D.K.R Year 5 Beta Part 4 Shadowy Deception

  • When the Argonian had finally stepped into the grey stone room, he glanced left and right, trying to take the whole macabre scene

    in. A stone bed lay on the right side of the room, next to it was a chest and a small dresser. A cupboard stood opposite Hasir and a

    small table with two chairs stood against the right wall. Hasir gasped as he saw a Breton with pinkish-red eyes and sallow

    cheeks looking hungrily back at him,

    "Greetings brother, I am Vicente Valtieri, I trust you've already spoken with Ocheeva?"

     

    Hasir nodded and asked if he was the one who doles out new contracts. He nodded curtly and walked over to the Argonian, 

    "What you've heard is true. I handle the contracts for newcomers." He closed his eyes, apparently lost in thought.

     

    Hasir. his mind reeling from the familiarity of the name, blurted out,

    "By the gods, y-you're Vicente Valtieri!" 

     

    The Imperial opened his eyes and nodded,

    "Yes?" What of it?"

     

    The giddy Argonian told the Imperial vampire about how he found a book in the abandoned house and how it told of the vampire's

    previous occupation, how he became obsessed with the black door and how he ultimately became a vampire. Vicente sat in silence

    for a long time while the Argonian talked of what he knew about the Imperial's past.

     

    He turned to the Argonian, placed his long, white hands on the polished wooden surface and looked across it at the Argonian and

    smiled,

    "Yes, the fact that I was cursed by the black door that I uncovered while trying to store the armor that I pilfered from The March

    Rider, which I had been tasked with clearing out for the thieves guild was most unfair." 

     

    The Argonian looked stunned; he had no idea that a thief would ever work for the Black Hand, of whom he was not aware of yet. He

    asked the Breton for his side of the story and how he got infected with the curse of vampirism. Vicente's smile broadened as he told

    the Argonian all he knew,

    "Hasir, I joined the thieves guild some hundreds of years ago under the self promise I had made about making a better life for

    myself." His face suddenly fell, "You see, my family wasn't the wealthiest of denizens in Cyrodiil, which we had moved to from High

    Rock. We lived in the waterfront district, I am sure you've seen it, in the beggar's row area with its wooden shacks which every other

    citizen would just pretend didn't exist as they kissed the emperor's boots and lived in their posh mansions while those less fortunate

    were forgotten by the whole of Cyrodiil." He waved a hand in the air, "They distrusted foreigners so they had put us there with the

    other low lives: Khajiit, bosmer, orismer and Argonians."

     

    Upon hearing this, Hasir hissed,threw the chair aside, unsheathed his claws and lunged for Vicente's throat,

    "How dare you call the Saxhleel low lives, if I ever hear that again, I will slice you open, do you hear me?"

     

    The vampire smiled broadly and laughted nervously, catching the Argonian offguard,

    "Are you going to kill me Argonian? You are forgetting two very important things; one I cannot die." He said standing up and lifting

    a finger in the air, "and two," he looked at Hasir with a glint in his eyes that the Argonian could not place, "if you were to kill me, you

    would've killed the only person who knows of Molag Bal plans for Tamriel."

     

    Hasir stopped snarling and blinked a few times to let Vicente's words sink in. He considered the Breton's words before finally

    speaking,

    "What does Molag Bal have to do with this? I thought this is a assassin's guild."

     

    Vicente smiled, showing yellowing fangs,

    "You may have a point but I was once chief in Molag Bal's army, he shared with me parts of his plan he would not divulge to anyone

    else." He said, leaning back in his chair grinning satisfactorily to himself. 

     

    Hasir's tail thumped on the stone, making Vicente jump,

    "Stop reminiscing and tell me the damn plan." Hasir thundered as his fist slammed down on the table. The Breton apologized and

    told the Argonian that Molag Bal plans to wipe out all life on Tamriel as well as rid the planet of Nirn of the bloodline of the wolf who

    sullied his bloodline by participating in a foul mixed marriage do not present themselves." The Argonian turned, got up and gripped

    Vicente's chair, eyeing him with a quizzical expression, "What do you mean 'mixed marriage'?" 

     

    The breton smirked knowingly and told the curious Argonian how some two hundred years ago, in the land of Summerset, two an

    aldmer vampire, servant of Molag Bal fell in love with an Argonian werewolf. Outraged, Molag Bal told her that she had soured the

    vampire bloodline by marrying a filthy mutt, one that his rival had personally created and must pay a terrible price for her

    disgression, so he turned her cut her head off."

     

    Hasir gasped and asked if he punished the werewolves in a similar way. The breton shook his head,

    "No he did not because they were not of his blood. He, however, sent his most loyal servant to kill them for him, trapping their souls

    and dooming them to dwell forever in Coldharbour instead of the hunting grounds being tortured alongside the one who married the

    Almder, thus soiling Bal's bloodline."

     

    Vicente huffed in exhasperation and looked at Hasir; the argonian could see a kind of mocked sadness and his eyes and her it in his

    voice,

    "In order to purify the bloodline, however, Molag Bal will have to eridcate all Lycanthropes."

     

    Hasir screwed his face up in thought,

    "Hang on, what?" He leant closer to Vicente, staring in the breton's red eyes. "How will Molag Bal achieve this? did he divulge that to

    you as well? Hssss!" 

     

    Vicente's eyes narrowed,

    "Don't you listen? I have already told you!"

     

    Hasir got up and looked at the angry vampire

    "Yes, you did...I-I'm sorry Vicente."

     

    Vicente smiled and walked towards Hasir,

    "It is quite alright Hasir, have a drink and forget the whole thing, shall we?" He asked, smiling jovially

     

    Hasir got up so abruptly that he almost upended the table,

    "Forget this whole thing!?" He said, shocked, "No way in Oblivion!" He glanced the vampire's pleading face, but I will have a drink,

    thank you." He said, softening up a bit.

     

    Hasir looked questioningly at the breton's odds expression, pointed to the tankard and asked what the liquid was contained within,

    "Er, Vicente, I don't want to come off as rude, but, is that Imperial wine that I saw you pouring?"

     

    Vicente chuckled heartily at the Argonian's blatant ignorance. He shook his head for several seconds before answering,

    "This?" He asked, lifting the mug up to eye level, "mulled mead? No, this is blood, my fine scaled friend."

     

    Hasir raised an eyebrow at this perculiar response,

    "Blood? Vicente... why do you need blood?" He asked, feeling stupid because he knew the answer

     

    Vicente reached over the table and clipped the ignorant Argonian on the back of the head sharply,

    "You stupid Argonian, I am a vampire. Did the sharp fangs and pink eyes not give it away?" He asked, staring jokingly at the gaping

    Argonian.

     

    Hasir shook his hands in front of his face,

    "Yes, I did realize." Hasir said, visions flooding back to him of the black door cursing the Imperial with vampirism, "I just..." He

    waved a hand dismissively in the air, "was that Aldmer your...ancestor?" 

     

    The Imperial nodded while taking a sip from the tankard while he glanced over the rim at Hasir, smiling,

    "Yes, she was my grandmother,."