackened talons I gripped one of hers tightly to the side of my face before crying without restraint.
"So that's what it looks like when you lose control."
Her whisper in my ear made me snort and break into a choking fit as I tried to clear my mouth of bloody saliva. Instead of pulling away she pulled me tighter again until the arm holding me near the throat threatened to block off air to my lungs.
I could feel Viconia's fingers on my skin, her long flowing hair lightly tickling the skin of my face and the hot perfumed smell of her flesh filling my lungs. Until that point I had not realised that while I was providing her a source of strength and security, that she too was proving the same to me.
"Mrimmd'ssinss." I breathed, feeling her shudder at the sound of the pain in my voice.
For a moment I patted at her forearm with the hand that wasn't entangled in one of hers, feeling the last of the changes subsiding and with it the waves of pain. Most of the times the vampire had surfaced there had been unpleasant sensations of my jaws strengthening or my teeth growing but this time it had been nothing short of agony. Even when I had lost control against the Mythic Dawn, I had already been badly injured which had meant I had not understood or recognised the level of pain of allowing my corruption to surface.
Viconia shifted and stepped back, one hand still holding my own as she moved in front of me and looked into my eyes. I was panting heavily but for a second I felt more shocked and frightened at the look of concern in her eyes than anything else that had happened.
"I'm all right." I was struggling to breathe, forcing the words from my chest even as I sucked in massive breaths of air. "I'll be okay."
"You certainly don't look okay." She brushed her hand against the side of my face and pulled the gloves back to show the wetness on my cheeks was not just tears.
Dabbing at the streams running from my eyes I felt the stickiness and wiped it away with fingertips and the edge of my cloak. The blood was dark and streaked with blackness as though it had somehow scabbed over and congealed without changing from liquid.
"Daedra blood..." For a second my stomach churned and I could almost hear the beast's laughter in my skull. There was little doubt in my mind the nature of my curse and that it would most likely destroy me sooner or later.
"You look like shu." Once more the abrupt personality returned despite the concern floating in the yellow depths of her eyes. Her hand slowly removed itself from mine and brushed my cheek lightly. "But I don't think they'll let you sit down and rest."
With the death of the vampires and the obvious sounds of fighting and screaming, both vampiric and daedric the entire castle was aware of our presence. Shouts could be heard through the stone halls, and the sounds of clanging of bells and other methods of alarm could be heard. In the prison wing we could hear shouts and pleading calls but I knew that the main threats would be the level above us.
"They know we're here now." Her hand gripped my own and she helped haul me to my feet. All I could taste was blood and I could feel a large amount in my sinuses that left me hacking and spitting bloody mucus. "I think we can get out of here before anyone else makes it down the stairs."
The pleas from the prison stabbed into my mind and I could sense the dozens of beating hearts within there even if I couldn't see them. That though alone made me grimace with determination and I saw her expression harden as she saw my intentions.
"I'll be fine once I kill the rest of these vith'rellen." Another mouthful of bloody saliva splattered on the floor and dribbled down my chin.
Sunchild was plucked from the floor where it had fallen in the middle of a burnt corpse, and with Viconia trailing behind I ripped the Light of Dawn where it had remained imbedded into the stonework. The burnt ribcage and chainmail hauberk clattered to the floor as I sheathed Sunchild and listened to the echoes from the rest of the castle. What were undeniably shouted orders and running feet could be heard over the bells and I grinned a mouthful of bloodstained teeth.
My knuckles popped around the gleaming emerald hilt of the Light of Dawn as I gripped it tightly. "There's nowhere for them to run while the sun is out." Even with the amount of will I was using to crush the vampire aside I could sense and hear those in the levels above us moving about. The look of concern never left Viconia's face, especially how she watched the skin pull taut on mine once more.
"I don't think that they are planning to run." Her words were bitter, but it wasn't directed at me. Dragonbane was confidently grasped in her hands and after seeing the effectiveness of the Light of Dawn against vampires she was no longer as concerned with our chances as what she had been earlier.
Together, we bounded up the stairs, following the sounds of movement and tearing apart a pair of vampiric guards waiting for us uneasily at the top. The Light of Dawn cleaved one in half before he could even shout, and Viconia spitted the other on Dragonbane that left it burning and turning to ash even before she kicked it away. Seeing the way they were dressed and that they too were bearing the same circled blood drop heraldry I knew that we were potentially facing a lot of the creatures. The servants, the guards and potentially every other inhabitant of the castle had been turned into vampires or thralls, but with our skill at arms and weapons such as the Light of Dawn we both were fairly confident.
Finding ourselves faced with the door leading into the Entry and Dining hall and hearing the commotion within the two of us paused for a moment, our eyes meeting one another and sharing expressions of grim determination.
"Ready?" I asked, rolling my shoulders and listening to the shouts and sounds of running feet within the room beyond.
"Are you?"
My grin was fierce and the sight of my fangs growing once more made her involuntarily start for a second before she gave me a grin of her own. One hand wreathed in magicka and the other gripping her ancient sword, she nodded once, standing aside as I turned and smashed the door in with a kick.
Roaring with a pair of battle cries we burst through the doorway but staggered to a halt at the array of pikes and halberds that awaited us in a wall of steel. The bladed and sharpened points filled the space between us and the huddled mass of vampires that were arrayed before us but it wasn't the sight of the phalanx that stopped us in our tracks. Only a few seemed armed and waiting for our entrance, but it was the rest of the room that caught our attention.
"Oh vith uns'aa..." I spat, looking about and gripping the Light of Dawn tighter as I stared into the hate filled eyes of over fifty vampires and their thralls.
