Chapter 6: Covens

Previously: Love and Light

Falion,

 

You do not know me, but you are rather famous in some circles. I am merely an interested party who would like to meet and discuss with you about a mutual person of interest.

 

By now, you are familiar with the story of Alva and what happened in the cave with Indrathel. It seems the Thalmor train the most ruthless of hunters. Who would've thought?

 

In any case, Alva has been a vampire for barely a year and finds the undead life does not suit her. We understand you can help with her predicament. If you are willing to meet us at Nightgate Inn in one week, we are prepared to pay your fee in full.

Alva looked up from the letter. She wasn't the most literate person, but she could tell Leila had a very fine hand.

 

"Oh, we are, are we?" she asked sarcastically, handing the letter back to Leila as they headed east from the den. "And where exactly will we get the coin?"

 

"Black-Briar family does business all over Skyrim," Aurelian explained, leading them toward Shor's Stone. "Normally, they send their shipments -- and payments -- alongside Imperial patrols, but when time is of the essence, they hire their own escorts."

 

"Fewer numbers, and not so heavily armed," Leila added. "Every Tirdas before dawn, one such escort leaves Riften and passes through Shor's Stone."

 

"Normally, we ignore them," Colette said gleefully, "but today, we're doing a heist."

 

Alva didn't know what to say to that, and she hadn't been undead for long, but she instinctively knew vampires didn't normally do heists.

 

"Couriers also come through Shor's Stone every Tirdas evening," Leila said. "If we pay double, they'll get the message to Falion in three days."

 

The vampires stopped in the forest along the road into town, about two hours before dawn. In the distance, Alva could see townspeople were already awake, going about their daily routines. A sleepy Nord girl was feeding chickens in her yard. A family was already up and loading their cart with packages, likely bound for Riften.  An innkeeper swept their front porch.

 

That last one pulled at something in her.

 

Leila didn't miss her facial expression. "Didn't you used to work at an inn?"

 

"I did," Alva said absently, nodding. She couldn't look away. "Hadring made me sweep the porch first thing every morning. Then one of the baker's boys would deliver the morning bread, and a milkmaid would deliver the cheese. The butcher's boy came in the afternoon, and the fishermen came in the evening." She smiled. "Hadring didn't pay me much, but he made sure I ate well."

 

"Hadring?" Leila asked. She knew who he was, but she wanted Alva to keep talking about him anyway.

 

"The innkeeper," Alva replied, still lost in memory. "He always used to talk about how the inn was passed down through the generations. Heljarchen's small, but the inn got a lot of travelers. We were the only safe place to sleep between Dawnstar and Windhelm."

 

"Did you ever visit either?" Leila asked.

 

"We went to Dawnstar once," Alva told her. "Harbor town full of miners. I remember being surprised at all the ships."

 

"The escort's approaching," Aurelian said.

 

"All right then," Leila sighed. "Showtime. And remember, children --"

 

"We know," Colette said, rolling her eyes. "No bodies."

 

The shipment was chest on a cart, escorted by five mercenaries. Leila and her companions intercepted them just before they reached the town.

 

"That's close enough," Leila called out to them, hands on hips. "How much is in the chest?"

 

 The mercenaries didn’t look surprised to be robbed. They only looked surprised that the bandits were vampires. They drew their swords while the carriage driver drew his crossbow.

 

"Don't be ridiculous," Leila yawned. "We're not here to kill you. We just need to appropriate a few hundred coins from that chest."

 

The lead mercenary frowned, incredulous. He was a hulking Nord in full plated armor, with a shaved head and long beard.

 

"Since when do bloodsuckers give a fuck about gold?"

"Since we require the services of someone who gives a fuck about gold," Leila replied bluntly. "Now, I know you've been trained to fight vampires, but you haven't been trained to fight the likes of me. Five hundred septims and we'll be on our merry way."

 

Alva's eyes flew wide open. "Five hundred--" Leila shot her a warning look before she could finish.

 

"No fucking way," the mercenary snorted, shaking his head. "Maven will kill us herself." 

 

"Three hundred."

 

"Again, no."

 

"Two hundred fifty, and we'll throw in a bottle of Redwater skooma for your troubles."

 

That actually made them pause. Even the carriage drive relaxed his crossbow. 

 

The lead mercenary eyes her warily. "I can do a hundred twenty-five."

 

"Sold!" Leila agreed cheerfully. "Aurelian, make the trade."

 

A mercenary counted out the coins while his leader inspected the skooma.

 

"Thervain been fucking with formula?" he asked, uncorking the bottle and sniffing.

 

"He has, so go easy on that stuff," Leila warned him. "One hit can knock you out for a full day."

 

He chortled, "And you're willing to part with for a measly one twenty-five?"

 

Leila shrugged. "Maereth doesn't know we took it."

 

He chuckled, shaking his head. "She's not gonna like that."

 

Leila shrugged again. "We don't plan to stick around when she finds out."

 

The leader nodded to his subordinate, who handed over the coin. "Pleasure doing business with you," he told Leila.

 

She nodded. "Likewise." 

 

***

 

It was nighttime in Shor's Stone. The vampires were in the inn, sitting in a corner, drinking mead. Aurelian had paid a courier an hour earlier.

 

Alva smirked at Leila leaning back in the chair. "Does Falion even charge a hundred and twenty-five septims?"

 

"Fuck, no," Leila chortled. "I was getting tired of cheap mead."

 

Alva took a sip from her tankard. "Can you taste it properly? I can't. It tastes like an echo to me."

 

"Sometimes, an echo is enough," Aurelian said. "Helps to keep the memories alive."

 

Alva's eyes flickered back to Leila. "So you were here? In Skyrim, when you were alive?"

 

Leila paused, before nodding solemnly. "My family and I were passing through Falkreath Hold when we were set upon by Vighar's coven."

 

"How long were you with Vighar?"

 

"Not long," Leila sighed. "And yet even that was too long."

 

Alva's brow furrowed. "You didn't like being part of a coven at all? Not even a little bit?" 

 

The older vampire paused, took a drink, then said, “The first lie every vampire hears is, 'We are a family'. But you're not. You can't be. Odds are, they just killed your fucking family and turned you without consent. That's not the act of family. Family loves. Family cares. And family supports your decisions, even when they don't understand or agree with them.”

 

That struck Alva to her core. She remembered the giddy feeling she had when she first learned what a coven was. When Movarth introduced her, everyone welcomed her with open arms and small gifts. She didn't want to think too hard about it, lest she remember something to sour the memory. It was one of her favorites and she wasn't ready to lose that.

 

"My coven was nice to me," Colette shrugged.

 

Leila scoffed, "Oh, please. Your coven was the same as all covens. Some vaunted elder vampire surrounded by slaves and sycophants."

 

Colette shrugged again. "At least my sire was nice." 

 

Alva looked at Leila, meeting her eyes. "Your coven's different though."

 

Leila scowled. "Mine was not. Vighar was a miserable, aged cunt who sold me without hesitation."

"I meant this coven," Alva corrected them. "Us. Now."

 

The vampires visibly shuddered.

 

"Never call us that," Leila chastised her. "We hate the very concept."

 

"The vampires of Broken Fang liked to use me as bait for travelers," Aurelian recalled. "He took a drink, briefly savoring the flavor. "When I came home one night, I found the Companions had wiped them all out." He shrugged his big shoulders. "I took it as a sign from Stendarr."

 

"We should get going," Leila said wearily. She finished her drink. "Heljarchen is a two-day walk by night, and I don't want to risk meeting any hunters."

 

Next: The Redeemer